[Edited July 18, 2022]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"God Nico! Don't sneak up on a girl like that!" She chastised. Moving past him to set the samples on a lab table in the corner.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Ivy hummed as she fiddled with some test tubes and some equipment that was veiled in a thin layer of dirt.

"So, did you want something?" She asked after she had entered one of the samples into her... machine of some sort. He didn't know what it was, or what it did, but it looked important.

"Yeah, I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving. I don't want my family to worry." He said gesturing towards his pack, which was visible from where we stood.

"Oh... alright. You be careful now-- Gotham isn't the safest of places. If you need my help, tell a tree or something. They speak to me." She smiled fondly at the tree growing through the center of her house.

"Err... talking trees. Got it." He nodded, trying to absorb this new information. Ivy laughed good-naturedly and gave him a hug.

"Be careful. Remember, you can come over whenever you want." She assured him. He told her that he would and grabbed his bag out of the kitchen.

Nico did a quick soul search as he pretended to make sure he had everything to make sure that no one was outside. He was surprised to find that there was a small group of people across the street and one block to the left-- most likely waiting to see who came out of the house. It was a certain group that he definitely didn't want knowing that he hung out with a Supervillain. He would have to walk right past them to get out.

They must have tracked him here somehow, or seen his belongings in the house once he and Ivy had both gone out the day before. He doubted that they would stake out the house on Ivy's account alone since she hadn't even gotten into trouble at her protest the night before. Did they have a tracer on him? That would be such a Batman move. That would mean... he knew where he had been going in California. Di Immortals!

Having no choice except to keep up appearances that he didn't know they were there-- both for the Team's sake and for Ivy's, Nico threw up his hood and confidently walked out onto the porch. He made a split-second decision, turning right instead of left and traveling further into Toxic Acres. The son of Hades walked for a little over a block before he ducked into a random decaying house. He hoped that they would think that this was his hiding place or something, and move in towards the house. Hopefully, that would give him enough time to find any tracking devices.

Once he got inside, Nico threw his backpack onto a nasty couch and emptied its contents onto a sagging floor. He squatted down beside it and started to go through it all. Some nectar, ambrosia, two sets of clothes, his Ghost uniform, his phone, and his weapons all fell out. He rifled through the junk, taking only what he thought he would need. Nico turned his sword back into its ring form and put it on his finger. He checked out the old coin before putting it in his pants pocket. The rest of his belongings he picked through as quickly as he could-- trying to find the tracking device. Everything was clean, so he decided it had to be the phone.

He could sense the team getting closer by the second so he stuffed everything else in his pack except the phone and his domino mask. He was going to try something he had never done before. He raced to the back of the house towards the back door and hurried out into the overgrown yard. He threw his backpack over the back fence before climbing after it. It would seem that his training was paying off because it wasn't too hard for him to maintain his balance when he landed.

He didn't want Dick to catch him because the Waynes wouldn't approve of his friendship with Ivy. That cat was probably already out of the bag by now, though in case it wasn't, he didn't want to get caught red-handed. After all, maybe they were just monitoring Ivy, and he was just in the wrong place a the wrong time. Stranger things had happened, after all.

Nico decided that the shadows behind the fence would have to do so he focused on his secret room in the Wayne manner and shoved the pack into the shadows. The bag disappeared, and he could only hope that it had landed where he had wanted it to. Nico kept the phone, mask, and weapons on his person, though, just in case he needed them. He knew that the team was still in the house, surveying, so he took off in a dead sprint back towards the gates of Toxic Acres.

Nico only slowed down once he had gotten to the gate because if they had seen him, Kid Flash would have made an appearance by then unless they wanted him to think that he had lost them. He had to slow down because it wasn't normal for a kid to be sprinting through the streets, even in Gotham. Nico walked as purposefully as he could through the streets of the city, keeping his hood up and his hands in his pockets-- keeping his fist closed tightly around his silver dagger in case he got jumped.

It was fairly busy down on this side of town. People were walking around and enjoying one of the first sunny days that we had had in a while. The people were tense, nobody looked anybody in the eyes and there were very few women and no children out by themselves. Well, except for Nico. The son of Hades walked at a quick pace, knowing that the team wouldn't be able to follow him on the ground. They were supposed to be a covert ops team. That means that they would have to follow him from the rooftops or change into civilian clothes costing them valuable time.

The bad thing for him when being in a crowd is that using his soul-searching ability gets too disorienting. He'd have to get into a less crowded part of town in order to use the power with any accuracy. Right now, he had no idea if they were even still following him or not. He had to assume they were, just in case. Nico crossed the street and changed directions at random, trying to throw them off his trail. The demigod ducked into a laundromat at one point and took the phone apart looking for a bug. He, unfortunately, found one or so he thought. It looked like it was only connected to the phone by two wires, and Tim had told him how phones ran entirely off of a... hard drive? Yeah, a hard drive and programmed software shouldn't have needed any extra attachments.

