3 Chapter 3: No pain, no gain
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"Venture outside your comfort zone, the rewards are worth it. "
— Rapunzel, [Tangled]
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Having a superpower is something unbelievable for anyone. It was the same for Bruce as well. Until now he was moping about the fact that the only superpower he was gonna have was being filthy rich but it turned out that he had a real superpower given to him to survive in this world, a power that was his own, an intuitive intellect.
The first thing Bruce did after gaining that power was beginning to experiment with it. It was not just his wish to develop and master his power but also to satisfy his curiosity about how his power exactly works or in what ways he can use it.
He immediately began to try to use his power on every other electronics or mechanical item in his room including the lights, a calculator, a pen, and some other small machine stuff that he could get his hands on.
At first, it was a little difficult for him to properly use his power but after doing it a couple of times he understood how it worked. All he had to is just to will his mind to analyze and understand the thing in front of him and voila, his ability would automatically activate.
It broke down the machine he used his power on, into separate hologram components of itself and showed him what each specific component of that machine did, how they worked, and how they were joined with each other as well as the functions of the machine. It even showed him the properties of the materials the components were made from. But there was also a shortcoming in his power, it seems that he cannot automatically know the name of the components or the parts of the machine if he hasn't ever heard of them before.
For example, when he disassembled the pen, he knew the general names of most of its parts but he didn't know the names of the components of the ink. He only knew the general properties of the components and how they were combined to make that ink. Same with the other stuff too. In the holograms, he was only shown the names of the components which he already knew the names of previously. That meant that if he wanted to truly use his powers to the maximum he had to study stuff up as well, since his power was directly linked to his mind and knowledge.
The more he knew, the smoother and more efficient his ability would be.
'So, I can analyze already built stuff in my mind but can I possibly do the reverse?' He thought as he began to imagine a modern smartphone from his previous life in his mind and willed his ability to tell him how to make that into reality.
As soon as he activated his ability, countless holograms began to pop up in front of his vision which showed him how to build a smartphone from scratch including its software and hardware. 'YES, I knew it. It is possible. It seems I have a similar ability to Forge from the comics. My power gives me the innate talent to either analyze and figure out stuff or it gives me enough knowledge to make new tech just from my imagination.'
But this happiness was only short-lived for him. Since as soon as he focused back on the holograms, he understood that he didn't know the names of half of those components despite knowing their individual detailed properties and uses. His general knowledge about electronics was lacking in his ability to comprehend everything on its own.
He understood that he had to learn about more stuff so that his ability could include his learned knowledge in its process and can give him a more simple and efficient method of constructing that particular smartphone or any other invention he wants.
He was a little depressed at this that he wouldn't be able to make stuff from the get-go and had to study some stuff up first but he didn't let this keep him down. He knew that with this ability he could easily increase his knowledge. Also, he was fully motivated to study stuff up and work hard if it meant that he would be able to use that knowledge for making cool sci-fi technologies later.
'Wait, can I even make sci-fi stuff from fiction that I have seen or read about?' He wondered as he imagined the super soldier serum from the MCU and willed his ability to figure out a way to make it into reality.
For a few seconds, he waited with baited breaths as his ability seemed to be processing his mental request, trying to find a way to make it in real life. And then finally, when he thought that he would not be able to wait anymore due to his wildly beating heart, it finally happened. He got the knowledge to make the super soldier serum.
But this time, it seemed like there were numerous holes in that knowledge, even more than when he tried his power to find out how to make a smartphone. If he had to give it a number, he would say that presently barely ten percent of the knowledge was actually clear to him.
'I guess no pain, no gain. I'll have to work for it like most people do when they train their powers to become better at using them.' he thought sadly as he discarded the idea of inventing something like the Omnitrix or the ultimate nullifier and becoming op instantly.
'Perhaps one day.' He thought as he was determined to become powerful enough to not be scared of anyone anymore.
But before all that, he would need a workspace, numerous tools, pieces of equipment, and the biggest of all, books, lots and lots of books.
