Batman V Superman: Gods Amongst Us

Chapter 1: Dream

The doors leading out into the street opened. Bruce kept his hands in his parents' hands and walked with them out of the theatre. They'd just been to see Macbeth and he had questions.

"Father." He said, annoyed at how high pitched his voice still sounded. Oliver's voice wasn't that high pitched.

"Yes, Bruce." Thomas Wayne, the CEO of Wayne Industries answered.

"Why did Macbeth take the throne?" Bruce asked. Surely if Duncan was the rightful King then Macbeth should have respected that and known that only bad things would happen if he stole the throne.

"Because he thought he could do a better job than Duncan, son." Thomas said.

"Why?" Bruce asked.

He heard his father sigh and worried that he'd asked the wrong question. As of late, Bruce had found that he'd been doing that more and more. Especially since that strange man had come to the house. That man's visit had really rattled Alfred and father, though Bruce couldn't figure out why.

"Because there are some men who think they know it all. That their blood or their ability in one area makes them better suited to doing the hard work than those who have been trained for it their entire lives." Father answered.

Bruce nodded, though he didn't really understand. He was about to ask something else, when a figure appeared before them. It was too dark for him to see the figure clearly, but he heard how deep the figure's voice was and that scared him.

"Give me your money." The figure said.

Bruce felt his father push him behind him, he felt his mother take him into her arms and saw his father stand in front of them both. "Now, Mr, you don't have to do this."

"Shut up!" The figure replied, moving closer to them. Bruce could see the figure now. He wore one of those terrifying clown masks that those protestors had worn a few days ago. The figure pulled out a gun and pointed it at father.

"Give me your money!" the figure growled.

"Alright." Father said, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, from his wallet he pulled out all the cash he had and held it out for the man. The man snatched it and then pointing the gun at Mother said.

"You, give me that necklace."

Mother was shaking, Bruce could feel her shaking, as she reached up and took the necklace off and handed it to Father who handed it to the man.

"There, you've gotten everything you asked for." Father said. "Please just let us go."

The man's voice changed then. It went from being a growl into something lighter, something more terrifying. "Sorry, can't do that." Bruce heard the crack as a bullet was released, he watched as his father fell to the ground, his eyes staring back at Bruce without an expression.

The man turned the gun on his mother then and the shot hit, he heard his mother whimper and then felt her arms drop from him. He turned as she fell. He stared his mother and prepared for the shot to take him, but the shot never came. Instead when he looked up, the man was gone and he was all alone.

But that didn't last for very long, Bruce was staring at his father's body when a figure appeared. The figure came into his line of vision, wearing a dark brown suit, and strange brown shoes. Bruce looked up and saw that he had clown make up on.

"What's the matter?" The man asked.

"My parents are dead." Bruce replied.

"Oh, that's terrible." The man said. "Do you want to hear a joke?"

Bruce frowned, what sort of question was that? Of course, he didn't want to hear a joke. He wanted his parents to come back to life. He wanted his mother to get off the ground and laugh and say that she'd been joking, and he wanted his father to get up and ruffle his hair, and tell him how proud he was of him. Bruce wanted a lot of things but he didn't want to hear this strange man tell him a joke.

He tried to say that but his mouth wouldn't open.

The man spoke then. "You and I are going to be working with one another from now on, Bruce."

Bruce felt his frown deepen, how did this man know his name?

"You see, you and I are linked to one another. We're going to be fighting across the eons. From this world to the next. We are going to be fighting." The man said.

What on earth was the man talking about? Bruce found himself wondering. There was only one world, and Bruce didn't know how to fight. So, how could he fight this man? Why would he want to fight this man?

"You see, there's a darkness inside you, that is also inside me. And we both need one another." the man said. "Otherwise it will consume us." The man started to laugh. Bruce felt his eyes widen as the man started to transform, going from an odd skinny man in a brown suit, to a man with a slightly thinner face, with shorter, greener hair, and a paler face, and a pink jacket, and skulls on his hands.

The man's voice was higher pitched now when he spoke. "You see, Brucey, we're going to dance. And I'm going to take everything from you."

