Chapter 7: Confronting Sebas
(Bruce POV)
I was making my way through the dark streets of Gotham. The area I was in right now was not a place you wanted to spend your holidays. It was a lawless city, Gotham. But this right here was where the mould was located.
Mugging, murder, r*ape ... it could all be found here. I was here for one reason and one reason only. I wanted to find a man. The man who was responsible for my parent's death. He was the one who took them from me.
I was no longer affected by it, but it was something I owed my parents at least. Justice. The man had to be taken off the streets, I didn't care about his motives or situation. He was going to get the correct punishment.
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So what I had to do now was find the man who killed my parents. Joe Chill ... I was pretty sure what I would do with him. I would honour my parents and not go around killing all the villains that would turn up. There were a lot of unlucky people in Gotham especially and killing all of them was not the solution. Killing him would avenge my parents, but it wouldn't make me feel better.
Reviving my parents is not something I would do. No matter how smart I was, I wasn't ready to face beings like Hades or Death of the Endless ... yet. Give it time and I'll be prepared to face anyone and anything.
So finding Joe Chill was what I was doing now and I was bloody good at it as well. I could understand my talent as the future best detective. But I guess the three templates combined with Bruce Wayne are what make me that good.
I reach a door and knock.
After a moment the door opens and someone looks out between the door and the wall.
"Yes?"
"Joe Chill good evening. My name is Bruce Wayne."
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(3rd Person POV)
Bruce was currently inside the Batgarage tinkering with something when Sebas came in and saw something disturbing.
"Master Bruce ... what is this?", he asks Bruce.
Bruce looks up to Sebas and then to where he is looking. Sebas is pointing at a see-through cage with a man inside it. The man was of average build and unremarkable features. Perfect to blend seamlessly into the urban streets and stay unrecognized. He was unshaven and his hair was messy. Dressed in worn-out clothes that consisted of a once-white shirt and some cheap pants, the man is cowering in the corner of the cage.
You could see the fear in the man's eyes as he looked at Bruce who had not been responding since he came down the cave. No matter how much the man pleaded and begged ... it was all for nought. He had dry tears as well as fresh ones that went down his face.
Bruce looked at the man and then back at Sebas.
"This Sebas is Joe Chill. I'm sure you know him ...", Bruce said and then went back to his work.
Sebas was confused for a second and then tried to think about it. He didn't know that man. But his confusion quickly made way for another emotion. Surprise and recognition. He understood who this probably was and then looked at his master. He knew what this was and he would not fail.
"I see. If my guess is correct this should be the man that killed your parents, as well as my predecessor, Alfred, am I correct?", Sebas asked me.
"You are correct Sebas.", Bruce said.
"May I ask what you are going to do with him?", Sebas asked.
"Well ... what would you do?", Bruce asked.
This was a test that Bruce did to see his Butler's reaction. He had created Sebas to have a moral compass and made it similar to the one he had in the anime Overlord. But he also made sure not to make him an advocate of justice. His primary objective was taking care of Bruce Wayne and making sure that he was well.
"Well Master Bruce, I believe that should this truly be the man that killed your parents, he deserves to be punished. I am however not entitled to say what that punishment should be. In my opinion, death is not the correct option here.", Sebas said.
"Why not Sebas?"
"I am convinced that death is a very severe punishment and should be reserved for the most evil of criminals master. And whether this is true in this case is not for me to decide. And I believe ... that it is also not for you to decide, Master Bruce. I believe that it is for your parents to decide their punishments. So if you wish to punish him, you should ask yourself: what would your parents decide.", Sebas said.
Bruce stayed calm as he had expected this reaction. He provoked this situation and he did it for an important reason. It was time to see Seba's reaction to his future actions. He wanted to see whether he could have Sebas as his butler or if he had to 'find' another one.
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"I understand where you're coming from Sebas ... and I agree with you. It is for my parents to decide. I am certain that they wouldn't want me to kill him to punish him for their deaths. But it's not even just about Joe Chill right now. It's going to be about my future as well. You see I will one day become a symbol. A symbol that strikes fear in the hearts of criminals. I will become what they fear and that will most likely involve killing eventually.
I am not even talking about Joe Chill right now. There will come a time when I will kill because I don't have the patience or will to put up with the cat-and-mouse game that would ensue otherwise. You cut out a tumour and don't just try to keep it the same size. That's my philosophy and I am not likely to change it.", Bruce said patiently.
