[Edited April 18, 2023]

"Whose, Annabeth?" Dick asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Percy's better half." Nico teased. Percy's cheeks tinged red but didn't deny it.

"She's my girlfriend. She's pretty much a genius." Percy scratched the back of his neck. Nico nodded in agreement.

"Really? What's her favorite subject?" Dick asked-- interested. He was a people- person. He liked socializing, meeting new people, and listening to people talk about things they were passionate about. It really wasn't all that surprising that he was the one initiating conversation with their guest. Sometimes his energy really impressed Nico-- who would just as soon fight a hellhound as attending a gala.

"I don't know, Architecture? Why?" Percy frowned. He was caught off guard by Dick's interest in his girlfriend. It was a good thing that Percy wasn't the jealous type, or the question could have been bad. Dick had no intention of dating Annabeth, either. As far as I knew, he was too married to his work to put any serious time or effort into a partner. He was no threat to Percy's relationship status.

He was just being a bat, getting his hands on any information Percy was willing to share. No doubt Bruce had asked the others to scope him out. Though, Nico figured that they'd have been curious either way. It wasn't like they'd had any shortage of questions. Actually, Nico had been impressed at everyone's restraint at dinner. He was sure they were just itching to ask about the New Mexico incident, the time he was kidnapped and dragged across the country, or any of the other suspicious things that probably came up when you dug into Percy's background. However, he was a guest and he was Nico's friend so they were pacing themselves. Nico was grateful.

"Richard here is a math genius himself." Tim came up behind the group and leaned on the back of the couch.

"Really? I like PE myself." Percy joked good-naturedly. Nico didn't respond because he couldn't remember taking classes before the military academy, and his first semester there was abruptly cut short. Since then, getting a formal education had seemed unnecessary. He could get all the practical knowledge that he needed from Camp or from the Underworld and he doubted that he would be able to live among normal people being a son of Hades. Monsters would follow him no matter where he went. Why did he need a GED?

"What about you, Nico?" Tim asked. Nico cursed internally.

"What? What is my favorite subject?" He clarified-- partially to buy time and partially because he wasn't sure that they were still on the same subject. Tim nodded in affirmation.

"Well, none of them were enjoyable for me." He shrugged, "Even PE sucked at the military academy." Dick chuckled.

"I bet." Before they could talk anymore, Alfred came in.

"I think it is high time the young masters retire to bed." The group of boys all consented, though reluctantly, and left for their respective rooms. So far, so good. Nothing bad had happened and they were halfway through Percy's visit.

The demigods didn't immediately go to sleep when they had gotten ready for bed. Instead, they took the time to catch up and swap stories of what had been happening the last several weeks. They started off talking about the Waynes and what it had been like for Nico to live there but then, the conversation turned to the prank war. 

"You set the centaur mosquito-killer loose?" Percy laughed hysterically. His laughter was contagious, and Nico found himself laughing too. It was pretty funny when he thought about it.

"Yeah! You should have seen their faces! Man! It was great!" He said, remembering Damian's face, "It was right after Damian spilled to the other boys that I couldn't read," Nico admitted. He described the conversation before the prank and the big apology the next morning.

"So he's reading to you?" Percy asked, surprised.

"I know, right?" Nico chuckled with a nod. Percy shook his head in disbelief. It was soon after that that they started to get tired and finally laid down for bed. It was at this time that Percy noticed the younger's bulletin board with his drawings pinned to it.

"Nico?" came his questioning voice.

"Yeah?" He said as he settled on his bed.

"Did you do these pictures?" Nico looked to see what Percy was pointing at though-- he had a pretty good idea already.

"Yeah," the son of Hades responded shortly, watching the other boy intently for his reaction.

"Since when could you draw?"

"A couple of days ago, though I seemed to know what to do, so... maybe I did it before... you know," Nico admitted.

"Before your father had your memories erased?"

"Yeah." Nico bit out. He could feel emotion bubbling in his stomach and he was determined not to let it show.  He would not cry over this again.

"Oh... I'm sorry." Percy must have heard the discomfort in Nico's voice.

"Don't worry about it-- you're fine." They both silently went to bed after that, neither of them knowing what to say to make it better. There really wasn't a way to make it better. Though what happened had happened and there was nothing that either of them could do about it now. Nico fell into a dreamless sleep-- something that surprised him.

He would have thought that the fact that the visit was going smoothly was the calm before the storm. He was right, but not in the way that he was expecting. The next morning he was woken up by someone putting their hand roughly over his mouth. Nico startled awake, reaching to push the hand away before seeing Percy hovering above him. His expression looked grim, and he gave Nico the universal 'shh' signal. When he was sure that the younger demigod wouldn't speak, he took his hand away.

