Flopping backwards onto the floor, Terry huffed. He closed 'his' eyes.

'Okay so that didn't work.' Dick would probably be putting his head in his hands if he were in control.

But he wasn't so Terry put 'his' arms over his face.

'Gee, you think?' He was getting quite bitter over the fact that it was almost dinner time and they still haven't managed to find a way to switch around.

'Woah there, calm down.'

With a frown, Terry sighed. 'Look, I'm sorry but I'm already tired of this. It's unnatural for me to here, like this. I'm not going to stay here, living your life, literally every other day. Doing things like school, patro-'

Suddenly remembering, Terry snap open 'his' eyes and screamed, "OH SHIT I HAVE TO DO PATROL!"

'Crap!' Dick was right with him, panicking. 'Okay! Don't panic!'

'I'm not panicking! You're panicking!'

'Shut up! Let's agree that we're both either panicking or we're both not panicking!'

'Okay!'

'Fine!'

'Good!'

'Shut up!'

'What the hell?!'

Taking a very deep breath to calm, both of them down, Terry tried to smush down the panic. 'Okay, fuck. What are we going to do.'

'You said fuck.'

'Shut up! So did you!'

'But I thought we weren't supposed to say it!'

'Okay fine! We can only say "fuck" like this!'

'Thank you!'

Silence.

What. The hell.

God damn.

'Okay, look. We're pissy over the fact that Bruce took us off of patrol right? So we can't look like we wanna back out of it.' Dick logically said, with only a hint of the panic from before.

'Yeah, but I don't know your routine! I only used a grappling hook, once.' Terry rubbed, 'his' face.

'Wait really?' Disbelief colored his tone and their… connection.

'Okay look. My suit basically has a jetpack only the fire is combing out of the bottom of my boots. Alright? And my suit got stolen by an AI so I had to rely on Bruce's old utility belt.'

'Wait you have to deal with villain AIs?'

'Only the one.'

'Okay cool. I honestly hope we won't have to deal with that.'

'I guess we'll have to wait and see. I don't think the dregs that created it thought that locking it up immediately would be a good idea.' Terry bitterly thought. He had asked the man the AI had been based off of grandson exactly what was up with the AI. Apparently only 'waking' up to give advice once in a blue moon could do things to an AI.

'Wait. What's a dreg?' Dick suddenly asked.

'It's a insult. Like loser, only with more weight. So. Dreg.' Terry explained.

'Huh. What other slang do you use? Besides doll,' Dick snickered at the end.

Rolling 'his' eyes, Terry began to list the ones off of the top of his head. 'There's slag, twip, rip, spliced, fizz, and peg it.'

'… okay you gotta explain those things to me.'

'Slag is like… if I say "I'm slagged" it's like I'm feeling tired. If I say, "slag it" it's basically like I'm saying "damn it." If someone says "slag them" it's basically kill them.'

'Wow.'

'Yep. Twip is an insult. Basically imagine twirp and twit mixed into one.'

Dick snorted. 'Nice. I might actually use that.'

'It is one of the more popular slang terms so yeah. Rip is like, schway, but not when you're responding to something. You use it when you're calling a person cool. Like, "Alfred rips".'

At that last one, Dick actually snickered again. 'Okay as cool as Alfred is, you probably shouldn't say that. Sounds like Alfred ripped one.'

Terry blinked at that. 'Ripped what?'

'… you know. Farted?'

Heat rose up, and Terry groaned. Great. Some conflicting slang.

'Welp. Now we know even more differences between our universes!' Dick tried with mirth.

'Anyway,' Terry went on, 'spliced is actually more like… it was made by The Chimera Institute. There was this guy who sent off a trend of "splicers", a bunch of people who get their DNA spliced, or altered, with animal DNA.'

'Really? That becomes a thing?'

'Yeah. It's illegal now.'

'… huh.'

'Yep.'

'Okay, so then what's "fizz".'

'It's soda.'

'Ya know, that actually makes sense.'

'And all the others don't?'

'Rip.'

'Good point. And then "peg it" basically means check it out.'

'Honestly I would expect it to be like, "we gotta get out of here!"'

'Okay I see where you're coming from, but it's not.'

'Alrighty then.'

Knock knock

Whipping 'his' neck over to the door, Terry's heart began to race.

"Young master Richard is everything alright in there?" Alfred's muffled voice carried through the door.

'Slag it!' Terry thought. "Yeah! Just fine!" He ignored how 'his' voice slightly cracked.

