Barry scratched his head. He was still hungry and felt unable to focus. The darkness here was making him sleepy.
But he forced himself to stay awake, rubbing his face with his hands, and asked Briss:
"You said Deathstroke isn't Deathstroke, what does that mean? Is this an impersonator?"
"Men using guns to this extent, I don't recall seeing them here." Briss enlarged the image to show Deathstroke's whole body: "This person's skeletal structure is male."
After speaking, Briss captured images of the police station door pillar behind Deathstroke, the TV station's broadcast truck, and Deathstroke himself, measured the horizontal distances between them, and created a scale.
"The broadcast truck from Gotham TV Station, made in Metropolis, is an 'Amazon' brand 1999 model, with a cabin height of 3.5 meters... The height of the Gotham Police Station's main entrance is officially recorded as 6.2 meters, and due to geological reasons, it has subsided 0.01 meters each year since 1996... while Cindy Wilson's height... is 1.73 meters..."
After inputting this data, the mainframe emitted a beeping sound, almost showing a big red cross, which made Briss shrug.
"Doesn't match, this person is 1.84 meters tall, male... Now it's not just my personal impression, even the system confirms that there is no such person in Gotham."
Barry had already noticed the leftover food on the desk. He scooped a bit of soup from a big pot and sent it into his mouth with a large wooden ladle. The unpleasant taste gave him a shudder, and it tasted like viscous mucus.
But he encouraged himself—he was a superhero, after all, he couldn't be daunted by this little hardship. He needed nutrition, and he needed it now.
"So, the footprints on the dinosaur's head are his, he killed your dragon."
"Hmm, thank you for the reminder." Briss's expressionless face did not reveal what dark account she had kept in her heart against Su Ming: "After recording the news, he and Cindy together kidnapped Barbara and two reporters from the TV station and came here together."
Barry took the horrible sweet soup into his mouth. The soup had already cooled and solidified and lacked any sweetness, the numbness on his tongue made it hard for him to speak clearly: "And then they happily ate dinner here at your place, patted their butts, and left. Barbara and the reporters showed no signs of being coerced."
"That's precisely what I can't comprehend..." Briss picked out a piece of lettuce from the pot, only to lick it and spit it out, looking at Barry with incredulous eyes and shaking her head: "I can understand the reporters' ideas since news is valuable, but Barbara..."
"...Have you contacted Director Gordon?" Barry struggled to swallow a mouthful, uttering a painful groan of 'ugh', caught his breath, and reminded her.
"Deathstroke specifically named him, I don't think I can get through on the phone." Briss started using the mainframe to make a call, which would leave no call record, and said to Ah Fu: "You'd better quickly prepare food, our guests are eating the dish Deathstroke made. After just a taste, I felt like she was going to kill me."
"Of course, Miss, the food is already on the stove."
Ah Fu walked back up the stairs to prepare the food. Letting guests go hungry is not something a butler should do.
"Gordon can't be reached. Interestingly, this equipment once tracked a license plate number and the locations of me and Ah Fu." Briss sat down with interest, only to find a patch of ash next to her hand. She paused and squinted her eyes.
"It should be Barbara who checked it." Barry patted his stomach, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Is Barbara really good at computer technology?" Briss asked again.
"Yes, one could say she's among the best on Earth." Barry said, discussing the matters on his side. He didn't have much contact with Oracle since his colleagues in Midtown were all scientific madmen who could provide him with full logistical support. His only contact channel with Barbara was occasionally via video calls in the Justice League: "Not only are her hacking skills very strong, but she also has command talent and leadership. Many female heroes on our side are willing to listen to her."
Briss silently wrapped her arms around herself, wiping the yellowish smoke scars on the table: "This is interesting because Barbara in our world is just an ordinary high school student and has never shown any talent. I don't know, and Gordon doesn't know either..."
Barry raised an eyebrow, seeming to understand something: "But Deathstroke found out, and he purposefully brought Barbara to your place to operate your 'Brother Eye' system to find people."
"Uh, my system doesn't have a name. If it were to have one, it would be called Sister Eye..." Briss stared at the screen, pulling up earlier location queries, with a place called Indian Mountain flashing on the map: "Is this Deathstroke from your world?"
Barry shook his head: "No, our Slade is 1.94 meters tall. He's gone with Sea King to Atlantis to find something. They don't have the ability to travel dimensions. I'm in charge of finding Multiverse reinforcements... but there was a little accident."
"I know, you've said it many times. Integrating into Divine Speed to travel between worlds is unpredictable. You encountered the Time Ghost, barely escaped with your life, and landed in our world..." Briss pulled up the information about Indian Mountain, examining it seriously, but couldn't make anything out of a junkyard.
"Yes, that's it, and then I found time had rewound somewhat, yet it didn't trigger a Flashpoint Effect. The world remained the same, and Gotham was as chaotic as ever." Barry sat on a nearby table, attempting to wave his arm with Divine Speed to help Briss wipe off the yellow stains on the table, but the smoke's yellow stain only grew larger.
"Our world was different to begin with, even if the Flashpoint Effect you mentioned was triggered, you couldn't tell... Subsequently, you discovered a world that was supposed to be destroyed still exists, and someone who was supposed to be your enemy, like me, hasn't gone mad yet." Briss stated calmly.
Barry widened his eyes, blew a breath onto the table, and gave an embarrassed smile.
"That's the gist. Now, I suspect that Deathstroke might be from another Parallel Universe, perhaps he and I collided in the realm of Divine Speed, and our arrival times offset each other. We counteracted each other's Speed, so only minimal ripples caused any changes in your world. But as it stands, these changes appear positive, increasing our odds of victory."
"I only want to protect my own world. As for helping you against Barbatos, I don't have the energy. My world doesn't have as many heroes like yours. Here, all the crazies in the world love to come to Gotham. If you didn't have Divine Speed, I wouldn't even leave Gotham."
Briss's indifferent answer left Barry a bit awkward, but fortunately a few minutes later, Alfred's arrival broke the odd atmosphere.
"Miss and Mr. Allen, dinner is ready. Today's main course is beef stew in red wine, with side dishes of roasted oysters and celery chicken rolls, lobster sashimi, and European noodles as the main food. But given the limited time, the beef might not be tender enough."
"It's already excellent, bring it here, please. I need to make some preparations. I'm curious about what this bizarre person actually wants to do." Briss smiled at Ah Fu, feeling quite proud that only her butler could prepare a beef stew in just over ten minutes.
Meanwhile, she already had a rough guess in her mind.
"This Deathstroke has a clear goal, and he knows a lot of things."