TW:MCU

The next scene started off pretty innocuously: a monitor showing a sat-scan of the village Tony had just liberated, a number of uniformed soldiers going about their duties…

"Uh-oh." John muttered, already knowing exactly where this was headed. "Looks like Tony's good deeds just attracted the worst kind of attention."

"What do you mean?" Zatanna asked as her youth combined with her sheltered upbringing meant that she knew even less than the rest of the Team about what was going on. "These are the military, right? So they've gotta be happy that someone just helped them clear things up in there."

"I'm afraid that's not how the military works, miss." John muttered before sighing. "The military likes things to be kept clean and orderly so that their strategists can predict the enemy's moves and help direct things. When things come flying at them out of the blue, though-"

"Like a genius billionaire in an ultra-high tech, Gryffindor-themed battle suit?" Artemis asked with not a little amount of sarcasm.

"That certainly qualifies." John chuckled, appreciating the blonde's cutting wit. "Anyway, when things like this happen, any sane military does their level best to figure out who screwed with their plans and, in cases like these, they try to acquire such technology for their own use."

"An Armored Legion…" Clark frowned. "Not sure that would be a good idea, honestly."

"What the hell was that?" A soldier asked as he stopped to stare at the information displayed on the screen: the satellite had just picked up the distinct heat signature of an explosion less than half a mile out from the village of Gulmira. A frown creased his forehead as he tried to remember if they had received any orders regarding missions in that area. "Were we cleared to go in there?"

"No, they were using human shields. We never got the green light." The response from the technical staff was just as he had expected and he immediately turned to another soldier. "Get those monitors up!"

In the background, another soldier -a commanding officer by the look of things- had slipped on a pair of headphones. "Put me through to State." He frowned as alarms blared and displayed an unidentified, fast moving object that the satellite had just picked up. "They're going to be all over this."

"A~nd there we go." John shook his head. "He is firmly on the military's radar-"

"What the hell!" Hal yelled as he rushed in to see them already far beyond where he'd left them. "I thought we were watching it together!"

"We are." Oliver replied with a shit eating grin. "Except if this was a cinema you wouldn't expect us all to wait just cause you had to take a leak now would you?"

"But- but-" Seeing the utterly unrepentant grins on everyone else's faces, he sank into the hard-light sofa and scowled. "You guys suck."

"We got a bogey!"

"Wasn't Air Force!"

"We got the CIA on the line?" The commanding officer asked.

"I've got Langley on the line. They want to know if it's us." The soldier replied.

"No, it definitely is not us, sir!" Another soldier shouted.

"Wasn't Navy." One soldier said.

"Wasn't Marines!" Another called out.

"Yup," John sighed. "It'll be a real party now."

"I need answers! Can I please get eyes on target?" The commanding officer snapped.

"Negative, negative." One soldier told him. "Cannot identify."

"Get me Colonel Rhodes from Weapons Development down here now!" The commanding officer demanded while the armored billionaire flew on without a care in the world.

"He seems pretty chill for someone whose about to be shot out of the air." Hal noted as he snagged a bag of nachos from Dinah with a hard-light construct. "And he's getting the hang of flying too."

"I'm sorry, can we roll back to the 'about to be shot out of the air' part?!" Conner practically demanded as Dinah flicked a popcorn kernel at Hal. "Why would they even aim at him? He just saved a whole village and took out the bad guys' weapons!"

"He's operating a strange craft in a legal no-fly zone." John explained, patiently weathering the younger boy's glare. "Like it or not, that's a crime in and of itself; when you consider the fact that he's a civilian with absolutely no hope of obtaining the right military authorization to even try what he just did… well, I'd be a lot more surprised if the CO doesn't try to shoot him out of the air."

"Wait. What's a CO?" M'gann asked.

"It's an abbreviation, M'gann; in the military, it means 'Commanding Officer' and it generally refers to the highest ranking authority figure during a military operation at a given time," Kaldur explained. "We have a slightly different word for it in Atlantean but the meaning remains the same."

"Oh. Thanks, Kaldur!"

As soon as James Rhodes walked into the base, the CO turned to him and fired off a quick explanation: "We ran an ID check and cross-referenced with all known databases. We have nothing."

"Looks like Tony might have a bit of a buffer bet-between! himself and the army," Dick's tone hitched and then jumped when he felt Zatanna snuggling deeper into his side, the sudden closeness temporarily shorting his brain out, to the amusement of the more observant adults present. He recovered quite hastily, though, so, aside from a funny glance from Wally, he had nothing to worry about from his teammates. "The Colonel might be able to help him throw off some of the attention."

"Considering what happened the last time they saw each other?" Artemis asked skeptically. "I'm not sure if I believe it'll be that easy."

"They you're probably underestimating the strength of their friendship," Clark pointed out. "I mean, I expect Rhodes to be a little off-balance by this whole thing but, if anything, I'd say that the revelation that Tony wasn't suffering some crazy, PTSD-induced thoughts might actually bring them closer."

"Even if he is suffering such thoughts," Bruce added. When he saw that he was on the receiving end of questioning stares from the Team, the Dark Knight sighed. "The scene where Tony shot at his reflections earlier, just before he donned the Mark III? It pointed at deep-seated guilt, likely over the events happening in Gulmira."

"Hold on," Wally shook his head as he sat up, a confused frown etched onto his eyebrows. "Why would that scene point at any guilt? I thought he was just practicing his aim or how to control the power of the repulsor blasts."

"You may be right, Wally, but you need to think beyond the obvious," Dinah said, her voice sounding drained as she addressed the boy as much as the rest of the Team. "So he wanted to test the repulsors, do you really think firing three shots was enough of a test? And even if it was, don't you find it odd that he shot at his own reflection rather than the hundreds of other objects around him?" The Cave grew silent as the young heroes struggled to process the information the blonde had just shared with them. "We noticed it partly because we're more experienced than you are but also because some of us have been there: we've been at the point where looking into the mirror was just a reminder of our failures."

"But…" M'gann hesitated slightly before continuing, "You didn't say anything…"

"There's little more effective nightmare fuel than the reminder of all your failures," Hal's accompanying laugh was weak, forced, and yet again the Team saw hints of the scars that their mentors had gathered over the years.

It took less than a moment for Rhodes to process the situation before getting into the swing of things: "Any high altitude surveillance in the region?"

"We got an AWAC and a Global Hawk in the area." A soldier stated.

"So this thing just appeared out of nowhere? How come it didn't show up on the radar?" Rhodes demanded.

"Got a minimal radar cross section, sir." Another soldier explained.

That made no sense to the Colonel who peered into the closest monitor to confirm what he had just heard. "Is it stealth?"

