How do I even keep up with Lincoln's shit at this point? How does anyone? Thank you all for tolerating me anyhow.

IDon'tOwnMarvel

Tony let the kid duck away from him and head out the door briskly. As soon as she was out of sight down the hall with her hands stuffed in her pockets, he tossed his hand up in defeat.

"Really? You just had to? She's just a kid.."

"She's dangerous, Tony." Ross replied evenly. "She's yet another reason why this is a good idea."

"She's never hurt anyone." Steve defended, not liking where Ross took it. "Not intentionally."

"Do you need to see the tapes again?"

"She was defending herself." Pietro interrupted too.

Ross's eyes passed across the four who knew her from the start. "You had 2 options."

"You knew?" Tony scoffed disbelievingly, shaking his head. "No, there was one option and I took it."

"And you're responsible for anything she does."

"No, we all made that decision." Clint cut in, glaring at the politician. "It wasn't just Tony."

Ross waved a hand dismissively. "You can all go over the deal together then too. The council meets again 3 days from now in Vienna."

Tony watched the man walk on out, fighting the urge to kick him in the ass on his way with a repulsor from his suit. The door shut behind him before Tony could though, and probably for the best. The last thing anyone needed was an upset Lincoln and Ross had no problem getting her worked up again just so that Tony or Steve would have to be the ones to deal with her.

Politicians.

"How did he get his hands on those tapes?" Clint asked then, looking around at the others. "We were the only ones who had them and they were deleted."

"Probably Fury." Tony crossed his arms, leaning back on a wall instead of sitting again. "Otherwise he wouldn't have known about the options."

Sam frowned back at him. "Wait, what options?"

Tony looked around and then at Steve, willing him to take over explaining first. Steve got the message.

"Back when she first showed up," Steve started carefully, "SHIELD only saw her as a threat. We were given two options as to how to deal with her. One of the options was her execution- to just get rid of her before anything could go wrong. They'd seen what she did to Loki's scepter, and after she started saying things and getting kidnapped…it was difficult to want her around."

"She found that form by the way." Tony cut in, looking at a spot on the floor. "Right before Ultron, actually."

"She still helped us?" Natasha looked over at him, making Tony wince slightly.

"Yeah, she's like that."

He desperately wanted to leave already to go see if she was alright, but this was sort of a more important situation. His mind was already running through the possibilities for this accords business too. Tony would rather get in contact with Angelo, his lawyer, to consider how many human rights this violated. Sure, there was the possibility that with this sort of intervention, he might not make mistakes like Ultron again. But at the same time, Lincoln might be dead or weaponized if it was up to the governments of the world and not Tony and the two assassins.

"Option 2," Steve continued over Tony's thoughts, "Was locking her up with Shield where they'd monitor her and either train her as an agent, or throw her in a cell until they could control her."

"What happened?" Rhodey asked then, looking around at the original four too. "I mean, obviously, none of those panned out."

"Option three." Tony interrupted then to take over. "Was created when the two assassins and I realized that she was a 16 year old kid who was trying to survive somewhere she didn't belong."

He waved a hand vaguely. "So I took her and promised to study her in a controlled environment. I didn't because I'm not a monster, but you know, Shield thought I was."

"Suddenly I'm not feeling so good about being friends with Fury." Rhodey muttered, passing a look at Sam who just cast his own eyes away in thought. "He's not exactly the type to change his mind."

"Yeah." Tony huffed to himself, turning to leave. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go and see if the supposed 'secret weapon' is okay."

Tony could have stuck around, but he had three days to decide if he wanted to sign away his freedom so it wasn't like he didn't have time. He made the call to Angelo too on his way and promised that Friday would send a copy to him. Now he just had to make sure the kid wasn't losing her shit again.

I collapsed on my sleeping couch with a small groan, pulling a pillow up to my chest and burying my face against it.

Stupid head boxes. I frowned with my face hidden against the pillow, They just have to bother me during important meetings, don't they?

