Call to Order (JL)

Participants: Diana Prince, Ryan Choi Koriand'r Clark Kent Bruce Wayne + any other JLer
Open/Closed: Open to official League members
Location(s): Justice League Watchtower
Time of Day: N/A
Weather: N/A
Summary: Wonder Woman calls the first official gathering of the new incarnation of the League together.

"This is lovely, Ferdinand. You've really outdone yourself." The Kythotaur was one of Diana's dearest friends. He'd served as the in-house chef when she'd lived in the Themysciran Embassy in New York City several years previously. His skills and character were infallible and Diana hadn't hesitated even a moment enlisting him to handle the Watchtower's dining and menus when she'd taken hold of the Justice League's helm. The bull-headed culinary expert expressed his thanks and headed back to his kitchens.

Diana hadn't been exaggerating, either. The spread of food on the table to one side of the war room was overflowing with finger foods and morsels, many typical of Themyscira and so near and dear to her own heart. How easily it'd been to hire Ferdinand was just one of countless instances that reaffirmed to Diana that she was meant to be managing the League just now. That this is what she was supposed to do with her life, at least at that point in time.

Filling the ranks of the League had been even easier. Several members, yes, Diana had sought out individually, but just as many fell into her lap or petitioned her for a place in JL. And every single one, Diana felt sure was a valuable and ordained component of the group. That day was the first gathering of this new incarnation, and the Amazon foresaw it going beautifully. In fact, far from being nervous or anxious about the inaugural meeting that was about to unfold, Diana was calm, content and expectant.

An alert that the teleportation bay of the Watchtower was priming for multiple arrivals flashed on the nearest hi-tech screen worked into the wall. Diana smiled to herself, moving her attention from the banquet table to the starry expanse of space pictured outside of the windows that lined one wall of the room.

(OOC: Ferdinand is a minotaur, if that wasn't clear lol. Posting order will be determined, as per usual, in the first round of the thread.)

Ryan Choi, also known as Dr Choi, The Atom, Director of the Metropolis Science Police, had taken the weekend off from work at the MSP. He had been called to the Justice League Watchtower by Wonder Woman of all people! Sure he had worked with her before, when Diana thought it was smart to use him as bait to capture Giganta to toss her in prison, and though that experience had its ups and downs, Ryan had enjoyed getting to work with the Amazonian. Well, other than accidentally touching her lasso and telling her about some of his dreams. Thank the Microverse she hadn't just crushed him then and there. She seemed very understanding. Ryan hazarded a guess that she probably had to deal with a lot of people drooling over her and she just came to accept it. It didn't make Ryan feel any less embarrassed however.

Ryan had been lucky to have found time between the Justice League and the Metropolis Science Police. Even with monitor duty at the Watchtower, Ryan was able to find time to split his focus and continue working with his other job while in the space-station. Some of his workers had asked for video calls or pictures, or even to be taken up to see the Watchtower. Ryan wasn't sure if any of that was allowed, and more-so highly doubted that it was. Instead, whenever he was known to be coming up to the Watchtower, his secretary Mr Samir Saeed always let it slip to his wife, who in turn always insisted Ryan bring up some freshly baked snacks to share with the other Leaguers. And this time had not been any different. This time Mrs Saeed had baked some delicious brownies for Ryan to bring up with him. Included with the snacks was a nicely written letter apologizing to anyone with any allergies and a kind request to know about any allergies so she didn't bake the wrong thing. While Ryan wasn't sure if he was supposed to bring a treat or not, he wouldn't break Mrs Saeed's heart by not doing so.

As the Teleporter activated, Ryan appeared on the other side within the Watchtower. Decked out in a simple business casual suit jacket, Ryan had admittedly not known what he was supposed to wear to one of these functions. Luckily for him at least, his suit could easily be activated with a simple tap of his belt. Spotting Diana, Ryan gave a quick glance at his watch. Was he early? Where was everyone? Why was he always early to things?.

