Archive of Our Own ^beta

"What happened?" Peter asks.

Dick gasps for air, blinking the portal's bright blue sparks out of his eyes.  For the love of whatever's out there, his little undercover stint at White Collar is supposed to include less weird bullshit.

And this? This was weird bullshit.

 Afternoon sun slants through the bar-covered windows of a dusty warehouse, and boxes are piled from floor to ceiling in rickety metal racks.  It's almost the exact same place they'd just been, but it's missing the bad-guy-of-the-week, his three stooges, and the three different shelves they'd knocked over while pursuing them.

Ok, so bright blue light, and Dick's honed Batstincts tell him one of two things — time travel or dimension travel.  Please let it be time travel, he doesn't even care if it's into their own body or not, the time travel can't have been for that long if the warehouse is the exact same, and Dick really doesn't want to deal with this shit.

"I think one of the artifacts knocked down must have been magical," Diana says.  "Did everyone else see that bright blue flash"

"Yes," Jones confirms. "Do we know which artifact it was?"  

Dick groans. "In one of the many boxes falling?" he offers.  Think, 'Wing, what's the gameplan here?  If he was with the Titans, they'd have a checklist and chaos to cause until they figure it out, but he can't just take charge here.  "I don't think we're going to have luck identifying the object."

Peter raises an eyebrow.  "Really?  You don't think the great Neal Caffrey can find the odd thing out?"

Dick crosses his arms.  No? He's cosplaying as an art forger, not a miracle worker.  His best option would be to get someone with actual expertise in bright blue flashes.  

"Hold on," Jones steps forward, looking between them. "Before we get fixated on an object, do we even know what happened? Could something else have caused this? What is this?"

"We look like we're in the same warehouse…" Peter's sentence trails off as he looks around them.  It's eerily the same, as a matter of fact.

"It's either time travel or dimension travel," Dick tells Jones.  "It shouldn't be that hard to figure out which."

"It's what?" Diana exclaims.

"How do you know that?" Peter challenges, immediately pivoting to face Dick.

Dick sighs. Ugh, goddamn. How is it not obvious?  "The blue light?" he challenges.

Peter deflates.  

Jones reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone.  Dick dodges a box and steps behind Jones's shoulder to peer at his phone.  "The time is as it should be."

It is, but that means nothing.  "You have no cell service," Dick points out, "So it couldn't update if the time had changed."  This is a point in the dimension travel column, although it doesn't mean much.  A time change of more than a few days or multiple copies of them could account for Jones' cell plan not functioning.

"Huh, I hadn't thought to look for that," Jones says.  "If we've got no cell service, what do we do?"

Peter and Diana look at each other.  Dick rubs his hand over his head in exhaustion.  Man, this is supposed to be easier than babysitting the Titans.  At least all of them know the protocols for bright blue teleportation.  (Whether the protocols are followed is, of course, a different story.)

"We should go back to the office," Peter says.  "Hughes will know what to do."

Why is Dick's life like this?  "We don't know if Hughes currently exists," Dick says with a sigh.  "We should find a local library or somewhere with WiFi for our phones and then contact the Justice League or Titans about magic." If they exist.  And they're not evil.  But Dick can look that up on his own phone while the FBI fumbles around.  

"Surely things can't be that different," Peter argues.  "We don't even know if this is time travel!"  Peter's face is wrinkled into a frown, and Dick would feel bad for him if this isn't so annoying.  His handler just looks scared.  

Actually, for that matter, Diana, Jones, and Peter all look a little scared.  Jones is hiding it the best, but Diana's started to pace, and her arms are crossed in front of her.  Civilians.  Right.  Dick's the responsible one here.  

"I think Neal has a point," Jones says.  "We're in an unknown situation, so our first steps should be to analyze the situation."

Thank you, finally some sense.

"Fine," Peter concedes.

Dick turns and weaves through the maze of boxes towards the door without a second thought.  Great, they're finally going to make some progress.  He reaches for the doors, and… locked, right.

"What's wrong?" Peter says from behind him.  "Can you not get out?"

Dick takes a deep breath.  He's supposed to be Neal right now, and that means not finding this situation predictable and vaguely boring.  "It's locked." Dick impressively manages to keep his tone even and not bored out of his mind.  "Presumably because we never came in and unlocked it."

"No, how are we going to get out?" Peter says, voice on the edge of panic.

"We could look for windows?" Jones suggests.

Dick cards the door.  To no one's surprise, it's not guarded, and he turns the handle and slips out before Peter even notices.  

There's no van outside (again, expected), just a deserted street near the warehouse.  Dick's already eyeing a beat up and abandoned looking red Forrester SUV parked a block down, in front of some other equally boring looking warehouse.

"No, Neal, you can't steal a car," Peter chides, and Dick allows a bit of a grin to end up on his face.

"Oh, come on, Peter," Dick whines, "We have to get to the library somehow."

"We'll walk," Peter replies, and starts marching down off the street.  Jones and Diana trade amused looks and follow slowly.

"Uh, boss," Diana says, "Do we even know where the closest library is?"

Convenient silence.  Dick, who's had the entire layout of New York memorized since three months into his career as a Titan, opens his mouth.

Three figures land on the pavement in front of them.  Cobblestone flies around them from the impact, and Dick spots a very young looking Starfire, Raven, and green eagle he assumes to be Beast Boy in the clouds of dust.

"Halt," Starfire calls out.  "Give in easily, and there won't be a problem."

Children.  Where the hell is younger Dick and the idea of subtlety?

"We're peaceful!" Peter says, eyes narrowed.  "You have no right to accuse us of anything—"

"I sense strong dimensional magic," Raven says.  "And you're at the scene of the crime."  Raven steps forward, and the smoke clears enough for Dick to get a sense of exactly how young these three are.  They're all short, for one, and Starfire looks barely older than a pre-teen.  Her hair isn't nearly as curly as Dick remembers it being.  He can't see Raven's face in the shadows, but her voice is young, and her stature alone tells Dick that all three of them feel a little uncomfortable.

In fact, they're younger than Dick remembers meeting them, and they're not the same age in his universe, so— yay!  Dimensional travel with major changes.  Hopefully the Justice League isn't evil in this universe, or Dick might actually cry.  He doesn't even have kryptonite on him in case of mind control emergencies, let alone evil alternates.

"I told you it was dimensional travel!" Dick exclaims.  It's both louder and more exuberant than he needs to be, but it's in character for Neal Caffrey, and, more importantly, it draws attention to him and breaks some of the tension.  "We knocked over a box of artifacts and there was a bright blue flash and then we ended up in an undisturbed copy of the same warehouse."

