"So… it was a trick," Steve said.
They all staggered across the snow and rock toward the Quinjet. They could also now see T'Challa's aircraft, which was an impossibly sleek design that made Maggie's brows perk up. But she was too tired, and too overwhelmed, to take proper interest in the aircraft. She supported Bucky still, with his arm over her shoulders, and Steve and Tony trudged side by side ahead of them, leaving sooty footprints in the snow. Zemo was unconscious, slung over T'Challa's shoulder as he followed.
Tony nodded. His head was bare to the icy winds and his cheeks were going pink.
Steve let out a breath.
He sounded so overwhelmed that Maggie found herself driven to explain, though he and Bucky had already mostly figured it out. "Zemo's end game was for the truth in that video to break us apart." Steve's head turned toward her. "To make us fight and kill each other." She glanced back at the unconscious Sokovian. "So… we gave him what he wanted. We pretended." Tony's head turned as well, and she met his eye for a moment. "We pretended that was the first time we learned the truth, enough to make him think his mission was over and he'd leave the operations room."
She adjusted Bucky's arm around her shoulders. It had been… devastating. Reliving the horror of that night. For a good few moments after the video started, Maggie's mind had been nothing but a terrified, frozen mess. Then she and Tony had looked at each other and it had all come clear: they had known that they were going to have to watch their parents die, and known what Zemo wanted out of it.
It had only been all the more heartbreaking to watch Steve and Bucky's faces crumple into confusion and grief when they'd gone after them.
"Had to make it look real," Tony added, half-apologetically. "That guy was on the edge, and we didn't want to find out what he'd do if he realized his plan had failed while he was still locked in that control room. Better to make him think his mission was over, then get him."
Steve let out a long breath. The shield dangled in his hands, almost forgotten. "I thought…" he shook his head. "I don't know what I thought. It was like… like how it was two years ago." He glanced at Tony. "Sorry I didn't figure it out."
"Hey, you were trying to not get your shit kicked in," Tony shrugged. Then he glanced over his shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh… sorry about the arm, Barnes. But it was about time you got a new one." And even though it was an apology, it sounded an awful lot like I forgive you.
Maggie sensed Bucky wince in reply. She knew he didn't necessarily feel the arm, but it had to have been a shock losing it, and it looked dreadful; it had been shorn off just below the red star, frayed and singed wires jutted haphazardly from it. He leaned heavily into her, as if off-balanced by the shift in weight.
Steve glanced between Maggie and Tony. "When did you… how did you figure out to do that?"
"When he showed us the video," she replied. The tape itself had to be crushed to oblivion under all that metal and stone, now. She wasn't sorry for it.
A dark shadow had fallen over them all at the mention of the video.
"But you didn't say anything to each other," Steve persisted. "How did you-"
"Just call it a genius thing and let it go," Tony said tiredly. His eyes fell on Maggie.
She couldn't properly explain it either. But she'd looked at her brother, as they watched their parents die before them, and she'd known what to do. You and me.
The grief and horror had been real, of course they had. She hadn't had to pretend to cry. Maggie knew she'd be dreaming about what she'd seen and heard for a long time. Tony, too.
But they'd known the truth of the video for months and months now. They'd forgiven. The anger had faded. But anger was easy to fake, and Tony… he was no actor, but he'd been able to call up anger to frightening effect. Then his mask had concealed the rest.
For a man like Zemo, who felt only anger now, he could have seen nothing else but rage.
Their footsteps crunched in the snow.
"Why did he think you didn't remember anything?" Steve asked.
Your memory has failed you. This will not.
Maggie sighed. "Because that's what my hospital records say," she murmured. "At first I told everyone who'd listen what had happened, but it got written off as… hallucinations and delusions." Beside her, Bucky stiffened. "My hospital records say I was confused and suffering from head and memory trauma - which is true enough. And for years I did… I did somehow forget, in a strange way. As far as any written documentation has it, I have no memory of the crash." And she was certain Zemo would have been through everything. He'd certainly been thorough.
She glanced to her left and tried to catch Bucky's gaze. She could still vividly picture the cold dread on his face when he'd registered that she was attacking him, and she couldn't bear it. "I'm sorry," she whispered, low enough that even Steve with his super-hearing couldn't catch it.
