Dinah sighed as she fiddled with her gloves. Waiting was the worst part of jobs like this. Most heroes were people of action; they were act now and act fast types of personalities. It was a necessity when lives were on the line. And so, having to wait for seemingly hours at a time for a threat that might not even be real, could be hell on the nerves and the patience.
Her impatience was only doubled by what Diana had revealed about Gotham's newest detective. Part of her was still floored by the basics of it. The smaller more rationale part of her was telling her that the existence of demigods shouldn't be all that surprising. They had fought against myths and legends before, and that was nothing of the fact that she had at least three different aliens in her phone's contact list. But still, the knowledge that the gods of old were real, and had children running around doing their bidding was a troubling thought.
There was something immensely off-putting knowing that there were hundreds of children out there, born only to serve to the bidding of beings with power that bordered on incomprehensible. Then again, perhaps it wasn't as unsurprising as it should have been. Her gaze unconsciously drifting to her partner for the evening, an athletic sixteen-year old girl with long auburn hair that poked out the back of a bat themed cowl.
When Diana had first told her of the demigods, Dinah had been disgusted. Even as a trained psychologist, she couldn't fathom the kind of arrogance involved in having a child for the sole purpose of doing their bidding. To throw kids not even old enough to drive or vote, into a war that had nothing to with them. But the more she considered it, the more she found herself unnerved by the amount of similarities between the lives of demigods and mortals. It wasn't all that different to people like Batman, Arrow, or the Flash taking in their young charges and throwing them into the war against the evils of the world. Hell, it wasn't even all that different to normal kids getting drafted into military service during times of war.
She stifled a groan and tried to fight off an oncoming headache. Her antsy-ness was distracting her, which was always unacceptable but doubly so when she was here with one of the young…partners. She was supposed to be setting an example, not getting distracted by internal philosophical debates.
Thankfully, she was brought out of her musings by the sound of the click of the lock to the gallery room. She shot a look to Batgirl, who had been fiddling with something on her gauntlet, and with a nod, both heroes hid themselves inside the large storage room. Dinah hid herself between a stack of cracks, and positioned herself in a spot where she could sell see the majority of the room through a small crack between two crates. It took her a few moments, but she did eventually spot Batgirl's hiding place, among the top rows of a stack of crates near the back of the room.
Dinah figured that this wasn't the start to the heist, she was having her doubts if there would even be a heist if she were honest, but she preferred to err on the side of caution whenever possible.
Just after she had gotten into position, the door opened and voices began filtering into the storage room.
"See, I told you I could get us in here, you should have a little faith in me detective," came the silky voice that Dinah recognized. Her eyes widened in surprise as Selina Kyle strutted backwards into the room, her attention not on the room itself, but on whomever was coming with her. Dinah's fists began to tighten as her jaw clenched. She had thought that Selina had gone clean for good this time. She had told her as such the last time she had seen the former thief. Something about being serious enough about her desire for Batman to give up on heisting for good. Dinah knew she shouldn't have bought the act though. She knew better than most that some people truly couldn't help themselves.
If she had been surprised by Selina, then her companion caused Dinah's jaw to drop.
"You know, I should probably arrest you for that. I'm like, ninety-nine percent sure that having a lock-pick set violates your parole." said the smooth and deep voice of Percy Jackson, as his tall frame lumbered into the room. What in the hell was he doing here? There was absolutely no way that this could a coincidence. There was no way. One person did not just keep accidentally stumbling onto superheroes like this. Her thoughts went back to Diana and what she had told her, and Dinah tried to calm herself and reassure herself that if Percy Jackson had Diana's trust, then she should be ok with that. That was when she remembered the phone call she had overheard. Her breathing returned to normal as the tight constricting in her chest began to release.
Ok so maybe Percy Jackson just had the worst possible luck on the planet, and that was why he kept having these close interactions with superheroes. Part of her wanted to confront them, if Bats' plan worked, then they would be right in the line of fire, but her curiosity warred with her instincts.
Her curiosity won out.
Resigning herself to keep to her hiding spot, Dinah blinked in rapid succession, and activated her contact lens' recording device, as she listens into the conversation.
