Dick could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. The mere mention of Arkham Asylum had him on edge. There were so many things wrong with this picture. One, the asylum held some of Gotham's most dangerous criminals. If there were under hand dealings going on there, how much of it was affected by the criminals. He shuddered to think about it. Then there was the fact that he was returning to Gotham, Batman's territory. There would be questions, should he find out. Questions that he wasn't sure he was ready to answer.

He looked over at Reyna, who seemed focused on the mission at hand. She seemed quite at home in the jet, yet looked oddly out of place in her Roman armor.

"Aren't you from Gotham?" She looked over at him.

"Kind of." He felt himself tense for some reason.

Reyna gave him a knowing look. "Who's keeping secrets now?"

Dick didn't respond. Why didn't he just tell her? Truth was, he had kept people at a distance for so long that he didn't know how to be honest anymore. They arrived in Gotham in no time. Dick made sure that the stealth mode was on as he picked his landing spot carefully. Luckily, there was a forest near the asylum, and he found a nice clearing in the middle of it. They unbuckled themselves and made their way to the back, where Dick lowered the back hatch. The forest was quiet and promised no surprises, but like all of Gotham, looked dark and foreboding.

"Where's the asylum?" Reyna asked. She looked eager to get going.

Dick however, wasn't looking forward to entering the asylum. "Through here." He pointed through the trees, making sure to mask all his emotions, just like Batman taught him.

They walked silently through the woods. Reyna kept one hand on her sword, ready to draw at a moments notice. "Have you been here before?" Reyna asked.

"A couple of times." Dick replied tersely.

"What's it like?" She asked with a hint of worry.

"About what you'd expect an asylum to be like." Dick forced himself to keep his nerve. They reached the end of the forest and looked at the building for the first time. It was at least three stories tall and looked like an old mansion that had become decrepit. An iron fence surrounded the property, but Dick was pretty sure it was just for looks.

"So what's your plan on getting in?" She looked at him expectantly.

Dick switched his vision to X-ray, but the building had so many rooms he couldn't make out anything. "I can't make out much from here. We'll have to sneak in and explore it. That is, if you can sneak." He smirked at her.

"I can sneak." She looked affronted.

"In that?" He eyed her armor.

"If you think I'm fighting without my armor, you're mistaken. Monsters are in on this, just as much as mortals." She glared at him.

Dick raised his hands in surrender. However, it did pose a difficulty.

"Are you breaking the kids out?" A strange voice said out of the blue.

The reaction was instant. Reyna's sword was out and pointed at her opponent. Dick was instantly in a fighting stance. Their opponent, however, let out a yelp and hid behind a tree. It looked like a kid, no older than eight. Reyna lowered her sword. "Who are you?"

The kid peeked around the tree. "Lenny. Are you Preator Reyna?" He asked shyly.

"I am."

The kid stepped fully out behind the tree at this news. "It's an honor to meet the Roman that united the half-bloods with the return of the Parthenon Athena."

Dick looked at Reyna with new curiosity. Reyna blushed at the praise. "I didn't do it alone." She then narrowed her eyes and asked, "Are you a faw. . ., a sayter?"

"Yes." He looked relieved to have been recognized. Dick tried to remember what a sayter was. Weren't they half goat? He looked closer at the kid. He wore baggy jeans and small sneakers. But there was something about the way he stood that seemed off.

"What are you doing here?" Reyna questioned.

"I found a half-blood, and I was charged with protecting him until he was ready. But something went terribly wrong. Someone manipulated the mist. Someone made that kid look like a snake. John would never hurt anyone. He thought he was protecting everyone. He should not be in a place like this."

Reyna gave Dick a grim expression. Dick however had a thousand other questions. "Why would they send someone so young to protect a demigod?"

"I'm twenty next month." Lenny stuck out his chest and stood taller. He was clearly offended by Dicks comment.

"Sayters mature slower than humans. Which is why they make perfect scouts for the Greeks." Reyna explained.

"Wait, Greeks?" Dick was now confused.

"I thought I mentioned the other camp, the Greeks. They use sayters to scout out half-bloods."

"Not wolves." Dick confirmed.

"No," Reyna said this as though it were obvious.

"I still am having a hard time understanding how someone so . . . ," he motioned to Lenny, "can be a protector."

