Chapter Text
Percy knew her stance wasn’t steady, especially as she gasped for air, taking steps into the road so that she was no longer sandwiched between the two still standing threats. Though Fatso was leaning over Gym guy, trying to shake him awake.
“Rob! Rob you got to wake up! Dude, I think she killed Rob!” The fatso panicked as Thin guy recovered, his nose was bleeding, but otherwise he was still okay. He actually pulled a knife as Percy clutched her bow staff in one hand and her chest with the other. Damned it, where was a Bat when you needed one, she was tempted to shift the staff to a sword, maybe that would have the desired outcome of getting him to back off.
“You’re going to regret that you fucking whore,” he growled, before he was lunging, but before Percy could react there was the sound of thunder behind her, two in quick succession and the thin guy falls like a puppet with his strings cut to the ground, and fatso shrieks in fear before scrambling up to his feet. Falling and tripping over himself as he tries to get away. Percy turned, teeth gritted in a pained sneer as she held the staff much as she would a sword as she looked at the newest threat in front of her.
The guy was big, not as big as gym guy, but she could see the strength in his body, the squared shoulders. He definitely had the most relaxed of costumes, with black cargo pants no doubt full of weapons and gear, just like the leather jacket that sat over an armored shirt that was tight against his upper body, and his head, hidden by a red helmet. He was walking forward, a smoking gun in his right hand, and he shot again, this time at fatso, and while Percy didn’t look back, the gurgling was enough to know that the guy was also very likely to die soon.
“Don’t know-” Percy tried to puff up, trying to make whoever this trigger happy newcomer was that she had absolutely no interest. Hopefully though, those gun shots would be the beacon she needed for the bats to hurry up and arrive. Instead she coughed, coughed hard enough she felt like she was going to puke. She couldn’t get any air in, could hardly even see straight, making the fatal mistake of lowering her weapon. So used to not being entirely alone that someone usually had her back for her to falter for a moment, but she didn’t have that comfort here in Gotham.
“Easy,” A voice that was deep in timber, but calm, through teary eyes, she could see that whoever this killer was, they had put their gun away, but she could still see it, and it’s twin in holsters on the man’s side. “You are safe now.” It was almost enough to laugh at, safe? She was safe with a man that had just killed two people. While she didn’t know their stories, murder still felt like a little too much seeing how they hadn’t even touched her. She took a step back, and the red guy took two steps forward. Percy swung the staff to try and keep him back and instead he blocked it with his forearm, and it looked like it did absolutely no damage.
“Doesn’t feel like it,” She wheezed, and it wasn’t just the dangerous man with modern day weapons, she was trying to keep her panic bottled. To force her breath to even out, but as she tried to take another deep breath, she instead choked on it.
“Relax, it’s not like you're one of the bats, not that you should be picking fights anyway.” he pushed the staff away and a hand took hold of her forearm moving to her side. “Come on, sit on the other side,” He guided Percy away from the bodies, away from the strong scent of iron and blood that stained clothes. Guiding her to sit on the other side of a car parked on the other side of the street. “Head between your knees,” He instructed, it was impossible for Percy to know how he reacted to the incredulous look that she sent him. “It’s to help you breathe, not saying to trust me, but you don’t have a lot of options.”
The awful thing was that the man was right, spots were beginning to dance before her eyes, and the walk over had been reliant on his firm hand to stay standing. So instead, she twisted the staff, turning it back into a ring again that she slid onto her index finger, earning a tilted head from the man who was likely one of Batman’s rogues. So much for not being interrogated, she’d have no choice this time.
“Flashy,” He commented as Percy curled in on herself, trying to just breathe, to force herself into full breaths but only getting half of ones. It felt like the poisoned air of Tartarus in all the wrong ways. Her fatigue was all the worse and she wished it would just rain, but she could feel at her core trying to get rain in the dry air would push her over the edge, and she would rather not break anyone’s plumbing.
“Brother made it- for me-” She reached up and pulled back her hood, there was nothing to hide anyway, and right now, she wanted the cold air to hit her face to remind her she wasn’t in the hot humid air of the hell she had been to. She didn’t notice how Red Hood went rigid, how his hands clenched and released underneath. The wide eyes under the mask as the murderer above her was at a loss for a moment about what to do.
A roar of a motor came from the direction that Percy had come from, and Red Hood cursed, they couldn’t see it yet, but Nightwing was the one responding to the gunshots, on his motorcycle, pushing it as it was noticed that Percy’s tracker was in the area.
Red Hood was divided, between taking the teen in front of him away, she was struggling to breathe, seemingly choking on the very air of Gotham, and a confrontation he had not planned on just yet.
He made a choice, and that was to turn back to Percy. “You’ll be safe in Crime Alley,” his voice sounding no longer human, or like that of a monster to her. She looked up at the man, as he straightened. “Change is coming to Gotham, and you will always be welcome here.” And with that, he pulled a grapple, and fired it at the roof before taking off. She tried to follow him with her eyes, yet the motor getting closer and coming to a stop had her looking back.
“Percy!” Came the panicked shout from Dick, as he dismounted, his gaze on the one knocked out jerk and the two dead ones, before turning and catching sight of Percy’s hunched form. He got off the bike, leaving it in the middle of the road and ran right for her. Dropping down to his knees, reaching out to her and grabbing her arm and the side of his face.
