Chapter Thirteen - Choosing Sides
Title: Calling a Truce: Choosing Sides
Authors: destinyawakened and mjls
Rating: pg-13
words: 3600
Pairings/Characters: Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson, Steve Rogers (Captain America)
Summary: Bruce doesn't like what this War means between two sides. He has a moment of laps when Captain America asks him to join the rebels.
Warnings: spoilers for Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man, and spoilers for Marvel comics' Civil War
Disclaimer: We don't own or claim to own the characters or settings, the books mentioned or make any money.
A/N: Moves a little quick,but dwelling too long in this was going to end up depressing.
Song: Justify - the Rasmus
Parts: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven | Eight | Nine | Ten | Eleven | Twelve | }
The second Tony left days later, Bruce knew that he wouldn't be seeing him for a long time. Bruce knew this with every fiber of his being, but he didn't expect not to hear from Tony at all for nearly a month. Everyday that passed he hoped to hear from him, just a text or note or something. Bruce's e-mails and messages were left unanswered and just gave up completely. Tony was busy and Bruce knew he wasn't dead or hurt, because every so often Tony was on the news discuss the the Superhuman Registration Act and what it would mean for super heroes and civilians alike. Tony was all for the Act and broke Bruce to know that he and Tony stood of very different ground when it came down to it.
Maybe that was why Tony hadn't returned any of his messages.
They left each other a month ago with promises that nothing would change.
But everything changed, just as Bruce thought.
He did promise Tony that no matter what he did, Bruce's feeling wouldn't change. He didn't lie about that, but he sure as hell wasn't liking the way Tony was handling everything. Bruce was more than happy to not be a part of the Act, to not have to worry whose side he would need to be on.
The strange thing was that with all the news going on about the Registration Act, Gotham was unbelievably quiet. In fact, Bruce hadn't seen nor heard from Commissioner Gordon in nearly two weeks. People were getting worried, but it was making Bruce's job... easier. That evening, the Batsignal was lit and Bruce had an ache of worry as he landed down quietly on the rooftop, sinking into the shadows. He expected Jim Gordon to be standing there, as he usually was, but this time it was someone Bruce had not expected. He flipped off the switch for the light.
"Last time I checked Gotham wasn't in your jurisdiction," Bruce growled at Captain America, who didn't even flinch at Batman's sudden appearance.
"It's not... yet. My visit doesn't concern Gotham - it concerns you," Steve said, then gave a slight shrug. "After all, you are one of the many masked heroes. I heard you even went international once."
"I don't want to be part of this. I'm not a part of this. I'm not like any of you. I don't have powers. I'm just a man."
"You fight for justice, are wearing a mask, and that makes you part of this, whether you want to be or not."
Bruce narrowed his eyes, glaring at the man in front of him. This wasn't a war he should be a part of, he didn't belong in it -- but this was for justice and he did believe the Registration Act was wrong. But he also made promise to Tony. "I'll say it only one more time, I'm not a part of this. Gotham is not a part of this. Why would you even come here?"
Steve didn't answer but looked away, "We could use you. People believe in you."
"They believe in the symbol I represent. Not in me."
"Batman. We're the same. We both fight against injustice and right now, the Registration Act is part of that injustice. You know that as well as I do. What Iron Man is doing, what he's purposing every masked hero and villain do... its wrong. We need--"
Bruce held up a gloved hand to stop the the man; he knew too well what they wanted from him. "Why don't you go recruit Superman, I'm sure he'd be happy to join your little boyscout team," Bruce said, trying hard to resist any urge he was having to actually take Captain America up on his offer.
"Superman won't join unless the Justice League was to join completely. You are part of that so I came to ask you personally. It's important. Do you really want to someday be forced to unmask and have everyone know who you are? To be constantly hounded by the press? Your personal life out in the open for everyone to know about? For your family to be in harms way because once everyone knows?" Steve paused, shaking his head. "Gotham and Metropolis are only off S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar until they get tired of fighting everyone else who won't conform to them. Sooner or later Batman and Superman will be forced to surrender or fight."
"I..." Bruce whispered, the thought of Tony in the back of his mind, but he knew he had to do what he believed in personally. He hadn't thought about his family being thrown out in the open if he happened to need to unmask and register as well... And not to mention forcing heroes to reveal themselves was not one of them. Bruce met Steve's eyes and the need and hope in them, and there wasn't much refusing that now.
