Day Before The Knight


3:15 pm, October 15, 1978

Bruce Wayne, a bright young lad of 8, runs about the grounds of Wayne Manor with a flashlight in his pocket. His parents are busy at the moment, preparing for a Halloween Costume Charity Party they would attend later that evening. Dr. Thomas Wayne, Bruce's billionaire father, was to be the guest of honor, and his costume would be a blue-colored "bat-man". Bruce's mother, Martha Wayne, would dress as a southern belle. Bruce had asked his father not to wear the costume because bats frightened him.

Thomas reassured his son that the bats were more frightened of him than he was of them. Bruce's fear of bats resulted from an accidental fall into the garden well one day. He had hit the bottom of the well, and saw a dark, hollow opening. The chattering noise made him nervous, and the swarm of bats that emerged from the opening scared little Bruce to no end. Since then the young Wayne had been afraid of bats and anything that reminded him of them, especially his father's Halloween costume.

It also didn't help that Thomas was too distant from his son. Not distant as in he was several miles away, distant in emotional terms. Thomas Wayne wasn't always a father who was there for his progeny. Oh he would try to spend more time with Bruce, but never a moment's rest when you're the head of a business called Wayne Enterprises. Not to mention he spends a lot of time working as a doctor at Gotham General, giving more kindness and generosity to his patients rather than his own heir.

This day, Bruce gets to stay home while his parents go out to attend the charity ball. As he's wandering the grounds, he finds the familiar garden well. As afraid as he is of the bats, he's curious as to what else the cave can show him. Thomas ordered him to never go into the cave, and like any child, Bruce is inquisitive enough to disobey his father and go see why.

The young Wayne looks down the well. He can faintly see the green moss on the rocks at the bottom of the dark hole. Using the white, stone bricks built into the well's sides, Bruce climbs down to the bottom where he finds the tiny hole that is the cave's entrance. Nervous, he pulls back some of the rocks to make the opening big enough for him to crawl through. With the last rock out of the way, Bruce sticks his head into the darkness and moves forward.

Eyes adjusting, he sees a large cavern ahead of him. It's finally big enough for him to walk on two feet, he gets up and pulls out the flashlight, flicks the switch and things are more clear for him. He hears bat noises and decides to keep the light low, else they come down and frighten him again. Further ahead, his eyes catch something he didn't expect.

A marble headstone in the middle of the cave floor. The stone reads, "Here Lies Kal-El, the last son of Krypton". Underneath the reading, an "S" inside a diamond shape is shown.

'Who is Kal-El? What is Krypton?' Bruce ponders.

The young Wayne had heard that most ghost stories revolved around a gravesite, and now that he was at one under his own house, filled with animals that scared him, he thinks that it's time to turn back.

But as he turns, he notices a shape around the corner of the cave. He moves in to inspect it. It appears to be a rocket-shaped crystal of sorts. It's base sitting on the ground with the tip pointing upwards.

'Why would Dad have this in here?' Moving closer, the Wayne heir takes in the sight of the crystalline craft. An dark opening is shown in it. It is a couple feet above Bruce, so he climbs it to see what's inside it. He reaches the opening and shines the flashlight into the hole to find what appears to be a passenger's seat, as well as crystals in sockets that were designed to hold them. Bruce touches the crystal on the far right and accidentally pushes it in.

The crystal rocket begins to vibrate and hum, causing Bruce to fall on his back and drop the flashlight. He grabs it and turns it toward the vibrating crystal. The humming noise gets louder. A small, red light appears at the tip. Bruce watches at the light beams down at him in a thin red line. The line moves up, starting at his feet, flashes his eyes with the light, and ends its escalation at top of his head. The light then turns green, and moves down to base of his shoes.

'What was that?' Bruce wonders as he picks himself off the ground. He grabs his flashlight and makes his way towards the entrance to the cave. 'I hope Dad doesn't found out about this. But now I have more questions than answers. Who is Kal-El? What is Krypton? What was that crystal thing? And why are any of those things in here?' Going back the way he came, Bruce could hear the sound of bats. They are probably stirred because of the crystal ship acting up. Normally the sound of bats would make Bruce nervous, but for some reason, he doesn't feel as scared of them as he usually would.


