It was, as usual in Gotham City, a dark and somewhat stormy night. No one inside the high-end gentleman's club noticed – the neon was too bright, the dancers too pretty, and the alcohol too strong. Toni, on the other hand, was not amused. She hated the dark, damp, sketchy nights that made her walk home through this not-so-safe end of town even less appealing than usual. As the mob frequented this particular club, and as a preferred bartender for those less-than-savory (she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut, and the bottles open), she was safer than your usual single female, but still. Gotham was not a city to wander about alone in after dark, these days.

Shaking strawberry blonde hair from her face, she eyed the clock. Only a little while before her shift ended, and she could get the hell out. Toni clicked her tongue impatiently, sparing the too-slow clock one last glance before focusing her attention on some of the more rowdy bar-goers.

A voice sounded from the opposite end of the bar, his words slurred and running together. "Next rounds onme fellas!"

Toni recognized the voice before she bothered to look up. Vince Sorentino, he frequented the joint, buying only the priciest whores, and entertaining the most influential of local mobsters and drug dealers. He talked too much, merely blink at him in a vaguely attractive way and he'd spill his life story in an instant. He kept his women well paid, and his enemies close.

With the involuntary shrug that becomes natural for a bartender, Toni began to wipe down several shot glasses for Sorentino's buddies. Turning to grab the straight vodka, she bumped into Mitch, the older bartender. Unwashed, and wider than he was tall, his presence, to say the least, was enough to make the four-foot bar-space feel cramped. "I'll take it from here, Antoinette, you've been on duty since three. Go home and get some rest."

Toni flinched at her full name, "Please, don't call me that. I stopped being Antoinette when my Barbies failed to kick G.I. Joe's ass, and when Daddy was too pre-occupied with his own monsters to chase away mine."

Mitch shrugged, again with that bartender-trademark air, taking the bottle from her and filling the shots smoothly and without spills. "Whatever." He was a tough guy, he had to be to take the closing shift where it meant kicking out drunken mobsters who could easily have you killed for the insult, but he still tried not to argue with Toni. It just made life easier that way.

"Enjoy your night," She replied, almost sarcastically, as she collected her tips and sauntered from behind the bar. Dodging two drive-by gropes and escaping a third attempted ass pinch, she made her way to the side door and out into the night.

The main entrance of the place faced nearly-respectable street front, for appearances, but the back way had alleys as dark and dangerous as the worst in the city. Her saunter faded to a purposeful walk, her heels clicking rhythmically on the cracked asphalt. It took a kind of no-nonsense zen to walk these streets, a combination of looking both too dangerous to bother and too uneventful to bother with.

A gurgled cry broke her concentration near the end of the alleyway. She froze, hearing this time the distinct butcher-shop sound of a knife hitting raw meat. Shit shit shit! She thought to herself. It was one thing to entertain mobsters with loose lips, another to actually witness a crime! Sure, being surrounded by the mob and worse, she was familiar with people just "disappearing", but she'd never been around to see it happen.

Her breath hitching in her throat, Toni's body locked up, her feet glued to the asphalt. The squelching blows and gurgled cries she heard were not those of her current surroundings. She no longer saw the yellow-lit street at the end of the dark alleyway, but the muffled light of the bedroom through the slotted doors of the closet. Her young heart fluttered excitedly in her breast, what a fun new game Daddy was playing with her and his friends. Smilingly they had pushed her into the closet, saying "shush". Like a strange version of hide and seek, but no, the game had stopped being fun, Daddy was screaming, crying, and there were horrible splurting, squishing noises…

Toni gasped, thrust back into the present as the butchering sounds stopped. Trying to breathe properly, her heart pounding, Toni considered fight, or flight. Fight would certainly not end well, and there was no where to go but past the alley way to get out of this one. Gulping, she forced her frozen legs to walk slowly, and deliberately, as if she hadn't heard a thing, to pass the mouth of the alleyway, praying to the powers that were that she'd go unnoticed.

But that was not to be. A hoarse command and the sound of footsteps coming her way chilled her to the bone. Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she felt her hope die in her chest. These men, a worn and obviously well-trained trio, had the look – she'd seen it in the men at the club, occasionally in men in the street - it was that cold, deadened look in the eyes of someone who has killed in cold blood, and never lost sleep over it. One stood over a bloody body, the other two spreading out behind her, intent on the sole witness to their crime.

