"Well, isn't someone glad to see us.", John Constantine chuckled, taking an extensive drag at his cigarette. "Nice place, this. Not exactly what I expected from Batman."
"Hi Bruce.", Zatanna grinned at her old friend, albeit a tad apologetically on John's behalf.
The magician wiggled her fingers in a greeting to the child besides Bruce, elevating an eyebrow in his direction. Pivoting, she looked to the couch opposite Bruce's, smile widening.
"Raven!"
John spun to face the half-demon, "Well I'll be...Y'aright love? I haven't seen you in a while."
"Good to see you too. But-?"
"What are you doing here?", Bruce stood up, arms folded, leaving Bella on the sofa.
Damian contributed, "I was about to ask the same thing."
Disconcerted, Jaime observed the two newcomers with scepticism. The man (tall, blonde, dapper and smoking) held an air about him that Jaime would class as authoritative- not on the same level or in the same form as Batman, but authoritative nonetheless- but in a nonchalant manner ; the woman- donning a black jacket, fishnet tights, a white and black corset and a top-hat- omitted a similar sensation, equally as offhand. Both evidently were familiar with Raven and Mr Wayne, possibly Damian.
Hoping to find a fellow clueless-person in the situation to relate to, Jaime resorted to Adyn; only to find the demon in an entirely separate predicament.
Ay, mierda, I'm outa my league on this one. Again.
.
"Raven, who- what is going on?", Adyn posed, brow knitted.
Before Raven could begin explaining that she had no idea what was going or Bruce and Damian could ask any questions, Zatanna cut what would become palavering.
"Can we just tell you what's going on?", her eyebrow raised once more, turned on the full-blood demon at the doorway.
Expectant quietude.
Zatanna exhaled, "Thanks. Look, it's pretty simple. We were in the area, together, looking in to something, and then got a call from you,", she pointed at Bruce, "saying you wanted to talk."
"We were in Gotham 'cause I got a tip from a trusted source that there were some major demonic presences here.", John added. "Couldn't be sure it wasn't some that had to be sent back to the wastelands. Tracked 'em down to the Manor, turns out it's Raven, the Al-Ghul-Damian, if I remember right-", Damian's jaw clenched, "and you", he pointed at Adyn, "so all's fine and dandy."
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his commandeering the situation, Zatanna resumed, "Besides, I haven't seen Raven in ages."she added, "How are you?"
The empath smirked, "Hanging on, as ever."
"Well,", John interrupted once more, "Bob's your uncle! Now can we get on with this."
"On with what?"
John tilted his head at Damian, "On with whatever Batman- or Bruce or whatever- wanted to talk about. And catching up: it really has been too long ma lovely.", he said the last to Raven.
***
"Where's Bella?"
"With Jaime, Kori and Alfred. They seemed capable of taking care of a five-year old.", Damian informed his father, intending to exit the Batcave promptly- he had better things to be doing with his time as opposed to talking with two magical practitioners.
Besides, he had already placed a bug in the room to hear what Bruce, Constantine and Zatanna would be discussing. Stride affirmative as ever, Damian stalked towards one of the many hidden exits, stopping when a voice called out.
"Still got that chip on your shoulder, eh?", John chuckled.
"No,", Raven smirked, "he's just a caustic pessimist."
Damian turned around, smiling in spite of himself, "I'll take that as a compliment."
"You do that."
Bruce intercepted what would have turned to an exchange of sardonic barbs, just as Zatanna had done a few minutes ago, "Have you met before? I can't remember ever meeting you with Robin."
John pointed his thumb at Damian, "You're Robin?", the teen nodded, "Blimey.", Constantine sighed, "Well, of course we've met, not when you were there 'course."
The head of the Wayne household nodded his head, arms folded, leaning against his chair, indicating that Constantine should expand on that.
"Look, mate, this one", he once more gestured to Damian, who now stood at the door, scowling, "has an insanely strong magical and demonic presence, of course I had to see what was going on. So I came to the area, he caught me following him, we had a little chat, no harm done."
"Are we done here.", Damian drawled, not wanting to spend any longer in there, regardless of Raven's relationship with the two newcomers.
Bruce nodded, giving him leave to slip away.
"I'll be off too.", Raven said, disappearing in to a portal, knowing that Zatanna and Constantine would reach out to her later on.
***
Rendering his foe incapacitated, Damian sliced off the hologram's arms, finishing it off with a decided thrust through the heart. Katana twirling through the air, appearing as no more than a sliver of silver, darting in and out of the assailants. An extension of himself, Damian moved as one with the sword, beyond agile to the point of disbelief.
Using all forms of physical combat at his disposal, the ex-assassin made short work of the opponents, knocking down holograms with entirely poised and precise jump lines kid; well-placed punches; and ruthlessly driving his katana through them with the skill of Leonardo DaVinci painting.
The attackers kept appearing, throwing hits that were all to easy to deflect. Lumbering. Clumsy. Too slow for them to be a real challenge.
Through the device in his ear, Damian listened in on the conversation between John Constantine, Zatanna Zatara and his father. So far nothing interesting had emerged: Bruce just wanted assistance in filling in files on types of preternatural- which the two had refused to do.
"I'm sorry Bruce, but as we've already said, this is a breech of preternatural law.", Zatanna's voice broke through the earpiece.
Damian side-kicked a hologram in the head, listening as his father queried, "preternatural law?"
