"I can tell." Tim, driving swiftly through the rainy night, said on the phone: "No normal person, after being soaked like a corpse all day, would be lively enough to report to the police. Someone's hunting him? Sounds like the thief calling out to catch a thief."
After hanging up, Tim drove straight to the police station. The station was still brightly lit, but there weren't many people around. Most were out doing rescue work or comforting the public. Otherwise, Tim wouldn't have been called back. He was the only one unoccupied.
The rain outside was quite heavy. Tim tightened his trench coat. But upon entering the station, the coat was drenched and reflected light everywhere. He had to take it off and hang it up first, touch the gun at his waist, and then head for the reception hall.
As he walked in, he saw a slightly overweight middle-aged man standing there. Tim was startled. After looking at so many corpse photos, it was his first time seeing the living, somewhat unsettling. Brand was incredibly ordinary, with no remarkable features on his appearance.
"God, you finally arrived," said Brand, "Brainiac insisted that only you could handle my situation."
"We shouldn't know each other," Tim said, "Of course we might have met. But I haven't come to you for any medical treatments. Do you know who I am?"
"Tim Drake, you live in Wayne Manor. I'm friends with Shiller, naturally, I know you." Brand's reason was flawless, but Tim felt something was off.
"Alright, let's skip the pleasantries," Brand said, "Someone is trying to kill me. I need your and Brainiac's help."
"I don't understand what you mean." Tim looked at the weather outside, "In such weather, even the professor would go home to sleep. Who would chase to kill you now? Braving the storm and flood, how would they kill you?"
"I don't know," Brand said, "I don't know how he plans to kill me, but he's definitely coming. I hope you can protect me."
"Why do you think someone is out to get you?" Tim sighed, asking as if compelled to do so.
"You wouldn't think I'm hallucinating, right?" Brand couldn't help but say, "I'm a psychiatrist. I don't have persecution delusions."
"Hard to say," Tim commented briefly.
"I came to Gotham to hide from enemies," Brand said.
"That's not surprising," Tim nodded, "Generally, outsiders wouldn't come here unless forced."
"Now my enemy is about to arrive."
"Why would he come now?"
"How would I know!" Brand scratched his head, "If he wants to come, he'll come. If I could stop him, I wouldn't need to hide here."
"What makes you think he's coming?"
"I got wind of it," Brand said.
"Then why didn't you run earlier?"
"I ran, but there was an unexpected turn," Brand took a deep breath, "Now, the result is I didn't get away. So I need your help."
"How do you want us to help you?" Tim's hands were in his pockets as he asked.
"Where is Shiller now?" Brand asked.
"I don't know, should be at home," Tim didn't tell the truth, just said casually, "With such heavy rain, everyone should be at their homes."
"But I heard Gotham University has evacuated."
"You sure have heard a lot."
"I want to see Shiller."
"I can't take you to someone's door." Tim said, "First, it's nighttime, the professor might be asleep. Second, we're police, without a search warrant, we can't just knock on doors. Lastly, even if we go, I can't take you; what if you're a psychopath killer?"
Brand's expression said, "Do you hear yourself?"
Tim looked indifferent, "How about this, when it gets light, I'll have Brainiac check if the professor has evacuated, where he went, and then take you to him, alright?"
"No, I need to go immediately," Brand said, "I'm his friend, won't harm him, why can't I see him?"
"Here's the issue, you're his friend, if you want to see him, why go through us?" Tim appeared puzzled, "Why not call him or go to his house directly?"
"No," Brand said, "My enemy might be watching Shiller. If I contact Shiller, he'll come for me immediately."
"So your enemy knows Professor Shiller? Then doesn't this mean going to him might lead to him and your enemy working together to kill you?"
"No way," Brand replied, "I have some rapport with Shiller."
"I don't see it," Tim spoke frankly, "I just told him you reported someone trying to kill you, but he didn't seem concerned, just let me leave without saying anything."
"I must see him," Brand persisted, "Take me to him."
"What if I refuse, what will you do?" Tim raised an eyebrow, taking out his gun.
Brand immediately took two steps back and raised his hand, saying, "No, no, no."
Then, he reacted again and confidently said, "I'm here to report a crime. How can you point a gun at me?"
"Tim," Brainiac reminded. Tim rolled his eyes and put the gun away. He said, "Since you're here to report a crime, then come with me to go through the procedures. Let's start with a statement..."
Brand gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, but Tim didn't look back and headed towards the statement room, so he could only follow.
