The day at Wayne Manor began very early in the morning. Pennyworth was in charge of the kitchen and was already preparing breakfast for the gradually waking residents. The first visitor was Tim, who seemed to see nothing further than his nose and was walking toward the table on a machine. There were huge bruises under his eyes, a sign of lack of sleep and a clear disregard for his health:

— Good morning, Master Tim. Please wait at the table, breakfast is still being prepared. - The dark-haired man didn't even nod, just slowly turned around and walked to the table, pulling his phone out of his pants pockets. His hand automatically reaches for a mug of coffee and even finds a cup, courtesy of Alfred. The contents are brought to his lips and slowly tasted. The bitter tang of tea leaves and the smell hits all the receptors. Drake wrinkles his nose and sets the cup back down, looking at her unhappily. Of course, looking at his demeanor and appearance, he's obviously going to get another caffeine ban, which he's going to break that very day.

A tired look assesses the latest news that has hit the main lineup for the week. Naturally on the main charts were articles about their recently solved complex case. This weekend the Bat family was going to spend time together. Finding nothing else of interest in the news, Tim swiped the app aside and opened other social media accounts. And he came across a rather interesting post with the tag: #BatFashion.

Not to say Timothy was interested in cosplayers. But when he got to see rather expensive crafts that were close to their original, it even drew some respect. Their costumes were always fitted in the most comfortable way possible, they were suitable for almost any weather and inclement weather one had to face day in and day out. But these people routinely wore synthetics and plastics. It couldn't be comfortable.

After polishing the feed a bit under that tag, a video that was posted just a few hours ago shows up in the recommendations. Tim interestedly clicked to see the expected selection, but what was his surprise when instead of a photo shoot he saw the whole show?

First on the list was Nightwing, it's worth noting that he was given a fair amount of time. The boy, who was in the costume, began to repeat the movements of the vigilante. Of course, he was far from Grayson's grace, Dick had excellent aerobics skills, which made his style of fighting look like a smooth flight of a bird, funny, because once upon a time these very movements led Tim to expose the secret identity of his brother.

However, the unknown cosplayer was very good at wielding weapons. The electric escrima sticks that his older brother usually used were replaced with strange devices resembling concert lightsticks. Tim had to say it took a lot of time and training to use the weapons deftly with two hands.

"A stuntman perhaps?" - a thought flashes when suddenly in one scene a teenager jumps from one rooftop to another without any effort.

"Montage?" - except as he zooms in on the screen, Tim can't see any sign of a green screen or insurance on the kid. Drake's eyebrows begin to frown and his finger taps rhythmically on the table.

"Could he be a roofer?" - Unfortunately, the footage of Nightwing's costume quickly comes to an end. Speaking of the costume variant itself. The pants and arms had stitches on them for accidental landings. This was reminiscent of the sports equipment itself. The fabrics used were cotton, in places synthetic. A homemade piece of work, meant only for carnival and showmanship. This kind of thing couldn't protect against real weapons strikes.

Next up was the Red Hood outfit. This was interesting, to be honest Tim was a little sorry he didn't have his brothers with him. To see their reactions would have been interesting. He could already picture his older brother getting really excited like a little kid, Jason mocking the pathetic little imitation, and Damian scolding the mediocre imitation of the real heroes.

The image was a little less appropriate for a child, perhaps because of the menacing look of Hood himself. Teenagers took the nickname literally, so the head wasn't just a red helmet,

but a red hoodie with a black bat logo framed by a red and silver border. A leather jacket was thrown over the hoodie, with shoulder pads tied around the shoulders. The sleeves were only up to the forearms, and after that the arms were bandaged with two types of ribbons. The hands were covered with leather gloves without fingers. There were several pouches sewn to the belt. Were the pistols there as well?

"They look like futuristic blasters painted black" - the pants were a pair of torn black jeans, bandaged in places with knee pads and bandages. The boots were of a rather rough, austere nature.

It was interesting what kind of production Tim would have to do next. In anticipation, he even forgot about his feud with tea and started drinking it. After the scene where the teenager did a crazy somersault and hit the target with the blaster in flight, Tim spit out all the tea in surprise.

