Chapter 7: Murphy and Stars

Chapter 7

When I woke up, I could see the stars on my ceiling, and I remembered where I was. I was excited for today. I was going to play around with my powers, and Bruce would never know, right? I could hide this. Who am I kidding? He probably found out a few points went missing. I sighed to myself. I really do want to go home quickly. I hate to have my parents worry for me, but I really want to play with them. I opened the menu, and it's still the same as before, but this time I clicked on the Basic Powers tab, and I could only see five powers in there. There are the powers I could see: strength, speed, durability, agility, and senses.

Basic abilities

Enhanced Physical Strength: 

Cost: 30 points

This ability grants the user increased physical strength, allowing them to lift heavy objects and engage in powerful melee combat.

Enhanced Speed: 

Cost: 30 points

The user gains the ability to move at superhuman speeds, making them faster in combat and enabling quick evasion.

Enhanced Durability: 

Cost: 30 points

This power provides increased resistance to physical harm, reducing the impact of attacks and injuries.

Enhanced Agility: 

Cost: 30 points

The user becomes exceptionally agile, capable of acrobatic maneuvers and dodging attacks with ease.

Enhanced Senses: 

Cost: 30 points

This ability enhances the user's natural senses, such as sight, hearing, or smell, making them more perceptive and aware of their surroundings.

These powers would make a great foundation for any powers I take, but is the shop only limited to these powers? I wondered to myself, and with a cost of 30 points, it would take me around five months to buy all of these skills. Then what? Does the advanced power tab open up?

I wanted to experiment to see if my shop was rigid or fluid. Can I make it do new things, or is what I see what I get? So I thought of what would be an iconic superhero power for myself. And it has to be the ability to fly, because if there is something I want to waste my points on, it's the ability to be lazy. I would never walk on the floor again if I did not have to. So I concentrated on the idea of flying to leave my worries behind and become free as a bird. After a few minutes of this, I seriously gave up on the stubborn system: "Just give me the ability to fly, dang you!" I whisper shouted to my system.

And a new ability seriously appeared: is it voice-activated? I am happy no one could see my stupidity. Path of least resistance and all that, I should just have tried it first. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that well, the new flight skill appeared and said. 

Flight (Limited): 

Cost: 61 points

The user can levitate and glide short distances, offering limited aerial mobility.

This is not true flight, but it sounds like it should be the precursor to more advanced flight power in the advanced section. So my power is fluid, which means I get to build my own powers from the ground up, and I could specialize my powers to my own liking, but what type of build? Powers? Do I want to? In a world like my hero academia, we have people who can steal powers, rearrange your body with a touch, and more. I would need some type of all-around protection or specialized protection for my quirk, but I have several years worth of time and points to make my build before hero school starts. 

I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to get ready for the day after doing my business. I got dressed in my Batman clothing. If I had a black blanket, I would have tied it around my neck so I could say I AM BATMAN with as gravelly and childish a voice as I could.

I made my way down to the kitchen in a dignified way, and if someone pointed out I was running in the corridors, I say it's none of their imaginary business, and as I got to the stairs, I could smell something divine; it was freshly baked bread. I rushed down the stairs, jumped through the kitchen door, and jumped in excitement and said,

"food"

Alfred turned around with a smile and said.

"Well, you are up early," he said.

I have no idea how early it was. I still have no clock in my room, and I knew I went to bed super early, so it was no surprise that I was up this early, and with a hyperactive kid's body, it was practically impossible to go back to sleep. I heard all the horror stories from my mother in my previous life that I would wake up at 5-6am every day, and I have been doing the same thing in this life also, but having one or two naps helps me stay up a bit longer and wake up at a more reasonable hour, or so my new parents have learned.

I go and sit down at the table and answer him.

"Yupp, mom and dad say I always wake up early if I don't get a nap or two."

Alfred chuckled as he turned back to making the food and said,

"Well, you are a delight, and I always wake up early to bake bread most days."

That's when my body decided to betray me and gurgle loudly. This traitorous body of mine is mean.

"Well, someone sounds hungry," he says as he looks over at me, and I nod my head as I want to melt into the ground.

That's when Bruce enters the kitchen and sees me and Alfred. I wave at him and say a bit loudly.