Selina was speaking as Percy closed the door behind him, "What happened," she demanded, and for a moment, Percy hesitated. Selina crossed her arms and glared at the man. "Detective, if you want my help, then I need to know what's going on here."
Sighing, Percy rubbed a hand through his hair, "I suppose I don't need to tell you that what you're about to hear is strictly confidential?" she snorted in derision and Percy seemed to take that as a sign that she wasn't going to say anything. "Well," he began, leaning back against the close door and matching Selina's stance, "Like I told you. Two nights ago, Montoya and I were called to a scene at an alley on the corner of Snyder and Miller. When we got there, we discovered the body of Silver St. Cloud. She had been shot three times. Twice in the back as she tried to run away and once more between the eyes." Percy's voice was hardened, and he spoke thickly with emotion.
Dinah looked briefly away, her eyes catching Batgirl in her hiding spot, watching the conversation intently, her shoulders tight, her eyes hard, and her jaw clenched. Dinah then understood that this investigation must have been why Percy had been at the young girl's school the other day. Dinah turned her attention back to the conversation,
"Dammit," Selina said under her breath, he eyes dropping from Percy, to stare intently at the ground.
"I take it you were close to the family?" Percy asked, pulling out a pen and small notebook. Apparently, he was a little more old-school than most of the detectives she knew.
Selina nodded, her eyes leaving the floor to stare harshly into Percy's face.
"I've known Grace and Alexander for years, they helped me get my start in the business. I interned as Grace's personal assistant after college. I…I'd known Silver since she was in diapers." She was quiet for a moment. Percy was writing something in his pad. When he stopped, he looked back up, but for a moment he didn't say anything. He just let the woman have a moment to quietly compose herself.
"How can I help?" Selina asked after a few moments, wiping at her eyes as she tried to stem the potential flow of tears,
"Do the St. Clouds have any enemies? Anybody who would be angry enough to target their daughter to get to them?" Percy asked without any preamble,
Selina adopted an almost pitying expression, "Sweetheart," she said, her tone on the cusp of being condescending, "Grace and Alex are some of the most influential dealers of high value pieces on the planet. They have galleries on nearly every continent, every major city, and their family dates back to damn near the founding of Gotham. Yes, they have enemies. Any number of whom, would not hesitate to hurt Silver to get to them."
"Anything that stands out, miss Kyle. You said you were close to the family. Did either of the parents say anything that stands out. Imply anything, that seemed…off."
Selina was quiet for several seconds, her eyes narrowed in thought, "Well...there was something. A few weeks ago, I was helping them plan the movement of several key pieces to their gallery. Grace and I had been talking, and something…slipped out. It was so casual that I didn't think anything of it at the time."
"What was it?" Percy asked, and Dinah could hear the mounting excitement in his voice,
"Grace said that Christian Falcone had been more…hostile, lately."
"Falcone?" Percy asked, "As in the crime family?"
"Hon, I know you're new in town, but you need to have someone bring you up to speed. Yes, that Falcone. Christian is the eldest son. Grace said that he'd been sending threatening messages."
Dinah could almost taste the sarcasm in Percy's next statement, "And you didn't think that a threat from the son of biggest mob boss in town was concerning?"
Selina scoffed, "Don't be deliberately combative detective. Christian's had an overinflated sense of self-worth his entire life. He's been sending vaguely threatening messages to Grace for years. It happens so regularly, it was almost a game. 'Oh, what was it this time, threatening to have our entire gallery mysteriously burned to the ground? Or maybe a few pieces from our next delivery get stolen?' Forgive me for not thinking anything of it."
"Why was he so obsessed with the St. Clouds in particular?" Percy asked,
Selina shrugged, "Christian fancies himself something of a dealer. He's not particularly good at it, wouldn't know a Kahlo from a Cézanne. But because of who daddy is, people entertain his delusions. Well, everyone except me and the St. Clouds. We won't be bullied by some wannabe gangster who doesn't understand his place."
"Any idea what he was threatening them with this time?" Percy asked, once again writing quickly in his pad.