-------
Bruce was still unaware of what his actions the night before would do to Tony when he finally told him; if he told him. It was hard to keep anything from Tony Stark and Bruce knew if he had to face him that he would end up confessing. He'd broken his promise to stay out of it and that was going to tear Tony to pieces. Bruce sat at the table and poked at his toast, Tim and Dick were scarfing down their eggs like vacuums. Bruce hadn't told the boys, he wanted them to stay as neutral as possible. If Bruce got stuck in the middle, that was one thing, but these were children and they didn't need to worry themselves.
The boys finished their food, put their plates away and headed down the elevator with Alfred to take them to school. Bruce took the moment of silence to collect his thoughts. He walked out onto the balcony, coffee in hand, and watched as the morning bustle down below started to pick up for the morning commute. Everything was so simple for the average person, there were no decisions to take sides for them, or whether or not to turn your back on your boyfriend for his old best friend because you didn't believe in what he was doing anymore. Whether to break a promise or not. Tony had been right; Bruce didn't like his course of actions. All of it seemed so... enslaving.
When Tony ended up at his door later that day, in a ruffled suit and a disheveled appearance, Bruce couldn't help but feel more guilty. As he looked upon Tony laying on his bed, with huge bags under his eyes, messy hair and still with his suit on, too tired to even remove it, Bruce gulped and caressed the man's features, wishing that his lover would forgive him when the time came. Bruce curled up into Tony's tired figure, head on his shoulder and desperately hoped that neither of them started to talk, because talking was just going to end up in a conversation Bruce wasn't quite ready to have. He placed his hand on Tony's chest, feeling the rise and fall of his steady breathing, showing that he had fallen asleep for the first time in days.
Bruce closed his eyes, trying to avoid seeing the world, seeing Tony so worked over with exhaustion. He made him feel worse. "I'm so sorry, Tony," Bruce whispered, even though the man was asleep. Tony sniffed in his sleep and then turned his head so his cheek was resting against Bruce's head. Bruce gently slid his hand off Tony and sat up on the bed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He held his head in his hands, where he was so tired before, he could barely think of sleeping now.
Tony grunted and moved in his sleep before his eyes fluttered open and he sat up, looking around as if he was looking for his teddy bear he had lost in the middle of the night, "Bruce?"
Bruce turned his head only slightly, not looking at Tony. "Hm?"
"You're awfully distant..." Tony muttered. "Something bothering you, cupcake?"
"I've..." Bruce began, but the words caught in his throat. He rubbed his hands over his face and then clasped them together in front of him, hanging his head. How could he possibly tell Tony and be forced to see the disappointment on his face? "I've done something... Tony, I..." he just couldn't find the way to say it.
Tony blinked and opened his mouth but then scratched his hair for a second and moved closer to Bruce, "Bruce, you can tell me."
Bruce sighed and bit his lip, but didn't look to meet Tony's eyes; it would only make this harder. "I met with Captain American last night. He found me, actually."
"Oh," Tony fell quiet for a few seconds, "yeah he does have a thing for finding people..."
"He, uh... He asked me to join his side, the Rebels," Bruce said so quietly, he wasn't even sure the words had been spoken at all.
Tony kept quiet but didn't remove his hand from Bruce's shoulder, nor did he flinch or inch away from his lover. Tony just sat there, letting his tired mind process this, "And?"
"And I said yes," Bruce whispered, squeezing his eyes shut, only to open them again this time looking at Tony. "Tony... I'm sorry."
Clenching his jaw, Tony stood up from the bed and ran his fingers through his already messed up hair, his hand went over his face and ended up caressing the untrimmed goatee that Tony was so famous for as he processed what Bruce just said.
Bruce stood, reaching out to touch Tony's arm. "Tony... You have to understand that I couldn't just sit here while all my friends, my allies, fought this. There only so much time before this reaches home... I told you a month ago I didn't agree with this..."
Tony inched away from Bruce for a second but the hurt in his lover's eyes was enough to make him regret it. Tony nodded and walked up to Bruce, caressing his cheek, "I...I can't be angry at you for doing what you think is right. It wouldn't be fair to you, you didn't hold it against me when I told you my point of view, why would I do the same to you?"