Raven and Starfire lower their hands, and Beast Boy flutters his wings to land on Starfire's shoulder.  "You didn't cause it?" she asks doubtfully.  

"No," Peter says, calmer but still irritated.  "We think one of the artifacts in the box caused this, but we have no idea.  We're FBI." 

"Hmmm…" Raven steps closer to them, and raises her hand.  Peter' hand drops instinctively to her gun.  "If this is a spell, I should be able to sense it or reverse it."

"You can get us home?" Dick manages to pitch his voice as surprised.  Man, they're really young if Raven hasn't done any of this.  Dimension travel is not as uncommon as most of the superhero body would like it to be.  

"Possibly," Raven responds.  Magic swirls from her hands.  Peter, Diana, and Jones all end up with hands on their weapons.  Dick just rolls his eyes. The magic pulses around them for several long seconds, and then Raven drops her hands.  "I don't recognize the spell, but I do have a solution."

"You do?" Peter asks hopefully.  Dick winces.  There's no way it's that easy.

"I can reverse the spell on one condition," Raven says, and Dick immediately wants to bang his head into a wall. "Your alternate selves also need to be in the room.  The artifact you bumped into has a built in reversal condition, or I would probably be able to do this in an easier way."

Motherfucker.  There's no way Neal Caffrey currently exists, and Dick doesn't even know what year it is.  How the hell are they going to find his younger self?

Starfire and Raven exchange a long look that Dick reads easily as "Help, what do we do now?" He resists the urge to coo, pinch their cheeks, and lead them all back to the tower.  

"I don't know where my younger self might be," Dick offers, still playing Neal.  "I'm not even sure what date it is, and if you said we're in a different dimension, then there might be other changes…"

Dick's comment helps, since Raven and Starfire exchange another long look that says "This is going to take a while and we have other things to do."

"Why don't we bring you back to Titans Tower?" Starfire eventually offers.  "Cyborg can help you track down your past selves, and if it takes several days we have spare bedrooms."

Dick almost applauds them.  Hopefully, his younger self had spoon fed that into their ears and this would be an easy trip.

"Are you sure?" Peter says.  "We wouldn't want to intrude." Dick can hear the doubt in his voice.  "What about the Justice League?"

Ooop, Starfire and Raven look near venomous.  Dick sees that the Titans Justice League rivalry exists in all universes.

"They're busy," Raven hedges, "And it will be easier to do the spell in an area I'm familiar with."

Peter's still frowning, but Diana nudges his side. "Fine."  

It takes another fifteen minutes and the eventual appearance of the Jet to get Dick and the White Collar team to the Tower.

But they finally, finally walk into an open living room.  Cyborg sits at a computer in the far corner, waiting for them.  Besides the wide glass doors leading to the landing pad they'd just entered from, the room is covered in items.  Several staffs, knives and — batarangs, yes! — are scattered all over the living room sofas, along with a game, several pieces of clothes, four separate masks, and at least ten boxes of takeout.

Peter wrinkles his nose, but Diana and Jones turn away to hide a laugh.  Dick is blessed by several pictures hung on the walls, multiple of which feature his younger self in the classic Robin red, green, and yellow.  Man, Dick misses that suit sometimes, although he never wants to be Robin again, nuh uh.  No chance, no way.

"I've been told you need to find your younger selves," Cyborg says, standing up from the computer in the corner.  "Can I have your names to look for?"

Awh, shit.

"Clinton Jones," Jones says before Dick has a chance to suggest it'll be easier for them all to find themselves.  

Cyborg's eyes close for a minute, and then he hums.  "You've recently entered boot camp for the Army.  As soon as we find the others, I can put a consultant request into the system for our chosen time."

Jones blinks.  "That sounds about right," he says.  "But a long time ago.  I joined boot camp like ten years ago."

"We're ten years in the past?" Diana asks, and Dick blinks.  Right.  He'd just, ah, figured, with most of the people he knows being much younger.  He should be somewhere from fourteen to sixteen during his stint with the Titans, and he's twenty six now, so this makes perfect sense.  

"The date is September 8th, 2004," Cyborg says.

Diana does a double take and Peter's frown gets heavier.  

"Right, then," Peter says.  "I'm Peter Burke, this is Diana Berrigan and Neal Caffrey." Oh no, RIP.  

Cyborg frowns.  Several seconds tick by, and then a minute, and his frown gets deeper.  Starfire's eye starts to twitch in impatience, and Raven shifts from side to side.  Dick frowns.  They're awfully antsy about this, and their aggressiveness and general distracted state earlier suggests nothing good.  

"I can find Mr. Burke at the FBI, and Miss Berrigan in her last year of college, but there is no trace of Neal Caffrey on the internet," Cyborg reports.

Peter groans.  "Really, Neal?" he asks.  "It's not even your real name?"

"No," Dick sighs.  "It might be easier for me to find myself.  I used a number of aliases ten years ago, and I have no idea which ones my alternate self used."

Peter frowns at him.  "Oh, come on.  All of us three have followed the same timeline, and wouldn't it be faster to give Cyborg a list of your aliases?" Peter just wants to know more of Neal's names.  

Dick crosses his arms and pouts.

"Is there a reason Neal isn't your real name?" Raven asks, squinting at all of them.

Dick sighs. 

"Neal is my criminal informant," Peter explains. "He's a thief and forger."

"Allegedy," Dick interjects immediately, although it's not quite as energetic as he would usually make it.  He's too busy dreading the next words to come out of his mouth.  "Can you try Dick Grayson, Cyborg?"  It's the only name guaranteed to work, it'll give him the most information, and Dick thinks he can explain his way out of it.  Either as a result of Catwoman's affair with Bruce Wayne, a weird family situation he was escaping, or giving in and pulling the agent of the JL card.  

Cyborg brightens. "Yep! Mr. Grayson was last seen at Gotham Academy two weeks ago, but he hasn't been to school since.  His guardian called him out on some sort of vacation, but there's been no updates, and the Waynes haven't been spotted out of the country." Cyborg stares at him. "Your younger self has a lot of absences from school."

Fuck.  Fucking hell.  Motherfucker.  If Dick's absent from school for that long, then he's with the Titans or injured.  But this is too early to be when the Joker shot him, Bruce hadn't called him out to the school with an injury, only vacation, and Dick's not with the Titans.

Starfire and Raven are antsy.  Beast Boy has outright disappeared to do something else, leaving several armed guests in the Tower.  Cyborg is catering to them, but he's doing something else on the computer.  Notably, Robin is missing.

