Author's notes
Hello people, I just want to take a minute to thank Oni Rinku for letting me steal- err, 'borrow' the idea for this story. Now that thats out of the way, enjoy!
"Were here Master Bruce." Comes the familiar voice of Alfred Pennysworth, the faithful butler to Bruce Wayne. The older gentleman stops the limo at the curb, and Bruce Wayne, its owner, steps out, and takes in the sight before him. A large court house, not unlike the ones back in Gotham. Only thing is, this isn't Gotham. Sure, the Cities are similar enough. Both are fairly large Cities, two of the largest in the whole country actually. But even so, both are still hopelessly over populated. Their both the business centers of some of the most powerful companies in all the world, Wayne and Stark industries being two prime examples. And finally, both of them are home to some of the absolute worst people to ever be born. Criminal scum. That, both Cities were abundant in. And Bruce knew that all to well...
"Master Bruce, are you all right?"
"Huh? Wha-o-oh, Alfred... yeah, I'm ok." Bruce says as he snaps out of his daze, only to go right back into it. Alfred sighs as he places a hand on his employers shoulder.
"Be strong Master Bruce. Don't do anything you might regret."
"Don't worry Alfred, I'll be fine." Bruce responds, before entering the court house. Alfred stands there, alone, staring at the ground. He has been so worried about Bruce lately, about his nightly escapades. Bruce was only 26, still early in his career as Batman. He had only started a year prior. Couple that, with the reappearance of Joe Chill, the man who killed Bruce's parents, and Alfred was starting to worry about his masters sanity. But that could wait, right now, Bruce needed closure. And thats just what he was hoping to get when he came here, to partake in Chill's trial. The bastard had killed again, two people this time. And old woman and her husband, leaving their nephew an orphan. The rage inside Bruce was nearly overwhelming, he could just barely hold it back. But all that changed when he saw Chill. As he entered the court room, and saw the figure of the man who killed his parents, Bruce lost it. The memories resurfaced at that moment, vivid flashbacks of the night his parents were killed right in front of him. Bruce's eyes burned with fury that he had never seen up until that moment, and he charged, ready to kill. He very nearly let out a battle cry to, as he ran for Chill. He couldn't control himself. Everything went red, he couldn't see, couldn't breath...
"Mr. Wayne, would you like to meet the boy?" Ms. Keller, the child protection officer asks. Bruce stops dead in his tracks, his vision restoring. He looks around, no ones seemed to have noticed him break into a mad sprint. Thank god. He turns around to meet Ms. Keller face to face.
"The boy?" He asks.
"Yes, the boy who Chill orphaned. I was told that you expressed interest in adopting him?" Ms. Keller asks. Bruce nods and tells her to lead the way. Unfortunately, they had to walk right by Chill, who was on the stands, to get to the back room where the boy was held. Bruce told himself mentally to restrain himself, calling on every ounce of will power he had not to strangle the man right then and there. Instead, he just stood up as tall as he could get, trying to become as imposing as possible, which actually was a lot, then shot Chill a glare that may or may have not caused him a mini heart attack. God he hated that man. But today was the day he'd see him behind bars. That thought was enough to give Bruce solace.
"Right this way Mr. Wayne." Ms. Keller spoke as she lead Bruce inside the small room. Instantly, Bruce noticed the small frame of a boy, no older then 10, sitting down, hiding behind a science book far to advanced for his age, and a pair of large glasses. To most people he seemed to be coping well, but Bruce could tell other wise. During his travels, he learned many things, one of those things being how to read people. And he could tell from the way the boy held himself, and the look on his face, that he was barely holding back tears. Bruce's hatred of Chill grew in that moment.
"Peter?" Ms. Keller asks. The boy, apparently called Peter, looks up from his book and stares at Ms. Keller.
"Yes Ms. Keller?" He asks.
"This is Bruce Wayne, the man we've talked about." Ms. Keller says as Bruce steps up. He tries to muster the best smile he can, first impressions are everything after all.