"No, sir, it's… tiny." The soldier elaborated, sounding utterly baffled. "We think it's an unmanned aerial vehicle."

"Not impossible," John murmured, mentally scrolling through the list of UAVs he had heard of in his time in the military. "Could be a drone of some sort, though the shape wouldn't match any known drones."

At this point, the Commanding Officer knew that he had run out of options so he turned to Rhodes, the only person on the base who might know more than he did. "Colonel, what are we dealing with here?"

As it turned out, the CO wasn't the only one who had reached the end of the line and was now ready to look beyond himself. "Let me make a call," Rhodes said before commanding a nearby sergeant to move over.

"One guess who he's calling." Conner smirked as the sound of a ringing phone blasted through the speakers while the scene changed to show the armored billionaire as he cruised through the air.

"Dude, not even Tweedledum would miss that one." Dick replied with an amused roll of his eyes.

"Hello?"

"Tony?" Rhodes called, barely able to hear his friend thanks to the sounds of rushing winds. "It's Rhodes."

"Who's this?" Tony asked as JARVIS pulled up a picture of the Colonel into Tony's line of view. "Sorry, hello?"

"I said it's Rhodes!"

"Speak up please."

"What the hell is that noise?" Rhodes demanded, struggling to be heard over the rushing wind.

"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down." Tony lied.

"You know, that lie is… actually believable," Zatanna hummed thoughtfully. "I mean, 'billionaire playboy gets cooped up in the house for too long and decides to go for a roaring drive around his estate' sounds very possible."

"Except we're dealing with a chronically irresponsible playboy and Pepper's not here," Oliver snorted. "Unless he programmed his AI to keep track of his lies, then this one's going to fall through in a few minutes."

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now." The Colonel requested.

"It's funny how that works, huh?"

"He sounds… hurt," M'gann noted sadly, easily hearing the pain that the genius had tried to hide beneath the cutting sarcasm in his tone.

"Not a surprise considering how their last meeting ended," Wally stated quietly. "I mean, I kinda get where Rhodey was coming from now but… I think I'd feel pretty much the same as Tony does right now if something like that happened to me too."

"I just hope they get their friendship back on track," Zatanna muttered. "I mean, Pepper's great and all but… Tony needs Rhodey; he needs someone that'll party with him but isn't afraid to be harsh with him either."

Rhodes forced himself not to wince at his friend's cutting tone, knowing that giving Tony what could be construed as the 'moral high ground' could easily lead them onto a cyclic argument that would end up in lots of yelling and little else. So, with laser-like focus, he forged on: "Yeah. Speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up a few clicks from where you were being held captive."

"Well, that's a hot spot. Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?" Tony asked, panting slightly as the adrenaline from his little raid drained out of his system and the fatigue of the flight to Gulmira, the fight itself and now his return trip gradually settled in.

Unfortunately for him, his friend was a soldier, trained to notice the slightest of details and the Colonel knew damned well that 'driving with the top down' should never have caused one to sound so utterly out of breath. "Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?"

"And the lie's about to come crumbling down." John sighed amusedly.

"I'm not, I was just jogging in the canyon." Tony lied again.

"I thought you were driving."

Tony swore he could hear the deadpan in his friend's voice as he thought of some way to try to keep up the now shambolic lie. "Right, I was driving to the canyon, where I'm going to jog."

"Wait, lemme get this straight," Artemis said as everyone struggle to hold back their laughs at the utterly ridiculous lie. "If he was driving to the canyon where he is going to jog… what's he doing now?"

"Genius my ass!" Hal roared as the Cave erupted into peals of laughter. "I know three year olds that could string together better lies than that!"

"Maybe the helmet suffered an atmosphere leak and his brain's shorting out due to reduced oxygen levels!" Dick added as he wiped a tear away.

Ignoring the blatant lies his friend was spewing, Rhodes once again steered the conversation to the matter at hand: "You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

Tony's cheerful "Nope!" was immediately drowned out by a loud shout of "Bogey spotted!" by one of the technical staff.

Sure enough, a blurry pixelated video feed of the flying suit of armor appeared on the screen, followed by another shout, this time from the soldier monitoring their response to the unknown object that sent a cold shiver down Rhodes' spine: "Whiplash, come in hot."

Every hint of brevity left the Colonel's tone that instant as he tried to convey the sudden seriousness of the situation to his friend: "Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

"Looks like Tony's got one last test to complete before this day is over." Hal leaned forward, anticipation clear in his tone as a pair of F-22 fighters pulled up behind the genius in an attack formation. "Let's see how he does in a live-fire flight test against some of the best in the business."

Tony, finally getting a clue to how much trouble he was in, instantly spun away, trying to lose the jets who were just as doggedly doing their best to keep him in their sights.

"Ballroom, this is Whiplash One. I've got the bogey in my sights," Whiplash announced.

"Whiplash One, what is it?" Rhodes asked, leaning forward with not a little intrigue visible on his face. He knew Tony, after all, and he was certain that whatever that tiny speck was, it was undoubtedly something impressive.

"I've got no idea," The fighter pilot informed him.

"You have radio contact?" If Rhodes was intrigued by the tiny object, the Commanding officer was annoyed by its very existence in his airspace and he made that very clear in his tone.

"Non-responsive, sir."

John, having seen this coming the moment the air base was shown, slapped a palm on his forehead and sighed. "And… here come the fireworks."

"Then you are clear to engage." The CO permitted.

"Yup. Bullets away."

Whiplash One engaged immediately, maneuvering his craft to track the unknown object until his missiles locked on. However, just before he could fire, the object sped up to nearly three times its former speed, tearing through the sound barrier like it was nothing. "That bogey just went supersonic!" The pilot shouted, stunned by what he had just seen of the unusual object. However, he noticed that his targeting reticule still had a lock on the target and he immediately called out: "I got a lock!" before hitting a red button, triggering the release of a sleek missile that instantly leapt forward with a keening wail, headed unerringly for a certain billionaire genius.

"Goddamn that's fast!" Hal exclaimed as the missile ate up the distance toward it's target at an alarming rate.

"Inbound missile." JARVIS warned as the missile got within five hundred meters.

"Flares!" Tony called out immediately, at which point a small section at the hip of the suit popped up and unleashed a flurry of tiny, electromagnetic spores that scrambled the missile's sensors and triggering an early explosion. Unfortunately, between the force of the explosion and the little distance between 'ground zero' and the suit, Tony was knocked for six.

"Maybe the explosion covered his esca-"

"Wait a second. Bogey deployed flares!"

"Never mind," Zatanna muttered as the two fighters veered around the expanding fireball to continue their pursuit of the wildly spiraling Tony.

