"So, you're telling me that after staking out for several days, the most significant issue you've found is...he might be stealing electricity?"
Nick Fury was in his S.H.I.E.L.D. office, questioning Coulson with a report in his hand.
Coulson knew well enough that his report seemed like something hastily put together after a hangover. The conclusion it reached was as unrealistic as the effects of a bottle of whiskey.
Nick Fury had halted for a moment, his mouth open as he read the report. He took a deep breath, apparently speechless.
"You know, I've always had my issues with the ranking system of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Coulson, it seems you're the perfect argument against it, aren't you?" Fury said.
"Uh..." Coulson, rubbing his hands together awkwardly, tried to explain, "We did observe something, actually. We think there might be a tunnel underneath his clinic..."
"I really should have Nurse Jenny breathalyze you, Coulson. Your report notes that 'the target frequently appears suddenly at other locations about a 100 meters outside the clinic,' and your conclusion to that is...there might be a tunnel beneath the clinic?" Fury replied incredulously.
"I realize that he may have teleportation abilities." Coulson admitted, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow, "But from the cases we've experienced, there's always a moment of landing. We've deployed hundreds of mini-cameras around, but none captured any anomalies."
Fury replied, "Then add a few hundred more. Right now, he's critical to us. He is also the most difficult opponent we've faced. Be careful…"
Meanwhile, in the professor's apartment at Gotham University, Shiller just woke up to find a fluffy thing in his arms. He looked down. Pikachu!
"What's the matter? What time is it?" Pikachu couldn't even open his eyes from sleepiness. After rubbing his eyes, Shiller wondered, how did this rodent come over here??
Pikachu took a quick glance around the room with bleary eyes, and suddenly woke up in surprise. "Where is this?! Did you kidnap me? Are you a human trafficker?!"
As Shiller was making the bed, he asked, "Why don't you explain to me first, why you are in my bed?"
"You dare ask me?!" Pikachu yelled, "You only turned on the heat in your own room. If I hadn't picked the lock, I would have frozen to death right now!"
"Oh, is that so?" Shiller replied guiltlessly, "Freezing a mouse isn't a good idea."
"So why are you here? Where is this?"
"As you see, I can travel through time and space, so I woke up and was here." Shiller said, "This place can be very dangerous. If you run around, you'll be stewed up in less than three minutes."
"Hmph." Pikachu made a scornful noise, "You can travel through time and space? Well, I can use Surf."
Shiller hadn't lied. It didn't matter that Pikachu knew, it's not like a mouse's word held any weight in the superhero community. If Pikachu was to go blabbering in front of Batman, Batman would definitely cook it right away. Batman might not kill people, but he certainly had no qualms about killing mice.
Earth's heroes seldom trusted non-human creatures. Although Pikachu could talk just like humans, and even had a strange Canadian accent, this genetic modification-like yellow rodent was evidently not likely to be trusted by any sane person. Therefore, Shiller was not worried at all.
While Shiller was tidying up his bed, Pikachu was jumping around the room sniffing here and there. With a grimace, he murmured, "It seems you do have some skills, this is indeed not the original world anymore."
In the morning, Shiller went to class. He carried Pikachu in his bag. It wasn't so much he wanted to take Pikachu to class, but if he didn't bring it, Pikachu would certainly sneak out and get cooked.
Pikachu kept sticking his head out of Shiller's bag and was pushed back in several times. By the afternoon, Shiller tossed his bag on the table of the counseling room as he said to Pikachu, "Listen, even though I don't mind others seeing a strange yellow creature in my bag, I think by now you should have gotten my point. The heroes, every one of them, treat 'being a busybody' as their life motto. No one would let a chance to study a yellow rodent pass by, especially..."
As Shiller was speaking, the door of the counseling room suddenly opened, and Bruce said, "Professor, I..."
As he walked in, he saw his professor pressing against the forehead of a peculiar yellow creature.
Pikachu was startled and quickly darted into Shiller's arms. Shiller pursed his lips, glancing at Pikachu and then at Bruce. Holding Pikachu, he said, "If I told you this was a new breed of albino mole, would you believe me..."
"And if I don't believe you, do you plan to come up with another lie?" Bruce crossed his arms and asked.
Pikachu showed his teeth at him but was immediately covered by Shiller's hand. He asked, "What do you need, Mr. Wayne?"
