A.n I own nothing

Alright, here it is, as promised. The Complete Sisters of Styria Arc. Hope you enjoy reading it. Also, the Team Up Poll is now Closed. I will put the best team-up suggestions up in a few days for you to start voting.

Happy Christmas everyone and I will see you all in the New Year.

Please Review

Batman was in the middle of fighting some thugs who thought it would be a good idea to try and rob a Jewellery store. He had easily caught up with them and was in the process of taking them down one after another. Once he had punched the last one out, he felt a presence land behind him.

Batman whiled around with a Batarang ready and was about to throw it but stopped himself. Standing there with her hand on her hip was a tall skinny woman dressed in a black skin-tight leather suit that didn't do up all the way. She had a cat ear mask, a whip wrapped around her waist, and night goggles on her forehead.

"Hey handsome, can this kitty play too,"

"Catwoman, what do you want," Batman demanded and he put his Batarang away.

"A thank you for saving me would be nice," Catwoman responded playfully.

"You haven't done anything that would be considered saving me," Batman claimed.

Catwoman suddenly pulled out her whip and lashed it at Batman. However, it passed him completely and wrapped around a thug's wrist you were pointing a gun at Batman. Catwoman gave a smile and flicked the whip, making the thug slam the butt of his gun into his head and knocking himself out.

"Sure, you didn't," Catwoman said smugly and recoiled her whip.

Batman ignored her and started to cuff the thugs.

"You know it's rude to ignore a lady," Catwoman pointed out.

"You're not a lady,"

"Ouch, Bats has his fangs out tonight,"

"If you're up to something I would advise against it," Batman warned.

"Oh, is the little bat afraid of the big bad cat?" Catwoman asked as she eyed the back of the stolen jewels and diamonds on the ground. She moved towards it and bent down to grab some.

"I'm too busy to deal with you and your antics. Also, if you touch those diamonds, I will take you in too," Batman said with his back to her.

Catwoman immediately stopped and a sly grin as she stood back up.

"Please Batman, if I wanted you to cuff me, I wouldn't need to steal," Catwoman said, she walked closer with a purposely swaying her hips and lead in close to Batman's ear "I'd simply ask," she whispered.

Batman immediately pushed her away.

"What do you want Salina," Batman demanded.

"Well, you're not fun tonight," She pouted. However, her tone and body language quickly changed. "I'm looking for a girlfriend of mine," Catwoman claimed as she pulled out a small folded picture and held it out for Batman to look at "Saw you and thought I'd ask if you'd seen her between your brooding times,"

This piqued Batman's interest and he took the picture. It showed a Burnette woman with long hair, in a tank top, and a smile.

"haven't seen her," Batman said "how do you know she's missing?"

"She didn't come home from work last night," Catwoman said "her roommate asked that I look for her,"

"Where does she work?"

"she's a prostitute,"

"Have you tried the clubs?"

"Yeah, I've paid all those scum bags who run the red lights distract a visit and a visit to her abusive ex, they haven't seen her," Catwoman answered "you haven't heard anything about dead hookers or missing women have you?"

"Not in the last few months, no," Batman answered.

"You know we could look together, take a romantic swing across Gotham," Catwoman offered.

"I'm busy,"

"Are you sure? I'm still waiting on that raincheck from our last date,"

"That wasn't a date," Batman said irritably.

"No, so when you took me to the theatre to beat up clowns that wasn't a date?" Catwoman teased "and here I thought that was your idea of a good time,"

"Good-by Selina," Batman said. He fired his grappling gun off and headed back up to the rooftops.

Cat Woman grinned before she pulled out her whip and followed suit. Cat

"Stop following me," Batman demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cat woman said defensively as she crossed her arms. "I am looking for my friend,"

"Look somewhere else,"

"But I have such a strong hunch she's this way,"

Batman opened his mouth to respond and once again to tell Cat woman to go away. However, a small petite figure on the very edge of the rooftop across from them caught his attention. He pushed past Catwoman.

