With a final huff he lifts his boot and it connects with your chest sending you soaring through the window to your fire escape. Your feet clip the railing and send you tumbling in a heap of disfigured flesh. As you fall backwards you watch the red glow from inside your apartment fade and then the cold hard surface of the dumpster below stops your motion with a violent slam. As you struggle to catch your breath your vision swims, your neck goes limp and your head falls to the side. As you fight the fluttering of your eyelids you smell the familiar scent of charred flesh...

Then you blink.

The rigid metal of the dumpster is replaced by a comforting softness. A human softness... only not truly. The Lady in Red cradles your head in her lap, the cool silk of her dress a welcome respite from the burn you felt earlier. Your hand reaches up to your face again and finds smooth cool skin, unmarred by whatever force he exposed you too. You sigh in relief and let yourself relax in her arms.

"Lady... I've never been so happy to see you."

She smiles gently, the most natural looking expression she's managed so far. She strokes your hair gently and speaks in a low whisper.

"I will always strive to protect you, son of Gotham. Though I fail to understand why you felt the need to provoke him."

"It's my job." You offer weakly, feeling an intense sense of exhaustion. "Besides it's only a dream, right?"

"You are weak." She says, dodging the question. "Your encounter has left a... stain on you."

"A stain? Like on my soul?"

"Your mind. Our link. I must scrub it clean, lest the stain spread."

"Wait!" You manage to roll out of her lap and put up a hand. "I've had a lot of people digging in my head recently, not particularly a fan of how they all seem to never explain what they're actually doing. What does that mean to 'scrub it clean'?"

"I must remove your memory of this encounter, for as long as you know of him he will know of you. You will remain in his vision."

"I don't think that's a concern, he said I was 'beneath his notice' before dropping me a few stories."

"One's words and actions are rarely the same, son of Gotham. You know this better than most."

"But I learned things, maybe something that can help? I need to pass the information along, anything could help."

Her face screws into a parody of pity.

"You do not understand... The being you met is one of great power and greater fury. To keep his stain on your mind would retain the memory of your exchange but also keep the door to your mind open to him."