23 Chapter 23: A magical Birthday (1)
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"Today I will live in the moment unless it's unpleasant in which case I will eat a cookie."
– Cookie Monster
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"Are you sure young master that you don't want to invite some of the richer members of the upper echelon of Gotham to your party? Establishing a good relationship with them from early on might give you lots of benefits in the future when you take over Wayne Enterprises and kick out the board members." Alfred asked with a straight face making it clear that he hated most of the board members of the company with every bone in his body.
"No, Alfred. Not on my birthday. I can barely tolerate those stuck-up people who think that they are the most important and powerful people in the world at normal times. But inviting them and listening to their stupidity on my birthday is a big no-no." Bruce answered with a smile which Alfred returned with one of his own and left for the preparations.
It was Bruce's ninth birthday. It has been almost a year since Bruce and Selina started their training under Richard. In just one year they had improved so much that Richard still had trouble believing that two little children could really be that talented.
To Richard, Selina was a natural martial art prodigy while Bruce was a once-in-a-generation genius who was fated to dominate the martial art world one day. Of course, what he didn't know was that both of their successes were not because of their talents but because of their diligent practice through the NerveGear and Bruce's Walmart Sharingan power.
After about a month, Vicki too found out about their martial arts training when she came to play with them one morning and saw them practicing their techniques with Richard. After that day, she began pestering Bruce and Selina to let her join in too during their training sessions. Bruce had of course denied it at first but after an entire month of constant nagging, he had no choice but to agree to Vicki's request and ask Richard if he could train her as well.
He had expected Richard to deny training her but quite on the contrary, the martial art exert readily accepted her as a student the moment he brought up the topic without even asking her any of the questions he had previously asked Bruce showing that his master was a sexist of a sort.
Vicki however according to Richard's harsh opinion was an average talent in the DC world meaning that her martial art talent was not as good as his or Selina's. But that didn't stop the little girl and she made it her life's mission to be as good as Selina at least. But every time she thought she was doing well, it turned out that Selina and Bruce were doing way better than her, mainly because of their constant practice with NerveGear.
She had almost fallen into depression when Bruce could no longer bear to see this and finally revealed to her the existence of the NerveGear after making her promise not to ever tell anyone else. So, Vicki too started training in the digital simulation with time dilation and even though she wasn't as good as them, she could still be called a rare talent after she began to spend a hundred hours a day practicing.
This of course made Richard question his entire existence. He wondered if geniuses and prodigies were really that common nowadays or if Gotham was a home of hidden dragons. But then he just decided not to waste his brain cells on those thoughts and go along with the flow. He even thought that it could be fate guiding him toward a better future.
"Helena should be coming soon. She promised that she was not gonna miss your birthday for the world. Will you finally tell her about the helmet thing? I mean she is a friend of ours too. Also, we could play games together in it like the realistic racing game we played that day." Vicki said while she did her stretching exercises in her white martial arts clothes.
"I don't know Vicki. I might, since I don't think she would be telling anyone about it." Bruce said as he tried to do pushups with his childish body.
"Of course, she won't. She is a part of the Gotham Knights remember? The first rule of the pact was that we don't betray each other, no matter what. Also, snitching on Tiger would probably be the last thing she would do in this life." Selina said while eyeing Bruce discreetly.
She had an inkling of what Bruce had done that day for Helena even though he always refused to talk on that subject. But that only increased her respect for him in her heart as she knew that he would do the same thing for her as well if she was in Helena's place. That's just how Bruce was, the BEST friend someone could ever hope for.
"I agree," Vicki said as she nodded with a sagely look on her face at which Selina just snorted.
The three just continued doing their respective exercises in silence after that as they waited for Helena to arrive as well as all of Alfred's preparations for the party to finally complete.
***
"Alfred, when I told you to make preparations for a small party, I really did mean a small party. This looks like it's the birthday of the Prince of Arabia or something." Bruce said as he looked at the over-the-top decorations adorning the walls of the 'ballroom'.
"I am sorry young master but this is the smallest party I could prepare for your birthday. Any smaller than this and your parents would start cursing me from their graves." He said with a small smile at the corner of his lips.
"Haha. Very funny" Bruce said, not able to control his own smile from leaking onto his face.
The party was supposed to be small with limited guests that he knew personally like his friends and their families, Jim Gordon and his daughter, the people that directly worked for him like his guards, and maids, as well as Lucius Fox and his family who was the current CEO of his company Wayne Solutions.
So he had told Alfred to make preparations for that but he should have expected that the lovable English butler would never compromise with a party especially if that party was for Bruce's birthday.
"Oh, it seems that Ms. Helena and her uncle are already here. I will go and receive them then." Alfred said after he received a notification from his pager.
'She is here already huh? I wonder how much she has changed in the last year.' He thought as he looked at himself in a nearby mirror.
He himself had changed a lot due to his regular training and a proper strict and balanced diet. He looked a little like that child actor who played Bruce Wayne in the Gotham TV show but was somehow cuter and better looking. Comics logic, he guessed.
