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Chapter Text

Avengers Compound

“Come on Jess, kick his ass!” Pepper encouraged as Luke and Jess spared in the training room.

“You shouldn’t be encouraging this.” Matt told her.

“Lighten up, Matty.” She told him winking.

“Don’t call me, Matty.” He mumbled blushing. Evie snickered at the sight.

It was mandatory training day for the Avengers at the compound, and they were in the middle of sparing practice.

“And who goes next against Jess?” Danny asked nonchalantly as Luke was thrown out of the ring.

“I volunteer as tribute!” Daisy called raising her hand causing all assembled to laugh.

“Step into the ring, Katniss.” Jess mocked whilst cracking her knuckles.

“Boss?”

“Yes, FRIDAY?”

“Commander Ross and Lieutenant Jarvis are here along with some representatives from the council. They are requesting an audience with you and Dr. Banner.”  Both exchanged glances.

“Alright, we’ll go see them.” Bruce said as Evie passed the tablet over to Rhodey.

“They are in the main conference room. Lieutenant Jarvis is waiting in the side room for you Boss.”  Evie waved for Bruce to go on ahead before stepping into the room.

“Hi.” She greeted Isaac, kissing him quickly.

“Hey.” He said looking her over. Her workout gear consisted of a midnight blue sports bra and black leggings with sneakers.

“Like what you see?” She teased him.

“No… yes… lets go.” He said passing her a jacket.

“You weren’t complaining when I was wearing less last night.” She pointed out causing him to blush bright red.

“Evie.”

“What? Just having pleasant conversation.” She giggled.

“Yeah, trying to torment me is more like it.”

“So, any hints as to what this meeting is about?”

“All I can say is. It’s good and bad but not to you, Dr. Banner or the Avengers.”

“Alright.” She said skeptically as they entered the room. She immediately clocked the representative from South Africa and the head of the council.

“Gentlemen.” She greeted as she sat beside Bruce.

“Dr. Stark may I say, how wonderful it is to see you at full health.” The head of the council greeted with a warm smile.

“Thank you. Now may we ask what this is about?” She questioned getting right to the chase.

“We have gone through a lot of the security footage of the compound and found something that we had to share with the council immediately. After that it was requested to come see you two.” Everett told her.

“What footage?” She asked.

“It’s better if we show you.” Everett said taking the tablet and playing a video

The scene showed Rogers and Romanov looking at a map.

“What about South America? Maybe he’s looking for more Hydra operatives?” Steve asked the spy.

“No, that would be too obvious.”  Romanov said.

“Rogers!” A voice came and Evie stormed into the room.

“We are a little busy, Stark.” Romanov spoke.

“Well get unbusy.” The brunette snapped crossing her arms.

“Toni, this is unacceptable you need to tell us when you’re coming.” Steve said.

“Last time I checked, I still owned this building and funded this set up. So, I’ll march my ass down here anytime I damn well chose to.”

“Language!”

“Fuck off. I’m a grown ass woman, I can say whatever I want when I want.”

“Alright, what do you want Stark?” Romanov said rubbing her temples.

“I need to show you something, security footage from the quinjet in Johannesburg.” Evie told them, showing them the footage on the tablet in her hands.

“This is… interesting to say the least.” Steve said after a long pause.

“Interesting? Is that all you have to say after watching this footage?!”

“It changes nothing.” Steve told her.

“Nothing?! That witch set the Hulk lose! She fucked with Bruce’s head!” Bruce clenched his jaw besides her and Evie placed a hand on his arm.

“Now Toni, Bruce is gone and Wanda deserves a second chance. Be reasonable.”

“Reasonable? The people of Johannesburg want Bruce’s head! It’s only because of the foundations help that they backed off. They should be going after her! For god’s sake Steve, wake up and smell the roses. Wanda Maximoff isn’t the innocent flower you make her out to be. She was Hydra for crying out loud!”

“And who’s fault is that’s?” Steve countered towering over her.

“Hers. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I am not responsible for her parents’ death. I sold my weapons legally and I won’t let you shame me for it. Joining Hydra and consenting to be experimented on is on Wanda and Pietro.” Romanov watched the show with calculating eyes.

“So, what do you intend to do? Expose her? Let the world treat her like a criminal?” Steve yelled.

“If the pointed hat fits.” Evie hissed. “You may not care about protecting Bruce and the Hulk since they are no longer useful to you two, but I sure as hell do.” She finished turning to leave when Steve seized her arm hard. “Rogers, let me go!”

“You’re not going to do anything.” Steve told her harshly whilst squeezing her arm.

“Rogers, you are hurting me. And breaking my arm won’t stop me.”

“Toni, think about this, your reputation is still in shambles after Ultron. This will be seen as you trying to throw blame off yourself.”

“Are you kidding me Romanov?”

