Bab 900: Chapter 613: Morbid Crisis (II) _1
In a hospital in Gotham, Lex has bandages wrapped around his forehead and Bruce has his arm bandaged. Their arguing can be heard down two corridors, but whether it can be understood is another question.
Clark, standing outside the door with his arms crossed, says to the Bat Cat on his shoulder, "I don't understand what they are arguing about. I don't understand anything they are saying..."
To his surprise, the Bat Cat on his shoulder steps on him, sharpens its claws on the wall, and then asks, "What is that Lex talking about?"
"You don't understand either, right? Even if they have academic disagreements, they can discuss it calmly. There's no need for fighting. Fighting is wrong."
Who would have thought, the Bat Cat, with a "whoosh", jumps off his shoulder and rushes into the ward. It starts "meowing" at Lex. Bruce turns to Lex and says, "See, he agrees with me. Your approach is too radical. Have you ever considered the consequences of energy leaks?"
"I've said it before, my safety measures are solid. It's you, you're too conservative. And about the issue of human experimentation..."
"You want to conduct human experiments?" Clark initially wanted to catch the Bat Cat. But hearing Lex talking about human experimentation, he quickly responds in a stern tone: "No matter what, absolutely not!"
Lex takes a deep breath and says, "I'm talking about legal and reasonable human experiments. Don't you know about clinical trials?!"
"If we don't use humans for the trials, how will we know the effects of this energy on humans! Why can't we enlist volunteers?"
"This is different from medication." Clark retorts: "That energy looks very dangerous. I still support disposing all of them into the sun."
"No." Bruce contradicts Clark, "We can't stop researching an energy source just because it's dangerous. Initially, nuclear energy was a dangerous source to mankind, but we can use it to accomplish a lot."
"So, you should be on my side!" Lex yells. "Establish a laboratory that covers the entire Gotham underground, and recruit clinical trial volunteers at the same time."
"The situation in Gotham underground is complicated. Plus, my current lab is sufficient." Bruce rejects this proposal.
"Yeah, you have your own cave. I mentioned building a base, but you disapprove. Bruce, you want to outpace my research with such underhanded methods. I must say, you're feeling guilty..."
"I won't allow you to establish a base in Gotham, Luther. I know the kind of person you're, if the Luthor Family sets up a base here, your next step would be to 'recruit' volunteers through illegal means." Bruce looks at Lex and asks him, "Can you assure me that you won't do it?"
Lex gazes forward and doesn't answer. But just as Bruce said, he simply doesn't care about the lives of the common folk. He isn't on the same side as Batman and Superman.
"I suggested you could take a fraction of the dark energy back to Metropolis, but you disagreed." Bruce said.
"Was it me who disagreed?!" Lex raises his voice, but Clark immediately interjects, "Bruce, how could you? You should support me, destroy this energy. Instead, you want him to take it back to Metropolis. Are you afraid that it won't harm the common people?"
Lex and Bruce both take a deep breath.
The three of them are stuck in an unbreakable cycle of disagreement. Lex is a radical, Bruce the neutral, and Clark the conservative, each representing a different standpoint.
Lex and Bruce are both researchers, while Clark is security personnel, meaning they have different roles.
Lex belongs to the evil faction, while Bruce and Clark are part of the law-abiding faction; a conflict between good and evil.
Lex and Clark both hail from Metropolis, while Bruce is a Gothamite, so they have different territorial positions.
When these three come together, no matter the topic, they can argue endlessly.
Whenever Lex puts forward a solution, Bruce and Clark consider it too evil and reject it.
Whenever Clark suggests a solution, Bruce and Lex find it too conservative and lacking professionalism, thus rejecting it.
Whenever Bruce puts forward a solution, Lex or Clark would reject it due to the different interests of Gotham and Metropolis.
Adding Cobblepot and instigator Pikachu to the mix, these few in the ward could have over thirty arguments a day, giving headaches to the doctor and nurses.
If Clarke wasn't present, they might physically persuade each other, but Clarke firmly believes in not resorting to physical fights. So, whenever they are about to engage, Superman unleashes his powerful strength, suppressing them, thus reverting to verbal arguments.
A week has passed in this manner. These people are tired of arguing and have started to despise each other. Lex, who is the least injured, is the first to recover. He doesn't want to say another word to this bunch, so he plans to be discharged and return to his research at Gotham University.
On the morning of his discharge, he packs while turning on the TV, then says, "I've been so busy arguing with you guys these past few days, I haven't had time to watch the news. Let's see, any new updates..."
