Bruce pocketed his knife inside its sheath on his utility belt after he had finished cleaning it off. The word 'never' which was etched across the blade had gleamed red only seconds ago with the tint of his blood. He hated doing this in the Justice League. There was always that nagging worry that someone would notice or smell the blood and ask him about it.

He would lie to them or tell them off of course. But, they were all superhuman, most of them, and no matter how long he had been doing this he never liked to do it around them, too many risks.

The Justice League waited patiently in the meeting room for the return of Batman. He had left claiming he had something urgent to handle and would return shortly which he assured meant less than one hour.

They had been seeing less of him over the last couple months which was no surprise considering his sunny disposition. Recently, he seemed caught up in something, probably a new threat in Gotham because this was not the first time he had kept them waiting this month. Besides that, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He was still the ill-tempered, people hating, pale looking bat. Batman returned and quietly took his usual seat around the table. Wonder Woman swore he looked whiter than before and shook her head slightly at her friends work habits. Superman could tell his breathing was more strained than before and noticed the slight smell of blood in the air.

He didn't ask what it was from though, could be anything in their business and Batman knew how to handle himself.

"Nice of you to swing by Bats."

"We have a meeting to discuss Flash. Leave your childish games behind." Growled Batman annoyed that he was being spoken to at all.

He had internally jumped at the address out of his paranoia over the issue. He sworn he would never do it at the league again.

"Ouch a little bite there. I was only saying."

"Flash, don't start you know how he gets." Wonder Woman warned which earned her a heated bat glare.

"Thank you Diana. Now let's get down to business." Superman spoke and dived into the reason for their gathering.

The meeting didn't take too long as there wasn't much to go over. When it finished Batman disappeared from the room as was his fashion. Diana decided staying afterwards wouldn't be a bad idea and walked over to Superman with only one man on her mind.

"So, how have you been?"

"I've been doing well and you?"

"Fine and Lois?"

"She's doing well also."

"That's good."

Clark smiled at Diana's small talk. It was obvious to him something was bothering her. She was just having trouble started that conversation.

"What's on your mind?"

"What makes you think something is bothering me."

"The small talk. Not that there is anything wrong with small talk but you usually have more of a purpose even if the purpose is casual."

"Okay you got me. Has Batman looked, well, worse than usually to you recently."

"Yes, I'm sure he will manage though. It's probably just some nuts in Gotham causing trouble for him all at once."

"Oh, I'm sure it is. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one reading into this."

"No. He'll be better by the time the next meeting swings around."

"I'm sure he will. If not we could always horrify him by offering our assistance."

Clark laughed as she playfully nudged at his side with her elbow.

"I bet he would love that."

A couple weeks went by till the League saw any significant activity but Batman decided to come in any way to update the security system he had been working on for the watchtower.

Although the idea was foolish on his part in his current condition, he couldn't rake up enough motivation to care. He needed something that engaged his brain because he felt too exhausted to go on patrol. For one week straight he had been at it every day.

This had happened before a couple months ago but he was usually able to control himself so it didn't happen as often. It humiliated him in ways he hated thinking about but he'd never stop, never. It was quiet at the watch tower and no one had noticed his presence yet.

He entered the main system's room and sat down in a huff to catch his breath. Once he regained some of his composer, he inserted his data CD to write and download the program into the system.

The whole process took longer than the usual job because he spent too much of it with his eyes ringing from concentrating too large with not enough blood to sustain his work. He vaguely heard the transporters go off but ignored them. He finished what he had planned for the night and stood up quickly.

However, when he did so a wave of nausea overwhelmed him and he had to throw out his hand to stop himself from falling over. It took about a minute for him to recover and when he did he slowly started making his way out the door and through the hall. He stopped hesitantly at the door to his room in the Justice League.

He had never really used it but would it be so bad to take advantage of it. There was a meeting the next day anyway.

He could just stay the night, attend it and go back to the manor. He slide open the door and dragged his feet into the room. He removed his utility belt and cowl, collapsed on the bed and fell asleep in a matter of seconds from exhaustion.

