The team quietly moves into the living area and claims their seats. Steve sits in a chair at the head of the coffee table. Tony and Natasha sharing a recamier on his left while Vision and Wanda share a matching recamier on his right. Pietro and I share a white love seat similar to the chair Steve is sitting on at the opposite end of the table. James and Sam stand behind Cap to his sides, not claiming any seats. Once everybody settles down, James and Sam begin talking about who outranks who, and who has more military metals than who.

Ah yes, the wonders of testosterone.

I simply roll my eyes and lean into Pietro's side as he rests an arm across my shoulders while leaning against the armrest. It is calming, considering my outburst moments ago. "For the sake of conversation, let's say we agree to these accords." I draw everybody's attention to the matter at hand.

"How long is it gonna be until they low-jack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam asks suddenly. My attention turns to Tony accusingly, where he's lounging with his hand over his face as if he's in some sort of long facepalm. When I see no reaction from him, I turn my attention to Pietro. He looks down at me while tracing small patterns on my arm where his hand rests from being over my shoulders. All he does is shrug.

"This is ridiculous." I mutter to him, a disgruntled look on my face.

"You're telling me." He grumbles back before we both look at Rhodes.

"A hundred and seventeen countries wanna sign this." James says while low-key glaring at Sam before continuing. "A hundred and seventeen, Sam," He states, giving an over exaggerated shrug. "and you're just like 'nah it's cool.'" Sam's immediately on the defense.

"How long are you gonna play both sides?" Wilson asks, crossing his arms as the two of them face-off in a testosterone battle.

"Yeah, c'mon Rhodes, seriously. I think your opinion is a little biased to be making any rational decisions." I jump to Sam's defense.

"I have an equation..." Vision pipes up from where he sits next to Wanda before we have our very own WWIII.

"Oh, this'll clear it up." Sam states as the two of them turn to face Vision, along with the rest of us, save Tony. He continues to sit with his eyes closed and a hand over his face like he's listening to whiny teenagers. I mean, I guess he kinda is.

"In the time since Mr. Stark has announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown expediently. And, during the same period, the number of world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." The Vision ends calmly, looking around the room wearily.

"So you're saying this is our fault?" Steve asks, looking up from Accords he's been flipping through.

"It's not like we lit up a big sign saying 'Hey! Evil-doers! Come create death and destruction because we can kick your butts!" I declare sarcastically in accordance to Steve's statement, which earns me a disapproving look from Rhodes. I return his hard glare.

"I'm saying there may be a causality." The Vision as he links his fingers together. A brief silence ensues before he continues speaking. "Our very strength invites challenge," He motions loosely in a circle, "challenge incites...conflict. Conflict breeds catastrophe." Vis finishes solemnly.

"So what, you want us to just sit on our hands and do nothing? It's not like we can just walk down the street into a CVS and say 'hey! I'm an enhanced human being! Please vaccinate me so I'll no longer have powers and the world will be a better place!'" I reply highly sarcastically before feeling Pietro give me a little squeeze in an attempt to calm me down before I start a fight. I don't think anybody wants me riled up again. Especially since I'd probably actually start a fight this time.

"Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand." Vision calmly tells me. I can tell he's trying his best to diffuse the situation before it can escalate further.

"Boom." James says victoriously, looking over to Sam cockily. I'm about ready to smack him as I scowl at him with Wilson.

"Tony..." Natasha speaks up, looking to the billionaire, which causes him to drop his hand onto his chest, "you were being uncharacteristically nonhyperverbal." Nat says suspiciously.

"It's 'cuz he's already made up his mind." Steve says before Tony can say anything, as all eyes turn to Stark. I then facepalm. What a freaking mess.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony says sarcastically as he rolls off the side of the open-backed couch and places his feet on the floor. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache." He states while rubbing the back of his head as he gets up and begins to walk to the kitchen. "That's what's going on Cap, this pain." Stark says, grabbing a nearby coffee cup before looking into the sink. "It's discomfort." He continues as he digs at something in the sink now. "Who's puttin' coffee grinds into the disposal?" Tony suddenly asks, turning sharply to face the sitting area as he grabs a bottle from the counter. "Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" It's a rhetorical question. When nobody says anything, he pulls his phone from his pocket and places it in...a basket of fruit?

Is he ok?

He probably needs a nap.

And Pepper.

I wish the two of them would kiss and make up since their fight a few months ago. It hasn't been the same without Pepper here. The billionaire then taps the screen of his device, causing a photo of a young olive-skinned man to appear as he looks back to his coffee cup briefly. He turns back to the photo as if he's surprised it's there. "Oh! That's Charles Spencer, by the way." This causes my eyebrows to scrunch up.

Is that name supposed to mean something to us...?

"He was a great kid." Tony continues, unscrewing a cap from the bottle he had picked up earlier. "Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, had a full level gig in tow planned for the fall... But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul before he parked it behind a desk." Stark grumbles. "See the world, maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun... He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor, guess where? Sokovia." Tony finishes angrily. The entire team seems to be holding their breath as they remember the mournful memories that came with Ultron's attack on Sokovia. Wanda and Pietro specifically. 

