Case Of The Grey Eyes

|Chapter 23|

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Bruce was a second away from either walking out the room or punching the man the court had sent in the face, and I really hoped it was the former.

You see, the court had sent someone to come out to the manor and 'inspect' the place and the people, mainly Bruce, to make sure it was in good condition for me to be here before they gave him full guardianship.

So far this man, who introduced himself as Joshua, was asking really...personal? Questions, way more than what I think he should be asking. It started off normal with the basics like, what's your job?, Even though he already knew. Do you have any other kids?, etc. Then He started to get really personal, and not just with Bruce and how he was raised but with me as well and I can't exactly go around saying my past without getting a few looks and Bruce can't really get into his second 'job' either...so you see the issue here with this man?

"I would only have a few more questions than I should be out of your hair, you know how courts can be, they want all the small things answered for paperwork." Joshua explains. We were all sitting in the living room after he checked the house. Me and Bruce were sitting across from him on the sofa while Joshua was sitting on a chair from the kitchen.

Bruce's knuckles started turning white from how hard he was gripping the end of the sofa. "No, I understand, I'm just a little pressed for time, that's all." He gave the fakest smile I have ever seen in my life to Joshua. At this point I was just a bystander hoping that Bruce didn't jump this coffee table, and that Joshua didn't call him out on being fake.

As if his timing couldn't have been better Dick walked into the doorway and froze, as if accessing the room.

"Um.... I'm back?"

He looked around the room before seeing the face I was pulling. 'Help'.

"Uh... I'm gonna see if Al needs any help, wanna tag along Zane?"

"Yes!" I say ecstatically and bolt up and out the living room. I give Bruce one last look over my shoulder giving him an apologetic look and following Dick into the kitchen.

When we made it safely to the other room I sat down and let the much lighter atmosphere sink in with a deep sigh.

"What was all that about? You looked scared and B looked ready to chew that guy's head off!"

"The guy from the court showed up." I started, giving Dick a look to express I'm over it. " I hope he cools down. My tutor is supposed to come over in a few hours."

"Yeah, let's hope...for the tutor's sake."

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"If you could have any superpower, what would you choose? And only one!" Me and Dick were hanging out in his room as we wait for Bruce to finish his phone conversation. Waiting sucks!

"Mhm... I don't know. I feel like a lot of powers would have drawbacks- Wait! I got it! Being able to teleport, so I don't have to use the stairs." We both laugh and Dick lightly punches my arm from his spot on the bed. I was sitting on the floor next to him while he was up on his bed hanging upside down near me.

We had gotten cleaned up for the night and were about to head to bed, but Bruce got a call from Guardian and he insisted that we, or, well me, to stay up to tell me about what they talk about. Dick was being stubborn and disobeying Al and Bruce by staying up with me.

There were two rapid knocks on the door before it slowly opened and revealed Alfred standing there.

"Master Bruce has finished his conversation and would like to see you now... I assume Master Richard will go with you?"

"Most likely!" I say and hop up from my spot on the floor and Dick flips over to get up off the bed to follow.

We met with Bruce in the Kitchen as he was sitting at the table with his phone, papers, and a notepad, he looked so tired and honestly I don't blame him, it just seems like there is nothing but work between both of his lives.

"Guardian finished going through all the files that he could access at Cadmus, although some were still locked or seemed to be missing." In one motion he stood up from the table with the notepad in hand and handed it to me with one word scribbled on it and circled a bunch.

'Resistentialism'*

"What does this mean?" I asked Bruce, slowly moving the page towards Dick so he could stop trying to look over my shoulder. "I don't think I've seen this word before."

"Yeah, and I'm normally quick to question English." Dick chimes in.

"That's because no one uses the word anymore. Nowadays people come up with their own words and slang so the older ones just fade out of existence." He starts to explain resting against the table. "It was a term used to describe an inanimate object as displaying evil behavior or the object just causing problems that could harm a person."

"Okay, so how does this word correspond with anything, if it's such an unused word is there anything that was meant to be connected to it?" Dick questions.

'I was more concerned with how anyone would even begin to try to pronounce this word! Let alone something similar to it!'

"I'm not sure I have to look into it, but in the meantime please burn that paper and stay out of the way of anyone that might be associated with the old Cadmus. I know everyone wants to include you Zane but until we figure it out, no secret missions." I give an awkward chuckle because I forgot he knew about the whole Kent Nelson thing.

Bruce leaves the room to, probably, go do more work, leaving me and Dick to stare at this word for a while.

"Well I mean look on the bright side, at least everybody else has no clue this word exists!"

I groaned while ripping the paper up.

'I hate words now.'

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*Resistentialism- This phrase refers to malevolent behavior that would be displayed by inanimate objects, such as, that statue looks a little vicious, I think it exhibits resistentialism. (It was mostly used in the 1940s)

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