The Strange Scroll

Although it was a very ordinary painting,Thea felt her strong will being continuously drained away by the seemingly unremarkable picture. 

At the same time, soft whispering sounds came from the scroll, as if they were trying to say something. If only she could understand what they were saying, but the sounds were so quiet, like they could vanish with a gust of wind. Even though she tried hard to listen, she couldn't understand a single word.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Selina, beside her, had been waiting for her response, but after waiting for a while and seeing no reaction, she nudged Thea lightly.

"Me?" Thea didn't know what was wrong with her, either. She cautiously looked at the scroll again, but the strong pull she had felt before was gone. However, whether it was her ears ringing or something else, she could still faintly hear the whispers in the air.

There was definitely something wrong with this painting, but was it affecting only her or everyone? Thea needed to ask Selina to see if she had experienced anything unusual.

"What era do you think this painting is from?"

"According to the software..." Selina almost let slip Felicity's name and hurriedly changed her words: "I estimate it's an ancient artifact from over a thousand years ago."

Thea was too preoccupied to notice Selina's slip of the tongue at this moment. She still needed to confirm one last thing. She unfolded the scroll and asked Selina, "Which artist do you think painted this?"

Selina had actually looked at it several times. If she could determine its origin, she would have sold it long ago. She casually glanced at it and said, "I don't know."

Thea had been closely watching Selina's facial expressions from the corner of her eye, but nothing changed. Selina continued to lie there lazily, in stark contrast to Thea's previous distraction.

Is this item somehow connected to her? The inexplicable thought popped into Thea's mind. Well, regardless, she will just buy it.

When asked for the price, Selina felt a bit embarrassed. Selling such a dubious, extremely worn, and obviously stolen item to a friend went against her principles. But she was in a tight spot now. Being broke was tough, even for a heroine. So, she didn't feel too burdened.

She quoted what she considered a very low friend's price, and although Thea was currently cash-strapped, she was still a billionaire. The two completed the transaction happily. Feeling like she had fleeced a fat sheep, the wary Selina swiftly ran away in case Thea changed her mind.

Thea didn't feel like she had been deceived. If the painting had been normal, she wouldn't have paid so much for it.

Back at the camp, the group gathered to discuss the matter of the superweapon that Talia had mentioned. Bruce acted oblivious, not asking where she got the information, and Gordon and the others didn't dwell on it either.

As the discussion went on, they all felt a bit puzzled. As locals, none of them had any memory of a powerful weapon in their city.

The Commissioner interrogated Penguin and Scarecrow, but to no avail, and the few informants controlled by Lyla also didn't provide any important information, except for the news that Bane had finally regained consciousness after two days and was now holed up in Arkham recovering from his injuries, not seeing any outsiders.

The remaining major crime families were fighting over the surviving henchmen and territories left behind by Penguin and Scarecrow, and while several major skirmishes broke out, the Court of Owls did not intervene.

In short, aside from the elusive super weapon, everything else seemed positive.

Thea retired her red leather jacket for a high-density Kevlar combat suit provided by Bruce. Wayne Enterprises, with years of experience in bio-pharmaceuticals and other fields, was at the forefront of global research in nano-composite materials.

Of course, to maintain her personal style, the combat suit was still primarily red. The suit was extremely resilient, immune to close-range pistol bullets, and could stop rifle bullets within a hundred meters in the fiber layer.

Initially, Thea declined the cape that came with the suit. What use did the cape serve besides aesthetics? Countless times, Supergirl's red cape caused her to be grabbed and pummeled to the ground. Hadn't they learned from such painful lessons?

However, upon seeing that the cape was made of high-quality material, Thea didn't outright refuse it. In Bruce's somewhat regretful gaze, she handed it to Felicity as a keepsake. 

Bruce had been continuously adjusting his physical condition for these past few days. His recovery ability was truly remarkable; injuries that would take an ordinary person at least a hundred days to heal were almost completely healed in less than a month.

As the second-strongest force in the camp after him, Thea took some time to accompany him with some physical recovery training.

Though Bruce hadn't fully recovered, he could fight evenly with Thea. Their martial arts styles contrasted, with his being grounded and hers being agile, making them well-matched opponents. Thea's combat skills were improving with each battle, and she was close to developing her own style. 

When Barbara asked about Wing Chun, both Thea and Bruce confirmed their proficiency. It wasn't some kind of closely guarded secret. However, Bruce's practice looked strange, so Thea had to act as the temporary teacher.

Oddly enough, since Thea stepped down from her leadership role, Barbara—usually critical of her—had taken the initiative to ask her out for a stroll twice. The relationship between the two was no longer as rigid as it used to be.

Thea spent her remaining time crafting various arrowheads and equipment. Thea utilized Wayne Enterprises' resources to replenish her stock of high-tech arrows, even acquiring a substantial amount of Bridgit's napalm with Selina's help to create ten Flame Arrows.

With Bane recuperating in seclusion, several city officials were rescued by Commissioner Gordon. They appeared well-fed and didn't seem to have suffered any abuse.

The mayor was scared of Commissioner Gordon's forces. If it weren't for Gordon's reputation, he might have suspected the commissioner of having some hidden agenda. To play it safe, he gave all the city's power to Gordon. He pretended to be seriously injured and stayed at home, refusing to come out.

During the day, Thea was occupied with various tasks, and at night, when no one was around, she continued to study the mysterious painting. She had tested it with various instruments and confirmed it was indeed over a thousand years old, but she couldn't find any matching patterns or any references.

That night, she had been tossing and turning, unable to sleep due to her restless thoughts, and that faint, elusive whisper lingered in her ears.

But no matter how hard she tried to listen, she couldn't make out what was being said. Just as she wondered if she was succumbing to Gotham's madness and developing a split personality, she heard, "Come to me. I can help you. I mean you no harm." This time, the voice seemed slightly different from before, muffled as if coming from the underground.

She immediately decided to go check it out, not because the other party said they meant no harm or anything like that—few villains ever admitted they were bad. Every defeated villain initially had lofty ideals, so she would just listen to what they had to say and analyze the situation more specifically when they met in person.