[Edited July 20, 2022]

The next morning, the team found their resident archer and the visiting oddball locked in mortal combat on the hologram platform. It was interesting for Nico to fight against someone who was using a long-range weapon. It definitely required one to be light on their feet and it tested his reflexes in ways that he wasn't used to. While having your opponent further away did give you more time to come up with a counter, the projectiles could be fired in rapid succession and traveled faster than a blade would be swung. It was certainly an adjustment and he was having difficulty getting in close enough to attack.

The earliest risers had heard the sounds of explosions and shouting and came to the gym to investigate. Whatever they had been expecting, it wasn't Ghost and Artemis trying to kill each other. Connor ran through the room and shoved Ghost away from Artemis, getting hit in the back by an exploding arrow in the process that left sizzling holes in his shirt. Ghost wasn't sure if the hero had meant to or not, but Connor had shoved him with enough force that the consultant ended up tumbling all the way to the wall.

"Stupid barrier," he muttered under his breath as he pushed himself to his feet. He brushed himself off and moved to collect his sword that he had dropped near the edge of the platform. He glanced around to see who else had been drawn to the noise. Some of the other early risers included: Miss Martian, Nightwing, Red Robin, Kaldur'ahm, and a couple of others who he couldn't remember.

"Relax, Connor. We were just sparring. We don't hate each other anymore." Artemis stretched languidly. Ghost rubbed the shoulder that had had a brief run-in with the wall. It was a very solid wall, though he wouldn't expect anything less from Bruce.

"Seriously. You didn't have to hit me so hard." Nico agreed.

"You were fighting." Connor pointed out, still not convinced that everything was ok.

"Yeah," Artemis agreed, "thanks for the concern, but I'm fine. I can beat him up anyway." She smirked at her opponent. Nico stuck his tongue out at her, which made her laugh. She had a nice laugh. It was certainly better than her snarl.

++Megan++

From the short time we had been around this 'Ghost', I never would have thought that he could be playful. To me, he had seemed very stuck-up and deadly serious all the time. It had been very disconcerting for a boy his age, granted that I did not know his actual age. He seemed to be around 13 or 14, at most? His features suggested youth, though I am not so great at judging things based on human biology. Martians didn't age the same and we could always morph our bodies into any desired form.

I never would have thought that he would stick his tongue out like that, a gesture often connected with impudence. It was a childish gesture that did not seem to fit his earlier character. Then I was further confused by the fact that such playfulness was directed at Artemis-- a person he had engaged in an argument with the previous day. What had occurred that made them suddenly friendly again? The intricacies of human behaviors were hard to understand, but I found that I didn't have to follow them all to be accepted by the group. They preferred me as I was.

++Nico++

The son of Hades was feeling pretty good after the sparring match with Artemis, and getting everything smoothed over with the team. Even Nightwing seemed to be more at ease again, which was good. Nico wasn't sure that he could have handled much more of the tension. He had begun to worry about whether or not things would go back to normal once they got back home but now he wouldn't have to worry about it.

Though Artemis, Nightwing, and Red Robin had all forgiven him, the rest of the team wasn't so quick to forgive. They still didn't seem to know what to make of the demigod and were giving him strange looks or avoiding looking at him all together. Even Kaldur was giving the son of Hades a wide berth, which Nico found disquieting. It was hard to stomach all of the tension, but Nico hoped that they would come around now that Artemis had.

Artemis had invited him to breakfast in front of the entire team as he had just begun sneaking off to his room. Ghost didn't want to decline, but he didn't want to go either. Nico somehow found himself agreeing reluctantly, and that was how he got himself into the situation he was currently in. Next time, he resolved, he would decline. A few minutes prior...

Breakfast had just been announced for the people who were still at the Mountain. Nico had gone into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl of cereal, and stood in his corner. Everybody except the two Flashes were gathered with their food. Ghost wasn't sure where they were, but no one seemed worried so he ignored it. For two of the fastest people on Earth, they were very rarely on time for anything, though they were usually early when it came to meals.

It had only been about 5 minutes before they both zoomed into the room together. Somehow, one of them hit Nico's hands and made him dump cereal all over himself. He was not pleased.

The pair stopped and high-fived before Ghost cleared his throat. The entire room froze and turned to look at him. The demigod's hair was dripping with milk, and there were fruit loops all over him. he had set the bowl down, but the spoon was still clutched tightly in his hands. Mini flash II was gone in... well a flash. And the other one was sputtering apologies. Everyone else was staring at the consultant in tense silence, trying to guess what he was going to do.

To tell the truth, Nico had no idea what he was going to do. Luckily, the son of Hades was saved from having to decide by Artemis losing her composure. She burst out laughing, startling pretty much everyone. The ones that didn't know that they were on good terms again were glancing at Ghost nervously.

