Percy POV
"It's really not that hard to figure out once you know who Batman is. Honestly, all of us know who the three of you are." I said with a shrug. Cassie's eyes widened. "Wha.. how... when... huh?!?!" I chuckled and kissed her cheek. "You're adorable babe." I said. "Anyway, where's Barbara?" I asked.
"What?! No, no! You can not just glide past that!" Cassie exclaimed. "Do you know how hard we work to keep our identities hidden!" I stared at her. "Not very hard babes. We both know it." Cassie frowned. She went to answer, but I pulled her mask back up. Right after I did a kid about my age, but much shorter jumped from the roof and landed softly next to us. "Orphan? Have you gotten anything out of him?" He asked like an aggressive robot.
"No. I just managed to calm him down." Cassandra lied smoothly. He nodded and looked up at me. "Do you know why the Joker would want to kidnap you?" His tone was much softer, but much faker. Like he was actively trying to remember how to be polite. "Uh, no. I got a phone call to my apartment telling me to meet someone called Jay in Grant Park. When I got there all those guys showed up, threw a bag over my head and tossed me in a van." I said, only lying a little bit. He nodded and turned to Cass. "Thank you. You should go home and be careful. Stay in populated areas and get a cab if you can." He said.
I nodded and walked off, stuffing my hands into my pockets. As I walked, I used my super hearing to listen to their conversation.
"Clearly a targeted attack, but why? Joker isn't known for being this precise. In his planning, yes. Not in going after people." The boy said. I assumed that was Damian. "Unless he wants to send a message. He's trying to get to someone or call them out." Cass replied. "I'll keep an eye on the target. Make sure he gets home safe." She stated.
"Good idea. I'll keep looking around." Pretty soon, Cass was walking next to me. "We're going to the clock tower. That's where Barb is." She said. I silently nodded. She jumped up and out of eyesight, but whispered the directions to me.
It took a while, moving at a human's pace, but we reached the tower. We has to take a secret elevator that wad on the third floor behind a book case. At the very top, literally behind the face of the clock was Barbara, sitting in front of a giant computer with multiple screens. She was drinking a diet Pepsi from Wendy's.
"Hey Barbs." I greeted, making her jump and turn around. "Percy?!" I smirked and she sighed, shaking her head. "Why am I even surprised?" She asked herself. "At least you know how bad you're at with secret identies." I smiled. "Eh." Cass gawked. "What? How are we bad!?" She asked in frustration. "Once you figure out that Bruce is Batman, the rest of us are just a domino effect considering he adopts about nintey percent of his Robins." Barbara shrugged. "Matching up the timelines of kids growing up and new Robins coming in." She explained.
Cass looked like she wanted to argue some more, but couldn't since she knew we were right.
"You never brought this up to Bruce?" She eventually asked. Barbara shrugged. "So, what did you bring him here for?" Cassie clearly didn't having her question ignored, but answered Bab's. "He wanted to see you." She replied. Barbara looked at me. "Joker called me here and tried to have me kidnapped." They both stared at me, unblinking. "WHAT?!" Was their prompt and loud response. I winced at the yelling.
"Could you two not scream? Sensitive ears." I asked. They didn't seem to care about my ears. "Why the hell would he be after you?!" I shrugged. "I dunno. Gotta a call from some guy called Jay telling me to meet them in the park. I assumed it was Jason finding out about me so I went to meet him. Some dude with crowbar attacked me. I knocked him out then started sniffing you out." I pointed to Barbara. "When I was doing that a bag was thrown over my head and I was tossed in a van. You can guess what happened afterwards." I said.
"You killed them all." I looked at Cassie, who stared at me disapprovingly. "You say that like I did something wrong." I said. "You did. They could've been sent to jail." She argued. "Eh." I shrugged. "Anyway, do you think Joker knows who any of you are?" I asked, looking directly at Babs. She looked doubtful. "Could be, or he could've seen you on the news." I frowned. "I'm pretty sure I was pretty discreet on the quest." I mumbled. "No, that fight against that bull was pretty public." She said.
"Oh, yea. That explains it. Not my best work." I nodded. "Why would he want me for that tho?" This time, Cassie answered. "Joker is obsessed with pissing Bruce off and making his life as difficult as possible while at the same time, being as gruesomely humorous at the same time." She explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if he wanted you on his team just because." She said. I rolled my eyes. "So random bastard does random shit. Got it." I shook my head. "Yea, basically." Barbara confirmed. "Anyway, want to get lunch?"
"Sure? What ya feeling? I'll pay." I offered. "How 'bout pasta?" Barbara asked. "I'm game. As long as we can get ice cream and pie afterwards." She nodded. "Um, what about being Oracle?" Cassie asked. "I've got my comms and lap top on me. I'll still be working." She said. "Percy won't mind, right?" I shook my head. "Nah. Not like we can act like a couple in public. Pretty sure that would land you in jail." She gave me her patented 'that's not funny look' which I mumbled a sorry at. "Welp, let's go."