— Master Tim, try to keep your emotions in check at the table! You might choke on it!" came an immediate comment from Alfred, which made Drake apologize and continue watching quietly:

"No, he can't be an ordinary stuntman. His skills are suspiciously good, it doesn't look like editing. Blasters... What kind of technique is this? It's definitely not a toy, it was able to literally destroy the target. I don't think a 14- or 15-year-old could edit something like that. The framing leaves a lot to be desired. The lighting doesn't look very good, especially when it's outdoors. If it was a fake, they would have done a better job on the image. Otherwise, what's the point of editing movements, explosions and other things if everything else is average?

Tim started to finally wake up and turned on detective mode. He was getting too curious about who this unknown guy was. The first thing he did was zoom in on the gloved hands, the fingers of which were open. Unfortunately, the quality of the video didn't allow him to make out the prints. Unfortunate. Maybe further into the video there will be some information?

The next outfit was. Red Robin. Oh, to see the man who worked so hard to impersonate you. For some reason, Tim wasn't expecting to see the outfit of himself. His cheeks began to redden and a feeling of pride and some strange happiness rose in his chest.

The teenager in the video was sitting on a strange hoop suspended in the walls of a laboratory. He was wearing a red turtleneck with black trim around his neck. The straps went across the body, the RR emblem was on his chest and attached to his cape, which fluttered behind him. The sleeves ended at the shoulders, further continuing were the gloves, very long, threaded, stitching the neckline all the way down the arms. Only the palms were hidden behind the fabric, the top to the knuckles was exposed.

The belt at the waist was slightly slanted to the side, followed by the pants, which were tucked into high boots that reached to the knees. The stitch pattern was repeated here as well. The footage showed the teenager spinning on the hoop and jumping off, the scene changed to him standing on the edge of the roof and... Dancing with a staff. The strange green staff in his hands gave off a slight glow.

"Just like the color of the blasters' charges," Red concluded, before continuing to watch.

Tim's heart sank as the child placed the thin staff between the edges of the two roofs and walked on it. His heartbeat began to quicken with each passing second, his ears began to ring, and even the squelching in the kitchen was no longer audible.

The teenager reached the middle. And fell. Tim jerked in place as the kid caught the soles of his own feet to drop the staff behind him, grab it, push himself off the wall of the nearest building, give himself speed and run a couple of meters down one wall, then jump and slip over the other.

"No, it's definitely not a stuntman. "And it's not a roofer. Or a parkourist! Damn it, they can't be that reckless!" - every Robin in the mouse family had been trained.

And as they went through it, they broke a bunch of things and got a lot of injuries.

"This is a regular civilian. And he's tumbling around on rooftops like it's normal for him. That can't be normal."

And a demonstration of fighting with a staff. Red Robin scrutinized the movements carefully. It was obvious that they weren't really sharpened for the staff. It was as if the child had been trained to fight with a spear...

"A teenager can wield a weapon with two hands (with both hands). Now that I think about the spear, his movements with clubs resemble fighting with knives or blades. So the kid knows how to handle at least three weapons. That's very disturbing." - Some thoughts of the League of Assassins flicker, but they are quickly dismissed as there was no sign of them.

The train of thought is interrupted by Dick, who walks into the dining room with a loud cheer:

— Good morning, Timmy-Bird! Have you taken on a new case yet? Your face frowns suspiciously and your eyes sparkle, as if you've found something intriguing. Is this about our last closed case? - The older brother came around the back and put his arm around his younger brother's shoulders. Dick stuck his nose in his business, staring unashamedly at the screen of his smartphone. Tim didn't even resent him this time:

— Morning... Yeah, you're right. Look at this. This video raises a lot of questions for me. Either I'm crazy, or I'm right that it's not staged - the older man took his brother's phone in his hands and rewound the video to the very beginning. Dick stared at the title:

— Cosplay...?

— Just watch it.

And Grayson did. First, a huge smile appeared on his face. He looked like a little kid who had been given a big coveted toy. But after that, his eyes took on an increasingly fierce and worried expression. Dick seemed to catch on to what his brother was saying:

— Yeah, you're right. This is definitely not staged footage. And I doubt there were any adults involved. - the video came down to Robin's appearance. As soon as the image appeared in the footage, Damian walked into the kitchen:

— Richard. Drake. - The younger man greeted them, then gave them a stern and slightly interested look.

— Good morning, Dami! - greeted the older man sweetly.

