When Worlds Collide

108) Eerie Baby

A/N: I hate writing as I go because I am not writing or going. It's not even writers block. I'm just unmotivated lol

-Dick POV-

Everything was terrible. It was complete and utter shit and Dick couldn't do anything about it.

Slade, the man who tormented him for years— the man who was his enemy, his rival, the one who haunted him for years— the one who manipulated him and groomed him into a child soldier— that   man had somehow found another way to haunt him, even after his death.

Dick knew it was wrong, but a part of him was so relieved when Nico killed Slade. He knew the man deserved to die, but it shouldn't have fallen on his little brother who already had too many burden to bear for a 14 year old. Slade deserved what he got, but Nico deserved better.

Nico deserved happiness and peace— something the kid had never really gotten much of in his life. He was 15, but Dick was pretty sure that if Nico was asked that last time he had truly been at peace, the kid would have probably said when he was dead.

And yet here they were again. Nico was gone, just like last time, only this time they couldn't even tell themselves that he was safe at camp. They had no clue where he was. He could dead for all they knew and they didn't have a prayer of even finding a body.

Nothing they did seemed to lead anywhere. This girl, the one Slade had manipulated— just like he had Dick— into trusting him, had taken his little brother.

He knew what it was like to be her— to be taken in by that man and made to believe that it was just... but he was furious. It felt like when Joker had taken Jason from them, only this time where was no quick answer. When they put Jason in the ground, it hurt more that Dick could have imagined, but at least they had that closure.

With this, it felt different. It was a hollow pain because there was no body, no proof that he was dead— just the empty feeling that came with know this their brother was gone, possibly forever.

"Guys!" Jason called, coming back into the cave, followed by the other three demigods and a girl in a white puffer jacket that he had never seen before. "We have a guest."

Bruce didn't look up from the computer. "If Tiffany is back, tell her that-"

"It's Thalia," Jason said, cutting off the man and making them all freeze.

Dick, his internal monologue completely silent for the first time in a while, slowly turned to stare at the girl. "Holy shit."

Jason nodded. "My thoughts exactly," he muttered.

The girl, Thalia, stepped forward. "What do you know so far?"

Bruce looked slightly surprised for a moment before a serious look took over his face. "We believe he was taken by the League of Assassins on the request of Tara Markov, a girl who we suspect was trained by Slade. We think she told the League about demigods and promised them that they could be made into soldiers."

Thalia's face was dark, the air in the cave seeming to feel charged with electricity. "I haven't heard any reports of unclaimed demigods going missing as of yet, but it's possible that they are finding ones that even we don't know about."

Dick nodded. "We don't know how they would even go about finding them. Nico told us that saytrs find the demigods for the DGs— but they would just be blindly testing."

Jason sat down in a chair, running a hand through his hair. "I mean, we know that it might not be beneath them. The kids being taken around the world are just blind guesses, but they're still managing to build an army of metas."

Thalia hummed in acknowledgement before looking to Annabeth and saying something in Ancient Greek. The daughter of Athena's eyes widened as she pulled out her phone, typing for a minute before putting it to here ear and walking off, the sound of her voice speaking urgently in the foreign language still echoing slightly in the cave.

Kay just shook her head, eyes holding disbelief. "No. No way."

Percy looked like he was struggling to keep his anger in as he began to pace.

Bryce's eyebrows were furrowed as he looked between the demigods. "What? Who is Annabeth calling?"

"Nyssa," Percy said, voice sounding strained. "She needs to see if they finished building something."

Dick looked at them in confusion. "Why are you being vague?"

"They don't want to believe that it's possible— that they could find us a whole lot easier than we think," Thalia said, crossing her arms.

"What?" Jason said, poorly hiding the fear in his voice.

Kayla was still shaking her head slowly, like if she did it enough, the truth of the situation would change. "Slade took Nico's blood— the first time he got his hands on him. After we dismissed the idea of him cloning Nico, we didn't really linger on why he took it."

Annabeth reentered the room. "They finished it," she said, her voice eerily calm. "I told them to load it in a van and bring it here."

"Finished what?" Dick asked, for once noticing the darkness of the batcave. He could have sworn it never used to feel that eerie.

Bruce seemed to understand what was happening. "A genetic sequencer. Nico said he might work with Leo on making something to figure out if demigods had a genetic marker."

Dick looked at his father with wide eyes. "I thought that didn't have a genetic marker."

"We'll find out soon enough," Annabeth said, a dark tone ever present in her voice. "They never tested it. Nyssa said that Nico didn't want to find out unless they had to and Leo agreed. Once discoveries are made, it is only a matter of time until the dates have their fun with it." 

A/N: ik with was sort, but I am building up... and also I have been slacking on writing. Also, sorry about not posting yesterday. I went to visit some friend sand ended up staying the night, completely forgetting to post that there would be no chapter. My B. 

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