Reunion
Chapter 19: New
Bruce couldn't help feeling a little excited about his day ahead. He certainly wouldn't be admitting that to anyone, especially not Jason. The world was a different place since he was last in school, and Bruce was a different man. Even in this younger form, Bruce's physique would definitely be turning some heads and his charms would surely cause some heartache amongst his peers. Bruce chuckled to himself about his new found ego. Sometimes a little confidence can be helpful.
"Try not to attract too much attention" Jason's voice brought Bruce out of his daydream. Bruce turned in his seat to the driver, eyes narrowing at the order.
"You don't have to remind me. Besides, I'm only thinking about befriending Tim." Bruce lied about his previous thoughts. "And if you didn't want me to attract attention, why are we arriving in this god damn Porsche?!"
Jason's lips quirked upwards. "Dramatic effect."
The vehicle slowed to a halt before the grand iron bar gates leading to the school. A few students' heads turned, but the majority were already inside the building so their arrival was fairly low key. Bruce swallowed hard, feeling a wave of nausea hit him. He hadn't felt this many emotions in a long time.
"If you have the opportunity to steal the comm, do it." Jason said. "Replace it with this." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a communicator that was identical to those of the League.
Bruce was impressed with the craftsmanship and detail. A raise of his eyebrow subtly nudged Jason for an explanation.
"Copied your comm to the last bolt. Obviously it doesn't work, but if you can swap the two then Tim probably won't notice. He'll just think no one is getting in touch with him. You'll just have to pray he doesn't want to make a call."
Bruce nodded, taking the offered fake. He hated to admit it, but sometimes Jason did know best.
"I'll still need to butter him up enough to be invited over." Bruce sighed.
"Well at least it'll let you bond with the kid. You'll find out what sort of stuff he's into, not just how many guys he can KO in one hit. That sort of shit is important, getting to know your sons…" Jason's voice trailed off and a dazed expression covered his face. Bruce shifted in his seat at the awkward tension in the car. He coughed to break Jason's train of thought.
"I guess i'll be going then…"
"Yeah…good luck kiddo." Jason smiled ruthlessly and donned his shades.
Before he could say anything else, the car sped off with a screech, kicking up a dust cloud to Bruce's distaste.
"Good morning, are you Miss Blake?" Dick stood in the entranceway of a small apartment in West Gotham. He had followed Alfred's advice about getting the contact information of the witness from Fox.
An elderly haunched woman stood opposite him, with a withered yet kind face. She was a foot shorter than him and was propped up by an old tree branch. Dick felt a pang of pity as he looked inside her apartment. This was such a run down area of Gotham that she really had to be desperate if this was all she could afford.
"Yes sir, and who might you be?" She croaked
"I'm Officer Trent from the Gotham Police Department." Dick held up an official ID badge with his photograph clearly visible. Thank you Gordon. "I understand you called the Neighbourhood Watch hotline last night?"
Miss Blake's eyes lit up as she realised someone had listened to her worries. She shuffled out of the doorway, giving Dick access to her abode.
"I thought no one would pay any attention! Thank the lord someone is looking out for me!" Dick smiled outwardly but felt some guilt in what he was doing. Surely he wasn't exploiting this woman…
"Well ma'am that's my job. Could you take me though what you saw?"
Making herself comfortable in a fairly worn out patchwork chair, Miss Blake began retelling her findings to Dick.
"Well, I heard shouting from outside, which to be honest isn't uncommon in this area of Gotham. I get so frightened when I hear violence, I have no one here with me you see, so I always suspect the worst. I've called the neighbourhood watch about it many times, even with shootings, but this is the first time action has been taken!" She started to go on a tangent about her fears and how monstrous Gothamites can be. 'Officer Trent' had to interrupt in order to get the story back on track.
