chapter eight: this situation is not whelming, at all.
"He's awake."
"Oh, thank the gods."
"Bruce? Bruce, can you hear me?"
Superman watches with concerned eyes as his best friend slowly starts to regain consciousness. Bruce is lying in the med-bay in Wonder Woman's invisible jet, mask-less and bandaged, gauze, stitches, and medial tape keeping a part of his abdomen together, a great takeaway from their intergalactic mission that went, well, quite terribly south. Diana and Barry are standing beside Clark, Hal seated up further in the cockpit, gently guiding the jet through the cosmos. The stars and planets blur around them creating a magical effect that would have completely enamored Clark had his attention not been focused on a somewhat groggy, confused, and injured friend.
"Ngh," Bruce replies eloquently.
Diana leans over as Bruce's glassy eyes peer up at them and pats his shoulder gently. "Glad to see your eyes open, Bruce," her smile is warm. "We were concerned."
"Oh yeah, even Hal- he wouldn't stop asking about you," Barry adds with a grin, but he looks relieved now that Bruce isn't passed out cold and still. "Although he'll deny that if you ever ask him."
Bruce blinks slowly, the painkillers and drugs clearly disorienting him. (Clark knows that within minutes of fully waking up Bruce will throw a hissy fit about being administered those without permission, but frankly, Clark doesn't really give a shit. He's got plenty of not-so subtle passive-aggressive remarks to respond with that will strangle any argument Bruce will try to throw at him).
Bruce breathes deeply, slowly lifting a palm to press it against his brow, his lips pressed in a thin line and jaw clenched. Clark frowns, worried; it's rare for Bruce to show any kind of pain or discomfort in front of the other league members, regardless of the injury. (It is, at times, infuriating). He must be more out of it than Clark had initially thought if he's doing so now. It's silent for a few minutes before Diana catches Clark's eye and inclines her head slightly.
"Let's go," Diana says quietly to Barry after reading Clark's concerned look.
Barry looks between the two of them and then nods, offering a smile. "See you in a bit," Barry gives Clark a thumbs up and then is gone, Clark's cape fluttering gently in the slight breeze left by his departure.
Diana moves from Bruce's side to lay a hand on Clark's shoulder. "I'll let you know when we are close to arriving."
"Thank you, Diana," Clark replies.
She smiles and then exits the room after Barry, the door to the small med-bay sliding shut softly behind her. Clark will never cease to be amazed by Diana and her ability to know exactly what all of them need without them having to say it.
There's a moment of silence before Bruce breaks it, his voice slightly hoarse.
"What happened?" Bruce asks, his eyes closed and his hand resting on top of them. They'd had to remove his gauntlets as well, and the white bandages encircling his wrists blend perfectly with the colour of his skin.
The image that is Bruce as Batman walking into a League meeting contrasted against reality-Bruce bandaged and weak, pieces of his suit missing-is a harsh juxtaposition. (Sometimes, Clark hates the fact that he knows how human Bruce is).
"How do you feel?" Clark asks in reply, moving to sit in the chair beside the compact gurney.
There isn't a response from Bruce and Clark takes a moment to wallow in a bit of guilt over the fact that he could have easily prevented this situation had he only reacted a second faster. If his Ma were here Clark knows that she would smack him on the head and remind him that despite all his powers, he isn't all-powerful or all-knowing, and that beating himself up actually accomplishes nothing because the fault doesn't lie on him.
Bruce removes his hand to glare at him, grey-blue eyes peering at him underneath lowered ashes. "Stop."
Clark should have expected that despite being drugged and hurt, Bruce still knows him almost as well as his mother does. Neither of them have telepathy but that power isn't needed; they've been friends for so long now that Clark knows Bruce is telling him to get over himself without Bruce having to say it.
Clark smiles at him sheepishly and rests a gentle, but firm, hand against his friend's shoulder when Bruce moves to sit up. "I know, I know. And to answer your question, we were ambushed and you took a hit."
Bruce looks at him keenly, half in annoyance at the hand that hasn't yet moved and, Clark knows, to make sure he isn't thinking something like 'I should have protected you.' (Which, to be fair, is exactly what Clark is thinking but another perk that comes from being friends for so long is that Clark has gotten a lot better at making it seem otherwise).