Tony found himself in a bind, falling rapidly with his repulsors intermittently responding and then failing in a seemingly endless cycle that had him gasping in fear until he was able to re-establish firm control of the repulsors and wrest control of his flight just as one of the jets opened fired, unleashing a barrage of bullets at the armored billionaire.

He did his best to escape the bullet hail, jinking left and right at random yet the pilots proved to be more than equal to the task, matching his every move and peppering him with bullets at every turn.

"Hah! You see that, Speedy?" Hal jeered at Wally. "Still think your unmanned drones could match that kind of flying? 'Cause that's just a taste of what us flyboys can do!"

"Don't," Artemis murmured to her clearly incensed boyfriend, gripping his forearm tightly to further reinforce her stance.

Wally wanted to go on, to argue with the older man but, after weighing the joy of a potential victory against his girlfriend's disappointment, he huffed and sat back.

Onscreen, Tony, battered by bullets and seeing that simply dodging wasn't working, decided to switch things up with a new order: "Deploy flaps!"

In the next instant, the suit's flaps blew out, the sudden drag all but stalling his flight completely, much to the surprise of the fighter pilots who blew past him in seconds.

"Holy!" The pilot of Whiplash One cried out, head twisting frantically as he tried to find their target. "That thing just jumped off the radar, sir!"

"Sat visual has been lost!" Added a soldier at the base.

"Impressive move," Bruce nodded. "He took advantage of his suit's superior maneuverability to pull off a shock move that the pilots never saw coming."

"But how did he lose them on the radar and the satellites?" Clark asked.

"I'm certain it will be revealed in time," Diana pointed out, clearly eager to get back to the movie.

"No way that's a UAV," Whiplash One stated.

"What is it?" The CO demanded.

"I can't see anything," Whiplash Two stated.

"Whatever it was, it just bought the farm," Whiplash One declared.

"I think bogey's been handled, sir," Whiplash Two informed the Ballroom.

Rhodes shook his head in clear bewilderment when his phone went off. Glancing down at it, he was faced with Tony's picture along with the words 'The Starkster.' "Hello?"

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me," Tony said, his glib tone underpinned by a sense of urgency.

"It's who?"

Tony, sensing that his friend was angry, immediately lost the glib tone. "I'm sorry, it is me," He added: "You asked, what you were asking about me."

"No, see, this isn't a game!" Rhodes demanded, only barely managing to keep his voice down. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone, you understand that?"

"This is not a piece of equipment, I'm in it. It's a suit," Tony rambled in a slight panic as Rhodey's eyes widened. "It's me!"

"What's got him sounding so terrified?" A baffled Oliver asked. "I thought he just made it out of there?"

"Knowing him?" Artemis snorted. "I'm pretty sure he's doing something that's as ingenious as it is stupidly dangerous."

The Commanding Officer, seeing the sudden look of shock that had just crossed the Colonel's face, turned to him with a frown. "Rhodey, you got anything for me?"

The bewildered Colonel could only stare as another soldier instructed the pilots: "Mark your position and return to base."

"Roger that, Ballroom."

As the first of the jets began to roll, the undercarriage of the ship came into view, allowing the second pilot to make a shocking discovery to the CO's bewlderment and Rhodes' mounting horror: "On your belly! It looks like a… man!"

"Called it!" Artemis pointed at the frozen scene of Tony desperately latched onto the underside of the jet.

"It really was an ingenious move, though." John commented. "By latching on to the underside of the jet, he's taking advantage of his smaller size to hide from the satellite's visual and thermal imaging. He's also so close to the ship that he renders the radar practically useless."

"Yeah but Blondie the Second's right," Hal pointed out, ignoring Artemis' withering scowl. "If he isn't magnetically latched on, he's about to get flung off when that guy goes into a roll." It wasn't just an educated guess either; his experience as a fighter pilot meant he knew precisely what the pilots would do in this situation.

He was proven right when Dinah hit the play button as the pilot of Whiplash One immediately called to his partner:

"Shake it off! Roll, roll!"

Whiplash Two responded immediately, dropping into a steep dive as the pilot sent the jet into a violent series of spins, weakening Tony's tenuous grasp on the ship's underbelly until he was wrenched away after a particularly tight turn, sending the armored genius spiraling through the air to shear right through Whiplash One's left wing.

"Oh shit!" Oliver exclaimed, eyes wide as the chase suddenly took a dark turn, the damaged ship now in an uncontrolled dive as the officers at the airbase -Rhodes inclusive- all stared as the atmosphere grew incredibly tense.

"Punch out, punch out!" Whiplash Two ordered as he brought his jet around on a tight turn.

Inside the damaged ship, the pilot quickly yanked on the ejector lever, sending his seat flying out of the cockpit mere moments before the rest of the jet was engulfed in flames.

"Whiplash one down!" The second fighter relayed to the base as the ejected seat tumbled through the air on a downward spiral as gravity took its toll.

"Whiplash Two, do you see a chute?" The CO asked.

"Negative! No chute, no chute!" Whiplash Two responded.

"My chute's jammed!" Whiplash One cried as he desperately tried to open up his chute to no avail adding to the mounting sense of horror that pervaded the airbase.

"Where's Tony? Where's Tony? Where's Tony?" M'gann chanted quietly, the tension in the room climbing higher for every moment the pilot hurtled helplessly through the sky.

As if he'd heard the girl's chants, a familiar figure bore down on the plummeting pilot, a trail of white smoke marking his path as he tried to catch up to the pilot.

"Sir, I've got a visual on the bogey." Whiplash Two announced.

"Whiplash Two, reengage. If you get a clear shot, you take it." The CO ordered.

"Wait! Why are they-"

"They can't tell whether he's a friendly or not," Dick answered before the young Martian could complete her question. "As far as they're concerned, he disregarded a military hail, illegally engaged enemy combatants, evaded capture and just took out a piece of military hardware. That points to him being a threat, not a hero."

"Dick's right: nothing Tony has done really make him out to be a hero to them," Kaldur supported.

"What about Rhodey?" She asked, unwilling to accept the truth in their statements. "He has to be able to do something!"

"Except this isn't his op." John countered gently, trying to ease her into the reality of the situation. "Even if the Colonel speaks up, it is extremely unlikely that he can actually effect much of a change if the Commanding Officer is at odds with him."

"But…"

"M'gann? Relax," Conner murmured as he held her tightly to himself. "Whatever happens, I'm sure Tony will find a way out of this."

It was clear that she didn't quite believe that but it was enough to get her to remain quiet while the movie rolled on.

