TW: Glad you enjoyed it. Well, no one ever said it was going to be easy.

Ellie Bishop: The Bartons are slowly but surely coming to accept Wanda. Indeed Clint is. Look out Thanos, Hawkeye's coming at you with a Vibrainum bow and arrow LOL! Yep LOL! Yep, it won't be long now and it will be…explosive, to say the least.

Avengers Compound

Morning

In his office, Steve was watching the news. It was on a debate between Christine Everhart and another news caster.

"What evidence is there that Spider-Men did attack these men? All we have are conjecture from people who won't come out into the open to answer questions. It casts serious shade of doubt on the credibility of these allegations," Everhart pointed out.

"Since Tony Stark decided he had the right to become Iron Man, there's been collateral damage in each one of these Avenger conflicts. Then there was Daredevil, Jessica Jones, the Punisher, and now Spider-Man. This was all a matter of time," the other news caster argued.

"If the last eight years have proven anything, it's that the world is full of threats ordinary law enforcement and military aren't equipped to handle. Not all of the Avengers are like Tony Stark," Everhart shot back.

With a sigh, Steve turned it off. Looks like Ross's plan was working, even without Lagos more and more support for regulating heroes was being announced.

Steve was broken out of his troubled thoughts when he felt two arms wrap themselves around him from behind.

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Natasha noted and Steve smiled tightly.

"You have no idea. Even if we take out Ross and The Accords, there'll always be someone wanting to try and regulate us," Steve said with a heavy sigh.

"We represent an element of the world that cannot be controlled. It's human nature for those in power to try and control us. We can't change that. We can only try and do damage control," Natasha pointed out, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Steve didn't respond, knowing she was right. That didn't mean he had to like it. Natasha seemed to understand his silence, as she continued talking.

"Tony's here," Steve turned his head to look at Natasha at this. "He got here about five minutes ago. He said Ross has tried to call him several time over the last few days."

"Probably trying to get him on board with The Accords," Steve noted and felt Natasha nod near his shoulder.

"Probably. It's happening today. You ready for that?" Natasha inquired.

"Do you think we're ready?" Steve asked and Natasha was silent for a long moment.

"I think we've done the best we possibly can. We'll be fine, as long as we stick together this time," Natasha said.

Berlin

Same time

"Well, looks like your tip about Zemo paid off," Everett Ross told Sharon as they walked through the Task Force base. "We've been keeping an eye on his finances; he wired over $2,000 to a mercenary. We caught him within a few hours. It's just you said; Zemo wanted this guy to deliver an EMP to a power station."

"Told you we could trust my source," Sharon pointed out.

"Well, you know how we have to vet these things. But anyway, he flipped on Zemo, told us where he's staying. You wanna take the lead on this one? It was your tip," Everett said and Sharon smiled.

"Sir, it would be an honor."

Avengers Compound

Same time

Ross pulled up outside the Compound, his security team letting him out of the car. Before any of them could even approach the door, Vision walked through the door, startling them and Ross's security team trained guns on him before they realized who it was.

"Secretary Ross. I've been instructed to escort you inside," Vision said formerly and, after a moment, Ross nodded.

"Of course. Gentlemen, I'll be back," Ross said with a look at his security detail.

"Sir, perhaps we should escort you inside," one of them protested and Ross smirked.

"I think here is probably the safest place I can be, take a break gentlemen," Ross said before heading inside with Vision.

Upon entering, Ross was almost immediately met with the sight of Steve, Natasha, Tony, Sam and Rhodey, patiently waiting for him. A united front, almost as if they knew he was coming, Ross mused.

"Mr. Secretary," Steve said politely.

"Captain Rogers," Ross greeted before turning to Tony. "Mr. Stark. I've been trying to get in touch with you for a couple days now."

"Sorry about that, I have you under GIWRCOAT in my phone. Guy I would rather cut off my own arm than talk to," Tony quipped and Ross tried his best to not let his irritation show.

