Barbara Is Here

"How much longer?"

"About two hours or so, if that teaser letter is deciphered correctly."

Inside the collection hall, Gordon was pacing while speaking to Aaron.

Gordon pondered for a moment and then asked, "How are the shore arrangements going?"

"The nearby shore has been fortified to the point where there are no exposed gaps. A fly couldn't get out of there. In any case… you think Kid will really fly in from the direction of the ocean in such a roundabout way?"

Gordon's eyes were firm, "You do not know how good Kid is at disguise; he pretended to be you in front of all of us that day and no one could tell the difference. He even mimicked your voice perfectly."

"In fact, it wasn't for the fact that I heard his voice when he was all dressed up, I might've even thought that you were Kid."

Aaron laughed dryly, he hadn't seen this fabled disguise technique because he had been knocked out by Mathison, and could only hear all sorts of absurd claims from his colleagues.

Aaron was reluctant to believe in such things. There was the art of simulating human skin masks - many spies and agents used them - but unless they were of advanced quality, the disguise would look really fake.

"Okay but Sir, doesn't he have gliders? Using one to fly in should be the most convenient. I mean… can he still dive in this situation? Our men are all spread along the sea, there is no way he can come if he is in a boat."

"Aaron, is this collection hall connected to anything like a ventilation duct or downpipe?" Gordon suddenly asked.

"There are thirteen ventilation ducts and five vents in the collection hall, none of which connect to the sewers."

A feminine voice emerged, but it wasn't the voice of anyone present. Aaron turned his head to see where the voice was coming from, only to see a red-haired female student wearing glasses with a laptop in one hand approaching.

"Barbara? Jim, is it really appropriate to have your daughter here? It could be really dangerous for a while."

As soon as he saw the girl, Aaron's brow frowned and dropped his formality and he started addressing Gordon as a friend.

"Rookie!"

Ignoring Aaron's question, Gordon yelled towards the outside of the collection hall. Blake heard the shout and immediately came running over.

"Your orders, sir?"

"Get two more teams of officers over here and keep a strict watch on the five air vents in the pavilion, we can't rule out the possibility that Kaito Kid would sneak into the collection hall from there."

Blake saluted and went down to arrange the men.

"Barbara, didn't I tell you not to follow me here?"

Gordon turned to Barbara's in dissatisfaction.

"I want to catch Kaito Kid!" Barbara declared and walked around both Gordon and Aaron and headed inside the collection hall.

"That child!", Gordon said with a headache.

He didn't know why Barbara was acting this way. She had been interested in all sorts of cases, and part of the reason she had thoroughly studied hacking was to break into the police database and go through the various case files.

Mathison, in his infinite wisdom, had long since deduced why Barbara was doing this. She told him once and he vaguely remembers the gist of it.

Anyways, eight years ago, when Barbara was just a young girl in junior high school, she was almost killed by Two-Face.

After that terrible incident, she learned one valuable lesson. She learned that Gotham's superficial beauty was no more than hypocrisy and built on a lie.

After seeing Harvey Dent's true face with her own eyes, her eyes were opened (Mathison clearly remembers this part). How could the gangster families that had been established in Gotham for hundreds of years be so easily swept away when even a man that righteous could go down the wrong path? (Mathison sort of remembers this part)

Unfortunately, the majority of people have been deceived by the current circumstances. Even her father, Gordon, had to go against his will and do his best to maintain a peaceful society by telling lies.

Often, she even despises her father for she doesn't understand why Gordon doesn't tell the truth, why he doesn't tell people who the real killer is and who saved Gotham by defeating the Joker.

(Mathison remembers silently disagreeing because he would rather live in a peaceful society based on a single lie long ago than have two bullets in his chest)

Barbara admires Batman and looks up to him. She would to fight crime like him too except that women are naturally weaker in combat than men, so Barbara chose a path of wisdom instead.

She never spoke of these plans to anyone with the exception of Mathison.

For some reason she thought that Mathison was different from the others for he was the only one of his peers who would listen to her describe how great Batman was. The others thought Batman was just a wanted criminal.

However, whenever Barbara said she wanted to be Batman too, Mathison nodded sagely and when asked what he was doing he said "to be one like the Bat, you must first acquire his powers". However whenever Barbara asks what Batman's powers are, Mathison just smiles and outright refuses to elaborate.

In any case, when Kaito Kid appeared, and started gaining a lot of attention, Barbara was determined to catch him and make this her debut battle.

And so Barbara came to Daggett's private collection hall, fully ready to fight in a battle of wits.

"Jim, you should protect Barbara, I don't suppose you want to recreate that incident from the past?" Aaron said in a deep voice while glancing at Barbara's back as she walked into the pavilion.

"Based on the way Kaito Kid did his last crime, he doesn't look like a vicious criminal who would actively hurt people."

"Jim, you know we can't trust the character of a criminal of a single heist. Maybe he didn't hurt anyone last time because we knew so little about him and he was able to tease us easily, but this time will be different. It's hard to imagine what Kid would do if he was pushed to the edge."

"You're right, I'll look after my daughter and I won't allow anyone to hurt her unless I'm dead." Gordon swore with a firm gaze.