The Wayne Legacy: Origins
By BetterInTexas
Chapter 07:
From the Journal of Kara Wayne
Entry #162
Sometimes life really sucks. Admittedly, I shouldn’t ever complain. I don’t have the right. A lot of people have it worse than I do.
Yes, my parents were murdered. Yes, my birth mother loved me so much that, when I wasn’t even a week old, she dumped me at a fire station while I was sick and dying.
Yes, it sucks that I need pills at night to make me sleep because my brain will keep me up all night with ideas and I have to take medications that make me sick just so I can live.
A lot of people have it worse. I keep telling myself that. There are victims of abuse, homeless, starving, tortured or terminally ill. I know that people have it worse than me.
It’s hard to keep reminding myself when I am stuck in an isolation chamber in our subterrain fortress, shivering because of a fever that won’t break and a sore throat that makes it impossible for me to speak.
I have everything a girl in my situation could want. I have a cool, beautiful, super-powered big sister. I have Alfred who puts up with me no matter how much stuff I break. I’m rich. I’m like super rich.
Yet all I wanted for my twelfth birthday, was a birthday party with more friends than Alex and Barbara. I wanted to invite my swim team and I begged Diana not to force them to go through some medical testing just to come to our home. I didn’t want anyone to bring presents. I just wanted to hang out with friends like any normal girl would.
The problem is me and normal have never gotten along.
Alfred said he thought could talk Diana into letting me attend actual college classes in a few years, maybe when I turn fifteen. I doubt it will happen now.
And that’s another thing. It’s always been kind of strange that when it comes to decisions about me, Bruce and Alfred always look to Diana. Diana is only a teenager but she kind of runs things in the house, especially me. She’s been my best friend, sister and mother since my parents were murdered. Diana keeps me safe. She didn’t want me to have the party, but I talked her into it and now I am paying the price for not listening to her.
I begged her for the party, and it was a blast. We all danced, watched movies in our theater room, hung out in my room and looked at pictures of boys in magazines. Except Alex. For some reason, she has never been into that.
It was a great day.
But, like I said, life sucks. The next morning, I had sniffles. Nothing to worry about. Eliza had been keeping me alive since I was born. Sometimes the medications didn’t work, and I got really sick, but I pulled through eventually.
Other times, I didn’t pull through so well and this is one of those times. By that afternoon, I had the beginning of a sore throat that turned into a roaring fire by sunset. I was already in the isolation room when Eliza arrived. She began giving me the antibiotics when my fever set in and I was trembling under the covers, covers that were pulled away from me due to my high body temperature. That’s the evil thing about fevers. It’s not enough that they make you feel tired and sweaty. They make you feel cold when you should be warm. I hate fevers.
It has been three days and every time my fever breaks, it comes back. I’m having difficulty breathing and have to wear one of those oxygen face masks. I can’t leave this room, I’m stuck in this bed and I can see my pool outside the clear walls, teasing me. I can see the door to what Diana calls the heirloom room, the secured spot of the underground complex that holds her armor, weapons and other stuff the strange woman who dropped her off with our parents, left for her.
Despite my desire, I can’t leave this room. It’s called an isolation room for a reason. Not that I’m alone. Diana has been staying with me inside of it. Bruce, Alfred and Eliza have to wear those strange white suits to visit with me, but we all know Diana can’t get sick. She stays in a chair next to my bed, and sleeps on a cot as close to me as she can get around all the equipment. She only leaves to go to the bathroom. She doesn’t get a glorious bed pan like I do.
I do have my laptop, which I am grateful for. Me and Babs have been learning how to hack and we are pretty good. We haven’t found any system we couldn’t get into without being noticed.
Wayne Enterprises has a LOT of money.
So does LuthorCorp. Not as much as us but they are doing all right.
The NSA has a lot of spyware they use on everyday citizens using key words in internet searches and texts message.
The U.S. and China have a LOT of nuclear weapons. They are also frighteningly easy to take control of.
I even checked in on Eliza’s notes about me. I shouldn’t have. It was a depressing read.
