The light clinking of knives and forks against the dishes, accompanied by the sound of the wine's fizz, Gordon was the first to raise his glass and say, "Congratulations on your new home!"
Bruce, Harvey, Shiller, and Victor all lifted their glasses. After clinking their glasses together, Shiller took a sip of the slightly spicy wine. After he swallowed it, a warmth rose from his chest. The firelight from the fireplace shone on the wine glass as if it were a burning flame.
"It's about time you bought a house," Harvey said, "I've been telling you, no one should live in faculty apartments for so long. There isn't even a coffee machine there. I only stayed for two nights, and the bed frame had my waist hurting."
"I thought it was okay," Victor said, "The facilities at Gotham University are decent, of course, they can't compare to a manor like this. I hope you can keep a room for me here."
"You're welcome anytime," Shiller raised his glass to him. While cutting the steak on his plate with a dining knife, Bruce said, "You should keep a room for all of us, after all, haven't I kept rooms for you guys at Wayne Manor?"
"That's enough," said Shiller.
"God bless, if I could also buy a big manor in my lifetime, I would be more than happy to leave a room for each of you," Gordon said, taking a bite of sausage."
"So how have you been lately? Should be close to saving up enough, right?" Harvey asked him.
"My income has declined slightly recently, but it's okay," Gordon wiped his mouth with a napkin and then continued, "The Godfather hasn't made any moves, and the other mobs are eager to take action. It might just be the calm before the storm."
"As soon as you've saved up enough, be sure to let me know," said Shiller, gently tapping his fork against his knife.
"What's up?"
"Nothing, it's just that I feel like I could help you look at apartment options, after all, I went through a lot of materials before buying my house."
"That's excellent. I've been fretting about which one to buy. What do you think of the Pelican Community? I actually prefer Jasmine Tail Alley, but considering that in the future we might want a child, it's a bit small there and there's no nursery."
"Have you considered Ninth Avenue? How about coming and being my neighbor?" Harvey asked him with a smile.
"Oh God, it's too far away, and the majority of the residents are bachelors like you, right?"
Shiller, who was lifting his wine glass to drink, snickered. Gordon looked at him puzzled, and Shiller laughed and said, "You've been so busy lately, you didn't even know this."
"What happened?" Gordon looked at Harvey and asked, "Did I miss something? Isn't he still a bachelor?"
Victor asked, "Did you and Christine finally get together officially? You will have to be careful at school, you know, she has almost as many male admirers as you have female ones."
"Well, that happened last week," Harvey shrugged and said.
Bruce, looking quite surprised, said to him, "Really? Good heavens! You managed to woo Gotham University's sexiest and prettiest girl so quickly. I always thought you were a major bookworm."
Shiller gently struck the edge of the plate with his fork again and said, "I hope you weren't trying to imply something. Did you think you were invited to share this dining table because you only scored 69 in your final exams?"
Everyone started laughing, the fireplace flames roaring. The reflected light from the numerous metal utensils on the dinner table sent out one soft ring of light after another. The overlapping glows lit up the entire room.
After dinner, they all sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. Harvey was a bit tipsy, he said, "What's this? Our bachelor night? Gordon's getting married too, so we can still have some fun like this before he does..."
"I have to go now," Victor had already put on his coat and hat. Shiller turned to look at him, and then said, "Take the bag by the door with you. There are two bottles of wine in there, along with a pack of cigars."
"Oh! Thank you. You're willing to give me these good things from Cuba!" Victor opened the bag and laughed.
"If I remember correctly, the other day it was your and your wife's wedding anniversary..."
"Oh, sorry, we didn't know!" Bruce said, "Professor Fries, I'll send a gift to your office tomorrow."
"No, no, no need to be so polite," Victor laughed and said, "Truth be told, it's enough that you guys can understand me."
Victor was expressing his genuine feelings. After all, the idea of freezing his wife in a low-temperature freezer might seem a bit horrifying, and he had no hope that anyone could understand such a crazy action. The best response he has had so far was people advising him to accept mortality and move on.
However, his newly met friends in Gotham were mostly very tolerant of this. They weren't afraid to bring it up, and Victor didn't like it when people looked at him with sympathy, tiptoeing around him whenever the topic of marriage and family came up. That made him feel like a jinx.
But these friends were different. It seemed as though his wife was just slightly ill, and they didn't forget about her when there were events. This comforted Victor, as if his wife was just in the hospital because of a regular disease and would recover soon.
After Victor left, Gordon soon followed. Bruce leaned back on the couch and said, "See, these are all busy guys. It's only us, us useless fellows, who can spend the entire night drunken here."
