12.47 AM, Downtown Gotham City

It had been a quiet night so far. The criminal elements were lying low for the most part, with good reason. These past few months it seemed the Batman had been coming down extra hard on their activities. It was like he was everywhere. Every heist, every shady deal, every kidnapping, even the small time drug dealers and purse thieves were not safe. The GCPD had their hands full with the sheer amount of thugs he was sending their way, so much so that they couldn't even find time to hunt down the vigilante. Not that they wanted to, but it was all politics. THe Gotham City Police Department was perhaps the most corrupt in the country. Nearly every officer on the force was on the take, whether it was Police Commissioner McCluskey from the crime families or a lowly beat cop from a small time drug pusher.

Then there were members of the force that didn't hesitate to kill. In some ways he couldn't blame them. The crime in Gotham was spiraling out of control. Even with his valiant efforts for the past few years, he knew he was barely making a dent in it. He knew that when he was gone it would have made no difference in the end, but he kept at it. For as long as he was alive, he was going to give criminals a reason to fear the night.

The pimps, drug dealers, petty criminals,they were all controlled by two major families, the Falcone's and the Maroni's. Most of them had been running scared ever since the Batman came on the scene. He knew the families were losing money. They were starting to become more proactive in their responses.

Just a few weeks ago he had barely survived what was clearly a plan to have him assassinated at the hands of the GCPD SWAT team. That was when he knew they were pissed off. Were it not for the timely intervention of Detective Jim Gordon and a little creativity on his part, he would have died on the spot.

Jim Gordon.
He was an enigma to say the least. Bruce did his research on him when he got back to the cave, as Alfred fussed over him, stitching the bullet holes and applying alcohol to various cuts,scrapes and burns, though he insisted it wasn't necessary.

"I have training in the medical field Master Bruce. It would be a waste if I let those skills go to waste when you present such a fine opportunity for me to practice them."

Bruce grunted his assent.

"I was lucky tonight Alfred. I was saved by a cop. A Gotham cop. Can you believe that?"

"Stranger things have happened sir. We are living in an age of aliens and demigods. An honest police officer in Gotham is not as odd as you might imagine."

"Computer, look up Jim Gordon, badge NO 31776,GCPD."

Bruce was rarely surprised, but at that moment he was.
According to the information on screen, Jim Gordon was quite a man,his exploits read like a movie script. He was former US Army Special Forces,a highly decorated Army Ranger. He was a recent addition to the GCPD,working on a task force as a detective.

His mind went into an analytical mode immediately. Why would the GCPD, the most inept police force in the state, hire a former Ranger as a detective? To shut down the crime families? Highly unlikely. He was vastly overqualified for that job, and the GCPD was too compromised to ever go after them. That left only one option. He was hired with the sole intention of hunting down the Batman.

Bruce had great confidence in his abilities. He had spent a lot of time, money and effort acquiring his numerous skills, so he wasn't worried that a former Spec-Ops man was on his tail.

But if Gordon had been brought in to take him down, why did he save his life? A man of his caliber would have no qualms killing the enemy if it came to that. So why did he help him? Was it an honor code that prevented him from doing it?
Perhaps. If Gordon was a straight shooter(and he certainly seemed like it)he probably wanted to bring in the Batman as opposed to taking him down. Bruce suspected it was more than that. Whatever it was, he was dealing with a decent man here,and that was a good thing.

Whether he liked it or not, the Batman needed allies. There was only so much Bruce could do on his own. He could hunt down the criminals,scare them, beat them into submission, but he couldn't prosecute them in a court of law and he couldn't force the GCPD to follow due process. For that he needed inside men. Somehow, he would have to get at Gordon and convince him they could work better together.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the crackle of static on the Police scanner in his car. A break in at the Cartier jewellery store on 54th and Main. He fired up the car and the engine roared to life,rattling the trashcans standing beside it. He sped off down the street,tearing through the sleeping city like a bat out of hell.

12.47AM, Downtown Gotham
Jim Gordon had just been on his way home when he heard the report on his scanner. He cursed to himself. Crime never slept. Even at this hour, when most of the city was deep asleep, criminals still worked. He had been in Gotham for well over a year now and he was accustomed to the incredibly high crime rate. Lately nighttime crimes were almost non-existent though. Criminals were afraid of operating at night, because of the vigilante, Batman. He seemed to have redoubled his efforts.

