The God of Heroes

by AlfyreGree

Percy has lost almost everything and finds himself in a new universe. He's not alone though, and he's definitely not he same as he was before... Eventual PercyxRaven

4. Chapter 4

Third Person POV

"Isla Santa Prisca." Batman exclaimed, "This island is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo steroid, as strength enhancing drug, codenamed Venom."

The team was gathered in the briefing room while Batman showed them the mission data on a holographic screen, and Red Tornado stood silently behind him. Everyone was there, including Percy and Tyson.

"Infrared heat signatures indicate that the factory is still operating at full capacity, yet all Venom shipments have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in."

Everyone shuffled excitedly, but there was still a sense of tenseness in the air, centered on one member: the newly declared god. It had been a week since the incident with Canary. Percy had mostly kept to his room, minimizing interaction with the others as much as possible, despite many efforts to reach out to him. No one knew what made him to freak out the way he did, except for Tyson, but he had made it clear that it wasn't something he was supposed to talk about. "I don't talk about my brother behind his back!" was his constant reply.

Batman continued, "This is a covert mission, meant for recovering intel only, that being said…" he had walked in front of Tyson to say something, but was momentarily distracted, "What are you wearing?"

Tyson, despite the fact that all the other team members were in civilian clothing, was wearing his "super suit" it consisted of a pair of brown flame retardant pants with a brown long-sleeved shirt of the same material. Stitched onto the shirt was a large, golden T that ran from the bottom of the shirt to the top, with the ends of the T reaching to the tips of his shoulders. To complete the look, Tyson had fashioned a brown bandana with a hole cut out of it around his face, Zorro style. Tyson stood at attention as if Batman were his commanding officer in the military, "It's my superhero suit sir!" he responded stiffly.

Batman raised an eyebrow, before looking at Percy questioningly. He sighed, "I told him it's just a briefing, but he had just finished making it and wanted to try it on."

Batman looked back at Tyson, "I see. Why are you wearing a mask?"

Tyson looked around uncertainly before darting his eye back at the Batman, "To protect my identity sir?"

Batman continued to stare at him, before he apparently gave up on the subject, "We'll work on that later. In any case, you will not be going on this mission."

That caused many of the team to look at him in shock. While Tyson just stayed still, Percy asked in a deadly calm voice, "Why?"

Batman responded, "It has come to my attention that he is of the mental age and maturity of 11."

"So?" Batman looked at his protégé in surprise as spoke up, "You let me go on missions when I was 9!"

Batman quickly got over his surprise, "You were trained by me, and didn't have the destructive power to destroy entire city blocks. He has as much subtlety as nuclear bomb. Until we're sure he can be trusted in a mission like this, he will… what is he doing?"

The Batman was actually caught off guard as the cyclops now had tears running down over his new mask, though he looked to be doing his best to hold it in Percy glared at the dark knight, "He's crying jackass, he was looking forward to helping."

Batman barely registered the blatant insult from the teen as he tried to think of what to do in this situation, but for all the man's skills, comforting someone was not his most developed.

However, Tyson then wiped his tears away and looked up in determination, he spoke in a confident voice, "it's okay, I understand, I'll just… find something to do while everyone's gone."

Percy looked at his brother in surprise, having never seen him reign in his emotions so quickly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but to everyone's surprise, he was beaten by Red Tornado. "Perhaps while they are on their mission, you could take the opportunity to better assess his skills by letting him accompany you on patrol?"

Batman, along with everyone else in the room, looked at the android in confusion, "What?"

The android continued, "You patrol at night if my data is correct, and visibility in Gotham is often dismal at best. It would be a good opportunity for him to go out without being spotted by too many civilians. There might be stories, but until we choose to publicly announce his existence as a hero to the world, this would be the best option to see him in action."

Batman stared at the android for what felt like several minutes, as if the two were having a mental conversation. Finally, he turned back to Tyson, "Fine. I'll take you out on patrol, do not disappoint me."

Tyson had been gradually growing the stars in his eyes at the proposition, and now practically jumped in excitement, "Don't worry! The Amazing Mr. T won't let you down!"

"Mr. T?" Wally asked.

"It's my superhero name!" Tyson declared, pointing to his chest "T is for Tyson."

"Mr. T Huh? Sounds familiar," Batman commented. Everyone thought hard for a moment to think of who it reminded them of, but none could recall.

"It's settled then," Batman concluded, "Go suit up."

Before they left Robin asked, "So who's in charge?"

Batman looked at him, "I'll let you decide that for yourselves. Now go."

Everyone turned to leave, but before Percy could, Batman stood in front of him, "Except you."

Once everyone had cleared out, giving Percy mixed looks of worry and pity, Percy looked up at him, "Is this about the incident."

Batman narrowed his eyes, "You nearly brought the entire mountain down. I very nearly took you off this mission as well. Martian Manhunter was practically scarred when he looked into your head, and all of this happened because you declared yourself a god. Not a demigod."

Percy nodded, "I didn't realize until now, I certainly don't feel any different than I did as a demigod. I don't understand it any more than you."

He continued his staring, as if he was trying to pick me apart with his looks, "What I want to know is why learning that you're a "god" would prompt you to lose control of your powers."

Percy was silent for a moment, before sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It's complicated."

Four days day after the incident.

The room was silent, save for the constant ticking of the clock. Percy sat across from Black Canary in her office, feeling very bored, and wanting to be anyone else. She simply stared at him as she sat up straight with her legs crossed, while he slumped.

After a few minutes of neither saying a word, Canary went first, "This doesn't work unless you talk to me."

Percy looked at her, "Then maybe we should just stop now."

Canary sighed, "Percy, I'm a licensed psychologist, anything you say here stays here." Percy remained silent, so she leaned forward, "I know trauma Percy, whatever is wrong I can—"

"You can't!" He snapped at her, causing her lean back as he continued,, "You can't know what I've gone through, you're just—"

"Just a mortal?" She raised an eyebrow, "Do you think because you're a god that you know better than all us lowly humans?"

Percy flinched, "Please don't call me that."

"What? A god? That's what you called yourself. Why does it upset you so much?"

Percy leaned back, staring at the ceiling, "You had it right before. You are just a mortal. That's not meant to be derogatory, at least from me, it's just accurate. There are things in my life now that you will never understand, nor would you want to."

She just stared at him, "You're avoiding my question. What's wrong with being a god?"

He looked up at her, suddenly deadly serious, "Have you ever met a god?" She shook her head, "I've met many. Almost all of them have something in common. After being alive for so many thousands of years, watching mortals grow old and die in what's a blink in the eye for them, they no longer see them as people, just lower beings. Useful for a night of fun and a child to do their bidding maybe, but after that they just move on without batting an eye. Most of them just don't care, and the ones that do, or at least pretend that they do, have grown so used to watching mortals die, that they can mourn one moment and move on the next."

Canary hummed at his, "So you're worried you will lose a part of yourself as time goes on. Is that why you're secluding yourself from the team? So it will hurt less when they're gone?" Percy was silent, looking at the clock, "But that's not everything, is it? Something else is troubling you, not about your future, but something from your past."

