The Wayne Hospital, located in the South District of Gotham, is a top-notch private hospital funded by the Wayne Family. It enjoys a prestigious reputation along the East Coast with more than a few wealthy outsiders citing their visits to Gotham being for the sole purpose of seeking medical help from here.
However, Bruce Wayne himself seldom comes to this hospital. Even during his outings as Batman, including his previous rescue of those children, he would visit Gotham Central Hospital rather than here.
That's because the hospital's honorary dean is still listed as Thomas Wayne. This hospital was an investment made by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne during their lifetime.
But today, the hospital had become exceptionally busy. One stretcher after another was carried into the surgery room, the scent of blood pervaded the corridors and, to add to this uncertainty and fear, were the continuous cries and screams echoing from the surgery room.
A gust of wind blew open the corridor window, a cold blast piercing through the surgery room door. Inside the surgery room, the operating table and lights were overturned. Bruce strangled a bloody patient by his neck with one hand until he gradually passed out of suffocation.
Bruce let go and stood up, took a deep breath, and then looked towards the nurses who were huddled in the corner of the room. He asked, "Has Doctor Brand arrived yet? What about the other psychiatric doctors and nurses? Get them in here, get the sedative ready."
Just at that moment, the surgery room door was pushed open. The head nurse of the psychiatric department rushed in, disregarding the disorderly scene all around her and immediately shouted, "Strap him into a straitjacket, prepare the sedative!"
Several male nurses stepped forward to pin down the patient. They put him in a straitjacket, strapped him onto the stretcher, and hauled him away. Watching them leave, Bruce rubbed his eyes and turned towards the remaining nurses, "Keep today's events to yourselves. All other patients are to be moved to the intensive care unit for now—postpone any operations…"
"But...but…" a nurse stepped forward to protest, "there are countless people bleeding too heavily—if we don't stop it immediately…"
Bruce sighed, "Is it possible to operate on them without direct contact?"
The nurses exchanged looks, "That's unlikely. If they keep struggling, there won't be a way to stitch them up…"
"Then send them to the psychiatric department first. Initiate treatment after administering sedatives." Bruce suggested, stepping over the overturned objects littering the floor as he walked out of the surgery room.
What he failed to notice was a young, doll-faced nurse among the huddled group in his wake, pressing a hand on her arm. Blood was seeping through the gaps between her fingers - on her arm was a wound that looked freshly clawed.
Out in the corridor, he bumped into another doctor and asked, "Has Doctor Brand arrived? Have you called Professor Shearer?"
The doctor nodded, "Doctor Brand is already in the consultation room. Professor Shearer's butler said that he isn't available to contact at the moment, but he promises to call you as soon as there's news."
Bruce acknowledged him with a nod and quickened his pace towards the consultation room. As he entered, he found Doctor Brand and several other psychiatrists furrowing brows over patient files. One of them was saying:
"This is abnormal. It isn't a typical case of manic behaviour. The dose administered to the previous patient was already at its limit, but their bodily symptoms are…still irregular…"
One of the doctors proposed: "Could it be due to a stress response to pain? They all have varying degrees of damage on their limbs and torsos. Certain mental disorders may cause heightened reactions to pain..."
"But numerous individuals have already lost large amounts of blood; can jumping around a metre high really be considered normal?" A younger doctor countered, "This far exceeds the scope of a stress response – this degree of pain shouldn't be causing them to abandon all rationality. Aren't they aware that such frenzied movement could cost them their lives?"
"Could it veer towards the symptom of neurological spasms? Have epilepsy symptoms been checked?" An older doctor questioned while rubbing his chin.
"No, I highly doubt it's epilepsy. I had a similar case last month…."
Bruce stepped forward, "Gentlemen, have you found anything? The patient that we just brought into the operation room attacked again..."
"Again? That makes four, doesn't it?! Even in cases of mania resulting from dissociative identity disorder, it wouldn't be contagious, would it? Could there be an unknown familial link between them?"
"I've been saying—it's unlikely to be dissociative identity disorder, or split personality…no, it's impossible for so many people to come down with it at the same time…"
Doctor Brand stared at the analysis report, silent as though considering something. Bruce was about to approach him to ask, when a burst of chaotic noise erupted from the corridor:
"God! Stop her now! Nina! Nina, where are you going? Damn it, she scratched me! It hurts!"
"Nina, are you out of your mind? Come back! That's a window you're heading towards! If you fall, you'll be nothing but a smear on the ground!"
Bruce hurried towards the door. Just as he pushed the door open, there was a loud "thud" as a medical trolley slammed against the wall at the far end of the corridor. His hand instantly found its way to the bat darts on his waist.
He saw a figure in a nurse's uniform running upstairs at the end of the corridor and immediately gave chase. Doctor Brand was right behind him.
