Apparently, after our spectacular appearance, there were a couple of armed policemen watching the windows, ready to fire at any moment, so it was quite dangerous to leave the same way. The main entrance wasn't an option either, because of the guards flooding the corridor. Of course, our forces would be enough to break through, but, firstly, in the turmoil of the battle we could accidentally kill someone, and secondly, in the same turmoil the little guy might get hurt, catching a couple of extra grams of lead in his body. Bats wouldn't forgive me for that.
Then we need to get creative. There was a reason I'd been poring over the sorceress's library all day today. A couple minutes of work, during which Richard in the form of an insanely attractive blonde held the barricade, and on one of the corners of the room is a strong diversion of eyes. I had to work very hard for it, using several blood-smeared diamonds to secure the weave, but the result was worth it. When the police burst in, they found only their stunned comrades and the defendant moaning in pain, who clearly needed medical attention.
I wasn't too worried about my biomaterial. Despite a lot of improvements from the System, my blood was still toxic enough to skew the results of any DNA tests, and my local first aid kit should have hydrogen peroxide, which would do a fine job on a few drops of blood without leaving a trace. You should also not forget about magic. As it turned out, wizards and others like them are very reverent about their biological material, so they invented several rituals that not only remove the auric binding, but also turn skin particles, nails, hair and blood into an incomprehensible mess.
However, it should be taken into account that a severed hand or another relatively large piece of flesh can hardly be "dissolved" in such a way, because the ritual draws energy for its functioning from the surrounding background. And, accordingly, if the biomaterial ends up in the unmasked space, it will be impossible to do anything with it either. The maximum is to remove the auric binding, but for this purpose a slightly different mechanism is used.
When the fuss had died down a bit, and all the strangers had left the room, waiting for the forensics to arrive, we quietly cleaned up all traces and climbed out through the window onto the roof, and then moved to the neighboring building to watch a bit the loading of a huge carcass with broken arms into the ambulance. Poor medical workers, they should be seriously overpaid for something like this.
"Are you okay?" I asked the little one, returning him to his former appearance.
Richard flinched, as if only now noticing that he still had company.
"Thank you, I feel better already...
"You don't regret letting him live?
"You know," he turned his gaze back to the people cowering below, "no, I don't regret it. I could have killed him. I could have ripped out his throat and left him writhing in agony, ripped open his belly, stabbed him in the temple, or shot him if I'd borrowed a gun from the guards. But he decided that would be too easy. Who knows what awaits us after death? Maybe Hell doesn't even exist and there's nothing there but emptiness. So let the bastard live, but suffer the rest of his life.
"You're a hell of a philosopher," I looked at the boy with interest. - You're not even fourteen years old.
"I had to grow up drastically.
"Uh, speaking of a long and not-so-happy life as an invalid. I'm gonna disappoint you a little bit. I don't think Tony's gonna live to see tomorrow night. He'll be killed either by his own people or by Falcone's people-no one likes rats, and especially not rats with a ton of dirt," I explained in response to a puzzled look.
"That's the reason you'll be on hospital duty all night tomorrow," came a stern voice behind me.
"Oh, hey, Bats. What are you doing here?" I almost didn't flinch this time, anticipating another sudden appearance of the Dark Knight.
During last night's adventures in catching mobsters, I'd learned that Gotham's protector not only had Qi, but he also had a supernatural nose for crime. I don't know if he was helping Earth, but the superhero somehow managed to get to the bottom of things a lot, and it certainly wasn't due to his detective skills. The usual attempted robbery of a vending machine by drunk guys is almost impossible to predict and arrive on the scene in time, but Mysh somehow managed to do it yesterday, and I'm not even thinking about the more serious stuff.
"Alfred reported that Dick had run away. I had no great difficulty in figuring out exactly where he was going.
"Hmm... I see... And how do you feel about all this?" I asked calmly.
I'm going to get beaten up for raising a rambunctious Cat anyway, so there's nothing to be afraid of. Heh, I'll consider it a workout. Leroy doesn't take much pity on me, forcing me to do my best.
"Modern medicine is able to partially restore the functionality of the hands, even after such serious injuries.
Richard jumped up sharply, staring at his guardian in disbelief.
Grim Mouse held his gaze, and then moved closer to the boy and placed a hand gently on his shoulder.
"Dick, justice is the way to harmony, and revenge is an attempt to ease your pain. It will never bring you the relief you seek. Anger and rage must not poison your mind.
"What could you possibly know about that!" The little man shook his hand off his shoulder.
Oh, he's wasted that one... Damn, I miss Popcron or Harley's energy bars.
