Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Bruce leaned back on the chair as he eyed the screen. 

He was currently in the Batcave, watching a camera footage from Gotham City Museum that he was alerted by twenty minutes ago. The footage showed Felix Faust breaking in. And it was strange, to say the least. Not the breaking-in, unfortunately, that was a rather common occurrence for the city. But what bothered him was that it was Faust and what he was doing there. Gotham wasn’t a scene where Faust usually appeared. There had to be a reason.

And, unfortunately, Bruce had a pretty good guess on why. 

Faust was here for the worlogog. It was a powerful magical item that granted its user the power to change or alter realities. Bruce had acquired it with the help of Zatanna and John Constantine a while ago. 

If it was in the hands of the wrong crowd it would cause death and destruction. History was just a simple example of it. So the three of them had agreed it would be for the best if it would be hidden away from everyone.

Bruce had taken care of it, he didn’t even inform Zatanna or John— as a matter of fact, he didn’t tell anyone else. It would be for the best if he was the only one who knew so that the secret would never come out. If Faust got his hands on the worlogog, there would be no way to tell what kind of destruction he would cause with it. It was imperial that he never got it. 

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts with the sudden and loud noise. It was Dick and Damian. Again. They were fighting, not training like they were supposed to be. He shot up from his chair with a grunt. He was getting real tired of the constant fighting.

Dick had overthrown Damian’s cape and was punching him through it. Damian pushed him back and kicked him. “Hey, hey! Enough!” Bruce yelled.

Of course, that didn’t do anything to break up the fight. If more, it made it even more aggressive. Just as Damian was about to take out his sword Bruce stepped between them. One of his hands was on Dick’s chest, the other one was on Damian’s shoulder. “Stop,” 

Dick and Damian glared at each other. “Stand down,” Bruce continued. 

“Tell that to the little devil,” Dick muttered. 

“If you give me one more minute, it won’t be a problem anymore,” Damian hissed. 

Bruce sighed. He seriously had no idea what he could do to make everyone get along. So far, most of his plans had failed. Rather spectacularly. 

Just then Tim walked inside. He had a grin on his face but as soon as he spotted the scene his face turned into a frown. “Aw, man. What the hell now?”

Dick backed away and stepped away. “Take a guess,”

Damian put his sword back in its place and turned his back on Bruce, and crossed his arms on his chest. “I was putting Grayson in his place before Father unfortunately intervened,”

Tim sighed. This wasn’t a new thing, the two of them went at each other almost always. Sure, Damian was mean toward everyone around them and picked fights with anyone he could find but he particularly overdid it with Dick. He was just responding. At first, he would take his shit but over time Dick lost his patience— and to be honest, who wouldn’t. Sometimes even Tim felt like kicking the shit out of the little brat.

“Calm down,” Bruce sighed, “There’s something I need to tell you all, but if you insist on keep acting like children maybe I’ll leave you out of it,”

That seemed to intrigue everyone. Because if there was something that got them all to agree on, it was their duty. And to be left out sucked, no matter how the mission would turn out. 

“Leave him out, you, me and Tim will take care of it,” Dick muttered.

“Hey!” Damian exclaimed, pouting. “Do you need me to show you I’m better than you? Again? I propose we leave you out and compare the outcome, Grayson,”

Bruce and Tim shared a look. Tim had an inkling as to what the man was thinking about. He decided to lighten the mood. “Is this a bad time to tell you Cassie says hi?” 

“Cassie? You were with her?” Dick asked, turning to him. 

Tim gulped. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Good going, Timmy. Sure, it caused the distraction from the fight he wanted but now he was put in the spotlight. And he could feel that he fucked up right about now. “Uh, yeah,”

Dick furrowed his brows. “I talked to Kory this morning, aren’t they supposed to be on a mission in Indonesia?” 

Tim took a deep breath to save himself some time. “Uh, yeah. I was with her in the morning, before the mission. Then I just hung around the town by myself, you know, having some me time,” 

Dick gave him a funny look. Tim got the sense that he and Dick had very different ideas when it came to having some me time. Well, better that than him finding out, he supposed.

“Why did you end it? You should’ve continued your me time and stayed away,” Damian muttered.

Tim rolled his eyes, annoyed. This was turning out like one of the times he really wanted to punch Damian. Hard. 

“Are you done?” Bruce sighed, thankfully gathering all the attention. He gave them all his stern look as he crossed his arms on his chest. Dick was the first one to fold. He exhaled and dropped his gaze, nodding. Tim followed soon. And Damian last, pouting but shrugging as he put his sword away. 

“Good. Follow me,” Bruce continued. They all walked to the huge screen in the cave and waited for him to speak up. He opened up the picture of the object and the picture of Faust breaking in side by side and waited for a moment until the children took a good look at it. 

“Felix Faust is in Gotham, and he’s after something that he should never possess,” Bruce started. “It’s called the worlogog. It’s one of the most powerful magical objects in the world. If he gets it, he’ll be able to alter reality among other things. So, it is crucial he doesn’t,” 

“But why is he in Gotham looking for it? This place usually only has psychos and maniacs, not magic,” Tim said. 

“Unless…” Damian muttered. 

“The object is somehow in Gotham,” Dick finished. 

“See how great you three get along when you stop being pricks?” Alfred asked, suddenly appearing behind them with a tray. It had a teapot, four glasses, and cookies that smelled amazing on it. 

“Alfred,” Dick sighed and reached for a cookie. 

Alfred punched his hand away. “You know I’m only pointing the obvious, Master Grayson,” he said as he first poured the tea onto the glasses and then served cookies to each of them. He left Dick for last. Tim caught Bruce smirking discreetly while the boys either rolled their eyes or grunted. 

“So, it’s in Gotham?” Damian asked. 

“It is,” Bruce replied and Dick bit into the fresh and warm cookie with delight. “Zatanna, John Constantine, and I got it from its previous owner and I hid it. No one but me knows where it is, and it needs to stay that way,” 

“Well, what do you need us to do?” Dick asked after taking a sip from his tea.

“I’ll deal with Faust, but I still need to be sure that the object is protected in case he finds it. I want you three to guard it,” he replied. 

“Babysitting? Great,” Damian muttered. 

Tim rolled his eyes. “Ask me about it,”

“Listen to me Drake, I—”

Alfred shut them up by coughing. “Best to eat the cookies when they’re still hot, Master Wayne,”

“Fine,” Damian huffed as he took a bite. 

Bruce nodded and opened up a map. “This is where I want you to be,” 

Tim and Dick shared a look. They had done protection details before so it was no problem. In fact, the first mission they ever went on together had been a protection detail.

Doing it with Damian however, that would be a problem. A big problem at the size of an eleven-year-old child. He had never done something like that, heck, if anything he was the reason why people had protection details. Well, not anymore, he supposed, but still. 

Tim just hoped all of them would walk out of this mission in one piece. 

Half an hour later, they were inside a warehouse that Bruce sent the three of them. He had filled them in with all the information he had. Faust broke into the museum looking for the object. Bruce had Zatanna do a spell that would make the others think the object was in different places throughout the city. 

It was apparently a hard spell to perform. If someone did a locator spell looking for it, it wouldn’t show the real location but rather somewhere close to it at a reasonable distance. It was something Bruce thought of ahead so that he could be prepared in case someone came for the object. Right now, Faust was probably doing multiple locator spells and running around the town, trying to find it while the boys guarded the real thing. 

Damian was standing away from Tim and Dick. They were leaning on one of the containers while Damian had jumped on top of another and his back was turned on the other two. Tim was on his phone. He was getting messages. 

“God, can’t you turn that damn thing off? Or put it on silent? You’ve been texting the whole way,” Damian groaned. “How did you manage to be Robin for years?”

“Geez, mom,” Tim rolled his eyes, “Give me a break,”

Dick smirked. “Is it Cassie? Are they back from the mission?” 

“I can’t when you keep giving me headaches with that awful ringtone, Drake,”

Tim looked up from the screen. “Shut up. It’s better than getting on everyone’s nerves,”

He continued to type, hoping that would get the little devil to shut his mouth for at least ten minutes when Dick started poking him repeatedly and trying to see the texts. “C’mon, what aren’t you telling me? Do you need tips?”

Tim looked up and turned his phone away as he glared at him. “I don’t need to tell you anything,” 

“Ah, shit!” Dick exclaimed, laughing, “You’re sexting, aren’t you?” 

He furrowed his brows. “Dick!” he replied. “Literally. What the fuck?”

“It’s cool, dude. Kory and I sext all the time,” his brother was smirking smugly.

Tim rolled his eyes. “I am not sexting. And, even if I was, it’d be none of your business. Now just leave me alone,” he muttered and jerked away from him. He quickly finished typing his last message and a quick explanation and then put his phone away in his pocket. “It’s gone now, happy?” 

Before those two could answer or potentially taunt him, they heard a voice. Which faded out all the jokes and the bickering and got them alert. Damian got up on his feet over the container. “I hear footsteps,”

Dick and Tim shared a look. They spent so much time together, especially on missions, that they could speak and decide what to do just by their looks. “Get down you idiot. You don’t want to be seen, we need to be discreet,” he hissed in a low tone. 

Damian jumped down from the container and landed on his feet quietly. “Keep bitching like that and we won’t be discreet at all, Drake,” 

Tim rolled his eyes and walked away. If there was an intruder, whether it be Faust or someone else, he couldn’t punch Damian like he so wanted to, so he put some space. Instead, he let his training kick in and assess the situation. 

One of the things Bruce taught first in what Tim liked to call Robin 101 , he told them finding out a good place, whether it be for scouting or fighting was crucial. Which was what the three of them had done as soon as they got there. They weren’t seen by the two entry points but they would be able to see the doors. 

Dick was the first one to spot the incomer. Hiding behind one of the containers, he watched the intruder. He was dressed in a blue robe with some gold around it. He was also wearing a headpiece that was the same blue and gold. 

It was Felix Faust. 

Dick started thinking of the best strategy to approach the situation and the quickest way to disarm him. There were a couple of strategies popping into his mind but he was thinking of how the hell he could get Damian to follow them. He only seemed to listen to Bruce’s instructions and even then it wasn’t a full-time thing. 

“Come out, come out wherever you are children,” Felix taunted instead. 

That was a surprise, how did he know they were here? How did he find out about the location? How did he know Batman was in on this? If he knew, that would make them lose the element of surprise. 

As Dick was thinking, Damian jumped out from the shadows with his sword out toward Faust with a grunt. Dick facepalmed seeing the whole thing. Great going, blood son. 

Faust turned around and hit Damian with one of his spells. Damian fell to the ground. “You freaking idiot!” Tim grunted as he and Dick popped out of their hidden spots and jumped into the action.

Faust sent them his blasts but they managed to avoid them. Almost. As soon as they got close, they had no room to avoid the attacks and they both got hit. 

Damian ran at Faust, his back was turned to him anyway. He jumped on Faust’s back and made him fall. Faust grunted and took out something from his pockets while he tried to get Damian off his back. 

He said something that the boys didn’t understand and threw rocks at where they were standing. Before they had a chance to react or run, the rocks turned into plants, erupted from the ground and grabbed all three of them, lifting them into the air.

“Great,” Dick sighed. 

“You had to jump in without thinking,” Tim muttered. 

“At least I did something,” Damian replied. 

“Shut up, both of you. And try to get out of these,” Dick ordered. He was the oldest and the more experienced so even though they never talked about it out loud, he was kind of the team leader when Bruce wasn’t there. Even though Damian would never accept it. 

Damian was swinging his sword left and right, trying to cut the thing and get rid of it. He didn’t bother listening to Tim who was trying to tell him where to cut the plants. 

Meanwhile, Faust had disappeared, looking for the thing. Dick and Tim were trying to punch their way through the plants. Because both of their weapons were on the ground, out of their reach. 

Great.

“Does anyone has eyes on Faust?” Dick yelled. 

“I do,” Tim replied, heavy breathing because of the punches, “He, uh, he’s kneeling? Looks like he’s praying,”

“Well, has he found it?” the little devil asked. 

“I don’t know,” Tim answered and he hoped that if he was here, he’d do something right now instead of watching and laughing his ass off. The bastard.

Dick huffed as the plant squeezed around him even more. “Does—Does he look like he’s doing magic?” 

“Maybe,” 

“Maybe?”

“We need to stop him!” Damian exclaimed. 

Tim rolled his eyes. “No shit, genius,”

“Shut up, Drake!” 

“Just get us out of this thing, Damian,” Dick sighed, “Mine’s getting too tight,” 

“I’m fucking trying!” Damian gritted through his teeth. 

Tim continued his own struggle. The thing around him was too thick for his strength to overpower it. It either needed to be cut or blasted or some shit. And, for his own sake, he’d like to be cut out. Even if it was the little devil holding the knife.

His prayers came true when something exploded. Suddenly the pressure around him disappeared. Dick, Tim, and Damian fell to the floor. Faust fell on his back. 

“What was that?” Damian asked, getting on his feet. “Who did that?” 

“Me, dickhead,” 

All of them turned to the source of the voice. Someone they all knew one way or another, dressed in his usual attire and red mask was standing with his arms crossed on his chest over one of the containers. 

“Jason?” Dick blurted. 

“In the flesh,” Jason said and then let out a humorless chuckle. 

“What are you doing here?” Dick asked, trying to make sense of it. How the fuck did he know? Why did he care?

Jason tilted his head. “Surprised to see me?” 

“I am, yeah,” he replied. They found out Jason was alive about a little over a year ago. He was now the Red Hood and he thought he could do the job of Batman better than Bruce. Bruce was tracking him down to stop him but Jason was trained by him, he knew how to cover his tracks. 

This was the first time Dick was seeing him after the confrontation. 

And he still couldn’t believe his eyes. Jason is alive. In the flesh, breathing, and standing and talking. He is fucking alive and right across from me. And he’s determined to act like a dick. No pun intended.

Jason coughed and pointed at Tim. Dick turned to him with disappointment and shock written all over his face. Pieces started connecting inside his mind and he couldn’t help but feel betrayed. “You were never texting Cassie,” 

Tim nodded, his cheeks now red, knowing his secret was out. “Tim, how cou—“

Jason shushed him. “Are we going to bitch or stop the asshole? He’s almost got his hands on it, just so you know,”

Dick rolled his eyes. Fuck, was he right. “This conversation is not over,”

“Of course,” Jason taunted and started moving toward Faust. “Although, seriously? This is the place he chose to hide this all-powerful object? Man, that’s just sad,”

Dick took a deep breath to calm himself down and focus on the matter at hand. He tilted his head at Tim and Damian and they got moving too. He couldn’t think about all that right now. How Jason seemed to return completely hating anything and everything related to Batman. How Jason was Jason but he also wasn’t. How his brother had been consumed by everything he and Bruce wished he hadn’t. 

So, Dick shook his head and forced himself to empty his head. It’d all have to wait until they stopped the magician.

In the midst of a fight, if a group of people is running at someone, it is very hard not to take notice of that. One has no business in a fight if one can’t even realize that. It’d be very stupid. So, obviously, Faust—who had recovered from the blast, realized they managed to get out of his spell and were now coming for him. 

His hand dived into his pockets once again to attack and Dick was getting ready to maneuver but suddenly Faust fell to the ground. He was hit by one of Robin’s R-shaped birdarangs, and it was stuck on the ground with a piece of his clothing through it.

“How did you find us?” Damian asked as they circled him. “How did you find out about here? 

“I knew Batman would be an obstacle,” 

“So?” Tim let out, “Do you see him anywhere?”

Faust didn’t respond right away. Dick glanced at Jason to see if he was gonna disappear now that they cornered the intruder.

“When I saw his minions, all together,” Faust started as his eyes roamed the room, “I put two and two together,” Then, his palm opened up and two words from a language Dick didn’t know fell from his lips. The sound of one of the containers breaking apart hit his ears and something flew at the magician’s hand very quickly.

It all happened so fast.

“No!” He exclaimed. Then, instinctively, all four of them jumped on their feet and toward Faust to separate him and the object.

Dick got the sense that they had been too late. His heart sped up, they couldn’t fail, they couldn’t get this asshole get access to do whatever he wanted. 

Faust was now holding the object with both hands. His eyes had seemed to roll back and what sounded like an incantation was falling from his lips. As Dick got close and had the thought of ripping the object away from him, a bright light erupted between Faust’s hands and then covered the whole room.

He shut his eyes tight because it hurt to keep them open. Then, his body hit the floor. Before he could recover or even open his eyes another body fell over him. Then another. And then, another. Multiple aw ’s, fuck’ s, and get off’ s were exchanged. 

But before he could take charge or anyone could reply with a coherent sentence, a shout got them all stopping. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” someone with a British accent yelled.

Chapter Text

“What the hell are you doing here?” someone with a British accent yelled.

The guys turned to the sound of the voice as a reflex, ready to protect themselves. Instead, they saw a tall guy in a black tuxedo holding a drink in his hands. All of their expressions turned to confusion as looked at each other. 

“Oh, for Dad’s sake,” the man sighed, exasperated, “Don’t lay on my floor, get up,” 

Still confused, the guys got on their feet, still keeping their defensive posture. Dick leaned forward slightly to see all three of them seemed uninjured.

“Well, are you going to tell me what the hell are you doing here?” 

Dick stepped forward. “Who are you?”

The man grinned and took a sip from his drink. “Lucifer Morningstar, of course,” 

“Huh?” Damian huffed. Was that name supposed to mean something? It did sound familiar but Dick couldn’t remember.

“The devil?” Tim asked, frowning. 

“Exactly!” the man smiled.

“Man, this is bullshit. I don’t believe this,” Jason let out as he took out his mask. “What? Is this some kind of prank?”

“Ah, Jason Todd, is it?” Lucifer smacked his lip, leaning forward, “The one who escaped,” 

Dick saw how Jason’s face shifted. He furrowed his brows and pressed his lips together. His face was pure stone.“ How the fuck do you know that?”

Lucifer grinned. “I’m the devil, boy. I know everyone who’s been down there,”

Dick couldn’t help but twitch. There was still too much he didn’t know about what happened to Jason. And the reminder of his death still got him in shambles.

“Although, you’re certainly not the only one who escaped from there,”

“Oh my fucking God,” Tim mumbled. 

“Please,” Lucifer raised his hand and shook his head, “Don’t mention my father,” 

Tim gulped as he clasped his hands at his back. Great fucking going, Timmy. Insulting the literal fucking devil from first minute? Maybe the little devil is right in calling me stupid and—oh fuck, can I even call him the little devil anymore when the actual one is right across from me?

“What the fuck is going on?” Damian exclaimed. 

Lucifer tilted his head, his eyes now scanning the kid. “Watch your attitude, little one. You’re the ones interrupting me,”

“Watch yourself, dick,”

Dick had to force himself not to fucking lose it. What the fuck happened? Where were they? What was going on?

Lucifer rolled his eyes and leaned toward him. “Acting so tough… Now, where have I seen that before?” he smiled to himself before locking eyes with him and Dick felt something shifting in the air, “Tell me boy, what is it that you desire?” 

Damian was glaring at the man who had an amused look on his face now. Slowly, his glare faded away. Dick was watching the whole thing wide eyes. Seriously, what the fuck is going on? What the fuck happened? Is that magic? Can the Devil do magic? 

“ I… I want my father’s approval,” Damian blurted out. 

Lucifer smirked and leaned back, taking a sip from his drink. “Ah, another one with daddy issues,”

Tim and Jason couldn’t contain their laughs. Dick cleared his throat. This was not the fucking moment to laughing. 

“What he fuck? How did you do that?” Damian asked, snapping out of whatever hold he had been under. 

“Haven’t you been listening? I’m the devil,” 

Dick sighed. “Okay, okay, wait a second. How? What’s going on here? What happened?” 

Lucifer turned to him now. Just like the others, he took a moment to scan him. Dick reeled in a deep breath and tried standing up straighter, if that was even possible. He had lived through way too many things to not immediately dismiss someone saying they were the real devil. 

“You four appeared out of thin air and fell on my floor. We’re lucky it’s late and the club is making a lot of noise. The rest? I have no clue nor any interest in finding out,”

Jason furrowed his brows. He still didn’t believe this guy was really the devil, but alright. He’d bite. “Wait, wait, hold up. The club? The Devil owns a nightclub?” 

Satan nodded. “What the fuck?” Jason mumbled, not knowing whether to let himself believe whatever this shit was or start laughing. Maybe they’d hit their heads when they jumped Faust and he was in a coma or something. 

“Which brings me back to my question. What at the hell are you four doing here on my Earth?” 

“Your Earth?”

As always, Jason watched Dick taking charge and trying to ‘handle things like adults’. Fucking prick. If it was true, they were standing across from Satan. How could one handle that like fucking adults?

Lucifer sighed. “Father, doesn’t Batman teach you anything?” 

Well, now, that was fucking unexpected. One point to Satan, I guess. 

“You know who we are?” Drake asked. 

“Obviously,” he hummed.

“Obviously?” Dick repeated. 

Lucifer nodded.  “You all came close to getting down there once or twice,” he then turned back to Jason once again, “And one of you even came. I may not know everyone alive but I like to keep a close eye on the likes of you,”

Jason’s bottom lip twitched with fury. Why couldn’t this guy just shut up about his death already?

“Uh, humans?” Tim mumbled.

“Superheroes,” Lucifer said and chuckled. Like it was funny. Jason turned toward Tim who just shrugged. 

“You know John Constantine?” he sighed. 

Jason thought they all did. He knew for a fact that he and Dick did. “Sure. You?”

“I use to owe him a favor, not anymore,”

Jason squinted. “Isn’t it usually the other way around though, Devil? People owe you the favor?” 

“Exactly! You’re starting to get it, Todd,” 

“I. Am. Like. So. Fucking. Confused.” Tim whispered.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Drake,” the kid muttered. 

“Not now,” Dick huffed. 

“I still don’t believe this,” Jason said, turning around so they could form a circle. He still wasn’t sure he believed this guy in suits was the Devil but it was obvious they were in a situation and if they were going to break out of it, he probably couldn’t it alone. Probably.

“What are we going to do?” Tim asked. 

Jason gave him a look. “Are we seriously going to trust this guy?”

“We don’t even trust you,” the rageful chihuahua replied, crossing his arms on his chest. 

“Hey! I do,” Tim shot.

Jason grimaced. “Who are you?”

“I’m the blood son! Who—”

“Kid, shut the fuck up. The grown-ups are talking,” he yawned. 

“Guys, stop,” Dick pleaded. Jason turned to him and realized the vein in his forehead was about to pop. He seemed really stressed. 

Lucifer snickered. “Ah, family drama. It feels like home,”

Dick turned around. “Home,” he murmured. Jason couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He was not in the mood for sentimental shit.“ There is a lot we don’t understand yet, but can you get us home?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Hah! That I don’t miss,”

Jason rolled his eyes again and started running his hand on the knife strapped to his leg. He wanted this thing to be over, like yesterday. “Look, children, I have plenty of problems of my own. Or drama, as you’d call it. The detective just told me to go home, my brother and therapist just had a baby, my girlfriend—ex girlfriend is acting weird, Maze is acting weirder than usual and I have a prophecy about me that can’t come true. Although, I’ve taken care of it. Anyway, if you excuse me, clearly , I have my own matters to attend to,” 

Damian did not make sense of any of those words together although he had quite the vocabulary for someone his own age. He glanced at the other guys to see all of them as confused as he was. They all looked dumbfounded. My IQ got infected by theirs.

“Your brother and therapist are together? Uh, isn’t that kinda against the law?” Tim mumbled. 

“The Devil has a girlfriend?” Todd chuckled. 

“You’re a detective?” Dick mused. 

Shaking his head, Damian looked the Devil right in the eyes. “What kind of a name is Maze?” 

And now, Lucifer looked annoyed. “I don’t have any time for Batman’s little sidekicks now. I’ve got a lot on my plate,” 

“We’re not sidekicks,” Dick huffed. Not the fucking time, Grayson. 

Lucifer got up to his feet and put his hands into his pockets. “Why don’t we leave the chatter aside and you four answer my original question? Why are you here?” 

Dick looked at the other three briefly and then turned to Lucifer. “We were guarding the worlogog from Felix Faust. He’s this ancient sorceress and the worlogog is—“

“—I know what the worlogog is, boy. And I know Faust, I remembered the headaches he caused back in…3000 BC was it?” 

“Great! If you know all about it, then you can help us,” Tim said with a smile. Oh, the optimistic fool.

“Haven’t you been listening? I have my own matters to attend to,”

What matters did the Devil have to attend to besides Hell? Apparently, it was as real as the other stuff since he was standing across them. The others might not fully believe it, but Damian knew what he felt. No magic in the world could have gotten him to say the words he did. It had to be something else. 

“It’s not my first end-of-the-world scenario. I’ve been through plenty,” Lucifer continued. He brought his hand up and started massaging the top of his nose. Damian got the sense he wasn’t talking to them anymore. “Do you know why I choose this Earth to take my vacation in? Specifically this Earth? Because, in here, you didn’t exist. None of you. No aliens in capes, no metahumans, no villains,” 

“We don’t exist here?” Damian asked. 

The Devil turned to him. “I mean, you probably do, but not under these circumstances. Here, you are probably normal people. And trust me, that’s a good thing,” He wiped his face. “Look, if you find Faust will you get the hell out of here then?”

“Yeah,” Dick replied. They needed Faust to get out of here and get back to their Earth anyway. “He was holding the worlogog when we attacked. Since the object has the power to change reality among other things, is it possible that he zapped all of us in here?” 

Lucifer nodded. “Probably,” he murmured. “And since it’s not his Earth, his powers are weak here. He’s not as powerful as he was on your Earth,”

“That’s a thing?” Jason asked. 

Lucifer shrugged. “There are certain rules to the universe, the multiverse if you will. Some things are to your benefit whilst others aren’t. It’s all about balance,”

“The multiverse is real?” Tim blurbed. “It’s fucking real?”

Damian turned to him, glaring. Why couldn’t he stop being an excited puppy? “Oh, control yourself, Drake,”

“Okay, chop chop! Follow me, children,” Lucifer clapped and walked toward the elevator. He then abruptly stopped. “Those clothes, we need to do something. You can’t go out like this,”

All of them were in their respective costumes. What the fuck was wrong with that anyway? 

Lucifer waved his hand to the air and chuckled. “ Ah, you know what? Fuck it. This is Los Angeles. People will think you’re cosplaying,” he said as stepped inside the elevator. 

The boys shared the night’s thousandth confused look and went after Lucifer. They were in Los Angeles? How? Damian really needed a drink after this. And for that, he’d need to start drinking first.

“Where are we going?” Tim asked as the doors closed. 

“As I’ve said, I can’t be bothered with you, so let’s find out where the hell Faust is and then you can be on your way and out of mine,” 

That sounds like a good idea, Lucy. Wait, can he hear my thoughts like he made me speak them? Can I even call the Devil Lucy? You know what? I can and I fucking will. Where are you taking us, Lucy?

The elevator opened up to a pretty crowded bar. “ Damn,” Todd whispered as they walked inside the bar and headed to the exit. “I wouldn’t mind killing some time here,” 

Dick elbowed him. “We’re on a mission, together. Pull it fucking together,”

Todd rolled his eyes at him. Damian watched it with curious eyes. Why is Grayson acting so different with him now? 

They walked out of the club and walked into a narrow dark alley. “How the fuck are we going to find Faust here?” Jason asked.

Lucifer took a deep breath and turned around. One of his hands was in his pockets. He wore a wicked grin. “You need to learn how to keep your mouth shut, boy,” 

“Geez, fine. Whatever,”

Lucifer smiled and walked up to a wall. He murmured something as he waved his hand. Damian looked around to see if anyone was seeing this shit. If there were no superheroes and that shit on this Earth, it’d be very hard to explain whatever the fuck was going on right now.

A door appeared inside the wall. Lucifer pushed it open as he tilted his head at them. “Follow me, children,”

They got down from the stairs one by one. Jason was walking behind everyone. They eventually got lead into a large room. And it looked like it popped up from a crappy fantasy show or some shit. Seriously, what the fuck? What does he even do with this much cushion?

“What is this place?” Dick asked. 

“My belongings,” Satan replied nonchalantly as he started looking for something. Jason wondered how the fuck he expected to find anything in this mess. “I couldn’t keep it somewhere humans could access, obviously,”

“Obviously,” he mouthed. Tim quietly chuckled beside him. I knew the guy had good humor. 

Lucifer put out a map and a needle. “I’m going to do a locator’s spell and you four will be on your way. Deal?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” Dick replied. Always the diplomat, Dick. You haven’t changed a bit. 

“You can do magic?” Tim asked. 

Lucifer nodded and grinned. “I’m the Devil. Of course, I can,” 

As Beelzebub hunched over the map, preparing for the said spell, Jason realized all the other three watching him very intensely. Did they seriously buy this shit? Besides making a magic door appear and convincing the angry kid to confess, he didn’t do much shit. They were things that can be done with magic. It didn’t mean that this man wasn’t delusional with access to magic. 

Still, Jason forced himself to watch. And to see if he could spot an opening to prove this guy wasn’t really Satan.

“Hmmm, that’s interesting,” Shaitan mumbled.

“What?” Robin 4.0 asked.

“He seems to be cloaking himself, he doesn’t show up,” The Dark Lord replied. “All I can say is that he’s somewhere in Los Angeles,” 

Jason huffed and couldn’t help but laugh. Finally . “So all of this I’m the Devil, I can do anything thing was just a show,” 

Prince of Darkness’s head snapped at him and then he was in front of him in a flash. He grabbed Jason by the throat and lifted him to the air. “You don’t believe me? You want to see the real Devil, boy?” 

Dick saw that Tim was about to jump into action from the corner of his eye but he stopped him. 

He didn’t know whether he believed this man to be the Devil or not, but it was obvious he had abilities and was powerful. As absurd as it sounded. Dick was almost convinced it was real. And if he was right, none of them stood a chance against Lucifer. 

“Please, let him go. He’ll watch his words,” Dick pleaded. 

Lucifer turned around, looking angry. He looked at Dick with blood-red eyes. 

He didn’t back down. “Please. I will make sure he behaves,”

“Children,” Lucifer seethed and let Jason go. He fell to the ground and Tim rushed to his side. 

“Thank you,” Dick let out. 

Lucifer muttered something under his breath and walked out. “Check him!” Dick pointed at Jason before bolting after the Devil. He climbed up the stairs and when he rushed out to the street, he saw that Lucifer was heading back to his club. 

If it wasn’t for Jason and his impulsiveness— seriously he and Damian were a lot alike in that sense, Lucifer could have probably given them good ideas on how to get out of this mess. And he still had those answers so he was going after him. Dick heard the rest of the guys following after him. Knowing they’d be able to spot him, he rushed into Lux.

In reality, Tim had no idea why Dick had the idea of going after the Devil when he stormed out like that but he had and Tim was going after him. So were Jason and Damian.

When they reached Dick, Lucifer had already mixed into the crowd. He grabbed Dick’s arm and tilted his head. They walked to a corner quiet enough to talk. “Dick, what the hell, dude? Why are we following him? We got what we needed,”

“We got more than we needed,” Jason said, holding his throat.

“Look, if he is truly who says he is, I think that he can help us more. Give us more answers,” Dick sighed, “What do we know so far?” 

“There are multiple realities and we’re in the one the Devil likes to take a vacation,” Damian answered. 

Dick nodded. “Exactly, there needs to be more than that. He said he knows Faust, he could give us more clues on how to defeat him,”

“Okay,” Tim said. 

“I don’t like this, something doesn’t sit right with me,” Jason muttered.

Damian turned at Jason. “No one said you had to be here. No one wants you here, you can go,” 

Tim furrowed his brows. Was this the right time to punch him now that they weren’t being questioned by the Devil? “I did and I do,” 

“Guys, stop fighting for a minute. We are in deep shit, and right now, there’s strength in numbers. We all stay together,” Dick said sternly. 

Well, that was true. They truly were in deep shit. 

“Who died and made you the leader?” Damian snickered. 

“I’m the oldest and I have more experience than any of you,”

“I could still take you,” Jason shrugged. 

“Not now Jason,” Dick muttered. 

Tim was aware his little plan of getting them together hadn’t worked out quite like he planned. But, it wasn’t his fault that they had taken an unintentional trip through the multiverse. “Guys, Dick is right, we’re in unknown territory. Can we try to get along until we can get out of this?” 

 “Fine,” Damian murmured. 

“Okay,” Jason said. Tim glanced at Dick to find him smiling at him. Good. Maybe he’ll forgive me now. 

Then, before they could form a plan of any kind, they all heard someone shouting Lucifer’s name. With that, it became very easy to spot where he was. Lucifer with the two other people. He was at the bar portion of the club and a man with a beard was hugging him. 

Silently the boys headed toward there while the bearded man bowed to Lucifer. “My king, it’s just so great to see you,”

Damian looked at Jason. “Does it seem real enough now, meathead?”

God, now that I know you’re apparently very real, please, don’t let those get it on. Also, I always kind of believed in you? That counts, right?

Jason didn’t reply as they all watched the scene in front of them. Thank you, God. You a real one.

Lucifer made the man get up and then realized they were standing there. Briefly glancing at them, he led the man with the beard toward the couches. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re here for you, of course. To help you get back home,”

Lucifer’s face faltered with surprise. For the life of him, Tim wished he had context so he could understand what was going on. If he could get his hands on some popcorn, this would be pretty fucking entertaining. Cassie’s not gonna believe this. If we get out of this, I guess.  

“Let’s wait it out,” Dick murmured. 

Lucifer and the man with the beard were on the couch filled with girls, while a man in priest attire followed them and stood there. 

“So there I am, hanging in Hell, popping out eyeballs like any other Tuesday and this priest! He just… shows up on my docket,” the man said. One of the girls turned to him and asked a question. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m seriously starting to believe this,” Tim confessed to the others. 

“Me too, I think,” Dick replied. 

“Prophecy this, prophecy that!” the man exclaimed which got the boys’ attention once again. He did a joke on accents which no one found funny but made himself laugh.

“Anyway, he says that he needs help getting you back to hell, so… of course, Dromos, ever loyal… I did not hesitate. I came straight here to answer your call,”

Then, Dick looked at Tim. No words needed to be said. They were now convinced. 

Lucifer chuckled. “Of course,” he said in a sarcastic way. “This is Kinley’s hail mary. His final attempt to subvert the prophecy by tricking me into returning,”

“Voluntarily!” Lucifer laughed. Dromos frowned.

Seriously, God, can you send me a summary of this? I need to know the tea.

“Well, it’s an admirable plan, but he needn’t have bothered. I’ve just beaten the prophecy on my own. Besides, no way in hell I’d ever return to— well, you know,” Lucifer smirked and took a sip from his drink. 

Not gonna lie, that was a good pun. 

“Lucifer… You’ve been on vacation forever. You didn’t write, you didn’t call. You didn’t even send a burnt offering. The demons of Hell, they need a king,” Dromos said. 

Lucifer looked annoyed and a bit mad. Tim realized they probably had a hand in it. 

