The moment Commissioner Gordon mentioned Barbara, tears streamed uncontrollably down his face. At first he forced himself to speak in broken sentences, but eventually he couldn't continue at all. He removed his glasses and simply cried in silence.
Thea and Felicity exchanged helpless glances. Even combined, the two of them weren't as old as Gordon, and watching an elderly man break down like this felt improper—yet neither knew how to comfort him.
Fortunately, Gordon's mental resilience was strong. Forcing himself to steady his breathing, he finally managed to explain why he had come.
"The Joker injured her spine. Bruce believes she'll never be able to stand again… I hate myself for being so powerless!"
As he spoke, Gordon pounded his fist in frustration. Thankfully Thea had only just moved into this office and it wasn't fully furnished yet—otherwise he probably would've smashed something.
"Miss Thea, your company is a high-tech group too. Bruce can't help her… but I want to ask—do you have any way to help Barbara stand again?"
Gordon looked at her with desperate hope, yet also with fear—fear that she might say no, shattering the last piece of faith he was clinging to.
Ah… the heart of a parent truly is universal.
What was an impossible problem for others was—for Thea—barely even a challenge. She could repair Captain Cold's broken gene chain; healing a damaged spine was practically a minor injury with her current level of magic.
But she also had to consider Bruce's deep suspicion and hostility toward anything supernatural. Healing Barbara might be good but could easily become… politically complicated.
Still, telling the sobbing commissioner to leave empty-handed?
Thea wasn't that heartless.
"Commissioner, I've thought of three possible solutions. Let me explain them, and you decide."
To seem more mature, Thea always wore a pair of clear-lens glasses during work. Now she removed them, rubbing her eyes slightly.
Three solutions?!
Gordon's heart almost leapt out of his chest. In under a minute, she had already come up with three? Going from despair to hope so quickly left him dizzy.
"The first option: neuro-link surgery with mechanical support. I haven't examined her wound, but Queen Group has the technology. We can create a metal belt that bypasses the damaged area and reconnects the nerves above and below. She'll be able to walk on her own, but fighting will be impossible."
Gordon listened seriously. Walking again was already far better than the expectation of spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Still, he worried whether Barbara herself would accept such limitations. He nodded solemnly.
He wanted to hear the next option.
"The second option is nanobot reconstruction. The nanobots would remain inside the body, bridging the nerve connections. After rehabilitation, she could return to her former level of mobility. But electromagnetic pulse devices can permanently disable the nanobots, so you'd need to be cautious."
Before Gordon could respond, Felicity whispered,
"Wait—do we actually have that technology?"
Thea nodded expressionlessly.
In her heart: No, we damn well don't.
This was all future Atom's tech. In the original timeline, Felicity had also been paralyzed from a gunshot—almost identical to Barbara—and Atom's nanobots had restored her mobility.
The Atom might be goofy, but the tech he gave her was cutting-edge. Thea couldn't understand half of it yet—not without a doctorate—but the nanobot system was basic enough that with a little experimentation, it could be used clinically.
But something that Thea considered "simple" was nothing short of salvation in Gordon's eyes.
This option was perfect—full recovery!
As for the EMP weakness… well, Gotham was chaotic, but not chaotic enough for people to throw EMP bombs every day.
"This is perfectly fine! No matter the cost, I'll pay it! Please, please help her!"
For the first time since he walked in, the old commissioner's face finally showed a smile. Coming to Star City had indeed been worthwhile.
But he still wanted to hear the final option.
What if it was even better?
"You said… there's a third?"
Thea sighed. A small orb of light appeared in her palm. She had shown her magic to Felicity a few days ago—partly as a precursor to the temple reconstruction—and had even given Felicity a brief flight with magic. The girl had thrown up everywhere and then complained nonstop.
Now revealing this to Gordon was a calculated decision. She couldn't hide her magic forever. Better to expose it while he was in need—it would boost her credibility later.
"Magic can heal her completely. But the price… is that it accelerates cellular growth. Her lifespan might be shortened by five to ten years."
This was, of course, complete nonsense.
Her magic wasn't what it had been on the Tide Rider, but healing Barbara was trivial. The dramatic "cost" was just to make it sound difficult—useful when she needed leverage later.
As expected, someone who'd spent decades fighting crime had a far easier time accepting superpowers than a normal civilian. Gordon didn't ask where the magic came from. He simply paced the room in deep thought.
Thea didn't rush him. In truth, the solution was easy, almost effortless for her. The complicated rituals and runes were simply for show—to make things seem appropriately mystical.
And funnily enough, while she had been searching for someone to serve as the "patsy" to lead the Artemis Temple project, one had just dropped into her lap.
Gordon was perfect:
Respected, socially established, elderly enough that "embracing faith in his twilight years" could be explained away.
And for his daughter's sake?
He would hesitate before destroying the Statue of Liberty, perhaps, but knocking down an ancient temple in Turkey?
Not even a blink.
But she couldn't lay out the terms openly—not yet.
A hesitant expression later would be enough. Gordon was sharp; he would understand the implication.
Right now, though, he was drowning in thought—one shock after another, decision after decision with no easy answers.
"I… can I discuss this with Bruce? And also consider Barbara's own wishes?"
He finally asked. Each option carried weight. Each could save her—but choosing wrongly could haunt him forever.
"Of course. Can you connect to the Batcave?"
Thea answered the first part to Gordon, and asked the second part to Felicity.
"Who am I? I'm a world-class hacker!"
Felicity puffed her chest slightly, grabbed her keyboard, and started typing furiously.
In under three minutes, the large LCD screen in Thea's office flickered to life—revealing Bruce.
For once, Batman—always calm and composed—actually looked startled.
From their angle, they could see he'd been punching a heavy sandbag when the sudden screen activation caught him off guard.