A/N: My Bestfriend of ten years got married yesterday, and I got to be one of her brides' maids! So I've had to do a fair bit of traveling and not much writing. Good news is that this was done BEFORE I left. I'll give the second half to you guys in a few days when I get back home. So no later than the 28th. :-D

My Robin Reversal AU:

Tim - 18 Stephanie - 18 Bruce - 41

Chapter Fourteen: Four's a Pair part 1

Stephanie walked into the study in Wayne Manor. Considering it was her turn to be on the outs with the Boss, it was pretty ballsy of her. She and Bruce just had another argument about how to do the job. Mainly; he didn't approve of her 'jump first - strategize second' method to her work, and she didn't feel like she needed his approval. Now she was deleted from his system, all the locks and passcodes had been changed, and everyone in the family had been ordered to leave her out of any loop.

And order that exactly zero of his 'subordinates' followed.

Damian made sure she knew the new channel on the coms. Jason told her the new passcodes to the manor. Cass kept asking Steph to read her mission debrief to her, and requesting her aid. Lastly, Dick would send her text messages updating her on how Bruce was doing outside of 'the Batman'. Oh, and let's not forget Alfred, who had just let her into the manor when she knocked on the door just a minute ago.

Stephanie bravely made her way through the secret grandfather clock passageway, into the Batcave. Marching down the stairs with a purpose. She came to a dead stop when she saw a dark-haired man at the bat-computer. Instincts made her freeze, but on closer inspection, she couldn't help the large grin that spread across her face.

"And here I thought I'd have the cave to myself for a bit," she 'complained' as she walked up behind his chair.

"Funny, I thought the same," Tim muttered as he clicked on a new application. Steph saw that a loading bar came up on the screen. She looked closer at what Tim had just started and noticed it was the fingerprints database, Tim had a partial print that was being systematically compared to all registered criminals and felons.

"What's your case?" Steph asked curiously.

"From your tone, I assume you have one of your own?" Tim deduced.

"Yep, now spill."

"Art Heist. Not something I'd normally go after, but the group guarding it worked for Roman Sionis."

"Black Mask," Steph added, recognizing the civilian name of the masked crime lord.

"It's priceless, . . . and completely worthless," Tim continued, "It's a hideous piece made by a dying artist named Kreg Keleb. He had suffered a stroke so severe it forever damaged the spinal nerves that sent neuro signals to his fingers. In short, he lost his ability to paint like he used to. He made five paintings since, trying to develop a new style. Not one was successful."

"Huh, weird," Steph pulled out her own evidence bag, "I've got a stolen painting, too."

"By Kreg Keleb?"

Steph riffled through the bad until she pulled out a gallery tag and read it out loud. "Horizontal Kaleidoscope, by Keleb."

"That's our guy," Tim announced with a furrowed brow. "Think it was the same perp?"

"Maybe, how long ago was yours?" Steph asked, trying to set a timeline.

"Eleven o'clock last night," Tim answered. "Yours?"

"Same," Stephanie said as she bit on her bottom lip. "Maybe a group? I mean, it can't be a coincidence, can it?"

"It can always be a coincidence. Just because it's improbable doesn't make it impossible," Tim lectured.

"So, what? You think the same guy was in the Bowery at the same time as the North End?"

"Let's just analyze what we have and then apply common sense."

Stephanie shrugged and pulled out a few print pads she had used at her crime scene. "Here are my guy's fingers," she said as she handed them to Tim. He took them and placed them in the scanner with the prints he already had going. After clicking open a new window and setting a new program to compare the two, it only took the computer five minutes to compare the two samples.

"A match. Same guy," Tim announced.

"What? No, it can't be! There's a thirty-minute drive between the two locations. Unless he was a teleporter or a time traveler?" Stephanie gasped, "Oh my gosh! You don't think it was Dr. Who, do you?"

"You make me regret sharing my interests with you, you realize that?" Tim muttered as he gave her a half-hearted glare. Stephanie shrugged and pulled up an on-screen map of Gotham.

"Still, it's a legitimate question. How could this possibly be the same guy? And what's more, why is he stealing priceless art that no-one wants?" Steph pointed out.