Selina frowned again, biting her lip and crossing her arms as she tried to think,
"No," she admitted after a moment, "We were close, but they held their cards pretty close to the chest. Whatever it was that Christian had said this time, she wouldn't tell me. If I'm honest, that alone is enough to be scary." her brow furrowed for a moment, before she looked up at him, "Why are you asking me all these questions, shouldn't you be talking to them? To Grace and Alexander? Where are they?"
Percy shook his head, "We don't know. I was actually hoping you might have an answer to that. I've called them at least a dozen times since we found Silver, but when someone does answer the line, I'm given the goddamn ring around."
"That's…that's not normal," Selina mused softly, once more biting at her lip worriedly, "Where Silver is…was…Where Silver was involved, Grace and Alexander would tear the whole damn world apart if it made her happy. They loved their baby girl."
"Would you mind giving them a call sometime for me then?" Percy asked, "They might be more inclined, or at least their assistants might be more inclined, to speak to you than to a cop."
Selina nodded, "I don't bring my phone with me to work functions, otherwise I'd do it right now."
Percy nodded a quiet thanks, before he pulled his phone out of his pocket, he swiped through it for a moment, "One last thing, miss Kyle," he pulled the phone up, and showed her a picture of something, the screen was facing away from her, so Dinah couldn't see what it was, "Do you recognize this bracelet?" he asked,
Selina squinted at it, grabbing the phone out of Percy's hand so she could get a better look at the image, "That's Silver's bracelet," she murmured softly, not looking away from the photo. "Grace gave that to her for her birthday a few weeks ago." she looked up, "Where did you find this?"
"In a pile of garbage, a few feet away from where we found Silver. It doesn't have any other significant meaning to it? Other than being a birthday present?"
Selina looked at him oddly for a moment, before shaking her head, "Not that I know of, why?"
Percy ignored the question, "Any idea where this particular piece was made?"
Selina's wary look only increased, "I don't know." She said slowly, her eyes narrowing suspiciously, "But Grace usually went to Kleinman's, near Morrison and Kane." she handed the phone back to him, "What's going on detective?" she demanded. For a moment, Dinah thought Percy was going to outright refuse to answer, his jaw was set tightly, and looked like he was thinking over his next few words very carefully,
"I'm not at liberty to tell you everything ma'am." He said eventually, "Especially since we're still putting the pieces together ourselves, but we think that what happened to Silver, was because of that little bracelet. No, I won't say any more on the matter, but it's important. Can I trust you not to be candid with that information?" He asked.
Dinah was thrown off by the admission, it seemed out of place. Granted, she could hardly say that she knew the man, but still, the detectives she knew weren't exactly forthcoming with that kind of information. Maybe he just felt bad since Selina was close to the victims, or maybe he was looking to establish relationships like he had with Olsen and Lane back in Metropolis. Having someone like Selina Kyle in your corner would be undoubtably be an asset in a city like Gotham.
Percy was quiet again for a few moments, when he spoke again, his voice was low, and somber, "We know who was responsible for the murder. Got his name, picture, and we can put him with the victim the day of the attack. Only problem is, he's little more than a hired thug. Bringing him in isn't going to be the end. Whoever hired him, unless we can pin him down, is going to be free to keep doing this kind of shit for a long time. So," Percy fished around in his pants pocket for a moment, before handing Selina a business card, "If you can think of anything else, that's my personal number, and the one next to it connects to my desk at the precinct. Please give me a call, Miss Kyle."
Selina nodded, tucking the card away into her clutch, neither moved for a few moments. Both just staring awkwardly at one another, "Do me a favor detective," Selina finally said, "Find the bastard responsible for this. And when you do," her eyes narrowed to little more than slits, "Let me get the first crack at him,"
"Miss Kyle," Percy began, "You know I can't-" he stopped abruptly, his back stiffening as he suddenly lurched forward, wrapping his enormous frame around Selina, "GET DOWN!" he roared,
Just as the wall beside them, exploded.
