"We need to tell the Commissioner." I stated. I went to walk by Bruce to get to the door but he blocked my exit.

"Bruce, move." I said in a strict tone. I was really, really not in the mood for this.

He held out his, "I'll take the note. I can run diagnostics on it." I folded the paper in half and handed it to him.

I waited for Bruce to move out of the way but stayed where he was at, "Seriously? Move Bruce or I'll make you move." I said with a glare.

"What was that back there? If you had given me two more minutes I could have slipped away. I would have been able to fight with you. Instead you trapped me with everyone else." Bruce asked with an annoyed glare.

I gave him a cold stare, "I'm surprised you even remembered the plan seeing how you were too busy with Miss America." I said bitterly.

Bruce rolled his eyes and huffed, "You know that's an act, Mel. I put up that front to help keep my identity as Batman. Nobody would think of a playboy billionaire that acted like that would be him. I just used her for the act." Bruce stated.

I scoffed, "You could have fooled me. She was all over you." I muttered. A smirk suddenly graced Bruce's face.

"Wait, are you…jealous?" My face immediately heated up.

"What?! No! I am not jealous and even if I were, which I'm not, I would not be jealous of Miss America of all people!" I defended myself. Bruce's smirk grew and amusement filled his hazel eyes.

"You say that but your face says otherwise, Mel. You're bright red." I grimaced and I could feel my cheeks flush even more.

I let the vibranium cover my head again, "Just move it. The police should be here by now. I need to talk to them." I said in a defeated tone.

Bruce lost his smirk hearing the tone in my voice. He shifted slightly to the side. I walked past him and opened the security door. I threw my board back down and hopped on.

I made my way out of the building and I could see the flashing red and blue lights from the police cars. Officers were bringing out the mobsters in handcuffs. My eyes caught Morozov being carried on a stretcher. I noticed the pair of cuffs attached from his wrist to the stretcher.

"Hey Voltess!" I looked down to see Commissioner Gordon just below me. Just the man I wanted to talk to.

I hovered down to the driveway and hopped off my board, "Commissioner." I greeted.

"Nice work on wrangling those guys up. Morozov can finally be prosecuted by the law thanks to you and Batman. Where was he anyway? Witnesses only talk about seeing you." Gordon asked.

"He was around. Morozov and his men going through the front door caught us off guard. We thought for sure they would have used the tunnel system." I wasn't technically lying. Batman was there just not in his suit at the time.

"My men and I were stationed there the entire time. We never saw anyone enter or exit through those tunnels." Gordon stated.

"There's something else you should know, Commissioner. Morozov was set up. He was only a distraction for the real thief to steal the Mayor's treasure." A deep frown formed on Gordon's face.

"It's gone then." I nodded. Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a long sigh.

"The thief left a note addressed to me. This guy calls himself the Penguin. Have you ever heard of a mob leader calling themselves that?" I asked Gordon.

Gordon shook his head, "No. Looks like Batman's hunch was right. A new mob is forming in Gotham. This Penguin guy just got rid of his competition and the prize he was after in one night. This is just the start. You said he left a note?" I nodded.

"Can I have it? That should be considered as evidence."

"About that…Batman has it. He said he was going to run diagnostics on it." Gordon let out a sigh.

"Of course he did. Just tell him to let me know when he finds something. That guy and stealing my evidence." Gordon muttered the last sentence under his breath.

I let out a small chuckle. Gordon and Batman have a very interesting relationship.

"Well in any case, I'll keep my men on the lookout for this Penguin guy. Thanks again, Voltess. Have a good night." Gordon lifted the hat off his head as a goodbye.

"You too, Commissioner." I stepped back onto my board. I hovered higher in the air before turning around to take off.

I sat on the rooftop of my warehouse hideout. I had my back leaned against the brick wall that made up part of the roof's door access.

I still had my suit on but only my head was exposed. The cool night breeze blew in from the ocean just in front of me. There wasn't a cloud in the sky so you could see the moon and some stars.

I had tried to get some sleep when I had gotten back, but it wasn't happening. I couldn't get the nights recent events out of my head. From what happened with Miss America to seemingly being fooled by this Penguin guy.

I heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching me. I let out a small sigh through my nose.

"Hey." I said without looking up. I already knew who it was.

"What are you doing?" Bruce's voice came from above me. I glanced over at him to see him in his Batman suit. He moved his gloved hand up and pulled the cowl over his head.

"Couldn't sleep." I answered.

Bruce gestured to the spot next to me, "You mind?" He asked.

