Baia had seen Talia in the Batcomputer's files, so it was easy for her to recognize her now. Talia was undoubtedly a dangerous woman, judging from what she had done to Damian.
"In? Think of something quickly!" Baia mentally shook the system, still reeling from dealing with Man-Bat moments ago.
The system, in a panic, exclaimed, "Don't you have plenty of ideas? Why are you turning to me now?"
Talia approached slowly, the sharp clang of her blade resounding as she drew it from behind her. The snow-white blade gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
The system screamed, "Call her 'mother'!"
Baia: "Huh?"
The system, regaining composure, said, "Damian Wayne is your brother, Bruce Wayne is your father, and you both have green eyes. Round it up, and she's your mom. Hurry up!"
Baia picked herself up from the ground, not wanting to appear too weak and embarrass Bruce further, although she was genuinely feeling intimidated. Due to her movement, Talia's blade was now poised threateningly at her pale neck.
The black-haired girl seemed unfazed by the weapon at her neck. She slowly raised her head, blinked twice, and met Talia's cold, stern gaze, speaking softly, "Mother."
The system interjected, "Isn't that tone too indifferent? Think about how you faced Selina."
Baia said, "No need, look at her expression, it fits."
Talia was stunned.
Batman, who was rushing to Baia's location, also froze in his tracks.
Robin, monitoring the situation anxiously, was equally taken aback.
Due to the riot of Man-Bats in Gotham, which had led to the lifting of the lockdown, Damian exploded, "This is impossible!"
After a moment of silence on the channel, Damian's roar echoed through everyone's ears.
"Calm down, Robin. This is indeed impossible," Batman said. "I and Red Robin have analyzed her blood sample, and it has no connection to me or Talia."
Baia, gradually regaining her composure, said, "Although, I think making up such a huge lie is easier than standing still and waiting to die, right? She called me 'doctor,' so she must have a request for me. I didn't have to die!"
The system chimed in, "But she hasn't killed you yet!"
Baia: "But Damian would kill me!"
The system teased, "Do you have any last words for the next host?"
Imagine two experts fighting, and one suddenly calls the other 'dad' or 'mom.' For example, if Nightwing suddenly called Deathstroke 'dad,' or if Catwoman suddenly acknowledged Wonder Woman as 'mom,' the fight wouldn't go on—
"Wait," Baia said suspiciously, "Are you inspired by 'The Empire Strikes Back'?"
The system coyly responded, "Am I good at drawing parallels? Look at Luke and his dad. They didn't get killed either, did they?"
Baia despaired, "How could there be such a system! You're going to get me killed!"
The system retorted, "Oh, it's not like you were asking for help from me just now!"
Talia certainly wouldn't think she had suddenly gained a daughter, because the bird Batman had just taken under his wing was not following the usual script. She was caught off guard and didn't react in time.
The two stared at each other for a moment, and Talia raised her chin slightly.
"What do you call me?"
At this point, the lie had to be maintained. Baia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and repeated, "Mother."
The system commented, "Wow, this is so awkward."
Baia gritted her teeth, "Enough! Shut up! This is all your fault!"
This unexpected turn of events caught Talia off guard, leaving her stunned for a moment. By the time she regained her senses, the sound of the Batwing's engine was approaching. Talia listened for a moment before sheathed her blade.
With the threat of death now lifted, Baia quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, she attempted to use Catwoman's stealth skills, but failed several times. Talia's intense and merciless green eyes were fixed firmly on her, and Baia had no doubt that if she showed any sign of wanting to escape, Talia would break her legs without hesitation.
The woman from the League of Assassins grabbed the hood of the bird's cloak unceremoniously and shoved her into the helicopter.
"It's time to go," Talia said playfully. "My daughter."
The Man-Bats clung to the Batwing's windshield, leaving deep scratches with their massive claws, making it look like a scene from a horror movie. Tim's view was obstructed, but he couldn't determine whether these creatures were synthetic or mutated citizens, as there were precedents for both.
