"he does miss you when you are not here." maria stark told her son. "and, frankly, you're going to miss us, because this is the last time we're all going to be together. you know what's about to happen. say something. if you don't, you'll regret it."

howard stark walked back into the room, and tony stark turned to him. "i love you, dad. and i know you did the best you could." he said before his mother kissed him on the cheek, leaning back to reveal modern-day tony stark standing in the background with his younger self before him. the screen paused, leaving the present tony standing alone in a memory.

"that's how i wish it happened." present tony spoke. "binary augmented retro-framing, or b.a.r.f. god, i gotta work on that acronym." he muttered. "an extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to... clear traumatic memories. huh." tony blew on a candle in the scene around him, watching as everything around him dissolved.

"it doesn't change the fact that they never made it to the airport, or all the things i did to avoid processing my grief, but..." tony trailed off as he removed his glasses. "plus, 611 million dollars for my little therapeutic experiment? no one in the right mind would've ever funded it. help me out," tony said to the audience before him, "what's the mit mission statement? 'to generate, disseminate, and preserve knowledge. and work with others to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges.'" the students joined in his mantra, their voices monotone.

"well, you are the others. and, as quiet as it's kept, the challenges facing you are the greatest mankind's ever known. plus, most of you are broke."

dakota stark chuckled in the audience, watching as the crowd reacted to her father. it was undeniable that dakota, or kodie, as happy hogan had first nicknamed her, was similar to her father. the two starks shared the same cocky and sarcastic sense of humor, the same intelligence, and the same recklessness. kodie would be lying if she said she didn't look up to her father. he was her role model, and she was the reason he tried to do better, to be better. for her.

she was now standing in the very back of the room, and was really only there because she had to be. finishing his speech, tony claimed that he was funding all of the students' projects, to which they cheered and applauded him.

it was hard not to notice tony's small moment of silence. dakota turned to look at the screen behind her with his notes on it, feeling a pain in her heart as she saw what it was that made him falter. pepper potts. tony and his girlfriend, pepper (whom dakota loved deeply), had taken a break. it tore kodie apart-- she had cried for days after the woman left their previously shared home, and she had yet to come back. 

since dakota didn't have a mother figure, nor did anyone know who her mother was, she had always looked up to pepper. losing her was just another blow to her heart. after the events of sokovia, kodie was left broken and defeated for a while. she had befriended pietro maximoff, only for him to die shortly after their meeting. however, it had blossomed a friendship between her and his sister, wanda, the other teen avenger. she supposed it was better to focus on the positive things than the negatives. which would be easier to do if she didn't feel like she was at a current low. 

once her father's speech had finished, kodie got up from her position leaning against the wall and went out a side door in order to meet tony backstage. she met her father, who gave her a nod in greeting. physical affection was rare between the two, and they rarely even spoke affection verbally. they knew that they were the only thing keeping the other going, and things like that often don't need to be said aloud.

the father and daughter stood quietly, waiting for the doors of the elevator in front of them to open. the silence only deepened when they noticed that a woman was standing there, seemingly also waiting on the elevator. 

dakota turned to the woman that stood beside them. her eyes, which had previously been fixed on the elevator, turned to survey the two starks for a brief moment. "that was nice, what you did for those young people." the woman said to tony.

"ah, they deserve it." tony shook it off. "plus, it helps ease my conscience." they stood in silence for another moment before tony noticed that she hadn't selected a floor, and that the woman was just staring at the elevator.

dakota cleared her throat, reaching out to press one of the buttons. "are you going up?" she asked the woman, pressing the upward arrow.

"i'm right where i want to be." she spoke, reaching into her handbag.

fearing the worst, tony grabbed her wrist, and dakota instinctively reached for the gun that she would normally have, had she been suited up. instead, her hand grasped at air, and she relaxed herself as the woman looked just as shocked as her father.

tony quickly removed his hand. "sorry, it's an occupational hazard." he apologized.

"i work for the state department." the woman said. "human resources. i know it's boring, but it enabled me to raise a son. i'm very proud of what he grew up to be." the woman took a photo out of her bag, shoving it into tony's chest. "his name was charlie spencer. you murdered him. in sokovia. not that it matters in the least to either of you." she finally looked at kodie before continuing. "you think you fight for us, you just fight for yourself." dakota found herself shaking her head, looking up at her father. "who's going to avenge my son, stark? he's dead, and i blame the two of you."

