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Sorry to all those who couldn't read this before because of the formatting issues. I've had to use a different method of upload. Allow me to reiterate my desire for criticism. Enjoy.

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He suited up and prepped the Batplane for take off. He could make the trip to Gateway City in just over an hour at top speed; however, this would require refueling before getting back to Gotham. This particular problem did not happen very often, but had seriously limited his effective radius on several occasions. He made a mental note to come up with a solution to this logistical problem. He did a few quick calculations, adding a significant buffer to allow for unforeseen circumstances and chose a speed that would maximise fuel efficiency and minimise flight time. It helped that heading West would buy him some time due to time changes, so he was not particularly worried about getting there as fast as possible. He could still leave at sunset in Gotham and arrive before sunset in Gateway. He took a look at how much this trip would cost and, not for the first time, wished he could fly. Not so much because of the actual price, but because of the massive accounting hurdles of spending that much money without anyone noticing.

After informing Robin and Batgirl that they had Gotham for the night he strapped into the Batplane and initiated the launch sequence, opting to use his aircraft-carrier-inspired catapult runway rather than vertical take off to conserve more fuel. He opened up the throttle and felt the power behind him as the runway itself shot him out of the cave. He felt the plane heave and drop a little before it got up to speed and started to ascend, pushing as many Gs as he could handle to get up to speed. People would hear the sonic boom as he eclipsed Mach 1, but it should not draw too much attention, there were no military bases in the area and even if someone did recognize the sound, his stealth tech was too advanced for them to figure out what made it. He felt his body pressed against the back of his seat as he held his breath to keep from vomiting. He slowed the acceleration as he approached his desired speed and began to cruise, checking to make sure that his flight path would not interfere with any other aircraft.

He began to pour over the case files he had found online for the two murders. Reading the autopsy reports confirmed to him that it was the same killer, there was a clear right-hand bias and angles of entry were identical. The case files estimated a height of 5'9", something the killer did not even try to hide, probably recognizing that it did not narrow it down all that much. Stabbing most likely hinted at some sort of personal vendetta, this was not just someone who wanted to kill, this was someone who felt wronged, victimised. However, the women's only apparent connection was their gender and household status, no mutual acquaintances. Sounds like someone is projecting their preferred target onto the victims. He decided that he needed to see the bodies and where they were found, it was unfortunate that he would have to work with several-day old evidence, but he would rather do that then discover a new body.

He slowed the Batplane as he approached his destination, a small field just outside of Gateway City. He began to lower the plane when he heard a rap on the windshield, Diana was hovering right next to the plane smiling. She seemed fascinated with the process as he lowered the vehicle to the ground. After he landed he hopped nimbly out and to the ground.

"Your plane's controls appear to be far more complicated than mine."

"Having more intricate control allows me to pull off maneuvers that most fighter jets can't. It doesn't come in handy very often, but you can't be too careful," Batman explained.

"Of course," she rolled her eyes at him while smiling.

Attempting to prevent a devolution of the conversation into small talk, lest he actually enjoy himself, Batman went straight to business, "I'll need to see the bodies and the crime scenes."

Her smile widened, "Well, I suppose you'll have to teach me some stealth skills because both the bodies and the crime scenes are under surveillance by the police."

"They don't just let you go anywhere you want?"

"No. Do they let you into crime scenes in Gotham?"

"Rarely, I just figured since everyone loves you and Clark they wouldn't try and get in your way," he stretched out the word 'loves' in a mocking tone.

"I don't know about Clark, but they just see me as a way to deal with monsters, not someone who is trying to help in general."

Bruce lifted an eyebrow, "Fair enough."

He had not considered this side of things. He knew that his urban legend status granted him many benefits, but he had always secretly somewhat envied the love that Clark and Diana, especially Diana, got. They did not get to shape people's perceptions of them like he did.

"I'll just go in alone so you don't have to sneak around."

She glared at him, in an oddly familiar way, "When we're in my city, we do things my way."

He winced at this as he recognized his own words and demeanor being used against him. Noticing the barely perceptible change in his face that betrayed his wince, Diana chuckled. Hearing her laugh and her ability to turn what he normally considered a strength into a weakness made him...happy. When she just smiled at him he realized that he had been staring and smirking. Damn it, Bruce, keep it together. He forced the smirk down and turned away from her. If he had been looking at her, he would have seen the disappointment on her face. Why does he deny what he feels? I will force this man to be happy if I have to.

