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The sensation was still strange but he knew what happened now. The same circle of light and the same feelings of… How could he describe it… easy uneasiness? His body felt the change but it was nice enough that it didn’t make him feel all alert from dangers.
It happened while he was on patrol this time, on a roof while still dressed in his Red robin costume. He looked around him and frowned. He checked the time on his arm computer and was surprised to see it was still the same time as in his original world this time. A look down the building he was on told him the same bank robbery he was working on wasn’t happening there, he hoped Spoiler and Black Bat would be able to deal with it without him there.
Another look around informed him that no vigilante was working in this area tonight, it must have been a quiet night in this world. He really hoped it was the same world as last time. They told him they never had the same hopper twice but Tim really didn’t want to be lost in another world again.
He sighed and resigned himself to start investigating. Last time, his credit card worked in this world, maybe he could try his coms this time… He crouched down and pressed on his earpiece.
“RR here, does anyone copy?”
A familiar voice answered a few seconds later.
“Who the fuck is RR?”
Tim smiled, Jason wasn’t more polite here.
“Language, Phoenix.”
Tim smiled even more at Batman’s voice but frowned back at the surname. Phoenix? Why… Oh! Jason didn’t die in this universe, he never became Red hood… So he was Phoenix here? Tim’s curiosity flared up to know the origin of this name. A Phoenix was an immortal bird, capable of just being reborn from its ashes after death. Did he almost die here? Was he attacked by the Joker too but Batman was able to save him on time? Did he-
His reflexions were cut by another familiar voice.
“How did you find this frequency?” It was strange to hear Timothy’s voice in his ear, like listening to a recording of his own voice.
He smiled again while answering. “It’s the same in my world.”
“Oh. I see.”
He could have been more clear but just imagining them talking animatedly together about him on another private frequency was enough to make him chuckle.
“What’s so funny, Squatter?”
“Your face, J.” He deadpanned and chuckled more hearing Jason swear. “I'm not moving, I’m above the Empire Bank on the 3rd, there was a robbery there in my world when I hopped here.”
“Just to be sure,” Dick’s voice this time, Tim smiled again, happy to know his brother was there even if it wasn’t really his brother, “you're one of us from another dimension?”
“Yup, Red Robin here. I’ll tell you more once you’re there.”
“Red Robin? That’s a fucking lame name. What are you? A Power Ranger? There’s a Blue and a Yellow Robin somewhere? A Pink Robin?”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Fuck you, I took the costume from another you so you’re just beating yourself there.”
Jason swore again. “I hate you.”
“Love you too, Bro.”
Tim was glad his relationship with his brother was better in his own world now or it would have been really less fun to mess with this Jason.
“Not your bro.”
“In my world, we're bro, Bro.”
A feminine voice snorted loudly and Tim smirked. He loved making Steph laugh, even after their breakup.
He stood up when he heard some footsteps around him and smiled even if he was surrounded. Batman was there, just in front of him, with Nightwing and Phoenix flanking him. Robin and Spoiler were to his left but Black Bat was nowhere to be seen, even if he searched in the shadows.
They looked almost as in his own world, if a little less updated. Except Jason. His Phoenix costume was strangely close to Batman's build except in black with red orange flames on the limbs, without cape. He did have a red bat on his chest, but the design was less bulky, more fluid, closer to a stylized phoenix instead of a bat.
The differences in all the costumes were so fascinating but a light cough from Dick, who was visibly refraining to smile, made him stop gawking.
“Hey.” He awkwardly waved, trying to keep his posture non threatening while still staying ready to defend himself if needed. “I really hope it’s the same universe as last time, I really don’t want to have to deal with it if the dimension Hopping comes from me and not your universe.”
Robin straightened up, and it was somewhat heartbreaking to see one of himself still in the costume, even if there were obvious differences. “You've already traveled? When?”
“Almost a month ago. Same M.O., a sudden portal around me and I was in the same street but not at the same time. It's different now, for the time.”
