Pebblekit: Hello everyone! I'm so sorry for the delay. I've had some medical issues (nothing crazy serious) that have been kind of hurting my productivity, and then my editor had some, and then we went into tech rehearsals for our first show of the school semester. With any luck, I'll have more time soon! Anyway, this chapter…mutated. As such, sorry, but I'm splitting it into two again. I don't exactly plan to keep on doing his, but the second part just kept getting longer. Not much action actually happens here, but things are set into motion, so I hope the final product turned out okay and isn't boring or something. Also, I feel I should note that Damian will become a much more active part in the search for Dick and Wally, once he gets into the groove of being creative. Right now, he's still struggling a bit with it. Hope you like this chapter!

WARNING (Spoilers ahead): I mentioned this in one of my previous author's notes – I think for chapter one, but I feel I should go ahead and say it again. This story does have elements of one-sided BirdFlash, meaning a Dick/Wally pairing. While it's still not that huge of a plot element, it will become so. Much more so than I initially thought. It won't be explicit in any way, but…If this bothers anyone, you have been warned!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything to do with either "Young Justice" or "DC Comics", I probably wouldn't be worried about the future. That said…I am, therefore, I don't.

The Antics of Speedsters and Robins

Chapter 6

(Damian Wayne. 2032 – Gotham City – Batcave)

Damian fought the sudden and intense urge to grind his already clenched teeth. His little…escapade with Iris two weeks before had been easy enough, but he was starting to have serious doubts that it had actually been worth it. He'd sorely underestimated the impact their tryst would have on the news world.

As he discovered yet another video taken on a low-quality cell phone of that day, he barely resisted the urge to slam his head into the computer keyboard with frustration. Just as he was about to, that stupidly familiar and yet unnervingly clear voice sounded through his head again.

Breath, Dami.

And he did. Several times. As he did, he rubbed the palms of his hands into his eyes, resting his elbows on the desk before him. All of this had been blown completely out of proportion, the internet exploding with speculations and rumors about Robin and the female speedster's team up. That, on top of Grayson's voice echoing repeatedly through his head, was doing nothing to improve his mood of aggravation. He and Iris had been working in their own cities, trying to find something – anything – that would help them in their search.

Needless to say, they hadn't had much luck. Damian had been researching possible ways to cause a crack between realities while Iris had been focusing on trying to locate places it had happened before. If they could understand how West and Grayson had disappeared, then they might be able to figure out where the two went and then start to work on a way there.

But, no matter how much he looked, Damian just couldn't figure out where to go from where they were. Most of the information he found came from conspiracy theory sites, which he was completely aware were less than trustworthy in citing actual sources. Places like the Bermuda Triangle and Area 51 came up more than once, which Damian had to discount almost immediately. While some of the stories held interest, there were so many of them at this point that it was almost impossible to separate fact from fiction and, even worse, exaggeration. Almost any information he could find on actually opening a way between worlds was so farfetched that, were he a weaker person, he would have laughed at the outrageousness.

As it was, he would just sneer and move on, trying to ignore the drop in his heart at another lost lead.

At those times, he'd almost welcome Grayson's voice in his subconscious, listening as the older man would chuckle, almost feeling the fingers ruffling gently through his hair, and almost groaning aloud at the corny "Don't worry, Dami. When you look at something too hard, sometimes you miss something really simple. Just be patient, and maybe the answer will come to you." Or something like that, anyway.

Not that the disembodied voice of his mentor was…normal. Or acceptable, in any way. But…it was comforting. And boy, was it a rather large blow to his ego to admit that to himself. Though, after catching himself several times imagining that voice, wanting, so badly, to hear it when things got rough and all hope seemed lost…he couldn't lie to himself about it.

Grayson was gone. For now, anyway. That was overwhelmingly obvious. The fact that he was hearing him probably should have worried him more than it did, especially as it started happening more and more often, but he couldn't bring himself to shut it out.

Instead, he slumped slightly in his seat, his head thumping back onto the top of the chair as he stared at the horrible video of Iris rushing out of the bank, turning, and zooming up the side of the building to join Damian himself at the top. For several seconds, he continued to stare, even after the video ended and asked him if he wanted to restart it. There was a small countdown until it would do so on its own.

