Tut The Magnificent

"Tut The Magnificent..." XIII...

Tut the Magnificent...

Summary: A little reimagining of supervillain King Tut. A young genius, protégé of Gotham's prime benefactor, Bruce Wayne, distraught at the suffering in a place his hero Batman never deigns to frequent, has decided to help his people help themselves.

Part XIII...

Wayne Manor, thirteen years previous...

Nine year old Henry Tuthill, Bruce Wayne, and Alfred Pennyworth seated at long table in the Great Hall, eating hamburgers and milkshakes...And a salad, insisted on by Alfred. Henry marveling at the size of the room...And the pieces about it, including. and especially, two suits of armor.

"They real?" he asked Bruce, setting down burger and taking sip from his milkshake.

"My father thought so...And far as the guy who insures the house and the stuff knows, yeah." Bruce nodded. "They're from the 15th and late 16tn centuries, that one's from Spain...Really good steel plate....And the other from France...See the fancy design work on the face plate. The French knights like to fight in style. And as you can see, they were sorta short guys."

"Bad nutrition... The English beat em at Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt. The One Hundred Years War..." Henry noted, moving to sip at his shake and take a fork of salad.

"Quite so. Very good, Henry..." Alfred nodded.

"You've just won Alfred's undying love..." Bruce grinned, grabbing and eating a handful of fries.

"Well, we were rather land pirates in that conflict." Alfred sighed. "And the French still resent us a bit over it, though the last major wars did patch things up a bit. Did you study that in school or with your grandfather?"

"Grandpa tole me about it and I read about it. School doesn't cover that yet. But I like to read for myself." Henry looked round. "You must gotta big library here."

"Very..." Bruce agreed. "And some really good books on History and Science, including some of your grandfather's and some old stuff if you wanna take a gander."

"Tomorrow..." Alfred insisted. "We may be fresh as daisies, Henry, but Bruce is up well past his bedtime."

"So I am...But every now and then Alfred lets me stay up for something special, like meeting you, Henry." Bruce noted.

"Come on...You're both messin' with me." Henry smiled. "You're grown up."

"Still in need of someone to watch over him, I'm afraid. We all are, I suppose." Alfred nodded.

"You watch over Alfred?" Henry asked Bruce.

"As much as he'll let me. As you saw tonight, he's plenty tough."

Henry nodded, smiling at Alfred. Then, after taking another bite of burger...

"But I'm really not tired yet. Could I see the library after we eat? Just for a minute?"

Bruce glanced at Alfred, who sighed but nodded.

"Just for a few minutes. You two both need to get to bed."

"Wish I had my Tut book..." Henry sighed. "Do you have books on King Tut?"

"As a matter of fact, I have the account of the expedition that opened his tomb...My dad bought the original manuscript." Bruce nodded, smiling at Henry's quick look. "And that book your grandfather contributed to on the Pharoahs."

"Yeah, that's a good one. Can I see the other one, about opening the tomb? That must be neat." Eager smile, pushing glasses up on nose.

"Sure...After we finish. So Tut's one of your history interests?" Bruce asked.