The sparrow, draped in blue feathers, didn't immediately take flight. She looked at him, her pure, bright eyes hidden behind the Domino mask. Tim couldn't see them, but he still felt defeated. With a sigh, Tim gave her a compromising hug. Baia had to tiptoe to reach the boy's neck.
"Go on," Tim could feel her heart beating like a small animal's, "Nora is waiting."
Baia whispered softly, "Thank you, Tim."
Lately, someone had always been by Baia's side. She enjoyed the company and felt honored by it, but when she had to be alone, she found herself surprisingly adaptable. It seemed she had grown accustomed to it.
Most of the eighth floor of Gotham Hospital had been cleared out, leaving only immobile patients and the medical staff busy in the consultation rooms. Family members and bystanders had long been asked to leave. Tim had to temporarily leave for college applications in the afternoon. Waiting outside the operating room were Black Canary, a few police officers, and Vicki Vale, a special correspondent for the Gotham Gazette.
If the surgery was successful, the uplifting news would reach all of Gotham early the next morning—the process of freezing, waiting, and curing was feasible. It meant too much.
Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance, clad in a leather jacket, sat on the windowsill outside the operating room, gazing at the scenery outside. When sunlight bathed her, her golden hair seemed to shimmer. As Baia approached, she nodded to her.
"Hello, Sparrow."
"Hello, Black Canary."
The big bird and the little bird exchanged greetings, sounding like they had stumbled into some marvelous avian nest.
There was no longer that feeling of strangers keeping their distance.
Black Canary, Dinah Laurel Lance, was one of the world's top martial artists. She had received training from the legendary Catwoman, along with Batman and Catwoman's tutelage, Tim and Dick had also experienced her teachings to some extent.
Training a sparrow for Gotham was the reason she was here.
It was a personal favor for Bruce, after all, whether it was the youngest Damian or the most adept fighter Batman himself, their fighting styles were not suitable for Baia to learn. She wouldn't stay for long, but she could serve as a competent introductory teacher.
Baia knew of her arrival.
"Excuse me, has our 'miracle' arrived?" President Harold asked, poking his head out of the preparation room, meeting Baia's gaze directly.
Valerie, who was putting on gloves, also glanced outside, "Oh? Looks like it's a little miracle."
"I have a name. I'm Sparrow." The little miracle blinked, as Valerie reached out to pull her into the preparation room for sterilization. According to Professor Green, she didn't need to directly contact Nora, which made things easier.
"Well, Gotham's specialty birds. Besides Robin, there's now Sparrow?" Harold didn't dare to make such jokes in front of Black Canary, after all, she could easily defeat ten ordinary men, "I hope you're as reliable as Professor Green says."
"First, you need to ensure she survives the surgery," Valerie said, "which is basically impossible according to the estimates."
"Trust me," Baia replied nonchalantly, "she can do it."
When you are a crucial member of the team, Justice League's finest battle commander, the league advisor advised, don't be modest, don't shrink back, and better yet, appear to be effortlessly skilled.
Seeing Sparrow's reaction, Harold couldn't help but relax a little.
The surgery was led by Harold, who was relatively fit, with Valerie assisting. Their colleague, Dr. Rex, was in charge of anesthesia, while nurses of various sizes came from Gotham City Hospital.
The unlocking process of Nora's cryo-chamber was extremely complex, which Freeze had to set up to protect her. After reaching an agreement with Baia, she naturally knew how to unlock the cryo-chamber correctly. Waking up from hibernation was extremely dangerous, and current Earth technology was far from being able to wake patients up without any harm.
As the cryo-chamber opened, the temperature in the room dropped, and vapor quickly condensed into cold mist. The Ice Maiden had dazzling silver short hair and pale skin. The hibernation, for some reason—had permanently altered her physique.
As the ice-blue indicator lights lit up one by one, Nora's life slowly dwindled.
She was pushed to the operating table without waking up from thawing.
The smell of disinfectant, the slightly bitter taste of medicine, and the gradual loss of vitality were things Harold, as the lead surgeon, was accustomed to, but he always pushed on for his patients.
The goldfinch particles shimmered like fairies under the shadowless operating light.
He felt an unprecedented level of focus.
Baia was not only standing here to save Nora's life; she was also here to take care of every doctor and nurse, ensuring that there were no accidents during this high-difficulty bone marrow transplant surgery, estimated to last 25 hours.
As time passed by, the sparrow sang softly.
