Ghost King Meets Batman

It's Starting

  [Edited July 18, 2022]

Nico woke up to find a dim light coming through the plant-covered curtains, and he groggily wondered where he was. It didn't take him long to remember and the events at the mountain made him cringe. That definitely could have gone better. There wasn't a lot of light coming through the gaps in the curtains so he guessed it was probably still early, though he couldn't really get a read for what time it was just by that alone. He sat up on the musty bed and rubbed his nose to keep from sneezing. Nico didn't really have allergies, but the amount of pollen in this place was ridiculous.

Nico could hear Ivy down the hall fondly cursing at her plants. It was an odd thing to listen to, but somehow also endearing in a way. The demigod stood and stretched, his muscles tight from the lumpy mattress and the fight the day before. It had been a while since he had used his sword and he could feel that coming back to bite him now. The mattress was understandably worn down, which didn't help matters. It wasn't like Ivy had guests often, so she had probably never felt the need to get better mattresses.

The son of Hades changed out of the ridiculous hoodie that he had worn yesterday and slipped on a long sleeve black shirt. It was chilly in that room because the plants had infested the air ducts, stealing all the warmth but he couldn't blame them. It got pretty chilly outside in Gotham. Though he wished they had saved some heat for him, as he was already shivering. The cold drove him into putting the infernal hoodie back on for the leftover body heat. He didn't have another pair of pants to change into since the other pair had a bite mark in them, so he was stuck in the army-style cargo pants. He hadn't packed for the entire week at the mountain, having talked to the boys who said they had a method of washing his clothes. The clothes were nice, but they weren't exactly inconspicuous and he didn't want to be noticed right then as he made his way back to Wayne Manor.

Wayne Manor. The house of the Waynes. That thought gave Nico a pause because, until that moment, he hadn't really realized that he was technically a Wayne too. If he wanted to, he could change his name to Nico di Angelo- Wayne. That just wasn't right. He decided to put a pin in that line of thinking to pick up later-- he had things to do and places to be. He knew that it was high time that he headed back to the manor as the boys were probably getting worried by now. They were supposed to check in regularly during events like this, but that wasn't really possible without tipping Ivy off about the Bat's identity. Why else would someone like the new Wayne boy have a direct line to Nightwing?

Nico would have headed back to the manor as soon as he left the mountain except for the fact that: 1) he didn't want to be alone in that huge house, and 2) he wouldn't have been able to do what he needed to do because Bruce probably had ways of knowing if and when the boys left the house. He knew he was safe with Ivy and that she would stay out of his business. She wasn't a conventional mother, maybe, but she was pretty good by demigod standards. Sort of like a slightly crazy, plant-obsessed, villain version, of Sally Jackson.

Nico slung his backpack over his shoulder and went out into the living room to find Ivy concentrating on some of her more... poisonous specimens. She had warned him not to get too close, not knowing if the immunization that she gave him covered these specimens. Nico headed into the kitchen and grabbed a red apple. It was probably the best apple he had ever tasted. The son of Hades set his bag down on a chair, wanting to make sure Ivy knew he was leaving and hadn't been taken. He laid the portrait of Percy out on the table for her to use as a search parameter. Then he walked back into her living room. Nico thought that 'living room' was a rather fitting name for it because the room was so overgrown with ivy and other foliage that it could be considered a living organism itself.

Nico watched over Pam's shoulder as she took toxicity tests and soil samples. It was really quite an interesting process. If he had any skill with plants, he'd want to try it himself. Pam turned around, gingerly holding a test tube full of soil. When she finally noticed him, she almost backed right into her shelf of plants. It was just luck that she hit her head on a hanging flower basket before she did. She muttered in annoyance as she rubbed her head. Her hair was more frizzy than it normally was, or he thought it was at least.