"Put your hat on properly! Follow Mr. Nygma and study hard!"
Miao Mu raised a hand, put the baseball cap on Jason, and pushed him toward Nygma's old sedan.
"Be careful on the road. See you in Gotham!" Miao Mu waved toward the driver's seat.
"See you in Gotham!" Nygma waved back and tossed a palm-sized device to Miao Mu.
It was a signal jammer he had made earlier, just enough to disable the surveillance cameras in Dr. Milo's laboratory.
The old sedan quickly drove away. Sitting in the back seat with a backpack on his shoulders, Jason watched Nygma, who was driving up front, with a wary expression, then turned to look at Miao Mu seeing him off behind them.
Nygma glanced at the rearview mirror. Although he had no desire whatsoever to look after a child, Miao Mu had told him that this would be his first student.
"Let's get acquainted. My name is Edward Nygma. What's yours? Jason Todd? Not a bad name. It means knowledgeable, spiritual, analytical, and learned."
As Nygma drove, he answered his own questions and proceeded to critique Jason's name as though reciting treasured facts.
"Really?" Jason looked at Nygma in disbelief. He had never known his name carried so many meanings.
Jason's astonished gaze pleased Nygma greatly. He nodded. "Of course. If you read more books, you'll understand these things too."
"...Why do I have to go back with you?"
Jason said it somewhat unwillingly, turning every so often to look behind the car, but Miao Mu was already out of sight.
It reminded him of the night his mother had left him in Crime Alley. She had said that if he counted to one thousand, she would come back with bread.
But she never came back...
Watching Jason's dejected mood through