Chapter Text
Running on the rooftops, Dick was deep in thought, contemplating the conversation he and Percy had before he went out to patrol.
Percy had been sitting on the floor, playing with the kids. Zoe was curled up in her lap while the boys tried to climb Mrs. O'Leary. Dick had just stood there in the doorway, not wanting to ruin the moment by telling Percy about his last mission. If he could, he would never burden his wife with things like this again. But when he closed the door, he saw Percy tense up, subtly turning her body in a way that she could protect Zoe and the boys while still being ready to fight.
Dick hated this.
He hated that his wife was so battle-scarred that even after more than a decade, she still flinched at unexpected sounds.
Giving her an apologetic look, he said, "Hey, sorry if I startled you," while walking over to his family.
"No, it's okay. I guess I'm just a little bit wound up from getting back into it," Percy said quickly. "The demigod stuff, I mea
Sitting down next to Percy, Dick started talking. "Yeah, I understand. I'm still a little bit shaken up from the mission I had today."
She gave him a questioning look — the look Dick knew all too well. It meant: I know something isn't right, and you're doing a bad job hiding it, so just spit it out. And yes, his wife could absolutely express all that in one stare.
(If you'd seen her wolf stare, you'd know it's even scarier than Batman's.)
Dick knew better than to mess around with that.
He answered immediately.
"On my last mission — it was supposed to be a regular recon mission, just observing some low-level villains gathering — there were... complications."
"Complications?" Percy raised an eyebrow. "What exactly do you mean by complications?"
Dick took a deep breath. "There were monsters involved. I don't know if they were controlling the goons, but it kinda looked like it."
He saw Percy close her eyes, looking so defeated.
"How many?" she asked quietly.
He knew she'd be concerned — especially with no other demigods around, except Cassie (and she was Amazonian; her scent was apparently different).
But Dick couldn't lie to his wife — he never could.
"Six," he admitted, taking a deep breath. "There were six monsters."
"What kind?" Percy said, deadly serious.
"Two Cyclopes, three Hellhounds, and an Empousa," Dick answered quickly. "And it wasn't Kelly," he added, trying to ease the blow.
But it didn't matter. He could see Percy breaking down — this, on top of everything else she'd told him about the increase in monsters...
It was starting to look like another war.
Dick didn't really know how to comfort her.
So he just pulled Percy into his side.
But he didn't have to do anything else — because right then, Zoe reached her tiny hands up and grasped her mom's face, looking into her mother's sea-green eyes with her own mismatched ones.
"Mana sad," Zoe said softly.
Dick almost melted on the spot.
Percy looked down adoringly and answered, "Yeah, Mana is sad, but it's okay to be sad sometimes, my little Sea Star."
Zoe nodded seriously, then wiggled out of her mother's arms and waddled over to her two brothers.
Dick turned back to his wife. "Are you sure you're okay? It's probably nothing. You know, it could just be a coincidence. They've probably just become more... comfortable."
He tried to sound convincing — but Percy didn't get a chance to answer before they were suddenly bombarded by three small bodies.
"Hey, what's this?" Percy asked, confused but hugging them back anyway.
"Mana sad," Luke explained. "And Táta always said that huggies make everything better."
Luke looked over at Dick for confirmation.
"Right, Táta?"
"Oh yeah," Dick said, looking extremely serious. "Hugs heal everything. Especially when they're the best huggies in the world."
The kids burst into giggles.
"Okay, okay, calm down, you little gremlins," Percy laughed. "It's getting late. Time for bedtime."
Dick assumed they'd already gotten ready before they started playing, so he got up too, kissing the kids goodnight — and giving Percy a kiss as well.
BANG. BANG.
Dick was snapped out of his memories by the sound of gunshots.
He raced toward the noise, instincts kicking in.
When he arrived, he found three goons standing over an unconscious Red Hood — Jason.
He could see two gunshot wounds already — but he knew there had to be more, because there was no way his little wing would go down that easy
Rage and fear filled him.
Dick quickly took out the goons and rushed over to Jason, patching him up as best he could. Then he picked him up carefully.
Now he had to decide:
Should he risk a Zeta Tube?
Or take Jason home — to the house he shared with Percy and the kids — a place Jason knew nothing about?
Dick thought about it as he ran.
The Zeta Tube was located right beside the house, so he had a little time.
But by the time he landed in the backyard, he had already made up his mind.
He wasn't risking the radiation or whatever else came with the tubes.
he knocked on the back door.
——
Percy was getting ready for bed when she heard the knock.
Thinking it was just Dick forgetting his keys, she stepped out of the bathroom in her pajamas, toothbrush in mouth — and froze.
Her husband stood outside, holding an unconscious Red Hood.
Jason Todd. Dick's little brother.
Percy immediately sprang into action, grabbed a tarp from the hallway closet and opened the door.
"Put him on the couch and get the medkit," she ordered.
Dick obeyed, sprinting to fetch it.
Meanwhile, Percy grabbed scissors from the kitchen, cutting open Jason's shirt to get a better look at the injuries.
Three bullet wounds, two stab wounds, and blunt-force trauma to the head — probably what knocked him out.
She heard Dick come back. "Here, I got it. What do you need?"
"Well," Percy said while grabbing supplies, "if I remember what Will taught me, whoever did this wasn't a very good marksman or martial artist — which is good for us. It'll be Easier patchwork. With no major organs hit."
