The similarities between himself and her were not lost on him, that was for sure. But he was more concerned about how she had heard of him in the first place. He followed her for a few minutes, silently observing her as she searched for him. Her hair was cropped boyishly short, and her all-black wardrobe blended nicely into the night. She was practical, and athletically inclined, apparently. She was good at navigating rooftops, at least. Good for a civilian.

After getting tired of just watching her get more and more frustrated at his lack of appearance, he stood in a particularly shadowy area of the roof so as to minimize what she could see of him, and cleared his throat.

She whipped around, eyes blown wide, and stared at him with a mixture of fear and awe.

"It's... it's you! It's actually you! Holy shit, I-"

"You," he interrupted in his best Batman voice, causing her to squeak a bit, "were following me."

She didn't take her eyes off of him, but she did shuffle her feet a bit and nod.

"And you were taking pictures."

Another nod.

"Why?"

She looked a bit confused, and said, "Well, because you're amazing. We've never had a vigilante in this city. Most of them are in, ya know, America. And I've always wished someone would show up here and save us, like Superman or Wonderwoman or Batman, or someone. I... I even considered doing it myself, but," she paused to clear her throat, "I'm just a kid, ya know?"

"So you think that running around on rooftops and taking pictures of me is a smart thing to do?"

The look of alarm on her face was a little funny, but this was too serious a situation to be light-hearted.

"I was always careful, and don't worry, I would never get in your way. I just wanted to, I don't know, know more about you? I-" she finally looked away from him, bowing her head, "I'm sorry."

Tim sighed and said, "Don't you think stalking a vigilante is a bit strange? Dangerous? ...Stupid?" Yeah, he felt like a real hypocrite right then.

"Yeah, but I felt like I had to. You probably don't remember, but you saved me and my sister a bit ago," she answered, "We were walking home from her school a few weeks ago and these guys tried to get us into their car. And when we didn't, they got out and started trying to force us. And then you just swooped in and took them out!" Her voice started to gain volume and excitement, and she was bouncing up and down. "And you took the one guy out with a kick, and the other guy drew a gun but you knocked it out of his hand! Then you threw the third guy against the car! It was awesome!"

She took a deep breath and Tim remained silent. He did remember them. He remembered the look of gratitude and awe this girl had shot him and how her little sister had been crying.

"And then you asked us if we were okay," she continued when he didn't say anything, "and I said yes and thanked you, and you nodded and grappled away. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. I just had to find out more about you!"

Tim didn't say anything for a while, just watched as she got more and more uncomfortable in the silence. Finally he said, "How old are you. Twelve?"

She bristled a bit. "Thirteen."

"Still young. You shouldn't be out here. Go home."

The crestfallen look on her face was enough to melt a bit of the Batman persona he was putting on, and he sighed a bit. "Look, I'll escort you there. I'm not mad at you, I just don't want to have to worry about you, okay? I'm flattered, but this is really dangerous. You're just a kid."

She nodded a bit, then said, "I'll go home. Can I just ask a favor?"

"...What?"

"Can you... Do you think your grappling hook could carry both of us?"

After a bit of staring, he mentally shrugged and walked out of the shadows, watching as her breath caught a bit at seeing all of him in the pale moonlight. Her fingers twitched toward the phone in her pocket but she didn't pull it out, so he didn't have to tell her to knock it off.

"Where do you live?" he asked, taking out his grappling hook and readying it, mentally performing all the calculations that had to do with the wind speed and which way it was going.

"Avenue Beira Mar, an apartment on the east side."

"Hold on," Tim said as he wrapped an arm around her waist and shot the grapple into a nearby building. She wrapped her arms around his neck in a deathgrip, and he stepped off the building.

Her yelp sounded in his ear on the first swing as the lurch of gravity and the lack of a support under her feet hit her, but by the second swing she was laughing and giggling. Her yells of joy floated and cut through the city air, and her amazement at the ride had Tim re-experiencing his first time grappling. The feeling of flying, the wind in his hair, the complete and total freedom.

He looked at her face, which was crinkled with excitement, and felt a chuckle bubble up from within to join her peals of laughter. He realized that this was all new to her, that she had never experienced this. That she had been tied to the ground her whole life. He grinned and took a particularly sharp turn around a building and she screamed and hid her face in his shoulder, but her histarical giggling only increased.

They soared through the air, and Tim thought that this was the most fun he'd had in years, maybe since he'd left Gotham. Maybe since he'd been Robin. When they finally reached her apartment, he set her down on her balcony.

She stumbled onto it, breathless and still laughing."That was..." she shook her head, seemingly unable to find the words to express it, "that was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. Holy shit!"

Tim smiled under the mask, chuckling to let her know he was happy for her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She paused and smiled a bit ruefully. "And, uh, sorry for stalking you and all that."

"No problem. Just stay safe, okay?"

"Sure," she answered, then turned her back to him to continue ranting about the flight. He took that opportunity to take off, knowing she would turn around and he would be gone.

Apparently he hadn't gotten through to her with his whole, "What you're doing is really dangerous" speech, because a few days later she was following him around again, snapping photos.

He tied up the rapist he was wailing on and grappled to the roof she was sitting on.

"What are you doing?" he asked in his best "disapproving Bruce" voice.

"I was just taking some pictures. Don't worry, I'm being really careful, I'm not following you on your whole route anymore. Which you changed, I noticed," she said with a nervous smile.

Tim really wished the helmet didn't prevent him from pinching the bridge of his nose and considered changing his look simply for that purpose.

"Look, when I said this was dangerous, I meant don't do it again. Ever. Don't you have enough pictures?"

"No... I know it's dangerous but as long as I stay around you I'll be okay. Besides, I can take care of myself well enough. I've lived here my whole life, you know."

"You're twelve."

"Thirteen!" came her indignant cry.

"Thirteen, right, sorry." He sighed. "Being around me is actually really dangerous because I literally go around looking for bad people to beat up, okay? I can't guarantee your protection. I can try, but it's not airtight."

"I know that! I just need to do this, okay? I need to observe you and see what you do so that..." she trailed off, going silent and looking down at the alley below them instead of at him.

"So that what? So that you can... be like me?"

"Well... yeah." She looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. You are not getting into the vigilante business. I do not recommend, condone, or allow that, okay? That is not a good idea at all." Holy hell, did this girl make him feel like the biggest hypocrite in the world.

"Why not? How old are you even?" she asked, getting a bit upset now.

He scoffed. "I am twenty-four, thank you very much. That's a lot older than you. And I have a lot more experience. So get that thought out of your head, okay?"

"Really? You look younger," she said musingly. Tim supressed a groan. "Sound like it too..."

"It doesn't matter what I sound like!" He snapped, then put a hand on his forehead. "You're not going to be a vigilante. You are not going to observe me anymore. You are going to go home, or I will carry you there. And it won't be fun like last time."

Her mouth set into a firm line, but she nodded stiffly and got up to climb down the fire escape. He watched her go, arms crossed.

She paused on the fire escape, then looked up at him and asked, "What's your name?"

"My name?" he answered dumbly.

"Yeah. You know, most superheroes have a name. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said, waving his hand. He had been calling himself Red X in his head, but hadn't actually said it to anyone. He wanted the criminals to come up with their own names for him to make him seem more like a legend, but the helmet had a red X on it, so it was kind of obvious anyway. He shrugged and answered, "Red X."

A grin split her face. "Oh man, that's so cool."

"Heh. Yeah, cool... What's your name?"

She looked surprised that he asked, but said, "Adriana. Adriana Marsh."

Tim nodded, then said, "Bye Adriana. I better not see you up here again."

She sighed and continued to climb down the fire escape.