Day One: Death Dude?

[Edited April 25, 2023]

It took a while for Nico to convince himself that food was important. More important than avoiding super-powered kids and more important than privacy. He risked conversation to head out to the kitchen. The batboys had shown him a diagram of the layout before he had come so he could basically find his way around without having to ask for directions.

He found himself in the kitchen, and luckily there was no one there. He could eat in peace. Nico grabbed some cereal from a cabinet and some milk out of the fridge. After some searching, he found the bowls and spoons. Ghost sat at the island to eat-- hoping that no one would come in while he was there. Of course, he was sadly disappointed. The green-skinned boy and the youngest flash look-alike came in, looking for food.

"Look dude, it's the death dude. The... what are they called?" He continued before his companion could even attempt to supply the answer, "Consultant! So do you just go around everywhere tellin' people how people died?" Impulse, Nico thought that was his name, was apparently very curious by nature. He asked his questions almost too quickly for their guest to hear.

"First of all, I have a name. But basically, yes I help to determine causes of death." Nico replied patiently.

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry, Ghost." He said speeding towards the fridge. Ghost had been told about the speedster's metabolism and he was disgusted to see it in action. He was amazed that the boy didn't choke.

The green boy eyed the consultant somewhat warily before following Impulse to the fridge. Nico washed the bowl and put it back where he had found it. He was about to leave the kitchen and escape back to his room when he ran right into Wonder Woman's apprentice-- literally.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Nico moved to step around her when the boy with green skin and gills stepped in his way. The demigod would have thought that the boy had been intentionally blocking his path if he didn't know better. Whatever the case was, he found it strange.

"You're Ghost, right?" The girl asked, sounding interested. He was already tired of answering questions, but he figured that it was understandable that they would be curious. This was part of their jobs, after all. He decided to humor them for the time being.

"Yes," he replied shortly.

"The tox scans came through for the last case, you were right. It was the peroxide."

"I know." Ghost hadn't meant to sound cocky, but he had been sure of the cause of death. He wouldn't have given Nightwing his report if he hadn't been sure.

"What do you mean you knew? Were you that positive that you were right?" Her voice had gotten icy and he wished that he hadn't said a thing.

"I'm sorry if you don't like my answers, but yes. I was sure I was right. I found peroxide in syringes at the scene, so that wasn't the part that was in question. The real question was whether it was a professional hit or just made to look like one." Since he doubted they had the answer to that question, Nico thought their conversation was over. Ghost moved to walk out. Her voice stopped him again and he bit back a sigh.

"How did you know so much about the scene?"

"About the scene? I was briefed on the way in. If you're asking about how I know so much about death, I would ask you a question. How do you get good at anything?"

"Practice." She replied, clearly annoyed.

"Exactly. I know so much about death and crime scenes because I have experience analyzing them." Nico slipped between the two heroes before they could ask him any more questions. He understood that they were curious, but he didn't want to answer their questions. 

He didn't know what he could and couldn't say and he did not want to be the reason for any major secrets being leaked. The son of Hades had almost made it to his room when the Hispanic boy from the night before called out to him. Nico wanted to scream at how the fates wouldn't leave him alone, but that might have 'creeped them out' so he didn't.

"Hey uh... Ghost! Why don't you come to watch us spar?" The disguised boy froze, why were they being so weird? People usually kept their distance from him, why were they trying to get closer? There wasn't anything about his appearance that made him look particularly approachable, yet these people kept bothering him. Nico just wanted to be left alone, is that too much to ask for? He reluctantly turned to look at him to see if he was joking. The hero didn't seem to be kidding, and that really surprised him. Why would they want him infringing on their 'team bonding' or whatever it was called? Unless they just wanted to study him, which seems more likely.

"No, thank you," He said curtly, turning away when the boy called out to him again.

"Come on, Nightwing asked us to make sure you socialized and stuff." He said waving him over. So, Dick had set this up... typical. This wasn't their idea, but the team didn't really seem to be against it either. Nico guessed that was a good sign.

"Come on, Hermano. It's not like you have anything better to do." He pointed out. Nico was caught off guard by the use of the word hermano. Didn't that mean brother in Spanish? Was he calling him his brother or was he using it like bro? Either way, it was more friendly than the demigod was comfortable with. It took him a lot to warm up to people and it frustrated him when other people didn't show as much caution. 

