Nightwing watched nervously as Green Arrow, Black Canary, Flash, and Shazam made their way into his makeshift base in San Francisco. They were the original Justice League members, short of Superman and Wonder Woman. He had looked up to them all his life, and now it was up to him to convince them to not only join a fight seeped in mythology, but to keep it from the rest of the Justice League. He felt a little bit better seeing his old team, Kaldur, Artemis, and Zatanna. Beast Boy and La'gaan hoovered near them awkwardly. Kid Flash (aka Impulse) seemed more interested in checking out the place as he zoomed from place to place. It was a little bit hard to see his old friend's uniform on the kid, but for the most part, he was at peace. Batwoman stood in the back if the room preferring to observe rather than interact. He wasn't even sure how Batman convinced her to come. Arson was doing something similar on the other side of the room. Red arrow looked around politely, but didn't interact with the others. Batman and Nightwing had both decided that it was best to leave Tim out of this. There were a few that Nightwing didn't really know. But, regardless of tenure, everyone seemed confused and on edge as to why they were there.
Once he was sure everyone who had been invited was there, Nightwing cleared his throat to get their attention. No effect. Everyone continued to chat amongst themselves. Batman stood, and the entire room went silent as he commanded the room with merely his presence. Once everyone was settled in their seats and their attention fixed on Batman, he sat down and turned his attention to Nightwing. Batman had just given him the floor. Now it was his turn.
"Thanks for coming." Nightwing began.
"You do realize you are missing a few key members of the Justice League." Green Arrow interrupted. "I don't feel comfortable hiding things from our team."
Nightwing took a steadying breath. "I am more aware of their absence than you know. I promise everything will be explained." Nightwing stood his ground.
Green Arrow leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. He was going to at least listen.
Nightwing took a deep breath. "Before I begin, I need you to believe in one thing, Greek Mythology."
"Like Wonder Woman, who has already said she's a daughter of Zeus, as well as Cassie?" Black Canary pointed out.
"Yes, but you need to realize that there is much more. The Greek and Roman gods are very much alive." Nightwing glanced at Kaldur to see if he was reacting to what he was saying. Kaldur, along with Aquaman, remained stoicly silent, revealing nothing. "And just like in the myths, they are having affairs with mortals and having children. Demigods." He watched a few members exchange questioning looks. "These kids have been saving the world for thousands of years from powerful beings that want to destroy it and rule in chaos."
"Kids? I find it highly unlikely that kids fighting Greek monsters would go unnoticed." Flash reasoned.
"They would if they were being hidden from us. Wonder Woman is an example of this." There was a little bit of a commotion. "It is why she was not invited. The gods took away her memories of their children to protect them . . . to protect them from us. As much of an asset she would be here, she can't know, for her own safety. Trying to make someone remember something that has been removed by the gods, evidently can cause some sever trauma.
"Something else I noticed is everytime magic is performed, or a monster shows up on camera, they go static. In person, the magic, or the mist as they call it, makes you see something else. Or, you doubt yourself."
"It's true. Magic and technology never go together." Zatanna agreed.
"But surely we would have noticed something, after all, we have the Watchtower equiped with the most powerful monitoring system in the world?" Flash argued.
"Fifty-six kids died just a week ago in a fight for their life in the middle of a park." Nightwing growled showing more emotion than he meant to. "Did the Watchtower see that? If it weren't for Batman and I, they would have been slaughtered."
All eyes turned to Batman, who remained still as he continued to focus on Nightwing.
"Look, they didn't volunteer to be heros like we did, but they haven't backed down either. The Roman demigod I have been working with, Praetor Ramirez, and I believe that an empousa, a Greek vampire, is controlling a wealthy mortal, er, human, along with other humans to destroy the demigods and possibly the Olympian gods. Basically, anyone with Olympian blood. Batman and I think that they will do this by genocide. Scientist have been studying demigod's blood. Mostly kids who had no idea who their parent was, or who they were. If they succeed, there will be nothing stopping them from destroying our world, not even us. The demigods are the only ones who can fight these monsters.
