"Come on, Maximoff, show me what you've got," Maggie smirked at Wanda as the two stood opposite each other in the training room a few months later.

They were going on a mission at any moment so Maggie thought that she'd be a good friend and help Wanda make sure she was ready to go when they needed her to be.

"Powers or no powers?" Wanda said.

"No powers. You won't always be able to use them. You gotta learn how to defend yourself in every circumstance," Maggie said.

"You use your powers," Wanda said.

"I use my physical training more than I use my powers," Maggie shrugged.

"Why?" Wanda said.

Maggie quickly kicked Wanda's legs out from underneath her and straddled her, putting her arm down lightly on Wanda's neck so she wouldn't move.

"Because I find it more fun to tackle people myself," Maggie smirked down at her.

Wanda stared at Maggie with wide eyes and Maggie frowned.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Maggie said.

"No," Wanda whispered.

"Did I scare you?" Maggie said.

"No," Wanda shook her head. Maggie put her palm on Wanda's neck and could feel her pulse racing.

"Then why does your heart feel like it's gonna crap out on me?" Maggie yanked Wanda to her feet again.

"Because your face was really close to mine and you taking me down was kind of really attractive and now I think I like women," Wanda mumbled.

Maggie raised an eyebrow at Wanda.

"Seriously? You get gay panic because I kicked your ass?" Maggie said.

"Shut up, Magdalena," Wanda groaned, pushing Maggie back teasingly.

"You started it," Maggie laughed.

"Hey, kids, we gotta go!" Steve waved them over from the door.

"Steve, guess what?" Maggie bounced over to Steve with a massive smirk.

"Maggie, don't tell him!" Wanda whined, running after Maggie.

"I knocked Wanda on her ass so easily, you wouldn't even believe it," Maggie said.

"That's great, little Romanoff," Steve chuckled. "You ready for the mission, Wanda?" he said.

"Yeah," Wanda nodded, slipping her hand into Maggie's. "Magdalena will be with me, right?" she said.

"The whole time," Steve nodded.

As the two were the closest in age and their powers were similar, Natasha and Steve had paired them together for training. Maggie figured that they were playing matchmaker while they did it, too, but she didn't mind too much because Wanda could actually put up a good fight with her magic.

"We'll be fine," Maggie said. Wanda still looked scared. "Hey," Maggie said.

Wanda looked at her and Maggie squeezed her hand.

"It'll be fine," she said.

"I know. I have you there," Wanda said cutely.

"Cringe," Maggie said, but tugged Wanda down the hallway with her.

"You do have a heart, after all!" Steve called after Maggie.

"Shut up, ice cube!" Maggie yelled.

"Don't be mean," Wanda grinned. "It's nice to see you having a heart," she said.

"I don't have a heart. Hearts are for losers, just like you," Maggie stuck her tongue out at Wanda as they climbed into the Quinjet.

"Who's a loser?" Sam perked up.

"You are," Maggie and Wanda chorused.

"Damn, Maggie, Wanda, that's cold," Sam sighed.

"Hey, seatbelts!" Natasha called from the front.

"Yes, mom," the four of them chorused, all of them putting their belts on to go to Nigeria.

"Alright, what do you see?" Steve's voice came over comms as Maggie and Wanda sat at the café table in Lagos, Nigeria a few hours later.

"Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target," Wanda said quietly.

"There's an ATM in the south corner, which means?" Steve said.

"Cameras," Wanda said.

Maggie sipped her coffee and leaned back in the chair, looking calmly around the street.

"Both cross streets are one way," Maggie said.

"So, compromised escape routes," Wanda said.

"Means our guy doesn't care about being seen, he isn't afraid to make a mess on the way. You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?" Steve said.

"Yeah, the red one?" Maggie said.

"It's cute," Wanda said.

"It is, isn't it?" Maggie nodded in agreement.

"It's also bulletproof, which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us," Natasha's voice came over comms and Maggie smiled.

"Hi, mama," she said.

