The Dark Knight Initiative

A/N: Hi guys, sorry it's been forever and a day again since I updated, but since I have time these next few weeks I was able to type up this chapter, so please enjoy. Criticisms are welcomed. Also, I have to admit, while this chapter does help advance the story a bit, most of the contents in this is mostly filler I think. So I apologize in advance to anyone wanting to get to the action parts, that won't be until next chapter.

Also, to my dear readers and reviewers, I reposted the previous chapters, especially chapter 2 with Natasha's part, don't worry, they're minor changes, they won't affect the story. Such as omitting hints of Spiderman in the second chapter because of a certain movie's timeline, also changing the spelling of Romanov to Romanoff to be a bit more closely tied into the MCU.

Now, for my short reviews for the some of the movies that came out this year. Logan, what else can I say? The movie was what we needed, and what Logan deserved. And the girl who played X-23, she has really good acting chops for her age. She better have her own sequel.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2. The beginning wasn't as catching as the first movie, but this one has more dramatic parts in it as well. Especially when Yondu died, then they played Father and Son by Cat Stevens, had me in tears.

Wonder Woman was a surprise, maybe because my expectations were set low for DC movies, but Wonder Woman was a damn good movie.

Last but not least, Spiderman Homecoming, like I said before, I like this version of Spiderman better than Tobey's and Andrew's. Tom plays an excellent Peter AND Spiderman.

So now, I'm posting this chapter before Thor Ragnarok and Justice League comes out next month, YEAH!

Docron: I'm back, buddy. Thank you for your patience, here's the next chapter for you, and it might be the longest chapter so far.

actionliker: Thank you for not giving up on me.

Jackalope89: Yeah, I get confused about the grammar sometimes too, lol. That's why I keep reading and re-reading the chapters before I post them, editing as much as I can to make it a bit more concise but still keeping the guys' personality. And I will do my best to avoid the fourth wall, any advice you have would be helpful.

Doominator84: Well, when I get to the ending I hope it satisfies you.

Dracomancer1: Thanks for the advice on the Joker, any tips to keep him at his best would be great, since it has been a while since he appeared story-wise.

Superfan44: Thank you so much for the review. Love it.

Shockeye7665: Hehe, well will that certain psychiatrist be making an appearance in this fic? I dunno, we'll have to see if it comes to that. Romanoff herself has always been resourceful; she'll find a way to get in touch. And please remember, each chapter will have a month time lapse until the climax. A fight between Bane and Cap, now that is a fight I would pay to see, maybe a Death Battle. Huh, you know I completely forgot about the STRIKE team, I'll see if I can try to fit them in, no guarantees though. Thanks.

Jestalnaker94000: Lol, Hulk and Bane? That would be too easy, for Hulk. Hehe.

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these movies or franchises, if I did, or rather if anyone did they wouldn't be putting it on the internet but rather make the crossover happen in reality right now. Lol

Ch9: Third Month

The Narrows…

What was once the most treacherous and deplorable area in Gotham next to Crime Alley, has become a haven for the citizens who have been thrown out of their homes or the people who just happen to be in Gotham right as Bane and his men took over. Bodies huddled around bonfires anywhere that provided light and warmth, especially with winter around the corner.

Walking past the forlorn outcasts, Natasha Romanoff, under the alias of 'Nancy Rushman' came back from scouring the west side of the city. So far, the past couple weeks has proven to be uneventful, nothing that could give her intel on the bomb, she sits down by one of the bonfires by herself, reflecting on the past couple weeks and how she came to work with Gordon and Blake.

Two weeks ago…

Arriving at whatever shelter the GCPD has left, Natasha scoped out the area, searching any exits she could use once they settle in. Waiting until the dead of night to make her move, she leaves through the window, making her way down the fire escape to outside, the cold chilly wind starting to reach below zero.

"Leaving so soon?" someone said from around the corner, turning toward the source of the voice, she finds it to be Blake.

Surprised that he actually figured her out, she gives him a good enough alibi, "Sorry about that, I just feel so bad about taking advantage of your kindness and hospitality," she says in the sincerest way imaginable, without sounding fake.

Chuckling at that, Blake simply replies, "You know, if I didn't already realize who you are, I would have believed you," he tells her as he approaches.

"What are you talking about?" Natasha feigns ignorance.

"You know what I mean."

"No, I don't. Is this how the cops act like now? Save the damsel and take her to their base to take advantage of her?" she starts playing the victim, "Look, if there's something you want from me, I don't have anything."

This did not deter Blake from frowning at her as he keeps walking towards her.

"You come any closer and I'll scream," she threatens.

"And I'll tell everyone that you're one of the Avengers, the one they call Black Widow. Sure, you were shown on TV as having red hair, but I bet that's either hair dye you're using, or a really good wig," Blake counters back.

Suddenly, Natasha dashes at him, takes his right arm, twists it behind his back, puts him in an arm-lock hold and slams him against the ice-cold building. Blake attempts to break free, but the experienced SHIELD agent was surprisingly strong.

"What's your game?" Natasha interrogates the rookie detective.

"None! I was just trying to offer some help!" Blake says between each breath.

"Your skills for this kind of operation is inadequate, you'll just get yourself killed."

"That's kind of part of the job description already," Blake quips, still taking sharp breaths, trying not to let the pain take over.

