Chapter Text
Her first day on earth. How dared she leave her "home" in hell for a human world she knew nothing about? Well, she knew about this place from her mother's stories, she had come from here herself, told of the city of Gotham where she was born, and wandered alone for a long time until she was found and rescued.
Now she hoped for the same thing, that someone would find her and help her. But her mother was helped by Azarath's men. Who are no longer alive. None of them. Only her. So she must save herself.
She felt like the heroine Mulan from the stories of the brave heroes she had heard in Azarath. There they were honored and blessed. She almost completely followed her example and found herself in a similar situation. Except no one was waiting for her at home, unlike Mulan. And her personal war for life was much more difficult. How to survive here?
Raven was trapped in a dark alley in the middle of the night. Not knowing how she did it or exactly where she ended up.
She needed to move on, not stand there freezing.
Somehow along the way she could make out the inscriptions on the signs. Surprisingly, in these places, even at night, everything was clearly visible. It was hard to wander outside at night on Azarath.
She realized she was in the same Gotham. Her mother's stories in her head helped her focus on this particular place. It was a good thing, because it was the only place she'd ever heard anything about.
The short walk was interrupted by a rumbling in the girl's stomach.
- Ugh... I need something to eat.
Covering herself better with her dark cloak, she walked on, stubbornly ignoring her hunger.
She stopped at the gate of the park. That's when she heard footsteps.
- I heard...probably.
She continued on her way, the sound of footsteps resumed again. She didn't stop there, she even sped up. The sound did not stop.
Cautiously turning around, she looked over her shoulder and noticed a figure behind her. A tall man in a dark cloak, hat and glasses, and his hands hidden in his pockets. Walking. In long strides. Right behind her.
Raven was uncomfortable. She had heard stories about the good people in Azarath, but her mother also talked about the evil side of people. The ones that could do nasty...hurt.
In Hell, Raven became convinced of the existence and deviousness of such people and, the punishments they receive there are terrible. In the end, she was forced to watch it.
She decided to stick to the worst-case scenario while she was on Earth. But her emotions were in turmoil. She was alone in an unfamiliar place, at night, and a suspicious man was following her. She didn't know how to behave now, there was no one around and no one to help. Do you remember your first rule? Save, yourself, by yourself. And she ran.
She heard only the sound of wind in her ears and faint footsteps behind her. I had to run somewhere, somehow to hide. As she ran past houses, trees, and streets, she tried to focus on something. Her physical condition was not the best and there was little time left.
And there it was - a dead end. The worst mistake a runaway from a possible criminal could make. A big mistake. One from which no one is immune. She saw a wall of metal mesh in front of her and still she ran, running through her head, running through every possible spell she could have used right now, but she couldn't. Fear. It gets in the way.
Running past trash cans and other junk, she catches sight of little furry critters. Kittens. That's all she saw at that moment. Her magic was ready for action, but Raven herself was not. The image of fluffy kittens stuck in her mind and affected her transformation spell.
A moment later, her clothes fell off and were left lying on the ground, and the little kitten crawled out from under the fabric so quickly that she forgot about the barrier in front of her and deftly jumped over the netting, continuing to run with her eyes closed.
No footsteps could be heard for a long time; she ran fast, not yet knowing what, how, or why. She decided to run until she could just fall. Now it was important for her to find a secluded place to survive.
...
Back at Wayne Manor, the butler is already preparing breakfast for the family. Batman, Robin and Red Hood (what a friendly crew) have only been back for five hours ago, so they're up later than usual, because no one has canceled civilian life.
- Fucking mission for the whole fucking night. Don't you dare involve me in any more adventures aimed at your asses. From now on, I'm on vacation, motherfuckers.
- You agreed to this, Todd. And we didn't invite you.
- You said you were going to kick the bad guys in the dick, which in itself sounds like a challenge.
- TT. Asshole.
- Watch your mouth, you little asshole, or--
"Hello, Gotham... "
- What the hell...
