BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25 Sokovia Accords
In the MCU Earth, it had already been 4 days since the mission in Lagos.
Alex had gotten pretty familiar with both Natasha and Wanda this week, having spent quite a bit of time with them. Both training and intimacy.
He had a bit of difficulty when avoiding Vision. Wanda was fine since her Chaos magic provided her with innate protection from sensory abilities. Alex was hiding within her body so he was able to go undetected when she was with Vision, but he still told her about his worry.
This made Wanda keep a little distance from Vision since she was relying on Alex to learn about her magic and control it.
Just in this week, she\'d gotten better at controlling it and her output had also increased since he\'d enhanced her physique.
Natasha wasn\'t too much of a problem since she didn\'t have much contact with Vision. She peacefully spent her time training in the compound since not many people disturbed her.
Ever since she\'d realized that she could get better and stronger, she\'d gotten a sort of drive to her better at what she does. She wanted to keep her dysfunctional family of misfits together.
Today was a big day. The Secretary of State had arrived at the Avengers compound for a meeting with the main team. He had conveniently come at a time when most of the main team was present at the compound.
Tony wasn\'t present here today though. He was busy.
The people in the room were Steve, Rhodes, Sam, Natasha, Vision, and Wanda. Ross was in front of them giving his speech.
Alex didn\'t care to pay attention to how Ross acted like a hypocrite. He said that the world owed the Avengers an unpayable debt and then told them that they would be treated as weapons going forward.
They would only be allowed to act when a UN committee sits and agrees that they were needed.
The Sokovia Accords classified each member of the Avengers as a \'nuclear deterrent\' that had to be kept under constant supervision. Especially the truly enhanced individuals like Wanda.
He played all the tricks in the book, showing them how much damage they left in their wake, how two of their most important members were missing, telling them that opposition was meaningless and that 116 countries had agreed to the Accords being established. Wakanda was missing since the Lagos incident was prevented and no Wakandans died there.
After basically strong-arming them into either accepting the Accords or retiring permanently, Ross left. He told them that the next UN panel would be sitting in three days in Vienna.
They had to come to a decision within that time.
As Ross was leaving, Steve asked him, "And Stark?"
"What?" Ross turned to look at him questioningly.
"What about Stark? Where is he? What\'s his take on this?"
"Mr. Stark is busy." Ross dismissed Steve\'s questions.
"And?" Steve knew what Tony was busy with but he wanted a concrete answer.
"And nothing. What he\'s working on is classified. But I can tell you that Mr. Stark has already agreed. And he will be present at the panel." Ross told him before leaving. Steve\'s wasn\'t exactly pleasant as he glared at Ross\'s back.
…
"So let\'s say we agree to this thing… How long before they jack us like a bunch of common criminals…" Sam wasn\'t willing to give up his freedom of action.
"116 countries have already signed on, Sam. Who knows how many more will sign on at the UN meeting tomorrow?" Rhodey said.
Steve was going through the details in the clauses mentioned in the accords.
"I have an equation…" It was Vision.
"Oh, that\'ll be fun…" Sam turned to Vision.
"Ever since Mr. Stark announced himself to the world. The number of enhanced entities has increased at an exponential rate. Same with the number of world-ending threats…"
"Are you saying it\'s our fault?" Steve interrupted Vision.
"I\'m saying, there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge, challenge incites conflict, and conflict… breeds catastrophe. Oversight… Oversight is a very viable possibility." Vision said something pretty cool.
"Tony needs to be here for this…" Natasha said.
"He\'s already agreed, Nat. No discussion necessary." Steve was lowkey angry at Tony for not consulting with them.
"This is happening, Steve. Either we agree… or they make us agree." Natasha understood their situation.
"Aren\'t you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam was astonished that Natasha agreed with this.
"I\'m… watching how things flow. This is happening, whether we like it or not. It\'s better to agree and have some control over things instead of fighting them and losing all control when the world comes after us…" She was being pragmatic.
They all spent time discussing it with no unified conclusion coming up. Especially since Steve left in the middle of the discussion after hearing that Peggy died.
Wanda was completely against the accords since they impacted her very much. Unlike the others, she was a truly enhanced individual and would have much greater restrictions put on her.
She would be tracked 24/7 and in the event that the panel deemed her volatile, they had the right to detain her in the maximum security prison specifically made for enhanced individuals— The Raft.
