Batcave was cold and empty, as always. With Robin leading the Titans, and Batgirl crippled for life, it was a place completely devoid of happiness. Memorabilia of dead villains were strewn around, often the only thing remaining of these old foes.
Batman looked at the screen without any sing of emotion. Only those who knew him well would see a slight tremble, lasting for a short moment, as his gaze fell upon a figure in a red costume on the screen. But aside from this short moment of weakness, nothing showed the emotions that were buried deep within his cold heart.
Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern stood behind him, shocked. They all came here when Batman called them, one by one, and even those who arrived first still could not believe what they were seeing.
Superman was the last to arrive at the Batcave. "What was it you wanted to show us, Batman? I really hope it was important." The Man of Steel said, before noticing the scene playing on the big screen. "What is that?"
"A parallel dimension." Batman said, his gaze locked sorely on the screen. "One fairly similar to ours, in many ways, but different in others. As you can see." He pointed to a figure in a flying suit of powered armor, now visible on the screen. "This is in real time, in case you had doubts."
"Luthor." Superman subconsciously made a fist, remembering exactly what kind of harm the megalomaniac villain caused last time. "And it seems his technology is even more advanced then what he had here." The last son of Krypton winced as a stream of green energy hit his counterpart on the screen. This must have hurt. He had enough experience fighting Luthor to know exactly how much this beam had to hurt, and indeed, the parallel Superman was violently thrown back, visibly in pain.
"It's been going on for a while." J'onn said, hiding his emotions well. "But I have no doubt they will win. Luthor is getting weaker and weaker. He won't last much longer."
"This time." Hawkgirl added, eyeing the corrupt businessman and politician with disgust. "Hey Batman, how many other universes are there?"
"For now, we can only see into this one." He answered, opening a technical diagram on the other screen. "The Prime Earth theory seems to be correct regarding the existence of the multiverse. I followed its principles to find the correct resonance and matching signature. This universe was simply the closest to ours."
"So, there is more of ouselves… and more Luthors." Green Lantern summed up. "And just when I thought we had the situation under control."
"We do." Superman answered. "But they don't. They need our help. Batman, tell us all you learned about them. We need to make a plan, first, but I'll be damned if I allow one more Luthor to succeed at anything."
"They are mostly our mirrors, with certain exceptions. Which means they are certainly not the only ones in need of help. I have contacted the Titans already, they will provide the assistance to their counterparts while we take care of Luthor and other villains like him."
Around the same time, in Jump City, Mumbo Jumbo waved his wand, firing another spell. Starfire barely managed to dodge it, and she was thankful for that, seeing as it turned a lamppost into a tree. "Surrender, you fiend! This is your last chance!"
"Fiend? I take offence at that, I'm a magician, not the devil! Let me spell you the difference! Mumbo Jumbo!" The crazy wizard fired another spell, meeting the incoming starbolt mid-air. The starbolt turned into a devil-shaped confetti bomb that exploded moments later and spilling glitter everywhere. "Cheese up!"
Suddenly, the floor under Cyborg's foot changed into liquid cheese, and the heavy metal Titan sunk under the surface, missing his sonic cannon by a wide margin. Beast Boy tried to get a jump on Mumbo, but was forced to retreat under a stream of confetti bombs, as Starfire repeatedly tried to blast the annoying man. "It's 'cheer up', you buffoon!" He shouted.
"I think what you wanted to say was… Baboon! Mumbo Jumbo!" With a single swipe of his wand, the insane wizard changed Beast Boy into said animal, laughing hysterically.
"And now, for the Great Disappearing A…" BANG.
Mumbo Jumbo never finished this sentence; or any other for that matter. He didn't see it coming, and had no way of defending himself, as a gunshot rung out. His body slowly fell down, blood flowing down from a hole in his forehead and a second one in the back of his head.
Robin holstered his sidearm, sighing. "Team, you alright?" He asked, eyeing the dead wizard warily. He only slightly relaxed as the magic faded, leaving behind an average-looking, dead man. He really hated magic.
Beast Boy shapeshifted back to his human form. "Yeah, I'm fine!"
Starfire felt her righteous fury, breaking the concrete – formerly molten cheese – that trapped friend Cyborg. "We are both fine, friend Robin!"
Terra jumped down from her flying rock. "I am so happy this asshole is finally gone. I have had enough of bad puns for the rest of my life."
"Hey, that was rude!" Beast Boy said, and both he and Terra laughed happily. Cyborg, in contrast, was in much gloomier mood, shaking off the pieces of concrete and looking at the dead body of the Mumbo.
