Chapter 8: Early Years Part II
The scroll closed and then reopened to a time at least a year later.
Bruce was excited. His parents were going to take him to see "The Mark of Zorro". He had been DYING to see it but he had to wait till his mother got home first. She was stilling running errands and his father was doing paper work. But that was alright because he had Ethan to keep him company. Right now he was a little annoyed. Ethan had found something and he wasn't showing it. They were in the Wayne's greenhouse and Bruce was trying to find a hiding Ethan.
"Ethan! Let me see!" Bruce exclaimed. He then looked under a table to his left and found Ethan. "Ethan, let me see."
"Finders, keepers," Ethan responded. "And I found it."
"In MY garden," Bruce replied. Ethan opened his hand to reveal an arrowhead. Once his hand was fully opened Bruce grabbed it. He then ran to the other side of the garden to hide. "Finders, keepers." He then hid behind a table but unknown to him was that he was standing on cracking boards that were covering a hole to a cave. Ethan then ran over in the direction Bruce had run.
"Bruce," Ethan said. "Bruce, give it back! Bruce!" Then the boards gave way.
"Ah!" Bruce exclaimed. Bruce fell into the hole and landed with a grunt. Ethan came over to the edge of the hole.
"Bruce!" Ethan exclaimed in concern. He then ran off toward the mansion. Bruce then got off his back and gassed into the cave hole that was right in front of him. Then bats came at him.
"Ahh! Ahh! Help!" Bruce yelled. Swarms of bats came out and they crowded the young boy. "Help!" The bats flew out of the hole but they kept coming. "Aaaaahhhhhh!" It lasted for a few minutes.
The bats stopped coming but Bruce didn't stop shacking. He then saw a man coming down on a rope. Bruce couldn't make out who he was until he spoke.
"Bruce," the man said softly. Bruce knew it was his father. "It's okay. You'll be okay." Thomas Wayne then took Bruce into his arms and got out of the cave. Thomas walked up to the manor with Bruce in his arms. Ethan ran up to meet them at the door.
"Is he okay?" Ethan asked.
"He'll be alright," Thomas informed him. "He just needs some rest." Bruce flopped his arm over towards and Ethan and dropped something into his hands. Ethan caught it and saw it was his arrowhead. Thomas then took Bruce inside and Alfred came up to greet them.
"Is the young master…" Alfred began.
"He's fine," Thomas interrupted. Alfred turned to look at Bruce.
"Had a nasty fall, didn't you Master Bruce?" Alfred said.
"And why do we fall, Bruce?" Thomas said. "So we can learn to pick ourselves up." Thomas took Bruce upstairs to his room and gently laid him on his bed. "You okay?" Bruce shook his head. "The bats again?" Bruce nodded. Thomas sat on the edge of his son's bed. "You know why they attacked, don't you? They were afraid of you."
"Afraid of me?" Bruce asked.
"All creatures feel fear," Thomas told him.
"Even the scary ones," Bruce said with a smile.
"Especially the scary ones," Thomas added. He reached into his coat pocket. "Got something to show you." He pulled out a small semi-circle shaped box and opened it. It was a pearl necklace. "Do you think your mother will like it?" Bruce touched the pearls before answering,
"Yeah." Once Bruce moved his hand away from the necklace his father closed the box. He put it back in coat pocket.
"Okay, time to get up," Thomas said. Bruce pulled the covers over his head. "No, you're not allowed to stay in bed." As he said the last statement he was pulling the covers away from his son. "You don't get up you don't get to see "The Mark of Zorro." He said all of these things gently and with a smile.
"Alright," Bruce responded with a smile. He took the covers off of himself and headed downstairs with his father. He saw Ethan at the foot of the stairs.
"I've got to home now," Ethan said.
"Now?" Bruce asked.
"Yeah, I can't be late for dinner," Ethan responded. "Alfred's gonna take me. I'll see you tomorrow at school."
