Demigod in Gotham

32) Off To the Arctic?

A/N: I drew the pic above and I'm not gonna lie... I'm pretty proud of it.

-Bruce POV-

Nico had been gone for 4 days and the only reason he wasn't a complete mess was because of texting. Apparently Will was on their side about him needing rest and had all but strapped him into a cot at the infirmary after their memorial service. He had called the son of Apollo, who he had sadly not been able to meet at the Gala, on Nico's second day at camp to ask about stocking their infermary. The boy had promised to send Nico back with a supply of Nectar and Ambrosia since the son of Hades had apparently gone through all of his.

They were sitting at the table for lunch, Steph and Duke joining them that day, when Nico suddenly appeared in the middle of the table. Steph fell out of her chair and Duke spilled his water down the front of his shirt after choking on it, but everyone else just stared with wide eyes.

"Di Immortales, I need to focus more when I shadow travel." Nico sighed before stepping off the table and into his seat. "Sorry about that."

Duke finally coughed up the rest of his water before laughing slightly. "You're good dude. I always joked that the Waynes never use a door to enter a room, but you took it to another level. The rest of you need to step up."

Bruce pinched his nose at the idea of the chaos that would cause as everyone immediately began talking about new ways to enter rooms. "Maybe you should all try doors like Duke. I can't tell you the last time that one of them used the front door."

Damian shrugged. "It has become tradition Father. We cannot break tradition."

Steph snorted at the serious child's comment. "If the Waynes from like five generations ago could hear you, they would have a heart attack."

"I think they would have a heart attack about most things about the family," Tim said with a laugh.

"What do you think would do it faster: dressing up as a bat, having predominately adopted children, or the fact that the only 'blood heir' isn't white?" Jason's question only spurred them on more as it turned into a whole debate.

Bruce was about to shut it down but he looked over and saw Nico actively participating. It was more usual to see him act like that around the boys, but this was his first normal conversation with Steph and Duke. The man had expected to have to go back to square one with Nico after the Joker attack, but he seemed genuinely fine, which was almost more worrying.

After a while, lunch had long since been finished, they all headed down to the cave to train. Nico had tried to convince Bruce to let him train but after Alfred banned him from all physical activity for a week, the boy relented to simply observe. As the proteges began their warm ups, Bruce went through the bag Will had sent back with Nico while the kid explained everything.

"The most important thing to remember is to not touch it with your bare hands. The only mortal we've ever seen touch it is Rachel, but she has the Spirit of Delphi in her so we aren't quite sure if it's safe." Nico put away the Ambrosia that he and Will had apparently cut and individually wrapped in bite sized amounts so that the Waynes could carry some with them without being in danger.

Bruce pulled out a small USB stick from a pouch. "What's this?"

"Leo made it for you. He has been experimenting with other ways to implement his monster proof technology so that is the McShizzle Stick. Apparently it can be plugged into a computer and it dampens the signal monsters get. That is his first prototype and he figured we would be good test subjects since Gotham already has few monsters."

Bruce nodded, pocketing the drive for later. "Have you had to deal with any since arriving? You haven't mentioned anything."

"Only a handful, and nothing challenging." Nico continued to empty the bag of Nectar and a few pamphlets that Will made about treating demigods, plus the ones he had made about Nico specifically. "I killed a Hell Hound in the garden the other day."