A/N: I am re-writing this fic with some major changes in mind regarding a few characters…

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The world knew who Iron Man was now that Tony had revealed his identity in front of the world a few hours ago. While the fans of the billionaire and the girls were going crazy with this revelation a few competitors and the government were keen on getting their hands on this little piece of technology Tony Stark had developed. It was no secret that the Stark Tower ran on its own power generated from a fusion reactor designed and made by Tony himself. In an interview Tony had revealed that his suit used the same reactor but only it was a lot smaller. Everyone had witnessed the power the suit held so they could decipher the power that the reactor inside Tony's suit could generate.

Hammer Industries was one of the closest competitors of Stark Industries although Tony never considered Hammer a competitor himself. He had known the guy since he was small and he had problems. The guy was desperate for attention and even when he was this successful he still wanted more which meant that if Hammer Industries got their hands on Tony's design then not only will Hammer sell that technology to the highest bidder the weapons would become far more deadlier than it already was and that was something Tony could not let happen, especially after that he had seen recently. That was the very reason why Stark Industries no longer manufactured weapons. It had cut ties with all of its contractors, a greater part of which was owned by the government. Companies who dreamt of competing with Stark Industries saw this as an opportunity to now grab the weapons market but they found it hard to compete with the quality of Stark Industries weaponries.

It was a fine evening as Tony got ready for an important meeting. He was in his penthouse getting ready while talking to Jarvis at the same time when the door opened and Pepper walked in.

"I thought I changed the password?" he asked, not looking at Pepper but his mirror self as he struggled to tie the bow-tie.

"And you told me how to ever-rise it after you told the world that I was your girlfriend and the CEO of your company," Pepper said as she came and stood beside him, looking in the mirror. "You look dashing," she said with a smile, "and you still don't know to tie that," she said, making Tony face her as she began adjusting his bow-tie. "So tonight's important?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he said.

"You never told me where you are going tonight, especially without me," she asked.

"To meet someone even more special," he said. "I owe it all to him considering he looked a great deal after me after the incident with my parents."

Pepper immediately noticed the change of look in Tony's eyes as soon as he mentioned his parents. She knew it was a sensitive topic. On one hand he despised his father and also sometimes his mother but she knew he knew that he loved them and he missed them. He missed them dearly.

"Going there at night, it could be dangerous," she said.

"Don't worry. I've made an upgrade to the suit," he said, looking at his right Pepper followed his sight and saw a suitcase sitting on the coffee table.

"How did you get it fit in there?" she asked.

"Not fit," he said. "It is the suit. I had to make a lot more changes to get it to fold itself to that size but it was worth it. Makes it carrying easier."

"Will the security allow it?" she asked.

"Why not? He knows I am meeting him tonight at his place so he knows I would be bringing the suit with me. The entire world knows I carry my suit everywhere I go. That is why the senator hasn't contacted me yet because he knows I will go to meet him with my suit and he doesn't want that. No one in his shoes wants that and neither does Hammer," he said.

"You be careful, though," she said, placing a soft kiss on his cheek making Tony Pout. "That town has got its own reputation."

Tony nodded before wearing his extra pricey suit and then standing on a round platform which started descending downwards. "Mind passing me that case?" he said. Pepper shook her head before she handed the case to Tony as he kept descending down to the floor just beneath his penthouse where he kept his precious collection of cars.

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He looked out the window. The night was clear but the streets weren't. Ever since he had disappeared there was a visible rise of crime in Gotham. The police department had changed, more honest to their duty now but they could only do so much. There was also this fact that he was also retired, soon after that night when the city saw the last sighting of the Batman, disappearing as a hero in the eyes of some and a villain for the rest, including the authority.

Retired police commissioner James Gordon turned around from the large window he was looking the Gotham skylight from as the liquor in his glass shook from the movement. He had this urgency to know the identity of the person behind that mask but he had refrained it from coming out even when he knew that he could easily know it at that moment when he had his last talk with the Batman. He knew this that the Batman would reveal it to him without hesitation but he had restrained himself from the temptation and moments after the city had seen the Dark Knight's demise. The erecting of the statue in his honor was a debatable issue but it had finally been up there, on top of the Gotham Tower, the tallest building in Gotham.