"Hi Bruce, look at me" as I show him the Batman logo shirt I have on me that Alfred got me.

"I AM BATMAN!" I said in as good an imitation as I could while covering my face with my arm like I had a cape. Alfred and Dick told me all about this last night, so I got a convenient excuse for why I know his signature Batman voice.

The room goes silent as Bruce is looking at me in surprise and Alfred is on the verge of falling to the floor in laughter. It takes Bruce a few seconds for his brain to reboot, and he looks over at Alfred with a scowl and a hint of a smile, as Alfred is now laughing uncontrollably as he is gripping the counter to not fall on the ground as he is laughing too hard. I thought it would be funny, but am I missing something here? Maybe there is an inside joke I am not getting, but it makes me happy watching Alfred be so happy at my antics.

When Alfred finally gets himself under control and wipes away the tears of laughter, he turns to me and says,

"Master Leo, that was a wonderful depiction of Batman. I haven't laughed this hard in years."

I give him a beaming smile back, imagining the smile All Might does on TV.

"That's what a hero is supposed to do." I say, putting my hands on my hips and shoving out my chest, showing them how heroic I am, and on the inside, I think to myself, This is the type of hero I want to be. I don't have to be the best or the greatest; I just want to leave wherever I go just a little better than when I found it, and those are the types of words I want to live by. I have a chance to help a lot of people in the future. I know I can't probably fix everything, but I sure as heck will try.

And now that I am finally done monologuing in my head and sounding like a shonen protagonist, I can proceed to never say them out loud, thanks and bye.

Bruce looked amused and came and sat down at the kitchen table with me and asked me who is my favorite hero in my world, and obviously I got to say All Might. The guy might not be the best at everything, but saving people lives and making people feel safe is amazing. If he could fly, I would call him a superman-lite. I might like watching videos of All Might when he comes on TV. It's not shown in the show that much, but he is really entertaining to watch.

"I love All Might. He is super strong and heroic and is on TV all the time, and he even has a catch phrase It's Fine Now. Why? "Because I AM HERE!" I say this while posing in my chair dramatically.

"Hahahahaha!" I hear laughing from the doorway as I see Dick enter the kitchen.

"You are too funny, mini Batman," Dick says while eyeing my Batman shirt.

"No, I'm not Batman; he is broody," I say, pouting and stomping my feet. Dang him for stopping my fun. I might have been hamming up the All Might a bit, but it's so fun that I will not give it up. Maybe I should get a power with spotlights and shadows so I can do heroic poses.

"Sure, sure, mini bat," Dicks said while sitting down at the kitchen table.

"No fighting," Bruce says sternly.

Dick looks like he is about to argue, but a glare from Bruce and he drops the conversation, but I feel he is going to call me Mini Batman from now on, and if that's the case, I need to come up with a nickname for him as well.

The rest of the breakfast went over fast, and now I am bored. I don't know what to do with myself. Bruce left to sleep or go to work or something, so I was left to my own devices, so I decided to explore the house for the rest of the day with not much else to do than watch TV.

The first week went slowly. I have explored every room in the house a dozen times and found some really good hiding spots for hide and seek. The library is so big, and I spent some time in there looking at the lower shelves because I did not have a ladder to see the higher books.

I now have six points on my shop, and I looked over my shop a few more times. I explored the utility section and created a power that every gamer needs.

Pocket Dimension Storage

Cost: 14 points

The user can store and retrieve objects in a personal pocket dimension, acting as an inventory system with limitless storage capacity. bound to the user's soul.

I REALLY want the skill. I thought I would have to wait to buy upgrades and stuff, but it gave me limitless storage right out of the gate. But then I thought about it. I might not be able to use it in combat and might need combat upgrades or something, so if I don't already have the items on me when combat starts, they will be locked until I exit combat. But I really want to start feeding my inner hoarding gamer monster. He demands tribute, and he needs feeding. I know I should not buy it, but... It's just 14 points, and mom and dad can wait a few more days, right?

I might have bought the storage system as soon as I got the last point, and I am back to square one on my points. And I am afraid to tell Bruce because he will probably scold me, and I know I should wait, but... Gamer Gremlin wants it.

