Shadows and Cards (a Batboys x OC)

Chapter 13

   Grayson

Grayson was still a little shocked at his encounter with Athena that morning, he kept rubbing the spot on his chest where she healed him. After she left, her words kept reverberating in his head. Anything for a friend. What did it mean? Was she finally beginning to trust him? Or was she just putting a false sense of hope in his brain? 

He must be overthinking it, he decided as he drove his motorcycle down to the coordinates that Athena set. Jason was taking his own bike, and Tim and Damian were taking the Batmobile. Tim, of course, was driving. He made sure of that. 

He was still in the kitchen when Jason burst in, telling him that they were going to see a show of Athena's powers. He told him to meet at a rendezvous that she would set and left without another word. And here he was, turning down an old abandoned ranchers road, sunset cresting the horizon, and hoping that nothing would go wrong.

When he made it to the coordinates, he found himself in a small clearing in a thicket of woods. He also found that he was the last to arrive, as he found Jason's Aston Martin and the Batmobile well hidden away in the trees. 

He stashed his bike and made his way to the clearing. Jason was talking to Tim, and Damian was pressing buttons furiously on his coms watch. But there was no Athena insight. He made his way to them, and Damian lifted his head.

"Where the hell is she?" he protested.

"I was wondering the same thing for you Grayson." Damian shot back, "Glad you could join us. We were starting to worry."

Grayson ruffled his hair in return, and Damian shrank away. Grayson shrugged and walked over to Jason and Tim, who was now looking at Tim's com watch. They seemed to be whispering about something.

Grayson asked, "You got any readings?"

"No," said Tim shaking his head, "She is in my new suit, but I can't pinpoint her location. She's around here, that's for sure, but her location keeps changing in erratic motions."

Grayson turned to Jason. He was scanning the trees as if looking for something. He paused at a certain point and his helmet tilted slightly. He lifted a hand and found that one of his pistols was in it.

"Jason?" Grayson said cautiously, "What are you doing?"

But Jason kept his gun trained on that spot, and when he put the infrared lens on in his mask, he could see that there was a figure there, crouching in the trees. 

He silently motioned to Damian, who looked to the spot as well, his eyes widened, and he drew his katana, steel whining against the sheath. Grayson drew his two batons from his back, and they began to crackle with electricity. Tim glanced up from his coms watch, and when he saw that Grayson and the others were trained on that spot, he drew his staff, and it extended to reveal the two tips of iron. 

The figure rose from its position and then began to walk to the end of the branch. It kept walking until it reached the end of it. Then, it vanished. Grayson couldn't find it on his scanner, it just disappeared. Damian was in his defensive stance, and Jason had removed his other pistol from its holster. He was about to call them off when a voice behind him chirped.

"I thought you guys would take longer."

Grayson instinctively crouched and swung his leg out, but he found himself facing Athena. She was hovering above them, at least ten feet off the ground. 

She was in a black armor suit, built to look like scales of some sort of dragon, and there were stripes of dark purple down the sides of the arms and legs. The scales shifted in the light as if they were an ocean tide. She wore black knee-high combat boots, and purple laces were strung through them. She wore forearm straps that had curved spikes jutting out of them. Her hair was tied up high on her head, and she wore a mask that covered the bottom half of her face so that you could only see her eyes. 

Tim 100% knew what he was doing. She looked like a shadow.

Grayson stood and strapped his batons across his back once again. The others followed suit, and Tim surprisingly was the first to speak.

"Care to tell me why my ten-thousand-dollar tech can't find you in a twenty-yard radius?" he huffed.

Athena landed on the ground, barely more than a blade of grass moved under her feet. She pulled down her mask to reveal that her canines had elongated into sharp points.

"First of all, it's called Umbraportation dimwit, " She grinned, showing off her deadly smile. "Darkness is all around us, and they are like a network of roads. One shadow can lead to Bangkok, the other can take me to the forges of the Underworld. All they have to do is open up."

Tim snorted in reply. "Shadows are the cause of an object in the way of the sun's rays. You can't travel through them."

"You can't, but I can. If you remember correctly from your research, I am the product of a DNA cross of a human and a phoenix, so technically I am a myth. Anything is possible."

Tim paled. Damian turned to Tim, eyes sparkling with rage and a hint of surprise.

Damian snarled, "Anything else you wish to tell us?"

Tim rubbed his neck sheepishly, "Well, you had asked me to do some research on GEM, and I did. I found some info on DR. Keystone. He was a former geneticist at a company called Rebirth Corp. They wanted to colonize a nearby planet just off the edge of the solar system. The conditions were perfect, but the problem was, is that it couldn't inhabit humans specifically because of its unique atmosphere. So he was assigned to help code small bits of DNA from different animals so that people would be able to inhabit the planet."

"But he thought that his work could be used for "the greater good," said Damian.

"Yes," said Tim "And no. He had an encounter with The Joker, who convinced him to use his work for his plans, and got him to turn himself into his mutated form. His criminal name is The Zookeeper."

"I've met him before, unfortunately." Damian huffed.

"He goes around and finds people, mainly children who have a certain type of genetic code, and he uses them for his projects and sells them to The Joker for large sums of money and new DNA sample for new types of breeds."

"And that's how the crime stats started to rise the end, thanks, goodbye," Athena said.

"Hang on," said Grayson, "If Athena was cross-breed with a phoenix, then how does she have all of these other powers? Last time I checked, phoenixes aren't able to travel through shadows."

Athena tapped the black stone in her chest, which pulsed slightly at her touch. "That's where Shadow comes in. She gave me all of these "gifts" but they come at a cost. Every time I use a weapon, element, or wing, it takes a chunk out of my mortality. If I don't regenerate after using my powers, then I will become a gevide codigy. A Shadow Guardian. I will no longer be able to live here, but will be forced to guard the secrets of Shadow Stones in a celestial form." she said before shrugging, "Or at least that's what she said."

Athena sighed and flexed her fingers, and a ribbon of water twined through them. She held it out to them, and the tendrils of water curled up her arm like a serpent. She held her other am out, and those fingers sparked with flames. She inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and exploded with light.

Grayson shielded his eyes and crouched to the ground to stay clear of any potential debris. He knew he shouldn't have agreed to this, he thought. Everyone was so excited to finally have a female in their family, that no one questioned her past. Except him. 

Now, look where that got them all. When the light died down, he opened his eyes, to find that Athena had made herself a throne of the elements. Branches and vines made an elegant chair which she sat on, and flames and water twined together to form a beautiful backrest, where a symbol made of ice adorned the top of it. It looked as if feathers had turned into an ornate S. 

Athena's eyes sparked with elements, making her eyes dance with color. Her wings spread wide, and she stared them down with a hint of amusement.

Athena said baldly, "I hope you know that it's ten at night. And to be honest, I'm done for today, so can we pack it up and go home?"

Grayson gawked at the regalness and utter boldness of her and wondered if he knew what Bruce and his family had gotten themselves into.