Jericho ran into the area where they kept the tanks for the mermaids.
Robin was... fine?
In the third tank, Robin slept, curled up in a corner. Looking around in confusion, Jericho grabbed the bars that they had placed on the tanks to keep the mermaids from jumping out. Reaching in, he patted the water.
Robin opened his eyes drowsily. Had the drugs not worn off? They should have by now. It wasn't like Jericho had used a lot. He had used a rather small dose. Reaching into the tank, he brought the small mermaid up, taking notice of the scales that had run up his lower back to his mid back, but now reached to his shoulder blades.
Jericho paused when he heard growling. Looking down, he saw that yes, the mermaid that had looked terrified only a couple of days ago was now glaring at him. Without warning a clawed hand swiped at him. Letting go, Jericho stared at Robin, who circled the tank before settling on staring at him emotionlessly.
"Okay." Jericho paused before reaching to the side and pushing a button. "Why don't you go see your brothers?"
The side door slid open and Robin swam out quickly. After closing the panel, Jericho ran out to the pool after sending the others away.
Once there, he was surprised to find Wally passed out on the floor with Nightwing laying out next to him, frowning, resting his chin on his hands and pouting. Running over, Jericho saw that Wally was breathing. Thank God.
Nightwing cooed something out that sounded like he was annoyed.
Sighing, Jericho crossed his arms, looking at the mermaid. "What did you do?"
Huffing, Nightiwng shook his head and pointed at Wally as if to say, "It's his fault."
"Uh-huh." Jericho frowned at him before pointing to the water. "Nightwing, splash."
Going into the water, Nightiwng whipped his tale up to splash Wally, who jolted up, sputtering and rubbing the water out of his face.
"What the hell?!"
"Wally, are you okay?"
Jumping, Wally looked at Jericho. "Dick!"
"Well, excuse me for helping you, asshole." Jericho glared.
"No, it's-"
Nightwing started to splash Wally repeatedly, Red Hood helping as they cooed angrily. Jericho blew the whistle and slapped the water to get them to back off. A few seconds later they returned when Wally tried to speak again.
"What did you do to them?!"
"Nothing, I swear!" Wally yelled, running away from the water.
"You had to have done something!" Jericho himself was grateful of the wet suit he wore before he blew the whistle again. "Enough! Go see Robin! Go!"
They splashed once more before Red Hood took off. Nightwing stayed to stare long and hard at Wally and something seemed to get through, because Wally nodded and sat down, going into deep thought as the blue-tailed mermaid took off.
Jericho sighed deeply. "I need to get them under control or I'm going to lose them."
Blinking, Wally walked up to him. "Lose them? What?"
"Come on, let's grab something from the vending machine and I'll tell you what happened. By the way, are you sure you didn't do anything or did you just pass out because of your high metabolism?"
"Shut up!"
The two faced each other form either side of the table they sat at.
"I haven't seen you in a few years, Bruce," Thomas said, before taking a drink of his brandy. "What brings you here?"
"I have a feeling you have a hand in the continued captivity of my children," Bruce said, frowning at him. "I know you have connections to places that capture merfolk, and yet you have yet to intervene at Ocean Waters."
"Ah, yes," Thomas said, swirling his drink. "I saw them on the news a couple of months ago. I figured that maybe if I let them be, you would show up."
Glaring and gritting his teeth, Bruce growled. "You know why I can't come back onto the land."
"Perhaps," Thomas said. "They have two of your little brats, do they not?"
"Three."
"You took on another?" Thomas asked in disbelief. "I figured you would have stopped at one since you only took him on because you happened upon him when fleeing the land, as you people put it."
"You forget that you are also of the merfolk, Thomas," Bruce said. "The only difference is that you left it to become human after they died."
"Hmm." Thomas poured more brandy into his glass. "And you choose to stay."
"Yes." Bruce crossed his arms. "Unlike you, who left all that he was behind and came here with treasures to build a human empire and help stop the hunts, and yet you let them capture my children."
"Those things are not your children. They don't share your blood."
"I marked them as mine! They are mine!" Bruce shouted, jumping up. "And when I tried to enter Ocean Waters, a magic field kept me from entering! I sent my youngest in to stop it and he has yet to complete it! My children are not fools, and my youngest has powers that are equal to mine, so he should have been able to handle it!" Bruce slammed his fist down. "The magic field has your energy around it to keep me out and to kept them in!"
Thomas only stared at him.
"Why?!"
Standing up, Thomas looked out the window. "Do you remember what happened thirteen years ago? What caused you to stop visiting the land and keep to the ocean?"
Bruce's eyes widened a bit before narrowing. "Ra's Al Ghul."
"Correct."
"What did you do?!"
"Simply got rid of your distractions."
"My children are not a distraction!"
"Of course they are." Thomas stared at him with a hard stare. "You were supposed to take over an empire."
"One I was tricked into."
"You were going to become heir to a strong kingdom!"
"I am not heir to that demon!" Bruce shouted. "Just like I am not a land dweller like you!"
"Then why are you here?!" Thomas yelled back. "You can't save them, Bruce! You know that my magic can keep you out for years!"
"Of course I know that! It's what kept me in with Ra's' so-called empire! Just remember I escaped the plan you had for me and I will get back what belongs to me."
"You should just forget them."
Turning away, Bruce headed to the door. "I would never forget my children."
Thomas took a drink before whispering, "We'll see about that."
"Tim?" Jason asked, as he paused, seeing his brother glaring at him. "What's up with you?"
Without warning, Tim lunged at Jason, his eyes glowing in anger.