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Peter sits on the back of his Tata’s motorcycle, legs crossed as he waits for him to return. Peter is Robin, and usually he’s allowed to fight alongside his Tata when he takes down the bad guys in Gotham. Sometimes though, the bad guys are super bad and when they come across one of them then Peter has to stay away and wait. He can’t wait until he’s bigger and he can fight everyone but he knows that if he’s there then his Tata might be distracted trying to keep him safe and they could both end up hurt because of it. It’s happened before. He thinks though that he’s been a little over protective ever since Peter got back from his adventure in the other universe.
It hadn’t even been that scary. He’d been with Pops the whole time and they hadn’t even run into any bad guys. Peter had been able to make a new friend and he met some pretty cool people. Batgirl had even given him a piece of candy when she’d brought him back home. But either way his Tata had been scared when he’d disappeared and now he was being told to sit back more often. Peter really hated it. He was Robin. He could fight just as well as anyone else and sometimes he even had his energy attacks and if he focused enough he could fly at least short distances.
He was really trying his best to be patient but he had a mission of his own to complete tonight and his Tata was really taking too long. Peter let his feet drop to either side of the motorcycle and pulled the worn looking wallet he’d been holding onto out of the pocket inside his shirt where he’d stashed it for safekeeping. Taking things that didn’t belong to you was bad and Peter had promised himself that he’d return the wallet to it’s rightful owner as quickly as he could. But now his Tata was taking forever to fight the bad guys and Peter was kinda bored of just sitting here waiting. Metropolis wasn’t that far away from Gotham after all. If he could rely on his flying more Peter would just fly over and drop it off. He could probably even be back then before his Tata noticed he’d left. But he’d made that mistake before and then he hadn’t been allowed to go on patrol at all for a long time. So Peter will need to be safer about it if he wants to go on his own.
Technically Peter is too young to drive the motorcycle, his feet don’t even reach the pedals. But the Shrike bike is a super special bike. His Tata built it himself and it does all sorts of cool things. It even has a computer in it that lets it drive itself places in an emergency. There’s technically safeties on it that are supposed to stop it from going anywhere without Shrike but Peter is smart too and he watched the bike get rebuilt last time it got blown up. He pulls one of his knives out of it’s hidden sheath and uses the tip of it to open the panel on the top of the gas tank that hides its computer parts from view. Peter holds his knife with his teeth as he makes a few changes and the bike roars to life beneath him.
“Yesh!” He cheers, pumping a fist in the air and being careful not to cut himself with the knife. He gets it put away properly and pops the cover back over the computer before picking up his helmet from where he’d hung it on the handlebars earlier. He doesn’t want to get in too much trouble so once he has his helmet on he uses the communicator in it to leave a voice message in Shrike’s helmet. He hops off the bike for a quick moment and turns in a circle looking for a good spot to stash the helmet where his Tata will be able to find it and still be hard for anyone else to steal. In the end he decides that the street lamp is his best bet and hurries to climb up it to the top, once the helmet is hung carefully he slides back down the pole and hops onto the bike, tapping on the navigation screen between the handlebars he carefully types in the address he memorized from the ID in the wallet.
He’d been a little confused at first when he saw that the person who owned the wallet was also Pops but his Tata had explained to him that sometimes when there were two universes then the same person could exist in them. Like Spider-Man Peter and Robin Peter. Even though Spider-Man was a lot older he was the same person as Peter himself. So the Bruce Wayne in this world and the Batman Bruce Wayne were the same but different. He guessed that it made some sense but it was still going to be weird. That’s why Peter had wanted to go at night. Because the person who the wallet belonged to was going to look like Pops but he wasn’t Pops and Peter might mix that up if he had to talk to him in person. Besides it would probably be awkward trying to explain to Bruce Wayne why he had his wallet in the first place and Peter didn’t think that explaining that his pops from another universe had stolen it. So he’d just go to the address and drop off the wallet there and then he’d come home. He might even be fast enough that Tata wouldn’t notice he’d gone at all. Which would be better cause he sometimes got weird about leaving Gotham and until he’d gone to the other universe with Pops Peter had never even left it.
“Okay let’s go,” Peter tells the bike as he leans far enough forward to reach the handlebars. The bike has a really good autopilot but if someone is sitting on it then it won’t go if the handlebars aren’t being held. It means that Peter is more or less just laying across the seat and the gas tank which probably isn’t all that safe. He wonders if he could convince Tata to make him a bike that would actually fit him. But he’d probably just say something boring like Peter needing to wait until he’s older or something. Peter’s eight already, he can totally be responsible enough to have his own motorcycle.
