The Captain's Girl (Captain America Fanfiction) (4th Book)

Chapter Six: The Accords

We were all sitting around a long oval table, no-one was speaking. Not yet, anyways. Tony sat at the very end, I watched him carefully. He looked like he knew something the rest of us didn't. I sat tensely beside Steve, as Ross took center stage of the room.

"Oh. 5 years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my batting swing. Turned out, it was the best round of my life because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass. I found something 40 years in the army never taught me: Perspective. The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You've... fought for us. Protected us. Risked your lives. While a great many people see you as heroes. There are some... would prefer the word "vigilantes"," Ross explained to us, as if we were his class full of young children.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked him, her eyes almost challenging him.

"What would that be, sir?" I asked, almost mocking the title. I felt Steve's hand on my thigh, almost as a warning, not to loose my head before this even got started. I took a deep breathe.

"How about dangerous? What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals, who routinely ignores sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind them?" Ross asked us, accusingly. "New York. Washington DC. Sokovia. Lagos."

"Okay, that's enough," Steve replied, his eyes looking over at Wanda, who looked guilt ridden.

"Not to be, um a know it all, but what would have happened if we had not intervened, sir?" I asked him, not being able to hold back my tongue. This time Steve squeezed my leg, but I ignored it, I wanted to hear his answer.

"What would have happened if you never became brain washed Mrs. Rogers?" Ross shot back, his eyes narrowing. I could feel my hands burning, looking down I saw them glowing, I took a deep breathe, shutting my mouth for the time being.

"As I was saying, for the past 4 years, you operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution. The Sokovia accords. Approved by 117 countries. It states, that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations Panel, only when and if that Panel deems it necessary," Ross told all of us, throwing down a large book. The label was in big black letters, already looking like a prison sentence in my eyes. I wouldn't let another organization run my life.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that," Steve told him calmly,  much better than I could ever have done.

I twirled my ring nervously around my finger, feeling the cool metal seemed to calm me down. Not to mention Steve's steady hand on my leg, made me feel as if I at least had one person on my side. I didn't have to read his mind to know we were on the same page on this.

"This is bullshit Steve," I told him in a brain message.

"I know, let's hear what everyone else has to say first," he replied, squeezing my leg once more.

"Tell me captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? And as heart touching as your proposal was, what if that hadn't worked? What kind of damage do you think your wife would have done to the world? If I misplaced a couple of 30 mega tonne nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences, compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground," Ross said. I felt my hands burn once more at the low blow he just sent both mine and Steve's way. I looked down and saw Steve's hand clenched in a fist in his lap.

"So there are contingencies?" Rhodes asked, before I could say something I would regret, or maybe not regret this guy certainly was being an asshole. Maybe he deserved it.