Well, the Accords get introduced in this chapter, and we know how that turns out. This should end nicely. Tony only signed the damn thing out of guilt, we all know that right, anyway, let's get this going.
Ch.34 Sokovia Accords
A week since the incident in Nigeria and that's still all the news would talk about. At the New Avengers Facility in Upstate New York, Steve and Rex were at Steve's office watching an MSNBC news report on the Avengers and their indictment?
"11 Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos, when the attack occurred."The news reporter reported.
The news then show the King of Wakanda, King T'Chaka, speaking at a United Nations press conference.
"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil, not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all." T'Chaka said.
"The Wakandan king went on to..."Steve turns off the TV as he couldn't hear anymore.
"Don't worry, Steve. We all knew this was gonna happen eventually, especially since after Sokovia. It's not our fault we can't save every single civilian. I wish we could, you know, make sure everyone is safe, but... things don't always work the way we want them to." Rex said.
"I know, Rex." Steve sighed.
Rex and Steve then hear another TV coming from Wanda's room. The two go to see what Wanda is seeing on the TV in her own room.
"They are operating outside and above the international law. Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these. What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri...?"
Steve suddenly turns off Wanda's TV and both him and Rex stood their looking at her with concern.
"It's my fault." Wanda said.
"That's not true." Steve said.
"No need to think like that." Rex added.
"Turn the TV back on. They're being very specific." Wanda said.
"Because they're paid to do that," Rex told her.
"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it. Rumlow said 'Bucky'... and all of a sudden I was a 16 year old kid again, in Brooklyn. And people died. It's on me." Steve said as he sits on Wanda's bed on her left.
"It's on both of us," Wanda said.
"No, Steve, Wanda. Don't think like that. Stuff like this happen. Hell, if someone say something about my friends, or my wife, I would have reacted the same way, but still, we're only human though. If they think we're gods, then that's their mistake, as we make just as much mistakes as them," Rex said.
"This job... We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, then next time... maybe nobody gets saved." Steve said.
"He's right," Rex agreed, "I know what it's like to see people die and not being able to do a damn thing about it, but I don't let that haunt me, atleast not as much as it used to. My point being, if you let the deaths get to you to much, you'll lose focus, and next time, like Cap said, nobody gets saved."
At that moment, Vision suddenly phased through Wanda's bedroom wall thanks to his intangibility, surprising Wanda and getting Steve and Rex's attention.
"Vis! We talked about this." Wanda said about Vision using his intangibility to phase through walls instead of using the door.
"This happens often?" Rex asked.
"Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that..." Vision tried to explain before turning his attention to Steve. "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving."
"Thank you. We'll be right down." Steve said.
"I'll use the door." Vision said. "Oh, and apparently, he's brought a guest." Vision added.
"We know who it is?" Steve asked.
"The Secretary of State." Vision said before leaving.
"Shit." Rex said.
Minutes later, the Avengers, consisting of Steve, Rex, Skye, Tony, Wanda, Natasha, Rhodey, Vision and Sam were gathered at the conference table listening to US Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross. Thaddeus E.
"Thunderbolt" Ross is a former Lieutenant General of the United States Army. During his career, he was put in charge of the military project called the Bio-Tech Force Enhancement Project, aiming to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. However, the experiment led to an accident which transformed the scientist and fellow Avenger Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk. After a long hunt, Banner was captured, only for Ross' subordinate officer Emil Blonsky to transform into the monstrous Abomination which forced Ross to accept Hulk as an ally and allow him to escape after the battle in Harlem, New York back in 2011. Now, Ross has left the Army five years after the Duel of Harlem and is now serving as the United States Secretary of State.
"Five years ago, I had a heart attack, and dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me. Perspective." Ross said.
"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'."
"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked.
"How about 'dangerous'." Ross replied sternly. "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"
Ross then activates a projector showing a world map before showing specific locations.
"New York." Ross said.
Ross showed the Avengers footage taken during the Battle of New York back in 2012. It showed Iron Man being pursued by the Chitauri Leviathan, people screaming and running for their lives, Rex using his Big Fat Sword, the Hulk jumping on the side of buildings before debris hits the camera. The projector also showed that the battle had 74 casualties.
"Washington D.C." Ross said.
The projector then showed footage of the Battle at the Triskelion back in 2014, which Steve, Rex, Natasha, Sam, and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill and former S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury participated in. The footage showed the three Project Insight HYDRA operated Helicarriers firing at each other at the sky while people were running for their lives. It also showed the destruction and an Project Insight Helicarrier crashing down into the Potomac River as people gets washed away. The projector showed that the battle had 23 casualties.
"Sokovia." Ross said.
The projector then showed footage of the Battle of Sokovia, during the devastating Ultron Offensive from the previous year. The footage showed people running for their lives, the Sokovian capital Novi Grad rising into the sky, and a building collapsing and crushing an apartment building. The projector showed that the Battle of Sokovia had 177 casualties.
"Lagos." Ross said.
