"If you don't want to talk about it, then forget it, love-struck GAY!" Jason hung up the phone.
Timothy checked the time, stood up to head toward the meeting room, sent a message to Colt at the same time.
[Working Cole Duck: Are you busy? Do you want to come to my office to do homework? Someone is treating us to lunch; a state banquet chef is coming over to cook. I heard there's a dish called 'Braised Chinese Cabbage in Consommé' that is very popular.]
【Cole Duck as Assistant: OK! (づ￣ 3 ￣)づ～】
【Cole Duck at work: mua! (*3)】
Timothy put his phone away with satisfaction and signaled for the meeting to begin.
Colt didn't wait until noon. He left Little Robot with Joseph to serve as an experimental assistant, instead brought his homework to Wayne Headquarters himself, hoping to learn some secrets from the state banquet chef, only to find there was nothing worth learning.
It is said that the clear broth for the Braised Chinese Cabbage takes nine hours to simmer, which is far from ordinary, the knife work used to carve the tofu into the shape of chrysanthemums is even less ordinary.
[Failed Apprentice Cole Duck: Tim, you can only eat this kind of dish occasionally when you're out. Normally, just stick to stir-fried cabbage and pan-fried tofu.]
[Cole Duck at work: OK, we should still eat home-cooked meals at home (*￣￣).]
In general, the state banquet chef's dishes were both beautiful and delicious, but the $2,000 tofu, $3,000 cabbage, $20,000 silverfish soup were a bit expensive; Colt certainly couldn't bear to spend that kind of money on a meal himself.
Colt habitually made a list, comparing the prices of the tofu, cabbage, silverfish at their source versus their prepared prices. Timothy discussed the profit margins of Iceberg Restaurant with him, ultimately concluding that since ordinary people couldn't afford these dishes anyway, Jason should drive the unit prices even higher, write more tragic and magnificent stories for every dish, make the portions even smaller, the plates even larger..
"A profiteer, a capitalist who needs to be hung from a streetlamp," Colt commented.
"The one treating is Jason," Timothy said in defense of the Iceberg Restaurant owner.
The capitalist I'm talking about is you." Colt paused. "I can pretend to be a streetlamp.
Timothy took the initiative to hang himself from the streetlamp, like a Southerner who had just arrived in the North for the winter, he tried to stick his tongue to the lamp post.
The streetlight was very cooperative.
The secretary knocked on the door and brought in a stack of files half a meter high.
Colt had been keeping his spiritual power under control, so no incident regarding the disappearance of Young Master Wayne occurred in the office; there was only an additional profit proposal for the Iceberg Restaurant on the desk.
Timothy moved his work to the sofa to handle it.
Colt sat close to him, holding a small ampoule and studying the liquid inside.
Timothy handled the urgent documents with extreme efficiency. Stretching his neck, he looked toward Colt.
Colt was slowly shaking the ampoule in his hand, using his Spiritual Power to draw out a thin strand of green medicinal liquid, letting that green thread turn into mist in the air and then re-condense, as he recorded something rapidly.
Timothy leaned in for a closer look; what Colt was recording were chemical formulas, with several question marks among them.
Colt put down his pen and turned his head instinctively, seeing Timothy smiling at him while resting his chin in his hands, leaned in to give him a kiss.
Timothy turned the innocent kiss into a real one.
Colt looked at the clock on the wall and pushed Timothy aside. "It's time. Where did you put the Wilderness Healing Light?"
Timothy rolled his eyes playfully and took the Wilderness Healing Light out of the desk drawer. These injuries wouldn't have been anything to him before, only Colt would treat them as such, reminding him to undergo treatment several times a day on a strict schedule.
But being cared for like this actually felt great to him, he felt like calling his siblings again.
Timothy restrained the urge to show off to his family, looking at the Healing Lamp while examining the medicinal liquid: "Is this the medicinal liquid from the Knowledge Explorer treatment pod?"
Colt nodded. "The Treatment Pod can be reused, but the rapid-healing medicine is a single dose; I want to see if I can replicate it."
"Was the result not very ideal? Did its spiritual power react with it? Would it be better to take it to a laboratory for testing?" Timothy had also thought about researching it, but the medicinal liquid was stored in a sealed container, collecting a sample would require breaking the seal. He was worried that breaking the seal would destroy its medicinal properties, so he had not moved it.
It really can react to spiritual power." Colt handed the ampoule to Timothy. "I've memorized its composition; you can keep it for research. It contains magical substances as well as a type of substance similar to divine power that cannot be replicated through normal means.
