Chapter 17

Upstate New York, USA

Spring 2016

Nadine was starting to think her discipline was slipping. It was taking far more effort than it should have to maintain her mask of patient attentiveness to the US Secretary of State, Thaddeus Ross. Though, honestly, prevaricating like he was with his little anecdote about golfing and finding perspective? What was so wrong with just coming out and saying what it was he obviously wanted to say?

She was familiar with the man. She'd heard of him before through her past digging on the Avengers after the Battle of New York and, upon hearing just about a month back that he'd been made Secretary of State, she had dug into him further.

She was not terribly impressed. The man was far from being considered friendly to Enhanced persons and their allies. In fact, unless she was reading too much between the lines—which she rather doubted—he'd all but come out and said on several occasions that he was almost categorically against allowing Enhanced persons their freedoms unless under very strict governmental and even military control.

But then, this was the man who had gone on record years before to say that Bruce Banner was no longer a man with rights, but a weapon belonging to the US Military; something the US Government had been very quick to whitewash upon the former General's appointment as Secretary of State.

No, she did not trust the man in the slightest, and she could all but feel the contempt for all of them radiating off him.

Still, unreadable mask in place, she was a credit to her training, paying careful attention to not only what he said but to how and to what he didn't say; almost always the more interesting part, anyway. And judging how carefully still her sister was sitting? Natasha was doing precisely the same thing.

And she had a feeling Natasha was coming to exactly the same conclusions. It was a meticulously rehearsed speech. Ross was good, she could give the former General that, but there was a barely perceptible lack of true sincerity that had Nadine wary.

But, of course, like all facades, the Secretary's only went so far.

"You have fought for us," he was saying solemnly, "protected us, risked your lives." Only for his tone to subtly shift, the civil, even appreciative address hardening ever so slightly. "But while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some…who would prefer the word 'vigilantes'." Some like him, she read in his voice. Nadine wasn't sure if the rest of the Team caught it, but she certainly did, as did Natasha and Wanda, judging by the faint change in her sister's posture as she straightened in her seat between Rhodes and Steve and the way Wanda drew in an uncertain breath from her place between her brother and Vision. Nadine's carefully maintained expression nearly faltered into a frown; Ross was walking a fine line bordering on outright accusation. Natasha's lip curved slightly as she caught Nadine's eye for a split-second—understanding that they were on the same page passing easily between them—before turning to Ross.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked politely, though there was no mistaking the challenging thread to her tone. And judging by the way Ross looked up to the redheaded spy? He was not impressed.

And it showed. "How about 'dangerous'?"

Oh, yeah…there it was…

All at once the tension in the room spiked. As her eyes flicked from Avenger to Avenger, Nadine noticed nearly everyone froze or at least inhaled in barely concealed unease at the shift in the former General. A faint feeling of vindication surfaced in the back of Nadine's mind at how clearly the Secretary had just made his personal sentiments known, sentiments she had already picked up on. The man certainly had a chip on his shoulder.

Though that vindication quickly turned to a cool, even protective anger.

"What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals," Ross threw out blithely, "who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?" Nadine nearly lost her composure then, angry and uneasy as she forced herself through several slow, measured breaths where she sat off behind Sam, apart from the group at the table as Tony was. Ross brought up footage of the devastation that had followed each major event the Avengers had been involved in to make his point, sedately naming each place with a grim, accusing tone. She could feel her features slipping past unreadable indifference into cool detachment.

Especially when Wanda, growing paler by the second, swallowed back a gasp of pain, unable to bear looking at the footage from Lagos. Next to her, Pietro's jaw clenched as he turned to his sister, discreetly reaching out to clasp her hand beneath the table. From where she sat, Nadine could see Wanda flinch, nearly pulling back from the gesture of comfort. Pietro swelled and Nadine knew he was winding up to lash out at the Secretary. She shot him a firm look and a subtle shake of her head, warning him against losing his temper. It had been clear from the moment they'd entered the conference room that Pietro had been distrustful of Ross, the way he'd unconsciously placed himself between the Secretary and his twin as they took their seats enforcing that. And Ross' attitude wasn't helping. But miraculously, Pietro heeded her silent admonition, though his eyes glittered with barely restrained temper.

Perhaps because he could guess that she sympathized. It woke her protective, even maternal instincts to see Wanda reacting as she was, the pain and shame and remorse clear on the younger woman's face. It left her fuming that Ross was insinuating that the Avengers were the ones solely responsible for the destruction left in their wake to their faces. That they needed to be held accountable for it—or as Ross obviously believed, liable and thus subject to penalty—despite the fact that they had been fighting to protect the people of Earth. Like the press of the world these days? Ross was conveniently ignoring that, for the most part, the Avengers hadn't been the ones to start these fights…

But what was truly unsettling? No matter that his personal sincerity was in question? Ross wasn't exactly wrong, either. Though, admittedly, it sounded far more convincing when it was King T'Chaka of Wakanda speaking on the matter.

