Chapter Text
Dimensional travel was the worst . Robin was just plain sick of it. First "Larry" a few months back, now… this?
"Yo, Robin, this one looks way more like you!" Beast Boy pointed at the second dimensional doppelganger of Robin to visit Titans Tower, squinting at him as if to search for differences.
"Except in, uh… fashion choices." Raven pointed out, eyeing the black-and-blue bodysuit the other Robin--Nightwing, had he said?--was wearing.
"Yeah, you sure you didn't raid Rae's room?" Cyborg asked, poking at the dark blue cape that was, admittedly, quite similar to the one Raven always wore.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Other-Robin-slash-Nightwing chuckled. "There's no Raven in my world, unfortunately. No Teen Titans, actually--it's just me and the Bats. It's a pleasure to meet you all, though."
"What a sad world that must be!" Starfire exclaimed. "I would be more miserable than the lightless moons of Exadir if I lived in a place without my friends." She shook her head solemnly.
"Star, you wouldn't know if you were in a dimension where something didn't exist," Robin pointed out, exasperated by the situation but working to keep his voice gentle.
"I would be sad nonetheless," she insisted.
"Right. In any case, Nightwing, what are you doing here? I can't imagine dimension-hopping is any more common in yours than ours," Robin asked.
Nightwing shook his head. "No, it isn't common. We were trying to stop a villain in my world from building a portal that would let him wreak havoc throughout the dimensions, and in the process, I got tossed through. I, uh… don't know how to get back." Nightwing rubbed the back of his neck nervously, a gesture Robin recognized as his own.
"That sounds more your speed, Rae," Beast Boy pointed out. "'Cause my brain's gonna melt if I hear anything else about portals to alternate universes where I don't exist."
"I can look into it," Raven agreed, already up and moving towards her room, where she kept her arcane books and research. She paused and looked back. "Cyborg, I might need your help building something to contain the energy necessary for this."
Cyborg nodded and flipped over the back of the couch. "You got it." They left the common room together, talking in engineering jargon.
Nightwing leaned back into the couch and grinned. "So, what's it like here? I might as well get to know you guys while I'm around. Especially you, Starfire." He winked up at the alien girl perched on the top of the couch, who didn't seem to register or understand the gesture.
"Oh, certainly! I would be overjoyed to make your acquaintance, Third Robin," Starfire replied, beaming. Robin hid his laugh in his hand--at least he still got to be first Robin.
"I told you, cutie, it's Nightwing. I haven't been Robin since I was 15," he teased. Robin bristled, barely restraining himself from openly glaring at… himself. God, he hated dimensional travel.
"How old are you, then?" Beast Boy asked curiously.
"So, Star, maybe you'd want to show me around town? I'd love to see the sights, maybe grab some food?" Nightwing was focused entirely on Starfire, completely ignoring Beast Boy's question.
"Rude!" he grumbled, looking to Robin, who could only shrug, narrowing his eyes at Nightwing.
"Oh, that sounds most fun! You'll come along with us, right, Beast Boy, Robin?" Despite his chagrin, Robin couldn't help but be charmed by her excitement.
"I'd prefer--" Nightwing started, but Robin interrupted him, standing from the couch and offering Starfire a hand down.
"Of course we'll come, Star," he grated out, looking at Beast Boy pointedly.
Thankfully, he gets it, hopping up alongside him. "Yeah, it'll be great! Cy and Raven will call if they find anything."
"Joyous!" Starfire took Robin's hand and floated off the couch--they both knew she didn't need the hand down, but he'd long insisted on being polite, levitation or no. It had absolutely nothing to do with the replica of him watching them.
Said replica sighed loudly. "Yeah, sure, big group field trip. Let's go, then."
Lucky for him, Starfire never did get a grip on sarcasm.
Before long, they were in the city center, Starfire excitedly recounting some of their most wild escapades as they walked. Beast Boy tried to join in, but he got sick of being talked over by Nightwing after the third, or maybe fourth time.
"Look, I know he's obnoxious," Robin hissed, "But what are we supposed to do, leave Star alone with the guy?"
"Yes! Who cares, man? It's not like he's gonna hurt her," Beast Boy grumbled back as the two of them walked just a bit behind Starfire and Nightwing. "He probably couldn't if he tried. This is Starfire we're talking about!"
Robin's heart twinged at the thought of Starfire in danger, but he had to agree she could hold her own just fine. That didn't mean he was willing to leave her with his interdimensional twin. "I mean, yeah, but…"
"Friends, look!" Robin spun to face his best friend. She was pointing across the street, where he could see some kind of huge robot wreaking havoc in the park, scattering families and children.
Robin swore and pulled out his communicator to send an emergency signal to their teammates back at the tower. "Starfire, Beast Boy, round up those--"
"Quit stalling!" Nightwing snapped. "Star, follow me!" He grabbed her wrist and ran towards the scene, pulling something out of his utility belt as they went.
