Graduation and future plans

In Gothic Metropolis, the saying of "Anything could happen" could not be more literal than it already was.

The sound of someone screaming following the familiar bang that would came from a gun would sign a criminal activity being underway, either a mugging or an outright murder, which was a common thing in the older district, and so most people would not be bothered to even call the city's police.

The city as a whole was filled with crime.

Difference being how rich the criminals were.

Even at the surface, a visitor could see that it was a city with an inherent darkness within it that no other city had, even when it's compared with cities such as New York or Los Angeles.

However, in the darkest place, a little shine would be brighter and stronger compared to anywhere else.

Thomas and Martha Wayne, along with those who shared their idealism were the brightest lights of this city, beacons of hope that Gothic Metropolis could be more than the little cesspool that the people in the United States of America would like to forget that it even existed despite it also being the city of skyscrapers, ports, and beaches, where big business takes place alongside sun-seeking tourism.

But even the Waynes weren't saints.

And tonight, that peculiar light had almost been dimmed.

Thomas and Martha Wayne were almost murdered.

The attempt happened in an ordinary, dirty alley behind the Monarch Theater as they exited through the back door leading to the alley to reach their vehicle.

With the sound of a gun, a wail of a woman and a brawl between men, the city almost lost two of its best citizens.

The public would celebrate their well-being for an amount of time before they move on, some would always remember the couple's nobility and virtuous goals alongside their bravery.

But most choose to ignore their accomplishments and attempts of cleaning the city while spreading goodness across the world with their family company, Wayne Enterprises and its many branches.

But to those who were there the night the criminal attacked...

To those who saw what really happened...

They would never be able to forget that night.

Especially the patriarch and matriarch of the family.

They were two of the three witnesses who saw what really happened, Thomas, along with his wife, Martha.

"Give me your money and your jewelry."

They remembered a man dressed in a messy overcoat, pointing his revolver at them as they walked out of the theater.

Thomas immediately moved Patrick out of the way, and he and Martha placed themselves in front of him to protect him.

"Alright. Just relax, it's going to be okay."

Martha knew that he had been talking to three people: The mugger, herself, and their son, imploring the three of them to not do any reckless things.

After Thomas handed him his wallet, he said to the mugger. "There. Now please, leave us be."

The man was focused on his mission, and seeing the pearl necklace that Martha wore he had the perfect excuse.

He extended his hand towards the necklace and firmly demanded them to give it to him. "I said your money and jewelry!"

Thomas tried to calm the man down and made him pull his hands away from his wife, but at his movement, the criminal pulled the trigger.

Martha could vividly remember the sound of the gunshot, echoing in the alley.

But everyone froze as a shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere in a split second between both men.

It resembled a black blur, and was as tall as the average man.

The nightmarish entity simply ignored the fact that a bullet was shot against its abdomen, and began to trash the criminals with cold fury and brutality.

As it finished knocking the criminal unconscious, it turned its hooded head and reddish bright eyes.

"This is a warning... you are being targeted." The vigilante said with his ghostly voice.

After witnessing such barbarity, the couple heard the sound of the criminal's limp body tumbling down on its back as their mysterious savior vanished in a puff of smoke.

"TOM!"

"MARTHA!"

They immediately knelt down hugging each other on the cold concrete ground of the alley, while placing their silent child between them.

"Patrick..."

The faint sound of his parents made him hug them back, but his face didn't show any signs of surprise.

Perhaps a bit of annoyance, but not surprise.

"Patrick..."

"...Don't be afraid." Thomas said.

It was a traumatic experience for them, the kid knew.

After that, they were brought by the Gotham Police Department for questioning, and Patrick remained outside of the interrogation room at their headquarters as his parents were being questioned while he was there because of their insistence.

Though deep down he was glad they would finally take action against their powerful hidden enemies, he was simply too annoyed to have needed to hire some expensive hitman and risk those he cared for.

But now, he had an alibi if his parents ever suspected of him being his dark alter ego.

'But... I have to admit...'

