Illinois

CADMUS Labs

Prometheus strode only a few steps forward, keeping his back straight and face impassive. Robin felt Annabeth grip his tunic, pulling the material tighter in an almost protective stance. He rocked back a little and steeled himself, but the Titan was still almost football field lengths away, still so out of reach.

He tilted his head to the side. "I will always win," the Titan snapped, "I choose my sides deliberately. I win."

"Says the Titan who lost in the Titan War and then didn't bother showing up for the war against the Giants. If I didn't know better, I'd say you're a coward," Annabeth snapped, surprising both Robin and Percy. She let go of Dick's tunic, stabbing her small dagger at Prometheus as she stepped forward. The guards all lifted their guns, but Prometheus held up his hand.

"I won't downgrade your achievements, Annabeth Chase. Know Thy Enemy. However, I think you speak a little too freely. I have seen too much to be a coward, I've known too much," Prometheus said, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side. "Knowledge is power, Annabeth, you of all people should know this; you're the daughter of the goddess of knowledge."

"Wisdom," Annabeth snapped immediately. "She's the goddess of wisdom. There's a difference. Learn it." And as she said that, she spun and threw her dagger directly into the light switch by the door. It sparked dangerously and then the lights blew out with a cackle. Immediately, Dick grabbed Percy and threw them to the ground. He saw Annabeth barely grab Barbara. Shots began flying over their heads.

Prometheus was shouting something, and then Robin slunk over behind the loading crates, dragging his brother along with him. The wood splintered off around them, cracking. Robin held his sword in front of him, but lowered it to the ground in thought.

"You think Titans are susceptible to smoke?"

Percy blinked. "They have eyes?"

"Good enough," Robin chirped, and then threw out several smoke pellets. He touched an ear to his comm. "Head toward the exit, I'm going to open the doors."

In the distance, he heard Barbara scream. "Copy!"

"Subtle," Percy said behind him, taking out Riptide. "This won't help me, σκατά."

Robin spun out of his hiding spot, slamming his foot into the nearest guards knee and completely downing him. He hunkered down toward the lift doors. There was a small control panel on the far right side of the room, and he was completely having to cross the gunfire to get to it. He felt a shot whizz pass his ear and really wished Superboy was there to cover him. That'd be great. Robin flipped over another guard, who was spinning wildly in position, too scared to move with the combined smoke and the darkness. He slammed his fingers into the man's neck, feeling him immediately tense up, and then grabbed his hair and dragged his leg into the man's knee. He was down in an instant.

Robin spun back around, bringing his leg down on the back of another guard, and then flipped over to the control panel. He wrenched the handle down just as a bullet shot the wall next to him, forcing him to turn the other way and pray, pray, pray that no more would come. As the handle clicked into the place, the doors began to open. The building was filled with a large rumbling, and light flooded in where the doors opened. The smoke almost was completely dissipated, filtering the bright flood lights before being swept away by the Titan.

Prometheus was still in the center. His eyes glowed a dangerous gold.

Robin snapped out his sword. The guards that were remaining, that Dick hadn't taken out or even Annabeth and Barbara, hefted their guns up and pointed them around. Robin slunk back behind another crate, peeking over to watch. In the distance, he saw Annabeth and Barbara's moving forms. They were grey shadows through the remaining fog but were making their way toward the exit. Good.

He moved around to another crate, throwing out his projectiles and knocking several guards out.

Prometheus shouted loudly into the warehouse. "Don't hide, boy!"

So Dick didn't. He moved out, jumping to just a few meters away from the being.

The Titan moved to lift his hand but Dick sprang across the distance between them, moving faster than he ever had before. Just as the Titan was about to strike, a knowing smile on his face, Robin dropped to the ground and slid beneath him. His sword cut through the neat pants the Titan wore, and through his ankle. As he pulled away and sprinted toward the exit, the Titan howled in pain. Dick didn't even bother to turn around as he followed the three other members of his little team.

The floodlights blinded him as they sprinted across the pavement, yelling and gunshots firing off around them. Robin dodged several men in uniform before he made it to the grass, shoving Barbara into the hole in the fence. She grunted as the metal scraped her arms but pulled herself through and took off.

"Lose the comms!" Robin yells as he follows behind Annabeth. She ditches it the second the words leave his mouth, and she's grabbing Barbara and pulling her behind her, tugging them further into the waist-high grass and out of the prying eye of the lights.

Percy was next and then Dick shoved his way through the metal, through down several exploding bird-a-rangs, and then bailed out of there, sprinting through the grass. Some several hundred meters away, they found themselves on a road.

In the distance, the wailing sirens and flashing of the lights could be seen. Dick had chucked his comm. out the moment he'd crossed that fence and completely shut down his hologlove too.

"We need to keep moving," Annabeth huffed between breaths. "Far. They're going to bring in things even demigods can't fight. And with what we saw…"

"Magic might not be good enough," Percy agreed grimly. He turned back to the two younger kids, his hand resting on Dick's shoulder. "Are you two okay?"

Robin huffed and put his hands on his hips, grinning weakly. "I should be asking you two rookies."

Annabeth scoffed. "Rookies. I've been doing this for five years."

Robin's grin widened. "Same here."

"Enough banter, please," Barbara said, "can we move? My… my side." They girl didn't even have a chance before Percy and Dick were at her side, gently lowering her to the ground. Dick pushed the awkwardness away as he lifted his friends shirt up and gently touched her side. She hissed a deep breath and Dick frowned with worry.

"Bullet grazed you, but pretty bad. It's still deep. You weren't shot, but you're gonna be a little bruised and in pain. I'm gonna wrap it, okay?" he said, gently lowering her sweater and looking the girl over.

Annabeth was holding her hand, smiling down at her. "You're strong. Dick's gonna wrap it." She looked up at Dick, her face a little disbelieving. He couldn't tell if it was because he was just that all around a well-rounded person and was medically trained, or if she couldn't believe that Barbara had gotten shot. Did demigods ever have to deal with guns? Probably not.

