(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 16 – Pardon Me?

Chapter 16 – Pardon Me?

Rogers seemed to move past all of that and asked, almost eagerly, “You said you came with an offer... Director.”

Rogers added the last word as if it were an afterthought.

Phil nodded and, after a moment, said without any emotion, “Due to new information and dire circumstances, the council decided to make a drastic move and offer all of you conditional pardons.”

Rogers, Maximoff, Barton, and Romanoff all smiled as if they had just won the entire war ahead.

Rogers smiled at his team and began to speak proudly, “I told you guys they would want us back. Soon, everything will go back to normal.”

Phil wasn’t about to let them enjoy the delusion. “You might have missed the word ‘conditional,’ Mr. Rogers. I assure you, your pardons won’t come cheap.”

Barton scowled and spat, “If you want us to apologize to Stark, you can shove that up...”

“I’ll stop you right there, Mr. Barton. You don’t have to worry about anything like that, as one of the first conditions set by the council was a restriction order for all of you from Dr. Stark. You are not allowed to be near him, much less speak to him, unless it’s a team meeting or on the battlefield and directly related to the matter discussed,” Phil informed them with a smile.

Okay, that was new. Tony looked toward Rhodey and asked, “When the hell was that decided?”

Rhodey allowed himself a satisfied smile and said smugly, “While you were checking on your kids, I talked it over with the council, and most agreed without any argument.”

Tony blinked. But with nothing else to say on the matter, he turned his gaze toward the screen again.

It seemed like the Rogues were even more surprised than he was, except for Barnes, who seemed to accept it with a small, sad nod.

Rogers glared at Phil and said in a hard tone that Tony was sure the blond would deny was meant to be intimidating, “What do you mean, a restriction order? We are Tony’s family. He needs us. How can you keep us away?”

Phil shrugged. “Considering your crimes, specifically against him, it was very easy.”

Rogers clenched his fists, but before he could speak, Maximoff said dismissively, “Who cares if we can’t go near Stark?”

Romanoff seemed to try a different approach. “What about our gear? How are we going to get upgrades if we can’t speak with Stark?”

Phil tilted his head and replied casually, “Tony has nothing to do with it anymore. The Avengers support team handles all equipment-related matters, and you will have access to them if needed.”

Barton frowned even more deeply than before and asked in an angry tone, “What the hell is a support team?”

Phil kept his bland smile as he replied, “Like I said, there have been many changes. Tony, Nick, many others, and I worked hard to evolve the Avengers initiative.”

Wilson looked interested. “Evolve?”

Phil nodded before elaborating, “Indeed. There’s the support team, as I mentioned, the PR team dedicated to Avengers matters, ordinary tower staff that maintain daily operations, and so on. Of course, there are now the Young Avengers—heroes that are minors whom the Avengers took under their wing to train and guide.”

Rogers gave a deep scowl at the idea, probably because A) it wasn’t his, and B) he had no control over it.

Maximoff snorted and spat out, “So Stark chose a couple of kids to corrupt.”

Phil ignored her last comment but did respond to the whole statement. “Tony did find most of them, but other members are encouraged—and in fact, some have already added their own.”

Now Rogers’s face began to turn a little red, but he tried to keep his calm as he asked, “New members?”

Phil raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him and replied flatly, “Did you really believe Tony would allow your selfishness to be the end of the Avengers? No, he worked hard to form the New Avengers. Some faces you will remember, others are old friends you will not know. There are even some from the enhanced division of the New SHIELD who chose to join the Avengers, at least part-time.”

Rogers scowled again and said, “Well, it will take time for me to evaluate them.”

Phil raised a mocking eyebrow and asked calmly, “And why would you need to do that, Mr. Rogers?”

Rogers looked at him as if the director had forgotten something important. “It is my job as a leader to make sure all the members are fit for the team.”

“Oh, I see where the problem is.” Phil made a show of nodding his head a little too much. Rogers looked happy that the man finally realized how important the blond’s opinion was. And Phil hid his amusement about what was coming next when he spoke again. “You don’t seem to understand—you are not the leader of the Avengers any longer.”

The smile disappeared from Rogers’s face, replaced by an outraged expression, as if what Phil just said was the ultimate blasphemy.

Maximoff had the same expression. Romanoff looked calm—she probably saw that one coming. Wilson and Barnes looked unsurprised as well. Barton spat, “What do you mean?! Cap was always the leader of the Avengers!”

Phil shrugged, showing not a single care in the world as he responded, “He gave up that position when he decided to turn his back on the people who appointed him in the first place. But anyway, the Avengers that Rogers led are no more. In their place are the New Avengers, and they already have two leaders that the entire team stands behind.”

Rogers’s face turned red with anger this time, and so did Barton’s. Romanoff kept hiding her emotions well, while Wilson and Barnes nodded in agreement with Phil. This time, it was Maximoff who exploded at the man across from her, “We will only follow Steve! We don’t care who the other leaders are, especially if one of them is Stark!”

