Cave of Wonders

Time seemed to stand still as Sora stared up at the man who had just saved him, blood already starting to ooze from his chest. Sora was sure Red Hood was going to fall then and there, but no. The vigilante pulled back with a snarl of pain, even before the Heartless had fully disintegrated, ribbons of crimson blood fell from its claws as the creature disappeared. Hood's swords were drawn in front of him in a sort of x, as he turned to face the sky. It was then that Sora realized there were more of those fierce black beasts. They were circling the three heroes, like vultures contemplating there victims, as streaks of black trailed behind them. Sora ran up to stand beside Hood, who was panting heavily, but there wasn't time to say anything as two more of the creatures dived straight at them.

Red Hood moved first, jabbing his left sword at one of the approaching creature's head. It twisted in midair to avoid the blade. Hood was too quick for it, lifting his other sword and slicing cleanly through the creature. Sora jumped forward then too, hitting the other attacker's wing with an uppercut that sent it spinning to the ground. He finished it off with a quick stroke, then turned and froze. The last four creatures were heading straight for them, streaking down through the night sky like bullets. Red Hood was now next to Robin, swinging his blades in a wide arc so that Robin could stand and have a split second to regroup. Sora shot an ice spell up into the approaching Heartless, hoping it would give his two friends some time. Then the Bat creatures were upon them.

The next few minutes were more of a blur then an actual memory. Sora didn't think he had ever had to fight so hard in his life. There were so many enemies that he could hardly hear himself think as he fought tooth and nail to avoid being overrun. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered why there were so many of the creatures here. But that question was overshadowed by fear and adrenalin and self-preservation. At one point he had seen Robin when the boy had thrown one of his flash grenades, and a few times throughout the fight Red Hood had slid in and out of his vision, unfocused as it was.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, there was just the three of them, standing a few yards from one another, panting and trembling in the cool night air. The calm after such a vicious attack was unnerving. Everything felt surreal, and Sora decided he should sit down as a wave of lightheadedness hit him. Out to the corner of his eye he saw Robin hesitantly slump to the ground as well. Even Red Hood had taken a few steps back and was now leaning on a light post, one hand clutching his chest, and Sora knew that if it wasn't for the man, they would have lost a long time ago. But it was over, finally.

Jason took a shaky step forward, his vision swimming. Somehow, he managed to walk the few feet towards Robin, slumping onto the ground next to him. Pulling his knife, he grabbed Robin's cape and reduced it to strips. Not sterile, but it should stop the bleeding until Alfred could take a look at them. Grabbing Damian's arm (the kid was too tired to put up more than a token fight), he wrapped the cloth around the injury, then fashioned another strip into a sling and strapped the arm to his chest.

"Red Hood." Jason looked up. Sora had managed to crawl towards them, despite his exhaustion. It was really impressive that the kid had managed to hold out as long as he had and come out on the other end with no injuries. "Are you alright?"

He paused to contemplate his own injuries. Two deep holes in his shoulders, a deep cut on his side and another hole just under his ribs. They were still bleeding, more now that he had torn them open during the fight. Hood took an experimental breath. No punctured lungs, that was good. The hole near his stomach was worrying, but if he had to guess, it had missed most of his organs. "Well, I don't think I'm dying again. Although, that will change pretty fast if I don't get some help. Or stitches. Or both. Robin, could you call Agent A or Nightwing or someone?" Too bad the Robin costume had such a short cape. With a Batman sized cape, he could have treated Robin's injuries and at least one or two of his.

"No need." The deep voice behind them was unmistakable. Jason turned to see Batman looming over them. As he does.

Sora, despite being exhausted, stood up. His Keyblade was falling from his grasp. "Heartless?" Batman watched the boy, but didn't move.

Red Hood grabbed the edge of his shirt, pulling him back down. "Only sometimes. Sora, meet Batman."

Sora could do little more than stare at the man looming over him. His limbs, which had been shaky, were now reduced to lead. "H-hello." He finally stammered.

"Sora," the gravelly voice of the Bat relayed as he nodded his head, "I've heard a bit about you from Nightwing. You have information on the creatures that just attacked you?"

But it was Red Hood who answered. "Apparently they're called Heartless. And you should know right from the beginning Bats, that this kid and these monsters aren't from Earth. In fact, I don't think they are even from our dimension."

"Is this true?" Batman asked addressing Sora.

"Yeah." the boy said faintly. "Definitely not from your world."

Contemplating that for a few seconds, the Dark Knight turned to Red Hood, tossing him a small battle of Iodine and some bandages from his utility belt. "Try to clean those wounds and put some pressure on them if you can. That laceration on your side is bleeding heavily. It needs to be properly examined immediately."

