Chapter 13: A JL meeting

"And with this adjourn, I begin the Justice League Founders' Monthly Meeting: 12.10.12," Batman stood from his seat on the founding men's table of the Justice Hall. 

Flash raised his hands, "I will be the first to go then. Central city, fairly regular, nothing to report." 

Wonder Woman took her turn, "Uneventful. Boring even," She said reclining in her seat, she was entirely too bored with all the hassle. This was after all a basic bureaucratic tradition that began with the founding of the league and continues to this day. The warrior in her demanded her move to prowling the streets and/or to training but the princess in her knew the value of even the mundane bureaucracy. And as a person, she appreciated spending time with her friends. 

"Clear, just some business with the Corps," Green Lantern voiced and followed by Aquaman shaking his head, "No issues with Atlantis either other than the fact that my muses are angry."

Martian manhunter, the green stick figure with an elongated back lobe, just stayed silent, this was not his domain, he was a ubiquitous helper, with no fixed home. Staying mostly at the Hall of Justice and supervising the running of the League. 

"Some troubles with Luthor, nothing I can not handle," Superman added on his turn. 

Batman nodded his head, "Alright. Gotham is...as usual, a new gang, Ruby has made a name for itself." 

"A new gang managed to raise its head in Gotham? Under the great Batman?" Hal, The Green Lantern spoke with unhidden joy, Batman didn't even bother to humor him, "Two reasons: One, the crime families are distracted with the newcomer, pulling more and more manpower in their fight against him. Two, the GCPD has brought it a lot of raw recruits, we want to give them as much experience as possible in dealing with Crime families and a new one with little experience is the best one."

"Oh, the GCPD still hasn't recovered from its war?" Superman looked at Batman, his bulky, almost athletic figure rising at incredible speeds, almost too fast for the eyes to see. 

"Yes and no, their ranks have risen considerably as many recruits signed up for the GCPD and many new officers transformed into Gotham. But they lost many many of their seasoned officers. So now they are dependent on their new manpower," Batman informed the group. 

Aquaman snorted, "A fight against criminals is now called war on the surface world. That's just duty." 

"Nearly a hundred policemen, over a thousand thugs dead. It was a war Aquaman," Hal countered, "And what did these warriors accomplish? Barely taking back their city's main roads. And that too with our intervention at the end," Aquaman rebutted, "Great warriors they might be. They gave ten for every one they took. Still, failure is failure." 

Batman's eyes descended into a glare, but the end point of it was not the bickering pair but rather his own cowl starting back at him from the glass table. He had failed them then, too busy with league work, too busy looking at the bigger picture. Forgetting that the bigger picture is still a jigsaw of smaller pieces. He sighed, it has been what? Five years and still, it lingers in the crevasses of his conscious as he takes any decisions that put the life of any Gothamite at risk. 

"Lantern, Aquaman, calm down. This will get us nowhere," Superman interrupted, and Flash nodded, his lean almost cheetah-like figure on the desk, "Guys we have been over this how many times now? Too many, that's how many." 

"As Flash said," Wonder Woman added, we need to move on. "Please continue Batman." 

"There has been a reduction in crime rates already as more and more Gangs are diverted to fight Ruby. That's it for my report, other than that business as usual," He finished and sat back down, the cushioned seats providing a comfortable rest. 

Martian Man Hunter picked the lead, "We will now begin our conversation about the new heroes and the Teams." 

"Fifteen new members have signed in with the Justice League since the last meeting. Zero resignations and one retirement," He carried on, Batman guessed as to who retired, "Condor?" Martian nodded, "He has decided to settle down and get married." 

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The rest nodded too, "As for the teams, all goals meet and missions accomplished. Satisfaction is high." 

"All good then?" Superman asked, and all the others nodded, "Then Batman, wanna go grab a drink?" He said as he turned to his friend. Diana stood up as well, it was a tradition—almost—to go for drinks, the three of them but Batman shook his head, "Not today." 

"Why?" Superman asked as he slid out of his seat to the side of Batman. 

"I have adopted a girl," As nonchalant as ever he replied, after a moment he added, "Bonding." 

"A daughter?" Flash was in Batman's face in a second, the moment he had said it, he vanished from his diametrically opposite seat and appeared an inch from his. 

"Yes, a daughter." 

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Show us a picture!" There was a level of excitement in Flash's voice that he'd have to admit not having seen before. 

"Alright," He answered as all the Leaguers slowly began to gather around. 

Hosting up his left arm, the thick black plates just behind his wrist gave way and a small pyramidal hard light projector slid out, glowing a screen started to from just above his hands. 

It was like a phone screen though somewhat barebones. And Batman scrolled open his gallery, mixed in with hundreds of labeled albums of crime scenes was an Album labeled 'Wayne,' and following it were hundreds of other Gotham families, it was a decoy in case someone gained access to this, they would think it was simply a record of all the major families in Gotham. And in reality, it was just that, a record in case he ever got cut off from the Batcomputer. 

Inside he slipped open the photo of Mira, in her 'apparently' favorite faded-black jacket. Her deep black hair cascaded down to her shoulder, her eyes big and a deep shade of red, coupled with a small disarming smile. 

"Wow! Cute! We like totally have to set up a playdate with my son!" Flash squealed and Batman looked at the childish man in front of him and could help but think, 'How did he get married again?' 

"Another one to be trained, Batman? The Amazons won't mind helping," Diana chimed in. 

"Seriously? That's the first thing you think?" Hal blankly faced her. 

"To defend herself. And if I know Batman, others," Diana rebutted. 

"She wanted to kill her parent's murderer. She needs to help bring him to justice," Batman interrupted, "That way she can move past her trauma." 

"She doesn't look traumatized," Hal raised a brow and pointed to the photo, "Quite opposite." 

"She polarizes at the mention of her parents," He shot him down, "Still, we are done here."

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