ME: This is my first attempt at a Captain America story, so apologies if it isn't as good as my usual fanfics.
What was now being referred to as the Lagos Catastrophe had not done well for the Avengers' public relations, to say the least. The death of twenty-six civilians, including eleven members of a Wakandan outreach group, had resulted in an increase in anti-Avengers sentiment, of course, but also anti-American and general anti-Western sentiment in Nigeria, Wakanda, and other African nations. Wanda had been horrified at the civilian casualties that had resulted, while the United Nations did what politicians and bureaucrats did best-draft a set of legal documents to look on top of things.
The US Secretary of State, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, met with the Avengers in order to discuss the Sokovia Accords. He showed them footage of their actions in New York City, Washington, D.C., Sokovia, and Lagos.
Steve Rogers, better known as "Captain America," raised his hand after getting the former Army General to stop playing the footage. "Excuse me, Secretary Ross," Steve asked, "why show footage of DC?"
The Secretary of State raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, Captain Rogers?"
"I was there for the Fall of SHIELD," the (biologically) younger man said. "Alexander Pierce used funds provided to SHIELD by the governments of the world to construct three Helicarriers for Project Insight, intended to identify and eliminate threats to Hydra. Over two-hundred thousand individuals were targeted as a result. I regret that twenty-three civilians were killed when they were swept into the Potomac River, but they likely would have been murdered by the Helicarriers anyway. Drowning is an unpleasant way to go, but so is being shot without trial like an animal, and the death toll would have been much higher had the Helicarriers not been taken down."
Steve paused to take a breath. "Besides Secretary Alexander Pierce as well as Agents Brock Rumlow and Jasper Sitwell, numerous other members of Hydra had successfully infiltrated SHIELD. In addition, the former Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, Senator Stern, also served as a Hydra mole in the United States Senate. In this case, the problem was not a group of enhanced individuals operating without government supervision or oversight. The problem that led to the Fall of SHIELD was that those responsible for oversight proved incompetent or were outright complicit in Hydra's efforts to establish a unified world order under their control. So, Mr. Secretary, why cite the Fall of SHIELD?"
Sam Wilson (AKA "Falcon"), a former Combat Rescue Officer and one of Steve's best friends, glared at the head of the Department of State. "He's right, you know," Sam said. "Trying to guilt-trip a hero like Steve to get him onboard with your political agenda? That's real low, Mr. Secretary."
Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes spoke up before the Secretary could reply. "Sam, it's the United Nations," he pointed out. "We can't exactly ignore them."
"Why, so they can pass resolutions and watch as countries like Sokovia, Somalia, and Rwanda burn?" said a bitter Wanda Maximoff. The young Eastern-European woman had had nightmares from the deaths of all the civilians she had failed to save in Lagos, even if Steve had tried to reassure her that she had saved as many innocent people as she could have under the circumstances. She then turned to the Secretary of State and said, "Your UN peacekeepers are a joke, Ross, and I'd rather stand around and do nothing on my own time."
"That's Secretary Ross to you, Miss Maximoff," Ross said, now visibly annoyed.
Steve grabbed the copy of the Sokovia Accords Ross had brought with him and try to hand it back to the Secretary. "Keep it, Captain," Ross said brusquely. "You need to understand these Accords if you want to continue doing what you do in an acceptable manner."
In response, the World War Two veteran threw the copy into a nearby recycling bin. Tony Stark glared at him. "What the hell was that for, Steve?" he asked.
"That thing is a waste of good paper and ink," explained Steve. "Tony, Wanda's right. If we sign these Accords and submit to the UN, we'll be forced to watch as Third World nations burn to the ground and not be allowed to do a thing to stop them."
Tony's eyes widened but he still shook his head. "I want to make up for Ultron, Cap. I really do. I'm not necessarily pro-government, but we need to accept limitations or we're no better than the bad guys. This way, we can get the UN to listen to what we have in mind instead of just being dismissed as dangerous vigilantes."
"Then perhaps we should hold the UN accountable as well for the actions of its employees."
Ross frowned. "What are you talking about, Rogers?"
Tony opened his mouth to speak, then smiled mischievously after looking Steve in the eye and realizing what he had in mind. "Oh, hell yeah."
Later that day, files were leaked to the Internet exposing a series of abuses by UN peacekeepers as well as the involvement of Secretary Ross in the creation of the Hulk and the Abomination. Incidentally, the Avengers expressed sorrow for the victims of the Lagos Catastrophe and pledged to do better in the future while reasserting their status as an independent organization that same day.
ME: I admit, I am biased towards Team Cap if only on principle (i.e. being anti-Accords and Cap becoming my favorite Avenger after The Winter Soldier). But when Ross brought up DC, my bias was only reinforced. Tell me, Team Stark-would you rather have those civilians who drowned in the Potomac shot to death by one of the three Helicarriers? Cap saved far more lives than he took, directly or otherwise, and if the UN in the MCU is anything like the real one, it would likely be ineffective at global peacekeeping. Since all the problems in TWS can be traced to a conspiracy within the government, that completely invalidates it as an example. Obviously Ross was just trying to guilt Cap into supporting the Accords, especially since Tony supported them out of guilt.
As for the UN peacekeeper abuses...there have been reports of that kind of stuff in real life, so I decided to reference that.