I am the Night

You know there are days out there which you clearly know are bad or just off to you. You don't know why it's like this on the later. Call it a gut feeling that something bad might happen to you or it could just be a fleeting moment. It comes out of nowhere and hurts you at the sorest spot to make a very lasting impression.

Everyone has those days that it's clearly like that. But there are those that are harsh reminders on what you had experienced in your existance. You take time to heal from the wounds and hope to fully move on with your life. Yet there are those wounds that are too infected to really heal over.

...This is the case with Bruce Wayne.

Sitting in a dark corner of the Batcave, the dark haired billionaire sat upon a cavern throne. It was naturally made with no evidence of being hand carved at all. If one were to look upon him as he sat there, in his Batman attire, he could've been slightly mistaken as a Dark King rather than a Knight.

This piece of natural furniture had served Bruce quite well ever since he discovered the cave years ago, before he donned the iconic cowl. During his renovation of the darkened scenery, Bruce rested here before working his cave further to his specific vision. Afterwards, it served as a small resting place when he wanted time to think in an area where he oddly felt at peace.

And it served him when he wanted to just be by himself… and alone to sulk, brood, and shed most of his feelings.

And this was where Alfred found him one particular day when he needed to get his former ward and current employer fed. Coming closer to him, the Pennyworth spoke in concern. "Master Bruce? Are you… alright, sir?"

"I'm… tired, Alfred."

Alfred sighed as he walked closer with a tray of food in his hands. "Oh, I shouldn't wonder. You've taken no meals today. I can't recall when you last slept."

Bruce took a deep breath of damp air as he looked into the darkness. "A weary body can be dealt with but a weary spirit, that's something else." His tired, blue eyes then looked over to his faithful butler. "Sometimes, old friend, I wonder if I'm really doing any good out there."

An eyebrow rose when hearing this. "How can you doubt it? The lives you've saved, the criminals you've brought to justice."

"I've put out a few fires, yes, won a few battles." Bruce then held his head and rubbed his eyes as they seemed to ache with pain. "But the war goes on, Alfred. On and on and it seems to never stop."

"That's the thing, really: it never stops." Coming closer, he knelt down and looked at Bruce face to face… if the younger man's face wasn't cover up. "It's a natural occurrence and conflict always arises. But you do what you can to keep them at bay and in my book, you've done a wonderful job."

The billionaire pried his hands away from his face before looking at the butler. "You have it, Alfred?"

"...Of course, sir." Said the older man.

Getting back up, Alfred pulled out an elongated box and placed it into Bruce's grasps. With the container on hand, the billionaire got off his cavern throne and moved away so he can get changed into his Batman attire.

As the man left, Alfred looked on with sadness in his gaze.

Bruce has always acted like this at this time of the year. It is as if all joy, happiness and positive feelings in his life takes a holiday. It gets rather tiresome at times, but who is he to judge upon Bruce's emotions.

After all, it's the anniversary of the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne… and the death of a child's innocence.

-On the Streets-

Not much could be said when being on the streets. It can be rather harsh and cold on how lives through it. It's never really much of a pleasant feeling to live by, but it's sometimes all one has.

Standing on a street corner, a teenager in a large trench coat was looking at the various pedestrians driving and walking by. He sighed as he didn't know what to do exactly when being here in the big city. He was a small-town 'boy' and when he came here on his own, he thought he could do well in finding a job and living it up.

Oh how naive he was.

'Okay, Wizard, let's find a good catch to at least help feed me for the night.' Thought the teen in self words of encouragement. As his eyes wandered, the identified 'Wizard' smirked. 'Seems I might have gotten some schmucks coming my way.'

Coming down the street were a pair of businessmen as they seemed to be in some sort of discussion. "...It's a done deal." Said one of the men. "You're looking at the new vice president of-"

"Um… Excuse me, folks." Wizard spoke, getting their attention. The teenager had put on a downcasted facade in order to help sell the act. "Mind sparing some change? I'm trying to get bus fare home."

The two men briefly looked at each other and shrugged. Reaching into their pockets, they respectively pulled out some bills and handed it to the teenager before walking away. If they were to look back, they would've seen Wizard's face taking on a devious smirk.

"Heh. Works every time." He muttered as he walked away from the scene. As the teen walked along and headed towards one of his favorite joints to dine in, he paused once coming across a souvenir store.

Most of these kinds of stores would sell some forms of memorabilia or something nice and relevant. From snowglobes, t-shirts, statues, or something of that nature. Every other city has them if they are really famous in some particular way.

What made Wizard narrow his eyes and scoff at the store was more towards the theme of this city's main vigilante: Batman.

He'd seen a handful of stores merchandising off of the bat-themed hero. Sure, Wizard somewhat knew it was just to help raise some people's spirits by having the merch on hand in this dark city. But that isn't all that great if your on the other end of a gun or a knife and you hope Batman, Robin or Vanitas would come in and save the day.

Well newsflash: neither of them can always save the day! They can't be everywhere at once and they can't stop horrible events from happening. All they do is make people feel their always protected, in one way or another.

What a complete joke… And to Wizard, Batman is the biggest of them.

-Warehouse District-

In a darkened area, the GCPD was slowly getting into position as they surrounded a particular warehouse.

"I say we take them now, Commish, before the deal happens." Bullock suggested. "We got enough on them." The pleasantly plump detective looked at his superior as he didn't respond. "What are we waiting for exactly?"

"Batman." Gordon replied. "He got us the dirt on the Jazzman. Said he'd be here when the hammer went down."

Bullock let out a frustrated sigh when hearing this.

Jimmy Peake, aka The Jazzman, was a gangster that got his name due to his odd eccentricity of using a lot of music-related terms in his speech; along with carrying instrument cases in carrying his weapons and as a typical suitcase.

Six years ago, Gordon busted the man when he was still a lieutenant while working on a smuggling operation. They had gotten a tip at the time, through an anonymous source calling himself Kyuubi, on what was going down. Gordon figured it might've been someone wanting to rat out Jazzman before skipping town. Nobody, not even the Batman, was able to figure out who this Kyuubi person was exactly; so the matter was dropped.

