(A/N: I do not own Young Justice or any DC Character. That right belongs to Warner Bros).
As it turned out, it had been even worse than the time Dick and Jeff had gone over to Granny Goodness' house and that's saying something.
There he was in front of the Taj Mahal (Something on his bucket list, actually) and it was covered in solid ice in front of several Indian citizens trying to bundle up and warm themselves while the authorities accounted for everyone there. Blizzards in India weren't the only apocalyptic thing to happen in the world today. There were also volcanoes in Sydney now according to Lightning and apparently, gravity was no longer a thing that existed in Manhattan. It was quite clear at this point the entire world had dissolved into a world of chaos.
That wasn't just his opinion, either, no. It was explained all too well when he had arrived with Outsiders around an hour ago
*One hour ago*
Nightwing had arrived at the Taj Mahal in full costume along with the team of Outsiders who had just finished giving him their report some moments ago. From the moment he Zeta'd from the nearby abandoned phone booth in some alley of New Delhi along with the team of young heroes, he noticed something peculiar: It was snowing in India…now of course this wouldn't be a big thing if this was the Himalayas in January….but they were in New Delhi where snow wasn't really in the realm of possibility, especially since it was May!
"...Holy crap, how…how can it-" Cassie tried to say as she and her team Zeta'd out of the abandoned phone booth before Nightwing interrupted her.
"Lightning, it's Nightwing, I'm here. Where are you?!" Nightwing practically shouted through his comm as the winds blew down the alley, causing semi-intense chills to go through all of them.
"We're at the Taj Mahal. We need you to help us round up any locals we can find" Black Lightning explained.
"What the hell happened? Why is it snowing? It's New Delhi in the middle of May" Nightwing said, shouting over the very audible winds.
"I'll explain when you get here now come on!" Black Lightning ordered to the young man's annoyance.
After intense traveling to the Taj Mahal, the weather seemed to have calmed down thankfully. After helping to unfreeze several citizens from blocks of ice, he was now standing with Jeff, Superman and Garth who had just come in from Atlantis. The Outsiders had been sent to help out with the anti-gravity field going on in Manhattan where as it turned out even people like Wizard (Who had been recruited by a 'Stranger' as Lightning had explained) had been helping out in mitigating the crisis. That's how bad this was as villains were helping to save the world.
"So…explain to me again who this…'Stranger' was?" Nightwing asked the group with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really sure. He just appeared out of nowhere while I was in Dakota, told me there were bad things going on in the world right now and someone he called a 'Lord of Chaos' named the 'Child' had been responsible" Black Lightning explained as sirens blasted through the air and police car lights shined the whole area.
Nightwing tried to digest this but to no avail. He was somewhat familiar with the Lords of Order and Chaos through Zatanna. He knew that Klarion was a Lord of Chaos sent to Earth to wreak havoc and that Dr. Fate was a Lord of Order that acted through hosts like Kent Nelson, Wally, Kaldur, Zatanna and now Giovanni Zatara. However, he wasn't really educated enough on why exactly there was now another Chaos Lord running around.
"We're sure this isn't Klarion's doing? This seems an awful lot like something he'd do" Nightwing asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The 'Stranger' seemed sure of it. Besides, the worst Klarion's ever done is create a parallel world without adults along with a giant monster made out of Meta Teens. Chaotic and cruel, yes…but nothing of this scale. I'm sure it's not him" Superman explained.
Nightwing sighed in frustration, shaking his head. "I'm gonna need more than that. Do you know where Fate is? He'll probably be the best to explain this"
"From what the Stranger told us, he was with Zatanna and her students trying to stop whoever was causing all of this" Black Lightning explained
This didn't ease Nightwing's mood as he sighed once more. That was not what he needed to hear right now. He needed details and it seemed one of the only people he could get it from was his ex-girlfriend.
"The Stranger had the right idea. We're in a crisis situation. Again" Superman said, changing the topic. "If we make it out of this, we can't rely on another villain like Wizard to come through for us. Jeff, Dick, I think we have to start thinking about organizing a true Justice League Reserves System. Unfortunately, I have the feeling we're going to need it more and more in the days to come"
Nightwing raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a list prepared already of potential candidates?"
"I have some but not too many. I'll need to think about more. If it's possible, could the both of you come up with some potential candidates of your own? We can talk about it in the next League meeting" Superman explained.
"Will do" Black Lightning said as it had sounded like a good idea.