It was silent for a moment before… "well, if you are 'just fine' I would suggest that you should get ready for dinner quite soon."

A tongue quickly shot out, wetting dry lips. "Yeah okay! I'll be down in a minute!" He called out.

Heart pounding, he strained 'his' ears to hear quiet footsteps walk away from the door. Great.

Taking a breath in, Terry steeled himself. It was time to face the music. Giving a huff, the teen stood up, and looked 'himself' over. The clothing was decent enough for dinner.

One glance to the darkened grey sky was all it took before Terry left for dinner.

Dinner was, once again, a silent affair. This time, however, Terry was extra determined to eat the whole meal. He will make sure of it.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Bruce asked. Like, legitimately used the questioning tilt in his voice.

Terry felt a little off putting due to that, as it sounded genuinely curious. "Sure." He had said.

Dinner continued in silence. It was awkward, to say the least.

After eating their meal, everyone had headed down to the cave to get ready. As Bruce started the searching program of the computer, Terry gathered his courage.

What was that old saying again? Oh yes, "fake it until you make it". That night, Terry would desperately need to fake it when it came to being Robin. Of course, having said Robin singing in 'his' head helped.

"Look B, I just want to patrol by myself, and if I find anything, I'll tell you about it." Terry ended up saying.

After the initial totally-not-a-freakout both he and Dick had, they both agreed that it would be best for Terry to go out alone. Without Bruce to witness anything 'strange' going on with Robin, it would also be the best time to actually try to practice getting around Gotham without all those fancy tech Terry was used to. It would also be a good way to continue their search from a different view. Unfortunately with their luck so far they might not get anywhere. True, it had only been two days or so, but there had been previous cases that had taken less time. (Although those cases had at least a little more lead than they did at the moment.)

Bruce frowned as he turned away from the large monitor. Knowing him he probably would want to keep Robin on a tight leash during patrol, as a way to keep the punishment going if only a little bit longer. But then Bruce took a glance at Alfred.

The duo did some weird eye conversation, something that Terry didn't understand as he never witnessed such a thing with Bruce before. It was probably a thing between Bruce and Alfred and it would make sense if Terry had never seen it. That is, if such a thing had existed in his universe in the first place.

Looking back at 'Robin', Bruce said one word. "Alright."

Blinking, both teens felt a mutual feeling of shock shoot through between them. Neither had actually expected the man to relent that easily.

"Uh, thanks!" Terry ended up giving a somewhat crooked smile, as he wasn't quite sure if there were to be a catch or not. He left to go put the suit on.

With Robin instructing him how to put the suit on properly, they went over where exactly they should go. Robin had told him that the East side of Gotham could be laid back in terms of crime, so his Batman would probably want him to go there. It was a good idea, and when they went to the older Batman, he once again agreed to the idea.

The old man was very surprising that night.

And so, the bat in bird clothing drove away on Robin's motorcycle, getting ready to learn, and subsequently, fail.

When he got to his destination, he hid the bike. Searching for a way up, without the grappling hook, he found a fire escape ladder. With a determined grin, he climbed his way up.

Hefting himself onto the roof, he landed on concrete. He stopped, and just stood. There, in front of him, and down below, was a whole new Gotham. It was different from the Gotham during the day, in the streets. It was a Gotham that he was familiar with during simulators while fighting robot versions of Bruce's Rogues Gallery.

And yet… it wasn't all at the same time. Old buildings were gone, and new ones took their places. Or there were some that still stood but looked… slightly off. None grew as tall as his Gotham. Not yet.

It was breathtaking. It was heart pounding. A whole new city.

A place where it still needs its Robin.

'Just a little bit faster… JUMP NOW!' Robin yelled. Following his instructions, Batman jumped to the next building. Flying over a narrow alleyway, he nearly stumbled once he landed over on the other side.

Landing after flying and landing after jumping without an enhanced suit were two different things. Similar enough that Batman didn't hurt anything. Unfortunately it was different just enough that if he made one wrong move, injury would be highly likely.

'Okay that was better. Still need to work on that landing though.'

'I know.' Batman was close to growling it out, but sometimes he just tended to get frustrated easily. Especially if it felt like hours since they first started patrol. Mainly because it was.

Just having a few limited cases, back in his universe, where he had to go without the suit weren't good enough experience. Such as breaking into a fake teenage rehabilitation center and fighting an AI that stole control of said suit. But Batman was getting there.