Rogers shot Maximoff a bright smile of gratitude, but Phil just tilted his head again and responded, “Tony, in fact, is not one of the leaders. He declined the position when it was offered and recommended someone else he said would be better suited.”

Every single member of the group looked shocked—even Romanoff couldn’t hide her shock this time.

Phil kept speaking, ignoring their expressions. “But I see where our misunderstanding is. I will say it now, and listen well. You are not being offered a position on the Avengers team.”

Rogers, Barton, and Maximoff called out as one, “WHAT?!”

Romanoff, clearly taken aback by that information herself, asked carefully, “So what will our position be?” Then it looked like an idea sparked in her head, and she asked almost enthusiastically, “Will we be a part of the new SHIELD?”

Phil frowned at her. Tony could see he was trying to rein in his anger at the woman before he replied calmly, “I am not sure where you got that idea. All of you are persona non grata within the new SHIELD.” Phil ignored the shocked and hurt look on the ex-agents’ faces before he went on to say, “I believe the council called your position ‘combat assistants.’”

This time even Wilson looked insulted and asked, “Isn’t that a little much? Surely we can find a way for everyone to get along.”

Phil snorted and dropped his pretense of tolerance for a moment. “I’m not sorry to shatter your hopes, Mr. Wilson, but the moment the members of the team heard the council’s plan, they declared that if any of you joined the Avengers, they would resign and use the Accords to form a new team. It was only once the council promised you would be separate from them that the New Avengers calmed down.”

Wilson looked down in shame, as did Barnes. And while Romanoff tried to look calm, Tony saw her narrow eyes—he could guess she was getting tired of being put in worse and worse positions by the minute. Rogers, Barton, and Maximoff simply looked angry at the information.

Phil sighed heavily and said, “I believe it’s time we speak about your lists of crimes you are being charged with and, if you fulfill all the conditions, will be pardoned for.”

Before any of the Rogues could open their mouths, Phil opened his tablet and began reading. “I will start with the member with the least charges and move forward. Clint Barton: breaking and entering, illegal entry into a country, property damage, and finally, multiple counts of assault.”

“Bullshit.” That was the only response he got from Barton, but what amused Tony was the frown on Romanoff’s face. She was probably sure that she had the least charges—Tony couldn’t wait for the surprise to hit her.

“James Barnes.” Barnes jumped in his seat from the surprise of what Phil said. The man probably anticipated being at the top of the list, so Tony got it.

Phil went on, “While you will still have your day in court for your crimes as the Winter Soldier, Tony showed the council the evidence of the means Hydra used to make you comply and decided that considering you will probably be found innocent of those crimes, it would be best to offer the pardon for the crimes that would be attached to James Barnes. Is that understood?”

Barnes looked shocked. First, it was revealed that Tony advocated for him, and then when Phil told him he would probably be found innocent. He could only nod, so Phil presented his list. “As James Barnes, you are facing many counts of assault, three counts of murder, illegal entry, grand theft, and accessory to attempted murder.”

Barnes looked down with tears in his eyes but nodded his acceptance of those charges.

Phil gave the man one quick, bland smile before moving on to the next name on the list. “Sam Wilson.” The man flinched while Romanoff’s frown kept growing. Phil just kept reading, “Your charges are accessory to manslaughter, manslaughter, illegal entry into a country, many counts of assault, and accessory to grand theft.”

Wilson looked down in shame. Phil stared at his tablet and spoke again. “Natasha Romanoff.”

The widow seemed surprised she was so high on the list but kept her cool—or at least tried to—until Phil laid out how deep in trouble she was. “Accessory to grand theft, assault on a foreign leader, accessory to escaping fugitives, breaking the Accords you signed, accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice in the cases of Howard and Maria Stark, two counts of manslaughter, and finally, treason.”

Romanoff’s cool was long gone, and she objected loudly, “Treason?!”

Phil just gave her a cold look and said two words that caused her to pale, “Info dump.”

Romanoff tried to protest, “The Congress cleared us from that!”

Phil smirked. “No, they didn’t. You made your arrogant proclamation and left. The Congress left the case open, and as there is no statute of limitations on murder and treason, the President decided to push those charges. And they stand, as the info dump resulted in many deaths, and the release of sensitive information to the web without the approval of the President is treason.”

Romanoff sat in her place, shell-shocked, so Rogers came to her defense and proclaimed firmly, “We did what was necessary to save the world from Hydra. They can’t blame us for the results of that. Without our actions, many more would have died.”

Phil snorted before he countered him, “Please, Mr. Rogers, do not insult my intelligence. The only way? You had a team member with an advanced AI that could sort all the information and release only the relevant parts so no innocents had to pay the price. Not to mention the same man helped build the Helicarriers, and he could have landed them without any casualties.”

