The youth's beauty was already difficult to distinguish as male or female, let alone with Colt's long hair; at this moment, his breathing was slightly rapid, his cheeks were flushed, his lips were vivid, his gentle violet eyes seemed to melt like water.
Red Robin brushed the sweat-dampened strands of hair away from Colt's face and leaned down to open the case he had brought.
Colt's gaze followed Red Robin, attempting to overlap the exquisite, beautiful little young master from his dreams with the person before him.
The bedside lamp cast a dim, ambiguous glow, leaving Red Robin half in the light and half in the shadows, his cape draped on either side, his lithe and well-built waist and legs appearing and disappearing in the light.
Gotham has several great treasures: Nightwing's buttocks, Red Hood's chest, Red Robin's waist and legs..
Strange reviews inexplicably surfaced in Colt's mind.
He forgot where he had seen it, perhaps on Gotham.
Red Robin stood up.
The waist is a bit slender, the legs are indeed very straight.
Colt withdrew his gaze from the other person and reached under the pillow to put on his hearing aid.
"I took a sample of your blood, the test results show everything is normal; it's not a viral fever.. maybe it's neurasthenia caused by mental exhaustion?" Red Robin said, handing him a beautiful blue crystal vial about the size of an index finger.
It's a potion to replenish mental energy, I got it from a friend. Give it a try.
Colt had seen this crystal bottle before; it was a magic potion. When he had overextended his mental energy in the past, his father had used his connections to acquire some.
In fact, there was still one bottle in reserve in the basement, but Colt didn't want his father to find out he had been secretly using the Virtual Laboratory, so he hadn't touched it.
Red Robin had many things to attend to; after delivering the medicine, he climbed out the window and left.
Six bottles in total. If it's not enough, let me know, record how your body reacts after taking the medicine." He crouched on the windowsill, then turned his head back. "By the way, the Iceberg Lounge discovered a batch of Vibranium. The Armory said Penguin hijacked Ghost's shipment, worth 6 billion dollars.
Why tell me? Did I ever say I was Ghost? Didn't Red Robin only have contact with Ghost online?
Fine, he is Red Robin, the Red Robin who solved 198 of Riddler's riddles in a single night; it's only natural that he knows Ghost's true identity!
Red Robin knows that I am Ghost, he even spent five million to buy a vaccine from Ghost!
"A friend's discount, practically a giveaway—only 3 billion." Colt stared at Red Robin, his eyes gleaming.
"Black Mask insists that Penguin stole 3 billion dollars from him," Red Robin said, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"I only picked up 2.99 billion." Colt thought this was important, because the remaining ten million had nearly bankrupted him.
Black Mask lost the money intended for buying raw materials to synthesize Beta nutrients, causing the Queen Bee to suffer from malnutrition, which delayed the plan to control Gotham," Red Robin paused, "Black Mask and Penguin have both been sent to Arkham; once they divert Batman's attention, they will be sent to you. I hope there won't be a baptism by fire next time.
You can use the door; don't always climb through the window.
Colt waved at him, watching Red Robin spread his wings and fly out of the courtyard.
Some kind soul must have repaired the streetlights nearby; he saw Red Robin land on a beautiful motorcycle and speed away.
Red Robin rushed back to the Batcave.
He timed it perfectly, arriving three minutes before Batman.
Batman stepped out of the Batmobile, removed his cowl, unfastened his cape. Only then did Red Hood slowly scramble out from the back seat, clutching his helmet in his arms, glare at Red Robin, who was sitting in front of the Batcomputer.
If he hadn't been betrayed by Red Robin, Batman wouldn't have been able to catch him tonight!
Red Robin tightened the cap on his thermos, turned around, gave a well-behaved smile, his tone as gentle as ever: "Bruce, I've finished writing my work log; remember to check it. This case is quite extensive, some of the intelligence data still needs to be sorted through. I'll strive to get the mission report to you by Monday."
What kind of sorting? It's just falsifying intelligence data to cover up the tampering you did in there!
Batman knew Red Robin too well, so he said, "We need to talk."
Fine, I'm looking forward to our talk." Red Robin glanced at the gloating Red Hood, then looked submissively toward Batman. "It's too late now, you still need to talk to Jason. How about we schedule our talk for five in the afternoon? There are no club activities on Thursday, so I can go home early, we can have dinner right after we finish our talk.
Batman had not yet spoken.
Red Robin tapped his palm. "I forgot you have an important banquet tonight. Tomorrow, tomorrow I have my Socioeconomics assignment due, then there are club activities in the afternoon, then I have to attend the company's board meeting. Lucius said there is a batch of financial statements that need to be reviewed as soon as possible, plus there are three acquisition cases.."
Batman began to feel guilty; the board meeting, the financial reports, the acquisitions were all originally his responsibilities.
Red Hood gnashed his teeth, wanting nothing more than to tear away Black Brothers' well-behaved facade and let Batman see Red Robin's cunning true face.
Old Bat, wake up! He said that on purpose! He's playing you! As long as you're soft-hearted and keep stalling, stalling, stalling, the conversation will just keep getting delayed!
How about this? You talk to Jason first, I'll go tend to my wounds. I'll come to the study to find you in half an hour.
Red Robin had no intention of delaying; he let out a yawn, picked up his thermos, walked toward the elevator.
Red Hood's expression shifted.
He's wrong about Little Red Bird! Little Red Bird is trying to save him! A conversation with the Old Bat usually doesn't end in less than two hours; half an hour is practically a massive discount!
