Chapter Text
They stepped out of a shadow in the Batcave and suddenly there was a batarang flying through the air at them, which Jason deftly caught out of the air. “Chill out, old man, it’s just us,” Jason said casually and unconcerned.
“You startled me. I was not expecting a sudden teleportation in the cave,” Batman commented.
“Cave seemed like a safe place to teleport to without being noticed by others,” Jason replied, “And we figured you’d want to see us.”
“Yes, I am glad to see you both and I am eager to receive your report on what happened. Diana was scant on the details, mainly communicating that Percy was involved but that it was all clear,” Batman grumbled.
“Let us sit down then, yes? And I believe this is another thing that is best not recorded electronically,” Jason suggested. They went over to the sitting area, with Batman bringing a notepad. Percy was aware that Batman had some special coded shorthand he used to write notes he didn’t want others to read which worked well for this purpose.
“So, start at the beginning, what happened?” Batman asked.
“So, uh, after the Bludhaven incident, when I was dream-walking, I had an…encounter with Apollo. Unbeknownst to me, that encounter resulted in the conception of a magical child between us. The child was born from the fountain I made, though the fountain itself should no longer be magical like it was, like the magic in it was used up in…birthing the child,” Percy explained carefully.
“A child? You had a child. Where is my grandchild now?” Bruce asked. Jason made a noise of amusement at Bruce being ready to declare the child his grandkid.
“The child is safe, she is staying on Themyscira for now, Gotham is not safe for her currently due to the pollution and the curses,” Percy explained simply.
“What is her name? When can I meet her?” Bruce asked.
“Violet, or Vi for short,” Percy replied, “She magically aged up to approximately 5 years old though I think she should age normally for the rest of her childhood. Queen Hippolyta is acting as her Guardian on Themyscira, we went over a lessons plan for her, she’ll be well cared for there for a few years.”
“Wait, the way you phrased that, did you go to Themyscira? They don’t allow men,” Batman asked, confused.
“I mostly consider myself a man but gender can be a bit fluid for me. And in this context, I am technically Vi’s mother and my form had changed to reflect that a bit, so I was permitted to visit. Jason stayed at our Greek Villa while I went to help get Vi settled in,” Percy explained.
“Do you plan to visit her? Or have her visit us here?” Bruce asked.
“When we’re in Greece over the summer, we plan to visit her, perhaps have her stay with us at the Villa for a bit, we don’t have the details hammered out yet,” Jason replied.
“Can I meet her?” Bruce asked.
“I don’t want to overwhelm her with too many people, I’d like time to bond with her at the villa just the three of us. Um, we could maybe video call while there and introduce you to her that way, if you’re that eager? But you have to be normal about it,” Percy replied.
“Define what you mean by normal about it,” Bruce prompted.
“Like, meet her as Bruce, not as Batman? Don’t ask probing questions, treat her like she’s normal, don’t interrogate her,” Percy replied.
“That’s reasonable, yes,” Bruce agreed, “And you indicated for her to stay on Themyscira for a few years, do you plan to take her in afterwards? You mentioned something about Gotham’s pollution and curses, please elaborate,” Batman inquired.
“Yeah, um, we’re already in progress on the project to clean Gotham Harbor, we need to complete that project. Vi is….associated with freshwater, and she’s young and vulnerable, so the polluted Gotham waters would make her sick. Gotham is also cursed and I worry she’s magical enough that the city’s curses may try to attach to her in some way, I’d like to try and undo at least the worst of Gotham’s curses. I plan for Vi to stay on Themyscira for about 2 to 3 years, that gives us time to fix Gotham and time for me to graduate college and stuff, so I would have more time to really care for her. Also, it gives her time to….learn to control her abilities so she can be inconspicuous in the mortal world,” Percy explained, rambling a bit.
“Does she have a lot of powers? Is she considered a demigod like you or is she more like a nymph?” Batman asked.
