Robin's Egg

Eggtimidating Constantine

"What do you mean-"

"Nope. No. You are not going to try and talk your way out of this." Constantine cut Damian off before he could eloquently gaslight the man. "Tell me, why is it that the occult community has it in their heads that Robin, Batman's sidekick, is the new King of the Infinite Realms? Why is it, that when I used the summoning circle to summon the Ghost King, you appeared?"

Damian stood resolutely with his mind racing. "The only conclusion I can think of is that you messed it up somehow. It wouldn't be the first time." There was a bite to his tone but Constantine looked unimpressed as he took another drag on his cigarette.

"Look, kid, you can't lie to me. I can feel the death aura coming off of you. Noted, you had one beforehand considering you grew up near the pits and have died only to come back. But now it is significantly stronger. As in, death god/ancient of the Infinite Realms strong." The blonde man finished his cigarette and pulled out another. "What happened? Does Bats even know?"

"No, and we are going to keep it that way." Damian snarled at the magician. "He has enough on his plate as it is. I have it handled."

"You do realize that the only reason why he doesn't know about this is that I'm the only one that's noticed right? Not many of the other JLD go deep into the occult like I do but it is only a matter of time before it leaks out... wait" Constantine trailed off as he leaned closer towards the boy with a frown. His eyes zeroed in on the spot where the pendant was. "It's not you. What is it that you have? What's under your shirt?"

Damian tensed and took a couple of steps back. "I have no idea what you are talking about. It's coming from me."

Constantine ignored him and instead muttered a spell with a twirl of his finger. The pendant floated up and out of Damian's uniform. Growling, the boy snatched it out of the air but Constantine had already seen all that he needed to. "Kid... bloody hell, where the fuck did you get a ghost core?" The magician looked positively mortified.

"And just why should I tell you?! Release him!" Damian snarled and kicked at the magician as the pendant floated higher so that he was hanging in mid-air.

"Kid... you don't understand... this isn't just some pretty rock. This is a person. A very powerful person at that." Constantine dodged the kick but couldn't dodge the small knife Damian sent his way. It embedded itself in the magician's casting hand causing the spell to stop. "Agh, dammit. Bloody hell, kid, that thing is dangerous-"

Gracefully, Damian dropped back to the floor and brandished a second knife in Constantine's direction. "It's only dangerous if you try to take him from me." The boy glared at the man before him. Constantine used a spell to heal his hand and Damian allowed it. His eyes narrowed. The man knew more than he had initially let on. "How do you know that this is a ghost core?" Damian demanded and judging by the feelings expressed by Danny, he wanted to know as well.

Constantine just rolled his eyes as he tossed the knife back to the boy. "This isn't my first time dealing with the Infinite Realms. Won't be the last, unfortunately. But I have learned some things and I do know that a ghost's core is powerful. Especially in the wrong hands. Now, be honest with me, where did you find it?"

Damian scowled but remained resolute. He didn't want to tell the magician anything. He didn't deserve to know and worse, Constantine could out him to his father. "Why should I tell you?"

Seeing that Damian was not going to drop from his defense stance anytime soon, the magician pulled out a flask and took a long drink. When he finished, he backed off to sit in one of the chairs that seemed to suddenly exist in the room. "Because being around something as powerful as that can't be good for your health. Also judging from the power radiating off of it, the fact that the core is here could mean an interdimensional war. It's rare for a ghost to be forced into its core. It means that the ghost's body sustained enough damage that the core couldn't upkeep it anymore. I don't mean the little guy harm but it's not exactly good to be worn like fancy jewelry now is it?"