"I'll meet you at the morgue," he moved toward his cockpit.

"Uh-uh," she shook her head before wrapping her arms up under his shoulders, holding him tight, and taking off. "This will be faster."

He grunted, he could not argue with the logic or with how close she was now. He could feel his heart thumping and just prayed that she could not.

"I don't appreciate being man-handled, princess."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I'm a woman."

He said nothing to this, instead just trying to focus on not enjoying her presence too much. You're the goddamn Batman, act like it. They were on the roof of the morgue in no time. As soon as he could he had slipped out of her arms and fell to the roof, Diana just shook her head and landed next to him.

"You didn't bring the best outfit for breaking and entering," he took this as an opportunity to look her up and down, and immediately regretted the choice as he felt his whole body heat up.

Normally she would not have appreciated a man looking at her the way he just did, but she realized that most things were different with him and casually swept her hair back when his gaze returned to her face. Seeing him flush was the absolute highlight of her day. In response to his statement, she spun around real quick and in doing so, magically changed into the outfit she was wearing before she had put on her armor. It was a semi-loose black outfit, with gloves and boots to match. She tied up her hair, as he shook his head muttering something about magic.

"You knew we were going to do something like this."

"I was hoping we might, any chance to learn from the best," she winked at him.

He felt proud of her for some reason, but decided to turn lest he betray himself again, "Let's get to work, just follow me, and don't move until I say."

She nodded and followed him to the edge of the roof. He anchored a grapple to the edge and began lowering himself to the nearest window. He motioned for her to follow and she floated down next to him.

"Never enter a room without first knowing all the surveillance it has," he whispered as he tapped the side of his head to activate a scan of the interior.

Nothing remarkable, two cameras covering most of the room, but clearly not positioned by a professional. Once he had determined a plan of attack he took out a small tool and placed it on the window. It cut a small circular hole in the glass and he promptly stowed the cutout of the glass. He then flipped out a bendable wire from the same tool and used it to reach through the hole and unlatch the window. He put the tool away and pushed up on the window to slide it open. He climbed into the window and pressed a button on his belt that made the grapple retract its claws and wind back up into the grapple gun. He moved slowly and deliberately through blindspots to one of the cameras, he plugged in a small device that connected to the Batcomputer and ran a program that caused most surveillance cameras to loop their feed.

"All clear, go ahead and come in."

She flew in through the window and set down silently, next to him, "I might have to get a utility belt of my own."

They walked over to the coolers and each pulled out one of the victims. Bruce pulled the sheets back and immediately started taking in information. He identified the second victim by the substance that filled her mouth, he pulled out a flashlight and inspected it more closely.

Lest she be left out of the process entirely, Diana requested a narration of his work, "Walk me through what you're doing."

Batman hesitated, but he decided to grant the request, "The substance in her mouth clearly used to be liquid since it fills in the mouth perfectly and has a smooth surface. There are burns inside the mouth, meaning the liquid was extremely hot when poured in; however, the burns don't show any signs of healing, which means the liquid was poured post-mortem, which tracks with the smooth surface since any struggle would cause splashes and uneven solidification. The substance is an amber color with similar levels of translucence." He took out a sharp implement and used it as a pick against the substance. "It's brittle, so probably a sugar-based syrup that hardened. The bruises around her lips betray the presence of a gag, most likely to keep her quiet while she was being stabbed. The stab wounds are all over her body, but if I am not mistaken there is a slight increase in their density around the stomach and genitals. The other woman has similar wound patterns, minus the candy-like substance and burns in her mouth. Our perp has deep-seated sexual frustration, and is still developing an MO, hence the second woman having new wounds. This probably also means he'll kill again."

Diana blinked as she processed all the information just thrown at her, "Are you saying that the women were stabbed in the genitals because the perp was angry with women for not having sex with him?"

"No. I'm saying the perp sees his knife as a replacement for his own genitals, whether he realizes it or not." He hated seeing her face contort in disgust like that, "Don't worry, we'll get him."

His reassurances actually made her calm down, the Batman did not say something unless he meant it. And it was a good thing too, she was not sure if she would be able to contain her anger if he had not said something. She watched him replace the sheets and slide the women back into their coolers respectfully and with his head bowed. He may act like he doesn't care, but he feels all of it. All the pain, all the grief; he carries it around with him. Batman unplugged his device from the camera, and they left the way they came. He used a laser to repair the window even though there was no way to get it smooth again. They were both totally focused on the mission now, despite their previous flirtatiousness.

