I do not own the JLA or anything involved with them, except for plot, which is my brain child!


The alien invasion that brought the JLA together happened in August. It is now early June and the JLA has fallen into a comfortable pattern. Weekly meetings Wednesday night, team practice Sunday morning, shifts in the Watch Tower, most covered by J'onn J'onzz (Martian Manhunter) or Diana (Wonder Women) but every has at least two shifts a week, getting together for holidays, birthdays, and special occasions (Batman typically covering the shift in the Tower), pair training days scatter around, and some sort of JLA work each day, though not everyone did every mission.

Even though, in the ten months that have passed since the invasion friendships have become rock solid, secrets shared, and teamwork is nearly flawless, one member remains distant. One member has kept themselves cut off from everyone. One member who has kept their secret, one member who the other like to talk about and speculate on. One member who everyone thinks they know.

The rest of the League think that they know him. They know him as a stuck-up super powered, though they do not know what kind exactly, superhero who cares not an iota about the rest of the League or anyone else, for that matter. Wonder Woman says that he was never blessed by the gods, like herself, so he has to an alien or a human who has gotten powers. Green Lantern says that there are no aliens with his abilities that are humanoid or batoid in form, past or present, so he has to be a super powered human. Hawkgirl disagrees with Green Lantern and says that just because Lantern does not know, it does not mean that he is not an alien. Superman says that in his eyes it is 50-50 for him being an alien or super powered human. Flash says that he is an alien that there is no way that someone as cold as him is a human. Martian Manhunter stays out of the conversations about him, and when he cannot, Manhunter says as little as possible. They are, with the exception of Manhunter, who does not care, dead wrong and they are about to find out.

He does not care that they are wrong about him, in fact he prefers it that way. He does not care that they are afraid of him, in fact he likes it that way. He does not care that they do not trust him, in fact whether they trust him or not is of no importance as long as they follow his plans. He does not care that they dislike him, in fact he encourages it. At least that is what he tells himself, because to admit that he wants them to know the truth about him, to trust him, to not be afraid of him, to like him is to show weakness and that is something that he can show no one.

He knows that he is mortal. He knows that he will not last. He knows that he is running himself ragged juggling three lives. He knows that the balance that he has obtained between his three lives will end. He knows that eventually it will all end, and he is scared. He is a man in control and he has no idea when or where everything will become out of his control. He does not know when that last straw, the straw that broke the camel's back, will come tumbling down. He will not allow it to fall during the day in Gotham, which is just another straw for no matter what the man does, that straw will fall where it will, when it will. He knows that if he shows one injury his façade will collapse, that if he is ever not in top form he will be discovered, that if he shows one crack, one moment of weakness his life is gone, that if he falls behind he will fall.

Every hour, every minuet, every second brings him that much closer to the truth coming out. He is terrified and he cannot slow the falling of the straws down, for he is…

The Batman.

And no matter what happens, he will not fail. He will not stumble. He will not allow anyone to see his wounded heart. He will not let the straws break him.

That is where he is wrong. That is what he will find out.

Everyman has a breaking point, every man will fail, every man will stumble, every man will break, even

The Batman.


Did you all figure out early on that the he was Batman?

I would like your option about a few things. Is this good/bad? Why? Why do you think the rest of the JLA think what they do about Batman? I there anything that confuses you? What do you think will happen next?