This is a long story so do not come here expecting it to be 20000 words wrapped up neatly in 10 chapters. Also heads up there is major spoilers for the DCAU especially Justice League and Batman Beyond. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters related to DC Comics or the DCAU.

"Are you sure about this? It is in Gotham."

"Who cares Di! He forbidden the League to enter Gotham. We are going as private guests not League business!"

"That seems like the same thing…"

"Come on Di! Zatanna talked me into it, we need one more for the auction. Come on you are sure to jack up the price. Men would cut off their limbs to win a date with you!"

"But that's the thing, I am not comfortable letting myself be up for bid like I am some piece of property."

"Di, Superman did it once, and some rich bachelorette paid over 500 grand for it. Think how much it will raise for charity. Besides it is only one date."

"I don't know…"

Shayera sighed. She had been trying to convince Diana to join her as participants in a charity date auction. Zatanna was doing a favor to the foundation and the manager asked if she could get two more female Justice League members. Unfortunately most of the League's females were taken and Zatanna did not want to ask any of them to participate to face the wrath of their boyfriends. That left really only Shayera and Diana. Besides Shayera wanted to make a certain man who was not her boyfriend jealous…

"Look Di, you need to get out more. Ever since Bruce resigned…"

Diana shot Shayera a glare that told Shayera to stop heading direction. Shayera however was also stubborn and held her ground.

"Diana! Bruce has left to brood in Gotham. We have tried to talk to him but he will not budge. Maybe if Alfred was still alive we would have a chance but now he's all alone. Let him brood!"

"What does Bruce have to do with this?"

"Come on Di, we all know Bruce broke your heart the day he resigned and then he rejected you when you tried to go talk to him the next day. The man is an asshole whether you admit it or not. It is not worth the trouble to be moping after him. In fact it would be good to get back at him by attending this auction on his home turf."

Diana sighed in her head. Shayera was right. She had been very anti-social the past year and a half. She tried to blame it on being busy but that was not true. She was trying to recoil from the aftermath of a broken heart. Some Amazon warrior she was, crying over a man. A selfish, cruel, brooding man. That was enough to invoke some Amazonian pride into her.

"Fine I will do it. On one condition."

"What?"

"You help me pick out a dress."

Bruce Wayne sighed as he continued to look over the reports from the previous board meeting. It was already bad enough that Lucius retired last year, now with Powers and his young son Derrek trying to aggressively insert themselves into his company, there was a lot of stress. Desiring an outlet to diffuse the stress he got up to stretch. From his office windows he could see the sun was beginning to set in Gotham. That could mean only one thing; his other job would start soon. In fact it was becoming more his real job. With Tim under care, Alfred dead, and all other ties with his friends severed, the only real outlet Bruce had left was Batman.

"Maybe I should retire as Bruce Wayne early, I got enough to keep me going until some punk gets lucky," he thought to himself somewhat hopefully. But then reality slapped him the face like cold water.

It would be foolish to retire now. Without monitoring things directly, some rookie might uncover the link between Bruce and Batman and that would lead to a whole horde of questions. It would be better to let things run course. Keep the status quo until he died. At least that was what he hoped for, he die on the job instead of getting too old and sick to continue on.

His own musings were interrupted by a buzz on a radio. It was his secretary Patti. Bruce liked Patti when he first hired her because ehe was intrigued by her very diligent attitude, loyalty, and unbroken optimism when he met her a few years ago. Now he found it annoying as he was slowly withering away.

"Mr. Wayne?"

Bruce groaned and pushed the button as he spoke, "Yes Patti, can this wait?"

"I am afraid not Mr. Wayne. The Heartridge foundation called, they said they were wondering why you have not RSVP'd yet. You have attended it for the past 15 years."

Bruce groaned inwardly, the Heartridge Charity was one of the few social events he actually enjoyed. Bob Hastings, the founder, was one of the few elites of Gotham Bruce could tolerate. He would feel bad if he did not go. At the same time, though he had a lot of stress on his plate.

