The first thing Robin was aware of was a big black fist pinning him to the wall.
"Who are you? How did you get here?" Batman demanded, holding Robin well above the ground in an iron grip.
"Isn't it obvious?" Robin growled back, shoving the bat off of him with the force of his staff. Leaping down he landed as dramatically as he possibly could, brandishing his staff warningly. "I'm the other Robin."
"Why should we believe you?" Batman questioned, Robin watched the older mans motions warily; Batman was quick like lightning, if you blinked he'd have grabbed something from his utility belt and you'd be down.
"Why do you need a reason?" Robin shot back, slowly circling the man. We don't have time for this, the sensible part of his brain piped up, we have to find Fate! Except ugh. He may be a different Batman but he's exactly the same. Just the same.
"Watch your tongue kid," Batman replied diving, Robin moving as well to make the connection, staff raised and ready to swing.
"Stop!" Suddenly there was a figure between the two of them, wearing a familiar red and black outfit. Oh. Right, the other Robin. He'd forgotten about him in his 'argh Batman' moment.
"He's the other Robin, believe me, I know." The team's Robin said, arms spread out between the two of them, eskrima sticks in either hand. "Now would you both cool it?"
Robin withdrew his staff, but didn't collapse it. Batman drew back as well.
"Are you certain?" Batman asked the other Robin suspiciously.
"Positive. I've been running around in his body, I think I can recognize him." The younger boy replied with a grin. Robin looked the boy over, so this is him, I'll have to give him credit for breaking up a fight between me and Batman but.. what he did to Star. Not sure if I can forgive him for that, not yet.
"All right then." Batman replied, still eyeing Robin with clear suspicion, "But that still doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"Or why you want an appointment with Doctor Fate," Kid Flash added helpfully, "Cause doesn't he sort of, oh I dunno, want you dead?"
"That's exactly why I came here," Robin replied with a smirk, it was cool to be the smartest man in the room sometimes. "I've got a problem only a good Doctor can fix."
"I don't get it." KF said, "You want to die? Is this some sort of suicide pact or something?"
"No better- he's bait!" Other Robin said excitedly, clearly doing the math, good, they did think something alike. "In fact, if I get what you're doing here- that would totally set everything back to the aster- perfectly even."
Aster? That's what they meant by fake words? Like disaster but without the dis part? Seriously? Holy corny catchphrases.. that's lame. But also kind of awesome. Oh great, now I'm gonna be doing it.
"Exactly." He replied smugly.
"Bait? But isn't that dangerous?" Captain Marvel spoke up, brow furrowed.
"Of course it is. But unfortunately the world's on fire out there and I really don't want to get burned." Robin replied, "Which is why I had Klarion send me here-"
It was like dropping an anvil on the room, at the mere mention of Klarion's name the entire room turned into a mess of exclamations and confusion.
"Are you crazy? Klarion's evil!" "Klarion? He's probably the one responsible for this!" "He can't be serious!"
"Son, you can't be serious." Batman said darkly, arms crossed.
"I am. And with good reason- as i'm sure jinx will tell you, Klarion's not behind this. A man named Slade is. And he plans on merging the two universes, unless we follow Klarion's exact directions." Robin replied, reaching into his belt and pulling out the explicit directions Klarion had left him with.
"But why didn't your coming here shatter the universe as it is?" Zatanna asked, "Why would you risk that in the first place?"
"It was a risk I had to take. To get Fate's attention. Only he and Klarion are strong enough to support the universe- I honestly was hoping that he'd be here when I came through, what with his wanting me dead and all. Clearly, I was wrong."
"You were not." A voice boomed. Everyone turned around to see the gold helmeted man enter the room.
"Doctor Fate I presume?" Robin said tentatively, having not met the man he could only guess.
"Correct." The man replied. He had a strange voice; as if two men were speaking at once.
"Nabu, is what he says true?" Batman asked. Nabu? Robin knew he had heard that name before, but where? Then he saw Zatanna's face; she wouldn't look up. Oh. Oh no. This was the thing that possessed her father? Why hadn't he figured that out before? Ugh. So much for being a great detective Robin.
"Unfortunately, it is." The gold man boomed, "Robin. Klarion's directions, please." Nervously Robin placed the paper into the golden outstretched hand.
"So your not gonna kill us?" The other Robin said nervously.
"No. In fact I lost interest in doing so after Klarion swapped your bodies back." Fate replied glancing at the directions.
"That was Klarion?" Both Robin's gawked at once.
"Yes." Fate replied, still reading Klarion's lengthy note.
"What about- I mean, can we still switch back?" Other Robin asked.
"Yea, or are we fixed?" Robin added.
"There is still a risk of you returning to the others bodies, which were it to occur at this particular moment would lead to the catastrophic destruction of everything." Fate said with a sort of detached coolness.
"Well that's bad!" KF exclaimed, "I mean, can't you just zap them with some magic crud and fix it or something?"
"The nature of their ailment is a rare and troublesome one." Fate replied curtly.
"In other words, you don't know how to." Robin said sharply. He wanted everyone else flinch at his abrasiveness.
"At present, no, I do not know how to." Fate agreed, "I do know how to repair the universe, however I will require the cooperation of the league."
"Whatever it is, we'll see if we can provide it." Batman said.
"Good. I will require all of the worlds magicians and magic users to be present in one hour at a small park in Gotham."
"All of them? There's no way-" KF began, only to have Batman raise a hand to cut him off.
"We'll have it done." Batman said, "Someone will have to contact Belle Reve and Zeta Tube restrictions will have to be lifted but it will be done."
The two Robin's were standing on an edge overlooking what had to be the biggest magic circle ever. This was the first time the two of them had really been, well, alone. Before there had been a lot of shuffling magicians about and getting things organized. Now though, Doctor Fate had everything under control as was evident by his presence in the circle down below.
"Looks like it's really coming together huh?" Robin said conversationally to the titan leader. The other Robin had barely spoken a word to him, and unfortunately, he had a pretty good idea as to why that was. And her name was Starfire.
"Guess so." The other Robin grunted unhelpfully. Sheesh he's a grump. May as well try to lighten the mood..
"Look, I'm sorry about everything. Getting body switched, smashing up your body- you know, but I have to admit it's hard to stay whelmed when someone drops a ton of trash on your head" He grinned with an eerie chuckle.
"Sorry about smashing in your window." The other Robin scowled, not laughing.
"Hey, no problem, it's just a window and these things happen- besides I heard you took down Superboy, is that true?"
"Yup." The older boy replied with a shrug.
"How'd you do that? I didn't even know I had the physical strength to take him down, I couldn't even imagine being able to do something that crazy!" Robin continued exuberantly.
"Maybe I can tell you when you tell me how you did what you did to Starfire," The other Robin growled, finally looking Robin in the eye. Yikes. The guy may want to relinquish his connections to Batman, but if that isn't the full on Bat-glare I don't know what is.
"Look, I had no choice, ok? There was nothing else I could do, I had to save her somehow-" Robin stumbled over his words, tired of excuses and apologies.
"There's always another choice. You never. Ever. Choose to hurt your friends." Other Robin yelled, he may seem small and gangly but somehow then he seemed just as intimidating as his teacher. "Doing that mixes up the line between good and evil it-"
"What is it with you and your obsession with that line? I think you've got it all wrong. Just stick to the aster and make sure it turns out ok in the end thats all that-" He tried to explain himself but he was cut off before he could even really begin.
"Do you even hear yourself? You sound like a selfish child- talking like that will just get the people you care about hurt!" Other Robin roared, "People like Starfire!"
"Oh and so you think that you're perfect? Without blame? Listen 'Teen Titan' while I was in your world I did some research. Proper bat-family research. Does Red-X ring a bell to you at all?" When he'd been trying to make sense of things, to understand this 'other Robin' he'd decided to delve deeper. Just as Batman would have done.
"So now you've been through my stuff?" Other Robin demanded, arms raised with anger.
"Not like you haven't been through mine!" Robin shot back.
They stopped then. We both went through each others stuff. We've both lied. We're both suspicious. We both hide behind masks and fake identities. We're both Robin. The only difference is that I try to be the clever guy and he tries to be the cool guy.
"You know, we're both pretty messed up." The titan leader said after a long moment, a wave of cool seeming to settle on him.
"No kidding," Robin agreed with a grin, sense of aster regained, "Guess it's in those bat-family genes."
"Truce?" Other Robin suggested.
"Better." Robin said, "Let's forget this mess and just be friends kay?"
"Deal,"
They both promptly started laughing; they were pretty ridiculous weren't they? Why was he so worried about how he compared to this guy in the first place? They were exactly the same when you got down to it.
"Hey Rob," Teen titans Robin began curiously,
"Yea?" Robin answered with a casual grin,
"When you signed on with Batman, did you, you know, swear the oath?"
He didn't get his answer. Because right then the sky ripped open and a robot army began pouring out of it overhead.
"What's-" Robin began, only to have this other question answered.
"Slade." Titan Robin growled.
Authors Note:
HOLY BIRD BOY BICKERING BATMAN
Not gonna lie, wrote the second half of this listening to disney music. And when I hit the end of their argument, You've got a friend in me came on.
I'm not even lying.
NOW REMEMBER KIDS
TUNE IN NEXT TIME, SAME BATSITE, SAME BATAUTHOR.