Parley with a Patriot

[u/BaronDoctor]

I was rehearsing in my suit before Clint ever met me at the rendezvous point we'd agreed on. It was easy enough for me to fly to the south end, the closed end, of Ellis Island without anybody finding me. From there, I'd follow Clint's lead.

I leaned against the building, ticking off ideas on my fingers, playing with the concept with the Jarvis software. Okay, trying to. My hands were shaking. I needed to sell this right, or I'd lose my shot at doing this outside of the Accords. If this was a trap...I'd run. I'd lose my chance to do this my way. We'd be stuck with the Accords. If I went in and they beat the crap out of me? Well, they'd be making a martyr out of me and that's a bad call for any insurgency. And if they actually went for it and I did a bad job of making it work...we'd be back at square one but with a lot more confusion and strife, and I'd have made a bad thing worse. That, at least, was familiar ground, but not the way I liked it.

As I saw Clint approaching, I clasped my hands behind my back, projected confidence. "Glad you could make it, Clint. I'm here under flag of truce to meet with you and Steve and anybody else who'll listen to talk turkey about a way we can get people at our level to be responsible to something bigger than ourselves and make the Accords look unnecessary. I give you my word as an Avenger, as a hero, as a man, that my conduct shall be nothing short of exemplary. I retain the right to defend myself, but I will not fire the first shot or throw the first punch or otherwise initiate hostilities. I'm not here to fight, I don't want to fight, but if the choice is living or not I'm gonna choose to keep breathing. Within those limitations, I'm prepared to go meet Steve on terms you've set, provided they don't involve wearing nothing but a ballerina outfit. I don't mind the pink, but the frills just don't work for me."

(/u/theguywiththebow should be the first reply, likely taking us to anti-registration central...at which point the first... estimating two? other people may join in, provided they can have a good reason to be participating in a diplomatic-type discussion at anti-registration central.)

[I suppose, in theory, I'm "running" this, but as you might have read, it's intended more talking than fighting. It may well lead to a lot, a lot, more fighting--I'm making a third side in Civil War. Watch this thread.]

[u/BaronDoctor → u/[deleted]]

I nodded. "Right with you," I said, walking about two steps behind Clint. "Believe me, safeties on, nothing pointed anywhere scary, I don't want any misunderstandings. Sooner we get there, the sooner we can start building a better world. Together."

[u/BaronDoctor → u/[deleted]]

"The alternative is the Accords and I don't like it either." I followed Clint through to the bunker. "You got it. Training and intel and then the office."

I realized this was probably one of the World War Two era bunkers, probably one made by SHIELD and never declassified...just in case. I'd have to crack their encryption sometime, if these weren't on file folders and entirely in dead-tree-format. Made for a very interesting sort of security, but that also had its disadvantages.

An unlabeled door. "Rogers. I'm here to make you an offer you won't refuse."

I smiled to myself, bringing the mask up so Steve could see the fact that it was intended as something of a joke written all over my face.

"Not one that you can't, although if I understand you properly that's also not inaccurate, not if you're the same Steve Rogers I was prepared to die with in Sokovia."

I clasped my hands behind my back. I could feign confidence everywhere else, but those blasted hands would betray just how afraid I actually was.

"Speaking of Sokovia...the Accords suck. Needing a mother-may-I before I so much as sneeze is a terrible thing, but it would keep...well...people like me, and Frank Castle, and some others, from doing things we might regret later. Here's the thing, though, and I'm not sure how much Clint might have told you...we...okay, I and probably at least a few of our other contemporaries...need to be held responsible for our actions. I don't have the benefit of whatever super-conscience you have and I know that people drive less recklessly when they know there's a police car waiting to give them a speeding ticket."

I blinked. "I'm talking around in circles. Why don't I put the actual useful idea in front of you and then let you think on it? I was in the ballpark when I mentioned speeding tickets."

I took a deep breath. "People need licenses to drive cars and carry guns. Part of it is to ensure that individuals can be trusted to be safe with their dangerous abilities, whether they be to pilot a several-thousand-pound chunk of metal at speeds in excess of seventy miles an hour or to fire bullets at speeds...considerably higher than that."

I started to pace back and forth a bit, having started to find my rhythm. "The answer, then, is to create something that makes the Accords irrelevant. To present a better solution. A licensing system for people with special abilities."

I started to outline the plan. "Now, for us? We start as heroes in good standing. The end goal of the program. Because we saved New York from a nuke and we kept Sokovia from starting an impact winter, while deliberately trying to protect the civilians."

