Chapter Text
Bruce sighed at the readings on the screen in front of him. They made no sense, and he hated when things didn’t make any sense. He sighed again, then pressed several more buttons.
This had been going on for the past half hour. Bruce in the batsuit with the cowl back, standing in front of a machine, and trying to find some explanation as to why his son was getting teleported to different universes.
So far, there was no scientific reason: he figured it was impossible for his son to develop such a power; and he was unwilling to consider the possibility that it might be someone with a new technology because he would then have to consider the possibility of evil intent.
“Any luck yet, Master Bruce?” Alfred said as he noiselessly walked up to him.
“No,” Bruce answered after a moment of silence. He’d been so focused, he hadn’t sensed his butler’s presence; he needed a break.
“Hm.” Alfred set a tray of food on a table nearby, “I’m positive he’s all right, Sir, you know how protective the Mistress’s cats are.”
Bruce shot Alfred a look.
“I know, Sir,” the old butler chuckled, a small grin playing on his lips. “Now why don’t you eat something, your looking a little pale.”
“I wonder why,” Bruce mumbled to himself before a flash of blue caught his eye. He turned to find the cat Robin had chased into the portal standing beneath a fading rectangle of blue light.
Just to be sure he wasn’t losing his mind, he looked back at Alfred; then back at the cat when he realized the butler had seen it too.
He walked over to the cat, “Isn’t my son supposed to be with you?”
The cat mowed at him, then darted away.
“Uh, Sir?”
“That was the portal in action, Alfred,” Bruce said, a growl making its way up his throat. “And assuming that Robin got teleported too, he’s alone,” as he spoke, he felt his chest tighten; this was not good. Not good at all.
“Is it possible he’s back here, just, somewhere else?”
With some pain, Bruce sadly looked at another monitor, “No. The tracking beacon in his belt would be showing up on the scanner.”
He heard the butler swallow, “Then it seems, Master Bruce, that we’ve got quite the predicament in our hands.”
Free falling. That’s what felt like was happening. His father did this with him a few times and called it a trust exercise; the first time had been terrifying, but it got more fun the more times they did it. And that’s because he knew his father would always catch him.
But he remembered falling through a portal with Sharpclaw. His father hadn’t been there. Was his father here?
Slowly and without fear, he opened his eyes to find he was indeed falling, but his father wasn’t anywhere to be seen. The quick look around he’d taken while looking for his father had shown he was in a city, but the city looked nothing like Gotham. This is when the first bits of terror started to creep into him.
He looked down. And this revealed three things: one, he was incredibly high in the air; two, the ground was quickly getting closer; and three, it was a lot scarier when he couldn’t see his father diving or swinging after him.
All this realized, he shut his eyes tight and screamed.
Within three seconds (though it seemed much, much longer), he was caught. The motion was similar to someone using grapple hooks, but the body was too small to be his father. He really didn’t care at the moment because he knew he was safe; and the relief made him burst out sobbing.
“Hey, it’s all right. I’ve got you. You’re safe now,” a voice soothed.
It wasn’t as deep or as gruff as his father’s—it was, in fact, the exact opposite—but he felt safe. He trusted this man.
In another minuet, they had landed; but he still refused to open his eyes.
“So,” the man said, “do I get to have the pleasure of knowing who I rescued?”
He whimpered, “M-my name’s Robin.”
“Robin? Like the bird?”
“Y-yup.”
“Cool. I’m Spiderman.”
Now he looked up, “Spiderman?! But your a comic book character!”
White goggles framed by black widened, “A comic book character? Well, uh, I guess someone would have made a comic book using me; but I’m as real as you are.” Spiderman cocked his head, “But now that you mention it, Robin is a character in a popular comic book series, and the older versions dressed a lot like you.”
Robin scrunched up his nose and wiped the remaining tears from his eyes, “But that doesn’t make any sense. I’m the only Robin! And I’m only five and have been wearing the same costume since Daddy first took me out!”
