Chapter 119: Reminiscent

"Whatever you lose, you'll find it again. But what you throw away you'll never get back."

— Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan)

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A/N: The age issue regarding Cassandra is a bit complicated, as she first appeared in No Man's Land when she was 17 years old. We know that "No Man's Land" takes place when Tim Drake is around 15 years old. Tim became Robin at 13, shortly after Jason Todd's death. Jason only served as Robin for about two years before his death. After Dick Grayson became Nightwing, he was replaced by Jason as Robin after only a few months. Dick was Robin for the longest time, about 4 to 5 years. Despite some significant timeline issues, this is a relatively acceptable age difference within the Bat Family. In this story, the timeline is set about a year to six months before Dick started soloing as Nightwing. Based on Cassandra's age of 17 in No Man's Land, she would be around 12 years old at this time. So, in this story, I have made Cassandra about 2 years older, but I assure you that it won't affect the plot in any way. Also, this story absolutely will not include any DC movies or use any character designs from DC movies. I know many people enjoy Zack Snyder's films, but, I'm sorry, according to the timeline, Zack Snyder's version had already concluded its storyline several years before this story's current point.

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Looking at Dean leaving the ward, Bruce turned his gaze back to Cassandra in the corner, with a mysterious glint in his eyes.

"Do you have a place to stay? It's late now; aren't you going back?"

Bruce asked.

Cassandra shook her head, walking straight to Barbara's bedside and bringing a chair to sit down.

Seeing this, Barbara explained to Bruce and Dick, "Back when I met Cassandra, I found her a place to stay. It's a bit simple, but better than being homeless or sleeping in the sewers."

"She doesn't have any family or relatives, and she rarely interacts with others. So if she wants to stay, let her be here."

"Alright."

Bruce nodded and then called Dick, "Dick, we need to go too. There's not much time left tonight."

After finishing speaking, he got up and walked towards the door of the room. Before opening it, he turned back to give a final word to Barbara.

"Get well soon, Barbara. Your work is important—more important than you can imagine, so you must not let the pain defeat you."

"Dick, what are you waiting for? Come on."

Hearing this, Dick followed with reluctance and bid farewell to Barbara.

"We're leaving, Barbara. I hope you recover quickly."

"Thank you; I'll try to get better as soon as possible if it works."

Barbara smiled faintly.

"Hurry up, or Bruce will say you're always dragging your feet."

Cassandra silently watched the events that just took place, her eyes flashing with unknown thoughts.

On the other hand, Bruce and Dick walked out of the hospital and into an alley.

There was a pitch-black sports car parked there.

Strangely, this car had no license plates and looked different from any model from any car manufacturer in the world.

Bruce took out the car keys and pressed a button on it.

Suddenly, the car in front of them began to change.

The front hood of the car automatically flipped over and closed again, and the rear extended into wings resembling bat wings, giving the car an extremely sleek aerodynamic shape that greatly reduced air resistance.

The front half of the car extended outward, giving it an unusual appearance, and it had two additional thrusters at the back.

In a matter of seconds, this seemingly ordinary sports car completely transformed, as if it had been flipped from the inside out.

Any citizen of Gotham would know what this car symbolized.

The Batmobile is Batman's most often used vehicle.

Nobody knows what's inside the Batmobile, just like nobody knows what weapons Batman can pull out.

Transformation, automatic driving, remote control—these are just its basic functions.

Bruce and Dick knew what to do, so they put on their suits and got into the car without much thought.

"It seems like you're particularly interested in that girl named Cassandra."

Dick suddenly said.

"Why? I know you have sympathy for every poor soul, but the way you look at that girl goes beyond sympathy. I want to know why."

"What could a fourteen-year-old mute girl have that's worth your attention?"

Bruce was silent for a while and then responded with a serious expression, "She reminds me of someone."

"Cassandra, her appearance, her behavior, all make me think of someone I've seen before... someone extremely dangerous."

"Who?"

Dick pressed on.

"It's none of your concern, Robin. Did you forget what I told you? Your only task tonight—"

Bruce's expression darkened, and he automatically switched to calling Dick Robin.

"—is to follow your orders in every action, don't speak unnecessarily, and don't do anything unnecessary."

Robin continued Bruce's sentence and then shrugged. "Sure, sure, you're the boss, Batman."

Batman started the Batmobile expressionlessly and drove out of the alley, heading towards the distance.

The speed of the car almost exceeded the city's speed limit as soon as it started, and the Batmobile's speed continued to increase.

Robin was already used to Batman's fast driving, because how else could they patrol the entire city in the shortest amount of time and arrive at each crime scene in time?

"So, where are we going to find that 'Bat-Monster'?"

Robin asked.

"It's said to be active in the Upper West District, but the Upper West District is the second most prosperous district in Gotham after the Diamond District. The environment there shouldn't be suitable for a bat to survive..."

"Robin!"

Batman's voice grew heavy as he roared lowly.

"Alright, alright, I'll shut up."

To avoid further provoking Batman, Robin quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

What Bruce and Dick didn't know was that, right after the Batmobile left the alley, a head quietly peeked out from the rooftop on the side of the alley.

'I hope I wasn't spotted,'

Dean rubbed his chin and thought to himself.

At the moment, he certainly wasn't in his original appearance but was disguised as an average person.

While he wasn't sure if he had been discovered by the Batmobile's technology and if his disguise could fool Batman, it was necessary to be prepared.

At least for now, there was nothing suspicious about Dean.

Even if Batman's paranoia made him doubt Dean, it was just his personal habit.

Frankly, anyone Batman encountered was doubted by him, and actually investigating and monitoring someone to confirm suspicions needs further evidence.

After all, Batman is very busy and doesn't have the time to thoroughly investigate everyone unless he already knows that Dean isn't just an ordinary person.

But Batman wasn't omnipotent, can he really predict everything?

Furthermore, Robin and Batgirl had already investigated Dean and confirmed his identity.

Even if Batman decided to question their investigation, it would only return to the previous situation and wouldn't get worse.

The main concern now isn't Batman, but Dean himself.

Batman didn't seem to place much importance on the Phantom Thief, who was more like an artful thief than a supervillain.

This doesn't mean that Batman completely ignores him, but in Batman's mind, there's a scale, and the weight of the Phantom Thief isn't big enough.

Batman needs to deal with other more dangerous criminals first before coming back to deal with the Phantom Thief.

Of course, if Robin or Batgirl, the younger heroes, want to train with the Phantom Thief, that's okay.

It's just that Batman can't let them face those highly dangerous supervillains alone without worrying about them.

However, Batman is quite dissatisfied with the results of Robin facing off against the Phantom Thief and losing multiple times.

To Batman, this doesn't prove how tough the Phantom Thief is but rather shows Robin is not doing enough.

It shows that Robin still hasn't matured as much as Batgirl, who at least understands the importance of investigating murder cases over catching thieves.

This is the real reason why Batman is not happy with Robin after returning.

In other words, as long as Dean doesn't do anything stupid and doesn't go out of his way to confront Batman, there is currently no risk of his identity being exposed.

It's important to have a balance here.

Dean can't appear too perfect with no trace of suspicion, as that would be the most suspicious thing.

But he also can't have suspicions all over him, as that would only lead to revealing his true identity.

There needs to be some suspicious stuff, but it can't be absolute. It should be something that most people have in common.

This is the true test that Dean will face next, but luckily, he has dealt with similar situations before.

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A/N: If we reach If we reach 400 power stones within this day, I will release an additional chapter tomorrow.

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