DC: I am Bruce Wayne

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"Even if we forget the faces of our friends, we will never forget the bonds that were carved into our souls." 

- Otonashi Yuzuru, (Angel Beats)

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<(Top of Wayne Solutions HQ Skyscraper)> 

<(Selina Kyle POV)> 

'Huh? I suddenly feel annoyed for some reason like something just happened that should not happen at all. I wonder what?' I tiredly thought to myself panting as I took deep breaths to calm my rapidly beating heart while I tightly gripped the whip in my hands. 

"What happened little pussy? Are you out of juice so soon? I thought you were supposed to be one of Richard's most prized students. Turns out you are just a little scared cat." The Asian woman who previously identified herself as Lady Shiva taunted me with an annoying grin directed at me. 

"You think you are beating me you muscle-brained gym addict. The only reason you were able to land a few hits on me is because of your experience and your fully-developed adult body. So, don't get ahead of yourself." I said while clenching my teeth in anger, forcing my tired body to move again. 

"Oh, it seems you still have a little flare left in you, don't you my cute little kitty cat? I guess you are really motivated to improve yourself for your little boyfriend. To protect and help him better as you said, right? But sadly I barely see the required potential in you. But I have to admit, he does look tasty with that chiseled body of his. Maybe I should fuck him in front of you when he returns, pumping his seed out of him all the while you pathetically watch being restrained like a little pet with my underwear clogged inside your mouth. A second child after I give birth to this one doesn't really sound that bad I think." The woman mocked as she rubbed her tiny baby bump indicating her recent pregnancy. 

"You evil bitch. I was trying my best to hold myself back and not to hurt you too much since you were pregnant but now I am gonna go all out on your old ass." I yelled in blind rage as I channeled my chi inside the whip and began to attack the old hag with everything I had. 

"Anger is quite useful in a war but in a battle, it's useless, foolish, and the crucible of you being a rookie warrior," Shiva said as she effortlessly dodged the repeated strikes of the whip and took slow and steady steps toward me.

"Goddamn it, you. Why the hell can't I hit you? This isn't fair." I muttered through my teeth as I tried harder and swung my whip faster with much more force behind it. 

"You will never be able to hit me. That's the reason why I am the teacher here and you are the student. If you were good enough to fight me one-on-one and possessed the potential to win, you would have been fighting me to the death, not learning from me." She snorted as she rapidly closed the distance while dodging my blows and once she was close enough, she hit my hand hard forcing me to drop my whip.

"An amateur to the use of Chi, an expert gymnast, and pretty much okay in armed and unarmed combat. Those are qualities I can find in thousands of girls but I didn't select you because of them or because of your relationship with your rich boyfriend. What I selected you for is your will, your desire to grow strong and to attain more and more power no matter how for the sake of the one you love. That is the reason why I decided to train you." She said while narrowing her eyes at me. "And maybe when I am done with you when you have gathered enough experience, you perhaps one day will provide quite a challenge as I battle you to death to find out who the better warrior is.

"Tch. Don't overestimate yourself, old lady. The only reason I am even here humoring you is that you said that you are also from the same secret organization that Bruce joined and a very high-ranking member at that too, and that you could teach me everything I needed to know to not fall behind Bruce too much." I huffed as I refused to acknowledge her superiority in her combat abilities. 

She despite her amazing combat skills was an absolute maniac and a slut who in her own words had banged a lower-ranking member only so that she could give birth to a child who could one day be able to fight her on an equal footing. 

"Whatever you tell yourself to sleep at night darling. But, that doesn't change the fact that you will be learning from me as my student, and when I am done with you, your entire life view will have changed and you will realize how important true power is. That I can assure you." Lady Shiva stated like it was a hard fact with a cold nefarious smile as confidence oozed from her.

"We will see," I said equally as confident, determined to never place power as the top priority in my life.

This lavish life that I currently enjoy, the loving parent I have in the form of Alfred, my new lovely pet that I adopted, Whiskers, and even the friends I have made like Zatanna, Helena, Vicki, and Lola, everything is because of Bruce. He was the person who had always stood by me and given me everything in my life till this point. He is the reason I am even alive today and not lying dead in a dark alley somewhere. And most important of all, he is the person I love most in the world after my mother who died back when I was just a little kid.

