IRON MAN PLAYED
by Gunman

Disclaimer: I do not own Captain America Civil War or their characters.

Summary: Tony finds out a disturbing truth.

This is just a little idea I came up with, when I was looking up information about Charlie Spencer and Miriam Sharpe from the Captain America Civil War movie. Tell me this doesn't seem possible.

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(The Raft)

"Sir, we have an incoming." The guard said.

"Who is it?" Secretary Ross asked.

"It's Iron Man, sir. And he has someone with him."

"Open the doors." Ross said.

The guard activated the Raft main door. The Raft 'tower' raised up out of the Ocean. Once it had broken the surface, the main portal opened up, the two large vault-like doors parted, allowing entrance to the Ultra SuperMax Prison.

Ross walked out to the landing platform, just as Iron Man landed... with an African-American teenage boy, dressed in a blue jacket, blue jeans, backpack and white tennis shoes.

"Stark! What are you... who is this?" Ross balked when he saw the boy.

"Hope you don't mind me bringing a guest, Mr. Secretary. I'm sure you recognize him." Tony said through his armor.

Ross, at seeing Charlie, realized where Stark was going with this. He remained silent.

"If you don't, let me introduce you. This is Charlie Sharpe, also known as Charlie Spencer, son of Miriam Spencer, also known as Miriam Sharpe of the State Department, who came to visit me in regards to her dead son just before you paid The Avengers a visit to present us with the Sokovia Accord. He just received a scholarship to a prestigious college for engineering. Strange, considering he was declared dead in Sokovia about a year ago. Or, actually, Charlie Sharpe was. Confused?"

Ross continued to remain silent.

"Seems that there was an African-American killed in Sokovia, by the name of Damian Sharpe. No relation to Miriam that I could find, and believe me I looked, and no chance he was her son, since he was 46 at the time of his death. He did actually die in Sokovia, but he was a widower who was just traveling around. Backpacking. Wrong place, wrong time. Amazingly, no one officially claimed the body, yet it was sent back to the US, in the diplomatic bag. State Department signed the order. Funny, huh?"

"Yeah. Funny." Ross said, keeping himself as straight as poised as possible. "How did you find out?"

"There I was, sitting in my office at Avengers Compound, going over so many piles of data, and even looking at the photograph of Charlie Spencer, again, when Friday brought to my attention a very interesting video, of a young man, fitting the exact same description of Charlie, getting a grant approved from the September Foundation, which I funded through MIT, and... imagine my surprise."

Ross was starting to get nervous now.

"So, being curious about it, I did a little digging. Those DoD Firewalls you have are really weak. Hammer sell them to you? Anyway, after about three hours worth of digging and analyzing, I was able to uncover a very shocking secret. You had Miriam Sharpe, who works for the State Department, IE You, lie to me about her son's death, who never actually died. And the only reason I could think that you would do this, would be to force me into getting onboard with the Sokovia Accord. Right? Am I Right?!" he shouted the last part.

Ross sighed as he looked at Stark.

"It was necessary, Stark. The U.N. wanted more drastic action taken after the Lagos Incident. The Avengers were roaming around uncontrolled, unchecked, going about doing whatever they wanted, wherever they wanted. They were a potential threat and had to be put in check." Ross stated.

"You mean to put us under your thumb. That's what this whole thing was about, wasn't it?" Stark asked.

"We couldn't force you or them to sign the Accords. It would have been a conflict we couldn't have won. Enhanced people, advanced weapons, not to mention special skills. You were too strong. But if you were... emotionally compromised... over what happened, then, maybe..."

"You falsified Charlie Spencer's records, replaced them with Damian Sharpe's, and probably gave Damian a nice quiet burial somewhere. At least I hope so. Would have been the decent thing to do." Tony snarked at the man.

"The decent thing to do was to control those people with enhanced abilities, skills and weapons. Any other option, would have resulted in a war."

"It was a war, Mr. Secretary. A war against my friends and teammates. A war that didn't have to be fought. Zemo played us pretty good, but you started it." Tony said.

"No, you started it. You and the Avengers, going anywhere you wanted and doing whatever you wanted. You answer to no one, and that makes people nervous. Scared. To the point that they might consider you to be a threat. To them. Freedom is not a luxury we can afford to give to people with enhanced abilities. Don't you see that?" Ross asked.

"I did see. Guilt, made me see it from that perspective. But now I see that guilt being used against me in the worst possible way. And... I don't like it." Tony stated. "I don't like being played, Mr. Secretary. Like a two-bit fiddle. Like a wind-up tin soldier doing exactly what you wanted, and it I didn't..." he said, then paused, cocking his head to the side for a second. "Or was that the point? Either the Avengers fall in line like good little soldiers, or they get locked up like criminals? You were prepared for either, right?"

"Of course. And you helped."

"Yeah. Because I was manipulated, coerced, and played. I mean, I have to give you credit for such an elaborate ruse. But... when people who are so played realize they have been played... do you know what they do?" Tony asked.

"Nothing rash. I hope." Ross said to the man.

"You have no hope. I'm done. I want nothing to do with you or the Accords." he said turning to leave.

"You can't do that, Stark. You signed the Accords, along with the others." Ross shouted at him.

"Yeah, because you tricked me into doing it. That clearly constitutes coercion, in which case, I don't have to honor said agreement." Tony snapped back.

"You have no actual proof of that." Ross stated.

"Actually, I do." Tony said looking at Charlie. "I brought Charlie here to emphasis that I know that truth. How you're gonna explain this to his mother, I don't know. But... considering she works for you, it might not be a big deal. And, of course, there is the other bit of... confessional evidence."

Ross suddenly realized what he was talking about.

"You've been recording this whole conversation." Ross stated.

"The benefits of technology." Stark said, tapping the side of his helmet.

Tony turned to the boy.

"Oh, kid. Good luck with your adventurers in engineering, and if you need an extra grant, come see you. And tell your mom, if I ever see her again... I'm gonna shoot her."

Charlie and Ross watched as Iron Man flew out of the Raft's ceiling, before looking at each other.

"Uh... could I get a ride home?" Charlie asked.

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Authors Notes:

When I was thinking about that scene between Rodney Downey Jr. and Alfre Woodard, it was a good scene and gave weight to the real implications of what can happen in the Marvel universe where super-hero and super-villain fights lead to collateral damage. Innocent people can and do get hurt. But I had another thought. 'What if it was a set up to getting the Accords signed by all the Avengers?'

Manipulations and trickery are often the means, when you can't take down a group as powerful as The Avengers. You can't outmuscle them, so you trick them. Like Loki tried to do. Like Zemo did.

I mean, you only saw Miriam Sharpe in the movie, accusing Stark of killing her son with the Avengers fight in Sokovia. You never saw her after that, never say anything else of the boy in question. Tony was feeling guilty enough because he created Ultron, and now... there's a new wrinkle. Something else to give weight to Tony's already guilty consequence.

What if that's what Ross and the UN wanted? To either control the Avengers or give them a reason to lock them up?

Seems perfectly reasonable to anyone who has read the comics. Always someone behind the scenes trying to manipulate or control things.

Anyway, this is just another idea I had after watching Captain America Civil War. Hope you like it.