"Selina looks," Batman said and pointed to the rooftop.

The female thief did and her eyes widened. "Is that a child?" she gasped.

Batman didn't waste any time, she and Catwoman launched themselves over to the rooftop and landed nearby. The small figure indeed was a girl, she was a slender young woman of shorter stature, with pale skin, ginger red hair, and red eyes. The sides of her hair were gathered into a small long braid on her back, with a silver hair ornament and a translucent veil attached, covering part of the hair. The rest of the hair is wavy and worn loose. She wore a dark navy-blue dress with teal embellishments and trimmings and partially covered at the shoulders by a fluffy white coat.

The girl was standing on the very edge of the building, Batman and Catwoman knew they had to be careful not to startle her or she would fall. Batman looked at Cat woman and gestured at the girl with his head, knowing that of the two she was the least scary, and despite all her flaws and her criminal status; Cat Woman would not want to see the girl hurt.

Cat woman took a deep breath and slowly approached the girl.

"Sweetie, come away from the edge," she tried "It's not safe,"

"It's lovely out here, don't you think?" the girl responded in a sweet and soft yet mature voice.

Cat woman and Batman were taken aback by the response.

"It's a nice night I'll give you back, but you can enjoy the view a little way back from the ledge," Catwoman advised.

The girl turned around to reveal her crimson eyes and a sweet smile. "Don't worry I won't fall, I just came out to enjoy the view," the girl said.

As she said that Catwoman stared at her, the girl was so innocent and sweet. Cat woman could not help but feel like she could talk to this girl like she could tell her anything. Batman however suddenly got a headache. He winced slightly under his mask but non-the-less kept his neutral expression.

"I like to look down on the city from above, it's pleasant and nice," he said.

Cat woman walked up to her and rested her arms on the ledge.

"It is, isn't it. Have you seen the view from the top of Wayne Tower?" Cat woman asked "it's the best view in the city.

"Not yet, though I hope to see it very soon,"

"What stopping you from going now?"

"I'm not ready and it's not yet time,"

"Time?" Catwoman asked, perking up "Time for what?"

The girl turned to her and smiled sweetly.

"You'll see, can I ask why you came up here?"

"What do you mean?" Cat woman asked.

"I am here for the view, why are you here?"

The girl looked behind her to see Batman. The Dark Knight was struggling to breathe and was slumped against an entire and using it for support. His right hand gripped his head as his headache was now a piercing Migraine.

"Oh, I'm on a date with tall dark and broody over there,"

"He seems a little sick, is he alright?" the girl asked concerned.

"He'll be fine, he's just being dramatic," Cat woman said, waving off the fact that Batman seemed to be in pain and struggling to stand.

The girl looked at Batman for a moment longer before she turned back to the Gotham skyline.

"Is that all you want?" she asked.

"What

"This city has so much potential, yet there are those who squander it," the girl said "they don't see the beauty in this city. Not the way I do anyway,"

"Huh, I guess that is true. I mean lots of other cities have written Gotham off and it's not a place people come to visit often,"

"I think this city could be a wonderful place if only given the right nudge,"

"I'll agree with you their kid," Catwoman said.

The girl smiled and then turned to look at Catwoman.

"You know, I think I like you miss…." The girl trailed off.

Cat Woman was about to say her vigilante's name. However, she said something else.

"Kyle…Salina Kyle," Cat Woman introduced herself.

"Lovey to meet you, Miss Kyle, I am glad we met and would like to meet again,"

"Oh, sure. I'm always around,"

"Wonderful, until then think about what you want. Since I like you, I will help you get it," the girl said. She then turned back to take one last look at the Gotham skyline. "I should go home now, my sisters will start to worry,"

"You have siblings?"

"Yes, one of them wishes to meet your date. But since you are using him at the moment, I will tell her to wait till tomorrow," The girl said.

