It took Dinah several moments before she composed herself enough to be able to speak. "What do you mean he's your cousin? How?"
"The same way I believe anyone has blood relations, "Diana mused, "A man and a woman-"
"Cut the shit," Dinah interrupted, "You know what I mean. How does an Amazon have any male blood relations? And what do you mean you thought he was dead?"
Diana sighed, and rubbed anxiously at her wrists as she contemplated her answer. She inwardly cursed herself for her outburst. Had she not said anything, she wouldn't be in this position. While there would likely be no blowback if she answered truthfully, she knew that the Gods would not appreciate having all of their secrets being told. She also did not like the idea of exposing more people to the knowledge of demigods.
"Before I begin, I will tell you now that I cannot, and will not tell you everything. Partly out of respect for Perseus, his secrets and his life are his own, but also because my interactions with Perseus were limited. I had more direct contact with his half-sister."
"Half-sister?" Dinah asked, but Diana waved the question away,
"I will do my best to explain as much as I am comfortable with. As you are no doubt aware, the gods have not disappeared." she said
Dinah nodded, memories of battles with the god of war resurfacing as the Amazon spoke, "Like in the days of old, they have maintained their power, and adapted to the times, moving with the ever-changing powers of the west. Around the turn of the nineteenth century, the gods moved Olympus to the United States. Once here, they did as they always did, maintained their realms and…had relations with mortals. Perseus is the result of one of those unions. As in the days of old, Demigods, the children of mortals and gods, are born out of carnal desire, but also to fill a purpose." Diana explained, "The gods are bound by rules more ancient than can be rightly remembered. For the most part, they are bound to their domains, and are unable or unwilling to interfere in the lives of mortals. There are exceptions of course; as the god of war has proven, all laws have loopholes that can be exploited."
"Demigods, as a result, often act in the place of their parents, running errands, taking quests at their behest, and most unfortunately, fighting the wars that they create." Diana's face creased in obvious discomfort. She was embarrassed by the actions of her kin.
"Around nine years ago, there were two wars fought. One between the gods and their forbearers, the Titans, and a second a year later, against Mother Earth and her army of Giants."
Dinah's eyes widened in surprise, but didn't interrupt, even though her mind raced at the revelation. Doing the math in her head, she sighed sadly, as she realized that there was a distinct likelihood that the League had not yet been founded given the timeline of the events. They couldn't have helped even if they had wanted to.
Diana read the look on her friend's face and answered the unasked question, "As I'm sure you remember, the League had not yet been established nine years ago, and I was still on Themyscira. More to the point however, the gods are insistent on keeping the affairs of the divine in house. They would not have accepted outside help, even if it had been offered. But I am getting off track, as I was saying there were two wars, and Perseus played leading roles in both."
Diana began pacing back and forth as she spoke, "I did not meet Perseus until the second war, Mother Earth had managed to force open the gates to the great pit on the island, and we spent several days fighting off the incursion. When the battle was won, we learned of the battle the demigods were waging. I left behind a detachment of Amazons to safeguard the gates, just in case, but took the bulk of our forces to aid in the battle. When we arrived, Perseus was orchestrating the defense. For three days we fought, we bled, and our friends and family died, as we tried to buy as much time as we could."
"Buy time for what?" Dinah couldn't help but blurt out, but Diana just nodded at her in understanding.
"My apologies. While Perseus and I fought off the forces of the Earth Mother as they attacked one of the few safe havens for the demigods, seven demigods were dispatched to seal the Earth Mother away again. They succeeded, and with the aid of the Olympians, the Earth Mother was defeated. There was a meeting, between the gods and their children, one that I was not privy to, but that was the last time I ever saw Perseus again. It was the last time anyone ever saw him again. He just…disappeared." Diana fell silent as she became awash in her own memories, but Dinah's mind was racing.
Diana's comments had done everything but put her worries at ease. There was a potentially very powerful demigod, just roaming around in Gotham city. "How strong is he?" she asked suddenly,
Diana started as she was brought out of her thoughts. She crossed her arms over her chest and dipped her head slightly as she thought, "Well, there are…factors involved, depending on where he is, but assuming best case scenario for him? I would say he has the potential to be my level in terms of raw power and ability. His gift for swordplay is unlike anything I've ever seen before and he is gifted with spears and tridents as well."