Iris.

Iris had figured out the secret behind Grayson's disappearance. She'd found what Damian had been seeking for two years. And it had probably only taken her one try.

Honestly…Damian was beginning to wonder if he was out of his depth. He didn't have super speed. And he certainly didn't understand what it was like to. He had never felt limited by his lack of superpowers before. In fact, that very thing had made him feel strong. He had to learn how to fight, adapt, and take down those that seemingly had a physical advantage over him. And thus, if he was ever to run into a new villain he was unfamiliar with, he'd be better equipped to handle it, no matter what he was facing.

But now, he wasn't so sure he felt the same way. At least not in this case.

What if he was just missing something because he couldn't see it? Like the distortion in the room Grayson had-

Right, that thought hadn't happened. At all.

…And yet…

Damian had the distinct impression that he was forgetting something. That perhaps the answer was right in front of him and that he may already know it, but it hadn't made itself clear. Something to do with Grayson, and that room…

He blinked as the video in front of him automatically started over, showing Iris streaking by on top of the roofs and heading to the bank.

Iris running. At super speed.

Damian slowly sat up, the chair squeaking with his movement. His eyes were trained on the speedster in the video before the camera turned to catch himself – Robin – hopping over an alley and following behind. Almost in a daze, he reached forward and grabbed the mouse, rewinding the film. As he watched the red and yellow blur streak across the sky, a thought occurred to him. One that, once he'd thought of it, he honestly wanted to slap himself for it not occurring to him before.

Wally disappeared in Antarctica because of an immense buildup of kinetic energy. In fact, now that he thought about it, Jai had said something like that, hadn't he? Damian bolted forward, trying to call up the audio file he had for that day. Thanks to his father's paranoia, he was almost always bugged, at least with a tracker. But sometimes, including that day, he also had an audio recorder on him. He'd worn it to the West's house then in the hopes that one of the family members would say something useful. Since then he'd listened to it several times, and though some of the parts struck him as interesting or vaguely helpful, he wasn't entirely sure why they stuck out.

The only part he'd actively chosen to listen to was Iris's little speech at the end, and that had only been to calm his anger at Jai whenever he thought of the older boy's refusal to help in any way.

But this time, something else was eating at him. Something obvious. Finally finding the right file, he called it up and started listening, pausing here and there, but ultimately dismissing most of it.

Until a little ways in, when he'd gotten Jai somewhat riled up. Quickly, he rewound and played the passage again. "In Antarctica, dad was bombarded with bursts of kinetic energy," Jai's voice came out of the bat computer's speakers clear as a bell. "Originally, everyone thought the extra amounts caused his body to lose cohesion and fall apart. But, as we later discovered, that very energy actually slingshot him to another reality. It was because of it that he was able to make it there without so much strain to his body that he actually would have disintegrated."

Damian paused the audio and pondered for a moment. Jai…wasn't wrong. The Robin had been through Grayson and Harper's files on the incident more times than he cared to count, and they had come to the same conclusion. West would have died traveling to another world if it hadn't been for those bursts. So, the question remained: how had West managed to survive this time? Because he had. He had to have, at least for a little while. The after voice Damian had picked up proved that, at least. Whether he had survived after that was another matter entirely.

But the fact remained that he had made it through to the other side and lived long enough to say "not again" and the indiscernible words after. How? How had he done it? And, for that matter, how had he been audible at all?

Grayson and Harper had looked for any sign that West had survived after leaving the first time, and their main clue had been the distortion caused by two worlds meeting (which they hadn't known at the time). There hadn't been any sound at all, which was odd, considering that West had been in mid-sentence when he'd disappeared. Why hadn't they been able to hear the end of it?

Damian had wondered this before. Had replayed all of the recordings in Antarctica that they had and slowed the footage down, hoping to find something to answer his question, perhaps in super speed. But there had been nothing. Grayson had thought it was because West had traveled too far off to hear through the crack. Another reality was quite a ways away, after all. Or it would be easy to get to.

