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“Where’s the Bat?” An angry red figure stomped in the Watchtower, fury rolling off his frame. The dark aura of a demon filled the room and Clark nearly dropped the mug he was holding.
A demon? Here? This was a safe compound.
And yet this demon had managed to get past their security systems somehow.
All of Clark’s instincts blared and he watched the predator with careful eyes. He was hulking, with eyes burning and fangs flashing menacingly. His identity was kept behind a red domino mask.
Clark felt a familiar shiver pass down his spine. A demon , his Ma and Pa had warned him about demons. Supernatural species that had powers beyond humans. A well-trained demon could take out a military unit of humans and every major intelligence agency had a few on deck. They weren’t as strong as him, but it was their other powers that worried him.
Powers that could manipulate the mind and environment around them depending on what species this was.
How did one get into the Watchtower in the first place?
At least, they were lucky that only him, Diana, Bruce and Dick were there. Everyone else was off-world, on missions, or just home for the day. The four of them had only just made it back themselves from an emergency mission.
He looked to Diana at his side, who was looking curiously at the demon who was still demanding the whereabouts of Batman. She seemed strangely placid about the fact that a demon that just crashed into their home base.
“Batman,” the demon yelled again, head whipping around. “Where are you?”
“I’m afraid you can’t have that information,” Clark said, rising from the ground. His own power curled in his stomach, but he didn’t draw from it yet. He had no idea what this demon could do or what his true intentions were. “How did you break into this compound?”
The demon flashed his teeth at Clark and there was a sudden cold snap in the air. A change in pressure, like ozone sparking before a hit of lightning. It was barely perceptible, but Clark was looking for it.
He narrowed his eyes, searching for what the demon just did. He tried to find clues in the demon’s body language, but the man only smirked back.
Slowly, like water trickling in, another emotion began to replace the anger he had previously felt. The fury was easing out of him in a second, leaving a gaping hole and was being filling by… Content? Maybe… a sense of wrong poked on the edges of his mind. He had to… There was something scratching at the back of his head, so subtle that he wouldn’t have noticed it if he hadn’t been trained to be alert to mental assaults.
Oh. That’s what this demon could do. He could twist thoughts, get into someone’s head, change the emotions they felt.
The realisation chilled Clark. With the right suggestions, the right carefully placed emotions a demon could…
He could…
Clark didn’t want to think about what he could persuade them all into doing.
Fury roared inside him and before the demon could take it away, he slammed it into a mental wall, sealing off his contact with that something that had invaded his head.
He pushed at the tendrils of something else and he saw a shudder run across the demon’s face.
Bingo.
He surged forward, and the demon dodged out of the way, snarling with his eyes burning like hellfire.
Clark whipped around, grimacing at the aching within his own body. They had just gotten back, couldn’t he have gotten more than two hours of rest before being attacked again.
“Superman, stop this. You do not know whether he’s a threat.” Diana was standing, hands on her hips, but ready to jump in at a moment’s notice.
“He broke in without permission,” Clark said, tracking the demon with his eyes. The demon froze, just for a second, and the man surged forward, grabbed the front of his enemy’s shirt. He ploughed the demon to the ground, pinning him on the cold metal. He heard a hiss of pain and felt the demon’s claws begin to scratch furiously at his wrists.
Behind him, Diana was yelling at him to control himself, but he couldn’t think past the possible threat this demon represented.
“Tell me why you came here,” he commanded and the demon spat under him. Clark felt its ethereal claws digging into the back of his head, trying to pry his mind open. It was skilled at its power. Too skilled. Clark didn’t want to give him the time to figure out how to unlock his emotions again.
He shook the demon and heard the creature’s teeth rattle in his skull. “Tell me why you need Batman”
“I need to talk with him,” the demon growled, a feral edge to all his words.
As if a demon would break in just to talk.
He raised a fist, the threat of pain clear, and a flash of terror passed through the demon’s eyes.
“You’re going to tell me the tr—”
“Let him go,” there was a blade against his throat, small but kryptonite, and placed right above his jugular. A single slice could have him bleeding out.
“Bruce, he’s—” Clark tried to explain, but Batman pressed the blade deeper into his skin. The betrayal and confusion stung almost as much as the knife edge.
“I said, let him go.” Bruce snarled and it was just as fierce as any demon’s.
A shiver ran down Clark’s spine because it truly sounded like Bruce wanted to kill him. All those years of friendship and the human still seemed ready to end him. He couldn’t remember a time he had heard Bruce this angry.
