To tame a Demon (english)

Chapter 19: No longer your shadow

The days in the Batcave had become very monotonous for Bruce. For almost two weeks now, the tall man had been sitting down here every free hour, meticulously searching for a solution that could help Dick in some way.

Deep circles under his eyes and unkempt stubble adorned the tired billionaire's face. He just couldn't find any peace at the moment. Too much gnawed at him the guilt that he had simply given up on his son and that he literally had to live through hell because of it. Every night Bruce listened to the desperate recordings of Dick again to find any clues, to spur himself on and to punish himself.

He wanted his old partner back as soon as possible and to make amends for a lot of what he had screwed up. Because it was clear to Bruce that Dick was right about all the things he had said in his last recording, except for one thing. It wasn't Richard who should have apologized to Bruce, but Bruce to him. After all, he had never been the one to make the first move once an argument tipped the scales, nor had he been the one who had cared the most about their family, even though Batman in particular was their founder.

And that's where the mistake lay. It was Batman, not Bruce Wayne, and it was supposed to be the other way around. Accordingly, it always went like this: Batman's word was law, who did not heed this, had to expect consequences, which led to constant conflicts within their family.

After all, he had lost his first Robin because of it and Damian was slipping out of his hands at the moment as well.

On the other hand, Bruce held Jason as his new Robin on a loose line, to avoid the same mistake he did with Dick and so he didn't see how his second son was running into his own doom, as well as his own. 

Batman wasn't sure anymore if this way of following orders was still the right one or if he shouldn't start to be Bruce Wayne, who first and foremost wanted to give these kids a family.

In addition, he now had Selina by his side, which made the human Bruce Wayne climbing more and more to the surface and fueled this conflict stronger than ever.

Tired, Batman's gloved hands, on the keyboard, paused for a moment and he leaned deeper into the large chair with strain, before his fingers massaged the deep wrinkles at the root of his nose.

There was no use worrying about these things now. Dick's healing was top priority and if he still wanted to get the best out of their family, he needed the help of the person who knew their members best and was able to do things Batman couldn't do.

Suddenly, a calm voice startled the drained man:

"Batman, I'm going to call it a day. Here's the blood sample you wanted."

Raven approached the bat from behind and handed him a small vial of red blood that adorned a slight purple tint. It had become a rutine that she now went in and out of the Batcave every day, always trying to make old Dick appear. But the successes were missing. Only the regular samples, which she could take thanks to her magic, brought a little more information about his condition, even if Batman could not yet determine a cure from them. This was not some virus that could be cured with a simple injection. It was a mutation that had turned 30% of Dick's DNA into strands that did not exist in their world. On top of that, Batman had found minimal variations among all the blood samples, which meant that Richard was still evolving.

And Bruce did not believe that it would be for the good.

With a serious face, he took the sample and replied:

"Thank you Raven. Were you able to find any memories this time?"

The witch closed her eyes in shame and shook her cloaked head before adding: