June 26th

[Edited July 29, 2022]

[June 26th]

  Richard Grayson's POV

  "I'm just really worried about him, Walls." Dick laid back on his duvet and stared up at his ceiling. Wally had been coming over practically every day since Nico had left and Nightwing really appreciated his presence. Wally was his oldest friend and the only member of the team who know who he and his brothers were. Because of this, he'd grown to rely on his support and advice.

  The pair had been friends since the beginning-- long before everything got complicated. Then came Red Arrow and Aqualad. They would later find Connor and be introduced to Miss Martian and Artemis. Even then it had been simpler. Simpler missions, simpler adversaries, and simpler lives.

  That was before all the lies, secrets, espionage, and secret evil villain organizations who tried to plot their downfall. Before Jason, Tim, or Damian. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his brother's company, he just found himself missing the days of the original six. When he was still his parent's son.

  "He knows how to fight, Dick. We all saw him beat your record at the cave and then take out all those monsters at the cemetery. Nico seems capable. I'm sure he's fine." Richard hadn't mentioned the part about it being a suicide mission. He couldn't bring himself to voice it, though if that was for Wally's benefit or his own, he couldn't say.

  The redhead in question was laying back on the couch and watching his friend with concern. The truth was that he didn't know much about Nico, having only really talked to his Ghost persona. At the time, he hadn't even known that Ghost and Nico were the same person. He'd only been read in once Nico had started down the path of joining the team, which hadn't lasted long before he'd disappeared entirely. It hadn't given Wally time to get to know the consultant, much less get an idea of what the boy was like once he took the mask off.

  "I know, but I'm just worried that he's in over his head." Dick sat up. His eyes caught a glimpse of a sketch Nico had done of him on his gymnastics rings. He had caught the movement so well. He could have had a promising career as an artist if he had so chosen.

  "What makes you say that?" Wally frowned. Dick shook his head, he didn't want to get into it. Wally was unfazed by his unwillingness to share, having grown used to being kept at arm's length when it came to Dick's family. He of all people could understand how complicated family could be.

  "I'm going to check Long Island street cameras again." Dick moved to get off the bed.

  "But you've already checked them a dozen times! And Tim is down there right now looking. He'd let you know as soon as he found something. Even Batman is out looking for him! Take a break. You'll be no help to Nico if you're too tired to function." Wally protested. Dick doubted that Batman was out looking tonight. Bruce was probably on some dismal rooftop brooding, but that didn't change the sentiment.

  Dick rubbed his hands through his hair and sighed deeply. He hated to admit it, but Wally had a point. He hadn't been sleeping or eating hardly at all these last few days and he could feel his body aching in protest. It was like he was back in his rookie days again. A little orphan with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

  "How could we have let this happen? How did we miss the signs?" Dick stood and started slowly pacing in front of his bed, "I mean surely there must have been some signs, right? He had clearly been planning this for a while."

  "Dick, seriously. You need to relax. He obviously didn't want you to know. He's smart like the rest of you--" Wally started.

"Yeah, too smart for his own good," Dick mumbled under his breath.

"-- and there's nothing you could have done." Wally sat up as well, his friend's nervous energy rubbing off on him.

  "You're right," the black-haired boy sighed at last, "of course you're right."

  "Thank you."

  "It's just that-- we all feel so helpless. We don't even know where he was headed," He lied. Nico had his war to fight and he doubted he would be pleased to get back and discover the whole mountain knew about it. Plus, the bat family had taken an oath to protect the secrecy of the Greek pantheon unless it became common knowledge. With how serious Nico was about his own oath, Dick didn't want to risk breaking it

   "But you'll figure it out, right? He couldn't have gotten far." Wally volunteered.

  "That's just the thing. Nico has the ability to teleport. He could be anywhere in the world by now." Dick settled himself on the couch next to Wally and rested his elbows on his knees. The team knew about his deathly powers, but none of them had been told about his ability to shadow travel, it hadn't been relevant.

  "So the 'no supers' Batman finally got a meta child?" Wally teased to try and lighten the mood.