The ride from Gotham to Metropolis goes pretty quickly thanks to the bike. Its computer helps it to weave in and out of traffic safely and people in Gotham are so used to seeing Shrike’s bike that no one really pays it enough attention to notice that it’s Robin riding it alone instead. Peter does wishes that he’d dressed a little warmer though. Without his Tata’s body in front of him to buffer the wind it’s a lot colder. He has warmer gloves and a cape that he wears with his Robin costume in the winter but his Tata definitely would have noticed that he was up to something if he’d gotten them out for today. Peter decides that he’s not going to whine about it though. If he can complete this mission on his own and not have any trouble then surely his Tata will realize that he’s not a baby anymore and he’ll definitely let him have a motorcycle then.
It’s not until he’s leaving the suburban area of Bristol behind that he starts to feel maybe a little bit nervous about this adventure. The ruins of the Wayne manor are the furthest that Peter had ever gone from Park Row and that was with his father. So when he sees the ruins of the mansion sitting up on the hillside in the rear view mirror he almost considers turning back and going to wait for his Tata to finish up his mission like he was supposed to. But then he’s crossing the Metro-Narrows bridge and he’s too nervous to let go of either handlebar to direct the bike back to Gotham so he grits his teeth and instead tries to practice what to say if he gets caught trying to return the wallet. He doesn’t really think that he will get caught. He takes his training seriously, he definitely knows how to make himself nearly invisible when he needs to. But still it makes him feel better to practice what to say just in case.
By the time the bike brings itself to a stop outside a pretty nice looking apartment building near the center of Metropolis, Peter is more than ready to get off it. He quickly hops to the ground and tucks his hands into his armpits to try and warm them up as he examines the building before him. It looks really pretty, with big balconies and large windows. He doesn’t think he’d ever seen such a nice apartment, it doesn’t even look like its a bajillion years old and it doesn’t have a single gargoyle anywhere. He thinks its pretty stupid to have a building this big and not have any gargoyles on it. His Tata had told him that they’re there to protect the buildings and Peter likes the ones in Gotham. He talks to them sometimes when he gets bored on stakeouts.
He finds pretty quickly that the buildings in Metropolis aren’t as easy to climb as the ones in Gotham are. According to the ID in the wallet Mr Wayne lives on the ninth floor and when Peter tried the front door to the building he discovered that the locks actually worked and there was a man in a suit sleeping at a table in the lobby. Peter had a feeling that he wouldn’t be that willing to let Peter go up to the ninth floor on his own. So instead he has to circle the building until he finds the fire escapes in the back. Even those look much nicer than the ones in Gotham. The ladder hasn’t fallen down to the ground and there’s barely any rust on them at all. Peter climbs up onto the top of a dumpster and jumps from it to grab onto the edge of the second floor fire escape. It groans a little bit but he doesn’t feel like its about to fall down so he pulls himself up over the railing and starts the long trek up the ladders to the ninth floor, wishing with every rung that his flying was a little more reliable and he could just zip right up there and back.
One time when one of his Tata’s friends had been visiting she’d mentioned that maybe Peter’s powers would be more reliable if he got more sun. He doesn’t remember what her name had been but she had blonde hair and wore a whole lot of purple. She was one of the heroes that his Tata had worked with when he left Gotham before Peter was born. That’s where he’d met Peter’s mom. She was a hero too, a Titan. But his dad hadn’t said anything about it. There really wasn’t that much sun in Gotham and Peter spent more time outside at night rather than during the day so even if there was some he didn’t really see it. There had been a lot of sun in the city pops took him to though. Peter had felt really good, and he’d even been able to fly more and he’d even been able to create balls of green lights in his hands. So maybe the blonde lady was right. Peter was probably supposed to be in school now anyway.
Lost in his thoughts about school and his powers he almost completely misses it when he makes it to the ninth floor of the building and he has to back down a few steps. He’s glad that no one else was around to notice. Robin is supposed to be smart after all. Not that the people in Metropolis know anything about Robin, or Shrike for that matter. Tata says all the time that Shrike isn’t meant to be some symbol or something. He’s not meant to stand out. So it’s better that people outside of Gotham forget about him. His time working with hero teams was short. Peter thinks that’s a bit dumb, because the whole world should get to know how good his Tata is but it’s one of those things that everyone says he’ll understand when he’s older. Peter wishes that he could be older already.