"Go ahead." He took a seat next to me on the roof. He made sure to move his cape off the side so not to tug on it. He sat with his legs crossed while I had both my knees bent.

A silence fell between us as we both just stared at the night sky. The only noise being the sounds of ocean waves and the occasional helicopter or plane flying overhead.

I heard Bruce sigh, "Mel," I turned my head slightly, "I'm sorry about earlier today. You were right. I overstepped. I shouldn't have tried to pry. I just got worried when I found you that night in the tech lab. I wanted to know what had made you so upset and hoped that I could help." I had fully turned my head to Bruce at this point. He had done the same. Was he really that concerned about me?

"I should be the one apologizing. I snapped at you pretty bad back there. You didn't deserve it. I'm…going through a lot right now. I can't really say what it is, at least not yet. Reality just hit me like a ton of bricks the past couple of days. I'm fine now, I've kind of come to an acceptance with what's going on." I explained to him

Bruce nodded, "Whenever you're ready to talk, I'll be there to listen." I smiled and Bruce returned a small one of his own.

"Thanks, Bruce. I mean it. You're kind of the only person I can really talk to." I said honestly. Bruce's smile grew and he chuckled slightly.

"I can say the same about you. Sure, I have Alfred or Mr. Fox to talk about Batman things. But they don't understand it, not like you do. We're a lot alike, Mel. More than you know and that's why I care so much. I know we haven't known each other that long but I know I can say this without a doubt. I like you, Mel. I'm not saying that as friends or as partners. I genuinely have feelings for you." Bruce said sincerely.

I stared at him doe eyed. My heart pounded against my chest hearing him admit how he felt. I could feel my cheeks heat up.

"I have feelings for you too and to be honest I was jealous tonight. I didn't like seeing Miss America all over you. Then with you acting like the playboy it just made it worse. Hence why I zapped the two of you." Bruce chuckled.

"I remember that. That hurt more than I thought it would. Seeing you jealous though…I'm not going to lie, I didn't think green would look that good on you." My jaw dropped.

"Are you saying you liked it that I was jealous?" I said in disbelief.

Bruce shrugged with a smirk, "I did but hear me out before you yell my ear off. Miss America has got nothing on you, Mel. I'd rather be seen at the next event with you around my arm." Wait. Hold on, was he suggesting…

"What are you getting at, Bruce?" I asked, unsure of his motive.

Bruce smiled, "I'm saying I want to give this, us, a chance. We can take things slow. The two of us go on a couple dates. See where this takes us. What do you think?" He held out his gloved hand to me.

I stared at the dark glove in thought. I really did like Bruce. I never really could date in my world mainly because every guy that was interested in me…was really only interested in Voltess. Never as Melody Moser. Bruce on the other hand likes Melody Moser first and accepts Voltess as part of it.

I lifted my left hand and placed it on top of Bruce's. "Okay. Let's try it."

Bruce grinned and closed his hand around mine, "Great. How do you feel about having a coffee date for our first one then?"

"That sounds fine. When?" I asked.

Bruce smirked, "This morning." My eyes widened and I pulled my hand back.

"Bruce, that's in just a few hours. You have to give a girl a bigger heads up." I informed him.

Bruce suddenly stood up and held his gloved hand out, "Bring some clothes to change into. You can stay the night at the penthouse. We can head out for coffee once the sun's up."

"Aren't you going to be tired? You patrol all night." I asked. I took his hand and he helped me up to my feet.

He shook his head, "I'm done for the night. Gotham's been quiet since the party."

I let out a sigh, "Fine, let me grab some clothes. You really don't take no for an answer."

Bruce smirks, "I tend to get what I want." I rolled my eyes and walked to the roof access door. I let my suit deactivate as I opened the door. I turned my head to see Bruce slip the cowl back on.

"Meet me out front when you're done." He instructed. He walked to the edge of the warehouse and jumped down.

I let out a sigh but I had a smile on my face. Maybe whatever this is between us could work. I'm willing to try if he is.

I had my head leaned forward as the hot water trickled onto me from the rain shower head above me. It had been a while since I've had a hot shower. The warehouse could only provide cold water.

The soreness in my muscles had kicked in from my fight with Morozov. The hot shower was definitely needed. The vibranium suit was great for stopping bullets and blades in their tracks but blunt force attacks were a different story. I could still feel those attacks and they could still hurt me.

After soaking in the hot water I then put my hand on the handle. I turned the water off and stepped out of the walk-in shower. I grabbed the white plush towel that Alfred had given me before coming in here.

