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"Please, Bats it's just a thousand," I pleaded.

"I check my facts, Flash, and the one thing I've noticed is that you are not good with loans of any amount."

I was about to protest that his argument was merely fueled by mistrust, paranoia and a lack of sunlight when he began to list the different debts I had accumulated as Wally West. "You're $200 dollars behind on rent, you nearly had your water cut off last month, you did have your cable cut two months ago, you're behind on your utility bill, $15,000 in student loans, $150 tab at the coffee shop down the street… Do I need to continue?"

I glared at Batman before quietly replying, "Fine," and bitterly turned and stormed down the hallway. I fumed to myself about the vast pile of cash that Batman had been sitting on since birth. One would have thought that a multi-billionaire would be able to cough up a meager $1000 loan for a friend in need, but the Bat had proven that his cash was wedged even further up his clenched ass than I'd thought. I would have to turn elsewhere.

The bank was out. It had been years since I had been able to qualify for a loan. Shayera was probably having enough difficulty making ends meet after the Thanigarian Crisis. Wonder Woman… might be more willing to lend out some amount of money to help a close teammate. Superman might be my best bet though, seeing as Supes was the antithesis of Batman when it came to trust.

I'd ask Supes in private after the Founders' Meeting at midnight. That left me with just under six hours to wait in the orbiting watchtower. Returning to my room I went through all of my possessions on the satellite for the eighth time that month. I knew what I was doing, but if anyone asked, I was cleaning and organizing the 'royal bedchamber'. The rest of the time was spent running around the station performing miscellaneous tasks for J'onn, and watching TV while eating four large family-sized bags of potato chips. Being endowed with a hyperactive metabolism, the constant movement and exertion of energy throughout the day had left me drained enough to fall asleep during the upcoming meeting. So instead of appearing like a five year old who missed his nap, I opted to falling asleep in my founder's chair at 9:30 pm so as not to be late.

Once the meeting was about to start, Hawkgirl found amusement as she sharply nudged me with the spiked end of her mace. I yelped and tried to jump up, only to stumble over my own conference chair and fall hard against Wonder Woman and her metal chair. By the time I got back into my seat Hawkgirl was laughing, Wonder Woman was still expressing concern, Superman grinned kindly, GL sighed cradling his cheek in his hand, J'onn had merely looked over with mild concern, and Batman, as usual, glared down at me. I narrowed my eyes at the Dark Knight before turning my attention to Superman for the start of the meeting.

There was little new other than updates on suspicions of rogue whereabouts and plans. After some further discussion about the watchtower and the Justice League's place in the world we were free to leave for our respective cities. One measly hour that had no information about my own rogues, about nothing that warranted the leagues attention as a whole but rather its mere individual members. But that wasn't important right now.

Superman was always last to leave, and I was always first to leave, so everyone gave me curious looks as they got up from their seats and headed out the door. Batman was the last of the others to leave but before exiting he stopped in front of the door and looked at me, then at Superman, and just left without word or explanation. Finally alone, I turned to the blue boyscout who was sorting the last of his papers on League maintenance schedules.

The usual smile dropped from my face as I looked at the back of his head. I wasn't proud that I needed to ask this question, and even less proud that I was asking him because he would be likely to hand over the money I needed with little hesitation. Plus, he barely knew me outside of my red mask. Sure he knew my name, occupation, and address, but it pretty much stopped there.

"Hey, Supes?... Um… You know I've been a little short on, uh…," I asked quietly, sheepishly.

"Wally?" He interrupted me.

"Yeah?" I asked uneasily, uncertain about what he was going to say.

"Bruce told me about your finances…"

"What-uh… uh… you… ah…," I looked down, unable to articulate a string of words that might be able to turn this situation in my favor. There wasn't much I could say to downplay my debt, especially if Batman had been the one to stick his nose in to stop me from getting a new loan.

I apologized sheepishly and turned to leave as Supes' eyes softened and suggested that I consult a financial adviser. Little did he know that I had done that long ago only to be under the suspicion of buying drugs and having my apartment combed for any illegal contraband. It was because I couldn't explain to her that I spent most of my budget on food. Which I guess means that it must all go to drugs according to the guidelines of her company. Of course they came up with nothing, but I was still refused financial advice despite not having.

Then it occurred to me. If Bats had taken it upon himself to tell Superman not to give me money, then he'd probably gone to all the founders. I ran straight for the source before he could transport back to Gotham.

"Bats!" I yelled when I spotted him in front of the transporters. In the blink of an eye I was nose to nose with him.

The wind from my sudden burst of speed blew his cape back. I glared at him until his cape resettled around his shoulders, giving him the appearance of a foreboding shadow. He hadn't budged, or even flinched when I'd suddenly appeared two inches from his face.

I quietly asked him, "Have you told everybody on this satellite that they should not give me a loan?"

His silence served as a confirmation. "I will give you the loan if I see that you are consistently paying off your debts rather than increasing them."

I paused in thought to consider my options before replying, "I'll see what I can do," even though I doubted that there was anything I could do. He left for Gotham as I went to 'clean' my room again before returning to Central City.