Bruce nodded slowly. It was a relief that Tony wasn't angry with him, but he could still see the disappointment. Bruce had promised to stay out of it and he hadn't. "What happens now?"
"We wait it out, we both do what we think is right, but keep the politics and everything out of the bedroom and our relationship. It's already messing up my life, I don't want it to mess up us."
Bruce knew it wasn't going to be that simple. There was talks of locking up those who opposed the new law, but Tony didn't looking willing to bring up that, especially now that Bruce was going to be opposing him. They still needed to see if it would pass first. "Of course," Bruce whispered; the last thing he wanted was to lose Tony over this, he seemed to be on the edge as it was.
Tony nodded and kissed Bruce on the lips before caressing his cheek, "Just, be careful alright? I know for a fact that your side isn't really liked by some people... and I'm not saying that to convince you. I'm just warning you okay?"
"I know, Tony. I'm well aware of the all the risks."
-----
Tony left the next morning way before Bruce had even woken up. He didn't hear from him at all that day; Tony was back to not answering his call or texts. The superhuman Civil War was all over the news however as the Act finally hit the last stage of passing through Congress. Tony appeared in flashes of camera's, looking more tired than he had last night. His shoulders slumped. Every day the papers printed out a new article about one or several heroes joining another side or finally deciding which side they were on. More articles however were on how much masked heroes and vigilantes were being arrested for not unmasking and obeying the new law. It made Bruce see how wrong the law actually was. These people could've been in the middle of helping someone, saving someone's life, when S.H.I.E.L.D. barged in and arrested them for doing what they thought was right.
Sighing and turning off the television after the news was done with reporting on the situation in New York right then, Bruce stood up and decided that while Tim and Alfred played a game of chess, that he and Dick would do a patrol while the crime rate was down and things were quiet. Time to split up a bit but keep tabs on the teen to see just how well he worked when Bruce wasn't with him. Dick had gone down a dark alley and Bruce was standing on a rooftop a few blocks down, keeping an open communication with him, but it was so quiet there wasn't much to report on either end.
"Quiet tonight," Dick said.
"Better than chasing homicidal clowns all over the city," Bruce replied roughly.
"Oh, you know you like it," Dick teased. "You're bored with Gotham when it gets this quiet. Almost like they don't need you anymore."
"I doubt that."
"Oh? Is that why you took Cap up on his offer to join his rebel league of rogue heroes?"
"I took Steve up on his offer because he had a good point. If we're forced to unmask everyone we know is in danger. I won't risk A or T's life for some redundant law that shouldn't even be."
"But To-- Iron Man promised that we'd never have to, even if Gotham is finally included in S.H.I.E.L.D territory."
"He promises a lot of things," Bruce said quietly, holding a hand up to quiet anything Dick was about to retort with, which still didn't stop him.
"Maybe," Dick said trailing off, concentration reverted to the streets. "There's something going on down on 5th and Western, I'm going to check it out."
"Keep the line open," Bruce demanded.
"You're the boss," Dick said more quietly.
Bruce waited and ten minutes passed and Dick's line went dead. Bruce cursed the kid silently and went to see what was going on. In the distance he could hear a loud grunt of what sounded like pain and crack of thick wood. Bruce ran faster, hopping down the alley in time to see Dick fall to ground in a beaten, bloody mess and a man standing over him wearing a simple white suit and white mask, both splattered in a clean coating of Dick's blood. Bruce didn't think to stop the man and went straight to Dick, cradling him in his arms.
------
Bruce watched the monitors surrounding the practically lifeless body of his adoptive son. He had asked Alfred to run a search on new criminals in town wearing masks, but this one was new and Bruce couldn't find anything about him. A lost cause that he would likely never know an answer to and never be able to bring him in for justice, for Dick's sake. That man would get away with attempted murder and it pissed Bruce off more than anything.
He paced the hospital room, hands in his pockets and distraught with worry. The doctors said Dick would be fine, but he'd be down for months and the recovery would be hard on everyone, especially Dick. Bruce sat down in the chair by Dick's bed, bringing his hands to his head, silently praying that Dick would fight through it and everything would be fine.