Dinah's heart was hammering against her chest, as her mind raced. She had to force herself to calm down, she was majorly overreacting. Thus far, Percy had done nothing suspicious, or worthy of concern. Furthermore, Batman would have been all over him the minute he entered the city if he had truly been a threat worth worrying over.
"Is he a threat?" she asked.
"I do not believe so, no." Diana answered slowly, "As I said, the bulk of our time together was spent fighting, and this was many years ago now and people do change, so I fear I may not be an accurate judge of his character now. However," she said before Dinah could say anything, "I have found in my time that you discover the true worth of a person in the heat of combat. As you well know, the true merit of a person comes out when their life is on the line. What I saw from Perseus during the fighting was reassuring. He is a selfless leader, willing to put himself in harm's way if it means that the person next to him lives even half a moment longer. His actions saved the lives of not only countless demigods, but my sisters as well…" Diana trailed off again, her eyes once more clouding over in memory.
Dinah thought on what Diana had told her. Diana was a good judge of character, and she was right. The true nature of a person, the ugliness or holiness that's inside someone's heart, comes out when they are in mortal danger. It reassured some of her worries. She also had to remind herself that he lived and worked in the heart of Superman's home for years. If was up to something nefarious, chances were good that he would have done something, or at least he wouldn't have moved from the home of one super, to another.
Maybe she was overreacting to this entire situation. Percy had done nothing worthy of this kind of deep dive into his life, other than try and do his job, and be unfortunate enough that he kept crossing the path of major League members. She was beginning to think that she might have been a little too quick on the draw to begin diving into his life and history as she had. But she hadn't survived in this world for as long as she had without being careful. Appearances could be deceiving, and she would not apologize for being careful. That being said, she would keep a loose eye on him. Hell, she knew where he worked out now, so perhaps the occasional, accidental meeting was bound to happen. It was a compromise she could live with; she would be able to assuage her own personal concerns of having such a powerful entity in her own backyard, and she wouldn't feel guilty about prying into the past of a man who had seemingly done nothing wrong.
"Who all knows?" she asked, as the though occurred to her that if there was a half-god running around Batman's backyard, he'd want to know about it.
One of Diana's brows raised, "Are you referring to the League?" she asked and Dinah nodded, "Kal, Bruce, and now you are the only ones in the League aware of their existence. Demigods have a hard-enough life, and I do not wish to add to their problems by sicking the entirety of the League on them," Dinah nodded at the explanation, even though she still had questions, she could tell that Diana had already told her more than she was comfortable with. Diana continued speaking, "If you're referring to the League's knowledge of Perseus, well…"
"The answer is no, we did not," came a deep and familiar voice from behind them. It was only years of working with the man that kept Dinah from jumping at the sound of Batman. Turning around, both Diana and Dinah blinked in surprise. In the years that Dinah had known the man, she could count on one hand the number of times she had been in the same room as Batman when he was out of costume. This would be added to that list, in exchange for the armored combat suit he normally wore, the Dark Knight was instead dressed in an immaculate three-piece suit. However, even when out of costume, the man's default expression seemed to be a scowl. The scowl even more pronounced now, bordering on a full-on glare, directed at the Amazon.
Diana whistled, "Looking sharp Bruce, special occasion?" she asked teasingly. One of the many reasons that Dinah admired the woman, was her ability to be seemingly unaffected by Batman's intensity.
Batman ignored the question, "Care to explain why you didn't tell me I had a demigod in my city?" he growled,
"How long were you listening to us?" Diana asked, ignoring the question entirely. Had she not been worried about becoming Batman's focus for his ire, Dinah would have laughed. Few others got away with giving Batman hell like Diana did.
Batman's jaw clenched tightly. "Diana," he rumbled lowly, he wasn't going to ask again.
Sighing overly dramatically, complete with an enormous eye roll, Diana placed her hands on her hips and adopted the most pitying expression she could muster, "Well," she said, as though she were talking a simple child, "Since I didn't know he was alive until about ten minutes ago, I don't see how I could have known to tell you. Besides, it's not like you ever told me he was in Gotham."
Given how hard the man was now clenching his teeth together, Dinah was beginning to genuinely worry if the Dark Knight might accidentally chip a tooth.
Batman continued to glower at the Amazon for several tense moments, "We will be discussing this," he ground out, clearly perturbed. Diana just rolled her eyes, smirk still present. Batman rounded on Dinah, "Before this…" he searched for the word, "Revelation, I was looking for you Canary."
