9 Chapter 9: Vicki Vale

"Alright, enough joking around."

Dean waved his hand casually and said, "I understand how you feel, Dick."

"You're from the Wayne family, and who knows how many valuable treasures in this city belong to your family. It wouldn't be surprising if one day, Phantom Thief Kid stole something from you. So it's normal to feel uncomfortable when you hear others talking about the thief."

"What? I don't think like that at all!"

Dick was taken aback by the Dean's words and instinctively replied.

"I just think that people shouldn't admire a criminal."

He stared at Dean solemnly, with a serious attitude.

"Dean, what about you? Do you also like Phantom Thief Kid like everyone else?"

"What I meant to say is, you're right! I agree with your perspective. A criminal will always be a criminal, and sooner or later, the Phantom Thief Kid will be caught. Then everyone will see his true colors."

Under Dick's gaze, Dean shook his head heavily.

"That's right, I... GCPD, Batman, and Robin won't let Phantom Thief Kid get away with it."

With Dean's agreement, a delighted expression appeared on Dick's face.

"But at first, I thought you would be into the whole Phantom Thief Kid thing. After all, his disguise and techniques are much like a magician's."

Dick shrugged and casually added, "You're also a magician, so you might feel a bit involved with him. Although I don't really understand the world of magicians."

"Who says magicians will feel involved just because they are magicians?"

Dean raised an eyebrow, his eyes widened, and his face filled with disdain.

"Haven't you heard the saying, 'rivals in the same work'? And those little tricks with smoke bombs and dummies he uses aren't even advanced magic. They're just basic beginner techniques in magic. If I were Phantom Thief Kid, I would definitely do it better than him."

After listening to Dean's bold speech, Dick fell into silence for a moment.

But from a certain point of view, what Dean said was quite convincing.

On the one hand, there was a talented magician who became famous at a young age, and on the other side was a mysterious thief who had just appeared recently.

The mysterious thief's information was very limited, and he had shown very little of his abilities. At the same time, Dean had proven his skills at the Gotham Grand Theater and had the capital to be arrogant.

"Well, you're amazing."

After a while, Dick finally said those words.

Ding-ling-ling—

At that moment, the bell signaling the start of class rang, and a wise and amazing middle-aged teacher walked into the classroom.

Dean turned his body back and sat down, getting into study mode.

At least, that's what it seemed like on the outside.

'Was I too excited just now? Did mentioning the magician's identity make me nervous?'

Dean pondered in his mind, facing away from Dick.

'Don't overthink it! Keep a poker face. Dick has no reason to suspect me. So what if I'm a magician? There are plenty of magicians in the world. It's impossible for him to point fingers at me just because of this suspicion.'

With a determined thought, Dean temporarily suppressed the ideas in his mind.

He didn't need to clear himself at the moment; he just needed to act normal.

Meanwhile, Dick was also having a brainstorming session.

'I must be going crazy. Dean couldn't possibly be the Phantom Thief Kid. It's all because Alfred casually mentioned that I have a classmate who seems to be a magician, which led me to come up with this completely unreasonable and ridiculous guess.'

'It must be because I've been too careless lately, which caused me to fail at catching Phantom Thief Kid last night and made me a bit paranoid.'

So, after simple self-psychology guidance, both of them thought that they were just overthinking.

As time passed, it was soon four o'clock in the afternoon.

As the school bell rang, the teacher closed the book quickly and walked out of the classroom.

The action was smooth and swift, with no hesitations.

There was no chance of delaying the class.

Not in this lifetime.

Dean packed his book and was about to leave the school when he heard someone calling his name.

"Hey! Sutton, Grayson, wanna play basketball together?"

He turned his head and saw a boy wearing a black shirt and gray suspenders, holding a basketball around his waist.

He waved at Dean and Dick, followed by three or five other boys.

"Not today, Patrick. I have something important to do tonight," said Dick, declining the invitation first.

After saying that, he jumped out of the window and ran towards the school gate.

Of course, the classroom was on the first floor, so there was no possibility of getting hurt.

Seeing that one of their basketball buddies was skipping, Patrick looked at Dean with hopeful eyes.

"Oh! I have to go back and practice magic now. You know, I need to prepare for the campus dance performance next month. So I can't play with you guys."

Dean shrugged with both hands and showed a helpless expression.

"That's too bad."

Patrick looked disappointed but didn't force Dean to stay, so he went to the basketball court with several other boys.

Dean didn't pay much attention to this little incident. He quickly returned home because he had something very important to do in the evening.

That was to send away the "Tears of an Angel" ruby.

Dean changed into a casual outfit, put on a baseball cap, and brought a few masks with him before leaving home.

...

At night, on the 29th floor of the Gotham Gazette Building, in the office of the star reporter Vicki Vale.

Vicki stopped writing the news that had been in writing for a long time, stretched her waist, checked it carefully several times, and smiled with satisfaction after confirming that there was no major problem.

It must be said that these past few days were some of her most lucky days.

After the headline news of Phantom Thief Kid, the sales of the Gotham Gazette newspaper skyrocketed, and Vicki's reputation as a reporter also increased a lot.

It all started a few days ago when Phantom Thief Kid's case hadn't happened yet.

In order to increase his exposure, Dean sent notice letters to all major media organizations in Gotham.

But at that time, no one had heard of this name, and the contents of the advance notice were quite mysterious, so naturally, few people took it seriously.

However, Vickie Vale did not ignore the notice.

She had personally interviewed many super criminals from Arkham Asylum, such as Two-Face, Penguin, Riddler, and Scarecrow.

When she saw the advance notice from Phantom Kid, she felt that it was something the Riddler would write.

Of course, Edward Nygma, also known as the Riddler, was currently locked up in Arkham Asylum, so it couldn't be him who wrote the notice letter.

This is also the thought of the majority of people. Everyone thinks that this notice letter is a prank.

Only Vicki didn't think so. Although she wasn't sure, she thought it was worth taking a chance.

Luckily, she was right. She not only was one of the few reporters who went to the museum but also took the best close-up shot of the Phantom Thief Kid.

This made Phantom Thief Kid's stealing of the Tears of an Angel almost an exclusive news for Vicki.

...

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