Young Justice: Brightest Day [Solstice Book Two]

Five

Sorry to those of you who got the "update" notif the other day...I was on a long car ride and I was tired and that was an accident, but it actually gave me some inspiration 😊

I fit in with the League better than I ever did with the team. Powers-wise, that is. Except for Kaldur, Raquel, and Zatanna, I felt like a baby compared to everyone else.

With the team, it was more casual, everyone was so relaxed around everyone else, it was so easy to trust them and really bond as a team. However, my powers clashed horribly with the team's covert mission. So when the opportunity to join the League came, I took it, despite the League's all-business attitude. I could still be a hero, but I didn't have to worry about hiding myself and my actions. A much more effective way to protect those all over the subcontinent of India.

Today, however, I had monitor duty. Before I could look after my people, I had to coordinate the League and the various people we fought.

"What is the situation?" Aquaman asked as he attempted to straighten out his uniform. I flashed him a smile and grabbed the straps of his water pack, helping him straighten them out.

"Flash, Shazam, Rocket, and Canary are corralling Queen Bee's taskforce at the museum in DC, Steel is investigating the recent robbery at STAR Taos, and Klarion's attempting to open a portal to the underworld beneath Phoenix, Arizona. Zatanna will meet you there, but it's up in the air whether Fate will show up or not. Don't worry, I've got things up here." I adjusted his green armored jacket so that it showed off his tattoos better when they glowed.

"You're amazing," Kaldur breathed. He placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me closer for a split second so that he could kiss my forehead. "Sure you don't want to come with me? You have proven you are very effective against Klarion yourself."

I shook my head and tapped the tip of his nose. "We all have our responsibilities, Kaldur. This one's mine, and yours is to get out there and show everyone how awesome the League's new leader is.

"Stay safe!" I called as he sprinted again for the zeta-tubes, "And don't forget to stay hydrated!"

As the tubes powered up, I thought I heard him shout something like "I love you!" but it must have been my imagination. Ignoring the heat in my cheeks, I turned back to the computer to see what Shazam needed.

No sooner had the glow of the zeta-beams worn off from Kaldur's disappearance then they started up again. Batman glanced critically around the operations room, his eyes finally landing on me after scanning the rest of the room.

I straightened up behind the holo screen trying to look more professional for one of the League's founding members.

"Watchtower to Shazam. I read you Billy."

"Solstice, we managed to take out Devestation and the Terror Twins, but Icicle Junior escaped. Psimon never showed up."

"Have Flash track Junior. Canary, Green Arrow needs your for a new lead in Star City. Rocket, Shazam, both of you escort the rest of the Onslaught straight to Belle Reve."

"Does it have to be straight?" Rocket asked with a lilt in her voice.

"This is not the time for jokes, Rocket." Batman's gruff voice was suddenly coming from over my shoulder, but to my credit I didn't jump. Though that was probably because of the hand that gripped my shoulder rather than me being brave.

"This doesn't make sense," Canary cut in, ignoring Batman and Raquel. The faint revving of a motorcycle overshadowed her comm line.

"Queen Bee usually keeps Onslaught doing security jobs in Bialya. Why would she send them to trash a museum in DC?"

"A threat to the American UN? A demonstration? A distraction?" Billy began to rapidly list off any idea of what they could be doing.

"I'll see if we can get Miss Martian to get anything out of them. Watchtower out."

I pretended I didn't sense that Batman was watching my every move over my shoulder, and that clearly he had something on his mind he wanted to talk about. He had a mouth. He could use it.

"Is Aquaman around?" He asked at last. His voice was a low growl, but it rang through the glass dome.

"Came and went just a minute ago," I said, emailing the proper files to be filled out to Raquel, and requesting a brief update on the meta human trafficking in Star and Central from Green Arrow and The Flash, respectively.

His eyes bored into my back, expecting a more detailed reply. I ignored him some more in favor of a text update from Kaldur, saying that he'd arrived in Phoenix and been adequately updated on the situation by Zee.

"You and Kaldur are very close, are you not?"

I shrugged, "We've been dating for the past two years, Batman, this isn't exactly news."

"Perhaps, but the fact that you're planning to get engaged might be."

I turned and glared at him. "You're too nosy for your own good, you know that right?"

"Or perhaps you are too trusting, Solstice." He turned it back on me. "Are you certain that getting married is the right thing to be doing at this point in time?"

"For your information-" I snapped. My glowing arm shot out, dismissing the ops screens.

"-Kaldur and I have been discussing this long before the idea of him becoming Aquaman was realized." That wasn't a lie, right? His outburst at Mohenjo Daro that fateful day definitely counted as "discussing" in my book, and it would in my parents' book too, if Kaldur was a rich, pious Hindu boy.

"We recognized that he might become League Chairman- which I suspect you had a hand in ensuring- we realize how turbulent the world is, but when is it not? The first thing I learned on this team was that there's always someone to help, always a world to save, but we have to keep going no matter how many losses we take, no matter how bad it gets.

"I am keenly aware of the memorial garden, with Tula and Kid Flash and that other Robin. You might not, but I personally would rather we get together for a wedding than another bloody funeral!"

He was silent for a moment, then turned with a flourish of his long, ragged black cape.

"The next time you see Kaldur, tell him I wish to speak with him."

He disappeared in a flash of cold, golden light.

I huffed with a shiver. "Yeah, right."

All the same, I pulled the screens back up to a message from Kaldur, saying that though Klarion had escaped, the city of Phoenix was safe.

I stared at his concise, brief message for a long time, pondering whether to tell him or not. I finally told him to finish clean up with Zatanna and come home. If I changed my mind, I could give him Batman's message later. And if it mattered to the Dark Knight that much, he could put in the effort to find Kaldur himself.

I closed out the chat between myself and Kaldur, unaware of the additional dialogue box that popped up of its own accord with the innocent message; "Batman wants to see you."