He turned his car around and stepped on the accelerator, going as fast as he dared. If he had heard the report, it was almost certain the Batman had heard it too. He wasn't quite sure how he did it, but he suspected the vigilante had access to Police frequencies, or a personal scanner. Jim didn't know what to make of this Bat-character.

Officially, the government and Police Department denied his existence,and he knew the rest of the country thought he was a myth. Until a year ago he had thought the same thing. A Bat-like creature skulking in the shadows, hunting down the seedier elements of a city? He had seen some things in his day,covert operations of magnitudes the average civilian wasn't even aware of,operations that kept them safe in their beds at night.

But this? He would never have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself.

At first he had hated the Batman. He had believed he was a sophisticated criminal,one of those super-villain types that had sprung up shortly after the birth of superheroes, like a deformed twin.

After a few weeks in Gotham he was already thinking otherwise. The GCPD was rotten to the core. Compromised from the ground up. The judicial system wasn't much better. It seemed everyone was owned by the criminals. He quickly abolished the notion that the Batman was a super-villain,but that didn't mean he had stopped thinking of him as an enemy. He began studying him intensively.

Like any good soldier,Jim Gordon knew that you had to know your enemy.

He looked up all the records.
The first sightings of Batman had happened just over 5 years ago, when Gotham was at its worst.

It had been a regular period for the most part. There had been nothing out of the ordinary,save for the appearance of the alien superhero in Metropolis, aptly named Superman.
In Gotham it was business as usual. The Gotham Knights had lost their game against the Coast City Sharks.
A newspaper editor mysteriously disappeared after writing a scathing critique on the Maroni crime family.
Carmine Falcone's top lieutenant Ivan 'Crazy Ivan' Brasi had been acquitted of all charges in a triple homicide after a key witness was found dead in his hotel room.

The cause of death?
Drowning.
In a bathtub.

In the society pages, Bruce Wayne, the prince of Gotham, returned from his studies and travels abroad. He had been gone for nearly 10 years. Gotham city's elite(read rich people)were going to throw him an extravagant party.

The rich and pampered, saved from the harsh realities of life by their fat stacks of money. I should have been a wealthy heir, thought Gordon.

He couldn't find much that would be of any help. Sightings were few and far between. Civilians claimed he was everything from a demon to a vampire. The GCPD wasn't much help either. They didn't exactly file accurate reports. Probably too busy taking bribes.

Eventually he stopped,it was pointless trying to gather information this way. He fell back on his military training. In the field,Rangers often had limited information on their targets. They had to use their skills,wits and whatever tools they had to gain more knowledge. That was exactly what Jim Gordon did. Throughout that year, he observed Batman as best he could.

In a way he respected Batman for what he was doing. He was just one man, trying to make a difference in his city. Here was someone who was tired of the corruption,the crime, the criminals ruling over innocent people;and taking it upon himself to change this. Noble intentions indeed. The only problem Gordon had with the Batman was that what he was doing was highly illegal, and it wasn't in his nature to trust people who dressed up as bats and beat on criminals late into the night. For all he knew he could be dealing with a deranged psychotic freak that has a twisted moral code. It wouldn't be the first time.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

A massive armored black car zoomed past Gordon's squad car, barreling down the streets at incredible speed. He was easily clocking 180 on a narrow street. He did his best to keep up with the car.

As he did so he noted that the Batman was a very capable driver, and one that knew the layout of the city very well, judging by how the car seemed to slow down and speed up at the perfect times. Either that or he had a really good GPS. Finally the car came to a stop before him. A panel on the roof slid back and a large black mass leaped out,cape billowing,landing quietly on its feet.

All this before Gordon had even stopped the car.
As he pulled out his service revolver, he wondered if the Batman was former CIA. He certainly had some form of training. People don't just teach themselves to do things like that.

He decided to wait outside. No use muscling in on this operation. Observe and report.

INSIDE THE JEWELLERY STORE..

"Hurry up Kev!"

"Shut the fuck up! You raped the clerk Johnny, and you fucking killed her! What the fuck man! She was old enough to be your mother! What are you, some kind of psycho-killer with a mommy porn fetish!? You know what the Bat is going to do to us now? He's going to bury us. I sincerely hope she was worth it, because if we live through whats coming in about 5 seconds you'll be lucky if you can ever take a piss without a catheter!"

"I'm sorry man, I didn't know what I was doing! It's these drugs man! I smoked some ice before we came here, it-"

A batarang sliced through the air, smashing all the light bulbs. In the darkness the men lost their bravado. Each of them had been in Gotham long enough to know what the Batman was capable of. He had hospitalized people before for doing less than this.