His eyes snapped to her a this, confirming her suspicions. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

He scoffed, "Why? Can't you get the information from Manhunter? He looked in my head, didn't he?"

She sighed, "You know, I tried, but for whatever reason he felt that it was not his place to share. It was annoying really." Percy's glare softened a bit at that.

Canary continued, "I've worked with a lot of people with pasts that haunt them. There are coping mechanisms, you may not be able to make it go away, but you can learn to live with it."

"I don't want to live with it!" Percy exclaimed, before reeling himself in "I've seen things, experienced things, that nobody here could possibly understand."

Canary leaned back with a frown, "You're only seventeen, how much could you have experienced?"

Percy actually snickered at that, "Seventeen. Right. Maybe in body, but in mind…"

The heroine leaned forward, "What do you mean?"

Percy closed his eyes, clenching them shut, as if trying to force the images from his eyes, "There's a place, in my universe called Tartarus."

Her eyes widened, "That's the Greek realm of the dead, right?"

Percy shook his head, "No that's the Underworld, or Hades. I'd much prefer that over Tartarus. Tartarus is the Hell beneath Hell. The place where monsters and immortals reform when their bodies are destroyed. It's a literal hellscape, meant only to cause suffering to all its inhabitants."

Canary kept a straight face as he talked, but inside she was beginning to see just how broken he was, beyond his little freak out days prior. "Time is different there, or feels different anyway, a second lasts days. A day lasts years. I was down there for two weeks according to my friends.

At this her eyes widened, "But to you, it was longer."

He nodded, "Decades. I wish I could say that time was spent building experience getting stronger, but no. The majority of the time I was kept a captive, by an enemy of mine. He spent years… finding new ways to break me."

"And did he?" Canary asked, "To me you've seemed pretty unbroken, aside from a few snags here and there."

Percy flinched as the images assaulted him with a vengeance, "I couldn't break. I had a job to do, people counting on me. in the end I was saved, rescued from Tartarus, and I made it back to my friends. We then went to complete our mission."

She nodded, "What was the mission?"

"Same as always, kill some monsters." Percy said dryly, "Only this time, the monsters were too strong, too many. One by one they died, in front of my eyes. If it weren't for Tyson and my dad, I would be too… I should be."

That's when Black Canary figured it out. "You wanted to die, to be with your friends…"

Percy laughed without humor, "Oh no, their souls are still back in the underworld of my universe, here I won't find them. But I hoped at least it would be a fresh start, that I would find some peace when I died. But now…" He bit down on his thumb and held up his now bleeding thumb to show her the golden liquid, "Now this flows through my veins, I'll never age, I'll never decay. There's only a few ways I might be able to go out…"

Canary looked at him curiously, "What?"

He shrugged, "The gods of my universe can be destroyed physically, then reform in Tartarus. but this world, well it's obviously different, if I were to be killed, I might stay dead…" He trailed off choosing not to mention Fading, for a few reasons.

Canary nodded, dreading the answer to her next question, "I see. Is that why you agreed to become a hero so easily? To rush into the danger, and maybe find peace early? Or do you plan to do it yourself?"

The teen seemed to consider it for a moment, before sighing, "Maybe? But, I won't let myself be killed like that, not while Tyson still needs me."

Canary studied him, "And when he passes?"

Percy shook his head, "Tyson is a cyclops. They are immortal like gods, though not nearly as powerful. If he were to be destroyed, he might stay dead, or he might reform somewhere in this universe, but I'm not going to let that happen. He's all I have left.

"You are very protective of him. Almost too protective at times. You realize he's more than capable of protecting himself, right?"

Percy nodded, "Physically yes, but Tyson went through something too. He lost his love and his father. He may act happy and childish, but inside he's hurting."

Black Canary frowned, "You know this, what are you doing about it?"

"I… don't know what to do." He admitted, "I want to bring it up, try to help him through it, but I'm afraid it will unleash a flood of emotions that he won't know how to control, and I won't know how to help him…"

Canary couldn't help but roll her eyes at the immortal in front of her, "Well, lucky for you I do. I'll schedule him to start seeing me. I may be just a mortal, and I may not understand the pain the two of you have gone through. but I know at least that the longer you keep something bottled up, the more it will hurt when you let it out. That goes for you too."

Percy looked at her curiously, "What?"

"You say you lost your friends, watched them die right in front of you. have you even taken time to mourn?"

He stared at her, "I… I can't, I have to stay strong for—"

The heroine sighed, "For Tyson, right. I'm not as naïve as to think I can fix you in one session, especially with everything you've just told me. This will take time. For now, I'll end it with this: closing yourself off to people, may help you not feel as badly when they pass, but it may also speed up the hardening of the heart that you've described in your gods. You hate the fact that you're a god, so don't act like one. interact with your team, dare to have fun even. The way I see it, you have a choice: isolate yourself, close your heart off to us mortals, and save yourself the pain, or open up, fall in love, take the risk of emotion. You may end up hurt later on, but at least you'll have more than just bad memories."

Percy stared at her silently. She could tell he was rolling her words over in his head, but she knew he wouldn't make a decision now. So, she sent him out, telling him she would let him know when their next session would be.

As he walked out of the room, he looked like he wanted to say something, but ended up shaking his head and walking out. Once she was sure he was gone, she finally let her façade down.

As the tears began to fall, she felt the need to call Oliver, he always knew how to cheer her up after a particularly heart wrenching session.

Now

In the briefing room, Batman stared down at Percy, "Complications are what ruin missions. Don't let that happen, understand?"

Percy glared back up at him, "Yes sir."

They stared at each other for another few moments, as they usually did every time they met, before batman backed off. "Good. Now suit up. I expect a report on how the prototype armor does."

Percy nodded, "And I expect you to bring back my brother safely."

With that they went their separate ways, Percy fuming, as he always had issues with authority figures, and Batman smiling slightly, as he never met a person who could match him in intensity. In a strange way, it was reassuring to the man.

Several hours later, the team was flying over the Caribbean Sea. Most of the team was seated inside the bio ship, while Percy flew alongside with Blackjack.

"Approaching Santa Prisca." Miss Martian announced through the team's psychic link.

Superboy grimaced, "I'm still not okay with this…"

"Yeah well get okay with it." Came the steely voice of Percy as he flew alongside the cockpit, "The advantage of the link is too great to pass up, especially on a covert operation."

"Oh, now he speaks to us," Wally quipped, "The mighty god stoops to our level."

"I'm not-!" Percy growled internally, "Ugh, just focus on the mission."

"How's Blackjack doing?" M'gann asked, trying to change the subject.

"I'm fine green lady, just gonna need a few dozen boxes of donuts later. Thanks for asking," the pegasus chimed in, startling many of the others in the link.

"There's a horse in my head," Robin mused, "Didn't see that coming."

"Pegasus…" Blackjack corrected with obvious annoyance, making the Boy wonder chuckle inside the ship.

"I wasn't sure if the link would work with him, but I'm glad to see it does." M'gann explained.

"Glad to have you as part of the team," Aqualad said.

"Eh, I don't know about that. I'm just helping out the Boss." The pegasus replied.

"Why?" Wally asked, "Are you like his servant or something?"

