Chapter Four: Problem Child and the Cure

And Then: Before and During the events of Batman: The Animated Series

Alfred was at his wits end. He couldn't find Bruce anywhere. That boy had been nothing but trouble for the last year and a half and he was tired of trying to chase him around the mansion. Alfred wasn't as young as he used to be, but he still should have been able to keep up with a ten year-old. Then again, the grounds Wayne Manor sat upon were vast which meant there we're numerous places to hide.

Alfred made his way down one of the corridors of the manor, holding a report card in his hand. One he wasn't too happy about. Granted he wasn't Bruce's father but until the boy turned eighteen he was his legal guardian which was enough for Alfred. Bruce must have known his report card had come in the mail and was the reason for his disappearing act.

After checking a few more rooms he decided to try somewhere else. For all he knew, Bruce had left the grounds entirely. This wasn't exactly a rare occurrence. Alfred knew that if Thomas and Martha were still alive Bruce probably wouldn't be acting up like this.

A few months after his parents death Bruce had begun to act out. Mostly due to the grief and the guilt that he felt for being so helpless. Bruce wasn't really that hard to figure out. Underneath all of his actions Alfred believed that all Bruce really wanted was to forgive himself. Until he could cope with his grief it was doubtful that Bruce would begin to behave. Even still, if Bruce didn't start to behave soon Alfred might have to do something drastic. Military school was starting to look like a good idea. He finally found Bruce sitting inside the door to his parent's bedroom. Seeing him sitting there made Alfred momentarily forget his anger. It was hard to believe two years had already passed since the two had been murdered.

"Master Bruce." Alfred said getting Bruce's attention.

"What do you want?" Bruce asked.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About this." Alfred held out the report card for Bruce to see.

"Yeah, so what?"

"You're failing most of your classes. You're disrespectful to your teachers. You skip school, get into fights, broke a student's nose last week, need I go on?"

"I don't care Alfred."

"You should." Alfred's voice had taken on an angered tone.

"Why?"

"Because it's your education, your future."

"Then you can go to school for me."

"It doesn't work like that Master Bruce."

Bruce stood up and stormed down the hallway. "Why do you care so much? I don't anymore."

"I care," Alfred said, grabbing Bruce by the shoulders and spinning the boy around to face him, "because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in the whole world."

For a moment Bruce's expression softened but it hardened back up real quick. "Caring gets you nowhere."

"Neither does anger."

Bruce broke free of Alfred's grasp and ran down the hallway. "Yeah! But it makes me feel better!" He yelled.

Alfred sighed; there was just no getting through to him. He decided it was time to make the phone call he should have made months ago.

One week and three visits to the principle later, Alfred was relieved to see the blue '68 Ford Mustang pull up the drive to Wayne Manor. The vehicle stopped in front of the manor and a young man wearing dark blue jeans, black boots and a black t-shirt got out of the car.

"I'm so glad you could come." Alfred said. He went over and was going to start unloading the car.

"Leave it Alfred, I can get it. Why didn't you call me sooner? You know I would have come."

"I thought I could handle him myself."

"Apparently you were wrong."

Alfred nodded in agreement. "Master Aré -"

"Just Aré. You know I don't like this 'master' stuff."

Alfred smiled. "Of course."

"So where's the little darling?"

"He could be anywhere. Last I knew he was in his room." The two went inside the mansion in search of Bruce.

They found him coming down the main staircase. He walked right by them and straight out the door. "Well hello to you too." Aré said sarcastically. He and Alfred followed Bruce outside.

"Master Bruce. There's someone I want you to meet."

Bruce didn't even turn around. "Hi, bye."

"Master Bruce!"

"It's alright Alfred." Oh yeah, this kids going to be a world of fun.

"I'm going out. I'll be back whenever I feel like it." Bruce said.

"You most certainly will not. You have homework that needs to be done." Said Alfred.

"Who's going to make me do it Alfred? You? Ya know what, if you want it done so badly why don't you do it?" Bruce threw over his shoulder.

Aré looked from Bruce to Alfred and back again. "Okay, that's it." He stormed down the road after Bruce. He grabbed Bruce by the arm and brought the boy to a screeching halt.

"Hey leggo!" Bruce yelled.

"Listen up kid because I'm only going to say this once. I'm here to put you back in line. You'll learn to listen, you will pass school with flying colors and you will learn the meaning of the word 'respect.'" He dragged Bruce back over to where Alfred was standing. "From this moment on there is no more 'Master Bruce' and you will address him as 'Mr. Pennyworth.' You are the child which means you have to listen to what we say. Since I'm the one who's going to be watching you if I say 'jump' you ask 'how high?' If I say 'run' you ask 'where to?' You getting this?"

Bruce nodded and kept silent.