"What's going on?" Nico whispered. Percy shrugged and carefully pulled him out of bed, allowing him to get his feet underneath him so he wouldn't fall. The son of Hades allowed Percy to silently lead him to the window. He pointed down towards the street, and Nico saw a bunch of thugs with clown make-up outside the house-- spread across the lawn. He hadn't been planning on making a news appearance this morning and he wasn't looking forward to it.

"They're in the house!" Percy murmured. Nico grimaced-- If there wasn't fighting or shouting, then the Waynes must be detained and the Joker giving his evil monologue, or the fighting just hadn't started yet. Nico dismissed that theory fairly quickly-- Bruce always got up super early. He must have already been captured. 

If Bruce and the others had been captured, then he had to either hide (which wouldn't help the Waynes) or find a way to contact Batman's friends for help. Bruce couldn't fight the Joker without drawing suspicion, and it was impossible to be in two places at once. That left him with the need to call for help. He needed Wonder Woman.

Nico didn't know If he could shadow travel to the Bat Cave, having never seen it before, so he didn't want to try and bring Percy. Plus, he didn't think Bruce would appreciate it if he revealed his identity to a stranger. Since Nico wasn't taking Percy, he needed to find him a place to lay low from the goons. The son of Hades eventually settled on hiding him behind the secret panel where even Nightwing couldn't find him. He'd probably be safe there. 

Percy did not want to be left out of the fight. It took Nico longer than he would have liked to convince Percy that he wasn't planning on fighting anyone. He was just going to try and hit the panic button in Bruce's office. That would summon the police. He promised he would just shadow travel on, hit the button, and then hid in the cupboard under the stairs that Alfred kept locked. No one would look for him somewhere that was locked from the outside. 

Percy eventually agreed and after Nico was sure that his cousin was safe, he focused hard on the Bat Cave and just prayed that he would land in the same place. He had no idea if it would work because he was mainly focusing on the concept of the Bat Cave. he could end up in a literal cave full of bats, but he had to make an attempt. He stepped into the Shadows and felt the familiar sensations of weightlessness and the piercing cold.

Nico stepped out of the shadows and nearly cried-- he had made it! The fates don't completely hate him after all! Nico ran through the cave-- trying to find some sort of computer. Luckily, it was huge and hard to miss. Now he just had to figure out how to work it. Nico hit a random button, and it turned on. A disembodied voice asked him for his name, so he told it. This technology was so much more advanced than he had expected. This must be cutting edge because he hadn't seen anything like it before-- though he supposed that didn't mean too much.

"Recognized, Nico Di Angelo. Please state your problem," The female voice requested. The screen stayed black but there was an audio wave that moved with the computer's voice. Apparently, this was the only interface He was allowed to access. That was probably for the best because He had no idea what he was doing with this century's tech. He might set off an alarm or something on accident while he was trying to find a call button. Could you even make calls on a computer?

"Uhhhhhh what?" Apparently, the computer recognized his confusion (which he found highly disturbing) because it clarified.

"What do you need?"

"Oh, contact Diana Prince, tell her it's urgent." he requested, "And that she needs to be alone," he added as an afterthought. he hoped that the computer recognized the command, otherwise, he might just expose Bruce's identity to the world without even meaning to. It wouldn't take much more than a simple Google search to find out who he was and even a child could piece the puzzle together from there. Nico waited several minutes until the screen lit up and Diana Prince's welcome face appeared.

"Nico? What's going on?" Diana inquired. She knew it had to be serious if Nico was in the Bat Cave-- as she was sure that Bruce never would have allowed that this soon after taking him in. However, it also meant that Nico had guessed the big secret-- faster than the others ever had. Nico explained everything to her, and when he was finished, she was nodding thoughtfully.

"You were right to contact me. I will be there momentarily. Don't worry, I'll help you explain this to Bruce as well," She winked conspiratorially. He thanked the warrior and the screen went dark. He assumed that meant the call had ended.

With his objective complete, Nico tried to find the exit. He wanted to get out of the Bat cave and back out to where the rest of his new family was as soon as possible. He wanted to be there when Diana took the Joker out. He also didn't want to be missing from the group when Percy came out of hiding either. That would raise too many questions.

There was the added problem that he was feeling pretty dizzy after shadow traveling with no food and high stress. Now that he thought about it, he could have just Iris messaged Diana instead, but he guessed that he at least wouldn't be found here. He was also able to make sure that Diana was alone and that his own powers weren't exposed to the entire Justice League.

There was also the possibility that the thugs were still searching the house looking for him. They might have heard him talking to her and found him. This was probably his best option. His accessing the computer to call Diana was something that the Waynes could understand, they wouldn't understand how he could call Diana without any tech.