Dick looked around. "We can't do it here, they're gonna spread out and look for us. Hopefully, my little stunt with Promie brought us some time. He sounded pretty bad, and I only hit his ankle."

Annabeth hefted Barbara up into her arms with Percy's help, the two somewhat shouldering her together. They stood ready to follow Dick, and they slowly made their way through the grass back to the car. Back to civilization. Back toward the west.

Dick hoped the Titan would clear and building and the League could get there. Part of him wanted to stay in the line of trees in the distance, but he didn't. They needed to keep moving, and Barbara was hurt. Dick needed to get back so they could help her. She was more important than the League, and the mission. He focused on that as they walked.

"You damaged him pretty bad, I've never heard a Titan or god yell like that from getting cut," Annabeth said dryly.

"What can I say?" Dick shrugged, but it was half-hearted. "I'm a heavy hitter."

"You're like a 105 lbs wet, Dick," Percy said dryly. "And children of Poseidon don't even get wet."

Dick had half a mind to shove his brother if it weren't for the fact that he was holding Barbara. The girl was grinning weakly at all of them, and her sweater was a little stained, but she was holding out. She looked no paler than usual, and her bright eyes weren't unfocused. She was staring intently ahead of them. Dick had to resist the urge to turn back every once in a while and look at her, just to check. But he knew she was okay.

"Going back to the topic at hand," Dick said, "I'm surprised that we got out that easy."

"You call that easy?" Annabeth asked. "Getting shot at, fighting a Titan, and sprinting across an open yard with people firing at you?"

"Normally the entire place explodes," Dick said casually, "so I'd call this a win."

"Gods," the girl muttered, squeezing Barbara's shoulder a little too tightly as she pulled her up. She and Percy were almost a whole head apart, and he towered over her. Sharing someone leaning on both their shoulders made Percy have to bend his knees and walk. She was starting to just think it might be easier if they put the girl on his shoulders.

But then the car appeared in the distance. The yelling had since faded behind them, and they all trudged in and sat down in it. Shoulder Barbara, Annabeth squeezed both of them through the car door. The girl winced and wheezed a little as they went in, but she sat willfully calm as they all finally relaxed. It felt so strange, doing what they just had and then sitting on Bruce Wayne's fancy old sports car.

It was almost like they were regular teenagers out for a spin. And then Dick laughed, and she too found herself giggling.

"I can't believe we did that!" she exclaims, her voice still low as if speaking too loud would bring attention to them.

"I'm a war hero now," Barbara says as they all grin, and then they're reminded that they need to move and get her back. She's hurt and they're sitting there laughing. Percy is the one at the front seat, and he turns on the car and they peel down the road at breakneck speed. She can tell he wants to be out of there, and so she doesn't say anything as they pass several stop signs. She's not exactly known for following all the rules when it came to quests either.

Like the time she told the cab driver to keep her credit card for the Lotus Casino with an infinite amount of cash on it. She should've kept that. It could've been handy if it didn't track her either. There had to be some kind of magic they could use to keep the monsters off them— but it was their curse, an unwarranted burden placed on them at birth.

Dick pipes up, directing Percy to take a ramp onto the interstate. Annabeth frowns and leans forward.

"Where are we going? This isn't the direction of the house?"

"Chances are we could find monsters waiting there, or Prometheus. They're employing mortal tactics now and we can't risk them finding us," Dick explained, twisting around in his seat. His mask is still on his face, and it bothers Annabeth she can't see his eyes. She doesn't know what he's feeling, but she supposes that that's the point.

"Our bags," she stresses, "What about those?"

"Trunk," Dick said, "I already grabbed everything."

"Dick, you have to tell us these things," Annabeth said, her brow furrowing. "This isn't that big of a deal but I'd like to know what the plan is. We need to get Barbara back to the house—."

"I'm fine," the girl whispered. "We can keep going. We'll stop at a motel or something, right Dick?"

She said it a little forcibly and Dick kind of swallowed and nodded in agreement. "Right," he said, pulling back around and sinking lower into his chair. Annabeth frowned in thought, moving to rest her hand on Barbara red hair. The girl hummed and Annabeth smiled.

She could see that Dick clearly had issues with leadership— not with authority itself, but with being a leader. The kid was like his brother; he was a natural leader. He had a confidence, an ease, about him that it had taken even Percy a while to develop. Her boyfriend still found himself uncomfortable with leadership, with being the one in charge. Anyone who got hurt was under his care. She didn't know what Dick did as Robin, but that meant he worked with Batman, a hero well-respected in both the mortal and the magical world.

He couldn't be an easy person to work with. In fact, Annabeth imagined that Dick had to strive to be a leader like Batman. Was he pushed too hard? He hadn't even known he was a demigod for very long and Dick already had had a difficult life, of heartache and pain. Their talk in the car had been eye-opening for her. She wondered what kind of a life a hero led. It was true that she couldn't often talk to most mortals her own age. She didn't know music or books. Her job was working as the official architect of Olympus and designing monuments to gods and beings older than the country she was born in. Older than most of the countries in the world.

Even though Dick lived in the quote-unquote "real world", how much of his time did he actually spend living in it? He hadn't had a favorite band or song. Did he read anything other than for class?

Annabeth leaned back against the seat, worried for the boy in front of her and the girl next to her. Behind them, a bright light lit up the sky. Cars around them all stopped, and Percy slammed on the brake. The car spun to the side and all four of them, even Barbara, looked out the window to the east. A large orange light protruded into the dark atmosphere and then faded into the background. Dick immediately cursed in some other language Annabeth had never heard before and then spun around.

"They blew up the lab," he cursed. "That means anything the League could've found is—."

"Useless," Percy muttered, turning the wheel and getting the car back on track. "You got the information to them, right?"

"Hacked the Leagues codes," Barbara said before Dick could reply. "They got it. Talked to Martian Manhunter."

"How's your side feeling?" Percy asked, wincing as he looked back at Barbara briefly. The car swerved a little to the right and Annabeth hissed his name.

"Fine. Okay. I'm holding it," the girl sighed. "I'm not as tired. Keep driving, I'll be okay."