"I do not know Patti, I have not been feeling too well…"

"With all do respect Mr. Wayne, you need to get out. You have been living under a rock the past year. The tabloids are going crazy with rumors."

"You know I do not care what they ever said about me."

"For Christ sake Bruce! You need to go out for once and the Heartridge can use your support!"

In all his life, Bruce never heard Patti lose control like that, let alone call him by his first name. She was all about professionalism. Had he really been that big of an ass that even his secretary was telling him off?

Deciding she won this round Bruce relented, "Fine I will make an appearance and bid on the highest prize. See if Cyndi is free."

"First off, she said she never wanted to see you again Mr. Wayne, and secondly it is a charity date auction. Would it not be a little tacky to bid on a date when you have one?"

Bruce chuckled to himself. Now he remember why he hired her, she was always keeping him out of trouble like that.

"I suppose you are right. Tell them I will be coming and I will be spending lots of money."

Patti had hung up as Bruce began to pack up his office; there was no point working anymore, especially when he had work to do tonight.

Batman sat on by his favorite gargoyle, overlooking the Iceberg lounge. Penguin was supposedly a new leaf now and seemed to permanently give up crime. That did not stop Batman though for checking up his old friend once in a while. Besides he needed sometime to clear his head. He was having the most difficult case as of yet.

A week ago, a body was found at Gotham University. It was a professor of Ancient Greek Mythology. Apparently he had ordered something very valuable to be put on display in the university because there was an empty crate next to his body. However the university had no record of the professor purchasing any artifact with university funds. That meant two things to Batman; either the professor bought something off the black market and someone he out bidded killed him over it, or it meant that the professor had some wealthy benefactor who double crossed him.

Either way, the case got more complicated when the Old Gotham Church was broken into. A nun on duty was slain, killed almost in identical fashion to the professor. Once again nothing seemed missing, except there was a large empty crate next to the body, addressed to the church. The monsignor told the police the nun had ordered some medieval chalice from some saint from Rome to be put on display during All Souls Day next month. However, the Vatican had no record of any purchase but did report that the chalice was missing. Whoever was behind this, obviously had some interest in religious artifacts.

If he was superstitious he would say it could have something to do with some higher power. But Bruce rejected the notion. He had met gods before, but he saw their limitations. They were flawed like any human. He did not necessarily denied the existence of an all powerful God, he just felt that God did not give a damn.

So that left with a thief with interest in religious artifacts, which is why he was perched on the roof watching the Iceberg lounge since it was right next to the Gotham Natural History Museum. Whoever it was, they most likely strike there next. There was a boundless supply of ancient ceremonial objects that the odds seemed likely the thief would strike there next. So the past few nights Batman had been sitting on the same spot, crime had been slow lately so he had nothing better to do.

It was not like he had anything to do afterwards either. He had no family left.

Family.

That word would always bring up pain to him ever since his parents died. All he had was Alfred. Then Dick, Barbara, and Tim came along. Together they seemed like they could form a family even if dysfunctional. ..

"No. You were a fool to think that. Look where you are now," scoffed the Bat's voice in his head.

Dick and Bruce's fragile relationship had completely fallen apart; the two could not even be in the same city with each other. Barbara, he pushed her away and broke her heart. Worse he took away the mantle of Batgirl from her, her own pride and joy. She resented him for that now. Tim. Tim was still in a mental hospital. Dr. Tompkins was trying her best but she was making no progress in the past year. Batman did not really form any contact with Tim, against Leslie's wishes. He could not afford word getting out that Tim had a mental breakdown and still thought he was the Joker. That would raise too many questions.

Alfred never forgave him for that. He remembered Alfred chiding him that Tim was still his son regardless of his mission and Tim needed him. But Batman did what he did best. He pushed Tim away. And by that, Alfred too. Alfred died soon after that. He went on a trip to England and contracted the flu and died very quickly. Bruce regretted that he and Alfred never had the chance to make it up before he died.

But that is how it always was. HE was the Night. He was vengeance. He was the Batman. Everyone he knew would eventually die or fade away from his life. Thwere was no point of family and no point of friends.