"We have tracked the vans they have been using to an isolated building in Nebraska. It is heavily guarded by humans and monsters alike. The demigods are already converging for war. But, while they are excellent at fighting monsters, they have sworn to take no mortal's life. I need brave mortals, humans, heros to risk entering this world and having your eyes opened to the horrors of it."
The room was eerily quiet when he finished. No one said a word and Nightwing started to get nervous again.
Green Arrow broke the silence as he asked, "So let me get this straight. There are demigod kids running around fighting monsters."
"Those that are trained."
"And they've saved us?' Green Arrow said doubtfully.
"Don't be so quick to judge." Kaldur admonished. You didn't think much of the Young Justice when it was formed, either."
"I understand why Wonder Woman and Cassie are not to be a part of this, but Superman, Green Martian, and Green Lantern? Why are they not here?" Aquaman questioned.
"Uh, well, the Demigods consulted something called the augeries, and it said no aliens or alien tech. I guess the gods don't trust 'foreigners.'" Nightwing did air quotes when he said foreigners, but as he said it out loud he realized how stupid it sounded.
"I see. That makes sense." Aquaman said as though this were the most normal thing in the world.
"I suppose that's why my father, I mean, Dr. Fate isn't here." Zatanna asked not quite looking at Nightwing. Ever since her father had been taken over by Dr. Fate, it was a touchy subject. It was almost as though he had died.
"Yes. Speaking of whose allowed," Nightwing said tenitively, "I was told there might be some politics preventing you from fighting?" Nightwing asked cautiously.
Aquaman raised an eyebrow.
"Because of a son of Poseidon?" Nightwing clarified.
At the mention of Poseidon, Kaldur and La'gaan's eyes snapped to stare at Aquaman. Aquaman rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You're right. There may be some problems there." Nightwing's heart sank. There were so few as it was, to loose three more was not good. "For me." Aquaman continued. "My position might make it questionable to fight by my god's half-blood son. But I don't see why the lower ranks couldn't join the fight."
La'gaan hissed, "Yes." and raised his hand in a high-five. Kaldur promptly high-fived him before returning to his attentive state, but this time he had a smile on his face.
Everyone watched this exchange silently until Green Arrow interrupted, "Wait a minute. You knew about all of this? Why didn't you say anything?"
"And risk what happened to Diana? I got the message. I can keep a secret. One does not challenge the gods. Poseidon, though, I must say, is one of the more lax gods." Aquaman calmly explained.
"So why the celebration?" Beast Boy asked curiously.
"Are you kidding? We're fighting along side with greatness. The Perseus Jackson, the son of Poseidon himself, is the greatest swordman of his generation. He is considered to be the most powerful demigod of the age." La'gaan ranted.
"Don't bring it up to the other half-bloods, though. It could upset some of them." Kaldur added.
"So this is all really real." Black Canary breathed.
"Be warned. Once your eyes are actually opened, you may attract the monsters attention too." Nightwing cautioned.
"Batman? You've been awfully quiet. What do you have to say about all this?" Batwoman noted.
Batman looked away from Nightwing for the first time since he started the meeting, and addressed the League. "I'm going," He stated simply, "with or without you. These kids, they need help. They need someone to watch their backs.
Batman's words sent a chill down Nightwing's spine. He was right. This assortment of mortals wasn't brought together for just the battle ahead, but for future threats against the demigods from mortals.
"I'll go." Shazam spoke up eagerly.
"You know La'gaan and I will be there." Kaldur smiled.
"I can't wait to hear all the details when you get back. Rumor has it, Poseidon favors him above all his children." Aquaman smiled.
La'gaan nodded vigorously.
"Well famous demigod or no, I'll fight by your side." Artamis gave Nightwing a sad smile. Nightwing's sorrow for Wally rose up in his throat. She still trusted him, after everything.
One by one, everyone present agreed to fight.
"Good, we'll leave here at six sharp. Bring your best battle gear. Make no mistake, this is a war."