I have decided to man... boy? Up and tell him, so I went through the building looking for Alfred to see if he knew where Bruce is hiding. 

"Hi Alfred," I said in a way that sounded like I just knocked over an expensive jar, and I was afraid he would scold me. Dang my child's body is making it really hard to lie. I shuffle my feet when nervous. I cry when I am scared. My emotions feel like they've been ramped up from 5 to 11 after reincarnating.

Alfred gives me a warm smile and crouches down to my height, and dang, him it works.

"What seems to be the problem, Master Leo?" he says, and I know he knows that something is up.

"Ehh… "Well, you know my power, right?" I say while avoiding eye contact and shuffle.

"Yes, Master Bruce has told me about it." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Emm… well, I might have bought a power with my points." I say this while feeling like I'm about to cry.

"Master Leo," Alfred says, and he puts a gentle hand on my shoulder to get my attention. I look up and see him giving me a reassuring smile.

"I am disappointed you did not come to me or Master Bruce before you bought anything. It might have been dangerous, and we only want to help you," Alfred gently scolds, his tone filled with concern and care.

And Dang it, I knew this would happen, and I still did it. I knew my childish mind craved affection and approval from adults, but the crushing feeling when he said he was disappointed was greater than I thought. I slammed into him and started to cry. And it took me a while to calm down, and I could feel Alfred rubbing circles on my back.

After I calmed down and rubbed my eyes, I looked at Alfred and said I was sorry. He gave me a reassuring smile.

"So what power did you get?" he asked curiously. I still had not told him.

"I bought a power called Pocket Dimension Storage," I said, and pulled out a crayon as a demonstration that I used to test my power when I was in my room.

"So you can store stuff?" Alfred asked

"Yupp, I said it says I have limitless storage." I said smugly.

"Does it have any other features?"

I shrug my shoulders as I just got it and do not have time to play around with it that much, but that got me thinking: does it keep stuff in temporal stasis? If it does, I can have cooked food ready at any time of the day. If I feel hungry, I can pull out a newly baked loaf of bread.

"Maybe we can test it together," I said to Alfred.

"That's a wonderful idea, Leo."

So for the rest of the day, I played with Alfred, and we tested a bunch of stuff in the storage, and these are some of the discoveries we made.

- No dust, dirt, or any other unclean stuff would enter the storage. So I could eat and clean the plate by putting it inside the storage. This works with clothing, and it removes the bad odors and stuff.

- All dirt, dust, etc. fall on the floor, oops do it over the sink or outside next time.

- The storage keeps anything placed inside of it in stasis, so hot food is on the menu.

- Nothing living can be placed in the inventory (only tested with plants).

While we were playing with the storage, Dick joined in on the fun, and that's how I found out that the items inside can be placed in a 5-meter area around me, and I could specify what to pull out, so the glass of water we put inside, I could just remove the water and place it anywhere inside my area, so I just so happened to dump it on top of Dick, and his surprise yelp was hilarious until I noticed my mistake and ran away as he was chasing me. I did not get away. I was tickled into submission until he was satisfied that he won.

Alfred was a pure genius and thought of making an emergency stash of items that I should keep in my storage, so now I have a medical bag, blankets, pillows, a flashlight, water bottles, some food bars, batteries, a can opener, a gas mask, and a whistle. There were a few more things he wanted me to have, but he did not have them at home, so he would get them tomorrow, like a phone. And as I thought about it, I really wanted to make an emergency kit for anything from lighters to hero stuff, but it would have to wait. It's not like I could get a pocket knife at this age. 

It's been a month now, and I've not really been outside of the compound of the Wayne Estate. I'm afraid of how dangerous Gotham is supposed to be from the comics, and being a kid without any real powers, I didn't really want to visit, but today Bruce told us that he is invited to a big party and that he wants me and Dick to come with him. Dick grumbled that there would only be stuffy old people there and that he would rather be home with Alfred. I've been stuck here for a month, and I really need to get out, even if I am scared that something will happen. Bruce finally convinced Dick to come, and for the next week we got fitted with a tailor made suit for the big party. Standing in front of the mirror, I got to say I look really good in a suit. My white hair stands out like a sore thumb, but I love it.

