"𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐎𝐅 State here?" Charlie demanded, nearly jogging to keep up with Steve's pace.

He didn't answer, just picking up his pace as he rounded the corner. "Go to your room, doll."

Charlie stared at him, hearing both of their shoes pound against the floor. "Pops, seriously-"

"Does it sound like I'm joking around?" Steve asked sharply. He finally slowed down, putting a hand on his hip and falling into the "dad" stance Charlie hadn't seen on him in a while. "Okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. But it's the Secretary of State, Charlie. This is not a meet-up you can be a part of."

Charlie anxiously ran her hands through her hair as they approached the elevator. "Pops, this is freaking me out."

Steve sighed, stepping into the elevator when the doors opened. "Everything's gonna be fine, Charlie. Me or Dad will come get you when it's time for dinner, alright?"

Charlie stood helplessly as the elevator door closed, watching her Pops disappear from view.

The silence in the hallway was deafening.

"Fuck," she whispered. She leaned against the wall, hands over her mouth. "Fuck."

The Secretary of State, upstairs, talking to her parents right now.

Government officials showing up at the Tower was never a good sign- but Thaddeus Ross?

That couldn't possibly mean anything good.

It wasn't worth it to try to sneak down into the meeting that was happening- her dads would never let her in, and she didn't want to disturb any kind of peace they had right now.

She really only had one option. It was what she did best, really.

Snoop around.

She raced towards the stairs and back to her bedroom, feet thundering along the floor. She could almost hear Sam telling her not to run- that the floor was slick and she was gonna lose her balance, but she ignored it.

"V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A, tune me in, will you?" she muttered the second she got into her room. She gestured at the ever-changing wall, closing her door firmly behind her.

More than a little panicked, that nasty dark feeling settling deep in the pit of her stomach, she climbed onto her bed and settled carefully in front of the wall, looking at the display video from the camera feed in the conference room.

The Avengers were gathered in their respective seats, Tony in the corner of the room behind them, fidgeting with his hands. Steve had a dark look on his face, titled his head up to speak to Secretary Ross through a glare.

"Up the volume, sugar," Charlie muttered, and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A quickly obliged.

She recognized Secretary Ross's voice as soon as he spoke. "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."

Charlie pulled her knees close to her, eyes narrowing. That sounded... ominous. Judging by the looks on everyone's faces, they agreed.

"But I think we have a solution." Charlie had to strain to see the thick book of documents that Ross slid over to Wanda, who quietly picked it up, sliding it towards Rhodey.

Uh-oh. If Rhodey was here, that meant military.

Tony sat quietly in the corner, exchanging a cryptic look with his best friend. It wasn't the usual teasing exchange they had, though. This felt much more heavy.

"The Sokovia Accords," Ross said loudly. Charlie's head whipped towards him at the name-drop; then at Wanda, who flinched just slightly. "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."

"The Avengers were formed..." Steve said lowly, holding a steady gaze at Ross, who was walking behind him. "...to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that."

Charlie sucked in a breath, watching the body language of the rest of the group. Wanda had her head down, her sleeves up to her fingers. Natasha had that grim smile on her face- the tactic she used to act like she couldn't be bothered. Steve looked angry, his blue eyes piercing.

Tony looked... nervous.

Almost regretful.

His eyes were trained on Steve as Ross spoke again. "Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?"

Wow, that was a low blow. Charlie glared at the unwelcome figure as he slowly, methodically made his way back to the head of the table.

"If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes... you can bet there'd be consequences." Charlie scowled at that. She had no idea where Bruce or Thor were, but comparing them to nuclear warfare? "Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground."

Rhodey spoke calmly. Clearly, all this political talk was right down his alley. "So, there are contingencies."

Ross nodded, just once. "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords."

Steve's expression turned into something ugly. He turned slowly in his chair to look at Tony, whose elbows rested on his knees, avoiding his husband's eyes.

Tony clearly couldn't ignore him any longer, and lifted his eyes.

They held each other's gaze for a moment, before Steve slowly turned back to face the table again, a sour look on his face.

"Talk it over," Ross said quietly. He looked over the Avengers, who all head their heads down, avoiding each others eyes.

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" It was Natasha who spoke. There was a smile on her face, but no humor in it.

