𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 ━━━ ❪...

a/n
[ civil war was a 'stony'
movie + thank you so
much for 1k reads :) ]

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FIFTEEN
𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮
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WANDA SAT WITH her head resting on her hand as she let the sound of the news channel drown the room. It was better than moping, it was definitely better than thinking about what she'd done.

She had put down the guitar she had previously been trying to learn, she was actually quite good at it.

Not really a surprise, considering she was used to using precise finger movements. It was one of Stephen's ideas to help her gain control. But she couldn't concentrate on anything today...

The TV was on and the reporter spoke as words scrolled onto the screen: 'AVENGERS INCIDENT IN LAGOS.'

"She should have had more training. There was no one else we could blame here. You stand in the face of danger, you have to be ready," One of the news anchors spoke in the back as pictures of the disaster in Lagos flashed on the screen, "It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. They are acting outside and above the international law because that's the reality if we don't respond to acts like these, I mean, we all heard of what happened with Romanoff..."

Another reporter spoke on top of him, "Yes, that's exactly why the question we come to ask is...What legal authority does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeria-"

The TV switches to black and Wanda turned to see Steve Rogers at the door, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"It's my fault," She tells him, she knew what he was trying to do.

"That's not true."

"Turn the TV back on, they're being very specific."

"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it," Steve started walking over to her, "Rumlow said 'Bucky' and...all of a sudden I was a sixteen-year-old kid again in Brooklyn." He sat beside Wanda. "And people died. It's on me."

"It's on both of us," Wanda sat up, removing her hand from her head.

Wanda knew that she couldn't keep dwelling on the past, no matter how traumatising it would be.

"You know..." Steve sighed, "I blamed myself for Strucker's death. It tore me apart seeing what I did to you..."

"I know. If makes you feel any better I blamed you too," Wanda smiled and Steve let out a little chuckle. She scoffed, "No...I um, I blamed myself too. I was so upset that I didn't do more...to save him. Then I was so, so angry that I wanted to kill you. But when I finally did kill an Avenger, it turned out to be everything I didn't want. Then it happened...again."

Wanda caught the lump in her throat, she turned to Steve who was looking away, his eyes filled with pity.

"This job..." Steve looked to the floor before turning back to her, "We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes, that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, then next time...maybe nobody gets saved."

Steve and Wanda's heads whipped around as they heard the light whooshing sound of Vision materialising through the walls.

"Vizh! We talked about this!" Wanda's tone showed her annoyance at having to remind him of their previous conversation.

"Yes, but the door was open so I assumed that..." He pointed towards the door and walked towards it, forward-facing them both, noting Wanda's disgruntled expression, "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr Stark was arriving."

"Thank you," Steve nodded, "We'll be right down."

"I'll...use the door. Oh, and apparently, he's brought a guest."

"We know who it is?"

"The Secretary of State."

"What of Doctor Strange?" Wanda asked. The last time he came to visit was her birthday, she wasn't the slightest bit shocked that he hadn't shown. But, she knew that an event like this meant he probably should...

"Sorry to say but he's MIA, as always," Vision gave her a weak smile before exiting.

They heard a little crunch, Pietro appeared at the door, eating chocolate affectionately. As Wanda and Steve looked at him, he simply smiled, "I was actually wondering when you'd leave the room, Rogers. I want to talk to Wanda..."

Steve chuckled a little at Pietro's sass, "Alright...be down soon, we have a guest."

Pietro and Steve had gotten to know each other while staying in the same accommodation. Steve knew things about Pietro that he would have never wanted to before, that was the thing about irony, he guessed - it crept up on you when you were least expecting it and Steve Rogers was definitely not expecting to share even the slightest feelings of likeness for his former enemy...

"I heard," Pietro nodded, he watched Steve leave the room, taking a long-lasting look at the view, before turning to his sister.

Her eyebrow was raised, she stared at him with a look of incredulity at what she thought she saw, "Is everything alright, Pietro? Anything you want to tell me?"

"Huh?" The sides of Pietro's face flamed up instantly, he strolled over timorously, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, yeah..." Wanda laughed softly, stopping the jokes, she knew what was coming next.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Wanda placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'll be fine, Piet."

"Sorry about your doctor friend," Pietro thrust the box he was holding closer, offering her chocolate.

Wanda shook her head, eating right now would make her feel nauseous, she tucked a hair behind her ear, "It's alright, he's probably busy..."