"I'd like to talk to the Avengers as a whole, so can we fetch Miss Maximoff from wherever she is?" Ross requested.

"Wanda isn't here, Sir. She's taking a break from the Avengers," Rhodey informed him, trying not to let the mention of Wanda get him tense.

Just like they expected, he was very interested in Wanda. No doubt for her powers.

"Very well," Ross said, trying not to let his annoyance show even as it increased. "Can we talk in your conference room? There's something important I need to discuss with all of you."


Not long after, they all sat in the conference room, listening to Ross give his pitch for The Accords. It was going exactly like it did in the recordings.

"The world owes The Avengers an unpayable debt. You have…fought for us, protected us, risked your lives. But while a great many see you as heroes, there are some that would prefer the word vigilante," Ross told them.

"And how many of them are politicians?" Sam asked but Ross ignored this.

Ross then showed them the videos of their previous battles, although Lagos was noticeably absent this time. For a moment, it was silent before Steve spoke up.

"Would you prefer we did nothing, Mr. Secretary? Because the damage would have been a lot worse if we just stood back and did nothing," Steve pointed out.

"Cap's right. All you just showed is us trying to stop the bad guys," Tony pointed out.

"People lost their lives, and the lives of those we can't save will always haunt us. But the loss of life would have been…immeasurable if we weren't there," Natasha added.

"I understand you saved many lives, but no one, one even you, can deny that there were also many lost in the battles. For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate," Ross said before bringing forward his copy of The Accords. "But I think we have a solution. The Sokovia Accords, approved by 116 countries. It states that the Avengers will no longer be a private organization. They'll operate under the supervision of the United Nations Panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

"Right, because the UN has such a great track record of that," Sam said sarcastically.

"What I'd like to know is why we're just now hearing about this?" Rhodey demanded, playing like this was the first he'd heard of this.

"Isn't it obvious? The UN wants to show the world we answer to them. They're giving us the bare minimum of time so that we can't change anything. Isn't that right?" Tony asked with a look at Ross, who ignored it.

"This is how the world works, compromise, reassurance. Believe me, this is the middle ground," Ross told them.

"Funny, this looks an awful lot like an ultimatum," Natasha noted.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify The Accords. Talk it over," Ross all but ordered.

"Anyone feel like we need to talk it over?" Tony asked and no one said anything or moved a muscle. "Didn't think so."

"Then I suppose you can consider yourself retired," Ross said annoyed and Tony snickered.

"Yeah right. I'm sure that'll fly the next time someone like Loki shows up. You remember how effective the military was against him, right?" Tony pointed out.

"As I recall it, the world's security council's decision was too nuke New York," Natasha said and Ross remained silent.

"Mr. Secretary, none of us are against working with the world's governments. But we can't in good conscience go down this route; it defeats the purpose of The Avengers as envisioned by Nick Fury. If the United Nations is willing to work with us, we would be happy to negotiate terms that both sides are pleased with. But we won't sign something we had no input in drafting before we can reasonably understand what it is just because the United Nations wants to make a statement about who we answer to," Steve said firmly.

"In other words," Tony said, grabbing the copy of The Accords off the table and tossing it into a nearby trashcan. "Talk to us when you feel like being adults."

Austria

Later that day

In his hotel room, Zemo was reading the book he would use to control James Barnes when the door to the room was suddenly busted open. Zemo got to his feet, dropping the book as Sharon and several other Task Force members rushed into the room, all aiming guns at him.

"Hands up now! We will open fire if you refuse to comply!" one of them ordered and Zemo quickly held up his hands.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zemo asked calmly as Sharon approached.

"Helmut Zemo, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit terrorism. Your partner already flipped on you, it's over. You should know better than to trust mercenaries," Sharon said with a slight smirk.

As he was put into handcuffs, led down the hall were various other Task Force members waited just in case he tried to bolt, all Zemo could do was wonder how his plans had come undone so easily.

While Zemo has been taken care of, the gauntlet has been thrown in the battle of The Accords. It only gets more difficult for the Avengers from here on out.