Work Text:
The storm brews up with no warning, right outside of Metropolis, on the edge of the waterfront.
The waves froth back and forth, drawing back, towards a spot obscured by the churning blue water, and it's pure chance that the Batfamily is in Metropolis visiting the Supes. They change quickly, leaning over railings once it's clear that this is not a normal storm.
The clouds gather, dark and ominous, crackling with electricity. Damian's hairs stand up on their end, not as strong as the Graces' but still with that smell of ozone.
The water starts to swirl up, into a tornado of water that spirals and moves clockwise, blending in with the clouds.
"Superboy and SJ, evacuation with us," Batman commands over the comm. "This isn't a normal storm. Red Robin, find out if there's any technological interference, and Superman, investigate."
Damian stands there, transfixed. Superman flies towards the centre of the storm, only to be pushed back by strong gusts of wind that have Red Robin's devices flying. Damian doesn't move, smelling the sea salt in the breeze that shouldn't be there.
He pulls out a flip phone, flicks off his comm and dials the number for the Big House. On the third call's fifth ring, someone picks up.
"Delphi's Strawberry Services, how may we help?" There's an undercurrent of stress in Austin's voice. Another gust of wind as Superman fights to the middle.
"Care to tell me why there's a hurricane over Metropolis right now, Lake?"
There's an exhale of relief before his words register, and a stream of Greek expletives fly past his ear. "Shit. We had a scare, Annabeth's hurt. He dissociated. We sat him down on the bed, and he was gone. I think he's in a flashback. We'll get someone over there, hold on - "
"There is no need," Damian interrupts. "It sounds like you're busy. I'll take care of it."
Another sigh, this one of relief and worry. "Okay. Okay. I'll tell Will."
"And Lake?"
"Yeah?"
"Please do not burn yourselves out again. Taking care of five sick Apollo children is extremely ironic, and horrible. None of us wants to repeat that experience."
A huff laughter, then a shout. "Will do. Bye."
There's a click, then the tell-tale long hum. He closes the flip phone and breathes in deeply.
"Who was that, Robin?" Drake says, typing quickly into his gauntlet.
"Confirmation," he answers. "Do you trust me?"
"I - what?" Red Robin looks up, confused now.
"Do you trust me?" Damian repeats.
He nods, albeit hesitantly and with a furrowed brow. "Yeah, why?"
Damian moves closer to him. "I know what's causing this. But I need to go alone."
Drake scoffs, returning to his gauntlet. "No."
"I'm not asking for permission."
Drake looks up and down, unimpressed, and makes to grab Damian's hand -
He stops as the cuffs around his hands jangle, attached to the railing and wound tightly. Damian holds up two sets of lockpicks. He knows there's at least two more, but he doesn't have time, and this will buy him enough so that he can reach Perseus. "I'm sorry. But contrary to your beliefs, I do know how to stop this." He drops them into one of his pouches and takes the collapsible bo staff from Tim as his brother struggles.
"Robin!" he yells as Damian unclapses his cape, hanging it on the railing. Then he takes a deep breath, attaches the rebreather, ignores the yelling from Drake, and dives in.
***
It's cold. No surprise.
He swims as fast as he can, breaths even as he kicks. The water seems to help him, pushing him closer to the figure at the bottom. It propels him further in, bubbles streaming from his feet.
Perseus curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth, eyes glazed over. Damian reaches him, not touching him just yet. Perseus' eyes find him but don't see him, staring at nothing.
He turns down the comm in his ear. A bubble of air forms and he steps into it, shaking his ears as they pop and the pressure adjusts. He sits down, meditative position and exaggeratedly breathing in and out, making sure that Perseus can hear it. Soon enough, the older demigod's breathing evens, less shallow, and deeper. His eyes slowly return to their usual sea green and not the dull grey-ish red.
"Damian," Perseus murmurs, and Damian stands, offers a hand. Around them, the water settles as well, white fading into blue. Perseus takes it and stands shakily, then grabs him around the waist and shoots them to the surface.
