"BOSS?" After several days of transformation, Tony's warehouse had turned into a high-tech base, with projection screens everywhere and blue cold light flowing around. The Mark 43, placed in the center, had undergone a significant transformation. Beside the control panel, Friday, represented as a blue data sphere, was quietly rotating.
"Hmm?" Tony, wearing a work vest, had a screwdriver in his mouth. In this new world, with its new technology, different from his own, he had gained a lot of inspiration.
Friday's tone was somewhat uncertain, "I lost contact with the copy that stayed at STAR Labs. It came online once in the meantime, but blocked me."
Hearing this, Tony stopped his work and showed a pensive expression.
Having hacked into 99% of the companies' intranets in the world was like shopping for him, and he had accessed a lot of encrypted data from Wayne Enterprises and LexCorp without attracting much attention. Initially, he thought it was because the network technology in this world was too poor, but later he realized that it was just extremely easy for him as an "outsider" to detect technological blind spots.
So, was it possible that someone had also cracked Friday's technology?
"Forget about it for now, good girl," Tony continued modifying the arm guard, "Listen, don't connect to any unfamiliar ports for now. I'll upgrade your firewall later."
"Perhaps you should rest later, BOSS. You haven't slept for 45 hours."
"It's too early to be a mother hen, Friday, mute."
On the other hand, at Metropolis High School, Baia's academic life gradually settled down, maintaining a lukewarm relationship with most of her classmates. The boys regarded her as a cool goddess with excellent grades and wealthy family background, while the girls either envied her or treated her as a cute little sister. Although there weren't many of the former, they still caused Baia some trouble.
"They're targeting you!" Jasmine was extremely angry. "It must be Vanessa; she has always been biased against you."
When she opened her locker, Baia found her belongings in a mess, and her swimsuit was missing.
Baia shook her head, "I think... let it go."
"What about your swimming class then?" Kathy asked worriedly. "Do you want to borrow one from your friends?"
Kathy was Jasmine's friend, and she and Baia were both members of a history assignment group. Due to her not-so-good health, she neither joined the cheerleading squad nor was she a regular participant in girls' social activities. When she said "friends," she meant Megan, but Baia didn't want to involve them in this matter.
"Say I'm not feeling well in the stomach." Baia's tone was very indifferent, smiling at Kathy and Jasmine, "I'll go back to the classroom first. I need to prepare for the history class presentation."
Although Jasmine was a little worried about Baia, the bell had already rung, so she had to hurriedly reassure her and rush to class.
Baia tidied up her locker. Apart from textbooks and a few jackets, there wasn't much else. She wasn't really angry, seemingly much more mature in her approach to things after spending enough time with the little birds.
Put it a few months ago, and she might have been in tears over this.
Back in the classroom, Baia was somewhat surprised. Unexpectedly, Vanessa hadn't gone to the swimming class either. The blonde girl had her legs on the desk, playing with her phone, seemingly texting someone. The black-haired girl stood at the door of the classroom for a while, then walked in naturally and sat in a slightly distant seat.
She also opened her phone and browsed through her feed. Unexpectedly, she stumbled upon Tim's schedule - "Wayne's adopted son will soon visit New York" - and the news of Bruce's parachuting injury.
Switching to the official website of the Gotham Daily, she found that there hadn't been much activity recently, just small-scale disturbances like "mysterious winged monsters appearing at night" and "Penguin acquitted after two rounds of courtroom debate."
Seeing the winged monsters, Baia knew it must be Dr. Langstrom's wife, Francine, who was still on the run.
Apart from that, there wasn't much worth paying attention to. Baia glanced at Vanessa, who showed no intention of acknowledging her.
"Why didn't you go to the swimming class?" Baia asked.
Vanessa didn't even lift her head. "It's none of your business."
Baia shrugged, feeling that she had just had an uninteresting encounter, took out her notebook from her bag, and began to prepare the content of the history class presentation for Jasmine. Of course, this wasn't her main job; she was preparing the documents for registering the company.
Stark Industries. Baia pondered for a moment, feeling that it was a high imitation of Stark Industries. However, Tony insisted that Stark had copied him.
Of course, the original documents and agreements for registering the company were requested from Tim, and Baia just needed to make some changes to the names and specific details. How could it be considered plagiarism regarding the issue with Robin?
Earlier, Baia had called Tim. When the video connected, she immediately saw Tim sitting in the dining room of the mansion in his pajamas, holding a coffee cup. The big boy was still yawning, his voice sounding more muffled than usual, as if he hadn't woken up properly.
