As traitors to humanity, the Morgan family faced universal condemnation. Their assets were seized and consolidated into a fallen heroes fund to provide pensions for the deceased and future living expenses for the wounded.
One hundred fifty thousand elite soldiers had died, seven hundred thousand were wounded—including over three hundred thousand who'd lost mobility and required state support. The funds needed couldn't even be calculated in the short term. Add in combat equipment losses, and the astronomical figure divided among nations made finance ministers everywhere tremble, even with the Morgan fortune as a foundation.
Moira seemed possessed by the Speed Force—the government machinery ran at a breakneck pace. Evidence gathering, prosecution, Supreme Court judgment—the whole process took less than two weeks. By the time Thea finished healing Lightray, two "knowing" Morgan family principals had already been executed, with remaining members receiving sentences ranging from twenty years to one year.
Their hereditary assets were confiscated as well.
Maxwell Lord's Checkmate organization brought enormous pressure on the White House.
Moira insisted this human cancer be abolished. This organization, nominally under UN auspices and composed of elite agents from various nations, resisted fiercely.
Remove Maxwell? Fine. Apologize? Okay. Abolishment? Absolutely not!
During the verbal warfare, they discovered Maxwell had previously murdered a businessman named Ted Kord, but Checkmate had secretly covered it up.
Maxwell's personal accounts held nearly eight hundred million dollars—hardly a typical agent's fortune. When the White House pursued further investigation, all leads went cold. Investigators could only file a report of "massive funds from unknown sources."
"Ugh, these people just finished the war and already have new schemes!" Moira complained to her daughter, who was lounging lazily on the White House couch.
Thea's divine power and mental energy were severely depleted, manifesting externally as drowsiness and distraction.
She knew exactly who Mom meant by "these people." A few agents didn't have the guts to challenge the White House—clearly someone was backing them.
Unsatisfied with their current benefits, they wanted more. They were testing the mother-daughter duo's limits.
Limited by her hero identity, Thea couldn't intervene directly. She understood Mom wasn't targeting Checkmate itself, but those behind it.
"Too complicated. Handle it slowly. If it's troublesome, let them jump around for a few days." Thea swayed groggily as she freshened up to attend the hero assembly.
Yawning constantly, she arrived at the Hall of Justice. The moment she pushed open the doors, Batman and Superman's argument reached her ears.
"I don't understand why you won't destroy such dangerous robots."
"Superman, I've told you multiple times—Amazo has preservation value. He represents the pinnacle of human ingenuity and shouldn't be casually destroyed."
"You're playing with fire..." Superman frowned at his old friend. He knew exactly what the man was thinking—the same old routine of keeping contingencies to restrain superheroes.
Thea glanced at the two arguing men with amusement, lazily settling beside Diana to watch the show.
"J'onn declined. Did you know?" Diana whispered.
Thea nodded. Today's meeting was to propose establishing the Justice League, but when they approached the Martian Manhunter, he refused. His reason: he wasn't a superhero, just a Martian sheltering on Earth.
They'd talked at length. J'onn felt his pyrophobia hadn't healed—he'd have to skip many fire-intensive situations. Rather than occupy a position without contributing, better not to join at all. Thea could only express understanding.
"Uncle J'onn is a good man. It's a shame..."
Time passed quickly as the remaining members arrived.
In this timeline, Victor Stone was still happily playing football as a wide receiver. As one of Red Room's shareholders, Thea had even met this star athlete there.
In Thea's eyes, he was quite handsome. Victor loved sports, loved running on the field, and desperately sought his father Silas Stone's attention—but the doctor never noticed.
Their father-son issues had to be resolved themselves. Thea wouldn't be cruel enough to cyborg him. No Cyborg would appear in this timeline.
With J'onn out, they proposed bringing in Green Lantern Hal Jordan instead. With Hal Jordan joining Thea, Diana, Superman, Batman, Flash, and Aquaman, they had exactly seven.
Superheroes? Superheroes had to play politics too. Though Hal Jordan made clear he couldn't stay on Earth long, they pulled him in anyway.
As a space cop, future Green Lanterns would always hold a Justice League seat regardless of who wore the ring. Aquaman, who could communicate with Atlantis but didn't interact much with them, was equally indispensable.
To balance gods, aliens, and humans, Batman forcibly dragged Flash to the meeting.
Overall: two goddesses, one Kryptonian, one half-Atlantean, and three pure Earthlings regardless of their jobs or abilities.
Three-and-a-half versus three-and-a-half—perfectly balanced by bloodline.
Everyone fell silent as Superman gestured for Thea to speak. As the battle's main force, the nominal title of first proposer belonged to her.
"Uh, first let's welcome Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814, to his first meeting." Thea opened with introductions. Flash wanted to applaud, but seeing everyone's solemn expressions, he lowered his hands again.
"This battle, despite heavy casualties, defeated an evil invasion. This isn't the first time, and I don't think it'll be the last. Everyone here is elite among elites. Regardless of origin, we need to unite. Unity will be our theme for a long time. We're gathered here today to make Earth better, to protect what we hold dear in our hearts."
"Though we have ideological conflicts—like whether to inspire hope or fear in humanity." Thea glanced between Superman and Batman.
"Or conflicts between Lantern rings." Hal Jordan still resented the Yellow Lanterns.
"And rising tensions between us and Atlantis." She looked at Aquaman. It took two hands to clap—surface politicians were terrible, but the undersea ones weren't much better.
"Despite these many problems, I believe one thing: the future will always get better. Future battles shouldn't be fought alone—we need our collective strength and wisdom."
"My proposal is: to solve all major troubles ahead, to resolve our conflicts, to bridge the gap between humans and aliens, seeking common ground while accepting differences—we should establish an alliance. A united Justice League!"