Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Beneath Wayne Manor in the Batcave, Bruce stood before two of his sons with his arms crossed. He locked his hard gaze on them, his expression brimming with deep disappointment and concern. The only sounds that could be heard was the soft hum of the Batcomputer as it processed data and the bats screeching every now and then.

Tim kept his own gaze strong and steady. He’d seen Bruce in this mode before. He was calculating, waiting for him and Duke to speak first. He wanted them to explain themselves before he said anything.

Duke, on the other hand, looked vaguely uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, eyes shifting between Tim and Bruce. 

He’d screwed up big time.

He’d slipped up and ended up having to tell Bruce the truth about Karen not being human.

Bruce had told him that he’d speak to him later in the night, when everyone else was on patrol. But now that Duke was here, standing before Bruce, he wasn’t sure how this was going to go.

“You both knew,” Bruce finally said, voice low and even, “You both were aware from the moment you met Elizabeth, that she wasn’t human… and you both neglected to tell me.”

Tim let out a quiet sigh, blue eyes looking into Bruce’s, “We withheld the information from you because you would have told us to abort the mission.” His voice held a steady fire in it. His tone demanded that Bruce listen to him. “They aren’t dangerous, Bruce-”

“You don’t know that, Tim.” Bruce interrupted sharply. “Elizabeth being meta was one thing but if she’s an alien, that brings about a whole different problem. Especially if she’s a race we haven’t had prior contact with.” They wouldn’t know what she was until they did a DNA test. And even then, if they were truly from the future like Bruce and the other's had theorized, she might not even come up on the DNA test since they really wouldn't've had contact with her species until at least a decade or two into the future.

Duke winced at that, “Look, B, we thought we were doing the right thing. They’ve both obviously been through a lot… and if they really were dangerous, one of them would’ve done something by now to raise any red flags, right?”

Bruce turned back to the Batcomputer, pulling up the latest surveillance footage of Peter and Karen at Gotham Academy, “Elizabeth may not be dangerous but whatever or whoever sent her and Ben here might come looking for her. You two neglecting to tell me about her true identity was a serious mistake that could cause a serious breach of safety. Especially when we don't know what we're dealing with since it involves time travel. That means we're potentially dealing with enemies we haven't met before."

Tim and Duke exchanged glances, cursing under their breaths.

Bruce, as usual, was right.

They didn’t know where Karen and Peter were originally from and that was a concern. Just because they weren’t doing anything strange didn’t mean that nothing was going on.

They’d gotten too comfortable.

Bruce turned back to them, exhaling through his nose, “From now on, no more secrets. Everything you find out about them needs to be reported to me as soon as possible… If we’re going to help Ben and Elizabeth, we need to know everything. Understood?” It was obvious to Bruce that the two were obviously trying to lay low. They were hiding from something.

They both nodded.

“Both your access to higher-level data has been cut for the time being.” Bruce ignored Tim’s groan, “Go to bed, now.”

Duke let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

That wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be.

Peter and Damian didn’t get along at first.

There was an air of distrust hung in the air between them and Peter found himself feeling like an intruder. Which was strange because how would Damian know that Peter didn’t belong here? And even if he didn’t, why was Damian giving him such an attitude about it?

Barbara had warned him that Damian wasn’t the most trusting person and Peter respected that. He wasn’t either. And he really couldn’t blame Damian seeing as he lived in the most crime-riddled city in America.

But now that it’s been more than 2 months since they’d been in Gotham and it was nearing the end of August, Peter could tell that Damian was finally starting to calm down. He actually called him ‘Ben’ sometimes instead of ‘Peters’.

That, and Damian had invited them both to the arcade. Not just Karen, Peter too.

Which is why they were now standing outside of a popular arcade within Gotham, the Grid Arcade.

Peter could already hear the noise-blaring game music from inside.

They stepped inside, taking in the bright, flashing neon lights and the clusters of teenagers  huddled around different games throughout the building. Shouted victories and groans of defeat sounded over the scrambled game music. Peter was so glad he’d brought himself some earplugs to wear, the sounds would’ve been too overstimulating otherwise.

Karen was immediately analyzing her surroundings, scanning each and every machine. She could see the very codes of every single game right down to the single digit and even found herself checking the highest scores. Anything that could be analyzed, was being analyzed.

A familiar voice called out to them above the noise, “You’re late.”

Damian stood near the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. He was clearly unimpressed by their untimeliness.

“Give us a break, not everyone has a personal driver.” Peter said lightly.

“Yeah, Damian, give them a break.” Another voice pitched in and Peter felt his Spidey sense hum lowly. He knew that voice.