Leaving before I lost control would've been a great choice, but I just had to see how everyone reacted. If I'd ignored the meeting all together and not gone, I wouldn't have to deal with the residual sickness in my gut from the whole thing. That's what I get for not being able to handle my own damn memories.

"Gods, I'm fucking stupid." I grumbled quietly, tears pricking in the corners of my eyes.

"You still have a thing against beds?"

I didn't bother moving the pillow to look at him in my doorway while I laid on my back, mostly worried that he might see I was almost crying. "Yes, Tony, I do."

"How come?"

He stepped further into the room, coming closer with his footsteps and making me hug the pillow tighter in case he tried to steal it.

"I don't know." I mumbled, "It's weird and I have bigger problems than trying to decipher my fucked up mind."

Tony pushed my legs off the couch then, making me drop the pillow to glare at him as he sat down.

"My feet were sitting there."

"Not anymore." He looked between my eyes for a moment as I fixed myself to sit on the couch before he spoke up again. "So what happened? You alright?"

I drew my legs up to sit criss cross on my side of the couch. "I don't like Ross. He's not even my government. My government is futuristic and dead."

"That's…true," He tilted his head a little. "But you live here now."

"Just cause I'm stuck here doesn't mean I live here" I tossed the pillow at him and he caught it. "It's not my planet. Not my America. That makes me an illegal immigrant, basically, 'cause they don't give out visas for inter-dimensional travelers."

"You did exist here at one point, to be fair." He muttered back, dropping the pillow to his lap and glancing at me again. "So where do you stand? With the Accords thing."

Oh, of course he'd ask. I inwardly groaned, rolling my eyes.

"I can't make a decision for you." I replied, waving a hand absently, "I'm not even a part of it. I'm not an Avenger and technically, in your world, I'm dead."

"Well, I'm not gonna ask how it ends." He shook his head, his eyes falling on something across the room before he smiled. "You kept that?"

I looked where he was staring as he got up to collect the cracked iron man helmet off my bookshelf. "I don't know. I didn't want to throw it out."

"What is this, Mark-4?" He asked, inspecting the outside before flipping it over to look at the damage. He had a short smirk on his face. "Figured you'd miss me?"

"No," I got up too to take it back out of his hands. "I just thought it'd be a good book stopper. You'll break it."

"You feeling less panicky at least?" He watched as I placed it back down in it's spot on the shelf.

I nodded, facing him again. "I'm always better."

"You're a terrible liar."

"I had to learn it from someone." I smirked back, patting his shoulders with my hands and giving him a serious look. "I also need to go anticipate the moves of a terrorist. And I'm going to hug you."

"First the terrorist or-" He stiffened a little from the hug, standing still for a moment with one hand patting my back. "Okay."

"Thank you." I cleared my throat, walking around him after I stepped back. "Don't mess with my helmet."

"I would never."

So as it turns out, many of them weren't too ready to sign the papers. Vision was pro with Rhodey. Natasha also planned on signing it. All in all, they were on the same sides as before with still no comment from Tony who, shockingly enough, looked on the fence. I, having no side, was pretty unsettled having to sit back and just watch them argue about it.

My notebook was out though as I wrote down sides and noted that Bucky and Pietro were both on Steve's side too. The two of them seemed pretty fixed on his arguments, but I was sure Pietro was only just sticking with Wanda.

"If we sign this, we sign away our right to choose." Steve argued, "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 with the kinds of things we deal with."

"If we don't sign it, they will come for us later." Rhodey said, crossing his arms.

I sat back in my chair and simply scribbled out Zemo's possibilities for the panel in Vienna. Tony would occasionally glance over at me too while I worked.

"You're saying they'll come for me, or Lincoln." Wanda gestured at me with her head. "They're already afraid."

"We can protect you." Vision chimed in for her.

I forgot that Vision had to have feelings for Wanda at this point. Frowning, I made a quick note of that fact. It might be important to keep in mind, especially because people, er, androids were always doing weird things when they cared about each other.

"We've just made some very public mistakes." Natasha added too. "Maybe we should consider earning their trust back."

Steve checked his phone then, looking it over for a moment before getting up and walking to the door abruptly. "I have to go."

