Bruce, I'm here to see you!

The Little Merfolk, who had never truly been on land and had only ever played on the island's beach, was stumped.

Her beautiful, large tail wouldn't let her run on land like a human. Besides, even if she'd had legs right now, she couldn't have run that fast!

Fortunately, Bruce always carried the pearls she had given him.

Those beautiful blue-purple pearls had formed from Miaomiao's tears and carried her own aura. By sensing the pearls' aura, Miaomiao could determine where Bruce was.

But Bruce could travel by car, while the Little Merfolk, who didn't yet have any identification in the human world on land, could only take the waterways.

Gotham was an island city, divided by two rivers into upper, middle, and lower districts, with numerous bridges and tunnels connecting its various areas. Wayne Manor occupied an entire island to the north, with the sea on two sides. After years of erosion by the waves, the underside of the island was riddled with caverns of all sizes.

So, in theory, Miaomiao could reach Wayne Island directly by water.

Yes, in theory.

After all, theory hadn't told her why land-dwelling humans, who clearly lived on land, had to build so much strange stuff in the water.

And so, she would sense water flowing ahead, only to swim over and find a huge iron grate blocking her way; she would see a shortcut just beyond the passage ahead, only to be driven back by the stench of sewage and forced to take a detour...

This happened over and over.

Miaomiao's tail was nearly cramping from all the swimming. She wove back and forth through the web of underground rivers, taking one detour after another, until, after countless hardships, she finally reached Wayne Island.

Boo-hoo... I'm so moved...

Miaomiao wiped away her nonexistent tears and happily shot toward the Underground Cavern.

Bruce! I'm here to see you!

Guided by the currents, Miaomiao didn't lose her way despite the Underground Cavern's twisting passages. Besides, her friend's home was much cleaner than some of the places outside. Although Miaomiao spotted a few little mechanisms whose purposes she didn't understand, there were no nasty smells or filthy things anywhere.

Good job, friend!

After her experience taking apart the Batsuit, Miaomiao had learned that those dark-looking things that didn't suit Merfolk tastes were very likely expensive and rare among humans on land. She didn't want to damage Bruce's home, so she refrained from dismantling them. Instead, she followed her instincts through the cavern's twists and turns, avoiding all those expensive-looking things.

"Bruce's home is so big. But is this really where humans live on land? Why doesn't it seem anything like what the Elders described? Is it because humans in different places have different tastes?"

But isn't this a little too... natural?

Miaomiao looked at the bare cavern and the bats living overhead, rather puzzled.

I've heard that humans on land like keeping animals as pets at home. So are these bats Bruce's pets?

Sure enough, Bruce really does like dark colors.

All right, I don't understand, but I respect it. Maybe next time I could look specifically for black pearls or shells?

The bats hanging upside down from the cavern ceiling seemed to sense the oppressive presence of a superior being. Every one of them obediently tucked its head into its wings, not daring to move.

These bats had originally been part of the Batcave's defenses. If someone intruded and startled them, the movement of large numbers of bats and the sound waves they emitted would trigger the Batcave's automated defenses and immediately notify the Bat Family.

Now, however, this natural defensive net had failed as well.

By the time the people in Wayne Manor received the alarm about an intruder in the Batcave, Miaomiao had already reached its main chamber and was curiously admiring the room full of advanced technology.

"What's going on? Someone breached the Batcave's central area? Damn it, why didn't we receive a warning? Who could slip past every security perimeter without a sound? Even Superman couldn't do that!"

Yes, not even Superman!

The Batcave's defenses were certainly not invincible, but any intrusion or damage would inevitably trigger a counterattack and an alert. Yet this person had appeared directly in the Batcave's central area. That meant someone had neither triggered nor damaged a single defensive system, but had instead bypassed every one of them flawlessly!

How was that possible?!

Even more frighteningly, the underground base had been completely exposed. That meant the entire Wayne Family's secret identities were now laid bare before this intruder!

Everyone's expressions changed.

Bruce's voice remained low and steady. "Connect to the Batcomputer. Bring up the security feed."

The surveillance system came online normally, without any sign of damage.

Then everyone in the Wayne Family saw a bright splash of fairy-tale color amid the Batcave's cold, hard, high-tech surroundings-

A little mermaid from the East, with a beautiful tail shimmering blue and purple, was looking around curiously.

Having already heard Bruce's story, they immediately realized who she was. They let out a long breath of relief, then instantly perked up with interest.

"She's the little mermaid from Bruce's story?" With the immediate crisis averted, Dick became that cheerful big blue bird again. "She's adorable. Oh, did she notice the camera?"

"Obviously, yes." With no enemy to deal with, Tim immediately settled back into the soft couch. "What an amazing anatomy. I really want to give her a full physical examination now."

Damian was the most direct. He had only one thing to say-

"Father, I want to keep her!"

Damian's eyes shone, his voice firm.

Before Bruce could even feel happy that the girl had come to find him on her own, his mind had already involuntarily begun analyzing why she hadn't triggered the alarms, what route she had taken, and how to patch the holes in their defenses...

Then he heard his three sons' reactions, and the poor father felt a headache coming on.

The other two were fine, but... "Damian, I've told you. Miaomiao is an intelligent girl with a mind of her own."

"Yes, Father. I remember." Damian nodded, his expression utterly serious. "So, if she agrees, can I keep her?"

Even Batman sometimes felt helpless when faced with his stubborn youngest son.

Damian's background was unusual, and not merely because he was Bruce's only biological son.

Until Damian was ten, Bruce hadn't even known the boy existed, and Damian hadn't known what sort of father he had. Father and son had never met, nor had they even known of each other's existence.

Damian's mother, Talia, came from the League of Assassins. She was a beauty whose combat prowess was every bit as outstanding as her looks. While traveling the world to study under various masters, Bruce had trained under Ra's al Ghul, the leader of the League of Assassins. At the time, Ra's had gone by the alias Master Ninja. Impressed by Bruce's tenacity and talent, he had wanted to recruit him for his own purposes. Through this, Bruce had met and fallen in love with his daughter, Talia, and the two had been together for a time.

But Bruce hadn't expected the League of Assassins' ultimate goal to be "eliminating all evil from the world," using killing to stop killing and establishing a world of absolute purity. Cities rife with crime, such as Gotham, were to be wiped straight off the map.

Bruce could not accept such an ideology at all. In the end, he broke with the League of Assassins and parted ways with Talia.

Bruce had never expected that Talia was pregnant, let alone that she would keep it a secret and have the child.