Half an hour later, Wayne Manor.
Bang!
The hidden elevator doors in the underground Batcave were shoved open.
Alfred, who had been polishing a silver tea set, turned around. When he saw who had walked in, he nearly dropped the cup in his hand.
"Good heavens, Master Bruce!"
Alfred hurried over. Taking in the mud covering Bruce, the horrific scabbed wound on his forehead, and the shoddy bandages seeping blood across his back, the old butler's eye twitched violently.
"You look as though you wrestled a mutant crocodile in the sewers. And lost."
"No time to explain, Alfred." Bruce ripped off the sour-smelling plaid shirt, revealing powerful muscles covered in fresh wounds.
"Stitch up my back again, quickly! Give me a large dose of adrenaline and painkillers."
"Master Bruce, you've already pushed your body beyond its limits!" Alfred swiftly opened the first aid kit as he warned sternly, "What you need now is a clean bed and antibiotics, not another fight!"
"Not tonight." Bruce lay facedown on the stainless-steel operating table, gritting his teeth as he gripped its edges.
"Falcone is making a human trafficking deal at the Ace Chemicals docks. Gordon and Harvey are already there. They can't handle heavily armed gangsters. And... the man who saved my life is there, too."
Alfred deftly cut away the shoddy bandages. At the sight of the knife wound, deep enough to expose bone, he drew a sharp breath.
"The man who saved your life?" Alfred cleaned the wound with alcohol while threading a needle.
"It seems you met some interesting people during your days in the slums. Did Doctor Yang actually teach you something useful?"
"Argh-!" The alcohol burned his nerves. Bruce let out a muffled groan, veins bulging on his forehead.
"He taught me a lesson. He showed me that