Demigod in Gotham

61) Forget Knives in the Back, the Shoulders are Way Better

A/N: long chapter alert. Also I drew the thing above, and once again, I'm pretty proud ngl.

-Dick POV-

"Why am I even here?" Nico asked as he sat on a tree branch, watching the others below him.

Dick sighed as he dodged a wayward arrow. "Because Batman said you needed to, now can you help already?"

Nico watched as the team fought the assassins in the forest for another moment before he let out a sigh, drew his knives, and hopped off the branch. He instantly pulled an assassin off Wally who had been pinned down and knocked them out. "First he wants me to sit out, then he wants participation; Batman really needs to decide what he wants."

Dick watched as Tim took down two more assassins before getting back to back with Nico. "Maybe we should focus on the task at hand?"

Nico threw one of his knives, pinning an assassins who was sneaking up on Artemis. "I can focus on two things at once." His head darted to look at the treetops and immediately he pulled Tim out of the way as a knife flew at him. "Watch tree tops, I count 4 shadows."

Artemis switched her sights to the trees. "You know you can just call them assassins, rights? League of Shadows is just the name of the org."

Dick watched as Nico smirked, reaching out his free hand, turned it into a fist, and then pulled it down as an assassin fell from the free tops. "I know. I meant shadows."

The battle continued until the assassins were all knocked out and tied up. While everyone caught their breath, Dick watched as Nico grabbed one of his knives out of a tree that it was stuck in. As he pulled it free, Dick saw him shiver and turn around suddenly, just in time to see the knives flying at him. He was able to block the first one but the second lodged deep in his right shoulder as he let out a string of curses.

"Ghost King!" Dick yelled as he saw the kid fall back against the tree. The oldest bat boy immediately was on the defensive as he scanned the trees for the assassin they missed.

Artemis, being the closest to him, was at his side immediately. She was about to open her mouth to ask him if he was okay when he grabbed the front of her shirt and shoved her away as three more knives flew at them. The boy deflected two but the last one lodged in his other shoulder. Artemis pulled out her bow and fired into the tree tops. They expected to hear a thud as an assassin fell, but it was silent.

Kon flew through the trees, but returned empty handed. "No one else is here. I only hear our heartbeats."

Nightwing made a mental note to check the area for secret passages, but filed it away for later as he looked at his brother. "You okay GK?"

Nico blinked at him. "Did you really just ask that while I have two knives sticking out of me?"

Dick sighed at the comment. "You know what I meant. We need to get you out of here."

Nico shook his head. "No, continue with the mission. I'll be fine to shadow travel back in a bit, so you guys keep going."

"We aren't gonna leave you here with two knives in your shoulders; you can't defend yourself right now." The rest of the team came over, ready to abandon the mission.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Trust me, I'll be fine. If someone comes for me I can always use the back up plan." Nico looked at Dick as if to say 'trust me, dumbass'.

"I don't know." Nightwing stared at the knives that looked like they were stuck pretty deep.

"I'll stay with him, you guys complete the mission," Artemis said, surprising everyone.