And now since Jazzman's release, the GCPD had gotten all the evidence needed to put away the gangster for good and they'll nab him on this drug operation.

All things were rather good, but why did Bullock had a sinking feeling in his gut that things were going sideways before downhill.

'Might just be heartburn.' Harvey thought as he slowly got back into position. 'That or the burrito from earlier.'

-Park Row-

Walking through the darkened street, Batman could see several memories flash before his eyes. The Dark Knight walked passed the movie theatre, which was currently boarded up, where he saw the last movie with his parents: The Mark of Zorro.

Zorro was Bruce's favorite superhero when he was younger. More than Sherlock Holmes, the Shadow, or even the Grey Ghost. He was born into privilege, but he protected the poor and defended the innocent.

A dashing caballero. A masked man of mystery… A hero.

Bruce loved seeing that movie and the Waynes had a wonderful time. But it only took a single moment… to make it the worst night of his entire life.

As they exited the theatre, the family thought it was a good idea on taking a shortcut through an alley to get back to their car. Bruce was so distracted with his recounting of the biggest action scenes of the film that he ran into someone in the godforsaken place. The eight year old did apologized and would've moved on… but he pulled out a gun and aimed it at both him and his parents. The gunman demanded what money and jewels they had on their person and then they would be left in one piece.

Bruce had never been more scared in his entire life at that very moment.

His father willingly forked over his wallet while his mother… wasn't so willing to part with her pearls. It was her mother's and her grandmother's. Practically a family heirloom which Martha hoped to pass onto an eventual daughter of hers, a younger sister Bruce may (not ever) have.

The thug didn't like Martha's action and aimed his gun back at the mother and son. Thomas blocked the gunner's line of sight and tried to talk him out of this.

But then the first shot was fired.

Bruce saw his father fell as his mother screamed in horror. Her eyes darted to the gunner and tried to protect his eight year-old self as best as she could. The gunner then fought Martha in getting the pearls around her neck, but his finger slipped and fired a round into her as the necklace came loose and fell onto the ground.

Someone spotted the act and tried to help stop the thief, but he fled the scene of a shocked Bruce Wayne surrounded by his dead parents.

To this day, the caped crusader relieved that very night, that very moment, over and over again always kept him up on most nights. The only things he had left of his parents was the family name, the inheritance, and his mother's cherished possessions: her family pearls and brooch.

Sometime before that night, the young Bruce saw his mother's broach for the first time when she was personally cleaning it up instead of Alfred. He asked on why she did this as the faithful butler would have been fine of cleaning it. But she explained her reasons.

Not only was her pearl necklace her family inheritance, but also a copper brooch with a bat as the main design. Even though the necklace belonged to Martha's grandmother, the brooch was in her family line for generations. Records as to how her family came into possession of the piece of jewelry has been lost.

After explaining this, Martha had asked that when he was old enough, he would give it to the woman his heart fully belongs to and hope to marry one day. He promised her this and had hoped to give it to the first real love of his life, Andrea, but she had to give it back when she and her father suddenly left after their brief engagement.

...Back to the matter at hand, Batman soon came to the very alleyway where he last saw his parents alive. And in that alleyway was an old family friend, Dr. Leslie Thompkins.

Dr. Thompkins is an old woman with greying hair as it was wrapped in a bun on the back. She was Thomas Wayne's oldest friend ever since they first met in Medical School. They had dated for a time, but nothing could really work out. Yet they still chatted and moved on from that awkward time.

When Bruce's parents were killed, she quickly came onto the scene and comforted the young eight year old to the best of her ability. She is one of the most trusted people in Bruce's life and was the first person he revealed his hero identity all because of how much he respected her for all those years.

Leslie was lost in thought as she stared at the ground. When she heard footsteps coming closer, the doctor looked to the source. "Hello, Bruce." She said as he gave her a small nod. "You seem quieter than usual tonight."

He sighed. "Every year I come here, I wonder if it should be the last time if I should put the past behind me try to lead a normal life."

The good doctor walked closer to the cowled hero and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Santayana says that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

Batman then spoke. "He also said a fanatic is someone who redoubles his efforts while losing sight of his goal."

Leslie nodded in slight bitterment when hearing his argument. 'Of course you'd say that, Bruce.'

The aging doctor soon saw Batman pull out an elongated box from underneath his cape. Opening it up, the hero revealed a pair of roses to the world before placing them on the ground. Once done, he stepped back and stood deathly still as he paid his respects.

Even though Leslie and Bruce would go to the Gotham Cemetery to properly pay their respects there, it was here that seemed to matter most of all.

Their little moment of quiet reverence ended when the pair heard a large crash nearby. Investigating, they saw a pair of thugs holding a teenage boy against a dumpster.

"Wizard, you never call." Said the first thug. "You never write."

"You never pay us our piece of kale for letting you work that corner." Spoke the second.

Wizard held up his hands in defense and tried to get himself out of this situation. "Willie. Monk. Yeah, I was just looking for you guys."

"Right~" Willie, the first thug drawled out. "Let's skip the pleasantries." Slamming Wizard against the dumpster once more, Willie made their demand. "50 bucks, now."

Monk picked up right after. "It's that, or I cut out your liver and fry it in a pan."

"Hey, I haven't exactly got it right now." Said the teen as his skin seemed to pale a little.

"Then what you do got is a whole world of trouble." Said the first thug as he pulled out and slipped on a thing of brass knuckles onto his hand.

Just when Willie was about to start laying it on Wizard, his arm was pulled back by someone. Looking towards the source, the thug saw Batman before his world went dark.

Wizard soon saw the caped crusader quickly knock out Willie. He then saw Monk running away in hopes of escaping. But his legs were snagged as he fell onto the ground. The second thug tried to get out of his small confinement, but Batman struck his head to render him unconscious.

Looking towards the hero, the teenager spoke. "Hey, Bats, don't worry about me. I don't need help from some jerk in long underwear."

Batman was going to say something when his eyes spotted underneath Monk. Lifting him up a bit, the hero widened his eyes on what happened… to the roses placed down earlier. They were crushed!

