Ghost King Meets Batman

People are Complicated

 [Edited July 20, 2022]

The next morning, Nico woke up early from a strange dream he couldn't remember the details, but he knew that it had been about Hera and the quest. It had seemed important at the time but it was all fuzzy now. Still, it was disturbing and he knew that it would be pointless to try and fall asleep again, though he was still tired. He got up and went to his bathroom to shower and try to ground himself from the chaos of the last several days. It felt like he hadn't been able to slow down since Bruce left and his luck didn't show signs of improving.

Nico showered and changed into clean clothes-- it helped more than he thought he would. It was peaceful and comfortable in the manor and he considered for the millionth time just staying as he reluctantly packed another overnight bag for the mountain. When he was finished, he hauled his bag down to the kitchen to search for a granola bar. He packed a few more just in case he wanted to skip an awkward group breakfast or something and ate one for breakfast before heading down to the cave to grab his uniform.

He didn't think he'd need his uniform, but it couldn't hurt to bring it along just in case. The son of Hades sat on the training platform since he still had an hour or so before the people at the mountain would be expecting him and he was all packed. It was a habit of his to either run late or be ready hours in advance-- there was no in-between. Since he was ready, there was nothing left for him to do except sit and dread facing his brothers. They were going to strangle him and finish what Slade started. Eventually, the silence and stillness became too much for him to stand so he busied himself by drawing Deathstroke as he had appeared when he had been standing over him. Nico worked on it until he got a text from Dick.

He had his text-to-speech feature read it out.

"Hey, are you coming to the mountain? We've told the others that you've been invited back since now even Deathstroke seems to be after you." 

Nico pressed record, "Yeah, I'll be there as soon as I have everything packed. Again." He'd done so much packing recently that he wasn't sure he even had all his things anymore. He could have forgotten things in any number of places. Jason's safehouse, Camp Half-Blood, the Mountain, or even that weird building Deathstroke had dragged him to. He'd had a very eventful last few days.

Nico packed his sketchbook into his bag and headed over to the zeta beams. It took him a moment to remember how to operate the system but he soon figured it out. Bruce had made everything voice-activated so that he never had to read anything. It meant memorizing more codes than any of the other boys, but it was the most accessible option for him. 

"NA 1604" Nico spoke as he came up to the tubes.

"Destination?" A feminine voice asked pleasantly. It was the same voice that the Bat Computer used.

"Mount Justice Base."

"Confirmed."

 When he stepped through the beam, he found the entire team waiting for him on the other side. This time they were all abuzz; talking amongst themselves in hushed voices and glancing at him discreetly. Ghost waved awkwardly, not quite sure what to say. Most of them had seen him tied up by one of their most dangerous villains only hours earlier after all.

"Dude... you're friends with Poison Ivy? That's totally crash!" Mini flash II raced around him as he came down the steps; how the boy didn't trip was beyond him. Did he skip the steps entirely?

"Crash?" The son of Hades wrinkled his nose. Nico thought he had gotten caught up with the lingo of this age, but he had never heard anything like that before. The speedster said it like it was a compliment, but a crash was something you tried to avoid. It didn't make sense. He looked at the others for assistance, presumably, they would know what it meant.