What you recognize I don't own. As always thoughts are in italics while foreign and alien languages are in asterisks, and while this is a Justice League/Transformers crossover story it is not connected to the other crossover story and is it's own separate identity even if some aspects of the other story are seen in this one. Also it's short due to what my brain wanted to do and I refused to allow for personal reasons
"Okay everyone listen up, this mission isn't going to be easy"
"When are they ever Batman?"
"That's not what I mean Superman, it's not just our villains that are going to be making this hard, there's also EDC enemies that are there and who knows how they might affect everyone's individual abilities if you get hit by one of their weapons"
"Which means you and Arrow are less vulnerable than the majority"
"Actually from what little research I've been able to do Arrow's more susceptible then me due to not only his weapons but also the fact that there's something about him that I know that most of you aren't aware of"
"If needed I'll let them know Batman but in the meantime that's to remain between the two of us"
"Of course"
"Unless it's needed I don't think I want to know, what about civilians?"
"That'll be your duty Flash, as well as a few other members who are either quick enough or more skilled in that area, if possible coordinate with the EDC though since they also have that training, though be careful about who you take orders from ultimately, if they give an order that makes sense due to the situation follow it but make sure that they don't run roughshod over you guys"
"Okay, talk to them later about an informal alliance?"
"Might have to, one problem though"
"Yeah, no one knows who to talk to"
"We'll sort that out later, right now we have bigger things to deal with"
"Right"
Suddenly the recording is paused and the person turns around and looks mad at the person who paused it in the first place
"Hey I was listening to that"
"Whatever for Kerenai?"
"Trying to figure out the reasons behind the informal alliance we have with the League"
"That recording was what?, at least a year before you were born?"
"Yes but that's part of why I feel I should know the reasons"
"The leaders could have told you that one"
"True, but I figured I should try and find out for myself now that I'm old enough besides that I want to see if I want to talk about them for a school project"
"Okay, I'll let you continue listening to the recording, however I stay in the room in case anything you hear upsets you needlessly since I know how you get about family and our allies"
"Understood Sunstreaker"
Ultimately Kerenai chose something else for her project and started to get to work when she discovered something that caught her attention which she knew the leaders would want to be informed about and so summons the people she needed to the war room and as soon as she sees them settled she speaks up
"Hey guys, something's up"
"What makes you say that?"
"The Justice League just went dark right after a mission and Gotham PD is calling in all off duty officers to the station, with those scheduled to be on duty soon in their uniforms with a spare change of clothes and those not scheduled to be on duty soon to have both spare change of clothes and their uniforms on standby"
"You're right that's not normal, Kerenai see if you can find out what's happened with your press contacts, Starscream I want an air patrol in the air immediately, with the primary focus being Gotham until told otherwise, Captain Faireborn..."
"Alerting all EDC bases around the world to be extra vigilant for any trouble"
"In the meantime, I'll try and get in contact with the Justice League and see if they'll tell me what's going on, plus get the recordings that we need to get in the meantime"
Everyone responds in the affirmative regarding their orders and begins getting to work on their individual assignments and fifteen minutes later it's obvious that Optimus had gotten nothing out of the League, even though he'd actually talked to one of the founding members
"Kerenai, do you have anything? I struck out"
"Yes and no, my press contacts have told me that all they know is that the League was on a mission involving explosives and at least one of them went off, other than that they're staying silent on the exact details stating that there were victims and in respect for those victims they're waiting until the families can be contacted before publishing the story in full"
"I see, and that's all you're getting out of them until further notice because I know the press after years of dealing with them"
"Exactly, I also have a contact within Gotham PD and they're not giving me anything, whenever I ask about the sudden meeting all I get is a no comment statement"
"That's not good depending on what's going on"
"No, it's not, because even when they can't talk about any active cases or ongoing events they still tell me basics like the fact that the situation is being brought under control and that someone will contact me or you guys later with news, plus..."
"What is it?"
"There's been no word about the bat-clan as we call them and generally we overhear sightings on a nightly basis"
"True, but let's not read into it so much, and by the way the recordings are on their way, though I was warned it would take a bit longer than normal for unspecified reasons"
"That's not good either, I think...I think something happened to a League member because generally the League is always prompt with the recordings"
"It's the League's timing now"
"Indeed it is"
The recordings are given five hours later but the box the recordings were in was locked under a timer that would last another thirty-six hours, which was how long the communication blackout from the Justice League lasted, more actually since the box had arrived pretty late but finally the League announced a press conference scheduled right as the box was set to open
"So...press conference or recordings?"
"Press conference, besides I get the feeling that we might not fully understand them without the press conference to give us reference"
"Okay, so who's going?"
