Ghost King Meets Batman

Where's Jason?

[Edited April 25, 2023]

[Jason Grace guys, not Jason Todd]

The next morning Nico packed a bag with godly food, a couple of changes of clothes, his dagger, a pouch of batarangs (which he could throw fairly accurately), some drachmas, and some water. He wasn't planning on staying too long, but he didn't know how many times he could shadow travel in a row. He needed to be prepared to stay the night somewhere if he ran out of energy. At least he knew about some safehouse in both California and China in case he got stuck somewhere.

 Hades had warned him not to over-extend himself when it came to his powers as he wasn't sure what would happen. It was possible that he would melt into Shadows like Hitler had-- leaving no trace that he had ever existed in the first place. It was a sobering thought, one that convinced the son of Hades not to test his limits too harshly. 

The son of Hades ate breakfast with the bat fam and explained that he had packed provisions in case the 3 or 4 shadow jumps in a row proved to be too much. With luck, he would be back by tonight though it was more likely that would be back by tomorrow afternoon instead. After breakfast, Nico said his goodbyes and his brothers wished him luck. Bruce reminded him that the phone only had one number on it so he couldn't get confused and reminded him of the address of a safe house that he had in California should he need it.

After Nico had said his farewells, he headed to his room to find a dark corner. He had to go to the Underworld first and just pray that the Romans would allow him to stay at their camp if he needed to-- though he wasn't hopeful. First was the Underworld, then the Roman camp, then back. It might end up being 4 jumps if he had enough energy to go see Hazel. Really, he should just skip visiting Hazel, but he wanted to see her. It had been a while since he had heard from her and he wanted to make sure that she was still ok. He owed her that much.

Since it had been faster last time to just ask Hades first, Nico would start there. If Hades didn't know, he would search for Jason's soul himself. Nico pictured the grand entry hall in his mind and he felt himself dissolving. Nico reemerged from the darkness and shivered. No matter how many times he did it, the sudden cold chill always got him.

Nico didn't want to stay in the underworld for long so he wasted no time in entering the throne room, where Hades usually keeps a small portion of his consciousness. This part of Hades was talking to Persephone, who had come to spend her term in the Underworld. As he approached, the demigod could tell that they were talking about Pamela.

"Nico," Persephone greeted with slightly less disdain than usual, "I see you have allied yourself with that crazed dryad-human hybrid. I like her, don't you dare hurt that woman."

"I wasn't planning on it, my lady," he responded, trying to be civil. Persephone looked at him suspiciously before processing out of the room.

"What did you want, son?" Hades said tiredly. Persephone and her mother did that to him. He knew Hades loved Persephone, but the first month of winter was always the worst because Demeter had nothing better to do than pester them.

"I just wanted to know if Jason Grace died?"

"That Roman boy? Has he disappeared too?" Hades didn't really sound surprised.

"Yes, Father. The Romans asked me to check for him here," Nico replied.

"They would, wouldn't they," Hades muttered disdainfully. Nico didn't know what his father meant, but he didn't question it.

"Reyna promised Hazel a probatio status, as long as she had a sponsor if I did this for them. It seemed to be a good trade." Nico defended himself.

"Indeed, good work." Hades nodded approvingly. Nico couldn't believe what he had heard for a moment. Did he approve? It wasn't often that Hades voiced his opinion-- in approval or otherwise. Nico's chest filled with pride.