"Hello. I'm looking for Dr. Selas Stone. I am his son."
Victor stood at the entrance of the NASA Metropolis Aerospace Research Center. The guard looked at him and said, "Dr. Stone? He took a leave today. Didn't he go home?"
Victor paused slightly. Could it be that Dad just returned home, and he missed him? So he asked, "When did he leave?"
"He took leave last night, probably left this morning."
Victor frowned. If Dad left in the morning, then when he returned, Victor hadn't gone out yet, so he shouldn't have missed him.
Moreover, taking leave was unusual in itself. Victor knew his father was a workaholic. Not even for important competitions or family gatherings like Christmas did he return home often. Why would he take leave now, without any occasion?
Victor wanted to ask more questions, but he was very distrustful of government agencies like the space bureau. He feared asking too much would alert them and hinder his father's matters. So he waved his hand and said, "I came over from Gotham, I don't know if he's home yet, I'll go check."
After speaking, he left, found an empty spot, and took flight. He quickly returned home. He carefully inspected the entrance, finding no signs of disturbance. Upon entering, he connected to the cameras, confirming his father indeed hadn't returned.
Therefore, Victor hacked into the research center and its surrounding cameras. He found that his father did leave by car, but clearly not heading home. Where was he going?
If it were work-related, leave wouldn't be necessary. Since he took leave, it must be personal. But his father basically had no friends, and due to previous harassment by the military, was not keen on socializing. Victor hadn't encountered anything recently either. This sudden trip was truly strange.
Victor thought for a moment, followed his father's disappearance direction, and pulled out surveillance footage along the route. The car reached the outskirts of Metropolis, where cameras were scarce. Victor had to hack into the dashcams along the way. But as the route became increasingly remote, the cars dwindled, making it impossible to pinpoint his exact path. Soon Victor realized his father deliberately chose this route, seemingly afraid of being tracked.
As his father's car disappeared from the view of the last car's dashcam, Victor completely lost his father's trail. He became anxious, although the car had his father alone, what if someone remotely coerced him?
Victor thought for a moment, took out his phone, and called Bruce, saying, "Bruce, my father is missing. I initially planned to go to the research center, ask him about the Mother Box, but found he took leave..."
Victor recounted his findings to Bruce. Bruce said, "Don't worry. Since you haven't found call records, the likelihood of him being coerced is low. I think it's more likely he had a sudden errand. But your concerns are valid, I'll help you look."
Victor anxiously waited at home for a while, but unable to wait any longer, he flew to Wayne Manor. Arriving at the Batcave, Bruce was examining surveillance footage.
Clearly, the surveillance network Bruce possessed was far denser and more advanced than civilian ones. He captured traces of Victor's father in other locations.
Connecting these points, a winding path appeared on the map. These lines didn't go directly to a destination but twisted and turned, yet overall pointed in a direction.
"What's over this way?" Bruce pointed toward the direction and asked.
Victor was already stunned in front of the screen. Various images flashed in his mind, but finally, he said, "...My mother's grave."
In the car heading to the cemetery, Victor seemed a bit silent. But after a while, he opened up and said, "On the day of my mother's anniversary, he couldn't come back. But I know, Mom wouldn't blame him. He always reassured me, saying Dad was doing great things, and it's unnecessary to disturb him with trivialities like birthdays."
"Perhaps he misses her." Victor's voice choked, "I miss her too. If she knew Dad had broken free from military control and could freely do what he wants, she'd be very happy. He might have gone to tell her this."
Bruce didn't reply. The car arrived at the cemetery. It was a scenic park located in the suburbs. Left of the parking lot lay a lake, and a river enclosed the entire park. The cemetery was at the park's center, with a small white chapel in the middle.
They crossed the bridge and entered the cemetery. Victor kept wiping his face, his emotions overwhelming. He walked to his mother's tombstone, knelt on one knee, gently touching the name inscribed on it, tears rolling down uncontrollably.
"Why does it have to be like this... why can't I ever see her again..."
Bruce gently patted his shoulder. Just as he bent down, his actions paused for a moment. Victor sensed his anomaly, turning back to look at him.
"Stand up first, Victor." Bruce gently patted him, signaling him to rise. Victor wiped his tears, stood, and moved aside. Bruce knelt and stroked the base of the gravestone.