Ross looked around the table. Charlie glanced at Tony, in his corner of the room, looking oddly anxious for being in a large group of people. "Then you retire."

Charlie's head snapped up, her mouth falling open in shock.

Retire?

No. What the actual fuck.

The Avengers can't just-

"V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A, did I hear that right?" she asked quietly, feeling sick.

"I believe so, Miss Charlotte," V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A said coolly.

Jesus H. Christ.

Charlie stood slowly, her hand hovering over her mouth. The live feed holographed onto the wall turned off, a pathetic mercy to the thoughts raging in her head.

The Avengers had to sign these... Accords, or they had to retire.

If the accords were coming from the government, they obviously sucked. But retiring wasn't an option, so where did that leave them?

"V, is Ross gone yet?" Charlie murmured.

"He is."

"Good," she said, tugging a sweater over her head. She wrenched open the manual door to her room and nearly jogged into the hallway.

The elevator took an excruciatingly long time to get downstairs, and by the time it did, Charlie had left scuff marks from pacing on the marble floor.

She squeezed out of the doors the second they started opening, really running now towards the living space, where she could hear several adult voices speaking loudly over each other.

"Are you even reading this? It says right here-"

"You know what this is going to make us do-"

"It's a matter of safety!"

"This is about protecting people as fast as we can in emergency situations-"

"HEY!" Charlie shouted.

The room fell silent. Heads one by one slowly turned towards her, a different exasperated expression on each of her teammate's faces.

Charlie's eyes fell her on Dad first. "What the hell is going on?"

Steve pursed his lips.

"Seriously," Charlie insisted. "I just watched part of a live feed of Secretary Ross lecturing you guys about some... Accords? The United Nations? Retiring?"

"Charlie," Steve said quietly. "This isn't something-"

"If you tell me," Charlie interrupted, her voice laced with warning, "That this isn't something I need to worry about, I will jump out that window. I'm part of this family. I'm going to figure it out where or not you tell me, so it might as well come from you."

Tony stared at her for a moment, before reaching behind him and tossing her a thick paperback.

Charlie caught it with a small "umph", before adjusting the copy properly in her hands. She ran her hand over the title, The Sokovia Accords, the font looking way too professional for her liking.

"Can somebody dumb this down for the fifteen year old who knows almost nothing about politics?" She asked quietly, sitting down. She clutched the Accords in her hand.

Tony opened his mouth to say something before glancing at Steve, who had the world's darkest look on his face, and shutting it again.

"Dads," She pleaded.

"They're called the Sokovia Accords," Tony said finally. He ran a hand down his face jerkily. "Legal documents made by the United Nations, to regulate... activity of enhanced individuals."

Charlie's eyebrows dipped. "Enhanced... wait, so they want to be in charge of the Avengers?"

"Very simply put, yes," Tony muttered.

"This is just the first step," Sam said, clearly angry. "Let's say we agree to this thing- how long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

Rhodey scoffed, his arms crossed, turning to him. "117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'"

Shit. That many people wanted the Avengers to be regulated?

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

Charlie looked up at Rhodey, his face worn from years in the military. She hadn't seen him in 3 months- that's how much he worked. That much time gave a man experience.

If anyone knew how the government dealt with threats, it was Rhodey.

He caught Charlie looking at him and forced a smile, ruffling her hair. Charlie grabbed his hand, a silent understanding flickering between them.

"Missed you, Uncle Rhodey," she said quietly.

"Missed you too, kiddo," he responded, squeezing her hand. "Nice haircut, it suits you."

Charlie smiled at him, letting go of his hand as Vision spoke up.

"I have an equation."

Sam perked up, making a pointed look at RHodey before gesturing at Vision to continue. "Oh, this will clear it up."

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man," Vision said pointedly, "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."

For a brief moment, Peter's face flashed into Charlie's mind.

A nerdy, curly-haired, fifteen-year-old kid with enhanced powers given to him by a radioactive spider- if that wasn't proof that the things could happen to anyone, she didn't know what was.

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked, tilting his head.

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision answered calmly. "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."

Rhodey nodded his head, satisfied. "Boom."

Sam groaned.