Percy didn't reply as they sped forward past lights and midnight towns. Annabeth settled to keeping the girl talking and the two discussed mundane things. Barbara's school, her dad's job at the GCPD, living in Gotham. Annabeth talked about her dad's job as a professor. It went unmentioned what happened there, but Annabeth knew that if they were in a more private setting she'd be more willing to discuss it. Barbara never once mentioned her mother, so there seemed to be a small agreement there between them.

As the night continued, their conversation delved to talking about the quest, to discuss exactly what they were, and typically what they entailed. Annabeth found herself reminiscing about her first quest, back when she and Percy had been twelve, and enjoyed talking about how the two had met. They talked about magic, what little Annabeth knew, and how Gotham sort of had a magic to it in little ways.

And then Annabeth found herself listening to stories about the city, about how in the East Glen park there was a statue that almost seemed to change with the seasons. There was a bridge by the school that seemed to go on for miles, even if it was only supposed to cross over a small river from the bay. The cities docks were expansive and long and never seemed to end, even if half of them weren't used. The Batman used to be an urban legend, a myth Barbara remembered hearing about from kids in her school when she still went to the public school by her house. Bats and owls roamed the city; they were myths that leaped from shadows and rested in dark corners.

It rained more days than the sun shined, and even the days the sun was shining it was still partly cloudy. Heavy fog was common and the buildings rose above it all and faded like blue and grey watercolors. The way she described the city made Annabeth think of old grey paintings. Everything was heavy and grey and blue and dark. The architecture was spiked towers and made of neon lights, with gargoyles and ancient gothic architecture looming over a modern city that seemed to drag it back down to the swamp it had been built on. It almost made her want to visit the city less if the dark greyness that Barbara described were anything to go by.

But it was changing, slightly. The weather was something that would always be the same, but the color had slowly started to find its way back to the city. Barbara had mentioned quietly under the cover of her sweatshirt that the circus had brought a lot of life to the city, but even then Gotham had managed to corrupt that. Annabeth found herself looking at that boy in the passenger seat. He'd fallen asleep a long time ago, they'd silently checked when they were discussing the city.

"The circus, that's how he met Bruce Wayne right?"

Barbara nodded. "Yeah, he was there that night. Saw it happen. I remember when my dad came back. It was really late, but I'd stayed up because we were supposed to have dinner together. He didn't get back until almost two in the morning. He walked in the door and just leaned against it and ran his hand over his face. I was sitting on the couch, just watching. He was crying, and I'd never seen my dad cry like that, but he was crying and just gestured for me to come over. So I did, and he hugged me. I didn't even know what happened."

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Did he tell you?"

The girl nodded, turning a little in her chair to better face the blonde. She rested her feet up on Dick's chair. "The next morning he sat me down at breakfast. He said, 'Barbara, I need you to understand what happened last night.' And I just said okay. He said, 'A young boy lost his whole family last night because someone wanted money. I want you to know, that I can't promise anything to you. My job means I might get hurt, alright? Sometimes we lose things, things that we can't replace. People are greedy and mean and are terrible people and it might mean that I get hurt.' I told him I knew that, that I knew he couldn't. We never talked about it after that, not even when I met Dick at school and we became friends a year later."

Annabeth smiled in thought. "He's right. Sometimes you lose things you can't ever replace, but you can make them up again. You can't have what you had before, but you can make something new."

"You think he's done that?" Barbara asked quietly. "You think he's done that with Bruce?"

Annabeth shrugged her shoulders. "You've known him longer than I have, Babs."

The girl frowned, sinking almost lower into her chair. "Maybe. I know he's happy there, but he's always so hesitant about calling him… dad. I could never pinpoint their relationship. It makes a bit more sense now that I know he's, you know, Robin. I always looked at them as father and son."

"I think Dick seems to think that," Annabeth agreed. "Just from his face when he doesn't think we're looking. He seems like he's missing someone."

Barbara hummed. "Hopefully he's really asleep, or this is about to be one awkward quest."

Percy ran his hand over Dick's face, waving it wildly before placing it back on the wheel. "He's definitely asleep."

"I forgot you were here too," Barbara admitted, her face glowing red as they passed under a neon sign.

Percy shrugged in the front seat. "I'm just the driver. Don't mind me."

Barbara halfheartedly shoved her foot at the back of Dick's chair, and the boy the laughed lightly. Silence fell again, until Annabeth noticed Barbara straighten quickly.

"Percy," the girl said, "I think we're being followed."

Annabeth whirled around, her hair hitting her face, but could only see the lights of the car behind them. It looked like a truck, possibly white or some other light color. It was uncomfortably close. She quickly sunk down into her chair.

"What do I do?" Percy asked, pressing down on the gas a little. Annabeth peeked over the seats. The truck had sped up too.

"How'd you know?" she asked.

Barbara leaned forward so she was between Dick and Percy's seats. "I just got my permit, so naturally my cop of a dad decided to show me how to spot a tail. Turn on your blinker to go left, but then head right."

"She's right," Dick's voice sounded, "We need to get off the highway."

The sound of the blinker echoed around the car, and just as the truck turned on its own blinker and began to switch to the left lane, Percy swerved right.

"Take this exit!" Barbara called, and Percy turned the wheel and slammed on the break. The car's wheels squeak and then they were speeding up the ramp and into an intersection.

"Do I—?"

"Blow through it!" Dick snapped, and Percy ran straight through the red light, spinning the car around the intersection as horns blared around them.

"Whoops," the son of Poseidon said, trailing down the road at 80 miles an hour. They all sat with their breaths held and their heads turning to look for the white truck. And then suddenly sirens blared behind them. Red and blue lit up the inside of the car, and Annabeth let out a string of colorful Greek words as she spun and stared at the cop car.

"It could be a monster," Percy said as he kept on going.

"We can't risk it," Dick shook his head, "Not if it's a real cop. Then we turn this into a chase." Then he looked down at his uniform. "Oh shit." Quickly, he removed his mask and threw it to the back with his cape. Annabeth stuffed them under Percy's seat. He removed his computers and threw them to the floor. "There a—?"

