S U P E R N O V A - MARVEL

Chapter 42: The Accords

Nova's outfit:

Nova was back at the compound. She walked into her room solemnly and sat down at the edge of her bed. She let out a large breath, staring into an abyss. She then went to get a drink, she had a cart in her room, but then stopped in her tracks. She was angry at herself. She had been reckless, all of it could have been prevented somehow. It was her fault.

She kicked the cart once and stopped, then continuously kept kicking it out of anger. The drinks fell to the ground and the bottles broke. Glass and alcohol went all over her floor.

"That'll be pretty hard to clean up." Steve's voice echoed. Nova turned around to see him leaning against her door frame.

"I quit." she mumbled. "I could have easily prevented what happened today."

"There's nothing you could have done." Steve comforted.

"We don't know that. We'll never know that." she muttered and sat on her bed.

Steve sat next to her. "Nova, what's going on?" he asked.

She looked away. "I have a problem. It happened when I was a teenager, I used to drink a-lot and distance myself from people. It went away when I met Tony, but it recently came back." her voice was low, she felt ashamed.

"Uh, my step dad sort of died so,"
Steve opened his mouth to say sorry, "Dont. He was a dick." she said, Steve slightly raised his eyebrows and nodded. "But I'm not gonna do that anymore. My job is to save people, I can't do that without saving myself first." she chuckled, "God that sounds corny."

Steve smiled. "It doesn't." Nova looked up at him smiling, he took her in for a hug, closing his eyes. "Glad to have you back."

-

Tony had arrived with the Secretary of State, who stood at the head of the table with a projector behind him. The avengers were sat at the table, Nova in the back. Tony in the far back separated from the rest.

"The world owes the Avengers an un-payable 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." he spoke.

Nova put her hand to her temple.

"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?"

He turned on the projector behind him playing various news footage from different cities of The Avengers had caused damage in. Nova looked down at her lap, ashamed. When he played the footage from Lagos she couldn't take it anymore.

Steve seemed to notice, "Okay. That's enough." he intervened.

Secretary Ross turned off the screen. "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." He placed a thick stack of documents on the table. "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries . . . it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

Nova turned around to look at Tony, she gave him a hopeless look.

-

It had been a while, Secretary Ross had left and The avengers sat and bickered over the accords. Nova didn't have anything to add. She sat on a couch in the corner, staring at her lap. She didn't know what to do, it all happened swiftly, first Lagos then this. She could have used a drink but she stopped herself. Therefore, hopelessly she sat, saying and doing nothing, frozen in time.

She felt someone sit beside her on the couch, she looked up to see that it was Wanda. Nova passed her a stifled smile.

"I feel like—" Wanda began but stopped.

"What?" Nova insisted.

"I feel like— like this is all my fault, and I don't know what to do." she revealed.

Nova nodded her head, "It's not Wanda, we were both there, I could have helped you somehow, but I didn't and— I don't even know. I can't believe this is my life." Nova looked away to the rest of the avengers.

Tony projected an Image of a smiling young boy. "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." Nova looked down ashamed. Tony continued. "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 took a pill and jotted it down with coffee.

Nova got up and sat next to Steve.

"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 lectured Steve.

"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 stop manufacturing." Tony argued back.

"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 laid out his side.

"How do we know if signing this will make people safer or put them at a greater risk? We won't know until we do, and by then it'll be too late." Nova finally intervened.

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

In the midst of the discussion, Steve's phone buzzed, Nova watched as he took it out of his pocket and read something, a shade of concern washed over his face.

"I have to go." he said as he dropped the accords on the coffee table and left. Nova quietly followed him. He stopped at the end of the staircase and leaned against the railing, bowing his head.

Nova walked down to him. "Hey, what's wrong." she lightly touched his arm. He was surprised to see her there.

"It's Peggy." he said quietly, "She's gone."

"I'm sorry, Steve." she quietly whispered and wrapped her arms around him, he pulled her close.