Victor flew down, and the instant Dr. Stone saw him, his expression turned to surprise—or rather, panic.
"What are you doing?" Victor asked, suppressing his anger. "What did you do to Mom?!"
"Victor, listen to my explanation." Dr. Stone quickly calmed down. "But first, I need to know who besides you knows you came here."
Victor really wanted to curse him out, but he held onto the last shred of his reason and gritted out, "Bruce helped me find you."
Dr. Stone's lips pressed into a tight line at once, as though he was deeply dissatisfied with that answer. "Call him now and tell him I'm fine, that it was all a misunderstanding. Otherwise, I won't tell you anything."
Victor stared at him in disbelief. Dr. Stone stepped forward and said, "Listen, Victor. I've never done anything out of line in my life, but they struck first. I'm just... I'm just correcting this mistake."
Victor vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He stared hard at Dr. Stone and said, "What exactly did you do?"
"Message Bruce Wayne first."
Victor took two steps back. "No. This isn't right. Do you remember teaching me not to lie?"
"Yes, I remember. But this time is an exception." Dr. Stone spread his hands. "Your mother has always been an exception, hasn't she?"
At the mention of his mother, Victor finally couldn't hold himself together. He punched the nearby tree, his entire body trembling.
"Victor, trust me. I loved her no less than you did. Everything I've done was for her..."
Victor looked at Dr. Stone and saw the solemn expression on his face, with not the slightest trace of pretense. He squeezed his eyes shut, pulled out his phone, and, worried that his tone would give him away, simply sent Bruce a message.
He