They arrived at the first crime scene, infiltration proved to be incredibly easy given the lack of security measures. Batman scanned the room and saw that nothing had been disturbed. The only things out of place were the blood spatters coating one corner of the living room.

Before she asked again, he started, "All the blood spatters are local, and there is no disturbance to the rest of the house. This means that the victim was somehow subdued quickly and efficiently before the stabbing started. Looking at these scuff marks, it seems that the perpetrator dragged the victim from the door to this corner. I rescind my previous statement, there are signs of struggle, but only by the door. No toxins showed up in the blood work. No syringe puncture marks. No restraints. No struggle...Most likely scenario is that our perp knocked on the door, stepped inside and applied chloroform to our victim through inhalation. It would have taken a few minutes, but with a proper choke hold and constant, light pressure he could knock her out without leaving any indication of how he did so. Then, he drags her to this corner, which is interesting, anywhere would have done just as well. He gags her and begins stabbing. By the time she wakes up due to trauma, the blood loss is too great for her to do anything, so she just lays there and screams, then whines, then whimpers, until she lies still. The autopsy put the time of death during the day, but he could not have left in broad daylight covered in blood. This was clearly premeditated though, so he would have had a plan. Question is: Was his plan to wait to leave until nightfall, which would imply he knew that the family wouldn't be home, or did he plan to clean up here?"

Diana fought to keep from throwing up at Batman's emotionless recounting of what happened, "The crime was reported the day of, the family came home and found the body."

Batman rushed off into the nearest bathroom and rummaged through the garbage...nothing. He scanned the sink countertop and found what he was looking for, microscopic blood and oil residue from the perpetrator's hands. He lifted as much as he could onto a filament and stowed it in his belt.

"There isn't enough to reconstruct a full fingerprint, but maybe we'll get lucky at the next house. I imagine he decided to come during the day at a time when he knew the kids would be at school and the husband at work. Night was too risky, but coming at day meant cleaning up before leaving, and that meant taking off his gloves."

Diana just shook her head in disbelief, "How do you do this all the time."

Batman's eyes narrowed, "Because I have to." He punctuated this statement by turning on his heel and exiting the house.

"Bruce, you know what I mean. It was a way of saying thank you. Thank you for being able to put up with the darkest of humanity so that the rest of us don't have to."

This stopped him in his tracks for a moment, Diana could swear she saw his shoulders sag just a little before he continued his brisk pace away from her. "It's my job."

She decided it was probably best not to fly him to their next destination, neither of them were in a good mood and it was not far to the second victim's house anyway. She watched him run across rooftops and grapple up to higher buildings only to glide back down to lower ones. It all took so much effort for him, yet he did it anyway, and he did it so gracefully and silently that he made it look almost as easy as flying. Everyone had always assumed that Superman and her were an item, but Diana could not help falling for the guy that kept pace with gods through sheer force of will. He took so much onto himself that Diana was both amazed and desperately wanted to help. She felt that if only she could lighten his burden some, he could finally rejoice in how much he had helped. It sounded ridiculous, she was well aware, but she hoped to become the lens through which he saw the world, instead of seeing it through the lens of one traumatic night. Not only that, but he inspired her. He had overcome every weakness he had except mortality. His empathy and compassion was buried deep, but it was as immense as her own, and every once in a while she would see it overcome the Batman and Bruce Wayne.

Thinking of his mortality saddened her, but not because she knew he would die; because she knew she would live forever. Immortality terrified her, from the moment she had been told she was immortal she was scared. Her mother had explained to her that the Amazons did not die like the rest of the creatures around them. All the other creatures would perish given enough time, but Amazons could only be killed in battle. That night she had been unable to sleep, tossing and turning, trying to ponder eternity. She had long since gotten used to living with her reality, but the fear still gnawed at the back of her mind. She would rationalize it to herself saying that she would not live forever, eventually she would be killed, but this would only appease her briefly before becoming mired in anxiety once again. As much as she hated to admit it, Bruce had been right that night on the rooftop. There could never be an 'until death do us part' because death had already come between them. She dreaded the possible thousands of years without him, but one quote stuck in her mind: "It is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all." Yes, she thought, it's too late, I'll suffer forever either way.