"I suppose I've told you, you're expelled, right?" Shiller put down the file, looked up at Bruce and said, "Also, I'm not teaching now."
"I still don't know why you're not a professor anymore." Bruce said, but Jonathan let out a sharp laugh, looked into Bruce's eyes and said, "You don't think it's because of you, do you? Of course not! He taught you for four years without resigning."
Bruce slightly frowned, Jonathan turned his body back and said, "Because his office shredder is broken."
Bruce looked at Shiller, Shiller continued to write and said, "This means, I must let the terrible academic garbage I received from students stay in my office overnight. Compared to this, I would rather provide some psychological treatment help for the madmen in entire Gotham."
Jonathan laughed crazily. The four words 'rejoicing in others' misfortunes' were written all over his face, but Shiller was still indifferent. He finally finished the materials at hand, looked up at the two of them and said, "Well, if there's nothing else, you should leave. I have a patient to see."
Jonathan was laughing, put his hand on Bruce's shoulder, Bruce subconsciously caught his wrist, Jonathan agilely drew back his thin arm, shrugged and said, "Let's go, Mr. Rich. I'll tell you how that poor shredder broke."
After Jonathan and Bruce left, Shiller looked at the room door for a long time without uttering a word. Until the doorbell was rung again, Shiller glanced down at his watch, adjusted his collar and tie, walked over and opened the door. There was a man and a woman standing outside.
"Good evening, Mrs. Friss. I'm glad to see you again."
Shiller and the woman in casual sportswear hugged lightly. The woman smiled and said, "Just call me Nora."
"Alright, please come in."
Shiller held the door and stepped aside to let Nora and Victor in. Victor looked around Shiller's new office, seemingly looking for a place to sit.
"Come over here." Shiller walked towards the sofa area carrying a tray, put the teapot and cup on the table, while Victor assisted Nora to sit on the sofa, then he went to sit on a single seat sofa on the other side.
"You said you're glad to see me again, but this is my first time seeing you." Nora spoke, her voice still somewhat weak, but a smile still hung on her face. She continued, "But your voice is very familiar to me. On the many nights in the lab, you accompanied Victor, I remember every word in your conversations."
"It's my honor, Madam." Shiller put the cup in front of Nora and asked, "How does it feel to regain mobility?"
Nora did not express much excitement, she just pursed her lips and said, "I feel a bit confused."
"Because it doesn't look like current medical technology can cure your disease?" Shiller guessed with conviction in his tone.
So Nora's confusion turned into worry. She looked at Shiller and said, "Doctor, you must tell me the truth. What exactly did my husband do to bring me back to life?"
Victor's eyes widened slightly, his grip on the armchair tightened, then he looked at Shiller. Shiller remained expressionless, he looked at Nora and said, "He's done a lot of research."
"Doctor, you don't have to lie to me. I'm a cryogenic scientist too, I know it very well. Even if all the equipment in the cryogenic lab displayed their functions, it would be insufficient to enable me to control my physical activities in a way I have never experienced before, this is not within the boundaries of cryogenic or neurological science."
"Madam, some things need not to be so clear." Shiller lowered his head slightly, propped his forearm on his knee and said, "Your disease has a perfect treatment program, you regain mobility, and can spend time with your husband, this is good for anyone."
"But if my husband does anything illegal, regardless who it's for, I cannot accept it!" Nora's gaze was very firm, she looked at Shiller and said, "If it's for me, I would rather lie back."
"Madam, I admire your sense of justice, and I assure you, Victor definitely has not done anything unjust, you do not need to worry."
The grip of Victor's fingers gradually loosened, Nora seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief, she took a sip of water from the cup and said, "It's like a miracle. I still can't quite confirm whether I'm dreaming or not."
"Then tonight might be a good time to confirm." Shiller cracked a smile and said, "What you two should have is a candlelight dinner, not psychotherapy."
"We just wanted to see you." Victor spoke and said, "I think the first thing we should do upon our reunion is to see you."
Victor did not speak clearly, but Shiller got his meaning. He stood up, made a gesture of seeing off the guests, and said, "Well, you've seen me now. Coincidentally, the Cobblepot restaurant branch opens today. I will make a call to reserve seats for you two."
"You really don't have to, doctor. You've done too much for us already."
"Consider it as helping me by patronizing."
Shiller walked towards the phone without further words. Victor sat next to Nora, holding her tightly. Nora leaned against his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
After leaving Arkham Hospital, Bruce drove back to Wayne Manor. However, he drove slowly from the main gate to the front door. Seeing Alfred greeting him at the door, he revealed a smile, but it was not warm, but somewhat excited instead.
Alfred took off his coat, Bruce stretched his shoulders, tidied up his tie, and then heard a burst of wind coming from behind. He instinctively dodged a little, "bang", a black shadow pounced on the sofa.
"Jason, you're finished!" A sharp female voice came out, another petite figure swept over like a tornado, with a "swoosh", jumped on the sofa, strangled the neck of the figure just pounced.
