When their son Bruce was born, Dr Thomas McCoy and his wife Martha were
overjoyed by their blessing, but shocked and saddened to learn that their
son was born paraplegic. Though they both loved their son as much as any
parents could, Thomas couldn't help but feel their must be a cure. More
importantly, he blamed himself for their son's condition.
Dr McCoy had always been considered one of the most promising genetic surgeons ever to enter the new field of medicine. In performing the experiments for his third PHD, Dr McCoy tested hypotheses concerning the effects of several different types of radiation on various strands of human DNA. His work was groundbreaking in understanding the nuances of the mapping of the human genome map discovered just a few years earlier. However, Dr McCoy realized that in spite of taking every precaution years earlier, the radiation had altered his own DNA. Not enough to change him, but enough to alter his son.
In spite of his condition, Bruce did not lead an unhappy life. Far from it, his father dedicated his very existence to improving Bruce's condition and that of others like him. His research in prenatal detection and correction of birth defects led to a worldwide 3% reduction in children born with birth defects, as well as a healthier and popular new breed of genetically engineered squash.
Bruce's mother, herself a professor in elementary and social activist for abused and neglected children, made sure that Bruce's education was top of the line, personally selecting each tutor and overseeing his overall educational growth. This was particularly important to Bruce's development as his intelligence was incredible and no public school could support him properly.
By the time he was Twelve, Bruce had already finished the equivalence of a high school education and was essentially an unofficial apprentice to his father. Thomas's research had already progressed Bruce to the point that he could walk with much difficulty. His research made even faster progress when his son started helping him.
One night, after Thomas and Bruce had managed to successfully solve a formula that had been bothering them for weeks, Thomas decided that his son deserved a reward. And so, he took his son and his wife out to dinner at Bruce's favorite restaurant and then to a movie.
When the film ended, it was quite late and Thomas had told their butler Alfred to take the evening off. Realizing they would need to call a cab, Thomas reached for his cell phone, only to discover the battery was dead. He asked Martha to borrow hers, but alas, she had not brought it.
Realizing they had no way home, Thomas looked around for a payphone and spotted one a block away at the end of an alley. The three went to the phone and Thomas called a cab. As he was making the call, Bruce looked behind them and to his horror, saw a man with a gun pointed directly at his father's head. The man pulled the trigger, then turned it on Martha and killed her. He then struck Bruce on the forehead and pushed the crippled boy aside. As Bruce lie there helpless and in shock, the man went through the pockets of his lifeless parents, taking Thomas's wallet and watch and Martha's earrings and necklace, then he ran off.
As Bruce lay there, crying, the police came. The taxicab operator had heard the gunshots over the phone and called 911. The police were able to trace the call to the payphone but alas they were too late. Dr Thomas and Martha McCoy were dead.
A few days later at their wake, Bruce was almost silent as countless people gave him their condolences and offered their pity. If not for Alfred at his side, he would have simply tossed aside his crutches and let himself lay in the dirt.
Only the last person's condolences mattered. Thomas's best friend from college, Dr Leslie Thompkins offered this, "Be strong, Bruce. Though you lost a father, the world lost one of its best healers. The world will be a weaker place without him." With that, she gave Bruce a hug and told Alfred to take care of him. As she left, Bruce walked over to his parent's grave. He could feel the freshly covered soil give slightly to his feet.
"She's right, Alfred"
"Of course she is, sir, he was a great man."
"But she's wrong too."
"I beg your pardon." Alfred asked confused
"Mom was also a great loss. Dad's work was so great and glorious that people forgot all that she did. The people she helped through her foundations and the lives she changed."
"Nobody forgot your mother, Master Bruce.."
"I know they didn't forget, but look at it this way, if she'd been married to anybody else, they'd both have still been great people."
"Of course," Alfred said, a bit confused, "but that doesn't necessarily mean she'd still be.."
"That's not what I'm getting at, Alfred."
"Then what, sir?"
"My parents were both great decent people. Mom did such great things with her life that only the work of somebody like dad could have overshadowed her."
