Chapter Text
Percy was not a fan of falling. But here he was plummeting towards a dirty river. One moment he was at camp with his friends and wonderful girlfriend, and the next he was in midair racing towards a river. At least whoever did this had the sense to drop him in some water. Dirty as it was. Unfortunately for Percy he did not have enough warning to keep himself dry. So he ended up climbing out of the dirtiest, nastiest body of water he'd ever been in soaking wet. He got the feeling he was being watched so he pulled out Riptide, still in its pen form. Someone emerged from the shadows hesitantly. Percy stood defensively ready for a fight if needed.
"Who are you?"
Percy looked over and saw a man dressed in a blue and black suit wearing a domino mask. He looked kind of ridiculous, but Percy could tell he was a seasoned fighter.
"Oh good, you don't know who I am, so it's safe to assume you won't try to kill me."
"What?"
Percy shrugged, "I'm Percy Jackson, could you tell me where I am?"
Nightwing was confused by Percy's nonchalance, "Uh, Gotham New Jersey."
Percy groaned, "New Jersey? Are you kidding me! Gross. Also who are you?"
"Im Nightwing."
Before Percy could respond he heard a roar, "Ugh, not this guy again."
The Minotaur came crashing in and Percy lept into action. The fight didn't last long after Percy spotted the beaded necklaces the Minotaur still held. This time he made sure to take them back. Nightwing stood there in a stunned silence. Percy brushed himself off, "Sorry, how many times you gotta kill a guy to make it stick huh? Anyways, you going to introduce me to your friends hiding around or what?"
A stifled laugh could be heard from a dark corner.
Nightwing stood shocked. This kid had taken out some beast in minutes like it was nothing and managed to notice his family hiding. Percy looked at the beads with a dark look on his face, "At least this time I could take these back." He pocketed them.
Nightwing then noticed the similar necklace Percy had around his neck. He didn't want to think about the implications of what that meant. Batman, Red Robin, Robin and Redhood came out of the dark. Percy was in a relaxed defensive stance.
"You guys look weird."
Tim fired back, "Your the one who just fell out of the sky wearing a bright orange shirt holding a sword."
Percy smiled, "I like this one. So, introductions. I'm Percy Jackson. And I have a sneaking suspicion I am not from here in more than me just being from New York."
Percy agreed to go with them once he made it clear he had no idea who they were anyways so hiding their identities was pointless. He even made the argument he didn't own a phone, let alone social media. He rode with them squished in the back of the Batmobile. It was awkward to say the least. Jason spoke first, "So... Hypothetically..."
Everyone except Percy in the car groaned.
"Let me finish! Hypothetically, if someone who was a really bad man killed your family, would you let them live?"
Percy's response was instant, "No. Of course not. Course I don't know about a mortal. Most of those kinds of issues for me are mythological and their a lot harder to kill permanently."
Tim looked at him, "Who even are you?"
Percy spoke like it was obvious, "Oh, I'm a demigod. Son of Poseidon."
Bruce slammed the brakes at a stoplight and the car went silent. Jason broke the silence, "Wonder Woman is my favorite superhero."
Percy replied bluntly, "I have no idea who that is."
"She's an Amazon, daughter of Zeus."
Percy nodded, "I know the Amazon's. But I don't think we're talking about the same thing. I also know a daughter of Zeus, she's a lieutenant of Artemis."
"That's so cool."
They arrived at the Batcave and Percy was getting checked out. Percy awnsered all of their questions, "I think this is some dimension travel bullshit. Pretty sure I got yoinked again and sent here, but hey at least I have my memories this time."
Bruce looked at him concerned, "I'm sorry, something like this has happened before?"
"Well yeah, Though not entire dimensions, just across the country. Memory got totally wiped. Literally the only thing I could remember was my girlfriend. The only reason I even knew my name was because the gorgons chasing me knew it."
Bruce looked at him, "How old are you?"
"Uh, 17?"
Damian gave Bruce a look, "Father... no."
Jason rolled his eyes, "Not again."
Dick just smiled and watched.
"Why don't you stay with us until all of this is resolved."
Simultaneous shouts of "No!" and "Haha! Yes!" could be heard.
They finished up in the cave and took Percy up to an empty guest room. Percy fell fast asleep and of course, had a dream.
He saw Lord Hermes, "Hello Percy. We're on very limited contact with you. Here's your memory by the way."
Percy found himself in his cabin back at camp. They had just won the Giant war and things were starting to calm down. Until Hera appeared in his cabin.
"OH HELL NO!"
"What? Can't I pop by and check on my... favorite little demigod."
"You and I BOTH know that's Jason."
Hera relented, "Yeah okay fine. I need just a little favor."
"No. Last time you asked me for a 'little' favor I got put in a COMA for 8 months then woke up without memories halfway across the country!"
