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"If you can't do something, then don't. Focus on what you can."
-SHIROE, (LOG HORIZON)
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It turned out that Helena was quite a friendly and kind-hearted girl, just somewhat frustrated for some reason, probably the effect of the criminal relatives in her family.
She had quickly become friends with Bruce and the other two girls after talking with them for some time in the cafeteria. She didn't mention anything about her family to them but that didn't stop Vicki from enquiring about it which Helena skillfully dodged.
Helena was a lot more mature than Selina or even Vicki. So it was quite easy for Bruce to converse with her.
By the time school ended that day, the trio had become a quartet although Bruce wasn't ever gonna call their group that since it sounded really weird.
"So, did you two have fun?" Alfred asked after school ended as Selina and Bruce went to him standing at the school gate with their car.
"No," Bruce said simply as he went directly inside the car to sit. Yes, he wasn't bored at school as he was able to talk with Selina and Vicki and later even Helena all day even though they talked like little girls which they were. But it didn't mean that he enjoyed school. Enjoy was a very strong word.
"He did," Selina whispered to Alfred with a cheeky smile. Bruce was able to hear her but didn't respond. He was too lazy to argue with her. He just wanted to go home and work on his drones.
He had sworn that once his drones were complete, he would use them first to find out about some of Alfred's secrets so that he could blackmail the butler into agreeing with him to not go to school. But again that would be difficult. Alfred was the most savage and sigma male he had ever seen. Bruce doubted that the butler would even care if he found out any of his dirty secrets.
The entire way to their home Selina explained to Alfred about their newest friendship with Helena as well as her rivalry with Vicki while Bruce just remained quiet.
"This Helena girl, is her full name Helena Bertinelli?" Alfred asked with a frown.
"Yes, do you know her?" Selina asked.
"Yes, indeed I do. Her family is quite famous in Gotham. Did you approach her or did she approach you?" Alfred asked with concern in his voice.
"It's not what you think Alfred. She didn't try to get close to us because of her family or anything. She was just an interesting girl, so we decided to befriend her. As for her 'family', I indeed know who they are and what they do but you don't have to worry, her family probably doesn't even know about her being friends with us and I don't think she is gonna tell either. She only seemed to truly like her siblings amongst all her family members." Bruce said quickly before Selina could answer.
He didn't want Alfred to have a wrong idea about Helena because she genuinely seemed like a good girl if he were to exclude her coldness and attitude that was drilled into her by her family.
"I see. I'll trust your choice of companions then Young Master. However remember, trust is something that should be earned not given. Your parents were too trusting, I don't want you to make the same mistake." Alfred said somewhat hinting at his suspicion that he thought that there was more to the Wayne murder than just a simple mugging gone wrong.
"You are quite right Alfred, you are quite right," Bruce said as he looked outside the car window. He didn't trust most people he met in this crazy world. The only people he trusted were the people he knew were honest from his previous life's knowledge and who also appeared loyal to him in this reality as well.
After they reached home Bruce went straight to continue working on his drone project again after freshening up. He had too many models in his plan of getting an eye everywhere on the entirety of Gotham, he had no time to rest. The first phase in his long-term plan of being the perfect Bruce was the intel phase where he would have access to and control over all intel in Gotham as well as have information about things all over the country and maybe even the world in due time. Data was the new oil after all.
Wait, now that he thought about it, he could also weaponize these drones as well. Some laser projectors, blasters, mini-missile launchers, and holographic projection technologies would enable them to not only be capable enough to hide or defend themselves but also help him in battle when the time came as well.
After most of the drone models were more or less designed, only then would Bruce move on to other projects. He was planning to work on some bio-strengthening projects after this like Cyberware, BioWare, or every nerd's wet dream, Super serums that creates super soldiers and super-powered beings. With his power that could create anything even remotely possible by science, he would be able to create most of the technological wonders he had seen in fiction in his last life.
The only thing he needed for that was time and knowledge which he would have plenty of both. After all, he was the richest kid on Earth and still wasn't even in his teens yet.
'Although I wonder, would my powers work on the more supernatural machines like the mother box or maybe the world engine or lantern rings or perhaps Asgardian technologies which were said to be both science and magic in a way? Would my powers work on magic at all, like could I analyze or understand them with my powers or build magical artifacts or objects that I had seen before in fiction?' Bruce thought. He didn't think he could.
