When Worlds Collide

112) Big Athena Brain Moment

-Tim POV-

By day 10 of Nico being gone, the manor was becoming overly crowded. Each time they got a step closer to finding the missing team, they somehow needed more and more backup.

17 demigods, a cyclope, one retired hero, two Superboys, one speedster, an archer, and all the bats.

Suffice to say, everyone was overwhelmed... except Alfred. Alfred was their rock.

"Babs, do you have the-" Tim began to say but the ginger was already handing him the file before he could even finish asking for it. "Thanks."

The girl didn't even look away from the computer. "No problem. Could you pass me-"

He passed her the coffee pot.

"Thanks."

Tim's eyes scanned the file, mind trying to tune out the sounds of the busy cave behind him.

"Tim!" Someone called out from across the cave.

"Yeah?" He called back, eyes now darting between the computer monitors and the file in his hand.

"Come here."

Tim let out a breath before standing up and crossing the room to where Karen stood with Kay, Annabeth, Bruce, and Wally.

"What's up?"

Karen turned the tablet in her hand to face him. "We've confirmation that it's possible to test for demigods without using celestial bronze."

Tim felt fear race through his body as he grabbed the tablet, eyes darting across the screen as he took in the information.

"They would need highly advanced tech, but it is more than possible for them to do it," Bruce said, his eye bags extremely well pronounced against his pale skin. "The League of Assassins could probably afford it, but I think that if they got this tech, it would be through someone else. They wouldn't spend this much money just for advanced soldiers, not when Meta testing is so much cheaper."

Tim nodded, typing for a moment on the tablet, exporting the information to his computer, before handing it back. "I'll look into it."

Bruce gave a nod before the small group turned their attention back to the tablet and he returned to his computer screens. Instantly he was comparing the technology needed to test for demigods with the super villains who had a predisposition for tech.

His first thought was that it was Granny Goode, the woman behind a massive meta trafficking ring that Garf had just recently uncovered, but he purged that idea from his mind. Her meta testing was mostly done through people using her VR goggles and that wouldn't be too effective on demigods who avoided technology. Even before they know what they are, the kids usually have the instant to not mess with the stuff.

There were hundreds of megalomaniacal rich people that could have gotten involved, but Tim had a feeling about who it was.

Lex Luthor.

He had absolutely nothing to back it up, but he felt like he was right. The man had been keeping a low profile since the team's disappearance, but that could have also been justified through the fact that he didn't want to receive flack from the public over his apathy about their disappearance.

"Bruce, Kaldur is reaching out again," Barbra called over the sounds of what felt like a million people in the batcave.

"Dick, can you handle that?" Bruce said, eyes still locked on the tablet screen as Kay seemed to be explaining something.

Dick groaned, but still crossed to the batcomputer and clicked the answer button, causing Kaldur's face to appear on the screen.

"Nightwing," Kaldur said, eyes immediately taking in the overwhelming number of teens on the cave behind Dick.

"It's fine, they all know everyone's identities," Dick said, chuckling lightly.

Kaldur nodded. "I wanted to see if you had any new leads on where the New Olympians are. The League wants to help-"

"No more backup!" Thalia yelled from her place in the training area where she was currently fighting Cass. "We have enough."

Tim snorted at that. "She's not wrong."

Dick ran a hand through his hair. "I have to agree. We should have more than enough people to pull off the raid when we finally get a location."

"I've narrowed down the possible holding locations to 9 different bases," Tim supplied, knowing he was about to be asked. "I'm trying to get it down to at least 5 so we can raid all of them, but it's impossible to tell which ones are fake and which are real."

Lou Ellen walked over to him, Cecil following close behind, as she looked at the map he had marked. "Why these 9 bases?"

"They've all had abnormal activity in the past two weeks," Tim said, pulling up the data he had collected. "Higher ups in the League of Assassins have been seen going between them, but they never stay for long. It's like they are taunting us."

Annabeth joined the demigods looking over his shoulder and hummed. "What if none of them are fake? We have 10 missing people, and 9 bases. They could be holding them at separate locations, ensuring that if they get raided, they won't loose them all."

Tim's eyebrows furrowed. He had considered it to be an option, but it seemed unlikely. "They would be splitting their people between not only 9 different bases, but between 9 countries. It seems like a waste of resources and time to force them to travel between so many places. Plus, why not 10 if they want to keep everyone separated."

Cecil shrugged. "It would be a waste of resorces, but it would also be the safest option. If someone got free of whatever they are using to keep them contained, they wouldn't want to risk them freeing the others— especially if it was Nico or Hazel that got free. They could shadow travel everyone out and then they would loose all of them."

"As for why they have 9 bases instead of 10, they probably doubled up some people. Maybe since Hazel and Nico have the same type of powers, their being held together. Or maybe its Caly and Rach since neither of them are demigods," Annabeth said as he eyes studied the map. "Plus, making the bases far apart would mean limiting how many raids could be done by the team if they got free. Nico is a lot stronger than he used to be, but he still couldn't shadow travel to all the bases and still have enough energy to fight. They're ensuring the team's failure by having multiple bases.

The cave was silent after Annabeth finished talking and Tim knew exactly why.

What she said made sense. It was exactly the type of thing the LoA would do, and everyone knew it.

They finally had something to do.

Bruce set down the tablet he was holding, the sound echoing slightly in the silent cave. "Everyone, suit up." 

A/N: I am currently dog sitting for a neighbor and have to spend the night in their house and it is so tiring. The dogs are cute but so needy, so I fully just didnt edit this chapter lol. Hope it was fine.

Vote. Comment. Tell me if you sleep with a stuffed animal (I don't bring it with me when I travel, but when I'm at home I sleep with an Appa stuffed animal).