Chapter 38: Can a Dog be a Bat?

{A big shout-out to my new pátron 'FreddyFazz4' for joining the Divine Eminence tier on my Pátreon. Thanks for the support. ≧◠ᴥ◠≦✊}

---

"I already have a comfy sweater and two best friends. I got everything I wished for. No magic required."

-Perrito, (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish)

---

<(Bruce Wayne POV)>

"Goddamn, this is even more boring than the bus ride. How long before we reach the airport?" Vicki grunted from our monotonous journey as she kept her portable NerveGear to the side after completing the newest game Cortana had designed for her.

"We are still about an hour away from our destination. Oh and also, language young lady. Even your future boyfriend won't kiss your foul mouth in the future no matter how much makeup you use or how cute you... Wait, am I slowly becoming a full-fledged nanny? Holy shit, I knew that bastard of an English butler wasn't a good influence on me." Deathstroke mumbled to himself as he looked like he suddenly entered an existential crisis.

"I can't believe I sometimes seriously think that Bruce told the truth when he said that you are one of the best fighters in the world," Selina muttered as he shook her head in mock disappointment.

"Do you think he was born a lunatic or did he become like this after having some sort of accident?" Vicki asked Selina in a low voice.

"My money is on accident. There is no way someone can be born that annoying. Plus I heard from Alfred that he used to serve in the US military and I am sure that the government isn't retarded enough to hand over deadly weapons to just anyone right?" Selina answered with a snort.

"Then you clearly haven't heard of the US gun policy," I inserted myself into their conversation as I continued fiddling with a small box in my hands.

In truth, I was both disappointed with the laws that the country had on letting citizens own guns as well as excited about owning guns myself. The original Bruce would probably be completely against the current gun policy of the US due to the fact that both he (in this universe) and his parents were shot dead in an alley and I completely sympathized with him but as a transmigrated teen in the body of a young male billionaire, I couldn't get over my fascination with guns.

Even more so when I recently discovered the 'secret' stash of weapons Alfred keeps for emergencies and let's just say the man has taste. His armory can give some tough competition to even the most deadly and experienced mercenaries and assassins. In fact, when I saw him doing his monthly gun maintenance a couple of months ago, it reminded me of the Continental Hotel armory scene from John Wick 2... Wait, I should make my own hotel chain for heroes, villains, and everyone in between. Yes, why didn't I have that idea before? Imagine, a hotel with a no-kill policy and its own set of rules for supers. That would be epic. Yeah, that's definitely one of my to-do projects in the future.

Anyway as I was saying, I didn't hate the idea of letting normal people own guns if they qualified for it but I also didn't support the fact that almost anyone in the country even with criminal backgrounds could own a gun in some of the states. Hell, a person could even own a tank legally along with its ammunition if they have enough money to splurge. That is just badass and plain stupid at the same time, mostly stupid though and I intended to change it in the future not because I am some social worker but mostly because I really don't want to live in fear of a random depressed person opening fire in the streets in Gotham just because his girlfriend left him. By the way, something like that has actually happened before and yeah that's how dangerous Gotham was on certain days.

"Oh, so you were actually listening to us. I thought that you were busy showing off your smarts by solving that Rubik's cube of yours." Vicky pouted with childish annoyance visible on her face.

"The fact that you can't solve a Rubik's cube doesn't mean nobody should solve one in your presence, Vicky. Plus, I doubt that is even a normal Rubik's cube. I mean I can solve them in a minute unlike you V but that looks way more complicated than a Rubik's cube. So what is it tiger, some sort of extremely advanced puzzle for geniuses?" Selina asked as she looked at me with a smile, confident that her guess was correct.

And it was which frankly annoyed me for some reason. She knew me too well which was dangerous for someone like me since if she ever decided to betray me, I would be screwed. I wonder if I should take some countermeasures against her as well... Wait, is this my paranoia talking? God, I have to get some control over this, otherwise this could get out of hand. Although I don't support blindly believing people, I still should at least put my trust in the people closest to me especially when I know that they would rather die than ever betray me.

"Yes, just as you guessed kitty, this is not a normal cube or puzzle. This is called a Wayne Brain Omnicompetence Examiner or Wayne BOX. It is a device that is capable of testing someone's complete intellectual aptitude. Theoretically, it can be solved but practically solving it is almost impossible, the key word being almost." I said as I showed off the cube which was my copy of the Banner BOX from Marvel designed by Bruce Banner himself.

