Summary: In which Iron Man snarks, Batman gets jealous, Captain America plays couples councillor and the Hulk and Superman throw-down in the middle of New York City, but most of all, sparks will fly, tempers will flair and friendships old and new will be tested.

A/N: Please don't be fooled by the fruity title of this fic… Anyway, this idea has been itching at me for a while now, and, honestly, I really like the whole idea of a Wonder Woman/Thor pairing… that and a jealous Batman (hehe…).

Disclaimer: Marvel owns the Avengers. DC owns The Justice League. I own nothing.

Those Shooting Stars

One
The Down-Side of Gravity

"There is no easy way from the earth to the stars"
― Seneca

A single streak of light lit up the night sky as it flew higher and higher until it reached far above the clouds.

As he flew higher still, Tony Stark was ignoring Jarvis's more recent warnings… again.

"-Sir, I really must advise against this. None of the necessary tests have been completed."

His pleas of course fell on deaf ears and, if anything, Tony increased in speed.

"Jarvis, do we really need to have this conversation again? You know how it's gonna end."

If the computer system could have sounded exasperated, Jarvis would have. "Yes sir… Though I do think I should warn you that you are approaching maximum altitude."

"Well, that is the point, Jarvis – how else am I supposed to test out the suit's new modifications?"

"As I recalled, I did mention several other less life-threatening alternatives."

"Yeah, but none of them were half as fun as this one."

"Sir-"

"Oh, sorry, but you're breaking up there, buddy."

"Sir-!"

Closing the connection, Tony smirked slight to himself. "Now, let's see what this bad boy can really do."

Engaging the extra thrusters, Tony shot up with a sonic boom – he felt himself lurch a little back into his suit but couldn't keep the broad grin off of his face.

As he shot through layer after layer of the earth's atmosphere, warnings began to pop up on the screen in his helmet as a shell of ice began to creep up and cover the outside of his armour. Still, Tony pressed on.

"C'mon baby," he gritted through his teeth, adding even more speed. "C'mon!"

But, just as he was about break out of the stratosphere – the bit just before reaching homestretch – there was a glitch in the system and the power failed, and Tony found himself falling back towards the earth.

"Not again…" he grumbled, getting his wits together before making several adjustments and the thrusters at his hands were restored and he was able to stop himself from plummeting any further.

When he finally managed to reboot the system, with another sonic boom, he broke free from the atmosphere all together.

With gravity no longer an issue, a vaguely familiar sense of weightlessness overcame him. Cutting off the power to his thrusters, Tony allowed himself to simply drift for a minute, turning his back on the earth and towards the vast, star-dotted blackness in front of him.

He chuckled. "This is awesome…"

However, out of the corner of his eye, Tony caught something suddenly erupt in a flash of bright green light – the intensity of the glare was so much so, that Tony had to hold his arm in front of his face.

When the light faded and he could see again, his eyes widened when he saw a jet black… flying craft, of some sort, head straight towards earth – it appeared to be on fire too as it left a smoke trail behind.

His thrusters came alive with a start as he immediately went after it.

Grabbing onto the tail of the ship, Tony grunted when, even with his armour's considerable strength, he was unable to slow it – the ship was going down, and when it hit the atmosphere, it was going down hard and fast.

Tony changed tactics and darted towards the front of the ship – he tried tapping on the tinted glass to see if there was anything inside of it. There was no reply, but when he scanned it himself, there was an limp form slumped in the cockpit. And it was still alive.

Cursing out loud, Tony then flew down, around the ship and grabbed onto the underside, tilting it up slightly. With a little more success, he steered it towards the big patch of blue which was getting larger and closer at an alarming pace.

Repositioning his body, he tried slowing the rate at which the ship was falling down by flying in the opposite direction. This came was mixed results and though Tony did manage to slow it down, it was still was one a one-way track for the ocean.

When he was several meters above the water, Tony let go of the ship and watched as it hit the surface with a huge splash. For a moment, it looked like it had sunk until the ship resurfaced, bobbing up and down.

Touching down as carefully as he could on the hood of the ship, Tony punched in the windows and opened the cockpit, and when it did, just as he saw when he scanned it, hr saw a big black shape hunched over in the pilot's seat.

The big black shape in question turned out to be a man dressed head-to-toe in black armour, and when Tony reached in and pushed the man back against the chair, there was an insignia of a bat on his chest.

Later…
At the Stark (now Avengers) Towers in New York City

When Pepper Pots walked into her boyfriend's lab, she froze in her tracks when she saw a body on the examination table.

