Y'know in last chapter, where Robin pushed Flash off the stool?
Robin originally stabbed through his hand with the spoon.
I think we all know why I cut that part out.
Also, jeez, it has been a REALLY long time since I updated. Sorry about that. To try and make up for it here's a longer chapter that is still taking place in the new universe! Cause there is a big part in the YJ universe that I'm waiting on writing! And the last chappie ended on a cliffhanger!
And if something maybe seems a little different with the wording and stuff this chapter, I hope it is in a good way. I think I might actually be learning how to properly write in third person after something in my head clicked while writing this.
Anyway. Hope you enjoy!
Robin blinks. Then he looks around the cave again, just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He casts a glance at where he knows the cameras are before bolting off the stool and to the nearest ventilation cover, grabbing his discarded spoon as he goes. Out of the corner of his eye, he also sees a bobby-pin (most likely from Diana) and quickly snatches it off the table as well, sliding it into his hair.
If it weren't so concerning, Robin would have been cackling at the Leagues obliviousness. He may have been around long enough to garner some trust with most of the League, but they were still under orders that he was to be accompanied by one of them at all times. By all means he was still a complete stranger to them. A stranger that they knew was trained.
If this was how his Justice League started as well, no wonder Deathstroke came so close to defeating them.
He makes it to one of the cave walls and reaches for his waist, only to frown as he brushes his baggy jeans and red turtleneck sweater. He still pushes the spoon into the space between the jeans and belt, hoping it would be enough to keep it from falling.
The Flash had taken it upon himself to get clothes for Robin, but what that meant was that most of them were hand-me-downs that were either a size too big or too small. Robin appreciated the gesture, yet every time something squeezed too tight or started slipping down his frame, he felt a longing for Slade's creepy wardrobe where everything was in his size.
Robin would have also gladly accepted his costume and utility belt. A utility belt which, as he prepared himself to climb the rocky walls surface, would have been great at the moment.
Nevertheless, Robin couldn't waste this opportunity. As fast as he dares he plants his feet on the small, jutted outcrops and starts pulling himself up towards the only visible ventilation cover. The rocky surface is rough on his bare hands, grating against the callouses that were starting to disappear once again.
That was yet another thing that he missed about Slades haunt. The League absolutely refused to let him go near any training equipment with the excuse of 'it's too dangerous for a kid like you'. When Robin first heard Hal say that, it took all of his willpower not to knock his lights out.
Finally he reaches the vent cover, eyeing the four-by-four metal cover. Carefully he adjusts his hold to grab the spoon from his waistband. Robin briefly glances down and realizes he is much higher than he anticipated, the floor at least two stories beneath him. He shakes it off and adjusts the tip of the spoon into one of the screws. It is a painstaking process with only one hand, but finally the screw comes loose, falling neatly into the palm of his hand before ending up in his jeans pocket.
He repeats this process for the other seven screws until the large cover finally comes loose. Tucking the spoon back into his waistband Robin gently pries the cover off and pushes himself inside.
Releasing a small, satisfied huff, Robin crouches in the entrance. Luckily, the vents that need to circulate enough airflow in a sealed, underground cavern also needed to be quite large. At least that stayed the same in both dimensions.
The vent still wasn't massive, but it was large enough that Robin could crawl and sit comfortably with his knees to his chest. That would make travel much easier.
Carefully Robin places the vent cover back on the wall, ensuring it won't fall before turning towards the large expanse of tunnels that lay before him. Taking a deep breath, he starts to crawl forward, quickly falling back into old habits that had emerged when he first started going into vents as a child.
He keeps himself as light as possible, making sure the sound of his breathing was almost nonexistent. When he comes across a cover that leads to a hallway, he does his best to stay to the sides or pass over it as quickly as possible.
Robin could only hope that the ventilation schematics were the same for this Mountain as they were for his own. If they weren't, then he would have to risk taking the hallways which were almost certainly filled with superheroes who would catch him. At least this way he would go unnoticed for longer, even if it was a much dustier option.
