Across || Tim Drake + Avengers Crossover

Chapter 21

Jason lay spread out on the couch, mask off and feet propped up lazily on the back of the couch.

He tossed up the baterang again, watching it spin upwards before catching it right before it landed on his face. It was a game he played quite occasionally when he had nothing to do. After the overly emotional video call with Bruce and a grand tour of the Tower, Dick and Damien had run off to do patrol while Tim regressed back into the dark recesses of his room, presumably doing whatever a malnourished teen did in his free time. This left Jason in the living area, bored out of his mind and not bothered to do anything productive.

Jason felt a shift in the air and immediately threw the baterang towards the elevator. There was a very manly shriek. Jason propped himself up on his elbow to peek at whoever it was, frowning when it wasn't Dick or Damien. Tim had mentioned the other people living in the tower but he hadn't bothered remembering much about them. If they weren't threats, they weren't a problem.

"What the heck Robin?! Are you out of your-"

The person stomped over towards the couch before they spotted Jason lying there. There was an awkward pause in which Jason decided it was probably a good idea to be properly orientated, but went against it, trying to make the stranger the most uncomfortable as possible.

He grinned. Did this guy just call Tim Robin?  "Yo Tim! Come 'ere!"

There was no reply from Tim's closed door so Jason yelled louder. "Tim? Replacement? Tim? Fucking come out! TIM."

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Came the muffled reply.

Jason simply shouted louder. "TIM I NEED YOU! TIM!"

The door slammed open. "What do you fucking want Ja-" Tim paused in his tracks, spotting Tony standing next to Jason who was still sprawled on the couch. He composed himself slightly, standing up straighter. Needless to say, he did not miss the baterang embedded in the wall. "Right. Um hi?"

Tony raised an eyebrow at Tim and gestured over Jason.

"Care to explain?"

"Okay look, Tony. Don't freak out, but this is my br-"

"Acquaintance!" Jason interjected. Tim shot him a dirty look for interrupting him, but refocused his attention on Tony.

"He's my acquaintance and he's going to be staying here from now on."

"He's staying here?"

"Uh yeah. SHIELD ordered him to stay here."

Tim rubbed a hand over his tired face.

At that moment Damien swung into the room through the window, landing neatly in a crouch and immediately glaring at Tony upon inspecting his surroundings.

"Um he's also staying here."

Tony threw up his hands.

"Is there anyone else I should know about?"

Tim raised a hand as Dick also came through the window, unnecessarily doing a front tumble to break his fall. Tim opened his mouth to speak but Tony stopped him.

"Nope, don't say it."

Tim kept his mouth shut, smiling awkwardly at Tony. Tony walked away, muttering to himself.

"Who does Fury think he is? Is this tower a freaking hotel now?"

Tim sighed and ushered all his brothers to the couch, making them sit down despite Damien's scathing glare.

"Okay guys, we really can't get caught okay? Also if you do meet any of the others can you please act civil?" He pointedly looked at Jason who was still lying upside down on the couch. "Just calmly explain the situation to them and ask them to come and talk to me or something."

Dick nodded, looking slightly apologetic whilst Damien's scowl didn't disappear off his face.

Tim ran a hand though his hair and walked away, heading back to his room. It was already bad enough that the machine his brothers had brought for their return had been severely damaged during their initial teleportation. Now he had to keep his brothers in check and work on the machine. All without revealing that they weren't from this dimension.

He knew, of course, that his brothers weren't trying to get in the way (except maybe Jason on some occasions) but the whole ordeal really was eating away at Tim's nerves. Especially now that the whole matter was extended to his brothers and not just himself. The pressure of getting them all back in one piece was almost overwhelming.

He sat down at his desk, returning to forging birth certificates, social media records and other pieces of evidence for his brothers to use as an alibi. He wasn't going to lie, it was actually kind of fun to make up strange information about them, but it was a tedious process. After all, he was literally creating three whole life stories from scratch.

Tim glanced at the battered machine next to him, frowning as he once again got lost in thought at the state it was in. Peter had managed to bring it back to him in one piece which was nice, but now that it'd been damaged so much, he wasn't sure if it was worth continuing with it. He didn't really like the idea of trusting his and his brothers' lives on something that had been damaged. What if he missed a mistake and it killed them?

Tim shook his head. He was probably going to re make it completely from scratch. It was going to be annoying, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

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Dick cleared his throat, politely smiling as he gave the lady with the fiery hair a small wave. Tim's annoyed face from before flashed across his mind and Dick decided he wasn't going to let him down any further.

He knew that as the oldest brother, he was supposed to be leading them all. He was supposed to be the responsible one; the one they could count on. But he wasn't.

He felt guilty relying so much on Tim to get them back home, but there really wasn't much he was able to do. He didn't know this world as well as Tim and he knew that he'd only get in the way if he tried helping in the production of the machine. All he could do was prevent his brothers from doing anything stupid and support Tim from the sidelines.

Dick blinked, only now noticing that the woman was still looking at him wearily. He assumed it was Black Widow and from the brief Tim had given them before, she was going to be difficult to persuade that they weren't dangerous. Dick couldn't help but sigh a little, knowing that he probably had the best shot at it compared to the others. He extended a hand, smiling.

"Hi, we haven't met before, but I'm Nightwing, Tim's.. colleague. It's a pleasure to-"

The woman grabbed his hand and flipped him over on his front, twisting his arm back. Dick blinked in surprise but stayed absolutely still, knowing it wouldn't help his case at all.

Black Widow's smooth voice came from behind him.

"Explain."