1 Month Later…
Ava entered the room cautiously, listening to the sound streaming from Steve's computer. "...11 Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria, last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred."
Steve was watching a news clip about the attack. It had been a month, but the mood still fell sourly on the whole compound.
King T'Chaka of Wakanda came on. "Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil. Not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent, is no victory at all."
"The Wakanda king went on to …" Steve shut the computer, then turned around when he sensed Ava there.
"Oh. Didn't see you there."
"I know." Ava walked over to him. "I was just coming to get you. Wanda's watching the news too, and…"
She paused. They could hear the news anchor from here. "...I know she's still beating herself up about it. Could you -?"
He seemed to understand, and nodded. "I'll go talk to her."
"Thanks."
Ava watched him leave. She'd been trying to lift the team's spirits ever since they returned, but her efforts seemed futile. Even Kat and Ben were uncharacteristically more somber than usual.
She sighed. It felt wrong, and petty, and childish, but she couldn't help feeling like she should have been there and could have changed the outcome. She knew that was irrational, but it still burned.
She'd been begging to help them with missions for at least a year now. Wanda was allowed to help, and she was only like, 20-something. Plus, she'd only been with the Avengers for half the time Ava had.
If Ava had been there…well, maybe things would have turned out differently.
—
Ava sat at her desk, reading through the copy of the Sokovia Accords she'd stolen from the conference room. Tony had arrived this morning, soon after she talked to Steve, bringing an unexpected guest: Secretary Ross. He had come to talk to the Avengers about the Accords.
Ava was worried. From what little the others would tell her of the Accords and what she'd read so far, she could tell that they were becoming a big deal. She could hear the Avengers arguing all the way from her room, and the compound was big.
She had to admit, both sides had some good points. So many people had died in Sokovia, and again in Lagos. There needed to be some accountability, or regulation.
However, how much worse would it have been without the Avengers? How many more people would have died, in New York, D.C., Sokovia, even Lagos, if the Avengers hadn't been there?
The Accords were a start, but they weren't the right solution. Plus, their policies on mutants and inhumans were frightening.
"Knock knock," Kat said from the doorway.
Ava didn't look up from the book. "Who's there?"
"Your worst nightmare," Kat said in a deep Batman voice. She burst into laughter after seeing Ava look up, one eyebrow raised.
She sobered up as she came over and sat on the bed next to Ava. "Whatcha doing?"
"Just research." She shut the thick booklet and pushed it aside.
"I can hear them from my room." Kat said.
"Me too."
"Do you think…will this…I don't know what I'm trying to say," Kat laughed sheepishly. "I guess…Do you think this will all blow over? I'm worried, Ava. They're arguing and nobody is compromising and…this is serious."
Ava closed her eyes. "I don't know, Kat. It seems like a pretty big deal."
Suddenly, the hairs on her arm stood up. Without even opening her eyes, "Hey Sparky." It was pretty typical for him to, as a result of his powers, bring extra static into a room.
"Hi. What're you guys doing?" Ben climbed onto the bed next to Kat.
"Just talking," Kat said, ruffling his hair. He waved her arms away. "What're you doing?"
"I just came to say hi and…umm…" he looked confused for a second. "Oh yeah, that's right. I was going to tell you that Steve just left."
Now it was the girls' turn to be confused. "Where was he going?" Ava asked.
"He didn't say…but…" his face fell, and he whispered, "I think Peggy just died."
"Oh." Ava's eyes widened. Peggy had been really the only person left over from Cap's former life, excluding Bucky (who doesn't count much because he was a brainwashed assassin). The kids had met her a few times, and she was really nice.
And her death couldn't have come at a worse time. Steve was already so stressed about the Accords, adding this to it wasn't going to help.
"Did he say when he'd be back?" Ava asked.
"Nope," Ben said. "He just left. I think Sam went with him."
"Glaubst du, dass er unterschreiben wird?" [Do you think he's gonna sign?] Kat asked.
Ava shook her head. "Ich weiß es nicht." [I don't know.]
Ben looked between the two of them, confused. "Signieren Sie was? Du weißt, dass ich dich verstehen kann." [Sign what? You know I can understand you.]
"Vergessen Sie es." [Never mind.] Ava sighed. "You know if they don't sign they retire?" she continued in English.
Kat nodded, and Ben leaned against the wall, listening but not paying attention. "I don't think Steve could stand by and not do something. Being an Avenger is part of who he is. But honestly…I don't think he's gonna sign this," Ava said.
