“No one cared who I was until I put on a mask.”
– Bane and Obito ( The Dark Knight Rises, Naruto)
…
“Wayne Manor hasn’t had guests in a long time, Master Richard. It’s a good idea to invite friends. It will bring some life to the quiet house.”
“If possible, I hope you can invite more friends in the future, especially friends from your school.”
After listening to Dick’s idea, Alfred nodded happily.
He excitedly turned to Dean and opened the back door of the car.
“Mr. Sutton, Wayne Manor is on the outskirts of the city, and it’s a long way to get there. Get in the car, please. It will take some time to get where we’re going.”
“Thank you, Mr. Pennyworth.”
Dean replied naturally to show his gratitude. He didn’t pretend and got directly into the car through the door Alfred opened.
Dick also entered from the other side of the car.
“I’m really glad that Master Richard invited friends to come to the house. You may not believe it, Mr. Sutton, but you are the first person of your age that Master Richard has invited to Wayne Manor besides the girls he’s dating.”
Alfred said as he sat in the driver’s seat with a look of relief.
“I don’t mean to say that dating girls is a bad thing, but I also don’t want Master Richard’s social circle to become like Master Bruce’s, where it’s all about women and never being able to make a true friend. I hope Master Richard can have more pure friendships.”
He’s not saying this to criticize his own boss because everyone in Gotham knows about Bruce Wayne’s romantic flings, and that’s exactly the impression Bruce wants people to have of him.
“Is that so? Then I’m really honored.”
Dean didn’t expect that he would be the first friend to be invited to Wayne Manor by Dick.
Well, using the term ‘friend’ doesn’t seem quite right.
A group of young superheroes called the Teen Titans had definitely been to Wayne Manor.
So, it should be non-superhero friends.
Speaking of the Teen Titans, it’s a group of teenage superheroes.
It was originally formed by the sidekicks of members of the Justice League and later expanded to include many independent teen heroes.
It was formed about half a year after the Justice League, and Dick is the founder and leader of the Teen Titans.
The Teen Titans don’t appear in the news as often as the Justice League, mainly because they’re all underage and still have to go to school to balance superhero life with school life.
They usually only have time to gather and do activities together on weekends.
But the other members of the Teen Titans are all very powerful, and it would make Dean miserable if Dick asked them to help.
However, he know Dick wouldn’t do that.
Just like Batman never lets the Justice League interfere in Gotham, they wouldn’t easily interfere in someone else’s city.
Dean didn’t quite understand this strange sense of territory.
On the way to Wayne Manor, Alfred and Dean chatted casually.
This allowed Dean to learn some secrets about the Wayne family.
They were secrets, but nothing more than what most people in Gotham knew.
The strange thing is that Dick, who originally invited him, suddenly fell silent at this moment and kept looking out of the car window without saying a word.
As the sky darkened, night fell.
At this moment, Dean’s house, Sutton Manor.
A person dressed in a tight black suit with a famous bat helmet and bat symbol on the chest quietly entered the small manor.
The unusually eye-catching bat helmet and the bat logo on the chest clearly revealed the person’s identity.
Batgirl – Barbara Gordon.
Why was she appearing at Dean’s house?
This goes back to when she and Dick pointed out Dean as a suspect for Phantom Thief earlier in the morning.
Because Dick didn’t believe that Dean was the Phantom Thief, they decided to test him.
Their plan was for Dick to keep Dean occupied while Batgirl searched his home for any clues.
Barbara had previously hacked into Gotham’s real estate trading network and was sure Dean owned only the Sutton Mansion.
If Dean was the Phantom Thief, then most likely his equipment would be hidden there.
It couldn’t be flawless, even if Dean had set up a safe house under a fake identity. There must be some traces to follow.
The reason why Dick chose to invite Dean as soon as school was over today was to try his best to prevent Dean from realizing that he was suspected and to leave the relevant clues at home in advance.
Not long ago, Jim removed most of the guards in the museum because he knew when the Phantom Thief was committing crimes.
Only a few guards stayed in the museum to keep watch.
Barbara said goodbye to his father, using the excuse of attending a karate training class, and rushed to the Sutton manor.
“The room was a bit messy, with items placed randomly. It looked just like an ordinary man’s room, but the biggest difference was that despite the mess, it felt clean.”
Barbara went into Dean’s room first and carefully looked at every corner.
She opened the wardrobe and bedside table one by one, searching inside and even checking the pockets of each piece of clothing.
People sometimes forget to take something out of their pockets, so even though it was unlikely, she had to look through all of them.
After searching for a while, she didn’t find any suspicious items, including any secret rooms.
Then Barbara went to other rooms and looked everywhere in Sutton Manor.
Finally, only the basement was left.
With a bat flashlight in hand, Barbara cautiously descended the stairs and pushed open the door to the basement.
Inside, she saw a wide space filled with a dazzling display of magic props, each with obvious signs of use.
There were so many magic props that there was barely any space to move around in the basement.
‘This should be Dean Sutton’s practice area for magic.
Barbara thought to herself.
There was nothing wrong with placing these things in the basement, and Barbara could quickly tell that Dean had spent quite a long time practicing with these props.
No wonder he became a famous and talented magician at such a young age.
Barbara randomly searched through the piles of props and realized she wouldn’t find any clues about the Phantom Thief here.
“It seems that Dean is not the Phantom Thief after all. I’ve suspected the wrong person.”
After searching for a while and finding nothing, a tired Barbara sat down against the wall in the basement, staring at the walls around her.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Barbara suddenly noticed something was off.