Three figures sauntered to stand near Damian and Peter felt his mind pause.

Wait…

“What’re you guys doing here?!” Peter asked, shocked to see Tim, Steph and Cass.

“Trust me, I didn’t want them here either.” Damian huffed, annoyance clear in his stance.

Tim ruffled his hair with a smile, “Don’t be like that, Damian. This will strengthen our sibling bond tenfold!”

Damian only clicked his tongue in response while Peter felt like he was getting shot.

He pointed at the group before him, eyes shifting to each one, “You guys are siblings?!” How the hell had he missed that? 

Steph raised a finger, “I’m more of a family friend, but yeah, they’re siblings.” She confirmed, looking at something on her phone. “Did you not know? Everyone at school knows.” Peter had been so focused on laying low that he failed to keep up with the well-known drama of Gotham Academy.

“Even Duke?” He asked.

“Yup.” Tim said, “He was mad he couldn’t come but he told me to tell you he says ‘Hi’.”

Damian frowned at Peter, “How did you not know? I didn’t take you for one to be slow on the uptake.”

Peter didn’t have an answer and looked at Karen, “Did you know?”

“Of course.” 

“What? Why did you tell me?”

“The information wasn’t relevant.”

Peter was going to kill Karen one day.

But for now, he wanted to play. He hadn’t been to an arcade since he’d been dropkicked into this godforsaken dimension, you bet your ass he was going to play like it was his last day on Earth.

He could question Karen later.

“Let’s just get our coins.” He was about to go to the coin booth but Cass held out a small cup packed to the brim with arcade coins that had a small ‘The Grid’ logo imprinted on them.

“For you,” She said, with a small smile, handing Karen another cup, “To play.”

Peter was about to decline but Steph moved first, dragging them deeper into the arcade, “What’re we playing first? I vote to play Mario Kart!”

There were only 4 Mario Kart machines and when Peter turned to figure out who would go first, he saw that Karen was already walking away with Damian.

“Have you ever played Mortal Kombat, Elizabeth?” Damian asked.

“I have not.”

Damian smirked smugly, “My siblings have yet to beat me. We shall play.”

“Ok.”

*

Damian wasn’t one to call himself a sore loser.

Losing sucked.

Losing was for weaklings. For those that lacked discipline. For fools that didn’t train properly.

Damian Wayne was none of those.

And yet. 

Here he was.

At the Grid.

Losing.

Repeatedly.

To Karen.

Despite her saying that she’d never played, her hands moved professionally on the arcade controls. 

She was annihilating Damian and his anger grew with every flawless victory and perfect combo.

And to add salt to the wound, now his siblings and Peter were watching.

Needless to say, Damian was seething.

“Flawless Victory” The announcer called.

Damian gritted his teeth, gripping his joystick tighter. Karen took her hands off the controls but paused when Damian spoke, “Again.”

Peter stood off to the side, shaking his head as he watched in amusement. He stifled a laugh when Damian was defeated for the sixth time in a row.

Stephanie was recording on her phone, barely holding back her giggles, “Man, he is going to go crazy during training later tonight.” She mused.

Peter lifted an eyebrow at that, “Training?” He asked, glancing over at the blonde.

She blinked at his question and straightened ever so slightly, realizing that she’d said something wrong, “Yeah-for training! Damian is learning some martial arts right now-that’s what I meant,” She corrected, breathing a sigh of quiet relief when Peter halfheartedly took the bait.

Tim watched on, enjoying the show with a grin. He leaned over to Peter in a hushed tone, “I’ve never seen anyone make him this mad. Liz is destroying him.”

Peter nodded, “She’s not even trying to get under his skin.” He hadn’t realized that Karen would be such a pro at video games. 

Cass hummed in agreement, studying Karen’s movement as the next round began.

Karen’s movements were fluid and calculated. She countered every attack Damian tried, dodged every special move he dished out and ended the match with another flawless victory. She even got the fatalities so perfect that she didn’t have to look down at the controls.

The screen flashed as Karen’s character bloodily obliterated Damian’s, the announcer’s voice blaring through the arcade speakers, “FATALITY!”

It was eerily silent.

Damian’s eye twitched.

Everyone held their tongues, knowing better than to say anything.

Karen, as usual, was unfazed, even when faced with a seething Damian.

Damian’s voice came out low and controlled, “Again.”

Peter nudged Tim, “Should we tell him to quit while he’s ahead?” He was sure that Damian was inches from bursting into flames. Or tears.

Tim chuckled at Peter, “He’s not ahead.”

