Re: Steve and Tony
It was fascinating, really, to get a glimpse at the inner workings of Rogers' mind, to see the shorts and the disconnects revealed by his logical leaps, his misconceptions. Sure, people would be pissed when he died - for a week or so. If you weren't ready for the gun to go off, you didn't pull the trigger. Using the sympathetic victors was indeed the best way to turn out usable popular support, but the problem Rogers was identifying - that it was too soon, that the districts weren't ready to react, that a revolt now would only end in tragedy - held true for the scenario he was proposing, too. What did he think was going to happen? He'd die, and people would just carry the torch of their rage around until Tony told them it was time to start a fire? Even if people were smart enough to take that kind of direction from him, which they were not, they certainly didn't have the capacity to carry that much anger around undamped for more than a very short while. Gunpowder got wet. That was just the way it worked. Maybe not for Rogers, but for everyone else.
But the truth wasn't going to serve him, here. Rogers was looking down at him with those entreating eyes, breaking out first names for the first time in their entire acquaintance, tossing if it's Natasha, even on the pile of possibilities, and it was some of the most manipulative shit he had ever seen. The fact that Rogers (probably) wasn't privy to the facts necessary for him to be aware of exactly what he was manipulating didn't really matter; Tony knew exactly where Rogers' priorities lay, because he'd made them explicit, and the fact that he was willing to put all save one of the victors on the pyre to accomplish them mean that, in the end, it was all one and the same. Rogers didn't really know the strings he was pulling, but if he had, he'd have pulled them. Anything for the people.
Well, two could play at that fucking game.
He let himself snort, a humorless laugh - giving in too easily would be suspicious, after all. "Scores of people, huh. When we take over the country, I'm going to take a personal hand in revamping our education system. Math has just gone completely to shit. Listen. You're right." He looked up at him, meeting his eyes - but he couldn't quite manage a Steve. "I need something I can capitalize on. It could be Wanda. It could be Scott. It could be Natasha." Not likely: Rogers, ever the generous soul, was vastly overestimating people's ability to sympathize with collaborators. The only person less qualified to be a mascot than Natasha was probably Tony. "But whoever they are, they need to be carrying your mantle at the end of all of this. They need to be seen as your successor. That's the only way it works. And I don't know how we're going to pull that off if you keel over on Day One."
But he'd be happy to plant suggestions until Rogers spotted one and picked it up.