Chapter 2

Abi sighed as she pulled off her shirt. It had ripped in a fight with some Hydra agents. The fighting was making her run out of clothes. She grabbed one of Bucky's shirts and was setting herself a mental reminder to buy some new clothes in the next place, when an arm closed around her wrist stopping her from putting the shirt on. She turned to look at Bucky in confusion when she noticed his eyes were wide and locked on her stomach.

"What?" She asked before following his gaze to the jagged scar from their fight on the helicarrier on her abdomen. She looked back up at him as his face melted into guilt. He moved and sat on the bed with his head in his hands. She pulled the shirt over her head and knelt in front of him.

"Bucky? Look at me." She murmured. "They aren't your fault."

He looked at her as his eyes filled with tears. "I pulled the trigger. I could have killed you."

"Hydra pulled the trigger." She said as she pulled him into her arms. He lent heavily against her as sobs racked his body.

"It's all my fault." He cried.

"None of it's your fault. You weren't in control." She rubbed her arms over his back and kissed his hair. "It's all Hydra's fault."

__________________________________________________________________________________

The rest team had just been in Lagos and Wanda had accidently blown up a building while trying to stop the explosion on the ground. In the aftermath, Stark had brought the Secretary of State with him. They gathered Steve, Wanda, Nat, Rhodey, Vision and Sam in the conference room.

"Five years ago," Ross started. "I had a heart attack and 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 never taught me. Perspective. 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 term, vigilantes."

"And what word would you use, Mr Secretary?" Nat asked.

"How about dangerous?" Ross replied. "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."

Ross stepped to the side and the screen came on. "New York." The images of the Chitauri flashed across the screen. "Washington DC." The image changed to the helicarrier's crashing into the ground. "Sokovia." It showed the city flying and the Ultron bots attacking people. "Lagos." The image showed the aftermath of the explosion; the injured and the dying.

"Okay, that's enough." Steve said as he noticed Wanda's face drop.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement to Governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." Ross said handing Wanda a document. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by one hundred and seventeen countries. It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organisation. 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 to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve spoke up.

"Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor, Banner or even your own sister are now?" Ross asked. "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 contingences." Rhodey said.

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

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

"Then you retire." Ross told her before walking out.

They all moved into the living room and started to discuss, more like argue, about what to do.

"Secretary Ross, has a Congressional medal of honour," Rhodey was saying to Sam. "which is one more than you have."

"So, let's say we agree to this thing. How long before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam shot back.

"One hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this. One hundred and seventeen, Sam. And you're just like no it's cool, we got this." Rhodey retaliated.

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

"I have an equation." Vision suddenly spoke up.

"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam said sarcastically.

"In the eight years since Mr Stark announced himself as Iron Man, 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 stated.

"Are you saying this is our fault?" Steve questioned.

"I'm saying there may be a causality." Vision told him. "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."

"Boom" Rhodey turned to Sam.

"Tony, you're being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal." Nat said.

"That's because he's already made up his mind." Steve noticed.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony said standing up and walking into the kitchen. "Actually, I'm nursing an electro-magnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." Tony looked in the sink. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He put up a picture of a young man. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, three point six GPA, had a floor level gig at Intel 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. 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 poured himself a cup of coffee and downed it along with two aspirins.

"There's no decision-making process here." Tony said as he walked back over. "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, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve chipped in.

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

"We are if we're not taking responsibility of our actions. This document just shifts the blame." Steve told him.

"I'm sorry, Steve. That is dangerously arrogant." Rhodey said. "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, but it's run by people with agenda's, and agenda's change." Steve added.

"That's good. That's why I'm here." Tony said walking over to him. "When I realised 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." Steve pressed. "What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there's somewhere we need to go and they and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

"If we don't do this now, it's going to 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 spoke up.

"We would protect you." Vision assured her.

"Maybe Tony's right." Nat said the words no one ever expected her to. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off..."

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

"I'm just reading the terrain." She told him. "We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

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

"Oh, I want to take it back now." Nat assured him.

"No, no, no. You can't retract it." Tony said.

Steve got a text and pulled his phone out. It read: She's gone. In her sleep.

He didn't need to know the number to know what it meant. He quickly excused himself from the room.

_______________________________________________________________________________

After three months, Abi was sure that Hydra had lost their trial. So, she found them a small apartment in Bucharest, Romania. It was near a market and had perfect escape routes so she thought it was fine for them. It wasn't anything special but it was enough for her to rebuild him before she took him back to the compound. It had a small kitchen with an island, a bathroom and a double bed. It was ample for their needs.

After three months in the apartment, Abi bought a paper and discovered what had happened in Lagos. She had run back into the apartment so fast she had nearly scared Bucky to death.

"You alright, doll?" He asked. He had taken to using the old nickname again.

She nodded, her face bleak, and handed him the paper. His eyes skimmed over the article.

"This is the girl you were telling me about? Strucker's?" He queried.

She nodded and sat on the edge of their bed. "Everyone's giving her hell for it."

"We can go back, if you want." Bucky suggested.

"We can't. At least not yet. Read the bottom." She told him.

His eyes cast down. "Sokovia accords, what the hell."

"We both fall under them. We go back now, with all this... We can't." She put her head in her hands.

"Why does she sound familiar?" Bucky asked, snapping her from her thoughts.

"Who?" Abi walked over to him.

He pointed at a small obituary. She took one look at the name and almost lost her balance. She took the paper off him and looked at Peggy's photo.

"Peggy... Oh god, Steve." She muttered.

"You knew... We knew her?" Bucky stumbled over his words slightly.

She nodded and grabbed her coat. "We've got to get to London."

Bucky caught her arm. "Think this through. We just show up in London. You said it yourself we can't go back Abi."

She met his eyes before looking down and nodding. He pulled her into his arms.

"I'm sorry." He muttered.