"Some people talk to you in their free time, and others free their time to talk to you."
- Unknown
...
"Who are you? Why are you in my house?"
For a short moment, Francine almost instinctively asked this question.
But she stopped herself because she knew that asking would be meaningless and make her sound silly.
There was an unwritten rule in Gotham's East End.
If anyone comes home and finds strangers waiting for them in your house, never ask, never think; just turn around and run as fast as they can, and pray that the person behind them isn't good with a gun.
Francine had lived in the East End for so long that she was well aware of this unspoken rule.
In fact, that's exactly what she did.
Francine quickly slammed the door shut with a loud bang as soon as she saw two strangers in her house. She then turned and ran away.
Just as Francine turned around, another man walked in front of her and blocked her way.
"I have to say, your reaction is quite fast, Mrs. Langstrom. You truly deserve to be a woman who can survive alone in the East End."
The man praised her.
Before Francine could react, the man quickly placed his hand on her neck.
She felt a sharp pain all over her body, and then she couldn't stop falling asleep.
"Uh... mmm... you..."
In just a few seconds, Francine collapsed to the ground.
Her last thought before losing consciousness was, 'They know who I am... why? My identity hasn't been revealed...'
At this moment, the two men in the room also appeared.
"This woman is quite agile; she almost got away."
"The boss is waiting to see her. Let's not waste any more time. Let's tie her up and take her to him."
The three men tied Francine up, taped her mouth shut, and quickly put her on a bread truck that they had hidden nearby and prepped in advance.
Their actions were very skilled, and they moved quickly, so it was clear that they had done this before.
With the exhaust fumes of a car fading away, the bread truck quickly left Gotham's East End.
After a while, the bread truck stopped in front of a warehouse at an unknown location.
The three kidnappers carefully checked for any ambushes before safely unloading Francine from the truck and taking her into the warehouse.
"Hmm..."
After an unknown amount of time, Francine woke up in a pitch-black room.
The room had no lights, not even windows, or they might have been blocked.
It was completely dark in this room; she couldn't see anything and couldn't even see her own hand.
But her eyes didn't feel covered, so she wasn't blindfolded.
"I've been kidnapped. The people who kidnapped me know my identity, and they are organized and planned. Their boss wants to see me..."
That's the only information Francine can be sure of at the moment.
stomp, stomp, stomp
Suddenly, a slow but heavy footstep could be heard approaching her in the room.
Francine was very scared because she didn't know what the person who took her wanted or what would happen next.
"Hello, Mrs. Langstrom. I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
A voice entered Francine's ears—a strange voice that didn't sound like a normal human voice but rather like some kind of electronic synthesized sound.
"I must say, the GCPD has done a good job protecting your information. It took me a whole month to find your current address."
"Who are you? What do you want from kidnapping me? I don't have any money for ransom."
Francine forced herself to stay calm and asked.
"Well, you're in a hurry, and I don't like wasting time either, so let's get straight to the point."
The electronic synthesized voice cut to the chase.
"I want the Man-Bat Serum."
Hearing the kidnapper's purpose, Francine said coldly, "You've got it all wrong. I don't have the Man-Bat Serum, or any related research data. If you want the serum, you should go to the GCPD evidence room."
"Hehe, I admire your composure, Mrs. Langstrom, but I never intended to get the answers from you."
Hearing this, Francine's pupils instantly shrank.
"What do you mean?"
"It doesn't mean anything. It just means that I'll need you to stay here for a while... until I get the formula for the Man-Bat serum."
...
Meanwhile, at the Wayne Foundation charity gala
Bruce and Dick met a few wealthy people from Gotham who came to the banquet. They both wore expensive formal clothes.
Bruce Wayne was quite popular in Gotham, even more than the current popularity of the Phantom Thief.
However, their popularity belonged to different categories.
A group of socialite beauties surrounded Bruce, and the ladies frequently laughed at his humor and wit.
As for Dick, he wasn't very good at dealing with scenes like this.
Although he grew up in Wayne Manor and received training in aristocratic etiquette from Alfred, Dick was always the circus boy at heart.
He didn't like all the rules and formalities of high society.
What he hated even more was pretending to smile and interacting with those so-called rich people.
But it was something he had to do, so Dick reluctantly followed Bruce's lead and surrounded himself with a group of young heiresses.
"Hey, girls, do you like magic? I happen to know a few tricks."
Dick said with a smile while summoning a playing card out of thin air.
Magic was a great way for young people of all places and social levels to impress others.
Especially if a master magician taught him how to do magic, it would be even more impressive.
So it was not surprising that Dick won over the girls.
Bruce was talking to the women, but he was secretly watching how the powerful people in the room acted.
He considered whether they could become potential allies by observing their facial expressions, words, and actions.
Or if they might become the next target of the Caped Crusader.
Suddenly, Bruce's attention was drawn to a man with a grim expression. He had blond hair and was around the same age as Bruce.
He seemed out of place in the venue, with no one around him.
The reason Bruce noticed him wasn't just because he stood out among the crowd; it was because he recognized him.
"Roman Sionis?"
Roman Sionis, who is now the head of the Sionis family, lost both of his parents, just like Bruce.
The difference was that Bruce's parents had died quite young, while Roman's parents had died in a fire just a year ago.
...
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