Chapter Text
The biggest casualty of the circumvented invasion from an alien force in a faraway quadrant was Batman’s extensive injuries, so severe that the doctor they’d beamed to their medical wing had induced a coma to help him heal. There was thankfully no injury to his head, which would’ve put them in a precarious position of having to decide to remove the thin tech mask that now sat resting on the Batman’s face to continue to preserve his secret identity. A small silver lining, that Batman wouldn’t woke up with both multiple broken bones, deep lacerations, a punctured lung, and his identity compromised. Many of the older members grumbled that it shouldn’t matter, that Batman should trust them with that information, but Superman understood, even if he wished otherwise, and Wonder Woman respected the directive, even when she didn’t understand, and they both insisted.
Batman had been recruited a year ago, contingent on his privacy and using his own technology. He had, in fact, supplied the Justice League with updated tech and suits, and reinforced their home base with extra security, and said nothing of the cost. Batman attended almost every meeting, barring emergencies in Gotham that took priority, and contributed helpful, if not always polite, strategic advice.
He wasn’t overly verbose or given to lingering to foster team spirit and the sense of mystique lingering around him served to intrigue most of the League. He was downright taciturn, never letting a single clue about his life slip. They wondered amongst themselves: who was under the mask? Was it only one person over the past 15 years? Or did the Batman suit get passed down? Who funded him? Where did he live? Was he terribly scared and that’s why he hid his face? Was he really human?
Never once did any of them think to inquire: was he working alone?
They assumed, fairly yes but woefully presumptive and incomplete, that he did.
No one could picture the Batman answering to anyone, or communicating much at all. Gotham didn’t have any other vigilantes running around—how were they to make the leap that Batman may have family that would get worried about him? Family that would act, and have the knowledge to act skillfully, to get him back?
If anyone had asked those questions, or if—ha!—Batman left a hint of an emergency contact, then maybe what happened next might not have been so bad.