Fuck.  He's not going to be able to get away from Peter or any of the Titans to do his own research, but in order to find him they need his younger self.  Robin.  He could ask Batman, but this is the point where their relationship starts to get rocky, and if Bruce only called him out on a vacation then Dick's not sure if his younger self informed Batman…

Fine.  Dick's more than happy to violate Batman's identity rules anyway.

"Starfire," Dick says in Tamaranean.  "Where's Robin? What happened to him?"

Starfire shoots to attention, hands immediately held out. She floats a foot off the ground, nearly glowing in anger.  "Why do you want to know?" she demands.  "And how do you know this language?"

Peter whirls on him. "Neal? What did you say? What language is that? Don't antagonize them."

Dick ignores him and meets Starfire's eyes steadily. "You taught Tamaranean to my younger self," he says.  

It only takes a few seconds for it to click, and then Starfire drops to the ground in shock.  She's glaring at him, "You—" she manages.  "You're Robin."

"Yes," Dick confirms.  And then, in English, "Do you know where my younger self is?"

"Neal?" Peter asks again.  "What did you say?  Don't hide this from me."

"How could you?" Starfire cries.  Dick blinks.  "Turning evil and then pretending like it doesn't matter, even all these years later!"

Dick's not going to punch something.  Dick's not going to punch something.  Dick's not going to— "Wait— hold on. Dimensional differences.  I don't know what you're talking about. "

Starfire glances at the White Collar agents.  She switches to Tamaranean again.  "So you don't remember turning traitor to Deathstroke?"

Dick closes his eyes, counts to three, and curses. "Yes," he admits honestly.  "But I was nineteen when it happened for me, and my Titans were supportive of my choice to learn from him.  I don't think I ever turned traitor, by that definition."  

Starfire studies him.  "Your current self stole a plasma blaster from us on his orders."

Dick holds up his hands.  "That, I never did.  Promise.  I am actively a Titan in my world; I'm on an undercover mission within the FBI currently."

"Neal?" Peter repeats.  "What's going on?"

Starfire drops down to the ground, and Dick can't help but relax a little bit.  He does not want to deal with mad Titans, they're terrifying enough when they aren't acting in revenge, thanks. "Do you want them to know?"

Dick outright just rubs his forehead.  Neal Caffrey would never, but Neal Caffrey's kinda dead anyway.  "No," he sighs in English.  "But I'm assuming he got into trouble and it's worthless to try."

Starfire raises an eyebrow at him.  "Fine, then," she says in English. "If you can help us track down and stop your younger self, we can consider this even."

The green eagle flutters to the ground and transforms into Beast Boy.  "Wait, what's going on?" he asks.  "Who's this?"

"I'm Robin," Dick says.  "Tell me what happened, since I don't remember this from my dimension, and I can help you find him."

"You're who?" Peter yells.  "You're— Neal, what do you mean you're a superhero?"

"Vigilante," Dick corrects.  "Long story, I know this is a big deal, I'll explain later after we find and/or rescue my younger self."

 "Deathstroke was tracking us and Robin got obsessed with finding him and stopping him.  He abandoned us during a fight to track him and vanished, and the next time we saw him he was acting as Slade's apprentice," Starfire explains.  

Dick tilts his head.  "Okay, so it wasn't a kidnapping then," he agrees.  "Have you looked for mind control or biometric issues?"

"Yes," Cyborg says.  "It was the first thing we tried."

Right, of course.  They're young, not incompetent.  

"Okay," Dick taps his fingers against his thighs.  "Have you checked for threats against yourselves or his loved ones? That's the other explanation I can think of."

Starfire and Raven exchange glances.

"I hadn't thought of that…" Raven says slowly.  "He'd been acting so erratic before he left that I simply thought he'd turned evil."

Dick snorted. "Yeah, that'd be the anger issues."

"There's no threats out against your family," Cyborg says.  "I checked when I searched your name.  And there's always threats against us."

"You should check your biometrics and each other for mind control then," Dick advises.  "I also have some bank accounts for you to look into so you can track Slade.  In the meantime, can I see a mission summary of your encounters with him?"

Starfire narrows her eyes at him. "We don't trust you," she says. 

Dick shrugs.  "Fair enough," he says.  "I wouldn't, in your position.  My team and I can sit right here if you'd like while you look at that."

Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg exchange long looks.  

"Fine," Starfire says.  "I will babysit while Raven and Cyborg check."

"Neal," Peter says again, and Dick gestures to the couch.  

The four of them walk over, and Starfire hovers in the background, clearly planning to eavesdrop.  Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all rush out of the room.  

"Before you say anything," Dick begins once they've all sat, "I had plans — I didn't want you to find out like this." Not strictly true.  They never would've found out about the superhero stuff if Dick could've helped it.  It's simply part of the mask to lie to your friends about it.  But he would've told them he was undercover.   "I'm not sorry I lied to you, because protecting my identity protects my own life and my family and friends' lives, but I know it's unfair, and for what it's worth, I do genuinely consider you my friends."

"What even is going on, Neal?" Peter asks sharply.  He crosses his arms and sinks into the couch.  "I should arrest you here for lying to me and breaking at least half the rules of your contract.  You're supposed to be nonviolent!"

"I know," Dick says.  His voice cracks.  "I'm Nightwing.  I'm undercover — there was an alien artifact smuggling ring within the FBI that I can explain later. I can explain all of this later."

"Nightwing, like 'leader of the Titans' Nightwing?" Diana demands.  "You saved my life three weeks ago."

Dick had.  "Yes," Dick says.  He rubs his head a tad sheepishly. "As you may already know, I have an adrenaline problem and therefore I have not stopped moonlighting as a vigilante."

"We wouldn't know." Peter crosses his arms and looks Dick right in the eye.  "We don't even know who you are, Dick."

"Yeah, man," Jones says. "I thought you were my friend."

Ouch.

"I thought we were too," Dick says quietly.  "I tried not to lie to you.  I hid a lot of things, but outright lying — Neal's pretty close to who I am."

"You speak about him like a mask," Diana says.  It's a flat statement, just an observation, but it hits Dick like a punch to the gut.  

"Yeah, sorry," Dick says.  "Does it help if I promise to revisit this later?  I need to—" He gestures towards Starfire, who's been listening the entire time.  "Do things, and younger me might be in danger, and even if he's not, something's wrong. "

Three sets of eyes study him, and Dick tries not to squirm.  This is so much worse than telling the Titans his identity or Bruce when he's being judgy.  These people have a  perfectly good reason to hate him because of this.

"That's what Neal would have said," Diana says.  "I suppose we'll get to see how you normally are, then."

Dick offers her a relieved smile.  "You will," he promises.  

