Bruce descended the stairs followed closely by Tim, Mara, and Alec. They were going to get ready for another night of patrol. Jade and Roy were taking a night off to be there for Lian. Once they reached the batcave they were surprised by the scene before them. Damian was taking care of his new pets, Jery and Batcow, while being guarded closely by Titus, Alfred the cat, and Goliath. Now that was not shocking, but Nightwing, Redbird, and Blackbird were there as well.
"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked sharply, earning a look from all of his children. "Sorry, what I tried to say is, shouldn't you be in Blüdhaven? Is everything ok? Do you need a hand?"
"We are good, it was a quiet night there so I asked the Titans to cover our city," Dick smiled at his dad. "We came to patrol with you, like old times."
"Well, I'm glad chum," Bruce smiled at his children, before kneeling down next to Damian- who was feeding Batcow. "Are you feeling better?"
"Mm..." Damian hummed, before frowning. "Not really, you see, I think Firefly was right..."
Bruce flinched at his son's words, while the rest of his children frowned. Jason, on the other hand, exploded: "That psycho knows shit! You are nothing like him!"
"I know that, I meant the fact that I want to see Gotham burn," Damian replied, making everyone look at him even more worried than before. "I do not want to watch Gotham burn like him, until everything is ashes and everyone is dead. But ever since I came here I've been feeling like somthing is wrong. After talking with Firefly I realized that Gotham is cursed, that's why the Holy Flames in me want to burn Gotham. Not to destroy, but to purrify."
"Cursed?" Dick repeated dumbfounded.
"I always said that there was something in the fucking water," Jason muttered. "But I did not think it would be something like this."
"There is a curse in the water," Damian informed me. "There are a lot of small curses in various places, with time they fed from the blood, death, and destruction around them and grew in darkness. They also created some kind of web around Gotham. They are both individual curses and one big, ancient, and powerful curse."
"Can you deal with it?" Bruce demanded to know, already in his Batman persona, thinking of all the things he knew about magic and curses.
"On my own? Not possible!" Damian shook his head. "I can't take them all on my own."
"What about Akropolis?" Tim asked, getting various glares at the mention of the place where their brother was experimented on. But Tim ignored them and focused on Damian in a calculative way they've only seen on Batman. "You can't tell us that Akropolis is less cursed than Gotham."
"No way, Akropolis was 100 times worse than Gotham," Damian chuckled, humorlessly.
"Then why can't you deal with Gotham's curses?" Tim pushed for an answer.
"Because what I did in Akropolis was a miracle, the reason I exploded in that way was because the power I got from the shard of chaos was too much for my body. To survive I released it all in one go. One day I might, most likely, reach that kind of power, but not now. My body won't handle it," Damian answered him. "If I tried, I'll die."
Tim flinched at his brother's answer. "Sorry."
"You only wanted answers, there's nothing wrong with that," Damian waved his apology away. "I can't deal with the whole web of curses, and while I can deal with the small ones I would prefer the help of someone who is an expert on curses and black magic... even demonolgy if possible. We might need to find a group of warlocks and witches, but I think it is the best option..."
"John Constantine," Batman interrupted his son.
"Excuse me?" Damian questioned.
"Oh, right!" Dick exclaimed. "He is an expert in black magic, curses, and demonology!"
"Not to mention, a total bastard," Jason grumbled.
"Is he a bad person?" Cass signed.
"He is part of the Justice League Dark," Tim answered. "Powerful and knowledgable warlock, though he is known for working for whoever can help him."
"He is somewhat more in a grey area," Dick answered. "He wants to do good, but makes mistakes like any other human."
"You are too fucking soft Dickface!" Jason cursed. "He is an opportunistic asshole!"
"Where will we find him? He disappeared around two years ago," Tim asked their dad. "Around the same time Captain Marvel appeared."
"Many magical beings went underground with the appearance of a new Champion of Magic," Damian commented, trying to distract them from the fact that so many things happened at once. They were already too many coincidence for Batman, he has figured out mysteries with less clues. "Even I when I came back was quite careful with what I did."
"Why?" Mara asked him, stepping next to him.
"Is he an enemy?" Alec questioned him, taking his other side.
"No, but he is the judge, jury, and executioner of the magical world," Damian answered. "He keeps an eye on everyone dangerous... especially someone like me."
"But you are good!" Dick protested.
"He is also very powerful," Batman corrected his son in a calculative way. "Captain Marvel must be keeping an eye on Flamebird to make sure he stays 'good'."
"Who made him judge, jury, and executioner?" Grumbled Dick.
"Magic," Damian answered. "That's the job of the Champion of Magic."
"We will discuss this another day," Batman cut in. "For now, let's contact Zatanna, she must know where we can find him."
"No need," Tim interrupted his father. "I just received a mail from my lawyer, the Drake Mansion has just been bought off by John Constantine... he is moving his family to Gotham."
"Family?!" Everyone exclaimed.
"That asshole has family?!" Jason shouted in disbelief.
"Yes, two sons and a daughter," Tim answered. "The reason why he moved to Gotham is because he is finalizing the adoption of a gothamite orphan."
