I haven't been a big brother for many years

"Would you like some wine?" Barbara took out an ice pack from the refrigerator and asked Ryan casually.

She felt that boys of this age should have lost interest in juice.

"No, thank you." Ryan replied after a short silence.

He was lying on his back on the leather sofa, and the water droplets that hadn't come and dried on his face slid down the silver-white hair to the ground drop by drop.

He had already washed off that makeup, and now he looked very tired.

Yep.

Barbara restrained her expression, not letting her smile be too obvious.

She handed the ice pack to Ryan: "Put it on your ankle for a while, it will be very useful."

Barbara turned on the TV and changed the subject: "Do you have any plans? Do you live with Selena at my place?"

Ryan took the ice pack and pressed it against the redness of his ankle.

"hiss"

It was too cold, and he subconsciously wanted to remove the ice pack, but a hand with a black glove pressed his hand.

It's bat.

Damn, how did he forget that he asked bat for help for such an embarrassing thing?He himself broke the Cold War.

Ryan looked unnatural for a moment, but he quickly adjusted back to his expressionless face, pretending that the thing holding his hand didn't exist at all.

God, he was the one who gave in first!

But obviously bat is too much!

Ryan bit his lower lip involuntarily and was so engrossed in thinking that he didn't notice the question Barbara asked him.

"Xiao Lai?" Barbara walked up to him and patted his cheek doubtfully.

Ryan raised his head and looked at her in confusion: "What?"

"I'll ask you what your plans are in the future." If his hair wasn't all wet now, she really hoped that she could ruffle the kid's hair to relieve her hatred.

"Are you planning?" Ryan was stunned for a moment, of course he was saving money to go back to New York.

He looked at Barbara expectantly: "Speaking of which, do you know of any places where I can work?"

Barbara shook her head: "I don't know of any place that employs child labor. Gotham homeless children your age live in orphanages."

Barbara's eyes widened and she suddenly realized a question: "Wait, where are your parents?"

It's not that she has too many problems, but that Ryan's temperament is not what a waif can have.She also comes from a prominent family in Gotham, and has a sensitivity to what it's like to be a high-ranking scumbag.

"...I can't say." Ryan shook his head.

"Okay." Barbara actually didn't care about the answer to this question, everyone had their own secrets.

She returned to the topic: "Maybe Selina will know something, you can ask her."

As soon as she finished speaking, the door was slammed open.

It was the Catwoman they had just mentioned who came in.

"Wow, our princess is back, is your date going well?" Barbara teased.

Catwoman seemed to be used to her teasing, and ignored her jokes.

She looks a little tired.

"Selina?" Ryan was a little worried about her.

"I'm fine." Selina waved her hand and sat opposite Ryan: "I just can't stand Bruce Wayne."

She threw herself into the sofa and sank into it.

"Oh, my God!" Before Ryan asked her what happened, Catwoman quickly jumped out of the sofa again, and she saw the ice pack Ryan was holding: "What's wrong with your leg?"

Barbara couldn't bear to look any further: the discriminatory treatment was too obvious, and Catwoman completely treated it as if she didn't exist, since this was her house.

"It's just a sprain." Ryan smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry I couldn't go to the dinner with you."

"Yeah." Barbara interjected forcefully, "So the sweetheart I prepared for you is ruined."

Who told you not to see him?In fact, that's what Barbara wanted to say.

"You don't need to apologize at all." Selina didn't know what to think, her earlobe turned red slightly, and her words became stumbling: "I'm glad you are willing to go together...I mean, your injury is still there okay?"

Ryan was taken aback, and then he realized that Barbara's painstaking effort was to get him to meet Catwoman.

"Pfft." An untimely voice suddenly interrupted the language Ryan was organizing, and Barbara Keane smiled and waved: "Go ahead, I'll catch up on sleep."

The two children who were a few years younger than adults were a little confused by the only adult present, and they didn't know what to continue.

Ryan coughed lightly, trying to resolve the embarrassment: "So, you and Bruce..."

"Oh, comeon! Can you stop mentioning that name? I get dizzy hearing that name now." He actually left her alone in the middle of the dance floor!

Selina swears that this is the last time she will help Bruce Wayne that stupid and arrogant guy.

Ryan, who just wanted to start with an acquaintance and start a conversation to ease Catwoman's emotions, was a little at a loss, but it was just a little bit: "So, we were discussing just now, maybe you can tell me some legal places where I can get money?"

His emphasis is on "legal".

Catwoman raised her eyebrows unhappily: "What do you want money for?"

He didn't have to worry about starving when he stayed here with Barbara, although it wasn't her style to bother people all the time.

"I..." Ryan moved his lips, but decided to tell her: "I want to leave here and go back to New York."

