Video

[real_archer]

[A fifteen year old girl with a ridiculously long blond ponytail is sitting in a dimly lit room. She's been playing around with her communicator since arriving, trying to get a feel for the place, even though with her new super-vision the pixels give her a headache. Basically she's heard a few things about monsters, a lot about conspiracies, and none of it was particularly comforting.]

Here’s the deal: I think this is all crazy, but it's not like I’ve got anything better to do, so I’m going to play along. Apparently we’re all big bad heroes now, off to save the day. [She rolls her eyes.] Great.

But this? [Holds up her wrist tattoo for the folks at home] Is completely creepy. I can't even buy alcohol, but they gave me a tattoo while I was unconscious? That's beyond creepy. It's--ugh, I don't know. Super creepy.

[She looks down at the tattoo, scowling and muttering under her breath.] Seriously, my mom’s going to kill me if I come home with a tattoo… Thanks a lot for that.

[She leans back, arms crossed over her chest and favors the comm with a suspicious glare. She’s lonely and more than a little freaked out by all this, but you’d have to torture her to get her to admit it.]

So... what now?

Comments

[real_archer]

[It's really stupid of her to be so relieved to see him, but... to hell with it, she is so relieved to see him. She's so relieved, she even waves back, even though that is a silly thing to do, and she grins unabashedly because it's Robin. If she trusts anyone in her life to make sense of what's going on, it's probably Robin.]

I thought you and Batman were off doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham. That's what Wally said, anyway.

Wait, do you have superpowers now?

[She's not sure if that's a blow for or against Team No Powers (which she totally just made up)]

[performance]

Aaand now I'm here in sunny Florida. Weird world, right?

They give us all powers when we get here. I have, uh, [finger quotes] "Technopathy."

[real_archer]

Weird doesn't even begin to cover it.

So now you, what... talk to machines?

[She's still feeling a little shy about her own power, so instead she's going to try to tease Robin about his.]

[performance]

It's kinda somewhere between that and psychic hacking. I'm a '90s movie cliché now.

[real_archer]

That could be useful, if we ever get back. And, by the way? The whole "sunglasses at night" thing seriously isn't helping with your '90s image.

[performance]

Is it too soon to claim it's retro?

[real_archer]

Don't look at me--I don't know. Ask Zatanna.

[performance]

Who?

[real_archer]

Are you serious? Zatanna Zatara, our teammate?

[performance]

Wha— as in Zatara's daughter? We've never met.

[ This is awkward again. And they were having such a good time. ]

[real_archer]

Yeah, as in Zatara's daughter, and yeah, you definitely have.

[performance]

[ Robin just groans like he's annoyed, but not surprised. ]

Okay, this is gonna sound like a weird question, but I'm comparing universes, which I promise will make sense later: our team doesn't have a corny name or anything, does it?

[real_archer]

[Okay, that seems totally out of left field...]

No... We're supposed to be a covert ops team. It's not like we're the Justice League and they need to call us something on the news.

[performance]

Thank you.

Question two: what day was it back home?

[real_archer]

December... 6th? I know it's May here, but--

[Ohhhh....]

What day was it for you?

[performance]

[ A beat while he takes this in . . . ]

... it was late August.

[real_archer]

[She frowns, trying to remember what they were doing back in August. It feels like years ago.]

So... you haven't been to Bialya, or done the training exercise... We haven't fought the Reds...

... You basically just met me.

[performance]

Basically. Yeah.

This place really sucks about stuff like that. [ And, after a hesitation: ] I'm sorry.

[real_archer]

[She shrugs]

It's not your fault. Besides, you're still the same person, right? No big deal.

[But she'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed and a little freaked out.]

[performance]

[ And Robin's upset that he keeps on being the wrong version of himself. ]

... I guess it's not comforting to say we'll be stuck here long enough to get to know each other again, huh?

[real_archer]

[Artemis smiles a crooked little smile.]

Not really, but you did get pretty good at keeping me 'traught. It'll be fine.

[performance]

Traught?

[ And then he grins. ]

As in, the opposite of distraught?

[real_archer]

[She grins back]

Yep, still the same Robin.

[performance]

I knew I liked you.

[real_archer]

[She flushes slightly, but this conversation has already encroached too much into friendship-is-magic territory. Time to move on.]

So, since you're the same Robin, please tell me you have a plan.