"Now, you are going to apologize to Alfred then march right back inside and finish your homework." Bruce turned to Alfred and mumbled something. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that." Again Bruce mumbled, this time a little louder. "Nope, still didn't hear you."

"I said sorry!" Bruce shouted at Aré.

"Don't tell me, tell him."

Bruce turned back to Alfred. He looked at the ground when he spoke. "I'm sorry Al-. . . Mr. Pennyworth." He glanced back at Aré one last time then ran back inside the mansion. The two watched him disappear up the stairs.

"Are you sure you weren't too hard on him?" Alfred asked Aré after the two had gone back inside the mansion.

Aré shrugged. "I'm going to have to be hard on him until he learns to listen. And I'm absolutely serious about the 'Master Bruce' thing. He'll never listen to you if you call him 'master.'"

Alfred had noticed that on many occasions and agreed completely with Aré. Some habits were hard to break though. "He's still just a child."

"I know. I also know that he's angry and in a lot of pain. I know what it's like. Been there, done that. He just needs to find a better way of expressing that pain. Even though he's a boy, crying every once in a while wouldn't kill him."

Alfred looked in the direction of Bruce's bedroom. He appeared saddened as he spoke. "I don't think I've ever seen him cry once since his parents were taken. The night it happened he was in too much shock to do much of anything."

Aré sighed. "It's going to take a lot of work but things will get better," He smiled, "trust me."

Alfred smiled at this too. "I've prepared a room for you in the same corridor as," He had to catch himself, "Bruce's."

"Good, perfect way to keep an eye on the twerp." Alfred showed him the room and Aré went to gather his things and began to unpack for the long stay.

Bruce was beyond angry. He actually hadn't had a lot of homework to do and managed to get it done in a short amount of time. He was surprised that he actually did it. He never did his homework, ever! Who does this guy think he is? Bruce thought, chucking his pencil across the room. Waltzing in here thinking he could tell Bruce what to do. He was having no part of it. He had better things to do. He got up and turned on the radio. After locking the door to his room he began to climb out the window. He dropped to the ground and ducked behind the bushes lining the house. Bruce quickly looked around and made sure there was no one to see him. Satisfied that it was all clear he silently made his way down the driveway. He reached the front gate unnoticed and began to climb over it. He could just as easily have opened the gate but that would have sent a signal to the house. He only made it a few feet from the gate when someone spoke. "Going somewhere?"

Bruce froze where he stood. He just got caught, he never got caught. Slowly he turned around and looked where the voice had come from. He came face to face with the man Alfred had tried to introduce him to earlier. What made Bruce angry with him, besides the fact he had just caught Bruce, was the way he stood. The guy was leaning against the wall, arms and legs crossed, and he was smirking at Bruce. Smirking! Almost as if he knew Bruce was going to sneak out. "I'm not going anywhere." Bruce tried innocently.

"Uh... Huh." This guy wasn't buying it, great. He pushed off the wall and started walking towards Bruce. "Look Bruce, I'm not stupid. I was ten once and got into a lot of mischief. Got into a lot of trouble too. Where were you headed?"

The same place Bruce went every night. Bruce kept his mouth shut. He didn't even know this guy's name; there was no way he was going to tell him. He folded his arms and looked defiantly at Aré.

Aré appeared to study him for a moment before sighing. His expression softened, "You were going to your parents' graves."

Bruce was surprised, and he was starting to get impressed. What is this guy? A mind reader? He had known Bruce was going to sneak out and he knew exactly where he was headed. Bruce opened his mouth to say something, but what could he say? Alfred was going to kill him. Unless this guy did it first. "You're not my father! You can't tell me what to do!"

"No, I'm not your father and neither is Alfred. And we don't pretend to be. I'm still not leaving. You're going to see a lot of me from now on. Until you learn to straighten up, I'm going to be around to keep an eye on you. Come on." Aré started down the road in the direction Bruce had been going.

"Where are we going?" Bruce asked, following along.

"Same place you were headed in the first place. Bruce stopped walking and stared at Aré who in turn stopped and looked back at Bruce. "You coming?"

"Uh... yeah." Bruce ran to catch up. He would look at Aré out of the corner of his eye every now and then as they walked. "I uh...never got your name."

"Aré."

"Huh?"

"My name is Aré."

"Aré, never heard that before."

"It's different. Even I'll vouch for that."

"I like it." For some reason Bruce just couldn't stay angry since they had left the manor. He wanted to be angry and he wanted to be angry for not being angry but the emotion just wouldn't come to him. No matter how hard he tried.

"You know Bruce, you and I have something in common."

"Like what?" He snapped. Yes! His anger was coming back.

"We're both orphans."

There went Bruce's anger. "Really?" He didn't sound as skeptical as he hoped he would.

Aré nodded. "My mother died when I was young."

"And your father?"