First, it was Bruce when he took him in the day they had met without knowing a thing about him and now this boy was calling him bro after the first time they spoke. He couldn't imagine having the same kind of interaction with someone he had known for less than a day. Maybe he could have before he'd lost Bianca, but he'd learned to be wary of people since then, to watch his back and make sure that the people in his inner circle were beyond reproach.

Even though he didn't like it, he had to admit that they had a point. He really had nothing else to do as long as he was stuck here. He didn't feel like drawing and he had absolutely no motivation to do his homework either. Since sitting alone in his room for the rest of the day didn't sound appealing, he would occupy his time with the only other way he knew how-- with training. Team bonding it is then, yippee!

"Alright, fine. I'll go change and meet you in the training room." Ghost said, not thinking about how he shouldn't know what the base looks like.

"Do you know where it is?" He asked skeptically.

"Yeah, Nightwing gave me a map last night," he covered for himself. 

"Great! I'll see you in a few, "Jaime left, accepting his answer. 

Nico went to his borrowed room, grumbling under his breath the entire way. He changed at his own pace, hoping that they would start without him since he wanted to see how they fought before they saw him fight. Hopefully, they wouldn't end up seeing him fight.

Nico made his way to the training center and saw that the speedster and a boy in blue body armor were fighting. His guess was that that was the alien suit that liked logical thinking. He didn't see the Hispanic boy around, but no one was really missing from the group either. Ghost did a subtle soul search and found that the Hispanic boy was the one in the blue armor. That was very interesting. 

The son of Hades sat near the doors and watched the fight, unnoticed. Jaime was at odds with the armor, you could see that he was sometimes holding back. His opponent, the non-stop Impulse was living up to his name. He was taking needless risks and opening himself up for attacks. It was ok to do that here, against someone he knew and who was holding back. He'd be in trouble in a real, all-out, one-on-one fight.

He could just be playing around with his friend, some playful sparring, but Nico couldn't tell. Soon enough, Jaime shot out a weird blue staple-looking thing and pinned the speedster to the wall. It looked painful. The team congratulated Jaime and helped Bart after that. Hmmm, another Allen. They really should have checked on Bart first as he could have been concussed or something. 

He seemed to be alright, perhaps they experienced blows to the head on a regular basis? It was possible, in this line of work. Bart was able to get up on his own after they removed the staple. Bruce had also told him that the speedsters have heightened immune systems and their bodies repaired themselves faster than the average person.

Next up to fight were the young green boy and the bumblebee girl. Nico watched, amazed as the battle started. The bee girl shrunk to the size of a person's hand. She was almost impossible to see from where he was seated. If it weren't for his soul-searching ability, he would have thought she had teleported.

The next most surprising thing that happened was that the green boy turned into a crow. He turned into the actual animal, though oddly it was still green. When he had soul-searched him, he had seemed to be completely human but he appeared to be Martian judging by his skin's unusual color and his shapeshifting abilities. Where had that all come from? He seemed very young for a hero, though Nico supposed that whatever had happened had made it impossible for him to live any semblance of a normal life. It made sense that he would find a line of work that better suited his special abilities.

He tried to snap the girl up in his beak, which Nico just knew could crush her hands, feet, or maybe even her neck if he hit it just right. Nico watched, ready to intervene if he needed to. Though there wouldn't be much anyone could do for a broken neck. Hopefully, they were all experienced enough to know better, but accidents still could happen, no matter how skilled you were.

The girl was graceful in the air, though she seemed to get too caught up in one battle and ignore most other things. It was an easy mistake, everyone does that every once in a while. The problem would arise when it became a habit to block out everything else. Battles did not consist of one on one fights. Your enemy will not fight fair so you have to be aware of your surroundings.

Garth was obviously practiced at using his shifting. His transformations were quick, fluid, and seemed not to take too much of his concentration. However, he seemed prone to overcompensating. If he needed a bigger animal than that crow, he would go straight to an elephant rather than something more suited to the task.  Or even a human form. In battle, when you have to watch your energy expenditure, there was such a thing as overkill. He had done just that second prior by turning into an elephant. If he had been successful with his attack, there wouldn't have been much to pick up of bumblebee lady afterward. Just a grease spot to mop up. Nico rather hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

He finally caught her as a cat and laid down on top of her. She shifted back to full size, in which he turned into a potbelly pig that was probably around 200-something pounds. Yes, he had successfully pinned her, but now she was at risk of her ribcage collapsing, especially with her small demeanor. Nico knew that he had to step in before she was no longer able to surrender. He was moving before he even realized what he was doing. Ghost shoved the green pig off of the female hero. Garth shifted back into a boy as he tumbled to the floor.

