Alfred was standing by the wall, polishing the telephone. When he saw Bruce return, he smiled and walked over to greet him. Bruce asked, "Where are they?"
Alfred froze for a moment before saying, "Professor Schiller came by with Mr. Barry just now. Professor Schiller said the children had been in this universe for too long, and their parents in the other universe must miss them, so he had Mr. Barry take them back to their hometown."
"What about Dick and the others?"
Alfred sighed softly. "Master, you know children their age don't want to part from friends they're getting along with so well. They said they wanted to go over and play for a few days, and Mr. Barry said he would ensure their safety, so they left together."
Bruce strode to the telephone, picked up the receiver, called Schiller, and asked what was going on. Schiller's answer was brief and forceful—
"Pride wanted more universes to know how useful the shredder you gave him was. He thought the Robins would make excellent messengers, so he had Barry send them back."
Bruce slapped a hand against his forehead.
Schiller hung up the phone, turned to Constantine and Night Master Jim behind him, and said, "Nothing much. Bruce called to ask about some family matters. Now, let's begin."
Constantine reached out and tugged at the still-dazed Jim. Jim hurriedly responded, but the next second, he covered his throat and tried to retch.
Only a few minutes earlier, under Schiller's gaze, he had eaten an entire Builder fairy's arm.
The bodies of those energy creatures contained abundant energy. Eating them had done an excellent job repairing the injuries Night Master Jim had sustained in the previous battle. The only problem was that the fairies of Maia looked exactly like humans.
Naturally,