"See you tomorrow," Bruce replied. They hugged and then Ethan walked out the front door and went into a car where Alfred was waiting. They both then drove off toward Gotham.
"When are we going to get to the interesting stuff?" Artemis asked.
"Artemis, not every person goes to war," Diana said.
"Most do," Artemis responded. "Besides, he did SOMETHING earned him a place in our Life Scroll collection. And I want to know what it is." The scroll had closed and then it opened again.
"THAT. WAS. AWESOME!" Bruce exclaimed as he and his parents left the theater. They were walking through an alley to get to the car. "Can we watch again?!" Thomas smiled.
"You sure you won't get tired of it?" Thomas asked.
"Never!" Bruce exclaimed. "It's like "The Gray Ghost". You don't get tired off watching it!" Martha sighed as Bruce began to do imaginary sword fighting with the air.
"Honey, you sure this was a good idea?" Martha asked Thomas.
"Martha, he's just having some fun," Thomas said to her.
"Thomas, when he has nightmares, YOU can be the one to calm him," Martha told him.
"Okay, Bruce, time to calm down," Thomas told him. Then a middle-aged man approached them and pulled a gun on them. They froze in fear.
"Wallets, jewelry, now fast," he said.
"It's fine. Take it easy," Thomas responded. He pulled out his wallet." Here you go." He gave it to him. "It's fine. Now just take it and go." The mugger then noticed Martha's necklace.
"I said jewelry," the man said. Martha quickly removed her necklace and dropped it on the floor in front him. He pointed the gun at her. Thomas moved to stand in between them. It startled the man causing him to pull the trigger on Thomas. The bullet hit him square in chest.
"Tom! Thomas!" Martha screamed. Once Thomas was on the ground the mugger moved over to Martha and pointed his gun at her. He then shot her. She fell to the ground. Bruce watched in horror as they fell. The man fled but he forgot the pearls. Bruce sat down in between them. He tried shaking them awake.
"Moom! Dad!" he said franticly. They wouldn't stir. He then noticed the blood on his hand. He screamed and then cried with hands covering his eyes. It began to drizzle causing the blood to become watery and run all over the ground. He continued crying even as it rained and the noise of police sirens filled the night.
They were all horrified even Artemis. Hippolyta and Artemis had seen horrors but nothing like this.
"If this is what Man's World is creating, I don't want you to be apart of it," Artemis told Diana. "An adult can barely handle that kind of trauma. To say nothing of a child."
When Bruce noticed people behind him he ran and hid behind a garbage bag-filler. He didn't know or care who it was. He just wanted to be left alone. He continued to cry as he saw policemen crowd around his parents. He didn't understand what they said but he didn't care. They were gone. Nothing was going to change that. He hung his head and continued crying. A man came over to him. Bruce lifted his head to look at the man. The man bent down onto his knees. He had a blanket in his hands. Some time later he would learn the man's name, Jim Gordon.
"Hey," Gordon said softly. "Come here." He wrapped Bruce in the blanket he had been carrying. "I'm gonna take you to station. We'll find someone to pick you up." He took Bruce by the hand and led him to his car. Bruce got into the back seat and Jim the driver's seat. The drive was silent. He took Bruce to his office and Bruce sat down on the bench. Jim took something out of his coat and handed it to Bruce. It was the pearl necklace.
"Wait here," Gordon said. "I'll be right back." Gordon left the room leaving Bruce alone in room. He was still crying. After what felt like forever Gordon came back into the room. He knelt down to talk to him. "Someone's here for you." Alfred entered the room and Gordon stood up. Alfred knelt to Bruce's level.
"Oh, Master Bruce," Alfred began. "I am so dreadfully sorry. I can never replace them." He then hugged Bruce. "But I promise I will never leave your side." Bruce still had tears coming down his face but he felt a tad bit of comfort. Just in knowing that he wasn't completely alone.
The scroll rolled itself up and then reopened to a few years later.
Up next: Teenage Years!
