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"There are two kinds of arrogance. One where you are unequal to the task and one where your dreams are too big. The former is commonplace stupidity… but the latter is a rare species that is difficult to find."
– Gilgamesh, (Fate Series)
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"The fuck sent this letter?" I exclaimed looking at the lavishly decorated suspicious black and gold letter looking like it was from some Arabian king trying to appear rich as well as cool by sending me a gold-plated letter wrapped up in a dark theme.
"Language Master Bruce." Alfred tried to inhibit my cursing like usual which I conveniently ignored.
"Cortana, did you find anything after scanning the outer packaging?"
"No, Bruce. Unfortunately, the ones who packed or delivered it made sure to not even leave a single fingerprint or DNA remnant in there. From the materials used in the packaging and the letter, all I can deduce is that they were made outside the US but unfortunately, I currently do not possess enough data to specify where." Cortana said with some dismay in her otherwise usually cheerful voice.
"Not your fault Cort. After all, the internet still hasn't developed enough for you to find detailed information like that." I comforted her.
What irked me was that the letter was not the only thing weird in the package that Alfred bought. What was more weird was the way it was delivered. The package appeared out of nowhere in front of the estate gates. Even the dozens of cameras monitoring every inch of both inside and outside the mansion failed to capture how it happened. Only when every frame of the recording data was meticulously checked by Cortana, did she finally notice a slight dark smoke just the moment before the package was left in front of my gate, a smoke that both I and Cortana concluded as mystical in origin.
'It's good that Mr. Zatara had already inscribed some heavy anti-magic spell formations around the house. It's because of those barriers that stray dark wizards and evil sorcerers won't be able to come inside my home using their petty magic.' I thought like a proud landowner.
With untraceable packaging, a teleportation-like mystical delivery method, and a lavishly decorated letter, this is just getting more and more interesting.
"If I may speak Master Bruce, I think that insignia on the seal might have a clue or two as to the person or the group that might have sent the letter," Alfred spoke up as he eyed the seal.
"Maybe but Cortana didn't find anything after looking it up on the web except a few possible conspiracy theories stating that a symbol looking like that meant the end of the world or something. It was truthfully the worst letter seal I had ever seen. I mean why would you make your seal look like an animal's skull that cannot be even recognized when you can just make it something cooler like a rose or a dragon or maybe even a wolf?" I snorted as I failed to identify the creature that the symbol consisting of a weird skull and horns looked like.
"Yes, you are right. It looks more like a demon's head to me than an animal's skull. I guess not every artist is as talented as you. Master Bruce" Alfred praised.
"Thanks, Alfred. But even if I can draw a better Demon's head... oh, so that's what it is. You are more talented than you know Alfred. I now have a good idea about who the senders of this letter might be because of you."
"It's a pleasure, Master Bruce," Alfred said gladly taking credit for it like an absolute sigma.
"Cortana made a new entry into the file titled 'League of Assassins'. Mark them as active." I commanded which Cortana followed without a single question.
Among a huge sheet of countless names colored in red on the huge computer screen, the 'League of Assassins' name suddenly lit in green as it joined the active status shared by only a few more names on the sheet including a couple of famous underworld gangs, Superman, Catwoman, Lex Luthor, the Gordons and a few other important people Bruce had met till now..
"But Master Bruce, may I ask what was written on it? You never told me." Alfred asked, probably feeling a little worried after hearing the ominous name of the group that had supposedly sent the letter to me.
"Nothing much. It just said 'If you want to pursue true power, come find me.' And then there is an address that can be traced to Nepal." I said with a straight face.
"That sounds really sketchy Master Bruce. Please tell me that you are going to be wise and ignore the letter instead of blindly heading to the address the very next day." Alfred asked as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a face filled with absolute seriousness.
"Of course not Alfred. What do you think think of me as?" I chuckled.
"Thank God. Seems I have managed to cultivate at least some amount of survival skills inside you..."
"I'll be going after a week." I completed.
"..." Alfred looked crestfallen as he sighed and just shook his head, most probably expressing his disappointment about not being able to make me more 'normal'.
But, I knew he wasn't going to try his best to keep me from going because cared for me as much as he did, he also knew what I was truly capable of. The world-destroying weapons I could build when required. There was no problem I could not solve and almost no professional martial arts expert I could not beat or at least give an equal fight to.
