So sorry this is a bit late, you guys. I've been having some real problems getting through these last few scenes. I estimate about... six more chapters. Maybe an epilogue to make the fifty chapter mark.
Seriously you guys are awesome. I've past the 70,000 word mark AND reached a staggering 377 reviews. That's AMAZING! I thought i'd be lucky to get even one! Your love and support has really kept me going and I hope to please you all with a satisfying ending and another fic soon! Probably going to be a while on the new fic, though; school and all.
Wally was stationed with Kaldur on the top floor. The problem with this was Wally knew Robin was resting just three doors down to the left. He knew it would take him approximately .0482 seconds to peek in on his best friend. Dick was with his parents now and Wally really didn't want to disrupt them, but he couldn't stand still and it was driving Kaldur up the wall.
"Calm down, Kid Flash." Kaldur all but snapped as he paced down the halls. "We must be alert and focused in case of an attack."
"Dude, Rob's right there!" Wally gestured to his room. "You know, the same kid we've been trying to find for the last year! Don't you want to see him?"
"I do," Kaldur admitted, "but we need to stay focused on this task first. We're making sure nothing else happens to Robin."
Wally pouted and went back to pacing. He was surprised when he ran into someone, and hastily apologized. He found himself looking into the blue eyes of Mary.
"Would you mind if I talked to you boys?" She asked, shyly fidgeting with her slender hands.
"Of course." Kaldur answered, slightly worried Wally was going to hit on this beautiful woman.
"Thanks," Mary smiled, "John is watching over Dick and I just… I wanted to know a few things."
"Uh, can I ask one first?"
Here it comes. Wally was going to pull out some sort of pick up line and then she was going to get offended. Kaldur could only brace himself for it.
"You're Rob's mom, right?"
"Yes." Mary reached out and grabbed his hand. "You must be Wally."
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Dick talks about you all. He's been telling John and I all about his adventures with you."
Kaldur allowed himself to relax; Wally wasn't going to pull any moves, and it was nice to hear Dick talked about them in his absence. Mary's soft smile faded and she avoided looking at them, instead finding the floor of the manor a bit more interesting.
"I haven't really seen him happy unless he's talking about you." Mary squeezed Wally's hand, and he lightly squeezed back. "Will you tell me about him?"
"About Rob? But he's your son. We didn't even know his name until tonight."
"Please," Mary pleaded, her voice quivering, "please tell me."
"Sure." Kaldur nodded. "Would you like to sit down?"
"Yes." Mary took in a quivering breath and Wally knew she was about to cry. "Yes, let's find a place to sit down."
They sat in one of the upstairs sitting rooms, Mary sitting across from Kaldur and Wally, who looked at each other and tried to figure out where to start.
"Rob is… he's my best friend." Wally thought for a moment. "He's always disappearing, he can hack into anything, and he's constantly laughing."
"That sounds like him." Mary laughed, wiping at a few tears escaping from her tear ducts. "Even as a little kid he was always running off."
"Robin is fearless, plunging into situations sometimes without thinking it through." Kaldur took a moment to recollect his thoughts. "There was the first time I met him…"
Mary sat and listened to story after story of her son, feeling the anxiety of having her son ripped from her once more dissipate. He had good friends and he was happy with them. Even if there were still some issues to work out with Bruce Wayne, she trusted Dick's friends to get him through any problem he had. She only hoped he knew that.
Conner somehow found managed to get stuck with these Kon and Tim on outside perimeter duty. Tim was lost in thought, sitting on the roof and Kon was sort of just walking around the outside of the manor. Conner, however, was staring at a grave.
The grave was a cover for the Batcave, he knew, but wouldn't it just be unmarked? Why would it blatantly state Robin's name and have the word "hero" in the small description. Wasn't that like putting a big sign saying "Batcave is here!" over the entrance?
"Hey Tim!" Kon called, suddenly behind Conner. "What's up with this grave?"
Tim jumped off of the roof and approached the two Superboys. "That?"
"Yeah. I don't understand why it has Robin's name on it." Conner frowned, unhappy that these people would even insinuate his friend was dead.
"Well, that's because he was dead." Tim answered seriously.
"Okay, what? He's upstairs sleeping and very much alive." Kon folded his arms across his chest. "You make no sense."
"Thirty years ago Robin showed up and saved Dad, Grandpa, and Grandma." Tim explained. "In the process, he was shot in the leg and bled out. Dad buried him here in the backyard because no one knew who he really was at that time. Then just last year he showed up out of nowhere. Dad dug up his grave, but he wasn't in the casket."
"How is that possible?" Conner frowned and furrowed his brows in thought. "Robin has only been gone for one year."
"Robin doesn't know either." Tim sighed.
"So, what? That's it?" Kon shook his head. "You don't want to figure out the mystery?"
"Why? Dick's alive, right? What does it matter?"
"It might have had something to do with the device." Conner turned to Kon and Tim. "He was thrown across dimensions through a device. It must have skipped him across time."
"But how does that explain coming back to life?" Kon was skeptical. There wasn't just a magic side effect to a machine. Coming back to life was a bit more complicated.
"Dick always said he needed to get back before this universe collapsed. Something about imbalance throwing everything off. Well what if the machine already calculated this would happen?"
"You're saying it killed off the Robin of this dimension and brought back Robin in his place." Conner clenched his fists. He was angry; angry that this stupid device had caused everyone so much pain.
"Well, Dick Grayson from this world is dead. He would have been twenty. That's why Mr. and Mrs. Grayson are here. They never got see their son grow up."
Tim felt angry too. He'd seen how much they were grieving every time they saw Dick. Kon shook his head; he was getting to like Dick, even though he'd only met him twice. He was sure the Dick of this dimension would have been fun.
There was a rustle in a tree nearby and instantly the three were on alert. A figure dropped down, landing gracefully on the grass.
"Red Robin?" The figure asked hesitantly.
"Babs, it's cool." Tim relaxed, urging silently for the two clones of Superman to do the same.
"Who is this?" Babs nodded to Conner, who narrowed his eyes.
She didn't look very trustworthy. Kon snapped his fingers and grinned.
"Oh yeah! You're Batgirl! You kind of ran off after we rescued Mr. Wayne, so I'd sort of forgotten about you."
"Babs, this is Kon and… Superboy. It's sort of hard to explain, but Young Justice and Batman showed up last night."
"And Robin?"
"He's resting. We got him home."
Barbara sagged in relief. "Mr. Wayne?"
"Safe. He's down in the cave with Batman."
"Whoa, wait. When you say Batman you mean…?"
Tim nodded. "Yeah, he's scarier than Dick described."
"You're kidding." Barbara shook her head in awe. "I can't believe it. So wait, Superboy from Young Justice? Then you're Robin's teammate."
"Yeah." Conner cocked his head. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm Batgirl. Robin… trained us." Barbara said awkwardly, looking to Tim for help. He shrugged in response. He had no idea how to interact with him either.
"C'mon, I'll take you see the rest of them. Superboy—er, Superboys, you just… stay." Tim grabbed Barbara's arm and made his escape.
Kon reached out and made a noise a protest, but Tim was gone before he could really say anything. Turning back to Conner, he noticed his gaze was back on the tombstone.
"Dude, you need to chill out. I can tell just from looking at you you're tense all the time."
Conner completely ignored his comment, instead replying with a question. "Is he… Does he teach you things?"
"Does who teach me things?"
"Superman."
"You mean Clark?" Kon thought about it for a moment. "In the beginning he didn't really want anything to do with me. I mean, it doesn't help to learn you've been cloned without permission, but he warmed up to me eventually."
There was a silence, and Kon realized something.
"Oh, you're still on the avoidance list?" Kon lightly punched Conner's shoulder and flashed him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. He'll wake up and smell the roses soon. It just takes some time. You're going to love Ma and Pa though."
"Ma and Pa?" Conner raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, those are Clark's parents. Ma cooks the best dinners you'd ever imagine and Pa gives great advice."
"Do you… live with them?"
"Sure do. I help out on the farm when I can, but you know, being a superhero is a little hard on the free time." Kon fished out his cell phone. "Do you want to meet them?"
Conner hesitated, but Kon had already dialed the number and waited for Ma to pick up the phone.
"Hey, Ma? It's Kon. Listen, I've got someone here who'd really like to meet you. Will you give him the same rundown you and Pa gave me when I first moved in? He could really use it."
Kon shoved the phone into Conner's hands and the Young Justice member couldn't help but to shyly pull the cellphone up to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Are you the boy who needs to hear the rundown?"
"I guess."
"You sound awfully familiar. What's your name?"
"Conner Kent."
I've had many people asking where Artemis is. It'll be answered by the end. (Hopefully) I hope you all accept my explanation of Dick's revival. If it doesn't fly for you, I'm sorry. Try sending me your own explanation or writing your own version.
esvala, you made me smile so hardcore yesterday. Your lengthy review was much appreciated and I'm so happy people notice all of these little details. To be honest, I never plan them out. They just sort of jump on in there at the moment I'm writing. I had so many plans for this story that went awry because the characters just took over and decided they wanted it to go THIS way. I'm also glad you like the pacing. Usually I end up rushing things as well, so it's nice to hear I'm going at a fine pace.
You all are so sweet and it sort of makes me sad to end this. At the same time, it'll be my first story that I've actually finished. It's exciting and sad all at the same time! Also thanks to those who PM'd their reviews.