Alfred had noticed something was wrong, but he had not brought it up.
Back then, Bruce had far too much on his plate.
By day, he had to deal with countless meetings at Wayne Enterprises and match wits with its bloodsucking leeches of shareholders. By night, he donned his cape as Batman to punish evil.
Bringing the children's troubles to Bruce would only have added another heavy burden.
Besides, would telling Bruce about it really have made things better?
The gap in their social standing was always there. If Bruce intervened and used his influence, he might have temporarily curbed the bullies' behavior, but he could not have stopped them from isolating Dick and Jason.
They did not need to hit anyone, or even make physical contact. If everyone wove themselves into a tight-knit net and ignored one person together, they could make that person "disappear" in a sense.
Physical harm caused pain.
But being ignored could break a person.
Dick and Jason had to stand on their own and show those children that they were just as strong. Only then would they truly stop being looked down on.
"Young people have their pride. Master Dick did not want to be a child who needed an adult to stand up for him, and Master Jason would sooner bleed than show weakness and tell on someone. All I could do was pretend I had noticed nothing, have the ointment ready, and put the medicine for swelling in the most accessible spot in the medical kit, so they could secretly tend to their wounds when they came home at night."
"All I could do was quietly wash the stains out of their school uniforms and act as though nothing had happened. No questions, no mention of it."
"All I could do was