He frowned as he looked again at his bat computer. He really regretted not being able to check it last time, his phone doesn't have the same possibilities to scan his environment.
“Oh, he's really from a bat family, look at the little bats in the corner!”
Tim started, Stephanie had managed to sneak up near him and was looking at his screen for clues.
“Uh, er… Well, yes, I'm a… bat vigilante? Wasn’t it obvious?”
Dick answered while tapping his chest. “No Bat insignia there, buddy.”
“Well, Robin doesn't have one either.” He felt strangely defensive there, crossing his arms he knew that his Red Robin persona wasn't made at the best time in his relationship with the other bats but they were still family. “And Spoiler didn't have one for a long time.”
Spoiler poked his cheek. “Now I see the family resemblance! You pout like B.”
"I don't pout." Tim and Batman said at the same time.
The whole group, except Tim and Batman, lost it and laughter echoed all around.
"That's the best, B!" Nightwing managed to say between rounds of laughter while taking support on his shoulder.
"Let's go to the cave."
Batman stepped away from Nightwing with no regret to let him stumble without his support and threw himself down the building, the "swish" sound of his grappling quickly heard.
Tim smiled seeing that no one seemed hurt by B. leaving so abruptly and all of them followed soon after.
Spoiler smiled at him before leaving. "Sorry Red, it was just too easy!" She winked and let herself fall backward. Tim wondered if it was to see if he would be afraid for her but her laugh when she made her first swing confirmed it was just the normal adrenaline junkie way all Bat vigilantes had. Dick really wasn't a good example this way for the following Robins.
Robin stayed next to him and smiled a little. Tim smiled back and wondered to his counterpart. "Do you think they'll realize they left behind the anomaly in their universe? I don't think they trust me this much already."
Robin laughed and shook his head. "Yeah, I don't think so either. But I do believe they trust me to keep you from doing anything nefarious."
Tim laughed and answered before jumping after the rest of the team. "Okay, I see, I'll refrain from nefariousity just for you then!"
He swung after everyone, with a little Woop! to be able to visit this new city from the rooftops.
Tim always loved Gotham, with her gothic atmosphere, her gargoyles and her grumpy inhabitants. With all his adventures, he visited so many cities but he never felt more at home than in Gotham. He looked at Robin while swinging and remembered this was a Timothy Drake that managed to marry Conner Kent and he didn't ask but it was implied that they both lived in Drake Manor. He wondered how Kon was doing with the lack of sunlight in Gotham, did he fly every morning above the clouds to take a sunbath? Or maybe he was just working in another city and was able to take his UV quotient there... Would his own Kon accept to live with him in Gotham if they managed to get together? Tim would not go to live in Kansas, no way. His job at Wayne Enterprises could be done in a remote way but not for everything. Bruce managed to skip a lot of meetings but Tim didn't have his charisma and he would not keep the loyalty of the council so easily, even with Lucius' support.
He let out a long sigh when he landed on a rooftop that even Robin was able to hear.
"A problem?"
"Uh? Oh, nothing, I was just thinking of remote work."
Even with the domino mask, Robin's eyebrow could be seen high raised above it.
Tim blushed and shook his head. "Nothing important. We should get going before they lose us."
"We're almost at Red Bird, you'll ride with me, it'll be faster."
Tim smiled and nodded. "Thanks."
Even if it wasn't his own car, it was a pleasure to see his beloved mechanical beast and ride it, even as a passenger. They reached the Batcave in no time and the other vigilantes were already at the report table, Batman presiding over it as always.
They trotted to them and Robin took his place, leaving Tim feeling inadequate in this far too close from his reality decor. He could see now why his teammates always said that his family was scary. He could understand it while being a part of it but feeling all the blank stares of the Bat vigilantes on him at the same time, while not knowing if he should sit or stay up as if he was doing a presentation in high school, was really _really_ unpleasant. And scary. And did he mention terrifying? Yeah, terrifying too.
"Hm." He hummed while fixing Batman, waiting for any input of what he should do.
