To tame a Demon (english)

Chapter 17: Ancestors

As announced, Damian and Jonathan had made their way to the Batcave in full gear and were just flying over the Gotham skyline. The sunny weather forced them to stay inside the many puffy clouds, in order to be spared from the curious looks of the passers-by, which would expose their intentions.

Damian instructed Jon to land inconspicuously at a meadow inside the middle of a small wood about 300 meters away from the Manor. A little bumpily, the Kryptonian boy's feet stumbled through the long grasses and Damian calmly jumped off his back.

Immediately, Robin began entering various commands into his computer as he explained his plan: 

"It will take me a moment to shut down the Batcave's security protocols. Until then, we'll wait here."

Superboy just nodded and while waiting for Damian to finish the hacking stuff, he looked around curiously.

It was a rather large patch of meadow, which adjacent trees let the strong midday sun fall through their canopy in single rays.

Their leaves rustled in the shallow wind, accompanied by the chirping of many different birds.

A truly idyllic place, Jon thought to himself, but when he looked around further and discovered several stones not far from them, this idyll was quickly clouded. Several gravestones protruded between the long meadow stalks, of which Jonathan first thought that they were natural rocks.

Questioningly, he pointed at them:

 "Whose graves are these?"

Damian looked up only briefly, then replied disinterestedly:

"That's the Wayne cemetery. All Waynes are buried there, starting with Charles Wayne. His sons had bought the Manor back then. At least that's what Alfred claims."

Jon was visibly impressed:

"Wow, you guys have your own cemetery? How long ago was that?"

This time Robin didn't lift his gaze from the small holographic screen:

"About two hundred years."

"That's a really long time. Mind if I take a closer look at those?"

"As long as you don't keep bugging me with annoying questions anymore."

Superboy turned and flew swiftly to the many old tombstones. Respectfully, he strode through the few rows, while looking at the many Wayne names and admired the different dates.

Charles Wayne, Joshua Thomas Wayne, Alan Wayne, Solomon Zebediah Wayne.*

There were so many different graves, some of whose age made it difficult to even read the names correctly.

A few minutes passed and Jon finally arrived at the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne. He looked with interest at the withered bouquet of flowers that lay in front of the only modern stones. They were plain and the dark polished granite looked quite foreign among all the other normal stones. Apparently these two deceased were still being mourned.

Jonathan was about to go back to Damian when something caught his eye. It was another gravestone, but this one was different from the others, closer to the forest and a little further away.

Curious, Jon flew over and one brow rose in obvious interest. The inscription was the only one that didn't include a Wayne name. Instead, the gravestone read Richard John Grayson in large fractional letters.

Based on the dates, he must have died sometime last year, but Jon had never heard Damian talk about him. Thoughtfully, Superboy's wrinkles on his forehead visibly deepened. Somehow, though, that name sounded familiar.