#Steve Rogerese

[braveclementine]

General Ross

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Try to remember the kind of September When grass was green. . .

"Wake up dear, and say goodbye to your father." Tony's mothers voice stopped singing to say. Her fingers played flawlessly against the piano as Tony watched his white haired, much older father lift the blanket off of young Tony's face, who was sleeping on the couch.

"Whose the homeless person on the couch?" Howard Stark asked, buttoning his suit jacket. Tony smiled, watching young Tony sit up with a santa hat upon his head.

"This is why I love coming home for Christmas," Young Tony said. "right before you leave town."

"Be nice, dear, he's been studying abroad."

"Really? Which broad? What's her name?"

"Candice." Young Tony said while Howard plucked the Santa hat off of his head.

"Do me a favour? Try not to burn the house down before Monday."

"Okay, so it's Monday? That is good to know. I will plan my toga party accordingly. Where you going?"

"Your father's flying us to the Bahamas for a little getaway."

"We might have to make a quick stop." Howard said.

"At the pentagon. Right." Young Tony replied. "Don't worry, you're going to love the holiday menu at the commissary." Young Tony replied to his mother.

"They say sarcasm is a metric for potential." Howard replied. "If that's true, you'll be a great man someday." And then to his wife, "I'll get the bags."

"He does miss you when you're not here." Mrs. Stark said as Howard left the room. "And frankly, you're going to miss us." She said, getting up off the bench. "Because this is the last time we're all going to be together. You know what's about to happen." She said, slinging her purse onto her shoulder.

Young Tony nodded as his mother ran her hand up his arm. "Say something." Howard entered the room. "If you don't, you'll regret it."

"I love you Dad." Young Tony said. "And I know you did the best you could." He said to his mother. She kissed his cheek and then Young Tony was left, watching his two parents walk off the set.

"That's how I wished it happened." Tony said, addressing the crowd that he was standing in front of now. A group of college students, all in the engineering field. "Binarily Augmented Retro-Framing or BARF. God, I gotta work on that acronym. An extremely costly method of hijacking the hippocampus to clear traumatic memories."

He pretended to blow out the candle, but that couldn't happen because it wasn't a reality and he let out a small laugh, "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,"

He took off the glasses and the entire, familiar home scene around him started to dissolve, "Plus, Six hundred and eleven million for my little therapeutic experiment? No one in their right mind would've ever funded it. Help me out, what's the MIT mission statement?"

"To generate, disseminate, and preserve knowledge." Tony said as the college students chanted it with him at the same time. "And work with others to bring it to bear on the world's great challenges. Well, you are the others. And, quiet as its kept the challenges facing you are the greatest mankinds ever known. Plus, most of you are broke."

He got laughter from the crowd on that one. Didn't stop it from being true either.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Rather, you were. As of this moment, every student has been made an equal recipient of the inaugural September Foundation Grant." Students started to murmur, talking to each other in whispers, "As in, all of your projects have just been approved and funded."

The crowd broke into slight screams, cheering, and whispers.

"No strings, no taxes, just reframe the future! Starting now," He paused when he saw that he was supposed to introduce Pepper Hogan. His heart clenched because she hadn't been talking to him recently.

"Go break some eggs." He said quickly and then turned, dazedly walking off the stage. Fuck he'd forgotten all about the horrible fight with Pepper until that moment.

"Wow! Wow! That took my breath away." He was aware of one of the college head of departments touching him, trying to get his attention. "Oh, Tony! So generous. So much money! Wow!" He laughed awkwardly. "Out of curiosity, will any portion of that grant be made available to faculty? I know, 'Ooh gross,' but hear me out. I have got this killer idea for a self-cooking hot dog. Basically, chemical detonator embedded-"

"Restrooms this way, yeah?" Tony interrupted, pointing.

"Yeah. Embedded in the meat shaft."

A blond lady stepped in front of him, "Mr. Stark I am so sorry about the teleprompter. I didn't know Mrs. Hogan had canceled. They didn't have time to fix it."

He stopped walking as she was trying to walk backwards and talk to him face on at the same time. He gently touched her arm in reassurance and said, "It's fine. I'll be right back."

He walked out and into the hallway where the bathrooms and elevator were. He stood in front of the men's bathroom door for a moment, before checking behind him to make sure the weird faculty member hadn't followed him. He walked down to where the elevators were, the hallway empty except for one African American women who seemed to already be waiting on the elevator.

"That was nice, what you did for those young people." She said, speaking first. He had his back against the wall, feeling awkward again. The only people he was comfortable around anymore was Bruce, Y/N, and the rest of the Avengers although Wanda still scared him.

"Ah, they deserve it." He said nonchalantly. "Plus, it helps ease my conscience."