"Yes?"
"My point is the world lost two great people because of one man's greed."
"I know, sir." Alfred bowed his head as tears swelled up in his eyes. "We all know."
With that, Bruce let out a great yell and drove his left crutch into the soft ground over his parents' grave. He tossed the right one aside and fell to his knees, crying.
"Mom..Dad..I swear to you both... God and Alfred as my witnesses...I will not rest until the man who did this... Until all those like him....are forever cured or gone..I promise you this on my life...
Over the years that followed, Bruce, under the watchful eye of Alfred, managed to learn every nuance of law, criminology, psychology, chemistry and forensics. Much as his mother had done for his elementary education, Alfred had experts in every field brought in to tutor Bruce. By the time he was nineteen, Bruce felt he was ready for his mission. He began searching the papers for crimes of any sort, then he would put his mind to work, solving them and sending anonymous notes to the police department. But to his great disappointment, it was no use. The criminals he was so sure were guilty continued running free and they continued committing crimes.
"It's no use, Alfred, the police didn't listen to me, I'm no use like this.."
"Sir, there's no use blaming yourself, you did all you could."
"I know, but I can't do much."
"But you do what you can."
"That's my point. My contact on the police force."
"Captain Gordon?"
"Yeah, Jim. He said that the notes I gave him were useless because half those people are paying off his boss."
"The Commissioner? And here I thought he only took bribes from city hall."
"Cute, Alfred, anyways, I've been looking through dad's old files and I have an idea, but I'm not ready to give you the details, but it's gonna take a while."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, sir.
"Just get Dr Thompkins on the phone. I'm gonna need her help."
And so, over the next seven years, Dr Thompkins assisted Bruce in furthering his father's research. Alfred assisted in whatever way possible, but never interfered. Finally, one day, Bruce asked Alfred to meet him in the dining room. When he got there, Alfred was so shocked by Bruce's hair that he barely noticed the trench coat, sunglasses and the fingerless leather gloves on his hand.
"Well, Alfred," Bruce said, "Looks like it all comes down to tonight."
"I beg your pardon, sir"
"Trust me on this, a gentleman is coming tonight to discuss some business.
"I do remember you mentioning that, sir, but your hair, it's.. blue?"
"Yeah, I know, Alfred, but don't worry, it works in with the act."
"The act, sir?"
With that, the doorbell rang.
"And..are your hands swollen?"
"Yo, Al, get the door and let me grease the palms, we gots some business ta' do."
With that said, a very confused Alfred opened the door and let a rather well dressed gentleman in the door and led him to the dining room.
"Good evening, Mr. McCoy," The gentleman said, offering his hand.
"Just drop the chat, dude, you got my cash?"
With that, the man gave a rather annoyed look
"That depends, do you have the disks?
"Yeah," Bruce said, pulling a large CD case out of his trench coat. "I've got 'em"
"Let me inspect them."
"No way, dude, I get the check first."
"That's ridiculous.. There's no way I'm letting you have a three million dollar check without inspecting the files."
"Look, dude, either you give me the check now and I give you the disks or I get a check for four million later and then I give you the disks. Do you comply or what? Besides, there's no way I'm letting you copy these things then run off without paying me."
With that, the man angrily handed Bruce a check and took the disks.
"If your father were alive today, he'd be ashamed of what you've become..."
"If my dad were alive today, I wouldn't need these crutches. This city wasted him and now I'm gonna party until I lay waste to this city. Now get out of my house."
With that, the man angrily left with the disks.
"Master McCoy.." Alfred bellowed, furious.
"Don't get too upset just yet, Alfred," Bruce cautioned, then looked over towards a large chair. "You can come out now, Leslie."
And with that, Dr Thompkins came out of hiding.
"Master McCoy, if you think I'm going to let you..whore.. your father's work like that.."
"Alfred, please, calm down. That wasn't Dad's work."
"Then you just snookered that gentleman?!?!"
"No, that was just as good as dad's work."