'But I should still at least try one day if I ever get some magical knowledge because right now I know nothing about magic other than the correct spelling and pronunciation of the word.' Bruce thought. He had already tried to focus and see if his ability could tell him how to make a Dividing gear or a Boosted gear but he felt nothing, not even a headache like he commonly had whenever he tried to direct his ability to show him how to make some world-ending weapon.
"Master Bruce," Alfred whispered from behind.
"God damn it. Shit, Alfred, can you not sneak up on me like Selina? I almost had a heart attack. I got to put some sort of alarm sensor on the doors before I die of surprise." Bruce said, wondering how it would sound to people if they heard that Batman died of a heart attack because somebody sneaked up on him and surprised the life out of him.
"It's not our fault Master Bruce. You get deeply concentrated and focused whenever you are working on something. It doesn't matter what we do to try to declare our presence, you always get surprised." Alfred said with a straight face.
Bruce had a fleeting suspicion in his mind that perhaps Alfred WANTED to surprise him like Selina but then the butler was also speaking the truth. Bruce does get overly focused and detached from his surroundings every time he uses his ability which was a serious nerf for him in a combative situation. He didn't want to get defeated or die because he was too focused on analyzing a machine than keeping track of his surroundings.
His giving full attention and focus to a single objective was detrimental to him in a fight in the real world.
"I was here to give you these. They are some of the professionals I shortlisted for your combat training. All the important information and data on them are already there including their achievements, specialties, and qualifications. I made sure that they were genuine. You should have the last decision to choose who should teach you. After all, you seem determined on learning how to fight and defend yourself." Alfred said as he sympathetically looked at Bruce.
Alfred agreed with Bruce receiving combat training this easily because he thought that Bruce was afraid of people attacking him after the incident and he wanted training to cope with that. The butler even blamed himself partly for not being there to save the Wayne couple or protect Bruce that night, so he also wanted to make sure that Bruce would never have to face that type of situation ever again in his life and this self-defense training was a good way to make sure of that.
"Thanks, Alfred. What about Selina? Did you give her choices as well concerning her gymnastics teacher?" Bruce asked as he looked at the dozen thin blue files with different names on each of them.
"Yes, but she said and I quote, 'I am too hungry to read right now. Please choose whoever the best you think is for me, Alfred.' So I did. I got her an Olympic-level gymnast teacher who only teaches students interested in participating in the Olympics as well as a yoga instructor who was a well-renowned yoga guru before but started to work in a circus for some reason after a back injury." Alfred said with a small smile.
'Ohh." Bruce said. He had forgotten how rich and powerful they were. Hiring the best, most expensive, and premium teachers in the country or even the world wasn't a very big deal for them.
"Anyways, I'll look at the files and tell you the person or persons I want to hire for my training," Bruce said as he opened the first file to see if he was someone worth hiring.
"Okay master, call me when you have decided or if you need anything," Alfred said as he slowly turned back and left.
"Let's see, Oliver Lee Thomson, three times International judo champion with five years of paramilitary training. Hmm, pretty good. I guess he could be good as a close combat martial art teacher." Bruce said already impressed.
"Next, Safir Nikolai, four times Olympics gold medal winner in fifty-meter men's shooting event. Served ten years in the military as a sniper. Very very impressive." Bruce thought as he looked over every file and tried to get an idea about their rough qualification and overall achievements.
But it was only the last file that surprised him.
"Richard Dragon. Professional martial art trainer, unarmed combat expert. No military service. Certified archaeologist and adventurer. Winner of Japan International Jiu-Jutsu competition, winner of World Wushe Championship in Chinese Kung Fu, Gold medal winner in World Kung Fu championship...." Bruce was stunned.
He could not believe what he had just read. He knew about Richard Dragon. He was perhaps one of the most famous martial artists in DC who trained the majority of Gotham vigilantes. He was one of the best martial artists out there, only a few people like Lady Shiva or Karate Kid were able to match him.
"I want him, no question," Bruce said. He did not know how or why Richard Dragon's name was in these files but he NEEDED him to be his teacher. That was his first step to be potentially better than even Batman as the original Bruce Wayne wasn't trained by Richard. If he was, then Bruce would probably eat villains like Bane for breakfast. Richard was that good especially if he is ready to teach him how to use chi.
'Although I still have to find a teacher for more modern weapons like guns and stuff, I still think my future is suddenly looking very bright now. Who knows I might even be as good as Karate Kid under his training.' Bruce thought as he daydreamed about him knocking out Kryptonians with karate chops.
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