After a few seconds, she let him go. Finally able to feel his arm, Blake takes a few steps back from her. Sizing each other up, she reprimands him, "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I can handle this on my own."

"Don't you normally need as much intel as you can gather in this type of missions? Cuz I doubt you and the Avengers know everything that has been happening down here."

Raising an eyebrow at his brazen attitude, she wanted to teach him another lesson, but decided against it. Instead, she was curious about one thing, "How did you figure me out already? There are over seven billion people in the world, some of them are bound to look similar."

"I'm a detective, we don't believe in coincidences," was Blake's retort.

Figuring she couldn't argue with that, Natasha comments to him, "Well good for you, but if you really want to help me, you should stay out of my way," she says as she starts to walk away.

"Wait, we have one person we should tell about this, if you can't trust me, at least trust him."

Natasha again raises an eyebrow in question in return.

"The commish — I mean, Commissioner Gordon."

"Your boss? No thanks. The less people know the better."

"We can ask him not to mention you at all. He worked with the Batman before, weren't you secret agency types briefed about stuff like this?"

Once again, he befuddled her with how quickly he's putting things together. Maybe Steve was right, maybe there was something about this kid. Stopping in her tracks, she turned to face the rookie detective, "Okay, kid. Go get your boss, but only your boss."

"Got it," Blake replies, "Just give me five minutes, I'll bring him here," he heads back into the building.

Present…

That was when she met James Gordon, or Jim as he preferred to be addressed as. From what she could assess, Gordon's a decent cop, one of the few, he was in the green berets when he was much younger. He told her he moved to Gotham two decades ago, his wife took the kids and left him about eight years ago, she reckoned it was after the Joker incident. She was also informed about John Dagget's death, and how Bane managed to segregate off Gotham. By pouring concrete laced with explosives, which was actually an ingenious idea. Undetectable booby traps right underneath your feet, because you literally are walking on said explosives. Although, Daggett's death does signify to her that he is not Bane's employer, which mean he's either working for himself, or someone higher.

Breaking away from her thoughts, she spots Blake and Gordon coming up to her. "Hey, we got some news," Blake whispers to her, "We heard from a reliable source that Navy SEALS are secretly sending a team over to meet us."

"They what?!" she expressed in a whisper, "Where did you get that information?"

"One of the guys from the National Emergency Relief guys related it to Lieutenant Foley, and he disclosed it to us, apparently they're due to arrive three weeks from now," Gordon discloses the information to her.

"They shouldn't come here," Natasha warns them.

"Why? You got in here," Blake points out.

"It's about covertness, Blake. Remember when I said the less people the better?"

To which Blake nods, "Yeah, you did."

"The more the government tries to secretly send in their men the more suspicious Bane and his men will be. When you've been isolated in the same area for long enough, you'll start to recognize the ones who have been here from the beginning," she elaborates.

"…And you'll start to be suspicious of the ones you don't recognize," Gordon realizes what she means.

"But what can we do? They already set the plan in motion," Blake says perturbed.

Getting up from her seat next to the fire, Natasha speculates that she might have to work with the Navy SEALS. But since they've never cooperated with SHIELD before, the teamwork will surely be lacking, she can't have more people to babysit, she has enough on her hands. "I need to get in contact with my team, see if they can belay the operation, but that's the best I can do," she finally says with a sigh.

"What? That's it?" Blake looks at her like she grew another head.

"There's not much I can do," Natasha spots another truck passing by them, she discreetly grabs the tracking device on her person, and calmly walks close to the oncoming eighteen-wheeler, as it drives by she points the device towards it. The readings started to spike, indicating she has found the bomb, but the truck goes by too fast for her to chase. She starts walking back to the only two cops who know her identity.

"What is it?" the commissioner asks.

"I found the truck which has the bomb, but its destination keeps changing, I don't even know how to disarm it if I can get to it. The only thing I can do is figure out the truck's routes, then we can calculate a way to stop the truck when we need to."

Strategizing a way to best use their resources, Gordon proposes an option, "We can map out the routes, while you find out a way to neutralize the bomb."

"And how do you plan on identifying which semi has the bomb?" Natasha opposes their suggestion, guessing at Gordon's arrangement.

"You're gonna have to trust us with that tracker," Gordon insisted, "We can try to pinpoint which truck has the bomb, that makes you free to find out whatever info you need about it," he tells the former assassin.

Listening to their words, she considered her options. On one hand, if she was the only one searching for the bomb she would be only one at risk, but if there's something else they need to know about the explosive, she won't be able to discover it while constantly identifying which truck has it. Looking back at the senior and rookie detectives, she takes the tracking device from her belt and hands it to Gordon, "Here, don't lose it no matter what," she gives him fair warning.

Inspecting the device, and remembering how she operated it, Gordon asks her, "How are we supposed to explain where we got this?"

Shrugging, Blake proposes, "You can always say it was a souvenir from when you worked with the Batman a long time ago." They all nod, in favor of the alibi as Gordon goes to round up the rest of the police officers, while Blake follows Natasha.

While they were walking a couple miles, Natasha contemplated on where she should start. Suddenly she noticed Blake wasn't following her anymore. Looking back, she sees him staring at an abandoned gas station. "Wait here," he tells her as he runs inside. After a few minutes, he comes back out with a couple binoculars along with a local map of Gotham. "You said you need to figure out the routes of all three eighteen-wheelers, right? We can scope them out from a high enough angle and map out their routine trails."

Tilting her head in approval, Natasha agreed with Blake's idea, it was tedious, but effective. Looking for a good vantage point, they stumbled upon what seemed like a vacant building in midtown, or so they thought. Reaching up to the top of the building, the both of them find the place to be inhabited by whatever small community that survived the insurrection. The hungry, frightful eyes of the victims staring back at them as they walked by. Natasha then caught sight of two people, from the way they presented themselves they seemed to be of important stature, or used to be.

One of the two, a dark-haired woman came up to them, "Excuse me! What are you two doing?" she inquiries from them. From what Natasha could tell, the lady was of mixed origin from her features and her accent. Gently nudging Blake to get his attention, the detective took it as his hint to do the talking.

"Detective Blake, ma'am. I'm just here to get a vantage point of the city," Blake shows his badge to the woman.

"A policeman?" the lady says with wide eyes, "You shouldn't stay here, they're hunting cops like animals out there."

"I'm aware of that ma'am, but we won't be here long."

"And who's this? You don't look like a police officer," the woman turns to Natasha.

"Oh, my name's Nancy. I'm just tagging along, he did save my life, so I feel safe with him," Romanoff puts a hand on Blake's arm while smiling sweetly, leaving the detective speechless, unsure of what to say, so all he did is smile.

The lady merely glanced between them, then she called the other person behind her, "It's alright, Mr. Fox, they're friendly," she tells the elder gentleman.

"I can see that," the other male with her approached them, an elderly African-American man with greying hair and moustache walks up to them and offers a hand, "Welcome to our current abode," he shakes Natasha's hand as he gestures to their surroundings.

"We put up this sanctuary for those who lost everything," the lady tells them.

"And you two are?" Blake asks.

"I'm Lucius Fox, and this is Miranda Tate," Lucius makes themselves known, "Almost everyone here works for us. Well, they used to work for us."

"Used to?" Natasha asked this time.

"We're with Wayne Enterprises."

That caught Blake's attention, "Wayne Enterprises?" he repeats, "You guys worked under Bruce Wayne?"

"That's correct, I was the Executive of the Board of Directors, while Mr. Fox was the CEO of the corporation," Miranda explains.

"Don't mind me asking, but what were you looking for a vantage point on?" Miranda questions them.

Checking to make sure no one else is listening in, Blake comes up close, "We're mapping out the routes of the trucks, see if there's a pattern."

Raising an eyebrow, Miranda asks, "Pattern for what?"

"We find the pattern, it'll be easier to find the bomb," Blake explains.

The mention of the bomb caused the behaviors of Lucius and Miranda to shift. Observing this, Natasha points it out, "What's wrong?"

Looking at each other before facing Blake and Natasha, the two former executives of Wayne Enterprises remains silent, until Miranda speaks up, "We need to tell them Lucius, they need to know."

"Know what?" Blake asks.

Contemplating on his alternatives, Lucius decided to tell the whole story, "Detective Blake, there's something we need to confess. The bomb that's threatening the city… we were the ones who built it."

Stunned at the revelation, Blake couldn't help but ask, "You built the bomb?!" he came up to their faces, but Natasha had to hold him back.

"What do you mean you built the bomb?" Natasha asked, being the more level-headed one.

Nodding his head, Miranda explained further, "It was originally built as a fusion reactor, first of its kind. Bane turned the core into a bomb, but that's not the urgent part."

"You mean there's something else we have to worry about than a bomb that could wipe out an entire city?" Blake wondered incredulously.

"That's just it, as the fuel cells of the core degenerates it becomes increasingly unstable to the point of detonation," Lucius clarified, "and it will go off in 45 days, regardless of Bane's revolution or what we or the outside world chooses to do."

'Well, that certainly makes things much worse,' Natasha internally grimaced, yet kept a cool poker face. "Does Bane know this fact?" she asks.

"Bane knew what was going to happen before he disconnected the core," Lucius tells them, "He's willing to die for his cause."

"Can you disarm it?"

"I could if we reconnect the core to the reactor."

Having gathered some important intel, Natasha discreetly pinches Blake by the arm, who looks at her wondering what she wants as she hints for him leave the building.

Taking his cue, Blake faces the two, "Thank you for the information ma'am, sir," he nods at Miranda and Lucius respectively, walking out the exit with Natasha following behind. As they leave, something was nagging at the back of Natasha's mind, she wasn't sure what it was, but her training told her there was something off, she took a quick glance at Lucius and Miranda, who went back to help the victims. Deciding that she'll look into it later she proceeds to exit the building.

Walking back to the GCPD shelter, Romanoff opens a dumpster, she forages around until she finds a scrunched-up piece of paper, unfolding it, "Do you have a pen?" she asks the detective, who gives her his pen, then she starts to jot down a list of items, "Listen, do you know where I can get these?" she hands him the paper.

Reading the list, Blake sees items such as: a D battery, aluminum, duct tape, etc. "Yeah, it'll take some time, what do you need these for?" Blake asks.

"Because I need to send a message to my team," she informs him.

