This chapter is dedicated to the following: dap4e2 and Yana Miki

Clint X xx X

He wasn't sure where the young acrobat had come from or were he went so, he looked. At first it was an idle curios search that he expected to be easy and then he'd leave the kid alone with a file on him for safekeeping. When after two weeks he turned up blank, not even a name, Clint became frustrated, and worried because the kid had to exist somewhere. Even his wife noticed, not that he was hiding it from her because he never liked to but still when she said "What's been on you're mind? Is it about work?"

Thor seemed to notice too, while on a job, because he said in his ever-booming voice that commanded the attention of others, "BARTON! WHAT TROUBLES YOU MY GOOD FRIEND?! YOU'RE WITTICISMS ARE LACKING AS OF LATE!"

Partially to shut him up and partially because it was eating at him, he dragged the god into another room and told him everything: how he met a young man named nightwing, the life he was apart of that was so similar to his own despite never having killed before, his unknown origin, the way he said he was from another world with heroes of its own. Clint had of course thought he was exaggerating but then he said something about dimensions and alternate realities and numbered earths. Clint kept trying to remember what was said in the confidence of a darkening sky and a nearly inaccessible rooftop but he would soon come to realize that the nights elusive memories were not lack of attention or exhaustion but a slow acting poison that muddles the mind after a while. The only thing he knew was that the young acro- no, HERO (that's what he was after all) had come from nowhere and left in the same fashion. The only thing he had to show for it was a little bit of his uniform torn off at the rooftop they had talked at.

At the end of his tale the god of thunder remained quiet for a while then spoke up,"Barton you as well as any other in this tower know that dimensional travel is very real. You've heard Banner and Stark ramble on about infinite "universes" from an infinite amount of possibilities. Is it really so impossible to imagine? Perhaps you should speak with the doctor or Stark and maybe even give him the piece of cloth you found and explain the situation, I know that he will not dismiss the idea. He trusts you and his mind is always open to what is new." Clint started. It was the first time he had used a remotely quiet voice when speaking. And yet for all the advice that had been bestowed upon him the archer had nothing to say but :

"Thank you for listening I really needed to get that off my chest"

That's not to say that he wouldn't follow a literal GOD'S advice (it would be the equivalent of praying for bad luck)

Tony X xx X (after Hawkeye tells him what happened)

Tony had never much cared for the word impossible and he was always open to suggestions (even though he might not follow, he will listen), but there were of course limits. For example an acrobat that suddenly appears tells you his life story that is eerily similar yet different in many ways that vanishes after telling you that he's from a different word and drugs you.

This, however does not mean that he didn't check and sure enough there was someone in a skintight suit swinging around the city like an odd version of Peter but then as Tony tried to back track his movements and find him, the self-proclaimed "Nightwing" disappeared.

"Where the hell did he go!?" he exclaimed. He looked at the rag that Clint gave him and decided to have FRIDAY take a look at it. Then he was off reading everything ever published on alternate universes, infinite earths and timelines, and possible ways to travel between them. Bruce walked in with a quizzical look but decided against asking what this was for with a shrug and just started sifting through information to make the search easier

FRIDAY completed her analysis and found bits of skin on it and after running the dna found through any program and got a hit with in and hour. A police report for an "accident" that got an entire family of circus performers killed after a fall without a net. They had an entire article about them in Atlantic City News

FALLING GRAYSONS

A family of three celebrates the premiere of their youngest member Richard (Dick) Grayson joining the act. They had been preparing for this performance for months, though the rest of the circus-workers say that the boy had been trying to get onto the trapeze for as long as he's been able to see.

The entire night had gone perfectly as planned then the ringmaster had announced earlier that they would be performing "without the safety of a net" and the Graysons' (comprised of John, Mary, and Dick) began their segment, and it to was amazing. But after a couple tosses they went to drop Dick back at the pedestal board and as the audience watched the ropes/cables snapped of of the bolts meant to hold them up.

The entire circus went silent and everything including time seemed to stop but still they fell, including the so young "Boy Wonder" whose time in the spotlight was all too short

Police are still investigating foul play as there was always a check before every act, but the man who had okayed the safety check couldn't be found afterword. There has been some inquiry into a 911 call some time before but it had been cut short after a man explained that his son had gotten hold of his phone and called as a joke. The phone was John Grayson's but those he worked with said that the voice on the audio recording was not his

There has not been an official announcement from Haley's Circus on . . . . . . .

The article went on like that for a while, but Tony had seen enough. The entire thing was a little too depressing when he was trying for someone trying to pull his seventh consecutive all nighter and do a favor for a friend

All of the sudden Bruce reminded Tony of his presence by asking "Why are we studying a theoretical other world and reading sad news articles?" but the answer came from the air vent above -or rather the man inside it

"Tony's doing me a favor. I met someone a couple days ago who might have been the boy who died in that article" Clint dropped down from the vent he'd been wholed up in, "Do you believe in the multiple earths you and Tony are always arguing about?"

"I do"

Dick X xx X (in his earth of course)

"Grayson, are so imbecilic that you put yourself on another EARTH!?" **good god I've made Dami mad.** he thought. He didn't know how how his little brother had found out but he knew that he was never going to here the end of it. He hoped that the newest Robin would never find out that he'd left a bit of his suit on the rooftop with "Hawkeye", hell he hoped that Damian would never find that he'd been on a rooftop with anyone period. Alas Dick knew that the entire "batfamily" as he endearingly referred to them would torture the entire story out of him if he didn't tell them exactly what happened while he was there.

Diversion is a great form of defence. "Hello Dami, how was your date?" he was asked to help on a mission and he'd agreed to help because "her incapability will get her killed"

He nearly died of cute overload

Damian Wayne was blushing

BLUSHING!

