Legend Of The Blue Bird-Percy Jackson Batman Crossover-The Olympian Heroes book5

19. Percy

Thalia took one hunter with her to stay on the east end of the storage unit. I was sure they both had bows trained on the doors, I just hoped they didn't shoot any of our friends. The rest of the hunters were spread out around the perimeter. Keeping watch both inside and out and I have to admit, it was a bit of a relief to have them there. No worries about sneak attacks from the outside so long as they did their job, and I had no doubt they'd keep anyone (mortal or mythical) out.
Cass was above me, on the top of the door Conner was about to tear open, while I stop out front smoke bomb ready to deploy. Somewhere to my left was Garfield, still probably trying to decide what animal would be best for this sneak attack. To my right was Artemis, probably set up similarly to the hunters. And StarGirl hovered not far behind me.
"Whenever you're ready." Artemis's voice ordered Conner over out mics.
"Finally" Superboy said. I could hear the grin on his face as he threw the doors back. Literally. Each of the metal doors pulled of their hinges and to either side of Conner.
I didn't wait to see if anyone was inside, just threw the smoke bomb and dove into the storage unit. Dick would've gone in laughing, Jason would've gone in shouting, Cass would've gone in and kicked butt without breaking a sweat, and Barbara and Annabeth both would've fine in with a plan. I just dove in blindly.
Looking back Cass was a more logical choice for the head on assault. But it was too late for that.
I sprung forward, batarang in hand. Turns out I wouldn't even need it. Inside the unit was nothing but crates, and as the smoke cleared my team and I realized this.
"Well." Courtney said "That was anticlimactic. Maybe I didn't want to come on this trip."
To her (and the rest of our surprise) she got a pretty quick response. The crate beside her shouted.
"Help!"
"Guh!" Courtney jumped back, immediately crouching to a fighting stance. I mirrored her movement as Conners hands curled into fists. Cass was the only one who seemed unbothered.
"What do we think Batgirl?" I whispered
My sister shrugged and made her way to the talking crate "Hello?"
"Hello?!" It echoed "who are you? I don't-"
Now it was the crate's turn to scream as Conner swung on the front of it once, then twice cracking the wood enough to see inside.
"There's one solution" I said
"Conner?!" The girl inside was no longer muffled and I could see well enough to know we'd found Rocket.
"Raquel?" Conner returned "what are you doing? W-what happened."
"Want to get me out before I answer?" She asked wearily

Two hours and close to twenty storage units later we'd found Raquel, Jaime, La'agan, and Megan. The latter two were linked together much to most of our, but especially Conner's dismay. Our only sign of Annabeth remained the small, disk-like tracker we'd found in Megan's storage unit. A tracker I recognized as Barbara's.
Team Alpha's story was recounted. Luthor took them, gassed them, and separated them. It had been three days since any of the group had seen a crumb of food or drop of water. Honestly the fact Megan and La'agan were still conscious was impressive.
Jaime was decked in his full beetle getup, saying Beetle refused to remove the armor until "the threat is neutralized" maybe the lack of water for to the scarab too.
Thalia stood off from our group, hands on hips and foot tapping. She wasn't happy about not finding Annabeth. Or she wasn't happy at me losing our friend. Probably both.
"Give me one second" I said softly to Cass before sliding between Blue Beetle and Superboy.
I approached the daughter of Zeus with caution.
"Everything okay?" I asked
"Iris message. I've got to head north, phoebe ran into some trouble at Tam." She answered, glaring past me to Cassandra, who was watching our conversation with intensity.
"Well uh... good luck" I offered
"Mhm" she hummed "Percy. You need to get Annabeth."
"I plan to Thals I-"
"No Percy." She shook her head "You need to."
I felt my eyebrows stitch together "did something happen?"
"Unfortunately, immortality doesn't take the dreams away." Thalia suddenly looked far away. "And I know you don't need me to say this, but all of it is a set up. Why have a tracker here if whoever is behind this-"
"Didn't want us here." I finished "You're right."
Thalia glanced behind her as if she'd heard someone call to her. And I guess she could've, I wasn't sure how the blessing of Artemis worked. Maybe it gave her superhuman hearing. "Just get her home. To camp."
"Will do." I answered "stay safe Lieutenant."
Thalia barely smiled at my mock salute "ah you'll do it to me but if Lady Artemis was here..."
I shook my head "Gods no. Artemis scares the heck out of me."
"She should" Thalia's ghost of a smile was gone "Good luck Boy Wonder."
I nodded "Hey thanks for the help by the way. You can let the girls know I appreciated it."
With the raise of an eyebrow and the shake of her head my friend was gone, fading from view with the sound of a hunting horn not far behind.