"After the fall of SHIELD, we need funding, and I believe it's up to you, Stark, to step up where your father failed and create something better that can save the world," Rogers said, trying to convince Tony to fund the Avengers.
"I'm sorry, Rogers, but why come to me? The Avengers have nothing to do with me. In fact, you can't even afford to pay me for equipment," Tony asked.
"Drop your ego, Stark. I'm not going to apologize or admit my report was wrong. You weren't recommended, and this is exactly the reason why," Romanoff said.
"Tony, stop punishing Nat for something she did right. We need funding; get over yourself. The Avengers are needed, especially since Hydra is still around," Steve said.
"First of all, Romanoff, if you didn't recommend me, God knows why you're asking me for funding. After all, I’m just a self-obsessed volatile man who does not play well with others, I shouldn't be your first bet. Secondly, if I was what you said, how come I didn't manage to destroy Stark Industries? How come I took my father and mother's Legacy and turned it from a company with mere millions to something that’s worth multi-billions? Let's not forget how your entire report is bullshit, considering how I had metal poisoning because of the palladium in the arc reactor. This means your whole report was taken under unfair circumstances.
Remember, I didn't consent to be monitored, so if you ever bring up your crimes against me and my company again, well, you can be sure you'll be facing espionage charges. So do me a favor, keep that mouth of yours shut, or else I can show you why my enemies fear both Tony Stark and Iron Man. The Ten Rings learned why you don't mess with me," Tony said, his tone threatening, shutting Natasha up.
Steve Rogers didn't like this. He didn't like Natasha being shut up like that, especially by Howard's spoiled son, especially when she was supporting him on something as important as securing money to find Bucky. He meant to take down Hydra, and not just for his personal benefit. It's not like he would use the Quinjet, the free food, the mansion Natasha mentioned, or the equipment to illegally and fraudulently go on secret missions to find Bucky, which she estimated would be worth over 200 million a year if they actively fought Hydra all the time. The Quinjet itself costs 250 million.
"Tony, that's no way to speak to your teammate," Steve said, and Natasha's face changed as she appreciated Steve backing her up. She was about to say something condescending, but Tony interrupted.
"For God's sake, Rogers, don't you understand? Neither Bruce, Thor, nor myself joined the Avengers willingly. Bruce was forced by Romanoff; it's a good thing I talked him out of getting into a relationship with that lying whore by sharing my own experience. Thor is the prince of a different world; he can't be here all the time, and even then, Bruce and I agreed to help him out, and only him, to repay him for his help during the invasion of New York. As for myself, well, I'm not part of your team. Iron Man is a solo act; I don't even fight with Rhodey. We somehow end up facing the same villain, but that doesn't mean I'm going to fight alongside you. I teamed with you against Loki cause the world was ending that all. Get it through your thick skull I am not an Avenger. The Avengers are not a team; it's an idea to bring together a group of heroes when the world needs them most, to fight the battles humanity couldn't handle. It's not your personal attack squad, and that would never be approved by the world," Tony said.
Steve was mad. He was shaking because he had just found his precious Bucky, who was hiding somewhere unknown, and Steve needed to find him. However, Tony was refusing to provide the money needed for this endeavor. Steve's plan was to secure funding and then slowly push Tony out of the team, keeping him at arm's length so that his team could have luxury and money without being influenced by Tony. But it seemed like Tony saw through his and Natasha's goals and decided to stay solo. This was frustrating.
"Stark, it's Hydra we need to defeat them," Steve yelled as he prepared his shield, intending to coerce Tony into giving him the money needed to find Bucky. Suddenly, an Iron Man suit flew down, and Tony entered it. Jarvis had done what his protocol told him to do, which was to protect Tony. He sent a suit to Tony as soon as Rogers threatened him. Steve was still amazed that the suit could do that. Before, it couldn't even fly itself, or else Tony would have cut the wire when the Helicarrier turbine was going down. But now it could.