Peter snorts, and Dick jumps a little. "You know," Peter says.  "This actually explains a lot.  Like jumping out a second story window."

Jones lets out his own huff, and the tension starts to dissolve a little bit.  "Oh, yeah.  No wonder you're so crazy with your stunts."

"That was nothing," Dick says, because he can't help himself.  "Wait 'till you see what else I can do.  I don't have to hold back anymore."

Diana tilts her head and opens her mouth, but Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy rush back into the room before she can ask her question. 

"There's nanobots in us!" Cyborg exclaims.  "Deathstroke must have threatened us."

Dick slams his head into the couch.  "Did you manage to disarm them?" he asks.  His voice is muffled around the cushions.

"No," Cyborg says.  "I'd have no idea where to begin."

Dick lifts his head,  shares a look with Peter that's almost supportive, and forces himself to stand up.  "I'll look at it.  This is ten years ago, so this tech should be old to me."

"Is there anything we can do?" Peter offers.  Dick turns back and tilts his head.  A warm glow echoes in his chest.  He hadn't expected any sort of encouragement this fast.

"Yes, actually," Dick says.  "How do you feel about hacking Deathstroke's bank records?"

It's weird to see the younger versions of themselves act so unsure, but they do spring into action.  Dick hands over all the bank accounts he knows Slade and Wintergreen have and his known addresses of Slade's. He'll look for blackmail regarding Slade's kids on his own, just to keep their identities safe.

Dick and the four remaining Titans head directly for the medical room so Dick can look at the scans himself.

"I'm sorry for doubting you," Raven says, pressing the elevator button.  Dick wonders if this version of the tower also has a fireman's pole he can climb up and down faster than the elevator.  

"It's alright." Dick shrugs.  "You had every reason too, and it's important you did so that I couldn't betray you."

The Titans exchange a set of glances.  Dick looks away before he tries to start reading the younger versions of his friends based on what he knows about the people from his world.

"You're a lot different from your younger self," Starfire comments with forced calm as the elevator arrives.  The elevator dings in front of them.  All the Titans step in and Starfire presses the button for the middle floor.  Dick grins — good safety, it's away from the Jet pad but also from ground level.

"I'm ten years older," Dick says, glancing at her.  She's staring over his shoulder, and there's a faint blush on her cheeks.  "And we've probably lived different lives."  Dick wishes he could guess why she's asking, but he doesn't know anything about the Titans of this world and their interactions.  Hell, he doesn't even technically know if they're good people or not. 

"That makes sense," Raven says, and Dick watches her chew on her lip while she thinks about what to ask.  "It's just— our Rob is so much angrier than you."

Dick can't help it.  He laughs. "Trust me," he says.  "I am still very angry.  Just better at hiding it, and more used to dealing with it.  I'm sure you'll see me angry in a bit when I'm facing off against Slade."

The group makes noises of understanding, but Beast Boy tilts his head curiously at Dick."Why wouldn't our Robin tell his identity if you did so easily?"

Ah.  Fair.  The elevator dings again, and they step out into a hallway cleaner than the living rooms.  There's a few separate doors, each meticulously labeled.  Large glass windows overlook the training gym, and the other doors are labeled "Security Room", "Med Bay", and "Arsenal."

"I can't speak for him," Dick says, just to make that clear. "But for me, it wasn't because I didn't trust you.  I'm sure you've met Batman, and you know how… strong of a mentor he can be.  The no-sharing identities rule is his, and it took me a long time and many years to be completely comfortable in making my own decisions apart from him.  Especially when he has a point with the identities, since giving my identity up also means giving up his.  And, more than that, I wouldn't have in normal circumstances.  My concern for this world's Robin and our need to get home forced my hand."

Beast Boy pushes open the door to the Med Bay.  It's stark white (ugh) with unlabeled cabinets covering most of the wall space.  There's a sink and emergency shower in the far corner, and five beds take up most of the floor space.  

"Do you think he would have shared with us eventually?" Starfire asks.  

"I did with my Titans," Dick offers, since he doesn't have a concrete answer.  He moves towards the computer to his right and boots it up quickly.  Cyborg's med scan is sitting right up at the top, and Dick starts scanning them.

Beast Boy pokes the floor with his foot.  "You're just so— confident.  And last we saw Robin, he was literally lying to us about all of this."

"I'm twenty six," Dick repeats. "And your Robin was a hothead who got obsessed, ran into a situation too dangerous for him, and is stuck in a bad situation.  That's not a matter of trust — it's just a series of bad choices he doesn't know how to get out of without hurting someone."

"I guess…" Beast Boy says, sounding very unconvinced.

"You should talk with him," Dick encourages, like a fucking hypocrite.  "Admittedly every Bat, including myself, is terrible at communication, but you can't solve things without words.  My Titans were different people initially, yes, but we had our fair share of similar conflicts.  Me hiding my identity rankled people for a long time."

Starfire brushes an invisible piece of dust off her uniform.  "How are the medical scans coming?"

Dick allows the subject change.  "As I thought," he says.  "Old tech.  It'll take me a few hours — why don't y'all gather weapons, eat some food, and get the Jet ready to chase Slade while I build a solution quickly."

They convene three hours later when Dick injects each of the Teen Titans with a nice solution that dissolves the nanobots into their bloodstreams and flushes it out of the body.  He saves an extra copy for Robin, just in case. 

He's also done his research on Grant, Rose, and Joey Wilson.  He's glad to see that, in this world, Grant hasn't gotten tangled with H.I.V.E yet, and Slade's obsession with the Titans is entirely unrelated to that.  

"So," Starfire says, "What now?  We have to free Robin!"

Dick reaches for his communicator and realizes that he doesn't have any armor or weapons.  "Do you have any spare gear I can borrow?" He asks.  "We can go see if Peter's managed to track Deathstroke's base yet."

Cyborg frowns.  "I don't think we have a suit your size, but we do have Robin's spare staffs."

Dick does a double take.  "Your Robin uses staffs?? Hell no, do you have some escrima I can tinker with?"

They reconvene in the living room, Dick with two escrima, scrap metal, two strong Bat-teries, plans, and Peter with helpful information.

"We've isolated what I can only assume is his lair," Peter says.  "Are all villains this stereotypical?"

"Yes," Dick and all the Titans chorus.  

"Thank you so much," Dick says honestly.  "Hopefully we'll be back in a few hours and able to get everyone home."

Peter hands over several printed sheets of paper with Slade's bank records.  "I'll be glad to be home," he says.  

Dick giggles.

"What's your plan?" Diana asks, and Dick pivots to face her.  "Like, is this going to be some high-tech super spy sneak in?"

