Bruce Wayne stands in front of the double caskets, his small body dressed in a black suit that Alfred tailored to fit him perfectly.
The suit is expensive, made from the finest materials, but it feels wrong on his eight-year-old frame. Too formal, too adult, too final.
His face is perfectly blank. No expression crosses his features. His eyes are dry. He stares at the closed caskets that hold his parents' bodies and feels a strange disconnect between what he's experiencing and what everyone expects him to feel.
The funeral is taking place at Wayne Manor's private chapel. The building is old, built by his great-great-grandfather, with high ceilings and stained glass windows that cast colored light across the pews.
It's packed with people. Gotham's elite have all come to pay their respects to Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Business leaders, politicians, philanthropists, society figures fill every available seat and line the walls in their expensive black clothes.
Inside Bruce's mind, something fundamental has changed. The fusion that happened in Crime Alley has created something entirely new.
He's not the Bruce Wayne who would have been, grieving and broken and destined to become the Dark Knight.
He's not the comic book geek from another Earth either, that guy who spent his weekends debating Batman vs Superman and collecting action figures.
He's both and neither, a completely new person born from the merger of two souls.
The grief is real. The child's memories are his memories now, and losing his parents hurts with a physical ache that won't go away.
But alongside that pain is an adult's perspective, a fanboy's meta-knowledge of the DC Universe, and a mind that won't stop analyzing and planning even in the middle of a funeral.
'This is so surreal,' he thinks, watching another guest approach with practiced sympathy on their face.
'I know exactly how this is supposed to go. Bruce Wayne becomes Batman in his mid-twenties. The Justice League forms when he's around thirty. That gives me twelve to fifteen years before the major events start happening.'
A woman in an elegant black dress with pearls at her throat bends down to his level. Her perfume is overwhelming. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Bruce. Your parents were wonderful people."
Bruce nods once, appropriately. His face remains blank. He says nothing.
The woman seems to expect more, but when Bruce just stares at her with those empty eyes, she straightens and moves away looking uncomfortable.
More people approach throughout the ceremony. They offer condolences, touch his shoulder, tell him how much his parents meant to Gotham.
Bruce nods to each of them. Sometimes he murmurs a quiet "thank you." His face never changes expression.
He's performing. Playing the role of a traumatized child too shocked to properly react.
The trauma is real, but he's consciously choosing how much to show. It's surprisingly easy to control his micro-expressions, to maintain the perfect facade.
The service ends eventually. The caskets are carried out to the family cemetery on the grounds of Wayne Manor.
More words are spoken, a priest says prayers, someone sings. Bruce stands beside Alfred through all of it, small and silent and blank-faced.
When it's finally over, when the last guest has offered their condolences and left, Alfred escorts Bruce back to the manor. The butler's face is haggard with grief, his eyes red from crying, but he maintains his composure.
"Master Bruce," Alfred says gently as they enter the manor's main hall. "You must be exhausted. Perhaps you should rest."
Bruce nods. "I'll go to my room."
His voice is quiet, flat, empty of emotion. Alfred's face crumples slightly at the sound, but he nods and watches as Bruce climbs the stairs alone.
Bruce's bedroom is exactly as he left it that morning. Posters of airplanes on the walls, toy cars lined up on shelves, books scattered across his desk.
The remnants of a normal eight-year-old's life, frozen in time before everything changed.
He closes the door behind him and locks it. Then he stands in the center of the room, alone for the first time since the funeral began.
Time to figure out what the hell this system actually does.
He reaches out mentally to the Lock-In System. The screens appear instantly, materializing in his vision with that same blue glow from Crime Alley.
[WELCOME BACK, BRUCE WAYNE]
[STATUS PANEL AVAILABLE]
Bruce focuses his thoughts on viewing his current status. The screens shift and change.
[STATUS PANEL]
[NAME: BRUCE WAYNE]
[AGE: 8 YEARS]
[PHYSIQUE: 4/100] (Weak child, no training, baseline human)
[MIND: 47/100] (Enhanced intellect active - 2.5x multiplier on base intelligence)
[SPIRIT: 35/100] (Willpower and determination elevated by trauma and fusion)
Bruce stares at the numbers. Three stats covering everything he needs.
Physique covers all physical capabilities: strength, speed, endurance, reaction time, durability. Right now it's pathetic because he's an eight-year-old kid who's never trained.
Mind covers intelligence, memory, processing speed, learning ability, analytical thinking. 47 out of 100 is already genius level with the 2.5x multiplier applied.
Spirit represents willpower, mental fortitude, determination, resistance to mental attacks. 35 is unusually high for his age, boosted by trauma and the merged consciousness.
More information appears:
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONS]
[1. ENHANCED INTELLECT]
**- Current multiplier: 2.5x base intelligence**
**- Multiplier applies to improved intelligence as well**
**- No upper limit on growth**
[2. PROFICIENCY PANEL]
**- Guarantees progress in ANY area with consistent effort**
**- Applies to physical training, mental development, skill acquisition**
**- Progress includes automatic insights and understanding**
**- Even failed attempts generate measurable advancement**
**- No talent requirements, no advancement ceiling**
**- Rate of improvement scales with effort invested**
[3. POCKET DIMENSION]
**- Grants additional 24 hours per day**
**- Exact replica of real world within range**
**- Current range: Wayne Manor and grounds**
**- Completely empty of living beings**
**- Time frozen in real world while inside**
**- Physical changes transfer to real body**
**- Dimension expands with continued use and growth**
**Read more chapters on www.patreon.com/marvelstark**