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Iron & Kevlar

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What penthouse needs a ballroom?

Tony ponders this as he looks around the huge room in slight but internal disbelief. He takes a glass of expensive but unidentified champagne, and he notices that the room resembles the light gold and white colors of the bubbly liquid in the glass as he takes a long sip.

He flashes his 'billionaire smile'—as Pepper calls it—at the socialites he recognizes and his gaze lingers on the young women whose dresses are so revealing that they leave little to the imagination.

Not that he minded much.

He saunters around the room and keeps an eye out for his illusive assistant and finally he finds her talking to an older man he vaguely recognizes as the heir of some oil tycoons billions. He cannot help but smile at the dress she is wearing because it's the one he 'bought' her for her birthday.

He walks up beside her wraps an arm lazily around her, "Mind if I steal her away?"

When the grayed nods with a gentle smile and Tony spins them away, Pepper begins her protest.

"Tony I was having a convers—"

Her words are cut short by the almost deafening sound of helicopter blades and everyone in the room, including Tony and Pepper, begin to look for where the offending noise is coming from. They have their answer when the sleek black helicopter appears outside the huge doors which lead to the balcony, and the doors slide open revealing a Bruce Wayne and three dates.

Tony scoffs, "That's a bit ostentatious don't you think?"

"You're just jealous because you didn't think of it first back before your 'personal discovery.'" Pepper deadpans as Bruce Wayne, looking quite dapper, leads his lovely dates into his penthouse. The only noise being the very quiet whispers from those in the crowd.

Tony snorts but remains silent because deep down they both know she's correct, but begins to plan his arrival for his upcoming birthday.

Chapter Text

Bruce Wayne has never really thought of himself as a scholarly man, which many say is very un-Thomas Wayne…but he can live with that. He is unlike his father in many ways and he has come to accept this. He does enjoy the occasional book when he has the rarity that is free time, but for the most part his 'degree' is in 'physical education.'

He especially couldn't be scholarly when he is his public self. It would ruin his image if Bruce Wayne were to walk into the library and check out a book that is above his assumed third grade reading level.

So to keep his appearance he is sitting in a very important meeting with LSI holdings with an important Asian man named Lau, who he is only doing business with to get a closer look at his books, playing some racing game he recently purchased for just this occasion. His main reason for the purchase was to keep his mind occupied so he wouldn't fall asleep in another meeting.

His fingers are moving quickly over the keys of his sleek phone and most of his attention is being held by the game quenching his competitive thirsts and he is just about to be the high score that the phone set for him. The rest of his attention span is keeping tabs on the meeting around him.

Then his phone vibrates loudly with a new text message.

He curses inwardly knowing that his game ended as soon as the message came through. He sighs opening it, ignoring the annoyed looks from a few of the members of his board. He is especially annoyed by the sender…

Tony Stark

He glares at the text message which reads:

Hey buddy, I know you're in a meeting… Did I ruin your high score again?

Bruce doesn't even bother responding to his friend as he leans back in the plush leather chair, he is too sullen to start a new game so he decides to actually pay full attention to the meeting.

This is no easy feat because his eyelids begin to grow heavy as he leans back even farther in his chair, propping his legs up on the empty chair beside him. He goes to blink, but the darkness pulls too hard and his eyes do not reopen…

Chapter Text

Jim Gordon pulls the lever on the side of his recliner and leans back with a content sigh, for once he is actually going to just sit back and relax. Unfortunately for him his daughter is watching the breaking news feeding her obsession with a certain billionaire playboy and unfortunately for him the billionaire is Tony Stark.
The news is playing, for the hundredth, time Tony Stark and his partners in crime's return to Gotham after being in Malibu for so long. He rolls his eyes as Tony and his old friend and fellow CEO walking without the knowledge of being filmed.

He looks to his daughter and sees how her blue eyes brighten with every mention of the billionaire's name. He'll never understand her obsession with the narcissistic womanizer.

"That's all Gotham needs another worthless playboy." He mumbles under his breath darkly taking a sip of his cold beer.

The young girl turns toward him, "What daddy?"

He freezes and flashes a smile as photos of Iron Man fill the screen, "Nothing Babs."

She spins back giddily and he grimaces as the next story to come across the screen is the Prince of Gotham and another of his ridiculous exploits.

