DC: I am Bruce Wayne

Chapter 156: Bird in a Circus (2)

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"It is not our abilities that show what we truly are… it is our choices."

– Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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<(Bruce Wayne POV)> 

The decision of whether to let someone die or not is probably the hardest decision anyone could ever make in their lives, especially if the person in question is innocent. Honestly, killing criminals is quite easy when one has made up their mind to do it. But letting a couple of innocent people die for some greater good? Now, that was a completely different question, one that I was not ready to face yet.

Unfortunately, this was the decision I faced at the moment. Should I allow Dick's parents to perish as the plot originally intended, enabling Dick to become a vigilante, or should I intervene and save them therefore completely changing the future?

Honestly, if this was any other innocent couple, I wouldn't have hesitated to save them at all. But this was Dick Grayson's parents, the same kid who had almost as much plot armor as the original Batman. Fated to become the vigilante named Robin, he would one day defeat dozens if not hundreds of villains, save thousands of people, and maybe even help fend off some apocalyptic-level threats as Batman's protege. But like most other superheroes or vigilantes, he could only become his alter ego if and only if he becomes an orphan because according to shitty comics' logic, only by losing everything, can one truly realize their full potential. 

Of course, I had no wish to orphan a kid just because I wanted some help in protecting the world, but Dick Grayson was someone who was supposed to have an extreme amount of plot armor, second only to Batman himself. Plus, I could deduce that he was extremely talented in gymnastics and acrobatics while possessing an excellent physique which automatically made him a good choice as a vigilante. If I were to make him my... sidekick, he would no doubt be able to effectively handle a lot of threats for me, threats that could prove to be tricky even for me.

"Hey Bruce, are you watching the show? You didn't laugh even once at the clowns despite how funny they were." Vicki lightly elbowed me, breaking me out of my reverie. 

"Hmm? Of course, I am watching the show. It's just that I am laughing on the inside rather than on the outside." I responded with a straight face. 

"Oh... okay," Vicki responded while suspiciously narrowing her eyes at me. "By the way, Dick, when are your parents going to perform?" she asked, looking at the kid who was doing his best to loudly cheer every performer who was coming on the stage to perform.

"They will be doing their act right after Charlie finishes his juggling trick." He answered, gesturing at the overly fat clown who was effortlessly juggling 10 balling pins at once while riding a unicycle that looked tiny when compared to his body. "In fact, if you look at the roof, you will see that they have already finished setting up the wires for their flying trapeze performance." 

'Trapeze? Wait, didn't his parents die during their circus performance or something?... But it would be too much of a coincidence if they passed away on the exact day I decided to attend their show... wouldn't it?' These thoughts crossed my mind as I examined the trapeze rigging overhead.

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I activated my Transparent World ability and as soon as I did, the world seemed to slow down around me before my vision sharpened and focused on each and every wire and rope swinging from the roof. The entire mechanism of how the trapeze was going to work was laid bare in front of my eyes. I could not only make out every single wire but also how they were interconnected with each other to form the complex web that would enable the Grayson couple to safely perform their acrobatic moves without any fear of accidents or worse, death. At least, that was what the wire rigging was supposed to be like.

But strangely, I noticed something I was not expecting, A single rope connected to both the trapeze bars was slightly sagging, looking a lot looser than the others. To the eyes of a common man, this would not even be even worth noticing but my ability clearly showed me just how dangerous this was. That rope had to be tight to be able to efficiently balance the weights of both performers, otherwise, both would unavoidably fall to their horrifying deaths sometime during their performance. So, the fact that the rope was not secured firmly meant that either this was a very serious accident, or someone had deliberately loosened or cut the rope to try and hurt the Grayson couple. 

However, the most important question here was not who was trying to hurt them but if I should let them be hurt or not. Should I save them by alerting them of the sabotage done to their wires, or should I just let fate take its course like it was always meant to be? 

"Hey, Dick, I heard your parents don't use safety nets, is it true?" Helena suddenly asked out of nowhere. 

"Not when they perform alone. They only use safety nets when I perform with them. My mom and dad convinced Mr. Haly to not use any safety nets by telling him that the risk would attract more people that way, but the truth is that they are just too good as acrobats to consider using nets or cushions. Even though they are really humble as human beings, they are still quite prideful when it comes to displaying their talents." Dick gave a wry smile while explaining. He looked like he was very proud of his parents with his chest boasting in pride whenever he talked about their acrobatic skills.