Helicarrier…

In the meeting room, Banner and Fury have been staring at all the current information they have of the nuclear explosive. While Steve and Thor were thoroughly inspecting several maps of Gotham, from past to present, leaving no stone unturned gathering knowledge of routes and shortcuts. Suddenly, the sound of the door opening catches their attention, turning to see Tony suddenly coming through the doorway, "Hey, guys."

"Tony, where have you been?!" Steve demands, "We haven't seen or heard from you in two months!"

"Yeah, well I'm here now," the Stark billionaire answers in a boorish way.

"Mr. Stark, we had to have you transported back here because we need help on figuring out the nature of this bomb, not only that but because you are also a member of the Avenger Initiative. So, it goes without saying, WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO!?" Fury roars that nearly everyone in the Helicarrier probably heard him.

"Been busy," Tony replies with a sniff.

"Tony, don't tell me you're sick?" Banner asks his friend in worry, who in turn replies with a thumb up, indicating that he's fine.

"How have you been, Stark?" Thor asks, surprisingly the sincerest sounding of the lot.

"I'm good, buddy. Just been occupied in building stuff," Stark acknowledges with a pat on the shoulder.

Raising an eyebrow, Fury interrogates the billionaire, "How many suits have you built now?"

With a shrug, said billionaire responds, "Well if you must know, I was currently working on Mark XL, until your people came to my house and escorted me here," he says as he rubs his eyes.

They all stared at him in awe, they knew he has been building new Iron Man armors, and their last count was 17, but to reach from 17 to 40 in two months?! How much did the Stark prodigy spend in resources and money to be able to do all that?!

"What are you planning to do with 40 Armors, Mr. Stark?" Fury directly demands.

"A little something I thought up recently," Tony replies with a knowing smirk, "Well? Any progress?" he changes the subject.

"We think we have a way into the city," Rogers informs him. Signaling Fury, who brought up a holographic three-dimensional map of the city on the center of the room. "As we know, every single man-made entrance has been cordoned off, except for the bridge they kept accessible for supplies. Even then, that bridge is heavily guarded 24/7, Barton has been keeping tabs with us on that."

"Why do I get the feeling there's a good and bad news about this?" Tony looks at the rest of the team.

"We found a way to get in, but it's very risky," the Cap signals for a change of screen, which brings up a recording, "This happened four days ago," the satellite recording shows some of Bane's men along with some escaped convicts dragging out civilians out through a cleared canal. The civilians were forced to walk through the frozen over ocean, but none of them survived, every single one of them began to drop one-by-one into the ice-cold sea, freezing to death.

Looking away after witnessing that, Tony turned to them, "So you're planning on crossing that ocean?"

"It's the only way, Tony," Cap looks at his associate, "And we'll have to trespass by foot, any mode of transportation could alert Bane's men, then it's game over."

"Did you see how fast those people fell to their deaths? The ice is too thin."

"Which is why we're biding time, we anticipate that by December the ice should be thick enough to cross over," Steve explains, "The only problem we have now is the bomb."

"What about the triggerman?"

"The triggerman won't matter as long as we can disarm it," Fury throws in.

Weighing out the options, Tony figures this may be the best plan they can come up, "Okay, what's going on? Did you guys find a way to disarm the bomb?" he asks as he comes up to study the image they have of the bomb.

"We received a message from Agent Romanoff earlier today," Fury updates him, "She sent it through via Morse Code that she found the designers of the bomb. Furthermore, it's not just a bomb ready to detonate… it's also a time bomb," the others remained silent, letting that news sink in.

"What?!" Stark looks at them in exasperation, "You mean it could go off at any time?!"

"Not from what she reported," Banner interjects, "According to Agent Romanoff, the designer of the bomb stated that the core of it was originally plugged in to a reactor to keep it stable. But Bane turned it into a bomb and disconnected it from the reactor, and as the device's fuel cells deteriorate it becomes increasingly unstable to the point until it detonates."

"How long do we have?"

"As of right now, we have 44 days," says Steve.

"The architect, who was it?" Tony asks.

"She mentioned Wayne Enterprises," says Fury.

Something suddenly clicked, Tony recalled something from years ago, "Wait a minute," he whispers loud enough for the rest to hear, they all watch the billionaire genius start to observe the holographic illustration they have of the bomb in different angles, "Holy shit… I can't believe I didn't recognize it sooner, I've seen this before."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at the billionaire, and the questions came in droves.

"What?!"

"What did you say!?"

"Hey, like I said, I sorta recognize the design," Tony replies defensively.

"You want to explain to me why you've only 'just recognized' the design of a neutron bomb that we've been looking at for months!?" Fury bellowed.

"Because that asshole Bane threatened Pepper and Rhodey okay?!" Tony yells in annoyance at the SHIELD Director, "I just wanted to make sure they were safe," he concludes with a sigh, "That's the only reason why I haven't been here for the past few weeks."

"Just breath, Tony, we understand," Steve assures his teammate, "What is it you remember about the bomb?"

Reflecting, Tony walks back and forth, his mind searching for the specific memories, "It was about five years ago, long before I became Iron Man, before I even had this thing on my chest," he flicks the reactor in his chest with a resounding *ting*. "I was in this expo that was happening in Gotham, there have been rumors about them creating something that will change the world…"

Five years ago…

Wayne Tower, the skyscraper located at the heart of Gotham City, its beacon of hope, encompassed with numerous lights and people. All these people, from various generations and professions gathering here. Including the proprietor of Stark Industries, Tony Stark.