Annabeth chucked a sweater at him and he quickly threw it on.

"Been there done that," Percy muttered as the car began to decelerate. They stopped outside of a half-lit up convenience store, the sign flickering from Shelly's Convenience Store to "hell s Store". Around them were beat up shops and wide open streets. Cars sped by them, all slowing down to watch what was gonna happen.

Slowly, Percy rolled down the window as the cop approached. It was a skinny man with a greying goatee and sharp eyes. He leaned over the window and peered into the car. His eyes got squinty and he let his flashlight burn theirs.

He turned to Percy, straightening up. "Son, do you know how fast you were going?"

Percy's face, which had returned to its neutral place of 'perpetually brooding', stared at the cop in a deadpan. "I have no idea, Officer."

The cop snorted. "80 miles per hour, son. Do you know what the speed limit is in this area?"

Percy's eyes snapped to the front of the car and then back to the cop. "I don't know."

"35," the cop said, his voice dripping with a long shift. He pulled out a small notepad. "Now, can you do math? Or would that be too difficult for you? How much were you going over?"

Before Percy could say anything, Dick leaned forward with a small grin. "It was my fault officer! I was egging him on."

The officer leaned back, his eyes narrowing so much they were almost completely closed. "That so?"

Dick nodded seriously. "Oh yeah, you know. My dad let us borrow the car and, well, it goes fast so—."

"Should've expected as much from your kind. Did Daddy really let you borrow the car?" the cop said casually.

As he said it, Dick's face dropped its easy calmness. "You can call him. His name is Bruce Wayne."

"That supposed to impress me? I've never heard of him, get out of the car. Both of you," the cop demanded.

Dick sighed dramatically. "Listen, Mister, uh, sorry, Mr. Langstrumpf. I'm sure you've heard of WayneTech. It's kind of on that little device you used to figure out our speed, and given that we were, allegedly, going 45 over the speed limit you'd think you would know your tech."

The cop blinked.

"And who supplies it," Dick continued, his voice growing colder. "We're just a couple of kids messing around with my dad's stuff. I'll be sure to make sure Dan here goes the speed limit from now on given that it was my fault in the first place."

"You were going 45—."

Dick waved his hand through the air. "45, yeah, yeah, allegedly. But you might want to check on the guy who currently just went by going, you know, at least 90." And just at that moment, a car sped by them going far faster than they had been themselves. The cop stuttered for a moment and then jabbed his finger at them.

"This isn't over! Stay here!" he sprinted back to his car, sirens wailing, and he zipped by them after the Mustang.

Dick threw back his arm and gave Barbara a fist pump. She lifted her arm up and weakly jabbed his hand, and he would've smiled if he wasn't worried too much about her. He turned back to Percy, his lips drawing into a thin line. "Pull out and back East. We're going to have to take some backroads to keep the cops off our tail. He'll be back."

Percy shoved the car into drive, pulling out in front of a small Mazda. It honked it's horn loudly and Percy waved angrily back, switching over to the left lane and pulling around a sharp u-turn just as the light turned yellow. "I don't like this," he said, "Wouldn't it be better to be in plain sight?"

Dick's hand ran along the leather of the door, and he stared out beyond it as they turned onto Route 58 heading west. "The cops could be an issue, plus cameras. You guys wouldn't have to worry about those before, but Promie over there had someone tailing us. And that wasn't their only facility. I bet you they can get access to cameras."

"All of them?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "There's no way."

Dick shrugged nonchalantly, turning back to face her. "Batman and I can access almost every single camera in Gotham City in terms of watching street corners and figuring where someone is going. And that's just from the Batcomputer. The Watchtower is even more powerful, and Lex Luthor has his hands in Cadmus. He's not against doing illegal things so I bet you he has access to any camera he wants. It'll take time, obviously, but it's very possible."

Annabeth frowned at the thought. He wasn't wrong. They'd just been in a facility where there was a possibility that humans could make clones. Did the gods know about all this? Were they aware of, really, how far humanity had come since they'd been given the flame? Clones and computers and technology? Superheroes that weren't children of demigods, but that were from other planets and worlds whose DNA was so different and strange some of them might not even be called human anymore?

Because while Annabeth and other demigods all appeared human, it was difficult to muster that they were, technically, a different species altogether. Half-god and half-human. But the gods didn't look at them like that. They were just human enough to be different, just enough to be mortal. But they were heroes nonetheless. Annabeth was done pretending she wasn't good enough.

Humanity had come far. She was proud to be a part of it.

Outside Camp Half-Blood

Early Morning, Eastern Seaboard

Reyna did not like the feeling the in the air. It was heavy, like a dense, thick fog. And it wrapped around her and her Legions like a rope around an innocent man's neck. She stood on the top of the hill, peering through some trees toward the mass of Prometheus's army. Frank stood next to her, his sweater drooping from the heavy wetness in the air. He was holding his spear in front of him, one knee forward, and looking every bit like the Praetor he was. Reyna was proud. He'd done well so far, and he'd more than fit into the role. It was taking him time, but no good leader would rush into things.

Maybe this would be good practice.

"Chiron said we'd have guests, right? Like people that are gonna help us? We don't have nearly enough people," Frank asked, his voice a bare whisper as they sunk lower into the trees.

"Members from the League," Reyna said, "The Justice League. They're to help us prepare for this battle."

Frank let out a low whistle. "Right, yeah. Okay. The League. Wow."

Reyna frowned, watching a monster in the distance trip onto a neighboring tent. She turned back to Frank. "I do hope they aren't underwhelming. Admittedly, I was unaware of their existence for most of my childhood."

Frank nodded. "Most heroes work here in the US. I think Canada's just too… mundane for them. But, they're good. And they won't be. Anyone the League sends will be fine—."

"Praetors!"

The two turned to look. A girl from the Eighth sprinted up to them. A daughter of Mars, like Frank. Her armor clanked in the early morning dawn and she stood straight as she pulled to a stop. "Our guests. They're here."