Hera rolled her eyes, "Must you be so difficult. This is your fault anyways."
Percy spoke dryly, "What am I getting blamed for this time?"
Hera looked at her cuticles, "Well with all that fuss with Kronos then Gaea some of the elements from our world have started leaking into a dimension it doesn't belong in. However they have no knowledge about all that stuff and are wildly unprepared. Eventually our world's will merge, but without a bridge between them we will both be destroyed. You were the one to rile up primordials. So this is your responsibility."
"Are you fucking-"
Suddenly Percy was falling and he woke up. He threw his pillow across the room and shouted. Yet again he had to clean up the gods messes. And they had the audacity to blame him! Percy stormed through the hall and ran into Dick, "Woah, you look mad."
"Yeah well yet again I've been shouldered with the responsibility of the fate of the world. Except now it's the fate of TWO worlds on me. I didn't agree to this! I said no! But they never listen."
Percy leaned against the wall, "I'm so tired of fighting. I've been doing this nonstop since I was 12. I have literally lost track of how many times I saved the world. I even went to literal HELL. Do you know what that's like? It SUCKS dude."
Nightwing leaned next to him, "Sounds like your burnt out. What do they want you to do?"
Percy sighed, "My world is seeping into yours and eventually their going to merge together. I have to bridge them or else everything is destroyed on both ends."
Nightwing took a breath, "Shit man. Well your here now aren't you? Until it actually happens you could probably just immerse yourself here. Take a bit of a break from all that."
Percy nodded, "Yeah... maybe."
Nightwing paused for a moment then his eyes widened, "Wait did you say you've been to hell!?"
Percy pushed himself off the wall and walked away quickly, "Sorry what was that? Didn't hear you. Bye!"
Nightwing watched him make his escape. He had a feeling there was so much more to him than he let on. He was more powerful and dangerous than he let on. He also had a sneaking suspicion Percy had some serious issues. If he really had been fighting for his life and bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders since he was 12, not to mention the snippets Percy had told them. Getting taken across the country and his memory erased, losing 8 months, going to hell apparently. Not to mention those necklaces he took that were not unlike his own. There was a story behind those. One he suspected carried weight for Percy. He met everyone at breakfast.
Jason looked at Percy's hair, "Oh cool grey streak. I have a white one myself."
Percy touched his hair, "Oh yeah, it was a side affect from one of my quests. My girlfriend has a matching one."
"No way! My streak is a side affect too!"
Bruce sighed in exasperation and the 2 boys put their dishes away, "Dude, we have GOT to exchange stories."
"Oh for sure."
Percy and Jason were soon found in the library having a lively conversation, "So this guy murdered you, and he just let him go? What the hell! This one kid just stabbed my girlfriend in the back and I went batshit on everyone. If someone KILLED one of my family, no way. It would be absolutely over for those motherfuckers."
"You get it!"
Percy laughed, "Alright, so picture this. I'm on a beach facing Ares. So I, at 12 years old challenge him to a fight. First to draw blood wins."
"No way. You did not."
"I did."
"Oh you are amazing. How did you not die?"
"I didn't just not die. I won the fight."
Jason grinned, "What?! That's awesome! And you were 12?"
"I had literally found out about my dad like a month ago."
Jason smiled shaking his head, "You are insane."
"Thank you, I try. So how did you get your streak?"
Jason nodded, "Died and came back. How about you?"
"Nice. I did that once, kind of. But that's not where I got the streak. I got mine from holding up the sky."
"Im sorry, the sky? Like the literal sky?"
"Yeah. The entire sky. You know the myth of Atlas? Yeah I did that."
"You are metal as fuck."
The two of them continued until Percy paused for a moment, "Sorry, Uh I think the reality of all of this just set in and I'm about to freak the fuck out."
Jason stood up, "That's not good."
Percy sat tensely in his chair for a moment before quickly nodding, "Yeah, yeah me losing my shit is not good."
"What do you need me to do?"
"If you don't want your plumbing to explode I recommend you get me out of the house now. Throw me in a lake if you have to."
Jason quickly got Percy away from the manor. Percy paced and yelled at the sky. Eventually he crouched, just holding his head in his hands. Jason tentatively approached him, "You okay?"
"Percy mumbled, "I can't do this anymore. Annabeth is going to be worried again and this time I don't even know if there's a way she can get to me. This keeps happening and I can't do anything about it. If I do nothing they'll just pile it one some other kid who doesn't deserve it."
Jason sat next to him, "Self sacrafice. Your doing it to try and protect kids who would be targets otherwise. I had a very different approach to it, but I get the idea."
"I just... I don't know. It's too much you know. I mean it kind of pissed me off this morning after my dream, but I thought I could just walk it off. Or distract myself, but now it just set in. I'm stuck here. If anything happens back home I can't do anything. At least I've always been able to do something about it when things happen. But right now, I'm powerless."