  "Yeah, I guess he did." There was a few moments of tense silence where neither boy was quite sure about what to say.

  "How are the others handling it? Tim and Damian?" Dick found it interesting that he clarified since those were the only two brothers that Wally knew were alive. To basically everyone, Jason Todd was dead. Why did he feel the need to specify?

  "You know how they are," Dick said vaguely, "they're not handling it well, but they'll be ok. Hopefully."

  "And Bruce?" Dick pursed his lips and Wally hummed knowingly.

  "He's doing his best, you know?" Dick leaned back into the couch and looked anywhere but his friend's face.

  "Of course he is. He'll find Nico, just give him time." Wally assured him. Dick nodded but he knew he wouldn't. Nico was well beyond their reach, now.

  "Yeah." Dick managed.

  "Hey, here's an idea. Why don't a group of us go out and look for him? It's not even dinnertime yet." Wally checked his watch.

  "Tonight?"

  "Yeah!" Wally stood, picking up steam, "Why not? It's better than just sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself."

  "Who else?" Dick was well aware that there weren't many people on the team who would care to form a search party for the difficult consultant. Nico had a very... interesting way of dealing with people. It fit the persona of Ghost well, but it wasn't a good way to make friends.

  "I'm sure Artemis would love to help. Aqualad and Miss Martian would help too if you asked. Maybe you could bring Tim, to get him out from behind that computer." Wally suggested. Dick nodded, it was probably a good idea for them all to get in some exercise. Patrol always had a way of lightening his spirit. This could be good for him.

  "Yeah, I'll just talk to Bruce. I don't want to accidentally interfere with any operations he might have going." Dick moved to his bathroom to place the call. It rang twice before Bruce picked it up. His voice was gruff when he answered.

  "Yes?" Dick winced, wishing he hadn't called.

  "I wanted to form a small search party to go look for Nico. It might get Tim out from behind the computer. We could all use the fresh air." Dick knew his proposal was weak, but he was hoping that Bruce would be too tired to care. There was no need for a search party since they already knew where Nico was.

  "Whose idea was that?"

  "Wally's..." the was a grunt on the other end of the line and then a long stretch of silence as Batman considered it.

  "Alright, it's pretty quiet tonight but that could change. If something goes wrong, call me. Don't try to handle it yourselves." Bruce replied at last.

  "We can handle ourselves." Dick reminded the older man. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose wishing he could take it back.

  "I know... you're all very capable heroes. It's just--" Bruce trailed off, but Dick knew what he was thinking. He just didn't want anyone else to be in the line of fire right now. He had enough on his plate without having to worry about the YJ.

  "I know B. We'll be careful, don't worry."

  "Fine. Keep your locator on just in case." Batman relented.

  "Thanks, it'll just be a handful of us," Dick assured him.

  "Take Tim. I'm worried about him." Dick's lips quirked up into a wistful smirk. That was the closest Bruce got to admitting that he loved his boys. It was his way of saying it.

  "I will. I'll let you know if I find anything." The former acrobat hung up and returned to his bedroom where Wally seemed to be trying to read the titles of all the books on his shelves while laying upside down on his couch. The ginger righted himself as Dick came back into the room.

  "So? What did the big bad bat have to say?"

  "He said we could, but he doesn't want us getting involved with any villains tonight. If something goes wrong, we have to call him." Wally narrowed his eyes in confusion but ultimately decided not to question it.

  "Are we taking your brothers?"

  "Yeah, just Tim. He needs a break too." Dick grabbed a pen and a sticky note to leave behind a note on his door just in case Damian came back early and came looking for him. The younger sometimes sat in his room reading or doing homework these days.

  "Not Damian?" Wally glanced over his shoulder at the note, but didn't comment on it.

  "No, he's with his own team right now. They'll be able to help him more than we can."

  "Great, then you can go get Tim and I'll text the others. I need to go by the mountain to grab my suit, anyway." Dick nodded and led the way through the house to the Batcave.