"Sam will do whatever Steve does," Kat commented, "Clint's basically retired already, and I don't know about Wanda."
They sat in silence for a moment. "Does this change anything for us?" Kat wondered aloud.
Ava turned to face her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," Kat explained, "that if the Avengers split up, what happens to us? The only reason we're with them in the first place is because they're the only ones who know how to handle enhanced kids like us."
"I don't know, Kat," Ava said. "I wish I could answer that." She didn't mention how the Accords themselves would likely have an impact on as enhanced individuals, regardless of the Avengers' status.
Ben perked up. "And who knows, maybe Thor will come back tomorrow and everyone will be so confused they all forget about their disagreements and everyone's happy!"
Ava smirked. "I wish."
—
Thor did not show up.
All the Avengers were in Europe, except Vision and Wanda. Steve and Sam, it turns out, did go to Peggy's funeral, in London. The rest were in Vienna for the signing of the Accords.
The whole day at the compound was tense. Vision and Wanda had several hushed conversations about Accords stuff, and they attempted to play a card game before giving up. Nobody was really into it.
Now, the kids watched the signing on the TV. Wanda sat on the couch with them, but wasn't really paying attention. Ava kept hoping that Steve and Sam would show up, just so that she knew her family wouldn't be fighting anymore, but she wasn't holding her breath.
King T'chaka of Wakanda was speaking. "...will fight to improve the world we wish to join. I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative. Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace."
Suddenly there was a pause. "EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" someone yelled. And then the side of the building exploded and the screen went black.
Back at the compound, everyone jumped. "What just happened?" Kat breathed, eyes wide.
Wanda blinked a few times in shock. "Oh no. This is very bad."
Ben curled into Ava's side. "Are Nat and Tony and Rhodey okay?"
Ava's jaw dropped, and she felt like she was going to throw up. "No. This can't be happening." She grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels like her life depended on it. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, drowning out the other heartbeats in the room, all of which had picked up speed.
Wanda put her head in her hands, covering up the tear that dripped from her eye. Ben started to cry. "What's going on?" he asked, a few tears falling down his face.
Kat just stared at nothing, in shock. As the minutes flew by with no sign of news, Ava began to panic. Finally, she found a channel that started updating.
"A bomb hidden in a news van ripped through the UN building in Vienna. More than 70 people have been injured. At least 12 are dead, including Wakanda's King T'Chaka. Officials have released a video of a suspect who they have identified as James Buchanan Barnes, the Winter Soldier. The infamous HYDRA agent, linked to numerous acts of terrorism and political assassinations."
"Oh no. This is worse than..." Ava's eyes stayed locked on the screen, as they displayed a picture of the Winter Soldier, Steve's old friend Bucky. "Steve is gonna…oh, yeah this is bad."
—
Ava bit her lip as the line continued to ring. She had her phone on speaker, and Kat, Ben, and Wanda were all huddling around it as they waited for someone to answer.
"C'mon Nat. Pick up."
Suddenly, the call went through, and Ava could breathe again. "Ava?"
"Nat! You're okay!" Ben yelled.
"Hey there kiddo. Yeah, I'm okay. I got lucky." They could hear the sirens and noise in the background of the call.
"We were worried," Wanda said with a frown.
"Hi Wanda. It's okay, Tony, Rhodey, and I are all alive and okay. Is everyone there?"
"Yeah," Kat answered.
Ava interrupted. "Do you have any news you can tell us? What's going on?"
They heard Nat sigh. "Well…there's not much I can tell you that you won't already know. I'm assuming you saw the news? King T'Chaka was killed."
"Yeah. It's horrible. We're just glad you're okay." Ava sighed.
"Alright. Well, it's pretty busy over here. I gotta go. It was good to hear from you."
"Bye Nat." She hung up. Ava wished that someone, anyone, would tell them something. It was killing her not to know what was going on. "Should we try Steve?"
Kat shrugged, trying and failing to appear nonchalant. "Worth a shot."
Ava pressed a button, holding her breath, as the line rang. And rang. And rang. And…
"Hello. The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable. Please try again later."
She released the breath she'd been holding. "I guess I didn't really expect him to pick up. Knowing him, he's probably, like, trying to find Barnes or something. They were like, best friends right?"
Wanda sighed, frowning. "Wouldn't that be illegal now?"