“Okay, um,” Spiderman set Robin down and sat on the roof of the building he had landed on, “maybe if we figure out what that glowing door thing I saw you fall from was, we might clear up some of our confusion.”
“Ohhhhh,” Robin said, “that explains it!”
“Explains what?”
“The door! It tell-a-por-tates me places! First I was went to the Star Wars world, then it was Warrior Cats, and now I’m here, in the Marvel world!”
Spiderman looked thoughtful, “Is this a power you have?”
“Nope,” Robin shook his head, “I don’t have any powers.” He grew somber, “I-I don’t even know how the door thing works.” A thought entered his head and he looked around, his lip started to quiver, “But t-this is the f-first time I-I’ve been alone.”
“But your not alone,” Spiderman protested, “I’m here.”
Robin looked the red and blue hero over and sniffed. “I wanna go home,” he whimpered
With a sigh, Spiderman clasped his hands together, “If I knew how to get you home I’d take you.” He looked at the small boy, “Are you positive you don’t know how the door portal works.”
Again, Robin shook his head.
“Well why don’t I take you to my place and we’ll try and figure this out together, okay?”
“Okay.”
Spiderman picked the boy up, and walked over to the edge of the building, “So if your supposed to be Robin, and the first one at that, is you name Dick Grayson?” He jumped off, and they were swinging again.
“Nope,” Robin shook his head, “whose’s Grayson supposed to be?”
“Well, in the comics, the original Robin was named Dick Grayson. The next was Jason Todd, then Tim Drake, and the current one is Damian Wayne.”
Robin’s nose wrinkled, “Damian? What kind of a name is that?”
“I wouldn’t know. But I was asking because out of all the Robins, you look like the first one.”
“Oh.” The boy looked around at the city flying by around them, “Is this New York?”
“Yup.”
“New York isn’t too far from Gotham!!”
Spiderman winced, “In your universe it might be; but Gotham City doesn’t exist here.”
“Oh,” Robin said sadly. After a moment he looked at Spiderman’s mask, curious he touched it, then giggled at the look he got. “Can I ask a question?”
“Sure.”
“Since you’re Spiderman,” Robin withdrew into himself a little, “does that mean you’re Peter Parker?”
There was silence for a long moment, “Er, how did you know?”
“Because that’s who you are in the comics.”
“Really? So, are you going to tell me which of the Robins you are?” Spiderman asked, half expecting not to get an answer.
Robin looked around for a moment before looking back at the young hero, “I’m not any of the Robins you said.”
Once of Spiderman’s goggles furrowed as he slowly said, “You’re, not?”
“Nope. I’m Richard Wayne,” he paused as he thought for a moment, “but everyone does call me Dick.”
“Interesting. Your universe must be a parallel to…” he paused at the look of confusion on the boy’s face. Then he smiled, “It must be pretty cool to be the son of Batman.”
“It is!” Robin exclaimed happily, “And he’s the best Daddy in the whole multiverse!”
Spiderman laughed. “Well I think your Batman is very lucky to have a son like you.” He landed on another rooftop, “So, I have a couple roommates; are you cool with that?”
“Yeah,” Robin said quietly, as if he was tired. “Do you have a cat?”
“Er, no?”
“Oh.”
Spiderman chuckled, carefully using his web and sticky feet to keep himself upright as he started down the side of the building, “I don’t have a pet, but my roommates are pretty special.”
“What do you mean?”
The young New York hero rapped on a window, “Well, you’ll see.”
A young female opened the window and stared at Robin as Spiderman came through. “Since when did you start kidnapping the kids you saved?” she asked, arching a dark eyebrow and sending Spiderman a questioning glare.
“I didn’t kidnap him,” Spiderman protested as he set Robin down. “I saved him from falling from a door in the sky.”
She crossed her arms.
