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Dick got back from driving Jason and Percy to the airport. Dick was very curious what had happened; Percy said Bruce would tell him and Tim later, but still. Dick gently questioned Jason during the car ride, and while he was reassured that both of them were truly fine, Jason had evaded giving him answers.
Dick returned to the manor and they ate the dinner Alfred had cooked. Duke and Damian were excited because apparently Bruce had given permission for Aunt Kate, aka Batwoman, and Cass as Batgirl to take Signal and Nightingale on a mini-patrol for training purposes. It sounded like the main plan was for them to practice grappling and roof-running, and possibly race, and maybe deal with some light crime as needed. They would be patrolling from about 7pm-9pm, then the rest of them would take over patrol for the night after that. Dick understood that this special permission was primarily a ruse to keep them occupied while Bruce debriefed him and Tim about what happened with Percy.
After dinner, they went down to the cave. Tim and Dick suited up slowly, wishing Duke and Damian well. It was Duke’s first patrol since choosing the name Signal and getting his uniform, so he was excited, even if it wasn’t a full patrol. He wouldn’t be authorized to go into the field solo until he was 18, but it was good for him to get some supervised experience in. Damian was excited about getting to potentially fight minor criminals, rather than only doing support and medic work like he had been.
Bruce, Tim, and Dick got settled in the sitting area. “So, B, what’s up?” Tim asked, breaking the silence.
“So, apparently while he was astral-projecting, or dream walking, after the Bludhaven incident while he was healing, Percy ended up encountering the god Apollo and they ended up conceiving a magical child. Percy was not aware of this until the child arrived, born from the fountain,” Bruce explained carefully.
“Percy has a kid now? Huh. Where are they?” Dick asked. While he didn’t say it, he was thinking about how he was pretty sure Percy had mentioned he didn’t want children and wondered how Percy was dealing with this.
“Her name is Vi, or Violet, apparently she magically aged up to about 5 years old. Percy removed her from Gotham, saying the polluted environment and also curses in the city were hazardous to her health. Diana responded to the magical anomaly that was registered as part of this, and well, now Vi is staying on Themyscira under the guardianship of Hippolyta,” Bruce elaborated.
"Is she staying there forever? Do we get to meet Percy's child?" Dick asked. He did like kids and he wanted the opportunity to earn the title of favorite uncle, especially since Steph’s kid Allison seemed to favor Tim over him.
“Percy mentioned the plan was for her to stay on Themyscira for 2 to 3 years while we deal with the issues in Gotham to make it a safer environment for her. He mentioned he would visit her some, including while they are in Greece this summer, and that there might be an opportunity to video call her, if we don’t overwhelm her. Admittedly, I am also disappointed at not getting to meet my new grandchild yet,” Bruce replied.
Dick read between the lines, 2 to 3 years would be time for Percy to finish college, which was probably a factor for that particular timeline. Also, Bruce had once mentioned to Dick when he was drunk or drugged about how adorable he’d found Dick when he first got him when he was younger and how sad he was that all of his kids were mostly grown when he got them, that he didn’t get to raise them as babies or small kids. He’d especially been upset on the subject when Damian showed up, already 10 years old, and Bruce realized he’d missed most of the childhood of his own biological son. So yeah, it made sense that Bruce had feelings about the idea of grandchildren and wanted to see them while they were small, he’d certainly been excited about Allison becoming his grandchild now that Steph and Cass were getting married.
Tim spoke up, “You mentioned that Gotham’s Curses and the polluted environment are hazardous to Violet? Can you elaborate on that?”
“Percy mentioned that Vi was associated with freshwater, presumably from being born from the fountain? Anyways, apparently while she is young and vulnerable, she could be negatively affected by the polluted waters. We already have the plan for the Gotham Harbor cleanup project, but we should put more resources towards that to try and finish it faster,” Bruce explained.
“Right, currently the timeline on that project puts us at 95% restoration in 5 years. I can coordinate things with WE for us to manufacture more of the devices for filtering out the pollution so that we can scale up faster. We can recruit more GothamU students from relevant majors, talk to the university about providing research credit hours for helping with the project. We can try to hit 90% restoration in 2.5-3 years, at least as far as chemical pollution goes. The physical trash and bodies in the harbor may still take a while,” Tim determined.
