Due to the Injustice Gang's most recent and failed attempts of causing upheaval on Earth, the Justice League had been running themselves rather thin as of late. Most of their members-namely metahumans-were either working to help repair the damage of the most recent conflict or contain it as crime still arose across the world.
Wonder Woman had just returned to the Watch Tower along with Superman, Supergirl and Green Lantern, having assisted in the reconstruction of an orphanage in central Metropolis. J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter floated restfully down in front of them.
"What's the latest status report, J'onn," asked Wonder Woman.
"We're making steady progress in rebuilding the damaged areas within Metropolis, Central City and Keystone," J'onn said, in his bizarrely monotone voice.
"That's great!" said Supergirl.
"Sure is," said Superman. "This means we can all soon bring things back to normal."
"It certainly looks that way, however, amidst all the panic, crime has indeed entered a fluctuation these past few weeks, and with most of our metahumans doing work to assist the humans in rebuilding their lost homes, we have only so many able bodies left to help clean up the streets.", said J'onn
"Who would've thought that all of this damage would be capable of keeping us all from making short work crime like we always do?" said Lantern.
"The truth is John, our non-super-powered colleagues aren't all used to working up against some of our more personal adversaries the way we are," said Superman. "And currently, there just aren't nearly enough of us spare to lend a helping hand." Wonder Woman frowned at this.
"Wait, what about Stargirl? Technically she's not a metahuman, but she's the closest thing we have to one on such short notice."
"She…" Supergirl began hesitantly. "She hasn't been seen outside of her room since we all reported to you about how she was acting. Haven't you noticed how quiet the Watch Tower's been?" Wonder Woman remembered all too well about how she'd received reports from the likes of Supergirl, Batgirl, Black Canary and practically everyone else in the league about how obnoxious Stargirl had been to everybody. She'd been requested to have her disciplined the way her parents should have done a long time ago.
"She shouldn't be neglecting her duties as a member of the League," Wonder Woman said. "I'll go and talk with her to find out why she's not assisting us." She walked off down to living quarters.
She arrived at Stargirl's room which had a symbol on it with a star above the word "GIRL" in big block capitals. She knocked and called, "Stargirl." No response. "Stargirl, it's Wonder Woman. Open up." Still no response from the other side of the door. Evidently, she didn't want to see anybody at this point, but hiding behind a locked door in a time where she was needed to assist her fellow superheroes was no way for a member of the Justice League to act. And given that the doors all had override access codes, there was little point locking it. Thus, Wonder Woman typed in access code: 3-4-6-2-2-8-2 and the door opened. She then made her way inside.
There wasn't much space for more than a bed and some small furniture. So Stargirl couldn't be hiding in too many places. Wonder Woman spotted her bed in the corner with what looked like her outline beneath the sheets. She could also make out a small sniffing sound as if she was crying under her covers. Puzzled by what she was hearing, Wonder Woman moved forward the bed in the right-hand corner and spoke her next words softly.
"Stargirl?" and the outline's body twitched, and its sniffing was halted. "Stargirl, it's me, Diana. We need to talk-" and before she could say another word the sheets of the bed flew up into the air and revealed both a terrified and unrecognisable Stargirl looking scared at the very sight of Wonder Woman.
"D-Diana, w-what is it!?" she blurted out in a frenzy. "I-I didn't do something did I!?" Wonder Woman was stunned for a moment with what to say. "P-please, Diana I don't know what to say, but I'm sorry if I di-"
"Stargirl," Wonder Woman stated loudly, and the young heroine froze. "Calm down; I'm here to talk with you as to why you're not turning up for duty when the whole team has been out there. Please," she said in a soft and calm tone. "I'm not mad with you about anything. I just want to talk." Stargirl gave herself a few seconds to inhale and compose herself. She looked like she'd been crying non-stop for all the time spent here in her room, her hair blonde hair, usually so beautiful and well-groomed was a mess and had many tangles, and her face was slightly pallid looking as if she'd been neglecting to so much as eat. Wonder Woman felt concern for the girl's health.
"Okay," she said with a slightly quiet tone. "I can talk." Wonder Woman walked over to her bed and asked what was wrong. "I…" she began somewhat hesitantly. "I have been thinking, about what you told me when I was with you in the discipline room." Wonder Woman felt a need to sigh at this but decided to hold onto her breath and keep listening instead.
"About what in particular?" she asked. "About how you were consistently causing other people grief and acting like you were better than them?" Stargirl nodded slowly. "We had our session there, and I told you that I forgave you and appreciated your sincerity. So why are you still feeling so down?" Stargirl let out a cough then cleared her throat.
"Because, after I had apologised to you and everyone else, I decided to take the chance to look back on my actions and re-evaluate myself. I act like I'm all special, like I'm the best of all superheroes in the league, like I'm Stargirl "the All-American Sweetheart", as Vigilante nicknamed me… when, all I am is just a typical valley girl Diana, and I hate myself!" she let out. Wonder Woman felt pity rising for her at this point.