A breeze began to pick up and the girl took a step back and fell from the ledge. Catwoman rushed forward but when she peered over the ledge there was no sign of the girl. It was as if she hadn't been there at all. Cat woman lowered her goggles and zoomed in on the ground. There was no gathering of crowds or any indication that the girl had not just jumped off a building.

"Okay, you saw that right?" Catwoman said "that was weird by even Gotham standards,"

Catwoman didn't get a response, she turned around to see that Batman was on the ground and writhing in pain. Cat woman immediately ran over to him.

"What the hell? What happened?" Cat woman

Batman didn't respond. He just let out a cry of pain and gripped his head tighter "My…Head…" he struggled to say.

Catwoman knew Batman, he was stoic, strong, and guarded. She didn't know what happened to cause the dark knight to react this way but she was sure they had been alone on the rooftop. The odd girl had not moved towards him nor had she done anything other than look at him once or twice. She was so sweet and innocent, there was no way that she could have done anything to harm Batman.

Cat woman began to search for a communicator or anything to get in contact with Batman's allies or the Justice League. It was a risk since she was technically a criminal but she couldn't and wouldn't leave Batman here alone. Unfortunately, she couldn't get into a Batman's utility belt.

"Shit," she cursed "great, now I'm going to have to do this the old-fashioned way,"

Cat woman took a step back and looked up at the night sky. She hoped Batman wouldn't be mad at her for doing this. Taking a deep breath, she shouted into the night.

"Hey Superman, can you hear me?" She called out "Batman is in trouble, he's on the ground in pain and not responding. Get your big boy scout caped ass over here now,"

A split second later the man of steel was in front of her. Floating a few inches above the rooftop and he did not look happy.

"Well, what do you know, you can hear everything," she said.

Superman looked her over before his eyes settled on Batman. Cat woman stepped aside and let the Kryptonian float past her and over to Batman and did a quick scan with his X-ray vision.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Wasn't me," Cat Woman said with her hands raised "I asked him if he'd seen a missing friend of mine, and then we saw a girl on this rooftop edge. Thought she was going to jump so we came up to talk her out of it and when she left Batman was like this,"

"There wasn't anyone else up here?" Superman asked. His eyes never leaving his friend.

"Nope, he and I would have known if there was,"

"And the girl did she do anything?"

"No, she only looked at him twice, didn't move, didn't have any weapons. She mentioned her sister and then she left," Cat woman explained.

Superman processed what Cat Woman was saying. Nothing she said sounded out of the ordinary or gave any indication as to what had happened to Batman. His x-ray vision hadn't revealed any physical or internal damage either. Batman's brain however was pulsing rapidly inside his skull, to superman, it looked like it was having an aneurysm.

"I'm not seeing any internal or physical damage," Superman said "but his brain looks like it's having an aneurysm,"

"Wait what? That can't be, he'd already be dead if that was the case," Cat Woman said.

"Your right," Superman agreed "I'd better take him to get treatment,"

"Back to his cave?"

"We have better equipment on the watchtower," Superman said. He bent down and picked Batman up. Superman knew he would have to stop by the cave to grab a space suit for Batman to take him to the watchtower but it would only take a few seconds for him to get the Dark knight suited up but the Batcave was closer.

Superman was about to fly off with Batman when he looked back at Cat Woman. "Thank you for alerting me. You didn't recognise the girl, did you?"

"Nope, and she didn't say where she was going either," Cat woman finished.

Superman nodded and took off in a red and blue blur, leaving Cat Woman alone on the rooftop. It took only two seconds to speed the Dark Knight back the Batcave. Alfred was there was setting out a cup of tea and holding it out when Superman zoomed in.

Using his super-speed he deposited Batman in the chair, grabbed a spacesuit from storage zipped back circled the chair to get Batam dressed for space travel, drank the tea, and zoomed out with Batman leaving an empty cup rattling on the saucer in the butler's hand.

"Have a good night master Clark," Alfred said dryly.

