A few months after the incident in the Ace Chemicals, Matthias planned to meet with Lucius Fox. He called him and made an arrangement for a meeting in private, away from Bruce's notice. This took a couple of weeks to set up the precise date of meeting, making sure it's scheduled away from Bruce.
Then, came the time for Matthias to meet; this time, it's not inside Wayne Tower, but rather in a bookstore cafe. This place was chosen since it was relatively closer to the school where Matthias was studying, so he can just walk there after school's end. All Matthias needs was just to call Alfred saying that he's going home late to go with his school friends, and just head to the location.
The bookstore was not a large store; just a small, two floor building where the first floor was used as the cafe with the walls covered with bookshelves, and the second floor as the place to read with several bookshelves and reading desks.
Matthias walked inside the bookstore cafe and saw Lucius Fox sipping a cup of coffee with a plate of pie on his table.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fox. I hope I don't disrupt whatever plans you originally have for today."
"Worry not, Matthias, I have no other plans for today... now, let's hear what requests you have." Lucius put his cup on his table, and gestures Matthias to sit down opposite his chair.
Matthias sat down, and took his backpack on to his lap. He opened his bag and took out a plastic folder. This prompts Lucius to raise his eyebrows.
"Mr. Fox, this folder contains a planning I have been compiling quite a long while ago. I want you to help me achieve this goal I have in mind." Matthias said as he gave the folder to Lucius.
Lucius took the folder, opened it, and took out several papers of documents listing Matthias' plans. It consists of some construction projects, development projects, several technological ideas, and more.
The construction projects includes the rebuilding of the Gotham Underground, the abandoned chemical plants, and several other point of interests around Gotham.
The development projects includes several expansion schemes for the Wayne Enterprises and cooperation plans.
The technological ideas are for future ideas for WayneTech.
Lucius was astonished, and appalled by Matthias capability of listing and summarizing these plans for Lucius. As of now, Matthias is just a fourteen years old boy, and one would never expect such ideas to come from a young boy that age. This made Lucius' view of Matthias to increase as he thinks that such genius and intelligent young boy like him were perhaps still hiding his fullest capabilities.
Lucius put the document back inside the folder, and put them into his briefcase. He took a sip of his coffee, and then looks at Matthias.
"Mr. Wayne, may I ask why you have compiled these plans?"
"You stopped calling me 'Matthias', Mr. Fox?" Lucius smiled.
"Please do not avoid the question, Mr. Wayne. These plans are mostly in large scale, and I don't think I can secretly put them into progress without Mr. Bruce knowing."
"Then just tell him of the plan."
"But I thought you don't want him to know, Mr. Wayne?"
"Then tell my brother that you were the one coming out with the plans, Mr. Fox."
Lucius was processing what Matthias just said, and then nodded as he understood what the latter wants.
But before the talk ends, Lucius need to ask something...
"Well, before I end things here, Mr. Wayne, I have a question for you."
"Sure, go ahead."
"... do you already know of what Mr. Bruce has been doing?" Lucius was of course talking about Bruce becoming Batman. Though Lucius did not have the official info from the man himself, he already have some idea that perhaps his employer is also the mythical guardian of Gotham himself, to which Matthias replied with a simple--
--"Yes."
"I see." Lucius finished his coffee, stood up, and gave a firm handshake to Matthias. "Thank you Mr. Wayne."
"I'd prefer if you weren't so formal with me, Mr. Fox."
"No can do, Mr. Wayne, for soon you'll be an outstanding young man, and this is my way of respecting that."
Matthias smiled, "Then, thank you, Mr. Fox."
The two then went separate ways. Lucius offered Matthias to send him home via his car to the Wayne Manor, but Matthias told Lucius to go back to the Wayne Tower as Matthias can call Alfred to give him a ride from the bookstore.
...
Lucius returned to the Wayne Tower. He went to his private office, took Matthias' folder, took out the document, and started inspecting it detail. Hours upon hours were spent to review the plans, and one of those plans intrigues Lucius. It was a plan of buying a place in Metropolis, and building a personal business for Matthias.
This plan intrigues Lucius since, of all the things Matthias has been compiling within the document, this one seems mild in comparison. But then he found out from the last lines that Matthias wants the building to have a secret room not included in the blueprint should one be made.
