Disclaimer - I own no legal rights to Sherlock Holmes or Batman/Bruce Wayne, nor to any other related characters and materials.

A/N – This idea isn't entirely my own. I was actually inspired by an Internet message board I stumbled across arguing over who was the greater detective: Batman or Sherlock Holmes. One brave poster actually suggested an unwritten chapter in the history of the Batman legend.

This brave poster suggested that Batman was such a great detective because he had met Sherlock Holmes. This poster argued that if Bruce Wayne had traveled the world after his parents death, learning the arts of fighting and crime solving from the world's experts, he would surely have sought the tutelage of Sherlock Holmes, the undisputed expert in the science of deduction.

The idea began tickling in my head that maybe the unwritten chapter the message board suggested should go unwritten no more.

Batman's first comic book appearance took place about a decade after the death of Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. According to the legend of Sherlock Holmes, the great consulting detective was retired at this time and relaxing as a beekeeper in Sussex. Somewhere during this decade, it is conceivable that a young Bruce Wayne might have met the acquaintance of Mr. Sherlock Holmes.

With the recent success of "Batman Begins", a movie which shows in great detail the training of Batman, this is the perfect time to tell the story of that meeting.

With no further ado, and with thanks to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and to the mystery poster, we begin our tale…

Sherlock Holmes & Bruce Wayne

in

"The Mystery of the Dark Knight"

The day seemed dark and gray. This was ironic, since the sun was shining a bright, glorious yellow, and the grass looked especially green as it danced gently in the coolSummer breeze.

Young Bruce Wayne was oblivious to the happy songs of birds and the beauties of nature. This day was as dark and ugly as every day had been since his parents had died. He had been oblivious to beauty ever since he watched his lovely mother bleed and breathe her last breath.

Despite the stormy weather that existed in Bruce's head, others were much less despondent to the beauties of nature. One man seemed cheerful indeed as Bruce spotted him from the distance.

Bruce Wayne stopped at the bright white picket fence and watched the man who seemed strangely at ease in the midst of a thin black and yellow cloud.

Bruce could hear the loud, menacing buzzing from the fence. He shuddered as he watched the man surrounded by the small, winged insects. He had a brief vision of a boy, only eight years old, surrounded by a similar cloud of winged creatures. Only these creatures were bats.

Bruce shook the vision off and tried to study the curious man. His heart began to beat wildly. Could this man be the one Bruce had been seeking? Was this the man who was famous for his deep insight into the criminal mind? Was this the man who could help Bruce understand evil in all of its forms? Could this man help Bruce understand what was going through the mind of the bedraggled man that had stood before Dr. Thomas Wayne and his wife and pulled a trigger?

Bruce Wayne swallowed a lump in his throat. He had better not get his hopes up before he was sure this was indeed the man he was looking for. He pulled a small, graying piece of paper out of his pocket. He had asked around at a lot of smoky taverns to get the address he was holding. Bruce pushed the door of the fence. It opened with a gentle creak, barely audible above the sound of the buzzing bees.

The Sussex beekeeper replaced the last hive and lifted his veil. Bruce Wayne beheld an aging man, probably in his late 70's. The man had a rather angular chin that jutted out beneath a hawk like nose. Peering down the nose were two blue eyes, slowly turning a hazy gray, but with a bit of intensity still left in them which struck Bruce Wayne's soul with full force.

"Mr. Sherlock Holmes?" asked Bruce.

The beekeeper stepped up to Bruce, took one quick glance from foot to head, and then placed a hand under his chin.

"You're young Master Bruce Wayne, I presume?"

Bruce felt too weary to manage anything but a gasp. The gasp came out more like a wheeze, but the bewilderment was fully displayed in Bruce's wide eyes.

The beekeeper laughed, his thin lips moving into a wide grin.

"You weren't expecting me, were you?" asked Bruce. "I know I didn't tell you I was coming."

"Simple deduction, really," said Holmes. "Quite elementary. A man with such a high profile as yours, even from another country, can't disappear mysteriously and then reemerge without instant recognition. I must say, the disappearance of the heir to the Wayne estate in Gotham City made quite a few waves across the entire globe. Besides, we share a mutual friend. One Mr. Alfred Pennyworth."

The thought of the Wayne family's caring butler brought a smile even to the gloomy heir's face.

"I also deduce that you have spent some time recently in Mexico, that you are a fighter, and that you attracted the attention of a certain fair senorita."

Bruce tried to hide his amazement.

"You could have just said 'Yes, I'm Sherlock Holmes'," he muttered. Holmes laughed once again.

"Would you care to join me for tea, Master Wayne?"

Sherlock Holmes led Bruce into his small cottage. He disappeared for a moment, only to reemerge wearing a black and yellow dressing robe and carrying a similarly colored tea set. His hair was snowy white and rapidly thinning.

"I hope you enjoy the tea," said Holmes. "It's a special recipe created by my former housekeeper Mrs. Hudson, God rest her soul."

Bruce eyed the items on a nearby plate suspiciously.

"Crumpets," said Holmes, answering Bruce's unspoken question. As Holmes finished carefully pouring tea into a black and yellow cup, Bruce timidly dipped the edge of one of the biscuits into the hot liquid.

"How did you know those things about me?" asked Bruce.

"I simply observed and deduced," replied Holmes. "I observed the torn skin on your knuckles, and I deduced from this that you've found yourself in at least one particularly vicious fight, probably several. I observed the travel guide at the top of the bag you're carrying, and I deduced from this that you've spent time recently in Mexico. May I ask what for?"

"I lived in an opium den for a week," said Bruce. "I observed the sin and vices of men."

"And what did you deduce from this?" asked Holmes. Bruce just looked at him blankly. "You observed, but you did not deduce. What good is a talent for observation without the science of deduction?"

"How did you know about the senorita?" asked Bruce.

"That was the simplest deduction of all," said Holmes. "There is a rose thorn in your sleeve and a lipstick stain on your collar. I suggest that her name was Marie."

"Maria," said Bruce. "How did you guess?"

"I never guess," said Holmes. "I made an hypothesis based on my personal knowledge as well as the information at hand. Now, may I deduce why you have come to visit me? You wish to study under me the same thing you studied in the opium den. The nature of evil."

"And the rooting out of it," added Bruce.

"I am afraid you may have come to me with the wrong conception," said Holmes. "I am a retired man. I have long separated myself from the study of criminals."

"I understand that," said Bruce. "I just want you to teach me. I want you to teach me everything you know about the criminal mind. I want you to tell me how to recognize a criminal when I see one."

"I'm afraid it's never that simple," said Holmes. "Deduction is a science. It can never be based on initial impressions, but only on facts and careful analysis."

"I'm willing to devote as much time as it takes to learn this science."

"To what end?" inquired Holmes.

"I want to be able to seek out criminals wherever they lurk," said Bruce. "I want to bring evil to justice."

"I suspect there is an underlying reason for this," said Holmes. Bruce hung his head. The cottage morphed into a dark alleyway around him. His mother and father stood before him, their eyes filled with fear. The scene dissolved into blackness, and the cottage slowly began to reappear.

"You need not tell me," said Holmes. "You need only to know it yourself. This science, like any, requires discipline. I'm afraid I won't make very exciting company, since I am mostly a homebody these days."

"I don't mind," said Bruce. "As long as you'll agree to be my teacher."

"You will have to assume responsibilities as you share this roof," said Holmes. "You'll help tidy the cottage, wash the china, and, above all, keep the bees. Doubtless, you aren't accustomed to such things."

"I will do what you ask," said Bruce.

"Very well," said Holmes, smiling warmly. "You'll start after tea."