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"Simplicity is the easiest path to true beauty."
-SEISHUU HANDA, [BARAKAMON]
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"Why did we have to go all the way to the library, couldn't the library just deliver the books that I want to the estate? Also, why can't we just buy the entire library and shift all the books that I want directly to our home?" Bruce nagged like a spoiled child as he looked at the shabby city outside through the car window while he and Alfred were returning from the library to the Wayne manor.
He didn't like going out of the comfort of his home into this cursed city every day, just to read some books.
"Well master, I asked the same question but apparently you cannot be the owner of a city-government-owned library. You can donate to it and thus experience some extra benefits but not buy it entirely. So I donated a generous amount to the library according to your wishes and got you the right to read any book you want in there, even the restricted ones. But the condition is that in case of such rare or restricted books, you will have to read them in the library and won't be able to take them out of the library premises." Alfred patiently explained to Bruce.
"*Sigh* I don't like it, but I guess you can't have everything you want in life." Bruce grumbled while thinking 'At least not so soon after my recent transmigration.'
"By the way, any news about my parent's murderer from Detective Gordon after our last conversation?" Bruce crassly asked.
"Unfortunately, no young master. But I do assure you that the culprit will get caught one way or the other. And when he does, I will make sure that he gets his due. He will never be able to see the outside world ever again." Alfred said with a distinct coldness in his normally caring voice.
"I hope so, I really do hope so." Bruce trailed off as he again shifted his attention outside.
Quite surprisingly, they were passing by the same alley where 'his' parents got killed that day. Bruce could feel it in his heart and bones, a chilling sensation of trauma and a lingering feeling of heartbreaking sadness. They were the suppressed emotions that the previous Bruce had left for him even after his death.
"Wait what is happening there?" Bruce suddenly spoke out as he noticed a group of people looking like thugs cornering a small poor looking child. "Alfred, we should help the child. I think he is in trouble."
"Master Bruce it's not safe for you. I am sure that someone else will definitely help the child, someone besides us." Alfred didn't want to stop the car and get involved in situations like these. He didn't want to do anything that could potentially endanger Bruce.
"Look, Alfred, I know where you are coming from. I probably would have agreed with you normally but that's a child who needs our help in the same alley where my parents were killed and I was shot while nobody came to help us despite our desperate yells and screams. Do you want the same thing to happen in the same place to another child?" Bruce pleaded as he looked and reasoned with Alfred.
He normally really wouldn't have bothered with stuff like these but even a selfish person like him couldn't just ignore a little child being harmed in front of his eyes. This was one of the few rare cases where he genuinely wanted to help someone without expecting anything in return. Besides he had no danger from ordinary thugs like these, not with his bat-tool still with him.
"Fine. Stop the car here Jimmy. And also Master Bruce, please don't get out of the car, no matter what happens." Alfred said as he opened the car door and got out of the car.
"Hello there gentlemen. May I ask what is happening here?" Alfred asked in a polite tone to the five people cornering the little child dressed in worn-down clothes which looked like they had been patched and melded multiple times.
Bruce was watching and hearing this from the window of the car parked a little away from the alley. Normally he wouldn't be able to hear sounds that far away but he had a sound amplifier and a digital zoom-in binocular in his new bat-tool which made observing them and hearing their voices excessively easy.
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"None of your business brit. Now why don't you do us a favor and get the hell out of here?" A nameless thug yelled in anger.
"I am afraid I can't do that, not while that child is still here. You see my master is suffering from the trauma of a recent incident and he doesn't want to see someone suffering from the same fate he has suffered from. So I have to politely request you to leave that child alone and walk away for both of our sakes." The look in Alfred's eyes hardened as he discharged a thinly veiled threat toward the punks.
"No can do English boy. This little street runt stole money from us and we want it back. A well-mannered dude like you have no business in protecting a thief like this do you? Now bugger off before you get some holes in that well-groomed suit of yours." A different thug spoke up this time.
The child didn't say anything to oppose the thug's claim indicating that the thug's words were probably true.
"Really? Cursing me on my suit and place of origin? So original. Now, I guess since you guys don't understand words of peace, I'll have to use something a little more violent on you..." Alfred didn't back down as he inserted his right hand into his coat.
"Wait. How much did the child steal from you?" A voice suddenly came from Alfred's back which startled him and he quickly got his hand out of his coat.
"Young master, what are you doing here?" Alfred spoke out frustrated that Bruce had come here despite his initial warning to him.
"Now, who are you little rat? This doesn't concern you." The first thug spoke out again as he looked Bruce up and down.