"Just sit down, Rookie. And stop glaring at him, B, we all know you're just searching how you could finally manage to adopt a Tim."
Phoenix's shout made Tim cough a laugh and he sat next to Robin who was rolling his eyes.
"Thanks but I already have a Bat-dad. He's not perfect but I quite like him."
Batman grunted but his shoulders relaxed minutely. "So you're a Tim Drake."
Tim nodded and quickly took off his domino. No need for it if they were on a name basis now. "Tim Drake-Wayne. Bruce adopted me after my dad died."
Batman glared at his Robin who just sighed. "No need to glare, B, I'm quite happily emancipated. And married already." The stuck-out tongue was a little childish seeing the topic but Tim couldn't help laughing at their antics.
Dick had followed him in his domino-free fashion and Tim mentally thanked him. "So tell us, how many kids has your B has managed to get his hands on?"
"Ew, Dickie, you make it sound so gross." Jason soon followed to take off his mask while pushing his brother away.
Tim shook his head in amusement and had to count. How many were there now... Dick, Jason, himself, Cassandra, Damian... Did Duke count even if it's just guardianship? Let's say yes.
"Officially, six."
"Uh? I would have thought more for a Bats that managed to convince you."
"Hm, I'd say ten if you count the ones B would like to adopt but are still adamant slash reluctant to accept."
Jason snorted. "That's more like it."
Tim could almost see Batman ears peak up at this.
"I know we have a whole protocol about not knowing what's happening in other worlds for not influencing our world, blablabla, but I'm really curious about our alternate siblings there!" Stephanie was almost lying on the table to see him better and Tim could just stare at her in horror and whisper.
"Oh no... He got you?"
Dick and Jason just laughed out loud as Stephanie recoiled. "What? I'm not a Bat-kid in your world?"
"No, no, you are Bat family, as Spoiler and even Batgirl! But my Steph is adamant not to accept Bruce's offer! And since she's dating Cass, it's better this way, pseudo-incest would not be easy to explain to paparazi." Tim made a face just thinking of what Vicky Vance would say about it if Bruce had managed to adopt Steph before Cass.
Stephanie blinked at him as Timothy was victoriously pointing at them. "See! You don't have to adopt me, you got a daughter there!"
Tim almost giggled. "Well, my Bruce has a daughter too, and I think he's trying to subtly convince her to marry Steph to bring her into the family this way."
"Uh." Both Batman and Steph look confused.
"By the way," he added while pointing at Dick, "you totally ruined his plans when Barbara broke up with you."
"Barbara?" It was Dick's turn to look confused.
"Oh yeah, shit, you don't have an Oracle here." Tim frowned and looked at Batman. "No Batgirl while Dick was still Robin?"
Bruce shook his head. "We never had a Batgirl here."
Tim's eyes widened in shock. "Wow. Then who... How... Wow. Damn, it's really not the same world..."
"Yeah, it's really not if your Bruce lets you swear like that without saying anything." Jason was glaring at his father who just ignored him.
Batman's stare on Tim was making him starting to regret talking so much. He could almost see Bruce's brain reeling, there must not be a lot of Barbara he knew about. Close enough to this kind of life to maybe become Batgirl. Shit, he really hoped Bruce wouldn't try to reach out to this Barbara if whe managed to stay out of the costume and far from the Joker.
"Er, hm, actually, we didn't clear out if it was really the same world I was there last time." He managed to get out while turning towards Robin. "Have we met for coffee almost a month ago? At the... Actually, I don't know the name of the coffee shop..." He frowned again, wasn't there a sign above the door? He couldn't remember.
"Hm... I did meet a Timothy Drake-Wayne there... Could you remember what we've talked about?"
Tim smiled and huffed a laugh. "I remember your Kon being adamant that I ask my Kon out, because the statistics don't lie."
"So it's really you!" Timothy's smile widened. "I had a hunch that it was you but you didn't told us about your... vigilante persona."
Tim nodded. "It didn't really enter the conversation then. But I remember you told me that you never had the same hopper twice."