This time it was Superman who approached Wonder Woman before the meeting began. Although he looked fine she could still make out a slight line forming on his forehead.

"So, how have you been?"

"Fine, Clark. What's on your mind."

Superman sighed and shook his head.

"Remember what we talked about last time."

"About Bruce, yeah. Why did something happen?"

"Not that I know of. But I went here last night to check up on something and I could hear him working on the security."

"Nothing out of the ordinary there."

"He stayed the night and when I caught a glimpse of him he looked awful."

"Alright everyone." Aquaman called. "It's about time for the meeting to start."

The heroes stopped their chatter and slowly started making their way to their chairs. It was then they realized that one of them was missing.

"Man he's late again. Whenever I'm late you guys throw a fit."

"When you're late it's because you were fooling around, Barry." Hawkgirl snapped.

"Ouch, okay don't get your feathers in a rut."

"Guys please." Wonder Woman groaned feeling very much like a baby sitter.

"I'm calling him on his communicator right now to see what the situation is." Superman informed them.

Bruce shifted his gaze from the wall to the communicator on his belt that was going off. He had woken up late in the morning and simply never felt like getting out of bed. There was a heaviness over him that he couldn't comprehend. He had no desire to leave the mattress and even thoughts of his duty to Gotham meant little or nothing as he lay there alone.

On instinct, he reached across the bed, removed his communicator from his belt and flipped it open.

"Batman here."

Superman hesitated to answer because Batman's voice sounded so weak.

"It's Superman. What's going on the meeting should have started ten minutes ago."

Bruce's eyes now shifted to the digital clock that read 7:13. He knew the meeting had started but some part of him had hoped they would have ignored his missing seat. Now that he had been nagged he saw no reason to stay in the room it would only make them hate him more.

"Something came up I'll be there shortly."

Clark stared thoughtfully at his communicator as Bruce hung up. He heard him inside the headquarters. At first he had though he was confused but the second time Batman spoke he was certain he heard not only his voice on the phone but his voice coming from the direction of his room. He said nothing of it but as Batman entered the room.

He observed him carefully for any signs of an injury and he didn't like what he saw. However, it was not something to be dwelled upon at the moment so he quickly started the meeting. When it was over Batman vanished again and Diana flew over to him

"I'm going to go to Gotham." Clark said.

"What?"

"There's something not right going on. Maybe if I talk to Alfred he'll know what's going on."

"Alright, keep me posted. I want to know what's going on with our dark friend as well."

Superman tried to stay in the shadows during his visit to Gotham. He desired Bruce to be unaware of his visit as he observed the situation. Of course, if Batman was having too much trouble he would assist even if his help was unapproved. But, he wasn't here to track down a villain. He was there to help a friend. He listened carefully to the sounds of the city and homed in on a criminal about six blocks away.

"I hear word buzzin' around that the Bat has a weakness."

"What? The sun." Replied a mocking voice.

"Shut up. I've got a good notion to tell you nothin' now."

"Ah stuff it. Everyone's heard it already. Ya know what? How cares? Can't never get close to the bastard to make any use out of it. Let's just do our job. Enough of this shit."

Superman hesitated slightly hoping they would say more but when they didn't he quickly took the pair down, called the police, and left them for the guys to pick them up. He sincerely hoped they wouldn't be able to tell it was his handy work. So apparently Batman got hurt somehow and it was affecting his work. It made a lot of he got permanently hurt in some way he was most likely pushing himself twenty times harder then usual. But what could he say to him? Superman shook the thoughts off and decided to search the conversations of Gotham once more. He needed to know what the weakness was.

"Makes me wonder if they were snapped yeah know? Maybe one of the big guys like Two-Face or the Riddler did somethin'."

"Pass me a beer."

Superman shook his head. He wouldn't get much out of those two because he couldn't trust their intoxicated information. He moved to someone else.

"Have you got that looked at yet? It's been over a month and if you're still having problems..."

Superman's eyes widened as he realized who was speaking, Commissioner Gordon. Which meant the only person he could be speaking to was Batman. He felt bad listening in but he had an objective to accomplish.

"…maybe you should give them a rest for a couple days."