Ross was definitely wrong about the preposterous idea that the Avengers didn't care about the destruction they left behind, but the rest? Nadine's stomach churned uneasily. She could see the point, even if she didn't wholly agree with it.

Across the table, Steve's hand fell from where it had been resting against his chin, his features hard, mirroring the way Nadine felt. "Okay. That's enough," he said softly, meeting Ross' eye. Ross didn't flinch. Instead, he turned, nodding toward his companion. Nadine truly did frown this time, taking note of the thick document that appeared in the aide's hand.

"For the past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision," Ross continued, returning to a much more official demeanour from his decidedly confrontational one the moment before. "That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." And Nadine's heart sunk as he took the document from his aide and pointedly set it on the table in front of Pietro, facing Wanda. Nadine's gaze fixed on the white and blue binding as Pietro's brow furrowed and Wanda reached in front of him to pull it toward her. It was confirmation of the existence of what she was sure they had all heard rumours of over the last few days. The Sokovian girl nearly shoved the document across the table toward Rhodes as he silently offered to take it. She couldn't get it away from her fast enough. And Nadine couldn't blame her.

Ross began to pace slowly around the table as he explained. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by one hundred and seventeen countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization." He spared Nadine a brief glance as he passed between Sam where he sat at the table and Nadine in her place next to the frosted panels that separated the Common Room from the stairwell beyond. She met his almost dismissive gaze with an inscrutable one of her own. It didn't cause his speech to falter, but it did cause his brow to crease faintly. "Instead," he pressed on, circling around past Tony to pause between Steve and Natasha, "they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary." Nadine's breath caught in her throat, her chest feeling tight. Rationally, she could see the merit and even the wisdom, but emotionally?

It sounded like the World Security Council all over again…and the Heads of HYDRA.

They wanted to put the Avengers under a bureaucratic thumb. Her stomach twisted as she met her sister's grave gaze.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place," Steve spoke up, his voice betraying nothing but calm confidence even though he didn't look up to the former General in challenge the way Natasha had. It wasn't necessary. There was a cool authority to his tone that was unmistakable. "I feel we've done that." Ross just looked implacably down at Steve.

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross asked, his condescension clear. Steve looked up to the Secretary, giving very little away, even to Nadine and the rest of his Team. Certainly not to Ross, or he might have reconsidered continuing: "If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes? You can bet there'd be consequences." Nadine couldn't help herself. She stiffened. She could feel her sister's gaze heavy on her, but she didn't look up. She was slipping back into her old habits hard and fast, her instincts to go cold in the face of her unease and fear mingling with the flare of protective anger Wanda's distress had woken and Ross' subtle attack on the Team had stoked.

It was an unstable mix, and one that perhaps left her no longer as wholly rational as she might have been before she'd fallen in with the Avengers and they'd loosened the iron-hold her training had once had on her. But as rational as she usually was or not, she couldn't stay silent. Equating people to weapons did not sit well with her. Neither did challenging her Team.

"Yes, well, nukes are not people," she spoke up, drawing all attention to her. "And people do have free will and rights. It is a rather important distinction, I think."

With an indignant huff and a sound perilously close to a grumble, Secretary Ross turned his attention to Nadine. She could feel it. But like Steve, she didn't raise her eyes from where her hands clasped loosely on her crossed legs until she was good and ready. And when she was? She fixed the former General with a cool, impassive look. Ross' eyes hardened. Nadine stared right back, not intimidated in the least by the former General. "And who are you?" he challenged.

"A Consultant," Nadine replied coolly without missing a beat. If he was trying to intimidate her, it wasn't working. She could swear she heard someone stifle a snort of amusement—normally she would have pegged Stark, but he didn't seem in the mood today. Sam, maybe? Pietro? But she didn't break her stare with Ross to find out.

"That is not a distinction you are qualified to make," Ross declared, his tone clipped and indignant and laced with unconscious authority that came along with years of being accustomed to having people jump to his beck and call. Nadine was unmoved.

"Maybe," she dismissed, probably more patronizingly than was wise. "But given that Human Rights is also something valued and protected by the UN? It seems rather relevant to keep in mind given the subject. Equating or even objectifying people to inanimate weapons does seem a rather dangerous line of thinking," she added with a pointed, arguably challenging look to the former General even as she spread her hands in a placating gesture. Ross' jaw clenched as his features hardened further.