"I'm probably super early...Uh, hi Di-Wonder Woman. Um, one of my workers, his wife baked some brownies and told me I had to bring the to share with you all when she found out about our get-together" As Ryan spoke, in his hands expanded a container with a collection of brownies. "I hope you don't mind"

The clearing of a throat is what brought Bruce out of his total fixation on the screen of the batcomputer. His eyes didn’t stray, nor his fingers hesitate as they continued to type away, but he did give a small grunt of acknowledgment.

“Master Bruce, I believe it is time you depart for your meeting.”

Another grunt, but his eyes did stray toward the clock in the corner of the screen. “There’s time.” Not much, he was pushing it, but he needed to get this report finished while it was fresh in his mind. Besides, it’d been a busy night for Gotham’s criminals—the first clear night after a week of rain—so he could hardly be blamed for being a minute or two tardy.

“Ah, there is a phrase that brings me back to someone’s teenage years. Need I coax you out with a promise of chocolate chip pancakes now as well?”

Bruce paused, turned to narrow his eyes at Alfred. The butler stared back, unscrupulous as ever. Those who thought Bruce was the perfect example of an unflinching wall had never met Alfred Pennyworth. They exchanged stares for a moment, before Bruce finally relented. “Hm, fine.” He might as well have huffed and pouted, if the small raise in one of Alfred’s eyebrows was anything to go by. He slipped his cowl over his head and stood.

He arrived at the Watchtower precisely on time. A fact he was not going to share with Alfred, in order to prevent the look of smugness the older man would surely give him. He stepped silently up behind the Atom, wondering briefly if he was supposed to dress casually and, if that was in fact the case, anyone had actually expected him to adhere to that. He eyed the tray of brownies Atom carried, before looking to the large banquet table. Ah, he supposed it was a good thing Alfred had advised against eating beforehand.

"CCPD, freeze!!"

"C'mon, Francis!"

"Hit it, Frank!" 'Francis' shouted, jumping into the passenger seat of the truck and slamming the door shut behind him. His partner, conveniently named 'Frank', slammed the accelerator and the gunfire was soon drowned out by the deafening screech of the minivan's tires as it haphazardly pummeled its way onto the road.

"Ha! We did it!" Francis yelled, as he righted himself up onto the passenger seat. Replacing his firearm with a rifle, which he began to reload, he glanced at the CCPD vehicles in hot pursuit. 

"We still got the cops on our tail," Frank pointed out, and Francis grunted out a 'hn', his weapon reloaded.

"Not for long," he muttered as he slid the glass window down and pushed himself out halfway in order to fire at the pursuing Central City's finest.

/BANG!/

He saw the bullet leave the muzzle, surrounded by a yellow burst, and he saw it sailed through the air at ever slowing speeds. What, to the world, was too fast to see, to the Flash, appeared to be a small cylindrical flying mass of doom tearing through the air with the speed of a turtle. A red gloved hand, surrounding by the white lightning that enveloped his entire being as he ran, simply plucked the little bugger of doom out of the air.

Laughing and shaking his head at the redundancy of it all, Flash slowed down - or, as it would seem to him, allowed the world around himself to speed up. In moments he was running at the same speed as that of the truck, staring at the face of a rather flabbergasted Francis.

"Hey, guys! Quick question: why even try?"

Within a grand total of three seconds and what appeared to be two rounds of a red blur surrounded by white and gold lightning later, the minivan was safely parked to one side as the speeding CCPD vehicles pulled over beside it, the weapons had been disassembled and placed at the roof of the minivan, and Francis and Frank were both cuffed to the van's front doors for the CCPD to find.

Flash appeared in a blur in front of the officers as they were coming out of their cars, gave them a two-fingered salute, and disappeared in a red-and-white blur again.