Bruce answered. "If you mean traveller, yes, it's a first occurance."
Tim smirked. "Still prefer _hopper_, and Bart agreed with me. Wally too."
Dick frowned. "You talked to Impulse and Flash about this?"
"Of course, dimension and time hopping are a little of their specialties, no? And they're easy to reach most of the time, not like Atom or Mister Terrific. I hate having to take an appointment with the JLA science team just to ask a question, it's easier to just ask Wally and he can ask them at their next meeting." He felt the weigh of their gazes and cringed at their expressions. "Please don't tell me the Justice League doesn't exist here."
"It does." Jason answered. "But they don't have a science team." He turned to Bruce with a questionning look.
"We don't... But I'll add it to the next meeting check list."
Tim let out a relived sigh. "You know, if the Justice League didn't exist, I wouldn't have left this world without you founding it again. It's far too needed even if it's a nest of gossipers."
The Robins, ex- and present, all snorted and even with the cowl, Tim could see Batman roll his eyes.
"You haven't ask the League about your hopping problem here?"
"It... only happened in Gotham for now."
"And? It's still a multiverse threat, no?"
"Good luck convincing him of this." Jason snickered. "What happens in Gotham, stays in Gotham."
"Really, B?" Tim looked at him, unimpressed, before signing. "Good thing I did it then, I have all the reports Wally was able to get me here."
He opened his Bat-computer again and, with a small manipulation, was able to project everything on the middle of the table.
"Here, they managed to isolate the fleeting particules still on me when I came back and we were starting to retro-engineer a portal gun thanks to the documents you gave me back then." He smiled to Timothy and brought out the plans they were working on. "Kon had found some Star Lab plans about the dfferent Gemworld entries before so we were trying to see if it was a similar situation or not. But it's still a long work before it could be tested anyway. I really didn't think it would happened to me again so soon."
"It's maybe _beccause_ you were working on it on your side too that it happened?" Dick was already browsing the documents and showing Bruce what he found interesting.
"Maybe. We'll have to see if it happens again after I go back home. You still have your Bat-portal?"
Jason got up and went to the Bat computer before coming back to the table to put the strange device Tim used last time on it. "Here, it's fully charged, we could send you back there in a blip."
Tim was ready to take it when Jason used a finger to keep it out of reach.
"Hnhn, no touching our tech."
Tim pouted. "But I work better if I can touch."
"Really? So no Bondage for little Timmy?"
"Ugh, gross, Jay!" Stephanie sent him a Spoilerang that he evaded easily and hit the rock behind with a little ‘plick’.
Jason just chuckled and looked back at Batman. "So? We're zapping him away?"
"It would be the best thing to do."
Jason closed his eyes and tried to retain his annoyance. "And you'll not do it why?"
"We need to know more. We always focused on how to bring the travelers back home but there, we have one that came back and tried to find out why the portals happened. If he's willing to stay a little longer, we could work with him and find the source to stop all this."
They all turned towards Tim who crossed his arms and looked serious.
"On one condition."
"If it's in our possibilities."
Tim smirked.
"I'll have to touch your things."
Jason groaned as Dick and Steph laughed and Timothy raised his hand for a high five that Tim gave him without needing to look. He could see the corner of Batman's mouth raise just a little and internally made a whooping sound.
"It could be arranged. If you promise not to try to dismantle them."
"Deal."
Tim grinned and they all got up to the Bat computer. Here too, the technology was close but looking a little less advanced than his.
"Let me just..."
He opened his own Bat computer and managed to log easily inside the Bat Network.
He felt a little grief seeing it so open, not protected by Babs layers of redirections and firewalls.
"Here, I've shared everything I have."
Batman opened the files on the big screens and started to conjecture about the sources until Steph's voice interrupted them.
"Uh, B? Is it normal that the map blinks like a Christmas Tree?"
The boys turned towards it and they could see several red dots blinking all over Gotham.
"Uh, what's that supposed to indicate?" Tim asked, but he had a hunch already.