Sebas was quiet for a while and just looked at Bruce. He had a thoughtful look right now and then looked at him once more. He looked at the man in the cage and the fear in the man's eyes. Sebas thought about Thomas and Martha Wayne and their death. The short life they had in the grand scheme of things and the young Bruce who was now alone. He had gotten the information he needed to be a butler in the Wayne manor.
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"I understand Master Bruce. I understand that there are people or rather creatures in the human race that are not redeemable or don't deserve it. I myself am also an advocate to punish those and take them out of the gene pool. So you will not get any negative reaction out of me. I will stand behind you as long as you stay true to your moral compass.", Sebas said.
"I am not going on a killing spree. I will eventually kill but that doesn't mean that I will go about it Wild-West style. I am happy that you see it this way. We are going to get along very nicely. And you don't know how relieved I am about your point of view. Besides ... I am not going to kill Joe Chill. I wasn't planning to. You are correct, my parents should decide his fate.", Bruce said.
Bruce then grabbed a device from the shelf. It was a very strange gun. Instead of shooting it had two blue glowing discs which shone when he fired it.
(Picture)
He walked to the cage and pressed a button. Four mechanical arms formed from the wall and grabbed Joe Chill who was still cowering in the corner. They grabbed one limb each and pulled him close to the edge, right in front of Bruce.
He aimed the 'Mind Blower' at Joe Chill and pressed the button. A flash was seen and Chill's eyes turned white and spit leaked from the corner of his mouth. Then Bruce knocked him out and walked back to the shelf to get his most prized creation to date.
The Portal Gun. He had recreated it and it was fully functional in this universe. He knew that the potential was far higher, but at the moment it was enough.
(Picture)
Bruce portaled to the alley in front of the Gotham Police station and threw the man through the portal. He was not interested in showing him any kindness. Along with the man, he added some information stating who it was and what he had done. Now it was up to the corrupt police to take care of the rest.
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Bruce began a new project. He wanted to begin a project to create his first clean energy source. He said clean but that was not his primary objective. He just wanted something compact and easy to handle. A clean energy source would allow him to procure less waste ... not that that was a problem anymore, now that he had created the Atomizer.
He had many to choose from. But the one he was going to attempt right now was the 'Arc Reactor' from the MCU. It wasn't his favourite but he had to start somewhere. Originally he wanted to start with the 'Microverse Battery', but thought that he might be a bit young to play with creating life on a whim.
The electromagnetic device wasn't that hard to make. It was however a cool area of science and he would delve deeper into that area. But for now, this was enough. He would have to upgrade this technology. It was just not safe enough for him considering how much more powerful he was making it. Why would he use something so powerful like the one he had in mind, but was this explosive?
So he decided that he would upgrade the Arc Reactor in both power and safety.
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This took a day ... plus or minus. But he had finally managed to create his own version of the Arc. Reactor that wasn't dangerous when it wasn't used.
Bruce had created the Battery Maker. A special device that looked similar to the Backpack he made prior. What he would do was to have nuclear fission happen in the electromagnetic, circular device. It was bigger than the MCU's Arc Reactor but it was also better. He called it the 'Nuke Circle'.
The 'Nuke Circle' was imbedded in the Battery Maker, on the top and it was essentially two things but merged into one. The Nuke Circle would create energy by nuclear fission and the way to cool it. Well, that was done with the Battery Maker.
When the Nuke Circle wasn't used, the excessive energy would flow into the Battery Maker, powering it and beginning to make batteries which would appear similarly to the Terrain Tool, on the side of the Battery Maker.
And what fueled the process, you ask? Well, it was self-sufficient. An infinite, clean and safe energy source. There was no waste and only positive outcomes. The batteries could either be sold, or used and when they were empty, he could throw them into the Atomizer and be done with it.
Truly a good invention.
(Picture)
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Now that the energy source was more or less taken care of, Bruce had to start rewiring the electricity for the Wayne manor. He would keep the usual amount of electricity that they were paying already, but if he wanted to power all the other devices that he already had and would create in the future, the electricity bill would shoot to the sky.
And why would he pay for milk if he can get the cow for free? That was a bad metaphor but it fit. And he knew that it was not the correct saying but in his case, it was indeed this way around.
He might also create a worse version of this Arc Reactor and have Wayne Enterprises enter the energy market. That would make him a lot of money. Food for thought. It might still be a bit early but in the future, when he takes over ... why not? The only negative about this was that it would attract all sorts of leeches who wanted a piece or villains who wanted to blow it up.
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