Children Of The Bat

Chapter 5: Superwhat?

Clark's P.O.V
16:00 EST Wayne Manor, Gotham City

I was in the living room of the manor reading a book I swiped from the library. I heard the front doors open then close.

"Honey, I'm home!" Mary yelled.

I rolled my eyes at her call and looked back to my book when I heard her boots clumping on the marble flooring. She thought she was sneaking up on me, and I pretended I couldn't hear her tiptoing. She was right behind me and pounced on to my back.

"AH!" I shouted pretending to be surprised.

She started giggling as I spun around screaming in fake terror.

"Ah, I've got a parasite on me!" I shouted. I spun around once more and dropped her onto the couch.

"Hi, Uncle Clark!" She said still giggling.

"Hey, Mare Bear," I said and lightly stroked her cheek.

"Eh-h!" She groaned in playful annoyance, swatting my hand away.

I chuckled, "Sorry hun, I forgot you only, ever liked Bruce calling you that."

An unsettling silence filled the room at the mention of Bruce's name. No one ever mentioned Bruce Wayne, within the manor's walls. It would just turn into this, complete silence that gave everyone a heavy heart. Outside the manor, we could all just scream our hearts out about Bruce, but even thinking about mentioning him in the manor, then it would turn bitter, quiet, and completely uncomfortable.

"Uh...s-sorry hunny, I-I wasn't thinking," I stuttered scratching the back of my neck.

"It's fine," she said quickly, but with a little of a hoarse voice.

"No, it's not," I sighed, sitting down next to her. I put my arm around her when she leaned her head on my shoulder. I heard her trying to choke down a sob. "It's okay to cry, baby, he's in a better place," I whispered to her wiping away one of her tears. That's when I noticed the tracker on her necklace, the necklace Bruce gave her when she turned five.

Mary's P.O.V
16:10 EST

"It's okay to cry, baby, he's in a better place," Uncle Clark said wiping away a tear that had escaped my eye.

I'm not crying because he's 'dead', he isn't dead! I'm crying because he promised he would never leave me, he said he would always know where I am, and he would be there when I needed him. WELL, WHERE ARE YOU!? I NEED YOU ALL THE TIME! I need Bruce, I need my grandfather, I need Pops.

The manor isn't the same without him, especially that first day without him. There was no one who woke me up with a tickle monster attack, no one who said 'Alright, but just this once,' to sliding down the banister, although it happened every morning, no one to sneak cookies from Alfred's cookie sheet with. To sum it up, there was no Pops.

"Do you think he's proud?" I asked with a shaky voice.

"What do you mean?" Uncle Clark returned the question, his voice gentle.

"Of me, and what I've done over the past eight years without him, what I've become, do you think he's proud?"

"Believe me, Mary," he said grabbing my face gently and wiping away another tear on my cheek. "I know he's proud."

I smiled at him and tried swatting at his hands, but he wouldn't let go. He started squishing my face and made the same faces he caused me to make.