"Rogers, if you and Romanoff don't get out of my sight, I will throw you out," Tony said as several more Iron Man suits, controlled by the human-sounding computer program Jarvis, dropped down, ready to attack. Steve knew he was weak against the Iron Man suit. He had seen it fight against Thor, and he would be crushed iif he were to fight iron man. Steve resigned himself; he would have to find another way to secure funding and started to walk away but was stopped by Tony, who appeared in front of him and Natasha. Tony grabbed the shield from Steve Rogers.
"My father made that shield, and you tried to hurt me with it. You don't deserve it. Now, Jarvis, use the suits to throw him out. I've got my father's property back," Tony said angrily. Steve couldn't let Tony take the shield; it was his only reminder of the past, of Peggy, of Howard, and of the Howling Commandos.
"Tony, your father and the SSR gave me that shield. I know it contains the rarest metal, and somebody like you would die to have it, but it rightfully mine," Steve said, pissing off Tony that Steve thought he was taking it for its monetary value. No, there were two reasons he took it. First, Steve was disrespecting him and the fact Steve tried to use the shield to kill its own creator's son. Secondly, he wanted to try and synthesize Vibranium and use it to advance humanity and Iron Man.
"Do you have proof of purchase? A receipt or anything?" Tony asked, and Steve started sweating because he didn't have that.
"Why would I need that? Look at the Captain America museum; it says your father gave me that shield," Steve yelled.
"First of all, don't yell at me. I don't know how uncivilized people were back in your time, which was probably really uncivilized if the stories about you fighting people for no reason were true. Just because you labeled them as bullies since they didn't want to see wartime propaganda and wanted to enjoy their time watching movies instead of thinking about their families who are fighting, or the fact they could be bombed tomorrow. And secondly, Jarvis, pull Stark Industries' deals from the 1940s; it's a good thing I had my people scan the documents onto the servers," Tony said, pissing Steve off as Tony defended the loud jerk who did not want to watch war videos before the movie. Steve was about to respond like a raging gorilla, similar to how the people of his time did, but was cut off.
"Sir, it seems your father had to get a loan so he can pay some soldier to go near some place called Wakanda to acquire the metal for that shield. He then let Steve Rogers borrow the shield for however long the war lasted. There was no evidence he gave it; only that the shield was loaned for the war," Jarvis said.
"There you have it, Rogers. It's not yours, but mine, since I inherited my father's items," Tony said.
"Tony, you can't take away Steve's shield. It's as iconic as the Iron Man suit you wear," Natasha said, but quickly shut her mouth as Tony glared at her.
"Shut up, Romanoff. You must be mad if you think I would let people walk over me and take whatever the hell they want. That's not how I became a billionaire. Now, Jarvis, escort these fuckers out," Tony said, as the Iron Legion escorted them out.
"So, Jarvis, let's analyze and recreate some Vibranium," Tony said.
"Of course, sir. We created an element based on the Tesseract; Vibranium should be child's play," Jarvis responded.
With Steve, 3 years later...
Steve watched the news. He was angry. First, Tony, Thor, and Bruce raided a Hydra base under Thor's request, as he wanted Loki's scepter back. Steve wondered why Thor went to Tony instead of him. But what made Steve even madder was that they killed Hydra's enhanced twins who hated Tony. They were killed in the Hydra base when Thor killed the girl as she was about to use her powers to mind-manipulate Tony. The speedster Pietro died when Tony managed to shoot a rocket knocking Pietro off balance which sent him straight at hulk who punched Pietro's head of clean. Natasha said Tony eliminated them to maintain his reputation, not just because of Hydra. Then, they saved the world from Ultron, who was created using the Mind Stone AI and Hank Pym under Fury's contract to make an AI that surpassed Stark and Hank, who had been wronged by Tony. Steve refused to believe it was Howard, like Hank said, and Natasha told him Tony must have done something to Hank to blame Howard accepted and help make ai Ultron.
