Disclaimer:

I do not own Marvel. I do not own Disney. I do not own anything related to Avengers in general, or Avengers: Age of Ultron specifically. Not even a DVD of it. This is a somewhat AU reason for why the team has to split, and it's actually reasonable, a result of circumstance.

A Civil Conversation

By The Shroud

A/N:

My first one-shot. Please review on whatever you can, suggestions, ideas, etc.

Secretary of State Ross was continuing from his speech, "For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." He was handed something, and placed it on the table, explaining, "The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries, it states that the Avengers shall no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel only when and if that panel deems it necessary."

One of the Avengers, who was a solider, Steve Rogers, defends, "The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that."

Ross attacked from another angle, "Tell me, Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now? If I misplaced a couple of 30 megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences."

Rogers responded with conviction, "Thor and Bruce aren't nuclear weapons. They're people. Do you know where every agent of the US is and what they are doing, all the time, even when they are using their personal time? That isn't oversight. That's surveillance and control."

Ross claimed, justifying what he was saying, "Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground."

Another Avenger, also a soldier, James Rhodes, agreed, not having any knowledge about the darker side of government control, "So, there are contingencies."

Ross continues, "Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords. Talk it over."

A third Avenger, an agent of SHIELD, Natasha Romanoff, inquired, "And if we come to a decision you don't like?"

Ross threatens, "Then you retire." She smiles ironically.

James Rhodes was arguing based on authority, "Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have."

The person he was arguing with, Sam Wilson, fired back, "So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it going to be before they lojack us like a bunch of common criminals?"

Rhodes continued stubbornly, again appealing to authority, "117 countries want to sign this. 117, Sam, and you're just like, 'No, that's cool. We got it.'"

"The people in charge of 117 countries, not the actual countries." Tiring of this, Sam followed a different direction this time, "How long are you going to play both sides?"

Vision interrupted, "I have an equation."

Sam commented sarcastically, "Oh, this will clear it up."

Undeterred, Vision continued, "In the eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man the number of known enhanced persons has grown exponentially. During the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate."

Rogers looked up from reading the Accords, asking calmly, "Are you saying it's our fault?"

Vision hedged, "I'm saying there may be a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight... oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand."

Rogers considered, "Maybe. Or it can also be that we, in a similar but opposite process, have risen to the challenge as dangers appear. That's exactly why the Avengers was formed, because Fury saw that dangers were coming. Or maybe even, it's neither. As enhanced individuals appear, there is more possibility for evil, in the form of your world-ending events, but there is more possibility for good, like what we do. I agree that oversight is needed, but what I'm reading here, this isn't oversight, but control."

Natasha entered the conversation, attempting to pull in Tony Stark, "Tony. You are being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal."

Tony began, in a somewhat haunted voice, "Maybe we need to be controlled. I should know that better than anyone, it was my fault Ultron happened, and I was always the one that was out of control, reckless." He laid down a device on the table, which popped up a holographic image of a young person.

He paused regretfully, before resuming in false cheer, "Oh, that's Charles Spencer, by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, 3.6 unweighted GPA, had a floor-level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service. Charlie didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where? Sokovia," letting his hands fall to the tabletop as he bit out the last word.

Pausing to take a breath, he resumed, "He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass."

He took a sip of coffee, having paced around the room and made said coffee in the space of his speech, before walking back, saying in a somewhat mocking tone, "There's no decision-making process here. We need to be 'put in check.' Whatever form that takes, I guess I'll have to be game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, I suppose we're no better than the bad guys."

Rogers responded, "Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don't give up. Why would you just go along with this? You're intelligent enough to know that this can be corrupted just as easily into something as corrupt as SHIELD became with Project Insight. If anything, I was the loyal soldier."

Tony sighed, before deciding to confess, "I can't not sign. They'd take my company, it would fall into their hands, and whoever they choose. The people that end up snatching away my company would more than likely be perfectly willing to sell every suit, every design, every concept, every weapon, and every idea I have. I can't let that happen. Ultron happened when I wanted it to be perfect, good. What happens when someone does the same, but wanting it to work for them, for an agenda, for something that isn't good in the first place? At least if I sign, I can keep some measure of control over it all. And if you sign, you can try to do the same. Otherwise, they'll force us out, hunt us down, or control us."