She screamed involuntarily as one grabbed her from behind, spinning her around to face him. Surprised by the terror she felt, trying desperately to think of a fast way to reassure the man she'd keep her mouth shut, she didn't hear the ominous swooshing of fabric by the alley, or see the flash of black that took care of the man by the body.

"Please! Please! I won't say a word, I swear-"she begged, twisting to no end, trying to keep both men in her vision while using the movement to loosen her captor's grip. In the struggle, her hair had whipped from its clip, and she heard the rip of fabric as the man's hand slipped from her body, catching the front of her shirt instead. She was loose, buttons pinging off in all directions; a large strip of her shirtfront was clutched in the man's fist.

A black figure swirled in her vision and her assailant was down, the other running for street. Vaguely, Toni thought she was passing out as the black whirled around her, but her vision cleared and the black mist had disappeared, reappearing at the end of the alley way. The runner was in the figure's grasp in a blink. Then they were both gone, appearing to simply shoot upwards and away in a flap of cape.

Barely noticing that she was hardly decent, Toni turned to run, not caring who, or what, had come to her assistance. All that she knew was that anything that could take out three cold-blooded mob killers, would certainly have no trouble getting her either. She ran, not thinking logically, only focusing on not being found by the menacing black mass, which had so easily taken out three armed men.

She ran straight into a wall of black, getting caught up in fabric, a thick arm pinning her to a male chest. Adrenaline rushing, air ravaging her lungs, Toni kicked and lashed at the man, a scream bubbling up and out of her throat. "Be still." Gravelly and deep, the voice, dominant and strangely compelling, made Toni sag, exhausted. "Look at me." The voice continued.

She obeyed without thinking – it was that kind of voice that inspired unquestioning obedience. Some part of her, remote from that which had been panicking and reacting to the attack, shivered pleasurably at the voice. It made even that simple a command almost carnal. Had she not just nearly been stabbed to death in an alley, she would have enjoyed this experience. Looking up, further up than she expected, over the expanse of black-coated muscle, she found his eyes. They, too, were as dark and compelling as his voice, staring out from a metallic black half-mask that covered his face from his nose to the crown of his head.

"Who are you?" he asked, the voice as steely as his eyes, and the grip he had her in.

"T-Toni, Toni Nicholson," She replied weakly, knowing full well that that she was absolutely helpless.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Toni." He continued in that bone-melting voice, that tiny part of her watching more the way his lips moved than the eyes he'd told her to meet. She nodded dumbly in response, simply unable to form a more coherent thought.

The stranger shifted his grip as the woman leaned against him, trembling. Vaguely interested, he noted that, while she clung to him for dear life, she also made weak movements as if to pull away, like a frightened rabbit that longed for escape, but hadn't the energy to do so. Toni, as she was called, breathed shallowly through softly parted lips, the pupils of her eyes were dilated leaving only a small sliver of gold-green iris visible.

"Deep, slow breaths." He instructed. If she kept sucking in air like that, she was going to hyperventilate, possibly go into shock. She obeyed him, her eyes closing; her forced deep breaths whistled in and whooshed out, puffing her loose, strawberry blonde hair about her face. He felt her grip on him tighten ever so slightly as she gained a bit of control. "Better?"

She nodded vigorously, squeezing out a small "Yes" in a cracked voice.

"Good. Now, Toni, I'm going to take you home. Where do you live?"

She opened her mouth to reply, and then something of her usual self began to kick in. The breathing had helped her regain some control over her mind; though to have him so close was still unsettling. "I can get myself home." Anyone raised in Gotham knew better than to give a stranger their address, particularly if that stranger was a man.

If she'd been watching his eyes closely, she would have seen a brief flash of amusement. However more settled she was now than she had been when he'd grabbed her, she was still in no condition. Without warning, he released her, stepping back a half-step. Toni wobbled for a quick moment and then sat down heavily, legs trembling too much to carry her at all. Giving her a moment to absorb her predicament, he swept her up again. "Where do you live?" He repeated, voice slightly gentler, though no less commanding.

"Corner of 13th and West." She replied, accepting defeat.