The fire escape is connected to a window that looks into the hallway of the apartment complex instead of to an individual apartment, but through the window Peter can see that the one he needs to get inside is on the left, so he climbs over the railing with ease and finds just a small ledge along the building just barely big enough for him to stand on with the toes of his boots and another just slightly too high above him. He can reach it, but its certainly a stretch and not very comfortable. It’s fine though. Usually, when he’s scared enough he just starts flying. So if he happens to fall his flight will probably kick in and everything will be just fine, besides it’s not like he’s scared of heights anyway. He shimmies across the small ledge until he reaches a window and the window ledge is much wider so he isn’t worried about that at all. He’s able to stand steady on it while he uses his knife to pop the window lock open and in no time at all he’s got the widow up just wide enough for him to slide through.
It’s dark in the apartment, with only the light from the street lights to illuminate the room. Peter doesn’t want to take too long here. But he’s learned the hard way that you need to balance speed and stealth. Rushing into things always gets you into trouble. So he moves carefully, sliding himself through the window feet first to lightly put his weight on the ground, listening for any creaking floorboards. Hearing nothing abnormal he pulls himself the rest of the way through the window and turns to face the rest of the apartment. Only to let out a noise somewhere between a scream and a squawk when instead of the empty apartment he finds a giant man standing before him. Energy starts to form in his hands but Peter manages to shake it off without blasting anything.
Peter is sure that there hadn’t been anyone there when he’d first looked into the apartment and he definitely hadn’t heard anyone moving in the apartment. He’s got really really good hearing. He definitely should have heard this guy walking. He covers his mouth to prevent anymore sounds from coming out as he jumps backwards closer to the window. He can get out there quickly if he needs to. Usually he can probably even fly if he can’t get away with his grappling hook for some reason.
“I think you have chosen the wrong apartment young man,” The giant says. Peter flinches when he reaches out, crouching down and reaching for his knives in case he needs to try and protect himself. He really wishes his powers were more reliable. Peter has gotten good at judging enemies. In Gotham you never know which random street mug is going to end up being a meta. He doesn’t think that his energy blasts are strong enough right now to hurt this guy but the distraction could be enough for him to slip back out the window and get away.
He is surprised though when instead of trying to grab him the giant man just flips a light on. Peter has to squint his eyes against the sudden light for just a moment but he makes sure not to lower his guard. Something about the man standing in front of him looks familiar. It’s definitely not his Pops though, they don’t have a tv at home but maybe he’s someone Peter saw on the newspaper his Tata reads every morning. Did he get the wrong apartment? He’d been pretty sure that he’d picked the right one. But maybe the apartment was built weird and this wasn’t actually the one that he’d seen from the window.
“I’m not a bad guy” Peter insists, “I’m Robin!” There’s no recognition on the mans face at the name though and Peter has to remind himself that this isn’t Gotham. His Tata has been really careful to make sure that people outside of Gotham don’t hear about them. But his Pops has been to Gotham. That’s where his wallet got stolen after all.
“You do not appear to be a small bird,” The giant man says.
“He’s a child Kal,” Pop’s voice says. The man and Peter both look up at the apartments second floor where Pops has finally appeared wearing a robe over his pajama pants.
“Even ones as small as him can still be fierce warriors,” Giant says, “I can see by his stance that this one has been well trained.”
“I would hope so,” Pops says as he comes to stand beside the giant. Peter’s kind of surprised to see that they’re actually pretty close in height. But the other guy still looks a lot bigger. Like that guy Bane who shows up sometimes in Gotham and uses some sort of drug to make himself big. “Robin is one of the birds of Gotham. He’s a hero who protects the citizens.” Pops picks up a pair of glasses and puts them on as he talks.
“The birds?” the giant says thoughtfully.
“I’ve done a story on them before, or tried to at least. Gothamites are private about their heroes. But from what I could find Gotham is split in two sections. Each one protected by different heroes. There’s the Bats and then there’s the birds. Shrike, Robin, Kestrel, and Sparrowhawk. Though none of the birds have ever been known to operate outside the limits of Gotham. I highly doubt any of the bigger birds know about their little Robin going off on his own.”
“I’m on my own mission!” Peter insists, “oh!” He digs through his hidden pockets until he remembers which one he’d stashed the wallet in and pulls it out to present it.
“My wallet,” Pops says surprised stepping forward to take it despite the obvious warning look from the giant man.
“Stealing is wrong,” Peter tells him, “I told Pops that and he said that I could bring it back to you. Tata- I mean Shrike is busy though so I came alone. I have to go home now actually. I have uh, an important mission.” like not getting caught by his Tata and getting grounded til the end of time. He’s surprised that this version of his Pops knows about Kestrel and Sparrowhawk though. Aunt Babs hasn’t been active in a long time since she started working at the police with her dad and Peter never got to meet Kestrel. He went away before Peter was born. He saved Tata’s life. That’s where Peter’s name came from. It used to be his Uncle Jason’s middle name.
