Other than that, Rogers felt it couldn't have gone much better than it had done. He switched out with Romanoff and sent her in to hack computers with Rhodes and Barton. He and Bucky searched the hillside for any other ways in or out, well out of police view.
"You haven't forgotten how to show off have you?" Rogers asked.
"You mean save your ass at close range?" Bucky asked, "No."
"How many do you think you killed?"
"Fifteen? I wasn't counting." Bucky paused. "It's kind of therapeutic."
Rogers smiled. "The simple dignity of punching nazis."
"Shooting them is better."
.
Romanoff and Barton took two flash drives full of data away before they let Rhodes destroy the hardware. Romanoff had volunteered to trawl through it for anything useful. Steve was afraid of what he'd find if he looked. There were things he was happier not to see.
Bucky woke Steve by screaming twice that night.
.
"You're okay here for a few hours?"
"Yeah, I got plenty to do." Bucky held his book up. Part of Barton's program for introducing foreign agents to modern American culture. The Lord of The Rings.
Steve let himself out and locked the door behind himself. He, as part of 'all active Avengers' had been called to a meeting at Stark Tower at ten. A representative of The President wanted to talk to them about their future. Steve was apprehensive.
"So you're the fellow who lives downstairs." He looked up. A middle aged woman was standing in a coat on the stairs, looking at him. She sounded southern.
He straightened a little, without even thinking. "Yes, Ma'am. I suppose I am."
"And there's another fellow there too, isn't there?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"What's his name?"
Steve felt his hackles stand up. This wasn't an unreasonable thing to ask. It was just because it was Bucky. "James. And you, ma'am."
"Oh, sure. I'm Betty." She extended a hand to him. "And you?"
"Steven, Ma'am."
"Well, it's always lovely to meet the neighbours, though I gotta say, you do make rather a lot of noise of a night together."
Steve squared his shoulders and lowered his voice a fraction. "Look, I'm sorry if we've been bothering you, Ma'am, but you see the thing is…" He glanced over his shoulder. "We're both vets." He saw her eyebrows raise up. "We've both seen some things we could wish we hadn't."
"Oh." She said. "Oh gosh. I'm sorry. I didn't realise. I uh… Thank you for your service." She turned and carried on down the stairs, flustered in to silence.
Steve silently thanked Sam for the idea. He let her get a little way ahead of him, then went out in to the wind.
.
The doors of Stark Tower opened to Steve when he was still six feet away. There were three men already in the lobby; Sam and two strangers. The strangers were both young men, both missing a forearm. Stark's first guinea pigs.
"Oh man, he gets on quick." Sam was saying. "Do you think he had a basic model ready to go that he just tailored?"
"Probably."
"Well, I hope it goes well for you, both of you. Keep the cards. There is a community here, if this goes well, you're going to give a lot of people hope."
The two amputees left, past Steve.
"When's Stark fitting the arms?" Steve asked.
"They operate next week."
Steve sighed.
"If the whole country knows Stark is fitting metal arms to military vets…"
"I know, but-" Steve hesitated, wondering how best to say what he was thinking. "Stark has treated him like a resource from the off. He studied the arm, studied the arm on him, then more or less threw him out."
The lift doors opened.
Barton stuck his arm out, jamming the door.
"Morning fellas. You ready to deal with politicians?"
Sam smiled. "My first time. Never been highbrow enough before now."
"Well, let me tell you, it's mind-numbing." Barton said. "There is no job I hate more than guarding politicians."
.
Romanoff was waiting at the top.
"This is what Nelson and Murdock were waiting for." She breathed as she reached past him for coffee. "Someone to make a play for The Avengers." Steve nodded.
Over the next ten minutes, they assembled: Steve, Stark, Banner, Barton, Romanoff, Wilson, Rhodes.
Then a man in a suit came in, followed by a younger man carrying two briefcases. Steve saw Romanoff and Barton twitch.
"Avengers." The man said. "I'm Senator Cheney. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My eldest son is a college student a few miles away from here. I remember watching what happened on the TV and… suffice it to say I'd be a different sort of man with a different sort of life if not for you. Thank you."
Stark offered some sort of acknowledgement.
There was a silence.
"Not much for small talk, are we? Okay. The Avengers Initiative was a SHIELD project – SHIELD's idea, SHIELD's pride, SHIELD's responsibility. Obviously recent events mean that needs to change. Mr Stark, you've been very generous in housing and, unless I'm mistaken, funding this remarkable team, but I think you'll agree that this isn't a long term solution." Nobody offered remark. They didn't know enough yet. "Stark Industries may be very well resourced, and well equipped to support… shall we say the 'techy' end of the team; Iron Man, War Machine and so on. What Stark Industries lacks is legal framework and protection, and oversight. Now that you're no longer SHIELD agents, you're vulnerable to private and public prosecution for… assault, murder, property damage, vandalism… you have none of the protections of federal agents. I know you lined up with Maryland State police a little while back, but I'm sure I don't need to tell you how irritating it is to work state by state. You'll find life much easier with federal level oversight." There it was. "Properly funded again, and with federal level support and clearances, you can be effective."
