Here is the next update...finally.
So here are the reviewers to which I can only reply to right now.
Ness: I'm glad you're enjoying this and I hope this satisfies all of your Red X/Robin needs, all though there are some pretty good ones out there. And I'm sorry about the long update.
Christina: I'm happy that you like this and here's the next update!!
Loveless101: Yay! I am forgiven! And here is the update!!
Holyfanfictionbatman: I'm glad you liked the ending and that line was one of my favourite to write! And finally the update is here!!
Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans it wouldn't be cancelled.
It was strange to see the city that he had spent two years of his life in seem so familiar yet completely foreign at the same time.
Robin had been adamant that they get the Titans involved and that they needed their help if they were ever going to get the universe back to normal. James had been extremely reluctant, but he understood Dick's need to see his friends again, even if they didn't remember him.
Hawk had said that it was better if they confronted them at night, so that left the whole day for them to prepare and for Dick to check out the city.
There was surprisingly a lot of difference, the main one being that Jump City wasn't in as near as good condition as the Jump City back in Robin's universe. It could have been due to Speedy's ability in leadership and his inability to look after his city, but Robin knew the real reason.
Wayne Industries was missing in Jump City.
Just four months after Robin had formed the Titans Wayne Industries had proposed that they were going to expand their business outside of Gotham and they had started with Jump as their first new base. Robin remembered being furious at the time, that Bruce had dared to interfere in his life and in his city and when Dick had confronted Bruce about it the billionaire had said it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with Jump City's advantageous business location.
Of course he knew that it had been a lie then and now he knew that he had been right. With Bruce having no run away ward superhero in this city Wayne Industries was no where to be seen and the advantages of having it there with it were gone as well.
The company had brought other businesses streaming into Jump, creating increasing demand on the city and the Mayor had been forced to put in money to expand and improve Jump City's conditions. Creating new apartment buildings, improving and modernising the older worn parts of the city, adding new shopping malls and even improving the quality of the city park.
Without Wayne Industries Jump City looked as it did when Robin first came across it, something that Gotham had spewed up.
Surprisingly he felt more at home in this bedraggled version of the city than the cleaner modernized one back in his timeline. Though when he thought about it, it wasn't really that surprising as the tall grey structures reminded him of the days when he swung across tall gothic structures in green shorts and pixie boots.
He was lucky that he hadn't made that fashion mistake in this universe or James would have never let it go.
It wasn't his fault his eight year old mind wanted to preserve his parent's legacy by modelling his first Robin uniform on what he wore in the circus.
He just had to keep telling himself that.
He and James turned a corner and walked further towards the centre of the city, where they would find the atmosphere a lot more pleasant and a lot safer as the number of derelict buildings and drug grottos got smaller and smaller and soon they were swept up in the mass of people going about their business or doing their weekend shopping.
The two teens kept to one side of the side walk, allowing them to easily slip past passers by and soon they managed to make it to their favourite restaurant, as the owner knew about them being orphans without guardians in the city and not giving a rat's arse about it. The other advantage was that the owner's brother was gay and sometimes worked as the chef in the restaurant, so if anyone gave the young couple trouble they could always count on the trouble makers being kicked out.
The two regulars slipped through the door and immediately made their way over to their usual spot. The waitress in charge that day looked up at their arrival and grinned in greeting, she gave a little wave, grabbed her notebook and scurried over to their table, looking forward to the large tip they always leave.
After they had ordered their drinks Robin took the time to look around the moderate sized restaurant that was in good condition despite it's location within the city centre. As it was in the wrong side of town to attract the richest and highest class of Jump City it was the most modernised and well kept restaurant in the area, making it popular among the locals as it showed that you had to have some sort of money and status to be dining there.
James thought it was a load of bull considering that they ate there nearly every week but as Dick (well one half of him) had grown up with the Bruce Wayne he knew what people would do to gain higher social status and even get themselves to look better in the eyes of others.
"What do you want to eat?" James asked as he skimmed down his own menu, considering if he should go with something other than his usual.
Dick glanced down the list of meals, completely ignoring the prices as money had never been a problem for them.
"I'll have the steak."
James looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Isn't that a bit much for this time of day?"
Robin just looked at him "I need a high intake of protein."
The other teen opened his mouth to say something but then thought better of it and just returned to look down the menu, muttering under his breath.
Robin snickered and relaxed against his chair, letting the atmosphere of the restaurant wash away all of his major concerns, if only just for that moment. It was just him and James and the rest of the world could be dammed for all he cared. His only major worry at the moment was if he should order any side dishes.
The enthusiastic waitress hurried over to their table and eagerly scribbled down their orders, her pleasant smile never leaving her face and she buzzed off away from their table in her continuous happy manner.
