Melanie stared down her pot absentmindedly, watching the water boil as she slowly rocked back and forth. She still had yet to change out of the clothes that had Robin's blood on it, and the temptation to find out who was behind the mask was driving her insane.

After a moment, Melanie ripped her shirt off, leaving herself in just her pants and a bra, gripping her blood-soaked blouse. She stormed over to her closet, which held her washer and dryer and chucked it inside, closing the closet as if it would somehow stop her mind from running in for.

Melanie rested her head against the closet, sighing quietly. She slowly returned to the kitchen, dumping her spaghetti noodles into the boiling water.

"Daddy, do you have ice cream?" Melanie's head snapped towards the wall, the voice of a little girl echoing in the hallway.

"Sorry, baby. I forgot to get some yesterday. But you're here all weekend, we can go down to Sweet Scoops tomorrow for lunch." Sterling's voice sounded much more gentle as he talked to his daughter, and Melanie could hear Sterling opening his door.

"When will it be fixed?" Katy asked. Sterling didn't answer, shutting the door. Melanie stared at the wall, listening to their conversation continue before turning to her spaghetti.

An hour later, Melanie could hear Katy laughing loudly from her spot on the couch. A small smile fell onto Melanie's lips before turning on the TV.

She sat there watching her favorite show for a long time. Supernatural only had a few more episodes until the season finale, and Melanie was far from ready. Melanie's gaze shifted away as the episode concluded, staring out the window of her apartment.

She had a near-perfect shot of the street that had been destroyed by Killer Croc. It was so close to her own home, and had Melanie's fearing she would lose something she just got.

Melanie grabbed her computer, pulling up pictures of the nights battle between Robin and Killer Croc. She could see the moment Croc had sliced Robin's arm, to watching him turn back into Waylon Jones.

A small smirk formed on Melanie's lips at how successful her neutralizer was. She knew that Gordon would want to talk to her in the morning, but until then, she could enjoy her victory.

•••

"Nyx to my office now."

Melanie stood nervously in front of James, who had a stern and unamused look on his face. "Instead of telling anyone in the precinct that you completed the neutralizer, you hand it straight off to Robin?"

"I couldn't risk anyone here getting injured." James stood up, his towering stature causing Melanie to sink into her skin.

"And Robin is any different?!"

"He's trained for fights like that!" Melanie argued, raising her brows as she waited for Gordon to respond. "None of us here have any weapon we could have used against Killer Croc. Our guns couldn't penetrate his skin, you know that."

James stayed silent, still glaring Melanie down. "Look, I get if you want to rip me of my status here. I went against your orders to tell you the neutralizer was ready." James nodded and Melanie, who stood a little straighter.

"But if there is even the smallest chance that I can keep someone like Sterling, or... Or Dick. Hell, even Harvey.  If I can keep any of them from risking their lives just to stab a fucking lizard, I'm going to do it."

"You confuse me, Nyx." Melanie's look dropped into confusion as James chuckled. "You give off such... mean, cold hearted energy when you actually care about the people you work with."

Melanie didn't respond to the comment and James sighed. "I'm assigning you a partner, Nyx."

"What?! I don't need a partner." She stated loudly, James raising a brow at her as if to say 'you wanna talk that loudly to me again?'

Melanie clamped her mouth shut as James raised a piece of paper. "Everyone in my station gets a partner no matter how much they complain about being able to do it themselves." James explained, lowering his paper. "Grayson's last partner left and he's been out a partner for a long time. You're replacing his previous partner."

"I'm not a replacement." Melanie argued, crossing her arms offensively.

"Whatever you want to call yourself, detective. So long as you add 'partner' to it." James slowly sat down at his desk, pushing his glasses up. "Grayson should be in his office, he'll catch you up to speed on a murder that went down before you got here."

Melanie stared at James for a moment before dropping her arms and walked out of his office. She stormed quickly down the stairs and towards Dick's office.

"Partner. Unbelievable. It's like no one trusts me to do things myself. God, you make one choice that saves so many people." Melanie knocked on Dick's door and waited a moment before walking in. "James sent me and—" Melanie stopped, frowning in confusion and looked around.

Dick Grayson was not where he was supposed to be.

•••

Dick tossed his mask away and slumped down in front of the bat computer, sighing heavily. Alfred walked down the stairs to the BatCave, stopping at the last step to watch Dick.

"Is something bothering you, Master Dick?" He turned around to face Alfred, whose brows were raised in concern. "You defeated Killer Croc once and for all, why do you seem upset?"

"Because I didn't want to do it." Alfred's concern turned into confusion and he walked closer to Dick, who stood up. "Melanie didn't tell me the neutralizer was a cure. As much as I hate to say it, Waylon getting his abilities stripped from him wasn't the best option."

"You think he should have... kept his powers?" Alfred frowned. Dick looked away from him, and Alfred sighed. "I know you don't believe that."

"I don't. But it felt wrong to take them from him unwillingly."