"I know. I've been where you are. Joe Chill is a junkie, a crook, a robber, and the murderer of my parents. He shot them for a simple pearl necklace...
"And what did you do to him?" The boy asked, taking a new look at the superhero.
"He dug up some dirt and put him behind bars for 25 years.
"And how is that different from what I did? I can see that you're judging my actions, but you did the same thing!" Grayson ended up screaming.
Eh, he's still a kid, albeit in a teenager's body. He'd been through enough emotional turmoil in the last hour to make even a grown man cringe.
"No. I never laid a finger on him. The police did it. You see, there is a difference between revenge and punishment: punishment is done for the sake of the punished, and revenge is done for the sake of the avenger, to appease his anger.
"Anger leads to the dark side, young padawan," I muttered quietly to myself.
"Jay's right.
Eh, unfortunately my reference was misunderstood again. Hmm, the dark side is said to have great cookies. I wonder if Alfred's divine baked goods can top them.
While I pondered the culinary art of the opposing forces, Richard, slouching, looked silently at the departing ambulance, where the medical staff still managed to push the huge fat carcass, and then quietly asked:
"Let's go home.
"Come on down, the Batmobile's parked downstairs. I'll be there in a minute.
The young vigilante nodded and headed for the stairs, while I prepared a flash weave just in case and sped up the pulsation of my imaginary core. The prana wasn't working so well for me, but I'd have to develop a reflex.
"Catch," Bats suddenly tossed a small PDA over to me.
The screen ran a clip of me casting a spell in a hotel room using my blood and diamonds while Harley held up a makeshift barricade of furniture.
"Next time, check for hidden cameras, or your plan will fall apart before it even begins. You're very lucky I set up surveillance and was able to loop the signal.
"Um... Thank you," I handed the tech back. - Is that it?
"Eight o'clock tomorrow night, hospital duty," Bats said sternly, heading to the edge of the roof and pulling a bat knife from behind his belt.
"Hey, are we related, by any chance?
Mouse faltered in his stride and looked at me in surprise.
"No. What makes you say that?
"No big deal... Okay, I have to go pick up Harley," I headed in the opposite direction.
As the car made its way to the advertising agency's office, I had time to thoughtfully analyze the situation. If you think about it that way, I had dragged the little guy into a rather dangerous adventure, where there was every chance that he would get seriously hurt. And both physically (lead in the body is not healthy) and reputationally, if it was revealed that the man who had maimed the gangster was the adopted son of billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Bats should have at least given me a boring speech about the inadmissibility of such behavior, but instead he just let me go, assigning me a not-too-burdensome duty at the hospital. After all, I could surround the approaches to the ward with signaling spells and spy equipment as a safety net, and spend my time with two charming hotties on the roof of the building or in some cramped back room.
But on the other hand, the little guy would have tried to get to Tony on his own while Bats was on the Scarecrow's trail. And who knows, without my help, Richard might have ended up in jail, or dead. Despite his acrobatic skills and the martial arts of owl assassins pumped into his head, his body has not yet reached the peak of its form, and his reflexes are not yet sufficient to react adequately to danger. Also do not forget that I was able to perfectly disguise it, so the involvement of the guy is unlikely to be guessed, and my favorite has a perfect alibi, because almost all day she was in the walls of the advertising agency in full view of a lot of people.
I must say that the girl did not like this kind of pastime, so at the meeting I had to listen to a fascinating story about the unbearable torments of a beautiful nymph in the kingdom of boredom.
It could be considered fascinating because in the course of the story Harley told me about all the arrangements that had been made, and, apparently, in two days about "Cristalia" will be broadcast from every iron for quite reasonable money.
The dinner at the sixties-inspired restaurant that the blonde had chosen went pretty well, but I didn't like the rest of it very much at first.
There was a dance floor in the hall, where someone was always jumping to the beat of the music (at least, that's how it looked from my point of view), and who knew that the pretty girl, having satisfied her hunger a little, would drag me to dance! To refuse those begging eyes was beyond me, and just wrong, considering what the girl had to go through today. Fortunately, my coordination and agility allowed me to follow the couples around me without much difficulty, though I felt very strange. When the movements are like wiping my ass with a napkin while simultaneously extinguishing cigarette butts under my feet - it can't be otherwise! But then suddenly the interworld came to my rescue.
Honestly, I didn't even realize I'd be applying fun memories to relax and stop thinking about the people around me for the sake of dancing to groovy music.
