The Batboy Paradox - A Trip To Another World

Not Our Batman

On their way to the cave, the city was nothing but silence. Not that they're complaining, but there is something that always happens in Gotham. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian swing through the night sky of Gotham City, only to see a few civilians walking through the streets.

"Isn't a little too, I don't know, quiet?" Jason asks.

"Usually there would be a few fires or fights happening here or there," Dick adds on. "But there's nothing."

"Who's ever Gotham this is, I guess they did a pretty good job at keeping the streets clean," Tim says, looking down at the empty streets. 

"I don't like it," Damian grumbles. "It doesn't feel right."

The boys continue to swing from building to building, staring at the nearly empty streets. "We can practically just walk on the streets and no one would notice," Tim says. "In and out of uniform," he points out

"Let's head over to the Manor," Dick says.

"Why not straight to the cave?" Damian asks.

"I have a bad feeling about the manor."

With that, the boys swing faster. The wind along with their fast momentum wisps their capes and hair through the air. The atmosphere becomes denser, a sense of worry overtakes their body. No words are needed to tell each other how they feel at that very moment as they get closer to the manor. They know that something is wrong. The capes of Damian and Tim's are the only things filling in the silence along with the sound of them launching their grappling hooks.

Passing the buildings as quickly as possible, they finally reach the secluded manor. The Wayne Family's Manor, a place where they can rest in peace from all of the chaos. Or so they had thought. Reaching the manor, the boys release their grappling hook, flipping in the air and landing on the ground. The manor sits of a little mountain like hill, where the road curves around the landscape. In front of them, is the black gate that leads into the manor. 

Damian approaches the gate and wipes his finger on it. "It's rusty," he says, rubbing the dust and corroded metal between his fingers, watching the particles fall. As he does this, the gate suddenly collapses, create a loud sound, that echoes through the night sky. "And broken."

One by one, they begin to step onto the property, stepping over the gate. They stand in front of the gate staring at their—yet not their—home. Stepping onto the property of the Wayne Family, one is greeted by a five-story house that looks luxurious and intimidating at the same time. On the sides is the well-maintenenced grass where Titus, the dog, would usually lay. As one approaches the manor, the pebbled road would add touches to the Wayne image, but that's not how any of this is. 

The manor looks more intimidating than it has ever been. Usually, people would blame the night sky or the moon, but that is never the case. It looks like it hasn't been touched in years. The stairs up to the manor are littered with dirt and leaves. The grass around them shines a dull green from the moonlight—hasn't been touched in years. The clean pebble ground that they had once known, is littered with little sprouts of weeds and grass.

Tim walks over to the wide area of grass and bends down onto one knee. He rips off a few strands of grass and inspects it. "Dead," he says. "For, God knows how long." He stands up and looks at the manor. If this is how the outside looks—"

"I don't want to know what the inside looks like," Dick finishes. He huffs out, feeling gloomy. He looks around, glaring at the area, similar to his home. "Let's go," he commands. He leads the other three boys into the manor. Before entering, he pulls out his escrima sticks, making the other three pull out their specialty weapons too.