"So where were we?" Barry Allen, in full civilian attire, at home, a full two seconds later, asked as he stared at the astonishingly beautiful yet uncharacteristically peeved face of the love of his life, Iris West-Allen.

"You were supposed to be at some fancy meeting with... Wonder Woman, I think?" Iris drawled out, seemingly more focused on her nails. There was an edge to her voice that Barry didn't miss. Of course, Iris knew - and Barry knew that Iris knew - that Barry was as loyal to her as a canine. That still didn't mean she had to like the fact that her husband was supposed to meet up with the Amazon. Even if it was for the new Justice League, a story the reporter-half of Iris was already anxious to get to write. And honestly, why couldn't Barry ever remember where he was supposed to be? She loved her husband, and used to his consistent tardiness by now, but it was still annoying.

All thoughts of a jealous Iris were pushed out of Barry's mind however as he remembered why she was jealous in the first place.

"Oh, my--! SorryHoneyGottaGoSeeYouLaterIWon'tBeLong!" Barry smacked his forehead, speeding into a blur again as he quickly put his costume ring back on, pressed it, speed-donned his costume again, sped all over the house to find the JL teleporter, and then promptly disappeared.

Iris sighed.

Nanoseconds after Batman came to stop behind the Atom, the teleporter activated yet again and a red blur emanating the occasional golden lightning bolt whooshed into the Watchtower, encircled Batman, the Atom and Wonder Woman twice sending their hair and/or capes billowing into the wind, before stopping just behind the Princess of Themyscira. "Sorry! IKnowI'mLate it was a stolen miniva--" Flash paused mid-speech, bobbed his head back to stare at the exquisitely delicious looking food arranged on the table behind him, and went silent, feeling his stomach rudely wakening.

"... Oh, wow. No one mentioned the food. Oh, hi Batman. Di'ya know there was going to be food? Well..." Head rapidly bobbing back and forth between the Leaguers and the food, Barry could feel his mouth beginning to water. It felt like it was taking half the Speed Force to hold Barry in place so he didn't just eat everything up before anyone else could even blink. "Not that I'm complaining..."

Clark Kent sat at a small table in a small kitchen cupping the porcelain of a small mug between his larger hands. He nodded his head empathically as he listened to the tale he was being regaled with from the woman across from him. Ma Kent spoke enthusiastically, loving every moment she was getting to spend with her son as she opined that such times were becoming more and more infrequent. In all honesty Clark would have to agree with his mother, life as Superman had always been hectic for any relationship he maintained but usually he was pretty good about getting together with his mother on the weekends to catch up and share a cup of coffee. What was making these meetings grow more and more few and far between was the fact that Superman was shifting a lot of focus into getting the Justice League revamped, and that was hardly even off of the ground as of yet. Speaking of, Clark glanced at the kitchen clock directly behind his mother, there was a meeting scheduled for the League pretty soon.

"Am I boring you, Clark Joseph Kent?"

The Daily Planet reporter's eyes snapped back to his mother's face. She wore a mock frown before shaking her head and letting the expression dissolve into one of amusement. "I swear, all the subtlety of an ox," she said.

"What? Of course not, Ma."

The older woman fanned him off, still amused as she got from her seat and collected Clark's empty mug which she carried with her own to the kitchen sink.

"It's quite alright, son, I know you have your important meeting. It should have started by now, right? Don't keep Earth's heroes waiting."

Guilt washed over Clark tenfold.

"No, really. It's fine, Ma. I barely get to see you enough as is, the League can wait." Clark had gotten up as well now. He put an arm around his mother's arms and held her with a reassuring smile. Ma Kent smiled back, sincere and understanding.

"I know you're busy, just seeing you today is enough to warm an old woman's heart. Go." Martha placed a hand on her son's chest and gave him a tender push to get going. "What's a Justice League meeting without Superman anyway?" She asked with a smile and a wink.