"Don't answer that Blackjack," Percy sighed. "He's just trying to get a rise out of me."

Blackjack snorted in annoyance while Robin rolled his eyes and elbowed the speedster, "And he better stop it, as it's the last thing we need on our first official mission. By the way Percy, how's the suit feeling?"

"Fine," he replied simply, "it doesn't chafe as much as I thought it would."

Percy was currently wearing the new prototype armor, that Tyson had been working on over the past week. As it was, the titanium carbon fiber alloy hadn't arrived yet, so the armor plating was made out of the enhanced bronze, which was fine with Percy. The suit fit his body a little tighter than he was used to, contouring to all his muscles. The bottom layer was a simple titanium dipped tri weave mesh, currently dyed black. the bronze platting was distributed all over the suit. His chest had several plates shaped and arranged to cover each abdominal and pectoral muscle, while each plate was separate and not confronting to his movement.

He had bronze spaulders on each shoulder, though each were designed not to be too bulky. A thin line of flexible plating ran from the spaulders down his biceps, before connecting to a pair of bronze vambraces covering each forearm. The suit covered his hands as well, and included bronze plating over his knuckles to increase the damage. The only thing covering his back was a round water carrier strapped to his upper back, also made of bronze.

Around his waist was a simple bronze belt for a little extra protection, though in the back there was another an arching plate reaching up reaching up to cover the small of his back, that ended at his sides. Running down from his belt was another line of flexible plating that ran down the side his thighs, being sure to cover the any major veins or arteries, before connecting to the armor encasing his lower legs, with a piece jutting up from the shin to cover the kneecaps. his feet were encased in the suit as well, with protective soles and treads already built into it.

He had nothing covering his head, save for a simple domino mask, courtesy of Robin. It was black as well, with the only alterations being two points jutting up on each end, and one in the middle, none of them going farther than his hairline. The three prongs of a trident.

"It bites into my sides a bit more than I'd like." Blackjack commented.

"We could get you a saddle?" Robin suggested

"Try and bridle me," Blackjack warned, "I freakin dare ya."

"'We'll make it so it doesn't bite into you as much next time," Percy interjected, not in the mood for a fight between his pegasus and his young teammate.

"Drop zone in 30." M'gann announced in exasperation, not even trying to hide her relief that the operation was finally under way. "Everyone activate their stealth gear."

As they flew through the air, the ship turned invisible, and the passengers all stood up to activate their suits stealth modes, with M'gann simply commanding her organic material to change, and Superboy simply remained in his already dark clothing. outside, Percy whispered. "Erebus." Causing the bright bronze plating to begin to darken until it turned gray. This was Tyson's approach to "stealth mode".

Percy then got into a crouching positon on his mounts back, "Ready Aqualad?"

"I am, shall I follow you?"

"No, you lead, I'm interested to see an Atlantean in action. After you."

A moment later, Percy spotted Aqualad diving out of the bioship straight into the ocean without a splash. He spoke to Blackjack one more time, "Remember the plan, wait at least thirty minutes before landing, I'll call you when I need pick up.'

Got it Boss.

Percy nodded, before jumping off the pegasus, diving silently into the ocean below.

Percy took a moment to relish the rush of power he felt from his father's domain, before quickly locating Aqualad and shooting towards him. He caught up to him in a moment and they began making their way towards shore. Percy noted that while the Atlantean was nowhere near as fast as he could be in the water, he was definitely go faster than any human he knew of. They easily passed through an underwater mine field, and cut their way through the underwater fence surrounding the island. Soon they had reached the shore.

Percy followed Kaldur as they approached two strange looking devices. Kaldur brought out a cylindrical device and plugged it into one of the monitors of the devices. After a moment, and let out a beep to indicate its work was done. "Heat and motion sensors unpatched, data is now in a continuous loop. Move in."

As the bioship flew inland, Aqualad turned to Percy. "Let us go."

He nodded and they began making their way through the brush. Percy was impressed to see that Kaldur could move pretty fast on land as well. They didn't waste any time sprinting through the forest, occasionally leaping over the occasional obstacle with ease.

"Are all Atlantean this nimble above ground?" Percy asked as he kept up the pace.

Kaldur nodded, "Our physiology is accustomed to the high pressure of the ocean depths, coming on land is akin to entering a region of lower gravity, in a sense. Unfortunately, many of us have trouble when out of water for too long. My king, being half human, is an exception. I have also shown to be quite proficient at it, though I still require my hydration suit to work at full capacity."

Percy just listened silently as he explained. Once he was done, he simply nodded, before they fell back into silence. Soon however, they came to a stop as they stood in front of a cliff, looking to be several hundred feet high, and blocked their path to the objective. Aqualad glanced questioningly at Percy, who shrugged, "I'll be fine, there's not even lava running down the side..."

Aqualad had no idea what that meant, but shrugged it off the two were about to begin their climb, when a loud boom in the distance made them pause. Percy looked to Kaldur, "Please tell me that wasn't them."

A moment later M'gann's voice sounded in their head, "Drop B is go."

"Head for the factory, we'll track your GPS and rendezvous ASAP." Aqualad responded as he began scaling the cliff.

As Percy followed after him, he added "Was that incredibly loud noise one of you?"

"It was me," Superboy's voice came on the line, sounding strangely apologetic "I got a little carried away, it won't happen again." He stated that last part firmly.

Percy sighed, "And yet only Tyson was benched?"

A moment later, Kaldur stopped climbing, making Percy stop next to him in confusion, "What? did you see something?"

Aqualad looked at him, "What is wrong with being a god?"

Percy's face quickly hardened, before continuing his climb, "This isn't the time."

Aqualad narrowed is eyes before following him, "What other time is there? You avoid your teammates like the plague! I want to believe that there is some reason behind it, but I'm starting to agree with Kid. Maybe you are just some god, looking down at us mortal beings with contempt."

The Atlantean froze as the god punched the side of the cliff in anger, creating a small crater, and shaking loose a bit of rubble, "I AM NOT—" He then stopped, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before speaking in a much softer voice, "I wouldn't do that, that's not what I'm doing.

Kaldur didn't let up though, "How are we supposed to know?" the god began to climb again, as the Atlantean followed, "You never talk to us, unless you have to. What do you expect us to think— "

He lost is train of thought as a ledge he stepped on turned out not to be as sturdy as he thought, he almost fell down the side of the cliff, but was stopped by a tendril of water wrapping around his arm. He followed the water to find its source was Percy's own container.

The water then hoisted him up next to Percy, only letting him go when he found his footing. He was about to thank him when he saw Percy with an angry look on his face, along with a hint of something else. "You do not know everything!"

They then climbed in silence, for a while. Aqualad figured he'd give it a rest for the time being. However, when they reached the top, Percy surprised him by speaking again. "I was on another team. A team of seven like this one. Now I'm the only one left alive."

Aqualad looked at him in shock, "I'm… sorry. What happened?"

Percy turned to look at him, with an unreadable expression, "It happened in a battle, moments before I came here. We were up against enemies that required the power of a demigod and a god to defeat. We showed up, the gods didn't. I watched all of my friends… my family, die on the battlefield before my eyes… I won't let that happen to this team."

