[ xxi. twenty ! ]
❛ 𝙷𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁𝙴𝙳 𝚈𝙾𝚄 ❜

❝He said to me— Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go, you gotta go❞

  𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐎𝐎𝐍 when Natasha, Anastasija, Steve, Sam, Eva and Wanda were on a mission to capture Brock Rumlow. There were rumor's of him being in Sokovia so the team wanted to check if the rumor's were right.

As Anastasija sat by a cafe, sipping on her coffee she could hear Steve's voice in her ear asking, “All right, what do you see?” Wanda, who sat at another table together with her sister answered him as she took a sip from her coffee.

“Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target.”

Steve who stood inside if a building, looking down into the street nodded his head, “There's an ATM on the south corner, which means?”,

“Cameras”, Eva immediately answered him as she leaned back in her seat. “Both cross streets are one-way”, Steve continued.

“So, compromised escape routes”, Wanda stated quickly as she took a sip from her coffee. “Means our guy dosen't care about being seen. He isn't afraid to make a mess on the way out”, Steve explained to them calmly. “You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?”, Steve questioned them all.

“Yeah, the red one? It's cute”, Wanda commented. Anastasija who have had eyed the car for a while now leaned back in her seat on the opposite of Natasha. “It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns”, the blond stated as she took a sip from her coffee.

“Which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us”, Natasha added while she looked at her sister who nodded her head. 

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right?”, Wanda asked them through their earbuds, making Eva chuckle from besides her.

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature”, Anastasija shrugged as she pulled her dark cap more into her face.

“Anybody ever tell you that you and your sister are a little paranoid?”, Sam suddenly asked them as he ballanced ontop of a roof.

“Not to my face”, Anastasija said as she smirked at Natasha who said, “Why did you hear something?”

“Eyes on target, folks”, Steve reminded them loudly interrupting their joking. “This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him”, Steve told them as he watched the street that led down to the market.

Sam scoffed at his words, “If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He kinda hates us.”

“Sam, see the garbage truck?”, Steve suddenly questioned his friend as he ignored what Sam had just said. “Tag it”, he instructed him as he continued to look out of the big window.

Sam immediately sent Redwing off to tag the Truck. There was silence but after a moment Sam spoke up again,  “That truck is loaded with max weight and the driver's armed.”

“It's a battering ram”, Natasha said as she looked around, “Go now!”, Steve instructed them immediately. “What?", Eva asked him surprised,  “He's not hitting the police”, Steve explained to them. 

“Body armour, AR-15s. I make seven hostiles”, the Captain infromed the others after Sam had dropped him off.
“I make five”, Sam corrected him after after killing an enemy. “Four”, he said as he and Eva knocked down together another one.

“Rumlow is on the third floor”, Sam infromed the team loudly as he scanned the building. Anastasija could hear Steve, “Wanda just like we practice.”

“What about the gas?”

“Get it out”, Steve just said as he looked at her.

It wasn't long until Steve spoke through the earbuds again, “Rumlow has a bilogical weapon.” Anastasija and Natasha were making their way to the truck on their Motorcycles.

“We are on it!”, Ana quickly infromed them, they both put on the brakes hardly and Natsha took out a man with her Motorcycle. Anastasija jumped off of her's and followed after her sister quickly.

As soon as they reached the man they both didn't wasted a second and immediately started fighting. Ana jumped at a man and shoved him to the ground hardly before she stood up and kicked the door of the truck shut, where a man just wanted to enter.

He flew backwards crashing into the the next one making them both fall to the ground. But the man stood up quickly, so Ana grabbed his weapon and rammed it up against his head.

She then crashed him against the truck and kicked him into the stomach making him fall to the ground grunting.

Natasha was fighting three men at the same time, but it looked good for her. Ana just wanted to turn around but suddenly she was grabbed by the hair and pulled up on the roof of the truck by Rumlow.

As she faced him she immediately started to punch him and kick him everywhere she could.

Eventually he let go of her but the punches didn't really seemed to hurt him.

After a short moment he grabbed her harshly by the hair again and Anastasija quickly pinched her hand against his throat tasing him. But to her surprise that didn't seemed to affect him.

“I don't work like that anymore!”, he shouted at the blond before he shoved her head first into a truck.