***
Bruce was called for dinner at exactly seven. He was the only person at the table. Even Alfred wasn't eating with him as he patiently waited beside the table for Bruce to finish his dinner like the loyal and professional butler he was.
"Hey, Alfred." Bruce started to speak as he picked up a piece of steak with his fork.
"Yes, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked waiting for Bruce's question.
"Do you think, you can arrange some stuff for me? Like some electrical components, circuits, carpentry tools, and metallurgical instruments among other things?" Bruce asked while eating his meat like what he asked wasn't a big deal at all.
"..., May I ask what you plan to do with it?" Alfred asked as he raised one of his brows in curiosity.
"Nothing much. I just thought that I should take up a hobby now. After all, a lazy mind is a devil's workplace, so maybe I could busy myself doing some... science projects to pass the time." Bruce said as he made sure to make eye contact with his butler to show him that he was telling the truth.
"I guess I can but don't you think Master Bruce that some other simple hobby like collecting antiques or reading would be a better choice to pass the time?" Alfred asked hesitating to agree, fearing that Bruce might hurt himself with some sharp tool or electrical equipment...
"I can but science is what interests me not antiques. And I have already made up my mind. I think taking up this hobby will really do me good in taking off my mind from the accident." Bruce tried to emotionally blackmail Alfred.
"I-I see. But what about the space for the equipment? I don't think the estate is proper enough to store such equipment nor do I think you should practice any experiment without proper guidance of an adult." Alfred decided to give one last try to reject Bruce's request.
"Don't worry Alfred. There's a huge empty cave in our backyard if you are forgetting and as for adult supervision, I have you. You are plenty adult enough to keep an eye on me. I know you will keep me safe." Bruce tried to give Alfred the starry-eyed look to convince him to let him 'play' scientist.
He had even remembered the legendary Batcave and had decided to use it to its full potential by making it into his own unique lab.
"Oh, that. I had almost forgotten about that cave. *Sigh* Fine, Master Bruce. I will contact Wayne Industries and Wayne Technologies to get you some good machine parts and tools appropriate for you as well as renovate the cave. But I am warning you now that I will be present there with you every second when you are inside that cave." Alfred said with a no-nonsense expression on his face.
"Thanks. You are the best Alfred." Bruce yelled happily as he thought about all the amazing world-ending weapons he could make with his lab and his new unique ability.
"Oh and another thing, do you think we can buy the Gotham library?" Bruce asked innocently with a straight face.
***
'That's interesting.' Bruce thought as he completed reading the third physics book from Wayne's private collection of books in his estate.
It turns out that his special ability has given him some sort of photographic memory also known as photographic memory. It lets him not only read and understand stuff a lot faster but also lets him remember anything after just seeing it once.
That was the reason he was able to read three complicated high-level physics books in just one hour. All he had to do was just take a single look at one of its pages and he remembered everything written on it. It was like he was on NZT pills from the Limitless movie. He literally felt himself becoming smarter with each page.
He even felt his innate ability becoming better too. The pieces of knowledge he was getting were slowly feeding data to make his power work more efficiently.
'Okay. I take my previous statement back. I don't think this is gonna be as hard as I imagined it to be. In fact, I am pretty sure that at the rate I am going, I'll soon be able to build something like the super soldier serum or extremis after just a few months of absorbing knowledge from books and research papers. And with my wealth and influence on Wayne Corporation, I can literally make anything I want whenever I want.' Bruce said as he smiled dreamily at the idea of making a planet-sized mecha or maybe even a time machine one day.
'If I cannot be the most op batman ever even after getting such a cheat, I should probably kill myself. Hell, I want to be the most op superhero even before canon begins. I'll make Darkseid cry tears of blood when he comes to Earth.' Bruce smiled evilly as he thought if he could develop a machine that could even steal powers like Dr. Doom from Marvel was able to do from Beyonder.
"Oh, I love my new life. I am gonna have so much fun with it. Hhahahaha. MUHAHAHAhahaha.' Bruce laughed evilly as he soon choked on his saliva and began to cough violently while cursing his own little body of a young boy.
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