Nico walked around the entire place looking for the exit and started to panic when he couldn't find it. He would have thought that there would have been something to indicate an exit of some kind. Did Bruce really have to be this mysterious all the time? What was the point? Nico sat in the chair in front of the Bat Computer-- trying to keep his eyes open. He really should have eaten something first. 

Or maybe there was something about the cave itself that made it hard to shadow travel into. Did Bruce have some sort of contingency for demigods? While it was an interesting thought, Nico wasn't sure how that would have been possible. Whatever the case, it took a lot more power and energy out of him than it should have and he was suffering for it. In fact, he still felt like he was being drained as if he was still using his powers.

"Nico?" A concerned voice called out. He looked up and sighed in relief to see Bruce alive and Diana smiling kindly.

"Oh, thank the gods!" Nico stood up shakily. Did he have low blood sugar? Could his powers cause that? Whatever the case he was trembling trying to stay on his feet.

"What? You didn't think Diana would save us?" Bruce raised an eyebrow at him.

"No, It's not that. I just couldn't find my way out. I thought I was trapped." Bruce put his hand on his shoulder reassuringly. Just as he did, the floor seemed to tilt, and the demigod's stomach lurched.

"Speaking of which, how did you find your way in?" The floor was still tilted, and his brain was sending danger signals to his stomach. The world became fuzzy (or was that his vision) and the floor rushed to meet his face.

 When he woke up, he was lying on a cold metal table, and there were distant voices. His head ached, and he was exhausted-- more so than he should be if the Bat Cave were still in Gotham. It took him a moment to realize that his jacket was missing and with it his only accessible weapons, cash, and the last remnant of what he had of Bianca.

Nico couldn't comprehend where he was. Questions without obvious answers flooded his head. Where am I? Where is Percy? Is he ok? Where were Diana and Bruce? Am I in trouble for coming down into the cave? Nico closed his eyes and tried to keep his heart rate down. It wouldn't help if he panicked now. He took a few deep breaths with his eyes shut tight.

Unfortunately, the heart monitor he was hooked up to shrieked with his increasing heart rate, alerting the possible captors of his awakening. Nico was too disoriented to think logically, or he would have known that he had passed out in the Bat Cave and was safe.

The demigod heard people getting closer, and the son of Hades decided that he didn't want to stay until they got here. He sat up and started pulling wires off. Nico could hear the footsteps coming closer now, it sounded like they were running.  He pulled out the IV and slid his legs over the side of the table. He had to get out of there before they reached him and put him back out. His stomach did backflips as he pulled himself into a standing position.

"Nico, calm down! You're going to hurt yourself," A voice called from his right. He was too late-- they had arrived. Suddenly there were people at his side. He glanced up into their faces and was relieved to see that it was only Diana and Bruce. He was still in the cave. Bruce lifted him by his armpits and sat him back on the table as if he weighed next to nothing. Nico didn't resist now that he knew who it was.

"Are you ok?" Bruce asked hesitantly, probably knowing how silly that question was. Diana handed him his jacket and he took it gratefully.

"Where's Percy?" He ignored the older man's question. He pulled his jacket back on and pulled it tightly around him, comforted by its familiarity. He patted the pockets almost unconsciously. Everything was still there.

"He's upstairs. He wouldn't leave until he saw you were ok. Loyal, that one," Bruce nodded approvingly. Nico nodded with a small smile-- the panic was just starting to wear off.

"That's what he's known for."

"You had really low blood sugar when we found you. You passed out and almost hit your head on the floor on your way down. I'll check your vitals and if they all check out we can go back upstairs, ok?" Bruce asked, already pulling out the equipment. Nico nodded and allowed Bruce to check him over. A short while later, Bruce led him out and into the study. Diana brought up the rear. He tried not to look surprised, but luckily Bruce wasn't watching him. He led the demigod through the house and into the living room. Percy's eyes landed on him, and he jumped up. Everyone else stood as well. They were watching them with interest.

"Dude! You disappeared for like, an hour! You ok?" Percy looked calm on the outside, but his eyes were a raging storm. The bat family must've noticed it, too, for they were giving him a wide berth. It was a good idea to give the enraged son of Poseidon as much space as they could right now. He wasn't sure why he was this angry. He hadn't really been gone all that long, had he? Had the bat family tried to convince him to leave before seeing him?

"Yeah, I'm good," Nico replied. Diana settled lightly on a couch near him. It was comforting that she was sticking around-- he needed an ally who understood what was going on with him right now.