But why? For what?
He dropped the demon, hearing the man’s body thud on to the floor and his scramble as he put distance between them.
He looked to Bruce and the man grunted, before sheathing his blade.
“Red Hood,” Bruce barked at the demon who was now standing and sulking. At his right side, Nightwing curiously tilted his head, regarding the demon carefully. “Why are you here?”
A swoop of fear went through Clark’s stomach. Batman and Nightwing were both humans. Did they not know the danger the demon represented or what he could do? Demons were predators that were meant to prey upon humans. Surely, they had the natural instinct to stay away.
But Bruce kept stupidly standing there as the demon rounded on him, those hellfire eyes blazing.
Clark didn’t like the way that this was playing out. He wanted to step in, but every movement earned him a glare from Batman that clearly read “ stay there”. Which didn't make any sense… The man had broken in and yet Bruce didn’t seem all that shocked to find a demon stalking him.
“Finally,” the demon spat, a feral smirk splitting his face. “You’re losing your touch, B.”
“Did you really have to break into the most secure facility in the world and pick a fight with Superman ?” Nightwing said with obvious exasperation.
The demon snarled, snapping at the acrobat in a way that had all of Clark’s alarm bells ringing. He had seen too many humans get attacked after a threat like that.
Clark stood, ready to step in if things started to turn bad, but Bruce caught the motion and held up a hand. “Don’t you dare, Superman. I have this handled.”
The gruff man turned back to the furious demon. “What do you want Hood?”
“What do I want?” the demon sneered, his muscles tense. “I want to know why you left without telling anyone. You’ve been gone for four days, B.”
“It was League business,” Bruce answered swiftly like an authoritarian, “I had to leave immediately.”
Shock ran through Clark. Why was Batman telling a random demon about their previous whereabouts?
“Too immediately to not leave a fucking note?”
Clark’s eyebrows furrowed. That was… unexpected. He played the exchange back in his head, because this didn’t sound like a duel. This sounded like…
Batman ducked his head in what almost looked like embarrassment. “I left a note for Alfred.”
The demon laughed, and the sound was dark and rolling. “Yeah, a note that you shoved into the corner of your desk and no one noticed until you had already been gone for two days already.”
Bruce turned, and, yes, that was definitely shame on his face. “I never meant for it to be hard to find.”
The demon glared, fury and black aura still rippling off of him. “Do you realise what I had to do? I had two scared implings that were both panicking because their pack Head was suddenly gone. We didn’t know if you were kidnapped, or in trouble, or fuckin’ dead.”
The Dark Knight stepped forward, silently walking until he was in arm’s reach away from the demon. He didn’t hesitate putting an arm on the demon’s shoulder. Clark was surprised when the demon didn’t immediately shove him off, and instead almost seemed to lean into the contact.
“I’m sorry I scared you, chum.”
Chum? To a demon? Clark was missing something big here.
“You’re supposed to be better than that, B,” the demon insisted, sounding more frantic than furious. “You can’t just up and leave us. We had no idea where you were. You could have at least called.”
“I know. I should have.”
The demon glared, his body still hard lines of anger, before it seemed to release all at once. “Just don’t do it again,” he growled, a hint of a snarl at the end of his words. He strode past Batman, to the black body-suited vigilante behind him.
“You’re not off the hook either, Big Bird,” he said, but most of the fury was gone from his voice. Clark tensed as the demon stalked towards the human, his instincts telling him to keep them apart. It felt all too much like a lion approaching a lamb.
But the human didn’t even blink when the demon entered his personal space and…
Nuzzled him on the jaw?
Clark was stunned as the demon rubbed against the vigilante like an overly affectionate and dangerous cat.
Nightwing laughed at the demon’s affection, bumping their foreheads together. “I missed you too, Little Wing.”
Clark’s superhearing picked up something that might have been a purr. But he couldn’t believe that. Did demons purr? He hadn’t really thought of other demon sounds that weren’t a snarl or a growl.
There was a sound of the zeta tubes activating and all the sudden there were two more demons entering the Watchtower.
“Father!” A small childlike voice demanded, and Clark raised an eyebrow. Since when did Bruce have another son? Since when was that son a demon?
Batman gave a sigh that was clearly ‘exhausted parent’. If there was any doubt left in Clark’s mind, it was gone now.
“Robin. Red Robin. You couldn’t have waited until I returned home?”
