Chapter 5
Wally didn't seem to understand just how much he underestimated these guys, sure Robins always been good at stealth, he should've expected his excessors to be just as good but it's been nearly an hour and they've had no luck.
The two of them had run into Artemis and Kaldur a little ways back and they both had no progress in the other rooms. They checked in with M'gann and Conner just before us and they also hadn't found anyone, but knowing those two they probably spent more time talking then searching. It felt like they completely disappeared in the mountain's walls. Which for all they knew they totally could've and god Wally was personally praying they weren't completely lost cause how were they going to explain that to the league?
When Wally and Dick reached one of the last places they wanted to visit, the boiling room, they didn't exactly expect to find anyone around there. First of all It was dirty, like beyond dirty, did superheroes not know what cleaning products were? Definitely hasn't been opened in a while and the air was musty and just over all too gross for the two of them. The walls were practically dripping with gunk and god knows it was unsanitary.
Robin all of a sudden stopped in place and turned to Wally, looking more than annoyed. "Dude stop breathing down my neck like that" he groaned.
"I can't help it, I swear I just saw a rat-!" Wally yelped, grabbing onto Robin's shoulders and dramatically shaking him back and forth, using the shorter boy as a human shield.
"You fight bad guys! Why would a rat scare you!?"
"I don't know! Why do we even need to check this room"
Dick scoffed and shrugged off Wally's hold on him. "For the vents dude" he said like it was the most obvious reason to be in such a dump. Wally whimpered in response as he watched Dick jump up and worked on opening the vents, "Besides, they could be in here too, look around or something, I don't know" Robin complained, Wally nodded and looked through at all the gross webs around the room, imagining all the types of spiders they could find, or bats, god he hoped there were no bats in here. Batman didn't have pets right?
-
Jason hummed to himself, getting bored. He had the great idea to hide somewhere inconspicuous, ya know the opposite of go big go home. So when he saw a nice small living area with a huge couch he knew immediately he had to find a way to fit under it.
At first he thought it was a great idea, right? Now, not so much. He felt cramped and tired. It's been over an hour and no one has even come into the room he was in, he was starting to think running back to around the starting area was a bad idea, or good idea? Whatever the point is, he was hungry.
He saw a kitchen area earlier, maybe they had stocked up on food or something, one of those aliens had to have lived here or something. Then again he'd totally get caught if he moved now and he didn't want to get caught just yet.
Sooner or later he felt his hunger getting the best of him and he peaked out from under the couch. Guessing it couldn't possibly hurt to check out the area he made his way over to the kitchen. What kind of snacks did heroes eat anyways?
The kitchen area seemed to be totally blown over, neglected pots and pans scattered everywhere, burnt cookies peeking out the trash. He couldn't seem to find any snacks besides cookie batter or cake batter, seriously someone needed to get these kids on a proper diet. Then he finally made his way over to the fridge. Which contained a single, probably raw, tomato and a huge chunk of raw meat with a badly written note signed for someone named dodge? Dog? Someone needs to head back to school.
He sighed closing the door, being careful to not totally slam it shut and notify all the super dweebs where he was. He thought to himself about the fact he was not only alone playing some stupid game but also hungry and tired. Maybe he should go find his brothers and annoy them. The game be damned.
-
Tim slowly opened his eyes and was met with dust particles floating in the dark air. He realized he was the first to awaken in the small amount of space they had, granted Damian was probably much better off then him in the tiny crawl space. He honestly expected to be alone or to at least wake up with a knife in his side but to his surprise his smaller brother's form was still planted gently into his side.
In an attempt to awaken Damian, without getting hurt in the process. Tim carefully and gently tapped the younger boy's shoulders, and waited for a reaction from him.
When nothing came he tapped again and this time he heard Damian mumble a few words, though he could barely hear, he swore he heard his own name. He sighed, none of this was working. So he started to shake the boy awake.
"Mpph-" Damian grunted, finally opening his eyes, rubbing them as well for good measure. Probably wondering why in the world he felt so warm or comfortable in such a tiny space. Then the moment was over as Damian looked over to Tim as if the man had just killed the gods and grumbled out, "Touch me again and I'll-" yet before he could finish his sentence Tim hushed him shut.
An echo of footsteps was heard from the bottom of the vent and the two shared a look. "Someone is under us" Tim whispered, making sure to quietly pull away from Damian, who nodded in response. "Nice observation idiot" Damian mumbled but otherwise didn't seem to move, "What do we do?" he then asked.
Tim almost laughed at how much like a kid Damian sounded in that moment, he was even childishly staring at Tim like a lost child. Then it hit him that Damian probably was a little lost and just waking up, and waking up in a vent probably wasn't the best idea neither was sleeping in one. So he hummed in response and smiled to himself, "Wanna jump 'em?" he asked, watching as Damians eyes lit up in excitement, "Yes" the other boy responded.
