A reminder ping goes off.

There's some meeting at the Justice League headquarters in DC, and she's been invited along with all the other various teenage superheroes and heroes-in-training associated with the League. She hasn't met any of the sidekicks before, or any League members other than the two active Green Lanterns and Superman, so this will be a first. 

Well, she wouldn't want to disappoint the Justice League.  She extracts herself from the entire pediatric ward after a last few hugs, promises that she'll send them something to remember her by, and flitters HQ-wards.

When Diana lands outside the Hall of Justice, she's greeted by both of Earth's resident Green Lanterns, known to her as John and Hal. They've been acting as her primary mentors for the last few months, and are a pair of familiar faces. 

Robin, recognisable from photos in his brightly-coloured costume, is bouncing up and down next to Batman. He looks about thirteen.

When he sees Diana, he grins and waves at her. 

The boy standing quietly next to Aquaman is unfamiliar, although she vaguely remembers hearing that Aquaman had a sidekick. He looks older than Robin, maybe sixteen or seventeen, and if she's paying attention to her empathy then he's simmering with anxiety about making a good impression. 

He offers a nod that has echoes of a formal bow. 

"Good morning, everyone."

She lands gently on the pavement, and looks to want to head inside.  "What's on the agenda?  Is there something drastic happening that the League can get out in front of, for once?  I can't imagine there's much other reason to summon everyone here all at once...It's too vulnerable."

(But then, she didn't find anything that would explode or otherwise do something weird on her reflexive 'worried about bystanders' scans, so maybe Batman did whatever he does, however the absolute heck he does it, to make sure the meeting's secure.  There are not enough hours in the day, but he sure uses them effectively.)

She gives Robin a small wave, from the wrist, and a small but genuine smile; the boy who did the formal nod gets a look-over and a firm nod in return, and a thumbs-up for further reassurance.

...Hmm, perhaps...

Yes, it would be worth it.

A flick of her unoccupied hand sends Aqualad a note in indigo wireframe: "You're doing good - just remember to breathe.  We're all a little bit nervous, but it's going to be okay."

"—ah, no, there's no emergency, don't worry," Aquaman says. 

"We just..." He glances at Batman, who remains impassive. "...thought it would be nice for all you young heroes to meet each other? So we thought we'd make something of an event of granting you all access to the private areas of the Hall of Justice—the parts that are normally just for League members." 

...now she's looking at Batman, as if to say 'really?  You came up with that excuse for whatever your plan is?'

"There had best be cake, then," she intones with mock-seriousness that's almost indistinguishable from the real thing.  "For such an important event, the Junior League Union demands proper catering."

...Aquaman looks like he's not quite sure how to respond to that. 

"Oh, I think we can manage cake!" a cheerful voice declares.

Green Arrow, dressed, as usual, like he's cosplaying Robin Hood, enters the scene...

...followed by his sidekick, Speedy, who's also cosplaying Robin Hood but in red and yellow this time. He looks a little older than Aqualad, maybe around eighteen. 

Like Aqualad, he's a little tense, still on an adrenaline comedown from whatever fight they were just in that held them up. 

Right on their heels, a pair of red-and-yellow blurs screech to a halt. 

"Oh, man, I knew we'd be the last ones here!" 

Kid Flash's costume is mostly yellow with red highlights, the opposite of his mentor's. His mind is buzzing with too many half-formed thoughts and emotions for Diana to keep track of. 

"I believe this is the part where you laugh at my joke, because I'm trying to lighten the mood a bit," she stage-whispers to Aquaman, cracking an encouraging grin, though it doesn't really look at home on her face.

She follows up Kid Flash's comment with a solemn "The irony is quite profound.  At least you are here, on time and seemingly in good health.  Speaking of, would anyone like me to check them over for injuries, before we continue?"

There is a general consensus that, no, everyone is fine, with varying levels of surprise that she offered in the first place. (Batman isn't surprised, but then, he's Batman. Neither are the Green Lanterns, who've worked with her before.) 

"Good. Follow me." Batman turns and sweeps towards the imposing main doors of the Hall of Justice, the others falling into step behind him. 

Her staff taks against the floor as she falls into step behind him, though she keeps the others in view.

"Would anyone like to do introductions?