Furrowing his brow, Tim activated the plane's electrostatic barrier, causing the Batwing's enemies to screech and fall. However, he didn't push the Batwing's speed to the limit as he had anticipated, because a missile was heading straight towards him.
A dazzling explosion erupted in the air, pushing the Batwing off course with the shockwave. Despite being a high-performance WayneTech product, it veered off course due to the impact. Flames engulfed one side of the black wings, and Tim instinctively closed his eyes in the dazzling white light as the intense explosion raised the temperature inside the cockpit.
Sweat beads formed on the young man's forehead, but he steadfastly began recalibrating the course.
"Red Robin, stand down," Batman's emotionless voice sounded in his ear. "You're being irrational."
Tim maintained his position for a moment, slowly releasing his grip on the controls, which he found surprisingly difficult. Red Robin took a breath and murmured, "Yes, I'm being irrational."
Baia being taken away by Talia under his guardianship had made it impossible for him to stay rational.
"You know, you're not fit to pursue this anymore," Bruce adjusted his tone, "I'll take care of rescuing Baia. Large quantities of Man-Bat serum have been produced, and I need your help solving Gotham's Man-Bat problem."
Bruce didn't often say "I need you" or "help solve" unless he was trying to help Tim calm down.
In general, Tim knew what he needed. What he needed now was to fly this flaming plane into the Assassins' lair, duel with Ra's al Ghul for three hundred rounds, and then snatch their little witch back, rather than dealing with the damn Man-Bats and their rabies vaccines.
Tim sat quietly for a while, calming his emotions. The Batwing warned of structural damage, and he should prepare to eject.
"Red Robin acknowledged," he finally responded succinctly.
After Damian made a fiery declaration, he became unusually quiet. Typically, Robin—any Robin—was quite talkative. Despite Damian's dislike of incessant chatter and constant complaints, he hadn't deviated from the general characteristic of a Robin.
Silence meant he was truly angry, scoring a nine out of ten on the anger scale.
Tim felt like his head was splitting. But maybe not as much as Baia's.
After all, she had hit her head when they boarded the helicopter, and Talia wasn't like Mr. Freeze, who loved to chat like a taxi driver on the road. Talia needed Baia to be clueless about their destination, and Baia needed to close her eyes to escape reality for a while.
"I just managed to handle the Man-Bats on my own," Baia sat on the orange grass in her dream, chin in hand, looking distressed. "Batman's approval rating has probably dropped back to the seventies. It'll take ages before I become his teammate."
If it weren't for talents being unlocked once they were unlocked and not regressing, Tim's approval rating would have cooled as well.
The system deer munched on grass and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. It's all fate. Let's focus on how to save our lives."
"Talia grabbing me definitely isn't random," Baia deduced. "It must be related to Ra's al Ghul. Tim said he's been alive for hundreds of years, always using some weird green pool with side effects to resurrect. What's that pool called again?"
The system deer, with its golden eyes, glanced at Baia. "Lazarus Pit."
"Compared to that, I seem to be a side-effect-free version of the Lazarus Pit..." Baia rolled on the grass, "Forget it, I'm too difficult, let's just go with the flow."
Time in dreams always seemed to pass quickly. Before the system could finish eating the virtual grass, Baia woke up in intense pain.
This place didn't look good. Baia found herself no longer wearing Sparrow's uniform, but dressed in all-black Assassin gear, probably to prevent her from hiding anything in her uniform.
As for who changed it and how, Baia didn't want to know.
Contacting Batman was definitely out of the question.
In order to prevent the enemy from escaping, the room temporarily referred to as the cell by Baia was kept simple, with only a bed and a narrow window. Apart from that, there were oppressive gray walls and a single light bulb.
"Gotham doctors' treatment is really terrible," Baia complained, unable to bear it. "Can't I receive proper treatment as a conscientious patient?"
The system tried to console her: "At least in Wayne Manor, you have a whole bunch of conscientious patients."
