To tame a Demon (english)

Chapter 12: Catch it if you can

Damian yawned loudly as he tried to reestablish the communication line with Batman. But it just didn't work. With such thick cave walls, it was only a matter of time before they lost contact, and for him that meant sitting around and doing nothing, because in case something happened at the entrance of the cave, he had the Bat-Jet's infrared warning system. So he wouldn't even have to keep an eye on it.

Damian stretched once, then looked around the plane. Checked the pod five times already, checked the jet for defects, and again run down the system looking for any problems that didn't exist. There was really nothing to do in here.

He sighed heavily and sank deeper into the chair that was far too big for him.

Damn his father. It was because of him that Damian could just sit around right now, waiting for the heroic duo to return from their successful hunt. Yet it was supposed to be his case. He had noticed the anomalies, had been there when this critter had appeared, and he was the only one of the current participants, who had seen what this monster could do.

And yet he was excluded from the actual events. He was Robin, who was suppoed to be Batman's partner. Not Wonder Woman.

Annoyed, Damian growled briefly and crossed his arms. He considered using the time to meditate, but he was too furious for that at the moment.

But then something else occurred to him.

Damian sat up and began hacking the computer's system with his small fingers. The boy didn't even notice a smile creep onto his face as memories filled his thoughts.

"Are you still working on the code?"

Dick was just coming down the stairs to the Manor, biting off a piece of his chocolate croissant. Since they got back from patrol, Damian had been sitting in front of the Bat-computer trying to solve the Riddler's Cryptic Signs. However, unsuccessfully, which visibly annoyed the ambitious boy:

"Try it yourself if you can't wait!"

With a played arrogant undertone and a mouth full of bread, the taller one purred:

"Oh, I alruddy....sovt id." (I already solved it.) 

He swallowed the piece: "I was just curious to see if you could solve it as well."

Damian's surprised gaze moved to Dick, who again took a piece of his croissant before his brows drew together skeptically:

"Prove it."

Undeterred, the taller man approached the computer and entered a few commands with his free hand as he explained: 

"Each of the characters stands for a different letter, but not just from our alphabet, but from internationally different ones. This results in words from English, German, Danish, Russian, Korean and Latin. We then translate and sort all that stuff and voila, the real riddle emerges."

In disbelief, Damian looked at the now comprehensible text:

'I am what everyone has,

what has always been,

what always will be,

what can fill and ruin lives,

create opportunities and destroy them,