"I'm very advanced for my age." He crossed his arms disgruntled. "I know four songs. And I'll have you know, no one in my class knows a lullaby. That's why they let me be a protector. Who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Nightwing."

"What kind of a name is that?" Lenny looked at him strangely.

Dick was about to answer when Reyna interrupted distractedly, "He's a mortal." As if that explained his dress and name.

"Ohhhh." Lenny said as if he understood perfectly.

"It's my code name. I'm with the Justice League." Dick tried to explain. He had never met so many people who didn't know about the Justice League before.

"A lullaby!" Reyna shouted out at random. Dick thought that Reyna was thinking the same thing as him, that there was no way that this kid could be a protector, when she blurted out, "I figured out how we are getting in."

"What?"

"We won't have to be stealthy if everyone is asleep."

"We don't have time for that?" Dick looked at the sky, there were at least a few more hours before nightfall.

"Lenny can play them to sleep." She beamed at the sayter.

"You'll fall asleep too, unless you cover your ears." Lenny warned.

Dick looked at the two of them incredulously. Everything in him screamed that this wasn't real, but he had to shove that to the side as he had been proven differently. He sighed dejectedly. "What about the cameras?"

"What about them? They can't film, magic." Lenny leaned against the tree.

Dick looked to Reyna. "Maybe they can't film magic, but I'm not magic. I can't get caught."

"Who are you afaid of catching you. I thought you were from this area?"

The question made him hesitate. "I just don't want to have to explain why I'm here."

"Fair enough."

"I have an idea. I think I know where the breaker box is for the cameras. I'll just put them on a loop. When we're done, I'll take it off."

"Okay." Reyna agreed.

"You'll still fall asleep." Lenny reminded him.

"I've got some ear plugs in the jet. I'll get them."

"Perfect." Reyna nodded in agreement.

Dick made his way to the breaker box. He found the right wires and was able to put the cameras on a loop. Even if there was magic, it wouldn't record it. He then made his way back to the jet, thinking back on all the strange things he had already seen, all because he had to follow that mysterious girl with a golden knife. He quickly grabbed the ear plugs and headed back, wondering what else faced him in this world he had entered. When he got back, Reyna was deep in conversation with Lenny, who was looking like he was ready to faint.

"He won't be safe at home. He has to go to camp. You must report this to Grover immediately. No half-blood is safe." Reyna emphasized.

Lenny nodded vigorously in response, but he was looking a little sick.

"We ready?" Dick asked as he handed Reyna a pair of earplugs.

"Ready." She put the earplugs in her ears.

Dick did the same, knowing that it would cancel out all noise. They looked at Lenny who pulled out some reed pipes. Strangely enough, Dick thought he looked more like a sayter with the pipes. He blew into them, but Dick couldn't hear anything. He gave Lenny the thumbs up, Reyna did the same. And so they began making their way toward the asylum. Dick led the way, with Lenny behind him, and Reyna taking up the rear with her sword drawn.

They walked right past the gates and toward the building. Dick saw a couple of dogs sleeping peacefully a few yards away. He opened the main door. He saw several eyes turn toward them and then close sleepily, as workers yawned and found a comfortable place to lay down. It was working! Dick almost couldn't believe it. He scanned the building with his x-ray vision, looking for kids. He saw several fugures he did recognize, Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, but no kids. Then he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He probably would have missed it if it weren't for the bulky man lying in the middle of a doorway that had it been closed, would have seamlessly looked like a wall. He motioned to the other two. Reyna nodded once, and they stepped over the man and into the room.

It looked like a regular room with nothing special about it. There was nothing of interest, but Dick saw the faint glow of something on the opposite wall. He felt around and finally found a switch. A small square panel of the wall opened to reveal a keypad. Dick hooked his computer up to it and in seconds a wide section of the wall opened up. The door itself was at least three feet thick. Dick and Reyna exchanged a look. She gripped her sword. Dick got out two batarangs, just in case. Dick suddenly felt at a disadvantage without his hearing. Walking into a dark, unknown room was when he relied on all of his other senses. He caught a glance of Lenny who looked like he was about to faint. His eyes were wide with fear, but the pipes remained at his lips. He quickly pulled out his light and turned it on. A dark dank staircase wound down before them. Dick led the way down.