“Are you hurt, what happened, where’s the gun?” He asked all in quick succession, and Percy shook her head taking his hand from her cheek and held onto it tight.
“Can’t, can’t breath,” the answer had Richard panic, sitting beside her, and much like just the morning before, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She could tell that he wanted to drag her in close, but instead he rubbed soothing circles against her shoulder with his thumb.
“Okay, okay, one thing at a time,” He let the questions drop for now. He reached up to his ear, pressing a button.
“B, O, found her, but we got a problem, two bodies, dead, there is a third but he’s just knocked out.” Nightwing reported, and Percy groaned as he realized that she would need to deal with the fact there is so much tech on the Batfamily that she would likely have her scent broadcasted all over Gotham. Nightwing just rubbed her back unaware of where the discomfort came from.
“B, Perce is struggling to breath, she’s trying, but it’s short and labored,” the demigod couldn’t help the new coughing fit that had her leaning forward that shook her entire body, struggling to get in any air, and even puking. Nightwing refused to move from her side. Whispering soft words of comfort and soothing tones that Percy couldn’t fully make out as the world spun, and went dark despite her best efforts.
Waking up with plastic over her face with air blowing into her nose, with a pounding headache was becoming a habit that Percy was most definitely not enjoying. Though the beeping off the side was new, not even Camp Jupitor with their better resources had technology like a heart monitor. The bed under her was also very uncomfortable, like she was on the ground in some park or something. The worst thing was how sore her chest and throat felt, and she was tired, not the mental fatigue like before but physically.
With a groan she forced her eyes open, and was met with the worst white tiles imaginable, the one with the pepper spots, and too bright lights that had her clenching eyes closed.
Percy was not alone in the hospital room, it was one of the fancy VIP rooms. It had been a rushed action, but with Nightwing being closer to the hospital and Percy being a civilian, it was decided that it would be better to get her to the hospital rather than the cave.
It had ruined the plan to keep things quiet about Percy’s homecoming, seeing how the hospital identified her without Nightwing giving them anything more than ‘Jane Doe’. From there, well, as stated before it was a mess. Following protocols, the hospital had contacted Bruce Wayne through Alfred Pennyworth. With a transfer to one of the better hospitals in Gotham and into a VIP suite she was getting the best care Bruce could pay for, all while news outlets were going abuzz with the return of the missing Persephone Jackson Wayne being found. Not that Percy knew any of that yet.
“Percy,” came the worried voice of Dick off to her side. Turning her head to the side she opened her eyes, more prepared this time for the light, he looked exhausted. “Thank god you are awake. We’ve been so worried,” She closed her eyes hiding the sudden well of guilt for making them worry, it had been one of the reasons that she had stayed away until the end of the wars, even though having any of the Wayne resources would have been helpful at any given time in her quests.
“What happened,” Her voice was hoarse, broken, yet still she forced it through. She felt like a chariot had run her over, and a pegasus had kicked her in the head for good measure.
“You had an asthma attack,” Dick answered, “A really bad one.” Percy groaned as this was another new thing added to her plate. She knew of the illness, or at least the basics of it, she didn’t know of any demigods who had it. Which either meant they simply didn’t survive long enough to get to camp, or they simply were not born with it.
“I’m in a hospital,” Percy grunted, it made no sense to her, normally Alfred would be tending to her, or Doctor Leslie at the cave seeing how it did have a full operating theater if needed.
“Yeah, sorry Perce, but you are going to have to do this the civilian way. Especially with the dead guys found around you.” Percy lifted up her hands to rub at her eyes. Right, the Red Hood guys, and by the civilian path she was going to need to deal with a lot of police questioning, and worse, the press.
“Fuckkkkk,” Percy groaned in a long breath, not all that pleased at the turn of events.
“Whatcha get for running off, you really scared us there,” Dick had no mercy in his heart this time for his sister, if anything this was actually the more mild of punishments in the family, Percy was only going to be mildly uncomfortable.
“Just wanted to go see mom, it’s been… awhile.” she opened her eyes to look at Richard, who looked to be very understanding of the answer. Reaching out to take one of her hands to hold, though this time he stopped as his fingers slid over her palm, and he noticed the scar tissue and calliosis, turning her hand over, he saw the star burst scar that rest in the middle, Percy watched him intently in return. Wondering what it was he was thinking as his thumbs moved over the scar.
“Was this a burn or something,” Dick asked, still looking at it before looking up to catch her eyes. She hesitated for a moment before sighing.
“No, it… was a sting. I’ll tell you about it when I’m ready, Dickass, just… give me some time.” Percy was just glad that she had asked Hazel to cover her SPQR tattoo before she had left camp, just thinking of the families reaction to it made her worry. Likely think that she joined up with a cult, which really wasn’t all that far off.
“Wish you would tell me now so we can come up with a game plan, police are going to want to know,” Dick glanced over at the door, before looking back. “We can’t back you up if we don’t know anything.” the offered back up made Percy relax a little. She already had a story in mind, after all, Annabeth was the smart one who knew I would need a story for the police.
“I got that covered,” and just like that the door opened and in walked a nurse.
“Ah your awake Miss Wayne, that is good to see, let’s get you checked over shall we?” The nurse seemed polite, and Percy found herself missing Will. Maybe she should ask Bruce if he would be willing to give him a medical school scholarship, just so she could claim him as her civilian doctor…. Nah that would be too much.