"I am so glad we decided to buy a bag of coffee from that shop when we did," Freya stated as she began putting the beans through the grinder to brew the fantastic coffee they'd had on their not so great mission.
"I'm just glad we got it before everything went south," Kendall said with a hint regret lining her voice.
Freya dumped the remainder of her ground beans into the garbage disposal before starting the brew and then looked at Kendall, "Things were not great on that mission. On the plus side, we are about to have some good coffee. How are things going with you and Steve, by the way? I hope I don't make things awkward between you when it comes to us and work," she added at the end with a little guilt from their lack of focus.
Kendall gave a small laugh, "Nah, he's fine. He knows how we get sometimes, so it's good to have him around to keep us on task. He doesn't hold that against us," she confessed with a fond smile, "What about Tony? Does he know you went with us?" she asked curiously.
Freya raised her eyebrows as the coffee machine sounded its completion, "He does not know because he is in this mindset where we need to step back and let the law take care of things instead of swooping in. He'll be fine with it if he finds out though," she semi lied to herself as she poured them each a cup of coffee and brought it over where Kendall was sitting.
Just as Freya sat down next to Kendall on the sofa, the garage door opened and Tony walked in, "Hey Fre, I saw you on the news. Did you miss our chat about the Avengers current situation or did you just not care at all?" he asked, not hesitating at all to say what was on his mind.
Freya shook her head, "I didn't miss our chat but Cap needed a team of four and I was here so I went. Things may have gone badly but we still stopped Rumlow from getting the bioweapons he was after. I'm sorry if my actions upset you but I will always stand by Cap when it comes to helping people. That's why we have these abilities," she replied as Kendall looked away toward the window, trying to act as if she wasn't there anymore.
Tony smirked at Freya's response before he walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, "Who has been putting coffee grounds into the garbage disposal? How many times do I have to find this before it gets fixed?"
Kendall snickered before Freya responded, "That was also me. Looks like I'm not going to be getting the best visit from you this weekend. Speaking of, we didn't expect you so early. Why are you here?" she asked and saw his facial expression change so she quickly added, "I'm so happy you're here because I've missed you."
Before Tony could reply, Steve entered the kitchen, sending a smile toward Kendall, before he addressed Tony, "What brings you upstate?"
"Can't a man just come check on his investments without some sort of ulterior motives?" Tony began before every face in the room answered the question, "Ok, I'm here because the Secretary of Defense is on the way and I wanted to give you a heads up. He has a proposition from the government for the Avengers."
"What kind of proposition?" Steve asked, already in defensive mode, "He isn't coming to congratulate us, I imagine."
Tony shook his head, "No, he's coming to talk about all the damage we cause when we save the world. You aren't going to like it," he finished before he turned his attention to Freya, "Fre, a moment of your time before he gets here?"
Freya gave Kendall a worried glance before she nodded, "Absolutely. Follow me to my room," she said as she stood up, gripping her coffee.
Kendall watched as Steve made his way over to where Freya was previously sitting. "How are you doing?" he asked Kendall, taking a seat next to her on the couch. She gave him a small smile in return.
"I'm ok, I guess. More importantly, how are you?" Kendall countered as she leaned slightly into him, reaching to take one of his hands into hers. Steve let out a sigh as he clutched her hand.
"It's part of the job," he said with his gaze focused downwards, as if he was talking more to himself rather than her. Kendall gently squeezed his hand, motioning for him to look up at her.
"We did the best we could. More people would have died if we hadn't done what we did. You made the right call," she reassured. Steve looked down at their joined hands before looking back up into Kendall's eyes.
"You're right," he said softly as he smiled weakly down at her. Kendall returned his smile with a grin of her own.
"And I'm sorry about the coffee incident with Freya. We don't get to work together a lot," she apologized, feeling a tiny bit guilty about the coffee date with her friend while on the mission.
"I can see why," Steve teased with a slight shoulder nudge causing Kendall to laugh.
"I apologized, Rogers," Kendall countered sternly, with a slight tug of the corner of her lips. Steve's grin grew as he slowly began to fill the gap between them. As his lips were just about to touch Kendall's, they heard a throat being cleared causing the two to quickly pull away from one another.
"Rogers. Cooper," Secretary Ross greeted as Steve and Kendall now stood from their seats.
"Secretary," Steve greeted while Kendall nodded.
Freya walked in to her room with Tony following her, "What's up?" she asked as she sat on her bed and gestured for him to sit next to her.
Tony sat down and looked at her, his expression serious, "When the secretary gets here he is going to shut us down unless we cooperate. I've been trying to get you in a place where you know that sometimes we help and sometimes we don't to get you ready but you still run to every cry for help in the world. If you don't agree to the government's terms, they will force you to retire," he explained.
Fre nodded before she reached up and placed her hand on his face, "Babe, I know that you are under more pressure then the rest of us because you've always dealt with the government but if they don't let me help as I was created to then that is a disservice to the world. You know Steve is never going to agree to this?" she finished.
Tony nodded as he ran his fingers over the bridge of his nose, "I know and I hate that I have to be the bad guy but we do need to be put in check because, like it or not, when we get involved lives are lost too."
Fre wasn't thinking about the secretary anymore as she watched Tony remove his hand from his face with a grimace of pain, "Are you alright?" she asked, her voice conveying her concern as she scooted closer to him.
Tony nodded, "I'm fine. I just have a constant electromagnetic headache from the suit which is why I try to put it on less and less," he admitted.
"You're the smartest man on the planet," she stated before wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head onto his chest, "Can you redesign something in the suit to stop that from happening? I know you and I know you don't want to give up being Ironman," she finished before moving one of her hands to his chest over his heartbeat, "The suit kept you alive for a long time."
Tony nodded before he leaned forward and placed a kiss on the top of her head, "I wish I felt better and the secretary wasn't on his way so we could have a proper reunion but for now, this is all we get. I'll check into the suit but ever since I lost JARVIS, it hasn't been the same," he revealed causing Frey's heart to tighten in her chest.
"How long until the secretary gets here?" she asked as she pulled away to lock her eyes with him.
Tony grimaced, "He's late so no time at all," he finished before he stood and reached down for her hand, "We should get back downstairs."
"We will get a proper visit before you head back to the city," she replied, grabbing his hand to go back downstairs for their verbal beating.
The group gathered in the silence of a conference room after the Secretary made his leave. Tony was the first to speak as he pulled out his cell phone, displaying an image of a young boy.
"This is Charles Spencer," Tony began, "he was vacationing in Lagos; not in Vegas, not in Maui, like I would, but volunteering for school in a 3rd world country, and he died due to our 'life saving' measures," he finished seriously, turning to face the group sitting around the table.
"Tony, we can't hold ourselves accountable for every life lost because more would people would be gone if we didn't intervene," Freya began, the first to respond, "But, I am not comfortable with someone telling me when I can and can't help."
"I agree with Freya," Kendall spoke up, "if I see someone in trouble and no one else is around, I have to do something about it. I think we all feel that way," she urged as she looked around at the rest of the group.
"I believe Mr. Stark is saying we can still protect people, but within regulations," Vision corrected. The room remained in a tense silence.
"When is the deadline to sign?" Steve asked as he looked up from the table.
"That's a good point, Cap," Freya added, "I am not going to decide this in one day. I need to seriously think about what's best."
Tony closed his eyes as he listened to his entire team, except for Vision, shoot him down, "Guys, you have until the end of the week. We are signing in Vienna on Friday so if you are in, be there and if not. Consider yourself officially retired."