"Please tell me that you're kiddin'."

"No, dude, there's no way!"

"You are lying. Earth cannot have-"

"How?"

The Titans all spoke at once. The thought that the whole world could look like Jump City had never occurred to them. Or worse, perhaps it had, and every one of them had denied the idea so strongly that it made the same difference.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," said Selina ruefully. "But damn, do I wish it wasn't."

"Explain. Now," said Raven.

"Okay, okay, fine, here we go," Selina said, squaring her shoulders. "Here's the short version of this shit show."

"It happened three years ago, give or take a few months. Everything was normal, and then...and then it wasn't. People started coming back from the dead, but they weren't themselves anymore." Selina sighed. "This didn't matter to most people from what I can tell. After all, who would be sad when their stillborn baby suddenly started moving and crying? Or when their spouse showed up on their doorstep after a deadly accident?" Selina paused, then said quietly, "It didn't last long. Within two weeks, most of Earth's population had been...turned. It...it just happened so quickly...one bite, and you're one of them. There was no real way to fight, but on Thursday of the first week, Superman and Martian Manhunter went out into space with Green Lantern to beg the Lantern Corps (and any other allies) for help. They never came back. Not that it mattered. Even during the first week, everyone knew it was hopeless. I mean, if Superman and Wonder Woman couldn't save us, who could?"

"So now, three years later, there's probably less than 10,000 living humans left on Earth. Life's kinda fucked up these days. Oh, and if you're wondering how in the hell Slade and I have survived this long, it's 'cause we holed up with the Baman when all this shit first started. The Bat could survive a nuclear holocaust, so zombie apocalypse be damned." Selina's laugh was devoid of humor. "Speaking of Slade, I think he should be the one to explain how you all ended up here."

"Ended...up here?" Starfire said, voicing the other Titans' confusion.

But Selina had already gone over to Slade and was speaking to him in a low voice. He said something back to her and got out of his chair. As Selina sat down, Slade made his way over to the Titans. When he knelt down in front of them, they collectively scooted farther back from him by a few inches.

Before he could speak, Selina called back, "Even with autopilot off, communications isn't working. Stupid hunk of junk." She hit the console with the flat of her hand, causing a few lights to flicker on and back off again. "Fuck it," she groaned. "We'll just have to surprise them when we get back. Oh, and judging by our current speed, we should be back at the Batcave in about...two hours. Hm. I hope nobody has to go to the bathroom for a while."

The Titans looked at each other, then at Beast Boy.

"What?" said Beast Boy. "I'll be fine-as long as I don't think about waterfalls." He grinned nervously as Cyborg and Raven buried their heads in their hands.

"I'm impressed, Titans. You seem to be taking the news quite well. Or is it that you do not believe what Selina has just told you?" Slade said.

Cyborg glared at the man. "Actually, no, I don't believe it. I don't want to believe it. Besides-"

Raven cut him off. "I believe it."

"Why, Rae?" Beast Boy said, curious.

"Or y'all can just ignore me, that's fine too," grumbled Cyborg.

"What Catwoman said about us "ending up here", and with everything that she told us..." Raven trailed off as she met Slade's eye.

"We're in a parallel universe, aren't we?"

Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy looked at Raven, then at Slade, too shocked to speak.

"Correct, Raven. You are not the Titans that belong to this universe," said Slade.

"I...I, uh," Beast Boy ran his hands through his hair. "I dunno what to say that." The other Titans still seemed stunned into silence.

Finally, Starfire said, bewildered, "What did Catwoman mean when she said "Robins come back to life?" And how did we come to this "parallel universe?" I do not understand."

For a moment, Slade did not speak as he studied the prone figure of Robin.

Then he said, "You can stop feigning unconsciousness now, Robin."

"Wha-" Beast Boy started to say, only to be cut off by Robin swearing and sitting up.

"What!" Cyborg yelped. "Man, how long have you been awake for?"