Another thing that infuriated Steve was that he was right. Tony had recreated Vibranium and had named it "Baddasium," using his shield. He used the rest of the metal from the shield on the bottom of his toilet, so that every time he took a shit, he shat on Captain America. Baddasium was such an egotistical name, and Tony had the audacity to reprimand Natasha for her truthful report on him. Near death or not, to Steve, that just showed what Tony was truly like when a person is near death, as they have no shame and think they will die soon. Tony managed to make a full Baddasium Iron Man suit that allowed him to match Thor. He also sold Baddasium-laced gear, both fabric and metal, to the military and all around the world. He had single-handedly taken Stark Industries from a billion-dollar to a trillion-dollar company. He now had a title created by Forbes which was Once in a Lifetime Breadwinner. He created advanced medicine, Stark watches that replaced phones (basically better Wakandan Kimono beads), energy barriers, remote control jets, and more (everything Wakanda has) all using Baddasium and when Steve tried to claim some money cause it came from his shield Tony laughed at him and threw him out.
Steve thought Tony would finally be put down a peg when someone from Wakanda claimed Howard had stolen the Vibranium Tony used to recreate Baddasium and therefore all the tech. But Tony shut them up by showing Baddasium Stark's satellite view of what Wakanda was really using Vibranium for. It was not for religious purposes, but to make an advanced society, which they had been for years. The world started hating on Wakanda. In fact, Somalia and the rest of Africa declared war and wiped them out, claiming they allowed their people to be enslaved while Wakanda hid away like cowards. Tony was more than happy to provide Baddasium to help Africa catch up, as he stated, but Steve knew it was to destroy Wakanda, even though Tony gave them Baddasium before they announced the war. Steve suspected Tony had some future-viewing tech; otherwise, why would they call him the futurist, whatever that means?
Steve was not just angry at that he was angry because due to Tony not funding them, he couldn't go to Peggy's funeral. Fury only allowed money to be spent on missions, and Natasha couldn't book them a flight and make fake documents for a visa to London. She just didn't have enough money. A private Avengers Quinjet would be useful right about now.
Steve then had a look of shock as he saw Bucky on the news, who had bombed the Accords meeting. He had to get there.
"Natasha, we need a plane quick," Steve said.
"Clint's gonna book it, Steve. Where to?" Natasha said, as Steve told her to head to wherever the Accords meeting was. Steve was ready to save his friend.
A few hours later, Steve arrived to see a horrifying sight. "You killed my Bucky!" he yelled as he rushed at the Accords people, who were his friend bucky’s killers, and started slaughtering them like a mindless animal until he was shot in the back and sent flying. War Machine had arrived. Sam tried to help him by firing missiles at Rhodey, but the armor was too good for the shield-modified Falcon equipment Sam was wearing was nothing, especially when compared to Stark's Baddasium war machine tech Rhodey was equipped with. Tony, with a single target missile shot, blew off Sam's wings, causing him to fall to the ground paralyzed. Natasha came and tried to use her Widow's Bite, but Tony had removed the Vibranium weakness to lightning Baddasium had. Rhodey punched her in the face, breaking and deforming her face. Clint tried to fire arrows, but they were no match for Stark's tech. Rhodey shot a flashbang, taking him down, as Bruce, who hulked out, arrived and, along with Tony, arrested them.
Steve was now sitting in the Raft, alongside Natasha, Sam, Clint, and even Thaddeus Ross. Tony had the guy removed by threatening the council by having Bruce report Ross, and Tony showed footage of Ross hunting Bruce and creating Abomination.
Ross stared at Steve hungrily, and it scared Steve. A few years later, Tony, Thor, Bruce, Rhodey, a guy called Strange, and the Guardians, as well as Spider-Man, were seen standing on the dead body of Thanos. And all Steve could do was watch the battle from the screen proving it wasnt Tony’s ego but he indeed did see a fleet preparing to invade Earth and Loki was just test to test Earth’s defences.
"It's over, Thanos. My curse is dead," Tony said as he kissed Pepper and was teased by the male Avengers.