About two hours prior, Jason and Tim, who had a full meal, planned to go to the East District. They intended to do their homework with the buddies Jason used to know. Mostly because they didn't want to run into Thomas, who might come back, and then get burdened with more damn etiquette lessons.
They were all dressed up and about to leave when they ran into Bruce who was bringing Aisha back. Bruce, for a rare occasion, wasn't in a suit. Instead, he wore a long-sleeved cashmere sweater and a double-breasted coat. The Aisha in his arms was an exact miniature version of him, except for a scarf around her neck, her face flushed a warm red, looking as cute as a doll.
Bruce wrapped their scarves tightly around them and instructed them to be back for bedtime before nine. Then he saw them out of the house.
After Jason and Tim left, Bruce took Aisha to change clothes. Aisha had attended kindergarten for a year and had strong self-care skills. She could handle things like changing clothes completely on her own. Which made Bruce abandon the idea of hiring an elderly female nanny for her and decided to take care of her himself.
But that doesn't mean Aisha became a good little girl. She just had walked into the cloakroom, when Bruce discovered her chewing the wardrobe drawer. Or rather, a large portion of the wardrobe drawer was already in her belly.
Bruce quickly went in to rein her in, therefore not hearing the noise at the mansion's gate. Alfred had gone to see Jason and Tim off and hadn't returned, so he didn't notice the condition outside the door either.
In front of the mansion's gate, a golden flash of lightning came from a distance. The dazzling golden light exploded for a brief moment, and several figures appeared.
"Flash! This time you can't side with Batman, we can't flee when he's in trouble..."
The reprimanding tone hadn't completed when the surrounding environment abruptly changed, the voice halted, and several figures froze in their tracks.
Barry Allen, dressed in the Flash uniform, spread his arms and said, "You should know, neither you nor me can defy Batman's orders. He always has a way to achieve his goal, regardless of our will."
The one just reprimanding Barry was Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gordon from the Prime Universe, who had been paralyzed due to a gunshot injury by the Joker. However, after the Flashpoint event, she regained mobility through surgery and returned as Batgirl.
Nightwing, also known as the Dick from the Prime Universe, Batman's first Robin, stood behind her, sharing the same disapproving gaze as hers towards Barry. He once left for Brude Haven to become an independent hero but later returned to the Batman Family.
"Barry, what the hell are you doing? If we run from every enemy that comes our way, what's the point of us returning to Batman's side? I warn you, get us back pronto!"
The red hooded Jason stepped forward and shoved Barry's shoulder. Barry looked at him helplessly and said, "I've told you, this isn't something I can decide. Believe it or not, the moment I send you back, another Flash will bring you here in the next second."
"You're an absolute disaster!" Another immature voice came from the rear. A boy, evidently much younger than them, stepped forward with an impatient look, "You listen to everything Batman says, don't you have a dad of your own?"
Barry's face immediately fell, Tim, the Red Robin in red and green Robin uniform, pulled the boy's arm a bit and said, "Damian, watch your mouth."
Barry took a deep breath, ignored them, and walked straight ahead to push the front door of the manor and said, "I suggest you behave yourselves."
"Pfft, am I supposed to be scared?" Damian raised his voice and said,"'Batman's sweetheart', how does that title sound?"
Barry pushed the door open, and the others followed him into Wayne Manor, scrutinizing everything with eyes full of discontent and criticism. The red hood spoke up, "I bet that the Batcave in this universe is nothing special, probably can't even fill the collection room."
Nightwing didn't say anything, but he silently observed everything around him. Red Robin Tim began deducting the recent events in this place from every detail he observed.
"I really don't know what Batman is thinking." Barbara said, "Is this universe safer than ours? Why should we try to escape the inevitable?"
"For the last time, mind your language." Barry walked up the steps and knocked on the manor's main door.
Red Robin Tim slightly frowned and said, "What are you afraid of?"
"A lot."
"Like?"
Barry turned around to look at them and said, "I suggest you better not to talk like that, because even Batman of this world might not dare to say so."
"Creak" the door opened. Instantly, all members of the Batman family focused their attention on the person who opened the door, and then they all froze.
This Bruce Wayne was too young.
The red hood stayed rigid in place for a few seconds, he turned his head to Nightwing, and nudged him with his elbow and said, "I bet, he's around your age."
"Did he just graduate from college?" The puzzled Red Robin asked, and then he opened and closed his mouth. Unable to resist, he finally interrogated, "So Batman used to look like this when he was young? He looks, er…"
Red Robin stammered for half a day, but couldn't describe exactly what kind of style it was, but one thing was sure, it was completely different from the Batman they knew.
It wasn't just about his age. This Bruce Wayne wasn't as muscular as the Batman they know. He was skinnier, his blue eyes in his eye sockets much brighter, not as mysterious and elusive.
