Pete looked at his watch, where was Lowry. He should've been back 15 minutes ago. They patrol in pairs for the security company, and they have to turn the time keys at specific intervals. Lowry was going to make them both late. The old fat guy was slow, but he was surprisingly punctual. Pete tried radioing him, but his Motorola only played static. He radioed HQ to see if they could raise Lowry, but they had no success.
"Oh, great, he's probably had a heart attack, or else he found some liquor and is drinking again," mournfully intoned Pete as he used his passkey to enter the Arboretum from the loading dock. He had already patrolled the perimeter, and Lowry because of seniority had taken the air conditioned inside sweep.
"Radio us if 15 minutes, Pete even if you don't find him or we'll call the police," HQ dispatcher said in a crackly voice over the old radio handset.
Pete, being a young college kid, quickly retraced his partner's steps. He found the disgarded clothing, and cursed Lowry for not radioing him. Pete entered the arboretum and soon was following muddy footprints toward the monkey idol. That thing always gave him the creeps, which was why he hadn't protested Lowry's desire to sweep the interior.
A criminal law major, Pete was only working as a security guard until he was ready to enter the police academy. His secret heroes since he was a kid were Batman and Robin. The jungle grows incredibly dense around him, which is odd since he's in an arboretum. Brambles tear at his uniform, he notices red fabric underneath the blue-grey uniform. He strips down to his much cooler Robin costume complete with utility belt, and puts on his mask. He didn't know how he ended up in a real jungle, but in his mind the usual suspect list narrowed to Poison Ivy.
Then Robin heard a roar overhead, and looked up between the canopy to see a massive flying reptile blotting out the sky. It flexed its hind legs as it flew over, and a steaming meteorite crashed in front of him smashing a sapling into splinters.
"Unholy dragon droppings! Where am I? Where is Batman?" Robin was confused and dazed. The stench coming from the smouldering dragon dropping was horrendous. Robin quickly pulled a gas mask from his belt. Once the bat mask was in place, Robin approached the alien dropping to investigate. It had to be alien, there were no such things as dragons, except for the komodo kind and they didn't fly.
Your Tarzan yell echoes through the jungle again. Robin looks up and wonders.
Dragons aren't Poison Ivy's style. Dragonlilies yes, dragonflies maybe, fire breathing dragons, no way. Now a Tarzan-like yell? Ape men? Dragons? Fiction. Bookworm? Or some other literary villain had found a way to bring story tale creatures to life?
Pete found solace in the fact that he Robin was not a fictional character, and as soon as he was in radio range, he would recruit Batman to fight this menace. He paused if he was still on Earth. What if the dragon was an alien? He couldn't rule that out yet.
Carefully, using his portable lab kit, Robin took a sample of the dragon dropping and analysed it. The portable Bat Computer identified it as of terrestrial origen.
"Maybe an alternate reality or dimension?" muttered Robin unsure. He decided that walking through the creeper covered jungle would be laborious and dangerous at best. So he took out his Bat-a-rang and hurled it into the trees. "Guess I'm going to play Tarzan. I wonder if that other Tarzan yell might have been Batman? Nah, he'd never do that, would he?"
Swinging from tree to tree, Robin paused to retrieve his bat-a-rang between each leap. This jungle went on forever, and his radio still was showing no bars. He sighed, and sat on a branch as the sun started to set. He had better make camp for the night.
Just then you yell again. This time your yell is much closer to Robin. He decides to investigate, and leaps from branch to branch as he heads toward your call.
Pete hadn't noticed that he'd lost a few years as he had been hiking along with several inches. Pete had been a tall gangly lad, but now he was a petit gymnastic Robin. His Robin uniform fit perfectly so why should he think he changed size anyway. He wished he was taller, as he was short for an 18 year old. Still he could still have a growth spurt.