So why had it been different this time? And not just that, but…

Why had Grayson disappeared?

The acrobat wasn't a speedster. If it was kinetic energy that catapulted West to the next world over, how had the same happened to Grayson? It had to have had something to do with the disintegration process, but Damian had been unable to find any information on that. Slade had cleared out everything within a matter of hours after Damian had dragged himself out of the building. It had been a miracle in and of itself that he'd thought to take the security video with him when he'd left, or it would likely have been lost too.

If he could figure out the answers to all of those questions, maybe it would help him. But…

Damian ran his fingers through his hair angrily, tugging at the ends. He'd never exactly been one for imagination. It was part of the reason that he'd never been as good at this detective thing as Grayson and Drake seemed to be. That, compounded by his impatience. He'd gotten better over the years, that was true, but apparently not enough so to think this through.

No, he could. He could do this. For Grayson. He had to.

Think Damian, he thought bitterly to himself as he bashed the knuckles of his fingers into his temples none too gently. Think think think. Think like Grayson. He figured this out before…

"Forgive me for being blunt, Master Damian, but I don't believe it very prudent to strike yourself in the head."

Damian spun around, trying to stomp down his surprise. If Pennyworth had managed to sneak up on him, he must have been really out of it.

The butler said nothing about it, instead setting a platter of half sandwiches down next to the keyboard, as well as a mug, no doubt full of hot cocoa. Damian hadn't realized just how chilly it was in the Batcave until he saw it, and almost immediately shot his hands forward to grab the ceramic cup, warming his near-numb fingers. Pennyworth simply watched, his mouth twitching slightly. "Far be it for me to assume I am capable of doing so in this sort of work, but is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

"Not unless you know how to rip a hole between worlds. Or know how to find an already existing one." Damian practically snarled back, grabbing a sandwich half and taking a rather vicious bite just to have something to do. As soon as he did, however, his stomach growled loudly, begging for more and the teenager realized it had been upwards of six hours since he'd last eaten anything. He took another bite as Pennyworth watched, deep in thought.

"I can't say I am at all versed with either. However, I do believe Master Dick created a device to do just that."

The Robin blinked. He hadn't found any mention of something like that in all of Grayson's notes. Perhaps the acrobat had hidden the information away? Something like that could be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands, after all. Something like that would be endlessly useful. "Are you certain?"

Alfred nodded curtly. "Undoubtedly. I don't know where he put it, but it's probably still around somewhere. As for finding these…tears without it, I admit, I'm not very well informed in these sorts of things. However, perhaps I can help you compose a theory?"

Damian finished the first sandwich half and took a small sip of the cocoa. Not too hot, but still nice and warm. Just how he liked it.

After taking a mental note to pour through all of Grayson's research again for the device Pennyworth mentioned, he turned his attention back to the screen before him so that he wouldn't have to make eye contact with the old butler. "I guess. Seventeen years ago, when West disappeared in Antarctica, he made it to the next world because of all the kinetic energy his body absorbed from those bursts."

"Indeed, sir. I recall quite clearly Master Dick coming up with that idea."

Of course he had. Because Bruce hadn't helped much with West's disappearance either. No one had. Grayson wouldn't have had anyone other than Pennyworth to talk to about it until Harper came around and joined him on his search. That was probably why the older man also knew about this strange device the acrobat had apparently made. Damian didn't mention any of this and continued. "He was saying something as he left, but we weren't able to catch the end of it after he faded. Not even a hint. Unlike the second time."

Pennyworth was silent for a moment, deep in thought, before he blinked and, if possible, straightened. "You are referring to the voice you found? Of Master Wally saying "not again?"

Damian nodded, grabbing another sandwich half as he did so. They had the perfect proportions of Swiss cheese and turkey. "Yes. And something similar happened with Grayson."

"I remember," Pennyworth answered with a curt nod. "But that did not occur the first time?"

"No. And I don't know what's different. Jai West mentioned that his father should not have been able to make it to the other world at all with the speed he'd been going when he disappeared the second time. Grayson was pretty much standing still during his incident, so the same could be said about him."

