chapter fifty-five
the sokovia accords

𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀 few months since Sokovia had been destroyed and Adelaide and Steve had been helping the Maximoff twins adjust to their new roles as people who help others, not... destroy others. Which is why they found themselves in Lagos with Natasha and Sam. Adelaide stood on the corner of a street with a beanie and sunglasses on, pretending to look at a map while Wanda and Natasha were a distance away at a café.

"Alright, what do you see?" Steve asked Wanda on the comms. Adelaide glanced toward the young redhead out of the corner of her eye.

"Standard beat cops," she replied. "Small station. Quiet street. It's a good target."

"There's an ATM in the south corner," Adelaide tested, looking back at the map. "Which means... Speedy?"

"Cameras."

Steve nodded from his position in a building, looking out the window. "Both cross streets are one way."

"So, compromised escape routes," Wanda said.

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

Wanda glanced in that direction. "Yeah, the red one? It's cute."

"It's also bulletproof," Natasha said. "Which means private security, which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us."

Wanda paused. "You guys know I can move things with my mind, right? And my brother can run faster than a normal person?"

"Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature," Natasha said as Adelaide folded up the map and put it in her pocket.

"Anybody ever tell you you're a little paranoid?" Sam asked the former assassin.

"Not to my face," Natasha replied and Adelaide pinched the bridge of her nose at the distraction. "Why? Did you hear something?"

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

"Don't get your spandex in a twist," Adelaide told him, watching the passing cars. "If he sees us coming, it won't be a problem. He hates us."

Adelaide looked over when she saw a garbage truck barrel through the street with no regard for any pedestrians or other vehicles. She pulled a kid out of the way of the truck and set him down gently on the sidewalk.

"Sam, see that garbage truck?" Steve asked, having watched everything from the window. "The one that nearly killed a kid? Tag it."

Sam obliged and a small drone from his jet pack flew down to scan the truck. "That truck's loaded for max weight. And the driver's armed."

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

"Go now."

Wanda furrowed her brows. "What?"

"He's not hitting the police," Adelaide said and within a moment, Pietro had run next to her and picked her up, running to the institute for infectious diseases. Once they had stopped, she held onto his shoulder, her head spinning from the sudden speed. "You really have to warn me when you do that."

"Sorry," he apologized and she smiled tightly.

She looked over just as Steve's shield took out several soldiers and he came running in. "Body armor, AR-15s," he said. "I make seven hostiles."

Behind Adelaide, Sam flew in and used his wings to block shots from the soldiers before taking out two more. "I make five."

The blonde looked behind Pietro. "Duck," she told him. He obliged and she fired a few shots at his chest, killing him instantly. "Make that four."

"Three," Sam corrected after Wanda used her powers to make another soldier float and he took him out. She watched as his drone passed by, scanning the building. "Rumlow's on the third floor."

Adelaide looked back at Pietro. "Do you remember what I've been teaching you?" she asked him. He nodded. "Good. Wanda's getting the gas out of the building, which means you get the people in nearby buildings out and away from the fighting."

"On it."

Pietro sped away and Adelaide spit out the bugs that landed in her mouth. "He's helping people," she reminded herself, ducking from the swing of a soldier and kicking him in the stomach. "He's helping people and he's trying to be good."

"Addy, focus, please."

"Well, if you'd rather I complain about Maximoff for the rest of the mission, I'll do that instead," she said, knocking out another soldier. "Your choice."

Steve sighed. "I should have made someone else train him."

"Took you long enough to figure that out." Adelaide looked over when an armored vehicle blew up and Natasha was thrown out from the inside. She ran over to the redhead just as Steve was watching the scene from the balcony.

"Sam," he said. "Rumlow's in an ATV heading north."

Natasha and Adelaide ran back to the redhead's motorcycle and the blonde held on tightly around her abdomen as Natasha maneuvered through the crowds. "I got four," Sam informed them. "They're splitting up."

Natasha abandoned the motorcycle and she and Adelaide split up. "I got two on the left," Natasha said.

Steve was also running through the cars when he spotted a vest in the middle of the crowd. "They ditched their gear," he told them. "It's a shell game now. One of them has the payload."

Adelaide paused and looked back to where Steve was before running in that direction. Once she had arrived, she saw Rumlow had Steve pinned against a building. "This is for dropping a building on me," he said as he drew out a knife from his glove and she ran over to them. She grabbed his arm and twisted it until he dropped it. He took out another knife, but his grip on Steve had loosened and he ended up on his knees. He removed his mask, revealing a scarred face to Steve and Adelaide. "I think I look pretty good, all things considered."

"Who's your buyer?" Adelaide asked.

"You know, he knew you," Rumlow said, looking at Steve. "Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky."

Adelaide looked at Steve whose eyes had hardened. "What did you say?"

"He remembered you," Rumlow told him. "I was there. He got all weepy about it. 'Til they put his brain back in a blender. He wanted you to know something. He said to me, 'Please tell Rogers. When you gotta go, you gotta go.' And you're coming with me."

He activated his bomb vest and Adelaide's eyes widened but Wanda kept the blast contained only around Rumlow. She lifted him in the air before losing control and the explosion took out floors of a nearby building.

"No," Adelaide muttered, shaking her head. "No, no, Pietro's up there!" she said, pointing up at the building. "He was evacuating people."

Before Steve could stop her, she took off running into the building and he brought a hand up to his comm. "Sam, we need fire and rescue... on the south side of the building."

