Chapter Text
-Hey!, yells Green Lantern at Flash. Flash jumps up and looks at the person calling him. He sighs very loudly and puts an hand to the wall.
"What's wrong, Flash? You seems awfully jumpy for a monthly meeting", Hal asks curiously. Flash turns around and, with no one in sights, he decides to murmur " I can't talk at the Watchtower. Can we speak somewhere where no one of the Trinity can hear anything we say?". Hal looks confused for a second before they decide to proceed to a quiet location.
Both of them are now standing by a lake somewhere in Russia, having arrived by the zeta beam. Hal thinks this might be overkill as he takes in the lack of any sign of habitation anywhere. "Well, what is the problem, Flash?". Flash runs around the place in circles and sits down on a falling tree stump. Hal sits beside him, hoping whatever Flash's story better be worth the trouble they went to be undisturbed. Why did he specify Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman? Did Flash do something very wrong?
-Well, Hal, do you remember the 'fight' between the Trinity about eight years ago?
-Which one? They fought a lot of times.
-No, not a fight. The fight. Barry told me Batman almost quit the League because of the fight. He said only careful mediation by J'onn Jonzz stopped the fiasco from becoming an all-out-war. It was apparently legendary...
-Oh! That. Yeah, I remember. At that time, we were used to Batman being fussy, but I still don't understand how he managed to threatened quitting over so trivial an issue.
Flash swallows. Hal leans in. This is a promising start.
-Well, apparently, Batman may have had a reason for his position, Flash allows.
-Ok, Hal says. Flash does not say anything. One of the Green Lantern's eyebrows moves up. You better not have forced me to come here to say Batman was not a paranoid freak and was right again or I'll throttle you.
-I overheard a conversation I should not between Diana and Superman. I learned three things I should not have learned, Flash says guardedly.
-Ok.
More silence follows Hal's answer. Hal growls, "Well, are you going to tell me what you learned? I am dying from the suspense here!". Flash's feet nervously dig in the earth. Hal stands up and looks at his ring.
-NoWaitHal!Dontleavemealone!IdontknowhowIwilllivewiththisifIcannottellanyone!
Green Lantern regards him with a frown.
-Fine, Flash pronounces, but the story is kind of long...
-We have some time.
Flash starts telling Hal about how eight years ago, Superman had proposed the League keep track of the approval ratings of the members of the League to help maintain the public's confidence in the Justice League. There was one big issue. Batman. Even the weird green telepathic martian was more loved than the only human without power on the team. This was astonishing for J'onn Jonzz. He did not believe a skilled and respected superhero could turn his fellow citizen against him as if he was a villain, because truly, even Catwoman (who was decidedly not a superhero nor one of their allies at the time) had the people's confidence. Batman's ratings were below the 20% mark.
Batman had smiled contently at the news. Nobody else had. Diana had tried to convince Batman he had to gain some of the public's confidence, at least to about 30%. The vigilante had refused and he had explained he was happy without anyone's approval and that he was looking to scare people. The surveys were proving he was very efficient at getting what he wanted. Superman had cut in to suggest they try to rehabilitate Batman's reputation. The Bat had been against it. He was at exactly the right percentage margin. He wanted to keep some approval to avoid any unnecessary fights with the military or police.
Superman and Diana had suggested to start a Batman fan club by the League to promote his popularity. Batman had threatened quitting and a breakdown of the online service of the Watchtower. Hal laughs at this point in Flash's story:"Yeah, it was funny the Justice League was almost broken apart by the making of a Batman's fan club. Man, Batman yelled a lot at the other two but neither side wanted to back down until our little martian friend intervened." Flash smiles back at the Green Lantern and his shoulders drop just a little as he settles more comfortably in his seat. J'onn J'onzz had managed to convinced Batman information about him should have at least have a trustworthy source to get to the public. Being feared was fine, nonetheless, there should be a fan base to promote the idea Batman was not to be fired on sight. This would be dangerous and useless on the long run. Batman had stormed out of the League meeting with a last mean glare (one of the best Batglare Barry had apparently ever seen) at the two thirds of the Trinity. Superman and Diana thought it had been a tacit acknowledgement he would not quit and they organized another committee dealing with the Batman's issue.
When Flash (Wally) had joined the Justice League, he was so nervous being the new guy he read every bit of information in his "information package" put together by the Justice League. The Batman committee was not included in the package. Wally had managed to find it existed by going through the League's minutes on another matter. From Flash's understanding, the committee had never been disbanded. Wally had asked Superman what happened with the committee. The superhero had acknowledged the committee still existed and was managed by Diana and himself as they were the ones insisting on the club's existence. Wally had asked many questions about the club's existence, especially why nobody else got a committee to fan club them. Superman had smiled and had explained nobody needed it more than Batman. Flash had been invited to the next meeting if he was interested.
As curious as he was, Flash attended. The meeting was pretty normal. The Batman fan club had a online presence on several sites and they had to present photos and stories about the Batman. Information had to be vetted whether it revealed anything about Batman that should not be revealed. Flash recognized some stories and images from League missions, yet he had to wonder how Diana and Superman had gotten good photos and stories of Batman's existence in Gotham. The other two superheroes had explained they had made tactical alliances with superheroes working closely with Batman, including Nightwing. Diana politely refused to give Flash more information on those 'alliances'. Flash's job was simple and straightforward. He was to texts and write on forums and such things about Batman being the best superhero ever. Flash was uneasy with his job at the start. Over several meetings, he had started relishing defending Batman in forums. It somehow felt so right to help improve people's opinion of Batman despite his bad manners.
"I hope your story is going somewhere", Hal snarls. Flash smiles.
This is the part it gets weird, Flash explains. After several meetings with the rest of the Batman fan club committee, Flash felt something was wrong. One time, he put a microphone in the room before the time of the meeting. While listening in, he realized he was right. The Batman fan club committee had a secret Batman fan club committee whose job was much less legit. Much less...
It was there Flash learned three scary things : Batman's civilian identity, the existence of the secret club and (the scariest of them all) the knowledge Diana and Superman had liked Batman and had apparently both confessed their love to him before the creation of both fan clubs eight years previous.