Tony Stark is who he always was. A genius, and a bit of a playboy. Born into riches with the company his father, Howard Stark, founded. His father always recognised the natural ability that his son had for the sciences. Knew that he would surpass him one day. Tony attended all the best schools, narrowly avoiding being kicked out of several of them. Despite his genius level intellect he held a natural rebellious side against the authority figure, be it someone within the educational system or his own father. His vices changed as the times went by, when as a child he was rebellious in nature when it came to his work. Tony was said to possess a negative attitude, he would perform tasks without thinking about the consequences of his actions. A laid back attitude to his learning. Then the unthinkable happened.

Fifteen years old his father and mother left on a business trip, the plane crashed killing them both. Obidiah Stane, a longtime family friend and the second man in the company took on the role of being Tonys guardian and would run the company until Tony turned 21. At the age of twenty one the company would cede ownership to Tony who would then become CEO. As he continued through the ages his prowess with technology advanced, while not technically CEO of the company he worked in conjunction with the R&D department, focusing on electronics and computer systems he developed several key technologies that were later developed for use by S.H.I.E.L.D, the US Government, NATO and several other high end organisations. It was during this time that Tony created what would become one of his few true friends. J.A.R.V.I.S, also known as Just A Rather Very Intelligent System. J.A.R.V.I.S started simple, but over time he became more complex, being built into all of Tonys house, simpler versions of the system were trademarked and then released as a virtual assistant for business executives.

Age 21 Tony Stark became the CEO of Stark Industries. As he was destined to be. Working within the company Tony brought it forward into the next age, competing with the likes of Palmer Tech, LexCorp and Pym Industries. AS the new age of the Superhero dawned Tony moved forward with assisting the US Government and S.H.I.E.L.D develop properties to combat the rising Metahuman threat, while heroes are in existence Tony understands that precautions needed to take just incase that any of them decide to switch sides. Tony continued to increase his profits, focusing primarily on the weapons development side of Stark Industries. As time went on his fame grew, as well as his infamy at being a weapons dealer and profiting off it. It wasn’t until Tony performed a humanitarian mission in Qurac that his life changed. A terrorist group known as the Ten Rings was making a stand in the country. Unbeknownst to Tony, he had inadvertently assisted them recruit the local populace when mines he had supplied to a S.H.I.E.L.D humanitarian outpost exploded killing refugees, a flaw in the system that had been engineered by someone within Stark Industries. While in Qurac the S.H.I.E.L.D facility was attacked, Tony wounded by his own weapons and presumed dead.

For the next couple of months Tonys life was saved by a local doctor, though shrapnel in chest heart meant that a magnet needed placed in his chest in order to prevent it from entering his heart. Instead of building the weapon that he was being forced to build he instead ended up modifying various technologies of the weapons he had at hand into building what would become the MkI of the Iron Man Suit. Breaking free using the newly christened suit, he left the terrorists lair in flames before spending weeks on the run in Qurac until he eventually returned to the states.

Seeing the conflict, death and suffering he caused Tony shut down the Weapons R&D Department upon returning to his position as CEO. A vastly unpopular move, he had to fight tooth and nail with the board of directors to prove that it was a viable approach. All the while his weapons continued to show up on the black market. Iron Mans work was not done. Four years on Tony has continued to work as his alter ego Iron Man disrupting operations of the Ten Rings all over the world, however is still no closer to discovering the leak within Stark Industries or the elusive Mandarin who is said to lead the terrorist organisation.

Cold sweat dripped down Tonys forehead, skin pale and clammy. Sitting in the corner of his workshop he was staring at empty space before him. Rather the rational part of his brain realised it was an empty space, what he was seeing were bodies. Bodies of women and children, battered, bruised and torn apart by weapons he had designed. Weapons he had built to save people, to make the world a better place. Instead his grand designs had been perverted and twisted by the minds of madmen. There was a chirping, that slowly grew into a klaxon as the lights switched to red indicating an alert. Shaking himself awake he looked over to his workstation where a screen turned itself on. A map of the world opening, a red circle emanating from Central Russia. Standing up Tony could still feel the cold sweat dripping down his forehead, but he could already feel his heart rate increasing. Adrenaline flooding his system, the excitement of what he was about to do. The danger, the thrill.

“Jarvis, what am I looking at?”