Basically, the immune system is like an army in your body, ready to fight off infections and viruses. I have two skinny soldiers with no weapons who haven’t fought a war before and are shaking in their boots.
Eliza basically reenforces those two pathetic soldiers with her own army. But sometimes, her soldiers leave, move on or are killed quickly because they have no help. Hence my army is constantly in need of reinforcements which is why I get treatments once a week. The treatments leave me weak and make me nauseated for a few hours, but I get over them. The meds I take every day aren’t bad and the food is not too bad when Alfred makes it.
Despite all this, sometimes the reinforcements are overwhelmed and fail completely, allowing the invading army to break through. This is one of those times. I wonder how many times it can happen before I die.
Eliza and Diana tell me all the time that I will be fine, but I know differently. They seem to forget I am a genius sometime. Yeah, I may not be so great in biology, but I know what happens to kids with my issues. There aren’t many adults who start life off like me. I have beat the odds already, considering ninety percent of babies in my condition don’t make it out of their first year alive. If not for Eliza’s brilliance and Mom and Dad’s money, I doubt I would have made it past the first two weeks of life.
The hardest part isn’t the pain, or the helplessness I feel, or even my body turning on itself.
The hardest part is watching Diana.
She stays so strong and is so positive when she is with me. But when I wake up, I can see her eyes are red from having cried while I slept. Yesterday, I could tell she became angry when I had a coughing fit though she wouldn’t let me know. Instead, she stepped outside the room to speak to Eliza. I used my laptop to tap into the basement’s intercom system and listened.
Diana wanted why I wasn’t better yet. She threatened Eliza but I know she didn’t mean it. Eliza didn’t seem upset, so I guess this happens a lot. Diana offered her more money to find something, anything that would work. She wanted to know if I drank her blood, would it heal me.
Diana has been watching this vampire show, ‘True Blood’, lately and I think it’s starting to affect her mind. I am not drinking blood. Diana is smart but the complexities of medicine are not her strong suit.
Diana asked Eliza why she couldn’t isolate the properties that made Diana so strong, healthy and fast then give the same to me. Eliza said genetic manipulation was impossible with the technology available today, much less with blood. Introducing new blood or reshaping my own T cells, the few I have, could kill me immediately if not done correctly. Gene and stem cell therapy was difficult and dangerous enough. Trying to recreate Diana’s stem cells was impossible at this time, much less giving me another stem cell transfusion.
Dying with poisoned blood would suck. Though it might beat weeks of fever doing it to me. Diarrhea would not be a fun way to die either and I am aware that is totally possible. Just saying.
Diana turned around with a big smile for me, like she always does, so genuine you would never guess that she had been berating Eliza for the past five minutes.
Her red eyes couldn’t lie though.
Bruce visited me every couple hours and came in a few times suited up. He tried to make me laugh, but Bruce isn’t great at humor. He is great at hugs, but humor and smiles seem difficult for him. He likes when I hug him though. I can always make him smile with a hug, so I try to, as often as I can.
My big brother is seriously screwed up. He stood between Mom and Dad and watched them die. He spends a lot of time working out, learning to fight with Diana and Alfred, and lately he has been spending more time with girls.
One pretty girl is named Selina. Bruce brought her to the manor last week and after she left, he and Diana had a huge argument. They don’t argue much so it freaked me out. When they argue they stand close to each other, Bruce always crosses his arms, Diana has her hands on her hips and stands tall. It’s like they think whoever can speak the loudest wins the argument. I’m not sure what Diana’s problem with Selina was, but she didn’t want Selina around me and threatened to hurt her if Bruce brought her back. Bruce stomped off angrily. My brother seems to stay angry, though he tries to hide it around me.
As I write this, I feel more and more tired but I’m afraid to go to sleep. Sleep scares me but never more than it does when I am sick. If I go to sleep before bedtime and wake up, I am still given a sedative that will put me back to sleep. I’m frightened that I will sleep my life away in this room. Or maybe I won’t wake up.
There is so much I want to do. There are so many things I want to build, to fix, to improve. Plans are constantly floating in my head, including planes I could build and weapons that could protect people like Mom and Dad from the man who killed them.