Superman flew Batman up to the watchtower. Thanks to the protective suit, it was a safe trip up the watchtower, even with the high speeds that Superman was flying. Once there the Man of Steel immediately set Batman up in the medical tubes in the Infirmary. However, they just confirmed what Superman already knew.

There was nothing wrong with Batman, the medical tubes could also not figure out what was going on with the Dark Nights brain or the underlying cause. However, in the time between Superman's first scan of Batman on Gotham's rooftops to bringing him to the watchtower, the stress on Batmans' brain had lessened. Superman set the medical tube to do an MRI and scan Batmans' brain. He was visibly shocked at the image result that he had the tube do it two more times. When the image didn't change, Superman knew there was likely something more at play here and set the tube to scan Batman's brain every 30miniuts.

Batman had passed out not long after they had left the cave, so Superman decided the best thing to do was to keep an eye on his vitals and wait for the Caped Crusader to wake up.

Since the Watchtower was normally quiet at this point at night. As Wonder Woman and J'onn were usually asleep…or tracing…or whatever J'onns species did that was the equivalent of sleep. Superman saw no reason to disturb them unless Batman took a turn for the worst.

After several hours, Batman finally began to stir.

Batman groaned and slowly opened his eyes, to see a metal ceiling above him. His head hurt and the constant beeping sounds were not helping. He turned his head and saw Superman who was sitting in a chair nearby. Seeing Batman wake up the man of steel stood up and walked over to stand next to Batman.

Batman pushed himself into a sitting position, he glanced around and it was clear to see that he was in the Watchtower infirmary, his cape, and Utility belt on a side table nearby. Batman looked at Superman.

"What happened," he demanded. His mind already came up with 15 different scenarios that could have led him to waking up in the Watchtowers medical bay.

"Finally," Superman said "Are you alright,"

"Fine, why am I in the Watchtower infirmary," Batman repeated in a more demanding tone.

"You mean other than your brain having an aneurysm that didn't automatically kill you?"

"Excuse me?" Batman asked in surprise. Out of all the possibilities that could have led him to the watchtower infirmary, having an aneurysm was not one of them.

"Salina called me, shouted that you needed help. I heard her and found you on the ground writhing in pain,"

"From what?"

"That's the weird thing, nothing was wrong with you," Superman explained "No internal injuries, no outer physical damage. But your brain was having an aneurysm …or at least that's what it looked like to me. I brought you here for treatment but even the Medical tubes couldn't figure it out or give a straight answer as to why or what happened,"

Batman nodded; Superman was right. This was odd, even for them.

"Did the tube take any scans?"

"Yeah, they're on the computer there," Superman said and gestured to the terminal behind him. "You can look at them in a bit,"

Batman again nodded.

"How long have I been here?"

"You passed out not long after I arrived, you were out for nearly four hours,"

"What about Selina,"

"She's fine. I didn't bother bringing her in. You were my top priority," Superman assured. Batman seemed to visibly relax at that. Superman sat down next to him "Batman, what happened. I've never seen you in pain like I saw tonight," he said in a very concerned voice.

"There was a girl on the roof," Batman started, "we thought she was going to jump,"

"Salina mentioned her, said she had a chat to her but she didn't' do anything and then left,"

"That's not entirely true," Batman said "as we approached the rooftop she was on, I started to get a headache. It got worse the closer I got,"

"Really?"

"Yes, it was only when she turned and looked at us did it get far worse. I wasn't expecting it,"

"Think it could have been a psychic attack?" Superman suggested.

"Maybe, but it didn't feel like one," Batman said "I'll ask J'onn to try and probe my mind a little. See if I get the same reaction,"

"You sure that is a good idea?" Superman asked.

"I won't have him delve too deep, just try to push on my mental defences," Batman said. "Show me those scans,"

"Right," Superman responded. He helped Batman up and the dark Knight walked over to the computer. Superman hovered nearby encase Batman lost his balance. He didn't of course.

