Gotham City. This place is Hell on Earth. Crime comes here to stay. A corrupt police force makes everything worse. Some people leave. It doesn't help. Gotham needed a savior. And I answered the call for help. Gotham may be Hell. But it's my Hell.
"Bruce. Wake up. Today is a big day."
"Huh?"
"Happy Birthday Bruce!"
"Oh! This is great! Is Harvey here yet? Is Selina?"
"Bruce it's only 7:00. Your friends won't be here until after I show you Wayne Enterprises."
"What! I'm going to go in the building?"
"Yes Bruce. Alfred is going to make you whatever you want."
"Anything? This birthday is the best already!"
"I'm glad you think so. Come on, get out of those pajamas and come down to the dining room."
"Okay dad."
Bruce got dressed and raced down the halls of Wayne Manor to the dining room. When he got down he told Alfred, the Wayne's butler, exactly what he wanted.
"...with eggs and toast with butter please."
"Of course Master Bruce. I just hope you'll be able to get it all down."
" Oh he'll need the energy to see the Tower."
"Oh I can't wait!"
After Bruce had eaten his breakfast and gotten ready for the trip to Wayne Tower, he went with his father, mother, and Alfred to the car. Alfred rode them to the Gotham Monorail, where Alfred stayed behind, and the family got on. They rode the monorail to Wayne Tower, and went inside.
"Wow!"
"I know Bruce, it's quite a sight. But you need to be quiet. People are working hard here."
"Oh, I'm sorry daddy."
"No, it's fine Bruce, but oh! Mr. Strange is here. Hello Hugo."
"Hello Mr. Wayne. Mrs Wayne. Ah, and this must be Bruce. Your father has told me so much about you."
"Hello Mr. Strange."
"Bruce, this is my executive officer, Hugo Strange. He's my second in command."
"Come Bruce, there is much to see."
They followed Strange to an elevator. It had many buttons, labeled 1-68.
"Where shall we begin Mr. Wayne?"
"Why not the prototype department?"
"Of course."
Hugo pressed the button labeled 1. They went down 5 floors, and when the doors opened, there were boxes and drawers and tables with blueprints all over.
"Follow me, Mr. Fox will want to meet you before anything else."
They went through the aisles and past the tables until they saw a man holding a kind of gun.
"Hello Lucius."
"Oh Mr. Wayne. Mrs. Wayne. And little Bruce Wayne. How's your tour been?"
"Actually, we came to see you first."
"Well I am very grateful. I'll make sure that you won't soon forget me. You see this Bruce? What do you think it is?"
"Some kind of gun?"
"Yes, in a way. It is a gun, but not for attacking. For escaping, confusion. You see this ball? It's a smoke ball. You press a button, throw it on the floor, and a layer of smoke will come out. Then..."
The smoke cleared, and Mr. Fox was gone. Bruce looked up, and saw him on top of one of the aisles.
"Pretty neat, huh?"
Hugo led them through the buildings many floors. Finally, they reached the top of the Tower, Thomas Wayne's office.
"This is your father's office Bruce. Look out at Gotham. It's much better from up here than from down there. Well, that concludes our tour. I will see you later Bruce. Good-bye Mr. Wayne, Mrs. Wayne. I give you a fond farewell."
They went down to the lobby, and onto the monorail. When Alfred picked them up, and brought them back to Wayne Manor, Bruce was extremely exited. He walked in with his parents.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUCE!!!"
The guests yelled out. The Elliot family was there. As was the Sionis family. But Bruce was looking for...
"Selina!"
"Happy Birthday Bruce! I got you a great present! And thanks again for the kitten on my birthday. I love her."
"Thanks Selina. Is Harvey here yet?"
"No, I heard my aunt on the phone with Harvey's mom. I think he might be having one of his... you know... mood swings."
"Oh. Big Bad Harv."
"Don't worry, it was 20 minutes ago, so we just have to wait 10 minutes for it to pass. How was the Tower?"
"It was great! There was one man, Mr. Fox, who had a grappling gun and a smoke ball. But Mr. Strange was creepy."
"I heard from a 7th grader that he goes over to the asylum sometimes and. And takes peoples brains out of their heads. He even puts them in other people."
"Gross. Well, Harvey should be here soon. I hope he doesn't want to pretend to be a lawman again. Or a criminal."
"I don't think he's ever said something or something or something. It's either one or the other."
"Ding-Dong-Ding!!!"
"Harvey's here!"
"Hi Harvey!"
"Hi guys, I'm happy to be here... arg... who needs you... no! I'm sorry. Bruce, I'll go if you want."
"No, no it's fine."
"Well happy birthday. I hope that Tommy or Roman don't ruin it this time."
"Yeah. And it's too bad that John didn't get here. Oh, John Grayson. He was my friend a while ago. He moved when his father formed the Flying Grayson's act in Haley's Circus. We've kept in touch and he was going to come to Gotham a little while before today. I guess something came up."
"Well I'm sure you'll still have a happy birthday."
"Yeah Mom."
"You should go thank Alfred. He decorated, and is making your cake right now, so it will be out of the oven only an hour and a half."
"Okay Mom. I'll go do that now."
Bruce went to the kitchen to thank Alfred. He was mixing the ingredients to the cake together, and saw Bruce.
"Hello Master Bruce. How was your tour of Wayne Tower?"
"It was great! I met Mr. Strange, and a man named Mr. Fox."
"Ah Lucius. We were friends a long time ago. We still are."
"Well, Alfred, I just wanted to say thanks."
"It was nothing."
After Bruce had eaten his cake with everyone, he went to open his gifts. From Selina, he got a puppy, which he named Ace. From Harvey, he got two things. One Bruce loved, and one that was okay, but still very good. After everything was finished, Bruce was ready to go to sleep. As he was about to go to bed, his father told him that he could go see the movie that Bruce really wanted to see.
"Thanks dad."
The next day Bruce was ready to go to the theater. He fed Ace and went with his parents. Alfred brought them to the theater, and drove off. Thomas, Martha and Bruce went in and found a seat. The movie was about a costumed man who avenged his parent's deaths by capturing the man who did it and his team of henchmen. Bruce loved the movie, and his parents liked it too.
"Alfred should be here by now."
"He could be in the back. Let's cut through here."
"I don't now Tom, maybe we should just wait."
"Lets just go check."
"Okay, but I don't like it."
They went through the ally, and were behind the building, near the other side when.
"Put your hands in the air! Give me your money!"
"Okay, no one needs to be hurt."
"And you, the pearls! I said I want your money!"
"Here, take it..."
"BANG!!!"
"TOM!!!"
"Quiet lady!!!"
"Daddy!!!"
"Oh Tom!!!"
"BANG!!!"
"MOMMY!"
"Now you kid."
-click- -click click-
"God... out of shots. Thorne's gonna be pissed."
The mugger ran out of the ally leaving Bruce crying over his parent's bodies. The police came in, and so did Alfred. A cop came over to Bruce, and led him into a police car.
"Bruce, I'm sorry about what happened in that ally. Bruce. Bruce I know you don't want to talk to me, but we need to catch who did this."
"He... he had blond hair. And blue eyes. I don't know anything else. Light skin and a raspy voice. A crooked nose. Why? Why did he do it?"
"I don't know. This city... it does something to the people. Makes them do things like this. Did he look like this?"
A sketcher gave the cop a drawing of the mugger.
"Yes. He looked like that."
"I don' know why e's so sad. E's RICH! E's got a butler, a mansion! E's got everything!"
"Shut up! He's 9 and all alone. Nothing will fix that. Bruce, I think your butler is here."
"Bye officer."
"Hey son, call me Jim."
Alfred brought Bruce to Wayne Manor, and he started walking through the gardens. He walked over to the well, heard a crack, and started to fall. He landed with a thump. At first nothing happened. Then.
"SCREECH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Hundreds of bats flew around him. He couldn't see anything. He was surrounded by a million screeching animals! He saw Alfred appear in the well's entrance, and blacked out.
Part 2 coming soon!!!