Chapter 28: Chapter 14.1 – Interlude 2

Bruce Wayne stood in front of a grave, it was a simple grave with only a name and the dates of birth, and death, with far too few years between them.

 

As he knelt, he had to control himself to avoid crushing the bouquet of flowers in his hands, laying it in front of the gravestone he lowered his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

 

Since when had he become so careless? 

 

So trusting as to leave matters in the hands of the authorities, not making sure they were followed through?

 

He was from Gotham city, he should have known how corrupt the police and government could be.

 

He had mellowed out, working with the Justice League, people he both respected, and even rarer, trusted, had made him careless.

 

It would not happen again.

 

"Who was she?" Asked Clark in a soft voice as he approached from between the trees.

 

His friend had probably noticed what mood he was in, the Kryptonian missed very few things despite not being a detective himself.

 

"Ace, she was one of Cadmus previous victims."

 

"You…knew about Cadmus?"

 

"Not the main laboratory, no." Bruce said and sighed again, but didn't explain further.

 

Once upon a time Bruce had faced the Royal Flush Gang and, later, accompanied Ace in her last moments.

 

That particular division of Cadmus had been isolated from the main laboratory, in another city and under government supervision, it had been build thanks to a government contract and, while still holding the Cadmus name, had very little to do with the current source of their problems.

 

More than that, Batman had made sure it wouldn't be active ever again.

 

Luthor had managed to escape that particular crime too, quickly shifting the blame onto the government and the supervisor while denying any direct involvement.

 

In his defense, not all of Luthor's companies were criminal in nature, and it really had been the government's fault that time. Batman had made sure of that.

 

Not that the business tycoon hadn't managed to profit from it anyway by the looks of it, the Genomorphs themselves were proof of that.

 

“I'm calling an emergency meeting of the League."

 

"Another one?" Clark lifted an eyebrow and handed him a coffee cup.

 

"We need immediate changes." Bruce took a sip of the coffee and continued to look at the grab, "We also need to vote on the League's expansion, fast."

 

"What are you thinking?"

 

"We need to include normal people, delegate some duties and follow up on our work."

 

"You… delegating?" Clark snorted and shook his head in disbelief.

 

"The League has grown too big, and too busy, I've started missing things Clark, I can't afford to miss things."

 

"Well, I can't say I don't agree, lately I've been acting as Superman too much, I miss just being myself." The man said and sipped on his own coffee. "How was she?"

 

"You were right," Bruce told him as he touched the tombstone one last time and turned away from the grave. "Her wounds weren't just from the accident."

 

And hadn’t he made a mistake there too? The entire Cadmus situation had left him disoriented and confused and he had fallen back on old habits, threatened the girl as if she was one of his criminals in need of a shake down.

 

He should have done better.

 

At the time he had seen a superpowered Kryptonian far too confortable with killing her enemies, and far too hasty on her actions, going after the clones and dealing with the Genomorph situation by herself with no thought for the consequences of her actions.

 

Even worse, it was one with so much potential to hurt his friend, his best and, perhaps only, friend.

 

So, he had threatened her and only later connected the dots. He almost immediately regreated it.

 

"You're sure?"

 

"She's fidgety, she doesn't realize it but she flinches at small noises and keeps looking around as if afraid." He told his best friend while they walked back to his car. "She's also incredibly uncomfortable inside Cadmus, actively avoids looking in the direction of the scientists there and empathizes far too much with their experiments."

 

"It's not just, you know, her having empathy?"

 

"Not this much, she acts harshly and lets things slip when dealing with the experiments," Bruce said and looked his friend in the eyes. "She also knows more than she's telling us Clark, I won't look into it but, be careful."

 

"She's family Bruce, the Fortress verified she existed and its medical exams would have discovered if she was just a clone or another kind of trick." Clark sighed and looked up in frustration.

 

"I know, and I'm happy for you, just don't let it blind you."

 

“I won’t.”

 

Clark accompanied him in silence for a while, his own anger barely contained at what his cousin must have gone through.

 

Diana’s new protégée had been clear on her information about the Psions and, given her reactions, Kara must have been in their hands for some time.

 

“I also acted harshly. Her keeping secrets rubbed me the wrong way after everything that happened.” He confessed as they reached his car and stopped.

 

“Ugh, this entire thing has left us all out of balance.” Clark said and laid a hand on his back for comfort, “You know she’s bringing the clone to our family dinner this weekend?”

 

“I didn’t, but I approve.” Bruce told him.

 

“I knew you would, it’s just so…” Despite being a reporter Clark didn’t have the words to describe what he was feeling.

 

Bruce didn’t press, letting his friend gather his thoughts, finally, he pulled a folder from inside the car and handed it over.   

 

"Here, your cousin's documentation, she's Kara Denvers now, adopted by an old couple, she innerited a small tech business in Pennsylvania"

You are reading story Reincarnated as Supergirl (YJ / DC) at novel35.com

 

"How'd you even get it so fast?"

 

"I already had it, it was a contingency in case I ever needed money without using the Wayne name" Bruce told him with a smirk, he liked being ready. "Only had to make small changes to the name and gender to make it work."