And now it had been twenty years since that incident and there was word that a new vigilante was there in town. The authority had not taken this lightly and had immediately advertised this new vigilante an outlaw. Some even called him the Batman but Jim knew he wasn't. There was a different vibe with the Batman. He had experienced h=it firsthand and although he had never met this new vigilante he knew that this new guy had stated working soon after the Batman had died.

'A hero can be anyone,' the words rang inside his head. The last words Batman had said to him.

"But will the city accept him as a Hero?" Jim asked, turning again to look outside the window and towards the Gotham Tower which was visible from his house.

"Dinner's ready, dad," came the voice of his daughter.

"Coming, hon," he said, turning around from the window and gulping down the last remains of the alcohol. He often wondered if he missed those days and was he a crazy person to not enjoying this carefree retired life as the police commissioner of Gotham City. 'Could you have felt the same if you were alive and had retired?' he thought as he looked at the empty glass he had just placed at the kitchen counter.

"You lost again?"

Jim turned around to see it was her daughter. He smiled. She had moved in with him a year ago as her work had needed her here. She was his first child. He still missed her, his first wife Lee Tompkins. They had seen the crazy days this city had went through. They had their own ups and downs but they had held strong to each other and to themselves at certain points in time but fate had to take out one of them and it was her. It had happened a year after Barbra was born. Jim could not contain himself after that and it had been very difficult for him to come back to the normal life, now with a daughter to look after.

He had also met Barbra, a girl from a new batch of GCPD and they both had hit it then and there. She had made him forget Lee most of the time and soon enough the two had married. She gave up the job soon after the marriage to look after Barbra, Jim's daughter and later on her own two children. By this time Barbra had grown into an adult and had moved out.

Jim looked at the picture on the kitchen counter. It had the photo of his wife Barbra, his daughter Barbra and his second and third children – a son and a daughter. He wondered where his wife and children were at the moment. She and his children had left him after the incidents of Joker and Harvey Dent. Having someone point a gun at your child would break any parent and she had taken it in the most, finally reaching her limit.

To say that it had made his work a bit easier was a cruel thing to think about but Jim could not deny it. The divorce was finalized rather quickly with his wife taking custody of the two children and nothing else. She had left him without letting him know where she had gone. It was a good thing perhaps because that way she or his children would not be targeted because of Jim himself.

He had seen it that night when he had returned back to work after a very long vacation. Just like old times he had went up to the roof with a stack of files that held records of the present day arrests and releases. It was completely new and the symbol was a bit smaller and also different. Unlike before it was now shaped more like an eagle in a 'V' form. A chill of anxiousness ran inside him as he touched it. A part of him told him to turn it on. Will he come back if he turned it on? He hardly did even when he was alive. What was this new symbol on the light? The symbol felt the same to touch yet it felt so different at the same time.

The dinner had been a quiet half an hour with neither James nor his daughter talking about anything. It was like this for a while now. They had run out of things to talk. Barbra had her normal boring job while Jim had his boring days. After the dinner he came out into the balcony to have his night smoke. As he lit the cigar he looked down into the empty streets of Gotham. Somewhere right now someone was being mugged while someone was being arrested. He wondered if the new vigilante was working tonight? It had been almost twenty years since the last sighting of the Batman and probably the same was the time period for this new vigilante to be working if he was real in the first place. There were days when the police would find criminals wound up on the streets with a pack of evidence beside them. Unlike the Batman this guy was more secretive, playing it safe, knowing the current scenario. Maybe that was the reason no one ever saw him. The criminals he had caught also didn't know much about him except that he wore a black armored suit with a blue colored eagle type of symbol on his chest.

As he smoked in his last puff the sound of a loud engine grabbed his attention. He looked down from his balcony to see a rather expensive sports car come and go at a fast speed. Jim noticed the car heading for the direction of Wayne Tower. If it was this late then it was perhaps a personal meeting, probably with a friend perhaps.

'Rich people with rich friends,' Jim thought as he threw the cigar butt and went inside, closing the door behind him.

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Bruce looked at the news. There was nothing new going on a global scale except for a few global random problems like the world hunger, poverty in places of Africa and Asia etcetera. Changing channels found him looking new about Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. The billionaire playboy had made himself a new toy that had not only changed some changeable scenario in part of Middle East but also had the worlds' governments scramble in their seats. Bruce had to commend Tony for miniaturizing his arc reactor to such a scale. It really was a feat.

The bell of his penthouse rang. He looked at the late hour and smiled. He was here. Bruce walked up to the door and opened it and on the other side was tony Stark standing in his brand new pricey suit that crisply sat on his body.