"Oh?" she asked, her interest piqued, "What's up?"
Striding past her and to the computer, he took a quick look at the detailed report on Percy Jackson that was on the screen, before exiting out it. With a few deft key strokes, a new file came up. It was the record the league had on the newest iteration of a criminal organization, The Royal Flush Gang. Pictures and information came onto the screen describing several, very colorfully dressed individuals, all with the card game motif.
"How up to speed are you with the Royal Flush Gang?" he asked, turning to look at her,
Dinah shrugged, "As much as anyone but you I suppose," she answered honestly, "International crime syndicate, wanted in several countries. They tend to stick to the classics, armed robbery, jewel theft. They're powerless but always well-armed, I know that Interpol has been gunning for them for a few years now. Why? What's going down?"
Bruce nodded his head at her summary, "I received word that they had been lying low in Gotham for the past few months. Most likely they have been trying to hide until the heat from the heist in Monte Carlo died down," Dinah nodded, several months ago the gang had broken into several well secured banks in Monaco. They had gotten away with several million dollars had been in hiding ever since. It was the biggest score, and the riskiest undertaking the gang had taken since they started coming into play a few years ago.
"Now is our opportunity to draw them out of hiding," Batman continued, "Tonight Bruce Wayne is hosting a charity auction at the Gotham Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. There will be several, very valuable pieces being moved. I've spent the last several leaking rumors that Batman and Robin will be out of the country, in the hopes of drawing them out of hiding."
Dinah smiled in understanding, "Give them a target so alluring that they can't help but jump at the opportunity for a quick score. Made even easier since the Dynamic Duo are out of town." she said, nodding in appreciation, "Smart." then she frowned as a thought occurred to her, "Isn't it a little risky inviting an attack with so many civilians around?" She asked
Batman nodded, "It is, which is why I want you there. Robin and I would have no trouble taking them down but I want this dealt with quickly. An extra pair of hands will ensure that we can finish things quickly, before the fighting gets out of hand."
"You know Bruce," Diana interjected, "My shift does end in a few hours, if you want an extra set of hands, I'd be more than happy to help out."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Batman rejected calmly, to which Diana just placed a hand on her hip exasperatedly,
"Of course not," Diana said, looking towards the heavens as though they might grant her greater patience, "We wouldn't want to make things too easy, now would we?"
"Don't be deliberately obtuse," Batman countered, "I have no doubts in your capabilities Diana, but I don't want to cause deliberate property damage if I can help it." He ignored the heated glare directed his way, but she otherwise didn't object. Diana was wise enough to know her own shortcomings, and she was well aware that she did have a tendency to break things during a fight.
"She does raise a good point Batman," Dinah said thoughtfully, "Not to say I don't appreciate the invite, but why me?"
Batman turned back to the woman, "Because if you're going to be operating in Gotham, it's going to be on my terms." Dinah scowled but didn't object. She knew better than to argue with the man, it would go nowhere fast, and likely see him try and drive her out of Gotham permanently. Batman was notoriously territorial of his city, but it wasn't like Dinah didn't understand why. If more powerful metas began calling Gotham their home, it would start to attract the kinds of elements that saw cities like Metropolis or Coast City get leveled on a far too regular basis.
"I don't know Batman," Dinah said slowly, "I just hate the idea of clumping so many civilians into such a tight space. It feels like we'll be unnecessarily putting people at risk. It doesn't matter how fast we are; one stray shot is all it can take."
Again, the Dark Knight nodded his head in understanding and approval. He could always count on Canary to have her head in the right space, and have her priorities in check, it was one of the reasons why he didn't make a fuss when she decided to move back to Gotham.
"Your concerns are understandable," he answered, and clicked a few more keys on the terminal, bringing up a display of the architecture of the building, "But ultimately unnecessary. I have already taken the precautions necessary to mitigate the risks to the civilians. When the press did its junket on the auction, I made sure to show them where the paintings were being held," He clicked a few more keys, and a display of a room, just off of where the auction was being held, appeared. "This is the storeroom behind the stage. All of the paintings and artifacts up for auction will be held here. This is where you and Batgirl will be."