"Well, yeah, probably." But if she knew Steve… "Wouldn't stop him from trying though."
—
Ava sighed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. After a chase in Bucharest, the Winter Soldier, along with Sam, Steve, and T'Challa, T'Chaka's son, had been arrested. Nobody at the compound had information to give or were planning on sharing if they did.
Then, Barnes had escaped custody and Steve and Sam were missing. You would think that would earn her, or anyone at the compound, for that matter, a phone call from somebody. But no. Once again, she'd heard about it from the news.
Her, Kat, and Wanda had been in the living room, all reading their respective books, when it happened. Once again, Ava had gotten an alert, and they'd watched the news unfold. Things were getting serious.
"There's no chance of this blowing over now, is there?" Kat asked.
"No, probably not," Wanda agreed.
Several hours later, they were playing a board game (Ben was sleeping), with Vision hovering in the kitchen. Suddenly, they heard the sound of an explosion in the distance.
"What is it?" Wanda asked, looking at Vision.
Instead of answering, he said, "Stay here please," and phased through the window to take a look.
Ava and Wanda shared a look. Kat picked up Wanda's phone to check the time, frowning when she saw how late it was. "I'm gonna -" she started, but stopped when Ava cocked her head and Wanda hurled a knife from the kitchen counter across the room with her magic.
They all turned to watch it freeze inches in front of someone's head. "Guess I should have knocked," Clint said, smiling ruefully.
"Oh my god! What are you doing here?" Wanda asked, gasping rushing over. Kat whispered, "Clint? Why is he here?" and Ava glared at her to shut up.
"Disappointing my kids. I'm supposed to go water-skiing. Cap needs our help. Come on." They turned to leave, but not before Clint pointed a finger at Ava and Kat, who'd started to stand up and follow. "Not you two," he amended. "Go to bed, forget this ever happened."
Ava's mouth fell open and she glared at him. Kat tugged on her arm with a pleading glance and Ava let herself be pulled back to their rooms. She pulled away when she heard Vision come back, and, ignoring Kat's whispered protests, crept back to the kitchen.
"Clint!" Vision called. "You should not be here."
Clint turned around with an annoyed look. "Really? I retire for, what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit."
"Please consider the consequences of your actions," Vision said.
"Okay, they're considered...Okay, we gotta go." Ava gasped softly as Vision became caught in a force field between two arrowheads. "It's this way," Clint said, pulling Wanda's arm.
Wanda stopped. "I've caused enough problems," she protested.
Clint groaned, pinching his eyes closed for a second. "You gotta help me, Wanda. Look, you wanna mope, can go to high school. You wanna make amends, you get off your ass." Vision broke through the force field. "Shit."
As Clint and Vision engaged, Ava was distracted by Kat pulling on her arm urgently. "Ava! I know what you're thinking. Bad idea."
Ava turned back towards Kat. "I know that Steve is on the wrong side of the law right now, but he wouldn't pull in Wanda and Clint unless it was urgent. They could probably use my help."
Kat sighed in frustration. "I can't stop you from leaving. If you really feel so strongly about it, then go." She walked slowly back to her room.
Ava turned back to the scene in front of her just in time to see Wanda push Vision through the ground, crashing through several floors beneath that. Her eyes widened in shock.
Clint seemed just as surprised. "Oh," he said, glancing through the floor. He turned and gestured for Wanda to follow. "Come on, we got one more stop."
Ava followed them as they headed out to a non-descript van parked not too far from the main building. As Wanda and Clint got in the front two seats, Ava quietly opened the back door and slid in.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard no signs of being discovered by her two companions, and relaxed against the side wall.
About an hour into the drive, she heard Wanda tense up. "Someone else is in the van with us." Clint pulled over sharply and the two of them turned their heads to stare at Ava.
Clint groaned, dragging his hand over his face. "Oh my god. Ava. What are you doing back there?"
Ava's cheeks pinkened. "I figured you guys could use some help?"
Clint groaned again.
"What?" she protested, gaining steam. "If Steve needs you and Wanda and some mysterious third person who we're going to pick up, then he needs all the help he can get. At the very least I won't be a hindrance." She eyed Clint, daring him to argue.
He sighed. "It's too late to take you back. I guess you just have to come with," he conceded. He pointed at her sharply. "Steve will not be happy."
—
A few hours later, they stopped to pick up some random guy that Sam knew. As Clint left to go grab him, Ava whispered to Wanda, "So who exactly is this guy? What does he do?"
