"Is Supes gonna show up today, or not?" Flash asked impatiently, pacing around the Watchtower's monitor hall. Once again, Batman was glad for the friction-resistant padding he'd insisted be installed. The floor would still be worn down by the speedster's incessant steps, but at least the process took longer than before.
"He said he'd try," J'onn answered amicably from his place by the control panel. "Whatever crashed near Metropolis last month has proven of great worth to study, or so his last message said."
"I still wonder what caught his attention." It was tricky to keep his voice devoid of the curiosity that powered the particular statement, but Batman managed. He always did. Lantern and Arrow both nodded in agreement, though their attention was suddenly caught by the elevator door sliding open to admit another of their number.
"Am I late?" Hawkman asked cheerfully, striding into the room.
"No, we're still debating whether or not to wait for Superman before we start." The Martian explained. Hawkman paused and looked at them in surprise.
"But he's downstairs." He said. Now all the assembled heroes were staring at their Thanagarian member. "Had this weird expression on his face, but told me to go on ahead of him, and make sure you were all here."
Batman's eyes narrowed, and Flash, having come to a stop beside the Dark Knight, took a subtle step back.
"Oh, really?" Still speaking in his usual monotone, the Bat's mere couple of words were enough to make the other heroes hope that their final teammate would have a very good excuse with him. When said teammate appeared in the doorway, they all noticed how awkwardly he was standing.
Cautiously peeking into the room, Superman took in all of their position's with a sweep of his nervous eyes.
"Uh... I hope you guys don't mind, but after spending all this time keeping you in the dark, I decided to share what's been keeping me so busy lately." The Kryptonian said with a sheepish grin.
"Would that be why you wanted all of us together in one place?" Batman asked sternly, not liking being unaware of what was going on around him.
"Well, ah... It seemed the best way to cut down on the number of times I need to explain what happened." Superman muttered.
All of the Leaguers stiffened at the tiny voice that spoke in a subdued tone. Twisting to glance behind him without moving, Superman responded gently in a language the others didn't recognize. The tiny voice replied a little more worry in it, causing him to sigh and turn to kneel.
Batman felt his eyes widen of their own accord at the sight of the little girl standing behind his teammate. Her short blond hair fell in a ragged curtain around her face, and her hands continually twisted the silvery fabric that formed the dress and cloak she wore. The girl repeated her words, glancing around the monitor hall with more than a little fear.
"English, Kara; you need to practice." Superman softly chided her. She took a moment to frown at him before responding.
"Are you certain that these are friends?"