The two of them moved further back from the spots they were in and settled down, listening for a few moments. Tim moved his staff over the top of the vent floor, ready to break in the bottom half of the gray floor they were sitting on. "Ready?" he asked quietly, and when he saw Damians nod, he started a small countdown.
"One.. two.." he whispered, then looked up at Damian one last time, "Three!" he shouted, and responded by quickly pounding the bottom of his staff onto the metal floor frame, knocking the both of them down and onto whoever it was to be careless enough to be walking under them.
-
Robin started to get tired of looking through yet another vent area with his flashlight. Firstly the entire area just looked totally abandoned and he wasn't up for crawling in any more small spaces today, he wasn't happy with it in the first place. He shined his light on one of the spider webs and watched as the small spider crawled away at the sight of it, then softly sighed to himself. This was so stupid, this entire situation was stupid. How was he supposed to react to the fact he had brothers in the future? Was he supposed to be happy or something? He just hopes Batman figures out a way to send them home soon so he doesn't have to deal with the brain damage they were giving him anymore.
"Wally, man you got anything yet?" Dick questioned, leaning outside the vent and turning his attention towards the other male, who was currently using his watch to look through the security cameras. Normally that was his job but Wally seemed anxious about the whole room and it was seriously starting to annoy him. Plus his insecurities were just flailing everywhere. Wally was always like that when he wasn't busy doing something.
"Hush Rob, I can't hear anything with you making all that noise!" Wally complained.
Dick clicked his tongue, "It's not like it runs on noise."
Wally chuckled, "Okay okay fine, but seriously no, nothing, it's like they're completely invisible.. They can't do that right?"
"Really?" Dick sighed, jumping off the boxes he was stationed on and heading towards Wally, snatching the watch away. Wally frowned but watched as Dick went through all the cameras a second time.
"I'm just saying, we barely know anything about those guys.. They're like Batman level mysterious" he said. Dick seemed to pause for a second before going back to work on the cameras, because Wally was right they were mysterious. Hell all they knew were the guys' names. If that short one really was Bruce's kid..
"Hey! I think I just saw that vent move dude!" Wally yelped, snapping him from his thoughts. The ginger pointed outside the hall and over in the room they did combat practice in.
Dick peaked over and didn't really see anything worth wild, and he was kind of doubting Wally today when it came to seeing things, just like he saw a 'bat' earlier in the boiler room. "It could just be the others," he replied.
"Come on dude please check, I don't feel like getting attacked by any more bats today" Wally whined.
Dick sighed in annoyance but started over to the area anyway, looking up at a tiny dent in the metal. Hm, maybe Wally was right? He wondered. He was about to get a stool so he could check them when he heard a quiet banging from the inside of it echo out.
Surprised he took a step back, "Wally I think the thing is gonna-"
Suddenly a large bang rang through the room and Dick felt something crash into him sending him falling to the floor. It was very obviously two people who fell on top of him but he was unable to make out who it was.
"Move it boy blunder" Artemis yelped annoyed.
Dick was then meant with the apologetic look of Kaldur who pulled himself off of him and then helped Artemis up after as well, "Apologies, we were checking in the vents here, and we heard a noise, I didn't realize it was you." Dick watched as Artemis fixed her hair then reached over and held out a hand, pulling him up along with her when he grabbed it.
Wally started over, laughing on the way, "So you attacked him? Who knew you were so unhinged man" he chuckled, patting Kaldur on the back roughly.
Artemis scoffed, "Shut it baywatch, it was my idea."
Kaldur shook his head in disappointment, he then started saying "I think we should-" but was cut off by a loud scream from the other direction. It was as if someone was screaming bloody murder. Dick looked over to Kaldur who nodded, the group ran in the direction of the screams.
They reached the kitchen when they heard the yelling calm down, "Get off of me you demon!" Jason yelled, pushing Damian off of his chest and onto the floor below, "Can you guys shut up! We're going to get caught!" Tim said, slapping the two on the head.
"Ugh whatever," Jason grumbled, slapping away Tims hand. Then harshly pushing the other away from him. "Tt, troublesome" Damian growled, picking himself off the floor and pulling away from the other boy. They all remained standing, trying to quiet down before noticing the new group entering the kitchen.
"Ugh I told you they'd hear us!" Tim yelled pointing to Jason who stuttered in response, "Not my fault the brat fell on me!"
Wally smiled and sped over to the group, "Ha! See what did I say? This would have been easy!" The speedster said confidently. Artemis looked over at the boys standing before her, covered in dust and surrounded by a mess of metal and broken ceiling. "Huh.. I expected more" she said, scoffing as Wally happily danced by her, gloating away their victory.
"The nerd and demon attacked me! What was I supposed to do!" Jason grumbled, glaring down at the two perpetrators. Tim moved to the side embarrassed but watched as Damian returned the glare head on. "Will you stop it, it's not like we'd be hidden forever anyway, Dick would've found us after 2 to 3 days" Tim groaned.
