(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 18 – New Accommodation

Chapter 18 – New Accommodation

Carol stood as close as she could to the elevator doors while Rhodey and Stephen stayed slightly behind her, serving as a buffer so she wouldn't be too tempted to kill the bastards in the back.

She managed to keep herself reasonably calm until Rogers' voice filled the space around them: “Why are we here and not in the Avengers Compound?”

Stephen snorted and replied condescendingly, “Oh, someone is out of the loop. The Avengers Compound doesn’t exist anymore.”

Maximoff immediately exploded, “What do you mean, doesn’t exist?! It’s our home!”

Carol couldn’t help but scoff before responding, “The compound was owned by SI, and as such, the CEO and majority shareholder had the power to decide what happened with it.”

“Stark screwing us over again—what a surprise,” growled Barton.

Carol wanted to spin around and blast him, but before she could do anything, Romanoff chose to diffuse the situation by asking calmly, “And what about the stuff we left behind?”

Before any of them could reply, an Irish voice spoke from the speakers. While the AI usually spoke politely and softly, this time her tone had an edge, reminding Carol of Siri. “All things purchased with Boss’s credit cards and money have been sold, recycled, or thrown away. Anything you purchased with your own money is in storage and will be delivered to you shortly after you settle into your accommodation.”

Carol risked a glance over her shoulder to see all the Rogues, except Wilson and Barnes, scowling at the information. Oh yeah, Tony did say even the clothes they used to own came from his money. Well, that sucks for them. Carol had to bite the inside of her cheek so she wouldn’t laugh out loud.

“Friday, tell Tony I need to speak with him,” ordered Rogers.

Carol heard the tone and the disrespect the blond showed to her baby girl, and her clenched fists began to glow, ready to strike the one who dared speak like that straight in the face. And if a few teeth got misplaced during the exchange, well, she'd call it an improvement.

Rhodey put a hand on her shoulder, silently urging her to calm down. But he himself had a very satisfied smirk on his face as he informed the tall blond and his team, “As you repeatedly informed Tony and anyone who would listen that you were uncomfortable with Friday and any other AI after the events of Ultron, it was decided that you will have no access to Friday or any of her services. She will only pass urgent messages in an emergency.”

“And how are we supposed to communicate with the team?” Romanoff asked in a deadpan voice. It was obvious that the more they learned about their new situation, the more irritated she got.

Now Strange had an off-putting smile on his face as he commented casually, “In the unlikely case any member is interested in talking with any of you, the council generously provided you with smartphones and basic plans for them.”

Before any of the team could voice their displeasure, Wilson asked something that drew everyone’s attention to where Carol was standing. “Umm, why are the buttons for the top floors different from all the others?”

Carol glanced at the object in question. Sure enough, all the buttons up to the 30th floor were the ordinary silver buttons anyone could push to access the floor. But floors 31 to 40 had gold buttons with a scanner on their surface. Each scanner identified the fingerprint of the user before a camera scanned the visuals, allowing the elevator to reach those floors.

Carol turned with a smug smile and explained, “While the council bought most of the tower for use by all their workers in the Avengers initiative, Tony refused to sell his personal floors. As such, they are his property, and he gets to decide who’s allowed access to them.”

Rogers nodded with a relieved look on his face as he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, “That makes finding Tony easier.”

Stephen shook his head in exasperation. Carol noted that even Romanoff gave the big oaf an odd look.

Rhodey got the pleasure of bursting his bubble. “You don’t seem to get it, Rogers. None of you have access to those floors.”

Rogers had the audacity to look outraged. “What do you mean?! How can you do that? Tony needs our supervision so he won’t create something dangerous again! And how…”

Even if Rhodey had wanted to stop her, she moved too fast this time. Her fist was glowing, and she sent a punch to the man’s gut, causing the oaf to hit the wall behind him and double over in pain.

Before anyone could move, Carol began screaming at the downed man, “Say another word in that tone about my fiancé, and the next hit will be either much lower or much higher. The time when you could talk shit about Tony and get away with it is over!”