BREAK
Montoya pushed her way through the crowd, as she tried to make her way towards her target. What was she doing here? She'd never said anything about running in these kinds of circles before. Montoya wasn't sure why she was reacting the way she was, or feeling the way she was. It wasn't exactly as if she had been lied to, not like she had asked too deeply about her personal life. But still, it had been a shock to see her here, and Montoya wanted answers. Besides, she didn't even want to have to come here tonight; sure, Metro was right about the lead. But that didn't mean she had to like it, and that sure as hell didn't mean she had to play tag along in the questioning. Metro was a big boy; he could handle it. Besides, if she was alone with Kyle for more than five minutes, Montoya was worried she'd deck the other woman.
She was nearly on top of her intended target, when she felt a cool hand on her shoulder. Turning around, her hand instinctually went to the sidearm she normally carried on her belt, only to remember that she and Metro had left their sidearms back at the precinct.
She really hated the new regulations sometimes.
She spun around, throwing the hand off of her shoulder as she did so, and faced the owner of the hand. Though, she positioned herself in such a way, that she could still maintain a slight visual in her peripheral on her intended target. The owner of the hand was a petite little redhead. Auburn curls brought up into a fashionable bun, with shocking green eyes, a smattering of freckles, and a neat little green dress, that matched with her hair and eyes in a fetching manner.
"Can I help you?" Montoya asked, her question coming off a tad ruder than she'd necessarily intended.
The woman, who was maybe about Percy's age, wasn't bothered by Montoya's rudeness. "That man you were with when you came in, the tall one, with the green eyes and black hair. He wouldn't happen to be Percy Jackson, would he?"
That put Montoya on her guard. Folks in Gotham didn't just ask after people so casually, not unless they wanted something. Montoya was very much missing the comfort of her sidearm at the moment.
"Who's asking?" she said slowly, knowing full well that it was as good of a confirmation of her partner's identity.
The woman just tilted her head in amusement, before smiling, "Huh," she grunted in surprise, her smile growing somewhat, "So he really is still alive." Montoya wanted to comment, ask the woman what the hell she was talking about, but she never got the chance, "When he comes back, tell him to find me. Let him know that Rachel Elizabeth Dare would like to talk to him." And with that, the strange woman turned on her heel, and strode away, back into the throngs of people.
Montoya stared after her for a moment, briefly wondering what the hell her partner had been involved with, before ignoring it for the time being. She had more pressing issues at the moment. Such as why the woman she'd been seeing for the past several months, had decided to leave out the fact that apparently, she wined and dined with Gotham elites.
She pushed through the last ring of bystanders, when Montoya locked eyes with her, the redheaded woman's pale green eyes widened in surprise as they met Montoya's. She was tall, just shy of six feet, athletically built, and she cut an intimidating figure in the small little black dress.
"Renee," She said in surprise, drawing the attention of the socialites she was with, Montoya ignored them, leveling a look at her…partner she supposed.
"Kate," Montoya said, trying to her level best to keep the ice out of her voice. She wasn't sure why she was so upset by the woman's presence. It wasn't as though Kate had lied to her about anything. But it was more about the secrecy of it all. When they'd first gotten together, Kate had wanted to keep things simple, no names, no feelings, just comfort. Montoya had, naively, agreed.
They'd both been idiots. Those types of relationships never ended without one or both of them getting attached to the other. But they'd tried to maintain a reasonable distance in each other's lives.
Hell, Montoya didn't even know the woman's last name yet she knew there was a beauty mark on the underside of her right thigh.
But things had changed in the last few weeks. Kate had been getting seemingly more attached, had been making an effort to have a semi-stable relationship. Something that, according to her, she'd never really had before. Which was why Montoya had been patient, because she did genuinely care for the woman, and she was giving it a shot. But that being said, Montoya still didn't feel like she knew the woman. Hard to know someone when you don't even know what their last goddamn name was. The woman had been…persistent in her quest to keep that from Montoya, and for the most part, she'd respected that. She was a detective with Major Crimes, if she'd really wanted to know who Kate was, it wouldn't have taken much to figure it out.
Still, seeing her here, was a bit of a punch to the gut. A reminder that, in spite of their growing relationship, she still knew next to nothing about the woman.
Kate strode forward, away from the crowd of curious socialites, and grabbed Montoya by the arm, dragging her away. Montoya allowed herself to be taken by the arm, normally, she was the more dominant of the two, so she tended to let Kate run with it when she chose to. Kate guided her until they found a slightly more secluded spot, on the other side of the stage from where She'd seen Metro and Kyle disappear.
