A/N
Nice to see you all again, hope you are having a splendid day and weekend! The support has been amazing for a while now so I hope the good times can continue!
Episode XIV: Covering Tracks, Part I
Despite all the times Barry Allen has reminded himself to never underestimate anyone - friend or foe - he always seems to be caught in an awkward situation where he is astounded with the resourcefulness and determination people can muster to achieve their goals.
The team have impressed many heroes over the course of their heroing careers, notably being the Flash himself and many of the founding members. Even with that, there's something they have done which is way beyond what he expects of them. Not only did they take down Bane, they pretty much annihilated his criminal franchise and cut off the supply of venom to the United States in the space of a few days.
Batman has been trying to do this for as long as Barry has known him, and yet this small group of teenagers has somehow managed to prove the Batman ineffective. To state the Flash is once more impressed would be an understatement - the fastest man alive is beginning to wonder who the mentors are in this relationship.
Not only are they proving a good example to the future of the hero community, they are doing good at the same time, one step at a time. The Justice League is in safe hands for as long as that rag-tag group sticks by each other.
As for now, they have a little problem of their hands. Both Black Adam and Bane are currently residing inside cells in Themyscira, carefully watched by Amazonian guards around the clock, each specifically trained to watch out for Adam's strength and Bane's cunning. The cells are supposed to be a temporary solution to an otherwise unending problem; Black Adam is quite frankly immortal with the added bonus of never requiring sleep or food consumption, this means Themyscira can only hold him for so long.
Shazam is working on a solution for this - something to do with an old wizard and sending Adam far away - but the Flash is more concerned with the pressing matter of Batman and Superman.
"Did we make the right choice?" the Flash asks the group, making sure the interrogation cells they are currently having their secret meetings in are both sound proofed and lead-lined. "The Amazons can keep them there for some time, but Adam will eventually get out."
"You're right on that. Black Adam has an eternity to wait for his opportunity, and even the most graceful of Amazons make mistakes," Diana explains, although continuing on. "It is only temporary. My sisters will keep them there whilst we secure the front here."
"Batman and Superman are growing more suspicious by the moment - it's only a matter of time before something eventually boils over. The tension is definitely palpable," Aquaman provides his input to the conversation.
"Superman can still be swayed to our cause," Hawkwoman counters, meeting the gaze of the Atlantean King, "Batman will remain as stubborn as he usually is. The team will remain in danger for as long as we sit back and wait for Batman to make a move. But to be honest, how do we know the Dark Knight hasn't already moved his pawns?"
"Seize the board, not destroy the pieces," the Flash dismisses Hawkwoman's concerns, "Batman knows we are doing what we believe is right and so, instead of forcing us out he'll just clean the floors and hope we slip."
"Humans put warning signs down, Barry, and the team is the warning sign," Diana speaks up, interrupting the slowly evolved argument between the Thanagarian and the speedster. "Batman does what he believes is right, but so will we, no matter the repercussions. He is keeping his cards close to his chest as is normal, but he made a mistake."
Throwing some files down onto the table in front of them, Diana explains.
"The team. He made it for his own purposes and his own sense of justice, but they have outgrown his cold notions of the word. At this point, they are probably better heroes than most of the Justice League, and this is where Batman's plan will fail."
Allowing the group to flick through, Diana picks up some of the photos within the files.
"Artemis, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, Robin, the new addition of Zatanna, and of course the reappearance of Kyle Rayner - these are the weapons Batman wanted to use to slash at the shields of villainy, but in the end... they have become the opposite. Shields of justice, doing everything they can to stop the blows hammering down upon it."
"They shouldn't be the shield Diana, it should be us," Barry responds to Diana's speech, making sure the Amazon understands his frustration. "We are the Justice League," Barry adds on, looking to the heroes gathered around him, "we were founded to protect the Earth and the people on it, human or alien. We failed that the moment we allowed Batman to use these kids in his damned crusade."
"We can't undo the past Barry, only look to the future," Aquaman wisely nods to the fastest man alive.
"These past few weeks have sucked," Shazam finally enters the conversation. "The Justice League just doesn't seem to be so interested in 'justice' anymore, the team goes missing without a word, and after everything we have done to help them, they are the ones helping us. But you know what... sometimes, you get inspiration from the places you least expect. The team has given us all the strength we needed to see what needs to change around here."
"I call that a win kid," Green Arrow agrees, giving Earth's Mightiest Mortal a slap on the shoulder. Turning to the group with a large grin on his face, the archer shakes his head. "It is a win guys. Those kids are the future of this League and they have proven beyond a doubt the world will be a much better place when they take over from us moping old-timers."
