(MCU) Arcs Collide: Chapter 14 – Rogue Perspective

Chapter 14 – Rogue Perspective

Mrs. MacKenzie didn’t get to finish before Carol stood up, slamming both her fists on the table, and yelled, “The traitors?! The ones who ignored every possible law and went on a killing spree?! Are you insane?!”

Javier Martínez, the Spanish representative, tried to calm things down. “Please, Captain Danvers, while I understand your dislike of Captain Rogers and his team…”

Mr. Martínez was cut off by a calm British voice. “Mr. Rogers, you mean.” When the representative looked at him confused, Vision explained in a slightly mocking voice, which really surprised Tony, “In case you have forgotten, Mr. Martínez, Rogers has been dishonorably discharged after his actions were revealed. Not to mention his titles were false to begin with.”

The Spanish man’s eye twitched slightly, but he remained calm as he corrected himself, “Mr. Rogers and his team are still a powerhouse…”

He was once again cut off, this time by Rhodey. “Yes, a powerhouse that was defeated by a minor and three other Avengers who were holding back.” Rhodey didn’t even try to hide his mocking of the team.

The Spanish man’s mustache twitched slightly before he continued talking, a small edge to his voice. “Be that as it may, they are still valuable people to have in a crisis like this.”

Loki snorted and couldn’t help but comment, “Ones that are as likely to turn on us at the first hint things won’t go their way.”

All the Avengers in the room agreed, while the Guardians looked around confused at what was going on.

Andrei Popescu, the Romanian representative, was quick to jump on the opportunity and screamed out, “I agree wholeheartedly. We cannot trust those vile people! We should speak about how to secure them further and not give them freedom to kill more people.”

Carol, who remained standing, spoke firmly with a glare in her eyes. “With all due respect to your decisions, ma’am, if Rogers and his group are part of the team, I have no desire to lead them, and if you even consider allowing Rogers to regain his old position, I will resign from the Avengers and make sure my fiancé is next to me as we do it.”

Vision spoke next, “I am afraid I must agree. While I care for the fate of this planet, I have come to see Tony as a father figure and cannot condone being on the same team as his past abusers and would-be murderers.”

Luke then said in his deep and flat voice, “When I agreed to join this team, I wasn’t aware I would have to work with this sort of people. I will leave too if this will be the case, and I’m pretty sure my friends will follow soon after.”

Loki smirked, seemingly enjoying the little chaos that was created, and decided to add fuel to the fire. “I have no wish to associate with the false captain either. I can predict the good doctor and my brother won’t agree with such a change either.”

Ms. Price chuckled slightly. “You don’t have to worry about that. Although some…” Her gaze shifted to both the Spanish and Mexican representatives, who by now both had deep red faces and steam coming out of their ears. She returned her gaze to the screen and finished, “Did want to see that happen, pretty much the entire council voted against it. Rogers and his criminal associates will not be granted Avengers status but will be recorded as combat assistants.”

That seemed to calm everyone enough for there to be no more threats, but there were still many grumbles about not accepting that.

As much as Tony hated it, he knew what he had to say. With a deep breath, he spoke, “The council has a point.”

Everyone went deadly silent after that. Rhodey was the first to recover, and he began to speak gently, “Tones, I know…”

Tony cut him off. Not because he didn’t care about what his brother had to say, but because he was worried he would convince him against it. “Look, Sour Patch, as much as I hate the situation like you, I prefer to send those idiots to the front line rather than the kids. I hope we will have enough time to train them up to the right level before we have to deal with him, but that’s obviously out of the question.”

Rhodey seemed to take a moment to let the words sink in before he nodded dejectedly. “I guess you have a point, Tones, as much as I hate admitting it.”

Vision was the one to raise the next point. “You mentioned the pardons will be conditional. Might I ask what the conditions are?”

Mrs. MacKenzie nodded her head and said in her usual calm tone, “Each of them will have strikes. If one of them reaches three strikes, their pardon will be revoked, and they will be transported to the Fridge until their trial. Captain Danvers and Colonel Rhodes will be the ones to issue the strikes, and Friday will be allowed to monitor them at all times and report to the leaders.”

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement until Carol asked, “Who is going to present this to the criminals?”

Ms. Price had a feral grin on her face as she said, “We have the perfect candidate to drive the point that things are different now. I believe you are all familiar with Director Coulson.”

Loki laughed wholeheartedly before he managed to say, “Oh, I wish I could have seen the false captain’s face when he learned that his old fan is not only alive but now despises him.”

A new voice was introduced into the conversation with a thick accent. “If you wish, I shall provide you with access to the live feed of the room designated for the meeting.”

It was Ramonda, the queen mother of Wakanda and their representative in the council by nomination of the current king, T’Challa.

Luke was the one to ask in his flat voice, though Tony knew him well enough to see the confusion on his hard face, “Are you saying Rogers doesn’t know about Coulson?”

