The Equivalents

53. A new arm.

Steve brought up the matter of Bucky's arm, or lack there of, to Tony. Both Bruce's were in the room when he mentioned it. Each one had an idea of what to do to solve the problem at hand. But they all had different solutions. It was an... interesting situation.

"I have experience in this field. I think I would do the best." Tony said.

"Now is not the time for one of your jokes, Stark." Bruce W stated.

"I'll take some aloe for that burn." Tony deadpanned. "And by the time you get back with it, I'll be done. Five minutes tops."

"Your ego will be your downfall one day." Bruce W combacked.

"What if we all made it? Three heads are better then one?" Bruce B suggested.

"Why waste the time? I made the last one, I still have the blueprint, and I could do it within the hour." Tony said.

"What happened to five minutes tops?" Bruce W asked.

"Enough!" Bruce B exclaimed. "You guys are both geniuses. Why can't you both just do it? I'll help if you want. But come on. You guys are equivalents. Can you at least pretend you don't hate each other for an hour? If you guys just work together, I'm sure this won't be a problem."

"Or it will turn into an even bigger problem." Tony said.

"You're grown men. Please, please, just try and work this out?" Bruce B begged.

Bruce W and Tony looked at each other and then back at Bruce B.

"I will agree to listen and work with Stark." Bruce W said.

"Thank you for your cooperation. I think I can handle it from here though..." Tony was interrupted.

"Tony?" Bruce B gave him the same look a man would give his five year old son if he had gotten himself into trouble.

"Fine." Tony caved in with a sigh.

Bruce B smiled and left the lab. The only two left were Bruce W and Tony. It's a miracle the lab didn't explode immediately.

"So..." Tony pulled up his hologram screen and scrolled to a file with blueprints. "I'm thinking we keep it simple. Strong, durable, lightweight. Don't want the kid dragging around fifty pounds of solid metal."

"Maybe metal is the wrong way to go. Perhaps a strong exoskeleton for strength and durability, with flexible skin substitute on the outside." Bruce W suggested as he changed some things on the blueprint.

"Tin soldier kinda likes the metallic look." Tony stated.

"It makes him stand out in a crowd." Bruce W said.

"Maybe he doesn't like being like everyone else. You ever thought of that?" Tony asked.

"Maybe you're letting your ego get in the way of a better device." Bruce glared.

"My ego has nothing to do with this." Tony shot back. "And so what if I am a rich billionaire, playboy, philanthropist? Sounds like you're the same thing. But I'm suddenly a horrible person for taking pride in who I am? Well not all of us choose to dress like gothy teenagers after our parents die."

"My parents were murdered in front of me. I have carried that moment with me for years. I can't erase it. I can't change it. They were shot and killed before my eyes. I was a child. Maybe that doesn't seem traumatic to someone who didn't witnessed their family's death, but a darkness grew in me that day. An urge for vengeance. An urge to protect. An urge to prevent others from witnessing that same fate. If you think that makes me a horrible person, then perhaps I'm right to think the same thing about you."

Tony was silent. He didn't know how to answer that without sounding like a complete jerk.

"Look man, I... why don't we start over and try and do this thing together?" Tony suggested.

Bruce didn't want to. He did not like Tony at all, but he could still appreciate him maturing enough to try and do this reasonably.

"Deal."
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Back in the DC universe...

The heroes had finished the machine a couple days ago. Some were excitedly waiting for their friends and family's return. Others were waiting anxiously. Others had given up all hope of ever seeing them again. The word about what had happened spread pretty fast. Most of the Justice League knew by now and tried everything they could to get them back. The only problem being that there really wasn't anything they could do at the moment.

"Damian? Do you..." Duke asked but then trailed off. He didn't want to finish, but he still wanted an answer to his question. "I don't know, do you think they're coming back? What if the place they were sent is an apocalyptic world where they died almost immediately?!?!?! What if we're waiting here and they don't come back?"

"It will take more then an apocalypse to stop my father. He will protect Grayson. Todd might do something stupid and die. Drake would be a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Everyone else can take care of themselves." Damian answered.

"But what if there's no equipment in that world that could let them build a machine to come home?" Duke asked, getting more nervous as he spoke.

"Then my father will make what they need." Damian stated. "I am offended by your lack of faith in the Batman."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sure they're fine. They're probably just trying to track down the bad guys that went with them. I'm sure they're all fine." Duke smiled, relaxing now.
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By the time Bucky's new arm was finished, it was the best one made by far. It was made of a mixture of tungsten and aluminum to make it as strong as possible while still being very lightweight. It had built in trackers and a thing to shoot trackers onto other people. It had his/Nat's red star on the shoulder, which also doubled as a camera. There were also secret compartments in the exoskeleton that would let him hold a small gun, ammunition, and smoke bombs...or real bombs. The hand could also be used as a blaster if all else failed. But the coolest feature was it's exterior cover, which gave it the ability to change from Bucky's silver metal arm, to a skin tone flesh feeling arm. It's most convenient use was probably the fact that it could charge four smart phones at once. It was also waterproof. Cause, duh.

"I gotta say. It's absolutely beautiful." Tony said. Treating his and Bruce's invention more like a child then a gadget. "I love it so much."

"Just remember who it's actually for." Bruce laughed. He laughed? That can't be right.... nope, he did. He laughed. Weird.

They called in Bucky to let him try it out. He was very happy.

"Wow. I've had a flesh false arm before, but nothing this real." Bucky gasped. For the first time in years, he could feel the skin of his left arm. And it actually felt like his skin.

"You think that's cool, watch this." Tony smirked.

Bucky looked back down at the arm and saw it transform into pure metal. An arm bred for fighting.

"Woah." Bucky said.

"I can give you a full rundown later, right now I..." Tony began before the alarm went off. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. what's going on?"

"Recent footage of the Green Goblin has been found. He was last seen circling the empire state building." F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced.

"Alrighty then. I'm going to go check it out. F.R.I.D.A.Y. tell a couple of our fly guys to suit up and meet me." Tony stated, immediately going for a suit.

"I'll come." Bruce W said. (Did I forget to mention he's still there? Well, he is.)

"No. I promise it's nothing personal. The past few hours I've actually really gotten to know you and you're not such a bad guy. But Goblin gets around on an evil flying saucer and we need to make sure everyone who goes can trail after him." Tony explained. "If word comes up about another villain while we're gone, I trust that you will go after him."

"I will." Bruce nodded.

With that, Tony took off.