Dick's head was throbbing when he woke up. He tried to blink the darkness away to no avail, he shook his head as he felt the texture of cloth against his eyelashes. Blindfolded, great. He went to reach up to his face but soon noticed the feeling of rope around his wrist, tying his arms behind a chair he was sat in. The same knots tied around his ankles. He huffed quietly to himself, if there's one thing he hates more than being blindfolded, it was being bound, grounded. He felt free and at peace when he was up in the air, jumping from building to building. Being restrained was like taking away the ability of flight from a bird. He started working on the knots behind his back. He had been kidnapped many times before, don't panic, he knew how to get out of this. He stopped working on the knots as he remembered what had happened before he blacked out. Bruce. Bruce had drugged him!
Richard heard footsteps than instinctively turned his head over to the area they were coming from. They were heading towards him. He could hear the a heavy set, no doubt belonging to the Dark Knight, accompanied by a lighter set of footsteps that he couldn't quiet place. He shook his head away as he felt a hand grab at his blind fold, a softer touch than Bruce would have used. The blindfold was removed and Dick squinted his eyes as he let the light adjust. From how bright the light was against his eyes he could only assume he had been knocked out for hours. As the light adjusted he stared into the curious eyes that were staring back at him, eyes he would recognize anywhere. Babs.
He wanted to reach out and hug her, but he knew that would scare her... also his restraints wouldn't let him anyways. He looked at her up and down and smiled from ear to ear as he saw her standing, of course he didn't recognize her footsteps, it had been so long since he had heard them. "Wow, Babs you look stunning, as always." he spoke out with his iconic charm. Barbara stepped back as he spoke, "Um.. thanks? I guess." she said, fighting the urge to return his contagious smile.
Bruce stepped in front of Babs, quickly changing the tone of the encounter. For the first time Dick looked around to take in all of his surroundings, he was in the Batcave. It felt the same, but it looked different. It seemed, empty... He turned his attention back to Bruce and noticed the 5 o'cock shadow on the older mans face. It wasn't like Bruce to keep himself unkept. The Bat growled at the officer, annoyed that he couldn't see a sign of fear in his eyes. Any normal person would fear this kind of encounter with the Batman. "Who are you and what do you know." he demanded with an intimidating voice.
The young man only smirked at him, "considering the warm invitation I received, I think you know what I know, Bruce. And I also know where we are so the whole drugging me and blindfolding me were pretty inconvenient on your part." He chuckled. Bruce removed his cowl as he glared at his captive, not amused. His head started to ache, but he pushed the pain away and he gabbed onto the arm of the chair Dick was tied to. Bruce revealed Dicks notebook and held it in front of his face, "Where did you get this information?" he sneered.
Dick reached an arm up and pushed the notebook away from his face, "I cross referenced what I know with the information of the amazing world wide web" he said with a hint of impish sarcasm. Bruce held a surprised face and then turned his gaze to glare at Barbara. "I thought you secured his hands" he barked. Babs held up her own hands in defense, "I did! I swear!" Dick rubbed his wrists as he looked up at them, "Shes telling the truth, she ties a pretty tight knot" he chuckled, "but you taught me how to escape this exact knot when I was nine."
Bruce growled out of frustration and kicked the boy in the chest, pushing the chair onto the ground. Dick groaned as he hit the cold floor of the Batcave. Barbara felt the sudden urge to help the officer, but she stood still, watching the encounter. Richard shot an annoyed glare up at Bruce, "Got your anger out yet?" he spat. Bruce met the mans stare and held his gaze. "Untie your ankles and talk" he demanded. Dick nodded and pulled his torso up, untying the ropes that continued to bind him to the chair. The Bat observed as the young man worked, with fast and flawless precision, he was able to quickly untie the knots that Batman used to hold the nastiest of criminals.
Dick stood up and swiveled the chair back to its standing position. He brushed the dirt off his chest from Bruce's boot and sat back down. Barbara and Bruce crossed their arms as they waited for him to speak. "Where do I start?" He asked, looking up at Bruce. The Bat huffed, "You can start with how you know most of the secret identities of the Justice League, Titans, and myself." The young man rubbed his head and leaned back into the chair, "Well, that's because I helped create the Titans-" He was cut off by Barbara who stepped in front of Bruce, "No, I helped create the Titans." Bruce grunted, "Let him finished"Babs put her hands on her hips, wondering how Bruce was believing any of this.
Bruce looked back over at Dick motioning for him to continue, he nodded as he leaned forward and rested his hands in his lap, "I'm proud of you Babs for being what I was... But, this isn't my reality." Barbara and Bruce both narrowed their eyebrows as he continued to speak. He had to admit, the boy was very familiar, and there was a strange feeling in his gut he couldn't show, or shake. "When I was 9, my parents were murdered in front of me." He met Bruce's gaze as the Bat shifted uncomfortably. "-After that I was so obsessed with finding the man who made me an orphan, and making sure he wouldn't hurt anyone again. You made me your ward and I accidentally discovered the Batcave through the grandfather clock. You then made me your sidekick, then helped and trained me. My codename was Robin and all of my skills are a mixture of your training and and my past living in the circus."
