[Introduction] The apocalypse is canceled until I say so

[boysundering]

Inter-dimensional travel was never pretty.  Damian had read reports of being sucked into an alternate reality where everything that didn't matter was the same and the few things that did were altered in some key, disturbing fashion.  And considering his line of work, he had always figured it would only be a matter of time until he experienced the

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[gothamsgoodcop]

Gordon steps out the door for a bit of that fresh air, and pauses in confusion when he spots the bright red and yellow costume up in a tree. He blinks at it for a moment but yep, that is definitely a kid up there in some sort of ridiculous costume. He moves toward the tree, keeping his distance but not hiding the fact that he's noticed the kid.

"Hello," he calls up, hands at his side where they can be seen, rather than in his pockets. "What are you doing up there?"

He won't recognize the boy, and if Damian recognizes him, well, he's probably a lot younger than the Commissioner Gordon of Damian's time.

[boysundering]

Damian narrows his eyes, squinting down at the approaching figure. The face might be different but the voice is the same and he recognizes it before the face even registers. The Commissioner. Maybe he hasn't been taken as far as he had thought. Still, well, the face is different. And, Damian notes as his eyes get used to the lack of lighting, unlined.

Has Klarion been about with his de-aging scheme again?

Well, at least Gordon is relatively trustworthy, if woefully untrained. (He will never admit to his being ever an asset in the field.) Damian drops down from the tree, but does not allow his grip to ease up on the batarang. "Commissioner," he acknowledges formally. He won't admit to the weakness of disorientation. Not yet.

[gothamsgoodcop]

Gordon's eyebrows raise in surprise, he's seen some strange looks in his time but he'd like to think he'd remember a boy this young dressed like that This kid can't be much older than his own son. He pushes back the pang he feels at the thought of Jimmy and steps closer. "I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, son. Do I know you?"

He tries to see what the boy has in his hand, but can't get a good look. Still, there's something awfully familiar about the shape from what he can see.

[boysundering]

Damian goes over the possibilities quickly. Option a) he has been sucked into another dimension. B) he has been taken into the past. Gordon can't have been simply de-aged because that wouldn't explain the portal Damian refuses to believe his unpleasant journey meant nothing.

Obviously the first option is preferable. If this is in the past, Damian runs the risk of disrupting it. "Not yet, perhaps." He waves his hand imperiously. "Tell me where we are and the year."

[gothamsgoodcop]

Not yet. So, from the future, then. He wonders if it should worry him that it not only makes sense, but it's a plausible explanation. "Why don't you come inside and we'll talk there," he says. That way he can see if the kid needs anything to eat, and set him up with a room. Because even if he doesn't know the kid, the kid knows him, and that makes Jim feel responsible for him.. "What's your name, son?"

[boysundering]

"I can't tell you that. Doesn't Gordon know a masked vigilante when he sees one. Or is he even more dimwitted than Damian had thought. Or, the thought nags at him, is Gordon from so far back that he hasn't even heard of the superheroes and vigilantes that have been rising up around the world? The thought is pleasant.

Damian's best hope of getting back home is through those heroes. He will not be stuck here. He won't allow it.

[gothamsgoodcop]

"Well, you've gotta have something you call yourself when you've got that mask of yours on," he points out, gesturing towards it. So it's not just some sort of oddly timed Halloween costume, then. It's a worrying thought, he remembers the spate of Batman copycats, and what happened to them, vividly.

[boysundering]

"Robin," Damian says after a moment. "I'm Robin." He looks up at Gordon and narrows his eyes behind the mask. Nothing about this situation pleases him. In fact, he's starting to get nervous, and Waynes don't get nervous. Neither do the children of the House al-Ghul.

[gothamsgoodcop]

"Well, Robin," Gordon says, "why don't you come inside, and I'll tell you more about this place." He's trying to do what he can to put the kid at ease, and hoping that he can coax a little more information out of him.

[boysundering]

"Why don't you tell me first? Stop dodging my questions." Damian taps one foot in what is most definitely not a stomp or a beginning of a tantrum.

[gothamsgoodcop]

Jim sighs and just breaks it to the kid as gently as he can. He knows the signs of an impeding tantrum when he sees one. "Because it's a bit of a long explanation, and the short version is that no one knows for sure where we are. I don't know what to tell you about the year either, but the last time I was in Gotham it was 2008*, and that was a bit over a year ago now."

*the release date for the film seemed as good a date as any

[boysundering]

The years add up. Gordon does not. Gordon should recognize him and should be at least a decade older and. . . well, this confirms it. This is not the past. It's an alternate dimension and while it complicates some things, at least Damian won't have to worry about messing up the future. All he needs to do is contact this dimension's Justice League.

He's about to open communications, when he realizes something. "I didn't tell you I was from Gotham."

[gothamsgoodcop]

"You recognized me. It seemed like a fair assumption." And it seems he was right. He shrugs. "Now, are you going to come inside, or were you planning on camping in that tree? I promise you that the rooms are much more comfortable."

He doesn't want to mention that it's also not always safe outside at night...he's afraid this kid will take it as a challenge.

[boysundering]

Damian fidgets just slightly before tucking away his batarang. He supposes Gordon is harmless enough. Might even. . . might even prove to be a help. "No. I need to be going back to Gotham now." He can better assess the situation from there, alternate dimension or no.

[gothamsgoodcop]

Gordon sighs and shakes his head. "I'm sorry son, but I've been looking for a way out for over a year now and I haven't find anything yet. No one knows how to leave this place."

[boysundering]

Damian's eyes widen and then narrow a moment later. Clearly the Commissioner is trying to trick him. "What do you mean?" Damian gestures out at the woods. "Just start walking. Do I have to show you how to move your legs?" There's just a hint of underlying fear in his tone, of being trapped, of being stuck, of not being in control of the situation.