The Equivalents

39. Batman's reaction.

Dick was not looking forward to telling Batman about this. He knew he wouldn't be happy, in fact, he'd be very very unhappy. But he had to explain why he and Steve had disappeared and were gone for so long, and he was done lying to everyone. It was time he came clean and excepted the consequences. Whether he liked them or not. Which, knowing Batman, was going to be a not. He knew he would probably get a long lecture about what he was thinking and about how that's not how they do things, and how he should have thought about what he was doing before leaping into action. Not to mention the fact that he would probably receive a never ending bat glare for the rest of his life. It's a good thing Bruce had a no killing rule, otherwise Batman might've killed him for this. And Dick was not ready to have this talk with him. But he was gonna do it anyway. Because he was done with the lies.

"Nightwing? What happened?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, you and Cap dissapeared for awhile." Tony added.

"It was my fault. I did something I'm not proud of, but I'm ready to take responsibility for it." Dick stepped up. "I've been keeping secrets. Bad ones. I almost got Steve killed."

"What?" Tony asked.

"Explain." Batman stated.

"I found a note. The Joker left it for one of us to find. In exchange for a favor from me, he would let Jason go." Dick explained.

"And you were stupid enough to believe him?" Bruce questioned.

"Yes. He wanted Cap. Red Skull wanted to kill him. So I brought Steve to them, but the Joker lied." Dick sighed. "I'm sorry. I never should've believed him."

"No, you shouldn't have." Batman glared.

"He feels bad enough already, Bruce." Steve chimed in. "We both made it out fine. He won't do it again, we should just leave it at that."

"Joker could be taking this failure out on Red Hood and the others. They could be relocating their headquarters if they think they were followed. The Joker could've been testing to see if he could get to you and you proved him right." Batman stated. "I don't think we should leave it. This goes way beyond you managing to get away."

Dick put his head down. He hadn't been thinking about all the other ways his actions had affected everyone. He had messed up big time and he knew it. He never should've taken that note in the first place.

"We'll discuss this later." Batman said before he went back to his work.

Dick was kinda relieved and nervous at the same time. On one hand, he didn't want to have a lecture from the Batman. But on the other hand, he would've rather had just gotten it over with rather then wait and do it later.

Tony wasn't going to let Batman get away with this though. He knew he had issues with his kids, but since Steve, the person Dick had betrayed, was able to forgive him and move on so quickly, then clearly Dick had a reason for this that he didn't want to talk about. Tony wasn't going to let Batman get off that easy. He was going to face his problems instead of ignoring them.

"What the heck is the matter with you?" Tony asked.

"I'm focusing on finding my soldier. Why aren't you trying to find yours?" Batman responded with a little bit of a burn in there.

"I'm doing what I can. And I don't see them as just soldiers." Tony said. "I thought you were past seeing your kids as yours."

"I don't care what I call him, I'm working to get him back. It seems all you're doing is preventing me from doing so." Batman stated without even looking at him. "So what the heck is the matter with you?"

Tony was getting annoyed with this guy. Every other person here was getting along with their equivalents nicely. Roy and Kate a little too nicely. So why could Bruce and Tony not stand each other?

"Listen. I'm not saying this to judge you, I'm just trying to talk to you." Tony began. "My father always put his work before me. Didn't matter what it was, there were always a million things that needed to be done. I didn't think he cared about me. He certainly didn't show it. I was lucky enough to get a once in a lifetime chance to see him again, and it was the best memory I have with him, and he didn't even know who I was."

Bruce didn't argue, he just listened.

"Don't do that to your kids. Cause they may not be so lucky to get that chance." Tony sighed. "Family should always come before work. I know that the situation is different right now with some of our teammates gone, but let them know they still matter. Cause I didn't think I did."

Bruce felt bad now.

"I'm sorry about your father." Bruce mumbled. "I have to admit, my father was a good man. He was a good father."

"Good. So set that example." Tony stated before leaving the room.

He and Steve were curious how many more times they were going to have to talk with Batman to get this message through his thick skull. But it seemed like this time, Bruce had actually received it and had taken it to heart.