The synthetic english accent came over speakers hidden among the workshops walls.

“You told me to alert you to any activity related to the Ten Rings sir. While I would remind you that you have an important meeting with Miss Potts and the board of directors in three hours.”

“I don’t pay you for your opinion Jarvis, what we got?”

“It appears that there is a rally going on to recruit people from outlying villages. I would also remind you that you don’t actually pay me Sir.” Tony walked to the table and read through the details on the map. Kazah. A relatively large city, semi-autonomous in the grand scheme of things. Apparently the Ten Rings felt like they could be a bit more vocal in Russia, not fearing involvement from the West or the mysterious ‘Iron Man’ that had been plaguing them for the last couple of years.

“Ready the suit Jarvis. I’m going on.” The back wall of the workshop spun around, revealing five columns. The first having what was left of his initial suit, each bay holding a slightly more updated and upgraded version. He walked to the one on the far right, the Mark five. He placed his hand on it, the metal cool to the touch. He could see himself reflected in the unpainted armour, the silver of the base material. Shaking his head he instead went for the red and yellow mark four. A smile crossing his face, a genuine smile. This is what he lived for, the rush.

“Jarvis, let Pepper know I’m probably going to be late.”

Barbara Gordon flopped down on her old bed, her long red hair spiraling out all over the pillow and sheets. She groaned into the pillow as if hoping it would smother out all her problems.

"Uugh, I feel like just drifting off to sleep and never waking up again and I haven't even been doing any night shifts recently." Barbara tried to roll over, but failed and just awkwardly squirmed for a bit even just letting all of her muscles relax. The familiar scent of her old pillow brought her comfort, it had been a while since she had properly been back home. Between her dorm room at Gotham University, the University itself, her times spent doing her internship at the GCPD, and the occasional stalking of the night, she rarely had time to come home.

Because of everything she had been working on recently she had been trying to cut back on her night hours and only going out when she had a lead to follow. Unlike a certain night owl she couldn't function on 4 or less hours of sleep a night, even with an overdose of caffeine, which she tried not to get too dependent on if she could help it. It had been almost a month since she had last gone out as Batgirl.

Suddenly she heard a knock on her door and a very familiar voice coming through. It was the voice that had helped get her through all the times in life she thought she couldn't make it through but did thanks to his help. Jim Gordon's rough but gentle voice filtered through.

"Barbara are you in there? Can I come in?"

Barbara forced herself to turn over onto her back so she could speak without getting drowned out by the pillow.

"Sure Dad, come on in." Barbara said, heard the doorknob click as Jim turned it and the grey haired commissioner walked in. "Guess it's been a while."

A smile came to Jim's face as he walked over and picked an unoccupied corner of Barbara's bed and took a seat, the old bedspring creaked a bit in protest as he put his full weight on it.

"I see the bed isn't the only old thing around here." Gordon joked then turned to look at his daughter. "You look tired Barbara, everything going alright at University?"

"Just a lot on my plate is all, a little rest and I'll be back into shape before you know it."

"You know you would have more time to yourself if you just dropped that internship." Barbara groaned as her dad once again tried to get her away from the GCPD, how dare he use logic to point out something she already knew.

"You know my answer to that dad, it's what I want to do and it's good experience too. You know how much I respect you dad and I want to help out." Jim sighed as he knew Barbara's stubborness was as strong as ever.

"Well maybe after this internship you'll realize just how dangerous this work is and will stay away." Jim commented while Barbara internally smiled but kept a straight face anyway. She knew just how dangerous a police man's work was, she had been on the front lines plenty of times after all. She knew how dangerous it was but that hadn't stopped her yet, though school just might if she let it.

"Not gonna happen. Still, thanks for checking in Dad, it's nice to see you away from the department."

"Nice to be away Barb, it really is. Say, how about we-" Gordon was about to suggest something they could do when his phone started to ring. He quickly picked it up and answered, as the conversation went his face got graver and grimmer. "Gordon here, so what's...I see, I'll be down right away. Sorry Barbara, guess we won't get time together after all, have a situation downtown. Love ya Barb, see you later." Jim reached over and kissed Barbara on the forehead, got up and left the room.

As soon as she was sure her father was gone Barbara groaned and leapt off the bed. "Guess rest will have to wait for now, about time to get back to my real work."

It was time for Batgirl to get to work.