Re: Steve and Tony
"You won't be in the arena," Steve shot back. "Look, if you can't bring yourself to believe it, fine, but Stane's not going to sacrifice the guy making all his weapons. And you know what? Even if Stane did send you back in, we've still got Bucky, Peggy and Jarvis on the outside, not to mention Hank Pym, and potentially some of the Gamemakers - there is a network of people to keep this going, even if we're not part of it."
He broke off and sucked in a deep breath, frustration thrumming hot and futile through his veins. Steve had never been good at manipulation, and he didn't have the first clue as to how to go about convincing Stark to change his mind, couldn't think what argument might work best. Steve was too forthright, had always leaned on earnest pleas and his own conviction that doing anything less than "the right thing" was unconscionable. It had been stupid, clearly, to assume he could find anyone to agree with him on this point.
"Tell me how this goes if we break out," Steve said - his tone betraying the frustration that was threatening to consume him. "We get outta the arena - we're all public enemy number one. There's nowhere we can go that's safe. Maybe we hole up in a district for awhile, but Stane's got the Peacekeepers and your weapons on his side - and you know he'll be brutal in putting down any uprisings. The districts can't stand up to that. They don't have the firepower yet, they don't have the resources. Which means the revolution ends before it begins, Stane eventually finds us, and we all get publicly executed." Steve's hands curled into fists, and there was a tic in his cheek that was evidence of his jaw clenching and unclenching, rhythmic and repetitious.
The thing was, no one in that dining room had lived for a revolution the way Steve had. And it was telling, oh-so telling, that so few of them had been in favor of it until their own lives were on the line. And that, Steve was sure, spoke volumes, just went to prove that a revolution wasn't really the true goal here. Survival was, as always. But what the hell good was survival if it was only a temporary stop gap, if it wasn't going to produce any real change?