Nico didn't want to take the chance that it could be a bug so he used his knife to cut it out. He tossed it into an open washing machine while a woman wasn't paying attention and he ducked back out onto the street. Nico sped through the run-down part of town and traveled until he found a mode of public transportation: a bus. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw that a woman was driving it and it looked like she was expecting. This was a godsend because he didn't think this plan would have worked on a guy. Nico ran onto the bus, trying his best to look afraid. He needed the driver to believe that he was in danger and needed her help.

She asked for payment so Nico leaned over to her so he wouldn't be overheard, "Please, I got separated from my parents and these people are following me." Nico looked at her pleadingly. Women were more likely to take care of children, their maternal instincts would kick in. It helped his cause a lot that she was pregnant as well since her hormones could make her feel things more intensely-- including protectiveness if he was lucky.

"Them?" She discreetly gestured at the two people who had begun heading towards this side of the street. It was Kid Flash, Superboy, and Richard in civilian attire. The son of Hades nodded hurriedly.

"Ok, sit down in that seat right there. Take my jacket, it's an old one anyway and I have several more. Where are you headed?" She closed the bus doors and pulled away from the stop without waiting for anyone else to board. There was a rowdy bunch of punk teens in the back, covering their conversation.

"You can keep your jacket, ma'am. Thank you, though. I'm supposed to meet them uptown a little way. Near the cemetery. It's our meeting place if we ever get separated." he replied easily and she nodded. Sometimes it scared him how well he could lie.

"We'll be within walking distance from the cemetery at my next stop. Can you get there on your own?" She didn't take her eyes off the road for an instant.

"Yeah, I think so. I really appreciate this, by the way. I was about to be in some real trouble." Nico thanked her. He may not have been in any physical danger, but he was grateful for this woman's willingness to help a teenager she had just met. Not many people would have done that especially not in Gotham.

"Don't mention it. Literally. I'm not supposed to allow people on for free, no matter the circumstances. Though I feel like there's a need for more human decency in this world." She replied.

"Gotham needs more people like you." He said truthfully. The woman smiled gently, her eyes still on the road. Nico sat back and looked out the window as she drove. He was the first one off at the next stop. Luckily, Nico recognized the area from the couple of times Bruce had taken them all into town for something or other. Weekly public appearances seemed to be a necessity in maintaining their image with the media so Nico played his part in it all.

Nico wasted no time in heading for the cemetery, though of course, he wasn't actually looking for the cemetery. He was going to use it as a landmark to get back to the manor. He made it to the cemetery pretty quickly and soul searched to see if he was still being followed. He was happy to find that he wasn't-- he had finally lost them. Nico headed into the cemetery, deciding that it was probably ok to shadow travel back to the house now no one would notice his sudden disappearance.

Nico went behind a large mausoleum and walked into the shadows, picturing his room at the manor. He emerged in his chilly room, which was just how he had left it. The bed was not made, the bathroom door was left ajar, and one of his sketches of the Joker lay out on his desk. It would good to be back in a familiar space after everything he had gone through these last few days.

The first thing he did was change out of that outfit and into some of his normal black clothes. Nico reunited his combat boots and his mask with the rest of his uniform from his bag, which had arrived safely. He returned his school work to his desk, planning on doing it later. The demigod stuffed the clothes he had been wearing in the panic room to keep them hidden from Batman. He threw his other clothes from his stay at the mountain in the hamper to be washed later. Then he unpacked completely and cleaned up his room, just to feel like he had accomplished something.

Then it was time to attend to his own hygiene. He washed off the soles of his boots in the bathtub because they had gotten soil and residue on them from Toxic Acres. The last thing he needed was for Batman to run a chemical analysis on that. Nico did make sure to then go walk in the grass and dirt out back so that they weren't suspiciously clean either. It was a lengthy walk so it also wasn't obvious that he was out there for anything other than relaxation. After that, he took a hot shower with a lot of strong-scented soap and shampoos to make sure that he didn't smell like Ivy's place either. He slipped into normal clothes and took cologne to the clothes that he had hidden in the secret room. He'd rather wash them, but he couldn't risk them being seen. Plus, he had no idea if the toxins could transfer to the other's clothes in the wash. They weren't immune to Toxic Acres like he was and he didn't want to give the whole family a rash or something just as uncomfortable.

After he was all taken care of, he went down into the Batcave and put up his suit in its locker that they each had. Nico figured that an alert had been sent to Batman or somebody that someone was in the Bat cave so it didn't really surprise him when he heard the zeta tubes in the Batcave announce the arrival of Nightwing and Red Robin.

"Dude! Where have you been?" Richard called once he'd spotted the younger boy. Nico decided to play it all off as if it wasn't that big of a deal.

"I was in California. You should know since y'all put a tracker in my phone." He glared.

"What? A tracker in your phone?" Dick sounded genuinely surprised which meant that it was probably all Batman's doing. Nico nodded.

