"Are you feeling better now? If anything happens, if you feel sick, let the teacher know!!" Lois informed Apollo. "I'll be okay!! I have to go now, I'll be late" He told her, "Alright..." Lois was about to let go of Apollo's hand, but first, she went in and gave him a tight hug. "I believe in you, 'Superlad' " Lois whispered. "Don't call me that in front of my friends!!" Apollo groaned, before backing away and rushing into school without looking back, he stomped past two other boys who chuckled as he walked past, "How was your weekend, 'Superlad' " the dark-haired boy teased.
Apollo sat at the front of the class, his eyes glued to the large screen in front of him. "Have you all gone over the periodic table this weekend?" The teacher asked. Silence filled the classroom as every student looked down at their desk, "...Did you at least memorize the first five elements?" The teacher sighed. "Sorry miss, I didn't look over the table, I was busy catching up on 'The Dutch Detective' " Apollo murmured. The teacher sighed, "It's fine, I might have asked too much of you kids...let's go over the first five elements on the table today and we can go on from there" the teacher suggested.
"Pssst, Apollo" a boy from behind him whispered, it was one of the kids from earlier who teased him, "Guess what? It was actually the Bride who did it" the boy chuckled, hoping to spoil the show for Apollo, who was clearly annoyed but kept his cool.
"Back off Todd!!" A kid next to Apollo whispered, he wore a pair of glasses and sported ginger hair.
"Shut up four-eyes" Todd sneered before sitting back.
As the periodic table appeared on screen, Todd leaned forward once again, "...Kryptonite...I heard that's what did your dad in" he giggled, "It's kind of pathetic...he could break boulders with a single punch, fly higher than a space ship and run as fast as the Flash, but a piece of rock was what killed him" Todd cackled. Apollo covered his ears and kept his eyes forward, he hated having to deal with Todd...
Later in Recess, Apollo sat at a bench with the ginger kid from earlier, the boy was Milton Blake,
Apollo's only friend in school. "So then my scout leader allowed me to join the Webelos rank!! He even gave me this badge" Milton exclaimed, taking out a small Cub Scout badge.
"Hey Milt, what's that? Can I take a look?" Todd asked, grabbing Milton's wrist and yanking him to the ground, snatching the badge from him.
"Give it back-" Milton reached out, but was kicked back down by Todd's croney. "Keep him down, Clyde" Todd ordered as he examined the badge closely.
"Give it back" Apollo demanded, stepping forward. "...Ohhh no, Superlad is gonna teach me a lesson!!" Todd picked up a piece of pebble and tossed it at Apollo, "Ha!! Kryptonite!! Take that!!" Todd cackled. Apollo remained still, ignoring the pebbles being thrown at him.
Todd was not amused by that, and he suddenly lunges forward and attempted to shove Apollo to the ground, but no matter how hard he shoved, Apollo remained standing, almost as if his feet were glued to the floor.
"...What the-" Todd was suddenly interrupted as Apollo gave him a light shove, Todd immediately flew back, flipping through the air before slamming into the ground at full force, causing Todd to burst into tears. The teachers rushed over and Apollo was quickly sent to the principal's office.
"Apollo, someone is here to pick you up" the secretary stated, holding the door open for Apollo. He walked out, expecting to find his mother but was surprised to see Bruce standing there. "Uncle Bruce?" Apollo exclaimed, "Hey Apollo...I heard you got into some trouble" Bruce stated, leading the boy out of the room and into the empty halls. "I used to get into fights back at school too...there was one boy, Roman Sionis, who used to torment me after my parent's death" Bruce explained. Apollo looked up at Bruce and listened closely as they walked out of the school. "Roman and I used to be friends. He, Tommy and I would always hang out at each other's homes...well, it was usually at my house" Bruce reminisced. "Roman was always an...eccentric kid, he never knew when to keep quiet...he would say things without ever considering what the other person might think. During middle school, eighth grade, my parents were gunned down...Tommy, having lost his own parents in a car crash, could sympathize with me...but Roman would tease about my parent's death, he'd treat it like it was a joke. So one day, I confronted him, and it ended in a fight..." Bruce stated, "Tommy tried to stop us, but Roman socked him across the face and ended up breaking his nose"
"...Wow...did you win?" Apollo asked, "Of course I did" Bruce joked. As he approached his Black S-Class vehicle, he saw three bearded men sitting on the car, taking selfies.
"...Hold on, is that who I think it is?" One of the men exclaimed, "Bruce Wayne...hey moneybags, care to spare some change?" He asked, pulling out a switchblade. "Guys, there's a kid-" "I don't give a damn about the kid, hand over your wallet or...the kid's gonna get-" before the man can finish his sentence, Bruce performed a leg trip takedown on the man. The other two thieves rushed at Bruce who ducked and performed an uppercut on one of them, he grabbed the thug by the arm and threw him at the other thug, causing them to collapse onto the ground.
"Come on Apollo, Let's get you home" Bruce said as he patted down the gray sweater he was wearing and opened the car door for Apollo...