Work Text:
present
"Lu, I know I'm not crazy! I saw him shape shift! There's no other explanation other than that. He was going to kill her, and Mr. Grayson saw it!
"Okay, let's say that this was real. Why were you the only one to notice it?" Duke paused only for a moment to consider it, but the thoughts that he was coming up with had no good explanation as to what he saw. "What if you had been accidentally dosed by a fear toxin strain?"
"You're calling me crazy..." The silence from the other teen was near damning. " Wow, thanks."
"Okay, not like that. All I'm saying is that Gotham, being the cursed crime capital of the world, there's still room for even the best to be affected by it. Right now, Mr. Grayson witnessed you ready to throw hands with another adult, unprovoked. He believed the trainer when he said you were acting out because he told you to do something. You could plead insanity but-"
The door from the coach's office swings open, and Mr. Grayson peeks his head out, signaling for Duke to come inside. Luke stands holding his hand out, Duke joins him, clasping his hand, and they pull the other in for a hug. When he gets inside, his English teacher, Mr. Todd, is there, a school resource Officer, and the athletic trainer. Who should be dead?
The Office is big enough that it doesn't feel too cramped, but the looks that he's getting make the space feel too small for him to be even remotely relaxed. The scar on Mr. Todd's face is stretched in a downturned frown; he looks to be disappointed at first glance. Coach Grayson takes his seat at his desk with that stupid, easygoing look on his face.
" Mr. Thomas, Duke, can I call you Duke?" He doesn't wait for a response as he continues. "Let's talk about how what I saw from you was unacceptable for an athlete at this school, and frankly with this troubled behavior you've been exhibiting lately, I'm persuaded to have you expelled, Mr. Todd, however, has advocated on your behalf to keep you in school."
Duke's emotions go through 5 cycles at once while Coach Grayson is talking. The man wanted to expel him? What kind of bullshit?
2 hours ago
"Hey, Thomas." Is followed by a nudge, when he looks up and over as directed, he focuses on the athletic trainer looking strangely while standing off to the side. His brows pinch together as he tries to figure out what he's supposed to be looking at. The man had been setting off the group ( Affectionately named 'Robin crew')* for reasons that had Duke’s hand hovering over his Mom's contact out of caution. There's a lot that could be excused for behavior typical of Athletic trainers. But, Duke is the son of a social worker and an active listener to his English teacher, who he knows is the Red Hood. This didn't look right, and he says as much, "I remember Rika trying to say something about him last week."
Daxton, beside him, leans back on the bleachers with a look on his face. It's five minutes of watching the man when the two of them see something disconcerting. Duke sees the man's face contort into something you'd see when gassed up on fear toxin. Which is exactly what Duke is contemplating when the Jaws of the creature unhinge, dripping saliva on the ground with its closest victim none the wiser.
His heart kicks up, recognizing the inherent danger they all were in. He's scared to break eye contact, and somehow the creature knows that Duke can see its true form. But, instead of keeping to its same target, it smiles something sinister, turning to Duke. He blinks, and it's directly in front of him ready to devour him whole. " I've found you, little Demigod."
Duke kicks himself backwards, refusing to turn away from the monster. There's a Pen in his hand that he feels weighs nearly a hundred pounds, but he has the feeling that he's supposed to do something with it. A squeeze of the pen tells him he's close as he feels two sensations going through him, both unfamiliar but right at home. When the creature lunges at him again, the newfound weapon in his hand thrusts forward and the creature impales itself on it. The sound it makes is deafening and Duke can feel bile rising at the back of his throat as he tries to kick away from it.
On the other side, Luke has arrived and is cursing up a storm with a fury he's been known to have only when someone's caught giving Tamara a hard time. Duke looks down at his hands still holding the blade in shock, then there are hands tugging him away by his collar and his arm. Through the chaos, there’s a voice in his ear so faint and unbelievable that he thinks it's all in his head. " It's not time yet, don't expose yourself."
