Whether it was an illusion or not, Thea felt the Hall of Justice was filled with an aura of sanctity. Warm sunlight streamed into the hall, seeming to gild everyone's faces in gold.
"I won't be on Earth often, so does that mean I...?" Hal Jordan was more than willing to bask in glory among Earthlings, but his duties gave him pause.
Thea explained, "Our league is very loose. Everyone's highly capable and has their own work—Batman in Gotham, Superman in Metropolis, Diana and I occasionally return to New Genesis."
"The league's purpose is to unite everyone, help each other day to day, and avoid being picked off one by one."
"Alright, alright. I can only promise to participate as much as possible. The Guardians of Oa, you know..."
Thea saw he was about to say something critical and quickly stopped him. Say it to their faces if you dare!
"Does anyone else have concerns?"
No one objected. This momentous league was officially established.
Under Diana's curious gaze, Thea glanced outside. Sure enough, novels were all lies—no divine light descended for this great deed!
"This building will serve as the League's surface base. I've installed lots of training equipment—Superman's red sun radiation room, Flash's speed-testing treadmill. Everyone can come train when they're free." Thea spoke as if it were nothing.
Superman's face fell. The hell kind of red radiation room is that? You sure that's what I need?
After speaking, Thea glanced at everyone's expressions, her look seeming to say: if there's nothing else, I'm going home to sleep.
"Your higher-dimensional design is interesting. Apokolips's threat can be intercepted by the New Continent, but what about dangers from our own universe?" Ever-calculating Batman raised another question.
"Green Lanterns can handle all cosmic troubles!" Hal jumped up before Thea could answer.
Batman's expressionless face transmitted one signal: I don't believe it!
Truthfully, neither did Thea. The universe was full of monsters in hiding. Green Lanterns could solve maybe half the problems at most—the rest were all heavy hitters. Never mind others, just those bioweapons that escaped Krypton—Doomsday, a Worldkiller, any one of them could make the Lanterns miserable. Her memory included several star sectors the Green Lanterns never touched.
The following process wasn't too surprising. To intercept cosmic threats, Batman contributed his Watchtower space station as the League's cosmic foothold and observation post.
This satellite orbiting Earth cost an astronomical sum to build. The technology it contained surpassed humanity's current peak.
The group teleported directly from the Hall of Justice to the Watchtower.
Instantly transported from the bright hall to space, Flash and Aquaman, experiencing such heights for the first time, looked slightly surprised as they gazed at the blue planet beneath their feet.
Diana and Superman also surveyed the sizable space station. Black walls, silver pipes—completely matching Batman's color scheme. Conference room, training room, rest room, entertainment room—fully equipped. Hard to imagine how Batman, an ordinary human, built this base in space using current human technology.
Thea carefully sensed the area. She was intimately familiar with this teleportation tech—it mimicked Indigo Lantern transport with traces of her magical teleportation mixed in. No doubt Batman had collected data on her teleportation and scientifically replicated it.
The Watchtower's weapons and equipment were equally impressive—missiles, aircraft, orbital weapons, and more.
With advance warning, the Watchtower could indeed provide Earth some protection.
Aquaman wasn't interested in modern weapons. Superman pulled him aside to stargaze.
Thea examined the Watchtower's main control system. Though her computer skills didn't match Felicity's, she could see numerous backdoors. She didn't point them out though—Batman contributed such a behemoth, naturally keeping contingencies. Very in character for him.
"I'll share some of the maintenance costs going forward," Thea said.
No choice—unlike the Hall of Justice she contributed, which just needed occasional cleaning and cost little annually, the Watchtower was a massive aerial fortress whose daily maintenance consumed vast funds.
Diana, Aquaman—nominally princess and king but with little real power—were effectively poor in worldly terms. Superman and Flash were working class, Hal Jordan was unemployed. That left the two tycoons.
Batman contributed the Watchtower likely expecting her to help with costs.
The Dark Knight happily accepted her check while the others divided up work—those capable of space survival handled external maintenance, others cleaned inside.
...
The Justice League's establishment required no approval or press conferences. The heroes just needed to show up at the Hall of Justice for everyone to know they'd chosen it as their base.
With Darkseid severely weakened, Earth finally welcomed peace. Thea prepared to continue her grand development plan—humanity had to venture out. Once they left the solar system, human technology would experience a new explosion.
Unfortunately, some people loved being contrarian. With the war over and the media fully unrestrained, discordant voices immediately erupted.
"Who should answer for one hundred fifty thousand soldiers' lives?"
"The New Continent is a complete fraud!"
"Without superheroes, we wouldn't have such terrible disasters. Are they really heroes?"
Traditional media remained conservative in reporting, but some online outlets began brazenly attacking current affairs.
Under their manipulation, ordinary people's trust in the government and superheroes began declining.
Even after Avengers 3 premiered, citizens still didn't understand why so many soldiers had to fight on an unfamiliar continent. One hundred fifty thousand dead, seven hundred thousand wounded—what did they gain?
"This is absurd! What kind of logic is that? No superheroes means no war? Do no doctors mean no illness?! Must we fight on Earth, mountains collapsing and earth splitting, before they see it as saving the world?" Thea slammed the table furiously, though she retained enough control to pull back at the last moment and tap lightly.
"Shut down those troublemaking websites completely. Audit their taxes, verify credentials. If there's really nothing wrong, release hackers from your prisons and take them down." She sat in the Eye of Heaven office, losing her temper on behalf of President Mom.
Amanda Waller remained expressionless. As someone accustomed to working behind the scenes, she'd endured worse insults—this was nothing.
Thea then went to the Hall of Justice. The smear campaign had affected several heroes' reputations and required thorough discussion.