Don't Fear the Reaper

13) Rollin Up to the Function

Babs had been in the Library most of the day, the mission report from Shazam open next to her while she tried to translate exactly what it said. They knew the gist of what it was from Nico, but they needed to know exactly what it was saying in case there was something important hidden in the context.

Normally, she would have just opted to ask Nico to translate it word for word, however Dick said he forced the kid to take a day off and lord knew the kid needed it. He was way too skinny and had darker eye bags than Tim. The kid deserved a day off.

"That's wrong," a voice said, snapping her out of her head. She turned around and found Nico standing there, eyes looking tired as they looked over her shoulder and at the first draft of translation.

"What?" She said, honestly just surprised that he could sneak up on her so easily. It was clear to see how he was so effective as an assassin.

Nico shifted slightly before stepping forward and taking a pencil off the table and pulling the case file towards him slightly. "It's Ancient Greek..."

Babs looked at him in confusion, not sure what he was meaning. She watched him look at her for a long moment before realizing he was silently asking if he could write on the document. She gave a small nod. "Well yeah, I know it's Ancient Greek."

Nico turned his eyes to the paper and began drawing vertical lines through some of the text. "Yes, but you don't know the language."

Babs just gestured towards the books surrounding her on the table. "I'm figuring it out."

Nico flipped the page, continuing to add lines and marks to the backside. "No, you're not."

The ginger looked at him, not sure if she should be confused or offended. "What are you doing?"

"Ancient Greek is a 'scriptio continua' language— it's doesn't use spaces or punctuation," Nico said, sliding the file back to her. "Native speakers just intuitively knew where words began and ended, same thing with sentences, questions, and stuff like that."

Babs looked at the file, now realizing that he was drawing lines between the words and adding the missing punctuation marks. "So how do you  know?"

Nico just shrugged slightly setting down the pencil and stepping back. "It's my heritage language."

Barbra raised an eyebrow. "Your accent sounds more Italian than Greek."

"Italian is my native language," he said simply, beginning to walk away.

"Wait," she called, stopping him from walking off. "I know that Dick gave you the day off, but... I could kinda use the assist. I have an eidetic memory so languages are usually pretty easy for me, but Ancient Greek is kinda kicking my ass and both Wonder Woman and Shazam are off world right now."

Nico seemed to hesitate before giving a small nod and taking the seat next to her. "I can read it word for word if you would like," he said quietly.

Barbra nodded, turning on her recorder before giving him the go ahead. He read the entire thing before begining to explain the importance of certain words in the file, telling her about how the word choice could have been intentional with double meanings or contextual discrepancies. It was the most she had ever heard him talk, but she didn't dare bring it up. She was grateful for the help and didn't want to accidentally say something wrong.

They had been in the library for half an hour before a familiar pain beganing seeping in. She took a small breath in, trying to keep it under control, but Nico immediately noticed the way she stiffened.