Amanda Waller walked through her office door, the low level classified file in her hands. The red paper that was unable to be scanned and copied and fluoresced under most flashes always strained her eyes, and while she would never show such weakness amid her peers, here in her own office, she allowed herself the comfort of rubbing her tired eyes. She turned and sat, shifting the file to place it in the organized single stack when he caught her eyes.

She didn't jump, which Bruce found most useful information. She looked up, her eyes widening enough to take in extra information, but not so much to denote an overreaction due to fear. She measured him, gauged him, calculated a response and acted. Bruce readjusted his tactic.

"I figured that it was time that we spoke," he said, his tone offering nothing.

"Very well," said Waller, her tone no different.

"The world is changing," said Bruce. "Power is starting to achieve some exponential growth. It is easier to get things done, be it good or ill. When a more efficient method comes along, the old system tense to disappear. I can understand why that might make the government uneasy."

"This isn't about fear," said Waller.

Bruce paused, "You aren't going to bait me into a tirade to prove how right I am. This is about facts, no opinions."

Waller readjusted her tactics.

"We aren't in the business of maintaining the status quo," said Waller. "If the government needs to change to stay relevant, it will. Our job is to make sure it whatever it changes into something still has the interests of the people in mind."

"An argument can be made that the government doesn't have the interests of the people in mind now," said Bruce.

Waller's eyes narrowed, "I thought we were speaking of opinions."

"You cannot deny," Bruce said forcefully, "the benefit of Superman. He has acted in the interest of the people, and he has prevented genocide where you could not. That is not opinion."

Waller blinked at him.

"What is it exactly that you want?" she asked, her tone cool.

"I want you out of the way of progress," said Bruce, his tone just as cold. "The government may change as best it can to keep with the times, but we will change too, and among us are those who have the power and the morality to do what is right."

"If not the legality?" asked Waller with a touch of cynicism.

Bruce's smile was grim and humorless, "This country was born of the shoulders of men and women who did what was in the best interest of its people, despite the governing power of the day. We reserve the right to do the same."

"And what if we say no?" asked Waller, more hard than harsh.

"Whether you are willing to admit it or not," said Bruce calmly, "you need us. The world is becoming a better place by way of lower infant mortality, less accidental deaths, less poor and starving people, but it is not becoming a safer place. We lost one an experimental aircraft last week, the plane and it's pilot Steve Trevor disappearing without a trace. It is the first time we have lost an Air Force pilot in almost forty years. LexCorp is just the first of many companies doing experiments with metahumans. There have been at least two crashes of alien crafts here in the last thirty years. More powerful robots are appearing. The work of Professor Ivo and Tomas Morrow come to mind. There have been more cases of nonhuman technology discovered in the last year than every year before it combined. It is only a matter of time before you will be unable to police the general public. We will have to police ourselves. You have tried to prevent us from doing so, and look what happened. I want you to never do it again."

"Again," said Waller, "what if we say no?"

Bruce stared for a long moment, "You know what. We are powerful enough to defend ourselves, and that will get messy, for both of us. And while we are so focused on each other, neither will be able to do our jobs and the people will suffer."

"We don't need to work separately," said Waller, her tone warm but not overly so. "Come work for us. Imagine what you could do with the funds and the resources of the U.S. Government behind you. Think of the good you could do."

"I don't play well with others," said Bruce. "Besides, you and I have very different ideas of what good means."

"We understand that you might appear..." Waller began, "necessary, from a certain point of view. But we are not helpless and without our own resources. We will never stop trying to make you unnecessary."

Bruce nodded, "The day you succeed, I will hang up my cape."

He turned and looked out the side window. Waller looked too, to see a VTOL jet of some kind lift off the neighboring rooftop, turning to face the building. It looked sleek and dangerous and as she reached for the phone to call it in, she realized that she was now alone in her office. Dialing, she said into the receiver, "Let him go. Don't try to track it."

The jet flew over the roof of the building, no doubt picking up its pilot. As its roar rumbled into the distance, Waller reached down and picked up a tablet from her desk. She scanned her eye with it and opened it. She scanned through a few pictures; a blonde girl in a tank, a one-eyed man in orange and black wielding duel katana, a jewelry store thief stepping out of a mirror, a solider leading a black ops squadron, a women in leather cracking a whip to destroy the camera recording her, a monstrous white-skinned alien, and sorceresses in purple hair and green robes standing before a tiger half in SWAT gear, and finally, a top-secret Air Force file labeled Project Atom.

"We'll see."