Dick cradled Aisha at the breakfast stall, Jason stuffing a sandwich into his mouth, several older children gathered in front of the food truck ordering. Jason looked at Dick and said, "So, is that rich guy really going to send you to boarding school? That's no good place!"
"It's a regular boarding school, the kind all the rich kids go to, not those child prisons."
"That's somewhat better. If he's planning to throw you into those prisons, I'd recommend getting out as soon as possible, the kids in there are having a terrible time." Tire came over with a cup of ice juice.
"I heard they sell the kids sent to boarding schools to the most vicious bosses, or they maim them and sell them to beg in other cities." Red Train also came over and added.
Everyone came over with their food and once again sat around the small table.
Just then, Jason sighed, looking somewhat worried. The others asked him, "What's the matter?"
"The task the guy in the bat suit gave me, I still don't know what to do."
"He made it sound easy, told me to go and investigate those 'mommies and daddies' controlling the kids. But I can't just go up to the bosses and ask them, 'What the hell is going on?'."
Cobblepot, from behind the red truck, came over with a tray. He put the tray down, adjusted his shirt collar as he sat down. Rocket laughed at him, "You always act like some old noble, does that make the food taste better?"
Cobblepot ignored her, just said to Jason, "You're still young, you could find another big street. Blend in with the kids there, get a job like that, wouldn't that get you legitimate access to those bosses?"
Tire thought for a moment and said, "Indeed, we definitely can't, we're too old and muscular for those bosses. But you, oh... And you, Dick. Both of you are the right age and have the kind of look that should get you in."
Dick shrugged, "In a few days, I might have to go to school."
He turned his head and saw Jason staring at him. Dick sighed, "Alright, it wouldn't hurt to hang around with you guys for a while."
After some discussion, Jason and Dick decided to go to the edge of East District's Green Street and look for some cigarette vending gigs, see if they could gather some intel from the bosses.
After finishing their meal, Dick brought Aisha back to Wayne Manor where Alfred told him, "Sir just returned, he's been looking for you."
Dick nodded, and with Aisha, he went to Bruce's study on the third floor. When he entered, Bruce told him, "Get your stuff ready, you're going to school next week."
Dick moved his lips, seeming somewhat resistant. When Bruce looked at him, he suddenly became very sentimental.
When one sees the same thing through different lenses, they would realize how brash and impulsive the younger self had been. Bruce, gazing at Dick standing by the door, was reminded of the younger self standing in the therapist's office.
He was always under the impression that the professor had some unnameable secret, some superpower. He was desperate to learn the Mind Reading Technique from the psychology professor, and was so ambitious as to bypass studying theoretical knowledge altogether and directly master the ultimate secrets of psychology.
What did the professor do back then? Bruce felt that his memory was starting to blur. Back then, he didn't understand why Shiller refused to teach him. He felt that he was highly gifted for psychology and should have been the kind of student who teachers loved, the kind who understood everything at the first try.
But later, Bruce discovered that psychology was more than just "what is the other person thinking right now". Or rather, that was only the superficial part of psychology.
The essence of this subject was to explore the inner world of people, the formation of personality, and the root causes of human behavior, which could only be learned from serious and meticulous reading. Moreover, it took months and years of application and analysis to master it.
Naturally, Dick also wanted to skip school and practice, to learn Bruce's superpower directly. And now, Bruce was counseling him against it from a senior's perspective, deeply sensing the helplessness that Shiller must have felt back then.
Did Bruce have superpowers? From the perspective of ordinary people, he sure did. Not only was he extremely rich, he was born with exceptional intelligence, learned quickly, had excellent athletic ability, coordination, and flexibility. In some sense, these could already be classified as superpowers.
But Bruce knew well that his current level was not only a result of his innate talent. Those learning and practice phases could not be skipped.
"Listen, Dick, I can of course let you skip school. Spend each day running around on the streets, it wouldn't differ much from the other kids in Gotham. Or, you can continue practicing your acrobatics, not attend the language, math and dance lessons you don't like…"
"But precisely because I believe you have a gift, you shouldn't settle for a job as an acrobat. That's why you need more systematic and extensive learning, to discover the path you really want to embark on…"
Perhaps because Bruce himself had once played a role similar to Dick's in front of Shiller, he was more patient with Dick, even exceptionally explaining to Dick the reasoning behind his arrangements. In the past, Bruce would never explain his actions to anyone.