Rhodes balked at the Commanding Officer's order. It wasn't that he didn't understand the CO's perspective however, the knowledge that it was his best friend that was in the suit of armor that had just been marked for destruction had him doing his best to appeal to the ranking officer: "Major, we don't even know what we're shooting at. Call off the Raptors."

"That thing just took out an F-22 inside a legal no fly zone!" The CO snapped, leveling a heated glare at Rhodes. "Whiplash Two, if you have a clear shot, take it!" He reiterated without breaking his glare at the Colonel.

While the situation at the airbase grew even more tense, Tony maintained his flight path, moving in an unerringly straight lint toward the tumbling pilot.

"You've been reengaged." JARVIS observed as it brought up a projected flight path of the fighter jet into Tony's peripheral vision along with a series of maneuvers to best facilitate an escape. "Execute evasive maneuver."

'No one else is going to die on my watch!' Tony thought as he ignored the notifications after a single, perfunctory glance. "Keep going!"

The next couple of moments were laden with mounting tension as Tony blasted down toward the free-falling pilot, shaving the distance between them at an almost agonizingly slow pace while the pilot of Whiplash Two maintained a furious chase, unwilling to let up yet unable to take a shot for fear of hitting his comrade further down.

It was a wild, desperate race, one that Tony eventually won when he finally closed the distance enough for him to reach Whiplash One's ejector seat, slam a punch into the jammed lever, taking out the damaged apparatus and allowing the parachute to billow up and out, jerking the pilot into a more controlled descent and saving the man from what could easily have been his death.

The staff present at the airbase erupted into relieved cheers as the voice of Whiplash Two's pilot blared an elated, "Good chute! Good chute!" through the speakers.

Though they were far less exuberant compared to the celebrations going on in the airbase onscreen, the tension that had built up in the Cave following Tony's rescue attempt was now dissipated. No one saw a need to point out to M'gann that her fears had proven to be unnecessary; the Team in particular, because they knew how easily she could slip into the perceived emotions surrounding her if she really got into an activity.

While the celebration went on, Rhodes quietly turned toward a less noisy corner and brought the phone back up to his ear. "Tony, you still there?"

"Hey," Tony's smirk was clear even through his voice. "Thanks."

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch." Rhodes chuckled, relieved that his friend was alive and safe. "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

"Eh, it's Tony," Wally shrugged casually. "Pretty sure he could buy a whole fleet of-"

"You realize that a single F-22 Raptor costs three hundred and fifty million dollars, right?" Hal asked with an arched eyebrow, his question drawing gaping expressions from the younger heroes present, particularly a more comical-looking Wally. "What, you thought state-of-the-art military craft came cheap?"

"N-not cheap but… three hundred and fifty million per fighter?!"

"Maybe next time you hear someone complain about the hefty defense budget, you'll have a clue why they tend to be so fat in the first place," John commented, drawing a scowl from Diana who immediately replied, "They have every right to complain if they have no homes and little food."

"I'm not saying that they don't have a right to complain, Princess, I'm just saying that the defense budget isn't exactly something that can be skimped on-"

"Oh, so children deserve to go hungry so you can prepare for a war that is nowhere-!"

"Movie. Now." Dinah stated firmly before stabbing pointedly at the play button

Tony laughed in response as he flew over the plains of mountains, watching an analysis of the damage done to the affected Raptor in the helmet's virtual vision. "Yeah, well, technically, he hit me so… Now are you going to come by and see what I'm working on?"

"No, no, no, no-"

"Wait, he's still rejecting-"

"He probably has a good reason for that," Clark interjected, cutting Conner off before he could really get going. "And we'll probably get to know what that reason is if we keep watching," When the young clone huffed and returned his attention to the movie, the Man of Steel released a low sigh. "I don't think he got that from me."

"The jumping to conclusions part?" Bruce asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Or the huffing, silent treatment when you're upset part?" Diana continued, a knowing smirk on her lips.

"Because we can list nearly a hundred instances of either," Dinah finished with a grin. "Each."

The Kryptonian said nothing more; rather, he slumped in his seat and tried not to pout sulkily.

Tried.

"-no, no, the less I know, the better." Rhodes replied, his mind awhirl with possibilities and problems and drafting out press statements. "Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Training exercise." Hal snorted as did Diana and John. "Isn't that the usual BS?"

Not even a second later Tony said the exact sentence:

"Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple." The colonel argued back.

The residents of the Cave burst out into peals of laughter, loudest among them being Hal, John and Oliver who were almost rolling on the floor at Rhodes' weak-ass response.

Clark, who should have joined them in laughing at the not-so-subtle jab at the military's preferred deflection tactic, was busy with his clone-turned-protege. "Do you see why the Colonel chose to reject Tony's offer for the time being? He has to do his best to remain honest and objective and by knowing the barest minimum about what Tony's doing right now, he runs less of a risk of accidentally letting something important slip out when he's giving a press conference."

"… Fine," Conner grumbled, grudgingly accepting that, in his haste to judge, he had made a gross error in judgement. He was about to speak again when the Cave burst into even louder gales of laughter as they watched the Colonel standing at a podium, fully decked out in his uniform, addressing the press:

"An unfortunate training exercise involving an F-22 Raptor occurred yesterday. I am pleased to report that the pilot was not injured. As for the unexpected turn of events on the ground in Gulmira, it is still unclear who or what intervened, but I can assure you that the United States government was not involved."

"Hey, why does Obie look so… bothered?" Zatanna pointed out between gasps, drawing their attention to the faintly scowling man who looked far more serious than they had ever seen. "He seems almost… angry about something?"

"Maybe he's upset about the whole Gulmira thing?" Clark offered, directing a subtle glance at Bruce, who was just sitting back, having nearly jumped n to defend the man yet again. "I mean, considering Miss Everheart's photos, it's not exactly a hard-fought secret that Stark Industries weapons are in the hands of terrorists."

"You think he's upset at how this could affect the company's image?" Hal was definitely skeptical of the whole idea. "Because the whole sitting alone, watching with a stern expression strikes me as more of a mafioso kinda thing."

"How do you even know what a mafioso is like?" John asked, staring quizzically at his partner.

"From movies and TV shows of course," The Green Lantern shrugged casually as he reached out for a snack. "It doesn't have to be accurate but the point still stands: dude looks more like a laid-down plan's gone sour than being worried about the company's image."

"I'm with GL for this," Artemis agreed as Zatanna and Wally nodded. "He looks more like my dad when he's scheming."

"You know, when you put it that way… yeah, I can definitely see it," Dick agreed.

"We'll have to agree to disagree on this one then," Dinah said as she hit the play button. 'And hope to God that you guys are wrong.'

