B&B:
We're here at Wayne Manor, the stately and tasteful palatial home of Bruce
Wayne located just outside of Gotham, to interview Wayne's longtime servant,
Alfred Pennyworth. I'll bet this place has quite a wine celler, Alfred.
B&B:
We're here at Wayne Manor, the stately and tasteful palatial home of Bruce
Wayne located just outside of Gotham, to interview Wayne's longtime servant,
Alfred Pennyworth. I'll bet this place has quite a wine celler, Alfred.
AP: The manor's celler, sir, is indeed extensive.
B&B: Just how long have you been here?
AP: I arrived from Britain when Master Bruce was quite young, sir, to be welcomed into life of rewarding employment by his parents, Dr. Thomas and Mrs Martha Wayne.
B&B: Who were both murdered, I believe, right before Bruce's eyes when he was still a boy?
AP: Indeed, sir. It was and remains the great tragedy of Master Bruce's life, occuring precisely at that age when a child most loves and needs his parents. One could imagine no greater loss, no greater trauma.
B&B: And yet he apparently pulled through it with flying colors, presumably with your help and guidance?
AP: And that of the best tutors, sir, both here and abroad.
B&B: Still, you must have become almost a surrogate father to him.
AP: After a fashion, sir, and for a time -- but Master Bruce, I assure you, became his own man very early on.
B&B: But just who and what is that man? Help us Penetrate the mystery Alfred, and understand what makes him tick. Given the Manner of his parents' loss, Bruce Wayne must harbor an intense hatred of crime...
AP: I'm not certain Master Bruce would accept the term "hatred," sir, but surely only criminals love crime.
B&B: Bruce Wayne is no doubt the wealthiest individual in Gotham. Just how did he get so rich, Alfred?
AP: The bulk of Master Bruce's inherited wealth derives from ownership of prime Gotham real estate. I take pride in pointing out, however, that he has substantially added to that wealth with the extraordinary success of his own Wayne Corporation --- most notably WayneTech -- and has admirably subtracted from it through the charitable efforts of the Wayne Foundation.
B&B: Yet WayneTech and the Wayne Foundation are both run by Lucius Fox, arne't they?
AP: Mr. Fox sits in charge of day-to-day affairs, yes, quite capably and even brilliantly.
B&B: So Bruce Wayne basically functions as your everyday garden-variety multimillionaire playboy, is that correct?
AP: I personally dislike the pejorative and patronizing connotations implicit in the term "playboy," sir. Lets just say Master Bruce is a healthy young man in the prime of his life, as yet with no permanent attachment.
B&B:
Yet he's been linked with any number of attractive women. In the past, for
example, there was a long fling with one of our colleagues, reporter Vicki
Vale...
AP: Ms. Vale remains a close friend.
B&B: �Friend, but as we understand it, only from a distance these days. And now Wayne has been spotted with a new woman -- WKGC Talk Radio's "Siren of the Night," Vesper Fairchild. Are they a hot item, Alfred?
AP: Master Bruce and Ms. Fairchild have indeed socialized more than once, and continue to enjoy each other's company.
B&B: Any wedding bells in the near future?
AP: Even were I privileged to such personal information, I would hardly be at libert to divulge it.
B&B: Which either means there's a secret wedding in the works or Wayne is playing the discreet side of the field. Which is it, Alfred?
AP: I regret to inform you, sir, that a gentleman's gentleman -- the very defination of "butler," and precisely what I strive to be -- must perforce decline comment.
B&B: Leaving Bruce Wayne essentially an enigma.
AP: Only to those who do not know him.
B&B: Yet you seem to be the only one who does know him Alfred.
AP: I beg to differ, sir. Were he the type, Master Bruce could boast of numerous acquaintances and associates.
B&B: And we've already spoken to plenty of them. Turns out they only seem to know him, and usually on a superficial basis. It's almost as if Wayne has cultivated a series of shifting illusions.
AP: Or perhaps genuine friendships, sir, in which loyalty is paramount and betrayal of privacy unthinkable.
B&B: We're beginning to understand what insiders mean, Alfred, when they tell us you have "hidden depths" -- a certain caustic wit...
AP: Only "insiders" �would be in a position to know, sir, yet the only "insider" at Wayne Manor is Master Bruce himself.
B&B: Yes, well, we couldn't get an interview with him.
AP: Of that I am well aware, sir, having personally declined your numerous requests in his behalf. But he has instructed me to address all reasonable questions, with the clear understanding that I am speaking for him.
B&B: Then lets get to the big one -- the recent talk on the Internet somehow linking Bruce Wayne and Batman. Perhaps some kind of financial arrangement between the two?
AP: I have alwats understood "the Batman" to be an urban legend, sir, perhaps dwelling with all those albino alligators said to haunt the sewer system.
B&B: Pretty hard to see that signal from the sewers, Alfed. It flashes the night sky at least twice a week, you know.
AP: That often? I suppose I simply haven't been looking. In any case, I've heard an interesting theory which may explain that so-called signal. Something about the police fostering the Batman legend as a psychological deterrent to crime.
B&B: But speaking of psychology, virtually every inmate in Arkham Asylum claims at least one encounter with this "legend"
AP: I should think it rash, sir, to accept the ravings of the crimnally insane at face value. About anything.
B&B: Other people have caught a glimpse of the Batman --- normal people.
AP: So I've heard, sir. Something black in the darkness, I believe...
B&B: They admit he was difficult to see, but--
AP: Flying through the night-haunted city from gargoyle to gargole.
B&B:
There are bound to be exaggerations. Eyewitness testimony is notoriously
problematic.
AP: Indeed. I once spole to a chap who "caught a glimpse" of the Loch Ness Monster... after leaving a pub, I believe, while on holiday at the loch. Of course here in Gotham we have bars and taverns rather than pubs....
B&B: We understand Bruce Wayne is generally unavailable before noon, and sometimes even later. Sleeping after a hard night?
AP: I think you'll find, sir, that many a "playboy" is a confirmed night owl. Few of them, however, have been know to associate with those who don dark attire and fit between gargoyles.
B&B: Very well, Alfred. We were simply asked to investigate a recent rumor on the internet ..
AP: Ah yes, the Internet. Have you also investigated the colossal spaceship behind that comet?
B&B: All right. Thanks for your time. We may not be an "insider," but we certainly find your wit to be amply caustic. You've probaly left flash-burns all the way through this tape.
AP: Delighted to be of service, sir.
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �- The Brave & The Bold (Batman Secret Files and Origins #1)
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