"Old-timer? I'm only a kid!" Shazam suddenly burst out, causing the room to be filled with a laughter uncommon to any room in the Watchtower these days.
Back at the beginning, everything just had the sense everything was going to work out eventually if they gave it everything they had when the time needed it. For a while, it worked perfectly and the world was safe; fast forward some time and the spark of friendship and comradery is all but gone with the founding members. The only real time they spend moments with each other is during a meeting, and once it has completed they all go their separate ways.
Hal has a space sector to patrol, Oliver watched over Star City like the ever vigilant hawk he is, and Barry zooms around Central City looking for anything which needs to be resolved in a flash.
Once the laughter had died down a little, Wonder Woman gathers together all of the files and swiftly hands them over to Barry. Assuming she wants him to hide them inside of his rings pocket dimension, he quickly does so although no-one in the room had fast enough eyes to see it.
Even Hawkwoman appeared to be mildly impressed as the document instantly disappeared from Diana's hand without a word being said.
"Fastest man alive," the Thanagarian smiles.
"You know it baby," is Barry's cheeky response.
"Glad to hash this out guys and girls, but really we need to figure out our next move," Green Arrow says, gesturing towards the door. The Flash is certain he witnessed Oliver attempt to bow towards the Amazon as he held the door open for her but a swift knee to the gut made the archer appear to be more in pain than legitimately being respectful.
Keeled over, some of the members of the group mockingly whisper thanks as they exit. It takes the archer a while to recover from the blow and when he does, he turns to the speedster who is stood opposite him and deeply concerned with his wellbeing.
Not many humans can take a knee from the Princess without serious pain, and the archer is definitely feeling the aftereffects at the moment. Taking some time to breathe in and gain some composure, he eventually summons up the breath to speak to the speedster.
"I'm a billionaire playboy man - I'm supposed to be good with the ladies," Green Arrow groans to Barry, rubbing his stomach as though he ate something bad.
"You are," Barry encourages the archer, "just not with ones way out of your league."
"Thought we were friends Barry."
Sneaking around in the dark is usually Batman's main hobby, but somehow he managed to rope Kal-El into watching the divergent group of heroes as they undoubtedly plot against Batman and his schemes. Being on one side of the fence but in reality is floating above it, Superman might as well keep Batman appeased until he can locate the whereabouts of the team from the Dark Knight.
He knows where they are for certain, it's the way Batman has obscured this from the rest of the League which concerns the Man of Steel. Usually, he keeps things from the other heroes when he has reason to, primarily being they would immediately object to his plans.
Whatever Batman has been planning with the team, it's going to be a long while until anyone other than Bruce knows about it.
Wonder Woman and her small group of righteous rebels appear to be gaining traction with the League. More heroes are beginning to question the validity of Batman's integrity over the past few weeks, fuelled by the faint rumours in relation to having Wonder Woman and Green Arrow watched.
Heroes who have spent their entire lives keeping their profession a well-crafted secret rarely appreciate being placed under equal suspicion in a place where they are supposed to be welcomed. Batman has set a bad precedent for the future, but Superman can come to this when the time arrives.
For now, Batman can have his way with the unspoken rules until he leads the Kryptonian where needed.
Probably knowing Superman isn't entirely devoted to the completion of his plans, Batman will likely place obstacles and tests in the Kryptonian's way, but Batman has yet to learn that Clark learns and adapts almost as fast as he does.
"Any idea what they are up to?" Superman asks his companion, assuring himself no straight answer will be given. True to Superman's thoughts, the Dark Knight somewhat evades the question.
"I haven't pieced all the clues together yet."
Superman has spent enough time beside Bruce to know when the human is deliberately misleading the Man of Steel, and in this instance his instincts say the Dark Knight is bluffing. Undoubtedly, Bruce knows what Wonder Woman's end goal is and more than likely understands her likely next move.
"They are our friends Bruce, we can simply talk to them. Make an effort of it, at least," Superman suggests but is promptly waved off.
Inwardly cursing Bruce's stubbornness, the Man of Steel follows Bruce as the Dark Knight slips into the interrogation rooms after they make sure no-one is within hearing range. Superman has to force the door open slightly as Green Arrow mistakenly left the doors to the room locked, but thankfully no alarms are activated, Batman typing in some commands on his gauntlet in order to prevent it.
Making a mental note to check how much access Batman has to all the systems in the Watchtower for future reference, Superman moves aside for the Batman to enter. Allowing the Dark Knight to slink into his detective role as the Man of Steel paces around the room, Superman's ears are kept on alert for anyone coming nearby.
