Chapter 11:

EARTH 16

Batman was instructing the Leaguers with such ferocity that Wonder Woman took him out into the hall to calm him down.

They had begun creating the portal thing today. One day, it had only been one day. Flash and Kid Flash were helping on the actual energy converter, but the others, such as Superman and Martian Manhunter, were helping to lift the heavy steel beams into place. Green Arrow was helping screw in the nuts and bolts, along with Miss Martian and Artemis. Superboy was helping lift crates into the mountain, grabbing them and lifting them with little problem. The Green Lanterns were helping get the crates inside, along with moving the steel objects, and Hawk Man and Hawk Women were helping lift less heavier objects. Everyone else, other then Black Canary and Red Tornado, was on a mission of some sort. Black Canary had just finished talking with the kids about what was going in. Miss Martian had run out bawling her eyes out, and Wally had stalked out looking like he was ready to punch someone.

"Calm down, we're working as fast as we can," Wonder Woman remarked, gesturing to what they had done so far. Batman breathed deeply and then nodded, though his hands were still tightly clenched fists. He glanced at her, looking as if he wished he wasn't there right then.

"I know, I'm just-"

"Worried," Wonder Woman finished for him, setting a hand on his broad shoulders. "I know. We'll get there in no time. Just… breathe."

Batman, irritated that he looked weak in front of the teens and the rest of the league, in fact actually turned away, and pulled himself away from her comforting hand. He walked back over to the doorway which led down a narrow, curving hallway. He didn't turn back, though he stopped and shot a glance at Wonder Woman. She looked after him worriedly, but then he disappeared down the long hall, his cape fluttering behind him as he walked. He didn't turn back.

Biting her lip, the Amazonian princess turned back to the work, jumping into the air with a well placed kick up from the ground, she flew up to Superman, her hair waving back from the wind. "Clark," she called out.

The daytime reporter and all-time hero glanced at her; a large curving steel beam was balanced on his shoulder. He looked confused at first, but then nodded at her in acknowledgement. "What is it?"

"Bru- Batman," she muttered under her breath, knowing he could hear. And she prayed to the gods' of Olympus that Connor hadn't heard her. "I'm worried about him."

"Aren't you always?"

She gritted her teeth, turning her back to him and looking as if she were inspecting the teams' work. Green Arrow was making fun of Artemis, as she had tripped over her own two feet. The blonde archer was glaring at him as if he had just committed a crime, which in Diana's book wouldn't be a surprise. She then turned to look at where Batman had disappeared, a solemn look on her face. She looked as if she were remembering a distant memory.

"That was a long time ago, Clark. It's not like that anymore."

She imagined Clark grinning as he replied, "Fine. Aren't we all?"

Thinking deeply, she sighed. "I suppose. But… I do not blame the man. His partner is missing, gone; Clark, Dick is in an alternate dimension, he may never get back." She turned around to see Clark looking at her seriously. He had shifted the steel beam to his right shoulder. She felt worry grip her stomach, and she wished that it wasn't showing on her face.

"I don't either, but he needs to keep it strong and have faith that we'll get Dick back."

"Batman and faith?" Diana snorted. "That's like Tom and Jerry."

Clark looked at her oddly, as if he didn't get why she used that's reference, or even where she learned it.

"Flash," she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

Clark nodded once in understanding but then gave her a shy look. "I suppose it's true. I want Dick as much as Bruce does, I'm pretty sure. I want that kid back here, soon and safe. But I'm not burying myself in my own pity, like he is."

"Clark," Diana snapped, looking shocked. "He isn't burying himself in pity. He's pretty much lost the only family member he has. I honestly wouldn't blame him if he wasn't a bit sad for himself." She stared at Clark with her nostrils flared, hands on her hips. He looked away, suddenly ashamed of what he'd just said; normally he could control his tongue, but today he was just a little snappy, just a little more tired. If anything Clark was just weary of what was going on around him. He was tired of worrying, even if it had only been a day.

One day.

Twenty-four hours.

One whole day, light and darkness had passed and they still hadn't gotten him back; they couldn't.

Superman was frustrated, because he couldn't do something. He couldn't create holes in the universe that allowed him to cross and jump Dimensions. And he was frustrated.

"I know… I'm just-"

"Superman, are you going to bring that down? That piece is vital."

Both Wonder Woman and Superman glanced down at Martian Manhunter, who was floating up toward them with an impassive look on his face. He stopped at them.

"What is wrong?"

"Nothing," Wonder Woman replied just a tad too quickly. She turned away, floating downward.

"Nothing important."