- I think you might benefit from an update on the latest developments, sir. - The butler turned to the older Wayne behind the children's backs.
- Yes, that would be good, Alfred.
"- 9:30 this morning, the day begins with some not-so-great news. Items of clothing were found today in an alley on Lodge Avenue, presumably belonging to a school-aged girl..."
At this point, Dick and Tim entered the dining room. The latter almost spat his coffee out at his older brother because of what he'd heard.
- Oh... I hate hearing this news. I saved two on patrol yesterday, how could I miss...
- That's our hero! Well done, Dickie, because of you, another girl is probably lying in a ditch somewhere.
- Your jokes today aren't funny at all. - Tim poured another cup of coffee.
"-It is suspected that the girl was abducted and raped on her way home by an urban criminal who has been wanted for three weeks and is officially recognized as having already committed 12 murders of underage girls who have also been sexually assaulted."
- Does that sound like a joke? I'm fucking pissed that you two idiots can't catch the average pedophile. And now we have +one victim.
- What do we have on this case, Tim? - Batman decided to join the conversation.
- This was an unconventional case, I can tell you that," taking a sip of coffee, finding himself under Batman's already questioning gaze. - Previously, relatives of missing girls have reacted almost immediately to disappearances, literally two missed calls, and they are already writing a police report, with a detailed description of the missing girl's appearance. But this time there was nothing. There were no reports of missing persons, the locals did not see anyone in the alley that night--.
- Well, of course, only drunks live there. And she might even be a local. She stripped down in the middle of the street and gave herself to some pervert.
Tim looked fiercely at Jason, who interrupted him and tried his best not to spill hot coffee on him. His eye was already twitching. And it was a shame to waste coffee on him.
- Well... we tested all the options, including this one. It turned out to be unlikely. The clothes were buttoned up and not torn, they had either been removed very carefully or... I have no idea. Seriously. It looks like she was just thrown out the window, but...
- But...? - Damian joined the conversation, too.
- But we've checked all the residents in the area, and the residents of these particular houses are also in our database, all of them elderly and retired. They live alone and none of them have female relatives under 25 years old, and there, in principle, such girls don't show up. The road in that area is not connected to any school or university, and there are no stores there either. So there's really no point in going there. The place is almost abandoned, only old people and animals live there. You could only get into this area by mistake--
- And all our city girls know that you can't even wander into this road by mistake. So at least she wasn't urban ... - Jason concluded.
- Y-yes. - Tim squeezes his mug handle harder, stop interrupting him. - And yes, there's also the matter of clothes.
Everyone present looked at Tim intently. He continued.
- We had planned to publish a picture of the clothes so that the relatives of the victim could come and identify them. But these clothes don't look like what our average teenager wears. Well, it's not a skirt and top or jeans and a sweater like we're used to seeing. It's an unusual fabric.
- What do you mean by "unusual" fabric? - There was interest in Damian's voice.
- I don't know where it comes from or what material it's made of, but it looks almost royal. If you could just touch it, it's a very nice fabric, it doesn't even stretch and must be very expensive... and... it was just thrown away...? I'm completely confused by now.
The members of the Bat family present were mulling over new information about their case when the ladies of the family entered the kitchen.
- Hi, honey, I think she missed you. And I missed being on vacation. - Mama Cat said and handed the 2-year-old over to her father.
Helena immediately reached out to wrap her arms around her daddy.
- Come here, my little princess, Uncle Jay will teach you how to punch your older brothers in the face. - Jason got up, grabbed the baby in his arms, and stood between Tim and Dick's chairs. The little girl laughed and waved her arms as Jason showed her, and the two brothers had to dodge, more from Jason's practice punches than from their sister's.
Bruce knew full well that Helena was safe with her family. Even with Jason. So he finished his breakfast quickest, ordered Alfred to get the car ready for Damian, and walked back to his wife.
