The Last Avenger [What If...? x DCAMU Crossover]

10. It's Called Whisky

Bruce Wayne, A.K.A Batman, is the World's Greatest Detective.

This is what he does when he's not brooding.

He hasn't noticed Indiana's possible drinking problem.

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1 Week Later

Bruce had grown used to seeing Jane on the other side of his office. For someone who'd never worked a job like this before she'd caught on very quickly, it was honestly impressive. She got on fairly well with Dick when he came around, even shared his grudge match against the English dictionary. Jane definitely had an ego, but she didn't exactly flaunt it. It was a something worth keeping an eye on.

Tim was coming in today; he would see how they got on.

It was around noon, and he'd just finished launch, Jane having finished her own while before, the only time he'd seen her stop working.

Although Bruce wasn't sure when he'd started paying more attention to her than his work. There seemed to be no end, a bottomless pit of paperwork. Mistakes from employees here and there, on the forms to approve new projects which required loads of research to it was something he'd like his company to sponsor in the upcoming expo. Not to mention his night-time activities, the GCPD could only do so much on their own, Jason was back into town as well.

Bruce let out a frustrated groan and slammed his fist into the desk. Somehow and employee had managed to screw up and entire project, that was thousands if not millions waste because of a single screw up.

"You okay?" Jane asked from the door, almost like she was hesitant about asking, not that you could tell from her voice. It was all in the subtext. Bruce looked up, catching her eyes as she studied him, though he supposed he was doing the same. The first time that he noticed were the dark circles under her eyes.

Bruce paused before he nodded slowly. "It's just someone messed up bad and it's a lot," he said, gesturing at the computer screen.

Jane just nodded slightly. "Anything I can help with?" He thought about it for a moment before asking her to come in. She pulled up a chair and sat across the desk from him. "What did you have in mind?"

"World peace would be nice," Bruce said in a monotone.

Jane's brows pulled together as she thought and brought a hand to her chin. "All right Miss Congeniality," she said. "My old man had a philosophy: peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy. This came from a guy selling sticks. My father helped defeat Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, would call that being a hero."

Bruce frowned, not sure where this was going. "And a lot of people would also call that war-profiteering."

She snapped her fingers and pointed. "Exactly," she said. "That was his legacy, which he unfortunately passed down to me. What do you want yours to be?"

What surprised Bruce was how genuinely sincere she had sounded the whole time. It was almost wise and yet he didn't think she could boil an egg. "Something that could help the citizens of Gotham and bring the price of living down. You graduated from MIT right?"

Jane nodded, taking a pen and a piece of scrap paper from his desk and began drawing a messy sketch, face set like she was trying to remember something. About five minutes later she handed the paper to him. "That's a miniaturized arc reactor."

"What will it generate?"

"If my math is right – and it always is – three gigajoules per second," she said with a stunning smirk.

"That's three times more powerful than a nuclear power plant."

Bruce looked up to see a small, genuine smile on Jane's face. But he could tell beneath it she was tired, with a kid like Tim you basically learned all the symptoms like the back of your hand.

"Jane."

"Hm?" she hummed, her blue eyes gleamed slightly brighter with a questioning glint.

"How are you handling this, you look tired. One of my boys, Tim often is, so if there's you need then I can handle it..." he paused thinking, remembering the way she kept herself at arm's length from people. Actually, this was first time he heard her speak of any sort of family other than Steve when they first met. "Or if there's someone you need to talk to..."

Jane held up a hand to stop him. She held strong for a couple of seconds before her shoulders deflated and the tired look seemed to double, eyes falling slightly. She focused on the blueprints in front of them. "It nothing." She paused, taking a deep breath. "Had a bit of a hassle with the landlord and his people."

She didn't mention Batman. Smart. Her breathing was normal. No rapid blinking. Body wasn't ridged. No pupil dilation. She was either a really good liar or didn't think it was something she needed to tell him. Bruce moved so he was in her line of sight. "Is there anything I could do to help?"

She froze for a second, looking into his eyes before shaking her head. "Thanks for the offer, Mr. Wayne. But it's nothing I can't handle."

"Alright. And please, call me Bruce," he asked.

Jane nodded. "I hoped this helped, Bruce." Then she stepped out of his office.

[Indiana Stark]

I found Dick and another boy standing in my office. He couldn't have been older than 16. Dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in six years and a laptop tucked securely under one arm.

We made eye contact. He rubbed his eyes and did a double take before he spoke. "Hello."

"Jane!" Dick exclaimed, a massive grin on his face. "This is Tim Drake, just another of the thousands of children Bruce has adopted." They both chuckled like it was an inside joke.

"So, another victim of the serial adopter. Nice to meet you Tim," I said. He extended his hand, and I shook it, he smiled and he seemed to look a little more awake. I should take notes.

"How've you been?" Dick asked. "I've heard some pretty nasty rumours."

Oh yeah. The rumours. Over the last week only everyone was talking about it. A blonde I.T. girl all of a sudden gets promoted to be assistant to the C.E.O.? There are only two ways how that happens. One is nepotism, and I don't look like Bruce's cousin.

"It's called whisky."

"Jason's going to love her," Tim said.

Meme of the day