EARTH PRIME: ROBIN; THREE MONTHS LATER

He sat inside the warm coffee shop, staring out as the rain crisscrossed against the window like streets on a map. He fingered the Strawberry smoothie with long, nimble fingers. He stared at it for a little while, thinking of its pink color and then he glanced around the empty shop, staring at the customer that was obviously blogging in the back of the store, hunched over their laptop. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to the window, watching as everyday people passed the shop, looking at phones or checking watches. He furrowed his brow, watching as some college students passed by the window, opening the door and causing the bell to jingle through out the store.

The cashier came from behind the back door, looking pleasantly surprised that the group was there. They were all more or less soaking wet, and they were all laughing at one brown headed girl, who was blushing a deep red. It flooded her face and made her green eyes pop. They all began to order, pushing at each other and grinning and laughing at some untold joke. Dick watched them, feeling a bit lost as he did so. He saw the team in this group of strangers.

He saw a group of friends.

He saw people he didn't have.

Looking away spitefully, he closed his eyes tightly, ignoring the growing pit in his stomach. He breathed deeply, opening his eyes, and then turned back to the group, which had sat down with their smoking drinks. He watched them as they talked and laughed and went on about how boring school was. A tall blonde boy began complaining about his Anthropologist professor, claiming in a thick British accent that the professor was "prick" and a "pompous moron who didn't know what in the bloody world he was talking about". Dick felt envy stab him in the heart; he would give anything to be in a school, learning and growing more in his education.

He glanced away again, back toward the rain and to the city. A large clap of thunder boomed across the sky, causing people outside to glance up and start waking faster. Lightning streaked across the sky like a bright flash of light, cutting open the overcast, grey sky with its bright light. Robin winced, leaning over to the right in his seat to see past the H&M that stood across the street; he swore the thought he saw the lightning hit something. Shrugging it off as his poor vision through the heavy rain, he turned back to his Strawberry shake.

"You people don't mind if I play some music right? This storm is getting me down," The cashier commented, pointing out into the heavy rain. She was biting her lip, as if worried that they would say no. She hadn't even glanced in Dick's direction though, as if he didn't matter.

"Naw," one of the college students called out. "So long as it's chill."

The cashier looked at him disdainfully, but then nodded in agreement. She pulled out a white iPod and plugged it into a small speaker, turning it on and scrolling through music. Eventually, after a good solid four minutes, she stopped and began playing the song.

Content with the music, Dick turned away from her and the rest of the shop, annoyed with the one college student, and began to stare at the sky. He thought about Gotham Academy, thinking of Barbra Gordon and his classes. He'd been bullied there, called a "Charity Case" or "Circus Freak". It had hurt, but he ignored it for the most part. It was hard to ignore people when they repeatedly made jabs at his life with pointed spears. Still, he longed to be back there, learning and making mean remarks about people in his head. He missed sitting there with Barbra Gordon, laughing about silly putty and Superman's reversed underwear. (If anything, that was the one thing that never got old. That and how they had somehow managed to create a working slingshot out of silly putty and some pencils.)

He missed telling teachers they got the math wrong. Especially when they didn't distribute properly on an equation. It was funny to see how red their faces got when they realized he was right. But then again, it always backfired because then he would get teased about it. Of course, he had to look like it was paining him. But the moment he got out of that school, a calm cool smirk crossed his face and he was out there laughing his head off at Babs and Bette Kane, who he was also mutually friends with through Artemis. Of course, it still bothered him. He'd sit in bed when he didn't go to the Cave or on patrol and would wonder if it was all true. He wondered if he was a freak; he was a freak with money. He was also an orphan, for the first few years of his life with Bruce, it had really bothered him. He'd always been surrounded by family, tons of it. Not only had his Mom and Dad and Aunt, Uncle and Cousin his family, but the entire circus. He was to leave that all behind, and finally being alone like that completely ripped him apart. Bruce didn't know what to do, and Dick hadn't even liked him at first. Heck, he hadn't even liked Alfred very much.

He hadn't trusted them at all, either of them. But then again, he was alone and afraid and you couldn't exactly blame him. He didn't have any friends for a good long while, probably until he was about ten or so and he met Barbra. That had been a rather hurtful meeting but the recount of their meeting always made them laugh. Babs repeatedly admitted she could've reacted a bit better and Dick thoroughly agreed with her. He made a friend. And now he had more friends.

Friends, he thought gloomily, he didn't have any here.

Jumping from the large thunder that rolled across the hills of the heavens, he shook his head and snatched up his smoothie with quick reflexes. Glancing around the store irritably, he grabbed his jacket and threw the hood over his head, not bothering to put it on correctly.

