Night Lotus -1 Grave visit
Thea was in the cemetery, so lost in thought that she hadn't even fully realized it was raining. Even though the Drakes weren't her biological family, they had raised her, so on every anniversary of their deaths, she would go to the cemetery and pay her respects by staying there all day. She was praying with her hands together in front of her. The rain was hitting her body, but she wasn't responding. Suddenly, the rain stopped hitting her. A familiar voice said, "You should have brought an umbrella with you, Nix." Thea remained silent. The person behind her continued to hold the umbrella for her. There was someone around her age with long blue hair and a ponytail behind her. There was a tall person. He was quite tall for her. He was wearing a suit. He held the umbrella for her, not caring that he was getting wet. A man with green hair called him "boss." He handed the man a hooded cloak and another umbrella. The man took the cloak and put it on Thea. Then he took the umbrella. Tim mumbled a silent thank you.
***
Jason was a little grumpy today. They had learned 2 things a few weeks ago. The first was that the substitute was not a boy but a girl. The other was that she was B's biological daughter, no, he didn't discriminate between boys and girls and he definitely didn't discriminate between stepchildren. But the fact that B didn't say anything on purpose was driving him crazy. How could he not say anything. Tim had moved into the mansion 2 weeks ago, leaving his disguise behind. "Thea," Jason reminded himself. Tim had been a sensitive subject since Tim had returned from searching for Bruce. Especially since he had come back blind. The news that he would be returning to the mansion had relieved Jason of the stress of where he was living and how he was living. *He's only 17 and he has to live with that* he thought.
Damian was very surprised by the fact that he had a sister. But Thea didn't seem to care about him. The reason he was so concerned about Thea today was because she had left the house so early in the morning and still hadn't shown up. It was almost midnight, it was raining and Shrimp still hadn't shown up.
He turned to Bruce who had come to the cave. "Where is she? She disappears without even telling you. She never calls until almost midnight and you don't say anything," Bruce said. "Thea? Today was the anniversary of her adoptive parents' deaths. She went to pay her respects to them. She does it every year. She stays there all day," he said. Her clothes were wet as if they had been out in the rain for a while.
Jason was startled "Did you leave her there all alone? In this rain? Did she even bring an umbrella?" Bruce asked. "First of all, she can protect herself. And I know where she is. I know she's safe. Secondly, even though she prefers to be alone at times like this, I'm coming from there. I went to check on her and gave her an umbrella. But she wasn't alone and the person with her brought an umbrella." Jason said "Who? Cass?" Bruce said. "No. You don't know her." Jason asked "So you know her?" Bruce said "Yeah. He's not bad. A childhood friend of Thea's." Jason asked "A boy?" Bruce said "Yeah, he's a year and a half older than her."
Jason's eyebrows raised "There's something between them," he guessed. Bruce said "Not exactly. At least not yet." Jason asked "Have you met her?" Bruce nodded "She introduced me and Alfred a long time ago."
Damian said as they went down to the cave "who are you talking about" Jason said "shrimp's possible boyfriend" Bruce sighed "is that what you're calling him" he said with a groan. Damian said "wait boyfriend? who approved it? did she get it from her parents" Talia had joined the family for a while and had set her sights on Thea even before she moved in. She seemed to be planning on taking over. But Thea hadn't really warmed up to her yet. The ones she was close with in the family were Cass, Alfred and Bruce.
Bruce said "there's nothing really going on between them yet and Alfred and I met him a long time ago. He's Thea's childhood friend. They've known each other even longer than I did" Damian's eyebrows furrowed "is he a good fit for our family? And does he know who we are?" he asked.
Bruce said, "Oh, he's a man who has built his own money and his own place by his own fingernails. He's talented, skilled, and intelligent. He knows who we are but we didn't tell him. He figured it out on his own. He respects and follows traditions." Jason's eyebrows raised, "But what?" he asked. There was a but in Bruce's tone. Bruce said, "He's founded a very secret organization that even those who know know very little about. The organization of information and assassins. It's called night lotus. They don't do the second part unless they have to and they don't mess with innocents, but I can say that they're quite talented." Jason said, "Wait! What? You're putting your daughter with someone like that," he said, surprised.
Damian said, "I've never heard of such a group." A voice said, "Because it's a secret group. And no one finds out unless they want to. And they're also quite helpful." It was Alfred. Jason looked over and asked, "What do you mean?" Bruce said "There was an incident a few years ago. A group of Atlanteans and Amazonians disappeared there was a lot of chaos no one knew where they were".
Dick said "I remember that incident" Cass said Steph and Barbara seemed to have been listening to the conversation for a while. They were looking over there curiously. Cass said "I'll have to talk to your little sister's friend". Talia was squinting at Bruce in the corner. She didn't seem to be happy that this hadn't been mentioned before. Bruce said "Don't look at me like that Lia. Lucas and Thea met when she wanted to. She's not someone who comes here that often. Thea just started living here after all".
Jason laughed *someone's in trouble* he thought. Bruce said "well let's get back to the topic. No one could find them there was no trace of them. A month later Thea brought us some information. It was from an anonymous source" Jason asked "I mean from that group". Bruce said, "Yes. The information was this. A cargo ship would dock at a port in nature in 2 days and the cargo would be the missing Atlantis and Amazonians. When we found the ship. They were indeed there. But there was no crew. Just the Amazons and Atlanteans in the compartment. We followed the ship's course and such but there was no sign of any other ship or anything else. The captors confirmed that there was a crew on the ship at first. The ones who locked them up there were the ones who captured them. But there was no sign of them. Not a single sound of fighting was heard down there." Jason said, "What do you mean you're telling me they did it?" Alfred said, "As far as I know, the bodies are lying at the bottom of the ocean somewhere along the ship's course." They looked at each other in surprise.
***
Tim had finally left the family cemetery. He was holding the elbow of the young man next to him, his other hand holding a walking stick. The young man was holding an umbrella over them both. "Are you okay, Nix?" he asked. Thea said, "Yeah. It was just a mentally tiring day. Thanks for being there for me Lucas." Lucas said, "Always. You should take better care of yourself. If you were out in the rain, you would have caught a cold." Thea said, "I'm sorry. I didn't even notice the rain. I was lost in thought." Lucas said, "No problem." He helped her into the big black SUV. The green haired man sitting in the driver's seat said, "Ms. Thea, you should take more care of yourself." Thea said, "I'm sorry Glen. I'll be more careful next time. You were a bother too. You and Nora got dragged here after Lucas." The orange haired woman sitting next to Glen said, "Oh Miss Thea, it's absolutely fine. The boss was making us work overtime again. It's good to get out and get some fresh air." Lucas said sarcastically. "I can always make you a delivery person or a runner, then you'll get plenty of fresh air." The two of them gasped and said, "Boss, you can't do that." Thea and Lucas laughed. Glen and Nora were Lucas' closest people. Thea was very close with them. Lucas could easily joke around with them. Nora looked like the receptionist of the headquarters and Glen looked like the package delivery guy; Nora was a very powerful wizard and melee artist who was the protector and guard of the headquarters, while Glen was a very skilled swordsman and melee master who delivered the most important information and packages. They finally arrived at the mansion. Lucas opened the door and helped Thea get out of the jeep. Glen said, "See you soon, Miss Boss." Nora said, "Don't forget to come to headquarters soon." Lucas escorted Thea to the door of the mansion. He knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened.
