"Who could have foreseen a motley team of costumes in Metropolis after the confirmed disappearance of the Lords, the imprisonment of Bruce Wayne, the shutdown of the Bat Clan, and so on?" says Waller.
"Nobody did, but of course Hamilton's pet project cut loose on a confirmed inactive Supergirl."
"You mind not talking about me when I'm sitting next to you?" quips another voice.
"I know you are there, I'm just stating a fact, she was not suppose to act against anyone without orders."
"She was having nightmares, she was…"
"No excuses Hamilton, sure Superman proved to be your ego's biggest fail, but you cloned yourself a doppelganger of the next to closest thing to him," retorts the first man.
"You are lucky my sense of patriotism overrides the urge to let loose on you Eiling."
"Try me and see how far you get even if little Miss Galatea is right behind me."
"How could he have known that?" huffs Galatea.
"Nobody sneaks up on me little lady, now get out, eyes off!"
"Need I remind you again Professor that just because you and Luthor did share a dislike of Superman for different reasons, does not mean you can off anyone for that reason alone."
"Without Superman, the Lords went poof…"
"It took more than that and we all know at least part of it, so somebody has to crack Lane."
"Why not Wayne, he would know more…"
"He has all the training necessary to resist any attempts to probe him."
"He was in prison for quite a swing just by giving himself up."
"What about the manor or the Batcave."
"The property was sold; the Bat cave's contents disappeared shortly after that."
"All we have are unconfirmed reports of costumed individuals encountered by the armored police division outside Arkham shortly before the Lords went off the radar permanently."
"However we recently obtained the visual recorders from Superman's robot doubles."
"This may surprise you all at first…"
Another Superman except in Superman's old costume, the same goes for Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Martian. The real jolt however is the appearance is of another Flash, which meant only one thing at least to Hamilton as he recalls the time Lois Lane crossed over into an alternate reality with that Phantom Zone based crossover device. He relates that experience to the others; some are familiar with his papers on Kryptonian technology insofar as what Hamilton had dealt with it.
"This mean we are still going after Miss Lane?" queries Hamilton.
"Not at this time Professor, but she wrote the article, so Wayne knew more than he let on at his trial, concealing evidence is still a crime right?" questions Eiling.
"I think we need to pay Wayne a visit especially with that incident in Metropolis."
Waller decides to phone Wayne independently using her private line. The butler answers the home line says Wayne is out at the university busy with linguistics classes. She calls for a car to drive her there, Wayne had answers she 'needs' about the missing Lords and about the activities of this infrequent new group, she felt certain he had ties to it. As she knocks on his door at the university, he had somehow been expecting her after the heads up from Alfred about a strange call a short while earlier.
"Hello Waller."
"How did you know who I am?"
"I may not be out there anymore, but it does not mean I am not well informed about some things."
"True enough, now as to the Lords and this new team that aided one Kara Kent aka Kara In-Ze, cousin of the missing Superman…"
"I heard that something happen in Metropolis."
"You more than heard because someone sent this band of costumes to her aid."
"Before I gave myself I simply told the remaining costumes as you call them to keep an open mind, to be on their guard, to do what they could without getting on the wrong side of the government."
"Right, well they got lucky with Kara handling her attacker and them handling the attacker's back up."
"You mean the clone of Supergirl."
"The only one who could have found that would be…"
"Yes him, I trust him enough to keep the rest in line, but they are a fairly human bunch, just well trained with tools and sharp minds, no powers, just wits, bodies, and wills."
"I only come to warn you that is, I do not wholly disapprove of independent agents, just too much in one deck is not a good thing for anyone. If we were flawless and faultless, maybe it would be doable, but we are not…"
"I know, so thanks for the visit, but I have classes to prepare for… the future of the world is in their hands, besides being that necessitates a direction to an end."
"Even when you get a visit from Talia Al-Ghul?" queries Waller.
"How many people know that by now?"
"Not many, I was just curious what she meant."
"She thinks I cannot truly give up Batman, in a way I have only given being out there every night, I donated virtually my entire fortune to the police of Gotham and Bludhaven. I continue within my means on a teaching salary, which satisfies me fine."
"I'll leave you to your work Wayne."
As Waller leaves, Bruce waits for enough time for her to be out of hearing range to start dialing Dick. He alerts him and Barbara to Waller's visit just as a notice. After the call, there is another knock at the door, and in walks a rather fancifully dressed Talia. His eyebrow twitches as she sits on his desk crossing her legs. He tries to ignore her, but of course she is visually insistent. She smiles at him almost knowingly.
"The government is on your case again Beloved."
"It was a routine questioning."
"You really think they do not suspect your financial or at least personal ties to the Outsiders."
"Why are you or even Ra's still holding an interest in me?'
"It is just me, my father realizes that Superman was the one to finally snap you of your compassion deference."
"I let it go as long as it did because I thought there was no other way once Luthor was dead. However the more that happen, the more thresholds we tripped through the less I could tolerate it, tolerate myself in particular…"
"This Justice League gave you that opportunity…"
"I wouldn't have intended such a fate for the others, but they were so willing to follow him. I stayed behind to 'watch' the captured League. My worries about another team death gave their Flash all the opening he needed to knock sense into me."
"I would have thought the other you had something more to do with that."
"It was like me against me except I had done things he still held back from doing or not condoned the things I 'let' happen… you just don't let Superman brain fry villains."
"There was also of course the difference between the Wonder Women."
"You best leave now Talia."
"This has only begun… so this is not the last you see of me…"
She unexpectedly pins him on the floor and in the heat of the moment, he just is tired of denying himself for once. The muffled sounds from within the office are not heard as it is the end of the campus day. It took time to build a reputation that was far from the falseness of the playboy facade he kept for years while as Batman. When he awakens later that evening, he is half naked in his office and Talia is gone except she left a note.
You know that you still love me Beloved and you'll always be with me.
He had begun to suspect something is up with this being a second and more physical visit from Talia. Ra's had insistently wanted him to take over the organization, but he had refused not believing in the more intense aim for clean slate tactics that Ra's had thought better. The near genocide of humanity would not teach anything in Bruce's mind except mistakes to be forgotten in order to start clean as possible. A foundation from mass murder is not a good one, but of course the two forever disagree there.
However there is always more than one kind of legacies for each of us.
A/N: Cadmus still comes about in this reality or at least how I think they might exist. The same cast more or less makes up the department heads too. There's also something of a hinting with Talia coming back again for those who might be familiar with the Bruce-Talia romance from the comics. This serial one shots version of the Outsiders also get a mention as for who Bruce means by him, well one can guess quickly enough who given how Bruce knows who Waller is. This encounter diverges from how League Batman meets Waller of course.