I began to dry myself off. I placed the towel around my neck and used my hand to wipe away the fog of the mirror.

I gazed back at my reflection. I started to inspect my body for any possible bruising. All I could see were faint lines of scars around my body that I had accumulated from years of hero work with only wearing a cloth suit. This new suit was a great relief of not having to worry about getting cut up again.

I grabbed my clean clothes from the bathroom counter and began to dress myself. I placed the towel on my head and continued to dry my hair.

I headed for the door and opened it to reveal the hallway of the penthouse. I walked out into the living room/kitchen area. The smell of Alfred's cooking immediately hit my nose. I could here talking coming from the tv. Bruce sat on the loveseat of the living room. He had a tablet in his hands.

Bruce lifted his head hearing my footsteps. A smile appeared on his face and he set down the laptop. "Did you enjoy your shower?" He asked.

I smiled back, "The hot water felt relaxing. My muscles are starting to act up from the fight last night with Mor-" I stopped midsentence when I saw something pop up on the tv.

Bruce noticed and turned around to face the tv. It was a news broadcast.

"Can you turn it up?" I asked but I didn't take my eyes off the screen. Bruce picked up the remote and increased the volume of the tv.

"-Gotham seems to have a new hero that made her debut last night at Mayor Graham's party. That's right, I said "her" ladies and gentlemen. Our latest superhero is a woman and a tough one at that. She calls herself "Voltess". There was a video that surfaced a couple days ago of the new hero stopping an active police chase. This time however, Voltess stopped a local mafia leader that the police have been trying to arrest for months. Our reporter has talked to many eye witnesses that were that night. This is what they had to say about the new hero."

A man who was in a suit and tie who appeared to be in an office first showed up, "Voltess was incredible. She has this terrifying and at the same time amazing power. She was able to stick these guys to the gates like they were human magnets."

"I have never seen anyone like her before. She wore this suit that I kid you not, was completely bulletproof. I'm not talking about a bullet proof vest that stops it. This suit smashed the bullets on impact. Some were almost as flat as a nickel."

"This guy that Voltess took on was huge. He was stronger than her, out gunned her, and had the upper hand almost the entire fight. Voltess stood her ground and took this guy on knowing all of this. She waited for him to mess up and she got it. One hit knocked him to the ground. She did all that while talking smack to the guy too. She was absolutely hilarious in some of these clapback's."

"She's an inspiration to me and several other women that were there. The way she held herself, you can tell that whoever it is behind that mask is an incredibly strong woman. She didn't need a man's help to bring that guy down. It's about time a female superhero enters the scene."

"Batman better watch his back now. There's a new hero in town that's calling Gotham home."

"Honestly, I would want to see Voltess join up with Batman. Criminals are already terrified of the bat but he only comes out at night. Voltess has been seen in broad daylight. Imagine if they teamed up. Batman at night and Voltess during the day. The criminals of Gotham will have nowhere to hide."

I watched in awe hearing the comments coming from multiple people. I knew eventually it was going to happen, but I didn't know how people in this world would respond. All of them had nothing but praise.

"That's not a bad idea." I was snapped out of my thoughts hearing Bruce.

"What? What's not a bad idea?" I asked. Bruce had his elbows on his knees as he slumped forward with hands leaning just below his nose.

He put down his hands and looked at me with a serious expression, "What the man in the last interview said. Batman patrolling Gotham at night and Voltess during the day."

I nodded, "It makes sense. In fact, fighting during the day is a lot better for me than at night. Any spark from me and you see it in the dark easily." Bruce chuckled.

"I noticed that. As much as I liked our meetings at night, I think you're more well suited to the daytime." Bruce said honestly.

"I can still help you when or if you need me. Actually, if you're serious about this I can make us something that could help." Bruce sat up in interest.

"What would that be?"

"A distress signal. It can be installed into both of our suits. At any time either of us are in some serious trouble and need backup. We can use the distress signal to warn the other. I could make a corresponding app that could talk with our devices. Any computer, phone or tablet would get the distress signal." I stated.

"An S.O.S essentially." I nodded my head, "How long would that take you to make?"

I shrugged, "Not too long. A full working day or an all-nighter. I'd have to put aside the synthetic spider silk idea in the meantime." I advised. That's when it suddenly hit me. That's why he was so interested when I mentioned that fiber.

I pointed at him, "Were you going to have me make you a new suit once I got that fiber created?" Bruce smirked and chuckled.