Dinah quirked a quizzical brow at that, she hadn't realized that the…. partners, would be involved in the action. Though she shouldn't have been surprised. Batman continued speaking, "The two of you will be the acting security for the auction, which will allow you access to the room, as well as the security lock," he clicked another key and the image of the room shifted again, as the doors and windows were locked down in the room. "When the gang attempts to enter, you flip the switch, and lock them in the room, where we can take them down with minimal threat to the civilians."
Dinah whistled in appreciation. Let it never be said that Batman was anything but thorough. A question popped into her mind, though she felt she already knew the answer before he even said anything, "So if I'm locking the room down, how are you and I assume Robin, going to get in?"
Batman just turned a flat stare her direction, "We'll be there." Dinah just shook her head, but didn't refute the point.
Reaching into his coat pocket, Batman placed an invitation on the keyboard, "The Auction begins at Seven." Then he turned and left the room.
"Nice talk Bruce. Pleasure as always," Diana muttered, more to herself than to Dinah. Shaking her head in exasperation for the man's brusqueness, she turned back to Dinah, "So, I guess, you have auction to get ready for."
Dinah snorted "Apparently so…"
It would an interesting night.
BREAK
"Alright, so we pull this kid over right, and while my partner is giving 'em the third degree, I hear something coming from the tailgate. So, I go over, and the bed of this truck, it's got one of those big carbon-fiber tonneau covers, and I just smack the shit out of the top of the cover,"
Montoya snorted, shoveling lo mein into her mouth as her eyes stayed fixed to the screen in front of them, "What happened?" she asked, around a mouthful of noodles.
Percy was laughing now, as the memory played in his mind, and as he watched the tv in front of them, "I have never heard someone scream as loud as the kids in the back did. Well, naturally, that gets my partner's attention, so he comes strolling back and we pop the tailgate of the truck."
"How many kids were back there?" Montoya asked, laughing,
"Three, but that's not even the best part," Percy said, and he continued speaking as Montoya gave him an enthusiastic arm wave, "Well like I said, the kid behind the wheel of the truck was swerving, which is why we pulled them over. Thought they were drinking you know? Turns out, they were just trying to screw with their friends in the back, you know, throw 'em around a little? Well, one of kids in the trucked couldn't hold her liquor, so when we pull 'em out of the tailgate, she just turns, and projectile vomits all over Matthews,"
Montoya, who was already chuckling, burst into outright guffaws. "Anyway," Percy continued, when he got his own laughter under control, "We wrote all the kids up for Minors in Possession,"
"No drunk tank?" Montoya asked,
"Nah," Percy said, "Those MIP's are already a bit of bastard, no need to pile on top of it. Kid are gonna drink, so I say punish them for being dumb enough to get caught but there's no need to ruin their lives over it." the conversation lulled after that, falling into a comfortable silence, broken only by the occasional slurping of noodles and clanging of utensils. They had been cooped up in this small conference room in the precinct for nearly four hours. They had gotten a glimpse of someone walking with miss Silver on her way out of the building a few hours ago, however the man in question seemed to know where the camera's in the building had been, because every shot of his face had been blocked.
Montoya and Percy had then spent the time since then, combing through the footage of the adjoining building and traffic cams to see if they might catch their guy slipping up.
"Wait," Montoya said suddenly, "Pause it there!" Percy immediately did as she asked and paused the recording. On the screen was a large black four door suburban. It was almost passed the camera, and the front of the truck was already passing by the camera, however, the back-rear window was down, and there, looking directly at the camera, was a young girl, with snow-white hair.
"Atta girl," Percy muttered softly, he didn't know if it had been on purpose, but Percy chose to believe that Silver had known that she was in danger, and tried to do something to help out a possible investigation. He then rewound the tape, and slowed it down until the front of the truck came into view, and they finally got their first look at the man in question. They got lucky, they were driving directly into the sun, and the front seat was illuminated perfectly.
He had a hollow face, with concave cheek bones, and a sharp angular nose that angled slightly to the right, as though it had been broken and hadn't been reset properly. He had dark black hair, that laid low across his forehead. Pulling up a menu on the TV, Percy synced the recording with an app on the tablet to his right, taking a screenshot of the image, he then saved the image into a data file.
