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This is my first attempt at publishing fan fiction. Obviously I don't own any of the characters and you should NOT try to compensate me no matter how much you love my garbage. Tear into my terrible writing, I want and welcome criticism. This is part 1, I hope you enjoy.

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Diana could not stand the sight for very long. A woman with dozens of stab wounds lay before her, unmoving. Her eyes were bloodshot and something filled her open mouth. Blood stains were scattered across the room, but nothing else in the room was disturbed. This was the month's second murder in Gateway City, and it had proven more gruesome than the first. Crime scene investigators flocked around the corpse taking samples and pictures. Diana left not knowing what to do, she had assumed the first murder was a crime of passion, but stab wounds covered her body as well. Not only that, but both victims were wives and mothers leaving behind a whole family to mourn them. Thinking of both families' grief broke her heart and drove her into the sky, high above the problems of man's world.

She quickly realized what needed to be done. This was quite probably a serial killer who would kill again, and she knew the longer it took her to find the psychopath the more lives were at stake. This needed to end now, and she was not sure if she or GWPD could work that fast. Luckily, she knew someone that could. Unfortunately, with him there was the question of if he would actually help. She shook those doubts out of her mind. Don't fall for his ruse, Diana. He only wants people to think he doesn't care. Diana had become convinced over the years that Bruce was just as empathetic and compassionate as herself, he just buried it deep because he saw it as a weakness.

As she approached Gotham she called ahead, not to Bruce, he might not pick up, but to Alfred.

"Alfred, I'm on my way to Gotham. Could you make sure Bruce doesn't explode when I get there?"

"Of course, ma'am. I know just the offering to placate his wrath."

"Thank you, Alfred," Diana chuckled at Alfred's comparison of Bruce to a vengeful god, which was clearly a joke targeted to her.

…

Bruce was seated at his massive wall of monitors and computers updating some of his databases with recent developments in the world. He had algorithms constantly sifting through massive amounts of data trying to predict crime, find patterns in crime, connect various criminals to each other, etc. If he did not keep his computer's knowledge as accurate as possible, he could miss something important. It was boring, tedious work, but it had saved lives before and on a day with no social functions or business meetings for Bruce Wayne to attend, there was not much else to do.

Alfred walked up beside him feigning interest in his work, "Sir, I have a bargain for you."

"Yes, Alfred?"

"I will not insist you take a break next time I feel the urge to if you promise to treat a coming guest with hospitality befitting royalty."

Bruce's ears had perked up when Alfred's offering was spoken, but his brow furrowed trying to figure out who the guest could be. It had to be someone who knew both his identities as anyone else with a reason to visit Wayne Manor would be greeted by Bruce Wayne the socialite, not the inhospitable Batman. This narrowed down the list greatly, but the answer came at Alfred's choice of the word: royalty.

Feeling fairly certain in his assumption, Bruce swallowed uncomfortably, "Why is she coming here?" Batman's eyes narrowed and his voice dropped to a menacing bass.

Alfred, not at all intimidated, and more surprised by the slight movement of his charge's Adam's apple than by his ability to deduce the guest so rapidly, replied mocking Bruce's stress on the word 'she', "That sounds like a question for her."

Alfred turned on his heel and walked back upstairs to the manor. It appears the great Batman has a bit of a crush, Batman was not the only one capable of reading a person's face.

Before he had to welcome Diana, he decided to do a little research to see if he could determine the reason for the visit. There was nothing in the news about Wonder Woman or Diana Prince, but a search for news in Gateway City revealed the most likely impetus for a visit to the Batman. He hated that his heart sank a little at this realization. Apparently, he was hoping she had just wanted to visit. Shedding the Bat and donning dress-casual clothing, he headed up to the manor mulling over what to do. He felt the need to help her solve this case before anyone else got killed, but at the same time, he did not want to set a precedent for being the Justice League's on-call detective. After all, there were plenty of murders happening every day worldwide, and he could not be expected to solve them all.

His thinking was cut short as he heard her laugh from the main lounge. The beautiful laugh forced a smirk onto his face which was quickly suppressed as he rounded the corner into the room. Both Diana and Alfred looked up at him as he entered the room, smiles on their faces. Her smile combined with her bright, blue eyes cut deep into him before a faint sensation branched out from the wound, reaching the crown of his head and the tips of his toes.

"Alfred was just recounting a story from your childhood," Diana pronounced, unashamed of the fact that they were talking about him behind his back.

"I'll go fetch some appetisers," Alfred said leaving the room, and praying to God and gods alike that Bruce had agreed to the deal he had offered.

Deciding not to show his hand, Bruce took a seat and stated with a bit of levity in his voice, "Welcome. I do hope Alfred didn't strip away any respect you have for me."

Surprised by the self-deprecatory joke and pleased that Alfred had succeeded in granting her request, she smiled before replying, "If only my respect for you stemmed from your character instead of from my debilitating fear of you."

It was Bruce's turn to smile, as she had somehow complimented him and insulted him by mocking the persona he had created to intimidate others. "So, princess, to what do I owe the honor?"

Diana's face visibly darkened and he regretted making her remember what was clearly causing her pain when he could have just given her an answer as to whether or not he would help. "I may need your expertise, and before you say 'no', I swear I won't tell a soul that you helped someone out of the goodness of your heart," she smiled at the last part even though the pain was still evident on her face.

Bruce frowned knowing that her assumption was that he would not help. He honestly had yet to make up his mind, although to be fair, his main concern was having to deal with more requests like this, and she had just guaranteed him that would not happen.