"They say there's a correlation between generosity and guilt." Well, she seemed like a smart woman. "But if you've got the money. . . break as many eggs as you like." Tony looked at her then, "Right?"

Tony turned to face the elevator, not wanting to look at her face on anymore, and noticed peculiarly, that the elevator button had never been pressed. He grew wary now. Was she going to pull out some Natasha like moves on him and try and slit his throat? Or was he just getting paranoid? But why would she stand here and not press the button? He reached forward slowly, pressing the up button.

"Are you going up?" He asked. Rumlow had tried to kill Steve and Y/N in an elevator. Maybe he should think about taking the stairs.

"I'm right where I want to be." She said.

Yep, she was totally going to kill him.

She reached into her bag and he said, "Okay. Hey!" He grabbed her wrist quickly. She glared at him. "Sorry, it's an occupational hazard."

"I work for the State Department. Human Resources. I know its boring but it enabled me to raise a son. I'm very proud of what he grew up to be." She slapped a picture right against his chest where his heart was. "His name was Charlie Spencer. You murdered him. In Sokovia. Not that that matters in the least to you. You think you fight for us? You just fight for yourself. Who's going to avenge my son, Stark? He's dead and I blame you."

She turned and marched away.

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"Eleven Wakandans were among those killed during a confrontation between the Avengers and a group of mercenaries in Lagos, Nigeria last month. The traditionally reclusive Wakandans were on an outreach mission in Lagos, when the attack occurred."

"Our people's blood is spilled on foreign soil, not only because of the actions of criminals, but by the indifference of those pledged to stop them." King T'Chaka said on the news channel now. "Victory at the expense of the innocent is no victory at all."

You turned off the TV and Steve looked over his shoulder. "You need to stop watching that stuff Steve. The news isn't a healthy place."

Both of you heard more news coming from another room and the two of you went and found Wanda watching another news channel, which was bashing her. Steve was the one to turn the TV off this time.

"It's my fault." Wanda said softly. Pietro was on the bed next to her, rubbing her shoulders.

"That's not true." Steve said softly.

"Turn the TV back on." Wanda said. "They're being very specific."

"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it." Steve countered. "Rumlow said 'Bucky' and all of a sudden I was a sixteen year old kid again, in Brooklyn." He walked over to sit next to her. You caught Pietro's eye and jerked your head, the two of you leaving the room.

"She'll be okay." You said as the two of you hit the kitchen. "It just. . . we all find something to blame ourselves on the missions. I don't know, maybe our team just wasn't ready."

"Steve is a good trainer." Pietro countered. "The circumstances were just. . . unfortunate."

"That they were." You sighed, checking the time for the MIT convention. You hoped Tony would be home soon.

Vision suddenly came in through the wall of the kitchen. Both you and Pietro jumped.

Vision was, naturally, Wanda's soulmate. However, Vision being a robot somehow defeated the physics of Wanda turning into any animal. She did however, now have a butterfly tattoo on her back. It was strange. You were sure if Bruce ever found out, he would want to research it. . . but Bruce hadn't been heard from in forever.

"Vision! Doors!" You shouted.

"My apologies." Vision replied. "Mr. Stark is back and he's brought the Secretary of State with him."

You and Pietro exchanged a look. "Secretary of State?" You repeated.

This could not be good.

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"Five years ago, I had a heart attack and dropped right in the middle of my backswing." General Ross said. He was standing at the front of the table, addressing the rest of you.

Wanda, Vision, Sam, and Pietro sat on one side of the long table. Rhodey, Natasha, and Steve sat on the other. You sat in the middle, right across from General Ross, frowning. Tony was sitting to the side in the corner, looking uncomfortable.

"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. 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'."

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

"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?"

You opened your mouth to retort when he stepped to the side and a flat world of the map appeared.

"New York."

A video of one of the huge flying Centipede like Chitauri, with Hulk leaping from building to building.

"Washington D.C."

This one showed the helicarriers that were disappearing into the lake. The ones that you, Sam, and Steve took down.

"Sokovia."

Wanda and Pietro both shifted in their seats as a video of part of the land rising, buildings crumbling and crashing.

"Lagos."

Wanda looked away and Steve said, "Okay. That's enough."

"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 that had come with General Ross handed him a large booklet, which Ross placed on the table, handing it straight to Wanda. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under supervision of a United States panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

You started to laugh and everyone looked at you. "Sorry," You chuckled, and then stopped because it wasn't funny. "The Government is going to control superheroes? You see, that's funny."

"Y/N." Tony muttered as you stood up angrily.