With Ma's encouragement Clark was off and no sooner donning a red cape and arriving at the Watchtower. A large smile graced the face of Superman upon seeing the others who had all already arrived. Superman approached with a slow stride and a nod to everyone who had gathered. He slapped a hand on the Flash's back and laughed at the man's apparent excitement.

"Take it easy, Barry, I'm sure we'll be allowed to eat soon enough." 

Superman then directed his attention to the woman who was responsible for all of this. The one who had pulled these heroes together to reform and revamp the Justice League. Superman's blue eyes traveled from Wonder Woman to the feast laid before them and then back to the Amazonian.

"It all looks amazing, Diana." Superman approached one of his oldest and dearest friends and wrapped her in his arms for a quick hug. When the embrace subsided Superman then turned his attention his other oldest and dearest friend. "Surprised you're here so early. Are we all officially ending the charade that you're a loner now?" Superman joked with Batman.

 

There were many ways in which the Watchtower reminded Koriand'r of her former home; the Titans' Tower of San Francisco. Technological marvels, tall and unmistakable, both served as constant reminders of protection and beacons of hope. For all who could see them, their silhouettes against the night skies were a sign that heroes were always close at hand, alleviating despair and allaying fear. Their obvious difference was their sheer scale: impressive as the Titans' Tower was, it was dwarfted by the magnitude of the Watchtower, a listlessly floating spire, akin to a small city, that orbited the Earth, keeping the planet under constant surveillance.

She supposed their difference in size mirrored the difference in the heroes calling them home – even if no such representation was deliberate. When she had first come to Earth, she had joined the newly formed Teen Titans: young meta-humans and vigilantes following in the footsteps of more established heroes, forging a path that took them out of their mentors' collective shadow. They lacked the experience of the League, but not their heart or values – a smaller version of the established collective.

Since then, so much had changed, and many of her cohort, the first Titans, had moved on – a youthful new generation had taken up residence in the Tower and adopted new mantles under new leadership. Her Titans had grown up, and so had she; a reality so perfectly demonstrated by her move from the Tower of San Francisco to the Watchtower. She was no longer naïve or lost or striving to fit in: on Earth, Koriand'r had found her purpose, matured and gained the experience that saw her invited to the Justice League.

That said, just as she had so many years prior when joining the Titans, she felt a small twinge of awe and excitement as the doors to the Watchtower hissed open. They allowed the Tamaranean into an airlock, which then opened to a control room filled with her new teammates. While she maintained a greater control over her exhuberance than she once had, a broad smile lit up her face and twinkled in her jade irises. Her race had never been one to hide their emotions, a trait of which she was most proud.

Casting her eyes over those assembled, she saw so many familiar figures, and a large bull-headed creature she didn't recognise at all. One might have forgiven her for feeling out of her depth, but no such worry plagued Koriand'r. Her confidence in her own abilities had been hardened over years of heroics, and had only been further strengthened by Diana of Themyscira reaching out to her, inviting her to join the newest incarnation of the League - only a fool would doubt Wonder Woman's faith, and Starfire was no fool.

Her beaming smile persisted as she moved toward the banquet table at the heart of the control room, headed toward a well-dressed man baring a plate of treats, who stood closeby the League's chair. Pausing at his side, she sighed contentedly and picked a brownie from his tray. “I very much like your jacket,” she offered, noting his difference to 'standard' dress code and appreciating his choice. Though she, like Batman, Flash and Superman, had opted for her 'work' attire, she admired Choi's stark difference, and hoped a compliment would prevent him feeling awkward or embarassed: the Atom's jacket suited him just as much as Batman suited his cowl.

She looked over her shoulder to see Ryan Choi as the first arrival. Diana's grey eyes had already been glad, but they brightened even further then. She liked Ryan a very great deal. He had a kind of humility, appreciation and gentleness to his soul that could not be taught. Many men and women Diana had seen enter this world of super-heroism and lose those qualities as their egos swelled. She knew, though, that Ryan would not be among them.