"I can understand that. Everyone has at least some amount of pride in them when it comes to their skills and talents. But what I find surprising is that your circus is still struggling when it comes to making money. With such amazing talents and incredible performances, this should already be one of the best circuses in the country!" Helena exclaimed with a curious look on her face. 

"It is. All of our shows are hits... at least in the sense that we never have an occupancy rate of below fifty percent. Our cross-country tours every year are always successful even though we can't perform some of our stunts that use animals in the states which restrict using wild animals for tricks. However, a lot of the money we make is either spent on paying taxes or paying back the loan Mr. Haly took from the bank to set this circus up. I think that's why he likes to use the most flowery French words he knows when it comes to describing the bank and the government. However, what sucks up the most of our money is paying protection fees to the local criminals, especially in the city of Gotham where we perform the most frequently. Initially, Mr. Haly used to pay whatever money the gangs demanded to let us perform without any trouble but recently most of the gangs have backed off because of Batman." Dick explained making it sound like he was a perfectly normal adult instead of an eleven-year-old kid.

"Oh? So, would you say that Batman helped your circus?" Vicki suddenly looked like she grew more interested in the conversation than she had a moment before. 

"Yeah, of course. Me and my mother aren't such fans of Batman just because he looks cool. After he started beating up criminals like a superhero, no gang dared to ask for protection money from us anymore. Even Mr. Haly, despite being an absolute coward, grew a backbone and started denying the few gangs who tried to extort from us. In fact, even this morning, some upstart gang member named Tony Zucco tried to force Mr. Haly to pay "tribute" after misbehaving with Miss Alice and Miss Rhea but my dad punched him and broke his nose while Charlie, Chucky, and Buggy beat up his men. It was amazing, I never knew my dad was so strong.

Anyway, the man left while threatening that he would make sure to shut down the circus, but fortunately, I was able to throw my ice cream on his face before that. You should have seen his face; it was so red that it almost looked like it was steaming from anger. He was even shouting about how he would kill me for that but then he ran away with his men after my dad and a few others from the circus tried to chase them down." Dick revealed while giggling in a fit as if even the memory of it was immensely funny to him.

"Hahaha, that is funny. A crime lord reduced to such a laughingstock that even the people from a circus laugh at him. I should do an article on that sometime, it could highlight how crime lords and gangs are falling from grace after Bru... uh, Batman started his fight against crime in Gotham." Vicki nodded with a pleased look on her face, "What about you, Bruce? Don't you also think Batman is cool as hell?" Vicki asked me with a playful look, probably a childish attempt to make me feel embarrassed.

However, my response was quite different from her expectations. "... Sigh You are right, Vicki. Batman is indeed cool. In fact, he was always supposed to be cool. He isn't just a normal guy who thinks of the greater good like me or most other people but someone who tries his best to save every single person he can, no matter the personal consequences or difficulties he has to face later. That's what makes him a superhero, doesn't it?" I mumbled to myself with a small chuckle, mildly surprising both the girls who were attentively listening to me. "And don't worry boy, I am sure Batman would take care of this Tony Zucco just like every other filth in this city... As for your parents, I think you should tell Mr. Haly to double-check the wires before their performance starts. That wire there looks awfully loose to be dangling like that." I told the little acrobat before pointing at the loose wire which drew a shocked and horrified little squeal from him as he too recognized the fault in the wires after a few seconds of looking at the direction I was pointing.

"Oh, and tell your parents to follow the safety rules as well. Tell them that Bruce Wayne insisted on it. After all, safety rules exist for a reason, no matter how talented someone is. Circuses can even get sued for not maintaining safety standards. Make sure to let Mr. Haly know about this too." I uttered before signaling him to run towards the chubby circus owner to inform him about my warning which he immediately followed without any more questions. 

"Wait, is there really a fault in the ropes there? Is it serious? Could it have hurt his parents?" Helena asked in astonishment after Dick ran away to inform Mr. Haly and his parents about the flaw.

"It could have killed them and made little Dick there an orphan." I calmly answered before deciding to make a joke about it to lighten the mood, "But lucky for him, I don't want competition in my line of work. One orphan vigilante cosplaying as a flying animal is enough for this city."

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(A/N: This chapter doesn't mean that Dick Grayson won't be part of Bruce's journey. He might make a comeback later. This only means that Bruce doesn't need him right now and Dick can still enjoy his childhood like all children should... for now)

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