His ears turned a light shade of pink that extend to some parts of his face, and Dick's face almost split in two because finally he was seeing the side of Damian that wasn't trained to bring his body to a heel, to make himself unreadable, a side was unguarded and caring

Suddenly, as if realizing his "slip-up" Damian schooled his features, his face paleing the blood receding into his ears, then fading away all together, and in that moment dick wanted to track down talia and show her why some people considered him scarier than Bruce.

"Tt, i have no idea to what you're referring to, and frankly your idiotic notions make for far to much stupid in the room." and with that he turned and left **whew, that was close. Dami almost sunk his claws into me.**

I was once again alone with my thoughts. I thought about the way the Teen Titans was prospering and how our covert ops. team was changing the world. I thought about was to get for Starfire for her "year on this earth" day this year, what should i make dinner at our place? Should we eat on the roof? Should i tell anyone about the heroes from the earth i was on? Should i try to find my way back? Did they get anything from the piece that i left behind? Or the traffic cams? I kept be dragged around the inner working of my own mind like a ragdoll, and it was exhausting. I felt my eyes dropping but was powerless to stop the force with I felt my fatigue.

_month lapse

Tony X xx X

"ANTHONY EDWARD STARK! Get out of that lab. Get up here! Go take a shower!" roared the tenacious and ever bossy Virginia "Pepper" Potts

Tony went

And when he got out, despite what he'd hoped she still hadn't calmed down, "Go eat!" she demanded

Tony went

"Go brush your teeth!"

Tony went

"Go to sleep!"

Tony hesitated, "But Pep, hun, I'm on the verge of a br-"

"SLEEP!" Pepper was back to roaring, "NOW TONY! …. before you hurt yourself…" that last part was almost a whisper, it was so quietly said. There was an urgent worry with what she was saying, like she thought that at any moment he would crumple and turn to dust. And as he laid his head on a pillow and fell asleep thought **why am i glad that she feels this way for me?**, but he couldn't stay awake long enough to answer.

Natasha X xx X

Not a whole lot when over her head, not the way Clint had been acting, not the way stark had been acting, and certainly not how the dynamic of the team had shifted. Suddenly all any one wasn't Steve or herself was more interested in finding a way to an alternate earth they didn't even know existed then going on missions. God as if ONE earth wasn't hard enough to handle, now they wante-

A loud clash brought her out of her reverie and back to the "living room" area near the stairs that go to Tony's lab. In half a second she got up, vaulted over the couch, and after that it took all of 15 seconds to sprint down to the supposed "explosion" site only to find Banner and Tony standing in front of some sort of churning, oddly lit, both convex and concave, thing "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"

The only thing that seemed to pop into him head was, "I don't know, it thing i might have created a portal?

Dick X xx X (while ^that^ is happening)

"Nightwing, get over here. You need to see this." called Tim. he'd left him in charge of watching out for potential threats at the Watchtower, "There's a singularity in midair in New York, should I call a team? Mabey Beta squad?" Tim had been getting better and better at making decisions, but was still respectful enough to ask his brother what he thought if there was time to do so

"No, but that's a good call Robin. Who about we let someone else take watch and we go do some reconnaissance?" Tim nodded in confirmation as thought the thought had already come to him, and it probably had, tim just liked to have as many options open as possible in the event that one failed, still they made a genuinely good team as two entities separate from batman and therefore equal, but as they made their way to the tubes Dick caught his brother mumbling under his breath:

"It's Red Robin"

X xx X (a couple hours later cuz they need to prepare) (at the singularity or close-ish)

"Who do you think it is? Was this caused by us or them?"

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"Covert"

"Oh" at Nightwing's comment Robin calmed down and got quiet. They'd be on the rooftop near the singularity for 17 minutes and still nothing. If it got any closer to 20 the duo would go in and ask them what they wanted with their earth

So they waited . . . and waited . . . and waited . . .

"Come on Ti- I mean Robin" and he ran forward ignoring Tim's protest at the name ("i've only had this identity for YEARS, it's not like there are dozens of times where i've remind you or anything")and they launched themselves off of the only building they could find that was higher than the opening.

They were immediately greeted by the type of arguing that only people who were A) truly emotionally stunted and B) were very close to one another, could do.

"TONY you do NOT create portals to other places that you do not know how to close or control!" said a woman with flaming red hair that was only a couple shades brighter than Cory's

Dick nodded in agreement even though no one was looking at him right then, "She's right you know. If I were a baddy half of you would be dead by now. But since I'm not I'm pretty 'turbed. OH, by the way who are you guys?" but, just as he said this, his eyes caught sight of the guy he'd once spent the afternoon with, Hawkeye, "DUDE! How have you been! Are you the reason there's a singularity?" he was trying to keep his tone happy so that no one would go into a panic and force him to hurt somebody (people tended to overreact to the whole "other earth" thing) (that and he needed to know whether or not they were baddies) so seeing Hawkeye there was a welcome sight. Alas, the same cannot be said for his presence on their earth

"And who in the world are you?" said a man, presumably the one named Tony, "and how did you get here?"

At the same time, his brother signed on his shirt "Dicky do you know any of these people? The one on the right second to last recognised you the second you started talking" Nightwing sighed. He wasn't particularly fond of two people talking to him at once. And to add to his frustration some sort of pa system with a british accent kicked in after "Tony" stopped talking.

"Sir, I believe that that is the boy we started this venture for." it stated in a way that eerily reminded dick of alfred: mild disinterest and vague omniscience, "the one who came from the circus and became a vigilante in a separate dimension." everyone turned and stared at him in varying levels of horror and surprise

F*CK they knew who he was

I am profoundly intimate with the capitalization problem i seem to be having but i cannot fix it for many reasons i do not find myself needing to list