It was a boat in the middle of the ocean that held extremely dangerous people.
The others would have some leniency and would have a warning with house arrest first, but people with dangerous powers would be sent straight to the Raft.
Seeing the others disperse, Wanda felt a little desolate. Alex had been keeping himself hidden within Wanda and Natasha so that he didn\'t end up on Vision\'s radar.
[Wanda…] Alex called out to her, understanding her feelings. Vision had already left and Wanda was in her room, Alex could talk to her freely.
[Alex… What do I do?] She had developed a sort of dependency on Alex after seeing him help her with her powers with good proficiency.
Her powers were a very sore subject for her. And she was always scared of her powers, she kept looking for something to help her control and understand her powers. This was one of the biggest reasons that the Darkhold was able to corrupt Wanda\'s mind so easily with negative thoughts. She\'d developed a dependency on it after realizing that it could allow her to utilize and control her powers better.
[You don\'t have to worry. You can go against the accords. Steve is definitely not signing that contract that puts you all in glorified slavery. He\'s going to rally people to stand with him. You\'re not alone in this. Just stay calm and wait for the signal.]
Although Iron Man was busy for now, the UN bombing will get him to focus on the situation of the Avengers.
…
At the same time with Nat.
[What do you think Alex?] She consulted him. She knew that he wasn\'t going to say anything in front of Vision since he didn\'t want to be discovered. She showed him her trust by asking him and treating him as her partner.
[The Avengers are splitting Nat… People like Rhodey and Tony don\'t have any issues with authority. At the same time, they won\'t have many restrictions on them because they unlike Wanda, are normal humans relying on technology. Wanda though is a different story. To the people… Wanda is a living, breathing nuke… She cannot accept the accords. Neither is Steve, after Shield, he\'s lost all trust in governmental authority figures and I don\'t think I need to say anything about Sam, the guy is basically Steve\'s lackey, he\'ll follow him to the end of the world.]
[And what about me?] She asked him with an amused smile on her face since he seemed to have understood so much about the team after just a few days.
[You just want to keep your family together, no matter how inevitable the split may seem…] He told her his conclusion.
Natasha fell silent when he said that. Alex\'s words had hit the mark.
Though her eyes had a deep look that Alex didn\'t realize was there. Although he\'d been helping her, it wasn\'t going to be easy for her to trust him so easily. A master seductress like her didn\'t treat sex as a big deal and actually getting her to trust him was going to be the most difficult thing for Alex. Sex was no more than a tool for Natasha.
Alex wasn\'t planning to influence the plot, for now. Tony\'s absence may change some things, but not that much.
For him, the splitting of the Avengers was the best thing. Especially since he would have ample time with Natasha and Wanda after that to strengthen them and make their bonds deeper. Although he was going to try to change some minor things.
…
After Steve disappeared from the discussion, he went to Peggy\'s funeral.
She was basically his last link to the world and at this point, everyone he knew about from his life was gone.
\'Except Bucky…\' He thought as he was walking to the altar while supporting the front of the coffin on his shoulder. Though, Bucky didn\'t even remember Steve.
After that, there was a speech from Peggy\'s last living family member, her niece— Sharon Carter.
Steve was surprised that Peggy had a niece in the first place but he paid his respects while listening to her speech for Peggy.
"…When the whole world tells you to move, that\'s when you plant yourself in the ground and say to them, \'No, you move.\' That was something that she…" That part of her speech got to Steve and made him decide on the Accords.
After, everything was over Natasha came to Steve to talk to him.
"When I got out of the ice, I thought that everyone I\'d known was gone. Then I found her… I was lucky to have her back…" He told Natasha, referring to Peggy.
"She had you back too…" She comforted him.
"Who else signed?"
"Vision and Rhodey."
"Clint?"
"Says he\'s retired…"
"Wanda?"
"TBD." Wanda wasn\'t going to agree to the accords, but she didn\'t outright say no since that would be problematic.
Steve looked to be deep in thought. He hadn\'t mentioned Sam since he was with him and knew that Sam wasn\'t signing the Accords either.
"I\'m off to Vienna for the signing. There\'s plenty of room on the jet." Natasha tried her best to convince Steve but she understood him. He wasn\'t going to agree.
"I can\'t sign off, Nat…"
"I know." She smiled wryly.
"Then why are you here?"
"I didn\'t want you to be alone… That\'s it." She gave him a tight hug before leaving.
***
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