Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

(A/N: Set between ‘Starcrossed’ and ‘Initiation’)

Wally almost ducked for cover as he spotted John Stewart’s landlady. He gave pause when the expected broom wielding hostilities were replaced by a sweet smile.

“Hello. Are you looking for accommodation? I am sure I can help you; I have many vacancies here.”

“Uh, no thanks. Not that it’s not lovely and all, y’know, but… I already have a place.”

“I see. Then how may I help you?”

“I’m a friend of G… John’s.”

“Ah, Mr Stewart?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

“Yes… he has been very preoccupied since Hawkgirl people came. He barely comes out of his room anymore; only speaks when he has to.”

He nodded silently. She gave him a suspicious look.

“Are you one of his Justice League friends?”

“Uh… no, I mean… if I was with the Justice League, I’d come in costume, y’know? I mean, a superhero would have to be pretty stupid to just leave trails like that lying around, right?”

She regarded him for one moment more. “Don’t steal anything.”

Having left her warning, she continued on her way down the corridor.

Wally walked up the stairs to John’s floor, being careful not to use his super speed to get there, or to take the elevator. He needed the time to think about something to say to him.

And that was assuming John would even let him in. The only call he’d accepted since Shayera’s departure was one from Kilowog, who had arrived to deliver his new ring. After that, nothing. He had refused J’onn, Diana… even Superman couldn’t talk to him.

Besides, they were too busy taking care of League stuff.

Because League business is more important than the people actually in the League, obviously.

Wally noticed he had unconsciously sped up, and slowed himself. It happened when he was nervous. Which, while useful in a fight, wasn’t particularly helpful when delicately trying to pull one’s best friend out of a depressed stupor.

He looked up and realised he had arrived at John’s door, although he wasn’t sure when. The only noise coming from the room was the sound of a TV, although he couldn’t tell was on. Maybe the news.

After a few deep breaths, he knocked on the door.

No reply.

He knocked again.

Nothing.

“GL?”

He waited for a moment. He sighed.

“C’mon, GL. You can’t stay in there for the rest of your life. Believe me, I know. I tried when I was eighteen, and after a few months the smell alone made me move out.”

Nothing.

Wally mentally smacked himself.

Yeah. Joke around. Good idea, moron.

“Come on, John. You can’t let this stop you from getting out there, y’know?” He paused. “I mean, the League needs you. And aren’t you like the guardian of this sector?”

Nothing. And then…

The volume of the TV increased until Wally could hear what was being said.

“…other news, crime rates in Central City have been on the increase since the end of the invasion. The whereabouts of the Flash are unknown, and the Justice League has been unavailable for comment on their lack of activity…”

Wally scowled. The message was clear, even to his often seemingly ADD riddled brain;

Go look after your own sector.

He grit his teeth.

“Fine.”

He turned on his heel and walked off down the corridor, throwing his arms up in the air.

“Do whatever you want!”

No longer caring about what anyone might think, Wally shot off down the stairs, heading straight out into the street.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

John turned down the volume on the TV and brought his hand up, rubbing his eyes wearily. He wasn’t sure why he had just done that. Wally had only been trying to help. True, it was in his own ass-y, Flash way, but still… one thing that John had learnt the hard way about the speedster was that his intentions were always good.

Except when he was throwing water balloons or planting whoopee cushions around the Watchtower, of course.

It was strange to think that the Watchtower was gone. He wondered if Batman would have it rebuilt the same, or change the design. There were a few things that John could think of, if only he could bring himself to get his ass out of his apartment and into the whole wide world again.

But that was something that for whatever reason, he was unwilling to do. He had had plenty of time to think about why he wouldn’t want to get on with it. Maybe it was to do with how everyone would react to him. When they had first learnt of Shayera’s mission to spy on them, the League had come up to him one by one, consoling him on what happened.

While J’onn hadn’t been completely unexpected, Batman’s advice on women had just been a little too weird for John. But then again, this was before he knew Batman was Bruce Wayne.

He still couldn’t quite believe that one.

Of course, now the reaction would be even worse. Full of ‘Are you okay, John?’ and ‘Maybe you should sit this one out, John’. And he’d probably compounded it even more by staying in his apartment for two weeks with little to no communication with the outside world.

