( SAGE HWANG )

𝟐 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 ( 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 )

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐒. it had been a month ago since the incident. the news blamed wanda and her powers. sage had been there, she'd seen the whole thing. she'd seen how wanda had tried to do the right thing but her powers were too strong to control.

she had been there for when fury faked his death, when robots tried to take over sokovia and then the world and she was there for lagos. she had been made a member of the avengers and had decided whatever risks she may have had to take to keep her family safe she would take. but lagos had taken a toll on all of them.

now she was worried. the medias interpretation of mutants and inhumans wasn't anything but horrible, being a mutant herself and raising three of her own she knew the dangers the world now offered them. she couldn't risk it, she couldn't risk people wanting to hurt the people she loved.

vision had let her in and told her how steve was talking to wanda so she decided to not interrupt. she liked vision, he was good with the kids. she told herself that was the only reason she went to see steve and wanda that day at the avengers compound. the only reason she wasn't so angry when she saw the secretary of state there with tony.

the secretary of state, thaddeus ross, stood at the head of a table. rhodey, natasha, steve, tony, sage, sam, vision, and wanda were gathered around in their own seats.

"five years ago, I had a heart attack. i dropped right in the middle of my back-swing. turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass . . . i found something 40 years in the army had never taught me: perspective. 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" sage wanted to scoff right in his face. they were the heroes, everything they'd been doing was for the people. everything they'd put at risk was for the greater good.

"and what word would you use, mr. secretary?" natasha asked as she crossed her arms

"how about "dangerous"? 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 activates a screen behind him. news footage from past avengers and shield matters flash on the screen as he speaks "new york"

"chitauri leviathan." terrified citizens. a soldier firing a gun. the hulk, bruce banner, smashes into a building and sends a dust cloud to engulf the camera. rhodey turns to look regretfully. he glances behind him at natasha.

"washington dc "the three Insight helicarriers, firing on each other. the destroyed triskelion. a helicarrier crashing into the potomac and throwing up a massive wave, engulfing citizens and the camera" sam and sage looking down with sighs.

"sokovia" terrified citizens, running. the city rising. a building falling over. wanda stares at the screen, as does tony.

"lagos" the burning building. paramedics moving a body. a dead girl. wanda is affected by the footage the most. sage notices it first and intervenes quickly.

"okay. stop it now" she tells the secretary as the man nods stepping to the side and the images disappear. wanda looking down at the table with a frown.

sage had come to console the girl and try and convince her how it wasn't her fault but it seemed today that she'd be leaving after an arguement. she knew wanda's story, she knew how the girl must've felt after lagos and sokovia and she felt a sense of guilt overtake her. she'd lost her brother just like sage and was left all alone again.

"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. but I think we have a solution" the man says before placing a thick document on the desk and passing it down to wanda who then passes it to sage .

"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"

"the avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. i feel we've done that" steve argued calmly, sage nodding along. tonys still figure from her side made her begin to worry about his involvement in it all.

"tell me, captain, do you know where thor and banner are right now?" steve looks up and meets ross's eyes. they all knew where the two men were, sage being informed before them all as thor had been a great help to her since their meeting the year prior.

"if I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes . . . you can bet there'd be consequences. compromise. reassurance. that's how the world works. believe me, this is the middle ground" middle ground sage's ass.

"what so contingencies?" she spoke up for the second time that whole meeting, the usually forward and honest girl trying to process everything.

ross nodding in confirmation "three days from now, the un meets in vienna to ratify the accords"

"talk it over" the man says, eyes shooting to tony for a fleeting second. he was too quiet and sage had never liked a quiet tony.

"and if we come to a decision you don't like?" natasha asked with a small smirk thinking they'd find a way around this.

"then you retire" his words dropping her smirk and making sage's eyebrows furrow. this was not how she expected her morning to go.

𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐦, the two of them studying the accords well sam and rhodey argued behind them.

"secretary ross has a congressional medal of honor, which is one more than you have" rhodeys words making sage turn in her seat quickly.

"so let's say we agree to this thing. 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." 117 countries was a lot sage thought to herself.

"how long are you going to play both sides?" sam asked as he stepped closer to rhodey

"i have an equation" vision spoke up calmly from where he stood, sam looking amused but annoyed as he gestured for the man to continue.

"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."

"what so you're saying it's our fault?" steve asked growing annoyed standing up leaving sage to have the accords to herself.

"i'm saying there may be a causality. 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 making a boom sound as if he's just proved his point, which he had.

"tony. you are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal" natasha speaks up from where she lay on the chair, all heads in the room turning to the billionaire.

"because tony's already given in, haven't you?" sage asked with a mocking smile, spinning her chair so she now could see the man properly.

sage and tony had a good relationship for the most part, he welcomed her to the avengers with slightly opened arms and did lend a helping hand when she needed it, whether it be money or the kids.