"What are you doing here?" Kate asked, looking more than a little panicked.
"What are you doing here?" Montoya shot back,
Kate glared at her, "Please don't be childish about this Renee, what the hell are you doing here. I know for a fact that this isn't your scene."
"I thought that I could have said the same to you," Montoya said snidely. To her credit, Kate did shift uncomfortably, but she regained her composure and just stared at her. Montoya bit back a sigh, and rolled her eyes. The woman could so damn stubborn. Reaching into her back pocket, Montoya withdrew her badge, flashing the shield and her identification, "I'm a cop, remember? I'm here with my partner running down a lead. Like you said, this isn't exactly my first choice of after-hours fun."
Kate flushed, and averted her eyes, shifting her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot, "I-this, ugh," she groaned, running a hand through her short, red hair, "This wasn't how I wanted to tell you," she muttered,
"Tell me what?"
"I told you my parents were former military right?" she asked suddenly the change in topic nearly throwing Montoya off-balance,
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, dad's journey to the army wasn't exactly…traditional." Kate began, "His family, my family, come from old money. Like, really, really old money. When he was eighteen, dad had a falling out with the rest of the family, ran off and joined the military where he met mom."
"Ok, and what does that have to do with anything,"
Kate glared at her, "I'm getting to that. So shut up and let me finish," she growled, before grumbling under her breath for a few seconds. "Screw it," she finally said, "My name is Katherine Kane, my father is Jacob Kane, yes, as in those Kane's. I'm here because Bruce, you know, Bruce Wayne, is my cousin."
Montoya wasn't someone who was stunned very often. She'd seen a lot of decidedly weird, and surprising things in her time with the GCPD. But, finding out that she'd been sleeping with, and semi-dating the heiress of one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Gotham? That was…not what she had been expecting.
"Oh," she said simply. It certainly explained the woman's reluctance to tell her who she really was. Why they always met in semi-secret, in places that were well out of the way. Away from the spotlight, the news hounds, and anybody willing to dig up dirt on the affluent family. Montoya hadn't disagreed or even thought twice about the request. Things had been changing, true, and it was getting easier for people like her, however, being a woman in the GCPD could be hard enough. Being an open lesbian on top of that? Even with Jim Gordon as commissioner, it could be a monumental hurdle to overcome. One she hadn't been particularly ready to try.
"Yeah, oh," Kate said quietly,
Montoya crossed her arms and looked down at the floor. "Sorry," she said softly after a few moments of awkward silence, "I don't-I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine, really," Kate insisted, "It was bound to happen eventually…I just…" She trailed off, and Montoya was left with the overwhelming desire to try and comfort her, but she didn't, not here. Not now,
"It doesn't change anything-for me, that is." She said, "I didn't corner you to scare you…" she sighed, "I guess, I just wanted answers? I don't know, I'm bad at all of," she gestured between them vaguely, "This."
"What, exactly is this?" Kate asked, looking uncomfortable,
"I don't really know," Montoya admitted, biting her lip, "I like you, Kate. Like, a lot, but-"
She was interrupted by a monumental explosion. The entire building shook at its foundations, as smoke sirens began to wail in the room, and smoke started pouring out from under the door of the room that Metro and Kyle had just gone through. Immediately, Montoya grabbed Kate by the arm and was leading her as fast as possible out of the building. Part of her, a very large part of her, was screaming that she needed to go back after Metro. See what was going on and more importantly, if he was ok. She'd just gotten him as a partner, and was only just beginning to think of him as friend. She did NOT want to lose another goddamn partner.
But her instincts were leading her at the moment, as they so often did in crisis situations. And her instincts were telling her that her priority was not the former Navy Seal, but the hundreds of compact civilians. More importantly, her priority was getting Kate to safety. Former military or not, she was not going to let the woman she was beginning to really like be put in unnecessary danger.