"Thank you," Reyna said, nodding her head. "Fetch my dogs to meet me. It's time we greet our guests from the League."

They followed the girl down the hill and past several large plots of lands. Fortunately, Reyna had had the farmers go on a nice vacation as the Roman legion had descended on the Long Island Sound. It would have to do for the time being, and the city of New Rome would pay for the damages. The farm they'd acquired backed up into a large woods, a protected area of land that they'd stuck their main tents into.

What she did not expect to see was the bottom of a red floating ship hovering just above the military tent. As she and Frank walked toward it, a small hole opened up and a green girl with a blue cape and a boy with dark skin and blonde hair floated out. They landed on the ground in front of them, hands up as swords and spears pointed at their faces.

Reyna held up her fist. "I expect you are our guests?"

"My apologies," the boy with dark skin said. He towered over her, and his hands and feet were webbed, and he had gills at his neck. An Atlantean. "We expected to arrive sooner but there were some complications." He glanced back at the ship as if that explained their complications.

"Apology accepted. My name is Reyna, and this is Frank. We're the Praetors of the Roman Twelfth Legion Fulminata," Reyna introduced, directing the Atlantean's attention to Frank and the army around him.

He held his hand out to hers. "I am Kaldur'ahm, but you may refer to me as Kaldur. This is Miss Martian."

"I go by M'gann," the green girl said, her lips pulling back into a wide smile. She gave Reyna a small wave.

Reyna shook Kaldur's hand and grinned a little at the green girl. "And the rest of your team?"

"In the Bioship. The League sent us to aid you in this battle. I fear that this is… unknown territory for us," Kaldur shrugged. "We may be more of a hindrance than an aid."

Reyna frowned, looking both Kaldur and M'gann down. The green girl fidgeted and her eyes bounced around. Up to the ship, back to Reyna, to Kaldur. The Atlantean was stoically staring at Reyna and Frank, his eyes, a strange almost clear green, bouncing back and forth between them. "Do any of you have formal military training?"

"I do, with my King in Posidonis," Kaldur confirmed. "The others not so much, but they can follow orders. Is there a battle plan?"

Reyna glanced back at Frank, and the son of Mars cleared his throat. "We should go into the tent. Would the rest of your team like to join us?"

Kaldur shook his head. "They will know."

Reyna found that hard to believe, but guided M'gann and Kaldur into the tent, closing the flaps of the canvas behind them. Inside was a long singular table with a layout of the surrounding area, including their camp, the Titans, and the Greek camp. Several chairs sat around them, along with a small CD player playing music and a small snack table. Argentum and Aurum stood at the table, waiting for her. The dogs made their way over to Reyna, sitting by her side. They did nothing at the sight of Kaldur and Miss Martian, thankfully, and only stared.

Reyna found that a good sign. Neither of the visiting guests noted the dogs, but M'gann did tilt her head oddly at them as if trying to listen to something.

"Is this the plan?" Kaldur asked, leaning over the table.

"Are you really an Atlantean?" Frank blurted out, looking Kaldur up and down. The two were almost the same height, with Frank leaning just a little bit taller than the dark-skinned boy.

Kaldur smiled and laughed a little. "I am. I was not aware you were aware of us? Most Surface Dwellers don't recognize us."

Frank grinned, running a hand through his hair. "Wow. Yeah, I know that but… wow. And you. You're… a Martian?"

M'gann grinned and Reyna found the smile a little too practiced. Too warm. Maybe the Martian girl stood in front of the mirror and practiced. "Yup, straight from Mars!"

Frank blinked. "That's my dad."

M'gann's smile faded. "What?"

"We have to continue," Reyna said, leaning over the other side of the table. "The Greeks camp lines up to the sea and while the monsters cannot cross the camp they're backed into a corner. Working under the assumption that they know we're here, then that means we can safely assume our cover is blown."

Kaldur's lip twitched. "Would you like us to find out?"

Reyna leaned back, glancing at Frank. The other Praetor was leaning over the table, a concentrated look on his face. "How would we go about that?"

The Atlantean turned to Miss Martian, "Are you up for camouflage mode?"

The Martian threw on her hood, her face growing serious. "Into the monster camp?"

Kaldur's lip quirked and he glanced over at Reyna and Frank. "I believe the saying is 'into the Lion's den'."

Frank nodded, glancing at the two.

And then all of a sudden, Miss Martian's entire form began to disappear. From her legs up to her head, there was nothing, and suddenly she was gone entirely. Camouflage mode was not just some very good sneaking. She was literally invisible. But as Reyna looked closer, she could see the haze of where the girl had been standing. Not entirely foolproof, but decent enough against most monsters. And probably most humans.

And then it got stranger.

"Do you read me?"

Reyna and Frank both yelled out, holding their heads. A splitting something ripped through her brain.

"Sorry!" Miss Martian said out loud. "It'll be easier for me to communicate with you while I'm in the camp. It's a mind link, we can hear each other's thoughts."

Reyna straightened herself out, still holding her head as she stared at Kaldur. "How does it work?"

She heard his voice, but his mouth didn't move. The headache had numbed away, pulling back and receding so instead she heard a different voice. "It is a mind link, as M'gann said. Think about what you want the others to hear. It will take some getting used to."

"Okay," Frank said… thought? "How many people can we add in?"

Reyna did not know how M'gann 'hmmed' in her head, but the Martian managed. "Depends. Too many and it'll get crowded, especially if most of the people are inexperienced."

"We can add in Jason and Piper… and maybe Chiron?" Frank asked, his voice hesitant through the link. "It's like an instant Iris Message."

Reyna didn't feel it necessary to say that that was the point of an iris message anyway, so she held her tongue. Or mind. Whatever. And while it would be beneficial to join the Greek camp in their plans, Reyna shook her head. Out loud she said, "I don't think so. We can wait until we have relevant information. No point on getting meaningless nothing across."

Kaldur nodded seriously, and Frank did too, a frown settling on his face as he leaned over the table. "So we send in Miss Martian to see if they know we're here."