"What is with you people and that move?" the demigod growled to himself, fuming. The team was scattered around the room now, waiting to see if he was a threat. It was a good thing that he hadn't promised Nightwing that he wouldn't freak them out because he would have broken it. Tim was watching the scene grimly from the side of the platform. Nico was sure that he hadn't been there before so he must have seen the danger as well and moved to intervene. He was the only one not in a battle-ready stance.

"Do you realize that a person her size, even if she's getting all the vitamins and minerals she needs, does not have the bone dexterity to hold up a 200-pound pig? Not to mention her sternum is cartilage, not bone," Nico said calmly, too mad even to shout. The boy slowly shook his head, looking sheepish with all the attention on him. He was young so of course, he wouldn't have known that.

"How would you know?" The Wonder Girl asked.

"How would I know... I'm only the consultant for how people die. I'm only the person Batman called in to help you solve those murders. How would a... what did you call me? Death dude? How would death dude know anything about death, right?" Ghost ranted angrily. She seemed taken aback by his tone but she recovered quickly.

"Oh come on, it's not like she would have died." Wonder Girl retorted.

"Oh, and you would know, wouldn't you? Yeah, of course, you would know more about death than I would. Pardon me, I'll just tell Nightwing that they don't need my help anymore, you've got your own death expert around," Nico replied, his voice rising again. Ghost momentarily made eye contact with Red Robin whose face was impossible to read. Was he going too far?

"Look, I'm fine. No big deal." The bumblebee girl stood up.

"That's not the point. The point is that he could have collapsed your ribcage, crushing your internal organs, causing major internal bleeding, you'd be dead before we got you off the platform," The demigod explained, trying to show them how little actions could cause huge tragedies.

"You're not, serious... are you?" The green boy asked timidly.

"Yeah, he's kidding, right?" Wonder Girl looked over at Red Robin who shook his head.

"I'm dead serious. With that much weight concentrated on a single area, bad things can happen," Nico replied immediately. There was silence after he made that chilling declaration. Everyone was exchanging eye contact in disbelief.

"How do we know you're not just trying to scare us?" The green dude... Lagoon maybe? Called out suspiciously.

"I am trying to scare you. Death is not a laughing matter and I don't think you should take it lightly. You may have powers and skills, but you're not invincible. Everyone and everything has a weakness. Usually, they have more than one; in their personality, their plans, or... their anatomy." He gestured to Bumblebee, "You have got to protect your weaknesses."

"Can you help us?" Bart butted in.

"What?" Nico asked, taken completely off guard.

"Can you, you know, make sure we don't almost accidentally kill someone again?" He asked quickly.

"I can teach you a couple of things on human anatomy, yes," the son of Hades agreed slowly.

"Will you?" He asked, seeing his little loophole. Nico looked at Tim who just shrugged. Real helpful Drake.

"Fine," he sighed. That is how he got dragged into teaching them weaknesses in human physiology. 

++++

"So we all know the basic weaknesses, the eyes, the phalanges, the stomach, etc. But I'm going to show you some more specific things to either aim for or avoid." Nico started, "First, I need an assistant. I will not be using these moves on you, don't worry." Nico said, trying to be more welcoming. Bart volunteered. 

"Ok, right here," He gestured to the spot on Bart, "is your solar plexus. It really hurts to get punched there but doesn't leave any lasting damage-- knocks the wind out of you." The team had formed a semi-circle on the platform to watch.

"When you are fighting with a weapon, try to avoid the center mass if you aren't trying to kill your target. There are a lot of important organs in there that you would want to keep intact. If you break a rib, it can send bone fragments into those organs and cause internal bleeding. Don't do it. However, if you are going for the kill, center mass is preferable. Especially if you are using something like a gun that you have to aim." The group looked uncomfortable, but he didn't regret sharing the information. It was something that Ghost would likely share with them due to his line of work so it was in character.

"Do not try and hit someone on their temples, you could fracture the cranium and send fragments into their brain. You don't know your own strength, you could easily apply too much force without meaning to. Most of you have enhanced strength, regular humans are fragile compared to you." Everyone was stone-faced, Nico knew that they had probably used moves like these before without considering the danger.