"In case you haven't heard of me, I am Indigo Lantern Ila Alexandra; yes, there are multiple colors of Lantern, no, most of them are rather bad for the average user's health which is why there aren't more here.  Blues are, apparently, Ring-level enjoined from combat without a Green, which wouldn't be safe here - but they're healers par excellence if you ever work with one.  Apparently the first one healed an entire sun.  Other Indigo ring-slingers, the Indigo Tribe...have a history they're making up for, but are in a sense reliable.  Unfortunately, that's because their recruiting population is basically nega-Leaguers the Tribespeople brainwash.  Beware a Violet Star Sapphire with a fixation you're visibly obstructing, because...well, the Green Lanterns can tell you more - and run like hell from Reds, who're unparalelled in destruction and grudge-holding, and Oranges, especially the fleshy one; even ring-construct Orange Lanterns are greedy little shits with Light-powered take-whatever-they-want-including-people abilities.  Yellows are...more complicated.  One of these days I hope to meet their founder and bop him over the head with the compassion stick, because the Rings themselves are fine, but his selection criteria...Nonetheless, until then, if you face a Yellow Lantern, be careful, but assured in yourselves.  You are heroes.  You face your fears and win, every day, to do this job.  Hostile Yellows aren't prepared for that; you can outplay them, especially because when they fight Greens they're cheating, and that builds bad habits."

"...This concludes the surprise Lantern Safety Briefing.  Whoops?"

"...yeah, I'm gonna be honest, I caught, like, a tenth of that." 

"Red and Orange Lanterns are bad news and you should run away, Yellows are hostile but manageable, Blue are helpful, be careful with Indigo and Violet," Robin summarises.

"I knew some of that already—but not the brainwashing, sheesh." 

"Yeah!  It's really fucked up!  I can get using it as a consensual therapeutic tool, but - well, there's a reason I'm wearing this Ring, instead of someone else, and it's not because I secretly blew up a planet or something!"

"...I don't really know who has it worse between Indigo-Tribers and Reds, though.  Rage plasma for blood...very bad for you."

"Anyway, uh, would y'all like to talk about your stuff a bit?  Since my original intent was to get everyone to know eachother better..."

"I'd love to talk about myself!" Kid Flash says. "So it all—whoa!" 

As they walk through the doors and into the lobby, he's distracted from whatever he was about to say by the GIGANTIC bronze statues of the 7 original Justice League members: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. 

"Holy shhhhoot." 

"...That's surprisingly grandiose," she says, assessing the statues with a gaze that almost looks straight through them.  "Perhaps almost too grandiose, if I might say so.  Certainly the opposite of the image Superman tries to project."

Robin grins and nudges the others.

"Yeah, do you think they're...y'know, compensating for something?" he whispers at a pitch designed not to carry to the heroes in question.

Aqualad looks disapproving at these comments. He glares at Robin and sidles away from him a little, as if to say, I am not associated with this disrespectful behaviour.

Diana allows herself a small snrk, hidden behind her mask, at Robin's joke, but shakes her head more visibly.  "No, they're clearly just actual-size representations," she murmurs back.  "It takes big orbs to dress up in spandex-alikes and punch supervillains, after all."

Batman clears his throat. 

"If you're quite finished whispering and giggling..." 

It seems it's time for a tour of the building! They all follow Batman through the "Museum of Justice" (AKA the trophy hall), the state-of-the-art gym, the well-stocked kitchen and dining area, and finally end up in the library. 

"...so, not that I'm complaining, but I'm curious why you have so many hardback books in here.  It's very...I would expect there to be a hardcopy archive somewhere, and probably several distributed caches of records - of various important things, and in various formats, come to think of it - hidden somewhere, but these seem very...prominent.  ...And who put all this empty space here?"

"Well, it would hardly look like a library without books, would it?" Green Arrow says with a grin. 

(If Diana extends her empathy, that grin has the feel of...some inside joke, perhaps?) 

"Well, I for one think this place is great. This couch? Heaven, baby."

Kid Flash is somehow* already sprawled comfortably on one of the couches with his feet propped up on a table, looking like he's been there for hours and could stay there for a few more. 

(*Superspeed. It's superspeed.) 

"Don't mind if I do." 

Robin joins him, flopping onto a plush armchair and sinking in with a sigh of happiness. 

"..."

