Chapter Text
"ow fuwk"
Peter bit his tongue as he tried to speak, every muscle in his body felt heavy and unfamiliar. He stretched his arms and legs out to try and rid himself of the aches he could feel.
"what happen?"
He tried opening his eyes, but was momentarily blinded despite the obvious darkness of his location. Through squinting eyes his surroundings slowly started to come into focus, it was dark and damp and appeared to be an alley surrounded by dark brick buildings. He lifted his head and looked down to see that he had landed on a closed dumpster and caved it in.
Where am I…. what's wrong with my body?
As Peter tried to catalogue his injuries he reached his hand out in front of him and froze as he finally comprehended what he was seeing. His hand was much smaller than he was used to, missing the veins and definition that showed his years of crime-fighting and training.
He sat up abruptly, swaying a little as he was hit with a wave of nausea. As he sat the sleeve of his suit fell off his shoulder as if he had shrunk and no longer fit into his own clothing. He reached up and ripped his mask off, allowing the nanites to retreat to their container, suddenly feeling a suffocating claustrophobia from this suit that had always been a second skin to him.
The panic gripped him suddenly, his muscles that he had barely begun to relax tightening right back up as he struggled to get air into his lungs. Every breath burned as he gasped, everything felt wrong here - even the air seemed to be different from what he was used to, but until he could figure out where he was he had no idea what to do next.
In his haze of panic he had barely any time to register the buzz of his spidey sense trying to warn him before there was a sound of someone stepping into the alley behind him.
"Hey kid, are you okay?"
Peter whipped around to look at the newcomer just to come face to face with a character from a story his Uncle Ben had once read with him, stating that it had been Peter's father's favourite series, and they used it as a way to try and feel closer to him after having lost him so young.
Peter couldn't help but gawp at the comic book character come to life in front of him. As he slowly dragged his gaze down from the red helmet that was so familiar he catalogued the jacket and guns strapped to the legs of the familiar stranger he couldn't help but quietly gasp out, "Red Hood?"
Red Hood startled as if he hadn't been expecting to be recognized, or the meek voice that muttered his name as if it was something completely unbelievable to witness, even though they were smack-dab in the middle of his territory.
"Yeah, that's right. You know me?"
Even though Peter had recognized him he needed to hear that verbally to know that he wasn't hallucinating - that he had somehow ended up in the pages of art he had meticulously studied for so many years in the hopes of connection to his lost father.
But with that confirmation came a flood of other information: he was a person with powers in Gotham, a person trapped in the body of a kid, and he was facing a member of the BatFam - a group of people known for forcefully adopting lost orphans, and also a group that did not appreciate Metas being on the loose in their city.
In a rush, Peter scrambled to get off the dumpster, slapping a hand over his watch as he moved to cause his suit to minimize and collapse into its storage before Red Hood would be able to see it too clearly. As soon as his feet landed on the ground Peter immediately took off running down the alley the opposite direction from where Red Hood had been standing.
He heard the heavy boots of Red Hood trying to give chase, but he was much to fast for him to catch, weaving in and out of the alleys of this unfamiliar town while avoiding any cameras he could see. The last thing that he heard before he gained enough distance was Red Hood calling after him, and then the sound of him talking into his comms to the rest of the vigilante group,
"Wait! - beep - It was a kid. He seemed to recognize me, but took off running. I'm in pursuit, but he looked like—"
~~~~
Jason used his toe to nudge the criminal at his feet over, having just finished zip-tieing their hands together. He just needed to summon the police to clean this place up and take these criminals in for him to be able to head back to his safehouse and catch a bit of rest. He bent down to check for any additional weapons for him to confiscate when everything in front of him was thrown into shadow. A burning light had appeared behind him with no warning, and as it dissipated after a couple seconds Jason spun around to try and locate where it had originated from.
He couldn't tell where the light had come from, but as he looked around he heard a sound like a rush of air and as he looked up towards the source he saw the shape of something falling from high above any of the roofs in Crime Alley. Gotham had a wide variety of buildings of all shapes and sizes, but Crime Alley was far from the nicest area around and there hadn't been a new building built there in years - none of the existing buildings were taller than 4 floors of shitty apartments.