“Very well…” he sighed, “Dromos of the Lilim, by the power of Grayskull, blah-di-blah-di-blah, I hereby name you King of Hell. There you go! Throne’s all yours,”

Dromos laughed faintly. “Yeah, that’s really funny. But we all know that the king… He needs to be an angel,” 

Lucifer tilted his head. “Fair point, yeah,”

“Lucifer,” Dromos said, “Hell has been really bad since you left,”

Lucifer’s face changed. “Oh, that’s a shame, because it was a real vacation destination before,” 

Dromos looked confused. “What’s so great about Earth anyway?”

“Well, no offense, but the company’s far greater, the work more interesting, and the liquor far superior. Mm! And I’ve just become an uncle and someone needs to teach my nephew about sex, because… my brother’s certainly not capable,” 

Tim could not hold in his laughter after that. The Devil was pretty funny and not at all like how he pictured him. It’s not fucking every day that you get to meet the real Devil and hear him talk about sex education for his apparent nephew because, apparently, his father who’s an angel isn’t capable. How did he make the kid then?

He realized Damian was snickering beside him. Dick was smiling. Jason was watching, his face completely neutral. He wanted to tell him to let it go but he was afraid of breaking this small peace so he refrained from it.

“So, back to hell you go, it seems,” Lucifer let out sternly as he leaned toward Dromos and then he got up. “Those eyeballs won’t pop themselves out,” 

Dromos got up as well. “ Alright. I think we might stay for a little bit. I’ve never tortured… a live one,”

“Oh, hell no,” Jason blurted out. 

Lucifer’s eyes got red again and he grabbed Dromos. He made him sit as his voice came out harsher than usual. He truly looked scary. Tim got rigid all over. Are we lucky that didn’t come out when we were in that sex dungeon thing? We were, weren’t we?

“You will not lay a hand on anyone. You’re lucky I haven’t incinerated you already for disobeying my orders. No more possession! Time for all good demons to go home. Now!”

“Yes… my lord,” Dromos said. 

“Holy shit,” Tim murmured. The sound he just heard, it wasn’t how Lucifer talked to them. Whatever just happened, it came out demonic. Fucking hell. 

“Good thing I didn’t piss him off that much, huh?” Jason muttered. 

Tim gave him a puzzled look. He, seriously, didn’t understand his jokes sometimes. 

Dick nodded. “Yeah, good thing,” he shook his hand. “Now’s our chance,” 

“Now?” Tim exclaimed as Dick headed toward the Devil again. “You really think now’s a good time?”

Damian huffed. “You finally made sense, Drake,” 

“Shut up,” Jason hissed. 

Dick was calling out his name but he wasn’t responding. He was also now standing directly behind him. 

“Lucifer,” Dick raised his voice to make him hear. Lucifer turned to him, still looking a little pissed off. “Uhm, Mr. Morningstar?” 

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “What?”

“Look, I know you have your matters to attend to—”

“—As I have been saying for the whole evening. I gave you your clue, now, leave me alone,” 

Damian stepped forward. “Look, he just wants to ask some questions, then we’ll be on our merry way,”

Dick looked at him with surprise. Tim was sure their faces matched. The little devil was actually being helpful rather than a problem for once?

Lucifer sighed. “Fine,” he breathed out, “Follow me,”

They stepped back into the elevator and went up. When they stepped into the room, Lucifer waved his hand for them to signal that they needed to wait. He disappeared into his room and came back a few minutes later, wearing a night robe and holding drugs. No one said anything in his absence. Tim thought it was because they were all just so fucking confused. 

The Devil’s current appearance didn’t help either. 

“What?” Lucifer mumbled. “Everything’s giving me a headache. Excuse a Devil to wanting to get his head together a little,”

Tim furrowed his brows. “With drugs?” 

Lucifer shrugged. “Sure,” he replied and then smoked a line of cocaine. 

He then leaned back on the couch with a smile on his face. “Ask away children,”

“Okay, you said you knew of Faust and that he was weaker here. How can we go back to our Earth without him taking control of the object?” Dick asked.

Lucifer’s eyes were closed. Dick looked at Tim who just shrugged at him. He had no clue what kind of effect drugs would have on a divine being. The amount he had just taken would probably put a human in a coma, he guessed.

“Uh, Mr. Morningstar?” Dick asked, raising his voice. 

Lucifer jerked awake. “Yes, yes. Hmm, let’s see, going away from his Earth has surely weakened him. But, since none of you have magic, you can’t go back without him. You need him to use the worlogog to take all of you back to your Earth and then handle him once you’re back there,” 

“Okay,” Damian said. “Sounds easy enough,”

“If it was so easy we wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place,” Jason hissed. 

“You weren’t even supposed to be in this mess in the first place, Todd!” 

Dick turned to them and took a deep breath. “Guys, enough,”

God, please. Tim was shaking his head when he spotted Lucifer laid out on the couch, his eyes closed. His chest didn’t seem like it was moving either. “Uhm, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

“Is he dead?”

Dick turned back and saw that Lucifer was passed out. Hopefully. “No, no. Fuck. Uhm. I mean, he can’t. He’s the devil, right?” 

“His shoulders aren’t moving,” Damian pointed out. 

Jason tilted his head. They were all looking at the man right now. Given how he was only in a robe and boxers, Tim couldn’t help but feel this was very wrong. “Does he even need to breathe?”

Dick got closer and gently poked him a few times. He didn’t wake up. “Oh, great! We killed the Devil,” he breathed out in frustration. 

Jason shrugged. 

“Technically, he killed himself,”  Damian said. 

Before anyone else could speak up, the elevator doors opened up. Two women walked in. One was blonde and the other one had dark hair with dark skin. They spotted them immediately. And Tim was sure as hell that all of them were still confused. 

“You know what?” the dark-haired woman said as he lifted her hand and passed by them to get to Lucifer, “I don’t even want to know,”

The blonde followed after but she was giving them suspicious looks. Tim couldn’t deal with it.“ I swear, it wasn’t us! We didn’t kill him,” 

The same woman who spoke up turned to him with an annoyed face. “Obviously. You’re human. You can’t kill him,”

She then started to shake Lucifer and say his name out loud until he jerked awake. “Am I dreaming?” he gasped. “No, I can’t be. You’re both dressed,”

“Fuck,” Jason snickered. 

Tim, mimicking Dick, elbowed him. “Shush!”

“We’ve got a situation. Demons are roaming the earth,” the same woman said with her arms crossed on her chest while she glanced at the boys as she spoke. 

“Oh, is that all?” Lucifer said nonchalantly and leaned back on the couch. “Well, I already know. I saw them earlier. It seems Kinley summoned them to take me back to Hell. His last ditch attempt to squash the prophecy. But, don’t worry. Crisis averted. I sent them packing.” 

He sat up. “And besides, the demons in question, Dromos, and Squee, hardly the brightest bulbs in the hellfire chandelier,”

The brunette turned to the blonde. “I hate those two. Especially Squee,”

“Well, everyone hates Squee,” Lucifer pointed out. 

“Wait, wait. You’re a demon?” Damian interrupted. Tim glanced at him. What the fuck are you up to now, pocket-devil?

The woman turned to him and grimaced. Literally.“ Duh,”

“Hot,” Jason smirked. 

Shaking her head with disgust, she looked at the Devil. “Lucifer, who are these humans?”

He leaned back and waved his hand. “Uh, Batman’s minions,” 

“Huh,” the demon said as she looked over them, just like Lucifer had done. “Anyway, I’m getting my knives,” 

“We are not his minions!” Damian argued as the demon walked away. 

“Aren’t you a kid?” The blonde woman asked, pointing at Damian, confused. 

“They all are, detective,” Lucifer replied. 

She turned to Lucifer. “I am so confused,” 

“Ah, don’t think too hard on it,”

The woman nodded suspiciously. “Lucifer, we need to talk,”

Lucifer sighed and got up. He gave the four of them a look. No one needed to be a genius to know what he was asking. They got away from the pair and into a corner once again while the conversation between the woman and Lucifer got heated. 

“Alright,” Jason crossed his arms, “What’s our game plan?” 

Damian huffed. 

“Damian,” Dick warned. 

“Fine, whatever,”

Tim reeled in a deep breath, recalling everything that happened. “Okay, he said that Faust is somewhere in this town, we need to find him,”

“Right. Yeah,” Dick nodded, “We might not exist in this world, but I bet we can find a way. We have done it under worse circumstances,” 

Jason sniffed. “That’s true,” 

At that moment, Lucifer walked away from the detective and then her phone vibrated. “Lucifer,” she called out, alarmed, “We need to go to Linda’s. Now. The baby’s missing,” 

Chapter Text

“Lucifer,” she called out, alarmed, “We need to go to Linda’s. Now. The baby’s missing,” 

Tim watched as Lucifer, the demon, and the detective left in a hurry. The Devil turned to them at the last minute and pointed. “I do not want to see you here when I return. Understood?” 

He nodded because the elevator doors closed and he didn’t know if celestial beings had superhearing. Then, Jason grabbed his attention. Because he was touring inside the giant room and looking at things. 

“Dude!” he let out and rushed over to him when Jason was just about to touch something that looked either really old or really new but definitely something very expensive. “Stop that,”

Jason turned to him with a grin. “Why? He’s not here to punish me, is he?” 

“Oh my God,” he rolled his eyes and slapped Jason’s hand away. 

“Come on, Timmy. Be a little rebellious, don’t you?” Jason patted his shoulder. 

He shooed his hand away. “He told us not to be here when he returned. How do you think he’s going to take you snooping around his stuff?” 

“I don’t know,” Jason replied as he hunched over and his hands now started moving over the wall. “Personally, I don’t care because we won’t be here when he returns. If we’re lucky, not even in the same universe and—A–HA!” 

“That’s so stupid—” Tim huffed when Jason popped open a vault of some type. “JASON!” 

“What? He’s the Devil. He’ll get over it,” he shrugged and reached inside. 

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. We’re literally stealing from the Devil. Well, technically, not me. Jason is. But I don’t think Lucifer will see it that way and oh my God, what the fuck have we gotten ourselves into? 

“Holy shit!” Jason started laughing. 

Tim raised his brows. “What? What did you find?” 

“Take a guess,” Jason smirked as he gave him a look. “Oh, please, just take a damn guess,” 

“Idiots,” Damian hissed behind them. “What are you two doing?” 

“Nothing that damn concerns you, kid!” Jason replied as he straightened up and looked at Tim. “Satan is fucking kinky,” 

Not knowing what to do with the information and still having trouble understanding whatever the fuck was going on, Tim shook his head. “I… I don’t know how to respond,” 

“I do. You—”

Dick interrupted them. “Guys! Quit fucking around. We’ve gotta leave,” 

Thank you. 

“Okay,” Tim replied because finding a way out was actually something he could put his energy into. “What do we do now?” 

With a quick glance, he realized all the wheels in Dick’s head were turning. Probably too hard. He was surprised there wasn’t steam pouring out of Dick’s ears. “First off, I think we need to get the hell out of the Devil’s house,” 

When they got out of the club and into the sidewalk, Dick continued walking ahead until they passed all the civilians to find a corner to talk to. He had to admit, it looked like the Devil really had a mind for business because the line for the club was just too long. And, unfortunately for them, all of those people in line were giving them looks. 

Jason was the first one to speak. It looked like his need for entertainment had been satisfied enough by whatever he found out upstairs snooping. “We need sources. To track Faust,” 

“Yeah, captain obvious. We can all think that. The real question is how we get to those resources,” 

“You know what you fucking little brat—” Jason hissed, stomping over to Damian when Tim stepped in. 

“Who you calling a brat?” Damian shot back.

“Jason,” Tim said meaningfully, “No. We need to be calm,”

“Calm? How can I calm down when this little prick has it out for me?” 

Tim chuckled. “He has it out for anyone. Trust me,” 

“Just for all those inferior to me,” Damian smiled. It was menacing. 

I need a fucking vacation when this is over. If this is over. 

“Damian,” Dick warned. 

“You good, man?” Tim asked. 

Jason shook his head and shoved Tim away from him. “Fine. Whatever,” 

Dick took a moment to make sure the tension decreased. There was only one way to get them to get along. And it was to give them a target, a mission. “Okay,” he started, “I’ve been thinking. I don’t think our cards work here. Different Earth and all. We have no money. Based on the looks, it apparently looks like we’re lunatics. No one’s going to give us a second out of their day looking like this,” 

“Maybe our phones are working?” Tim asked.

“Maybe,” 

Damian snickered. “What? We’ll type in Felix Faust and hope the GPS gives us directions?”

“No, genius,” Tim rolled his eyes, “But Lucifer said something. We probably exist in this world too. It’s the multiverse, after all,” 

“Yeah, multiverse. Not parallel world,” 

“Actually,” Dick cut in before Tim and Damian got at it this time because, surely, Jason wouldn’t stop a fight, “Tim has a point,” 

“Thanks, Dick. Anyway, we probably exist here too,” 

Jason rolled his tongue. “Yeah but not as we. Like this,”

“Probably,” Tim shrugged as he reached into his pocket to get his phone, “But wouldn’t hurt to check. One of our twins might be helpful. Doppelgangers? Variants? Alternate-selves?” 

“Just look it up, dude,” Dick sighed. 

Jason nodded. “You know what? That might work,” 

“Thanks,” Tim smiled at him.

Dick watched them with curious eyes. How long those two had been talking to be like this? It was obvious they were. After all, Tim was the only reason Jason was even here with them right now. But it seemed like they were more than… 

All Dick knew was that there was something that unsettled him in his chest. He didn’t exactly know what he felt. So, he decided to follow his own plan. Find the target and carry out the mission.

“You and Damian are kids. I doubt you’ll be any help. Search me,” he said. 

Tim nodded and his fingers started moving over the screen quickly. In a minute, he let out a grin as he looked up at him. “Detective Grayson of Denver PD, hello,” 

“No shit,” Jason smirked, “Guess you are the same in every universe. Fairness. Justice. Righteousness,” 

Dick furrowed his brows and gave him a look. What the fuck warranted him a comment like that now? What did he do? “Not now, Jason,”

“Wow. Amazing,” Damian said, clearly annoyed. 

Well, so was Dick. He was beyond annoyed. “Just—Just ignore him for the time being,” he let out to Tim and Jason. “Okay, this is good. Maybe we can go down to the police station and use their help. This Earth looks like we have the same kind of technology. I can make up an excuse about some fake emergency and—”

“—What are we going to do about our appearance, three musketeers?” Damian interrupted. “You just said people will think we’re lunatics,” 

Tim opened his mouth to respond but Dick was faster. “He actually makes a good point,” 

Jason fake yawned and shrugged. 

“I might have an idea,” Tim murmured. “This is LA, right? They always have some kind of convention happening. We could just say we were at one of them,” 

Dick smiled. Finally. They were getting somewhere. Forming somewhat of a plan. “That could work,” 

“Great. Found the closest station,” Tim shook his phone. “It’s a twenty minute drive,” 

“Well, how are we getting there?” 

Dick knew that whatever idea popped into Jason’s head, he wasn’t going to like it from the expression on his face. “I know a way,” 

Todd’s brilliant idea turned out to be hot-wiring a car. 

Damian was about to have an aneurysm. “This is so stupid!” 

“Just shut it, brat,” Todd called out from the front seat. Not only they had stolen a car, they kicked Damian to the backseat. Like he was a little kid. 

“Why are you fussing so much?” Drake asked beside him, “You were an assassin. Theft is where you draw the line?” 

He huffed as he stomped on his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “Isn’t stopping theft what I fucking do now?” he muttered. “Am I the only one who thinks it’s questionable to go to a freaking police station on a stolen car to pose as a police officer to track someone down?”

“No,” Todd replied. 

Drake shook his head. “Firstly, we, technically aren’t posing. Dick’s an officer. Both home and here. He’s doing his job, technically. Plus, don’t you think getting Faust would do everyone a favor? It’s morally correct,” 

Morally correct? My ass. 

“You know when you say technically, it doesn’t make you right,” Damian shot back. 

“Man, just let it go with this brat. Why are you even wasting energy?” Todd asked from the front seat. 

Damian turned to him. “I’ll show you wasting energy!” he growled as he reached for his sword. Seriously, he’d take the guy in just a minute. He would very much like to do so. Who did this fucking guy think he was? Calling the shots and calling him names?

Grayson did a hard brake. He turned to them. “Okay. Have all of you lost your damn minds? We’re in unknown territory. We need to fucking blend in. Stop fucking fighting and getting on each other’s nerves. We’re not getting anywhere with you fighting all the damn time. Get yourself together or I swear to God, I’ll finish the damn thing,” 

Damian knew what he needed to do on missions like this. Not that this particular mission was something he had ever experienced. But, begrudgingly, he had to admit that Grayson had a fucking point. It was just that it was so hard to behave with Todd and his name-calling. Just his overall existence.

“You can fucking kill each other for all I care when we get back home. But until this is over, all of you are going to act with your brains and something I like to call logic. Okay?” 

No one spoke up for a moment. As much as Damian agreed, only slightly, because that Todd was something else, he couldn’t be the first one to speak up. That’d get to Grayson’s head. 

“Okay,” Drake said. 

“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” Todd sighed. 

Damian nodded. “Sure,” 

“Good,” Grayson let out and continued driving. 

When they walked inside the station, the weird looks continued. Both from people in uniforms and civilians. Damian tried real hard not to snap. 

Grayson walked over to the counter while the other three waited behind. “Hi. I’m Detective Grayson with Denver PD. I need some help,” 

The officer looked Grayson up and down. A frown appeared on his face. Then, his eyes turned to the three of them. 

Seriously. If there is one thing Grayson is good at, it’s being a good goody-two-shoes. Sure, his costume is stupid. That doesn’t mean he’s crazy though. This is a stupid plan. Now that we’re apparently stealing, we should just steal normal clothes. Or snick into the station. No need to be this obvious. This is so fucking stupid. They are all stupid. 

Grayson realized the officer’s hesitation. He let out a chuckle as he pointed at the three of them. “Just brought the cousins here for a convention. This is what happens when you’re the oldest. And the coolest. You know what I mean?” 

“Huh,” the officer replied with another glance, “I guess,”

“Yeah. I was chaperoning the convention when my buddies back in Denver gave me a call. One of the perps we were after escaped and apparently seen here. I just need ten minutes on a computer,” 

Damian got the sense the officer didn’t buy the story, just yet. He wouldn’t either. It was dumb. This was all so dumb. “What did you say your last name was again, detective? And can I see an I.D.?”

Oh, fuck. This is where this plan explodes. 

“I would love to but I came here directly from the convention. Left everything back at the hotel. Just run me in the system. It’ll show up, I promise,” 

Damian rolled his eyes. Sure, because police are stupid enough to believe everyone who says I promise?

Grayson turned around and gave them a look. Unfortunately for Damian, he spent enough time with him to understand what he meant. He wanted them to not get involved. He let out his innocent smile and turned back to the officer. “You have kids, Officer Perez? One, manageable. Two, a little hard. Three? I’m lucky I have clothes on,” 

Perez cackled at that. “That’s right. Grayson, was it?” 

“Yup, exactly. With an a,” 

“What an imbecile,” Damian let out. Because, seriously? Who would buy that? Was it just him or everyone was fucking stupid? 

Drake elbowed him. “Behave, Damian,” 

Perez looked up from the screen. Based on his expression, he must have found Grayson’s file and deemed him trustworthy. “If your perp is here, the LAPD will handle it,” 

He didn’t need to see but he knew that Grayson was forcing out a smile right about now. “I—I wouldn’t want to bother the officers here. I’m sure you’re all so busy. I hear how it is here in LA. Like I said, ten minutes is all I need. Tops,” 

Perez gave him another look. And by that point, Damian was getting frustrated. The officer got up to his feet. “I’ll go get Detective Espinoza. He’s on the night shift,” 

“Awesome. We’ll be here,” 

When the officer walked away enough, Grayson neared them. “Man. I sure do miss home already. And Bruce’s system,” 

“Ain’t that the truth,” Drake snorted. 

A couple of officers walked in and they passed by them, none of them hiding their looks. Todd breathed out in frustration and shook his head. “We were at a convention!” 

Damian smirked. And he saw that Drake was too. Grayson looked like he was trying to restrain himself against a laugh. Seeing Todd annoyed was the opposite of frustrated. 

“What?” Todd barked at them. 

Grayson grinned. “Just… Just really, subtle, man. Didn’t draw attention to us, like at all. Really, great job,”

“I’m just tired of all the fucking looks already,” 

“We should be out of here soon,” 

“Yeah? Then what? At least, back in our world, everyone knows how to handle us,” 

Tim shrugged. “Cool it, dude. Once we get out of here, hopefully with the answers, we’ll blend into the shadows like always. Won’t be anymore looks,” 

“I can’t believe you think our biggest problem is the looks,” Damian huffed. 

All three turned to him and were probably going to snap at him. Whatever. Damian was equipped to handle it all. But they didn’t get an chance when someone approached them and called out Grayson’s name. 

“Detective Espinoza?” Grayson replied as he turned around. 

The man nodded and reached for a handshake. “Dan, please,” he said and then his eyes drifted to the three of them. 

“We were at a convention,” Damian huffed. Seriously, it was nice when it bothered Todd but it was getting on his nerves too. Were people not really accustomed to seeing people in costumes?

“Uh, sure,” Dan replied. “I get it. My daughter likes to cosplay too,” 

“We are not cos—” Drake shut him up by elbowing him. 

Dan raised his brows and glanced at Grayson. “Kids. Right?” 

“Right,” 

“So. How can I help?” Espinoza asked as they started walking. The three trailed after them and no one said anything. Damian would like to see someone try and stop them. 

“Uh,” Grayson scratched the back of his head, “Someone we’ve been after escaped. Just got the heads up that he was spotted here. Gotta track him down and bring him back to Denver,” 

Espinoza furrowed his brows. “Who?” 

“I don’t think I’m allowed to tell,” Grayson cleared his throat in the fakest way possible, “You see, it’s a high-profile case. It’s all a need-to-know basis,” 

“I see,” Espinoza replied. “What can I do? You said something about a computer?” 

Grayson nodded. “Yes. Just gotta check a few things. Then we’ll be on our way,” 

“We?” 

“I—I mean me. Of course, I won’t be bringing the kids I’m chaperoning to a chase,” 

“Of course,” Espinoza murmured as they stopped in front of a desk. He pointed at the computer. “Enjoy,” 

“Thanks, Dan,” Grayson smiled and took the seat. 

Damian was watching him. He couldn’t believe that he got this Detective to buy the whole story with his shitty acting. It was good that Grayson was at least good at computer stuff. 

“So, what convention?” Espinoza asked. 

“Superhero,” Drake blurted out. 

The brilliant detective turned to him with a small frown. “Oh, uhm, okay,” 

“We—We just love them. So much!” 

Damian tried his best not to show the disgust on his face. If they were all this bad at acting, then how the fuck did they ever succeed as Robin? 

He realized he was probably on the same page with Todd because he was also looking at Drake with a confused face. Drake cleared his throat. 

Rolling his eyes, Todd sighed and turned to Espinoza. “Yeah. Suckers for heroes. Go heroes!” 

Damian would have never believed that even if he was both blind and deaf. Espinoza was looking at them with narrowed eyes. “Yeah. I guess,” 

He just shook his head and sat down on the nearest chair. “Now, it’s not that hard to understand how that Lucifer became a detective here,” 

Because, seriously? If this was what all the detectives in LA were like… It made fucking sense why the Devil would be a part of them. Damian had only met three so far but it all tracked. 

Espinoza turned to him with shock all over his face. “Lucifer? Lucifer Morningstar?” 

“How many people do you know named Lucifer, Detective?” 

Oh, this was fun. This was very fun. If he wasn’t allowed to bother the three musketeers, Dan Espinoza would do. 

Grayson was too busy with the computer. But he could feel Drake’s eyes burning into his skull. Oh, well.

“You know Lucifer? How?” Espinoza let out. Then shook his head. “Did you just say that he’s a detective? He said that? Because he is not . He’s not a detective,” 

Todd smirked and leaned toward Drake. “Someone’s got their panties in a bunch,” 

“Shut it,” Drake replied, but he was grinning. 

“He’s a civil consultant!” 

“Oh,” Damian let out, “Really? Good to know, I guess. Does he know that?” 

Espinoza huffed. “Well, he better!” 

While the blood son was having his fun with the Detective— Dick didn’t care because it was better that he got his energy off on him rather than Dick, Jason, or Tim— he hadn’t come any closer to finding a trace from Faust. 

It was like he had vanished into thin air. Now, he knew that LA was a big city. But it wasn’t bigger than Gotham and Dick had a pretty good track record when it came to chasing bad guys. 

Lucifer was right. Apparently, everyone in this goddamn city loved cosplaying of some kind. Then, why the fuck is everyone giving us those looks? 

But one good thing was, because Espinoza was distracted from the conversation, Dick quickly hacked into the system and downloaded it. 

Once it was done, he cleared up everything he did and rose to his feet. “Alright. I’m done,” 

He knew the questions would come flying at him so he gave the three a look. Dan tilted his head. “You got what you needed?” 

“Yeah. Thanks again, Dan,” 

“Uh, no problem. Anything else?” 

He smiled. “Nope. We should get going now. Gotta bring the kids to the hotel,” 

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure, man,” 

Dick shook his hands and headed toward the door. But before they could get out of there, Jason pumped into Dan. He looked at him. Come on, Jason. This is not the fucking time or place, dude.

Jason shook it off and chuckled. “Sorry, Detective. Lost my balance there for a second,” 

“Sure. No problem,” Dan patted his shoulder. “You take care,” 

“Of course. You too,” Jason smirked. 

Dick caught Damian rolling his eyes. But, luckily, he remained silent. With a quick smile, Dick ushered the rest of them out of there. 

“Okay. I’m hungry,” Jason announced when they reached the car. 

“Then, bear with it,” Damian shot. “I’m sure this isn’t your first time,” 

“We don’t have any money,” Tim replied. 

Completely ignoring Damian, Jason started chuckling. He lifted his hand and there was money between his fingers. “Or do we?” 

“How did you get that?” 

Jason shrugged. “Let’s just say that Detective Espinoza didn’t only help us by letting Dick use his computer,” 

“Fuck’s sake,” Damian sighed. “You stole from him?”

“Relax, evil spawn. It’s only fifty bucks. I’m sure he’ll survive,” 

Damian turned to Dick. “You gonna let him get away with this? Twice? What happened to your righteousness?” 

“Damian—”

“—No. Don’t even answer that. Hypocrite,” 

He furrowed his brows. “How am I a hypocrite now?” 

Tim smiled. “I knew you didn’t really trip,” 

“Of course not,” Jason scoffed. “Anyway, now can we go get some food?” 

Damian frowned. “Do you think we have the time for food? We need to find Faust,” 

“We do. We can’t, though,” 

“What do you mean you can’t, Todd?” Damian exclaimed. “What the fuck are you on about?”

Dick reeled in a deep breath as he crossed his arms over his chest. He was waiting for the conversation to die down on its own. Hoping, more like it. 

Jason walked over to Damian. He glanced at Dick as he tilted his head. Dick remained in his place, for the time being. “Look, kid. It’s adorable and also a waste of time what you’re doing. Trying to complete the mission daddy’s given you. But, trust me, it’s no fucking use trying to satisfy him,” 

“You don’t get to talk about him like that!” Damian exclaimed. “And, you don’t fucking call the shots here,” 

Jason shrugged. “I do what I fucking want. Besides, we can’t go after Faust because we don’t know where he is,” 

“Yes, we do! Grayson found him. In the system,” 

Jason shook his head. “No. He didn’t,” 

“No. I didn’t,” Dick admitted. 

Damian furrowed his brows. “Wait. What? How can you not?”

Dick shrugged. “I—”

“—If he had, he would be in more of a hurry. He’d make us hurry too. Do you see him hurrying, little shit?” 

“How do you know?” 

Jason cackled. “I know it the same way he knew I was stealing Espinoza’s money. Come on, evil spawn. You spent all this time with him and you can’t read him? And you call yourself superior. Just give it up, kid,” 

It was true. Both Jason and Tim could read him. He could read them too. Damian was just so stuck up that he didn’t bother to all this time. But it wouldn’t do any of them well to argue about this now

“Anyway. I’ve downloaded the system to my phone. And it’s searching for Faust. As soon as he pops up, we’ll be on him,” he said. 

Jason nodded. “Yeah. Which brings me back, I’m fucking hungry,” 

Damian looked between them and groaned at the end. He opened the car door and got in hastily, shutting it loudly. “Great. Fine. Whatever,” 

Dick turned to Jason. “You just had to go and irritate him, didn’t you?” 

He didn’t answer, just shrugged. Dick pressed his lips together, trying to compose of himself. It was like his words and pleas didn’t get to any of their heads. 

“Now, he’ll be extra fucking moody,” Tim muttered. 

“Isn’t he always?” Jason replied. 

Dick shook his head. “Just get in the fucking car,” 

Little Timmy found a 7/24 open McDonald’s. It was a drive-through. No one spoke up about it but Jason knew that none of them were in the mood to be socially received. Besides, he had enough of the looks. 

At least, back on their Earth, people knew who they were. Even if they didn’t, they were used to people like them. They didn’t give them weird looks. There were looks, sure, but it wasn’t like this.

After getting their order, Dick pulled the car into the empty parking lot. There were only a couple of other cars with them. Which was good. No one would bother them. 

They were all eating in silence. And Jason hated it. He fucking hated the silence. Because it reminded him of all that horror and… He also hated the sound of the little shit chewing his food so loudly. 

“Man,” he sighed, “I don’t fucking care. Our Earth’s burgers are fucking better. There’s this place I found the other day, and, fuck. Can’t compare,” 

Timmy leaned forward. “Yeah? Where?”

Jason had to admit. The fucking guy was growing on him. Annoying and all. “On the fifth,” he answered. “I’ll bring you some time,” 

“Sure!” 

Dick tossed away the rest of his food. “Great,” he gritted, “Maybe you’ll have your next secret date there. Awesome!” Then, he stormed out of the car, slamming the door after him. 

I guess this is where Dickie finally had enough. “Well, he’s angry,” 

“No shit, sherlock,” the nerve-shattering puppy murmured from the backseat. 

Tim shook his head. “He’s never going to forgive me,” 

Jason guessed that Dick would blow up when he found out Tim had been talking to him. He knew Dick as much. Jason just thought he’d never have to deal with it. He didn’t think they would be in this situation. 

“I told you that. Numerous times, in fact,” 

“Yeah, yeah. I know,” Tim said. “Well, are you going after him?” 

Jason furrowed his brows. “Why the fuck would I do that?” 

“Why wouldn’t you?” 

Because I don’t want to? I don’t want to face Dick. Not after everything. 

When he turned, he saw that Tim was looking at him with those big eyes. That was what had gotten him to eventually let him in. “Please?” 

“Fine,” he grunted and opened the door. 

He didn’t understand how he came to have a soft spot for the guy. He hated his guts. Probably not anymore but still. He was supposed to be him. Bruce got him as his replacement. For all Jason cared, Tim was supposed to be his replacement. Because they were replaceable. For Bruce Wayne. The second he had lost one of them, he had the next one ready at the snap of his fingers. 

Just. Like. That. 

But then the guy had entered his life and didn’t leave. Jason tried. He really tried. He had no idea how Tim managed to find him when Bruce and Dick couldn’t. At the start, he was this annoying prick. He was running around in the suit, calling himself Red Robin, talking about how much he admired all of them and how cool they were, and how it sucked that they didn’t talk. And before he knew it, he had taken a place in his life. 

He found Dick sitting on the trunk. He was massaging his temples. “Tim, I just need—”

“—Not him,” 

He looked up. “Oh, it’s you,” 

“Yeah. So, uh, are we going to talk about your little outburst there?” 

His face twisted. “Outburst?” 

Jason hummed. “Yeah. You haven’t had those in a while, dick. So, what happened?” 

Dick started chucking. That turned into laughter. Sarcastic laughter. “What happened? What fucking happened? You fucking happened!”

He furrowed his brows. “What did I fucking do now? I was being nice. Getting along. Isn’t that what you wanted?” 

“That’s beside the damn point, Jason,” he breathed out and jumped down from the trunk, “You’ve been back a year. Maybe more. I don’t even fucking know. You are back. You are alive. You. Are. Alive. But, sure, let’s talk about the new burger place you found,” 

“Oh. It’s about that,” 

“Yeah it’s about that!” he exclaimed. “I told you that conversation wasn’t over,” 

“Hoped it was,” Jason murmured. He didn’t want to do this. It would all be fine if they just ignored it. Like they had ignored him. 

“Jason. Dude. You died. You fucking died! And I mourned you. I didn’t get over it. I couldn’t get over it. I was fucking heartbroken, man. You were my brother. You were my little fucking brother and then you fucking died!” 

He snapped. “Yes. I died. I fucking died, Dick,” he got all up in Dick’s face, “Joker killed me. I fucking died. And then I came back from all of it. None of you were there. Where was my big brother to protect me from that fucking lunatic, huh? What did you do? You let him kill me! And then you did nothing!” 

“Fuck you!” Dick exclaimed and punched him. 

Jason took a step back with the punch as he checked his nose. It was bleeding. It wasn’t important. “What should I have done? Huh? You already found a replacement for me,” 

“What the fuck are you talking about? What fucking replacement?” Dick let out. “You don’t know anything, Jason. Not a fucking thing,” 

“I know everything I need to know,” he snarled. 

“No. You don’t. Did Tim ever tell you about it? He chose to be Robin. I didn’t want it. Bruce didn’t either. He was done. We were done. We were completely done. But you don’t fucking care. Do you? And if you’re so pissed about it, why didn’t you do anything when you came back to the city? You could have fucking called. Anything. You could have done anything. Why did I have to find out that night? We were fucking brothers and I found out like that?” 

“Called?” Jason chuckled humorlessly, “What would that have been like?” 

“I don’t fucking care, Jason!” Dick yelled and grabbed him by his shirt, “I never got over your death. I couldn’t. I fucking couldn’t. And then I find out you’re the new guy running loose in Gotham? Like that? And you treat me like we haven’t bled together all these years,” 

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. What is happening? 

He licked his lips. “Bruce—”

“—No. Don’t dare give me that bullshit. So you’re angry at Bruce. Big fucking deal. Who fucking cares? I’m not him. I’m me. I’m your big brother. You had creative differences with him? Who do you think understands that better than I do?”

Dick had a point there. Jason couldn’t lie. The first thing he did when he got to Gotham was to look into what they all did. 

“I tried reaching out to you. After that night. You never answered. What did I fucking do to deserve that? I tried. After years of grieving my brother, he was back, alive and he was a prick. And yet, I still tried. I fucking tried. To no avail. And you were in contact with Tim this whole time. Tim? Really?”

Jason took a moment. Could what Dick was saying be true? Had they really mourned him? Was he really cared for? 

“Joker’s still alive, though,” 

Dick reeled in a deep breath. “Unfortunately,” 

“That doesn’t seem like grief to me,” 

He shook his head and looked his brother in the eye. Blood was dripping from his nose. He didn’t care to wipe it. “I wanted to kill him,” he confessed. 

