Percy Jackson stood in the Gotham alleyway staring at the out-of-order phone booth. The moon glinted off the dirty glass. He could just make out his masked reflection in the grime.
He had come a long way over the past three and a half years. A rollercoaster of events found him where he was tonight.
He had put his blood, sweat, and tears into everything he had done since meeting his sister, Lourdes. He had even kept that effort going when Batman took custody of him after taking her away. He had trained, he had fought, and he had bled to become a hero. Just as she told him he could be.
Yet, Batman always held him back. Leashed him down even. Whenever they patrolled, he was kept close till the fight started, and he became a tool to beat up the common thug as Batman danced with whoever was the mastermind. He never had a chance to do anything of his own to prove himself.
It could be because his sister was known to sell illusioned illegal goods, or maybe because he was a demigod or a meta to some people's perspectives. Batman never approved of them in his town. He said they caused too much trouble once, yet he kept the one fighting for him at heel.
At the end of the day, though, Batman possessed the key to his future. The "in" on being a superhero. A journey he and his sister had committed to. A goal he had dreamed of ever since Gabe first laid hands on him.
To put the bully down.
While Percy held his resentment for Batman for taking his only family, his sister, he knew that sometimes, to get what you want in life, you have to do things you wouldn't want to. A lesson Lor had taught him as she told him of her criminal history. How she sold illusions to thugs and criminals, and when they came for her, she bewitched them with the mist to leave her alone with her cash. That, or she watched them get arrested and locked away for life.
She wasn't a saint by any means, but this was Gotham, after all. The city is full of criminals. The people you can count who haven't broken the law are less than the opposite. Even he had stolen from people, so when the Caped-Crusader stood waiting in their apartment… The silent understanding of why he was there, he wouldn't forget it.
It was the last time he let himself cry, watching her being forced out of her own home by the vigilante. It was the last he saw of her, her heart breaking as she told him to stay strong and that she loved him, her Little Hero. She could be in Arkham or Blackgate, for all he knew. He couldn't use the computer to check, the English settings a foreign mystery to him and his severe dyslexia.
All of it left a gap in his relationship with Batman. The man had his moments where he portrayed concern. They were far and few apart, but for the most part, he was a teacher, a trainer, and a means to an end for Percy. Even when the cowl came off and he could look into the man's eyes, he did not feel a sense of familiarity. A point Robin would make a note of on how Percy had never even been in the manor proper above the bat cave.
He didn't mind the dark cave. He had made comforts in it. After all, it wasn't his home anyways. His home was in an apartment in the city, collecting dust as Bruce Wayne made payments to keep it from being used by someone else. His home was where he and his sister bonded and trained. That was his home…
Percy looked to the moon that watched on overhead, remembering the words of the goddess who managed it. She would watch over him like one of her own. That his true mother was out there watching too. That he would do great things. He would make her proud.
Who "her" was, he did not know… Was it his mother or the goddess who spoke it? He would do her proud regardless.
Bzzt.
But, there were some advantages to his new "arrangements." Like the fact that he could instantly travel from Gotham City to Mount Justice in Happy Harbor now that he was in the Zeta-tube system.
Glancing from his wrist-mounted PDA, he read the message that came through from Batman. The text had been transcribed digitally from English to Ancient Greek for him, a feature Wonder Woman had helped Batman make.
"Clear to cross," the message read.
Percy Jackson pulled the lower hanging portion of his mask from below his chin to his nose as it clicked into place. Combined with the rest of the upper part of the mask that hid all details of his face, he stared at his reflection in the phone booth once more. Not an inch of skin was visible or a defining attribute like his striking silver eyes visible to the world. Instead, his black padded suit hid him as he stepped into the phone booth.
"Authorized. B-13. Orpheus."
Orpheus stepped out of the Zeta tube and into his destination. A carved-out mountain that once was a secret underground location for the Justice League but that was revealed to the world and later abandoned. Yet, it was again used for a younger team of heroes. It was also where he would be getting himself the first mission that took him beyond the scope of Gotham. While not his first mission ever, which was a fiery affair, nor was it even his twentieth, it was a mission in which he would be teamed up with others. People that were notably not Batman or even adults.
"Dude! What is he doing here?" Robin, his fellow protégé of Batman, complained immediately further ahead into the room as Percy had just left the tube and entered the premise.
"Wait, isn't he the one you always complain about, Rob?" Kid Flash, a slower and younger version of the infamous Flash, asked aloud.