Maybe it was because of the public’s reaction. Maybe he wouldn’t want their pity and morbid little gossiping voices all around him.

He doubted that was it.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was because he didn’t want to think about the idea of being in a new Watchtower, a new Justice League, and not have her be there. Not to have that brief flutter of excitement when he would see her after one of them returned from a mission. Not to hear her talking about some Thanagarian dish with such enthusiasm and veracity that he could almost taste it.

Not to worry about her when she went out on a mission without him, or when she dove headfirst into a battle with little to no plan of action.

It was the worrying, he decided, that he would miss the most.

Not that there was anything wrong with him. He could get up at any time, pick up his ring and make his way over to Wayne Manor, or wherever the hell the League was at the moment.

He sat in the chair, his eyes focused on the TV.

Nothing wrong with him at all.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

Clark looked around the room as he sat down. Diana smiled at the small gesture. The way he did it made it seem as though he were expecting J’onn to be hidden in some corner of the dining room he hadn’t seen before.

“Where’s J’onn?”

She sighed. “He was getting quite concerned about Flash- Wally,” she corrected, shaking her head.

He smiled. “Takes time to get used to, huh?”

“Too long.”

Strangely enough, she had had no problem calling Batman Bruce. It just seemed to flow.

But then again, it wasn’t that strange at all.

“What about Bruce?” Clark asked.

“He said he had some business to take care of. He said it shouldn’t take too long.”

Clark nodded, and silence descended upon them.

“I should have gone after Flash after he left the meeting.”

“There’s no way you could have known. We all thought the same thing you did; that he just needed time.”

“J’onn knew better. And without reading his mind.”

She shrugged lightly. “He’s always been very good at reading people, even without his powers.”

“Still. I should have noticed it.”

“You’re not omnipotent. You’re only human.”

That got him to smile. “Thanks.”

She returned the gesture.

“Sorry about the wait.”

If she had been of a weaker disposition, she would have jumped. Bruce’s ability to suddenly appear and disappear had always disturbed her from the first time she had met him; there was something about his being able to sneak up on her undetected that had made her skin crawl. But, as she had learnt more about him, the feeling had passed. Now, she felt a sort of comfort from it; if Bruce could sneak up on her, then he would be able to sneak up on their enemies as well.

“No problem,” Clark said, gesturing for him to take a seat.

He slid into place. Diana looked over at the three vacant seats around the table. There wasn’t room at the table for a seventh, and for that she was grateful. The less reminders of her there were, the better.

“Maybe we should wait until the others can join us.”

Bruce just looked at her, his expression incomprehensible between the cowl and the thin line his lips had created.

“We’ve been waiting for the Lantern for two weeks. And there’s no telling how long it could take J’onn to track down Flash.”

“Still. It doesn’t feel right to discuss all this without them here.”

“We’ll fill them in later.”

“Maybe they would appreciate being part of the decision making process. They did save the world as well, Bruce. It wasn’t just you.”

Clark hid his smile.

Bruce either didn’t notice or ignored him.

“The League has a lot of enemies, Diana. If we sit around waiting for everyone to come together we’ll-”

“-be caught with our pants down,” Clark finished, not knowing where the urge to say that came from.

Bruce gave him a look of mild surprise.

“…yes.”

Diana gave Clark a wry smile, which was quickly replaced with a weary look of resignation.

“All right,” she sighed. “I can see your point. Let’s get on with it.”

Clark looked over at Bruce. “You wanted to talk about additions to the team, didn’t you?”

Bruce nodded. “I’ve been looking into the activities of other crime fighters and how they acted during the invasion.”

“And?”

“And… I think we’re looking at more than adding just two or three members.”

Diana cocked a curious eyebrow. “How many?”

The Dark Knight paused. “Rough estimate? Sixty.”

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

Flash had no idea who was causing all the trouble in Central City. He had just checked at Iron Heights and at the Rogue’s Bar. Everyone was where they should be, and didn’t look like they were responsible. Yeah, they could have been being secretive about it, but that wasn’t really the Rogues’ style. They liked for Central City to know who had robbed the rarest diamond from the museum or stolen a train while it was still moving.