Making his way through the crowd, he surveys the guests of this particular exposition, when he accidentally collides into someone. Turning to who he bumped into, he faces a gorgeous woman with long dark hair, along with exotic features. "Excuse me," Tony apologizes.

"Well, well," the sumptuous lady flashes a brief smile, "If it isn't Mr. Anthony Stark. Who would have guessed a person who benefits bycontributing to wars is attending an event about bettering lives?"

"Well, that remains on how objective you can be, Ms.?"

"The name's Miranda Tate, I'm one of the people investing in this project," Ms. Tate introduces herself.

"Wow, a woman named Tate, must've been a rough childhood," Tony snarks at her.

"You're talking about the perineum part of the human anatomy, it's not amusing," Miranda sneers, "And you have no idea what kind of childhood I've had."

"Well, everyone's had it rough in some part of their lives, hun," Tony coolly answers back at her.

"Whatever you may think of yourself, it doesn't cloud the fact that someone in your line of business does not belong here, have a good evening, Mr. Stark," Miranda responds, taking her leave.

Shrugging it off, Tony continues his way until he spots an elder African-American male looking to be in his late-fifties, yet despite that, he looks healthier than others his age, "At least there's a face here who I kind of recognize," Tony greets the man, "Mr. Fox, Tony Stark. I'm here because I heard about your little Clean Energy Project," he adds as he looks around, "Is your prick of a boss gonna show up late to his own expo?"

"It's a pleasure to have you with us, Mr. Stark," Lucius offers a hand, which the Stark owner accepts, "Mr. Wayne is unfortunately caught up in something at the moment."

"What, is he still figuring out what to wear?" Tony jeers.

"Something like that," Lucius muses with a smile.

Just then, someone came up between them, facing the Wayne CEO, "Mr. Fox, we're ready for the presentation," one of the most beautiful redheads Tony has ever seen, getting a good look at her eyes shows brilliant green irises. Sure, she looks nerdy with the lab coat and the glasses, but Tony bets that if she lets loose, she'll be one of the hottest women out there, with looks and brains.

"Mr. Stark, this is Dr. Pamela Isley, she's a promising young professor with a PhD in advanced botanical biochemistry, as well as one of our foremost authority on the project," Lucius explains as he introduces the young doctor.

"Any other talents aside from botany?" Stark smirks with a suggestive tone.

"I major in toxicology as well, Mr. Stark, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," came the young doctor's brief reply as she immediately yet quietly walks back to the stage.

"You'll have to excuse her, she's a bit reserved. Anyway, please have a seat, the presentation is about to start." the Wayne CEO tells the Stark prodigy as he too walks to the stage.

Tony snorts as he grabs a champagne that was being passed around, 'Hmph, guess I'll find my own clever, beautiful redhead, and she needs to be confident too,' he thinks to himself as he takes a seat.

Up on the stage, the Wayne CEO stands on the podium, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Mr. Wayne and Wayne Enterprises I voice our gratitude to you all for coming here tonight. As most of you are well aware, my name is Lucius Fox, CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Now I know some of you may be privy as to what we will be presenting here tonight, and the answer is yes, we are close to cracking the code for unlimited energy," the crowd begins to whisper to each other. "And I know you may ask; how do we plan on accomplishing it? What method are we utilizing to achieve this feat? To help me further explain, I introduce to you one of our leading consultants for our project, Dr. Pamela Isley," Lucius gestures to the redhead, stepping aside to make way for her.

The demure redhead slowly stands on the platform, anxiously glancing at the audience, "Greetings, as Mr. Fox just elucidated, we are closer to reaching a limitless source of energy, a way to revolutionize the future of the world," she pauses, "And it starts, with photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the ultimate green power, it doesn't pollute the air, and is in fact, carbon neutral. Artificial photosynthesis, on a big enough scale, could reduce the greenhouse effect that's driving climate change in a dangerous direction."

This causes most of them to snicker, the words could be heard, "Really?", "Plants? That's what's gonna be our future?", "We already have millions of them."

Suddenly, the attitude of the young scientist changed, her sheepishness ceased, a slight fury blazing in her eyes, "And what if we keep going down our route of devastating plant life?" she challenges them. "Statistics show that the flora of the planet has gone down significantly compared to decades ago, in the span of a century, we have caused more damage to the planet than we have in the past thousands of years. Not only that, but isn't it stated that fossil fuels may go out in in the next couple centuries? What will we use as energy then?" her demeanor induces the people into silence. "Plants have been around for more than three billion years, they have survived far longer than we could ever hope to, and their secret lies in the fact that they're a three-billion-year-old solar energy collector. Within plants is a sub microscopic battery that drives all the forests, the fields, the seas, the animals, including us. Could anyone care to guess what that component within the plant is?"

No answered, except one who has his hand raised, "You're talking about the chloroplast," everyone turned to see who answered, who unsurprisingly, was Tony Stark, "What? Does no one remember their fourth-grade science class?" he mocks them in a condescending manner.