"Evening, partner," Tony said as he entered the lavish penthouse and made himself comfortable even before Bruce could've said anything.

"How was the drive here?" Bruce asked as he closed the door and walked towards the counter to pick up two glasses as Tony unpacked a rather old bottle of wine he had brought with himself.

"Calm, unlike the reputation of your city. No hard feelings," Tony said as he poured in drinks for the two.

"None taken," Bruce said as he made himself comfortable on the armchair what was the only thing other than his bed that would relieve his now old body. Being Batman for all those years was taking its toll on him in his old age. Although, it wasn't surprising to see a wealthy billionaire walking with the help of a cane in his mid-sixties. "So, the new suit is taking the world by storm?" he asked.

"You still sound unimpressed," Tony said. "Perhaps this new upgrade will complete it for you," he said as he turned to look at the case he had brought with himself. "Thanks for letting the security allow me to come with this."

"No matter what you brought here you will always be allowed in, Tony," Bruce said.

"And what if someday I decide to turn on you?" Tony asked playfully.

"Then that would also be the day for you to taste defeat by an old man," Bruce said with a smile.

"Your quirkiness hasn't gone with your age, I see," Tony said. "Anyways, wanna take a look at it?"

"Go ahead," Bruce said, welcoming the chance to see probably the most powerful suit till date in working.

Tony stood up and pressed a button on the case. A laser turned on, scanning his face and palms before two levers shot out from either side of the case. Tony held on to each and pulled them apart. The case opened like a chained machine as plates of armor and gear and circuitry expanded from the case formation and enveloped Tony's body gracefully. A moment later Tony stood tall with his Iron Man suit, the light from the arc reactor falling on Bruce's face. "So, what do you think?" he asked.

"I am impressed," Bruce said.

"You don't sound like one," Tony said. "Perhaps it is your old age. Say what, do you think I could've stood against the Batman in this armor?"

"What makes you think that?" Bruce asked. "You two are way different then each other. He is gone. It has been twenty years. Technologically you are superior to him. You can probably beat him in a hand-to-hand combat and you can fly."

"So could he, couldn't he?" Tony asked. "Not many people know about that guy."

"How can someone if he existed about twenty years ago?" Bruce said with a smile. "Some even say that he is nothing but an urban legend."

"Then the authorities are lunatics who have erected a statue of that guy on top of the tower," Tony said. "Anyways, we are not here to talk about vigilantism. We are here to enjoy."

"I thought it was about work," Bruce asked.

"I already know what your answer would be even though it is much safer now," Tony said. "It has been a long time since that incident. Plus, that guy's design was filled with flaws."

"Nonetheless it was a remarkable work," Bruce said. "Being a little paranoid after an incident like that cannot be blamed."

"But it is not only that," Tony said. "You don't trust me."

"Speaking bluntly I don't think after what happened I can be blamed," Bruce said. "It is not only about what happened all those years ago but what is happening right now. All those people's reaction towards your suit, its power core, its efficiency. I don't think I have to tell you how the world has responded towards it."

"What they are doing isn't right, thought," Tony said. "Their failed attempts do give me a good laugh."

"Unless someone finally understands it and then he will make a reactor that will make the world see the same thing that happened all those years ago, only this time it will be an assured catastrophe because they definitely would've learnt from it."

"I wonder what my father would've thought of it," Tony said. "This thing that I made, I wonder how he would've reacted towards it."

"He would be proud," Bruce said.

"Yeah, sure he would be," Tony said. "Don't mock me, Bruce."

"To be honest I knew him better then you did," Bruce said. "It is in a father's nature to not be completely honest with his son."

"Don't sound like a father when you are not one," Tony said, his voice a bit harder this time.

"Neither are you," Bruce said in his calm manner.

The two sat in silence in the dimly lit room as the city outside started to sleep for the night. There were a couple sirens of the patrol cars. Crime was still floating on the streets of Gotham. Bruce looked towards the window and gave out a long sigh.

"I have been approached," Tony said.

"By whom?" Bruce asked.

"Nick Fury," Tony said. "He is the director of SHIELD."

Bruce knew what SHIELD was. He was being targeted by its agent when he was active in Gotham. He wondered if Blake had been contacted by them. He hadn't talked to him ever since he had gave up being Batman. He hadn't even seen him since then. His base might still be in the cave beneath the Wayne Manor. Bruce had left the place after Alfred had died. He could no longer live there and so he had made that place an orphanage. He had gotten the idea from Blake when he had first come to him.