Tony stumbled in, clearly in distress as he ran over to the bed and got some of Dick's hair out of his closed eyes. Tony's eyes were on Dick but Bruce was certain that Extremis was downloading all possible information on Dick's case in Tony's head. For a man who wasn't really close with Dick, Tony seemed visibly distraught by the state the teen was in. No words were spoken between Bruce and Tony as Tony froze and went through the data in his head.
Bruce pressed his palms into his eyes to keep from breaking down, to keep from crying. This was his son, and he had been right there, just down the street... he could have prevented this.
"Bruce..." Tony's voice was soft but caring, even if the man had no reason to even be here, "this is not your fault. You didn't do this to him."
"No, I didn't..." Bruce agreed, swallowing. "Some monster in a mask did."
Tony walked over to Bruce and pulled the man in a hug, "I am so sorry, Bruce. This was never supposed to happen. This is what I'm trying to stop..."
Bruce buried his face into the crook of Tony's neck, holding onto him tightly as he fought the urge to just break. "I..." and Bruce knew at that point what it was Tony had been trying to tell him, what it was that Tony was standing up for. He couldn't find the words to say, and just dug his fingers into Tony's back to stable himself.
"I'm not telling you what to do here Bruce but I do want to ask you: do you want to keep fighting against the law, or do you want to protect your family? Because this is what it's all about at this point. I promised you before I would never make either of you unmask, and I'll keep that promise, but I can't protect you if you aren't with me. So which is is? Fight the law or protect your family?"
Bruce pulled back from Tony and looked him in the eye carefully, confidently.
"Protect my family," he said, not a waver in his voice this time.
"Then you know what to do," Tony said in his most solemn voice, not a sign of joy or relief, or any other emotion was on Tony's face. It was as blank as a white sheet of paper and in the back of his mind, Bruce was worried this was part of Extremis' doing and Tony was losing his human touch but he knew that wasn't true. If anything, Tony appeared more human than he had seen him in months, than he had ever seen him on the television. Tony stroke his hair and kissed his forehead, letting him take all the time he needed to collect himself. The decision he had just made would change everything after all.
"I'll contact Steve in the morning," Bruce sighed, pulling back from Tony completely. He knew now that Tony's side was the side he should have been on to begin with; that or no side at all. How he ever got himself talked into joining a side, he didn't know.
Tony kissed him and then pulled Bruce in another hug, "Everything will be alright Bruce. I promise you."
"I hope so."
-----
The decision to back off from the Rebels side had been easy for Bruce; he had finally seen what Tony was talking about. It didn't mean he was completely right in what he was doing with the Act, but Bruce had seen first hand with his own son just what was happening and he'd be damned if he was going to sit around and add to the problem. Which was why when Captain America asked to meet with Batman the next night, Bruce didn't have a single problem letting the man know that he was done.
Captain American found Batman the usual way, which was by the flood light on MCU. Batman quickly flicked it off again, folding his arms over his chest and staring at the red, white and blue clad man before him. How to explain to him about what happened without giving away his identity...
"There's talk of S.H.I.E.L.D taking jurisdiction of Gotham and Metropolis..." Captain American started to say, but Batman put his hand up to stop him.
"That may be," Bruce said sternly, "but I have a firm promise from Stark himself that Superman, myself and the rest of the JLA are safe. So long as we aren't on your side. As long as we're neutral."
Captain American seemed to regard Batman with some confusion. "You know Tony Stark?"
"I know Iron Man."
"Same person."
Bruce just shrugged. "The point is this fight isn't coming anywhere near the jurisdiction of the JLA if we keep our noses clean, which means we don't really need to worry about whats going to happen to us. It may change in coming years, but right now we're in a safe zone. I'm taking us out of your fight."
"We need you; there's more support for us if they see Batman and Superman working with us...people have faith in you more than they do in Stark and his cronies!"
"I can't. I saw first hand the other night exactly why Stark is fighting for this Act. I saw a young man beaten nearly to death by a masked villain and even though I tried to get there on time, I couldn't. I couldn't even track the man down and he's out there still, getting away with it what he did. It doesn't have to be that way."
"That's not the point!" Captain American said, frustrated, but Bruce wasn't listening anymore, he took his leave from the roof, jumping down the side of the building.