When Worlds Collide

109) Wow! This is a Chapter!

-Cass POV-

They didn't expect the call that came.

The Waynes were chasing their leads— though it seemed more like they were chasing their tails at that point— while the rest of the Bat's kept a look out on the city.

They all wanted to find Nico, but there was a point where too many people looking at the same thing stopped being helpful and just became destructive.

"You ready to go?" Barbra asked, moving towards the door of the apartment. "Steph is out front."

Cass gave a short nod, grabbing her bag off of the floor next to the couch and following Babs out into the hallway.

"Why call?" Cass muttered, knowing Barbra would understand what she meant.

The ginger just gave a weak shrug as the elevator opened, wheeling herself in. "Dick just said 'Nico's cousin is here and demanding that more women work on finding him'. Even I don't know what they means. Maybe Percy is tired of them?"

Cass followed Babs out of the elevator and onto the street, helping her get into the passenger seat of the car before stowing the wheelchair and getting into the back seat next to Duke.

"Anyone else confused about the text from Dick?" Steph asked as she began driving the familiar path to the manor.

"Maybe Percy is just tired of the Waynes?" Duke pitched.

Babs laughed. "That's what I said."

The rest of the ride was mostly silent, filled only with the quiet sound of the radio that wasn't quite off, but Cass knew it wasn't comfortable silence. Everyone in the car seemed to be soundlessly screaming with anxiety. Rigid posture, tense shoulders, arms crossed, yet fingers fidgeting— everything they did told Cass that they were worried. Even if the call for backup came with an explanation, that didn't change that the Bat allowed backup to be called.

By the time they reached the manor, the air in the car seemed thick with silent anxiety. They all got out of the car and made their way to the cave, immediately noticing the teenage girl with short hair that they had never seen before.

With one glance, Cass knew she was powerful, everything about the girl's stance told as much, but there was an aura of fear surrounding her as well. She hid it well, but it was still there. The way her eyes shifted when she looked at the screen of the batcomputer or how she ground the heel of her shoe slightly as she stood— every action was a scream of fear.

"Thalia," Cass said, understanding in an instant who the girl had to be.

Thalia turned to look at her, sizing her up for a moment before giving a nod of acknowledgment to the group. "Finally. I could not be surrounded by men any longer."

"The Wayne's are known for their boys," a familiar voice said from the entrance behind them. "If you wanted to be with women, it would have been better to visit the Birds of Prey."

"Selina," Bruce said, a small, almost indiscernible, smile tugging at his lips. Cass watched as his tensed shoulders relaxed only slightly at the mere presence of her.

The woman smiled, crossing the room and setting a hand on the man's shoulder. "I came as soon as I got the text from Dick."

Dick shrugged. "Thalia wanted women, so I texted the lot. Kate and Harper should be here soon too."

Bruce gave a grunt of acknowledgment as he set his hand on top of Selina's. "I'm glad you came."

"Gross," Thalia muttered as she watched the interaction and rolled her eyes. "Does she know?" she asked, looking to the Bat.

"Yes," Cass answered as Bruce opened his mouth to say 'no'.

Everyone but Selina looked at her in surprise. "What?"

Selina left Bruce's side and crossed to Annabeth, swiftly grabbing the knife from the girl's sheath and pricking her finger with it. "Surprise."

Bruce looked at the women with wide eyes. "What?" He repeated, apparently not expecting this at all. His eyes then looked to Cass. "How did you know?"

Selina answered for her. "Cass attempted to test me after she found out she was one. I stopped her and told her that I already knew. I went to Camp for a couple of summers as a kid, but when I realized that Gotham kept most fo the monsters out, I stayed here."

"You're demigod?" Jason asked.

Selina smiled. "Hermes is my father— gave me my knack for lock picking and thievery. I never met him, but I like to think that I made him proud."

Bruce looked like his brain shut off and was resetting itself.

"Cool," Kate said as she walked towards the group.

Selina just smiled at the red head. "Long time no see Batwoman."

Kate scanned the room after giving Selina a smile. "Where are Damian and Tim?"

"Nico wanted us to keep up appearances if he went missing," Dick said while checking his watch, brain probably still trying to catch up with everything that was going on. "They went to school with Miss Martin who is posing as Nico. Alfred should be going to pick them up soon though."

Harper took that moment to come down the stairwell, making her presence known. "They get to skip school? If I ever go missing, make sure my brother doesn't skip."

Jason chuckled. "They're being pullout early because Nico's favorite teacher, Mr. VH, would immediately know something was off if he talked to M'gann."

Thalia laughed at that. "Neeks likes  a teacher? That's a first."

Harper raised an eyebrow, having spent the least time with the son of Hades out of everyone there except maybe Selina. "He not a fan of school or something?"

Bruce, whose brain finally seemed to be working properly, just ran a hand through his hair. "Nico's old headmaster once tried to kill him and his sister."

Harper looked at Bruce with wide eyes. "Huh. Well... that'll do it."

Bruce just looked back to Dick. "Any other surprise guests you invited?"

Dick shrugged. "Not really. I told Batwing to be on standby in case we need to move out, so Gotham will be covered."

"Luke is great, but he can't cover the whole city-" Bruce began to say, but Duke cut him off.

"I reached out to some people from my old 'we are robin' cell," he said with a smile. "Riko, Isabella, and Dax are ready to give any back up. Plus, Dre is still trying to lone wolf it out there, but I told him to be careful. If any of them need it, he'll be ready to help."

Bruce didn't seem to love that idea, but he trusted Duke enough to let his friends cover the city if he thought they were ready for it.

"Do we know when Nyssa will be here?"

Annabeth checked her phone. "Tracker says they're 10 minutes out."

"They?"

Kayla rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous laugh. "Well... we kinda needed a bigger sample size than just the 3— or I guess 4– of us here."

Dick could feel in his soul that this was not going to turn out well. "How many more?"

A/N: twas shortish, but that's life. 

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