ONCE THE MEETING ABOUT THE ACCORDS HAD COME TO AN END, the team all ended up sitting down in one of the many living rooms in the compound to talk more about the situation at hand. Although... there seemed to be more arguing going on rather than talking.

Steve was sat in his usual chair with the accords in his lap, flicking through the pages and scanning over them while Rhodey and Sam stood behind him, getting at each others throats. Tony was sat slumped down in one of the sofas with a hand over his face, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Natasha and Vision were seated on either end of the couch opposite to him, taking in the argument that was currently happening.

Then that left the two youngest Avengers.

The couple were both sat down in one of the armchairs, Wanda being perched on Carson's lap with her legs draping over the arm of the chair, her arm being slung around his neck as she ran her fingers through his hair, while Carson had one arm around her waist and the other laid out across the part of her legs that were over his, gently rubbing his thumb over her knee.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honour, which is one more than you have." Rhodey snapped.

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

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

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

"I have an equation." Vision chimed in.

"Oh," Sam mumbled. "This'll clear it up."

"In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man... the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." Vison explained while looked around at everyone.

"Are you saying it's our fault, V?" Carson looked towards the android.

"I'm saying there may be a causality." Vision replied. "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 said smugly as he looked at Sam.

Carson nodded slowly as he took in what Vision was saying. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that.. Vision had a point, he really did. He felt a set of eyes on him and looked to his right, meeting Tony's gaze. By the expression on his face, he could tell that him and Tony were now thinking the same thing. Stark had clearly had his mind made up about this situation already and the encounter with Mrs Spencer had definitely played a part in that.

And as much as he hated to admit it, it was also starting to play a part in Carson's judgement too. Along with other factors.

"Everything ok?" Wanda whispered as she looked up at him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"What? Oh yeah, everything's fine." He nodded while still looking at Tony before looking away.

Wanda furrowed her brows as she kept her eyes trained on him, watching as he stared at a random point in the room clearly sinking back into his thoughts again.

"Carson—"

"Tony." Natasha spoke for the first time. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve looked up from the accords.

"Boy you know me so well." Tony began getting up from his spot on the couch and made his way over to the kitchen. He scratched at the back of his head then came to a stop at the sink. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort— Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal?"

Carson looked at Wanda and raised a brow, giving her a knowing look. She hid her face in the crook of his neck and chuckled slightly, knowing that it was them that had forgotten to clean out the sink after they accidentally knocked the coffee over a few days prior when they were—

"Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" Tony looked over at the two. "I mean come on guys, this has been here for days."

He took his phone from out of his pocket and placed it on the counter, projecting an image of a boy. The smile on Carson's face slowly faded once he noticed who it was in the picture. Charlie Spencer. Wanda noticed the change in her boyfriend's demeanour and lifted up her head to see what everyone was looking at.

"That's Charles Spencer, by the way." Tony pointed towards the projection. "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."

Everyone in the room looked down, all of them remaining silent. They guessed where this story was going. And Carson already knew.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose." Tony continued. "I mean we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." He took some medication before speaking up again. "There's not 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 then we're not better than the bad guys."

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

"Who says were giving up?"

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

"I'm sorry, Steve. But that is dangerously arrogant." Rhodey scrunched his face. "This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D, it's not HYDRA—"

"No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change." Steve shook his head and interrupted. 

"That's good. That's why I'm here." Tony began walking back over to the group. "When I realized 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 then we surrender our right to choose." Steve opposed. "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 don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

Carson glanced down at Wanda, noticing she was nodding in agreement at Steve's words.

Oh.

"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 shrugged.

"You're saying they'll come for me." Wanda said, glancing around at everyone in the room. 

Carson scoffed. "I'd like to see them try." Wanda looked up at Carson, frowning slightly before she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha uttered.

Carson coked on air and looked at Natasha in shock, as did the rest of the team. Especially Steve. He wasn't expecting that Natasha, out of all people, would be against him. The super soldier moved his gaze down at the floor and nodded slowly, listening as one of his closest friends continued to explain her reasoning. 

"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 asked in disbelief.

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

Tony placed his hands on the back of the couch. "Focus up. I'm sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"

"Oh, I wanna take it back now." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"No, no, no, you can't retract it." Tony shook his head. "Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay. Case closed. I win."

Steve's phone buzzed and he sighed at Tony's words before reaching into his pocket. Carson glanced over at the man, watching as his face dropped while reading the notification what appeared on his screen.

"Hey..." Carson whispered. "You okay old man?"

Steve cleared his throat and stood up. "I uh.. have to go."

With that, he threw the accords down onto the coffee table and left the room without saying another word.

~~ ᗢ ~~

I'm back 👹

sorry this took a lil bit longer than usual I've been sooooo busy with college work because I'm an idiot and I didn't do my summer work so I had to catch up on that AND do the work I've been set since we've been back so that's fun... ha fml 🥲

ANYWAYS ADIOS AMIGOS <3

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