Tony, who had laid down on the couch at some point during the bickering, rolled his eyes in exhaustion as the bickering started up again.

The look on his face was one Charlie was on the receiving end of quite often. Pure annoyance at the people around him not listening to what he had to say; when the people who needed to were refusing to listen to logic.

"Tony," Natasha said with a smirk, noticing Tony's behavior, "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said, a calm kind of anger lacing his tone.

Alarm bells went off in Charlie head as her eyes flickered between her parents. Neither of them would look at the other; Steve's jaw was clenched and Tony was pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Boy, you know me so well," Tony muttered, standing up and rubbing the back of his neck.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Steve asked quietly.

Charlie squirmed uncomfortably. The others in the room were noticeably tense, watching their team leaders.

"Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache." Tony had crossed the kitchen, apparently oblivious to everyone's eyes on him. He grabbed a mug from the top cupboard. "That's what's going on, dearest. It's just pain. It's discomfort." He let out a sudden groan and slammed his hand on the counter. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

Charlie could see the obvious anxiety that had suddenly grabbed Tony in its clutches; the jerky movements, the quick deflection, the dry comments.

That same uneasy feeling of anxiety had settled over her too, nausea making her stomach turn.

Her fingernails found her thumbs as Tony dropped his phone in the mostly untouched fruit basket. A sudden holographic photo of a young, smiling boy appeared, big enough for the whole room to see.

Tony sipped form his mug, pretending he hadn't seen the picture yet. Charlie wanted to throw up when she realized exactly who the young man was.

This was the son of the woman, Mrs. Spencer, that had approached Tony and Charlie after the college presentation.

"Oh," Tony said finally, anger finding its way into his tone. He gestured at the picture of the young man, as if noticing for the first time. "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."

Steve was staring at Tony, brows furrowed, clearly not knowing where this was going.

"Mr. Charles- or Charlie, his friends called him- didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do."

The shared name got a small reaction out of the Avengers, who's eyes drifted towards the little girl they'd watched grow up. Steve's eyes were filled with a sudden pang of fear.

"He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun." Tony set his mug down, rolling up his sleeves. "He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where?" He slammed his hand on the counter again, his voice tight. "Sokovia."

Wanda's face was the one Charlie looked at now. Her hair hung over her face, her lips pursed, silently staring at the picture of the boy who'd been killed in her home country.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose," Tony said. "I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were 'kicking ass'." He spoke the last words with a scoff. He took another swig of coffee.

Then, suddenly, a hollow chuckle. Tony ran a hand over his face. "I'm sure I don't need to point out the terrifying similarities to our situation, but I'm going to do it anyway- there's a child sitting in this room right now, with the same name as this young man, who was also in Sokovia at the time, who very easily could have been the one we'd be talking about right now."

"Dad," Charlie said weakly, but she didn't even know what she was asking for.

Steve's face was ashen, Tony's pale and sweaty- clearly; the several images of their daughter almost dead hadn't been shaken from their memory just yet.

"It could have been her-" Tony's voice cracked on the last word. He cleared his throat, looking away for a moment to compose himself. When he looked back at the phone in the fruit basket, he reached over and turned off the hologram.

"It could have been our kid," he said, finally. "It almost was. And I guarantee you if it had been, this wouldn't even be a debate right now. All of us would have signed those documents years ago."

Steve cleared his throat. "It wasn't, though, Tony." He looked over at Charlie, whose thumbs were bleeding beneath her sleeves. "Charlie is still alive, because of the suit you made. The government never would have protected her like you did."

Tony huffed an angry noise before flashing a humorless smile. "That- right there- is the problem, honey. Yeah, it wasn't our kid. But it was someone else's. Someone else was left childless that day- and so many people have been since we started this whole thing. If we aren't seeing this as a personal issue, when we're the ones causing it..."

He rounded the corner and folded his arms, his voice suddenly louder and more firm. "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."

Steve folded his arms. "Tony- if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blames."

Rhodey clapped his hands together, pointing them at Steve. "I'm sorry. Steve. That - 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."

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

"That's good," Tony said, walking over to his husband. His hands were tucked in his pockets.
"That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

Steve twisted all the way around to look at him. "Tony, you chose to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose."

