Chapter 14 - Conversing

Mount Justice

Several hours earlier

Raven wokeup from her vivid vision, a little in shock to how surreal and bloody it was. 'That was interesting to say the least,' she thought to herself as she calmed herself down.

'Percy. So that's your name.' She had also heard other names, but one stuck out the most: Gaia. She called herself a primordial, and she had a clue as to what that was.

Getting up, she decided to shower before speaking with Robin. The team was coming to the cave today for something that the League was doing, and she planned on asking him then.

Finishing cleaning up and donning a purple hoodie and black bottoms, she headed out to the main area of the cave, oblivious to how early she woke up. It was only 6 in the morning, and the only person up was Superboy.

"Morning," she greeted as she went to the kitchen.

"Morning," he returned, sipping on his coffee as he did so. That was that, so Raven decided to just grab some coffee herself and head to the living room and wait. Miss Martian was still asleep, so Raven decided to meditate. She calmed her mind and relaxed her body, thankfully her astral self stayed out and no more visions ensued.

She had lost track of time when the Zeta tube sounded, announcing the presence of Wally, Robin and Kaldur. "Sup Raven," Kid Flash waved before zooming to the kitchen to get a snack. Kaldur and Robin nodded to her before starting to follow. Raven got up and grabbed Robins hand, motioning over to the side of the room. He nodded, and followed her.

"Robin, I need to ask you something."

"Alright, go on."

"Well I've been having these visions, and there about someone. There's a few names I was going to ask you about."

"What are they?"

"One is a guy named Percy, does that name ring a bell?"

"Wait, Percy? Hold on I think Batman talked about him awhile ago." He walked over to the computer and typed the name Percy in, and an image of an older African American man showed up in the screen. "Yeah, I remember now. Percy Odell, had a couple run ins with Black Lightning, the vigilante. This the guy you've been seeing?"

She took one look at the guy and shook her head, "No, this guy is younger, Caucasian with sea green eyes abs black hair." Robin just shook his head, "Well, nope. Never heard of a Percy like that. What about the other names?"

"Um, Perses and Gaia?"

"Perses and Gaia, huh?" He opened up a search engine and typed those names in. "Weird. Perses was an ancient Titan of destruction, while Gaia was a Primordial, mother of the Titans. She tried to over throw the old Olympian gods twice and failed. Basically, she was an evil Mother Earth. These sound right?"

Raven looked at the pictures on the screen, before nodding. "They looked a little different, but that's them. They both fought the other Percy, and I don't know why I keep getting visions of them. And they're random too, sometimes it'll be a long time before I have another one. What do you think it means?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I'm not the person to ask about mystical stuff. To be honest, no one on our team is. There's probably a few Leaguers you could talk to, but that would have to be up to you."

"Great, the last thing I need is people asking more questions."

"What do you mean?"

Realizing she had spoken out loud, she turned away. "Nothing. Never mind that. So, is there a mission today or something? Everyone is gathered here."

"Wait, you don't know? Today is the day the Justice League is inducting new members. Earlier this year we all thought we had a chance, but they said we weren't ready, basically. Maybe this team has shown them otherwise. There's a chance, no matter how slim, that one of us could get chosen. Red Tornado is going to tell us after the meeting if we made it in. He's not going though."

"Oh. So, what are we going to do until then?"

"Well, we have a few hours. We could train or just hang out. Honestly, without Canary here it'll mostly be spars, so maybe just hang out."

"Okay, sure. Any ideas?"

"Um, nope. I'll leave the planning up to Miss Martian, that's her specialty."

Shrugging, Raven just turned and walked towards the kitchen, where the rest of the team including the now awake Miss Martian were.

Watchtower (Several hours later)

Percy had showered and changed, and now he was following Diana to the main area of the Watchtower were the party was being held.

"So I'm really going to meet everyone?"

"Yes Perseus, so try and show some manners. Some of the people here were a little on the fence about you joining."

"Wait really? Why?"

"Well, you're what we call an unknown. They haven't heard of you before, and they don't know what you can do. A lot of them believe you should've been on the team made up of their Protégés and other up and coming heroes, but I convinced most of them that that wasn't exactly for you. You're better off here."

Percy rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "Huh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. So what are we doing at this party? I haven't exactly been to one like this before."

"Just introduce yourself to people, try and make a good impression. And have fun."

"I'll try, but you're really the only person I can be somewhat of myself around."

She stopped and turned around, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I know, but you aren't alone anymore. You aren't in that place, and you now have people here. Or you will, if you don't go getting everyone depressed that is. That tends to be a mood killer."

He laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I'll try my best. It'll at least be interesting to see regular mortals with powers. I've only met a few here that do, and they were pretty interesting to say the least."

"Well, wait till you meet everyone else in the League. And, we're here."

"Woah," was all he could say as he stopped and looked around. There were people everywhere, all dressed up for the occasion. "I figured they'd all be in super suits or something."

"Oh, they were. They all changed for the occasion."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Go on, start introducing yourself to people. These are your new teammates after all." She smiled at him gently and nudged him forward. He swallowed the lump in his throat and made his was to the nearest person in a black tuxedo. He still wasn't used to talking to people yet and making new friends.

Meeting Diana was completely on accident, and she was a demigod of this world. Also, he had been completely alone and it worked out for both of them.

He hadn't expected to become as close with the daughter of Zeus as he ended up becoming, but he didn't expect that to happen again. At least, not anytime soon. And he certainly couldn't be his true self around people yet. People didn't need to know how broken he was on the inside. He could deal with his inner turmoil himself. At least with Diana, he let himself joke around and open up a little, but nothing more than needed. He didn't even really talk to the other Amazon's of Themyscira, only to train. They didn't like men very much.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he approached the nearest person and stretched out his hand. "Uh, hello. I'm Percy."

The man rose an eyebrow and put the drink he was drinking down on the table beside him, then proceeded to shake Percy's hand.

"Hello Percy, the names John Stewart. Or Green Lantern, if you want to know my hero name."

"Wait, there's another Green Lantern?"

The man laughed at this before responding, "Oh, you have no idea. They're are thousand of us, all roaming the Universe. On Earth right now, there's three. Only two are part of the Justice League though. Me and that guy over there, Hal Jordan." He pointed behind him to another man, this one with an aviator coat on talking to a blonde man. Percy nodded, not at all getting it. "So, what are your powers then?"

John turned back towards him before holding up his hand and showing him a green ring with the same symbol that looked like a fat "I" to Percy. "Well, there are these rings that choose people with strong will power. The ring can create anything I think of out of green light, as long as I have a basic understanding of how it works. It also allows me to fly, among other things."

Percy's jaw dropped at this. "Woah, seriously? Anything? Isn't that a little OP?"

"OP? What do you mean?"

"Over Powered. Like, I don't know but that seems like a broken power. There isn't a limit?"

John shrugged. "It is a little 'Over Powered' if you think of it like that by itself. But in the universe we live in, we need every advantage over the enemy we can get. Also, the constructs are only as strong as the wearers will, so sometimes they can be broken by someone strong enough. And you have to charge the ring too."

Percy nodded at this. "Well, that makes sense. I'll have to see it in action sometime."

John shrugged, "We have training sessions, and missions are quite often if I'm honest. You'll hardly ever not have something to do."

"Can't wait. Well, if you'll excuse me, I still have a lot of other people to meet before the nights over."

John nodded and turned away, walking towards Canary and Green Arrow. 'Guys powers sounds like Apollo's almost. Since when can mortals have that kind of power?' Shaking his head, he walked over to the other Lantern, Hal Jordan, and the blonde man.

The two looked up as he approached and Percy introduced himself. The two extended hands for him to shake, and Percy took them. "I'm Barry, this is Hal," the blonde said. Percy nodded. "I met the other Green Lantern of the team. Your powers sound quite impressive if I do say so myself."

"Ha, you're one to talk. Wonder Woman has stated that you are quite powerful yourself. You might even give Aquaman a run for his money based off what she said."

"Maybe..." he trailed off, remembering his fight with Aquaman. He hadn't gone all out against him per se, but he was still confused on how Diana got him to forget even meeting him. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth though. It's not always that someone can make a second first impression on someone.

"Anyways, what can you do Barry?"

"Oh me? Well, I'm the Flash. You know, fastest man alive and all that."

"Oh really? So you're a runner. Doesn't exactly sound like a superpower if you ask me."

"Oh I can do other stuff. But speed is just my main gig."

"Uh huh. I'm sorry, but I really don't see how running fast a a super power."

Hal laughed and patted a stunned Barry on the shoulder. "I don't think he gets how fast you really are. Want to show him?"

Smirking, Barry suddenly disappeared from right in front of a speechless Percy. Turning around, he asked, "Wait. Where'd he go?"

"Over here!" Barry was on the other side of the room, in a different outfit than the jacket and jeans he was wearing. Now, he was wearing a black suit and leaning against the wall drinking out of a wine glass.

"Oh." Percy said in a small voice. "Yeah... he's fast." He turned around back to Hal, who was just smirking. "Well, uh, I still have a lot of others to meet so yeah. I'm going to go now. Bye."

Felling awkward, he turned around and walked up to the next closest person, who was a man that was all silver with red boots and an atom on his chest. 'This is going to be a long night.' He thought to himself before engaging in conversation.

