34 Chapter 34: How To Lure A Bat Part 3

Arias had spent his entire morning and a good part of his afternoon alternating between practice and conversing with the infinity.

He didn't know exactly why it began wanting to speak more and more with him but entertained it's request regardless.

Currently he was in his bed room getting dressed. He chose to wear a casual attire composed of a plain white shirt, black pants and some runners.

[ I suppose this is the end of our conversation Arias]

Seeing as he was about to go out the infinity took the initiative in bringing the conversation to an end, its voice carrying an undertone of clear disappointment.

"We'll continue another time Apeiro."

[ Apeiro?]

A/N: The A is written differently but you get the point

"Yes, my name for you. I derived it from the ancient Greek word "apeiros" which carries the same meaning as your true name. I just thought it suits you better given your female persona, is that a problem?"

[ Oh, I see…thank you for that Arias. May I ask why you chose that language in particular?]

Apeiro spoke as if stunned by the sudden development but her tone of speech remained rather low and hard to read.

Was she happy? Confused? Upset? Arias couldn't immediately tell.

Arias's reason for giving her a name was so that she could feel more like a living being, during their conversations he found out that she disliked being referred to as "it" and so he began treating her more like a real female, although it was still a bit strange for him to get used to.

"A conversation for another day"

[ I see.]

Upon replying one last time, Apeiro's voice faded and so did her presence within his consciousness as if it were no longer there. This was how she normally left so Arias didn't particularly mind and just left.

…

Downstairs, he found Shade lingering around near a bar. Once Shade saw Arias leaving, he followed along without being told to and stood by his side like a guard.

"Where to?" He asked while wearing his top hat and adjusting his collar.

To which Arias replied. "The Iceberg Lounge."

After Arias gave this answer, Shade waved his cane in the air and opened a dark circular portal of sorts. The two then casually walked through it, appearing on the other side in mere moments.

"And just like that, here we are." Shade seemed particularly proud of this ability and so he gave a small bow as if he were standing in front of an audience.

Arias didn't pay mind to his eccentric personality and just changed the topic. "Right but transporting me from location to location is a waste of your talents, here. I've compiled a small list of individuals who I want you check out for me, subtly of course. How you choose to do this is up to you, just return with information."

Shade showed a smile upon receiving this task and tipped his hat towards Arias. "Subtlety is my area of expertise, leave this to me boss."

With those parting words, Shade's figure faded into the shadows and he was gone.

Arias then began to make his way towards his office but as he was doing so, his phone rang.

"Yes?" He picked up and answered.

[ I'm here…] The faint but familiar voice of Barbra Gordon resounded on the other side of the call.

"Come to my office, you should already know the way."

After giving those instructions, Arias went to his office and waited and after a short while, a knock resounded on his door.

"Enter."

The door opened slowly and frowning teenage girl revealed herself. She had medium length ginger hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion. She wore a simple but modest attire featuring a light blue sweater, black skirt, long white socks and sneakers, a pretty normal outfit for a girl her age.

"Well, here I am." She said with some displeasure as she crossed her arms under her modest sized breasts, somewhere between B to C cup.

Arias was leaning against his desk whilst facing the direction of the door and showed a small smile towards her displeasure.

"You say that like didn't have a choice."

Barbara frowned even more when she heard this, feeling as if Arias was mocking her. "I didn't! If I didn't come, you'd reveal my identity and ruin my life."

Her heated reply didn't move Arias in the least, he found people much easier to deal with when they were in an emotional state as they had little control over themselves.

"Yes, but the choice was ultimately yours, in the end you just felt you couldn't rely on your friends and chose to accept my offer." Arias began toying with her psychologically while she was in a state of restrained anger.

The more she heard him speak the more she felt irritated and wanted to oppose his words. "That's not true. I just didn't think you're worth causing Batman the trouble, after all you're only able to get what you want by blackmailing a teenage girl. You wouldn't be so confident if it was batman that came instead of me."

Barbara was smart enough not to fall easily to psychological warfare involving words alone so she was quick to clap back, attempting to target Arias's ego and pride, something most men easily got triggered over.

Arias however maintained his confident demeanor.

"Does thinking that calm your fragile heart? To me it's all about perspective. And what I see is a man who uses even children to help achieve his recurring fantasy of a safer world. What's the difference between him and governments that train child soldiers? A cape? A secret identity? What a joke. I once read an article saying Batman does what the police cannot. Well similar to that, I do what Batman cannot."

Barbara was taken by surprise for a short moment but her defense of batman continued. Arias knew that words wouldn't be enough to convince her, this conversation mere served to implant the seed of doubt.

Whether she liked it or not, she would now see some wrongs in what batman did and perhaps even question them.

"The difference is he does what he does for the good of Gotham, people like you only care about profit and making money."

Her argument began to shake and this mistake allowed Arias to corner her.

"Oh? Then tell me five major wrongs I've committed towards Gotham. Do that honestly and I will forget your identity and let you be."

Barbara's eyes widened for a moment and she began to think. It was then that she realized, they had nothing on Arias, only theories. She treated him like villain and criminal, yet she couldn't prove he was.

"I can't list any but it's obvious you're up to something, you can fool the people by using words and empty gestures but that doesn't hide your suspicious actions."

Although she couldn't list a single one, she still clung to her defense, which now began to lack reason.

"I see, interesting. Well, you're free to leave now." Arias stepped away from his desk and went to sit behind it, no longer paying attention to Barbara.

Debating with someone who defended a point even without reason was pointless as it would lead to nothing. Knowing that, Arias chose to end it there which confused the young girl.

"What? Just like that? You're not going to ask about Batman or other heroes?"

To this, Arias just cracked a smile in the corner of his mouth.

"No need, I can't believe the words of someone who doesn't truly believe their own."

Barbara wanted to reply but she couldn't think of an appropriate rebuttal to give, so she just turned and left. The moment she did, Apeiro appeared.

[ You didn't seem like you were trying to recruit her]

"That's because I wasn't. Yesterday proved that her movements are monitored, a listening device is likely present too. I only needed to learn her stance on things to best understand how to deal with her."

[ And what conclusion did you reach?]

"If she refuses to let go of her ideals even when they lack reason, then the only option left is to have those very ideals break her."