The Equivalents

6. Strange things.

The tour group was going all around the compound. The DC gang was slightly impressed, but not that much. The facility was nice, comfortable, and modern. Nothing like Wayne Manor though. More like if the batcave was a bright house.
Everything was going well, until a certain cat showed up.

"Hey kitty, kitty, kitty." Nightwing leaned down to the cat's level. It started to hiss at him.

"Dick, I'm not so sure that's such a good idea." Red Robin said.

"It's fine. Cats love me-" He wasn't able to finish however as the cat jumped on his face and attacked him. "Ahh! Get this thing off of me!"

Clint tried to help him. Peter had learned from previous experiences that Alpine didn't exactly like him either. So he did the next best thing to help.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y.! Call Bucky in here!" He yelled.

"Calling, the manchurian candidate." F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerted them.

"This is the second time this has happened today!" Clint grudged as he tried to get the cat off of Dick's face.

A minute later, Clint was able to get the cat off of Dick and drop it on the floor before it attacked him. Alpine landed on her feet and strolled over to Jason. She purred at his feet until he picked her up.

"Good cat." He laughed.

"It attacked me!" Dick exclaimed.

"That's what makes it good." Jason smirked.

Bucky came running down the hall a minute later. "Did you need me?"

"You're cat is out of control again." Peter explained.

"Where is she?" Bucky asked.

Everyone pointed at Jason and Bucky was shocked.

"What?" Jason shrugged.

"Alpine doesn't let anyone hold her except me. Especially not strangers." Bucky said. "She didn't attack you though."

"Nope." Jason smirked. "But I think it could tell I was enjoying it feasting on Dick's face."

"Speaking of, does anyone have a bandaid?" Dick asked.

Peter took Dick to the infirmary. Clint continued the tour with Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Everyone else just kinda wandered off. Hood stayed back with Alpine. Bucky was still surprised that Alpine had let him hold her this long.

Jason sat down in one of the rooms in a chair. He took his helmet off and looked at Alpine. "I'm not really a cat person, but you attacked Dick. And that brought me joy."

"Huh, so you do have a head." Bucky stood, leaning on the doorframe. "Peter owes me five bucks. He thought you were a robot. Or partly at least."

"Why would he think I was a robot?" Jason asked.

Bucky walked over to him. He took his hands out of his pockets and rolled up his left sleeve. "It's not that uncommon here."

"Just your arm? Or-" Jason began.

"Just my arm." Bucky interrupted.

"Interesting. I wouldn't take a superhero with a manly metal arm to be a cat person. I mean there's manlier pets." Jason joked.

"She's not just a pet. She's... more like a coping mechanism. A support thing." Bucky explained. "Turns out, sometimes it's easier to talk to animals then it is to talk to humans."

"Well, what could possibly be that bad that you turn to a cat instead of a shrink?" Jason scoffed. He figured that this guy talked the talk, but that Bucky didn't know real pain. Not like he did.

Bucky sighed. Was he really about to spill his guts to a stranger? Maybe it would be best. Tell someone that in a few days you may never see again.

"It's... complicated." Bucky began. "I used to be a kid sidekick to one of the greatest heroes of all time! It was fun, but my partner was a lot different then me. I was the more... brutal one. The one who did what needed to be done. After some time, we went on a mission against this crazy guy who captured me and tortured me for what felt like eternity. But me and my partner escaped him and tried to stop a bomb from going off. I couldn't get away from it and I died in an explosion. I was taken by the enemy later and revived. I did some... bad things then. They also tricked me into thinking that my old partner was the enemy. So I attacked him. Tried to kill him while wearing a face covering so he wouldn't know who I am. But he stopped me and made me come to my senses. Now we work together again and our relationship is better then it has been in years. He's like family. But I haven't really been able to forgive myself for what I did, or what was done to me. Alpine helps."

Jason just stared at him. Shocked. "What did you say your name was again?"