"Jazz, Barricade, Blaster and Hook, Kerenai you have choice on who you ride with and Captain Faireborn we also want you at the conference"
"No problem I was requested anyways"
And so the group heads to the press conference and it's obvious that something's up because there was no Batman with the rest of the founding members, now it wasn't quite unusual for a founding member or two to be absent at conferences that were called by the League, and Batman was absent more often than the others but the Cybertronians, Faireborn and Kerenai could tell that there was a tension to the League members that wasn't normal and thus Batman's absence took on a darker meaning
"I don't think I'm going to like what's about to be told to us one bit"
Everyone else replies with one word all at the same time
"Agreed"
Finally Superman steps up to the microphone and raises his hand for silence
"I know all of you have a lot of questions for the League, and we shall let you ask them at a later date, however today is simply to inform you of what has been happening these past three and a half to four days depending on time zones. As some of you are aware there was a bomb threat in Metropolis and the surrounding area and as such we had to respond as quickly as possible with every man available, the news has a list of the dead and their obituaries can now be published since all surviving family has been contacted and informed about the loss of their loved ones. I will confirm that only one major bomb went off but unfortunately several smaller bombs also went off and it was collapsing buildings that caused the majority of the deaths rather than explosives. As for the major bomb one League member managed to grab the bomb and take it out of the city for safe detonation, with the League already having determined that the bomb would have destroyed at the very minimum four blocks of the city if it had detonated in Metropolis, however it took longer than expected to find the bomb which meant that there was a high chance of death which any one of us would have accepted, except one. The sole League member who made the decision to take the bomb out overruled all the Founding members by knocking us out cold and putting the bomb inside their aircraft and flew it over the ocean. These past three days of silence has been primarily for the League to make sure that we've done everything we could to find and honor the League member who sacrificed their life for the safety of everyone else, and thus it is my solemn duty to inform you that Batman is dead, killed in the explosion over the ocean"
Superman waits until the press calms down from that announcement and somehow knows that the EDC and Cybertronians were also there
"We have at the current time given recordings to a group of people who might help us figure out where we went wrong on the mission, we also wish to apologize to that group here and now for not calling you in on the search for...for Batman's remains the day the incident happened seeing as how we have no remains to truly honor him and bury, but...we have made our peace with that and will hold a public memorial service later this week"
Superman says a few more things about the incident and the search that had been done for Batman's remains and then the entire League simply left without waiting for the reporters to start asking questions they weren't even allowed to ask in the first place that day
"I was right, what was said wasn't good"
"No, it wasn't, now though we go back and report to the others and listen to the recordings and see if there was anything that could have been done differently to save him"
And so the group heads back and everyone could tell it wasn't good
"So...found out what's going on with those recordings and the League is asking for our help in regards to what's on those recordings"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Batman's dead, killed in an explosion and they want to find out if anyone could have done something differently, they're also apologizing for not calling us in these past three and a half days or so on the search for Batman's remains"
"I see, did they...is there going to be a funeral or something similar?"
"Yes, an official date has yet to be announced but a memorial service going to happen later this week"
"Understood, Kerenai you're going to be the one to represent us, but first..."
"Yeah, first"
And so the group listens to the tape to see if there was anything even they could have done and they hear something they hadn't expected or were happy to hear
"Everyone heard the signal right?"
"We heard it, maybe if we'd been there..."
"Yeah...maybe..."
"In any case we have to deal with the consequences and see if we can't help the League prevent something like this in the future...maybe give them a specific communication frequency for us that can't be blocked by us purging our systems every so often, which was the cause of the problem this time"
"Maybe have a formal alliance with them? I mean that's the only way I can think of at the moment to give them access to such communication methods"
"Maybe, but that will have to be discussed with them since it has to also be their decision, maybe after the memorial service Kerenai"
"Good idea...um what about the secret regarding us, you know the one that's publicly available and yet at the same time so highly encrypted that only certain people are allowed access and others only learn when we tell them because we trust them explicitly?"
"They can be told, but their files have to be as encrypted as ours if they are officially our allies and told about the secret"
"Okay then works for me, wonder how they'll react to the news"
"Who knows but let's just hope that one of the reactions is understanding"
"Agreed"
"In the meantime though, while we're waiting for when the memorial service is you're being pulled out of school for your own safety"
"School's not going to like that"
"Oh well, League enemies are associating us with them and you're a known EDC kid, all EDC kids are being pulled out of school temporarily by the way not just you so you're not getting special treatment if that's what you're worried about"
"Okay, so what's the plan before the memorial service?"
"No real plan besides making sure everyone stays safe and making sure that the League is informed of the threat somehow"
"Maybe the memorial service will be the safe place"
"Maybe, but we'll see, for now though everyone is being home schooled for safety so we'll let everyone know what the schedule is dependent on where they are in school"
"Combined classes or not?"
"That depends on where you are in the school system, high schoolers are more likely to be combined than middle and elementary school kids but there might still be separation based on certain criteria and in all honesty there might be more combined classes then expected depending on how things go"
"Okay, then I guess class time it is, won't some of the kids be confused though at how much I understand?"
"Yes they will be, which is why we want you to hide your training as much as possible"
"Understood"