At the moment, Robin only had a single goal in mind—find a computer. That was the only way of finding out information without asking a League member, as Batman had also banned him from all electronics (aside from the TV, but only if the channels he chose were monitored by a League member).
But, now that he had been left alone, there was no one that could enforce those rules. Robin just had to hope that Batman picked the same room to house his personal supercomputer as he had in his dimension.
His stomach clenches at the thought of once again relying on luck and hope. So many things had already been wrong in this universe, and if Robin was once again wrong about this he was not sure what he would do. Everything was riding on him finding a computer and getting enough information about quantum mechanics, multiverse theory, or anything else that could help him get home. If he couldn't do that, then his chances for going home would decrease drastically.
That thought, however, simply made Robin crawl even faster. If the computer really was where he knew it to be, then he had to hurry before the League realized what they had done and sent out a search party for him.
After one final fork in the vents he finally arrives at the cover he was looking for. It opens up into a darkened room, and the vent shrinks so much that Robin has to resort to army crawling the rest of the way to peek out of the slits. A weight lifts off of his shoulders when he catches sight of the large computer at the back wall of the room.
Quickly he grabs the spoon and starts working on the screws. It feels like too much time has passed when he is finally able to push the cover off and slide onto the floor.
Heart in his chest, he pushes himself up, not even bothering to replace the vent cover. Robin rushes over to the computer. He is immediately greeted by a password screen, and when he types in what he knew the password to be (Martha Wayne's social security number times 9) his breath catches when the loading screen takes a little too long to disappear.
Then the desktop opens, and Robin allows himself a moment of reprieve as he collapses into the chair behind him. He won't allow himself to dawdle too long, however, and quickly gets to work searching through all the databases he could find on all the information the League and Batman had on quantum mechanics and the multiverse theory.
Unsurprisingly, most of the reports looked to be written by Barry, with a few by Hal or J'onn sprinkled into the mix. Robin reads through as much as he could, but is once again wishing Wally was here with him to try and interpret some of the things in the reports.
Robin may pride himself on his intelligence and battle tactics, but he would readily admit that in the terms of hypothetical theory and quantum matters, his knowledge and understanding is quite limited. Wally, on the other hand, excels when it comes to stuff like this. Robin doesn't quite get it, as he had to tutor his friend through math so he didn't fail multiple times, but he supposes everyone has their different strengths.
And, as he skims through yet another one of Flashes rambled theories and calculations, he continues to find himself at a loss.
Robin feels his desperation growing by the minute as he skims through everything he can but fails to understand half of what is being talked about.
Most concepts of theory flew right over his head, which is why he preferred solid facts and numbers that had consistent variables. That's half the reason Robin had picked up coding so fast—all the variables could change, but all someone really needed to know was simple arithmetic logic, knowledge of computing languages, and basic understanding of computer functions.
None of what he is reading has such things. And, as he hears the faint click of a lock falling into place behind him, he knows there is only a small window of time left before he loses his chance to figure it out.
Robin switches from Barry's rambling about quantum mechanics to the file about multiverse theory. To his horror, there were only three, small files.
That couldn't be it though, right? He had been scouring around on his own Leagues database for years now, and they had all kinds of theories and possible ways that could be proof of a multiverse. Robin allows himself a small curse for never reading up on them when he had the chance.
Then the realization that this League was still new, and all of the hero's on it (sans Aquaman) had only been hero's for a handful of years, hits him in full. Robin's posture slumps, but nevertheless he clicks on one of the three short, comprehensive files and starts reading.
It's in the middle of the second file that he finally allows the full extent of his despair set in. His hands still on the keyboard, his focus of the screen becoming hazy.
This really was it. There was no foreseeable way to get home. He was going to be stuck here for the rest of his life, and only the Joker would recognize him.
Robin's throat starts to close, his eyes starting to water, but he resolutely pushes them back. Blearily he realizes his hands are shaking and makes the conscious effort to move them from the keyboard to his knees, where they clasp the jeans in a white knuckle grip.
He couldn't give up now. Not after all that he had been through in this dimension. Robin knew for a fact that his friends and family would never give up on him until they had a body to show his death, so Robin wouldn't give up either.