Jason’s eyes widened but he didn’t say anything. So Dick continued, calmly. “I wanted to. And I got so close. I… I lost it when I found it. I was angry. Beyond angry. I couldn’t understand anything. Why Bruce couldn’t save you. Why you went there alone. Why Joker did that. Nothing. I thought I was used to losing people but losing you… I couldn’t deal with it. All I wanted was to kill him like he killed you. It consumed me. I didn’t care about heroes or villains or anything. All I wanted was to kill my brother’s murderer,” 

“What—What happened?” 

He shrugged. “Bruce stopped me. And don’t give me that look. He did the right thing. Believe me, the closest I’ve seen Bruce breaking down and leaving everything was during those days. He’ll never admit it but I think he was there that night when I was about to kill Joker because… Because he was there for the same thing,” 

“But it wasn’t the right thing. No matter how much I wanted it. That would have been easy. He needed to pay. He still does and…” 

They both took a moment. Dick didn’t know whether to hug his brother or punch him. 

“And you’re right. I’m sorry,” Jason eventually said. Dick rose his brows, not believing his eyes. “I guess… I guess it was easier. With Tim. You and I, we have history. But him? He was my replacement and I—I guess I was curious about it,” 

He shook his head. “Easy doesn’t mean right, Jason,” 

“I know. I know. You’re fucking right. Like you always are,” 

“Yeah,” he scoffed. 

“Look. I didn’t contact you. Or answered your calls. I did it knowingly. Because—Because, you’re fucking right, alright? I didn’t want you against me. I didn’t. I know you don’t approve of what I do now. Like him. But him? I can handle him, Dick, I can’t handle… It’s like you said, man. You were my big brother and I just couldn’t face you,” 

Dick nodded, bitterly. He could understand it to a level. But he also couldn’t. Jason was his little brother. And Dick loved him. He really loved him. After all these years of being with two adults, there had finally been someone his age around the house when Bruce brought him home. Dick helped raise him. Dick became a brother. Dick was no longer an orphan. 

And then he died. And it changed Dick, irrevocably. 

But he was back now. And as much as the way it was pissed Dick off, he couldn’t lie, he didn’t want to treat his brother like any other bad guy. He couldn’t. They were brothers. In fact, all of them were. Jason, Tim and even the little brat. As much as they’d get on each other’s nerves and piss each other off. As much as Damian hated all of them. As much as they were apparently keeping secrets from each other. Most of those things were what families did anyway. They. Were. Brothers. 

And Dick would give his life for any of his brothers. 

“I got pissed that you didn’t answer me. But was apparently talking to Tim all this time,” 

“Yeah. Like I said, man. I was curious. I was… jealous. I wanted to see who Bruce replaced me with. How long it took. What the guy had that he could replace me,”

He shook his head. “Stop. Stop fucking saying that. You weren’t replaced, Jason. You could never be,” 

“Maybe for you,” 

“For everyone,” he gritted. “You aren’t something to be replaced,”

“Fine. I wanted to see why Bruce replaced me with him. Not you,” 

“I don’t fucking care. Bruce didn’t replace you either. Neither did I,” 

“That’s what I fucking felt!” he shouted. “Anyway, then with time, he started getting less on my nerves,” 

Dick rolled his eyes. “Tim’s the last person to get on anyone’s nerves. And we didn’t replace you,” 

Jason’s lip twitched. “You—You really mean that?” 

“Yeah,” Dick replied. “Tim’s great,” 

Jason shoved him away. “Fuck you,” 

He started laughing. He didn’t know what but he felt like he was getting somewhere with Jason. Finally. He grabbed him by the shoulder. “Yeah, I mean it. He’s not your replacement. You are my brother. So is he,”

“I guess,” he chuckled and looked back at him, “So, he didn’t get on your nerves? At all? You never wanted to punch him?” 

Dick smirked. “Nope. We were pretty solid from the start,” 

“How about the little devil, then?” Jason grinned. 

He shrugged. “Eh, jury’s still out,” 

“Right,” Jason chuckled, “Guess you took out most of your jealousy when I got there,” 

“Guess so,” he smiled. Because it was true. As much as he liked to pretend he accepted Jason from the first moment, he hadn’t. He just didn’t like to be reminded of that. He had been skeptical. Who wouldn’t be? Bruce brought him home and told everyone he’d be the new Robin after the kid was caught stealing Batmobile’s wheels. It all happened out of the blue. Dick was bound to be suspicious. And then, the more time he spent with him, he grew to love Jason.

“Figures,” 

“Hey,” Dick nudged him, “His landings are way better than yours,” 

Jason smirked. “Sure. Keep lying to yourselves,” 

“You clean your face first before getting butthurt,” 

“I—”

“—Hey!” Tim leaned out of the window. “It sounds like you guys made up. Which is great! But, uh, if you’re done with your bro time, the system detected Faust,” 

Jason glanced at him. “We good?”

Dick inhaled. He knew they needed to go after Faust right away. But he wanted to do something else first. Something he didn’t get to do before. Fucker can wait two more minutes. 

“We’ll be,” he replied and then pulled his brother into his arms and then hugged him tightly. 

Jason was surprised, he could tell, but he hugged him back just as tightly. Dick tried not to let the fact that this was the first time he was able to touch his brother after years get to his head.

When he stepped back, Jason was looking at him with a small smile.  “So, uh, what do you say, dick? We go catch some bad guys and kick ass?” 

“Like old times,” he mused and they got back into the car. 

“Is your little tantrum over, Grayson?” Damian pressed from the backseat. 

Dick turned around with a reply ready at the tip of his tongue. He was still fired up from the argument with Jason. But he didn’t. Because he remembered how he and Jason used to be exactly like this before they got along. And how they’d start to get along much faster if they just didn’t argue. Not that Dick hadn’t been taking the high road with Damian all this time but he decided, it would be better if he kept taking it over and over again until the little devil got it. 

“Yes. Now, are we ready to take the bastard down and get back home?” 

Damian seemed surprised that he didn’t snap. He simply nodded. 

“Good. Tim, where was he spotted?” 

Tim was crouching over Dick’s phone. He was looking at the location. “Uh, don’t know. Entering some place called The Mayan. Got the directions,” 

“Great,” Jason sighed. “More nightclubs,” 

Tim opened the GPS and handed his phone back to Dick. They started driving. It took about half an hour to get there, even if it was the middle of the night. 

Dick parked the car across from the club. Because if Faust saw them exiting, he’d be tipped off. Secrecy was important. They all wore their mission faces now. 

“Alright,” Dick said, “Everyone ready?” 

Tim nodded. They’d form a plan once they had an idea of what was going on. They couldn’t just bust inside. That wasn’t what they were taught. 

“Good. Let’s go,” 

Just as they did, they spotted four people on the sidewalk. Entering the place. “Oh, fuck,” Tim muttered. It was Lucifer. The demon they saw earlier. And a woman and a man they didn’t know. They looked pretty pissed off. 

“This doesn’t look good. Does it?” Dick asked. 

No, dude. No, it doesn’t fucking look good. Nothing does. 

“Let’s just go and see what’s happening,” Jason said as he crossed the street. Tim turned to Dick who just sighed and followed after him. Tim did too. 

Jason walked until he got to the side of the building. He took out his grappling gun and shot it up. Once it got hooked, he pulled himself up. The rest of him did the same thing without a word and in a moment they were standing on the roof. 

There was a glass roof. Jason was already crouching over it. Silently, they all walked there and started watching it. They could even hear some of the conversation. 

Tim spotted the demon from earlier pretty easily. Dromos. He had other people behind him. I’m gonna go on a limb here and guess that they’re probably demons too. Wait, is that a baby? 

He started putting the pieces together. Lucifer did say that he had a nephew. The guy with him was probably his brother then. An angel. An actual freaking angel. And the demons had kidnapped that angel’s baby. 

“Okay, I’m just going to say it,” he sighed, “I’m pretty glad Etrigan is the demon we get instead of those down there,” 

“Agreed,” Dick snorted. 

Damian tilted his head. “I know that look everywhere. Something’s gonna go down,” 

“You think, shithead?” Jason shot. 

Right then, Lucifer, his brother, and the demon lunged forward. A fight between them and Dromos’s demons ensued. “We’ve gotta do something!” 

“What about Faust? He’s our mission,” Damian replied. 

Tim turned to him. “He’s still in the building. System didn’t pick him up leaving,” 

“So? Doesn’t mean he can’t. Leave the fanboyness aside, Drake. Let angels and demons handle their own shit. We’re here for Faust,” 

He tried his best not to slap some sense into the little brat. Tim didn’t really understand him one bit. He was arguing with Bruce left and right but when it came to getting his validation he ignored everything else? 

“We can’t just do nothing. They’re outnumbered,” Dick said. 

“Thank you!” 

Damian shook his head. “They’re celestial beings. They can take care of themselves,” 

“So?” Tim exclaimed. “What does it say that we do nothing when we can help you little shit? Where’s your fucking compassion?” 

Dick sighed beside him and turned to Jason. “Hey. What do you say we do the thing?” 

“Oh,” Jason grinned. “You’re on,” 

Tim furrowed his brows. “Wait, the thing? The thing you’re always gushing about?” 

“Yup,” Dick replied as he and Jason rose to their feet. 

“Holy shit!” 

Tim could not believe his eyes. His heart started beating rapidly in his chest. During his extensive research on Robins and all they did, he came to know many things. And after he became Robin himself, he nagged Dick non-stop about stories. Especially about Jason. Dick told him after a while. He told him how they would train together and how they handled bad guys together. How they became in sync and planned things. And how they came up with a special move they liked to do when Bruce sent the two of them on missions together, naming it The Thing.

“You know what to do, right?” Dick smirked. 

“In my fucking sleep,” Jason replied. 

Tim nodded excitedly. He couldn’t believe he was going to be a part of it. This was a dream come true. 

“Wait,” Damian straightened up. “What thing? What am I supposed to do?” 

Jason shrugged. “Follow our lead,” 

“What lead? What the fuck are you three on? What’s happening? What—”

Damian was still going on when Dick gave them the signal. They separated and started running. They smashed through the glass simultaneously, and flipped in the air, landing over the demons. 

When Tim straightened up, he quickly took a scan of the situation. Lucifer was fighting two demons. Behind them, Dromos was holding the baby. Dick and Jason were on the other side. Tim was between Lucifer and who he assumed to be Lucifer’s brother. 

“You’re getting soft,” Dromos said with a grin. 

Jason took out his gun. “Good thing we’re not,” he said as he shot the demon closest to him. 

Lucifer’s head snapped toward them. “What are you doing here?” 

“Helping you, your Dark Majesty,” Jason replied as he punched another demon to send him to the ground. 

Dick disarmed another demon. “Faust is here,” 

“Of course, he is,” Lucifer sighed. 

Tim smiled when he turned to him. “We figured you could use a hand, Mr. Morningstar!” 

“Of course you did,” 

And because their landing caused a distraction, Tim saw the woman from earlier sneaking behind Dromos on the stage thing and hitting his head with something. The three of them had now created a barrier between them and the demons so Lucifer passed through easily and grabbed the baby. 

Tim heard Lucifer telling the woman to go and then he spotted the woman running toward the door with the baby in her arms. Oh, good. That’s good. Hey, God, you saw that right? We helped your grandbaby. Maybe help us in return? 

Demons might be in human bodies, Tim thought, but they were sure as hell strong. Good thing he was used to this kind of thing. 

In the middle of fighting another demon, Tim spotted Damian among the crowd. So, he had decided to join in then. And it looked like he was even having fun. Geez, with that smile, you’d think he was enjoy this. Tim shrugged. He probably is. Bruce’s rule of not killing applies to humans. Demons like this? Guess not. 

Soon, all of the demons were down on the ground. Lucifer had finished off most of them. Dromos was on the floor, laughing like a maniac. Huh, now where did I see that before?

Damian trailed after Lucifer. “Where’s Faust?” 

“Who?” Dromos furrowed his brows. “Who the fuck are you?” 

“Great,” Jason mumbled under his breath. 

The angel gave them a weird look. Tim forced out an awkward smile as he stepped between his brother and the devil’s brother. “God blesses us all,” 

“The vial,” Lucifer mumbled, turning to them.

“What?” Dick asked, hopping off the demons and getting to them. 

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Faust must be here to get the vial,” 

Tim raised his hand. “Uh, the vial, Mr. Morningstar? What vial?” 

“Luci, why are these kids here? What’s going on?” the Angel let out. 

“LUCI?” Jason snickered. 

Lucifer shook his head. “Not now, brother. I’ll explain later. As for you four, Dromos has the vial. With it, and the appropriate ceremony, he can go to hell,” 

“Great,” Jason grinned, “Problem solved,” 

“No, you idiot. There’s one Hell, multiple Earths. In Hell, he can reconnect to your Earth, get powerful, do whatever he wants. Without you,” 

“Oh,” 

Well, fuck. 

“Yeah, oh,” 

The angel stepped forward. “We don’t have time for this,” 

“Neither do we,” Damian muttered. The angel glared at him. 

Nope, can’t have an angel pissed off at the little devil no matter how much he pisses me off. 

“We’ve gotta find him, then. Before he finds the vial,” 

“Agreed, children. Farewell, please. Get the hell out of my Earth,” Lucifer said. 

They were already heading toward the door. “That’s the plan, Satan!” Jason called out. 

“Dude!” Tim elbowed him. “Stop aggravating him,” 

But it didn’t look like Lucifer cared. He was already focused on the remaining demon. “I think it’s time you went home,” 

“Make me,” Dromos replied. 

That was all he heard as they got in the hall and started running. They stopped when people popped into their way. And with a quick glance, Tim was sure they were also demons. 

“Great,” he sighed. More demons. “I didn’t think there’d be this much fighting,” 

“Should have thought of that when you got all compassionate, Drake,” Damian hissed as he raised his sword and lunged at the closest demon. 

With another sigh, Tim stepped forward as well. Dick was the first one to knock out his demon. She fell to the ground. 

Man, this fucking sucks. I hate fighting in narrow places. They’re too right—Great. Another body in the ground. How am I supposed to watch my step with bodies left and right? So little fucking room to operate. 

Then everything happened so quickly. Tim kicked the demon he was fighting. The demon bumped into Damian who had his back to them. His sword fell down as he lost his balance. Another demon swooped the sword and swung it at Jason. 

The demon brought Jason to his knees and then kicked him to the ground. She raised the sword, no doubt to put it in Jason’s chest. 

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!

Dick lunged forward from the other side of the room, tackling the demon. They fell on the ground and tackled around. Dick grabbed the sword and Tim saw the second he and Damian’s eyes locked. Dick threw the sword away. Damian grabbed it mid-air and stabbed the demon with it. 

Tim got finished with his demon as soon as he could and rushed over to Dick who was still fighting the demon. He hit her head as hard as he could and as she slid on the ground, he helped Dick get up. Then they ran at Jason. 

“Uh, thanks, man,” he muttered as he dusted himself off, “That was close,” 

Dick’s face was stern. “It was. I’m not letting anything happen to you again,” 

Damian passed by them with a grunt as he cleaned his sword with his cape. “If your bromance is secure, let’s move. Faust is on the loose” 

Looking after him, Tim turned back to the brothers. “What’s his fucking problem?”

Dick shrugged. “At this point, beats me,” 

“Whatever. Let’s go,” Jason shrugged. 

“Yeah. Before he gets himself into trouble,” 

They searched the building. Every damn corner of it. Tim breathed out in frustration. Let alone Faust, they didn’t even run into any more demons. “I don’t understand. Where is he? We looked everywhere,” 

Jason wiped his face. “I don’t know,” 

“This doesn’t make sense,” Damian muttered, angrily, as he often did. He started pacing and Tim got the sense that he was just voicing his thoughts now. “If he knows about the vial, he wouldn’t go away from it. He must be hiding somewhere where he’ll have access to it. Easy access and—”

“—That’s it!” Dick exclaimed. 

“Really?” Jason asked, confused. 

“The vial is with Dromos. I think he wanted to do the ceremony to take the baby to Hell. I don’t know. We already searched the building, Faust is probably close. Waiting for the right moment,” 

Tim took a moment to process it. Then it made sense. It really did. “Guys, there was a backstage downstairs,” he trailed off. He locked eyes with Dick. Then, they bolted. 

They burst back into the room they left. It was empty. Neither Lucifer nor the people with him were there. Except for the bodies. So many bodies. “Holy shit!” 

“Isn’t that Dromos?” Damian asked, pointing toward the stage. 

Tim nodded. “Yeah,” 

“Damn,” Jason breathed out, “Did he kill all of them?” 

Dick shrugged. “Seems like it,” 

Tim walked around the bodies and got onto the stage. He wished he could say that this was the first time he was searching or even touching a dead body, but it wasn’t. He had gotten used to it. His hands went all over Dromos’s body and clothes and then finally, in the inner pocket of his jacket, his fingers grabbed ahold of something. It was the vial. It had a transparent liquid in it. 

“Found it!” he called out. 

“Good. Let’s get out of here now,” Dick said as he glanced at the bodies, “I don’t want whatever the fuck this is pinned on us,” 

“Yeah, let’s bolt. We’ve got enough on our plate already,” Jason murmured. 

Damian huffed. “You know what? For once, I agree,” 

“Geez, thanks,” Jason rolled his eyes. 

Tim rose up to his feet. As he was about to join the others, suddenly he lost his balance and fell over one of the bodies. “Faust!” 

Damian and the others turned back immediately and started moving toward Faust. 

“He’s weaker!” Drake yelled as he got back up. 

Damian realized it was true. Faust was weaker. Normally a blast from him should have sent Drake to the other side of the room. Instead, he had just tripped. 

Faust exited his hiding place and started blasting them with hit after hit. Each of them got hit but since Faust was weak, they managed to get closer. 

“Don’t be foolish, children. Give me the vial,” 

Dick smirked. “And let you leave us here? Don’t think so, buddy,” 

Faust raised his hand, undoubtedly for another weak-ass blast, but Todd sneaked up behind him and took ahold of his hands. He took out a set of cuffs from his belt and put it on him. 

Drake got back on his feet, finally, and joined them. “Okay. We got him. What do we do now?” 

Damian rolled his eyes. This can’t be this easy. Not like this. No. 

“It’s clear,” Todd gritted as he pushed Faust to his knees. “He’s bringing us all back. To our Earth. Without any funny business,” 

With the words, Faust smirked. Only for a second. But Damian caught it. 

“Huh, is that so?” Faust looked up. “I’m afraid I can’t do anything while my hands are tied,” 

Grayson squinted. “We won’t untie you,”

“Then my hands are tied, children. Literally,” 

With a sigh, Grayson looked at Drake and tilted his head. Drake knelt down and started checking Faust’s pockets for the worlogog. He found it soon and took it out. Damian furrowed his brows. This small thing causes all of this mess? 

“This is it?” Drake let out, “This small thing is the all-powerful worlogog?”

“Man. Magic is fucking weird,” Todd huffed. 

As the three doofuses started examining the object, Damian didn’t. He could feel something was wrong. Very wrong. He turned around to find Faust smiling. And his arms were moving. 

“No!” he let out at the same time Faust broke free of the cuffs and jumped forward toward the object. 

Damian jumped toward him too. He got him from his torso but Faust’s hand was touching the worlogog. So were Grayson’s, Todd’s, and Drake’s. 

The same bright light appeared again and blinded them all. 

Damian felt the same thing. That feeling of falling through. It continued as he felt the vibrations in his bodes, ratting against his bones. His teeth sizzled. Then it ended. Just like that.

“BY THE ANGEL!” 

Damian hit something. Someone. “Get the fuck off me!” Todd shoved him away.

“Fuck you,” he replied. 

“Oh, great!” Drake exclaimed. “He’s gone. Again!” 

“It’s okay. We have the worlogog,” Grayson replied. 

“Who are you?” Someone asked and Damian’s head jerked up. 

He saw four people with weird tattoos standing over them. They each held a weapon. He quickly scanned the area. Two girls, two boys. All four of them with swords. Weird-looking swords but swords nonetheless. Damian would know any sword within seconds, thank you very much.

There was only one exit, behind the four weirdos. 

“Fuck,” Todd whispered. “Again?”

Chapter Text

“Fuck,” Todd whispered. “Again?” 

Damian took his time examining the people standing over them. They didn’t look that much old. They were probably the same age as Drake. Perhaps older only slightly. One of the girls was a ginger and the guy standing to her left had blonde hair. The other two had dark brown hair. His eyes drifted over their bodies. The black inks had weird shapes to them. It wasn’t like any other tattoo he had seen. He forced his brain to think, even back to when he had been with his grandfather and all the books he had. 

The blond stepped forward, holding his weird ass sword. “Who are you?”

“Great,” Drake sighed. “We got zapped again,” 

Damian turned to him, squinting. Wow, Drake, so fucking brilliant. Really. We seriously needed your amazing observation skills to reach that conclusion. “Oh, you don’t say?” 

“Shut up,” 

Damian saw the blond guy tilting his head and whispering something to the other three. It seemed Dick had caught it too. “Heads up!” 

Two words, and even though they had been tangled over the ground, the four of them jumped to their feet instantly. Damian reached for his sword and lunged forward for the closest target. It was the guy with dark brown hair. 

Let’s see if you really know how to use that. 

Dick took out his escrima sticks and used it to block the incoming attack from the blond guy. He had figured this guy was the leader of this group. Given he was the team leader himself, it only seemed fair that they fight it out. 

As he hit the guy’s upper leg and saved himself a second, he took a look around. Tim was fighting the ginger girl and Jason the other. Based on the smile he had on, Dick came to the conclusion that his brother was having his fun. 

The little devil was making the other guy work, though. He was only blocking the attacks and he had that little evil grin of his. He was also enjoying it. 

Dick focused back on the matter at hand. It seemed like the guy he was fighting was the better of the latter. And he had to admit, all of these guys were good. They weren’t attacking randomly. There was a certain precision, a specific practice behind. It was obvious they had been trained in some way. 

Unfortunately, they hadn’t trained under Batman. The four of them managed to disarm their opponents in a few moments. 

“We’re not here to fight. I’m sure if we all calm down, we can have a civilized talk,” Tim said, holding his bo staff to the girl’s chin. 

The girl gave him a glare. “Interesting words coming from someone who’s holding his weapon over me,” 

Tim shrugged and glanced at Dick. He realized there were two ways to play this. Just because they had gotten kind of lucky with Lucifer, it didn’t mean wherever they were at the moment was in the company of other good guys. But something in his gut told him that they weren’t in any real danger.

He turned back to the blond guy he had under him. He was currently kneeling over his own opponent, having him blocked. The guy’s eyes were pure fire. But they were familiar. His eyes were glancing over to the other people. He doesn’t want to see them hurt. 

Dick decided that they could be let go, for the time being. He nodded subtly at the others as he let the guy go and straightened up. So did Jason, Tim, and Damian, surprisingly. 

“See?” Tim let out along with a small smile, “We just want to talk,” He even offered his hand to the girl to help her up but she refused. 

As the group reformed, Dick walked over to his brothers. “Anything?” 

“No,” Jason scoffed, probably offended by the question. 

The blond cleared his throat. He looked pissed. Probably because they got beaten. “Who are you again?” 

Dick sighed. How many more times did they have to go through this before they got back home? Seriously, he had half the mind to make an introductory video like on YouTube and shit for this situation. 

“In order to answer that, I need to get a few answers of my own. One, where are we? Earth? Two, if we’re on Earth, what part of Earth are we specifically—”

“What do you mean if we are on Earth?” the guy with brown hair asked. “Where else can we be?” 

Dick shared a look with his brothers and shrugged. You’d be surprised, my guy. “Okay. Okay, great. I’m assuming we’re somewhere in the US?” 

The guys were talking in English and thanks to Bruce’s intensive training, he was able to detect that English wasn’t these people’s second language. They had authentic accents. 

“We’re in New York. You’re in the New York Institute,” the blond guy replied. 

Jason huffed. “Institute? Like come college crap? Great,” 

“Uh, no. Not exactly,” 

Dick shook his head. “Okay, this is going to come off as weird. Very weird. Do you believe in the supernatural?” 

The blond scoffed. “That might be an understatement. We are the supernatural,” 

“Yeah,” the other guy continued, “This is our home. The institute. And one of the many safe houses around the world meant to lodge and assist the Nephilim. In our quest to kill demons,” 

Damian smirked. “Sorry, sorry, come again, noob?” 

“Man, more demons? Again? Fuck. Seriously, what kind of Earth have we gotten this time?” Jason mouthed off. 

Dick gave him a look. Based on their track record, he was no longer surprised. Because, of course, they fell into another Earth with demons in them. 

“Wait, wait,” the brunette guy cut it, his eyes shining with excitement, “What do you mean what kind of Earth? Isn’t there only one? There is—I mean—Unless, unless, you’re talking about the multiverse and that would mean—”

“—Simon, don’t be ridiculous. We told you hundreds of times. The stuff your read in your comics doesn’t really exist,” the blond guy rolled his eyes. 

Tim chuckled beside Dick. “Actually, Simon is pretty spot-on,” 

“Holy shit!” Simon exclaimed. “Holy shit! Fuck! I can’t—I mean, yes! I knew it. I always knew. I told you, I told you guys and—” he halted and turned to the ginger, “Clary, if you guys are pranking me because of last week’s karaoke, I’ll be so fucking pissed,” 

Clary shook her head, confusion all over her face. “Uhm, no? We have no part in this, whatever this is anyway,” 

“Kill me. Kill me now,” Jason muttered. 

“Shut up,” Dick mouthed. 

“Come on!” the blond shot. “Are we really going to believe what they’re saying? Just like that. They fell through some sort of portal. They could be demons. Or fae, warlock, some kind of Downworlder. Anything,” 

Simon furrowed his brows. “Jace, we have wards. Magnus did them himself last time. No kind of magic can breach them. This—This must be a cosmic thing. A multiversal thing,” 

And now, their conversation had gotten interesting enough for Dick to intervene. “Sorry. Did you say magic? You can do magic?” 

Jace turned to him. “We’re Shadowhunters. We don’t do magic,” he sharply replied. 

“Shadowhunters?” Damian let out. “What kind of name is that? I never heard it before,” 

Jace smirked. “Of course, you haven’t, mundane,” 

The little devil furrowed his brows, reaching for his sword again. Great. Thanks, Jace. “What did you just call me blondie?” 

Luckily, Tim jumped in front of him and held him back. Simon did the same with Jace who seemed ready for battle. “Relax. Let’s all relax, okay? Mundane is just what we call ordinary humans who are not part of the Shadow World. It’s not an insult,” 

“Well,” Jason scoffed, “We certainly aren’t ordinary humans. That’s for sure,”

“Damian, stand down,” Dick warned, his eyes on him. Damian gave him a glare before putting his sword back and taking a step back. 

“Okay,” the brunette girl spoke up. “I think we need to talk. There are too many questions without answers,” 

Jason winked. “Agreed,” 

Simon frowned. “Back off, dude. Multiversal guy or not, back off my girlfriend,” 

“Holy shit, really?” Jason scanned him. “Got good game, dude,” 

“Jason, man,” Dick cleared his throat. 

“Yeah. I have a name. And even if I wasn’t single, you wouldn’t have any chance, dude ,” 

“Izzy,” 

“Jason,” Dick grabbed his arm, “Really? Back off,” 

He shrugged. “Fine, fine. Whatever,” 

“Let’s go up to the library?” Clary offered. 

“That’s a good idea,” Dick replied. 

Jace waited until everyone was out of the room to trail after them. Dick wasn’t surprised. If the roles had been reversed, he would have done the same thing. 

The first thing that popped into Dick’s mind as they walked through the halls was that the building had been far larger than he had initially thought. They passed through a garden-like place and were now climbing stairs. They continued until Clary opened gigantic doors. 

“Wow,” Tim let out beside him. “This makes me feel like we’re in Hogwarts or some shit,” 

Honestly, Dick was inclined to agree. 

Then, Tim shoved him. “Bruce could take a few notes, huh?”

“Yeah, sure,” he smirked, “You want to break that to him? Or Alfred?” 

Jace cleared his throat. He was standing over a big desk. “Enough chit-chat. Let’s talk,” 

Jason gave Dick a look as he passed by him. “Guess he’s the you of here,” 

“Shut it,” 

“Well. I think names are a good way to start,” Clary said calmly. If I had to be one of these guys, it truly won’t be Jace. If anything, I’m more like this Clary girl. Always the diplomat. 

Names? Dick found his brothers looking at him, unsure how to answer. Truth was, neither did he. 

“Is that a hard question to answer now?” Jace asked, squinting at them. 

He forced out a smile. “No, no, it’s just, uhm, I guess, revealing our names is a touchy subject. Where we come from,” 

“Revealing?” Simon mumbled. “Are you guys some kind of superheroes back on your Earth?” 

“Uh, yeah. Kinda,” Tim replied. 

“DUDE!” Simon exclaimed. 

Clary smiled at him before turning back to Dick. “Okay, uhm, I can promise we won’t reveal your identity to anyone else. I guess. I don’t think anyone would care, no offense,” 

“Right,” Dick mumbled, “So, I’m Dick. This is Tim, Jason, and Damian,” he said as he pointed to them. 

“Okay, Dick,” Jace said, “Where did you guys learn to fight like that?” 

Simon elbowed him. “Are you seriously asking superheroes that question?” then he turned to Dick. “And, can I learn too? Man, you took down Jace. That made my entire month,” 

The girls tried choking their laughter. Jace just rolled his eyes. Dick realized that whoever those four were, weren’t probably bad guys. He had been right in his judgment. And he needed to give them answers if he was going to ask for their help for Faust. 

“We were all trained since childhood by Batman,” he said and then tilted his head at Damian. “Except for him. He was an assassin up until a few years ago,” 

“Really?” Simon blurted, his shining eyes now examining a very annoyed Damian. 

Izzy—Dick presumed her actual name was something along the lines of Isabelle, but he couldn’t be sure— furrowed her brows. “I’m sorry. Who did you say? Batman?” 

“Yeah,” Tim replied. “He also goes by The Dark Night?” 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Pretentious more like it,” 

Tim didn’t pay him any mind as he went on to list the other names Bruce was known by. “Gotham’s Protector? The Caped Crusader? Detective, uhm, World’s Greatest Detective? One of the founders of Justice League?” 

Jace, Clary, and Izzy turned to Simon who just shook his head. “Beats me. I’ve never heard of a Batman in all my years of nerdiness,” he then turned back to the guys, “Not—Not to mean he isn’t what you say he is. He sounds awesome. All those names? Wow. He must be a legend,” 

He kinda is, I guess. I don’t know. This is the first time someone gets this excited over Bruce. 

Jason tilted his head. “Seriously? You’ve never heard of him? How about Superman? Wonder Woman? Green Lantern? Flash? Martian Manhunter?”

“What use it is to name all the founders?” Damian muttered. “They know jack,” 

Simon hummed. “They sound like dope names, not gonna lie there. But, no man. The most famous man around here is Iron Man. Or maybe Spider-Man?” 

This is worse than I thought. Not only we don’t exist here as well, there are comics of us. What else is gonna be there now?

“So,” Jace smirked, he looked like he was finally starting to have some fun, “You guys are superheroes ? Capes and names and all that shit,” 

Jason frowned. “We don’t wear capes,” 

Dick cleared his throat. When Jason turned to him, he pointed his head at Tim and Damian. “Well,” Jason scoffed, “These two fuckers do, I guess. We fight the bad guys, stop criminals of all kinds,” 

Damian snorted. 

“What now pocket-devil?” Jason shot. 

“Oh, sorry, Todd. I seem to have forgotten. Aren’t you one of them bad guys? The name Red Hood ring a bell?” 

“Fuck you, little shit,” Jason gritted and as he stepped forward, Dick grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Damian! Jason!” he exclaimed. “Enough. Stop,” 

Jason glared at him. “He’s provoking me,” 

“You’re not my boss, Grayson,” Damian shrugged. 

I swear, I’m only one more comment away from completely snapping. I need a year-long vacation after this, fuck. 

“You don’t see Batman around here, do you now? Since he’s not, I’m the fucking leader of this mission which means you do whatever I say, Damian. And I’m telling you to shut the fuck up,” 

Damian furrowed his brows. Dick waited for him to snap so he would too. But then the little shit did something he didn’t expect. He just crossed his arms and pouted. 

Fine, I guess. Whatever. 

“More questions?” Dick sighed as he turned back to the Shadowhunters. 

“Tons,” Simon grinned. “But first things first. The multiverse. How did you come here?” 

Dick expected the question by now. They had pretty much told these guys everything already. It wouldn’t hurt to tell the rest either. So, he started explaining. And as he did, more questions flew his way and he answered them too. From what their mission was to Felix Faust to the worlogog and this whole zapping realities shit. 

When he was done, the Shadowhunters were all stuck in their seats, their brains trying to comprehend what they were told. 

“Guys. Could this be true?” Isabelle murmured. “I thought the only dimensions but ours were Edom and the Faerie,” 

Jace shrugged. “I thought so too,” 

“Well, I know this brand new information must be shocking to you,” Dick started. If you only knew half of the things I know. “But it is true. Us standing here is proof of it. However, normally, this wasn’t supposed to happen. These kinds of stuff… Only the celestial and upper beings know about it. And a few of people like us,” 

“Did you say celestial beings?” 

Dick nodded. “Yeah. Angels, demons. Like how Lucifer knew who we were when he saw us. Because he knew this shit,” 

The Shaodwhunters gasped. 

“Wait,” Clary let out, “You—You met an angel?” 

“Yeah,” Jason grinned. “He’s a fallen angel now, though, isn’t he? Anyway. He owns a nightclub. And a cop. Lives in L.A. Pretty chill vibes,” he leaned back on his chair, “Except for when he gets pissed. Then he’s a prick,” 

“By the Angel,” Jace mumbled, wiping his face. 

Dick didn’t really understand why that piece of information got them more dumbfounded than everything else he told them. Sure, it was bizarre but it wasn’t that much out of the ordinary. At least for him. 

“So, uh, what are your tattoos for?” Damian asked. 

Dick rose his brow. Damian was interested in the tattoos. That was new. 

“They’re not tattoos, man,” Simon smiled. “They’re our runes,” 

“Runes? Magic runes?” Damian replied. 

“Uh, no. Not exactly,” Simon mumbled. “It’s more like, uhm, more like magic things and—”

“Why don’t I explain, huh?” Isabelle interrupted with a smile. Then they got to explaining. The Shadow World, their history and culture. The different kinds of beings there were on this Earth. Mundanes, Shadowhunters, Downworlders, Demons, and Angels. Who was a threat and who wasn’t. 

If it wasn’t interesting, Dick felt like at least he and Jason would have felt asleep from the start. It was too much like Alfred’s lectures about history. 

Tim shifted in his seat excitedly. “So, you guys are like the superheroes of this Earth? You’ve got powers!” 

“Yes! Something like that!” Simon replied. 

Jason shook his head. “Great. There are two of them now,” 

“Not exactly like superheroes, I guess. We only have the extra powers until the rune loses it effects,” Isabelle said. 

Tim grinned. “That’s still so cool!” 

Dick rose to his feet with a small smile. “Yeah. Anyway, the way I see it, you guys are kind of doing our jobs on this Earth. Which means, I think you can help us find Faust. And I promise, as soon as we locate him, we’ll be out of your hair,” 

Jace shook his head. “This guy sounds like a problem. And he’s probably in New York if you are too. I’m the head of the New York Institute. We’re helping you catch him,” 

“No,” Damian shot up. “You four couldn’t even take us. How can you be of any help?” 

Dick’s lips twitched as he tried to smile. Good fucking going, blood son. They seem like the only people who can help, given what we found out about this Earth so far. Why provoke them? 

Simon shrugged. “Uh, because we fought similar  things before?” 

“We survived two wars in the last five years. I’m sure we can handle ourselves against a wanna-be-warlock human just fine, kid,” Jace replied. Yup, he’s totally a Jason. 

Dick crossed his arms over his chest. “Damian,” he started, “They have a point. This Earth is not that different from ours. Magic, check. Demons, check. Bad guys, definitely seem like a check. Plus, they weren’t that bad,” 

“Geez, thanks,” Jace huffed. 

Tim nodded. “I agree. Plus, they know this place better than we do. I’m sure they’ll be of help,” 

“Sounds good to me. The faster we get the hell out, the better,” Jason said. 

Damian exhaled frustratedly. “Fine. Whatever. Do what you please,” he grunted and got up, storming out of the library. 

“What’s his problem?” Jace asked, looking after him. 

Dick shook his head. “Don’t—Don’t even ask,” 

“Just… Just give him some time to blow out,” Tim mumbled. 

Jace shrugged. “Sure. Not my problem,” 

Yup. Unfortunately, for me, he’s my problem. “He can’t get out, right?” Because trying to chase a fused-up Damian in another Earth’s New York would be a lot of work Dick just didn’t want to do now. 

“No. Doubt he’ll find the entrance on his own,” 

“Don’t underestimate the little devil,” Jason snickered. 

Tim sighed. “Think he’s just gonna go find a corner to sulk in. Like he does back at home,” 

“Yeah,” Dick agreed. Hoping that was the intention. “Okay. So, do you guys have an idea how we can track Faust?” 

“We should call Magnus. If we’re going to deal with magic, we can’t do it without him,” 

Dick nodded. He decided to trust these guys for now. And if they wanted to involve this Magnus guy, he’d have no problem. “Okay,” 

“I’ll send Alec a fire message,” Jace mumbled as he took out something like a pen. 

No. Not a pen. Stel. Or Stele. Something like that. Whatever. 

Dick smiled when he locked eyes with Clary. “Would it be too forward if we asked for some clothes?” 

Damian had run out of the library and kept running until he found a place where he was sure he wouldn’t be bothered by any of the doofuses. He was in a greenhouse. On the roof. He had a pretty good view of the city. Because there were giant windows all around and plants. But not one person in sight. 

Finally. Some peace. 

He sat down on the stairs and started focusing on his breaths. Like both his grandfather and father taught him. In and out. In and out. 

His blood coursed through his veins like fireworks. He wanted to fuse, he wanted to give everyone a piece of his mind. Because he was pissed. Enraged. 

They were treating him like a child. A fucking child. 

If he was anyone else, sure, he could understand that. But he wasn’t like everyone else. Especially not some other thirteen-year-old. He was fucking Damian Wayne. He was the perfect soldier. He was Ra’s Al Ghul’s grandson. He was Bruce Wayne’s blood son. He wasn’t just some kid. 

He didn’t deserve to be treated as such. 

And as much as he wasn’t with the League of Shadows anymore, Damian wondered what his grandfather would say to him being treated like this. Like he didn’t know anything. Like he couldn’t accomplish missions. Like he wasn’t enough. There had been a lot of fucked up things when he had been with his mother and grandfather but, at least, he wasn’t being disrespected like this. 

Because that’s what this was. He was being disrespected. From the start of this goddamned mission, the three musketeers had been leaving him out. He knew that they apparently all had some kind of history. And he was, technically, the last one to arrive at their group. He didn’t care. 

Missions weren’t carried out with history, it was carried out with carefully crafted plans. Not the like that whole debacle with the fucking Thing. It was such a show-off and it was unnecessary. What they did came with secrecy, with blending into the shadows. Not some teenage boy fantasy moves. 

And even if they were going to put on a show, would it be too much to let Damian in on it too? He was capable of doing the same moves they were. Maybe even more. He was skilled. He was flexible. He was strong. He was good. 

Not only that, they were constantly leaving him out. Constantly teaming up on him. Damian was constantly criticized by them. They never took his side, God forbid. Whatever he said earned a snap from one of them. Any suggestion, any voice of reason, any fucking logic, and then he’d be scowled at. He was fucking tired of it. He was so fucking annoyed. 

And Grayson likes to go on and on about being a team. Team my ass. 

He was clearly just trying to finish this mission the way Father had wanted. Why couldn’t those three idiots see that? 

Then, Damian stilled with the noise he heard. As his eyes started scanning the greenhouse, his fingers grabbed the hilt of his sword. The Shadow people or whatever had said this place was protected by magic wards but based on Damian’s own experience, nothing could ever be relied on. 

Come on. Please be a demon or some shit and I can pretend you’re one of the three musketeers. 

He got up slowly, minding his steps. He lowered one of the giant leaves. And then he was face to face with a gray cat. It meowed into his face and tried to scratch him. 

“Great,” he sighed, “Not even the fucking cat loves me,” 

Sure. Fine. Whatever. I don’t need anyone to love me. I’m well on my own. 

He scowled as he dropped to the ground. The cat had sat up, eyes on Damian. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything. Just one thing. He was going to finish this mission. Even if he had to do it himself. 

Then he’d prove it. To everyone. To that know-it-all Grayson. To fanboy Drake. To annoying Todd. to his Father. That he didn’t deserve all this disrespect from his other sidekicks and that he could do anything. Perhaps, after, his father would finally see reason and stop pairing Damian up with these incompetent fools. 

I wish I believed my own words. As much as I want it to be true, they’re not incompetent. They’re stupid though. Definitely stupid. 

Damian wasn’t stupid. No, far from it, in fact. He knew the way he acted and spoke got on their nerves. He couldn’t help it. It was all he knew. And what he wanted to do in the face of all the disrespect he was shown. He never got the chance to snap like this before. 

He was raised with constant praise. And constant degradation. That was Ra’s understanding of raising the perfect soldier. Didn’t matter what Damian accomplished. He was praised for it, followed by immediate degradation. Very good Damian. A perfect posture. But you should have mastered this long ago. 

His grandfather was a difficult man, to say the least. Damian had to constantly work harder and be better for even a shred of appreciation. Not affection. Never affection. Praise was all he knew. All he was shown. 

And he wanted it. He wanted all of it, from his Father. From those around him. Respect. Appreciation. Praise. Affection. 

Being with his Father was definitely a whole lot different than being with his grandfather. Damian knew that. He did, truly. And he was trying his best to fit into his Father’s rules. He also knew that his Father was trying his supposed best too. 

But it was just so hard with the constant reminders of all those who held Damian’s position before him. All the Robins. Oh, the glory. Oh, the stories. The history. 

Jason Todd. The second Robin. Bruce’s greatest failure. Bruce’s still bleeding wound. 

Tim Drake. The third Robin. Brilliant kid who figured the secret on his own. So brilliant that he even managed to convince the stone wall that had been Bruce. 

And Dick. Dick fucking Grayson. The first Robin. The best, for some people. The perfect son, the perfect sidekick, the perfect human. The goody-two-shoes. The leader. The protege. He was everything Damian wanted to be. And everything he was compared to. And he was fucking sick of it. 

Grayson had the kind of relationship with Bruce that Damian wanted to have. That was it. As much as it pained Damian to admit that, that was the truth and he was reminded of it each time perfect Grayson opened his mouth. Because Grayson had been there from the start. Because Grayson knew Bruce the longest. Because Grayson became Bruce’s first son. Because Grayson was Grayson. 

And what boiled Damian’s blood even more was that his father still wanted those three. He didn’t want Damian, he didn’t actively want Damian. Damian was only here, alive, existing, only because of his mother’s and grandfather’s tricks. But those three? They were there because Bruce had wanted them. 

Sure, Bruce wanted Damian too. Now that he knew he existed. But it was different. Bruce didn’t know Damian existed only about three years ago. And if Damian had to be honest, he was kind of dumped on him. And it fucking irritated him. He was his son. His own blood. Bruce was supposed to want him. The same with those three. 

Damian was so fucking tired of being second-best. Or even in this case, fourth-best. He was raised with promises of greatness and leading. And, yet, now he was here, not being taken seriously. Being left out. Treated as incompetent. 

Not anymore. 

He shot up to his feet. It had been enough time that the others would have probably come up with some kind of plan. And if they did, Damian was not going to allow himself to be left out again. 

As he took a couple of steps, he realized the cat was now trailing after him with wondrous eyes. “What?” he snapped, looking at the cat, “Now do you want to be pet?” 

The cat only responded by meowing. 

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said as he walked toward the door. Even though he had been angry, he still remembered where he got to the greenhouse from.

Halfway into the way, something soft and fluffy brushed past his feet. Stepping to the side, he looked down at the cat. “What the— Get off!” 

The cat meowed again. Damian exhaled loudly. “What do you want? Just leave me alone,” 

“Hey,” a familiar voice said, “You found Church,” 

“Church?” Damian replied. Who names a cat Church? 

Simon smiled as he pointed at them. “Looks like he even likes you. That’s rare,” 

“I don’t care,” Damian huffed. “And, I don’t like it,” 

The Shadowhunters shared a look. “Uh, sure, man. Whatever you say,” 

“We’re going down to the training room. Your friends offered to train. Would you like to join?” Isabelle asked her calmly. 

Damian rose a brow. “They’re not my friends,” 

“Are you coming or not?” 

“Sure. Why not?” he exhaled at the end. “Lead the way, nerd,” 

When they walked inside the training room a couple of moments later, Damian walked into a corner and crossed his arms. He wanted to see how the three musketeers would train these people. And where he’d interrupt to give his superior knowledge. 

Jace and Clary were standing in the center. They were both blindfolded. Classic. One of the first things Grandfather made me master. I’m sure Father has done the same. 

“Sight is important. But, to be better, you need to learn how to use all your senses. All together,” Grayson glanced at him, “You can’t always count on your vision,” 

Drake was sitting down, his long legs splayed out. Damian realized everyone but him had changed clothes. Great. Another thing I’m left out of. 

“Huh, actually,” Drake hummed from his spot, “Do you guys have a rune to better your vision?” 

“As a matter of fact, we do,” Simon replied, sitting down next to him. 

“Awesome!” 

Damian rolled his eyes. Yes, totally awesome! Hah. As if. 

Grayson reeled in a deep breath. “Ready?” 

“Ready,” Jace and Clary replied in unison. She was holding a practice stick. Jace’s hands were empty. 

Damian watched as Grayson sneaked behind Clary and poked her right shoulder. As a reflex, she turned around and shoved the stick right into Jace’s abdomen. 

“Ouch,” Todd grinned, “That must have hurt,” 

“It did. Thanks Simon!” Jace hissed and threw a punch. Clary half-blocked it with the stick. They started sparring. Somewhat. Damian couldn’t call it fighting exactly. 

Then, Grayson swooped in again and tripped Jace. He fell to his knees but Clary must have heard Grayson for she turned toward him and started attacking. Barely. 

“Okay. That’s enough,” Drake breathed out and jumped to his feet. “We’ll have a go too. Jason?” 

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Todd replied as he placed the water he was drinking. 

The Shadowhunters got up. “Okay. What do we do?” 

“Come at me,” Todd replied. 

Isabelle rolled her eyes. “Sure,” 

“No. I’m serious. Both of you, come at me. Try knocking me into my ass,” he smirked, “You can use your little runes if you like,” 

“I don’t think so,” Isabelle replied and lunged forward. Her boyfriend followed after. 

Damian gave himself a moment to watch it. All four Shadowhunters and Grayson and Todd. He already had notes on how all six of them were fighting, what they were doing wrong and what they actually needed to do. He kept his mouth shut for the time being though, for two reasons. He didn’t feel like anyone deserved to hear them just yet and he wasn’t in the mood to be yelled at more. 

“You aren’t half-bad,” Todd said as he sent Isabelle kicking, “You need to work on your stance,”

Isabelle tried tripping his feet from the ground but Todd saw it coming from a mile away. He dodged it easily and sent Simon to his ass as well. Meanwhile, Jace and Clary were now once again chasing after Grayson. 

Okay, that’s it. 

Damian walked over to where Drake and Todd were. Drake was helping Simon get up to his feet. “Gotta put more—”

“—I’ve broken more sweat climbing the stairs. Both now and earlier,” 

Simon frowned. “Give me a break, kid. I’m still new at this,” 

“I can tell,” 

“Damian,” Drake sighed. “Not everyone climbed out the womb with assassin skills,” 

“Yeah. Maybe that’s why you should listen to me. All of you should,” he said and turned back to Simon. So, he was a newcomer. Great. So was Damian, unfortunately. And he could relate although he didn’t want to.  “Look, it’s obvious you’re still new. And you suck. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve,”

He could feel the surprised looks on him. He didn’t care. He continued. “It seems your friends are good. Somewhat. With time, and practice—lots of practice, you should get on their level,” 

“Yeah?” 

Damian’s bottom lip twitched. He didn’t exactly know why he was being nice all of a sudden. He was fuming a minute ago. But, he guessed, his Father’s transformation of him was working. He was no longer callous.  He cared, he felt things. Unfortunately for him, that meant he had sympathy too.  “Yeah,” 

“Uhm, what he said,” Todd mumbled. 

Drake took a few steps forward. “Okay, now come at me. Both of you. Keep in mind what we said,” 

The two lunged forward again. She was faster than him. She raised her hand for a punch but Drake was quicker and he grabbed her by the wrist and pushed her away. Simon was on his left and tried swinging a punch. Drake was already crouched down so he deflected easily and then grabbed Simon, twisted his arm, got behind him and pushed him toward his girlfriend. 

“Hey,” Todd neared him slowly, “You good, pocket-devil?” 

“Stop calling me that,” Damian replied, his eyes glued on the fight. It seemed like the Shadowhunters were keeping their notes in their mind but her stance was still faulty and the guy’s endurance needed a lot of work. 

“I will. If you stop acting like one,” 

Damian dug his nails into his skin. He had his arms crossed. He looked up at Todd. “What do you want?” 

“Nothing,” Todd shrugged. “Just trying to see if you’re done with your temper tantrum,” 

Calm. Stay calm. Be calm. Breaths, yeah, focus on your breaths. You can’t focus on your mission if you show this asshole who’s the boss. 

Without a word, Damian focused his attention back onto the fight. He saw something that would make him a double-dip if he wasn’t used to magical things. Isabelle’s bracelet turned into a whip in her hands and she threw it, wrapping it around Drake’s leg. She tugged on it and and Drake knocked down to his ass. 

But, as it was in his goofy nature, he was grinning. He had fun. Ugh.

Drake jumped back to his feet. Isabelle tried with the whip again. But, Drake was prepared for it this time. He deflected it with his wrist, making it wrap around there and then he used the momentum to pull Isabelle toward himself. She clearly wasn’t expecting that as she got pulled forward. Drake hit her and made her lose her balance. 

Simon was sneaking behind Drake. Again, nothing Drake couldn’t handle. And after a short moment later, both Shadowhunters were on the ground, over each other, with Drake standing over them with a grin. “Not bad. Better this time,” 

“Yeah. But, like I said. Your stance, you need work,” Todd continued. 

While Drake helped both of them get to their feet, Damian shook his head. “You guys clearly have had some sort of training. What I don’t understand is how bad you are at combat,” 

“You don’t get to use techniques on demons,” Isabelle shrugged, “The only time we had to use them was when he fought in one of the wars. But, then again, most of them were zombie-like people. So, it was all about killing,” 

“You have zombies?” Drake shrieked. 

Damian couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “So? Aren’t there any bad guys of your kind? There must be,” 

“There were,” Simon mumbled, glancing at Clary, “But like Izzy said, most are creatures. Only aim is to kill,” 

“I see,” he hummed. 

“That might be, I’ll admit,” Grayson said, he was currently helping Jace get back on his feet, “Considering what you told us, you are good. For taking down demons and all,” 

Jace threw off his blindfold, a smirk on his lips. “Yeah? Good enough to take you on?” 

“Uhm, I wouldn’t bet on that just yet, big guy,” Drake smiled. “To be honest, we were all kind of holding it back. Before, I mean,” 

Clary frowned. “That was you holding back?” 

“Yeah. The people we have to deal with back home… They can fight, properly. They’re as much skilled as us, sometimes even more. Some even have powers, so, yeah. We were holding back,” 

Isabelle shrugged. “Jace is our best fighter. Seriously. I’m sure he could take down one of you,” 

“Let me activate a few runes and we’ll see who takes down who,” Jace smirked. “You know, some friendly competition,” 

Damian saw Grayson giving them a look. He looked like he was resisting a smile. “Uhm, sure. All in the name of friendliness. How about this? If you win, I’ll pay for everyone’s drinks,” 

“I thought you didn’t have any money here,” Simon replied. 

Grayson smirked. “Exactly,” 

Todd and Drake chuckled. Damian realized everyone else seemed entertained by this little bet too. He had to admit, he was too. There was no way this guy could take any of them down. Even if he had powers. 

“Fair deal. And if you win, I’ll give all of you hundred bucks since y’all are broke,” 

“Sweet,” Grayson smiled and loosened his arms. “Choose whoever you like,” 

Jace was smiling as his eyes took in all four of them. Then, they landed on Damian. “I choose him,” 

Good. He let out a small smile. “Going for the seemingly weak link, blondie?” 

“Dick said I could choose. I choose you,” 

“Man, you’re in for it,” Drake chuckled. “Really. You should just give up the four hundred bucks now,” 

Damian furrowed his brows. The three were standing together now, all had smiles. He walked over to them. “What are you doing?” 

“What am I doing? I’m trash-talking, dude. You’re totally gonna win! You got this in the bag,” 

Okay. Now I’m beyond confused. Of course, I’m going to win. What is Drake trying to do? 

“Hey, Satan Junior. Try not to hurt the blondie too much. I’m sure his girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate it,” Todd smirked. 

Scratch that, what is Todd doing? 

Grayson patted his shoulder. “I think we can have a good dinner with the money you’ll win. Or breakfast. I’m so lost on time zones,” 

Wait. Wait, wait. Are they… supporting me? Huh? What the fuck?

He turned to Todd first. “Uhm, no promises,” Then he looked at Grayson. “I’ll pick the place,” 

Grayson chuckled and squeezed his shoulder. “Sure thing, Damian,” 

Dumbfounded, Damian turned around for the fight. His stomach tingled weirdly. What was this thing he was feeling? 

Shaking himself sober, he looked at his opponent. It looked like Jace activated his runes. They glowed for a second before returning to black. “Ready?” 

“Ready,” Jace grinned. 

The fight was over in a matter of minutes. 

Damian had to admit, Jace was good. He really was. He was definitely better than the rest of his friends. And those runes, they clearly helped and gave him an advantage. But he was no match for Damian. He always had been trained to win against bigger and stronger opponents than himself. 

Really, the only thing that challenged him was not hurting the guy that much like Todd said. That was the only reason why the fight had lasted as long as it did. 

As Jace hit the ground, Damian raised his head. He found Grayson, Todd, and Drake looking at him with smiles. Grayson was resting his arm over Drake’s shoulder. Todd has his arms crossed in that obnoxious way of his. But they all looked content. Unbothered. Relaxed. Having fun. 

They… They had faith in me. It was obvious but they still believed in me. 

It got to his head. 

With a victorious smile, Damian turned back to the Shadowhunters. They looked disappointed. He laughed. “Did you forget the part where you were told I was raised as an assassin?” 

“So? I was raised by a psycho too,” Jace mumbled as he got up. 

Damian shrugged, having way too much fun. “Guess he didn’t do a good job, then. Or maybe he wasn’t psychotic enough—”

“—Damian,” Grayson warned. 

“—It was very easy to beat you, blondie. Seriously. If you’re the best your kind has to offer, then, I have very  serious concerns about your success,”

“Damian!” Grayson let out. He turned and saw that all the playful expressions had faded away from their faces. In fact, they looked the opposite of it. Great. What the fuck have I done now? I won the bet, didn’t I? “That was mean,” 

He took a step back. He was being accused? What had he done? He went and won their bet for them. But it was like this, wasn’t it? They were only showing support until Damian won them what they wanted. Just like Ra’s used to do. Of course, of course! It was only limited, then it all went back to this again. Because it always did. 

And it was a shame. Because, for a second there, Damian had really thought that maybe they’d start to get along after this. Like maybe he’d become part of the tram too. Guess it was all an act. Like it always is. I’ll never be one of them. I’ll always be me. 

“Was I lying?” he snapped. 

Jason wanted to punch. Either himself or the little shit. 

Seriously, what the fuck was his problem? Even Jason wasn’t being this much of a prick when he was thirteen. He was mostly stealing back then. And then being Robin. 

All four of them already knew in their bones that Damian was going to win anyway. The Shadowhunters were skilled but they were used to fighting demons. Not people with proper training and experience. No amount of brute force or extra powers would make any of them lose with their experience. 

“He’s pretty good. Don’t disregard that,” Timmy said. 

As always, the pocket devil fucks shit up and we clean it up. Seriously, why is Bruce even keeping him around? It doesn’t fit his fucking so-called code. Like me. 

“This wasn’t a death match, Satan Junior. Just as you didn’t fatally injure him, so didn’t he,” he said. 

Dick sighed beside him. “Damian. Stand down,” 

The rageful chihuahua looked like was about to explode. He was pressing his lips together, his eyes shooting imaginary daggers. Jason could take it. He didn’t know how Dick would clean up after that though. Guess that’s Dickie’s problem. 

Then, another bright light exploded in the room. “Man. Fuck! Not again!” 

Hesitantly, Jason opened his eyes. And he didn’t know if he should feel relief or not when he realized he was still standing in the same place, the same Earth. Everyone was where they had been. 

Except for two new people. Both guys. One of them was tattooed, just like the rest of the Shdowhunters. The other guy… Well, he was colorful for sure. 

“Guys,” Isabelle said with a smile, “Alec Lightwood of the New York Institute. And, Magnus Bane. The High Warlock of Brooklyn,” 

“So, you’re the magic guy?” Jason asked. 

Magnus, clearly used to this kind of attitude which Jason found just oh so delightful, sighed and nodded. “Sure. That’s me,” 

“Well, have you been able to locate Faust?” Dick asked. 

The warlock shook his head. “No. I have certainly felt the disturbance when you and your magician passed into our world, though. And I have to say, he must be good at his craft because he’s cloaking himself. I can feel the signs of his magic all over the city. But, I just need a little bit more time to locate his exact location,” 

Oh, great. Another magical being tells us he needs more time. Because, of course. Why wouldn’t anything happen just right away for us, right? Man, I can use a drink. Or a pizza. Either is fine. 

“Great,” he grunted, “If he’s weaker how can the fucker keep cloaking himself everywhere we go?” 

Magnus moved his fingers and blue smoke came out of them. Okay, that was cool. “We have something called the ley lines here. Faust must be absorbing power from them,” 

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Timmy asked. 

“It’s bad,” Magnus replied, “Because it means he’s stealing the power of other Downworlders. But that’s not important. This is of use to you because as we speak, I’m already monitoring all the points in the city and the next time your guy uses them, I’ll have his location,” 

Okay. He IS cool. Scratch him being all colorful. This dude is the shit!

“Huh. Okay. So, what I’m hearing is we need to wait more?” Tim hummed. 

“Well, yes, child,” Magnus replied. 

Jason spotted Dick walking over to the benches where they left their stuff earlier. He took out the worlogog and brought it to Magnus. “Can you tell us anything about this? This is the worlogog. A powerful magical item that lets you alter reality. This is what Faust is after. And how he got us here, away from our Earth,” 

“Is that so?” the warlock murmured as he got his hands all over the thing. 

I bet the hundred bucks I just won that he’s thinking the same thing we were. This little thing is all that powerful?

After a minute or so, Magnus looked up at Dick with a slight frown. “If this worlogog you speak of is as powerful as your claim it to be, then, I’m afraid this thing isn’t it,” 

Chapter Text

After a minute or so, Magnus looked up at Dick with a slight frown. “If this worlogog you speak of is as powerful as your claim it to be, then, I’m afraid this thing isn’t it,” 

“Wait. What? Are you serious?” 

“Yes. I’m afraid,” Magnus nodded, “It certainly has a powerful trace of magic. But it is not the original source,” 

Great. Oh, just so fucking great. “So, the fucker made us think we got the right thing. He played us,” 

The magician shook his head. “I’m not sure about it. My best guess is that this object you speak of, it must occupy a great space for it to do everything you say it does. It is not something that can be carried. This thing, I think it’s more like a controller. Enables you to its powers without actually being close to it. But, then again, this is just my guess,”

“Well,” Timmy murmured, “The containers back in the warehouse were certainly huge,” 

“That’s true,” Dick said. 

“If it was truly there,” Jason let out. When everyone turned to him with questioning looks, he shrugged. “What? It’s not like Bruce is a magician himself. Maybe he doesn’t know where the real thing is either,” 

“Uhm, maybe. That’s not up to us to tell, though,” Dick replied. 

Jason tried really hard not to roll his eyes. Sure, Dickie. Keep covering for Daddy. 

Dick cleared his throat. “Is that why we keep getting into different Earths? Because this is the controller and Faust doesn’t know how to use it?” 

“Probably,” 

“Man,” he breathed out. He was starting to get real tired of this shit. 

“Anyhow, I have matters to attend to, so, uhm, if you’ll excuse me,” Magnus continued. The new guy Alec and he shared a look and walked out. Dick and Jace followed after them. The little brat—no wonder to pout some more, stormed out. 

Clary went ahead to talk to Isabelle when Tim approached him. “Well, I certainly am tired after all of this,” 

“Right,” he cracked a grin, “We’ve been zapping realities— worlds, whatever, left and right. We’ve been awake for God knows how long. We should probably get some sleep,” 

He had said it like it was a problem but it really wasn’t. They had all been used to going without sleep for a few days. Still, in missions like these, where they didn’t know how long it would last, preserving their strength seemed like the right option. 

“Yup. Yup, that’s a good idea. A quick nap,” Timmy swayed on his feet, “Or we could get some food. I’m starving,” 

Although, maybe we can make a quick food detour before sleep. 

“Of course, you are,” he patted his shoulder. 

Simon joined the conversation right then. “Did someone say food? Because I’m in!” 

“Great! Do you guys have kitchens in the Institute?” Tim asked. 

The Shadowhunter nodded with a quick glance at his girlfriend. “Uh, sure we do. Definitely,” 

“What does that mean?” Jason snickered. 

“Uhm,” Simon mumbled, “I can’t cook. Neither does Isabelle, but, she’s not really aware,” 

“Oh,” 

“Yeah, oh,” 

He saw Clary waving her hand at Isabelle and the girl joining them. “She’s off to see her mom. What are we doing?” 

“Well, we’re hungry,” Tim said. 

Isabelle smiled at him. “Oh, I can cook!” 

“No,” Jason jumped. If there was anything else that could make this whole mission worse than it already was, and yes he was counting in all the demons and Faust and everything else, it was not getting some food. Food that was actually edible. “I—I mean, don’t bother. This is New York, right? Let’s go get some pizza,” 

“Uh, sure,” 

Tim and Jason had been bombarded by Simon’s questions about the multiverse and their world on the road. Jason had gotten tired of it quickly enough and he walked ahead to catch up to Isabelle. Tim was rather fond of them and their conversation quickly turned into what their worlds had in common. 

“Dude. No fucking way!” Simon exclaimed. “You have Star Wars too?” 

Timmy grinned. “Of course! I practically grew up watching them. My dad was a big fan,” 

“Me too!” 

Jason scoffed as he leaned toward the girl and pointed at the doofuses behind them. “Nerdfest,” 

“For you maybe,” Isabelle rolled her eyes. “I happen to like it too,”

He rose a brow, challenging her. It had only been a few hours since they met but Jason was good at reading people, he had to be. And this girl didn’t seem like she backed down from any fight easily. “Yeah? Tell me what it’s about then,”

“Well,” she rolled her tongue, “It takes place in space, obviously,” 

“Obviously,” he smirked. 

She gave him a glare but continued. “There is this thing called the force. Only certain people can use it. There’s a good and a bad side, I guess. The light and the dark. Jedi and Sith. But it’s more complicated than that? Apparently, they’re more teachings or like philosophies of life. Anyway, both of them have lightsabers, they’re all in different colors and all the different colors have other meanings.  The big bad’s name is Darth Vader. He turns out to be Luke Skywalker’s dad, the main guy,” 

Well, picture me surprised. That’s a whole lot more than I know. Still, he didn’t let her have the complete win. “So, it was all that violence that drew you in?” 

“No, actually,” she smiled, “I didn’t know something like that existed until a few years ago. Simon introduced me to it,” 

“Wait, wait. What? How could you not know Star Wars? Only one of the biggest franchises in the entire world? Apparently multiverse too?” 

Isabelle shrugged. “Well, Shadowhunters don’t use technology as much as Mundanes. We don’t have phones or computers or TV’s,” 

Okay, screw that shit. This has been the most shocking thing I’ve encountered in this mission. What the fuck? Double—nah, nah, triple fuck. 

“How the hell do you communicate with each other then?” He couldn’t imagine his own life without technology. 

“We have our ways, don’t you worry,” 

Well, okay then kitten. Claws are out, retreating. Jason raised his head and took in his surroundings. He had been to New York before. Even been to where they currently were, Brooklyn. It looked mostly the same as his world’s. Still, he was aware this was a completely different Earth so he was letting the locals lead him. 

“So,” he continued, “That guy that showed up with the magical guy. Couldn’t help but realize you have the same surname. Is monogamy not part of your culture?” 

He received a rather nasty punch to his shoulder. “That’s my brother, you dull creature. Disgusting,” she grimaced. “Seriously, ew,” 

Oh, well, fuck. Yup, that’s on me. That’s disgusting. “Oh, uhm. Okay. Sorry?” 

“You better be,” she scoffed. “Is it part of your culture to go and make such assumptions?” 

“Nah, just a stellar personality trait,” 

“Again, ew,” 

Figuring he needed to get out of this, he turned his head back toward the nerds. “Are we close?” 

“Yeah, man,” Simon nodded, pointing ahead, “Just around the corner,”

Exactly as promised, they walked into the pizza place a couple of minutes later. Isabelle’s mood had gone down so she wasn’t speaking up, neither Timmy or Simon were stupid and they had probably gotten why so no one was speaking much. They didn’t do much talking beside ordering. 

Great going, Jason. Dick’s gonna whoop your ass when he hears it. And, honestly, I think I’m gonna let him. 

“Uhm, so, do you guys have codenames too? Like in the comics?” Simon asked. He was trying to decrease the tension. Or get his questions answered. Probably both. 

Jason glanced at Tim. They both knew that technically answering this guy’s questions wouldn’t be a big deal. It wasn’t like he could let the information slip to people that shouldn’t hear them. They were on a different Earth. Still, it was one of the harshest rules they had so it was hard to break it. 

“That—That’s a bit complicated,” Timmy replied. 

Jason realized the conversation attracted the girl’s interest. So, he decided to go screw it. “I go by Red Hood. Now,” 

“Now?” Simon replied, squinting. 

Tim and Jason shared another look. He didn’t know if he should go into the story or even if he could tell it. Too much had happened and there were things he still hadn’t gotten over. 

“I’m Red Robin,” Tim interjected, saving Jason from having to talk, “Not Robin but Red Robin. I, uhm, I didn’t want to just be Robin after,” he glanced at him, “After him,” 

Great, Timmy. Thanks for that. Not like that’s gonna bring more questions. 

Isabelle crossed her arms. “Is red a theme at your world or something?” 

“No,” Tim shook his head, “Well, you see, we all—I mean, Dick, Jason, Damian and I, we, uhm, we’re all Robin. Or—Or we were, I guess. At some point,” 

You’re rambling dude. It’s not easy for people back in Gotham to follow it, how do you think these folks will? Jason started talking. “Dick was the first. He carried the mantle for a good while, made a good name. But, as time went by, well… He wanted to be his own hero. So he became one. He’s Nightwing now. Next, it was me. I came into the picture and I was Robin for a good while,” he stopped and reeled in a deep breath, “Then, well, then a few complications happened and Tim took it up,” 

Timmy sighed next to him. “It didn’t feel right to go by his name. I—I mean, after the, uh, complication. I didn’t want to be his replacement. I wanted to honor him. Somehow. However, I could. Red was supposed to symbolize that, I guess. Anyway, when Damian came along since I wasn’t Robin, he picked up the mantle,” 

Jason realized Tim couldn’t look at him while he said those words. And it was the first time Jason was hearing them. He knew the little guy had been after his trail and all, but he didn’t think the reasons were like this. He didn’t know what to think. 

“Okay. What is Robin, then?” Simon asked. He probably seemed to sense the lingering tension. 

Jason leaned back on his chair, slightly furrowing. “Batman’s sidekick,” He couldn’t help but hiss the name. 

The rest of their pizza adventure went less eventful, Tim guessed. 

There hadn’t been much talking. Especially between him and Jason. But Jason had tried making it up to Isabelle for however he had ended up offending her. So he kept on asking her questions. When he brought up her brother again and asked what’s his deal with the magic guy and Isabelle said that they were dating, Tim thought things were gonna get tense again. Luckily, it didn’t. Izzy asked Jason if he had a problem with it, Jason said he didn’t. The people who got a problem with it are stupid fuckers who have their heads up their asses. Isabelle seemed to like that answer. She even laughed and declared Jason not-totally-an-asshole then. Tim guessed they made up or whatever. 

When Simon and Isabelle left to pay the check, Tim couldn’t sit in his chair so he went outside to wait for them. He had been thinking about the Robin conversation and all those things that he said. They were the truth. Complete truth. It was just that Jason hadn’t heard them before and he didn’t know where it’d put them now. 

Tim had started his whole mission with one thing in mind. For everyone to get along. For Jason and Dick to make up. He had seen how it got to Dick when he found out Jason was alive. Along his mission, he realized there was probably nothing he could do for Jason and Bruce just yet, Jason had made it abundantly clear. But, along the way, he realized, he liked Jason. Not only his legacy but the actual guy and they started getting along too and it was all Tim wanted and—

Jason walked out, alone. Tim felt him eyeing him so he started talking before his mind could actually decide otherwise and stop him. “Did—Did you really mean what you said?” 

“Which one?”

He shrugged. “You know. Back in that car. In Lucifer’s world,” 

“Yeah, because that fucking narrows it down?” 

Fuck, fine. Okay, then. “That you’d bring me to that burger place. Back home,” 

“Oh,” Jason muttered. “I said I would, didn’t I?”

“I guess,” 

“Where is that coming from now?” 