Cass hummed in agreement, “But he should quit.”

Stephanie quickly disagreed, phone still recording, “No, no! This is gold!”

The next match started but it was obvious to everyone that Karen had slowed down.

Her movements were still precise, but she was clearly hesitating before attacking and giving Damian more time. She was holding back.

And Damian immediately noticed.

“Elizabeth.” Damian hissed, green eyes glaring daggers into her.

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

Karen turned her head to look at him, hands still hovering over the controls, “I’m adjusting the difficulty.” Peter choked on his own laughter.

Damian’s face darkened, “I’m not truly winning if you stunt yourself to save my feelings. Stop holding back and fight me!” He growled. 

Karen raised an eyebrow, looking back at the screen, “You were growing increasingly frustrated, I was only adjusting accordingly.” She explained simply.

“Do not patronize me, Elizabeth!” He snapped.

Karen blinked, “That wasn’t my intention, Damian.”

“Then play properly!” He bit.

And with that, their Mortal Kombat tournament went on. Damian was impressed by Karen’s skill, but he had to admit it frustrated him when he couldn’t defeat her no matter how much he tried.

After the 8th round, Karen had decided she’d had enough and Damian had to agree before he blew a blood vessel. He already knew that Tim and Stephanie would use this against him and he didn’t want to give them more ammo.

“What do you want to play next?” Karen asked him, tilting her head.

Damian shrugged, “You pick.”

Tim answered for her, “Let’s use the last of our coins for the luck-based machines! If we all pitch in, we’re bound to win something.”

“Ugh, fine, but if we don’t win anything, you have to buy all of us more coins.” Steph demanded and Tim hastily agreed, running off to the machines.

Peter wasn’t the biggest fan of luck-based machines. Everyone knew they were rigged to only work after a set number of uses. He went to a spin-the-wheel game, inserted his coins and gave it a firm spin. The wheel almost landed on the 500 ticket bar but Peter only came out with 10 tickets.

He went to try again, as the game only required 2 coins, and gasped in surprise when he won.

The machine blared its lights in celebration, announcing loudly that he’d hit the jackpot.

“Huh… today must be my lucky day!” Peter smiled, moving onto the next machine. He knew that this was part of the appeal, but he didn’t pay for these coins so this was technically free for him and that meant he could go buckwild.

And whatever lucky streak Peter was on stayed strong. Each machine granted him with the lottery amount and Peter had to wonder where all this luck suddenly came from. He glanced around the area, seeing how everyone else was fairing. 

Stephanie cheered somewhere in the distance at another machine. Damian was standing near Karen, hands amazingly filled with tickets. Even Cass was holding her own stuffed animal in one hand and a thick bundle of tickets in the other.

Tim came up beside him, all smiles and holding 4 stuffed animals, “I’ve never won at a claw machine before.”

Peter stared at the stuffed animals and squinted at the pale teen, “Did you pay the workers to un-rig the games or something?” He asked.

Tim scoffed, clearly offended, “No. And if I did, why would the worker be freaking out?” He pointed out, gesturing over his shoulder to the workers at the prize counter.

Anyone with eyes could see that they were freaking out. One of the workers was on his phone, hurriedly speaking into it while eyeing them with a confused look. Other kids were tailing behind Peter and the others, playing the same machines they had and winning with few tries.

The arcade was no longer filled with a mix of groans and cheers. Only excitable cheers filled the air.

And now Peter knew something was up. 

He looked at Karen, who’d barely played any games and frowned. He pulled her aside, using the excuse that she needed to use the bathroom and gave her an unimpressed look when they were finally alone in the family bathroom.

“Karen.”

“Yes?”

“What did you do?”

“Clarify?”

Peter squinted at her suspiciously, showing her the bundles of tickets in his possession, “It’s quite sus that we’re winning at everything, don’t you think? These machines are programmed to rob people blind. So, why are we suddenly the luckiest people alive?”

Karen shrugged up at him, “Maybe you are just that skilled.”

“Bullshit.” Peter spat. They both knew you couldn't be skilled at luck-based games. “Now, spill. What did you do to the machines?”

“… I corrected them.” Karen admitted, her tone even. 

Peter could feel his eye twitching. He couldn’t get a moment of peace with Karen and she had been designed to help him. 

“Karen, that’s cheating!” He hissed and Karen frowned at that.

“How so? The machines were already manipulating probability. I merely adjusted them to restore balance.”

Dragging a heavy, ticket-loaded hand down his face, Peter let out an irritated groan, “I alone have like 10 pounds of tickets in my hands! How is that balanced, Karen?”

