Love in the dark

Cold leads

Damien and Rachel arrived in Wayne manor too see it trashed. Superman, Flash, and Hal Jordan were all investigating the mansion. They all turned and looked at Damien sympathetically. Damien's expression turned soft and saddened.

"What happened?" Damien shouted out in a painful tone.

"We don't know son. We've searched the entire manor and the cave for him, but we haven't found anything." Superman said in a soothing tone.

"Come on, there has too be something look harder! What about Alfred?"

"Alfred's gone too, whoever attacked made sure too cover all of their bases." Flash said stepping forward."We all received an SOS but when we got here they were long gone. I searched in every direction for up to twenty miles, but there's nothing." Damien eyes began watering as he fell down to his knees. Rachel cupped his head with one arm and leaned it against her chest. She knew the pain of loss when trigon destroyed Azeroth and killed her mother and her people. It's a lingering void that will never be able to be filled.

"We have the entire justice league out searching for him. We even have Zatana and Dr.Fate looking into it." Superman said. His voice seemed broken as well, it must have took all of his will too control his sorrow. Clark denied that Bruce was dead, but the thought still infected his mind. Out of all of his allies and acquaintances Bruce was his most valued and his most trusted. Over the years they had become best friends and even brothers, differences in character, symbols, and even species could have alienated them from one another, however they still would trust each other with their lives and even their children's lives. Clark had a son named John and a little brother named Conner. If anything had ever happened to him and Lois or his human parents there's not another man who he'd trust more to care for his family than Bruce Wayne. Damien knew that, so for the first time him and Clark shared something besides resentment for each other.

Clark walked over to Damien and knelt in front of him. Raven let go of him and backed away from the two. Superman firmly placed a hand on Damien's shoulder and stared him into his eyes. They both showed unfathomable sadness and concern.

"We'll find his son, you have my word." Clarks words were contradicting in tone with doubt and certainty battling each other. Superman or Clark had seen too many children orphaned because of people who take it upon their own selfish ambitions. Bruce had ended up an orphan for the exact same reason. When Bruce told Clark the story of how his parents died who finally understood why Bruce is the way he is. The trauma had lingered into his adult hood and influenced him to become the man he is. A man riddled with pain and tragedy all because some low life mugger wanted to jewels from higher class citizens he saw walking in an alleyway.

Now Clark was witnessing the exact same thing happening to Damien. His mother had already passed because of her own moronic actions. Bruce however was a different story, his presence could very well determine Damien's future. Clark wasn't naive or stupid he knew Damien was almost an exact carbon copy of his father maybe even better. Damien at his age is more intelligent, stronger, faster, determined, fiercer, and a better fighter and strategic mind. At the rate he's going he could either be a vital asset to a justice league or a unrivaled tyrant in the future. Clark brought Damien into a hug and surprisedly felt no resistance.

Flash and Hal felt awkward and unsettled watching the even unfold. Sure they were bothered by their teammates disappearance too but they knew they didn't share the same emotional trauma as Damien and Clark.

"I gonna go check in with J'onn and Diana." Flash said speeding off.

"I think I'll go with him." Hal said perusing flash. Rachel watched Damien pour his emotions and it began pouring into her. Bruce wasn't her father or anything, but she did have a relationship with him. He took her in and allowed her to pursue a normal life. He's been nothing but hospitable and kind. Raven thought of something that could help but it is dangerous and somewhat stupid. However she was willing to do anything not just for Damien but for Bruce.

"Umm Damien, Superman." She said interrupting they're vulnerable moment. They broke apart and looked at her expectingly."I think I can him." She said unsure. Damien immediately peeked up and shot to his feet. Clark stood up wearily and placed a hand on Damien's shoulder.

"How?" Damien asked demandingly.

"A locator spell but its dark magic. People who don't have magical auras are difficult to find using magic but it can be done using ancient and dark spells. Dr.Fate and Mamargan forbid the use of dark magic but unless your team finds something then we may not have another choice." She said leery.

"What happens to you if Fate finds out you use dark magic?" Damien asked concerned.

"That's for me too worry about!"

"Rache!" He demanded.

"It won't come to that, I'm just offering a last resort there's other spells I can use to help but I'm just offering it as a last resort." She said sternly. Damien sighed and looked at Superman.

"Me and raven are going to search the mansion maybe we can find DNA evidence or audio feeds from the cameras." Damien said determined.

"We already looked but you probably know the house better than us so go ahead. I'm going to meet with the team and see what they found." Superman said opening the front door and flew off. Damien and Rachel searched for hours on end looking for any specific detail any minor hint would reassure them but they found nothing. Damien watched all the camera feeds a dozen times over trying to catch any sort of glimmer but they showed static. Rachel had no luck with her spells, she tried normal locator spells and a spell that lets her see into he past but it's too inaccurate. She gave up when she witnessed Bruce's father Thomas running around the halls as a child falling over and knocking over lamps and vases.

Damien called into the justice league but they said all of they're leads had gone cold. Damien and Rachel met down in the library where Damien liked to spend a lot of his time.

"Did you find anything on the cameras." Rachel asked hoping for something.

"No, the damn things were hacked. How about your spells?"

"Nothing." She stated disappointed."Looks like we don't have any other choice."

"So why is dark magic forbidden." Damien asked concerned.

"Hundreds of years ago the seven lords of order made dark magic forbidden and punished anyone who disobeyed severely. Necromancy, vudu, blood ties, curses and all that bad stuff are forbidden. Only lords of chaos and evil wizards like Felix Faust and Wotan manage to escape punishment.

"Has there ever been anyone who used dark magic for good?"

"A couple I suppose. Merlin, Etrigans half human brother managed quite well, but that was before it was banned. Now the consequences are severe."

"What will happen to you?"

"I could be banished to the phantom zone."