Ok, how many of you actually remember what happened last chapter? I hate when Microsoft marks mistakes as mistakes that really are not mistakes. It's such a snob. Also, I rate most of my stuff T because I'm straight paranoid like that.

Once in the Batcave, Robin tried to activate the security system and the rest of it, that didn't seem to be working. No matter what access codes he put in, none worked.

'Access Denied'

Seated in the plush chair, his fingers flew across the sleek keyboard, furiously trying to work around firewalls and barriers.

'Access Denied'

It made no sense. He'd helped design this system. There was no way she had tech that could hack into the Batcave and not only disarm it, but prevent him from getting in.

'Access Denied'

…okay. Apparently there was a way.

He held his hands over the keyboard, running codes through his head. As he did, his fingers unconsciously moved to press the keys, without actually touching them.

"Computer, contact Batman now."

'Outgoing calls cannot be made at this time.'

Robin smacked a hand to his forehead. He never thought he'd see the day technology betrayed him. It would be today, of all days. This…was seriously concerting. In a final effort, he typed out a command that would put the systems on a continual loop, in the hopes that eventually there'd be a gap for his message to slip through.

Of course, he wasn't just going to sit on his duff and wait. It gave her plenty of time to snoop around and find something she didn't need to. Like, the way down here. After all, he'd found the passage way when he was bored and aimlessly wandering around the mansion. She was actually trying to accomplish something other than alleviating boredom.

Although, she was probably a sadist and this probably was a way to alleviate boredom.

He shook his head and spun the chair around, eyes flitting about the massive headquarters. He wasn't getting any back-up. He'd just have to deal with it himself. Easier said than done. Normally, it wouldn't be, however, he was still recovering from last night's little trouble, and that would make this difficult.

The Batcave, as their headquarters, was a veritable armory of all sorts of neutralizing, evasive, pain-causing gadgets. However, as he was supposed to be just some scared, little, rich kid, he couldn't really pull out the birdarangs and go upside the assassin's head. That limited the toys he could use to the Tasers. Of course, that would only be if he took the fight to her, which would be best.

Man. This was just so freakishly annoying. Like a dream or something. A really frustrating, annoying dream.

With an aggravated sigh, Robin pushed himself out of the chair to go retrieve some gear, and some more typical but resilient restraints. His bare feet padded softly against the cool stone floor, and he cast a forlorn sigh at his Robin uniform, hanging neatly in its place. If only, but the Robin suddenly popping out to face the intruder would be way too suspicious.

Suddenly, he stopped stock-still. Looking at his uniform, he saw something off about it. Behind the glass case, the red and black costume was worn by its usual mannequin. The mask, belt, cape, everything was in its place. Robin couldn't quite say what it was about it, but as he pulled the glass door open, it almost looked…it was breathing. There seemed to be a steady rise and fall to the chest plate, as if there was a body with lungs inside the costume.

He felt his eyes go wide then narrow suspiciously. That was ridiculous and impossible. Though a bit unnerving. To prove it was nothing but a trick of his eyes and the lighting, Robin reached a hand to touch it. Before his hand quite brushed the material, the mannequin's hand grabbed his wrist.

Dumbfounded and amazed, Robin could only stare with eyes wide behind his shades as the mannequin held up its other hand and shook it at him, like it was scolding him. It then let go of his wrist and nudged his gaping-mouthed, mind-numbed self away from its case and shut the door.

After a long moment, the Boy Wonder stiffly walked away from the case, casting a wary glance to the Batman uniform. With one last look to his obviously possessed uniform, he saw the thing send him a jaunty salute.

He turned away again with a jerky nod. Obviously, that old granny had hit a lot harder than he thought.

From somewhere above his head, the quiet whir of hydraulics echoed lightly in a familiar stairwell. Without a whisper, the Alice in Wonderland themed assassin crept down the stairwell.

Her gloved fingers trailed along the walls as she walked down, down, down the curving staircase. As she rounded the final bend, finally at the bottom, her breath hitched. Her eyes drank in the sight before her: a humongous cave lit from somewhere high above, one of the biggest computers she'd ever seen, a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, the second biggest penny she'd ever seen, and a…

There was the car. The car. Either Bruce Wayne was a total nerd or that was the Batmobile. And if it was, her job just became so much better.

A flicker of movement, and her gaze zeroed in on her first target, Dick Grayson – Robin – over by what appeared to be rows upon rows of specialized Bat-weapons. His back was to her as he looped a belt over his shoulder and another around his waist. He didn't seem to know she was there.

She couldn't have that now, could she?

With more effort than a casual flick, Cheshire threw no less than four ninja stars his way. They sailed toward the boy, lightly whipping the air with a faint rush. He didn't turn, merely moved and dodged each one. Twirling to face her from his final spin, he took a crouched stance.

She tilted her head and waved, "Hello again."

He responded not with words, but a pair of birdarangs. She assumed the red and yellow pieces of flying metal were his very own personal ones. How cute.

Taking her sai in hand once again, she held them ready to deflect the projectiles. Just as the first was inches away from her, she flicked it away with the tip of her blade.

Then the world exploded white.

