Chapter Text
The ringing of an old land line echos through the empty halls of Wayne Manor. It wouldn’t have been unusual except in this day and age almost everyone uses modern phones to call each other. The sound was cut short as Alfred, the Manor's caretaker, picked up the receiver.
“Wayne Manor.”
“Alfred?” A woman's voice came through, “It's good to hear you again.”
“Ah, Mrs. Sally.” The old butler recognized the caller, “It’s been a while, how have you been?”
“I’ve been good, much better than last time. Sorry for calling so late.” The woman says, “I hope I didn’t wake anyone.”
“Worry not, no one in this house maintains a regular sleep schedule.” Alfred remarks a bit miffed, “Much to my efforts. What, may I ask, is the reason for calling this late?”
The old butler wouldn’t show it but the last time he’d seen this old friend of Master Bruce she wasn’t in a good situation, he was worried given she, nor her young son, hadn’t visited in the last few years. And given that her son was missing again, there was cause for concern.
“Oh yes.” The hint of mirth on her tone, “I was calling to inform you that Percy will be visiting Gotham.”
“Oh he returned, has he? Is he alright?” The joy and relief he felt was evident, “We haven’t heard any since the last you called.”
“Yes, sorry, things got a bit hectic on my end but he’s home safe again.” Sally informs him, his years in service of not only the military but under the Waynes tell him that was only a partial truth. “He’s alright as well, if not a little tired.”
“I can imagine. When should we expect Master Percy’s visit?”
“He’ll be in town sometime next week or so. He’s taking some time to catch up on his education and some friends of his before he goes to college.”
“That’s wonderful to hear.”
“Yes, he wasn’t planning to inform anyone.” She remarks with an audible eye roll, “Something about surprises and high hope.”
“Quite, well I will inform the family. They’ve all missed him.” Alfred calmly assured her, “He still has a room here, as well as you, should you ever need them.”
“I know, thank you Alfred.” Sally acknowledged with genuine gratitude, “He knows too. How has Bruce been? I know after Jason…”
“Oh forgive me.” Alfred interrupted her, “Master Bruce is doing well, Master Jason’s death was falsified by kidnappers. We are happy to have recovered him but he is taking his time to return to the… land of the living so to say.”
“That’s… That’s really good to hear. I know Percy will be happy too.”
“Yes, I still must apologize for how Master Bruce acted back then. It was unseemly.”
“It’s alright, we don’t blame him.” Sally tells him, “I can’t imagine what would happen if something happened to Percy or Estelle.
“Estelle?”
“My daughter.” Sally explains, “I remarried and had her with my husband.”
The call lasted a few more moments. A quick, and vague, recap on both ends of what has happened over the year with promises to get together for a full visit in the future before the call ends.
The butler turns on his heel, heading to the main study of the manor and through a secret passage.
“Hey Agent A.” A masked figure sat in a cave in front of a huge computer. “Who called?”
“A certain Starfish will be visiting soon.”
“What!?”
There was the sound of someone hitting the ground from the computer as the information. As the chair’s occupant whipped around to stare at him wide eyed before returning to the screen and pulling up a new window. Fingers flying across the keys.
“I refuse to believe the starfish warrants this reaction.” A young voice called out, “At least not enough for Nightwing to slip if the building like he did.”
“Yeah, and him visiting is uncommon but not surprising.”
“We are not referring to Jarro.”
“There’s another Starfish?”
“No.”
“Explain.” A gravelly voice cut through the chatter. “Starfish has been missing for months.”
“Quite.” Alfred says, “His mother called, he’s been found and has been home for a bit.”
“It’s true B.” Red Robin says, pulling up the case, “His missing person report was rescinded a few weeks ago…”
“What happened?”
“Where has he been? Does it say? Is he okay?”
“The police file is a mess and poorly handled like last time but it appears to be another case of kidnapping with no real perpetrator or suspect listed.” Tim informs him, “He refused to give a statement or give names, and he just… showed back up seemingly okay? If not a little worse for wear and a few healed injuries. There’s no hospital report, only pictures.”
