As the heroes from Earth 162 gathered with the founding members of Prime Earth's Justice League, Superman sat down and addressed the room, "So, you've come all this way from another universe to warn us about something."

Knightshade nodded as they stood before the seated members of the JLA., "Yes. One of the Supermen from our world showed us that this version of Earth is slowly being pulled out of its natural orbit."

Batman spoke up, "That's hardly new, we've seen that sort of plan attempted by multiple villains, mainly Vandal Savage."

John looked to Batman and said, "But we noticed those incidents before it was too late. Our scanners have shown nothing as far as the earth's axis being altered."

Flash cleared his throat for a moment and mentioned, "Uh, did nobody notice that he said 'Supermen?' As in plural?"

Knightshade nodded and brushed the back of his head, "Ya. It's a long story and not really important right now. I'll gladly tell you more about our Earth later. The important thing right now is that the Earth is being dragged out of orbit. And our Superman believes that something has torn the fabric of reality, possibly creating a fragmentation between reality and the Phantom Zone."

Wonder Woman thought for a moment, "The Phantom Zone is an alternate dimension, we don't have the technology to monitor it at all times." She then looked at Superman. "Is it possible something is wrong there?"

"If it is then we need to be prepared for more than the possibility of the earth's axis being affected. We also need to prepare for the possibility of the Phantom Zone Kryptonians escaping," said Superman.

Brianna spoke up, "Can't you just use the Red Sun Cannon in uncle Clark's Fortress of Solitude? We never needed it in our universe, even after we freed them from the Phantom Zone."

Knightshade shot a harsh glare toward Brianna who gulped as she realized her mistake, "Ugh, never mind that, it's not important right now."

Batman cleared his throat to regain control of the room. "In any case, Superman vouched for your skills during your fight with Grodd, but taking down Grodd doesn't prove credibility. We've had far too many instances of visitors from other earths claiming to be allies."

Knightshade rolled his eyes under his mask. Even though this Batman wasn't his father, it was still like he was back home being lectured to. "Then let us prove it. We've already told you who we are. We've got nothing to hide. Do whatever you have to prove we're not pulling your capes."

Superman folded his hands as he spoke. "Considering who you claim to be. Perhaps spending time with those who would know you best would help alleviate everyone's fears."

Batman nodded, "Agreed. I'll take Knightshade to the cave. John, you would be the best training partner for Crimson Eagle. Superman-"

Clark smiled, "Don't worry about it, I'd be happy to look after Brianna while she's here, at this point I'm used to having to be a tour guide to newly arrived Kryptonians."

As the three young heroes followed their mentors, Batman led Knightshade to the Batwing. As they flew, he turned to him and gave him his trademark bat-glare. Clearly still studying this other version of his son, "So, what is your Earth like?"

Knightshade laughed. Where do I even start? Well, like Flash pointed out, there's more than one Superman on my Earth. One of them lives on Earth with Lana Lang and their children, and the other one colonized New Krypton with Lois Lane."

Batman's eyebrows raised ever slightly. The only indication that he was shocked to hear that not only were there two Supermen, but that there was a New Krypton for one of them to be living on. He then asked, "And what about you? Is Talia any easier on you than she was on Damian?"

Knightshade raised an eyebrow, "Who's Talia? I'm going to guess Damian is your son in his world, but you never mentioned anyone named Talia to me."

Batman nodded, "I see. If Talia's not your mother on your Earth, then who is?"

Knightshade laughed lightly, "You're the world's greatest detective, remember? You'll have to figure that out on your own."

Batman rolled his eyes, but a ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. "Clearly you've been around Dick too much."

Knightshade smiled, "Actually. I kind of get along best with Jason."

Batman raised a brow. He wondered if perhaps Jason's life had taken a different path on Charles earth. Learning him to be more open and friendly toward others. "Care to explain?"

"I was 12 and you let me go out on my first mission with you and the others. We thought it was just a small drug bust but it turned out it was being run by Bane. Things went south fast and I ended up getting my leg broken. Bane almost flattened me when Jason saved me by shooting Bane's Venom dispenser with a shock dart. We started hanging out more after that. He also taught me how to handle a gun."

Batman's eyes narrowed and Charles knew it was a clear sign that his father was not happy with what he said. He'd learned to read his father well and the emotion he was giving off now was that logic was at war with emotion. "I noticed the guns," he said, his voice having a layer of ice to them. "How exactly are they modified?" The tone of his father's voice told him that it was not a question. It was a demand. His father wanted to know immediately if he dared to use live ammo.

Knightshade sighed and took out his flintlock. Holding it up for his father to get a good look at its heavily modded exterior. "I've never used lethal ammo. The guns fire biodegradable capsules filled with various chemicals. Freeze capsules, stun capsules, acid, gas. You name it. Jason taught me how to use a gun. You taught me not to kill."

