When Worlds Collide

76) Jason is a King

A/N: I just like the comic strip this is from ^. It has nothing to do with the chapter

Nico was busy, like busy busy. It was the third week of August, so that meant move in day for the demigods at Project Olympus. They had originally planned for only 14 people, but Will had applied and they didn't think it was fair for him to take a spot from someone since he was on the team of people that was choosing who got in or not, so they used the 15th room that they had originally not intended to use, and gave it to him. They didn't want an uneven number of Romans and Greeks, but it ended up that no one even cared that there was one more Greek than Roman. The Argo III had made the trip to California the week before and then came back, picked up the CHB kids, and then went to the Gotham Harbor. It was a surprisingly calm day in Gotham, so they didn't have any problems.

after getting back from moving everyone in, Nico laid on the couch in the living room, staring up at the ceiling.

"You good?" Jason asked as he walking into the room, taking the seat across from him.

Nico ran a hand over his face. "No. I'm so tired. I feel like I haven't slept in days."

"Take a nap?" Jason said, probably confused about why he was awake if he was so tired.

Nico looked at the time on his phone before begrudgingly sitting up. "Can't. I am on standby for two raids that start in 10 minutes."

"Who's running them?"

"Percy is in charge of A team in Chicago which is Annabeth, Jason, and Piper. Reyna is running B team in San Diego which is Hazel, Frank, and Kayla. They look like they're smaller bases, but we won't know for sure until they get inside," Nico said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his comm. He put it in place before clicking the button with a yawn. "GK, checking in. I'm ready on standby."

"You sound like shit," Rachel said through the comm.

Nico rolled his eyes and muted himself before looked back to Jason. "What are you up to?"

Jason shrugged. "Nothing much right now. My team took down a few of Scarecrow's bases last night, so we're taking tonight off."

Nico hummed in acknowledgment. It was quiet for a few minutes before Nico finally spoke again. "Are you in on whatever Bruce is up to?"

Jason chuckled. "No, not right now at least. He'll probably try and bring me in at some point, but I can't say I'm holding my breath."

Nico smiled lightly. "He won't tell me anything. Tim and Damian too. I would ask Dick, but he's never home."

Jason nodded. "He's living up to his name right now, that's for sure. He apparently keeps showing up at people's houses, asking to borrow them for a mission, and then disappearing."

Nico shook his head. "Who's on his roster right now?"

"Last I heard, he had Kon, Artemis, and Jeff—you know, Black Lightning."

Nico raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Jeff and Arty are out of the game. Why is he dragging them back in?"

Jason shrugged. "Why does he do anything? Plus, Artemis isn't fully out. She keeps saying she's gonna leave, but it's hard to give up. I would think you would understand that more than most."

Nico chuckled lightly. "At least I changed  games. I could have just gone back to fighting monsters and begging for the gods to acknowledge me, but I chose a different fight."

Jason glanced at him slightly. "Did you?"

"What do you mean?"

Jason shrugged, seeming to debate if it was worth getting into the topic. "It's just... it's the same game. Instead of fighting monsters, you're fighting goons. The monsters you used to fight, they worked for the primordials you were up against, and the goons work for the bosses that are running the operations. You might not be fighting for the gods to acknowledge you, but you're still fighting to be acknowledged."