(A/N: I do not own Young Justice or any DC Character. That right belongs to Warner Bros).
A few more weeks went by and once again it had turned quiet (At least 'Justice League' quiet, anyway). Missions came and went and from what Dick had heard, M'Gann had finally begun her journey back to Earth and he also heard she was bringing her sister, Em'ree, with her for an undisclosed amount of time. That was nice of her, he thought. He figured M'Gann would enjoy having her sister here, all things considered. He made a note to visit her once she landed back.
There was also a peculiar moment that happened a week or so ago. Brion had actually made contact with the Justice League, specifically Dick after over a year of radio silence between the both of them. The exchange…was interesting.
*One Week Ago, Nightwing's Private Quarters, Watchtower*
Nightwing in full costume accepted a transmission on his quarter's private communicator. King Brion appeared in full royal dress robes. They both stared at each other for the longest time, not really knowing who should initiate the talk. Nightwing didn't really know what to say. After all, the last time he saw Brion, he had just killed his uncle and thrown him out of his country. It took him nearly half a minute just to accept the transmission. However, it seemed Brion was feeling generous today because he decided to take the initiative.
"...Nightwing" Brion said with a rather uncomfortable look on his face.
"Your majesty" Nightwing said as he sat at the desk, his face not leaving the screen of his communicator.
"Eh….Brion is fine" Brion insisted, still uncomfortable. It was quite clear this wasn't a conversation he was really ready for.
Nightwing just nodded. "Alright…Brion…"
At that, an awkward silence came about. Not really wanting to continue this, Nightwing just got to the point.
"Is there a reason you called, Brion?" Nightwing asked his former trainee with a raised eyebrow.
"Well…yes. I…heard about Superboy's death…Conner's death. I…I was deeply saddened to hear it and I just want to give my condolences" Brion said, his expression turning from uncomfortable to sympathetic.
Nightwing had to admit, he was touched by this, considering how badly the both of them had fallen out just a year ago. He gave a nod in appreciation.
"Thank you, Brion. I appreciate that. Have you spoken to Garfield about this? I have a feeling he's been thinking about you a lot recently. He was always pretty sad the both of you had gone your separate ways" Nightwing suggested, knowing the two of them had grown close during Brion's time with the Outsiders.
Brion's face turned back to uncomfortable as he visibly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Er…Well…no, not really. You were the first I've called about this. Just…with my duties as king and trying my hardest to build a sanctuary for meta teens and kids, I've been very busy" Brion weakly explained.
Nightwing's face remained unchanged but his voice stiffened slightly. "Well…if you ever think about doing so, I'm sure he'd appreciate it. He needs all the help he can get right now"
Brion nodded rapidly. "Yes, yes, of course, the minute I have the opportunity, I will"
At that, there was silence again. Nightwing again wanted to move this along.
"Is there another reason you called?" Nightwing asked, again with a raised eyebrow.
"I…also wanted to express my apologies for how we…fell out as it's said in English. I know the Justice League, Team and Outsiders make it their policy to not kill and I know that I let my emotions get the better of me. I've tried to make good on my actions to try and make this world a better place for young metas as compensation for that" Brion tried to explain, expressing his apologies.
Nightwing just nodded, his face stiffening this time. "Yes…I'm aware of your operations"
Brion, noticing, raised an eyebrow."You…have issues with this?"
Nightwing shook his head. "With your intentions, no….However, we have suspicions that there are some within your reach that aren't exactly using their influence over you for the good of young metas"
"What are you talking about?" Brion asked, suddenly getting a little defensive, having thought that Nightwing would be supportive of this and even possibly establish some relations between Markovia and the Justice League.
"Brion, I don't really know if I have to explain that the head of the Markovian Meta Youth Center is Dr. Helga Jace who participated in Bedlam? She also wanted to exchange Violet, your ex-girlfriend to the Light and Granny Goodness for both you and Tara and was even willing to place control chips on the both of you to ensure you would follow her commands? Not to mention she sexually manipulated Jeff to get exactly what she wanted out of him as well as members of the League, Team and Outsiders? You would understand that would cause a few eyebrows raised from us, yes?"