For once, Karen didn’t have an answer and only blinked up at him with a blank expression.

Peter groaned again, “It’s over! We’re gonna get kicked out of this place. I’m gonna be banned from the Grid and it’ll be all your fault!” He grumbled.

To his shock, Karen rolled her eyes and he just knew that she’d learned that from Damian, “You are overreacting.”

Peter pointed a finger in her face, “You hacked an entire arcade! Did you see the workers panicking? You’ve disrupted the organized chaos of the Grid!”

Karen squinted back at him, “There was no organized chaos. The Grid uses an artificial system that is designed to take money in exchange for minimal reward. It's no different than gambling.” 

“Uh-huh and what would you call this?”

When Karen gave him no response he merely sighed, shoulders slumped, “Just-just stop before they get too suspicious.”

With a simple nod, Karen blinked and gave a needless sigh, “It is done.”

They returned from their ‘bathroom break’ to find Stephanie, Damian and Cass all stacking their tickets onto the prize counter. Tim was standing nearby, even more stuffed animals in his arms. It looked like he'd squeezed in a few more wins before Peter had forced Karen to re-rig all the machines.

The teen working the counter looked like they were dreading every moment of this momentous event. They gawked at the absurd amount of tickets and then at Stephanie, “Are you sure this is all yours?” He asked.

“Yup! Won them fair and square!” 

While the employee had the tickets counted in their ticket counter, the manager arrived from the back. He was a tall, exhausted looking man with slightly unkempt hair shoved underneath a black cap and a name tag that read ‘Percy’. His arms were crossed as he stepped up to the prize counter, staring down each one of them.

“Alright,” He sighed, voice thick with ‘I’m so done with this shit’, “Who’s been messing with the machines?”

None of them made any moves to look at each other, only staring at Percy with owlish blinks of their own.

“Uh… no one? We were just lucky, man.” Tim countered, he’d cross his arms but they were full of stuffed animals, “It’s not our fault the machines decided to not be rigged anymore when we got here. And besides, if we did mess with the machines, you would’ve seen us.” Which was a great point. Since the machines were older models, they would’ve had to manually go into the machines and default the settings.

Stephanie nodded at that, “Yeah! We wouldn’t have been able to get into all the machines at the same time.”

Percy seemed to understand that he couldn’t straight out accuse them of messing with the machines even though he knew something had happened since the machines started acting weird as soon as they came and only just now fixed themselves.

He also didn’t get paid enough for this shit.

“All of you are banned.”

“WHAT?!”

Damian scowled, “We didn’t do anything! I just wanted to take my friend-I mean-Elizabeth-out to have fun!” Was that a pout on his face?

Cass held out a hand to stop any other complaints from leaving the group and stepped forward, getting as close as she could to Percy from across the prize counter. She leaned in close, staring him down, “We’ll be back.” She promised.

Percy visibly shivered, “Uh… just-just get your prizes.” He demanded quickly, scurrying off to the back.

*

Cheap prizes and candy in hand, the Bat group left with Peter and Karen by their side. A beat of silence passed through them as they stood outside, contemplating what had just happened to them.

“I can’t believe we got banned.” Peter moaned, “I actually liked that place.”

“Yeah, can’t say that’s ever happened to us before. This is a new low.” Tim commented dryly.

Steph shrugged, “I’m sure Bruce will call them and pay them to let us back in if we ask.”

“No.” Peter hissed, “he’s already finding our schooling and giving us money, please don’t let him throw more money at us. This whole situation is already weird enough.”

“That wasn’t even our fault!” Damian argued, still fuming.

“There are more arcades in Gotham.” Karen added but that didn't seem to make Damian feel any better.

Peter felt his stomach growl and sighed, “Well, I guess it's time for us to head home-“

“Let’s go to BatBurger!” Tim blurted out.

At the following silence, he quickly backtracked, “Our brother just invited us to join him at BatBurger, he said you guys were free to join! His treat!” If Tim knew anything it was that people rarely said no to free food. And he knew that Peter was definitely a foodie, he’d seen his lunch plates.

Peter blinked, “Oh-uh… that’s nice and all but… we don’t have a ride…”

Stephanie jumped in, “It’s just around the corner from here. No driving required.”

And just like what happened in the arcade, Peter didn’t get to give an answer because he was dragged along the sidewalk, forced to follow his friends to the ‘most iconic burger restaurant in Gotham’.

Just as Stephanie had said, it was only a short walk away from the Grid.

When they walked inside, Peter was hit with a plethora of colors, the smell of fried food and grilled meat.