— Hey, demon spawn, come over here. You've got to see this - the younger one snorted unhappily and stepped closer:

— What do you want, Drake? Have you finally lost your mind? - The younger Wayne stared at the phone that had so caught the older man's attention.

— If only. Dick just confirmed I'm not crazy. Take a look and tell me what you think of this young man's fighting skills. - Damian watched the clip from the beginning to Robin. It was his own image that he paid a lot of attention to. Though his face remained permanently scowling, his eyes expressed a slight look of bewilderment and concern:

— His costume is a mockery. It's not made for battle. He holds his sword differently. These are not the kind of moves one sees in the League. I can't call it mediocre, it's still dirty. But more like pankration," the fact that Damian didn't start mocking the teenager or calling him a pathetic parody was already a sign that this wasn't a common thing:

— I'd say he knows the basics. -

Damn it.

- Wait! It's not over. What is it? - Dick noticed a moment that was completely out of place in the whole production. It was like some kind of bad shot during filming. The kid in the video was dressed in a Nightwing costume, which looks like the beginning of filming. Suddenly, there's an explosion. The camera zooms in on a cloud of smoke rising from the next block. The camera shakes. The teenagers run to the scene and..

— Is that a giant robot? Wait, is that a refrigerator and a microwave?! - Tim tries to zoom in on the robot. The villain's voice sounds strangely distorted. Technus?

And the teenager in the Nightwing costume ran. He acted as fast as he could, like he knew what he was doing. How did he even get up on the roof? He doesn't even have the equipment to do that!

The child attacked the robot and tore off one limb with a precise blow. Did the wires come to life on their own and start wrapping around the creature's body to protect it? The somersault gave the boy some strength to get the enemy off balance in time. Then some civilian kid ran up to the robot and connected to it. That's when the villain lost control and- Out?

— Meta? -

And then, a teenager in a suit caught the villain in some weird device that looked like a futuristic thermos. Was the villain okay? And most importantly, how did the kid feel?

His face expressed contentment with the situation until the citizens turned their attention to him and started calling him Nightwing. Then the child turned pale and made an attempt to escape. Was he running from the crowd? From attention?

Too many mysteries for them to solve:

—We need to show it to B / We can't show it to B - came from the two elders in the room, who immediately looked at each other.

— Tim, this is serious! Some weird villains are attacking the city and a kid in a masquerade costume is fighting them. He could have been hurt! - Dick was very indignant, as this case clearly required adult intervention.

— Dick, what do you think the first thing Bruce will do when he finds out that a black-haired teenager is running around town in cosplay and fighting some strange villains? I can already see Alfred getting the room ready for his new brother. - Damian nearby frowns, expressing his displeasure:

— I don't need a new 'brother'. But this needs to be investigated. -

Dick sighed heavily and frowned. On the one hand, they could investigate it themselves. Maybe, in fact, they wouldn't even need to interfere. On the other hand, if it was true that the city was being terrorized by strange villains, probably meths, then some city was in for a real disaster:

— Tim, what city was the video filmed in? Can we check the location using the surroundings? -

— That's not necessary. Whoever posted it put the city in the tags. I'll try to hack into his account, I need my laptop. I need to get the kid's identity. - Tim got up from the table and headed towards his room:

— Master Tim, breakfast first, then work. Even if it requires a quick intervention - oh... Yeah, right. Perhaps we should have breakfast first before we start working.

— This is some kind of stupid joke. Any information I try to find about this town is either nonsense, or lacking any mention of existence. It's like the town is in some sort of exclusion zone - Tim leafed through all the notes he could find about Amity Park and found nothing worth noting. Just a touristy little town that's famous for being haunted. Haunted? That couldn't possibly be real. No, of course spirits exist, the same Deadman. But the way they're described in town?

— Timmy-Bird? Is something wrong? - Dick was the one who'd sent the video to the mice's general chat room and waited for their reaction, chatting with his brother in parallel:

— It feels like someone is trying to hide the existence of the town. I found an old article about the city being sucked into a parallel dimension. But I couldn't find any evidence of that. I don't think something like that would get away from the Justice League. - Tim's computer made a strange noise and then shut down. Red Robin sat there with his eyes open and immediately rushed over to check the hardware. The computer refused to turn on for the first couple of tries, but then it rebooted. Everything looked fine. Opening the browser, Tim realized that all his search history had been deleted and the links were no longer working:

— This is bad. This is crap. Someone or something doesn't want the incidents in Friendly to be known. - RR was very annoyed that he hadn't gotten a deeper look at what they would be facing.