"That's weird, Bruce usually puts them somewhere less obvious."

"Well, maybe he didn't think he had to since I'm not very tech-savvy." he countered.

"Maybe. Speaking of which, how did you find it?"

"I figured he would do something like that so I checked through all my clothes and stuff and didn't find anything. Then I decided that he would've bugged me somehow so I decided to look through my phone and see if anything looked weird," he explained, omitting certain parts of the truth.

"That's actually really smart..." Tim praised, he looked impressed.

"Thanks. Anyway, I found this little box that was connected to the ah... hard drive with two wires." A look of realization passed over Dick's face, "I remember you telling me that a phone only needed a hard drive and the software. So I figured that that wasn't either of those things." he finished.

"Huh... that's pretty cool actually," Dick admitted.

"Yeah, neat. So, what were those things that attacked you at the mountain?" Tim asked, "They weren't seal-dog hybrids, were they?"

"They were, of a sort. It's more like they are seal-dog-demon hybrids more than anything else. They're called telkhines and, according to Percy, they are the real reason Mt. Saint Helens blew up." He replied.

"What?!" Dick asked, incredulously.

"Percy was helping Hephaestus out by killing all the Telkhines that had taken over his forge in Mt. Saint Helens. They threw lava on him to try to kill him and somehow he blew up the volcano. He disappeared for quite a while after that, we thought he was dead." He summarized. Nico decided that it would probably be easier not to mention the Labyrinth, Calypso, or Typhon. He'd tell them about all that later... maybe.

"Ok... I'll buy that I guess," Dick spoke mostly to himself. It was a lot to take in and he hadn't even told them most of it.

"What did you tell the team about me?" Nico asked curiously.

"I told them that you were on your own for now, but that we would see if we could get you to go back," Dick replied cautiously, watching him for his reaction.

"I don't think that going back would be a good idea. The monsters can get to me there. Those were some low-grade monsters. I don't want to try and deal with the Kraken or something with a bunch of teens that don't know what is happening and don't have weapons that work." he reasoned. Dick pondered this for a while.

"Ok, what are you going to do? It's not a good idea to leave you here all by yourself all day either. We still have at least 3 more days after this that Bruce and Alfred are going to be gone." He pointed out.

"I mean, I have places I can go to stay safe. I can go back to camp for a couple of days, go to California where they also have a safe place, I can go to the Underworld, I could stay with Jason if he doesn't mind, or there are a couple of other places I can go to as well. I have a lot of friends." Nico did have a lot of friends, more than anyone knew. Besides the obvious ones like the Waynes and Ivy, he knew several people in China from his accidental trips there and he knew people all across the United States too. There was Luke's mom, whom he knew from when he had to ask her about the whole blessing thing. She thought that everyone who came through her front door was Luke, though. Poor woman, she still waits for him to come home.

He also knew Rachel's dad because he once had a dream that Rachel had been attacked and he had to make sure she was alright. Nico had told him that she had forgotten some things at camp and that he came to drop them off. He told the demigod that he could stop by to see Rachel whenever, which he thought was generous. Nico guessed that her father hadn't really minded that he looked more corpse-like than human.

Nico knew one guy in Arizona because there was a Labyrinth entrance in his backyard. He's the paranoid type, ex-military who thinks the whole world is out to get him. He'd probably help Nico out if he asked him. Then there was an elderly widow who made the best peanut brickle he'd ever tasted. She lived in Alabama and he had met her after he had shadow traveled into her indoor pool. A rather wealthy lady, and very lonely. She didn't even ask him what he was doing in her house. She loved it when he visited her since her kids all had families of their own. Her name was Louisa.

Then, of course, there was Sally Jackson. She had enough troubles of her own without demigods popping in and out of her apartment, though. Nico would never go to her place unless it was a serious emergency. He couldn't put her in danger like that. If something were to happen to her... Nico didn't think he would ever be able to live with himself. And that was assuming that Percy didn't end him himself.

"Be that as it may, we need to know where you are," Dick replied.

"I'll stay around here, in the manor if I have to. I won't go back to the mountain and risk endangering that team. I won't do it."

"Ok, so that leaves your camp or with Jason. There's no way that we're leaving you here on your own." Dick crossed his arms stubbornly. He had taken off his mask and Nico could see in his face that he wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat. He'd text Jason and tell him the situation. It'd be using signal, but Nico didn't really have much choice. At least if he stayed with Jason he'd have someone to help with his English homework. And if he ended up going to camp, Nico would get the chance to check on Annabeth.

"Alright. We'll spend the night here tonight and we can leave in the morning. There's some stuff we need to talk about."

That night Nico had a dream. The Queen of the gods was in a cage.  Something big was coming.

[In the edited version, I plan on fleshing out the relationships with Nico and each of the boys a little more if possible. I feel like they were glossed over before. Be prepared for a little more family fluff in this version!]