Just as the television switched on, Bruce, who was still in a slumber, was startled awake. He rolled over as Clark moved into the room with breakfast, one plate for each of them. Clark then leaned against the wall and began to eat.
With the newspaper at hand, Bruce blocked the glow of the television. He was more accustomed to reading the newspaper during breakfast, rather than watching the more modern television.
But at that moment, the television-viewing Lex and newspaper-reading Bruce froze. Television reports and headlines on the front page of the newspaper both reported the same murder case.
"...Our reporter captured precious footage from the crime scene, but for humanitarian reasons, some images have been blurred..."
"According to reporters on scene, the sight is too gruesome. Most of the eyewitnesses are undergoing professional psychological counseling and are temporarily unable to answer police inquiries..."
"The following images may cause discomfort for some viewers, please watch with caution..."
With that phrase from the presenter, a black background photo flashed onto the television screen. Most parts of the photo were covered by mosaic, but it was apparent that it was a person, sitting on a chair, gazing upwards.
Evidently, this was normal posture. However, the mosaic-covered parts gave away blood and guts spilling, indicating this person was not willingly seated. His arms were gone, and thus, his upper torso was directly tied onto the chair via wires, with his ankles nailed to the chair legs.
His chest and abdomen were split open, organs and intestines spilled across the ground. Yet, the only part that was not brutally redacted was the victim's head.
The victim's eyes were gouged out, even the skin around the eyes was torn, revealing a skeleton-like framework of eye sockets.
And now, two objects were lodged into each socket. The photo was not very clear, but both Lex and Bruce recognized them - two miniature telescopes.
Even the hardened Bruce and Lex were taken aback by this grisly scene. Clark had to spit out his breakfast and began to dry retch.
Though blurred, the bloody sections were not scary. However, the visible part - the head, was both terrifying and eerie, delivering a great visual shock.
As the image disappeared from the screen, the presenter continued, "The deceased was 53 years old, the president of a central bank in Metropolis. His body was found in the middle of the road in front of the bank. There were about a hundred witnesses, but no trace of the perpetrator was found..."
The eyes of Bruce and the Bat Cat narrowed simultaneously. Obviously, they were both thinking about the other case; the murder of the bank president cat in Cat City Gotham.
The identity, the location - everything was a perfect match making it hard not to associate the two.
Lex grabbed his bag, ready to leave. Bruce, arm not entirely healed, also stood up, stopped Lex and said, "I will go to Metropolis with you."
"You're a Gothamite, don't come to Metropolis all the time," Lex turned his head, looking at Bruce.
"You must have thought of it too - this is connected with the Owl. Anything relating to the Owl requires my involvement in the investigation," Bruce got up from the bed, stood in front of Lex, "You should know, even if you disagree, I have other ways."
At this moment, Bat Cat cried out, indicating he wanted to go too. Clark, still reeling from the shock and nausea, held the Bat Cat and standing between the two men said, "You're going to investigate this murder? I also want to go, the perpetrator is too... too..."
Clark struggled for words. As he was saying that he wanted to go, Bruce and Lex immediately united. Lex spoke first, "There's no need, Wayne and I can handle it."
Bruce also chimed in, "When I am not in Gotham, I need someone to help maintain order. I will contact Detective Gordon, he can use your help."
Clark stood there with an open mouth, not understanding why both of them were refusing to let him join their investigation. However, he thought about Gotham's troubling state of security, and felt the need to uphold justice, so he nodded, "Alright, staying here will be fine."
The Bat Cat tried to jump off his shoulder and join Bruce's team, but Clark held him back, saying, "No, you must stay here with me. You are half a local here; if there's anything I don't understand, I will need you for guidance."
The Bat Cat struggled desperately. By the time Bruce and Lex had disappeared from his field of vision, he was still unable to break free from Clark's grip. Pikachu hopped onto Clark's other shoulder and told the Bat Cat, "I advise you not to go. This is not a cat's world."
The Bat Cat in Clark's grip sighed. As he was about to make a last desperate attempt, the television broadcast broke again with urgent news:
"We have just received news. Two minutes ago, the police discovered another murder. They initially believe it was committed by the same perpetrator of the previous bank president murder. Our reporter is on the frontline in capturing footage from the crime scene. The upcoming images may cause discomfort in some viewers, please watch with caution..."
Appearing on the screen was another figure, seated on a chair.
This time it was a woman, also missing both arms and restrained by wires to the chair just like the previous victim. However, this time, it was not the eyes that were missing, but the ears.
The corpse's ears had been cut off, all nearby skin and tissue was also gone. Inserted into the ear canals of the skull were what seemed to be two horn-shaped signal receivers.
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