He shook his head, just once. Clearly not ready to talk about it. But he wasn't angry, she could see that much.
Bucky glanced back at Zemo. His arms swung limply with each of T'Challa's silent strides. "You stopped him," he murmured. "No Zemo, and no… no Winter Soldiers."
"Right," Maggie breathed, the word fogging in the frozen air.
Tony and Steve slowed to a halt, halfway between the Quinjet and T'Challa's craft. T'Challa, Maggie, and Bucky caught them up, and they found themselves standing in the snow, looking at each other. The wind had died down.
"What now?" Tony asked, glancing around, as if the question had only just occurred to him.
"Zemo must face justice for his crimes," T'Challa said solemnly. "He should go to the Joint Terrorist Task Force."
Steve wiped blood from his jaw. "We gotta… we gotta get out of dodge," he glanced at Bucky. "Figure out how to save Sam and the others."
"You may seek asylum in Wakanda," T'Challa said. "We can provide for your medical needs, and house you for as long as-"
"No," Maggie said. "No."
They all looked to her. She looked back at them, her face set.
"We're going to the Avengers Facility."
Steve's brow pinched. "Maggie, Ross will-"
"I know." She adjusted Bucky's arm again, and he eased some of his weight off her armor. "But we need the Avengers Facility as a base for now," she urged. "We can hide those who need to be hidden, and hold Zemo secure until the JTTF figure out where they want to incarcerate him. But we don't just give up."
"Give up?" Tony questioned, spreading his gauntleted hands. "Maggot, it's done. We stopped Zemo, now-"
"I don't give a shit about Zemo," she snapped. "I give a shit about our family. And I"m not giving up yet."
Steve eyed her, and she hated the pitying expression on his face. "You can't protect us any more, Maggie, you have to-"
"Watch me," she said fiercely. Then she took a breath, forcing herself to relent a little. "Give me a week, Steve. One week. You hide at the Facility, no one needs to know you're there. And if after a week nothing has changed, I'll give you the Quinjet and the resources you need and you can go to the Raft to save the others."
He eyed her for a long moment, his jaw clenched and his fingers tight on his shield. Tony glanced between them, frowning.
Steve's gaze went to Bucky. Then he looked back at Maggie.
He bowed his head a little. "One week."
They all piled on to the Quinjet, shedding broken pieces of armor and uniform and finding water and first aid kits. T'Challa secured the unconscious Zemo in one of the jump seats, and explained that he would fly with them - his aircraft could follow behind them on autopilot. Maggie burned to ask questions, but it wasn't the time.
No one said much to each other. But while Maggie and Tony were shedding their armor at the rear of the jet as Steve began turning on the engines, Tony turned to her.
"I mean, technically, the Quinjet is mine now." He kept pulling off his armor, but raised his eyebrows at her.
Maggie frowned at him a long moment, until she realized. Ah. The Spider-Man. "That… is a conversation for another day," she said, and was almost too tired to smile.
Tony smiled though, easily, and once they were both free of their armor he stepped in and tugged her in for a hug. They clutched each other as best as they could with their injured arms as Steve started up the jet. It was the first time they'd touched since they'd gripped each other's hands, down in that bunker. Maggie could almost feel the ghosts of their parents at their shoulders. The weight of all they'd seen and done crashed down on her.
Maggie squeezed him tight with her right arm. I'm sorry.
His uninjured hand rose to cup the back of her head, and he murmured a single word.
"Maggot."
It was a quiet flight back to the States. They patched up wounds and did their best to clean away the blood and ash. When Tony took over the piloting from Steve, Steve even appeared to doze off for an hour. Bucky bound the shorn-off edge of his metal arm in bandages, to keep the sharp exposed wires hidden.
No one said much. T'Challa kept a silent vigil at the back of the jet, watching over Zemo and clearly deep in thought. Maggie kept to herself, swallowing a few painkillers to ease the throbbing ache of her broken arm, and her eyes closed - she tried to think, to plan, but her mind refused to cooperate.
They were about an hour away from the Facility when Zemo woke.
Maggie had been sitting next to Tony, the two of them sipping instant coffee, when Zemo's low rasp filled the silence of the jet.
"You knew."