"Do not hit someone in the throat," Ghost mimicked the motion on Bart, not actually touching him. "They will be alright at first, but their esophagus could swell up and block their airways. A slit at the base of their throat and some tubing-- like a plastic straw or something-- would have to be inserted so they can breathe." He pointed at the base of his throat, the area they would have to cut into.

"Do not try to drown someone to the point of passing out. You may expel the water, but their lungs could refill themselves and drown them from the inside-- dry-land drowning. Hospitalization would be required immediately."

"Alright, that's enough for now. It's lunchtime." Nico pointed to the clock above the door. The team dispersed, talking about how gruesome his descriptions were. That was the point.

"That was certainly interesting," Tim said after the others had all left.

"Well, it's stuff they should already know," the older boy replied. Red Robin nodded in agreement.

"Well, they are each trained separately, when their mentors get time to spend with them. Their skills are... uneven, to say the least. There isn't time to do any fine-tuning." He explained and Nico nodded in understanding.

"Coming to lunch?" He asked on the way towards the door. He was walking backward to watch the son of Hades.

"You'd tell Nightwing on me if I didn't," Nico replied, trying to sound annoyed. He actually kind of liked people looking out for him like that, though it was often inconvenient. It was new and it made him feel wanted and included.

"You'd still skip, despite that," He pointed out.

"Touchè."

"So? Are you coming or not?"

"I'm coming, jeez." He followed him to the door.

"Do you think they noticed anything?" Nico asked, pausing.

"About?"

"When I shoved a 200-pound pig," Nico replied.

"They will probably pass it off as adrenalin or something," The younger boy waved it off. Nico nodded in agreement, people could do amazing things on adrenalin. He wondered what these teens could do on adrenaline. He doubted that he wanted to find out. They walked into the chaotic room that was the kitchen and waited until the others cleared out. Once the team had grabbed their food and dispersed to go their separate ways, the two Wayne boys grabbed their own food.

"Hey, Ghost. We have something cool to show you later," Tim said softly. Nico frowned at him in confusion.

"Ok?"

"Don't worry, you'll love it," he said smirking. Nico nodded, but he was suspicious. Maybe the boys were up to some prank plot or something. You never knew with them. Nico sat at the counter and ate a bagel. As he ate, he began to feel an odd kind of homesickness. It wasn't the manor that he wanted to see, it was Hazel. Nico wanted to check on her, he hadn't heard from her in so long-- or Annabeth for that matter. For all he knew Percy had been found.

Nico felt like he wasn't doing enough to help Percy. He and the Waynes had spent an afternoon cross-checking places Percy had been or schools he had attended and found nothing. He had fallen off the grid. Nico can't say he was surprised, based on the fact that he was hardly ever on the grid. Nico had checked in all the logical places, and even some illogical ones, and he hadn't turned up anywhere. 

That line of thinking, of course, sent him down memory lane and he began thinking about all the times that he had spent with Percy at camp. The times he had fought alongside him during Capture the Flag, watching Percy climb the lava wall, watching the canoe races, etc. Nico had heard a lot about Percy from Tantalus in the Underworld, too. All bad things, though. 

Nico had been lost to the world long enough to have finished his lunch without even realizing that he had still been eating. He got up and cleaned his dishes and put everything away. He left time at the table to finish eating. Had this been the manor, he would have stayed with Tim and chatted, but he had an appearance that he was trying to maintain.

 He had made it as far as the kitchen door when the chaos started. There came some screaming from the living room and shouts of surprise, and then battle. From this distance, it was hard to tell what kind of fight it was. He didn't hear gunshots or the clashing of swords, which was promising. The two Wayne boys exchanged glances before they raced toward the sounds of fighting.

They found the enemies in the hangar where the water could be accessed. The same hangar where the Martian's telepathic ship was stored. More and more of the team members were pouring into the hangar, but unfortunately, so were the monsters. Greek monsters. Telkhines, the ugly seal-dog hybrids. Nico bet he had drawn them to the mountain. 

The son of Hades should have known better than to stay somewhere unprotected for so long. Happy Harbor isn't part of Gotham or one of the protected cities so it isn't within one of Dionysus' protective barriers. It can only be entered by sea, thus the Telkhines were the only ones to show up so far. He drew his sword, seeing no choice but to reveal Ghost's secret.

