There was a time above. A time before. There were perfect things, diamond absolutes. But things fall, things on Earth. And what falls, is fallen.
-NEARLY THIRTY YEARS AGO-
The boy and his parents left the theater together. They were happy. But it wouldn't last. A man approached them holding a gun up at the boy's father. The father tried to fight back, but he was shot. And then the man shot the boy's mother, too, shattering the beautiful pearl necklace she wore, individual pearls bouncing all along the sidewalk. The boy called for his parents as they bled out on the sidewalk.
-----
The funeral procession was like any other. The two coffins were carried to the families' mausoleum, and when they got near, the boy broke free and ran. He ran, and ran, and ran, away from the pain, away from the sadness. Someone called out to him but he kept going. He tripped and fell, and fell, into the dark cave. He was alone, with no way out. A swarm of bats came and flew around him, and he was scared, until he realized they didn't want to hurt him. They wanted to help him. He dreamed they took him into the light. A beautiful lie.
-METROPOLIS: MANKIND IS INTRODUCED TO SUPERMAN-
That boy's name was Bruce Wayne. But he is better known as the Batman.
He was driving into the city, when the attack began. Now, buildings were collapsing, as two of the aliens, one in red and blue, the other in black, tossed each other through buildings, causing them to collapse. Bruce was running through the rubble, trying to find survivors. He saw a group of schoolkids, walking, single file, away from the collapsed building.
"Mr. Wayne!" He could hear. "Mr. Wayne!"
He ran over to the sound of the voice, and saw one of his employees, Wallace Keefe, lying under a piece of the building.
"I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!"
"We need help over here!" Bruce yelled to the people nearby. They came and helped him lift the rubble off Wallace. "You're gonna be okay. You hear me? Wallace? What do they call you, Wally?"
"You're the boss, boss."
Bruce saw a little girl, not far from him. She was looking around, and, from where he was standing, Bruce could see a part of the building about to fall right on her. He ran, as fast as he could, and grabbed her, getting her out of the way right as the object fell.
"Are you alright? Where are your parents?"
The girl pointed. When Bruce looked, he saw that she was pointing to the top floor of a half-demolished building. As the two brawling aliens circled back around, Bruce hugged the little girl, glaring at the two of them as he did.
-PRESENT DAY-
"You hacked into the Avengers compound?" Bruce's butler, Alfred, asked him.
"Only to send a message, Alfred."
"They have Stark's technology, something that could track us back here and reveal your operation to the world. You'll be labelled a criminal, Master Wayne."
"We're criminals, Alfred. We've always been criminals. Nothing's changed."
"Oh, yes it has, sir. Everything's changed. Men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel."
"Superman is the only one I'm after. He's the only one that matters to me."
"You're gonna go to war?"
"That son of a bitch brought the war to us two months ago. Jesus, Alfred, count the dead. Thousands of people. What's next? Millions? He has the power to wipe out the entire human race, and if we believe there's even a one percent chance that he is our enemy we have to take it as an absolute certainty, and we have to destroy him."
"But he is not our enemy!"
"Not today. Twenty years in Gotham, Alfred; we've seen what promises are worth. How many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?"
Bruce stood up.
"You know you can't win this. It's suicide," Alfred said.
"I'm older now than my father ever was. This may be the only thing I do that matters."
"Twenty years of fighting criminals amounts to nothing?"
"Criminals are like weeds, Alfred; pull one up, another grows in its place. This is about the future of the world. This is my legacy."
With that, Bruce left Alfred to his work.
-----
"Ross has a congressional medal of honor, Sam, that's one more than you," Rhodey said.
"So, let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they lo-jack us like a bunch of common criminals?"
"117 countries want to sign this thing, Sam. 117. And you're just like 'no, it's cool'."
"How long are you going to play both sides?"
"I have an equation," Vision interrupted.
"This will clear it up," Rhodey said.
"In the 8 years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of noted enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a high rate."
"Are you saying it's our fault?" Steve asked.
"I'm saying there maybe a causality. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight. Oversight is not an idea that could be dismissed out-of-hand."
"Boom," Rhodey said to Sam.
"Tony, you're being uncharacteristically non-hyper verbal," Natasha said. Tony was sitting on one of the couches and hadn't contributed anything to the debate.
"That's because he's already made up his mind," Steve said.
"Boy, you know me so well," Tony said, getting up from the couch. "Actually, I'm just nursing my electromagnetic headache." He went to put his cup in the sink. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"
He had placed a hologram of a young man on the table. Tony explained how the kid had a college degree and a 3.6 GPA. He died during the fight in Sokovia.
"Tony, if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up," Steve said.
"Who said we're giving up?"
"We are, for not taking responsibility for our actions. These documents just shift the blame."
"That is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we're talking about. It's not the world security council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA," Rhodey commented.
"They're people with agendas. And agendas change," Steve said.
"That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing them," Tony said.
"That was your choice, Tony. And if we sign these documents we give up our right to choose."
"If we don't do this now, it's going to be done to us later. That's a fact. That won't be pretty."
"You're saying that they could start attacking people like Wanda or (Y/N)?" Sam said.
"Maybe Tony is right. If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer," Natasha said.
"Aren't you the same woman who told the government to kiss our ass a few years ago?" Sam retorted.
"We have made some very public mistakes. We need to win our trust back."
"I'm sorry, did I just mishear you or did you agree with me?" Tony said.
"Oh, I want to take it back."
"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. I'm impressed by what you did. Okay, case closed. I win."
Steve got a message on his phone. "I have to go," he said, and got up.
(Y/N) and Wanda came into the room as Steve left.
"I trust you two have made a decision?" Tony said.
"I won't sign. I can't because if I do they're going to come after me. If we're under their jurisdiction there's nothing to stop them from killing me or Wanda," (Y/N) said.
"The same goes for me," Wanda said.
The other Avengers got up and left, leaving only Tony and (Y/N) in the room.
"Tony?" (Y/N) called.
"Yeah?"
"I was attacked, in Lagos, with a very special grenade."
"I trust you took it well."
"That's the thing. It stopped me from using my powers. And it was labelled under 'Stark Industries'."
Tony stopped what he was doing and turned to face (Y/N). He pulled up a hologram of a tiny green rock.
"Ever since you destroyed those two ships, more and more of these minerals have been showing up. I got my hands on a few of them and started testing their properties. What we found was amazing. These rocks cause Kryptonian cells to decay rapidly. So, I weaponized them. Turned them into gas that could be used against Kryptonians. Rumlow must have stolen some when he attacked one of my labs."
"In case I ever got out of control?"
"In case any more of your friends decide to show up."
(Y/N) turned to leave the room. "I have to go to the UN summit. Tell them why I'm not signing."
"Goodbye then, Superman."
"Later, Tony."