RAVEN

Raven can sees the two brothers through the window of the library but she ignores them. She can't quite figure out what to make of them. They seem so ordinary--as ordinary as a millionaire's family can be--but there has to be something more to them.

They know batman for crying out loud. She'd like to think the man has better instincts then to send her to some family he doesn't trust with a girl he definitely can't and doesn't trust.

After a while she gets tired of having the big dog following her around and goes to the window of the library just as Dick leaves the room.

Raven taps on the window. Damian frowns and unhooks the latch, swinging the window open.

She looks up at hi, cursing the height of the foundation, and rests her hands on the window sill. "You know batman, right?" she asks. "Like you can get in touch with him?"

"Yes," he replies, studying her.

What makes you so special?

"Good." She holds her hands out to him. "Help me inside. I have to show you something."

He glances back at the door. "Why don't you just go around?"

"I don't know the way well enough."

"Then I'll meet you at the door."

"If you don't want to help me just say so," Raven scoffs, dropping her hands back to the window sill and searching for a foot hold on the wall. "I'll get in myself."

"You can't get in like that," Damian says leaning out to watch her foot slip from it's position before she can push herself up.

"I got it."

"You really don't."

"Then help me," she replies, her foot slipping again.

Damian hesitates then sighs and leans down to grab her by the waist. As soon as her feet touch the hardwood floor she releases her arms from around his neck and goes to the shelves.

"I came in here to find information on how I can stop my father," she explains as she grabs choice books off the shelves.

"Did you?"

"No," she admits, "but look."

She sets down the stacks of books and flips open the top one; an old children's book written in German. She points to a drawing of monster taller than the trees. He's roaring as the village people cower in fear.

"That's my father."

"That's a children's book."

She rolls her eyes and grabs the next book and next, flipping them to the correct pages and laying them out for him to see. All the books are different genres: persian lore, fairy tales, religious testaments.

"He's mentioned in all of them, in one form or another. He's ancient and he created a fear that spanned across the earth last time he came."

Damian looks from one book to the next, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

"I want you to understand what I'm up against," she tells him. "Explain it to Batman. I need them to understand. I know he doesn't really believe me."

"These are all referring to manifestations of evil," Damian says. "All cultures have stories like this. None if this proves anything."

"Fine, I don't need you to believe me. Just tell him to look for the prophecy about the Gem. Once he finds that he'll know what he's dealing with. My father isn't just a story, he's the story. He's the embodiment of evil and he needs to be stopped."

"I'll tell him."

"Do it now."

"I said I'll tell him," Damian snaps.

Raven makes a face at him and leaves the library in favor of finding a room in this place far enough away that she won't feel the emotional presence of the Wayne's.

They all have a mental wall around their emotions, the butler included, but that doesn't stop her senses from trying to feel them out anyway. It's like rubbing her face against sandpaper.

"Miss Raven, I'm glad I found you."

Wincing, Raven tries to backtrack down the hall but the duel smiles of Dick and Alfred lock her in place.

"Al and I were thinking maybe you'd like to go shopping for new clothes, get out of the manor for a bit. Would you like that?"

Would she like to get away from the insufferable Damian Wayne? "Hell yes."

o0o0o

"I don't understand why I had to come along," Damian mutters from the back seat.

"I don't understand how Dick here ended up having the most fun," Raven says.

"Come on guys, that was fun," Dick says with a wide smile. "Did you see that woman's face when I told her you guys were my kids?"

"You could have just told her you weren't interested," Damian criticizes.

Dick frowns and Raven grows concerned that this idea genuinely never occurred to him.

"Raven," Damian drawls, "I've been thinking. If your father is powerful and he wants you back as badly as you claim, why does he not just come get you?"

"He lives in a different dimension, he can't come here unless I open the portal for him."

"And how did you escape his all powerful grasp in the first place?"

"My brothers smuggled me out. I've got about twenty thousand of them but only six lived under the same room as me."

"No sisters?" Dick asks politely.

Raven shakes her head. "I'm special that way. I'm stronger than my brothers, that's why there's only ever been me female demons hold more power than their bodies can handle."

Her brother's told her stories about before she was conceived. Trigon would pace the throne room when he though no one was around.

"Just one," he would mutter. "The cosmos dare not deny me this."

"Did you say demon?" Dick says, glancing at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you people? My father is the definition of evil."

Honestly, what makes these humans so special? Clearly not their intelligence. they're very slow on the uptake, although if she's reading their minimal emotions right, it looks like they believe her now.