"All the portals opening, we managed to isolate the wavelength for them and track them." Timothy answered. "That's how we knew of travelers even if they didn't manage to find us first..."
"And it already blinked like that before?"
"Only once at a time." Dick answered, arms crossed and eyebrows frowned.
"Since this Tim came back,” Stephanie said, voice filled with curiosity, “do you think all the others are coming back too?"
"Fuck, I hope not!" Jason groaned. "I can't deal with JJ again."
All the Bat-family groaned with him, Batman included, and Tim felt quite alone in his confusion.
"JJ?"
"Joker Junior. A Joker mind-bended Tim."
All color drained from Tim's face.
"Oh." He really didn't want to remember about this time...
Jason squinted at him, seemingly seeing it on his face, and taking a fighting stance immediately. "It happened to you too?"
"Not like that!" Tim defended himself, hands raised in a sign of peace. "I didn't go crazy but Batman... only found me after 2 weeks. I was lucky to survive but rehab from Joker Venom, it’s a bitch. Only good thing out of it is I'm quite immune to it now."
It was best to minimize it, he couldn't make them too suspicious of him, they were the only way for him to go back home now.
He couldn't tell them how he almost believed everything the Joker told him then...
Batman put a hand on Tim's shoulder and the weight of this big hand made him relax right away.
His relationship with his adopted father wasn't always stable but there was something so reassuring in Bruce's big frame, even if this one still hadn't taken off his cowl.
Timothy put his hand on his arm too, a show of support even if he must not have lived it and couldn't really understand. Kon surely must have been there to save him from the Joker in this world...
Tim sighed and brought back his Red Robin's persona. "So what are we doing with all this?"
Dick was already studying the map and the different views he could have from the city street cameras.
"For now, I've counted six different travelers, including you. Two of the others are visibly Tims."
"Only two?" Jason leaned over his shoulder to look at the maps too. "You didn't find the others or there are Kons too again?"
"Couldn't find them. Either they were lucky or they deliberately evaded the cameras."
“Freaking paranoiacs." Stephanie mockingly grunted to her friend as Timothy shrugged.
"Are we trying to find them or-"
The Batcave alarms cut him and they all took a defensive stance that Robin lost first when a blur of red and blue appeared in the middle of the down floor.
"Kon!"
Kon-El hovered just above the metal floor and his smile to his husband was blinding but not enough for Tim to not notice the differences in costume in comparison to his own Superboy.
He had a cool leather vest too but his suit under was simpler, blue with only big red stars on the flanks of his hips, and little stars that were stamped all around his legs too.
The S shield was red against his chest and on each shoulder of the vest but he didn’t have any pike over them. He was also sporting sunglasses in the shape of stars that were just ridiculous enough that they could be seen as cool.
It was really strange to see him in this suit, it was him but not him at all and it made it easier for Tim to separate him from his own best friend.
The other strange thing was the young man in Kon's arms that the half-Kryptonian gently dropped on the floor.
"You can cut the alarms, they detected him." Kon told them with a wince.
The piercing noise must have been a horror on his super hearing and he visibly relaxed when Jason cut the sound from the computer.
"I found him on the street when I was going home. Something to tell me?" His eyes went to Tim and squinted suspiciously.
"We have an invasion and you've found one of our invaders." Stephanie joked.
"I'm more of a reluctant kidnappee type." The newcomer answered with a teasing smile. "If I wanted to invade you, I would have started with your network already."
"Oh, I remember you! I was the one to welcome you, no? You're Seer!" Dick didn't hesitate to jog to him and take him in a big hug. "I'm glad you're here, I'm sure you could help us!"
Tim frowned, the young man was clearly a Timothy Drake from another universe too but the name...
"Are you working with Oracle?"
Seer looked at him in surprise, still trapped in Dick's octopus hug and nodded. "Yes, since I can't patrol anymore, I've taken a support role too. She's supervising the Birds of Prey more often now while I take care of the family."
"You can't patrol anymore?" Timothy walked toward him with the rest of the family, all of them curious.