Several hours later

Diana was off to the side talking to Superman and Batman when a tired and annoyed looking Percy walked up to them.

"Diana, some people don't know how to stop talking. Pretty sure I managed to piss off half of the people here somehow too."

She raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment. Instead, she gestured towards Batman and Superman. "Perseus , this is Batman and Superman. Guys, Perseus."

"Sup," he greeted the two male superheroes before turning back towards Diana. "How much longer are we going to stay here?"

"Until it's over. Now, get to know these two. And boys. Behave." With that she walked away and Percy just groaned.

"Well, how's it going?"

Batman glared at the young god while Superman looked a little uncomfortable. "So, you're Diana's cousin."

"Yep. That's me."

"How exactly are you two related?"

"Did Diana not tell you?"

"No."

"Must've been for a good reason."

"Are you an Amazonian-Atlantean hybrid?"

"Wait, what?"

"Batman, don't interrogate the boy here, not now,"

Superman spoke up.

"First of all, I'm not a boy. I'm older than both of you combined." Batman raised an eyebrow at this but let him continue. "And secondly, you can try and interrogate me all you want, if I don't want to tell you something, you won't get it out of me. And you'll never find out. I'm on this team to help people, not to be peoples pawns or puppets."

"Who said anything about pawns?" Batman inquired. "Everyone on this team in entitled to their secrets. Also, we are all equals here. You made the team, so no matter what we're going to have to try and build trust. We just don't know how we can trust someone we never heard of nor known about till today.

"You show up out of nowhere and somehow gain half of the Justice Leagues votes, and the day we meet you you are automatically put on the team. We don't even know the full capabilities of your powers, yet Diana expects us to trust you. What if the scope of your unknown abilities causes us a battle? Or a member gets hurt because of it? I have my reasons to be weary, Perseus. And I have my reasons for knowing what you are and what you're capable of."

Superman nodded along with Batman. "While I wouldn't have put it like that, he's kind of right. That's why we had suggested we put you on our other team, to gauge where you are and get you experience, even though Diana claims you have plenty of that. I'm not sure how, considering this is the first time we're even hearing about you."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Is this really what I'm going to be dealing with? Granted, I sort of get where you are coming from, but come on. I literally found out about this thing yesterday. I seen most of you for the first time today as well. If you want to know the full scope of my abilities, I'll gladly spar with you guys. I want to gauge your guy's powers as well."

"Oh, Batman doesn't have any powers. Neither does Green Arrow."

"I don't need powers."

"Well yeah, I know that."

"Wait a minute, back up," Percy raised his hands in front of him, halting their conversing. "You're telling me that you," pointing at the Dark Knight, "have no powers. And you're one of their leaders?"

"Indubitably."

"Huh. Going to admit, did not see that one coming. What about you Big Blue. What can you do?"

"Um, super strength, super speed, laser vision, x-ray vision, invulnerable, super breath. Is that everything?" Turning to the Bat asking his question. He rolled his eyes and nodded.

"So, that's something." 'What the heck is with the mortals of this world? This is nuts!' He thought to himself. He then realized out of everyone at the party, these two were the only ones still in their 'super suits.'

"Say, why didn't you two change like everyone else."

"I keep my identity safe always," Bats replied.

Superman just shrugged. "In case someone calls out for help. If I hear anything, I'm already ready."

"Calls out for help?"

Superman slapped his head. "Oh yeah, super hearing."

"Dude. What the heck. Next you're going to tell me you have super smell too." He exclaimed sarcastically, but seeing Superman's reaction he just stared at him. "Seriously? Godsdamn, just. Why? Just why?"

Superman started looking a little uncomfortable while Batman might've had the slightest hint of a smile on his face. Might've, of course. He'd say no if questioned though. He didn't find that funny at all. Not one bit. Nope.

"I didn't choose what powers I got. No one does. They just appeared that way."

"Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm going to find Diana. I need to seriously get out of these clothes and sleep." He turned away from the two and walked across the room where Diana was leaning against a table, watching him approach.

"Well, that could've gone better for you," she commented as he arrived at her side. He crossed his arms and huffed. "Sure. Half of these people seem to tolerate me. The other half seem to not want me here at all."

"Well, you did make it in on one vote. The others are going to need time to get used to the fact that they were out voted."

Percy's shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I guess. I just hope I can fit in here."

"You will Perseus, the others will warm up to you."

He looked out all all the super powered beings before turning back to her. "Diana, how do all these mortals have powers in the first place? Some of them seem like they could rival gods."

She looked over at Shazam, who was now next to Flash and Aquaman. "Some do have the powers of the gods. Others were created on accident. Yet still others are from a rare genetic mutation that occurred in their DNA. Everyone here has a different story on how they got their abilities, but they still all have one thing in common."