"Please. Call me "Diana,"" she smiled warmly at Ryan. Her eyes fell to the container of that appeared in his hand and that smile widened. "Those look lovely. You'll have to give her my thanks." Diana took the dish with a grateful bow of her head and moved to place it at an empty spot on the banquet table. Without looking back, she added to the grim figure that'd silently loomed up behind Ryan, "Glad you could join us, Bruce-"

The sentence was just ending when a ribbon of crimson, shot through with tines of honey-gold electricity zipped through the room. "-and Barry," she added, her hair still settling from the gust. The Flash's words crowded, one after the other, and Diana reached up to gently clasp his upper arm in greeting by the time he'd finished. In that same moment a presence impossible to miss entered the room, as overt and shining as Batman's was mute and withdrawn. Wonder Woman smiled in unabashed adoration and gratitude at Clark's approach.

"Feel free to help yourself," Diana added to Superman's comment to Flash. She just paused and leveled a knowing look at Barry, underscoring the obvious: save some for the others. Clark's arms wrapped around her and Diana returned it just as fiercely, pausing to lay her head on his shoulder and sigh. She'd not felt timid or doubtful about the new League at any turn, but having Bruce and Clark there in unconditional support meant more to her than she could ever articulate.

"I can't take the credit there," she countered the compliment with. "The praise belongs to our new chef, Ferdinand." Wonder Woman gestured at the Kythotaur who'd just reappeared to place another tray of food out. It might've been hard for most to tell, but Diana saw clearly the cook blush under the attention and praise. Starfire's prompt appearance pulled a little of the focus off of Ferdinand, enough for him to politely excuse himself. Diana gave the Tamaranean a loving smile and nod of acknowledgement.

(OOC: I figure one more round of more casual posts and I'll have Diana "call to order" with my next reply. Feel free to have your characters formally introduce themselves to Ferdinand, if you'd like. Just leave it open-ended to not contradict my having him duck back into the kitchens in my post. <3)

Ryan Choi

It seemed that Ryan hadn't been as early as he initially expected. It wasn't long after he spoke to the Amazonian warrior that others began to show up. A lot of them. Really quickly. It was as everyone arrived that Ryan began to feel small. Well, smaller than usual. But this wasn't a height thing, despite everyone here seemingly being over 6 feet tall except for him. No, instead, this was a name thing. Sure The Atom[/b] carried a fair bit of weight to it, but Ryan Choi did not. Sure he was the Atom, sure he ran the Metropolis Science Police, sure he was hand picked by Ray Palmer to succeed him both as The Atom and at his position at Ivy University, but these people were something else. Batman, Superman, The Flash, Starfire...and then him. He was way in over his head.

And that wasn't even to mention the Minotaur that happened to wander by with some food. Ryan had tilted himself to get a better look and was about to ask about what he had just seen, when voices overtook him. When people began to clutter around, Ryan quickly shrunk down and bounced off to a quieter spot, so as to not be surrounded. He never was one for crowds.

Growing back to his regular height, he placed the treats down and once more took a survey of the area. As he did, a somewhat familiar voice caught his ear. "Oh, hello Miss Starfire. Thank you" Ryan greeted, offering a small bow. He had gotten a chance to work with her previously. Her and a very angelic looking man helped him deal with a disturbance on a satellite, though that had been a far bit of time ago.

He thought on her words for a second before tapping his belt. The iconic swirl of atoms overtook Ryan briefly before his suit switched into that of The Atom costume. "I was not sure the protocol for this sort of thing. I've never really taken part in one, truthfully" he explained, before gazing up to the tall alien woman. "Have you been a part of one of the Leagues before?"

He gave a nod toward Diana in response to her greeting ad then resolutely ignored Flash as he rushed onto the scene. His only reaction was a slight raised eyebrow, but that was hidden by the cowl, so he appeared completely unaffected by the speedster’s antics. He stepped toward Diana, and then two the side somewhat as Clark arrived.

