Chapter Text
Clark and Diana arrived early, both eager to welcome their (hopefully) newest member and give him a tour of the facilities. It wasn’t until the clock struck quarter to 12 and there was still no sign of him that they thought he may have had to skip. Clark couldn’t deny the slight sadness that he hadn’t even gotten a ‘sorry won't make it’ message. (Never mind that he never gave Batman his phone number) The two made their way to the meeting room only to startle at the inky black shape hunched up in one of the chairs. The chair they had specifically set out for Batman of all places, between Superman and Flash. Neither of them were sure if it was coincidence or he sat there on purpose, either way they were happy he had shown. Neither thought to question how he had managed to get inside the building without alerting them.
The rest of the heroes slowly started to filter into the room. None of them seemed to notice the living shadow as they entered and made their way to their unofficial seats. It wasn’t until Barry arrived a few minutes late as usual, that he was noticed. Barry sat in his chair and turned, probably to say something to Clark, only to jump out of his chair with a high pitched screech. Arthur and Hal spun around, weapons drawn and ready, until they noticed just who was seated there. The light above Batman flickered before it lit again, slightly dimmer than the rest. His shadow lengthened and cast across the table slightly. Even J’onn seemed surprised at his presence.
“Thank you all for being here. I’ve invited Batman as a temporary member that we hope to eventually integrate into full leaguer status.” Clark stood and addressed the room, gesturing towards Batman as he did. Batman gave a slight nod towards the heroes seated around the table and nothing more. White lenses narrowed slightly as his head turned to face all the heroes one by one, examining them like bugs under a microscope. J’onn’s eyes narrowed slightly before Batman’s head spun around to glare at him.
“It is rude to pry into someone’s thoughts without permission.” Batman’s voice sounded like he gargled glass for breakfast, adding to the inhuman air that seemed to settle around him. The temperature in the room seemed to be lowering with every second he held the Martian's stare until the man was able to stutter out a quick apology. Batman nodded and that was that.
“Uh right, well, here's today's meeting topics.” Clark handed Batman a cheap second hand tablet, already on and covered in scuff marks. It wasn't the best but it worked. They didn't really have the budget for high class stuff so they had to make do. Batman took the tablet and placed it on the table in front of himself, everyone caught a glimpse of the dark clawed hand and shuddered. Clark plastered on a bright Midwestern smile and turned back to the projected copy of his own tablet on the wall behind him and started to go over the information.
As the meeting went on Barry noticed Batman's struggle to swipe along when Clark finished talking about each slide. He seemed to falter, staring at the page with a frown for a while longer, before reaching back out and tapping the device a few times. The speedster watched in confusion as the man poked the screen again, his frown deepening before he tried to swipe. Barry pitied the poor man and reached over to silently swipe for him.
Batman turned to stare at him with those blank lenses, and for a second Barry feared for his life, all the ways this man would gut him and feast on his innards ran through his mind (damn it Hal and your stupid vampire comments) but the bat simply nodded his thanks and turned back at the tablet. Following along with whatever Clark was saying. Barry however noticed that Batman still struggled with the device, tapping at the screen a few times with an angry huff before wordlessly sliding it slightly closer to Barry who then swiped for him. After that the two seemed to find a flow. Every time Clark finished and swiped to the next slide Barry would silently reach over and do the same for Batman. Hal seemed to notice if the pointed glances he kept giving Barry meant anything, but didn't say anything whilst Clark was still talking. At one point Batman held the tablet up at arm's length, tilted slightly, and glared at it. At this point everyone noticed and Clark halted mid sentence.
“uhh, Batman? If you need help with the technology I’m sure Flash can assist.” Diana was looking at him with a concerned furrow in her brow. Batman pulled the tablet so his nose was practically pressed to the screen before huffing in irritation.
“It’s fine I get it now. I just needed a closer look.”
“oh you can zoom in on the tablet to make it bigger if you need.” Barry helpfully reached over and pinched the screen, zooming it in on the diagram everyone had left behind a good 10 minutes ago. Batman’s squinted frown somehow became even frownier as he stared at the screen for a few seconds.
“That’s stupid.” He muttered but copied the motion himself after he flicked to the next slide on his screen. He had to repeat the motion a few times but eventually it did in fact zoom. He glared at the screen as he read the data before trying to tap the screen, letting out a frustrated huff when it didn’t do what he wanted.
“If your claws are getting in the way I can help. I’ve already read through everything.” Barry slid his chair slightly closer, ignoring the fear that had his hair stand on end at being so close to the possible cryptid. Batman glared at him only a moment before acquiescing the device and watching as Barry flipped through the slides on his command. Soon enough they were able to catch up with the presentation and Clark continued.