The puzzle acted like a video game controller and was one of the most difficult puzzles to ever exist, so much so that even its own designer Bruce Banner wasn't able to solve it. Currently, I was at the same impasse since even though I knew how it was made and how it worked, I still didn't have the faintest idea of how to solve it.

I had used both my own intelligence as well as my ability to the fullest yet I still hadn't figured it out. Even Cortana wasn't able to compute its solution simply because the puzzle didn't rely on IQ alone, it relied on all nine types of intelligence from logical and spatial intelligence to existential and naturalistic intelligence. It had infinite possible combinations but only one solution which realistically gave me almost zero chances in solving this.

But I wasn't gonna admit defeat. I will solve this one day and I will become the smartest person in the world even if it takes me decades of hard work to do it. Also, this in truth was quite a good exercise for my brain, so I guess this could keep sharpening my mind for the future problems I'll have to face one day at least until I perfect my NZT pills at which point, I could probably solve this as easily as Lunella Lafayette who was the first and only person to ever solve the Banner BOX and after that officially became Marvel Multiverse's smartest person.

"Nerd" Slade Wilson muttered from the driver's seat with a sarcastic smirk.

"And you are any better? Remind me what color you wear on all your uniforms again, Mr. Gotham's orange assassin?" Selina came to my defense as she roasted the deadly mercenary.

"You little... You stupid children don't have any idea of what true fashion is. This is my color code, my fashion statement to the world. People shake in fear when they see me approaching..." Slade started ranting.

But suddenly I noticed something in the middle of the road lying ahead of us, some sort of small animal which I couldn't make out clearly despite my peak form eyes due to the high-speed Slade was driving the car.

"Look out," I shouted as loudly as possible interrupting him but it was more of an effort to scare off the animal rather than hoping for Slade to press the brakes in time since I doubted if he would care enough to stop the car. No matter how much he liked to joke around, he was still one of the most experienced and skilled mercenaries out there who didn't even care for human lives much less those of animals.

But Slade surprised me as he instantly placed his feet hard on the brakes as well as deployed the emergency hand brakes forcing our car to immediately come to a halt making a shrill sound, just centimeters away from the creature.

There was even a bang sound that came from the trunk of the car due to a certain woman of steel's dead body rolling around due to the impact.

"What the hell was that?" Vicki gulped in fear and worry at which I almost spoke up that it was not a dead body at the back but controlled myself.

"It's... a puppy," Slade said with a frown.

"A puppy here in the middle of nowhere? That's weird. Also, I am more surprised at the fact that you actually did your best to stop instead of pressing on without caring." I looked at Slade who had a careless expression on his face.

"Normally I wouldn't have stopped if it was anything else. But even I have a few rules like no babies or puppies." He answered as he too opened the car door to get out.

"Who would leave a puppy in the middle of the road?" Selina who had also gotten out asked in wonder as she looked at the small black creature lying on the road in front of our car, its eyes closed without a single shroud of fear on its face. It didn't even look like it planned to move from there.

[{Image}]

"Hey pupy. Hey, stupid puppy." Wilson tried to get its attention but failed miserably as the puppy didn't even glance at him, just continuing to lie on the road in front of the car.

"It's quite a stupid dog." Slade snickered looking at its blank face thinking that it was most probably some sort of retard reject of the litter.

"Or maybe it just doesn't like you and is ignoring you like any other sane person should." Vicki once again took a dig at Slade and successfully annoyed him.

"It looks like it's wounded. Maybe it had an accident or something." I said worried about the little life and knelt down in front of it. There was a slightly ripped collar on its neck that had a name printed on it. It was worn out a lot but the name could still be read, just barely. So I read it aloud.

"Ace. Its name is Ace."

---

(A/N: This chapter might seem a little like filler to some of the readers but believe me it's not. This chapter was not only to give you a little idea about the bond among the members of the current Bat-family but also to introduce the one member who is my personal favorite, the Bathound.

Also, the next big time-skip is coming in two to three chapters which means Bruce would be directly stepping into his late teens, ready for some serious League training. Btw, he will start his 'Vigilante' journey much younger than most of his other versions, probably in his early twenties compared to some who start in their late twenties or early thirties.)

GIVE me POWAH-STONES💎💎💎.

Also, you can check out my Pat reøn page as well to read ahead or just to support your fantastic author.

Right now I have about 12 chapters in advance there.

(My Pat-reon uses the new billing method which means if you pledge on the 15th of this month, you will have to pay again on the day you pledged, i.e., the 15th of the next month. So whenever you subscribe, you will get a whole month.)

pátreon.com/God_Doom

(replace the á with a)