Bruce stands to the side of me, watching me, in my scaled down suit of his. I look like a mini Bruce, but cuter. The tailor pipes up from the other side of me and says,

"Well, you look adorably sophisticated, young man. You will be a hit with all the ladies."

The comment makes me blush a bit, as he is making the last few adjustments and making sure it looks good on me. Dick is standing just a bit away, getting his own suit fitted, and he is getting annoyed by all the fussing the older lady beside him is giving him.

It's now the night of the big party, and I learned it's actually a fundraiser for the rich and wealthy in Gotham City. Both me and Dick are sitting in the back seat with Bruce as Alfred is driving us up to the entrance to the building. Bruce told us to behave and have some fun just before Alfred opened the door and let us out of the car. Bruce was first out of the car as we got out from behind him, and the flashing cameras were blinding. As we followed the red carpet up to the entrance, we posed in front of the building with Bruce. I was a bit on the front left of him, and Dick was a bit on the front right, with Bruce having a hand on both our shoulders as he was smiling for the cameras. After we took the pictures, we went inside the building, and the room was really big, and you could hear the murmur of people speaking all over the room.

As we got more into the room, I found the food table, and I wanted to run over there to see if I could find anything to eat. I was hungry, but Bruce kept an arm on my shoulder to make sure I did not get lost, or so I presume, as he made his way over to a lady Bruce greeted by name.

Hello Seleane, It's nice to meet you here.

"Well, hello there, Bruce. I thought you would not show up to the fundraiser this fine evening. And who is the little one?"

"This is Leo, and he is staying with me for a few months while his parents are away on an overseas trip."

I gave her an enthusiastic wave and then said to her,

"Hi, my name is Leo. I am five years old, and are you two dating?" I look back and forth between them like a lost puppy because I know she is Catwoman, someone who sometimes knows both Batman and Bruce Wayne. And that this might be awkward as hell for both of them, and I am loving every second of this. Maybe it's not so bad after all to come here. And that's when Murphy Law rears his dummy head and goes, Oh, you thought this was going to be a safe night? Well, I can fix that as the light turns off.

Bruce immediately pulls me and Dick close to protect us as the doors get flung open and an old man with a wooden puppet walks into the room with his goons spreading out all over the hall in case someone tries to escape. Bruce whispers under his breath while clenching his hand on my shoulder a bit too hard, and it hurts, but I am too scared to move or say anything in case I pull the attention toward us.

"The Ventriloquist and Scarface"

I remember them from watching Batman the Ventriloquist have a split personality disorder. He looks like an older man in his 60-70s with balding hair, thick round glasses, and a meak or scared personality. He has a black suit, and he is holding a puppet that's called Scarface. The doll looks like a very typical old mafia boss from around the 1920s with a pinstripe suit, a cigar and a Tommy Gun with a scar over his right eye.

That's when the room lights turn on again, and the guy walks forward to speak to the room.

"Greetings, fellow high society members of Gotham City. I am Scarface, and I am here to steal all your valuables this fine evening. So don't get any funny ideas about calling the cops you dummy's, or I might have to show you what happens to people who go against me," he says while waving around his tommy gun, aiming all over the room.

The goons spread out over the room, taking anything of value from everyone, and they are armed to the teeth with high-caliber weapons as they make their way through the room. One of the goons gets close to us and rips off the diamond necklace Selena is wearing and demands Bruce to give him his wallet. That's when Scarface says

"You big dummy's, take some hostages; we can ransom them and use them to get away from the police." The Thug in front of us grabs my arm and starts to drag me away. I try to resist the best I can when he says, "Shut up, you pipsqueak or else!" as he hits Bruce with the butt of the gun as a few other goons come up and laugh mockingly and say,

"Wow, that's Bruce Wayne's kid. We can get a fat ransom for him."

As I get dragged away, there are a few other hostages, both men and women, being pulled along with some of the other goons. That's when Scarface pipes up.

"Well, this was a nice evening, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are ready to pay the ransoms, or these good people will be swimming with the fishes Wa ha ha ha ha"

This is the worst day of my life. What did I expect? This is the DC universe. Of course I would get kidnapped. I was crying silently, big crocodile tears as we sat in the car driving to somewhere. I wanted to go home and never leave the mansion ever again. The woman beside me tried her best to comfort me, but with how scared she herself was, it was not helping me.

