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It was only Artemis in the room, held by four men in all black. She’s only here because Batman said that he could use Ollie’s help, so she came along as well. It was necessary with how many assassins there were. She was useful for a while on her own, but she scolds herself for not knowing that this would happen. The only reason she’s alive is to gather information and if the time comes for it, be used for bargaining, which she hates the thought of. She’s already searching for a way out.
This building, and this entire island, is huge. It’s privately owned, but like most rich people the owner doesn’t check up on it, too busy in other countries, including one where she survived an assaination attempt. Artemis wonders if that assasination attempt and this island are related. She doubts the assassins would even be here if not for Damian, who has shown great distance for them being here as well.
The only people here are Captain Marvel, Batman, Robin, Red Robin, and Green Arrow. So in conclusion, she thinks that she’s fucked.
She looks up when she hears a small noise up above. It’s dark above her, the ceiling being filled with numerous pipes. She mistakes the noise for related to the building’s old infrastructure, but then she hears it again. The assassins talk amongst themselves. Only three of them are equipped with guns for a worst case scenario, but they all choose to use more up close combat, as that’s how they were trained after all.
“Hello,” the voice speaks. The assassins get in a stance, immediately cautious. The voice continues, “What’s your plan here?” The voice sounds very familiar, yet also very different. Artemis knows that she knows the person, but the person speaking is talking in a way that makes who they are to pinpoint, and the echoing of the building she's inside doesn’t help.
None of the assassins speak, and neither does the person speaking for a tense few moments. One assassin points their knife at Artemis as a warning, but the voice warns in an utterly calm tone, “I can kill you.” One of the assassins holding a gun snorts, clearly doubtful.
In seconds, three makeshift arrows made out of rusty iron and string that’s falling apart come down directly in front of the previously doubtful assassin’s feet as another clear warning. The three assassins raise their guns to where they can only assume the man is and shoot. After multiple seconds they stop and listen in. They hear something metal hitting the pipes right before something makeshift hits the floor. Pipe bombs. Directly before they go off, an arrow pierces a light bulb. Although it’s not the only light bulb, it darkens the room significantly, considering how it’s evening and already dark outside.
Artemis can hear the person, but she can’t hear them over the assassins’ shouts. Suddenly, a light flashes on, causing everyone to get momentarily blinded. When Artemis opens her eyes, she can see Billy on top of a woman assassin with black hair and dark skin. He has taken her knife from her and is holding it raised with both hands above her head. His face is full of something Artemis can only describe as utter rage.
Suddenly, a batarang signals the arrival of Batman as it hits the knife Billy is holding, but also some of Billy’s hand. He doesn’t even flinch. He picks up the batarang, glares at where he knows Bruce is, then stabs it into the floor with a tightening grip, causing him to bleed. The batarang abruptly erupts into smoke.
Towards Batman, the woman’s body is tossed through the smoke. Out steps Billy, seemingly not as disoriented as he should be. “Who are you?” Batman asks as a command.
However, Billy, or whoever this person is, is not compliant. They merely reply with the word, “Nobody.”
Billy’s back straightens as he suddenly listens in as something can be heard whooshing through the air. Billy has practically no time to respond, putting his arm out to try to catch whatever it is that’s coming toward him, but all he gets is a hit to the face. He staggers, shocked.
When he turns to see what hit him, or more accurately who hit him, he sees Damian standing right to his right. Then, an arrow from Artemis flies at Billy. Billy managed to step to the side and dodge it for the most part, but it still grazes his shoulder. Although this arrow is dull, aiming to injure but not kill, it has a shock feature, causing a small jolt of electricity to be sent through Billy’s body.
Abruptly, Billy dives for Damian. Bruce panics, setting off a smoke bomb and diving for Damian as well as his technology allows him to see through smoke. It’s not 100% accurate, but it’s much better than going in blind. Unfortunately, Billy is able to use the pipes above them to his advantage and go out of Bruce’s sight, and Damian goes with him.
A whistle comes from behind Bruce. Artemis draws her bow, prepared to shoot, however she quickly decides against it when she sees Billy on the platform above, gripping Damian’s jaw and dangling him over the edge. Batman could probably catch him-hopefully-but that’s not guaranteed and Damian could very well get injured.
“You work with a God,” Billy says. “Diana.” The way he says it makes it sound like he’s seething inside.
Bruce hurries to look for a solution. Artemis steps in, her bow only half drawn and slightly lowered, “You’re doing this because you hate Diana?”
“No, I’m doing this because something made me come out.”
Batman inquires, “Does that mean you’re part of Billy? As in part of his mind.”
“I’d explain, but I don’t think I’m in the mood right now.”
Bruce reasons that this must be one of the gods that Billy draws his powers from. Perhaps Zeus? Bruce immediately thinks back to everything Diana has told him about Zeus and her, quote, “worthy-of-having-their-penises-cut-off” uncles.
Planning on negotiating, Bruce lowers himself onto one knee. He used to not know Ancient Greek, but then he met Diana and found out about Circe, where he then finally learned it. Plus, it came in handy when dealing with people from Themyscira, which has honestly only happened to Bruce once…so far.
“Οἶδα σε θεὸν εἶναι δύνασαι, ἐγώ δὲ ἀνὴρ μόνον εἰμί, καὶ ὡς ἀνὴρ δέομαι σοῦ ἀφεῖναι τὸ παιδίον μου/I know you are a god who can do all, but I am only a man, and as a man I ask you to let my son go,” Bruce speaks with a lowered head. Only Artemis can see how Billy’s hardened expression breaks.