Once at the terminal Batman opened the scans taken from the medical tube, he took one look at the images and turned to face Superman.

"Are you sure these are accurate?" Batman asked.

"I had the tube scan you three times and the results were the same," Superman said.

"This is not possible," Batman claimed.

Superman nodded. He fully agreed. Batman scans of his brain were completely smudged. There were no details, just a large blur, the kind of blur that indicated tumours or anomalies. According to the scans, Batman should be dead.

"It gets even weirder," Superman said "I ran the scan once every 30 minutes. Here is the last one I ran, it was from about 15 minutes before you woke up," Superman claimed. He moved forward and clicked open the latest image. However, this scan showed Batman a normal healthy, and functional brain.

Batman typed in a few commands and brought up the scan records and time stamps from the medical pod. Superman was these scans had been taken within the last four hours. He opened them all up and looked at each one of them. Every brain scan showed Batman's brain being blurred out. However, the blur seemed to clear up with each scan little by little until it was completely gone.

"How is this possible," Batman asked.

"Medically, It's not. According to these scans, you developed a tumour or some other and only that mimicked the signs of an aneurism. This tumour covered your whole brain and then it went away in just a few hours,"

"Get J'onn. Now," Batman ordered.

"He's resting, which is what you should be doing too," Superman stated "look he doesn't need as much sleep as the rest of us. He'll be up in an hour or two. Get some rest till then,"

"Fine," Batman begrudgingly agreed.

Batman hung around the watchtower until J'onn woke up. He wasn't waiting long because an hour later the Marten emerged. Superman caught up with him and told J'onn that Batman needed to see him. J'onn found Batman easily enough, the Dark Kight was in the monitor womb using the console to follow up on those robbers he had caught earlier. After a quick explanation, J'onn agreed to test Batman's mental defences.

J'onn attempted to enter Batman's mind to determine the number he was thinking of and the Dark Knight resisted. J'onn wasn't pushing too hard and after a minute, the martin pulled back.

"Well?" he asked.

"It wasn't the same," Batman said "I could feel you pushing, but what I felt earlier was different,"

"Different how?"

"It felt like the push against my mind was coming from inside my head. As if my mind was fighting itself,"

"That is troubling," J'onn stated "if it happens again, call for me straight away,"

Batman agreed, he headed back down to Gotham and headed straight home to get some sleep. By the time he got back, there were only a few hours before dawn. Batman wasn't sleeping for long, he felt like he had only just gotten into bed when the curtains were flung open by Alfred.

The Buttler had a wheeled tray with hot coffee and some fresh toast.

"Rise and Shine Master Wyne. The Sun is out and it is a beautiful day," Alfred said in an all too happy voice.

Bruce Groaned and covered his head with his pillow.

"I have to say that I am impressed Master Wyne," Alfred started "you returned home and even put yourself to bed before dawn,"

"Go away Alfred, it's too early,"

"It's past noon," Alfred clarified "I let you sleep in a little later but we do have some work to discuss that doesn't require you dressing up, going out, and beating the criminally insane,"

Bruce lifted his pillow and looked at the Butler "It's past noon already?"

"Indeed sir, I took the liberty of making a simple omelette with some toast," Alfred said "once you have eaten and are more apparently dressed, we can go over the various forms, bills, and paperwork needed for tomorrow night,"

Bruce sat up and ran his hands over his face.

"What's happing tomorrow night?" he asked.

"The Charity Gala, the one you organised three months ago," Alferd clarified "the same gala that had to be rescheduled because that business with Brainiac,"

"Oh, that one," Bruce said. He flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes "you handle it, just fill everything out and I'll sign the cheque,"

"I have already done so sir, however, you need to be present to approve the guest list, and Lucius Fox called to remind you that you need to be present for a video conference with one of our Australian Branch. They are seventeen hours behind,"

"Anything else?" Bruce asked. Only half paying attention.

