Just a Little Time

The Business Meeting

This is a crossover between the DC universe and the Marvel Universe.  To set the stage, Batman and Robin are post WW2 American heroes some of the first of their kind.  Batman and Gotham heroes and villains are real.  Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the DC universe are comics.  The Avengers are real but fairly new.  X-Men and their related villains are comics.  Some of Gotham history is inspired by the TV show Gotham.

This story was inspired by the early Batman comics. Batman and Robin were a true dynamic duo that cared for each other.  They lived in a much simpler era before teleporters and fantastic sci-fi imaginings.  Batman was obviously a rich man because he had a car.  Hardly anybody could afford one of those.  He had a grappling hook too.  (No not a grapple gun.)  And he wore a uniform so people would recognise him.  (No it wasn't armored.  Get real that's sci-fi stuff in the 1940's.)

Captain America comes from that era too.  I read somewhere that Black Widow was in her fifties.  She received a Russian form of super serum and it slowed her aging.

The original Robin was 12.  Now he is often portrayed as becoming Robin at 8 or 9...

All these thoughts mixed together. 

 

Tony Stark had a meeting with Terry McGinnis the current CEO of Wayne Incorporated. He was stoked. He'd been courting Wayne Incorporated since there's still been Wayne in the driver's seat. Wayne tech was badass.

Terry straightened his tie and looked down one more time at his briefcase before pushing through the revolving door at the Avengers Tower which doubled as headquarters for Stark Enterprises.

"I'd love to look through your proposals for technology exchange Mr. Stark however there is something of a more personal nature that I have for you," spoke Terry opening his briefcase. "I took the time to confirm that Mr. Steve Rogers would be here today. This concerns him as well as you. It has to do in part with the Super Serum developed by your father."

The smiling salesman face shifted to a more serious one. Stark wanted nothing to do with someone out to get at his friends through his business.

Terry sighed. "You may or may not know but the Super Serum was developed with two key compounds from criminal organization with strong bases in Gotham. The first of those compounds is referred to as the Alice Tetch virus. It enhanced strength incredibly. The second came from Lazarus pits owned and operated by the Al Ghuls. It had unbelievable restorative powers. Both compounds are well documented for creating severe mental instability. That mental instability most often manifested as extreme uncontrollable rage with delusions of megalomania and often mixed with distorted but inflexible judgemental-ism."

"Mr. Rogers is none of those things," protested Tony Stark coldly.

"No, or I would not be here today," agreed Terry. "I'm giving a bit of history so we both understand the background. Mr. Wayne was very involved in trying to control the criminal element in Gotham. He personally arranged for samples of both compounds to be sent to what was then Star Labs, in the case of the Tetch virus to develop a cure primarily because the mental instability issues were causing pandemonium due to a mass release of a weaponized version of the virus."

"I remember reading historical reports of that," commented Tony. "My father bought out Star Labs before I was born. He didn't develop the super serum. He helped with the vita-ray system," protested Tony. The secrets of the super serum had died with Dr. Erskine. Bruce Banner, years later had turned into the Hulk trying to replicate the serum and the research. It hadn't been managed even today. There were enhancement serums like the one that had been used on Black Widow but nothing approaching the success of the Captain America formula. Mental instability continued to persist as a problem in most of the formulas or they were simply not as dramatically effective.