"Or if they care," Reyna agreed. She turned to where she thought the girl was standing and nodded her head. "Go in and report to us what you see. How far can your mind link extend?"

"Depends," the Martian's voice sounded. "But this distance will definitely be okay. Kaldur, are we a go?"

"Be quick," Kaldur replied.

The haze disappeared through the tent and it was silent. Reyna felt no hum in her mind, no voices or anything. Frank stood off to the side, still looking over the battle plans. He glances up and looks between Reyna and Kaldur every so often, but otherwise remains quiet at her side.

Idaho-Oregon Line

Next Morning

Dick had only been out west when the circus had taken them out there. And even then, they'd only stopped in Las Vegas, LA, Seattle, and Phoenix. And he'd been young. Haly had eventually traded traveling the West and East cost for just the East and an International Tour. He barely remembered it, and that included dry heat in Phoenix for wet, cloudy weather in Seattle. His mother had loved Washington state and he recalled her wistfully saying, as the train blew past the hills, that they could live out there one day.

She'd hugged him close, brushing back his hair as they stared out the wet windows together, and whispered her imaginary house to his ears. Now, he stared out dry windows as the sun set over grass and mountains. Barbara had been wrapped up that night in the car as they'd flown down the highway West to avoid being chased by police. They knew they needed to head West from the prophecy but from the obvious lack of actual location, they were sort of going in blind. And Dick hated that. He was used to information, to knowledge. Batman would provide all the parameters and things he needed to know for their missions.

But Batman hadn't given them any mission. He hadn't shown them anything. They were heading West to find… something. And he wasn't quite sure what. A goddess? Where did a goddess hide? Why would a goddess hide? Come out and protect dammit.

The car's radio had been ripped out the previous night after they'd begun to be tailed by a monster, but Annabeth, having switched with Percy, had effectively lost it last night going almost 90 miles an hour. More silence. Dick felt as if half the quest had been in a silent car.

This quest. They needed to keep moving west, to keep moving to where they could be.

"Percy," Annabeth said hurriedly, her arm shooting out and grabbing Percy's shoulder. The boy jerked awake, reaching immediately into his pocket for Riptide. Dick sat up and spun around.

Monsters.

"Percy, wake up," she directed. "Monsters."

"Shit," Dick muttered, leaning over to wake up Barbara. The girl was still hazy if not a little tired from her wound, but sat up with urgency as the realization that they were being followed held. "Speed up!"

Annabeth didn't wait. She pressed her foot against the metal they zipped past the small truck they were behind. "We need to move. They're gaining."

It was the white truck again, it's headlights familiar to Dick as they raced down the now empty hallway. Trees rose along them on either side and the two lane highway stretched out in front of them.

"Monsters can drive?" Barbara asked, her red bun peaking over the seat as she sunk lower.

Dick smiled grimly, thinking of the strange monster-mortal hybrid from the research facility. It'd been a strange mix of magic and science, a combination of something that didn't need to be. The angrier it got, the more monstrous it appeared, the less rational and insane it was. And Dick had desperately hoped the thing hadn't died, that whatever they'd done to it wasn't too far gone enough for it to recognize that it had probably once been human. Dick shuddered as it's haunting red eyes burned into his memory. He wanted to think that that thing, whatever it really was, had been the only one.

And it wasn't even the worst thing he'd seen. Chemicals and things in Gotham could transform people into monsters. Dick had seen it firsthand. And he'd seen, or rather heard, of Zatanna talking about spells of things that transformed and cursed people into hideous beasts. But those were two entirely separate entities. Magic and science, mixing like they had, didn't go together. Shouldn't go together. It was why Dick felt some helplessness and thinking about how his life probably wouldn't be the same. Robin didn't have a magic sword, he didn't have water powers, and he certainly didn't have a magic water dad.

How could things like that mix?

"I think," he said out loud, "that a lot of things are about to change."

And as he said that, another white truck pulled up out of nowhere, almost in the blind spot of the car. Annabeth slammed her foot on the gas with a whispered shriek and the car flew forward. Dick and Barbara fell back into their seats at the sudden change of velocity.

"Shit!" Annabeth yelled. "What do I do? Where do I go?"

Percy jumped up. "Stop the car."

"What?"

"Stop the car, slam on the breaks! Hold on!"

And Annabeth did. She slammed the breaks of the car, the tires shrieking in protest as suddenly the blue of the trees disappeared and became still. The white truck slammed on its breaks and suddenly Dick was thrown forward. His seat belt ripped into his chest and waist and his head jerked forward so fast he didn't even realize that they were parallel to the road and the white truck was a head of them, flipped up on its roof.

The truck has swerved away, perpendicular to their car. Annabeth, in the front, was quickly shuffling out of her seatbelt, shouting something to the rest of them. Percy was gone, his door swung open wide. Dick hazily looked around. The air seemed to whistle around him, and there was a sharping panging in his head and neck.

A muffled voice was speaking to his right, but for the moment the only thing he could focus on was the hazy outlines of something coming from the white truck. Dick tried to blink it into focus but it wouldn't budge. It was like a Photoshop blue tool had been applied to his vision, or like a program that was trying really hard to render something. He rubbed his eyes.

"Dick!"

Dick jumped in surprise, and then suddenly he was a flurry of movement.

"We need to move!" Barbara shouted. "They're coming!"

Annabeth swung around. There was a little blood drippling from her mouth. Her head was already bruised. "Percy and I will hold them, you two run!"

Dick, still trying to figure out if the blonde in front of him was really Annabeth or a really good Zelda cosplay, blinked. "Not leaving. My quest."

"You need to be alive for it, Dick," Annabeth replied, "Barbara. Take him and go!" And then she was swinging her door open and flipping over the hood to join her boyfriend by the wreckage of the white truck. Dick moved sluggishly to stop her, but then Barbara's hands appeared and she was grabbing him by the armpits and pushing him through his door.

"Let's go. You heard her!"

"I can't—."

"You're Robin," she snapped, half in irritation and fear, and half in awe. "You can do anything. Come on!"