I knew what that was about, and didn't dare say anything to him as he left. I was bad at dealing with sad people, so I might just try to avoid Steve after Peggy passes away. Not that…I didn't want to be there for him if he needed anything, but more because I was sure I might say something to make it worse. It wasn't like there was ever really anything you could say that didn't sound scripted to a grieving person anyways. Bucky would probably be better at understanding and Sam was a therapist. This was sort of their area of expertise.

"What about you?" Sam looked to me then, making the others look too. "You've been quiet."

"Uh huh," I replied passively, looking back at my notes. "It's kind of up to you. It's not like I get a say anyways."

"Why wouldn't you get a say?"

Sam was obviously not quite as caught up as the rest of them, but by the way most of the others were looking at me, they didn't get it either.

"Nothing I do here is legally binding." I waved my pencil in the air vaguely. "I'm just along for the ride in everyone else's shitty life. They'll come for me eventually, whether any of you like it or not. It's really just determining how many people I can save before they do and I have to make a run for it. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do. Go back to your argument."

Peitro zoomed over and sat down next to me. "What is the work? Finding out who choses what side?"

"And I have to try and anticipate the moves of a terrorist." I turned the non-magical planning notebook away from him. "Though, I'm still trying to figure out if he is a terrorist or not. No looking."

"You are no fun."

"Hey, Link, you keep going back to this terrorist who might not be a terrorist." Clint called from across the room. "Can you tell us anything about that? There's gotta be something. Hints? Warnings?"

"Yeah, I mean, are you guys all done with this?" I gestured to the thick book of accords in front of me.

Clint nodded with the others. "We can put it on hold."

I looked around at the agreeing group before starting with a contemplative frown.

"Okay, so there's this guy who might not be a terrorist but still could be." I explained easily, "His last name is Zemo but I can't remember his first name so I've been calling him Boots. Anyways, his wife and kid were of the ten who were killed, just like back on my Earth. But, honestly, I have no idea if he's gonna have a plan at all or is even coming after us."

"Can we assume that he does?" Natasha asked.

"Yeah, that's what I did to be safe." I turned back to my notes. "You might wanna put him on a wanted poster or something too. Last time he used an old grievance with Tony and Bucky and there was this big fight about murdered family. His goal was to break you up last time. I'd say if you have any old secrets that might get out and start fights, it'd be best to try and address them now before he does. He's more of the type to use personal attacks so you fight each other. Maybe hope you haven't killed or tried to kill someone here before?"

I looked around at them while they did the same, giving each other looks. I pursed my lips at that. "Oh, great. I forget sometimes that you all live and breathe secrets. Maybe remember that his goal is to break us up then? Don't lose your minds if it turns out that Bucky killed your family. I'm sure he's killed a lot of people."

Bucky winced a little at that, looking away. "Thanks Lincoln."

"See, he's nice." I gestured at him. "No one tries to kill Bucky. Zemo might be using him and the Winter Soldier."

They 'sort of' agreed with that new information and got back to a debate that didn't really involve me until Tony made an argument against the accords. No one else switched sides, but I knew for sure that Tony's argument about how 'aliens might have taken over half the US if they waited for some governments to let them fight' had to be a cover for some other argument in his head. He didn't share this argument with the class, but it had to be good if he was going to change sides and literally history. He didn't do that back home. So what changed other than me? Did I make a change that I didn't know about? I'm all for free will with this 'changing the future' thing, but Tony's choice to join Cap's side was a bit unsettling.

They finished within an hour, sticking to their sides, and I retreated back to my room afterwards. There wasn't a whole lot that I could do outside of writing out possibilities and just hoping to whatever god there might be that he didn't want to kill the Avengers. I hated having to wait for the UN meeting to know for sure. And I hated even more that 'knowing' would mean waiting for a bomb to either go off or not exist. It was a shitty thing to have to wait for and it made me feel a little twitchy as I decided that if I was going to wait for it, I might as well wait for it there with everyone else.

Otherwise I might be accused of planting the bomb.

