Chapter 20 is wrong? The doctor will correct it.
In the darkness of Brudhaven, a dark shadow silently landed on the roof of a suburban villa.
Like a nimble bird, Dick darted through the blind spots of the cameras and the patrolling bodyguards under the cover of darkness, his tactical gloves silently fastening to a window near the balcony.
Inside the room, the Johnsons, who had miraculously returned from the dead, lay on the bed, their chests rising and falling slightly, seemingly fast asleep.
Dick observed them through the window for a long time but couldn't find any difference between them and normal humans.
Just as he was preparing to find a way to sneak into the villa to search for other clues, someone suddenly stopped him.
Someone appeared behind Dick that he didn't expect.
"How did you end up in Brudhaven?" Dick asked in surprise, lowering his voice.
“Let’s get out of here first,” Batman replied.
The security personnel below were preparing for their shift change, presenting a perfect opportunity to infiltrate the house, but Batman's eyes betrayed his disapproval. Nightwing hesitated for a moment, but ultimately chose to leave with Batman.
"You trespassed into my city without telling me. Can I request that Alfred arrest you and bring you back to Gotham?"
After a few minutes of silence on the rooftop, Dick broke the strange standoff between him and Batman.
Dick tried to ignore the awkwardness in his heart, especially after saying the words 'my city'.
Even though he had led the Teen Titans and completed several missions to save the world, and even though he had graduated from police academy and become a qualified corporate slave, he still couldn't help but feel like a clumsy little bird that had just left the nest and was frantically building its own nest.
Uh... that's a bit disgusting to describe, but he had the same feeling when he took Bruce to visit the Titan base before.
And he could tell that Bruce seemed a little uncomfortable as well.
This was a rare meeting after their big argument, and neither of them had clearly compromised with the other.
The good news is that he could probably tell from Bruce's behavior and tone that there was no emergency and they could have a chat for a while.
The bad news is, there's something really strange about this.
"Tell me, what's your opinion of Alan Osborn?"
"You asked me to abandon tonight's surveillance operation just to call me over and ask me such a stupid question?" Dick was speechless.
Batman summoned Nightwing for more than just this one question. In fact, he had countless questions for Dick—such as why Dick had been living with the dangerous Alan Osborn, and why Dick had chosen to move into Osborn's luxury apartment in downtown Broodhaven after moving out of his previous residence.
Yes, this happened just one day ago.
After Harry Osborn drove his luxury car into Allen Osborn's pigsty (Harry's words), exchanged sarcastic remarks with Matthew for ten minutes, and lay down on Allen Osborn's creaky old bed.
Young Master Osborne couldn't endure the entire night and had his brother moved immediately.
Alan was furious when he found out about it the next day. But when he saw that Harry had specially cleared out a room and had an entire wall of bone display shelves made for him overnight, his serious expression melted, and he could no longer take his eyes off that wall.
Inside the exquisite, transparent glass display case, all of Allen's collections were neatly arranged. The thoughtful Harry had even customized exclusive labels and backgrounds for them, and even the mouse notebook and snake specimen, which had innocently perished under Matthew's cane, had miraculously come back to life.
Allen immediately moved into his anthem house and refused to leave.
He also strongly demanded that his cereal cop be brought along.
Dick wasn't keen on moving in—it would make it seem like he was being kept by Allen—but he couldn't resist Dr. Osborn's gaze as he peeked at him through the crack in the door once again.
Harry Osborn was furious but helpless. His brother's tone was commanding, but his eyes were bright with longing and expectation.
So what can the younger brother do?
Harry could only wear a helpless and angry expression, gritting his teeth as he 'invited' Dick to move in as well. This was exactly like when his brother would always give in to his unreasonable demands when they were kids, even sneaking him out of the security guards and Norman Osborn to play with explosions in the lab at his urging.
Moreover, from another perspective, Allen already had a share in the Osborn family's wealth. Not to mention, the various drugs Allen developed had firmly established the Osborn Group as a leading company in the biopharmaceutical industry—even if Allen wanted to give Dick a building, it wouldn't seem like such a big deal.