"Good questions," Tim replied before full out glaring over her shoulder. "Have any ideas?"

Steph furrowed her brow and checked behind herself. She half expected to see Damian, Alfred, or hell, even Cassandra. Her heart nearly stopped to see Bruce.

"Bha! Dick said you had a board meeting today!" Bruce narrowed his eyes at her.

"So, that's why you were trying to get to the Batcomputer so quickly," Tim realized in a lazy voice. "I was wondering why you were rushing."

"Whatever. I got enough information to work with. Same guy, same time, two locations."

"Three." The sudden addition caused Steph to falter as she tried to gather her stuff.

"What?" Bruce didn't speak again just yet, but he pulled up a window that had been minimized under Tim's work. The image alone told Steph what he was getting at.

"So, art thieving triplets? I mean, I know they can't really be triplets, but like-" Steph didn't even know how to finish her sentence.

There was a quiet moment of contemplation before Tim abruptly stood up. Stephanie about said something until she saw the way his shoulders were tensed up and his hands were flexing at the fingers. He must be hearing JJ again. He always did around Bruce.

"I'll leave this to you two then," he declared as he walked to his motorcycle.

"Tim!" Steph called for him.

"It's not my case anymore," was all he said before he started up his bike and peeled out of the cave.

Steph walked along the museum with a pair of shades on her face and a pair of headphones in her ears. It was the same museum where Horizontal Kaleidoscope was stolen, but there also seemed to be something off about the other paintings as well. She let herself bob her head up and down a little as if she was actually listing to music. She then adjusted the pair of sunglasses as she looked up at a painting on the wall of the museum.

"Yes, right there is perfect, Miss Stephanie," Alfred's voice called through the headphones. Steph stilled as she watched the lenses go through a few settings as the butler toggled between the typical ones. He stopped at the radiation detector as the painting started to glow a bright red in it's otherwise darker surroundings. "My goodness, the thing is practically made out of radiation."

"Hey, Marlo."

"Welcome back, Bruce. What brings you by?"

"In all the excitement last night I didn't get a chance to admire your collection."

"Come on, we both know that's not why you're here. Who can resist a mystery? You want to see the closet for yourself."

"Guilty as charged."

"Be my guest."

"Wait, what?" Steph muttered under her breath and into the headphones mic.

"Another assailant had attacked at. John Marlo's art gallery last night, right in front of a whole audience before ducking into a closet and vanishing," Alfred explained. "Readings are coming in, Master Bruce. Interesting, we're picking up low spectrum radioactivity in that closet. The same activity Miss Stephanie seems to be finding at the museum."

"Thanks for indulging me, John."

"Not a problem."

"Closet aside, I do have an anterior motive for coming in today. I'm worried about you."

"Really?"

Feeling awkward, Steph decided to follow the 'chem trial' toward another painting. Just like the first, it was practically glowing with radiation. That's when Steph noticed it. Stuck right in the crevice of the frame was a strand of hair. Fingerprints were all well and good, heck, they were the best for evidence. Most of America had their prints on record for some reason or another, good or bad. But if that someone, say an art thief that has managed to be in three places at once, managed to go his whole life without being put on record, there really was nothing to compare it to. But who hasn't pulled the 'there's a stray hair on your shirt, just let me get that for you-' bit, before?

While there was no database with collected hair from nearly everyone all over the country, it would make eliminating suspects a lot easier. Only if Steph could get her hands on it. Something told her the good ol' 'there's a stray hair on this priceless, heavily guarded, and recently almost stolen piece of art' wasn't going to work here.

"Alfred, you seeing what I'm seeing?" Steph muttered under her breath.

"If you mean to the lower right-hand corner, than yes, Miss Stephanie, I believe I do."

"Can you think of a way to get me to it?" Steph asked.

"I can think of a couple. If you would begrudge me one moment."

"Something's different, John. The party? The way you tried to take on that masked thief? Even the way you talk. It isn't you."

"What's the matter, Brucie?! Scared of a little social competition? People change! I'm sorry if I no longer fit into some comfortable role you once defined for me."

"I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Truth is, I have been a little all over the place lately, . . ."