"Yes, your curfew tonight is 2 am. You will need plenty of sleep for your big event tomorrow night," Alfred stated "If you are not back by 2 am Flash will be receiving an amomums letter with Batmans email address on it and your backup address,"

"You wouldn't,"

"Try me Master Wyne and find out," Alfred said and he walked out of the room.

Bruce watched Alfred go and close the door behind him. Once the Buttler was gone he got up, got dressed in a simple blue shirt and pants. Ate his breakfast and quickly downed the coffee. He then left his room to go downstairs and help Alfred with final preparations for the charity gala.

The two sat down in the kitchen on a bar top and got to work. As Alfred said, all the hard work had been done, Bruce went over the guest list, checking all the names. Almost all of them he knew from previous Charity events, there were a few political figures invited as well. The mayor, the DA (not Dent), and there were two open spots for special guests.

As his eyes trailed down the list, he stopped at a name he didn't recognise.

"Who's Seriately Forno?"

"Oh, she runs and operates the Sirus Foundation," Alfred answered.

Bruce looked up at Alfred in shock.

"Really? This isn't a stand-in?" he asked.

"Apparently not, we had confirmation last month that a representative for the Sirus foundation would be coming, but I got a call this morning saying the organiser would be coming in person," Alfred claimed "so I changed the name on the list,"

Bruce nodded; he'd of course heard of the Sirus foundation. It was a charity that gave women a second chance, whether it was those on the run, victims of abuse or assault homeless, or women who got mixed up in the wrong crowds. The Sirus Foundation helped the women get back on their feet, offered practical work training, medical help, and counselling. The foundation was run out of a refurbished apartment block close to the red-light area of Gotham.

Bruce approved of the foundation; they did good work. While it had been called sexist and had been accused of discrimination before due to, they helped only women in Gotham and not men. The response was always the same. The foundation challenged the accusations and stated that they would start helping and allowing men into their walls if the media would take responsibility for the consequences of letting the very people who the women were trying to get away from.

Bruce had never met the person who ran it, they always declined invitations to events like the one he was hosting, yet they always had funding. Additionally, the organiser never made public appearances, they always had a reprisentive or a stand-in for interviews and other events. Bruce didn't look too much into it, everyone assumed they had a wealthy benefactor backing them. There were rumours that some of the female villains in Gotham were backing them, But Bruce knew that was not the case.

He was honestly curious as to organised and ran the Sirus Foundation.

"By the way," Alferd started pulling Bruce out of his thoughts "which members of the justice League will be attending tomorrow night?"

"Not a clue, I didn't tell them," Bruce said.

"Master Wyne," Alferd sighed "We talked about this, having at least one member of the league attend will not only put them in better standing but also encourage our guests to donate more to our cause,"

"Our galas do just fine without them. Plus, the league isn't here to parade around for the rich,"

"And what will you tell our guests when they ask where the invited hero is?"

"That they're busy protecting the world," Bruce said flatly "seems like a perfect excuse to me,"

"Very well," Alfred said.

"That's it? You're not going to try and convince me to bring in Superman or one of the others?" Bruce asked raising an eyebrow.

"Not at all, it is your gala. If you would rather not have a Member of the Justice League present and go the whole night without a distraction for you to slip away unseen then that is your decision,"

Bruce stared at Alfred for a second and then stood up. "I'll go call the watchtower,"

Alfred smirked as Bruce headed for the Batcave. Bruce wasn't gone long; he had only been gone five minutes and when he came back Alfred looked at him expectedly.

"J'onn will pass the message on, we'll know by tonight," Bruce said.

"Excellent," Alfred said in approval.

The rest of the day passed quickly. After Bruce had finished helping Alfred with final preparations for the gala, he changed into a fancy work suit and tie and headed to Wayne Tower to do some actual work. Despite his work as Batman, he still had a company to run. In his office, he sighed off some paperwork, had a meeting with Lucious Fox, had a video meeting with their Australian branch. That was productive as their profits were up this month.