Bruce grunts and tries to sit up again, scowling deeper when Clark presses him back down.
"Clark." Even with his injuries and the medication, Bruce's growl is Batman worthy, but unfortunately for him, wholly ineffective on Clark anymore.
"Sorry," he says, his tone not apologetic at all. "You're staying still until we get to the Watchtower. It took J'onn twenty minutes to make sure you were patched up enough to move." Clark levels a look at him, one that's very inspired by both Lois and his ma. It's not as effective on Bruce as when either woman does it, but after glaring at him a moment longer, Bruce stops trying to push Clark aside.
Bruce turns his face slightly to the side. "Fine," he mutters, relaxing his body back down.
Petulant, Clark thinks to himself and hides a grin by settling into the seat beside the gurney. Can-
"Clark, I know you're thinking of adjectives in your head," Bruce says, resting a hand back over his eyes. "Stop it."
Clark stares at him. "You can't possibly know that."
There's a slight twitch of Bruce's lips that Clark knows is a smirk.
"Fine," Clark concedes after a moment. "I was. And in case you were wondering, the word I used to describe you was 'petulant'."
Bruce's smirk slowly fades.
"And cantankerous."
Bruce removes his hand again to look at him. The effect of his intended glare is somewhat weakened by the glassiness of his eyes and the fact that his severely disheveled hair makes him look like a grumpy porcupine.
"Don't look at me like that," Clark says breezily, trying to hide a smile. "Those adjectives were employed by Alfred first and, I mean, he's not wrong," Clark is teasing Bruce purposefully now, but he knows Bruce gets why; Clark is worried and still unsettled by the close save. Also, it's not like Bruce can go anywhere to get away from his teasing which means he could continue this all the way back to the Watchtower-which is exactly what Clark would have done if he didn't have something else on his mind that they need to discuss. The thought of Dick's recorded communication makes Clark frown.
"What is it," Bruce gazes at him, clearly noticing the shift in Clark's expression. His jaw is tight and Clark knows that this time, it's not from the pain.
"Well," Clark sighs. "Nightwing tried getting in touch while we were out; Hal was only able to play the messages once we jumped through the Boom Tube." He makes eye contact with Bruce. "There's a bit of a situation back home."
(\M/)
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"So," Tim taps a gloved finger to his lips. "Any theories?"
They're still seated around the living room in the cave, the faint sounds from the sparring session taking place a little further in the Cave noticeable in the quiet of the room.
Dick is frowning, slowly raising himself up on his toes and lowering back down to his heels, a way of moving without really moving. Tim can tell he's running through a list of ideas and possibilities while Barbara is looking at something on her phone, most likely searching through either the Leagues or Bruce's database for possible names.
The demigods are quiet as well, all looking either like they're trying to not show their worry about Nico's hypothesis and Percy truly awful dream, and also like they're one-hundred percent done with their lives. (It's a mood-slash-vibe that Tim can kind of relate to).
Percy is the first to respond. "Ngh," he breaths, slouching into the couch. He looks less tense and pale now, but Tim can tell part of his casualness is forced.
Jason glances at him. "It is just a theory at this point, right? We don't know that that's what's actually going on."
"It's the best theory we've got so far," Annabeth says. Her tone is steady but her calm mask can't quite hide all the worry Tim can tell she's feeling. "And we all know nightmares like that aren't...they don't just happen without a very real reason for them."
The way she says that makes Tim think that all of them have experienced gory nightmares like Percy's in the past, a consistent nightly unwelcome visitor. At this point in his superhero career (volunteer work? Internship that he forced his way into? Tim's still working on properly categorizing it) Tim has experienced plenty of bad nights and knows how terrible they can be. But this...the thought of all his nightmares having a rhyme and reason, knowing that it's not just his mind expressing trauma or stress, that thought is terrifying.
"And it matches too perfectly with what Hazel said," Nico murmurs.