So he will always be the most important thing in my heart and having a life with him is the dream that I strive for every day. And I will achieve it no matter how many hours a day I have to train or how many bodes I have to bury.

*** 

<(Omniscient POV)> 

*Bang* 

A dead body dressed in complete black clothing and mask dropped to the ground after the gunshot and a puddle of blood began to form around the body without any sign of the person lying on the ground moving or twitching.

"These attacks seem to be getting more and more frequent every day. Now, they are trying to target me, probably because they think that I have taken over Master Bruce's entire fortune in his absence. Maybe they are getting greedy for Master Bruce's rapidly increasing fortune or maybe afraid of it. I guess officially being the largest electronics company and the fastest-growing bank in the country does attract a lot of attention. What do you think Ace. what should we do about the people who keep sending them?" Alfred wondered aloud curiously with a smoking Glock 19 in his hands. 

He didn't like to use guns anymore but desperate times call for desperate measures, not that the situation was ever really that desperate since he knew that there were at least two armed combat drones in stealth mode made by Bruce and controlled by Cortana that always accompanied every one that Bruce truly cared for twenty-four seven including Alfred himself. But he still took the shot himself because he didn't want to grow too soft and fail to protect or serve Master Bruce when the time came. 

After all, Cortana might be the perfect protege for him who could serve the young master in his absence since he wouldn't be able to be there for Master Bruce forever but even machines had their limitations, and he wanted to be ready for the dire time if Cortana ever faced such a limitation.

"*Woof Woof Woof* Should shoot their greedy asses" Ace barked excitedly as his collar translated his barks into actual English all while he was standing proudly on another dead intruder, a big deep and bloody bite mark visible on this one's neck.

"Yep, that's definitely right, you have gotten smarter over the years Ace. That's exactly what I am gonna do." Alfred smiled kindly as he rubbed the dog's head affectionately at which Ace happily wagged his tail.

"However clearing the bodies is always a headache and we will even have to call in the sweep team to get rid of any DNA evidence as well." The butler muttered to himself as he sighed and got his new 'Waynetech' branded phone out of his pocket.

"Send some men to the new Wayne Park for a thorough cleanup. There was a little accident here." Alfred ordered the new security division of Wayne Solutions, a newly opened division, most of whose employees were hired and vetted by Slade Wilson himself. 

"Now, it's time to permanently take care of the 'problem' by ripping this thing out at its roots," Alfred murmured as he looked at a particular name on his call list. 

It was a certain name he had recently come across with the help of Cortana while navigating the dark side of doing business in Gotham. He was someone who specialized in making problems go away forever, especially when these problems were living people. 

He would have asked this as a favor to Slade but lately, the man had been quite busy. Between the birth of his newborn daughter and his suddenly becoming a philanthropist with regularly scheduled visits to orphanages, the man barely had the time to breathe. Master Bruce was definitely working the man to his bones for the fat paycheck that he was giving Slade. Alfred didn't want to give him more work on top of that. His family needed him right now. That is why this particular person in his contact list would have to be enough to make this little hiccup go away.

He already suspected who had been sending these men to try to off him. It was someone who had the required motive, someone who would benefit from both Bruce's and his absence in which case the Wayne Solutions company could in theory be grabbed essentially for free by Wayne International.

'I didn't want to do this but I guess luck is not on their side. Only when a few of those backstabbing board members are dead, will they finally get the warning not to mess with us.' Alfred mumbled as he prepared to make another call.

"Hello?" A distorted voice came from the other side of the phone as Alfred made the call. 

"Is this Deadshot? I have a job for you if you are interested." Alfred talked in his classic British accent with a cold hard determination oozing from his voice. 

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(A/N: This is a chapter that primarily gives a sneak peek into what has been happening inside the lives of the people that Bruce knows and loves. They too are growing and changing into better or maybe worse versions of themselves as they navigate a life and a city without Bruce Wayne waiting for the prince of Gotham to return once again with all his glory.)

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