Nico pulled a fruit loop out of his hair and that set her right off again. Ghost glared at her but she didn't see him with her eyes shut tight. The demigod set the fruit loop on the end of the spoon and aimed it at her while her eyes were shut. He flung it at her, and by some miracle, he managed to hit her in the forehead. Her eyes shot open and she stopped laughing-- her face said you dare?

It was Nico's turn to laugh now until she threw her toast at him like a frisbee. Unfortunately, mini flash II came running back into the room at that very second and it caught him in the side of the face. He skidded to a stop behind Connor and frowned, crumbs all over his shoulder and the side of his face. He grabbed some blueberries from the fridge and started chucking them like bullets from a machine gun while everyone else ducked for cover.

Soon it was an all-out food war like the one Percy had told him about in Hoover Dam. Luckily, no one had any burritos here. No one needed their skulls knocked off. Though it would seem that muffins could be just as dangerous. Connor was hit in the chest by a flying muffin and he fell back into the counter with an 'oof'. M'gann was continuously phasing in and out of a solid-state, allowing food to pass harmlessly through her and onto the people behind her. Nightwing had found his way onto the top of the refrigerator and was simply causing chaos by throwing well-timed marshmallows into the fray. Tim had already gone down under a few boxes worth of cereal and he was just lying there motionless. Artemis had grape jelly in her hair and a smile on her face and Nico had a piece of peanut butter toast stuck to his chest and was still dripping with milk. No one had made it out unscathed.

It only ended when they had gone through just about everything on the table and the counters. By then, the kitchen was a mess. There were different types of cereals and different juices on every surface. A muffin had crumbled all down the front of the fridge. Parts of different berries looked like paintballs on the walls and appliances.

If the JLA came in and saw this... they'd all be dead. Despite their looming deaths, the team was scattered around the large room in piles of dirty, tired, and satisfied people. There was nothing like a good, friendly food fight.

"Great, how are we supposed to clean this all up?" Middle child flash grumbled. The magician girl stood from her hiding spot beneath the table. Nico was pretty sure he had seen some food fly on its own during the fight, and he thought it was because of her. Ghost hadn't seen her do magic before, but her outfit sure fit the bill.

"Magic, Wally. Duh!" She said before saying something really weird. It definitely wasn't in any language Nico had ever heard of before. All of the mess disappeared in an instant and everybody was clean again. Ghost decided to act like he hadn't noticed the use of Kid Flash's real name, he was sure that he wasn't meant to hear that.

"Thank you, Zatanna." Kaldur said as he brushed the invisible dust off of himself. She smiled, happy at the praise. Soon after, the group dispersed to do their own things, people talking about the battle as they went. This was when Nightwing and Red Robin decided to corner him. They pretty much dragged their brother back to his room and locked the door behind them. Ghost brushed himself off, indignant. Without any preamble, Nightwing started asking him questions about the Deathstroke incident.

"What were you doing out of the house at night?" He whispered angrily. Luckily, Nico had thought of a good lie for this beforehand.

"I had a dream," he lied. Nightwing got a knowing look.

"Still, that was stupid. Deathstroke is no one to mess around with. He could have killed you and there was nothing any of us could have done." He chastised. He was forgetting that Nico did, in fact, have powers. If worst came to worst, he could have shadow traveled. Nico just didn't want Deathstroke to know that he had powers.

"Yeah, I know," the son of Hades sighed.

"Batman knows," Tim spoke up. Nico cursed under my breath. Great, just great.

"I guess he would have found out eventually," he pouted. Nico had been hoping to avoid the lecture this time around. This time, it was going to be much more serious. His stomach churned at the thought. Nico knew that Bruce wouldn't hurt him or give him an outrageous punishment, but he hadn't had the best experiences with male figures of authority or power. Well, besides Chiron. Chiron was great.

"What kind of favor do you think you will owe Ivy?" Tim raised an eyebrow. It was clear that he didn't like the idea and Nico couldn't say he was all too happy about it either.

"I'm really not sure," Nico shrugged.

"Batman will be home tomorrow morning," Tim said. Nico nodded to show that he had heard him. Dick got a beep on his hologlove and he checked it.

"Wonder Woman got back from her mission early. She'll be coming here in a couple of hours to train with the team." Dick checked his watch.

"I thought that she would be off with the League on the off-world mission?" Nico asked, confused. Tim shook his head,

"She had another mission that she had to take care of. Will she recognize you?" He waved off Ghost's confusion.

"I'd imagine she'd know it was me the minute she laid eyes on me. Why would that matter?" He asked. She already knew that Bruce was Batman. She could keep a secret.

"It doesn't really. I was just curious." He shrugged.

"Ok, am I supposed to act like I know her or not?"

"We'll call ahead and tell her the situation. It might make the team trust you more if Wonder Woman is on your side," Dick reasoned. Ghost nodded; that made sense.