The floorboards creaked ominously and there was a blinding flash of light as every thug with a gun started shooting in the direction of the sounds.
There was just enough light from the lamps outside for the men to see each other. There was a hiss and the room filled with acrid smoke.

A black mass appeared seemingly out of nowhere and pulled one man, weeping and begging for forgiveness, into the shadows. They could hear the quick flurry of punches, and the strangled cries of pain from the man as Batman savagely beat him. It went on for a long time,the pleas getting more desperate, the voice weakening. Every man in the room was frozen in fear. The smoke thinned gradually.

Then it was quiet.

Moments later a body came crashing out the window, landing on the pavement with a dull thud just outside the store, in full view of the other thugs. It was covered in blood,there were barely any teeth left in his mouth, and the face was so badly bruised you could hardly recognize it as human. Only the earring identified him. It was Johnny.

Holy shit. He looks like he was hit by a meat tenderizer, thought the gang leader, Kevin.
"Lets get the hell out of here." he whispered hoarsely.

"The only place you're going tonight is a hospital." said a deep gravelly voice behind him.

Kevin reacted quickly and pointed his old revolver at Batman. Before he could shoot, Batman bent the barrel of the gun like it was taffy and headbutted him, breaking his nose painfully and causing blood to gush out of it.

"You'll pay for that you son of a bitch! Kevin pulled out a large hunting knife and lunged at Batman,going for the chest. Such an obvious target,Bruce thought.

He caught his arm at the wrist and twisted it round until the knife was pointing away from him, then he pushed the arm back slowly,further and further back...there was a sickening snap accompanied by a scream of pain. He had forced Kevin to stab himself, breaking his elbow brutally in the process. Without missing a beat, he picked Kevin up and tossed him over his shoulder, taking out the two thugs behind him before they even had a chance to draw their weapons.

The last man standing dropped his gun and raised his hands high. "I-I-I surrender.. Please don't hurt me.. Please.." Tears streamed down his face. Batman walked slowly and purposefully up to him. "Who said surrender was an option?". He knocked him out cold with one punch.

He looked around at the men on the floor. He knew he had been heavy handed. Thankfully he hadn't crossed the ultimate line. He hadn't killed them. Whatever happened to these men, they deserved it. Rapists and murderers. The worst kind of criminals.

OUTSIDE THE JEWELRY STORE..

Gordon ran his hands over the body of the armored car. It was very thick, like a tank, but it was lightweight too. He noticed it had become deathly silent in the store. Should I check it out or sit tight?, he wondered.
His musings were cut short by the body that crashed onto the roof of the car above him. Automatically he fired two shots at the figure,but it moved even faster, somehow managing to dodge the shots.

"Don't shoot."

"Get off the car, step forward into the light!" ordered Gordon.

Bruce thought about it for a second. From his position on the roof, there were seven different ways to disarm Gordon and three different ways to incapacitate him if necessary. But he needed allies. The fact that Gordon hadn't blown him away after yet was proof that he wasn't like most of the officers on the GCPD. He would have to gain his confidence. So he stepped off the roof-"Nice and slow, none of that parkour stuff now", said Gordon-and stepped forward under the streetlight.

At last, Gordon got a good look at the man he had been chasing for nearly a year. The last time had been.. hectic. He had only seen a glimpse of him from afar.
He was a big man. Tall, at least 6 foot 2. His physique was quite muscular and solid, it spoke of long hours of grueling training.
There was a menacing air about him that made him quite intimidating and put Gordon on high alert. If he had this effect on an old warrior like Gordon it was no wonder criminals were terrified of him.

He wore a cowl with pointed ears and a long black cape. His eyes were concealed by pale white lenses, giving him a ghostly appearance. The lower half of his face was visible,revealing a chiseled jaw. The mouth was set in a grim,determined line. At his waist he wore a utility belt of sorts with numerous pouches filled with who knew what inside. He wore body armor, Kevlar or something similar.

It was form fitting yet looked quite durable-similar to what Gordon wore in his days as a Beret-but this looked modified and much more advanced. Made for durability and efficiency in combat no doubt. He could see the inlays where the padding was thicker to protect joints and soft spots. His gloves were heavily padded with extra thick knuckles,and there were scallops on the sides of his gauntlets. It was more of a uniform than a costume. That coupled with the high-end armor plated vehicle led Gordon to believe he was dealing with a fellow soldier from one of the Special Forces branches.