Unsurprisingly the drinks arrived pretty quickly, only the best service for the high paying regulars and the teens knew that their meal wouldn't take that long to prepare either. There weren't a lot of other people in the restaurant with them, as it was the busiest in the evening, so the teens had that corner of the room to themselves and didn't have to worry about other customers eavesdropping into their conversation.
"I suggest we plan a stage heist to get the Titan's attention tonight." Robin started catching Hawk's interest. "I know you haven't stolen anything in a while and they wouldn't be surprised by your appearance."
James nodded and looked into the blue eyes of his lover. "They're going to be surprised by yours though." He then grinned in an afterthought. "Speedy's going to be so pissed to find out I have a partner." He then looked at Robin appreciatively. "Especially after he finds out that you can kick his ass."
The other teen frowned. "I'm not fighting them James. We're trying to get their help remember?"
"I know that, but that doesn't mean if arrow head gets mouthy you can't put him in his place. You're their leader, remember."
"I'm not in this time-line."
"But still…" James trailed off as a thought came to his head. "Speedy's going to freak once he knows that you worked with the Batman. There's a rumour going round that Speedy's afraid of him."
Robin looked interested, if not slightly amused. "Oh?"
"I heard that a few years back Speedy launched an arrow at Bats from behind and that Batman caught it without turning around. Speedy's been scared of him ever since."
Robin snorted trying to suppress his laughter. "There's another thing that's common with our time-lines then." Robin answered James' questioning glance. "It was when we had just started as side-kicks, well I had been Robin for a year and Speedy had only just started. We were in the Justice League space station as our mentors had a meeting and thought it would be a good idea if we met." Robin smiled at the memory of said event. "Speedy was bored and he didn't think that the Batman was as good as people said he was so he decided to prove it by hitting him with an arrow." Robin tried to stop himself from laughing at his point. "You should have seen his face when Batman caught it, I think he nearly had a heart attack right there and then."
They both chuckled at the image and James was feeling pretty smug at knowing this little piece of information about the fearless Speedy.
It was nice, Robin reflected, at feeling this care free in his present situation. He could admit that he was still freaked out about being in a completely different universe but being able to laugh about the past with his partner was a rare but welcomed event for him. It helped relieve the stress that had been slowly building up.
However the seriousness of this situation he was in hadn't escaped him and his goal of getting back and fixing his own time line hadn't left his mind either.
He knew that if he couldn't get the Titan's help then he was going to have to consult Bruce's. Something he wanted to avoid if possible, since he knew that getting Bruce to believe him wouldn't be too hard but he knew that his control over his situation would slip through his fingers and go straight into Batman's.
And the fact that his partner was known criminal wouldn't help at all.
He just had to hope that the Titans would listen to him.
The rest of the meal was good, and they talked about trivial things before leaving and heading back to the flat. Each of them set their moods back to the problem at hand as they mentally prepared themselves for the planning they would have to do and how they would stop the teen heroes from attacking and stop to listen.
Hawk had a lot of doubts about this whole thing. He knew the Titans and no matter what Robin claimed they were different from how his partner expected them to be.
For one thing the Titans weren't that as respected group as Robin had known them. They had far fewer members than they had in Dick's time-line and had struggled to deal with large threats because of that. And that wasn't including the battles they had out of this city.
James had been amazed at the accomplishments the Titans had made under the leadership of his Robin and it showed how much of a good leader Robin was.
During the time when Hawk was out stealing and Dick was at home on the computer, talking to him through communicators, Robin was the one who gave the orders and Hawk followed them. James knew that if Dick hadn't been there directing him where to go, how to get there and sometimes how to act Hawk wouldn't have been as near as a success as he had been with Dick there to guide him. His accomplishments as a thief were due to Robin, and James had to feel sorry for his other self back in Dick's timeline as he had to go up against Robin every time he stole something. And from what Robin had told him those times hadn't been many.
He felt almost embarrassed at Red X's lack of success. But that was his own fault for trying to steal in a city that was guarded by a group of super powered teens led by the former partner of the Batman himself.
James was very lucky to have Robin on his side.
"So we're ready then?"
James looked up at his lover, who was dressed in his full Robin uniform and thatsword was slung in a hand made sheath on his back.
"Yeah, we're ready."
0.0.0.0.0.0
The night was cool and the chilled air created shivers up and down the exposed flesh on Robin's arms. But after a few minutes of running and jumping across rooftops the adrenaline and warmth created by exercise chased the shivers away.
They were headed to the museum, typical and predictable but this way they had a clear escape route away via rooftops in case anything went wrong and the Titans wouldn't question such a heist. All they had to do was purposefully trip the alarms, make sure Hawk was caught on camera so the museum security knew to alert the Titans and not the police and then wait.
Simple but effective.