"You just figured that out now? Yes, I am. I use Kevlar now and it helps but I wouldn't mind something tougher. Focus on the distress signaling device first. I've had this suit for this long now, I can wait however long it takes for a new one." Bruce assured me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Master Wayne but I believe the coffee shop you're planning to visit closes around eleven for lunch." Alfred spoke up from beside us.

I didn't even realize he was there. I was so focused on mine and Bruce's conversation. Bruce turned off the tv before standing up.

"We should get going then. Thank you, Alfred."

"My pleasure, sir."

"Let me brush my hair and we can go." I said and walked back to the bathroom.

I climbed on top of a barstool with my coffee in hand. Bruce was paying at the counter and I grabbed some seats while he did so. I didn't miss the side glances we were getting.

There were two women sitting at a table across from me. My eyes flickered to them when my sensitive ears picked up one of them saying, "Who is that with Bruce Wayne? Are they on a date?" One of them whispered.

"Poor girl doesn't know what she's getting herself into. He'll be done with her by the end of the week and go to the next one." The other one whispered back.

"We should take a picture. A tabloid might pay us for an exclusive shot of Bruce Wayne being on a date." My eyes narrowed hearing this.

I glanced at my other side seeing Bruce was walking towards the table now. I looked back at the two women and both of them had their phones out now. They were trying to make it look discreet.

I put one hand in my lap and pointed one finger towards both of the women. The spark flew to their phones and I could see the immediate confusion on their faces.

"My phone just went black like it turned off by itself. I can't turn it back on."

"Mine's doing the same thing. What just happened?" I let out a smirk hearing their comments. Mind your own business, ladies, and I won't fry your phones next time.

Bruce sat down in front of me with his own coffee in his hands. He looked at me then to the two women who were concerned about their phones.

"Did you just do that?" He asked in a hush tone.

I winked at him with a smile. He grinned and lightly chuckled, "If you could do that any time the press shows up, I'd be eternally grateful."

"I can do that. Reporters hated me for ruining all their cameras." I mentioned in a low voice.

I watched as the two women who were both clearly frustrated got up and left. Since it was getting close for the coffee shop to close, it was now only the two of us left.

"What else can you do?" Bruce asked, genuinely interested.

I shrugged, "You've mostly seen everything already. I can magnetize any metal except for titanium. I can get into any electronic device or power grid. I can use my electricity to electrocute someone or move them if they have metal on them. Which in today's world it is extremely common for everyone to have some form of metal on them. I think the only thing you haven't seen yet is my ability to absorb electricity itself. If I wanted to, I could drain the power from this place." I said a low voice. I gestured to the ceiling of the coffee shop with my finger. The barista was still at the counter so I was trying to keep my voice down.

Bruce raised his brows in surprise, "That's incredible. How long did it take you to learn how to control your powers?" He asked in the same low voice.

"Nine months on powers alone and years for hand to hand combat. My power has a major downside to it. I can short out which means I can't even light up a spark. I would be completely defenseless hence why I had to be trained how to fight." I answered. I took a sip of my coffee and Bruce leaned back against the back of the barstool.

"I've seen you fight. That's what got me interested in meeting you to begin with. Who taught you how to fight like that?" He asked.

I leaned both my arms against the table, "Two former highly skilled, master class assassins." Bruce's brows furrowed.

"Former assassins? Why get trained by them of all people?" He asked.

"Because they know how to fight to survive and that's what I needed. Besides, the key word is "former". One of them retired completely and spends time with his wife and kids. The other uses her skills to help people now. She's the one that if she were here right now, she could still kick my ass. I was never able to pin her down in all our training sessions. Not even once." All the memories of training with Nat came flooding back. My body ached just thinking of having another sparring session with her.

"What about you? We've talked a lot about me but nothing about you. Why does a billionaire suddenly decide to fight crime? You're not the first one I've seen use their money to build a suit, but I know why he puts on that suit to begin with." I asked.

Bruce took a sip of his coffee before answering, "You've read the tabloids on me so I assume you know." I frowned.

"I only glanced at them one day. It was mainly the title. What are you talking about?" Bruce seemed surprised.

"You really don't know?" I shook my head, "My parents were killed in front of me when I was a kid. It was a robbery gone bad. Crime and corruption are rampant in this city. I got tired of seeing nothing getting done so I decided to do something about it. I left Gotham for years. Learning every skill I could while training abroad. I love my city and I wanted to be the one to protect it. I never want anybody else to go through what I went through. That's why I put on the suit." I stared at Bruce in awe. His parallels with Tony just kept coming.

