Demigod in Gotham

34) Get It... Like Metal Detector

-Jason POV-

After returning from patrol, they found Nico in the cave. Thankfully, he wasn't training or doing anything else to risk tearing his stitches, he was just in his civvies, staring at the suits they had on display.

"You know, I've always found it kind of weird that the old man kept the suit I died in on display," Jason said, making Nico jump slightly. "He said it was to remind him that he could never fail one of us again, but still."

"I get it," Nico said as he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a figurine. "I keep this with me. It was the last thing I got from Bianca."

Dick looked at it for a moment before recognizing dawned on him. "That's from that mythology game, right? Mythomagic."

Nico nodded as he stared at the small statue. "I used to hate it, the figurine not really the game, because I thought it was just a reminder that she left me. It took a while but I realized it was more than that."

"What do you mean 'more than that'?" Jason stared at it and recognized it as Hades.

"My sister died to save the members of her quest. I thought that it meant that her friends and the gods had failed her, but that just cheapens what she did. She decided to give her life to save people; she made a choice that had nothing to do with parentage or the quest."

Dick smiled at the young boy. "She sounds like she was an amazing person."

"She was." Nico stared at the figure for another moment before slipping it back in his pocket and finally turning to face his brothers. "How was patrol?"

"Nothing crazy," Jason said with a shrug.

"How was your first mission?" Dick was beaming like a proud mother (and Jason told him that)

"Successful, though exhausting." Nico began to walk the path along the costumes as he talked. "I couldn't do the regular ritual, so I had to do it the exhausting way which worked, but just drains me. Though one of the victims was able to ID the assassin which is good: Deathstroke."

Dick froze, eyes widening. "You're sure?"

Nico looked back at him, sensing the stress now radiating off of him. "Bruce and the others should be done confirming around now, but we're pretty confident. The lady said black and orange mask split down the middle, in his 40s or 50s based off his voice."

Jason cursed. "That's him."

"How the fuck is he still alive?" The other two were surprised to hear Dick curse, but didn't comment. "We destroyed his Lazarus Pit and Trigon is still imprisoned so he couldn't have made another deal."

Nico perked up slightly at his words. "You're saying he's died multiple times and keeps coming?"

"At least three," Dick said with a sigh. "He just keeps coming back."

Nico thought for a second before closing his eyes and focusing. After a moment he opened them with a new determination. "If I focus, I can sense people who have been revived by the pit."

"Are you sure that's not just because I'm like ten feet away from you?"

Nico smirked. "I wasn't looking for you."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Damian?"

"No, he would still be too far away for me to locate. If you don't already know who I'm talking about, then I'm not outing them."

Jason's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me? You don't want to out someone as a zombie? I'm literally like the OG zombie."

Nico laughed, enjoying that he knew something the batboys didn't know. "I'm actually not sure who was revived first if I'm being honest."