Brion sighed. "Listen, I wasn't fond of the idea at first either. I was ready to throw her in prison for god knows how long….but she has really changed for the better. I swear it. She's active in every meta's life at the center and there's no coercion for activating a meta's meta gene. We don't even need the tar pit. We just need a simple injection"
"And then they're off to serve in the Infinitors, right? The American meta group that just all of a sudden agreed to move across the Atlantic and serve under your rule?" Nightwing said, with no less skepticism in his voice than before.
"What are you getting at?" Brion said, his eyebrows furrowing, a clear sign he was getting frustrated.
Nightwing sighed, knowing this was not going to be easy to get out. "The Justice League, including myself, have reasons to suspect the Infinitors were originally Lex's puppet meta hero group from when he was the Secretary General of the UN to give his rules and regulations over the League more legitimacy. We think that they, along with your Ambassador to the UN, are secretly agents of the Light"
Brion looked baffled by this. "How dare you?! That's…that's a ridiculous allegation!"
"Is it? Brion, are you forgetting this was the same man that demanded you be kicked out of the country once it was discovered you were meta and the very next time you see him, he's demanding you be placed on the throne? As well as the influence he's seemed to have had on you since you were coronated? You don't find that the least bit suspicious?" Nightwing asked, mentally sighing as Brion continued to look defensive.
"He realized his mistake and has since then proposed several pro-meta policies to the UN, despite Secretary Troia's demand that UN agents be sent to investigate us which is completely insulting if I may add" Brion retorted, looking flat out angry at this point.
"It's a simple gesture. We've had UN agents at the MHYC in Taos and other branches throughout the country as well as our other branches throughout the world. Your Ambassador's resistance to a simple check is suspicious itself, not to mention the other factors that are playing out here. Believe it or not, Brion, I'm on your side here. I'm just saying there's a strong possibility, we think, that you're being taken advantage of by the group that's been trying to control the world for a decade now" Nightwing said, trying to defuse the situation while trying to get him to see reason.
"You're absolutely ridiculous. I called to give my sympathies about Conner as well as try to open up relations between us and the Justice League" Brion said, not believing this was happening as his frustration continued to grow.
"I would love nothing more but you know what you have to do. You have to submit yourself to the International Criminal Court. I can't promise you won't serve time given the publicity that arose from your…public execution of your uncle but I'm fairly confident we can get you probation much like Tara did" Nightwing said, offering the path to restoring relations.
"I'm not going to apologize for executing a criminal nor admit fault in my part in it. Now, I called to say my piece and I believe the time has come to put an end to this call" Brion said, clearly tempted to hit the end call button right then and there.
Nightwing sighed, knowing it was still probably too soon and he knew Brion would be defensive from the start. However, it was worth a try, he thought.
"Sure thing, Brion" Nightwing simply stated.
"Your majesty is preferred when addressing the King of Markovia, thank you" Brion said, clearly not taking this anymore.
"Noted ... .your majesty…and just so you know, you are missed…by everyone…and I hope you realize that for your sake" Nightwing said, sympathetically at this point.
This caught Brion off guard for a second as he blinked for a few seconds before shaking his head and went back to his angry look.
"Have a good day, Nightwing" Brion said as he hung up the call before Nightwing could say anything else.
The young man just sighed, shaking his head. At that moment, it was quite clear Markovia would regrettably remain a hostile entity to the Justice League for longer to come, which was a shame. He knew Brion was a good man, just being manipulated.
Nightwing got up from his desk, preparing to start the day as he scratched his goatee…it had been getting itchy lately…
*Present Day*
Dick again scratched his goatee as he looked around the Premiere Building, speaking with Cassie about the Outsiders latest missions. Wendy, Virgil, Jaime, Ed and Courtney were also present.
