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,

but never let go of your heart.

What am I?'

Meanwhile, Dick stuffed the last bite into himself and continued:

"The Riddler had done this before in a similar form. He's slowly probably running out of riddles. The solution word is parents and now it finally gives us the data about his next robbery."

Again the taller one entered something to the keyboard and some numbers appeared.

"So in two days at the museum. That'll take care of it."

Dick was about to turn away to tinker on his gadgets a few feet away when Damian asked him another question:

"What does he mean by 'never let go of your heart'?"

Dick looked at the boy for a moment before leaning against the desk and explaining himself. He was a little caught offguard by that question:

"Well, it doesn't matter if parents are good or bad, because ultimately we can never completely separate ourselves from them, even if we wanted to. So if someone says that their parents don't mean anything to them, this is actually a lie, because you will always think about them. No matter how much you fight it, they will always have a place in your heart and be it ever so small."

Damian looked to the ground and thought for a moment. Unconsciously, one of his hands found its way to his chest and stayed there. This did not go unnoticed by Dick. Though Damian always acted as if his mother in particular didn't mean much to him anymore, that wasn't true.

Even though the little boy was often a real fiend and tested his patience, there were still those moments when Dick felt pity for the boy who actually only longed for his parents approval.

And then those moments were also immediately shattered as the own weakness was recognized, wrinkles deepened on his forehead, and a angry voice growled:

"Grayson, you watch too many movies and only embarrass yourself when you open your mouth. It would be better if you wouln't open it at all."

The taller one just laughed:

"Why does everyone keep telling me that? But still better than using it exclusively to eat snacks at the computer like Tim, similar to a little Pacman."

Confused, Damian looked at the laughing man: "What's a Pacman?"

Dick immediately fell silent. This kid was really sad. Who on earth didn't know who Pacman was? But with that kinda background, aktually not really a surprise. This had to be fixed immediately:

"You know, I'm going to show you a little secret of mine."

Dick's fingers found their way back to the keyboard of the big Bat-computer. Meticulously, they entered command after command, hacking into the existing system as he explained:

"When I was Robin, I was often sent on missions where you had to sit out a lot of time. Because of that, I built a hidden program into Batman's system, which allowed that time to flow a bit faster."

Dick opened a folder, which could be found via a lot of detours, with an enormous number of different applications and first paused, before he started laughing again:

"Looks like Tim found out about my little secret and filled it up a bit. When it comes to technology, nothing really stays hidden from him."

He opened one of the files and a playfield opened up on the huge computer screen. Hungrily, a ball-like yellow creature devoured small balls while being chased by four colorful ghosts:

"That's Pacman. I would probably be a dead man if Bruce knew about this. So this remains a secret among Robins. Clear?"

He winked pertly at the boy, who knew little about this type of wasting time. Finally, Dick turned away to finally work on his gadgets as he added:

"Just try some of these. Maybe you'll crack my high score."

The little Mario bounced beeping across the screen right in front of Damian, who was controlling the little figure. Grayson was right when he said at that time that this was a good pastime.

Pointless, but time consuming. He played the only level where he still hadn't beaten Dick's high score and stopped himfelf from doing so. Damian had a feeling that if he beat this one too, something would be lost.

So just a few steps before the finish flag, the little character stopped and Damian exited his current level via the menu. He sighed heavily and finally closed the entire program, so that now the data of the cave appeared on the screen once again.

Dejectedly, the boy let himself sink deeper into the large chair. It had been more than a year, but these situations still caused an oppressive heaviness in his chest. Damian often wondered if this would ever stop, because he deeply detested this feeling. It made his mind ask these questions 'What if' and 'How could it have been prevented' even though so much time had aldready passed. They were still in deep conflict with his rationality and he knew it was stupid. It made no sense in his mind and yet they wandered around in his thoughts.

Damian would never say it out loud, but he just...missed him.

The boy looked briefly between all the screens at the open horizon of the sea, where the last of the evening glow was just giving way to the dark blue night and the bright moon already showed up in the sky. He took his mask off his face for a moment and rubbed his eyes stressed.

Batman should hurry up. This monotonous time alone here in this jet without a non-nostalgic occupation made his brain all soft.

Suddenly the computer's instruments started to respond. The female voice sounded tinny:

"Unknown heat signature detected 300 meters ahead."

Instantly, a new window popped up in front of Damian and his eyes grew wide. A red-orange figure stood out clearly against the blue stone background and moved quickly toward his position. It happened exactly what he thought would not.