"Orpheus is here by my decision," Batman voiced from behind a wall of holographic maps, pictures, and words: the mission board. "As I was beginning to explain, Isla Santa Prisca. The island nation is the primary source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. Venom is a strength-enhancing drug popularized by Bane. All outgoing shipments have stalled, but the heat signatures have spiked, indicating increased human resources. You are going in to find out what is happening. Covert recon only. If the League needs to interfere, they will."
Covert… Now that was a mission style that anyone who knew Percy knew he did not do well. His ADHD did not agree with moving slowly and methodically. No, Percy preferred open combat. Straight fist-throwing dagger-jabbing action. It made Percy wonder as he stared at the emotionless-masked face of Batman.
Why did he want Percy here? Why this mission? Why now?
"I'll leave you here to acquaint with your newest member and sort whatever needs to be done," Batman said to the collected powered teens before turning to face Percy. "A mission brief should be received on your device momentarily, Orpheus. Take note of your directive."
Percy could only nod as he felt his PDA buzz softly on his arm, yet he held his gaze on the man before him. Batman nodded back before promptly turning from them all and heading to the Zeta tube.
"So, 'Mr. Change the World' what does your directive say?" Robin mocked him with a laugh turning in full to Orpheus.
Percy glared at his companion, wishing he could see his annoyance behind his full-face concealment. He instead transitioned to pulling up his PDA, ignoring Robin. The new mission brief waited, and he quickly devoured the Greek text.
Information describing the location, who was there, and how they would get in and out. The usual information for a mission package when Batman had a planned assault. However, one thing did stand out. A simple line of text he knew the others would not have in their packages. A statement he knew was the reason for being present, but yet it begged further questions.
Why was it his job when there was a half-Kryptonian here? Why did Batman pull him from his routine business in Gotham to join this team for a role they already had in team dynamics? They already had muscle and powers.
He stared at the words a moment longer, absorbing them into memory.
Bane is your responsibility when it falls apart.
"Hello? Tiny-bats?" Kid flash rambled. "Are you even listening? What are you deaf?"
That grabbed Percy's attention. He wasn't deaf.
"I'm mute," Percy signed back.
"Oh my god, he is deaf," Kid Flash gasped. "Why do we have a deaf teammate? How is that helpful?"
"Orpheus is actually mute, KF. He can only really communicate reliably through American sign language and other hand signs," Robin stated as he maneuvered back to the holographic mission board.
"Oh," the speedster aptly said.
Percy nodded to the kid. He would try not to hold judgment over him so soon, but he had a feeling the yellow-outfitted hero would be a talking annoyance.
Percy turned his attention to the others in the room. Three others, three young mini versions of Justice Leaguers. Two aliens and an Atlantean. Seems like the setup for a poor joke.
"Hello, I'm M'gan," a green Martian girl said to him. She was not his first time seeing a lady with green skin, but weird to see another. He nodded back. Hopefully, this one was more kind and friendly than Poison Ivy in Gotham. To be fair, however, Ivy has cut back on her "tendencies."
"You can call me Kaldur," a gilled teen said next. He was tall, and his blonde hair contrasted with his darker skin. He was technically a fellow Greek in a manner of speaking, but the Atlantis he hailed from was not the divine one that Poseidon ruled over. "I look forward to seeing all that you can bring to the team."
"Superboy," the last one said. He looked very much like that in which he was a clone of. To think, Batman's file theorized that Lex obtained a small DNA sample of Superman and turned it into this breathing, fighting, and talking being before him. Kryptonian genetics… Even such a small sample could equate to almost another Superman. Was that brilliant science or Kryptonian genetics?
"So, if he only hands signals, how do we communicate with him?" Kid Flash asked as he munched on a protein bar he had acquired from somewhere Percy had not seen.
The others around him looked stumped for a moment before slowly turning to Robin, who was tapping away at his PDA on his wrist.
"Rob?"
"Sorry, what?" He responded, pulling his gaze from his device.
"I was just asking, how do you talk with Mute over there?" Kid Flash asked, sticking his thumb over to where Percy stood in his black outfit devoid of detail besides the standard utility belt.
"Easy, you don't."
"What?" Kaldur stumbled.
"Trust me. As annoying as it is, Orpheus and I have worked with Batman for so long and so much training. He probably is only on this mission for a solo objective that won't concern us. So, we do our mission and leave him to do his."
"I don't understand," Kid Flash stated, looking at Orpheus.
"Look, Bats knows you guys don't know how to communicate with him. So, it's not a factor of what he will do for us, but how we fit into the puzzle for him. Because if there is one thing Orpheus is good for, it's fighting. So that leaves me at the conclusion that either he has his own mission objective on the island, or Batman is expecting us not to be able to do this mission properly. Personally, I know I can do stealth. So, that is why I know he has a separate directive from us," Robin explained.
"I see," Kaldur began. "Then we shall act with what we do know." He turned to the mission board full of notes and a jumbled mess that Percy refused to look at. Instead, Percy stood there, just as where he arrived and walked to, waiting. He let his gaze scan over his teammates.
Robin wasn't entirely wrong or right. His mission objective was different; he was not to be covert. He was there to fight when reconnaissance failed. For now, though, he would play a part in their mission wherever he fell in line.
"We should be ready for departure," Kaldur told the gathered teens. "Meet up at the bioship in stealth gear in five."
The assembled team nodded their affirmations as they split, leaving only Robin and Orpheus behind.
"So, you got Bane as your mission, huh?" Robin said to him as he crossed the distance to get closer.
Percy could only stare back. He knew already how Robin knew of his mission. He had likely hacked his PDA and translated the document. His device likely already was hacked months ago, knowing the kid.
"Makes me wonder what changed from before. Bats never let us tango with the actual fighters like Bane and the Joker… And why did he entrust you with this over the team in general? I mean, you'd think Superboy would be able to match Bane, so why you?"
Percy could only silently stare back. It was the same questions that had danced through his own brain.
Was Batman finally letting him off the leash, or at least some slack? Was he finally trusting him to do more? How much had Diana had to convince him to let Percy do something more? To let Percy be more than a cave dweller? Or did Batman have his own prerogatives?
"Drop zone A. Ten seconds. Prepare to drop." Miss Martian called out as they flew over the ocean towards Santa Prisca. Her hands were busy grasping what appeared to be two oversized stick shifts that grew from the floor of the sentient alien bioship.
"Ready to drop," Kaldur responded, his voice stone-like. His posture firmed as a hole in the floor of the bioship opened for him.
"Drop," The lady Martian returned. In an instant, Kaldur crossed his arms and dropped through the hole, disappearing into the darkness of the high tide below. Something being of the moon let him know. "Enabling stealth measures. Waiting for confirmation to advance."
"En route to sensors. Standby," the Atlantean replied, buzzing over their voice comms in each of the team's ears.
"Standing by."
"Heat and motion sensors are patched. Sensor feedback is on a loop. Advance to drop point B. Meet you there, team."
"Advancing," confirmed Miss Martian.
Percy sat in the back of the seats in the aircraft. Robin and Kid Flash were sitting close to the front windshield. Superboy, M'gan, and the now empty seat of Kaldur's took up the middle as Percy sat the furthest back, alone.
The team was silent as they navigated forward, invisible to anyone or any device below now.
"So, like, I know we talked about it already, but what is Mute doing for us again?" Kid Flash asked aloud.
Percy restrained himself from reacting to the slight. Just because he was mute doesn't mean he wasn't in the same room as them.
"Yeah, how does he even do missions?" Superboy tacked on.
With precise power, Percy wanted to tell them, but he couldn't. None of them knew ASL, and Robin was too busy staring out the windshield to translate. Not that Robin even liked translating, to begin with.
"Trust me. You'll learn to understand working with him. Just because he doesn't speak doesn't mean he can't hold his own and then some."
"Then why did you decide for him to stay on the bioship while we deploy?" M'gan asked, looking between the two proteges of Batman. "Wouldn't it be better to have us all together?"
"Because," Robin started, meeting Percy's stare, "if there is one thing I trust him to do, it is to understand the best time to intervene. He will come through when it is needed, and if he isn't needed, then we did our job."
The others all glanced at each other, a confused finality coming to the topic as silence prevailed. A silence that did not last long as the bioship beeped and came to a hover.
They had made it to the second drop point.
"Let's get stealthy!' Kid Flash whooped as he jumped up and pressed the thunderbolt symbol on his chest. His yellow armor rapidly became engrossed and turned black. "I mean, how cool is that?" He turned to Miss Martian and flaunted his new look.