The next scene began with Pepper as walked down the stairs leading to Tony's garage, a quizzical expression clear on her face as she noticed the shattered glass shards strewn across the floor even as Tony's yelps of pain rang out from deeper within the garage.

"So… any clues as to why our friendly neighbourhood playboy's yelling like a girl?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe he's treating his wounds?" Artemis suggested, to which everyone winced.

It wasn't exactly a hidden fact but most people tended to overlook one crucial fact about superheroes: they got beaten up.

A lot.

From bullet wounds to cracked (sometimes even broken) bones to lacerations, bruises and concussions, heroes had acquired it all and the one thing heroes generally hated, was the treatment of those wounds.

"Ow! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" Tony cried out, still off-screen.

"It is a tight fit sir." JARVIS informed his creator.

"Sir, the more you struggle, the more this is going to hurt." JARVIS warned the billionaire.

"Be gentle. It's my first time." Tony said in a snarky manner despite his pain.

A chorus of extremely immature snickers rang out around the room, earning eyerolls and resounding slaps to the backs of their skulls from the ladies present.

Pepper finally reached the bottom of the stairs… and then stared, slack-jawed, at the sight in front of her in disbelief.

There, stranded mid-air on the very platform he had designed to 'suit up' as it were, was Tony, partially in the suit as the robotic arms struggled mightily with the jittery man.

"I designed this to come off, so- Ow! Hey!" Tony complained.

"Please, try not to move, sir." JARVIS pleaded.

"What's going on here?" Pepper asked, unable to process what she was seeing.

Tony turned to face Pepper standing a few feet away and an awkward silence washed over the room for a moment.

"Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing." Tony told her.

"Is it weird that the first thing I thought of is almost entirely sexual?" Zatanna asked with just the faintest hint of red dusting her cheeks.

"I was thinking part sexual, part embarrassing," Artemis remarked, far less bothered by the thought than the sheltered Homo Magi while her boyfriend nearly choked, having sucked a little too harshly on his soda. "Sort of like when Tony and Christine rolled around in the sack earlier."

"Oh God, I can just imagine how that would play out," Clark snorted humorously. "'Oh hi Pepper! Er, I am really attracted to you and I fell out of bed with her because I was thinking of you,'" He snorted again while everyone laughed at the scenario he had just painted. "That would go down swimmingly."

"Oh, to be a fly on that wall!" Hal added, leading to another round of loud laughter.

"Are those bullet holes?" Pepper asked as her eyes finally fell upon the many dents and scratches in the armor, her mind immediately putting the pieces together.

"Technically they're bullet… scratches?" Wally turned to Dick who shrugged at him, both still snickering. "Yeah, let's go with that; bullet scratches."

"And tank shell dents, falling from a great height impact dents and the occasional burn here and there," Conner added, with a wide grin of his own.

"Oh, and don't forget the three-fifty million dollar dent somewhere around his spine," Zatanna summed up between gasps of laughter. "Man, if Pepper's even half the mother hen she could be then Tony's in for a long ride."

The scene changed to show what looked like a small shanty-town at night, a number of open-back SUVs stationed around an entry point with armed men standing at the ready. The camera angle shifted as a number of SUV's drove into the camp to show Raza standing before a number of raised tents, his men hurrying to mount a ready welcome for their guests.

"Sheesh, you'd think they're expecting the president or something." Hal snorted as they watched a pair of gunmen hurry to stand by their boss. "All that's left is the gun salute."

"Considering how anxious the grunts seem and how they seem to be trying to make a good showing of themselves it could be-"

Whatever else the Dark Knight was about to say died in his throat as Obadiah Stane stepped out of one of the newly arrived vehicles.

"Son of a bitch." Oliver murmured, all traces of humor vanishing from the Cave in an instant.

For the Team, the blatant betrayal struck hard due to how much they had gotten into the relationship between Tony and his mentor. Most of them had truly grown to like the older man and, though the scene of him scowling at Rhodes' announcement was still at relatively fresh, the following scene of Tony's suit-removal mishap had pushed it to the side.

For Diana, Hal, Oliver and John, the betrayal rang much deeper: it was a harsh reminder of Shayera Hol's deception that had ultimately thrust the Earth into the center of the Thanagarian War.

For Dinah and Clark, though, it was less about the betrayal and more of the effects it would have on Bruce Wayne. Thanks to the time they had spent talking to the man after the revelation of his past,* they were the only two that realized exactly how fragile the man's psyche was and that knowledge had birthed the deep-seated fear that had gradually grown as they watched him all but physically superimpose his staunchest ally, Alfred, upon Stane until this very moment.

They had no idea how he would react.

"M-may… maybe he's…" M'gann's almost heartbroken attempts to justify the man's presence with the detestable terrorist ended with the young Martian trailing off, unable to do more than stare at the scene playing out before them.

The older man strolled over to the Ten Rings representative, a faint smile on his face as he stared at the scarred man.

"Welcome." Raza greeted before gesturing to the scar that so obviously held his guest's attention. "Compliments of Tony Stark."

"Ah, if you'd killed him when you were supposed to, you'd still have a face." Obadiah replied glibly.

A resounding crack rang out in the Cave, drawing everyone's eye to Bruce's seat where the man had just cracked the hardwood armrest in his grip.

"You paid us trinkets to kill a prince," Raza countered.

"Show me the weapon," Obadiah ordered, all traces of humor gone.

"Come," Raza told him and turned to walk towards the tent behind him. "Leave your guards outside."

Obadiah gestured for his men to stay put, leaving their men wait in a tense standoff, before following the terrorist into the tent where he was greeted with the reassembled suit of armor Tony had utilized to make his escape.

It was a testament to how shaken they were that not a single person present even thought of making a comment with regards to the reassembled Monstrosity.

"His escape bore unexpected fruit," Raza stated as Obadiah circled the suit, taking in every inch of the crudely designed armor and committing it to memory. "This is only a first, crude effort. Stark has perfected his design. He has made a masterpiece of death." Obadiah spared not a glance at the terrorist but squirreled the new piece of information away, suspecting that it had something to do with the 'training exercise mishap' that had been announced. "A man with a dozen of these could rule all of Asia. And you dream of Stark's throne." The older man slanted an arched look at the terrorist before focusing on the suit. "We have a common enemy." Raza smirked as he walked over to a low couch and took a seat. "If we are still in business, I will give you these designs as a gift." Once again, Obadiah ignored the man's prattling as he slid two fingers into the hole at the center of the suit's chest plate. A few mental calculations and the man frowned faintly as he gained a firm idea of what the cavity was meant to hold. "And in turn, I hope you'll repay me with a gift of iron soldiers." Raza finished his pitch by offering the man a drink.

