Meeting

Born into the League of Assassins and blessed with the exceptional genes of both al Ghul and Wayne, he was the "Demon's Head" from hell foretold in the League's prophecy. From the time he was still an embryo, Damian had been raised by his mother, Talia, and his grandfather, Ra's, to be the perfect heir.

The League of Assassins had no regard for life and revered strength above all. Even Damian, its future heir, received no special treatment.

The victor ruled, and the loser died. Here, those who failed had no right to live.

As his mother Talia's finest creation, Damian was subjected to training that was only more brutal.

By the time Damian was ten, he could already defeat his own mother. Talia believed Batman's guidance would make him an even more perfect heir, and only then sent him to Gotham to meet his biological father.

Raised under the League of Assassins' teachings, Damian had a warped worldview, solved every problem with violence, and sorely lacked empathy and respect for ordinary people. Even after Batman and the others had tried everything, keeping him at their sides and teaching him for an entire year, they still couldn't completely transform him.

Compared to when he had first arrived in Gotham and raised his sword against his father and older brothers, Damian had changed a great deal-

At least people no longer had to worry that he would run someone through at the slightest disagreement, or simply slit their throat.

He had now earned his father's and brothers' approval and donned the Robin suit, with all the responsibility it represented. As Batman's assistant, he followed him through Gotham's nights to punish crime, making it his life's ambition to inherit Batman's cape.

Of course, no matter how formidable he was, Damian was still an eleven-year-old boy at heart, with an everyday life and personal interests of his own.

So being an animal lover to his very bones, and secretly enjoying things like shoujo manga, didn't hurt the future Batman's image at all, right? ❛˓◞˂̵✧

"Father?"

Having received no confirmation, Damian persisted and asked again.

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, nursing a headache, and patiently cautioned his youngest son. "Damian, if she's willing, and if we really do adopt her, she should be your older sister, not your pet."

Damian blinked his beautiful green eyes. The outdated notion of My older sister is also my property passed through his mind, but he swallowed it back down. Clever as he was, he knew perfectly well that his father wouldn't like that idea. Even his mother wouldn't agree.

"Yes, Father."

Damian thought that certain rotten old things ought to be buried deep underground along with the desert wind.

But as her younger brother, I can still take care of my older sister, right?

As they talked, they had already entered the Batcave through the secret passage in the study. They arrived just in time to see the girl staring blankly at a sealed display case. Inside was a torn, bloodstained Robin uniform.

"Miaomiao."

Hearing his voice, Miaomiao immediately turned around and smiled at Bruce.

"Bruce, I came to find you."

The girl's pure, innocent smile was like ocean waves in the sunlight, so infectious that Dick's eyes instantly lit up.

"Hi, Miaomiao. You probably don't know me. I'm Bruce's adopted son, Richard Grayson. You can call me Dick."

Dick spoke quickly. Miaomiao, who had only been learning English for a few days, caught the gist and understood that he was introducing himself. She returned his greeting with a sweet smile. "Hello, my name is Miaomiao."

The sleepy teenage CEO perked himself up. "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Timothy Drake. You can call me Tim."

"Hello."

"Damian Wayne."

Damian looked at Miaomiao's large blue-violet tail. It made up almost two-thirds of her body length, and its scales looked neat and beautiful. Even in the Batcave's relatively dim lighting, they gave off a soft glow. It was even prettier than it had looked on camera.

Bruce was very glad the girl had found her way to him, but Batman's vigilance kept him from spending much time catching up. Instead, he focused on something else. "Miaomiao, how did you get here? How did you bypass the Batcave's defense system?"

"You have my pearl on you, so I followed its scent here." Miaomiao quickly raised her hand to show that she had learned her lesson this time. "Don't worry. Whenever I saw those black things with bat symbols this time, I didn't take a single one apart! I went around all of them! But Bruce, your home has way too many twists and turns. I had to take so many detours to get here."

Breaking into the Batcave all alone without triggering a single alarm, and calling it nothing more than taking "so many detours," was already terrifying, okay?

"How did you do it? That's incredible. Even Superman can't do that."

"Who's Superman?" Miaomiao looked in confusion at Dick, who had spoken. "Why can't he do it? If one path doesn't work, you just take another one."

None of them knew how to explain to the little girl that they had already equipped every route they could find with defensive systems and traps.

Still, provided everyone was safe, Bruce's sons were always happy to see their old man get stumped. They all turned to Bruce, waiting for his response.

And then...

"Miaomiao, now that you're out of the water, does it hurt you?"

Bruce simply changed the subject. To him, holes in the defense system could be patched later. The girl's safety mattered more.

Back at the seaside, even when Miaomiao briefly left the ocean, she mostly sat on rocks or the beach, where she could tumble straight back into the water. Now, however, she was in the main hall of the Batcave, and the nearest water was a branch of the underground river dozens of meters away.

"I'm okay. Being out of the water for a little while doesn't hurt me, but going without water still makes me uncomfortable. I need to soak in it every so often."

The main reason, really, was that in the water, her beautiful fish tail was the Merfolk's gorgeous pride and joy, combining speed and strength. On land, though, using it to walk really wasn't very comfortable.

Dick, the most sensitive of them to changes in the girl's mood, was the first to recognize why the little mermaid disliked walking. He volunteered to carry Miaomiao up to Wayne Manor.

Once Bruce was certain his eldest son wouldn't make a move on the underage girl, he let him do as he pleased. Tim was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open. If curiosity about something new hadn't kept him going, he would already have collapsed into bed and been fast asleep. Having someone else volunteer was naturally ideal.

As for Damian, who was itching for a turn...

The young boy had undergone special training since childhood, so his strength probably wouldn't have been an issue. His height, however, was a fatal flaw. If he carried Miaomiao, half the little mermaid's tail would drag along the floor. Thus, the ever-cool Damian was ruthlessly stripped of his eligibility to carry the girl upstairs.

Fuming, Damian restrained his hand, which was itching to draw his sword, and decided to add another large glass of milk to tonight's dinner.