Dick couldn't help but want to laugh, but the scene was clearly inappropriate, so he covered his mouth and coughed in a mock manner.
The way Allen looked at him then was so reluctant to part, especially since their relationship had just entered its honeymoon phase, and they were deeply attached to each other. They had gotten so used to living together that Allen even suggested combining their two apartments, just like before.
Finally, after Matthew's half-hearted persuasion, Allen reluctantly gave up the idea and decided to open up their balcony.
Batman looked at Nightwing, whose lips were slightly upturned and who was clearly lost in some sweet memory, and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
A month earlier, he had initiated an investigation into Alan Osborn, but had obtained very little information. Norman Osborn was intentionally concealing Alan's existence; even Alan's exact date and place of birth remained a mystery. Emily Osborn even disappeared during her pregnancy, only reappearing in the public eye after giving birth to Alan.
He didn't want to cast a suspicious glance at a doctor who seemed very serious and responsible, but he saw a strange scene on the surveillance camera in the Brodhaven emergency room lobby.
Before the 'Squid' was resurrected, Alan Osborn and Mrs. Johnson spent some time alone in the meeting room. Batcomputer analyzed the background noise in the video, and besides the noisy environment of the emergency room, it keenly detected a muffled sound, like a bullet leaving a gun barrel. The sound was negligible in the emergency room setting, but Batman was absolutely certain it was a gunshot.
A silencer doesn't magically eliminate gunshots like in the movies; it only makes the sound less like a gunshot.
For a long time afterward, Bruce didn't see Mrs. Johnson come out of that meeting room. However, when 'Squid' faced the media, he clearly saw Mrs. Johnson rushing in through the emergency room door.
No surveillance footage captured Mrs. Johnson leaving the emergency room.
That's very strange.
Even stranger, when he saw Alan Osborn come out of the conference room, he was holding a cream-colored cushion that looked completely out of place with him, and that cushion never appeared again after that.
Sometimes, solving a case requires a bit of interesting association and unconventional suspicion. Batman's first thought was that the pillow was stained with blood or some other evidence of the crime.
“The deaths and resurrections of Alan Osborn and Feige Johnson are closely linked.” After much hesitation, Batman finally decided to hint at Dr. Osborn’s danger to Dick with some reservations. “His psychological profile indicates that he has an extreme lack of empathy, is unable to perceive stress, and lacks acceptance of social norms… I think you know what that means?”
Dick clenched his fists involuntarily: "Of course I know what this means. According to the DSM-5 classification criteria, I think he has the same risk level of personality disorder as you. Do you see any problem with that?"
"If you know he has ASPD, but you still insist on believing him..."
"Let me remind you, antisocial personality disorder is not the same as antisocial behavior or being a clown. I thought you knew a lot about what type B personality disorder is!"
According to the DSM5 classification criteria, ASPD, like borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and histrionic personality disorder, is a type of B personality disorder, which poses a high risk to society and the general public.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, however, there is often a misunderstanding about this personality disorder, with people easily equating it with anarchism and violent tendencies. However, these manifested symptoms are by no means equivalent to ASPD. Human mental illnesses are complex, and coupled with the misleading portrayals in certain films and novels, ASPD seems to be shrouded in an inexplicable aura.
Undeniably, a small fraction of these patients possess remarkable charisma. They are dangerous and capricious, adept at understanding and exploiting rules, and skilled at manipulating others to achieve their own ends, often without the victims even realizing it. These highly intelligent, high-functioning patients are naturally gifted at standing out in a crowd.
While it's true that people with ASPD are more likely to develop into dangerous individuals, Dick believes Allen is clearly not among them. Allen received a good family education; during his upbringing, he was taught how to substitute logic for empathy and how to integrate into society. This education and social guidance sometimes led Allen to exhibit contradictory traits, which Dick certainly noticed.
He had analyzed it many times and doubted it many times. But he had seen Allen working tirelessly through the night because of surgery, heard Allen tell the patient's family in the most curt tone that he was there for them, and also seen how Allen got along with Matthew and Harry.
He believed that Allen had enough rationality and self-control, and he also trusted the gentle mother who raised Allen and the strict lawyer Matthew who looked after Allen.