Baia immediately expressed her disapproval with a raised eyebrow at his coffee, and Tim quickly averted his gaze.
"Dick said if I wanted to do something, at least one person should know about it," Baia got to the point.
"Uh-huh," Tim nodded as he ate the sunny-side-up eggs Alfred had made, "So, what do you want to do?"
"Start a company."
"What?" Tim was puzzled. "Why all of a sudden... When did you develop an interest in this? If you want, I can arrange an internship for you at the Metropolis branch of Wayne Enterprises."
"Well, it's not like that, anyway, the situation is complicated," Baia leaned on the table, "I'm not doing it for fun, but I really need to start a company now. That's what I want to do."
"Okay, I can assign an assistant from Wayne Enterprises to help you," Tim thought about it. It probably didn't matter, and they could afford to lose some money, "If you encounter any detailed issues, you can contact her."
Baia said, "Actually, there's no need. I have a secretary now."
"Who?"
"Her name is Friday."
"That's a strange name... Well, I'm going to Metropolis this afternoon. I have a lot of questions for you," Tim said, "Let's meet then."
Baia's computer screen had now become the second home of Friday, a pixelated blue sphere bouncing around the screen, providing her with various suggestions. Both being talkative programs, why wasn't the system as cute as Friday?
System: I advise you not to provoke me!
Since she used the break time to work, by the time it was almost time to finish school, Baia had basically sorted out the documents for registering the company. In her impression, Tony, who was somewhat cynical, showed a high degree of importance for this matter, but still let her handle it. Thinking about it, she could understand. After all, that was his surname, which must mean a lot to him.
At present, the company only had two people plus an AI, so the equity was temporarily 51% for Tony and 49% for Baia. According to Tony's words, although he was also a business genius, it was out of the question for him to invest his limited energy in boring business operations.
Taking a deep breath, she arranged everything and rubbed her temples. Ready to take a nap during the last class, her desk was suddenly shrouded in shadow.
"Miss Rich, why didn't you go to swimming class today?" It was one of Vanessa's friends, sitting on Baia's desk edge, which annoyed Baia slightly.
System: She's mocking you! Hammer her! Let her know that everyone from Gotham tells ghost stories!
Baia put her computer in her bag and looked up at them, "Because my swimsuit was missing. Do you have any clues about this?"
"I thought you would call the butler to fly a helicopter from Gotham to deliver one," another girl said.
"I could," the black-haired girl cocked her head.
The girls were stunned.
"I could," Baia said lightly, "but there's no need."
System: Bravo, you've shut them down!
At this point, Jasmine and Kathy were also in the classroom, but they didn't dare to come over to help Baia out, after all, they were relatively weak and easy to bully.
Suddenly standing up, Baia scared them into stepping back.
Seeing this, the girl raised her eyebrows and smiled brightly, "Don't be so timid."
Being disrupted like this, Baia's mood was also not good, and she didn't really feel like going to the last class.
Fortunately, she slung her bag over her shoulder, flipped her hair, and left the classroom.
It was not yet time to leave through the main entrance. Baia wandered to the garden behind the school, looked up and observed. The white brick wall was relatively short, just over two meters.
Baia had never relaxed her regular training, thinking back to when she couldn't do anything back then, now, just over two meters could be said to be "just."
Taking a few steps, Baia leaped up like a nimble swallow, her black coat fluttering in the air. Grabbing the top of the railing, her Martin boots firmly planted on the rough brick wall, she climbed a few steps upward, flipped over, and jumped down. With the talent of her big brother, she dared to jump straight down from ten meters high.
Baia didn't feel the imagined sensation of solid ground under her feet. Instead, she was caught in someone's arms, her legs bent and lifted off the ground.
Baia couldn't believe it.
She closed her eyes and then opened them again.
Then she showed a meek expression, as cute as a little rabbit: "Hi, Tim."
Baia found this posture slightly awkward. For some reason, her heart was beating fast. She wiggled her legs a few times stubbornly, and Tim put her down.
System's text bubble: I've punched someone, skipped class, been to the police station, and even committed burglary, but I'm a good girl.
Baia felt a bit embarrassed. "It's been almost a month, and I haven't skipped a single class! Why today of all days! Why!"
In fact, everything was inevitable. Tim, who had decided to pick Baia up from school, naturally noticed that her location was off. With a flick of the light spot, Tim knew what she was up to. After all, there was another typical bear at home.
"Still want to go find Stark and Friday?" Tim asked, arms crossed, having learned a lot of information from Dick.
Baia put her hands behind her back. "Not really, I just..."
Her voice trailed off: "I'm just not in the mood, I don't want to go to class."