When they reached the bottom, there was a single door, with no lock or key pad. Dick grabbed hold of the handle, Reyna raised her sword, but Lenny grabbed hold of Dick's hand which was gripping the door. He shook his head violently. He motioned for Dick to take out the earplugs. He did so.

"Monsters." He managed to squeak.

Reyna touched, Dick on the shoulder, indicating that she would lead this part. As much as Dick hated it, he let go of the handle and let Reyna lead. She wasted no time in flinging the door open. Light flooded over them as soon as the door was opened. It took a little bit before Dick's vision adjusted, but nothing could have prepared him for the horror he saw before him. A man in a lab coat had a kid cut open on top of a table. It looked as if he were performing a routine surgery, or an autopsy. But what was more disturbing, was the woman sinking her teeth into the kid's throat. Lenny let out a loud, "Baaah."

Reyna let out a small gasp before yelling, "How dare you!" She attacked with a viciousness, he had not seen. The empousa had been caught off guard and was only able to block a couple of Reyna's attacks, before her sword ran through the empousa's chest.

Dick forced himself to face the man, who had stopped his little surgery. He looked around with a dazed look and then back down at the kid. "What? What have I done?"

"Are you telling me, you know nothing about this?" Dick said in disgust.

The man looked back with horror in his eyes. "Leave him alone." Reyna looked down at the kid then back up at him. "He was being controlled." Dick suddenly remembered that beautiful woman's face, enticing him to kill, to turn on Reyna. If Reyna hadnt killed her, would he have? Would he have been just like this man?

Lenny looked sadly down at the kid. "It's always the ones who didn't make it to camp that are forgotten."

Dick realized that Lenny had been in charge of protecting this kid, and now he was dead. "I'm sorry. I know you were in charge of protecting him."

"No I wasn't."

"But you just said . . ."

"Not this kid." Lenny pointed at the dead body.

"Then . . .?" Dick exchanged a glance with Reyna, who pointed to another door.

Dicked tensed. Lenny put his pipe up to his lips. "Monsters?" Reyna questioned.

Lenny shrugged, "Most likely. This whole place smells of monsters."

Reyna flung the door open and rushed in, with Dick and Lenny right behind her. It was a much larger room, with jail cells lined against the walls. Some men in lab coats stood around some medical equipment conversing until they were rudely interrupted. There were three other men holding guns, patrolling the cells. Then there were several strange creatures that looked like a mix of several things. They had the face of a dog, body of a human, but webbed hands and feet.

Reyna immediately engaged the strange creatures, while Dick charged at the next threat, the men with guns. They fired a few rounds, that Dick easily dodged, as he jumped up and slammed his elbow into the first man's face. He whipped around and kicked the next man in the head and then flipped around to hit the other man in face. He threw in a few extra moves and quickly dispensed of the men. He quickly noticed that Lenny had the scientists tied up in some weird plant thing that he was controlling with his pipes. Reyna dispensed of the last of the strange creatures with an impressive slash of her sword. She turned to look at him, and he noticed a few cuts along her neck and face.

"Are you alright?" Dick worriedly asked her.

She gingerly touched the scratches and looked at the blood that was now on her hand. "Nothing vital. I'll be fine." She walked past him to the cells. Peering through the slats were kids far too young to have such things happen to them. She shook one of the jail doors, then noticed the keyhole. "Where's the keys?" She asked.

Dick checked the guards, but found nothing. Then he looked over at the scientists. One of them was looking decidedly away from them. That was a guilty face if he ever did see one. "You got something for me?" Dick asked.

"You're on the wrong side. They're dangerous." He shouted.

"Is that why you killed that kid? What is it, exactly, that you think you know?" Dick narrowed his eyes. "Are you doing all of this?"

The scientist stuck his chin out as though trying to act brave. "You have no idea what they are?"

"Kids, who haven't even had a chance to live? Cursed to die because of who their parent is?" Reyna stormed towards him with tears streaming down her face and a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Woah, woah." Dick grabbed her to prevent her from doing something she'd regret.

"You're the one who knows nothing!" She shouted at him as Dick guided her away.

"Lenny, can you open it up a little so we can check his pockets?" Dick asked as he waved at the plant thing.