"Back to New York? Are you from New York?" Catwoman frowned and said in an uncertain tone: "But I remember your parents are from Gotham. I saw your housekeeper that night, and I missed him. It should be your steward. I saw him take you to meet your parents..."

"What?" Ryan interrupted her in surprise, and suddenly sat up from the sofa: "When? Me and my parents?"

"Wait." Catwoman also noticed something was wrong, and she tried to recall: "Oh my God! They...they! They are human traffickers! Let me tell you why they look so familiar! That pair of men and women, they took away A truckload of kids!"

Ryan just looked at her with a frown, and there was a momentary blank in his mind.

"Damn it!" Catwoman realized just how big a mistake she had made: "I'm sorry, what did they do to you? Jesus, if I'd recognized them earlier, you might have..."

She doesn't know what those people did to Ryan, but she can be sure that those things must not be good.

When she met Ryan two years ago, he was still a very ordinary-looking boy from a rich family with a bright hope.

She remembered the smile he gave to another... damn it, Bruce Wayne.

But she never saw that smile on that face again.

"There is no if." Ryan sighed and interrupted him: "It's okay, they didn't have time to do anything to me, I escaped." He comforted him like this.

"Then your parents?" Selina gritted her teeth angrily. If the mayor had followed James Gordon's advice, they could have saved everyone.

"They're missing."

Ryan still doesn't want to accept the fact that they're dead, maybe they just left him, right?That would at least give him a little bit of psychological comfort.

"If I can get back to New York, I can find them, or find some clues."

Why do the young masters of these wealthy families she knows always encounter these misfortunes?

Selina was puzzled.

But at the same time, she gave Ryan's own advice: "Have you ever thought that maybe the disappearance of your parents is related to the assassination of the Waynes? This is too coincidental. Isn't Bruce Wayne your friend? Maybe you can Seek his help?"

Ryan's heart trembled, yes, Bruce.

He couldn't just leave Bruce and go back.

Bruce was his only friend.

He wants to help him.

"Selina, I know you have a great relationship with Bruce. But I ask you, can you not tell him I exist?"

Both Batman and Catwoman were taken aback, and asked almost at the same time, "Why?"

Ryan lowered his eyes: "If it's really what you said. There may be a force in Gotham that we don't know, maybe our parents know something."

"Bruce was the obvious target. Uncle Thomas used to be too."

"Why did this unknown force act at this time? It may be that Uncle Thomas will tell father something, or father asks Thomas to do something. In short, this force regards their confluence as an early warning of crisis."

"What would they think if I escaped from the dead and met Bruce again? They would think, do I know something?"

Catwoman gasped, her sense of crisis made her not want to be drawn into this vortex, but she was already in chaos.

Batman's expression is a bit complicated, and the truth may be somewhat different from Ryan's speculation, but Ryan is right, he may be able to seek help from Bruce secretly, but he must not meet Bruce Wayne on the bright side.

But in Gotham, owl eyes are everywhere.

"I'll help you." Selina looked into Ryan's eyes firmly, which she owed him.

Ryan was taken aback. He didn't expect Selina to help him like this. It almost made Catwoman step on the wire, and she would lose her life if she was not careful.

He looked complicated: "You don't need to be like this."

Catwoman ignored him and just said, "I'll come to you tomorrow."

Just turned out the huge floor-to-ceiling windows and disappeared.

Ryan looked at the darkness outside the window silently, at a loss.

"Are you tired?" After a long time, Batman finally broke the silence.

"Should I do this?" Ryan lowered his eyes, turned around, raised his slender neck slightly and looked at Batman who was almost integrated with the darkness.

Batman held him in his arms pitifully: "Do what you want."

This time, he will never let him suffer any harm again.

Batman lowered his head and kissed the wet top of his hair.His voice was hoarse and magnetic, and it sounded indistinguishable from the "Brussy Baby" during the day: "Happy birthday, Ryan."

……

Two months later

"Selina! Wait!" Ryan grabbed Selina's wrist, looking very tangled.

Selina has seen this expression countless times, and she rolled her eyes helplessly: "That's a scum! It doesn't deserve your sympathy at all, Ryan."

"But..." Ryan looked a little tangled.

"Shut up your damn sympathy, I won't take those, and you'll have the last chocolate left tonight."

Selina was a little angry: "Damn it, I don't care about you anymore! You've been all day! You haven't eaten!"

Ryan choked and sighed: "Sorry Selina...I didn't mean to."

He gave up the idea of ​​asking Selina to return the wallet, even if he was still unwilling to break the law.

Selina tapped his head, and also chose to take a step back: "I know, but you have to remember, this is Gotham."

The city with the highest crime rate in the world.

The author has something to say:

Sorry, re-edited the text, sorry little angels qwq