When Wizard tried to get away from the scene, he was pulled back by the Bat. "Think there's room in the Mitchell Street mission for one more?" The hero said to the aging doctor.

"Of course." She said as she took hold of Wizard's arm and escorted him out of the alley. She did look back and saw Batman's body language practically read that he was rather angry on what happened to the roses. "Aren't you going to go home now? It's pretty late."

"I have promises to keep, Leslie." Was all the Batman said as he disappeared into the night.

-Back with the Gotham Police-

Harvey saw a car coming closer and closer to their position. It slowed down and came to the one armored gate to the one warehouse. It soon opened up for the recent arrival as it drove right in before the gate closed right back up.

Moving back over to his superior, Bullock spoke. "Commissioner, it's gotta be now. Batman's not gonna show in time and any further delay might screw things up."

Gordon sighed as he knew the detective was right. Pulling out his walkie talkie, he spoke into it. "Hit it."

Once the order was made, spotlights were turned on as they were aimed at the warehouse. The SWAT teams mostly came out from hiding as Gordon spoke into the loudspeaker. "This is the police! You men in the warehouse, you're under arrest!"

It was not long after the order was made, various warehouse windows broke open as shots were fired. The police quickly hid for cover as they didn't want to get hit. Looking over to the side, Gordon called out for the armored battering ram to move forward. The truck slowly came out of a nearby alleyway before the driver floored it, causing the vehicle to drive straight through the armored gate. There was little success of breaking through right away, causing the battering ram to drive on back before attempting once more.

From up above, a GCPD helicopter tried to get a good spotlight onto the area in case of any runaways. Yet they started to take heavy fire as a bullet shot through the glass and severely injured the pilot. He was forced to go down as the controls were soon shot. Before the aircraft crashed onto the streets below, the officers jumped out just in time with little injuries.

Ducking from enemy fire, Gordon yelled out in frustration. "This was a setup! The Jazzman was ready for us!"

"Yeah, no shit!" Spoke the heavy set detective.

The police kept their course of actions, not knowing of an untimely arrival of the Caped Crusader. Seeing as he was possibly late for the party, the Bat glided into the warehouse's rooftop. Using his grappling hook, he tied the rope onto a secured pole. Once done, he leapt off the roof's edge and tossed colored tear gas pellets through the broken windows. Sounds of coughing and wheezing were heard soon after as bullets flew less and less.

Peeking from his defensive barrier, Bullock rose a brow in confusion on what he was seeing. "What the hell is going on?! We couldn't get close enough to use tear gas!" As he was about to look away, the detective saw a recognizable shadowy figure, causing him to grit his teeth. "Batman! Why couldn't he have shown up sooner?!"

In another area of the warehouse, a large set of windows broke open as a figure fell out and landed on a parked truck. Shaking his head free of any stray glass, the man slid off the truck's top and got into the vehicle. Starting it up the engine, the figure looked through the rearview mirror to not only see himself but the road behind him.

'I need to get out of here.' Thought Jimmy 'The Jazzman' Peake. 'Need to lay low so I'll compose for another day.'

His attempt did not go unnoticed as Batman heard the truck starting to leave the area. Running across the warehouse rooftop, the Bat leapt off it's surface and landed onto the getaway vehicle. He held on tight as the truck picked up speed and broke through the damaged armored gate just before the GCPD made their next attempt.

The Jazzman kept swerving his vehicle in order to shake the Batman off. As he kept with his personal task, his eyes caught onto a figure trying to catch up to them from his left-side mirror. Smirking on the opportunity, Jimmy pulled out a gun from his coat pocket and with careful aim, he fired several rounds.

As the mob-boss was distracted, the Batman hopped onto the back. Pulling out his grappling gun, he attached a chain onto it before firing it's hook onto a nearby lamppost before leaping off and landing in a dark alley. With a secured tug of the grappling hook, the truck was jolted back and swerved into a brick wall.

This was the scene as Bullock and several police witnessed as they ran up to the crashed vehicle and roughly pulled Jimmy 'The Jazzman' Peake out from the door. The officers felt triumphant on this semi-successful raid as one of the officers read the captured man his Miranda Rights.

"Looks like the fat lady just sung, eh Jimmy." Bullock said happily before he noticed something was off. "Hey, where's the Commish? He should see this."

"BULLOCK!" Called out Officer Montoya.

"WHAT?!" He cried out and quickly looked towards Renea. When he did so, he along with many other officers widened their eyes. "Oh my God…" Bullock whispered in horror.

Lying on the ground was Commissioner James Gordon… with a growing pool of blood underneath him.

-Earlier, Naruto and Pam's Loft-

"...So you're working part-time at the library, Babs?"

"Pretty much." Answered the spectacled redhead as she slowly drank a Vegan Caesar Cocktail; a mixture of a Caesar and a Bloody Mary without the alcohol.

"And how's that going for ya?" Asked the bubbly blonde as she sipped her own.

"It has its moments to lighten up the boring atmosphere."

Harley nodded as she briefly looked towards Rachel's room upstairs as Naruto was tucking his ward in bed.

Now you would be wondering why Barbara Gordon is currently in Naruto's loft in the first place. To explain, we would need to go back several hours.

Barbara came on by to drop off the next draft of her Binary Beast novel at the publisher's loft. She recently finished her fixes and didn't have any assignments to work on. Feeling impatient on when to hand over her next draft; the redhead came here this night, to his home, instead of coming over to Spiral Publishing the next day or so. It was going to be a simple drop off and would possibly see if she could find something to do on some solo activity…

Or so she thought.

Harley greeted Barbara at the door and dragged her inside as she ended up hanging out in the loft for the evening while joining dinner. The Commissioner's daughter got to know the pale psychologist, in person, as she previously learned about Harley because of her father. Barbara said her sympathies as she saw her bleached white skin in which Harley merely waved off.

Barbara also got to meet and befriend Naruto's ward as she ended up helping Rachel in her homework. The redhead got to admit the ashen child was really sweet, with her shy and timid personality, but the little girl was slowly opening up to the college student throughout the night.

