Diana's grin nearly brought his cerebral functions to a complete stop as she glanced back at him. Her joy for flying, her exhilaration for a contest, and simple elation of living, were all displayed on her open face. She was never any good at hiding her emotions. It was one of the things he…admired about her. Even her embarrassment was plain for any to see. Batman gave himself a mental shake to prevent his mind from recalling the endearing way the blush had spread across the smooth splendor of her cheeks. If she thought she was going to reach the Hall of Justice before him she was sadly mistaken.

Diana took one last glance back at him before she turned to the left at the intersection to head towards the periphery route. It was thirty meters longer than cutting through the more populated route, but she would be able to maintain her flight. That would give her the advantage of speed. It still would not be enough. He turned to the right to cut through the populated areas of the Watchtower in order to give himself a forty two second lead on her.

The black and white tiles flew beneath his open pace as Bruce briefly entertained the thought of locking down the portion of the Watchtower Diana was in so as to gain a further thirteen second advantage. Disadvantages: it could endanger other Leaguers if they needed to get somewhere quickly, he would have to repair that section of the Watchtower, Diana would say that he cheated. Best to stick with the route he knew would lead to success.

He was three meters away from the elevators when the sound of someone running resonated down the hallway. Two seconds later a green figure rounded the corner of an intersecting hallway at a breakneck pace.

"Batman?" a disheveled Green Arrow asked, skidding to a halt between Batman and the elevators. Oliver's blonde hair was ruffled into clumps, his jerkin was only half on, his signature goatee was mussed, and there was the faint trace of a deep red lipstick on his jaw. The deep shade of red could only be Black Canary's. Which meant they had been…Dinah was going to kill him. Or at the very least make him deaf. Great.

"Arrow," Batman said, striding past him to press the up button. The left elevator was heading up but it was four floors down.

"What is this about me having Monitor Duty? I thought-"

"Wonder Woman is needed in a meeting. You are on call. So, you were called in to replace her. Forty seconds ago," Batman said brusquely, turning to give him a quick glare.

Oliver did not seem to get the hint. "Yeah, but you see Dinah and I-"

"Do you I look like I care?" he growled. The other man grimaced as he took a step backwards.

"No."

"I did not think so." The elevator opened and Batman strode into it, turning around just in time to see the other man scowling at his pointy green shoes before the door closed. Batman pushed the button for the Hall of Justice and rattled out his passcode. The elevator began its slow ascent. He forced his mind to review the information he had received from the Monitor Womb in order to prevent himself from hotwiring the elevator to make it go faster.

Gotham's crime statistics had gradually increased over the past year with an increase of 16.4% in the past two weeks. Meanwhile global crime had decreased 3% over the past year. Most people would say that it was due to the Justice League and not worth any concern. He was not most people.

Over the years of the League's active service there had been a gradual increase, rather than a decrease, of crime. This was most often attributed by criminologists to egomaniacs like Vandal Savage or Luthor who attempted to best the League in various fights to the death. There was also the fact that vigilantism was technically an illegal endeavor.

There were too many variables that could affect the numbers. Criminals were getting smarter, less police forces were reporting vigilantism, there were always the felonies that the police did not know about… the list went on and on. Even if the decrease in global crime was tied to something it would be nearly impossible to prove. That meant that the crime spree in Gotham was probably just a local occurrence. Batman hated probability when it came to his city.

The elevator finally stopped at the Hall of Justice and Batman stepped out into the hallway. The door to the sanctuary was already open and through it he heard her voice greeting the occupants of the room. He had lost by seven seconds. He made a mental note to check the elevator speeds to see if they needed maintenance.

Batman walked up to the still open door just as the elevator chimed behind him, announcing another founder's arrival. Superman was deep in conversation with Martian Manhunter near the head of the table as the former pulled up a holographic image of a foreign satellite that was spherical, much like a planet. Warworld. The artificial planet was essentially a gladiatorial arena where enslaved aliens were forced to fight to the death for the viewing pleasure of the tyrannical scum Mongul.

"Hello, Batman," Diana said, breaking through his line of thought. Batman crossed the room to where Diana was sitting in her chair with her arms crossed across her abdomen with a very proud smirk on her face. The open gait and heavy footfall of the fifth founder about to enter the room was a clear indicator that it was Hal Jordan. Batman grunted his greeting as he slid into his own chair next to her. "Glad that you were able to make it."

Before he could respond to her obvious gloating, Hal Jordan chimed in from the doorway, "Don't I get a hello?"

Diana grinned at Green Lantern. Hal's hair was as bad as Ratcatcher's rats' nest. "Hello, Hal. It is good to see you." The other man winked at her as he practically threw himself into his seat with a sigh.