"That's quite a ways from here," He commented, amusement evident in his tone, eyes like the darkest chocolate flashing to meet hers, almost accusing her. "At least a mile. A bit far for a woman to be walking home by herself-"

Despite her position, in the arms of a mysterious man in a cape and body armor, in a dark alley, and completely at his mercy, Toni's temper flared. "I've been completely fine walking home by myself loads of other times-"

"Not this time" he interrupted, eyes flicking downward pointedly. Realization hit Toni before she even, flinchingly, glanced down at her exposed chest, that she had unfortunately chosen one of her bras that compromised sexiness for comfort.

"Ah." Toni pursed her lips, a blush rising up her neck to her cheeks. She overlapped the edges of her shirt the best she could, with the buttons popped off and held in his arms. Even if he had the most delicious voice she's ever heard, that didn't mean he got to stare at her chest! She ignored that tiny part of her that wished that she had been wearing a nicer bra.

He was, in spite of himself, a bit impressed by the woman. She walked home, in the middle of mob territory, alone at night, and had the gall to talk back to someone she knew could take her down. With her shirt gaping open. He was going to have to find out more about her, he decided. Someone who could walk through this area alone, night after night, obviously had to have secrets. But that could wait until after he'd gotten her home, and safe.

Pretty much back to her usual self, Toni finally took stock of who it was that had saved her as she glanced discreetly up at him. So, this was the elusive 'Caped Crusader', Batman? She'd known that it was him, but, given her mental state it hadn't exactly been at the top of her list of most important facts with, say, living until her next birthday. She nibbled her lip, embarrassed at how long it had taken her to realize such an obvious fact- she cleared her throat "So, you're Batman," she faltered, trying not to laugh at how completely unintelligent speaking made her sound.

"Yes" was the short reply, as if this was a matter of unimportance. Toni made an incoherent sound of protest as he jounced her a bit to shift most of her weight so that she was securely cradled against him and he could reach the belt at his waist. He procured a black gadget very similar to gun; Toni's heart gave a hard throb of panic. "Relax."

She tried to, but honestly? Absolutely nothing that had happened this evening was at all relaxing, least of all realizing that she was now at the mercy of Gotham's most controversial crimefighter. It would make, however, the best story ever, if she lived through it...

Interrupting her thoughts was a sudden tug, and then they were flying! Well, not really, it was more being pulled rapidly upward (apparently she hadn't noticed the grapple being attached to one of the tall buildings around them), and it was enough to make her squeak in surprise and wrap herself around him as best she could, determined not to fall off.

So engrossed was she in preventing what seemed to be an evident death, Toni jolted when their rapid upward sweep stopped short. Toni hesitantly peeked down, expecting to see concrete rooftop.

Instead, she was met with an impressively high bird's eye view of the alleyway. For a horrifying few seconds, Toni's position in the crook of his right arm angled dangerously downward, as he shifted his grip from the grapple gun to the building's edge. "Oh, god!" Toni cried out in alarm, fisting her hands in the folds of his cape at his shoulders, her eyes never wavering from the incredibly solid ground below. God, if there is one, please, in the name of all that is good, don't let him drop me!

With a guttural grunt, the muscles straining in his only available arm, he pulled them up inch by agonizingly muscle-pulling inch. Standing on the roof, he gave her a reproving look (made all the more menacing by the mask). "I'm not going to hurt you." He repeated, as though she should have realized that he was, you know, Batman, and had done this before without anyone dying. It softened a little (it was impossible to make any expression formed through a thick, black bat-mask soft) to amusement, as he realized she didn't know what the next step was.

Adjusting his grip around her waist (ignoring the small, off-duty part that noticed what a rather nice waist it was, and rather liked having his arm around it), and with a purposeful snap of the cape, jumped off the building.

Toni shrieked, embarrassingly enough, squeezing her eyes shut and holding on for dear life - before she realized that instead of plummeting to a squashy death, they were gliding along. Tentatively peeking over his shoulder, Toni eyed the deceptive fabric of his cape. What appeared to be flimsy and frail material was now rigid and fixed, like the wings of a bat. "How...?" she gasped, unable to wrap her mind around how they could possibly be gliding smoothly along instead of plummeting to their deaths.

Awed, she turned to him, only to be met by what appeared to be a deadpan stare, until he chuckled. The sound, soft, and rich, sent a chill down Toni's spine. All of her senses snapped to attention. A small part of her -the part that was not acutely aware that they were soaring high over the streets of Gotham- zeroed in on the mouth that produced such an alluring sound. "Are you laughing at me?"