Lucius has then been thinking the whys Matthias want to have some secret room within his own building, and why he wants it within Metropolis.
'The Wayne Brothers are good people, but interestingly secretive.' Lucius thought. His employer and his little brother were being secretive, either to the people around them or even to each other.
'Well, no point in thinking all of these. Let's start the project right away.'
Lucius then starts rewriting the plans he then wants to give to Bruce.
The Wayne Enterprises is in good hands; not only Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne, but Matthias Wayne is also included.
~
It’s now been about four years since the incident in the Ace Chemicals Gotham. Matthias is now an eighteen years old young man; very handsome, very tall, extremely rich... an every man’s personal life goal and every woman’s future dream man.
During the course of these four years, Batman’s vigilante act has been recognized even by the GCPD. The list of enemies he made also increases throughout the years.
In these course of four years, Matthias did not continue his vigilante act, and instead, planning for some other thing; increasing his relevancy in the world.
To do this, Matthias has been busy slowly creating his base of operations, one of which was in one of the abandoned chemical plant he had ‘vindicated’ during his first vigilante act. The base was made in a secret room underneath the chemical plant he found when looking at the original blueprint of the factory.
He requests Lucius’ help to create the base without Bruce noticing. The process took a very long time; about three years is needed to slowly earn sufficient budget not recorded in the Wayne Enterprises financial records to avoid Bruce’s suspicions.
After finishing the establishment of the base, Matthias then stocks the base with the scraps and junks from the WayneTech, which are actually failed gadgets and tools.
Matthias has been stocking these scraps for him to tinker and fiddle around, and with the help of Lucius’ teaching and his increased relevancy where the world consider Matthias as an intelligent young boy, he’s able to fix and even craft his own gear of his own design.
Of course all of these are in secret, away from Bruce's notice. Matthias plans to fully use these resources to expand his reach and powers. He plans so that he can one day go toe to toe with superpowered villains.
'I need power so that I can help defeati-- no, Killing persistent and overpowered villains that always returns because the heroes refuse to kill.' Matthias thought at some point.
... And now...
Matthias is dealing with something troublesome,
"Master Matthias, you need not to be late in the graduation." Alfred hurries Matthias. "Please put on these clothes quickly as I prepare the vehicle."
"Please do, Alfred." Matthias orders as he hurriedly puts on his graduation garbs.
"... I mean, who would've thought you would overslept on the day of your graduation?"
"Please shut up, brother. Let me finish changing first, then you can scold me after."
Bruce was standing by the door and laughed at his younger brother's silliness.
Matthias overslept because he spent the last night thinking on his next step after the graduation, not knowing that hours were spent in his deep thought.
Properly clothed now, Matthias went to the car Alfred has prepared.
Next destination? Gotham Private High School...
Hey guys, I need some insight for some realistic reaction.
Now, Imagine you're Bruce in this story, and you managed to stop your brother from his reckless vigilante act. But then you later found out that your brother has been secretly doing vigilante stuff, even some dangerous ones. How would you feel then?
Disappointed? Sad? I may need some insight for one day I need to create Bruce's revelation to the MC should he find out he's still doing vigilante stuff behind his back.
Edit: also, please note that this is not 'canon' Batman, as in this version of Batman has a younger blood brother, one that he cherish.
That's all, Enjoy...
If he is going to discover that mathias was the one at ace chemical... than yep some disappointement may be there... either that or considering batman/bruce selfloathing he may see himself as responabile "If I was a better example mathias wouldn't have gone that way" or "If I was better at my vigilante job than mathias wouldn't have a need to do the vigialnte on his own"... The circumstances of the discovery may alter the path of his tought quite a bit (for example discovering it because mathias as a vigilante makes "some mistake" or because mathias as a vigialnte help him in something he was "failing at" would have completely different results)
If instead he only discover of mathias vigialnte act after he turned 18 than you could spin it on mathias asserting "I'm now grown up and is time I too take my part of responsability in making this city/world a better place" from there you could go with the "overprotective brother" that still wish to keep his brother safe... and so have some sort of confrontation between the 2 but without real hard feelings or you may go the "disappointed" path
@Comalol Damn good insight. I can take one of these ideas to create some proper drama.
