Continuing Mark Wooden’s fanfiction. Batman and Batgirl regroup to plan their next move. Iron Man consults with Nick Fury.
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Barbara was still working the Batcomputer when the Batmobile rolled onto its launchpad. Batman climbed out and made his way to her position.
“Anything on the SHIELD database?” he asked.
“Confirmed our girl works with SHIELD,” Barbara said. “But nothing on whether she’s gone rogue. Would SHIELD work an op in Gotham without informing GCPD? Or you?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them. We’ll check with Gordon. He’ll need information on tonight’s events.”
“Maybe he can get SHIELD to talk.”
“If he files his request in triplicate.”
Barbara rubbed her eyes, stretched and yawned. Batman studied her for a moment.
“Did get info on that KGBeast guy,” Barbara said. “Ex-KGB assassin, perfect kill record. Lost his left hand escaping. Instead of cutting the chain between handcuffs, he cut off his hand.”
Batman grimaced.
Barbara continued. “KGB rewarded him with a blade for a hand. He must have picked up the hand cannon since then. The ex-KGB angle seems to be the link for all of this.”
“Plausible cover for a covert SHIELD op as well,” Batman said.
Barbara turned back to the Batcomputer. “I have some new code I was working up. Think I’ll try it on the SHIELD databases.”
“We may have another angle on the woman,” Batman said.
Barbara turned to look at him. “Iron Man?”
“Among other options.” Batman headed for the showers. “Have Alfred drop you home, Barbara. We’ll pick this up tomorrow.”
“I have my car here,” she said.
“You’re tired. Be safe.”
Barbara stood up, stretched some more. “Yes, boss.”
Batman was almost to his costume cabinets. He hadn’t removed his costume. Bruce tended to stay in character whenever he was in the cave. It was kinda creepy, but Barbara understood the mental process behind it.
But even when in Bat-mode as Dick used to call it, there was that level of compassion for his allies, and those he protected.
Barbara didn’t think that compassion would extend to whomever this red-haired interloper turned out to be.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury held court on the command deck of the SHIELD helicarrier. He was on the phone with Stark. SHIELD agents scurried around Fury, each with a purpose, all serving to protect the planet from threats both active and suggested.
“You’re a difficult person to get a hold of, General Fury,” the billionaire superhero said.
While he talked on his earpiece with Stark, Fury watched the giant-sized monitors on the walls. Each displayed data — be it live video of an operation or readouts from reports — that could influence a decision.
Every time Fury stood in this room, decisions came fast and often.
“Contrary to what you may think, Stark,” Fury began, “I have more important things to do than waiting for the resident alcohol-drenched billionaire playboy to ring me.”
“Ouch! You forgot the genius-level IQ and devilishly handsome parts of that.”
Fury responded in a firm tone, “What do you want, Stark?”
“Following up on your missing gauntlets.”
Fury turned from the monitors. An agent approached him, but Fury waved him off. “You have my attention.”
“Have any sexy ex-KGB red-heads working for you?” When no answer immediately came, Stark added, “I’ll take that ominous silence as a yes?”
“Can’t confirm or deny.”
“But I bet you wanna know what it has to do with those weapons.”
Fury glanced back at the monitors, the other agents in the room. “Do you know where the weapons are?” he asked.
“I know where three of them are… sort of,” Stark said. “All used by Russians (probably also ex-KGB) trying to steal my new Legionnaire robot. You remember. The one you talked to me about just an hour ago? Curious the coincidence, huh?”
“Is Gotham PD involved?”
Stark turned to locate Gordon, who was consulting with some of his men. “Looking at the commish himself right now.”
“I’ll send some agents to coordinate with them. You’re officially off the job, Stark.”
“Vanko!”
Fury was about to hang up, but that name got his attention.
“What do you want with him?” Fury asked.
“I tore into one of those gauntlets. They’re not yours. They’re knockoffs. I recognized Vanko’s wiring in the thing. Figured the great General Fury would know where the little ex-KGB techie would hang his hat nowadays.”
Fury rubbed the bridge of his nose. “We did lose parts, Stark.”
“And these three gauntlets aren’t those parts. Vanko wasn’t a good inventor, but he could damn sure reverse engineer anything. Including Mandroid gauntlets.”
Stark waited for Fury to answer.
On his end, Fury approached one of his agents and had them pull up Vanko’s file on his workstation’s monitor. Fury had him scroll down to the most recent information.
“Vanko arrived in Vegas two nights ago,” Fury said into the phone. “I have agents on him. They haven’t reported anything unusual. Except for a guy as ugly as Vanko getting thousand-dollar hookers.”
“As if he’d just come into money doing, I don’t know, reverse engineer work.” Pressing his luck, he asked, “Wasn’t hanging out with a red-head, was he?”
“SHIELD thanks you for your cooperation, Mr. Stark.”
Stark had a witty retort, but Fury hung up too fast. No point of calling him back.
The vodka-soaked hero stumbled over to his armor and replaced the earpiece. Gordon saw him and headed over.
“Any word from the general?” Gordon asked.
“Nothing good. He’ll be sending some agents to advise.”
“We won’t need them.”
“With the armor involved, I’m afraid he’ll insist.”
Gordon shook his head. He motioned to the Iron Man armor. “You’ll have to repair that.”
Stark looked at the armor. “Yeah. But I always travel with a spare. I’ll just ship this one back to Stark Tower in the morning.” Looking at his watch, Stark said. “Well, in a few hours.”
“So you’re staying in town for the event?”
“I figure they’ll postpone the announcement for a day, get this place fixed up, so yeah. Know any good shawarma joints in town? Can’t eat a hundred dollar steak every night.”
“I’ll have a detective give you a list when they call to question you further.” Gordon looked disapprovingly at Stark. “Go to your hotel. Sober up.”
Gordon turned away from Stark.
“There is one more thing!” Stark said.
Gordon turned back.
“I’ll need a date tomorrow night. How do you get that Bat-signal to work?”
To be continued…
While writing this fanfiction, I used Green Ronin’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition RPG, to leave some things to chance. Check it out!
Like this fanfiction? Check out Mark’s original “Shadowdance” saga books!
Copyright Info
DC Adventures, Copyright 2011, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Now it’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition
Advanced Player’s Manual, Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing: Author Skip Williams.
The characters Iron Man, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Vanko, Black Widow and Nick Fury are Copyright Marvel Comics
The characters Batman/ Bruce Wayne, Batgirl/ Barbara Gordon, Black Mask, the Penguin/ Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, Renee Montoya, Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Robin/ Dick Grayson, KGBeast and Bane are Copyright DC Comics
The character Juri Han is Copyright Capcom
None of the characters belong to me as this is fanfiction, done for fun, and as a creative exercise.