She looks so hopeful Dick feels a little bad about breaking her dreams. "My plan was to pummel Deathstroke for kidnapping my younger self and then blow his whole base to tiny little smithereens.  Oh, and scare him away from ever interacting with the Teen Titans again."

White Collar and the Teen Titans look so genuinely surprised it takes Dick a few seconds to realize it's the aggression that's throwing them off.

"What?" he asks.  "I told you I had anger issues."

"Apparently," Peter says faintly. "Nonviolent, huh?"

Dick snorts.  "I can choose to be," he says sweetly.  "But not now! Now, onwards to the Jet, my fellow Titans, we have a mercenary to destroy."  He sets the solder down and picks up his newly finished escrima sticks.  They only have one taser setting, and it's set to enough power to knock out meta's with Slade's strength (so they're mildly deadly and Dick can't use the electricity on anyone else.)

"Wait!" Jones calls out.  "How are you planning to fight Deathstroke! You don't have a gun."

"I don't use guns," Dick says, even though Slade had definitely taught him how to use a gun, and he'd also been a policeman.  "And I've done this before.  I've been able to dodge bullets since my pre-teens."

Wait, hey, why do Peter, Diana, and Jones look so horrified all of a sudden?

Anyways, Dick dismarms Slade's antiquated security in about fifteen seconds flat, and then they burst through the ceiling. Debris scatters everywhere as Starfire and Cyborg land.  They do the brunt of the demolition work, and Raven and Beast Boy follow.  

A young Robin kneels at Deathstroke's feet.  Bruises decorate the side of his face, and a trail of small slices covers his arms and upper chest.  Deathstroke himself looks more than fine.  A slight sheen of sweat covers the only visible parts of his neck, but his mask and uglier-than-normal suit are completely undamaged.  

"Give Robin back!" Starfire snarls.  Twin bolts fly from her hands directly at Slade.  He dodges easily, what a shame.  The bolts hid one of the walls of Slade's very stereotypical evil lair, and in the resulting smoke Dick drops into the room.

"No," Slade responds coolly.  He pulls his sword from its sheath on his back.  "Renegade, attack."

Robin rises to his feet.  Black robes billow around his figure, but they don't hide how he's trembling on his feet.  He pulls a batarang out and waves it at Starfire in the most useless motion possible.  "Guys!" His eyes dart around the Titans.  "You should leave."

"Why?" Starfire asks cooly.  As with every fight, the posturing happens first, and Dick uses his chance to get closer to Slade.  He seems to be the only enemy in the room, and Dick should be able to deal with him easily enough.  "Because of the nanobots?"

The red eyes of Deathstroke's mask narrow. "Oh, so you do know about those.  Good.  Give up and leave Robin to my clutches, or face a painful death." He points his sword at the Titans.  "Robin, attack."

Robin looks through the whole room for any way to escape, and his eyes land on Dick and widen.  Dick gives a two fingered salute.

"What makes you think we didn't deactivate those?" Starfire challenges.  "We're not leaving.  Give us our friend back."

Deathstroke pulls a remote from his pocket and presses a button.  Nothing happens.  "You— how?"

Dick twirls his escrima stick and steps out into the light, directly in between the Teen Titans and Deathstroke.  The hole in the ceiling is to his back, close enough for emergency grappelling, and Robin is on the far side of Slade, wobbling as he tries to stand.

Dick sees red.  "Hello, Slade," he says cheerfully. "I'd like my younger self back, please." He charges before Slade can respond, swinging one of the escrima out in a wide arc for Slade's neck.  If he's any sort of lucky, the man hasn't proofed his suit against electricity yet.  

Slade parries with the sword, stepping forward.  "Ah, I see, so the little kids got lucky."

Dick moves in as close as he can, negating the reach of Slade's sword and starting a lightning fast dance.  "Well," Dick taunts, "It turns out that kidnapping their friend and threatening to kill them doesn't make people very happy." He ducks Slade's sword.  This is by far the most evenly matched Dick's ever been with Slade, but it's not an easy fight by any means.  Not the least because Dick isn't wearing armor.  

"Oh, it wasn't a threat," Slade promises.  

"We'll see," Dick mocks.  "Everyone still looks alive to me.  Your tech is as old as you are, old man."

Slade gives an enraged yell.  Robots burst out of the shadows, and Dick can see the rest of the Teen Titans surrounding Robin, protecting him.  Dick turns back to his opponent in time to dodge an overhand sword strike that nicks his shoulder. "You," he seethes.  

"Y'know," Dick says casually, dancing in and out of Slade's reach.  This is so much fun, oh my god.  He's just ducking and weaving, because he knows Slade's tells and Slade doesn't know any of his, and each missed blow is making Slade more furious.  "My Slade also thought I'd make a good apprentice, but unlike you, he asked like a normal person and I agreed and hey, would you know, we got along."

Slade grunts as one of Dick's escrima sticks finally connected with his arm, but Dick waited to trigger the electricity.  He had a point to make first.  "I can't imagine it served my other self very well to have such a weak apprentice," he snarls.   

"Oh," Dick says in the most chipper voice he can imagine.  "It actually served him pretty well to not be on terrible terms with the Titans.  Who knew that it was self-serving to be on good terms with the people you like?"

"I do not care for the brat," Slade yells, and apparently Dick's actually getting to him, because the next strike is faster, and it eats into Dick's shoulder.  Blood drips through Dick's cotton t-shirt.  It's wet and sticky against his arm.   It hurts like a bitch, as every injury from Slade has, but it's also not top five on the list of injuries Slade has given Dick, let alone the ones he's ever received, so he ignores it.  "Both of you should be disappointed with how pathetic you are.  If this is how you turned out, then maybe I shouldn't even bother to make you my apprentice—"

Dick does a backflip onto the next sword strike, sliding down the blade into Slade's face.  "Oh, that's what you tell yourself about your kids, isn't it?"  His escrima slide forward to punctuate the verbal blow, and Dick jabs one directly into a chink in between Slade's neck and chestplate that his Slade had fixed ages ago, and drives 3 deciAmps of current directly into Slade's chest.

Slade's body convulses, because the idiot hadn't electricity proofed his suit until the first time Dick had gotten him with the escrima, and Dick wrestles him to the ground, laying one of the escrima across Slade's throat and jabbing the other into his stomach just to be irritating.  Dick might've given the man a heart attack, but his healing will deal with it in a few seconds.

"After all," Dick says, "That's what caused Addie to shoot out your eye, isn't it?  Do Grant and Joey even know what you do? Oh, wait." He can't help himself from mocking Slade; he really can't.  "No, you just abandoned all of them for your own dreams and now you're so alone you have to kidnap and torture a teenager for company. I wonder what they would think about that."