Furrowing his brows, he caught his gaze. “Do you still hate me?” 

“What?” he blurted out, his eyes widening with shock. 

Did he really have to ask that question? Wasn’t it obvious? Or was it just Tim jumping to conclusions again because he apparently got too excited, rushed into things, and lost to his feelings over his reasoning? He had Damian to thank for that excellent observation. 

Tim decided to go for it. He started the conversation and he had to end it. “You always like to go on and on about I’m your replacement whenever the topic’s brought up. Even when I made it known that wasn’t my intention. From day one. Both with Bruce and you. And yet—yet, you still hate me. At least, act like it. I guess,” 

Jason sighed and let out a groan. “I—I don’t hate you,” 

“Yeah?” he scoffed. “Is that so?” 

“Where… Where is all this coming from now?” 

He shook his head. “One minute you’re all good, offering to take me to get burgers and shit and the next minute you keep referring to me as your replacement, dude. It feels a little passive-aggressive. And by little, I mean a lot,” 

“I’m not being passive-aggressive,” Jason replied, “Sure, I was pissed. That someone else took the job. My job. So soon after. I’m angry with the big guy. Because there wouldn’t be a position to be filled if he had just kept his goddamn promise,” 

There was a lot to be unpacked there. But only one part really concerned Tim. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as an annoyed huff left his lips. “And yet you still say I filled a position. I didn’t fill any fucking position. You’re a person. I’m another person. People just do not go about filling each other’s presence. Now, me? I’ve been on your side, dude. From the start. Why do you think I trailed after Bruce and Dick? Because of you. And once you came back… I was on your side. I kept telling them—telling him , that you could be trusted. That you weren’t this maniacal evil person you were pretending to be. I thought I was right. Despite the way you tried to shoo me away from the beginning. And you keep on the same shit, even now. So, yeah. I don’t fucking understand you and this is where I’m coming from,” 

“Fuck,” 

Jason was fucked. Really, really, really fucked. 

Because as Timmy went on and on about it, Jason realized he was right. His feelings and opinions had changed but his attitude hadn’t. If anything, his anger fueled his actions. He thought he was doing the right thing by letting his rage control him and what he did now since returning. He thought that the only thing that mattered was getting his own revenge for himself and proving to Bruce that he was wrong—that he had been wrong all this time about his glorious mission. 

But he hadn’t noticed. Hadn’t noticed his actions also had consequences that affected other people—other people that seemed to care about him. Hadn’t noticed it with Dick. Hadn’t noticed it with Tim. 

Maybe I didn’t notice anything that really mattered? 

Dick was his brother. His big brother. Before finding them, or rather, they found him, Jason was alone. All alone. He was an orphan. He didn’t remember his parents much. The first thing that made him feel any semblance of family had been when he became Robin. But he wasn’t Robin anymore. He didn’t know what he was. All he knew was anger. Because it was what kept him going, what still enabled him to stand up and do something—anything. His anger was what kept him alive after all he had been through. 

But, he was starting to realize, his anger might have gotten in the way. Of other things that also mattered. Dick was right. Whatever bone he had to pick with Bruce didn’t involve the others. It just didn’t. He ended up channeling his anger and projected it into everyone. Everyone who didn’t deserve it. And it was a mistake. A big mistake. 

Dick never treated Jason like this—like he treated Tim— when he became Robin. Sure, he wasn’t the nice version he was now but that was because he didn’t trust him yet. Because Jason hadn’t earned his trust yet, back then. He had it now and he treated it like shit. Despite it, Dick still trusted him. And Jason couldn’t help but feel shame. So much of it. And yet, I never even gave Timmy the same fucking chance. 

He had always been rude to him. Snarky comments left and right, teasing and calling him names. Trying to shoo him off. And all the guy had been doing was to try to get to know him. Him. And wasn’t that what he accused Bruce of doing? Forgetting him. And here Timmy was trying to learn and Jason wasn’t letting him. He was being fucking hypocritical.

Nah. No more. No fucking more. 

Tim was one of them. Jason still wasn’t completely sure of what they were just yet but he knew there was something. Him, Dick, Timmy. Hell, even that little demon Damian. As much as he was being a brat and all, they were all in the same boat. They walked the same path, they had this weird bond that connected all of them to one another. A bond that no one else was in because no one else went through what they did, saw what they saw, felt what they felt. 

He realized this was what Dick meant. Kept pestering about. This was what it felt like to belong, to a family. That he never left the family like he convinced himself. A family. His family. To be one. To be a brother. Dick’s brother. What it meant being a big brother. To Timmy and Damian. 

Fuck , he thought. Fucking hell. 

He finally realized it. Bruce might have been the reason why Jason had gone through all that he did but he was also the reason why the four of them were together. A family. Bruce wasn’t what mattered the most, his revenge wasn’t what mattered the most. It didn’t mean anything. He didn’t mean anything. 

All these things he was feeling, the consequences of his actions, and what he inadvertently caused his family to feel, it didn’t sit right with him. Not one bit. Because as much as he liked being right and accusing everyone of what they did wrong, he had his own share of wrongs and his family was still there, accepting him. And he wasn’t appreciating it in the tiniest bit. 

But he would. Now. He’d start right this goddamn second and he wouldn’t stop. Because he would be nowhere without his family—his brothers and pretending as if he was alone was stopping right fucking now. 

“You’re right. Fuck, you’re right,” he mumbled, gathering the courage to look Timmy in the eyes. “I’m sorry,” 

Tim’s brows rose up in surprise. “What?” 

“I’m sorry, Timmy,” he said and grabbed his little brother by the shoulder. “I was wrong. I was. I let my anger toward Bruce reflect on you. All of you but you shouldered most of it. And you didn’t deserve it. Any of it. I shouldn’t have done that. And I’m sorry,” 

He looked like he was going to reply but Jason didn’t give him the chance. His apology wasn’t done yet. “You did nothing wrong. From the start. I was the one who got it all wrong. You wrong. What you were trying to do, what you wanted. It was shitty of me to act like I did, especially after how nice you’ve been. I know it’s taken a long while to get it through my thick head, but, I will try to be better. I will be nice, just as you have been, like you deserve it, Timmy. And—And I will take you to that burger place as soon as we get out of this fucking shit. And many more places. Anywhere,”  

A tiny smile appeared on Tim’s lips. He looked like he was trying to fight it but he ended up beaming a grin. “Well, that’s nice to hear,” 

“What is?” 

He smirked. “That you know that you have a thick head,” 

“Fuck off,” Jason scoffed and shoved him but they were both laughing. “So, that’s a yes?” 

“A yes to what?” 

Jason rolled his eyes. “A fresh start?” 

His brother smiled. “Yeah. I’d like that,” 

Dick tried following the conversation between the two Shadowhunters after Magnus Bane left. The two seemed close. So close that they almost knew what the other one was thinking and most of the stuff they said was left mid-sentence. 

Kinda like us. All four of us. 

Alec glanced at him before leaning toward Jace. “You sure they could be trusted?” 

Dick furrowed his brows at that. “Dude, if I wanted to kill any of you, I could have done so easily. Many times,” 

Alec squinted as he looked at him from top to down. “I find that very hard to believe,” 

“Alec,” Jace patted his shoulder, “They’re good. Trust me,” 

“Fine,” he gutted through his teeth after a moment. 

Dick just decided to let go. He knew trust wasn’t earned easily. And on top of everything, he didn’t want to go to all that trouble to make this guy trust him when there was a very high chance they’d never see each other again. “How will Magnus get in touch with us?” 

“I’ll let you know,” Alec replied, his tone a bit harsh. 

Deciding this was likely going to end in a spat, he turned to Jace. “Is there any way we can find out where Damian has stormed off to? You’re sure he can’t leave, right?” 

“There are guards at the door. I’d be notified if he left,” he replied. “He’s somewhere in the Institute,” 

“Oh, okay. Cool. Uhm, I’m sorry for the way he acted. Said those things. He, uh, he sometimes doesn’t know where to stop,” 

Jace shrugged. “Honestly? Not the worst insult I’ve gotten. But, that’s a little dude with a lot of anger,” 

Alec snorted. “Sounds like someone else I know,” 

“Shut up,” 

Dick half-smiled. “Yeah. We’re working on it but it takes a long time to teach him how to get past his anger. Anyway, the things he said, to you, to the other guys. I’m sorry on his behalf,” 

“It’s okay. I don’t mind it. I think Izzy even likes him,” 

“What?” 

“What?” Alec turned to him too, with surprise. 

“Yeah,” Jace mumbled, a slight frown. “I think, somehow, he reminds him of Max,”

“Oh,” Alec replied, his lips twitching. 

Dick caught how sour it turned the two of them. He decided whoever this Max was, was a touchy subject. He decided to change the subject. “So, since you guys are helping us, is there anything I could help you with? Just as a thanks,” 

“We don’t need your help,” Alec said. 

Jace looked between the two of them. “What he means is, since you can’t wield the Angel blades, you can’t be much help. Besides, there isn’t anything to do. Maybe you should get some rest,” 

Sleep? Even a few hours? That sounds fucking fantastic. 

“I should get the others too. They haven’t slept in hours,” 

“They went out to eat with Izzy and Simon. The little guy is somewhere in the Institute. Get some sleep, Dick,” 

Alec turned to him. “We’ll look after them,” 

Defeated, he nodded. “Okay,” 

Damian awoke from his nap. 

After storming off, he found himself in a hall with lots of rooms. They all seemed unoccupied. The closets and wardrobes were empty, there was nothing on the desks. The shelves weren’t filled and full of dust. He was positive no one was staying there. Or hadn’t stayed there for a long time. 

He figured this was for the other Shadowhunters that traveled and needed a place to stay the guys told them about. Guessing he was traveling and needed a place to crash, he saw no trouble taking one of them for the moment. Sure, he wasn’t a Shadowhunter. He was still inside the Institute though. 

He didn’t know exactly how long he slept for but the headache he had before was gone so he guessed he got a few good hours. In their situation, it was the best he could have gotten, honestly. 

He was also sure nothing of importance had happened when he was sleeping. He overheard Todd and Drake going out with one of the couples. And Grayson had wandered off with the other Shadowhunters to what Damian was sure to do something unimportant. 

He got out of the bed and walked out. The place was silent. And, although, he initially hadn’t realized how big the building was, his little tours had shown him. He was sure unless a bomb went off or something equally vocal, he probably wouldn’t have heard it. Or know if something was happening. 

Thoughts crept up to him. What if something had happened and he just didn’t witness it because he was away? This place was huge. How could he have heard it if the magic guy returned and told them where Faust was? 

So, he decided to wander around on his own. To see if the others were back. To see if Grayson had any updates. To see if there were any news on Faust. 

The mission had gone too much out of hand, too fast. They were in an another world. Dimension. Reality. Whatever the fuck it was. Sure, all kinds of abnormalities happened in his world. His grandfather had cheated death many times, there were aliens and meta-humans and all sorts of crazy lunatics running around. And, he, technically, knew that the Multiverse existed. He just didn’t think he’d get to travel it. He didn’t think this would all come here. This was a whole another level and everything had gone crazy and there was still a mission to accomplish. 

And it didn’t even cover the chaos of dilemmas he was having internally. It had been his decision to stay with his Father. It had been his decision to leave the life his mother and grandfather raised him in. He didn’t want to continue the path they drew for him. At least, with his father, he had freedom. To make his own choices, to decide his own path. He was allowed that. And he wanted that. He didn’t regret his decision. In fact, he even liked living with his father. It had been hard at first, because he had been pushed to do so. Damian didn’t want to be with his father at first. He wanted to be with his mother in avenging his grandfather. But, with time, he realized he wanted it. It turned out that what he didn’t want was the best thing that happened to him. He liked being with Bruce, he liked living in Gotham and carrying out his father’s mission. He liked being Robin. 

He even liked picking on Grayson and Drake. However, liking them… He wasn’t sure about that. Not completely. His first introduction to Grayson hadn’t been the best. Not that it went great with the rest of them. He didn’t even want to think about Todd and all he represented. All of them were his predecessors. A constant reminder that maybe, just maybe, Bruce didn’t need him. He liked throwing around the fact that he was the blood son. Because he needed to say it. He needed to remind everyone and himself. Because there was a tiny voice inside his head that said although the others weren’t the blood sons, he had chosen them. He wanted them. He needed them. And, for Damian, it just wasn’t the same. 

So, how could it be expected of him to like those other three when they posed the biggest threat standing between him and his father? 

Damian knew he had to prove it. Prove himself. Prove himself worthy that, even though he wasn’t initially wanted, he was a great asset. Better than the rest. That he deserved it. Deserved being wanted and needed. Deserved being the blood son. Up to the name. Because he had to be. 

And this mission. It was a big one. It was already a great opportunity to prove himself worthy but it got even more so as it got messier. Perhaps the biggest his father ever assigned them. 

Damian wanted—no, needed , it to be accomplished. Perfectly. To show his father that even though he didn’t want him like the others, Damian deserved to be wanted, that he was worth all of that. It all hung on the outcome of this mission and he needed to be the one to finish it. It all hung to him. 

To be honest, it didn’t help his mood much that so far, the mission only went downhill. 

But, if he took charge, if he ended up being the one who caught Faust and returned the object… Yes. That would show everyone. To his predecessors, to his father. Show his worth. Show he shouldn’t be undermined. Show he was better. 

Not only better but also that he didn’t deserve all this disrespect. He wasn’t stupid. He knew because of their history, he was the outsider. He always felt like the outsider. But that didn’t matter. Not anymore. Because, if he finished the mission, if he was the one to do what those three couldn’t do together, he’d show them. 

Show them what they missed out. Showed them that they needed him. Showed them that he was better. Show them how it felt like the be left out. Because—Because his father would praise him, in front of them. For once, it would be him getting all the praise and the love and they’d be sidelined, watching. 

If he was the one to finish the mission, he’d get everything he wanted and—

Damian’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard the commotion. His interest piqued, he immediately followed them. The sounds were coming from some part of the building he hadn’t been to before. 

Not waiting or needing an invitation, he walked inside. It looked like an armory of sorts. Everyone was there and alarmed. Grayson, Drake, and Todd were in their suits, standing in the corner. “What’s going on?” 

No one answered him. No one even spared him a glance. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. 

Jace was giving orders. “We do it like how we always do. Me, Alec, and Izzy. Simon, you’re with Clary. You take the left,” 

He took a deep breath. “What’s happening?” he asked, louder this time. 

Simon turned to him. “Demon attack. Downtown. We’re responding,” 

Finally. Something I can get my hands on. 

“Cool. When do we leave?” he asked, touching the hilt of his sword. 

“No,” Alec responded, turning to him. “No, no, no. You’re staying here,” 

He furrowed his brows. “Who the fuck do you think you are to order me around?” 

“Damian,” Grayson called out. “This is not our job,” 

Before he could respond, or do anything, really, another portal opened up inside the room and Magnus Bane walked inside. Everyone turned to him. “Is something wrong?” Alec asked. 

“The ley lines. I felt energy being drawn,” 

Grayson’s posture changed. “Faust?” 

Magnus nodded. “Yes,” 

Alec sighed. “Jace and I can handle the demons. The rest should go with you,” 

Grayson shook his head. “You guys have your own responsibilities. We don’t know what will happen. For all I know, we’ll get zapped somewhere else. You can’t leave this place defenseless,” 

“Alec’s right,” Jace muttered. “I told you we’re helping you. And we will,” 

“Look,” Magnus interrupted, “We don’t have much time to debate. Faust is still drawing power. Any longer, he’ll be as powerful as he was in your world. Time is of the essence,” 

Grayson turned to Jace. A silent conversation went between them. “You go do your job. And we’ll do ours,” 

It was a goodbye. Unless they lost Faust, again, they were leaving this world. Everyone knew it. 

“Okay,” Jace breathed out. “Good luck,” 

“Thanks. It was nice to meet you,” Drake smiled. 

“You too! You guys made my dream come true!” Simon grinned. 

“It was nice while it lasted and—”

Damian couldn’t take it anymore. Magnus just said time was of the essence. “If your chit-chat is over, we need to go, idiots. Now,” 

“Right on cue,” Todd muttered. 

Magnus rolled his eyes and started opening up another portal. With one last glance, the Shadowhunters left. What is this? A fucking TV show? 

Damian didn’t care. There was only one thing on his mind. He had a mission to accomplish. Alone. If the others were fine with making friends and doing sentimental shit, so be it. He had a mission. And he was going to do it. 

With that in mind, he walked through the portal. 

Dick was the next one to walk through the portal. Damian didn’t look like he had the mind to behave and he needed to keep him in line. 

The portal took him to a street. It was now nighttime. With a quick sweep, he determined no possible witnesses were around. He couldn’t see anyone, it didn’t look like the upper floors of the buildings were used for living and all the stores were closed. Which was good. There’d be no distractions. 

He had no idea what these ley lines looked like or if he’d even be able to spot them. After all, he was human. As he heard the others coming through he now started searching for Damian. He was nowhere in sight. 

“Where is he?” Jason muttered. 

Tim pointed to their left. “I think that’s him,” 

They all turned there. It was dark but he was used to the dark. He spotted Damian’s figure in the shadows. He was crouched down. He was observing. 

“Do you think he has a lead or…” Tim drifted off. 

Jason snickered. “Being a pain in the ass as usual?” 

“Shut up,” he sighed. 

He didn’t have the energy for this, not now. It was already enough that Damian seemed determined to do as he pleased. They needed a plan. More, they needed to stick together. All of this was unknown territory. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if they got zapped somewhere else and the group separated. How else they’d find their way back home then? 

“Let’s go,” he murmured and started moving silently on his feet. 

The two followed him and they walked over to where Damian was hiding. He was watching the alley. As they got close, he spotted the colorful mist-like things in the air. And someone standing next to them, palms inside the mist. Those must be the ley lines. Hey, I can see them. 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that someone was Faust. A plan started forming in his mind. “Damian,” he whispered. 

He glanced back at them and his brows were furrowed. Wait. Is he angry that we’re here? Why the fuck is that now? 

But, before he could get a chance to ask, Damian bolted from his spot and went into the alley. “Damian!” he hissed as quietly as he could. 

“What the fuck is he doing?” Tim asked. “He’s gonna blow our cover,” 

Jason took out his gun. “I think that’s past us now, Timmy,” 

Because, as silent as Damian tried to be, he left the light behind him. His shadow fell over the alley and Faust caught it. He turned around and sent an energy blast toward him. 

Dick didn’t even think as he moved. Damian was making his way forward, avoiding attacks but as he got closer, so did the blasts. Dick saw it happen in his mind so he forced his body to go faster. And right as the last blast was about to hit Damian, he pulled him back and jumped in front of him. 

He tried using his escrima sticks to soften the blow but he got hit and tumbled onto his back. The blast hit his chest and it immobilized him for a moment. Something excruciatingly hot erupted inside his chest and spread all over his body. 

“Dick!” 

One moment later, Damian was standing over him. “Idiot. Fucking idiot—”

“—Look out!” he exclaimed when he saw Faust aiming another blast. He tried pulling Damian out of the way but he wasn’t strong enough. Then, a blue shield appeared behind Damian and the blast hit it. 

He followed Damian and turned his head. He saw Magnus standing at the entry of the alley. Jason and Tim were by his side. Magnus lifted one hand, blue mist covering it. Right. Magic. Nice. 

“I heard there was a wizard in town. Figured introductions were in order,” he said. Then, he started attacking Faust. 

Good. That’s good. While Magnus keeps him busy and hopefully drowns out the power Faust stole I could—Fuck. Fuck it hurts. We could do something. I guess. 

“Fuck,” he mumbled when he realized Damian wasn’t by his side anymore. He must have thought the same thing he did and decided to join the fight. 

In the next breath, Tim and Jason were next to him, pulling him away from the fight and on his feet. “Fuck. Fuck, Dick. You good?” 

“Yeah,” he let out. “Go. Find Damian,” 

“When I get my fucking hands on him—” Jason hissed. 

“—No,” he said. “Just find him. And stop Faust. I—I’ll join you in a minute,” 

Tim was looking at him with those big eyes of his. “Are you sure?” 

He forced out a smile he hoped was genuine enough. “Yeah. Sure,” 

Dick tried catching his breath. He tried his limbs. They felt numb when he was hit but he was starting to get back the sensation. While he waited, his eyes roamed his surroundings. Damian was nowhere to be seen. Despite the colors of the Robin suit, he had disappeared. 

Jason and Tim had joined Magnus. Faust was fighting all three of them. And he was having trouble keeping up with it. Dick smiled as he pulled himself up and managed to sit down against the wall. Faust’s beams didn’t seem as powerful as the one he got hit with. The time period between him producing the beams had increased. 

His chest still hurt. He had trouble when he breathed in and out. But, the second he felt like he could stand up, he shot up to his feet and grabbed his weapons from the ground. He started moving to where the fight was. 

As Faust started hitting Magnus with a long beam, he raised his other hand and elevated Tim and knocked him into Jason. His brothers fell over each other and Magnus was focusing on his shield. 

Dick saw an opening. He also saw Damian. Finally. He was over on the roof. He had seen the same opening. He landed on the ground and behind Faust. Dick was on the other side. 

Faust sent another blast at Dick. This time, his block worked and he didn’t feel a thing. At that same time, Damian kicked him from behind. 

“Damian,” he hissed. “Why are you acting like such a brat?” 

He didn’t listen—or answer, for that matter. He kicked Faust again when he tried to get up. 

“Hey!” Dick exclaimed. 

On the ground, Faust lifted his hands and sent out other blasts. Dick managed to avoid it but Damian was over it so he got hit. He got thrown into the air and then tossed on the wall. 

Hoping that was the last of his energy, Dick grabbed Faust. He turned him over on the floor and bind his hands at his back. “Stand down!” 

“Got him!” Jason said as he rushed and then knelt next to him. He took out some rope from his jacket and started tying his hands. Seriously, how many things does he carry in that jacket of his? 

As Tim and Magnus joined them, Damian got back up and made his way back, fuming. Great . Just what we needed right now. And a moment later, they were all standing over Faust. His eyes went between them and he sighed out in defeat. 

“Don’t fucking try anything,” Jason said as he finished the knot and gave it a hard tug.

Magnus flashed a grin. “All in a day’s work. Seems my job is done, children. You’re welcome,” 

“Uh, thanks. Sir,” Tim let out. He looked confused. He almost bowed. 

Dick decided to step in. “Thank you for your help. We couldn’t have located him without you,” 

“Right. You couldn’t. All I do seems to be to help out pretty boys,” he sighed and moved his wrist and another portal opened up behind him. “Farewell,” 

With him gone, Dick grabbed the remote of the worlogog from Faust. “Alright. All we gotta do now is to figure out how this works. Then we can go home,” 

“Ah, is that it? Easy peasy,” Jason rolled his eyes. 

He didn’t even answer as he started analyzing the object. It didn’t seem like there were any buttons or a touchpad or anything. It seemed he needed to up his skills on magical objects. 

“Sucks that Magnus left this soon, huh?” Tim said as he stepped next to him, his eyes on the remote. “Maybe he could have figured out a way,” 

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Let’s go back to the street. Maybe better lighting will help,” 

As they started walking toward the lights, he heard Jason getting Faust up. “Move,” 

“Wait!” Damian said loudly. “This isn’t it. This is too easy,” 

“Oh, you shut the fuck up!” Jason hissed. 

“Guys—”

“—Are you all out of your minds? We beat him way too easily. He must be planning something,” Damian said, pointing at Faust. 

Jason pushed Faust toward Tim who caught him and then walked over to Damian. “Listen to me you little shit, you’re lucky I didn’t empty out this gun. What the fuck were you doing? You let Dick get hit!”

“He shouldn’t have jumped in. I was more than equipped to protect myself,” 

“Bullshit!” Jason grabbed him by his suit. “You’re a fucking brat. You would have been hit if it wasn’t for him and it could have killed him. You could have fucking killed him you little devil and—”

“—Oh, like you fucking do back in the city, you two-faced—”

Dick stepped in between them. “Stop. Fucking stop!” 

“But—”

“But—”

“—I don’t care. Stop. Stand down. That’s an order. We’re going to talk about this later,” 

When he was sure both of them could behave—or hoped that they at least would behave, he took a step back. He started walking back toward the light and stopped in front of the electronics store. Combined with the street light, it was the most luminous spot. 

Dick was about to lose it. It got harder to breathe with each one he took in. He kept rolling the remote in his hand like a magical button would appear. Or a solution would hit him miraculously. Damian was breathing in and out angrily. Jason was glaring at him. 

Then, it happened, all too fast. 

Faust broke free of the ropes and opted for the remote. Dick took a step back and moved his hand away but his body was hurting and the remote went flying from his grip. 

Damian was fast on his feet and grabbed it. And as he touched back on the ground, Faust lunged at him. So did the others. He grabbed Damian by the shoulders. Dick realized all five of them were tangled up in each other and they were tumbling on their feet. 

Damian crashed through the window of the electronic store. The glass shattered and Dick closed his eyes. They passed through and he waited to hit the ground. He didn’t. 

Instead, the same blinding light erupted and they fell through. 

His shoulder hit the ground a minute later. His head was dizzy. He opened his eyes to see that they were on another street. It was still night. There were suburban houses around. 

“You nasty children!” Faust roared. He lifted both hands and aimed at them. 

Dick was still on the ground but his brothers weren’t. They all got knocked down to their asses. He hoped that was the last of the magic Faust had stolen. He thought so because the beam was powerful enough to knock all of them down. 

Not sparing a moment, Faust immediately rushed over to Damian, pulled the remote harshly, and then started running. He got lost in the shadows.

“Fuck!” Jason hit the ground. “Fuck! Again? Fucking again and now this? FUCK!” 

“Quiet,” Dick rolled over, got on his knees, and turned to Damian. “Did he get it? The remote?” 

Tim was already back up on his feet. “I saw him. He headed toward the trees,” 

“Great. Fucking amazing. Cherry on fucking top!” Jason hissed.  

Damian sat up with a groan and looked at him. “No. He didn’t,” As all three turned to him, he brought his hand back and took something out. “Just before we slipped through, I grabbed the prop remote for the TV. I hid the real thing. Gave Faust the fake,” 

“Well,” he breathed out with relief, “At least we have that,” 

Damian sniffed. “Yeah. Like I keep saying, I’m not a fucking idiot,” 

“You’ve got some nerve,” Jason snarled. 

“Uhm, guys?” Tim let out, “I think we have a big problem,” 

Damian gave him a glare. “Which one?” 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Yeah? The fact that we got zapped. Again,” 

“No, no, no,” Tim gulped. He pointed at the house he was looking at. “I know this house,” 

Dick tried getting up. A sharp pain bolted through his chest so he decided against that and sat back down on the ground. Cool, no then. “So?” 

“Uh, I… I’m not exactly sure how to put it,” 

Damian slipped his hand through his hair. “Then figure it out, now,” 

“Shut up,” Jason hissed. 

Tim sighed. “I think we got zapped into a TV show,” 

Chapter Text

Tim sighed. “I think we got zapped into a TV show,” 

“Huh? Come again?” Jason asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, uh, it’s this show that Cassie likes and we watched a few episodes together and—”

“—Guys?” Dick let out. His head started pounding and let alone sitting up, he could barely keep his eyes open. 

“—Fuck, so it’s some fucking teen cringe shit?” Jason mouthed off. 

Tim was rolling his eyes. “—Let’s not be that rash, that quickly. It sucks now but it used to be good and anyway, I mean, this is supposed to be good, right? This is fictional, must be, so, uhm, I don’t know. Maybe we could send a signal to the real world or something. Maybe Bruce could—”

“—GUYS!” he gritted through his teeth. “I don’t—”

“Grayson!” Damian exclaimed. 

Jason had to stop listening Timmy blab about the possibilities then. He turned and for a moment, his heart stopped. Dick was laying on the ground. Unconscious. Both he and Tim bolted. 

Little devil was already next to Dick. Jason grabbed him by his hood and pulled him away. More like threw it. He was at his limit with the kid right about now. 

“Dick!” he shouted, checking his breathing. It was weak but it was there. “Dick, come on, man! Come on!” 

Tim looked at him with widened eyes. “We—We need to help him,” 

“I know that!” he spat.

“His heart is beating,” Damian said from behind. 

Jason turned to him, ready to start a fight. “Shut the fuck up,” 

“Did—Did you see where exactly he got hit?” Timmy asked. 

“I don’t know. Chest? Ribs? Upper body and, shit. Okay, okay. We need a fucking plan,” 

Jason was panicking. He didn’t know what to do. One thing he knew? This wasn’t supposed to happen. The mission had gotten out of hand, a fucking lot. But, this? Something like this? Fuck no. He wasn’t ready. Wasn’t ready to lose, wasn’t ready for… This was Dick. Dick always knew what to do. But he wasn’t himself right now to tell Jason what to do. 

He pulls through, Jason chanted to himself. He always pulls through.

It was always there since he was resurrected. Always there at the back of his mind. Telling him things, giving him ideas that didn’t used to be there before. He tried not listening to it. He failed, a few times. 

Wasn’t this what you wanted? To be a leader? Your own leader? Making it up with him means you lose your freedom. Here’s your chance. Take it. 

He shook his head, trying to make the voice go away. No. Not like this. Not at the expense of Dick. 

“Tim,” he breathed out. “You—You said you knew the show, right? There must be some place we can go. Tend to Dick. Get some help,” 

Timmy looked tense. “Jason… I—I don’t know man. Don’t even fuıcking know what season this is. I—I… My brain’s not fucking working, man,” 

“Then fucking think, Tim. Now,” 

Dick was currently out. He was their leader. He kept them together throughout this madness. Even against Jason and Satan Junior. And he needed to make it, damn it. Jason wasn’t ready to take his place. He didn’t want that. He just wanted his big brother up. He swore, he wouldn’t even make fun behind his back. He just wanted Dick back. 

They couldn’t do this without him. 

“Uh, uhm, okay, okay. I—Shit. Okay. There—There is a place. A bunker. I don’t know if it’s occupied or not, but, uhm, it’s secluded. One entrance only. Easy to guard, away from people,” 

Jason nodded. “Okay. Great. Where?” 

“Uh,” Tim turned to the woods, “In the forest. Hidden,” 

“Well, can you find it?” 

Tim furrowed his brows. “I could try,” 

“Can you carry Dick there?” 

Timmy got even more confused. “What are you thinking?” 

“He’s going to need some help. Supplies. Even if it’s fictional, this place must have a hospital, right? Or a pharmacy or something?” 

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” 

“Good,” Jason rose to his feet. Turned to Damian. “You are with me,” 

Tim grabbed Dick’s body and lifted him on his back. “How—How will you find us?” 

“Just leave traces. We’ll pick it up,” 

“No,” Damian shook his head. “I want to stay with Grayson. Besides, Faust—”

Jason couldn’t help it. He marched over to the pocket devil. “Listen to me little shit, this is your fault. I’ve had it with you. And since Dick’s down, I’m the oldest so you fucking listen to me. You caused this so you’re gonna help me get the fucking supplies to help Dick, okay?” he spat. “I don’t give a shit about Faust. Not right now. You shouldn’t either,” 

“But—But—”

“—No fucking buts. I’m at my limit, Damian,” 

Tim sighed. “We have the controller anyway. Knowing Faust, he’ll probably hide and recharge. We should be good. For at least a couple of hours,” 

Damian looked between them with furrowed brows. “Fine,” he said after a moment, “Don’t keep the bossy attitude, Todd. It’s not going to work with me and you’ll be sorry,” 

“—Look here you—”

“—GUYS!” Tim exclaimed. “Dick. Dick’s the matter. Not fighting, okay?” 

Fuck. Right. Timmy’s right. We need to help Dick first. After he wakes up and goes back to being our middle school teacher, then I’ll let this little shit know his place. 

Jason shook his head. “Let’s go. Now,” 

It couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes and he already hated everything about this place. Everything looked so fucking outdated. It was so fucking boring. At least, there was no one in the streets. He thought that was good. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with fucking bystanders. 

Jason actually had no idea what time it was. Or if they were even going in the right direction. The town didn’t feel like it was all that big. Where was the damn hospital? If they had some kind of radio or any kind of communication device like they would have back home, he’d split with the troublemaker. 

It sucked that he needed to keep an eye on him. Because that was what Dick would have wanted. And— Fuck, nope. Not going there. Dick’s gonna pull through.

They were crossing the streets quickly. Jason was in the front. At least the little shit was following after him. And keeping his mouth shut for a damn change. 

The problem was that Jason couldn’t. If they were back home, he could list at least a dozen million things to do to help Dick. But they weren’t. They weren’t home. They were in this fucking strange place, fucking getting zapped from reality to reality and Faust was just being a fucking asshole in general. He didn’t know if the hit was critical. Magic was unpredictable on its own enough. And Faust had used those fucking ley lines or whatever it was from the previous world and Jason couldn’t help but think if it did something more to Dick. 

Magic wasn’t some shit to be trifled with easily. He knew it best. After all, he was one of the very few numbered people who messed with it and actually beat it. Lazarus Pits were no fucking joke. Damn them, damn Talia Al-Ghul, and fucking damn Batman. 

But, no. No. He couldn’t get into any of that now. He had a task at hand. Potentially life or death. He needed to make sure Dick was okay first. 

So, in order not to think, even if it was the rageful chihuahua, he was fucking rambling. 

“—Who would fucking paint their building in this fucking shade? For fuck’s sake. Fucking idiots, all together. Is there no city planner in this damn place? I mean, it’s a tv show, right? Timmy said so. Those shitshows do have planners and shit, don’t they? Why would they pick such an ugly yellow? Seriously. Idiots. It looks even worse now that the sun dried out the color. It’s easy, fucking easy, and… Where the fuck is the hospital? Why are there no fucking signs? What kind of a town is this? Not even a shitty pharmacy? Really—”

Damian sighed, loudly. “Maybe we’re in the set. That’s why it’s empty,” 

Jason gave him a glare. “Does this fucking look like an empty movie set to you?” 

“Hey,” he shrugged, “Don’t ask me questions if you don’t want me to answer them, Todd,”

Jason muttered a curse under his breath. He needed to stay on his feet, his mind on the mission or else he would add the little shit to his list of people he murdered and that would simply not be it. “What even is the name of the show?” 

“Doofus Time,” 

“Ha-ha. Funny,” 

“What? Drake watches it. What else can it be?” 

“How about shut-the-fuck-up-a-polis?” 

Damian shook his head. “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer. Would be a shame to my IQ,” 

“You just did, little devil,” he muttered as they turned a corner. 

And, even if Jason didn’t know where they were exactly or anything else, he recognized the sign. Thank God pharmacies had the same sign everywhere. Multiverse included, apparently. 

“Yes!” he let out and fastened his steps even more. 

He stopped in front of it and checked if anyone was in there. The lights were all out. He quickly looked around and saw that the street was empty. There were no cameras and shit too. Not that he cared. He would break into anywhere right about now to save Dick. Wow, picture me surprised. This town that popped out of a fifties fantasy doesn’t have surveillance. 

“Okay, genius. What’s the plan?” Satan Junior asked, crossing his arms. 

