From Camp Half-Blood to Gotham (Nico x Batfam)

Beak Break-in (19)

"Fuck you, Tim," Jason said for the thousandth time as they all raced down the spiral staircase.

"It wasn't my fault!" Tim shot back, skipping a few steps, and landing in front of the rest of them to race down the rest of the stairs.

It made Nico wonder how often this happened, and why in Hades did Bruce keep hosting these galas. And why did people keep coming to them?

"Shut up you guys. We need to help." Damian snapped, running after Tim.

"How are we even going to help?" Nico asked, nearly tripping over his feet.

Who would have guessed that fancy dress shoes were not designed to be run in?

"Be there and be helpless." Jason cackled, zooming past them on the railing.

"What does that mean?" Nico asked, trying to keep up with them all. They were all much more accustomed to running in the shoes with absolutely no give.

"It means we need to take the focus of the people from whoever is attacking so they don't hurt any of the guests," Dick explained. "We are the high-profile targets in the gala."

"That's a comforting thought," Nico mumbled. "Aren't people going to notice we barged into the room?"

"People are less observant than you think they are little dude," Jason said, hopping off the railing and moving over to the ballroom doors.

Dick pushed open the doors and slipped inside, Nico followed him. The crowd was pressed up against the walls, clutching their pearls.

"What is going on?" Tim asked, standing on his tippy in order to try and see over the crowd. Several people turned to look at them and started whispering.

"Turn them out." A nasally voice rang out and Nico's head snapped towards it.

A small, stout man waddled around, clearing a large circle in the center of the room. His umbrella waving threateningly in front of him. People backed away.

"I said turn them out!" The man shouted, a thin pipe bouncing around in his mouth and his tailcoat flapping around as he waddled around the room.

Several people handed him wads of money. Burly men snatched it from their hands.

Nico yet again wondered why the heck people even went to these things if stuff like this happened every time.

"Penguin," Tim growled. Nico stared at the squat man. The only thing about him that looked like a penguin was his nose. And Nico had seen worse noses.

"Bring him to me!" Penguin shouted, whirling around to glare at one of his men.

The crowd was shoved aside, and Bruce was dragged out in the center of the circle and forced onto his knees. Nico felt his entire body tense up.

"He'll be fine," Dick whispered, resting his hand on Nico's shoulder.

"He has a broken back!" Nico whispered back.

"He's you-know-who, he'll be fine," Tim said, clearly not very convinced himself.

Nico doubted anyone with a recently broken back would be fine in this situation.

"Find the rest of the little brats!" Penguin shouted, raising his umbrella to the roof and convincing Nico that weapons could be literally anything as he fired off a few shots. "Find them or someone is going to pay!"

The few people who had realized they were there all glanced back at them. For a few seconds, Nico thought they were going to rat them out.

But they didn't. And that must have been some sort of miracle.