Peggy's funeral was not really part of my schedule either, but I did unfortunately find myself a little too close to Steve right before he was about to leave. I was in the middle of writing something down about Zemo on my way to the lab and didn't compensate for people to be in my way as I was walking. This led to me almost running right into him.

Steve caught my shoulders, making me look up with my stomach hitting the floor. "Easy. You're gonna run into walls if you keep that up."

"Right," I cleared my throat awkwardly, taking a step back and closing up my non-magical notebook. "Sorry."

"You doing alright?" He asked, sounding…concerned.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I shook my head and looked away. "Are-Are you?"

"I'm alright." He nodded his head towards the door. "I'm on my way out. I'll see you later though, okay?"

"Okay," I pursed my lips, looking up at him and trying not to look like an idiot. "I'm sorry about Peggy. I wish there was something I could do to make it better."

That sounds scripted, I mentally slapped myself at that, staring back at him and hoping that he wouldn't burst into tears or get mad at me. He's really not the type though. Plus he just smiled a little.

"Not everything is on you, kid." He replied easily, looking between my eyes. "But thank you."

I nodded at that, looking away again as Bucky wandered over too in his own suit.

That's right. I glanced his way. Bucky would go too now that he's mostly healed.

"I'm gonna…" I gestured towards the direction of the lab. "I'll see you guys later maybe. Careful driving, and all that."

As far as I could tell, I didn't make anyone cry or yell at me, so I counted that offering of condolences as an absolute win. Look at me go. I could be a grief counselor.

The next two days after that were spent in my room or Bucky's to hide from Pietro while I worked or wallowed from my lack of knowledge. I needed to tell someone about the bomb, and yet, I couldn't determine if risking losing my edge was worth bringing someone else in on the secret. Then I was sent spiraling mentally in Bucky's room while he watched 'Planet Earth' or any of his list of assorted History documentaries. After he figured out how Netflix worked in record time, it was all over for his sleep schedule.

I brought him muffins one morning too that Vision had made for Wanda. Vision had, in a panic, told me they were for everyone and encouraged me to take two though because he didn't want Wanda to think he had spent the time only on her. It was a little funny, but I helped him out anyhow by takings some even though they smelled funny.

Bucky and I were quick to discover why that was.

He spit his back out onto the plate with a small gag and then a cough while I did the same, rushing to his bathroom for water.

"He used salt, I think." Bucky choked out, accepting a cup of water from me while I couldn't stop tasting it in the back of my mouth. "Instead of sugar."

"It's the thought that counts." I whispered painfully, retreating back to the desk with my own glass of water. "Thanks, Vis."

I did procrastinate a little that day though by adding a better sketch of Bucky to his page in my magical journal. I'd never gotten much time to work on it, but with him intently watching 'Planet Earth' on computer, I had a good angle and time to do it. The best part of Bucky's room was still that Peitro didn't bother him though. I didn't have to deal with Blue distracting me. I was distracted enough on my own.

The next day, after a night of restless tossing and turning, I drank some caffeinated tea and put on a decent outfit. I was pretty proud of my 'corporate pantsuit lady' look and decided that I presented as professional enough after adding some gel to my hair to keep it out of the way. My hair, being as short as it was, didn't give me a lot of leeway when it came to styling it. So, I just kinda spiked it up in the front and smiled when I thought I looked a little like Dean Winchester.

Who can be afraid of being blown up when you look like a million bucks?

Natasha didn't say anything when I got into the Quinjet with her, but she did eye me suspiciously.

"Don't worry about it." I shook my head, still on the fence about this whole 'not telling anyone' part of the bomb.

"Does anyone die?" She asked, sitting back a little.

I gave her a deadpan stare before shaking my head as my decision tipped over the fence. "Fine. I'll tell you, but you need to actually help because I'm morally conflicted."

She smiled and got up to sit beside me. "Let's hear it."

I got to explain to her my situation very carefully. She looked over my notes too before agreeing with my stance. We would go there, not tell anyone, and wait. I was a bit shocked at first by the fact that she was okay endangering people for the sake of keeping an edge over a terrorist, but then I remembered where she trained and it all added up fast. Of course, that didn't mean I was going to enjoy showing up there, knowing that we didn't have a full clue about what Zemo's plans might be- if he had any at all.