Her immediate plan was to get Kate out of the building, she had a loaded carbine in the trunk of her car. Standard issue fare for a city like Gotham, the only trouble would be making sure that she could fight through the mass of screaming socialites in order to get there. She assumed, based on the direction of the explosion, that whoever was there, was after the art, not the people. Meaning that she would hopefully, not have to worry about someone smashing through the front door, and taking hostages.
As she dragged Kate further away, she could only pray that Percy would be able to take care of himself long enough for her to get back to him.
BREAK
"Really?" she growled, looking up at the sky, "Couldn't have warned me about that one?", as always though, she received no such response. Par for the course really, in the magnanimous shit-show that was her life.
On the whole, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, didn't have much to complain about. Ever since the final battle with she-who-shall-not-be-named, her life had turned around. She didn't have to live at the camp these days, which meant she could have an actual life. Her career as an artist had even taken off in the last few years, which was why she had even been at that damn auction to begin with. A couple of her own personal pieces were part of the event, and she had wanted to be there to support them, and maybe network a little bit. She should have known better, should have listened to her when Annabeth tried to warn her about going to Gotham of all places. But no, she had to be miss independence.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Still, the event wasn't a total wash. Assuming that she got out of the attack still breathing of course. She had seen Percy Jackson! Percy, freaking Jackson! As in, the guy that everyone had thought had been dead, as in the guy behind the final charge at Half-Blood hill. The hero of the final battle. The one who nearly sunk the camp into the sea when his entire battalion had been slaughtered.
It had taken her a few minutes, but she was sure that it had been him. She'd recognize eyes like that anywhere, plus, the familial resemblance to Helen was unmistakable. Of course there were some noticeable difference but she was certain that she was right!
Then the woman she'd talked to had confirmed it.
Percy Jackson was alive. And apparently a cop.
And he was hot. Holy shit, was he hot.
Thunder cracked overhead and she glared, "Oh, so my life is in peril and that doesn't get a response, but I think a guy is attractive and you get all uppity? Stupid freaking…" she grumbled to herself, as she tried not to get trampled by the stampede of people, all pushing and shoving as they tried to get out of the cramped museum as fast as possible. There was another minor explosion, and a new set of screaming panic arose from the horde. Rachel, used to terrifying situations by that point in her life, pressed herself up against a far wall. Watching in muted interest as two dark shapes shot across the ceiling overhead, in the direction of the action.
"Huh, Batman and Robin." she mused, "Neat,"
She wasn't in much of a rush if she were honest, from the sounds of things, the fighting was being contained to one of the back rooms. Clearly, whoever was behind the attack, was after the collection of paintings in whatever store-room was being used. To her, that meant that whoever was responsible, wasn't interested in dealing with the people at the auction, just the paintings. Which meant that there was really no need for her to rush, and potentially get trampled, in some crazed dash to one of the exits.
She watched in slight bemusement as the lady she had identified as Percy's partner ran outside the building, leading a pretty redhead by the arm as she did so. That was interesting, she would have assumed her first worry would have been Percy, but then again, she hadn't seen a gun on the woman. She thought she remembered reading somewhere about a new ordinance by the city, maintaining that off-duty cops weren't allowed to carry their sidearms with them after hours. Maybe she was going to grab it from her car. She didn't know, and honestly didn't care.
The crowd was finally beginning to thin, so she pushed herself off the wall, and began a leisurely stroll down toward the exit, she would stick around for a while, maybe try and corner Percy when he was alone at some point, she had questions. Questions she wanted him to answer, if for nothing else, then to maybe satisfy Helena's worry. Poor thing had been beside herself when Percy had disappeared. To go eighteen years without a direct blood-relative, only to find out that you had a pseudo half-brother out there, and then for him to disappear? The girl had been a mess. Thank the gods for Annabeth, otherwise it could have gotten ugly for the daughter of Poseidon.
However, all of those plans came to an abrupt halt, as the door to back rooms suddenly burst open, and Selina Kyle sprinted through the opening. Her dress was torn, and her face and hair covered in soot and debris. As soon as she was clear of the door, she dived to the side, taking cover behind the nearby wall, as a strange beam of light, shot through the space she had been occupying. The odd yellow beam smacked into the side of the stage, and the stage exploded in a cloud of splinters.