The team's weapons weren't working, except for Wonder Girl's lasso since it was magic. The disguised demigod jumped into the battle, and immediately all the Telkhines left their current battle and came after him. There must have been over 30 of them and there were more coming up from the sea. Nico took out three or four at a time with each swing of his blade. He could feel the power of that much death rushing through his blade and into his own reserves. It was like an energy drink was injected straight into his bloodstream.

"Ghost, what are these things? How do we kill them?" Red Robin called, fending them off with his staff. Nico guessed the vigilante knew that he couldn't keep up the facade of being human anymore either.

"You can't! Just keep them from swarming me!" The demigod called. Tim began driving the horde back and breaking them up into smaller groups. Technically the team could kill the demons by breaking their necks, but he didn't want them to go anywhere near the beast's heads. They'd probably get a horrible infection if they were bitten.

If he was being honest, it felt good to kill something. It had been a while since he had fought for his life, it was exhilarating. He waded through the ranks of the sea demons, killing anything and everything that got in his way. He felt powerful, especially since he was in uniform. This must have been how Percy felt on the banks of the River Styx after he had taken on the curse of invincibility.

"Ahhhh god--!" He cried as one bit into his calf. Nico sliced its head off, but the damage had been done. He could feel the blood run down his leg. Luckily, he had remembered to not say gods, but he wasn't entirely sure that they would have noticed either. Everyone was busy with their own battles. 

The pain just made the son of Hades angry and all he knew then was that none of these monsters would get the chance to bite anyone else. His mind and body worked together on a mixture of instinct and adrenalin. All he knew at that moment was rage and death. Gold powder flew everywhere instead of blood and his sword was literally humming with power.

Eventually, he had killed every last one of the horrible creatures and he stood, breathing heavily, in the middle of a pile of gold dust and startled teens. Nico hooked his sword to his belt and wiped the sweat off of his forehead. The demigod walked out of the powder until he got to the edge of the battleground, where he stomped his boots to get the dust off. Monster dust was almost impossible to get rid of, though eventually, it would fade away without a trace if left alone. Nico could feel everybody staring at him and he tried his best to avoid looking anyone in the face, brushing himself off instead.

"Are you going to tell us what the hell that was all about?" Wonder Girl cried out indignantly. Nico almost laughed, they did come from hell, the deepest part of it.

"Nope, I've been here too long already. Red Robin, tell Batman I said thanks, but it has become too risky for me to stay here," he said as he began to walk out.

"No, hold up. You can't just walk out like that. Who sent those genetically engineered seal things? Why were they only after you?" She demanded. Ghost almost breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't see it as magic, she saw it as science. That was a first.

"Remember Batman said that some powerful people weren't happy with me helping you? Well, that was them not being happy. If I stay, I put you all in danger."

"Where will you go?" Jaime asked, his armor still primed for battle.

"Gotham has some powerful people. They'll have to come to an agreement before anyone can come after me. That could take days." Nico replied, knowing what would happen if this were a real situation. Lying was much easier if you knew actual facts about the topic.

"How did they find you here?" She asked.

"They followed my scent I guess. I really don't know. I killed them all so none of them could lead them back here. You should be ok for now. If they come back, breaking their necks is the fastest way to kill them." He replied.

"How would you know that?" This time she wasn't being sassy, it was a real question.

"This isn't the first time this guy has come after me. Last time, I didn't have my weapon. I have to go pack now. Tell Nightwing that I will be lying low so that he doesn't come after me." Nico said leaving the hangar. 

He didn't want the older boy to worry and he needed to make sure that Nightwing didn't come after him. At least that would make sense to the team. What he really didn't want is Nightwing dropping in on him with the person he was planning on hiding out with. You want protection from monsters, you hang out with a monster. It was high time that he visited Momma Ivy.

Nico walked quickly to his room and packed up. The only things that he had taken out were a change of clothes and his sketchbook. He made sure to remake the bed, to be polite. He changed out of the uniform and into a simple black hoodie that read 'Straight Outta Gotham' on the front. He wore some camo cargo pants and tucked away his sword in its ring form. Nico kept his combat boots on to complete the look before he ducked out into the hallway. He kept the mask on in case he met anyone on the way out. This wasn't his typical style, but he couldn't have them connecting Ghost with the Wayne's newest addition so it was necessary.

Nico could hear voices in the hangar, one of them sounded like Nightwing. He raced at full speed towards the zeta tube, knowing his older brother try and make him stay. He traveled to Gotham before he had stopped asking the team questions in the hangar and Nico shadow traveled away immediately after that. His destination: Toxic Acres.

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