Out of the corner of her eye, she was sure her sister's mouth had parted in astonishment while Steve and Tony had both stiffened noticeably. Not to mention she could feel everyone else looking to her in varying degrees of awe and disbelief. Heck, if she was being truly honest, she was rather surprised at herself. When it came to situations like this one? She had been trained to observe and interpret. Not to engage.

She really had changed since falling in with the Avengers, hadn't she…

She leaned back slightly, purposefully conveying how perfectly at ease she was even if in truth she felt like she was wound tighter than a bowstring with irritation. "But I'm sure that's not what you intended to imply," she concluded, her voice carefully calm and respectful…not that there was any doubting the veiled barb to her words. Ross bristled. It was a dig and they all knew it. In his chair, Tony slumped further with a barely audible groan. It was Ross who finally looked away first, and Nadine felt her lip tug with a tiny, involuntary but satisfied grin.

Was it horribly wrong to say that she was enjoying needling the man? Probably. But Nadine had long come to accept that her morals were more flexible than the average person's.

Besides, it made her feel better.

So she felt little remorse for pushing back in the face of the man's poorly concealed hostility. The man was threatening her Team. He was looking for ways to curb her friends and bring them to heel…probably worse, judging by the things he'd left unsaid and how he'd conveyed what he had. She could see it in his eyes and his body language. He didn't like them. More than that, she realized as she assessed his reaction to the things she'd said, he did not like that he couldn't control them…or rather, take control of them.

"The role of Enhanced persons needs to evolve," Ross declared, resuming his officious manner as though she hadn't interrupted him and returning to the head of the table where he'd started his presentation. "They, and you, need to realized that running around without oversight is not acceptable." He stopped, levelling them, one by one—Nadine tellingly excluded, she noticed with an internal smirk—with an assertive, assessing look. "Compromise," he continued. "Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground." It was nearly convincing, but for all the projected sincerity in his tone, it very much sounded to Nadine like Ross was distinctly unhappy with the 'middle ground.' Nadine's attention was drawn to Rhodes, the Colonel looking thoughtfully to the Accords document beneath his hand.

"So, there are contingencies," Rhodes asked. Nadine inhaled deeply, reining in the slight flutter of unease that was once again trying to settle in her stomach. She had figured Rhodes would likely see the merits outweighing the drawbacks. She suspected from her scrutiny of his features as he spoke that Rhodes was still deliberating, and likely wanted to read through the document before making his final call. But Nadine could also read in his body language that, though cautious, he was open to the Accords. It was the soldier in him coming out, the respect for hierarchy and the belief that chain of command was necessary to maintain order. She couldn't say she was surprised, either. Not after getting to know the man since starting to work with the Avengers.

But Ross was no longer interested in a debate, even one that could shift and even lessen the reluctance that was nearly tangible in the room around him. "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," he said instead of answering Rhodes, glancing to Tony instead. At the table, Steve twisted, glancing to Stark himself. The flutter of unease didn't lessen in the slightest at the nearly imploring look the billionaire gave the Captain. Something Ross wasn't blind to. "Talk it over," he concluded, beginning to edge toward the exit.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Every eye in the room shifted to Natasha, who watched the former General with keen, challenging eyes. Nadine looked to Ross, as did everyone else.

Ross came to a stop as the redheaded Avenger spoke, meeting Natasha's question with a hard look and a condescending tone. "Then you retire."

The smile that came to Natasha's face at the answer was tight and understanding. The flutter gave way to a cool, heavy weight pressing in on Nadine's chest. Oh, that did not sound promising…

"And does retiring require being locked in a box if one—how shall we put it—doesn't want to?" Her own cool, quiet words slipped out before Nadine could stop them. This all sounded dangerously familiar to her. Ross' hard gaze fell on her, taking in the coolly blank set to her features.

"One would get put in a box if one breaks the law," Ross said crossly back, "and make no mistake, the Accords are the law now. They will be enforced."

"And when the execution of the law is in question?" she countered softly, her careful emphasis too clear to be missed. Ross' eyes narrowed further on her, the tension between them, the silent battle of wills palpable. There was a calculating light in his eye that she didn't like. But then, it had been present the entire time he'd been talking to them. The only difference was, until now, it had been reserved for the Twins, Vision, Natasha and Steve; the Threats. So, he considered her a threat now, did he?

About time.

She could nearly feel Natasha and Steve both willing her to drop her challenge of the Secretary, both of them tensing in the corner of her eye.

Ross said nothing. He just held her gaze for a moment longer before turning and striding from the Common Room.

The tense silence left in his wake was nearly deafening.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing!

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