"And yet," Pennyworth was as stoic as usual, his voice revealing nothing of how he felt about all of this. "They both made it somewhere, or we would not be able to hear them speaking after they disappeared."

"Exactly," Damian took another bite and sip. "I just can't put together what happened."

Pennyworth was silent for a while before moving away. That…was rather unusual, and after a moment of surprise, Damian turned the swivel seat around to see the butler again. Pennyworth was staring right at Grayson's old Nightwing costume in one of the glass cases behind them. It obviously wasn't the one he'd been wearing that last day, but rather one of his spares. It wasn't as thick and didn't have as much bullet protection. It'd been an earlier, cheaper model that Grayson had retired when he'd learned to sew more durable materials that he'd been saving up for. In his last days, he'd only used it in emergencies.

It had always felt wrong that that was the one his father had memorialized, but it was as close as they could get.

Pennyworth continued to look at it a moment before he spoke again, voice softer. "Perhaps…they didn't go as great of a distance?"

Damian tried to compute that. "…What?"

Pennyworth turned back to him, an odd expression on his features that was very close to his usual face. Damian couldn't quite place what it was. "The world Master Wally went to the first time may have been unreachable because neither he nor Master Dick had the kinetic energy to get there. But I see no reason they could not have gone somewhere closer."

"But…West only made it to the next closest world. There's none between it and ours. And even if they went the other direction, assuming the worlds are all lined up next to each other, it couldn't be that much closer. We would have found some evidence of it at some point. Most likely."

But Pennyworth looked…pensive, if at all possible without actually changing his stance or expression at all. Damian vaguely wondered if his own father had learned the art of stoicism from the old butler. "If I remember Sir, you mentioned that the distortion we found at all three incidents was the result of two planes of existence meeting. But you also mentioned that said distortion occurred when our world hit the space between us and the next world. That implies that Master Wally had slipped into a space between worlds and passed through it."

Damian stared. That…that was…

So…OBVIOUS.

HOW COULD HE HAVE MISSED THAT?!

"He didn't make it to the other world the second time. Neither did Grayson. They got stuck between," he said slowly, trying out the words on his tongue. They sounded…right, for lack of a better term. His heart suddenly felt lighter than it had in weeks. "We could hear them these times because they were closer than West was during the first." The bursts had probably thrown him through the between-space so fast that the end of his sentence had been lost.

Pennyworth bowed his head slightly. "It is a theory, sir."

One that Damian should have thought of on his own. Iris and he had even talked about it back on Valentine's Day, when she'd suggested that the thing which had possibly come out to their world from the crack had been from the space between, not the next reality. At the time, Damian had thought it might have been Grayson trying to pull himself back and had eventually been forced the rest of the way through to the other world. But if that wasn't the case and Grayson had been stuck right there, between…

Damian wasn't sure what that meant. Could someone live like that? Was there anything there to keep them alive? He had to believe there was. Grayson was alive. He had to be. As much as Damian had been trying not to get overoptimistic, somewhere, it had become impossible to imagine his mentor being dead. No, he had to have survived. Somehow. And if West was there with him…

He had the feeling that he was still missing a part of the puzzle. Something obvious. But he couldn't think of what it could possibly be. Instead, he was too busy turning Pennyworth's words over in his head.

If Grayson was in the space between worlds, then he was that much closer to home. And thus, that much easier to bring back.

If wasn't much. Just a possibility. But it was a start.

Author's Note: And that's it for this part. I know, it's very short. But I promise the next part (which is already written and being revised) will be longer. In fact, it's almost three times the length, which is why I'm cutting this chapter in two. Otherwise, it would be twenty-seven pages long. Anyway, this marks the point where Damian is going to get better at this detective stuff. I hope he was in-character enough here. Next chapter is all about Iris and the reason why some of our speedsters don't get along that well anymore. It's already written and is almost done being edited, so it shouldn't be too long before I post it.

Thanks to all of you that have read this story, added it to your alert lists, and/or added it to your favorite lists. A special thank you to reviewers! All constructive criticism will be put towards improving this story, the pacing, and the characterization. That said, I hope this isn't moving too slowly for anyone. Stuff is about to start picking up.