Dream of 1·14·10 written on 1·16·10

"No."

"But –"

"I said no."

"But –"

I squeaked when the Dark Knight whirled around, his cape cutting through the air, and faced me with the white slits on his mask narrowed. "No, Barbra," he stated sternly. "It's too dangerous for you; I've got to handle this ALONE."

I clenched my fists and glared at him angrily. "Look, Bruce, I don't care!" I told him. "You always say it's too dangerous and leave it at that, but this time you're just over-exaggerating that! What's different this time?"

"What's different is that this is REALLY dangerous and under no circumstances are you to come with me!" Batman responded.

I scowled, but after a moment I decided that it would be better to stop arguing with him. I sighed and folded my arms. It was no use right now.

"Fine," I grumbled. "You win. I'll stay out of this one… if that's what you really want." I wasn't surprised when he gave me a look of suspicion. He had a right to be, but I wasn't going to let him know that. "Look, it's fine. You handled yourself pretty well without me before, so I guess I don't have anything to worry about." I looked up at him and smiled. "Let me know how it turns out in the end, okay?"

He looked at me for a minute, but he then inclined his head slightly, telling me he believed me. Well, maybe he really didn't believe me, but I knew he was at least going to leave it at that.

So… what am I gonna do? I kept asking myself. I needed to figure out a way to find out Batman's problem, but this time I didn't have a plan of action. I didn't have one, and I knew I needed one quick if I was going to do anything for him.

"What's wrong, red?" my friend Tammy asked.

"Work sucks, that's what," I mumbled. "The big guy's trying to keep me out of the loop again."

"Man," Sasha said, "that DOES suck, especially for you."

"I want to help him, but he's making it hard," I continued. "Usually I can deal with that and work around it, but nothing's really coming up."

At that moment, an electronic trilling sound came from a device that was in my pocket. Without hesitation I pulled it out and looked at the screen. Sure enough, the bat icon on it was blinking in sync with the sound that the device emitted. It was time for work.

"What's that thing?" Sasha asked. "A cell phone?"

"Sorta," I replied.

"And what's the Bat-Signal doing on it?" Tammy asked. "Is the Batman calling you or something?"

"No." I smiled. "Hey, guys… do you want to see what I actually do for work?"

The End