Well…at least he didn't have to hold back.

Robin used the distraction of the flash grenade to find cover. The net he'd thrown her way probably would only buy him just a few more seconds. Just as he ducked behind one of the stone pillars, he heard the rip of the net and a moment later, the screech of metal against metal. As he ghosted around her to her opposite side, he recognized the sound.

She. Was. Scratching. The Batmobile.

Try to kill him, fine. Attack him in his own house, sure. But to attack a defenseless car like that…that was just mean-spirited! Did that woman not realize that was going to be his one day? That he would be allowed to drive that beautiful piece of top-of-the-line, custom-engineered machine?

It was so personal now.

In a reckless move that Batman would have had him run hours of sims for making, Robin jumped from behind his cover, Taser charged and ready. One problem: she was gone. Nowhere in sight.

Which made no sense. The sound of the vandalism still echoed through the cave, and she'd vanished without a trace. Now he'd exposed himself, though he quickly tried to recover from that, and lost his opponent. In his home environment, he should have the advantage, but it seemed like the assassin had slithered into some little crevice he'd never even discovered.

Once he'd backed off into the shadows, he tried to run a strategy through. Basically, evade and subdue if possible. He was good, true, but from what he'd seen of the security feed of her fights with Kaldur, she might be better. He'd have to play this one smart.

Jumping out there like that had been dumb. She'd been baiting him and he'd taken it. He'd given her his mind-set, and if she was as good as he thought, she'd try to use that. His eyes quickly scanned for any trace of her, his ears tuned for any noise that didn't belong.

A faint hint of something almost sweet teased his nose, and instinctively, he dove forward, just avoiding sai being plunged into his head. Scrambling to his feet, the adrenaline pumping through him now completely overrode any pain that would have caused his bruised ribs.

"We having fun yet, kid?" the assassin teased.

Cheshire wasted no time waiting for him to respond and charged forward once again. From seemingly nowhere, Robin pulled his escrima sticks out and in front of him to block her attack. She kept a steady offense, and he couldn't help but feel like she was toying with him.

He hated not being taken seriously.

When an opening presented itself, slim though it was, he took it, jabbing her in the shoulder with one and swinging the other in an uppercut. The hit caught her under the chin, and she used the momentum to flip back. Faster than he expected, she landed and kicked out. Robin arched back even as a blade peeked from out of her boot. He sucked in a quick breath as the tip grazed across his unprotected belly.

He could tell it wasn't a deep cut, but that didn't matter if that knife was poisoned too. Considering who he was fighting, that was most likely the case.

She continued with the spin, twirling away from him and out of his immediate attack range. He hesitated only a second, not wanting to make this a pursuit and waste his energy, but letting her out of his sight was a bad move.

Those two hits, she seemed to consider freebies. He twisted around her blade and had to retreat before he could move to attack. He feinted, but she never fell for it. He jumped over her once and received a firm kick to the backside and danced around her advances. She constantly weaved out of his view around the pillars and equipment, and he used the environment to his advantage as well. Somehow, probably that stupid mask, she always caught him first.

The adrenaline rush was numbing some of his injuries, but the old bruises and the new ones getting an extra layer added to them. Those, he felt.

This was just suckish. He could feel himself slowing down here and there. All this excitements really got the blood pumping. Really got that poison flowing.

She flipped away from his next strike and backed off for a moment, watching him try not to pant for breath. Robin held himself in a defensive position, blue eyes glaring. His shades had been knocked from his face a few hits ago.

"Little brats like you usually annoy me," she'd said, "You got designer shades just to hide your face. There is no sun in here, you know," her voice was entirely too at ease, too melodic.

In a way, her voice was coaxing, even gentle. But he heard the sadism laced with her honey tone and knew she would kill him. Probably enjoy it too.

The Joker, Scarecrow, Dent, Black Canary, this psycho lady…Why did he always have to deal with such sadists all of the time?

"I imagined you'd be more talkative than this. Then again, that poison tends to spread to the vocal chords after a while."

That explained a lot. Like why his throat felt numb and swallowing was a little difficult. He wondered just how far the poison was going to spread. It could be a problem if it went to his diaphragm, heart, or attack his spinal cord. Or his arms. Basically, anywhere was bad. It was just dependent on what level of bad.

This so qualified as a disastrous day.

"And," she continued, "you never say hey when I find you. It's probably because you think you're cooler than me, right?" her voice quieted.

She was gone. She was simply, suddenly gone. He hadn't blinked, she hadn't moved; she merely wasn't there anymore. Did his eyes not perceive everything that was going on, or was that just a trick?

Just as quick as she'd disappeared, she was lunging at him from the right. Robin evaded by diving forward and tossing smoke bombs at her feet. He threw two birdarangs toward the computer console, and it sparked before the lights went out. That left the cave washed in grey tones and more shadows.

This wasn't a problem for him at all. He could navigate the place blind-folded, had done so in the past. He could only hope this gave him an advantage. That mask though – that stupid mask that he was so going to make a prototype of his own if he survived this – probably gave his assailant more than a little assistance.