"He's maintained contact with Luther and is quite active on the dark web. He's also studied magic under Constantine, and I found out he had dealings with Deathstroke. Are you aware of all this? You should..."
"It's happening again," Dick thought.
Sometimes he felt that Batman viewed him as if he were a completely helpless and incapable minor, as if he would unconditionally trust bad people.
He couldn't control Allen's circle of friends, but he was certain that Allen had never harmed anyone in Brudhaven; in fact, Allen had always been saving others.
Every patient in the Brudhaven emergency department who was under Allen's care received his best efforts to save their life.
“At least he didn’t monitor other people’s behavior through illegal means,” Dick replied curtly. “If you insist on suspecting him of a crime, perhaps you should also suspect that I am his accomplice, or that he has used mind control on me.”
Bruce tried to explain that he never intended to monitor Dick's life; he was simply worried about Dick's safety. After all, as a father, he couldn't control his anxiety and unease upon learning that his son was living with someone suspected of engaging in illegal dealings with numerous villains.
“You need to be rational,” Batman heard his own voice say. “Alan Osborn is dangerous, he’s very likely…”
But Dick was clearly affected by more things in the past, and he couldn't help but vent his frustration all at once: "Maybe you can shut up! I'll handle Allen's matter! You'd better stay away from him and mind your own business in Gotham."
After saying that, Dick had already pulled out his grappling hook gun and left the rooftop as quickly as possible.
**
Meanwhile, Alan, who had only rested for four hours before returning to work at the hospital, was unaware that a father and son had had a huge argument over him. He had just finished an heated debate with Matthew about whether Mrs. Laura and Grace should be sent to prison together. Matthew and Fergie were still working through the night on the case, while Alan argued that there was no need to make a fuss without any concrete evidence—he would tell the police he hadn't seen anything, that he had simply removed a few swallowed balloons from the patient's stomach.
Grace in the hospital room has woken up.
After repeated emergency treatments, the poor girl finally opened her eyes.
But she seems to have no memory of what happened when she overdosed on drugs, and she has no recollection of fighting with Dick and washing away evidence of her illegal activities.
The good news is that she is finally herself now.
Grace lay on the hospital bed, pale-faced, looking at her mother with a somewhat desperate expression.
Mrs. Laura held her daughter's hand, tears streaming down her face. She looked at Allen with pleading eyes: "How is Grace now? Why is she..."
“This new drug has made her body extremely unstable,” Allen said. “I can’t be sure if she will fall into a near-death state again, so it’s best to keep her in the hospital. You should probably be prepared.”
Everyone knew what kind of mental preparation was needed. Grace's body was gradually weakening, and her organs were showing signs of failure.
Although he pulled the little girl back from the brink of death each time, the new drug ruptured in Grace's esophagus was clearly not so simple. At least Allen didn't know of any drug that could cause a person to repeatedly fall into a state of rapid heartbeat on the verge of a heart attack, and then suddenly become incredibly strong and fall into a manic state. It was as if... Grace had overused her life.
"...God, how could this happen?" Mrs. Laura pressed her daughter's hand to her cheek, completely unable to accept the outcome.
Grace lay weakly on the bed without saying a word. She clearly knew what she had done and had chosen to do it in a fully conscious state.
She must be regretting it now, but it's too late.
Looking at the girl on the hospital bed, Allen continued mercilessly, "Perhaps you should tell me some clues. Where did you get these drugs? If we can get these drugs and analyze them as soon as possible, there might be a chance to resolve your current situation."
Grace had destroyed all the medication when she went into a frenzy, and the narcotics unit of the Brudhaven Police Department apparently found no useful clues in the sewers. As for the medication remaining in Grace's stomach and bloodstream... it had all seeped into Grace's bloodstream and was completely untraceable.
“…I…I’m sorry, I can’t say.” Grace’s voice came muffled through the oxygen mask, tears streaming down her face. “I really can’t say, please take me away, I’m sorry, Mom…I, I’m scared, I…”
"Grace!" Mrs. Laura couldn't help but sob, burying her face in her daughter's arms. "Why did you do this? Oh God, what... what am I supposed to do?"