Dick waits for Slade's body to come back online and for the man to growl at him, and then Dick lets a wide, vicious smile slip onto his face.  "I wonder what Rose Wilson would think about that, don't you?"

Slade freezes, and Dick leans closer so that he can whisper to him.  "But you didn't even know about her, did you?  Lilian kept her from you, because she was afraid of what you would do to her.  Just like you did to Robin."

Slade lunges forward, and Dick lets him stand, rolling backwards into a low crouch.  "You know nothing," he says.  His sword has clattered some distance away, and Dick steps in front of it.  Slade seems happy to rush forward with his fists outstretched, and Dick takes undisguised joy in using a move Slade had taught him to counter.

"Really?" Dick has nothing left of importance to say; he's already done his best to pyschologically torture this Slade using what he knows of his Slade, so he resorts to juvenile taunts instead.  "That's not what Addie said when she invited me over for dinner with the rest of your kids. Maybe you'd know this if you were a better father to all of us."

Slade's punches are almost sloppy at this point. Dick catches them with lazy strokes of his escrima.  This should hopefully be enough to prevent the man from trying anything with Robin again.  At the very least, he has a daughter to chase down and hopefully be a better parent to.  

"Nightwing!" Starfire yells.  "The robots are down! We've got Robin."

Dick spares a glance over his shoulder to see the rest of the robots in mince-metal, and Robin supported between Cyborg and Starfire.  He advances several steps towards them so that Raven can grip his shoulder and they're all standing under the big hole in the ceiling.  

"Oh, by the way, Slade," Dick says before the mercenary can advance on them, "I found your self-destruction sequence for the lair when I hacked your defenses.  You should probably run." He hits the trigger in his pocket, and Raven lifts both of them through the ceiling.  They fly straight to the Jet, and, as the Jet lifts off, an explosion ricochets through the trees around him.  

Dick hits send on an encrypted message to Adeline that explains the whole scenario, lets her know about Rose, and promises to make more trouble for Slade.

"Now," he says, "Robin, let me see your injuries."

Robin turns towards him.  "Wait! Hey, I'm fine.  Who are you? You're bleeding!"

"Your alternate self," Dick confirms.  He's sure Robin has guesses, but was taught to give away nothing.  "And I'm fine.  Normal hazard of the job.  Let me see you.  I can imagine Slade's training was pretty brutal."

"I'm fine!" Robin protests, but, alas, not even he can escape the bandages.  Especially not if Dick's going to need to wrap his own shoulder.  How irritating.

Dick holds his younger self's hand as they walk into Titans Tower.  "I have a list for you," he says quietly in Romani.  The other Titans can probably hear them, but Starfire has been kind enough to start planning a celebration with Beast Boy up ahead, and Cyborg and Raven are chatting about better detection methods for bio-threats.  "I can't include much future stuff, because some of it will be different and the rest you need to learn to work through yourself, but I listed a few things about your future siblings, ways to rescue them earlier, and a list of people you must not trust at all costs."

It only had a few names, for incidents not as important to the time-space continuum and all that, but if Dick could spare his younger self the pain of Catalina Flores and Miriam Delgado he would.  Also, of course, Shelia Haywood's name underlined five times with a note "Tell Jay, very important."

"Okay," Robin nods, and then his whole posture brightens.  "I get siblings???"

Dick laughs.  It's another arguably small but hopefully very important change — not allowing Bruce's lack of communication to poison his relationship with Jason before it even starts.  Dick had always wanted siblings and Jason had been a gift, but walking into the Manor to discover another kid hadn't been a great starting point for their relationship. "Hell yeah you do," he says.  "They're the best thing that ever happened to us."

Robin opens his mouth to ask new questions.  Ahead of them, Starfire opens the door into the Tower, and freezes. Dick's hands immediately fly to his escrima, and he sprints forwards, sliding in front of the Titans.  If there's a threat in the Tower that's hurt White Collar—

Standing imposingly in the center of the living room is Batman.  He's got the full fit— cape, gloves, mask, and Peter, Diana, and Jones are clustered together on one of the couches, eyeing Batman with terrified looks.

Dich sighs so hard he sees stars.  Of fucking course.  No, no, Batman can't be bothered to show up when his son doesn't contact him for two weeks, but one grainy CCTV footage of an older version of said son shows up and suddenly he has to stick his nose where it doesn't belong.

"B," Dick greets, stepping into the room to allow the Titans to enter behind him.  He saunters towards Batman, hands noticeably on the escrima, and stops when only the coffee table is in between them.  "Fancy seeing you where you don't belong."

Batman's hands inch towards his utility belt at Dick's naked hostility.  "Who are you?" he growls, as if literally everyone in the room doesn't already know.  Batman's a paranoid bastard, so Dick supposes he'd assumed Dick wouldn't ever break the precious identity rule.  Welp, that's why Batman has coworkers and Dick has friends.

"Your son, duh," Dick deadpans, "Holy identification, Batman, do you not even recognize your own child?"

Behind him, Robin starts giggling hard, and Starfire gives a startled laugh.  

Batman's glower gets heavier.  "What are you doing here?"

Dick waves his hands breezily, and eyes the coffee table.  It looks sturdy enough to hold his weight.  "Dimension travel incident, I'll be home soon enough.  The more important question, I think—" Dick pauses to hop onto the coffee table and stalk closer to Batman, "—is, of course, what you're doing here?"

"I came to investigate said dimensional breach, especially since it concerns my protegee," Batman returns smoothly.

Dick's barely taller than him even with the table, but he uses all that extra height to stare down Batman anyways.  "Ah, I see," he responds in the same detached tone.  "So you've come to investigate only for professional matters the Teen Titans were already handling, and not to figure out why your son hadn't come home for two weeks."

"Oooh, holy burn, Batman," Robin giggles, and Dick flicks his fingers at the peanut gallery of very shocked and smug Titans.  He doesn't dare glance at the White Collar agents, he doubts they've ever seen him this angry or dangerous.  

"I—" Batman begins his defense, but Dick holds a hand to cut him off.  This sort of thing doesn't normally work, mind you, but Dick is standing on a coffee table, openly has the other hand on his escrima, and, more importantly, is an older version of his teenager and that's still surprising.

"Here's the thing, B," Dick says.  "I don't really care that you didn't check on him because you thought he needed his space or something.  Or maybe you checked on the Titans, and didn't realize Robin hadn't been on missions.  Whatever.  What I want to know is why didn't the Titans trust you enough to ask you for help finding Robin?"

