Speculative in the extreme and based on rumors, but...

Asunder
3600 words | PG-ish | Clint Barton, Natasha Romanova, Laura Barton (Steve Rogers, Tony Stark)

Natasha chooses her side in the Civil War as pragmatically as ever, with her eyes on the long game. Clint has no such luxury because the stakes are too high for there to be any choice at all.

"Steve's plan is to appeal to our better natures," Natasha explained. The Black Widow explained. "He still sees people as fundamentally good and considerate and willing to do what they can for the betterment of the many. He still thinks there's a community and not a collection of people with their own wifi connections and that people will choose their neighbors over their own fears. He thinks that reason will win out, that liberty will triumph over security, and that the Accords won't be approved.

"Tony knows better. He knows that the Accords will pass because people are terrified. They see aliens pouring down from the sky in New York and London. They see robots laying waste to Seoul and Sokovia. They see the Hulk destroying Harlem and Johannesburg. They see costumed freaks big and small tearing up the streets all over the world and they're not sure if it's a bad guy or a good guy because the body count's the same. They feel helpless because they are helpless. And if someone tells them that the Accords will give them some measure of protection, then they are going to grab on to it like a life preserver because drowning people act out of panic.

"Tony's not doing press to counter Steve. He's doing press to get in with Ellis and the people who are going to be enforcing the Accords because he knows we can't stop the Accords from without. But we can mitigate the damage from within. If he can grab the wheel, then there's a chance we don't drive off the road before we can stop the car."

available on LJ and at ao3