"Hi, malyshka," Natasha sighed. Maggie looked over her shoulder discreetly, seeing Natasha sat two tables away with a coffee and a smile.

"You guys know Maggie and I move things with our minds, right?" Wanda smirked at Maggie as she looked back at Wanda.

"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature," Natasha said.

"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" Sam's voice came over comms.

"Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?" Natasha smirked. Maggie giggled and Wanda practically beamed at her as she sipped her coffee.

"Eyes on target, folks. This is the best lead we've had on Rumlow in six months. I don't want to lose him," Steve said.

"If he sees us coming, that won't be a problem. He kind of hates us," Sam said.

"Sam, see that garbage truck? Tag it," Steve said.

"Give me x-ray," Sam mumbled. "Truck's loaded for max weight and the driver's armed," he said.

"It's a battering ram," Natasha said.

"Go now," Steve said.

Maggie jumped to her feet, Natasha doing the same.

"What?" Wanda said.

"It's not for the police," Maggie grabbed her hand and yanked Wanda down the street after the truck.

"Maggie, I got Wanda with me. You, Nat and Sam take out Rumlow. They've got a biological weapon," Steve said over comms.

"Got it," Maggie said.

She squeezed Wanda's hand before darting in a different direction to her. She heard a large bang and winced.

"Everything okay?!" she said.

"The bastard threw a grenade at me!" Natasha whined.

"Are you bleeding?" Maggie said.

"No," Natasha said.

"Then walk it off," Maggie said. "Coming on your six," she added.

She saw someone riding a motorbike down the street and winced, running into the middle of the road as they got close enough. She jumped onto the back of the bike and leapt across the street, clinging on to the low roof of a building.

"Holy fuck," Maggie groaned. She climbed onto the top of the building and looked around. "Where the hell did you go?" she said.

"I got four, they're splitting up with the payload!" Sam yelled over comms. Maggie quickly looked around again, spotting Natasha racing after two men in black.

"I got the two on the left," Natasha said.

"I got right, then," Maggie said. She looked right and spotted the two men running away. "Parkour," Maggie said to herself.

She stepped back to the end of the roof and took a deep breath before running. She jumped off the end of the building, falling down until she crashed into them from behind. They landed on the floor with a loud groan and Maggie quickly used her powers to pin them down.

She rummaged through their bags.

"Empty!" she said.

"Get over here and help your mom, then," Sam said.

"On it," Maggie nodded. She quickly knocked the two men out and got up, racing down the street to find Natasha.

Maggie crept out from behind a building, seeing Natasha was standing off with two men. One had a gun aimed at her, hers aimed at him, and the other had the red vial in his hand, ready to drop it.

"Drop it. Or I'll drop this. Drop it!" the man with the vial yelled shakily.

"He'll do it!" the second man said.

Maggie caught Natasha's eyes and nodded once to say she'd handle the vial if Natasha wanted to sort the men.

She tapped comms three times to alert Sam to get Redwing to help.

Redwing descended from the sky and started firing at the man with the vial. Maggie dropped to the floor and caught it tightly in her hands while Natasha took the final man out.

"Payload secure," Maggie said into comms.

"Thanks, Sam," Natasha got to her feet and helped Maggie up, wrapping her arms around her shoulders.

"Don't thank me," Sam's voice came over comms.

"I'm not thanking that thing," Natasha squinted at Redwing.

"His name is Redwing," Sam said.

"Yeah, still not thanking it," Natasha said.

"He's cute. Go ahead, pet him," Sam said.

Maggie handed the vial to Natasha and grabbed Redwing, turning it over in her hands like she was a child.

"Not that hard!" Sam cried.

"That's what she said," Maggie hummed, letting Redwing go to resume flying.

"Magdalena!" Sam groaned through comms.

"Leave her alone," Natasha laughed.

"We need-" Steve's voice came over comms, "Fire and rescue on the south side of the building. We gotta get up there," Steve said.

"What's happened?" Maggie asked, her and Natasha taking off to meet Sam, Steve and Wanda there.