So it wasn’t them.

And the more dangerous Rogues were all imprisoned in Iron Heights and were going nowhere.

So Wally came to the conclusion that it was somebody from someone else’s neck of the woods.

But he hadn’t been in the mood to start calling his colleagues; they were pissing him of enough as it was. Diana’s attitude towards Shayera, while fair enough, was starting to grate on him, as was the fact that others, like Superman, were letting her get away with it.

And of course, every time Wally would say something in Shayera’s defence, it was just him being stupid or naïve. Because he wasn’t a superhero before he met the League at all. It wasn’t as though he had been at this for years and looked after two cities at the same time or anything.

He was just young, mischievous Flash, with his oh-so-silly opinions.

The sound of an explosion rang through the air, and Wally raced to the smoke that was now billowing into the cold night air.

Robbing a bank. How unoriginal. Definitely not one of his lot.

Flash came to a halt outside the entrance of the building, not so patiently waiting for the culprits to come out. Slowly but steadily, three figures emerged, though none of them were carrying any money. One was of medium build, another almost unhealthily skinny, and another built like Cyborg.

As the smoke cleared, Wally could make out three of the five members of Joker’s Royal Flush Gang. Batman had told them of Ace’s departure, and the other member missing was…

“Well, well,” King sneered, twirling his staff between his fingers.

Ten smirked. “Look what we got here.”

“Wondered how long it’d take one of you to catch up to us,” Jack said, his hands on his hips in a manner mirroring Wally’s. Flash instantly adopted a different pose. “Just didn’t think it’d take you this long. What were you doin’? Cryin’ about Hawkgirl?”

Wally bit back his instinctive and rather angry response and decided to take a tack from Batman and be all menacing and quiet-like.

Ten cricked his massive neck. “Personally, I would’ve preferred the boy scout or the big bad bat. But since they’re not here, I guess you’ll do. See, Batman did one hell of a number on the J man and your other buddies left Queen to die. And if we can’t take it out on the guys who actually did it…”

“We’ll just take it out on the League’s little mascot,” King finished, smirking. “Let’s dance.”

Flash assumed a running position. “Nothing I like more.”

King fired a laser blast at him, which singed his shoulder.

A red blur rushed around them. Flash grabbed Jack by the arm and wrapped him around King, before tying a neat bow with the elastic villain’s arms.

He grabbed a dangling piece of Jack’s hand and ran forward, pulling the two with him. After a quick left turn, he stopped next to a parked car and side-stepped to his left again, smiling with satisfaction as Jack and King smashed into the side of the vehicle.

“And on the menu today, we have tenderised Royal Flush Gang!” he smirked.

Ten charged him and swung his arm at him. Flash dodged and grabbed the arm, tossing Ten around and creating a cyclone. He stopped and put all of the gathered momentum into one mighty swing, tossing Ten straight up.

One fist went on his hip and another went above his eyes, as though he were watching a golf ball. He whistled, impressed.

He felt a rubbery hand try to get a grip on him, but he quickly grabbed it and span himself around.

“Seriously dude. I’ve fought stretchy people. I’ve been beaten by stretchy people. And on a scale of one to ten…”

He came to a stop, having gathered Jack into a ball.

“…you’re not quite a zero.”

Putting his super speed behind the throw, he tossed Jack into the recovering King as fast as he could, knocking them back into the side of the parked car and out cold.

“And another thing,” Wally added, knowing he was talking to himself but enjoying himself too much to care, “what goes up…”

On cue, Ten crashed to the ground behind Wally, leaving a crater in his wake.

“…must come down.”

He patted the dust from his costume with his hands, and collapsed onto the curb, letting out a relieved breath. He was way out of practice. His eyes drifted over to where King’s laser blast had scorched his costume, and he groaned.

“Aw… burn marks take forever to get out…”

A grunt from the crater drew his attention away from his costume.

“Now, that…” Ten pulled himself out of the crater, blood streaming from his nose and mouth. “…was annoying.”