“The plan, shithead,” Jason smiled at him, “Is simple. Just follow after me,” 

Then, he lifted his arm and smashed the glass on the door with his elbow. As Damian’s face twisted into fury, Jason simply reached through the smashed pieces and unlocked the door. 

“Old people used to be so fucking stupid,” 

“What the fuck are you think you’re doing?” the chaotic squirrel started to have a rage fit, as in his nature. “Todd, I swear, do not make me an accomplice in another felony! Auto theft first and now breaking and entering? Stealing? What’s next?” 

Jason shook his head, sighing. “Aren’t you the assassin? Are you really lecturing me about lawfulness?” 

“I am Robin,” he seethed. “Keeping the law is my job now,” 

He grinned. “What a coincidence. Breaking it is my job now,” 

“TODD—”

“—Shut up, kid,” he spat, currently very annoyed. “I’m not doing this for myself. Or have you forgotten?” 

That got him to shut up indeed. Very quickly. 

“This is because of you. Trust me, I wouldn’t want to be doing this right now either. Not that I care but… It’s for Dick. He needs this shit. So, shut up and do as I tell you,” 

There was a backdoor but Jason was sure it was probably for storage. He could look there later but he was also sure he could find the stuff they’d need here too. After all, this wasn’t his first time tending to injuries. He knew what would be needed. 

“Try to be useful, Damian. Find the aid kit. There should be one somewhere,” 

The little devil glared at him as he walked inside and started looking around. Jason didn’t mind. He was used to it. Doing a mental list of all the shit they needed, he started moving. 

I think we’re lost , Damian thought to himself as he and Todd kept wandering the woods. 

This was pointless. It was dark, there was nothing to be seen. Not even Drake’s supposed traces. Because there was none. At least, none that Damian could see. 

It had been over an hour since they parted. And he had this feeling in his gut. He didn’t like it. It grew heavier inside of him. It made his fingertips tingle. Made him feel like he could actually feel his heart beat very close to his skin. 

What was this? 

He was carrying the aid kit. Todd had found an empty bag (more like dropped everything inside to the ground) and filled it with drugs and medical equipment. As before, he was hurrying in front of him. 

For some reason, Damian didn’t feel like snapping at him. Or Drake. He didn’t want to humiliate them with his clearly superior intelligence. He didn’t want to let out snarky comment after snarky comment, getting on their nerves. He realized, he wouldn’t even mind it if they ganged up on him, shouted at him, called him names. 

What… What is this I’m feeling? Worry? Remorse?... Guilt? Why do I feel guilty? 

He stopped. He couldn’t move. It was like his body had stopped responding to his instructions. 

Todd realized that he stopped. “What are you doing, Damian? We need to hurry,” 

“I—I can’t,” 

“What?” he exclaimed. 

It was hard but Damian managed to turn to him. His eyes hurt as the wind blew past him. His vision got blurry. Wait, he was teary? Why? 

“Come on, kid,” Todd sighed. “This isn’t the time for your drama queen moments,” 

Damian’s bottom lip trembled. I know. I know that. We don’t have time. Enough has passed already and—and… “Do—Do you think…”

“Do I think what?”

“That—That Grayson… Grayson is…”

“NO!” he said loudly and marched back to him. He threw his bag to the floor and grabbed Damian by the suit. “No. He will be fine. Okay? Dick will be just fine,” 

He met his eyes. Saw fear there. The kind he had only witnessed once before. Inside his father’s eyes. Fear of losing. 

Damian gulped, something sitting at his throat. Made everything uncomfortable. “Faust—”

“—Don’t fucking name that asshole—”

“—Faust, you… you don’t think he hurt Grayson that bad. Right, Todd?” 

Jason stopped. His eyes widened and he let him go. “Shit,” he muttered. “You—”

“—I really am responsible,” Damian said. He was saying it more to himself, really. Oh, no. What had he done? All he wanted was to carry out the mission, finish it successfully and show everyone. But how could he have done that if he got Grayson killed? “I did this. I… I am guilty,”

It hit him. What his Father had been trying to say. How wrong it actually was to believe in something so fiercely to ignore everything else. Damian had seen an end-goal to himself and he hadn’t cared about anything else. How on Earth would that ever gain him his Father’s respect? Or anyone else’s?

“Shit,” Todd repeated. “Damian, look—”

He shook his head. “—Did I get Grayson killed? Did I—”

“—SHUT UP!” Todd shouted. “You didn’t get him fucking killed. I won’t allow it. I won’t fucking—” he halted and took a deep breath. “Look, listen. I… I may have gone—gone a bit rough on—on you. But, but Dick’s going to be fine. Okay, Damian? He’s going to be just fine. You’ll see. He’ll start mother hening again and ruin all the fun. Like he always does,” 

I hope so. I really, really, really, hope so. 

“But, in order to do that, we gotta go. We gotta go now, okay?” 

“Okay,” he muttered, nodding. 

“Good,” Todd said, patting his shoulder. “Let’s go,” 

It took them around ten minutes more of searching but they finally saw something worthwhile. It looked like a well, sort of. One of Drake’s Birdarang’s attached to it. 

Birdarang. What a stupidly fitting name. Fuck. No. Not now, Damian. 

Todd rushed over there and started rounding the thing and getting it open. “Timmy?” he called down. “You down there?” 

“Yes!” came Drake’s reply. “Hurry!” 

The first thing Damian realized as they climbed down the ladder was how bad it smelled. It looked like the place wasn’t being ventilated well. There could be a water source nearby because it was also moist and clammy at the same time. Somehow. 

Tim was waiting for them at the end of it. “Finally. Beginning to think that—”

“—Not now, Timmy,” Todd interrupted. “Save the lecture after we tend to Dick,” 

Damian watched after them for a while. How they disappeared into the small room at the other end of the hall, in a hurry. He saw them putting the bags over the table and reaching into it. He saw the figure laying down in what seemed like a bed. 

That… That’s Grayson. Laying there. Because of me. Because he protected me. And now he’s hurt. Because of me. 

“Damian!” Drake shouted. “Come. Give us a hand!” 

Once more, he found himself unable to move. Would he be able to handle seeing Grayson like that? Knowing he put him in that position. 

Yes , said that feeling he had in his gut, Because you need to do it.  Help him. However you can. 

Within the next breath, Damian was standing next to the table. Trying his best not to look at Grayson and have this guilt take him over. Todd was kneeling next to the bed, getting the gauge and shit ready while Drake was taking off the suit. 

“What,” he managed to speak, “What can I do?” 

Drake started slipping out instructions. Damian found himself doing them. He didn’t say a word, just did what he was told. His hands were sweaty. No, scratch that. His whole body was in sweat. He even caught his hand trembling twice which was so unlike him. 

He decided not to dwell on it too much for now, for his sake. 

Then, the instructions stopped. Their movements stopped. Todd and Drake stopped. Damian widened his eyes, his heart beating at his mouth. “What—What now?” 

“Now,” Todd breathed out. “We wait,” 

Dick opened his eyes. 

The first thing he felt was the hard surface below him. It felt like a bed but a really old and broken one. The next thing was the smell. If he hadn’t been used to smelling such awful things, he might have gagged. 

He tried moving, straightening up. A jolt of pain shot across his body from his chest, disabling him to move. Oh. Cool. Not doing that, then. 

“Grayson?” 

He turned, he could at least do that. “Damian,” he let out. “Where are we? What happened? What—”

“—Grayson! You’re awake!” Damian shot up to his feet from the chair. “Todd! Drake! Wake up!” 

Wait. Had Damian watched over him? That was surprising. And touching. 

“Dick?” Jason said and a moment later he saw him walk out of the shadows, his hair all tangled up. “Dude, fucking finally,” 

Dick forced out a smile. It was obvious all of them had been worried. “Sorry. You know how I need my beauty sleep,” 

“Fuck, man,” Jason huffed, smiling. He was standing over the bed. 

From the side of his eye, he saw Timmy getting up from the ground. How many more times do I need to lecture Tim not to sleep on the floors? Especially during missions? “Dick. I’m totally killing you when you’re all healed up,” he breathed out, “You took at least ten years of my life,” 

“Hey, we’re even now,” he smirked and reached for him. “Okay, help me sit up,” 

Tim came over to him and helped him. His chest was bandaged. As he settled into the position, he focused on his breathing and not the pain erupting in his body. “Okay. Tell me what happened,” 

“Let me take a look first,” Tim responded. 

Tim had spent enough time around Alfred. He knew how to get his way, particularly in these kinds of situations. Dick knew he had no choice. “Sure,” 

Jason and Damian were watching very carefully. As Tim did the check and Damian handed him stuff that Dick had no idea came from, Jason was pacing the room. 

“How bad is it?” 

“I don’t know,” Tim murmured. “Obviously, we couldn’t get a scan or something. But, my guess, it wasn’t his usual hits. You know how they feel like. This,” he breathed out, “Doesn’t look like it,”

Dick looked down at his chest. There was a red mark over him. It looked like lightning. Starting from the middle and spreading all over. Made sense why even the smallest movement hurt. 

“It did feel like getting struck by lightning,” he mumbled. 

Jason tilted his head. “Must be those ley lines Magnus said. They must have charged him extra,” 

“Maybe. We could get it properly checked out when we get home,” 

“Yeah. About that,” Dick said. “Tell me what I missed. Last thing I remember you said we were in a TV show?” 

Tim smiled as he nodded. “Yeah, about that… You’re not gonna believe this,” 

“That’s an understatement,” Jason rolled his eyes. 

Dick furrowed his brows. “Wait. We’re really in a TV show? I wasn’t hallucinating?” 

“No,” 

“Shit,” 

“I—I mean, I think we’re in a TV show,” Tim explained. “The place looks familiar. Besides this place, the bunker, it exists. Because it existed in the show and that’s how I found it. We haven’t run into any characters so I don’t exactly know the setting but, yeah,” 

Dick took a moment to think. “Hmm. Okay. We fell through that electronics shop. Is it possible we fell through the TV?” 

“Yes,” Damian replied. “I crashed into it,” 

“Man. Talk about breaking the fourth wall,” Tim grinned. 

“Right,” he murmured. “Let’s get back to the point, though. What else do we know?” 

Jason snorted. “Ah, yes. Not even fully up on your feet and already back to being you, Dickie,” 

Dick overlooked the comment, although he did smile. “What did you find out? Or did you even find out anything? Anything on Faust? Or the controller?” 

“Faust escaped. Into the same woods this bunker is in. We haven’t run into him. He’s probably hiding, charging back up. We have the controller so this is to our advantage. Another one is that, at least, I think it’s an advantage if we’re not in the later seasons, there’s currently no supernatural taking place in the show. So, no place for him to get a boost,” 

Oh, that’s good. Gives us time to recon, time to rest, and make a decent plan. And also figure out how to use this controller. 

“Great. Now—”

“—Now, we’re not doing anything,” Jason cut in. He turned to his brother with a frown. “You’re injured Dick. You’re staying put. Timmy and I can do what needs to be done, but, you’re on bed rest,” 

“Jason—”

“—No,” he said sternly. “I’d say let’s fight about it but… I’m pretty sure I’m winning this time, Dickie,” 

Tim nodded. “I agree. You need to rest,” 

“Okay,” he breathed out. He knew he couldn’t do much from the bed anyway. “We need information though,” 

Jason tilted his head. “Yeah. Way ahead of you. I slept for a few hours. I’m good to go. Tim?” 

“Yeah, same,” 

“Good. Me and you go out. You seem to know around. We’ll gather info. Find some food and shit,”

Dick nodded. “Okay, I’ll—”

Jason turned to Damian. “Pocket devil. You’re on nurse duty,” 

“Okay,” 

Dick’s eyes widened in shock. What the fuck just happened? Jason just ordered Damian around and he accepted it? Damian just accepted to sit around, basically do nothing while others went out? Damian was fine with watching him? 

What the fuck happened when he got knocked out? 

He was truly shocked. Jason wasn’t being a prick like he usually was—taking responsibility and making rational plans? And Damian was going along with it? He barely followed Dick’s orders. 

I knew they had it in them. They even had it in them to get along, if they wanted to. It seems that way. That’s good, that’s fucking good. At least progress. 

“Timmy. Let’s go,” 

As they got ready and left, Dick took a moment to look around. It was only one room. Very closed, very dim, very small. There was only the hall-looking tip and the ladder. They were underground?

“Where even are we?” 

Damian shrugged, sitting back on the chair. “Drake called it a bunker. Inside the woods. Hidden,” 

“Huh,” he murmured. “Why would a teen show need a secret bunker?” 

“Beats me,”

“Damian—”

“—Are you in any pain?” he asked. “Todd also stole a lot of pills. Painkillers and shit. It’s on the desk,” 

He smiled. “Thanks, Damian. But I’m okay. What about you?” 

“What about me?” 

“You were keeping watch. How long has it been since you slept?” 

Damian sniffed. “I don’t need to rest,” 

“Damian—”

“—No. I’m fine,” he furrowed his brows. “You’re whose not fine, Grayson. You should rest,” 

“Oh, I’m planning on that, buddy. Don’t worry. I’m just asking about you,” 

He huffed. “You did. I’m perfectly fine,” 

“Okay,” 

Dick realized there was something about Damian. He hadn’t just realized it but it looked like something bothered him. Different than how things— things being himself, Jason and Tim—bothered him. 

“Damian,”

“What?” he snapped. 

Dick let out a small smile. “Was just gonna ask for some water. If there is any,” 

“Oh,” he said softly. “Okay,” 

Then, he got up and started looking around. “Todd also grabbed some. Another felony. But I guess it doesn’t matter. It’s supposed to be— Yes. Here,” 

Dick grabbed the bottle and took a sip from it. When he was done, he lifted it toward Damian. He just shook his head. Taking the no, Dick took another sip. He knew he had to be cautious when approaching Damian. Cautious and patient. 

“Why did you do it?” 

“Huh?” he said. “I don’t understand, Damian,”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Why did you do it, Grayson? Why did you take the hit for me?” 

“Why wouldn’t I, Damian?” 

“Exactly! Why would you?” 

Dick pressed his lips together, shaking his head. “Damian, you’re a pain in the ass. But, you’re my pain in the ass. You’re one of us. Of course I took the hit for you,” 

His eyes widened. He guessed with surprise. Wait, he didn’t know? As annoying as he is, we’re a team. All of us. 

“I… I… You still shouldn’t have done it. It was my responsibility. Still is,” 

“Damian—”

“—No. Grayson, you took the hit for me and I’m responsible for that. I’m responsible for you being like this, on that bed right now,” 

Dick shook his head. “Well, here’s what you don’t understand. You’re my responsibility. You, Tim, Jason. All of you. I’d rather have it be me than any of you in this bed. I’m not sweating over it. You shouldn’t either, okay?” 

The kid looked like he had a lot more to say. But he didn’t. He just huffed and went back to his chair. He grabbed his sword, took it out of its sheath, and started sharpening it. 

Dick watched him wordlessly for a while. To say that Damian Wayne was the most interesting and complicated child he had ever met would be one hell of an understatement. He was right though. He wasn’t any thirteen-year-old kid. He was so much more than that. 

And whether or not he was ready to accept it just yet, he was also Dick’s little brother. 

“So,” he mumbled, “Jason figured out all this?” 

“Yeah, pretty much,” Damian responded, his eyes firmly located on the sword. “Surprised me too. Would have thought it’s way above his capacity,” 

“Damian,” he huffed. 

“What? He keeps saying he’s a solo act now. Why shouldn’t I take his word for it?” 

Dick tilted his head. “Because he’s one of us too,”

Damian muttered something under his breath. Dick couldn’t tell what it exactly was. Then, he looked up with an uninterested look. “Just so you know, I don’t know how long this mission is going to last but I refuse to be a part of any more felonies,” 

“Duly noted,” 

Now that Dick was awake and stable, Tim let the fact that they got zapped inside his girlfriend’s favorite TV show get to his head. 

Man. This is so fucking crazy. Scratch anything else, Cassie’s going to lose it and be so fucking jealous when she learns. I’m in Riverdale! Holy shit. If I do make it inside an episode, will she lose it even more? That’d be totally crazy. 

It was still dark outside and they almost reached the city. But Tim could tell that sun was about to come up. And he was fucking excited. What if he ran into the characters? Even better, what if he found himself in one of the scenes? Action scenes? 

He kept the thought to himself but he couldn’t wait to go into the town, run into some characters and find out which season was this. Because he lied to the guys before. He hadn’t seen just a few episodes. He had seen the whole shit. Because after it became the dumpster fire it had become, it just became even funnier to watch all the unhinged shit. He and Cassie even had bets on which fucked up completely nonsensical thing would happen next. 

“Hey. You think we could spend some time here?” he asked, turning to Jason. “You know, until Dick gets better to move and shit,” 

Jason furrowed his brows. “You think it’s gonna take that long?” 

“I don’t know. But we shouldn’t force him, right? Like, what if we fall through another world again, and because he’s weakened it affects him worse? Shouldn’t we just wait until he’s at least on his feet?” 

“Maybe. I don’t know. If everything works out, we’ll be home by the next time we get zapped,” 

“Yeah. Hopefully,” he murmured as they stepped out of the woods and into the street. “This way,” 

Jason’s hands were in the pockets of his jacket. He blew the air out of his mouth, rolling his eyes. “Tell me you know where you’re going,” 

“I’ll know,” he replied. As soon as he saw some familiar buildings, he was sure he’d figure out the layout. “Where should we start?” 

“Well, we should probably start with surveillance. Though, I’m not very hopeful about that. I mean, I didn’t see any cameras around,” 

“Yeah,” he sighed. Depending on which season it could be, they could very well be in the literal 1950s. “I don’t think they have an all-round surveillance. But some shops and stuff do. We could start there. We could also ask around,” 

Jason snorted. “What? Ask who?” 

“I could think of a few,” he grinned. 

“Timmy, man. What do you got cooking up?” 

Tim couldn’t help but smirk. “Only if you knew, Jason. Only if you knew,” 

Get ready, man. Get fucking ready. I’ll show you some good times. With gangs and psychotic high schoolers and even more crazy adults. Parents? God, I hope we landed in that season with the crazy cult and shit. I’d lose my shit if I saw Jason witnessing that. Shit. It’d be even better if it was that version with Dark Riverdale. Criminals and shit roaming. Serial killers all the time. Jason would fit right in! We would have so much fucking fun. God, the possibilities are fucking endless. 

“Okay. Whatever, nerd. I’m not even going to touch that. It’d be good if we got some extra supplies for Dick. And food. For all of us. I’m starting to get hungry,” 

“Hungry?” Tim asked again. Oh, this was so much fun. “I have just the right place in mind,” 

Chapter Text

“Hungry?” Tim asked again. Oh, this was so much fun. “I have just the right place in mind,” 

Jason gave him a funny look. “Dude, you’re starting to scare me. Are you okay?” 

“I’m perfect! Ecstatic! Exalted! Ec—”

“—How about calm, huh?” he interrupted Tim. “We still have things to do,” 

“I know. I know,” Tim muttered and looked around. The sun was starting to come up. If there were people here, they’d be bound to show up soon. They were still walking and as they turned a corner, he spotted a market. Grinning and turning to Jason, he tilted his head. “I have a plan. You take care of transportation and I’ll do the rest,” 

“The rest?” 

“Just trust me,” 

Jason sighed. “Your plan better have some food in it, Timmy,” 

Damian was moping around inside the bunker. He tried sitting. Sitting down and doing nothing. He quickly realized he wasn’t built for that. Especially with all those things running inside his mind. First the freak-out and then later what Grayson said to him. 

Grayson was currently taking a nap. In normal terms, Damian would have snickered out a few comments. He didn’t feel like doing that now. He knew Grayson needed the nap, more, he preferred Grayson to take a nap so he could get better. 

The nap was to his benefit too. Because the things Grayson said messed with him. You’re a pain in my ass too? You’re one of us too? What did it mean? What could it mean? Damian was Damian. He had been raised a Champion. He wasn’t part of a team, any team. No one had ever offered anyway. What was Grayson doing? 

If Damian was part of them as Grayson so clearly declared, why did they keep leaving him out of things? Why did they constantly belittle and undermine him? Why did they always treat him like a kid? 

Now, he was not going to lie. This was a fucking dilemma. There were parts of him that wanted nothing to do with all this team bullshit. He was probably supposed to listen to that voice, (ironically enough, that voice sounded like his grandfather’s voice) and fulfill his destiny of being great. All they’d do is pull you back. 

But, then, there was the other part. It sounded like his father’s voice. And it told him that there was strength in numbers, that no one should do this kind of thing alone. One could but they shouldn’t, Damian. After long enough, there’s not ‘one’ left. And that had been proved true, hadn’t it? When her mother mind-controlled his father, it took all of them to regain Bruce’s control over himself. Scratch that, it took Grayson sacrificing himself to save Damian from that blast. Damian could have been hit. He would be if he had been alone.

All these thoughts and feelings were messing with him. He hadn’t been raised that way. He was raised to be a killing machine that took everyone and everything standing in his way. Then, his father had come into the picture and showed him there was another way to live. And Damian didn’t know how to balance it both together, if it could be done. He didn’t know if he could learn these new things when the old ones had been drilled into him. He didn’t know if he could be anything else than how he had been. 

He didn’t know if he could be better, as his father and Grayson and the others said he could be. He didn’t know how to navigate. He just didn’t know. 

“Damian,” 

He got out of his head. He turned and found that Grayson was awake. “You need something?” 

“Uh, actually, yes,” 

He tilted his head. “What?” 

Grayson chuckled, shaking his head. “You’d be a terrible nurse,” 

“Lucky that it’s not in my career plans. Now, what do you need?” 

Grayson sighed and slowly sat up on the bed. “You said Jason got some painkillers?” 

“I told you he stole some painkillers,” he replied as he walked over to the table, grabbed another stolen water bottle and a painkiller, and then handed it to Grayson. “So, you have pain?” 

He didn’t have pain when he woke up, initially. At least, he didn’t say so. Damian couldn’t help but worry that this was an indication of Grayson’s state deteriorating. 

“Yeah. Some headache and uh, muscle ache. Pretty standard at this point. Nothing to worry about,” 

Damian watched him take the pill, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t completely believe that. That seemed like a lie. If he was one of them too, why did Grayson still lie to him? “I’m not,” he lied, figuring this was what they did. 

Grayson raised a brow as he put the bottle away. “Okay. Gonna need your help with something else too,” 

“What?” 

“I need to pee,” 

Damian grimaced. “I’m not installing a urine pouch on you,” First, he didn’t know how to install one. Two, they didn’t have a urine pouch. Third, he didn’t want to see Grayson’s privates. 

“What? How did you even reach… Damian, where do you pee in here?” 

“Oh,” he murmured. “Well, I’m assuming Todd and Drake take care of it in the town since they didn’t leave any instructions. So, uh, I took care of it in the forest,” 

Then they both turned toward the tunnel and the ladder there. “That doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen for me,” 

“Yeah,” Damian said. “I don’t think I can carry you either,” 

Then, an idea popped into his head. It wasn’t a good idea, though. “You can stand up, right?” 

“Uh, I guess. Why?” 

Damian turned around and grabbed one of the empty water bottles. At least, it had a cap. Much better than a bucket in terms of smell. He handed it to Grayson. “I’ll turn around,” 

“Fuck’s sake,” Grayson sighed, grabbing the head of the bed and pulling himself up, “Tim needs to learn how to find better shelters,” 

Funnily enough, Damian agreed. He couldn’t say that though, because then he’d get attacked. But he did agree. 

“Just make sure you don’t get it on the ground,” Damian huffed as he turned around and walked ahead a couple of steps. Just for, you know, some privacy. “I don’t want this gross place drenched in the smell and please tell me you know how to aim,” 

“I fucking know how to aim!” Grayson hissed. “I’ve been peeing longer than you’ve been alive, if you remember,” 

Damian smirked even though no one could see. “Well, practice does make it perfect, Grayson,” 

When all that business was done, (Damian made sure Grayson closed the bottle tightly and then disposed of it) he expected Grayson to return to his bed for his nap. He didn’t. 

“Uhm, what do you think you’re doing? You need to rest,” 

Grayson shrugged. “I will. I just need to stretch a bit. I hate feeling stiff,”

I get that. Still, you shouldn’t push yourself. You’re recovering and— Wait. Why am I this concerned about his well-being? Why am I now concerned about all of their well-being? 

“Just don’t break anything,” he said as he sat down on the chair and plopped his arms over the table. “Yourself included,” 

Grayson was stretching his arms. “Aw. You don’t want me having an ouch, Damian?” 

“No. I just don’t want to play nurse any longer than I need to,” he retorted. It wasn’t like he could say the truth. 

“You look tired, Damian. When was the last time you slept?” 

This time he shrugged. “I’m the nurse, Grayson. Not you,” 

“Just answer the question,” 

Damian turned to him. “I don’t know. Back at that last world, I guess. It’s fine, I—”

“—It’s not fine. You need sleep,” 

“I’ve done longer missions without any sleep, Grayson. I’m capable of holding out,” 

Grayson sighed, sitting down on the bed. “I don’t doubt that. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should,” 

“What if I sleep and someone comes here? What if Faust comes for the controller? Drake and Todd are out there. Someone needs to keep watch,” he said. What if you need something, Grayson? You’re not exactly in the best condition. 

“Damian, you and I are both trained for danger. We’re always on the lookout. I’m sure if someone tries to come in, we’ll notice it,” 

Damian tilted his head. “You’re under the influence, technically. Painkillers and all,” 

Grayson scoffed. “I’m not so out of it that I can’t detect anything. Come on, kid. Get some rest,” 

Damian was tired. His limbs were stiff, his eyelids heavy. He knew he could go on for much longer, even fight. 

“Look, let’s make a deal. Thirty minutes, okay? I promise to wake you up in half an hour,” Grayson continued. 

Damian took a moment to think about it. Thirty minutes would give him the rest he needed. He’d sleep but he wouldn’t be in deep sleep which meant that if someone tried anything, he’d get up and be ready to face it quickly. 

“Okay,” he breathed out at the end. “But let’s get one thing straight. I’m going to sleep. Not because you told me to but because I want to,” 

Grayson chuckled. “Deal,” 

“Okay, what the fuck is this place?” Jason asked as he pulled in front of the bar. 

Tim was grinning from ear to ear. “The Whyte Wyrm. I figured, if someone is bound to know what’s up, it’d be people in here,” 

Jason furrowed his brows. “It seems like they don’t even know how to spell, man,” 

Yeah, but they know how to gut someone, I’m guessing. Don’t worry, J, we’re totally in the right place and not just visiting everywhere on my bucket list.

“Just—Just trust me, okay?” 

“Okay, fine. Whatever,” Jason muttered and they got out of the car. 

There were a few other cars and some motorbikes next to the car Jason stole. Because it was early, there were only a few people outside. They were smoking. And they had the jackets Tim was expecting to see and it took everything in him not to go and ask for an autograph. Or where he could get one. 

“Why are those people looking at us funny—Tim,” Jason rolled his eyes as he turned to him. “This is a gang, isn’t it? You brought us to a gang HQ,”

Tim tried to hide his grin. “Well, yes. This place is run by the Southside Serpents,” 

“Southside Serpents? The fuck?” 

“I mean, we know how to handle those, right? You know it best. Figured we’d fit right in,” Tim shrugged. 

“You’re a little shit, Timmy,” he said as he headed for the door. With glee, Tim followed after him. The guys outside kept on giving them looks but didn’t stop them. 

The first thing that hit his nose when they entered was the smell. It smelled like booze. It was a bar so Tim didn’t expect much but, still, they could get one or two room fragrances. 

Jason walked over to the bar and Tim followed him under everyone’s gazes. It wasn’t as crowded as he thought it would be, honestly. Then again, it was very early so probably most clientele would have called it a day by now. 

“What do you have?” Jason asked, leaning on the bar with his elbow. 

The bartender was cleaning glasses as he gave Jason a side glance. “It’s 8 AM,” 

“So?” 

“So,” the bartender sighed, “Take a guess, pretty boy,” 

Jason pouted playfully. “We’ll take two chips and a pine,” 

“Sure, coming right up,” the bartender smiled and then placed the glass and the cloth down. Then, he reached into his belt and took out a gun, aiming it at Jason. “Anything else?” 

Jason chuckled, glancing at Tim. He knew what that meant. Stand down and let me take care of it. Honestly, one side of Tim wanted to see how it’d play out. The other and rational side told him it’d be best if they kept their heads low. 

Nah, he decided in the end. We can deal with them, besides, what’s the harm in a little fun? 

“Is that supposed to scare me?” Jason asked. Then before the bartender or anyone else could say or do something, he took out both his guns and aimed at the bartender. “What about now?” 

Tim saw the other patrons slowly getting up and getting near them. Seriously, could he get one of those jackets? They looked so cool! 

“You a new recruit?” the bartender scoffed. “Stupidy like this would fit the Ghoulies,” 

“Ghoulies?” Jason muttered. “What the—”

“—We’re not Ghoulies,” Tim interrupted. “Not from any other gangs either. Just passing through town. Heard about this place, wanted to check it out,” 

The bartender turned to him. “From who?” 

Tim needed to think fast. “A few buddies from Stonewall Prep said this place was good to let off some steam, you know,” 

“Stonewall Prep? That rich preppy place?” 

“Uh-huh,” 

“This is not the place for young rich stupid fuckers,” the bartender said. 

“Oh,” Tim let out, “We don’t go there. Like I said, we’re just passing through,” 

“Nah. I don’t believe them. They’re playing,” someone else said. Tim turned to look and his eyes widened. He fucking knew who said that. In fact, he knew the two people standing next to him. YES! GODDAMN SCORE! 

“Look,” Tim said, turning to them, “I know it seems like there’s no reason to trust us but—”

“—Where did you get those guns from?” Toni asked. That was the girl with the pink hair, standing in between the first guy who spoke up, Sweetpea, and the other guy giving them glares, Fangs. Seriously, after watching this show, he had been feeling better about all the names they had back at home. 

Wait, what are they doing here at this hour? Aren’t they supposed to be at school if it’s 8—Do they even go to school? Depends on their age, I guess. Is this the weekend? 

Sweetpea furrowed his brows. “Those look legit. Like cop legit,” 

“I’m no fucking cop,” Jason hissed, clearly offended by the comment. 

“That’s what a cop would say,” Fangs said. 

Tim shrugged. “You’re Robin. That’s technically a cop,” 

“I’m Red Hood,” 

“Hood?” Toni murmured. “Maybe they sent those guys undercover for all that Black Hood bullshit,” 

Tim was about to argue with Jason about Red Hood and all that but he stopped, turning to Toni. “Wait. Did you just say Black Hood?” 

Hell yes! 

“You guys imitators?” Sweetpea asked. “Or the news? Or fucking cops looking for trouble. Because that’s the only thing you’ll find here,” 

“Hold up. What the fuck is this Black Hood?” Jason said. “Tim, I swear—”

“—It’s this serial killer,” he replied. 

Jason furrowed his brows. “A serial killer is getting you this excited? Man, Bruce is really slacking off, isn’t he?” 

Tim didn’t answer him. He instead turned back to the Serpents. “Did Archie Andrews publish the Red Circle video?” 

“Yes,” 

“Who are you?” Toni asked. 

“Like I said, we’re nobodies,” Tim shrugged, “We’re just really big Bulldog fans,” 

Jason rolled his eyes. “Are we getting those chips or not?” 

Toni furrowed her brows. “Whoever you are, we don’t care about what happens on the North Side. They left us to our own problems. We’re returning the courtesy. Now, get out of here or we’ll get you out,” 

“Oh,” Jason snickered, turning to her now, “I’d like to see you fucking—”

Tim jumped forward and lowered Jason’s hands as he turned to Toni. “Yeah, sure, no problem. We’ll get ourselves out. By the way, you’re like so freaking cool and badass and—”

“—Tim, get the fuck off me—”

“—You guys too!” Tim said to Sweatpea and Fangs who looked like they were only one more word away from punching them, “So badass! Your jackets are so cool and like you got good game considering—”

“—GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE—”

Tim was already walking him and Jason toward the door. “Serpents for life, man!” he shouted as they walked out. 

It was then Jason pushed him off of him. “What the fuck, dude?” 

“This was amazing!” Tim exclaimed as Jason put his guns back in their place. “I totally can’t believe this. I just talked to the Southside Serpents,” 

“Yeah, yeah, good for you. Now, what the fuck do we do because that was a fucking dead end,”

“A dead end?” 

“You consider this successful?” Jason mouthed as they got back in the car. 

“Well, yeah,” Tim shrugged. 

“How?” 

Tim smiled. “I actually got information, didn’t I?” 

Jason sighed. “What information?” 

“They were talking about investigating the Black Hood. Toni— the girl and the two guys, they’re still all with the Serpents. That means we’re in season two of the show. That means there’s no supernatural shit going on yet which means Faust can’t do shit to recharge himself, the bunker hasn’t been used so at least Dick and Damian are safe, the characters are all busy with catching the serial killer so no one would come in our way!” 

Jason was watching him, pressing his lips together. He looked like he was kind of pissed. Then again, he always looked kinda pissed all the time. “You…You got all of that from Black Hood? Wait, did they rip me off?” 

“How could they rip you off?” Tim asked. “Besides, yes, Black Hood is the main thing of Season Two,” 

Jason turned on the car. “Only watched a couple episodes, huh, Timmy?” 

“Hah, right?” 

“Well, where to now, fanboy?” 

Tim thought over for a moment. “We can sneak into the hospital, steal some things for Dick. Then we can grab some food,” And maybe make a few very quick stops on the rest of my bucket list. But you don’t need to know that for now, buddy. 

“So this place really does have a hospital? Great,” Jason started driving. “Tell me more about this Black Hood,” 

Dick was hunched over the table, trying to work as quietly as possible in order not to wake Damian up. Because as much as he liked to go on about holding out, Dick knew the kid needed sleep. Which was why he lied when he said he’d wake him up after thirty minutes. He was probably going to be pissed when he woke up but, hey, what was new? The kid could get as much sleep as he needed meanwhile Dick worked. 

He held the controller inside his hands. He was trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, magic wasn’t something he was an expert at. If this was a code or anything that got to do with programming, he could have dealt with it from his sleep by now. 

But magic was uncharted territory. Especially to someone like him. It was unreliable and constantly changing—demanding. There were rules to it when it fit. Which was one of the reasons why it made it so unpredictable. Most people spent a lifetime studying magic and still couldn’t best it. Dick? He had figured out how to be a master programmer at the age of fifteen because it was easy. Because it had rules that didn’t change. There were no fucking guidelines when it came to magic and he was struggling royally right about now. If only he could get in contact with Zatanna or John Constantine or even anyone else remotely involved with magic who wasn’t a fucking psycho… Yeah, if only. Seriously, he’d even take Wally right now too. At least he knew more than Dick did. 

And he needed to figure it out. He needed to get his brothers home. He needed to end this madness, somehow. How long would they be able to live like this? Zapping realities and shit. He hadn’t voiced his concerns but there were a few things bugging him. Would there be any effects— long-lasting or short, of them traveling through the multiverse like this? What if it started to influence them? 

