Divided We Fall (Bucky Barnes)

Funerals

The Avengers sit at HQ. Anne and Steve study the accords while Rhodey and Sam argue behind.

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

 "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?" Sam replies.
" 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?" 
"I have an equation." Vision interrupts.
" Oh, this will clear it up." Anne says taking her attention off of the accords and turning around in her seat to face them.

"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."
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asks
"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."

"Boom." Rhodey says
Tony sits on a couch, miserable.
"Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper-verbal." Natasha says and he looks at her.
"It's because he's already made up his mind." Steve says and Anne nods.
"Oh, you know me so well." Tony says and stands up heading to the kitchen. "It's because he's already made up his mind. That's what's going on, Cap. 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 down and taps i. The phone projects an image of a smiling young man.
"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.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 says and the Avengers look saddened. "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 interrupts.
"Who said we're giving up?" 
" We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions." Anne states. 
"This document just shifts the blame." Steve adds.
"I'm sorry. . 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." Rhodey states.

"No but its 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 stop manufacturing." Tony says.

"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." Steve explains.
" If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. That's the fact. That won't be pretty." 

"You're saying they'll come for me." Wanda interrupts.
"We would protect you." Vision says. They make eye contact. 
Anne remembers Bucky again and her heart drops. He's out there somewhere.
"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha states.
The team looks at her shocked. 
"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 asks her.
"I'm just . . . I'm reading the terrain. 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 interrupts. 
"Oh, I want to take it back now."
"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed--I win."
Anne and Steve's phone's buzz. A text message.
'She's gone. In her sleep.'
Anne sighs as Steve heart drops. 
"I have to go." Steve says and gets up sharply, dropping the accords on the coffee table and heading downstairs. 


London, England. A cathedral is packed with mourners and a choir sings. Steve carries a coffin draped with the Union Jack, his eyes red. He spots Anne in the front row sitting with Sharon, her eyes red as well. At the altar a candle burns by a framed photograph of Peggy Carter. 
"And now I would like to invite Sharon Carter to come up and say a few words." The Priest states.
Sharon, who was Anne and Steves 'neighbor' in DC steps up to the podium.
"Margaret Carter was known to most as a founder of SHIELD . . . but I just knew her as Aunt Peggy. She had a photograph in her office. Aunt Peggy standing next to JFK. As a kid, that was pretty cool. But it was a lot to live up to. Which is why I never told anyone we were related. I asked her once how she managed to master diplomacy and espionage in a time when no one wanted to see a woman succeed at either. And she said, compromise where you can. But where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move . . . it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in they eye and say " No, you move."
Later Anne and Steve sit alone in the isle. Natasha walks up the isle to them. 
"When I came out of the ice I thought everyone I had known was gone. I crashed through those doors to find Anne obviously but then... Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her." 
"She had you back, too." Nat says.
"Who all signed?" Anne asks.
"Tony, Rhodey, and Vision." Nat answers.
"Clint?" Steve asks.
"Says he's retired." Nat says and smiles.
"Wanda?"
"TBD. 'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet for both of you." Nat says and Anne laughs while Steve sighs and bows his head. "Just because it's the path of least resistance doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together."
"But what are we giving up to do it?" Steve asks. "I'm sorry, Nat. I can't sign it."
"Neither can I." Anne says.
"I know."
They hug.