"You can't let him do this again," Pietro sighed, "We haven't seen him in two months. That's hardly what I would call commitment."

"That's actually kind what I'm worried about," Wanda lowered her voice as she leaned in, "Did you do that favour I asked you?"

*

"Five years ago, I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my back-swing," Thaddeus Ross started to tell them a 온라인카지노게임, "Turned out it was the best round of my life, because after 13 hours of surgery and a triple bypass..."

Most of the Avengers looked engaged, apart from Tony who was looking vaguely uninterested in the back. Wanda didn't know where she was at, she wasn't sure if she liked or disliked this man.

"I found something 40 years in the Army had never taught me...Perspective. 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.'"

"And what word would you use?" Pietro Maximoff raised an eyebrow, "Sir."

"How about 'dangerous'?" Secretary Ross retorted with what Pietro thought to be an equal amount of impudence, "What would you call a group of US-based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

Wanda didn't think that was fair, sure they hadn't paid for anyone's funerals but it was hardly accurate to say that they didn't care. She definitely did.

The Secretary pressed a button on the small remote he was carrying, activating a screen behind him which displayed pictures from past Avengers endeavours.

"New York," There was a Chitauri Leviathan, it snakes across the screen as the images circulated to people screaming and running for their lives, soldiers shooting their ammo and the Hulk smashing into a building. Rhodey glanced behind him to share a distant look with Rogers.

"Washington, DC," Three insight Helicarriers were shown firing at each other, a destroyed Triskelion and the wave that followed other damage created, engulfing citizens and the camera footage that blacked out. Sam's eyes fell down.

"Sokovia," Wanda saw herself, running around with Pietro as people screeched as they went by.

Then, she saw pictures of herself, causing soldiers to fall to their feet with red beams that shot from her body.

There were gunshots and other menial damage recordings before it cut to an image she had only seen repeated in her dreams as she saw Natasha getting thrown into the building above.

No one dared to look when the screen cut to a snapshot of Black Widow's lifeless face.

"Lagos," Thaddeus tried to continue with footage of the burning hospital, paramedics moving around and dead children...

Wanda felt her throat clogging up as she could hear the imaginative words of blame being thrown onto her, not that their weren't some already said.

Pietro, opposite her, looked over at Steve - urging him to help and he reacted quickly...

"Alright," Steve Rogers had watched as she stared effectively into the lifeless wooden table, "That's enough."

Ross switched off the screen, proceeding to talk, "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."

An assistant handed him a thick booklet, it looked crisp and freshly printed, he slid it across the table to Wanda.

She felt targeted, why didn't he pass it to Rhodey? It's not like she could read all that detailed, verbose English anyway.

"The Sokovia Accords..."

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WANDA HAD MANAGED to get out of that meeting without trying to snap anybody's head. The only thing that meeting had told her was that the Secretary of State didn't take too much of a liking to her and that the Avengers needed a lot of work.

The Avengers sat in the Facility, scattered around the sitting area. Sam and Rhodey bickered behind the couch, where Steve was sat carefully studying over the Accords, flicking through its numerous pages.

Vision, Wanda and Pietro sat on the couch, waiting expectantly for someone to make a choice.

The Maximoff Twins didn't feel like they'd been members of the 'club' long enough to input and if they were being honest...they didn't know what they were going to do.

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honour..." Rhodey pointed to Sam's chest argumentatively, "Which is one more than you have."

Tony sat, with his hand over his face, looking as bored as he had during the meeting with his eyes half-closed, only opening them to roll his eyes at the argument that was making all the noise in the room.

"So let's say we agreed to this thing?" Sam asked, continuing to challenge the Colonel, "How long is it going to be until they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

"A hundred and seventeen countries want to sign this. A hundred and seventeen, 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 spoke up, eyes turned to him as he interrupted the Falcon and War Machine's squabble.

"Oh, this will clear it up."

"In the eight years since Mr Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And...during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurable rate."

Steve held off turning to the next page, "Are you saying it's our fault?"

"I'm saying there may be a causality," Vision allowed a pause, it let them hang onto his words, "Our very strength invites challenge...challenge incites conflict.  And conflict...breeds catastrophe."

Catastrophe. It was a word that sounded all too familiar to Wanda. She liked what Vision had to say, his words seemed calm and almost easy to sit with.

Vision continued, "Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

"Boom," Rhodey turned to Sam, who still had his arms crossed.