The rest of the meeting was uneventful besides the constant jolt of terror Barry seemed to get every time Batman's clawed hands reached towards the tablet, and by proxy his wrists, to point out something he wanted a closer look at. Soon enough the meeting was over, but the heroes didn't filter out like they usually would. They were curious about their new possible coworker, especially after that strange display with the tablet. Batman seemed oblivious to this, looking back over the first half of the presentation now that he could zoom into the graphs. It was Arthur that broke the silence.
“So Batman, wouldn’t it be easier to read that without the cowl covering your eyes?” The question seemed reasonable, in fact Barry himself had been thinking it over the last 15 minutes but about the claws. Why not retract them? Unless he couldn’t. Batman stopped his scrolling to slowly look up at the Atlantean, the light above him flickered out a few times before returning to its previous dim state. Before the bat could speak however Hal butted in, literally, jabbing Arthur in the ribs with his elbow.
“Cmon man don’t ask him that, super insensitive.” Arthur grumbled as he held his ribs but didn’t say anything else. Batman turned to look at Hal and somehow was able to exude pure judgement from behind the unmoving mask. The lantern cowered slightly in his chair and refused to look at the bat. Batman seemed to want to say something when he froze, tilting his head slightly before he stood up.
“I am needed in Gotham.” And just like that he left. Inaudible footsteps as he disappeared into the shadowed hallway, not even switching on the lights. Everyone waited a few minutes, for some indication the man was gone, but there was just silence. Eventually Hal spoke up, hissing through his teeth at Arthur.
“Dude you can’t just ask a vampire to take off their only covering from the sun! There are windows in here, are you trying to kill him!” Arthur furrowed his brows and tilted his head in clear confusion.
“Is the bat a vampire? Theme wise it makes sense but he didn’t really stick around long enough for introductions.”
“Well what other explanation would you have for not understanding modern technology.” Hal gestured to the abandoned tablet on the table, zoomed in obnoxiously close to a graph on… something Hal didn’t actually care about. Barry glanced over and shrugged one of his shoulders.
“Or he could be alien, or some other race that stays hidden from modern science like the Atlantean’s and Themescerans.”
“LIKE VAMPIRES!” Hal slammed his hands on the table, making the cheap wood rattle dangerously. From the head of the table, Clark sighed and turned off the projector.
“Hal, we shouldn’t assume things no matter what your ‘evidence’ says. How about we ask next time we see him?” Hal grumbled and sat back in his chair, arms crossed and pouting like a petulant child.
“Yeah and when’s that? we can’t contact him, he just shows up and someone will magically be here to talk to him?”
“We’ll figure something out.” Diana said in her ‘no nonsense’ voice. One that said this argument is stupid and now over. And if Wonder Woman said so then it must be. Hal rolled his eyes but wisely gave up arguing the matter.
“It was awful Alfred! Their wiring was shoddy so the lights kept flickering, the equipment looked like someone dragged it right out of a dumpster AND their tablets were ancient! Ancient I say?!”
“Is that so?” Alfred mused along to his ward’s complaints as he gently rotated the man’s head, checking the large bruise on the back of his head he’d received not too long before he had to go to the meeting. Bruce huffed but kept on his spiel.
“The Air conditioning unit couldn’t detect the temperature so it just kept dropping until the room was practically icy, and the hallway didn’t have motion sensor lights! They had switched Alfred, Switches!”
“Appalling.” Said the man in mock sympathy as he shone the pen light in Bruce’s eyes. He frowned and pocketed the device. “Well I do believe you are moderately concussed Master Bruce, it would explain your difficulty reading the information on your tablet.”
“At least that’s one thing they have that works, even if it’s so outdated it’s touch function barely worked and it didn’t work on tap to zoom.”
“Quite Master Bruce, though the Justice league doesn’t have a backer, so I assume funding for them is probably scarce and needs to be used carefully.” Bruce chewed his lip as he thought for a moment, taking the pills and swallowing them without question when Alfred handed them to him. He opened his mouth to speak but hesitated a few seconds, closing it again before he finally managed to force the words out.
“What if I funded the Justice league? It would give me a chance to observe them up close and perfect my contingency plans.” Alfred rolled his eyes and helped Bruce by unlatching the large cape so he could remove the armour himself.
“Jolly good sir, do however give me advance notice if your friends will be visiting.”
“They’re not my friends Alfred!”
“If you say so sir.” Nobody does the judgemental eyebrow raise like the British.