Friends.

Now that was a word to him almost as alien as family. As Bruce Wayne he was always a loner. He could only count two maybe three people he knew as Bruce Wayne as friends. The rest were nothing but a bunch of phonies willing to suck up to be part of Bruce Wayne's own prestige.

As Batman, well Batman was not known to have any friends. He only had colleagues, none of which he trusted. Sure there were a handful that he respected but other than that, he was alone, no friends or companions.

"That's not true," another voice said accusatory in his head. "Even as Batman you were never alone."

Batman sighed, the voice was right. There were Jim and even Harvey Bullock, his two strongest allies on the police force. But Jim retired a few months ago and Harvey transferred to Metropolis. Needless to say, Batman never received as warm of reception from the new GCPD.

Poor Dent. His first true friend on the side of the law besides Gordon. Now one of his most hated enemies. And that was all his fault.

Then there were the others. The Justice League. Whether he liked to admit it or not, he had some friends there, especially among the founders. He always found Clark as too idealistic but he was nonetheless inspired by him. He would never admit it, but he always felt inadequate that he would never be as good as Superman.

The rest of the League was not so bad. He was good friends with the rest of the founders, even Wally and Shayera. There were a few other members of the League like Etrigan, Green Arrow, and the ever enigmatic Question. But they were gone, all gone. The minute he resigned from the League he had pushed them all away for good. He made sure to put an order to the League to never step in his city, lest they will have the Watchtower and Metro Tower destroyed. Both were funded by the UN now, but he designed the schematics. Of course Batman would never actually follow thru on the threat but the message was clear, Batman and the League had parted ways for good.

He had not talked to any of them in over a year. Clark attempted to a few times but gave up after he threatened to lace his food with kryptonite and bringing up Lois not loving him as Clark. He felt bad for what he said but it was for the greater good, no one was allowed to get close to him, he was meant to die alone with no friends and no one to love and grow old with.

That forced Bruce to go on the next topic;

Love.

Out of all the things that seemed alien to him, finding love was probably the biggest. When he started to plan to become Batman and Andrea broke his heart, he knew right away he was supposed to be aloen forever, no one could get close to his heart.

As if on cue the voice in his headed chided him again and a slew of rebuttals flashed across his mind. He remembered being overjoyed when Andrea came back thinking he would finally get some happiness, but she was far gone like him, doomed to be alone. Talia, Talia Al Ghul. He was not even sure if she was still alive. Her father had died or been gravely injured in their last confrontation, there was no hope for mending that relationship. Zatanna, the more he thought about it, the more he wished he could have changed the past. They probably would have had a chance to work out. But they decided to remain good friends nothing more. In fact it was probably why Zatanna was the only member in the League he allowed in Gotham and actually still had limited contact with on occasion. But still their relationship was tested and strained.

Lastly came Selina. She was an incredible woman. One minute he wanted to arrest the next minute he was pinning for her like a puppy. Catwoman really knew how to tweak his heart. Soemtimes he fantasized that if she gave up her lifestyle they would finally work out. He really did love her. But it was all an illusion, even if Selina wanted to become a new leaf, they would never last long together. He did not need someone just like him, a lost soul in the darkness. She would not be there to stop him and in fact more likely encourage him to cross the line.

Those were all the people in his life, and most of them he would never see or hear from again. That was his fate, to fade away into anonymity while his friends and family lived happier lives and make their own legacies.

Interrupting his thoughts a car backfiring caught his attention. He had been losing his focus again. It seemed to be happening a lot lately. His body was not just weakening but his mind as well. Of course he would never admit it, but he knew he was losing his edge. In attempt to regain his bearings he slowly looked around minding his surroundings. Something caught his eye to his right, something that seemed out of place.

It was another stone gargoyle, lying next to him. Unlike the one he crouched on, this seemed a little sturdier and newer, as if someone had remodeled it. It did not take long for him to remember what happened. An interesting roof top conversation with a certain Amazon had resulted in the gargoyle being crushed.

And for the umpteenth time, a flood of memories came back to him.