For what seemed like a long time neither spoke or moved a muscle. Finally Gordon asked:"What's your endgame?"

Batman answered without a moments hesitation: "To end crime in Gotham."

"You know you'll never achieve that."

"Not alone."

"Meaning?"

Gordon got no reply.

"Why did you help me?" asked Batman.

"Because I want to bring you in, not take you out."

"No. If you wanted to bring me in you could have done it that night. I was losing blood. Weakened, vulnerable. The SWAT teams were closing in on me. You had the perfect opportunity to make an arrest. BUt you didn't. You hesitated. You helped me to escape. Why did you do that? Because you know I'm what this city needs."

Gordon was silent for a long time. He sighed and lowered the gun. "Where do we go from here?" he asked as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

"We work together."

Gordon laughed tonelessly. "Are you serious? They're watching me y'know. They're already suspicious."

"That's because you are a clean cop with ambition. You couldn't hide that if you tried. You won't have to do anything except give me free rein to do my job."

"And why the hell would I do that? I don't think you're a bad guy, but I can't condone your methods-"

"How long have you been in Gotham, Detective?"

"A little over a year."

"And what is your honest opinion of it?"

Gordon took a deep drag from the cigarette."Honestly, its a shit pit, but it's not the ninth circle of hell. There are places far worse than this y'know."

"Yes. But imagine having lived in such a city all your life. Witnessing the corruption, the violence, the abuse. Seeing how powerless the innocent are because of it, how they suffer, how miserable their lives are. Knowing nothing but the despair, the sadness,the pain." Batman's voice had taken on a strange disembodied tone, like his mind was in another place.

Gordon exhaled a thick cloud of smoke. "I imagine its enough to drive one insane."he said quietly.

"Don't try to psychoanalyze me Gordon. You Ex-Military men don't exactly have a shining reputation in normal behavior."

"Not all soldiers are psychopaths."

"Not all costumed vigilantes are insane."

Gordon pondered this as he finished his cigarette and stubbed it on the ground. "Hypothetically, if I did want to help you, how would I contact you?"

Silence.

He looked up to find he was alone.

"You forgot your car!", he shouted. No sooner had he said it than the car revved up, tires screeching, and drove off at top speed.

"Lovely." he said sarcastically.
He thought about the offer. Batman was certainly competent. Very competent. And highly intelligent. A man with such vast resources at his disposal, with such raw intellect and ability, operating outside the law, well that was more than Gordon could handle. But... there was another side to it as well.

The very fact that he operated outside of the law meant that the Batman could go places, do things that Gordon couldn't. His methods,while unsavory, were effective. Necessary even. It didn't sit right with Gordon, but after what he'd seen these past 12 months, he decided he'd rather have Batman as a friend and not an enemy.

He sighed wearily and went into the Jewellery store to clean up after the Batman.

In the distance, he could hear the sound of sirens.

3.15AM,Gotham,Wayne Manor

The ground rumbled as the car rolled smoothly into the cave. Bruce stepped out and walked straight over to the computer, frowning when he saw Alfred sitting beside it with a tray of medical supplies.

"I told you not to wait up for me Alfred." he growled.

"Hello to you too, Master Bruce. I see you are not limping or trailing blood on the floor,no bones bent or broken out of shape. A quiet night then? Or are you just getting better at hiding your injuries?" replied Alfred with a twinkle of amusement.

Bruce almost smiled. Secretly he enjoyed Alfred's witty banter,and he liked that he cared enough to stay up waiting for him.

"Not entirely uneventful. I reached out to Detective Gordon tonight. It remains to be seen what his response will be." His stomach rumbled.

"Shall I prepare a meal for you sir?"

He looked at the time. "No. You can turn in for the night."

"Very well sir. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

He went into the elevator and ascended to the Manor.

Bruce took off his cowl and suit methodically. His gloves had tiny red splotches of blood on them. These were the nights he hated. He worked hard, very hard, to try and eradicate crime in Gotham. But as hard as he worked, he couldn't save everyone. Try as he might, he just couldn't.

Everybody dies, a voice said in his head.

That lady that died tonight. She didn't deserve to die that way. Raped and murdered. Her body violated by that vile man. What was his name? Johnny.. Bruce clenched and unclenched his fists. He had beaten him to within an inch of his life.

He came so close to crossing that line...

No, put it out of your mind, the voice said. The war goes on.

He sat down before the massive computer screen, cracked his fingers and got down to updating his case files.