  Tim was firmly planted behind the computer, nursing a coffee of some kind and squinting at the screen. Dick came up behind him to look at the camera footage he had been scanning through. Live footage from dozens of cameras all over Long Island was being displayed on the screen. Tim was running a program that scanned anything that could be identified as a face and compared it to Nico's photos from the newspapers the day Bruce had taken him in.

  "Any luck?" Wally asked hesitantly. It was abundantly obvious that the answer was no, but Tim humored him anyway.

  "Not yet. So far we've only been looking in places where he has been sighted before and I'm only looking at footage collected from the days that he disappeared. So far, nada."

  "Ok, so can you expand your search?" Wally suggested.

  "I could, but unless I want to try and scan the entire planet, I'd need to have an idea of what I'm looking for. Even narrowing it down by country would be helpful." Tim sighed and leaned back in the chair. Dick hated seeing him look so defeated.

  "How about you join us on patrol tonight? Maybe we'll find something that will give us a new direction to search in. It beats sitting in here by yourself all the time." Dick offered. Tim hesitated, seeming torn. Dick shared a glance with Wally who seemed to get the memo.

  "Yeah, and the computer can always alert you if it finds anything," the redhead agreed. Tim sighed and nodded.

  "You're probably right." He stretched and his back popped in three places. Wally pulled a face.

  "Great. Gear up." After Tim had suited up, they used the zeta tubes to go to the mountain so Wally could grab his stuff.

When they got there, the small search party was waiting for them. Wally had been right, of course. Since they had spun the story that they were looking for the missing Wayne boy and not Ghost, they were more willing to help. Artemis, Kaldur, and Miss Martian had agreed almost immediately. Connor took some convincing, but eventually, he agreed as well.

  Soon they were all in M'gann's ship flying over Gotham. Without a sense of direction, they were just doing a standard grid search in camouflage mode. It was nice, but Nightwing knew that they needed to feel that they had an objective. It was his job to give it to them.

  "This would be easier if you could tell us what we're looking for." M'gann pressed after a while.

  "I'm looking for Poison Ivy," Dick replied, having just come up with the plan. He hadn't wanted to approach the villainess because she could be unpredictable in nature and unreliable as a resource. There was the added factor that Bruce had asked them to lay low for the time being.

  "Are you sure? I thought--" Wally started, but Dick didn't give him the time to finish his thought.

  "She had a relationship with Nico di Angelo that we don't know the details of. She could know something about where he might have gone." Wally pursed his lips with worry.

  "Alright, then we'll start there." Kaldur glanced at the youngest member with a raised eyebrow. Dick knew Kaldur had probably deduced that his plan wasn't sanctioned, but he didn't question it and for that the oldest bat was grateful.

  "Toxic acres it is." M'gann steered the ship towards their new destination. They never quite made it there.

  On the way to the hazardous neighborhood, the team across some kind of disturbance. There were people evacuating an alley. The homeless and other miscreants dispersed. When he pulled up a monitor to get a closer look at what was going on in the streets, Nightwing saw something that greatly concerned him.

  "Is that..." Wally trailed off, looking at his own monitor in disbelief.

  "Poison Ivy," Dick confirmed. They had found the crazy plant lady, but she wasn't alone. Ivy had an entourage of two of the most dangerous and feared women in Gotham, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn.

  "When did she team up with crazy and crazier?" Connor growled. Dick didn't reply, not having an answer himself.

  "Maybe we should ask her." Artemis's rough voice grumbled. Her eyes were locked on the redhead, who had a thug pinned up against the wall with some overgrown dandelions.

  "M'gann--" Dick started.

  "Getting us in closer." She replied, predicting his order. Nightwing stood up from his seat and prepped to disembark. Miss M set them gently on the roof of a nearby building and the team snuck out onto the roof above the alley that the villains were occupying.

  "I've set up a link." M'gann's voice resounded through his head.

  "Good. Superboy, tell me what they're saying down there." Everyone on the rooftop stilled, knowing how sensitive Connor's ears are. They didn't want to create any interference. 