"Sure." Lenny played a little trill that sounded suspiciously like 'Doorway to Heaven.' The plant made a little hole that Dick stuck his hand in and found the pocket, he also found an ID badge.

"Got it." Dick dangled the keys. Reyna snatched them out of his hand and headed straight to the cells.

"Lenny?" A little voice called out. Reyna opened the cell and a little boy around eight stepped out. "Lenny!" The kid ran and hugged the sayter.

Reyna opened three more cells, but stepped back hastily from the last one with her sword drawn. Dick wasn't sure why she was so tense, but he soon found out when a kid much bigger than the others stepped out. Lenny bleated at the kid. Dick was trying to figure out why everyone was so tense, when he realized that the kid had one eye in the center of his forehead.

"Is that what I think it is?" Dick asked.

"A cyclops." Reyna confirmed.

"Please don't hurt him." A little voice called out. A chubby little girl with black hair that had messy braids stepped out and put a gentle hand on the monster. "He's my friend."

"What's your name?" Reyna asked.

"George." He said in a deeper voice than a kid his age ought to have.

"Is it possible for there to be a nice monster?" Dick asked.

"On rare occasions." Reyna said tersely.

"Yeah, like Tyson and Ella and Mrs. O'Leary." Lenny said excitedly.

The cyclops gave a big sniffle and then wiped his nose on his sleeve. He may look full grown, but he acted like a toddler. "So I guess he's coming with us?" Dick guessed.

Reyna looked at the cyclops distrustfully, but didn't contradict Dick. Dick spotted some computers. He sat down at one and began looking through their research. "So," Dick glanced at the ID badge, "Edward Luntz. Can I call you Ed?"

"No." The scientist glared back at him.

"So Ed," Dick disregarded his previous objection, "what's with all the blood samples. One kid isn't enough?"

"Everyone's blood has variations. We needed a large enough pool of samples. They are unnatural."

"Shut up." Another scientist muttered.

"And let me guess, anything that doesn't fit into your cookie cutter world doesn't belong." Dick had heard the biased argument too many times.

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but something dropped to the floor at their feet and then instantly exploded. Dick was knocked back. When he regained his senses, he saw a crater where the scientist had been standing. The computers were completely fried. "Is everyone okay?" Dick called out to the room.

"I think so." Reyna responded.

"Guess that's our que to leave." Dick looked around at the room. "I don't have any more earbuds, though."

"No need, if we run fast enough, I think I can make us not noticeable."

"We'll have to risk it." Dick said as he looked around. "Let's go." They made their way out, Lenny playing his pipes in the lead with his charge, John, with him. It sounded eerie and Dick had a strong desire to not look at Lenny. Instead he found himself staring at Reyna. She had picked up the dead body of the kid. She stared down at the child cradled in her arms. Her expression was somber and something else. Did she blame herself? They walked quickly through the asylum and soon they found themselves in the woods. Far away from the asylum.

Lenny stopped playing, and Reyna stopped looking at the kid. She noticed him staring, and Dick found that he could now look away from her. He tried to disregard the blush he felt heating his cheeks. "So, back to camp?" Dick began leading them to the jet.

"I want to go home!" One of the boys whined.

"You can't." Reyna stated flatly. "They know what you are now. They'll come after you. But there is a place you can go, where they can never hurt you again."

"You're going to love Camp Half-Blood." Lenny said as he skipped along, he suddenly stumbled and one of his shoes fell off, revealing a black cloven hoof.

"Stupid shoes." Lenny grumbled as he quickly put it back on.

"Why are they after us?" The little girl asked.

"Because you were born special. You were born to become great heroes, and they don't want you to do that."

"But what about my dad?" A boy asked.

"You can call him when you get there. We'll explain everything."

"We're going to take that?" John said excitedly as he pointed at the black jet in front of them.

"Um, well, don't you have rules on how to get to camp?" Reyna asked Lenny.

"Get there by any means necessary." Lenny said excitedly as he ran on board. "I can't wait to pull up at camp in this. Hedge is going to be so jealous."

The kids rushed on. Reyna looked less than pleased about it. Dick motioned for her to enter, saying, "I can't wait to see Camp Half-Blood."

She gave him a look of disapproval. "You mean if you could see it. No mortals allowed."

Dick frowned at that. But as he closed the hatch, one thought comforted him. At least he would have an idea of where it was.