He stalked out of the coffee shop, his mood having suddenly diminished into something a little angrier than before. Stomping through the heavy, blinding rain, he weaved in and out of the crowd. In all his fourteen year old live, he had always felt more comfortable in large crowds; that is, of course, until he joined to live with Bruce. He had grown to be more accustomed to the shadows, to go unnoticed. And this had somehow worked into his daily life. He felt uncomfortable when in the school cafeteria, in the gym when there was one of those pep rallies. He felt as if someone could just sneak up and do something that could harm him, and when in those big crowds he found himself glancing around nervously, his hands and legs twitched, and his blue eyes skitted over the crowd. Barbra would often tease him by saying he was too paranoid; she had no idea.

Dick was even worse when it came to being Robin. Though Robin kept it more inward, his eyes still glanced around nervously and he repeatedly caught himself mumbling "Carry On My Wayward Son" under his breath, probably as a form of absent mindedness, though how that was connected to his paranoia he didn't know. Wally often said he was worse than Batman with paranoia, and Robin would promptly stick his tongue out at him in return.

Turning around a tight corner, he found himself in an abandoned alleyway. He glanced around, finding it was not raining anymore, and then glanced up to find on of those weird cloth things they put in front of hotels above him. It completely covered his view of the sky and he was right under it. Smiling smugly to himself, he sat against a damp brick wall, fingering the drink carefully.

School.

One word reverberated through his head.

School.

He smiled to the ground, his mind flying on a million different tracks. He would go to school.

Of course, he had to something better. It had already started, back in August but Dick needed to do something. No, he wanted to do something. It was better than meandering down the Bronx with nothing better to think about other than how alone he was. If anything, it would probably be good for him. It would be good, he thought, to begin learning some new things. He already missed, pretty much, a full semester. The only thing he had to worry about was being behind, and only by a little bit because he was in tenth grade math anyway. His mind searched through all the schools he knew about that were in New York from the top of his head. Neither of them were High Schools, of course. He hadn't ever been to a high school in New York, only to Colleges because Bruce and he were asked to go to donate large amounts of money. Honestly, he found it very boring. Though, occasionally he surprised the Professors with his high intellect. (That one conversation about Creation and Evolution had been very interesting).

Pulling himself from the brick wall, which was being filled with trickles of water that had begun to leak through the overhead protection, he walked out into the crowd, swept away by the mass of living bodies.

He eventually found his way back to the Bronx, and his apartment.

Actually, on his way, he had come to quite a few revelations. First, he had passed quite a few full Churches and Homeless centers and places where they handed out food. His brow crinkled and, while walking past and staring, he realized he might not have nearly starved himself. Even so, he'd thought, it didn't matter now and he probably wouldn't take the food anyway. Others needed it more than he, he would be fine. Still, he had become perfectly accustomed to stealing now. He even liked that bit of thrill when you were almost caught. Second, he found that he had grown taller. Of course, it wasn't by much, but he figured it was still a good inch or so since he'd last checked. He only realized this when he bent down to grab a five dollar bill and he found that he was higher up than he remembered. Only an inch, but Dick noticed small stuff like that.

He clambered in onto the couch, breathing the stuffy air.

School.

The thought seemed to comfort him as he drifted off to sleep.

AVENGERS TOWER

Natasha was not an idiot, now was she inclined for Tony and Bruce to believe this. They probably thought she didn't notice, but of course she did. She noticed a lot of things they probably thought she didn't. Though, she knew they obviously suspected her of noticing something, despite what Natasha thought of Tony, he was a certified genius and Bruce wasn't too far behind. If she were to confront either of them, she knew Tony would be far harder to crack; he was a stubborn mule when it came to giving up information, or even talking to people about stuff. Bruce would probably be easier to crack, though no easier than trying to get Thor to understand the toaster.

She glanced over as Tony and Bruce were quietly avoiding each other, which they had been for the past something. Obviously, they were hiding something between the two of them and yet neither of them seemed to be pleased about the other knowing about it, whatever it was.

Tony was quietly going over some notes, glancing over at Bruce every now and then. Bruce was flipping through Popular Mechanics, ignoring Tony's constant glances. Next to Bruce was Clint, who was filling up some Ritz crackers with sprayable cheese. In all, it seemed to be a very lazy day. Natasha was sitting there just watching everyone, because honestly that was more entertaining than sitting in her room thinking of ten different ways to kill a man using only a fork.

She lifted herself from the couch, walking over to the bar. Her eyes settled on Tony, who hadn't seemed to notice her yet, and she contemplated telling him her thoughts.

No, she decided smirking inwardly, she would wait.

But she would find out from one of them, and if she didn't, she'd go looking for the answer herself.

EARTH PRIME: STARK INDUSTRIES

Pepper wasn't really listening to the board member.