"I'll see what I can find" Nightwing said as well, finding it odd a League member was essentially giving the leaders of the entire League an order. However, it was Superman of all people. He was more or less the de facto leader of the League by default no matter who the official leader was.
In keeping with the topic, Nightwing turned to Garth. "Garth, I know you're not with the League, Team or Outsiders but is it possible you can prepare a list of candidates who would be interested in being in this new reserves system? Maybe La'gaan or Wyynde along with others that would be interested?"
Garth nodded. "Sure thing, I'll have it sent to you when I'm first able"
After that was settled, they spent another hour making sure they accounted for everyone and clearing with everyone in Manhattan and Sydney that their crisis were being dealt with as well.
"Is the situation being dealt with in Sydney, Tornado?" Nightwing asked Red Tornado through his comm.
"The crisis was quite difficult to manage at first but it is being steadily mitigated as time goes on. Terra, myself and other League, Team and Outsider members are migrating every survivor we can find to safety" Tornado explained.
"Good, well done" Nightwing said, glad they were doing the most they could do although he knew many people probably died today, most regrettably. He continued. "Is there anything else you need to report?"
"Yes, a most strange oddity. It appears the 'Stranger' as he's called was called away by Vandal Savage himself through boomtube" Red Tornado explained through his comm.
This got Nightwing's attention as his eyes widened behind his mask. "Vandal Savage? Did I hear that? And this 'Stranger' willingly went with him?"
"It seems so, yes. They appeared to have known each other quite well" Tornado explained.
At this, Nightwing's heart stopped. They were getting help from someone who had close ties to both Wizard and Vandal Savage?! This was getting out of control fast. He needed clarification on this and while he hated the idea right now of facing off with his ex-girlfriend face to face right now in a limited capacity, he didn't really have any other choice right now.
"Ok well keep on doing what you're doing and report to me or Jeff if anything else peculiar happens. We seem to be past the worst of it all here but that doesn't mean we should lay our guards down for anything else" Nightwing explained to the android.
"Agreed" Red Tornado said before signing off.
Nightwing turned to see Black Lightning walking toward him.
"Diana, Troia and Cassie seem to have everything under control in Manhattan. Wizard wandered off but that was expected and hell, we have to give him this one for helping us out in a crisis" Black Lightning explained to his Co-Chair.
"Yeah….I guess so. I need to find Fate and I feel like the only person I can find right now is through Zatanna" Nightwing explained.
Black Lightning raised an eyebrow. "I mean alright but is it really that important? He can just explain to us what happened at the next meeting"
"...I just think I need further clarification as to what exactly happened and how this whole thing was stopped. If it was stopped" Nightwing explained without explaining in detail what he had just learned.
"Well….alright, if you say so" Black Lightning said, not really sure what was bugging him but figured he had a good reason so he let it go. "I'll talk to you later"
"Yeah, I'll see you soon" Nightwing said as they both turned around and walked in opposite directions.
The young man took this opportunity to contact Zatanna. After adjusting his comms to reach out specifically to hers.
"Zatanna, it's Nightwing. Is Fate with you?" Nightwing asked through his earpiece.
A few seconds later, she answered."Hey Nightwing, yes, uh, he is"
She sounded flustered, he noted. However, given their bumpy history, that didn't really seem to surprise him.
"I was told by Jeff that this 'Stranger' friend of yours said you, your students and Fate were trying to stop whatever was causing all the crises going on throughout the planet. I assume you stopped them or it?" Nightwing asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I believe so, yes. The 'Child' as it was called lost her anchor and is no longer on the mortal plane" Zatanna explained to her leader and ex-boyfriend.
Nightwing understand only about half of that but he went with it.
"I see…I'm going to need a briefing with Fate so I need you to tell him to either come to me or bring me to you and him so I can get the full report" Nightwing explained to the magician.
"Eh…is…is it really necessary that it be right now? He and I can explain it to you at the next League meeting" Zatanna said, obviously not wanting to see him right now.
However, Nightwing wasn't buying into this and didn't really care if she wanted to see him or not. "After what I heard from Red Tornado, I need to speak with both him and you right now if possible so yes, it is necessary so if you would please tell him"
The young man could hear Zatanna sigh on the other end."Ok, fine. I'll have him bring you to our location"
"Thank you. Nightwing out" Nightwing said as he ended the communication between the both of them.
A few moments later, a shiny, golden ankh appeared right in front of Nightwing. Being used to Fate at this point, he was pretty much unphased by this no matter how many looks he was getting from bystanders. Nightwing walked through, taking him to wherever Zatanna and Fate were right now.