"Robin was missing?" Batman's tone is finally, finally alarmed, and Dick can see that, unlike Slade, he's at least getting through to Batman before they have to go through the song and dance of a fight.

"Yes," Dick says, all teeth no smile, and doesn't elaborate because that's Robin's secret.  

"And you got that injury rescuing him?" Batman, at least, has the brain cells to understand exactly how scary an angry version of the feral child he'd brought in could be, and how protective Dick gets over people he cares about.

"Yes," Dick says in the same tone.  "And I had to do it because you are an uncommunicative, arrogant, possessive bastard who can't be assed to show his care in any meaningful way that's not orders or punishment.  No reasonable child understands that being grounded for no discernible reason or being yelled at for their failures is your way of showing that you care about their wellbeing. You need to grow a pair and face up to your own emotions and grief before they ruin your relationships with your children.  Losing your parents twenty years ago is not a good reason for your stunted emotions to harm the people around you.  You need to start verbally communicating what you're thinking.  Oh, also, stop dressing up as a furry to expel your anger and go to therapy like a regular adult instead."

Batman just stands there, and Dick lets him think it through.  Lets him glance at Dick's shoulder wound and hopefully draw some reasonable conclusions about exactly how much danger his ward had been in and exactly how much he'd fucked up in this relationship for the Titans to not come to him for help.

"Oh," Dick says as soon as it occurs to him. "You should also talk to younger me about actually adopting him instead of just fostering him.  It's been eight years for him."

That finally seems to startle him into action, and Dick watches as Batman looks him up and down.  

"Is that all?" Batman asks mildly, but there's a hint of a fond smile curling at his lips and Dick sees that they've come to an understanding.  

He allows his own posture to soften, and he hops down from the coffee table, pats Batman on the shoulder, and moves to stand in front of Peter and the others. "Yep!" Dick says, letting his voice lighten back up from the anger.  "You shape up before you hurt your other kids too, B."

The silence is interspersed by Robin's giggles as he gets a look at B's face and breaks down laughing again.  Dick ignores everything around him, grabs Peter's hand, and pulls him to his feet.  Peter seems to be in a little bit of shock, but he makes a gesture to Diana and Jones quickly enough, and they follow him as he begins walking towards the door to the kitchen.  

"My other children?" B says faintly, and at that point the whole set of Teen Titans break down into giggles.

Dick waits until he's at the door to turn, take a look at B's absolutely stunned face, and toss over his shoulder with false sympathy, "Yeah, Talia lied to you about that miscarriage.  And there's the kid you caught stealing the Batmobile kids.  And there's the kid who figured out your identity all on his own.  And there's the former assassin kid who's the best fighter in the family.  And there's the kid who started this to stop her dad.  And there's the kid who led a gang revolution inspired by Robin.  And there's the kid who—"

Batman's jaw has slowly lowered with every kid, Robin's hanging onto his every word, and the Teen Titans are a mess of laughter.  Even Peter looks faintly amused, and Diana and Jones are staring straight at the wall to avoid bursting into laughter.

"I'm just kidding," Dick says, "There's only eight of us so far.  You already know about Batgirl and your cousin, of course.  Oh, and Huntress." Then he turns back and opens the door, stepping through easily.  White Collar walks through after him, and Dick manages to wait until they close the door to burst out into giggles.  

"Do you actually have that many siblings?" Peter asks.  He sounds curious, not mad, and it does not help Dick's giggles.

"Yes," Dick manages between the giggles. "And as far as I know, there's a few other people we've met in alternate dimensions and are sort of waiting on.  One of them was an alien starfish named Jarro."

"Now you're pulling my leg," Peter accuses, but it's half-hearted at best.  

Dick takes a seat at one of the barstools in the kitchen.  He'll go back in a bit, but he wants to give Batman a chance to work things out with Robin and the other Teen Titans first.  "Nope," Dick assures Peter.  

Diana takes another seat, spinning around in the chair.  "That was a very Neal Caffrey antic," she says.  "Are your normal superhero events like that?  Spill."

Dick bites his lip before he starts laughing again.  "I might have a history," he manages.  "I was an unholy terror as a kid, and that's all I'll say.  The other Titans and I swore each other to secrecy long ago."

Peter and Jones take seats too, so that they've formed a loose ring crowded around Dick.

"Oh, come on," Diana complains.  "If you're going to reveal to us that you're a superhero, the least you can do is regale us with some stories."  She props her chin on her hands, staring Dick dead in the eye.

"Hmmm," Dick pretends to think, tapping his fingers. "Well, if it's stories you're after, do you want to hear about Bat prank wars, that one prank on the JL that I'm legally not allowed to talk about, or that time a magical artifact swapped the Titans' bodies with each other?"

Jones raises an eyebrow.  "Can we hear all three?"

Drier, Peter adds, "I need to know what the new baseline for your shenanigans is before my heart gives you."

Dick glows.  There's no way he deserves such supportive friends. Not after lying to them, not after… "I don't understand how you're cool with this.  I mean, I lied to you, and—" and Dick would really rather know now if his friends hate him.

"I'm not," Peter says, and Dick feels like shriveling up and dying, "and trust me, we're going to talk for a long, long time about this when we get back.  Starting with how many times you've slipped your anklet.  But I also understand why you would want secrecy, and today has only convinced me that I want absolutely nothing to do with anything the Justice League deals with."

Dick lets out a startled laugh, and Diana smiles.

"Yeah, man, no offense,  you're terrifying," Jones says.  "But you're still a similar person.  You laugh the same way, and everything you did today was to protect your younger self, and you managed to take care of all the Titans while doing so."

"Oh," Dick says.  "Thanks." He rubs a hand over the bandages on his shoulder, suddenly warm and fuzzy.  Man, emotions.  Why are they talking about those again? They're any Bats' kryptonite.  

"And," Diana says, "You're still causing chaos.  We're now not the only ones responsible for dealing with that, and that makes me feel better."

Dick allows himself to relax a little bit.  "You wish," he says. "Everyone else is too scared of me." That's not strictly true, because he trusts his Titans and his siblings to tell him if he's going out of line. (Wait, does he trust his siblings? Tim and Damian would probably just join him, and Duke has no impulse control to begin with, and Steph would be having the time of her life, and Jason's already an anti-hero, and Cass would join them if everyone else had— oh, dear.)

Peter snorts. "Well, I just saw you cow Batman, so I can't say that's surprising."

"Now," Diana says, leaning forward, "Stories.  We don't have that much time until Raven comes in and actually gathers our alternates and sends us home."