The chairs and booths inside were either yellow, purple, red, or blue while the tables were black.

Insignias of Batman and his Robins were everywhere that they could be put, the walls, the trash cans, the counters, the floor tiles.

Peter wondered if people would ever get this crazy in his dimension, because he prayed they wouldn’t. He’d hate to be a subway sandwich.

“Hey, guys! Over here!” A male voice called out and Peter searched for the origin of the voice. 

His heart froze.

It was that fucker from the library, the one that was wearing his father’s face.

A younger version, Peter noticed, but the resemblance was uncanny. The same warm eyes, the same messy dark hair and even the same charismatic demeanor. 

No one seemed to mind Peter as they each slid into the booth.

Karen took a seat across from Damian and Peter continued to awkwardly stare at the older man as if he’d seen a ghost.

Damian frowned, looking Peter up and down, “Do you wish to sit or are you going to keep gawking?” 

Peter snapped out of it, an uneasy smile making its way to his lips, “Yeah-uh-sorry,” He slipped into the booth beside Karen, “Your brother just… reminded me of someone…”

The older man smiled, “No worries, my name is Richard but you can call me Dick. Tim and Damian have told me a lot about you guys.” 

Karen tilted her at the introduction, “Dick? Is that not a slang term for a pen-”

“Okay!” Dick cut in, clapping his hands together with a laugh, “We don’t need to finish that sentence.” He notably looked at all the toys and candy in each of their hands and lifted an eyebrow, “Looks like you guys won the lottery.”

Peter laughed nervously, looking down at the menu to keep himself from looking at Dick. If he stared too long, he’d start remembering things he didn’t want to.

“Don’t worry about the cost of anything, please,” Dick eased, “Damian told me you both passed your entrance exams for Gotham Academy. That’s quite the accomplishment and I wanted to reward you two.”

Karen nodded along, “Thank you, Dick. My brother and I appreciate it.”

Cass watched Peter for a moment, “You okay?” She asked him in that soft, quiet tone of hers and he nodded quickly, swallowing back the lump in his throat.

“I’m great! The BatBurger meal is right up my alley.” He said, avoiding eye contact with Cass. He knew that she knew he was lying.

He wasn’t ok.

But he couldn’t run despite his body telling him to.

Dick tore his gaze away from Peter, a fist clenching under the table. Shit, he must’ve brought up some horrible memories for Peter. That was the last thing he wanted to do. He just wanted a chance to meet him, like everyone else. He should’ve been more meticulous about their meeting and listened to his initial instinct to try and meet Peter as Nightwing.

He turned his attention to Karen, smiling down at the girl, “So, Elizabeth, what are you thinking about getting?”

Karen scanned her own menu, “I will try the Red Robin wrap.” She said, placing her menu back down on the table.

“Ahh,” Dick vocalized, “A solid choice. The wraps here are pretty good.”

Their waitress came to the table shortly after, handing Karen a coloring sheet and crayons. She made quick work of taking everyone’s orders, took back the menus and left.

Now Peter didn’t have anything to use as an appropriate distraction. Tim and the others seemed to be too invested in their own conversation and Peter knew that pulling out his phone would be too impolite, but he was starting to decide that he didn’t care if that meant that his father’s alternate wouldn’t talk to him.

Said alternate took the chance to speak, however, when Peter accidentally let his eyes shift to him. That soft smile was back in a flash, “So, Ben, I know you’ve probably been asked this a thousand times, but what do you think of Gotham so far? Dami told me you two were from New York.”

A stiff shrug and Peter tried to sound casual, but his voice was strained, “Uh-well-its… you know! Dark and crime-riddled… but it has charm.”

Dick nodded in earnest, taking in everything Peter told him and chuckled, “Yeah, that’s Gotham for you!” He looked back at Karen, “What about you, Elizabeth? Do you like it here?”

Karen was currently finishing a maze puzzle on her coloring sheet, she didn’t look up at Dick as she answered, “It’s rough sometimes, but Ben and I help each other. That makes things easier.”

Dick’s eyes softened at that and Peter wanted to throw up. The waitress came back, giving them their drink orders. “Aww, that’s so sweet. I’m glad you two have each other.” His soft blue eyes shifted between the two before settling back on Karen, “Is Ben a good big brother?”

The young android finished the last puzzle on her sheet with alarming speed as she took in the question. If anything, she felt like she took care of Peter more than he took care of her but as she thought back to every single memory since she first woke up, she quickly realized that wasn’t necessarily factual.

