Walking steadily, Bruce was making his way to the exit where a hotdog stand stood. He had been dealing with a lot of papers, most especially with his autographs, that his hand was slowly becoming numb
He was so engrossed in his work that he didn't notice his hunger building up inside of him, and so he decided to take a break and eat some hotdogs
He was greeted respectfully by all of his workers, most especially the ladies. The company seemed normal today and nothing was out of the ordinary
That is until he went outside.
Bruce was now on the entrance of the Wayne Enterprises vicinity. On the corner of his eye, he noticed the hotdog stand where he would mostly go to whenever he's craving for something to fill up his tank
He ordered a footlong, which was quite the only thing the man was selling at that moment so Bruce didn't really have any other choices. He then paid the man and went somewhere that he can enjoy his hotdog in peace
Bruce sat down in an unoccupied seat on the waiting shed with the footlong in his hand. He checked his wristwatch and saw that the time was still 10:00 AM in the morning
Basically, he still had lots of time to waste in this beautiful sunny day. Everyone was busy walking the path walk as he watched carefully, with every person basically having the same stoic expressions on their faces
It had been such a long time since he had free time like this where he can just watch people carefully in the streets while sitting somewhere close. He would mostly do this from the window of his office in the thirteenth floor whenever he needed to distract his mind
Suddenly, he felt a presence out of the blue from beside him. He then turned his head and saw an old man sit next to him
The old man looked back and gave a chuckle. He had white hair and beard. He was wearing a nice white robe that goes along
Bruce also noticed something peculiar about him. It had something to do with his eyes
They were white all over.
"Fine day today right?" The old man spoke
"I guess soo.." Bruce responded as he slowly took a bite of his footlong
The old man then turned to Bruce who was eating quietly
"Son, what do they call those here?" The old man asked, noticing Bruce's food
"Hotdogs, you can buy these at that hotdog stand" he responded as he pointed at the hotdog stand
"Oho, we don't have those in my homeland" The old man uttered with a scoff
This piqued Bruce's interest as he found himself looking at the old man who had a smile on his face
"Really, where are you from old man?" he asked
"Ahh, somewhere far away" he responded
"Just came here to check up on some things"
Bruce finished his footlong and he crumpled the wrapper. He was watching the cars go by while listening to the old man next to him
"You got some kind of a business or something?" Bruce asked
"Not really, I just came here to meet the man that I've heard so much about…" the man responded
"Is that so—" Bruce responded
"Came to see firsthand what this boy is made of, whether if he is worthy of my daughter" the old man stated
"It's the least I can do to look after them, that's for sure. My responsibilities as a Father exceeds any kind of caution"
"Responsibilities…" Bruce repeated under his breath
"I have two daughters here, whom I treasure so. That day that I made love to their mother was everything I needed, especially when it bore fruits and gave us our daughters—" The old man began
"But unfortunately, my responsibilities caught up to me and got in the way. The only thing that seemed right to me was merely just an illusion. And so I had to leave them behind…"
Bruce was listening closely to his story, for some reason he was deeply interested.
"So you chose your responsibilities over them?" He asked
"Its way too complicated, son" The old man responded
"When lived a day of being me, you'd understand"
The old man then turns to Bruce
"Say son, how old are you?"
"28"
"Oho, got a wife?" he asked
"none to be frank."
"Hah, what's wrong? You're not interested or something?" The old man jested in a mocking way
Bruce's lips forms into a smirk as he uttered
"Let's just say we are of the same boat old man, responsibilities also keeping me from having such life. There are just so many things far greater at stake than settling down"
The old man bursts into laughter upon hearing this. He never expected Bruce himself to have such a dilemma similar to his
"You're in a tough spot then kid; your choices will surely deteriorate the future." The old man stated "
"Trust me, I've been there"
"Well, it is what it is…" Bruce responded slowly
"Bruce Wayne huh, the most eligible bachelor of all Gotham. The man of your very own empire and is quite the hit with the ladies." The old man narrated
"I didn't know I was also quite famous from where you are from" Bruce responded
The old man then stood up to his feet and stretched his back. His white hair and beard were now more exposed upon doing so
"Hah, you most definitely aren't. I looked you up myself" he stated with a chuckle
Bruce wasn't expecting this response whatsoever as his attention was solely on the man himself
"I know quite a lot about you son. Tragic past, troubled life and also—"
The old man turned to Bruce, revealing more of his pure white eyes with no pupils whatsoever
"An alter ego that nobody suspects you to have." He revealed
Bruce stood up instantly, with no hesitations whatsoever
"Who are you?" he asked in a stern voice
"Oho, now you're interested" The old man responded with a laugh
"You're quite the cunning type, Bruce. I like that"
Suddenly a dark formation of clouds gathered up in one place as the sunlight from the sky suddenly faded.
"I'll be seeing you around son, take good care of my daughters" the old man stated
All of a sudden, a loud lightning struck upon the old man. It was so fast that Bruce didn't really have the chance to react or save him. The last thing he saw were his eyes glowing amidst the sudden darkness
After a few seconds of being blinded, the old man was now nowhere to be found for some peculiar reason
Being Batman, Bruce sure had seen lots of crazy stuff already on his time, but that particular scenario definitely was something else. Whoever that old man is, he knew much about him and his alter ego, which means he is officially compromised
There was definitely something with that old man, especially with the whole lightning thing. He did mention something about her daughters and such which he can use to gain some intel in the future on who he is
He also mentioned something about his life and how it affected him, how he chose responsibilities and other affairs than what he truly wants. Bruce could relate to that somehow
But for now, it doesn't seem like he's gonna be someone to worry about. And so Bruce went back inside of his building with the peculiar scene lingering in his thoughts that he just witnessed
"Now that surely was a thunderous encounter"