On the way over, he was paranoid, looking left and right. Tim seemed careless, like a reckless cop, but in fact, he was cautiously observing Brand the entire time.
After observing for a while, Tim realized that Brand didn't seem to be faking it. He really seemed to believe he's in imminent danger, yet even so, showed no sign of superpower. It appeared he wasn't desperate enough.
Tim casually asked, "You said your escape failed; how did it fail?"
"Well, actually, the escape succeeded, but for some reason, I came back," Brand said ambiguously.
Tim immediately realized this might be related to the corpse found in Arkham Mental Hospital. Remembering what Shiller said earlier, Brand might have been replaced. It's highly possible that the real Brand had left, managed to create a fake one, but the fake was killed, and thus the real one returned.
However, the logic was somewhat inconsistent here. No matter who killed the fake, Brand had no reason to come back. Can Gotham be more important than one's life? The fake had already served to buy time, so why did he return?
Tim thought things might not be so simple. He sat in the statement room chair, about to ask Brand for more details when the overhead light started to flicker.
Tim looked up, vaguely seeing some shadows around the lamp. The dense black reminded him of the substance on the corpse. He instantly gave Brand a cold look. But Brand just sat across, seeming normal.
Something indeed felt off. Tim lowered his gaze, opened the statement notebook. As soon as he wrote the first sentence, the words began to distort, turning into unclear black ink blots, like maggots writhing on the ground.
With a snap, he closed the notebook, placed his hands on the table, and looked at Brand, "Tell me about you and your enemy."
"He borrowed some money from me," Brand said, "He doesn't intend to repay, and I don't intend to ask."
"Can't see any reason for enmity."
"Now he wants more."
"This isn't an enemy, it's a robber, isn't it?" Tim saw shadows appear on the wall opposite, making him dizzy, so he closed his eyes.
"Well," Brand opened his mouth and said, "In our line, there's a rule that if you can get money from me, that money should be yours."
"Wouldn't you resist?"
"I resisted, to no avail," Brand sighed.
"Then I should learn from this robber now," Tim half-joked. Brainiac quickly stopped him, reminding the police to maintain decorum.
"You're quite talented," Brand said.
Tim looked up again at the shadow hanging from the ceiling. He lowered his head and said, "I heard you're Mr. Nigma and Mr. Cobblepot's attending doctor."
"Yes, Edward is my patient. Cobblepot might be in the future. But their issues aren't important now. Can we head out?"
Tim pondered internally. Some unusual occurrences appeared around him, and he was certain this wasn't his illusion. He was confident in his control over his psychic battlefield; he knew he was mentally sound and clear-headed. These things could be supernatural phenomena.
Previously, there was a similar black shadow on Brand's corpse, indicating that this might be something Brand brought along. Yet Tim instinctively felt that Brand wasn't attacking him. It might just be some negative effects accompanying his ability.
Could it be that Edward's condition suddenly worsened due to these negative effects? Did these things trigger him to act against Brand?
"Let's be frank," given these abnormal phenomena seemed quite dangerous, Tim wasn't sure he could continue ignoring them, so he decided to be direct, "Brainiac found your corpse in Arkham Mental Hospital, yet here you are perfectly fine before us. Can you explain what happened?"
"You saw that wrong," Brand said firmly, "I evacuated from Arkham Mental Hospital that day, then found a place to hide to avoid my enemies. There can't be any corpse."
Clearly a lie. Because upon hearing he has a corpse, Brand wasn't surprised or curious. Even if he were a Gothamite, the reaction seemed too calm.
"Brainiac extracted your DNA from the water," Tim presented the only evidence.
"He tested it wrong," Brand said, "You can extract my DNA now and test it. It won't match the data he got."
Tim realized Brand didn't intend to hide anything. He's so fearless, knowing that scientific methods can't touch him, so he boldly distorts truths.
"Edward," Tim brought up another name.
"What's wrong with him?" Brand asked back.
Tim immediately understood that Edward definitely had been taken by Brand. Brand had processed his mind and memory beforehand, and Edward might not remember exactly what happened.
Tim's expression cooled down. Brand was like a rotten character parachuted into the ending of a detective novel, completely breaking the ten commandments of detective fiction, violating every entry he could.
No forewarning, having superpowers without prior notice, modifying memory after the fact, even altering scientific test results like DNA. Evidence chains and logical deduction don't apply to him.
Holmes couldn't deal with him, Tim thought. But isn't it coincidental? The "Professor" is also related to him.