Not long after she woke up, the door made a sound, and it was Talia.
The tall woman squinted as she observed the just awakened girl. She approached slowly, lifting Baia's chin with her index finger. Her voice was as cold as ice. "You say you're my daughter, but I don't remember any such thing."
Baia didn't hesitate and replied softly, "I come from a parallel world."
Joking aside, after sleeping for so long, how could she not have prepared any script?
With a disdainful hum, Talia rebuked, "Lies!"
"I am a defective product created by Mother," the black-haired girl seemed unaffected by Talia's stern reprimand, she just looked at her and continued, "In the world I come from, Damian doesn't exist."
The system interjected: "Host, you're playing with fire."
Baia retorted, "It's all your lousy idea! And you have the nerve to complain here!"
"All defective products should be destroyed," Talia stared into her green eyes, explaining why her eye color was so pale.
"All defective products should be destroyed," Baia repeated without any emotion, "but I can cure my grandfather, so I was kept alive."
This "grandfather" learned from Damian.
Her slender fingertips emitted a faint light, and Talia initially wanted to avoid it, but she only frowned as she watched the light slowly repair a wound on her body. This was the information she had, and it was also the purpose of Talia's visit. Baia's rare healing ability.
Talia asked indifferently, "Then why did you come here?"
This was not important to Talia, and she was probably not really a daughter from a parallel world as she claimed. But for some reason, Talia found teasing her very amusing, and she wanted to get more answers.
Baia tilted her head slightly, looking at her like a puppy. There was no pleading or fear in her glass-like mint-green eyes, only a kind of blankness and calmness like a blank sheet of paper. "Because I died, I'm not sure what happened next."
"Then explain clearly."
The black-haired girl knelt up and leaned close to Talia. Not wanting to show weakness and realizing the other party was not threatening, Talia remained motionless, allowing Baia's hand to stroke her face.
Those clean, emotionless eyes.
There was a strange magic in them.
If she had a daughter...
"It's to save my mother, so I didn't survive."
Baia placed her dry and soft lips on Talia's forehead, like a daughter kissing her mother.
"But because you're my mother, it doesn't matter."
Skill Card: [Kiss of the Rose].
Reward for helping Catwoman defeat Poison Ivy.
After kissing a hostile target, there is a 75% chance they will enter a state of sleep, a 20% chance of entering a state of unconsciousness, and a 5% chance of being mind-controlled; duration varies depending on the target's willpower.
Talia felt a bit dazed. Her eyes closed and opened again, but she couldn't muster any vigilance against Baia.
Baia's long hair fell on the bed, looking very obedient. She lowered her head and tidied up Talia's stray hair, then carefully laid the sleeping woman on the bed.
Undoing Talia's bonds and leaving them behind her, she slipped into the shadows like a cat.
The system commented: "I didn't expect you to look so honest, but you're actually a drama queen behind the scenes!"
Baia retorted, "Stop it, if Talia wakes up and checks my DNA, it'll be all over... Say it again, it's all your fault!"
The system reassured her: "Don't panic, to make up for my previous mistake, I replaced your DNA with Damian's blood sample."
The system's ability to create things out of thin air was something she didn't know it could do. And this time it was too kind, wasn't it?
Come to think of it, when she was at Bruce Haven, renting a house for her, it seemed quite arbitrary.
Baia doubted, "So you don't have any writers or superiors? No rules? You're free to cheat however you want with your methods? What exactly are you?"
System: Well, you don't need to worry about that. You don't have the authorization to know that right now.
Baia: Alright, I'm just a tool for completing tasks. ...Wait a minute.
System: What's wrong?
Baia felt a heavy heart when she thought of the system's intelligence. "Although Damian is still young, he's a boy."
System: What does that mean?
Baia: It means that the DNA test result would indicate a male, which means Talia might think I'm a cross-dressing boss! How ridiculous!
System: Oh damn, wait, it shouldn't be like that!
Baia: Why not?
System: Because she helped you change your clothes, hehe.