"What Bruce is trying to say," Leslie broke in, "Is that the disks contain his research. Bruce has been continuing his father's work for the last seven years. He earned every penny of that, but he can't tell them he did the work.."
"Because he has no official credentials," Alfred finished her.
"I've been assisting him with the writing of the reports to make them fit in accepted medical style and in procuring the equipment that only a licensed doctor could get."
"But why so rude?" Alfred asked
"That's part of the bigger plan. Remember the formula my dad devised?"
"Which one?" Alfred inquired.
"The one that started as an enhanced version of the government's supersoldier serum."
"Master Bruce. You didn't.?"
"Don't worry, Alfred," Leslie assured him. "He's only been refining the formula."
"I remember your father called that toxin an atrocity a.."
"I remember, Alfred, 'A potion for the body, but a venom to the mind and soul'. I didn't forget to refine it before I took it. Got rid of all the nasty insanity side effects."
Dr Thompkins looked at him in shock. "Bruce. you didn't actually."
With that, Bruce tossed his crutches aside and for the first time ever, his two friends saw him stand on his own.
"My god, Master Bruce.. You."
"Oh, there were side effects, Alfred."
With that, Bruce Tore off his shirt, revealing his body to be covered with blue and gray fur. He then threw his shoes off, revealing feet that were now more like a second set of hands.
"Jesus, Bruce," Leslie retorted. "What the hell have you done to yourself?"
"It's simple, Leslie. Seven years ago, I realized that I could do more good to the world if I were.. Faster, stronger, and so on. So, I decided I needed some enhancements."
"But why do this to yourself, Master Bruce?"
"Simple, Alfred. Criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot. I had to become a creature that would strike fear into their hearts. I've become.." Bruce stopped, then flipped into midair and caught the chandelier with his feet, and hanging from it, his glasses now gone and his eyes pure red, he finished in an animalistic growl, "A beast."
The two were dumbfounded as their friend then jumped off the chandelier, and leapt from wall to wall, leaving the manor.
"Hmmm.. I do believe," Alfred mused, "that we'll be reading of several arrest reports in tomorrows papers."
"Uh huh" Dr Thompkins agreed.
Dr McCoy had always been considered one of the most promising genetic surgeons ever to enter the new field of medicine. In performing the experiments for his third PHD, Dr McCoy tested hypotheses concerning the effects of several different types of radiation on various strands of human DNA. His work was groundbreaking in understanding the nuances of the mapping of the human genome map discovered just a few years earlier. However, Dr McCoy realized that in spite of taking every precaution years earlier, the radiation had altered his own DNA. Not enough to change him, but enough to alter his son.
In spite of his condition, Bruce did not lead an unhappy life. Far from it, his father dedicated his very existence to improving Bruce's condition and that of others like him. His research in prenatal detection and correction of birth defects led to a worldwide 3% reduction in children born with birth defects, as well as a healthier and popular new breed of genetically engineered squash.
Bruce's mother, herself a professor in elementary and social activist for abused and neglected children, made sure that Bruce's education was top of the line, personally selecting each tutor and overseeing his overall educational growth. This was particularly important to Bruce's development as his intelligence was incredible and no public school could support him properly.
By the time he was Twelve, Bruce had already finished the equivalence of a high school education and was essentially an unofficial apprentice to his father. Thomas's research had already progressed Bruce to the point that he could walk with much difficulty. His research made even faster progress when his son started helping him.
One night, after Thomas and Bruce had managed to successfully solve a formula that had been bothering them for weeks, Thomas decided that his son deserved a reward. And so, he took his son and his wife out to dinner at Bruce's favorite restaurant and then to a movie.
When the film ended, it was quite late and Thomas had told their butler Alfred to take the evening off. Realizing they would need to call a cab, Thomas reached for his cell phone, only to discover the battery was dead. He asked Martha to borrow hers, but alas, she had not brought it.