While Harley played and watched some movies with Rachel, Naruto was helping Barbara on her book as they discussed further changes and issues. It felt strange to the spectacled college student as she was being critiqued in person on her work instead of reading the notes while at home. The only time she felt this way was with school counselors or teachers, but this professional approach would be something Barbara will need to get used to.

Asides from the small evaluation, to which he'll do a more detailed one in written notes, Naruto and Barbara got to chat with each other a bit more. They talked about their respective lives, her time and issues at school along with some other topics. Things had to be put on hold when Rachel wanted Naruto to read her something to help her fall asleep.

And in that time, Harley chatted up with Barbara as the blonde made them some drinks for the evening.

"...And you also said that you were doing gymnastics now right?"

Barbara nodded as she ate her drink drenched celery stick. "Yeah. I practice at home and sometimes at college since dad hopes I could go for the Olympics one day."

Harley snorted. "Yeah, that'll be tough to get through the qualifiers. Hell, I thought about doing that but I wanted to focus primarily on school once I got my scholarship."

The spectacled redhead nodded once more. "That's what I tell dad as well. Sure I could try to apply for one of the upcoming games, but I don't want to be one of those people that's fully committed to the games. I want to get a good career and just focusing on the Olympics would be too time consuming." She then propped her head onto her knee. "But he still sees me as his 'little girl' and kept onto that old idea."

"Sorry to hear that, Babs."

"No problem, Harley."

"Regardless, since you clearly stated you keep up with your skills, mind showing me."

Barbara looked at Harley with a raised brow, but shrugged. Getting off the couch, the redhead placed her glasses onto the coffee table before taking off her jacket doing some small stretches. It was a little tight with what clothes she had on, but she got things to work. Once done, quickly went into a handstand and then lifted up one of her arms to keep herself balance before performing other gymnastic moves in a straight line.

From her seat on the couch, Harley looked at the younger girl with an analytical eye. She took mental notes on Barbara's form before she started doing small orders to perform other gymnastic moves she didn't see yet. Barbara compiled and did what she could with no assisting equipment at all and limited space while carefully using some furniture for some moves.

Once done with her moves, the Commissioner's daughter heard some clapping from upstairs. Turning her head, her amethyst eyes saw Naruto doing the act as he smiled. "Those were really good, Barbara."

"Thanks." Said the redhead as she wore her glasses once more. "How long were you watching?"

"From the start." The publisher walked down the steps as he came up to the college student. "You were really good and your form was great."

Barbara smiled on this.

"I agree." Said the psychologist as she stood up. "Though there could be some adjustments here and there." Barbara looked at Harley with a raised brow, causing said woman to explain. "You were a little slow on some of the moves, but I can excuse it that we weren't in a more proper area to see your stuff."

"Okay…"

"But asides from your speed, I noticed your limbs possibly need more work in terms of flexibility and strength. If you do more work on those, then you could do a better job if you want to compete." Said the pale woman.

"And how would you notice all this?"

"You can blame my neighbor." Harley answered. "She was my former gymnastics teacher when I tried to get my one scholarship." The blonde then shivered as memories started flooding in. "She was harsh, sadistic and could've made boot camp look like a child's playground with how she got me to perform certain feats I never thought were possible."

Barbara had a bit of an odd imagination for that moment as she saw a chibi Harley being put through the training grindhouse. Crying and cursing on a constant rate while trying to get certain moves right in a faster and stronger approach. Hell, there was even a split thought on Harley being tied to a giant tire and having to run around a field with a sadistic woman cracking a whip on her.

'...Why did that last one come to mind?' Barbara thought in confusion.

"I could maybe help train you, if you'd like, Babs."

The Commissioner's daughter snapped out of her train of thought when hearing this. "Sorry, what?"

"Would you like it if I could help train you?" Asked the psychologist. "We could set up a schedule that can work for the both of us and I'll do things what Paula did to me… in a more safer approach."

"I would suggest you take it, Barbara." Said the publisher. "I've seen how both Harley and Paula, who's her mentioned neighbor, do their stuff. And I gotta say it's really amazing how they do their approaches, landings and all that fun stuff."

Amethyst eyes blinked on this given and rather sudden opportunity. She adopted a thinking pose and thought more on the offer. She can admit the redhead hasn't had much of a teacher for years as she's been just doing things by herself with no other form of discipline. But if Harley here is offering to teach her into being a better gymnast, then why turn it down.

Looking back at the blonde, the spectacled college student nodded with a small smile. "Sure, why not. I'm game if you are."

Harley smiled and bounced on her feet before glombing the redhead in childish glee. "HOORAY!~ MY FIRST STUDENT!~" She said, loud enough for a good yell, but not enough to wake up the sleeping ward upstairs. "THIS IS GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN!"

From her spot in the hug, Barbara didn't expect this and briefly regretted taking up on the needed lessons.

*RING RING* *RING RING*

"...Who's phone is that?" Naruto asked as he checked his cell phone. "It's not mine."

Ending the hug, Harley went to check hers in her purse. "It's not mine either."

Seeing as she's the odd one out, Barbara walked towards the kitchen counter and got her cell phone from her purse. "It's mine, guys." Checking the caller ID, she saw that it was Harley Bullock. Flipping the phone open, she answered. "Hey, Harvey, what's up?"

"...Babs… Something happened…"

Barbara rose a brow as she heard the detective speak to her over the phone. Her face slowly went from confusion into absolute shock. She loudly gasped as her eyes widened. Naruto and Harley looked on with confusion, but rushed to her side when Barbara had to quickly steady herself as her legs seemed to give out on her.

"Barbara, what happened?" Asked the Uzumaki in a concerned tone.

Closing her phone, Barbara looked at Naruto and Harley with reddened eyes as tears ran down her face. "It's dad. He's in the hospital." She cried out as they widened their eyes. "He's been shot!"

-Early Morning, Gotham General Hospital-

Things were rather quiet in the hospital as things were rather hard to bear as of recent events. Asides from the typical phone calls from the secretary desk or very mild chatter, the only sounds heard were from the TV set as the newscast was currently playing.

