"Get off my rock."
Dick swished his tail, looking at him. "No. This is the only rock here, and besides, you could use some company."
Growling, Jason went back to looking away. "I'm fine, now go away."
"No," Dick huffed. "You got hurt pretty bad."
"I'm fine now, leave it alone!" Jason hissed. "Now shut the hell up, I'm trying to sleep."
They were silent for a long time, the only thing that happened was Dick moving about, trying to find something to do since he wasn't used to holding still. Twice Jason swatted him to get him to stop, only to have him wiggling again a few minutes later.
"Dick, go somewhere else," Jason growled, getting ready to shove his brother off again.
"No…!" Dick moaned loudly, plopping dramatically onto his back, stretching. "I'm so bored and I want Bruce…!"
Smack!
"Stop hitting me with your tail!" Dick smacked him back. "It's not my fault you're in a bad mood!"
"At least I'm not crying for daddy!"
"Like hell you are!" Dick shoved him. "You were calling for him last night!"
Growling, hissing, and the slapping of tails caught Jericho's attention from where he was sitting on a bench going over ideas on what he could use to train the mermaids, and he looked up to see the two of them fighting. It was a bit violent. They were using their claws, teeth, and tails, and they were shoving and pushing, trying to knock each other off.
Sighing, Jericho blew the whistle, trying to get their attention. They continued to fight each other until Red Hood managed to push Nightwing off. A second later Nightwing jumped back onto the rock, shoving Red Hood off. They continued this for another good five minutes before Jericho slapped the water hard, calling to them.
Both of them jumped off the rock, swimming towards him. When they came out of the water they were still growling and hissing at each other. Jericho slapped the water again, getting their attention.
"All right, enough of that!"
Red Hood swiped at him, hissing.
"Hey!" Jericho yelled. "Cut it out!"
Growling, Red Hood backed away slightly.
"I know you're upset," Jericho sighed. "But now it's over. I get the feeling you two understand more than anyone thinks, so here's the deal: you guys need to learn the tricks and perform them, okay?"
Splash!
Not amused, Jericho spit out the water. "Let me rephrase that… do the tricks or my father is going to let Grant shock the hell out of you two."
They looked at each other before looking back at Jericho, who grinned at them. Taking out a bucket of fish and bread, he set it just out of reach of them.
"All right, let's start training…" Jericho patted the water. "Ready? And… jump!"
Nightwing jumped.
Red Hood stole the bucket of bread.
Slade was in a foul mood once he returned to the Ocean Waters Aquarium where his two pets were to start performing soon. He had lost the youngest mermaid, damn it! So close… he was so close to having three of them and now that chance was gone!
Going into his office, he poured himself a strong drink. After downing it, he sat in his chair before turning on the TV. It was showing news coverage about the Ocean Waters and how it would be opened to everyone as soon as it was completed. So far the public was excited and buying tickets like crazy. They would be disappointed if his son had failed to train them.
Taking another swig from the bottle, Slade went out to see how the training was going.
"Son."
"Yes, Pops?"
"What the hell are they doing?"
Jericho looked up to see both Nightwing and Red Hood staring at a couple of people there for news coverage. The small group was taking pictures of the mermaids, trying to ask questions they couldn't possibly answer. Yet they both stayed there on the water platform, watching them. Nightwing reached out for the cameras a couple of times, trying to touch them, but the reporters pulled them back.
"Well, pretty sure there's nothing in the ocean like that, so they're curious." Jericho laughed. "By the way, Pops, where is it?"
"Where is what?"
"The third mermaid you were bringing back?"
Growling, Slade glared at him. "It was delayed. Now, tell me… Grant says you stopped him during training."
"They're not his to train." Jericho glared back.
"They belong to me, not you." Slade looked back just in time to see Nightwing pulling someone's hat off and playing with it. "Besides, I can see they're not trained at all."
Frowning, Jericho leaned down, patting the water. "They're just not used to people."
The two mermaids dove into the water, swimming away from the reporters, who chattered excitedly, trying to get in one last snapshot. One reporter, however, was trying to fish his hat out of the pool, nearly falling in as he did so. Nightwing and Red Hood popped out of the water, looking at Jericho.
"They'll get used to them once the shows start," Jericho said, waving his hand around. "Trust me, they'll be fine without being tortured."
Slade watched the mermaids spin in a circle together. "Tell me that is not all they can do."
"Of course not." Jericho looked offended. "Nightwing, Red Hood, jump!"
Spash!
"See," Jericho said, although inside he was thanking god that Red Hood had chosen to listen to him.
"Hm, what else can they do?"
"You do know you were only gone for like three days, right? It takes more time than that," Jericho tried to reason as he tossed in two pieces of bread. "Besides, most people train them in a year's time."
"Well then, son, you have two weeks, and then if nothing happens, Grant will take over." Slade chuckled before looking at him.
"Fine." Jericho picked up the buckets before looking at the mermaids, who were watching him. He grinned. "Splash."
"Jericho!" Slade yelled as he was soaked in water.
Three weeks later Slade had to admit he was impressed that Jericho had trained the mermaids to do almost any trick. They'd only been open a week and people were forking over money to get a chance at seeing the mermaids. It was truly amazing how many people tried to cram into the showing, and three showings a day, each two hours long.
It was going wonderfully.
Then one day Slade was out walking along the coast to meet a date when he saw something small perched on a rock. No. No, it couldn't be. Not the little mermaid that escaped, surely! Slade made his way over to the shore where there were many rocks, making it difficult to get to him.
The small mermaid was indeed the one he had been after. He still had the scratches on his body from the net that had snagged him. Pale, much like the others, he had the same silver scales going up from his lower back to mid back. His tail was tattered in some places, a sign that something had happened.
The mermaid was sound asleep or knocked out cold. Either way, it didn't notice Slade approaching, nor did it startle when he checked to make sure it was alive. It must have been separated from its father. That was the only explanation. It must have been looking for its family and found its brothers' scents leading here. Poor little mermaid thinking it was safe.
Carefully picking up the small mermaid, Slade repressed the laughter that wanted to rise up as he made his way back to Ocean Waters. He missed the blue eyes watching every move he made and the voice that echoed to the small merchild.
"Good boy, Tim, good boy."
Tim's eyes peeked at Bruce before going back to pretending to be asleep.
EARLY UPDATE... BECAUSE I CANNOT SLEEP...
To Sairey13: Yes Jason and Dick have powers but everyone has a different one.
To REBD: He's like twenty two.
To Guest: No, the little boy on the ship wasn't Damian. I think Damian would have been rude rather than nice on the ship anyways XD
To Noon: Me too! Stupid bet! Stupid tree! I only fell like right feet but that hurts like hell! Aquaman... IDK.
To 5-STAR:Poor Jason...
To L. VanDattae: I want to tell you but you'll have to wait! But you are right he is important to the story line! Bruce habits of rescuing child die hard. (Or as my friend likes to call it Kidnapping Orphans.) Tumblr! I should have known, come to me tumblr! How many did you write? Mines going to be focused on Tim since he's the reason I started it and I started it form seeing the clip on youtube where mer hand and face show up. CREEPY.
PS: The tree knocked me down I swear!