Dick Grayson folded his arms across his chest and frowned; he was actively thinking about something:

— We know the location of the city. That should be enough. Detective Grayson is going to investigate! - the man exclaimed excitedly, swelling with pride.

— You're not the only one who wants to go, Dickface, - said a familiar voice, growling a little. A large figure stepped into the room, holding a motorcycle helmet. Tim flinched at Jason's sudden intrusion into his room, while Dick jumped with joy:

— LittleWing! - The older man spread his arms and was ready to throw his arms around his brother, but he reached out and grabbed Dick's face, stopping him from getting any closer:

— Don't even think about it, asshole, or I'll kick you.

— What are you doing here, Jason? - Tim asked tiredly and dismissively, leaning back in his computer chair.

— Shut up, Replacement. It's obvious I'm here to join in the search for that crazy kid. Speaking of the kid. What's his name? - Jay pulled Dick away from him to look at the computer, but didn't find anything there that answered his question.

— I was trying to find out his identity when suddenly something invaded the comp and deleted all the notes. I also tried to hack the social network that posted the video, but eventually the person realized I was trying to invade and deleted the page. I couldn't get it back up, no matter how hard I tried. The video was also deleted, but it had already been re-posted by a third-party account, so I couldn't get rid of it completely. For some reason, the facial scans from the footage didn't work. - Jay grinned and rubbed his nose, then dropped his helmet on the nearest surface.

— Are you saying that even Replacement couldn't find anything? Bullshit. - As much as he didn't want to deny it, his younger brother was smart enough; in fact, Jay respected him more than B. Hood recognized Tim's skills. And if he was stumped, it was going to mean big trouble. Sending his brothers alone on a mission that Bruce had kept too many secrets from them was madness, to say the least.

— J.J., do you really want to come with us? Normally you're always against this sort of thing... - Dick was clearly worried about his youngest, it wasn't like his Little Wing's behavior.

— I'm against new Robins and kids who are forced to wear spandex with no training or mentor behind them. Cool Fire needs help. -

— Cool Fire? You already gave him a nickname! - The older man's eyes lit up with happiness. Jason was sure that if his brother wasn't human, he would have taken off and glowed with happiness.

— We have to call him something, right? -

— We don't have to name him, it's a curse. As soon as we give him a name, we'll have a new brother. - Tim sighed and rested his head on his hands, realizing where this was going.

Jay took out his phone and posted a poll in the group:

F$ckBatman: *posted a poll*

Poll: Will Cosplay Guy be our new brother?

° Yes

° Absolutely yes

° Definitely yes

° No

DiscoBall: Yes, yes, yes! Vote yes! 😚😚😚😚

I_Need_Coffee: No, please. We don't need another little demon.

BloodSon: Shut up, Drake. I can't believe we can agree on anything.

Supremacy: I like him already! After he answers my questions I'll decide if he's our brother or not😎

Barbie: It's a shame we're not with you right now. I wish I could have helped you out there. However, I will try to help in any way I can from afar.

DiscoBall: Get some rest, girls! You've earned it. We'll be very careful. And bring a new brother into the house!

Cassy: New brother! 😌

Lantern: I've only been away from the manor for a week and you're talking about a new brother. What's going on?

F$ckBatman: Cool Fire went overboard for the video shoot. The kid was so good it's too suspicious.

DiscoBall: We're going to Amity Park to sort it out! (And take the new brother home) 😁😁😁😁😄😄😄😄

I_Need_Coffee: Enough about the new brothers! Let's decide who's going to the Park. We need someone to stay behind to patrol Gotham. I want to go to Friendly, I need to figure out why I can't connect to their servers from the outside.

DiscoBall: I'm coming with you! I'm not letting my youngest go alone into the unknown. Plus, I want to be able to meet the new junior)))))))

F$ckBatman: Shut up, Dickface, you're making me sick. I'm going too and it's not up for discussion.

BloodSon: I'm staying in Gotham. Father won't be happy if most of us are away.

Lantern: I'll be staying here as well. We'll try to cover you as long as possible.

Somewhere in the office, Bruce sneezed. That couldn't have been a good sign.