In Another Room of the Watchtower
This was morbid beyond definition, but she had to do it.
Hal was nice enough to transport them - her and Ralph - up here, since Oracle didn't recommend transporters at 5 months of pregnancy. She didn't want to be in the same room as the tribunal. She understood why Bruce was probably there. He wanted justice done, and he wasn't exactly subtle about wanting it to be a hands-on sort of process. She was betting that as much of him wanted to be there, to learn what happened in the 10 minutes people kept talking about, he also sort of wanted to rub their faces in it. He wanted to be a tangable reminder that secrets kept from the Batman were not secrets for long and only made him really cheesed off in the end.
They were survivors and constant reminders of a tremendous failure within the ranks. He could stand there and stare them down. She couldn't - which is why she was up here, but watching it on a monitor. She knew they had been just trying to do the right thing and nothing there was the right thing to do. One of these days, Bruce might concede that. He might concede it as much as Sue now conceded that, by being alone there, she had put herself in harm's way. She should have locked down every damned bulkhead. She should have taken Dinah up on more offers of self-defense lessons. She should have left some sort of instructions or had a talk about, "Gee, if this happens, don't bugger up the League over it."
She hadn't. So she sat and look on as out of the way as she could be while still being in earshot of good friends who had done their best and still were doing their best. She couldn't fault any of them, even if what was done because of her was...repugnant. It was raping the guy back. They should have asked a few more questions. Damnit! they should have asked her or Bruce! He could be a stubborn, unhelpful, completely uncooperative bastard who could give a hang about what others thought the common good should be, but they had collectively panicked! Over what? over a situation half the civilians and spouses and kids and such in the JLA already knew in the back of their heads? That knowing and loving these people carried risks?
She shutters a little.
Hal was nice enough to transport them - her and Ralph - up here, since Oracle didn't recommend transporters at 5 months of pregnancy. She didn't want to be in the same room as the tribunal. She understood why Bruce was probably there. He wanted justice done, and he wasn't exactly subtle about wanting it to be a hands-on sort of process. She was betting that as much of him wanted to be there, to learn what happened in the 10 minutes people kept talking about, he also sort of wanted to rub their faces in it. He wanted to be a tangable reminder that secrets kept from the Batman were not secrets for long and only made him really cheesed off in the end.
They were survivors and constant reminders of a tremendous failure within the ranks. He could stand there and stare them down. She couldn't - which is why she was up here, but watching it on a monitor. She knew they had been just trying to do the right thing and nothing there was the right thing to do. One of these days, Bruce might concede that. He might concede it as much as Sue now conceded that, by being alone there, she had put herself in harm's way. She should have locked down every damned bulkhead. She should have taken Dinah up on more offers of self-defense lessons. She should have left some sort of instructions or had a talk about, "Gee, if this happens, don't bugger up the League over it."
She hadn't. So she sat and look on as out of the way as she could be while still being in earshot of good friends who had done their best and still were doing their best. She couldn't fault any of them, even if what was done because of her was...repugnant. It was raping the guy back. They should have asked a few more questions. Damnit! they should have asked her or Bruce! He could be a stubborn, unhelpful, completely uncooperative bastard who could give a hang about what others thought the common good should be, but they had collectively panicked! Over what? over a situation half the civilians and spouses and kids and such in the JLA already knew in the back of their heads? That knowing and loving these people carried risks?
She shutters a little.