"How much longer will it take?"
Natasha guarded the door vigilantly, then turned to Stark who was welding components behind a welder's mask.
"No rush." Stark, unusually patient, didn't snap that he shouldn't be disturbed. He knew that right now, only Natasha could protect him.
"Our original plan was for you to take me back to where Hammer and Osborn left that pile of mechs to charge mine with a new energy source, but now, things have developed beyond our expectations."
Upon hearing Stark's words, Natasha sighed also. She gazed at the distant horizon, where she could vaguely see a blue light curtain flickering on the horizon.
The people in the city now call it the aurora, but it was actually a protective shield enclosing New City.
About half an hour ago, people saw the Sky Island above spewing wave after wave of alien troops. The first thing these aliens did when they descended on New City was to spread out on the outskirts of this massive city and erect a large, towering protective shield.
Now the entire city was completely cut off from the outside world. Both telecom signals and satellite signals were entirely blocked by this mysterious force field, and all forms of matter could not get through. Nothing could leave or enter.
Even the locals of New York, who had seen their fair share of alien invasions, had never seen such domineering aliens. Do they intend to destroy the city or to slaughter the people? What was the purpose of caging everybody in with this giant shield?
Yet, Natasha was able to gather some unusual information from the behavior of the wandering aliens on the streets.
"They're looking for someone." Natasha affirmed, "They're searching for something or someone. Mostly likely a person, but they haven't found him yet."
"Do you think they'll leave after they find who they're searching for?"
Stark's tone was heavy with sarcasm, obviously this wasn't a real question.
Natasha snorted and said, "Their search progress isn't a countdown for freedom, but rather a prelude to Earth's destruction."
"To any alien life form, Earth is unnecessary. It just happens to house something that they want. Once they obtain what they're after, it would be better if this annoying planet disappeared."
"Come over here and help me lift this." Stark removed his mask and asked Natasha to assist him, "This thing from Hammer Arms Industry is too heavy. Fortunately, the bio-energy source from Osborn is quite powerful. Those two idiots sure make a great pair."
"Just shut up and work." Natasha rolled her eyes and replied, "We can't even get to S.H.I.E.L.D right now."
"Once I get one of their robots with this thing, just one sample, I can crack the secret of their technology. Disrupting them or controlling them would be no challenge for me."
"Hopefully... Look out!"
Boom!
The door to Tim's room swung open.
He glanced at his watch; it was just five o'clock. As expected, Batman was standing at the door and Tim hadn't even had a chance to put his backpack down yet.
"How was the book club?"
"Not bad." Tim took a deep breath, threw his backpack onto a chair and turned to Batman, "You know you shouldn't be here. I don't mean that to get you to leave; you can stay if you want, but I have homework to do."
After saying this, Tim started rummaging through his backpack. Batman sat on his bed, his forearms resting on his thighs and his fingers intertwined, observing him.
Tim didn't seem particularly nervous, though he did seem a bit irritated. Batman knew that he was not welcome there, but he was accustomed to it.
"How is Holmes?"
"He's not as good a detective as you." Tim shook his head, "After I pointed out the killer on my third guess, my tutor sent me home."
"Geniuses are often misunderstood."
Tim dropped his hand and looked at Batman, "You know, 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes' is a fine detective novel with exciting plots and lively stories, but I don't think it should be a topic between us."
"Because we both know that novels are just novels. Using actual situations as a reference in them would be foolish."
"Do you think I won't like this book?"
"At least it wouldn't be your go-to time-killer, nor mine." Tim shook his head.
"How many words does it have?"
"I have five volumes, about 430,000 words in total."
"Then it would be."
Batman got up and reached out to Tim.
Tim blinked and sensed something strange, but he still dug out a few books from his backpack and passed the thick novels to Batman.
Watching Batman leave with the same puzzled look, Tim scratched his head and took out his phone. After hesitating for a while, he dialed Red Robin.
"Hello? Yes, it's me. I have some astonishing news, brace yourself."
Red Robin on the other end of the phone line smirked, "I'm not easily scared, go ahead."
"Batman took five volumes of 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes' from me."
"Oh, what about it?"
"He plans to finish reading it."
With a thud, Red Robin fell off his chair, attracting frequent sideways glances from Red Hood. He, however, didn't have the time to manage others, and was on the phone, raising his voice, saying.
"You're saying what?!! Batman plans to read 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes' ?!!"
Nightwing and the Red Hood immediately gathered around. The Red Hood looked at the data in Nightwing's hand. Nightwing shook his head at him, lowering his voice to say: "The technology of the shield that blocks the whole city is more advanced than we thought, I'm afraid we can't crack it for now."