Billy doesn’t look away as he decides to stop hanging Damian over the ledge, though he still doesn’t let the boy go. Billy replies simply, “Οὐ θεός εἰμι· ἀνὴρ μόνον εἰμι./I am no god; I am only a man.” He then looks at Damian. “I worry that he might stab me if I let him down.”
Before Batman can respond Damian curses him, “!!أيها الجبان، يا من تختبئ خلف ضعف أبي! ليتك تُسحق” Billy raises an eyebrow, seemingly confused.
Bruce is swift to get up there and take his squirming kid back. Bruce tries reasoning with the kid, “Damian, remember that sometimes the effective course of action is-”
“I’ll be back for you, Batson! You have my oath!!”
Billy simply says, “I’m not a Batson.”
Bruce responds, “I figured.”
“I’m Odysseus of Ithaca."
Bruce holds his hand out for Odysseus to shake, however, Odysseus stares at it. Bruce deduces, “You don’t trust people very much.”
“Would you? I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”
“I’ve been through much less and I don’t trust people, either.”
Artemis calls out from below, “Didn’t Bane snap your back in half and terrorize you? Both of your lives suck.” Bruce glares at her, but Odysseus is much too glad that somebody here shares his pain. He questions, “Have you met Circe? I hear that she’s always doing bad stuff when she’s away from her island and her nymphs.”
“You don’t even know.”
“I do. She tried to kill me.”
“If it’s any solace, she’s seemed to give up on the killing for now.”
“Ah! I hope that’s because of me!”
It doesn’t take long for them to end up in the plane together, though they are not yet flying away. Damian crosses his arms and grumbles about being “restricted to the backseat,” so Artemis, who is also in a backseat, tries to teach him how to play bubblegum. When that doesn’t succeed in distracting him, she teaches him “This is Bob, Bob says ‘hi,’” which actually does work.
In the front, Odysseus explains, “I’m like Solomon. We aren’t gods, and Solomon isn’t even Greek, but the gods offered us to be put in a body. Solomon wanted to be immortalized, but at first I didn’t even wish to be with Billy. I was with people before him but I never came out. It’s like…not existing sometimes. I like it that way.”
Batman sounds calm as he asks, “Why did you take their offer?” Odysseus snorts something about how he came to be here is funny in a way.
“I had been with my child and wife for twelve years when I first heard of the offer, then twenty-two years when I took it. The real me lived on and died peacefully with my wife and child, giving me closure, and I’m not even a person really. I’m only here because if there’s anything I can do to save people from the gods…I’ll do it.”
Suddenly, two pairs of footsteps can be heard. “Bats! You’ll never believe what happened out there,” Oliver begins ranting. Fortunately, Diana stops him, “I’m sure Hal would love to hear about your journey, but right now let us rest.” Odysseus slowly turns his head, an eye of his twitching. Bruce immediately locks his seatbelt as a precaution. He can only hope that Odysseus will remember the gods that helped him rather than the ones that seemed to have ruined his life.
Odysseus leans over to Bruce and hisses, “Does she know Poseidon? Not to say what happened wasn’t a cause of my own ego, but I heard from Billy that there is a man that controls water somewhere around here…”
Bruce closes the plane’s doors and assures Odysseus while looking forward with a straight face, “Aquaman is a good ally. Besides, you won’t need to worry about him.”
“Right, well…I probably won’t be around much longer.”
Odysseus taps his foot as he and Batman sit in awkward silence. Unable to take it anymore, Oliver jokes, “Alright, alright! I’ll tell you all what happened, no need to keep asking.”
Batman is quick to correct him, “We didn’t.” However, Oliver simply smiles unbotheredly.
“I think you want to hear it.”
“We don’t.”
“I was in the swamp, right?”
Bruce groans, but Oliver continues. Odysseus looks at Batman, asking, “Aren’t you going to stop him?” For the first time today, Batman genuinely looks defeated.
“There’s no use.”
“My crewmates were similar.”
“Please, no more stories for today.”
⊹ ࣪ 𓎢𓎠𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖
Back at the league Billy seems to be fuming. This time it really is Billy and not Odysseus. “I was watching him the entire time!” Billy rants. “I told him to knock it off, but he wouldn’t! He was such a bully!”
Diana inputs, “He has been through a lot.” However, Billy isn’t having it. He continues, “So that means he can be a massive jerk? No!”
Bruce steps in, “I understand. Not being in control of your own body can seem violating, however from the sounds of it I think he was forced forward. You were in danger and there he was.”
“Woah. The wizard gave me DID?”
“I…wouldn’t necessarily say that.”
“But I totally got some mental illnesses, right?”
Ollie cuts in, “Of course he didn’t. You already had those beforehand.” Billy laughs. Bruce knows that this is just their way of joking, so he lets what Oliver said slide. Oliver continues, crouching down (though Billy normally hates when people crouch down to talk to him but thankfully doesn’t seem to notice Oliver doing it right now), “I think this is a good thing. Just think about it! You finally have a sidekick!”
Bruce smiles. Diana is about to go into how Odysseus is truly the opposite of a sidekick when Barry runs by her, nearly knocking her off her feet, so she leaves with a determined look to go scold him.
“Seriously, don’t sweat it, kid,” Oliver
finally standing back up. Once Billy runs off to go find somebody, probably Hal and/or Barry, Bruce tells Oliver, “Thank you.”
“Eh, he’ll probably be fine. He doesn’t seem too bothered by it.”
“I know…but he is just a child.”
“And he’s great at adapting! You really think the wizard would give him powers for no reason?”
“You know the wizard?”
“No, just- Look, the point is that kids live and learn. You have to give them the space to learn.”
“By possession?”
“You’re really not helping me out here, man.”