"Actually, just you, Mr. Billionaire. I still have to go revise my thesis later, and Harvey has to write his petitions. It's just you, the idle billionaire with the empty head…"
Bruce leaned on the sofa, eyes closed. He waved his hand, not saying anything. It was clear he was a bit drunk. Harvey put on his jacket and suggested, "I'll take him home. We shouldn't let him get drunk here."
"He has a phone in his pocket. Find it and give his butler a call. They can pick you up with a helicopter. No need to drive."
"In Gotham, what's drunk driving? I can even go up to 120 mph..." Bruce slurred.
"Yeah, yeah, our genius race car driver..."
After Harvey had carried Bruce away, Shiller moved to the other side of the living room, picked up the telephone receiver, and began dialing.
Soon, the lights in the manor gradually dimmed, and Gotham fell into profound darkness again.
The next day, Gotham University's Principal Sheldon sat in his office, arms crossed, saying with uncertainty, "You're saying, Professor Rodriguez has been hospitalized due to injuries? … Well, alright, send a colleague to visit him on our behalf."
In the afternoon, Shiller, lying on the hospital bed, received flowers from Anna, "Ah, thank you, you're too kind...."
Just as he was about to continue speaking, Gordon rushed in. Seeing that another person was present, he hesitated. After Anna stepped out, Gordon looked around the place. It was a premium single room at Gotham Central Hospital, extravagantly furnished. Shiller was lying in bed under a blanket, looking normal from his facial expression.
Gordon walked up with hands on his hips, "I heard you got attacked last night, damn, I should've stayed a bit longer…"
Shiller chuckled dismissively. Gordon said, "You can still laugh about it. Earlier, you knew that those Metropolis guys might be coming for you, yet you let your guard down and let them get away with it. Where were you hurt? Organs or bones?"
Then, he added somewhat irritably, "And where the hell is Batman? If he had stayed with you, this wouldn't have happened!"
"You seem to have a lot of faith in him, but I wouldn't want him staying here overnight. His butler can be more terrifying than most people."
"Really…" Gordon looked Shiller up and down, "Are you really injured? I can't see any signs."
He glanced at his watch and said, "Besides, we left at midnight, and it's only 7 something in the morning now. Your wounds healed that fast? Even if it was just a scratch, it would usually take at least a dozen hours. Or is the medical technology in Central Hospital simply that advanced now?"
Shiller waved his hand at Gordon, signaling him to calm down. Then he threw off the blanket and got up. He walked over to the window, stretched, and Gordon watched, startled, as he moved just like he was perfectly fine.
"Damn it! You're not injured at all!" Gordon exclaimed, "I got the news and rushed here all the way!"
"I'm touched." Shiller said, "Your old pick-up truck actually made it from the police station to the hospital in just 20 minutes. Did you attach a propeller or something to it?"
"Like I said, I got first place in the driving course at the police academy!"
Then Gordon shook his head, "Is that the point? Isn't the point why are you pretending to be sick? Are you finally fed up with the students at Gotham University?"
"Of course not... okay, maybe a little bit, but that's not the point..."
"Do you know how I got the news? This morning, the police station was in complete chaos because they heard Arkham Mental Hospital would have to temporarily close since they're without a resident doctor. I have never seen them so devastated…"
"Yeah, it's not just the police who are saddened about Arkham Mental Hospital closing down."
Gordon frowned, and after thinking for a while, said, "The Mob won't just give up. They've already had a taste of that industry."
"Exactly, they're probably more anxious than you right now. After all, you've almost saved enough money and all you're aiming for is an apartment. It's a different story for them."
"Why do this? What's the benefit of dangling them?"
"I got hurt, and the mental hospital is not operating. That means the fat duck that was about to enter their mouth has flown away. So, why do you think I got hurt?"
"Why... are you trying to frame those people from Metropolis?" Gordon finally understood, "You want to use these mobs to weed out those guys. Once they find out that you've been attacked by the Metropolis guys, they will surely dig them out and take them down since those guys are the reason the mental hospital had to close."
Gordon was pacing around the room, speaking as he walked, "Many have invested time and effort into embedding their businesses into the mental hospital, they won't be willing to just give up. It's like the final step in making a pizza, they won't want to stop."
"With your illness, they will definitely find all kinds of ways to investigate what has actually happened. The police already know who did it, it's not reasonable that those mob bosses won't."
"But how can you be so sure that they will go after those people from Metropolis? What's stopping them from acting like before and just using someone else to replace you?"
"You're injured, but that doesn't mean that the mental hospital definitely has to close. They don't know this is your plan. They might just think, since the resident doctor is sick, why don't we just replace him?"
"They indeed don't know, but Falcone does. And that's enough."