"Yes, because of this." He tapped his thigh and a metallic sound was heard under the clothe. "A bad encounter with the Penguin and no more leg,” he shrugged, “I have a good prosthetic but not strong enough for a real patrol."
Tim looked at the leg with horror before managing to mask his feelings and he could see Seer close himself off in front of his reaction.
"I'm okay, I'm alive and I still help so... Not a bad life."
"Still a Bat-life." Stephanie nodded with a smile. "I don't know who this Oracle is but this Robin said her name at least twice already so she must be really badass. So you too if you work with her."
Seer's smile was more natural after this and the conversation would have reached a lull if Batman didn't took his turn.
"Have you seen any other "you" out there?"
"Uh? You mean there are more?!" Kon exclaimed as his husband rolled his eyes, whispering “What haven’t you understood in the word _invasion_”?”
Seer shook his head. "No, I've only met Superboy here tonight. I was surprised to see him in Gotham, he's not the kind to in my world."
"Mine either, he's far too afraid of Batman to even try to knock on the Manor's door." Tim added with a smile to Seer, hopping that a shared experience could better their relationship.
"That's because I'm no Superboy." Kon answered with boasting, making a pose and floating in a slow circle to show off his whole uniform. "I'm Supernova!"
"Oh! that's why all the stars!" Tim understood. "That's quite clever. And since you weren't raised by Clark, you don't have this whole "I'm the next Superman" stick anymore and that's good for you. Meeting Jon was _not_ a good time for my Kon."
"Jon?" Kon leaned over him with a curious look.
Tim made a face and shrugged. "Uh, spoilers?"
"Nope, that's my line! Come on, we already know your world is far from ours, you can tell us." Stephanie was almost vibrating from anticipation.
Tim bit his lips and looked at Batman for his validation. He was really surprised that this Bruce looked as curious as his kids.
"In my world, Jon is Clark and Lois' son." He Answered in a soft voice.
All the Bat-family gasped and turned to Batman who looked frozen.
Even with just the bottom part of his face showing, they could see how pale he had become.
"B, it’s the multiverse, you know it’s not…" Dick went to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"Oh. Oh! Oh my god! SuperBat is real here?!" Seer exclaimed with unaltered joy.
Tim's eyes widened in shock and he looked back to Bruce and his kids and it was his turn to gasp. "What the fuck?! Oh my god, that explains so much!" He looked at Jason. "That's why you didn't die! Supes was there to help you, no?" Then without waiting for Jason's answer, he looked at Kon. "And that's why you're allowed in Gotham with no problem!" He turned to Seer and looked as enthousiast as him by the situation. "This world looks far less generally violent than mine too. I think even Babs didn't feel the need to become Batgirl. The fanfictions were true, gay love saved the day!"
Seer laughed out loud with him. "Oh my god, I can't believe it, in my world, they always were so... so close but not so at the same time and, there's Lois, and Selina and... and still Talia sometimes, but I always believed there was something, I'm so glad I was right!"
"Hn!" Tim nodded. "My Bruce is head over heels in love with Selina, they may or may not be secretly married but I'm almost sure there was something between Clark and him in the past."
They both stopped when Jason coughed loudly to get their attention. "Could you not have this conversation in front of our freaking dad?"
"Oh, sorry." They both turned to Batman who was looking better if not a little confused by their enthusiasm.
Tim couldn’t even feel guilty, he had just heard Jason Todd call Batman dad in public!
"SuperBat was one of my hobbies before... All this." Seer explained, showing the BatCave with his hand, "it stayed with me even after I became Robin but I respect Bruce too much to try to meddle in his love life. It's just... nice to see my headcanon true somewhere. Sorry."
Dick looked between his father and Seer and frowned. "Are you telling us that..." His frown changed into a big smile. "You wrote fanfictions about them together before becoming Robin?"
Seer blushed darkly, up to his ears, and shrugged. "They're technically not your Batman and Superman?"
Stephanie, Timothy and Kon bursted out laughing and Bruce just let out a long, very long sigh.