He knew that particular last bit of information because he had hired a certain famous boxing heavyweight champion to see if what Richard had taught us was truly valuable in real-life combat situations or not and let's just say, the boxer was glad that I wasn't a competitor of his and this was a secret private match or according to him, he would have to retire after being beaten black and blue by a kid like me. After that, Alfred had been much more assured about my safety than he was before and even trusted me more with stuff like that.
"You are still not an adult Master Bruce. You can't travel the world alone." He still tried his luck with another excuse.
"And I am not going alone. I am sure one of the bodyguards can gladly accompany me to the mentioned location. I'll be going alone from there. Look Alfred I know this particular organization, They are good fighters and live like monks in strict discipline. They are harmless." I assured him.
And most of it was true including the fact that they were harmless to me since I was invited there by their own leader. They will only try to kill me if I don't do what their leader, the Demon's head wants me to do and that will most probably be by the end of the training period or whatever he intends for me.
As for why I was walking into an oh-so-obvious trap? Although it might be a trap from Ra's Al Ghul to try to make me into his heir by shaping me into a civilization-destroying maniac like him or him trying to take over my body to get himself a new free young body, it was still a opportunity for me, an opportunity I wasn't going to miss. Because with this particular opportunity, I had a chance to have my own secret gang of loyal, killer ninjas.
I had plans to go out to receive training anyway. I knew a lot of martial arts, courtesy of Richard but I wasn't satisfied with it. Because even though I absorbed knowledge from Richard like a sponge in water, I still wasn't able to learn everything he knew in those two years. Compared to that, learning from Deathstroke was much easier. Also, I still hadn't been able to develop and replicate how Hamon worked through chi. I needed more spiritual knowledge to even have a chance to be able to do that. And for that Deathstroke was useless. Spiritual was the last word in the dictionary that could be used to describe Deathstroke.
I had done my own research to find such a place for further training. With Cortana's help, I found something called the Reach Monastery and Allcaste as the only two potential places for training of such caliber. I was going to go there after my eighteenth birthday but now that I had this 'invitation', there was no way I wasn't going there even if I was in enemy territory and... in constant danger.
"Even if I do let you go, Master Bruce, what about the girls? I don't believe that they will be very happy seeing you go alone to a place filled with potential assassins."
"You don't have to worry about that. I'll take care of them. Just prepare for my... trip. I'll be leaving a week from now. Also, congratulations my dear butler, you are getting a promotion. You are now getting Power of Attorney over my Wayne Solutions company until I return. So you are quite a number of billion dollars richer now. Don't spend it all in one place if I don't return" I joked even though he didn't laugh and just continued to stare at me with unamused eyes.
"Fine, I will make the preparations. Just don't get hurt." The butler finally said with some hesitation as he began to walk away muttering about modern children not listening to adults nowadays.
"Cortana, I think it's time we start putting 'Project Uplift' into effect. We are ready for it, right?" I asked still looking at Alfred leaving the Bat cave through the elevator.
"We are ready. Alfred has already 'acquired' most of the orphanages in the city under the Wayne Foundation giving us access to a huge supply of loyal followers if we treat them right and just influence them slightly to make sure they know whom to thank. We have bought pieces of real estate in the many key locations of the city. Wayne Solutions will also be releasing dynamic products next year to displace every industry we have entered and has also entered the final stages of our negotiations to buy the Gotham Merchant's Bank. We have also been collecting dirt about almost every politician and senior official in the city specifically the Mayor. We have even started gathering information and tapping calls from senators and central politicians to support Mr. Jonathan Kent in his coming elections. We have all the pieces in place." Cortana informed.
"Good. But just to be safer start manufacturing a hundred of each type of the droids I designed. I have to make sure that there are no idiots stupid enough to try to attack Alfred, Selina, or Vicki. Helena should be safe with her uncle in Europe. Also, start working on a super pill for Ace. I am sure giving superpowers to dogs is easier than doing the same for humans." I instructed.
"I'll set up the tasks right now," Cortana said as dozens of her Dr. Octopus-like machine tentacles descended from the ceiling like snakes and began to start production on the drones.
I guess I'll need to break the news of my departure to the girls next.
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