"I'm sorry," Wanda whispered over comms.

Maggie felt her stomach drop. Wanda had lost control.

"Maggie, get her out of here and back to the jet. Now," Natasha muttered to Maggie.

"Yeah," Maggie nodded.

"Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria, last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos when the attack occurred," the tele presenter's voice drifted out of Wanda's open door and into Maggie's bedroom.

Maggie stood up and walked down the hallway towards Wanda's room, leaning in the doorway as she watched Wanda stare blankly at the television playing the news.

"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil. Not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them. Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all," King T'Chaka said.

Maggie looked back at Wanda and saw that Wanda hadn't even noticed she was in the doorway. Maggie knocked twice on the wooden doorframe and Wanda looked over at her.

"I'm willing to negotiate on one of my rules if you're sad," Maggie muttered. She didn't know how to deal with emotions. Wanda usually just slipped into bed with Maggie while she was asleep if she was upset and Maggie would wake to Wanda bringing her breakfast. They never talked about why Wanda was there and it didn't happen often enough for Maggie to be worried.

"What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to-" the man on the telly started.

Maggie stared at the television and the screen cracked, the entire thing shutting down. Wanda looked at Maggie with wide eyes and she shrugged.

"What? It was talking shit," she said.

"You broke my television," Wanda said.

"Tony has plenty," Maggie shrugged again.

"It's my fault," Wanda said.

"No, it's not," Maggie said.

"They're being very specific on the TV," Wanda said.

"Well, they don't know what we do. Not really," Maggie said.

"I killed innocent people," Wanda said.

Maggie sighed and sat down on Wanda's bed, leaning against the headboard. Wanda shuffled back so she could lie her head on Maggie's lap.

"Did I ever tell you what I did before I joined the Avengers?" Maggie said.

"You were with HYDRA for a while," Wanda said.

"I was also with the Red Room. They made assassins, robots. They made monsters. From the ages of five to ten, I trained to be a killer. My father bought me back from the Red Room and put their training to use," Maggie said.

Wanda just stared up at her.

"I've killed a lot of people, Wanda. This feeling you're feeling right now? You have to cut it out. It'll make you soft," Maggie said.

"I'm sorry that killing people isn't something that I'm used to but I can't just cut it out. I killed people. I'm a monster," Wanda said, tone slightly hostile. Maggie ignored the bait for a fight, knowing Wanda wanted nothing more than to just let her frustrations out on Maggie because she knew Maggie would understand.

"You're not a monster. You're just... naive," Maggie frowned.

"I'm naive?" Wanda raised an eyebrow, sitting up to face Maggie.

"If you let this feeling consume you, if you focus on the bad instead of looking to the good, you won't go anywhere. You'll stay here, forever feeling as shitty as you are now. You fucked up, Wanda. You made a bad decision. You lost control, but that doesn't mean you're a bad person. Prove them wrong. Show them you're good. Make a change," Maggie said.

Wanda went to say something, but Vision phased through the door. Maggie jumped off the bed and glared at the robot. They weren't particularly close, purely because Maggie thought being friends with a robot she was apparently connected to should only be a work kind of thing. She also didn't like people seeing how she let her guard down around Wanda. Only Natasha and, rarely, Steve could see that side of her.

"Vis! We talked about this," Wanda said.

"Yes, but the door was open, so I assumed..." Vision trailed off awkwardly. "Mr Stark has arrived," he said. "Captain Rogers sent me to retrieve you both," he said.

"We'll be down, now," Maggie said.

"I'll use the door," Vision walked to the door. "Oh, and, apparently, he's brought a guest," Vision said.

"Who?" Maggie asked sharply.

"The Secretary of State," Vision said.

"Fuck," Maggie winced. She followed Vision out of the room, not even waiting for Wanda.

This was gong to be a disaster.

Maggie spun on the spinny chair around the conference table that she, Rhodey, Natasha, Steve, Tony, Sam, Vision and Wanda were sat around. Secretary Ross was glaring at her but he wouldn't tell her to stop. Nobody told the seventeen year old what to do except Natasha.