"Ah yes sorry, excuse me. Well, I heard shouting from outside and thought it was nothing unusual. But then what made me actually look out the window was the screaming. It sounded like a frightened child or teenager, they were howling "Get away from me!". So I had a peek and as I suspected, a young man ran past. Oh he looked so scared officer, like he was being hunted! And there was someone else running after him, this one looked older and larger. He had a tuft of white hair and he was bleeding quite profusely from his nose." Miss Blake stopped her tale to sip a cup of tea, making Dick edge forward on his seat.
"He was wild, officer, his eyes were terrifying and he was shouting for the younger man to stop over and over. The sight made me panic for the young one's life officer so I just had to call. I'm sorry that I didn't call the emergency services, I'd hate to think what might have happened to poor Bruce-"
Dick chocked on his spit. "What did you just say?"
"I'm sorry I didn't dial 911-"
"No!" Dick hurried over to Miss Blake and held her hand, bending down to her level. The look in his eyes reminded her of the white haired man's own desperation, causing her to shift uncomfortably.
"What name was the man shouting?"
"Well he was calling out for him to stop, but i'm fairly certain he also shouted…Bruce."
Tim waited.
And waited.
And waited…
Nothing.
Nothing happened. School started as usual, the students filtering into the classroom for registration, the bullies sniggered at him from the back, the girls looked at him with distaste, the teacher even gave him a secret reassuring smile yet nothing out of the ordinary happened.
He was certain this was the day that Danny said he was arriving. But it had been an hour since school had started and yet guess what. No Danny.
Tim sighed and slumped on his desk. He started peeling away the paint on his pencil in boredom, his lips curling in distaste as some of the chipping got stuck under his thumbnail. Maybe he's still signing some forms and stuff, stop being so impatient, his mind berated. Yet he couldn't help but be impatient, this was the first person he'd ever met at Gotham High that actually seemed to be on the same intellectual level as him. They would be geeks together for sure.
You're such a little kid, his mind spoke.
"Well duh, I'm three years younger than everyone else here." he mumbled in response
"What was that, Mr Drake?" Miss Rowling, their form tutor asked. "I couldn't quite hear what you said"
"Uhhh…"
A knock at the door saved Tim from further embarrassment.
"Hi, I'm sorry I'm late, I'm new here and I've only just finished up with Principle Greenwood."
Tim's heart skipped a beat. Ohmigosh he's here was the only coherent thing he could even think.
The classes' heads turned in unison. The bullies' eyebrows raised, an audible gasp could be heard from the female population in the room and even the teacher blushed.
"Y-you must be Daniel!" Miss Rowling stuttered, clearly entranced by Bruce's looks as about three quarters of the class were.
"Yes ma'am, Danny Williams." The dark haired boy turned to face the class and gave them a nonchalant nod. "Nice to meet you."
"He's mine." Tim heard Bella, the stereotypical popular cheerleader, mutter to her girlfriends. They pouted and folded their arms, disappointed they hadn't called dibs faster on such a fine male specimen. Tim snorted at the vanity of it all and decided to show them he'd already claimed Danny as his friend. He gave Danny a subtle wave and was delighted when the boy responded by beaming and taking the seat next to him.
"Did you see his teeth?!-"
"-sat with that loser?!-"
"-so hot-"
"- think my ovaries just burst-"
The hum of chatter in the room was obviously centred on Danny. Miss Rowling settled the class down and continued to blather on about some Shakespeare piece. Tim appreciated classic literature, but he'd already read this particular play so he wasn't that interested. What was more interesting was the buzz his phone just made.
-Hey, sorry i didn't text last night, was busy. Thanks for saving me a seat.-
Tim looked over at Danny and shrugged
-Don't mention it. Speak to you after class.- Tim smiled when he hit send. He was going to play this cool like Dick had suggested. Tim could definitely do cool.
Well, at least he could try.
Hi all! Hope you had a good christmas, and thanks for reading!
Sorry I haven't updated in like forever but I felt like writing another chapter so… here ya go!
Please review and leave suggestions :)
~Pikaachew~