Maggie and Tony looked up. Zemo was still strapped into the jumpseat, unable to move his limbs. But his sharp, dark eyes had opened, and Maggie had almost forgotten how intense they were. T'Challa watched, his arms crossed and his expression guarded.
"You knew," Zemo repeated, with his eyes on the Stark siblings.
Maggie and Tony just looked back at him.
Zemo looked down, the simmering fury spreading over his face. Everyone in the jet watched him process his thoughts. He'd been given hardly any time to react, before. Hardly any time to register the futility of all he'd done to get them to Siberia. Maggie almost felt sorry for him.
"It doesn't matter," he finally said. He shook his head. "You are doomed anyway. The Accords have divided you, just as surely as this should have. You" - his eyes flicked to Steve, who was looking over from the pilot's seat - "will never be able to stop running." Steve's expression shuttered. "And you" - he looked to Tony - "have driven away all your friends." He glared at them. "It's less than you deserve."
A long silence passed. T'Challa's lips pressed together.
Maggie watched Zemo's rage simmer and settle on him, a familiar shroud.
"Are you sure all this would have made your wife and son happy?" she asked.
His head whipped toward her, violence twisting his features. "Don't you dare speak of them-"
"You made me watch my parents die, again," she whispered. "Don't talk to me about dignity."
He held her gaze a moment longer, then looked away.
That same furious calm settled over him. "You will all fall."
Maggie watched him for most of the remaining flight to the Facility. Zemo hadn't got what he wanted. They had successfully pulled the rug out from under him. Maggie wished she could feel jubilant that they'd had the upper hand all along, that they'd tricked him.
But this didn't feel like winning.
They landed the Quinjet in the forest outside the Facility, in stealth mode. They wanted to avoid anyone knowing they were back. T'Challa's craft landed on its own a few yards away, engines glowing blue. T'Challa re-sedated Zemo, who went unconscious with fury on his face, and picked him up once more. Steve and Tony murmured about the best place to temporarily keep him, and how to stay hidden in the Facility, and Maggie only half listened.
Bucky had barely said a word since Siberia. He was lost in his head. It did not surprise Maggie when he hung back as the Quinjet loading ramp opened, remaining in the shadows while the others marched out and down. He would follow a few moments later, silent and expressionless, as he had so far.
Maggie paused at the top of the loading ramp, in her prison scrubs and with her broken arm back in its sling. It was a warm day - the sun shone down on the forest, and the wind blew the scents of pine and earth into her face. She took a deep breath of it. Home. She looked over her shoulder at Bucky, who lingered in the cockpit, fussing with a first aid bag that wouldn't fit back into its compartment. Tony, T'Challa, and Steve were already yards ahead, pushing into the treeline. Maggie did not move to follow them.
But then Steve turned back. He had a frown on his face and he readjusted his shield as he called: "Oh, Maggie, could you-"
"Go away, Steve," she said, and hit the loading ramp controls. With a whir the ramp rose again, blocking off Steve's shocked face.
Maggie turned.
Bucky faced her at the other end of the jet, first aid kit forgotten. He didn't look great - exhausted and beaten up, an arm missing, his tangled dark hair pushed back from his face. But where before his eyes had been almost empty, now she saw a glimmer of confusion and amusement. She could see the question there: what are you doing?
She opened her mouth, thought better of it, and then moved. She strode up the length of the Quinjet, and met him where he stood just outside the cockpit. He watched her approach.
She didn't stop at a polite distance. Eyes on his, she stepped into his space and put her uninjured hand on his shoulder, over the broken metal limb. She kept her eyes on his, questioning, and while he was still confused, he accepted the touch.
She slid her hand slowly, deliberately, along his shoulder, up the slope of his neck, to cup his jaw. She watched the path of her hand as it smoothed over metal, then fabric, then skin. His stubble grazed the pads of her fingers and a swallow bobbed his throat. She stood with her hand on the side of his face, an echo of how they'd been that day before he left and the world encroached.
Bucky watched her with his pupils blown wide. She could feel his heartrate speeding up under her fingers, and his chest rose and fell as he sucked in a breath. Her own heart thundered in her ears and her skin prickled, as if touched by a livewire.
Maggie swallowed and breathed: "Is this okay?"
He swallowed again, his blue-grey eyes fixed on hers. He nodded. "Meg, are you sure?"