We decided to move people out only if we could locate this still hypothetical bomb.

In other news, it was incredibly relieving being able to share future information with someone else again. Now, technically, if people died, we'd both be at fault here a little. She was enabling this 'wait and stay alert' plan, so she was going to carry part of the burden too. That feeling was addicting too and I had to refrain from spilling Thanos too while I was at it.

I had a sick feeling walking into that room though and tried to push my thoughts back to how Tony had begrudgingly gone out and given a 'random spider kid' his own super suit because I asked him too. He was skeptical about the whole thing, but the idea of a stressed out Peter Parker with his idol in his bedroom was a good distraction from the fact that I might blow up. He did need a suit though and Happy could always use more kids on his schedule. One of these days I'd let myself go out to meet Peter too.

For now, I'd have to just sit tight with the itching on my burn scars and pain in the back of my head as the Mandarin boxes trembled in my head.

To get away from that, I spotted T'Challa and decided to run some things by him too.

"Hello," He shook my hand easily with a recognizing smile that said all I needed to know. "Forgive me, but are you not a bit young to be in the UN?"

"You know me?" I questioned, getting a small nod from him.

"Of course." He motioned with his hand like I might to produce lighting. "I don't suppose you came over just because of my father?"

I shook my head. "Prince T'Challa. How's your sister?"

He smiled more genuinely at that. "How much do you know about Wakanda, Lincoln?"

"Enough." I winced a little, looking past him to the news vans outside. "I might need to share something with you."

"The future?" He turned to look with me out the window. "ABC News. You know, my sister has a strange interest in your own secrecy. She doesn't like being locked out of information."

"I'm sure." I smiled a little at the idea of Shuri wanting to know more about me. "Can you step aside with me for a minute? I mean, it's a huge honor to meet you, of course, but this feels important and I know I can trust you with it."

"You know you can trust me?" He asked, following me to a far side of the room and out of earshot of the others. "That is a bold statement, Patel."

"Yeah, well," I shrugged haphazardly, "It's not the best sign that I know who you are."

He nodded carefully, "What is so important?"

"If there are police dogs going up to that news van," I started carefully, "I need you to take your father and leave very quickly."

He looked back towards the big windows behind the stand while I could feel Natasha's eyes on me from across the room.

I held up my hands in defense when he looked back at me more seriously. "Just the messenger. Something might happen, but I don't know if it will or if theres something else or…anything really. I don't know enough yet. That's why I said 'if' because I don't want to tip anyone off that I'm suspicious."

"Who?"

"Zemo." I replied quickly, lowering my hands when i saw he wasn't exactly going after my soul right now. "I think. He use to be a spy and he lived in Sokovia and he hates superheroes. That's all I got."

T'Challa looked back to his father as everyone started to get settled in then and passed a final glance at me. "I'll take him now."

"Fair enough." I shook it off. "Just-"

"I won't cause panic." He sighed a little, looking around the room more carefully now. "I understand the need to be able to predict what happens next, but i won't involve my father."

"What about everyone else?" I asked then, frowning back at him.

"Now their lives are on both of us."

I opened and shut my mouth, Natasha approaching discreetly from my left.

"Thank you." He hesitated then, passing me a small nod. "For allowing me to protect my father."

"Yeah, no…problem."

He turned then when I sighed, walking in that disgustingly graceful way by the window towards the stand with his father going over papers. T'Challa paused by the window to scan the ground too before moving along to his father and whispering something to him.

"Are we trading secrets with Prince T'Challa too?" Natasha asked, following me to the window.

"Trust me, he's not one who would let me off the hook if I didn't." I muttered, my heart sinking though the floor when I watched a police dog stop by the news van. "Shit."

Natasha looked too as I turned quickly to see T'Challa already mostly up the stairs with his father. He looked back and locked eyes with me, knowing and shoving his father out the door before Natasha could grab me too.

"GET DOWN!"