"Definitely not another playboy billionaire…" He grumbles once more taking another long sip.

Chapter Text

"Tony."

He ignores the familiar voice that is calling his name and he keeps on playing his gaming device, as he sits at his oversized desk with his legs propped up—just another day at the office.

"Tony!"

He sighs dramatically and without looking up from his device he responds, "Yes Pepper?"

"Mr. Stark I would prefer you call me something a little more professional, like Miss Potts perhaps?" She sighs obviously exasperated by his lack of professionalism, but he cannot help it—he loves to annoy his new redheaded assistant. He has been blowing through assistants lately like people drink water and when he hired this one, Rhodey decided to place a bet with him to see how quickly he would piss her off so badly that she quit.

Rhodey gave her six months, because after he insisted he liked her spirit, he thought she would stick around until she would decide to sue him for sexual harassment.

Tony had given her three months.

It has been two and a half months and Tony was frustrated at the fact that he may lose the bet to his best friend. He had to step up his game.

"Nah Pepp, I like 'casual.'" He flashes a small smile, which quickly turns to a frown because of a new obstacle in the game.

She taps her finger on the side of his desk, "Fine." She growls in annoyance.

Tony presses pause on the game before looking up with his lop sided grin, "Did you just growl?"

She ignores the question, "You have a meeting with Wayne Enterprises in about"—she checks her watch—"five minutes."

Tony saves his game and turns to look at the file that Pepper placed on his desk, his interest finally caught.

"Wayne Enterprises? What would they want with a lowly weapons manufacturer?" Tony asks rolling his eyes, remembering all of the arguments Thomas Wayne and his father had gotten into when he was a kid over weapons. He wants to roll his eyes at the man who everyone thinks of as a Saint because his thoughts were always too optimistic; he gave people too much credit. Bruce Wayne, the only child of Thomas, who though he hated to admit it had come to be his friend over the years, disappeared just six months ago. Tony still didn't know what to think about the—situation.

"I don't know, Mr. Stark, but we really must go."

He gets up from his desk, "Alright let's go see what"—Tony looks at the file—"Mr. Earle wants."

"So Mr. Stark how is Malibu treating you?" Mr. Earle asks with an obviously fake smile planted on his face which seems to be mirrored by his entire board. Then it hits him, he has no idea what Mr. Earle's first name is.

"It's a wonderful town," Tony leans back in his leather chair, "very refreshing as compared to Gotham."

Earle nods, "It is…it's so…sunny."

Tony sighs becoming bored with this conversation very quickly, "Let's get to the point, what can we here at Stark Industries do for you?"

"Well we at Wayne Enterprises decided that we would like to turn a new leaf," He begins, "and thought we would discuss a possible merger."

Tony immediately hears whispers amongst his side of the board and he raises an eyebrow and he looks to Pepper who is just as stunned as everyone else. Anyone who had ever heard Thomas Wayne speak knew his thoughts about having anything to do with his father's company, which has come to be his company. He couldn't help but wonder, why would Thomas leave his business in the hands of someone who seems to have a completely different view about how things should be ran?

"A merger?" Tony asks incredulously.

"Yes," The older man responded, "Like I said, we are thinking of 'switching things up' as people as now a days."

Tony looks down to his papers in front of him to think, "Do you think this is something Thomas Wayne would want? I mean some of my earliest memories of him were when he was arguing with my father about how companies should be run…"

"Well Thomas Wayne, isn't here."

Tony can't keep the shock from his face and looks to Obie who is at his side.

Obadiah picks up quickly, "Did Bruce agree to this before he vanished?"

Earle searches his mind for an answer, "Well he has been gone for six months, no one is even sure he will be coming back."

"It's only been six months." Tony begins, "Shouldn't you at least wait a year before destroying everything his father believed in?"

"Tony…" Obie whispers beside him trying to keep a lid on Tony's brutal honesty.

Even Tony is shocked by his sudden annoyance, why is he protecting a belief—and a man for that matter—who he had always disagreed with?

"I'm sorry, but I don't want Bruce returning and getting pissed that we went against his father's wishes." Tony says slowly trying not to let his irritation get out of hand. "If this is something you are serious about then maybe we can talk about this in seven years, when Bruce can be declared dead." He pauses before adding, "If he's even gone that long."

Tony still doesn't believe the young billionaire will stay away that long.