After that, he stayed in his office catching up on work. At 5 pm he left the office and headed home, Alfred had a light dinner prepared which Bruce ate before heading down to the Batcave and changing into his Batman costume.

Once he was ready Batman drove out to the streets of Gotham. He had a lot of work to do tonight. After parking the Batmobile in a secluded spot, he took to the rooftops to start his nightly patrol. Batman had a very productive night, he broke up a drug deal, scared a group of teens who thought it would be fun to drink and play with stolen guns, and crashed a dinner for some of Gotham's more influential mob bosses.

It was around 11:30 pm, Batman had finished his patrol in the part of Gotham he was in and had just made it back to the Batmobile when he felt a slight headache coming on. He was standing next to the car when he suddenly felt eyes on him. Batman whirled around but he was alone in the ally. He looked up and saw a dark figure floating above him in front of the moon.

Batman narrowed his eyes; the silhouette wasn't one of the justice leagues. They knew better than to enter Gotham unannounced. At first, Batman thought it might be Alucard, but the body frame was wrong. This figure was not as tall but was far bulkier and there was no flutter of Alucard's signature coat.

Batman stared down the figure for several minutes; his headache becoming professedly worse. Neither saying anything to the other. After several tense moments, the figure raised there am and pointed to a nearby rooftop. The figure then flew off in the direction they pointed.

Batman watched the figure go, they wanted him for something. He was not one to be at the beck and call of others, however, he could not risk it, if this floating person had some important information for him or was in trouble. If it was nothing, Batman could always leave.

Trying to push his ever-growing headache aside Batman once more headed to the rooftops.

He landed on the same rooftop that the figure was on, the moment he did his bad headache became a migraine. Now the figure was out of the direct moonlight Batman could get a much better look.

The figure was a female. She had androgynous features. She has long black unkempt hair, dark grey lips, and light green eyes. Her frame was much stocky and muscular than Batman expected. She wore a dark blue cloak over a dress in a darker shade of white, and a leather belt.

"You wanted to see me," Batman started.

The woman in front of him didn't respond. Her eyes trailed over Batman, taking in everything she could and trying to determine his worth.

"You are the Bat of Gotham," the woman said after a moment.

"Yes," Batman responded. He was doing his best to keep his migraine at bay but like last night was failing.

The woman took a few steps closer and breathed in deeply. "Hmmm…you dress like a bat but smell like man,"

"It's in the name," Batman responded "I'm very busy, what do you want?"

"Indeed, you have big city. I will get to the point. I am vampire," The woman said proudly. Batman immediately got on guard, he had little doubt that this vampire would be like Alucard. "Worry not, I am not hurting anyone, nor am I hungry,"

"Don't vampires feed on humans?" Batman accused "you say you're not hungry does that means you have fed,"

"Vampires need blood to survive, that true. However, it, not necessarily be human, animal blood work too," the woman claimed.

"You expect me to believe that?" Batman shot back. His head felt like it was pounding now and he knew it would

"What you believe is no one's business but your own. I only approached you because I am intrigued by your reputation and wish to know you,"

"Not instead," Batman hissed out with the slightest bit of pain "I don't let anyone know who I am,"

"I do not care about who you are under mask. I get to know people through one method and one method alone…fight,"

"You want to fight me?"

"To measure you, to know you. If you are worried about hurting me don't. Man like cannot leave damage,"

The woman got into a battle stance, she didn't appear to have any weapons but Batman knew that meant nothing. He was about to reject her offer to fight again however he suddenly doubled over in pain. His migraine had just turned up its intensely.

"What is wrong?" The woman asked and dropped her stance for one of concern.

"Head...hurts," Batman responded weakly.

"Head is hurt...When did this start?"

Batman glared at her, he was struggling and she could tell.

"I mean you no harm, only wish to see if I can help," the woman assured.

"Why?"