Tim watches as the displaced teens process the idea, and although their knowledge of each other is only enough to be classified as acquaintances, Tim can't help but feel a little upset for them. They're just teenagers, barely older than him, who were dealt a shitty hand in life and are trying to not only make the best of it, but do good in spite of it. It reminds him, in a way, of Bruce; there's a spirit and drive within each of the demigods that Tim has noticed and he genuinely feels a sense of camaraderie with them. It's also been weirdly enjoyable exchanging stories and hanging out with them; their vibe is not all that different from the other Young Justice heroes and them being here has helped provide a good distraction from constantly thinking about everything that has happened in the last few months.
Jason looks between Annabeth and Nico and frowns down at the floor, like he doesn't want to acknowledge that they both have good points. Piper squeezes his hand but doesn't say anything, her and Leo still and quiet.
"I agree," Dick says. Tim glances over at him; Dick's composure is as calm as ever, anything that Tim knows he's puzzling over unseen on his expression. "It is the best theory we have, and we need to consider what it implies. But," he pauses a moment, inclining his head slightly to the side. "I know you're all probably used to handling situations like this by yourself and on your own, but this time, it's not just about you. This concerns all of us," he motions to Babs and Tim, and the Cave at large, "as well."
Tim hides a small grin; he knows how comforting it feels when a hero basically tells you that you don't have to take care of everything on your own and you have help. Tim can visibly see some of the tension fade from Piper and Leo, and Percy nods in a way that Tim feels like he's trying to say 'thank you'.
"Right," Tim adds as he leans forward. "And we have some pretty big heavy hitters on our team and almost any resource we might need."
"Well, that's pretty sick," Leo grins wanly.
"So, what do we do now?" Annabeth asks, turning to Dick.
"Boys," Babs interrupts, before Dick can respond. Tim knows she's talking to him and Dick, and there's an uneasy expression on her face, her attention focused on her phone. "Did you work with B on that case he was looking into a few weeks back?"
Dick exchanges a glance with Tim before shaking his head. "I don't think so, I was in 'Haven till just recently. Which one?"
Tim scooches over to try and look over Barbara's shoulder. (He knows she hates it when people do that but he's curious). "You mean the one with the mutilated corpses?"
Piper turns to him, the movement slightly like a double-take. "Mutilated corpses?" Percy and Annabeth don't move their focus from Babs, who continues to read something on her screen.
Tim tries to offer them a comforting smile. "It's Gotham, so you know, it's kind of common." Nico looks at Tim with raised eyebrows and an unimpressed expression.
Jason makes a face. "O-kaay…"
"I think what Jason's saying is if that was supposed to make us feel better," Leo comments. "It kind of didn't."
Barbara types something then tsk's and responds with a distracted, "no, the one with the blood cult and human sacrifices." Dick pokes Tim in the side to get him to move over so that he can lean over Barbara's shoulder and take a look (which Tim knows he can get away with).
Tim blinks, honestly impressed. "There's only one case like that open? Hot dang, look at that improvement."
"Congrats," Nico jokes. Percy laughs and Piper shakes her head at them.
Dick rolls his eyes in Tim's direction before turning back to Barbara. "I think I briefly overheard him talking to Superman about it before they went off-world, but I didn't have the chance to ask him."
"Boy Wonder?" Barbara asks in Tim's direction.
Tim thinks for a moment, going back over the different cases and conversations he's had with Bruce recently. He shakes his head. "I know he was looking into a case but I didn't get the chance to ask him about it before he left; I was working with the others on managing the gang killings."
Annabeth looks between the three of them. "Gotham sounds like a lovely place to live."
Tim laughs as Dick motions with his chin to the screen. "What'd you find?"
Barbara purses her lips, finally taking her eyes away from the screen to meet Dick's. "Maybe nothing, maybe something. I'm not sure yet. I was hoping you'd know more since B's case file notes aren't complete, but. I'll need to ask him when he gets back."
Dick makes a quiet 'hmm' sound in agreement, quickly skimming through whatever it is that Barbara was reading.
"But you think it might somehow be related to us," Annabeth gazes at them steadily. "The case that Batman was working on."
Barbara nods. "I think there could be a slight possibility-"
"Wait, how?" Percy looks at her in confusion. "Cults and dead people aren't really our thing."