Wanda shrugged, looking up from her music playlist. "Your guess is as good as mine."
The man looked fairly average and unassuming. He carried a large duffel bag, from which the sleeve of a suit of some kind poked out.
The man slid into the back next to Ava, who gave him an appraising look. He did a double take when he saw her. "Who are you? I thought this was an Avenger's thing?"
She eyed him sharply. "My name's Ava."
"I'm Scott," he said, sticking out his arm to shake. She hesitantly shook it back. It occurred to her that this was one of the first new people she'd met in a few months, since her last venture into the more business and labs sections of the compound. Scott continued, "But my fake-name is Ant-Man."
"What?"
—
Ava watched through the window as a tiny old car parked next to their gray van. After picking up Scott, they'd flown to Berlin, then picked up another van and drove to meet Steve at the Leipzig airport.
Clint had explained the mission to them on the drive. Apparently Steve's friend wasn't the only Winter Soldier, and a psychotic psychologist wanted to use the other ones to "destroy an empire."
She glanced down at the sleeping man beside her, suppressing a sigh. This guy was picked by name by the Avengers and she wasn't? He'd talked with them for about an hour before leaving the States, and Ava wasn't all that impressed. Then, he'd proceeded to fall into a dead sleep for the last several hours of their travel time.
As she looked back out the window, Cap got out of the small car, along with Sam.
Wanda and Clint exited the van. "Cap," Clint said by way of greeting.
"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice," Steve said. The Winter Soldier - Bucky - got out of the car behind him, and stretched. Ava's eyes widened. She'd kind of assumed he'd be here, but that was different from actually seeing him. She mused ruefully that with him, herself, and Wanda, they had three ex-HYDRA enhanced humans.
Clint shook his head. "Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt."
Steve turned to Wanda. "Thanks for having my back."
Wanda shrugged. "It was time to stop being lazy."
Cap turned back to Clint. "How's our other recruit?"
Clint grinned. "He's rarin' to go. Had to put a little coffee in him, but… he should be good." He hesitated before opening the door. "We…also had somewhat of an extra addition."
Steve raised his eyebrows. "A what?"
Ava couldn't stand all the waiting. She opened the door for them, smiled, stepped out, and said, with a little wave of the hands, "Tada."
Steve frowned. "Ava."
Clint rubber the back of his head sheepishly. "She snuck on the van with us. Was too late to take her back by the time we noticed."
Steve shook his head, staring at Ava. "You're not coming with us. This isn't your fight."
Ava groaned. "But Steve, you need all the help you can get. From what Clint told us, anything we can give you is a major advantage. I want to help. I won't let you treat me like a regular kid."
"You are a kid."
At the familiar words, the simmering pot of anger in Ava's chest threatened to boil over. "Just stop. Can a normal kid fly, beat Nat at arm wrestling, or keep up with you on runs? My chances at being a normal kid were gone 13 years ago."
At the sound of their voices, Scott Lang, Sam's friend, stirred and woke up. "What timezone is this?"
He looked around, then said in amazement, "Captain America."
Cap nodded. "Mr. Lang."
Scott started to shake his hand. " It's an honor. I'm shaking your hand too long." This was true. "Wow! This is awesome! Captain America." He glanced at Wanda. "I know you, too. You're great!" He turned back to Steve, and felt his shoulders. "Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so . . . thinks for thanking of me." Then he looked at Sam. "Hey, man!"
Wow. This guy was awkward. Steve chose him over Ava? Not cool, man. Sam nodded at him, "What's up Tic Tac?"
Scott rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I…"
Sam shook his head. "It was a great audition, but it'll…it'll never happen again."
Steve interrupted. "They tell you what we're up against?"
"Something about some … psycho-assassins?" Close, but not quite. Ava snorted and shook her head.
"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man," Steve warned.
"Yeah, well, what else is new?" Ava tilted her head curiously. Not the typical response you'd get after a statement like that.
"We should get moving." She looked at Bucky. It was the first time she'd heard him speak.
Clint nodded. "We got a chopper -"
He was interrupted by a voice speaking in German over the PA. "Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren."
Her and Bucky translated in unison. "They're evacuating the airport." Then they both glanced at each other in surprise. Bucky looked like he wanted to say something else, but Sam interrupted him.
"Stark."
Scott looked confused. "Stark?"
Steve ignored him, looking at Ava. "I guess you have to come now. Suit up everybody."