He didn't have time for thinking on it though. He needed to move, get away from her. Maybe he could get to his R-cycle and get to Wayne Tech. All he needed was forty-five seconds away from her, and he was home-free.

Of course, it didn't go that way. With as much stealth as he could, Robin crept toward his chance of escape. His feet made the slightest noise as he made his way along the floor, and he grit his teeth at the sound. He was four feet away from the bike when he felt a solid kick to his bruised side that sent him skidding across the floor and gasping for breath.

"You should see the way that you look," she lowered her voice to an amused whisper, "when your steps make that much noise. This place has some great acoustics."

Okay, now she was getting ridiculously annoying with this whole game. He halfway wished she'd just get it over with already!

Except he'd end up dead. But death couldn't possibly be as annoying as this!

"I have a psycho stalker lady with poisoned knives chasing me," he bit out, exasperation edging his tone. "How should I look?"

"Hm," she tilted her head curiously, "well in that case, very appropriate expression then."

Suddenly, a soft, sweet odor drifted lightly through the air. Like a cucumber melon or something, but sweeter. It was familiar for some reason.

Coconut, he thought. It smelled like coconut.

Wow. If there was ever a time to observe something so useless, this had to take the cake.

She reached down to lift him up from the floor and pin him against the wall. He bit back a groan as the movement irritated his ribs and various other wounds. A sharp pain shot through his chest, somewhere from near his heart. His breath came in quick huffs through his nose and the smell became stronger. He realized it came from her.

He suddenly hated coconut beyond all comprehension and had a compelling desire to burn every tree that bore its hideous fruits out of existence.

But he was getting ahead of himself. He had to survive in order to do that.

She held a sai with her fingers wrapped around the handle so that the blades seemed to project from between her knuckles.

"Wait! Hold on, lady! Wait!"

The sai was poised just over his neck. Her head tilted, and curiosity glinted in those eyes.

"Final words then?"

"I…just need to know. Are you Lori? Because if you are, Bruce is really sorry about breaking up with you and if you drop this whole thing…"

"Sorry, but no," he could practically hear her smile. "I really hope your old man is as entertaining as you."

He stared right at her and grinned.

"You have no idea."

There was the sound of metal flying through the air a moment before Cheshire hissed and dropped her sai. With stunning speed, she turned with her back to the wall, jerked Dick in front of her, and pulled another sai from somewhere. The tip dug softly into the skin on his throat, and he angled his head up to avoid it.

"Was it just me, or did those look like little bats?" she mused aloud.

She sounded like she was about to laugh. She just lost one of her blades to batarangs and she finds it funny. Great. She was probably looking forward to facing Batman. Well, he was okay with that. Because Bruce was going to hand her butt to her on a silver platter after he got a look at his bruises. Actually, by this time, he probably already had.

Ow! Ow, grinning hurt! Don't do that.

Of course, Bruce couldn't get to her without him getting an artery – her grip on the sai shifted and– oh, oh, that's the jugular! -…sliced open.

"Batman? You're interrupting my fun, y'know. Gimme a minute, and then I'm all yours."

There was no response, not a sound out of the Bat. If there had been, the minute noise wouldn't have been heard over the pounding in his ears. Dick made an effort to calm himself and extend his senses to spot some kind of tell from his mentor, signaling what he should do.

He waited and watched, tensed and ready. She heard it when he did, a faint, unrecognizable sound. A stiff material slid across the ground, almost like sand paper on stone, yet fainter. The sound became steadily louder, and soon a figure loomed in front of them.

Behind him, he felt Cheshire's good humor slip away. Him? He just stopped breathing.

It had red eyes. Huge ears, gaping jaws and sharp teeth. Bowed forward on its forelegs, it had claws for fingers, thin webbing in between each one. Translucent ebony ran along the backs of its hands to its massive back, rippled with muscle. From its back, two black, massive wings arced upward and blended into the darkness of the cave.

"Bruce?"

Its ears twitched in their direction, and it opened its mouth wider. A screech that rivaled Black Canary's cry ripped out of its throat. Robin started to shake and wanted to run. But not away. He wanted to run to it. Because despite its fearsome appearance, he felt like he knew this creature. It wouldn't hurt him.

Cheshire was a whole other matter. He could almost feel sorry for her.

Then everything slowed down.

He felt the blade lance across his neck and his body be thrown aside to the floor. As the poison took full effect, his arms wouldn't obey his command to raise toward his neck, and his hands only twitched around empty air. Another feral scream rent the air, and there was a rush of wind as a shadow passed above him.

Robin was aware that he was bleeding out and could do nothing about it. As the blood flowed from his throat, the Batman had turned his attention on the Cheshire. The sounds of that battle were indescribably horrific. It would take little time before it was over.

Unfortunately, he didn't think he could wait that long.

Because in a moment, his world ran red.

A/N: I swear on Ted Dekker, I make this stuff up as I go along.

The bat thing is why this wasn't posted sooner. Because it's just so dang weird.

One more chapter and then it's done.

The fight scene: those are always a killer. Most people aren't able to really get it right. I've only seen a few who are just really booming-esque. I know I'm not there, but I would really appreciate some honest criticism on that portion especially.

This…was entirely odd to write. Entirely.