"Last night, police broke the smuggling ring of Jimmy 'The Jazzman' Peake. But the victory in the drug war came at a high cost." Spoke Summer Gleeson in a somber tone as she stood outside of the GCPD. "Police Commissioner James Gordon was badly wounded in the line of duty. Ballistics investigation has matched the bullet with the Jazzman's gun." She turned around and saw said mob-boss being escorted outside of the building. "Any comments, Jazzman, on your recent actions on the police commissioner?"

Jimmy smirked as he spoke towards the news camera. "Let's just say it was time to pay the piper."

As the man was taken into a police van, Summer turned her attention back to the viewers. "Sources say that the Jazzman has long nursed a grudge against Gordon. And at this time, the commissioner remains in intensive care at Gotham General Hospital."

Inside of Gordon's hospital room, sounds of the heart monitor and the airpumps were working around the clock to keep the injured Commissioner alive. The surgery was extensive as the man lost a lot of blood due to the several bullet wounds in his chest. Despite this, the surgery was a success.

The room's window slowly opened as a darkened figure came right through and carefully stepped closer to Gordon's body. As he got closer, the lights revealed this person to be Batman. If one were to look closer onto his face, they'd see how tired and sorrowful he is.

"...I don't know if you can hear me, Jim." Said the Bat. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't stopped in Crime Alley before the raid, then-"

The hospital room door opened up as Barbara stepped through. She paused her actions before walking again. "Batman." She said in acknowledgement.

"How is he?"

"Not good, I'm afraid. The doctors said he's stable, but… but I don't know when he'll wake up."

Batman tightened his fists as the material strained against his hands. "It's my fault. I should've gotten there first, checked it out before-"

"Don't blame yourself, Batman. You helped catch the man who shot him."

"If I'd been there-"

"You should've been there, pointy ears." Came a rough and tired voice. Barbara and Batman looked over and saw Detective Bullock walking into the room. "If you did, then maybe Peake might've shot the right guy." He then got a bit more agressive as he started poking Batman's chest in a harsh manner. "I thought you knew what's shaking on the streets How come you didn't tell us this was a setup?"

"I didn't know." Batman said defensively.

"Yeah? Then that makes you just as responsible for him being here as the Jazzman!"

"Harvey, please." Barbara pleaded as she got between the two men. "It wasn't his fault."

Seeing as he was no longer welcomed here, Batman turned around and headed towards the opened window.

Bullock saw the Bat's action and snapped. "Hey, where you going?!" He was ignored as Batman jumped out of the window opening and glided away from the area. "This ain't over yet, outlaw! You hear me?!" Bullock roared into the night. "You're going down for this! I ain't talking law! I'm talking you and me!"

-Batcave-

It took Batman longer to return to his cave. After gliding back to his batmobile, he drove his vehicle at the normal street limits and took his time to get back to his lair. The Bat didn't want to cause further problems with his typical speeding driving he usually does in the past.

Not this time.

He felt truly defeated. He felt truly useless. He felt so much pain and sorrow… Like that very night all those years ago.

Getting out of his car, he stumbled in his step as he walked towards his forensics lab not far away. He needed something to lean against to keep himself upright.

Once getting there, his breathing started slow before it started to escalate. His eyes dilated behind his cowl as images between Gordon's bleeding body and his parents' corpses lying beside him flashed before his gaze. His body started to shake and as an eventual reflex, he started to react…

Badly.

Gritting his teeth in anger, he soon roared as he flipped over the metal desks with it's contents falling over and breaking on the cavern floor. Tossing his arms around, Batman swept all of his beakers, test tubes and equipment around as he kept roaring.

Nothing was safe within his gaze and once the entirety of his forensics lab was destroyed, Batman collapsed onto his knees and loudly screamed in utmost despair as every bat currently asleep was now awake.

-Three Days Later, Blackgate Penitentiary-

Leaning against the prison wall, the Jazzman glared at his surroundings.

It has been three days since he was brought here. There was no available room at the city jail for him to stay so he was merely shoved here as an early access as to where he'll stay for years. This will be the place where he'll await his trial.

"...Bullshit." He muttered. "It ain't going to be a trial. They got enough on me to play the funeral march."

Standing beside him was a flunky of his that came here before him. The prisoner was still loyal to him, even helping him adjust to the 'temporary' surroundings.

"Not a problem, bro." Said the flunky. "Talk to Southside Eddy. He'll get you out of Gotham before the ink on you fingers dries."

Jimmy briefly nodded on the suggestion before he quickly shook his head. "Not out of Gotham. Not yet."

"But why boss?"

"I wanna make sure Gordon's got a one-way ticket to harp land."

The flunky widened his eyes in alarm and tried to talk him out of it. "Not now, Jimmy. You gotta lay low and-"

"Gordon busted me six years ago and recently." Jimmy argued as he tightened his fists. "Would've been the best score of my life and could'a retired early. I owe him big time."

-Evening, Wayne Manor-

Opening the front doors, Dick and Naruto walked through the entrance as Alfred greeted them.

"I'm so glad you could come, Master Dick. And you too, Naruto." Said the butler in a sad tone. "It's been three days. I've never seen him like this before."

"How bad is it, Al?" Asked the Grayson.

"Very. I tried all that I could, but I believe you two might help."

The new arrivals nodded as Naruto spoke. "We'll do all we can. That's a promise."

The pair made their way towards the batcave. As they descended the stairs, the two saw the cavern felt darker and more unsettling than before. It is as if Bruce's feelings truly melded with the area to help give it form.

Once in the area, they saw the forensics area was totally trashed. And it wasn't just there. The trophy section was now all over the place with the displays thrown left and right. The armory was in shambles. Hell, even the batmobile had various dents along the hull and it's glass was shattered. The only thing that wasn't damaged at all was the batcomputer as it must've been the only source to the outside world. And damaging that would've hindered Bruce's line of information.

"...Damn."

"You said it, Dick." Naruto said in worry. The pair rounded a corner and saw something in the shadows. "Bruce?"

As Dick and Naruto got closer, they saw it was indeed the dark haired billionaire. But the man before them seemed unrecognisable as he sat on his cavern throne. His costume was all torn up, his mask was in shambles, his face looked like it hasn't been shaved in days ontop of not sleeping a wink.

All in all, Bruce looked like he was truly a walking wreck.

'Dear God.' They thought.

Wanting to brighten up the mood, Dick tried to joke around a little. "Bruce! Stay down here much longer, you'll be growing mushrooms in your armpits."

Taking a small involuntar wif, Naruto shook his head a little. "With him not bathing, I'm probably sure that might happen sooner or later."

Bruce either ignored or didn't care on their comments at all. All he did care about where his present thoughts. "I should have been there." He muttered with a tired and strained voice.

Dick sighed. "You can't be everywhere, Bruce. No one can."

Naruto was going to comment about that with his cloning ability, but kept his mouth shut. Only talking about that might cause further problems.

"I let him down." Said the damaged hero.

"Bruce, you're being too hard on yourself." Said the publisher. "Things happen and no one could have seen that happen to Gordon."

"He's a friend. More than a friend, really." Spoke the Bat as he looked at the two with his bloodshot eyes. "Jim Gordon's the same age my father would've been if he hadn't…" It was really hard for Bruce to finish that sentence as he gritted his teeth. "And now, because of me, he's hanging by a thread." Slamming his arms down onto his throne he growled. "If I'd gotten there five minutes sooner."

Naruto sighed. "Bruce, you're only human. You do all one man can do. Hell, you've done more than any man's expected to do."

The Grayson nodded in agreement. "Naruto's right, Bruce. You've gone above and beyond what others would've done in their entire lives."

"I chose this life." Bruce said as he slowly rose from his throne. "I use the night. I became the night." Once he was on his feet, he walked forward and came towards the edge of a cavern cliff and looked towards the darkened abyss. "And sooner or later, I'll go down. It might be the Joker or Scarecrow or just some punk who gets lucky… My decision. No regrets." Bruce tightened his fists once more as his body shook with rage. "But I can't let anyone else pay for my mistakes. I could never forgive myself if that were to happen."

"Damn it, Bruce. Jim Gordon's a cop. He knows the risk!" Dick argued.

"Each and every one of them have sworn to protect the lives of others with the cost of theirs." Naruto said in order to backup Dick's argument. "They know that if they get hurt, their at least making a difference and Gordon had done just that. He has never let anyone down with what he's done."

"But how long before I let someone else I care about down?" Said the defeated man as he didn't bother looking at his respective ward and friend. "Leslie? Alfred? Either of you?"

"What about Selina, Bruce? Earlier this year, you helped save her life and she has been very grateful for what you did for her when she was practically at Death's door." Said the publisher. "You even did all you could when Pam was acting all crazy and in the end, things were alright. Hell there was even Zatanna. You didn't let her down!"

"True. But when all is said and done, how much have I accomplished?" This time, Bruce turned around and gave them a harsh scowl. "They sell T-shirts of me. I've become a cliché! More good for the tourist trade than the streets!"

Dick had enough, came up to Bruce and yelled. "This city would have fallen apart years ago without you! You've saved the lives of others! You've kept families together and you've inspired many by your actions! If it wasn't because of all that then this city would've become a complete hellhole!"

"Maybe. Maybe not." The billionaire turned away from his ward as he looked back down below. "When you look too long into the abyss, the abyss looks back through you. If you blink, then you might fall and might never be able to climb out." Pulling off his ruined mask and cape, he gave it a narrowed glance. "Maybe it's time for Batman to return to the night that spawned him before anyone else gets hurt."

Without saying anything else, Bruce tossed the cape and cowl down below as Naruto and Dick looked on with widened eyes.

-Next Day, Gotham General Hospital-

Things had not been looking great lately.

Gordon was still in his coma. Bruce was considering to retire from the hero business for good. And to top it all off, the Jazzman had broken out of prison last night and is on the loose.

Naruto didn't know what to do as he chatted with Dick and Alfred on the issue before including Harley, Pam and Selina along.

Selina and Pam were quite shocked on hearing Bruce doing such a thing. Harley thought the same thing before the psychological side of her mind took over and stated that something harsh and life threatening might be the only way to snap the Wayne back into place, even if it was temporary. The others agreed with Harley's little assessment, but they didn't know what might convince Bruce to take up his cape and cowl once more.

Until then, Gordon's life was on the line with the Jazzman coming after him. And here he is in Gordon's hospital room as he was chatting with the commissioner's daughter to see how she was holding up.

"Jimmy Peake's a madman, Naruto." Said the spectacled redhead as she sat by her father. "He'll try to finish what he started." Barbara brought her hands onto her face as she felt totally defeated. "My father can't do a thing and… God… I feel so helpless."

Naruto came up to her, kneeled down and slowly pulled her into a tight, comforting hug. "I know how you feel, Barbara. More than you might think." He felt her shaking before he slowly patted her back. "It's okay, you can let it out."

It wasn't long before he felt the small wet sensation on his shoulder as his ears picked up on the sniffles and subtle cries coming from the spectacled redhead. Her crying wasn't much, unlike the previous days of being here. Though they still felt the same weight.

After several minutes, she pulled away as she had puffy eyes with tear stained cheeks. Smiling a little, Naruto pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. She gratefully accepted the cloth and cleaned her face with it.

"Now I know you've probably heard of this a lot and grown quite tired of it, but your place is here." He said as he squeezed her hand. "You want to go out there and help search for the Jazzman, but it's not safe right now. If he can't try to get your father then he might go after you as the next best thing."

Barbara hung her head low as she knew he was right. The college student tightly held onto his hand to show more of her frustration. "There's only one person who can find the Jazzman now." She muttered. "The Batman."

"But what about Vanitas?" He asked in a small joking manner. "I'm sure he could help keep your father safe."

"Yeah… That's true."

Naruto smiled a little as he looked out of the window towards the general location of Wayne Manor. 'I hope Dick is doing alright over there.'

-Wayne Manor-

Dick was pacing back and forth inside of Bruce's office with a small frown on his face. His eyes occasionally went back towards his old guardian as he sat at his desk while working on documents sent to him from Lucius Fox. With him missing work for a good handful of days, the Wayne CEO had to drop them off so Bruce can at least be productive.

