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“I still can’t believe that of all the vigilantes you could have chosen to work with, you really chose the one with the lamest weapon.”
Bernard raised an eyebrow as he parried a blow from his sibling. “The lamest weapon?”
Yan shrugged as they pivoted, readying for another strike. “I mean, if I’d had the same opportunity, I’d have asked Robin to train me.” They said, left shoulder dropping barely an inch as they moved forward, but Bernard caught it and darted out of the way. “How cool is it to see a vigilante fighting with a sword?”
“Most of the people here fight with swords.” Bernard said in amusement. “If I want to learn, there are at least twelve people at camp I can think of that I could ask, just off the top of my head.”
“So then you should have gone with, like, Red Hood. Or maybe Batman.” Yan said.
Bernard let out a huff of amusement as his sibling ducked to one side, turning a direct blow into a glancing hit off the edge of their sword. “Why would I need training with guns when we have enough natural talent as marksmen that I can rely easily on my bow? Where would I even get a gun?” He asked. “As for Hood’s blades, again, I could just train with knives and daggers here. You know, since I’d already done that for years, using a dagger as my main weapon outside of my bow.”
“Not like you were ever very good at it.” Yan muttered under their breath.
Bernard ignored the jab, knowing it came from a place of concern. He felt the same anxiety and nerves for his siblings, that fear of them one day being unable to make use of their natural talents and having to rely on lesser skills to protect themselves.
Only, it had actually happened to him, and he’d been hurt for it. Of course it was going to make his siblings upset and even more worried.
“Batman hardly even uses weapons anyways. I’m not going up against any monsters unarmed, or with a couple tiny throwing knives.” He said, thinking of Bruce and the training he had indeed gotten from the man, if not for any specific kind of weapon. Not that his siblings needed to know about that part.
“Still.” Yan said stubbornly. “It’s just, a bo staff?”
“Trust me, it was my best option for living in Gotham.” Bernard said, swiping at Yan’s legs just as they moved forward in a lunge to strike, knocking them off their feet. He rested the retractable blade lightly at their throat. Yan groaned in defeat. “Besides, my boyfriend is a public figure and carries his own staff for self defense. Learning the same weapon as him means we can brush up on our skills and spar together at home.” Bernard held out a hand to help his sibling up.
“You guys are living together now?” Jerry asked, interest caught from where he was watching both their spar and Gracie and Apricity’s. He and Will had already finished up their own match.
Bernard shrugged. “We were just about there before, and ever since I got back, he’s practically lived at my place.” He explained. “Sometimes he’ll stay at the manor with his family for the night, but unless me and K are planning something there to try to surprise him, he’s never at his own place anymore.”
“How are you all doing, by the way?” Will asked as the three of them moved to join him on the nearby bleachers.
“We’re doing good.” Bernard smiled brightly. “It’s only been a bit over a month or so, but things are going really well. K fits in like he was never not a part of the equation.”
“When are we gonna get to meet him?” Gracie asked, wiping sweat off her forehead as she and Apricity walked over. “Most of us haven’t even met Tim yet.”
“By summer, I hope.” Bernard said. “Right now, we’re just keeping it to ourselves and some close friends. None of us are quite ready to deal with the media about it, and they both want to give it a little time before telling their families. Tim’s siblings and dad are nosy as hell, and some of K’s immediate family are investigative reporters. He loves them, but they’ll want to know everything, and he wants a little privacy for a while.”
“You’ll really let us meet them once you guys are out to everyone?” Jerry asked. “They won’t be weirded out by all the different siblings?”
“Nah, they both know about demigods.” Bernard shared a small smile with Will, the only one of his siblings with any idea of who, exactly, his boyfriends were. His oldest younger brother hadn’t voiced any suspicions, but Bernard would be very surprised if he didn’t have a solid idea of Tim’s alter ego, or any guesses at Kon’s, not after he met both heroes when they came to camp to help rescue him. “And besides, they’ve both got unconventional families, too. Tim and I even have the same number of siblings, and they’re all as different from each other as we are, so it’s not that out of the blue.”
“Well, keep us updated. We wanna meet the people that make our brother happy.” Yan said, nudging his arm. “Right now, though, we’re moving onto archery practice. You beat us all sparring, but now the rest of us get a chance to win.”
Movement in the trees. A glint of moonlight off metal.
Bernard didn’t move from his relaxed position leaning against the moss-covered boulder they’d chosen for their flag’s location. He idly wondered if they’d even enter the clearing, as there had been another player skulking around the treeline about an hour ago, but they’d never moved out of the relative safety of the trees before turning around and leaving.
He watched from the corner of his eye as they shuffled around, settling on a plan, while he toyed with the pebble he’d picked up earlier that night, tossing it up and down in one hand, bo staff in the relaxed grip of his other hand.