Timothy carefully packed the Ampoule into a special container for fragile items. He turned around to see Colt using thin filaments of Spiritual Power to entangle the Healing Lamp, much like flying a kite, making the light follow his legs as he moved.
"Tim, I want to discuss something with you." Colt stood up, placed his hands on Timothy's shoulders, looked at him seriously.
"Go ahead," Timothy said, his expression turning serious as well.
Colt bit his lip: "I want to get more detailed medicinal liquid data, but this will waste the Treatment Pod's rapid healing opportunity. Will you blame me?"
Timothy smiled and shook his head. "It belongs to you anyway, so of course you have the right to deal with it, no matter how you choose to do so."
I'll share the data with you," Colt began outlining a plan. "We need a patient, not just any ordinary one, preferably someone who has been cursed. Or someone wounded by an artifact, with a wound that refuses to heal because of the residual special power within it.
I happen to know two," Timothy said, rubbing his chin. "Oracle and Red Hood.
"Red Hood's curse is a side effect of the Lazarus Pit Water that can drive one mad. Does Oracle's injury involve a curse?" Colt knew Oracle, the former Batgirl Barbara Gordon. Barbara was paralyzed in her lower limbs due to severe nerve damage to her spinal cord. In most story settings, Barbara's injury could be healed. However, in some derivative works, Barbara's injury carries a curse and cannot be cured.
"Bruce hired the top doctors to perform surgery on her, the surgery went very smoothly, but the healing has been very poor. There is some kind of inescapable alien energy in her wound, an energy that prevents nerve repair; even Kryptonian medical equipment is useless." Timothy had some knowledge of the mystical side, which allowed him to produce potions that replenish Spiritual Power and even fund potion masters, so he naturally knew whether the alien energy in Barbara was a biological toxin or a curse.
Colt thought for a moment, "Have you tried the Regeneration Cradle?"
The Regeneration Cradle uses one's own cells as a foundation, integrating nano-metals to repair wounds and even reconstruct body tissue.
Timothy shook his head: "The tissue generated by the Regeneration Cradle also contains heterologous energy. A doctor once suggested fusing vanadium alloy atoms to reconstruct the spine, but Oracle did not accept that proposal."
Colt thought Oracle would be a suitable subject for the treatment pod.
Timothy agreed to go and persuade Oracle to accept the treatment.
The two of them reached an agreement.
Colt waited for the single session of the Wilderness Healing Light to finish, reminding Timothy not to forget to continue the treatment in six hours, then packed his things to rush home to make dinner. Joseph offered no comments regarding his son's early departures and late returns, which meant the long, heartfelt essay Colt had spent so much time preparing went to waste.
"Dad, I'm taking the Robin Bird up to sleep now, you should get some rest early too." Before nine o'clock, Colt returned to his room with the bird in his arms, locked the door, lulled the bird to sleep, then ran to meet up with Timothy in the next room.
..
Timothy was changing into his Red Robin uniform. He handed a USB drive to Colt and explained, "Oracle has agreed to join our experiment in principle. It's just that she is too busy at the end of the year, she is worried that the treatment will affect her work, so she hopes to schedule the experiment after the New Year. This is her detailed medical record; it contains the detection data regarding the abnormal energy."
"You're going on patrol?" Colt insisted that Timothy's legs still couldn't handle strenuous exercise.
"Mr. Freeze caused a snowstorm in Gotham, tonight is going to be difficult for many people. A few informants are in dangerous situations and are unwilling to go to the Wayne relief station, so I need to go check on them." Red Robin put on his gloves.
Colt helped Red Robin straighten his cape and touched the cold metal backpack. The deployable glider wings on the pack looked great when spread out, but they weren't warm enough. He couldn't help but ask, "When do you plan on changing out of that uniform from your dreams?"
"Didn't you say that uniform's cowl looked like a black braised egg?" Timothy adjusted his gauntlet, checking to see if the small computer on it was functioning properly.
"But it will be very warm, won't it?" Colt ran his fingers through Timothy's hair, stroking the roots.
“It's already in production; you should be able to wear it by the New Year.” Timothy leaned back and turned his head to give Colt a kiss on the cheek. “Don't worry, this little bit of low temperature won't freeze Red Robin. I'll be back before dawn.”
Colt couldn't stop Red Robin from his nightly patrols, so he snorted and inserted the USB drive into the computer to read the information. Oracle's situation was much like what he had expected, but the exotic energy felt strangely familiar to him.
"I feel like I've seen this kind of energy structure on the Joker before," Colt frowned slightly.
Timothy had been about to set off, but he stopped in his tracks again. "You mean Joker toxin?"
