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Psychotic

Discussions

"We cannot have someone with that much uncontrolled power running around on the watchtower! She nearly destroyed it!" Wonder Woman repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last half hour. "If she hadn't stopped, she would have killed everyone who was up here!"

"And where else do you suggest we put her?" J'onn asked with frustrating logic. He didn't seem particularly happy about the situation either.

"J'onn, she took a hit from me and didn't even feel it!" Superman protested. "If this happens again, maybe she won't stop herself in time!"

"Are you suggesting we leave her somewhere on Earth where next time she could hurt hundreds of people who are less equipped to protect themselves from her than we are?" Batman asked, his tone reflecting his disapproval of that idea.

Wonder Woman whipped her head around to glare at Batman. "If she destroys the watchtower and it goes crashing down on those hundreds of people, it'll be the same thing, won't it?"

"She wasn't anywhere near the engines. The watchtower was never in danger of falling out of orbit." Batman pointed out, irritatingly logical, as usual.

"What if she's wandering around down there next time?" Superman bit out.

"And what if she's wandering around a mall? The city centre?" Batman replied.

"Batman is right." J'onn's monotone cut across the table. "We cannot leave her in a populated area without supervision. She is too unstable."

"So we put her in an unpopulated area!" Wonder Woman answered, the solution evident as far as she was concerned.

"She's a city girl." Batman refuted. "She wouldn't manage in an unpopulated area."

"That's her problem!" Wonder Woman snapped.

A silence settled down around the table in the Justice League meeting room. The founding seven were all present, though not all of them were entirely up to speed. Shayera and Green Lantern had previously had very little to do with Jay, and had been hastily filled in by a livid Wonder Woman just before this emergency meeting had started.

"Let's recap." Green Lantern spoke up, having been silent for the majority of the argument so far. "She's a very powerful meta-human, right?" There were nods all around the table.

"She's so powerful that she was holding her own against four of us." Superman pointed out.

"Is there anywhere we can send her where it would be relatively safe to leave her?" John put the question to the group.

There was another silence as everyone at the table thought hard on the subject. When there was no reply after a few minutes, John continued.

"So we don't have a choice. We have to keep her under our direct watch."

Wonder Woman gave a sigh of frustration. "She's too dangerous. If this happened again, but this time she did manage to blow the tower apart, she'd put everyone up here at risk. Again."

"And there's a lot of innocent people who work up here." Superman pointed out. "As well as a lot of superheroes who spend a majority of their time here. It's a lot of people we're putting at risk."

"What about the ground station? We could set her up down there." Shayera suggested.

Batman shook his head. "It's in a city centre. At least up here, everyone at risk knows there's that danger, and has chosen to stay up here. Everyone has somewhere else they can be, if they prefer."

"You're not giving us much choice." Wonder Woman ground out.

"I'm not giving you any choice." Batman replied stubbornly. "On the watchtower is the one place she could stay that would put the least number of people at risk, and let us keep a constant eye on her."

Wonder Woman glared at Batman, who kept direct eye contact. Diana was the first to look away, conceding the point.

Superman didn't seem happy about it either. "If she's going to stay up here, then there will have to be restrictions about where she can go."

"Fine." Batman agreed. "So where can she go?"

"Her room. The canteen." Superman replied immediately.

"Just two rooms?" J'onn asked, a note of incredulity creeping into his voice. "She'd go even more insane than she already is."

Shayera sighed as everyone else around the table bristled up for another round of arguments. She exchanged a slightly exasperated look with John as the disputes started over again. Tuning out the bickering, Shayera glanced over at Flash, who had been uncharacteristically silent for the entire meeting. Not so much as an inappropriate pun had passed his lips, and in such a tense situation it was unusual for Flash not to be attempting to diffuse the arguments. He stood back from the table, leaning against a wall, his head bowed in concentration. He'd been completely still for the whole time. Shayera had never seen him stay in one place for so long.

"Right, so everyone's agreed?" Superman's stressed announcement whipped out across the table, snapping Shayera's attention back to the proceedings. "She can be in her room, the canteen, and the gym and training areas. Under no circumstances is she allowed in the control room, or any of the lower engineering levels of the watchtower. And she is never allowed to go down to Earth. These restrictions are to stay in place until she's proven she has complete control on her powers, and only then will we review them. She remains inactive- no missions. Ever."

