Robin struggled against the locks; but it was no use. Slade was smart. He'd used a sort of pressure seal that couldn't be picked if they wanted to.
"I think this is it," He shouted back at the other Robin, "I don't see a way out this time."
"No- there has to be a way! There has to!" The younger Robin called back, his voice distorted from all the spinning, "We have to stop this! All we have to do is stay whelmed and then we'll see how, got it? Stay whelmed!"
Stay whelmed. Right. Easier said than done. They were literally looking at the end of the world here. If he focused through the blur that was all around him Robin could make out what was going on in the two universes. It was clear that the circles were failing. Klarion and Fate were some of the only magicians still standing; but they weren't faring well. On top of that it looked like the two universes were actually touching in places and trying to merge, absorbing each other as if through osmosis.
To make matters worse, unless he really focused, as in, REALLY focused, he sometimes literally felt his spirit trying to drift out of his body. One point he saw the top of his head, which given the ridiculously high speed spinning didn't look too good.
"Robin," He yelled over the wind.
"Yea?" The other Robin called back.
"It's been nice knowing you. I'm sorry for all the trouble, I think that maybe we could've been friends if things weren't so crazy," Robin shouted, not even sure if other Robin could hear his words what with all the spinning and the wind.
"Dude, don't talk like that. Crazy or not- we are friends and we are getting out of this, got it?" Younger Robin shouted back, "We just have to-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence as a giant hole blasted it's way through the roof of Slade's personal doomsday shelter. At first he wondered if maybe the spinning was doing a number on the shelter, but then out flew Starfire and Zatanna.
"Guys!" He shouted at them, although at these high speed sit probably came out more like "Guuuuuuyyyyyyysssss!" So much for looking cool.
He whizzed past them about four more times and could tell they were planning something.
"Robin! Robin!" Zatanna shouted, she then shouted something else that he couldn't quite hear that sounded like "Ace can shelves!" What? Then he saw the green laser beams. Oh. Brace yourselves. Duh. Wait, what?
Suddenly he wasn't spinning; he was flying. Right through the air and very, very, fast.
"pots eht s'nibor ni dim ria!" Zatanna shouted pointing at both Robins. Robin stopped moving very quickly; but not in an ouch-I-just-broke-my-neck sort of way. No instead it was sort of a giant-wall-of-pillows sort of way. Not super comfortable, but not life threatening.
"Nice catch Z!" Other Robin shouted at his girlfriend as she levitated the pair of them back to the roof of the Slade-shelter.
"Yea, great job Zatanna. Starfire- you guys, how did you get out?" Robin asked, gasping for non-wind biting air.
"Starfire superheated the visor until it melted." Zatanna said simply with a little shrug. "Then she was able to free her hands and the me."
"Star- that's, that's great!" Robin said beaming at the green eyed girl.
"I simply did what I had to," The alien girl replied blushing.
"Well isn't this touching." A very unwelcome voice interjected. Slade. Couldn't that guy ever just know when to stop? Urgh. Slade.
"Slade." Robin growled turning to face the psycho, drawing his staff as he did so.
"Robin, other Robin, ladies." Slade said regarding each of them in turn.
"You've lost Slade, give up and let us fix the universe," Other Robin said firmly; batarangs in either hand.
"Now what makes you say that? What, just because my little machine broke? Realy Robin, by now you should know better, I don't give up that easily." Slade replied, Robin could imagine the creep smirking under that mask of his. He imagined he was pretty ugly under there, why else would he hide his face?
"Then you should know by now that I don't either," Robin retorted, "Neither of us do!"
The five of them circled each other cautiously, making no sudden movements. Everything was calculated. They all knew that one wrong move could send them off the side of the shelter and into the abyss that was the gap between universes. Robin made the first move, diving at Slade with his staff. The older man instead sidestepped, grabbing Robin's staff right out of his hands and knocking Robin off his feet, sending him sliding towards the edge of the shelter.
"No!" Starfire went flying at Slade only to be batted out of the air with Robin's staff.
"Starfire!" Robin shouted as she disappeared off the edge of the shelter.
"No!" Zatanna moved to try and catch the alien girl with magic, only to be knocked off herself by the orange and black masked madman.
"Zatanna!" Other Robin reached helplessly in the general direction of where she had fallen before turning back and glaring at Slade, "You're gonna regret that!"
Robin was beyond angry now. He now fully understood just why the Titan Robin hated this Slade creep so much. He'd fought nutjobs before; the Joker, Scarecrow, the Riddler, but as of right now even they seemed weak and petty compared to this crackpot. They at least didn't try to merge universes together.
"Regret it? I truly doubt that Robin. Your small, weak, you're the lesser of the two halves. What can you do?" Slade laughed, clearly trying to antagonize him. Use his anger against him. He started to feel his spirit drifting away from his body again. No! No- that's what Slade wanted! Stay whelmed Rob, come on now, stay whelmed, now was not the time to mess up.
"Your an idiot." Robin said shaking his head, "The thing about halves is that theres no 'lesser' side. They're practically identical. Just look at a coin. Or your dumb mask. Come on Rob, let's take out this creep" He chuckled, batarangs in either hand.
"Right with you; it's time we sent this rusty old penny to the bank," Other Robin agreed, taking a fighting stance. Even without his staff he clearly could handle himself. The two Robin's launched themselves at Slade and worked as a team. The Titan would kick low, and he would punch high. Robin slammed Slade in the gut, forcing the villain to drop other Robin's staff, which the titan promptly used to slam the villain in the head.
"You got the Batcuffs?" The Titan leader asked once Slade sat dazed on the ground in front of them.
"Duh." Robin said spinning around the bat-shaped handcuffs on one hand. "Want me to the honors, or you?"
"Take it. He called you weak." Other Robin said with an almost visible aura of coolness. Wait. That wasn't an aura of coolness. That was his spirit.
Suddenly everything looked fuzzy.
"Robin-" He began, looking down at himself. It was like having doubled vision; one was his actual body, and the other was his semi-transparent spirit.
"Huh? No- no!" Other Robin looked himself over, "What do we do?"
"I don't know! I don't think just plain focusing will work anymore!" Robin said in a panic as he drifted higher and higher.
"I told you I'd have my way," Slade said wickedly from where he sat in a slump. "There's nothing you can do now."
They were doomed. There was no way. They'd switch. As long as they're spirits could get to the others body… wait. That's it.
"There is a way." Robin replied suddenly, and with the last bit of focus he had, he forced his body to fall off of the shelter; taking other Robin's down with it. The abyss was endless. The bodies would fall for an eternity and their spirits would stand no chance of catching up.
Meaning that they were basically ghosts. Dead. Without bodies they may as well not even exist. They would probably endlessly be drawn towards their bodies but never catch up. Assuming they could survive for a long time without their bodies that is.
"There Slade. Now you can never use us to merge the universes. You lost." Robin said; his voice sounded strange without a body connected to it. Older maybe, or more distant. "Even now Klarion and Fate are regaining control of the magic circles- see for yourself." He pointed a ghostly hand in the general direction of the universal barriers which showed the magic circles glowing strong. Clearly Slades being distracted with the Robins had rather negatively affected his ability to direct his robot army.
"He's right, it's over Slade." Titan Robin agreed, crossing his arms and grinning.
"But wouldn't you rather live than be fragments?" Slade questioned at a complete loss, "And what about Starfire and Zatanna? Don't you care about them? Don't you wonder where they went after they fell?"
"Of course." Titan Robin said, "But we have to put the lives of others before us. It's… it's part of the oath."
"And that's an oath neither of us is ever going to break." Robin agreed firmly, already feeling his spirit want to sink down towards his body. He needed to buy more time.. "Not that a crazy freak like you would get that."
"Fine. I'll let you two have this one." Slade said sharply, struggling to his feet, "But don't think that just because you're out of the scene I'll stop."
"Oh, we don't expect you too." Robin said with a snort, "Nah, I get the feeling the others are gonna have their hands full with you."
Any minute now. Come on… out the corner of his eye he could see Fate and Klarion moving in unison. The walls were separating from one another; the cracks began to seal. Now.
"Star, Zatanna now!" He shouted. he was taking a big chance- thinking they'd caught his and other Robin's bodies, but he had to take it.
Flying out from under the shelter came Starfire and Zatanna; Starfire carrying titans Robin and Zatanna levitating, well, him. Wow thats kinda weird. Slade starred in bafflement,
"What game are you playing Robin? I thought you don't want to be body switched?"
"Oh we don't," Robin said smirking.
"But see now Klarion and Fate have mostly fixed the universe." Other Robin added.
"So actually now, we're gonna give it one last push."
"But you can't guarantee that will work! Isn't that quite a risk you boys would be taking?" Slade warned, there was no denying the plan-totally-followed in his voice.
"Yea, well, that's part of the job description." Robin said with a ghostly shrug, "Ready?" He asked other Robin.
"Ready."
The two boys flew at their bodies- their own bodies, fighting against the invisible force that was trying to pull them into the others. Zatanna and Starfire helped; moving the lifeless forms towards the ghostly wisps of boys.
"We have to do this at the same time- remember!" Other Robin shouted as they dove.
"Way ahead of you!" Robin agreed, "On three!"
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
He grabbed his own hand and rejoined his spirit to his body. There was a crack of energy as the universe fought against this change but Robin focused. Just the same way he had when he'd been hypnotized by Blood. He thought of his friends; new and old. He thought of home. of the Team. Of Batman and Alfred and Zatanna. And of course, of other Robin. Everything he needed to ground himself back in his own body. To be him again. To get back to the aster.
Blue energy crackled all around as they both reclaimed their bodies, and, for a strange moment all of time stopped. The world went to white. It was just the two Robins.
"What's happening now?" He shouted at the titan leader.
"I don't know- I think the universe is fixing itself, trying to put things back the way they were before." Other Robin called back.
"You mean we might not remember all this?" Robin asked, that upset him. He didn't want to forget his new friends. Or the lessons he'd learned about himself. About what made a Robin a Robin. How it was more than just a name. It was an identity.
"Hope not," Other Robin said in reply, sounding downcast. He was probably thinking the same thing.
"Well, it's been cool. If we remember, we remember. If we don't we don't. Stay whelmed dude," Robin said as they drifted farther and farther apart; being pulled back to their home worlds.
"You too- and hey, if we ever need another Titan- I'll keep you in mind!" Other Robin called back.
"How will you even call me?" Robin laughed.
"I'll figure it out," The titan leader said, that cool grin on his face.
"Til next time?"
"Til next time."
Authors note:
AND THE DAY IS SAVED
THANKS TO ROBIN AND ROBIN
THE NEFARIOUS SLADE HAS BEEN STOPPED ONCE AGAIN, WILL HE RETURN?
ONLY TIME WILL TELL
(stay tuned for an epilogue :3)