"Thank God. Dude, I fell asleep hiding and had a bizarre dream. They just found me a little bit ago." Percy's eyes grew dark, and Nico could feel his anger. He probably dreamt about the younger boy on the hospital bed and assumed the worst. Typical. It would certainly explain why the older boy wouldn't leave until he saw him. Hopefully, he would get the chance to explain it all to him later. He didn't want the older boy to get the wrong idea about the Waynes.

"Yeah, Perce? You'll have to tell me about it later," Nico said to let him know he understood.

"Yeah. Look, if you're ok, I have to go, my mom's gonna flip on me. This ended up on the news and everything. I promised her no more incidents. " 

"I'm fine, I promise," Nico assured him. 

"Alright, I'll keep in touch. Let me know if you need anything from camp and I'll ship it over." Percy stood to go. Nico nodded, and Alfred showed him to the door. He tried to imagine the conversation that he was going to have with his mother when he got home. Nico didn't want to be him right now.

"Does he usually fall asleep in dangerous situations?" Bruce asked.

"This isn't really that dangerous by his standards. He was kidnapped when he was twelve, and taken across the country by his captor. After almost two weeks, he got in a gunfight with the said captor and managed to hit the gas tank of a cop car which exploded and scared his kidnapper off. He's nearly died several times," Nico reminded them.

"Where was he?" Nico inquired, wanting to know if they found his secret compartment.

"He was in the pantry," Nico blinked, then frowned.

"What?"

"Yeah, we found your buddy in the pantry. Asleep, in a pantry, during a hostage situation," Damian listed everything suspicious about that event.

"In the pantry..." Nico mumbled thoughtfully. He then shook his head in bewilderment, "I have no clue how he ended up in the pantry. The last place I was with him was in my room when I told him to hide."

"That reminds me. Just how did you manage to end up in the Bat Cave?" Bruce crossed his arms and watched him with analytical interest. Immediately he could tell that Bruce was not pleased. He couldn't tell if the older man was exactly angry, but he wasn't happy either. Nico shrank in on himself-- uncomfortably. He wasn't sure exactly how he was going to diffuse this situation. He couldn't tell them the truth and he wasn't going to insult him with a lie.

"I can't tell you that. I just knew that we needed help, and that was the first place I could think to find any," Nico said truthfully.

"I'm getting a little tired of you saying you can't tell us things," Bruce gritted. Nico refused to meet anyone's eyes, which he could feel boring into him. His tone hurt, and the silence that had fallen over the group was deafening. He hated it when people were angry with him. it felt like he spent most of his life with people being angry with him. 

"What did you see on the computer?" Dick asked finally, breaking the awkward silence.

"Nothing really. Some woman asked what I needed, and I told her to call Diana. I told her what was happening and promised to come help. Then, I tried to find the exit," He recalled. They probably had cameras in the cave. This was probably just a test.

"Why didn't you leave the way you came?" Tim frowned.

"I got turned around. I couldn't remember how I'd gotten in." Nico blushed, actually a little embarrassed that he hadn't been able to find the exit, it wasn't labeled but the elevator should have been a good indicator.

"Nico, when I found you, you said, 'Thank the gods'. Are you polytheistic?" He slowly nodded. The surprise on their faces made him well up with shame. They were going to give him a lecture on theology. At camp, he had heard so many different stories of demigods who had been lectured about their religion. Some had even been 'exorcised' by crazies. It wasn't something he wanted to experience. 

"Bruce, the cave felt different today. Why was that?" Diana broke the tension.

"I installed magic dampeners a few months ago," he allowed for the deviation. Diana raised her eyebrows. That would explain why traveling into the cave had taken so much out of him-- way more than it should have if he was only traveling a few hundred feet.

"Magic Dampeners? What would you want with those?" Bruce waved her question away.

"Nico, does your family have anything to do with this?"

"Bruce, he cannot tell you more, and you cannot ask it of him. Any more, and his life will be in danger," Diana interrupted.

"We can protect him from these people." Damian spat in annoyance.

"I'm afraid you don't yet know what you are dealing with. Trust me when I say that you cannot expect him to tell you anymore. You have all the clues you need," Diana assured Bruce.

"Can't he keep giving us hints?" Tim asked curiously. Diana shook her head regretfully,

"He would be foolish to jeopardize himself further. He is already close to breaching his vow as it is. He has risked more than his life to tell you as much as he has."

"Is that true?" Bruce questioned gently. Nico watched his shoe as he scuffed it across the floor. He nodded silently in affirmation.

"I absolutely will not answer any more questions," Nico said, not looking at them. He turned and left the silent room, heading back to his bedroom. He didn't feel very well still-- probably from the magic dampeners that Bruce had installed. He didn't have any energy so he decided to take a nap and wasted most of the day that way. Nico only got up to use the restroom or get a drink, then he went right back to sleep.