"Like I couldn't tell." Hood mumbled, but he obeyed as best he could, wincing at the generous amount of iodine he poured on his injuries.

Sora moved forward to help, but he held up a hand stubbornly. "I'm fine kid."

"No you're not!" Sora protested. "You're seriously injured! And it's my fault! And-"

Red Hood gave a weak chuckle. "Believe me Sora, I've had much worse."

He laughed again at the appalled look on Sora's face. "So what were those things called anyways? You have a classification for them?"

Sora, still shocked, nodded. "Yeah, all Heartless have names. But I've never seen that type before."

Jason mulled it over. "Myotis maybe? Either that or Bob, and I've already used that." He carefully pulled his shirt away from his skin and started wrapping the bandages around one shoulder.

Batman knew Jason too well to offer him any help despite every fibre of his being telling him otherwise, and once he saw that Damian was in no immediate danger, decided he better start sorting things out.

"This sighting and the one Nightwing informed me of earlier aren't the only appearances of Heartless in Gotham." He stated. "There have been multiple reports of the creatures attacking citizens in the past hour alone. I need to put an end to it quickly to prevent as much damage as possible."

He gave Sora a pointed glare. "Apparently stopping Xehanort will stop these attacks, correct?"

Sora could only nod before the soft hum of an engine announced that the Batwing had arrived. Without saying another word, Batman stooped down and put an arm under Red Hood's shoulders, pulling him to his feet and leading the surprisingly compliant vigilante to the now waiting plane. Sora didn't know that the lack of an argument from Jason was setting off all sorts of alarm bells in Batman's mind.

Feeling if but slightly more rested, Sora pushed himself painstakingly to his feet and turned around to help Robin, but the kid was already standing and slowly but steadily walking over to join Batman. Just then it hit Sora that he wasn't supposed to be following them. He hesitated for a few seconds before that gruff voice of Batman spoke up once again. "Come on son, we can't waste time."

Relieved that he could stay with the few people he knew in this world, along with wanting to make sure they were okay, Sora half limped half ran over to the Batwing and jumped into the open door. Instantly the opening shut behind him and they were lifted off into the air.

Robin rolled his eyes. "I don't see why we're taking this simpleton to the Cave. Why should we risk our identities fo- Hey!" He cried out indignantly as Jason flicked him on the side of the head.

"Shut up, you deserved it." Damian glowered for a moment before lashing out with his good arm, punching Jason in the side. Right where his injury was. Jason doubled over, pain lancing through him. "As soon as this heals, I'm gonna kill you for that brat. Ow."

"Both of you stop." After a quick Batglare through the rearview mirror, Batman passed a strip of cloth over to Sora. "I'm going to need you to put this over your eyes."

"Why?" Sora grabbed the cloth, already fitting the blindfold to his face.

Red Hood laughed weakly from the back seat. "Because the location of the Batcave is this crazy important secret. We can't even let someone who isn't from this world know where it is."

"You know how we operate Hood. Even if he doesn't use the knowledge himself, someone could get a hold of him and take the location from him." The Cave was coming into sight. Batman flicked a few switches, diving through the holographic cliff face and landing the plane on the waiting pad.

Sora smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I would never tell anyone where you live. Not if you didn't want me to." The plane had stopped moving. Could he take off the blindfold now? It was itchy.

Jason stood up, deciding not to mention that he might if he was tortured for the info. Instead, he pulled the cloth off of Sora's head (really Batman, the itchy one? We have four other blindfolds, none of which are as bad as this one.) "Welcome to the Batcave kid."

"Whoa!" Sora jumped out of the Batwing, gazing with wonder at the Cave. An impressive display of vehicles, a giant copper circle, a massive playing card and a dinosaur, among other things, all graced the cavernous space. The Cave wasn't silent. Rustling and squeaking could be heard from the depths, as well as the rushing of water echoing up.

Over by the massive computer (which Sora would not touch. After what happened in Radiant Garden, he had promised Leon he would never touch a computer again.) Nightwing and a butler stood, looking over the shoulders of the person in the chair. Nightwing turned when the plane landed.

"Hey guys! Took him long enough to get you didn-" His eyes widened as the plain emptied. "Oh my gosh! Hood, Robin, what happened!"

He rushed over to his fellow crime fighters as both the butler and the figure in the chair (a boy dressed in a red costume with a domino mask and crossed belts on his chest) turned to see what Nightwing was so surprised about.

