Poker Face | Bruce Wayne

five

"I think it's so incredible that Meredith Elias is taking some initiative. I love the Justice League, but I only recently got back to work after my office was destroyed a few months ago. It's reassuring to know that there's someone hearing us and speaking up for the regular people."

The news on the massive screen shut off and Batman turned around, facing the table. Clark wasn't sure which part pissed him off the most. He was angry at Lex for sending Bizarro out to ruin Metropolis so he could paint the League as the bad guys, and while he was thankful for Meredith taking Lex's spotlight, he was angry that she essentially did the same thing. He was annoyed with Lois for helping her, and he was especially angry with Bruce for blaming him and Barry for the entire mess when the billionaire had an equal part in it.

"The plan was simple." Batman's voice cut across the silent room like a knife. "I would talk her down, and that was it."

Clark rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry I couldn't see into the future and account for Luthor announcing his candidacy."

"Superman jumped the gun and overestimated how much she knew." Batman ignored him, referring to how Clark accidentally told Meredith that they would talk before she even asked to. "Meredith Elias is not an idiot. It won't take long for her to figure things out."

Clark couldn't stop his accusatory voice. He was tired of Bruce throwing blame on everyone but himself. "Oh, please, Bruce. I heard your conversation with her after I left— she stole a smoke pellet, interrogated you, and you stood there like a moron and said nothing. How did you let her take one without you noticing? And why the hell would you even bring those with you to a restaurant?"

Batman was silent, but Clark could feel the anger simmering from the man. He was almost grateful for Flash speaking, saving him from the infamous Batglare.

"Alright, alright. I get it, we all screwed up," Barry commented from his spot across from Clark. "Can we talk about the more important thing? Like if we're actually letting Meredith take over League collateral costs or not?"

Batman shot a look at the speedster. "No."

"I dunno, Bats," Cyborg turned around, crossing his arms. "Usually, I'm with you on this kinda stuff... but I've been doing some research on Elias. Her tech department is impressive, and that's coming from me. I looked into their plans on upcoming innovation— they've got some pretty sweet stuff going on. If I'm being honest, I wouldn't mind having access to it."

Barry nodded, jabbing a thumb at the robotic man. "I agree. The media's eating this up and the entire internet is exploding with people praising Meredith. Maybe it's... good to be seen having a regular person working with the League, it makes us look a little more human and a little less God-like."

Clark sighed. They, realistically, didn't have much of an option. The media was brutal— he would know— and the particular media covering this story happened to be Lois, who would be very unhappy if her "story of the year" ended up being a lie.

"I'm not a fan of hers," Clark said. "But she put us in a corner. People are going to think we're the bad guys if we don't actually work with her— like we don't care about the damage we cause."

Bruce pinched the bridge of his cowl. "Arrow and I already take care of collateral as well as funding the entire League. We don't need any more money."

"But the public doesn't know that," Barry added. "Unless you're willing to come out as Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen, and endorse the League like Meredith did, you can't do anything about it.

Clark turned to Oliver, who looked about a minute away from exploding with anxiety. Green Lantern apparently noticed too.

"Why don't we ask the other billionaire funding this whole sha-bang." Hal angled his body towards the archer. "Queenie, you're the one paying, so you've got as much of a say in this as Bats does."