"We'll come and get you when Diana gets here. Wait for her to approach you." Tim advises as they turn to go.

"Alright, I think I'll just stay in here and do some homework for a while." Nico motioned towards the desk. They nodded before leaving the demigod to his thoughts.

The son of Hades didn't know what he wanted to work on. He had math homework to finish, a book to listen to, and a chemistry test to study for. The list was overwhelming so he decided to put it off a little longer. He could afford to wait until one of his brothers could help him, right? Nico couldn't get up the motivation to start his school work so he tucked it away in his bag and pulled out his sketchbook instead. 

Now, what to draw?

 Maybe he could draw a picture of Leo with his dragon. He thought it out for a while in his head, trying to decide if he could actually do it or not. Eventually, he decided that he might as well try since he didn't have anything better to do instead. This sketch ended up being the most complex picture he had attempted yet. It had the smallest details and standard-sized parts that he had to make look three-dimensional. He was pretty sure that several hours had passed before anyone had come to get him, and he still wasn't even halfway done.

There came a firm knock on his door. Nico had just finished with the outline and sectioning off the different parts. He was now working on adding the larger details, like the bronze plates on Festus. That was the hardest part. It was sort of overwhelming when he thought about it. It would take a lot of attempts before he would get it how he wanted it, that is for sure.

"Yes?" Ghost called out. Nico stretched and closed the sketchbook.

"Wonder Woman will be arriving shortly, I have been asked to come collect you," Kaldur'ahm said from the other side of the door. Nico stuffed his sketchbook in his backpack before heading toward the door. Kaldur was on the other side, waiting for him. The usually friendly-looking Atlantean was unreadable and it made Ghost hesitate. He blinked and the look was gone and Nico guessed he had just imagined it.

"Why do they always send you?" He asked the older boy as they walked. Kaldur hesitated for only a moment before responding,

"I cannot speak for the team. I know that some of them find you rather disquieting, however. That could be a factor," He explained. Nico was at least thankful that he did not lie to him.

"I see..." to keep the conversation going, Nico tried to make light of the situation, "So you're just one of the ones who can stand me then?"

"The team is suspicious by nature. They will grow to accept you now that Artemis has." He made excuses for them. Nico noticed that his guide did not take a stance on how he felt about him. It was rare that one could find a truly neutral person. Nico didn't like it. You never knew where you stood with a neutral person.

"Well, soon it won't matter. I hope that I won't have to come here again."

"I would not bet on that... I must admit that I would not be surprised if Batman tried to recruit you. You'd be an interesting addition to this team." Ghost didn't think so, but he was grateful for the image. It was certainly food for thought.

"I guess we'll just have to see," he replied. We walked the rest of the way to the zeta tubes in silence. Ghost came up to stand beside Artemis, who didn't seem to notice him at first. The group was all clustered in front of the portal thingies, talking. He guessed it was always a group event to greet people who came in. Strange. It seemed like a lot of people were always coming and going.

Several minutes later, the zeta tubes whirled to life, announcing Diana's arrival. She greeted the entire group, asking questions about the Justice League mission as she went. The team filled her in with as much as they knew. Eventually she 'spotted' Nico at the back. He was sure that she had noticed him as soon as she came in, having been informed of his presence earlier. When she saw him, she didn't look surprised, but she raised her eyebrows.

"Ghost?" She asked, creating a cover story as she went.

"Diana, a pleasure to see you again." Nico shook her hand when she offered it to him. She smiled like she was greeting an old friend. The rest of the team gawked. Ghost enjoyed the looks on their faces and wished he had a camera.

"Likewise, what are you doing out of Gotham City?" She continued.

"Well, I helped these guys determine the cause of death in one of their cases and suddenly, my life is in danger. Batman figured that sticking me here would be my best option." He told a half-truth.

"Who was after you?" She frowned. Her confusion seemed genuine so he guessed Dick didn't tell her his cover story.

"You know that guy I told you about who was producing seal dog hybrids? Yeah, him." She would probably understand the reference to Telkhines.

"Yes, and he's had a run-in with Deathstroke recently." Nightwing interrupted.

"Thank you for that. Why don't you go tell Batman while you're at it." Nico grouched, knowing that he already had.

"He knows." Red Robin cut in. Ghost faked a glare. It didn't phase him in the slightest.

"Deathstroke? What have you been up to that got you involved with him?" She sounded appalled. Nico glared at Nightwing for real this time. He hadn't been planning on explaining the whole incident to her.

"I'll tell you later. I made it out, I'm fine. I just owe Ivy a debt." He tried to placate the scary amazon.

"You...? You know what? I'm not even going to ask." Diana shook her head. She looked at him in motherly disappointment, something that he had not experienced since Bianca.

"How do you two know each other?" Connor asked from his place at the back of the group. Leave it to him to ruin the mood.