Nodding her approval at the answer, Dr. Isley continues, "At the molecular level, this solar powered biosphere, collects and processes six times more power than our entire civilization. And now that we have figured out the trade secrets of photosynthesis, every other source of energy we depend on today, coal, oil, natural gas, would all become obsolete. And I know the business tycoons whose lifestyles flourished by ridding the earth of its natural resources won't be too keen to accept, but don't worry, Wayne Enterprises has guaranteed that if you invest on this project, you'll never need a cent for the rest of your life," she looks around the audience, then to Lucius, who nods at her with a smile. Taking that as she did a good job, her demeanor changed back to the reserved person she was, "And with that, I conclude my short lecture," Isley tranquilly steps down from the podium to let Mr. Fox finish.

"Thank you, Dr. Isley, that was an illuminating speech. Now, from exactly what Dr. Isley just made very clear for us, the planet we live in is slowly but surely dwindling, our natural resources that used to be abundant is starting to become scarce, so why argue over who deserves more compensation? When everyone can gain equal profit?" The statement starts to pique the interests of the spectators, "Once again, ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues, I am proud to announce to you a little project we've been developing, the next stage of human progression," he gestures to Dr. Isley, who then turns on the screen behind the CEO, showing blueprints and images of what looks to be a reactor still in its beta stage, "Within the next two years, we will accomplish a future, powered not by limited resources that damages our ecosystem, but an unlimited source of free energy that will sustain us forever. A fusion reactor using artificial photosynthesis, the first of its kind, and it starts here, with Wayne Enterprises!" The audience gives a standing ovation, the loud deafening cheers blaring over every other noise.

Meanwhile, as the Stark billionaire claps along with the patrons, he couldn't help but be contemplative if this project will actually be feasible.

Present…

"You're saying that this neutron bomb Bane has in his possession is a reconstruct of an existing prototype?" Banner questions.

"No, I doubt Bane and his lackeys would be able to build that," Tony points at the photograph, "even if they had Dr. Pavel with them for the past six months," he looks at the others as they speculate on the matter.

Sitting in his chair, Fury caught on to what Stark was implying, "So what we're looking at here is what Mr. Wayne and his men were working on?"

"Exactly," Tony acclaimed, "which means that they must have stolen it from Wayne Enterprises." Suddenly, a realization hit the genius billionaire, "Son of a bitch," causing the rest to look at him again.

"What is it?" Rogers asks.

"Which also means that that Wayne bastard one-upped me," he replies to no one in particular, "his corporation actually managed to do it."

"His company actually managed to accomplish building a working fusion reactor that can create free, clean energy for an entire city?" Banner probes on with the questions, fascinated at the achievement. Creating energy not sourced from fossil fuel is something that has just barely been touched, even Tony's new element that he rediscovered from his father's work generates just enough energy for a company building, but for an entire city? That's beyond remarkable.

"This Bruce Wayne seems to be an intellectual such as yourself," Thor tries to encourage his colleague with the conversation.

"Wayne?! Pft! You met the guy?" Everyone shakes their head in reply. "I'll tell you exactly what he is, he's a lazy, overbearing, pompous, jackass!"

"Wow, Tony. I think that's the first time I've ever heard you say such hateful words about a person," Steve jeers.

"That and the fact you actually hold some sort of grudge against someone," Banner quips.

"You know how they say first impressions can last," Tony says in his defense, "well my first memory of Wayne is him kicking me out of his little birthday party."

Everyone just shrugs, "Sounds kind of normal for you."

"You say that cuz you don't know the whole story…" Tony begins as he explains to them what happened a decade ago.

Ten years ago…

On a certain night, in Wayne Manor, several luxurious cars parked right outside and on the grounds. One vehicle in particular, a 1949 Mercury Coupe, came cruising through, parking in front of the valet. A husky Caucasian male with a mullet and a goatee comes out the driver seat to let out his occupants. A trio of gorgeous women exits, one blonde, one redhead, and one brunette, all of them dressed in designer gowns. Then the last person comes out, and it's none other than Tony Stark.

"Make sure there's not a scratch on it, ok?" The chauffeur warns the valets as he tosses them the car keys. The group walks up the stairs to see a middle-aged man waiting for them at the entrance.

"Tony! You made it!" the man greets the party, grinning as he embraces the Stark prodigy.

"Obadiah!" Tony returns the hug, "I'd like you to meet Ashley," he gestures to the brunette, "Andrea," the blonde waves, "and… uhh, Nicole, was it?" the redhead nods her head enthusiastically, "They're the models they have for the upcoming FHM issue."

"Wow, you actually remember the names of your dates for once," Obadiah jeers.

"They grow old so fast," the husky man quips, sharing chuckle with Obadiah.

"Happy, you're fired," Tony reprimands the chauffeur.

"Just reminding you, sir. Mr. Stane was the one who hired me to be your bodyguard," Happy counters.

"No, I meant you're fired from being Obadiah's pet servant to keep an eye on me. You're re-hired to be my wingman."

Raising an eyebrow at his boss, Happy asks, "What do I do?"

"You still do what you do, you just have to take my side and do whatever I ask, plus you get better benefits," Tony shrugs.

"…six digits a year… sir, then I'm your man."

"Deal," Tony reaches out his hand. Happy looks at the extended hand skeptically, then at his boss before accepting it.