They touch down on the pier gracefully, the water reluctantly to leave as Percy steps out. He pulls the water from Damian's clothes and tosses it back into the bay, still shaky.
"Is she okay?" he asks. Still needing the confirmation.
"She's with Will right now," Damian confirms softly. He catches Percy as he falls into his arms, though not easily - arms behind him steady both of them, Jon's arms reassuring around him.
"Robin?" Nightwing cautiously says. "Who..."
"You little shit," Red Robin hisses. His arms are free. Damian throws his bo staff to him and resumes his position as Emotional Support (Literally) Person.
"I could not risk your interference escalating the situation," Damian explains factually. Percy slumps against the railing, running a tired hand through his hair and giving a small smile.
"Percy Jackson," he introduces. "I'm his - uncle, I think."
There's a squeak. Perseus laughs as Damian scowls.
"That doesn't count and you know that."
He shrugs unapologetically. "Sorry. I had - I had an episode. Happens sometimes. Not as often anymore, but I just - it's a bad day."
"She's safe," Damian reminds him.
"Safe," he repeats, a shudder going through him, eyes going a little misty-grey.
"You're...Talia's...brother?" The scepticism in Batman's voice is clear.
That startles a real, loud bark of laughter. "Gods, no! No, I'm on his other side."
A quirk of an eyebrow from Red Robin. "I highly doubt you're Batman's brother."
Perseus turns to Damian at this, raised eyebrow. It seems like it's a trend nowadays. "You didn't tell them?"
"Our worlds are never supposed to mix," Damian says, stiff.
"I think that daughter of Zeus broke that," Perseus points out, smug. Whatever injuries he had were healed by the water.
"I didn't get the chance," Damian mutters, almost a growl.
"It's been a few months."
"It just never came up," Damian says out loud, in English this time.
"Robin," Batman growls, and for once, Damian doesn't flinch away and holds his glare steady. "What is the meaning of this?"
"It can be discussed once Jackson is moved to a safe place," he says, words stilted. "We're all at risk right now."
"We are not done with this," Batman warns, and Damian nods.
***
They're at Wayne manor. Perseus nurses a cup of hot cocoa, courtesy of Pennyworth, and sits by the fire.
"I'm a demigod."
"Oh, that's how - okay." Perseus blinks from his place on the couch and just nods, having grown used to Damian's tendacies. "We're both demigods. I'm a son of Poseidon, and Damian has a little mix of all types of ichor."
"Demigods," Bruce repeats.
"Like Wonder Woman?" Todd says, interest piqued, placing a bookmark in between the pages he was reading.
"Exactly like her, except she's lived longer than any of us combined. We honestly didn't know tribes of Amazons existed outside of America."
"Whatd'youmean she's lived longer than any of you combined?" Drake demands, still shooting Damian glares which he studiously ignores.
"We don't have a magic island. We either make it to Camp or get eaten by monsters. We smell really tasty."
"And...how is Damian a demigod?" Grayson has his own mug of tea.
"Mother stumbled across one of the gods' battlefields during World War II. She gathered the ichor and mixed it with my DNA when I was developing. We currently think that I have Hermes, Athena and Apollo traits, but not much else," Damian answers, taking a long drink from his tea.
A collective exhale from everyone who knows of Talia. Jon's warmth is nice, Damian muses. "I'm sorry for keeping it from you, but it's necessary for our protection."
"We can argue that later," Bruce says mildly, and there's a promise there. Damian rolls his eyes.
"We do fine without your interference, Father. Besides, you all would invade on my privacy."
Immediate protests that stop as the temperature drops.
The shadows converge on a certain spot, and then di Angelo and Chase are stepping out. Perseus and her embrace, di Angelo rolling his eyes.
Okay. Maybe it isn't as bad as he thought it would be.
He drinks his tea, passing a mug of hot chocolate to a pale Annabeth and Nico, the former who smiles and the latter who scowls but accepts it.
They'll figure it out.