"I think the gunshots woke me up," said Robin. "But I figured I'd keep an eye on Catwoman and Slade while they thought I was unconscious. To see if they were plotting something or planning to hurt us." Robin seemed to be pointedly ignoring Slade's presence, even though he was less than a foot away from the man. He turned so that his back was to Slade and could only see the Titans. "I feel kinda queasy, though. I might have sat up too fast."

"Kid," Selina yelled from the pilot's seat. "If you throw up, I'll throw up, and there are no barf bags in this Batplane. So do not throw up. Got it?

"I'm not a ki-" Robin cut himself off. "Tch, forget it. There's no point in arguing with villains."

"God, I forgot how annoying you were, Bird Brat. Do me a favor and go back to being unconscious," said Selina.

The Titans watched their leader and Catwoman swap insults, their heads moving back and forth as though they were watching a particularly intense volleyball game.

"Is this "the banter?"" Starfire giggled and stage-whispered to Raven.

"I'm not sure," Raven said, managing to keep a straight face as she did. "It's hard to tell."

"Hey! I can hear you two back there!" Selina huffed and scowled, but she couldn't keep her laughter contained.

Robin turned to Slade. "How did you know I was awake?" Robin said icily.

"You flinched when I knelt down next to you."

Selina cut herself off mid-laugh as she said, "Christ, Bird Boy, you really hate him, don't you." It was not a question.

Robin scowled down at the ground as the Titans looked nervously at him.

Cyborg rubbed the back of his neck. I don't want to be the peacekeeper between our groups, but I doubt anyone else wants to, either. He settled for saying, "Catwo-er, Selina, none of us like him."

"Especially Robin," Starfire added. "Did you not know this?"

Now Selina looked uncomfortable. "I mean, I did, kinda, but I guess I didn't really get it until I personally saw them interact." She crossed her arms. "Can we, uh, change the subject now? Maybe everyone could just shut up and let me fly the plane for the next hour or so? And before you ask, I increased our speed a couple of minutes ago, so we should get to the Batcave in..." She checked a dial. "An hour and fifteen minutes. I can't stand being in this stuffy plane with all this tension for much longer than that."

"Fine," said Robin. "Everyone do what the villain says and "just shut up.""

Cyborg glanced at the Titans' leader. He looks seriously pissed. What's going on? He didn't have any longer to think about it as Selina stood up and strode over to Robin, who was still sitting on the floor with the rest of the Titans.

"Okay, Bird Brat," Selina snarled, looking down at Robin. "What's your issue? You're getting on my fucking nerves for real now. I'm sick of it, and I'm sick of being nice. So what's the problem?"

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Selina barreled furiously on. "You hate us, yeah? Me 'n Slade? I know that. You don't wanna be stuck in here with us? Well, same here, because it's cramped and I hate small spaces like this. Why the fuck do you think I never let myself end up in Arkham? What is it, kid? Tell me something I don't kn-"

"Batman never even considered having you put in Arkham!" Robin exclaimed. "What are you talking about?"

"Well it's not like it was up to him, now was it? If I got arrested-with or without the Bat's help-the cops would've had me thrown in there in less than 24 hours!"

"That doesn't make any sense! You're not crazy!"

"You think it mattered? The cops didn't give a shit, and neither did the doctors! I ran around in a skintight cat costume for fuck's sake! That's plenty crazy to them!" Selina was screaming now, her voice hoarse. "You never understood how this city worked, Bird Brat! I was relieved when you left town. Relieved! Because if you hadn't, you would've ended up dead!"

"Batman-"

"Shut up about Batman! He can't save everyone! He couldn't save-!" Selina stopped as she slammed her hands over her mouth, her chest heaving with the force of her last sentence. The Titans stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Who…who couldn't Batman save?" Raven said hesitantly.

Selina only shook her head with her hands still covering her mouth.

"He was unable to save someone he cared greatly for," Slade said. He was still kneeling down by Robin and Selina, and by this point he seemed to be the only calm one onboard the plane.