"Don't worry," Tony's voice chimed in as he was busy with one of the computers at the other side of the room, making Pepper jump. "He's alive… well, as much as he can get anyway. He has a broken arm and a few bruised ribs, but he's alive."

Pepper blinked at him wildly and frowned. "Who is this, Tony?" she asked, slowly walking over to the motionless man and flinching at the sight of him.

Turning away from the computer, Tony walked up next to her. "I don't know. I've been combing through Interpol and even the Police and SHIELD's databases all afternoon for any reference on a guy with a bat fetish, and nothing."

Pepper nodded before looking over the man. She was surprised at how strong he looked, he had a powerful built with broad shoulders and firm, muscular looking arms – the armour he wore was made out of interlocking black plates while the yellow belt around his waist gleamed in the florescent light. But, the most prominent feature was the cowl and mask that covered more than half his face, made out of graphite, the mask's expression was set in utter grimace with a pair of pointy ears on top.

This man was definitely the last person she would have liked to meet in the middle of a dark alleyway.

"He looks like something out of a cheap horror movie…" she mused before looking back at Tony. "Have you tried taking off his mask?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call anything this guy has cheap… but, yeah, I tried that."

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "And…?" she prompted.

"And… this happened."

Tony reached over to take the mask, but when his fingers made contact with the graphite, there was a loud electrical crackling and he withdrew his hand sharply.

"Son of a-"

Pepper's eyes widened. "What was that?"

Tony winced and inspected his hand. "I'd say about a couple of thousand volts of electricity." He admitted. "I tried the same with his belt too, same result."

"Who electrifies their gear like this?" Pepper asked absurdly.

"Someone with some serious trust issues." He said and walked back over to the computer. Pepper followed after. "Either way, whoever this guy is, the fact is he's armed to the teeth."

"So… you think he's dangerous?" Pepper asked a little anxiously.

"Who knows? Either way, I gonna keep-" he trailed-off when he turned around and found the examination table empty, "an eye… on… him… …Well, I'll be damned."

Pepper started looking around nervously. "Tony… where did he go?"

Tony narrowed his eyes. "Jarvis, I want this whole building scanned. Now."

"Yes, sir." Was Jarvis's response. After a few moments, he spoke again. "Error. I'm afraid I do not detect anyone else in the building besides you and Miss Pots."

"What? That' impossible, look again." Tony said adamantly.

Again, the results came up negative. "Error."

As Tony cursed, Pepper frowned again. "Nobody could just disappear like that… can they?"

Tony didn't say anything, but somehow Pepper got her answer.

Meanwhile…

With his mouth set in a fine grim line of determination, ignoring the stabbing pain in his left arm, he scaled up the neighbouring building next to the one he just came out of, just barely suppressing a wince when his boots touched the gravel of the flat rooftop.

However, he was unable to walk more than a few feet before he crumbled onto one of his knees and clutched at his side with a pained grunt.

"Dammit…" he whispered, his voice coming out as a whisper and less raspy than he originally intended.

Looking up, he saw that the sky was still too bright and the sun still up – in a few hours, he would be able to move throughout the city virtually undetected and then he would be able to find out just what the hell happened to him, and the others.

But, for now, the others…

Unable to help the wince escaping from his lips this time, he slowly raised his broken arm and held up the battered communicator on his wrist.

"Superman, come in," he rasped. All he got was static.

Scowling, he tried again.

"Superman, Wonder Woman… anyone… this is Batman, come in."

No answer.

Muttering an oath under his breath, he realized that it wasn't working and stood up straight with some effort on his part.

Looking around himself, back at the tower he woke up in, the whites of his cowl narrowed.

Elsewhere…

Her mind was scattered and hazy as she slowly drifted back into consciousness, the last thing she remembered before passing out the first time was bright green light and Bruce calling her name.

Bright, sea blue eyes fluttered opened and lips parted.

Bruce…

Wherever she was, it was warm and bright and she could feel sand underneath her fingertips and the sound of waves crashing nearby.

She felt herself drifting again, but not before a large shadow loomed over her, eclipsing the sun.

Feeling herself get scooped up in strong, warm arms, she passed out again.

A/N: So… how was that?

Next up, 'Not In Kansas Anymore'

I'm not the biggest Marvel fangirl (DC all the way, yo), but if you have any suggestions regarding the Avengers, like books or the such, please tell me about it. Usually when I write anything comic-related, I use a mash-up of different elements either from the graphic novels, the cartoons or the movies… the former used a little more than others.

If you have something to say, feel free to leave a Review or PM me

Until Next Time,
GoddessofDawn out