As Alfred walked in and set down a tray of various fruits and cheeses, Bruce gave his response, "Yeah, sure, I'll help."

He watched as his butler froze while straightening up after setting down the tray. However, this momentary shock at the words he had just heard passed quickly and he walked back out of the room.

Diana lifted her finger in protest, "But I haven't even…" realization dawned on her face, "You already knew didn't you?"

Bruce nodded, "I figured you were here about the potential serial killer in Gateway."

"I came here thinking I would need to convince you, now I feel bad for assuming the worst."

Bruce shrugged, "A serial killer is a serial killer, in Gotham or in Gateway. But I will take you up on that 'not telling a soul' offer."

She smiled, "Of course."

They got to work on the snacks Alfred had brought as Diana caught him up to speed and they planned a time for him to meet her in Gateway.

"With any luck this will only take a night," Bruce sighed as he got up to escort Diana out of the manor.

Diana nodded and followed him out of the lounge, making sure to walk as close to him as possible. Is she trying to torture me? Bruce opened the door for her and they said their farewells. Then before stepping outside, she placed a kiss on his cheek. Yep. Definitely trying to torture me.

"Thanks again, Bruce."

And with that she was gone.

It took a minute for him to move from the door. He turned around to see Alfred sporting a gentle smile and this made him angry. He could not keep feeling this way, there was no future for him and Diana. Why could no one else see that? The thought that he might be the one in the wrong was suppressed before it even had a chance to surface. This case needed to be solved quickly, for all their sakes.

…

Batman soared over Gotham that night, reminding the city of his presence. He heard a scream in one of the parks with his electronically enhanced hearing and dove at the sound as soon as he had redirected his glide. He landed far enough out that none of the assailants could see him. He switched on his enhanced vision, which was actually an AI using every type of sensor known to man to construct an incredibly accurate picture of the world around him. Through the trees he could see the two heat signatures in question, a young woman and man on a picnic blanket. He stalked closer needing to make sure it was a situation warranting his attention before going in guns blazing. The woman was not consenting.

He leaped into a tree close by, intentionally making a little bit of noise to spook the would-be date rapist. The man turned his head towards the tree that the Batman was no longer in. He shook off the feeling of unease and attempted to turn back to his crime, only to come face-to-face with a scowling bat. He jumped backwards in an attempt to run, but was caught by his collar and stood there flailing like a child. He turned towards the half-naked woman to tell her to run, but before the words left his mouth he saw that she had long, wavy, black hair; blue eyes; and sharp features. He felt anger wellup in him, as he thought of someone else being taken advantage of like this, not that she ever would be.

"Run," he said cooly, now more out of fear of her seeing what he was about to do to this man than just to get her away from the situation.

It did not make any logical sense, this would never happen to her, but the image of Diana scared and helpless was seared into his mind. It got worse as he realized that most rapes happen without him ever knowing about it. He threw the man against a tree several feet away. As the man looked up, he would have described something akin to a demon slowly walking toward him. Bruce watched as the man slowly seeped out of consciousness, no longer being able to take the barrage of pain he was receiving. Was it just? In that moment, he was not sure he cared.

After leaving the man in the park with nothing, but proof of insurance, he went back to the rooftops to scan for more signs of trouble. He forced Diana out of his head, something he was having to do more and more. However, he had no worries that his resolve would fail, he was confident that he could keep up his relentless suppression of feelings until the day he died.

"What was that about?"

Batman spun around to see Catwoman standing behind him. Apparently, she had seen his display at the park. He said nothing in return.

"Oh, come on, Bats, I thought we were playing nice now."

"..."

"Unless it's personal? Ooooh, someone ticked off the big bad Bat," she said slinking her way toward him.

He turned to face the opposite way. He wanted to move away, but he had asked her to keep her ear to the ground in case anything warranted his attention, and if she had followed him to the park, she probably had something that would be worth momentarily acting like a scratching post. She continued her very odd behavior until she realized it would not help her get an answer to her obvious curiosity.

Moving away from his cold shoulder, she expressed her wishes, "I have some info on your missing friend Oswald if you have a reason for being so angry. Not to say that guy didn't deserve it, but this isn't like you." She spoke in a much more normal tone now.

"He's part of a gang that has been illuding me for a while now, and I don't usually catch rapists. I was frustrated and angry," he lied through his teeth.

Selina raised her eyebrow, not really believing him, but deciding not to call him out on it.

"Oswald has been connecting with his old criminal empire, which I'm sure you already guessed. The interesting part is, he has somehow collected more support than he had before he was in prison, and he is ordering everyone to cease all criminal operations. He is running it all from Gotham's lower East side, but that is as close as I can get you in terms of location."

"Thank you, Selina. It sounds like he is planning to come at me full force as soon as he gets a good opportunity."

He jumped off the building hoping she got the info without any violence. He scanned the lower East side of Gotham like she suggested, but nothing came up. He would have to do a more thorough search in order to find the Penguin, he was definitely in hiding. He was about to begin his search when he noticed the time, the Sun was about to rise, Penguin would have to wait. Arriving back at the Batcave he saw that he would have about two hours to sleep before heading to his first meeting for the day. He decided to shorten that to an hour and a half to better fit his natural sleep cycle and picked out several other times during the day when he would be able to sleep. It was not too bad considering his strange idea of normal and when night rolled around again he felt well-rested.