The ride back to the Cave was uneventful, which really wasn't surprising considering it was still daylight. Cass let her mind wander over the interactions between herself and Nero Consoli. He was odd, no doubt about. Definitely superhuman, though she didn't believe he was a Meta. She needed to get back to the Cave and quickly write down her report.

Demons. They hadn't shown up before in Gotham, aside from once incident a few years ago, and Constantine had taken care of that event almost before it even started. To think that there were demons that could be killed by normal weaponry was baffling to the vigilante. More things to write in her report. She hated reports. It was much easier to just log the camera footage and call it a day.

But, in case their cameras were damaged or someone wasn't in their right mind due to stress, toxin, mind control or speedsters causing issues, writing out reports as soon as they could helped save them the trouble of scheduling appointments to either the therapist or Zatanna - the former for the physical reasons their mind may be impaired, the latter for spiritual reasons.

All of this is to say, that she and her family were absolutely prepared for ANY eventuality. It was not a matter of if something happened, it was a matter of when it happened. And Bruce made sure they all understood that. Cass let her mind continue to wander until the tunnels started to get tighter, and required more focus.

This also meant she was getting closer to home.

Cass sighed in relief as the entrance to the Cave came into view. She slowed her bike down as she drove past the opening into the Batcave, and was surprised to see Dick, Jason and Tim all near the Batcomputer. Oh. Joy. Tim. She needed to have words with her little brother. As she started to concoct various interrogation methods in her head, Dick waved her over.

"Cass! What were you doing out there?" Her older brother asked. Cass parked her bike, and took her helmet off as she started to remove the more cumbersome parts of her armor. Well... As cumbersome as their suits could be. Which wasn't much, but still, they weren't the most comfortable things to wear for extended periods and even if she could wear her suit for days, she didn't want to.

Jason and Tim looked at her, confusion clear on their faces.

"Why are you out as Black Bat? It's not even past five yet?" Jason asked. She pointed at Tim, ignoring her other brother. Her posture rising slightly to assert dominance.

"You. You left without telling anyone where you were going," She stated, and Tim nervously rubbed his neck. Although his body language was anything but nervous.

"Yeah, I uh, I went to Italy. I found out some stuff about our white haired friend down in Crime Alley," Cass didn't back down from her stance, but she did cross her arms.

"We'll talk later Tim. I found out some things too, he's rather nice," Which was both a surprise and not surprising at all considering the Alley kids spoke so highly of him.

Dick and Jason both perk up, while Tim whips his head around.

"What!? When? Was that why you were out as Black Bat? What did he say, is he-" Cass gives her little brother a soft glare and his questions cease.

"He seemed nice. Rough, but nice," she says, and sits down next to the Batcomputer, while Jason takes a seat on the nearby table. She starts to write up her report.

"I found him at the old library we sent Jason to a while back. We were right, something...," She hesitates for a moment, her mind working to use her words effectively.

"There was a ritual. To summon demons," Jason curses, while Dick frowns, sitting down next to her.

"How did you find that out?" Her older brother asks.

"Nero Consoli is a demonologist. He found a type of symbol in the basement of the library. Though he wasn't sure of the type of ritual, it was obviously something related to summoning demons."

Jason shakes his head.

"We've got enough problems in this city. Don't need fucking demons to be added into the mix," He says, before turning to Tim.

"So did you know he was a demonologist?" Tim nods.

"Yeah, he apparently was in some sort of paramilitary religious group called the Order of the Sword. I only found out about the order through a paper trail. They didn't use any type of technology," Dick snorts.

"Our one weakness, people going Amish," Cass has to disagree that that's a weakness, but she presses on, typing her report up as Tim continues to talk.

"He joined young, maybe around fifteen or so and went through the ranks fairly fast, and from what I could gather in the reports I read, after his initial training most of his missions were solo. He didn't seem to get along well with anyone there except for his stepbrother, Credo Consoli," This was news to Cass. She didn't know that he had a brother.

"Credo seemed to be an extremely high ranking member, but I couldn't find much out about him from the reports. I did find a death certificate though, he died under suspicious circumstances around nine years ago," Cass's heart fell a little. She felt bad for Nero, losing family like that.

"How suspicious are we talking?" Jason asks. Tim sighs, rubbing his face roughly.

"I couldn't find out anything about that. I swear, the little I could find on paper just gave me more questions than answers. I got more from eyewitness accounts than anything else on that island," Tim says, as Cass starts to write about the demons appearing inside the library.

Dick, who was watching her write, turns to face her abruptly.

"Demons!? Are you ok!? Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Jason and Tim both stare at her, and she shrugs.

"I wanted to hear what Tim found first. I'm fine, Nero killed two of the three demons. I used my holy water to kill the last," she doesn't quite like using the k word, but it's not like she killed a living person so it's fine.

Jason raises an eyebrow.

"Since when can we kill demons? I'm pretty sure that's not a thing," Cass shakes her head.