Rogers was clearly about to protest, but Phil knew what the blond would say and refuted him even before that. “And before you say you had no way of knowing who to trust, we have a recording from your interrogation of Sitwell in which he clearly stated Tony was a target for them as well, and as such, you had no reason to suspect him. Also, Fury did call Tony once he heard your dumb plan; Tony called you constantly, and you never answered him. And just to make sure you get it, I’ll point out that while you refused to trust your teammate, you did trust a man you just met during a jog and who, for all you knew, could actually have been Hydra. And you had the time to break into a secure military base to steal his wings, which you would have been charged with as well if not for the statute of limitations.”

Phil shrugged and finished with, “You chose to proceed with the info dump because in that version, you’re the only hero. Ms. Romanoff at least had the decency to appear before Congress, even if her words hurt your case more than helped. You refused even that, which looks very bad for you in the public’s eyes.”

Romanoff began to look very anxious with the entire ordeal, probably realizing that if she did go to prison, there would be no chance for a deal, and she would never be free again. Rogers’s face was crimson in a way Tony had never seen before, and he wasn’t sure if it was out of fury, embarrassment, or a combination of both.

Phil gave a sadistic smile and said, “If you’re so eager, Mr. Rogers, let’s move to your list of crimes.” He cleared his throat and began speaking, “Let us begin, shall we? You have three counts of manslaughter, grand theft, many counts of assault, multiple counts of illegal entry, multiple counts of financial fraud, three counts of murder, two counts of accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice in the case of Howard and Maria Stark, treason, and finally, the attempted murder of one Dr. Anthony Edward Stark.”

Rogers’s eyes were bulging, probably surprised by the audacity of the people to blame him for so many things.

Romanoff looked at Rogers from the corner of her eyes as if he had some contagious disease.

Wilson looked like he was rethinking his entire life, while Barnes was somewhere between looking afraid of Rogers and glaring at his oldest friend.

Barton and Maximoff both looked more concerned about the witch, as she was the last on the list. That meant she had the most and worst charges—neither had any idea what they could be.

Phil let out a heavy sigh before saying, “And last and least, Wanda Maximoff. Your charges are illegal entry into a country, breaking house arrest, many counts of assault, many counts of manslaughter, many counts of murder, many counts of torture, many counts of obstruction of justice, many counts of attempted murder, and the Order of Sorcerers has many laws about mind magic that you are charged with.”

The entire group sat in shocked silence until Wilson managed to choke out, “WHAT THE HELL?!”

Barton was next to shout angrily, “What are all these bullshit charges?!”

Phil shook his head sadly. “As much as I wish they were, none of them are, in fact, false. You see, a team of SHIELD hackers kept going through the Hydra files in the info dump, and they found many documents and videos of Ms. Maximoff’s time with said organization. I watched only a part of them, as they became too disturbing. These are only the crimes without a statute of limitations on them—of course, there are her crimes during the Ultron fiasco and finally her crimes during the Civil War.”

Maximoff was very pale after she heard that, but before anyone could speak, a low voice hissed, “Mind magic? Hydra?”

Now it was Rogers’s turn to pale almost to the bone as he turned and tried to calm the man. “Bucky…”

But Rogers was cut off by Phil. “Were you not aware, Mr. Barnes, that your teammate’s abilities allowed her to manipulate minds as well? Powers she received while allowing Hydra to experiment on her. She was part of the organization even after the info dump and the failure of Project Insight, in one of the remaining cells headed officially by Dr. List.”

Barnes was glaring pure hatred at Maximoff now, while Rogers did the same to Phil.

Tony knew the director was only playing the coy and surprised man, but soon enough it changed. The older man hummed and said calmly, “Tony thought it would be the case with Rogers. Even though he keeps repeating that there are no secrets in a team, somehow he is always the exception.”

Somehow, Rogers’s glare managed to grow even harsher while his cheeks reddened slightly at being called out. Phil pulled something from his pocket and tossed it to Barnes. “Dr. Strange, our expert on magic, created this amulet to block the witch’s power. Tony asked that you have it so you may feel more comfortable while you are forced to stay in close proximity to her.”

Once again, Barnes was shocked, and tears began to fill his eyes. Tony wasn’t quite sure why.

Suddenly, Tony felt another squeeze of his hand, and he looked to his side only to see many surprised and proud faces.

Tony tilted his head and asked, “What’s going on?”

Rhodey shook his head with wonder and asked Tony, “You asked Strange to make an amulet for Barnes?”

Tony nodded as if it were the simplest thing in the world and said casually, “The man’s had enough people messing with his mind, and I was worried that Rogers might be desperate enough to allow the scarlet bitch to mess with Robocop’s mind to ‘fix’ him.”

Tony kept looking confused when the wonder in the faces of the Guardians turned into awe. It was Quill who voiced their collective opinion, “Damn, man, you’re a real hero. No wonder Thanos sees you as his rival. You’re like his opposite, helping a man that tried to kill you.”

Tony rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Carol gave a very unlike-her giggle before kissing him quickly and saying softly, “Yep. Still got more work to do with you.”

Now Tony was really lost, but he chose to return to the screen.