Hurt // Marvel [2]

13

"Five years ago," Secretary Ross begins his speech after the Avengers and I got settled in one of the many conference rooms in the facility. "I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing." He makes the motion of playing golf with his hands. "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 had never taught me. Perspective,"

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt. You have fought for us, protected us, risked your lives, but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some who would prefer the word 'vigilantes.'" He looks around at each of us as he speaks, making sure each and every one of us are listening to his concerns.

"And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?" Natasha speaks up two seats away from me.

"How about 'dangerous'?" I take a deep breath as I look around to each person sitting at this table. Not a single person here would ever want to intentionally hurt an innocent person. "What would you call a group of US-based , enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?" My mind flashes back to Sokovia and to all the people who were injured and killed while we were there. Usually I'd help people after missions where innocent people may have gotten injured, but I couldn't there. I was not in the right state of mind. I managed to help a few people in Lagos, but there wasn't much we could all do to save the people in that building.

"New York." The screen turns on behind Ross and video footage of the Invasion of New York flash across the screen. Chitauri warriors fly through the sky, but this specific video also showed Hulk jumping from building to building, causing damage to the buildings and streets, but also causing rubble to fall down onto the citizens below.

"Washington D.C." The screen changes again to show footage of helicarriers shooting at one another the destroyed Triskelion. I watch as a helicarrier crashes into the Potomac, sending a massive wave over a group of people as the camera goes black. I can see Sam lower his head across the table. That had been his first mission with Steve.

"Sokovia." I see flashes of people running away as the city is lifted off the ground and flies higher into the air. A building falls over onto another and I can practically hear screaming in my head. I close my eyes, trying to block out the video, but Pietro's face appears in the darkness and my breath catches in my throat. Steve sends a quick glance my way as I quickly open my eyes and take a deep breath.

"Lagos." Footage of the burning building now appears on the screen, a sight we had just seen hours before. A citizen is brought out of the building on a gurney and I can't help but think that I should've been there. I could've done something. I quickly glance away from the screen as a dead woman appears, and I notice Wanda do the same. I can't even imagine her guilt.

"Okay," Steve finally speaks up after seeing Wanda's obvious discomfort. "That's enough." Ross nods to the man standing behind him and the videos on the screen disappear.

"For he past four years you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision." He makes it sound like we're a bunch of misbehaving children. "That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." The man behind him hands him a rather large book and Ross places it down on the table in front of Wanda.

"The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries," I watch as Wanda picks up the book before sliding it across the table to Rhodey. "It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization." Natasha leans forward on the table as she glances around at her teammates. "Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."