After a while, Percy finished patching him up. "But I could be wrong, so I'll call Will," she said, standing.
"Do you need to change or can you stay with him?" Percy asked.
"I'll stay. I'll change later," Dick said quickly.
"Hey, it's okay, Ninja," Percy said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll ask Will if we can move him to a bed."
Dick just nodded as she walked off.
——
Jason woke up on full alert, muscles tensing automatically in the unfamiliar place.
He braced for a fight — until he heard footsteps and a familiar voice.
"Hey, Little Wing. How are you feeling?" Dick asked from the doorway.
"I'm fine, Dickface. Where the hell am I?" Jason snapped, still groggy and defensive.
"My home," Dick said casually.
Jason froze.
"What?"
"My house. You're in my house," Dick repeated slowly, like Jason was an idiot.
Jason blinked at him.
Dick never took anyone to his house.
Not even the Bat upstairs knew where it was.
Only Alfred, probably — but Alfred knew everything.
"You... you brought me here?" Jason asked, genuinely thrown.
Dick gave him an unimpressed look.
"You had three bullet wounds, two stab wounds, and a concussion. I wasn't gonna risk a Zeta Tube."
Jason stared at him.
Why the fuck does he care?
"I know that look," Dick said, voice serious. "You think I don't care. But I do. You're my brother."
Jason almost believed him.
"...Okay," he said finally. "How long was I out?"
"Two days," Dick said immediately. "It's morning. There's breakfast in the kitchen. And—"
Jason didn't wait to hear the rest. He got out of bed and started walking.
He wasn't gonna stay here.
"Wait, Jay! There's something you should know—" Dick started — but Jason was already at the kitchen door.
And he stopped dead.
What. The. Fuck.
Dick came up behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Jason, meet my family."
Leading him to the table, Dick started introducing them one by one.
"This is my wife, Percy," he said.
Percy smiled warmly and extended her hand.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you. Finally," she said.
Jason shook her hand numbly. What the hell.
Percy was way out of his brother's league.
She looked like a goddess — perfect hourglass figure, athletic build, a voice like an angel, with long black hair flowing down her back like waves, and those fucking eyes, like you were looking at the sea.
Jason was cut off from his thoughts by Dick continuing.
"And these are our kids," Dick continued.
This is Charles — but he likes to go by Charlie," Dick said, pointing to a boy who looked around 7 or 8 years old, with black hair and sea-green eyes like his mother's.
Jason didn't know what to do, so he just nodded at the kid in greeting.
Luke looked about 4 or 5 — and was basically Dick's mini-me. Same hair. Same bright blue eyes. Same damn face.
Jason stared between Dick and Luke in disbelief, but smiled slightly.
Dick chuckled and pointed to the little girl — no more than 3 years old — who was absolutely adorable, with mismatched eyes: one sea-green, one bright blue, and short black hair like her mother.
"And this is Zoe Marie — but she likes to be called Zoe."
Jason was in love.
If she wasn't wearing a grumpy pout identical to her father's, he wouldn't have believed she was really his.
Getting the kids' attention, Dick introduced Jason.
"Kids, this is your Uncle Jay."
For a moment they just stared, until Luke piped up.
"But he doesn't look like Uncle Jason! Uncle Jason has blonde hair!"
Dick chuckled.
"Yes, Luke. Your Uncle Jason — your mana's cousin — has blonde hair.
This is Uncle Jay, Táta's brother."
Jason just smiled faintly.
He didn't really get the 'Mana' and 'Táta' stuff, they weren't Romani, he knew that much, but whatever — it didn't matter.
He sat down at the table, noticing the blue waffles, blue blueberries, and even blue orange juice.
"What's with all the blue?" he asked, scrunching up his face.
Percy laughed, and Dick chuckled.
"Oh, it's a joke between me and my mom. My first stepdad didn't believe blue food existed — so my mom went out of her way to prove it did."
"Okay then," Jason muttered, digging in.
It wasn't stiff and formal like meals at the manor.
It was real.
It was family.
And Jason smiled.
Maybe... he could get used to this.
——
Meanwhile, in Star City, Lou Ellen was patrolling with Katie — hero name Harvester — while she used the codename Sorcerer.
(Sure, it was a little tacky. But did she care? No, not really.)
All teams had been assigned to watch for monster activity, and Lou was pretty sure she had just found something.
Standing in an abandoned warehouse, magic buzzing around her, Lou stared at a glowing vortex.
She reached up to her communicator — the monster-proof one Valdez had designed.
"Hey, Harvester. I think I found something. Contact the leaders — they're gonna want to see this," she said, ending the communication after getting an affirmative.
She turned back to the vortex.
It was massive — at least 400 feet across — swirling bright gold like monster dust spinning inside a tornado.
It didn't seem to pull things in... but it looked like it should.
Lou didn't know how long she had been staring when she heard three thuds behind her.
Turning, she saw Katie, Clarisse, Reyna, and Thalia all staring at the vortex.
"What the fuck is that?" Katie asked.
"Hades if I know," Thalia said.
"It doesn't matter. We'll get some Hephaestus kids down here," Clarisse said, taking charge. "Lou, think your siblings will help too?"
"I'll ask," Lou said. "They'll definitely want to."
"Good. Let's keep this between us for now," Reyna added. "No need to freak out the League unless it's absolutely necessary.”
Everyone agreed.
For now, there was no need to panic.