It's Coach Grayson when he turns his head, but when he tries to look back at the monster his eyes squeeze shut from the new sensation of his arm being twisted behind his back. " The hell do you think you're doing, Thomas?"
It's the most serious that he's heard from the Head Coach; the whiplash is enough to break the adrenaline running through him. But he can't even process the moment because the monster is gone and everyone is looking at him with varying reactions sans Luke, who's burning holes through Coach Grayson's head.
" To my office before you get yourself in more trouble."
PRESENT
"Now that's what I saw when I came to check out the commotion, you seem to insist on a different set of events happening. But cameras don't lie." That's when Mr. Todd decides to speak up, "So let me get this straight."
He leans forward with a look of irritation on his face. "You heard commotion outside and the minute you came outside you see a scared kid and decide that he must be the problem?" Mr. Todd scoffs in disbelief; it's so offended that you could hear the insult within it.
Coach Grayson rolls his eyes in exasperation and pushes forward with the meeting." While I will admit I overreacted on my part, I will not tolerate the disrespect that you showed on any of my teams. So, going forward, I will ask that you find another elective to place on your schedule. Effective immediately, you are expelled from all sports teams and will be getting three days of in school suspension."
"What the fuck?" Duke stands in outrage causing the trainer and the Police Officer (he forgot he was there) to flinch. The Officer jerks his hand to the gun at his belt; Duke can decide later if the hitch in his breath was out of fear or outrage. " You keep creeps on staff so you can look like all angel next to these Monsters." Dick Grayson shakes his head and pulls out a pink slip to write on.
" Believe what you want about me Duke, but I will not tolerate slander of my Staff. They work too hard to be brought down by baseless rumors." He dots the pink slip with finality before sliding it over to the resource Officer silently.
" You may leave, Duke "
The officer comes to stand by the teen, waiting for him to turn around; when he doesn't turn the intense stare down, he's having with Dick is broken by a rough shove that nearly gives him actual whiplash. Then Duke is walking out with a mess of conflicting emotions.
The walkdown had him in his own head for so long that he doesn't come to until the door to the empty classroom is slammed shut. The temperature in the room drops into the negatives and Duke feels the hairs on his neck stand in warning. Instinct is telling him he should stay turned around for self-preservation but there was a compulsion at the back of his mind that told him he needed to fight.
There’s a faint yellow glow coming from his arms and he hears a cackle just before blacking out.
-
Now, when he comes to, he would only be able to recall the sound of leather straining behind him and the rancid smell of death clinging to his person. It smelled worse than Gotham sewage and that’s what wakes him up on the ground back against the wall with no recollection of what happened moments prior. His head is pounding and he feels warm and cold all at once. When he turns his head he looks down and for a moment, he thinks he’s going to fall over a cliff with the nausea rolling through him.
There's ash on the ground and the weighted pen in his hand. Duke’s clothes are soaked in blood.
Even though he can’t seem to move more than his head or he can’t figure out where the blood is coming from, he can't catch a single break. The door to the room opens with Coach Grayson looking panicked, Mr. Todd not far behind him.
Both expressions change, however, when they look at the state of the detention room and Duke himself. The two of them take a moment to exchange glances before Coach Grayson falls back with his radio out and Mr. Todd pulls his phone to make a call.
It isn’t until Luke runs in looking like a bat out of hell that he starts to get some hints on how bad the situation might be.
"DUKE! Hey, hey, stay with me you’re good."
He yells, sliding to his side as he steadies the teen on the wall. He has a first aid kit on him and quickly starts putting pressure on his torso. “ Lu? Wha…what’s happening? What was that?” He tries to ask only to be stopped by Luke.
"Hey, I’ll explain what I can later, your mom already knows what’s going on she’ll be able to help you understand this a bit better. Shit, they can smell you." The boy hisses before looking over at their teachers. " Why would you two leave him alone after he was just attacked by a monster? He could’ve died. Are you both fucking slow?"
