Shadows and Cards (a Batboys x OC)

Chapter 20

   Jason

When Damian called him, he had expected it to be for something on the lines of insults and shunning for not being on patrol. And it had, much more so than usual which confused him until he said that Athena was in Gotham and didn't meet him at his rendezvous. Jason knew that she could handle herself and it was possible that she was just caught up in something, but something told him that it was a little more than that. 

So he decided to check it out per Damian's requests. And when he asked him why he couldn't do it, Jason was bombarded with a string of curses and yelling on why he couldn't follow orders. I'm getting orders from a fourteen-year-old. Jason thought. How fun.

Jason had a habit of doing unnecessary things just because they looked cool, and one of those things was jumping buildings. He was doing so as he was searching the area where Damian had seen her go off in his GPS. When clearing a sizeable gap between buildings, he noticed an old apartment building a block away that looked a bit out of place. 

Usually, old buildings like this one were deteriorating and crumbling, but this one looked as if a bomb had hit it. There were chunks of concrete from the apartments beside it, and a large crack in the roof. There also happened to be a few stains that were no doubt bloodstains. And if he could see that from a block away, then he knew that Athena was there. He changed course and leaped out from the end of the street, firing his grappling hook and swinging over to it.

When he landed on the building, he immediately noticed that there was a fight there. Blood covered most of the area, and there were many chunks of concrete strewn across the roof.

 He dragged a finger in one of the many pools of blood, and when he examined it he found it surprising that the blood was black. Most dried blood gave off a blackish hue, but this was fresh. Then Jason remembered one of his first encounters with Athena's powers.

It was when they first found her at the warehouse and the helicopters had shot her with odd-looking blue bullets. When Damian had picked her up, the blood that was pouring out of her back was red, but the pool she was laying in was black. He then remembered the day Athena cut open her abdomen. She had told him that when she shifts, her blood turns black. 

So that confirmed it. Athena was here. The question was, where was she and who would leave such an obvious trail.

Jason stood and called Damian on his coms watch.

"What?" Damian's voice snapped.

"I've got an interesting scene in front of me here, you better get Tim. He's good at this sort of detective stuff." Jason said.

Damian said, "I'll be over soon. Don't do anything stupid."

"As if I would," Jason responded.

Five minutes later Damian landed on the ground next to Jason and surveyed the damage.

"How do you know that Athena was here?" Damian asked, "It could have easily been a gang fight or an accidental explosive."

Jason said, "Remember when Athena told us about her black blood? It only happens when she shifts into other forms, and there are traces of it around here. So that means two things, Athena had to resort to shifting to fight and that she was hurt as well."

"But that's almost impossible. She can't get cut unless she uses one of her own blades. Her skin is almost impenetrable." Damian said.

Jason nodded. "Almost. The first time we ever saw her at the warehouse, she was wounded by the choppers that took away Dr. Keystone. Those bullets weren't normal."

Damian thought about it for a moment. "If Kreeal can enhance her power, then there must be some sort of drug that nullifies or kills her power right? Otherwise, Athena could have easily won the fight."