Dick raises his hands and leans back in the chair. "Okay, okay!"

Twenty-five minutes later, the door bangs open.

"Okay, we're kicking you out," Raven says.  Her eyes look slightly red, and Robin and Batman are nowhere in sight in the living room behind her.  Dick hopes they haven't left the tower or he might have to drive to Gotham to track them down this time.  

"Can you cast the spell?" Peter asks.  "I think we're all ready to go home."

Raven shrugs. "Batman offered to handle the retrieval of your counterparts.  Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Burke will be requested by the Justice League, officially, and since Ms. Berrigan is in college, one of the more sociable members of the League will retrieve her."

"So not Batman?" Dick asks.  Poor young Diana would probably be terrified for life.  

"Hopefully not," Raven agrees.  "He and Robin left to talk together in Robin's room while they wait for the others to get here."

"They're actually talking?" Dick says with shock as if he hadn't just engineered that.  Batman, talking and not yelling? Impossible.  

He gets a look that says exactly that from everyone else in the room.  Dick ignores it and wanders back into the living room.  Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy are all sitting on one of the couches.  Beast Boy has a deck of cards in his hand that he's waving at Starfire and Cyborg.

"Oh, come on, I can teach you how to play," Beast Boy says.  "There's literally nothing for us to do right now."

Diana's alternate self is the first to arrive, following Wonder Woman into the ground entrance of the Tower with a wide-eyed look of awe.  

"Titans, good to see you," Wonder Woman greets.  Diana just looks around the living room.  She scans her older self briefly, but she keeps looking back at Wonder Woman and blushing.  "And you must be the older Ms. Berrigan.  It is good to meet you; your younger self is charming and very witty."

Older Diana suddenly gains the same blush as her younger self.  "It's— it's a pleasure to meet you as well," she says.  "Thank you for finding my younger self."

Wonder Woman beams.  "It is no problem.  I am happy to help those in need.  Especially those who help my nephew as well."

Peter swings around to stare at Dick again, and Dick already knows he's going to get an earful from Diana later about knowing Wonder Woman.  Actually, wait, future thought for future self… they'd be cute together.  

"Hi, Aunt Diana," Dick says.  Both Diana Berrigans do a double take, and older Diana grimaces.  

Wonder Woman turns to him.  "Oh, Robin.  It is good to see you.  You are very grown up."

"That I am! Thank you for helping us return home." Dick stands from the couch, leaving his cards on the coffee table, and walks closer to give her a hug.  Wonder Woman holds him close, and when he lets go he can see worry lines across her face.

"May I know who held you captive?" she asks.  "I would like to see that no further harm comes to my nephew." 

Dick bites his tongue.  In his world, no one but the Titans is quite aware of the extent of his relationship with Slade.  B has some idea, his siblings know it's weird, but he's pretty sure the Justice League is out of the loop with that one.  "I don't think it's my place to say," Dick says.  "You should ask Robin, Auntie Di.  I'm sure he will be glad to know you're concerned."

Dick can tell from the disappointed flicker across her face that she doesn't expect to get any answers from Robin either.  

"Very well," Wonder Woman smoothes a piece of his hair and steps away.  "At any rate, it is good to see you, Robin, and a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Berrigan."  Both Diana Berrigans are the same shade of scarlet.  Dick can see Jones looking away with a grin.  Wonder Woman shoots Dick a knowing wink and turns towards both Diana Berrigans.

Dick skedaddles back a few steps and smirks at Jones. "You know," he says, "I think my relatives might be showing up more now that y'all are aware."

Jones and Dick's heads bobble back and forth as Wonder Woman chats with the two Berrigans.  Their Diana, the older one, seems to still have her wits about her, but the poor twenty-three year old is struggling.  It's great entertainment.  

Less than half an hour later, Martian Manhunter comes in with both young Peter Burke and Clinton Jones.  Jones is wearing a military uniform, back straight, and looks around the room with suspicion.  It's only once his eyes alight on his older self that he relaxes and offers older Jones a nod.  Jones returns it.  Peter's wearing the exact same type of suit he still wears to the office, and he nods at his younger self.  

"Well?" Raven asks, hopping off the couch.  "Shall we get the ritual started so that everyone can return to their lives?"

"Where's my younger self?" Dick asks.  Batman and Robin are still missing, and it's been at least an hour.  

Starfire taps something out on her phone and nods at Dick.  About three minutes later, a younger Dick Grayson in a loose t-shirt and jeans steps through one of the inner doors, followed by Batman's hulking shadow.  

Raven waves everyone over to the corner of the room where she begins positioning them in various places.  Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman stand at the edge of the room, talking quietly.  Batman flits over to join them.  

Robin slides around the edge of the room towards Dick, and he waits by the couches, waving Jones and Peter towards their other selves.  "Everything okay?" Dick asks.

Robin nods.  There's some hastily applied concealer that hides his bruising, injuries, and tear tracks from younger Peter and Jones.  Dick's grateful Robin thought of that, because he sure hadn't.  "Yeah, I— B actually talked to me."

Dick puts an exaggerated hand over his heart and gasps. "You mean he didn't just grunt?"

"Yeah," Robin says with a small smile.  "Uh, thank you.  For rescuing me and for yelling at B."

Dick ruffles his hair.  Robin tries to dodge out of the way and fails.  "No problem, kiddo.  I'm happy I appeared to help."

Robin scowls. "I'm not a kid! And I didn't need your help… I just—"

Dick cuts the kid off with a laugh. "I'm sure you would have found your own way out of there," he says.  "But it was easier this way."

Robin shrugs.  "I suppose."

"Hey, Neal!" Peter waves at them.  "Come over so we can go home."

Dick grabs Robin's hand and tugs him towards the circle.  Raven makes them stand in some sort of pentagram, with the alternates on opposite sides of the shape.  

"Now," Raven says, "Stand still." 

Dick freezes, with long nights of stakeouts holding him so that he doesn't even twitch a muscle.  The poor White Collar agents seem more fidgety.  

Raven walks around them in a circle, and chants.  The world seems to freeze, and then it splits into tiny blue pieces that scatter around them.  Dick blinks, and he's standing in a half-destroyed warehouse. 

Boxes of artifacts are scattered around their feet, and the criminal-of-the-week stands across from them, a smug grin on his face that falls the moment he realizes they've returned.

"You— you—" he stutters.

Peter raises an eyebrow at him and pulls his gun.  "FBI, you're under arrest."

Diana  leans over towards Dick.  "I might cry of happiness," she tells him, "I can handle this."

Dick pats her on the head and then leaps over a fallen shelf to knock three guns out of the goons hands before they can shoot.