Young Justice: Brightest Day [Solstice Book Two]

Seven

"United Nations Secretary-General, Lex Luthor, is using our UN charter to place more and more restrictions on the League."

"We have to assume he's working behind-the-scenes to turn other nations against us." I could feel Batman, and everyone else's, eyes on me, as if it were my fault that my county's Parliament had introduced an anti-League bill. I was doing the best I could! They were already been working on a citizenship ban for months that subtly targeted Muslims, undermining the already fragile  efforts I'd been working with to relocate those escaping the reach of Queen Bee's greater Bialya.

"He's hamstrung us!" Green Arrow had been mad the whole time, but now he slammed his fists on the table. "I mean, come on! When that tsunami hit Rhelasia we couldn't even go in on a humanitarian mission!" 

"We've become removed," Lightning said quietly, "Distant from the people the League was created to serve."

"Not by choice," Black Canary said.

"Perhaps it's time to acknowledge that the League has outlived its usefulness on Earth."

"That's overstating things, don't you think?" Wonder Woman asked nervously.

"No. I don't." Batman insisted. 

"I am offering an alternative."

"Disband the League?" My throat cracked as I spoke up for the first time in the meeting, and then the words started to spill from my mouth. "What about the team? So many of us, including me, are here because we had someone to help us, to show us how to use whatever abilities we have to help others an a much grander scale than we could ever accomplish alone."

Kaldur nodded in my direction, with a small smile of gratitude, "I think you are forgetting all the good that we do, Batman."

"Did. Past tense."

"Present tense. The League has its difficulties, I acknowledge that, but we still have a positive impact. And the League is an important symbol for peace and justice worldwide."

"Kaldur, symbols are great..." Green Arrow trailed off, and I wondered if he was rethinking his choice made last meeting to elect Kaldur the League leader.

"But all that matters is the mission." Batman finished for him.

My stomach flipped. Zatanna tensed and Rocket immediately reached out to hold her wife's hand. 

"And if the UN is a roadblock to that mission, we remove it by removing the League.

"I'm sorry," Batman said, standing up, "But I hereby tender my resignation to the Justice League."

The space of one heartbeat passed between all of us before Green Arrow stood up as well, and four of the five holograms standing opposite Kaldur flickered out one by one.

"This was a plan," Black Canary accused Green Arrow, "You, Batman, and the others. You arranged this all in advance!"

"You should come with us, Dinah," Arrow begged, "we can do a lot of good this way."

Dinah gave a bark of humorless laughter, "Well, you're off to a fine start. You knew I wouldn't be part of blindsiding Kaldur, and so you kept me out of the loop."

"I-"

"If you're leaving," Her voice was deathly quiet, "Leave."

Batman took her advice to heart, but Green Arrow almost couldn't seem to commit anymore. His eyes remained on his lover until he was almost out of the room.

"Please tell me you weren't a part of this too," Raquel whispered to Zatanna. Her thoughts seemed to be racing in the same direction as mine. 

Zatanna brought Raquel's gloved hand to her lips, fiercely pressing a kiss to her wife's fingers. "I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

As Batman and Green Arrow brushed past M'gann and out the doorway, Lightning stood up too. 

"I swear I wasn't a part of this,but I came here today to resign in person." He told Kaldur and Diana's hologram, "I owe you and the League that much."

"I understand." Kaldur said softly.

I like to think there was more respect than pity in our gazes, as we watched Jefferson walk out of the conference room with as much confidence as he could summon. 

"We will have to issue a statement." Kaldur said at last, when it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You mean disown them," Diana snapped bitterly. 

"Yes. So that the League will not be held responsible for its former member's actions."

Kaldur's eyes met mine, and I could hear their words as if he had spoken to me over the mindlink.

"It is going to be alright. We will make it through this." 

We had faced the end of the world and come out triumphant. 

But Rankor's apocalypse was a collision force upon us all at once. With the world crumbling apart piece by piece beneath our feet, would we be able to pick up all of the pieces in time?

And if we couldn't do it fast enough, would I be able to catch Kaldur if he fell?

~~~~~~~

It was a common routine in my house for me to be the only one awake, especially early in the morning. I still had a habit of turning in early while my parents stayed up late into the night with their stories and Bollywood classics. They had not summer classes to teach, turning their efforts to research, the whole reason they'd been hired to teach at Delhi University in the first place. A note waited for me on the table when I returned from the League meeting. Apparently my parents weren't sleeping in nor were they kidnapped, they had just nipped over to the lab to discuss some things with their student assistants.

I had missed the sunrise, so I busied myself about the house, dusting the shrines and the photographs (no I wasn't the least bit jealous that Kamala's portrait frame was slightly bigger than my own). School was out, and I didn't have an internship locked in yet, so I didn't want to make Mum regret not pressuring me to pursue my career any harder. They had been very accepting of the revelation that I wanted to be an archaeologist rather than a doctor, but since they were archaeologists themselves, they had a great deal of advice and tips on how to progress through the department faster. 

The whistle of the kettle for my chai caught me by surprise, I almost didn't recognize that it stopped before I could reach it. 

When I entered the kitchen, broom still clutched in my hand from cleaning the bathroom, I found a young man clothed in varying shades of blue sitting cross-legged on top of my kitchen table. He took a long, relaxed sip of tea- my tea!- from one mug, and gestured to another on the table next to him.

"Solstice, I presume?" He asked with a confident grin. His eyes showed childlike mischief that was contradicted by the dark circles under his eyes and the worry lines on his forehead.

I neither confirmed nor denied his assumption as I hopped into a defensive stance that Artemis and Cassie had drummed into my head, aiming the dusty end of the broom at his forehead.

"Allow me to introduce myself," He said in a chalant manner, setting down his mug. 

"My name is Dick Grayson, but you may know me better as Nightwing."