Jason looked up at Nightwing's worried face as he came running up to him, then promptly punched it. "Oh I so needed to do that!" he said happily.

Nightwing stumbled back, surprised by the action, but more by the lack of force put into it. "Not cool Jay!" he whined indignity rubbing his chin, but it hadn't hurt so he walked back over to his brother, if but a bit more cautiously.

"What happened?"

Sora walked over to Nightwing hoping he could be helpful as both Jason and Robin headed for the medical bay, followed closely by Batman and the butler. A trail of blood followed Jason as he walked.

"We were attacked by more Heartless. A lot more. And they were really strong. We almost didn't make it out of there in one piece."

Nightwing frowned. "Batman says they have been popping up all over Gotham. This isn't good. Especially if they are strong enough to do this much damage to Hoodie over there," he indicated to Jason who was getting a shot of Lidocaine. "These things are gonna wreak havoc if we don't put a stop to them quickly!"

"Um," Sora said hanging his head, "Red Hood actually got hurt saving me. A Heartless was attacking me from behind and he jumped in the way at the last second."

Nightwing looked momentarily shocked. "Did he really?!" Sora nodded and he shot a rather proud look at Jason who produced a rude hand gesture in return. "Who would have thought?"

At that moment the new boy walked over to the two and held out a friendly hand to Sora. "Hi," he greeted good naturedly. "I'm Red Robin. It's nice to meet you Sora."

Sora took his outstretched hand and shook it, smiling right back. "It's nice to meet you too Red Robin."

He zoned out as Robin asked Batman where Batgirl was, his exhausted mind only catching something about another mission. He was hoping he would get along with Red Robin more than the other two. Red Hood and Robin just didn't seem to like him. But that isn't right, thought Sora suddenly, they act like they don't care but me and Robin fought together, and Red Hood saved me! This thought served to confuse Sora enough to miss the next few sentences of the conversation until a hand brought him out of his stupor.

"Hello, Earth to Sora! Anyone in there?"

Sora gave a guilty jolt and looked up to see both Red Robin and Nightwing staring intently at him. "Oh, I'm really sorry!" He stammered. "Just kinda dozed off for a second there. What did you say?"

Nightwing and Red Robin looked at each other, then Nightwing grabbed Sora's arm and dragged him over to an unoccupied bed and pushed him onto it. "You're probably exhausted Sora, sorry."

"No, I'm okay really! Sora protested, trying to jump up but being pushed back down into a sitting position. "Seriously, I was just thinking is all. What were you saying?"

It then occurred to him that everyone in the med bay was looking at Red Robin and Nightwing expectantly. Robin was fidgeting slightly while his arm was being properly cleaned by Batman while the butler carefully stitched up a rather irritated and drained looking Red Hood.

Red Robin stepped forward.

Grabbing a tablet from a table nearby, he consulted with it for a moment, "We may have found Xehanort. I ran the picture Sora gave us through the traffic cams and have a 73% match in a warehouse on the docks."

Hood snorted. "A warehouse? Even space villains are lacking in creativity. OW! A, watch it!"

"Dreadfully sorry, Master Hood, but you really do need to hold still." A pulled the needle through one last pass then clipped the thread. "Do lay down, sir. I need to get the one on your chest. It's deeper than it looks."

As Jason complied, Red Robin gave him a withering glance. "Any more interruptions? Or can I continue?" Hood waved a hand, and Tim rolled his eyes. "Based on the pattern of Heartless appearances, we have a 94% chance of having the correct warehouse. However, we can't go in there with Hood and Robin in this condition."

Sora frowned at the delay. Xehanort didn't seem to want much in this world besides spreading Heartless. And the longer he stayed, the more people would lose their hearts to darkness. If only Goofy or Donald were here… Donald…

"Oh!" Sora smacked his forehead. "How did I not think of this before?" He summoned his Keyblade and raised it vertically above his head. "HEAL!" Green light and the sound of bells filled the room. Lowering his Keyblade, he started as he noticed the rest of the room's occupants were tensed and in an attack stance. Even Hood was sitting up, hand resting on the knife in his boot. "What?"

"What was that?" His voice was flat, but Batman's mind was whirling. He had already noticed the injuries on Jason's chest knitting together, the thread gently pulling itself out. Robin's arm was well enough for him to pull a birdarang from his belt when the light had hit, even though he hadn't noticed. Sora had been exhausted a moment ago, but seemed much livelier.

"Magic. A high level cure spell." Sora smiled. "When I'm in battles with my friends, Donald normally heals me, well, he normally waits too long and then I heal myself and then he heals me again… but I should have remembered sooner. Sorry."