Finally, the other demigods made their way out of the forest into the small clearing. Bernard let the pebble fall to the ground, pushing off of the rock behind him to face them as they moved into view.
“No armor, and an unconventional weapon?” The leader of the trio questioned warily, spear at the ready. Her piercing gray eyes swept over him and the rest of the clearing, what must be a daughter of Athena clearly looking for a trap.
“What can I say, I wasn’t planning to find myself in the thick of fighting tonight, so I skipped out on the extra weight.” Bernard said conversationally, swapping his staff into his right hand.
“And your weapon?” The daughter of Ares carried a shortsword, another sheathed at her opposite hip. Another, younger child of Ares accompanied them, carrying their own spear.
The demigod shrugged. “It gets the job done.”
The Athena camper made a quick hand motion, and both spear-wielding demigods rushed at him, the one with the sword skirting to the side. Bernard gave them a second to get close, then dropped to a knee, slamming his left hand into the ground right next to the little black pebble he’d been playing with.
The magnet had landed true, and the energy he’d quietly been channeling all night was released into the device buried there. A shock wave blasted forward, his power amplified, and the campers in front of him were thrown back, off their feet.
Bernard launched himself back to standing, twirling to the side to intercept the swordswoman before she could get up the side of the boulder to their flag. He trusted his siblings to keep the other two occupied, pinned under fire from strategic hiding places in the trees lining the clearing.
“Neat trick you’ve got there. What cabin are you?” She lifted her chin, granting him a nod of respect as she moved to face him.
“Aw, you mean you couldn’t tell by my sunny disposition?” He asked, grinning at her as he took a ready stance, staff held lightly in both hands.
“Apollo. Didn’t know the sunshine cabin could do anything like that.” She took her own ready stance, but neither moved to strike yet.
“Well, I had a little help from the Hephaestus cabin just there, but most people tend to find me unlike their expectations.” Harley was going to be so excited about the results of his latest amplifier after the game was over. Though, judging by the thin trail of smoke he’d seen before he had turned away, there was going to need to be some fine-tuning of the next prototype.
The daughter of Ares gave him a bloodthirsty smile. Bernard shot back with his best manic Gothamite grin. She swung.
The two of them were surprisingly well matched, for all the difference in their weapons and armor. Bernard may have been training with superheroes and deadly vigilantes in his free time, but he hadn’t quite expected to find himself on par with a teenaged year-rounder from the Ares cabin. She clearly hadn’t expected him to keep up so well either, and redoubled her efforts, throwing in the occasional dirty move. Unfortunately for her, not only was Bernard working with superheroes and deadly vigilantes now, but he’d grown up on the lower end of middle class in Gotham, and he could spot a dirty move almost better than he could a fair strike. It didn’t hurt that his senses of foresight afforded him a precious second extra here and there, letting him keep pace with his opponent longer than he otherwise might have.
Neither had really managed to gain any ground they hadn’t lost in equal turn by the time the horn sounded throughout the forest minutes later. Bernard twirled his staff back upright, stepping back as the other camper did the same.
“You’re good.” She told him. “I don’t think I’ve really seen you around, though. You not a year-rounder?”
“Nah.” Bernard responded, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. “Just visiting my siblings. Perks of being an adult with a job and my own apartment, I can come visit whenever I want.”
Surprise etched across her face. “I wouldn’t have thought you were that old.” She said. “But I guess you get used to everyone around here being pretty young, and we’ve all been through a lot so most of us look older than we are, anyways.”
“Yeah, I’m a pretty rare case.” He said quietly. “Traded safety out in the normal world for a relative level of safety from the godly. I don’t always count myself lucky for it, but I wouldn’t change having grown up in Gotham if I could.”
Understanding passed over her features as she nodded at him once more. “Well, if you ever want to spar or go for another good workout, come find me at the Ares cabin. You can ask for Amaya.”
Bernard smiled. “I might just take you up on that next time I visit. Sparring with my siblings is fun, but not really much of a workout.” He said. “If you hear them complaining about Bernard, that’s me.”
Amaya laughed.
Seated across from him at the small table, Bernard watched as the little girl’s face lit up with the first sip of her drink. While the majority of the restaurant’s drink menu was alcoholic, no one was going to give a seven year old alcohol, not even in a place as morally bankrupt as Gotham. Not in a fine dining setting, anyway. So while Bernard had ordered a mojito for himself, their server had offered to get a shirley temple for Apricity. Well, she hadn’t said the words ‘shirley temple,’ but sprite with grenadine was sprite with grenadine.
“This is so good.” Apricity said, looking at her fancy glass in minor awe.
