"Alright, I guess I'm just unlucky tonight."
Theodore, with a stern face, tried to walk past Batman.
"Please move, I'm going ho."
However, Batman's heavy, armored hand silently pressed down on Theodore's shoulder.
Theodore: "!!!"
He snapped his head up, glaring at the man who was like a legendary Gotham nightmare: "What are you doing?!"
Batman didn't let go.
The pressure he applied to Theodore's shoulder wasn't great, but so people's re presence was enough to cause imnse pressure.
"To GCPD, or back to the orphanage?"
Theodore really jumped this ti.
Being able to accurately pinpoint the orphanage ant that Batman, through his mask, had directly seen through his identity—Batman really knew everything!
Theodore gritted his teeth, looking up at Batman, maintaining his last shred of stubbornness.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Batman's tone didn't even change.
He stood in the darkness, his figure sleek and tall, like an unshakeable block of pig iron: "Back to the orphanage, or to GCPD?"
"…Is there a difference between the two?"
"If you go to GCPD, Wayne will pick you up at the police station tomorrow."
"—If I go back to the orphanage, Wayne will pick up at the orphanage tomorrow, right?" Theodore ground his back teeth, finishing the sentence, "Great."
In his opinion, there was absolutely no difference between these two options!
Also, how did the news of Wayne adopting him spread so quickly, reaching Batman in less than a single night?
Theodore probed suspiciously: "Excuse , did I make headlines without knowing it?"
Had his face already been printed on Gotham tabloids, known to all?
"No."
Then how did Batman know all this?
Because he is Batman?
His gaze swept over Batman several tis, and Theodore's mind stirred, a very faint possibility, like a bubble surfacing, erging in his mind.
What if Batman knew about him because he had been following Bruce Wayne's every move?
What if… he said, what if, Wayne's secret child abuse had already been discovered by Batman?
According to rumors, even Penguin and Black Mask had been repeatedly sent to Arkham Asylum by Batman.
So, perhaps Batman wouldn't fear Wayne?
If that were truly the case, then if he asked Batman for help now, could he…
Licking his dry lips, Theodore's heart pounded violently.
The words rolled around on the boy's tongue several tis, finally being tossed out in a very conservative and subtle way.
Theodore stared intently at Batman's face, tentatively asking: "Perhaps, are you very familiar with Mr. Wayne?"
Batman looked down at him.
Theodore couldn't tell his emotions through the white markings on his mask, only feeling that as soon as he heard the na "Bruce Wayne," the man's jaw tightened slightly.
Was this expression disgust? Or caution?
But then, Batman gave an answer that utterly shocked Theodore.
"Wayne is an investor in the Justice League."
Theodore: "!!!"
Good heavens, it was a good thing he hadn't asked Batman for help just now!
Otherwise, wouldn't he have walked right into a trap!
Damn, he understood, Theodore completely understood now.
Bruce Wayne, he's Batman's sugar daddy!!!
It turned out that all the rich people in the world really were cut from the sa cloth.
Playboys living in mansions all liked to keep bats!
Recalling Stanley W. nar, Theodore couldn't help but clench his fists.
He fully spread the wings of his imagination, making a very reasonable guess about Wayne.
Known: Stanley W. nar is a pervert, lives in a mansion, keeps many carnivorous bats in his mansion, and has a basent Theodore doesn't want to recall.
Also known: Bruce Wayne is a pervert, lives in a mansion, and also keeps carnivorous bats (Batman).
Therefore, Theodore thought, it was a very logical inference that Wayne also built a basent, right?
Considering that Bruce Wayne kept not just ordinary bats, but Batman—
Then Wayne's basent was probably not an ordinary basent either, but an enhanced, eighteen-story basent, the kind you even had to take an elevator to go up and down!
Theodore: How terrifying, how could this be! How could this be!!!
Having clarified the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Batman, Theodore didn't want to stay by the other's side for another second and took off running.
Now, he wasn't surprised why Batman could find him: he was probably hired to specifically keep an eye on Theodore.
But Batman still blocked Theodore's path.
"Let go back to the orphanage. If you're uneasy, you can follow." Under the mask, Theodore's teeth gently bit his mouth, "Is that not allowed, Mr. Batman?"
Batman was silent for a mont.
Wanting to adopt Theodore was not a spur-of-the-mont decision.
It wasn't because Theodore held a secret, nor just because Theodore was ruthless, and certainly not because Theodore just happened to have black hair and blue eyes… The last part was purely a coincidence.
Batman just felt that this child was precariously standing on the edge of a cliff.
He possessed skills, keenness, aggression, and intense guardedness far beyond his peers, looking almost like a natural-born villain-in-training.
But Theodore still possessed an unextinguished kindness.
He would speak up for his classmate when he thought Tim was being abused; the little girl at the orphanage would also hug his leg without a care, asking Theodore to diate.
The boy had done his best to trek towards that upright, light-bound direction.
But the boy's body also hid so dark, hatred-related things.
Their existence was like Gotham itself, constantly lurking in the shadows of buildings and alleys, waiting for a mont of weakness to tear hope to shreds.
That was sothing Batman did not want to see.
Batman himself harbored similar monsters within his own body—he himself walked precariously on the edge of a cliff year-round.
The no-kill rule was the last rope Batman held onto for himself. But this boy in front of him, his waist empty, swaying in the strong wind, could leap down from a thousand-ter height at any mont.
As soone who had been there, Batman wanted to pull Theodore back.
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