Timothy knows Joseph.
A few years ago, when Timothy used the budget intended for Batarangs to build a Batmobile, he had already dealt with Joseph.
Joseph is Lucius's capable assistant, many pieces of Bat-equipment were crafted by his hands. He is a Quantum Physics expert who is passionate about studying parallel universes and hyperdimension space-time, is actually skilled in materials science, mechanical engineering, weapon systems.
Joseph's wife perished during an Arkham riot, his son, Colt Draper, also developed severe autism as a result of that incident.
Timothy's fingers danced across the keyboard as he entered the Bat-Files System, skillfully retrieving the detailed file for Joseph.
The file bore the eye icon, proving that Joseph was a primary target of interest for Batman.
The investigation report compiled by Batman was extremely detailed. The file even included Joseph's birth certificate: he lost his father at age three and his mother at age seven, was returned by adoptive families four consecutive times. Before the age of twelve, he lived at the Wayne orphanage, he used a scholarship from the Martha Foundation to finish high school and save enough money for his university living expenses. During his university years, Joseph sold several small inventions, there was a time when the Black Gang wanted to control him, but they were nearly wiped out due to food poisoning, while he had a solid alibi. After this incident, Joseph quietly completed his doctorate and stayed at the university to teach, where he met his wife, Alisa, who is seven years younger than him.
The happy family life lasted until nine years ago.
Arkham erupted in a riot as the madmen staged a mass prison break. They held a group celebration for Poison Ivy's birthday at Wayne Botanical Gardens, while the nearby Oak Tree Manor was blown into a massive lake by the Joker. The mayor, along with nearly a hundred wealthy socialites attending a charity auction at the conservatory, perished in the incident, including Alisa.
After suffering this catastrophe, Joseph lost all interest in his work and attempted to research a machine for time reflux, but he was stopped by Batman, who recommended him to become a researcher at the Wayne Advanced Laboratory.
After receiving Bruce's authorization and becoming an acting director, the first project budget Timothy signed was Joseph's Quantum Transporter.
Exile criminals to the edge of the universe using the Quantum Transporter.
Timothy changed the project's justification to "creating the latest express delivery channel" and then signed it.
Author's Note:
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Chapter 9
Joseph has a streak of madness; he is indeed quite dangerous.
Timothy opened the family files.
Alisa Ridder, a native of Metropolis, is seven years younger than Joseph. She came to Gotham University to watch a game as a cheerleader during high school, where she fell in love with Joseph at first sight, eventually breaking ties with her family to attend Gotham University. The two did not enter a romantic relationship while they were teacher and student, Alisa later dropped out due to family circumstances. A year later, the two reunited at an academic conference in Metropolis. Joseph accepted an invitation from Luthor Tech to work at a high-energy physics laboratory in Metropolis on weekends. During this period, the two lived together. Six months later, Joseph ended his collaboration with Luthor Tech and brought Alisa back to Gotham, where they purchased a luxury mansion at Oak Tree Manor and married. After marriage, Alisa volunteered at the botanical conservatory at the entrance of the community until the Arkham riot occurred.
Timothy sifted through all the attachments.
Joseph's parents, Alisa's parents, Joseph's adoptive family, the teachers at the orphanage, close classmates, even Dr. Wayne, who treated the children at the orphanage..
No Colt Draper.
Timothy could not find the files for the son of the Rudes.
Has Batman hidden it?
Timothy's interest surged even higher as he chose to hack into the Batcomputer, only to run straight into Batman, who was busy archiving intelligence.
Batman: [Tim?]
Timothy looked at the dialogue box popping up on the computer interface: Oh.
Batman: [An hour ago, you said school was starting and that you needed to sleep early, that the mission reports could wait until tomorrow. Tell me you aren't sleepwalking into the Batcomputer, Tim.]
Timothy sat up: [Bruce, you have a board meeting at ten tomorrow, why aren't you asleep yet?]
Batman: [Listen, Tim. Whatever you're doing, put down the computer right now and close your eyes.]