Looking at the damp soil on his hand, he said to Victor, "I know you may still not accept the loss of a loved one. I also once lost my child. I swear I have no intention of disrespecting the deceased..."
"It's okay, just say it directly." Victor said, "I can feel it, something might have happened."
Bruce lowered his eyelids and looked at the ground. Victor followed his gaze. Bruce knelt down again, pressed his hand on the soil, and then said, "Someone has moved the grave."
"What?!"
"Someone dug this up," Bruce said, "There is a lake nearby, the groundwater is abundant, so the soil at the bottom would be wetter. The condition of the soil here is different from the surrounding graves, it should have just been dug up from underground."
Victor opened his mouth wide in shock, not knowing what to say for a moment. Regardless of whether an individual is a Catholic or a Protestant, desecrating graves is an extremely sacrilegious act, even if it involves one's closest kin, it's unforgivable.
But they had already discovered Victor's father was coming towards the cemetery, and his mother's grave had been disturbed. This led to a terrifying possibility, that his father might have dug up his mother's grave.
Almost instantly, Victor was overwhelmed by anger. He yelled, "How could he do this!! How dare he!!!"
"Calm down, Victor." Bruce stood up and said, "Your father wouldn't do this without a reason, after all, your mother has been deceased for quite some time. If he wanted to do something to her grave, he would have done it a long time ago, not waited until today."
"He never had the time before! When he was under military control, he couldn't move freely at all..."
"Then you're underestimating your father." Bruce said, "Think about it, he can even use the Mother Box to revive you. What he's capable of is definitely beyond your imagination. Something might have happened."
Victor was a bit panicked, desperately trying to calm down by breathing. But the more he tried, the more he trembled all over.
Bruce held his shoulder, helping him regulate his breathing. Victor slowly squatted down, and after squatting on the ground for a while, he felt slightly better.
He squatted down, dug the soil with his hand, and found it indeed as Bruce said. The soil was too wet and loose, clearly having been dug. Without much thought, he directly started digging with his hand.
His mechanical hand was very hard, efficient in digging up the soil. In a little while, he could see the cover of the coffin. He didn't even need to open the coffin to know inside was empty, his mother's remains were gone.
Victor angrily punched the ground, unable to comprehend why his father would do such a thing. Bruce took out his phone and said, "The urgent task now is to find your father. Where do you think he would go?"
Victor's mind was blank, he really couldn't think of anything. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "The lab he worked at the longest was STAR, but it's a pretty big lab with many people. He probably wouldn't go there. The more private labs are all under military control..."
"Again, your father's scientific ability might be far beyond your imagination." Bruce said, "Do you think it's possible he's at the Red House?"
"Red House?! But that's where the military stores remnants of alien civilizations, how could it be... No, it's possible." Victor took a deep breath, then said, "He also did research there for a long time, and like you said, he understands the Mother Box deeply, can even integrate the Mother Box into my body under the military's watch, that might be his most controlled lab."
"So now the problem is, where exactly is the Red House. Do you know?"
Victor shook his head. He said, "Back then, I hadn't fully completed the integration, that part of the memory is very fuzzy in my mind, so I can't be certain of the exact location. I will try to think about it."
"I'll also find someone to look into it." Bruce said, "Ron served as an officer for a period of time, but I'm not sure if his rank would allow access to the Red House. I'll ask him, or consult Clark."
Victor returned home with a heavy heart. He began to recall carefully. Of course, he didn't have much hope for his own memory, but he had already discovered the Mother Box also has a memory. The memory of this thing is much more reliable than his own.
Victor calmed his mind, trying to control the Mother Box, asking it to provide some key clues. Sure enough, a few images appeared before his eyes. Victor edited them using drawing software and sent them to Bruce.
Soon, Bruce gave him an address, but it's not very precise. He said, "Based on the terrain conditions you provided, it's roughly here. You can go and carefully look. If you encounter any problem, contact me immediately."
Victor took the address and immediately went to Florida. This place is in a sparsely populated mountain area. He searched around there for a while, finally found a place similar to his memories.
Before he could find the entrance to the Red House, he saw a familiar car in the forest, and a figure was walking towards the car. It was his father, Selas Stone.