The chuckle only intensified, sending another set of shivers through her. "Yes," was the monosyllabic reply, voice (if possible!) even more appealing with the background of chuckles.

It did not, however, make her feel any better - now she was torn between making a smart return, and having him decide to drop her (not that she really thought that The Batman would drop her, but still... it probably wasn't very intelligent to backtalk a man carrying you god-knows-how-high above concrete), and spending the rest of the trip listening to him laugh at her. She settled for muttering "Well, its not like I know anyone else who can fly," and did her best to distract herself, while not paying attention to that tiny, lustful side of herself. It had gotten her into trouble before, and she was pretty sure that Batman was trouble.

This response only rewarded her with another shiver inducing chuckle. It didn't help that she was held so close to him either. With every soft burst of amusement she could feel breath, warm and moist, ruffle her hair and fan down the bare patch of neck left by her windswept hair. Biting her lip, Toni shook her head slightly, trying to quash her instinct to curl her toes. When was the last time I had sex? she thought, disgruntled, as they soared over several low buildings in silence, landing and jumping again to gain momentum. She glanced surreptitiously at Batman's partially covered face. Because, when you begin thinking a stranger in a mask is attractive, that's definitely a red flag…

However attractive that stranger might be, she added, as her eyes raked over that mouth of his. Especially that voice...

The rattling of her fire escape acted as the proverbial cold shower to that line of thinking. The landing had barely enough room for the two of them to stand, and his cape flowed over the edge. Honestly, she'd never realized how very embarrassingly dingy her apartment was, the brick walls streaked with who-knows-what, the windows not much better. Foggy with grime, they showed a set of rooms small, and as cluttered as much as was possible for a girl without enough money for much unnecessary clutter. It made standing there, in his arms (rather nice arms, really), that much more awkward. What would she do, invite him in for coffee? The image of Batman sitting on her battered, thrift-store couch was enough to make her nearly snort out loud.

"Uhhhm…" Toni began, making a face as the inevitable blush made her face shine (what she felt was) like an unattractive traffic light. They stood for a few moments, his arm still locked securely about her waist, a comforting pressure. She glanced furtively at the musculature of said arm, the way the material of his suit clung to the impressively tight bands of muscle, to every vein and ligament. She shuddered, How many men have arms like that…? Despite all logical reason, Toni felt safe. No worrying about what could possibly lurk in her dark apartment other than her dog, and some empty Chinese take-out containers.

Clearing her throat, she disengaged herself from his arms, however nice it was to be held so close to such a very tall and ripped individual… Sucking in her bottom lip, she bent to the window and pushed it open, popping in the screen before hopping down into the darkened living room. Immediately, a cacophony of barking sounded from the middle of the pitch black. Nearly jumping a mile, Toni leapt for the nearest lamp and flicked it on. In the dim, buttery glow, her cairn terrier(A/N: Think Toto from the Wizard of Oz), Spike, hopped from the shabby couch to bark sharply at the fire escape outside.

Turning to look, though she really shouldn't have expected him to leave without some sort of formal goodbye, Toni jumped when she was face to face with Batman.

"Thank you?" She murmured, uncomfortable.

He nodded, acknowledging her thanks, a concerned look in his eyes (from what she could see of them, anyway). "You should lock up better. It's getting bad around here." He gave the lock-less window a pointed stare.

"I don't think I have that much to worry about," What started off as an almost rational argument quickly dissolved as her traitor mouth added "Not with the Batman around."

He flashed her a - what was that? He turned too quickly for her to tell if that was almost a smile under that look, or just a flash of reluctant amusement in his eyes, and with a swish of cape, glided off her landing.

Toni sighed and, with slight difficulty, shut the window. Squinting slightly, Toni raked the darkness outside for a long few minutes after he'd vanished. She glanced dubiously at the rust encrusted window lock, then rolled her eyes and shut the shades. She'd been able to avoid several run-ins with potential homicidal psychopaths up until now, it didn't seem likely that they were about to come crowding to her fire escape. Turning from the window, she cast a gloomy glance around her living room, taking in the general shabbiness and mess that occupied the small space. Besides, who in their right mind could possibly look into this apartment and think, "jackpot"?

At her heels, Spike snuffled, tail wagging, eyes bright. Smiling, Toni scooped up the little ball of black and gray fur, receiving a face full of doggie kisses. "All right, all right Spike. I bet you're hungry. Dinner, and then bed. It's been a long day."