Work Text:
There were flowers and a box of chocolates on the desk of the secretary at Bruce’s secondary office location.
“Did I miss another holiday, Tess?” Bruce asked.
His secretary smiled. “I guess I have a secret admirer. The note just says ‘to the pretty one’.”
Bruce smiled back. “What a nice treat. May I?” He gestured to the chocolates.
“Of course.” She opened the box and offered it to him.
He glanced over the chocolates inside and took a truffle. “Hey, have you gotten any junk mail lately? I got one this morning, but it wasn’t addressed to me. I think my account might have been hacked, and I want to make sure they didn’t get you too.”
“I haven’t seen anything, but I’ll look again.” Tess put the box down and turned to log into the computer and check her email, scrolling through her inbox.
Bruce lifted the tray holding the chocolates and found an envelope. He removed it and tucked it into the newspaper he was holding, then took another truffle for good measure.
“Nope, nothing.” Tess looked back at her boss. “Would you like me to delete the account for you, sir?”
“No thanks, I’ll do it when I get to my laptop.” Bruce winked and gestured with the second truffle towards the gifts. “Congrats.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Bruce headed into his office and closed the door behind him, dropping the paper on his desk to turn his attention to the envelope he found in the box of chocolates. It was addressed to an “Athos” in Paris, France. He opened it and found a coded letter to him from Elias. He sat down at his desk and started reading, jotting down the real message on a scrap piece of paper. It was about Elias’ plans for revenge against Dominic. This was about getting back at him for Anthony’s death.
-
Bruce was sitting on the front step when an older boy trotted up to Wayland Home. Bruce immediately asked, “Are you Elias?”
The early teen frowned down at him. “Who wants to know?”
“I asked first,” Bruce said.
“…Yeah, I am.” Elias nodded towards him. “Why are you out here waiting for me?”
“I heard the others, they said you’d be back soon.” Bruce got to his feet. “They told me to stay out of your way.”
“Good advice.” Elias tried to get to the door but Bruce moved to stand in front of him. “What do you think you’re doing, kid?”
“I want to join you,” Bruce stated.
“What are you, nine?” Elias asked.
“Twelve,” Bruce corrected. “Am I in or not?”
Elias smirked. “Why do you want to join my crew so bad? You need protection or something?”
“I don’t need your protection,” Bruce spat. “I don’t need anything from you.”
“What do you want, then?” Elias challenged.
“Something to do.” Bruce shrugged. “I’ll run errands or whatever. I just need something to focus on.”
“What’s going on, kid?” Elias asked. “Just tell me or I’m shoving past you.”
Bruce clenched his fists and looked off to the side. “If I don’t have something to do, I get restless. If I don’t have something to control, I get violent. I want to be useful, because if I’m not…I might do something stupid.”
Elias nodded in understanding. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Bruce Moran.”
“Well Bruce, congratulations. You’re officially a member of my very exclusive crew.”
“How exclusive?”
“Let’s just say you’re already in the top ranks.” Elias threw an arm around Bruce’s small shoulders and led him back into the building.
-
“You lied to me!” Bruce snapped. “I know you don’t have any real plans to get out! You think this is what Anthony would’ve wanted? Call me back, Elias, we can work something out. Don’t do anything stupid!” He hung up and threw the disposable phone at the wall, shattering it to pieces. He’d been going over the letter Elias had sent him laying out the plan and what he needed Bruce to do for him. It had seemed like a solid operation until Bruce started poking around and found a few inconsistencies. The further he dug into it, the more holes were revealed in the scheme. Specifically, in the part where Elias escapes Dominic’s and police custody and goes back into hiding. It was immediately clear to Bruce that Elias was done; that the idea was to get his revenge and hurt Dominic as much as he could on his way out.
Bruce grabbed the nearest thing within reach, a paperweight in the shape of an elephant, and threw that at the wall too. Then he dropped into the seat behind is desk, breathing heavily. Things were spiraling out of control. At this point he couldn’t even be sure of anything in Elias’ letter, except that Dominic’s right-hand Link was supposed to die. ‘An eye for an eye,’ and all that.
There was a buzzing coming from inside his desk, and Bruce pulled out the top drawer to retrieve one of his other phones. He had a new text. Flipping open the phone, he read: I’m sorry, Bruce.
Bruce called the number the text came from even though he knew he wouldn’t get an answer. He tried replying to the text: Don’t do this. Please.
Elias’ returned: Par pare refero.
Bruce stared at the Latin phrase and sighed. There was no stopping his friend. He knew that, and he had to accept it. Just like Elias had accepted Anthony’s fate when he gave Dominic the code to the safe.
-
When Elias returned to Wayland again, he found Bruce sitting on Elias’ bed in the room they shared with around ten other kids.
“Where’s Anthony?” Elias asked.
“The room on the third floor,” Bruce mumbled.
Elias’ eyes narrowed. “Right. What happened?” He propped his foot on the bar at the end of the bed and leaned over, waiting.
“I got into a fight while you were gone. Anthony pulled me out but he had to deal with the other guys first. They ratted him out.” Bruce looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry.”
Elias sighed. “It’s not your fault, Bruce. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have given you that assignment.”
“What do you mean?” Bruce asked, looking up. Then it dawned on him. “You knew it wouldn’t be enough to keep me out of trouble.”
“I had a suspicion,” Elias admitted. “I didn’t think anyone would get sent to the third floor, though. I just…” He shook his head and sighed again. “I knew if you started getting jumpy, Anthony would step up to the challenge. You’ve been on-edge since Anthony joined. I can’t have the two guys I trust most side-eyeing each other like that. A change had to happen between you, and soon. We’ve got bigger things to focus on than whatever issues you have with each other.”