"Sorry but, does no one remember when the Vice President colluded with The Mandarin to kill the President of the United States? Does no one remember how Senators were bought off by HYDRA? You want the Government, which is corrupt as something can be, to tell the good people when they want something to be saved? What if we save the wrong thing? What if, a Senator who has been bought off by HYDRA, tells us to kill the good guys instead, making us think they're bad, huh?"

"Y/N" Tony said again.

"No!" You shouted, "The Avengers are guided by themselves because our leader, our Captain, has the best moral compass. So no. I don't accept these Sokovia accords. You think I would ever trust the Government after my past with them? In your fucking dreams. The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place and we've done that."

"Tell me, Mrs. Stark, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" General Ross asked you. You sucked in your lips. "If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences."

"Thor and Banner aren't weapons, General." You retorted. "And I think you've forgotten Thor is the King of another planet. And Bruce happens to be Thor's soulmate. They are both either on Asgard or traveling space together. Who knows what Thor's Kingly duties are."

"Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works." General Ross sighed. "Believe me, this is middle ground."

"So, there are contingences."

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords."

Steve turned in his chair to look at Tony. Tony looked up at him and then back down at his hands.

"Talk it over."

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?" You and Natasha asked at the same time.

"Then you retire."

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"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor." Rhodey said to Sam while Steve sat on the chair in front of them, reading through the entire Accords. You were also reading the Accords. So far, it didn't look very promising. "Which is one more than you have."

"Means jack shit to me." You snapped.

Steve gave you the look and you ignored him. When you were in a bad mood, you just happened to cuss more. That's how it worked and Steve would just have to accept that.

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

"One hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this." Rhodey argued.

"So what?" You complained. "So what? If you look at the statistics, the factual numbers, we have a 93.764% approval rates as Avengers. Which means, that these one hundred and seventeen countries are rolling belly up and surrendering to make only 6.236% of the world's population happy. They're in the minority, the Government is only giving in because they're weak and want to be elected again. That's it."

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

"I have an equation." Vision said suddenly.

"Oh, this will clear it up." Sam rolled his eyes.

"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 of time, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

"Are you saying its our fault?" Steve asked, paused from turning the page he was on.

"I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge inflicts conflict. And conflict. . . breeds catastrophe. Oversight- Oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Right." You declared. "So, the next time we have someone like Loki using aliens to invade the world, we should just kick back and relax, drink some lemonade and hope the U.S. army can do better since they're already under a Government contract. Well I'm all fucking for that, we should move to Japan and live quiet lives."

"Tony." Natasha said in a warning voice. "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind." You and Steve said together.

"Boy, you know me so well." Tony retorted. He sat up from where he was laying down on the couch. "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache. That's what's going on Cap. It's just pain." He walked over to the kitchen, grabbing himself a cup. "It's discomfort. Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

He placed a tablet down and a picture of a young African American boy popped up on a holograph. "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."

You closed your eyes, knowing where this was going, what this was leading up to. Charles face now burned in your mind.

"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."

"What should we have done?" You asked with a scoff, "Should we have. . . oh I don't know. . . not gone to Sokovia at all? Decided not to fight Ultron? Should we have let Ultron lift the island into the sky while we kicked back at Avengers Tower watching Vampire Diaries? I mean what were we supposed to do? Magically stop the buildings from falling over the side of the island while Thor and Steve are already trying to grab people as their cars are falling in mid-air? Tell me what we were supposed to do in that situation Tony?"

Tony slammed his coffee cup down on the table, "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, when someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve said.

"Who said we're giving up?"

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

"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 S.H.I.E.L.D., it's not HYDRA."

"No, but it's run by people with agendas and agendas change."

"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 stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you chose to do that." Steve argued. "If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? Y/N's right. What if someone gets blackmailed or gets an incentive and they send us to kill their enemies and not ours? 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."

"Here, here." Pietro said unexpectedly.

"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 said and Pietro shot to her side immediately to sit down next to her.

"We would protect you." Vision said softly.

"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha said unexpectedly. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"I prefer having both hands on the wheel, thanks." You retorted.

"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss her ass a few years ago?" Sam asked in amazement.

"I'm just reading the terrain." Natasha sighed. "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?"

"I want to take it back now." Nat muttered.

"No, no, no you can't retract it." Tony said. You and Pietro rolled your eyes. "Thank you. Unprecedented."

Steve's phone started to ring.

"Okay. Case Closed. I win." Tony said.

"I have to go." Steve said, getting to his feet.

Everyone watched him walk out and you stood up as well.

You looked at Tony. "I will not go against you Tony. But I will not sign this either. I'm an American and I always fight for my freedom. I don't surrender it. So," You tossed your handgun onto the table. "I retire. And I will see all of you later."

And with that, you left the room.