Batman looked down on his city, scanning for the Bat signal. It wasn't like he was expecting it, it was a quiet night, he had even sent Robin home already. He just wanted a moment to himself to look at his city.
It was so quiet. Not in the no-sound kind of quiet, but the this-is-kind-of-peaceful-even-with-the-horns-constantly-blaring kind of quiet. The background noise had no effect on him, not anymore. He had trained his ears to only pick out the most vital screams of the city. And none were sounding in this warm August night. The lights were shining out across the city; he could hear laughter from his perch, probably from the group of teenagers that just left the movie theater across the street from the comic-shop-apartment-building he had chosen.
He could see that there were happy people, even with the crazies like the Joker and Poison Ivy; they still managed to keep themselves happy and sane.
The other heroes would bug him, why do you not want help? Are you positive you'll be okay? Joker? Let me deal with that lunatic. It wasn't like he was bad at his job, in fact, he was better than some of the ones who tried to help him. It's not like he didn't want the people there either, he actually did like some of them but…
Moments like this felt like they belonged to him, and him alone. Moments when the whole city was in harmony, all the crazies were squared away, and all that he had to do was sit and watch. Those were his moments, and if anyone else got a taste of them, he knew they'd never leave him alone again.