Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel.

Chapter 29

All Around Bad Day

Ambushed was one word Anna felt about this whole meeting arranged by Tony for the Secretary of State. There were far more words Anna could use to say how she felt about Secretary Thaddeus Ross, the man that had been hunting down Bruce for years after the incident that turned him into the Hulk. He'd wanted to weaponize it. So the one Anna was going to go with that moment was distrustful.

All of the available Avengers were sitting around the conference table facing the monitor, and a pacing Ross. Almost everyone looked as uncomfortable with this meeting as Anna felt, so at least she wasn't alone. There was no trust for this man. Except for maybe Rhodey, ever the military man.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack," he said. "I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing." He demonstrated for dramatic effect, though Anna thought it was more of a dumb effect. "Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass I found something forty years in the army had never taught me: perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked you lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word "vigilantes.""

"And what world would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked.

"How about "dangerous?" 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 turned to start his presentation on the screen. The first images were from when Loki and the Chitauri invaded New York. "New York, Washington DC, Sokovia, Lagos." The death counts could also be seen in the corners. New York: seventy-four. DC: twenty-three. Sokovia: one hundred seventy-seven. Lagos: eleven.

All things considered, Anna found the death tolls were rather very low. After all, only losing seventy-four people while an alien invasion was going on in one of the most populated cities in the world was kind of amazing. Not that any of them should have had to die, it was a tragedy. And seeing as every event was caused by someone else (with the arguable exception of Ultron), they protected as many as they could.

"Okay, that's enough," Steve interjected.

"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 tossed one of the biggest packets of paper Anna had ever seen onto the conference table. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by one hundred seventeen 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."

"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.

"They're people, Mr. Secretary," Anna said. "They have rights."

"If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground," Ross said, completely disregarding Anna's comment about them being people, and not weapons.

"So, there are contingencies," Rhodey asked.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," Ross went on.

The look Steve shot Tony did not go unnoticed. "Three days? And nobody thought it wise to bring this to our attention before today?"

"Talk it over," Ross said, glaring at the girl.

"And if we come to a division you don't like?" Natasha asked.

"Then you retire."

It had never been so crowded in the common room than after that meeting. There was usually someone in there, but they each had their own rooms, with televisions, and other things to keep themselves busy and alone. Sometimes there were movie nights, but not everyone attended. They had every Avenger there except for Thor and Bruce.

It wasn't surprising that there was a lot of bickering and borderline arguing going on amongst the group. Anna sat on the couch with her feet pulled up under her as she looked through the Sokovia Accords. It was extremely dull reading, she only had a GED (something she had done on her own accord while stuck behind the desk on the Avengers compound the last several months). Anna was no lawyer, and the way the Accords were worded were lengthy, and unnecessarily wordy.

She really needed a good lawyer to read it over at an inhuman speed and translate it to her like she was a toddler if she was ever going to actually understand what was going on within those pages.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have," Rhodey spat.

"It says nothing for his real character, Rhodes, you know that. We all know what happened with him and the Hulk," Anna said, not even looking up from the pages. The black and white were all starting to blur together in gray. She blinked, rubbing her eyes before she finally just closed the book.

"So let's say we agree to this thing," Sam said. "How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

"One hundred seventeen countries want to sign this. One hundred seventeen, Sam, and you're just like, "No, that's cool. We got it.""

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam asked.

"This debate has turned into a personal argument," Anna said. "It's not helpful, guys."

"I have an equation," Vision spoke up.

"Oh, this will clear it up," Sam muttered.

"Sam, play nice," Anna warned.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potential world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.

"I'm saying that there may be a causality," Vision said. "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict, and conflict breeds catastrophe. Overside, overside is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Boom," Rhodey said.

"Some of it might be that," Anna said. "But it's not all. The incident with Terragin crystals affecting the fish oil pills had nothing to do with Tony, and that brought out a whole lot of Inhumans. The Watchdog Inhuman hate group came from that, though that's also super racist so there's no excuse for that. I'm just saying that some of it might be connected, but it's not all our faults, so we can't act like it is. That being said, I do agree that maybe some oversight might be a good idea. It just needs to be amended."

"Tony, you're being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal," Natasha pointed out. Tony had, in fact, been seriously quiet as he laid on the couch with his arm covering his eyes. He looked more hungover than Anna had seen him in quite some time.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said.

"Boy, you know me so well," Tony muttered sarcastically. He winced when he got up off the couch. He rubbed the back of his head as he made his way over to the kitchenette. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomforting. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

Tony put his phone in the fruit basket and tapped it, bringing up the holorscreen with an image of a young man smiling happily. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA. Had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked behind a desk. SEe the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas, or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where, Sokovia.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we don't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." He took a break from his speech to take an aspirin for his headache, washing it down with coffee. "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

I disagree with part of that, Anna thought.

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve said.

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony asked.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame," Steve said.

He's not wrong, Anna thought.

"I'm sorry, Steve. That," Rhodey said, "that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council. It's not SHIELD, it's not Hydra."

"No, but the same people are the ones that appointed the World Security Council. I mean, look at Pierce. He was appointed, and he was Hydra. What if we're in another situation like that," Anna thought aloud.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change," Steve said.

"That's good," Tony insisted. "That's why I'm her. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."
"Also a different story," Anna said. "Obi was double dealing behind your back."

"Doesn't change that they still hurt innocent people in their wake," Tony said.

"Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty," Tony said.

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda said.

"We would protect you," Vision assured her.

"Maybe Tony's right," Nat said. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked.

"In her defense, they were being dicks," Anna said.

"I'm just, I'm reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

"Focus up," Tony said. "I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"
"Oh, I want to take it back now," Nat groaned.

"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed - I win."

Simultaneously, Anna and Steve's phones buzzed in their pockets. Each of them took out their phones and read over the message that was the same on both of their phones. Their eyes met a brief moment later, their eyes filled with so many emotions.

"I have to go," Steve said, diverting the conversation away from the Accords. He tossed the Accords onto the table and got up to leave. Anna followed him right out and to the stairwell. She didn't say anything when he finally stopped at the bottom, his head hanging low.

"Come here," Anna said, pulling her into a tight hug as she stood several steps above him to make herself eye level. She wrapped her arms around his neck and just held him as tightly as she could. No other words needed to be said as he softly cried into her shoulder, holding her back a little tighter than he should've with his strength. But he needed this. And so did she.

After all, they were just told Peggy Carter had died in her sleep.

We get to say goodbye to Peggy next chapter, so hopefully you're ready for that. I didn't actually get too emotional myself, unlike things with Tony and whatnot...

Thanks go to the following for their review on the previous chapter:

Jedi Jesla777 - I'm glad you liked their interaction. I really enjoyed writing it I wanted to show that they're kinda close, but not like her and Steve sort of close. Maybe in the future they can be.