Said man was currently in a bathrobe as he had to at least take a long shower earlier from not bathing during his time of brooding in the batcave. He was at least cleanly shaven, yet he still appeared not all that there as his blue eyes seemed to not have it's usual feel.

To Dick, it seemed as if his old guardian was a broken man and this upset him greatly.

Being fed up enough on Bruce's actions as his pleas fell on death's ears, the Grayson came up to his desk and slammed his hands on it's edge. "You've gotta pull yourself out of this, Bruce. The Jazzman broke out of Blackgate. He's gone to ground somewhere in Gotham. And you know he'll find a way to get to Gordon."

The man didn't say anything as he placed another document onto the side before working on another one.

Dick clicked his teeth in annoyance. "Okay, have it your way. If you're not going after him, then I will." The acrobat then made his way out of Bruce's office. "You taught me what I know about crime-fighting. But the most important lesson was to never give up. And I'm sure as hell know that he wouldn't give up either."

If he were to look back, Dick would've seen Bruce pause his actions as a small light sparked in his gaze.

In the batcave, Dick finished getting ready to head on out as Robin. He was now a man on a mission to help protect one of the most respective men in all of Gotham.

When he hoped onto his motorcycle, Robin was about to start up it's engine when he felt a firm hand placed on his shoulder. Looking back, he saw Bruce was in his Batman attire with a narrowed glance.

"No, Dick. This is my hunt. My responsibility." Was all the Dark Knight said as he made his way towards the batmobile.

From his spot in the batcave, the costumed Grayson smiled.

-Gotham General Hospital-

Inside of Gordon's hospital room, Barbara was occasionally looking over her father's unconscious body before her amethyst eyes went back to the copy of Loveless in her hands. It was a great novel she read up to the upteenth time. It's possibly one of the best novels to read to distract her current predicament.

Act III

My friend, do you fly away now?

To a world that abhors you and I?

All that awaits you is a somber morrow

No matter where the winds may blow

My friend, your desire

Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess

Even if the morrow is barren of promises

Nothing shall forestall my return

Barbara sighed as she bookmarked the section before closing it up. 'Why hasn't Batman at least come back and visited dad after that one time? They've been friends for years.' She thought with a frown.

For twelve or thirteen years now, they have worked together through the thick and thin. Though it didn't start that way as her father tried to bring in Batman a good number of times for his vigilante acts. But as time went on, the Detective James Gordon started to trust the Bat in his actions as he knew the city desperately needed it. And ever since then, this city has lived the next day and the day after for years and years from the brink of it's own self-destruction.

Leaning back, Barbara looked at the ceiling as she thought of her mother, Barbara Sr., and brother, J.J. (Jame's Jr.). What were they doing now? What were their lives like?... Could they possibly know what's happening at this very moment?

These questions rummaged her mind every so often as she wondered what ever happened to them.

Barbara does miss them and wishes she could at least get in contact with them, in some way. It doesn't have to be much on how they could catch up. Hell, they don't have to tell her much on their lives if they want to or not.

All that she wants them to know was how she and her father have been and they've been alright.

Barbara wants to tell them on how well her life is, with her occasional challenges she faces while living here in Gotham. She wants to tell them on some instances she enjoyed quite well. She wants to tell them of her love life…

'Scratch that last one.' She thought. 'I don't have a love life.'

The commissioner's daughter has been so focused in school, work and her hobbies that she hasn't really thought about dating. Even though her father had tried to set up dates for her to go to, the redhead wasn't really interested in those men. They weren't her type at all.

On the other hand, a few people came to mind: Batman, Vanitas and Naruto.

She would've considered taking interest in the Dark Knight. He was literally tall, dark, mysterious and his voice was nicely deep. Literally what a woman would swoon over at times.

Yet there was a few problems with this choice.

For one, Batman was her father's closest friend. It would be extremely creepy, gross and awkward. And a thought crossed her mind that Batman could be like around her father's age for all she knew.

Next was Vanitas. He was a great hero and had that kind of personality that was polar opposite of the Dark Knight. He made jokes and had that kind of way of making you happy, despite the situation at hand. The black/white themed hero was also tall, dark and mysterious and made her think on what was behind his glass domed helm.

And the last was Naruto…

Barbara formed a small smile on what he's done for her. He's gone out of his way to help her with the novel she's writing. He's been kind and patient with her while listening to her these past, dreadful days.

It meant so much to her.

With her not able to get in contact with her mother and brother, she felt so alone. Sure there's a good lot of people here in Gotham that has given her sympathies, whether it's some of her college and work friends to those from the GCPD. Those people from the later were like the family she never had as they helped raise her to the woman she is today.

But take them away, there wasn't anyone else that made her feel safe and happy. All except for the whiskered Uzumaki as she felt his actions were true and meaningful.

His gentle touch, much like the way one would comfort a child… or a lover. It was warm, and so too was the man's smile helped her in these troubling times. Oddly yearning for his-

Barbara shook her head a little as she thought she was reading too much into it. 'Gotta lay off the romance novels for a while.' Though a blush formed on her cheeks. 'But I do admit, he's really sweet and caring… and really handsome.'

She doesn't know why but feels truly happy when he's around her as he gives her the gentle warmth she truly needs in life. And when they met in the grocery store the other day, she wanted to comfort him as well, even though he hid his feelings well.

Rubbing her eyes, she felt a little tired. Barbara got up from her seat and stretched a little. As she yawned, Barbara felt it was rather dry.

"I've gotta get some coffee, dad." She said as she walked towards the door. "I'll be right back."

The moment she left the room, a figure rose from the outside as Jimmy 'The Jazzman' Peake gave out a sinister smile.

'Finally she moves.' Thought the mob-boss. 'Want to make this quick and be on my way to jazzville.'

Jimmy arrived earlier after carefully avoiding the public and police eye. Once at the hospital, he needed to figure out a way to get inside, pop a round into Gordon and skedaddle. Though an opportunity arose when he saw a window washer was going to the supposed area where Gordon's room was place. He quickly knocked him out and used the platform to level himself to the commissioner's room.