"What's that?" He wondered.

"The desire to fight the good fight, to protect the people who can't protect themselves. Compared to the amount of people who want to do evil in this world, their aren't many of us. That's why we exist. To combat them, to save the people the authorities can't save. To fight the battles the militaries of this world can't fight. And you have that desire too. Which is way I know you'll fit in here, little cousin."

"Hmph. Maybe you're right. I hope you're right, at least. Anyways, we're will I be staying now? I'm not exactly to keen on staying in space for the rest of my life. Granted, it is cool and all, but personally, I like the ground. And the water."

She thought about it before responding. "Well, when we aren't here for meetings or training sessions, the League is usually in their respective home towns, living their lives and protecting their cities. The League will pay for a place for you, and you can pick a city you want to live in if you want."

Percy looked around the room. "Yeah, that sound nice. But I have a feeling that might take awhile, where am I sleeping tonight though?"

"You do realize we're going back to Themyscira for the night, right?"

"Really? It's so late, I figured you had planned to stay here."

"Perseus, there's a teleporter from here to Themyscira."

He looked at her and slapped his forehead. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Should've figured that much at least."

She laughed and took his hand. "Come on, let's go home." Then led him to the Zeta Tube to return to their island paradise, if only temporarily.

Mount Justice

Red Tornado descended from his apartment to find the whole team gathered in the living room.

"There has been no mission assignment from the Batman."

"Yeah, we figured. We just wanted to know if any of us made the cut for the Justice League!" Wally exclaimed, excited to find out if any of them had been chosen. Unfortunately, Red Tornado shook his head. "No one from this team has been inducted. They are new members, however. Three, to be exact."

Robin groaned, but expected nothing less. It was barely earlier this year when the League formed the team for the sole purpose of them not being ready for the League, but wanting to'fight the good fight,' as Batman had put it. "Yeah, I figured that much at least. Well, who joined?"

Raven really wasn't interested because she knew it'll be awhile before the League even considered her, and it wasn't something she was pursuing at the moment anyways. However, Tornado's response made Raven's blood freeze and her heartbeat race.

"Plastic Man,Icon, and Perseus Jackson, or Percy for short, as I'm told he apparently likes to be called."

"Wait, Percy?" Robin asked, looking over at Raven, who was now standing rigidly still. Her face was hard to read, but underneath, her emotions were churning.

"It-it's him." She said, before falling to the couch sitting down. "That was his name..." she trailed off, staring off into space as her team rushed to see if she was okay.

"Raven, what do you mean?" Megan asked. "Are you alright?" "Give her some space, obviously that name struck a nerve," Kaldur commanded, before taking a knee in front of Raven.

"Are you alright?"

She looked at him, before looking back at the wall. "I don't know. I don't know what it means, but he's here now."

"Who?"

"The man from my visions."

"Wait, visions?" Wally asked. "What do you mean visions?"

She looked at all of her teammates before looking at the ground."I've been having visions of the same man, and last night I found out his name. It was Percy, and the day I find out who he is he coincidentally pops up in conversation, now apart of the Justice League? To top it off, No ones ever heard of him before until now. At least, according to Robin."

"Wait. You knew about this?" Kaldur turned to Robin, standing up. "You knew she was having visions about someone and didn't tell us?"

"Hey man, I only found out today. And she came to me, why would I share what she told me in confidence? What kind of friend would that make me?"

Kaldur took a deep breath, calming down. "You're right. She came to you because she trusted you. You did the right thing, Robin. However," he turned to face Raven. "If you are experiencing strange phenomena, you are able to tell us Raven. Don't feel like you can't trust us. We can try and help you."

"I just didn't know what was going on or why they were happening. And they were random. I'm not even sure if it means anything, I just don't know why they started happening in the first place."

Red Tornado then walked up to Raven. "We have experts of the mystic arts we know. Perhaps we can contact one of them to help you? Considering no one on this team is familiar with magic, this is an option I would suggest, and encourage as well."

Megan spoke up next, "On Mars, our priests would sometimes have visions about people when important events were about to happen, maybe that's what's going on."

"Don't tell me you guys all believe in magic. You guys realize it's not real, right?"

Every head in the room turned towards Wally, who had spoken up. "What? You guys are serious? There's definitely an explanation, but magic isn't it."

"Wally, we'll have this discussion another time, but magic is in fact real," Kaldur responded.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever you say. You won't be able to convince me though."

Ignoring him, he turned back to Raven. "Can you tell us about your visions, Raven?"

She stayed silent before nodding. "Yeah. It might take awhile though."

"Take all the time you need. We're listening."

"If you say so. My first one happened while I was still homeless..."