"I can't take you there," Nash, standing at six feet tall, nervously eyed Jason, clutching his belt with both hands, trembling against the wall.
He was afraid that Jason would strip him of his pants at any moment.
"You can," Jason growled, grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up, his face intimidating with the same red hood, "Or I'll break your arms and legs."
Intimidation check: 48/55, success.
In the end, they managed to obtain the recent import and export records of the port, although they weren't particularly detailed. It was just forms of cargo ships entering and leaving the port, and on it was the record of the ship belonging to Varendin—the Aurora. Its last arrival in Gotham was a month ago, and it had since lost contact.
"The timing matches up. It should be something on this ship that caused the plant mutation." Dick, sitting in a wheelchair due to losing his mobility, courtesy of a broken rib from Batman's assault, which had just been patched up by Baia. As a target of Batman's attacks, he had to say it was relatively mild.
Although the Red Hood sometimes said that Bruce was "indecisive" and "hesitant in battle," in reality, they all knew that wasn't the case. Looking at the entire Bat Family, Bruce's punches were among the hardest, but he just happened to leave people with a bit of pride intact.
The salty sea breeze blew in their faces.
Dick looked through the binoculars at the sea, while Jason examined the records with a flashlight, and Baia craned her neck to look.
The fish in the sea were likely mutated as well, Jason said he wanted to see how bad the situation was underwater—considering he had just crawled out of the sea himself, miraculously unaffected.
It seemed like a downright reckless act, but no one objected. Dick even felt a bit eager. After all, no one in this family really understood what fear was.
Beside them was Nash, looking lost and dejected.
"I sometimes feel like there's something hidden beneath this surface," Nash lit a cigarette, "Every time I save someone, I feel like it's trying to swallow me too, under the cold currents of the ocean..."
"Why do you still do this job then?" Baia shifted her attention away from the records, observing the exhausted Nash. Perhaps it was because of the two attacks in one day, but he seemed genuinely scared by Jason, though it was more likely that he wasn't entirely normal to begin with.
"Because it calls to me," Nash said, "Right here, in the depths of the ocean. I can't stray too far from the sea, it pains me. Sometimes I feel like jumping in, swimming deeper and deeper until I'm buried in the darkest depths of the Mariana Trench. That doesn't sound too bad. But when I save someone, you know... dragging another person along, that's my only reason to come back to shore."
She exchanged a glance with Jason, Nash had issues too, that was undeniable. But he didn't sound like he was influenced by the mastermind behind Emerald Street, more likely he had the blood of a deep-sea diver. Although they knew Gotham wasn't a good place, this was too much. From start to finish, it seemed like they hadn't encountered a single normal NPC.
While Baia was chatting with Nash, Dick saw something black floating below the deep blue sea.
"Dick, have a flash of insight."
Insight check: 14/80, at least it wasn't a critical success.
Slowly floating up was a tangle of sea snakes, eels, and fish, twisted together in a bizarre posture, writhing incessantly. On their jet-black scales shimmered an indescribable and eerie light—no, they weren't twisted together.
They were grown together.
Melting from some parts and then growing together. This twisted creature conglomerate, with countless heads and tails, fundamentally, was just one animal. Among the countless elongated bodies, the embedded nautilus shells were a nauseating fluorescent green, with patterns contorting in a crazed manner, like an eye staring at Dick. He heard the creature emit a sound somewhere between a baby's scream and laughter, the cold, damp, and sticky sensation pressing against the back of his neck, making Dick's hair stand on end.
It used an octopus tentacle to cling to the edge of the dock.
"Baia, don't look." Jason sighed, deciding to preserve at least one person's sanity, then he rushed forward and kicked the thing back into the sea with one swift motion.
"So, let's have Jason and Dick each roll a 1d4 sanity check for witnessing this scene," Tim asked, "Having fun with danger?"
Jason only lost 2 sanity points, while Dick once again hit the jackpot.
With the tavern incident, Dick had now lost a total of 7 sanity points, one more and he'd enter a temporary state of madness.
"Joyful!" Dick's teeth chattered, "Absolutely joyful!"
"Is this guy already crazy?" Jason said, taking the binoculars from Dick's hand, pushing the wheelchair and turning away from the harbor, "Let's go find Brucey and meet up."
"What about him?" Baia pointed to the completely blank-faced Nash.
Jason glanced at the lifeguard, unconcerned. "Just leave him here. He's not of much use anyway."
Sometimes Jason gave Baia a feeling similar to Tim's, as if she knew Tim would make similar choices if he were here. Even though he was just an illusionary character, if it were the sober Dick or Bruce present, they'd probably choose to save Nash too.
"Fine," Baia shrugged.
The next morning, according to Bruce's message, they met at the entrance of 23 Emerald Bird Street.
Everything around them was both normal and eerie.
The swaying thick bushes of camellia towered over adults, moving without wind, their dense green foliage tinged with gray decay, with huge flower blooms emitting a foul odor, eerily resembling human faces. As Baia walked, they turned as if observing her. They obscured the not-so-clear sky, surrounding 23 Emerald Bird Street like the thorn wall outside Sleeping Beauty's castle.
Despite being in the neighborhood, it felt like being lost in a dark forest.
Oddly enough, emotionally, no one felt like something was wrong.
We've been influenced by the Star Sapphire, Baia thought.
An unexpected person stood with Bruce—tall and handsome, with a physique that could be described as perfect, his eyes as calm as an icy sea. Standing next to Bruce, he appeared even more petite and lovely, making the father-daughter pair seem very harmonious.