"It's always great to see you, Diana. Especially in the morning." Wonder Woman's head tilted to the side as a streak of red entered the room with a gust of wind to solidify into the Flash.

"Why would time of day-" she began.

"Shouldn't you be saving that kind of flirting for Carol?" Wally said, leaning against the chair with his signature lightning bolt on the back.

"Who do you think kept me up all night?"

"Bruce?" Diana asked, leaning in closer towards him conspiratorially.

"Hmmm," Batman said as he tried to ignore the aroma of vanilla and cinnamon that clung to her.

"Why would the time of day affect how happy a person would be to see someone else?"

This was one of the many times he was glad that the cowl covered the upper half of his face. "Ask Clark." The Kryptonian could use some color.

Anyone want coffee?" Flash asked as he pointed to the door.

"I could go of a cup of jo," Green Lantern said, perking up in his chair.

"I would love some, Wally. Thank you for offering," Diana said, flashing Flash a smile. The Scarlet Speedster's cheeks almost matched his uniform. Batman tried not to roll his eyes at the school boy crush West had on the Amazonian Ambassador.

Superman held up his "World's Greatest Hero" cup, courtesy of Mrs. Lois Lane-Kent, to show that he already had a beverage while Martian Manhunter shook his head. Flash was about to leave when Batman said, "I'll have a triple."

Suddenly, the only sound in the room was the hum of the artificial life support as everyone in the room halted.

"You want a drink?" Wally asked. The way that he seemed surprised about that immediately put Batman on edge.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No," Wally said, holding up his hands. "One triple coming right up." Then Flash was gone and Wonder Woman's elbow was in Batman's side. He grunted in pain at the quick jab and glared at her. A glare that she readily returned.

"Here is your iced mocha, Diana," Wally said, his red arm coming between the two.

"Thank you, Wally," she said, not breaking eye contact with Batman.

"And your triple."

He grunted his thanks which made Wonder Woman's eyebrows arch upwards in a slightly threatening manner. Batman remained silent, almost defending his antisocial response. Finally, she sighed as she glanced up at Wally. "Bruce is also thankful," she said with a particularly beautiful smile. "He's just sulking because he lost the race." Batman snorted to show what he thought of her theory as he reached for his coffee, which earned him a very solid kick to his right shin.

His hand jerked at the sharp pain, nearly spilling the beverage. When he shot a glare at her though, Diana was smiling so sweetly at him that the now familiar tightening in his chest came back. Damn gifts of Aphrodite. Batman turned his attention back to his coffee in front of him, pointedly ignoring the woman sitting next to him. Wally finally finished his coffee runs and settled into his seat.

"Now, that we are all here I am sure you are all wondering why I called you here," Superman said, placing his hands on the table.

"Wait. Where's Arthur?" Green Lantern asked, gesturing to the seventh empty chair.

"Aquaman assures me that he is fairly busy with business in Atlantis," Superman replied. If that was all it took than perhaps Batman no longer needed to attend Alpha level meetings either.

"At four o'clock eastern time we received a distress signal from the Tamaranians. From the reports that we received, they are under attack from Warworld," Superman said. He gestured to the satellite. "As we all know, Warworld is ruled by Mongul. He gathers people from various planets in order to host gladiatorial fights."

"Unfortunately, most of his contestants are involuntary subjects to his whim," Green Lantern interjected. Superman nodded tersely as his mouth thinned. Clark was probably remembering the time when he had been forced to fight in the arena.

"But the Tamaranians are mostly a peaceful people. Why would he want them for his fights?" Wonder Woman asked. Batman glanced over at her in surprise. She already knew of the fighting techniques Tamaranians firsthand from sparring with their princess Koriand'r, aka Starfire. Why would she need to ask such a question?

Superman's rigid stance softened a little as he turned to look at Wonder Woman. It was a diversion. For Kent. "As is evident by the Teen Titans own Starfire, the Tamaranians can be formidable foes when instigated," Superman said. "Starfire requested that we go with the Titans in order save her people from enslavement. So far one hundred forty six Tamaranians have been reported missing."

"Who all would be going?" Flash asked. Of course they bypassed the most important questions. How far away are the Tamaranians, how long would the mission take, did they have the resources for such an endeavor, what was the status of the remaining Tamaranians, what were Mongul's defenses… Luckily, Batman had already checked the statistics while he had been in the Monitor Womb. A simple deep space mission to retrieve a handful of enslaved Tamarianians should only require-

"Based on the information that we have so far," Martian Manhunter said, "It would be best if Superman, Wonder Woman, myself, Hal, and Reiner went on the mission." What?