“Had,” Bruce corrected. “We talked a lot before he got sent upstairs. He even helped with the homework you gave me.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket and handed it to Elias. “He’s a pretty smart guy.” Bruce smiled. “I can see why you like him.”
Elias snatched the paper from him with a smirk. “Don’t you two go ganging up on me, now, Bruce.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Bruce said. “So why’d you ask me to write about school? I mean, you could’ve picked a number of things.”
“Because, my dear friend, I have plans for you,” Elias said as he looked over the paper Bruce had written. “And they don’t involve ducking cops twice a month.” He folded it back up and tucked it in his jacket pocket. “How would you feel if we sent you to college?”
Bruce stared at him, eyes wide in wonder. He hadn’t considered college in his future since his parents admitted they spent all the money they were supposed to use to send him there.
-
Bruce sat at his desk, staring out the window. He lost track of the hours as they passed, though the setting sun told him it was evening already. He ignored a total of nine calls while sitting there, watching the passersby from his chair. The only person he wanted to talk to was Elias, but his friend would never be calling again.
Someone knocked on his office door before entering. “Mr. Moran? We’ve been trying to get ahold of you, but you weren’t answering the phone.” It was one of Bruce’s personal security detail. Bruce listened as his bodyguard picked his way around the destruction throughout the office. “Sir, we need to move you to a safe location. Dominic’s men could be looking for you, to seek revenge for their boss’ death.”
“What purpose would that serve?” Bruce asked quietly. “Revenge for revenge. The head of their organization has been chopped, they’ll be scrambling just to stay alive.”
“Still, I think it’s best if we go underground, just until the dust settles.”
Bruce swiveled his chair around to face his bodyguard and growled, “Why?”
“To keep you safe, sir. You’re the only one left fit to run what remains of Elias’ organization—”
Bruce slammed his hand on the desk and stood. “He told you to do this, didn’t he? He told you to look after me, to be my babysitter once he was gone.”
“Please, sir,” the bodyguard started, fidgeting where he stood.
“What did he tell you?!” Bruce shouted.
The man swallowed. “Mr. Elias came to us, me and the others who usually protect you. He told us that he was leaving for a while. That he wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on you anymore. He said that he would make sure we were well-compensated, and that our families would be safe even if Dominic took over, if we made sure you went into hiding and kept you safe after he was gone. And if anything happened to you…he said he’d hired others to make sure we suffered for it.”
Bruce looked for something else to throw, but he had already trashed his entire office when he found out Elias had been killed along with Dominic. The only thing left on his desk was his personal firearm and a framed photo of him, Elias, and Anthony from about five years ago. He grabbed the gun and held it to his head. “You and your team are going to help me, or I’ll shoot myself right here and now and Elias’ men can have at you all.”
The bodyguard raised his hands in surrender. “Okay. Alright. We’ll do whatever you ask. What do you want from us?”
“There’s a couple of people I need to speak with. You’re going to help me find them. Start at all the police stations in New York.”
“That could take months,” the bodyguard protested.
“Do I look like I care?” Bruce snapped. “You’re looking for a detective. First name, John. Elias said it’s the cover identity for the vigilante the Feds were looking for, the Man in the Suit. Let me know as soon as you find anything.”
-
Bruce, Anthony, and Elias were standing in the entry room of what used to be the Wayland Home for Boys. It had been years since any of them had been there, and they wanted to celebrate together when Elias bought the building.
“What’re you gonna do with it?” Bruce asked, gesturing around the place with his glass of champagne.
“I’m gonna rig it to explode,” Elias casually answered.
Bruce laughed. “Are you really? Sounds fun.”
“I should hope you like it,” Elias remarked. “The penthouse is going to be your new office.”
“Will there be a trap door?” Bruce asked. “I’ve always wanted a trap door.”
“You can oversee the renovation plans yourself if you’d like,” Elias said. “All I’m taking care of is the trick safe. You can do what you like to the rest.”
“Hm,” Bruce hummed, scratching his beard in thought. “Nah, I trust you know what I like.”
“We should get a picture,” Anthony suggested. “Before and after.”
“Are you talking about us or the building?” Bruce joked.
“Both,” Anthony said. “We still have that shot from when we were kids. Taken right over there.” He pointed at the wall a few feet from where they were standing. “What’s say we update it a little?”
“Sure,” Elias said. “Why not?”
Bruce shrugged. The three of them put their glasses down and headed over to the same wall they’d gotten their picture taken at before. Anthony pulled a small camera out of his pocket and held it with Bruce to center the picture properly on their boss sandwiched between them. Together, they looked at the resulting shot on the little screen.
“Of course Bruce outshines the rest of us,” Elias commented. “As always.”
“Hey, I can’t help it,” Bruce said defensively. “You’re the smart one, I’m the pretty one.”
“And what am I?” Anthony asked.
“The funny one,” Bruce answered.
Anthony grinned.
“Who gets the picture?” Elias asked. “I assume we’ll have the same deal as the other one, passing one copy back and forth for safe-keeping.”
“You two can keep it for now,” Bruce said. “I’ve got the other one anyway. We’ll trade in a year or two.”
“Agreed,” Elias said. “Now, it’s time Anthony and I were off. We both have covers to maintain, after all.”
“When will I see you guys again?” Bruce asked.
Elias smiled. “Soon, Bruce. I promise.”