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Ghost helpline part 18 Gaslight
Now to say Violet and Danielle weren’t close would the understatement of the century.
Violet could smell the blood on this kid, she had smelled the same thing on his handkerchief. This was an Al Ghul alright. But… but this kid didn’t feel like the kid from before. There was no defensive pose, and swords at his back. This boy was covered in paint and wood and pancake batter.
Konstelacio turned her body around to face him. Yeah this was definitely Robin … she couldn’t attack him here … what was he even doing here? She thought back to the tiny sewn “W” on the hanky… no no way… Robin Al Ghul was a Wayne!?!?
“Get down here demon! Face me!”
Shit, what’s happening what’s his plan? There aren’t, there aren’t any assassins out here just … just him. Maybe… maybe… he ran away from the league…?
“Hey ! I am speaking to you! You insolent !”
Well while Dani didn’t never liked Konstelacio much her cousin had made sure to teach her one thing.
When in trouble … Deny and Cry
—- —- —-
“Damian! Stop! You can’t -“
“But I’m right! She’s that demon!”
“Damian”
“Grayson! How can you not see it! They have the same face!”
“That doesn’t constitute proof! And now we have a whole situation on our hand because you-“
“I didn’t do anything!”
“You bullied her and made her fall off a tree Damian!”
“I didn’t bully her!”
“You called her stupid multiple times!”
He had technically called her an imbecile but Damian didn’t feel the need to correct his brother at the moment.
“Calm down Dick it can’t be that bad.” Tim pulled his research up, he had never seen Dick yell at Damian like this before. Bruce sure every week but Damian?
“He threw his sketchbook hard enough to knock her out of the tree and bruise her face Tim.”
“Oh.” Yeah that was bad.
“She’s a demon! What does it matter!”
Tim clicked on a picture, “Looks pretty human to me.” Tim … saw the resemblance. He saw how happy the Masters family looked in every picture, in every video. How fond and loving the family was with each other. Damian and Bruce were just going to have to learn to let some things go.
Speaking of Bruce, the man was taking a long time to patch things up with Mr. Masters. Tim had been gone that week tracking down some missing relic and Klarion. But assuming Dick hadn’t been exaggerating about Bs new friendship with the guy… well hopefully Bruce could smooth this incident over ethier way.
- Dick didn’t need to look at the photos. He had seen her with his own eyes.
He had been the first one on the scene, already seeking Damian out to invite him to a movie, when he heard a scream. A scream and the sound of a body hitting the ground.
He paged Bruce as he ran.
When he got there he had been sickly relieved to see that it hadn’t been Damian. He went to check the girl over for injuries when he stopped short - that face. God Dick knew that face. And as soon as the thought had entered his head her entire family had shown up.
Her entire family and Bruce.
For gods sake Vlad was in tears and Bruce looked lost. Dick had grabbed Damian and ran for the manor.
He had assumed Damian had reacted after seeing her face and Dick … Dick didn’t want Bruce to fuck this up. Bruce was smiling these past few days! And what had the girl ever done but help them anyway.
Dick knew. He knew the moment Bruce caught on he’d obsess over it. Obsessive and paranoid and go too far. Damian was just like him in that regard.
Dick wasn’t proud of his line of thinking but there was only one option left.
When in trouble ... Deny and Cry.
“Damian, I just I can’t even… I understand you might hate the idea of Bruce dating again but going after his crushes kid is going too far!” He purposely teared up.
- Damian was stunned, “His What?”
“His crush Damian! The guy he’s been texting non stop for the last week? He feel asleep at the man’s house! He sent the man flowers!”
Damian… had noticed but… oh. He flushed. Did they really just think he was throwing a fit? He wasn’t a child! What did he care if father decided to date again! He … hadn’t ruined his chances had he? That wasn’t … he didn’t …
“She’s still a demon! How are neither of you seeing this!”
“Damian she looks completely different! Also it doesn’t even make any sense why would a demon be with human family?”
“She could be taking the real daughters place! She could be using them for-“
Tim rolled his eyes, “Look all records accounted for, all the pictures of her are her. Also wasn’t the whole problem that Konstelacio couldn’t be photographed in the first place? You sure your not remembering it wrong?”
“See Damian they’re not the same person, you need to calm down.”
But what if they were wrong? What if this demonic entity was evil? What if she was using fathers paramour for some nefarious purpose?!?!
Damian opened his mouth but didn’t get to say a word as the door swung opened.
“What were you thinking?!?!”
“Fath-“
“You will be apologizing to her Damian. I -“
“What!? Why should-“
“If they were any other family they would be suing us right now! We’re lucky she didn’t break anything in the fall!”
Damian twinged at the tone, he hadn’t meant to hurt her. He didn’t think a sketchbook could hurt her. He just wanted answers! He just-
“Damian … I… I understand change is hard for you. And I understand that, really I do but you need to be more gentle with people.”
Damian scoffed father couldn’t be serious!
“And I don’t just mean physically Damian, you need to be gentle with people’s feelings too. The Masters family seems to have gone threw a lot… I think you really did hurt Violets feelings.”
So her names Violet, just as he was about to explain the situation to his Father he caught sight of his brothers behind Bruce. Tim shook his head and Dick cried in a pleading gesture.
Fine then, Damian would just have to get proof first.
—- —- —-
[Alfred to the rescue]
Damian was not sulking in the the kitchen- he wasn’t! He was plotting!
A cup of cocoa was placed in front of him. Pennyworth. He so didn’t need another lecture right now.
“I heard about what happened Master Damian and I must say..”
Oh great here we go.
“I must say I have no idea what you were meaning to accomplish with all that.”