“Thank you for returning this wallet,” Pops says, “My name is Bruce Wayne, I’m a reporter at the daily planet. This is Charilaos.”
“I’m Robin,” Peter repeats, glancing at the window behind him and very politely not mentioning that he’d heard Bruce call the other man Kal and that Kal and Charilaos don’t sound like the same name even a little bit. But it’s rude to ask people about having two names because if he mentions it then they might ask him what his other name is too.
“It’s very nice to meet you Robin. Perhaps could I ask that you take the elevator back down? I’m sure you’re very capable but it would help me to feel better if you could take the elevator or the stairs.”
“You guys actually take elevators here?” Peter asks bewildered. No one smart ever uses elevators in Gotham, not unless you have to. Bad building owners ignore the rules all the time and don’t get them serviced when they’re supposed to. Peter has helped his Tata rescue people out of them all the time. Prince industries has a hot line you can call to get elevators fixed but if you do call them then odds are your landlord will get fined and if they find out you were the one who snitched you can get kicked out.
“We can go down together,” Pops, no Bruce. Pops should be back in his own universe now hopefully. Peter wonders if he’ll be able to see him and his new friends again one day. But he has to be careful and only call this one Bruce. Because it will be hard to explain to a civilian about the multiverse.
“I don’t know about that,’ Peter rocks back on his heels. He has kind of always wondered what riding a normal elevator would be like. And he’s fallen further than eight stories before and survived it, though his Tata claims it nearly gave him a heart attack.
“Charilaos will come with us as well,” Bruce suggests, indicating the giant man. “He’ll stop the elevator from falling if something happens.” Peter eyes the man, he does certainly look pretty strong but can he protect them from a falling elevator?
“I guess just this once is okay,” Peter decides. Maybe it will be like riding the Ferris wheel his Tata took him on that one time the carnival came to Gotham. Before the rogues attacked it that is.
For a moment Bruce looks like he’s going to step closer and touch him but seems to think better of it and heads for the door, motioning for them to follow. Peter eyes the giant man closely for a moment. He doesn’t sense any malice really from this guy but he’s definitely a strong guy. Peter hurries to follow after Bruce. Down to the end of the hallway where the big metal door of the elevator waits for them. Bruce pauses once again before pressing the button and turns his head, his sharp blue eyes feel like they’re meeting Peter’s gaze even through his mask.
“Would you like to press the button Robin?” He asks in a kind voice.
“Its just a button,” Peter points out.
“It is,” Bruce agrees. Peter shifts a bit on his feet. It is just a button, but well it does kinda seem like it would be cool to get to be the one to call the elevator. Quickly he darts forward and presses down on the lower of the two buttons.
“What happens now?”
“Now we wait,” Bruce explains. Peter hates waiting. But he very maturely does not pout about it. Because this is his first solo mission and he’s going to prove to his Tata that he can be trusted with more solo missions. Because Gotham is a big place and even though technically they only protect part of the city because the Bats protect the other parts, its still a lot of space to protect. Peter could be more useful if he was allowed to work alone. Maybe he could even visit sunny places more often like Miss Stephanie had said he should and he’d get better at using his powers.
“Is the elevator supposed to be this slow?” Peter asks, tilting his head back so he can look all the way up at Bruce and Charilaos. Standing between them like this makes him feel teeny tiny like an ant.
“Yeah sometimes it is,” Bruce admits.
“Seems sketchy,” Peter admits. Charilaos lets out an amused sound and Bruce shoots a glare at him. The elevator door opens up then though and the two adults step on then turn to look at Peter. He hesitates in the doorway for a moment, super heroes aren’t supposed to be scaredy cats, then he steps inside and turns to face the doors. He watches carefully as they slide closed slowly.
“If I die in this elevator Shrike is gonna kill me,” Peter admits to them. The elevator starts to move down and Peter can’t help the little moment of panic as it drops.
“Robin,” Bruce says gently. Peter tilts his head back once again to look at him. Bruce nods down at his feet and Peter looks and is surprised to find that his feet aren’t touching the ground.
“Oh,” He says, concentrating hard to lower himself back to the ground.
“Bruce,” Charilaos says, “I did not know that earth children could also fly as I do.”
“Most of them can’t” Bruce informs him, “I wasn’t aware that there were any Meta heroes in Gotham.”
“I’m not meta,” Peter says, “Mama came from the space. Well Tata says that she came from the stars. But I’m big enough to know that she really came from another planet.”
“I also came from another planet,” Charilaos tells him. Peter turns to look up at him.