Batman kicked Red Robin away from the Batcomputer.
Timothy put down the computer, curled up under the covers, closed his eyes.
A minute later, a hand reached out from under the covers and pulled the computer under the blanket.
Timothy couldn't sleep.
Red Robin was quite resourceful; even without ready-made intelligence from Batman, he had plenty of other means at his disposal.
Timothy's intuition told him that Colt was related to Ghost. Aside from the difference in eye and hair color, Ghost's appearance was very similar to the late Mrs. Reed.
Found him!
Colt Draper, eighteen years old, an autistic individual who was traumatized during the Arkham riot nine years ago, resulting in deafness, mutism, photophobia, has been homeschooling at home.
Timothy frowned.
Colt Draper's information was incredibly scarce, the ID photos left at hospitals, schools, community centers were all blurry.
Joseph spent millions every year on his son's treatment, insisting that his son be homeschooled. His school registration was attached to Gotham Primary School, receiving the benefits of a high-level corporate executive's family, allowing him to advance to the next grade without exams. Perhaps because the treatment was working, Colt's condition gradually improved; starting from middle school, he began taking online exams and relied on his own merit to enter Gotham High.
After the ninth grade, although Colt homeschooled, he would diligently complete the homework sent by teachers via mass email to the school mailbox. Judging by his essays and correspondence, Colt did not lack the ability to communicate with others; his spelling and grammatical structure were meticulous, his written language was as if he were cosplaying Shakespeare, favoring long, complex sentences in a style similar to international students in a non-English speaking environment.
And Colt's science grades were even more outstanding, with his math answers in the eleventh-grade final exams utilizing multiple university-level concepts.
A very perfect profile, but there is one loophole.
Colt's dentist only existed on paper, a digital ghost that Batman would use when creating fake identities.
Timothy had created several identities for himself: Alvin Draper, Gary Grant, Karl Colton. These identities came with a complete set of documentation, including birth certificates, immunization records, social security numbers, driver's licenses, passports. Upon closer inspection, they even included details like the schools attended since childhood, annual grades, even minor records of truancy; among these, the dentist for Alvin Draper was none other than Dr. Sini.
Colt's identity was fabricated, perhaps even crafted by Batman himself.
Why would Batman create an identity for Colt?
Does Colt really exist?
Timothy enlarged the photo from Colt's driver's license and used image processing software to make the blurry photo clear.
The photo showed a gloomy teenager with messy white hair, pale skin, heavy dark circles under his eyes, bangs that almost covered his lifeless eyes..
He looked like a vampire forcibly pulled from the darkness, fitting the stereotypes people have of autistic individuals.
The Batcomputer detected a 90% probability that the photo was AI-generated.
Timothy worked to make Colt's hair smooth and lustrous, adjusted his skin tone to a healthy pale pink, removed the dark circles under his eyes, forced his half-lidded eyes to open, revealing the violet color within. Then, he increased the saturation of his lips and turned the downturned corners of his mouth into an upward curve..
The youth in the photograph had a nearly 70% resemblance to the Ghost that Timothy had seen before.
Timothy began pulling Joseph's bills. Whether they were legal, gray, or illegal. He traced the funds leaving the accounts year by year, working backward.
The bills revealed a great deal.
Joseph's mortgage and car loan have been paid off, while property taxes and insurance are covered by the company. The house is equipped with an independent power supply and a groundwater filtration and purification system. Aside from fixed expenses like federal and state taxes and education, almost all of the bills are consumed by the independent laboratory.
No luxury goods, no alcohol, no drugs. Looking at the procurement of daily necessities, he keeps a bird as a pet at home, he also has a child.
The bird is a North American Robin, with medical records from a pet hospital; it frequently eats parrot food imported from the Far East and enjoys sunflower seeds and freeze-dried vegetables.
The child is 175-178 cm tall, wears size 42 shoes, has a lean build, long hair, prefers simple white clothing.
Timothy believed he had caught Ghost.
Out of habit, Timothy did not stop reviewing the bills, but instead tried to learn more information about Colt.