He then turned to walk towards the objective, leaving the Atlantean in a stunned daze, before he shook himself out of it and hurried to follow him, looking at him with a newfound awe.

As they were making their way however, they suddenly heard gunfire. Aqualad reached out first, "Does anyone have a visual?"

"Yeah," Superboy replied, "Two squads, they seem to be in an altercation with each other—what is that idiot doing?"

Percy and Kaldur looked at each other, not even having to ask which idiot the Kryptonian was talking about, before they took off towards the gunfire. "I swear if that speedster gets killed before I get there, I will pull him out of the underworld and kill him again," Percy growled under his breath.

Kaldur couldn't help but crack a smile at that, "Kid Flash is a bit impulsive, but he is also fast enough to dodge bullets. He should be fine. Though I can't say the same for the covertness of our operation."

Percy stayed silent, doing his best to look calm, and just a bit angry, but inside he was praying to every god he could think of that the others were okay, not caring if it drew unwanted attention.

They soon arrived at the scene, just as the others were finishing the gunmen off. The two factions consisted of several men working under some overly buff guy in a wrestler mask, and a bunch of guys in red robes.

Aqualad jumped through the trees to get the drop on one guy while Percy charged towards another. The goon noticed the armored man approaching him and turned to fire on him, only for his bullets to be caught in a wall of water shielding the man. One bullet did manage to get through however, but it bounced harmlessly off of Percy's shin guard. He then took the guy down with a quick punch to the face.

Once they were sure the bad guys were all down, Percy turned to Kid Flash, "Wanna tell me what happened?"

Wally glared back at him, "It was mistake, they happen. It turned out well too, we now have a heap of people to get information out of!"

Percy looked at him in disbelief, "A mistake? You could have been killed! That's a little more serious than a mistake!"

The speedster stared back at him defiantly, "Just because I'm not some god doesn't mean I'm useless! I can still run circles around you, oh great and powerful Percy!"

Percy felt his eye begin to twitch, and looked ready to say more, Kaldur shouted, "Enough. We are wasting time. We should focus on restraining these men to get the intel we need." He turned to do just that, walking past Wally, where he stopped, "And you could exercise a little more caution. That is all Percy truly meant to convey."

The speedster crossed his arms, "Yeah? Well he doesn't have to, I got it."

The Atlantean sighed, before going to help the others with the rope, while Percy and Wally took a few more moments to glare each other, before Wally turned away to help as well. Once he had, Percy had to take a deep breath to calm down, before going to help as well. He wouldn't let Wally make any comments about gods not having to do work.

Once they had finished tying up the gunmen, the heroes examined the robed figures. "I recognize those uniforms," Robin stated, "They belong to the Cult of the Kobra."

"The what'?" Percy asked.

"They're a crazy religious group," Robin answered, "Only they worship their leader as a, er, god."

Percy narrowed his eyes at that, but said nothing

"I am certain Batman would have mentioned it if he knew a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation." Aqualad noted.

Robin nodded, "Agreed, and since there's clearly no love lost between the Kobra and those goons, I'm guessing the Kobra came in and tossed them out! That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it," Wally said, "Kobra wanted super cultists. Mystery solved. Radio Bats and we can be home in time for— "

"These cultists aren't on Venom," Robin interrupted, "Kobra's hoarding the stuff. We can't leave… not until I know why."

Wally raised an eyebrow, "Until you know why?"

The two stepped up to each other, "This team need a leader." Robin insisted

"And it's you?" Wally laughed, "Dude you're a thirteen-year-old kid, who ducked out on us without a word."

Percy narrowed his eyes at that, but stayed silent as Robin laughed, "And you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover the first chance you got!"

As the two continued to bicker, Percy noticed M'gann look at Superboy, "Don't you want to lead?"

The Kryptonian scoffed, "You?"

She looked away, "No… I don't know where I'd even begin…"

Superboy then looked towards the larger man, before smiling knowingly. Percy walked up to him, "Hear something?"

Superboy nodded, "The big guy's gonna "play along". Honestly, they think none of us know Spanish?"

Percy raised an eyebrow, "How do you know Spanish? No offense but you're like less than a month old."

He shrugged, "The Genomorphs implanted it into my head. I'm fluid in most languages."

That caused Percy to raise an eyebrow, "Useful. You should send them a thank you card."

At this the Kryptonian cracked a smirk, but the moment was ruined as the ninja and the speedster kept going at it. "You don't even have any powers!"

"Neither does Batman!" Robin argued

"Uh, you're not Batman." Wally scoffed.

"Uh, closest thing we got!" Robin mocked.

Suddenly however their conversation was broken up by the deep laughter of the big man. He spoke in a heavy Spanish accent. "Such clever niños. But you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance.

M'gann crouched in front of him and activated her telepathy, "There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something." She concentrated for a moment, but he smiled.

"A-A-A. chica, Bane is not that easy."

M'gann flinched, "Ugh, he's mentally reciting fútbol scores in Español. This could take a while."

"It's not complicated," Bane insisted, "The enemy of my enemy, is my friend."

The team looked at each other for a moment, before Percy stepped forward, drawing his pen from his pocket and uncapping it at Bane, who tensed up at the blade leveled towards his neck. In the background Wally almost took a step forward, but was stopped when Aqualad put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

Percy leaned in close to Bane, "We'll play your game, for now, but when, and believe me I don't mean if, but when you betray us, I will not hesitate to remove that mask for you. Along with the rest of your head, understand?"

Bane glared at him for a moment before growling out, "Yes."

Percy then smirkef=d, "Relax Nacho Libre," he swung the sword, causing the man to let out a cry as it phased through his neck. "This can't hurt you." He then used the blade to cut the ropes, allowing him to stand up. He turned around and walked the other way, as Bane grumbled and walked forward as well, but the luchador froze as suddenly the tip of a blade made out of solid water was stuck up his nose, as Percy had whirled around in an instant, and summoned the weapon.

At this Aqualad was also having doubts, he called out tentatively, "Percy?"

Bane watched as Percy's eyes darted towards his teammate then back at him, before he suddenly got in close, keeping the blade pressed to his face, even drawing a bit of blood, "I'm sure you think I'm bluffing, so I want you to look at my teams faces for a moment and ask yourself if I am. The Leagues already reprimanded me for relieving one monster of its head, but the moment you go to harm one of them, I won't hesitate to add your head to the list. So, when you betray us. Do yourself a favor, and focus on me." Bane stared into the eyes of the god, looking for any trace of a bluff, but found none, and widened his eyes when Percy's glowed dangerously.

With that he dispelled the water back into his container and allowed to now sweaty man to fall forward onto his knees, taking a moment to catch his breath. The team was looking at him with mixed looks of awe and concern, with Superboy, the only one who heard the entire exchange, doing his best to stay unreadable. The goons on the other hand were sweating blood at the sight of their leader brought to his knees by the mere words of a teenager.

Percy looked at them all, "Well? Let's go."

Bane led them through the forest to a cliff overlooking the factory, where Robin took out his binoculars to survey the seen. He watched for a moment before commenting on the men loading crates, "Look at all that product. A buy is going down. but if it's none of the usual suspects…"

"We need to identify that buyer. "Aqualad concluded.