Obadiah smiled as he turned to the man before leaning forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. Raza, sensing that something was amiss, stared at the man quizzically but he was already too late: behind him, Obadiah slid a panel down on a slim, black device that glowed an ominous crimson while emitting a high-pitched whine.

The effect was immediate: the terrorist's veins bulged a sickly purple shade as his body froze, his breaths coming out in labored gasps.

Staring dispassionately at the man, Obadiah uttered a single statement in Urdu before switching to English. "Technology." He scoffed as he pulled out a pair of glowing blue earplugs. "It's always been your Achilles' Heel in this part of the world."

"Don't worry. It'll only last for fifteen minutes. That's the least of your problems." Obadiah continued before walking out of the tent to see that his men had all the members of the Ten Rings down on their knees at gunpoint. "Crate up the armor and the rest of it." He instructed as he walked up to his SUV. Just before he entered, he gave another instruction: "Alright, let's finish up here."

As he climbed in, the sound of gunfire could be heard as the background was temporarily illuminated by the flash from the muzzles.

"You bastard," Conner growled, all but vibrating with repressed fury as M'gann buried her face into his side at the mass murder that had just been depicted, Wolf snarling in the background. "You rotten bastard!"

"You monster!" On the other side of the room, Artemis was only barely being restrained by her boyfriend as she screamed furiously at the TV; "What the hell is wrong with you! He cares about you and you-"

"I'll be back," Batman stated as he pushed himself out of his seat, his cowl back on and exuding an almost palpable rage as he stalked out of the Cave.

Clark and Dinah shared a single glance before chasing after him.

Onscreen, Obadiah was in his SUV, giving orders to someone via a phone call. "Set up Sector sixteen underneath the arc reactor, and I'm going to want this data masked. Recruit our top engineers. I want a prototype right away."

"We've seen enough of this treacherous swine," Diana stated coldly, her tone lowered into a dangerous hiss. "Move it forward, Oliver."

The archer said nothing, simply picking the remote and fast-forwarding into the next scene, then rewinding when they realized that the had missed a few moments.

Meanwhile, Dinah, Clark and Bruce were in the middle of a furious, whispered argument:

"You're upset, Bruce! Letting you go out now-"

"Do I look upset to you, Clark?" Batman replied, his tone so utterly emotionless that Dinah swore she'd heard even Red Tornado sound more human. "I made a mistake; I got too invested in the movie-"

"That's the point of a good movie, Bruce, to get immersed in it," Dinah interjected. "Now we just need to get back in there, finish the movie and get some closure-"

"Do not, for a single moment, think you know what I need, either of you," The Dark Knight rejoined harshly. "I appreciate your attempts to show concern, both of you, but what I need is to clear my head." When he noticed the agitation in both their eyes, the man nearly snarled. Whether he liked it or not, thanks to the secrets that had been revealed over the past five months, these two knew him far better than just about anyone; as such, he couldn't simply brush them aside. Thus, he turned to stare at them. "I appreciate your concern, I really do, but I am fine."

While Clark attempted another argument, Dinah stared into the Caped Crusader's eyes for a moment before sighing. Clamping a hand onto Clark's shoulder, she nodded at him. "Don't do anything stupid."

As the Dark Knight left, the blonde heroine found herself on the receiving end of a confused scowl, prompting her to sigh again. "He was closing himself off, Clark."

"But… he was just-"

"Whatever he said was a lie," She stated bluntly as she pushed him toward the Cave. "The worst thing we could have done would have been to keep him here. He'd have just bottled it all up until he left and something tells me Stane," the man's name couldn't have been said with ore vitriol if it was hissed by a diamondback, "has only just begun to show how much of a traitorous bastard he is." They walked back into the Cave where the atmosphere was now much less tense as an oblivious Tony said something or the other to a frowning Pepper. She was glad when Dick turned to her and gave just the barest inclination of his head: if she was reading the young boy correctly then Alfred had been given at least some form of a heads up.

Neither said a word more as they slipped into their respective seats and joined the watching.

"… It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it in a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading."

Pepper stared at the device in her hand and glanced at the suit Tony had hung up on a stand. "And what do you plan on doing with this information if I bring it back here?"

"Same drill. They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them," Tony replied bluntly.

"Tony…" She broke off as she tried to find a way to put her thoughts into words. "You know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is nothing except this." Tony replied harshly, eyes bloodshot. "There's no art opening, there is no benefit, there is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else."

"Is that so? Well, then, I quit." Pepper told him and dropped the chip on the table, turned to walk out the door.

"First Rhodey and now Pepper?" Conner sighed before glancing around the room. "Okay, what am I missing here?"

"The guilt factor, kid. That's what you're missing," Oliver noted with a grimace. "It's making him act… maybe not irrational but he's definitely being reckless."

"The guilt factor?" A confused Zatanna asked. "What does guilt have to do with anything?"

"And how is he acting recklessly?" M'gann added.

"Let's see: he's asking Pepper to go and retrieve vital information for him despite the fact that she has no self-defense training or even a single guard to keep a lookout for her; he isn't even giving her digital cover, he's basically sending her in blind," Oliver listed. "He's asking her to retrieve the information without giving her time to process his instructions, he's just pouring them out and while I know that she may have become used to that, that's no way to act when you're essentially kick-starting a war. So tell me, do you think he's being rational?"

"As for the guilt factor… Tony wasn't ready to experience Gulmira in person," Dinah continued, taking over the explanation. "It's one thing to think 'I'm going to put an end to people misusing my weapons' it's another thing entirely to come face to face with the destruction that his weapons were used for."

"But… didn't he notice it when he was abducted?" Wally asked. "I mean, he said something about seeing the destruction his weapons caused during the press statement."

"Yes, but what did he see back then?" Diana countered gently. "Think of it: he was taken to the terrorists' base; asked to make weapons for them. Can you compare that to him seeing those insurgents holding guns to the heads of innocent men and women as they tore families apart?" The young speedster looked away, knowing that the Amazon was right.

"The adrenaline is gone now, and the guilt is sinking in," Oliver continued. "Tony's the kind of guy that believes in taking action whenever he feels a problem coming and, while that's not a bad stance to take sometimes-"

"Sometimes you need to think things through," Dinah finished. "Even your emotions."

Each member of the Team nodded, recalling how often the blonde heroine had helped them take a step back and work through whatever lingering emotions they struggled with.

They had thought little of it when they had started working together but now they fully understood what she meant and why she had taken the time to help them.

"You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?" Tony questioned.

"You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it."

"Do you now understand what we were saying?" Diana asked, gesturing to the redhead onscreen. "She didn't reject him because she doesn't agree with him, she did so because his method of doing things was reckless and likely to get him killed and she saw that."