"You weren't aware of the consequences using that neutralizer. You did nothing wrong but take down a monster that has killed nearly one hundred people, Master Grayson. No matter how wrong you feel about it, you did the right thing." Alfred looked at the bandage wrapped around his arm, the missing sleeve sitting in the desk. "Let me look at your wound."

"Melanie already stitched me up. As much as I didn't want to, she's pretty insistent."  Dick picked up his sleeve. "But now I'm out of a sleeve."

"I'll fix this for you. There are fresh clothes in your bedroom. You can take a shower and I can give you a new bandage when you're out." Alfred took the sleeve gently from Dick, who sighed quietly and smiled.

"Thanks, Alfred." Alfred only nodded, walking away to where Dick assumed he was going to clean his sleeve.

•••

Dick washed the dark makeup off of his eyes, looking up in the mirror to see it was running down his cheeks like mascara after a crying session. He continued to wash his face, wiping the rest off with a towel before turning on the shower.

As he waited for the water to warm up, Dick walked back over to the mirror and turned to the side. His bandage was dirty with blood already, and slowly, he started to remove it.

He stopped as the bandage tugged from the dried blood, letting out a shaky breath before quickly removing it. Melanie had done a good and clean job with the stitching, which somehow surprised Dick despite knowing she had probably performed a countless amount of autopsies and had mastered the art of stitching people up.

Dick could hear Alfred opening the door to his room, walking in before leaving as quietly as he could. He glanced back to the mirror, replaying the moment he watched Killer Croc become Waylon again, the wave of guilt washing over Dick once more.

He didn't understand why he felt so guilty about it. Waylon had destroyed people's lives with his chaos, he deserved to have his powers stripped away from him. Maybe it was because Melanie didn't warn him of what the neutralizer would do.

He questioned himself if he would have still used it knowing what the serum was capable of.

•••

"Killer Crocs reign of terror has finally come to an end." The news reporter, Valarie Vale, stated as she stood in front of the street that Killer Croc had destroyed. "With casualties still being determined, it had been estimated that over 16 family-owned businesses have been brought to the ground by Killer Croc. Batman's very own sidekick, Robin, took Killer Croc on his own, defeating the reptilian monster and turning him back into Waylon Jones."

Melanie smirked as she ate her dinner at the couch, humming in victory as Valarie continued. "While we are unsure of what was used to subdue Waylon and return him to his human form, all we know now is that Robin has saved this city."

"With some help." Melanie grumbled, jumping when her phone rang. She picked up quickly, muting her TV. "Detective Nyx."

"It's Gordon. There's been another murder."

•••

"You know, when I'm told I can go home and relax, usually that means I can go home and relax. Not throw some latex gloves in and stand in front of a dead guy." Melanie complained to Gordon, who sighed heavily through his nose.

"Everyone wants to go home and relax, Nyx. But you decided to move to Gotham. So your job never ends." Melanie slowly turned to look up at Gordon, nodding.

"Terrific." Gordon shrugged, looking around with a frown. "What?"

"Grayson isn't here. Boone!" Sterling spun around on his heel quickly at the sound of his name. Melanie gave him a slight pout, knowing his daughter was probably home. Gordon waved him over. "Where's Grayson?"

"I don't know, you don't have me keep tabs on him." Sterling chuckled quietly and Gordon shot him a glare. His smile dropped, sniffing hard before pointing towards a building. "He said he was going to check out the body."

"Jesus Christ. Go wrangle up your partner." Gordon stopped at his words and Melanie let out a quiet snicker, pressing down on her lips.

"You uh... Want me to get my lasso?" She slowly looked up at Gordon, who was giving her a death glare. She continued to snicker, quickly running into the building.

Melanie stopped in her tracks, looking around at all of the blood on the ground and walls. There was a painting on the ground that had been split in half, and the victim sat between it, slumped over in his own pool of blood.

"Jesus Christ." She whispered, avoiding the blood and walked over. Dick was crouched next to the victim, examining his body as Melanie joined him. He smelled violently of some fancy soap, but given that no one else was making a comment of it, Melanie assumed it was just her meta abilities that were enhancing the scent. She knelt down as far away from Dick as she could, still being as close to the. odd as possible. She couldn't get very far from him.

"You know," Melanie started, turning to Dick as she tried to keep her composure of the expensive cologne that started to waft up her nose from Dick's body. Dick glanced to her, then back to the victim. "Usually the CSI does the body examination and the detective searches for clues."

"I'm searching for clues on the body. And I thought you were sticking to detective?" Dick turned to Melanie, a serious look on his face.

"I still have the qualifications." Melanie commented, looking up at his hair. He had just gotten out of the shower.

No wonder he reeks of cleanliness. Melanie thought to herself, pulling out a tiny tube from her bag and popped it open. Dick watched her for a moment as she held it low to her face, inhaling quietly.

"The hell is that?" Dick asked, raising a brow and Melanie turned to him. "Smelling salts?"