He picked himself up and began following her into the woods, racing through mossy green and bright green. The colors hurt his eyes, but Barbara's red hair stood out like a lighthouse in the green and he followed the girl deep into the woods. There were no shouts behind them, no indication that Percy and Annabeth were winning or losing. Barbara dragged Dick behind her, one hand in his and the other on her spoke. Dick's sword was still latched to his side, digging into his shoulder as they ran.

"I don't hear anything," Barbara said as they slowed to a walk.

Dick's vision had cleared up, and his ears were no longer ringing. He glanced around the slight hill they were on back down in the direction they'd came. "I don't see anything either. But we don't have a meet up place, or even know if Annabeth and Percy will be okay. If they're okay."

Barbara placed a comforting hand on Dick's shoulder. "Percy's strong, Dick. He'll be fine. And Annabeth is, well, Annabeth. She'll be okay too. They both will. Let's just keep heading further from the road and then double back up in thirty minutes and walk back down."

Dick bit his lip and then nodded, trusting Barbara. Annabeth and Percy would be okay. Dick needed to focus on the quest. The mission. Right now, that meant finding their goddess.

As they continued moving uphill, Dick unsheathed his sword and kept a watchful eye out around them.

"Do you think we'll win?" Barbara asked, ahead of him. "I mean, like, this whole thing."

Dick frowned. "Maybe." They didn't even really know who they were fighting, or what. They didn't know how large his army was or if this was a single battle war or if it would take time. Money. Lives. Dick's fist clenched tightly around his sword.

Barbara continued up ahead. "We'll get back to Gotham soon." Her shoulders slumped. "I miss my dad."

Dick's frown deepened. "I'm sorry Babs. You didn't have to come. I shouldn't have forced you to do this."

She shook her head, red hair falling around her. "Dick! Don't be ridiculous! You didn't force me to do anything! I wanted to help, and I wanted to come and do this. Even if I wasn't sure what this was."

Dick smiled. "You didn't have to."

"That's not the point," she retorted, "The point is that I wanted to. You're my friend Dick."

Dick kept the thought that friends didn't just drop everything to go on magical adventures together to stop a war to himself. He blushed deeply, thankful that Barbara was ahead of him and not looking back. "I miss home too."

"I miss school, surprisingly," Barbara laughed. "But not the uniforms."

"Definitely not the uniform," Dick replied, his face crunched up as he thought about the stupid shorts for gym. "I miss Mrs. Hellam."

"I miss her stupid map project we were working on," Barbara sighed. "But at least I know where Oregon is now, so I've got that going for me."

"You've got a lot going for you, Babs," Dick said without thinking. Barbara half tripped over the log, catching herself on a mossy tree. Her face was red as she turned around.

"Thanks Dick," she said.

They didn't talk for a few more minutes. They crunched over leaves and overhead a light rain began to fall around them. The leaves turned shiny and the dripping sounds of the leaves filled up the air on top of them. It somewhat reminded Dick of the grounds behind the manor, toward the river. But less green and thinner trees and a history.

"I miss Bruce, too, you know," Dick said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, a little. He's like my dad too, I guess. He mentioned once that he and his dad would go on little hikes in the grounds behind the manor. I guess the woods just reminded me of it," he replied, voice quiet as they tromped over a downed tree. Barbara reached back to help him up.

She frowned down at him, still holding his shoulder as they both stepped off the log. "Did the woods make you think about that?"

"I'm not sure," Dick said honestly. "Maybe? I guess he's just mentioned it before and every time. It's dumb."

"It's not!" Barbara protested, stopping short before picking up her pace in front of him again. "If it's how you're feeling Dick, I want to know."

He huffed. "Okay. I guess I just want to share that with him. Is that dumb?"

Barbara thought a moment, thinking of her own traditions she did with her father. Mashed potatoes and molasses dinners and Saturday night pizza and Star Wars, assuming he wasn't out fighting Gotham itself with Batman and Robin. "No," she said finally, "that isn't dumb. Didn't you do stuff with your parents?"

A difficult topic to discuss between them. Barbara rarely talked about her mother and Dick rarely mentioned his own parents. Dick was silent behind her, and the only way she knew he was still even there was his low breathing and the sound of him brushing through the wet leaves.

"Music nights," Dick said, "I know it's terribly cliché and whatever, but my parents and aunt and uncle would sit there and play music. I remember that. I still remember some of the songs too, that my mom would sing."

Barbara nodded. "Then why would it be dumb to want to do something like that with Bruce? To spend time with him?"

He frowned. "It wouldn't. It shouldn't be."

"Yeah, it really shouldn't be. Why is that, Dick?"

He jerked back a little, and she actually turned around and stopped. They stared at each other for a long moment before Dick pulled his eyes away from her, back down the hillside.

"I don't know, can we not talk about this anymore?"

"If it's bothering you, we should—."

"On my own time, Babs," he interrupted, brow furrowed as he turned back to look at her.

She turned away and kept walking up the long stretch hill, moving the branches and leaves out of their path with her spoke and hands. Dick didn't speak, and only turned around to check to see if they were being followed. The hill curved up, the trees venturing tall into the clouds, and the rain pattered around their heads. Dick didn't feel any better with the water on him, not like he had in the ocean, but it still felt refreshing.

Dick liked it out west here, it somewhat reminded him of Gotham. It was so different. Instead of tall buildings and bright neon signs, it was soaring trees and bright green leaves. Dirt was on the ground instead of concrete and instead of horns and beeps it was the chirps and soft sound of rain in the air. Dick loved the rain. He had ever since he'd moved to Gotham. Before that, rain meant no show or a low turnout. It meant soggy feet and costumes. It meant another night packing up in the cold and moving forward. Dick had hated the rain. But then he moved to the Manor. And rain meant hot chocolate or a movie. It mean time spent with Bruce.

The fog spread light through the city. Straight neon signs of red became billowing seas of deep colors as the rain pattered against concrete and glass. It meant Dick could look out the back of the manor and see a foggy gray woods, or it meant he looked out the front and saw a fading city. Dick loved the rain. It was new and bright and it made him feel better.