“There’s a reason it’s a classic.” He told her. “Do you think you like that more or less than the soda yesterday?”
“This one.” She decided, taking another sip.
They’d gotten back to Gotham the previous morning, leaving camp as their siblings had headed to breakfast the morning after the Capture the Flag game. They stayed overnight because it had been pretty late and Apricity had been tired after the game. She’d been on the retrieval team, her natural weapons useful in keeping the other team’s demigods off the tail of the Hermes kid who had stolen their flag and secured their team the win.
They’d dropped their stuff off at Bernard’s apartment, before bundling up against the cold and going out wandering around Gotham. It had been several months since Apricity had been home, after all, and she’d wanted to see everything she could. They’d stopped for lunch at a Batburger, and Bernard had gotten her their mountain dew flavor to try. She’d liked it well enough, though he personally preferred to get a zesti with his food there.
Then, today, they’d spent the morning in a museum, and some of the afternoon at the park. They’d warmed back up with some time spent hanging out in his apartment, and now they were having dinner in one of Gotham’s higher end steakhouses, after which they’d be going to see a musical being put on at the theatre. Tim had used his name to secure the reservation and seats for him, but Bernard had paid for everything. He’d been putting aside a tiny bit of money at a time for a little while now for this, wanting to take Apricity out for a night to do something fun in their city before she had to go back to camp for the foreseeable future. He loved all of his siblings, of course he did, but he’d saved the little girl’s life long before he ever even knew they were related. And there was something about being from the same blighted city that made him feel an even closer kinship with her.
Bernard was broken from his musing by their server’s appearance with his salad. He thanked her, and Apricity’s nose scrunched up as he took a bite.
“Don’t like salad?” He asked her.
“Lettuce tastes sad.” She responded. He laughed.
“By itself, it does, yeah. But I like it with other stuff and with dressing. At home, I usually use spring mix instead of lettuce, too.” He told her. “Try one of the tomatoes, you might like those better.”
She didn’t look convinced, but reached over with her fork to spear one of the veggies off his dish. Bernard hid an amused grin behind another bite as she carefully put it in her mouth. A few seconds later, after chewing and swallowing, Apricity’s wary expression hadn’t changed.
“What’s the verdict?” He asked.
“It’s not super gross. But I don’t know if I like it.” She decided.
“That’s okay, you don’t have to eat any more if you don’t want.” Bernard said. “Just listen to our siblings and make sure you at least eat some veggies and healthy things some of the time at camp, okay?”
A couple minutes after their meals had been brought to their table, Bernard was cutting Apricity’s steak into manageable pieces for her, occasionally taking a moment to cut a piece of his own food for a bite. The eyes of the server who had carried their food to their table bugged out more than a little when Bernard claimed the smaller filet mignon to the much larger ribeye, but the young girl was clearly excited and he hadn’t said anything.
Apricity happily stabbed another piece of her steak off of the plate, leaning forward in her chair to reach where it sat in the middle of the small table so that Bernard could reach it. Just as she did so, the doors at the front of the restaurant slammed open, armed thugs pouring inside.
Both demigods paused where they were, eyeing the devolving situation warily. They were seated on the opposite side of the restaurant, in a somewhat secluded corner of the space that gave them both clear sightlines to the exits, as well as being difficult to sneak up on. Perks of having a Wayne make your reservation for you, the name gave them the ability to request whatever seating they wanted without being questioned on it, and the vigilante in them knew exactly what kind of a space a demigod would prefer.
The thugs began ordering people around, threatening the host at the stand at the front and yelling at patrons to give up their valuables. Between the screaming of patrons, yelling of thugs, and general chaos, the children of Apollo went quietly unnoticed as they turned back to their meals.
It wasn’t until a minute later, when the music had fully stopped and the thugs had successfully cowed the rest of the patrons and stuff into a mostly quiet submission, that the clink of silverware could be heard clearly across the quieted restaurant. Several people stared at them as they nonchalantly continued eating, Bernard pushing Apricity’s plate back over to her when her food had been cut up. Not that he didn’t trust her with a steak knife, she was a demigod who handled much larger, sharper and far more deadly blades on a regular basis, but it gave her a headstart on her much larger portion of food so they’d be done eating at a more similar time, and it felt nice to do something so simple and domestic for his baby sister.
Bernard didn’t look up from their table until the thug that made his way over had reached them, stopping next to the table and pointing the gun at his face. “Hand over your wallet and valuables and get on the ground.” The man ordered, sneer on his face.
He raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his mojito. “Am I supposed to feel threatened?” He asked, barest hint of a green flash passing through his eyes.
The thug was surprised at his nonreaction but covered it well, swiveling to turn the gun on Apricity. “Hand over your wallet and valuables or the girl dies.” He repeated, voice dropping lower, into more of a growl.
