Dangers in the Dark

Shame on You 8.5

Third Person POV

After driving around Gotham for longer than usual, debating what to do, Alfred pulled up one of his contacts to get the address of Tommy Elliot. It didn't take long for them to get back to him about it and when he did, Alfred drove himself and Bruce to the house, not bothering to inform the young Wayne boy about where they were going. Though if Bruce had been looking out the window, he might have recognised where they were, but he was too distracted as he smiled at his phone.

"What's got you so chipper, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked, glancing into the interior mirror.

"Holly just messaged me. She made the swim team," Bruce answered, quickly typing back a response.

"Give her my congratulations," Alfred replied, a small smile on his face. He'd have to give her his congratulations in person when he saw her next.

The rest of the journey to Tommy's house was silent, the only sound breaking it was that of Alfred changing gears in the car or of Bruce typing quickly on his phone. Eventually, they pulled up at the bully's house and Alfred got out of the car, opening the door for Bruce.

Bruce peered out to look around his surroundings before looking back up at Alfred for an explanation. Seeing that he was gonna need to do a little bit of convincing, Alfred took out the watch that used to belong to Thomas Wayne. Alfred had always carried it around with him, practically guarding it with his life. To see what Alfred was getting out of his pocket, Bruce climbed out of the car and looked down at it.

"This is your father's watch," Alfred told him, showing it to him as it lay on a plain handkerchief, still looking just as shiny as it would if it were new. Bruce carefully picked it up and looked down at it. "Don't you lose it, now. Tommy Elliot's house." Alfred pointed at a prestigious building that was in between a set of two other expensive houses. Bruce looked over at the house, shutting his eyes and sighing. "Don't you be scared."

"I'm not," Bruce answered, opening his eyes. "I'm visualising what I'm going to do."

"Because if you don't want to do this, there's no shame in it," Alfred assured him.

"There would be immense shame in it," Bruce countered before he held the watch firmly in his hand and walked over to Tommy Elliot's door.

When he reached the door, Bruce rang the doorbell and began clenching his hand up into a fist, ready to do what he should have done beforehand. A few moments passed but soon the door opened to reveal the jerk himself.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tommy asked, shutting the door behind him.

"We have unfinished business," Bruce told him, leaving no space for argument.

"Listen, if you think you're gonna—" Tommy began but he was cut off when Bruce collided his fist with his jaw. The force of the punch left Tommy on the ground, holding onto his jaw, looking up at Bruce with wide eyes. "Are you crazy?!"

"Don't talk about my mother," Bruce replied, grabbing onto Tommy's collar so he was facing him and then punching him again and again.

"Master Bruce!" Alfred called over, feeling like that was enough to get the message across to Tommy. Bruce let go of Tommy and looked over to Alfred. He walked up the path to join the two lads. Tommy's mouth was bleeding quite severely now, making Alfred hold back a small smirk. "Point well made, I think." Alfred then turned his attention directly to Tommy. "You alright, mate? Any broken bones?"

"He tried to kill me," Tommy said, holding onto his jaw.

"That's right. He did. He tried to kill you," Alfred agreed, despite the fact it was an absolutely ridiculous exaggeration. "Just you remember that next time you see him. And you remember that I let him try." Alfred then took out the handkerchief that had once held the watch and handed it to Bruce. "Now let's get some ice on those knuckles. What do you fancy for dinner?" Alfred asked as he and Bruce walked down the pathway again.