“She’s shown less powers than me, but that isn’t saying much. Um, she’ll probably grow into it some. She definitely has some abilities with water and she has an affinity for plants. The coloring of her form, her eyes and hair, shift a fair bit, so she needs to learn control over that. I’m a demigod and her other parent is a god, so she’s….at bit more than a normal demigod, she isn’t exactly a nymph but that’s a comparable power level,” Percy explained awkwardly.
“The pollution, we can definitely put even more resources towards trying to get that done in a timely manner, especially with it already in progress. Gotham’s curses….I’ve spoke with Constantine about it before, he described Gotham’s curses as like a house of cards, you can’t just remove one, so I worry about you trying to unravel curses on your own. You are powerful, but don’t seem to have much formal magical training,” Batman explained.
Percy considered for a moment, “The magic in Gotham has felt a bit more…active in recent months? I think I might’ve already pulled the first card when I destroyed the Lazarus pit. Like, it’s not tumbling, but it might already be….less stable than before.”
“Okay….well, I have magical sensors that would pick up on anything alarming and I already had Zatanna do a scan after the recent magical surge, she confirmed the veil is firm and steady, at least as much as it normally is here, so I don’t think there’s immediate concern, but I’ll be sure to monitor it more closely. I would like you to work with the members of Justice League Dark if you are going to work on untangling Gotham’s curses. Constantine is probably the best option, since curses are kind of his specialty, though Zatanna or Wonder Woman would also be appropriate supervision. Captain Marvel, as champion of magic, is also technically an option to help, but I…don’t consider him sufficient adult supervision on his own, so one of the others would need to be involved as well,” Batman informed them.
“Okay, I agree it would be best to have a more experienced magic user involved in that. I think we’ll wait to start worrying about that when we get back from our trip, so in the Fall,” Jason decided.
“Yes, that sounds reasonable. I will do what research I can, collect my notes on such things to give you a starting point. I would request you keep me informed on that when you start working on it,” Batman decreed.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Jason agreed, “Is there anything else we need to discuss today? We do need to pack for our trip to the track and field competition tonight.”
Bruce considered for a moment, “I think that’s everything we needed to cover. Though, how much are you planning to tell the others in our family?”
Percy considered, “I’m fine with Dick knowing everything I told you. I’m also fine with Tim knowing, I do trust him though I also know if information is kept from him, he’ll keep investigating it. I don’t think it’s particularly relevant for Damian, Cass, or Steph to know at this time. Um, Alfred can know, but he shouldn’t be preparing Vi a room or anything obvious like that yet, she won’t be staying here anytime soon. Duke doesn’t need to know, he’s still new anyways.”
“Fair enough, I can debrief Dick, Tim, and Alfred later. Oracle will want to know, she’s aware of the energy spikes. Damian will want an explanation of where you went,” Batman replied.
“Oracle can know I guess, as long as she doesn’t document the details electronically. Can just vaguely tell Damian there was a magical energy spike thing I had to deal with but it’s nothing he needs to worry about,” Percy decided.
“I do hope you join us for lunch. Dick should be by soon, he mentioned something about packing your things for you,” Bruce offered.
“We’ll have to check that Dick packed everything we need I suppose, but I guess it’s convenient if we don’t have to go back into the city, can just go straight to the airport from here,” Jason decided after looking to Percy to confirm.
“A nap would be nice,” Percy agreed around a yawn.
For lunch, Alfred had made grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup with a tomato broth. Upon seeing them come up the stairs, Alfred immediately started making many more sandwiches, including some grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. They had eaten not long ago, but Percy still had a fair bit of appetite.
Duke wasn’t present, presumably he was at the Gotham Youth Center. Tim was present, doing something on his laptop as he absentmindedly ate. Lunch was not a very formal meal for them, so Tim was allowed to have his computer at the table. Damian was also present, and he immediately questioned them when he saw them.
“Where have you been? What happened? Are you well?” Damian interrogated.
“I’m perfectly fine, just a bit tired. There was some magical stuff I had to deal with, but it’s all sorted now, nothing you need to worry about, Lil D,” Percy said casually, ensuring his body language matched.
