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Tony walked towards the conference room where the meeting will be held, smirking while thoughts about what is going to happen went through his head.
President and Ross have somehow convinced Accords Council to consider pardoning the Avengers and knowing Tony is outspokenly against it, Council decided to make an appointment with both Tony and Ross and listen to their arguments before making a decision.
Ross advocating for Avengers was a big surprise but once Tony thought about it, it started making sense. See, he has a teeny tiny theory and that theory says that Ross started Civil War on purpose. After all, everyone knew that good old Capsicle doesn’t react well to the threats and ultimatums and that is exactly what Ross gave him, making sure he will never read the Accords.
Don’t get him wrong, he is well aware that Civil war would have happened eventually, one way or another, because of lack of trust and dysfunctionality in the team but Ross did give it a nudge to make it a bit more… Violent in order to convince the world that super humans need a tighter leash.
Now that that didn’t work, thanks to Tony and Protector’s (Tony’s new team) effort to steer the Council away from that line of thought and army of lawyers they all had at the ready in case some of more vile amendments did manage to pass, Ross needed destructive unit known as Avengers back in the game so he could try again.
It’s silly, if you ask Tony. If it didn’t work first time, why would you try the same tactics the second time? Some people never learn from their mistakes.
Tony finally stepped in the room, greeted everyone and sat down on his intended place waiting for Council members to start. He didn’t have to wait long.
“Good afternoon, General Ross and Dr. Stark. We gathered here to discuss the return of Avengers in operative state and giving them potential pardons.
President Ellis and General Ross approached us with this a while back so why don’t we start with hearing what General has to say first and then Dr. Stark can make counter arguments?” asked the head of Council
“That is fine with me.” Replied Tony
“I want to thank you all for making time to discuss something of such importance. I will get straight to the point.
As you all know, Dr. Stark has been warning us about the threat of another invasion ever since this Council was founded and we have done everything in our power to prepare. However, now the threat is closer than ever according to King Thor, Prince Loki and Dr. Banner. They voiced their concern that the army they have seen approaching Earth is much more powerful than Chitauri one we have encountered back in 2012.
I am well aware that militaries of the world are now much better prepared and coordinated, as well as the fact that enchanted people from all over the world are stepping out in order to fight for Earth’s safety but compared to Avengers, they are not as experienced in fights against aliens. So, I am asking for pardons and, if Dr. Stark doesn’t mind, a right to operate under the name Avengers and for them to be housed in compound until they are able to provide their own housing.”
“Why would I mind them using Avengers name and compound? I have nothing to do with either of them.”
“I was under impression that you own rights to Avengers name and compound is yours, after all” replied Ross
“With all due respect, General, I haven’t owned either of them ever since I have recovered from Siberia. First thing I did was to sell compound to Council and rights to Avengers and Captain America name to the government.
I don’t understand how a man as important as you didn’t already know this.” Tony couldn’t hold back a slight jab and then said “I must confess that I am curious though, why do you think it would be beneficial to pardon the Avengers? I thought you were very much against them.”
Ross struggled to not react on Tony’s subtle accusations so it took him a moment to compose and reply. It wouldn’t do him any good to lose his temper in front of Accords Council, after all.
After taking a deep breath, he said “As I already pointed out, new heroes are good at what they are doing but they lack experience with this level of threat. Avengers not only have the experience, they also have a natural leader and master tactician amidst their ranks.
Captain America sounds like someone who you’d want on your side during possible invasion due to said qualities but also because he proved he is good team player and that he adapts quickly on battlefield, not to mention that Americans would feel much safer, be less prone to panic and more willing to do what they are told if their favorite hero was there to protect them.”
Tony couldn’t suppress the snicker that escaped him.
“Something funny, Dr Stark?” asked Ross with raised eyebrows.
“Yes, it is. As it seems, one of us has some misinformation and by “one of us” I mean you.”
“Would you care to elaborate?” asked Council member
“Of course. It seems that General here is delusional. I will go more in depth about everything he has said later on, when it’s my turn to speak but I’d still like to point out one tiny error in General’s speech.
His belief that Captain is America’s favorite hero is completely misguided. That might have been true in the past but nowadays, average citizen of America prefers Iron Man.”
“Now that’s just your ego speaking.”
“Oh, not at all, General. You see, as Americans caught wind of Civil War, they started picking sides. Twitter and other social media exploded with tags #CivilWarTeamCap and #CivilWarTeamIronMan. At first, team Cap had more supporters, I’ll give you that, but as more facts and videos became available to wider population, tides started shifting in my favor.
As you can see on this graph…” Tony pressed button on the side of his glasses and graph projection showed up “… support for me and my team has risen from 65% of USA population to 79% in the last month only and it keeps rising.