"Mr Stark," Vision looked over at Tony, "You are being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal."

"It's because he's already made up his mind," Steve told him.

Tony removed the hand from his face, "Boy, you know me so well."

He sat up slowly from his slouch, he winced, trying to ease the pain by scratching the back of his head, "Actually, I'm nursing an electromagnetic headache."

He got up, he dragged his legs to the kitchen, standing behind the polished counter.

"That's what's going on, Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort," he grabbed himself a mug that stood upside on a tray to dry off - Steve had done the washing yesterday. He took a peek inside the garbage disposal, near the sink, "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

Wanda tangled her fingers into the sleeve of her cardigan, she was pretty sure she'd had a cup of coffee or two yesterday.

Tony brought out his phone, tucked in the back pocket of his silk trousers, he chucked it in the empty fruit basket, tapping it to show a holographic image of a young man.

He looked away from what he had done, pretending to find the image projected next to him, "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."

Everyone was still silent, Wanda wasn't sure from their expressions whether it was to let Tony ramble or listen to what he had to say.

"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 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."

Wanda's eyes fell to the floor again, she felt partly guilty. The Avengers wouldn't have needed to go to Sokovia if it weren't for her or Pietro...mainly her.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose," Ruffles from the packet of pills Tony popped was heard, "I mean, we won't know because we knocked him over while we were kicking ass."

Tony threw a pill into his mouth, digesting it with a swing of coffee as he approached the others again, "There is no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony..." Steve sighed, "Someone dies on your watch, you don't give up."

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions...this document just shifts the blame."

When Tony and Steve talked, there was an invisible force that ran between them. They were the two leaders and the universe seemed to make it so that everything they each thought contradicted exactly what the other was thinking.

"I'm sorry, Steve," James turned, slightly shocked, "Tha-That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not S.H.I.E.L.D, it's not HYDRA."

"No," Steve interrupted, "But it's run with people with agendas, and agendas change."

"That's good," Tony pointed towards Cap, "That's why I'm here...when I realised what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands. I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you chose to do that," He glanced down to the Accords, heavy on his lap, "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's somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect but the safest hands are still our own."

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

"You're saying they'll come for me," Wanda piped up, finally. She was still wary of soldiers, she wasn't scared of them but scared of having to run, once again.

"We would protect you," Vision said, looking straight into Wanda's eyes and she had no option but to do the same as looked into his piercing blue eyes.

She felt something in the pit of her stomach as she did, she put together that Vision might have meant he would protect her...

*

"Just tell me," Wanda huffed as she leant against the balcony of a window in the Avengers Facility, slowly turning around so her body was facing the same direction as her twin brother, who was standing beside her.

He took a tighter hold on the pole, which was restraining them from falling through the gap in the glass-paned floors and windows, "You won't like it."

"Wha..." Wanda mumbled in their language, taunting him to just tell her what he had seen, "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."

"Alright," Pietro looked defeated as he glanced at her warily, he ran a hand through his silver locks, "I saw Stephen."

"Okay," Wanda felt a wave of relief in her chest at hearing that the Doctor was safe, that was all she had really asked of Pietro to check for her.

However, he looked too concerned to just have seen him going through his usual boring regime of flipping through library books. Wanda had a sense of regret as she asked, "What else?"

"I saw him with another woman," Pietro watched Wanda's head drop, he wasn't certain if it was in disappointment, anger or confusion, "Around his age, they seemed pretty close."

Around his age. It was as if someone had given her a stab to the heart...like she was no longer good enough. She knew not to jump to wild conclusions, "Did they..."

"No, no," Pietro shook his head quickly, "They just seemed quite...affectionate. He did give her a few hugs, walk her down the road."

"Oh, did she happen to be blonde, fairly short and wear a scarf with red and blue plaid?" Wanda asked. She had remembered Dr Palmer from Greer's shop.

"Yes," Pietro answered, he looked confused, "Why?"

"Nothing..." It wasn't nothing, "Just wondering."

"Well, that's not all," Pietro added, "I ran into another guy, inside. His name's..."

"Wong?" Wanda was listening, "How is he? What did he say?"

"He's fine. He told me where Strange had been, he's been trying to figure out a way for you to not die."

"Huh?"

"You don't know?"

"Know..." Wanda looked at him expectantly, he sighed before turning back to her, "What?"