"Yes, preternatural law.", Constantine exhaled, "No non-preternatural beings should know of their existence. Yourself and the other League members, and whomever else, knowing is an exception."
Decapitating two other holograms, Damian ignored the sweat currently marking a path down his temples and on his back, causing his vest-top to stick to his skin. Not long ago (a few months at best) Damian had foregone wearing his uniform 24/7, opting to only wear it during missions and patrol: it just wasn't practical. Instead he donned the usual harem trousers and top, which allowed for a quick release of body heat due to the looseness of the clothes. A relief by any standards.
"An exception only because ,", the demon-catcher added, "you were granted this knowledge by those higher up in the preternatural hierarchy- demonic royalty."
It was clear they were vehemently against Batman documenting information on the preternatural, a stance which seemed not be changing anytime soon.
Whilst Damian continued demolishing foe after foe, the three continued their conversation, Batman continuing to press the reasoning behind needing to have everything on preternaturals documented and the two of them refusing point blank.
Naturally, Bruce would find a loophole in their defences, "What if I were to ask Damian, Adyn and Raven?"
Damian scoffed, drop-kicking the hologram in front of him before doing a walkover, hitting the assailant behind him in the head. Of course his father would try anything and everything to get what he wanted.
"Why would you need to document it if you could just ask them about it when you wanted to- they are living in your house after all and he's your son!", Damian could hear the exasperation in Zatanna's voice, she was clearly fed up of this conversation- which had been going on for almost half-an-hour.
Gods, his father was persistent.
If Raven were with him, he knew she would be as amused as he was by the situation, sadly for him, the school wanted her to assist during a school-trip (one that Bella would be missing out on).
Assured that nothing would be said that was so urgent that it couldn't wait till afterwards to hear it, Damian switched off the earpiece. Content with extending his training period- and not wanting to face society just yet- Damian swiped the head off a hologram, landing in a low guarding stance.
"Simulation off.", he ordered, watching the last hologram disappear.
Sheathing the katana- though he didn't wear his uniform, he still brought the sword sheath- Damian trailed a hand absently over its hilt, intending to spend an hour or so in the adjoining room, exercising. That's when a voice rang in out.
"You have exceptional technique. It's impressive."
"Adyn,", Damian acknowledged, facing the demon, not unkindly.
Champagne ringlets bouncing, Adyn grinned at Damian, "It's been a while since I last used engaged in combat with another, would you like to do so?"
Mulling his offer over for a second, the addressee nodded, aware that he'd have to perform exceptionally well: from what Damian had seen of Adyn's fighting, the demon was an experienced combatant- he would have had to be, if he was a general in the Djinni army. If ten years under Ra's Al-Ghul's instruction could bring Damian so far, roughly twenty-five years under demonic warlords could take Adyn to Damian's level and beyond.
He would have to be awful cautious in this fight.
"That's wonderful!", the crimson-eyed demon said, moving closer to Damian.
A few feet away, Adyn pulled off the jumper he was wearing (a red number Raven had forced him to buy since he didn't seem to be able to stand the growing cold) casting it to besides the door. Now in only a pair of loose trousers, Adyn faced Damian, falling in to an l-stance with his back leg bent lower than the front one.
Damian removed the sheath from his side, throwing it so that it lay besides Adyn's jumper, with the katana still inside: if Adyn were to fight weaponless, Damian would too.
In a stance similar to Adyn's, Damian prepared himself, fists raised accordingly- one a few inches in front of his chin; the other by the left side of his chest.
A moment of judgement passed between Damian and Adyn, both weighing up the other.
With preternatural speed, the demon closed in on Damian, a fist raised.
***
"Alright, be careful now- watch your step Mia- no Andy, don't touch that- Mia, are you okay? I told you to watch your step. Careful now sweetie."
Raven was up to her neck in children. Or rather, Raven was up to her neck in misbehaving children. Ms Cherry had thought it best to leave her with the naughty children: they seemed to like her more than other staff members.
Getting these small people off of a school bus safely was a hassle- to say in the least. Why the school wanted them to go to a museum, Raven understood, after all, it was a museum dedicated to the Justice League- if it was a regular, historical one, the children wouldn't be interested. Still, dealing with misbehaving five-year olds was bloody hectic.
An idea sparking in her head, Raven called the children in her care over, weary to get the away from the busy road (Gotham's roads weren't to be trusted).
"Alright, listen up,", she said, crouching down, making sure she had their attention before continuing," we're going to go in an see all the cool superhero stuff, so who's excited?"
All four responded with loud cries of, "Me! Me!", making Raven laugh
"That's great, but let me tell you a secret,", they drew closer, eyes wide, "the Justice League can see what's going on in the museum,", cue loud gasps, "so you had better be on your best behaviour for them, otherwise they'll be very upset."
Her tone was grave, leaving the five-year olds gawping in awe.
"Even Batman?!", Jackie asked, gobsmacked, fiddling with the zip of his coat.
"Of course, he-"
Raven broke of, standing up to her full height as screams met her ears. Turning around, her eyes widened as people began flooding in her direction, away from the pavement opposite.
"What the-"
A.N:
Hello darlings! I hope you really enjoyed that chapter! I know not much has really happened, but believe me when I say, a lot will be happening soon ;)
Anywhoooo... there's nothing more to be said, really, besides thanks for reading!
-Bats :3