Steve considered this, before mentioning the opposing arguments, "What if this panel sends us somewhere we shouldn't go, like Insight? What if there is somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own. We know each other enough to trust one another, and we have the skills to avoid being coerced better than they could."

Tony persisted, "If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later. We need to have some level of control. That's the fact. That won't be pretty."

Wanda Maximoff stated, "You're saying they'll come for me."

Vision responded naively, "We would protect you."

Natasha suggests, "Maybe Tony's right. If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off... we can't. We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win their trust back."

Shocked, Tony asks rhetorically, "Focus up. I'm sorry. Did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?"

Annoyed, Natasha answers, "Oh, I want to take it back now."

Rogers interrupts before Tony can try and boast, "What if something happens, and we are faced with a binary decision, to either do the wrong thing and not go rogue, or go rogue to do what is right?"

Tony explains his reasoning, "Then you go rogue. I mean, if you don't sign, they'd try to stop you in any case."

Wanda countered, "But it's different for me. They'd hunt me, because they'd consider me a loose cannon, a liability, and responsible for the explosion that Rumlow started killing those people, which I am. Ross practically admitted as much."

Vision started, "No, you're -"

Wanda disagreed, "Yes, I am."

Tony attempted to resolve the problem, "Then she'll have to go rogue either way, so might as well that she do so now. She'll have to."

Rogers responded, "They'll force us to go after her. She'll need someone to protect her."

Clint and Vision both spoke up at the same time, "I'll go."

Tony shot that down immediately, "No. Clint, your family could be used against you. And they know I have remote control protocols to prevent Vision, or Rhodey for that matter, going rogue. They'll be forced to sign as well, and can't go rogue later on any more than I can. None of those three are options."

Clint responded, "Yes, one is. I can get my family to a personal safe house quickly enough. Pietro died to save me. The least I owe is to keep Wanda safe."

Rogers spoke up, "I won't sign, even if I can. There needs to be someone outside this oversight to do good. They don't have leverage over me."

Sam agreed, "Same here. You'll need a friend nearby to help you, anyway."

Natasha explained, "Personally, they'll disavow me. Everything that was scrubbed off my record will be revealed, everything that they hid about me before. Everyone would be after me. I have to sign."

Tony sums up, "So, you, Sam, Steve, Wanda, and Clint can't and won't sign. I, Vision, Rhodey, and Natasha must sign."

Rogers responds, "Yeah. This'll divide us, and we won't be able to work together except in the direst of cases, but we can still stay in contact. Goodbye for now, Tony."

Tony shook hands with him, "Goodbye Steve."

A/N:

And that concludes this one-shot. Considering how easily all of that works out logically, it's surprising they didn't use that instead. Perhaps it had more emotional impact, was more cinematic, was necessary to divide them up enough for Infinity War, and/or because cooperation is a big theme of the MCU, and this provided an example of how it can all fall down. There are very few errors in the MCU, in general (not counting small nitpicks that are valid but could just be human error). A lot of decisions are questionable, but they are reasonable choices for the most part.

That was arguably the biggest reason they didn't win in Infinity war versus how they won in Endgame [Not exactly spoilers, is it? Right?]. In Infinity War, there were two separate main battles with Thanos himself: on Titan, and on Earth. In both, they came pretty close to defeating him, except for shortage of... cooperation. On Titan, Star-Lord was emotional and messed up the teamwork as a result, which wouldn't have been as dangerous if they worked together. On Earth, if Scarlet Witch had more backup, Thor would have been there early enough to kill Thanos before he gets the final stone.

This is disputable, but I think it has a point. In Endgame, after the snap, the Avengers are willing to reunite finally, after the period of time that had elapsed that I won't spoil. They work together, and by the end, they've succeeded. Again, somewhat disputable, but I think that's a theme they meant to convey.