Mysterious Portals, Those Are Fun / s
The Waynes were having their one good day of probably the year, which of course meant things were about to go to shit.
Things were peaceful, objectively it wasn't peaceful but it was their kind of peace, as they sat around their table, clammoring and celebrating and chatting exuberantly as they ate their dinner.
Jason - Dick - Damian - Duke
Alfred -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bruce
Tim - Cass - Steph - Barbara
The atmosphere was warm and light and full of love which should've been the first indicator things were about to go to shit.
Jason hadn't meant to, honestly, but...as he sat there, on the receiving end of a story Dick and Tim were enthusiastically telling him...he just felt like an outsider.
"Jaybird?" Dick frowned at him, "You alright?"
In the next moment words were spilling past Jason's lips.
"Oh yeah, fine, just thinking about how no one cared about me enough to kill the Joker."
As he expected...the table fell silent, Bruce and Alfred both flinched but...what he hadn't expected was for Dick to tense beside him, Tim and Barabara freezing too, the trio sharing a quick glance.
"Todd," Damian huffed, "You said you'd stop blurting that out when the environment got too 'chummy.'"
"He brings this up often?!" Duke gawked.
"This time," Jason pursed his lips, "We're gonna talk about it."
And as if on cue...a swirling mass of toxic green began to form in their dining room. The family, who hadn't changed from their patrols (even Duke) pulled on their cowls or slapped on their masks, shooting to their feet glaring suspiciously at the portal.
The family was on edge but more and more time passed and they grew less and less on edge, they were still on edge, of course, still prepared to fight but...they grew more weary than defensive toward the portal. Of course at that exact moment the portal began to swirl in on itself...pulling at everything in the room...the family included.
The portal was closest to Bruce so...he was in the most trouble. He handled it well though, instantly shooting his grapple into the far wall, holding on even as he was being tugged backward. Everyone followed his lead well...everyone except for Alfred.
"Alfred!" Jason cried out in alarm as the elderly man was dragged toward the portal.
Tim didn't hesitate before grabbing Alfred with his free hand, holding him tightly.
But...it was almost like the portal got stronger, pulling more and more on Alfred. Tim cried out in pain, feeling like was gonna be ripped in two as he struggled to hold onto his grapple and fight against the force of the pull of the portal.
And then Tim realized...the portal wasn't pulling at Alfred, well it was, but the portal wasn't pulling as hard at Alfred as it was at him. Tim looked to Alfred, glad his eyes were hidden beneath his cowl, he didn't want Alfred to see his fear.
Tim let out a strangled cry of pain, forcing Alfred closer and closer to him until he was by his side. Tim had to do this quickly.
"Master Timothy?" Alfred asked fiercely and through gritted teeth, "What are you doing?"
Tim ignored him and clipped his grapple to Alfred's belt.
"I'm sorry, Alfred," Tim's voice broke...and then with an especially hard tug from the portal...Tim was falling away from Alfred.
"Tim!" His family cried out in horror.
Tim felt a kind of...freeing weightlessness as he fell toward the portal.
He jerked to a stop though, as a hand clasped his forearm.
"I gotcha!" Dick grit out, struggling as he continued to hold him.
"Dick!" Tim's eyes were wide as he felt himself beginning to slip.
"Hold onto me!" Dick cried out, brothers both tightening their grips to no avail as the portal continued to yank on Tim.
The part of the wall the grapple was impaled into began to crack. Tim looked on at the steadily growing cracks in horror.
"Dick," Tim's breath hitched in his throat.
"...We go together," Dick whispered.
"...Okay..." Tim breathed out because...what else could they do?
"Just close your eyes, little brother," Dick whispered, "Your brother's here, don't you worry about a thing, I'll be right there with you."
Tim exhaled shakily, relaxing and allowing his eyes to flutter closed.
In the next moment...Dick released his grapple, duo getting dragged toward the portal, not confined by such trivial things as gravity.
Tim let out a sharp gasp, squeezing his eyes shut and curling into his brother's chest as Dick pulled him into a hug as they fell toward the portal.
"DICK!" Their family screamed, "TIM!"
Tim shuddered at the sensation of falling through the portal but he calmed and relaxed...when he felt Dick's hand continuing to soothingly rub his back as his older brother held him protectively, as he held him close to his chest. Tim felt like a baby being held like that by his brother but...he couldn't really bring himself to feel embarassed.
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"Ugh," Tim groaned, stirring.
He rose his head, immediately noting the lack of his brother and promptly and internally freaking out.
He didn't even have a chance to start looking for his brother because surrounding him with varrying weapons, all in varrying fighting stances...were heroes.
They weren't just any heroes, though, no they were...reflections and refrations of heroes Tim knew, and there was even a reflection and a refraction of himself.
His only response was...
"What the fuck?"