"Oh, my." Alfred's gentle interjection did nothing for Steph's nerves.

"Alfred?" She called, worried.

"It's nothing for the moment, Miss Stephanie. Now then, about that distraction, . . ." No sooner did Alfred finish his sentence did fire alarms go off around the museum. Everyone first started a mad scramble, not sure where the fire was and where was safe to go. The guard closest to Steph quickly made his way to the farther guard, trying to discretely motion to his walkie while making a slicing motion. A quick glance at the nearby security camera and Steph could see the red light flicker then die as footage was cut. Trying to keep it looking natural as if she had been shoved across the rope, Steph swiftly snatched up the hair and then made her exit out with a few dozen startled Gothamites.

At first, she thought how silly it was for them to be all worked up by a fire alarm until she overheard some girls muttering to each other.

"Who do you think it was this time? Penguin? Two-Face?"

"I don't know, and don't care. I'm just happy to get out before I became a hostage."

Suddenly the panic she just caused didn't seem so silly to her anymore. Steph really hoped that the little hair would give her something to justify scaring so many people.

"Alfred said you've recovered a hair from a radiated painting at the museum." And that was her greeting upon returning to the Batcave.

"Yeah. A little tricky, but then again, you do have all the best tricks hidden away here. Anyone ever tell you how 'O.P.' your programming skills are?"

"I managed to get a hair off of John before I left. If we compare the two then I might be able to eliminate him as a potential suspect," Bruce continued on as if he didn't hear her.

"Suspect? Good Lord, Master Bruce, I would think Mr. Marlo has as tight of an alibi as it gets. After all, he was saved from the thief by none other than the Batman himself!" Alfred cried out.

"Except, it might be an accomplice dressed up and helping Marlo, or even Marlo using some time traveling tech, or something," Steph pointed out. When both men gave her a strange look she just shrugged. "Hey, I'm not letting that one go. It's not like we haven't seen weirder by now."

Not letting up on his 'look', Bruce took the hair samples to the computer to run a comparison diagnostic on them. While they were scanning, he and Steph went over the video recordings of the other's findings. Through this, they were supposed to exchange ideas, but as it usually was with Bruce, he did most of the giving ideas and Steph was constantly shut down on hers. It was near around the time that Alfred had set the security in the museum on the scramble that Steph saw what had startled him from Bruce's feed.

When Bruce went to thank Marlo for letting him see the closet, Bruce's shades got a good look at his host, and how he too seemed completely covered in radiation.

"Sir, I'm afraid the hair was a match. It would seem John Marlo is indeed the main suspect." With that Bruce hung his head and sighed.

"Very well then. Let's go."

Before Steph knew it, the two were jumping rooftops toward, some random skyscraper in the sea of the like. "Alright, confused now."

"Marlo's company has been conducting experiments in quantum theory for the government." Spoiler felt relief that Batman felt in the mood to share for once.

"Okay, so that explains why he's radioactive, but what's with the not stolen paintings at the museum and the worthless priceless art by Keleb going missing?"

Batman didn't seem to have an answer, moving a hand to change the settings on his lens' of his cowl. "I'm getting two radiation hot spots in the building. I'll go high, you go low."

"And away we go!" Spoiler called out as she grappled on over to the nearest entry point she could get to on the building. Easily enough she found an external vent. Unfortunately for her, Marlo thought to have its security checked and censored. Meaning that while it would be a good entry point for her, it was going to take her a couple of minutes to hack through and disarm it, especially since she'll first need to find an external control panel that she can plug into and run the auto hack through. It took her a bit, but she was able to find the next best thing just a few feet above and to the left, a power box.

With little trouble, Spoiler was able to pop the fuse box and run her auto hacker, turning off the power to the outer vent. From there it was smooth sailing as she used some of the simpler tools in her belt to pry open the vent and then crawl through. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and something she would have been better suited for about five years ago, but here she was, shimming through the vents like a ceiling snake.

Just as she made it around a wide bend she could hear two men below her. Going a few more feet to a grate in the vent, she could see they were both dressed head to toe in an orange costume with a thick white line straight down the middle with a lower case 'e' on both their faces and chests. The only other detail on either of them was the black wrist band covered in buttons that fit around their whole forearms.