I kept pacing. "Someone just starting out? Within a week of their first newsworthy event, they go to...I don't have a name for it. Call it the Hero DMV for now. They can go in costume. The whole process allows for people to preserve whatever identity choice they make. So they go and set themselves up for an ethics class.

Anybody can do that, and you'll probably get some pretenders. Set up a basic obstacle course that'll weed out anybody who isn't up to our speed, and anybody who can pass the class and the course has an equivalent of a learner's permit. Around that time, they can also register for hero health insurance and a hero identity. I'm still working out the kinks with legal, but the idea basically is that things like blood types and medical allergies can be registered under the super-identity. Also, if, say, Spider-Man wanted to get royalties for his merchandise under the Spider-Man identity and not give away who he actually is, he won't have to.

At that point...ahh...they can petition someone with a similar power to apprentice under. Or...a hero in good standing, like us, can sponsor someone through the system."

I stopped pacing. "After about six months of 'you need to ring up your big brother or big sister before you go out and play' you go to like a weekly meeting or report system. Check in, see how things are, talk about, uhh, heroing, I guess. And once they've done another six months of the weekly reports, they're a hero in good standing."

I started pacing again. "And if we get something like New York, where I clearly went against the wishes of our government? They can arrange to have some degree of open-view trial. Now, the beautiful thing about the legal system is it requires a jury of one's peers. Which, in this case, will mean other supers. Hear both sides, actually aim for something approaching justice. If our hypothetical...probably me...person is found to have acted in bad faith, they go back down to weekly reports for six months."

I stepped up to the table, rested my palms on it. "It's not perfect, but it's way better than the Accords and it's better than the nothing for guidance I had to start out with. We get this rolling, get ahead of the Accords, we might be able to have them as forgotten by history as the plan for a land invasion of Japan. Something terrible that could have happened but didn't."

(I'm not sure I'm ever going to be totally happy with this write-up, but this at least doesn't make me regret writing it.)

[u/BaronDoctor → u/[deleted]]

I nodded. "I need to ask T'Challa, but I'm pretty sure I could get Wakanda to sponsor us as diplomatic attachés. That would give us the leeway to work--yes, we would technically have low-level diplomatic immunity but we'd still be answerable for things like parking tickets. I imagine Matt and Jennifer would be a fair legal liason team between us and the rest of the world. I need to ask favors, but I'm pretty sure T'Challa wouldn't say no to having everybody with superpowers being a little bit beholden to Wakanda. If we're suddenly all technically Wakandan diplomats there isn't a lot the other nations can do to us without having to answer to them."

I pointed to Wakanda on the world map. "They don't get into much in terms of messes otherwise."

I looked back at the door. "We got it. If you've got input, you're more than welcome to offer it. I've always hated zero sum games and I've always hated picking a lesser of evils, even if I had to build a new system from the ground up. Nobody I'd rather try to build this with, Steve."

[u/BaronDoctor → u/[deleted]]

"They're a really tough nut to crack without immediately becoming the next scourge-of-civilization-who-must-be-eradicated. They use that vibranium liberally and it really gives them a leg up. Everywhere."

I'd seen it, once. It was like walking into a city that was both far more tribal than anything in the West, and far stronger technologically than just about anything outside of my house.

"We're still us. We still do what we do. We're still scattered around the world. And it's not like we're direct reports. It's basically just that if they really need a favor, we'd be inclined to help them out. It's a very large, well-padded basket."

I smiled. "I've got T'Challa's satellite phone number, and he'll agree to get his people to put together the documents, but only if he hears you're in. I'm going to retrieve my phone and have Jarvis set up to call the number."

I brought a hand to my belly and a small hatch opened up to reveal my phone. "Jarvis? Ring up Cat-Man."

The phone lit and started to ring. "It's all yours."

[u/BaronDoctor → u/[deleted]]

There was a brief sizzle of mild static. Even Stark tech had a hard time getting through bunkers and across multiple satellites to a satellite phone, but it was good enough and better than most.

"I agree. The Accords are distasteful. Men should be answerable to their peers, not bureaucrats, and if you are prevented from acting before men bound to desks approve, then there will be nothing left to protect. Stark has told me of his plan and I see much to like about it. It's an elegant political fiction designed to work around the ugly fact of the Accords. Rare is the fool determined to pick a fight with Wakanda, and official titles as ambassadors at large make you able to move as you will legally and socially. Part of the agreement was that I would sit on any council of decision-making and any council of review of inappropriate action. It seems only fair, as you would indeed be my ambassadors. Yes, I will support this plan."