Bruce stepped back, hitting his mother's body. "Why?" He whispered, his voice finally returning to him.

"Why?" The figure replied. "Because that's the fun of it, Brucey." The man started cackling and moving toward him. Bruce took a deep breath and ran, he pushed past the man and ran as fast as his legs would take him. He didn't stop running until he came across a small old woman who smiled at him.

"Come now, child, let's not cry. There's goodness in you yet."

Bruce looked at her and asked. "There is?"

The woman grinned at him. "Yes, and we're going to need that. The leader is going to need that." She opened her mouth, and instead of teeth he saw his parents' heads and he screamed.

Bruce shot up awake. Panting. He looked around the room, he was in the mansion, the sun was just about peeking through the curtains. He took another breath, and grabbed the cup of water on the nightstand and downed it. As he finished it, the door opened, and Alfred, his butler walked in.

"Morning, Master Wayne." Alfred said.

"Alfred." Bruce replied. "What's the time?"

"Half past six in the morning, Master Wayne." Alfred said.

"Right." Bruce replied, he got up out of bed and moved to the bathroom, as he opened the door, Alfred asked.

"Did you have the dream again, Sir?"

Bruce sighed. He'd been having the same damned dream since the murder of his parents over thirty years ago. It was always the same, bloody thing. "Yes."

"Any new understanding from it?" Alfred asked.

"Only what I've always thought. The Joker is connected to that madman." Bruce answered, opening the door, and moving to the toilet, where he relieved himself. Once he'd pushed the flush he washed his hands and grabbed a toothbrush, he brushed his teeth, washed his mouth and then started the shower. As he waited for the water to heat he asked.

"Do I have a meeting with Lucius today?" He had a feeling he'd been meaning to meet with the head of his research department for a few weeks now.

"You do, Sir." Alfred called from the other room. "A call at half past eight."

"Excellent." Bruce said, he took off his pants and got into the shower. As the warm water washed over him, he found himself wondering why he'd had the dream this night of all nights.

Usually when he had the dream something bad happened. Before his fight with Ra's he'd had the fight and Talia had died. Then before they'd chased down the Joker, he'd had the dream and Jason had died. So, what bad thing was going to happen now?

He didn't know and he couldn't predict anything and that annoyed him.

Once he had washed himself properly, he grabbed a towel and dried himself, then got out of the shower and left the bathroom. Alfred was standing near the door, looking at something on his iPad.

"What is it?" Bruce asked, as he put some underwear and pants on.

"An article in the Gotham Daily by Barbara Gordon about Superman." Alfred said.

"What does it say?" Bruce asked. Superman, that was another bloody thing that he had to worry about. A bloody alien.

"That he's a force for good, and that the doubters need to think about their priorities." Alfred replied.

Bruce snorted. "Sounds like Ms Gordon needs to take her head out of the Ivy League clouds." He didn't know whether he actually meant that. Barbara was smart, and whip quick, but she was also young. She'd not seen anything like what Bruce had seen. Superman might be something more sinister. Especially if his fight with Zod was any indication.

"Perhaps, but perhaps she is right. Superman has done many good things since that fight, Master Wayne." Alfred replied, looking up from the iPad.

"I know." Bruce said. He did. Superman had saved a girl from being mutilated in Palestine, he'd ended a war between the Eritreans and the Ethiopians, and he'd helped save countless people during the fires in Australia. He was a hero. But something about him still rubbed Bruce the wrong way.

"Anything else?" Bruce asked then as he grabbed a shirt from his cupboard and put it on.

"Our friend, the Shark saw three ships with the Romanov Eagle emblazoned on them coming into port in Metropolis last night." Alfred said.

Bruce grunted. "That's encouraging."

"Is it?" Alfred asked.

"It is. It means we're getting somewhere. We know that The White Russian is deliberately playing on ties with Russia's ancient past. Either to inflame sentiment or as a diversion." Bruce said, walking to Alfred.

"And what do you think it is?" Alfred asked.

"What?" Bruce replied.

"A man or a woman?" Alfred said.

"A man, most definitely a man. No woman would be foolish enough to use the Romanov Eagle for something like this." Bruce replied, as he opened his bedroom door and walked out of the room.