Percy and his Uncle

Chapter 3

"Why do you seem familiar?" Percy asked. Mr. D grunted an annoyed sigh, while Bruce Wayne just stared at Diana.

"Mr. D called me when he heard of what happened. I work with a lot of kids from your camp," Diana said. While her voice was soft and reassuring, it wasn't belittling like many social workers are. And with her phrasing it was clear she was a part of the godly world. The only question was how.

"Diana?" Bruce Wayne said, finally regaining his voice. Diana turned to face Bruce Wayne. Recognition filled her face.

"Ah Bruce, I didn't know you'd be here," Diana said with a professional smile on her face. Bruce Wayne returned an equally professional smile. The two of them stared at each other for longer than necessary before facing Percy.

"Perseus, by any chance do you know Bruce?" Diana asked. Her voice was calm and steady. It was nice to listen to.

"Can you call me Percy. I, uh, don't like being referred to by my full name," Percy said. Once everyone looked at him in annoyance, or was it worry. It could have been either, but it looked more like annoyance. Percy huffed and crossed his arms.

"Sorry, Percy. Do you by any chance know Bruce?" Diana asked, pointing to Bruce Wayne. Despite the fact pointing is generally considered ride by many people, the way she did it seemed the opposite. Maybe she is a goddess, but despite that, it does not seem correct.

"No. I just met him today. Told me that he's my uncle. My mom was an only child, so I doubt it," Percy said, uncrossing his arms and grabbing riptide. Fiddling with the pen, he saw Diana go to Bruce Wayne and talk to him in a low voice. Percy couldn't hear anything they were saying. It was clear she didn't want him to hear. During the exchange Mr. D silently left the room.

Social workers suck. That's what everybody at camp tells him. They barely care about normal kids, let alone demigod ones. The social workers end up placing demigod kids in abusive foster homes if those kids don't fall between the cracks and get forgotten. Maybe, the gods purposefully place them in horrid situations so they will head to camp?

"Percy, I can arrange a DNA test to see if Bruce is truly your uncle. Until then, you have a couple options. Mr. D has offered for you to stay at camp until the DNA test comes in. There's also some people here in New York with emergency foster licence's where you can stay until the test comes through. Either way, once the test comes in we will talk about more permanent solutions for where you will be staying," Diana said, laying out the different options. There was one that was the obvious choice. As Percy thought of his answer, Mr. D silently re-entered the room.

"Can I stay at camp? Or, I also have a friend here in New York, and she wouldn't mind if I stay with her for a few days," Percy said, muttering the last bit. It wasn't one of the options, but he wanted one last normal summer before heading to camp and having to deal with the supposed quest that will potentially end his life.

"Unfortunately, you cannot live with your friend for the next few days, not unless her parents are registered foster parents. I know where your camp is, so I can contact you once the results come in," Diana said, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder. Percy shrugged it off, not looking at any of the adults in the room. His mom just died so he can act like a brat.

"I have called somebody to take the DNA test. As many people say, he is a great practitioner of medicine. Thankfully, he wasn't too far, so he should be here any moment," Mr. D said with a nonchalant grunt. Everyone in the room looked at him with a questioning raise of the eyebrow.

"If you do not mind me asking, who did you call over?" Bruce Wayne asked, speaking for the first time in a while. Mr. D grunted out a response which kind of sounded like 'brother' if one listened to it sideways.

Before anybody could ask for clarification, a blond man walked into the room. He looked almost too young to be a medical professional, yet had the aura of knowledge that nobody seems to question.

Perch knew right away that it was Apollo. Diana had a look of recognition. It was clear she knew who he truly was also.

"You can call me Fred. I'm this grumps brother. Hi Percy, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your mom," Apollo said. Percy didn't say anything, but he did nod his head to let the god know he heard him.

"Do you mind if I see credentials?" Bruce Wayne asked, standing up. "Not that I don't believe you are a professional, it's just a precaution, you know." Bruce Wayne said it with a dopey smile on his face, however there was something underneath the smile. It almost seemed fake.

Without saying a word Apollo pulled out a card from his pocket. Diana looked at the card too, despite clearly knowing that the man was a god. They both nod at it and sit back down. Diana turned to face Bruce Wayne.

"Getting somebody that Percy clearly knows is a great idea. This way he'll be more comfortable," Diana said, gesturing to Percy. In response to that, Percy rolled his eyes. A child in social services never gets a say, being a brat at least gets attention. Or whatever that one kid told him.

"Alright, so what I'm going to do is get a DNA sample from each of you and in a few days I'll have the answers on whether you two are related or not," Apollo said pulling out a couple of tubes. "For best results I will take a swab from your inner cheek. I will also take a small blood sample."

Apollo took a swab, almost like a giant q-tip, from one of the tubes. He made a big gesture in going to Bruce Wayne first. Percy sighed internally. He faced and defeated a god at age 12, as well as killing many monsters since slightly before then. He could survive a cheek swab first.

Once Apollo finished taking Bruce Wayne's cheek sample and placing it in a tube, he turned to face Percy. With some faux gentle words, Apollo took a sample from Percy's cheek also. Once the swab was safely in the tube, Apollo went to Bruce Wayne to take a blood sample. After he went to Percy for a blood sample.

A few minutes later Apollo left with the samples. Diana went to Percy and promised to take him to camp. As she talked to him, Mr. D quietly left the room.

As Diana led Percy out and into her car, he spaced out. A long time later, yet in a blink of an eye, Percy was being led to camp. This was going to be a long summer.

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I was planning on updating this more often, but I guess not, huh. I also lied about the outline. I made a pseudo outline at work. (AKA some notes for what I want each chapter to be like). I've outlined to chapter 6 now.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any questions about anything in this story, feel free to ask, I'll try my best to answer.