The cafe was vacant- but for a coffee-stained barista wiping a counter, and a rather demonic couple pouring over a brown dossier given to them by Lucifer.

Robin had found himself lacking, for once, in a certain area of expertise. He'd not been able to make any headway- that is, before meeting the empath again.

"I put an ear out," Raven said, "but no one's gotten back to me with anything."

Damian frowned, "These poisonings have been going on for weeks-"

"- the ones that we know of at least-" she added.

"-and they haven't been reported to any authorities?"

Raven shook her head, "These are Lucifer's clubs. He is the authority. And these poisonings have been bad for business."

"Bad for business?" Damian said, eyes scanning down a paper list. "Surely Lucifer doesn't want for money?"

A shift in Raven's demeanour made him look up.

"But he wants for sin, "She said, with such an innate knowledge that he felt once again to have been sitting before a demon. "It's in his nature- the only thing that keeps him coming back here. And if people- creatures- aren't going to his clubs, they aren't indulging in vice."

He mulled over her words. Setting down a sheet of victim's names, Damian took a sip of coffee. By this point, they'd ordered three rounds. The day was declining and fiery rays broke through Gotham's fortress of clouds, shining in to the cafe.

"The individuals that frequent these three establishments, you call them 'creatures'. I'm presuming many of them are from the world of magic."

Raven nodded, "Magic, some humans, extraterrestrials even. A melting-pot."

Damian hummed thoughtfully. He handed Raven the list.

"Do you recognise any of the names here?"

As she scanned, the dent between the empath's eyebrows grew deeper. She handed it back. Almost all of them were familiar.

"Yeah...a lot..." her voice trailed off. They couldn't be too hasty to form conclusions. "Could be coincidence..."

Damian raised an eyebrow, "I don't believe in coincidences."

Neither did Raven.

As many theories as they floated, none could be immediately confirmed. The next point of inspection was the method of attack. The poison.

"Lucifer's left the case file devoid of much information on the poisoning agent." Robin noted. "But we've got a few leads."

Flicking through the thin dossier, Raven huffed, "You seeing something I'm not here?"

"Look," he handed her the list of names again.

Besides each name was a designation of 'dead' or 'not dead'. Raven stared, unimpressed. What was she meant to see this time?

Robin pointed to the designations, "See, some victims dead, most alive. We can rule out several lethal poisons most commonly used. It's not much, but it helps narrow things down. Most importantly though..." he took a sip of his drink- Raven suspected it was for dramatic effect- "we have bodies to examine."

Forensic examination. That was a good place to start. Definitely Robin's area. But...

"What is it?" He asked.

"We're dealing with the magical world here..." she frowned. "There's a whole load of poisons- plants, venom, that sort of thing- that you won't know about...and I don't know much more about them than I do human toxins..."

Expertise would be the thing to get this mission concluded, promptly. They needed intel. Raven knew where to get it.

"Zatanna's sure to have some sort of guide...or we could use Klarion."

"Klarion? The Witch Boy?" Damian was stumped. "What does he know about poison?"

Raven shrugged, "He took a seminar on magic toxins last year."

"A seminar on magic toxins..." the man snorted, "Where? The Witches' University of Salem?"

The empath was tacked aback, "How'd you know about that?"

Having been joking, Damian cleared his throat and moved on swiftly. It was a little disconcerting thinking of how close to the surface the magical underworld was. Picturing a magical seminar, he couldn't shake the image of an old woman with a pointed hat and warty nose lecturing the magical equivalent of chemistry- alchemy?

They had drained the dossier of any useful information. All that was left were leads to take. Robin and Raven were a duo tackling this case. It was time to designate. He made a list and she dictated:

•gather intel on links between the victims
•question eyewitnesses
•identify poison/poisons

Damian stopped her, "Motive, means, opportunity- they're the core to cracking a case. We have the means, poison, and opportunity is a given in places like that... but motive? Should we not pursue that line of inquiry? Who would want to damage Lucifer?"

"Who wouldn't?" Raven tutted. "He's got enemies coming out of places I don't even want to think about. We need to narrow things down first."

That was reasonable, Damian recognised.

The two of them stared at the three-pointed list. Raven was embedded in the magical community; she could best gather intel. Damian could tackle the poison identification- with Klarion, if need be. But there was no guarantee that the Witch Boy would be eager to help. The questioning of eyewitnesses, they would do together. Time-efficient.

Job done- sort of.

Damian had collected the files and closed the folder. Raven's coffee was finished. She looked up. Now what?

It was dark outside.

"It's dark outside." He said.

"Huh, observant."

"How are you getting home?" He asked, innocently enough.

She squinted her eyes, "There's a different question underneath that. You can just ask what you want to ask. "

She was sharp. That was something he could appreciate.

Damian smiled, "Would you like me to drop you off?"

She hummed dubiously, "No...I don't think that's the one..."

Robin sat back a little, contemplative. He needed to choose his words carefully.

"Well if you think you know what I 'actually mean', why don't you say it?"

Raven laughed, leaning forwards and brushing the hair off her shoulder.

"I think what mister Nice-Guy, Let-Me-Drop-You-Off, Wayne is trying to say, is voulez vous coucher avec moi?" Her voice dropped to something dangerously sultry.

"Are you sure you're not projecting?" Damian asked, heating up under his collar.

Red demoness in fishnets. And he'd criticised his father for dating Catwoman...

"What? Vous ne voulez pas coucher avec moi?" She retorted.

Oh he most certainly did but-

BUZZ BUZZZ

He pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Batman. Shit.

Raven marked his immediate frown and matched it with one of her own. He answered the call and listened silently. It lasted no more than ten seconds and he glanced twice at her in that time. Upon closing the phone, having given neither greeting nor goodbye, Damian stood.

"We need to go."

Raven picked up the folder, alarmed, "Where? What's going on?"

Robin fished a few notes out of his wallet and threw them on the table. Batman had ordered him to come urgently, and not alone. 'Contact Raven and bring her' he had said. That was concerning.

Another vibrating phone accompanied them out of the door. This time, it was Raven who pulled it out. Seeing the name of the caller, she had no doubt this was related.

"Zatanna?"

"Raven, there's been an attack. I'm with Batman and Shiva."

Puddle water splattered Raven's boots as she skidded to a halt.

"Shiva?"

Damian turned, echoing her. He drew close to hear the call, digging his hands agitatedly in his pockets.

Raven repeated the news out loud for him to hear as Zatanna relayed it.

"An attack on Shiva's guild. Demonic assailants."

A.N:

Hiya guys! We're back with another chapter. I'm sorry this one was so short- I thought this was a good place to leave off.
Life's been a bit of a rollercoaster for me. I got Covid, so that was fun. Thankfully I'm a lot better now, and I can finally leave the house again! I hope you guys are all doing okay.

Stay safe! Thank you all for sticking with me, for sticking with this story. I really appreciate it. Love you guys <3 MWAH

-Bats