Bernard ignored the demand, turning his gaze on his little sister. “How’s your food, City?” He asked conversationally.
Already a good fourth of the way through her ribeye, Apricity grinned up at the both of them, teeth elongating and sunbursts blazing in her eyes for a beat longer than necessary for the unnaturalness of the change to stick in the man’s mind. “It’s good!” She declared. “Could be bloodier, though.”
That was enough for the man to startle, the barrel of his gun dipping down. Bernard wasted no time in pivoting out of his seat, slamming his steak knife into the thug’s shoulder in the same moment that the Bat dropped into the front of the restaurant with the rest of the criminals.
The thug by their table stumbled back, other hand automatically going to clutch at his shoulder as Bernard kicked the gun he had dropped away. He threw a glance over his shoulder at the vigilante and the rest of his gang, then back at the two blondes in front of him. He took a few more steps back, then turned and ran into the fray in the front, clearly deciding they were crazier than he wanted to deal with and preferring a fight with the Bat. Bernard sat back down in his seat and picked up his silverware once more. Apricity had never actually stopped working through her meal.
The fight in the front of the restaurant wrapped up after a few more minutes, Batman and Robin taking care of the thugs and helping the other patrons and staff outside to cops and paramedics to be checked over and have their statements taken. Bernard figured he must not have been far away when the thugs had first shown up, because Commissioner Gordon entered the restaurant shortly after the last man went down.
Spotting the two of them still seated across the restaurant as others streamed out, he made his way over, Batman trailing ominously behind him. Robin remained at the front, supervising the removal of the thugs by the cops out to their cars to be arrested and placed in jail.
“Most of our witnesses were up front for the action.” The Commissioner started. “Can I get your version of events from over here for a statement?”
“Sure.” Bernard said, turning to face him. “We were eating dinner, then these guys showed up. No one noticed us still over here, so we just kept eating. When they did notice, someone came over. He threatened me, then my sister. I asked her how her food was, and while he was distracted with her answer, I hit him with my steak knife. Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight and all that, but seriously, who robs a steakhouse? That’s begging to be stabbed, if you ask me, because that’s like the one kind of place where basically everyone is guaranteed to have a large knife on them.”
“And you never thought to try to get to safety or do what they asked until they could be taken care of?” Gordon asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I am not a rich man, officer.” Bernard said easily. “This night out with my sister is a once in a blue moon kind of thing. We weren’t in much more danger over here than we were over there, and I know how to protect myself. If I thought anything would happen to either of us, but especially to her, I would have done as he asked.”
“Alright. Well, thank you for the account.” Gordon nodded, flipping his notebook closed.
Bernard nodded back at him, turning to face his sister. “You about ready to go, kid?” He asked her, pulling out his wallet and dropping enough cash on the table for their food, drinks, and a hefty tip. Their server had been pretty nice, and it wasn’t her fault the restaurant got robbed in the middle of their meal.
“Unfortunately, you can’t leave just yet.” Batman spoke up. “We have a few more questions for you.”
Bernard turned to the Dark Knight with a raised brow. “Oh? What more is there to ask about? I just told the Commissioner everything that happened, at least that we saw.” Apricity finished sucking down the last of her shirley temple, before hopping out of her chair and pressing herself to Bernard’s side, taking his hand in hers.
“You engaged with a dangerous criminal, escalating a situation that could have turned very deadly for either of you.” Batman monotoned.
Bernard bit back a petty Isn’t that what you do every night?, and settled for a sarcastic tone as he spoke. “Tonight was supposed to be a treat for my little sister, going out for a nice meal and then going to her first theatre show. I wasn’t going to let a failed robbery ruin that for her.” He told him. “Would you really stop a kid who’s spent her entire life in the foster system from having fun in the little time she gets to spend with her brother for no real reason?”
Apricity, hand still in her older brother’s, took a step forward. The gold fabric of her little gown swished around her legs as she narrowed her eyes at Batman. She’d been so excited to find the dress when she opened the gift, and had proclaimed it the nicest thing she’d ever owned after squeezing the life out of Bernard with a hug. Giving the long-time protector of Gotham a once over, she seemed to think something over for a moment before announcing, “I like the Signal better than you. He’s yellow and he’s nice.”
That startled a laugh out of Gordon, while Batman’s lips twitched into the tiniest of frowns. Bernard hid his laugh with a cough.
“Alright, well, with that scathing indictment, you two are free to go. We’ve got all the statements we need. Enjoy your night, and try not to get in any trouble.” Gordon told them, holding out his arm in a gesture to let them pass.
“Thank you.” Bernard said. “I hope your night goes well, too.”