It was the worst timing. But she'd had good timing before and blown it, so to hell with it.
"Pretty damn sure." She leaned up at the same time as he leaned down, coaxed by her hand on his jaw, and pressed her lips to his.
His lips were soft under hers and she pulled him closer, her senses instantly overwhelmed with him - the way his lips started cold and then seemed to burn under hers, the smell of smoke and blood lingering over the smell of him, the way his pulse skipped under her palm and the soft noise he let out as she kissed him, as if she'd somehow surprised him. Her eyes closed and her mind shorted out. Her hand slid around to the nape of his neck and her fingers curled in his hair.
But no sooner had the noise left him than he surged closer, his arm snaking around her back to press her to him and his lips opening under hers, making her gasp. He tilted his head, nose sliding against hers, and deepened the kiss. She met his passion with hers and within moments they were pressed up against something - the wall of the Quinjet, she thought dazedly - her hand twined in his hair and his hand spanning her ribcage, doing their best to pull each other close despite only having two functional arms between them. Somehow that thought made her smile, despite the way his mouth on hers was making her head explode and her breath come short.
He kissed at her smile and she found him grinning too. She pulled back a little, her eyes slowly opening, and he stole another lingering kiss as she pulled away.
His eyes blazed when she looked into them.
His forehead rested against hers, his back to the Quinjet wall, the side of his nose against hers and his breath on her lips. His chest rose and fell unevenly. Maggie licked her bottom lip, chasing the sparking feeling, and his eyes dropped to her mouth for a moment.
Maggie grinned at him. "I don't care that the world's falling apart. I should have done that months ago."
His hand spasmed, fingertips pressing into her skin. He couldn't seem to wipe the smile from his face. "I - I didn't… I couldn't-"
"Bucky Barnes, lost for words. Should I be flattered?"
He leaned in closer, his nose brushing hers, and her heart skipped. "Yes," he murmured against her mouth, suddenly all suave. "You should."
His lips met hers again. And this time it felt less like they were clutching each other hungrily at the end of the world, and more like… a hello. They broke away only to smile and to catch their breaths, and after what felt like hours, Bucky kissed the edge of her jaw before pulling away again.
Their foreheads pressed together. Maggie tangled her fingers in his dark hair, filthy as it was, and tried to catch her breath.
Bucky closed his eyes. "Can't stay in here forever."
"Why not," she replied, trying to drink in every curve of his mouth, every minute expression around his eyes. He smiled, his eyes still closed, and it felt like she'd won something.
But the sense of his words did slowly sink into her brain. "Yes," she said, stupidly.
He sighed, and Maggie narrowly resisted kissing him again. His eyes opened. "Do you have a plan?" His hand brushed up and down her side. He managed to make her feel a lot of things with just one arm.
She let out a huff of a laugh. "I'm the Wyvern. I've always got a plan."
He smiled against her cheek. "You don't have a plan."
She smiled despite herself. "No. But I'm going to have one, handsome. Just you wait. Best plan you've ever laid eyes on."
His eyes glinted. "Can't wait." He cocked an eyebrow. "Then you're going to have to let me get away from this wall and open the loading ramp, then."
She glanced down. She had, in fact, pushed him against the wall. "You're a supersoldier," she said, pressing in close again and making his breath skip. "Do it yourself."
He grinned, the light of a challenge in his eyes.
They did end up making it into the Facility, and split apart to head to their individual rooms ("See you soon," Bucky had smiled, pressing another kiss to her mouth before he reluctantly walked away).
The Facility had been reduced to skeleton staff only, so the newly-arrived Avengers were easily able to go unnoticed in the private wings. T'Challa secured Zemo in one of their detention cells, then was directed to his own guest room. Maggie learned all this from F.R.I.D.A.Y. as she showered and changed in her own room. She imagined the others were doing much of the same. They needed space, after all that had happened.
There was a sense of an uneasy kind of truce threading through the Facility. Vision must have figured out they were back, too, but as far as Maggie knew hadn't approached any of them.
Maggie got changed into her own clothes: jeans, and loose shirt that didn't hurt her arm too much to put on, and strapped her arm back into its brace. She eyed the crumpled-up and bloody prison clothes on the floor of her bathroom. She thought of Sam, Clint, Wanda, and Scott.