"Freaky monsters and dead gods on the other hand," Leo says casually. "We're your guys."
"Who you gonna call," Jason adds, him and Leo grinning at each other.
"That's the part I'm still working out," Barbara taps something on her phone, tsk'ing again under her breath. "But it's not going to happen with me just using this thing or until Batman gets back."
Annabeth sighs and sits back into the couch, clearly hoping for something more immediate and concrete. Tim understands; this whole situation is one big idea next to like, five question marks. He knows how incredibly frustrating it can be waiting to get answers to solve a puzzle.
As if she's thinking the same thing, Piper grimaces. "Yay, more waiting."
Barbara doesn't look apologetic, but understanding. "Unfortunately for the moment, yes."
Right at that moment there's a decently loud boom that reverberates from where Tim knows the other heroes are sparring, and then a roar that Tim assumes must be Gar, as a lion or something. It's followed by some shouting and some laughter.
"Okay," Dick says, placing a hand on his hip and going into 'leader mode', as Tim classifies it. "Let's take a pause on this for right now and as soon as we're able to learn anything more reconvene."
There is another small pause before a few reluctant nods and "sounds goods" are muttered around the room, none of them quite moving just yet. Tim makes a mental note to check in with Barbara later tonight, because there's no way she's going to hold off working on this case until Bruce gets back.
There's a series of other sounds, one that sounds like an explosion and muffled yelling. Tim covers a laugh because he just knows his friends are doing something crazy and judging from Barbara's long-suffering expression and Dick's slight smile they're thinking the same.
"I think Kaldur might need some back up," Barbara says, standing up and sliding her phone into her back pocket.
"They don't sound too whelmed," Dick agrees, grinning. He turns back to the demigods. "We will continue this conversation, and we will figure out what is going on as soon as we're able to get more information. Just hang in there a little bit longer. Now," Dick stretches his hands above his head (Tim knows he would have fallen backwards into a handstand had it just been him and Barbara present). "If you'll excuse me, l have a few young heroes that need some training."
"Do you mind if we watch?" Jason asks quickly, his expression somewhat excited. "I'm really interested to see what sparring looks like with you guys and in this world. Uh, if you're okay with that, of course."
"Totally," Tim responds enthusiastically before Dick has the chance. (He's curious to see what they make of it, and is also kind of hoping to see them in action again, but properly this time).
Dick raises an eyebrow at Tim and the third Robin keeps his expression as innocent as possible until Dick turns his attention back to the demigods and nods easily. "For sure, you're welcome to join if you want. Just follow us over."
(\M/)
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"So," Cassie says, dragging out the word as she catches Jason and Leo's attention. "If I convince the parental unit to let us, you guys down for some sparring?"
The demigods and three present batfamily members (Wally coined the term and it's since stuck) had arrived only a few minutes ago, watching as Kaldur and Cissie tried to land a hit on each other. Their round is much more elegant than the one previous-the Bart vs Jaime fight was, well, a spectacle.
"Very nice, Cissie," Nightwing calls from outside the sparring circle. "Good job with that execution."
Cassie follow's Jason's line of sight to where he is watching the current fight and can't help but feel a bit amazed at how agile the other blonde girl manages to be while re-notching arrows. Cassie knew Artemis had been giving Cissie some tips, but she hadn't known to what extent; their training together is clearly paying off and it's awesome to watch. (Cassie knows how nerve-wracking it can be to spar in front of, and with, the older heroes, especially icons like Nightwing and Kaldur, but Cassie is proud that her friend doesn't seem distracted by that).
Leo blinks. "'Parental unit'?"
"Yup," Cassie nods and glances around to make sure Nightwing and Batgirl are still focused on the fight. "Just don't tell Nightwing and Batgirl we call them that; by some miracle Bart hasn't leaked it and we want to keep it that way."
"Oh," Leo looks over to the two heroes who are standing side-by-side at the edge of the ring, then at the other demigods standing a little spread out with the other heroes. He looks thoughtful. "Who would be our parental unit?"
Jason chuckles. "Nice. And I think sparring with you guys would be pretty interesting-if the parental unit is okay with it."