“Hnn.”
“Someone care to explain to the rest of us?”
“After patrol.” Batman’s voice cut through, “We’ll include it in the debriefing.”
Alfred picked up the undertone of worry and guilt in Batman’s usual gravel tone. It was hard on him the first time Percy had been kidnapped, leading to losing their summers with him.
They sorta lost contact with him after that. Leaving everyone who knew him worried about how they were doing, but respecting their boundaries after the undoubtedly traumatic event.
It was understandable that Sally didn’t let him wander too far after that, seeing as Jason died the year before, leaving Bruce a wreck and Percy unable to visit that summer as well. It was like he lost two kids that year and every year they didn’t visit was like another nail in the coffin.
“Is he bringing cookies!?” Nightwing asks with excitement, “If not he better have learned how to make them! I have to tell Hood!”
“Later.”
“Give him a break B.” Oracle cuts in, “It’s been years he’s been worried about our little Starfish, cut him some slack.”
“Who are you talking about?” Robin grumbles, “Is there another stray father that we don’t know about.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That answered nothing.”
“Later.”
“Alright guys, let’s stop before Batman blows a blood vessel.”
The comms went silent again. Only the sounds of keys from Red Robin and he furiously looks through information was heard.
“Master Tim.” Alfred stands firm next to the chair in a knowing manner, “Do not spend the whole night digging into his background. There will be plenty of time to do the unnecessary background check.”
“It just doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“Why now?” He asked, not taking his eyes off the screen. “Why after this long?”
“I can’t say, truly.” The old butler admitted a bit sadly, “But I can only hope it’s because his reasons are good, rather than bad.”
“Me too…” Tim mumbled, “He has one of the hottest cold cases, ever. At least he’s alive. Good night Alf.”
“I agree, Good night, Master Tim.”
The butler returned to the manor, spending only a few extra moments to check the status of the ‘guest’ room the Jacksons’ usually use to give it a quick clean. Like everything else in the manor, it was well kept and tidy. Only needing a dusting and some freshen sheets. Mrs. Sally had only mentioned that it was just Percy was visiting, but it never hurt to be prepared in case.
One last stop to the kitchen to check if he was missing something vital for the visit and then he was off to bed for the night… unless someone of the night brigade needed him for whatever reason.
Percy finished packing his bags. It wasn’t much but almost everything he had was already moved by his mom and Paul to his new apartment in Gotham. His mom offered to pay for his apartment ever since her first book took off and mainly because Percy was moving out to open up space for his new little sister. As much as he tried to argue, he admitted that the rent was incredibly cheap compared… plus it was only until he and Annabeth got jobs.
He did consider staying at the Manor if their family friend but if the news is anything to go off of then there are a bunch more people living there now and Percy hasn’t visited in years, it wouldn’t be fair to suddenly just throw himself into their lives like that again, it wasn’t fair to them.
Plus, ya know, all the Half-Blood nonsense that is his life. He needed a place his friends can drop into without notice and he can’t do that at the Manor.
“You know, you don’t have to move.”
“I know, but Estelle deserves her own space to grow up like I did.” Percy told his mom, who was leaning against his now empty room, “Plus I’ll be back, it’s just a year, to ya know… try to relax.”
“I understand, honey.” His mom moves to hug him, “You grew up too fast. I wish I could have helped more.”
“You just being here and happy helped me more than you know.” Percy tells her, accepting her embrace, “You and Paul are the best.”
“Thank you, dear.”
“I’ll call as often as I can, with IMs and phone. Leo’s been working on those phones for us.”
“I look forward to it.” She pulls away, “Now you said you were helping another camper before heading to New Jersey?”
“Yeah, I’m meeting Clarisse, Chris, and Gleeson in Delaware to help escort a group of demigod kids they found.” Percy explained, “Blackjack is taking me but they’re a bit worried because of how being the group is, they’ve been running into some problems along the way.”
“Stay safe, I love you.”
“I love you too, I’ll do my best.”
“I’ll make sure to keep an eye on the news between here and Delaware.”
“Mom!”