This critter was trying to escape.

The boy quickly pressed several buttons on the large console in front of him, causing the defense system to power up. Damian grabbed the controls for the jet's primary guns and aimed them at the entrance to the cave, where the target was about to appear.

The computer's female voice counted down the meters that stood between him and the monster.

When the 50 meters were reached, Damian prepared to fire.

"40m...30m...target in sight. Awaiting launch command."

Briefly, Robin looked up in surprise as nothing crossed his field of vision through the windshield. Within a split second, Damian's eyes again wandered to the thermal image beside him, where the distinctly colored creature was racing toward the jet just a few meters ahead of him. What else could this beast do?

"Open fire!"

Following more of a knee-jerk reaction, Damian gave the order to fire, and both he and the computer fired at the intruder.

Damian watched the bullets ricochet in the seemingly empty airspace. He couldn't tell if they were doing any good or not, but nevertheless, the orange blur was coming closer and closer very fast.

Finally, a violent jolt went through the entire jet, pushing Damian back into his seat and causing his fingers to slip off the control panel. He looked up in amazement, but the view outside revealed only the cave entrance, shining in the moonlight.

Again Robin's gaze fell onto the thermal imaging camera, but this too no longer showed his target.

Damian looked back and forth between the many screens:

"Damn, where is that son of a bitch!"

Again, a violent jolt went through the jet, accompanied by loud creaking. Again, the tinny female voice announced:

"Damage detected at the mid-back area."

Damian turned in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, where two large holes gaped whistling in the metal. Thank God this critter hadn't hit any of the important wiring, so the damage still wasn't too bad. He just wasn't allowed to operate at great heights.

But it didn't stop with these two Cracks.

Suddenly, more holes tore through the roof. More and more slammed through like loud footsteps, turning the top of the plane into a sieve as they rumbled and moved on quickly towards the windshield.

Robin activated the defenses of the jet's outer hull, but no matter how many blades, cannons and aerial maneuvers tried to shake it off, the critter remained, on top of the plane.

Finally, when two more impacts were made parallel to the upper edge of the glass, the attacks on the jet stopped.

Again, the computer reported: "Severe damage on the upper section. Steering limited."

Damian tried to quickly minimize the Existing Problems by activating several protocols, when a shadow obscured his view.

Gradually, out of nowhere, more and more black feathers blocked the view to the environment behind the windshield and obscured the cockpit in which Damian sat.

He lifted his head from the panel and saw how the sharp teeth and pointed claws, of this now visible creature, tried to rip their way into the cabin. 

This beast was trying to break through so it could kill him!

To Robin's horror, it actually managed to tear more and more cracks into the reinforced glass. Damian had to act fast or he would end up as monster food right away.

When the armored head of this creature finally broke through the glass, the boy didn't think twice and pressed a very specific button.

Loudly the windshield blew off and flew in a high arc, together with the monster away from the jet. But Damian did not leave it at that. Still in the air, he took aim again and fired everything that this ship offered in the direction of this damned beast.

Screeching, it disappeared in a hail of explosions, but Robin did not stop.

He kept firing. Damian wanted to make sure that this beast was finally vanquished and would not rise again. He knew it was very resilient and accordingly the boy was not stingy with the weapons at all.

After some time had passed in the continuous fire, he finally stopped and took a closer look at the cloud of soot that had formed. Damian hoped that this at least was enough to beat the monster. But until he saw it with his own eyes, the boy remained vigilant.

Silence fell and Robin held his breath tensely as the cloud of smoke receded agonizingly slowly. He looked searchingly back and forth from screen to screen and back through the open front, but could make out no sign of life.

Damian didn't trust this silence.

Finally, a gust blew away the dense cloud and revealed the bented frame of the windshield on one of the pointy rocks. However, there was nothing to be seen of that creature.

Robin felt a shiver runing down his spine.

He quickly checked his still available weapons and mobilized them immediately, while his gaze kept gliding to the thermal imaging camera. However, the surrounding area was very heated from all the explosions, further complicating the search.

This critter was still out there somewhere, and now probably excited on paying him back for that little attack.

Damian came up with another idea:

"Computer, activate the high-sensitivity microphones and listen for any unusual sounds in this area."

"Very well ..... no abnormalities detected yet."

Damian was not surprised by this. Even beforehand, he and his father had noticed that this beast's feathers had the same flight characteristics as owls.