“We have to protect all of the students, not just him. There was more than one monster on campus! We can’t be everywhere at once.” Came Dick’s voice, with restrained anger, “ Besides, he was fine, as you can see.” Duke wouldn’t say that this is classified as ‘fine’ but go off, I guess. “Fucking kryptonians, the assholes.”
The two of them ignored Luke’s remarks and continued with their tasks. Lucas helps Duke up when he’s patched him up enough for them to get where they’re going. “When he gets to Camp, you both owe me."
Camp?
───
When they reach the Narrows Duke feels himself relax by margins and his legs nearly give out underneath him for it. Luke catches him as if this was expected but refuses to stop moving. " Easy there, we're almost home. Just keep moving for me kid."
They make it to the apartment in under 2 minutes or maybe 4? Either way, they burst through the door and his mom is there moving around and packing. She turns around with a spear in hand aimed to attack but she lowers it when she sees who's at her door. “Duke.” She gasps in relief tossing the spear aside and rushing to take Duke from Luke’s arms.
She holds him close to her chest and kisses his forehead.
“ You’re alright baby, I’m here. You’ll be fine.” In another breath, she looks back at Luke trying to figure out what happened but he offers no real explanation of the situation. “ Anything that Red Hood told you is most likely accurate. He smells too much like his father and that’s not a good thing for either of you or Gotham.”
"So he has to go?" "'m afraid so. You will too, though," Elaine pauses, " Why?"
"The monster was disguised as a GCPD school officer. Dick and Jason can't cover that man's absence up with their veil."
She closes her eyes, praying for patience before taking a deep breath. " Okay. Okay, that's fine. I'll call Talia and get someone to clear us out. Doug will have to wait for me in Metropolis until then."
"We'll take the Zeta, just make sure you aren't caught. Myths know what he might do if you get hurt."
Elaine falls silent before setting Duke on the couch. She sits beside him and takes a deep inhale. “ Mom,” Duke wants to defend himself, or ask her what’s going on,” I-”
“ Duke, baby, I know what’s going on is overwhelming and confusing. I can’t tell you everything because of my oaths, but you have to listen carefully to what I’m going to tell you. “ He nods, and she can’t help but smile at her son.
“You’re my son, but Doug is not your biological father.” Duke’s brows furrow, and an immediate frown is on his lips as he eyes his mother wearily. She gives a light jab to the side of his head.“ Don’t give me that. I was pregnant with you before I met him.”
He nods for him to continue, though still weary. “ When I was traveling abroad during college I met a man who I thought was from the area. I was going to be there for a few weeks and younger me had a lot going on.” She caresses the side of Duke’s head, sighing forlornly. “ I didn’t want anything serious, or so I thought, I fell in love and I confessed as much the day I was about to leave.”
“He reciprocated and after that we started dating I stayed with him and we’d practically been engaged by that point. He would talk about his family yet I could never meet them. When I thought that it was going to be a situation of me being the affair partner I was ready to leave. But, this was so much more. “
She took Duke’s hands in hers, “ He was a god. God of the Sun, making you a demigod, and I didn’t know what to do with the newfound information of his true identity, so I stayed. It wasn’t until I got pregnant that I realized that you would lead a life of so much despair if you grew up with him. I wanted you to be happy away from all of that for as long as I could keep you.”
“Why didn't you tell me?” Elaine shook her head squeezing his hands and changing the subject. “You will be safe once Luke gets you to Camp.”
“What? Mom! You can't just tell me something like this and leave it at that. What else happened and why won't you tell me?”
In his periphery Luke tenses as his voice raised and he looked back at his friend who seemed to know something that Elaine didn't want to share. Then it suddenly dawned on him that Luke looked different. Turning to face his friend properly the boy- or rather man had grown at least 6 inches in height. He was muscular with facial hair seeming to have grown out of nowhere. On top of that, he had antlers and wings. Bat wings.