“Steve’s Captain America, he can do no wrong. While you’ve done plenty… who would they believe?” There was a tense silence for a few moments.

“You two are both batshit crazy.” Evie finally hissed.

“No, we are just protecting the Avengers.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.” She finally said as he released her arm and she rubbed some life back into it.

“So, you won’t mention this to anyone.” Steve said firmly. “And have FRIDAY delete the footage.”

“Understood.” Evie finally said marching out. The video footage cut out.

“Well, that is unexpected.” Evie finally said.

“Yes, as you can see, we were very much surprised.” Everett said.

“Yes. We can.” Bruce said in a strained voice.

“Dr. Banner.” The South African representative spoke up. “My country was very against you signing the accords and condemned you greatly for what we perceived as an attack on our country. And come to find out we were wrong. Please accept our apologies.”

“Accepted but really no apologies needed. You acted with the information you had available.” Bruce answered with a genuine smile.

“And I apologize for not bringing it up before.” Evie spoke up.

“Given the threats made, we can understand that.” Everett told her.

“Was your arm alright?” The head of the council asked.

“Badly bruised for a while but no lasting damage.” She said before thinking. “I still have the original footage from the quinjet.”

“Rogers told you to delete it.” Everett said, raising his eyebrow.

“When have I ever done what I’m told?” Evie asked a glint in her eye causing all assembled to chuckle.

“Due to the nature of this, the task force will be focusing some of their attention to the files on the Sokovia base. Especially anything pertaining the Maximoff twins.” Isaac explained.

“If we can help in anyway, please let us know.” Bruce spoke up. They adjourned the meeting and Isaac hung around telling Everett he’d get a ride back into the city.

“If I didn’t want to punch him before, I certainly do now.” He told Evie pulling her to him.

“Seconded and thirded.” Bruce added. Evie shook her head.

“Down boys.” She told them before looking at Isaac. “You look like you want to make me lunch.”

“Are there enough supplies to feed everyone?” Isaac asked amused.

“FRI?”

“The pantry was fully restocked Friday, Lieutenant. and I could go through a list of the recipes you and Boss share to see what would best suit everyone’s tastes and preferences.”

“I’d appreciate that, FRIDAY.” Isaac said heading for the kitchen while Evie and Bruce headed back into the training room.

“What happened?” Rhodey asked as the others wandered over for a water break. Evie and Bruce gave a brief summary.

“Okay now I really want to hit her.” Jess hissed.

“Yeah.” Luke agreed.

“I’m going to ask Wong to take a more personal role in researching Maximoff and not just have his students do it.” Strange added not liking where this information was going. “Mental Manipulation except in the direst of circumstances is against the laws of magic. If she truly is magical… then we need to make sure people are protected from her reach.”

“Great more complications.” Rhodey mumbled as they all went back to training before heading to the kitchen for some of loaded potato soup that Isaac had cooked.

“This is really good Lieutenant.” Peter complimented from behind his mask. He was starting to like the older man increasingly with the time he spent at the tower with Peter’s mentor. But he wasn’t ready to let another person in on his secret just yet.

“Thank you, Spiderman.” Isaac nodded.

“So, what’s the plan for the info about what Maximoff did?” Pepper asked.

“South Africa wants to do a press conference as soon as possible, the footage will be released, and they might want you two there.”

“No. Just no.” Evie groaned. “I’m pressed out. Between Avengers and SI stuff, I need a break.”

“Unfortunately, they’ll want to publicly acknowledge the aid you gave and that you tried to stand up to Rogers.” Isaac told her sympathetically.

“Woohoo.” Evie said leaning against his shoulder.

“On another note, soon Bruce gets to step into his ambassadors’ shoes.” Rhodey joked.

“Yes, Thor is due within the next few weeks or so is he not?” Vision asked.

“Yeah, Norway is saying they might have some land to offer up.” Bruce informed them.

“And Loki?” Peter asked.

“The council is still debating. It might be the same deal Barnes is going to be offered. Probation in the Avengers. But they’ve debated on asking for more magical supervision on him as well.” Bruce answered.

“Which means they’ll want me to have solutions.” Stephen piped up.

“Yeah, you might want to have some key points ready.”

“I’ll add it to my to do list.” The man said dryly causing many to laugh or chuckle.

“If I may interrupt.” FRIDAY’s voice came from the speakers.

“Go ahead FRIDAY.” Evie said looking to the nearest camera.

“There is a young woman at the door requesting to speak urgently to the Avengers. She insists it’s a matter of global safety.” They all exchanged glances.

“Show her in.” Rhodey finally requested. A few minutes later a blonde young woman appeared in the doorway. “Who are you? And why are you here?”

“My name is Yelena Belova. I came because I have put my trust in the wrong person. Someone who abandoned me to a horrible fate.”

“And that is?” Pepper asked.

“The Red Room. And now I need the Avengers help to stop it once and for all.”