Beast Boy exchanged uneasy looks with Robin, but they ran to the park after the others after only a moment's hesitation.
Beast Boy morphed into a jaguar and sprinted ahead to distract the robot from some children hiding on the top of a slide. "This way, tin man!"
The strange, two-story-tall robot released a shrieking, metallic noise and turned to lunge at him.
"Star, the kids!" Robin called.
"On it!" Starfire darted upwards and out of Nightwing's grasp effortlessly, scooping the two kids up in her arms and flying them away. With them out of the way, Robin pulled two of his signature red shuriken out of his pockets and threw one into the screen that seemed to serve as the robot's "face". It made that awful screeching noise again, but before Robin could throw the second projectile Nightwing was attacking.
He threw a grappling hook at their enemy, tangling its legs together, and jump-kicked it in the side so it began to fall--exactly in the direction of Starfire and the kids she carried.
"Look out!" Robin and Beast Boy shouted in tandem. Beast Boy quickly shifted into an elephant and dove to block the robot's trajectory. Beast Boy shut his eyes to brace for impact, but it never came.
Before the enormous, angry pile of metal could topple onto him, it suddenly glowed with dark purple energy. Growling with the effort of moving something so heavy, Raven hovered overhead.
"BB, Star, move!" Cyborg yelled as he ran in to add his muscle to Raven's magic, helping her to push the robot in the opposite direction to give their teammates time to escape its path. Starfire flew the kids to the other end of the park and set them down with their families while Beast Boy turned and headbutted the robot, adding the last bit of shove necessary to push it over where there was nobody to endanger.
Robin jumped onto the robot's back where it lay facedown and struggling against the Titans working to keep it down.
"Robin, right there!" Raven pointed to a raised area of metal that looked like he could pull it up to access the robot's inner workings. He jammed his shuriken into the edge and tried to pull it free, but found it more difficult than expected.
"It's tightly secured," he responded, frustrated.
"I've got it, mini-me," Nightwing said smugly, leaping up next to him and pulling a small laser out of another pocket. He pointed it at the edge of the metal panel and it began to burn through slowly.
"Maybe a little quicker, number three," Cyborg grunted, fighting to keep the robot's right arm from attacking while Beast Boy in the form of a woolly mammoth sat on the other.
Suddenly, the panel was blasted off in a burst of green light. Robin didn't even have to look up before he started raking his shuriken through the wires inside. "Thanks, Starfire," he called up as he worked to decommission the mechanical monster.
When he cut through a particularly important-looking thick red wire, the panel began to buzz and spark violently.
"Everyone away!" Robin ordered, knowing what a soon-to-be-explosive looked like. He wasn't even startled when he felt strong arms wrap around him from behind and lift him off the robot's metallic body. He watched as Beast Boy transformed into a raptor and grabbed Cyborg.
"Nightwing, I can--" Raven started to offer.
"No need." Nightwing didn't even look up at her before shooting another grappling hook off to yank him away towards a tree. Raven nodded and instead flew towards the crowd of bystanders to bring up a force field in case debris was thrown their way.
Beast Boy and Starfire yanked Cyborg and Robin into the sky, where they had a spectacular view of the robot exploding, making the worst version of that horrible screeching noise yet as its pieces decorated the ruined playground. Robin made a mental note to donate some money towards its repair as his flying teammates brought him and Cyborg back to the ground.
They regrouped around the decimated remains of their enemy. "Raven, Cyborg, thanks for making it here so quickly. That was a great save," Robin began.
"Let's not forget why Starfire needed saving in the first place!" Beast Boy pointed out hotly. "Nightwing, you could have seriously hurt her or those kids! Being irresponsible and impulsive is my job around here!"
"Hold on, what did Nightwing--" Cyborg started to ask.
"She was fine," Nightwing said defensively. "I'm sure she would have been fast enough without your heroics."
"No matter how fast Starfire is, that doesn't mean you can just endanger her recklessly." Robin glared unabashedly at his counterpart.
"Friends, there's no need to argue, I am not hurt and the children were brought to safety." Starfire looked uncomfortable being the subject of their fight, and normally that would be enough to shut Robin up in itself, but his teammates looked as angry as he felt and he didn't think they'd all be shut down.
"What did you do?" Raven's voice was icy as she stared Nightwing down.
"I took down that robot so that it could be defeated," Nightwing stated flatly, ignoring how he was being glared at.
"So you're why we had to keep it from falling onto Starfire?" Cyborg said, in obvious disbelief. "How could you be that careless?"
"It was fine," Nightwing repeated angrily. "This is why I work alone."
"We'll be happy to keep it that way. I'm going back to my research," Raven responded, her tone revealing nothing but ice-cold disdain.
"Yes, let's all go back to the tower and we can have a nice reconciliation meal," Starfire added.
Beast Boy opened his mouth to protest, but Robin shot him a look. "Alright, Star. Let's head back."