"don't you know me so well" tony said sarcastically with an eye roll, getting up and rubbing his neck "actually, i'm nursing an electromagnetic headache" before walking to the kitchen and grabbing a mug.

"that's what's going on. it's just pain. it's discomfort. who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang " he puts his phone in a basket and taps it. the phone projects an image of a smiling young man. he looks down, then back up, and pretends to notice the picture for the first time.

"oh, 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. 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."

a noticeable silence fell among the group, a sadness filling sage. a good man died. a child. a mother lost her child. and it had been their fault. all those lives lost that day had been their fault. and although she didn't want to be controlled she didn't want to be the reason for others deaths.

she could only imagine the pain their loved ones felt, the heroes had killed their family, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends and weren't punished for any of it.

"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!" he takes a pill with some coffee, then faces the others. "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"

"tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up" steve tried arguing as he stood up and walked closer to the man.

"who said we're giving up?" tony asked putting his mug down

"we are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions. this document just shifts the blames." steve also had a fair point, sage's brain being half with tony and half with steve. half with her friend and half with one of her best friends.

"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" sage wincing inside for the man.

"no, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change" steve argued back

"that's good. that's why I'm here. when I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, i shut it down and stop manufacturing" sage knew he was talking about after he met wanda.

"tony, you chose to do that. if we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. what if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? 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"

"if we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. that's the fact. that won't be pretty" sage knew he was talking about what they'd do to wanda, but she knew she'd never let any harm come to the older teenager.

"you're saying they'll come for me" wanda asked making vision push off the counter.

"we would protect you" the android assured.

"maybe tony's right" natasha spoke up, confused heads turning her way. tony's especially.

"if we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. if we take it off -" she started

"aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" tony asked bewildered

"i'm just . . . i'm reading the terrain. we have made . . . some very public mistakes. we need to win their trust back." sage didn't think this was the way to do it though.

"focus up. i'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"

"oh, i want to take it back now" she said shaking her head with a straight face

"no, no, no. you can't retract it. thank you. unprecedented. okay, case closed--I win. sage?" he asked turning to the 2nd youngest in the room.

sage met steves pleading eyes before sighing "it may be the best idea. for all of us" she said making sure to meet wanda's worried eyes.

steve's phone buzzes suddenly, and he pulls it out to check it. whatever the message said affected him quickly sage could tell. "i have to go" he said getting up sharply, dropping the accords on the coffee table, and leaving.

sage had a decision to make that night, she either gives up her freedom to the government to save people or she could refuse and be forced to retire. retire to a life raising her kids peacefully and teaching them to keep themselves safe . a life she hadn't dreamt of in a while.

"𝐢'𝐦 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞!" her voice rung out into the oddly silent apartment. the kitchen was clean as well as the living room. she didn't expect the kids to already be asleep and she also didn't expect nesta to clean the whole apartment.

"they're getting to sleep, be quiet" the girls voice scolded as she entered the room, her arms crossed before bringing a finger to her lips.

sage's hands throwing up in defence, dropping her handbag to the floor. "you cleaned?" she asked as she gave her younger friend an unbelievable look.

sage had met nesta at a coffee shop three years ago, it had been around a year and a half after she took the kids in. something about the brunette was too interesting to ignore, it was a big reason why sage let her into her and her kids lives so quickly. she was apart of their family now. still quite irresponsible and childish, understandable, sage doubted she wouldn't have been able to keep up if it weren't for her help.

"i'm a good aunt, i know" she boasted taking a seat at one of the dining room chairs which was attached to the kitchen. noticing sage's down spirit she reached out to grab her friends hand "what's wrong?"

sage sighed as she dropped to a squat in front of nesta "if you had the decision to make the world safer but it meant you'd be putting the people you love... your family and the people closest to you in danger. would you do it?"

sage knew the risks to signing the accords, it'd mean if eunwoo or the twins powers ever went haywire they'd be punished. if andre ever hurt someone by accident when playing with his powers, he'd be punished. it meant that wanda would be punished for what happened that month in lagos, the thing that spiralled out of control.

"no. no, i don't think i would. you know family is the most important thing. always" nesta clarified giving sage's hand a squeeze for reassurance. it was obvious that the question was relevant, she wouldn't annoy her by asking knowing she'd find out when sage was ready.

nesta loved the twins, eunwoo and andrew like they were her real nieces and nephews and she could only imagine what sage was going through in her head to possibly put them at risk due to them being who they were and the powers they held. some people just didn't understand or accept that others were different in unexplainable ways.

"this family is all i have " sage nodded as she breathed out. she had the choice to make the world better for others or for her family.