The young Wayne looked at his hand, and a faint current of electricity ran through his forearm until reaching the tip of his fingers, but did not escape his control.

'Being able to use magic even in my original form, though to a lesser extent, was another motivation for my little stunt.'

Illusions were a great aid in hiding his identity from even his adopted parents.

'Even if I somehow failed to protect them, healing a mere bullet wound would have been simple... if not a little troublesome to cover up.'

He dismissed the lightning casually, knowing that no regular camera could recognize his magic if he didn't desire.

So he opted to wait.

Wait, until his parents pull themselves together after that traumatic event, and await their response.

No matter how long it might take.

Hopefully, not too long.

Recluse became a little bit of a remedy to the family for a while.

Though Patrick did not exactly become a shut-in, he certainly was open to other people who gave their condolences to him.

Martha, though she remained strong in the eyes of the public and her family, she was more vulnerable than she ever were when the public's eyes were directed somewhere else, so that she was not scrutinized by them.

Though Thomas wanted to aid more about this side of her that he already knew, he also knew that his wife needed time as well as he did.

So he decided to act and find those responsible on his own.

He now spent most of his time after work contacting every source he had access, particularly the ones with ties to the underworld.

Now, he just wanted to make sure that what happened was not to happen again.

And so subtly, Kal-el guided his father to undermine the court of owls as much as he willed for the moment.

And with a few minor manipulations tricks with magic, Patrick had the Wayne enterprises at his command.

The boy smiled as the realization of success hit him.

Though still a child, he spent most of his time following the news around the globe, to know of what went on out there, outside his manor, outside his prep school where other stories were unfolding.

He kept in tune with Dots through his super hearing. While his headquarters had now a special secured room.

His own pocket dimensions. The Shazam temple.

And inside his glorious palace, the orb containing the Seven Deadly Sin was stored.

Sivana fought bravely, but he was severely outmatched.

Anyways.

Patrick knew the Waynes were a prosperous family.

One that had the fortune and prosperity that only few people in the world had or could hope to.

There were many sufferings in the world, with Gothic Metropolis being one of the nearest examples of such a place that was filled with poverty and crime in addition to the sufferings of the innocents.

Back then, he would read about the crimes that happened just because someone was at the wrong place at the wrong time, heinous crimes that people did either out of necessity for survival or simply for satisfying their personal need for a thrill.

There were even some that were pushed into suicide or insanity.

'I can make a difference. I will make a difference.' He thought to himself, his spirit filled with resolve as he began to organize his plans.

Dots kept monitoring his primary targets 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

He had the idea of turning himself into several symbols of change.

A figure that could become a symbol that would be feared by those who did wrongs and a symbol of hope to those who were wronged.

Through his magical form, he would become a public figure that impersonated the American values and served as beacon to the meta-humans that were bound to appear.

To him, age wouldn't be a problem. It wouldn't take years before he could become such a figure.

Not even his capability was a problem. He already had the required training.

The method, he had in mind.

The necessary missing step was image. However, he will certainly see to it.

"And as a Wayne, I won't just pretend to be a foolish playboy... of course I will enjoy the pleasures of life... but I will become a knight. The true prince of Gothic Metropolis." He said so with a firm, steady tone of voice.

———————————————————

At twelve years of age, Patrick Wayne, the heir to the Wayne Family earned his high school diploma, early by six years' time due to his dedication, hard work, and exceptional intelligence.

And thanks to the wisdom of Solomon, he could go even further.

Seeing the young man at the surface, one would understand that he was someone who had his future set ahead of him, one that was filled with success and prosperity, and that he would walk a path that none could come close to take due to his intelligence, demeanor, and his dashing looks.

He was a promising young man that would one day take over the world and hold it in his grasp.

Thomas and Martha, were proud of his achievements, as many parents would if their child were regarded as a genius in his school and an over-achiever on such a scale that he was able to finish his elementary and secondary education at such a short time simply because he wanted to.

With that in mind, just as most people thought that he did so because he wanted to show-off or because he could, they didn't know the real reason why he was driven to graduate from his elementary and secondary education so early and to do the same thing about his higher education.

