The Shadows of Gotham

Chapter Two

Batman pov

When the boy was cornered, Bruce was ready to jump down to fight one of his greatest foes when he noticed the boys demeanor. The small teen showed no fear and instead seemed angry at the intimidating mad man. Hearing some scratching from behind him, Batman put his arm out as a silent command. Red Robin reluctantly resumed his previous position to watch what was happening below them. They saw something that surprised them greatly. Fear. Genuine fear in the Joker's eyes. Even if it was hidden under all those layers of crazy, it was there. This was something not even Batman's apprentices could pull off. Quickly the clown rushed towards the small boy. From their stance, the five superheros on top of the buildings could only see the boys back. In a blink of the eye the thin teen had flipped the much heavier man over him. What he had done required training, Bruce knew. This boy had so many questions floating around him that by the time he had started walking away the old bats mind hurt from thinking. As the strange character walked away the tone he used sent shivers down the man's spine.

After sending his other three charges to collect the Joker, Batman and Nightwing continued to follow the teen.

The boy seemed to be pulled in a direction, lead solely by instinct. Every once in a while the thin teen would turn his head as if listening. After two blocks of walking he grew tense and began making sharp turns and quickened his pace. The two heroes had trouble keeping up.

 In front of them appeared a graveyard. There were lines of headstones that had been completely toppled, the names no more than a few letters broken away from the rest. Batman found the odd character staring down at one of the broken graves. A look of disgust and pity filled his eyes. Trees shadows began to curve towards the boy too subtle for Batman to tell, but Nightwing noticed and his eyes grew in surprise. Bruce made up his mind of how to deal with the situation and jumped down from his perch with Nightwing in tow.

Nico's pov

After he had disappeared Nico decided to go where he felt most comfortable. Yep, a graveyard just like any regular teenage boy, of course being a demigod made it more acceptable. 

Demigods. 

Nico shivered from the thought of his friends. All of them had left camp to go on with their lives. All except Nico. He was left, forgotten. He had decided to leave the camp and all the people behind. Gotham was his first choice because of the barrier of madness around it. Monsters could enter but not many did due to the sheer amount of crazy inside the city limits. All Nico wanted was to avoid the people of his past. After the Titan war everyone forgot about him and treated him like a disease. It was either Gotham or the underworld and Nico preferred not to have dead guards surrounding him at all times. As he was stuck in his thoughts he sensed a presence behind him. Nico was being watched. He made his pattern sharp and random to throw them off. When he was pleased with his antics he resumed his walk towards the cemetery. He needed time to think. The great prophecy Rachel had spoken made his hands shake. All of their work to end the war would have to start all over if it came to pass. The cold air and dead quiet was comforting. He stared out at the broken headstones as his face formed a sneer. How people disrespected the dead made Nico mad, knowing one day they would become them. Behind him he could hear rustling noises. Nico turned a silver dagger in his pocket incase another madman tried to attack him. Two men walked out of the thick shadows of a tree, dressed in odd costumes. He knew he was out of date but this seemed far too out of reach compared to a computer.

"Who are you? Where are your parents?" The larger of the two men asked. He seemed to be trying to intimidate him. Nico had to stop himself from laughing, the man's ears were hilarious and no matter how good a glare he had Nico couldn't take him seriously.

"I could ask you the same thing" Nico countered "And who dresses like that, what is it Halloween?" The leaner man seemed confused and had a look of sadness about him.

The appearances alone were not the only thing bugging Nico. Both of these men were surrounded by so much death Nico would have taken them for demigods. No normal human had such a strong connection with death, not without going through enough pain to carve it into their very being.

"Where are your parents?" the man asked again.

"Dead." Nico said with finality. No one was allowed to see that part of his life, not after Percy.

Both of the strangers eyes softened. The oddly dressed men had a silent conversation before facing Nico again.

"Follow me." Ordered the larger man, turning not waiting for a reply. Nico followed now intrigued in where he was being lead. Not long after their walk began the trio stopped in front of a orphanage. The larger man turned and spoke with no room for disagreement.

"You will go in and tell them you need a place to stay, I will find someone to take you in within the week but only if you promise to stop lurking around at night." Nico was annoyed with the man treating him like everyone one else but nodded with a sour look on his face. He was a kid again, not able to look out for himself or smart enough to know how to. He hated it. As the men turned to leave Nico asked with a huff

"Will you at least tell me what your name is, I hate feeling behind." Both of them turned back and made eye contact with the boy as they said in turn.

"Nightwing." was the response of the leaner man.

"Batman." came the gruff voice again belonging to the larger shadow.

With their job finished they ran into the distance, jumping on fire escapes to the roofs of the tall, narrow buildings.

Nico turned and walked into the orphanage, his heels dragging. He was lead to a room and given a pair of pajamas. He fell asleep on the cheap mattress wondering what could the people Nightwing and Batman gone through to burn death into their soul.

Authors Note: Yo peeps I don't own anything, hope you enjoyed!