The Bats slowly relaxed their stances, Damian unwrapping the bandages from his arm. Jason swung his feet down to the floor, grabbing his shirt and jacket and pulling them on.

Nightwing looked over the group, revelling in the feeling of having them all together and not trying to kill each other. "Alright then! Who's ready to catch a bad guy?"

"Kid" Jason said glancing over at Sora, "Who gave you one of those key things and where can I find them?"

Sora laughed. "Sorry Red Hood. They Keyblades choose you, you don't choose them."

Hood crossed his arms and looked over at Nightwing who was now bugging Robin and Batman, grabbing their arms and rushing them forward. "Let's go, let's go!" He said cheerfully. "The city's kinda in a state of panic if you haven't forgotten."

Batman did infact pick up his pace, while Robin slapped away Nightwing's hand. "Tt, I don't take orders from you Nightwing."

"Greetings Master Sora." Came a crisp voice to Sora's left. He turned to see the butler standing beside him smiling. "I believe we haven't been properly introduced, but I am Agent A. On behalf of my charges here I would like to thank you for that curious bit of magic you just performed. It was quite useful."

Sora put his hands behind his head as the two started walking over to the others who were double checking their weapons. "I just wish I had thought of it sooner."

"Indeed." the elderly gentlemen agreed. "But it was still a great value to us, and for that I am grateful."

Sora found himself liking this man right away. Something about him seemed wise and unbreakable.

"Happy to be of service." Sora said as he jogged forward to join the others now pouring into the Batwing. "And thanks!"

"Good luck sirs!" Alfred shouted over the roar of the engines. "I shall be monitoring your progress here!"

Batman gave his old friend a quick nod before lifting the plane into the air and departing from the cave.

At first the ride was quiet, each person chewing on their own thoughts, until Red Robin's voice broke the silence. "Will we be enough to beat them? I mean, we saw what one of those hoards did to you three. What if there are more at the docks? What if Xehanort has all his strongest Heartless with him, or if he has convinced some villains to work with him! What if we get there and are overwhelmed and-"

"Shut up Drake." Robin had his arms crossed, the usual expression of disdain on his face. "There is nothing my fath- Batman cannot handle."

Hood flicked Robin's head. "Wow, you and Nightwing both. Names and field doesn't work brat."

"You keep saying that. No names in the field." Sora piped up from his seat in the back. "What do you mean?"

Four heads turned to face him (and one set of eyes in the rearview mirror). After a stunned silence, Red Robin piped up. "Um… You didn't think that Batman, Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin were our real names, did you?"

He jumped in surprise. "They're not?" Well, they were really weird names.

Nightwing smiled. "As spectacular of a name as Nightwing is, it's not the one I was born with, and not the one I use out of costume."

"Costume…?"

A snort at that question from Hood. "We wear regular clothes when we're not running around on rooftops stopping crime. Heck, you're wearing proof of that! What made you think we were like this 24/7?"

Sora shrugged. "Every world is different. I've been to a world where every day is Halloween, one where I got turned into a lion, underwater worlds, inside of a computer and one where people can fly if they think happy thoughts. I thought this was a world where everyone wore masks and had interesting names."

Red Hood held up a hand. "Wait. People can fly if they think happy thoughts?" He turned to Batman. "Damn B, I guess that means you'll never lift off."

"Don't be silly Jay, B has happy thoughts." Nightwing had a massive grin on his face, mischievous and curling on the ends. "Batman's happy thought is justice!"

This drew laughs from the rest of the plane, except for Sora who didn't understand the reference, and Batman, who only smiled a little.

After calming down, the plane descended into content silence. Until Red Robin broke it, saying "If Nightwing ever went to that place, he'd never touch down again."

That put the plane laughing again until they arrived at their destination.

AN: And another chapter down. Hooray for action!

Again, this is by me and Arrow, Batman is awesomesauce, Kingdom Hearts is boss. And now Arrow, with her first addition to the AN. Arrow?

Arrow: 'Sup happy people. Arrow here. Just wanted to say hello and all, since I have been rather behind the scenes lately. Me and Loxare write this story together. In fact, our writing is so well intertwined that each chapter switches between her and my writing four or five times. Just a fun fact for you there. Hope you guys like where we are taking it, because things get pretty insane later on. Oh, and Jason and Sora are unofficially the main characters by the way. Cuz they're awesome.

Loxie: This is true. So, as always, read and enjoy! And for the love of goodness, tell me if I missed something. Actually, if you have something you really, really want to see, let me know. I'll see what I can work in.

Loxie OUT!