The bill traced back two years; the supplies included birdseed and custom bird diapers, but one person's food was missing.
The bills continued to be traced back further, the share of supplies for children in the procurement lists grew smaller and smaller.
Another turning point appeared five years ago during the Christmas holidays. Joseph purchased complete sets of bedding, as well as over a dozen sets of children's clothing for kids around *** years old, with a height of 130cm and size 32 shoes.
Further back, besides education and medical expenses, Joseph's bills showed absolutely no trace of the child's life.
Timothy stopped and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
From five years ago to two years ago, the sizes of the clothes and shoes Joseph purchased changed very little, increasing by only one size over those three years. Once he started purchasing food, that child, who hadn't grown for three years, grew nearly 50 centimeters in height and increased ten shoe sizes in just two years.
Timothy thought of what Ghost was wearing when they first met—those oversized shirts and baggy trousers—perhaps because he was wearing his father's clothes.
Timothy pulled an energy drink from under the bed, downed it in one go, braced himself to continue.
Skipping back nine years, Joseph's billing style was much like that of the average middle class: mortgage, car loans, property taxes, home insurance, health insurance, federal taxes, state taxes, Alisa's student loans, the children's tuition, meal expenses..
Joseph's annual salary as a university professor could barely cover these fixed expenses; he relied entirely on his side hustles to maintain a decent lifestyle for his family.
Nine years ago, Joseph's home had only a small laboratory that could be equipped with routine medications, such as antibiotic capsules.
In addition, Joseph did indeed have a child—a boy who attended Gotham Elementary, stood 130 centimeters tall, wore size 32 shoes. The boy liked reading political books, especially the *** coming from the Far East.
Timothy got up, didn't turn on the light, began searching through the bookshelf with a flashlight.
He remembered bringing the photo album with him.. ah, here it is!
Timothy pulled an old photo album from the bottom of the bookshelf, patted the dust off it, opened it.
Inside were photos from his childhood, including baby pictures of him being held by his parents, his enrollment photos from kindergarten, class group photos from elementary school.
Timothy pulled out a class photo from his first and second years of elementary school.
Gotham Elementary was a public school with relatively large class sizes. Timothy had a good memory; he remembered there were 28 people in his class, he could still recite every classmate's name or nickname from the photo.
Colt Draper was not there.
There was no group photo for the first grade, there was none for the second grade either.
Excluding the teacher, Timothy only counted 27 children; one classmate was missing.
Timothy was small and thin when he was a child, crouching in a seat in the first row near the center. His left hand was slightly curled, as if he were holding someone's hand. But there was no one beside his left hand, only an empty space, as if God had plucked a person from there.
The first-grade class photo was like this, the second-grade class photo was just the same.
In these kinds of class photos, even if some students are absent, the center spot in the front row is never left empty. Timothy suspected that God had not only taken someone away from the photograph, but had also taken away his memory.
It was exactly nine years ago, when Timothy had fallen ill and missed half a semester of school following the Arkham riot. His parents had both come home to take care of him, they even dismissed his former nanny to transfer him to a boarding school.
The sound of blades cutting through the air drifted in from outside the window.
Timothy stretched, put down the computer, got up to pull open the curtains.
Damian was doing his morning exercises downstairs, trimming the lawn and shrubs at the same time. Even the little demon brat had to bend the knee for pocket money; Alfred was charging five dollars per session.
Timothy changed his clothes, organized his backpack, pushed open the window.
Connor, come here for a second.
Three seconds later, Superboy appeared outside the window wearing pajamas: "Hi, Red Robin, I really did submit the mission report, I don't know who deleted it."
I deleted it, because your report was so bad it practically blinded me.
Timothy looked serious and reached out, "Take me to Titans Headquarters, hurry, unless you want to be skewered by Damian's Kryptonite blade."
He needed to give himself a proper examination, especially his brain.
Superboy hurriedly grabbed Timothy and rushed toward the sky, leaving Damian behind, who was pointing his sword toward the heavens.