“Ben… Ben is an extraordinary sibling,” Karen started, snapping Peter out of his daze, “He combs my hair. He picks out my outfits. He gives me food off his plate even when I don’t ask for it…” Even though she doesn’t need to eat is what she really wanted to say. “He ensures my safety and comfortability just as much as I do for him. I am… grateful to have Ben as my sibling.”

The table was quiet when Karen finished. Peter sank low into his seat, feeling his face heat up.

Tim, who’d been drinking a chocolate milkshake, paused mid-sip. Stephanie was cooing underneath her hand. Cass was leaned forward, clearly intrigued and Damian looked a little embarrassed himself, but that didn’t surprise Peter. Damian looked a little emotionally constipated. 

Dick gave the biggest reaction.

Peter watched on in stilted horror as his entire face lit up. He clutched his chest, absolutely beaming, “Awwww, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!”

Peter wished he could sink under the table and become the hard gum stuck underneath.

“Yeah, I didn’t even think that Liz could say something so nice.” Tim added and Peter groaned.

“Liz, why would you say that?” Peter asked rhetorically, rubbing his forehead.

With a small shrug, Karen turned her head to look at Peter, “Because it’s true.”

Hand still clutching his chest, Dick’s smile grew a bit mischievous, “What about Damian? Is he a good friend?” Peter could tell that Damian had kicked Dick underneath the table by the way it haphazardly shifted, but the older man gave no real reaction and only seemed to smile wider.

“Damian is a good friend. He does not condescend like others do at school and treats me as an equal because he doesn’t doubt my abilities. I push him and he pushes me in ways I didn’t know were possible… I value Damian.” Karen felt surprised by her own answers, even if she didn’t show it. If you’d asked her a month ago, her answers would’ve been purely analytical but it seemed that she’d been adopting human emotions as time went by.

A beat of silence sat over the table once again and everyone’s eyes were on Damian, whose ears were beginning to turn bright red.

The young teen cleared his throat, shifting slightly in his seat, “Tt. It’s only natural that Elizabeth recognizes my superiority.”

Dick gave him a scolding look, “Don’t mind him, Liz, that’s just Dami’s way of saying thank you.” Dick explained, making sure that Karen wasn’t upset by Damian’s response. “But that was a very sweet answer, too. I’m glad you and Damian are friends.”

Stephanie leaned down to whisper to Karen beside her, “He’s definitely going to write about this in his journal. You probably just made his day.”

Karen only nodded at Stephanie, watching as Damian’s ears continued to stay red. She tilted her head, “You are uncomfortable with verbal affirmation.”

Damian scowled at that, “No, I’m not.”

Karen didn’t flinch, “You are.”

The table broke into laughter and Peter could feel himself relaxing as the night went on in the diner. 

Soon enough, they received their food. And if Peter had to be honest, it wasn’t the best thing ever, but the food was good. He even ordered a chocolate milkshake for himself and a strawberry milkshake for Karen to drink on the way home.

When the bill was given, Dick grabbed it before Peter could even look at the price, so he opted for looking out the windows.

He did a double take at the windows and gasped when he saw how dark it was outside. 

He shot out of his seat, pulling out his phone to look at the time to confirm his suspicions, “Shit! It's late!” He groaned, “We definitely missed the last bus.” The buses in Gotham never ran late. It was simply too dangerous for them to run past 8 PM. And it was definitely too dangerous for him to walk home with Karen, even if they did live in a somewhat nicer part of Gotham.

There were traffickers galore in Gotham and though he was sure he could escape with ease, having Karen there made things a lot harder for him.

While Peter lamented, Tim, Steph and Cass all turned to look at Dick expectantly, pointing their eyes at Peter, Karen and then at him.

Dick cleared his throat, “I can drive you guys home.”

“No but thank you, Mr-“

“I will not allow you guys to walk home alone.” Dick said, voice surprisingly firm. 

Peter glanced at the others, “But… how will you guys get home? Didn’t Dick drive you here?” He asked.

Stephanie nodded, “He did, but we can just call Alfred to come pick us up. We’d be home faster than if we waited for Dick to drop you guys off and come back to pick us up.”

Tim nodded along, “Yeah, it's not a big deal.”

Cass handed him her phone, it was on the new contact page, “Text when you’re home.”

Peter hesitantly put his number in and Cass saved it when she got her phone back, looking quite proud of herself.

Once the bill was paid, Dick picked up his keys, looking at Karen and Peter, “You guys ready?” 

Karen scooted out of her seat after Peter.

*

The ride was tense and awkward.

Peter guessed that Dick had noticed how uncomfortable he was and was trying to keep conversation to a minimum with him, just like he had in the restaurant.

