AN: There is a reason Batman doesn't knock. Joker is the only one crazy enough to answer the door. But…
I can't see through the peephole on my door, and I've got three inches on Kitty. Life is unfair.
Christineoftheopera-And waste breath that can be better spent on running? Never.
The Puppeteer Patient 120402-That's Gotham for you.
Katherine-I know. It's less a matter of how and more a matter of...it happened. Makes watching the Marvel films a little awkward, really. (I will be very happy if they somehow reference the 'get Thor's hammer back dressed in drag' myth, though.)
Knock-knock.
Nobody knocked in this town, and certainly not on the doors of abandoned buildings.
"See who it is."
"Why do I have to go see?"
"Because you can reach the peephole, for one."
"There's a stepladder."
"Just go look!"
Knock-knock.
They freeze and look at the door. No one knows they're here-well, Edward, but he's in Arkham. With a broken jaw besides-apparently Batman finally lost his patience. It was only a matter of time.
"Go look!" she hisses. "It's probably just some crazy homeless guy."
"Then you go look!"
"You'd throw me into harm's way?"
"Kitty, you took a man's arm off with a hacksaw. You're fine."
"You freaked out when I got a paper cut after being arrested."
"It was the principle of the thing!"
"We'll both go."
"Fine."
They stand there for another minute before he finally huffs and steps over to see.
"Well?"
"Shit."
"What?"
"Look."
"I can't reach."
He rolls his eyes-poor, long-suffering baby-and picks her up. She blinks and has to work to repress a giggle.
"You didn't drop a vial, did you?"
He shakes his head and takes another look.
"We're in the Twilight Zone, we must be."
KNOCK-KNOCK.
They scuttle backwards, whispers silenced.
"Think he'll go away?"
He shrugs.
"The God Squad* never did."
True, very true.
"What do we do?"
"I don't know."
Why doesn't he just break the door down? That's normal, that's familiar. This…this new approach is unnatural and they do not like it.
BANG-BANG-BANG.
A hasty decision is reached.
"Fire escape."
They reach the bottom, shaken and confused, and start walking, sticking to the shadows. This has all been very strange. Perhaps they should check into Arkham for a spell, get some rest.
"Should we have answered?"
He gives her a look and shakes his head.
"No."
They're just reaching the end of the alley when there's a noise.
Aw, crap. That sounds like the noise of JUSTICE.
Five minutes, several bruises and one broken wrist later, they're in the back of the tank, heading back to Arkham.
They definitely should have answered the door.
THE END
*People that knock on your door to try and convert you. Jonathan likes them even less than he likes other people.