He waited until Batman had finished looking at the gun and turned his attention back to flying before putting the gun back in his holster.

A silence settled in the plane before Batman asked. Another groan escaped Bruce's throat. "Are they still capable of firing regular rounds?."

Knightshade thought for a moment before responding. "I'm not sure."

"Then you understand my frustration over my son using guns."

"I do. You just about hit the cave roof when I told you I wanted to use guns as my main weapon. Jason and Alfred had to restrain you before we could get you to listen to us and explain what kinds of guns I wanted to use. Bruce…dad. Jason may have taught me how to shoot. But you taught me to never kill."

While Bruce hated to admit it, he was right. While he himself would never dare use a gun he had no right to dictate the weapons used by his sons. The idea made sense. Guns were compact, and able to hold and fire a large amount of ammunition. Using them to fire different kinds of stun and disabling ammunition made them an effective weapon against crowds. He would have to do a thorough inspection of the boy's pistols and gear later, but for now he would trust the boy's word that he only used non-lethal ammunition.

As they walked into the Batcave, Dick, Jason, and Tim were already there and in their costumes. Jason spoke up, "Oracle told us you got called to the Watchtower. Something up?" When he noticed Knightshade, he asked him, "Who's this, another new Robin?"

Knightshade rolled his eyes and said, "Naw. Red was never really my color. I prefer green. My name is Knightshade. You may not know me, but I know all of you. Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake," as he pointed to each of the heroes.

The three heroes were shocked that the newcomer knew their real names, and Jason stood up and asked, "How the hell do you know our names? Who the hell are you?"

Tim put a tight hand on Jason's shoulder, "Calm down Jason, I'm sure Bruce can explain." before looking at his adoptive father and saying, "Well?"

Bruce started explaining, "His name is Charles Wayne. He says he's from a different Earth. I was called to the Watchtower to meet him and two other heroes from his reality. Someone either is or may be planning to pull the earth out of orbit. Get used to him. He'll be here until his mission is complete."

Knightshade lowered his hood and took off his domino mask as he gazed at the heroes. "Dick always told me that the best way to let people know you're telling the truth is to let them see your eyes," he then held out his hand. "My name is Charles Wayne. I'm from a different earth and have nothing to hide. If you have any questions, ask me. I can answer just about anything you want to know, ehh, I think, still trying to figure out at what point things went different," said Charles with a sheepish smile.

Jason took his helmet off and said, "All right, challenge accepted. How did I meet Bruce?"

Charles chuckled, "That one is one of my favorites. He caught you stealing the wheels off the Batmobile."

Tim snickered, "He's right, that was a funny story."

Dick rolled his eyes, "Ok you two, that's enough. You can see it in his eyes, he's definitely Bruce's kid."

Jason chuckled, "Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm just messing with him."

"I don't know about this world, but back home, my version of you may be a good shot, but this student surpassed the master."

Those words shocked all three sidekicks, but Jason the most, "Wait, you're saying you use guns?"

"Non-lethal ammo," clarified Bruce, from behind the group as he typed on the Bat-computer.

Charles took out his flintlock pistols and said, "Learned how to hold one the right way by 12, mother was not happy."

Dick was surprised when Charles mentioned his mother not approving of him using guns at twelve years old, "Why's that? That sounds like something that would be right up Talia's alley."

Bruce explained, "Talia isn't Charles's mother. I haven't figured out who his mother is yet."

Tim thought to himself, "Something's off about this kid… he has a strange scent coming from him. It's… flowery? I wonder…" before smiling and saying, "Well, considering he's Bruce's son, we should have a bet to see who's the greatest detective between the three of us. Whoever discovers who Charles's mother is first gets first choice on who we get to go after for patrol."

Jason smirked, "I'm in, this won't be hard for my skills."

Dick rolled his eyes, but nodded, "Jason's arrogance aside, it sounds fun. I'm in."

Charles shook his head, "You'll have to do it without my help. It wouldn't be fair if you tried to get me to say if you're on the right track."

Bruce sighed and moved away from the computer screen, "I have business to attend to. You four can stay and get to know each other."

As Bruce left, Dick asked Charles, "So what's life like on your Earth?"

Charles sighed, "Boring as hell. There's almost nothing to do except take care of drunk drivers."

Tim raised an eyebrow, "Why's that? You seriously don't expect us to believe there's no crime to fight, do you?"

Charles chuckled, "Actually ya, ever since Superman-Blue and Superman-Red made that anti-evil ray."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "Anti-evil ray? What exactly does this ray do?"

