"What about me?" Doomsday Batman asked in a low voice.
In fact, he didn't think he had anything to do, because his current appearance made it impossible to attend school or hold down a job – even household chores posed a challenge, as he was likely to break more than he could fix.
"Oh, of course, you have an important task," Thomas said. "I don't know if you are aware, but the real estate development projects in New Gotham on the surface are progressing at full throttle."
Considering the living space per capita in Sky Island Gotham is already ample, and the ordinary citizens probably don't have the time to frequently commute between ground level and the sky, the main development direction of Gotham's ground real estate focuses on luxury and tourism.
"Your mother and I secured the best three plots of land near the beach; the properties are nearing completion. But as you should know, the business world is a battlefield; no one wants us to make more money than them, as this would mean they could be swallowed up by us in the future."
"Recently, your mother and I have noticed some suspicious individuals with strange behaviors, forcing us to seek help from an old fox, although, your mother never agreed to it," Thomas continued.
"That's because that guy is completely unreliable," Martha raised her voice, saying, "My cousin was cheated out of 500,000 yuan in project funds by him, and now he's even targeting her daughter – that's absolutely unacceptable."
"Alright, alright," Thomas soothed Martha and said, "As you can see, if there were better options, we wouldn't want to rely on outsiders."
"I said Dick and I could track them down and knock them out, but you don't like that idea either," Red Hood grumbled.
"Please, Jason, they aren't criminals, nor have they broken any laws. The construction site barriers haven't been fully removed yet; beyond that is public land. Is it illegal for people to walk on the road? Knocking them out would make you a kidnapper, wouldn't it?"
"So..." Doomsday Batman obviously thought of something.
"Correct, perhaps you could serve as the security manager for these three plots of land, routinely patrol the area, especially at night, and of course, don't go overboard to avoid spawning any urban legends that might affect the sales of the properties," Thomas proposed.
"Wait until Bruce picks up Diana," Martha said, clearly referring to the God of War Batman. She continued, "Bruce can just fill the vacant position of phase two real estate development project manager, and Diana can obviously oversee the decoration of phase one. Batman once mentioned she has a high level of expertise in art, and our positioning is precisely high-end."
"And you," Martha looked at Green Lantern Batman, "Batman's late-night issues have been getting worse. We might all be away from the Manor soon, so you must keep an eye on him and make sure he goes to bed by 10 p.m. at the latest every day."
Green Lantern Batman was at a loss for words. If I could keep an eye on him, would I still be sitting here?
Of course, he also understood that this was actually about Batman keeping an eye on him. Yet he didn't fully comprehend Batman's power and thought Batman was an ordinary man without superpowers. He figured that once this horde of demons and devils was gone, he could recharge the Lantern ring. As long as the ring had power, wouldn't the sky be the limit?
After dinner, everyone dispersed to attend to their tasks, but it was clear that the influence of Thomas and Martha was only just beginning to emerge.
Firstly, Batwoman was heading to Metropolis. Usually, she would fly or drive her own Batmobile, but now Batman's Batplanes and the Batmobile were otherwise occupied, so she had to take the bus that she arrived on.
The bus only went to Gotham, not to Metropolis; to reach there, she needed to take a plane, but Gotham on the ground still lacked an airport; it only had a train station. So, Batwoman had to travel to Metropolis by train.
To be frank, Batwoman had never ridden a train before, especially not one of these slow, old-fashioned ones with green carriages. She stood in the middle of the Wayne Manor living room somewhat bewildered, not sure what to do next.
Meanwhile, Martha had already busied herself. She quickly crossed the living room and said to Batwoman, "Don't just stand there, Cece, go upstairs and pack your things. I'm sorry, Alfred is a bit tied up and can't attend to you. He's already sent your suitcase to your room. Right now, I need to call Diana."
Thus, Batwoman went upstairs, but just as she did, Thomas said, "I've heard the rent near the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn't cheap. I'll give you a supplementary card, but you'll need to activate it after you get off the bus. Don't forget, or you'll have no money to use."
Batwoman nodded, noting the information, but soon Red Hood came to her saying, "You might not be aware, but the security in Metropolis isn't great either; it's just a bit better than Gotham, but not much. In the Batcave, there are standard weapons, go grab two guns..."