"Stargirl, I can see that you're having a tough time, but I think you're taking this too hard. You're a member of the Justice League, and you have responsibilities that-"
"That's the point-" Stargirl interrupted brashly, then held her breath for dear life. She looked terrified as if she'd overstepped her boundaries. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please Diana don't be mad! I'm sorry I shouted-" Wonder Woman raised a hand, signalling Stargirl to calm down. She did so and recomposed herself.
"I'm not mad," she said in a calm tone. "I'm just trying to see if maybe there's anyway which I can help out with this situation of yours. I'm here to listen to you." She placed her hand reassuringly on Stargirl's shoulder. Stargirl slowly raised her tear stained face to look Wonder Woman in the eyes. She saw sincerity staring back in the form of bright blue.
"Diana, I don't think I should be a part of the league. Hell, I bet if I hadn't been to have my behaviour corrected by you I would have probably been kicked out. The thing is, looking back on the whole thing…" she paused. Wonder Woman gave her shoulder a gentle rub. "Looking back on the whole thing, I don't think I should even be a superhero, let alone one in the League." Wonder Woman's eyes widened slightly. Then she sighed.
"Okay," she said, rubbing Stargirl's shoulder again. "I think it's pretty clear now that you're letting yourself become far too stressed over this." Stargirl raised her hand somewhat nervously and shamefully.
"May I please?" she asked
"Sure thing," Wonder Woman said.
"I doubt that many League members would be prepared to say they agree with that. I've presented myself to a team of heroes who work to keep peoples' lives from danger, who are selfless, who set a standard for the entire world to look up to…" her eyes began to well up with tears, and Wonder Woman wiped them gently away. "Heroes like you Diana" Wonder Woman looked taken aback at what she'd heard. "I've presented myself as a spoiled brat amongst some of the greatest people I've ever known. I feel like I shouldn't even be here. People, like you, Supergirl, Batgirl, Hawkgirl, and Black Canary are all so amazing and strong." She paused for a second and sniffed. "And you are one of the kindest people I've ever met. I'm not worth your company." Wonder Woman was feeling so sorry for the girl now, that she was scared to think of what would happen next.
"Oh Stargirl," she said pulling her into a hug. "I don't want anyone thinking that way about you, and I'm so sorry that you feel this way. But in all fairness, this is good."
"Excuse me?"
"It is. The first step to becoming a better person is to learn how to deal with a problem concerning our actions. We can run from past mistakes and hide, or we can learn from them." Wonder Woman ran fingers through Stargirl's hair taking note of her large number of tangles that needed some attendance. Stargirl suddenly broke down yet again into a flourish of tears, sobbing heavily into the Amazon's chest.
"I can't let it go, Diana," she said. "Not that easy, I seriously hate to so much as look at myself in the mirror at the moment. Me and my stupid valley girl face and in the stupid valley girl eyes amid my stupid valley girl hair!" Wonder Woman let her grip ease and kept a hold on Stargirl as she looked her in the eyes.
"You have lovely hair; it's natural and bright and beautiful. So shouldn't let yourself get all upset to point where you can't see it." Looking up and towards her desk in the left-hand corner of her room, she noticed her hairbrush alongside a handheld mirror. "Hold that thought for a minute," Wonder Woman said, getting to her feet and walking to the desk. She saw an empty frame, and there were tiny shards of glass on the counter top. Hera, she really must hate herself to be able to break her mirror to hide her shame.
Picking up the hairbrush, Wonder Woman turned around. When Stargirl saw the Amazon with a hairbrush in her hand, she looked panic stricken. Wonder Woman stared at the girl, then the brush in her hand. So that's why she won't groom her hair, she thought to herself. She hadn't forgotten what I used one of my brushes for when we last had a talk.
"I'm not going to give you another spanking Stargirl," Wonder Woman said, walking over and sitting beside her. She placed an arm around the girl, and whispered, "Hush, relax." Giving her a gentle tap, and pulling her around slightly to the right, she took note as of how badly she'd neglected her hair before saying "I'm going to help you get rid of these tangles in your hair." She brushed away, carefully making sure that she didn't pull out any small mess of hair with too much force.
After about ten minutes of grooming Stargirl's blonde locks back to their former glory, Wonder Woman placed the brush down on the bed and ran her hands through the teenage superhero's hair admiringly. She then pulled her back around face-to-face and smiled at her.
"There, you see now you look more like you're supposed to," she told the young heroine. Stargirl raised her hand to feel her hair and smiled as felt how soft it felt between her fingers.
"Yeah, actually, that feels like, amazing," she said. "Thank you, Diana, that was kind of you."
"No problem at all," said the Amazon. She placed her hands on Stargirl's shoulders "Now tell me, are calm yet?" Stargirl gazed down at the bed and heaved a sigh.
"Well, I guess I must be. I mean, I'm not crying at every opportunity I have to express myself now. But, I still feel like I need some time away from the League, and to be honest. I think I need time away from being a superhero, flat out for now." Wonder Woman rubbed Stargirl's cheek with her index finger and gave her an understanding look.
"Having seen the state of you, and given the magnitude what the League's currently assigning members to do, I am inclined to agree with you," she said. "I think that you need time to re-evaluate the situation and escape from these things. So," she added with a smile. "I have an idea on what we should do."