Realizing they had no way home, Thomas looked around for a payphone and spotted one a block away at the end of an alley. The three went to the phone and Thomas called a cab. As he was making the call, Bruce looked behind them and to his horror, saw a man with a gun pointed directly at his father's head. The man pulled the trigger, then turned it on Martha and killed her. He then struck Bruce on the forehead and pushed the crippled boy aside. As Bruce lie there helpless and in shock, the man went through the pockets of his lifeless parents, taking Thomas's wallet and watch and Martha's earrings and necklace, then he ran off.
As Bruce lay there, crying, the police came. The taxicab operator had heard the gunshots over the phone and called 911. The police were able to trace the call to the payphone but alas they were too late. Dr Thomas and Martha McCoy were dead.
A few days later at their wake, Bruce was almost silent as countless people gave him their condolences and offered their pity. If not for Alfred at his side, he would have simply tossed aside his crutches and let himself lay in the dirt.
Only the last person's condolences mattered. Thomas's best friend from college, Dr Leslie Thompkins offered this, "Be strong, Bruce. Though you lost a father, the world lost one of its best healers. The world will be a weaker place without him." With that, she gave Bruce a hug and told Alfred to take care of him. As she left, Bruce walked over to his parent's grave. He could feel the freshly covered soil give slightly to his feet.
"She's right, Alfred"
"Of course she is, sir, he was a great man."
"But she's wrong too."
"I beg your pardon." Alfred asked confused
"Mom was also a great loss. Dad's work was so great and glorious that people forgot all that she did. The people she helped through her foundations and the lives she changed."
"Nobody forgot your mother, Master Bruce.."
"I know they didn't forget, but look at it this way, if she'd been married to anybody else, they'd both have still been great people."
"Of course," Alfred said, a bit confused, "but that doesn't necessarily mean she'd still be.."
"That's not what I'm getting at, Alfred."
"Then what, sir?"
"My parents were both great decent people. Mom did such great things with her life that only the work of somebody like dad could have overshadowed her."
"Yes?"
"My point is the world lost two great people because of one man's greed."
"I know, sir." Alfred bowed his head as tears swelled up in his eyes. "We all know."
With that, Bruce let out a great yell and drove his left crutch into the soft ground over his parents' grave. He tossed the right one aside and fell to his knees, crying.
"Mom..Dad..I swear to you both... God and Alfred as my witnesses...I will not rest until the man who did this... Until all those like him....are forever cured or gone..I promise you this on my life...
Over the years that followed, Bruce, under the watchful eye of Alfred, managed to learn every nuance of law, criminology, psychology, chemistry and forensics. Much as his mother had done for his elementary education, Alfred had experts in every field brought in to tutor Bruce. By the time he was nineteen, Bruce felt he was ready for his mission. He began searching the papers for crimes of any sort, then he would put his mind to work, solving them and sending anonymous notes to the police department. But to his great disappointment, it was no use. The criminals he was so sure were guilty continued running free and they continued committing crimes.
"It's no use, Alfred, the police didn't listen to me, I'm no use like this.."
"Sir, there's no use blaming yourself, you did all you could."
"I know, but I can't do much."
"But you do what you can."
"That's my point. My contact on the police force."
"Captain Gordon?"
"Yeah, Jim. He said that the notes I gave him were useless because half those people are paying off his boss."
"The Commissioner? And here I thought he only took bribes from city hall."
"Cute, Alfred, anyways, I've been looking through dad's old files and I have an idea, but I'm not ready to give you the details, but it's gonna take a while."
"I'm afraid I don't understand, sir.
"Just get Dr Thompkins on the phone. I'm gonna need her help."
And so, over the next seven years, Dr Thompkins assisted Bruce in furthering his father's research. Alfred assisted in whatever way possible, but never interfered. Finally, one day, Bruce asked Alfred to meet him in the dining room. When he got there, Alfred was so shocked by Bruce's hair that he barely noticed the trench coat, sunglasses and the fingerless leather gloves on his hand.
"Well, Alfred," Bruce said, "Looks like it all comes down to tonight."
"I beg your pardon, sir"
"Trust me on this, a gentleman is coming tonight to discuss some business.