The existence of the multiverse had been known for a while but that was about it. The possibilities were endless which meant that the consequences could be too. There wasn’t much known about it and Dick didn’t want to be the one finding out like this. After all, they were only human. Not celestials or upper beings who were equipped for this shit. 

One universe—his own in particular, was large enough with more than enough problems. Call him selfish, he wasn’t ready to take on a whole lot more, especially since he wasn’t alone. Yes, he was responsible for others even when they were back home but this? This wasn’t any other mission. His duty was more imminent and important than before. Making sure his brothers were alright was the top priority right next to getting back home. He just hoped he wouldn’t fail, again. 

Damian shifted over the table. Since he fell asleep over his arms on the table, Dick had to be extra quiet when moving because they were close in proximity and Damian was excellent at being alert. 

Freezing for a moment until Damian turned his head and continued sleeping, Dick looked back down at the device. It was a weird thing. There wasn’t anything on it that he could read. There were some symbols but nothing that stood out to him or even looked remotely familiar. He didn’t even know if it was an alien thing or an Earth one. Maybe he could have run it in the system if they were back home or find someone who knew what this shit meant but that was not a plausible option at the moment. 

Much to the universe’s sick sense of humor, this thing was shaped like a TV remote. Not exactly like one but the shape was similar. A long rectangle. Only, toward the middle it had this station of a cube and it kind of moved but Dick wasn’t sure because he didn’t want to meddle into it and cause a bigger mess. Other than the cube, there were symbols on each side of it. Some looked like very primitive versions of modern-day buttons while some were inscriptions. Basically, it was fucking shapes like a very weird looking PS controller. 

Which didn’t give him any fucking thing to work on. 

Seriously, I could cry for a decoder right about now. I swear when we get back, I’ll hack into the Pentagon. Just cause I can. For fun. I’ll even hack into that game Tim always plays and make him pass that level he’s always stuck on. 

So, Dick continued to work. 

If there was one thing Jason liked about this Riverdale, it was that everyone seemed like fucking morons. Seriously? Sneaking into a hospital in broad daylight and stealing supplies shouldn’t have been this easy. 

“Tim, the next destination better be somewhere we can get actual food because those snacks are not doing it for me,” he sighed as he drove through town. 

“You’re in luck. I have just the place in mind,” 

Jason furrowed his brows, giving him a look. “Please and I mean this in the most literal way possible, no more gangs,” 

“Well,” Tim chuckled, “Believe it or not, that’s not a guarantee in Riverdale. But, it should be fine where we’re going,” 

“And where is that exactly?” 

“Pops,” he shrugged. 

“Pops?” 

Tim grinned, nodding. “It’s supposedly the best place around. Good food and the best milkshakes you’d ever taste,” 

Jason couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “As long as it’s edible,” he sighed. Because, truly, at this point, he didn’t even have any standards left besides being edible. He could be considered a foody. He was even known to criticize Alfred’s cooking. (And then lived to tell the tale.) Fuck, he missed the food variety back at home. 

During their little heist in the hospital, Timmy was oh-so ecstatic about giving Jason a little run down of the show. He initially only wanted to know about this Black Hood thing so they didn’t get tangled in it. Because that’s what Dick would have done. Whether this be a TV showed manifested into reality or not, Dick would want them to keep their heads low and not attract any attention. Given how the Serpents had reacted to them with news and cops, Jason wanted to know the details. However, Tim didn’t seem like he got the memo so he was basically giving him a rundown of the entire show. 

“Okay, so, wait,” Jason said as he turned off the car. They were now in front of the diner. It looked too colorful and outdated for his taste. “The dead guy and the runaway bride were cousins?” 

“Huh-uh,” Tim grinned, nodding his head excitedly. “That’s not even the craziest part, trust me,” 

Oh, I don’t doubt that. “Who ended up being the killer? The father of the weirdo guy?” 

They got out of the car. Tim truly looked like a puppy between eyeing the place and answering the questions. “A father yes, not the one you’re saying though. It turns out the dead guy’s father was the one who killed him because he was in the drug business and his son found out and to keep it all hidden, he killed him,” 

“That’s fucked up,” Jason said. “Even for my taste,” 

“Dude, that doesn’t even cover the ten most fucked up shit that happened in this show. Trust me, I’m just sorry we didn’t land somewhere in the later seasons. The city turns into this crazy dark version where criminals roam everywhere and the people in the prison busted out—”

“—Hold up, hold up, there’s a prison too?” 

“Jason,” Tim smirked. “It used to be a high school. The one on the south side,” 

“The fuck?” 

“The main guy’s rich girlfriend with a lot of fucking daddy issues, the one who’s a newcomer. Her dad owned it, bought and turned it into a prison to profit. All while getting the main guy thrown into jail for a murder he didn’t commit. He basically waged a war against this fucking seventeen year old because he didn’t like him,”

“Again,” Jason sighed, “What. The. Fuck.” 

“What’s crazy and one of my favorites is the whole shit with the cult thing. There was a cult, Jason! Imagine all the fun we’d have,” 

Okay, is it the life in Gotham that calls that fun or is it just how Timmy’s wired? I don’t even think it’s got something to do with his generation. It’s purely Drake. “Ha-ha, yeah, so fun,” He seriously needed to show Tim the real fun when they returned home. 

Tim headed directly for one of the booths and Jason followed after him. He had a real problem figuring out the decor. The buildings and furniture seemed like they popped up somewhere from the time before proper technology was invented. Even the cars were old school. And yet, he saw smartphones and shit in everyone’s hands. 

This place was seriously fucked up. 

An old man approached the table with two menus in hand. Tim’s eyes sparkled. Literally. “We—We, uhm, we won’t be needing those,” 

The man laughed. “Oh, you won’t, now?” 

“No,” Tim smiled, shaking his head. “We’ll take two cheeseburgers with fries. And milkshakes. The, uhm, the specials,” 

“Which flavor, son?”

Jason was honestly watching the interaction with something between shock and amusement. Seriously, Tim hadn’t even gotten this starstruck before. (He knew because in the time they spent together, Tim had told him all the stories. Some of those stories were even backed up by visual evidence.) He’d be one hell of a psycho stalker or some shit if he wasn’t a good guy. 

“What—Whatever you suggest, sir,” 

“Yeah, Pops, give us your best,” Jason smirked. “I mean, I’m assuming that’s you, since, uh,” he waved his finger around, “The name?” 

“Right, yes. Where did you say you were from again, son?” 

What the fuck is up with people from this town? 

“We didn’t,” Jason smiled. 

Tim gave him a glare in which Jason just shrugged. Tim turned back to Pops. “We’re from New York,” he said. “We’re driving to Boston and just made a stop here. The guys at the gas station said we should check this place out if we were looking for some good burgers,” 

“Well, they ain’t lying,” Pops smiled. “It’ll come right up. Until then, settle down and enjoy yourselves,” 

“We sure will!” 

Jason leaned over the table, a smirk on his lips. “I wish I could get this on video. You’re on fire, dude,” 

“Shut up!” he replied. “If Cassie was here, she’d be worst than me. A lot worse. I assure you,” 

I doubt that, Timmy. “Well, she isn’t. You are. And I think that’d make a good reality show,” 

“Yeah? You know, you’d make a good addition to the show. Fit right in,” 

Jason raised his hands and started shaking his fingers. “Oh, why, ‘cause I’m a proper vigilante now?”

“No. Because of all your flair,” Tim grinned, imitating him and lowering his voice, “ Hey. I’m the Red Hood. You all listen to me now criminals. Or I fuck you up, ”

“Fuck you,” he laughed. 

Tim shrugged. “What? I’m saying it. You and your dramatic ass would fit right in. Whether it be in this show or any reality show. Just saying,” 

A couple of minutes later their orders arrived and Jason was pretty sure he was seeing sparkles and hearts fall out of Timmy’s eyes. And saliva leaking out of his mouth. I’m never gonna stop teasing you about this. 

He had to admit a few bites in that the cheeseburger was good. He was kind of scared, since they were in a literal TV show that the food wouldn’t be real and they’d be served cardboards or some shit. It was real food, at the very least, and it was tasty. Considering their circumstances, Jason would rate five goddamn starts. 

“I think I just tasted heaven,” Tim sighed happily as he continued to drink the milkshake. 

Jason smiled at him. He truly wished he could get the footage of this. 

“Seriously, it’s too good, right? Like, it’s not just my sweet tooth? It’s good?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” 

“And now I feel bad,” 

Jason furrowed his brows. “Why? You can just order another one,” 

“No, no, not that,” he shook his head and then leaned forward, “Dude, how are we going to pay for this? Pops is gonna struggle in the later seasons and I don’t want to contribute to the problem. If you remember, we don’t exactly have money here,” 

“Oh,” Jason huffed out a laugh. 

“I’m serious! I feel really bad!” 

“Timmy, man, you’re always worrying over nothing,” 

“Huh? How is this nothing?” 

Jason grinned as he reached into his pocket and took out a wallet. “You didn’t see me sweep the car? The owner left the wallet. We’re good,” 

“Oh,” Tim said as he smiled slowly, “Oh! OH! Yes. Great. I mean, terrible for the owner. But, hey, at least he’s gonna be helping out little ol’ Pops, eh?” 

“Right,” Jason laughed. “Now, finish your food, boy wonder,” 

“As you wish, Dad,” 

When they were done eating and went to the cashier to pay, Jason ordered two more of their order to go. Then, he paid for all four while Timmy gave him a weird look. 

“For Dick and Satan Junior,” he said. “They’ve gotta eat too, right?” 

“Right. I just wish we could have brought back more than food. Like info on Faust,” 

Jason shrugged. “Don’t sweat it, Timmy. You said it yourself, right? He’s powerless here. We’re good,” 

“Yeah, right, okay, but—” Tim abruptly stopped talking. His eyes widened impossibly big impossibly fast. Jason had no super hearing but he guessed Tim was about to have a heart attack. 

“Hey,” he said, “What? What is it?” 

“Jason,” 

“Yeah?” 

“ Jason, ”

“Tim. What?” 

“Jason. How do I look?” 

He furrowed his brows. “Huh? What? How do you—Tim, I’m going to punch you in three seconds if you don’t tell me—”

Tim grabbed him by the shoulders and tilted their positions. Then, he started running his hands through his hair. “How does my hair look?” he asked as his hands started going up and down over his clothes. 

“It won’t be looking fine when I kick your ass,” 

Tim turned to him, unaffected by the threats, grinning. “Dude. It’s them,”

“Who?” 

“Them!” he whispered. 

Jason turned around. He saw a bunch of kids getting up from a booth. He sighed and turned back to Tim. “Who are they?” 

“The main characters!” 

“Oh. That’s it?” Jason yawned. 

“Do you think they’ll take a picture with me?” 

“With what? Can pictures even travel through the Multiverse?” 

“I don’t know!” 

And now the teens—or apparently the main characters, were heading their way. Then again, they were standing across from the exit or right in front of the cashier. Tell that to Timmy though. 

“Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh—”

One of the teens, a ginger guy, left the group behind and turned to Tim. “What’s your problem?” 

 “Oh my fucking God!” Tim let out. 

“Why are you looking at us?” the guy said while one of the girls tried to hold him back, “I saw you earlier around school too. What—”

“Archie—”

“—No, I—”

“—Dude, you’re freaking awesome!” Tim said. “Thank you for teaching me the triumphs and lows, the epic highs and lows of high school football,”

What the actual fuck was that Timmy?

That got all of the teens to stop. And look at them like they were crazy. Jason just rolled his eyes and turned around. Where were their orders? 

“I’m sorry?” 

Tim looked like a puppy again. “I—I mean, all. All of you. All of you are awesome,” 

“Who are you?” the ginger girl asked. 

I don’t even know who these people are. Are the gingers related? I mean, they could be. Timmy did say there was incest in this shit before. You know what? I’m not going to touch anything. 

“Tim. Tim Drake. Big fan,” 

“Are you from Southside High?” the blonde girl asked. 

Archie was frowning. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” 

“What? What joke?” Tim asked. 

“This. Everything’s that happened. You think you’re funny?” 

“Oh. No. No, I don’t—”

“Do you know anything about Black Hood? Who he is?” 

Jason sighed. Right then, someone got out of the kitchen and handed him their orders. Thank God. 

“B—Black Hood?” Tim let out. “I—I mean, sure, I heard of him. Like everyone else. The papers and uhm, your dad, right?” 

“Who even are you? How do you know him? Us?”

That’s enough of meeting your idols charade, Timmy. I think that’s enough of messing with the fourth wall. Jason stepped between them, turned to the kids, and pointed at Tim. “He smoked weed for the first time in his life. Don’t mind him,” then he grabbed Tim and pulled him toward the door. 

“Jason!” 

“What?” 

“Why did you tell them I got high?” he yelled as they stepped out. 

Jason shrugged. “You were stumbling your words, dude. Where did all that Robin training go?” 

“This is different!” 

“How?” 

“It just is!” 

Jason chuckled. “We’re still on a mission, right?” 

“Fuck you,” 

“Sure. You almost blew our cover dude. I’m just keeping a low profile—” 

“—Jason—”

“—No, no, no. You know I’m right. We don’t know if we’re really in TV or messing with some multiversal shit and—”

“—Jason, listen—”

“—Besides, what do they always say about time travel? Don’t change anything. Don’t talk to people and all that shit. That’s what—”

“—JASON!” 

“What?” he breathed out. They were by the car now. 

Tim pointed toward the road. “Is that Damian?” 

“What?” he let out and turned. Across the road, there was a blur. It was a small figure. “What the fuck is he doing here?” 

“Yo! Damian!” Tim shouted. 

In a few minutes, the little devil was standing across from them. Jason let out a long frustrated breath. “Why the fuck are you here? Why did you leave Dick alone?” 

Damian simply held up one hand. “Calm down,” 

“How did you even find us?” Tim asked. 

Damian shrugged. “I just asked the first person I saw where I could find stupid teens and he said I should check this place out,” 

“Well, why the fuck did you need to find us?” 

“Grayson sent me,” he said. “He woke up and then decided to work on the controller to figure it out. I was little help. He said he needed Drake. Besides, he’s tired of peeing in the bottle and I can’t carry him up,” 

“You made him pee into a bottle?” Tim snickered. 

“Yeah. He wasn’t over the moon about it,” 

“I bet he threw a fuss,” Jason laughed. 

Damian turned to him. “He did. Anyway, he told me to switch with Drake so you and I could do whatever the hell it was that you two had been doing,” 

Jason took a moment to think it over and make a plan. “Get in the car,” 

Tim climbed down the ladder and jumped the last few steps. “Well, call me Santa because I come bearing gifts!” 

“Is that food?” Dick called out. “Because if it isn’t, I’m going to be pissed!” 

He passed the hall and walked into the room. Dick was sitting at the table, the controller across from him. “Feast your eyes and your belly, dude. The best cheeseburgers in town are at your service!” 

“You’re in a good mood,” Dick said with a smile as he took the bag. 

Tim sat down on the chair. “Dude. You have no fucking idea!” 

“Let me guess. You ran into some characters,” 

“Did I?” he exclaimed. “So many and it was amazing and Cassie is totally going to lose it and the fucking cherry on top? Jason witnessing made it more hilarious!” 

“I bet,” Dick said as he ate a few fries. 

“So,” he sighed and leaned back. “Damian said you needed me. What’s up?” 

Dick shrugged. “Need your brain. Not because you’re apparently a big fan of this show—”

“—Casual watcher accompanied by loving girlfriend, thank you—”

“—But you know you’re smart. And, I think, you know more about this physics, magic, and multiversal shit than I do,” 

Tim pressed his lips together for a moment and nodded. Dick knew he needed his help. Tim really was smart. A whole lot of smart. His brain didn’t only work amazingly at the Robin stuff but this kind of smart too. 

“I bet you have your theories already. Tell me,” he continued. 

“Okay,” Tim breathed out. “I don’t know if we can call them theories, but, I have a few ideas. We’re in Riverdale, the show. Based on the day we had, the season two events are happening. We could potentially be in a distorted reality where the fictionalized stuff has manifested into reality and things are playing out according to the script,” 

“Or?” 

“Or, this is a real universe and we just happened to get zapped into this one,” 

Dick furrowed his brows. “How?” 

“Okay, so—” Tim’s eyes shined. It was his moment to geek out freely. “The multiverse. There’s a few theories and shit but, in the most basic sense, how does it exist?” 

Dick grabbed a few more fries and shoved them in his mouth. He really did want to figure all this mess out but his stomach was growling too much for him to solely do that. 

“Different choices,” 

“Different choices, damn right!” Tim said it with him. “Every person, every being actually, there’s two possibilities. Fifty percent chance. You either do the thing or you don’t. You either send that risky text to your crush or you don’t. You choose to eat pizza or not. You choose to go out or don’t. A cat chooses to jump on the road or it doesn’t,” 

“Yes,” 

“And each choice, it happens. But somewhere else. Each choice creates a riffle on reality. There’s a reality where we didn’t go out to karaoke last week. There’s a reality we did finally go to a massage salon. There’s a reality where you lost your rizz completely and never managed to make a fool of yourself in front of Kory and she pitied you and—”

Dick muffled a laugh. “—Yeah, I get the picture, Tim,” 

“Yeah, okay. The thing is, actually, there is no choice. Because a reality with each option exists. Somewhere. It gets seperated at the moment of deciding and only one is your current reality. Basically, the possibilities are endless,” 

He furrowed his brows. “That’s it? Possibilities are endless?” 

“No, no, what I mean is… There are an infinite number of universes. I mean, imagine it. All the beings, all making different choices. I don’t think it should even be called the multiverse. Infiniteverse would be better but that’s not up to me, anyway. Going back to my point, there are infinite universes with a gazillion ton different combinations of choices, yes? And how do we make choices? Mentally. In our heads. If you think about it, our minds are a wonder. They’re amazing. We’re literally manifesting shit into reality and—”

“—Tim, don’t get lost,” 

“Right, yes, sorry,” Tim grinned, “Anyway, our minds. We think about the choices and we make them with our minds. It starts with a thought process. Whatever we think in here,” he tapped his forehead, “It happens. Might not be in our current reality but certainly somewhere else. You see where I’m going with this?” 

Dick let out a small smile. “Sorry. No,” 

“Well, Riverdale. It’s this TV show based on comics right? At least in our reality. It’s an adaptation. But it also started with a thought. It was in someone’s head,” 

He furrowed his brows, his brain starting to work. “You’re saying we potentially got zapped inside someone’s head?” 

“What? No!” Tim said and then stole some fries. “I’m saying, whoever it was that adapted the show—Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa which I definitely don’t know, because, again, casual watcher accompanied by lovely girlfriend— thought on it and it probably created another universe in which everything was real,” 

Okay, am I hearing and understanding this correctly? Because, what the fuck? “Tim,” he said, “Are you really telling me we create new universes, new fucking realities by each thought we have?” 

“Yeah. I—I mean, that’s the theory. It’s what makes the most sense. To me, at least,” 

“Holy fucking shit,” Dick breathed out. He sat there in silence for a few minutes, only biting into the cheeseburger, only so that his head didn’t completely explode. 

Tim was watching him silently. He took a deep breath. “There, uhm, there’s also another universe where I didn’t hide things from you. Lie to you. Didn’t go behind your back. About Jason. Dick—”

“—Tim,” he said. “I know you had good intentions,” 

“Yeah, but it doesn’t mean the action itself was good. Can you forgive me?”

Dick sighed, looking at his brother. He certainly didn’t think they would be talking about this right now. And knowing Tim, he was probably eating away at himself. “Do you promise to never go behind my back again? Even if it’s something for me?” 

Because here was the thing. Not for Tim solely but for the human species in general. It always started out with good intentions. It always fucking did. But then you get lost in it, get deeper in it. You start to find excuses to justify it. And then soon again, you don’t even bother with the excuses. That was how one lost trust in another and trust… They didn’t have anything if they couldn’t trust each other. 

“Yeah. I promise, Dick. I’m sorry, man,” 

“Okay,” he smiled. “You’re forgiven, Timmy. And, for what it’s worth, thank you,” 

Tim smiled too. “You’re welcome,” 

Dick finished the burger. “So, in the end, which one do you think it is? We’re in just another of the infinite universes or the distorted reality thing?” 

“Oh, well. I’m not sure. I probably need more information to know. I wish I had a computer so I could hack into satellite waves and shit. Because if this is just the fictionalized world manifested into reality, since we fell through the TV and the worlogog lets you control reality and all that, there’d be proof of that, you know? We could even use that to our advantage,” 

“Yeah. Send signals to the real world?” 

“Yeah. To Bruce or someone else. But I don’t know if we can get the equipment here. Don’t even know we have enough time,” 

“Right,” he sighed. “Which means we’re back to this fucking controller. And figuring it out,” 

“Yeah. Either way, it’s our way out. And, hey. This is just another puzzle. I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Tim smiled. 

Dick returned the smile. “I trust us,” 

Damian was walking behind Todd. And, yes, they were walking because he had meant it when he said he would not be a part of any more felonies. Whether they were in a TV show or not, theft was still a crime. 

So, Damian made them leave the car. Todd agreed to it begrudgingly, saying he’d rather walk it off than to have Damian give him a headache and Damian had taken that as a victory. He only said if they found Faust, because this was what they were doing now, trying to find tracks of him or whatever they could find, then Todd would get the car because ‘ I’m not carrying that sorry ass all the way through the fucking woods and I’m sure as hell you’re not either, Junior,’.

“So, what did you end up finding on your little adventure with Drake?” 

Todd glanced at him. “Apparently, we’re in Season Two,” 

“Oh, great,” 

“There’s a serial killer on the loose. Murdering the sinners. Better keep an eye out, Satan Junior,” 

Damian rolled his eyes. Ha-ha, so funny. “Then you should be looking out too, huh, Red Hood?” he scoffed, “And, stop calling me that,” 

“Ah, you’d prefer the little devil then?” 

“I’d prefer Damian. Which is my name. Wayne works too, you know. Given I am his son,” 

He heard Todd mumble a curse under his breath. “Sure, Master Wayne. You’d like some tea with that ego of yours too?” 

“Would love it. Make sure you don’t forget to add honey, Todd,” 

Opposite of what he expected, Todd let out a laugh. “Well, at least you have a sense of humor. Unlike him. I’ll give you that,” 

“Thanks?” 

Todd shrugged as he slowed down his steps and now they were walking side by side. The sun was going down and the sky had turned a soft orange. Damian really liked the sunsets. Too bad he often missed it because of his life. But we always end up loving what we can’t have, don’t we? 

“So, how you doing?” 

Damian furrowed his brows. “What the fuck do you mean? I’m stellar, like always,” I consider even the notion of this questioning bizarre. I’m clearly in better condition than you are. I’m superior. 

“Okay, calm down for a minute, kid,” Todd rolled his eyes, “I meant the thing in the woods. You know what I’m talking about,” 

“Oh,” 

“Was it your first time?” 

“First time? Of what?” 

Todd looked at him with a weird look. “You never felt that before? Not even back when you were an assassin? Living with the Al-Ghuls and shit?” 

“Had what?” 

He stopped. So did Damian. “Kid, what happened yesterday? That’s called an anxiety attack. Might have been a panic attack too. They’re similar and—whatever. A shrink could tell you all about it. What I can tell you is that you had an attack yesterday,” 

“I did?” 

“You were worried about Dick, weren’t you? Had this fucking weight over your chest? Thoughts took over? Trembling fingers. It was like your body stopped responding to you. And the one in control was that voice,” 

Damian’s heart skipped a beat. How the fuck did Todd know that? “What?” 

“Kid, we’re human. Don’t give me that look. We’re fucking human. And the lives we have? People are addicted to their shrinks for less. Way fucking less. The shit we see, shit that happens to us… It’s bound to come out of somewhere,” 

“I don’t understand,” he said. I’m superior. Superior to everyone. I was raised to be perfect. Whatever that happened yesterday was a mistake. A flaw. Something that cannot ever be repeated. Something that is not me. Cannot be me.

Todd sighed and bent down so he got on the same eye level as Damian. “We’re human. It happens. Don’t sweat over it,” 

“You mean it happened to you too?” 

“It happened to all of us,” he replied. “Dick, Tim. Me. Even your precious Daddy. I know. I’ve seen it,” 

Damian’s eyes widened. But… But Father was stone cold. He was indestructible. His mind was an impenetrable fortress. How? 

“Believe it or not, even Superman did. It happens, kid. Again, we’re human,” 

“He’s Kryptonian,” 

Todd rolled his eyes again. “You get my point,” 

“I guess,” he mumbled. “How do I make sure it doesn’t happen again?” Because he needed to make sure. He needed to be better. 

“I’m gonna be honest. It is going to happen again. Maybe not tomorrow, not a week or month or even a year from now on. Maybe after thirty years. But, it will happen. That’s how it is,” 

“Well, I don’t accept that,” 

“Be my guest,” Todd shrugged. “Anyway, will you answer the first question now? How are you doing?” 

Damian crossed his arms over his chest. “Aren’t you going to say please?” 

“Fuck off,” 

“Why do you even care? We hate each other, Todd. We’re not on the same side,” 

Todd cursed. Again. “Listen here you little shit. I know this, okay? What you’re doing. How? Because, you and I? We’re not that different from each other. I’m you. You’re me,” he poked Damian’s chest, “I know what’s in here. It’s anger. Behind every decision, every thought, every word. I fucking know. Because I’m the same. I’ve been where you are. So, you can drop the fucking act. I see right through you,” 

“Oh, you do, do you?” 

“You want praise,” Todd said. “The recognition. The glory. Acceptance. Validation. You want it from us, you want it from the world, you want it from your Daddy,” 

Damian’s eyes widened. His mind blanked. For the first time in his life, he could not think of anything to say. How the fuck could Todd know these things? How could he vocalize them? 

“You know I’m right. Say it, kid, fucking say I’m right,” 

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything. His heart was beating way too fast than he was used to. What was happening? 

“You want Daddy to be proud of you. You think that’s how you secure your place. How you have love, family, people. You think that’s how you make your life. Going by his rules. Doing what he wants. Ra’s or Bruce. It doesn’t matter. They’re not gonna give it to you. No one will. No matter how hard you fucking try, no matter how much you fucking bleed. Because no one can. No one else but you can give yourself that. Make your own fucking rules, Damian. Ain’t no one else can fill that hole you have there,” 

“What the fuck are you saying?” 

“You make your own fucking life, Damian. Don’t go chasing after someone else’s,” 

Damian’s bottom lip twitched. “Isn’t that what you’re doing? Showing him you can do it better? How does that make it your life?” 

“That doesn’t concern you,” Todd hissed. “Let me tell you something else. You’re digging your own grave, kid. Dick? He knows what you’re doing. Because he knew me. He tried. He’s trying with you too. So does Timmy. They’re fucking trying with you. Not that you make it any easy for them. And hear my words, Wayne . Try just a little bit harder and you’ll end up worse than I am,”

“You’re delusional,” Damian replied. How is that them trying? All they do is gang up on me. They used to be two and now with you… All three of you do that. I’m left out again. 

Todd huffed out a laugh. “I might be, yes. But I know one thing. I won’t repeat my mistakes. I’m gonna do whatever the hell it takes for my brothers. My family. That means protecting them, even from themselves. Count this as your warning, kid. Hold on to the rope, get yourself out of the hole, don’t make the mistakes I did,” 

Damian was dumbfounded once more. Weighing on the words. Trying to understand their meaning. 

“Themselves?” he muttered. Does he mean me too? 

“Yes,” Todd nodded. “Even you too, fucking shithead,” 

“I’m not your brother,” he scoffed. “Grayson and Drake might be but—”

“—You are. Whether you like it or not. For now,” 

Jason really, really, really, wanted to punch something. He needed to. Trying to get through to this kid was probably harder than most of the things he had done in his life. How the fuck can Dick do this? How did he do it with me? How the fuck didn’t he lose it? 

Because he meant it. He wasn’t going to repeat his mistakes. Yes, he hadn’t given a chance to Timmy from the start. And he hadn’t given any chance to Damian either. Not that the kid made it any easier. 

And Jason really did think that they were the same. He knew it. Even their lives were the same. They had all ended up in this life, in the same positions, in the same path, hadn’t they? 

Besides, he knew he had to do this. Somehow. Whether it be for repaying Dick for everything or for doing something goddamn right in his life, he needed to do this. Damian was fucking one of them too. This was what Dick had been trying to do. What he would want. And if the long shot wasn’t going to work out, Jason had no fucking problem trying the cold-truths-shoved-at-your-face technique. 

He did not want Damian to make the same mistakes he did. 

“You don’t really mean that,” Damian ended up saying. “You. Drake. Grayson. You’re the three musketeers. I have no place with you,” 

“Yeah. Because you don’t make one,” Todd scoffed. 

“No. Because you leave me out. You don’t want me,” He truly didn’t know why the fuck he was saying these things. It made his insides twist. He was showing vulnerability. A weakness. When he was supposed to have none. 

Todd pouted. “What the fuck do you mean? You’re the one who’s delusional if you think that. Dick almost died, for you . And he would have. For his team. For you,” 

Damian realized his eyes were wet. “Why?” he let out. “But why? Tell me fucking why? I don’t owe you anything. Any of you. Any goddamn thing. I—We—We’re obstacles in each other’s way. That’s fucking it,” 

“That’s what you see. Doesn’t have to be obstacles. Not unless you fucking make them,” 

I’m not making anything. It’s just how it is. You take down your opponents so you win. 

“This is a mind trick,” Damian replied. “You’re trying to distract me. So, you get Faust and—”

“—Shut up—”

“—You take him back and you get the glory and—”

“—SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Todd yelled. “Do you think any of us is getting out of here alone? Do you really fucking think I give two shits about Faust that much?” 

Damian’s face was stern. “Then why the fuck did you come?” 

“Because Timmy asked me to,” he said. “He said you might need help. And you did,” 

“I don’t believe you,” 

“Why not? Why is it that hard to believe, Damian?” 

“I can’t believe that. You have to have an ulterior motive. Another thing that benefits you. There has to be,” 

Todd dropped his shoulders. “Why? Tell me why,” 

Because then you’re not the irredeemable bad guy I believe you to be. Not even a bad guy. And, you have to be. Because that’s what Father’s rules say. 

“Because you’re a criminal,” 

“Yeah. From where you’re standing,” he shrugged. “And from where others are standing, you are no different. Hiding in the shadows, doing your business in the dark. You stop them bad guys. So do I. In my own way. Arguably, in an even better way. Tell me, what’s the difference?” 

Damian couldn’t think. His brain wasn’t functioning. This was all too much. All of it. All too much. 

“I won’t fall for it, Todd. I’ve been fooled before. I’m not going to make the same mistake again,” 

“Do as you fucking wish, kid. Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you. Don’t forget we— they tried,” he said and with that, he turned on his wheels and started walking. 

Damian was stuck in his place, unable to follow, unable to do anything. The conversation was running through his head. It couldn’t be true, could it? Any of it? He didn’t know. 

He felt like he didn’t know a damn thing about anything right now. 

“Okay, so, I think if we press this it should work,” Tim said. 

He didn’t know how long it had been but he and Dick had been working on the controller. They came up with a few ideas on how to get it to work. Both based on their general experience and on what fragments they’ve seen Faust do. And Tim felt pretty good about their chances. 

“Yeah, I guess we’ll see,” Dick murmured. “Aren’t Jason and Damian supposed to be back by now?” 

Tim grinned. “Yeah, if they haven’t killed each other already. Or blown up the town. Both are possible,” 

“Not funny,” Dick gave him a glare. 

“It is. You’re just too much of you right now to see,” Tim chuckled, “I’m fucking hilarious,” 

“Sure,” 

“Seriously though. I’m sure they’re fine,” 

“Right,” he sighed. 

They continued talking about their theories after that for a while. Tim was thinking that if they spent a day or two more in here, he could probably get himself a computer and the other equipments from somewhere. This was season two of Riverdale. They had technology in this season, proper technology. 

“Do you hear that?” 

“Hear what?” Tim murmured. 

“That,” Dick said, looking at the ceiling. 

Tim started listening after that. Seriously listening. And there was a rumble. “It sounds like something mechanical?” 

“Like the motor of a car?” 

“They’re back,” Tim concluded as he shot up to his feet. 

Before they could even make it to the stairs, they heard the well being opened above them. Someone hit the bars a few times. “Timmy, carry Dick upstairs. You better have figured the damn controller out because we have a fucking present for you,” 

Tim turned to Dick who just shrugged. “If nothing, I’ll at least get to pee like a normal person,” 

“Uhm, okay,” 

A few moments later, he and Dick were standing on the grass. Dick breathed the fresh air in deeply. “Man, that place fucking stinks,” 

“Yeah. Tell me we don’t have to go back to it again because you two doofuses figured out a way,” 

“Maybe,” Dick said. “What do you have?” 

Jason smiled as he turned to the car. That was when Tim realized there was blood on Jason. And also on Damian who was standing there silently. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who realized that. 

“What the fuck? What happened?” Dick exclaimed. 

Jason shrugged. “No biggie,” 

“Jason, I swear to fucking—”

“—We were attacked,” Damian replied. “By some thugs. In the dark. They thought we were that serial killer. Needless to say, we’ve taken care of it,” 

“What the fuck?” 

“Who?” Tim asked. “The Serpents? The Ghoulies? The Red Circle?” 

“Who gives a fucking shit. Come, check this out. Junior, go down and get our shit,” Jason ordered as he walked to the trunk. Helping Dick, they followed after him. 

Jason was grinning. “This must be Christmas,” 

“We’re in March,” 

“Shut up,” Jason laughed. “And check this out,” 

Then he opened the trunk. There was something moving inside. And some muffled voices. “What the fuck?” 

Tim furrowed his brows. “Is that Faust?” 

“Yeah,” Jason grinned. 

He turned to Jason. “How?” 

“Fucker was hiding out. After those wannabes tried kicking our ass but learned their lesson, we asked if a lunatic was running around town who was not wearing a black hood and we found a trail. He’s powerless so you can imagine how easy it was to get him,” 

Dick tilted his head. “What exactly did you have to do?” 

“Well, you know how gangs work, Dickie. I did what I had to do,” 

Tim was about to lose it. In a good and jealous way. “You had a street race,” 

“Maybe,” 

“Fuck! Okay. Game of pool? Arm wrestling? Don’t tell me you sang at the White Wyrm,” 

Jason smirked. “I kill at fucking karaoke. But, no, I didn’t sing. Did all those other things though. Killed it,” 

“ Dude !” Tim exclaimed. “I missed it? I fucking missed it? How the fuck can I miss it? Oh, fuck. I’m so mad right now,” 

Jason poked his shoulder. “You’re not gonna have all the fun, right?” 

“Well, at least I was right. You fit right in,” 

He poked him again. “Shut up,” 

Dick sighed. “Tim, why don’t you go help Damian?” 

Tim furrowed his brows. He could read what that tone meant. “Uhm, sure?” He started walking away but his focus was on his ears. 

“Jason, man, what really happened?” 

“I told you—”

“—No. With Damian. It’s obvious. What did you say to him?” 