"I don't know if he's still alive. I haven't seen or heard from him in years." He was silent for a moment. In the distance the gravestone for Thomas and Martha Wayne could be seen. "I can't say that I know exactly what you're going through, and I don't pretend to. But I do have an idea and if you ever need anyone to talk to I'll always be there to listen."

Bruce nodded silently. He'd heard people tell him that many times but he could never really get himself to talk about the night his parents were murdered. Even looking at the grave had left him without many emotions. It was the same thing every night. He would leave the manor angry and when he got to the graves he would always feel empty, alone. Tonight was no different, even though Aré was with him this time. Bruce had sworn to himself he would never cry. He felt that if he did then he would be weak. He never wanted to be weak again. Not like that night. Never again a weakling. He thought.

Aré watched Bruce from a distance. He watched as Bruce stood in front of his parents' graves. His expression had gone cold and Aré could tell that some kind of internal struggle was taking place. Bruce's hands were balled into fists and he was shaking slightly. So a part of him does want to cry. Aré thought. But he's forcing himself not to let those tears fall. Are you ever going to let yourself feel everything you need to? Or are you going to bottle it up and let it slowly destroy you?

Two weeks later, not much had changed. There were times when Bruce appeared as though he was beginning to listen but he still tried to pull things over on Alfred and Aré. What he could never figure out was how Aré always managed to catch him one way or another. It was getting really annoying. Why couldn't they just leave him alone to do his own thing? Well, Aré was lenient enough to let Bruce go to his parents graves every night. He'd told Bruce that he never had to sneak out, that that was one place he could just go to.

Tonight was different though, it was way past the time he normally went to the gravesite. He had something else he wanted to do. He was going through one of his really bad 'angry at the world' phases and he just wanted to go out and break stuff.

Bruce had to try and sneak out the long way since out his window was out of the question. They just had to be down in the room below him, didn't they? He silently made his way down the hallway and approached the top of the grand staircase. Bruce kept bent low to the floor just in case anyone decided to make an appearance. He sat near the top of the staircase for a few minutes and after he felt it was all clear slowly made his way down them. The old stairs tended to creak in some areas but he had gone up and down them so much that he knew exactly where every one of those areas was.

Bruce quickly looked around when he reached the bottom of the staircase. Satisfied that it was all clear he crept towards the front door. He stopped half way to the door and a sudden thought struck him. Those doors would make a lot of noise opening and closing. It might be best to use another exit. Maybe the one in the kitchen? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He turned and headed in the direction of the kitchen. Unfortunately the direction he was taking to the kitchen would take him past the room Alfred and Aré were in. He saw light coming from the crack in the door and paused just before the room. From his angle he was able to peer inside the room and was pleasantly surprised to find the two men weren't even facing the door. They would never see him go past.

Again, being as quiet as he possibly could, Bruce crept past the door and made it into the kitchen. He was headed for the door and, "Going somewhere Bruce?" Aré's voice. Geez, how did he do that!?

"Just getting something to nibble on." Bruce replied, angling towards a cupboard and praying he would buy it.

"Then why were you trying to sneak around?"

Couldn't this guy cut him some slack or something? "I wasn't sure Alfred would let me get something." Oh yeah, that sounded convincing.

Aré moved and leaned against the kitchen counter. "You know Bruce, if you want to try and sneak out you need to be a little quieter."

That's just the thing, he had been quiet! "What makes you think-?" Bruce suddenly gave up. Why bother trying to convince Aré? It never worked. He stood there staring blankly at Aré. It was so much easier when it was just him and Alfred. Why'd this guy have to get involved? "How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Catch me? How do you move around without anyone noticing?"

Aré smiled. "Trade secret kid." He seemed to think for a moment. "I'll make you a deal Bruce. If you can learn to listen to me and Alfred and stop trying to sneak out at every turn I'll teach you how to move like I do. But only if you listen. And it's not just Alfred and me you have to listen to. It's your teachers too, which is another thing. I'll only teach you the things I know if you begin to apply yourself. I want you to really try. You know, just because your parents aren't around anymore doesn't mean they don't watch over you. I'm willing to bet they're worried about what you've begun to do. By the way you're living your life. A lot of people worry about you. Alfred does all the time."

"Do you?"

Aré nodded. "Yes, I do. I'm worried that if you keep going down the path you've chosen to walk you're going to end up in a place you don't really want to be. I've walked the road you're on Bruce. The outcome of your actions don't just affect you. They affect those around you too. As I said, I'll teach you, but only if you really try to turn your life around. Is that a deal?"

Bruce thought about it for a moment. Could he really just let go of his anger? Doubtful. But then again, if he could focus that anger in the direction it really needed to go. He looked up at Aré with a new look of determination on his face. "It's a deal." He said.

"Wonderful." Aré held out his hand and Bruce shook it. Bruce realized that he just may get what he really wanted in the end of all this after all. One thing that could be summarized up in one word, revenge.