“Hm. Don’t get your hopes up” he responded drily to Superman, voice low as he knew Diana and Clark were probably the only ones who would recognize it as a jest.

Diana then introduced the chef for the evening and Bruce took a moment to look back upon his life and figure out when exactly it had reached the point of him looking upon a minotaur in a chef’s hat and being completely unaffected. He remembered when J’onn had been perhaps the most unusual person he’d come across. Now, he was in a satellite orbiting the Earth looking upon a minotaur in a chef’s hat and the most reaction he had was wondering how the hat managed to stay on his head.

Once that brief moment was finished, he took another one to survey the room. All of the faces were familiar, some more so than others. The less familiar faces were not a downside to him. He actually believed that the League could gain from the involvement of some fresh perspectives. He was a firm believer in the time when the next generation would have to step up where he and his fellow veterans would inevitably fall. This, perhaps, was a starting point to that.

Still, Bruce would not have agreed to rejoin the League had it not been for Diana and Clark’s renewed involvement as well. There weren’t so many individuals Bruce would actively choose to be by his side when facing galactic and world-ending threats, but those two were perhaps at the top of the list. Those two had earned his unquestionable respect and while he could certainly picture the Justice League without himself as it had operated before, it was difficult picturing it at its fullest capabilities without those two.

It was nostalgic of him, he knew, which was why he did not voice it.

---

Clark Kent

Clark was in absolutely great spirits and he couldn't exactly put a finger on why. Of course it was a joyous occasion, what with the League being officially re-inaugurated and all, but it was more than that. Perhaps it was just seeing old friends again. Maybe it was happiness at seeing what Diana could do when she was calling the shots. Or it could have just been that Clark really missed seeing the League being in fully function. The embrace he and Diana shared only strengthened the Kryptonian's smile that much more. He felt so rejuvenated and full of life, Superman just really felt deep in his soul the importance of what they, as a unit, did for the entirety of the world. 

"Was that a pun?" Superman shot Bruce a sly smirk - everyone knew hope was his thing. It was very on the nose, but that was definitely Bruce's brand of humor, it made outsiders question if it was intentional jest at all, but Clark knew better; he knew that Batman wasn't all doom and gloom all the time. He let the moment pass though, the others didn't seem to pay as much attention anyone way. 

Others were entering in the meantime, least of all was who Clark would call the man of the hour. The large, mammoth sized bull-headed being; a kythotaur. Clark had met Ferdinand before in the past, it was not the first time he had been invited to an Amazonian feast after all. As it was Ferdinand who had prepared all of the exquisite delicacies for them Superman made it a point to approach the mythic being and give thanks for what they were all about to partake in.

On his way across the room to Diana's invited chef Supes shot Starfire a quick nod and wave, "Welcome, Kory." He liked to see her there. Starfire was a dedicated and powerful hero, but not only that, he had always wanted to see more of the former Teen Titans transition to full time Justice Leaguers. It was sort of implied but never outright stated, but the Teen heroes - in Superman's opinion - were always meant to be groomed to replace their older counterparts. The League couldn't hold the same roster forever and there were many "younger" heroes who could be great benefits to the JLA.

Softening the smile he had aimed at Kory and Dr. Choi, Clark then turned his attention to Ferdinand.
"Kal-El!"
"Please, Clark is fine. I just wanted to thank you, formally, for this amazing looking spread. If you aren't too busy it would be a great honor if you joined us."

The kythotaur was already red in the face from Diana's praises, Clark's invite did not make it any better. Ferdinand offered up a humble appreciation to Superman's invite but ultimately scurried back into his kitchen. Superman didn't press any issues and instead moved to take a seat after having gathered a few items to adorn a plate.

"So, aside from fattening us up, what else is on the agenda, Field leader?"

Diana Prince Ryan Choi Koriand'r Bruce Wayne