Anastasija eyes widened as she landed on her back but she immediatley sat up again. “Fire in the hole”, Rumlow said as he droped a grenade in the truck and shut the hole in the celling.

Anastasija looked at the grenade and then at the two men that stood infront of her. One of them immediately stood up to attack her so she kicked his head against the celling and knocked him out.

After that she grabbed the other ones weapon and rammed it into his stomach he stummbled back and the women quickly hide herself behind him and grabbed the man by the head.

In that moment the bomb exploded and threw her through the back door directly out of the truck on to the grass. She started caughing really hardly as she laid on the ground gasping for air.

The woman could hear a loud beeping tone inside her ear as she tried to search for Natasha through her burry vision. The readhead approched her quickly as she slowly sat up. “Sam, he's in an AFV heading north”, the lightly muted voice of Steve informed them.

“You okay?”, Natasha asked her sister as she helped her up. “Yeah, everything all right", she assured Nat as she patted of the dust from her clothes. They quickly hopped onto the motorcycle's again and followed after the AFV.

As they finally arrived by the market they splited up. Anastasija made her way through the people as she watched out for Rumlow's men.

“I got the two on the left", Natasha infromed them as Ana just spotted two others in the crowd. “I got the other two on the right”, Anastasija added while she watched the two men running down the market.

The woman abandoned her motorcycle and quickly run through the crowd as well. “They ditched their gear. It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload”, Steve spoke up sounding a bit worried.

Then suddenly they could hear a loud explosion, “Steve! You're okay!?”, Anastasija shouted as she tapped at her headphone.

But their was no answer, she quickly continued to follow the two men through the market.

“He dosen't have it!”, Sam screamed as he searched the bag of the guy he had just knocked out.

Anastasija started running as the men spotted her. “Out of the way!", she screamed at the people who stood in her way. She quickly jumped over a table and rolled herself over a motorcycle that stood in the middle of the ally.

At some point their trails crossed each other and Anastasija saw that she had caught up to them.

So the russian jumped at a table and then jumped at the man while she janked him down with her to the ground.

The woman rolled over the ground with him, until both of them stood up quickly. The man drew his gun but Ana hit it with the side of her hand.

She than grabbed his arm where he had the gun and held it up into the air while she punched him into the stomach multiple times.

Anastasija then punched him in his throat cutting off his air supply. The man immediatley grabbed his throat with his hand gasping for air as she punched him into his chest sending him backwards.

Ana then saw in the corner of her eye that there was another man who pointed his gun at her.

She quickly threw a basket at him which made him unfocused, she then took her chance and kicked his legs away, sending him to the ground as well. 

After that the blond russian climbed onto the other man, who was now standig again and sat on his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his arm and swung through the air.

The other man got up again and wanted to pull her down but she grabbed him and when she pushed the other man to the floor while she pulled him down with her.

The woman then kicked the man hardly in his face and pulled the other one up again before she punched him in the chest and made him fall to the ground again.

She punched the man who laid on the ground in the face and then jumped over him and grabbed his gun. She quickly stood up and aimed the gun at him but he did the same with her. The other one had the serum in his hand as he looked at her threatening.

“Drop it, or I'll drop this", he told her seriously, Anastasija gave him a sceptical side look as she still had her gun aimed at the man. "Drop it!”, he repeated louder.

“He'll do it!”, the other man told her loudly, but out of nowhere Redwing shot at the man with the serum, he let the vial go and Ana reacted quickly as she shot the one guy and then jumped to catched the serum before it touched the ground.

She fell on to her back as she let out a loud groan. “Playload secure”, she then stood up quickly as she looked at Redwing, “Thanks, Sam.”

“Don't thank me”, the man joked,
“I'm not thanking that thing”, she simply replied as she made her way through the crowd to see where Steve was.

“His name is Redwing. He's cute. Go ahead, pet him”, Sam continued joking. “Still not thanking it”, she chuckled at his poor joke.

When she arrived by Steve she saw how Rumlow was sitting infront of him, his mask off.

His face was really burned, “You know, he knew you. You're pal, your buddy Bucky”, Rumlow spatted at Steve as he looked up at him. Steve grabbed him, “What did you just say?”, he asked him.

“He remembered you. I was there. He got all weepy about it. Till they put his brain back in a blender”, Rumlow said to him breathing heavily.