'Well, to be fair, I was raised to do this sort of stuff. You weren't.' Robin just had to point it out.

'True, but I still should be able to do this. But don't tell Boss. I really don't want to go through any of his training if he finds out I want to learn how to go about Gotham without the boots and glider.'

'Glider?'

'Instead of a cape, there's a built in glider. Great when I want to make a getaway, fly around without the car, or make criminals wet their pants.'

'Okay first of all, that's cool. Second of all, gross.'

'Hey, I don't like the smell, but it's kind of funny to see exactly how scared they get by "the big bad bat".'

'Fair.'

Gotham seemed to be quieter in this other universe.

'Okay now get ready to jump over to the next building! Get the grappling hook ready in case you might need it!'

It was perhaps almost ten O'clock to the six O'clock they started at. According to Agent A over the comms, just as they arrived in the city, there was a high chance of thunderstorms. It certainly explained how it got so dark so early, but would it actually start to downpour? With Gotham it was always hard to tell. But after sunset started, the clouds drifted away, as if it was never there.

During this four hour process, Robin had been teaching Batman the does and don'ts of proper 'old Gotham' parkour. In addition to this there wasn't even a hint of crime so far. So that was the greatest bonus one could have when one was a vigilante/hero.

That was, until they heard a scream. Looking down below, they saw what looked like a mugging in progress.

Without any thought to call the older Batman, even if they did it would be too long, the Future Knight dropped down, aiming to land on the mugger. And just like that, a boot to the face, the mugger was down and out for the count.

"Thank you…" A voice wobbled out. It was the person being mugged. They took back their purse, quickly running away.

'Sweet, now we just gotta tie this bad guy up!' Robin cheered.

Nodding, Batman pulled out some generic zip ties, and tied the hands and legs together.

Clink

Snapping his head around to the source of the sound, Batman stared intensely at the dark depths of the alleyway. A small gasp was heard immediately after he moved.

Smoothly, Batman rose from his crouch, leaving the criminal behind. They wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Straining his ears he listened for any sound. As he listened, he started to walk towards the origin of the first noise. Even though he could not turn on his limited time invisibility, as he no longer had his suit, he let the shadows consume him.

Soft sounds of shuffling. Like someone trying to move away. Zeroing in, Batman found himself with a shaking child, staring wide eyed at him.

As if a switch had been flipped, Batman began to relax. But not much.

'Why is this kid here?' Robin thought.

'Did they see the mugging?' Batman thought back.

There was something familiar about that little kid with the camera around their neck. Batman just couldn't quite put 'his' finger on it.

'Remember, don't try to act like Batman.' Robin whispered, as if the kid could hear him.

"I really don't think you should be up this late." Batman tried to keep 'his' voice light. It was a contrast to the usual dark he was used to when these situations. Of course this wasn't exactly a usual situation.

Coming back from their shock, the kid gasped out a small, "Robin!" It was so soft that he wasn't quite sure if the kid actually said it at all.

The kid themself looked to be around Matt's age. But they also looked maybe a little shorter than Matt himself, and that was saying something. He always thought his little brother was short for his age.

Although maybe the kid was actually younger or something, since it feels like everything's size was off ever since he woke up like this. Or maybe both this kid and Matt were actually decent enough size for their age. He never actually paid any attention to what size should be for what age kids are at during Home Economics for kids. Apparently their school wanted to prepare them for if a) they actually have kids, and b) when their hypothetical kids actually grew up.

Smirking, Batman lied, "yep! That's me!" Getting a little closer, Batman went down to the kids' height. "But seriously, you shouldn't be out so late."

Frowning the kid moved to clutch their camera. What were they doing with that anyway? It looked like some high quality retro artifact. (Honestly the technology in this universe confused him sometimes. It was like a mix match of what should and shouldn't be in that timeframe, but whatever. He would just have to get used to it. Hopefully not for long though.)

"If you don't mind me asking, what's up with the camera?" He asked.

Immediately did the kid flinch. They looked like they hoped he wouldn't ask that question. It took a moment for them to answer. Probably to think up an excuse or something.

Both Batman and Robin hoped that the kid wasn't either planning to use it to take pictures for blackmail or was being blackmailed to take pictures. Kids shouldn't be in those types of situations. Or worse. (They didn't even need to say anything to be on the same page right then.)

"I like to take pictures," the kid finally decided to say, fidgeting with the strap of their camera, "and I wanted to take pictures of Gotham at night."