In an instant, Flash was on his feet. Ten cocked his head to the side with a smile that made Wally’s skin crawl.

The giant of a man slammed his hands into the ground and with a grunt of effort, pulled up a sizeable chunk of road and lifted it above his head. With a wink at Flash, he tossed it across the street and towards an apartment building.

Panicked, Wally dashed over into the path of the flying debris and span his outstretched arms, churning the air in front of him.

He usually used this trick to catch falling window-washers.

But when in Rome and a large piece of road is about to fall on your head…

The rubble began to slow, and Wally smiled in disbelief. He moved out of the way, still keeping it aloft, before he finally let it crash to the sidewalk in front of the apartment building.

Before he could even turn, a large hand slammed into the small of his back. His world span as Ten grabbed him by the leg and tossed across the street and into the side of a parked car. Wally slumped to the floor, gasping in pain as he felt his cracked ribs.

Ten grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the already warped vehicle. Flash bit back the urge to cry out. A black gloved fist reclined back in front of him.

Wally used his hands like jackhammers on Ten’s face in one last desperate act. He grit his teeth as he felt his hands break against Ten’s indestructible hide, the costume around his knuckles wearing away.

With a frustrated growl, Ten grabbed Wally’s right arm and twisted it. Flash cried out in pain as he felt and heard the bone snap.

Himself exhausted, Ten looked Flash straight in the eyes.

“This is the part where I crush your head.”

A green hand grabbed Ten’s wrist and effortlessly brought him up and over, slamming him into the ground.

Ten rolled away and struggled to his feet, jabbing an exhausted finger at J’onn.

“You… you think I’m afraid of you?”

J’onn’s voice was nearly a growl as his eyes glowed a menacing red. “Not yet.”

Ten threw his fist forward. J’onn stepped aside and put his hand on Ten’s face, slamming him back into the ground headfirst. He gripped him by the scruff of his costume and lifted him up with one arm.

Ten spat in his eye.

J’onn J’onnz was not known for his temper. It was something that rarely appeared, and very few people saw it when it did. Anger could be seen in his eyes when someone would mention the Imperium. It would happen when Lobo was brought up.

But most of all, it happened when he came face to face with someone who had hurt those he loved.

He brought back his fist, intent on doing as much damage as he could before his opponent fell unconscious.

J’onn…

Alarmed, he looked over at Flash, barely conscious on the floor.

Don’t.

For a brief moment, he saw what he looked like right now through his friends’ eyes.

He didn’t like it.

A deep breath calmed him, and he brought Ten nose to nose with him. His eyes became a peaceful yellow, and Ten fell into unconsciousness.

Whether by coincidence or because he wanted to, Wally fell unconscious at the same time.

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(A/N: I’m assuming Queen died in the explosion in ‘Wild Cards’, or at least that she was burned too badly to join the rest of the Gang.)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

Bruce pressed a button, bringing up the list of all the contacts he could think of.

The Question. They had met once, and in that time, Bruce had learnt that the faceless detective’s investigative skills sometimes surpassed his own, particularly since once their case was over, Vic Sage had said ‘Goodbye, Bruce’.

True, he had also deduced the Question’s identity by then, but still… it had been disconcerting. And all the better to keep an eye on him.

Etrigan. While Bruce had no doubt Jason Blood would have no objection to joining, his demonic alter-ego may have a few choice words about the matter. He would have to see.

There was also Zatanna, but Superman somehow knew her from a story he did as Clark Kent, and so Bruce let him be the one to ask her. Bruce wouldn’t want Zatanna to think that his wanting her on the League was anything more than professional.

Next on the list was Huntress.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

He glanced over his shoulder at Barbara, who was heading over to the changing room to get out of her costume.

“League business.”

“Oh.” She paused and came over to the computer, pulling back her cowl. She noted that Bruce hadn’t removed his.

He didn’t take off his cowl very often in the cave. Not for a while now.

“Oh, candidates, huh?” She smiled and nudged him in the shoulder. “So when’s the audition for me and Tim?”

He was silent.

“Bruce?”

“You’re not going to be in the League.”

“…what?”

“I said-”

“I heard. Why not?”

“You’re needed here.”

“Don’t give me that.”

“I’m not going to argue about this. You’re staying here, because you’re needed here.”

“Is it because you don’t think we’re good enough, is that it? That we don’t measure up?”

He looked up at her. “If I said yes, would you leave this alone?”

She clenched her jaw.

“That’s what I thought.”

“What about Dick? Are you going to let him in on this little scout troop of yours?”

He didn’t reply.

She tossed her hands up in the air as she walked away from the computer.

“I don’t believe this! How does Dick measure up, and we don’t?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just considering it.”

“So you’re considering him and not us?”

She wanted to say ‘me’.

“He’s had more experience.”

“Right,” she scoffed.

“He’s been trained from when he was nearly ten. He was dedicated to the mission.”

“And I’m not?”

“You are now. You weren’t when you started.”

“Like you said, that was then. Now I’m different.” She paused. “And what about Tim? I suppose he’s too young and inexperienced?”

“He’s with the Titans. They’ll help him hone his skills much more efficiently than the League could.”

“So we have to get to your level of expertise before we can join?”

“I didn’t say that.”

She crossed her arms. “You don’t say a lot of things.”

Bruce didn’t reply to that. Her mouth opened to say something else, but she just shook her head and stormed to the changing room.

He returned to the computer.

“You always told me it was impolite to eavesdrop,” he said, his eyes still on the screen in front of him.

“I am quite sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Master Bruce. I just thought you would like some tea.”

Bruce sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes through the lenses of his mask. He looked over at Alfred as he set the tea tray down next to him.

“I brought a selection of biscuits and cakes as well, sir. They may not be protein drinks or energy bars, but they should certainly make you feel better.”

“Thank you, Alfred.”

With a smile, he nodded, and poured some tea.

“She does carry a point, sir.”

He didn’t respond to that, either.

It was because he knew she was right.

“You know why I can’t,” he said softly, in a voice he only used with Alfred, and a few times with Dick and Andrea.

Alfred did know. “Then perhaps you should tell them those reasons, sir.”

He didn’t say anything; he simply continued tapping away on the computer. Alfred left with a sad shake of the head.

Bruce was still tapping away when Barbara angrily made her way out of the cave, making as much noise as she could as she hung up the Batgirl costume on the mannequin.

She left the cave and slammed the door.

Batman stopped.

He pulled back his cowl and ran a gloved hand through his hair. Ice blue eyes wandered over to the tray. He picked up a piece of cake and took a bite.

It did make him feel better.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

“What were you thinking?”

Flash had never seen Diana so mad. Not at him, anyway. He could swear that she would break another one of his bones if he looked at her the wrong way.

“Five of us had trouble fighting them, and you decided to go up against them alone?”

Wally crossed his recently healed arms, wincing at the soreness.

“Try not to move too much,” J’onn said quietly from his seat beside Wally’s bed. Or at least, his voice seemed quiet compared to Diana’s.

“Look, how fast could you guys have gotten there anyway?” Wally looked up at Diana. “The fight was over in about five minutes.”

Something flashed across her eyes. She wasn’t used to talking to him without his mask on.

“That’s not the point. You could have been killed, and probably would have been if J’onn hadn’t been there.”

“Well, J’onn was there, and I wasn’t killed, so this whole argument is kinda academic, don’t you think?”

The fire in her eyes subsided somewhat, though it seemed like a reluctant gesture.

“I’m just worried about you, Wally. We all are,” she said, glancing at J’onn.

He continued to work on the vitals monitor above Wally’s bed.

Flash turned over in his bed so he was facing away from them both. “Whatever.”

Diana seemed ready to pursue the matter further, but J’onn intercepted her.

“He needs to rest.”

The Martian guided her out of the room and into the corridor. They were currently based in an empty Waynetech warehouse, which Bruce had outfitted with equipment similar to that of the original Watchtower. It was just temporary, and Diana couldn’t be happier about that.

J’onn gently closed the door and faced her.

She leant against the wall, her arms crossed. “What’s wrong with him? Why would he do something so insane?”

“Perhaps he feels he has something to prove.”

She looked up at him. “What? That’s ridiculous.”

