||BEHIND THE MASK SERIES: BOOK 4||
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"Sometimes you need a second chance
because you weren't ready for your first."
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In which Charlie Barton is pulled
back into the world she left behind
to help a man with a metal ar...
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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒
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After the Secretary left, Charlie found herself still sitting in her chair with her arms crossed over her chest. Her mouth stayed sealed shut as her thoughts bounced off the walls of her head. She occasionally glanced over at Steve to try and read the look on his face, only to find his expression blank as he read through the Sokovia Accords. As Sam and Rhodey's argument continued to fill the silence that surrounded them, the speech that they just heard replayed in the archer's head. No matter how hard she tried to find a valid reason to actually sign the agreements, she failed every single time.
"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor...which is one more than you have," Rhodey retaliated against Sam's previous statement while the rest of them continued to sit in silence.
"So let's say we agree to this thing," the Wilson man responded with an annoyed look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest, "how long is it gonna be 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 gonna play both sides?"
"I have an equation," Vision announced, interrupting their argument and drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Oh, this'll clear it up," Sam sighed while he turned around to face the red and silver man.
"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 questioned after pausing mid-page to look at the Synthezoid.
"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 muttered under his breath as he turned his head to look at Sam.
After she took in the information that Vision just gave them, Charlie glanced over at Wanda, only to find her looking back at the Barton girl with an unreadable expression on her face. The two girls just stared at each other before Nat called out to Tony, drawing everyone's attention toward the Stark Man.
"You're being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal," the redheaded woman said without taking her eyes off the billionaire.
"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve stated while finally letting go of the page that was between his fingers as he looked over at the billionaire.