Maggie trudged to her room and sat down on the edge of her bed, intending to think.
But then she woke what felt like hours later. The sun was much lower in the sky beyond her window, filtering golden light onto her floorboards. She groaned and rubbed her face. Guess I needed that.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y.," she mumbled, "anything happen while I was out?"
"Not much to report, Ms Stark. You weren't the only one asleep."
"Where's Ross, do you know?"
"Still on the Raft."
"Okay." She sat up with a groan, wincing as her arm throbbed. "And who's in the Facility?"
"Colonel Rhodes is recuperating in the medical wing after his transfer from Metro General this morning, as his surgery was a success. The Vision is in his quarters, as are Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, and the boss."
Maggie's heart flipped just at the mention of Bucky, and she rolled her eyes at herself.
"Prince T'Challa is exploring the common room. I should tell you, he used some kind of unfamiliar technology to make contact outside the Facility. I couldn't trace the call."
"Probably his family," Maggie murmured. She remembered reading about the former king's widow, and… there might have been some other children. "Rhodey's awake?"
"He is. He's currently completing a sudoku."
She smiled. "Hm." She bowed her head and rubbed her temples. "Okay. Can you contact the others for me, ask them to meet me in the medbay in… say, an hour? And then... I'm going to need food, and a StarkTablet."
"Sure thing, Ms Stark."
Maggie climbed off her bed and started getting ready, moving slower than she was used to. But as she reached for her easiest pair of slip-on shoes, she paused. "What do you think about the Accords, F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"
"The boss didn't design me to give opinions, Ms Stark."
Maggie didn't know if that was strictly true. Tony liked AIs with sass. "You're designed to make judgements based on data, though. So?"
There was a long pause, and Maggie wondered if she'd broken F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s poor electronic brain. But then the accented voice came back over her bedroom speakers:
"The Accords have destabilized and fractured the Avengers."
Maggie rubbed her arm. "So you think they're a bad thing."
"Parameters are necessary for function."
She frowned. "What?"
"Parameters are necessary for function," F.R.I.D.A.Y. repeated.
"Rules. Rules are necessary for… everything to work," Maggie translated. She pulled her shoes on and sighed. "Jeez, F.R.I.D.A.Y., swinging between 'the Accords are evil' and 'the Accords are necessary'. You're just as black and white as the rest of them."
"Like I said, you don't keep me around for my opinions," F.R.I.D.A.Y. said almost sarcastically.
"Oh no, that was very helpful. Thank you, F.R.I.D.A.Y."
Maggie stepped into the medbay half an hour later, balancing two oven-reheated pizzas in her uninjured hand. The StarkTablet she'd been working on for the last twenty minutes was tucked into the back of her jeans. The nurse at the main computer looked up and noticed her enter, then at Maggie's nod went back to his work.
Rhodey lay on a hospital bed at the far end of the medbay by the window, blankets tucked over him, an IV in his arm, and his head propped up by a few pillows. He looked a little grey, with bags under his eyes and a lethargy to the way he moved, but he was awake, and alert, and scribbling in a sudoku book with a mechanical pencil.
"Sorry for using you as my crash mat," Maggie called as she approached.
Rhodey looked up, and smiled tiredly when he spotted her. "Hey, jailbird," he called, and sat up a little as she approached.
"I brought food," she said, gesturing with the pizzas. "I don't know if you're allowed to eat so soon after surgery, but…?"
"Give it," Rhodey said, reaching out, and Maggie slid the first pizza onto his hospital table. She glanced over her shoulder at the nurse, but he was paying them no mind.
"F.R.I.D.A.Y. said you were doing sudokus?" she queried as she turned back. "You broke your legs, Rhodey, you don't have to enter a retirement home."
"You broke my legs," he shot back as he inhaled his pizza fumes. There was no venom in his voice. "And I'll have you know that sudokus are very relaxing."
"Take your word for it," she smiled. She looked over him - she could only see the shapes of his legs under the thick hospital blanket, but she could tell they were heavily bandaged. "You okay?" She reached out and took his hand.
He waved his other hand. "They tell me they got all my bones put back in the right place in the operating room, just got to sit on my ass 'til they heal, now."