Sliding open the window, the Jazzman took careful aim with his gun. "Time to face the music, Gordon."

Just when he was about to fire, Jimmy felt his weapon get knocked out of his hand. As it fell onto the platform, a bullet was shot out and disconnected one of the ropes supporting the level ground. The contraption fell sideways as he barely braced himself from falling off.

Though when his eyes went down, he saw the Batman was hanging on with a glare through his cowl.

Gritting his teeth, the Jazzman tried to stomp on the Bat's hands to make him fall. He thought it worked after one particular attempt, causing the mob-boss to climb on up in order to get into the hospital room. But he soon saw everything moving side to side, back and forth. Looking down, he saw the Bat was trying to get him off.

When Barbara walked back inside of her father's room, she gasped and dropped her coffee when seeing the Jazzman was right outside the window. She rushed over when she saw he was swinging his way to get inside and pulled a cloth barrier over to hopefully block both him and the glass from spreading all over the room.

The attempt failed as the Jazzman wasn't confined once he broke in with him sliding across the room.

The officer outside of the room came in and checked to see what happened. This was in vane as he was quickly knocked out by Jimmy. As the officer fell onto the floor, the Jazzman quickly procured the copper's gun and aimed it at the unconscious police commissioner.

"NO!" Barbara cried out as she went to cover her father.

Everything seemed to go into slow motion at this point as Jimmy was about to pull the trigger. Batman saw this happen and quickly pulled out a batarang. He silently prayed to any higher power out there that his throw is true before tossing it. The throwing weapon soared through the air and quickly lodged itself into the gun barrel just when the Jazzman pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

The gun barrel exploded as the bullet backfired. This destroyed the gun as it's little shrapnels lodged themselves into the mobster.

"FUCK!" Said the mobster. He held his hand, which was surely busted with blood leaking from several places.

The hospital room bursted open as Harvey Bullock came rushing in. Looking to the side, he saw the Jazzman holding his bleeding hand. Quickly pulling out his gun, he slammed the butt of his gun against the man's head as he fell down onto the ground.

"Freeze, Jimmy! You're under arrest!" Said the heavyset detective as he aimed his glock onto the Jazzman.

The day was saved and everything was grand. Now all that needed to happen was-

"Bar… Barbara?"

...That…

The spectacled redhead widened her eyes and turned her head to see her father was waking up. "Dad! You're all right." She said with tears running down her cheeks.

Despite seeing the Bat was here, Bullock smiled in seeing the commissioner was awake before calling in security to escort the Jazzman out of the room.

Gordon moved his head a little and saw a darkened figure in his vision. He instantly recognized him as his old friend. "The bust… went down okay?"

Batman smiled as he answered. "Yes." Gordon tried to get up, but the Bat had to ease him back down. "You've gotta some rest now."

"Gotta… keep fighting." Said the commissioner as he placed his hand onto Batman's arm. "Never… stop. What I… try to live by." Moving it back into place, Gordon coughed to help clear his lungs. "Maybe if I'd been younger… I could've been like you." Looking at his daughter for a brief moment, he trained his eyes back at the vigilante. "...Always wanted to be a hero."

Batman couldn't help but chuckle a little as a smile seemed to be glued onto his face. "You are a hero, Jim. Always have, always will be."

-On the Streets-

In what felt like forever, Batman felt his spirit was renewed and with a purpose long thought was lost. He took his time in gliding through the air as he can't keep his smile down. When he landed on a random building, he looked down and rose a brow when he saw a certain teenager at the bus station. Swooping down to investigate, Batman slowly came up to the unsuspecting Wizard.

"Up to your old tricks, I see." Said the Bat, thus startling the teenager as he jumped in his spot before turning around. The vigilante then saw the teenager had a suitcase on hand. "How about returning that suitcase to its owner and return to the mission, Wizard."

The teenager held up his hand. "Hey, man, I am the owner." Bringing it down, he looked at the Bat as he sighed. "I… was kind of hoping I'd run into you." Batman rose a brow, causing Wizard to explain. "Look, I'd been in places like where you left me. Heard the rap, wasn't impressed." Looking away slightly, the teenager scratched his head. "But this time it made sense. Maybe I was ready to hear it and… made me think things differently."

"What do you mean?"

Wizard sighed. "I admit I never really liked you vigilantes, or at least some of the concept on the idea. Taking the law into your own hands to bring justice onto others blah blah blah. People have grown too used to you, in particular, as they think you'll be everywhere and save them." He shook his head. "If their hopes are too high up, it would be really hard when things come crashing down when they don't get saved."

Both the teenager and hero heard the bus horn go out, signalizing it was going to depart soon.

"Look, Bats, I had this whole speech prepared for and whatever, but I'm gonna miss my bus. I'm heading back home and I guess I kind of owe it to you. I bet you hear this all the time, but you saved my life and got me to rethink my life. It's time for me to go back home and restart my life."

Rushing towards the bus, Wizard briefly looked back and waved at the hero with said man returning the action.

When the bus departed from the scene, Batman heard a voice from behind him. "Seems your back on your feet again, Bats."

The hero didn't have to look over to see it was his friend standing not far away from him. "It seems so, Vanitas."

"Heard of what happened at the hospital and I'm glad you were able to save Gordon in time."

"Thanks." Walking away from the area, Batman asked a question. "Though where were you?"

"Picking up the slack you left behind on your brooding time." Was the response. "What? You thought there weren't other crimes going on in this city when you were gone?"

The Dark Knight rolled his eyes. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"Gonna head over and check on Gordon and Barbara before heading home." Said the helmeted hero. "It's been a long evening and time for me to punch out for the day." He formed his windlance and slowly took off into the air. "Have fun patrolling, Batsy."

The Dark Knight looked at his departing friend and shook his head. Pulling out his grappling gun, he fired at a nearby building before being lifted up into the air. Once high enough, he opened up his cape and gliding through the air to see what justice must be done to his city, his home.

For it is time for him to be apart of the Night once more.

-End Chapter-