"Remove the dart, Batman, we should talk," Hugo frowned, but Batman didn't budge and said, "You shouldn't be here, Professor Strange."
"Are you involved in the recent disappearances in the Morson district?" Batman asked.
"No." Hugo immediately denied it, but the Batman dart hovering in the air kept advancing towards him. Hugo hesitated for a moment and slightly retreated. After all, the cold reflection from the sharp edges of the darts wasn't a false threat. If they got any closer, his neck would be slashed.
"Batman, no, it's Bruce, Bruce Wayne... I know your real identity. You're a student at Gotham University. Therefore, I should be the one asking you why you're here," Hugo said, trying to regain the upper hand by revealing Batman's identity. Given that Batman was a student and he was a teacher, he hoped this would put some psychological pressure on Batman.
However, Batman remained unmoved. The hovering Batman dart continued to approach, cornering Hugo against the alley wall. The two bat tags moved closer and closer until they were pressed against Hugo's Adam's apple.
"Are you going to kill your professor?!" Hugo's throat trembled as he asked, "Have you gone mad, Batman?"
"Tell me, are you involved in the disappearances in the Morson district?" Batman stepped closer until Hugo could see the raindrops falling on his cape, leaving tiny droplets behind.
A sense of terror spread through Hugo. Suddenly, one of the darts, spinning on its axis, sliced through Hugo's skin. As fresh blood sprayed out, Hugo instinctively covered his neck and dodged to the side. However, he was met with Batman's fist.
First, a punch hit the side of his face, followed by a knee strike. With no chance to fight back, Hugo was knocked to the ground, landing in the cold puddles of Gotham. He heard Batman ask coldly, "Tell me, are you involved in the disappearances in the Morson district?"
"If you don't want to speak, I can make you speak," Batman added.
"Have you lost your mind, Bruce!!! Are you going to kill your college professor?!... No, it can't be . Could it be that Shiller also... Impossible..." Hugo muttered.
Batman only repeated his question, emotionless. If Hugo didn't answer, he'd continue his violent assault.
Hugo was left disoriented after the beating. His nose bled, the blood first flowed into his mouth and then dripped into the puddle, tinging it red. Curled up on the ground, Hugo heard Batman say:
"Hugo Strange, I've looked into your entire file. A year ago, you were expelled for illegal experiments, then became a fugitive, but dodged the charges through dubious means. Afterwards, you joined another lab, but half a year ago, you were expelled again due to yet another illegal experiment."
"During your experimental process, you showed violent and abusive tendencies, particularly a keen interest in illegal human experiments. Among the subjects of your last project, there were 11 samples similar to the population type missing from the Morson district..."
"Wait a minute!" Victor suddenly asked from the audience, "If these are fragments of Bruce's memory, how did he know all these details? He shouldn't have known Hugo at this time, right?"
"I added it to his memory. However, everything I told him was true. Hugo's expulsion due to illegal human experiments was common knowledge in the field. At this time, Batman would have the ability to find this out," answered Shiller.
"I suppose it's not really unfair..." Shiller stroked his fingers and added, "After all, my past record..."
Shiller shook his head without finishing his sentence. When Victor thought of this, he curiously looked at Shiller and asked, "So how did you manage to avoid getting into such a situation?"
Shiller shook his head again without any intention to answer. Seeing Victor's curious gaze, Shiller simply stated, "I'm just an ordinary person."
Shiller continued to observe the stage where Hugo, now incapacitated, was under the increasing downpour. The scene then collapsed and returned to the endless dark void.
The starlight swirled, and when the scene reappeared, it seemed familiar – the same alleyway, only this time the rain had just stopped, and the cold wind whistling through the streets let out a sobbing cry.
The amplified sound startled Evans, who ducked into his seat. Yet, just like watching a horror film, he watched the stage intently, despite his fear, wondering what had made the noise.
A hand extended from a rubbish bin under an unassuming building, its gloved detail seemingly familiar to Cobblepot. Sure enough, the figure that emerged from the bin was Batman.
He was coughing incessantly and rubbing his eyes. Cobblepot saw some white powder on his mask. He paused for a moment and then scoffed disdainfully, "That's a favorite trick of those low-life thugs. If they can't win, they throw lime into your eyes..."
Evans gasped, "That must be very uncomfortable. Even an eyelash in my eye bothers me for quite a while."
Batman was holding his eye with one hand and clutching his waist with the other. He limped down the alley.
Along the way, he saw a beggar and went over to talk to him. Hugo, who appeared on the second-floor balcony, was still immersed in the rage and fear of Batman's recent beating.
He was muttering to himself, "No... could it have been the same for Shiller... That's right, how could anyone have the upper hand against such a man? Controlling Batman is not that simple, I was too rash..."
"I shouldn't have clashed with him too soon. It seems I need to observe more before making a move..."
So, he stood on the side of the balcony on the second floor, observing Batman's conversation with the beggar. He heard Batman tell the beggar that he was safe, but that was not Hugo's focus. He just wanted to figure out Batman's weakness.
Batman spoke a few words to the beggar and left some money, then left. After he left, Hugo came to the beggar's side. He needed to know what was special about this beggar and whether he could find any weaknesses in Batman based on their conversation.
But as soon as he had jumped down from the second floor and approached the beggar, the sound of two Batman darts cutting through the air rang out again. Batman, who had left, made a return.
What appeared in Hugo's view was Batman's fist, as big as a punching bag.