"When would we leave?" Green Lantern asked. They needed four founders, a Green Lantern, and the Teen Titans all to rescue, at most, two hundred Tamaranians?

"Preferably within the next six hours. You know how time is of the essence in these kinds of missions. Will that suffice for everyone?" Clark said. There was a slight pained expression on Superman's face. He was lying. The selected members nodded beginning to rise to their feet.

"Alright it is settled," Wonder Woman said, placing her hands on the table to stand up.

"No." Everyone froze to stare at him. Again. Batman's hands lowered to the table top as he regarded the shock on Clark's face.

"Look we all know that you aren't a fan of-" Superman began.

"You aren't planning just to rescue the Tamaranians are you?" Batman asked. Clark flinched, his hand caught in the proverbial cookie jar.

"What Mongul is doing is wrong. We cannot allow for him to enslave people to fight just for his own pleasure." Batman did not care how many people Clark rescued. The more the better. However, there was something the Kryptonian had yet to clarify.

"Are you doing this because it is the right thing to do or because Mongul forced you to fight for him?"

Anger hardened the Kryptonian's features. "You of all people should know the answer to that." The pained expression was not there. Good. The League's leader could not afford to let his personal vendetta cause complications to the mission. Now, to his second point.

"We can't have all of our heavy hitters off world. Someone needs to stay behind."

"Why?" Flash asked. "We have managed to handle Earth before without them." Against his advice. On several occasions. He tried not to let his irritation show.

"Only because there have not been any major catastrophes while they were gone."

"Well, I am sure that you, Wally, and Arthur can handle the situation," Hal said, turning towards the door.

"In case you have not noticed," Batman said, "Aquaman has been dealing with issues in Atlantis. So Flash will be on his own."

"Woah, time out," Wally said, making a capital T with his hands. "Crazy Bats says what now?"

Batman shot him a glare that sufficiently shut him up. "What about you, Batman?" Superman asked the obvious question; which deserved the obvious reply.

"Gotham-"

"Needs you," Diana finished with a weary smile. He would have snapped at her if that amusement was not in her eyes.

"Come one, Batman. Isn't there anyway that you can crawl out of your cave and help out more around here?" Hal asked with a clearly exasperated tone. They thought that he was being unaccommodating. They had the nerve- Batman's hands tightened into fists on the table as his jaw clenched shut against the urge to throw Green Lantern out the nearest window.

"No," he gritted out.

"Come on, Bats. I am fast, but there is no way that I can run the entire League on my own," Flash continued. "The rest of us manage to watch our cities and still help out-"

"Enough." Rising to his feet, Batman was about to give them a few choice words when a hand rested gently on his shoulder. He glanced down to see Diana gazing up at him with her cerulean eyes.

"I will stay," she whispered. Her voice was soft and low as her fingers gently squeezed his shoulder.

He gave her one curt nod before he extracted his arm from her grasp. No one was looking at him. Apparently the floor was more interesting than Batman losing his temper. Again. Batman strode towards the exit, pretending not to notice the rest of the founders staring after him. "So, that went well-" Wally said. Always trying to lighten the mood. The doors slid shut behind him.

A/N: So I might do these as a kind of behind the scenes thing so you guys can get some sneak peeks at upcoming chapters, responses to your reviews, and possibly some snippets of my weird sense of humor.

Chapter 4: Matches Malone hits the seedier East End in order to see if he can scrounge up some intel about Gotham's criminal underbelly. Figured you guys deserved some action after all the talking and fluffiness.

Thanks for reviews and views. If you see something that you would like improved in my writing style please let me know. I am editing these myself and often times, after the tenth time reading and rewriting these, I tend to miss stuff. Also, let me know if the meeting got a little confusing. That is the first time I have had so many people participating in a conversation so that is definitely something I have to work on.

Last off here are some call outs:

ButterflyV: Sorry to hear about the brushfire near your town. I hope everyone is ok. This past summer there were some fires near my home town because of droughts so I know a little about scary that can get.

Kari-Kateora: I am glad that you like the story so far. The updates are pretty much only 3-5 pages on Word, so they are not that long literally speaking. I have outlined a basic summary of what I want to do with the chapters and some of them should get longer though others look like they could end up really short.

5starbarbie: I am glad that you enjoyed the wait for a kiss. I get frustrated whenever people write romance as jumping each other's bones as soon as they are alone together. With someone as closed off emotionally as Bruce is, I figure it would take some serious stuff to break down those walls. So prepare your wrecking crews!