Tim thought for about three minutes and came to a conclusion—his older brother was probably an idiot.
Even if Dick was smart before, ever since he met Raven, he pretty much became foolish, love certainly kills.
But it didn't matter, Tim had other ways, so he called Aisha.
Aisha had been following Dick and Raven but found them too mushy, so recently, she spent time in a movie theater near the sanatorium, accompanying others to watch horror films.
Yes, she could absorb the fear others felt while watching horror films, although not much, it was barely enough to fill the gaps between her teeth.
Of course, she was still a kid, and even if she bought a ticket, they wouldn't let her in alone, so she always sneaked in.
The timing of Tim's call was just right, the movie had ended, she was about to run out when her phone rang, and the staff caught her.
Taking advantage of the staff being off guard, she quickly slipped out and complained into the phone, "Couldn't it wait? I almost got caught!"
Aisha's communication skills were not a problem as long as it wasn't an urgent matter, and she had learned to hide her teeth and eyes abnormalities, appearing no different from a normal little girl.
"Do me a favor, Aisha," Tim said, "help me check something at Arkham Sanatorium…"
True to say, Aisha's agility was commendable, and soon Tim received what he wanted to check, but unfortunately, there were no important clues therein, Shiller wouldn't put critical treatment records out in the open, so he found nothing.
Tim thought about it, an association between S.H.I.E.L.D. and the KGB was actually more serious than one between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, and of course, they would cover it up tightly, not easily showing any flaws.
So approaching it from this angle was unlikely to yield results, like knocking on the hardest part of metal, Tim, new and foundationless, knew he could never break through it.
Then, changing his approach, whether it was S.H.I.E.L.D., the KGB, Hydra, or The Avengers, if there were no major upheavals, they all must be constrained by some even more powerful organization.
Tim believed that the KGB also must be suppressed by that organization, otherwise, given their reckless fierceness, the situation wouldn't be as passive as it was now.
So instead of investigating the KGB's status, it made sense to investigate who was constraining the KGB.
Tim's purpose of investigation circled back to its origin, which was to figure out which organization, overarching all others, it was.
This was definitely a mysterious organization, unknown to ordinary people, and perhaps only the very top individuals in these powers knew of its existence.
It sounded a bit like Freemasonry, but Tim knew that Freemasonry's power was exaggerated, at least Wayne Enterprises completely disregarded them, but this mysterious organization that could constrain The Avengers definitely had something exceptional about it.
Since ordinary people couldn't possibly know of this organization, he must investigate from the top hierarchy, Tim thought. If he had to name the most likely member of this organization, he would say Tony Stark.
Just skim the news on his phone to understand how much Stark had contributed to the Solar System development plans and the human race's expedition into the cosmos, being the apex of humanity, so he certainly had a place in this top-tiered organization.
Tim made a call to Stark Group, but Stark Group's staff told him that their boss had already gone to Los Angeles with his wife-to-be to prepare for their wedding.
Tim saw that there were only five days left until Stark's wedding; he must be incredibly busy now.
Previously, Tim got Stark's personal contact from Shiller and tried sending him a message, promptly receiving a reply inviting him to a detailed discussion at his Beverly Hills villa.
It was only after getting there that Tim realized Stark wasn't that busy because most of the work had been completed early on. Their wedding had been prepared for so long it wasn't just for show, they had indeed accomplished something substantial besides filming the documentary.
Pepper had been in her postnatal period for so long; she was too restless, so now she went out shopping with the child again, leaving Stark to handle some Stark Group work.
When Tim arrived, Stark was wearing glasses, looking at blueprints in his study. Though just a study, because the villa was so large, it looked like an arena.
Behind and beside Stark were huge floor-to-ceiling windows, with a clear view of the bustling West Coast traffic from outside. It was nearing evening, the clouds were low, about to rain.
Tim sat on the sofa in front of the window, waiting for Stark to finish his work, which took only a few minutes. Stark then put down what he was holding, took off his glasses, and yawned.
He stood up, walked over to the opposite sofa, stretched out his legs, lifted his arms in a stretch, grabbed a pillow, hit it twice, and then asked, "What was it you wanted to do again?"
"Just had some questions to ask," Tim instinctively thought to reach for coffee but suddenly remembered this wasn't Wayne Manor; there was no diligent butler here to serve up a hot cup of coffee on demand.
"Help yourself to the coffee," Stark said tiredly, "I'm not the one to entertain young masters like you."
"You don't seem to have slept very well."
"You've got that wrong, detective, I actually didn't sleep at all last night."
"Why not?"