"I do remember you mentioning that, sir, but your hair, it's.. blue?"
"Yeah, I know, Alfred, but don't worry, it works in with the act."
"The act, sir?"
With that, the doorbell rang.
"And..are your hands swollen?"
"Yo, Al, get the door and let me grease the palms, we gots some business ta' do."
With that said, a very confused Alfred opened the door and let a rather well dressed gentleman in the door and led him to the dining room.
"Good evening, Mr. McCoy," The gentleman said, offering his hand.
"Just drop the chat, dude, you got my cash?"
With that, the man gave a rather annoyed look
"That depends, do you have the disks?
"Yeah," Bruce said, pulling a large CD case out of his trench coat. "I've got 'em"
"Let me inspect them."
"No way, dude, I get the check first."
"That's ridiculous.. There's no way I'm letting you have a three million dollar check without inspecting the files."
"Look, dude, either you give me the check now and I give you the disks or I get a check for four million later and then I give you the disks. Do you comply or what? Besides, there's no way I'm letting you copy these things then run off without paying me."
With that, the man angrily handed Bruce a check and took the disks.
"If your father were alive today, he'd be ashamed of what you've become..."
"If my dad were alive today, I wouldn't need these crutches. This city wasted him and now I'm gonna party until I lay waste to this city. Now get out of my house."
With that, the man angrily left with the disks.
"Master McCoy.." Alfred bellowed, furious.
"Don't get too upset just yet, Alfred," Bruce cautioned, then looked over towards a large chair. "You can come out now, Leslie."
And with that, Dr Thompkins came out of hiding.
"Master McCoy, if you think I'm going to let you..whore.. your father's work like that.."
"Alfred, please, calm down. That wasn't Dad's work."
"Then you just snookered that gentleman?!?!"
"No, that was just as good as dad's work."
"What Bruce is trying to say," Leslie broke in, "Is that the disks contain his research. Bruce has been continuing his father's work for the last seven years. He earned every penny of that, but he can't tell them he did the work.."
"Because he has no official credentials," Alfred finished her.
"I've been assisting him with the writing of the reports to make them fit in accepted medical style and in procuring the equipment that only a licensed doctor could get."
"But why so rude?" Alfred asked
"That's part of the bigger plan. Remember the formula my dad devised?"
"Which one?" Alfred inquired.
"The one that started as an enhanced version of the government's supersoldier serum."
"Master Bruce. You didn't.?"
"Don't worry, Alfred," Leslie assured him. "He's only been refining the formula."
"I remember your father called that toxin an atrocity a.."
"I remember, Alfred, 'A potion for the body, but a venom to the mind and soul'. I didn't forget to refine it before I took it. Got rid of all the nasty insanity side effects."
Dr Thompkins looked at him in shock. "Bruce. you didn't actually."
With that, Bruce tossed his crutches aside and for the first time ever, his two friends saw him stand on his own.
"My god, Master Bruce.. You."
"Oh, there were side effects, Alfred."
With that, Bruce Tore off his shirt, revealing his body to be covered with blue and gray fur. He then threw his shoes off, revealing feet that were now more like a second set of hands.
"Jesus, Bruce," Leslie retorted. "What the hell have you done to yourself?"
"It's simple, Leslie. Seven years ago, I realized that I could do more good to the world if I were.. Faster, stronger, and so on. So, I decided I needed some enhancements."
"But why do this to yourself, Master Bruce?"
"Simple, Alfred. Criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot. I had to become a creature that would strike fear into their hearts. I've become.." Bruce stopped, then flipped into midair and caught the chandelier with his feet, and hanging from it, his glasses now gone and his eyes pure red, he finished in an animalistic growl, "A beast."
The two were dumbfounded as their friend then jumped off the chandelier, and leapt from wall to wall, leaving the manor.
"Hmmm.. I do believe," Alfred mused, "that we'll be reading of several arrest reports in tomorrows papers."
"Uh huh" Dr Thompkins agreed.