So, that's where Maya, Suren, and Colin were, Damian thought in relief. He made sure no one noticed, luckily Cass' attention was on Tim. I'll show that imbicile not to hide stuff like this from me! I almost had a heartattack when I realized I could not find my old friends.
"Maybe that's why he disppeared two years ago," Dick mussed out loud. "He got kids and decided to law low for them."
"Still, it's so many coincidences," Batman thought out loud. "We'll investigate this further later, for now let's patrol!"
Oh, well, I knew he would catch on this soon enough, Damian sighed internally. Not that he'll find out about me. I was in space all that time and was good hiding my tracks. Let's see how Constantine and my beloved deal with this. It will be quite amusing!
And fun it was. Damian decided to stay back with Agent A, as the rest of the batclan ambushed John in the Drake... well, Constantine Mansion.
"I honestly thought you would come earlier," John chuckled, serving himself a glass of whiskey on the rocks. "Thirsty?" Batman gave him a batglare. "I thought so," John snorted, taking a sip of his drink. "So, what do you want to know?"
"Why are you in Gotham?" Batman growled menacingly.
Nightwing's escrima stick cracking with electricity on his right, Redbird's guns pointing at John's face on his left, Blackbird in the shadows behind John, and Robin, Shrike, and Respawn above them all.
"I have a son, well, I will have once the papers go through," John answered with a smile.
"You could have taken him to England with the rest of your kids," Dick replied with an angelic smile, escrima sticks still cracking with electricity.
"He is magic, born in Gotham, if I take him out of the city before he learns the basics he'll desastibilize," John answered. "Unlike, Suren who can do magic anywhere, even though he has not mastered his powers, Colin was raised around the corrupted magical enviroment of Gotham. I'm sure you've realized by now about the curses in your precious city. As a good samaritan I'll give you a hand with that, in return stay the bloody hell away from my family. Deal?"
Batman's jaw tightened at the balant disrepect, Respawn and Shrike looked ready to slize through the idiotic man who disrespected their father. Robin barely stopped them.
"Suren Constantine, nee Darga," Robin hummed from above. "We did not find any trail from him, other than stories of the Darga Clan from centuries ago."
"Not to mention, Maya Ducard," Shrike commented.
"What is Nobody's daughter doing in a warlock household?" Respawn inquired menaceling.
"What are League of Assassins members doing with Batman?" John snapped back, making Blackbird, Respawn, and Shrike flinch back.
"Answer the questions!" Batman growled, not liking the way he was speaking to his kids, but knowing they pushed him to this too.
"I found her and made sure her bastard father was sent to prison," John answered viciously, earning respect points from the batclan. "I promised her to help her find her mom... she was already dead. That asshole of a sperm donnor killed her after she tried to take Maya away from him and his lifestyle." Nightwing winced in sympathy, while Redbird grolwed. "So, I took her in. As for Suren, he was part of that clan. How he got revived? Necromancy. Don't worry he is safe and his soul is still his own. The ritual used was done perfectly. However, he is still getting used to this new century."
"What about the Nobody armour?" Redbird demanded to know with a scowl.
"It is a Ducard armour, I thought it should stay in the family," John shrugged. "Even though, she no longer uses his last name."
"What made you come to Gotham in the first place?" Batman growled. "I don't buy that you simply stumbled into a gothamite orphan and adopted him. You must have been here for something else."
As good as always baba, Damian smiled to himself, as Alfred and him watched through the Batcomputer. Let's see what you do next Constantine.
"That's how I met Colin if you must know," John drawled. "But you are right, I came to Gotham with another porpuse... as I'm sure you know I made quite a few cuestionable life choices. Captain Marvel promised to give me cart blanche if I did something for him."
"Keep an eye on Flamebird," Robin realized. "You know who we are."
"We do," John answered with a smirk that had everyone tensing. "Did you know that the life force around you Bats, is the same as your son. Blood truly runs deep."
"Sorry baba," Damian said through the coms, as Alfred placed a hand on his shoulder for support.
So, this is how they are planning to play it, Damian thought interested. Not bad.
"If you fucking say anything I'll blow your brains out!" Jason threatened him.
"Relax! We are not planning on saying anything, we'll even go under a secrecy spell if it helps your paranoic ass relax," John grumbled. "It's not like we were looking for your identities, it simply happened." Cass signed truth behind John, for her family to know. "As for Flamebird, my precense here is to protect him. He is unique and people are very interested in him. If Captain Marvel suddenly moved in Gotham, the magical community would talk. I go unnoticed... at least, compared to the Champion of Magic."
"Captain Marvel wants to protect Flamebird?" Redbird asked slowly.
"Yes," John sighed, Cass signed another truth behind his back.
"See!" Nightwing beamed, finally putting his escrima sticks back. "I told you guys he was a good guy! Welcome to Gotham John! We are a bit crazy, but good at the end of the day."
"I'll fit right in then," John drawled.
"We still have a lot to talk about," Batman warned him. "And I'll have Doctor Fate do the secrecy spell," he warned the warlock.
"Got it," John sighed, waving him away.
The batclan jumped out of the mansion's window, as Alfred went to prepare tea for his returning family, no one noticed the twin mischivious smirks on Damian and John's faces.