What.
“She’s a-“
“Yes yes I’ve heard from Master Tim that you believe her to be the demon you’ve all been talking with-I do keep up with the reports you know.”
“I’m not crazy ! I’m right!” Damian slammed a fist onto the table.
“I never said you were Master Damian but tell me this even if you are right… what then? What does this change if anything?”
Damian cared about Alfred’s opinion enough to think threw his answer instead of immediately responding…, “Because she’s a threat.”
“Isn’t everyone?”
“Tt- you don’t understand demons are monsters incapable of love, born to destroy things.” That’s what the grandfather had taught him, that what he read in books. Even Zatanna and Dr Fate agreed with him on this!
“Hhhmmm I would seem I have heard something similar before. About aliens, and clones … About assassins most of all. But what do I know.” Alfred turned back to the dishes.
Damian bit his cheek in frustration, “What are you trying to tell me Pennyworth?”
“Now then have you stopped to consider that she perhaps as frightened and upset as you had been when you first came to us?”
“What are you-“
“I for one think you two have far more in common then you realize. You both have left your homeland to reinvent yourselves in a new place with new rules. Tell me, should she not be given the same curtesy we have all afforded you? Is she not, after all the help she’s given, allowed a second chance?”
Damian chewed on the man’s words, “I still don’t think I should have to apologize.”
“Come now Master Damian you should never miss the chance to scope out a potential ally.”
The boy stopped was the butler implying he…
“On the assumption that I am right this is your chance to make amends and gain a powerful ally. And on the case that I am wrong and she needs to be taken down. How better to take her down than from the inside.”
Damian was stunned he knew about the butlers past but hadn’t ever expected. Well this sure did explain how Bruce managed to survive this long.
“I’ll prepare an apology cake for tomorrow. You will deliver it to her personally and scope out the situation. Collect as much information on her and her home as you can in order to draw a correct conclusion. Understood.”
Pennyworth wasn’t asking, this was an order. Damian smirked, looks like he has a new mission.
Note: Much like Alfred said they are both very similar. Bound by blood, can people really change?
Ghost Helpline part 17 - Aftermath
Violet spends the next week stuck inside. It wasn’t bad. Dad washed, clothed and feed her teleportation sickness away. She sleeps in his bed and he sends her to sleep with fairytales. Violet doesn’t know what she’s supposed to learn from these stories, it’s nice tho.
Violet doesn’t remember being a baby, maybe she never was one? This softness with her new dad leaves her wanting. Violet would like to beige that if she ever was a baby that she had been held like this - as if she was something precious.
Funny enough her bed rest has her brothers divided. Violet lies about and blames it all on a summoning gone wrong. Brad doesn’t correct her.
It leaves half of her brothers to tiptoe around her as if she’s going to go feral at any moment. The other half yell, they’re angry. Konstelacio isn’t sure which she hates more.
Brad shuts himself away from everyone except Chad and Ziyad.
Billy hugs her and tells her everything about his mission. Almost everything he dances around something. Something important, he calls Batman a dick twice. It makes her feel better about lying.
Klarion gives her an amulet and drags Charles over to tell her about their night out.
Dandy … Dandy doesn’t take it well.
“SOMEONE should have been with her!”
“Brad SHOULD have called me!”
“We should be HOME! Not here with all these these … !”
“You know how I feel about humans.”
Every days another fight.
Konstelacio sneaks out the window.
—- —- —-
It’s been a week since the commotion on the Watch Tower. Six days since they started developing an injectable cure for Vampires Fog. Five days since his talk with Tim. Four days since his kids have begun to mercilessly tease him over more frequent phone use. Three days since he read Nightwings report on the pink vampire. Two days since Constantine had contacted him with an update. They had some more info. One day since he called Clark asking him to schedule a JL meeting.
Six hours thirty two minutes and 54 seconds since Vlad last texted him.
Bruce debated sending him another cat meme to hurry up the process.
He knew he shouldn’t be worried, apparently his only daughter had gotten the flu. And much like Tim, when they got sick they got really sick.
Bruce sent him- her- them! Bruce sent them flowers. Hopefully she would get better soon. It was painfully obvious that Vlad loved his children and her getting sick had him stressing out.
Bruce debated inviting the Masters family over for dinner.
The kids would bully him relentlessly.
Alfred would love it.
—- —— ——
The entire week has been strange to Damian. For some reason his father has been texting the head of their new neighbors relentlessly, much to his sibling’s amusement. Damian doesn’t understand why father and him suddenly “need” friends. The whole act was a waste of time, Jon was enough friendship he needed anyway.
Damian stalked into the backyards tree line. Today was good day to paint damian thought as he set up his easel. Just a sunny quiet day with no distractions.
Wwhhhooossshhhh!
That, that was probably just some animal on the property. It wasn’t uncommon to see bunnies or cats skittering around the areas of estate that still resembled a forest.
Wwwwhhhhoooshhhh!
Damian followed the sound deeper into the tree line.
Wwwhhhossh!
That didn’t sound like an animal anymore. If anything it sounded like it was coming from above…?
Damian turned his head towards the sky.
It was just a girl. How disappointing, Damian had hoped to find a big cat.
She was sitting on a tree branch, swinging her legs like she had no trouble in the world. Tch- she probably doesn’t. No doubt she’s one of his new neighbors.
Wait … hadn’t she been sick recently? What was she doing out here? What was she thinking climbing that high?!
“Oi! Imbecile what are you thinking? Get down from there! “
Her head whipped around to face him.
He knew that face, he’d drawn it several times for the league files. It was missing the scar and golden eyes. But he knew that face.
He knew that face… Konstelacio ?