Absolute silence.

Yet even nature's best hunters made mistakes in their cover.

"Light noise on the rock 9 o'clock in front of the ship."

Robin did not hesitate and opened fire again. Loudly cracking, the pointy rock was blown to pieces in seconds, while momentarily this creature flared up among all the flying stones and then flew away once again.

Damian fired after it with his cannons. He would not let this beast get away from him again. That was not an option.

Again and again, the dark figure flickered between all the shots and looked for a way out in the height, which only played into Damian's hands.

Because in the sky, his thermal imaging camera was able to pick up the heated body again, which made aiming a lot easier.

What Damian had not counted on, however, was that this maneuver had a special background.

When the creature was diagonally above his jet, it stopped briefly in the air and apparently ignored the bullets, which bounced off its body. The boy had a bad feeling about this.

Finally, it went into a dive, right through the continuous fire, and slid like a butter knife completely through the tail of the plane.

Instantly, the alarm replyed:

 "Irreparable damage. Immediate evacuation required."

Although the jet was still just able to stay in the air, this was immediately changed as the beast now slashed through the left engine from below, sending the plane into a spin.

"Warning, crash inevitable."

Damian quickly strapped himself to the pilot's seat as the computer warned in a continuous loop of the impending danger.

Fortunately, he still managed to eject in time amid all this jerking. While it was risky to do so with a spinning plane, it was his only way out.

And thanks to his luck, it went well.

Damian could watch as the spinning jet smashed against the cliffs and exploded into a thousand pieces.

But this was not the end of the danger. Robin hastily looked around for the creature as he flew up, and immediately spotted it racing toward his position with claws raised.

In one swift motion, Damian reached into his belt and cut himself from the chair with a knife as he pulled it out, so that this beast only got the seat and not him as well.

Robin pressed his arms and legs tightly against his body and steered himself toward the wood to put distance between himself and the monster. Only just before he hit the grassy ground did he activate his cape glider and intercept the fall.

Damian sought cover behind one of the thicker trees so he could make out a new plan.

Taking a deep breath, the boy calmed his pulse.

He tried again to contact his fellow teammates:

"Robin to Batman, do you read me? ...Can you hear me?!...FATHER!"

Damian's nerves were further strained when he received no response and leaned thoughtfully against the cool bark of the tree.

The jet distroyed, Batman as well as Wonder Woman not in sight and of the few things he had in his belt would nothing be able to help either, except maybe the flash grenades.

Shit. This time it was really getting dicey for him.

He sighed heavily and tried to keep a cool head. Damn, what now?

Suddenly the now familiar screech sounded above him again, which meant only one thing.

Robin didn't even look up as he gave up his current position with roll and only a split second later the protecting thick tree behind him was split in two by sharp claws.

As the halves fell crashing to the ground, revealing their lumberjack behind them, Damian pulled out one of the grenades and threw it at his pursuer.

But instead of the usual explosion right in front of the creature's eyes, its tail darted out and trapped the round object under its dense feathers, preventing any light from escaping.

Robin's eyes grew wide. This was bad. Very, very bad.

This meant that any attempt to escape reached an impossible status. After all, this bastard was much faster than he was, and even flash grenades wouldn't give him a head start.

There remained only one possibility. Concentrated evasion in direct confrontation until the others arrived. Provided they were doing well.

Robin stopped and was already getting into fighting position when he remembered something else. He still had some of the anesthatic bombs in his belt. Why hadn't he thought of that before? With these, it might be possible to turn the tables once again.

Like a projectile, the monster suddenly jumped towards him and let the many claws of its left wings and hand rush down directly above Damian.

However, he was able to jump backwards in time to escape the deadly blow. Damian held his breath as one of the gas bombs found its way into the face of the beast.

The resulting smoke allowed him to increase the distance, giving the boy enough time to put on his gas mask before the isoflurane could affect him.

But this beast didn't seem too impressed by that.

Instead of even stumbling, the four wings briefly fluttered up and down, blowing away all the gas, and bared teeth emerged behind them.

Damian just hissed angrily. This was getting really unfair.

Instantly, the long claws sped back at Robin, who again could only dodge and throw gas bombs into the creature's face.

As if in a loop, this game kept repeating until Damian finally wondered if this stuff had any effect at all on this beast.

It must have been the tenth bullet he just threw, and still his opponent acted as if nothing had happened.