"You alright, Cyborg?" Robin asked, noticing it.
"Yeah, just… shame it had come to this." The mechanical Titan sighed.
"He had his chance. He chose the wand, he knew the consequences." Terra said, waving her hand and making the ground swallow the dead body. "Better him then us."
Seeing as Cyborg seemed not fully convinced, Beast Boy added: "Yeah, remember Slade? Wish we bagged him earlier."
Starfire looked at Terra with worry at the mention of psychopathic villain, but the geomancer noticed it and managed to smile back. She still carried many scars, but they were fading more and more with every passing month. Still, Beast Boy noticed it and apologized, only to be interrupted by Robin, who of course showed no reaction to the villain's name, his face as stone-cold as always.
"Alright, Titans, we have a new mission. Batman contacted me moments ago, and it seems there are some people in urgent need of our help." He smiled cockily, even though his eyes were still cold. "And you won't believe who they are. Sometimes, I feel like karma actually exists."
It was a beautiful day in the Tower. December was just around the corner, and already some of the Titans were planning the decorations and gifts. Beast Boy tried convincing Robin to do a blind Santa this year, but the team vehemently opposed this idea until Cyborg pointed out that it was a great team-building exercise. Only then did Boy Wonder finally relent, much to Raven's disappointment.
Not that Raven didn't enjoy spending time with her friends. After a year and a half of living together, she grew used to their endless bickering and antics, and would miss them greatly if she was to live alone. Of course, she still valued her privacy and preferred to spend most of her time alone, but she learned to appreciate her friends.
Especially Starfire. They continued their meditation sessions regularly now, and Raven truly enjoyed them. When focused and calm, Starfire reminded her a little of Superman. An endless fountain of strength, tempered by an equally strong mind. Although the Tamaranian was much happier and joyful then the Man of Steel, and even during their meditations Raven could feel it in the air. She found herself enjoying it immensely.
Combined with her finally admitting to being afraid, and now also therapy, the empath found herself feeling more relaxed than ever. She still needed to control her powers, but now it was a constant background, and not at the forefront of her mind. She no longer felt like a prisoner in her body, at least not all the time, and definitely did not feel like a monster anymore.
She spent a lot of time reading the books on body transfiguration, but to her annoyance found them much less useful than expected. While there were some spells and rituals that could be very helpful, her demonic heritage made it all much more complicated. Her body was highly resistant to magic, and it would take a lot of effort to make any changes, and a lot of concentration to keep them permanent. With her already needing to focus on her powers almost all the time, it would be unfeasible to add to her mental load like this.
Still, she knew the answer is somewhere in there. It had to be. In the meantime, she felt like her life was getting better and better with every passing month, and that helped her survive until she finds the solution.
Of course, after that there was still the small problem of her father and impending doom of the world, but Raven decided to tackle this after the more immediate problems. Her father already cast a shadow on most of her life, and she was going to focus on herself for now.
But, of course, the life of a superhero was never that easy. Which is why she was annoyed, but not surprised, when Robin suddenly contacted all of them. "Titans, meet me in the living room. We have an emergency."
Once she got there, however, she was as surprised as the rest of her team. What awaited them was Robin… and a second Robin. And a big, swirly portal to somewhere else.
"Woah, cool! Are you like, a time traveller? Wait, are you here to warn us about something horrible in the future? Is this about Starfire's time travel?" Beast Boy asked, bombarding the… other… Robin with question.
The alternate Boy Wonder just smiled. "I see some things are always the same, no matter what universe. Knowing you, you'll get it right around the third try."
"So, you're from the past? Wait, no, that's the second try. Alternate universe?" The green Titan kept guessing.
"Exactly." Their own Robin answered this time, smiling.
"Oh damn, please tell me it's not that creepy place Lois visited once." Cyborg said, to which almost everyone – including the visitor, but not the 'local' Robin – looked at him with questioning looks. "Wait, Robin, since when do you not know entire Watchtower database from memory? Lois Lane, alternate dimension where Superman and Luthor ruled the world?"
"Probably didn't happen in our world. Not the first difference, and I'm definitely happy to not be from that place." The interdimensional traveler said, shaking his head. "I'll happily answer all your question, but for now, I need your help."
"Robin came to us, because their dimension and ours are collapsing on each other." The 'local' team leader continued. "Justice League is already there, but their world's Titans decided to also ask us for help. Apparently, there are some pretty big differences between our teams, and they may hold the key to stopping the collapse."
"Heck yeah, count me in!" Beast Boy instantly declared, fist raised triumphantly. "I can't wait to meet the other me!"