"Really? Do you actually think ... that I have decent talent?" Dick asked, looking at Bruce.
Bruce tried hard to recall his interactions with Shiller, then he looked at Dick and said, "Yes, as it appears now. However, what you could ultimately achieve depends on your performance in school..."
"Of course, don't forget that although your parents have returned to Brude Haven, I can still communicate with them via phone calls. If your grades aren't satisfactory, I guess I could invite them over to Gotham…"
"I'm going to pack!" Putting down Aisha, Dick ran off. Bruce stood there, letting out a sigh of sentiment. He found that it was quite uncomfortable to have one's parents summoned by the teacher but, it was indeed a useful and satisfying means of threatening others.
That morning, Bruce, who had just stepped into the role of an elder for the first time, subtly understood his college professor, Shiller, discovering how one's perspective dictated their attitude.
After lunch, Dick was playing on the manor's lawn with Aisha again. Dick climbed swiftly onto the horizontal bar, swung around it, extended his arms and landed gracefully. Then he grabbed the bar again, did a backflip, and landed on the ground in an elegant pose, prompting Aisha to clap and laugh non-stop.
As Dick approached the horizontal bar intending to swing a couple more times, he suddenly noticed that a small patch of grass near Aisha appeared to have been blown down by the wind.
Just as he was about to go over to check it out, he felt a gust of wind blowing dramatically around him. He shielded his face with his arms, took a few steps back, and when he opened his eyes, he found that Aisha had also been blown onto the lawn.
Just as he was about to go and pick up Aisha, he saw a burst of yellow light from the sky, followed by a man in a yellow bodysuit floating in the light above them.
Dick, with his eyes wide, said, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
At this point, Sinestro, who had descended from the sky, was also in a rather bad mood.
The Lantern Furnace's navigation only reached nearby Earth's atmosphere, the exact city where Parallax landed had to be located by Sinestro himself. Sinestro had barely arrived in Earth's vicinity when he was stopped by a Green Lantern named Hal.
Upon seeing Sinestro in yellow, the Green Lantern threw a punch at him instantly, and the two began fighting high above the Earth.
To Sinestro's surprise, Hal, the newly debuted yet virtually unknown Green Lantern, was unbelievably powerful. Sinestro almost exhausted all the Fear Energy in his ring to defeat Hal and dump him into the sea.
During the brief respite, Sinestro quickly circled around the Earth and eventually located the source of the Fear Energy in Gotham on the East Coast.
As he landed, he expected to see the city turned into ruins by the Parallax-possessed individual, but unexpectedly found the city eerily quiet. The buildings were unscathed, and the residents weren't fleeing in panic. It was as if nothing had happened.
In Sinestro's memory, this was virtually impossible because Parallax was a chaotic creature, completely oblivious to the order of the world, leading to reckless destruction. When Parallax had possessed him before, it had ravaged several planetary cities and Earth should've been no exception.
What confused him more was that after searching for a while, he found the aura of Parallax emanating from a human house. And after arriving here, he found that instead of the monstrous creature with menacing fangs, it was a... little human girl?
Sinestro looked down at the Yellow Lantern Ring on his hand, looked up at the little girl, and then down again at the ring. After repeated confirmations, he ascertained that this was indeed their Lantern Beast, Parallax."
Upon landing, Sinestro said to the little girl, "How did you transform into this? What are you doing here? Come back with me quickly."
Aisha stared at him with her big eyes, clearly unwilling. When Dick saw Sinestro approaching Aisha, he rushed over without a second thought, blocking Sinestro and saying, "What are you doing? This is Wayne Manor!"
Sinestro didn't want to waste time arguing with a human. With a wave of his hand, Dick was blown away by a beam of yellow light. Aisha watched as Dick flew off before she turned her gaze back to Sinestro.
Aisha opened her mouth to reveal sharp fangs, confirming Sinestro's suspicion that Parallax had disguised itself as a human.
Just as Sinestro was about to reach out, the little girl stepped back two steps, took a deep breath, opened her mouth, lifted her head…
Instantly, an unparalleled loud scream broke the silence over Gotham-
"Dad———————————!"