Gwen Stacy believed her father wouldn't lie to her; since he said it was real, this Batarang had to be from the real Batman.
She carefully picked it up. It felt ice-cold in her palm, and the sharp bat-wings sent goosebumps prickling across her skin.
Gwen's eyes flickered as she clutched the Batarang in her hand and looked at George:
"Dad, I've decided to go to sleep right now. Good night."
Captain George was already exhausted. Seeing his daughter take the initiative to get ready for sleep, he grunted with satisfaction and even closed the door behind him as he left Gwen's room.
The very next moment after Captain George left, Gwen pounced with cat-like agility, moving with swift grace.
She pressed her ear against the door, listening intently to the movement outside. Confirming that George had returned to his bedroom to rest, Gwen carefully locked her own bedroom door from the inside.
Only after doing all this did she return to her desk, using the desk lamp's light to examine the Batarang in her hand over and over again.
There was nothing particularly special about this item; it was simply something Batman had used as a marker back when he was around the Spider-Slayer Spencer Smythe.
At that time, Batman had just crossed over and didn't even have wiretaps or trackers.
Later on, this Batarang remained tucked away inside Captain George's drawer until now, finding its way into Gwen Stacy's hands.
Looking at the Batarang, Gwen's eyes were filled with hesitation and nervousness.
To ease these feelings, Gwen held the Batarang in one hand while using her other hand to pull a newspaper clipping out from between the books on her desk.
The content published in the newspaper detailed the increasing influx of individuals possessing superpowers coming to light during this period.
According to incomplete statistics, in New York alone, nearly a hundred people had publicly displayed their abilities.
The paper was The Daily Bugle, and the journalist who authored the piece was none other than Eddie Brock, who had relied on sheer grit to climb from rock bottom back to the peak of his career.
Gwen's gaze followed the words on the newspaper line by line, finally pausing on a sentence near the end:
"It is worth noting that these super-powered individuals previously had no differences from ordinary people. I interviewed over twenty of them, and the information they provided was exceptionally uniform."
"It was only after the battle between the Avengers and Hydra in Manhattan that they gradually discovered their own uniqueness."
"Or one might say that battle was not only a high-profile debut for the superheroes, but also the dawn of a new era for the entire world... From then on, 'super-powered individuals' will no longer be figures of legend, but members of the general public—and citizens of America..."
Eddie Brock's wording carried a heavy dose of personal bias, but Gwen Stacy didn't care about that.
What she cared about was Eddie Brock's remark about "the increasing emergence of powered individuals."
This sentence finally helped her make up her mind. She tossed the newspaper aside and solemnly placed the Batarang down on her desk.
Gwen retrieved a backpack from beneath her bed and pulled out a pre-prepared suit from inside.
It was a polyester suit, black with white trim on the outside and pink lining on the inside.
Gwen neatly folded this suit and placed it on her desk as well, then reverently placed that Batarang right over the chest area.
"You've been cooperating with Dad in secret all this time—actually, I figured it out ages ago, Batman," Gwen whispered in an extremely low voice, using glue to firmly bond the Batarang and the suit together.
A few minutes later, Gwen Stacy—dressed in the black, white-trimmed, pink-lined suit—pushed open her window and vaulted out with nimble agility.
"Woohoo~" High up in the night sky, Gwen shot out a strand of pitch-black web-silk that anchored to the wall of a nearby skyscraper, swinging her body forward into flight.
"More and more super-powered individuals are emerging. The first step of our cooperation with Captain George is merely deploying the surveillance network; the second step is investigating the reason behind their emergence."
Inside the Batcave, Batman and Alfred were conversing.
"Alfred, a malicious deity's corpse once lay buried beneath Gotham, indirectly influencing those citizens in Gotham who had experienced a bad day."
"But in New York, I am quite certain there is nothing underground; this place is as blank as a sheet of paper."
Alfred sat in his high-backed chair, crossing his legs in a contemplative pose:
"Yet right during this period, swarms of powered individuals have popped out of nowhere, and according to our investigations, the time they acquired their abilities all dates back to the Battle of Manhattan."
Batman nodded:
"It seems sooner or later I will have to do as I did before—find a way to establish an organization dedicated to handling magical threats, much like the Justice League Dark."
"Only there's no Constantine here," Alfred joked. "Which angle do you plan to start from? I mean magical talent."
"Dane Whitman," Batman said. "He is one of them. Among the individuals we've encountered so far, aside from those Asgardians, the Black Knight is the only one whose connection to magic is exceptionally close."
The curse upon that Ebony Blade was something even Batman couldn't untangle, nor could he trace what the curse specifically entailed.
As for the Lady of the Lake who gifted the flying stallion Valinor to Dane Whitman, Batman had likewise failed to track down any clues using scientific means.
Even the Ebony Blade's ability to vanish and be summoned out of thin air was something Batman could only deduce as relating to magic.
Sending the Black Knight out to train and gain experience served an obvious surface purpose, but Batman also harbored a hidden intent to use him as a bridge to touch upon this world's magical community.
"Master Wayne, I believe Moon Girl warrants some attention. I'm referring to Lunella, who returned to her hometown with Devil Dinosaur," Alfred said.
"Moon Girl? The new name you just gave her?" Batman looked at Alfred. "Alfred, what are your thoughts?"
"Based on the files you recorded previously, Moon Girl happened to stumble upon the omni-wave projector by the East River, correct?" Alfred countered.
Batman nodded. It was that omni-wave projector that had triggered the dinosaur invasion, though it was also because of it that Batman managed to resolve Nathan Garrett's bombing plot nearly to perfection.
"I believe Moon Girl finding the omni-wave projector was no coincidence. And Master Wayne, you've long since known that the omni-wave projector's origins are abnormal, haven't you?" Alfred asked.
Batman didn't speak, simply signaling Alfred with a glance.
Alfred understood immediately, pulling up Batman's prior research and analysis records regarding the omni-wave projector.
Swish!
A dense cluster of data instantly filled the space throughout the Batcave via projection.
"You've known all along that this is also a product originating from another planet, haven't you?" Alfred asked Batman with certainty.
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