"You should be good at that, then," she said, even as her heart squeezed. She eased herself down on the chair next to Rhodey's bed with a sigh.
"How about you? Tony told me about your arm." He eyed her brace.
"Broken. It'll heal." She picked up a slice of pizza and bit into it. Her stomach instantly growled in response, as if awakened.
Rhodey eyed her for a long moment, until he finally tilted his head. "Why do you look so happy?"
Maggie blinked and met his eyes. "I - it's nothing." She swallowed her mouthful.
He shook his head and forged on. "Tell me what's going on, Maggie. Tony hasn't wanted to worry me, but… last I heard, you were in prison, and something terrible was about to happen. Tell me you stopped it."
She sighed. "We stopped it. It's a long story. Now we've got to deal with… the terrible things that have already happened."
He nodded slowly. "You'll sign the Accords, then?"
She licked her lips. "We'll see. I actually… want to talk to everyone. Together."
He frowned. "That's going to be difficult."
"Well, obviously those who are in the Raft we can't talk to," she said with a surge of guilt. "But everyone who's here. They'll be here soon."
"They?" he caught the look on her face. "Oh, Maggie, what have you done?"
"It's not what I have done," she said as she lifted her pizza slice again. "It's what I'm going to do."
"I know that look," he said grimly.
"What look?"
"The one you always had as a kid. The I'm going to get what I want and you can't stop me look. You had it all the time - when you were bullying me to teach you to fly, when you wanted your motorbike license…"
She grimaced. "You make me sound spoiled."
"Not spoiled," he acknowledged, reaching for his own pizza. "Just… stubborn. Maggie Stark stubborn."
"Well," she said. "I'm going to need it."
The others filtered in over the next half hour - Vision first, surprisingly. He appeared in the medbay silently.
For a long moment he and Maggie just looked at each other. Vision wore his usual smart-casual clothes, and he stood a little less tall than she was used to. The stone in his forehead glowed.
Maggie rose and strode across the medbay to pull him into a hug. He let her, and patted her back uncomfortably.
"Are you okay?" she mumbled.
"I think it's I who ought to be asking you that," he replied as he drew away, and touched the brace on her arm. He frowned, as if troubled by her breakability. "I am sorry I could not do more to help, afterward. There have been many eyes on me, since… what happened at Leipzig."
"They think you made a mistake," she frowned. "I'm sorry."
"I have made mistakes," he said in an almost-whisper, and her frown deepened, but then he rallied and strode past her toward Rhodey. Maggie followed, noting that the nurse on duty had left the room to leave them in privacy.
Steve came in next. Rhodey's eyebrows arched when he saw him at the door, in jeans and a t-shirt. He entered hesitantly, his eyes scanning the room with the caution of a wanted criminal.
"Hey, Cap," Rhodey called, and then Steve was coming over with a tense smile to ask how he felt.
Bucky and T'Challa walked in together. Maggie's face split open in a smile, and Bucky met her gaze with a grin of equal warmth. He had a polymer cover over the stump of his metal arm. Maggie knew she looked like a giddy idiot, beaming at him, but thankfully most of the others were watching T'Challa. He paced inside slowly, eyeing the medbay, and Rhodey, and the medical equipment with equal parts curiosity and trepidation. His gaze went to Maggie's broken arm, then Rhodey in his hospital bed, and his brows came together.
Tony arrived last. He wore casual clothes as well, his arm in a brace and a fading bruise under his eye. He took in the scene of all of them sitting and standing around Rhodey in his hospital bed.
"When are we reading the will, grandma?" he called.
"Yeah, yeah," Rhodey said, finishing his pizza. He gestured to the last available chair and Tony strode up and took it.
"So." He tapped his fingers along the arms of the chair and turned to Maggie. "You've assembled the Avengers, Mags. Now what?"
Maggie's stomach twisted and she straightened in her chair. She could feel them all looking at her, these remarkable men who'd all changed the world in various ways.
"The Accords," she began, and most of them visibly stiffened. She lifted her chin. "You're all acting like this is a done deal, and we have no options to change our situation. And while that might be partly true, I think we can find a solution to… address the shitty parts of our situation and keep our team - our family - together." Steve looked down and Tony looked away, and she could sense their doubt like a physical force.