  The boy in question crouched behind the ledge of the building, his face scrunched in concentration. Nightwing waited impatiently, hoping that he would at least not be getting bad news. He had to be careful what he was thinking so he wouldn't send thoughts he didn't mean to through the link. He couldn't expose how worried he actually was about Nico without risking exposing his identity.

  "She's asking him about the di Angelo boy. She wants to know if he's seen him." Connor voiced his findings in the mind link. He always said everything like a statement, but Dick could see the confusion in his eyes. This was a problem that he hadn't foreseen.

  "Wait... isn't Ghost also missing?" Miss Martian frowned.

  "Both Nico di Angelo and Ghost go missing at the same time? Could their disappearances be connected?" Artemis seemed skeptical.

  "I don't believe in coincidences," Wally said, mimicking the millions of times they'd all heard Batman or one of his boys pull out that line. The two bats who were present sent him withering looks. An investigation into Ghost's identity was the last thing the bats needed at the moment.

  "Nightwing, Red Robin. Do you know if Batman is investigating the possibility of these cases being connected?" Kaldur asked.

"He is. Nico's disappearance hasn't been made public, yet, but Mr. Wayne has contacted the police. There hasn't been a ransom note of any kind, either." Tim cut in. Nightwing was grateful for the save. The group eyed one another but didn't press it. They were used to the Bat-family being secretive.

  "Ok, so we've found her. Now what?" Artemis asked, moving to crouch next to Superboy. She peeked over the edge and into the alley.

  "Now we get answers." Nightwing replied. He stepped up onto the ledge in full view of the three villainesses. He knew he was being reckless and stupid, but at the moment he didn't care. He could hear Wally hiss out something about keeping a low profile but he ignored him. He didn't have time for a low profile, he needed answers.

"Hello there, ladies! Is there anything I can help you with today?" It had his desired effect. Instantly all eyes were on him.

  "You idiot." Tim groaned under his breath as he took cover behind the ledge.

  "Look, Ivy! We found a bird brat!" Ivy gushed.

  "More like he found us." Catwoman corrected, but Harley didn't even seem to notice her.

  "I see that. You can go, Nightwing. I'm looking for di Angelo. Same as you." Ivy flicked her wrist at him like she was shooing away an annoying fly. The hero in question narrowed his eyes at her.

  "Does Batman know?" Tim asked, mainly directing his question towards Nightwing.

  "Oh yeah, I told him," Ivy answered, calling up some vines around the man who had been trying to make his escape while the she-villains were distracted.

  "You did? Do you have any leads?" Nightwing pressed. He didn't know how he felt about Bruce permitting Ivy to conduct her own search. He must have come to the same conclusion he had. Ivy might know more about Nico than they did. It was worth a shot to let her try.

  "None," Ivy replied bitterly. Nightwing nodded, but he couldn't help but feel disheartened.

  "Perfect." Tim huffed.

  "Did he ever mention anyone or anyplace to you that he might have run off to?" Kaldur stepped in. Ivy seemed to consider this.

  "Can I talk to you in private?" Ivy said suddenly, turning to Nightwing. The hero glanced at his companions, many of whom looked uncomfortable with the idea. He considered his options. He could either go with Ivy and risk some sort of attack, or stay there and risk not getting some useful information.

  "Lead the way." He said at last. He used parkour to get to the ground from the roof. Poison Ivy lead Dick two blocks before she finally backed him into a corner. He moved to take out his escrima sticks, but Ivy stopped him.

  "Relax. I just want to make sure that we weren't followed. I don't think you or Nico want the team to hear what I have to say. It will make Nico seem even more suspicious to them." Nightwing frowned. Why did Ivy care about what the team thought?

  "Ok. What do you have?"

  "Nico said he found his half-sister in New York." Ivy rushed, speaking softly. Dick's heart skipped a beat. Did Ivy know the truth about Hazel?

  "Hazel?" Ivy nodded she didn't ask how he knew that name and he didn't offer an explanation.

  "She told me they met in central park. Maybe he went there." Ivy glanced down the alley as someone passed by the mouth. They didn't even glance in their direction but from her body language, Nightwing knew she'd noticed.

