"Uh, hello? Is this Arkham Asylum? Yes, Brand, it's me, Victor. We met at that dinner party."
"Have you seen Schiller recently? ...Oh, really? Here's the thing, I'm a little worried about his mental state lately. Do you want to ask him to come in?"
"Symptoms? It's hard to say..."
In his office at Gotham University, Victor stood with one hand on his hip and the other holding the phone. "Do you know how terrifying it is? He can finish a meal in fifteen minutes now, and he's actually started eating broccoli!"
"Remember that dinner at the Wayne Hotel? He specifically went into the kitchen and shot that broccoli! Before that, he kept telling me he didn't know how to use a gun..."
Victor switched the phone to his other hand. The hand holding it gradually became younger, and the phone changed from blue to black. Bruce held the receiver and said:
"Yes, Doctor Brand, it's quite serious. Even knowing he had class at ten, he didn't leave until nine-thirty."
"And he didn't even go steal another professor's class just because he missed one. He didn't mention it all day, didn't assign extra homework, and didn't announce an exam for tomorrow..."
"After being late because of Gotham traffic, he didn't even go bother the mayor. I think you'd better get him treated quickly, or I can't imagine what else he might do..."
"Doctor Brand, I found your number in the phone book. I hope you don't mind the disturbance. I'm Mr. Rodriguez's butler, Merkel."
Standing beside the telephone stand, Merkel lowered his voice. "Could you come by tomorrow? ...Oh, is that so? You really don't provide house calls?"
"Yes, I understand. The burden of treating an entire city's mental illnesses rests on one hospital. Of course you must be busy..."