"Ross is on the Raft," she continued, "and the world is watching. I did some research just now, and the conversation about the Accords is not over. There are other people out there; important, powerful people, who have the same concerns that we do. People powerful enough to question Ross and his Accords council. Journalists, politicians, lawyers. But that conversation isn't going to stay open for long. It'll take a loud voice, and some convincing arguments, to sway things one way or another."
She looked around at them. Steve and Tony sat on either side of Rhodey, Vision stood by the window with his hands behind his back, T'Challa sat on the edge of his seat, and Bucky leaned against the wall a few paces away, his eyes intent. "Zemo didn't tear us apart. We're here, most of us, and together. And I think we've been offered a second chance here. The window is so, so small and the odds are incredibly low." She drew a deep breath. "But that's when the Avengers do their best work." She met each of their eyes briefly. "So, what do you say?"
A ringing silence met her words. She looked around, only to be met with downcast eyes and doubtful looks. Even Bucky stood with his lips pressed together, waiting to see what the others would say. When she met his gaze, his brow furrowed. It's not up to me, his look seemed to say.
She turned to her brother beside her, and stared at him until he lifted his gaze to hers. The Accords' first supporter.
"You know something has to change," she murmured.
He clenched his jaw. "But it's done, Mags-"
She held up her hand and grit her teeth when she realized it was shaking. "When you and I created Ultron, he was going to be beautiful," she urged. "You remember how excited we were? The pure thrill of science? But we screwed it up." His brow knotted. "We didn't put the right checks in place, and we overestimated how he could just keep building and building in power."
Tony kept frowning at her.
"If anything, Ultron should have taught us that the first attempt isn't always the best one," she said in a softer voice. "After we made Ultron, I was going to give up. But you gave me the courage to try again. And we got Vision out of it." She smiled at the android, who was still looking out the window, then turned back to Tony. "Have the courage to try again, Tony. And you and I can give others the courage too. Because this first attempt… we screwed it up."
He let out a heavy breath, turmoil in his eyes. He dropped his head into his hand. "I don't know how we're gonna do that, Mags. The Accords has already become a whole structure-"
"Tony. We are rich, and powerful. There's no better time to swing that stick around than now."
With his head in his uninjured hand, Tony squeezed his eyes shut against a tension headache. Unbeknownst to his sister, he thought of what Sam had told him, on the Raft.
I trust Steve, and I know he's got my back. I want to know that you've got hers.
He let out a long, tired sigh and lifted his head. He met Maggie's earnest dark eyes. The corner of her mouth twitched, as if she could tell what he was going to say before he said it.
"You and me, huh?" he said wryly, and the budding smile spread over her face. He nodded. "I'm with you, Maggot. I wasn't… I'm still trying to find a balance, as Iron Man. I'm willing to try to reshift that balance. I'm willing to try again."
She reached out and squeezed his hand briefly, her heart pounding.
Tony sighed and glanced to his oldest friend, laid up in a hospital bed.
Rhodey had been watching with a grim set to his mouth, but at Tony's look, he tipped his head back. "It might be that fall knocked a few braincells loose, but… I'm with you." He looked at the Stark siblings. "I won't - well, I can't - fight. But I'll take a stand."
Maggie nodded at him, her hand still clutching Tony's, and turned toward the android eyeing the empty grounds of the Facility.
"Vision," she murmured. His head tilted slightly, but he still did not face her. "My friend. Will you try to fix this, with me?"
He stood motionless.
Maggie couldn't see his face, only the inhuman stillness and silence that made him appear like some kind of statue, forever looking out into the world beyond. She let go of Tony's hand and pulled back into her seat, her stomach churning.
She thought Vision would never answer her, and she was about to turn back to someone else, to keep trying, when he spoke.
"I have learned I am fallible." Maggie's eyebrows rose, and she sensed the whole room hold its breath to hear his quiet, considered tone. "I was designed for perfection, so I cannot account for it, except that… I must be… I must have a soul. And therefore I am fallible." He turned a little, and Maggie could see the troubled eyes below the glowing stone. "We must create a system that allows for fallibility. That acknowledges it, and prepares for it. The current system is… oppressive. It does not allow for the human soul."
He turned fully to face them, and nodded to Maggie. She let out her held breath and returned the nod.