"I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do. And I know in my heart that it's right."

Pepper froze for a few moments, playing back his last sentence before tuning back to him and reluctantly picking up the lock chip. "You're all I have too, you know."

"As happy as I am that she is going to help Tony I cannot help but worry now," Kaldur stated with a frown as the redhead left her boss' workshop-slash-garage. "With everything that you have pointed out, I fear that he might be sending her into the belly of the beast as it were."

"But… she's going into Tony's office right?" M'gann asked. "It should be out of bounds-"

"To anyone but Tony?" Dick laughed cynically. "Maybe but Stane has been in charge for however long it has been since Tony's return- no, since he arranged for Tony's death. To the staff at Stark Industries, he's such a recognized figure that no one would see anything wrong with him going in and out of the Boss' office."

"So you're saying …"

The Bat's protege nodded grimly to his girlfriend's question. "Yeah, Tony's recklessness just pushed Pepper into the line of fire."

A quick scene change showed Pepper stepping out of an elevator on her way to Tony's office, nervously clutching to a bag that she had slung over her shoulder as her eyes darted around. To her relief, she made it into his office with no one seemingly catching on to her intentions.

Hastily making her way over to his desk, she pulled out the chip and plugged it in. Not even a second later, the computer beeped as the words 'WARNING! SECURITY BREACH' appeared on the monitor. Just before the panic could set in, the subroutines Tony had built into the chip hacked into the system and, after a green 'ACCESS GRANTED' screen, she was free to move.

Having often used her boss' system to retrieve files (or set up multiple reminders for him), she was able to identify the newer folders and she focused her attention there, zipping through weapons design files until she came across one that caught her fancy. Opening it up, she was confronted with a far larger, more powerful looking suit of armor than what she had seen on Tony.

"Okay, that's just not right," Dick noted with a frown. "I mean, I could ignore how quickly the computer responded but having what looks like a Monstrosity 2.0 on that system? No, that's not right at all."

"What do you mean kid?" Hal asked.

"JARVIS," Artemis noted with wide eyes. "When Tony was working on the Mark II he told JARVIS to keep all the details on a private server. For there to be a copy- no, for there to be designs for an improved Monstrosity on this computer means-"

"Stane hacked into Tony's private server and has been working on designs of his own."

Oliver's conclusion reminded them yet again of the depths to which Tony's former mentor had sunk.

Closing the armor design, Pepper scrolled through the files until she noticed a folder. "Sector sixteen? What are you up to, Obadiah?" She asked as she opened up a video file.

A window opened, showing a video of a group of men, most of whom had covered their faces and held guns surrounding a bound man with a duffel bag over his head. Another man, head covered like the rest, read from a sheet of paper in Urdu as another pulled the duffel bag off their captive's head to reveal a disheveled looking Tony.

Though the sight caught her off balance, Pepper retained enough presence of mind to feed the file through a translation command, converting the man's words to English.

"You did not tell us that the target you paid us to kill was the great Tony Stark."

"Son of a bitch." Hal swore through clenched teeth. "Because killing him wasn't enough, he wanted something for the trophy cabinet!"

"Oh my God." Pepper said in shock.

"...Your deception and lies will cost you dearly. The price to kill Tony Stark has just gone up." The masked reader declared.

Unable to stomach any more of that, Pepper closed the media player window and started copying all the files into the lock chip. She had barely begun when a familiar voice spoke from the doorway, ripping a surprised gasp from her.

"So... What are we going to do about this?"

"Oh…"

"Fuck," Dinah finished for Artemis as they watched Obadiah stroll into the room, headed for a wet bar in the corner.

"How the hell does he move around so quickly anyway?" Asked an annoyed Conner. "I mean, he goes from America to Pakistan in the same amount of time it takes Tony to get back from Gulmira and now he's already back in the States?!"

"He's the second in command of a very powerful technological company," Oliver spat distastefully. "He probably has at least one supersonic plane in his personal hangar."

Hal shook his head in disagreement. "That would be the public excuse; from everything we've seen in the past couple of minutes, I wouldn't put it past him to stash an experimental craft in an underground bunker for precisely these kinds of journeys."

"I know what you're going through, Pepper." Stane smiled as he poured himself a glass of bourbon. "Tony. He always gets the good stuff doesn't he?"

"Anybody else think he isn't talking about booze?" Artemis asked with a shudder of revulsion at the leery look in the man's eyes. "Because he might as well be raping her with that look."

"He's getting drunk but not on the booze." John stated, his narrowed eyes locked onto the man. "He's getting closer and closer to his endgame and he knows it: he's got the Monstrosity, his terrorist partners are dead and he's all but completely backed Tony out of his own company."

"He's power drunk." Zatanna summarized, earning her a nod from the Green Lantern.

Pepper managed to laugh lightly at the older man's words, though the leer in his eyes told her that he wasn't talking about alcohol. The moment he turned away from her, she quickly took the opportunity to slide a conveniently positioned newspaper over the chip. She was just in time too as, not even a moment later, Obadiah ambled over toward her. Thinking quickly, she pulled up the screensaver just before he reached her and forced herself to remain calm as he stood beside her.

"I was so happy when he came home. It was like we got him back from the dead." Obadiah said with a soft smile before shaking his head ruefully. "Now I realize, well, Tony never really did come home, did he? He left a part of himself in that cave. Breaks my heart."

"Like you've got one of those left," Conner snarled.

"Well, he's a complicated person. He's been through a lot." Pepper noted, partly defending her boss, mostly hoping to get Obadiah to turn just the slightest bit away from her. "I think he'll be alright."

"You are a very rare woman. Tony doesn't know how lucky he is."

"His company, his tech, now his woman?" Diana asked incredulously. "Do you exist simply to desire what Tony has?"

"Thank you- Thanks." Pepper nearly winced at the nervousness she could hear in her own tone as she got up from her seat.

"Crap," Clark muttered softly as the redhead moved. "She's getting nervous."

That single statement sent the tension in the room rocketing sky-high again.

They had all been through infiltration experiences before and one truth rang firm for such situations: a single stroke of nerves was often all it took to destroy all of one's efforts.

With a deft bit of sleight of hand she grabbed the newspaper and slipped it into her arms, all while concealing the carefully removed lock chip. "I'd better get back there." She stated, trying to play off her nerves as nothing big as she moved toward the door.

"Is that today's paper?"

"Shit, he noticed," Artemis hissed quietly, her voice cutting through the tense silence of the Cave.

Pepper stopped just short of crossing the foyer with a grimace. "Yes."

Obadiah approached her, hand outstretched. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all." She smiled as she handed him the newspaper.

"Puzzle." He clarified, with a seemingly gentle smile.