"They aren't regular demons. Nero said that they are called Hellspawn. Weaker, but vast in number and can more easily escape from Hell. They can be killed by conventional means," She says, trying to focus on her words. She hasn't had to speak this much in a while and already she's falling back into old habits.

She needs to work on that.

"Demons. Demons that can die," Tim says, and Jason crosses his arms, only slightly wincing at the pain.

"Alright, so... Let's just get this all straight. Nero Consoli was raised and grew up in this paramilitary religious cult-"

"- I'm not sure if cult is the right word, but from what I found-"

"- Sure Timmers, it's a religious group that inducts teens into its ranks and sends them out on missions where we can all assume Nero was fighting something, which we can guess now were these Hellspawn. It's a cult," Jason says, and Tim just nods in defeat.

"Right... Well, from what I gathered, some huge event happened that also disbanded the order overnight, that no one wanted to talk about. It seems to be linked to Credo's death since it was also nine years ago. I tried to find out more, but everyone really seemed to want to keep Nero under wraps."

Hmm, so the people where Nero grew up at seemed to really respect him. More puzzle pieces were falling into place, while some pieces still firmly were shrouded in mystery.

"He kicked one of the Hellspawn in half. He's definitely got enhanced strength of some kind," Cass says. Jason snorts.

"I mean the guy fucking tore apart an Amazo. An Amazo as strong as Diana. I think we can all agree he's strong as shit," Jason says, and Dick chuckles.

"More than strength. Babs sent me a video of the night the event took place. Nero was moving so fast throughout the Alley and the Bowery that the cameras nearly had trouble picking him up," Dick says, and Cass sighs.

"He was able to find me. I don't know if it was enhanced hearing or smell, but he knew I was there," Jason's mouth nearly drops.

"Fucking hell... I wonder if maybe it's smell. That'd also explain how he found the kid and Sionis so fast..." Jason says, mostly to himself.

Bruce wouldn't like this. Nero went from an unknown, talented individual to an unknown with powers. Contrary to popular belief, Bruce didn't hate Metas at all; Duke could attest to that every day of the week. However, he didn't like unknowns.

And Nero, was a huge unknown from day one.

"For knowing 'everything about Nero Consoli' Timmy, you sure don't know shit," Jason says, no heat in his tone. Tim sits down defeatedly.

"I mean, I thought I had a clear grasp on him, but now that demons are in the mix..." Tim laughs softly. "I assumed he was some sort of mercenary for the order and that's why he was so skilled. And maybe he was the one who took it down all those years ago and that's why he was so well reguarded," Not the worst hypothesis, Cass can admit she'd probably assume the same in his shoes.

"Maybe it was attacked by a large group of Hellspawn? If they regularly went on 'missions' then there's a chance the order was actually above ground? Protected people and all that?" Dick offers. Tim shakes his head.

"While Nero was talked about in a positive light, the order was not. At best I got very neutral answers and at worst I had people fuming over them. I couldn't get any answers as to why they were so angry though," Tim says, and Cass hums in thought as she finally finishes her report.

"We've got a lot of answers and even more fucking questions," Jason says, as he slowly pushes himself up. "I need to talk to Nero. If I can get some solid info from him, it'll at least appease Bruce enough to not immediately go knocking on the front door of the orphanage."

Dick clicks his tongue, as he too stands up.

"Jay you're still healing. Let me go, you get some more rest," Her oldest brother says, and Jason firmly stands his ground.

"My turf my problem Dicky. Besides it'll be fine, it's not like I'm gonna go patrol. Just get my shit on and go talk to him," Tim looks ready to join in as well, but Cass decides to nip this in the bud.

"I've got a better idea."

...

Nero played with Tina and Jackie in the living room, his eyes lighting up (and his mouth this close to laughing) as the two beat him in Scrabble for the fifth time in a row. The two were still really young so it was a two on one approach.

Well, actually three on one.

"You know, I'm starting to think you two are the smartest people here," Nero says lazily, as he looks at the five consonants in his hand. He heard muffled laughter from behind him, and held back a smile as Gina slowly pulled out another vowel from his hand.

He sighs dramatically a few moments later, when his best word is 'Toad' and somehow Jackie is able to spell out 'Interesting'.

"Curses, foiled again," he deadpans. He shifts his weight so he's not laying half dead on the couch, and stands up.

"Awww is that it?" Tina asks, with bright, wide eyes. Nero clicks his tongue.

"Well supper is gonna be ready soon, and I'm pretty sure the three of you haven't even washed up yet," he says, and Gina gasps from behind the couch.

"Nero!? How'dya know I was here!?" The ten year old asks. Nero points to his noise.

"You smell. Go take a shower and get ready for dinner," he says, firmly but softly. All three kids rush upstairs, giggling all the while.

As Nero yawns, another smell comes into his vicinity. Then another. He recognizes these...

There's a knock on the front door, and Nero inwardly curses as he makes a brisk jog over, and opens the front door.

There, in front of the slowly sinking sun, are Red Hood, Nightwing and Black Bat.

"Hi. Brought brothers," Black Bat says, and Nero gets the sinking suspicion that under her mask, she's smiling.