Charles had a vague idea of what Nightwing was getting at. He'd been a bit too young to understand the fights between his father and the Supermen when they had launched the anti-evil ray, but he did remember them getting into some pretty heated conversations and the word free will being used a lot. "I know how something like that can sound bad, but it was kind of an accident."

"An accident?" replied Tim. "How do you accidentally cure all crime?."

As Charles was about to continue to explain, a girl in a wheelchair came in and asked, "Hey, so you're the new kid from another earth? Name's-"

Charles interrupted her and said, "Barbara Gordon, AKA Oracle, formerly Batgirl."

Barbara smiled, "I like you already, you know how important it is to know anyone better than they know themselves. Then again, you are a member of the family in your world, so unless there's something I don't know about yet, I assume the four of us are in your reality."

Charles nodded, "You're right. But I know a few things you guys might not know about yourselves. In my world, Dick's been married to Starfire for the last five years and they have a daughter named Mar'i."

Dick's eyes widened as Charles said this, "I… I'm a father?" before falling backwards off the crate he was sitting on.

The others chuckled a bit before Jason helped him up, "Come on man, you don't know that's the way it'll happen here. Multiverse theory, remember? We all make different choices. Hell, maybe Bruce actually killed Joker in his world."

Charles shook his head, "Joker's dead, but father didn't kill him. You did."

Jason was shocked to hear that he was the one who killed Joker in Charles' universe, "Wait, I killed him?"

Charles nodded, "You're not the only one in the family he killed." before showing the scars he had, "He killed me too once. Ok, twice actually."

Jason asked him, "Wait, you died twice because of Joker?"

Charles nodded, "Yeah, father still refused to kill him after the first death, and when he killed me the second time, you took matters into your own hands with help from Ra's al Ghul."

"Is it any easier the second time? Dying I mean."

Charles rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Believe it or not, it's actually worse."

Dick heard his cellphone coming up with a text that said, "Greyson, where are you? I've been waiting in the parking lot at school for half an hour!"

When he realized the time, Dick got up on his feet in a panic, "Crap! I forgot to pick up Damian from school! I'll be back as soon as I can!" before running off towards Wayne Manor's garage.

Charles chuckled a bit until realization dawned on him. Damian was Bruce's son here. And while Damian may have been raised in a different environment, he was still the result of a relationship between Bruce and a villainess. In many ways, Damian was Charles's alternate self. And now he was crashing in his house. "Oh boy. This is going to get very awkward when Dick and Damian get back."

The other three vigilantes' eyes widened when they realized Charles was right. Damian had always been cocky, claiming himself to be the greatest Robin, and the rightful heir to the Batman mantle. Much to the annoyance of his three adopted brothers. Barbara spoke up first, "Well, he does get defensive around new members of the family. Then again, you are older than him. Even Damian would find it hard to believe that Bruce has a biological son older than him and didn't know about him."

Tim sighed, "That's one way to look at it, but knowing Damian, he'll probably accuse Bruce of lying to him about the fact he has an older brother."

Charles sighed and told them, "I'll just explain it to him myself. It's not like you guys don't know about the multiverse. I want him to know I'm not here to harm his relationship with his father."

Barbara nodded, "It'll be awkward for a couple of days, but Damian should be able to get used to you. He may not like you, but he'll at least tolerate you.'

Tim rolled his eyes, "I've been here for years, and Damian still doesn't tolerate me. He dyed my hair the same shade of green as Joker's for Christ's sake!"

Charles snickered and couldn't stop himself from laughing, along with Jason and Barbara, "I'm sorry, it's wrong that he did that but… I can't stop laughing at the idea of that!"

Tim let them laugh and said, "Yeah, we always laugh at that story. If you try anything like that while you're here, I'll kick your ass back to your own universe."

Charles smirked, "You can try. I'm pretty sure I can take you.

Barbara smacked her hand to her forehead. "Great, just what we need around here. More ego."

Charles blinked, "Huh? Oh no, I was thinking it might be fun to have a sparring match. I guess I'm still getting used to you guys not knowing me that well."

Tim stood up and shrugged, "Sure. I've got nothing against a sparring match."

Charles cracked his knuckles. "It's been a long time since I've gotten any excitement." before throwing the first punch at Tim.

Tim blocked the punch but Charles was faster than he'd anticipated and went for a quick leg sweep, sending Tim falling to the ground.

Tim caught himself mid fall and put his arms behind his head to go into a back handspring. Landing on his feet before Charles could take advantage of the move.

Jason and Barbara simply watched the fight, before Jason whispered to his adoptive sister, "I've got ten on Charles."

Barbara rolled her eyes and told him, "I'm not gambling on this. While I can't say Charles is better, he still has a distinct advantage of knowing Tim's moves. Charles knows Tim's moves while none of us know his."