Dick froze a bit at the mention of his name yet again from foriegn faces. They spoke about him like he was some important figure in his life, it was strangely nice.
Wally seemed to stop his gloating at the mention of Robin and turned to the three boys, "No offense, but how is this half pint gonna be able to find you guys" Wally blurted out, ignoring Dicks glare.
Jason seemed to size up Wally, then leaned over and in a cryptic voice whispered, "He knows us, really well actually, he probably keeps personal files on everyone he knows."
Wally shivered, 'personal files' sounded exactly like something Barry mentioned before. Batman kept files on the league before he knew them, he probably still does, it wouldn't be entirely surprising if Robin didn't do the same.
"Oh please, as if I'd keep files on my family" Dick said pointing an accusing finger towards Jason. Who shrugged in response, "I mean maybe you don't.. Yet" he replied.
"Don't talk about me like you know me or something" Dick complained. Jason seemed to pause, along with Tim and Damian. This was weird, an angsty Dick Grayson wasn't too weird actually, but an angsty Dick Grayson the same age as the demon over there? That was unknown territory for them.
Luckily the conversation didn't seem to finish, or even start for that matter, because Conner and M'gann made their way into the kitchen as well followed by Black Canary. She seemed to spot the huge mess on the floor first before anything and frowned.
"I was worried when I heard yelling but it looks like everyones alright" She sighed, "We have more information on your sudden arrival."
That seemed to catch everyone's attention and the room's mood flickered completely. "We do have questions though" she said, she then made a point to look at the others in the room, "Personal questions."
Damian perked up, "The blood test?" he asked, and then sighed when she nodded.
"Come, I will take you to the meeting room, everyone else I'd like to see this mess cleaned up." Although what followed were groans, no one made any complaints, and the three boys followed behind her and left the team to clean up the kitchen which they had left in ruins.
They followed behind Canary for a while, even went through those weird tube machines. So cool by the way Jason had no idea why they didn't have them in their world, personally he thinks it would made those stupid trips he'd take to Gotham much easier.
They finally reached a large door and as they entered they were met with a large gallery of different heroes. All of them seated in their own places at a large table, Canary seemed to nod the boys to the front of the table then walked over and took her place at her own seat at the table. At the end of the table was Bruce, cape and cowl, standing holding papers, which probably held those damn Dna results. Jason totally wasn't ready for the stupid custody battle that was about to take place, and judging from the others faces they weren't either.
Bruce looked directly towards Damian and Jason felt a protective urge to pull the kid behind him and take him away from the staring eyes of the members of the league. "We went over the results and-"
"And the kid's mom is a total baddie? We know" Jason groaned, trying to lighten the room's mood.
Bruce seemed to glare over at him and Jason felt Tim kick him in the leg. "Talia Al Ghul, assassin, member of the league of assassins, daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, was this information not important?"
Damian tiredly looked up and strongly stood his ground, "No, it wasn't, my mother was not a part of our mission, nor the reason we asked for the blood test." he spat.
Bruce's jaw tightened but he nodded, "You were right the test showed you are in fact my child." It was as if he too was just now processing the information. The other leaguers looked a bit surprised by the information as well. He then pulled out the tiny box and placed it on the table, "This is what you were carrying with you?" he asked, although it was definitely a rhetorical question as he kept talking afterwards, "We're still looking into it, but our league's magical members agree it surges and works through technologically advanced magic."
"So what it's.. A magic box?" Jason stupidly asked outloud.
Batman shook his head annoyed, "It's advanced, human even, someone took a magical artifact and advanced it to work as some form of, as you said-"
"Time travel device?" Tim interrupted. Bruce nodded.
"So great, we know what it is, how about how it works?" Jason asked.
A man, who Jason seriously has never seen before, spoke out. "We're not sure yet, we were wondering if you knew any information from when you first activated the device?" they questioned. Jason assumed he was one of the magical users.
"We didn't really activate it per say.." Tim said, "It sort of just turned on."
Bruce nodded, "I see.. if that's the case, it's going to take time for us to figure out how-"
Then there was a loud thud next to Jason, he turned and there on the floor lay Damian, "Shit!" he yelled. "Damian!?" Tim said quickly getting on the floor and grabbing the other boy, who now layed halfway on his lap.
The leaguers sat up abruptly and Batman quickly made his way to the other side of the table. Tim shook his head, "I don't understand, did he faint!?" he panicked. "I- I don't know you're the smart one!" Jason sputtered.
Bruce got down and grabbed Damians arm, ignoring the two panicked boys next to him, his eyes seemed to widen. "His pulse is small, he needs emergency help now, Flash-"
"On it!" the speedster said, rushing over from the otherside of the room.
"Batman! Look!" Catching everyone's attention, Zatara pointed to the small box on the table, which in all the chaos started to repeat its previous actions and blink and flash. Jason's eyes widened.
"Everyone out of the room!" he yelled.
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