“He wanted you to know something. He said to me— Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go, you gotta go”, he repeated Bucky's words to Steve. “And you're coming with me”, he suddenly whispered to the Captain.

“No!”, was all Anastasija screamed before Rumlow's pressed the button and triggered the explosion.

But Wanda quickly created a shield around Rumlow so the bomb couldn't explode.

The man screamed and Wanda looked like it cost her much power as the women let him flew into the air because she thought there the explosion wouldn't be as bad.

But as the bomb went off, multible floors of the buildings exploded. They all gasped and Wanda immediately claped a hand over her mouth in shock.

“Oh, my—”, Steve whispered to himself as he watched the building burn. “Sam, we need Fire and Rescue on the south side of the building. We gotta get up there”, he told the others as he approached the building. 

After they were all back at the Quarter of the Avengers the first thing Anastasija did was hugging Steve tightly.

“Hey, I'm all right”, he assured her, “You could've been killed today Steve. Give me a moment”, she sighed still hugging him.

He wrapped his hands around her waist before she leaned back, “From what I've heared you could've died too”, he stated as he looked down at her.

Anastasija remained quiet as she leaned up to him and gave the man a soft kiss on the lips before she let go of him and went to talk to Wanda.

Steve followed behind her as they stepped into her room, “What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri—”, the news man spoke, but Steve turned off the TV.

“It's my fault”, Wanda said as she looked at the black screen sitting next to Eva on her bed.

“That's not true”, Anastasija said as she leaned on the right side of the door frame. “Turn the TV back on, their being very specific”, Wanda argued with her as she had a sad look on her face.

“I should’ve clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it. Rumlow said 'Bucky' and all of a sudden I was a 16-year-old kid again in Brooklyn”, Steve spoke up as he leaned on the other side of the door frame.

“And when people die. It’s on me”, he added as he looked at the young brunette.

“It’s on both of us”, she told him frustrated while Steve sat down next to her on the other side of the bed.

“This job— we try to save as many people as we can”, he told her as he looked up at the young eoman. “Sometimes that doesn’t mean everybody. But if we can’t find a way to live with that, then next time maybe nobody gets saved”, he said as he looked at Anastasija sadly.

Suddenly Vision interrupted Wanda, Eva, Ana and Steve by walking through the wall into Wanda’s room.

“Vis, we talked about this”, Wanda exclaimed a little surprised at him. ”Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that—”, he paused as he realized what he’s done.

“Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving”, he simply said as he looked at them.
Steve nodded at him, “Thank you. We’ll be right down.”

“I’ll use the door. Oh, and apparently, he’s brought a guest”, Vision added as he stood by the door.

Steve looked at him again, “Do we know who it is?”, he asked him curious. “The Secretary of State.”

After that the Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross had summoned the Avengers to a meeting.

Ross stood infront of them, “Huh. Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turned out it was the best round of my life because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I have found something forty years in the army had never taught me”, the man explained to the Avangers as they all sat at a long table.

“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’ ”, the man told them calmly as he looked at them.

Natasha eyed the grey haired man. “And what word would you use, Mr. Secretary?”, she asked him friendly.

The man looked at all of them, “How about “dangerous”? 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 with what they leave behind?”, Ross questioned the redhead clearly worried about their behavior.

“New York, Washington D.C., Sokovia, Lago—”, he listed as he showed them video footages of all the carnage caused by the Avengers trying to save the world. Wanda and Eva were clearly both upset, so Anastasija spoke up, “Okay. That’s enough!"

“In 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. But I think we have a solution", the man explained as he placed a thick document on the desk and passed it to Wanda.

Ross looked at them, “The Sokovia Accords. Approved by a hundred and seventeen 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.”

Steve looked at the Secretary of the states, “The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we’ve done that”, he defended them.

Ross looked at him seriously, “Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes you can bet there’d be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That’s how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground."

Suddenly Rhodes spoke up for the first time since the meeting had started, “So, there are contingencies”

“Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords”, the man answered him.

Steve gazed over his shoulder at Tony who had placed his hand onto his chin. “Talk it over”, Ross told them as Anastasija eyed the man sceptical. 

“And if we come to a decision you don’t like?”, she asked him with an raised eyebrow. “Then you retire”, Ross told her before he left the meeting silently.

Fifteen minutes later Steve and Anastasija sat on the armchairs next to each other as they read though the Accords.

“Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honour which is one more than you have”, Rhodes told Sam as they looked at each other.

“So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of criminals?”, Sam asked the team.

“117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam and you're just like, ‘No, that's cool. We got it”, Rhodes said as he looked at the team and then back at Sam.

“How long are going to play both sides?”, Sam asked him upset.“I have an equation”, Vision spoke up as he leaned forward. “Oh, this will clear it up”, Sam said sarcastically as he looked at Vision.

“In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Ironman the number of known enhanced person's has grown exponentially. And during the same period the number of the number of potentially world-ending eventshas risen at a commensurate rate”, Vision stated as he looked at the others.

“You're saying it is our fault?", Steve questioned the mechanic with an raised eyebrow.

“I'm saying there any be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight is not an Idea that can be dismissed out of hand”, Vision added as he watched the team.

“Boom”, Rhodes commented confident. "Tony?", Natasha asked the man who laid on a chair, his hand in his face as he rolled with his eyes. “You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal”, she stated as she eyed the man in front of her.

“It's because he already made up his mind”, Steve explained to her as he looked at the man as well.

“Boy, you know me so well”, Tony said as he slowly sat up. “Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache”, he explained as he walked into the kitchen.

“That's what's going on Captain. It's just pain”, the man told him as he made himself a cup of coffee, “It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?”, he suddenly asked as he looked into the sink.

“Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?”, he questioned the team sarcastical.

He suddenly put on hologram of a young looking, dark skinned man. “Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way”, Stark sighed as he pointed at the man.

“He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do”, Tony explained while looking at the team.

“He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess what, Sokovia”, he ended his speech.

They all looked at him shocked and Ana's gaze immediately fell on Wanda, who looked really upset as Eva grabbed her hand to comforte her. 

“He wanted to make a difference. I suppose. I mean we won't know, because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass”, Tony exclaimed upset while he looked at Steve.

He took a sip from his coffee, “There's no decision- making process here. We need to be put in check!”, the man exclaimed as he looked at them.

“Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're not better than the bad guys”, the billionaire stated as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Tony if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up”, Steve argued with the brunette man.

“Who'd said we've given up?” Steve looked at him as he let out a deep sighed. “We are. If we're not taking responsibility for our actions”, Steve told him as he looked at the ground.

“This document just shifts the blame”, Steve continued. “I'm sorry Steve”, Rhodes apologized to the man before he went on, “but that is dangerously arrogant.”

“This is the United Nations we talking about. It's not the world Security council, it's not shield, it's not hydra—.”

Steve interrupted Rhodes immediatley, “No but it's run by people, with agendas and agendas change.”

“That's good, that's why I'm here”, Stark engaged in the conversation again. “When I realised what my weapons were capable off in the wrong hands I stopped it”, Tony told Steve as he approched him.

“Tony you choose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose!”, Steve tried to explain to them. “What if the panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go?”, Steve questioned as his gaze wandered over every single one of the group.

“What is there somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safer hands are still our own”, the man defended his opinion.

“If we don't do this now, it's going to be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty”, Stark argued back at him.

“You're saying they'll come for me”, Wanda stated as he lookes straight forward. “We would protect you”, Vision immediately answered her, making her look at him.

"But that would mean that they will be coming for me too, right?", Eva questioned them worried and The other slowly nodded at them.

Anastasija as much as she didn't want to aggree with Tony she did. “Maybe, Tony's right”, Anastasija suddenly spoke up as she stood up as well.

“If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer, if we take it off —”, Steve looked at her, betrayal in his eyes. “Steve don't look at me like that”, the woman sighed as she looked away from him.

“Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?”, Sam asked her retorical as he leaned forward. “She's just reading the terrain”, Natasha defended her sister as she stood besides her.

“We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back”, Anastasija told Steve as she looked at him sadly.

“Focus up. I am sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?”, Stark questioned as he leaned on the back of the couch. Anastasija shook hear head hesitantly, “I want to take it back now.”

“No, you can't retract it”, Tony exclaimed like a child as he looked at her. “Okay. Case closed. I win”, he then stated while he looked at them and clapped his hands together.

“I have to go”, Steve suddenly informed them before he stood up and left. Anastasija wanted to follow him but when she stepped out of the room she couldn't find him anywhere.

❝𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝❞
❝𝐬𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐈❞