Second Assault on Arkham (Part Seven)

Thea finished speaking without waiting for their reaction. She lifted her sword with her right hand, forming a sword flower with the blade pointing diagonally towards the sky. "For the glory of the League," she started, then quickly corrected herself, "I mean, for the freedom of Gotham!"

As the first gunshot echoed on the battlefield, she had already found cover and was resting on the side. After all, she had been fighting for half an hour, and dealing with Talia was no easy task. Besides feeling physically tired, she was actually injured.

Inspecting her wounds, they were all superficial, but her current outfit offered little actual protection. Next time, she would need to get a set of high-density Kevlar from Bruce. Ignoring the ongoing battle ahead, she headed to the rear to re-hydrate and tend to her injuries.

"What? Sisters fighting over a man?" Thea had barely taken two sips of water when Felicity quietly relayed this shocking gossip. What kind of logic led to this conclusion? What happened to not spreading rumors? With over five hundred people on the scene, that's enough for a conviction!

When she learned that this twisted version of the story had spread among everyone on the battlefield, she didn't know what face to make. The people of Gotham were too idle, with too much time on their hands, which is why their imaginations ran wild.

Narrowing her eyes as she surveyed the battlefield, her first thought was to silence them all. Did she have any weapons capable of wiping everyone out?

Thea's satisfaction in entrapping Bane vanished by half. She was now caught in a dilemma and bore the blame. 

Feeling annoyed and too tired to engage in a fight, she watched from afar as Selina dealt with Professor Pyg, while Batgirl and Robin teamed up against two Talons.

Selina couldn't tell if she was frustrated or relieved—the supposed leading lady had inexplicably lost her role, leaving her disheartened. Feeling bitter, she relentlessly aimed her baton at Professor Pyg's head, which seemed even larger now. Was she trying to knock some sense into him?

Barbara and Dick worked well together. The two Talons were top assassins brainwashed and trained by the Court of Owls since childhood, and their skills were formidable. But they were evenly matched in this two-on-two showdown for now.

"Thea, I know you need to recover your strength, but Bane won't stay trapped for long." Bruce, monitoring from a distance, still regarded this enemy, who had broken his back, with importance.

"Ah," Thea acknowledged, glancing at the large cocoon in the distance. Bruce was indeed correct; initially, Bane wasn't exactly ensnared. He had absorbed too much of the chemical substance from the spider silk in a short time, causing him to pass out. Now, with his remarkable resistance to toxins, he was gradually regaining consciousness and struggling to break free.

Counting the arrows on her person, she realized that out of the five Freezing Arrows she originally possessed, two were used on Killer Croc, and one was wasted on the Penguin. It seemed she'd have to use another one today.

The distance was a bit far, so she'd have to lob it. Fortunately, the power of the Freezing Arrow didn't depend on hitting the target. As long as it was within range, it would be effective. She aimed the bow diagonally toward the sky in Bane's direction and fired another Freezing Arrow.

This time, there was no burly man with a thick neck to interfere. The freezing effect was good, and in just ten seconds, Bane, who was almost breaking free, was solidly frozen in place.

"Do you also have freezing abilities?" Firefly, who hadn't gone to fight on the frontlines, looked at Thea strangely.

What's up with her eager expression? Does she have such a big objection to freezing? Then how would she react when she saw the members of the Cold Team, like Captain Cold or Killer Frost, in the future?

She awkwardly replied, "It's not my ability; it's the arrow's power. And I only have one arrow left."

"That's a good move. Is it liquid nitrogen or liquid ammonia?" Bruce, watching from afar, saw her Freezing Arrow at work for the first time. The arrow with the entangling spider silk from earlier had already impressed him, and now this effect was even better.

Knowing she couldn't hide it from the sharp-eyed Bruce and that it was obvious to anyone who saw it, Thea casually chatted with Bruce for a bit. Neither of them touched on core technologies; they were just discussing theories.

"Stop chatting and come help us here." Barbara, facing the two well-trained Talons, was already fatigued by their relentless attacks. She grew tired of listening to their various discussions.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." Thea's agreeable response wasn't just to flatter Barbara. After all, she had come to Gotham initially to rob the rich. And who in Gotham was richer than the Court of Owls? Decades of accumulation from dozens of families over two centuries.

But this matter couldn't be made known to everyone; it required some secretive means. So she took out a specially made arrow, equipped with a nanoscale tracker. It was stolen by one of Malcolm's men working at Palmer Technologies, and Malcolm gifted it to Thea.

This specially modified arrow was unknown even to Felicity. The Court of Owls was indeed wealthy, but they kept their wealth hidden deep. To find this group of fat sheep, Thea decided to use the tracker on these two Talons.

She aimed at the slightly less agile of the two Talons. As Robin's staff struck down, he could only dodge sideways and seek an opening to counterattack.

Thea kept maneuvering through the crowd and happened to notice this vulnerability. Without hesitation, she nocked and fired her arrow.

Her archery skills were not quite suitable for dealing with Bane and Talia, due to the former's strength and the latter's agility. But against these second-rate fighters, it was just right. The arrow struck the Talon squarely in the abdomen.

The Talon groaned in pain as the arrow struck him. Despite having been brainwashed, he still felt pain. Realizing he'd been ambushed, he whirled his long blade like a windmill, forcing Robin to retreat. Gritting his teeth, he pulled out the arrow lodged in his stomach and scanned the area, searching for the assailant who had ambushed him.

Meanwhile, Thea retreated back into the crowd and activated the switch on her glasses, confirming that the nanotracker had entered his body and attached itself to his internal organs. Satisfied, she nodded to herself and deactivated the tracker—it wasn't time yet.

"Thea, our informants report that several major crime families in the city are rapidly mobilizing and heading our way," Lyla, who was usually silent, announced the bad news.

"How far are they?"

"Less than two blocks away."

Was this planned in advance, or did the Court of Owls decide on this course of action spontaneously due to the deteriorating situation? Thea felt it was the latter. Talia's departure had dealt a significant blow to the balance of power between the two sides, something they probably hadn't anticipated.

If caught in a pincer attack, they would surely suffer a major defeat. Thea assessed the power dynamics on the field.

"Selina, get back here quickly.".

Selina, having dispatched Professor Pyg, asked, "What's the matter?"

Thea handed her a special arrow. "You've seen this before, my Magnetic Arrow. I need you to place it behind enemy lines, preferably covering all enemies within a fifty-meter range."