Thankfully, Karen seemed to be up to talking.

“So, Lizzie, what’d you think of BatBurger? Pretty top-tier, am I right?” He asked casually.

Karen kept her gaze out the window, watching the lights of the city blur past, “The thematic branding was excessive and it was no different from any other burger restaurant.”

Dick gave a dramatic gasp, “Excuse you? BatBurger is a one-of-a-kind Gotham experience!” He said in mock offense. “And the excessive branding is what makes it fun!”

Karen blinked at that, raising an eyebrow, “Forced branding integration does not improve food quality.” She sounded slightly offended that Dick would even joke that such a thing could make food taste better.

Peter frowned at her tone and sighed, “Liz, please just let people enjoy things, even if it doesn’t make sense to you.” He muttered.

Dick only laughed, however, thoroughly amused by Karen, “No, no. I like the way she thinks! Very analytical and straight forward. I usually have to dig answers out of Dami.”

Peter didn’t have trouble believing that.

Damian usually kept their conversations short, too. He seemed to only be interested in Karen, which Peter didn’t mind too much. Damian had obviously taken a liking to her and Peter enjoyed seeing Karen act somewhat like a child when she was with Damian.

As Dick continued to drive, he glanced at the rear view mirror, noticing that Karen was watching him with those captivating hazel eyes of hers.

She wasn’t just looking at him though, she was studying him. Scanning him, his face, his everything.

It reminded him of Cass in a way.

“Do I have something on my face?” He asked.

“No.”

She continued to stare and Dick raised an eyebrow, amused by the way she continued to scan his face. Her brows furrowed ever so slightly before she chanced a glance at Peter and then back at him.

“What?” He asked, when she began to blink rapidly.

“… Nothing.” She lied smoothly, keeping her eyes on her window to study the night sky.

“Really? That didn’t look like nothing. You don’t want to share with the class what you found?”

“No.” Came Karen’s short, monotone reply.

Dick held back a laugh, pulling over beside an old apartment complex, “Alright, here’s home!”

Peter practically sprang out the car, almost forgetting to wait for Karen. He felt like he was going to throw up if he stayed in that car any longer.

Karen waved goodbye, which Dick returned happily. He only left once he saw them enter the building.

Like usual, Peter flopped onto their bed once they made it inside while Karen locked the door. “God, that was agonizing!” He moaned into his pillow.

Karen sat down on her side of the bed, removing her headband, “Your cortisol levels were heightened for the duration of our time with Dick Grayson. Achieving adequate rest will do you well for the night to decrease your levels.”

Peter hummed in agreement, pulling out his phone so he could text Cassandra that they’d made it home for the night. He went to press the send icon before his Spidey sense flared.

Hard.

His finger froze over the icon and his stomach twisted as a wave of sharp, electrifying warning pulsed through him.

Danger . Close. Door . Watch. Avoid .

He whipped his head to the window right next to their bed, scanning the street below for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing.

Peter’s eyes moved back to their door.

Something wasn’t right.

Creaak .

Just outside their apartment door.

Peter felt his blood run cold.

Karen was watching the door as well. Her face remained eerily calm compared to Peter’s panicked focus. She didn’t have a sixth sense for danger like he did, but she could pick up on any sudden changes in his heart rate and demeanor in mere milliseconds.

Neither of them said anything. They both knew.

Someone was waiting outside for them.

Peter could hear his pulse drumming in his ears as he took a step forward, but he stopped when his spidey sense screamed at him.

Vents. Get out. GET OUT!

But there was no way Peter could get out on time with Karen in tow. 

He watched in muted horror as a thick white fog exploded into the room, hissing through the vents that sat just above their bed. It filled their small space in mere seconds before Peter could even open the window.

He choked, staggering back.

Karen had analyzed the chemical composition of the gas in an instant, holding Peter steady, “It’s a sleeping agent, Peter.” She told him, trying to guide him towards the window so they could try to leave.

But the sleep agent was already doing its work. Peter’s head swam and he could feel his knees give out underneath him despite how hard he tried to fight the heavy fog taking over his mind. The room tilted sideways.

“Sh-... Shit-” He hissed, vision blurring. He collapsed to the floor and the last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was their door being slammed open.

*

Karen’s systems processed the variables immediately.

Peter was unconscious and vulnerable. 

There were now 3 masked individuals in the room, all wearing hand-sewn butcher aprons and grotesque animal masks. They each held rusty surgical tools in their bloodstained gloves. Their heads were tilted at unnatural angles and Karen could tell they were ready to subdue them by any means possible.