"No. I can smell your fancy cologne and soap and it's giving me a headache. Dial it down on the sprits." Melanie complained. Dick frowned at her, turning away and smiling in amusement. His face dropped quickly, turning back to the body as Melanie slipped a pair of gloves on.

Dick watched as she carefully moved the dead man's head and checked the back of his neck. "What are you looking for?"

"Needle injection sites. But a lot of these wounds are defensive, so it probably wasn't another paralytic." Dick nodded slowly in understanding as Melanie moved the man's jacket. "So, you and I are partners now?"

Dick sighed heavily, nodding. "Yeah. Looks like it. What do you think so far about the vic?" Melanie raised the man's head, taking a look at his bruised and bloody face before shrugging.

"He's been dead for maybe three hours. Considering this is a meat shop, he was probably killed with a butchers knife, but the cracked skull might be from a mallet." Dick frowned in confusion and Melanie moved the man's hair. There was a large split on his forehead that reached to the middle of his head.

Dick gave Melanie a strange look. The man's hair was completely blocking the wound on his head, so there was no way she could have seen it. Not unless she was the murderer, but he knew she wasn't a killer.

A smart, mysterious woman that can create a serum to cure a psychotic reptile, maybe. But not a murderer.

"I'm going to have them send the vic to the coroner to find out what really killed this man. Are there any cameras?"

"No." Dick answered bluntly, standing up. Melanie frowned at him as she stood as well. "The cameras are fake, at least. There's only one camera in the office, but all they found was him pounding into his wife." Melanie looked down at the man and gave a nasty look, shaking her head.

Probably sold it to a porn site. Melanie assumed, looking around at the few other cops in the building. "Was anything stolen?"

"All the money in the cash register. There's a safe in the freezer that was busted open, so probably all the money in there, too." Dick lead Melanie to the back of the shop and opened the freezer, gesturing to the safe.

"Who keeps a safe in a freezer?" Melanie frowned, walking in. Her breathe immediately came out in a small puff of fog, Dick following inside, keeping the door propped open with a chair.

"I haven't found the murder weapon around here, or any evidence as to who could have done this." Dick complained as Melanie turned her flashlight on. She looked around the safe, opening it carefully and looked inside. She paused, setting her flashlight down to pull out a pair of tweezers from her case along with a small evidence bag.

"What did you find?" Dick frowned as she pulled out a small fuzz, looking up to him.

"Could be nothing. Could be the gloves the killer used. Butchers around here use plastic gloves when handling frozen meat so they don't contaminate it with fabric fibers." Melanie stuffed the fuzz into the bag, picking up her flashlight and waving it around once more. She looked around the rim of the safe, flicking her flashlight off when she didn't see anything.

"I'm going to take this back to my lab and find out what it's made of. It could narrow down what gloves the killer used and I hopefully... I can do a more thorough search." Melanie started heading towards the door, Dick following quickly behind her.

"Before you do that, I need you to take a look at something in the office." Melanie gave Dick an odd look before following him towards the office.

Dick opened the computer on the victims desk, pulling up the recent emails. "The victim had been getting emails from this account a month before his murder."

Melanie glanced to Dick with a frown, leaning down to read the messages. The sender had threatened the victim beyond words. Threatening his family if he didn't get a large sum of money by last night.

"Can you trace the emails?" Melanie questioned Dick, who shrugged.

"I could try. But I don't think I'd get anywhere. These emails are over a month old." Dick leaned against the desk, pausing quickly. Melanie could tell he was in a sudden pain as he stood up, reaching for his arm.

"You alright?" She asked Dick, giving him a suspicious look. He looked down at Melanie, nodding quickly.

"Yeah. I uh... Slipped and slammed my arm into a pole on my way here." Melanie listened to Dick's heartbeat as he spoke, hearing it skip. Her brows quirked, looking to his arm. His shirt was too loose to see anything, so she couldn't see if there was a bandage.

"Yesterday." Melanie said suddenly, and Dick turned to her. Melanie pressed her lips together, frowning. "Captain Gordon told me to tell you we were working together yesterday. And I went to your office and you weren't there."

Dick stayed quiet, nodding. "I assumed you just went home, but I feel like you're pretty strict with rules and shit. You would have told Gordon. Where'd you go?"

"Bathroom probably. Do I have to announce to the world I need to piss?" Dick shoved his hands in his pockets, and Melanie shrugged.

"You were in the bathroom for a while, then." Dick didn't answer, and Melanie shrugged, pulling out her phone. "Anyways, since we're going to be partners and not just two detectives that frequently see each other at crime scenes, might as well exchange numbers."

"Right..." Melanie handed her phone to Dick, who put his number into her phone before handing it back. Melanie texted him quickly after and he saved her number inti his phone.

"Great. Alright, I'll text you when I find out about these fibers." Melanie was quick to walk out of the office, leaving Dick alone and he watched her leave. He looked down at his phone, staring at Melanie's name on his phone.

Now he was just one step closer. He had her number, he could use that to find out more about her. Dick shoved his phone in his pocket, looking at the emails on the computer one more time before shutting it and walking out.