I never heard him come in but I when I turned, there he was. I jumped at the sight of him, squeaked a bit. I'm sure he heard it, he didn't let on, though. He just stared at me balefully through the shadows, only his eyes and two large ears visible.

Batman was enormous—at least a foot taller than me and as big as the doorway was wide. I couldn't make out his body, however. He was just a head attached to a tower of darkness and silence. His eyes were gun-metal in color and overflowing with malice. If had had fangs, they surely would have been dripping with blood.

The hair on my body was alight with electricity, standing up and arcing with nervousness. I didn't know what to do or say. My eyes darted around trying to think of something. I had imagined this meeting a thousand times and I had practiced this conversation in my mirror an equal number but suddenly I was at a loss for words. Was it terror, respect, awe? I wasn't sure. Maybe it was all of the above. Either way, I suddenly had this feeling that I wasn't going to make it out of alive. I could suddenly feel the Batman's danger and my hand went instinctively to my gun.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." There was a voice behind me—a whisper really. I whipped around. Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. No matter how much I willed my lungs to draw in air, fear paralyzed my diaphragm. "Something tells me that you wouldn't be able to clear the holster."

A shadow with two green orbs for eyes crouched in a window sill filling it with the same blackness as Batman, glaring at me. "What do you think you're doing?" it continued, his voice low and rumbling like scraping gravel.

I opened my mouth to speak but air rushed in instead. My throat spasmed at the occlusion and I coughed trying to clear it.

"I'm not going to ask you again." The shadow crept down from the window and situated itself; its features finally visible in the dim light of the room. Like Batman, it—he—too, was a head sitting on top of a pillar of darkness except that he wore no mask. Instead, his face was painted black above the base of his cheekbones and he wore some sort low-profile tactical jump goggles on top of fluffy, raven hair. He had to be Robin, the second vigilante that the underworld and the media claimed was working with Batman.

The name Robin was given to him in jest by a columnist and the MCU has used the name to identify him ever since. The name was funny. The situation wasn't.

I was scared stupid. As if Batman wasn't bad enough, now there were two of them. This was a bad idea—a really bad idea. A bad idea that I was going to be regretting from a hospital bed…or worse.

"What are you doing?!" he roared like an angry lion defending its territory from interlopers.

"I just want to bring the criminal element to its knees like you!" I blurted, my eyes stinging with tears. I was trembling, too, and I knew they could see.

After a moment, Robin's expression twisted into what appeared to be an earnest attempt to suppress laughter. Then his hand emerged from the darkness and went instantly to his face. "I'm sorry. This is too much." He really was laughing. And, it confused me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Batman hadn't moved.

"Alright," Robin chortled, presenting a hand, "slow your roll, Dirty Harriett." He slung his cape back and snapped his hands to his hips, puffing his chest out. "Bring the criminal element to its knees!" he mocked with an insultingly high-pitched voice. "To infinity and beyond!' Haha, what a space cadet."

I didn't know what to think. Was I in danger? Was this some sort of trick? Was this even the real Batman and Robin?

My eyes shot back to Robin and began to focus hard on his face.

He looked past me. "Don't look at me like that," he said, but not to me. Then his eyes settled on me again and indicated me with a hand. "Nice outfit. I'm digging the whole bat-motif and flak vest. Really spices up your style." Then he looked past me again. "Don't look at me like that. I find this entertaining. She's dressed as a damn bat. That should make you happy. You know you're somebody when you have groupies."

Wait.

What?

Groupies?

His eyes found me again. "I especially like how your mask ties in the back. It really screams masquerade ball." He chewed his lip dubiously as he inspected my disguise. "Wait. Have we met before?" he asked suggestively. "I feel like I saw you on a dating website once. Were you, per chance, ever floating on a raft in a pool drinking a cocktail with that mask? Supersexylips224? No?" He shrugged. "Okay."

"You know what?" Robin wiped the air with his arms. "I'm sorry. I'm Robin and the big, angry thing over there is Batman," Robin said inclining his head in mine and Batman's direction. "And, you are? Wait wait wait—don't answer that. Lemme guess. You're dressed like a total ass-monkey and you have a mask and ears. Hm." Robin placed his hand to his face thoughtfully. I noticed that his glove was covered in armor with three stunted blades jutting from the base of his forearm at an angle.

"Um…Batgirl?" he asked, then he became animated. "Baaaatgiiiiiirl! That has a nice ring! Although, I think high-heels would really set-off and feminize the look."

"Feminize the look?" What the hell was he talking about feminize the look? Did he have a problem with me being a woman?

"Yeah—sure." His smile was perfect, arguing with the darkness that covered the rest of his body. "You could totally wear that to the Iceberg Lounge and be the star of the show. Those stuffed-shirts would fall all over you. The way I hear it, bats make guest appearances there from time-to-time…"

The Iceberg Lounge was an upscale watering hole owned by sketchy businessman Oswald Cobblepot and frequented by Gotham's most powerful officials and shrewd exotic dancers. Something told me he was lumping me in with the latter.

His gaze left me and angled over my head to Batman again. Suddenly Robin's brilliant smile melted away and a scathing frown replaced it. "Alright, look Toots, this whole thing is very flattering…really. But, this isn't a kick-aerobics class. You coulda gotten yourself killed. You coulda blown this whole operation pulling a stunt like this."

That was a really sudden, bipolar change…

"I just want to help," I claimed.

But he shot me down. "We don't need your help."

"Hold on—"

"We didn't beat you down because we were thoroughly entertained by your presentation. Next time around, though, we won't treat you any different than any one of these criminals. You get me?" He turned towards the window and climbed onto the sill. Just then, in my peripheral, I saw Batman's black mass flow past me and stop just short of Robin, giving me only his back.

"Wait," I said feeling suddenly desperate.

"Get lost, Toots," Robin rumbled lowering the goggles onto his face making him look instantly inhuman. "I don't want you to break a nail."

Then he was gone.

It was just me and the Bat.

The fear came back.

He turned his head just enough for me to make out part of his chin. "Don't let me catch you out here again," he whispered. I felt it more than I heard it.

Then he was gone too.