As always i own nothing in this story, characters belong to dc and any buissnesses belong to those who own them

The scene within the apartment was just as expertly controlled as the previous murder had been, confirming that Gotham did indeed have a serial killer stalking the night. The second victim was male, whereas the original victim was a female. The male victim was muscled, tanned, dark haired, dark eyed, a complete contrast to the pale, wiry woman who had been the killer's first victim. Batman looked around at the scene, quickly scanning for any evidence left behind. On his first glance of the room, batman noticed nothing odd about the room, nothing out of place bar the lifeless corpse sprawled in the centre of the room. He began to move around the room cautiously, trying to avoid putting any items out of place. He examined the body, and the neck wound briefly. It was a clean cut like the first, only one single cut, and blood only down the front of the victim's shirt, as the though the flow had been controlled or directed. Batman used the built in mask camera to zoom in on the cut, uploading the photo to the bat-computer. He proceeded to do this for the rest of the crime scene. Some of the photos were rushed, taken too quickly, providing only blurs of the scene, but batman needed to get the photos fast before the GCPD had disturbed the crime scene and trampled over any evidence that might have existed. He picked up noises from out side the door, the shuffling of feet, the low hum of voices. Batman moved quickly toward the window, just as the door opened on rusty hinges. He leapt out the window on to the third floor fire escape, the way he had come in, and fired the grappling gun at the top of the roof adjacent to the apartment building. The grapple dragged him up with speed, making his cape flutter behind him, making him even more bat-like than ever. The wind rushed against his face, cold and refreshing. He began making his way steadily home; hoping for Alfred's sake Grayson was awake, refreshed and ready to continue his studies.

Dick Grayson was awake, and had indeed already continued his study of the criminal mind. He had had Alfred bring him coffee, more for the caffeine than the bitter taste. He reflected on the dramatic changes his life had undergone in the past month, and the difference that both batman and Bruce Wayne had had on him. It was hard to think of them as the same person, because they responded to him in such different ways. Batman was harsh, unfair and sometimes even cruel to Dick, but he had his reasons. And Batman had given him retribution for his parent's murder. He still missed them now, but Bruce Wayne had helped him get through that. He wondered if Batman/Bruce Wayne still missed his parents, or wondered what his life might have been like if they hadn't been shot dead in an alleyway when he was eight. He doubted Batman did, his mind was always on work or training, but Bruce Wayne might well do. He was flicking through various physiological profiles when Batman arrived, walking upright, making himself look as tall and menacing as possible.

'Grayson, front and centre' He commanded. Dick obeyed 'I want you in costume, down in the batcave, at the bat-computer. I want you to examine some crime scene photographs. Go now'

'Seriously, Bat-cave, bat-computer, bat-mobile. I mean do you even hear these names that you come up with? They're so…' Dick paused for a moment '… Queer'

'Im the Batman, I can call me goddamn crap whatever I goddamn want, you little brat' Dick had given him a lot of grief about his names for various pieces of equipment. Dick had pissed himself when he had been given a 'Batarang'. Batman had been quite shocked at his dismissal of the Batarang. Personally he thought it was quite a clever name.

Grayson changed quickly and became robin, and headed down to the bat-cave via the secret lift in Bruce's study. After navigating across the series of narrow cat walks, robin arrived above the bat-computer, and let loose a chilling laugh, that echoed around the confined space of the bat cave. Batman looked unfazed

'Get down from there, Robin. We have work to do' Robin dropped down glumly, promising himself that one day he would shock batman with his entrance.

'So what is it you wanted me to look at then?' He asked with genuine enthusiasm

'Crime scene photographs of a murder. It happened a week ago, in the victim's apartment, not far from here. Killer left no trace of evidence in the apartment what so ever. A second murder happened two blocks from the original killing. Again no obvious evidence was found at the scene of the crime. Victim was killed in much the same way as the first, with a single cut to the neck. I took then liberty of taking some photos of the crime scene. Do you notice anything out of the ordinary?'

'Is this some sort of test?' Robin asked his voice full of doubt.

'No test. This is as real as our line of work gets.'

'Uhh okay' Robin answered, still unsure of himself 'Is there something wrong with the picture though? I mean have you already found something out of the ordinary? Is this another training exercise?'

'No training exercise, Robin. I want your help with this. Your smarter than you give yourself credit for' replied batman, softer than usual

'Uhh thanks' said Robin, smiling a little. Finding his confidence he began scanning over the picture on the screen, flicking through them and checking different angles. Finally he sighed 'I can't spot anything extraordinary'

'Keep looking.' Batman sounded harsh again, almost angry. Robin complied and ran through the photos a second and third time. He was about to begin his fourth run through when something clicked inside his head.

'I found it!' he exclaimed, excited and filled with pride. He looked at batman, who looked genuinely shocked. His face was priceless. Robin was beaming. 'Look there on the mantle' robin pointed where he meant on the screen.

'A box of matches from a bar?' said batman 'Its hardly hard evidence'

'It may not be evidence, but look here on the side of the first crime scene.' Robin pointed at the screen again.

'They both have matches from the same bar, which means they may have known each other, which means they may have known the killer. This is a link. It may not lead us to the killer, but we have somewhere to start. Good work, robin. Try and find me a location.

'Already got it' said robin 'Midnight jacks' corner of 23rd street, downtown Gotham'

'Get ready to go robin. It's time you had a little real life experience'

'Bout' time' said robin rushing of excitedly 'race you to the bat-mobile'

Batman watched him run of towards the bat-mobile, and before chasing after his young ward, the corners of his mouth twitched a tiny bit, forming a smile. The kids good he thought as he ran off after his sidekick.

A message from your friendly neighbourhood postmanobama: Guys if youve read this story then i thank you, but i'd thank you even more if you took a few minutes to leave a reveiw, or follow me, or message me or do anything really. It doesnt need to be positive but i really would like to know what you guys think and if you have something positive to say please go for it. special thanks to nightbat-family (sorry if thats wrong :)) for writing his reveiw.

-Postmanobama