As much as he hated to admit it - even to himself - Peter wasn't really concentrating on Superman's extravagant introduction. His attention had instead been captured by the surreal layout of the gargantuan structure they were all seated in. Not only that, but the sheer excitement from the fact that he was in the presence of so many strong and infamous heroes had his heart doing back flips in his chest. As the famous Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar had once said, "We are not worthy!" Peter could have said the same thing.
Thankfully, the few familiar faces in the room kept him grounded to reality. Tony Stark, A.K.A. Iron Man, was seated at the table, speaking with Superman about their mission. Pete was pretty darn grateful that Tony had reluctantly sent him a jet to borrow a ride on in order for him to attend the League's first meeting. Otherwise, he'd have been stuck in NYC without much to do but to sit and twiddle his thumbs while feeling absolutely useless.
As Peter began to tune into the conversation between Tony and Supes, he caught the tail-end of something Superman had been saying.
"Additionally, if you think you need it, I could lend you a squadron of robots..."
"Whoa!" Peter blurted out. "Robots? You've got your own robots?"
Underneath the red, web-patterned design of his mask, a large grin spread ear to ear on Peter's young face. He'd always been quite interested in the science behind robots and other artificial intelligence.
"Sorry, but..." He leaned back in his seat and kicked his feet up on to the table. "Why don't you just send a whole army of bots to make short of Luthor and his cronies?"
"Apparently," Power Girl quipped, "That would be illegal. And we couldn't have that, now could we?" She shot her cousin a teasing glance before turning back to Spiderman.
"Illegal?" Peter had almost forgotten that he wasn't really allowed to break rules. "Dude, this guy's about to blow up the moon and you're worrying about if it's gonna break a few rules or not?"
He huffed an annoyed breath under his mask and averted his gaze from Power Girl's seemingly victorious stare.
Tony shot a withered look at Peter and immediately wished he'd brought along a decanter of scotch. Power Girl's comment was enough to make him hide a grin in the face of Peter's childish behavior, but he was pretty sure he could do better.
"Legality doesn't really matter, sure," he said slowly, "but what would it look like, an army of robots stalking down Lex Luthor and throwing him into a jail cell? Don't you think the public would get a little agitated and demand to know where the hell these killer robots came from? Mass hysteria isn't exactly what you'd want on a resume. At least, not yours."
"It'd make for good T.V.?" Peter attempted to joke. No one laughed. Tough crowd.
"Alright, alright," he gave in, waving his hand in defeat, "so that rules out that course of action. What about giant mechs? Like those crazy Japanese comics had? I mean, that's basically what you're sporting there, Tony-bud. Or like, couldn't Superman just use his heat vision to melt Lex's base of operations? Or just his weapons cache, if we're trying to keep this whole thing on the down low..."
Peter continued to ramble on, failing to realize that no one was paying attention to his babble anymore.
"Sheer legality aside, we're supposed to represent stability to the public. If we resort to chaotic tactics, the public's hardly likely to think of us as better than the Legion."
"Sta-bil-ity," Peter dragged out, with slight sarcasm in his tone. A room full of super-powered, crime-fighting heroes really wasn't what Peter thought about in his head when the word "stability" came to mind, but if that's what Superman wanted them to represent, so be it.
"So we're doing this the hard way then," he mumbled, "Got it. I'm all ears, Supe-da-woop."
Hearing his tone of voice, Superman continued patiently, "Let me explain. I know it seems pretty ridiculous, but this is the way I see things. The fact that we work outside of the system, for the system, is another reason we need to tread carefully. The only reason the public tolerates our activity is because they believe we're doing it for their good. If we betray their trust, there's no saying how long it'll take to earn it back. That's all."
"Yeah-yeah, your wish is my command, big guy," he nodded. "I'll keep the theatrics to a limit." Peter then slid low into his chair and began to actually pay attention to what everyone else was suggesting.
Power Girl turned away from Batwoman's haughty stare to face the far more humble Spiderman, preferring the familiar red and blue over self-important black ensembles.
"So, Spiderman," she began perkily, "How are things in the Big Apple?"