“Can you fly too? I can only fly when I’m scared, mostly. I went on an adventure and I could fly better there. I had all sorts of cool powers. I haven’t met my mama since I was too little to remember. But her friend says that if I spend more time in the sun then my powers will get strong too. I bet I could fly super fast then! Like that wonder guy I saw in the newspaper! Do you get your powers from the sun too?”
“I do,” Charilaos admits, his eyes look kinda shiny and he’s got a weird look on his face. Peter turns to look at Bruce questioningly and just gets a shrug in response. The elevator doors open up again and Peter gets off quickly, for fun. Not for any other reason. Because he’s not a scaredy cat. The sleeping security guy sits up quickly at his desk and tries to discretely wipe his face off.
“Mr Kent,” He says, with a very sleepy voice.
“Good evening Paul,” Bruce says with a kind smile. He puts one hand on Charilaos’s arm and the other on Peter’s back and leads them both out the front door of the building.
“Do you know where your mother is from?” Charilaos asks. He crouches down but he’s still a lot bigger than Peter even like that.
“I don’t know,” Peter shrugs, “Tata doesn’t like to talk about Mama. Makes him sad cause he misses her. I’ve seen pictures of her though. Sparrowhawk and her are friends. Mama was super tall, like maybe as tall as you guys and she had super duper long hair. Really curly and red. Oh and she was super strong! She could carry Tata and Sparrowhawk at the same time.”
“Robin,” His Tata’s voice comes from the shadows as he steps into view from the shadows. The moonlight shines off of his gold mask and if Peter thinks that maybe he would be kinda scary. Charilaos moves quickly in front of Peter and Bruce. Too fast.
“Hi Tata!” Peter says trying to sound cheerful. He’s so in big big trouble. Like grounded forever and forced to eat broccoli for every meal trouble. Peter slips out from behind Charilaos’s legs and hops quickly over to his father. His Tata keeps his face turned towards the two other adults but when Peter touches his leg he immediately switches his focus to Peter and kneels down to check him over.
“Are you hurt?” He asks, the voice he usually uses as Shrike isn’t there. He’s just Peter’s Tata right now.
“I’m not hurt,” Peter promises, “I just wanted to return the wallet Pops took. I was coming home rightnow!”
“You shouldn’t have left Gotham. It’s not safe for you to go alone.” He lifts his full face mask up so Peter can see his face better. He’s still got his domino mask on underneath though. It matches the one that Peter wears. Except Peter’s lenses are prescription so he can see better. Shrike looks Peter over carefully, triple checking him for any sorts of injuries before pulling him into his arms and hugging him tightly. Peter feels a kiss pressed to his temple before his Tata stands back to his full height and lifts Peter up to hold him. Peter wraps one arm around his neck and turns to look at Bruce and Charilaos.
“Sorry about your wallet Mister Bruce,” Peter says, “and also about breaking into your house.” Bruce looks a little amused as he nods his head.
“Thank you for returning it Robin,” He says.
“Perhaps next time you might consider knocking on the door,” Charilaos suggests.
“Knocking on a strangers door at night is how you get shot,” Peter informs them helpfully. Thats just common sense.
“That’s a Gotham thing,” his Tata says gently. Peter turns to look at him a frown pulling at his lips. Is it really that different outside of Gotham?
“Oh,” He says, “Can I come visit another time and knock on the door?”
“What?” Tata frowns at him. Peter points a finger over at Charilaos
“He’s an alien. He has super powers,” Peter explains.
“Yes I know that,” Tata answers.
“Soooo if he’s an alien, and I’m kind of an alien. Maybe he can teach me too.”
“Robin…” he says with the voice that Peter knows means he’s about to say no but he feels bad about it.
“No Tata please,” Peter insists grabbing the older mans face with both hands. “I wanna learn. I wanna really fly, and I wanna shoot lasers and be strong. I can do it, then I can help people better.”
“You’re already doing a great job of keeping people safe as you are Robin,” he insists, and Peter knows that he is. He knows that he’s already different than the other kids his age because he can go out and he can fight and climb and jump just like Shrike. He’s strong, and he helps people all the time. But he can help more people. He can keep his Tata and all his family safe if he could just get stronger and use his powers like his Mama could. He’s sure that his Tata will see that, and if he doesn’t then he’ll go see Aunt Babs at work and she’ll kick his butt til he agrees to let Peter learn.
“Please Tata,” Peter begs in his sweetest voice. He can see his Tata wavering for just a moment before his shoulder’s slump and Peter knows that he’s won.
“I’ll think about it,” Tata says in his grump voice. Peter can’t help the wide grin that spreads across his face. He already knows that he’s won.