Monolith

Chapter 3: Tim

Barry

As soon as Barry had heard about the murders in Metropolis, he'd sped over to see Clark. Only weeks after the recent invasion, a serial killer was not something Metropolis could weather. There was a reason why people joked about the stark difference between Gotham and Metropolis - murders like these were much more Gotham's style. They didn't belong in Clark's clean, bright city.

Despite the often gruesome nature of his job, Barry was glad to be a forensic investigator at times like these. This was closer to his area of expertise than Clark's.

Clark was glad for the help, if a little awkward at first when Barry showed up to his apartment. Supes needed to ask for help from time to time.

Because Barry was a kind and generous person, he brought pizza (and it was mostly all there when he arrived with it, which was something Barry felt people should appreciate more - a speedster sharing food was no small thing). It seemed to diffuse some of the tension as they pored over the limited information Clark already had, laid out in neat piles on his coffee table.

'It's impressive you have all this already, but what we really need are the police reports and whatever forensic evidence they've managed to get so far. This killer's a smart one.' Barry murmured, staring thoughtfully at the Daily Planet's headline from the day before, "Three Murdered in Less Than 48 Hours, Police Admit Possibility of Serial Killer".

Clark looked uncomfortable. 'Most of it's from Lois's article. I just collected what I could.'

Barry smiled at him grimly, then tried to cheer Clark up. 'At a time like this, all you can do is brainstorm and have more pizza.'

Clark smiled back at him, ever the optimist, but it didn't reach his eyes. 'We might have to get the Bat in on this one.'

'Are you sure?' Barry asked, a little nervous. Only because of the murders. Not because he still wasn't convinced that Batman wasn't an angry goth vampire. Barry was momentarily distracted from Clark's reply by wondering whether all vampires were goth by default, and he must have had a sheepish look on his face because Clark laughed at him.

'It's the only thing I can think of at the moment,' Clark sighed, 'unless you know how to hack into the Metropolis Police Department's case files?' He added hopefully.

'I'm decent, but I don't know enough to get in there. I imagine it's locked down as much as they can manage.'

Clark nodded. 'Probably Lex's fault they were forced to do that.' His lip curled.

Barry hummed, distracted again. 'Time for a league meeting?'

'Yeah, I think so. I have a feeling this case will get worse.'

*

The League looked a little restless where they sat. While the point of the League was to create backup for other heroes, it was unusual for Clark to ask for it (hypocrite, Barry thought, then immediately felt bad and grinned at Clark encouragingly, giving him a thumbs up).

Even more unusual was the case - Superman was seen battling giant robots and bloodthirsty invaders, not something like this. Something quieter, messier, colder. Sinister.

As Clark finished his little presentation of the information he already had, ending with a request for help, everyone turned to Batman as one.

Batman's usual stoic visage did not change.

Everyone looked back to Clark, silent and unsure. None of them were stupid, but detective work was one of the clear strong points of only one person at the table.