It felt like matching with oneself, but in a weird way.
Although Bruce—the one from 15 years ago—was dressed very casually and couldn't be seen as Gotham's prince, his extraordinary presence was still discernible. Brucey's face was extremely cold, and when Jason started to snicker, she almost couldn't hide her embarrassment.
Bruce naturally had a high affection for Brucey, probably didn't even need any charm. After all, Brucey's appearance was there, hardware that would surely get Bruce's recognition, especially given his clear preference for dark hair and blue eyes. Moreover, Brucey's displayed detective skills and mysterious, aloof demeanor also piqued Bruce's curiosity.
It seemed fundamentally, they were the same kind of person.
Seeing Baia and the others, Damian actually breathed a sigh of relief as if seeing a savior.
He was really tired of this dog food from Bruce and Brucey, although it was only Bruce who was showing a bit of affection without the other party's knowledge.
"Dick, what happened to you?" Brucey frowned at the sight of her eldest son in a wheelchair.
"Don't mention it, almost got sent off by Batman with two punches," Dick naturally recognized Bruce and began to sigh loudly.
Very well, now both Bruce and Brucey were starting to feel awkward.
After all, with Baia's medical support, Dick was much better now, at least it was no problem for him to stand up and walk. But it was too amusing to see both bats revealing such complicated expressions, he couldn't help it.
"Let's exchange some information," Jason said.
"This is Match Malon," Damian said, "We met him nearby, he claims to be a federal cop and can help us."
"Match Malon?" Baia's gaze at Brucey immediately became awkward.
She always thought their first meeting was the night they were kidnapped by the ice, but it seemed that wasn't the case. No wonder Batman's acceptance of her was so unexpectedly high—in legends, he was always overly cautious, cold, and distant. After moving to Wayne Manor, she had momentarily forgotten about this, coupled with the fact that Bruce had slightly changed his appearance at the time, looking very different from his usual self.
...Hah, Batman.
Brucey cleared his throat.
"Batman said he would come to investigate during the day yesterday, and now you show up." Baia narrowed her eyes, determined to strip Bruce of his mask directly.
Brucey responded unexpectedly, "He also said not to get involved in this anymore, did you forget?"
This reaction was unexpected for Baia; the younger Bruce seemed a bit tricky.
"Did you find anything at the police station last night?"
With the concentration of Bat-family members present, Dick had to step up to take charge—why was he doing this when he was injured?
"Not only Windsor's corpse, but the other corpses have peculiar appearances. They're all wrinkled and gray-skinned, and they crumble into powder with external force, making it difficult to identify them," Brucey stated slowly, "It's as if something has drained them dry. As far as I know, there's no radioactive substance that can do this."
"It's more like... magic?" Jason, being a clergyman, had a reasonable guess, "Perhaps we're up against something supernatural."
This line was a hint given by Bruce.
"In addition, we found Windsor's wedding ring. She and Van Lente should be married, and the reason for the secrecy, I guess, is related to their blood relationship. It was her birthday a month ago," Brucey speculated.
"It seems like someone's birthday gift went wrong," Baia guessed.
"Obviously. Now Van Lente shouldn't be doing well either. Let's go inside and take a look," Brucey said, about to walk in, but was stopped by another Bat.
Bruce: "This is not something you guys can handle. Leave it. I'll take care of it."
Brucey, being stopped by his younger self, dangerously stared at him for a moment, like two tigers confronting each other.
Dick quietly approached Baia's ear, "See, now Bruce finally knows how annoying he is."
"Here's a tip," Tim suddenly spoke up, "If you choose to give up and leave now, you can end this, Batman will take care of everything."
"Don't joke around, do you think this greenhorn can handle anything? He would be taken care of by Star Sapphire," Jason sneered.
Tim fell silent.
Baia guessed that this reaction meant: Yes. In other words, if they left now, it might end with Batman's death, and Star Sapphire leaving Earth as the outcome.
"Bruce can easily deal out 10 points of real damage with his bare hands, so following him is just sending a few more lives," Dick sighed.
And after all, this was just an illusion. This young Bruce was just an NPC, like the lifeguard.
"Anyway, I disagree," Jason said stiffly, very different from his reaction to Nash earlier.
But actually, Dick didn't have the heart to end it like this either. Even if they were wiped out by Star Sapphire amidst laughter and joy, it would still be better than watching Bruce go alone to fight the ancient god. In fact, the more Bruce liked to show his solo-taking-everything-on-his-shoulders attitude, the more his little birds worried about him.
Brucey pushed away Bruce's hand, glaring at him, and hissed, "I don't need you to control me."
"See that," Dick leaned close to Baia again, "That smell is back."
Baia felt like she had stumbled into some kind of romantic drama, more like the overbearing CEO and the savage girlfriend. It would be great if both protagonists weren't Batman.
She closed her eyes. "Match Malon, if you really want to help, why don't you try to evacuate the people in Gotham Harbor and this neighborhood, and don't argue with Brucey."
At this point, Brucey and Gordon weren't too familiar yet. He glanced at Baia, nodded, and made a phone call. Hearing his tone, Dick knew the person on the other end of the line was Gotham Industries CEO Lucius.
The omnipotent Lucius, who had been putting up with Bruce's nonsense for over a decade.
This Bruce had spent much less time being a superhero compared to Nightwing. Thinking of this, Dick felt an infinite tenderness in his heart, as if he was seeing another little bird in the family.
The only person who seemed very uncomfortable was clearly Bruce's biological son.