Building things and fixing things make sense to me. There are no weaknesses in my toys. My toys don’t get sick, they don’t have to fight for survival, they just are and always will be. I make them strong and durable and if something is wrong with them, I fix them.
Diana tells me every time I get sick that I have to fight. How do I fight? All I can do is lie here, hoping the medication works, and I start to feel better. That’s not fighting, that is just hoping. Sometimes hope is all I have but hope seems useless when I feel like this.
I can’t show my fear. If I do, Diana will know and if Diana loses hope, I am screwed. She is my rock, despite being weird about the whole drinking blood thing. She really needs to find better shows to watch.
Entry #163
Lucius came today. I really like him. He doesn’t try to read me bedtime stories or tell me how it will all get better. Instead, he told me that Wayne Shipping bought all the freighters from PAAL Ship Corporation and is now officially the world leader in freighter shipping.
He also brought me plans for a new next gen freighter he wants built and asked me for my opinion. That’s the great thing about Lucius. He listens to my opinions and takes them seriously. I made a few suggestions about improvements, he asked questions and made suggestions of his own.
For four hours we talked, and I think we came up with a pretty cool boat design. For four hours, I didn’t think about being sick or stuck in this room. Instead, I imagined myself on the bridge of one of those great ships, powering through storms and enjoying the calm seas. My brain was focused on angles, horsepower, ballast and carrying capacities.
Diana says Lucius is managing Wayne Enterprises until she and Bruce are ready to take over, but he doesn’t seem like a businessman.
Lucius is a mechanic, an inventor, a visionary. He likes to build. He understands and appreciates machines like I do. Sometimes I think Lucius is the only one who really understands how my brain works because he thinks like me.
Entry #164
My fever broke last night, and my throat is feeling better. I’m breathing easier and my lungs don’t hurt. I’m still stuffy but I think I am getting better. My stomach is queasy but that may be because of all the medications that have been pumped into my IV for the last several days. I think I have been in the room a week, but I haven’t asked what day it is. I have slept so much I may have missed an entire day.
Diana is looking better. Her eyes aren’t as red, and her smile isn’t as forced. She seems more relaxed too, so if she thinks things are going well, then they must be.
I hope she didn’t feed me her blood while I slept. If she did, I don’t want to know. That would just be so gross.
Now that I’m better, I wonder if I am going to be able to rejoin the swim team. I wonder if I will be able to join the world at all. Diana won’t want me to. She will want me to stay inside where it is safe and as sterile as possible.
I could stand up to her. I could tell her I refuse to live in fear. She would cave eventually.
The problem is it would be a lie. I am scared. I don’t want to die. I have done what Diana has asked me to do for as long as I can remember, and she has always kept me safe.
Whenever I do get sick, she never leaves my side. She never yells at me, even if me being sick is sorta my fault, like begging her for my party.
When I think about it, Diana has never yelled at me or ever seemed to be really angry with me. She’s always hugging me and encouraging me. Sure, she gets frustrated with me at times. I swear, she has this annoyed look she reserves especially for me, but it never lasts long.
I know Diana has my best interests at heart, so, I follow her rules and she keeps me safe, alive and loved.
I think Bruce holds himself back from me sometimes. It’s like he is afraid I’ll die and keeps me at a distance or something. It’s not like that all the time, mostly when I am sick. I think he is afraid of losing anyone else. I wish I could make him feel better.
Wishes aren’t real though. All I have is hope and my feelings on hope aren’t what you would call fond. My words for hope are ‘Eliza and Diana’. They do more for me than some generally named emotion ever has.
Alfred gives me a different kind of hope. Like the time I tried to glue a candle holder together that was accidentally broken when I was in its vicinity (I admit to nothing). Alfred found me after I had sort of put it together and laughed at it. I admit it wasn’t my finest reconstruction project. He told me that sometimes things couldn’t be fixed, and it was best to put them aside and move on. He suggested I make my own candle holder, make the world what I wanted it to be. “That’s the way to move on, Miss Kara. Nothing can be done about the past, but the future is what you make it.”
I love Alfred. He always knows how to say the right thing to make me feel better.