Batman looked at Red Hood.
Red Hood puffed out his chest and rolled his eyes. "Come on, old man, you've only got half an hour. Make it quick, just say what you want to talk about!"
Batman's lips twitched, he let out a deep sigh.
Timothy was truly too considerate; he was a little worried that Jason would be bullied by others outside.
Batman didn't bring Jason back for a talk; instead, he had restored Jason's legal identity and was preparing to take him to tonight's banquet. Even though Timothy knew perfectly well, he let Jason mistakenly believe that he was the primary subject of the conversation.
Well, he did indeed want to talk with Jason as well.
For example, if Red Hood has already decided to take a different path, then what will be the future scope of the Iceberg Lounge's operations, how will the power vacuum left by Black Mask after his imprisonment be filled, how will the dangerous items in the Penguin's collection be handled..
Timothy knocked on the study door three minutes early.
Jason had an expression of relief on his face and gave Timothy an excited hug.
“Little Red Bird, I'll remember you.”
He held him a little too tight.
Timothy endured the pain in his ribs and replied with a smile, "You're welcome, Mr. Jason Wayne."
Jason's ears turned red, he ran off, cursing under his breath.
Chapter 27
Study.
Timothy closed the door behind him and walked toward Batman, who was sitting behind the desk in deep thought.
Batman said nothing, Timothy didn't say anything either; the only sound in the quiet study was the ticking of the wall clock.
Timothy turned the computer on the desk, handling the company files in the process.
"You know what you're doing," Batman said.
Timothy saved the files, took his hands off the keyboard, looked at Batman.
His attitude was upright, without a hint of perfunctoriness: "Of course. From the moment I knocked on the doors of Wayne Manor, I knew exactly what I was doing."
Batman said again, "You know what you want, too."
Timothy nodded. "Red Robin is not my everything; what I want has never changed."
"You know what you're doing, you know what you want. You have always been the most stable one, the one who makes me feel most at ease," Batman said, pressing his temples as he composed his words.
Red Robin has the ability to act alone, I believe you had a plan and a contingency in place for last night's mission. We have experienced countless cases; this wasn't the most unique, nor the most dangerous. It is only natural that you didn't want me to intervene. Tim, I just want to tell you that you are not fighting alone. You can come to me with any request, at any time.
Timothy was deeply moved, pressing his hands against the tabletop and leaning forward: "Anything?"
Batman shifted his posture and answered with difficulty, "Anything."
Relax, Bruce, I'm not going to make you go to work at the office." Timothy looked into Batman's eyes: "Lately, I've been thinking about some childhood memories. The Arkham riot nine years ago took away my classmates and friends. He became a ghost, still haunting the manor at Oak Tree Manor.
I'd rather just go to work; I could sleep during the meetings.
Batman thought to himself, but his expression remained flawless: "So this is why you've been investigating Joseph and buying up property near Oak Tree Manor."
You have been secretly acquiring properties near the Reed residence, I just expanded the scope a little bit," Timothy paused, "Colt Reed vanished from the world and everyone forgot him; even the photos in the records became fake, leaving behind only this name. Bruce, you are the exception. You remember him. What exactly happened back then?
Batman dodged the question: "You've seen the logs from that year."
Timothy frowned slightly. "We all know that the logs are as real as the company's public financial statements."
Maybe the logs you wrote are, but I won't mislead you with false intelligence; it's real. We all know this world is absurd. Some people have died, yet they are still alive; some people are alive, yet they are already dead." Batman paused and sighed, "Sometimes, we need to accept white lies, or even uphold lies.
Timothy looked thoughtful.
Batman sighed, "Regardless, you're going to keep investigating, aren't you?"
Timothy looked at him, well-behaved and submissive.
Batman stood up, placing one hand on Timothy's shoulder. "Alright, I won't stop you from contacting him, but I must warn you: everything comes with a price. Don't make requests of Ghost that cross the line; he is not Aladdin."
Timothy frowned: Colt's persistent high fever was indeed related to the cure for the Brain-eating worm.
Batman: "For the next month, Red Robin is prohibited from participating in night patrols. You know why."
This case wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface; Batman took over the follow-up, giving Red Robin a vacation in the process.
Alright, I will submit the mission report on time.
Timothy was emotionally stable.
His stability shattered the moment he returned to his room.
There were five people crowding Timothy's messy room! Damian was stepping on his pillow with his shoes while fighting with Stephanie! Cassandra had snatched Damian's weapon! That's great, Cass! Give that Demon Brat another punch! Jason was trying to hack his computer! Dick was crawling under his bed!
It's 4:51 AM. Did I walk into the wrong room?
Timothy's voice was very, very gentle.
The fighters stopped fighting, the hacker quietly closed his laptop, the one hiding under the bed stopped squirming.
I will inherit everything from my father, this is.. mmmph..
Damian's mouth was covered, the room fell silent, leaving only the sound of the half-broken thermos rolling across the floor.
Timothy took a deep breath, stepped over the crushed ice on the floor, smiled as he picked up the thermos, which now only had its base left. He carefully poured out the last remaining coffee ice cube inside and closed his eyes, sucking on it with pure indulgence.
Disgusting Drake, you're actually eating trash.. mmmph..
Damian broke free from Stephanie's hand covering his mouth, only to be forcefully suppressed by Cassandra again. Stephanie hooked her arms around his neck, while Jason clamped down on his flailing feet.
Dick finally crawled out from under the bed, holding the other half of the thermos in his hand.
Hi, Timmy, I can explain!