The cars entered a warehouse where they parked the cars, and we were all ushered out of the cars as we all huddled around in a group. Scarface walked up to us and said,

"I hope for your own good that you all have someone to pay your ransom or..." he chuckled to himself. "Well, you know what happens to people who don't pay their protection fee in this city."

That's when the goons herded us to a room in the back of the warehouse. It was an old room with nothing in it but a reinforced door and dirt and dust.

The goon shoved us into the room and slammed the door shut. That's when the other people started to either cry or spew insults about how this or that person would save them and get their revenge.

I sat in the corner, the only kid in the room. My suit got dirty from sitting on the floor, but I could not care right now. I pulled up my legs and just sat there. What could I do? I don't have enough points to buy anything from the store that I could use to escape if... when I escape from here, I would have points saved up just for emergencies like this. I never want to feel this helpless again.

And if this was a story, it would make for a great point to leave it on a cliffhanger. Dang, I read too many stories that I think of stuff like this, but I don't really have much else to do. Then I stare at the walls. The people go back to the walls. Before, I was scared, but now I am just bored.

I wonder how long it would take Bruce to find us; he must be already on his way, right? How hard can it be to find us? There can't be that many warehouses, right? Oh right, it's Gotham, one of the most depressing and crime-ridden cities in the DC universe. You can probably sneeze and hit a criminal or five.

As I was moping to myself, one of the women in the group walked over to me and asked if I was okay. I had calmed down and stopped crying a while ago.

"I miss Bruce," I said to her.

"Do you mean Bruce Wayne?" She asked in surprise. I guess she had not seen us together then.

"Ya, I have been living with him for a while now. He is super nice, and Alfred is the best cook," I say with a faint smile.

"Well, my name is Cressida Clarke," she said.

"My name is Leo," I answered.

"No last name?" she said.

"Dragon Heart," I answered.

"DragonHeart? That's a unique name," she says… I gave a chuckle at that.

"My parents are eccentric, or so I am told by Bruce."

She gave me a smile and sat down beside me, and her dress was getting dirty. I really like her sky-blue dress. If it had stars, it would look so cool; it reminds me of my nightlight. She has short black hair and eyes.

"Do you think we will get rescued?" I asked her

"Ya, I bet Batman is on his way right now," she said.

"You know Batman!?" I said, whipping my head at her.

"Ehh… no," she said. I looked away, dejected like a kicked puppy. She quickly scrambled to reassure me that we would get saved, and I know it's mean to mess with her, but damn it, I needed that, and it made me a bit happy. If she misunderstood that I got reassured well, then that's good.

We must have been here for a few hours now, and my eyes were drooping. I almost fell asleep a few times, and as Cressida saw this, she said I could sleep and use her leg as a pillow, and I did not care. I slumped down the wall, put my head on her leg, and fell asleep.

I woke up to gunfire and Cressida shaking me awake. I could hear the gunfire and Scarface screaming for someone to stop hiding and come out and fight like a man. More gunfire shouts and thuds could be heard. Everyone in here was hiding away from the door, and with the too-thin walls, there were already a few gun holes. Thankfully, no one was stupid enough to go up and try looking through them to see what was happening. I wish I had a running commentary on what was happening, but to me, it sounded like Batman was fighting Scarface and his goons.

That's when I heard a loud thud like someone rammed the door to our room, and I wondered what that could be—is someone trying to run down the door? Then I hear something being dragged, grunting, and the door rattling. After a few moments, the door opens up, and there stands Robin in his iconic outfit, and for the life of me, I can't understand why he doesn't have pants on; it looks like he just put on underwear and a red vest over a green shirt with a yellow cape. I could not resist it, and before I could give it another thought, I pointed toward him and said.

"Why don't you have any pants?" and I looked over to Cressida and asked a bit too loudly.

"Do heroes wear underwear on the outside?" I said, and the room went quiet as I could hear the gunfire, screaming, and cursing from the other room die down.

After a few seconds, Robin's brain finally rebooted, and he shouted at me.

"You pipsqueak, it's not underwear," he said.