The alarm went off again and they all looked around, Kon flying over the cave even if the sound coiled around his ears.
They were ready to strike again, Tim having taken place in front of Seer to protect him when a loud laugh was heard.
“Oh my fucking god, there really is a Bat-Cave!"
Two other Timothy Jackson Drake were walking towards them, one wearing civilian clothes, a nice shirt and some comfortable looking pants, the other dressed as if he had just gotten out of a BDSM club, all leather from head to toe.
They all relaxed when the first Tim raised his hands in a sign of peace.
"We come in peace. The outdoor panel didn't recognise my fingerprints or eye so I thought it would be better to warn you that we were coming in with the alarms."
"I could have opened it without any problem, you know. You would have never seen me coming~~" The second Tim added.
"Great, two more. How many others left?" Jason raised his arms in angry defeat as he climbed back to the computer to stop the alarms again.
"There were six including the first Tim so... Two more?" Dick answered.
"Fuck, tell me we'll have a drink after all this, that's far two many Timmies for a day."
The two new Tims were slowly walking to them but the leather-clad one suddenly went and jumped towards the computer, climbing the security barriers to settle on top of them.
"Jay!" He smiled greatly and made a purring sound while checking out Phoenix. "You're not so bad in this world too, very yummy."
"What in the freaking hell do you think you're doing?!" Jason recoiled and banged on the computer behind him.
Tim looked at him with horror in his eyes and checked the original Timothy.
"That's... That's what you said when you told me you met Tim with other Bat-people?"
Timothy was facepalming hard and rubbed his face in his palm before nodding. "Yeah... I prefered forgetting about him but, with our luck, he had to be one to come back."
He shouted to the new Tim. "Stray, leave Phoenix alone, we were clear last time, no inter-universe relationship!"
Stray rolled his eyes and let himself slide from the barrier, ignoring Jason curses against him.
"You're no fun, Timmyboo, has anyone already told you except me? Because it needs repeating."
Now that he was in the middle of them, Tim could see the little black ears that were atop his head, and the leather suit suddenly took sense.
"Oh shit, you're Catwoman's sidekick?"
Stray made a bell sound and finger gunned him. "Bingo! That's one clever Timmy there! It's not as if the whole cat suit wasn't a big clue."
He rolled his eyes again and settled in one of the chairs he got from the table. How he managed to get it without Tim seeing him do, that was a mystery.
He crossed his long legs and Tim could see he was wearing black boots with really high heels to complete his costume.
The other new Timothy sighed again. "He was like that the whole time to reach here. If I didn't feel like he would rob every museum of this world in a second, I would just have left him where I'd found him."
"And where have you found him?" Stephanie asked, looking more amused than most of them.
"I want to say in a dumpster but no, he was just looking around Selina's apartment."
"And I maintain we should have asked her for help instead of those bird idiots." Stray added while pointing at Robin and Supernova.
"This bird idiot helped you go back to your world last time" Robin retorted.
"Yeah, yeah, and we can all see how good a job it was with the multitude of us here."
Timothy looked like he wanted to punch the cat sidekick but Kon had settled next to him and put a hand on his fist to calm him.
"Enough!" Batman's deep voice made them all turn to him. "It's a good thing you both came here, we were planning to look out for you. We'll figure out why you got there back again. It never happened before and six of you traveling at the same time could only mean something bigger is being planned and we'll discover what and how to prevent it."
Most of them nodded and they went back to the planification they wanted to do before being distracted. Jason joined Batman to check the cameras again.
"So we have three birds and a kitten," Stephanie started before looking at the newest Tim. "You're a bird too?"
He shrugged. "Not really, I never was Robin... You can call me Caretaker, that's my codename."
Tim raised an eyebrow at the name, wasn’t that some kind of Villain’s name in his world?
Tim looked all over him and didn’t see anything physically wrong, but this counterpart had a kind of… atmosphere around him that made Tim subconsciously relax.
"Okay... So two birds, a "Caretaker" and a kitten."