Neither did he dress the same as the Batman they knew, who would always appear in full bat suit no matter when and where.
Bruce was wearing a long-sleeved turtleneck knitwear and a pair of wide-legged brown pants, his half-length black hair tied behind his head, a few loose strands hanging over his forehead. One hand held a drawer with suspicious teeth marks, the other carried a little girl who looked 80% like him.
It's hard to say that this image is something natural. Other than his face, a younger version of Bruce Wayne, he looks more like a despairing housewife who has struggled half a lifetime with a rebellious child, a lazy husband, an annoying neighbour, and even an inherently competitive child's classmate's mother.
But the impact of this image is indeed quite strong. It made the members of the Batman Family who had just arrived here completely forget about Batman's reckless act of tossing them here without considering their opinions. Instead, they were filled with two questions — "Is this Batman?" and "How did this Batman end up like this?"
"Hey, Bruce, long time no see, you remember me, right?" Barry walked forward with a smile.
Bruce set down the Aisha he was carrying in his hand, held her hand to prevent her from rushing out and biting someone, and he looked at Barry, seeming to wait for him to give an explanation.
Barry pulled out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Bruce. "Your professor asked me to bring this to you. He's rushing to a scholarly meeting in Washington. Everything's explained in the letter," he said.
As Bruce was opening the letter, Barry explained: "But I still need to clarify for you in advance. The Batman of our world wants to send the members of the Batman Family here for a while. It was originally meant to be entrusted to Professor Shiller, but he's been quite busy lately, so he asked me to bring them here to you."
As Bruce was reading the content of Shiller's letter, he glanced up at the Batman Family members who were all looking at him intently.
After a while, he folded the letter back into the envelope, led Aisha a few steps back, opened the door even wider, and said, "Please come in."
No one moved.
Bruce retreated even farther, leaving more space. Barbara couldn't help but look at Bruce's eyes incredulously, questioning, "Are you really letting us just enter like this? Where's the security check equipment? Where do you plan on pulling it out from?"
"No security check equipment." Bruce picked up Aisha again and said, "The letter already explained the basic situation. Come in."
The group looked at each other, no one daring to take the first step.
Luckily, Barry ended up being the brave soul to go first. He walked in the door — no strange scanning beams, no trap controls falling from the sky, no electric shocks, and no suddenly swiveling cameras.
He calmly reached Bruce unscathed and even reached out to tease Aisha. Red Hood swallowed, looked left and right, and then said, "Alright, I'll go in first. You guys watch Damian."
Having said that, he seemed to drum up a lot of courage to take the first step, lifting a leg carefully to step over the threshold.
Looking up, he saw that Bruce was watching him as if he were a madman.
Red Hood didn't care about his gaze at all. He was focused on his foot touching the ground, making sure he was standing on solid ground. Feeling the firm touch of the floor, he quickly lifted his other foot and walked in.
Three seconds later, he was still standing. Red Hood breathed a sigh of relief, quickly darted to the open space next to the sofa, and waved at the others.
Nightwing held Damian's wrist tightly, while Barbara and Red Robin Tim flanked them. When they reached the place where Red Hood was, they found Bruce's gaze had turned into something resembling pity for an imbecile.
"Listen, this Batman, it's not like we wanted to come here," Nightwing began to negotiate. "So no matter what, you can't just lock us up somewhere. If you have to, put us together, don't separate us. We have to look after Damian. He's just a kid."
Apparently, Red Robin Tim didn't approve of his approach to negotiation, so he stepped forward.
"We are not alien imposters, not shaped by Clayface or Madame No Name, not a machine cyborg made by Luther, not under the mental control of Hugo or the Mad Hatter, not threatened by the Joker, not under any magic spells, and also not substitutes that the Assassin's Union has globally recruited -- we are just the Batman Family from another universe," he said.
Just as Bruce opened his mouth wanting to speak, Red Robin Tim immediately said, "I know you want us to roll out of your Gotham, but obviously we weren't looking to roll in. So I think we can make a trade."
Bruce looked at him and asked, "What trade?"
"Since the situation is urgent now, we can..."
"Stop, where is the situation urgent now?"
"If the situation wasn't urgent, how could you agree to another universe Batman sending us to your Gotham and let us enter Wayne Manor?"
"He's bluffing!" Damian, whose wrist was being held by Nightwing, spoke sharply. "Does Gotham ever not have an urgent situation?"
Ignoring him, Red Robin Tim continued, "We can merge with the Teen Titans of your world, and deliver the leadership to the leader of the Teen Titans here. We can also wear monitoring devices, but you can't lock us up or force our actions."
"I disagree," said Bruce.
"Why?"
Red Robin Tim regretted asking this question because he knew the answer would definitely be "because I am Batman".
However, what he heard was.
"Because I don't know what the 'Teen Titans' are."