He is very chill too. He wasn’t even mad the time I lost control of my remote drone and it locked onto him, chasing him all over the front lawn before I sent the self-destruct signal to it.
He wasn’t mad for long anyway. He was mostly pale and shaking although two gardeners did quit. Once I explained that it was a slight glitch in programming that I would clear up the next time I used it, he seemed to relax. Kind of.
Okay, so he isn’t chill all the time, but he appreciates my experiments and understand success isn’t always achieved on the first or second attempt.
Entry #165
Diana practically begged me to quit the swim team and I practically begged her not to make me.
Okay, I did beg. I had to cry too. It wasn’t hard. Eliza convinced her that I would be fine, that illnesses like those I just had would happen at times and every time they did, she learned more about how to protect me. Between Eliza’s reasonable assurances and my tears, I got to swim in meets again.
It was good to be surrounded by people once more. I’m also terrified to be around people. I can’t let Diana know that. If she knows I am terrified, she will keep me in the manor even more than I am now.
My first meet back, I had the worst times I have ever recorded. I suppose my body was still recovering from two weeks of illness and not swimming or doing much of anything not involving a keyboard.
I have to get in shape though. Bruce promised me today that he and Diana would take me to Colorado Springs in the summer and we could hike Pike’s Peak. It may not be Everest, but I’ve never gone up a mountain or even seen one in person.
Alfred told me he had bought an island and the family would be taking a trip there this summer as well. I’ve never been on a real beach either.
Diana has gotten the three of us scuba gear and hired a diving instructor to get us trained and even certified so we can safely dive off the coast of our new island. We were able to practice using the lake on the manor grounds. It’s only around forty-two feet at its deepest point, but the instructor said that was good enough to count for certification. The paperwork part of the course was tedious, but diving practice was really cool despite the lake being fairly murky.
Even Bruce is on board with learning to dive. It should be fun. From what I’ve read, drift diving is like flying without an airplane, only the ocean currents to guide our path.
I wonder what it would be like to fly, to leave the ground with nothing holding me back, no balloon, plane or glider to keep me aloft. I guess drift diving is a good start.
Who knows, maybe one day.
Entry #201
Diana caught me trying on her armor yesterday. It doesn’t fit. It was kind of embarrassing. The boots went up almost to my hips and the gauntlets covered all the way to my bicep. The top did not fit me at all. The tiara kept falling over my eyes. I asked Diana if she ever planned to wear this stuff. She said she didn’t know. I asked her if she knew what kind of underwear she would wear under it. She didn’t know that either. It may seem insignificant now, but it could matter in the future.
I tried to lasso her to find out if there were any boys she liked. She caught the lasso and tied me up with it, then tickled me until I almost peed my pants. For some reason, when I use the lasso it doesn’t glow. I wish I knew what it was made of. Diana said she thought it was some kind of magic but doubted she would ever know for sure.
I think she wants it to be magic. She thinks if Eliza can’t permanently find a cure for me, then perhaps she can with magic or something. I’ve studied the metal of her armor and have never seen anything like it. I doubt anyone has.
Eliza can’t figure out why Diana never gets sick or how she can lift so much weight and move in a blur. If it’s magic, I know Diana thinks she can find a way to give me those same cool powers, make sure I am never sick again.
She told me the story about how the woman left her with our parents and then left in a bolt of lightning. It seemed sorta crazy, but Alfred backed her up. He was there so he should know.
But finding a woman who disappeared in a bolt of lightning nineteen years ago is tricky. By tricky, I mean impossible.
I’m not holding out hope for magic. I am what I am. I may not live long but I want to make the most of the life I have.
Entry #209
Sometimes I get the feeling I am all that keeps Bruce and Diana from… something. Like they would be very different if I weren’t around. Bruce could probably handle it, but Diana couldn’t. I just know it. I have to stay strong for her. She stays strong for me. We stay strong for each other. I’m not blind… yet… keeping fingers crossed. I know that with others, Diana can be bossy, demanding and downright mean (see earlier entry about Selina Kyle) but without me, I have this bad feeling that she could be a lot worse.