“Yeah, Monty said they didn’t want the body recovery diver teams doing extra shifts until the water was safer so it was less hazardous to their health. Also, water temperature is a consideration; if the water is safer by next spring and summer, we could potentially have some crews start working on that side of things then. Especially if, well, we the Bats can map the harbor better to precisely locate where the bodies would be for them to recover them. Homicide rate in Gotham has significantly gone down in recent years, so having bodies linked to old cold cases for the homicide detectives to work on would actually be helpful instead of overwhelming, currently,” Dick reasoned.
“Though, the devices we’ve made for filtering the pollution are primarily designed to work on the surface; it’s unclear how much pollutants will cycle up to also be filtered and we don’t have a super clear plan for how to clean up the pollution in the deeper water. No one has dared to sample the deeper water to get a clearer idea of what’s there, though it’s suspected there may be some heavier chemicals that are settled at the bottom,” Tim pointed out.
“Hasn’t Percy like…..swam at the bottom of the harbor, like as Riptide or whatever. To what extent can he use his powers to clean things?” Dick asked.
“We spoke on it briefly and he did imply he could use his powers to help clean up what civilian methods didn’t get. Though, like, we need the scientific solutions to be implemented too, partially as cover so it isn’t conspicuous if he uses his powers but also so there isn’t too much for him to clean up? He was vague and implying stuff but didn’t communicate it very clearly, I think he’s still shy about admitting how much he could theoretically do, or maybe he’s just still unsure of the extent of his powers,” Tim analyzed.
“Good discussion, I agree, we should make correcting these issues more of a priority in light of this new information. Any thoughts on Gotham’s curses? I’ve been trying to compile info but most of what I know is unconfirmed rumors, Justice League Dark doesn’t like filing proper reports on such things, that just keep alluding to how cursed Gotham is,” Batman asked.
“I can talk to Zatanna about it some, help compile some more info. Did Percy say much on the subject? He seems to have an intuitive understanding of some of the magical stuff involving Gotham,” Dick asked.
“I mentioned what Constantine had once said about Gotham’s curses being a tangled web like a house of cards, where pulling one could cause complications, and Percy mentioned that with him destroying the Lazarus pit last fall, that things may already be more volatile, no longer in equilibrium. My magical sensors don’t show any concerning spikes currently, but we should keep a closer eye out for anything magical. Percy and Jason mentioned they could work directly with Justice League Dark in the fall to help address the curses issue. I’ll work on going through my notes to compile info but if you could follow up with Zatanna for more info at some point, that would be helpful, yes,” Bruce deliberated.
“Yeah, I can find time to meet up with her this summer, let me know when you’re done with compiling notes and all,” Dick agreed.
They were silent for a moment. “So…practical considerations aside, how do we think Percy is dealing with the whole sudden child thing? If she’s his child with Apollo, and he’s a demigod, would the child be 75% divine? How close to being a god are they?” Tim asked.
“He did mention that Vi has powers, likely part of why they decided it’s best for her to stay on Themyscira for now, to learn control and such,” Bruce considered.
“When they get back from the competition, I’ll plan to talk to Percy, check in on how he’s doing emotionally. Though, Jason is there and supporting Percy, so he’ll be okay. Jason seemed more comfortable with the sudden child thing than Percy is, which makes sense because Jason generally likes caring for kids whereas Percy had expressed not wanting kids before, so….yeah,” Dick trailed off.
“Good chat. Percy said it was okay to brief the two of you and Oracle, but he doesn’t want Damian, Steph, or Cass to know about all of this yet. I think perhaps he doesn’t want too many questions about it while he comes to terms with it, so he doesn’t want to talk about it to those he isn’t as close to,” Bruce explained.
“Understood,” Dick acknowledged, Tim nodding as well.
Their conversation broke up and they moved on to preparing for patrol, discussing some cases they’d been working on. They also watched a video feed of patrol, where Damian and Duke were having fun racing but also doing a good job of it on occasion when they took down a mugger. When the kids headed back in from patrol, Dick told them they did well before the rest of them headed out for a patrol of their own.