"The name's Stray but you can call me your kitten whenever you want, Honey~~"
Tim could see Stephanie's urge for violence rise and he put a hand on her shoulder.
"Have you made a database of every hopper you had?"
Dick nodded. "We made one but it's sporadic at best. We had some... difficulties with the first travelers, like JJ, so we just recorded basic information for the laters before sending them back to their worlds as fast as possible."
"Still a better starting point than nothing."
Batman opened the database on the bat-Computer for them and a page of almost twenty portraits appeared.
Tim waited for more to load but nothing moved and Jason was already opening their files.
"That's all? You have only 18 files there." Tim whispered to Timothy and Kon.
"Yes, how many did you think we have?" They answered in the same low voice.
"I don't know, a hundred? You were talking about it as if it was happening everyday or something like that!"
"Well, it did happen often enough for us to get used to." Kon answered. "Twenty is still a high number of otherworldly visitors."
Tim blinked at him. “So you're telling me your famous TimKon statistics were only based on a 20 something panel?”
Kon shrugged. “We all have to start somewhere.”
"Fuck you. I shouldn't have believed you."
Timothy frowned. "Did something happen in your world because of it?"
"What? Oh, no. But this is really, really not enough data to make a sure hypothesis when there are outliners like that."
He pointed to Stray who had climbed back to the computer and was trying to appeal to Jason again while "helping" fill his own profile.
"You shouldn't worry about a case like him, we don't even know if there's a Kon-El in his world." Kon answered with a wave of his hand towards Stray.
"I can hear you, you know, and all of us here too." Stray answered and, strangely, his cat ears were twitching realistically.
Tim raised his head and yes, all Timothys and more than half the Bat-family were looking at them. Only Batman was typing at the computer into Red Robin's profile with Dick next to him visibly looking like he'd prefer to eavesdrop with his siblings than working on their plan.
Stray added. "I have a Kon-El in my world, he's happily married to Miss Martian,The Martian Hunter's niece."
"Uh. That's a new one." Kon looked confused and Tim could only laugh.
"Come on, let's stop gossiping and start working."
"We can gossip after finding the two other travelers!" Stephanie added as they all climbed to the Bat Computer.
"How can we help?"
Batman looked at Tim and nodded to the screen.
"You can fill out this with as much as you're willing to tell us." Tim nodded and took his place in front of the computer.
"Have you got a laptop I could borrow? I could fill them all easily for you." Seer offered.
Batman nodded to Jason who brought one to him.
"There. It's connected to the same mainframe."
"Thanks." Seer smiled sweetly to Jason who smiled back, making Stray pout and sit heavily next to him.
"I already miss my Jaybird."
Seer took a big inspiration and let it go slowly. "Maybe you could talk to me about him and I'll put it in your file."
"Okay! You'll understand why I miss him so much."
Not far from them, Timothy had managed to find another laptop and was filling Caretaker's file with him and Kon.
Tim smiled to see them all working together like that and focused back to his own file. He reached the point where he had to put on his world's designation and was blocked.
"Hm... When we worked together to get out of Gemworld, the multiverse map we'd found was calling my world as Earth-9999 but I don't know if it's a multiverse truth or if it's just because the map was centered around my will as a user.”
"Let's not fill it for now, we can check it later easily." Seer answered, starting on his own file when he understood Stray would just feed him misinformation.
"Well, it’s not that I'm bored to see so many of you there but maybe we should search for the other two in the city while you nerd out about stats or something." Stephanie suggested.
Phoenix immediately took the opportunity, as Stray was slowly going back to him. "Yep! Good idea! Four little birds down, two to go!"
"Actually, only one."
They all flinched from the deep voice they heard at the entrance of the cave. A dark silhouette was drawn by the dim lights.
The man was wearing a cowl and a black trench coat with a red collar and a large red V drawn on his chest.
Two heavy guns were strapped to his belt where a stylized S was carved in the middle.
Tim groaned.
"Oh fuck me, I should have known it was your fault!"
*****