"That is a long and somewhat painful story. I don't think this is the proper time or place to get into all of that history." The team seemed to accept such vague answers. It probably helped that she is Wonder Woman and part of the JLA.

"Yeah, I'd rather not talk about it." Nico agreed.

"So, how about we all go and start on today's training session?" Diana started walking towards the training room before anyone could protest. They all followed her into the gym. Diana stepped up onto the platform and invited us, one by one to come up and spar with her. Many of the YJ team were at home for the weekend or during the days so there were probably only 10 of them there. Wally and mini flash II had gone home or were just not here now. As had bee girl, Zatanna, Lagoon boy, and several others that he couldn't remember the names of. She went through the first half of the group before taking a break. Diana went to go get water and she came back and sat next to Ghost once she had. The pair drew some stares from the team, but Diana didn't seem to mind.

"Do you wish to spar with me?" She asked, taking a drink. Nico watched her, trying to judge if she was serious. When she seemed to be, he considered her offer. The team had all seen him fight off the sea demons, beat the hologram record, and then watched him spar with Artemis. He guessed that there wasn't really anything left to hide in terms of combat skill. He just wouldn't use his powers.

"Will you be using..." He forgot the word so he gestured to it. Her... lasso. That's it. He was not looking forward to getting another magic burn. Diana seemed to understand this.

"No, just my sword and my wrist guards." She assured him. He nodded. At least he wouldn't have to drink firewater again any time soon.

"Alright, promise not to impale me?" He teased. Diana rolled her eyes.

"I promise." 

When the break ended, Nico found himself on the platform, facing Diana. He had been forced to retreat to his room to 'retrieve' his own sword as it would be hard to explain to them that he had a magic item that transformed into his skull ring. He didn't wear the Skull ring at the mountain because the team might recognize it from when they saved Nico at the galas.

Everybody was snickering because they thought that Diana was going to cream him but the joke would be on them. The son of Hades knew that he could at least hold his own for a little while. He knew her fighting style, traditional greek, which would give him a leg up on the rest of them before the battle even began. Nico was probably (read absolutely) going to lose, but he was going to last longer than they thought. Probably because they all figured he'd be out after a minute.

The two greeks got into their well-practiced stances and circled one another. Diana had gone the extra mile and taken her magic lasso off completely for this match. Nico was grateful for the gesture, though it did confuse the YJ. A few of them snickered and said that it was because she was going easy on the consultant. Only Nico's brothers knew the truth.

All at once, Diana sprang at him. She forced the Son of Hades to go on the defensive as she struck out rapidly. He was able to block every hit, but it was going to be difficult to get anywhere this way. His only chance would be to put her on the defensive. He just had to wait for the right opening.

After about 30 seconds or so of blocking and dodging, the opportunity presented itself. Nico knew that this was his only chance so he took it. Diana had raised both her hands up to bring the sword down towards his head. He Spartan kicked her in the stomach as she began to bring the sword down. It was like kicking a refrigerator, but she stumbled back a foot or so. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

Before she could fully recover, Nico managed a blow with the flat of his blade to the side of her head. It would only stun her, but that was all he needed. By the time she recovered, he was swinging again. Now it was his turn to be on the offensive. Nico swung and slashed, making sure to stay close enough to Diana that she couldn't get enough momentum behind her blade.

Eventually, we were both just standing still, exchanging blows. It was no longer a fight, it was a performance. Moves and counter moves. For a long time, neither one of them got the upper hand. The first one to make a mistake would be the first one to 'die'. It didn't take long. Nico overcompensated and lost his balance. Diana used this opportunity to sweep the demigod's feet out from under him. The computer declared that he had failed and the team cheered.

Nico didn't know if they were happy that he had lost, or that he had made it that long. He imagined it was a little of both. The son of Hades lay on the ground re-learning how to breathe properly again while Diana stood over him, smiling smugly. That had been a good fight. One-on-one fighting was always harder than fighting off a horde because a group of people usually panicked and/or made stupid mistakes.

"That was a good fight, I am impressed." Diana helped him up. He stumbled a couple of steps on his feet while he made his way off the platform. Tim handed him a bottle of water and he accepted it with a nod.

"Thank you. I've been practicing." Ghost replied after he took a long drink.

"I can tell. I need another break before we continue after dinner." Diana announced. The people who had not gone yet groaned but they all left for the kitchen. More time must have passed than he thought. It was already 6:30.

"You coming?" Artemis called out before she left the room. He gave her a hesitant thumbs up and she rolled her eyes.

"Come on, let's eat." Nightwing led the way to the kitchen. Nico was starting to feel welcome around the mountain and it felt nice. He was glad that everyone was getting along again. It was a little rocky at first, but he felt that he was earning his spot. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be worth it. After all, there's no point in crying over Spilled Fruit Loops.