Chapter 351: Lighting the Match
13th June 2013, Avengers Tower
(Tony Stark POV)
"I'm sorry, Tony, but I just can't sit still and do nothing. I would like to think that Bucky would understand that I would choose saving lives and waiting a little longer to see him again. He would know that my priority is always the people I protect. And that he would do the same if he was in my place," the man responded.
The 'unlike you' was unsaid, but he didn't need to do it. Everyone understood the implication that Tony was unworthy in Steve's eyes.
Well, he's done trying. If the man wants to get himself arrested for his own self-righteousness, then he was welcome to do so without his input.
Tony just sighed and deflated, "You're set on this, aren't you?"
"Yes. I'm sorry that it's coming to this, Tony. I really am."
"No, you're not. But you do this and get arrested, and I'll be washing my hands of you. I tried to reason with you and you're the ones that are too stubborn to listen," Tony replied.
The Cap nodded and turned towards the elevator. He was followed by Sam – the Falcon – Wilson and Bruce – the Hulk – Banner. They were going to fight the Abomination and inevitably fall to Ross' plan.
Yeah, things were so going to shit.
Tony just stood there staring at the elevator as half of his team walked out on their plan just because Cap was too stubborn to listen to him. He sighed in exasperation before knocking over the table next to him in anger while yelling out, "THAT FUCKING IDIOT!"
There was nothing he could do now, and he knew it. If he tried to stop Rogers, then the both of them would be arrested. Honestly, Tony couldn't risk him being arrested at all. The government would be able to repossess everything he owned which would include the designs of the arc reactor and his suits, and that would be a catastrophe on a global scale.
Natasha seemed the far more sensible one, "We need a plan for the fallout."
"What plan. They fucking ruined the entire plan. I'll tell you exactly what's going to happen. Those three idiots will fight the Abomination. Wilson will just stand there doing nothing, except maybe go around saving civilians. Because in a fight like this, he wouldn't be able to do much. Cap will barely be able to do anything because he's not even close to matching Abomination's raw strength, but he'll still try to fight him head on and will easily be defeated." Tony protested.
Rhodey nodded, "Yeah, that's probably it. What about Banner?"
"Well, he is obviously going to be the one actually fighting," Tony drawled back, "which will end up like the Harlem fight. And either way the collateral damage of a fight of this scale will be very high, which will push the public towards us signing the accords. But get this, this is the best possible outcome. The worst one is them declared as fugitives and hunted down across the country, in which case they will need to hide away somewhere, probably Wakanda. Which is exactly what we should have done. We could have stood in the sidelines of these Accords, trying to find a better way, but Steve is forcing the issue with his hero complex."
"So, we're fucked?" Rhodey asked mockingly.
Tony nodded, "That's an apt way of summarizing our situation. Look, you'll be fine. You're our miliary liaison and you're not enhanced and as long as you don't fire weapons without being ordered to, you're not breaking any laws and don't have to sign anything. Same thing with me and Nat; we don't have superpowers and as long as we don't break the law in obvious ways, the Accords don't apply to us. The Avengers were an issue while not signing because of Steve and Bruce, and now our only enhanced members are breaking the Accords in the middle of the day."
Rhodey groaned, finally understanding the billionaire's point, "So, Bruce and Steve will be declared as fugitives for breaking the Accords and making an example out of them. And Sam will be arrested for vigilante behavior and illegally firing guns in the middle of a crowded street. And since the rest of us don't actually have any superpowers, our silent protest won't mean shit."
The genius nodded, "Now you get it. I tried explaining it to them, but now they screwed things up. In his little righteous speech, Steve made sure that we won't have any say in the Accords or help amend them in any way. Sure, he'll probably save a few people, but he stopped us from helping an entire race, which will probably start a war."
Tony released a bitter smile and walked to the bar and opened a bottle of whiskey. He poured it into his glass and raised it, "To Captain America, everyone."
Honestly, Tony had the right to be angry. Even after the New York invasion, people still trusted Steve Fucking Rogers more than they did him. Tony couldn't believe that this was the man his father kept bragging about. He was so closeminded that it wasn't even funny. Because of him Wilson will probably end up in prison while Bruce will be on the run again. Then again, they were all adults and knew the risks. It's just a shame that they didn't see how much their actions would end up hurting thousands if not millions around the world.
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Tony just opened the television towards a news channel, waiting for the inevitable. So far, his teammates hadn't arrived yet to the fight, probably because Tony refused them access to the Quinjet. They probably had to get there on foot or while driving. Rogers did have a motorcycle that could transport him and Banner while Wilson flies.
Tony winced when he saw the Abomination take out a lamp post and use it to skewer a few cars. There were barely any civilians left, having wisely run away from the big green monster.
For a fraction of a second, Tony hoped that Steve had changed his mind, that he would see reason. Alas, that hope was crushed seconds later when he saw Falcon try to drop kick the Abomination. He might as well have been a fly trying to punch an elephant. Blonsky barely noticed it and just slapped him away.