Cassie grins. Jason's weirdly polite, in her opinion, but seems cool enough and has a subtle energy that's somewhat hidden by his well-mannered behavior. It makes her believe that while it's really strange (but also interesting) meeting another child of Zeus (well, his roman form) it would be even cooler to spar with him. Diana always reminds Cassie that being a superhero isn't about which individual can beat the other quicker but about the strength of their hearts; the fortitude of their conviction in standing for truth and believing in the good in every human being. Cassie one-hundred percent agrees with her, but also adds that being a superhero is kind of about seeing who can beat the other up quicker. She won't lie and say she isn't extremely interested to see who'd win in a fight between her and Jason. (Their first encounter with each other doesn't count).
Leo looks between the two of them in consideration. "You know what, I'm actually all for this, you guys should totally duke it out-I'll be cheering for the winner."
"That's the spirit," Cassie laughs, punching Leo lightly in the shoulder. Or, perhaps not as lightly as she thought because he stumbles a bit into Jason's side. "Shoot, sorry," she yelps, reaching to help steady him.
"I'm good, I'm good," Leo assures her, standing up and rubbing his shoulder. "But dang, Jace, I might be cheering for Cassie."
Jason side-eyes him. "Thanks for the raving support, friend."
Cassie doesn't know either of them well, considering that they only appeared in her world a day ago, but she can easily tell Jason is teasing. Leo grins cheekily and returns his attention back to the fight, saying something that Cassie misses because the automated voice from the Cave's computer speaks, announcing Kaldur's win.
"Nice job, Cissie!" Cassie cheers. She might have missed the majority of the first half of their talking with Annabeth and then boys, but she knows her friend did well anyways.
"Dang," Leo whistles. "Kaldur's got some sick moves."
Cassie nods. "Oh yeah. And wait till you get the chance to see Nightwing's. The guy's ridiculous." (Okay, so maybe she's using the founding members of Young Justice to brag just a little bit but it's well-warranted).
They both look in unison over at where Nightwing is doing something on the screen. "Huh," Jason says contemplatively.
Leo cocks his head to the side. "But he's like, fully human, though, right?"
Cassie crosses her arms. "Oh totally, him and all the other bat-members. But that kind of doesn't matter because, like I said, they're all ridiculous."
"Wait," Jason frowns. "Does that mean Batman's normal, too? Like, he doesn't have superpowers?"
The thought of Batman having powers is simultaneously terrifying and awe-inspiring to Cassie. "Hold on, you thought he did?" She asks.
"Well, I mean," Leo shrugs, looking a little sheepish. "By the way Jaime and the others were talking about him at dinner yesterday, I mean...we just assumed I guess."
Cassie can't help but laugh a little, shaking her head. "A superpowered Batman...the world wouldn't know how to handle it."
"What's this about a Batman with superpowers?"
Both Jason and Leo jump, turning quickly to see Robin and Nico joining their little group.
"Hera," Leo breathes, placing a hand on his chest. "Make some noise when you walk, please."
Nico just rolls his eyes and Tim grins. Cassie knows for a fact that Tim is doing that purposefully, and there's a pretty good chance that Nico is as well, although she doesn't know him super well.
"Why-"
"Okay," Nightwing calls, interrupting whatever it was that Jason had started to say. "Next up, Wonder Girl."
"Alright," Cassie cheers and knocks her knuckles into Tim's for a fist bump. Please let this be good, she thinks to herself, scanning the room. Percy is chatting quietly with Kaldur and Cassie's pretty sure the Atlantean most likely wouldn't spar twice in a row. Annabeth and Piper are standing beside Cissie, Virgil, and Gar, all of whom have already gone at it. If Artemis and Superboy arrive within the next minute, maybe Nightwing will let her spar one of them-which would definitely be sweet-or possibly Batgirl, although she isn't in costume or wearing any gear so maybe not. Cassie glances at Tim out of the corner of her eye, who's observing Leo, Jason, and Nico interact. Maybe? Cassie thinks to herself. They've sparred before, but what Tim doesn't have (i.e. superpowers) he makes up for by being unfairly smart and way too cunning.
"And," Nightwing continues, tightening one of his gloves. (Uh oh. Cassie suddenly has a bad feeling.) "You'll be up against me," Nightwing selects both their names in the computer program so that they display on the large holographic screen.