The bark of a pistol echoed through the previously quieting hall, reverberating off the walls of the large room. Rachel could distantly make out the sound of fighting, someone was screaming but Rachel couldn't make out who it was, or what was being said.
There were a few more bursts of gunfire, before the large form of Percy came bounding out the same doorway Selina had emerged from. He dove to the opposite side as the art dealer, pressing himself up against the wall, as he reloaded a magazine. Guess Percy decided not to come in unarmed, Rachel though to herself,
His suit jacket had been lost at some point, leaving him in the now dirty, and soot-stained undershirt, and the shoulder-holster slung over his back. There were a few holes in the fabric, as there was a small cut forming on the side of his temple, that was already bleeding a fair amount. He chanced a look around the doorway, before popping off three more shots in rapid succession. There was a cry of surprise and pain from the other side of the doorway, as Percy's shots found purchase in something.
Something in Rachel's subconscious was telling her to run, to get out of there while she still could. That voice however, was being ignored, in favor of the utter curiosity that befell her. She'd only met Percy Jackson once, it had been a brief meeting, shortly before the final battle at the camp. He'd been nice enough, if a bit stern, but that was expected of someone like him. However, she'd never actually seen him fight. Never seen the truth behind the legend, and she wanted to see it with her own eyes, before it was too late.
But it was too late.
The wall behind Rachel suddenly and violently exploded outward, as a small form was blasted through the fine wood paneling. Between the shockwave of the blast, and the small body that collided with her, Rachel was tossed from her feet. She soared through the hair, all the wind having left her lungs, before landing harshly on the floor of the museum, in a painful pile.
She couldn't breathe. Every time she tried to inhale a lungful of air, her body refused to inhale, her mouth just making small gasping sounds. The pressure on her stomach and ribs was becoming painful, and she wanted desperately to get up, but her body wouldn't cooperate. Then, the decision was abruptly taken out of her hands, as a large, beefy fist, reached down, and plucked the small body off of her chest, before s second hand reached out, and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her onto her rear.
She still could barely breath, but the minute bits of oxygen that were making it through her heaving gasps were enough to keep her conscious. The hand tugged at her hair, as she felt a shiver of cold, as something metallic was pressed against her temple.
"This was a fucking disaster!" Said a feminine voice, coming from the person holding onto her hair, "First we walk right into a goddamn trap, then Ten gets fucking shot! We need to get out of here!" She wasn't talking to her, Rachel realized, as she tried to look to her side to see who the woman holding her was talking to. She couldn't see much, but she could make out some kind of mixture of gold, red, white, and black. It was a wild combination, and her head was starting to throb, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate.
"I know goddamnit!" Growled a masculine voice to the right of her. "And I saw that bat-brat tie up Jack!"
The grip on the back of her hair tightened, and she whimpered,
"Alright, listen up!" the woman holding her called out, "We're going to walk out of here, and we'll be taking our new friends here with us. Anyone tries anything," There was a 'BANG' so loud, and so close, that her ears started ringing. The noise was so loud that it seemed to almost crawl up inside of her ear, run the gamut to her brain, and kick her squarely in the brain stem a few times. That was how much it hurt. Her eyes watered, and she was almost certain her eardrum had burst from the proximity of the shot. She shakily tried to lift her head up, to meet Percy's gaze.
His eyes were shinning in anger, the sea-green orbs shimmering with power, the same way that Helen's did when she got angry. If Rachel had not been exposed to the sensation before, she likely wouldn't have been able to identify it, but being around Helen exposed her to what she was feeling. The air had suddenly grown muggy, and heavy. As though the room had suddenly been dropped in the middle of a bog. Rachel began to sweat. Whereas previously, the room had been cool; a thick, soup-like heat, now permeated the building. It was heavy, and the air sat on her bruised chest like a brick.
Yet, as much as the sensation was disquieting, it was also comforting. It was familiar. Rachel knew this feeling, this sensation. Had felt it before, had spent summers around it. She knew when a child of the sea was using their power, and at that moment, Percy was certainly doing that. She recognized something else however, Percy apparently had training in Mist magics. Granted, she didn't have much exposure to the magic, given that she saw through it, but after spending enough time around the mythological world, she'd grown accustomed to the sensation associated with mist manipulation.