"Just what I was thinking." Wally stated.

Robin laughed, "Yeah, you're a thinker."

"Really dude?" Wally drawled, "Sarcasm? A real leader would be focused on getting answers."

The team's attention was then drawn to Bane as he made a ruckus moving a boulder out of the way of a hidden passageway, "Answers are this way."

The team was silent for a moment before Wally quipped, "So now El Luchador is our leader." Robin elbowed him as he passed by.

They were led down the tunnel for a while until they reached a metal door. Bane pressed a button, making the door beep before opening to reveal the inside of the factory. Robin took the lead as they exited the passageway, however by the time Percy got through the doorway at the end, he had disappeared.

Bane snorted, "Has that little fool already been caught?"

Aqualad sighed in irritation, "No, he just does that."

Wally put on his goggles, "I'll go ahead, I'll get the intel and be back before the Boy Wonder"

He then sped away, ignoring Kaldur as he called out, "Kid wait!"

Bane raised an eyebrow, "Great chain of command."

The heroes simply ignored him and went on their way, but Percy couldn't help but agree with him.

They crouched behind some crates to spy on the cultists moving the venom around. "It's a massive shipment," Kaldur whispered

"Yeah but they're only taking new product off the line," Superboy observed, "They're not touching this Venom.

"Maybe freshness counts?" M'gann suggested, knowing it was likely not the case.

Once they had reached a more secure point in the above railings, Kaldur turned to M'gann, "Miss Martian, can you go invisible and find out who the buyer is?"

She nodded, "On it." And disappeared from sight.

That left Aqualad, Superboy, Bane, and Percy to wait for the others to return or check in.

They sat in silence for a moment, before Superboy spoke up, "Did you mean what you said back there?"

The others looked at him in confusion, except for Percy, who didn't even look up. "You know the answer to that, so does Bane."

Aqualad looked confused for a moment, before he saw the slight look of fear on the criminal's face. He got the idea.

Superboy narrowed his eyes, "You know the League won't like that kind of attitude."

Percy chuckled to himself, "The League… I've faced down gods before and ended up on top. A group of goodie toe shoes who can't even kill is not really high on my list of things to worry about."

At that, Bane let out a chuckle. Percy's eyes darted to him, "What?"

The criminal held his hands up in defense, "Nothing much. I was just thinking how if every hero thought like you, guys like me wouldn't stand a chance."

Aqualad looked at him in surprise, "Isn't showing weakness against your code?"

Bane snorted, "What code? And I'm not showing weakness, I'm just observing obvious strength." He looked back to Percy, but the teen had gone back to observing the cultists below, not showing a reaction.

"Guys! We found something!" Robin spoke over the psychic link. "The cultists somehow got a hold of the blockbuster formula from, Cadmus, and they've managed to combine it with the Venom formula."

Aqualad stood up, "What? How?"

Wally chimed in, "We don't know, but the new formula is apparently more powerful, and permanent."

Aqualad looked deep in thought, "That means…"

"The buyer is also Kobra's supplier." Robin confirmed, "They were just using the cult to get the new formula."

"Miss Martian, do you have eyes on the buyer yet?" Aqualad asked.

"Yes, sharing the image now."

The team closed their eyes as they received the image of a heavyset blonde man wearing mask. "Sportsmaster…" Aqualad spoke aloud, "He's the buyer?"

Percy, who didn't know or care who Sportsmaster was, spoke impatiently, "What's the plan then? Do we take them down?"

Before Kaldur could respond, Bane grunted, "I have a suggestion."

Before the three heroes could react, he leapt off the railing and started attacking the gunmen below.

"What is he—" Kaldur began to speak, but was interrupted when the window behind the three heroes was smashed as a massive creature, looking like a much scarier version of Blockbuster, jumped through it, going straight for Percy in the middle.

Right before it hit, Percy could only think one thing: Guess my luck hasn't changed.

The monster slammed its fist into Percy's chest, as it broke the railing with Its went. Percy went sailing towards the ground. To his relief however, his armor took most of the blow. He barely managed to manipulate his water to create a cushion for him, resulting in a soft landing. However, he was immediately set upon by a hail of bullets, curtesy of the cultists. A few bounced off his plating, while others managed to hit some of the chinks. The fiber mesh kept it from piercing his skin, but he knew he would be seeing bruises from them later on as he gritted his teeth and focused on shielding himself with his water. He then noticed a blur of grey moving around the room taking out gunmen, signaling that Wally had arrived.

He soon found himself next to Aqualad, joining his water shield with his as the Atlantean shot bolts of water at the cultists, an idea Percy took to quickly as he sent his own bolts at a faster rate, however even then the cultist were far greater in number. In the background, Superboy was facing off with the monster, but wasn't doing as well as he'd like.

M'gann was doing her best to take enemies out while invisible, but the masked man had come in to see the commotion as well, and had somehow figured out where she was. He threw some sort of baton at her, which she dodged at the last second, but unfortunately he had placed a small bomb on it, which detonated when in proximity with the Martian girl. She went down hard, and probably would have been riddled with bullets had Percy not encased her in a protective cocoon of water, and levitated her behind his shield.\

He glanced at Aqualad, "We need to retreat, now."

The Atlantean nodded in agreement, "Robin, we need you to get back here, we're leaving."

"Busy now!" The Boy wonder replied.

Percy gritted his teeth, "Busy enough to let your team die?"

"What?! No! I was just— "

"Hey, we can take care of ourselves!" Wally argued, "just because we're not gods—"

That was when Percy lost it. "That's it!" He balled up a fist, activating his earthquake energy after a few moments, but instead of punching something with it, he opened his hadn and slammed it into the ground, causing the ground underneath everyone to shake violently. Everyone lost their balance, even the monster on the new formula.

Percy spoke fast over the link, but at the same time deadly calm. "If you can't take requests or criticisms, then you will take orders. As of now I'm taking command of this team. So, Robin, stop whatever you're doing and get back here before I find you and drag your scrawny ass back here myself. Understand?"

Wally piped up, "Who do you think you—"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Percy's voice sounded in everyone's head with tremendous volume and power, causing everyone to flinch and M'gann to stir in her unconscious state.

"Okay!" Robin responded, "Just calm down."

"We're coming." Wally growled.

A moment later Kid Flash appeared behind Percy's water shield, and in the next moment Robin entered the warehouse, swinging on his grapple, above the gunmen that were getting back to their feet, before landing gracefully behind the shield. Percy turned to Kaldur, "I have this, take M'gann and get to the exit, call me when we're ready."

Aqualad nodded and went to do as commanded, scooping up the Martian in his arms with ease. Percy glanced at Superboy, still having it out with the monster, "We're about to bounce SB, need a hand?"

The Kryptonian teen yelled as he grappled with the beast, before spinning the larger being around and slamming him headfirst into a wall, dazing it for a moment, "I'm good, let's go I'll cover you."

Percy nodded and gave a yell as he shot the wall of water at the gunmen, sweeping them all away in a devastating wave, before booking it back to the secret entrance, while Superboy ran behind him to stop any stray bullets. Though the water rushed passed him as it flew back into Percy's water pack.

