Demigod in Gotham

37) Kid KOed

Nico stood against the wall as he watched Superboy and Kaldur spar. He had done their warm ups with them but had stuck to the wall as they sparred. It was partly because he wanted to see their techniques, but mostly because he didn't want to get off on the wrong foot.

Sparing with his brothers was different; they had been training for years and were nimble enough to keep up with demigod reflexes and agility. Most people couldn't do that and it could be weird to have a 5'6 teen that was new to the vigilante scene, keep up in a fight against seasoned heroes and proteges.

The fight ended, Connor winning, and then suddenly Canary was in front of him. "You wanna spar with someone."

Nico shrugged. "Might not be the best idea."

"Scared we'll crush you?" Bart was obviously egging him on, but Nico decided Ghost King liked confrontation.

"More worried that you won't be able to keep up."

Canary smirked. "Looks like we have our next two fighters. Impulse, Ghost King, you're up."

Nico shared a look with Tim, silently asking if he should hold back, but his brother just shook his head with a smirk. Nico rolled his eyes beneath his mask and stepped onto the platform across from Bart.

"Are we thinking powers or no powers?" Canary asked, mainly looking to Nico, but Dick spoke first.

"Maybe we should do no powers for now. B said to limit power unless completely necessary." The second part was said directly to Nico, causing the boy to roll his eyes and mutter that he was fine.

Canary nodded to Dick. "Okay, no powers, hand to hand combat only. First take down wins." She counted down before stepping out of the ring and starting the fight.

Nico hadn't even gotten into position when Bart came at him. Instincts took over and he did the first thing he could think of: he judo flipped the teen. As soon as he hit the ground, the mat announced his win. Everyone looked a varying level of shocked except for his brothers, Wally, and Artemis who were laughing.

"Damn hermano, you have got to teach me that move," Jaime said with a laugh as soon as he shook off his shock.

Nico reached down and helped Impulse off the ground. "I can't take credit for it. My cousin's girlfriend taught it to me."

Bart laughed as he rubbed his shoulder. "I'd probably hate to go up against her."

Nico nodded, stepping off the mat and returning to the wall. "You would. I think I've only ever beaten her in a fight maybe twice."

Megan raised an eyebrow. "You spar with your cousin's girlfriend?"

"I spar with a lot of people," Nico said, ending the conversation there. He knew it was rude, but he couldn't find it in him to care. The sparring continued for a while, the others focusing on the ring and mostly forgetting his presence.

Dick walked over and stood next to him. "What do you think of the fights?" His tone was casual but the demigod could tell it was a leading question.

"They're decent. I don't know how well they'd hold up against my family, but pretty good for their age."

Dick nodded, understanding that he meant they were good for mortal standards. "What do you think is different between them and your family? Other than genetics, obviously."

Nico silently cursed, he was going to say genetics. "I mean timing is definitely an aspect. Most of us start a lot younger which makes it easier to build on as we get older."

"But..."

Nico rolled his eyes. Dick knew him too well, having sensed he was holding back. "They don't have the same motivation. They are going this because they want to, they decided they wanted to fight bad guys for a living." Nico released a sigh, leaning his head back against the wall. "Fighting for survival makes it so you have to learn fast or die. It also means that you're going to be more committed to your training."

Dick nodded, his eyes not leaving the fight. "So they need to be more committed to their training if they want to improve."

Nico shook his head. "They don't need to be more committed. They will improve over time as they are, but you can't expect them to get to my level the same way I did. Fighting for survival is great for getting good fast, but it doesn't change that you are still barely surviving. We were made for fighting, literally biologically coded to survive in battle, but a lot of us still died. Your team will be great on their own; you don't want martyrs to be the reason."

Dick gave a serious nod. "Understood."

The older brother was about to say something when Canary got their attention to announce that they were taking a break as she walked over to Nico.

"I'd like to see you spar Nightwing or Connor after the break. I want to see what you can do outside of one hit KOing."

Nico nodded to her before she walked away. He looked over to Nightwing who sighed before saying, "fine, but please don't one shot me, I'll never live it down."

Nico smirked. "No promises."

~~~~~~~~

-Tim POV-

After the break everyone seemed excited to watch Nightwing and Nico fight, but as soon as they stepped into the ring, the mission alert went on. Immediately everyone rushed to the main room and a hologram of Batman's face appeared.

"Team, Vandal Savage was spotted in Santa Prisca with a cloaked individual. I need the senior members of the team to check out what they are doing on the island and report back. Do not engage unless completely necessary."

Kaldur stepped forward. "Do you intend for all of the senior members to go?"

Batman nodded. "Yes. Red Robin and Ghost King will go as well, but are not to engage should a fight break out."

Kaldur nodded before the feed shut off.

"How come he gets to go while the rest of us don't?" Garf crossed his arms in annoyance.

Tim was about to make up an excuse when Nico spoke. "My powers are helpful for covert operations. Me being there ensures that we won't get spotted."

At first it seemed like they were going to protest, but they all seemed to unanimously agree that if Batman wanted him there, it had to be true.

"Artemis, Kaldur, M'gann, Wally, and Connor, get ready. Red Robin and Ghost King, come with me. Meet at the Bioship in 5 minutes. Oracle will be on our comms channel in case anything happens." Dick didn't wait for a response and just walked away, Tim and Nico following close behind.

They entered Tim's room and Dick immediately began speaking. "Nico, you and Tim are to stick with Megan at all times. She will be coordinating from the bio ship, I'll make sure it stays grounded a good distance away. Nico, you can shadow travel to Tim once we arrive so that you don't have to fly."

Both boys nodded before they all split off to get anything they needed before meeting everyone at the Bioship. As they approached, the Bioship opened and everyone but Nico got in.

"Ghost King, come on. I promise it's completely safe," M'gann called from the bay.

The boy just smiled and walked off, calling over his shoulder. "I'll meet you there."

The others looked at the two brothers in confusion. Tim was just going to shrug, but Dick decided he wanted to have more fun with it.

"Looks like he'll manage on his own." The vigilante let out a laugh. "Let's head out. Don't want him beating us there."

A/N: these are a little bit of filler chapters until I can get the plot going, but I hope you still liked them.

Vote. Comment. Tell me who you think the villain of the story will be (Obviously I know, I just wanna hear your theories).