When The War Dies Down

Chapter 8

AN: I'm really bad at fight scenes, so bear with me.

- -

"They're back?" Peter whispered, but the entire group of adults heard him. Tony's head whipped his way.

"Yeah, they are. But I won't let them near you okay? If you're not ready you don't have to see them at all. You owe them nothing."

Peter nodded. He knew he couldn't face them. He'd go running back into their arms, begging for forgiveness, when it wasn't even his fault. He wasn't ready to face them, to see them look so broken yet know that they would never accept that they had been wrong.

"Are you going dad?"

"I am. We're going to see the council, see how this pans out."

"I'm not ready. If they ask, I'm with Cassie."

"Okay Pete. See you at dinner."

"You'll come back right?" Peter wouldn't easily admit it, but Siberia had shaken him up badly, and every time his dad left the house, he was afraid he wouldn't come back.

"For you, I'll come back anytime."

- -

"Just because she is dating Rhodey doesn't mean she has a right to fight alongside him!" Natasha argued to the council. The huge group all shook their heads.

"She's legally part of the new Avengers, this means she technically had every right. We don't have any bias because she is dating a teammate. She is a good, calculated fighter with a wise head on her shoulders."

The whole meeting had been going around in circles, and they were getting nowhere. The council wanted to leave. Three hours with the rogues tended to make you feel that way. Rhodey and Nebula had said their parts, and it was just tug of war, with no one gaining and no one losing.

Then Tony came up, and Natasha's eyes widened, knowing that when it came to fighting legal battles, or pointing out an obscure detail, Tony was your guy. He could talk circles around someone for less than a minute and know everything about the person, including their social security number and why they believed they were worth the air they were breathing. It was a weird way to gain information, but it was spy training, and Natasha knew she would crack to him. Any of the people with her would. So she stood her ground. At least she would be able to resist him better than them.

"So Natasha, please explain to me why you were 90 miles away from your apartment you were renting, mind you, across the border. Care to explain why you felt the need to illegally run across and retrieve those weapons, because it didn't look like you were going to turn them over."

"I wasn't going to sell them Tony." She hissed.

"That's what you say, but for all we know you could've been planning on it. You know, it's illegal to sell weapons from other countries, especially without the proper paperwork. I know you think Kenya would've been okay with having a few extra weapons in the hands of some group who feel they're protecting Kenya, but let me tell you something, Kenya's not okay with it. The people are in a frenzy, and you've instilled fear into the families you worked around. How are we supposed to explain that you were simply trying to 'take' the weapons and destroy them? Because your actions don't help us out."

"You know nothing about this Tony. I want you out. All you have done is ruin our lives. Please leave your bias at the door."

"So there was a door? You weren't even infiltrating the building were you? You guys planned this to perfection. Just an in and out, you walk through the doors, redwing as back up so you could grab and go? Nat, don't play this anger game with me, we all know I can read you like an open book, not to mention your one eye is slightly less open than the other, which means you're lying."