The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

Picking Sides

~~~Tony's pov~~~

We all adjourned to the kitchen area to talk things over.

I don't agree with Ross on 99.999999% of things. I loathe the guy. But, I do agree with the Accords.

I know Catherine won't want to sign, but I'll have to try to convince her.

Fifteen to twenty minutes passed, and we all started arguing over what to do. I stayed silent, still worried about Catherine.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor. That's one more than you have!" Rhodey argued with Sam.

"What did he get the medal for? I didn't realize we were giving out awards for being hypocritic assholes."

I looked up and saw Catherine enter the room. I'm glad she's okay.

"Yeah, see, I agree with her. Half the stuff he said in there could easily be applied to him. Easily." Sam nodded. "So, let's say we agree to this thing. How long 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?"

The argument between these two is never-ending.

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

"I have an equation." Vision spoke up.

This won't be confusing at all, I'm sure.

"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."

"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked, looking through the Accords.

"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 turned to Sam.

Ugh! These two!

Dad wasn't talking much. He was sitting on the couch with his hand over his face. It's something he does when he has a headache.

"Tony, you are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal." Nat pointed out.

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said quietly.

"Boy, you know me so well," Dad said, getting up and walking to the kitchen island a few feet away. "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?"

I looked at Sam discreetly, knowing it was him. He gave me a look, warning me not to say a word.

I'm ashamed he would even think I would rat him out for a second. I'm no snitch. After all, snitches end up in ditches.

"Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?" He continued, placing a tablet in the fruit basket and pulling up a hologram of a kid. "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 GPA, has a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted 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, something I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer beholding sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where? Sokovia."

I looked down, knowing where this was going.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. We won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." He took some medication for his headache and walked back over to us. "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."

We aren't the bad guys. I know where he's going with this, and I don't like it.

"Tony, someone died on your watch; you don't give up." Steve started.

"Who said we're giving up?"

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

He's right.

"I'm sorry, Steve. 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 was getting worked up now.

And how do we know it's not? Hydra infiltrated our government once, and they are very capable of doing it again.

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

"That's good. That's why I'm here." Dad walked back over to us. "When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you choose 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 it'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."

"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."

"You're saying they'll come for me," I said lowly, understanding what he was trying to say.

"We would protect you."

I turned to Loki, who walked in after me and smiled.

"Maybe Tony's right," Nat said.

Wait. Natasha Romanoff just agreed with my dad.

We all turned and stared at her strangely.

"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 looked as baffled as I felt.

"I'm just reading the terrain." She tried to explain. "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?" Dad asked.

"Oh, I want to take it back now."

"No, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay. Case closed. I win." Dad smirked at her and shook his finger, taking the win.

I rolled my eyes. How petty could he be?

"I have to go." Steve stood suddenly and left.

We all watched him go, confused.

I quickly read his mind and found out why he was upset.

Peggy Carter was dead.