- I heard about your case outside the door, maybe I can help. I can patrol the city at night, too. "Selina leaned tiredly against Bruce's chest.
- You should get some rest, you're already looking after the baby now," Selina hugged him.
- Oh... what an adventure you've given me," she murmured into his chest. - It pisses me off that the girls are getting hurt by some bastard on the streets of our town, and I don't do anything.
- You're capable of anything, but now you need to think more about your safety, and our little girl. It's also a good idea to warn Cass and Stef to be on the lookout.
There's screaming coming from the kitchen:
- Jason! God, leave her alone!
- Why would I do that? She loves me! - Jason said and carried the baby to Damian. - Here, honey, now hit the little devil.
- Well, they're safe with our boys. More or less." Selina smiled wearily. - I hope more than less.
Damian just looked at Jason with a "are you a retard?" look. He got up from the table and headed for the exit.
- This proves once again that children do NOT LOVE YOU! - Damian heard Jason screaming behind him as he exited the main exit and got into the car where Alfred was already waiting to take him to Gotham Academy.
All along the way, he was interested in getting down to business with the missing girls, as he had been suggested at the outset. Given his high school cover and the fact that a third of the murdered girls went to the academy.
But at the time he was more interested in the Nanda-Parbat task. His grandfather was still planning something. It was hard to ignore. In any case, if he wanted to, he would have to do both at the same time.
The car stopped at the entrance to the academy after only ten minutes, and half the eyes were once again on Damian. As always. Every day.
- Another annoying day at an annoying school. - He sighed, hung his bag on his shoulder, and hurried as fast as he could to enter the building and then to the right classroom.
....
- Hi!!!
- Hi, Mia.
- How are you? How did you do on the test yesterday? Did you do your economics homework? I don't know how, but I missed it on my schedule! But I don't see how, I'm so punctual, if I get an F, my mother will kill me--
Damian held his homework out to her face, just to keep her quiet. She doesn't piss him off, but sometimes he just want a break from her optimism. Anyway.
-Oh! Thank you!!! You saved me!
- Yeah.
- Did you hear the news? Another victim... I swear, a little longer and I'll stop going to school and do homeschooling. after all, my road to school goes through similar scary alleys... but then I'll probably fall behind in the program, which won't be good, so I guess what...
Damian hadn't listened to her for a while now, trying not to get past the classroom they wanted, there weren't many students inside, it was 7 minutes before class started.
-... I'm going to get a good grade anyway, so I'm going to put up with horrible buses to attend class. - They sat down at their desks. Mia sat behind Damian, their desk farthest from the teacher's.
- By the way, is Robin on this case? - she winked. - Maybe I can help you and maybe we can solve the case together!
- First, again, please try to keep my secret identity out of school. Secondly, I'm not on the case right now, I have other plans.
- Oh, yes, your secret case with Batman.
Mia happened to know about Damian's secret identity, but he hadn't mentioned Batman's secret identity to her, so she assumed that his family worked with him or Bruce Wayne might be hiding behind a Batman mask, but without Damian's direct confirmation it remained a mystery to her. Robin's identity was all she had on her hands. And she surprisingly managed to keep it a secret from the others without asking for anything in return. That's what appealed to Damian in her, about the fact that he didn't have to pay her.
Sometimes, though, it's unselfish when she clings to the candy window and Damian buys her candy just to keep her from embarrassing herself.
- This day portends to be too long.
- You say that every morning. - Mia's voice came from behind him.
The teacher entered the classroom. With another safety report, mostly meant for girls. With each announcement of a new murder, teachers have to read more and more rules in the morning about how to behave in a situation where you might be stalked. But most girls seem to care about something else entirely. This is definitely not going to end well for one of them.
More details are added to the list each time. It's gotten to the point where girls are officially allowed guns, like small knives. As if they don't have enough of them in their makeup bag.
- Because that's the way it is. - He lowered his gaze to his desk with his phone, waiting for news of their mission. A typical school day.