Inside the temporary confinement zone on the second level of the Batcave, Norman Osborn rubbed his eyes and woke up.
Soreness, weakness, hunger...
The moment he awoke, various negative conditions surged over him like a tide, leaving him with barely enough strength to even rub his eyes.
"How long have I been asleep?" Norman Osborn asked himself.
He closed his eyes and tried to recall for a long time, and the final answer he arrived at was also: a long time.
The last image Norman Osborn could recall was being on the third basement level of Oscorp, attempting human experimentation with the corporation's senior scientists. He was locked inside an octagonal enclosure, and the Super Soldier Serum spraying out in a mist blurred his vision.
As for other memories, Norman Osborn racked his brains but couldn't come up with anything. He just had a vague, trance-like feeling that a long time had passed, and that too many things had happened.
Those images, devoid of specific details, played in his mind like dreams. He only remembered fire, gunshots, and... and bats!
Norman Osborn shuddered instantly and forced his eyes open.
"Harry?"
The first thing Norman Osborn saw when he opened his eyes was a rough, unrefined "ceiling." The second thing was Harry Osborn, lying fast asleep beside him.
Norman Osborn had forgotten a lot, but he would never forget who his son was.
Ignoring where he actually was, Norman Osborn hurriedly crawled over, attempting to wake Harry Osborn.
"You cannot wake him for the time being." A deep voice rang out by Norman Osborn's ear.
"Who is it?" Norman Osborn looked toward the source of the sound.
At the entrance of the Batcave's second level, which wasn't very bright but not pitch black either, shadows shrouded a dark, human-shaped silhouette. Norman Osborn could vaguely make out a pair of sharp, pointed ears on the figure's head.
In an instant, images flashed through Norman Osborn's mind: he was standing alone on the banks of the East River, surrounded by darkness, with ghastly shadows threatening to swallow him whole.
But as the entrepreneur who single-handedly founded a multinational corporation like Oscorp, Norman Osborn remained relatively calm. He pushed aside those inexplicable images in his mind and cautiously sized up the black figure:
"Hello?"
"Who are you?"
Norman Osborn watched the other party warily, calmly positioning his body to shield the sleeping Harry Osborn.
Whoever it was, the environment here certainly didn't look good... Had he been kidnapped?
"I am Batman." The dark figure's voice was deep and powerful.
"Bat..."
Norman Osborn became even more convinced that the other party was a kidnapper. This time, he shifted his body to completely shield Harry Osborn.
With this movement, Norman Osborn discovered a new issue: his eyes had been focused solely on Harry earlier, and he had subconsciously ignored the fact that there were three other people lying beside them.
Two had rugged features. One had a white beard—it was clearly Lieutenant General Thaddeus E. Ross of the U.S. Air Force, who had once collaborated with Oscorp and forced Norman Osborn to conduct human experiments, even personally participating.
Norman Osborn didn't recognize the other two at all, especially the guy with green skin and a towering cranium who looked like he had the brain capacity of three Normans.
"What do you want to do, Batman? How much money do you want?" Norman Osborn was no longer just shielding his son, Harry Osborn.
Including that bizarre-looking Leader, he shielded all four sleeping bodies behind him and tried his best to keep his composure as he asked Batman.
"I am not a kidnapper." Batman's voice was as cold as stone.
"What did you do?" Norman Osborn's heartbeat began to accelerate. "You don't want money? Then what do you want? I don't recall ever offending you."
Batman quietly gazed at Norman Osborn without speaking.
"What did you do?" Norman Osborn asked again.
"I saved your life," Batman spoke this time. "You were injured in a severe laboratory accident, which triggered profound memory impairment."
Injured? Memory impairment?
Norman Osborn thought of the last image he could remember from the third basement level of Oscorp.
"Then what about Harry? What happened to him? Why is he here?"
"He attempted to save you, but was also injured," Batman said.
"But I don't see any wounds on him, or on these three guys," Norman Osborn pointed at The Leader and the others. "Except for this big-headed green monster."
"As a scientist, you should know that injuries do not always present with external wounds." Batman's voice remained unchanged.
Besides being an entrepreneur, Norman Osborn was also a biologist. He nodded at the words, but he did not believe Batman:
"I wish to see some... something like evidence, for instance."
"Follow me." Batman finished speaking and turned, disappearing into the shadows.
Only then did Norman Osborn see that there was an exit leading to the upper level where Batman had vanished.
He looked at the unconscious Harry Osborn and the others on the ground. After thinking for a moment, he struggled to his feet and walked toward the exit, stumbling along the way.
The exit was merely the way out of the Batcave's second underground level. When Norman Osborn emerged from it and arrived at the first level of the Batcave, he stared blankly for a long while at Batman, who was wearing the Arkham suit, and at Venom Robin nearby, who was wearing a white shroud suit and stuffing chocolate into his mouth.
Norman Osborn composed himself and asked Batman:
"Where is the evidence? The evidence that Harry, the others, and I are injured."
"This is a radiation detection instrument. You should know how to use it." Batman pointed to a device prepared in advance within the Batcave. "Use it to scan your own body."
Norman Osborn walked over slowly, half-believing and half-doubting. While sizing up the instrument, he used his peripheral vision to observe the layout of the Batcave.
"If you want to leave, you can do so at any time." Batman didn't look at Norman Osborn, yet he seemed to have noticed his furtive glances at the surroundings. "But given your condition, there is a very high probability that you will unintentionally cause destruction and harm to everything around you."
"That serious?" Norman Osborn looked down at his hands. After hesitating for a moment, he activated the detection instrument.
Ten minutes later, Norman Osborn frowned deeply as he looked at the data provided by the instrument's scan.
"My body actually has radiation? Judging by the radiation wavelength, it should be Gamma radiation."
Batman looked at Norman Osborn. Venom Robin also glanced at him, then continued stuffing chocolate into his mouth, eating until both his cheeks puffed out.
Frowning at the data for a long time, Norman Osborn cast his gaze toward Batman and asked two questions:
"Can you tell me what exactly happened? My physical condition right now looks terrible."
"Besides me, do Harry and the others also have Gamma radiation in their bodies? I noticed you didn't isolate me from them."
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