Barton and Maximoff jumped in front of their leader, ready for a fight. Maximoff had a sinister smile on her face and said dangerously, “Don’t worry. When we’re done with you, I’ll change your memories so you won’t remember a thing. Maybe a nightmare or two.”

With that, the little witch thrust her hand forward, but nothing happened. Maximoff frowned and tried a couple more times. When nothing happened, the crazy woman screeched, “What’s going on?! Why aren’t my powers working?!”

Stephen yawned before replying in a bored tone, “My order and I erected magical wards all around the building. The only magic allowed inside is the one I approve of. And guess what, little witch—you are not on my nice list.”

Maximoff looked at him with pure hatred and fury as she screamed like a madwoman, “I am the strongest magic wielder there is! Your tricks can’t work on me!”

The sorcerer snorted and pointed out, without a care in the world, “It’s your deluded mind against the facts of reality.”

Maximoff looked apoplectic but had nothing to say against it.

Rogers apparently recovered from her punch and began screaming himself, “You can’t do that to her—she’s a kid!”

Carol raised an eyebrow at him. Huh, she thought Tony was pulling her leg when he told her the oaf would play that card. Damn, now she owed him a cooked meal!

In a flat tone, Carol pointed out, “I’ve been on many planets in the universe, Rogers. In none of them does a woman her age qualify as a kid.”

Rogers frowned, and instead of countering, he ignored the point entirely and tried a different tactic. “You have no right to take away her power.”

Rhodey gave the man a flat look and said emotionlessly, “She just tried to attack the two team leaders and another member of the team while shouting threats of erasing memories.”

“Not to mention all the other crimes she used her powers for,” added Carol in the same tone as her friend.

Rogers looked at them disapprovingly. “She made mistakes and made amends for them; you can’t blame her for that.”

Now Rhodey was frowning. “Of course, we can. And how exactly has she made up for them? By helping stop a villain she had a big part in creating and then helped until his plans included her death? By claiming to have control over her powers only to kill how many people in Lagos?”

Carol snorted, feeling very vindictive at the moment. She put on a mock offended look and said, “But Rhodey, isn’t it obvious? She’s a hero because she kept the secrets of the great Captain America, who should have no secrets.”

Stephen decided to add his own opinion. “Not only has she not made up for the inhuman crimes she committed, but she also broke countless magical laws and keeps doing so even now by trying to break into our minds.” Maximoff’s face twisted into a shocked look at being caught before it turned red. The sorcerer ignored it and finished, “If it were up to me, I would have stripped her of her powers and sent her to rot in a cell.”

Maximoff, Barton, and Rogers all yelled at once, “YOU CAN’T!”

The cloak was vibrating on Strange’s shoulder. Was it anger or laughter? Carol had no idea. But the man with the weird beard shrugged with a sneer and replied simply, “As Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, I have both the authority and the knowledge to do so.”

There was a long silence as the Rogues all stood in shock that stripping Maximoff of her powers was even a possibility. After all, she was the only thing that might give them a chance against the New Avengers. If her powers could be taken away, then their chances of regaining any power would probably be null.

Before any more words could be spoken, a ding sounded, and the elevator doors opened. The number 2 glowed above the door.

Rhodey cleared his throat and spoke firmly, “We’re all on a timetable here, so let’s move on.”

Carol moved aside to allow everyone ahead of her to get out, with Rhodey and Stephen in the lead and her bringing up the rear so there wouldn’t be any surprise attacks from behind.

Carol did steal a glance back toward the elevator, praising her baby girl for drawing out the ride so the three of them could troll the Rogues a little. Off the record, of course. After all, a travel glitch like that surely messed up the camera feed as well.

Her baby girl was the best.

They exited on the second floor and kept walking for about five more minutes before they reached a double metal door.

Rhodey pushed a button on the side of the wall, and the door opened, revealing a decently sized living room with two sofas, a couple of chairs, and an ordinary flat-screen TV.

The living room had a small kitchen attached to it on the farthest right corner, like in any usual apartment, and next to it was a hallway that led to the bedrooms.