Bruce walked over and said, "Actually, I'm sorry... but I would like to invite you to Wayne Manor..."
Visit Wayne Manor?
Was this an invitation to confess?
Bruce was clearly uncomfortable. Because Shiller knew his real identity, he was unsure whether to be Bruce or Batman. Moreover, Batman at this time wasn't as aloof as he was later, and would even actively seek cooperation with Gordon. So, Bruce was in a very conflicted state.
Shiller could sense this with his Mind Sense Ability. He knocked on the table and took the initiative to say, "I can tell, Bruce, you're very conflicted right now, sit down."
"Actually, what you did before was very good. Bruce is not Batman, he's just an unlearned playboy. His favorite things are partying and drinking, surrounded by beautiful women. But Batman is just the opposite...."
Bruce sat down, with his fingers pressing at the corners of his eyebrows, he said, "I don't understand the point of this. I don't think I can fool anyone."
Bruce wasn't a fool, the entire Gotham City knew he was the only one who was that rich. The Batman's equipment could only be manufactured by someone with his financial strength. He didn't believe the criminals were all stupid and did not know that he was Bruce Wayne.
Moreover, one could guess from his physique. Bruce was a playboy and it wouldn't be hard to discern some physical details that matched Batman's.
For example, Shiller had seen Bruce out at night more than once, with his companions changing each time. Half of the infamous Nightingale Cheerleading Squad had been with Bruce.
Actually, Shiller speculated that many intelligent villains in the comics should not be completely in the dark. The clue wasn't hard to find, but they still behaved as if they were clueless about Batman's identity, surely there was a reason for that.
"Yes, this isn't really a secret, but if you want it to be a secret, then it can become your weapon when necessary."
"When you show that a certain secret is very important to you, then others will also think this secret is important to you. You desperately try to hide it, but if you reveal it at a crucial moment, you can naturally prove your sincerity, even if it isn't really that important."
What Shiller was referring to was Bruce's future approach with the Justice League: Batman took off his mask to gain trust — revealed a secret that everyone actually knew, that Batman was Bruce Wayne.
But everyone still strengthened their trust in Batman because Batman always showed that he valued this secret very much. He was willing to reveal it for his companions, of course he was trustworthy. Even though anyone could figure out this secret with a little bit of thinking, it didn't matter, what mattered was the attitude!
Stroke his chin, Bruce willingly replied, "Like, for example, if some criminal wants to use this to threaten me, I can calmly set a trap for him...."
"Alright, Mr. Wayne." Shiller glanced at his watch, and then said, "Time is up for the psychological consultation. As for your invitation, I will seriously consider it after receiving the invitation."
Bruce did not quite understand why Shiller had to carefully consider it. In America, a verbal invitation indicated a private visit, nothing formal, probably just a private dinner.
But when Shiller mentioned an invitation card, Bruce figured that Shiller might consider such an invitation informal and not taken seriously. So, after leaving the consultation room, he instructed his butler, Alfred, to prepare the invitation and the banquet.
What he didn't know was that for Shiller, being invited to his house by Batman was like saying, "Would you like to walk into a trap?"
He needed a lot of mental preparation.
Even though Shiller knew that Bruce at this time was far from the Batman he would become in the future, his two identities hadn't been completely distinguished yet. If this was the Batman in the comics, Bruce would just stride over holding a bottle of wine, saying he wanted to introduce him to some beautiful women at the party.
Not act serious and uncomfortable.
But Shiller had a deep-set image of Batman, he even suspected that this was a trap set up by Batman to obtain his DNA, and this was absolutely something Batman would do.
Also, although Bruce didn't say it, it was obvious that Pikachu, the yellow mouse, had caught his attention.
Shiller grabbed Pikachu's tail and lifted him up, saying, "Did you see the man who just came? That's Gotham's big boss, if you want good food and spicy drink in the future, you better not offend him."
Pikachu flailed about in the air, shouting, "Put me down! That man earlier was really scary!"
Shiller lifted Pikachu to his face, saying, "How do you know?"
"Detective's intuition!" Pikachu shouted, "You really should consider not staying here anymore, this place gives me the chills. Isn't it better to go back to the place we were yesterday? I can even stand you eating strawberry jam!"
Shiller looked up and down at Pikachu and felt that it wasn't telling the truth.