[5th July 2010]

[The Watchtower, Earth Orbit]

As always it was a magnificent view he found, gazing down at the earth below through the clear see-through metal of the observation deck. Sadly it all too clearly reminded him as well of the crushing weight of the responsibility thrust upon him as well. Beautiful it was, but fragile too, especially now with the threats that beauty attracted and then sought to cause it harm. It was a never ending struggle, and even on their better days that could take a toll upon them all. He glanced to his left at the others as they took a small break from this late night debriefing. In some ways even though they had been victorious and the threat defeated this had not been one of the better days at all.

Green Arrow laughed at some joke of Black Canary, his tone tired but seemingly cheerful...but he knew Oliver was shattered inside right now over the breakdown of his partnership with Speedy. He could see he that hid it well, but his body language in unguarded moments screamed fear, pain, and self-directed anger, something it was very apparent Dinah had picked up upon as well as seen from her interactions since the incident. Of all of them with apprentices Oliver had been the most driven and focused in these past months towards getting his own prepared and readied for full membership despite solid opposition from other members.

Now to have it breakdown today in the way it had...well, it had been nothing short of devastating as best he could tell at this moment in time. Green Arrows performance would be impacted in the next few days he could estimate; ensuring that he had extra support till he had recovered would be important to ensure his success and continued well-being. If he was estimating it correctly Black Canary was already intending to do as such, and a few words from himself with the Flash would ensure a secondary reserve without causing any disruptions within the League's rank.

Barry was concerned over Kid Flash too of course, but rather than been aggravated over rebelliousness shown a mere two hours ago by the youngsters he seemed proud if anything over the show of unity in the face of the Justice League. Worried of course from his apprentice, as he himself was worried for his own ward Dick, but more so filled with relief they had returned to them unharmed, and proud that they had shown maturity and courage with their actions. In truth...he could understand the feeling too. He was proud of Dick for standing up as he had. It still didn't mean he was ready to face all the dangers and darkness that this life brought them face to face with on a regular basis. This life...was something he didn't want for him, or at least not yet or maybe to become consumed with the need for revenge...the boy deserved better than that.

Further across the way Clark brooded while silently starring down at the Earth below with a blank look upon his face. The others had tried to comfort, or at least encourage him to speak about the subject, but the discovery of his clone, the teenage Superboy. Or 'IT' as Clark had unfortunately called him during one or two of the more heated moments of their discussion on how to deal with the situation that arisen for them. He was attempting to dissociate the child's existence from his own and ignore the consequences of treating a super-powered being in such a manner. He resisted the urge to sigh. Cloning, he'd always hated it as it raised far too many ethical issues about a successful outcome.

Just like it had now with Clark it seemed. He turned his gaze back to the world below them. An angry unstable young Kyrptonian was the last thing the world needed, and what's worse his mere presence was enough to put Superman complete off his game and act very...unClark-like...towards the boy. All he could hope was that in time the shock would wear off and the man would step up as he had always done when a crisis hit. Or that he would turn to his family in the Mid-West and get some sort of sage advice from them in regards making things right.What was truly concerning to him, separate from needing to ensure they could take down the poor clone Kyrptonian boy if he went rogue, was that Cadmus had managed to even do what they'd did.

Rogue operational claims of course being nonsense even if the US Government accepted these platitudes from the 'directors' of the organisation. It was enough to give him a migraine to consider the dangers that more projects as these represent...or the amount of effort it would take him in the coming weeks to rectify his failings to make discoveries on the matter till it was literally on fire in his backyard. A clone of Clark created and being indoctrinated under their noses?

It was an unacceptable failing on his part to have let it get this far! One he would endeavour to make up for. Just like they had largely missed the training up of a powerful magical endowed individual by a foreign government under the tutelage of a wizard he himself would deem...problematic...based on publically available information. With Giovanni's input, though even his magician friend admit his views of this Constantine were heavily biased, the situation was rather concerning to allow fester without some attempt at building bridges before it became a problem in the future.

While the others seemed rather oblivious to the long term ramifications of what could occur, he himself could see it as part of a slowly developing problem for the League. The world did not trust them in full measure...or to be accurate the world respected them, but also feared them or saw them as an extension of the United States government's will at times. Even the United Nations Security Council viewed them with wary suspicion in private, a situation not helped by the American government's own view that they should be an extension of their will. As a consequence it was rather clear China at least was attempting to develop its meta-human strike force through its super-functionaries...

...which was a problem for another day in truth, one there was little they could do about in truth beyond ensure there were no accidently clashes with them in time. But with this John Fortune being trained by the Irish, and possibly British, government it was clear that even smaller nations were thinking in this manner and expressing their dismay at the American heavy nature of the Justice League.

Something he had argued against and largely failed at addressing till now. What was intended was rather obvious in truth; the government of the Irish Republic, with British support, were attempting to train up a future superhero on the level of those standing in this room right now to gain international prestige. A situation that could be disastrous considering the current voting method of membership applications when that time arrived...which would only deepen that international chasm further.

It was already proving problematic to decide how to handle the induction of their apprentices into the Justice League, and seeking membership had no formal methodology behind it beyond getting a near unanimous vote. Something considering the apparent combat methods and persona of the skull masked hero, and his mentor in general, would be something that most certainly not be unanimously agreed upon by the others.

And there would be yet another number of independent super-powered meta-humans, this time with government support, with an uneasy relationship with themselves on the Watchtower. A situation that would be a recipe for disaster at some point in the future if left unchecked. Bringing this boy into a training programme of some sort, alongside the others apprentices, would give them a chance to evaluate and influence his development in some manner. Dick was a good judge of character and could evaluate and monitor the situation, while he himself could ensure that his ward would have a somewhat controlled environment to develop his, and the others, skills in. As much as they thought otherwise...they just were not ready yet.

Not truly at least. About the only bright side to the whole affair with Wotan had been flipping Giovanni from opposition to such training in the field to being rather supportive of it in the past few hours. All it had taken was the younger mage suggesting they turn Wotan into a statue 'to show our future enemies what will occur to them if they act like madmen' with broad and cheerful agreement from his mentor and the female British wizard in attendance.

He continued to stare down at the world below. Beautiful and fragile in all its glory and pain. What's worse he'd only get a few hours sleep before Bruce Wayne would be required to attend a board meeting in the morning. So it was best they resolve this issue as soon as they could...

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