Tony gave him a hurt look. "Steve, you were there off that whole process. You supported it. You agreed that was the best course of action, and now you-"

"What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go?" Steve interrupted. Tony shut his mouth furiously. "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."

Tony grabbed Steve's hand, sitting in the chair closest to him. His eyes were pleading as he gripped his husband's palm with his own. "Honey- if we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later."

Steve glared at him, but there wasn't much what behind it.

"You know how this works by now," Tony said. "The government is a business, no matter how you look at it. It's all about money, and saving face, and looking good for the public so there isn't an outrage. You know that better than anyone. Who was the one who was shown off like a model instead of a soldier in World War Two? They didn't even have you fight until you snuck off on your own."

Charlie watched as her Dad spoke, looking at the way Steve stared into his eyes.

It seemed... different, the way he looked at him. For as long as Charlie remembered, her Pops looked at her Dad like he'd hung the stars. Like he was heaven on earth, and he couldn't believe he was married to him.

Tony had always looked at him the same way. More-so, sometimes. He still did, even right now, but Steve...

It was different, now. More dull.

For the millionth time since last year- since they'd found the Barnes- Charlie noticed a tiny fracture in her parent's relationship.

"I've dealt with the government for years, Steve," Tony said lowly. "They'd wanted to take the suits for as long as I could remember- I know how to work around them, okay? My legal team is unmatched. If we just sign now... we can hold the reigns. They're not going to care as long as they look good. The people are demanding they act- and quite frankly, maybe they should. But if we just-"

Natasha spoke reluctantly, her red hair hanging over her shoulder. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off -"

Sam held up a hand. "Hold up-aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?"

"I'm just..." Nat leaned forward. "I'm reading the terrain. We have made...some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

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

Nat shrank back, shaking her head at him. "Oh, I want to take it back now-"

Tony  wagged his finger. "No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed, I win-"

There were two sudden phone chimes. In sync, Tony and Steve pulled their phone out of their pockets.

"You guys have a group chat without me?" Charlie asked.

Tony rolled his eyes at her. "It's Sh-" His eyes narrowed suddenly. "Sharon..."

Charlie hadn't seen her god-cousin in a while. Sharon Carter tended to be a lot more closed off than Peggy had been. There wasn't a big holiday coming up, so why?-

Tony let out small, distressed noise.

Charlie's head darted up. "What?"

All the color had drained from her Dad's cheeks.

Steve's face had fallen. He quickly ran a hand over his face. Then, very quietly, "I have to go."

He stood sharply. His feet were somehow silent against the floor as he crossed the room, heading towards the staircase and disappearing.

"What?" Charlie asked, panicking now. The room had gone silent, everyone's heads darting back and forth between the small family.

Tony looked up at her, his lip trembling just slightly. After a moment, he reached over and gently took Charlie's hand. She stood, letting him lead her across the room.

"What's happening?" Charlie asked, her heart beating inhumanly fast.

Tony didn't speak until they'd gotten to the bottom of the staircase, where Steve stood, his back to them.

"Can someone please just tell me what's fucking happening?" Charlie begged. Steve wouldn't even look at them. She was startled to see that his phone lay on the ground next to him, as if he'd dropped it.

"Sit down, bubs," Tony said, his voice suddenly calm, as if he were talking to stock investors and not his daughter.

She quickly obliged, sitting rather harshly on the bottom step near the banister.

Tony squatted in front of her. He looked at the ground. His hands found hers and he squeezed for a moment, before looking back up at her.

His eyes were red, but his voice was still steady as he spoke. "Sweetheart... it's Aunt Peggy."

ISABELA MERCED JUST JOINED THE SPIDER-VERSE.

i cant begin to explain how excited that makes me. It will be like seeing Charlie on the big screen, in our universe.

on a different note... peggy is dead.

this is something that's going to be really rough for the Stark-Rogers. She was Tony's godmother, and the last real tie Steve had to his old life. Charlie's also never lost someone like this before.

Steve and Tony are having a lot of tensions. Steve really feels like a man out of time, and it's like he's being taunted with the things he used to have. he doesn't communicate that with his husband or daughter, though, and it puts a divide between them.

this one had a lot more of the political side of civil war. comment what you think!

drink some water!