"Maybe but your money does concern you, right? How much money did he steal from you? I'll give you your money back and all you have to do is just take it and leave that child alone. How about that?" Bruce said as he looked at the thug who seemed like their leader completely ignoring Alfred's frustration.
He was mainly here to stop Alfred from doing something stupid. He already knew that Alfred had begun to carry a gun after the incident that night. But he didn't want him to carelessly use that gun on someone. Many enemies of the Wayne family were already looking for reasons to strip away Alfred's position as Bruce's legal guardian somehow. Bruce didn't want to give them a way to do exactly that.
"Sure. All I care about is that we get our fairly hard-earned money, no matter who gives it back to us. That little shit stole a thousand dollars from us. Give it back and we will quietly walk away." He said as he showed a disgusting smile.
"He is lying. There was barely a hundred dollars in his wallet." Suddenly the child spoke out in what seemed like a high-pitched and scared voice.
"Did somebody ask you, you disgusting little maggot..." Another thug yelled in rage as he looked at the child threateningly.
"Fine. Alfred give him a thousand dollars." Bruce said in a passive voice as he maintained eye contact with the leader.
Alfred didn't argue with Bruce. He was glad that this matter could be over with just a measly expense of thousand dollars. He quickly got out his wallet and took out thousand dollars from it and handed the fresh bills over to one of the thugs.
"You got your money. Now, leave." Bruce said without changing his serious tone which sounded a little funny since it was coming from a nine-year-old child.
"Yeah but what about the charges for our psychological damage and loss of working time? I think we can agree on another two thousand dollars to settle that. Of course, you can always choose not to pay in which case we will 'kindly' ask our little street rat here for it." The thug leader tried to take advantage of them.
"Psychological damages? You were traumatized by a little child stealing from you? And lots of time? I am sure that most of you guys do nothing but harass people all day." Alfred shouted in annoyance at their blatant try to rip them off their money.
He was not angry about having to pay money. He was angry that those people were trying to take advantage of him and his young master.
The leader seemed ticked off at Alfred's outburst and angrily said "We work for the Falcone crime family. Our time is more important than our lives. NOW UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE SQUASHED LIKE LITTLE COCKROACHES UNDER OUR BOOT, THEN EITHER PAY OR...."
*Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew* *Pew*
"I hate con men and people who yell for no reason," Bruce said as he shifted his bat-tool from his gun mode back to its torch mode and kept it in his belt buckle looking like a glorified child security guard.
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"D-did you just kill those people young master?" Alfred asked not believing his eyes, his brain working at full speed in finding ways to protect Bruce from the ensuing legal repercussions.
"Do you think I am crazy or something? Of course, I didn't kill them. I shot low-voltage electromagnetic shots. They were like tasers and were only strong enough to knock them out for a few hours." Bruce snorted, not telling Alfred that they may or may not suffer from a decreased iq since Bruce set the voltage at a much higher level than needed to knock out an average human.
"*Sigh* Okay but please don't do that next time something like this happens. And also next time, stay in the car." Alfred said as he frowned at Bruce.
"Hehe, I can't promise anything." Bruce jokingly said as he focused his attention on the child. This was the first time he was looking closely at him now. He could not see his face before as the child had a hood on and the alley was quite dark even in daylight.
"Are you alright kid? Are you injured? Do you need help of any kind?" Bruce said as he went close to the kid sitting on the ground and noticed a scratch on his leg.
"N-no, I am alright. It's just a small scratch." The kid nervously said as he opened his hood to show his face.
The face was really beautiful in a girlish way with a strange aura of uniqueness and mystery to it.
'That face looks like that of a girl's. And that voice also seems... Wait is she a girl?' Bruce thought to himself.
"Are you a girl?" Bruce asked as he raised one of his brows curiously.
"Yeah, wasn't that really apparent?" The young girl said as she looked at Bruce in confusion.
"Not really, you looked like a boy with that hood on. Anyways, I am Wayne, Bruce Wayne. What's your name?" Bruce asked as he gave his hand to the girl to raise her.
The girl saw Bruce's hand and took it using it to get up after slightly hesitating for a second.
"I am Selina, Selina Kyle."
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(A/N: I didn't plan to release a chapter today since I wanted to take Saturdays as holidays but still, here you go. It's a BONUS CHAPTER.)
It's a bonus, so give me Power Stones💎💎💎. For the Dark side.
Also, you can read ahead or support me through my pat reon page. I have 12 advanced chapters there right now,
pátreon.com/God_Doom
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