"It's not Joker toxin, it's a kind of power that can be called a rule. Just like the settings in a book, some people cannot die, some people cannot stand up." Colt's eyes gradually lost focus, as if he were falling into an illusion, his expression tinged with pain.
Timothy noticed something was wrong and pinched the back of his neck. "Colt?"
Colt snapped back to his senses, his mind going blank for a moment. It was only when he saw the text-to-speech transmission records on the Quantum Terminal that he remembered what he had just said.
Timothy reached from the back of his neck to his lower back, patting him soothingly. "What did you see just now?"
Some story fragments related to the Joker." Colt's gaze fell on Timothy's face, then shifted to his uniform, he breathed a sigh of relief. "It's okay, you are already Red Robin; the third-generation Red Robin he captured wasn't you.
Even without using his brain, Timothy could imagine what would happen to a Robin captured by the Joker.
He should head out, but he wasn't at ease regarding Colt.
Timothy thought for a moment, then reached out an inviting hand: "Night patrol together?"
Colt looked at the hand extended before him; if he agreed, he would enter Timothy's other world and would also have to face the Dark Abyss of Gotham.
"After evading for so many years, are you going to take this step tonight?" Colt asked himself.
No, it wasn't the first step. Last time at the mine, Ghost's codename had already reached Batman's ears.
Colt grabbed Timothy's hand as he tried to pull it back: "Fine, the icy roads aren't suitable for motorcycles, take the wheelchair."
Red Robin in a wheelchair?
Well, a flying wheelchair with a blanket—it's windproof, warm, looks pretty cool too!
Chapter 54
Heavy snow turned Gotham white, the cold made people never want to leave their warm stoves or beds, leaving the city much quieter.
Red Robin looked incredibly cool gliding between the buildings with his cape spread wide, he looked very handsome when he leaned down to speak to the children. Even though the Bat Lollipop he produced through magic was actually placed there by Colt, he still looked very handsome when he smiled.
Colt followed Red Robin to the orphanage to see the children, leaving behind a Bat Lollipop, then went to see the homeless man huddled in the subway tunnel warming himself by a fire. Although Wayne shelters are located in almost every block of Gotham, the rules against carrying weapons and drug use have kept many homeless people away. Of course, the people here no longer care whether they live to see tomorrow.
Red Robin's appearance drew a few flippant whistles: "Hey, little bird, why are you out all by yourself in this weather? Hurry back under your Bat-dad's wings to keep warm!"
Red Robin knocked down the foul-mouthed person and asked in a low voice, "Who saw Smith?"
No one spoke.
Red Robin pulled out a box of antibiotics.
Someone immediately shouted, "Over by Red Hood!"
Red Robin muttered a curse under his breath, tossed the antibiotics back to the speaker, flicked his cape, turned to vanish.
Sigh, the little bird has left the nest and is becoming more and more like Batman; he used to trip and fall when he was little.
It's wonderful that he's grown up; the second Robin didn't get to grow up. I like Red Robin's current way of trading intelligence; antibiotics are more expensive than money.
..
There were no criminal incidents tonight, so Red Robin only handled a rear-end collision caused by icy roads, then used a flying wheelchair to transport the injured to Wayne Hospital, saved an out-of-town tourist with a broken leg.
The tourist's heart is far too bold! To take a photo of Batman! To actually dare to go out on a night like this!
“.. Are you Red Robin? Can I take a photo with you? You look like a real person.. Why isn't it the Batmobile or the Robin Motorcycle? The wheelchair is a bit ominous.. My god, your wheelchair can actually fly! I heard that Bruce Wayne sponsors you, is this also Wayne Tech?”
Red Robin took the talkative tourist to the emergency department of Wayne Hospital. The doctors and nurses here were very familiar with the Vigilante Forum, some people's eyes lit up when they saw the wheelchair flying at a low altitude.
Red Robin! There's a pile-up accident at Shipon Bridge, three casualties are in critical condition..
Red Robin drove the doctor to the accident scene in a wheelchair, then flattened the wheelchair to use as a stretcher to urgently transport the injured back to the hospital.
The last one brought in was Red Hood.
Red Hood was one of the perpetrators of the chain reaction accident, the victims of the crash happened to be the drug dealers he was pursuing. It was a series of incredibly coincidental events; Red Hood was in pursuit when he found Batman had parked the Batmobile in an alley, so first it went this way, then that way, then like this, finally he drove the Batmobile into the Shipon River.
Red Hood insisted that it was Batman's sudden remote vehicle lock that caused the car to drive into the river.
Red Robin was busy taking photos.