"Stop her!" Doctor Brand yelled, "This isn't as simple as a mental disorder acting up! We can't let her hurt anyone else!"
Bruce quickly ran upstairs, yelling back, "What the hell is going on? Why are they all suddenly going mad?!"
"There's something wrong with the wound!" Brand's speed was shockingly no slower than Bruce's. He said, "People who have been scratched will go mad... stop her quickly!!!"
As Bruce ran, he looked upwards. From this angle, he could just see the nurse's shoes flash by above his head.
Bruce frowned and picked up the pace, because he noticed the young nurse was wearing high heels and her skirt was totally inappropriate for running. Yet the mad nurse was running faster than he was, which was highly unusual.
Sensing that he may not catch up, Bruce instantly threw two Batman darts. A scream followed by the sound of a heavy object falling echoed from above. Bruce and Brand took shortcuts to reach the top floor of the hospital.
The Batman darts had hit the nurse's shin. But the fallen nurse got up as if she felt no pain at all. She slammed open the rooftop door and rushed out.
Bruce and Brand followed closely. The nurse turned around, her cap fell off and her long hair covered her fierce face. She was panting continuously. Bruce asked, holding a Batman dart in his hand, "Are you sure this isn't a mental illness?"
"I'm certain!" Brand tossed the analysis report he held aside and replied, "Whatever you can do now, beat her with all your might. Trust me, it's for her own good!"
No sooner had he spoken, than Bruce rolled to the side to dodge the furious nurse rushing towards him. He saw the eyes under her black hair were insane and chaotic grey.
He was startled by those grey eyes. But the next second, with a dull thud, the female nurse was sent flying right before her claws reached his shoulder.
Bruce turned around and saw a dark mark on the back of the nurse lying on the ground. Scattered sparks, not yet completely extinguished, fell from her back onto the ground and disappeared into puddles.
Bruce instantly turned to Brand, who retracted his hand and said, "If I tell you this is a new type of firearm, would you believe me?"
"A magician?!" Bruce squinted and looked at Brand, who responded, "You should know by now, none who dares to hide in Gotham from their enemies are ordinary."
Bruce knew that now was not the time to question further. As he approached the edge of the building, he saw through the window of another building several nurses screaming and swinging chairs at a patient who kept lunging at them. A few seconds later, one of the nurses fell to the ground screaming with a new wound on her back.
She lay on the ground wailing and gasping, her face growing pale. At this moment, Bruce looked up at the sky. His arm felt the cold dampness. Gotham was raining again.
"I told you, it's not a mental illness. There's no mental illness in the world that's infectious in this way," Brand walked over, turned the nurse he had knocked down and pointed at her wound, saying to Bruce, "Do you see this wound? If you have any medical knowledge, you should know that a normal wound shouldn't be in this condition..."
"What exactly is going on? Is this some sort of... virus?" Bruce immediately thought of a possibility, but Brand shook his head, "I suspect this may be a curse. A curse that turns people violent, bloodthirsty, and immune to pain."
Just as he finished speaking, with a loud bang, the other half of the rooftop door was broken open as well, and two figures lunged towards Bruce and Brand.
Bruce skilfully dodged away, and Brand waved his hand, a flash of light appeared some meters away, and his figure flashed there.
Bruce examined the two figures closely. They were a man and a woman. The man was wearing a white coat and looked like a doctor from the hospital. The wound on his leg didn't seem to slow him down at all.
The doctor didn't have long hair, so Bruce could clearly see his eyes. They were grey too.
Bruce hesitated for a moment, but the ensuing attack gave him no time to think. He threw three Batman darts, and the doctor staggered back, but his newfound wounds only made him more violent.
Bruce was not wearing the bat suit. He thought his current clothes wouldn't withstand their bites, so he turned to Brand and said, "I need to call for backup, cover me!"
After saying that, Bruce stepped back, pressed his belt, refilled his Batman darts and prepared to face the doctor again.
However, as the rain in Gotham grew heavier, the mist blurred his vision and the opponents became even more violent and agile. Bruce was not overwhelmed by these attacks, he just needed to ensure that he wouldn't get scratched, so it was a bit difficult to fend them off.
"Bang!!!"
All of a sudden, the doctor in front of Bruce paused and then slowly collapsed. What first came into Bruce's sight was a black umbrella handle, and behind it, Shiller's face.
Brand, who was dealing with the other nurse on the side, shouted loudly, "Is this your backup?!"
"I'm afraid it's your backup." Bruce put away his Batman dart and looked at Shiller.
But Shiller turned his head to look down at the hospital. At this moment, the dark clouds once again rolled over Gotham. The last rays of sunlight were swallowed into shadow.
A dense fog rose between the streets, and eerie, shaky shadows paced within it. They looked like wavering human shadows, or fearsome creatures staggering out from deep within the mist.