"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 found something forty years in the army had never taught me; perspective," Ross said. "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," Ross said.

"And what word would you use, Mr Secretary?" Natasha said, kicking a leg out to stop Maggie from spinning. She was making all of them dizzy.

"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 chose and, who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?" Ross said.

He activated the screen behind them.

"New York," he said. Footage from the New York attack with Loki flashed onto the screen. "Washington DC," he said. The screen changed, showing recorded footage of the battle against HYDRA. There was a clip of Maggie and Dimitri falling from the plane, fighting in the air with Natasha racing after them. "Sokovia," he said.

It changed now to Sokovia and Maggie could feel Wanda tense up from across the table. That was her home and it was gone, now.

"Lagos," Ross said.

Maggie didn't have to look at Wanda to know she was getting even more stressed right now.

"Okay, you've made your point. Turn it off," Maggie said coldly. Ross nodded and the images disappeared.

"For 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," Ross said.

He slid a document over to Wanda. She picked it up cluelessly and then handed it to Rhodey.

"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 said.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that," Steve said.

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross said.

"Probably in space, probably hiding in a science lab in the Middle east," Maggie said quickly, but with a no-bullshit tone.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton 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.

"So, there are contingencies," Rhodey said.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," Ross said. "Talk it over," he added.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Then you retire," Ross said.

Maggie blew out her air, strands of hair in her face falling back into place a few seconds later.

"I need a drink," Maggie said bluntly.

She stood up and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of vodka and starting to drink it at the island.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have," Rhodey ranted to Sam as the Avengers looked over the accords in HQ. Maggie was sprawled on one of the couches, the half empty bottle of vodka confiscated by Natasha, who was now drinking it herself.

Wanda was sat beside Maggie, Vision on the other side of her, but she made no move to touch the girl. Wanda knew Maggie still hated affection and, while she compromised when they were alone, she wouldn't push Maggie to be affectionate in front of everyone.

"So, let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they lojack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam said.

"117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, no, that's cool. We got it," Rhodey said.

"How long are you gonna play both sides?" Sam demanded.

"I have an equation," Vision said.

"Why are we bringing equations into this?" Maggie groaned loudly.

"Oh, this will clear it up," Sam scoffed.

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Ironman, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate," Vision said.

"I think I'm too drunk to understand what the fuck the robot is talking about," Maggie said.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve said.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict and conflict breeds catastrophe. Oversight... Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand," Vision said.

"Boom," Rhodey nodded.

"Tony, you are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal," Natasha said.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said.

"Boy, you know me so well," Tony said sarcastically. He stood up and walked to the kitchen, rubbing his head. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache," he said. "That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" he ranted.

He put his phone on the island and tapped it, a holographic photograph of a teenager coming onto the screen.

"Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. 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. 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 said.

Maggie suddenly felt like she was sober again.

"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 said. "There's no decision making process here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys," Tony said.

"Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve said.

"Who said we're giving up?" Tony said.

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame," Steve said.

"I'm sorry, Steve, that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. it's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA," Rhodey said.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change," Steve said firmly.

"That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realised what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing," Tony said.

"Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own," Steve said.

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty," Tony said.

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda said. Maggie looked at her before looking back at Tony.

"We would protect you," Vision said.

"Maybe Tony's right," Natasha said. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam scoffed.

"I'm just reading the terrain. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back," Natasha said.

"Focus up, I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony said.

"Oh, I want to take it back now," Natasha shot him a small look.

"No, no, no, you can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed. I win," Tony said.

"Little Romanoff? You're unusually quiet for someone with half a bottle of vodka in their system," Sam said, shooting Maggie a worried look.

"I, uh," Maggie trailed off slowly. "I have somewhere to be," she said.

She jumped up and grabbed the keys for the Quinjet.

"Where are you flying on half a liter of vodka?" Natasha said.

"I'll be back. Promise. Just trust me," Maggie said, running from the room before they could stop her.