"Hello? Mr, Wayne, I'm afraid you need to come to school immediately."

Bruce looked up from where he'd been absently working, slightly shocked. "What happened?"

"It's Scarlet. She was in a fight, she's been suspended for three days. I'm having her teacher compile the work she'll miss, but you need to come and get her."

"Of course." Bruce hung up, heading to the garage, concerned as to what Scarlet had done.

He jogged into the school to see another girl, one much bigger than Scarlet, clutching her bloody nose and crying. "She just hit me, Mommy!" she cried.

"You called my parents tramps. You deserved it!" Scarlet snapped from where she stood, arms crossed, leaning against the wall. She looked angrily at the girl, whose mother stared daggers at her.

"Apologize." she ordered.

"No." Scarlet said firmly, meeting the woman's firey gaze with one of her own.

"Scarlet, what have we told you about respecting adults?" the Principal Hayes, a new principal, said, clearly looking uncomfortable.

"Respect is something you have to earn, and they haven't earned it." Scarlet spat.

"Scarlet." Bruce gave her an understanding look and she seemed to look a little less hostile.

"Maybe we can work this out." he said, nodding to the mother. He looked to principal Hayes- he'd have the most unbiased story. "What happened?"

"Katlin apparently made a derrogatory remark about Scarlet's... um... background. Scarlet said something in a foreign language, Katlin slapped her, and Scarlet lost it."

"She had a broken nose." the girl's mother said, shooting an angry look at Bruce.

"Scarlet. Is that true?" Bruce asked.

Scarlet nodded. "She hit me first, Dad."

"I know, Scarlet..." Bruce said. "But that doesn't mean you break her nose."

"She was asking for it." Scarlet muttered.

"I expect an apology." the girl's mother reiterated angrily, glaring at Scarlet.

"Lower your expectations, then." Scarlet retorted.

"You hit my daughter, ATTACK her, and are disrespectful to me! I want an apology! And I want it now!" the woman yelled, clearly trying to scare Scarlet into backing down.

"No." Scarlet said coldly, meeting the woman's cold gaze with one equally as fierce.

"Let me put this bluntly. Both girls are suspended for three days, and they can return to school on Monday, after the weekend." Principal Hayes chimed in, clearly uncertain what to do about the parent-child confrontation.

Bruce nodded, while the other woman blanched. "Suspended? Katlin did nothing but tell the truth! That girl is a menace! The product of gypsy love, that girl doesn't belong at Gotham Academy..."

"Mrs. Ludwig!" Bruce thundered, and she stopped her rant, looking at her sternly. "We can continue this discussion in private, without our girls present."

Mrs. Ludwig glared at him. "You'll be hearing from my attourney, Mr. Wayne. I expect you to pay for the medical bills, and pain and suffering!"

"I looked forward to that conversation." Bruce said tersely, turning to Scarlet. Bruce spoke quietly to Scarlet in Romani, asking if she'd gotten the books she needed to continue doing her homework while she was surpended. Scarlet responded with an affirmative, and with his arm around his daughter, guided her towards the door.

She sat in the back seat of the corvette, curling against the door as soon as she had her seatbelt on.

Bruce pulled out of the school parking lot, looking back at his little girl.

He pulled into a parking lot behind a Wayne Tech warehouse, one he knew would be vacant, and parked the car in the empty lot, turning around to face her.

"Scarlet."

"What? You're going to punish me, aren't you?" she asked bitterly.

Bruce looked at the expression of anger on her face. He'd never seen that scowl on her face before.

"No. I may punish you, but before I make my decision, I want to know what happened, first."

She looked up at her father, scowl still on her face. But she spoke.

"Kate was picking on me, since her best friend Ama wasn't there to do it." she said simply. "Calling me circus peanut and clown face and stuff, like they do every day."

"They do it every day?" Bruce asked.

She nodded. "I normally just ignore them. But then she called my parents worthless gypsy tramps, so I stood up and cussed her out in Romani. She didn't know what I was saying, but she knew it was bad, so she slapped me. Once she hit me, I knew it was okay for me to, so I dropped her and started to beat the crud of of her."

"That's it?" Bruce asked.

She nodded, looking at him, skeptical. "What? Are you going to punish me? I don't care- it was worth it."

Bruce studied her in silence for a moment, wondering what he should do. She'd lost her parents, like him, she was just defending them. In her eyes, she hadn't struck that blow to defend herself. She'd done it to defend her parents.

"What would you have done, Bruce?" she asked quietly.

"Your father was useless- said he was a doctor. He killed more people than he saved!"

"And your mother- Martha Wayne, Gotham's SLUT!" Jerry and his pals burst into laughter as a ten year old Bruce Wayne stared at the boys hatefully. They were older, there was a gang of at least four thirteen year olds learning down at him. The bullies of Gotham Academy.

"What is it, Wayne boy? You gonna do something about it?"

He was literally shaking with rage, and he flew at the boy, knocking him down and driving his fist into his face again and again until he was a screaming, bloody mess. His friends had trid to pull him off by now, but he didn't listen, elbows and knees flying wildly as he knocked them all down, gave each and every one of them what they deserved.

Alfred picked him up an hour later, looking at the boy he had promised to care fore. Ripped uniform, bloody knucles, red rimmed eyes and all, as well as a bloody nose himself.

"I heard what happened, master Bruce. You did the right thing."

And that made it all worth it.

Bruce smiled at the memory. "That is the ONLY time fighting is okay when you're out of costume, If they insult your parents. Are we clear?"

Scarlet looked surprised, but she nodded.

"And Scarlet." Brucd said, looking back at her. There was a bruise on her face, a hand-shaped bruise from where she'd been slapped.

"Hit them harder next time."

Scarlet grinned at him, then, and he smiled. That was his girl.

"You up for McDonalds?"

MAILBAG