"Now go fetch us some drinks, buddy, it's a party!" Tony slaps Happy on the back, signaling him to move on to the bar.

"Tooonyyyyyy! Let's go insiiide!" the ladies accompanying them called out, excited to go inside the manor.

"Alright, Tony, remember to behave yourself, other than that let's enjoy this birthday party," Obadiah puts a hand on Stark's shoulders.

"I always enjoy parties, you know that. By uhh, why are we all the way here in Gotham again?" Tony asks as they walked inside.

"We're here for the return and birthday celebration of Bruce Wayne, my boy," the older man informs him.

"I'm sorry, who is he again? No offense to the Gothamites, but their city isn't exactly known for being one of the safest or even happiest places on earth for that matter."

"The House of Wayne is one of the oldest and wealthiest families in America, Tony. They've been around since before America became an independent country. You and your father may have brought the Stark name to prominence, but the history and influence of the Wayne name is something no good business man should look down on."

"Mm. Sounds like those stuck up people who doesn't know how to have a good time, what with having a stick up their -"

"As you should know, while our company is top of the line in weapons technology, Wayne Enterprises is one of the world's biggest conglomerate, they dabble in pretty much anything and everything. And we've been invited by the CEO, Mr. Earle, he's contacted me looking towards making a partnership with us," Obadiah looks at the festivity, before walking around searching for the CEO.

"Here's your drink, sir," Happy pops out of nowhere with a tray full of long island ice teas and a glass of whiskey on the rocks for Tony and his harem.

"Thanks, Happy. Now enjoy the rest of the party!" The Stark prodigy urges his chauffeur.

"I'm good for now, sir," Happy nods with a smile, keeping his employer within sights.

"Suit yourself," with a shrug, Tony takes a drink of his whiskey. As he looks around the party, he sees an interesting news on the television, "Chaos on Freeway". It showed the police speeding through the freeway, chasing down a black… tank… that was plowing through pretty much anything in its path. "Now that's a cool car," Tony comments out loud, puzzled by what he's watching.

"Ah yes, it seems you've just witnessed Gotham's newest attraction."

Tony looks to his right to see a middle-aged man with graying blonde hair, wrinkles showing on his face, he definitely has the presence of a business man. "It's certainly new to me," Tony casually replies.

"Tell me, Mr. Stark, what is your opinion of a vigilante parading around taking the law into their own hands?" the older gentleman asks.

"Well, as long as he keeps the creeps away from me I'm all for it, heck I'd even build him some weapons myself if he's interested. You think he would mind if I ask him to move to Malibu?" the young billionaire requests with a coy smile.

The elder male scoffs at that response, "Well, I suppose that is a remark I should have anticipated from an eccentric billionaire such as yourself."

"I take it you're with Wayne Enterprises?" the billionaire asks, taking another sip from his glass.

"That I am," he holds a hand toward the Stark prodigy, "William Earle," introducing himself.

"So, you're the guy Obadiah said invited us?" Tony takes the hand and gives it a shake, "You just missed him, I believe he's somewhere around searching for you."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll meet soon enough," Mr. Earle says with a grin as he stares back, "It is my pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Stark, I've heard so much about you."

"As you should be," Tony laughs, "nah, I'm just humoring you. I mean, I bet it's not every day you meet a billionaire philanthropist who just so happens to also be a genius."

"Yes well, the current owner of Wayne Enterprises isn't a genius such as yourself, what with being a Princeton med school dropout and all," Earle jokes with him, "but his family's fame and reputation are considered a beacon of hope here in Gotham and other places, and if you're interested in a conjuncture, I'm sure we can help bring each of our respective businesses to new heights," he offers.

Before he could reply with a 'no, thanks', Tony heard someone calling for attention.

"…Everyone… Everybody…" the music and clamoring stopped as they all turned around to see a male looking in his late twenties, dark hair, expensive tuxedo. His actions and demeanor looking like Tony's when he went on an alcohol binge, except where Tony was more happy-go-lucky, this guy seemed pompous and stuck up.

"I-uhhh… I want to thank you all for coming here tonight and drinking all of my booze…" the sound of laughter echoes through the room, he chuckles along with them, "No really. Uh… the thing about being a Wayne is that—you're never short of a few freeloaders, like yourselves, to fill up your mansion with, so… here's to you people… thank you…"

"Damn…" Tony whispers to himself, him and Happy share a look at each other. Sure, he could be apprehensive as well, but at least he did it with charm, this guy was just being an ass.

"That's enough, Bruce," an old man tries to get him to stop.

"Mm-mm…" Bruce kept going as he drinks his champagne, "I-I'm not finished… to all of you—uhh… all you phonies… all you—heheh—you two-faced friends, you sycophantic suck-ups, who smile through your teeth at me, please… leave me in peace. Please, go," the man turned from jovial to resentful, "Stop smiling, it's not a joke, please leave… the party's over. Get out," he finishes as he gestures towards the exit.

"The apple has fallen very far from the tree, Mr. Wayne," the same old man says to Bruce as he and the rest of the guests walked out the door in a displeased manner.

"Well that was a buzzkill, and we just got here," Tony complains, chugging down the rest of his drink before putting down the glass, "I knew that Wayne was a complete jackass," he looks to Mr. Earle, "Well, Bill, it was nice meeting you. C'mon ladies, let's go somewhere a little merrier," he pats the Wayne CEO on his back before leaving with his cohorts.

