(A/N: I do not own Young Justice. That right belongs to Warner Bros)
*One week later*
"This is Courtney Whitmore, your very own Stargirl with a very special episode today. As all of you must have heard by now unless you've been living under a rock, the Justice League recently announced that both Aquaman and Wonder Woman were stepping down as leaders of the League. Stepping in their place are Black Lightning, who has since rejoined the League as well as a brand new hero: Nightwing!" Courtney Whitmore announced in a private recording studio of her show 'Stargirl'.
The video feed then cut to the front of the ruins of the first Hall of Justice where both Black Lightning and Nightwing were seen alongside their liaison to the UN as well as the press: Catherine Cobert. Also in the background were Troia, Ambassador to the UN from Themyscira and Garth, Ambassador to the UN from Atlantis.
"Aquaman and Wonder Woman are leaving the leadership of the Justice League in the hands of two very capable members: Black Lightning and Nightwing. Apologies but there will be no questions" Catherine had said in her thick French accent before stepping aside.
Despite the fact that she had said no questions, that didn't stop reporters from blaring them out as soon as she left the podium with both Black Lightning and Nightwing filling her spot.
"Thank you, Catherine. If it's acceptable to everyone here, let's just get right to it. For reasons that will remain confidential, both Aquaman and Wonder Woman have tendered their resignations as Co-Chairs of the Justice League. They will however continue to remain members of the League. As people are probably aware, my code name is Black Lightning. You might've seen my name in the headlines recently given what has just happened at the UN. I've also been a member of the League for a few years already while taking a brief hiatus up until a few days prior. I would just like to say that the Justice League will work to regain the trust of the public as well as continue to make efforts to help meta-teens affected in the recent trafficking campaign that has been going on in the past few years. Now I'm now going to pass it on to my Co-Chair: Nightwing" Black Lightning announced before handing the podium over to Nightwing.
Nightwing didn't show it in the video feed but he was a little flushed, especially as there were several flashes from cameras going on in his face. After all, he wasn't used to making public addresses.
"As my Co-Chair pointed out, my code name or my nom de guerre as I like to call it is Nightwing" Nightwing began to which Black Lightning visibly rolled his eyes at 'nom de guerre' to the amusement of the journalists as a few of them chuckled.
Nightwing continued, ignoring the chuckles.
"I am honored to be chairing the League alongside someone I've admired for some time now for his dedication to helping people in need. While I am new to the Justice League, I've worked closely with them for some time now and have only just chosen to go public. In recent days, efforts by the League, Outsiders and others have made enormous progress in putting a large dent in the meta trafficking ring going on throughout the world. However, this progress doesn't mean that our efforts are resolved. As a matter of fact, they're just getting started more than anything. We'll continue to help fund the Meta Human Youth Center as well as hope to build other branches throughout the country and world that will give kids and teens that have been affected by trafficking as well as meta kids and teens in general the opportunity to help control their abilities as well as seek counseling and just make friends with people with similar experiences. We'll also closely monitor any and every continuing meta trafficking ring that may still be operational and we'll use every resource at our capacity to help bring it down" Nightwing announced.
At that point, the video feed cut back to Courtney Whitmore, or 'Stargirl'.
"Now most people at this point have heard of Black Lightning but this new hero Nightwing has been a mystery to the public so far. Thankfully, though, both him and Black Lightning have agreed to sit down with me for an interview"
At that moment, the video feed cut from her speaking from inside the studio from in a chair across the two new leaders of the Justice League, all three of them sitting in Director's Chairs.
"Thank you both so much for agreeing to be on the show" Courtney said with excitement in her voice.
"Happy to be here, Ms. Whitmore" Black Lightning said with a smile while in full hero costume.
"Same for me" Nightwing said, also in full hero costume.
"It seems a bit weird for the leaders of the League to sit down for two interviews in a single week, especially since you both gave an interview to Iris West-Allen on GBS just a few days ago" Courtney said with a curious tone in her voice.
