Demons (Damirae)

Chapter Eighty-Nine

Bruce saw it coming from a mile away.

He didn't know why he even considered that Selina wouldn't be a coconspirator of his children.

The screams from around the corner were enough to tell him that Damian had led Bella in to trouble with Selina marching along.

"THEYRE LOOOOOOOOSE!"

The animals or my kids?

Bruce ignored the shouts. He ignored the surging sea of panicking humans. He ignored Dick frantically asking, "WHERE'S DAMIAN?". He ignored it all and pinched the bridge of his nose, practising regulating his breathing.

If these enclosures were still shut and no animals were charging towards him, everything was fine. It was fine...totally...completely...fine.

He opened his eyes and saw the tiger.

Fuck.

It's not like the elephants were out, able to trample people- oh no, wait, there it is.

Bruce didn't bother stepping out of the way, gladly embracing death by elephant...until Cassandra quietly pulled him out of the way- his feet dragging against the floor. "It's okay.", she said. "Look.", and pointed at the zookeepers closing in on the loose tiger.  Phew, one less problem to- oh no, wait, it's running right at us. Moving out of the way would be a good idea right now. But do I want to though?

Cassandra pulled Bruce out of the tiger's way. "We should find Belladonna and Damian." Bruce nodded along to the idea, letting her lead the way in the direction that the tiger (who four zookeepers were dashing after) had come from.

Fast forward a frantic search in every inclosure and inch of the zoo's grounds, and the other three members of the party had yet to be found. With half of the zoo out and about, it was impossible to tell if the culprits had stolen any creatures. And so, after Timothy's suggestion that, "Maybe they went home?", the group headed back to the Manor, travelling in signature Wayne style: three sports cars yet to be released that year, glossy, fabulous, and rich.

***

Raven looked at the seven of them expectantly.

"I got you out of there, so explain."

Belladonna rubbed the tip of her little boots in to the floor, "I really wanted to see the jaguars so Damian and aunty Selina took me and-"

"And you decided to bring them back with you.", Raven finished, raising her eyebrows at the little girl. She turned her attention to the mother jAGuAR and her three cubs currently sitting in her room: the cubs nosing around their mother, who had seen fit to start licking the back of her paw, apparently unalarmed by the complete change of environment. Raven turned to Damian then Selina, waiting for some further explanation,

Selina scratched her nose, sighed, and shrugged, "There's nothing more to it if I'm honest." Damian tilted his head and looked up, thinking, before he looked at Raven and nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much."

'Incredulous' didn't describe Raven well enough.

"To clarify: there are three jaguars in my bedroom just because.", Raven took a moment to herself, just to breathe. Azarath metrion zinth- fuck it. There are jaguars in my bedroom. THREE OF THEM. Damian called and you just HAD to help him. You could have ignored him, but noOo you HAD to help. Now look, JAGUARS.

Damian nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Three. Jaguars. In my bedroom."

Damian nodded, "Yeah, pretty much."