“The truth,” 

Tim shook his head. That certainly couldn’t have gone well. He reached the well. “Damian,” he yelled. “Need any help?” 

“No!” 

Well, okay, then. 

He saw Dick and Jason having a little argument. He stayed out of it. He had already gotten involved between them once and he had just promised Dick. He wasn’t going to do that again. 

About five minutes later, they were all standing outside. Jason was holding Faust—hands, and mouth bound. 

Dick took a step forward, holding the controller. “Well, ready?”

Tim tilted his head. “Maybe I should do it,” 

“No,” 

“You’re injured, maybe it’s best if I—”

“—No,” he said sternly. They didn’t know what they were walking into, Dick wasn’t sure if the theory he and Tim came up with worked and he wasn’t going to let any of his brothers test it first. If there was something dangerous on the other side, he’d be the first one to walk into it. 

Jason sighed. “Well, at least this time, our asses will be fine,” 

Tim chuckled and Dick smiled. His eyes drifted to Damian. “Hey, Damian, are—”

“—Let’s get this over with,” Damian gritted through his teeth.

Dick turned to Jason. You did this. Hope you’re happy, J. If it would have worked, I would have done it before. 

With a deep breath, Dick turned his back on his brothers and looked down at the controller. He started chanting the words they heard Faust say hoping he didn’t mess up the pronunciation as his fingers got to work, pressing and sliding over the controller. 

Then, the bright light erupted again, blinding him. 

Chapter Text

Then, the bright light erupted again, blinding him. 

The same sense of falling through, no— passing through covered him. His head spun momentarily and it felt like his whole body diminished into the smallest material form possible. A breath later, it all glued back together and he was whole again. 

Dick stood firm on his feet. “Secure,” he said as he shook his head. His eyes were closed and he was trying to get used to the light. He had been standing on his feet for longer than he should have and he could feel the resistance coming from his body. 

The rest of the group passed through. Jason was still holding Faust as he shook his head too. “Man,” he muttered. “Fuck this shit. Truly,” 

“Seconded,” Tim groaned, pressing his fingers over his eyes. 

Damian was standing to the side, his arms crossed, his lips pouting, his eyes closed. One thing at a time, Dick. I’ll get to this soon. 

“Where are we?” He muttered, looking around. They should have been back in Gotham. He’d like the Batcave or the same storage they’d been in but at this point, any place in Gotham or the continental US or—fuck, anywhere in their home universe would be more than okay. 

“This looks like someplace downtown,” Tim said and then turned to Jason, “Close to your place, right?” 

Jason furrowed his brows. “Uh, I guess,” 

They’ve been in touch. Visited each other. Hung out. You knew that. You literally talked it over with both of them. Don’t let it get to you anymore, Dick. Come on, man. It’s good that they get along well. As much as Jason is Jason, you trust him. When it comes to important things. 

“We should contact Batman,” he ended up saying. “Anyone has any bars?” 

Tim turned back to him. “Dick, are you sure you’re okay? You look a little pale,” 

“I’m fine,” he replied. I’ll be fine when Bruce gets here and takes this whole shit out of my hands. 

“Dick, are you—” Tim was saying when he abruptly stopped and turned around. They were in a huge room. It had bookcases and a large table. There were also a few couches with a door at the end. It looked like a grand basement storage room or something.  Although, luxurious or fancy would be the last words Dick would use to describe the room. 

“What?” 

Tim shushed him. So he turned to Jason who was looking in the same direction. So was Damian. What’s going on? Ugh. I seriously need a nap. 

“There’s someone here,” Jason whispered. 

Dick sighed and closed his eyes. He tried focusing all his attention on his ears. Years of his training came back to him, although painfully because he really needed some painkillers at the very least, then he also heard it. 

The hushed whispers of a conversation. Light footsteps. The sound of a gun clock. 

Seriously, where the fuck did we end up now? 

Tim took a few steps back, stopping between Dick and the door. It was clear. Whoever was on the other side of it would burst in soon. Jason and Damian would go on first and Timmy would deal with whoever managed to pass by them. So, Dick had to watch Faust, keep his eyes on him. 

He could pick up the signs of the upcoming fight now, albeit late. He wrapped an arm around himself, as it would help, and moved his feet a little to better his stance. Because he had been hit in the chest, any kind of physical fighting with his upper body was out of the question. He could use his legs but not to properly jump and kick. 

At least, his brain was still working to its full capacity. “Jason, take the left,” he murmured. “Tim, right. And Damian,” 

“What?” 

“Go head on,” 

Damian didn’t say anything but Dick could see his lips curving up. At least, that’ll get him to let off some steam. 

Then, they heard the voice. “You have five seconds to surrender. After that, I won’t be responsible for what happens,” 

Jason snickered. “ Okay, Batman, ”

The same voice laughed. “You’re right. I am Batman. Now, two seconds,” 

The four turned to each other, all wearing identical expressions of shock. “Did—Did he just say—”

“—Bruce?” Dick called out. “Is that you? It’s us, man, it’s—”

“—Is this some kind of new tactic for distraction?” the same voice replied. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. The five seconds are up,” 

“Guys,” Tim said, “Maybe it’s time we start considering the possibility of a multiverse with our world but not the people we know them as,”

“Uh, isn’t that also included in the whole concept of multiverse, genius?” 

“Well, Damian , considering our experience so far, I may have reached another conclusion you little—” 

“Guys,” Dick whined. 

Jason just shook his head as he re-positioned his gun inside his hand. “So, not our Bruce?” 

“Nope,” 

“Pity,” he responded at the same time the door opened up with a bang and two guys burst inside with guns. 

Two guys who looked like giants. Seriously. It looked like Bane’s normal size before he juiced up and that was still huge. Then, again, am I really surprised at our luck? 

Damian moved swiftly and using his sword, disarmed the tallest guy. The guy pulled his punches so Damian, gladly, put his sword back in its place. Tim jumped after the gun to get it before the other guy. 

At least it seemed like they didn’t have any superpowers. Just kind of giant-sized. 

“Hey,” the other guy with the familiar voice said, “That suit looks kinda familiar,” 

Jason stepped out and pointed his gun at him. “Five seconds, jackass,” 

“Hey,” the guy said, again, “You look kinda familiar,” 

Jason laughed. “Does that work on anyone ?” 

The guy mimicked the laugh. “Fuck you,” “

“Dude, fuck you !”

Oh no, Dick thought, why do they make me feel like I’m staring at two kinds of Jason’s?

“Jason. We need to find an exit,” he said instead. 

That was when the guy turned his eyes toward Dick. And, his eyes widened. “That—That—That’s… That’s Nightwing’s suit,” 

“Uh, yeah. That’s me,” 

“Wait,” he hummed. “That—That means… Jason?” 

“I’m the bastard known by that name. From time to time,” he said. “But how do you know my actual name?”

“Ah. Uhm. Oh,” he looked around, “SAM! SAMMY STOP!” 

“What?” the reply came back by the guy Dick decided to name as Damian’s pet. Because it looked like that. A huge frame running after a tiny thing. Like in that movie Garfield opened at their last team bonding. “Dean. I’m kind of in the middle of something!” 

“Sam. You are not going to believe this!” 

“I can’t believe you right now!” 

Tim walked up to Dick and Jason. “Uh, what’s going on?” 

Dean furrowed his brows. “Let me guess. Tim Drake. Red Robin,” 

“Yeah. You know me too?” Tim replied, grinning. Jason, silently, elbowed him.

“Holy shit!” Dean exclaimed, smiling as he lowered the gun. A huge smile. A very huge smile. “Holy fucking shit,” 

“Uhm, what exactly is going on?” Tim asked. 

Dick shrugged, giving him a look. “I have no idea,” 

“I have no idea either,” Dean said, “Sam, this is just like when your imaginary friend turned real!” 

Jason was beyond confused. And it wasn’t even because of Timmy losing himself in deep scientific explanations or Dickie going on and on about the moral duty and responsibility we all have inside or Damian just Damianing. 

“Look,” he said, “You obviously know who we are. Great. Just point us to Gotham and we’ll be out of your hair. He’s gonna pose for a selfie too,” he pointed at Dick. 

A huff. “Jason,” 

“What? He’s your fan, Dickie. Apparently,” 

“Sorry. Is this real? You are real?” Dean asked. 

Jason figured that there wasn’t going to be a fight. Probably. So, he put his guns back where they were. “Damian,” he called out. “Simmer down, Satan Junior,” 

Damian frowned. “I told you not to call me that!” he growled and pointed his sword at him. 

He just rolled his eyes. “If you play nice, I’ll get you a friend to rough up with later. Now, go stand with Faust,”

“I’ll show you nice Todd, I—”

“Damian!” Dickie huffed in that mother hen voice of his. 

The other guy joined them. “Dean, what’s going on?” 

“Sammy, you’re not going to believe this!” 

Jason took a moment to scope the surroundings. Dick might be on his feet, but, it didn’t mean he was back to being 100%. “Okay, look—” he cut in, “Before we all start to get along, have a rainbow montage and share kisses and explanations and shit, I’m going to need a chair and a first aid kit,” 

Both of the guys’ eyes shifted off of Jason and moved around until they found Dick. That was when they probably realized he was hurt. 

“Dean,” the other guy sighed, “Do we know if they’re angels? Or demons? I thought we asked questions later. You more than me,” 

“Demons? Angels? Again?” Jason whined. Because, seriously. This shit all over again? 

“Wait, so this is like that Shadowhunters universe but these guys know who we are?” Timmy said. “They didn’t have us. I mean, not properly,” 

Jason turned to him. “So, we couldn’t get the thing to work,” 

“Wait, what did you say? Another universe?” The taller guy asked.

Dean nodded. “I think we really need to play 20 questions,” 

Jason sighed. “Sure. But like I said, a chair and an aid kid, first,” 

“Sure. If you leave all of your weapons here,” 

“Sam! You can’t ask them to do that!” Dean said at the same time Damian let one of his disagreement sounds. “I wouldn’t need weapons to take you down,” 

“Damian,” 

“Dean,” 

“Sam,” 

“What?” 

“What?”

“What?” 

“OKAY!” Jason cut in. Dickie needs to heal soon because I don’t think I can pretend to be him any longer. This shit is exhausting. “Chair. Aid kid!” 

“Oh, right. Right, yes. Let’s get to the main room,” Dean said. “Don’t listen to Sam, you can bring all your cool things!” 

There was a huge table and they were sat around it. As they passed doors and halls to get there, Tim got the sense that whatever this place was, it looked similar to the idea behind the Watchtower and the Batcave. It looked enormous for just two people. 

After helping Dick sit down in one of the chairs and taking the Aid Kit from Dean, Tim started checking on his brother. 

Damian was pouting silently in one corner next to Faust. Jason opted out from sitting, he was leaning toward one of the bookshelves behind Tim and Dick, presumably in protective mode. 

“So, you’re from another universe, and… you’re… superheroes?” Sam asked. 

“Yes,” Tim said without looking. “But you seemed to know who we were, ah, are, uhm, anyway so I’m guessing our universes might be close,” 

“Right. Uhm, yeah,” Sam continued. “Anyhow, what are you doing here? And how?” 

Dick let out a whimper when Tim touched a sore spot on his chest. “That—That’s a long story,” 

“We’ve got time,” Dean responded. 

“Wait a minute,” Jason cut in. “How do we know we can trust these guys?” 

Damian rolled his eyes. “The voice of reason, Todd. Good job,” 

Jason chose to ignore that. “Seems to me like you two are capable of threats. Not to mention this whole hideout,” 

“Well, considering you guys appeared out of thin here inside this warded and protected place, maybe, we should be asking you that question,” Sam said. 

“I mean, they’re superheroes, Sammy, maybe we oughta not question it,” 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Hit the brakes for a sec, Robin,” 

“Hey! What does that mean?” Tim asked. 

“Oh, right. Uhm,” Sam averted his eyes and grabbed his phone. “I’m gonna call Castiel,” 

Dick looked up. “Who’s that?” 

“Our friend,” Dean answered. 

Jason laughed. “And what are we supposed to do until then?” 

Tim got finished with treating Dick. “Okay. Maybe we got on the wrong foot here. I’d introduce myself but you seem to know that already. Maybe we should dial it back a little bit,” 

“Good idea. I’m Dean Winchester. This is my brother, Sam,” 

“Nice to meet you,” Tim said with one of his innocent smiles. “We’re on a mission right now. We accidentally got zapped through different universes chasing this guy,” he pointed at Faust, “He’s an ancient and evil sorcerer. He managed to run from us a few times so do you mind telling me if this universe has any magic he could siphon to try to run away again?” 

“It does,” Dean replied. “But we also have magic cuffs that disable anyone from accessing magic. And a warded room to keep him in and block powers too,” 

Jason tilted his head. “How do we know it works?” 

“Well, it worked on the King of Hell and many of the asshole angels and many others. So,” 

“King of Hell? Like Lucifer?” Tim asked. “Because we met him and he didn’t really like to be called that,” 

Dean and Sam looked at him with frowns. “You mean Crowley? You met him?” 

“Crowley?” Jason replied. “Nah. Lucifer. Fallen Angel. King of Hell. Owns a nightclub in LA. Plays detective. Has Daddy and Anger Issues,” 

“The last part checks out for our Lucifer too,” Dean murmured. 

“Can we dial back to the magic cuffs for the bad guy please?” Dick asked. 

Dean nodded. “Right. Yes. Follow me,” 

“Timmy, go with them,” Jason said. 

“Okay,” he nodded. He’d already go without Jason asking because he wanted to see these magic cuffs. Maybe they could apply it in their own world too. Which would be so cool! 

So, he stepped behind Damian and Faust, following Dean down the halls. 

Jason cautiously sat next to Dick. He still didn’t completely trust these guys. “How you doing?” 

Dick tried to sit straight but Jason could tell from his paleness and the stiffness over his movements that he wasn’t doing good. “Managing. I’m sorry,”

“What for?” he furrowed his brows. 

Dick shrugged. “I thought Tim and I figured it out. But I just got us zapped somewhere else,”

“It’s okay, man. No need to be sorry. None of us blame you. Besides, it’s the first time we didn’t land on our asses so… thank you?” 

Dick smiled through his pain and Jason returned it. Dickie was already in pain and he was still burdening himself. Jason couldn’t not do anything about it. 

He turned back to the Rapunzel staring at them. “Why are you looking at us like that?” 

“Oh,” the guy chirped up, “Nothing,” 

“Jason,” Dick mouthed. 

“No, no,” Jason got back up to his feet. “First, either you or your brother told us that you’re Batman. And then you two went all weird. All that commentary about imaginary friend turning real. Your reactions tell me that our stuff isn’t new to you because we didn’t get the same kind of reactions we got in the other universes which tells me you know something about us but you’re keeping your mouth shut. So, I’m gonna ask again. What are you hiding?” 

“That is a good question,” Dick said. 

Just for a precaution, Jason lowered his hand over his gun. Didn’t take it out but grabbed the handle. For, you know, if the situation arose. 

“What is a good question?” Timmy asked, trailed by Damian and Dean as they entered the room. 

Jason tilted his head. “What are they hiding?” 

Dick didn’t want to cause any problems. Whether this pair of brothers were the good guys or not, he felt like the four of them had enough of this multiverse bullshit. He didn’t want any more complications. He already felt guilty about getting them here rather than home. 

But, still, he’d like to know what these guys and this universe were hiding. 

 “Oh. Uhm, what’s going on?” Tim asked, looking at Jason and then Dick. 

Then, without getting any answers from anyone, a guy in a trenchcoat appeared in the middle of the room. Out of thin air. 

If I hadn’t been used to weirder shit… 

“The fuck?” Jason said. 

Tim started looking around. “You guys have the motherbox technology here too?” 

“The what box technology?” Dean replied. 

“Motherbox,” Tim repeated. 

The trenchcoat guy turned to the brothers. “What’s going on?” he asked and took a look at the four of them again. “You aren’t supposed to be here,” 

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jason responded. 

“Who’s Sherlock?” the guy responded. “Is he the cowboy or the detective?”

“Have you been living under a rock for the last century?” Damian snickered. 

“No. Heaven,” 

“Heaven?”

“Yeah, he’s an angel,” Dean let out a half-smile. “We, uhm, we’ll talk about that later, Cass,” 

Oh, so this was the friend they called. An angel? Lucifer helped us before. Maybe this one will too.

“Okay, Dean. Now, what are you four doing in this universe? You shouldn’t be here,” 

“Yes. We’re aware,” Dick said. “We’re trying to go back,” 

“Oh. You’re injured,” 

Dick nodded. “Yes. Faust zapped me with some other universe’s magic,” 

“Faust? Felix Faust? Is that man still alive?” 

“Wait. You know Faust?” 

“Of course. One of my earlier missions on Earth was tracking him,” the angel said as he walked up to Dick. He didn’t know what to do and before he or Jason or anyone else could stop him, he put two fingers on Dick’s forehead. 

Dick felt something go through his body. Something uplifting and refreshing and… It only lasted for a moment. Like when they fell through universes. But this didn’t make him feel like he was separating. No, the opposite. He felt whole. 

“What the fuck?” Jason shoved the guy away. “What the fuck did you do?” 

“Jason, wait,” Dick said and he wanted to jump to his feet. And he did. “I…” he looked at himself in shock. “I’m healed?” 

“Well, of course you are. Because I healed you,” Castiel responded. 

“Oh,” Dick let out. “Uhm, thanks?” 

Castiel nodded. “You’re welcome, Dick Grayson,” 

“You know my name?”

“You know his name?” 

“Yes,” the angel simply answered. 

Jason crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, hold up. What the fuck?” 

“I’m an angel. I have abilities. Such as knowing you’re not from this universe. And who you are,” 

Damian took a step. “Because celestials like to keep an eye on the likes of us since we tend to cause you headaches?” 

Castiel pressed his lips together and squinted. “I… Maybe haven’t worded it that way, but, sure,” 

“Wait, what?” Sam interjected. “You mean to tell me they’re real?” 

“Yes,” 

“You don’t think we are?” Tim asked. “We’re flesh and blood,” 

“Holy shit,” Dean started grinning again. He elbowed Sam. “I told you! They’re real!” 

Now that Dick felt a whole lot better, his mind was more focused as well. Like what they were talking about before the angel showed up. And, even though he helped, he’d gone against more powerful beings before so he’d even attack the angel if he and his brothers were in danger. 

“Why is that a problem? You know who we are. Very well. Beyond the suits and masks. You know our real names when we didn’t give away any signs. Answer Jason’s earlier question. What are you hiding?” 

Tim was very confused. His entire existence had never been question to be real or not. At least, not like this. 

“Wait,” he said and turned to the angel “Cas—Castiel, right? The multiverse, it’s real. We ended up here when we were trying to get home using the worlogog. In the first universe we landed in, Lucifer Morningstar told us that there was one hell, multiple earths. Does the same go for heaven? So does this mean this universe is close to our home? Or that you can help us get home?” 

“That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time,” Castiel said. “But, yes. One Hell. One Heaven. Multiple universes,” 

The brothers had a visible reaction to that. “And you’re telling us now?” 

Castiel shrugged. “Must’ve not come up,” 

“Right. Sure,” Dean rolled his eyes. 

“Wait. Does that mean our Lucifer and the one they mentioned aren’t the same people?” Sam asked. 

“No,” 

“No?” 

“No,” Tim said. “I don’t know how much you know about the multiverse. But, it’s essentially about people and the different choices they make. There are always two options for everything we face. Millions of people, unmeasurable choices so infinite universes,” 

“The kid is right,” 

Sam tilted his head. “But you just said there was one Hell and Heaven,” 

“That’s right,” 

“So? How… I don’t understand,” 

“It’s simple, actually,” Tim said and everyone turned to him. “Castiel can correct me, but, he said Hell and Heaven are single entities. He didn’t say anything about the beings. So, demons, angels, they’re all subjected to the same choices. I mean, so far, we’ve come across like three different kinds of beings of demons, including yours. And, we haven’t seen what yours looks like, but, I’m gonna go on a limb here and say that they were all different,” 

Tim was coming to these conclusions himself. The more the angel talked, the more puzzle pieces got connected inside his mind. He felt like he was having a mental orgasm or something the more he saw the bigger picture. The more answers he found to his questions, the more answers he started wondering. If only Heaven and Hell were the single entities, if the beings weren’t, and multiple Lucifers existed, did that mean there were multiple God’s? If it was true, then didn’t that go against the whole purpose of the Abrahamic religions? And what did that mean for the mythological Gods? Diana and Ares and the Amazons and— Pump the brakes, dude. You’re gonna explode. There should have been a reason why people weren’t supposed to know about this stuff. One thing at a time. 

“True,” Castiel nodded. “Hell and Heaven are entities crafted in some ways that I can’t comprehend. It can store all the different variations of the different beings of the same essence,”

“Damn,” Dean whispered. “There are different versions of us too, then?” 

“Yes,” he nodded. “There is a universe where I didn’t save you from Hell. There’s a universe where Sam or you never died, a universe where—”

“—You came back from the dead too?” Dick interjected. “Sorry. I… I just,” he said, glancing at Jason. “I got curious,” 

Dean shrugged. “Yeah. We all did. I honestly lost count,” 

I get that. I can’t forget Bruce telling us about those other universes where we were evil or took over the world or even tried to destroy the whole universe and shit… I wonder which decisions we differed on? Because this means that I have that kind of part inside of me as well… How many ‘wrong’ choices I’m away from turning that version? I… I should probably stop thinking about this and something else. Well, Dean and Sam look like cool guys. And they probably died trying to do good deeds. That’s one thing in common. I think we can trust and work with them. 

Tim didn’t know what was going on in this world or what the Winchesters were dealing with, but, this information seemed to get to them. Wanting to give them time, he walked toward Dick. “Can you give me the controller?” 

“Sure. What’s on your mind?” 

As he took it, he gestured towards the angel. “Maybe he can be the instructions,” 

“Oh. Good idea,” 

Tim walked to Castiel and held up the controller. “This is a device that helps control the Worlogog. The actual thing is hidden safely in our world but Faust managed to get his hands on this and trying to stop him, we all fell through. Again. And again. Then, we caught him and started to work on this. We ended up here. Can you help us get home?” 

The angel squinted as he concentrated. Tim was sure he might have forgotten to breathe as he waited. No one else was speaking. 

I wonder, since there is only one Heaven and Hell, if there is a way to go those places without actually dying, then, maybe, we wouldn’t be needing the worlogog to travel between universes. This is huge! Bruce would lose his mind. But… this information could cause a lot of hurt if the wrong people got ahold of it, I guess. 

“No,” Castiel said at the end. 

“No?” Tim let out, his hope fading away. He did let himself get carried away. 

“Not alone,” Castiel continued. “If Faust hadn’t tangled with it, I’d probably be able to help you. These symbols are in Enochian. But, he trifled it with his magic. I’m afraid I’m no good at magic,” 

Tim knew he was supposed to ask the right questions but he couldn’t help himself. “Wait, you know Enochian?” 

“Sure. All angels do. It’s our, how do humans say, our mother tongue,” 

“Awesome! Can you teach me some?” he let out. “Wait, can you teach me how to say something cool when I beat up evil people?” 

“ T trian noan ol quasahi . That means an enthusiastic yes!” 

“Great!” 

Timmy heard Damian call him a nerd in a quiet voice but he was too excited to worry about it. 

“Rounding back to the magic thing,” Dick interrupted, “Do you perhaps know anyone that can deal with the magic thing?” 

“Sure. We have Sabrina here. The only difference is that he’s not a teen anymore,” Dean said with a smirk. 

Sam rolled his eyes. “Shut up, jerk,” 

“Bitch,” 

“Bottom point is,” Sam said, “I’ve just started. Maybe we should call Rowena,” 

“Good idea,” Castiel said.

“I’ll call her,” Sam replied and walked away. 

With glee, Tim turned to the angel once again. “You think you can give me a crash course on Enochian?” 

Damian was lurking in the corner, staying away from everyone. For once, he was letting whatever the others were doing freely and only thinking about himself.

He was still thinking about what he and Todd talked about. The vile things he said, the assumptions he made, the truths he revealed… Some truths had been buried so deep, Damian made sure, that when he heard them being thrown to his face, he… 

And now they were in a whole other world. Universe. An angel had healed Grayson, so, at least there was that. Damian didn’t know why he cared. 

Damian didn’t know why there was a fight taking place inside of him. Didn’t even know why one voice belonged to his grandfather and the other to his father and none to him. Didn’t know who he was or who he was supposed to be. Didn’t know if this fight would ever have an end. 

Grayson and Todd were hunched in another corner, debating something heatedly. That was when Sam Winchester returned to the room. “She said she can be here in two days,” 

“Great,” Todd replied. “That means plenty of time to tell us what the hell you’re still hiding,” 

The Winchesters shared a look between them. 

“And, if you don’t choose the easy way, I will have no problem resorting to the hard way,” 

Dean tilted his head. “Okay, I know that’s a threat and shit but I can’t take it seriously coming from you. Because it’s you,” 

“You’re just complicating this even more,” 

“I can’t help it, Sammy. You know he’s one of my favorites,” 

“Favorites?” Todd let out. “Favorite what?” 

Dean took a moment. Even though he tried to seem uninterested, Damian knew this was about him too. So, he listened. The man licked his lips before talking, to gain himself an extra moment. Then, he said the words. 

“Characters. Comic characters, to be exact. I grew up reading them and… yeah,” 

Damian’s eyes widened. I refuse to believe I’m not real. 

“Comic books?” Grayson let out. “About us?” 

Dean nodded. “All of you. Batman, Superman, Justice League. The Robins, all of you,” then he turned to Damian. “Almost all of you. I know little about you,” 

Damian just huffed and rolled his eyes. These two brothers had already landed themselves in the same class as Grayson, Todd, and Drake. Damian wasn’t going to waste a breath. 

“That’s Damian. Bruce’s son,” Grayson replied. “How come you don’t know about him?” 

Dean shrugged. “He must have been created after I stopped reading. Life got in the way and, uhm, now that it’s out, can I just say, like, dude, you’re awesome and you’re my favorite,” 

Created? What the fuck does that mean? 

“Oh,” Grayson let out, “Uhm. Thanks?” 

“Do you think we can take a picture?” 

“Uh, sure. Tim, how is this possible?” 

Drake shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. Let me think. It’s probably a mash-up of what I told you when we were thinking about how to make the controller work. Somewhere between choices and the manifestation of thoughts,” 

Grayson smacked his lips. “You’re saying there is a possibility we’re all just the figment of someone’s imagination?” 

I knew the most singular reason behind my existence was due to my Grandfather’s and Mother’s plans. At least, I thought I knew… What if I’m wrong? Again? What if I’m wrong on this like the other things the other keep telling me I am?

“Uhmmmm,” Drake blushed, “Maybe? I need a bit of time to think hard on it,” 

“Shit,” 

“No,” Damian spoke. “No, you’re wrong,” 

Everyone turned to him. “Damian,” Grayson started, “We don’t know for sure—”

“—Shut up, Grayson,” he seethed. “You all may be fine with this whole shit. I’m not. Who says we can trust whatever these guys say? An angel? We know a lot of people who can teleport and aren’t celestial beings! You’ve all got your heads in your asses because of a few fans and missing the point. Why are you telling them everything? I thought Father raised you all better than this but this just shows the plain truth once again. A few smiles and you’re all sold? You are all disgraces to the Robin mantle,” 

“And you are not?” Todd roared. “In case you forgot, you little shit, you were an assassin until like two days ago. Your whole maternal line comes from an evil crazy motherfucker. Flash news, that’s half of what makes you, asshole. At least, we know who we are. We—”

“—Jason,” Grayson tried to hold him off but Todd pushed him away. 

“Unlike you, we’re not half-demon,” Todd breathed out. “Unlike you, we’re not mindlessly running after a fucked up fantasy of Daddy, doing everything he breaths with the self-inserted illusion of finally getting his non-existent love,” 

Damian’s eyes widened with the insult. Dean cleared his throat. “Okay, guys, maybe we should all take a step back and calm down,” 

“Shut up,” Damian yelled at no one in particular. “Why don’t you mind your own business and go take care of your favorites?” 

“Why don’t you shut up, kid?” Dean retorted. 

Sam pulled him back. “This feels a little silly having witnessed you picking a fight with a literal pigeon, but, Dean, please don’t pick a fight with a kid,” 

“This ain’t a kid. I swear trying to reconcile God and Lucifer was easier than dealing with him,” 

“Amen,” Jason said. 

“Jason,” Grayson tried again. 

Damian turned back to him. “At least, I have my mind whole. Unlike you, Todd. I don’t have to worry about going crazy or dead again in the next minute,” 

He saw Todd moving to get his guns and he went for his sword. If this was it, then, so be it. He was sure his father would get over it. Damian surely wouldn’t sweat over it.

Because I’m the blood son. I am the best. I refuse to even entertain the possibility of anything else. I can’t.  

“Okay. Enough!” Grayson stepped between them. “No more insults. Both of you. No more anything from you two,” 

Todd turned to him. “I can’t take it anymore, Dick. This little shit running around, pretending to be the boss and putting us in danger—”

“—What danger?” Damian rolled his eyes. 

“—Thinking himself the best when he can’t even face who he is and taking it out on everyone but himself—” 

“—You must be describing your own issues now, Todd—”

“—JASON—”

“—When no one even wants him!” 

Damian stopped. Actually stopped. Out of all the things Todd had screamed at his face since the start of this… That—that hit too close. 

Because that was it, wasn’t it? His grandfather, mother, father, Grayson, Todd, Drake or… No one wanted him. He wasn’t sure even he wanted himself. 

You might not even be real . 

But if he was not real, and what Todd was saying was true, then what did it all mean? Nothing? All of his grandfather’s words? All of his father’s promises? All of Damian’s hope? 

If everything he had lived and known and suffered through was just some scribbles and words on a piece of paper created to entertain someone else, then, what did everything mean? Did it even have a meaning?

Damian might have been fictional and possibly unwanted and definitely at a war with himself but also not himself and he was guaranteed to lose. 

“Don’t worry, Todd. Unlike you, I can leave a place when I know I’m not wanted. Even being alive,” he said and walked away. 

Walked away from the angel, the Winchesters, Grayson, Todd, Drake, the things he learned. Tried to walk away from everything inside. But, he knew. 

He was losing himself with each step and breath. 

Jason was fuming with anger. Dickie was holding him. He looked angry. Jason knew he was about to get an earful. Well, the little shit deserved it. To the last word. 

“I’m not gonna apologize, Dickie. If that’s what you want,” 

Dick furrowed his brows. “I just want you to shut up. Can you do that?” 

“Fine,” 

“Good,” Dick said and turned back to the Winchesters. “So, we have to wait two days for the magic person you called? Would it be a trouble if we hung around here until then?”

“Trouble?” Dean replied. “It would be an honor, Dick Grayson, sir Nightwing,” 

Jason rolled his eyes. This is weird. Very weird. 

“Uhm, thanks,” Dick responded politely. 

Maybe I can turn weird into fun. That’s like my brand. “Hey. Why is he your favorite and not someone else? Is it because of all the righteousness whining?” 

Dean shrugged. “He’s just the best. But you’re close. I remember being devastated when I read about you dying,” 

Something flicked inside of him. 

“Actually, we don’t talk about—” Dick tried to interrupt. 

But Dean continued. “And I got so pissed. I mean, who would decide whether to kill a character or not on a poll? And I didn’t get to vote because we were on the road and I wanted to go to the office and say what a bullshit that was. Why would you kill a promising character over 72 72-vote gap? You know, I remember all the rumors about it being rigged and shit and it was just shitty, you know. Your issues were some of my favorites and— what, Sammy? Oh,” 

Jason felt like he just got shot in the head. “What, uhm, what poll? What are you talking about?” 

Dean swallowed. “Before, uhm, before publishing the story where you went, uhm, to face Joker, uhm, you know, there was a poll. Asking the readers whether you should survive or not. The outcome was that you died. So, uhm, the writers killed you,” he said. “But, I mean, like I said, the difference was 72 votes. So, there were a lot of people who wanted you to survive. Myself included. Which prompted them, I guess, to eventually bring you back,” 

Outcome was that you died. The writers killed you. 

Jason didn’t know how to comprehend that. Or if he could ever. If this was all true, and he and everything he had ever known were fictional and he was killed because of some stupid fucking poll… And then he was brought back based on someone else’s ideas? Where did that leave his purpose? Where did that leave him?

Where did that leave any point or meaning? 

If it was all true, and everything was planned by whoever it was that wrote these storylines, then why did everything or anything matter? What was the fucking point? 

“I…” he let out, “I need a drink,” 

“Uh, sure. We have some in the kitchen. Let me take—”

“—Alone,” he gritted. 

Dean nodded. “Down the hall. You’ll see the kitchen on your left,” 

So, Jason started walking there with the voice taking over his mind again. 

I tried to warn you. But you didn’t listen. I told you. You are not in control. You never were. I’m the one in control. 

Tim didn’t know what to say or do. The revelations were fun and interesting at the start but now… Now he wasn’t so sure. He was confused, irritated, and… scared. 

Trying to accept the idea that he wasn’t real and everything was planned by someone—unlike religion but more like an entertainment— was terrifying. Was any decision or feeling or thought on his own? Was that why he had always been skilled, so that he could eventually become Robin? Because it was how he was created? No, why he was created? 

I wish Cassie was here right now. 

He needed to get out of his head, right now. “So,” he started, “What you guys were up to before we zapped into what I’m assuming is your basement?” 

“Working the details of a case,” 

“A case? You’re cops,” 

“Supernatural cops,” Dean replied. “We hunt monsters. At least we try to, between battling angels, demons, the four horsemen, the mother of creatures, Lucifer, and God. You name it,” 

“Oh,” Tim said, unsure how to even respond to something like that. At least they seem to have an… interesting life. I wonder, if we are fictional in their universe, could they be fictional in mine? Or any other? Could someone be controlling and writing their destiny for them too? “Cool,” 

“You know what?” Dean said and he looked excited. “The case is in Wichita. It’s only a three-hour drive from here. We think it’s a Wendigo. Should be easy enough. Especially for superheroes,” 

Tim furrowed his brows. “What are you saying?” 

Sam turned to Dean too. “Yeah, Dean. What are you saying,” 

“I’m saying,” Dean was grinning, “Would you guys like to come to a hunt?”

Chapter Text

“I’m saying,” Dean was grinning, “Would you guys like to come to a hunt?”

“Are you kidding?” Tim responded. “Sure!” 

Dick tilted his head. “Sounds fun. Maybe you should take Jason with you, Tim,” 

Having Jason along would probably help a lot. For both the case and for Jason, I guess. 

“I’ll ask him,” he said and turned back to Dean. “If that’s not a problem,” 

“Problem? It would be amazing!” 

“Great. I’ll go ask him,” 

When he found Jason in the kitchen the Winchesters described, it looked like he had gone through a few bottles. In such a short time. “Hey,” he called out, “Can I sit?” 

“If you’re not gonna talk, then, sure you can Timmy,” Jason responded and turned to the roof. “If that’s cool with you whoever the fuck you are, asshole,”