"Hey their, Peter. I'm Bruce." Bruce says as he extends his hand. Peter looks at it for a moment, before extending his own. The two shake, and Bruce is shocked at the fragility of the boys hand. Anymore pressure and his wrist was likely to break. The boy was obviously not a fighter. Though, judging by that book, he seemed to make up for it in brains.
"What'cha reading?" Bruce asks. Peter looks at the book, then back at Bruce.
"O-organotransition metal chemistry." Peter stutters. Bruce is taken aback by this.
"People in college barely understand that book." He says. "Do you?"
"W-well, most of it..." Peter says shyly. Bruce can't help the look of amazement that creeps onto his face. He was an advanced kid when he was young, but he wasn't reading books like that until he was 15.
"He's very advanced for his age." Ms. Keller pipes in. Bruce just looks at her for a moment, then back at Peter.
"He sure is..."
Peter is sitting on the floor, reading a book of some kind, while his Uncle Ben sits on the couch reading the paper, and his Aunt May in the kitchen.
"Dinner's ready!" She calls. Peter jumps up excitedly, and runs into the kitchen, shortly followed by his Uncle Ben.
"I made your favorite." May says happily as she sets the dish in front of Peter.
"Oh boy! Thanks Aunt May!" Peter nearly yells as he grabs his fork and starts eating. Ben just chuckles as he takes his own seat.
"You've got quite an appetite today, don'cha sport? You been hitting those books pretty hard eh?" Ben asks. Peter simply shrugs, which only causes Ben to laugh again, and he is shortly joined by May. Yes, it truly does seem like this is the perfect family. Unfortunately for them, they don't live in a perfect City.
"Oh Ben, do you hear that?" May suddenly asks. "It sounds like police sirens!"
"Oh come now May, is there ever a moment when we don't hear police sirens in New York?" Ben asks.
"Well they sound awfully close by, as if... as if their just outside." May says worriedly. Before Ben can respond, theres a frantic knock on the door, so loud and heavy, it threatens to knock the whole thing down.
"Ben! The police must be at the door!" May nearly screams. At this point, Peter had stopped eating and was now starring at the door worriedly.
"Relax May, I'll handle it." Ben says as he goes to the still thumping door.
"Is there a problem offic- BANG!"
"OH GOD BEN!" May screams as blood flies everywhere, staining the carpet and ruining the couch.
"U-Uncle Ben!" Peter asks.
"Shut up and don't move." The man with the gun says as he approaches May.
"OH GOD! OH GOD, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BEN!" May screams as she rushes to her husbands side.
"I said stay put!" The man yells at her.
"Chill! We know your in there! Come out with your hands up!" A voice comes from outside, but is quickly drowned out by May's sobbing.
"I-I said s-shut up!" The man stutters, obviously panicked. But May does no such thing, as she kneels at her husbands side, sobbing. Then, suddenly, the sobbing stops.
"Aunt May!" Peter screams as she to, crumples to the floor. The man stands there shaking, his gun smoking, before he turns to Peter.
"Sorry." He mutters as he pulls the trigger again.
"And then what happened?" The prosecutor asks Peter as he sits at the stands.
"T-then, he pulled the t-trigger on me." Peter stutters. "But th-there were no b-bullets left, so I only heard a click. Right after that, the police broke in and arrested him." The prosecutor stands there, obvious sadness in his eyes. The boy was completely broken, everyone could see that.
"No further questions." He says lowly as he turns around, looking at the jury. Peter gets up, and takes his leave, back to the back room. Bruce sits in the jury, biting his lip, anxiousness taking him over. He couldn't take his eyes off Chill, the fury in his stomach raging like a fire. But he can't do anything rash, he has to stick by the books for this one. Chill will get whats coming to him in time.
Author's notes
And thats chapter 1! Hope you enjoyed it, and make sure to review! Again, I'd like to thank Oni Rinku for being so cool about me using his idea. Thanks dude!
REVIEW!