"Got you, you son of a bitch," Percy muttered, and shared a look of triumph with his partner. Sure, they still had to try and track the bastard down, but now that they had a face to identify, they could run him through the various criminal databases they had access to, and could hopefully begin tracking him down. The rational part of him told Percy that he shouldn't be celebrating just yet, and that the likelihood of trying to find him was slim to none, especially with a several day head-start, but Percy was determined to try and remain hopeful. It was the only way to stay semi-sane in this line of work.
Getting out of their chairs, the detectives hurried out of the room, and made their way back to their division. Once they were back at their desks, Percy took the tablet, and air-synched it to a database on his personal terminal. Uploading the file, he had taken, he took the data and began shaping the image in a program on the computer. There wasn't much they could do to clean up the image, but thankfully, the power and quality of modern traffic cameras had come a long way, and the image was clear enough to be more than useable.
Once Percy had shaped the image in a clean enough way that the databases could use it properly, he input the data into as many federal programs he could. NCIC, DOC, and more, the programs flashed for several moments, before a picture finally came onto the screen. The image on the computer was a much cleaner photo than the one the traffic camera had caught, and the man look essentially the same in the older photo as he did when the camera caught him.
Clicking on the information, a detailed report came, and Montoya began reading some of the highlights aloud over Percy's shoulder, "Alberto Romanji, twenty-eight years old, roughly six-foot-one, hundred and seventy pounds. He's never been arrested but has been questioned as a potential suspect for at least five suspected killings across the country," Percy clicked over to a different screen this one showing what the FBI had on him. Much of the information was the same, but some of it was illuminating,
"Shit," Montoya muttered, and pointed at the note that had caught her attention before Percy could ask anything. "Known associate to the Falcone Syndicate based out of Gotham, believed to be an enforcer or hitman for the family. All attempts at prosecution have been sidelined, and on more than one occasion crucial evidence has been known to go missing, or deemed admissible. Shit on a stick Metro…"
"Thought I left the mob behind when I left New York," Percy said softly, but Montoya snorted in derision,
"No such luck Metro, the Falcone's have connections to La Cosa Nostra that goes back nearly to the founding of the damn city. Damn," she grumbled, absently running a hand through her hair, "If our boy is connected, we're going to need to play this very carefully,"
"How?" Percy asked, "Not for nothing Monty, I have faith in us, but there is no way we find this guy on our own. And if I'm inferring this right, if we put a BOLO out on Al here, we risk running his ass underground. The Mob has connections we can only dream of, you have to know that if he gets spooked, we probably never get a clean shot at him,"
"Maybe, maybe not," Montoya pondered. Swiveling in his chair, Percy turned to his partner,
"What?"
"Well," she said carefully taking a look around to make sure no one else was around to hear their conversation. She didn't have hard proof, but she had her suspicions that more than one cop in the One-Seven was on Carmine Falcone's dime, "It's like you said, we know what this guy is after. We don't necessarily know why, but we know that he needs whatever it is that code unlocks. I know the Family; I've had more than my fair share of run-ins with them. They don't tolerate failures, or half-measure. I don't know if Alberto here was meant to kill Silver or not, but I'm guessing your earlier assessment was right, and that they're after that code. If he tries to cut and run before that code gets into the hands of the Family, our boy here can count his days left on this planet on one hand."
Percy crossed his arms over his chest as he sat back in his chair, "Alright then, it looks like you got something cooking in that big brain of yours Monty. What are you thinking,"
Montoya however, just shook her head, sending a meaningful look around the room as she did so. Percy got the hint, and made a mental note to have a talk with her later about just how bad things were in the precinct. She had painted a pretty dour picture that morning, but he still didn't quite know what to think of it all. Still, Percy just nodded in understanding and checked his watch.
"We should get going, the auction is going to be starting soon and I want to get there before we miss her."
Montoya groaned, she had been less than pleased when Percy had told her about what he had found, apparently, she and Selina Kyle had a bit of a history. Something about some bad run-ins when Kyle was still running around in leather.
"Are you sure we still need to go?" She begged, "I mean, we got the guy's photo now, we know what he's after-"
"No, we really don't," Percy insisted, "We know he wants the code; we don't know what that code is for. You really think that if Falcone is this desperate for it, we shouldn't chase down any potential lead to figure out what the hell it is?"
Montoya just groaned again, her head tilted skyward and her eyes closed, as though she were praying to the divine to grant her the willpower to get through this.