“Duke, right now you need to trust that everything will make sense when we aren't running anymore. You can't know too much before we reach Camp Demi so we can protect the others that are there. Can you do that for us?” Looking between his mom and his friend he decided he could be reasonable, which he'd already been wonderful at, and drop the subject.
They're moving within the hour with two assassins as their guards. The journey to Metropolis was only 30 minutes which should have been smooth sailings. But Lucas and Duke had to ride separately from Elaine tailing them.
While she would go as far as she could with them, she wasn't expected to make it to the Zeta tube with them.
The car swerves the moment they leave Gotham city limits as a hulking figure steps out of an alley with a snarling white figure to match. Duke feels his heart stutter to a stop at the unwillingness to even beat too loudly around it. “A joker.”
Lucas whispers beside him looking grim as he says it. “They're a natural predator in Gotham; you can't kill them if you don't want to risk becoming one. It can kill indiscriminately but one fatal blow and you become a joker yourself.” But it looked the same as the monster at school.
“NO!” The Joker is blocking the car holding his mom and the other assassin. Duke feels that familiar sensation coursing through him, this time feeling like he's being stabbed through the back of his eyes. Yet despite the painful feeling his eyes refuse to close to relive the pain. Instead, he is treated to gold silhouettes imitating people as three becomes two and the two become one as the biggest figure devours the others happily. Somewhere in the midst of this vision he hears the faint command to drive.
When Duke is given back to the present a sickening feeling of dread claws its way up his back. It's shredding his skin as it does. “Stop the car,” Duke reaches for the door handle jerking on it only to be stopped by Lucas. He shakes his head eyes pleading with Duke not to fight him. “Stop the car!” He yells this time shoving Lucas away from him. He tries to punch the glass window. The assassin in the front seat speeds up, hitting a pothole as they do so and it sends Duke slamming into the passenger seat.
“Luke- that's my mom out there what are you doing?? We have to go save her! She's going to die!”
“Back up is coming soon for them I promise. But she would rather see you safe than you try to go play untrained hero. Do you understand me? Now, Sleep.”
"No, what the fu-” He's asleep before his words finish.
There’s a ring of gold hovering in his face when he opens his eyes. This time he isn't even surprised this time when it speaks.
‘Do you want to save your mother, Duke?’
‘How is that even a question you ask me right now?’
An amused chuckle follows when nothing in this situation has been even remotely funny to him. ‘My apologies, you remind me of your mother when she was younger.’
‘Who are you? Can you really save her?’
‘In a flash, all you have to do in return is pray to me when you get to camp little demigod. Pray for my protection, and I shall be able to protect you from all that lies ahead.’
‘That's it? What about the God of the Sun my mom told me about?’ There's another light chuckle that Duke can't tell if it's meant to be fond or condescending.
‘He won't mind your asks going to someone else for a while.’ ‘What do I call you?’
‘My children and champions call me a plethora of things, but your group likes to call me the immortal.’
‘Really on the nose there.'
'Quite the mouth on you, relax Duke your mother will be safe.'
His body relaxes and the gold rind bursts into glittering dust.
Even in this dreamscape can hear the haunting screams of a woman go quiet all at once.
"Welcome to Camp Demi blood, Duke." It's Coach Grayson in the Nightwing attire, oh wow. He's a Kryptonian demigod. Shocker.
" Or rather, Son of the Sun."
Duke can only look around in his tired state with disbelief. He was in fucking space with his former coach who Duke was going to blame for this whole thing to begin with.
“I don't have time for this.”
“And that's another one for Gotham Demigods. Brooding already.”
'I really fucking hate this Guy.'
"You left him unprepared; now I will mold him into what he should have been from the beginning without any input from you."
The man tilts his head listening, and he grins as he taps his ear. "He's learned how to pray to his father for guidance," Gnomon lets go of Elaine, "I will guide him. Maybe he will learn quickly so he can save his mother."