‎⎊‎⎊‎⎊

dakota's beaten up converse lightly dropped to the pavement as she and her father got out of their audi and walked into the building that loomed above them. all dakota had been told was that the secretary of state had arrived to discuss matters with the avengers. she lowered her sunglasses as she entered the building, looking over to her father, who seemed to know more about the situation than she did.

the run in with the woman by the elevator shouldn't have affected kodie much. growing up in the spotlight, she had been forced to get used to criticism from others. being blamed for killing someone, though... that was a new one. she hadn't meant to hurt anyone, of course. neither had her father. ultron was supposed to be helpful-- an artificial intelligence that she and her father had worked on together even before they'd asked bruce banner for his assistance. but, of course, none of their intentions could change what the results had been. 

a part of her wondered if this meeting with the secretary of state was to further accuse both her and her father of murder. the other part of her doubted that he'd even show up. 

yet , sure enough, the secretary of state was waiting for them in a room where the other avengers sat waiting. steve rogers, hazel rogers, natasha romanoff, sam wilson, james rhodes, vision, and wanda maximoff. thor and bruce banner had been off grid since the events of sokovia, which dakota figured would be a point of conversation in the meeting.

"do you know what's going on here?" dakota asked as she sat by hazel, who had her hand cupped around her chin. 

hazel only shrugged. "no idea." she said, her russian accent coming out thicker than usual. 

despite being best friends with her, dakota really didn't know much about hazel's life before the avengers. she was from russia, she knew, in the 1940s and she had been experimented on similarly to steve, resulting in her superhuman strength and speed. hazel had been frozen in a cryofreeze by her experimenters when steve found her, and he helped her choose her name and adopted her. hazel had been frozen at the age of 14, and was the same age as dakota when they were both added to the avengers movement. 

dakota could still clearly remember meeting hazel in a forest, minutes before meeting thor. she had removed the helmet of her suit, walking over to the blonde. "dakota." she extended a hand. "but you can call me kodie."

"i'm hazel." the girls smiled at each other. "i've heard of you, your grandfather was friends with my father."

dakota nodded. "so i've heard. you did good out there." she complimented, referring to the fight that she'd witnessed between hazel, steve, and loki. "you a boxer?" 

hazel tilted her head a little in amusement. "something like that."

the two had been as good as inseparable ever since the fight with loki and the chitauri, and had both taken the loss of sokovia to heart. they had convinced their fathers to let them be superheroes, but they weren't prepared to be called villains. 

before the young avengers could catch up, the secretary of state entered the room. "five years ago, i had a heart attack." he began. dakota moved to sit criss cross apple-sauce in her seat, wondering where on earth this could be going. "i dropped right in the middle of my back-swing." the man mimicked playing golf, looking to the group in front of him.

"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." dakota's eyes narrowed as she looked over her shoulder at hazel. "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'."

natasha spoke from across dakota, her face unreadable. "and what word would you use, mr. secretary?"

"how about 'dangerous'?" the secretary replied, and dakota cleared her throat a little, looking down at her lap. "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?"

all of the avengers' eyes switched to the screen behind the secretary. it showed footage of the previous avengers matters, and secretary ross pointed them out as they appeared. "new york." the screen showed hulk smashing into a building, unconcerned about the many terrified citizens around him. "washington d.c." the secretary continued, and dakota's eyes narrowed at him as she felt hazel tense up next to her. the screen showed a helicarrier crashing into the potomac and throwing a wave that engulfed citizens and the camera. "sokovia." the screen now showed citizens running while the city rose into the air. tony stared at the screen blankly, a sure sign he was beating himself up for the events he'd unknowingly caused. "lagos." the screen shifted once more to show a building burning, as well as a body being moved, and a girl dead.

"okay," steve intervened, noticing wanda's discomfort. "that's enough."

"for the past four years," the secretary continued as the videos and images stopped, "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 secretary's aid handed him a thick book which he passed to dakota, who was closest to him. she inspected it, skimming through the pages of writing before passing it down the table.

"the sokovian accords." the secretary announced, "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."

steve cut in, sitting up further in his chair. "the avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. i feel we've done that."

"tell me, captain," secretary ross replied, "do you know where thor and banner are right now?" when met with silence from the entire team, he continued. "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. talk it over."

natasha turned in her chair to speak, a brow quirked. "and if we come to a decision you don't like?"

secretary ross smiled. "then you retire."

dakota nodded. "cheers to unemployment."