Chapter 6
"Baaats…" Crane urged, turning towards him. "Come on. For once, try to have an open mind."
"NO!" Batman growled, turning towards a set of automatic doors.
"Get back here!" Crane ordered. "Or I won't give you a word of information." Reluctantly Batman returned to Crane's side. "Anyway," Crane resumed, turning back to the Best Buy employee. "He's a cool enough guy, as you can see. But he's just… a little stuck in the nineties, shall we say? Sure, he has the cool little utility belt and the big, bulbous tank… But the guy still depends on CDs. We've gotta fix that for him."
"All right," the employee replied, leading them to the ipod section. "What type of ipod are you looking for? The shuffle would be the cheapest, but my suggestion would be to get the nano."
"A shuffle is fine, thank you," Batman interjected.
"Don't be cheap, Bats. You can afford a nano."
"I'm not being cheap," Batman replied. "I just don't want to buy something that I'll never use."
"Oh! You'll use it!" Crane said threateningly. "And… While we're here… Let's look at portable DVD players for the tank." Batman's eyes widened. "Well, you need something to do in there."
"Generally when I'm in my tank, I'm driving and attempting to save people."
"BORED," Crane moaned, picking up a DVD player. "This one will do."
"NO!" Batman exclaimed, nearly stomping his foot like a petulant child. "I won't! I HATE Panasonic!"
Crane glanced around slightly embarrassed by the ruckus Batman was creating. "Well, there aren't many choices. I told you we should have gone to Radio Shack. Oh well. You can buy the warranty, in case it breaks." Crane handed the DVD player to the employee, as well as the nano. "Take these to the register. We'll be over as soon as we finish browsing through the DVD section."
Batman reluctantly followed Crane to the movies and stood behind as Cane fingered through the selections.
"Save Private Ryan… Harry Potter… Powerpuff Girls Movie… OOOH! Hitchcock Collection!"
Batman sighed. "No. I want sci-fi."
"Well, you're a little picky for someone who didn't even want a movie to begin with."
Batman picked up a box set. "I want this."
Crane nearly laughed out loud. "So, Bats, you're a Trekkie?"
An awkward silence. "No… Not a 'Trekkie'… Just a moderate fan."
"Uh… Moderate fans don't buy Ultimate Trekkie Box Sets. I bet you slash Kirk and Spock! Well, don't you?" Batman was losing patience for Crane's teasing.
"Never mind!" he grumbled. "I'll watch your boring Hitchcock movies."
"NOT BORING!" Crane exclaimed defensively. "Classic!"
As soon as they checked out, Crane began to unwrap the DVD case.
"Can't you wait until we get in the tank?" Batman snapped. As soon as they got into the tank, Crane began fiddling with wires on the DVD player. "You don't do it like that," Batman groaned, snatching the devise from Crane. "Here… I'll just do it myself." At this, Batman proceeded to set up the DVD player as Crane looked on, proving to be more of a hindrance than anything else.
"Bats, shouldn't that blue wire match up with the red?"
"Why would I do a stupid thing like that? Blue goes with blue. Every first-class moron knows that."
"Well excuse me!" Crane crossed his arms, offended. Before long, he was once again looking on. "Uh… Bats… If you hook it up like that, you're going to get some nasty feedback from your speakers."
"Please! I know what I'm doing!" As soon as he plugged in a wire, feedback buzzed throughout the tank, piercing their eardrums. Batman quickly unplugged it. "Don't say 'I told you so'!" he warned.
"Oh, I won't say it," Crane mumbled, looking out the window. "Even though it's true."
Batman finally finished setting it up and placed a DVD in to test it. Thankfully for him, it worked quite well. Crane began to clap cheerfully.
"Bravo, Bats! That only took up about thirty minutes of my life that I'll never get back."
"You insisted on buying it," Batman replied. Crane glanced down at his wristwatch.
"It's almost six."
"They expect you back by eleven. What do you want to do?"
"I don't know," Crane said, shrugging. "Want to hit a bar?"