Batman blinked. That was a good explanation. Yet he needs to know if this was an explanation or an excuse.

"Really? Can I see?" He asked. Half of him wants to see how this would go. Another half was genuinely curious to see what type of pictures he would see if the kid was legit.

A deep blush bloomed from their neck to their face at this. Someone was embarrassed.

"Y-you sure?" They began to stutter. "It's-it's not all that-that good, b-but um… you can-you can take a look!" That last part was nearly shouted. The deep blush grew darker.

"I mean!" They squeaked. Clearing their throat they tried again. "I mean you don't have to if you don't want to but… yeah you can look if you want to…" They trailed off.

Either this kid was a great actor or they were very genuine about all this.

"Yeah! I want to see your pictures!" He even smiled to try to calm the kid down.

Seemingly gone mute, the kid nodded and began to show the images on the screen.

"This is a new camera. My dad gave it to me and I wanted to see how well it does. It takes pictures and shows them on the screen, but I can also develop the negatives. Apparently the company wanted to make a fusion of the two." They managed to mumble out.

Going through the pictures showed not only that the images were of that night, due to the time stamps in the upper corner of the pictures, but that the kid could be a professional right then and there if they so desired. Honestly both Batman and Robin were insanely impressed with how well done the pictures were. Literally, Batman could feel that not all of that one emotion was his.

Batman could easily imagine Bruce being skeptical of the kids' skills. And because of that, a tiny seed of doubt was planted.

The pictures painted Gotham in a dark, beautiful light. It was haunting, with the light of buildings illuminating the small portion of the world in a snapshot. Smoke from chimney stacks created the illusion of white clouds in the not quite dead of night. Stars of the night sky being smudged out by light pollution and tall buildings, blocking out everything else. (He wondered if they laid down on the ground for that one.)

Last but not least, was the image of the silhouette Robin dropping down to stop a mugging. The light source was from the entrance of the alleyway, and from the position of where the photo was taken, alongside the angle, it was clear that it was, in fact the kid who took it. With the way that one photo looked, along with the fact that it seemed to capture how it almost looked like Robin was a guardian angel coming down to protect, it was very likely that the kid did took the other pictures as well.

Okay so the kid was legit. Yay! Now they needed to go home.

"These are amazing!" Batman praised, the humming of Robin agreeing came in not even a second later. "You seriously took all these?"

Okay if the kid was going to blush even harder Batman might have to take them to get checked. It shouldn't be normal for anyone to get that red.

Apparently they didn't trust their voice so they only nodded.

"How old are you?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Nine." They whispered out.

Holy shit they were the same age as Matt.

"Really?" 'His' eyebrows shot up. "You're nine and you took all these amazing pictures? Kid, you'll go places with these skills!"

'I bet Geographic would kill to have him!' Robin finally exclaimed.

Thankfully Geographic existed in his universe too. Good ol' animals from around the world. And places.

"Geographic would simply love to hire you!" Batman smiled at the child. Then he sent a thought to Robin. 'Why do you think they're a boy?'

He felt confusion from their bond thing. They don't know exactly what to call it. 'He looks and sounds like a boy?' If Robin could he probably would tilt his head.

It looked like the kid wanted to bury their face into their hands, but was clearly holding back.

'Not everyone who looks like a boy is actually a boy. Especially kids.' Batman pointed out.

'Good point.'

'Besides, who knows if the kid uses they/them pronouns.'

'What?' Robin sounded even more confused.

Taking pity on how the kid was looking like a boiled lobster, Batman thought back, 'I'll tell you later.'

Then, he said, "as cool as these are, you really, really shouldn't be out this late. Nine years old or not."

Snapping their head up, all that red drained down, leaving only deadly pale skin behind. That… wasn't good. "But-!" They cut themselves off.

Gently, Batman pushed. "But what?"

The child looked down, in what could be embarrassment or shame.

Slowly, he put a hand on their head, ruffling their hair. "Hey, it's okay. You can tell me."

They looked back up from the ground hesitantly. This caused Batman to see the glimmering of tears. A part of him ached and as he stared into those blue eyes, he couldn't help but be reminded of Matt at their father's funeral.

"Come here kid." Batman said. He then pulled the child into a hug, rubbing their back. "You saw what happened back there yeah? Gotham isn't safe at night, especially for little kids. Unfortunately there's people who need to go out at night, and it's mine and Batman's job to make sure they get home safely. Promise me that you get home before dark and stay there?"

Sniffles filled the air as a tiny nod rubbed against his shoulder.

Moving away from the child, Batman held out a hand. He watched as the child became hesitant. As the child gulped, and ultimately held his hand.

Batman smiled down on the kid as he led them away from the darkness, and into the light.

"I can get home by myself," the child whispered as they slipped their hand away from Batman's.

Eyebrows furrowing in concern, Batman turned to look at the kid. "Are you sure?"

They nodded. "Besides, there are other people out there who need more help than me."

Minutely Batman tilted his head at this declaration.

'I don't exactly feel right letting… them go home alone.' A voice cut through.

Right. It was Robin. Batman was pretending to be Robin. (He couldn't believe that for a moment there he had forgotten where he was. Who he was to this child. Yet he still kept up the pretense of being lighter than he was. More like he normally would be outside of the suit.)

'I feel the same way,' was the only thing Batman said back.

"Even if that's true, I'd make me feel better knowing you got home safe." Batman then flashed a smile at the child.

They shuffled their feet. "I know what I'm going to say probably sounds really bad but… Please trust me when I say that I can get home safely by myself." They then turned to stare up into the white lenses of the mask.

Wow they were doing a great job with the puppy eye look. So good in fact…

'Oh god I don't know if I should let them go or keep them closer.' Robin moaned in distress. 'I mean, just look at 'em! They look like a baby!'

Internationally Batman scoffed. 'If they heard you say that they would probably chew your ear off saying that they're practically a adult and almost to their double digits.'

'Why do you sound so sure?'

'I did it, my little brother still does it, and you probably did it at that age.'

It felt like Robin would pout if he could. Honestly Batman wasn't sure how he could feel these things other than he felt a slight urge to do the same thing. Maybe those were weak attempts to gain control? He'll have to go over it with Robin later.

Outwardly Batman hummed. "How about this, I walk you over to the part of the city that's less likely to get any trouble okay?"

The kid puppy eyes dimmed as a pout graced their features. "Can we do the outskirts?" They tentatively asked.

"I think we can do that."

They walked and walked and walked until they made it to their destination. And just as he promised, Batman let go of the little kid's hand.

Before the child could even turn around to face him, he disappeared into the nearby shadows. Blue eyes and black hair moved back and forth, looking. Searching. For a moment it was as if they had found him, but their eyes slid by so easily. A natural look settled on their face, as if accepting the fact that 'Robin' had faded away that fast. Nodding, seemingly to themself, they walked away.

Front flip for style-! And he stuck the landing!

'Nine points since this was your first try at flipping and landing.' Robin mentality applauded. 'You didn't reach a ten because I said so.'

'Everyone's a critic.' Batman grumbled.

It was nearing the end of their patrol, and Batman was on route back to the motorcycle. Well, not the Batman that was currently wearing the cowl with a cape.

Batman felt like he should get used to having another person be called Batman now. Sure his Bruce apparently still calls himself 'Batman' in his mind, but he sure as heck doesn't call Bruce that. He supposed it would have to be like that one time in fourth grade when there was another Terry in his class and he had to get used to sharing a name. Both of their last names even stated with a 'm' so the two came to an agreement where they would put their middle initial on their work. The main difference between the two Terrys was that the other Terry was a girl and had red hair with green eyes. After that year they didn't have a class together again. He thinks she actually had moved away during middle school. She was a decent person though, as far as nine year olds go while one is also nine years old.

'Oh yeah, do you know how to report back to B?' Robin suddenly asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Which made him groan once the sentence actually processed. Because he did not want to do a report. At all.

Cackles echoed to one person as a motorcycle zoomed through the night.

Okay, this is the last chapter before the end of episode two I promise. Up next is July 8th! Now, since the chapter is already written, and since I'm now working on the next chapter, I'm letting you know that it is what it is. If it looks like I'm not giving the Team a lot of screen time, I want y'all to remember that a.) this is still a work in progress, so it might take a while, b.) since the story is of Dick and Terry's POV we'll see everything from their eyes, and c.) team time will come when I'm not focusing on having bonding time with other characters.

Or at least that's the plan. Still, like I said, this is still a work in progress so if something comes as a surprise to you, it might've been a surprise to me. As the author of this story I get to choose the general plot but things get out of hand when the story just sorta. Does whatever. It might be small things, it might be big things. Who knows? But I promise you, I do not plan on having anyone die for shock value. Absolutely hate that. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter!