In the Intensive Care Unit of Metropolis Hospital, Batman sat beside a hospital bed, watching Professor Warren Miles, whose eyes were tightly closed and who relied on a ventilator to breathe.
A week had passed since the accident on the twentieth floor of the Oscorp Tower. Although Professor Warren was finally out of critical condition, he showed no signs of waking up.
"Sir, I have to ask you to leave the room. The patient requires continuous observation and treatment."
Batman had only been sitting at Professor Warren's bedside for a few minutes when a doctor wearing a white coat walked over and spoke.
Batman stood up, his gaze sweeping imperceptibly over the ID badge pinned to the doctor's chest.
"Dr. Cho?"
"Helen Cho. I'm glad you pronounced it correctly." Helen Cho, wearing her long hair tied back neatly, looked at Batman with a smile. "I am Warren Miles's attending physician."
"I'm Peter Parker. I've heard of you, Dr. Cho." Batman smiled and reached out, shaking Helen Cho's hand gently.
"I've heard of you too, Mr. Parker," Helen Cho said. "Parker Industries' memory fiber has been widely applied in medical fields. It's hard for any surgeon not to know who you are."
"Is that so? It seems the application of memory fiber is even more widespread than I imagined." Batman feigned an appropriate amount of surprise.
"I need to ask you to leave the room. If you have anything else you'd like to discuss, you can wait three to five minutes for me." Helen Cho made a "please" gesture with her hand.
"No problem." Batman nodded and turned to leave the room, watching as Helen Cho closed the door and began a series of routine checks on the comatose Professor Warren.
Helen Cho. Korean. One of Metropolis Hospital's best surgeons, as well as a geneticist and cytologist.
Leaning against the wall in the corridor outside the room, a stream of information regarding Helen Cho flashed through Batman's mind.
Of the four individuals involved in the accident on the twentieth floor of Oscorp, three had undergone physical mutations. Batman remained in a state of high alert regarding Professor Warren Miles.
Correspondingly, all medical personnel involved in Professor Warren's treatment were also on Batman's surveillance list.
Married. Husband's name is Philip Cho. Also Korean. Married to Helen Cho for several years, but they have never had children.
Extending from Helen Cho's profile to her family's background, Batman quickly reviewed the data in his mind before seeing Helen Cho push open the ward door.
"Parker..."
Helen Cho had just started speaking when Batman interrupted her.
"Dr. Cho, you can call me Peter."
"Alright, Peter." Helen Cho walked over to Batman and leaned against the corridor wall alongside him. "Although the hospital has already diagnosed Professor Warren's injuries and determined that the primary trauma was caused by the fall..."
"But since you are the authorized signatory for Professor Warren's surgeries, I'd like to ask you personally: exactly what kind of monster did Professor Warren encounter?"
Unlike Dr. Otto and Professor Connors, who had families, Professor Warren was all alone. All his surgeries requiring authorization were signed for by Batman.
"I don't know," Batman said.
"But you certainly know he encountered a non-human creature. The wounds, claw marks, and bite marks on his body when he was brought to the hospital could not have been caused by a human." Helen Cho looked at Batman.
"What have you found?" Batman asked.
"I suspect it might be a vampire from the legends," Helen Cho said bluntly.
Batman looked at Helen Cho. He wanted to hear how a geneticist and cytologist like her could reach such a conclusion before knowing any of the actual facts.
"When Warren was first brought to the hospital, his blood volume was far lower than what would be expected from the bleeding caused by his visible injuries," Helen Cho said. "I built a model to simulate Professor Warren's blood loss. This might explain why he hasn't woken up."
"What did you find?" Batman frowned slightly.
Helen Cho lowered her voice.
"More than half of his blood was lost through the wound on his neck. And according to my calculations, the rate of blood loss far exceeded the normal speed.
"Therefore, I suspect it is some kind of vampire. He might not be immortal or fear sunlight like in the legends, but he certainly drinks blood."
Without relying on any physical evidence from the scene at Oscorp Tower, and utilizing only her extremely professional surgical knowledge, Helen Cho had come infinitely close to the truth.
But her next sentence caused this nearly uncovered truth to veer off in the complete opposite direction.
"That blood-sucking fellow is very likely Batman."
"That is a possibility," Batman agreed with a nod.
"I was just speaking off the cuff; from a medical and scientific perspective, I certainly wouldn't claim that." Helen Cho smiled, pushing off the wall to stand up straight. "Professor Warren won't wake up for at least another two weeks. For the sake of the patient, I suggest you visit less frequently."
After speaking, Helen Cho turned and walked toward the end of the corridor, disappearing around the corner.
Batman didn't linger. He turned and walked toward the other end of the corridor. After leaving Metropolis Hospital, he entered the sewers through a deserted alley and sat in the driver's seat of the Batmobile.
Bzzt...
Amidst the faint sound of electric current, a small screen rose within the Batmobile. The upper part of the screen was divided into hundreds of identically sized rectangular zones.
Each zone displayed a small tracking map. In the center of some zones, red dots were visible, moving slowly, while others showed blue dots that remained stationary.
These rectangular zones displayed locations including North and South Brother Islands, the first and second levels of the Batcave, Stark Tower, Oscorp Tower, the California coastal villa, Parker Tower, Parker Industries, underneath Professor Warren's hospital bed...
It was a whole series of people or locations that Batman deemed necessary to monitor and track.
Among them, Dr. Helen Cho, with whom he had just chatted briefly at Metropolis Hospital, was prominently displayed within Batman's surveillance network.
Originally, Batman wouldn't have gone out of his way to wiretap and track Helen Cho, but their earlier conversation had raised his suspicions.
He didn't believe that a doctor—a scientist—would conclude that a supernatural creature like a "vampire" exists in this world based solely on a wound.
Even Dr. Otto and the others, after seeing the Moon God Khonshu, attempted to explain and analyze the moonlight energy from a scientific perspective, and did not attribute their own mutations to the supernatural at all.
Batman strongly suspected that Helen Cho had already dealt with certain supernatural creatures or phenomena.
Sitting in the Batmobile, Batman was in no hurry to return to the Batcave.
Venom Robin was on South Brother Island, undergoing training with Dr. Banner on controlling his emotions and body, alongside Professor Morbius. Dr. Otto was programming designs for new prosthetic limbs, and the Lizard was guarding North Brother Island.
He planned to head to Stark Industries to meet with Electro, Max Dillon.
But just then, the red dot symbolizing Helen Cho disappeared.
Then, a mere two or three seconds later, the listening device Batman had placed on her also went offline.
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