Spiderman sighed as he pulled back his mask, “I’ll try and explain later, but I promise I did not kidnap him.” He looked down at the child, only to find the boy had disappeared, “Wait, where did he go?”
“Good job,” she said sarcastically, “you lost the child you didn’t kidnap.”
He shot her an unamused frown.
Thankfully, it wasn’t long before they figured out where the small boy had disappeared to, that being when they heard a scream come from the kitchen.
They ran in to find Robin looking as though he couldn’t make up his mind about whether to be confused or startled, and their friend sitting on the counter staring at the small boy in confused alarm.
“Ned!” the female said, “what on earth happened?!”
“Well, I-I was making a sandwich and I turned around to get some jelly from the fridge, but then I saw the kid just standing there,” he paused for a long moment, then grinned sheepishly, “he startled me.”
“Startled?”
“Oookay, fine. He scared me.” Another pause, then he looked at look Peter, “Where did he even come from and aren’t you worried about your, uh...?”’
“He all ready knows it,” Peter said, resting his hand on top of Robin’s head when the confused boy walked over and plastered himself to the young hero’s side. He sighed and looked at his friends, “MJ, Ned, this is Robin. Robin these are my friends.”
Robin looked at the female, MJ, she reminded him of his mother; perhaps a little shorter, but other wise there was a close resemblance. He looked at the other male, Ned, he was just a little round and a bit jumpy, but he seemed nice. “Hello,” he said shyly.
“Good job,” MJ said turning to Ned, a frown on her lips, “I think you scared him.”
“Well he scared me first,” Ned mumbled under his breath, then winced when she punched him in the shoulder.
Looking down at the now mostly confused boy, Peter chuckled, “See what I mean, they’re special.” He looked back at his friends, “Anyway, Robin here is from another universe; and the door portal that dropped him here opened in the middle of the sky. I saw him falling, saved him, and brought him here because we don’t know how to get him back yet.”
“From another universe,” Ned said, suddenly looking hyper-interested.
MJ seemed a little more thoughtful, “All right.” She knelt and opened her arms, offering a hug to the small boy that he gladly took. As she stood with the boy in her arms, she placed her hand on the back of his head; her eyes widened with how soft his jet black hair was. “We can take care of him,” MJ said looking at Spiderman, her tone saying there was nothing that could change her mind (that and the glare she gave both her friends, daring them to say otherwise).
“Great!” Peter laughed. He grinned when he saw how relaxed Robin was now, “I have to go now because I need to go do some, uh, Spidy things. I think I might know someone who can figure out a way to get you back home,” he added when Robin’s expression turned uneasy.
“Okay,” Robin said quietly, “be back soon.”
“I will, buddy.” Spiderman opened the nearest window, “See you guys latter!” he said as he jumped out.
For a brief moment, there was silence. Then Ned cleared his throat, “Okay, sooooo, what now?”
MJ looked at Robin, “What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t know,” he answered shyly. “I’m kinda hungry.”
“Do you like pizza?”
The boy nodded.
“Well why don’t I order some aaannnnddd,” she looked around trying to find something for the little boy to do before her gaze landed on her friend, “Ned can show you around, yeah?”
“Okay,” Robin said, looking at the other adult, “if you want to.”
Ned straitened at the ‘I dare you to say no’ glare MJ shot him, “Uh, yeah, sounds great.”
“Good.” M.J set Robin down and patted him on the head, “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask, okay?”
“Okay.”
It took her nearly two times as long as it normally did to order pizza. Mostly because she had no idea what the little traffic light costumed boy liked… she really should have asked him, but it wasn’t too big of a problem.
When MJ walked into the living room, she smiled to see Ned and Robin putting together a Lego Tie fighter talking about something she couldn’t understand.
She sat down and Ned shot her a wide smile. “Hey, MJ” he said, clearly excited, “Robin here is a huge Star Wars fan! He knows just about as much about it as I do.”