"I want to finish early... Then I want to go out into the world... To learn more, to see things, to know my place in the world. I want to become someone that is more than just a person who has a lot of money in his pocket." Was his excuse to his parents.

Perhaps, he was someone driven by a sense of purpose, a goal that he's actually trying to achieve, one that only he could see and that only few things could stop him, among which were still far off into the future.

The couple allowed him to go through elementary school and straight to junior and middle high school so quickly because of how knowledgeable he had become through reading nearly every book that they had, be it fiction, non-fiction, educational, any book he saw, he will read them, finish them in a short time, and then able to recite it in verbatim.

He had been dedicated to work, laboring and toiling to improve his brain, his knowledge, his mind, his mentality and his physique.

Although it wasn't really required of him given his magical wisdom, but seeing how his kryptonian strength multiplied the magical boost several times over, he could only bet the same would apply to his mental fortitude.

But despite how purpose-driven he had become, he hadn't forgotten to eat, sleep or drink simply because he wished to understand something new from the books that he had been reading.

He still had time to enjoy this phase of his life instead of obsessing over something, no matter how important it was to him.

Obsession was rarely, if ever, a healthy thing.

Other than being a master of himself, he didn't considered obsessed with anything else.

He still socialized with his friends and followed his parents into relevant parties and events.

He had quite a lot of time which he could relax, play around, have a laugh or enjoy films at the cinema or television in the Wayne manor.

As he grew, his body became visibly more and more enhanced compared to normal humans.

Not to the point of grotesqueness, but growing more handsome and alluring to others.

He was even more durable, more powerful, faster and so forth.

Essentially, his body became far better compared to even an exceptional human being.

Despite all of this revelation however, his parents still consider him their dear son.

Even now as Martha was sitting at the terrace on the back of the mansion at ten in the morning while enjoying her light reading, she could see Patrick pass by her, as he's jogging around the manor, producing no sweats from his body and did not seem exhausted, even after adding the fact that he had circled the manor for several times in a velocity that was faster than the speed of an exceptional sprinter.

Patrick showed his physical prowess without concern in his home, his parents already knew he wasn't human.

But a bit of magic helped to make them accept things easier.

He was grasping his maximum speed in earth's atmosphere without causing harm to his environment.

It had been a week since he received his high-school diploma, and he had already enrolled himself into multiple respected colleges in Europe, ready to leave the country in the next couple of months whenever the time came.

The thought of him leaving was... not a pleasant thing for his parents to think about.

While they certainly acknowledged and accepted the fact that Patrick wanted to be an adult so early, they would like him to stay for a bit longer, doing things that parents and son should be doing along with doing whatever a healthy boy in his teens should be doing.

All they had was a couple of months...

"Patrick my dear, may I talk to you for a second?" She asked without having to increase her voice.

Despite the fact that he was separated from her from quite afar, she saw him going towards her just seconds after she called him.

"What is it mother?" He asked her.

His hearing and sight were impeccable, unparalleled even, to the point where only unnatural things could possibly escape his notice.

She smiled as she looked at her son and said. "Would you like to go with us to a festivity this Saturday? Mr.Luthor, a friend of your father's, invited us to his daughter's birthday."

Patrick had met the business man before, Lionel was his name, the founder of LuthorCorp and special advisor of Veritas. A society who looked to the skies for coming life, most especially "The Traveller".

Surprisingly, also with desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by his investment of money to good causes.

Through that link of philanthropy acts that both of them had done, Thomas and Lionel became good friends.

Patrick's personal exposure to the man was limited however, which was not unexpected considering that he was quite a busy man with many businesses across the globe.

Hearing firstly from Dots that he was in the city caught Patrick's interest, after all, he wanted to approach his family as well.

Something relevant that would probably help him in the long run.

However it wasn't something that couldn't wait until he returned to Gothic Metropolis. But this turn of events was most fortunate.

"I'd love to mother." said Patrick, reciprocating her smile with his own.

