Don't Fear the Reaper

66) I Saw, I Came, I Conquered

A/N: all these recent chapters have been short, but I'm just proud of myself for scrapping together enough braincells to actually write lol

If Nico didn't think that Percy would somehow manage to find him, he would have thrown himself in the ocean and let himself drown on his first day in the Mountain.

The bedroom they gave him was fine; just a simple room carved out of the thick stone of the mountain that had a lofted bed with a desk underneath and a set of empty drawers. He was  adamant about staying in there for as long as he could, but people just kept knocking on the door.

First it was Kaldur, who had come by to further explain the rules of the Mountain and quickly go over who everyone was. The man was polite and very to the point—traits that Nico could appreciate—though he seemed to want the demigod to interact with the others and he was not  on board with that.

Then it was Cassie: a girl who looked to be around 17 that seemed exceedingly nervous to meet him. Dick had explained that she was a legacy of Zeus who Wonder Woman had taken under her wing. She had introduced herself in Ancient Greek, though it was clear that she hadn't spoken it in a long time, and tried to assure him that she would be ready in case of any attacks, but Nico could tell that the prospect of fighting monsters made her worried. He had asked her if she had any actual experience doing it and had to hold in a groan when she explained that she had maybe fought 5 in her entire life.

Then came M'gann. The Martian was cheery and nice and Nico was instantly annoyed. He knew she was just trying to welcome him in the only way she knew how—asking him to join her in the kitchen to try the cookies she made—but that was really not the energy he wanted to be around in that moment... or any moment. When he turned her down, she took it in stride and left; however, the others were apparently less amenable.

"Dude, come on," someone called from the door, knocking once again. "You gotta try M'gann's cookies. They aren't even burnt this time."

Nico frowned at the door, wondering how 'not burnt this time' was supposed to be a selling point. He let out a huff of air, setting aside his knitting needles, and finally approached the door. He pulled his mask over his nose and pushed the button to open the door, revealing the younger speedster and a guy in a blue full body armor type suit.

"There he is!" the ginger said with an excited smile. "Come on!"

Nico debated just closing the door again and ignoring them, but he realized that doing that would just result in more and more people coming to bug him. He rolled his eyes and stepped out of the room, begrudgingly following the duo down the hallway.

"So, how long have you know the Bats?" the guy in the blue and black body armor, who Nico was pretty sure was named Blue Beetle, asked. 

Nico snapped his fingers once, getting them both to look behind them as they walked, before he signed, "I have known them for a bit under a year."

The speedster switched into the role of interpreter without thought, filling Blue Beetle in on what he said, before casually saying, "I'm kinda jealous. The Bats are kinda legends around here. Not just anyone can join them, especially so soon after meeting them."

"It's not exactly a willing partnership," Nico signed, already exhausted by the interaction.

"Damn hermano, that's almost more  impressive," Blue said with a chuckle. "The Bats are pretty strict about the whole 'no powered people in our city ' thing, but they are actually getting you to join em. I mean, I only saw you fight Robin once, not to mention the way you defended yourself when we accidentally attacked you—sorry about that by the way—but I see why they want you. You're kinda a beast in combat."

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean?" Impulse asked, looking at him in confusion.

Nico pulled back his sleeves to reveal the stygian iron ringlets that were sealed tightly on his wrists. "They stop my powers."

Both of the teens looked at him in shock, the speedster trying to cover his up with an anxious laugh as he said, "well, there go our plans for surprise attacks."

Nico didn't validate him with a response, just continuing down the hallway until they got to the kitchen.

"Oh my gosh!" M'gann said excitedly as she spotted the trio. "You actually got him to leave his room—here, try a cookie!"

A tray of cookies was thrust towards him, the alien looking at him excitingly as he begrudgingly took a cookie. He lifted up the bottom of his mask and took a bite, awkwardly giving the girl a thumbs up when she asked if he liked it.

If Nico was honest, the cookies were only okay. While he didn't make a habit of eating sweets, he'd definitely had better—namely Alfred and Sally's cookies—but she didn't need to know that.

"So, how's the transition been with staying here?" a blonde in a green costume asked, looking like she was trying her best to be nice despite her general energy of 'I don't care'. "If you need anything for your room or something like that, we can get you whatever you need."

"It's fine," Nico signed, moving to leave, but he was stopped by someone calling out to him.

"Wait!" Beast Boy called, making Nico turn to look at him. "We... well, we have nightly training in about half an hour and Nightwing said you were allowed to join if you wanted."

Nico looked at the kid in confusion before looking at the others in question, all of them nodding in confirmation. "He said I was allowed to train?"

Superboy shrugged. "Yeah, he said you were fully healed from 'the incident'—whatever that means—and that Batman said you were cleared for training. He also said that you could do hand to hand sparring if you wanted, but that any armed spars had to be supervised by a Bat or Black Canary."

Nico just gave him a nod, his mind whirling, before turning and leaving. 

A/N: I'm finally having thoughts again, however most of them have just been the lyrics of fireball on repeat... 

Vote. Comment. Tell me who you think the main villain of this book will me (I just kinda finalized my plan in my head like yesterday, so now I wanna hear your theories lol).