5:00 pm, October 16, 1978

What a day it had been! School had passed like the fall leaves blowing in the wind. For Bruce Wayne, today was different. And the difference mainly revolved around him.

In class, whenever the teacher would ask him a question, he would answer correctly, even though the answer was something he had only caught a glimpse of before or didn't usually remember. In gym class, Bruce ran faster, and when someone asked him to lift something, he lifted it with apparent ease. As the kids left school that day, Bruce saw Alfred and the limousine, and jumped over the steps. As he jumped though, he almost felt like he was flying.

Now, with school being done for the day as of two hours ago, Bruce sits at his family's table, with his silverware in front of him, waiting for his parents to come in and have dinner with him.

Many things are on the young Wayne's mind at the moment, 'Today felt great, but I feel different. I was a lot faster than the other kids, and stronger too. Something about the sun felt good...very...energizing. But I'm worried. What if Dad finds out that I disobeyed him? What will he do? What will I do? And why were those things in that cave in the first place?'

Bruce is interrupted from his fast thoughts when his parents enter the room. Thomas sits opposite his son while Martha sits between them. Thomas puts his elbow on the table with his chin on his knuckles, thinking hard about something. He looks at Bruce, but immediately turns his gaze away, almost as though the latter reminded him of something bad.

"Hello Bruce." Martha smiles to her little boy.

"Hi Mom." Alfred brings in the dishes and places them in front of their respective eaters. Bruce looks up from his plate. "Dad?"

"Hmm?" Thomas lifts his head and looks at Bruce.

"How are you doing today?"

"Well Son, I've got a lot on my mind."

'You're not the only one, Dad.'

"You see Bruce, I...I haven't...what I mean to say is...I'm upset."

"With whom...?" Bruce is nervous. 'I hope he hasn't found out about me going into the cave.'

"I'm upset with a lot of things, but mainly with myself."

This made Bruce almost forget what he was nervous about. "Why are you upset with yourself, Dad?"

"You see...the thing is..." He sighs. "There's no easy way to put it, Son. I failed."

"Hmm?" This perplexes the young Wayne, as he doesn't think his father is the kind of man who would fail at anything. "What do you mean?"

"Bruce, a long time ago-before you were born-I made a promise to someone. A man whose entire home was doomed."

"Why?"

"That is...complicated. The point is, I told that man that his son would have a chance if he lived here. Your mother and I were going to adopt that boy, but because of an accident, he died before he could get here." Thomas looks as though he's on the verge of tears, but trying as much as he can to hold them back. Martha looks down with her eyes closed in solemn way.

Bruce is beginning to fit pieces together in his mind, but there are still a few things he needs to find out first. "Dad, what was that boy's name?"

"His name was Kal...from the El family."

Now more pieces of the puzzle are apparent to the Wayne heir. The little boy his father is talking about is the one buried in the cave. 'That's one mystery solved, but I should probably save finding out what Krypton is later. For now, I should change the subject, unless I want him to find out about my adventure into the cave.'

Thomas regains his composure after a minute. "That failure has haunted me all these years, Bruce, and it has affected my relationships with others, especially you son. I understand that I haven't been the best father in the world, but I'm going to make it up to you, Bruce." Martha looks up at her husband with a smile, while Bruce looks at his father in confusion.

"What do you mean Dad?"

"I know you like swash-buckler heroes, so I've arranged for all of us to go and see a film about one, together."

This made Bruce feel better. "Which one are we going to see Dad?"

"A re-airing of the 1940 film, 'The Mark of Zorro', at the Gotham Theatre." Thomas pulls out three tickets and waves them for all to see.

"That's great Dad! When can we go?" 'I hope we can go tonight. Please be tonight?'

"We can go after dinner tonight if you want." Thomas smiles.