She opened her mouth, unsure who to turn to next, when suddenly the door at the other end of the medbay slid open.
"I'm here!" came a familiar feminine voice, and they all turned to see Pepper Potts, in a simple t-shirt and jeans, rush into the room, clutching a StarkTablet. "I got your call," she said breathlessly to Maggie, approaching the end of Rhodey's bed. "I'm going to help."
Tony stared up at Pepper like he'd been hit over the head. Pepper glanced at him briefly, her eyes flickered, and then she turned her gaze to Rhodey. "Hey," she said warmly. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said hesitantly, glancing from Tony to Pepper. "Thanks for… coming?"
Maggie pulled up a chair for Pepper, and she sat down with a grateful smile.
Tony, apparently unable to deal with this new development, turned to the Wakandan sitting on the chair furthest from the others. "T'Challa?" he prompted. T'Challa had been listening with his arms draped along the armrests of his chair and a grim look on his face. "I'm surprised you're still here, to be honest, and I wouldn't blame you if you told us all to go to hell. Your dad died speaking for the Accords."
T'Challa looked down, considering. "My father believed in making the world a safer place for Wakandans. I…" his brow furrowed. "I am beginning to see that I may have a larger responsibility than that. Looking back, I dislike what I saw of the Accords. In the midst of my grief and vengeance, Secretary Ross's bloodthirst seemed right to me, but now I see... he is not a wise leader." He lifted his head and met Maggie's eyes. "I will not promise you that I am with you. But I will stay to… hear what you have to say. I am beyond vengeance, and I am beyond the single-minded drive of my childhood. I… am the king of Wakanda." He bowed his head. "And I will listen."
"Thank you," Maggie said solemnly. "That's all I ask."
As one, nearly everyone in the room turned to Steve.
He'd been silent this whole time, listening to Maggie and the others with his head downturned, his chin resting in one hand. He'd only looked up briefly when Pepper had entered.
Maggie held her breath as she looked at him. She'd known he would be the toughest to crack. And she also knew that even though she had her brother, an android, and the King of Wakanda, that they could not do it without him.
She didn't say anything.
Finally, Steve looked up, instantly meeting her eyes. "You really think we can talk them 'round, Maggie? The Accords are already international law."
"And laws get amended," she urged. "And if this doesn't work, then trust me, I'm out."
She felt Tony start beside her and look at her with pain in his eyes - but also a growing realization that she meant it, and that if this didn't work, he'd lose his sister.
Maggie swallowed. "But we need you for this, Steve. You've always been our moral compass, and we need that now more than ever. You've never been that good at following the rules." He smiled humorlessly. "So help us make the right rules. Because ten, fifty, seventy years down the line, it might not be you leading the Avengers. Wouldn't you want our next leader to be guided by your moral compass too? How else are they going to do that, if we don't lay down the path now?"
Parameters are necessary for function.
A long, terrible silence passed. Steve held her gaze, and she could not read him at all. She saw her friend sitting across from her, but also her Captain. And she had no idea how his next words might impact her future.
But it wasn't Steve who spoke next.
"Do it, Steve," Bucky said, breaking the silence. "Or I'll kick your ass."
Steve closed his eyes and laughed softly to himself.
When he opened his eyes and nodded, Maggie's heart flipped over. "Alright. I don't know if this cause is able to be saved, but alright. I'll try."
Maggie nodded, unable to speak and alarmed by the tears stinging her eyes.
"So how do we do this?" Rhodey asked.
She'd been expecting the return of their gazes to her, but it still felt like an uncomfortable spotlight. She took a breath. "We do it together." She turned to Pepper.
Pepper met Maggie's eyes with steel, then turned her gaze on the rest of them. "You stop using your fists. And you start using paperwork."
"In my experience that usually means spending a metric fuckton on lawyers," Tony said.
Pepper looked back at him for the first time since she'd sat down. The corner of her mouth ticked up. "Exactly."
Reviews
Strawberrycheeze: I'm so glad you liked the chapter and the fakeout! It was really interesting to 'hide' stuff from the reader, from a writer's perspective :)
Macky: Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked the chapter! And glad I could surprise you ;) And thanks for the well wishes!
Guest: So glad you liked it!
Guest: Wait no longer, hope you enjoyed this!