“We could have,” said the middle-sized demon with no small amount of sass, “before you left for four days.”
He crossed the room smoothly, joining the small group that was now gathered in the back of the room. He hesitantly rubbed the top of his head against Nightwing’s jaw, the action much more hesitant than the first demon’s, almost like he wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to do it.
The smallest demon just huffed and more like shoved himself against Nightwing’s side rather than rubbed.
Beside him, Diana gasped her entire face lighting up.
“He has a demon pack,” she giggled, eyes bouncing between the collected demonic entities. The largest demon was chastising the smallest one now and the little demon growled with tiny fangs.
Clark blinked, glancing between the woman and the bats. “He has a what?”
“A demon pack,” Diana repeated, giving Clark a raised eyebrow. “Do you not know about packs?”
He felt a flush run up his neck. “I don’t know much about demons at all. We don’t have many in the mid-west.” There were parts of America that were unkind to demons, and though his parents always taught him to respect every living thing, he still had an almost instinctual wariness of the beings. He wasn’t human, but he was raised by them and it was one of the things he knew he had adopted.
“There was a small colony in Themyschira, refugees from the world of men. We’ve always recognized them as another species that was too often caught in that world’s cruel teeth.”
A shade of sadness came into Wonder Woman’s eyes. “It is too often that I’ve seen them chained and treated as animals.”
Clark knew what she was talking about. Though he had never seen it himself, he had seen pictures of demon trafficking rings— kids muzzled and put in cages, teenagers driven mad with fear, hollow adults that had lost all the fight in their eyes. He wanted to think that those things were in the past, but it wasn’t too uncommon to hear about another ring being exposed and brought down.
“He looks happy,” Diana said wistfully, jarring Clark out of his thoughts about faded demons. When he followed her gaze to Bruce, he was shocked to see the man looking content for once. Just calmly watching as what was apparently his demon pack bickered amongst each other. Clark knew that look. He saw it in his own Ma and Pa when he went back home. “Let us go and meet the pack.”
She stood, taking Clark’s hand in her own. He blinked, hesitating. “Diana, I don’t think we should interfere…”
“Nonsense,” she chirped, “packs are a joy to meet, and demons are adorable, especially the implings. It has been too long since I’ve had the treat of interacting with them.”
Leave it to Diana to think that the beings that haunted the nightmares of thousands of humans were adorable.
“Batman,” Wonder Woman practically bounced over to the group. All the demon eyes immediately snapped on to them with jarring synchronicity. It was eerie how their keen gazes followed his every movement. “May we meet your pack? I would be honoured to make their acquaintances.”
Batman tensed, edging subtly in front of the group. He looked like he wanted to deny that they were his pack, but he couldn’t exactly argue against the familiar greetings and the smallest demon calling him ‘Father’.
Eventually, he nodded, still clearly wary of the two members.
Diana grinned, looking to the demons. Her eyes flickered between them and Bruce.
“Who is the Heart?” she asked gently, and the largest demon visibly startled.
He stepped forward, an unreadable expression behind his domino mask. “I am.” There was a hint of a growl behind the two words.
Diana dipped her head, making a small, almost musical sound with the back of her throat. The demon’s eyebrows rose, mouth dropping open in shock.
“I humbly ask your Heart to let me meet the pack.”
The demon’s face became even more baffled, and he tilted his head in clear confusion. “Granted,” he said finally, accessing Diana carefully. “You have experience with packs.”
Diana nodded, smiling warmly to the tallest demon. Something aggressively anxious in him eased out of his muscles. “I grew up surrounded by many demons. My practices may be a bit outdated, but I hope they satisfy you.”
The demon hummed, not a trace of a growl in his tone anymore. “Old-fashion is fine. Most humans don’t know a growl from a coo anyways. I appreciate you asking.”
His eyes flicked to Clark, and Diana kicked him in the ankle. Hard.
“Oh, umm… I ask your uh, heart? … To let me meet the pack?”
The demon didn’t answer, and the room descended into an awkward silence. Then, the demon snorted. “Hell, don’t hurt yourself, Supes. Yeah, yeah, you’re good.”
Diana laughed and knelt down a bit. “Now, who are these adorable implings?”
The littlest demon snarled and the middle one blushed fiercely.
“Hey none of that,” the oldest demon, bumped against the snarling one. “That’s not how we make friends.”
“I don’t wish to make friends,” the demon snarled, baring what Clark thought was a frankly terrifying set of teeth to be on a little kid.
