Chapter 24 A Reassuring Encounter? The police officer and the doctor team up again. ...
No one knows exactly how Harry did it, but by the time Allen realized what was happening, he was already in the ambulance driven by the old butler himself.
Great, he now felt that the Brudhaven Emergency Department really should be renamed Osborne Private Hospital. His old butler and brother both had specially created, unique positions in this hospital.
Everyone in the hospital, except for Allen, was very happy. Ms. Goodman was especially happy because she didn't have to pay Harry and Bernard's salaries, and more importantly, these two were always there when needed and were very reliable.
At least she no longer needs to worry about their department's rising star's sharp tongue infuriating a drunken old man to the point of staging a sit-in protest with banners in front of their hospital.
Bernard could silence both Alan and Harry with just a glance.
“The weather conditions are not ideal, and we expect to arrive at the scene in 20 minutes. Young Master Allen, you can take a short rest during this time, and I will wake you up in time,” Bernard said.
Alan responded somewhat awkwardly in a low voice, but Maggie and Daniel didn't even hear what he said.
But Allen's expression was serious, his face solemn, and his expression tense like that of a primary school student going to school for the first time. Even the Google Emergency Medical Services personnel and nurses who got into the ambulance with him sat up straight, not daring to say a word.
The old butler glanced over, and Allen sat up even straighter.
Sometimes, the atmosphere isn't determined by the environment, but rather influenced by people. Some people, upon arriving, seem to be conveying a message to those around them:
I'm the boss.
Even the domineering Dr. Osborn dared not disobey the old butler who had raised him.
Didn't you see that Harry, who originally wanted to come along and cause trouble, was forcibly kept in the hospital by the old butler's merciless gaze and broom?
Bernard Haussmann, a seemingly ordinary butler who has always worked for the Osborn family. He has no FBI experience, no MI6 training, and has never served in the military. All he possesses are exceptional butler skills, superb culinary expertise, and familiarity with the two Osborn brothers. He was once undoubtedly loyal to Norman Osborn, who paid him his salary, but now…
The old butler who watched Alan and Harry grow up together was just a good grandfather to the two brothers and a capable assistant who drove Norman Osborn crazy. Emily Osborn was the only person in the family who genuinely cared about Bernard, and Bernard once treated Emily like a daughter.
The birth of Harry and Alan brought this unmarried man the joy of being surrounded by grandchildren. Even though neither of the two little rascals were exactly the traditional ideal grandchildren.
Especially Allen.
The old butler, who had abandoned Norman Osborn without hesitation and jumped ship to Brudhaven without even saying goodbye, looked at Allen's pale face and almost bloodless lips through the rearview mirror. His face remained expressionless, but his eyes revealed undisguised heartache.
Watching the children who grew up by their side develop independent living skills and gradually enter society is a joyful thing for elders, but it is also accompanied by the heartache of not being able to let go and the pain of separation.
Moreover, he was well aware of the Osborn family's hereditary disease. Norman Osborn himself had started experiencing symptoms at the same age as Alan and Harry. Thus, he watched helplessly as a spirited young man transformed into a grumpy patient who needed help even to turn over in just a few years.
Losing the ability to act independently at an age when one should be full of life is an extremely terrible thing; a vibrant soul trapped in an old, frail body—that feeling is probably like an endless purgatory. He hoped that Harry and Allen wouldn't suffer the same fate, but he knew that was probably wishful thinking.
Occasionally, he would have some unrealistic thoughts. He wished that Alan would always be a little kid, the one who pretended to be an adult in the underground laboratory of Osborne Manor, blowing up a bunch of test tubes everywhere, and threatening Norman Osborne to set Osborne Building and Manor on fire.
He also hoped that Harry would always be a brat who liked to hold his chin up and keep talking about 'my brother' but actually needed his help to pull up his pants.
Instead of the shrewd heir who now wears a suit and tie every day, puts on a fake smile, and deals with the board of directors, having to rack his brains to outmaneuver a group of old foxes.