This time it was Ramonda’s turn to give a menacing smirk. “Indeed. After all, T’Challa could see only potential disaster if the criminals were allowed access to information, so Shuri made sure that none of the foolish people currently held in Wakanda would be able to access any such information. I dare say it will make for quite an entertaining view. I will make sure to leave the link with your AI, Dr. Stark.”

Tony bowed as deeply as he could while sitting and replied, “It is very appreciated, Your Highness.”

The queen waved it off and said softly, “After all you have done for my children, Dr. Stark, it is the least we can do. I believe Director Coulson should start the meeting in a couple of hours. I do hope you will enjoy the entertainment.”

Once again, everyone bowed. But Tony saw it as more than entertainment; he saw this as an opportunity to get a glimpse of their future troubles’ perspective.

Tony, Rhodey, Carol, and the Guardians were the only ones left in the conference room as no one else wished to watch the shitshow that was no doubt about to come.

Rhodey and Carol tried to convince Tony to leave as well, but Tony was determined to face the people he once considered friends. And it would be better if he did it through video first. You know, baby steps.

The Guardians wanted to see what all the fuss and the arguments were about.

All of them sat around the table and watched the screen as it displayed another high-tech conference room that was currently empty.

They didn’t have to wait long until the door opened. They watched as Steve Rogers walked in with a soft, blank expression on his face. He was wearing a tight blue shirt and khaki pants.

After him came Natalia Romanova, her face in its usual intimidating flat expression.

Next was Sam Wilson. The sight of the man caused Rhodey to growl. Tony wasn’t sure if it was because of what happened in the airport or the fact the man threw away a good military career for no reason. Wilson looked around the room with slight worry.

After Wilson… Tony’s heart stopped, and he could feel the panic starting to rise until he felt a warm hand squeezing his own. Tony took a deep breath and allowed Carol’s presence to ground him as he watched a one-armed man walk into the room. James Barnes, his head bowed down.

Next came Clint Barton, and he looked angry as he stomped his way to his seat, followed very closely by a mock-innocent Wanda Maximoff. Right now, Tony was happy Jess wasn’t here or he would already have to replace the table. The PI simply despised the Scarlet Witch.

Once they were all seated, a familiar woman with dark skin and no hair, wearing red and gold armor, walked inside the room and announced, “All of you wait here. In a couple of minutes, our guest will join you. Do not break anything.”

With that, the woman left the room, the doors closing behind her. Tony could almost laugh at the different expressions of anger from the criminals—they weren’t used to being treated like that. Tony supposed he had a big part to play in that.

“I hope you will talk with the damn cat man, Cap,” Barton growled.

Of course, Maximoff wasn’t far from joining in. “Yeah, they are being really mean to us, Steve.”

Rogers turned his head to give them his reassuring smile that Tony could see now was very patronizing before replying, “I will be sure to meet with T’Challa again today and point it out. They really should know better than to treat a kid like that, especially an Avenger.”

Barton scoffed before saying, “To hell with that, Cap. I want to go home already.”

Romanova hummed a little before speaking in her usual monotone voice, “I expected that Tony would have gotten us pardons by now, but instead, not a word about him.”

Maximoff snorted before saying in a mocking tone, “He will have to admit we were right and he was wrong. Stark will never be able to do that.”

Tony was surprised to see Barnes send a small glare from the corner of his eye toward the witch, while Wilson kept silent.

Steve nodded his head, still with that smile, although a small, almost unnoticeable frown joined it. Then he said, “Tony will see his mistake eventually, guys. We are his family.”

Tony heard Rhodey give something between a snort and a scoff at that declaration.

Romanova nodded her head before adding, “It may take Stark some time to get over his ego, but he will get us those pardons. And there is always the chance that some threat will show up and the world will beg us to come back.”

Tony could practically see the spider scheming to herself, probably how to manipulate him in a situation like that.

Steve nodded with enthusiasm and responded cheerfully, “Nat is right. The world needs the Avengers, and we will show them that.”

“Steve, but you are going to punish Stark once we are back to how things were, right?” Maximoff whined like a real child.

Tony had to wonder at this point if this was all an act to get Rogers on her side or if, after the American idol told her she was a kid so many times, she actually started behaving like one. Whatever the case, it was creepy as hell.

Steve gave her that annoying smile again and softly told her, “I will make sure Tony apologizes to all of us, and then he will have to face some consequences for his mistakes.”

The witch had a feral grin on her face, and even Barton had a menacing smile on his face. Barnes, for some reason, turned his still-bowed head slightly and looked at Rogers with narrowed eyes. All the while, Wilson looked increasingly uncomfortable.

But before any of them could say anything else, the doors on the other side of the room opened, and a voice familiar to three of the group in that room said dryly, “Is it so, Rogers? Somehow I have exactly the opposite idea.”

Maximoff and Wilson looked confused, Barnes looked mildly surprised, but Rogers, Barton, and Romanova jumped from their seats and stared at the man in shock.

Phil allowed a small smirk to tug the corner of his lips as he said, “Hello again, Mr. Rogers.”