Pete was daydreaming of what kind of reward they would receive for saving the world from Lex's evil plot when all of a sudden, he heard Power Girl speaking to him.
"Huh?" he blurted, turning towards the buxom blond heroine. It took him a few second to process what she'd asked him. "The Big Apple's still big and busy. There have been a few new baddies sprouting up as of late, but then again, what's new?"
Once his eyes started to involuntarily drift towards her large and busting clevage, Peter cleared his throat and snapped his attention back to her face and quickly asked, "So is, uh, Metropolis seeing any brighter skies?"
This was one such occasion when Peter found his outfit to be a godsend; his mask covered his line of vision AND his very red and embarrassed face.
"Metropolis is as calm as ever, actually," Power Girl replied with a smile. He must be young- they always had the most trouble with looking at her eyes. She couldn't see his face (using x-ray vision to see through a mask was a bit unfair, honestly), but she knew the signs well enough.
"I was just thinking- since the Bats obviously have Gotham all taken care of," an edge of sarcasm crept into her tone, "Perhaps Metropolis and New York City ought to keep lines of communication open in light of recent developments." She shifted her shoulders slightly, noticing his head tilt down, and cleared her throat. "After all, you never know when Luthor will expand the Legion."
Thankfully, the few familiar faces in the room kept him grounded to reality. Tony Stark, A.K.A. Iron Man, was seated at the table, speaking with Superman about their mission. Pete was pretty darn grateful that Tony had reluctantly sent him a jet to borrow a ride on in order for him to attend the League's first meeting. Otherwise, he'd have been stuck in NYC without much to do but to sit and twiddle his thumbs while feeling absolutely useless.
As Peter began to tune into the conversation between Tony and Supes, he caught the tail-end of something Superman had been saying.
"Additionally, if you think you need it, I could lend you a squadron of robots..."
"Whoa!" Peter blurted out. "Robots? You've got your own robots?"
Underneath the red, web-patterned design of his mask, a large grin spread ear to ear on Peter's young face. He'd always been quite interested in the science behind robots and other artificial intelligence.
"Sorry, but..." He leaned back in his seat and kicked his feet up on to the table. "Why don't you just send a whole army of bots to make short of Luthor and his cronies?"
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He huffed an annoyed breath under his mask and averted his gaze from Power Girl's seemingly victorious stare.
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"Legality doesn't really matter, sure," he said slowly, "but what would it look like, an army of robots stalking down Lex Luthor and throwing him into a jail cell? Don't you think the public would get a little agitated and demand to know where the hell these killer robots came from? Mass hysteria isn't exactly what you'd want on a resume. At least, not yours."
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"Alright, alright," he gave in, waving his hand in defeat, "so that rules out that course of action. What about giant mechs? Like those crazy Japanese comics had? I mean, that's basically what you're sporting there, Tony-bud. Or like, couldn't Superman just use his heat vision to melt Lex's base of operations? Or just his weapons cache, if we're trying to keep this whole thing on the down low..."
Peter continued to ramble on, failing to realize that no one was paying attention to his babble anymore.
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"So we're doing this the hard way then," he mumbled, "Got it. I'm all ears, Supe-da-woop."
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"So, Spiderman," she began perkily, "How are things in the Big Apple?"
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"Huh?" he blurted, turning towards the buxom blond heroine. It took him a few second to process what she'd asked him. "The Big Apple's still big and busy. There have been a few new baddies sprouting up as of late, but then again, what's new?"
Once his eyes started to involuntarily drift towards her large and busting clevage, Peter cleared his throat and snapped his attention back to her face and quickly asked, "So is, uh, Metropolis seeing any brighter skies?"
This was one such occasion when Peter found his outfit to be a godsend; his mask covered his line of vision AND his very red and embarrassed face.
Reply
"I was just thinking- since the Bats obviously have Gotham all taken care of," an edge of sarcasm crept into her tone, "Perhaps Metropolis and New York City ought to keep lines of communication open in light of recent developments." She shifted her shoulders slightly, noticing his head tilt down, and cleared her throat. "After all, you never know when Luthor will expand the Legion."
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