After a short moment of silence, Barton decided to open his mouth, growling, “What the hell is this?”

Rhodey raised an eyebrow at the man and replied flatly, “Your accommodation, Mr. Barton. You have this living room, a kitchen to prepare food for yourselves, and six bedrooms for each of you.”

Rogers frowned again, which Carol was starting to think was becoming his new signature look, before saying firmly, “Tell Tony we’ll be moving back to our personal floors, and he should prepare ones for Wanda and Sam. Bucky will stay on my floor with me.”

Stephen seemed to get tired of the oaf and replied in an obviously annoyed voice, “No one in the tower has their own floor, Mr. Rogers, and you are no special prince or princess to be any different. Say thanks for having this place instead of cells, which all of us on the team wanted.”

Romanoff spoke quickly to stop any of her team from shouting in anger, “What happened to our floors?”

While inside, Carol was giddy to deliver the next piece of information; on the outside, she kept a blank face as she shrugged and replied casually, “Those were some of the floors the UN bought from Tony. I believe they turned them into staff and members’ apartment complexes.”

The Rogues who were members of the original Avengers looked outraged. Maximoff immediately began to shout with pure venom, “So Stark destroyed both our new home and the old home of the Avengers.”

Carol was about to snap back before Strange shot back at the witch, his tone completely bored, which only served to piss the crazy woman off even more. “Maybe the crazy made you deaf. The UN bought the floors, then chose to destroy and remodel them. Tony had no part in it. Honestly, if Tony still owned the place, none of you would be able to set foot in it.”

Wilson tried to calm the tension with what he probably considered a reasonable question, “If there are apartment complexes on the higher floors, why are we staying here?”

Rhodey shrugged and replied in a tone that showed he considered the answer to be obvious, “None of us on the team felt comfortable with the idea of sleeping anywhere near you. This arrangement was the best compromise.”

Rogers shook his head in disapproval again, and Carol wanted to throttle the man. Then the oaf had the nerve to speak in a demanding tone, “That’s too much. We can’t tolerate that. I need to speak to Tony right now! His petty grudge is going too far. We are the Avengers; we deserve respect…”

Carol was shaking with fury, and she knew Rhodey was the same inside his suit. Unfortunately, both of them needed to be professional as team leaders and couldn’t just beat the man into a pulp, even if right now that was the thing she wanted most. Friday wouldn’t be able to cover her tracks like she did in the elevator.

Just as she thought that, an Irish voice whispered into her ear, “Mom, I managed to scramble the audio for the next minute—give them hell.”

Carol smirked internally, but on the outside, she growled out with pure hatred, “Listen here, you oaf.” Rogers and his team seemed startled by the way she addressed the so-called legend, but she didn’t care and just kept on. “You are entitled little pieces of shit. For all any of us care, you don’t deserve any respect. The only thing you do deserve is a small cell to rot in.”

Noticing neither of her friends trying to stop her, she went on to vent, “Tony is a thousand times the person you all are combined. You have no right to demand anything of him. He gave you everything you wanted, and in return, each of you chose to abuse him and his generosity, and the cherry on top was stabbing him in the back. So don’t come here and talk about what he owes you. As far as I’m concerned, you all owe him more than you will ever be able to repay. You try anything involving Tony, and you’ll find a hell of a lot of people ready to kick your ass before you even get close to him. Think of this as your one and only warning.”

There was a long, shocked silence in the living room. Rhodey took advantage of it and said with authority and finality, “Your belongings will be delivered to you in the next hour. The cafeteria is on floor 5; mealtimes as well as a map of the tower are included in each of your rooms, along with your phones. As we said, you may try to make contact with whoever you wish—with the exception of Tony—but it’s unlikely you’ll receive a response. There is a whole team meeting tomorrow at 12 PM on floor 18, conference room D. Don’t be late.”

With that, the three of them left the Rogues behind. Right now, Carol really needed the comfort of her fiancé, or she might decide to kill some idiots.