It felt similarly to when a demigod channeled a substantial amount of their own power. The world felt heavier, and there was an overwhelming sense of…something, that fell across a person's chest. It was a strange sensation. Almost like the sensation one felt when they knew they'd forgotten something important, but couldn't remember what.
She looked back at Percy, his eyes flashing, almost glowing with the force of the power he was wielding. She felt the form behind her stiffen, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw as everyone else in the room stiffened in place, and stopped what they were doing.
"Remove your weapon from the woman, get and step aside. Same for you with the crown. Step away from the boy, and stand aside." Instantly, Rachel felt the barrel of the gun fall from her back, as the grip on her hair fell away. The second the woman's fingers left her hair, she was turned, her fist cocked back. She swing and delivered the strongest punch she could to the nose of the woman who had been holding her.
"Don't touch my godsdamned hair you bitch," you spat out, and kicked the woman in the side for good measure. She then turned back towards Percy and ran over, putting the larger man between her and the people who had attacked her. She took a good look at the people who had tried to use her as a hostage then. They were both wearing what looked like modified biker-jackets. With a color scheme of red and black, with gold and white trim. On the breast of the man's jacket, was a symbol of the king of hearts, like a playing card. The woman had a similar symbol, but hers was the queen. Both were wearing masks with the same playing card motif.
She then saw the full scale of what was happening. Not only were the two criminals under Percy's spell, but so was everyone else in the room. To Percy's left, were three costumed heroes, that Rachel recognized as Batman, Batgirl, and Black Canary. Over by the door, stood Selina, also enraptured by the spell. Standing a few feet from the enraptured playing cards, was a young boy, that she recognized as Robin.
"Damn," She couldn't help the whisper of awe that escaped her. She'd heard of some demigods that had strong power over the mist, but she'd never seen someone do what Percy was doing. Not to that effect at any rate.
"Batman, Canary," Percy called out. "You're going to go over there, and cuff those two. Robin, elbow the man in the stomach. When you did that, this woman over here managed to subdue the other long enough for Canary and Batman to act. You tackled them to the ground, and arrested them both while I had their line of sight with my weapon drawn. Now move."
Instantly, the group did as they were bade, robin turned around and promptly sunk his elbow deep into the midsection of the man who'd held him hostage. A few seconds later the two criminals were cuffed and prone on the ground. Percy snapped his fingers, and the room blinked as one. Not even aware that their memories and actions had all been manipulated by the power of the gods.
Percy let out a breath of relief, as he turned away from the criminals, and addressed her. She almost froze, he had an intense look in his eyes, and the sea-green orbs were still shining in power. It was a look she had seen in Jason from time to time. The aura of someone who commanded, who led.
"Are you alright ma'am?" he asked softly, looking at her so intently that she her knees shook a little. She didn't trust her voice at the moment, so she just nodded. Percy seemed to understand, so he gave her a reassuring smile. Or at least, that's what she thought it was supposed to be. It really looked more like a grimace. "We'll talk more once all of this is settled down," he whispered down to her, and she nodded, noticing as she did so, that Batman had finished talking to Robin about something, and was stalking over to them.
Percy followed her gaze and turned, looking at the large armored vigilante evenly.
The man's eye's narrowed behind the large cowl, "Detective Jackson," the Dark Knight said, his voice coming out in a gruff growl.
"We need to talk,"
AN: Alright, gonna be honest, this has felt weird writing, given the current state of things here in the State's. Regardless, I love this story, and I love these characters, so I'm going to continue writing. Thanks for all the love this weird little story has gotten, I'm glad so many of you seem to be enjoying it. I took some creative liberties with the Mist, because fuck it right? My story, my rules. It's a little different to the normal way that Percy fights, but given the way my Percy operates, it felt fitting to me. Either way, so far only one person has correctly guessed who this Percy really is. I think I've layed it out pretty clearly in this chapter, but let me know what you think! If you like this story, please check out some of my other works, I think you'll enjoy them! As always, thanks for all the love and support. Stay safe, and love you all!
Love,
LilDB