Speaking of things I still need to do, I have to rebuild the transmission for the 1969 Cobra Mustang in the garage. It would be difficult for someone of my strength level but luckily, I have super sister to do the heavy lifting.
Diana told me the other night that one day we would rule the world and she would make it safe for me, that nothing would ever hurt me or even try. She would make us queens, and no one would dare touch us. I believe her. She has never lied to me before.
Right now, I don’t want to be the queen of anything. I just want to rebuild the transmission, so it is strong again. Machines make sense.
I wish I were a machine. Diana says that’s impossible because I am her heart and hearts have to be beating. She says machines don’t have hearts or souls.
She has a rather bleak view of machines. I think that some machines have bigger hearts and souls than many humans. Some, like the one who killed Mom and Dad, have no heart or soul.
At least Diana has stopped watching ‘True Blood’ after I made her promise to never make me drink any blood.
Entry #261
Alex is gay. She just blurted it out. Me and Babs were talking about boys and Alex said, “screw it, I like girls”. I was like “cool”, you know? More boys for me and Babs. Alex is the third member of our crew like Diana has Silver and Rachel so if she wants to hook up with girls, we could help her out. We do understand girls a lot more than boys.
Unfortunately, we ended up having an argument about it. Alex kind of freaked out when I said I could help her out and said she didn’t like me like that, and I was quite frankly offended and told her so. I asked if she thought I wasn’t pretty, and she said I was but didn’t think of me like that. I told her she was just saying that, and she didn’t think I was pretty. She argued she wasn’t and would say I was hot if it was that big of a deal.
Okay, I admit I may have made her coming out more about me. Rich kids are selfish that way and I am the definition of a pampered rich kid. I am also the definition of disappointment kid kept in the attic out of sight of others, but I do not dwell on that. Babs thought the whole thing was funny and assured me if she were gay she would totally be all over me. Alex said she wasn’t going to say anything else about it but told us she was attracted to older women.
So, I ask her if she is attracted to Diana and she hesitated! She was! It’s bad enough that Babs has a crush on my brother, now I find out Alex has a crush on my sister!
I mean, I get it. Diana Wayne is like a Greek goddess. Everywhere she goes, people look at her. She is tall and gorgeous, and I am kind of short and skinny and have to wear glasses because my eyesight is only slightly better than my immune system.
Ugh.
I have self-esteem issues because of my sister. I apologized to Alex. She assured me if I weren’t her best friend and hadn’t known me forever, I would be her first target. Yeah, right. I knew she was lying but whatevs. She would so go after my sister way before me.
So now, instead of the three of us only talking about boys, we add girls into the mix. So long as my brother and sister stay out of it, we are good.
It’s just Bruce and Diana are always topics of discussion, so every time they swim, I tell my crew. Babs hacks into the basement’s security cameras and my two besties watch them get into and out of the pool. If it makes them happy, I’m happy to help them out. Me? I’m crushing on one of our security guards named Adam. He patrols the front yard at night. Sometimes, if I can get his attention, he will wave at me when he sees me in the window. Yesterday, after some subtle investigation into his employment record, I found out that he was twenty-eight and married with two kids.
I should probably set my sights lower. But since I don’t go to school and I hardly ever leave the manor, I am short on options.
When I do leave, I am constantly watched by security guards and Diana is at my side. I could imagine her reaction if I kissed a boy. Talk about an invasion of foreign germs.
Diana has talked about letting me get contacts though. This may help the overall attractiveness issues, but the opportunities are still lacking and likely always will be.
Funny thing about that, I had asked Alfred about contacts and he told me he would talk to Diana about it. One day, I am going to ask Diana what her real secret power is. When it comes to me, it was like she is the final word even though Alfred is our legal guardian.
On a brighter note, the Wayne Family officially owns the Gotham City Zoo and all kangaroos have been removed back to their country of origin, overseas, where they belong. More trips to the zoo are in my future now.
Entry #345
I wrecked the Porsche. More specifically, I wrecked Bruce’s Porsche. He wasn’t happy. Alfred was not happy. Even Diana was not happy but as long as she was around, no one yelled at me, so I stuck to her like a second skin.
