After the man brought Miaomiao there, he soon broke free of the mind control. Like someone waking from a long dream, he frantically checked himself over.
Finding himself still in one piece, with no missing arms or legs, the man had just breathed a sigh of relief when he realized he was in a very bad location. His expression instantly soured, and he restarted the car at once, ready to flee.
"Hello."
A girl's voice came from the back seat.
The man whipped his head around in terror, like a sunflower abruptly turning, and only then discovered a girl sitting in the back of his car, wearing a white gauze dress with her black hair loose.
He shuddered violently and almost wet his pants.
"Um, could you open the door for me?"
Not daring to say a word, the man hurriedly opened the door. He watched the girl in white contort herself into a bizarre position as she got out, then slowly leave with an equally bizarre gait. Before leaving, she even said, "Thank you."
Gotham's night wind swept past, ice-cold.
The man looked down at the pants he had ultimately failed to keep dry, scrambled back into his car, and sped away.
Meanwhile, Miaomiao had no idea how badly she had traumatized the man. She was busy trying to get used to her new legs.
"This isn't anywhere near as fast as swimming... fine, I can't swim on land anyway... I should've practiced beforehand..."
Muttering to herself, Miaomiao recalled how Bruce and the others walked and adjusted her posture.
The Merfolk could freely transform their tails into legs. The elder responsible for trading with the land could even live there for long periods under the identity of a human.
Most merfolk simply preferred their beautiful, powerful tails. Young merfolk who had yet to reach adulthood also had poor control over how long their transformations lasted and might change back at any moment. Besides, those two legs were of no use under the sea.
Miaomiao had transformed her tail into legs for fun before, but this was her very first time walking on them.
The good news was that Miaomiao found her feet quickly. Though her walking still looked a little awkward, at least she no longer tripped herself up as she had at first.
And so, after receiving word that Joker had struck again, the Gotham police, who had surrounded the Gotham Television Station but dared not rush in, saw a slender girl in a white dress, her long hair flowing, wobble toward them through Gotham's biting midnight wind, right at the scene of Joker's crime.
To be fair, it was a rather frightening sight. What with Gotham's frequent rain and fog, plus its distinctive Gothic architecture, the combination absolutely nailed the atmosphere-dead on.
PS: "Dead on" here was meant literally. (๑ت๑)
Still, although they were mocked as the "Gotham criminal transport squad" because they never caught criminals as quickly as Batman, the Gotham Police Department was, after all, the city's official law enforcement agency. Given Gotham City's abundance of "talent," its officers had seen plenty.
Thus, when they spotted the girl in white, aside from their initial fright, the officers did not panic excessively. They quickly raised their guns in wary readiness and warned her through a megaphone-
"Miss, stop right there! The Gotham Police Department is conducting an operation. Unauthorized persons must not approach. Please leave immediately!"
She stopped.
She actually stopped?
Wait, how could she just stop?
Since when were Gotham residents so obedient?
They really weren't used to this~
Across from them, Miaomiao thought for a moment, then imitated Bruce and the others by altering her voice. In a slightly husky, androgynous voice, she said, "I'm looking for someone. Bat-Man. I'm here to help."
The officers froze for a moment. They hadn't heard that Batman had recently gotten a new Robin. Besides, the girl's ethereal white gauze dress was a far cry from Batman and his crew's usual style, wasn't it?
The officers were more inclined to believe that this girl was either a spoiled young lady who had read too many superhero comics and fancied becoming one herself, or a freshly minted villain.
After all, in Gotham, someone went over to the dark side every other day. It was as if the place were cursed.
But if this girl was a villain...
Gotham's villains were famous for their bizarre appearances, vicious tongues, and ruthless methods. They had never seen one quite so "fresh and ethereal."
"Get Commissioner Gordon over here, quick."
A young officer hurried off while the others kept their guns trained on the strange girl, not daring to lower their guard in the slightest.
There were plenty of female villains active in Gotham. If you wanted to stay alive, you could never underestimate anyone who looked frail-especially a woman.
Miaomiao was growing a little impatient.
This was her first time encountering so many land humans at once, and they did not seem friendly. She still had no idea how Bruce was doing. He was so fragile that he would drown if he fell into the water. That guy on television was so ugly and frightening; Bruce must have been terrified.
Fortunately, she did not have to wait long. Soon, the young officer returned with a middle-aged man wearing a brown trench coat and black-rimmed glasses, with a thick mustache.
"Commissioner, that's her. She says she's here to help Batman."
Gordon looked in the direction the young officer pointed and saw the girl, who plainly did not belong in her surroundings yet somehow fit them with an eerie harmony. He readily understood the officers' misgivings.
The Bat-affiliated vigilantes mostly wore black and dark red, aside from the bright yellow and green on Robin's uniform. Batman in particular was black from head to toe, blending perfectly into Gotham's night. They moved without a sound, too. When they deliberately hid themselves, even catching a glimpse of their trailing capes was difficult.
The girl before him looked even younger than his daughter Barbara. Dressed in a thin gauze dress and even barefoot, she would have inspired pity if she had not appeared here with a veil over her face. Here, however, her appearance only made her seem more unsettling.
Besides, since when had anyone in the Bat family learned to stand there obediently and wait for someone else to finish speaking?
"Go home, child," Gordon called to the girl. "Don't worry. Batman will take care of everything."
A city Police Station having to rely on a masked "bat monster" to catch criminals was, undeniably, deeply ironic. Yet in a city as dark as Gotham, it was an unavoidable reality.
Just then, the girl tilted her face slightly, her expression intent, as though listening to something.
"Child..."
Gordon wanted to say more, but the girl had vanished from before his eyes.
An officer beside him cried out in alarm, "Was that a ghost? God help us!"
"..."
Faced with this strangely familiar scene, Gordon suddenly felt that the girl really might belong to the Bat family after all.
Before you continue