"Er, right." Oh come on, Cassie thinks to herself. There goes her dream of being able to sort-of-maybe show off in front of Jason and the rest of the demigods. (She knows that ultimately; humility is good for her but…she was ready to kick ass and look cool). Now she needs to figure out a way of embarrassing herself as little as absolutely possible. Humility is a virtue; Cassie can practically hear Diana's voice echo in her head. Yeah, Cassie thinks, and it freaking sucks.
"Hey," Tim says, sliding up next to her. "You got this. Just remember to keep your eye on where you're being moved and you'll be a rockstar."
Stay positive, you're a frack-freaking Amazon. "Right," Cassie says with determination as she pulls her hair behind her and ties it off in a low bun, trying to remember every piece of feedback she's received from the older heroes in her previous sparring sessions. "Right," she says again. Okay, so maybe he is the first Robin and trained since like, ever, and has gone up against the Justice League when he was like, thirteen, whatever. I got this.
"Time to kick some butt," Cassie squares her shoulders, grinning with more confidence than she feels at the boys standing next to her. "Wish me luck," she nods and starts walking determinedly over to the ring.
"Good luck!" Leo calls from behind her along with a few others standing around the ring, and she can see Batgirl flash her a thumbs up.
"You got this," Cissie cheers.
"You ready?" Nightwing asks as Cassie steps into the sparring circle. He looks completely relaxed and despite her nervousness, Cassie is excited. Sparring sessions with Nightwing are as much a test of skills as they are an opportunity to learn new ones; he's an opponent who makes someone push themselves, which has in the past allowed her to pull off moves she didn't even know she could. That feeling of accomplishment is pretty stinking awesome.
"Totally," Cassie replies. "Let's do this."
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"Okay," Leo says as Nightwing gives Cassie a hand up from the floor, the automated voice echoing around the cave as it announces Nightwing's win. "I'm impressed. That was sick."
Beside him, Jason nods, him, Nico and Robin clapping along with the others. "They're both really good, although I do see now what Cassie was talking about earlier. Some of those moves...man."
Cassie looks their way and grins, Robin giving her a thumbs up before she turns her attention back to Nightwing, who's most likely giving some pointers from the fight.
"I haven't seen someone use escrima sticks like that before, either," Nico comments. "How he used those to handle the lasso-that was pretty neat." He looks to Leo way more open now than when they were talking earlier, which Leo can't help but feel is a good thing. Nico might be super weird at times, but he's the weird little brother of their group who's willing to discuss with Leo the qualifications of zombies and debate whether or not pesto or tomato sauce is better with spaghetti. Leo had been concerned about him; Hazel collapsing and screaming (don't think about it don't think about it), getting trapped in another universe, the ominous warnings-they're all handling it the best they can but with Nico it's sometimes impossible to read him past his moody facade. But he's looked more at ease since talking with the 'batfamily' members (as the others call them) and Leo can relate.
Robin looks over at them and Leo can tell by his grin that he's agreeing with them. (Leo still doesn't know what his and Nightwing's relationship is to each other; Piper had said that Nightwing and Barbara are definitely a thing, but Leo hadn't had the chance to ask about Robin and Nightwing-are they brothers or cousins or like, found family?).
"Oh, one sec," Jason says. "I'm gonna see what Pipes wants." Leo looks over to where Piper is motioning Jason to come join her, Annabeth, Percy, Cassie and Nightwing.
"Tell her I say hi," Leo waves as the other demigod walks over.
"So," Robin says. Leo assumes he's looking at him, but it's difficult to tell with the mask. (And that's another thing-why can everyone else tell them their real names but not Robin or Nightwing? And why don't they ever not wear their costumes? Maybe they do, Leo thinks, but we've just never seen it?)
"Out of the demigods you know, who would you say is," Robin pauses, possibly searching for the right word. "Who would you say is the-"
"Strongest?" Leo offers. "That'd definitely be-"
"Percy," Nico says without hesitation. He glances at Leo. "No offence to, you know, the rest of us."