He was going on and on about stocks and normally Virginia Potts would have been listening in, but at the moment she was staring at him blankly, not even really thinking about it. Actually, her eyes had taken a glazed look to them and she swayed a bit in her seat. It wasn't that anyone noticed of course, because they were all paying attention. Pepper's mind wasn't even in the same room really, because at the moment her thoughts were far off to "R".

Tony had said there was an "R" on his costume and could only go off that for his name. She figured he might figure out who he is, but Tony said he didn't exist. He had Jarvis do scans of the boy and yet he didn't exist at all, it was like he was a ghost. Maybe someone had completely wiped him off the grid and so it had been decided that he simply did not exist.

Of course he existed, he just wasn't on record. Tony had known about this, even when he had Jarvis do the scans. Pepper had found out much later and, being quite furious with Tony, had ignored him for a week. She had worried about him still and then fell for the fact that Tony said he found where he lived. Pepper made him write a note saying that R could come to the Avengers Tower if he needed anything. They would even keep it a secret from the rest of the Avengers, though Tony had regretfully informed Pepper that Bruce had found out. Better Bruce than Natasha, Pepper mused.

Still, the thought of him being out there just made her want to cry. She knew he had to be feeling alone; something had been going on through his mind. How long had they known about him? How long had it been since Tony had told her about SHIELD keeping him? She frowned to herself.

Almost a year, she figured. And then she gritted her teeth. A year and the kid refused help. If anything, he reminded Pepper of Tony. He seemed to be arrogantly stubborn and when Tony had retold his encounter with the boy, Pepper could tell, just by Tony's words, that the boy didn't like being touched by strangers, didn't like strangers, and didn't like being in confusing situations. Pepper had watched amusedly as Tony told her all about their encounter and how he had saved his life from this creepy red-headed bunny, which he had know idea about anyway, and then the kid had literally flipped out on him. He yelled about not needing help and Pepper was so grateful to God that Tony had remained calm and caring, which it seemed he had a hard job doing most of the time.

When Pepper had asked him the first time, Tony had profoundly refused any such notion. But then Pepper pushed and pushed and finally he gave in.

"Tony," Pepper snapped.

"Fine, fine!" Tony held his hands up in defense, smirking ever so slightly as he did so. "Look, Pepper-"

"Tony," Pepper began, pausing for split to contemplate continuing. When she did, she noticed Tony's jaw tighten. "Come on, tell me; I know you're worried sick about him. You… you really want to help him, don't you?"

Tony didn't respond for a long while, probably trying to think of excuses to get out of it. But it seemed he couldn't deny it, Pepper saw it on his face. He obviously some sort of connection to the boy. If anything, it seemed he felt a need to help him. Pepper didn't realize how right she was until Tony had replied. She watched with brown eyes. He rubbed his knees with his hands and glanced around the room and even shifted in the seat uncomfortably. Pepper knew it and so did Tony; Tony wasn't one to share feelings.

"Well…," he began slowly, "I… You see Pepper. I want to help him so bad. I don't know why, and I can't tell you how I want to. I just feel… connected to him. When…," he hesitated and then continued. "When I was in Afghanistan, I mean, I was so scared Pepper. And this kid, despite what I went through, has it so much worse. I had someone there, and I didn't want help even though I needed it. This kid… he's in a completely different dimension and is refusing help because he's scared.

"I can tell he feels if he accepts help from people here, he's losing faith in the people back home."

Pepper hadn't said anything after that regarding Tony's feelings toward the boy.

But she loved him so much more after that. Still, her feelings regarding R only seemed to curve deeper into her thoughts, making her want to find him and take him in and give him hot chocolate and tell him that just because he finds people here doesn't mean the people at home have forgotten him.

Pepper sighed.

"-Potts!"

Pepper jumped, her eyes suddenly clearing of their haze as she looked toward the board member. Joshua Wilkins.

"Misses Potts, have you been paying attention at all?" Wilkins' British accent seemed to roll on and Pepper resisted the urge to yawn. He was glaring at her with narrowed grey eyes.

"Not really," she admitted, feeling rather glum after her thoughts, "Send them to me in an email. I am sorry though, family business." She then stood up and grabbed all her paperwork hurriedly, avoiding all of the board members eyes. She walked past them, rubbing her eyes. She tried to look as worried as possible but she could tell that her face probably looked more bored than anything else.

Just as she walked through the door, she heard Wilkins say, "She is almost as bad as Mr. Stark, who is a worthless git himself!"

He probably thought that Pepper was out of earshot. Pivoting on her heels, she walked back through the door and pointed at him with her phone. He looked horrified.

"After you send that email, you're fired." And then she stalked out of the room.

To be continued...

Thank you for all the amazing reviews, you guys are so encouraging. If you ask a question or something in a review and I don't reply, it's probably being answered in the story. So yeah, Dick is going to school. Hopefully he'll make some friends! ;)