"Batman has been taken into custody, but he may have a partner or two already in the building."

"So what's our priority?"

"Securing the prisoner."

"We might need more men."

"Then we'll make more."

With that, they both simultaneously pressed a button on their wrist bands and suddenly a human-sized light appeared to stretch from each of them before becoming another person altogether. Where two stood, now there were four. Then all four began to march off in the direction Spoiler could only guess was where they were keeping Batman.

"Okay, so my time traveler theory was a little off, . . . Welp, time to bust out Bats." With that, Spoiler popped the grate and jumped down.

Keeping to the shadows and ducking around corners, Spoiler managed to keep unsee, or at least she had yet to here 'hey you, stop right there'. But she did see the four marching up to a heavily secured door with a John Marlo copy sitting in front it, reading a magazine.

Once they were close enough Spoiler could hear one of the four inquire about 'the prisoner'.

"Secure inside," was the only response the unmasked John Marlo gave as he jabbed a thumb toward Batman's cell. Spoiler gave it another scrutinizing look before she noticed a security camera live and pointed straight down the hall where she was tucked just around the corner or. She had the strangest feeling that Alfred wasn't going to be able to just bug out the cameras again as he did in the museum. Thankfully, she wasn't in civvies and surrounded by guards and bystanders.

Readying a throwing knife, Spoiler took a deep breath before she jumped from the corner and sent her weapon flying. She managed to hit the camera dead on, but also managed to attract the attention of all five John Marlos. Busting into a run, Spoiler jumped to kick off the wall to give more force to her punch to the Marlo on the far right. He was out cold in one hit, same with the Marlo she had spun kicked from the moment she landed back to the floor. With similar ease in taking down the other three, Spoiler realized that this guy was really going to try and win by numbers alone.

Rolling her eyes, Spoiler hooked up her handy-dandy auto hacker and squared her shoulders at that satisfying *click* sound of a lock unlocking itself. "Hold on Batman, I'm almost to you."

Just then the door swung ajar enough for her to push it open the rest of the way, showing a dark room with a lone resident inside. However, one look at his bright red hair and gaunt figure, Spoiler felt her jaw drop. "You're not Batman!"

"No. I'm John, John Marlo," the man weakly introduced himself. Spoiler quickly ran inside to help the man stand. He was rail thin and looked pasty white.

"Holy cow, how long have you been in here?" She asked.

"No clue. None of the 'Everywhere's would tell me anything," John said.

"So you're the original? The one who started all of this?"

"Unfortunately. It started when my quantum field research led to my invention of something I came to call 'the Quamtex'."

"Nice name."

"I thought it was clever. With it, I could charge my quantum particles and replicate another me. My replicas can also split at will. There's also a way for the wearer of a device to recall all the duplicates that any particular clone had made and all those from that one."

"Like cutting a branch from a tree?"

"Fitting analogy. It doesn't even matter the distance."

"Wait, so that's how that art thief disappeared at the art show. He was just recalled by another Marlo." Spoiler put together the new pieces of information. "Wait, could it duplicate objects as well?"

"Easily," O.G. Marlo assured her.

"So that's what he was doing. The weird readings on the paintings, he was duplicating them and stealing the originals. But, why not do the same for Kreg Keleb's work?" Spoiler asked.

"Huh? Kreg Keleb? The artist who had that stroke? It's a touching story, really, but the work was just horrendous. I don't know what Everywhere would want to do with it in the first place," John scratched his head.

"So how did you end up in a cell if all these, what do you keep calling them? Everywheres? If all these Everywheres are copies of you, then why don't they listen to you?"

"Mainly cause they only listen to my first copy. He was my 'breakthrough' as it were. I kept him around to be my lab partner, literally cut my research time in half. Unfortunately, there was a side effect I didn't foresee." John's voice got a little dark here. "You see, if you keep a clone around long enough, they develop a sense of 'free will'. And with each copy, they only seem to get darker and darker."

Suddenly an overhead com could be heard through the cell door. "Attention, Everywhere Men! The Batman is loose in the building! you know the drill! Divide and Concur!"