Captain’s and his team’s popularity is lowest than it has ever been and it continues to drop. Most of the people expressed that they don’t feel safe in Captain’s vicinity after videos from Leipzig and Bucharest were leaked, as can be seen here.” Tony finished
“Still, that doesn’t negate the fact that Captain is one of the most competent people to lead Earth’s defense. Not only is he a well known and respected hero but he is also the youngest Captain in American military history.
His biography as a soldier and Avenger is impressive and unparalleled. His success rates are high and collateral damages minimal” Ross finished in hopes this will convince the Accord Council that returning the Avengers is good idea.
“If you are done, General, we’d like to hear what Dr Stark has to say now” replied Accord representative.
“I am finished for now.”
“Dr Stark, you can start whenever you are ready.”
“I want to take a moment to say that I appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to speak on this matter but also to ask you to refrain from asking questions or commenting before I finish with disclosing the evidence I have gathered.”
“Very well Dr Stark.”
Tony saw displeased frown on Ross’s face when he mentioned the evidence.
‘So I was right ‘ Tony thought ‘The suddenness of this hearing wasn’t accidental. They hoped to catch me unprepared. Too bad for them, my title of The Futurist isn’t unearned’
He smirked and started “Thank you. I completely understand where President and General are coming from, safety is in numbers after all. However, there are few things you should consider.
First thing I would like to point out, pardoning them without any punishment whatsoever, which seems to be what General here is aiming at, is frankly disrespectful towards all the people who died during the so-called Civil war and their families. It sends a message that their lives don’t matter, that it’s okay for them to get killed as long as it’s done for world safety, despite the fact that those deaths were avoidable.”
Glasses started projecting once again, this time instead of graph, pictures of dead and injured from Lagos, Bucharest, even New York and Sokovia and other Avengers missions. Despair, pain and destruction dominated on the pictures.
“Is that really a message you want to send? After promising you will make sure that we’ll do better? Pardoning them is going against the Accords, Accords you helped create so that you can assure citizens of the world that you have heard them and that you’ll do everything in your power to keep them safe and keep us accountable. I signed thinking how that’s what we need, how people should feel safe. Other people and I have put so much trust in you, do you really want to let us down? To go against what you believe is right, against something you fought for?
I’ll let you think about it and go on second point I would like to discuss with you. General has said that Captain is one of the most competent people to lead our defense and that he is a team player. Neither is true and I have paperwork and video to prove it. Video proof will be sent to you later on, when I leave the room preferably, as it contains details from Siberia altercation which is highly traumatic for me.
Meanwhile, I’d like you to take a look at the documents I have sent you earlier. As you can see, Captain has never earned his rank, the title was a mere marketing strategy to encourage young men to join the army. Later on, it stuck as a symbol for patriotism. Personally, I think that saying he’s fit to lead is great insult to Thor, a king of warrior species, Rhodey, an actual Colonel who earned his rank, and many other superheroes who’d be much better suited for the task than Rogers.
Mentioning Thor, I remembered another point I want to make. Avengers are more experienced in dealing with aliens than other human heroes however, we now have Asgardian army, Captain Marvel and Guardians on our disposal. All of them combined not only outnumber the Avengers but also have much more experience with fighting aliens. Basically, Avengers are not necessity and that brings me to my last point, casualties.
Second file I have sent consists of videos from our missions, number of casualties on each mission and financial reports of collateral damage as well as how much damage each Avenger has made. If you pay attention to each Avenger individually, you will notice that Avengers who have done the least amount of damage have joined Protectors. If you pardon them, they’ll make a huge blow to your budget as I am unwilling to finance them and I assume American citizens would be unwilling to give their tax money on it too, considering the damages are in millions. I hope you will carefully consider everything I have said and showed to you and eventually make a right decision. Any questions?” Tony looked around as he asked, noticing for the first time how pale Ross has gotten.
‘Good, he should sweat, especially with what’s coming next’ Tony thought.
“We have no further questions, Dr Stark. General, would you like to add something?”
Ross, knowing he has nothing to beat Tony’s evidence, just shook his head.
“Very well then. Dr Stark has expressed that he’ll have to leave before we make our decision due to prior obligations while General Ross has said he’ll wait. Dr Stark, you may leave as soon as you send us the recording from Siberia and general, we’ll make sure you get some refreshments while you wait.”
“Video should already be in your inbox.”
“Excellent, you may leave now. Have a pleasant day, Dr Stark.”
“Likewise,” said Tony.
As he was leaving, he heard as notifications simultaneously went off on the phones of every Council member and he smiled to himself. By the time he reached the first floor and the exit, armed task force were already on the way to conference room he has just left.
‘Friday has amazing timing, taking down Ross AND making sure Avengers don't come back at the same time was amazing move’ was Tony’s last thought as he walked away into sunset