In fact, he was the first among everyone to know where Allen was; Allen had not hidden his whereabouts from him at all.
However, after Alan ran away from home, he never contacted him. The butler was very angry about this, but no matter how angry he was, he could only secretly change Alan's favorite tie color to one that Alan hated, or pretend to be senile and put hot sauce in Alan's favorite bread.
Allen avoided the old butler's gaze, subconsciously obeyed his orders, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
No matter how heavy the snowstorm, it didn't stop the old butler from driving with the steady hand and swift agility of a rock. He said it would take 20 minutes, not a second more.
When Allen woke up to the old butler's calls, he had already arrived near the highway where the accident had occurred.
Before dawn, the dark night, shrouded in fog, enveloped the entire highway. The lights of the ambulances flickered on and off, and together with the lights of other rescue vehicles, they painted the sky with a riot of colors, like a concert.
Snowflakes mixed with small hailstones drifted down from the sky, pelting down on people and making it impossible to open their eyes. The sub-zero temperature brought a merciless chill, and the wind cut like blades against Allen's face.
Allen couldn't help but shrink his neck and shiver, then caught the scarf that the old butler threw to him.
The Google paramedics and Maggie scrambled out of the ambulance, afraid that if they were even a step too late, the stern old butler of the Osborne family would also shove a dirty scarf into their hands—a scarf they couldn't possibly afford to pay for.
Then the old housekeeper glared at them with disapproving eyes and ordered them to wear hats and masks.
Daniel always felt that the old butler would pull out his dual pistols and give them an American-style Iaijutsu cut, just like in the movies, because they didn't obediently put on their long johns.
Allen: "...What do you think Bernard is? A terrorist?"
The Google emergency responder looked away: "...Well, the main thing is that I've never seen a butler before in my life. People are always afraid of the unknown, you know."
Maggie rolled her eyes at the useless Google emergency responder, but the relaxed expression on her face vanished the moment she looked outside the ambulance.
The scene before him was something Allen had never seen before. No matter how many times he had watched "2012," nothing was more terrifying than this real scene.
More than a dozen vehicles were blocking the middle of the road, several large trucks were overturned, and many small and medium-sized vehicles crashed into the roadside guardrails and the nearby woods because they could not avoid them in time.
Allen heard many people crying. The cries for help and the sirens of ambulances were so loud that rescuers had to shout at the top of their lungs to communicate with each other.
“…Let’s go, the emergency room is ready.” Maggie took a deep breath.
Allen nodded: "Watch the car's fuel tank, don't get caught in a secondary explosion."
Daniel, who was no longer a rookie but was still quite inexperienced, looked a little shaky, but still followed closely behind Allen.
However, the moment he got out of the car, Allen suddenly felt dizzy.
The scene before him blurred for a moment, and the cold air inhaled into his nose and lungs gave him the illusion of drowning.
This was followed by tinnitus that lasted for more than 3 seconds.
Allen caught his breath as he leaned against the ambulance, but before he could figure out what was causing this sudden dizziness, he heard someone calling his name.
He turned around, but all he saw were snow-covered trees along the roadside.
"Bang--"
"A secondary explosion has occurred on the tanker truck at ramp number 4! Stay away! Stay away!" someone shouted.
Allen's vision cleared, and the strange dizziness he had just experienced disappeared as suddenly as it had come.
However, when he turned around again, dark shadows emerged from the woods beside the ramp, like ghosts from hell gathering and wandering there.
The long-haired, green-eyed woman stood at the front, and Allen heard the echoing murmur again:
"Darkness will prevail... Allen, we are all waiting for you."
Allen involuntarily took a step forward, wanting to see the woman's face more clearly.
Daniel suddenly patted him on the back.
Those images then disappeared from Allen's sight.
The fire on the tanker truck was still spreading, and Allen heard someone shouting for help.
He took one last look at the dense woods and ran as fast as he could towards the nearest black car.