"We figured that we should reach out to all audiences, including younger people. After all, their lives are much affected by our work as they are for full grown adults" Black Lightning pointed out.
"A fact that's been made apparent throughout the past few years" Nightwing said, nodding along to his co-leader's point.
"Now the both of you have released some new policies for the League, is that right?" Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow.
"That's correct, Ms. Whitmore. We're going to start focusing on the mental health of the Justice League. After all, if we can't fight our own inner demons, we can't hope to properly protect the public" Black Lightning explained.
"Starting next week, members of the League will be required to attend a yearly mental health evaluation with a licensed therapist that will remain nameless. This also includes myself and Black Lightning" Nightwing said, gesturing to him and Black Lightning who nodded in confirmation.
"That's so refreshing to hear, especially with the mental health problems many people in the country are facing, especially in the younger generations" Courtney pointed out.
"It's definitely an ongoing issue with all people and we hope that with this that not only will trust in League be properly restored to its former place but also inspire people to consider tackling their own mental health problems as well" Nightwing explained.
"This is especially true after ... .the incident in Markovia" Black Lightning said, adding onto Nightwing's point, causing a somber mood within the room.
"Ah yes…Prince…or I guess King Brion now" Courtney said, her face dropping. "Do you believe him and the Justice League will ever be able to reconcile?"
Both men looked at each other with uneasy expressions before looking back toward Courtney.
"I don't think it's really right for either of us to predict what will or won't happen in the future. I believe we both still consider Brion a friend…but he took a different path than what we would've hoped for him" Nightwing explained.
"We'd love for him to come back to our side…but we honestly don't really know if that's going to happen anytime soon" Black Lightning said, his eyes looking towards the ground as he said this.
"That's completely understandable…If I may move to a lighter topic, I'd like to ask a question directly to you, Nightwing, if you don't mind, Mr. Black Lightning?" Courtney asked to which Black Lightning just shook his head.
"Not at all, Ms. Whitmore and you can just call me Black Lightning or BL if you want to shorten it up" Black Lightning explained to which Courtney smiled.
"Well thank you, BL" Courtney said, giggling a little. "And by all means, call me Courtney. Now Nightwing, you're obviously new to the League but others have speculated that you've been in the crime fighting business for some time. Do you have any thoughts on that?"
"Well I don't really think it's wise to give word on how long I've been in this business but I will say this: I'm not new at all to crime fighting. I've only recently decided to go public as I feel it's no longer necessary for me to stay private. After all, I feel most supervillains know who I am already anyway" Nightwing explained with a slightly eerie chuckle at the end.
"And what of the rumors speculating online that you were once Robin and had then passed the mantle onto the current Robin?" Courtney asked with a raised eyebrow.
Again, Nightwing chuckled, though this time a lot more somberly. "I can assure you, Courtney, I was not the Robin before the young man that's currently Robin"
There was an awkward glance from Black Lightning, knowing that had technically been true as Dick had in fact not been the Robin before Tim Drake as the previous Robin had in fact been Jason Todd…
"Oh well that will disappoint a lot of junior investigators online who thought they had it all figured out. Anyway, though, let's move on to a more interesting topic: Do you have a girlfriend, Nightwing?" Courtney asked, slightly smirking a bit.
At this, Nightwing just smiled. Now this interview was getting interesting
"Well, do you?" Black Lightning asked, getting amused by this.
"A bit of a personal question, Courtney. You wouldn't happen to be asking for yourself, would you?" Nightwing asked with a smirk on his face.
At the question, Courtney flushed and shook her head. "Oh no no, not me. I mean, you are incredibly Handso….er, anyway, there are quite a few ladies on social media that are taking a shine to you, Nightwing. Some going as far as calling you the new hottie of the League"
The video feed then cut to several social media posts, particularly from young women. Several were…very flattering to put it in PG terms.
"Well I'm very flattered ... .but yes, I am currently seeing someone and that's the most that I'll say" Nightwing said, putting his hands up.