The projector finally showed footage of last week's battle, after Wanda had inadvertently sent the bomb activated by Rumlow into the building that was occupied by civilians. The projector shows that the battle had 24 casualties.
"Okay. That's enough." Steve said, as he couldn't take seeing the aftermath results.
"You know that is very low," Rex commented, "even for a government official."
"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." Ross said before grabbing a document and places it on the table. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Ross stated.
The Avengers looked at the document that was placed on the table. They now know that the Sokovia Accords are a set of internationally ratified legal documents that provide regulation and frame-working for the military/law enforcement deployment of enhanced individuals, particularly the Avengers, operating under specific government agencies. However, the Avengers won't be the only ones that's gonna be affected by the Sokovia Accords. There has been a growing number of enhanced people called the Inhumans. The Inhumans are a race of altered human beings that were the result of experiments on ancient humans by the extraterrestrial race, the Kree, embedding into their genetic code the potential to transform and acquire superhuman abilities through a process known as Terrigenesis. The Inhuman influence has been growing rapidly and unknown to the Avengers, a dangerous Inhuman, called Hive, is on the loose at Earth thanks to HYDRA after being banished at a distant planet called Maveth for centuries. Skye's former team, who's lead by Phil Coulson are currently trying to track down Hive and his army of brain-washed Inhumans. Anyway, Steve believes the Sokovia Accords isn't helping the Avengers on protecting the Earth at all.
"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve said.
"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross asked.
The last time the Avengers seen Thor, he had returned to his homeworld of Asgard shortly after the Battle of Sokovia to try and find clues to upcoming events. As for Bruce Banner, the Avengers haven't heard from him since the Battle of Sokovia.
Steve might not have answered, but Rex did answer. "I can tell you one thing Ross, they aren't on Earth."
"And how do you know that Mr. Salazar," Ross asked, not expecting the EVO to give him an answer.
"Thor left for official business, and as for Banner, I've been helping Nat try tracking him down, focusing on Gamma radiation, and there is none on Earth that match his signature, so that means he's either dead, cured, or off world." Rex said as he crossed his arms.
As Rex and Ross had a little stare down, Rhodey decided to interject. "So, there are contingencies." Rhodey said.
"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over" Ross said.
"That doesn't really give us enough time to talk about it," Rex said as Ross just ignored him. Before Ross leaves though, Natasha asked...
"And if we come to a decision you don't like?"
"Then you retire." Ross replied before leaving.
"Asshole," Skye commented after he left.
Rex nodded with a smirk. "You said it."
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, Ohio, the former HYDRA leader of the Winter Soldier Program Vasily Karpov is in his house eating. Karpov is currently in hiding now that HYDRA have been wiped out. As he was eating, the sound of a car crashing gets his attention. Karpov looks out to see a man surveying the damage on his car and Karpov's car. Karpov immediately closed his blinds as the man looks at the window.
"Hello? Is this your car out front? I jumped the kerb. Maybe we could take care of it ourselves. If you wanna call the cops, that's okay, to, I guess."the man said outside the front door.
"No. No cops." Karpov said.
"Thank you."the man said.
As soon as Karpov unlocked and opened the door, the man attacked Karpov and punched him in the face, knocking him out. A few minutes later, Karpov regains consciousness and sees that the man has subdued him as he is tied upside down above a sink, slowly filling with water. Karpov also sees the man using a sledgehammer to break a portion of the wall. The man breaks the wall and finds what he is looking for. The man found a box containing files from HYDRA and a familiar red book with a black star on the cover. The man looks through one of HYDRA's folders and sees a picture of Karpov when he was serving in the Russian Armed Forces.
"You have kept your looks, Colonel. Congratulations." The man said, now speaking in a Sokovian accent. "Mission Report. December 16, 1991."
"Who are you?" Karpov asked.
"My name is Zemo." Zemo replied. "I will repeat my question. Mission Report, December 16, 1991."
"How did you find me?" Karpov asked.
"When S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Black Widow released HYDRA files to the public. Millions of pages. Much of it encrypted. Not easy to decipher." Zemo said before facing Karpov. "But, I have experience. And patience. A man can do anything if he has those."
"What do you want?" Karpov asked.
"Mission report. December 16. 1991." Zemo replied sternly.
"Go... to... hell!" Karpov said, refusing to cooperate with Zemo.
Zemo approached the tied up Karpov and looks at him sternly while holding the red book. Zemo then shuts off the sink's faucet.
"HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me. But I'd have to use this book and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don't look forward to that. You'd only be dying for... your pride." Zemo said before turning the sink's faucet back on.
Zemo looks at Karpov as the water starts to overflow.
"Hail HYDRA." Karpov said his final words, giving the famous HYDRA salute.
Zemo then walked straight out of the house, taking his new stolen belongings while Karpov slowly drowned inside of his own sink.
Well, we've taken care of that, Zemo's plan is about to be put in motion soon. Next chapter though, the Avengers argue over the Accords, and Steve loses something close to him. Don't forget to review and check out my profile for my other stories and future content.