Jason chuckled, "Fair point. But would you believe it if I told you I was the one who taught him how to use a gun?"

Barbara looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "You expect me to believe that Bruce and Talia-"

"Talia's not his mother," interrupted Jason. We don't know who is, but Dick, Tim, and I are betting on who can find out who his mother is first. And no, you can't join in. First one to figure out who his mother is gets first pick on patrols."

As Tim began to circle around Charles and devise a strategy, he studied Charles' form, trying to figure out what fighting style the crimefighter favored, "His fighting style…, it's so weird. When he took a swing at my legs, it's like he was break dancing. This might be harder than I thought."

As Charles noticed Tim studying him, he kept his guard up and told him, "You can't win a fight without throwing punches. I'm at a clear advantage here."

Tim chuckled, "Yeah, I guess you do, you know my moves, but I don't know yours."

Jason was keenly watching how Charles moved during the fight and asked Barbara, "Hey Babs, you got any idea what style he's using?"

Barbara shook her head, "Not a clue. It looks more like he's dancing than he is fighting, but his blows are still catching Tim off guard."

Tim was panting at this point, and Charles said, "I think that's enough sparring for now. You're exhausted, and I think I pulled a muscle." rubbing his back and feeling a bit of pain, "Yeah, I definitely pulled something."

Tim smiled, "Well, I've got to say, your style caught me off guard. Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Charles sat down and said, "I kind of invented it, I mixed some of the fighting styles father taught me to use with my skills as Gotham's Dance Dance Revolution champion."

Jason snickered, "Seriously? You took dance lessons?"

Charles rolled his eyes, "It gave me something to do in my free time after the anti-evil ray."

As Dick arrived back with Damian, the young Robin looked up at the version of himself from another earth and said, "You must be Charles. Greyson explained as much as he could on the ride home. Also, I'm in on the bet about who your mother is."

Charles smiled, "Good to meet you Damian. I look forward to seeing who finds out first."

Jason cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'd personally like to know more about your Earth right now."

Barbara nodded, "It's always interesting to hear the differences between universes."

Charles nodded back and said, "Sure, ask me anything you want."

Damian asked his question first, "So if there's no evil to fight anymore, what happened to some of father's enemies?"

Charles thought for a moment, and decided to tell them about Bane, "Well, Bane was finally able to sober up and beat the venom addiction. Now he's Gotham's most iconic luchador."

Dick chuckled, "That's fitting considering his getup."

Charles nodded, "Yeah, father is actually his main sponsor. I guess with Batman being retired, he needs something to do in his free time."

"So, you said Dick got married to Starfire and has a five year old daughter, what about any of us?"

Charles nodded, "Well, you got married to an old classmate of yours… I think her name was Stephanie?"

Tim's eyes widened, but lowered down quickly, "I mean, Stephanie and I have been on and off again for a while. I guess it makes sense we would-"

Suddenly, another voice chimed in, "We would what Tim?"

Charles looked over to the voice and saw the blonde girl, who he recognized as Tim's wife in his world and stood up, reaching slowly for his gun before Dick said, "Woah, woah! Calm down Charles, she's part of the family!"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow and asked, "Dick, who is this guy? Is he another orphan Bruce adopted?"

Charles shook his head, "Sorry about that. I'm not an orphan, my name's Charles, Charles Wayne."

"Wayne? As in Bruce's family? I didn't know he had another son."

Damian rolled his eyes, "Brown, you're from a family of detectives, and you seriously can't figure this out? He's from another universe. He's still Batman's son, you could call him his world's version of me."

Stephanie smiled, "Well, it's nice to meet you Charles.

Charles nodded, "It's nice to meet you too. Sorry about the hostilities. I never expected you as part of the Bat-family. Then again, back home, you are Tim's wife, so it should make sense."

Stephanie's eyes widened, "D-Did you just say I'm married to Tim?"

"In my world at least. And plus, this isn't my first time in an unfamiliar universe."

Dick raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you saying you've traveled the multiverse before?"

Charles rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous smile, "Well, yeah. I don't do it for shits and giggles though. Most of my travels were to help Superman-Blue and Mr. Terrific map the multiverse, it was for the sake of knowledge. I've even written some best-sellers about my travels."

Stephanie smiled, "It would be great to hear some of those stories!"

Damian nodded in agreement, "It certainly sounds intriguing to hear about the tales of other universes."

As the others voiced agreement, Charles chuckled, "Well, with all that interest, I'd be rude to not share some of my stories."

And Charles has hit it off with Earth Prime's Bat-family, and their interest in his multiverse travels has gotten him roped into telling them about his tales. What universe will his story be about?

Find out next time!