𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑━︎━︎ N. Romanoff (𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑑)

❝CHAPTER FORTY-TWO❞

▌𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐓𝐰𝐨 ━︎━︎ 𝐒𝐨𝐤𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 ▌

━︎━︎━︎━︎𝐀 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐊 𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐄 on the door. Olivia stood up from the couch, making her way towards the door and pulling it open, coming face to face with Steve. A frown instantly fell on her face. "What is it?"

"We have a visitor." Steve explained. "Tell Nat."

Olivia nodded. As Steve turned to walk away, Olivia called out to him. "Steve." He paused, turning his head to look at her. "How bad is it?" Steve opted not to respond, and instead only shook his head. Olivia's frown deepened before she closed the door. She stood there for a moment, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Who was it?" Natasha asked, entering the room and walking towards her.

Olivia opened her eyes, forcing herself to be composed as she turned to look at Natasha. "It was Steve. He said there's someone here to talk to us." Olivia turned her attention towards her two twelve year olds. "Girls, Nat and I have to go out for a little bit. Don't leave this room until we come back, understand?"

In unison they answered, "Okay."

Olivia sighed, grabbing her leather jacket and shrugging it on before walking out of the room with Natasha following closely behind. They entered the meeting room where all of the Avengers sat, and at the front of the room was Secretary Ross. "Sorry we're late," Olivia mumbled. She took a seat beside Steve as Natasha took a seat beside her.

Ross started. "Five years ago, I had a heart attack and dropped right in the middle of my backswing." He demonstrated, positioning his hands as if he were holding a gold club and swinging backwards. "Turned out it was the best round of my life because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass I found something 40 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, a hint of amusement on her face.

"How about dangerous?" Ross suggested.

Olivia allowed a small smirk of amusement to pull at the corner of her lips as she mumbled under her breath, "Here we go."

"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?"

Olivia followed him with her eyes as he took a stand to the side, a holographic board popping up and showing a world map with multiple yellow dots. The first yellow dot focused on New York. "New York," Ross said. It showed video of the leviathan, people running for their lives, and the Hulk bursting through the air from a building and leaping over the roof of another before jumping back towards another building. When he slammed into the side, debris fell on top of the camera.