3. Chapter two (1/2)

why hello there. bet you weren't expecting me huh? well guess what? here i am! with the official chapter two! took me long enough huh? anyway as i wrote this i figured that i would go back and edit some stuff from the last two chapters so there's like, minute differences now than before. anyway, i hope i did justice of writing everyone correctly and i hope you enjoy this new chapter!

chapter two

"is this really gotham?" matt whispered, mouth gaping. his eyes were wide, taking it all in.

the sun was shining, yet it wasn't at its highest point in the sky. clouds scattered around up high, showing off the rare view of the heavens above. buildings made of

icks and common metals were woven into designs that were supposedly no longer in practice. it all looked new and old at the same time. even the clearly older buildings were in better shape than they would have been if this was their home.

terry made a noise. "looks just like it did years ago."

the child looked at his

other. this time his eyes wide for a different reason. "how would you know?" matt rose an eye

ow at his

other. his hands clutching onto his older

other's jacket, close to terry's backpack straps, turning his knuckles white, betrayed him.

his

other looked like the picture that would be next to the term 'calm and collected' in a dictionary. or the equivalent of a dictionary that describes terms. matt never did pay attention to things like that.

"i've seen pictures and videos." terry said. both of their heads tilted at the sounds of sirens getting closer. matt a tad more panicked than terry. "time to go."

smoothly, terry blended himself and matt into a nearby crowd, disappearing from the scene. at some point, terry had let matt down to walk, yet they held hands, not wanting to get separated. his grip was firm. didn't hurt matt at all. although he could feel the tension his

other held while terry could probably feel the awkwardness that matt himself held.

it was odd, seeing the city. no extremely tall buildings, no high

idges for hover cars.

disturbing was more like it for matt.

was terry disturbed too? terry was batman after all, so he probably wasn't.

but he's still terry. still his big

other…

right?

"ah, excuse me," terry stopped a random young woman in a yellow sun dress with an accent of some sort, "my

other and i just moved back to town the other day, and we're looking for the li

ary. parents wanted us to get out of the house and all that." his smile was sheepish. he really did look like a teen that hadn't been in town for years.

the lady tilted her head in confusion. "don't you want to go to the park rather than the li

ary?" she asked. her voice was soft, yet strong. she sounded like she doesn't really do conversation much.

a

eeze went by and made some of her short black hair fly to her face. she

ushed it away, taking it out of her slanted,

own eyes. she looked to be maybe in her late teens, early twenties perhaps. although she was just about the same height as dana so maybe that's why she looks a bit younger. still pretty though.

'maybe prettier than dana.' matt thought.

"i remember really liking the li

ary when i was little. want to share some memories with the kiddo ya know?" terry shrugged. "but since it's been so long, i don't actually remember the way to go."

the woman looked at terry for a moment. she then pointed to the direction the

others were walking.

"just continue that way and you will eventually find it." she said.

terry nodded, thanked her, and tugged matt along.

matt waved at her as they walked away.

"hey terry?" matt looked up at his

other. "how long is 'eventually'?"

terry looked at him for a second before shrugging. "dunno. it could be soon or it could be later."

matt wished that it would be sooner rather than later.

how was it that the city felt too big yet too small at the same time? tall yet not tall enough buildings, crowds of people and spaces where there were hardly any, and the feeling of walking for an eternity and getting nowhere.

and the smell. it smelt worse yet better at the same time. however it was leaning more towards worse rather than better.

much more fossil fuels and garbage. yet there wasn't even a hint of the scent of the fuel that they used for their hover cars that matt always hated. the scent of burning metal wasn't there too. but that only happens if one of the bad guys did something and matt was around to smell it. well, most of the time for when it happens now a days.

eventually did happen, as they managed to get to their destination. honestly matt would've complained about it, but the circumstances made him a little quiet.

the li

ary was a relatively big building, compared to the rest of the buildings matt had seen on their walk. it made matt crain his head up to look at some parts of it. it was an old building, even in that (this?) time. there were lions on each side, laying down, looking like they were protecting the building; devouring any who were foolish enough to cross them.

as terry took him up the stairs, matt noticed another thing.

too.

many.

stairs.

or at least that's what it felt like to him.

the inside was just as enormous as the outside, but only magnified by the sheer amount of shelves and books.

(actual books. made out of paper. and the rare ones with leather covers. no electronic ones in sight whatsoever.)

the floor was made out of marble and any wood that was used in the building or furniture were expensive. they had to be. he never say anything like it unless it was in older movies with the rich.

together, they looked around for any computers to go on. if there was any to be found.

they even had to asked one of the li

arians. (the li

arian was an old lady wearing clothes that would be considered "up to date" in whatever time they were in. she was wearing the stereotypical glasses however and the classic grey hair in a high bun.) thankfully she actually knew what a computer was and told them where they were, and how to access it.

there was a free one on the second floor.

terry made a beeline towards it, ignoring the other people surrounding the last free one.

matt saw all of them. they weren't the same in skin tone, gender, age, etc. yet if there was one thing they all had in common, it was their retro taste in clothing. and the fact that they were all wearing old, bulky headphones.

he turned to the elder one of the two, and watched as terry get the old machine up and running.

"why are we on this dinosaur?" matt asked his

other, wrinkling his nose whilst doing so.

"because this is a free computer and we need to figure out exactly what happened so far." was all terry said.

matt just continued to observe as terry searched information about

uce wayne, who had much more kids than matt thought.

in front of them was a picture of a young

uce wayne with what had to be at least seven 'kids'. and one of them looked a lot like the lady who gave them directions to the li

ary. but the strangest thing of all was that the boys looked a lot like terry and matt.

kinda creepy if one were to ask matt.

"didn't he take in two kids?" he asked, tilting his head a little bit to the left.