She couldn’t leave without Peter and she couldn’t fight back.

She calculated every outcome and concluded that surrendering was the safest outcome for Peter to remain unharmed. She would just have to call for help somehow…

A quick dive into her memory and she remembered that Peter had told her he was given two alert buttons by Jason.

Without so much as a blink, she connected to them as restraints were latched onto her small wrists.

And activated them both.

Bruce typed away on the Batcomputer, expression serious. 

It’d been weeks since school had started. And despite his kids hanging out with Peter and Karen regularly, they still didn’t have any solid leads on who the owner of Tony Stark’s bank account was. 

They all knew it wasn’t actually Tony Stark because Tony didn’t exist.

But someone was taking the money out of his account and giving it to Peter, but Peter wasn’t the one touching the bank account. It was an outside source that was ensuring he got the stipend Bruce had given them.

Barbara was already on the comm line, reporting to him her lack of findings, “Still nothing, B. The only thing I do know is that whoever is the true owner is also in Gotham.”

Bruce heard a long sigh sound behind him and felt Dick lean against the back of his chair, giving another forlorn sigh, “Guys… I need an honest opinion.” 

The rest of the family, who were lounging around the cave idly waiting to suit up for the night, exchanged glances. They were already sensing bullshit.

“Ok… so we all know that Ben is my son from the future and we all agree that he looks like me, right?”

Damian clicked his tongue, “Unfortunately, yes.”

“Yeah, if you darkened his hair and his eyes were blue…” Stephanie drawled.

Tim and Cass shrugged, waiting for him to continue.

Dick glanced around the room, taking a deep breath. His ears were red now but he held a serious expression on his face, “... Do you guys think that Liz looks like me, too? I think-”

“No.” Cass answered for him.

Stephanie was smiling now, far too giddy, “Oh, you thought you were getting a 2 for one deal, huh?” She teased before she seemed to take the thought seriously, “Liz looks like Ben though, so… they probably have the same mom, just different dads.”

"Yeah, an alien dad." Tim said.

Dick frowned, not pleased with the first answers, “I’m just saying-the more I look, the more I can see some of my features in Liz!” He pulled up a picture on his phone from a security feed, pointing at said features, “Like the eyes! Or the-uh-the structure!”

“No, she doesn’t.” Tim said, deadpan.

“You’re being delusional, Grayson.” Damian added, arms crossed.

Dick’s mouth hung open, absolutely betrayed. He kept his phone hanging in the air, showing Elizabeth’s face. “No, I’m not! You guys are just blind! Look at her cute face and tell me you don’t think we look alike. She’s got, like, Grayson-adjacent features.” He argued.

“Because she has a face?” Barbara pitched in, “Having a face doesn’t automatically give her ‘Grayson-adjacent features’, Dick.”

Bruce spun around to face them in his chair, “We’ll find out when we do the DNA test, but only when we get them in the manor.” He said pointedly, looking right at Tim. Since he’d decided to withhold information, he wasn’t allowed to do any DNA analysis until Bruce could get them in the manor, where they could spring into action if anything important was found.

“I want to make sure they’re safe first before we put that nail in the coffin.” He looked at Dick, who had an unreadable expression on his face, “But, I’m sure that whatever situation they’re in is one we can help them get out of. They’re only kids.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Now suit up. Patrol starts in an hour.” He ordered.

Steph patted Dick, who was still sulking, on the shoulder, “Don’t worry, Dick. Even if they’re not a matching set, you’ll still get 2.”

Dick waved her off, grumbling, “Whatever, thanks for crushing my dreams.

The light environment didn’t last long, however, as they barely even got to head for the changing rooms before Barbara was speaking into the comm line through the Batcomputer, “Jason has just alerted me that Ben and Elizabeth both pressed their panic buttons but they aren’t at the apartment. There’s no signs of struggle but he can smell chemicals in the air and their door was kicked down.”

The air was still.

“Everyone, get dressed now!” Bruce ordered, rising out of his seat to shoot for the changing rooms as well, “Wait for my orders after you're dressed! Oracle, find out who took them and where! Make sure to alert the GCPD to be on the lookout for our usual suspects."

Dick exhaled sharply, trying to quell the burning worry in his chest. They had to have gotten ambushed because he knew that Peter was capable, but Elizabeth… She was intelligent but she was just a child.

His jaw clenched.

Neither of them deserved what was happening to them.

Bruce’s voice was final.

“We’re bringing them to the manor when we find them.” He said, now dressed head to toe in his iconic Batman suit.

And with that, they moved out.