"Dude, none taken," Leo shakes his head. In his opinion Nico's not giving himself nearly enough credit, but Leo knows how irritable Nico can get if he's shoved into the spotlight and so doesn't mention it. "But Jason's gnarly strong too-honestly it'd probably be a close tie."
Robin looks between the two of them. "I was going to say most technically skilled but that works too." He nods to where Percy is standing with the others beside Jason and Piper. "Do you think he'd be willing to spar?"
Nico shrugs. "That depends, but my guess is-"
"Oh look," Leo cuts in. "They're going to spar!"
The other two follow Leo's gaze over to the center of the circle where Piper and Annabeth are grinning at the two other demigods, who in question look slightly unsure. Nightwing is typing something on the computer while Barbara motions to the racks on the back wall of the room that holds different types of sparring gear, weapons, and mats.
"Wait, Jason and Percy?" Robin makes a 'huh' kind of excited face. "Well I'm interested to see this."
"Pipes," Leo calls as Annabeth and Piper move away from the circle and at Leo's call over to them. "Yo, what's going on?" Leo's sure he isn't the only one who remembers Piper recounting the time when Jason and Percy almost killed each other. (Given, they were being mind-controlled basically but, still.)
Piper smiles brilliantly and not for the first time Leo is struck by her ability to look absolutely innocent while being devious. "Cassie had asked Nightwing about some of us sparring, and I thought why not give them a good first experience witnessing demigods be, well. Demigods."
"Isn't Cassie a demigod, though?"
Robin nods thoughtfully. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you guys are similar in terms of capabilities or powers-you are from a different universe."
"Right," Annabeth agrees. She raises an eyebrow. "And you can't tell me you're not also curious." If Leo were to describe her expression in a word it would be 'cunning'.
Nico snorts but looks over at where Percy and Jason are and Leo grins; he can tell by Nico's expression that he's as interested in the outcome of this match as Leo and the others are.
Cassie flys over (which Leo is still slightly jealous of) and bumps into Robin's side, looking pleased. "Guys, be ready to watch as my alternate-universe-demigod brethren do me proud."
Piper and Annabeth laugh and Leo gives her a high-five. "You know that's right."
"And here we go," Robin says just as Nightwing enters the two demigod's names so the screen displays them.
"Attention please," Kaldur calls, walking to the center of the room and causing everyone to quiet down. "For the next half of our training we will include matches between Young Justice heroes and our guests." He looks at the demigods before continuing. "Before we begin, however, Jason and Percy will give a brief demonstration of their sparring style; Young Justice members use this as an opportunity to observe and learn."
Barbara walks over to stand next to Kaldur, nodding. "And remember, we might ask you to provide an analysis of the flow of movement and on the style of fighting." She makes eye contact with Bart and Jaime who are standing a little further down from Leo. "Keep that in mind because it might be on your quiz."
There are few groans from around the room and Cassie mutters, "I told them she wasn't joking about that."
Robin pats her shoulder consolingly. "Hey just remember it could be worse; Batman could be the one composing the case studies."
"Right, I don't envy you."
"Okay," Nightwing claps his hands twice. "Jason, Percy, the floors all yours. The use of powers or magic is allowed, just no hits that might wound, obviously. First to disarm or put their opponent to a disadvantage wins."
Percy and Jason both nod and Leo is so curious to know what they're both thinking; they've got to be excited to finally have an opportunity to duke it out. And well, have fun, too. After everything's happened...honestly, this is probably needed.
Percy looks as 'hi-I'm-a-surfer-from-SoCal' (even though Leo knows he's definitely from New York) as ever, Riptide still in her pen form held loosely with his left hand. Jason doesn't look any less relaxed per se, but Leo can tell he's thinking, methodically preparing a strategy. The two of them exchange a fist a fist, Jason saying something that causes Percy to laugh before Nightwing hits a button.
"Alright," the older hero says, flashing them a grin and a thumbs up before selecting 'start' on the screen. "And begin."
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thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I seriously appreciated each one! :) also, I apologize if this seems stilted, this chapter reeeally didn't want to come together argh. Also apologies for the typos/errors, there ain't no editing yee haw but drop me a comment if you can and I hope you enjoyed!