Jason sprung up, escaped from Harley's chokehold, his right hand grabbed the side, picked up a throw pillow and threw it at Harley's head, turned and ran, he also shouted as he ran, "You damn mad woman! I don't have time to mess with you, I have homework to do!"
"Know-it-all bibendum, give me back my baseball!"
"I didn't take your baseball, Tim took it and then framed me, you damn blockhead!"
"Who are you calling an idiot?!"
The two kids began pushing and tussling with each other. Having grown up in a middle-class family, Harley was no match for the daily roughhousing of Jason, the king of the kids. Realizing that she couldn't beat him, she briskly darted behind Bruce.
With his adrenaline pumping, Jason threw a cushion after her. Consequently, the cushion whacked Bruce's face.
Bruce's face immediately turned sour, he growled, "Enough!"
But, Jason and Harley paid him no heed. The two of them raced about, moving further away and out from the main hall into the backyard.
As Bruce was about to step away, he heard a shout from up the stairs, "Bruce, you're back! I have a question to ask you."
Looking up, he saw Dick waving at him. Bruce looked back at Jason and Harley wreaking havoc in the garden, took a deep breath, climbed the stairs and smiled at Dick, "Which question? Let me have a look. I can help you with it."
But Dick seemed perplexed. He looked at Bruce and said somewhat blankly, "You help me solve? Why would you help me solve?"
"Aren't you unsure?"
"But, if you solve it for me, it becomes cheating. What I meant was you explain it to me, and I'll do it myself. Come on, let's go to my bedroom."
After saying that, Dick took Bruce to his room. He sat down by the desk and got a chair for Bruce. However, both the chairs in his room were designed for teens and Bruce, a grown man, somewhat crammed into it.
Bruce frowned a bit, suppressing the discomfort in his waist. He looked at Dick's assignment and asked, "Which question? I'll explain it to you."
Dick pointed to a problem. Bruce scanned it and found it was a very simple math problem. A fleeting flash of impatience crossed his features, yet he briefly explained the steps of the problem. However, Dick pointed to another problem and Bruce had no choice but to continue explaining.
Dick kept pointing out five to six problems and eventually Bruce couldn't help but blurt out, "Can't you even solve such simple problems?!"
Immediately realizing that his tone was harsh, he took a deep breath and said, "What I meant was, I have some work tonight. You do it on your own for now, and I'll explain it to you later when I return."
Dick showed a disappointment on his face. However, Bruce had already gotten up and was heading towards the door. Turning around, Dick asked, "What work do you have?"
On the doorstep, Bruce paused, looked back at Dick, and said in a mysterious tone, "There's plenty of justice left to be served in this city, isn't there?"
Dick blanked for a moment, smacked his lips and said, "Oh, right. You're going to be Batman now. Okay, go ahead. I'll handle it on my own."
After saying this he turned away, leaving Bruce puzzled due to his attitude. But without giving it much thought, he stepped outside and saw another boy sitting on the couch. Bruce felt a headache coming on.
"Hey, Bruce, you're going out?"
"Yes, I'm going to…" Bruce dragged out the syllable but said nothing afterward. Tim, who was sitting on the couch, blinked and said, "Do you need the car? If not, I'm taking Elisha for a spin."
"You're going to drive the Batmobile?"
Upon hearing this, Tim frowned and said, "Yes, don't you remember? Elisha only likes the Batmobile."
"But you…" Bruce paused again, but waved his hand and said, "Never mind, suit yourself. I'm going down to the basement. Might not be back tonight."
Finishing his sentence, Bruce began rushing towards the basement door. Before he could get halfway, there was a "bang," and the front door flew open. Clark rushed in like whirlwind, grabbed Bruce's arm and started pulling him outside.
"Hurry, Bruce, it's an emergency! The photo I took for you a week ago can't be used due to a problem with the angle. Quick, put on your Bat Armor. We need to go to the rooftop and reshoot."
Bruce's eyes widened. Before he could counter, another figure stormed in. The black-haired princess grabbed Bruce's other arm and said, "Bruce Wayne, what short memory you have?! Didn't you promise to go to the base today? Do you know how much work you have left? Hal and I have been waiting for you till we're sick!"
"Diana, let him go. He has to reshoot the picture right now, otherwise we'll miss tomorrow's headline! The editor will kill me!"
"What's more important, your tittle-tattle news or the safety of the earth?!" Diana roared.
"But there's no danger to the earth at the moment. If I don't hand in the photo, I'll be in danger!"
After saying so, Clark yanked Bruce. Bruce instinctively yelled out in pain. But Diana, not to be outdone, tugged Bruce to her side and said, "I made arrangements with him first, so he should come with me!"
Just then, another "bang" came from the direction of the front door, a frost-covered Thomas Wayne entered, shouting at Bruce.
"Bruce Wayne, you are a disgrace to the Wayne Family! You actually got expelled by your college professor?!"