"I am warrior, it is warriors code to ensure fellow warriors do not die except on field of Battle or from battle wounds,"

Batman would have questioned that if he wasn't in so much pain. It seemed unlikely vampires would follow some warriors code. Alucard hadn't mentioned and any other bad guy in Gotham would have taken advantage of the situation. But Batman was into much paint to think about it. He just wanted it to stop.

"My head…It feels like it's beating my skull," he confessed, against his better judgment.

"You have pounding head…this will not work then," the woman said "it is too late for you,"

"What's…happening to me?"

"You have rare condition. Where I am from, we call it Gedankenangriffe; is rare and painful. Mind turns on itself, destroys you from inside out. Seen it a few times before very painful, very annoying,"

"How…How do I make it stop?"

"Can not be stopped, once afflicted with condition, it remains forever…no cure other than death," the woman said. She took a deep breath before turning and walking towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Where are you going?"

"Will not fight you while you have Zauberresistenz. No point. It fatal, you will not survive it,"

"How…How long?"

The woman turned and gave Batman a look of disappointment.

"The next dawn will be your last," the woman said, and then she dissolved into a swarm of bats and flew off.

Batman watched her go, he sat on the roof, waiting and trying to get his excessive migraine under control. He was angry and it hurt to think, to move, this was the second night in a row that the migraine had flared up. It was so painful, the only consolation was he didn't pass out this time, but he still couldn't move much.

Batman had never heard of migraine causing this much pain, he'd never heard of Gedankenangriffe either, it sounded German but he couldn't be sure. He tried to make himself stand up so she could head back to the Batmoblie, however, that in itself was a challenge. Instead, he dragged himself over to a part of the roof that was hidden in shadow. It wasn't the best defensive position but it would have to do for now.

He lay in the shadows, curled up in the fetal position gripping his head in immeasurable pain for what felt like hours. Finally, when he was able to move enough, Batman headed back to the Batmobile and drove straight back to the Batcave.

Once back, he went straight to the Bat computer and searched up the name Gedankenangriffe; he was right, it was German and but could not find it related to any kind of disease or fatal illness. Instead, he searched his symptoms. However once again he came up short, the closest thing that matched was a brain tumour. Batman knew he didn't have one of those unless he counted the one that overtook his brain last night and then mystery vanished.

Batman let out a sigh, he was getting nowhere with his search online. He thought about the events over the last two nights and if there was any connection between the rooftops or the two women, he met on them. Batman had been on the rooftops of Gotham thousands of times and never felt any different. Which meant there could be a connection between the girl last night and the woman tonight. However, he doubted it, the woman he had spoken to hours ago said she was a vampire, he doubted there would be two in Gotham.

Suddenly Batman got a brilliant idea. He had been looking for his condition in modern days standards. The female vampire knew what it was so perhaps he should broaden his search to the past.

"Alucard said he killed his father and exiled himself in 1476, I'll start there," Batman muttered. He doubted there would be any records left from that time, as it was during the gap in human history. Which Batman now knew to be caused by Dracula's rage over the death of Alucard's mother.

Not surprisingly, he found nothing of relevance. Just theories on why there was a large gap in human history. So, he started to go back, first-year by year and then decided by decade. Finally, after an hour and a half, Batman stumbled upon a journal that had been donated to Berlins Museum of Natural history.

According to the Museum's website, the journal dated back to the late 1100s to early 1200s while the exact date was lost to time, historians had been able to get a year date out of one of the pages. According to the museum, it had belonged to a traveling doctor, was studying an unknown plague that swept across northern Europe at the time. Batman knew it couldn't have been the black death as that plague didn't appear until the 19th century.

Batman read the article on this particular object; it was currently on display in Berlins National History Museum. It was a long shot but he needed answers. He checked the time, if he wanted to sneak in and look at it, he would have to wait until at least 1 pm due to the time difference between

America and Europe. It would be tight but he could make it there and back before the charity gala tomorrow night.

Deciding that there was nothing to be done he shut down the Batman computer and headed upstairs to get some sleep.