J’onn continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “Also… I believe our attitude to Hawkgirl may be partially responsible.”

“You mean my attitude.”

He stared at her.

“She betrayed us. Does he expect me to just act like it never happened?”

“Perhaps.”

“Well, I’m not going to. Just because he’s naïve enough to think it doesn’t matter, that doesn’t mean I have to think it as well.”

J’onn bowed his head in thought after she left, unable to think of a reply.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

Clark again looked around the room, although this time it was with a much more tired expression. It had been a while since the six of them had been in the same room together, and today looked like it would be no different.

J’onn had attended, but John was still absent. Wally said he was busy in Central City, and would be there as soon as he could. When Clark asked if he needed any help, Wally had answered with a ‘no’ verging on rudeness.

The door opened, and its four occupants looked to it in hopes of seeing the speedster. They all but gaped at who stepped through the door.

Diana got over her amazement first. “Lantern.”

“Hey,” he said, slipping into a chair. When no-one said anything, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Something wrong?”

Clark snapped back to reality. “No. Nothing wrong.”

“I like the beard,” Diana said, “but the baldness will take some getting used to.”

John’s scowled. “I’m not bald.” He ran a hand over the smooth surface self-consciously. “I’ve just shaved it off.”

Silence descended upon them.

“So how have you been?” Diana asked gently.

He shrugged. “I’m okay. I just… needed some time.”

She nodded, and Clark smiled, putting a hand on the Lantern’s shoulder. “It’s good to have you back.”

John acknowledged the compliment with a slight smile, and then looked around the room. “Where’s Flash?”

Clark, Diana and J’onn looked at each other. J’onn spoke first.

“Wally has elected to spend more time looking after Central City.”

John opened his mouth. “Oh.” He paused. “I heard about what happened with the Royal Flush Gang. Is he all right?”

Clark nodded. “He’s fine, ego aside.”

“Is he coming?”

“I-”

The door flew open and Flash rushed inside, sitting down at the table. “Sorry, Mirror Master was- WHOA! What happened to you? You fall onto a hedge trimmer?”

Everyone except Batman and John smiled.

“It’s just a haircut, Flash.”

“Looks like you got some kind of rodent stuck on your chin, too.”

John glowered at the speedster, and then looked at everyone else. “Can we please move on?”

Wally grinned. “Why? We’ve got a whole day’s worth of discussion right there,” he said, pointing at the beard.

Batman put a hand down on the table. “I think moving on would be a good idea.”

Wally crossed his arms and leant back in his chair. “Spoilsport.”

Bruce continued on to talk about more aspects of League business than most of them knew existed. New members, expenses, relations with the government…

They all tried to ignore the look on John’s face when he saw the empty space where a seat would have been.

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Disclaimer: I don’t own Justice League Unlimited.

“…All of you bring something different to the table. Strength, speed, stealth… whatever.”

John stood at the teleporter pads with Flash as Superman delivered his speech. The speedster nodded a greeting to Elongated Man when he caught his eye, and waved to and winked at a few other League members, most of them female.

“You’re heading down to Central City?”

Wally shrugged, still looking forward as though actually paying attention to Clark’s speech. He had already heard it once before, when Superman had cornered him the day previous and forced him into listening to it. His only suggestion was to make it shorter.

“Not straight away. I’m giving the guided tour.”

“Right, but… after that.”

Flash nodded. “People to save, bad guys to beat up, y’know?”

He nodded. “Listen. I’m sorry about what happened-”

A small smile spread across his face. “Forget it. When I think about it, it wasn’t exactly the best time for me, either.”

Superman ended his speech, and the crowd slowly began to separate. Wally turned to John.

“Duty calls. I’ll see you later, okay?”

He shot off before John could even answer. J’onn’s voice came from up above him, calling him to duty.

John wasn’t sure whether he would be able to learn to like this new Justice League. Ironically, when the League first began, he would have been all for this more militaristic approach. Now, he just wanted it to be the seven of them.

A glint of a skin tight orange costume caught his eye when J’onn summoned Captain Atom.

Then again, a little change never hurt anyone.

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(A/N: R&R time please, folks : )