"Clap clap clap..."
Vico clapped her hands beside him, her delicate face almost as red as her hair, chest heaving with excitement.
"Bravo, Mr. Deathstroke, you're the strongest warrior I've ever seen."
Su Ming slung the shotgun back over his shoulder; dealing with this dinosaur hadn't been too strenuous, and with the help of his self-healing ability, any pain from previous impacts had already vanished.
"Even if you call for an encore, I won't come back for a curtain call. Hurry up with your show, and once we get the intel, we leave."
He couldn't tangle with this woman; otherwise, she'd have an endless stream of questions and demands. Su Ming only wanted to use her good luck to achieve his goals but didn't want to get too entangled with her.
"Oh, okay, but can I take a piece of the dinosaur as a keepsake?" Vico dawdled, voicing her thought.
Su Ming turned and walked towards Barbara and the others. With Oracle's level, the decryption should be almost done.
"Suit yourself, but if you think getting to the Bat Cave will help you find out Batwoman's identity from material suppliers, save your energy. She's not that stupid."
"Hmph..."
Vico stomped her foot. She didn't know why her thoughts were always seen through, but as a reporter, what did face mean?
She was wearing high heels and a tight short skirt, tottering quickly to the debris of the mechanical dinosaur, pulling out a giant eyeball, and then reached into a gap in the head to yank out a piece of wire still attached to hardware.
Su Ming couldn't be bothered with her. Vico's curiosity surpassed everything else, reaching a pathological level, yet she knew well where others' boundaries were.
She was also clever, having likely realized that neither of them intended to kill her.
He came up behind Barbara's wheelchair, watching the lines of characters jump on the large screen, its glow lighting up the trio's faces, yet he didn't understand how much progress had been made.
"The dinosaur's dealt with, how about you guys?"
"Almost..." Barbara replied without turning around, typing rapidly on the keyboard and console, inputting something: "Open Sesame."
A brand new scene appeared on the screen, an overhead view of Gotham. Miller's spatial computing ability made him immediately realize that this perspective should be from the Dripping Stone Beast on top of Vayne Mansion, where cameras had been installed.
Apart from that, the Bat's database was always linked to the major departments, with synchronized copies of their data also stored here.
"She's monitoring the entire city..."
Barbara muttered, the scenes in front of her were overwhelming, and as she familiarized herself with the system operation, she noticed Bat cameras spread throughout the city.
She understood Batwoman's motives but couldn't comprehend the necessity of her actions. Given the density of these hidden cameras, nothing on Gotham City's surface was a secret to her.
From luxurious high-end restaurant boxes to broken bridge holes where the homeless lived, her surveillance was everywhere, treating everyone as a potential criminal, with even several cameras aimed directly at Gordon's home.
Su Ming patted her head, bringing her back to reality: "Welcome to the Dark Knight's inner world. Yes, she's exactly what you think."
"It's too crazy, I don't know... Is she really doing good? She's invading everyone's privacy, regardless of whether they are criminals." Barbara frowned, finding it difficult to accept, having always believed Batwoman shared her benevolence towards the world.
But thinking about it, it makes sense because the Bat never appears during the day. That's because her heart harbors only darkness.
"To the Bat, Gotham City's populace falls into 'already a criminal' and 'not a criminal yet.' She trusts no one."
Cindy sneered coldly from the side; she didn't like the Bat's style. Strictly speaking, despite killing all over, at least she believed in contracts, deeming herself more suitable for society.
"Not even my father? He's always supported her." Barbara found it difficult to accept, clutching her wheelchair's armrest tightly, her gaze disoriented.
"Not even your father." Su Ming sighed. The Batwoman of the Dark Multiverse was darker than the Batman of the Main World. He comforted, "Your father, to Batwoman, is only unlikely to become a criminal, posing a low threat. Even though she considers Gordon a friend, her definition of 'friend' is different from most people's. Batwoman will always keep a card up her sleeve, just in case."
Barbara was in a daze. She didn't know what she was thinking, but to her, compared to Batwoman, Deathstroke was a world-renowned villain, synonymous with bloodshed.
"No, that's just your speculation."
"Perhaps, but I've heard something; maybe you'd like to hear it too?"
Cindy, who had heard Su Ming talk about Barbara's uniqueness and witnessed the power of the network, knew she couldn't let her fall to the Bat's side, so she interjected immediately.
Barbara looked at her, her gaze filled with inquiry. From much on this computer, she'd already glimpsed the kind of person Batwoman was, but she was unwilling to believe it.
Cindy clutched her helmet, sitting on a control station on the side: "It's about the time you had your accident. Gordon and Batwoman caught the Jester. Gordon raised his gun at the Jester, but the Bat blocked the barrel with her own body."
"What does that prove? Bat Heroine and the Jester have something going on?" Barbara, irritated and anxious, trembled like a rabbit at the mention of the Jester's name.
"If it were me or Su there, we wouldn't have blocked it."
Cindy pressed on Barbara's wheelchair arm, drawing her closer, staring into her blue eyes where fear slowly morphed into her own reflection.
"That's because you don't care about the law!" Barbara turned her head away from Cindy, her slender fingers leaving the keyboard to embrace her chest as if coldness enveloped her.
"That's because I know Gordon wouldn't shoot!"
Cindy pinched her face, turning her head to face reality:
"Both the Bat and I have memorized Director Gordon's profile! We have his complete psychological analysis! We know what kind of person he is! Emotions won't make him lose control, Gordon will do what a cop should do! But the Bat? Do you think her blocking the barrel was a sign of trust in Gordon?"
Barbara was left speechless. Though she wasn't aware of the specific circumstances at the time, upon waking up in the hospital, Gordon was dejected, merely telling her he was a cop first and her father second.
He cried as he apologized to her. Barbara didn't understand then, merely assuming Gordon was upset about her legs.
So learning the truth today, Barbara finally realized that his decision to spare the Jester was his own, never linked to the Bat.
Gordon's despondency stemmed not only from her but also from realizing Batwoman never trusted anyone.
He'd been a cop in Gotham for over thirty years, working with Batwoman for over a decade, yet she still wouldn't trust him, even though he believed he kept her secrets. In reality, it was only what she allowed him to know.
Batwoman always has her own plans.