  "You've met Hazel?" Again the villainess nodded. How had she gotten to meet Hazel? None of them had ever gotten to see her. Nico hadn't even mentioned her until several months after he brought her back. What else did Ivy know about his brother that he didn't?

"He stashed her at my house for a few days. I haven't seen or heard from her since but Nico insists that she's safe. I don't know where she is now." 

"So he could be wherever she is." Nightwing picked up on her implication, "Was there anywhere else he or Hazel mentioned?"

"Hazel was originally from New Orleans and she also said something about having lived in Alaska for a while. I know that this isn't all that helpful, but Nico and Hazel were cautious. They didn't tell me much." The villainess shifted her feet uncomfortably. Nightwing got the feeling she was as frustrated about the lack of leads as he was.

  "Thank you, Ivy. That at least gives us a place to start. Nightwing made to leave but Ivy called out to him before he could turn the corner.

  "You know he's not planning on coming back, right?" Nightwing hesitated.

  "How do you know that?" Ivy pulled out an envelope and his blood ran cold. Nico had left her a note.

  "Can I see it?" Ivy placed it gently in his hands and he unfolded it carefully. It read:

Dear Ivy,

I want you to know that I appreciate everything that you have done for me. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have gotten this far without you. Thank you.

I am sending this letter because I have found myself in a situation that I don't expect to get out of. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the Wayne family. They're really good people. They've done so much for me and I will be eternally grateful for that.

This problem has to do with my father's side of the family. They want me-- and all the people I care about-- dead and I can't let that happen. In this situation, my best option is to take one for the team even if that means giving up my life.

I just wanted you to understand that I know what I'm doing and that I'll see you again someday. You know, if you believe in an afterlife. Goodbye, Ivy. Thank you for reminding me of what it is like to have a mom again.

Nico di Angelo

  Though he wanted to crumple it up and stomp on it, he passed the letter back to Ivy wordlessly. He hadn't realized just how important she was to Nico. There was so much that his little brother had been keeping from them, it would seem. He couldn't help but wonder why.

  "You really care about him, don't you?" He asked after a moment, kicking at a shard of beer bottle glass. He couldn't meet her eyes. The bond between Nico and the villainess was so wrong in his mind that he could barely fathom it. Yet here they were, brought together by a mutual friend.

  "I do. He's like the son I never had." Nightwing pursed his lips as Ivy continued, "I know you care about him too, Nightwing. I can see it on your face."

  "Of course, I care. It's my job to care," Ivy hummed sadly.

  "We both know that's not why you're out looking for him." Nightwing eyed the woman carefully. The longer they talked, the more convinced he became that she knew more than she was letting on. It sounded like she may have a good idea of his identity. If she really did know who he was, all hell was about to break loose.

  "What's your game, Ivy?" Nightwing didn't have the emotional capacity to deal with subtleties right then. He needed to know what she knew and he needed to know now.

  "I know that Nico is Ghost." The words dropped like stones and Nightwing became very still.

  "How?" He asked at last.

  "Death radiates from them both. I'm surprised I've been the only one to notice." Ivy carefully folded the envelope and slipped it into the folds of her dress. Dick vaguely wondered if a leaf dress could have pockets.

  "What are you going to do with this information?" The last thing his family needed right now was the threat of blackmail looming over their heads.

  "Nothing. Nico's like family to me, and I protect my family." The two stood in uncomfortable silence. Dick wished he trusted Ivy. That would have helped to quell the sick feeling that was taking over his body. He'd been drilled on keeping his identity secret since he had begun training as Robin. For the secret to being out to an enemy was more than he could handle.

  "Ivy--" Dick started.

"Go to New York, please? My girls and I will keep an eye out for him here." Ivy's tinted eyes met the whites of his domino mask. He hated everything about this conversation, but he had to admit that Ivy seemed genuinely concerned about his brother. It was more than he would have expected. For the time being, he would go along with Ivy's suggestion until or unless she gave him a reason not to. It was the only lead he had and he wasn't about to let it go cold.

