Chapter 7: Early Years Part I

"Is that Bruce Wayne?" Artemis asked.

"Looks like it," Hippolyta responded.

"He looks so cute," Diana exclaimed.

The portal changed as it showed his baby years, his first steps, first words and they saw his parents. Soon he was a young boy about the age of seven and he was with his class at the museum.

"Now over here is a rare painting by Leonard Di Vinci," the female tour guide said. Bruce was at the very back of his class group and he was trying to stay out of everyone's way. He was just watching and observing everything around him. The Gotham Museum wasn't his favorite place.

"Alright, lunch time!" his teacher exclaimed. Most of class raced to the museum's food court. Everyone was hungry and almost everyone was tired of touring after a good three hours of it. Bruce took his seat at a separate table from the rich kid's. He may be one but they were pretty bratty and right now he wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

"Is this seat taken?" a boy asked.

"No," Bruce responded. He sat down next to him.

"I'm Ethan, Ethan Bennett," the boy stated.

"I'm Bruce," Bruce said. They shook hands.

"So do like this place?" Ethan asked as he began to eat his roost beef sandwich.

"Not really," Bruce admitted. He began eating his ham sandwich. "You get tired of it after the first two times."

"You've been here before?" Ethan asked.

"Only with my parents," Bruce responded. "They wanted to get me into this. So do you?"

"To be honest, I'd rather be in the classroom," Ethan admitted. Bruce chuckled a bit.

"Me too, me too," Bruce said with a smile. "A least there you're doing things in class. Here it's just listening, listening and more listening."

"Yeah, and who likes listening all the time?" Ethan responded. "I like being able to engage in things. Not just looking at things and learning facts and dates."

"And who's going to remember all those dates later, anyways!" Bruce exclaimed. "Only history teachers."

"Can't argue with that," Ethan responded. "Hey, when did it get so quiet?" They both looked up and saw that their class was gone. They quickly threw away the trash and headed for the entrance of the museum. Well, they tried but ended up finding several dead ends before finding the entrance ten minutes later. They got out just in time to see the bus leave the museum parking lot. They ran to the bus.

"Wait! Come back!" both the boys yelled as but the bus kept going. Soon it was gone. They stopped running and looked at each other.

"So what do we do now?" Bruce asked.

"We go back to school," Ethan suggested.

"How?" Bruce questioned. "We don't know the way."

"Well, then we can explore until we find it," Ethan responded. "Come on, it'll be an adventure." Bruce hesitated a bit. Ethan ran toward the way the bus had gone.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Bruce exclaimed as he ran after Ethan. They ran down the roads and made several turns. They were going the wrong way, not that they knew that. Soon they found themselves in an old, crumbly neighborhood.

"Where are we?" Bruce asked. Ethan's eyes widen in realization and then returned to normal.

"This is my neighborhood," Ethan stated. Bruce turned to look at him.

"Really?" Bruce asked.

"Really," Ethan responded. He sighed. "Come on, I know the way from here." Ethan and Bruce walked down the old, dreary streets. Bruce looked around him in surprise. He never knew that things were this bad for everyone else. "Surprised?"

"A little," Bruce admitted. "I just never knew."

"Well, this is how it is for the rest of the world," Ethan informed him.

"I'm sorry," Bruce said sincerely.

"Don't be," Ethan responded. "I'm use to it." They walked down the streets for a good several minutes. Soon enough they were out of Ethan's neighborhood and were back in front of the school. "We made it."

They walked up to the school and headed straight for their classroom. Ethan went inside first while Bruce waited a little before walking in. It was Reading Time and it was a little after one.

"There you boys are!" the teacher exclaimed. He was a bald guy with gray hair on both sides of his head, rectangular framed glasses and was a tall guy. He didn't look very happy. "Where were you two? And why weren't you on the bus!? I told you to stay with me."

"We're sorry," Bruce began. "But we were just eating our lunch and then everyone was gone. And we couldn't find the way out…"

"Go to the Principal's Office," the man said.

"But sir…" they both began.

"NOW," he said. "I will not tolerate rule breakers." They both went to the Principal's Office.

"I'm sorry," Bruce told Ethan on the way there.

"For what?" Ethan responded.

"For dragging you along," Bruce began. "The teachers hate me and I'm sorry…"

"Hey, I'm the teachers' favorite either," Ethan replied. "They would have done the same thing regardless of whether or not I was with you." Bruce smiled.

"I guess we're both misfits," Bruce stated.

"Yeah, I guess we both are," Ethan agreed. By then they had reached the Principal's Office. Bruce opened the door and went in first.

The scroll closed for a brief second before re-opening to a new scene.

"You want to come over?" Bruce asked Ethan. They were at school in the cafeteria eating their lunch. "They'd love to have you."

"I'll have to ask my parents first," Ethan told him. "But I'd love too."

"Oh, and make sure to bring you detective kit," Bruce said.

The scroll closed again and then re-opened.

"Master Bruce, there's a young boy at the door that here's for you," Alfred called to him. Bruce ran down the stairs with a smile as he reached the door.

"Ethan!" Bruce exclaimed. He hugged him.

"Bruce!" Ethan said back. "I brought the kit."

"Great," Bruce responded. "Let's go to my room." They ran up the stairs to his room and closed the door. Ethan pulled his kit.

"It's not much but…" Ethan began.

"It's perfect," Bruce responded. He opened his closet and went through his toys and stuff. Then he pulled out a similar kit. "I've got the same thing." The kits contained a detective pad and pencil, magnifying glass, and some cards for getting fingerprints.

"Well, let's get to work, partner," Ethan said.

Note: I'm going to split his early years into two parts so stay tuned for happy and unhappy childhood moments!