"Little Morgan suddenly threw up his milk out of nowhere, giving us both a scare, waited three hours for a doctor, and then after a lot of soothing and coaxing, it calmed down only by daybreak."
"You're a good father," said Tim. "Regarding the details of my childhood, my dad couldn't recall as much, always my mom and aunt talked about it, though he said he was busy with business, but I don't think you and Bruce are any busier than him."
Stark perked up slightly and said, "Bruce has a child?"
Then he suddenly realized, "Oh, Aisha is his daughter. Honestly, it's hard to imagine he would choose to marry and have children so early."
"He didn't get married, but I've heard some stories about him and Selina raising Aisha. If you knew their situation back then, you would think your current predicament is nothing."
Stark grew more interested, leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees, and said, "Go on, tell me more."
Tim was the last to arrive, but because of his sensitivity to information, that is, his gossiping ability, he was actually the person who knew the most about Bruce and Selina's past.
He began to slowly tell how the two of them met and then unexpectedly had a child, who, being inhumanely stubborn at the time, caused a lot of chaos, exhausting them both physically and mentally, but eventually they managed to adapt as a family of three.
Stark laughed heartily from time to time, empathizing deeply. He said, "If it were before I had children, I could hardly imagine that such little demons existed in the world, but in fact, I feel I'm about to enter that life too."
"You still have a few years to go," Tim said, pretending to be mature. "At least until she starts to run around everywhere."
"No, no, no, you don't understand," Stark shook his head and said, "Little Morgan has a superpower; she could fly before she could even walk."
"Then you're doomed. You won't have many peaceful days left."
"You're telling me," Stark made a face on purpose and said, "Her mother is a strong woman; looks like I'm going to have to learn some gymnastics tricks."
Tim also laughed, finding that Iron Man wasn't as serious as he'd imagined; he actually thought Tony Stark would be a very serious elder, but now he seemed more like a childish ghost.
Tim knew how to win the favor of such people, and after starting the conversation with children as a topic, they shifted to talking about Stark's technological achievements.
Tim was not a tech nerd; his talent leaned more towards business and politics, albeit he was not bad in scientific research, but he lacked some of the focus and inspiration of the scientists.
That was exactly why he could see the shining scientific wisdom in Stark's personality and thus recognized Tony Stark as a purer scientist than Bruce.
Their conversation grew more and more lively; Stark seemed to have not discussed technical issues with someone else for a long time. Confident and knowledgeable people were rare, and even fewer could understand him.
But Tim was that kind of student all teachers would like; he was smart, got it right away, and even if he didn't understand something, he always managed to ask the right questions.
Rain in Los Angeles was rare, occurring only during the winter season; this year, the rain came a bit early. After a few muffled sounds of thunder in the sky, the rain began to fall.
Perhaps because the temperature wasn't low enough, the cold rain created fog when it hit the ground; soon, the city outside the window was engulfed in fog. Stark pressed the remote button, and the window closed.
The vintage stone fireplace next to him was a fake; Stark pressed a button, and the flames lit up, warming the room, though it was actually the central heating that was providing the warmth.
Stark went to the island platform in the adjacent kitchen and after a while brought back a hot cup of coffee for Tim, who took a sip and let out a light sigh of appreciation, "Indeed, the coffee here has a more modern taste, unlike the retro style of Wayne Manor."
"Yes, Steve said that's a secret, so I came to ask you,"
"Sharp kid, his brain must be rusted from being an agent so long. There are not so many secrets in this world, especially to you,"
"So you're going to tell me now?"
"I can only tell you what I know, but actually, I don't know much," Stark shook his head and said, "Most of it is already written in science textbooks."
"It's not a technical issue," Tim said. "I just want to know if you guys are part of a secret organization that controls the world? If so, what is it called? How does it operate?"
Stark paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "There indeed is, but it might be a bit different from what you're thinking. Why did you start looking into this?"
"Because I found that the struggles between S.H.I.E.L.D., the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Hydra are kept within reasonable bounds..." Tim explained briefly, then said, "As for the main reason, I guess I'm just curious."
Stark suddenly looked up at him.
Tim felt a bit uneasy under his gaze. After a long while, Stark averted his gaze and said, "You seem a bit anxious, like you're eager to do something, right?"
Tim covered his mouth with the coffee cup and said, "Is it that obvious?"
"Not really, I've just seen it too many times when I looked in the mirror."
"Well, there is a bit. The universe I'm from might soon see some big moves, and I want to take some measures. I think there are things in your universe that could serve as a reference."
"Do you also want to establish an organization that controls the world?"
"That's a long-term goal, can you tell me now?"
"Well, the organization is called... the Luminous Alliance."