Just as Red Robin hung up the phone, the Red Hood looked at him wide-eyed: "Don't tell me Batman is in the city right now."
"Don't look at me like that, I'm just as shocked." Red Robin spread his arms and said: "And did you hear what he said? Batman is planning to read 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes'!"
"While the city below is engulfed in war?"
"That's not the point, the point is 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes'!" Red Robin raised his voice again, shrilly exclaiming, "Under what circumstances would Batman want to read a detective novel!"
Red Robin pulled on strands of hair from both sides of his head, somewhat distressed: "He would read about Holmes and Moriarty falling off a cliff twice while he is having to throw himself and the Joker off a building twice in a day! It makes my toes feel tense!"
Nightwing and Red Hood didn't know what was causing his madness, but they clearly realized something was off.
A great upheaval had just occurred in this city, a bunch of inexplicable aliens had rushed into the city, and a shield blocking everyone had been erected.
Their previous research into this shield was based on the assumption that Batman was already trapped inside because the moment the aliens rushed out of the portal, Batman must have reached their landing point.
So, logically, Batman must be trapped inside the shield. They were all ready to rescue Batman, but then you're telling me Batman has nothing wrong, and is reading in the study at Wayne Manor?
Nightwing and Red Hood didn't believe it, Red Robin couldn't accept it, so the three of them decided to investigate the study.
"I bet there's going to be a cage dropping from the ceiling." Nightwing joked, but the purpose of his joke wasn't really to guess in a joking tone. Instead, it was to deliberately prompt others to join in.
"Come on, you know there isn't going to be such a cliché. I bet it's an Electric Shock, the kind that's hidden under the floor." The Red Hood quickly followed up.
"Good, let it stun me. Let me sleep indefinitely. I wouldn't have to imagine his mood when he got to the cliff fall part." Red Robin wouldn't let go of that thought.
The three of them reached the door of the study that Batman uses most often upstairs. The three exchanged glances, and in the end decided to play Rock Paper Scissors, with the loser having to open the door.
Many people know that the Batman Family are Batman fans, they wouldn't miss any opportunity to interact with Batman, but this time it was different, it was clearly a trap.
In the face of such a big incident below, would Batman be hiding in the study reading a book? What kind of joke is that?
Batman was really there.
The Red Hood, who lost the game of Rock Paper Scissors, gently pushed open a small crack in the study door, and there was Batman, sitting by the window, not dressed in his suit, legs crossed, holding a thick book in his hands.
"What happened?"
The other two didn't dare to look. They turned their backs synchronously waiting for Red Hood's scream. But after waiting for a long time without a response, Nightwing had to ask.
" 'A Study in Scarlet'?"
"What? What blood?!" Nightwing turned around instantly, his hand already on his weapon. But Red Hood was looking inside the door saying, "I meant the book he's reading. The book in Batman's hand reads 'A Study in Scarlet'."
"It's Holmes!" Red Robin suddenly exclaimed.
He rushed over, pushed Red Hood aside and peered through the crack in the door, seeing the large letters "Holmes" on the book cover.
Below was an image of a classic detective smoking a pipe in a beret, and the small title line at the bottom read "The Prelude to a Great Detective Story".
Red Robin slapped his forehead.
Red Hood wanted to see too, so he pushed Red Robin out of the way again. As the two pushed and shoved, Nightwing, afraid they would make a noise, tried to intervene, causing Red Robin, who was furthest inside, to lose his balance.
Bang!
Batman, sitting in his armchair, glanced at the three Robins who had stumbled in neatly, returned to his book, flipped another page, and slowly said, "What a great detective."
Red Robin crawled up somewhat embarrassedly, staring back at Red Hood who had grabbed him and caused him to lose balance. Although they knew Batman must have noticed them long ago, it was one thing to catch Batman through peeking and then walking in calmly to tease him, and another to tumble in like this.
"Why are you here?" Red Hood blurted out.
Batman glanced at the three of them, then at his book, and then at the door of the study room.
Red Robin pulled Red Hood back, asking why Wayne was in Wayne Manor was a bit too dim-witted, especially in the situation where they had just tumbled into Batman's study.
"What I meant was, Batman, you saw that shield, right? What's going on?"
Although he asked this, none of them expected Batman to give them an explanation or even answer.
But they saw Batman flipping another page of the book, slightly turning his head to look at the new page and slowly saying.
"It's a strange natural phenomenon... do you guys know what Holmes' real name is?"
"Uh... David?"
"No, it's Sherlock."
"Huh???"