"Bullshit," Dick scowled angrily. "If he wanted it for the puzzle-"

"I think our take away from this should be the fact that Pepper's still alive," Wally stated, though his usually energetic tone was dulled by the anger he was barely holding back.

"Of course." She nodded before continuing out the door.

"Take care."

She nodded again as walked away, nervously looking over her shoulder before looking down at the chip in her hand.

As soon as Pepper was out of sight Obadiah walked back to the desk, slamming the paper down on the table and turning on the monitor. The moment he saw the 'Download Complete' screen, he all but snarled as he shot an evil glare at the door. Taking a moment to compose himself, he marched determinedly out the door.

Meanwhile, a clearly flustered Pepper hastily made her way down the stairs, eyes raking over every corner and every person within sight. She all but cried in relief as she saw a somewhat familiar figure seated close to the landing.

"Okay, this guy has some seriously suspicious timing," Zatanna frowned. "I mean, he just shows up exactly when she needs backup?"

"Plot device," Wally and Dick answered in sync. A shared glance and Dick backed off so Wally would continue the explanation. "First off, you're right: his appearance is sus-timed. However, that's exactly the point of a plot device: they appear at the best-"

"Or worst," Dick interjected, to which Wally nodded.

"-or worst time in order to push the plot forward. In most cases, the appearance of a plot device is typically not very well explained but some writers try to put in some sort of explanation to make it seem less… plot device-y."

"Ms. Potts?" Agent Coulson asked, standing up politely as the lady appeared. "We had an appointment. Did you forget about our appointment?"

"Like that." The speedster noted.

Zatanna nodded, easily getting his point: thanks to the meeting during Tony's 'welcome back' conference, it was already somewhat stated that the two would have a meeting. While the timing was sus, it still did a good job of taking some of that suspicion away.

"Nope, right now. Come with me." Pepper instructed as she walked right past him, the man nearly stumbling in his efforts to keep up with her.

"Right now?"

"We're going to have it right now. Walk with me."

"Oh-Okay." Coulson said as they walked toward the exit.

Pepper threw a nervous glance back and, upon seeing Obadiah glaring down at them from the second floor walkway, she all but doubled her speed. "I'm going to give you the meeting of your life. Your office."

"Plot device or not, I'm glad Agent Smiley was there when he was," M'gann released a sigh of relief as the duo walked off-screen and Dinah paused the movie. "I can't imagine how Tony would have felt if Stane got his hands on her."

"Yeah, Baldy the Bad looked like he was out for blood back there," Artemis agreed. "I'm actually slightly… bothered about what he'll do now."

"You're that interested in him?" Conner asked, sounding almost derisive.

Artemis' tone hardened, "If I've learned anything about his type from my father it's that they don't relent and when their perfectly laid out plans begin to wrinkle, they're at their most dangerous."

"Artemis is right," Oliver added. "The worst time to deal with a criminal is when they begin to see their plans go up in smoke. They feel cornered, beaten and often vindictive; they'll gladly tear the world apart if it means they can score some kind of point on their imaginary tally."

"It seems we're in the endgame now, then," Dinah commented as many of the watchers stretched and adjusted into more comfortable positions. "Dick? Can I see you for a moment?"

Having a good guess what she wanted, the young man excused himself and walked out of the Cave with their Den Mother.

"How do you think he's doing?" She asked without preamble the moment they were out of earshot of the Cave.

Dick ran a hand through his hair and let out an explosive sigh. "I… I don't know. I mean I've never seen him look so…"

"Pissed off? Enraged?"

"Distraught." Dick leaned on a wall then slid downward until he was popping a squat. "I've only seen him like that once."

The blonde heroine stared at the former sidekick who had, in the past year, begun the journey to becoming his own hero and, for the umpteenth time, wondered what it must have been like to work with a figure like the Dark Knight in the psychotic madhouse that was Gotham. Popping a squat beside him, she asked, "What happened then?"

"We got a call from GCPD, something about a bug infestation in downtown Gotham. Didn't take long to figure out that the Scarecrow had something to do with it." He paused there and Dinah could tell that whatever had happened on that day had seriously affected him. "We got in, found him in some sort of rundown lab and took the fight to him. It was easy. Too easy. Turns out he was never really there, just one of Black Mask's idiot grunts who had been doped up on a ridiculous amount of chemical mixes to keep us busy while the vents released a constant dose of FT- Fear Toxins. By the time we realized it, we were already living our fears." He stared his hands for a moment, drawing her attention there too and, for the first time, she noticed that his right wrist had a faint scar. Dinah's eyes grew wide with shock as she immediately came to a conclusion about it however, before she could ask, he continued, "I'm not sure how we got out of it but I do remember that, for days after that, Bruce seemed… it was like he had hit a slump. It was like… no matter what I tried, I just couldn't get through to him."

"What happened after that?"

"I… I don't know," He shrugged helplessly. "There was a week-long field trip at school and when I came back, he was pretty much back to normal. I think it was Alfred, though; he's always been there for Bruce and they've got some connection that's just… far beyond anything I can think of."

"Do you think… do you think letting him leave was the best decision?"

"How should I know?" Dick laughed mirthlessly before sighing and pushing himself up. "I just hope he runs into Alfred before he meets anyone else."

*- A throwback to Firestorm808's Young Justice Watches Death Battle, upon which this is [very loosely] based.

Here lies what could very well be the most polarizing chapter of this fic. In fact, according to our statistics (provided primarily by Mr. War) there has NEVER been a reaction-type fic that had a member of the watching cast leave before the end of the viewing.

That being said, though, here's my opinion on why Bruce left:

For the first time in, pretty much ever, he got himself so immersed in something IN A PUBLIC SETTING that, when the twist was revealed, it seriously screwed with his somewhat fragile mind. What we've seen, to this point, hasn't been 'Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham' it has primarily been 'billionaire genius Bruce Wayne' and when the reveal hit, it struck 'Bruce Wayne' far harder than it would 'Batman.' That being said, the 'Batman' persona is as much a mask as it is a shield to Bruce, hence, when he was about to leave, the cowl was pulled up, to signify that 'Batman' was in the driver's seat. 'Batman' is pretty much the gruff, emotionless terror of Gotham and, keeping up that persona means he isn't going to try 'sharing his emotions' in public. As such, as far as Bruce/Batman's character goes, leaving was the most in-character thing I could think of for him. That being said, we WILL get to see Bruce before the end of the fic. That much I can promise.

Let's just hope that explanation is enough and I didn't break our growing reviewer-ship with that move.

Thanks as usual to Lady Katana of the Blade and Mr War.

Fingers Crossed,

The Ethereal Lord