Harley loved the evening, and she suddenly got the idea for the two of us to open the fundraiser with a rousing number. After some thought, I concluded that it would be a perfect complement to my brilliant plan, after which no one would dare say that the Joker and J. Arkham were the same person, moo-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
But back to more down-to-earth things. Deciding not to change the established tradition, we went home and finally tried out the "game room" in the renewed secret lair. After yesterday's raid, the criminals and mafia had gone into hiding again, so there was no point in being on duty, although that couldn't stop Gloomy Mouse from continuing to fiddle with the owl's hatchlings.
***
The morning of the next day, which started at four o'clock, was entirely devoted to creating a signaling circuit around the estate.
With access to the library and a rough plan of action, I had no trouble finding literature with the right combination of runes yesterday. But I had to use Swampy to create the contour, asking her to grow a couple of bonsai trees to fuel the spell. Despite the fact that the signaling spells consumed relatively little mana, I still could not fully power them with my own forces over such a large area. And I couldn't produce diamond powder magic dust on an industrial scale, unlike Green's charming avatar, who didn't seem to feel any energy depletion at all even after creating ten liters of green dust.
Having more or less secured my home and dealt with minor household issues, I stopped by Alfred's house, making some adjustments to the plan, as well as picking up my order from him after our epic rescue of Bats, and heading out for a final training session with Leroy.
Smith once again gave me a good thrashing like a punching bag, but I was still pleased as I managed to get him a couple of times and even had a few full bindings.
I've never understood heroes who have to overcome. Why can't you prepare for the problem in advance and plan your development? It's clear that during the battle the flaws of style will show themselves more clearly, but in any case, you need to train in advance, and not like Naruto: until it's really hard, to drag the fight on one pathos and a big piano in the form of a fox.
"Are you sure you have to leave right now?" I asked the old man as I watched him put his few belongings into a gym bag.
"Uh-huh," he sighed heavily. - It's fun here, but I've got things to do back home. I've been delayed too long already by the owl bastards.
"Oh, that's sad. Where am I gonna find a sparring partner like that now?
"And that man? You know, the one I blew my nose into. He's kind of powerful, even though he dresses like a faggot.
"Bats has to be harassed long and hard before he can do that. It's fun, but sometimes it's annoying, and it doesn't always work. My cheeks were healed, and he never tried to punch me in the face. By the way, before I forget," I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small tablet. - A gift.
"Uh, I was trying not to hit you on the head too hard... You do remember I'm blind, right?" he waved his hand defiantly in front of his face.
"Push the button, smartass," I replied, grinning.
It didn't take long to get a reaction.
"Wow!" the gray-haired fighter with surprise and admiration twirled in his hands the technique, one side of which was covered with convex letters.
"A relief-graphic screen with tactile control, originally created by WayneTech engineers for demonstrating layouts and as a replacement for solid holograms. A little tweaking, writing the right software, and you've got a compact gadget just for you. You once complained that you can't read the news with a cigar in your teeth and a glass of whiskey in your hands.
"I... That's... Thank you!" Suddenly I'm in a big hug. - I don't know how to thank you for everything. Shit... If you go to China, make sure you visit me, I'll throw you a feast! If you get into any trouble there, go to any dojo and ask the master for an audience with Ma'ngho'ng Lo'ng.
Leroy and I parted on a very good note. Sad, of course, but that's life.
The next item on my schedule was a visit to Shadow Peak, and I went there, pre-purchasing flowers, candy, and a couple of burgers for a light snack in case Zee had to wait again. On the road, I got the news that the first bodies had been found in the collapsed marble labyrinth. The explosions were powerful enough that the bodies have not yet been identified, but it's not far off.
Hell, now almost thirty percent of the invitees wouldn't show up for the fundraiser... Or they'd want to cancel it as a mourning party. The gloomy mansion loomed ahead, and the not-so-happy thoughts were gone.
The familiar gate swung open welcomingly as soon as she touched it. It was some kind of magical automation, but if it was still working, the sorceress wouldn't mind talking to a green-haired gentleman.
No one met me on the doorstep again, and I would have assumed that the illusionist was once again performing some elaborate ritual, but yesterday's box of chocolates and gift-wrapped flowers lying peacefully on the living room table hinted that Ms. Zatara was still busy.
I had some doubts in my mind, so I started searching the mansion, trying to find the missing person. Unfortunately, I had no access to some of the rooms, and it was possible that I might have thought Zee was behind one of the locked doors, but a simple Internet query proved my assumptions wrong.
"Hurry to buy tickets for the new world tour of the famous illusionist Zatara Zatanna," read one headline.
"Rio de Janeiro, then..." I read, clicking on the link with the list of cities.