Nods were given from around the table. None of them were happy, Wonder Woman still sure that the girl shouldn't be allowed to stay, J'onn unsure how the restrictions would affect an already fragile psyche, Batman not happy because that was his standard state. But Superman waited till each member had nodded agreement before moving to the next, no matter how long the nods were in coming.

"Flash?" Superman asked, when everyone else had given their silent agreement. Everyone twisted to look at Flash, who finally looked up.

"Huh?" Flash asked, still looking preoccupied.

"Do you agree to the conditions?" Superman repeated.

"Sure, whatever." Flash answered, waving a hand dismissively. "Listen, are we through here? I've got places to be."

All the other members exchanged surprised glances. Flash seemed to have lost his usual lighthearted tone, and it was unlike him to take so little interest in another person.

"We'll have to gather again when she gets up, to tell her the new rules." Superman replied. "But otherwise, yes, we're done."

"Great." Answered Flash, and walked out of the room.

A concerned silence followed his departure.

"Did Flash just walk out of here?" John asked incredulously.

This time the nods were immediate, and bewildered.

"Flash never walks." There were more nods to John's undeniably true statement. "I'm going to make sure he's alright."

The remaining six dispersed.

---

John caught up to Flash just outside the control room. Flash still seemed preoccupied, and he was still walking, instead of speeding around at his usual sonic velocities.

"Hey, Flash, wait up!" John called, grasping Flash's shoulder and turning him around. Flash seemed surprised to be accosted.

"What's up?" Flash asked. His voice had a forced cheerfulness in it, but John could tell Flash's heart wasn't really in it.

"You tell me." John answered. "You didn't say a word throughout that meeting. Were you even listening?"

"Sure I was." Flash shrugged, grinning tightly at John. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"Well, if you're sure you don't want to talk about anything…" John began.

"Green Lantern? Flash? Um, I… well. I… I guess I…" Both Flash and Green Lantern turned to stare at the young woman who'd interrupted. Jay looked up at both men, blushing at her inability to form a coherent sentence. Truth be told, she had no idea what she'd been expecting, or what she wanted to say when she saw any of the Justice League. She'd only just come up from her room, having taken half an hour to shower and dress before presenting herself for whatever punishment they'd see fit to deal out. She'd kind of expected them to start shouting at her before she even finished saying their names. Their expectant silence completely threw her off.

"I… I assumed you'd want to talk to me…" Jay mumbled, finally managing to string a sentence together, despite her growing awkwardness. This really was excruciating.

"We do." Green Lantern was the first to reply. Flash just stared at her, his eyes narrowed slightly in concentration. Jay focused her attention on Green Lantern, avoiding Flash's scrutiny. "Flash, round up the others and get them back to the meeting room. Jay, with me."

Jay meekly fell in beside Green Lantern as Flash ran off with a last backward glance at Jay. Considering the speeds he could go, and the communicators, odds were the other six would beat Green Lantern and Jay back to the meeting room. Just to play it safe, Green Lantern kept their pace slow.

He managed to keep the silence for a few minutes before curiosity overcame him. "You were only asleep for a few hours. Are you sure you're rested enough?" He asked.

Jay seemed surprised to be addressed so courteously. Her wide eyes snapped up to Green Lantern, but she only shrugged in reply and then cast her eyes down again. They didn't pass many other Leaguers, to Jay's relief. She was pretty sure the word about her outburst would have spread around the tower, and everyone would be avoiding her like the plague by now. She was, admittedly, really hungry- starving in fact- but she had been too afraid to go to the canteen and get herself some food.

What's it matter anyway? Given another ten minutes we'll be packing our bags.

Jay sighed in agreement with herself, but since her eyes were still firmly fixed to the floor she didn't notice Green Lantern's curious look at her.

By the time they'd reached the meeting room, Jay had worked herself into a serious depression, convinced that she was about to be given her marching orders. It was one of the rare times in her life when both sides of herself were in complete agreement. Jay couldn't even work up the energy to be particularly upset about it.

The founding members of the Justice League were arrayed in stern state around the great round table in the centre of the room. Once again, Jay found herself standing in front of it as seven serious gazes bore into her skull. She focused on a spot in the very centre of the table, and occupied herself with trying to decide if the little spot was a scratch or some dirt, just to keep her mind off what was sure to come next.

