Dick came to with a cough and a heavy feeling on his back. He tried to move, but was instead immediately pulled over. Dick acts on instinct, grabbing at whoever was attacking him, but when he hears Damian yell in pain, he stops himself instantly. Dick's eyes widened as he find himself right in the middle of Burnley, and right next to his youngest sibling, who is rubbing his stomach protectively.
"As usual Richard, your training is immaculate." Damian says, a tinge of pain to his voice. Dick laughs softly. "Sorry Dami. Are you ok?" He asks, and Damian snorts. "It will take more than one strike to put me down Richard." He says, his huffy tone betrayed by how he really feels. Which is to say, relieved. Dick has no idea what happened, and graciously allows his little brother to help him stand.
He feels a slight pain in his lower back. Something he's felt a lot lately. He's getting older (he turns thirty in nine months and is trying to not think about that) so some pain is to be expected. Still, he might want to nip this in the bud as soon as possible. He might not be able to do flips when he's pushing fifty, but he'd like to still be able to fight crime until then. He shakes the pointless thoughts out of his head.
"Richard, do you remember what happened?" Damian asks suddenly. Dick thinks for a moment. "Uh... Scar just threw Mufasa off the cliff right?" Dick says, and Damian nods. "At that point, the world started to shift and change. I believe Todd said something, and then..." Damian didn't say anything. Dick nods instead.
"And now we're here in Gotham." He says, and Damian agrees. "Yes, but I'm afraid of a few of the things I've seen while trying to find the others." Dick's eyes widened. "Damian, what do you mean?" He asks. Damian just gives him an odd look. "I mean, when we both were dumped here, I was awake. You were unconscious, so I checked the few surrounding blocks." Dick shakes his head.
"Without backup or armor?" He asks, and Damian rolls his eyes. "No one saw me. I was trained from birth to be a ninja." Damian says, and it takes Dick a second to realize it's a joke. Dick chuckles, and a small smile grazes Damian's face before it disappates. "Yes well, humor aside, I don't believe we are in our Gotham." Dick wanted to facepalm. "What have you got?" He asks, his game face, and voice, on.
Damian straightens up. "Dead ends where they shouldn't be. Shops where they aren't supposed to be. Small things like that." Dick slowly nods. First step if displaced in time or a different universe: Find out when you are, if possible find out where you are, and try to establish contact with an ally. And as for the last step... Dick reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. Damian's eyes widen.
"You have a cell? That's perfect. Mine has been displaced it seems." Dick ponders that for a second, and then turns his phone on. Success! It... Has less than two percent left. Damian scrunched his face up as he stares at the phone. He shakes his head disapprovingly. "Hey I was excited for the movie! No time to charge stuff when you get to watch Simba become a king!" He says, and Damian just clicks his tongue.
"Quickly do a Google search on Gotham. It'd be best to know what heroes there are." That's a good idea actually. Dick puts in the pass code and heads for Google. As he types in Gotham, the phone hits one percent. Several million searches come up, and Dick scrolls quickly to find anything relating to vigilantes. He finds something near the bottom of the first page, and clicks it.
"Come on, come on, load already." He says, as he watches the line fill. Once it does, he's able to read the title before his phone dies.
'Arkham Knight and Red Hood apprehend Mad Hatter!'
He and Damian turn to look at each other. No clue who this Arkham Knight is, but Jason is here, that's a good sign. And 'apprehend' also most likely means they aren't evil. Dick is fairly certain Damian has the same thought process. Eventually though, Damian shakes his head.
"It'd be best if we could aquire some more information. Shall we find a library Richard?" He asks, and Dick smiles. "That's a great idea! Might also be able to find a charger for this." He says, as he feels for his wallet in his pockets. Thankfully, it's there. Un-thankfully however, it's got only four dollars and three pennies in it. Damian again gives him a look of shame. Dick ducks his head as he marches forward.
There's got to be a library around here somewhere.
Duke awakes with a start. He's groggy and disoriented, but that quickly goes away as he blinks and rubs his eyes.
"Remember, always be alert. Take in all of your surroundings."
Bruce's voice rings throughout his head, and Duke immediately opens his eyes. He's... In Gotham. Somewhere on a rooftop in Burnley, he's fairly certain. He's able to stand up after a few more moments, all of his pain and grogginess gone.
"Evaluate your injuries once you've confirmed the situation you're in. If you're tied up, come up with an escape plan; It doesn't matter if you don't think you can escape, just make one and if you get the chance, act on it."
More of Bruce's teachings fill his head, though they're not particularly useful, seeing as how he's not tied up, nor in a hostage situation. Still, injuries. He's got nothing, besides the very dull, almost nonexistent ache he's had for the past few minutes. And it'll be gone in a bit anyway if Duke is correct. Anyways, more importantly, time to get in contact with the family.
He reached into his jacket for his phone, and while it's there, it also seems to be dead. Well, this just got harder. He's not sure he wants to trek all the way back to the Manor, but his wallet is also missing, so that's upsetting. Duke makes for the sides of the building, when he turns to the left and the right.
Huh... There shouldn't be a skyscraper there, right? Shouldn't it be on his right? Oh no, was his head hurt more than he thought. He didn't like this. Not one bit. If his head is fine, and he IS right, that could mean several things. Weird time travel shenanigans, dimension travel crap. All sorts of things that mean he may never see his family-
"Hey it's Duke!"
-Nevermind, there's Dick and Damian, in the same clothing as the last time he saw them. He sure hopes that's them. Duke carefully makes his way down from the building, and as soon as he feet touch the ground, Dick rushes in for a hug. Damian, meanwhile, just nods his head in approval.
"Thomas, it's good to know we're not the only ones here." He says, and Dick laughs. "Think everyone else is here too?" He asks Damian, and Duke is right, he guessed, that this isn't their Gotham. Duke then realized something. "Hey, we're from the same dimension right? We were watching The Lion King and then got sucked up into a portal of some kind?" Dick and Damian both nod, though Dick puts his hand on his chin in thought.
"A portal could have opened up on top of us. Very rare, but it's a possibility." His oldest brother says, and Damian clicks his tongue. "Thomas, have you managed to find anything since arriving here?" Duke sheepishly shakes his head. "No man, sorry. My phone's dead and my wallet is gone. Was just thinking about what to do when you guys showed up." Damian points towards the east.
"If the layout continues to be correct, there should be a library this way." He says, and then tilts his head. "Also, we believe that whatever dimension we're in, the Bats here are not evil. Probably." Dick and Damian start moving, and Duke frowns as they all start walking together.
"What do you mean, 'probably'?" He asks, and Dick shrugs. "My phone had a bit of charge left. Said that the, and I quote 'Arkham Knight and Red Hood' had apprehended Mad Hatter." Oh. Ok, well that could mean a few things. Most of them were good, with only a few being bad. Yeah, probably was a pretty good word actually.
"Ok so, we go to the library and then what?" Duke asks. He's not actually one hundred percent sure of what to do in these types of situations. Dick smiled as he throws an arm around him. "First thing first, find out when you are. Make sure no damage can happen to the time stream and all that if you are in fact, in the past." He says, and then raises up two fingers.
"Second, once you know where and when you are, if you can find allies - preferably other Bats - then it's time to make contact and hope they aren't as paranoid as we are!" Damian scoffs as Duke laughs. Ok, simple enough.
As the group walks past a random house, the door is destroyed by someone being thrown through it. The three instantly tense up as... As a Robin flies through the door, landing right next to the downed man. This Robin is female Duke is pretty sure, if the black skirt and long, red hair poking out from her black hood is any indication. She smiles bubbly at the downed man.
"Come on Jackie! I can throw you around all night long, but I need information noooooow." She says, her happy tone at odds with her boot on his left hand. 'Jackie' grunts.
"I already told you kiddo, they'd kill me if I let it slip-" He screams as Robin digs her boot into his hand, a... A honest to God above POUT on her face.
"Pwease Jackie? For your favowite Wobin?" She says innocently and cute. It's effect cannot be strong while she's actively torturing the guy. Funnily enough though, he relents. "Fine, fucking fine! Penguin bought the guns from the Falcones. He's planning on tearing up a few of the smaller families near his territory. Branch out, so to speak." The guy says, and Robin legit jumps for joy.
"Thanks Jackie! Always knew I could count on ya!" She says, and then frowns. "You might want to leave town for a bit, just to be safe." Jackie huffs as Robin helps him stand up. Duke notices Dick and Damian both tense up, just in case the guy decides to attack, but Robin looks completely at ease. Jackie just grumbles.
"Yeah well, if I'm found dead because of this, the Knight better kill that damn flightless asshole." The man says, as he walks away, clutching his hand. Robin waves to him. "I'll pass the message along! Thanks again!" She says happily, and then taps her right ear; comms, Duke has to assume.
As she relays her messages to who Duke has to assume is either Batman or Oracle, Damian clicks his tongue. "I must admit, I approve of her methods. They were quite effective." Duke wonders if Damian would have said that even a few months ago. The kid really is trying to do better, it seems. Dick just laughs softly. "I think she's a fine Robin." He says. The laughter must have gotten her attention though, because Robin twists her head to stare at them. She waves.
"Hi! Do you need any assistance?" She asks, her voice carefully neutral, despite being bubbly. It's a skill she must have taken a while to learn. Duke is unsure of what to say, but Dick steps forward. "Well actually yeah, I'm Dick and these are my brothers." Robin stifles a laugh, and Dick just smiles. "It's ok, everyone laughs the first time they hear it." Robin still holds back her laughter, but other than that... She doesn't seem to recognize any of them. Duke sees what he's pretty sure is growing unease on Damian's face.
"It's kind of a funny name honestly. You know though..." Robin says, and suddenly seems very interested in Dick's face. "Hmm..." She says, as she stares at him. Her eyes, hidden behind her domino mask seem to widen.
"No way..." She says, seemingly in awe. Dick, to most, would look like he's still smiling. But Duke's started to learn his family's tells. Dick's smile is forced, he's pretty certain of that. Suddenly, Robin taps her right ear again.
"Yeah AK, I've got..." She starts, and then frowns. "Energy readings?" She asks questioningly. Duke takes a deep breath. "... Inter-dimensional travelers?" She says, in a smaller voice. Robin gives a nervous chuckle.
"Yeah I think... I think I found a few myself." Another pause. Dick lightly waves. He's still nervous, Duke thinks, but it seemed to lower Robin's nervous posture. "Um, right in front of me?" She says, and there's a shout loud enough for Duke to hear, and for Robin to wince.
"Gah! No need to yell dad! I'll bring them there right now." She says, and hits her right ear. Robin then heavily sighs. Dick smiles slightly wider now. Duke has to wonder what was going on through his oldest brother's head.
"Parents, right?" He says instead. And Robin laughs. "Yeah, parents. Always worried, no matter how well trained you are." Dick nods sagely. "And even when you're an entire city away, they never stop calling and pestering you." Robin starts to wave her arms.
"Exactly! Gah, I love my dad but just... UGH!" She says, and Duke's pretty sure most of his siblings feel the same way about Bruce. Damian steps forward, interuppeting whatever Dick was about to say.
"While we could talk about Father all day, I suppose we're heading to the Batcave?" Robin tilts her head slightly, and her eyes widen again. "You guys still use the Batcave?" She asks in awe. Dick frowns somewhat. "Yeah we do. What do you guys use?" He asks, and Robin smiles excitedly.
"We use the Court of Owl's old tunnel systems." She says, and then leans forward. "Want to check it out?"
None of the group disagree at that statement.