"I will do what I can for my friends!" Starfire joined without hesitation.
"What she said, and maybe some of our local tech can help." Cyborg already downloaded a copy of all interdimensional travel-related information he could find in the Watchotwer database. League probably already has it, but hey, never hurts to have another backup.
"… I guess we're going, then." Raven said, actually a bit curious. Being the daughter of Trigon, she knew that the chance of there being an alternate version of her was pretty small, but it made her wonder who was the fifth person on the team. If they even had anyone, maybe they were just a four-people team?
"Alright, then. Thank you. Follow me, the rest of the team is already waiting on the other side." The alternate Robin entered the portal, and everyone else followed.
However, what awaited them was not what they expected. A sudden electric impulse hit them all, including both Robins, who quickly lost consciousness. A powerful sound wave hit them next, so strong that their eardrums ruptured and all conscious Titans screamed in pain, unable to even hear their own screams.
Everyone except Starfire was already unable to do anything, Raven fortunately losing consciousness before her powers went haywire from all the pain and shock. But the Tamaranian powered through, fueling her fury with pain and anger. They were in some kind of a white room, without any exit visible, so she just blasted her way out and flew out.
A huge rock hit her the moment she left the trap. The force of the rock going in the opposite direction was enough to shatter the rock to pieces and knock Starfire unconscious, and it was the last thing Cyborg saw before he also lost consciousness.
"Damn, you're merciless, aren't you? Not even a moment of hesitation before blasting your own girlfriend." The alternate universe Beast Boy noticed, going inside the white room to grab the rest of unconscious Titans, Cyborg following suit.
Terra lowered her hand, allowing the pieces of the rock to harmlessly fall to the ground. "I knew she can take it." She answered without hesitation, but still took a look on her universe's Starfire just to make sure she didn't do something wrong.
"Do not worry, Terra. I know she wasn't me." The princess answered, giving her beloved a peck on her cheek and grabbing her wounded counterpart. "And I can take much than that safely. How is Robin?"
"A little burned, but he'll be fine. I'll get him to medical once we secure our prisoners." Cyborg answered, making sure to grab the right Robin. The similarities were uncanny, although their prisoner had much less scars. Must have been lucky, the mechanical Titan thought. Or maybe we were unlucky. But now we can make it right, and make sure they don't have to go through anything like this.
"Woah!" He jumped back, as one of their prisoners started to levitate. They all got ready to fight, but relaxed slightly when nothing else followed. Cyborg slowly came closer, cannon armed, and ran some basic tests with the help of Titans Tower internal sensors. "She's definitely not fully human. It seems to be some kind of healing trance."
"Can you sedate her? I'd rather not have her wake up and start to fight back before we have a chance to help." Robin asked.
"Maybe? She seems human enough. But I have no idea, and I'd rather not hurt her by accident."
"Do your best to sedate her. If she indeed uses magic, we can't risk her waking up." Robin decided. "Let's hope she survives."
After all, they were here to help all the people of the alternate universe. Including the superheroes of this universe.
As the imprisoned Titans slowly came to their senses, each of them was greeted by someone they knew, but never expected to see again. However the situation they found themselves in was definitely far from ideal. Each of them was separated from the rest and put in a cell specifically designed to make it impossible for them to escape. One by one, they ceased their struggle to escape their bonds and engaged in conversation with their warden.
Robin looked at Terra, visible on the other side of reinforced, but translucent door. "Why did you do it?" He asked. He wasn't in his original clothes; instead, he was wearing a very plain prison uniform, meaning he had none of his gadgets. He was stuck here for the time being.
"We knew you wouldn't accept our help." Terra answered, juggling few small stones. "We had to make sure you wouldn't try to stop us. And we separated you to make sure you won't escape. We know you too well to doubt that you will try."
"You betrayed us!" Beast Boy said, trying in vain to change. The collar, one he knew very well from his encounter with shapeshifting alien not long ago, was stuck on his neck; worse, similarly-made bracelets were stuck on his limbs, making it impossible for him to escape.
"You will thank us later. Once your world knows peace, just like ours does."
"Peace? What kind of peace?" Cyborg said, both shocked and furious with the sudden betrayal.
"One when no one, be it heroes or civilians, had to suffer from the hand of villains ever again." Terra answered without any hesitation.
"Why… why would you do that?" Starfire asked, flinching a little. Her face had taken quite a beating from hitting the stone full-force, and it still hurt.. "You could have just asked us! We could do the talking, not fighting!"