The Bat narrowed his eyes, "I would never bring a child into this life" he said solemnly. Bringing a child into the dangerous world of crime fighting would be dangerous and reckless, no place for a child. Dick cut his thoughts off with a sing-song voice, "Actually, you brought more than just one kid into it" Dicks smirk faulted as he finished his sentence remembering where Jason was at this current time and that records of Damian were no where to be found. Bruce raised and eyebrow as he noticed the change in the young mans voice, "what do you mean?" he asked, with no emotion. Dick looked up at him, "This is gonna sound like a strange and personal question, but 10 years ago... did you have a relationship Talia Al Ghul" Bruce's eyes widened and he stammered for a quick second, "How did you- I don't see what that has to do with anything" he finished regaining his composure. Dick sighed, "I know you read my notes. Didn't one name stand out to you? There were four of us. Each having our turn fighting along side you, first me, then Jason Todd, Tim Drake... finally, Damian Wayne."
Bruce looked like he had seen a ghost. He had a son? No he couldn't have had a son and not known. Talia would have told him... But this was Talia after all. She would never tell him if not for her own gain. He looked away from the officer and glanced around the cave as it started to change around him. He could picture his son, Damian, and the officer sparing in the cave. Barbara, wheelchair bound refereeing the fight. Old uniforms of his partners neatly stored in glass along the walls. A sharp pain stuck and e grabbed his head, groaning slightly. Dick stood up with worry. The image clearing from The Bats mind as Dick rested a hand on Bruce's shoulder, "Bruce, are you okay?" Bruce nodded and gently pushed the hand off his shoulder. "I- I think I believe you." Every since the officer had showed up at the Manor door this afternoon, the older man had been plagued with random headaches accompanied by images of faces he did not know and events he did not remember.
Barbara scoffed, "Are you serious? How are you so sure we can believe him" Bruce looked over at her, "Stand down, Batgirl." He looked back over to Dick, "I saw something just now. The world you described. It was vivid, real. Maybe theses memories. But, how did this happen?" Dick rubbed the back of his neck, "That's still fuzzy. Last thing I remember is a big mission, involving everyone against the Joker and a flash bomb. Then I woke up, as a police officer for Gotham, No one knows me, and the craziest thing is that my parents... are alive." Bruce narrowed his eyes and let out a 'hm', "So, Since your parents never died, I never took you in, causing a ripple effect among the people you were close to"
Dick nodded, "Exactly, but even then it affected things it shouldn't have. Aquaman and Wonder Woman aren't members of the League, people I used to know like Roy Harper and Starfire show no signs of existing at all. How would my parents affect their existence?" a small amount of panic echoing off his words.
"A butterfly effect, Richard-"
"Dick, call me Dick", he interrupted as Babs stifled a chuckle.
"-okay... Dick. Anyways. The butterfly effect is a theory where one change causes great changes else where. Rippling off each other like a stone getting dropped in a pond. Even if you had no effect on these people, the time stream did. I bet you would find events that happened in this world that never happened in yours, and vise versa."
"I feel like Wally might happen to know how to fix this, at least the Wally West in my time would. He mentioned that The Flash had a similar ordeal, but I have no clue if that happened in here as well."
Barbara spoke up, "okay, I have to ask because I'm curious. What am I like from your timeline? You obviously know me, so I must be in the picture still right?" Dick chuckled and shot a smile over at Babs as he stepped towards her, she felt her heart flutter and tried to stop her cheeks from blushing. "Well, there isn't much change, actually." he said, as he decided to keep her in ignorant bliss about her encounter with the Joker. He reached out and took one of her hands in his, "From what I can tell you're as intelligent, stubborn, and witty as you are in my timeline. The only really difference is, that in this timeline you were never my girlfriend apparently." he said finishing with a smirk as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. Babs felt her cheeks grow hot, "Never in a million years, Grayson." she said, as she turned her face away so Dick wouldn't see the smile forming on her lips, ever-so-slightly jealous of herself from his world.
Bruce rubbed the back of his neck and interrupted the conversation between Dick and Barbara. "You said there were others, Ri- Dick. How are they?"Dick winced slightly as his tone changed, "Well... The third sidekick you had, Tim Drake. He seems to be fine on his own. He actually came to us. He discovered your secret ID based on clues. He's a smart kid, he'll be fine... It's the others I'm worried about" "Damian..." Bruce trailed off, "Yes. Him, and the second Robin, Jason Todd right now hes-" "he's serving a life sentence in Blackgate" Babs said cutting Dick off. "Yeah, how did you know?" he asked curiously.
Babs shrugged, "I felt drawn to the case for some reason. I felt sorry for the girl." Dick nodded, "Yes, maybe because we all knew her. Her name was Stephanie Brown, I knew her as Spoiler. She was a great kid and an excellent teammate." He said with a heavy heart. He turned his attention back to Bruce, "You took Jason in when he was a street kid living in Crime Alley. I guess without you he grew up into that life of Crime you took him out of." Bruce narrowed his eyes, slightly angry about his past self for not being in the right place and right time like he should have been.
The Bat growled slightly, "We'll find away to fix this. I'll do research into the Al Ghul family and see what I find. I'll have Barbara look into the Joker's whereabouts since I have a feeling he might have something to do with this scheme. You're in charge of getting Kid Flash or Flash on our side. We'll need someone with scientific knowledge no doubt.
Dick nodded, revealed that he was able to get Bruce to believe him. "Business as usual, then." He chuckled, some of his stress melting away.
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