Bruce can't contain himself. "YEAH!" He gets out of his seat and jumps with excitement. The only thing odd about this jump in particular is that Bruce jumps higher than normal, as in a few feet. When he hits the floor, he sees his parents staring at him in bewilderment.

"Bruce, Dear, are you feeling alright?" Martha gets up and checks her son out to see if he's alright.

"I'm fine Mom. In fact, I feel really good today."

"Well, if you say so Bruce. We'll go to the theatre AFTER we finish dinner, alright?" Thomas puts the tickets back in his pockets. The three Waynes attend to their dinner, with the youngest one having the most determination to finish everything on his plate.


8:19 pm, October 16, 1978

The Waynes depart from the movie theatre.

"Well, Bruce, did you like it?"

"It. Was. AWESOME! Thanks Dad! I had a great time. You are the best Dad in the world."

The three of them look around, Alfred and the Limousine are nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Alfred, Dad?"

"Yes, Thomas, where is he?"

"He's probably around somewhere, we just need to find him. Alfred can't be too far from us."

They walk around the block, still no sign of Alfred. The Waynes turn down a dark alley, as it appears to be a shortcut to the next street. A simple-looking man comes around the corner. He walks up to the Waynes and as soon as he's with two feet of them, he pulls out a small, silver revolver and points it at Thomas.

"Wallets, jewelry. Come on, fast!"

Thomas puts his hands up. "That's fine."

"Fast!"

"Take it easy. Take it easy."

Bruce clings to his mother for protection as he sees the gun in the man's hand tremble.

Thomas pulls out his wallet. "Here you go."

The man immediately tries to take the wallet out of Thomas's hand, but it drops to the ground.

"It's fine. It's fine."

The man slowly kneels to the ground to pick up the wallet.

"Now just take it and go."

The mugger sees Martha's necklace. "I said jewelry."

Thomas gets in front of his wife. "Hey-" He doesn't get to finish his sentence, because the bullet in the man's gun ends it for him. Mr. Wayne falls to the ground while Martha screams for her husband.

"THOMAS!" She kneels down to see if he's alright, but the mugger pulls both her necklace and the trigger. Mrs. Wayne falls down face up and eyes closed.

"See you around kid." The mugger takes both the Waynes' wallets, as well as Martha's now torn up necklace, and begins to walk away.

Bruce for his part is scared, but also seething with rage. He's on his knees, his angry eyes focused on his parents' killer, with his arms to the side, fists clenched. "You!" The mugger turns around to face the young Wayne. "YOOUU!" Bruce shouts at the man. His vision has turned red as he feels a heat released from his eyes. The mugger begins to burn all over, flames lit on every part of his exterior.

"AHHH!" He screams in pain and terror.

Bruce, however, is now scared of his new "heat vision". "MOM! DAD! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOOOPPP!" Bruce covers his eyes with his hands, but the heat still leaks through.

With what little strength he has left, Thomas reaches up and touches his son's arm. The "heat vision" turns off, and Bruce turns his attention towards his dying father.

"Bruce, it's okay." Thomas clutches his son's hand. "It's okay. I'm...sorry...for not...being there...for you...but...know this...Son...I love you, Bruce."

"Dad, please! Don't leave me!"

"It's okay...it's okay..." Thomas closes his eyes one final time.

For Bruce, it's not okay, not by a long shot. He just now lost the two most important people in his life. The man who took them from him now lies on the ground, writhing in pain, and most likely won't make it through the night. The young Wayne now sits on the concrete, eyes bloodshot from tears. He wants to go home now, but now home will never be the same.

'Why...why...why couldn't I save them. I have these powers, but it's too late to save them...it's too late...' The tears of a young boy fill the night.


Author's Note:

"But when you're making a Batman, genetics is only part of the story, the rest is tragedy."

- Amanda Waller, Justice League Unlimited, episode # 26, Epilogue.

Hope you liked this chapter. I had to mix planning and brainstorming to get it here. I hope you noticed that at times his mind seemed fast. I read somewhere that an aspect of Superman is that his mind races, a little something that I can relate to as well.

Please review.