Jason just sat there with Percy. After a while Percy sighed and stood up, "Well what are you gonna do."
Jason did a double take, "Dude, you just had a breakdown for like an hour and now your completely fine?"
Percy brushed himself off and shrugged, "Shit happens. Usually during quests, you learn to compartmentalize."
"Alright then."
They walked back to the manor and Percy holed himself in his room. Dick found Jason and pulled him away, "Good I found you. Have you noticed anything about Percy?"
"Do you mean the fact that he's crazy powerful? Or the fact that he has some serious issues."
"Yes. Did he tell you anything?"
"He told me everything. Though I get the feeling I got what he thinks is a sanitized version. Which doesn't bode well considering the fact it was still wildly brutal and insane for a kid to go through."
"He said something about hell but when I asked he refused to elaborate."
Jason nodded, "Yeah, he told me a little bit about that."
Dick looked offended, "Why did he tell you all this stuff and not me?"
Jason smirked, "We exchanged stories. Started with the streaks, and we just kept going after that."
Percy didn't come down for dinner. Alfred left a plate outside his door and everyone was in silent agreement to leave him alone for the time being.
Much to his displeasure Percy had another dream. Hermes appeared, "Hey Percy how you doing out there?"
"Send me back."
"I think we both know I can't do that."
Percy gave an exasperated sigh, "What do you want?"
"First of all, I'm sorry this all happened. Second, I come bearing instructions. And luckily for you, this time it's relatively easy."
Hermes muttered under his breath, "For now."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, don't worry about it. Anyways, all you have to do is acclimate. Familiarize yourself with Gotham and how this universe works. Just... immerse yourself. I'm sure you won't have any problems with that. You became a praetor within a week."
"Your saying all I have to do is just be here?"
"Actively be there yes. Get involved with things, meet people. Don't just sit there and do nothing."
"That's it?"
"For now, yes."
"How long do I have to be here?"
"Indefinitely."
Percy pinched his nose, "You know what, I'll take it."
"Don't worry, I'll pop in your dreams every once in a while. Check in, let you know what's going on over here and so on."
Percy perked up, "Can you send Annabeth a message?"
Hermes gave him a look, "Percy. That's my entire job. Besides, I'm pretty sure if you didn't she would go neurotic trying to find you again."
"Hey, that's my girlfriend your talking about."
Hermes put his hands up in surrender, "Alright. What have you got for me?"
"Tell her I'm okay, it happened again but I got to keep my memories. No one will be able to reach me for a while but I'm safe."
Hermes finished jotting it down in a notepad, "Alright. I'll let her know."
__________________________________________
Annabeth was worked up. Percy had gone to his cabin to grab something and he never came back. When she went to check on him he was nowhere to be found. She looked all around camp before assuming the worst. But he had dissapeared out of thin air. By the time she met back with everyone she was panicking. Piper frowned, "Hey you took a while, where's Percy?"
"I don't know."
This caught everyone's attention. Leo looked around, "Guys... where's Jason?"
Chaos ensued. Jason walked on to the beach to everyone freaking out. He just stood there holding extra towels. Hazel spotted Jason and took a breath of relief, "Jason! Thank gods!"
"Uh, I got the extra towels. What's going on?"
Frank spoke, "Percy's gone. Can't find him anywhere."
"Oh. Shit. Again?"
Annabeth was pacing, "Yes, again! Just out of thin air."
Both camps had been looking for him for a couple days and he was nowhere to be found. She was sitting on the beach when Hermes appeared next to her.
"What do you want?"
"Listen, I know I'm not exactly your favorite. But I come with a message."
That got Annabeths attention, "What is it?"
"It's from Percy. He's safe and his memories are intact. But he is unreachable right now."
"Where is he?"
"That is harder to awnser than you'd think. The important thing is that he's fine. And he will be back, probably... eventually."
Annabeth took a breath. Percy was okay. She couldn't get to him for some reason but he is safe.
"Thank you."
"Just doing my job."
_____________________________________
The next day Percy talked to Dick for some advice. Dick told Percy he was super burnt out and needed to take a break. Which fair enough, that was probably true. So he chilled and took a break for a while. Mostly. He still found himself training in the Batcave regularly. He even sparred with the others. It started with Jason. Jason wanted to spar but no one was home except Percy. They decided on hand to hand, no powers, no weapons. It was a good round, but Percy took him down without too much trouble. When Damian heard he had insisted on Percy fighting him. But Percy was hesitant to fight a kid. Eventually he gave in and won the fight relatively easily. After a few weeks of this Percy was going stir crazy. Then he got an idea. He drew up a design and presented it to Alfred who smiled in agreement. Hermes did tell him to immerse himself, and he was living with vigilantes. He had spent most of his life fighting immortal beings and monsters, how hard could it be?