This universe may not have the exact people I know but the similarities were so uncanny. That makes me wonder…is there somebody here in this world whose powers and backstory are similar to my own?

Hearing Bruce's reason for putting on the Batman suit. Fury's words came back to me. They really are true. I let out a small smile before looking up at Bruce.

"You're another example." I muttered. Bruce frowned at hearing my words.

"What do you mean?"

"It's something a friend once said to me. Heroes are not born, they're made. It takes a great hero to turn a personal tragedy into a reason to save others." Bruce's frown turned into a smile.

"I might just steal that quote from you." I let out a chuckle.

"Excuse me, we're closing in two minutes." I turned my head to the barista behind me.

"Sorry, we'll get going." We both got up from our spots and grabbed our coffees. I followed Bruce out of the coffee shop and to his parked car on the side of the road.

I stared out the passenger window as the scenery flew by. We had just left the outskirts of the city on the way back to the penthouse.

"What about you?" Bruce suddenly brought up.

"Hm?"

"You asked me why I put the suit on. Why do you?" He glanced at me briefly before turning back to the road.

I looked down at the scar on my right palm. "You already know my dad is gone but I didn't tell you how. I was sixteen years old at the time and I had already graduated high school. I just got accepted into MIT on a full ride scholarship. My dad was so proud." A sad smile graced my lips as I thought back to images of my dad. His big goofy smile, his short cropped blonde hair that was turning white with age, and the same ice blue eyes as mine.

"He wouldn't stop bragging to anybody that would listen that his daughter was going to MIT. He was even wearing a shirt that said "MIT Dad" on it. He wanted to celebrate that night at a new pizza restaurant in downtown Manhattan. We had our dinner then we left with some gelato. We were walking back to the parking lot when a guy showed up." My jaw clenched.

"He took out a knife and told us to give him our money. My dad, being a retired Marine, wanted to deescalate the situation. My dad tried to reason with the guy but he wouldn't listen. He kept saying that he just needed the cash so he could get his drugs. Dad gave him his wallet and we thought that would be the end of it. It wasn't. He turned the knife to me and told me to empty my pockets. I didn't have anything but the guy didn't believe me. So when he came after me with the knife, my dad stepped in. This guy didn't expect a man in his forties to fight back. Dad disarmed the knife from him then he pulled out a gun and shot once. My dad collapsed to the ground and the other guy took off. He got shot in the chest and he bled out in seconds. There was nothing first responders could do."

I clenched my right hand into a fist, "So when I got these powers all I could think about was how I could have stopped it. I have the power to stop people like that man. I could make a difference in the world and make it just a bit safer. That's why I put on the suit." I answered.

I looked over at Bruce and he had an unreadable expression. I didn't even notice that the car stopped. The lakefront penthouse was just in front of us now. When did we get here?

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a hand rest on top of my clenched fist. The sparking sensation was back from his skin on mine.

"Your father saved your life, Mel. In return, you've saved countless others. He'd be proud of the woman you've become." Bruce said softly.

I smiled and slowly unclenched my fist. Bruce wrapped his fingers around my hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. I squeezed his hand back.

Bruce used his free hand to gently turn my head to fully face him. Hazel met blue as we stared at each other. His eyes flickered down to my lips before back to my eyes. It seemed like he was asking for permission. He did say we would take this slow.

I took the initiative and I leaned forward to capture him in the kiss this time. I felt him kiss back and the hand that was on my chin moved to behind my neck.

We broke off the kiss and our foreheads leaned together. He had a smile to his face and a light in his eyes that was new to me.

"I take it we're on for a second date?" A grin broke out on my face as I lightly chuckled.

"You could say that." He grinned and pulled me in for another kiss. He pulled away shortly after and opened the driver side door.

"Let's get out of the car. We have some distress signals to build." He said as he got out.

I rolled my eyes and got out from the passenger side, "You mean I have to build them." I corrected him. I closed the passenger door and met him around the Lambo.

Bruce smirked, "I'll be supervising." I chuckled and shook my head. Bruce chuckled back and I felt his arm go around my waist. He pulled me to his side as we walked to the penthouse.

Unbeknownst to us, Alfred had watched the whole exchange. The old butler had a smile on his face seeing the young couple interact. Bruce had finally had someone that understood all parts of him.

Thank you to the people leaving kind words. I was really apprehensive about posting this story. I'm glad people are enjoying it so far.