And I elegantly pointed out

"You don't have any pants; therefore, it's underwear." I say it in such a blunt way that only a child could say it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And before we could argue more, one of the other prisoners piped up and said, "Stop arguing and get us out of here before we all die." This seemed to have broken the spell, and everyone in the cell started to agree.

"Follow me," Robin said as he was leading us out of the building. Cressida had taken my hand as we left to make sure I did not get lost, and I got so used to holding hands that I did not even think about it as I was getting led out of the building by Robin.

On our way out, I could see people lying knocked out all over the floor as we walked past a hole in the wall that led into the main warehouse. Robin took us around the back, where there was a door leading to the outside. We were led a bit away from the building, and we could hear police sirens in the distance, and I could see the iconic batmobile sitting in the parking lot, parked in the middle. I guess Batman doesn't really park his car. It took the police another five to ten minutes to get here, and the ambulance came just a few minutes later. By then, Robin and Batman had already left with the batmobile. I presume he is on top of some building, overlooking what's happening to us. I tried looking around to see if I could see him, but it was just too dark to see anything.

I was still holding Cressida's hand as the police appeared, and out of one of the police cars came police commissioner Jim Gordon, one of the non-corrupt police officers that is seen to have the most contact with Batman. He is a man in his late 30s to 40s, I think, with red hair and a moustache. He wears a trenchcoat with a fedora, and it really fits him, honestly.

He and the rest of the officers spread out and started to interview the people there and send people inside the warehouse to investigate. I wonder what they think when they enter and just see all those people knocked out. Or… I don't have to guess because one of the officers came to report to officer Jim Gordan, and we were standing close enough that I could overhear what was going on.

"Report," Gordon said to the officer when he came over.

"We have inspected the warehouse; sir, there is no sign of the Ventriloquist; sir, he might have gotten away."

"Batman has most likely taken him directly to the arkham" Gordon said.

That was the last I heard as Cressida tugged at me to follow her as we were led away to some police cars and ambulances after they were done interviewing Cressida. Guess, being a kid, you don't get an interview... Neat, I don't need to do that, yay.

We were taken to the police station with some of the other people there and outside the police station, where Alfred was waiting. As soon as we pulled up to the station and it was safe to get out, I rushed him, gave him a hug, and told him.

"I am NEVER leaving home again," as I held him in a death grip. That's when I could hear some awws and oos from behind as the police officers were watching us. I did not care. Alfred talked to the officers, and we were soon on our way home.

"Where is Bruce?" I asked Alfred

"Master Bruce is at home waiting for you."

"Oh," I don't know why, but I feel sad that he was not there, picking me up from the police station, even though I know he is Batman and was there to beat up the Ventriloquist and Scarface to save me and the hostages. I don't know why I feel sad that he was not there to pick me up, and I think Alfred picked up on this.

"Leo…"  Alfred said.

"Ya," I answered.

"What's wrong?"

"I…  I don't know; I was so scared, and... and I missed you all, I said, tearing up."

Stupid child body stupid emotions stu-

Alfred put a hand on my shoulder. We are here for you, Leo…

I wiped my eyes. "Thank you," I said to him.

The rest of the car drive home was quiet, and as we pulled up to the Wayne Manor, I could see Bruce and Dick standing there waiting for us, and when the car stopped, I jumped out of the car and gave Bruce a bear hug. I saw him wince. But he did not let me go and just hugged me harder. I think he really missed me. And that made me really happy.

After the hug, I gave a hug to Dick also so he would not feel left out, even if he didn't know it's because he was there to save me also. I looked at him, and he looked like a deer in headlights.

"Ehh, why did you hug me?" 

"So you would not feel left out."

"Ohh, ehh, thanks," he said.

"We missed you, Leo, and I am happy you are back safe. You may have been with us for only a month, but you are really important to us."

"Let's go inside." Alfred said from behind, "We don't want Master Leo to get a fever."

And together we walked back inside the manor, and we sat down in the living room, and I pulled out a blanket from my inventory that Alfred had given me. After snuggling up in the blanket, I soon fell asleep listening to Bruce, Alfred, and Dick talking, and then it hit me… My emergency kit, I had a phone that they could have tracked the entire time. I groaned inwardly as I fell asleep.