 

"Thanks Bruce." 

 

Clark laid a hand on his shoulder for support and Bruce nodded but his smirk fell away soon after, he wasn’t felling very happy right now.

 

He drove home, his mind working overtime as he thought about everything he had seen, heard and read today.

 

Reaching his home he went directly to his office and made sure to read about the League’s activity today, then he checked how Gotham was doing and if his presence was needed in the city.

 

A broken rib wouldn’t stop him from doing his duty if it was needed.

 

Lastly he checked up on Richard, the boy was still out with Kid flash and would only be back by night.

 

Bruce liked that, he liked that Richard still had a life outside the costume and wasn’t driven by revenge, he liked that he wouldn’t end up like him.

 

Hopefully, this new team would allow him to make friends, people he could trust at his side and that would keep him from growing bitter with the world.

 

Then he got to work. First was the new direction for the team.

 

The League knew the teenagers wanted more responsibility, to get away from their mentors and work for themselves. It was also clear they wouldn’t take no for an answer, they were teenagers.

 

Bruce wanted nothing more than to keep them under his wing for as long as possible, to protect them and teach them so they wouldn’t have to make the same mistakes he did when he had started out, or face the same problems but, sometimes, that was impossible.

 

The team was supposed to be the League’s “black ops” division, giving the teens something important to do which couldn’t be done better by more experienced heroes, for the simple reason that, the more experienced heroes couldn’t do it.

 

It was important work which the League couldn’t do if they wanted to keep their UN charter.

 

They’d be working on League information and their missions would be carefully chosen so they wouldn’t have to face anyone too dangerous, in theory.

 

Batman knew how things could escalate suddenly when things went wrong.

 

The truth was, nobody would be fooled, the team didn’t have the necessary training to remain undetected and their powers were very distinctive.

 

Even if they succeeded in a mission without immediate detection, it would still be pretty obvious who was responsible, the team would leave evidence behind but, so what, they weren’t League members.

 

Of course everyone would know who sent them there, not only would it extend the League’s reach without causing public or legal backlash but, hopefully, it would also stop villains from just flaunting their activity and daring the League to do anything.

 

It was against the spirit of their charter but, in truth, only Captain Atom would care, maybe, if he was forced to deal with it.

 

The League worked under the charter because it made things easier, made their arrests stick, kept their villains behind bars for longer and gave them access to more information and resources, not because they would be forced to stop saving people without it.

 

Now, Bruce was starting to change his mind about it.

 

With proof that there were entire teams of villains monitoring League activity, and some had even managed to infiltrate the League, it became too dangerous for the teens to work in the shadows.

 

Plus, with Kara working to make her own team, it would also be unnecessary.

 

No, instead of a black ops unit he’d truly make them a team, something even better than the League.

 

The League, for all its ability and cooperation, was still a collection of individuals, they worked well together but they were still individuals. In a fight the League was only as good as its members, the sidekicks could be so much more.

 

When he finished typing his proposal Richard had already arrived, he took a small break from work to have dinner with him and went right back to the computer, time to deal with the League’s new outlook.

 

The Watchtower would still have to be kept isolated and restricted only to full members, for obvious security reasons, but the Hall of Justice would have to stop being just a tourist attraction.

 

They’d have to hire clerks, detectives, office workers, medics, military advisers. It would take months of background checks to make sure no mole was inserted in the new chain of command, but it would be worth it.

 

Not only would it make the League’s work much faster, it would also introduce the necessary human element to their work.

 

Clark may manage to keep his country boy outlook on life, but Bruce knew their colleagues could grow distant from the everyday people and it wasn’t a good thing.

 

He worked throughout the night, typing away at his computer almost constantly, using his experience as owner of WayneCorp to create the barebones of the new League.

 

He knew he couldn’t let things continue as they were.

 

He also prepared his own presentation to the League, it would be harsh, a crash course on everything they had left undone, Bruce was sure it would hit the League almost as hard as it had hit him.

 

A punch to the gut that left him reeling, that made him reavaluate his own actions and finding them wanting, it wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t easy, but it was needed.

 

It would also force them to be better.

 

A gasp of surprise made him look up from his desk to see Alfred entering the office. “Master Bruce, what are you doing still working at this hour?”

 

Bruce looked through his windows to see the sun already rising through the curtains, he squinted his eyes and turned back to Alfred as his old friend handed him a light breakfast and his pain medication.

 

“I am capable of waking up early Alfred.” Bruce tried to lie, but he knew it wasn’t going to work on his old friend.

 

“Master Bruce, only a vampire is more averse to the sunrise than you.” Said Alfred with a frown and stood beside him, looking him over with a judging gaze. “Go to sleep Master Bruce, or do I have to drug your drink again?”

 

“Fine Alfred, I can finish this later.”

 

Alfred still kept checking up on him as he took a shower and only stopped when he was properly in bed, refusing to hear any of his protests and promising to take Richard to school in his place.

 

His mind was still working like mad when he laid his head against the pillow but, despite that, he felt his eyes growing heavy almost immediately.

 

His last thought was that, he wasn’t entirely sure Alfred hadn’t drugged his breakfast after all.