Disclaimer: Batman and related franchises belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros., whom I'm not affiliated with. I make no profit from this.
Notes: This is a belated present for Girlupnorth's birthday.
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At night, everything seemed simple. Bruce Wayne (Batman) preferred the night. In night lay darkness, and in darkness lay simplicity. Hunting criminals through Gotham City (Sodom and Gomorrah) was a straightforward affair, most nights. Batman knew their type—gleaming eyes filled with malice, greedy hands, angry mouths. Their evil was no mystery to him.
During the day, when Bruce peeled his mask off, everything became more complicated. The men he shook hands with had greedy hands, too, but they donated to charity, had wives, children, important careers, high standing. They went to church every Sunday and sang their hymns, while Bruce stood outside the cathedrals and prayed there was no God, because if God existed, he would hate Him.
These men Bruce called friends were just businessmen, politicians, lawyers, doctors, scientists, scholars—fellow elite. Their vices were the vices of the elite. What was a little prostitute here and there? Cheating on taxes? Adultery? Lies? Batman was not a moral authority, and he could only justify his actions when he fought violent criminals. Yet, these men's smiles resembled those of jackals. Batman hated them, but if he started hunting them, then he would become judge and jury of the whole human race. He would become the God that he so hoped did not exist. He would not—could not—do that.
Batman (Bruce) preferred the night. He preferred the criminals with simple, violent goals. Desperation fueled them, and Batman knew desperation. He had felt it when his parents died, when Ducard revealed the truth, when Rachel finally left him for another man, when Alfred's hands trembled as he served Bruce his breakfast. Batman understood the criminal mind, just as he had understood Henri Ducard (Ra's Al Ghul) and his League of Shadows. Ra's Al Ghul (Ducard) had understood nothing about the criminal mind, despite his criminal activities. In many ways, he had been far more noble than Batman had been. Ducard strode through Batman's nightmares, mocking Bruce for his weaknesses, castigating Bruce for treachery, pleading with Bruce to help him destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Gotham City) before it was too late.
Batman feared the day. When his mask came off and he stared in the mirror, he saw everything he hunted at night—those same malicious eyes, those greedy hands, that angry mouth. He did pity criminals, he thought. But every man was allowed a little self-pity now and then.