"There is nothing to look at. Crime doesn't rest Jim."

Gordon's voice got darker suddenly. "It's permanent isn't it? Not that it effects your ability, you've show this weakness hasn't effected your duty. How'd it happen?"

"It doesn't matter it will never go away. It's only a slight inconvenience."

He was surprised Batman responded. He thought the question would have earned the commissioner a growl and an empty rooftop. Gordon must have been surprised too because it took him longer to respond.

"Maybe you just haven't found the right doctor. If you can still work with your arms it must not be that bad."

"A doctor won't help this."

So there was something wrong with Bruce's arms? Maybe he shattered one and couldn't move it as much as he used to. He heard Gordon leave the roof and knew Batman had left. As he stared at the cloudy sky, he found himself wondering if the stars in Gotham ever shined at night. He had hoped Batman was having trouble with the city because helping him with it would be no problem. However, something medical changed things. But surely the medical abilities of the Justice League could help get Batman up to par again. Now he just had to go speak with Diana and plan the best way to approach him.

Batman disappeared quickly from Gordon. He had to get away because he couldn't stand speaking to him. Gordon had been laughing at his weakness. He had been mocking him as if he knew what was wrong with his arms, like he knew he did it to himself.

It's permanent he had said. Batman would never have the same vigor again and Bruce would never be that shinning public face again. He sat in the Batmobile and just staring out the window.

He had tried so hard to quit time and time again but it was hopeless. He laid his head back against the headrest and left his eyes open a crack. He meant to kill himself the first time. It was a strange impulse that seized him after weeks of internal misery in which he couldn't stand to appear as Bruce Wayne and wanted nothing more but to disappear from the world.

The spell he fell upon had crept up on him so suddenly that before he knew it he was growing cold with thick streams of warm, red liquid running down his arm.

He stared at the blood, fascinated that what was once considered the soul in ancient times was streaming down his arm. But, the realization hit him hard that he was dying. With a gasp he had clasped his hand over the wound and quickly covered it with a tourniquet.

That was the day he kicked Alfred out of the cave.

He couldn't let him see how much he had failed him. He couldn't let him patch him up from his vigilant activities and see a horizontal scar on his wrist. So he locked up the cave. Alfred never wanted to help him with Batman anyway. He saw it as some freak show activity. Just a crazy demented way for the billionaire to spend his time.

He removed his gloves and examined the cuts on his arm. Some of the cuts had broken open from a battle with a group of thugs and he would have to redo the bandages.

He could only imagine the face of every villain in the city laughing when they found out that the great Batman's weakness was the cuts he put on his own arm. He was tired, too tired. He got out his knife, ran his finger over the words never, and placed it back on his belt. The car roared to life and rolled steadily towards the Batcave.

He would never again try to take his own life. It was too selfish. Gotham needed him and death was the easy way out.

Diana waited peacefully at a city corner cafe for Clark to arrive. He had briefly told her that the problem was one that didn't require Superman ad Wonder Woman, only their connections. Thus, she decided to meet casually. She heard Clark walk in the restaurant before she saw him take a seat.

"Any other day I'd ask about Lois but I really just want to get down to it. I cannot believe you called me yesterday just to say 'hey I know the problem but you can't know right now because I'm too busy."

"Sorry, I guess I wasn't really thinking of it at the time."

"So, what's going on with Bruce?"

"Something happened to his arms. They have been weaker recently or sore and it's forcing him to change how he goes into situations."

Diana frowned.

"Why doesn't he just bring it up to the JL? Probably that damn pride of his as usual. So I guess we'll just have to drag him up to have Martian look at him."

"I was thinking more along the lines of waiting until the next meeting to jump him."

"Clark, I love the way you think."

Clark grinned brightly at her and ordered a large slice of apple pie with a huge piece of cheddar cheese on the side.

I was looking for a really emo Bruce story with his buddies and couldn't really find one I hadn't read already so I decided to write one.

BTW ~ depression(which Bruce has in this story) should never be taken lightly because you cannot wake out easily without help as it is a mental condition also cutting is very serious and should be helped immediately. It does occur in adults but most of the time is not caught as often as in teens.