The Weight of the Universe | Avengers

Prelude

2016

Everything was great, almost too peaceful. No big changes had happened since the wedding of Eve Farrell and Bucky Barnes. The Avengers lived quietly together in the Avengers base which was their home now, Hydra was mostly defeated and no peculiar enemies had appeared. And even though Thor hadn't sent any signs about the Infinity Stones and Bruce was still missing, the Earth's mightiest heroes were as happy as they could possibly be.

Tony was looking for his best friend Bruce Banner. Clint and Natasha were still the dynamic spy duo, on secret missions suspiciously often. Wanda and Vision were always seen together, growing closer than ever. Steve visited Peggy a lot as her condition deteriorated. Sam got a new buddy, Redwing. Eve looked out for everyone and Bucky was finally starting to get accepted by the world as he looked out for Eve. Everything was fine until this one day. The day that broke the Avengers apart.

"No way did you take them down on your own, Wilson! Bullshit!" Bucky called out, not believing the story of his friend's last mission. Although the villains stayed in the shadow, there were still some bad guys out there. "Twenty against you? Pff, as if you would win!"

"Well, you can bet your ass I did because I'm standing right here." Sam grinned gloriously as he crossed his arms above his chest and Eve sighed, leaning her head against her husband's arm. These two would never stop bickering.

"Could you please stop swearing? You guys know Steve doesn't approve of this kind of language." She teased her best friend and the two laughed along with Clint and Natasha.

"Eve!" Steve groaned playfully annoyed and she only shrugged innocently as if she didn't do it just to mock him. "Come on, guys, after two years, you should've forgotten about that already."

"Well, in case we would ever forget such an iconic moment as that, Tony always kindly reminds us with the recording of it." Natasha chuckled slightly, the rest of the team joining her laughter. They all remembered the email from Tony that they constantly received. Eventually giving in, Captain America couldn't resist his grin either.

In the next moment, Tony walked into the room with a thick pile of papers, throwing it with a loud thud on the table. Everyone tensed up, wondering why the billionaire was suddenly so serious and what that paper work meant. The silence was unusual, somehow almost hostile and the bright mood vanished.

Vision and Wanda entered the common room with Rhodey just moments after Tony, he had probably called them as well. The colonel still had to practice in his advanced walkers that Tony had built for him. Due to the grenade in their last mission that malfunctioned his War Machine suit, it led to his handicap and Rhodey still suffered from this incident, yet he didn't show it.

"Tony... What's this?" Eve was the first one to ask, an unwelcoming concern settling down in her stomach. She didn't like the big words on the thick pile and neither did Wanda Maximoff as she read the title of the contract. Sokovia Accords.

"Our new law." He only answered gravely, being more serious than ever. "We have to sign."

"Sign what?" Steve questioned dangerously skeptically, Eve and Bucky could hear how their best friend wasn't fond of this at all. He took the contract and started reading through it, his blue eyes narrowed as he analyzed every single word.

"On our last mission, a well known person died." Tony reminded them of the failure of their mission, a famous politician had lost his life.