I mean, meow?

Problems on problems

Selina and Damian were not a close family. She was his father's wife; he saw nothing more in her than that.

"I don't want to replace your mother", Damian's gaze turned to hers, with an expression that wasn't clear, but didn't look like anger, "I know I can't do that. But... We live under the same roof, and I care about your own sister. I don't want her to see us as strangers and then have to be torn between you and me."

Damian didn't have family feelings for Selina, but it was different with Helena. Everyone loved her. And, even if Selina remained just an ex-con to some in the mansion, Helena was already born under Bruce's wing and her as the daughter of heroes.

Grayson, Drake, even Todd loved the little girl, though she was a stranger by blood, it didn't matter. She was their sister, the one they would give their lives for, or take.

Damian seemed like an outsider in this family. His relationship with his father was not the softest. Selina is a stranger to him. Grayson was and still is the only one Damian "still tolerates." Drake annoys him. And Todd, there's not much to say about him.
Helena was Damian's only family member on the estate other than Bruce.

She rarely asked to hold him, but she never minded if he held her. She would hug his neck and Damian knew she felt safe with him. That was mostly what he did, he wanted to protect her, to keep her out of the world in which he and the rest of the family fought crime.

The reason is simple. One day they almost lost Grayson, and Damian couldn't find his place.

"Grayson, damn it, wake up!"
"Hey, circus boy, don't you dare try to die! I'm not afraid to play the box a second time to kick your ass in the other world, do you fucking understand me?!"
"Dick, help is coming, just keep breathing! Keep breathing..."
"Grayson... I hate you, you goddamn bastard... Wake up I said!"

He doesn't know how much he'll break if his own sister gives her life for this goddamn town...
For the same reason he decided not to get close to her while she was growing up. She has enough brothers to have someone to come to for help... But not him. She won't be an outcast in this house like him.

"I get it, I'm sorry, Selina. But I have to study, and I hope you don't mind. Also, I haven't had lunch yet."

Selina flinched just a little and lowered her gaze and let go of the teenager's shoulder.
"Yes, of course."

Damian hurried back to his room.

When he entered the room, he found a bit of a mess. The bed was completely unmade. His bedclothes were on the floor and a few pencils were scattered near the table.

Walking inside, he picked up a silk cloth and threw it on the bed. Looking around on the floor, he was quite surprised.

The kitten was sleeping not far from the bed on the floor.
It seemed to be the cause of the mess.
It was puzzling. She had been calm a couple of days ago, what had happened now?

"Selina mentioned that she wasn't feeling well..."

Damian looked away from the kitten, putting the pencils back on the table, as he tucked his bed back in.

As he was getting ready to change, he got a text message from John. His friends were already waiting at the mall.

"Shit..."

His gaze was quickly diverted from his phone to the cat, who suddenly started acting a little... Weird.

....

"Jason, I got an anonymous message with an address almost on the outskirts of Gotham, can you check it out since you're on patrol now?"

"Already, bro..."

"... I'm not comfortable with your tone, what did you find?"

"I'll call you later. We just need to figure it out for ourselves."

"But Jay--! As always."

Jason cut the connection, moving closer to the victim, blocking Steph's view as much as possible. But his sister jumped out from behind him.

"Oh, my God."
He knew it would happen, but he only groaned at it mentally.

"Oh... We're definitely gonna get a reprimand from Bruce."

"I'm worried about something else right now..." Steph walked over to the fallen corpse. Examining the arm, the wound had already taken on a blue hue, and the blood had soaked heavily into the clothes, leaving only a black trail.

Bone is not physically capable, even with a person's desire, of turning inside out like that under the skin. The phenomenon was puzzling, but more frightening.

"And it turns out we lost two.."

Steph sighed disappointedly, noticing the woman's bulging belly.
She wanted to touch it again, make sure the baby was alive, but it wasn't, there was blood gushing from beneath her clothes. Two lives lost.

"God knows who did this to her..."

"Or the Devil."

Steph and Jason turned at the voice behind them, Jay already fully armed.

"Calm down, bat-children, I'm here on business."

"Who are you, asshole?"

"Sometimes kind/sometimes not so kind Uncle Johnny", answered the wizard, smoking his imported cigarette. "Now, tell me everything that happened here... But not here."

"Why the fuck would we..."

Without waiting for the hungry creatures to attack, John used magic to transport himself and the two bat spawns to one of the alleyways where one of the humans was reported missing.

"... Oh my gods my stomach..." Steph covered her mouth with her hand on automatic.

"... What the fuck was that?!"

"Magic."

"Magic? What are you, a circus magician?"

"No, I'm cooler than that.
This place look familiar?"

"Yeah, uh... A place connected to the one victim we couldn't find."

"Can you be more specific?"

"It's about kidnappings that our family investigates personally. You didn't know about missing teenage girls?" Steph had her arms crossed over her chest.

"Some I'd heard, some I hadn't. Now", he made herself comfortable among the trash, "Tell me, kids, everything you know about the victim who disappeared here."