"Who?" Robin asked, turning to Slade. "No more half-truths, no more skirting around the questions. Who?"

Slade met Robin's masked eyes and Robin suddenly felt as though he could not breathe. What has Slade seen, thought Robin, to make him look at me like that? What happened here?

"You will understand when we arrive at the Cave," Slade said, his voice oddly flat. Robin had no chance to protest. Slade rose to his feet and took Selina by the shoulder, guiding her back to the pilot's chair. "Do fly us a bit faster please, Ms. Kyle," he said once she was seated.

"Only because you asked so nicely," Selina said, sounding much calmer now. "You ok back there, kiddo?" Selina called to Robin

Robin grimaced and muttered something under his breath.

"I didn't quite catch that, Bird Boy."

"I said-" Robin sighed. "Don't call me "kid." You're acting like I never left Gotham, left Batman. Like I never grew up. And-and on top of everything else that's going on-has gone on-whatever, I can't handle that right now, ok?" Robin pressed his lips together. He was clearly done talking.

But Selina had other ideas. "That doesn't explain why you were so angry in the first place. I don't buy it, that you were mad just because I called you "kid" and "Bird Boy" and wanted you to shut up. So what else is it? I think I got close when I mentioned being stuck here with Slade and myself."

"Hey, uh, Selina?" Beast Boy said with a quick glance at Robin. "Maybe you should just let it dro-"

"The Batcave."

Everyone save for Slade turned to look at Robin when he spoke.

"That was what got to me. Realizing that I have to go back there after all this time, and with villains for company. I...I told myself I'd never go back to Gotham or the Batcave, but I'm still being pulled back into my old life...in a zombie-infested parallel universe no less." Robin laughed dryly. "You can never escape the Bat. Not really." He spit out the last sentences as though the words tasted bad.

After a moment, Raven placed her hand on Robin's shoulder. "You're not going back alone," she said softly. "You have us for company, too."

Cyborg nodded reassuringly at his team's leader. Still, he couldn't keep himself from thinking how little they knew, even now, about Robin's past with the Batman. Why did Robin leave Gotham? What happened to make him so reluctant to go back? Does it even matter now that we're supposedly in a parallel universe? And then the most concerning question of all occurred to him: Just how different are these two universes from each other?

As Cyborg shook off his reverie, he saw that Raven and Starfire together had managed to calm Robin down a little. Beast Boy had evidently tried to help by turning into a cat and curling up by Robin, but it was Starfire who had ended up petting him instead.

Cyborg then snuck a look at Slade. Selina was speaking to him so quietly that Cyborg couldn't hear her over the hum of the engine and his teammates talking. As Cyborg watched, Slade shrugged in answer to whatever Selina was presumably asking him. Selina returned his shrug mockingly and turned to face the Titans again.

"Hey," Selina said. "Hey," she said louder when no one responded. Cyborg groaned inwardly and poked Starfire, Raven, and Robin until they all noticed Selina impatiently drumming her fingers on her knees.

Now that she had all of the Titans' attention, Selina seemed nervous. She cleared her throat, then said haltingly, "Sorry I got, uh, pissed off for a while there, Robin. I'm, um, not good at apologies, but I really didn't mean to-that is, I…" She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm sorry. About everything."

Robin only looked at her.

And then he said, roughly, "I forgive you."

But Selina looked down at the controls in front of her and said, "Maybe you shouldn't."

Slowly, the Titans went back to their seats. Beast Boy had fallen asleep in his cat form, and Robin lay on the floor with him, perhaps trying to slip back into unconsciousness as well. Starfire and Raven were now sharing Starfire's chair and looked as though they were quite cozy. Cyborg took his seat behind Angela. Girl must be exhausted, thought Cyborg. A moment later, Cyborg heard the soft snores that proved his theory was correct. Not a bad idea, Angela. Cyborg leaned back (as much as possible) in his chair and tried to get comfortable enough for a nap. He felt very tired all of a sudden.

Everyone flew in silence for the rest of the trip.