"You really remind me of my Star, you know. You're just a little more naive, but there is the same fire in your eyes." Terra said, sitting down and talking with the imprisoned Titan. "It hurt me more than it hurt you, you know. I would much rather kissed this beautiful face of yours. See it smile, and laugh. Not beaten and bruised."
"You didn't seem to hesitate from my perspective." Cyborg said bitterly.
"I did not hesitate. Hesitation is a weakness that we cannot afford." Terra answered, a shadow passing through her face for a moment.
"Gave you lost your heart, friend Terra?" Starfire pleaded.
Instead of answering, Terra slowly rolled up her sleeve. Starfire sucked the air through her teeth, recognizing the marks and scars visible on the geomancer's arms.
"We hesitated, once. Me and Robin were separated, and had to face a villain alone. He… he defeated me, but Robin got his gun. Of course, he wouldn't shoot. He tried to intimidate this monster, but he failed and we were both captured."
Robin did not answer. He could feel the pain and suffering Terra went through. It was hard not to, hearing her voice on the verge of breaking down at times. "I am sorry." He finally said.
"He treated us like his toys." Terra continued. "Slaves. Tools. Tried to break us, use us for his goals. It took long months before we were rescued. But then, on that day, we realized that there was only one way to make sure this monster will never hurt anyone ever again."
"And can you look into your face in the mirror now? Do you sleep better, now that you killed him?" Cyborg asked. "Did it help?"
"Can you look in the faces of those who died, because the villains you let go killed them? Parents, siblings, children?" Terra countered. "Do you sleep better, knowing people are now crippled for life by some monster that you could have easily put down? Justice system cannot keep them imprisoned forever. What will you do, once someone you let go comes back?"
Beast Boy didn't answer, suddenly remembering Slade in the falling apart building. And his recent return.
Terra slowly nodded to herself. "No one deserves to life through this."
All her conversations with the prisoners ended in silence.
In Jump City, the alternate-universe Titans arrived to ensure justice is served. And this time, for good.
They didn't have to wait for long for the first occasion to do so. Control Freak laughed as he clicked his new remote, and suddenly a formation of AT-AT marched through the streets of Jump City, surrounded by Imperial Stormtroopers. Control Freak himself sat on a rotating chair on top of an AT-AT, firing lightning into the air from his fingertips. "No jail can hold me! I am in control!" He declared, as one of his AT-ATs crushed a (fortunately empty) car.
"You're lucky no one was inside, couch potato." Cyborg said, landing in front of the marching army alongside Beast Boy and Starfire. "Come quietly or there will be trouble."
"Robocop again? You should watch more movies, tin can!" Control Freak laughed at his own bad joke. "Still, I guess my answer can only be: Screw you!" He pointed his remote at the Titan.
Before he managed to click it, a gunshot sounded, and Control Freak screamed in pain, dropping his remote. His massive Imperial army disappeared into thin air, and the bleeding criminal fell down, barely saved from hitting the ground by Starfire who grabbed him and instantly cuffed him.
"Aaa! My arm!" The villain cried as his bleeding limb was bent backwards.
"I believe that line goes 'Fuck you', not 'Screw you'. Robocop wasn't censored in the version I saw,." Robin walked to the whimpering villain, twirling his gun.
"Actually, it was, and an uncensored version was…" Control Freak shut up as Robin pointed his gun at his face, suddenly coming back to the situation he was in. "Wait, you shot me! Heroes don't do that!"
"What, Robocop isn't good enough for you? Would you prefer Punisher?" Robin said, smiling at the fear now visible in villain's eyes. "Now, here's the deal. You go to jail, do not pass Go and do not collect $200. And you never touch your remote again to gain other's attention. Cause if you do, you'll get some attention from this." He cocked the gun, causing Control Freak to whimper in pain. "Understood?"
"Yes! I give up!"
"Good." Robin stood up, looking around. They had witnesses, it seems. Normal people, many of them filming, perfect. He turned his back on the pathetic pile of trash behind him, and started his speech.
"Citizens of Jump. Do not be afraid."
Far from Jump, Superman looked at the lobotomized enemy he just defeated with satisfaction. One less monster hurting those under his protection. A first step on the road to peace.
"There will be some changes around here. But do not worry. We are only here to help."
In the alternate dimension, Terra sat in her dark room, alone. She changed into her pajamas, making sure to remain in total darkness. She never wanted to see her scars again.
"We will make sure that no one else will ever suffer from the hands of these criminals. Monsters. Maniacs. We will make this city, and the world, a safer place for you, and your children."
Control Freak whimpered in fear at Robin's feet.
"A better future… for all of us."