They quickly made it to the metal door, where the others were waiting. Once they were inside, Superboy took a moment to slam it shut before following the others down the earthy tunnel. However, it didn't do much to stop the behemoth who shoulder slammed the door open, allowing the cultists to fire after the heroes.

Percy took a second to think before shouting, "Superboy! Support beams!"

Thankfully the guy understood and he began punching the wooden support beams holding up the tunnel as he passed them. Soon the tunnel behind them started to collapse, forcing their pursuers to stop and turn back, and for the tunnel to go dark.

Light was brought back to the tunnel by Robin's glow sticks, which he had handy in his belt. "How could my first mission as team leader go so wrong?"

Wally snorted, "Oh but it wasn't, the almighty Percy here is leader now, isn't that rig—"

"SHUT UP!" Percy shouted, as he crouched next to M'gann. "We have a team member down."

The two bickerers finally shut up at that and rushed to Miss martians side. After moment of examining her, Robin sighed, "I'm not an expert on Martian physiology, but seeing as she's in a human form, I'd say she's just out cold. She must a be a heavy sleeper, though." He glared up at the guy who had just screamed at them twice.

Percy ignored it and summoned a bit of water from his pack, he whispered, "Sorry." Before splashing the Martian in the face, causing her to wake up sputtering, "Watch out! Guys where—Where am I?"

Kaldur offered her a hand, "You were knocked out during the fight, You're safe now."

She tentatively took his hand and stood up with a small blush as Percy drew the water off of her, but not at Kaldur's gesture. "I… I'm sorry everyone. I let you down…"

"No." Percy stated, "You did your best, we all failed."

"Oh really? You included?" Wally, "Who could tell when all they can hear is you nagging at us an ordering us around like peons!"

"Kid…" Aqualad spoke in a warning tone, but it went unnoticed.

"No actually I'm curious too." Robin spoke up, "What makes you think you should lead us? You don't even have the decency to talk to us unless it's necessary!"

Percy sighed, he was facing the caved in wall, listening to each word they said with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, but now he opened them, and spoke, "You're going to die."

This made many team members shuffle uncomfortably. Robin was the first to recover, "Is that a threat?"

Percy world around, "No, it's a fact. Be it combat, sickness, or old age, every single one of you are going to die one day. But me? I will live forever."

M'gann frowned at this, more confused as to where it was going than anything else, while Superboy stood next to her listening intently with a raised eyebrow. Wally however groaned, "I knew it. Your immortal, so what? That doesn't make you—"

"Better?" Percy finished, "You're right."

This made Wally blink as Percy continued, "Immortality isn't something I wanted. I still don't know how I got it. One day, each and every one of you will grow old and die, and all I'll be able to do is watch as you go. Unable to stop it. Can you imagine watching friends and family grow old and die before you, passing on to the next life, while you are forced to remain, left with only memories.

The team was silent at that, indicating that they could not imagine. At this point Robin and Kid Flash had looks of realization on their faces.

Percy sighed, "I, in a foolish attempt to save myself from future pain, the pain of a losing another team… another family, thought to seclude myself from you all, to not get attached, so that it would be easier when it came time for you all to pass on." His previously somber face now hardened, "But I see now that that won't be possible. You all require hands on attention for this team to work. Each of you are solo acts. Maybe you've worked with your mentors before, but you have no idea how to act in a team."

He looked at Robin. "You can't just run off without telling anybody your intentions. You even had a psychic link, I'd ask what you were thinking, but obviously the answer was nothing at all."

Robin looked like he wanted to protest, but Percy was already moving on to Wally, "You can't just rush into every situation recklessly. You may be fast enough to get yourself out of most situations, but when you're part of a team, your recklessness gets all of us in trouble, and we aren't all as fast as you." Wally simply looked away with his arms crossed, but inside he knew Percy had a point.

Next was M'gann, "You did your best, but you're naïve, inexperienced, and until you gain that experience you should stick with those that have it." She looked down and nodded, as he turned to Superboy, "Same goes for you. You're powerful for sure, but you have too much faith in your strength to get you through every situation, you can't rush into everything with power alone, you need to use your head. understand?"

Superboy scoffed, but nodded reluctantly.

Wally laughed, "Looks like your next Aqualad."

Percy shook his head. "No Kaldur acted perfectly."

Wally's jaw dropped as Kaldur smiled slightly, but both wiped the expressions off their faces as Percy finished, "I may be new to this universe, with very little knowledge about it. But I never relied on knowledge. I have years of experience working with groups, improvising solutions. I've even led people into battle, won wars." This got raised eyebrows from a few, but they dropped at the next sentence, "I know what it feels like to have people under my command die following my orders. I remember ever name on that list, they occasionally still haunt me in my sleep. They always will… It's not a feeling I would wish on any of you, but if any of you still think they should be leader, come forward now, and by all means, state your case."

He waited a few moments, but no one said anything, or even looked him in the eye. "Alright then. Now that that's out of the way, we need a plan. Listen close.

After they had finished discussing what to do next, they headed out of the tunnel, discussing the intel they had gathered.

"We don't have long before they fix what I did to the chopper." Robin commented, "But it's still bugging me, Sportsmaster is the supplier/ buyer, but he doesn't have the juice to acquire the blockbuster formula, or hire the Cult of the Kobra,

"And neither have the chops to combine the formulas," Wally added, "That took some major nerdage."

"So basically," Percy concluded, "There's a lot more to this than meets the eye…" he trailed off as they reached the entrance, only for Bane to step out in front of them, with a trigger device in hand. "Halt niños, I'm feeling… explosive.

Suddenly Percy became very aware of several bricks of C4 placed above them. He looked back down to glare at Bane and was about to speak when Kaldur spoke first, "You betrayed us? Why?"

Percy was in the middle of doubting his entire view on Kaldur's intelligence, when Bane responded, "I want my factory back," and proceeded to explain to them his entire plan and thought process."

"So bad guys monologue in this universe too?" Percy asked over the psychic link.

Wally chuckled, "Oh yeah, big time. It's so stupid and it always goes badly for them, but they just can't help themselves. Give me a second to get a running start, I'll get the trigger thingy."

"Don't bother." Percy commanded "I already warned him what would happen when he betrayed us. It's time I made good on my promise."

The others went wide eyed at this, but Percy reassured them "Relax, I won't cut his head off."

They calmed down at that and returned their attention to Bane who was nearing the end of his rant "…blowing the tunnel with you inside should have the same effe—AAAAGH!"

He was cut off, (hehe) as the hand holding the explosive trigger was no longer attached to his body. The rest of the team cringed as the burly man crouched down cursing and screaming over his bleeding stump, as the tendril of water that had emerged from the ground behind him. Slid back into the tunnel it made through the ground, leading from right behind Percy's feet. Percy had manipulated it to tunnel behind Bane as he was talking, making sure not to let him see.

The team watched stunned as Percy casually walked forward and crouched in front of the man who looked at him with hatred, "You crazy bastardo!"

Percy simply smirked, "I told you to go for me, yet you decided to try to blow all of them up. Not a smart move buddy. You're lucky I only took your hand." He then ripped off Banes mask revealing his face scrunched up in pain, and handed it to him, "Here, use this to stop the bleeding."

Bane took it and wrapped it around his stump. Percy stood to face his team, who were still staring at him, "What? His heads still there!"

"Still dude, way too far." Wally said as Miss Martian looked greener than usual behind him, despite her ability to regrow body parts at will.

Percy shrugged, "Eh, baby steps. Now come on. We have more criminals to dismember—I mean stop and detain."

He began making his way down the mountain, while his team stared at him in exasperation before following their new leader, who apparently made jokes now, or at least they hoped.

Later

Sportsmaster had just finished the deal with Kobra, and was about to board the chopper, when suddenly the gunmen opened fire, trying to hit a gray blur as it moved through their ranks.

Kobra turned to Sportsmaster, "Take the shipment!"

Sportsmaster was making his way towards the chopper when Superboy landed hard in front of him, blocking his path. He got ready for a fight, but widened his eyes when he was suddenly struck by an invisible figure.

As Sportsmaster fought with M'gann Superboy looked at the creature, "Go again?"

The creature snarled and charged at him, only to slammed away from the side by a massive torrent of water, being manipulated by Percy. The creature was thrown away, but the torrent didn't let up as Aqualad stepped next to Percy, and activated his eel tattoos. He then plunged his hands into the stream, electrifying the water and the beast along with it. It screamed for a moment, before falling unconscious from the pain.

Percy nodded to Kaldur as he let off the stream, "Go help, Wally with the cultists."

The Atlantean nodded and went off, leaving Percy alone. The god looked to see Robin and Kobra going at it, with Kobra obviously being the better martial artist. He started making his way over, dodging and blocking gunfire as he went, holding his vambraces in front of his face. "Robin, I'll take Kobra, go help M'gann and Superboy." Sportsmaster currently had M'gann in a chokehold as he fired at Superboy with an assault rifle.

"But I can take this guy!" Robin protested as he barely dodged another attack from the larger man.

"Eventually, you might, but they need you now. Besides, "gods" are more my specialty."

Robin was obviously unhappy about it, but dropped a smoke bomb anyway, ducking away to help his teammates while Kobra coughed and waved the smoke away. When it cleared, Percy was standing a few yards away.

Kobra narrowed his eyes at him, "Another insect has come to pester me. No doubt you will use your cheap abilities to fight me, as any coward would against a god."

Percy felt his eye twitch. He started drawing water out of his pack and twisting it around in his hand, "You know I could, in any number of ways, it would be so easy. But I already used it to relive one guy of his hand, I like to add a little variety to my life." He put the water away and got into a fighting stance.

Kobra smirked, "How admirable, as foolish as it is."

Percy shrugged, "I also have a bit of a thing against guys who make people bow to him. It's just a pet peeve of mine."

The pale man got into a martial arts stance, "Worry not, it will trouble you no longer once you're dead."

Percy grimaced, "If only. I'm going to enjoy this." And began his attack.

Meanwhile Sportsmaster was not having a good time. He was now juggling between three heroes with the addition of the boy wonder. His martial arts weren't as advanced as Kobras, so he had to use his size and weapons advantage as much as possible, while also maintaining fire on the Kryptonian, while also keeping the Martian in his grasp. Needless to say, he wasn't doing well.

Eventually he growled, "Screw it!" and tossed M'gann at Superboy, sending them both crashing to the ground, before firing his rifle at Robin as he backed up into the chopper. The boy was forced to dodge and find cover while Sportsmaster closed the doors.

Robin came out of cover just as the chopper took off, growling to himself, "He's getting away!"

"No he's not." M'gann corrected, holding up an explosive trigger while Superboy smirked behind her."

Robin grinned at that, "Nice one Miss M. Blow it."

She pressed the trigger, setting off the C4 in the chopper, sending it spiraling down. Unfortunately, it landed right on top of the factory, setting it on fire. The three heroes' attention was then drawn to the fight between Percy and Kobra. Percy was holding his own, but Kobra was almost as good a martial artist as Black Canary, and was mercilessly pummeling him with everything he had.

When the factory was set on fire however, Kobra snarled at his opponent in anger, "Filthy little gnat!" he then unleashed a furious barrage of attacks, slowly pushing Percy back towards the burning building. The armored hero was doing his best to block the attacks, but even with his reflexes he couldn't keep up with the Kobra's technique. Finally, Kobra unleashed a flying punch to Percy's face, sending him down to his knees.

Kobra stood over him triumphantly, "You may have set us back a few months, but with your death, will we soon be back on track. Soon enough, everyone will know the foolishness of a mortal such as a yourself challenging a god… like… me…"

The man trailed off as Percy lifted his head, revealing a cut on his bruised cheek, dripping golden liquid. The two locked eyes as Percy smirked, "What? You've never seen a god bleed before?" Then, as Kobra was watching him, his sea green irises began to glow brightly, and he thought he saw the whites of his eyes flash golden for a moment.

The next instant however, Percy somersaulted forward, before launching his body upward with both arms, driving his feet into the cult leaders chin, sending him stumbling back. Before he could recover, Kobra was then set upon by a string of martial arts techniques even he couldn't keep up with. First there was a flurry of punches and palm strikes that seemingly came out of nowhere followed by a spinning elbow strike into the man's gut, sending him two his knees. He was brought back up however with a powerful uppercut that sent him flying upward, before he was shot back down when Percy somewhat impossibly, jumped into a midair somersault, bringing his right leg down on Kobra's shoulder to send him crashing to the ground. Kobra groaned as he slowly pushed himself off the ground, looking up to see his opponent in front of him yet again, with a terrifying fire in his eye. Before he could get too his feet Percy performed a skillful roundhouse kick, sending the man flying backwards, landing on his ass in a very ungodly manner. Kobra looked up at his opponent in disbelief as he scrambled backwards, "H-how! What is this?"

Percy seemed to consider it for a moment before answering, "Kung Fu maybe? I don't know man, but honestly, does it really matter to you?"

Before the so-called god could respond, Percy delivered a ferocious kick to the man's face, knocking flat out.

Percy took a moment to savor his victory for a moment, as the fires burned behind him, when he noticed his team standing several yards away, staring at him in awe. The rest of the goons lay unconscious behind him. "Uh, is everyone okay?"

Wally broke out of it the fastest, "Who cares? How the hell did you do that? I thought you weren't good at hand to hand combat!"

Percy looked down at Kobra, "I'm not. Or at least… I wasn't. We were mid fight when all of a sudden, it was like it all clicked… which doesn't make sense at all does it."

"Nope," Robin responded, "You can't all of a sudden become a good enough fighter to take down guys like Kobra without breaking a sweat."

Kaldur spoke up, "Maybe it has something to do with your godhood?"

Percy frowned at that, he didn't think he was the God of Karate, but stranger things had happened, "Maybe…"

"Well, whatever it is," Robin stepped forward, "I think we picked the right guy to lead."

Percy almost smiled at that, but the moment was ruined when he followed it up with, "Which automatically makes you the guy who get to explain this mess to Batman." He then walked away laughing.

Percy sighed before looking at the others, who had mixed looks of pity on their faces, "Sportsmaster?"

M'gann sighed, "He must have jumped out before the crash, and he's out of my telepathic range. He's gone."

Percy smiled, "It's alright, we destroyed the formula, that's what's important. And we may still find him later. Aqualad, contact the league, they'll need to see this. M'gann, call in the bioship."

They nodded and did as told, while I put my fingers up to my mouth to whistle for Blackjack, I was ready to get off this island.

One more time skip.

"A simple recon mission. Observe and report." Batman lectured. "You will all receive written reports detailing your many flaws. Until then, good work."

The team was lined up at back at the mountain, hanging their heads as Batman pointed out everything they did wrong, except for Percy, who was mustering all his willpower not to shout out, "Oh no! written reports! So terrifying." But Batman's last comment made them all look at him in surprise.

Batman continued "No battle plan survives first contact. It's how you adapt to the situation that shows your true potential. And who you choose to follow that shows your true character. Though I must say, I didn't expect you to choose Percy."

Said leader stared down the bat readying his finest retort, when Wally beat him to it, "I think we all can agree he was the obvious choice."

Percy looked at the speedster in disbelief as batman snorted, "Very well, you all are dismissed, except your new leader. We need to have a word."

Once they had all left the room Percy looked back at Batman, "So? Is this about that guy's hand?"

Batman raised an eyebrow, "What guy's hand?"

Percy blinked, "Hand? What hand? Nobody mentioned a hand."

Batman stared at the teen for a few moments before moving on. "Word has spread through the League about your godhood. Wonder Woman in particular was interested in it, and requested to take you to Themyscira next month."

Percy slumped, "Why?"

Batman narrowed his eyes, "I'd imagine analyzing you, see how much of a threat you are. You did become a master martial artist in the span of a moment after all."

Percy shrugged, I don't know about master…"

Batman raised an eyebrow, before unleashing a series of impossibly fast strikes at Percy, only for him to block or dodge all of them, barely, before he stopped, not even breathing unevenly. "I'd say master."

Percy panted a bit, "Yeah? If I'm a master then what are you?"

Batman ignored him and turned to leave, "I expect a full mission report on my desk by tomorrow morning."

Percy cleared his throat meaningfully, causing the dark knight to pause, "What?"

Percy rolled his eyes, "Tyson! How did he do?"

Batman paused to consider for a moment before answering, "His enhanced senses were useful for detecting and tracking down crimes in progress. He also showed impressive restraint when taking out normal criminals. His words were "The mortals require light taps, or else they don't get up."'

Percy nodded, expecting nothing less, "Still think he's not trustworthy?"

Batman turned around to face Percy, "He was very eager to save as many lives as possible, so eager in fact that I had to do some convincing to get him to before morning came. He has pure heart for sure, but he's too young and immature to make the tough decisions that come with the serious missions. Until he matures a bit more, he will not be a part of the main missions."

Percy was not happy with that, but he couldn't argue with the logic. Batman continued however, "He would do well to go on patrol again however. I'm sure he would be thrilled for you to join him."

With that he left the room, via the teleporter, going off to who knows where. Percy sighed and made his way to his bedroom.

He arrived to find Tyson snoring loudly on his bed, still wearing his super hero outfit. Percy couldn't help but chuckle at him, "Sleep well Mr. T.

He closed the door behind him quietly and made his way to the living room, where the rest of the team was hanging out and talking. When they saw him enter, they all seemed a bit surprised, and went quiet.

Percy cleared his throat, "I know this is a bit out of character, but Tyson's snoring logs in our room so I figured I'd hang out here. That okay?"

They looked at each other for a moment before M'gann smiled warmly, "Of course!"

"Have a seat, oh fearless leader." Wally patted the spot next to him. As Percy sat down he continued, "We were just talking about the way you took down Kobra. You sure you weren't taking secret lessons with Canary while you were ghosting us?"

Percy smirked and shook his head, "No, no I don't know what happened."

"Hey about Tyson," M'gann spoke up, "How was his patrol?"

Robin snickered, "Yeah how was Mr. T's first night out?"

Percy smiled proudly, "It went fine, just like I knew it would. Batman said he had to practically drag him away from the criminals he was so into it. Though I think he's feeling the ramifications of it now."

Aqualad laughed, "Sounds like the makings of a true hero."

"You know I was thinking," Wally spoke up, "We should get you a name."

Percy blinked, "I have a name, it's Percy."

"He means a hero name." Robin clarified, "Like Mr. T. Though I don't think Mr. P. is a good idea."

"Oh, how about Spartan," M'gann suggested, "They were might Greek warriors right?"

Percy flared his nostrils, "Yeah but they were also servants of Ares, not my thing."

M'gann nodded in understanding as Robin spoke again, "I was thinking: the Kraken. It's on theme, and it's likely to put fear into the hearts of criminals… eventually."

Percy chuckled, "Nice but not my style."

"What do you think your name should be?" Aqualad asked.

Everyone looked at him silently as he considered it for a moment, before he answered, "How about my full name: Perseus?"

Wally blinked, "Wait, you mean Percy is short for Perseus?"

"Wasn't he a son of Zeus though?" Robin asked, "That's seems a bit inaccurate don't you think?"

Percy chuckled, "I've never thought of my own name of inaccurate. My mom named me Perseus, because the original was one of the few Greek heroes to get a happy ending. She thought it would bring me luck."

The others fell silent once more, none sure what to say, as they all knew that it didn't work.

Eventually however Wally tried to break the ice, "I mean you could do that, but I don't know if it will really scare the villains like "he Kraken"" what does it even mean?"

Percy smiled and leaned back on the couch, "It means "The Destroyer""

After one more moment of silence, Superboy nodded his head, "I think that'll do it."

The others all nodded and murmured their agreements as Percy laughed loudly, louder than any of them had ever heard before.

"It's settled then." Robin confirmed, "Say hello to the earths newest hero, named after one of its oldest: Perseus."

The team let out playful cheers before going back to thing they were talking about before. Percy was able to voice his opinion a bit as well, even though he knew next to nothing about most of the conversation.

Percy smiled as he talked, joked and laughed with his team, but as he was doing so, for a split second he though he saw Leo, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel and Annabeth sitting in their places. But they were gone as soon as they came.

Percy stared at his new team for a moment, before joining in the conversation once again, while thinking inside: This time, it will be different.

Chapter 4!

So we got the first mission, and a first look at the basic armor design. The final design will have some extra features I'm excited about, but that will come in the next chapter.

I've noticed a few comments about the dialogue being confusing at time, I'd like to say I can fix that but I honestly was doing my best up until now. With chapters as large as this I try my best to avoid repetition and keep clarity, but it's not easy. Maybe if you are more specific on how it's confusing it will help with future chapters. Sorry. I actually looked over this one, which is something I rarely do. Idk why it's just painful.

Also about Tyson and the possible pairing, nothing will happen until five years after this, when he's around 16 mentally. Just remember that I guess. I must admit though someone suggested Tyson and M'gann as a pairing and It's been slowly growing on me. if anyone thinks that's a bad idea, frst remember that the cannon pairing for her is with a one year old clone with the physical age of 16, while she herself is 48 chronologically and 16 physically. Age doesn't really seem to matter to her is my point.