"Alright, time to go!" Spoiler declared, rushing to the door. Just in time to see at least six Everywheres become twelve. They all started to scramble the opposite direction giving her and John just enough time to duck out of the cell and down a hall.

"This way! There's something that might help in my lab," John directed her.

"Fill the corridors! Find the Bat! Exterminate it!"

The two managed to duck around the corner to an empty office just as two more Everywheres went from four, to eight, to sixteen. They had to wait a second for the hall to clear before they could get to the lab. Spoiler could clearly see it just a few feet away.

"By the end of the day, he is but one man. But we? We are an Army!"

Just as the clones fled the hallway from the left, another set passed through from the right and had another set just behind them.

"Argh, we'll never make it over there by this rate," Spoiler growled under her breath.

"What do we do?" Marlo asked from behind her. Spoiler didn't have an answer for him. The last of the Everywheres finally cleared out and the hero decided it was time for a 'now or never' tactic. Quickly, she grabbed Marlo by his arm and made a mad dash to the lab door, only for it to be locked.

"Crap. Have the key?" She asked the scientist himself.

"Um, no? Kinda been locked up for a couple of months?" He reminded her.

"Oh, right, drat." Spoiler studied the lock really quick to see it was a traditional manual kind. Great. Just her luck. Electronic locks? Easy peasy, plug-in and auto-hackies. She knew how to do it the old-fashioned way, she just wasn't as practiced at it anymore. Trying to let herself just fall into muscle memory, Spoiler pulled out her picking tools and tried to count the pins with her tension wrench to tell which other tools she'd need to open it.

"Maybe he's down this way?" A voice could be heard at the far end of the hall.

"Not to sound rude, but can you speed it up?" Marlo asked.

"Can you pick a lock?" Spoiler responded.

"Um, uh, no, sorry," Marlo backed down.

"Damn, I actually kinda wish you could, . . ."

"Wait, what?"

"You know what? I'll just pull out my handy-dandy rake pick, it's never failed me," Spoiler said decidedly, ignoring how nervous she was making her rescued hostage. "Well, except for the many times it did, . . ."

"Is, is this to get back at me for rushing you?" Marlo's voice was the picture of panic already.

"I think I hear voices!" There were footsteps now, fast and thunderous. Spoiler was able to count no less than five pins and had to wiggle the rake back and forth a bit before she managed to get the lock to turn. By the time she got the door itself open, there were five Everywhere Men rushing them.

"Get in, I'll cover you!" She called out. She didn't really need to as she was also actively shoving him into the lab before closing the door behind him.

"Get her! She's with Batman!"

"He brought a girl this time, huh?"

"What was this one's name again?"

"Who cares? No one will be calling for her after tonight!"

"Um, rude!" Spoiler called out as she quickly went into fighting stance. Same as the pitiful attempt to subdue her before went. Spoiler was able to knock each of the Marlo-Clones out quickly before she followed the real John Marlo into the lab.

"Here! Try this!" Marlo rushed over to her while holding a large device with straps on it. Blinking at it a couple of times and then the frantic look on Marlo's face Spoiler took the device in her hands.

"Alright, what is it?" She asked.

"It's a-"

"Batman has been spotted by the atrium! All Everywhere Men to the Atrium!"

"Skip it, we've got to hurry. You swear this will help, then strap me in!" Spoiler decided. Marlo quickly went to work bucking her in and giving her the basic instructions of how to operate it.

Looks like it's time for her usual 'jump first' tactic, yet again.

A/N: Literally had to try and cut this in half. Same problem a with 'convincing disguises' this was finished at over 7k words. So I brought it down some. I'll release the next half in a bit when it's done in editing. Also I will say that this is well more than just 'inspired' by the 4Kids 'The Batman' episode 4 from season 4 'Everywhere Man'. But there was no spoiler and the message was pretty much just 'be careful of your collections'. But yeah, I didn't want to end up making it Bruce centric or even too John Marlo centric so I didn't want to come up with my own parts for them. All of Steph's parts are me, though lead on a bit by the parts I didn't change. (i.e,- Kae got lazy...)

R&R if you liked. (need a default response? just say: 'Go Get'em, Steph!'. I'll accept it.)