“Oh my gods, he is so cute,” Diana cooed, kneeling down to be at his level. She didn’t even hesitate as she pet through the small demon’s hair. His snarling cut off suddenly and he blinked. Slowly, he began leaning into her scratching fingers
“A Luciferean, right?” She asked, looking up to Bruce. Bruce seemed shocked at the small demon melting in the palm of her hand.
“What’s your name, sweet thing?” she asked and the middle demon behind him scoffed.
“That’s Damian,” Nightwing piped up, “and you’re right he is a Luciferean.”
“Damian,” Diana repeated, “What a wonderful name.” She rubbed his back, and the demon gave a scratchy purr. “Oh baby, what happened to your tail?”
Bruce’s eyebrows furrowed. “Damian doesn’t have a tail.”
“I can see that,” the woman said coolly, “Did he have an accident?”
The tallest demon grunted. “His bitch of a mother amputated it.”
Bruce’s face paled because this was apparently new information for him. “I’m sorry what?”
“Lucifereans are supposed to have tails,” Diana explained, while still petting the purring demon that was like a kitten in her hands. Hadn’t this kid been threatening to take a bite out of her moments before? How in the heck was she doing that? “I’m sorry that happened to you, little one.”
“It’s okay,” he mumbled, “I’m okay now. I can walk fine again.”
“You couldn’t walk?” Bruce demanded, and Damian blinked up at his father.
“Right when Mother took my tail, I had trouble with my balance that made walking… difficult.” His voice was slowly becoming smaller, and then he hastily added. “I learned how to do it properly after three months, though.”
“Three months…” Something in Bruce’s voice was breaking, “You had trouble walking for three months.”
“It’s better now,” Damian insisted. Batman looked like he wanted to argue, but he hesitated when he glanced up to Clark and Diana. It seemed like the pack was going to have a much longer conversation at home.
Diana smiled up, looking towards the middle demon who was partially hiding behind the tallest one and Nightwing. “And who are you?”
The demon slunk forward hesitantly, eyes flickering to his older brothers for guidance. “Timothy, ma’am,” he said primly, a subtle posh upper Gotham accent in his tone, just like Bruce.
She reached out a hand and he gingerly accepted. Her face lit up. “An incubus,” her eyes went to the oldest demon, “just like your brother.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Timothy said, breaking the contact and edging away. He was much more skittish than his other siblings, which was strange to see on a sex demon. Clark was used to them throwing themselves at others and showing off their bodies.
“I’m surprised you got that one,” the oldest demon said, ruffling Tim’s hair as the boy took a position behind them again. “Tim’s only known he was an incubus for a couple months.”
Diana hummed, standing up straight. “I can tell. I’ve met a lot of demons though.”
The demon took a long look at Diana, something unreadable, but maybe a little bit pleased, momentarily coming across his face. He stuck out a hand, smiling and there weren’t fangs in the warm look. “I’m Jason. Nice to meet cha’.”
Something stuttered in Clark’s head and he whipped his head up to look at Bruce. “Jason like…”
Batman nodded firmly and gave Clark a look that made him cut off his questions before he could ask. He remembered Bruce after Jason’s death. He wouldn’t bring it up if Bruce asked him not too.
“And now that introductions are done, I’m here to drag you back home. Alfred is livid.”
Bruce paled and Clark choked on a laugh. He had seen Batman face down supervillains more calmly than this ‘Alfred’.
“It was good to meet you, Wonder Woman. Superman. But we gotta take the old Bat home.”
“Maybe you can come over for dinner one night?”
“Grayson, you can’t invite people over to dinner without Father’s consent.”
“I’m sure Bruce will say yes. If Dick gives him puppy eyes, he’ll say yes to almost anything within reason. Also, we have to have to invite Wonder Woman over. I need to learn that demon whisperer trick she pulled on Damian.”
“She did not ‘demon whisper’ me, Drake! I was lulling her into a sense of false security.”
“So was the purring the lulling, or the getting back scratches the lulling?”
“I will make sure they don’t find your body.”
Bruce sighed, but followed the pack of demons (and a human) towards the zeta tubes. He gave the two other Justice League members a long-suffering look. Diana waved happily at the departing demons and said she’d love to come over for dinner. Clark smiled, and teasingly said. “Have fun with your family tonight! I hope things with Alfred go well!”
He ignored the middle-finger Bruce shot him behind his back as one of the demons demanded for him to “hurry his ass in here. I’m starving.”