Tony Stark changes to his Iron Man persona to battle the terrorists who tried to steal his robot tech in Gotham. He gets help from Batman.
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“Friday! Find me that van!” Iron Man said.
His onboard A.I. pulled up a satellite image on the armor’s HUD, eventually zeroing in on his location.
“Wait!” Iron Man said. “What’s that plane flying way out of specified legal airspace?”
He realized it was a stupid question a second later.
How many bat-shaped planes were there?
In route to Vegas, Batman had detected Iron Man operating by the Mandalay Bay Casino, specifically the dock area. He verbally instructed the Batcomputer through his cowl’s link to access local surveillance of the area.
Batman had already tapped the local network, so it took little time to find what he needed and display it on a cockpit monitor.
Checking the info, he targeted the van leaving the area. He routed this info to his cowl and had the Batcomputer maintain a track on the van.
Batman ignored the Las Vegas air traffic control chatter warning him that he’d invaded unlawful airspace. Flying in low on a route behind the building, he set the plane to autopilot.
His flight seat receded into the body of the plan, turning to release him into a cargo area.
The Batcycle waited for him.
Lowering the rear access ramp, Batman rode out the back of the plane. He landed hard on the street below. He skidded to a stop, landing the bike on one side. His leg was fine, but the forward firing machine gun took a hit.
He’d note that for later.
He’d chosen a side street, presently unpopulated. Now he paid attention to his cowl’s HUD. The trace on the van continued as an illustration on a virtual map. Batman spun the Batcycle around and pursued.
Iron Man flew out over the street behind Mandalay Bay. The Batplane flew just above him, heading to higher (and presumably legal) airspace. Up ahead, Batman made a turn on his Batcycle.
Iron Man followed.
Iron Man didn’t hear Batman’s female assistant in his head, so he presumed Batman hadn’t hacked him again.
“Batman!” he said through his external speaker. “Vanko’s! In the van! We need him alive! And I’d be remiss not to mention that KGBeast guy in there too!”
Rounding the corner, he saw the building traffic headed for Las Vegas Boulevard, colloquially known as the Strip. It was a six-lane highway that, now was only moderately busy.
Thank God it was a weeknight in Vegas! It’d be easy for Iron Man to navigate, probably Batman too.
A van? Not so much — unless the van’s occupants moved things out of the way with a rocket launcher.
As he feared, the van’s right-side door opened. KGBeast leaned out with his hand cannon, thankfully not aimed at Iron Man this time. The civilians ahead of the Beast weren’t as lucky as Stark.
Iron Man pushed his rockets, but he just wasn’t fast enough to do anything about it.
The Beast’s rocket tore up the ground in front of the cars. The lead car flipped up, crashing on top of the car beside it. Other cars in the intersection steered haphazardly out of the way.
The van plowed through the opening, making it to the Strip and veering to the left.
Batman managed to weave through the hole in traffic, putting him within a Batcycle length of the van. He wisely drove on the Beast’s blindside.
“Friday! Damage report on those cars!” Iron Man commanded as he flew up to the collision site. He looked to the crash, allowing the onboard A.I. time to use its sophisticated sensor equipment to analyze the scene.
“No fatalities, no fuel lines severed,” Friday responded. “There will be minor damages and a few breaks but nothing that requires immediate attention.”
“Good. Snapshot the license plate numbers and let’s help Batman.”
Racing down the street, KGBeast smashed a few cars at the intersection, but there was nothing Batman could do to stop it.
He focused instead on threading the needle to sneak between the moderate traffic and pursue the Beast and his men.
He’d heard Iron Man’s broadcast about Vanko. He didn’t know who the man was, but if Iron Man said they needed him, he’d make it happen, all while stopping the KGBeast before he caused more mayhem on the Strip.
Batman easily navigated through the confusion and pulled up on the side of the van that didn’t have a side door. He was a Batcycle-length back but closing fast.
The van’s driver must have spotted him. He tore to one side of traffic, narrowly dodging a taxi but beating it to get ahead. It put the van (and KGBeast’s rockets) closer to the pedestrian side of the street.
The Dark Knight maneuvered through traffic, pulling up alongside the van but two lanes over. Two cars with bewildered drivers and passengers rode between him and the van. Batman heard Iron Man’s rockets in pursuit, closing fast.
Turning the Batcycle, Batman pressed ahead, weaving through traffic and pulling himself directly alongside the van further down the Strip. The driver looked over at him, grinned.
Batman hit the Batcycle’s autopilot. It would maintain this distance from the van, but wouldn’t be capable of any offensive driving.
Batman merely needed it to stay straight for the next few seconds.
The van’s driver yanked the steering wheel to the left, sending the van on a collision course with the Batcycle. Its autopilot applied brakes and veered away from the van, which slammed into a car a few lanes over.
Batman was already off the bike, leaping for the van. Its irregular motion threw off Batman’s acrobatics. He landed atop the van but started to slide off to the right side.
Batman withdrew one of his bladed Batarangs and slammed it into the van’s roof. It held, allowing the Dark Knight to remain on the van.
Then KGBeast’s bullets tore through the van’s roof.
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. It’s now 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.