Around them large rock faces began to rise from the ground, creating long halls of rock and tree around them. Low grey light filtered through the tops of the trees.

He turned around again to check to see if they were being followed when he saw it. A small cave half covered with vines and ivy, tucked away and hidden in the rock face. On each side of the entrance there were torches. His hand snapped out to grab Barbara's elbow.

She jumped and held up her spoke. "What?!"

"The cave," he whispered, "do you see it?"

She peered in the direction he was looking. "Nope," she muttered under breath. Loudly, she said, "Must be magic. Think it holds our goddess?"

"I'd bet my inheritance," he said, glancing back at her with a grin. "Ready?"

She slapped the iron spoke in her hand. "Let's do this, Grayson."

Dick slipped over a rock and held the ivy to the side. "Ladies first, Gordon."

She looked at the rock strangely, but now that Dick was physically interacting with the magic, the mist must have mostly cleared. She held out her spoke, but it went straight through the rock she supposedly saw, and then stepped clear in to the darkness. Dick followed behind her with one passing glance around them.

There was a long hall with torches every several feet, and just as the light from the last one became too dim another would crop up as a low glint along the stone walls. It went on for some time with Dick leading now, sword drawn. There was silent dripping from the ceiling that had him ruffling his hair every few minutes.

And then suddenly, the hall opened to a cavern. The walls expanded out and the ceiling grew several feet. The torches had all but disappeared from the walls, because there was no need for them anymore. The cavern was filled with beautiful crystals. They glowed with magic and despite Dick's clear disability to use it, he could certainly feel it around him. The entire place was filled with it, a glowing pulsing hum.

A hum that reminded him of Gotham.

In the center of this large cavern was a woman. Her skin was so pale, she almost looked like one of the crystals herself. She was turned away from them, a traditional Greek toga draped over her body. Her hair, pinned up halfway, was a rich brown, and on the top of her head was a laurel wreath crown.

Dick and Barbara froze.

She turned around.

"I've been waiting for you," she spoke. And when she did, it did not seem like her voice came from her mouth. Dick felt it permeate around him, from the walls, the floors, the crystals themselves. He shivered. "Come closer," she said, smiling.

Barbara reached for Dick's hand, grabbing it and squeezing it tightly as they walked down a narrow path through the crystals. They stopped just a few feet short of her.

Dick swallowed. "My… my name is Richard Grayson, this is Barbara Gordon. We were looking for you. For our quest."

"Yes," she spoke, "My name is Soteria. It is good to see you. I am pleased you made it here."

Dick bit his lip. "My brother, and his girlfriend do you know if—?"

She held up a hand. "They are safe. You are not here to ask about Perseus and Annabeth, yes?"

Dick stopped and then nodded. "Yeah, I mean, no. I, we, the world, I mean, needs your protection."

She titled her head to the side. From Dick's experiences of dealing with gods and goddesses, Soteria seemed far more… godlike than his father. Not that Poseidon wasn't of course, but Soteria wore the toga, she lived in a giant cavern filled with magic crystals in a strange forest. For a hot second, Dick felt like fauns and elves were going to come dancing out of the woodwork.

"My protection," she mused, "Yes. But it does not come easy."

Barbara stuttered as she spoke. "We'll do whatever we have to."

Soteria finally glanced from Dick to Barbara, her eyes never softening as she did. "I know this. You have three tasks you must accomplish. Three tasks you must use to prove to me that this protection is deserved."

Barbara squeezed his hand and Dick felt his lips quirk up in a smile.

"What do we have to do?" he asked.

Soteria smiled at them and turned to the side, plucking a crystal from the ground. She held it in her palms. "Look into it. The first task you must prove to me is proving Agape. Unconditional love."

Inside the stone, Dick saw himself with Bruce and Alfred. They were at dinner when Dick was a lot younger, still tiny and sporting fat in his cheeks. He was teasing Bruce, who was sharing smiles with him and Alfred. He wondered if Barbara saw anything different, and by the look on her face, half hidden behind his shoulder, she did.

"Next," Soteria said, "You must prove to me Eros. Intimate love of the soul."

Dick watched his mom and dad dance around a campfire, the red yellow light of the fire making their bodies glow as they twisted around it and laughed. He felt a longing in his heart. In the distance, or perhaps it was a memory from long ago, he heard music.

"And now, storge," she said. "The love and understanding of a parent and child."

And Dick saw Bruce. Just working at his desk, sitting there with papers and work and a furrowed brow. Dick reached out. Unlike the others, Dick could not tell if this was a memory or something that was happening now. He wanted to shout, to tell Bruce he was okay, but then the image faded.

He looked up at the goddess. She'd seemingly shrunk, closer to Dick and Barbara. More human. Her face was round, heart shaped with large dark eyes that reminded him of a doe. But there was a sharpness there, an intelligence. And love. It was the same look, the same love, that Dick still recalled about his mother's eyes. He barely remembered the shade, barely knew the shape, but he remembered looking into her eyes and feeling so much love.

"You must choose your best memory, your best example, of your own love. Protection does not come from nothing. We all have our own reasons to protect something. Show me yours, and my gift will be yours," she said, her hand resting on Dick's shoulder. It was surprisingly cold through his sweater, and then she smiled at both of them. "Down that hall, the tasks will begin." She pointed down the path to a door. It looked ancient, not unlike the cave itself, and it creaked open to show darkness.

"There, you will find yourselves. I will be waiting."

Dick turned back to the goddess, but she was gone. Barbara let go of his hand, taking a few steps forward.

"Tell me you were also hallucinating into a crystal?"

For once, Dick wanted to answer seriously. It was magic, but he couldn't help but crack a smile and laugh a little. "Yeah. You ready?" He reached for her hand again, for comfort. She took it.

"You betcha."

And they walked through the door.

What's up my dudes?

Sorry this is so, so, so late. I'm so busy in school, you have no idea. I want to die.

Hope you liked this chapter!