"We also stopped Weather Wizard from making Hurricane Amy in Florida any worse than it already was and managed to get those affected to safety" Cassie reported proudly.
"I'm still thinking Global Warming still had something to do with it" Wendy pointed out, cheekily to everyone's amusement as they chuckled.
"We also recently kicked the Headmaster's butt" Courtney added to their list of recent activities with a confident smile.
"Ok then. Good work. Is there anything else you need to report?" Dick asked, curiously.
At that moment, everyone started to look at each other uncomfortably, something clearly on their minds.
"...Yes?" Dick asked again with a raised eyebrow, getting interested.
"We're concerned about Garfield" Virgil answered for the group.
"He hasn't been out on missions lately" Ed pointed out.
"And he hasn't really been doing his chores lately either" Courtney added. It was his turn to clean the bathroom andshehad to do it for him to her disgust.
"We're…just worried about him. We don't think he's really taking Conner's death well. Can you maybe…speak to him or something? We just don't really know what to say" Jaime asked the Co-Chair of the Justice League.
Dick listened to their concerns…and he understood them. Hearing them, he grew concerned himself. However, despite this, he shook his head.
"Listen….Garfield's known Conner almost as long as I had. He was also about to become his brother in law. When someone has that sort of relationship with a person ... .it's natural to need to grieve for that person, especially when that someone already lost their mother, godmother and several teammates" Dick said, trying to rationalize Garfield's behavior, thinking his heart was currently in the right place.
"We get that, we really do, we know Garfield's hurting inside…but he's not letting anyone in. He's not talking to anyone, he's just locking himself in his room and it's been months" Cassie retorted.
"Yeah, he's kinda just been blowing us off, saying he needs to sleep and he's been sleeping a lot lately. He also doesn't really eat dinner with us or go out with us anymore. He just stays on his phone in his room and orders food delivery all the time" Wendy also said, concerned for her leader.
Dick considered what they were saying. That was concerning. However, he remembered what happened when he lost Jason as well as his parents. He spent numerous days roaming the Manor in his PJs, not going out on patrols and eating in his room despite Alfred's objections. He even stopped talking to Barbara or Wally for some time after. He realized this was what Garfield must've been going through as well and he figured this was just a phase and would eventually work this out himself.
"Just give him more time to adjust. I imagine once M'Gann's back on Earth and they speak, he'll start to improve. He just needs time to grieve, that's all. If that's still not the case when she returns, report back to me. I'll personally intervene then" Dick told the Outsiders.
The Outsiders look at each other and considered this. It wasn't the answer they were really searching for but it seemed to suffice for now. As long as he knew what was going on and would intervene eventually (Or at least he said he would anyway).
"Now that that's covered, I think we can probably end today's briefing. Great work as always and-" Dick said before he felt his comm buzz.
"One second" Dick told the Outsiders before pressing the comm on his ear.
"Nightwing" The young man said as he answered.
"Nightwing, no time to explain. We need you in Agra, India right now!" Jeff's voice came through his earpiece.
"Lightning, I don't understand, what-" Dick tried to ask before being cut off.
"There's no time to explain, we need all hands on deck and here as soon as possible. Call in everyone you can including members of the Team and Outsiders" Jeff practically ordered his fellow Co-Chair.
Dick sighed. "Alright, fine. I'll be there as quickly as I can. Nightwing out"
He turned to the Outsiders who looked at him with concern painted on their faces.
"We're needed in Agra ASAP, all of you. Let's go" Dick ordered them.
"What's going on?" Cassie asked, getting worried at him calling all of them away.
"We're gonna have to find that out first hand now let's go" Dick answered as he shooed them off to the Zeta Tube, getting worried himself. He hadn't heard Jeff sound like that since they went to Granny Goodness' house over a year ago. He had a feeling this was going to be bad,reallybad.