MJ laughed, “Well I’m glad you found another nerdy friend.”
“Nerd?” Robin asked, cocking his head at an adorable angle and giving her a confused look, “Star Wars fans aren’t nerds, they’re geeks!”
She laughed harder, “Clearly.” After calming down, she looked at the Lego pieces, “Isn’t the Tie fighter an Imperial ship?”
“Yes. I’m proud you at least know that,” Ned gave her a pleased grin.
“It’s a little hard not to when you talk about it so often.” She gave him an impish look, “But I thought you were for the Rebellion?”
“I am.”
“But I’m not,” Robin stuck his tongue out, “the Empire is so much cooler then the Rebels.”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Nuh-uh!”
And so came another discussion she couldn’t follow. But she was plenty amused by their expressive natures. At least, she knew, tonight would be a good night.
It was dark by the time Spiderman came back. Pizza had been eaten, the argument of Empire versus Rebellion hadn’t been won by either side (but she was positive Ned would be adding some more toys to his collection); and now Robin was curled into MJ’s side, drowsily playing with the now constructed Tie fighter, MJ was working on a sketch, and Ned was scrolling TicToc.
Spiderman smiled at the sight, said ‘hi’ to his friends, pulled back his hood, and knelt in front of the almost asleep boy, “Hey, kiddo,” he said quietly, “so I went and talked to some friends of mine that are super smart, but we couldn’t figure out a way to get you back to your universe any time soon. Sorry.”
“‘S okay,” Robin yawned, as he pushed himself into a more upright position.
“However,” Peter grinned softly, “I was told to ask you if you remember anything before getting teleported to any of the exiting places you’ve been to. Maybe it could be something you said, or something that happened, something that seemed to trigger the formation of a portal?”
Robin hummed and rubbed his eyes, coming a little further away from sleepiness, “Nope,” he said, popping his ‘p’, “nothing I remember was repeated. I think it just happens.”
“Oh,” Peter said, trying to hide his disappointment. He offered a small grin, “Well, you’re welcome to stay here until we find a way to get you back home, all right? And if anything happens, me, and the rest of the Avengers will take good care of you. I promise.”
“Okay.” Then, without any warning, Robin sat straight up. A feeling in the middle of his stomach he knew well, “I-I think it’s starting again!” His voice trembled slightly.
“What’s starting again?” Peter grabbed the boy’s shoulders protectively.
“The door portal, I always get a tingly feeling right before it opens up!”
Peter visibly swallowed, “Are you going to be all right?”
“I’ll be okay,” Robin nodded, an odd sense of peace filling him, “I don’t think the portals want me to get hurt.”
The adults shared a worried look, then Peter nodded and let go, “All right, if you’re sure. It was great knowing you.”
“I’ll never forget meeting the real Spiderman,” Robin giggled. He looked at Ned and held the Tie fighter out.
Ned shook his head, “Keep it, as a reminder of us.”
“Thank you!!” Robin beamed, his smile easing all their minds.
The watched as the boy fell through a door shaped portal, and barely a half a second later, the portal disappeared, as if nothing had happened.
“I hope he’s safe wherever he is,” Peter said, looking a little sad.
“I’m sure he will be,” MJ replied, looking at her sketchbook.
“He was a good kid,” Ned said, looking more sad then Peter, “I’ll miss him.”
M.J smiled softly and set her sketchbook down, allowing the other two a look, “But we won’t forget him, and he won’t forget us.”
The sketch of the boy and the hero’s friend building a Lego set was good. And stirred something in him he hadn’t felt in a long time. But it also made him think.
By bringing the boy alone, he had made the people of this universe grow closer to him. To the point where the boy was now etched into their hearts as he was on the paper. But it was at the cost of the boy’s security. He refused to truly be himself when someone he loved and trusted wasn’t around.
He made the note, and sent to boy back to his own time, to get some rest and comfort, before moving him on to another time.