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The WayneTech Research Facility in downtown Metropolis was working on experimental tech that had the ability to combine Kryptonian technology and modern science to manufacture a serum that would be able to alter the surface proteins on organ donations. If they were successful then the patients who received such treatment would never have to be on immunosuppressants: the body wouldn’t be able to tell that the replacement was foreign. There would be no risk of rejection.
There was a parademon attack on the building, causing the Justice League to be called in.
The attack had been controlled. Of the staff who had not lost their lives, they had been evacuated and those who were injured were rushed for medical help.
The attack was brutal. A boom tube had been opened just outside of the building so it was instantaneous pandemonium.
The Justice League had arrived as soon as Superman had heard the first terrified screams resonate throughout the building.
They had fought valiantly, but they had their own wounded to attend to.
And the journalists outside were making it difficult to leave. Effectively forming a barricade keeping the heroes locked inside. Not long ago the Justice League had faced significant backlash from Lex Luthor and foreign governments about the ethics and necessity of a “super powered team”. Saying that the threats to the planet had only begun showing its evil face after the League had been formed.
If the press got images of the wounded members there was no telling what the fate of the JL in the eyes of the modern person would be contorted to.
The research facility had some tools to aid in stabilizing those who had been badly wounded, but it was no medical center. It was just enough to buy them time, but now they had to figure out a way to sneak past or distract the forming mob so they could care for their wounded.
The members who were either minorly injured or unharmed were debating back and forth about possible extraction plans and Batman stood separate from the other heroes.
None of their plans would work.
Bruce had been in this game a long time. He knew that if you wanted something to never make the record — to be expunged from records — you needed a better distraction.
There was only one plan he could think of that had any semblance of a chance of working.
Clicking on his Batfam comm — as Dick called it — he called out for Oracle. He knew it was 2 pm, but she was never far. She had always been there for them come rain or shine.
“Oracle, are you in a secure location?” Batman asked as he heard the chime of someone joining the frequency. His voice effectively silenced everyone in the room who had been debating how to solve the publicity problem.
“Sure am, whaddya need?”
“Contact Red Robin's civilian identity. I will need both of you on this” Batman instructed as he began to work out the logistics of his plan.
Walking out of their makeshift med bay Bruce began making his way to the staff lounge. “I will need both of you on comms and working to find and erase any evidence the media had already gotten on the Justice League’s injuries outside of WayneTech’s Metropolis branch.”
As expected, the uninjured members followed him: wanting to know what he had instored to get them out unseen.
His idea was reckless and stupid, but it would work.
By the time he entered the lounge Tim had joined the comm line, having already been debriefed by Oracle.
“Red Robin, are you untrackable at your current location with your equipment?”
“Yes, granted it isn’t my normal laptop for this work but it will make do.”
“One of you contacted Agent A. Have him get to the location.”
Batman grunted in approval and he began rustling through the employees personal belongings before he found two outfits that they would have to make do.
Turning back Batman faced his coworkers, they were all staring at him in confusion as he held the stolen clothes.
Without explaining himself, he walked up to Green Arrow and instructed him to “get changed” as he thrusted the clothing into the other man's chest.
“And… why would I do that?” Arrow questioned as he caught the clothes. They were a simple pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt that looked like it was going to be skin tight and a maroon corduroy jacket with simple black sneakers.
“We have to make a distraction,” Batman explained, simply holding his own clothes as he stared at his old friend.
“You and I,” Arrow questioned. “Are going to distract the media with stolen clothes?”
“Batman,” Superman cut in as he eyed the clothes in Batman's hands. “you have kept your identity secret from us for years. Why reveal it now?”
“I don’t see another feasible way out of this situation with the League's reputation intact.”
“Wait,” Arrow said, regaining everyone's attention. “How the hell are you and I going to be more attention grabbing than a wounded Justice League? The media has been breathing down our necks for months. You can’t seriously think this is going to work?”
Batman just stared at his friend, for the first time in a long time he didn’t know how he should word something. The situation had too many layers to it, too many moving parts that if anything fell out of sync they would be screwed.
“You and I have made headlines before,” Batman began, he could feel all the eyes from his teammates on him as he explained himself. “We will create the same headline now.”
“Headline?” Arrow questioned. “Wait. I know you out of the suit?”
Dick had been complaining that he needed to ‘loosen up’, that he missed the man Bruce had been while Dick was a child.
With that in mind, Batman walked towards Green Arrow again. Not stopping before he grabbed Arrow’s face and pressed their lips together as they had long ago.
He had still been Brucie ‘fuck boy’ Wayne when Dick was a child.
The room was dead silent as Batman disconnected their lips, Arrow had frozen at the contact. Now his face was slowly contorting itself into realization before he all but screamed “I used to fuck you in supply closets!” As he roughly shoved Batman backwards.
“WHAT” Green Lantern asked, having been the only one to recover from the event.
“I own the building, no one will question why I was here” Batman explained as he reached up. Removing his cowl for the Justice League to finally learn his identity.
Turning to face his coworkers and friends he ordered “go back to the others. Get them ready for transport and wait for Oracle to tell you the coast is clear.”
0o0o0
DAILY PLANET: CELEBRITY WATCH EDITION
“Billionaire Bad Boys: Brucie Wayne Caught Locking Lips with Old Flame Oliver Queen in Downtown Metropolis”
By: Margot Smith, Senior Gossip Correspondent
Published: 5:17 PM
Brucie Wayne is back at it again, folks—and this time, he brought an old lover into the bedroom.
In a scene that could have been plucked straight from a soap opera—or a very specific kind of fan fiction—billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne was spotted sneaking out of the WayneTech Research Facility in downtown Metropolis this afternoon, locking lips with none other than Queen Industries’ own Oliver Queen.
That’s right: Gotham’s golden disaster and Star City’s favorite scandal magnet were caught in a clinch that can only be described as intimate, heated, and inappropriately public.
Sources on the scene describe the pair as “rushed, passionate, and definitely not discreet.” Witnesses claim the two men exited a side service door, exchanged a few hushed words, and then—bam! Liplock city. One eyewitness, who asked to remain anonymous, told reporters, “I thought I was hallucinating. Then I realized, no, that’s Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen making out. In daylight. Behind a science building. I dropped my coffee.”
Rumors of a past romantic entanglement between the two have long simmered just beneath the glossy surface of high society gossip. Some say the pair were involved years ago during boarding school.
Neither Wayne nor Queen have commented on today’s surprise PDA, but social media has already erupted with theories, shipping tags, and a growing number of memes. The trending hashtag?
#QueenedByWayne
Representatives from Wayne Enterprises and Queen Industries declined to comment, but with cameras rolling and tabloids foaming at the mouth, one thing is clear: whatever’s happening between these two, it’s going to be front-page news.
Stay tuned for updates, speculation, and exclusive analysis from our body language expert.