Red Thorn

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Early 2016

"Secretary Ross has requested that the team gather in the meeting room."

That was the announcement that had Red now sitting in the meeting room with her fellow Avengers, silently going over all the different ways she could kill the man standing at the far end of the table. Part of her cursing Tony for even letting him past the gate, let along the front door.

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing," he told them, posing like a golfer, and Red couldn't help wishing he'd died that day. "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."

Red watched from the back of the room as her teammates listened intently to what the Secretary of State had to say. She was sat next to Bucky, both ghosts lurking in the back. Somehow, she knew that Ross' speech wasn't going to end there, it never did with him. He was always trying to find one way or another of disbanding the team, and time after time, he would fail.

"The world owes the Avengers an unpayable debt," he went on, all but confirming Red's suspicions. "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'."

Natasha cocked an eyebrow at him. "And what about you, Mr. Secretary?"

"How about 'dangerous'?" Ross queried. "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?"

The tall, grey haired man stepped aside as the screen behind him lit up, showing a highlighted map of the world.

"New York."

Images of the Battle of New York flashed upon the screen, Chitauri wreaking havoc on the civilians and the Hulk smashing his way through them, leaping from building to building as he did.

Rhodey turned to Steve, concerned. If Ross was bringing up these images, then this really wasn't good.

"Washington DC."

The Helicarriers crashing into the Triskellion. Civilians running for their lives.

"Sokovia."

Both Wanda and Pietro looked on with sadness in their eyes as they watched the images of their homeland's demise.

"Lagos was almost a disaster too," Ross added, projecting images of Crossbones' suicide vest onto the screen.

"Almost," Tony pointed out. "Rumlow was killed before he could set that thing off and we retrieved the bio-weapon."

"My point is, Stark, that for the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision." There was definitely a hint of disdain in the Secretary's voice when he'd said Stark. "That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution."

Ross placed a large file on the table and slid it over to Wanda, the first page read 'The Sokovia Accords'.

"The Sokovia Accords," he said, proudly. "It states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organisation. Instead they shall operate under the supervision of the United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary. I am arranging a meeting with them to present the idea as soon as possible."