  "I'll pass on the tip to Batman," Nightwing replied at last. He retreated without another word. He found his team where he had left them but Harley, Catwoman, and the hostage were nowhere to be seen.

  "Are you ok?" Wally asked once he got within earshot, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

  "Something like that." Dick agreed. He shot Wally a look that meant they'd talk later.

  "What did she tell you?" Connor pushed himself off of a wall that he'd been leaning on.

  "We have a lead. She said Nico might be headed to New York. She thinks he may have had family there." Dick lied.

  "I thought he didn't have family left. He is an orphan isn't he?" Artemis frowned.

  "He is, according to his records." Tim supplemented.

  "I'm sure we'll find more answers in New York. It does no good for us to speculate now." Kaldur advised. Nightwing nodded in agreement. He valued Kaldur's level head. It was what made Batman give him the role of leader in the first place. Looking back on it, Bruce had made the right decision.

  "Red Robin and I will report back to Batman and see how he wants to proceed. We'll let you know of any new developments." Nightwing pulled out his grappling hook and launched it at a nearby building. He, closely followed by Tim, launched himself up onto the roof and disappeared into the poorly lit streets of Gotham.

  Dick and Tim didn't say a word to one another until the manor was in sight. Before Dick could toss himself off the last roof, Tim called out to him.

  "What did Ivy actually say to you? I can tell it really freaked you out."

  "She knows that Nico and Ghost are the same people." Nightwing sighed, knowing that if he hadn't told him, Batman would have at the next mission briefing. Tim was speechless.

  "How?"

  "Apparently she could sense the death that radiates off of him. There's no way that Nico could have predicted that." He assured the younger boy. Nico hadn't betrayed them. It was only happenstance.

  "Bruce is going to be pissed." Tim stared apprehensively at the manor. Dick understood how he was feeling. There were few things that Bruce was more adamant about than the fact that their identities must remain secret. It was his number one rule.

  Now a supervillain knew the big bad secret because Bruce adopted a magical child. He could just picture the face Bruce was going to pull.

  "I know." Dick agreed, warily.

  "Is he going to be mad a Nico?"

  "I doubt it. That's not something that he can control. It isn't like he told her his secret identity," Dick reasoned. Tim nodded, but he didn't seem comforted.

  "He'll be fine. Nico will beat himself up over this more than Bruce ever could. You know that." Again, Tim nodded, but Dick could tell that he wasn't helping.

  "Come on," Tim sighed, "let's get this over with." He grappled away and Nightwing followed only moments behind.

  ++Bruce++

"Mr. Wayne? Mr. Wayne!" A reporter with a microphone shoved in his face shouted, trying to get his attention. Once news broke that his newest charge had disappeared, reporters had been swarming his place of work. He couldn't leave his office without being bombarded by questions.

  "Mr. Wayne! Do the police believe that Nico di Angelo has been kidnapped?" The crowd settled down for a moment to listen to his reply.

  "The police told me they're looking at every possible angle right now. Really this is a question for the commissioner." Bruce returned curtly. He couldn't lose his head here. He could already feel the piranhas circling. The morning news article about Nico had chummed the waters.

  "Isn't it true that Nico ran away several times while under your guardianship?" Bruce felt his hackles rise but he bit his cheek to keep from biting the reporter's head off.

  "Yes, it is. Nico had a hard time adjusting. Once he got acclimated we were able to work out disagreements more productively." The woman scrawled notes on her pad furiously.

  "The rest of your questions will have to wait until the press conference," Bruce started to make his leave, "I'm late for a meeting with the Police Commissioner." He made it to the car, where Alfred sat behind the wheel. Alfred expertly maneuvered them through the crowd of reporters and out unto the main road.

  "I see the vultures have descended, Master Wayne." Alfred met the younger man's eyes in the back seat.

  "They sense weakness." Bruce agreed.

  "Don't let them be right," Alfred replied shortly. The car lapsed into silence as both men were left to their thoughts. They both knew that the worst had yet to come.

  

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