Thank you so much for this. I really do
hum, its hard to think considering it is bruce... i think he should be in a mixed state of emotions:
-disappointed because mathias was hiding this from him, not because he was doing it (at that point with so many years as batman he should know it would have this sort of influence on him, he is not stupid)
- surprised because he managed to hide it very well, again, he is not stupid, he should always have an suspicion that he was doing it, but never fiding a way to connect the pieces to finish the puzzle.
- a bit angry of course, but nothing too over the top, more angry at himself than mathias.
now the biggest point of conflict i can see between the 2, mathias killing some villains, at that point i imagine more super heroes will be emerging publicly, by them mathias have a very valid and believable excuse, maybe he always had this seer or oracle like powers and stuff, and did things to help his brother. maybe they will argue a bit, but they like each other for this to escalate.
I think old bruce (the one that didnt have a brother) would be very wary of him and almost treat him as a villain. but the new bruce I think would be a bit proud of his brother, even if he dont fully agree with him.
theres always the "minority report" issue with these type of situations, people being culprit of something they didnt even do yet. this i think would be an even great conflict point between them. a compromise i can see is giving a super-villain 3? chances, on the first 2 they are captured normally, on the 3rd mathias is the one who calls the shots.
@silkerin Nice summary, and yes perhaps the mixed state of emotions is the logical response for this.
And yes, this is not the 'canon' Bruce, which may think of MC as a villain at some point.
Thank you for the insight.
@silkerin I really like your idea for him. With how smart he is it’s a big surprise that he couldn’t connect the dots. I agree too with him not being disappointed that Matthias was doing it, but that he hid it. I think the biggest dilemma he’ll have is if he finds out that the bad guys are being killed by his brother. This world Bruce probably won’t know how to deal with it. He loves his brother, but he cannot understand why he’s doing it. He won’t stop loving him, but trying to either talk him out of it or do his best to understand why.
@Samuel_Spader I agree with everything said above, but the "mostly angry at himself" part won't work too well in my opinion. If he finds out about Matthias after he has killed someone who Bruce has refused to, he should be furious at Matthias. Over time, he'll realize why it was necessary, and why Matthias took it upon himself do do it in his stead. A kind of "You be the hero Gotham deserves. The example of what it should be. I'll be the one it needs." Bruce will be furious at himself as well throughout the process, but be forced to grudgingly accept that he can't stop him from doing it, and that it's the best option they have.
@FireflyFanatic @Scott5431
So I guess it's now up to me as the Author to put your ideas and convert them to this story, then.
Thank you for the insights.
@Samuel_Spader Having an author who asks the readers “what do you think this character would do if” is really nice. It’s always interesting to see what they do with any ideas they get from people’s advice. You don’t have to follow the readers’ every whim, but it’s cool to see us being thought of as another resource to help with writing.
@FireflyFanatic Thank you. This has been very good lesson, really, and having readers that appreciate my work boost my morale significantly, and I thank you all for that.
@Samuel_Spader
@Samuel_Spader All of these fellows insights are very interesting. A big part of Batman's character and what makes him so compelling is his refusal to kill. If I may be presumptuous, if Batman in a world where he has nothing but darkness can maintain a moral code whilst fighting the very scum and villainy that may as well led to his parents death, then in a world where he has loving brother and that perceptibly making him a better person for it; he ought to adhere to his morals even more. The only reason I bring this up is that in the event that Matthias were to kill a villain and Bruce were to learn of Matthias's alter ego; this would conceivably lead to a massive conflict for Bruce. "This vigilante(Vindicator) is a murderer but he is also the only family I have left(Matthias)". In this world Matthias would likely seem to be a reason for Bruce to put on the cowl, to try and make Gotham a safer place for him. To the find out that his brother is a murderer, someone who could take a life just like the man who took their parents life. Oh Boy! I love that you take reader's input and thank you for such a great read! I look forward to what happens next.
Side Note:Batman and Vindicator duking it out would be absolutely badass!
@ConfuciusSay That side note doe, I indeed want to have MC vs Batman have some fight scenes one day.
Lmao, thank you.
I feel like there's gonna be a Batman VS Vindicator chapter once that happens XD MC seems to now be determined with 'killing' while I know Bruce isn't.