Shadowed Destiny (Batman and PJO Crossover)

Chapter 1

The air was thick and heavy and seemed to cling to the city. Nico stumbled out of the alleyway and stared up at the tall buildings that seemed to be on every side of him. The night sky looked soulless and empty and seemed to match the occupants of the city. The way the people in this place seemed soulless but also in a constant state of worry and anxiety. They looked constantly over their shoulders as if something was going to attack them and how their eyes darted and watched every single person, shadow and alley as they walked. Nico had no clue where he had ended up, he had decided to leave camp late at night for a quick trip to Maccas.

He probably shouldn't have decided to shadow travel while half asleep. He needed to know where he was. He had figured that he was in New York but the occupants seemed a lot more frightened than normal New York residents. As he disoriented walked through this strange city a loud shout echoed through the streets and it seemed directed towards him.

"Hey KID! What are you doing out this late!" the stranger shouted at Nico

Nico quickly snapped out of his thoughts and looked around him rapidly trying to spot the person who shouted at him. He noticed that he no longer could see anybody around him on the side walk. He and this strange person that had just shouted at him were all alone and that made Nico nervous. He was stuck in a strange new city getting shouted at by a stranger all alone with no body to save him. Of course he had his stygian sword on him and a small celestial bronze dagger but those would do no good to fight against mortals.

He then noticed that he was standing in the middle of an alleyway now. Spinning around to his exit he saw a large middle aged man blocking him from his escape. The man must have seen the shock in his eyes because he let out a deep chuckle that seemed to rattle his throat. He stood and looked like an silverback gorilla standing on his hind legs. His hairline was receding and he had a rather creepy smirk that looked permanently etched onto his face. Nico started to move into a battle stance.

The man seemed to have no weapons on him but Nico needed to constantly stay alert, he wasn't about to get robbed by a broke middle aged man who robbed lost teenagers for a living. That would be quite unfortunate and embarrassing to Nico. Suddenly as the man started to make a move towards Nico, a large dark figure jumped down from an abandoned apartment building into the space between Nico and the man.

Nico nearly gasped when the man jumped down. He hadn't even realised there was someone standing on the roof until he had come down. Nico must have been really tired and disoriented to not even notice usually he would have noticed if a cockroach had entered the alleyway. Suddenly a grunt startled him and he stared at the man who looked at him with pity. Nico looked back and noticed the crook lying on the ground tied up and beaten but no by that much only a few bruises and a black eye.

"Kid, why are you out so late? Did your parents not teach you to not wander the streets of Gotham at night." The strange man spoke.

Nico then looked at him and really took in his appearance. The man wore a colour palette of blacks and greys very similar to Nico. He had stone cold abs etched into his skin tight suit that had a long dark cape and mask with two long points sticking out attached to it. He wore dark grey under wear on the outside of his suit, had a weird belt and a weird bat like symbol strapped on his chest. The man suddenly grabbed Nico's shoulder and spoke in a soft comforting manner.

"Kid? Are you alright? Has something happened to your parents?" the man crouched down in front of him and Nico physically recoiled from this strange man and started trying to struggle out of his grip. The man placed his other hand onto Nico's shoulder and started speaking in an even more gentler tone than before.

"Can you at least tell me your name? I can help all you have to do is talk to me." the strange spoke.

"Why, should I even talk to you? I don't even know who you are?" Nico said in such a small whisper that you would have had to really be listening to hear.