Alfred said I needed to be older, and someone would have to teach me to drive.
He is right about me needing to be older to drive. I was definitely not strong enough to handle a car with that much horsepower, despite my earlier optimistic belief that I was. The mechanical extensions for my legs and the seat lifter didn’t help at all. I had a difficult time shifting and sitting up straight.
Alfred had obviously lost patience with me. He turned to Diana and told her to handle it, or he would. I have a feeling I am the ‘IT’ in question.
That was a bit of overreaction. It’s not like I hit any of the employees. Some of the hedges will need some reconstruction work but that is what gardeners do, right? I just made their jobs a bit more challenging and rewarding. If anything, I should be thanked.
It isn’t easy being me.
Entry #367
I hid my sleeping pill last night. Bruce has been coming home very late almost every night for the past few weeks and I overheard Diana tell Alfred she was fed up with his attitude and going out tonight to find him. I wanted to know what was going on too, I was worried about both of them, so I hid on the staircase and waited.
They finally arrived home at two a.m.. They were also arguing. Diana and Bruce never argued when I was younger. It seems to happen more and more now.
They were dressed in all black, even had black ski masks on like they were planning to rob somebody. Bruce kept telling her they did good work tonight. Diana told him he was an idiot and wasting his time… that he could take two out tonight and four more would be back on the streets tomorrow. She also said the “two she took out would be back quickly because there was no evidence against them”.
Bruce told her they made the mysterious ‘two’ too frightened to go back out. Diana called him naïve and said there was a better way, that she had a plan.
She also told him she was going to quit worrying about him going out alone at night if he was going to be stupid enough to keep doing it.
I think she may have heard my heartbeat or something. I’ve never asked if she can do stuff like that, but she always knows when I’m around, even hiding and trying to snoop.
She turned quickly to the staircase and I scrambled upstairs, staying low. I swallowed my pill, not even bothering with water. I was still awake when she came into my room. I thought she would say something, but she just ran her hands through my hair. I love it when she does that.
As sleep came upon me swiftly, I wondered: What Bruce was doing out so late? Why did Diana feel like she needed to follow him tonight? Why were they arguing?
I have a feeling they beat up some dangerous people, men like the ones who killed our parents. My last thought was I needed to ask Bruce to stop whatever he was doing. I don’t want to lose anyone else.
Entry #378
I think I hurt Bruce’s feelings. I didn’t mean to and Diana said he was a big boy and could deal with it.
I have been thinking of guns lately. More specifically, I have been thinking about making guns, ammunition and how to improve both. I began making my own ammo and a gun made of a hard polymer I cooked up in my lab in the basement. Bruce walked in and was not happy.
He actually grabbed me, pushing me back and swept my stuff off my table.
I am ashamed to say I started crying. He scared me. It’s not like I didn’t have permission from Diana to do this. I knew the rules. No ammo near the weapon, no tests without her or Alfred present. I knew it could be dangerous, so I followed the rules.
Bruce asked me what the hell I was thinking. That’s how angry he was. He never curses around me. No one does.
I told him I was thinking that if Dad had a gun, he could have saved himself and Mom and stopped the man before he shot them, and they would be here with us now.
Bruce looked like I slapped him. His eyes got wide, and he had such a guilty look on his face. He wasn’t angry anymore, just… I don’t know how to describe his face. Ashamed maybe, but not because he yelled at me though. I don’t even think he realized he had been yelling.
Diana ran in, grabbed Bruce and walked him out. She wasn’t yelling or even pulling him hard. I heard him crying outside the room and when I got brave enough to look, Diana was holding him. He kept saying it was his fault, that he should have done something.
I’m young but I’m not stupid. I understood. Like I said, I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings, but I did. Sometimes I think I should stay in the isolation room.
I apologized to him that night. He told me it wasn’t my fault and to promise to be careful and not make anything involving guns without Diana or Alfred around.
The next morning he was smiling and seemed to be himself again.
I knew better. Next time, I’ll keep my mouth shut.
Entry #421
I had my first college class today in an actual classroom! The experience was amazing!