"And I don't think I am at the liberty of knowing what SHIELD is?" Bruce asked, already knowing about it.

"I don't think little Fury would mind me telling someone like you about his pretty secret organization," Tony said.

"Someone like me?" Bruce asked with a smile.

"Well, you are Bruce Wayne. Globally popular and one of the richest person to ever live," Tony said. "And I am soon going to surpass you I that field."

"I would like to see your business model after you closed off your weapons' department," Bruce said.

"Your company used to make weapons, too," Tony said.

"Before I took over," Bruce said. "And besides, the applied science division responsible for its production had hardly done anything. That was why I closed it off the first thing after taking control of the company."

"How does your company makes so much?" Tony asked.

"You are asking me after having a company of your own," Bruce said.

"I don't run my company," Tony said. "I don't even know how much I make. I've given the entire control to Pepper."

"I heard that," Bruce said. "The investors are not happy about it though."

"Let them be."

"They are the reason your company is alive after your father left it to you," Bruce said. "And after you closed off your weapons department your company's earning has almost come down to half. And I don't need to tell you how desperate the government is to get their hands on your suit."

Tony didn't say anything. He just stood up and walked over to the large window of Bruce's penthouse, looking at the city skyline's beauty at night. "I think I am dying," he said.

Bruce stopped as he was about to take a sip from his glass as he looked up at the man standing by the window. Placing his glass on the table he stood up. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The suit, it's killing me," Tony said.

"The radiation," Bruce said, realizing the situation.

"Yeah," Tony said. "Also, the palladium core is poisoning my blood. It is running out way too quickly then I had anticipated." He turned around and opened a few buttons of his shirt revealing the arc reactor in his chest. Its light was flickering. "Wanna see what is inside me?" he said as he walked over to the couch and sat down with a heavy breath. Bruce noticed it at once. Tony was looking a bit tired as his eyes started sulking.

Tony reached for his arc reactor and pulled it out carefully. "There is a cigar box in the inside pocket of my coat. Will you bring it to me?" Tony asked, looking at Bruce. The man nodded and handed him the cigar box which weighed heavier than it should have.

Tony pressed the front of the arc reactor and the round glowing core came out as the light inside it turned off. A second later smoke started coming out of the reactor as the core chamber opened. Tony opened the cigar box and took out a pair of small tongs. He pulled out the decayed core using the tongs before putting in a new core from the cigar box and placing the reactor back inside his chest. He then dropped the decayed core in Bruce's glass. Bruce picked up the glass and looked at the smoking core closely, covering his nose at the same time.

"You gonna say anything?" Tony asked.

"No," Bruce said. "I just need you to assure me that you will find a cure to it before it's too late."

"I have, actually, or almost," Tony said. "The Fury guy I mentioned? He gave me a shot of lithium dioxide. Although its effects weren't that long lasting I think I can make out something from it."

"I didn't mean a temporary solution," Bruce said.

"I don't have a permanent solution. At least not now," Tony said. "Although I did receive some things from Fury belonging to my father. He said that if I agreed to join his little program he would tell me the secret to my little jigsaw puzzle on my chest."

"I can only assume what you said back to him," Bruce said with a sigh. Tony smiled cockily. "This is your life we are talking about here, Tony. You don't have to throw it away."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Because you are special," Bruce said.

"Don't talk like my father, Bruce," Tony said in a serious tone.

"I am not talking like your father because you didn't know your father," Bruce said, his voice also rising. Tony felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard Bruce deepening his voice at him. "You are not just you. People now look up to you, more than they did before. Before you were a genius kid's idol who wished to work under you some day. Today you are a hero."

"I don't want to be a hero!" Tony said loudly as he threw away his glass which shattered upon contact with the tiled floor. "Sorry," he muttered.

"You are still a child," Bruce said, "and I don't believe that I am saying this but I didn't expect some maturity from you."

"What you said, it hurt," Tony said. "You are like my father!"

Bruce didn't reply as Tony turned around and left the room with his case. Bruce stood back watching the closed door with a heavy feeling in his heart.

"You don't know how much I don't want you getting involve in a life like this," Bruce said.

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A/N: I made some changes to my story from before and so I am posting this again with an almost new plotline with some difference from the last one….

Thank you for reading…