"I wonder how I would look when I grow up." He murmured to himself while looking at his reflection, wondering if he would look like Robert Pattinson, Christian Bale, Ben Affleck, or maybe Val Kilmer as an adult. There might also be the possibility that he wouldn't look like any one of them and resemble a Batman from the comics or animations more.
"According to my calculations and simulations, you will look great master. You have perfect ninety-nine point nine-nine percent pure human genes with absolutely no defects." Cortana's voice chimed in as the watch on his hand slightly glowed.
"Thanks, Cortana." Bruce thanked his cute little digital assistant.
"Is that you Bruce? Wow, you look taller." A familiar female voice came from behind him.
"And so do you Helena. Let me guess, you are learning acrobatics or maybe some martial arts?" Bruce turned around and smiled at her.
"Along with archery... I missed you." She said as she hugged him tightly.
"Same, Helena and so did Selina and Vicki." He hugged her back.
"HELENA" Vicki suddenly shouted from the stairs and ran up to them in excitement followed by Selina who too looked excited but was calmer compared to Vicki.
They were both dressed in white and black dresses similar to the purple dress that Helena was currently wearing.
"Wait, did you girls discuss today's dress code or something? I don't believe for a second that this is a coincidence." Bruce said wondering if they were trying to copy power rangers.
"Maybe, who knows?" Vicki said as she shyly looked everywhere around her, trying not to look at Bruce's eyes making it clear that they were indeed trying to match dresses.
'I guess they are in their chunibyou phase right now.' He thought to himself.
"Ms. Helena, it's nice to see you after so long and you are looking like a princess by the way. Selina and Miss. Vicki, looking beautiful as always. Master Bruce, most of the other guests have arrived. Would you like to greet them?" Alfred said. His demeanor had changed from a kind and loving guardian to that of a seasoned butler in front of the guests.
"Yeah coming Alfred. As for you three, enjoy yourselves at the party. I'll come to you guys after I am done meeting with the other guests. I should be done in about half an hour. You should try out the food till then. Remember, it's all free." He said with a smirk as he went away with Alfred.
"Has he grown even more confident and cooler than before?" Helena asked sometime after Bruce was gone.
"Yep, but don't tell him that. He would never let us hear the end of it." Vicki said as she continued looking in the direction Bruce had left.
"Hey, you wanna see the photographs I secretly took of Bruce when he is focused on his work and training?" Selina asked with a playful smile.
"Yeah let's. We will even have free snacks to eat with it." Helena giggled.
***
The entire party was quite enjoyable for everyone who attended it. Bruce had greeted everyone that had come to his party with the utmost respect because to him they were the few people who were currently worthy of being friends with him.
He even met with Lucius' pregnant wife who was a kind and compassionate woman just like her husband. She was also a successful lawyer and had her own legal firm which handled all of Wayne Solutions' legal matters.
Jim Gordon on the other hand had visited him with his little daughter Barbara but had left soon after just about an hour when he was informed that some psycho had killed and eaten his victim. But even within that short hour, Barbara had become famous among the girls due to her cute doll-like appearance and smart responses to their questions. So they were quite sad on seeing her leave so soon. But in return, they made Detective Gordon promise that he would bring back Barbara again to meet them in the future if he had time.
'I guess Lolis really are famous among everyone' He thought as he looked at the girls' sad expressions while waving away at the leaving Barbara.
"By the way, why didn't Cortana come today? We used to talk on the computer all the time back when I was in Europe. I thought she would be coming since it's your birthday. You didn't forget to invite her, did you?" Helena asked as she looked at Bruce with a raised brow.
Bruce didn't know how to tell her the fact that Cortana wasn't even a real human. Selina and Vicki already knew about her but Helena didn't since he hadn't yet revealed to her about his inventions, even though she had her own hunches ever since she saw his bat drone that night. So, he could do nothing but smile wryly wondering how to begin explaining everything.
"Master Bruce, there is a friend of your father's, here to see you along with his daughter. You should probably meet him, he was quite close to your parents." Alfred said as he came up to him from behind.
"Sure Alfred. Let's go. Oh, and you two should explain to Helena about Cortana and NerveGear. I am sure that you two are enough to clear all her doubts and answer the hundreds of questions she might have about them." He smiled at them as he quickly began to follow after Alfred without waiting for them to answer.
"Did he just?" Vicki started.
"Yep." Selina sighed as she glanced at Helena who looked like she could burst into a flurry of questions at any time. Her expression clearly said that she was annoyed and angry that she didn't know something that the rest of the members of the gang were obviously privy to.
***
"By the way, who is this family friend Alfred? Do you know his name?" Bruce asked after they were out of the girls' sight.
"Yes, I do. In fact, I have met him quite a couple of times and had even invited his family to your parents' funeral but sadly they couldn't attend due to their own personal problems at that time. His name is Giovanni Zatara." Alfred informed as he continued to walk like everything was normal.
Well, everything was normal except for Bruce who had an expression on his face that clearly said that he was having trouble processing Alfred's words.
"What the fuc...?"
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