Bruce's eyes fall upon one of the walls of the room, and in a few strides he had reached the surface and began running his fingers through. Grasping onto something when his hand reaches resistance, the Batman pulls out a hidden server of some kind, attaching wires into the system.
"Martian stealth tech," Superman comments.
"Combined with Waynetech," Batman corrects, continuing to tap on his gauntlet whilst Superman watches and waits.
"How have you managed to hide all of your advanced technology over the years? Surely someone within the company would have noticed by now," Superman poses a question to Bruce, aiming to pass the time slightly.
"It's simple... no-one looks close enough," Batman responds, a hint of something in his voice which Superman can only describe as slightly arrogant. "It's done. We can listen to the recording later."
"What?" Superman asks, raising an eyebrow. "This rooms have never been recorded."
"By the League," was Batman's blunt answer.
Trying to ignore the increasing amount of questions building inside of his head, Superman instead leads the conversation away and onto their next step. "What now?"
Brushing past the Kryptonian and into the hallway, Batman types in a message onto his gauntlet. Reading the words using his supervision, Superman is confused by the message being sent so prefers to directly ask the Batman instead.
"Why do you want the group to gather in the monitor room?" Superman questions, already attempting the unravel the mysterious mind of Bruce Wayne. "That's where Wonder Woman and her group were headed."
"I've decided to take your suggestion into consideration," Batman returns, twisting Superman's words into his own gain as per standard practise. "We're going to ask them a few questions we already have the answers to."
"Then why ask at all?"
"It's always worth it to confirm your details Clark - being a reporter... you should know this."
Needless to say, when the Kryptonian and his side of the argument formed together and headed to the monitor room, the atmosphere is almost as deadly as the one residing directly outside the airlock. Wonder Woman stands at the head of her group, arms crossed and tiara fixed perfectly onto her head, usually signalling she is prepared for conflict of some kind.
Instead of the physical, this will likely be of the verbal kind. Thankfully, Superman is perfectly placed in the middle of the groups to halt anything from escalating past this point; they many be heroes in arms, but with both Wonder Woman and Batman being mild hot-heads, something may arise.
Piercing a gaze straight through Batman's cowl, Wonder Woman prepares for the battle of wits ahead.
"You've been busy Diana," Batman begins, staring straight back at the Amazon. "I'm guessing Hal's disappearance has something do with Kyle coming back?"
"You could have asked Batman instead of interrogating young Billy," the Amazon fires back, with Shazam lowering his gaze to the floor in disappointment in response. Superman watches Green Arrow raise the chin of the young hero and give him a small back rub. "I would be happy to divulge everything we know... but we expect the same in response."
"Could you not have told me the moment you came back?" John Stewart asks Diana from the back of Batman's group. The Amazons nods in agreement, although politely refuses to answer and instead refocuses back on the Dark Knight.
"Where have they gone?" Batman interrogates, Superman being certain for once Bruce doesn't actually know something.
"That is not our concern at the moment Batman, but the team here on Earth. You have endangered them recklessly for far too long, and we know you plan to take it a step further," Diana responds.
"Is this what the Justice League has come to?" Superman intervenes, stepping inbetween both of the groups. "Whilst we all sit here arguing amongst ourselves, Kyle and Hal are off-world in who knows how much trouble and the rest of the team is wading into the most dangerous situation they have ever faced. Batman, Wonder Woman - let's do this the right way and remember we are a team."
"This is not a matter of splitting ourselves Superman," Aquaman responds for his leader. "We are doing what is right, protecting the team and Earth from the Light whilst Batman here is solely focused on bringing down the Light, no matter the cost to the team."
"You're wrong your highness," Batman shakes his head, sighing. "I'm trying to help the team. I know where they are, I have an idea what they might be planning, but we have to acknowledge the permanent way to protect the team is to use the team and the Light's fascination with them to lure them into the open. The team can handle themselves, this much is clear, but this doesn't mean I was willing to let them fight this battle alone."
"Batman is right about one thing, no matter whether you agree with his thoughts on the matter or not. The team cannot be allowed to fight this war alone, no matter whether they are able to win or not. The Justice League is about fighting together no matter the strength of the foe," Superman continues on Batman's point, glad to see some members of Wonder Woman's group are beginning to sway. "We all need to work together and share what we have learnt in order to help the team. Anyone who doesn't not wish to do so can leave now."
Breaking ranks from her group, Wonder Woman approaches the Man of Steel. Stopping shortly before him, the Princess gives him a look Superman has seen multiple times. Both one of trust and faith, Superman now knows where the Amazon resides.
He can only hope Batman's stubbornness can be cast aside for the sake of the team.
A/N
Thank you for reading this chapter guys, hope you have a nice weekend!