The various sounds of the precinct's night shift filtered into the office through the closed door. The only sound in the room was the rustle of paper and the faint scratching of Kate Lockley's pen.
The promotion had come as a surprise; ninety percent of the police force should have been far, far in front of her for this position. You didn't hand the newly minted position of Commissioner to a relatively young officer who'd moved to the city just a few years previously. To say nothing of jumping her over entire ranks to get her there.
It hadn't made sense, until she'd been told the whole story. That it had been her "oddness", that same stigma that had outed her from the LAPD that uniquely qualified her for this job. The city council and Mayor had recently been introduced to the existence of the things that went "bump" in the night and they had created a position in the police force to try and deal with it. And to keep it out of the public eye.
It wasn't that Kate had the seniority or experience, as a police officer, for the position, it was that she had at least some experience with the supernatural. Because the nightlife in Chicago added a whole new dimension to the job description.
She finished the report she was working on and was about to set it aside when a gravely voice spoke, saying, "Gra'th'rell is spelled with two L's."
She jumped violently. Her hand snapped down to where her service pistol would normally be, before her head caught up with her reflexes.
"Jesus," she breathed, glaring at the figure in the corner shadows. "Will you stop doing that! You're going to give me a heart attack."
"Probably not," he said, and she swore she could hear the faintest of smiles in the voice. "Your fitness rep. says you're in perfect health."
"And how would you know-" she stopped and rubbed the bridge of her nose, muttering, "Stupid question." Then she stopped her motion, frowned, and glanced at the closed window. Looking back to the corner he was standing in she asked, "How did you get-"
The corner was empty.
She twitched as a gloved hand reached past her from the other side to take hold of one of the reports on the desk. Now that he was right next to her she caught the barest whisper of noise from the material of his body suit.
"You know," she said, glancing upward at his partially masked face. "I think you take a sadistic pleasure in freaking out the people around you."
He didn't say anything, merely picked up a second report from the desktop.
She frowned and then jabbed her elbow sideways at his kidneys. As she'd expected, he casually blocked it with one hand, not even looking at her.
Sighing, she sat back and resigned herself to having his attention when he decided to give it.
It was strange, she reflected, that she was probably the only person in the city, aware that he existed, who wasn't completely intimidated by him.
Their relationship was, well, she wasn't quite sure how to quantify it. The only thing that came to mind when she considered it, was from a comic book: Batman and Commissioner Gordon. Her mouth twisted in a slight smile. In fact, with her recent promotion, the parallels were scary.
Commissioner Lockley and... whoever-the-hell he was.
In the three years she'd known him he'd never given her any name. It was frustrating sometimes. He knew everything about her, probably things she didn't even know about herself, and she didn't know anything about him.
Oh, she knew what he, did of course. So did the rest of the night-shift police force. There were a fair number of officers who owed their lives to him.
As near as she been able to nail it down, he'd started his nocturnal activities about two years ago. The drop in activity, both human criminal and supernatural, had been pronounced.
He dropped one of the reports right in front of her, grabbing her attention, and said, "This was a small group of Manes that had taken up residence in the steam tunnels. They've been dealt with. This," he dropped the second report on the first. "Is a hoax."
She arched an eyebrow at that. "Officer Abrams said-"
"He's wrong."
"Are you sure?"
The expressionless eyes of his mask met hers, and the uncovered lower half of his face gave away nothing.
After a moments silence she said, "Right."
He said, "When you send him back, tell him to look for the oscillator hidden in the foundations."
She picked up her pen again and made a notation on the report.
Anything we should know about happening out there?" she asked. "Apocalypse, vampire nest, demon summoning, evil ritual?"
"No."
He stood silently a few feet from her. It was something she still hadn't gotten used to. When he wasn't doing something, he didn't do anything. He was utterly still.
It just wasn't natural for a human being not to fidget.
But his humanity was one of the few things she was certain about.
Sighing, she sat back into her chair. Since her promotion it had become normal for her to get a visit from him every few days. Never at the same time or place, he'd just come out of nowhere and give her the update on the city's "nightlife".
Nice of him to keep the city government informed.
Since he was the one that got them involved in the first place.
There was a knock on her office door. She glanced at him. He didn't move and simply stared back.
She asked, "You gonna just stay there, or get outa sight?"
He didn't move.
"Okay."
She got up and went to the door. Cracking it open she found Detective Michael Murphy on the other side.
"Commissioner."
"Hey, Mike. What's up?"
"Got a few minutes? Some of the guys have a few thoughts on the training."
"Could you come back in a few minutes, Mike?" She jerked her thumb back into the room. "I'm talking to tall, dark and mysterious, here."
"Oh," his eyebrows went up. "You usual pow-wow?"
"Yeah."
"Okay." He started to turn away, then stopped. He said, "You mind telling him that Chen's wife wants his address?"
He must have caught her expression because he immediately grinned and elaborated, "She wants to send him cookies."
That drew a laugh from her. The image of the black clothed figure munching on a batch of chocolate chip cookies... oh, God. She half turned to look back into the room and said, "You hear-"
The room was empty.
She sighed. How the hell did he "do" that? Angel wasn't that good at it, and he was a vampire.
"Commissioner?"
She swung the door the rest of the way open, saying, "You might as well come in, Mike. He's pulled his disappearing act again."
Outside, Xander began to scale the outside of the building, the surface of his gloves designed to grip the concrete facing.
Truth be told, he would have like to have gotten a bag of Marie Chen's chocolate chip cookies. They were damn good. He'd swiped one off of Kate's desk the last time Miss Chen had brought a batch in.
As he hit the roof he pushed the Bat back, further down into his subconscious, and let his own self surface again. He always let his other persona come to the fore when dealing with people, particularly ones he dealt with as much a Kate Lockley.
Xander Harris could make a mistake.
The Bat wouldn't.
Ever.