Diana does him the credit of taking that comment seriously, and finally consciously processes the empathic impressions of tourists milling about in the observation deck.

"I think I see what you mean.  Though I hope that we're getting a bit more respect than you give the looky-loos up there."

She does, however, sit down, staff laid across her lap, despite the fundamental tension she's experiencing at being thrown out as tourist bait in her first group interaction.  That's...not remotely compassionate of the Leaguers.  (She's not aware of the way her Lantern flares at the thought, but it does.)  "Kid Flash is right about the furniture, though.  Where'd y'all get it from, anyone remember?  Might want to get some, when I have a permanent residence."

"...quick debrief to discuss the coincidence of four ice villains attacking on the same day," Batman is saying to some of the other Leaguers. They start moving towards a doorway marked JUSTICE LEAGUE MEMBERS ONLY. 

"We won't be long," Flash says cheerfully to the group of 'sidekicks'. "Just, uh, make yourselves at home, I guess?" 

"Interior design tips might have to wait for later," John says quietly to Diana, giving her a quick smile before following the others towards the door. 

Annnnd hold on a second.  No leaving just yet.  The other sidekicks are part of this; they shouldn't be shut out of the discussion after the action's done - they were trusted enough to fight, and not trusting them to report afterwards seems rather foolish.

"Excuse me, Batman, but if you are going to have a debriefing, wouldn't you need all the parties who were involved in the incident?  Or rather, incidents.  I can understand not including those not yet of the League who weren't attacked, I suppose, but leaving people who were there, out of the debrief itself seems like you might miss something.  Or has 'debrief' evolved to mean 'strategy meeting' in League parlance?"

"Their participation is unnecessary." 

"Ah, what Batman means to say is...the idea of this little get-together was for you kids to spend time with each other!" Aquaman puts in. "To, you know, hang out, make friends..." 

He gives a pointed glance to his own sidekick; Diana's empathy picks up on a definite sense that he thinks Aqualad could really do with some more friends his own age. 

...Diana stands up, staff flaring.

"...What, and pardon my language, the fuck, Batman?  Don't fucking lie to me.  To us.  You are burning the respect you've earned over these grueling years of service you've done for what?

"If there is a conspiracy targeting the League, and that's really the only thing that would merit everyone's attention - the people who could get hurt by it should know about it.  Not all the details, no, operational security concerns are real, but - enough to protect ourselves, because - either as targets ourselves of whatever hostile force, or as potential hostages held against a senior member's compliance, we're at risk!

"So there is either something so concerning in the information you have that you are too distracted by it to build a good cover for whatever meeting you want to hold, you have some fundamental lack of consideration of us junior Leaguers as people who can have opinions or make choices, or you think we're already involved somehow with whatever this is - and I'm not sure I want to know which!  Are you going to tell me, tell us literally anything or will I have to protect my home and family on my own recognizance against an entirely unknown threat!"

"We will tell you more when we know more. But not here, and not now." 

"That's it? You expect us to just accept that?" Speedy butts in. 

"We're not just gonna sit quietly and wait for you to decide we're worthy of being told what's going on!" 

Diana paces the floor, staff tik-ing as she walks and thinks.

"They do, and - honestly, I can see the reasons they'd take that position, that we don't yet need to know because nobody knows, but I think they're being stupid about how they did it in a way that still leaves me rather concerned.  But.  Aquaman was being sincere about this being a get-together for us.  And when you look at the nebulous conspiracy of villains as a distraction from - forging a collection of sidekicks into the next generation of the Justice League...

"It makes more sense to let the meet-and-greet run, than let it get broken up before it starts.

"Not that I think that it was necessarily a good idea to continue keeping the veneer up after everything that happened, but...I can't say there's no point, just that it got buried under - well, this, the concerns about us not being trusted, and that was absolutely exacerbated by Batman's control issues.  No offense, sir, but - you do have them, with the way you treat Gotham especially, and your...the way that after a zillion ways of making things happen fall into the League's laps, you're still only human.  You don't trust anyone or anything, and that's a good trait for covert operations, but a bad trait for leaders, who need to be able to delegate their plans and rely on people and organizations, rather than micromanage everything everywhere, keeping it all siloed off.  You're leading this organization, sir.  We all know that.  It's not the role where you have comparative advantage, though, so - I really need to ask, why are you doing it?"