Batman and Spider-man

Chapter 11

The empty hallways of the Thomas and Martha Wayne hospital took Bruce back to the times when he was a kid, with the rushing doctors and nurses, the pungent scent of medicine and rubber still smelling the same after all these years. A time when he could be proud that this was his legacy.

Now, now he didn't know how feel. Those doctors and nurses that hurriedly helped the patients had evacuated to one of the public hospitals located all throughout the city, dead bodies transferred to the public morgues. The Master Planner gave those workers ample time to flee, Bruce even found out that there were anonymous donations of state-of-the-art technology to certain public hospitals the staff was going to flee to. That bitter man would do anything to get the public to support his cause. Bruce wondered what he'd do after he had fulfilled his little vendetta.

In the rush of the evacuation, Bruce noticed little trinkets left behind by the throng of doctors desperate to keep their patients alive. Stretchers and masks lying haphazardly around the room like remnants of a ghost town. When he looked down on the pristine floors he saw a droplet of iodine, almost wiped away by the footsteps that trampled over it.

It was an easy job to find the bombs. Some were in the basement but most of them were up in the attic. There was supposed to be a bomb squad but seeing as the GCPD were also partly funded by the Waynes, they probably thought that it would be in bad taste to scour the place for bombs, besides they probably had their hands full with trying to keep the crowd outside under control. The crowd that gleefully awaiting the bombing because why not? Nobody was getting hurt.

The bombs were set for the time the Master Planner stated, of course giving both Bruce and Alfred ample time to sneak to the hospital through the underground parking without being seen.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Alfred asked. "To burn it to the ground. There was a lot of good work..."

"Good work to cover up a drug scheme," Bruce said. "Good work to cover up the fact that my city was being poisoned."

Alfred was silent. It surprised him when Master Bruce didn't leave it at just that.

"I was so... proud of this place Alfred," Master Bruce said, running his hand over an empty bedframe. "All the people it helped. Rich and poor, criminal or victim, they saved lives Alfred. Everybody was given the best damn healthcare Wayne Inc could afford under the name..."

Master Bruce was silent, but Alfred knew that he wanted to say that it was done under the name of the people he loved the most.

"Everything that the Master Planner said about them is true, Alfred," Master Bruce sighed, clenching his fist. "I'm the 'World's Greatest Detective', I cross checked, reviewed it a thousand times over and it's true. All the journalists that reported this, all the journalists my father had..." Master Bruce couldn't bring himself to say killed, as if it were a slur. He scoffed, letting out a rare self-loathing. "'World's Greatest Detective' and I couldn't see what was happening right under my nose."

"You were a child," Alfred said, going closer to place a reassuring hand on his Master's back. "You can't blame yourself."

Master Bruce pushed the hand away. "With how I reacted, the things I've done, maybe I still am a child."

...

Bruce decided to stop the training early due to the bombing that was going to be carried out by Otto today. Earlier this day, Peter got a call from Barbara telling him about their search for Connors. They were supposed to meet in the warehouse and begin the search. By the time Peter got there... well...

"You're late," Barbara said. Unlike Bruce, she just said it jokingly. She knew how tough the superhero-life balance was. When Peter descended from the roof of the warehouse, he saw Jason and Batboy playing catch in the corner. "Where were you today, I didn't see you at school?"