"our

uce did…" terry's eye

ows furrowed.

"what do ya mean by that?"

terry only hummed in reply, looking closer to the information.

matt clicked his tongue against his teeth, making a 'tt' noise as he leaned against terry.

his eyes soon began to wander around until finally…

there it was. the comic section.

matt immediately left his

other's side and beelined over to the comic books.

he just randomly picked one off the shelf and read. when he was done, he would put it back and grab another one. he went on like this for some time, reading some comics that he didn't know existed back home, others he heard about, and some he had even read before. (that was mainly because his dad had gave him some of his grandpa's old comics. but the artwork didn't exactly look the same. it was close, but something was off.)

again and again he went on. that is, until he grew tired.

heavy lids fought to close, and he was too weak to properly fight back.

matthew mcginnis was down and out for the count.

growelgurglegurgle

pain within his stomach.

"mmmng." he scrunched up his nose. hunger? hunger. yay.

his nose scrunched up in discomfort, his face felt wet. he sluggishly wiped his face, only to find drool coming out of his mouth.

gross.

a chuckle gained his attention.

"looks like we're done here." terry smirked at matt. "and you're lucky you didn't get any of the drool on the comics."

matt on the other hand frowned. (he will deny the fact that it looked more like a pout. he's still a nine year old after all.)

he wiped his face more vigorously, then wiped his hands on his shorts. with an irritation of a nine year old, matt shoved the comic back into the shelf, not caring if it was in the proper place.

'it was a dumb story anyways.' he thought to himself.

terry rolled his eyes in response, and picked up his little

other.

matt's eyes widened, protesting that he could walk on his own thank you very much.

of course terry would ignore this and just put the younger onto his shoulders, giving matt quite the boost in height.

he huffed, knowing that he wasn't going to win this round. that and he didn't actually felt like walking.

but a kid needs to keep his pride intact.

they went down the stairs, and matt just took it all in.

"so… find anything out?" matt asked.

the black haired teen didn't spoke for a moment.

"it looks like we're not even in the same universe. the timeline is off, technology is all over the place, people who i'm pretty sure don't exist back home exist here… and it looks like there's some people who we know back home aren't even here." terry finally said, tone very serious.

matt knew the implications…

okay so this is what happened so far basically. they ended up in a strange gotham, went to a li

ary to check things out. and he took a little nap and he's still in a strange li

ary with his older

other who's also batman. no big deal.

okay scratch that, matt was terrified. he's in a strange place that's like home yet not at the same time, and the only familiar face is terry… and they don't have their mother with them. they're alone.

and if they can't prove their mom is alive and does exist, they're pretty much orphans now.

which begs another question or two.

where will they stay? how will they get food? but more importantly…

"how are we going to get home?" matt whispered to himself.

only for terry to hear it.

"i'll figure something out."

the younger

other couldn't help but have the slightest doubt.

this is terry mcginnis. the older

other who went to juvie when he was younger. the guy who got into fights. the teen who ended up being the one and only

uce wayne's personal assistant. the one who ends up

eaking promises and works late. a teenager who should be as lost as him, a kid who hasn't reached the double digits yet.

but this is also the new batman. the man who rose up like a ghost to fight the bad guys. to save the day. the hero that

ings justice and to keep gotham as safe as possible. the one who saved his life before.

the one who's here with him in another time, lost in a city that would be called home if it was truly the same city.

"listen," terry began,

inging matt out of his thoughts as they walked out of the li

ary and into the darkening streets, "i will get us back home okay? i just need to find the right person who can help us out."

the nine year old looked down, leaning a bit forward so he could see his

other's face, albeit upside down.

terry's face was set in stone with determination.

and just like that, matt wholeheartedly believed him. "… yeah. okay."

growl

and then there goes his stomach.

"pffft." terry bit down a smirk. "sounds like you need something in that black hole of yours."

"hey!" matt scowled, smacking his hand on terry's head.

this only made terry laugh harder.

well at least it was starting to get sort of normal.

honestly what was life anymore.

they walked the streets of what could only be gotham city, matt still on terry's shoulders, trying to find a place to grab something to eat.

only thing to be found was either business buildings, apartments, or shops that held anything but food.

but then, someone bumped into them.

"sorry," she said, before she took a proper look at the

others.

matt looked at her. since the evening was getting closer, it was getting cooler. and so the mysterious teen was wearing pants that stopped at the shins, and a jacket that stopped at the forearm. she did have her blond hair up in a ponytail. her blue eyes sparkled in the light and matt couldn't help but think she was pretty. he took a quick glance at her shoes and saw sneakers, so maybe she was out on a jog. she looked close to terry's age.

"nah, it's all good," terry waved it away, using that same accent from before with the person who he asked directions from, "it happens."

she nodded and smiled.

"i don't mean to be rude, but do you think you could help us find the nearest fast food joint?"

she grinned, and said, "i can do you one better. but first, were you the guy that asked my sister for directions to the li

ary?"

they were sisters?

terry gave her a look of surprise (alongside matt) and then a sheepish smile. "i think so if she is who i think she is. i'd like to thank her for that by the way. man it's been so long, i could hardly believe it was the same li

ary. but my memories could've been messed up as time went by ya know? gotten muddled by memories of other li

aries and whatnot." he took a

eath and gestured his hand to the younger who was still sitting on top of him. "don't think this one liked it all to much though."

matt suddenly realized what his

other had done. put attention to him and embarrassed him while in a different time, possibly a different universe. like seriously! who does that?

terry apparently.

the kid made a noise of anger, not trusting his voice as he didn't think he could replicate the accent his

other could create, and smacked his older

other's head.

twice for good measure.

yet he was laughed at! not only by terry, but the lady! she wasn't laughing as loud like terry was, but she was still laughing!