The exorbitant medical expenses were far beyond her means, and given Grace's condition, the insurance company would never cover it. But this wasn't what pained Mrs. Laura the most; all she wanted now was for her daughter to recover, not to sit in the emergency room watching her daughter face death time and time again.
Grace weakly shut her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Allen blocked the narcotics officers who tried to come in to question her.
The police officer glared at Allen: "Is she still unable to cooperate with the interrogation? Dr. Osborn, I can see she's conscious!"
Allen shut the police out of the ward: "The patient is mentally unstable, and I don't want you to provoke her into going back to the intensive care unit. Also, she has already hired a lawyer, and this girl probably won't speak until the lawyer arrives."
Mrs. Laura looked at Allen helplessly.
She didn't have the money to hire a lawyer.
Allen glanced at Mrs. Laura without any expression, signaling her to shut up.
The police were also helpless; they were unable to gather a complete chain of evidence to prove Grace's criminal behavior.
According to Bruderhaven's law enforcement procedures, as long as Grace denies possessing drugs and only admits to overdosing, the BPD cannot forcibly take her away at this time. As for the balloons that were retrieved in full view of everyone, Grace can simply say that they were just pranks.
The situation reached a stalemate for a time.
Allen slammed the door to the hospital room shut.
He looked down at Grace. “Listen, you stupid girl, if you actually manage to get these drugs into the hands of the drug dealers, you should be smart enough to imagine the consequences—there will probably be more idiots lying in hospital beds because of your recklessness. Tell me, you don’t want to see that happen, do you? I can understand that you are desperate to make money for some reason, or that you have other more tragic stories that force you to do this, but none of that matters.”
Allen recalled that Emily seemed to have said something similar to him.
Never try to manipulate or hurt others, for whatever reason.
So the rest of the words came out naturally: "Your tragic experience is not a reason for you to hurt others. You have the right to change your own situation, but you do not have the right to make others' situations as tragic as yours."
"I didn't mean to, I really didn't..."
Mrs. Laura looked at Allen pleadingly, "Grace is a good girl. I know she made an unforgivable mistake. I promise she'll never do it again. I'm willing to take all the blame for her, Dr. Osborn, please don't..."
Mrs. Laura's weeping face gradually overlapped with another face in Allen's memory.
When he made mistakes as a child, Emily would tell him he shouldn't do it while sharing the consequences with him.
“I don’t want to hear your reasons. The good news is that, based on the outcome, your actions haven’t caused any harm to anyone,” Allen said. “So, if you trust me, I guarantee you won’t suffer any illegal harm for telling the truth—anyone who wants you dead will have to ask me first. I’ll get you the best lawyers, the best care, and ensure you and your mother won’t live in fear anymore. But you have to tell me, where did you get what you have?”
The girl looked at her mother in alarm, her breathing becoming rapid again.
The monitor beeped, and Allen adjusted the IV drip rate for her, but didn't say anything to comfort her.
Mrs. Laura hugged Grace tightly, sobbing, and kissed her daughter's forehead: "Don't be afraid, Mommy's always here... I'll help you, I won't let anyone hurt you!"
Allen stood there, watching expressionlessly.
He then reached out and placed a small black metal pellet in Mrs. Laura's hand: "You can rest assured and tell me what you know. If you feel any danger, crush it, and I promise I will come to your rescue immediately, no matter where you are."
Grace vaguely remembers the feeling of lying on the operating table. It was as if she had been sunk to the bottom of an unfathomable ocean, surrounded by overwhelming pressure and pain. She also remembers the chill that seemed to permeate her entire body before her heart stopped beating. She felt like she had been thrown into the Arctic, left to wait alone for death to come.
At that moment, a pair of hands reached out to her without hesitation. Those hands were also very cold, and the owner of the hands was expressionless.
But it was these hands that pulled her back to the real world, and she saw her mother again.
Grace finally broke down in tears, the long-standing mental stress causing her to completely collapse in her mother's arms.
"Tor... is a forum on Tor. I was forced into it. I... I really didn't know it would turn out like this! I'm sorry, I'm really scared..."
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