"I'm glad. There's something else that you need to know, dear." Martha added.

"And what might it be, mother?" He asked.

"Lionel's daughter had personally requested your presence." Patrick's mother said with a smile, and she could see through her son's eyes that he immediately caught on to what she's trying to do. "Perhaps you two could become friends as well?" she asked rhetorically.

Patrick sighed and said. "I will be glad if that is the case."

Getting to the point, Martha said. "I've heard she also is planning to graduate at an earlier age and follow her studies abroad, perhaps you might meet her in the future."

"I know, Elliott and Cobblepot have the same plan... granted it will take them more time to do so."

Martha only smiled and nodded at that.

"Can I continue my laps now?"

Martha nodded. "Of course dear, but don't forget to actually eat something when it's time for lunch."

"Right... see you later then mother."

With a burst of speed, her son continued his sprint around the manor.

Martha smiled seeing her son's physical prowess.

After that brief conversation, he sped off, leaving gusts of wind in his wake as he ran with a velocity that no human could match.

She then heard the sounds of someone approaching, with a rhythm familiar to her ears and the chuckle she loved to hear.

"I see that Patrick is having fun so early in the day." Remarked Thomas as he placed both hands on her shoulder while both of them gazed at the horizon. "Let's go inside, I've prepared your favorite tea darling, along with the scones."

"Thank you my dear." Martha said as she followed him inside.

———————————————————

Whenever the sun came up from the horizon, Patrick would always fly to a high open spot.

Where the rays of the yellow star would grace him without anything blocking their path from reaching his skin and empowering his cells.

Said freedom was allowed thanks to his acquired magic, the sky of Gothic Metropolis never revealed his figure, not even to the most advanced satellites.

Though the young boy knew that he was not human, Patrick recognized that outside of his superhuman qualities given by his alien physiology and the sun, there were certain aspects that didn't separate him from the natives of the Earth.

His appearance for exemple.

And he could still feel some forms of psychological effects like excitement and anger.

He could still be pulled to action if he saw something that might benefit, or simply affect him.

He could still be attracted to someone, and had the choice of pursuing or abandoning it.

Essentially, the basic thing that separated him from humans were his rapidly growing super powers.

Take it away from him, and he was almost the same as the man he once was, for he still had his problems, his flaws, and so many other things that made humans "human" to begin with.

He was planning to show his powers to the masses.

He knew that most humans would fear or simply dislike what they didn't know.

But he would show himself in a way to avoid public distrust.

Those fearing the possibility of him turning against them would be ignored if he indoctrinated the masses to praise and worship him and all of his alternate identities.

He knew that fear was a method of control, and he wished to control the humans of Earth... especially the lowly ones.

The ones that took the low road and enjoyed it immensely, or simply had the worst luck.

Being once a human meant that he had at least the basic grasp of their unwritten, unstated rules, their quirks, and the complexity of the individual that made up the group.

He actively listens to the chatter of the people around him.

Along with that, he was observant, wise up to the abundance of the visual information in his surroundings to add more information to the mind so that he would be able to deduce a person's trait without partaking in the social interaction with the specific person.

This befitted well with Solomon's wisdom.

His sight and hearing were not limited to see or hear something that was located far away, or very close, from his location.

He also learned how to spread and divide his focus, enabling him to pay attention to everything in close proximity to him in return for the temporary loss of his ability to see or hear something from far away.

His brain, also empowered by the yellow sun, was more than capable of absorbing the information that he got every time he did so.

He didn't really care for invading others' privacy.

Regardless.

It was about time the meeting that will occur this late afternoon with the billionaire Luthor.

Curious about whether or not he would be able to befriend his daughter without the need of magic.

Deciding that he had received enough energy from the morning sunbathing, Patrick flew downwards before jumping down to the ground beneath him.

It was a brand new day, and he was ready for whatever might come.

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(02/09/2020)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking. Anything you wish to ask, feel free to do so.

I'm almost finished writing an update chapter. In that auxiliary chapter, I plan to address some of my plans for the future of this story.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.