"You know I'm right Monty,"
"I know, I know," she relented,
Percy felt a little guilty, he knew that she was sacrificing some of the limited free time that they had in order to go to this auction. For Percy, putting this kind of overtime in was no big deal, it was just him, and honestly, when he wasn't working, he was going a little stir crazy. But he knew that he wasn't most people. Most people had social lives, friends outside of work, loved ones that wanted to see them when they came home. Not him though, most of his friends either still left on deployment, or dead, or all the way across the country. He made another mental note to find something to make it up for Montoya, take over an evening shift or something.
With that thought, he stood up from his chair, grabbed his sport coat, and followed his partner out of the precinct.
BREAK
"This is it; we've found it, we have found hell on earth. Congrats Metro, you should be proud."
"I'm not dignifying that,"
"You'd need to have dignity first."
"Oh hoh, someone thinks they're being cute."
"Bitch, you know I'm adorable,"
Percy just elected to ignore his snarking partner, and instead, strode into the overly ostentatious walkway into the Gotham Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. It took Percy less than a second before he felt instantly uncomfortable. He had never been one for formal functions, hell the last time he had been to anything remotely black-tie was when an ex dragged him to some high-society function back in college.
Pausing in the ornate entrance hall, Percy realized that he had absolutely no idea where to start looking. He could hear Monty snort beside him, clearly understanding his hesitation. "This way Metro, if I know Kyle, she'll be skulking around the bar." Opting to trust his partner, Percy didn't respond and just followed her. As they walked, Percy did his best to ignore the clear looks of derision being directed his way. It wasn't like he wasn't used to dirty looks, he'd dealt with them literally every day of his life until entering the service, but but it still irked him.
Choosing to focus on his partner, mostly to keep himself from smacking a particularly haughty looking socialite, he fished his badge from under his neck and let it dangle over his dress shirt as he talked to Monty. "So," he said softly, "What's your history with Kyle?"
She turned to look at him, her expression frosty, "Who said that I had a history with her?"
"You did," Percy said simply, meeting her gaze evenly as he smoothly stepped out of the way of an oncoming waiter, "When you looked like you wanted to shoot me when I mentioned that was why we were coming here tonight,"
Montoya snorted but didn't reply at first, opting to weave around a group of women dressed in lavish evening gowns. One of them, a beautiful redhead, with dark green eyes, and a smattering of freckles, caught his gaze and held it as a contemplative look came across her face. Percy almost stopped in his tracks as he stared, there was something oddly familiar about the woman that he couldn't place. However, he quickly turned his attention away as he caught sight of Montoya on the other side of the group, and Percy had to nearly jog to catch up.
"My only history with Kyle," she was saying, having decided to come clean with him during their brief separation, "Is that I spent my first three years as a detective working the robbery desk, arresting her at least eight times, and never seeing her in jail for longer than a week. That's my goddamn problem with her. For the likes of Selina Kyle, rule of law might as well be guidelines at a goddamn roller-rink"
"Why detective, I had no idea you felt so strongly about me," came a smooth, seductive murmur that was entirely too close to be comfortable. Turning around, Percy took an involuntary step back as he found himself chest-to-chest with a stunningly pretty dark-haired woman. She wore a snug fitting black dress, and enough make-up to enhance her natural beauty. She had the air of a woman who understood that she was often the prettiest and smartest woman in the room, and it set Percy on edge immediately. Even had he not known what was in her file, Selina Kyle would have cut an intimidating presence.
"Hello there," she said softly, her gaze raking over his considerably larger form, "Detective Montoya, it's not my birthday, and yet you've brought me the most delightful little gift. Who might you be?" her voice was soft, barely audible over the rest of the din of the room, and held the same silkiness that he normally attributed to nymphs.
Percy knew that for the most part, this little game of hers, was just that, a game. A performance to throw him off. It was smart, pretty, intelligent women could often be very intimidating, and Percy was sure that her little trick worked the majority of the time. However, a man didn't enter puberty, and have water nymphs and dryads attempting to seduce him without growing at least some immunity to femininity.
"Detective Jackson," Percy said brusquely, his tone making it clear that he was not in the mood for her little games. "You must be Selina Kyle"
Montoya snorted, but her attention was suddenly diverted away from Percy and Kyle. Her eyes were locked on something across the room, and Percy turned to see what caught his normally unflappable partner's attention. However, what had her attention was not what he was expecting. She was staring at a woman, with rich scarlet hair and deep green eyes. Percy snorted, apparently, he was the only one getting distracted by red-haired women.
