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Superman had died. They were on a mission and Toyman had hit him with some sort of device. He was gone the next moment. No evidence or body, just… gone. The whole league just stood there in the rain, wide-eyed until Wonder Woman had gone after Toyman.
Flash had been able to stop her before she’d done anything over the line, “I’m trying to speak for Superman,” he had told her. All Bruce could do was stand there, until he couldn’t. He grabbed a small piece of what was left of Superman’s cape and left the scene, determined to collect more samples of the scene.
~~~
It didn’t take long for a memorial of Clark to stand tall and proud in the middle of Metropolis and a funeral to be arranged. The Death Of Superman was on every station as they paid tribute to Superman and his wonderful life.
Bruce just looked to all his samples, Alfred behind him trying to convince him to turn up at the funeral with all his comrades. “I’m not going to the funeral, Alfred.” He wasn’t going because Clark wasn’t dead. He could feel it. He was going to do everything to prove it.
~~~
Each of the other leaguers was at the funeral. John and Wally had shown up together, Wally barely being able to pull out of headspace just for the funeral. Everyone was taking the death hard. They’d lost one of their family members.
Diana looked to a rooftop as she helped carry Superman’s coffin to his memorial, barely catching a glance of Batman before he melted away into the shadows. Nobody had been able to get ahold of him and she could tell that they wouldn’t be seeing him at the Watchtower later to celebrate Superman.
~~~
They laughed and joked, recalling all of the fun times that they had as a team. It wasn’t until after GL had finished his story about Superman catching a grenade that Wally had started to slip.
He could feel it overtaking him fast and as Lantern retook his seat, he grabbed at the long green coat he’d been wearing for the funeral. Lantern knew what was happening in seconds, and J’onn also sent them a look, knowing just what was happening.
“Excuse us,” John told his team as he lifted a suddenly wailing Flash and carrying him from the room. Diana and Hawkgirl watched on in confusion as they left, turning to J’onn for possible answers.
“I cannot say,” J’onn expressed with his most sincere apologies. “Though it’s time the League had a discussion.”
~~~
The League, or what was left, with Batman still MIA (and only a part-time member) had to deal with Lobo crashing into the Watchtower and trying to insert himself into the League. Flash and GL had returned suspiciously quiet as an alarm for a mission sounded.
Looks like they were taking the charades on the road…
~~~
Lobo had Kalibak with a pile of cars atop him, trying to make him say ‘uncle’. It was a nasty show of strength and repulsed the league as Hawkgirl told him to put the car down. They’d run into Batman in the field and he joined them as they all stood around Lobo.
A second later and a missile was headed straight at Batman. They only knew that after it had been caught and exploded, Bruce sending a Batarang flying up toward the rooftop and hitting Deadshot square in his launcher, causing it to explode.
When the smoke cleared, a very rugged looking Superman with a completely destroyed uniform was there next to them. It had looked like it had been adjusted to cover him in thicker layers for a winterlike environment.
Everyone exclaimed happily, rushing in to greet their missing comrade. Bruce hung back as those around him teased at how much Superman’s apparent death had affected him. It had, though they didn’t need to know that. “I never believed you were dead,” was what Bruce had come up with. It was true. He’d found an extreme lack of evidence, after all.
Superman dismissed Lobo harshly and then lead the league to a very urgent mission to save the world. He’d briefly explained that he’d been sent to the future and a future Vandal had a hand in returning him to his proper time as well as giving him the information he needed to save the world from Vandal from the past.
~~~
They all returned to the Watchtower after their successful mission. They were able to keep some important pieces from Vandal Savage so he’d never be able to make the machine that would’ve destroyed the world.
Wally had gone back into Little headspace and that’s when everyone decided it was time to have a talk about Classifications. He was able to force himself into an in-between state for the actual talk. “The league hasn’t talked over Classifications before but now it seems that it’ll be more necessary than ever,” Clark stated.
“With our profession, it needs to be discussed. Should anyone in the Leauge present as Little, we need to make sure that the League will be able to take care of them. As long as everyone is being put into danger, things like what happened with Superman could happen. We need to make sure that everyone is taken care of.” J’onn said.
Flash shifted in his seat, both J’onn and John were aware that he was between spaces. He was trying hard to stay big for this talk. “I agree,” Hawkgirl said. “I’ve been on this planet for nearly five years and know barely anything about the Classifications of the League. I haven’t interacted with any Littles to speak of but I understand the thing as a whole. I’ve just assumed everyone here was neutral,”
“Well, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and I all identify as neutral as we are either alien or outliers of the human race with no classification systems assigned on our planets or islands.” J’onn started. “Superman was raised among the humans and has taken a Classification test just like everyone else,”
“That’s true,” Clark stated. “Ma and Pa had me take the test at 18 like everyone else. I tested as a Caregiver quite easily,” he admitted. “Though I feel the need to make sure that everyone here is alright with revealing their Classifications with the rest of the League. Remaining unconfirmed among even our friends and allies could be a problem.”
“I see no problem with it,” John responded. “I tested as a Caregiver as well,”
“That leaves Batman and Flash,” Diana responded. “Though I have to ask, Superman, Green Lantern, do you have Littles that would be affected by the dangers of the League?”
“Well,” John started. “Actually…” he coughed a bit.
“You have a Little?” Hawkgirl asked excitedly, “You never said anything?”
“It’s more of a recent thing. It’s been getting more steady as of late,” He said while glancing at Wally vaguely. “He’s not officially or legally my Little but I was hoping it would get there,” John admitted.
“Who is it?” Superman asked excitedly. “I’m sure whatever Little you have in mind is going to be perfect for you,”
“Agreed,” Diana said.
As the conversation continued, Wally felt littler and littler. He was a little scared to be Little in front of everyone but he agreed that it was important that they know. Though that didn’t mean they’d know his identity which brought him a little comfort. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for that yet.
Everyone turned to look at him as the tapping of his fingers against the table increased. He hadn’t been aware he was doing that. He let out a whine as he launched himself into John’s lap, hiding his face.
“Now that makes sense,” Clark stated as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, finally noticing that Bruce had been holding tight to the corner of his cape under the table. He gave out a content hum that caused Bruce to sideglance him, one eyebrow raised under his cowl.
“It does,” Diana said.
“His personality has always been a bit childish,” Hawkgirl agreed.
“He doesn’t change much when he’s in Littlespace. He just can’t talk or walk all that well,” John laughed a bit at that.
“That leaves you, Superman.” J’onn stated.
“Do you have a Little?” Diana asked.
“Yes actually,” Clark admitted, “since before the leagued formed. Though it’s been better since after the formation of the Leauge,” he admitted.
“How so?” Diana asked.
“He can’t avoid me as much now that he works with us in most cases,” Superman said with a cocky grin. Bruce turned his head and glared as everyone turned to look toward him. All the eyes made him blush a bit. He’d never been one to like the spotlight.
“Batman is a Little?” John asked.
“No way…” Hawkgirl exclaimed as they all witnessed Batman starting to wiggle under their stares. It only took a moment for Bruce to full out bawl in embarrassment. He ran from the room and Clark rose to go after him.
“This’ll only take a moment.” He told them, following the shy little Bat from the room.
“I suppose you were aware of all of this already,” John asked, looking toward J’onn.
“Indeed, though it wasn’t my place to say anything,”
“That’s alright,” Diana assured. “We appreciate you keeping our business our own. Thankfully this conversation finally happened. Now that we are aware we will be able to help if need be,”
“I agree,” Shayera replied.
Superman walked back into the room with Batman hiding away in his shoulder, Superman’s cape wrapped around him for comfort. “Does he always do that?” Diana asked, pointing to the cape.
“Anytime he’s in Littlespace when I’m in uniform,” Clark confirmed. “He seems to find it comforting,”
“Flash loves to play with constructs from my ring,” John admitted as the boy held onto his left hand tightly, reaching for the new constructs that John had put out. The green lights of the ring drew Bruce out of hiding too, another set of hidden yet curious eyes focused on the glowing green shapes.
“I have a feeling that he just became very intrigued,” Clark said as GL constructed a few for Batman to play with as well.
“How will this work?” J’onn asked. “While now all of the classifications of the league are out, not everyone knows who everyone is. There’s no way that we’ll all be able to take care of the Littles on the team if they are always in their uniforms,”
“I agree,” Clark stated. “But that’ll come with time. They everything will be revealed when everyone is ready,”
“I think this is a good start,” John agreed. “At least the most important thing is out in the open now.”
“Indeed,” J’onn replied.
The conversation wrapped up and Clark took John and Flash to the private floors of the Watchtower, telling everyone that those rooms were there if they were needed. There was another whole section of the top floors that were modeled the same way as the apartment floors that Superman and Batman used. “You’re more than welcome to the spare apartments. There’s already another full nursery set up with age-appropriate things for this little one,” Clark told him as he gestured to Flash.
“Thanks, man,” John said. “Batman really thinks of everything,” He said in awe as he took a look around. “This will be really helpful,”
“No problem,” Clark replied “If you need anything just let me know,” he told him as he entered the apartment across the hall.
“Yeah,” John whispered as he finally let his Little down to explore. This was certainly going to change everything. He was excited to see his family move to the next level.