"Fair enough" Courtney said, chuckling. "No doubt that will break a few hearts of some of our female audience out there"
"I'm sorry to disappoint them but it's true" Nightwing said, shrugging but with a sincere smile on his face.
"He does disappoint a lot" Black Lightning said to which both him and Courtney laughed at at Nightwing's expense as he just rolled his eyes behind his mask.
At that point, the video feed had been paused.
"The new hottie of the League, huh?" Barbara asked as both she and Dick sat on the couch together in their pajamas with a smirk on her face.
Dick shrugged, his face indifferent. "Not the worst thing I've ever been called"
"Well don't think I'm gonna let you go off and fool around with a bunch of fangirls with stars in their eyes, boy wonder" Barbara said, playfully glaring at him.
"Yeah, yeah. Like I would when I have you" Dick said as he nuzzled his nose into Barbara's neck and started to lightly kiss it.
Barbara let out a slight moan as she continued speaking. "Well…you certainly have a way with words"
"I know. It's how I charmed you into going out with me in the first place, remember?" Dick asked as he once again started nuzzling his nose into Barbara's neck.
At this, Barbara scoffed. "Yeah, it only took you maybe 5 or 6 years to even notice I was into you. Instead you had to go out with Zatanna and Raquel"
At this, Dick cringed as he pulled back slightly to see Barbara's victorious grin. "Right. Yeah…sorry about that again"
Barbara sighed. "I don't blame you, Dick. You were close to them and…hey, let's be honest, if I swung that way and I had a chance to, I'd date them too"
"Ooh now there's an intriguing thought" Dick said with a smirk before Barbara smacked his arm.
"Mind out of the gutter. Anyway, let's get back to talking business. It's been a week and we haven't really talked about it too much. Do you really feel up to leading the League?" Barbara asked, her face growing slightly concerned.
At this, Dick frowned, not really knowing how to answer. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Ever since I was 11, my dream was to join the League. As time went on though, the more comfortable I felt out of the spotlight which is why I rejected multiple offers from the League to join. Now though, not only did I have to join the League, I had to step up to be one of its leaders just to get the guy we needed to sign on"
"And you'd rather you didn't?" Barbara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well…yeah, I'd rather be back with the Team" Dick replied.
"You're a little old for it though, aren't you?" Barbara asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, Artemis and M'Gann are both older than me and are still with the Team and Conner is with the Outsiders, led by someone we knew since he was eight years old" Dick retorted.
Barbara chuckled. "I'm kidding, Dick…but really, maybe the fact that you don't want to join is the best reason why you should. You've had to make hard decisions over the past few years and of course, maybe not everyone sees them as the best possible choices you could've made…but you acted as a leader that had been needed at the time. The League thinks you're ready to lead and that says a lot for you as it did for Kaldur when he was elected as the leader alongside Diana"
Dick took this in and considered it. He was flattered by it and acknowledged that the League must have had enough faith in him to trust him to lead by unanimously voting him to serve as their leader alongside Jeff. However, that still didn't mean he was worried.
"Plus, if it turns out you don't like it, you can just choose to leave after your year term is done. It's not like it's forever anyway" Barbara pointed out.
"True" Dick said. Plus, he could always consult Kaldur should he need any help as he didn't want to place the entirety of the burden onto Jeff if he was going to serve as Co-Chair. "At the end of the day, I'm just gonna have to do the best I possibly can"
Barbara smiled. "That's all anyone can ask of you, Dick. With an attitude like that, I've no doubt you're going to be a great leader"
Dick smiled. That honestly had made him feel a lot better about his current predicament. However, he knew he shouldn't get complacent. There was a lot of work to be done. Even with Lex ousted as UN Secretary General, Troia, a pro-League Ambassador, set to take his place along with the fact that both the League and Outsiders had been trending positively on social media, there was still much work to be done on restoring people's trust in the League. It was time to get to work.