"Doing what?" Steve asked.
Cheney blinked. "Doing whatever work The Avengers need to do – mopping up HYDRA remnants, discovering and wiping out their cells."
"What about rescuing their prisoners?" Sam asked.
"Of course. And defending America and her allies from terrorist threats."
"Who decides what America needs defending from?" Barton asked.
Cheney spread his hands. "As with SHIELD, panels of security experts analyse threats and assess appropriate responses, and when we need to call for the cavalry." He gestured to the room.
"What do you get out of this?" Barton asked.
Cheney seemed a little taken aback. "The might of the Avengers."
"At your beck and call." Steve said.
"No, defending our homeland, and anywhere else we think prudent."
"Do we retain the right to refuse?" Barton asked.
"Sorry?"
"If my SHIELD handler gave me a mark, I had, written in to my contract, a right to say 'up yours, Coulson, I don't want to'. Do we keep that right?"
"I'd need to read the whole contract to be sure." Cheney said.
"That's a 'no', isn't it?" Barton said coldly.
"It's an 'I'm not sure, Agent Barton." Cheney said firmly. "Now, let's turn this around. The Avengers gain legal protection in line with soldiers or police officers for their actions while acting under ATCU guidance."
"ATCU?" Sam asked.
"Sorry, Advanced Threat Containment Unit. President Ellis felt the need to fill the void left by SHIELD. ATCU is our working solution."
"And SHIELD's remnants are in ACTU now." Romanoff said.
"So is there a risk that we end up taking orders from HYDRA?" Rhodes asked. "Given that SHIELD…"
Steve saw Cheney flicker. "Be sensible now. Every member of ACTU has been thoroughly background checked."
"So had every member of SHIELD." Barton said.
"Look, Clint, we can't just run around like hooligans for ever." Stark said. "I get that it's hard for you to trust anyone right now, but we need to be answerable to someone or something. If we just run ourselves, we risk becoming the things we seek to destroy."
"Well said, Mr Stark. Oversight protects us from the fundamental nature of man. Democracy works wonderfully for politics, but electing superheroes probably won't work so well."
The younger man started his way round the table, handing out thick paper booklets to each Avenger.
"This is a draft copy of our agreement" Banner set about it straight away. "outlining our responsibilities to you and your responsibilities to us."
"Jumping when you say jump?" Barton said.
"We do the searching work and the admin, you get to focus on being heroes. As I understand it, finding HYDRA can be difficult. Imagine if we did that for you, and we set you up to train together, with MMA masters, Krav instructors, Navy Seals, British SAS. You become the best versions of yourselves you can be, then when we find something like a HYDRA base, we just drop you right on top of them."
"Those with innate powers will undergo analysis to determine threat level. Those with innate powers will also wear a tracking bracelet at all times." Banner said, reading aloud. He looked up. "That's a problem for me."
"I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get the tracker to survive-"
Banner shook his head. "No, you misunderstand. I'm not down for wearing a tracker for the rest of my life."
"Where's this?" Barton asked.
"Page 158." Banner replied.
"Doctor Banner, I'm sure you understand that your unique abilities make you a target to unsavoury organisations." Senator Cheney started.
"Any enhanced individuals who use their power to break the law or are otherwise deemed to be a threat to the safety of the general public may be detained indefinitely without trial." Wilson cut in. He looked up. "Wow. Just wow."
"Detained indefinitely without trial?" Barton repeated. "What is this? Soviet Russia? North Korea?"
"This gives us less legal protection than a private citizen." Wilson said.
"Not against private prosecutions." Cheney said. "If you go back to page ninety-six, you'll find-"
"Those with secret identities must reveal their true names, biometric data, addresses and social security numbers to Congress." Banner said.
"Nope." Barton stood up.
"Agent Barton-"
Barton picked up his bag. "I'll go back to being a circus freak before I sign this. Go to hell. Tell whoever wrote this to hitch a ride with you and give my best to Joseph Stalin." Barton shut the door behind himself.
There was a very long silence. These people undoubtedly had the power to pardon and protect Bucky, but by the look of this contract, they'd be more likely to just lock him up without trial.
Stark took a breath slowly. "Clearly we all need some time to think about this."
"Yes." Cheney said.
"You ought to bear in mind," Romanoff said, "we know at least one Senator was a HYDRA plant. We don't know if there could be others." Cheney took a breath. "I'm not accusing you, Senator, but that's why the idea of giving his address to Congress makes Agent Barton jumpy."
"How do you know that?"
"It makes me jumpy too."
"And it wasn't that long ago that SHIELD knowing where we all lived nearly got all of us killed by sniping helicarriers." Steve said. "We got burned, we're warier now."
Everything quoted from this contract came of the MCU wiki page for The Sokovia Accords. Including indefinite detention without trial.