The Falcon themed hero righted himself in the air and fired his guns at the Abomination, which considering how little they affected the Hulk, was a very bad idea. As expected Blonsky snarled and grabbed Wilson before throwing him away in the air.
It wasn't really that surprising. A man with a glorified jetpack and wings can't fight a giant gamma monster that was almost invincible. Thankfully, the Abomination didn't have the time to finish the job since he was hit with Captain America's shield in the face. Funnily enough, his neck cracked from the impact. That damn SHIELD was really something, but any attempt at scanning the materials didn't work for some reason. He couldn't even get a sample to perform tests properly.
The gamma monster snarled in anger and ran towards the World War Two hero. Steve really showed why he's known as the first super soldier, as he jumped over his enemy's thrusting arm, and ran up it to kick him in the face. People really underestimated how strong Steve really was. Although, the billionaire was pretty sure that his young pseudo-apprentice, also known as Spider-Man, was a lot stronger.
Speaking of the kid, Tony was happy to see that he was keeping his head down ever since the Accords became a thing. The genius had warned him not to go out as Spider-Man because of the very real risk of him being arrested. Honestly, the kid was pretty bad at covering his tracks and Tony had to hack a few computers just to delete footage or photos that might jeopardize Peter's identity.
Although, it was nice to see that at least someone listened to his plans. The fact that a teenager had more sense than Captain Fucking America was very ironic, especially because of the PSA videos that the man accidentally agreed to film. Those were hilarious. The kid told him about his school using them during detention or something.
Back to the fight at hand, Cap was able to hold his ground but didn't really cause any damage to his opponent. Oh, he was doing very well all things considered, but he was, just not enough. Finally, the war hero was taken by surprise by a feint, and ended up blocking a punch with his shield. Oh, the man was fine, but he had lost his shield. The Abomination tried to grab him with his arm, only for him to widen his arms at the resistance. Captain America was somehow stopping the hand of the monster with all his might.
Rhodey whistled, "I didn't know Steve was that strong."
"Oh, he is," Tony replied, "that serum really is something special to be able to do something like that. Too bad that he's fighting so inefficiently…"
Natasha nodded, "Yeah, he should have tried to glue his mouth and nostrils shut. Super monster or not, Blonsky needs to breathe. It probably wouldn't kill him, but it could knock him out."
Tony nodded in acceptance, and they all continued to anxiously watch the fight. Cap was still holding back Blonsky's arm. But unfortunately, the super soldier also forgot about the thing's second hand which punched the hero in the face, sending him flying back.
Tony winced at the impact. That had to have hurt. The gamma monster slowly walked towards the downed war hero but was interrupted by a roar.
The billionaire didn't know whether to be happy or exasperated by the Hulk's appearance. Bruce seemed to finally let the monster out and this was going to be a slug fest of the highest proportions. The only thing he could think of would be to use his Hulk buster armor, but he would rather the government not know about it, and he would be arrested with them.
As expected, the Abomination turned towards its mortal enemy and ran at him. Unlucky for him, the Hulk had gotten a lot stronger since their last encounter. Tony's teammate dodged the charge and hit him with a punch in the face. The gamma monster flew back into a building that looked partially destroyed.
The Hulk then grabbed a car and threw it at him, causing another explosion. Tony winced as he saw this happen. This didn't look good for them at all. He could practically see their credibility as humanity's defenders slowly wither away. The Abomination returned unharmed, and the fight continued.
Honestly, it was horrifying to watch. The two giants kept fighting and destroying building after building, car after car. And Tony was helpless to do anything but watch. The city block looked more like a warzone barely a few minutes later. Cap and Falcon had joined up with the Hulk, but they were barely any help aside from acting like distractions.
Damn it, Rogers, this was precisely why he didn't want to get involved in this. Still, Tony was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and he was proven correct once again barely more than a minute later.
The two giants seemed to freeze momentarily, until a blonde woman wearing a blue jumpsuit revealed herself. Tony immediately recognized her as Susan Storm, and she was holding a forcefield to stop the two gamma monsters.
Of course, the two monsters broke through the fields quite easily and attacked the blonde, only for them to be hit with a fireball courtesy of Susan's brother who arrived flying down. Ben Grimm ran at the Hulk with a giant needle in hand which somehow penetrated the giant's skin.
As for the Abomination, Reed Richards hand entangled himself around its body, immobilizing it, and stabbed him with the same kind of needle.
The two gamma monsters stumbled around and then fell unconscious, and that was it. The Abomination and Hulk were out, Cap and Wilson were restrained by Susan Storm, and her boyfriend spoke up, "Emil Blonsky, Bruce Banner, and Steve Rogers, you are under arrest for violating the Enhanced Registration Act. Sam Wilson, you are under arrest for vigilantism and firing a lethal weapon illegally in a public place."
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