Jason grabbed his grapple off his belt and used it to get to the top of the building he was standing next to, trying to locate the destination of the falling blob. With a beep his communicator comes to life in his ear, and he hears the voice of his older brother, "Did you see that? It looked like whatever was falling is hurtling towards your territory, Little Wing."
The familiar nickname warmed him, but he wasn't going to let Dick know that. He scaled down the side of the building and jogged over to where he had stashed his bike during his previous fight. He threw his leg over the seat and kicked his bike into gear, "on way to the location. Couple of minutes out"
With a rev he spun his bike around and took off towards the plunging shadow. As soon as he had veered around the first corner there was a reverberating crash that seemed to vibrate through his entire body - it was far louder than expected with how far Jason still was from reaching his destination.
He raced through the streets, twisting and turning around every corner and through the alleys trying to arrive as fast as he could. He took the last turn so fast that his knee almost scraped the road with the way he leaned into it. As he came up to the entrance of the alley where the crash had occurred he finally dismounted his bike, leaving it hidden behind some boxes to prevent the opportunistic Gothamites from trying to steal it.
As he prepared to confront whatever mystery awaited him he heard Dick announce his plans to help as soon as he could, and Jason mutes his comms to be able to focus on his surroundings as he breaches the entrance of the alley. Jason draws one of his guns slowly makes his way forward looking around for anything out of the ordinary.
He makes it five feet forward before he spots it - the top of a head of brown curls just barely visible over the edge of the dumpster, and the sound of someone hyperventilating as they struggled to get a full breath. He couldn't see enough of them to identify them, but from what they could see the person appeared to be small.
He cleared his throat before cautiously trying to alert the child of his presence, "Hey kid, are you okay?"
With a jump the small form twisted around to stare at him, and Jason was caught off-guard staring into a set of eyes that are so reminiscent of his brother that he himself found it difficult to breathe. The way the curls fell around the child's wide, surprised brown eyes, and the shape of his jaw as it dropped open in surprise. Jason sucked in a breath, trying to keep it from being heard by the suspicious child in front of him, but as the kid's eyes dart towards his chest as it struggles through his wheeze.
The kid's gaze jumped back up to his eyes as he stuttered out with a small voice, "Red Hood?"
This child couldn't possibly be older than six years old, but the way that he glanced around and kept his awareness of his surroundings up seemed to show years of experience with unpleasant situations and danger. With the way that the kid had fallen out of the sky Jason was honestly surprised that he had recognized him - and that he was moving around at all, but that was beside the point - so he lowered his gun trying to keep the situation calm, but still prepared for if anything went wrong, "Yeah, that's right. You know me?"
After that everything seemed to happen in the matter of a couple seconds - there was a whoosh as the kid did something that made the fabric around his shoulders disappeared, and then the kid scrambled off of the dumpster that he had been sitting atop, before he turned away from where Jason was standing and bolted at a frankly unnatural speed to escape.
Jason had barely comprehended what was happening before his legs had already started to propel him after the blur that had already ducked around the corner in front of him. At the speed the kid was running there was no way that he was going to be able to catch up with him, but he had to try. As his feet pounded across the pavement he tried to catch his breath to call out to the child,
"Wait!" but it was no use - the child had already made it through the maze of alleyways and disappeared from view as Jason tried to trail them. He reached up to turn on his comms and call Oracle and Nightwing to request assistance and update them on the boy's shocking appearance. - beep -
"It was a kid. He seemed to recognize me, but took off running." he gasps as he continues to push his body as fast as it can go, "I'm in pursuit. But…. he looked like you Dick"
As he eked out those last words there was a sudden thud directly behind him. Jason whirled around with his gun raised towards the surprise assailant, ready to defend himself, just to come face to face with his brother's masked face.
"He what?"