"We have seriously considered your future Jay. It was a difficult decision." Superman began.

Here we go.

The obligatory commentary started up in Jay's head.

This is where he says we're very dangerous…

"You are an extremely dangerous individual." Superman continued.

And our presence here puts everyone at risk.

"Your presence here puts everyone at risk."

This time they were lucky, but next time we could seriously hurt someone.

"This time we were lucky, but next time you could seriously hurt someone."

In consideration of this, they feel our continued presence here is impossible.

"However, this environment is probably the safest one you could stay in."

Please understand, it's nothing personal, but…. Wait. What?

"There is nowhere else we could send you where you could receive the help you so clearly need. We have therefore decided that you should be confined to the Watchtower until you can demonstrate adequate control of your power." Superman went on, completely oblivious to Jay's look of shock. She'd snapped her gaze from the spot on the table to look directly into Superman's eyes.

Confined to the watchtower? Why is he saying that like it's a punishment?

"We must consider the safety of the others on this station, so your movements within the tower will be severely restricted until you can prove you are no longer a danger."

Restricted?

"Restricted?"

"You will only be allowed to go to your room, the canteen, the gym and training areas, and the necessary corridors in between."

Three rooms? We're only allowed in three rooms?

"She's only allowed in three rooms?"

Is there an echo in here?

"Yes Flash." Superman addressed Flash, who had indeed been echoing Jay's thoughts. Everyone in the room turned to look at Flash, who was acting like all of this was news to him too. "You were right here when we decided all of this. You agreed to it."

"I did not!" Flash protested hotly. "I would never!"

"You were right here in the room Flash. It was put to the vote." Wonder Woman echoed Superman, exasperation in her voice. "You could have said something at any time!"

"But I…" Flash spluttered to a halt, unable to explain his absence of mind, but obviously gearing up to battle this out.

Jay cut in tentatively. "It's ok, Flash. I really don't mind."

Like hell we don't.

I don't mind enough to want Flash's help, anyway.

"I'm just really happy you're letting me stay." Jay continued. And she wasn't lying. She really was genuinely delighted that she wasn't being sent away to some strange, godforsaken desert somewhere. She couldn't keep the glow off her face or the happiness out of her voice. This was the Watchtower, the only place in the world she'd been truly happy, even for a few months, and despite knowing that it would all be different from now on and everyone would be awkward around her, it was still the one place in the universe that she wanted to be above any other. She could even handle the restrictions. Her only regret was not being able to go into the control room, and even then, she'd work on her control and would make them trust her again!

Jay couldn't help it. She beamed happily at all seven founding members. She barely stopped herself from throwing herself at them and hugging them in gratitude.

They stared back at her in disbelief.

I am really going to have to work on getting these emotions under control…

"Well, then…" Superman finally broke the silence, though his voice had lost all its customary self- assuredness. "I guess that's settled…"

Jay nodded, still smiling delightedly, to the continued amazement of everyone else in the room.

"Um. You can go." Superman finished, pretty lamely. Jay didn't even notice, just nodded happily, sang a "Thank you!" and left the room.

Silence dominated once she'd left.

"She took that pretty well…" John said eventually. Shayera rolled her eyes.

"I don't think she's really demonstrating the appropriate level of repentance!" Wonder Woman accused, her voice laden with irritation.

"She understandably reacts differently to situations. I am sure there is a reason she appeared so callous." J'onn interjected in Jay's defense, though even he didn't seem certain about it.

Superman sighed and dropped his head into his hands. He could feel a headache of massive proportions amassing. "Someone has got to talk to that girl and figure her out."

"I'll do it." Flash volunteered.

Silence once again took over. At this rate, it was going to set up home in there.

"You are volunteering to have deep, soul searching talks with a girl who professes to hate you." Batman asked, deadpan.

"Well, she did show up in my city!" Flash replied, lifting his arms in front of himself as if to ward off the disbelieving stares. "And anyway, the rest of you would probably scare her."

Nobody disputed this.

"Fine." Superman decided, standing up. "Flash, you talk to her, sort this thing out. I, for one, am going to get away from here before she does something else to complicate my life."

With unanimous agreement, the meeting ended.