Yes, I’m three or four years younger than the average college freshman. Yes, I blew past high school learning when I was eight or nine. Yes, I had completed most college core classes by the time I was fourteen, but for the first time ever, at fifteen-years-old, I was in a classroom with other students. I was so excited.
Diana and Bruce were on the other side of the campus where the School of Business was and I was here at the technical academy, taking classes and being among new faces. I was outside the manor, in a room full of people!
I knew I wouldn’t be a normal student. People would stare because I was a skinny, barely teenager in glasses sitting in advanced courses. I also had six bodyguards around me. Luckily, Diana made sure they were all young females who blended in, so it wasn’t too obvious I was protected from the back, sides and front. The three men in suits at the entrance and exits were obviously bodyguards. They came complete with earpieces and communication devices that the U.S. Secret Service and private security firms used to protect their clients.
Yeah, maybe I was one of the few college students who arrived by limousine every day, so I kinda stood out a bit but it didn’t matter. I feel so free.
I got to meet my professors after class, and they were all very polite and excited. I was excited. I never worked with other people in my life except for Lucius occasionally or when Babs and I tried out different codes. Alex recruited me into some of her biology projects, but honestly, machines are more interesting to me than living organisms. Biology and I have never had an interest in each other.
But here I was, ready to work with others. Did I need them? No. Did I want them? Yes.
Working with others lets your imagination run wild and lets you grab onto their imagination. I understood how fun it could be, hanging out with people like me.
I once told Lucius that he could let the entire R & D department go when Diana decided I could work. He told me that would be a mistake. He said it was important to surround yourself with the best minds you could find and the best people you could find. Others have valid ideas and an exchange of ideas with good, intelligent people could make a good project, great.
I can see his point now. Could I do everything on my own? Of course. Why would I want to though? I was starved for this. I met six new people today in addition to my professors and they were as excited about advanced robotics as I was. They also like the same shows I do. After a while, I forgot they were older, and they seemed to forget I was the rich, reclusive, genius Wayne kid.
Life is definitely looking up. I haven’t been majorly sick in three years, my T cells and white blood cells are holding strong and I’m fitter than I ever have been. My hair is still unruly, and I usually have grease under my fingernails, but Diana tells me I am growing into an amazing woman and to have patience. She says I will change the world for the better.
I just want to discover the world as it is now. I’ll worry about changing it later.
Entry #422
Bruce scared me tonight. I know he hasn’t been doing well for a while now. I hacked into school records and have seen his grades. I thought maybe he had a drug problem or something. Diana assured me he didn’t.
Tonight, I was working on a ceramic-coated conduit between two cylinders for a new type of engine I am building. It’s my first big college assignment. I couldn’t reach between the cylinders to attach the conduits with my gloves on, so I took them off. I forgot to put them back on and Bruce caught me.
Usually, he will just remind me to put them back on. Tonight was different. He was yelling at me and looked crazed. For the first time in my life, Bruce really scared me.
I cried. I was close to running from him when Diana came in. She told me to wash my hands and I ran out of the room.
When I returned, Bruce was gone, and Diana helped me finish my project. I told her I was sorry, but she told me I had nothing to be sorry about, that I had done nothing wrong.
I also asked her what was wrong with Bruce. She hugged me but never answered.
Whatever his problem is, I hope he gets over it soon. I really miss my big brother. I don’t like the guy he has become.
Entry #423
Bruce is gone. He left in the middle of the night and only left a note. He didn’t say where he was going or why or for how long.
Diana says he just needs a few days to clear his head.
I hope when he comes back his head is a lot clearer.
Entry #441
Bruce has been gone for six months. No phone call, no letter, not even a postcard. Just nothing. Not a word. We don’t know where he is, or even if he is alive.
I asked Diana if Bruce was coming back.
She told me the truth. She didn’t know.
At least when our parents were killed, we knew what happened to them and where they were. To this day, it still hurts, but we have closure with them.
Bruce wouldn’t even give us that.
If he doesn’t think we deserve to know, then I don’t think he deserves me worrying.
I have Diana. I have always had Diana. She would never leave me.
Bruce can go to hell.
To Be Continued in: The Wayne Legacy: Rise
Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction 
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