~~~~
It had been a quiet night and Dick was getting ready to head back to the Manor for the meal that Alfred was sure to have waiting when it happened. Everybody else had already finished their rounds and had headed home, but he had wanted to do one final round of checks first. He jumped from rooftop to rooftop to catch any last crimes, when there was a sudden blinding light coming from the sky. It only lasted a couple seconds, but as it dissipated Dick was able to see a shadow start to fall from the place it had once been. He reached up to his comm and called Red Hood.
"Did you see that? It looked like whatever was falling is hurtling towards your territory, Little Wing"
The roar of Jason's bike came through the earpiece as he responded, "On way to the location. Couple of minutes out"
Dick took off running in the direction of Crime Alley, grappling from roof to roof, flipping through the air with the fluidity of a bird, "I can be there in ten minutes to assist with the situation." he reached up and tapped his comms to switch to the full family channel - beep - "Barbara, please check the cameras surrounding the location we just sent you for any bizarre phenomena"
"On it" came her quick reply and the tapping of her fingers racing across her keyboard as the sound cut back out.
With every flip through the air Dick felt the air flowing across his skin, embracing him as he moved as if he was one with it. Years of training his acrobatic skills had made it seem effortless as he crossed the distance to his brother. He was just glad that the rest of the family had already headed back to the Manor, so that he only had to worry about protecting the one brother - and the fact that Jason had become so strong and had become a crime boss with his own power lessened his anxiety a smidgen as he raced across the town.
Dick had always looked out for all the younger Robins that had come after him, doing everything in his power to prevent what had happened to Jason from ever happening to another, but he also felt an ache to save the family he had gained after so much loss. So many years he had hidden this fear beneath his sarcastic comments and teasing quips, but family was the defining factor of who he was.
As Dick finally reached the location Jason had pinged he heard the sound of Red Hood's boots clomping through the streets chasing something. He turned to head in the direction of the footfalls and sees a small blur moving too fast to be a normal human going in and out of the alleys up ahead. Jason appears in his field of vision in apparent pursuit of the blur just before his comms beep with an incoming message -
"It was a kid. He seemed to recognize me, but took off running. I'm in pursuit."
Dick reached the edge of the roof right above where Jason had stopped to turn back and forth searching for the apparent child.
"But…. he looked like you Dick"
With a thud Dick jumped from the roof and landed mere feet behind where Jason was standing, the shock of what he had heard ringing through his head as he tried to understand what he had just heard.
"He what?" Dick asked, his voice flat as he tried to stay in control of himself, even though every inch of his body was suddenly on high alert and aching to take off after the new possibility. He kept his face calm as he stared directly at Jason who was now aiming a gun directly at his chest after the shock of his sudden appearance. As they made eye contact Jason reholstered his gun and started looking all around, searching for any signs as to where the child had disappeared to.
"Oracle, I lost visual, are you able to find them on the cameras?"
The reply came after a moment, accompanied with a defeated sigh, "Apart from a very blurry shot from right when he left the alley, the kid managed to avoid being caught by any of the other cameras around."
Ugh, why are they ignoring me
Dick grabbed Jason and spun him back around so that there was no escape from his probing questions, and demanded,
"Jason. What do you mean he looked like me? Like a clone?"
"No, not really like a clone - his hair was way lighter and his eyes were brown, but everything else was like looking at a young you."
"Like if he was my kid?"
Jason averted his eyes, still searching for any evidence,
"Yea. Like he was your kid"
Dick's vision narrowed down until all he could see was the red of the bat across his brother's chest.
a son…. there was a child that just fell out of the sky that could be his kid….
"We have to find him. Where did he go?" Dick was starting to panic, spinning around and running back and forth without a plan trying to find any ideas to the location of the mystery he ached to solve.
Oracle's voice chirped through both of their earpieces,
"There's no sign of him anywhere, but I've set up an alert for partial facial recognition from the blurry photo I did get so we'll know as soon as he passes in front of any of my cameras."
Jason shrugs Dick's hands off his shoulders and instead reaches out to place his hand across the back of Dick's neck, "we'll find him Dicky. For now though there's nothing we can do except wait. Let's get you back to the Manor."