In addition, it was getting harder and harder to keep up with the rapid succession of attacks. Dodging six clawed limbs that acted like a rehearsed dance was really not easy and that damn tail was also there.

Damian jumped back again, but this time he didn't see the tree behind him. He hit his back against it and was a bit confused for a moment when the beast's tail darted out to impale him. It was only due to Robin's good reflexes that he was able to escape this fate by turning sideways and instead of him the tree was smashed, but he was still not completely spared.

Instead of piercing the middle of his body, the electric blades cut along his side and left a superficial flesh wound, which immediately dripped with blood. Small splinters of wood from the now destroyed tree, also left minor injuries on the 13-year-old's body.

Damian lost his grip on his legs due to the electricity and collided hard with the mossy ground. Only then did the pain reach his brain and he realized that this beast had indeed still caught him.

However, he was given no time to think further about it, as his opponent wanted to jump at him once again, probably to end this whole thing.

But Damian would not make it so easy for the monster.

Just before the massive body reached his, the boy exploded another flash grenade in his hand. Robin knew that this action would affect his fingers, but he had no choice anymore. If he threw it, that bastard would probably catch it again and render it harmless.

So Damian held up his burning hand, blinding the creature's sensitive eyes before it could reach him. Painfully, it instantly flinched and backed away shrieking.

Robin took advantage of this situation to get up and sought refuge among the trees, but not before throwing two more gas bombs after it.

Damian finally hid again behind one of the slightly thicker trees and took a deep breath.

He felt the wound ache with each breath and then looked at it.

The blood ran generously down the left side of his body to his leg and made no sign to stop anytime soon.

Shit, that son of a bitch must have hit the veins of his lowest rib, making him bleed like a stabbed pig. He was really out of luck tonight.

Damian briefly peeked out from behind the tree and looked at the small clearing where the beast was still fighting for sight. There was no time to lose.

Quickly, the boy pulled out bandages from his belt and one-handedly roughly removed the blood around the wound before applying pressure to place a pad and finally fixing it firmly with a self-developed spray plaster. That should be enough for now. But his burned hand had to wait.

Again Robin looked around the tree to the clearing, but what he saw he did not like at all. Because the boy only looked at an empty clearing. Damian retreated completely behind the tree again.

This was bad. So bad.

This critter could be anywhere now, and thanks to this invisibility thing, he might not even notice it if that monster was right in front of him.

Damian felt his pulse quicken due to the dicey situation and hastily looked around.

Shit, where was it!

Robin could think of only one way he could possibly escape an invisible opponent.

He closed his eyes and put all his concentration into listening and feeling. Any sound, any vibration, no matter how small, could help him dodge an attack.

Damian gritted his teeth. Come on, just something!

Sure enough, the boy suddenly felt the ground vibrate slightly in front of him. Robin didn't hesterate for long and abandoned his current position.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the bark of the tree, he had been standing against, being slashed and irritated snarls chasing after him.

Where the heck were the others!!!

Damian had just reached the small clearing again when something grabbed him by his cape and hurled him into a thick oak.

The impact squeezed all the air out of his lungs and before he could fill them again, his throat was grabbed and squeezed shut.

Gradually the beast let down its guard again and all Robin could see were those piercing eyes between all that black.

He still tried to pull a flash bomb from his belt with his unburned hand, but was this intention quickly realized.

The four wings grabbed each of his arms and legs and pinned them stretched out from each other to the bark of the wide trunk.

With that, the boy could not even fight back and both his burned hand and the cut on his side cried out for him to give up this harmful position.

But as more oxygen was needed, the pain lessened.

Robin was still thinking wildly on a way out. Anything that would buy him even the slightest second of time.

But considering the superhumanly strong limbs that held him tightly and the snarling fangs right in front of his face, the chances were close to zero.

So that was it. 

He would die here, and damn it all, allow either Todd or worse Drake to become the next Batman. How pathetic!

Even more, the claws tightened around his neck and Damian was already starting to see black spots at the edge of his vision.

Shit, he didn't want to die. After all, Grayson's sacrifice would have been for nothing. And even if he always said that it was just part of the occupational hazard, Damian just couldn't fucking deal with it right now. 

He had just started living and he just wasn't going to give that up.

But Robin couldn't escape the tight grip. His body went limp, his vision went black, and with his last gasp he managed two more hard-to-understand words before fainting swallowed him whole:

"Sorry...Dick."