"Very impressive," she smiled back. In an instant, from her feet up, she shifted herself. Her blue shoes, green skin, and elaborate outfit all went black. The only things unchanged were her red 'X' across her front and her face and hair. Shapeshifting was an ability Percy dreamt of having. It would make covert missions cake, in theory. The notion that you could look like anyone or possibly anything. No one ever stares twice at the fly on the wall or the nondescript face that happens to walk by. However, being able to blast people with coalesced moonlight was still great.
"That, uh, that works too," Kid Flash recovered after being distracted by watching her shift. Turning away from the lady and to the clone, he continued. "What about you, Superboy? You going to put on your Stealth-Tech?"
"No. I don't need the cape or tights. I'm fine as is," grunted Superboy. His displeasure at the very notion prevalent.
"Yeah, you are." Miss Martian replied automatically before a blush covered her cheeks. "Uh, I mean, it looks good. It is you." She stuttered over before putting her hood on and turning invisible.
Holes in the floor opened before the four members of the team, now donned in their stealth looks. Two hooks on a pseudo rope dropped from the ceiling before Robin and Kid flash. The sentience of the ship was remarkable. The two boys latched on as they neared the drop holes.
Robin glanced at everyone, checking that they looked ready for the stealth mission ahead. He gave a nod to no one in general before turning to Percy.
"Alright, Orpheus, stay cloaked up here. Tail us or whatever you need," Robin dictated. He turned to the others. "Everyone else, time to drop."
Robin and Kid Flash, on that cue, repelled out of the bioship floor as the vague outline of Miss Martian followed on through an opening in the floor. Superboy looked towards the masked Orpheus and then dropped through the same slot. It left Percy alone on the ship as the others started their mission.
After a few moments, the comm link buzzed.
"Drop zone B is green," Robin reported.
"I am en route," Kaldur responded with a grunt. "Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous."
Percy checked his PDA system for everyone's locations. It would seem Kaldur was now onto the climbing phase of his journey. He really had the bad straw of the team for this mission: swimming, running through the jungle, climbing cliffs, and then some more running.
"Roger that."
Percy watched as his teammates disappeared into the jungle below, leaving him alone. He leaned back into his seat aboard the Martian spacecraft. He was here as an insurance policy. So, what was he to do before the policy needed to be used?
He pulled up his PDA and mission package once more.
What made Batman decide to pit him against Bane, a muscled monster of a man who could call forth his Venom boost to give him heightened reflexes and strength at a moment? He was a fourteen-year-old who had been training under Batman for the last three years and a year before that with his sister.
Batman had never let him throw a punch anywhere near Bane anytime prior, or even any other rouge of relative prowess. Yet, now he was tasked with combatting Bane, of all people, tonight.
He had his speculations on why, especially since Superboy was present.
It had to be a test, he decided.
Percy needed something to do to distract his thoughts, or else he would ponder the schemes of the madman he called mentor for the rest of the night. He drummed his fingers on his armrest as he turned to look out the windshield and away from his thoughts. His team had disappeared now into the island jungle. They were growing further and further from his location. He needed to move closer to them, just in case.
As if sensing his mood, the ship beeped at him several times. He looked up the display systems to see nothing he could even care to attempt reading. He looked out the main window at the moon shining brightly over the jungle island. It was beautiful. Y'know, ignoring the lethal drug and arms ring hidden within the landscape.
The ship began to beep again over and over again. Then he noticed that the beeps were varying, intentionally, like someone communicating. Some long, some quick. It sounded oh so familiar. After all, it was one of the few ways he could communicate. The ship responded as if sensing his slow realization, and the Bioship beeped again. Shorts and longs. The language of dots and dashes.
It was morse code.
He tapped back.
I hear you.
Explore. The ship beeped at him. Explore sounded way better than idling.
Yes. He smiled. Exploring would be fun.
The command sticks he noticed Miss Martian used to pilot the bioship formed before his seat.
He would control the exploration. He could fly wherever in this thing. He grabbed the controls and took off to cruise. The ship was surprisingly easy to handle. He could joyride for a minute. But, just as he did, the comms buzzed anew.
"Activity ahead," Robin whispered through the comms.
Percy snapped back to focus, bringing the bioship to advance to his team's position. He would explore later…
"Proceed with caution," Kaldur responded between breaths. Percy figured he was likely sprinting to rally up at this point.
"I see two groups. Armed. Advancing at another," Superboy called out.
Perks of X-Ray vision.
"Scout only," reminded Kaldur." Do not engage."
"About that," Miss Martian interrupted, her voice sounding unsure of itself as she began. "Robin already disappeared, and Kid Flash already ran off to find him."
"Great. Just… just do not engage," panted Kaldur.
Shots rang out through the comm link.
"Uh, too late!" Yelped Kid Flash. "I slipped."
More gunfire rang out over the comms before the comms turned off.
Percy took the controls and manipulated the ship to overlook the fight that happened. It was brief and straightforward. It showcased just how much superpowers could affect the tide of a fight.
Kid Flash's speed, the ability to navigate a fight in mere seconds, if that. Superboy's durability and raw strength can easily compete with adults. Kaldur's aquatic magic usage is viable and versatile in the moment to form shields and weapons as he fights close quarters. Lastly, Miss Martian's ability to telepathically control others and their guns, to hold someone's whole body at a whim.
Powers could be terrifying.
Him being here, with the team, in general, for any mission was not because this team needed more power…
Percy knew earlier that morning that he would be joining this team periodically. Batman claimed it was for him to learn how to cooperate with others. To socialize with others beyond the Wayne estate and that the people he beat up didn't count, no matter how much Harley Quinn would try to strike up a conversation with him. She always tried to pinch his cheeks through his mask and call him sugar if Joker wasn't around.
Yet, how was he supposed to mesh with these people? Sure, they were of his age, but he read up on things. The best way to make yourself approachable was to make yourself useful to others, and how was he useful if all of them could already rely on their set of powers?
They didn't really need him, and so far, none of them had genuinely talked to him. Only about him as he stood there in the same room. Was that his fault? Even though he is incapable of communicating? It's not as if he could write out a response either, between his horrendous dyslexia and the fact that whatever he wrote would seemingly vanish after a moment of being transcribed. It was like he was cursed never to be able to communicate with another person…
Maybe he was…
If the Greek Gods are real and aliens are real, couldn't curses be real too?
Yet, he could sign, but you couldn't hide hand gestures as once they are made, they are already onto the next move as they are understood in real-time… He may be onto something, the niche details unsolved, but the premise that he and Batman had been trying to combat for some time now. His lack of ability to communicate through almost all mediums was likely a curse.
But by whom? And why?
Whatever, it didn't matter now. He was on a mission.
He let his gaze wander to his new and first team. From on high, he watched them talk and argue amongst themselves. It looked like they were getting nowhere in particular except at each other's throats. Heads turned, and he followed where they looked to.
Bane, the villain that Batman wanted him to fight, talked to the team. Whatever he said could not be heard from within the bioship. Percy could only watch as the group proceeded to nod at one another.
"Orpheus," Kaldur called out to him over comms." We are following a lead. We will be in the central mountain, and I doubt comms will be all too reliable. Continue on overwatc-"
Silence descended over the commlink as it ended. The very last annunciations of Kaldur's words were cut off. A detail so minute that it could be missed, but it was something Percy and Batman took extensive time for him to learn.
The small details.
Percy stared down at the team as they began to leave the clearing with Bane, unaware of something else happening.
AN:
Wow, I'm surprised how well this did off the start. Thank you so much for the support.
Now, I didn't include an author's note in the first chapter. I have this one here to address this story.
You will not know everything about my story. You will have questions, and you may even realize things and wonder why no one in the story realizes them. I promise it is all intentional. For instance, who his mother is. You have three choices to pick from, and I am going to dance around the topic in the story despite the audience easily figuring it out if you put 2 and 2 together. There is a reason. It just comes later. It has to do with him being mute also.
Now, if you want to know about my intentions with plot and world settings, I will be weaving between YJ and PJO: TTC storylines with my own mixed in. This story isn't so much about how this version of Percy changes events but how events change him. If life is kind, I plan on this being a long-running passion project spanning quite a story of at least 3 books and room for plenty more. However, I won't lock myself into just writing this.
(Check my page for a Teen Titans Fic and more to come. Especially if my Harry Potter crossover keeps bugging my mind.)
I would LOVE to talk about this story with anyone who wants to, as I plan on embedding details and themes everywhere that I can get away with doing. That said, if you want to reach out, search the Emeral Library on discord. Come join the server full of writers. While I don't have an active chat channel yet, I am sure trying to progress to one even if I just talk DC comics all day in it above how underutilized some of their characters are and how Beast boy could realistically solo kill practically everyone on Earth, even Superman. Anyways, reach out to me on there. My handle is Manke.
Thanks for all the support: likes, follows, and reviews.
That is about it at the end of the day. See you next year!
-Manke