Batwoman was about to say she didn't need them, but then she reconsidered; the criminals in Metropolis were heavy hitters, and most importantly, the Kryptonian Search Dog would surely sniff her out and then she would be embroiled in trouble once again.
Besides the Trident of Poseidon, which was too ostentatious, she had no Bat Equipment with her and had to resupply from Batman of this cosmos.
She turned around, intending to go downstairs, but at that moment, Alfred was already beside her, smiling and nodding, "Miss, your figure is quite different from the lady's, so you won't be able to wear her clothes. I've urgently ordered a batch, which will arrive in half an hour, but I might be working in the storeroom then. I'll have them drive to the east gate, perhaps you could pick them up along with the Batmonster Vehicle."
Batwoman nodded in agreement and decided to check the size of her suitcase first to determine what equipment she needed to take, so she turned again and headed for her bedroom.
At this time, Martha came upstairs and said, "Give me your phone number... Oh, you don't have a mobile phone, Tim! Tim! Doesn't your aunt work for a telecom company? Get her to send over a phone, along with a SIM card, and then give me the number."
"Of course, no problem, ma'am, but there might be a communication security agreement that requires a personal signature."
"Then bring it to me to sign, make it quick, I'm booking train tickets, maybe the one in an hour and a half is a good choice."
Batwoman felt she was no longer needed and walked towards her bedroom again, while Nightwing came over and said, "I've put some personal hygiene products on the shelf by the door, and also, I've packed you some bread, cookies, and sausages. It's a 5-hour trip to Metropolis, you won't like anything they sell on the train."
Batwoman nodded to express her thanks. She picked up her bag at the door and found it contained towels, toothbrushes, and toiletries, clearly prepared for her in case she didn't have time to shop today.
As soon as she entered her room, Batwoman remembered that finding a place to stay was the most important task since she couldn't possibly live out of hotels for several days, considering the astonishing prices of Metropolis hotels.
She checked the size of her suitcase and then asked for the location of Thomas's study, wanting to borrow a computer to look at rental websites.
The rents she found were shockingly high, and when Thomas gave her his supplementary card, Batwoman realized that the credit limit was not very high, just enough to cover the rent.
Thomas smiled at her and said, "This is just your seed money, girl, but your mother will also give you some private funds for the deposit. As for the rest, you'll have to earn it on your own. We believe in you."
Of course, Batwoman thought, she didn't intend to use her parents' money anyway; after all, she had grown up independently to this age, and it would be embarrassing to rely on them now, almost at middle age.
She made a mental note of a few nice houses, took the phone receiver from Martha, exchanged a few words with Diana on the other end, but of course, she was not very familiar with Wonder Woman since in her universe, Wonder Woman was male.
Then there was a flurry of packing – grabbing clothes, hiding equipment, disassembling the gun to pack it away, rushing to the east gate to get the clothes, folding them into the suitcase, stuffing in the toiletries, then going downstairs to sign the mobile sim card agreement, inserting the card to activate the phone, and sending a message to the number Diana had left during the earlier call.
She also logged onto the website on her phone, booked the hotel for the first day and the house, then sent her new mobile number to the landlord, and called to confirm the check-in time with the hotel.
With only 40 minutes left until the train's departure, Batwoman hardly had time for long goodbyes; she swiftly picked up her suitcase and dashed onto the bus.
The moment she dashed onto the train, with only 3 minutes left before departure, her shoes left afterimages on the carriage floor, her clothes brushed against every seat, and with a thud, she shoved her suitcase to the deepest part of the luggage rack and flopped down on her seat, exhaling deeply.
She had no idea what had happened in the past hour and a half; various people had come and gone, everyone talking to her, asking her to do this or that, reminding her of this detail or that.
Even now, Batwoman wasn't sure if she had completely finished everything or remembered all she had to, but she knew this was the busiest moment of her life. As the train started to move languidly forward, she realized that whatever was undone or unremembered, it was too late now.
Just now, her life seemed to have the fast-forward button and the slow-motion button pressed at the same time, as people hurriedly went about their business, filling her mind with the most trivial details of daily life, dulling her other thoughts.
Outside the window, the landscape started to morph, vastly different from the Gotham she knew, filled with construction sites, dust, paint fumes, and the sweat of workers smoking in the corners under the noon sun.
Her life, it seemed, was to undergo a great change from this moment, and she was unprepared, with no time to prepare. Essentially, starting today, her battle with life would be a full-on encounter.