Once she had gotten through the destruction of the building, Adelaide broke through a door and looked around the room, furrowing her brow. "Steve... there's no one up here..."

"What?" he asked in confusion.

Adelaide walked over to the window and looked down. She tilted her head and let out a breath, smiling softly. "He got them out," she said, looking down at the group of people out front of the building with Pietro. "He got them out."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 the Avengers Compound, watching the news on the tv about the destruction of Lagos and how a majority of the blame was placed on Wanda. "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."

"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil," King T'Chaka said. "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."

"The Wakanda King went on to..."

Grace closed her laptop and let out a breath, shaking her head. She glanced in the direction of Wanda's room and heard Steve's voice. She smiled softly at his determination to not give up on her and not put the blame on her. She looked down at the ring that sat on her ring and played with it when she felt Adelaide sit next to her.

"How's he doing?" she asked the blonde, motioning to Pietro's room.

"Beating himself up over it," she replied with a sigh. "He could have sworn he went through all of the floors, but he didn't know there was a conference room full of Wakandans and a few children out of his eyesight. He thinks their deaths are all his fault."

Grace let out a breath. "God, the news is just making it seem like their monsters," she muttered, shaking her head. "Just because the world was cruel to them, doesn't mean that they are."

She stood up and Adelaide looked at her. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"To try and convince Pietro that he's not a bad person for one mistake," she said, starting for the door when Tony walked in with— "Secretary Ross."

"Miss Stark," Ross said, shaking her head and looking down at her left hand. "I suppose congratulations are in order for you and Captain Rogers."

Grace pressed her lips together. "Thank you. Um..." She cleared her throat. "What exactly are you doing here, Mr. Secretary?"

"I suppose you'll know soon enough," he replied and she nodded. "I'll be seeing you shortly, Miss Stark. Miss Snow, if you'd walk with us."

"Sure..." She watched as he walked away with Tony and Adelaide — the latter looking confused — and she sighed. "Son of a bitch. Now the Avengers are getting political..." Shaking her head, she continued down the hall to Pietro's room and she saw him watching the news. "You know, watching the news is never a good idea. There are a lot of bad things in the world."

Pietro looked over at her. "I forgot a room," he said quietly and she turned off the TV, sitting down beside him on the bed. "I'm the reason they're dead."

"But you're also the reason everybody else in the building went home unharmed and saw another day with their family," Grace told him and he looked over at her. "You can't save everybody, Pietro. It's too hard."

"But if I had just done one more run-through, then I would have noticed the conference room and those people would be alive now," he contradicted. "And the King of Wakanda and the news wouldn't be blaming me and my sister."

Grace sighed. "It's a team effort, Pietro," she said. "You two have been training for what, five months? I think you did pretty damn good for just learning." She stood up and looked at him. "Don't beat yourself up over it. It'll start to mess with your head if you do."

She walked out of his room when she saw Steve leaning against the wall with a distracted look on his face.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" she asked and he looked over at her. "Bucky. You're thinking about what Rumlow said to you."

He let out a breath as she rubbed his shoulders. "How can I get through a fight if I get distracted by someone saying Bucky's name? He said it and it's like I was a sixteen-year-old kid back in Brooklyn." Grace sighed and leaned her chin on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck. "People died, Gracie. It's on me."

"You and the twins are making it hard for me to try and get you guys to stop thinking about it," she said softly. "You all did save a lot of people. Unfortunately, some of the people who weren't saved have a king who's speaking out about it." Steve nodded and she pecked his cheek. "Come on, we have to go listen to a secretary rant at us."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 in her hand while Thaddeus Ross stood in front of the group. Tony was sitting against the wall while the others sat around the conference table. Grace glanced back at her nephew who avoided her gaze and she furrowed her brows.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack," Ross began and Grace looked back at him. "I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. 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." Grace and Steve looked at each other. "The world owes the Avengers an un-payable 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'."

"And what word would you use to describe them, Mr. Secretary?" Grace asked, tilting her head at the man.

"How about 'dangerous'?" he replied and she scoffed. "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?"

He turned on a screen behind him and several newsreels appeared of past Avengers and SHIELD matters.

"New York."

The Chitauri invasion; terrified citizens; a soldier firing a gun; the Hulk smashing into a building. Rhodey looked over at Natasha with a regretful look in his eye.

"Washington DC."

The Insight Helicarriers firing at each other; the destroyed Triskellion; one of the helicarriers crashing into the Potomac; a massive wave from the helicarrier engulfing citizens and the camera. Sam looked down.

"Sokovia."

Terrified citizens all running away; the city starting to rise; a building falling, destroyed.

"Lagos."

A burning building; paramedics moving a body — a young girl.

Grace glanced at the twins who were both still looked affected by that day. "That's enough, Ross," she said, looking at him.

He nodded at his aide and the tv disappeared. "For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the government of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." He took out a thick document and handed it to Wanda. She looked at it before passing 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."

"Fury formed the Avengers to make the world a safer place," Grace said, crossing her arms and looking at Ross. "Don't you feel as though they've done that?"

"Tell me, Miss Stark, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" She sighed. "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."

"So there are contingencies," Rhodey said.

Ross nodded. "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords," he told the group. Steve looked back at Tony while Grace let out a breath and held her head in her hand. "Talk it over."

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

"Then you retire."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

an: and here we go...