"Help me...help me..." A man wearing a black down jacket was sitting in the driver's seat. He was already out of his mind, and blood was streaming down his face.
"My wife...and my son, please save them, please save them!"
Firefighters, dressed in heavy snow suits, ran over and clumsily helped cut the car window.
“...The temporal artery has been severed,” Allen climbed onto the hood and leaned over to check on the man’s condition.
He then coldly ordered Maggie to bring him hemostats.
"Give me another neck brace!"
Maggie quickly laid out the tools Allen needed.
The man suddenly reached out his cold hand and gripped Allen's wrist with all his might: "Save my wife first, please, save my wife and children first!"
Allen looked toward the back seat and, in the flickering light of a flashlight, he could vaguely see a curled-up figure holding a child lying in the back seat.
The two remained silent. Daniel called out to them loudly through the car window, but no one answered.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Allen's heart.
The man's pleas continued, even though his own situation was far from ideal.
"Don't worry, we'll get everyone out!" Allen said.
It seemed that Allen's overly calm words had an effect; the man looked into Allen's eyes and finally fainted with relief.
Nearby, police officers who had just rescued people from another car also ran over and quickly helped pull the man out of the car window.
Daniel pushed the stretcher and took the person to the ambulance.
However, the situation in the back seat does not look very optimistic.
The police officer who had just helped them went around the car and grabbed the back door almost simultaneously with Allen.
"Allen?" A familiar voice came from under the heavy hat.
Allen paused for a moment, turned his head and looked over, only to realize that the person who had come was actually Dick.
Dick was wearing a hat, the woolen cap pulled low over his eyebrows, and the breath he exhaled condensed into white mist in the air, which made his eyes appear even brighter.
Allen unconsciously smiled, and his stomach, which had felt heavy from the horrific car accident, seemed to warm up a little.
He saw Dick's eyes crinkle into a smile.
"I'm relieved to see you," Allen said when he heard Dick say that. "Don't worry, we can save them!"
The two exchanged a glance, then opened the car door as quickly as possible.
"This scene feels familiar," Allen said in a low voice, almost audible to Dick.
The two of them recalled their first meeting, a scene almost identical to their current one.
"Practice makes perfect, and death will never snatch anyone from our grasp!" Dick said.
“If death comes, I’ll choose to shoot him.” Allen took the child from the woman’s arms, and after a quick check, laid her down. “All my bullets have been soaked in holy water.”
Unfortunately, even the holy water couldn't withstand the crying of a three-year-old boy.
The child Ellen had placed in Dick's arms woke up. The three-year-old boy struggled desperately, crying and trying to burrow into Ellen's arms like a little sticky dumpling. The woman finally opened her eyes slowly after being revived and given an adrenaline rush. Ellen wrapped the woman in the thermal blanket that Maggie had handed her.
He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, and called to Daniel to push the ambulance stretcher over. Then, without hesitation, he put the little boy, who was wailing and couldn't be soothed no matter what he did, back into Dick's arms.
Do all children cry this much?
Allen gently pried open the little boy's fingers that were gripping his clothes, then pulled off the scarf around his neck and wrapped it around the head of the boy who was staring at him intently.
Looking into the little boy's teary eyes, he thought to himself, "This kid is like he's got a super-powerful battery from Lextar; he can cry even faster than Superman."
They were also soft, like the gummy bears he used to eat as a child that would burst open if poked, making him nervous to even touch them.
"Thank you... Waaah, Mom..." The child clearly understood what had happened and knew that it was Allen who had saved him and his mother.
In the eyes of a child, Allen has probably grown into a towering mountain that can shelter them from the wind and rain, and in the midst of a blizzard, only Allen's embrace is the safest place.
Seeing that the little boy was about to reach out and pull at him again, Allen couldn't help but give a decisive command:
"Listen to my instructions, officer. Your job is to transport him to the ambulance and then return immediately!"
Dick: "..."
Admit it, you're afraid of children; you're so afraid you won't even touch them.
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