The instruments reporting Nora's vital signs continued to beep dangerously.
With the continuous effect of Moon Dew and the never-ending Angel's Song, Nora's life points were restored by over 100% per hour. This meant that without Baia present, she might have died twenty-five times already. Maybe even more than that.
The extensive spread and mutation of cancer cells necessitated the removal of many tissues, but Black Canary prevented any major bleeding, while Sparrow's healing skills enhanced her normal cell's hematopoietic ability.
Despite Black Canary optimizing their physical conditions, the nurses from Gotham Hospital who were assisting on the sidelines had already changed three times. After all, psychological fatigue was unavoidable. But when Baia looked at Rex, Harold, and Valerie, she understood why they could stand at the top of their field.
Given Harold's status, he didn't need to personally perform surgery anymore. The middle-aged principal could still crack a joke or complain a bit in the beginning, but later, he relied entirely on an extraordinary willpower to keep going.
That look, she had seen it in many people.
Heroes.
The doctors present, like Baia, couldn't eat or doze off in the operating room. They relied on glucose and mixed nutrients to sustain themselves, with Baia's condition being worse. After all, with Black Canary's blessing, there would be no problems with the doctors' hardware.
What was giving Baia a splitting headache was the system:
System: Can you still hold on?
Baia: "...If you insist on asking, I feel like I might go before Nora at this rate."
When she first got the system skill, just using a few skills would make her feel so exhausted that she'd fall asleep on the spot. When she saved Jose, she used Angel's Song about seven times, which was already very strenuous for her. After upgrading part of the system, the required mental energy seemed to have decreased, or maybe her mental energy limit had increased. But the number of times she had to use this skill was still too exaggerated.
Her back was soaked with sweat, and her vision occasionally darkened. Black Canary had the same effect on her, but the refreshing effect, which occurred every two hours, was diminishing. Initially, it could restore her state for an hour, but now, it might only be for about ten minutes.
Baia had to use skill points reserved for props to upgrade Angel's Song, doubling the amount of healing just to barely maintain Nora's vital signs.
Valerie, Harold, Rex, heroes.
Also ordinary people.
She couldn't let their efforts go to waste.
In the first few hours, Baia could still stand, but later she had to find a place to sit down. For Harold, this little miracle of Sparrow was truly a valuable addition without any additional cost. She did far more than he had imagined, so he took the risk to do everything except the bone marrow transplant, such as removing some diseased tissues. After all, he had to return to New York and couldn't stay in Gotham for follow-up surgeries. Naturally, the more he did now, the better Nora's prognosis would be.
Nora had already been pulled back from the brink of death, not completely recovered—far from it—but at least there was hope. Even without 'Sparrow's' participation in the subsequent procedures, modern medicine was enough to treat her.
As the sky darkened and the dawn rose again on the horizon, journalist Vicki fell asleep on a bench in the hospital corridor.
When the sun began to slant westward again, the red light in the operating room turned green.
At this moment, there was a lot of excitement outside the operating room. Not to mention Dick, who had rushed back from a leave granted by Bruce Wayne, Bruce and Tim, who had skipped the board meeting, there were also the current director, vice director, and doctors of Gotham Hospital, the Green couple, Vicki and her cameraman, who were all standing in the crowd. Due to various reasons such as secret identities, Bruce and the others did not wait at the door of the operating room. It wasn't surprising that the shareholders of Gotham Hospital came to check on the situation, after all, saving Nora was initially Bruce's idea.
There were only faint whispers at first. When the nurse pushed Nora out of the operating room with a smile on her face, the crowd immediately became restless. After a brief half-second of low noise, occasional comments like "Unbelievable," "It actually succeeded," and "Worthy of Valerie" could be heard.
The flashbulbs went off a few times, and the current director of Gotham General Hospital, Burnell, put on a serious face. The hospital's doctors quickly dispersed. Nora still needed to stay in the ICU to stabilize her vital signs.
Most of the crowd, including reporter Vicky and her cameraman, focused on Director Harold and Nora, forming a scene akin to stars surrounding the moon, before gradually dispersing.
At first, Baia couldn't even stand up. Rex, concerned, asked about her condition, but all he got was a soft "I'm fine." He had to go check on Nora's anesthesia recovery, so he didn't press further. After a while, the blue-feathered sparrow finally returned to her family's side.
"Nora has been saved," she murmured as if in a daze, "Merry Christmas." Then she collapsed straight to the ground.