He turned his attention back to miss Kyle, who had been watching the byplay with an amused smirk on her face, "Well it certainly is a pleasure detective." raising a hand she delicately threw a stray strand of hair over her shoulder, somehow making the benign gesture somewhat erotic, "I haven't seen you around before, you must the new hotshot from Metropolis I've been hearing so much about." Once again, her gaze raked over his form unabashedly, "The rumors certainly didn't do you justice."
Well that was certainly interesting, to say the least. Percy could count on two hands the number of people who knew that he had moved to Gotham. Clearly miss Kyle was connected enough to know who the new players coming in and out of Gotham were. The information put him even more ill at ease and he found himself subconsciously tensing his shoulders. She clearly noticed the sudden change in his demeanor but ignored it.
"So, what can I do for one of Gotham's…finest?" she asked, "I promise that whatever it was, it wasn't me. I've been a very good girl," her eyes turned smoky as she whispered, "Well, mostly anyways."
Percy just ignored it, she was just trying to throw him off and make him uncomfortable. "You're not in any trouble ma'am," he said, making an effort to be as professional sounding as he could, "We're working a homicide investigation and we believe that you may have important knowledge pertaining to the victim,"
"Oh?" she asked, a look of utter curiosity crossing over her face, "Who was the poor soul this time?"
Percy shot a look over to his partner, he was going to leave the decision to his partner, but when he saw that Montoya's attention was still fixed on the woman with the red hair, Percy sighed and made a judgement call. He put a hand on her bare shoulder, ignoring the sudden heat emanating from the exposed flesh and leaned in closely to whisper into her ear.
The woman was about to make an indecent remark but stopped when Percy whispered softly into her ear, "Silver St. Cloud was shot in an alley two nights ago." And just like that, her entire demeanor changed. Her shoulders tightened and a pained and shocked expression came across her delicate features. The change only lasted for a fleeting second, but it told Percy more than he needed. As fast as she changed, her demeanor returned to the smoky and seductive persona she had introduced herself as, but he could see in her eyes a hardened anger that surprised him.
"Follow me detective, I know somewhere we can speak…more intimately."
Nodding Percy made to grab his partner's attention, but she just waved him off, "You go ahead Jackson, I need to…look into something," and before he could say anything she stormed off in the direction of the red-haired woman. Percy was confused by his partner's actions, there was something in her demeanor that told him that she was extremely agitated about something, but his gut was telling him that it was a personal matter and wasn't worth getting himself involved in, at least, not yet.
Instead he turned his attention back to Selina Kyle who was patiently waiting for him. She didn't seem fazed by the lack of his partner's presence and turned on her heel and began smoothly gliding through the room, in the direction of a doorway behind the large stage set up for the auction.
Long AN: First things first, some house cleaning, I fucked up in chapter 4, Dinah was supposed to be wearing a brunette wig over her hair when she met Percy at the gym. I have since edited that chapter and re-uploaded it. Seems like a minor detail, but it is important to the story overall so if you didn't want to go back and re-read it, I saved you some time here.
Alright so this is the last warning, as I've said before, this story is majorly AU. And by that, I mean I'm literally just throwing PJO canon out the window cause fuck it, this is the story I want to tell. You'll learn more as the story progresses, but yes, just to clear it up, Percy was not part of the Seven, he was still very active in the war effort, and played a decidedly major role in the story, but he was not the hero we read about in Uncle Rick's books. He's something different. I also want to get this out of the way now; this is not going to be one of those "Poseidon has another kid and Percy is ignored and betrayed by all of his friends" stories. I hate that shit, and I have no patience for it. This is one hundred-percent not that, instead it's something that came to mind after reading other very well written stories on this site, as well as my own personal ideas. All of that being said, thank you guys so much for all of the support this story has gotten, seriously, the amount of positive feedback I've been getting is unreal. I'm glad you all are enjoying the ride, and I hope you'll enjoy the things that are to come, because holy shit things are going to start popping off. As always, let me know what you think, and please, let me hear your theories as to who this Percy is, and what happened to get him where he is now. I would love nothing more than to hear them, and I think I've sprinkled enough hints to give some clues. Thanks again, stay safe, and I love you all!
Love,
LilDB
