Tale of Two Gothams

Ch. 6: Multi-Dimensional Corresponding Physical Displacement

Alfred paced back and forth in front of the front door trying to convince himself that he was doing the right thing. He had called Commissioner Gordon about five minutes ago. What Dick yelled at him made him realize that this may e the only way to keep Dick safe.

He continued pacing; glancing over to the study to make sure Bruce didn't know what he was doing, when someone knocked on the door. Alfred quickly opened the door. "Commissioner, thank you for coming."

"Well, when you said it was urgent and then not tell me a thing over the phone, I practically ran out the door and went as fast as I could to get here," Gordon said as he walked in.

"Again, thank you. Please follow me," Alfred said as he lead Gordon up the stairs to Dick's room.

Once they got to Dick's room, Gordon froze in the doorway when he saw Dick. "Dick?" He quickly walked over to Dick, sat down on the bed, started examining his head, arms, and the other injuries, then turned toward Alfred. "What happened? How did this happen? I didn't hear about any accidents," Gordon asked quickly, clearly worried.

"That's because it happened here, in this house," Alfred said calmly.

Now Dick was surprised to see Gordon when Alfred came back. He figured Alfred was just going to give Bruce a piece of his mind, but he never expected to see the Commissioner, not after that talk about how Bruce would come after them. He was completely speechless.

"What do you mean happened here?" Gordon asked. "You mean he fell down the stairs?"

"No, I'm afraid it's an awfully long story," Alfred said as he came over and sat on the other side of Dick.

Gordon looked at Dick then back to Alfred confused. He then looked at the door and stood up. "Where's Bruce? I want to talk with him."

"NO!" Dick yelled and nearly fell out of bed as he grabbed Gordon's wrist.

Gordon quickly steadied the boy then sat back down even more confused than before. He then looked to Alfred. "I think you better start at the beginning."

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Bruce left Dick to look at the schematics of the Portal Gun while he called Dr. Folder to see how the gun was supposed to work. It took him ten minutes to finally get a hold of him.

"Dr. Folder, this is Batman."

"Batman?!"

"Yes, I need to talk to you about your Portal Gun."

"Ok? What would you like to know?"

"I need to know how it works."

"Well, the Portal Gun was designed to open a portal so that people could travel to other dimensions and see what life would be like if they made a different decision."

"What about if someone got shot with it?"

"Well, it wasn't designed to be used like that so I'm not entirely sure what could happen. Why? What happened?"

"My partner was shot with it, and now he's jumping dimensions uncontrollably."

"I see," there was a short pause and Batman could hear papers rustling in the background. Dr. Folder then said, more to himself than to Batman, "It could be that the gun messed up his particles which would explain why he is jumping, or..." Again there were more papers rustling.

"Or what, Doctor?" All Batman heard was some mumbling and no answer. He was starting to get aggravated. "Doctor!"

"Sorry. Is there, by any chance, another person switching places with him?"

Batman looked over to the computer where Dick was sitting. "His double takes his place."

"I see, and do they have the same injuries, if any?"

"Yes," was all Batman said.

"As I feared. Batman it seems to me that he is experiencing a side-effect which I have theorized about."

Batman narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Multi-Dimensional Corresponding Physical Displacement, or MDCPD."

"Go on."

Dr. Folder cleared his throat. "Of course. Well, all dimensions are connected one way or another. What happens in one dimension must happen in the other, despite how it happens."

"So you're saying that if the Robin from this dimension breaks his arm while fighting the Joker, the other Robin has to break his arm, but he could break it while falling down the stairs?"

"Precisely, however, might I ask how often the switch occurs?"

Batman was silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should answer that, but finally decided that it might me the only way to solve this problem. "It happens at random. The first time it happened he was asleep in his bed, then he said it wasn't clear when he switched because he didn't even know he did jump until... a certain event happened."

"Fascinating." Batman growled. "T-that is it say, that... ummm... it helps with another theory I have been contemplating."

"Which is?"

"Which is the Shared-Space Theorem. You see, I have theorized, that even under normal circumstances there is a great significance placed on the moment when two of the same doppelgangers occupy the same space at the same. There is a greater connection between the two dimension while this happens, but in your case, it could be the trigger that determine the jumps."

"So what are you trying to tell me, Doctor?" Batman asked getting even more aggravated with the man.

"Ummm, well, if the Robin in this dimension is in the same place at the same time as the Robin in the other dimension, then their shared connection is strong enough to pull them into each other's realities."

"So you're saying that if the Robin from this dimension was sitting at the computer, and the Robin from the other dimension is sitting in the same position, they'll switch?"

"Correct."

"Alright, then answer me this. How did this happen in the first place? Was it just because the Robin from this dimension was shot with the Portal Gun?"

"No. As I was saying about parallels and dimensions, this never could have happened unless the other Robin was exposed to Portal Gun chemicals, and I'd wager a bet it happened at the same exact time."

Batman looked over to Dick and narrowed his eyes. "I'll look into it. Now tell me, how do we keep them from jumping again?"

"Well, unless you have an agreement with one Robin that he will avoid a certain area while the other is confined to it, there is no way to be certain that they won't jump until we can figure out how to cancel out the chemicals."

Batman's eyes widened. "Won't that be considered imprisonment?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid that it's our only choice. Without this method, the jumps could continue erratically, building up until they become in a state of permanent flux."