Now it's my turn to comfort Pietro. I place a hand over the one that is resting in his lap and give it a tender squeeze as I give him a small, encouraging smile. "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose, I mean we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kickin' ass..." Stark says sourly with an angry tint to his tone. The room becomes quiet again and Tony lifts his drink to his lips before he takes a quick sip. He then sets it back on the counter. "There's no decision making process here." The billionaire states firmly, walking back towards the sitting area. He stops right at the edge of the kitchen counter and crosses his arms. "We need to be put in check!" Tony sharply declares. "Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, we're boundary-less, then we're no better than the bad guys." He finishes and casts all of us an individual look.

"Tony, you're talking about becoming dogs on leashes for the same government that wanted to bomb NYC, couldn't detect HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD, and then blamed us for all their messes..." I fire back while lifting my brow at him.

"Tony, if someone dies on your watch then you don't give up." Steve says. I can't help but find myself nodding as I motion to Steve approvingly. It's just as he told Wanda and me back in Wanda's room and just as I was saying when I was whooping Ross' cocky a-

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony defends, while subsequently interrupting my train of thought.

"We are if we aren't taking responsibility for our actions." Steve replies back, referring to the UN being in charge and calling the shots of our actions. It would put the blame on the UN officials if something were to go wrong. "This document just shifts the blame."

"Sorry, Steve, that...that is dangerously arrogant." James says while making disbelieving motions with his hands. "This is the United Nations we're talking about." While Rhodes speaks Steve is shaking his head in disapproval. "It's not the...The World Security Council. It's not S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not HYDRA-"

"No, perhaps it's not. But guess what? Those people have agendas." I snap grumpily.

"And agendas change." Steve continues on my statement.

"That's good!" Tony sharply butts into the conversation before walking towards Cap with his hands in his pockets. "That's why I'm here. Once I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose." Cap says seriously. This causes Tony to look side to side before finally meeting the eyes of Captain America. "What if the panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should be going? What if there's somewhere we need to go, and they won't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

Wow, he's good at speeches.

And I'm good at verbal annihilation.

We should join a debate team.

"If we don't do this now, it's going to be done to us later." Stark says matter-of-factly while shrugging his shoulders. "That's the fact. That won't be pretty." He looks at all of us.

"You're saying they'll come for us." Wanda finally speaks up, inferring her, Pietro, and I. This causes me to look down at my hands and ring them nervously. I might be an official American citizen now thanks to Nick, but that won't stop the UN.

"We would protect you." Vis states as he and Wanda share a look.

"Maybe Tony's right." Widow speaks up, causing everybody to look at her incredulously. "We have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. But take it off-"

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam finally voices the thought everybody seems to be thinking, and I hold back a bark of laughter.

"I'm just...I'm reining the terrain... We have made some very public mistakes. We have to win their trust back." Nat says, looking at Steve, hoping to sway him.

"Yeah, well so have the governments of the world. All you see them doing is blaming the people trying to fix their problems..." I sassily reply while leaning further back into my seat. Family discussions suck.

"Focus up." Tony breaks in as he places both hands on the armrest of the couch before lifting one hand to do a circular motion in the air with one finger. "I'm sorry, did I just...mishear you, or did you..agree with me?" He questions Natasha, ignoring my previous statement.

"Ohhh, I wanna take it back..." Natasha starts, shaking her head slowly.

"No no no, you can't retract it." Stark says, waving a finger at Widow. "Thank you, though." He says and behind him, Sam is shaking his head. My head then turns to Steve as I hear a buzz and watch as he takes his phone out and reads something on the screen slowly. I briefly wonder if I set up my phone to send alerts to Steve's phone should I have found anything.

"I have to go..." He says without explanation and stands to his feet while tossing the Sokovia Accords to the table before briskly leaving the room, causing all eyes to follow him.

"Do you think he's alright?" I quietly ask Pietro, not taking my eyes off the door where he left.

"I'm not sure..." And then the room falls back into silence. I heave a quiet sigh, staring at the door he exited.

"Okay, but are we going to address Iris' outburst at the Secretary of State?" Rhodes asks as I stand up, blowing out my cheeks with air.

"Nope." I say and head after Steve, intent on making sure he's not about to break someone's nose. Or worse, run off to find his friend without backup should that have been the alert he received. 

▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁

YOU GUYS ARE LITERALLY THE BEST.

ALL OF YOU.

ALL OVER THE WORLD.

LITERALLY.

HERE'S THE LIST;

USA, CANADA, QUEBEC, MEXICO, PUERTO RICO, NICARAGUA, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, SURINAME, FRANCE, BRAZIL, NORWAY, SWEDEN, FINLAND, UK, IRELAND, WALES, DENMARK, NETHERLANDS [hey fam 😏], BELGIUM, GERMANY [ayo friends 😉], POLAND, SPAIN, PORTUGAL, MOROCCO, HUNGARY, ROMANIA [hey do any of u know seb? 😶], CROATIA, ITALY, GREECE, TURKEY, LEBANON, JORDAN, EGYPT, KUWAIT, U.A.E., SOUTH AFRICA, INDIA, MALAYSIA, INDONESIA, THE PHILIPPINES, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND. ALL OF YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING AND I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.

I love you all so so much 💛