Damian gave him a searching look, “Very well,” he accepted at last. Damian was somewhat used to Percy not wanting to tell him all the details about things sometimes, but he knew Percy would tell him if it was something that was relevant for Damian to know, like something with the League, so he was willing to drop the subject. Tim didn’t bother asking while Damian was present, knowing he could get better answers later, he knew how to convince both Dick and Bruce to spill the beans, if he didn’t simply hack his way to the answers he sought.
Percy and Jason pulled their chairs close together so their legs were touching, Percy still out of it enough to seek extra contact like that. Jason ate a single grilled cheese sandwich with his vegetable soup, already fairly full from the dinner they’d had. Percy ate the vegetables out of his soup while he waited for Alfred to bring him more sandwiches and then he ate 5 grilled ham and cheese sandwiches while dipping them in the broth to sop up the rest of the soup.
Percy considered going for some laps in the pool before concluding he was too tired. As they were finishing up eating, Dick came into the manor, carrying their luggage. Percy and Jason got up and greeted him.
“Hi, glad to see you’re okay,” Dick said warmly, pulling Percy into a quick hug. “I packed some normal clothes for you both, plus your planned competition outfits and shoes and some swimsuits too in case you want to use the hotel pool or anything. I packed your special earring in your carryon. I also packed a box of the special granola bars for you along with your water bottle and electroyte powder, etc,” Dick explained, rambling.
“Thanks, Dickie, that’s a big help,” Jason said warmly, “I’m gonna check everything over to be sure, see if we need to grab anything else from here.” Jason knelt down, unzipping the suitcases to do a quick check of everything, confirming it was good.
“So,” Dick said, “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Some magical stuff happened, it’s handled. I…I told Bruce he could brief you and Tim on the details later, but I don’t really want everyone to know,” Percy replied.
Dick understand the implication that they weren’t planning to tell Damian and thus Percy did not want to explain it here where the kid might eavesdrop. “Okay,” Dick accepted, “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, okay? I’m here for you.”
“Thanks,” Percy said simply, hugging Dick again.
Jason spoke, “Okay, everything looks great, Dick, thanks for packing for us. Percy and I could use a nap, jet lag and all, so we’ll go up to his room and rest. Our jet is leaving at 5pm, it’s 15 minutes to the airport from here, so we’ll plan to wake up and be leaving around 4pm. I’ll set an alarm for 3:45pm, but if someone could make sure we’re up and running on time? Um, I’m not sure if Alfred is free to drive us or if we should call a car…”
“I’ll be happy to drop you off. I’ll go ahead and pack the luggage into one of our bigger cars, so we’re good to go when you get ready, okay?” Dick offered.
“Yeah, that sounds great, thanks,” Jason agreed.
Jason and Percy went up to their bedroom and crawled into bed, cuddling closely. They had taken off their shirts when getting in just to increase the amount of skin contact, which Percy appreciated. Percy quickly fell into a peaceful sleep, glad they could nap for a little while.
Percy stayed sleepy as Jason woke him up. He knew it would be best for him if he could sleep while they were on the plane, so he was content with staying sleepy as they got ready. He changed into nicer sweatpants for wearing while traveling along with a plain dark blue hoodie before putting on his casual tennis shoes.
Jason and Percy sat in the back of the car while Dick drove. Percy dozed a bit more, head on Jason’s shoulder, for the short car ride while Jason and Dick chatted about light topics. They reached the private air strip and made their way to the private jet, not having to fuss with security. Dick gave them a hug farewell before he left as they boarded the plane.
It was one of the smaller private planes the Wayne family had, with 12 luxury first class seats. Some of them were more separate but others were combined like a loveseat; Percy and Jason sat in one of the loveseats so they could cuddle some more. Percy was next to the window but all the shades were down. Jason gave Percy earplugs to wear and they settled in, with Percy’s head on Jason’s shoulder while Jason held him securely. Percy quickly went the rest of the way back to sleep before they even took off, and he didn’t wake up until after they arrived. It was the least stressful an airplane flight had ever been for him.