He was, however, running out of options for figuring this out by himself. Which was a real hit to his morale and pride, but he supposed it was inevitable with his lack of knowledge on the subject of dimension travel, time travel, and all of the things only speedsters usually had to deal with.
With a sigh, Robin brings his knees to his chest and rests his arms on top. His forehead soon follows, resting on the scratchy fabric of his sweater, and that's the position he is still in when he hears the door behind him slide open an eternity later.
Robin refuses to open his eyes or lift his head as he hears Batman's soft foot falls stop at the right side of the chair. The vibration of a gauntleted hand landing on the back of the chair registers in his mind, but he still refuses to stir from his fetal position. Batman doesn't seem to mind, and says nothing for a long few minutes while Robin collects what is left of his hope.
Robin finally lets out another sigh, wincing when it comes out just as dejected as he feels. He tilts his head to the side to get a glimpse at Batman and is met with a stoic, blank stare.
There is a beat of silence while they stare at each other, before Robin tries to put on a playful smirk. He has a feeling it comes out as more of a grimace, which was most likely accentuated by his scars.
"So, how much trouble am I in?" Robin quietly asks. Batman's only response is a bat glare. Robin sighs, looking back up at the screen. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
OoOoOoO
"I thought we could finally trust each other, kid." Robin raises an uninterested eyebrow in his direction, but Flash quickly continues. "I'm not mad, per se, just disappointed."
Robin rolls his eyes and shifts on the stiff wooden chair, the handcuff chains jingling as he runs them through his hair and the cuffs on his ankles scraping across the concrete floor.
The entire League is standing before him, all of them with varying degrees of disappointment and sternness colouring their expressions.
Well, except J'onn; he is simply staring at him with a thoughtful hand on his chin. Creepy.
"Robin, we just need to know what exactly you were trying to do. If you think we can help you with something, we would be glad to try and help," Superman says with a soft tone.
"I told you before. I just want to go home," Robin mutters. He sees several of the Leaguers faces soften, and internally cringes. He really sounded like a little kid just then, hadn't he?
"And we would be glad to help you achieve your goal, if only you told us how we could help," Diana says, coming up to crouch in front of him and lay a warm hand on his cheek. "I know your family is worried about you just as much as you must be worried about them."
Robin allows himself a moment to lean into the touch before pulling away. He shrinks at Diana's saddened stare, but she resolutely stays where she is.
She was right, though. Robin knew his family was worrying about him, and he reflected that, too. Especially when it came to Bruce, as Robin knew that he would run himself ragged until he found the answer to where Robin had gone.
"I am sorry, but I do believe I missed the point of this meeting involving all of us. I was in the middle of a very important diplomatic meeting in Atlantis-" Aquaman begins, but is cut off by Hal.
"'Cause if the kid is going to keep trying to cause trouble around here, then we need to make a team decision about what to do with him while he stays at the Mountain. Right, Bats?" Everyone turns to look at Batman, standing at the back of the group. He had yet to say a single word while the rest of the League was lecturing Robin.
If anything, Batman's staring was now starting to get more unnerving than J'onn's. Robin was expecting him to immediately reveal what Robin was searching for on the computer when he found him, but so far, he had been completely silent.
Robin swallows, and despite how much he hates himself for it, he looks away from the stare in submission, forcing his tense muscles to relax. He doesn't have the stamina to put up a fight about this anymore.
This was the decision he had come to, wasn't it? He wasn't good enough to find a way home on his own, so he needed help. And the League would be happy to help him if they knew the situation. It should have been easy to say what needed to be said, yet every time the opportunity arose to come clean the words died in his throat.
There is silence as the rest of the Leaguers look back and forth between Batman and Robin.
"Are you okay, Batman?" Hal hesitantly asks after almost a full minute passes. Batman finally blinks, and strides forward. The League parts before him, all except for Diana, who is still crouching in front of him but glancing warily back at Batman.
He stops just short of Diana. Robin tilts his gaze back to briefly meet Batman's once more before looking back down and fiddling with his handcuffed wrists.
"Is it true?" Batman grunts. Robin takes a deep breath.
This was it, the juncture he had been both excited and dreading to come upon. He could lie right now, and no one would know. That's what he had been doing this entire time in this dimension, telling lie after lie after lie.
And look where that had gotten him. He almost died because of the Joker, almost died on the street, could have been killed by a famed mercenary, almost watched Batman be killed by the Joker, and was responsible for all of the lives lost when Joker broke out of Arkham that morning. He was no closer to getting home and finding out exactly what had happened to him after he was kidnapped, either.
The universe had finally, utterly and completely turned against him, and for the life of him Robin could only see one possible way out that didn't end in complete and utter carnage.
"Yes," he stiffly answers, and he sees Batman tense. Everyone else looks mildly confused, but Batman continues before anyone could interrupt.
"And what the Joker claimed of our relation? Is that true as well?" Robin bites his lip and refuses to look at him. He doesn't know how to answer that question properly, and even if he did, Robin doesn't want to see the expression on Batman's face when he tells him.
Robin knows that this is not his Batman. Not his Bruce under the cowl. But that didn't change that they had the same face, the same mannerisms. And if Robin said 'yes' and saw disgust or disappointment he knew that it would take a very long time to recover from that kind of blow.
So, overall, it was better that Robin just kept his head down and his mouth shut.
Evidently Batman took silence as a confirmation. Robin hears him audibly swallow before stumbling back.
Robin's eyebrows furrow, and he begrudgingly listens to his internal curiosity edging him to take a peak. He lifts his eyes just enough to take a look at Batman, and that had him straightening in his seat.
The man had practically disappeared inside his cape, but Robin can faintly see the outline of his fists that were tightly clenched at his sides. The gaze that was usually so sharp seemed hazy, unfocused on a point on the floor. Robin glances around at the other Leaguers, and they seem as equally concerned as he feels.
"Um, I don't think the rest of us follow?" Superman cautiously says, calmly approaching the paralyzed Batman. Diana stands from her position and extends an arm towards Batman for a moment before slowly lowering it and stepping further away with a glance at Clark. Superman reaches the man and places a tentative hand on his shoulder. Batman flinches, and the hand is quickly removed.
Robin hastily looks back down at his wrists when Batman's gaze suddenly hardens and his gaze rises to land on Robin once again.
"Robin is not from this universe," Batman bluntly states. "And neither is the Joker."
There is a beat of complete silence, broken by the harsh, howling laughter of Hal. "You can't be serious. Those are just theories! There is zero evidence that all of that is actually true, or even plausible," he blithely says, crossing his arms.
This statement immediately sparks a heated debate between Barry and Hal (Robin assumes from the pained yet amused looks that this kind of thing happens often). The other Leaguers look on, the only ones not being attentive to the fight being Batman and J'onn, both of which look to be lost in their own minds.
Robin takes a deep breath, slowly releasing it as he keeps fiddling with his handcuffs during the scuffle. This is the closest thing he would be getting to a meditation session before garnering a massive headache from the ensuing discussion.
It would be better if he just got out most of the information like a bandaid, right? That is, if Hal and Barry ever stopped arguing. It was getting to the point where Barry was practically vibrating into the floor.
"Would you two shut it?" Robin shouts, and the unadulterated frustration in his tone garner surprised looks from every Leaguer.
Robin had all of their attention now. And now that every single person's gaze was on him, silently prying, he found himself hesitating once again. He swallows and licks his lips.
Robin begins slowly, cautiously. "Batman's right. I'm from another dimension, and so is the Joker. Before you ask—no, I do not know how it happened. All I know is I was on patrol and got kidnapped. Then the next thing I knew, I was here and Joker decided we needed some quality time together."
Superman and Diana wince in sympathy, but Robin couldn't snap at them to stop their little pity party before there was a very excited and gleeful speedster in his face.
"You're actually from another dimension!? Dimensional travel is possible?! Oh, I am so going to look into this as soon as everything is settled and-" he finally broke off, backing away slightly from Robin's face. He looks so sorrowful, Robin has to avert his gaze back to his handcuffs. "...you don't know how to get back to your home dimension, do you?"
Robin huffs, then curtly nods. Before anyone else could express their sympathy, J'onn finally speaks up.
"Interesting. Nothing he is saying is dishonest. It is also nearly impossible for me to glimpse his thoughts and emotions beyond the most basic that come from all sentient living creatures."
Robin nervously chuckles. "Heh, yeah, my team and I have had some trouble with telepaths in the past and had to take some...uh, precautions."
"Wait, hold on, time out," Hal interrupts, earning a frown from J'onn. "Are we actually supposed to be believing this? That he's from an alternate dimension?"
Aquaman nods in Hal's direction. "I am afraid I have to agree with Green Lantern. The notion of alternate dimensions, and a multiverse as a whole, is simply a fantastical speculation."
Robin couldn't deny their skepticism. If someone had come up to him three months ago proclaiming they were from a different dimension, he would have scoffed and then ushered them to a hospital.
He knows his face pales. What if the League didn't fully believe he was from another dimension? Sure, Batman and the Flash seemed perfectly accepting of the truth, but Hal and Aquaman were in denial and the rest of the League had yet to truly comment.
Would they throw him in a hospital if they didn't believe him? Robin would like to think that Batman wouldn't let that happen to someone who he believed to be his child from a different dimension, but Batman wasn't the Justice League. If it came to a vote and only Batman and Flash were on his side, then there would be nothing he could do.
Robin jumps when a hand lands on his shoulder, giving a comforting squeeze. He looks up and sees Clark at his side, a soft and reassuring smile on his lips. Even if Robin is aware that this wasn't his Clark, the expression still does wonders on his nerves.
Abruptly he realizes that the rest of the League (sans Batman) has erupted into a heated argument about his dimension traveller status.
"So, another dimension," Clark begins, attention solely on him. "You seemed to leave that part out of your story when w...you talked with that reporter at the hospital." Robin can't help but snicker at the small slip up.
"I think that would have sealed my fate of staying at that hospital, wouldn't it?" Robin quips, mood brightening more at Clark's soft chuckle.
"Yeah, I suppose-" Clark begins, before being cut off by Batman.
"Enough!" he shouts, straightening to his full height. Everyone in the room cowers a little at the sight of his intimidating figure. "This is not a matter that needs to be argued. With all of the tests I've run on his DNA and the information he had given, this is the most likely solution."
Hesitantly, Flash agrees. Superman does as well, followed quickly by Diana and Manhunter. Aquaman eventually sighs and agrees as well. Hal, however, glares at them all.
"I can't believe all of you are believing this," he scoffs. Hal looks at his teammates stoic faces, glares one more time, then sighs. "Whatever, I know when I'm beaten. I don't care what you do with the kid. In the end, I'll at least be able to say 'I told you so.'"
Green Lantern streaks out of the Mountain via Zeta Beam. Flash stares after him, but shakes of his sadness when he catches Robin's gaze, replacing it with a blazing grin.
"What exactly does this mean for us, then?" Diana asks softly. "I assume that we will still be keeping him here-"
"No," Batman interrupts to the surprised stares of his colleagues. "Robin will be coming with me."
So I actually wrote a bit longer after this, but I think I'm going to end it here before the chapter gets too rushed/a little too long for how long I want the chapters in this book to be.
I hope you enjoyed!
(And, uh, just in case you weren't aware...BLACK LIVES FUCKING MATTER. And if you don't agree, kindly stop reading my books. Seriously, go away, I don't want that kind of energy here when I can get plenty of it at home)
I've had a bit of a cultural reset, and I suggest if you do not support this movement or do not see a problem with how America is run and what's happening, that you go out and educate and reset yourself as well.
It's not easy. No one ever said it will be easy. But it is worth it if you can make a better world for others and generations to come.
So go out, educate yourself, listen to the oppressed, and try to re-evaluate your morals/biases.
Goodbye for now lovelies
~Atatami