Present…

"So, me and the ladies had to go to a cocktail bar in downtown, slept in a condo, together of course, then the next morning I wake up to the news that Wayne burned down his manor in a drunken stupor. Guy clearly had some deep-seated anger issues."

"Wait, he burned his manor down?" Banner asks, bemused.

"Yup, and the guy lost millions in insurance since he was the one who burned it down himself," Tony informs them with a snicker.

Fury was unusually quiet in all of this, remembering that night, it was the first confirmed sighting of the Batman, "What about the Bat?" he asks the billionaire, despite knowing the answer already.

"From what I remember, there was a break out from Arkham Asylum and all the crazies went rampant. There was also supposedly some kind of toxic gas in the air, making the rest of the people go ballistic. And according to the newspaper, the police were able to detain most of the criminals along with the mass hysteria and the gas, but I'm pretty sure we all know who was really responsible for that."

"The Batman," Steve responds to confirm.

"Yup, but all they really held him accountable for is running a train straight into Wayne Tower," Tony laughs.

"He what?" Thor asks, confused.

"Oh yeah," Tony replies with a gleeful expression, "Gave props to the Bat for that one. Wayne must have had an aneurysm after waking up to that news. What I wouldn't have given to have seen his face back then."

"Did your company ever did business with the Waynes?" Banner inquired.

"No, when Obadiah contacted them back a few days later he found out that Bill got fired and that's when they appointed Lucius Fox," Tony told them.

"And when Mr. Fox took over as CEO Wayne Enterprises thrived more than ever," Banner concluded.

"Yup," Tony says, accentuating the 'p', "In my humble opinion, Lucius Fox is the real genius of their corporation. Would have hired him myself if I knew he existed before then."

"So, this Lucius Fox may just be the one with the knowledge about this neutron bomb we have on our hands," Rogers looks to the billionaire to confirm.

Nodding his head, Tony continues on, "And I'm willing to bet they announced it was a failure after Dr. Pavel wrote that article about weaponizing fusion reactors around the same time they finished it."

"That solves the mystery of the bomb," Banner says as he takes off his glasses, "Still, to be able to produce unlimited, sustainable energy; you have to be careful with your own clean energy project as well, Tony, who knows if someone else can turn your new element against you."

"Don't worry, the new core element for my arc reactors won't be so easily tampered with or reverse-engineered by anyone else except me," Stark assured the people in the room.

"What is this new element you speak of?" Thor inquires.

"Something my dad has been working on his whole life, unfortunately, the technology of his time was not up to par to be able to create it," Tony informs them.

"Howard did? What was it?" Steve asks, curious to know what his old friend did while he was on ice.

Looking at Fury eye-to-eye, who then gives a brief nod, Tony explains, "He came up with a new element that replicates the same type of energy the Tesseract emits."

"He what?!" Thor immediately began interrogating the genius, "Stark, you know how dangerous the Tesseract is, the fact that you've attempted to replicate it could be incredibly unstable-"

"It works," Tony cuts off the Norse God, "I ran tests and simulations myself, it's stable."

"How sure are you?" The Norse God asks.

Pointing to the arc reactor on his chest, Tony answered the question with a simple gesture. "Any other questions for me?"

"What is it called?" Steve wonders.

"Well, I ran into many legal issues when I tried to patent it."

Fury started to rub the bridge of his nose, "Oh God, not this again. I told you, you can't call it that."

Curious as to Fury's reaction, the rest of the team wondered, "So? What were you trying to patent it as?" Banner asks.

"Badassium," Tony replies matter-of-factly.

The room went silent, until Banner, Rogers and even Thor started to chuckle, "Hehe-hahaAHAHAHAHAHA!" they laughed out loud.

"That is actually something I expect from you, Stark," Thor comments as he looks at the billionaire genius.

"Seriously, Tony?" Banner asks in between chortles.

"Hey, Tony," Rogers looks at Stark, "Thanks for the story," he didn't explain it, but he as a soldier, the tension and stress they've been dealing with for the past few months weighed heavily on everyone's mind, and he knew what a little unwinding can do.

"If you really wanna thank me, you'll have to treat me to Shawarma when all this is done," Tony requests.

"Sure thing, Tony," Steve grins amused.

"Alright people," Fury calls to them, "Now that, we have a grasp of what kind of bomb we have on our hands, I suggest you go figure out how to disable it in the laboratories," he orders them. As the four members of the Avengers leave his office, Fury gives Hill a message, "Hill, I need you to take care of something."

"What is it, sir?" His second-in-command answers through the comm link.

"Get in touch with the Pentagon, I need to talk to them about their operation to infiltrate Gotham, they need to cancel it."

"Yes, sir," Maria Hill answers before cutting the line.

As Fury contemplates something for a minute, he proceeds to sit down, pulls up to his laptop and accesses a private file that reads 'Persons of Interest'.

To Be Continued…

In case anyone is wondering what Tate means or the perineum, well, you'll have to look it up. I would explain it myself, but just in case there's some kid reading this, I don't wanna make it awkward.

A/N: Well, that's it for now. Once again, I wish you guys a Happy Halloween! Til the next chapter! Later guys, thank you for bearing with me.