They reached the museum rooftop and slid inside the building after opening up a glass panel, Robin moved silently into the shadows, away unseen while Hawk pulled off his part of the plan and tripped the alarms. Then Hawk made himself look busy while pretending to break into random glass cases while they waited for the Titans to arrive.
The thief and the hero only had to wait for a few minutes before the group of teens made their noisy entrance and Robin watched with interest clearly evident on his face as Speedy led his friends and pronounced their presence.
"Put the vase down Hawk."
Hawk turned, a small smile played on his lips as he juggled the priceless ceramic in his hands. "I was waiting for to show up." He looked straight at Speedy. "You took longer than expected. You must be losing you're touch."
Speedy's face twisted in to one of arrogant defiance and he raised his bow to take a shot only to falter when Hawk threatened to drop the vase.
"No matter how much it pains me to say so I didn't come here for a fight."
Surprise was evident on all of the Teen's faces and Starfire flew forward with a questioning look in her eyes.
"Then why did you come?"
Robin moved presumptuously out from the shadows to stand next to Hawk, the bright colours of his costume contrasting sharply to the grey tones of his partner's.
"So I could speak with you."
Speedy lowered his bow and the rest of the Titans dropped their attack stances.
"Who are you supposed to be?" It was blatant that Speedy wasn't very impressed.
But before he could get an answer from the stranger Raven walked forward and lowered her hood, her steps confident and sure. "Robin. I was wondering when you would show up."
Hawk blinked behind his mask and stared at the witch who was now standing right in front of his partner who was looking a bit stunned at Raven knowing who he was.
"Raven, you know this guy?" Cyborg asked, looking at said teen up and down, confused at how such a bright coloured individual could possibly know their dark friend.
"Yes, I know him." She turned towards her team. "In another universe, in another time-stream, he's our leader."
Hawk watched in amusement as all of the Titan's mouths dropped open.
"How do you know this?" Robin's voice sounded wispy, amazed.
"Because you were the one who rescued me from Trigon." She ignored other's stunned expressions. "The time stream is starting to break up Robin, when you changed the natural order of events the universe had to compensate for your absence in certain situations. However you were needed with the fight against Trigon, since you couldn't have been there you couldn't save me and Trigon would have won. But the universe couldn't allow that to happen otherwise it would be effectively destroying itself. So the two different time lines crossed over at that point and the time line has been damaged ever since."
Raven took a step forward and raised her arm so her hand hovered just over his face. "How do you think you can remember your past that doesn't belong in this universe Robin? If the time stream hadn't been damaged your past would have ceased to exist and would've been replaced by this time-line's." She lowered her arm and took a deep breath. "Your existence of your memories and your medalling in time has caused tares in the universe's time line."
There was silence for a moment before Cyborg spoke up with a confused look on his face.
"So this is the guy that helped you defeat Trigon while we were frozen back at the tower?"
Raven nodded. "Yes but your other selves from another time-line helped, in Robin's time-line where he was the leader. But they don't exist now as they were replaced by you."
Starfire looked like she wanted to ask more questions as she head her head titled and her mouth open but she was interrupted by Beastboy who groaned and placed a hand against his head. "This is making my brain hurt."
"I'm not surprised." And the other Titans glared at Hawk for a moment after that comment.
"Things don't make sense because the universe is damaged." Raven said silencing any questions from Starfire.
Robin stood there feeling immensely guilty as he couldn't help but feel that this was his fault that this had happened, even though he hadn't been control of himself when his power had been unleashed.
"So what do we do now?" Speedy asked, an out of character question from him as he prided himself in giving out orders but this time he felt way out of his league.
The half demon sighed and looked at all of the other occupants in the room, her eyes piercing through their own and her expression dead serious.
"If we don't find away to fix the time line soon…the universe will eventually be destroyed."
0.0.0.0.0.0
In the hidden depths of Robin's soul, so far in that not even the light could touch it, red tendrils of light began to emerge. Slowly seeping upwards, each of them glowing dimly with suppressed and recovering power and they began to bind and twist themselves within the pure and tainted energy of Robin's soul.
Sorry that the update isn't long enough as you guys had to wait awhile for this chapter but this means that the next chapter starts in a conveniant place. It keeps the flow at the right pace.
If you are confused by anything just let me point some things out: The orginal events with Trigon still happened, when the demon had everyone frozen, as it was Robin who saved Raven with Slade and Speedy couldn't have done that (for reasons that will be made clear later), it's just the before and after that were different. Without Robin there. And the other Titans (not including Raven) with Speedy as their leader were frozen a long with everyone else when this was all happening.
I hope that's clear if it's not I'm sorry but don't worry as it's not majorally important to the plot line. The fact that the universe could be destroyed is... o.O
Anyway reviews are good, very good and keep me happy and writing!
So until next time!!