Since she had already achieved her goal, Thea deliberately accelerated the healing process. After half an hour, the "treatment" finally ended.
"Why isn't Barbara awake yet? Did it fail?"
Old Gordon was anxious — Barbara was still lying there unchanged.
Thea also felt confused and checked again.
"Bruce injected her with a lot of sedatives… so…"
Everyone froze for a moment, then hurriedly worked together until they finally managed to wake Barbara.
Old Gordon was the first to ask how she felt.
It took Barbara quite a while to clear her groggy mind before she realized the treatment was over. She touched her lower back in disbelief.
"I… I think I can feel it!"
The old commissioner carefully supported her as she took a few shaky steps. The first steps were nerve-racking to watch, but the more she walked, the steadier her steps became. For their willingness to be her "patsies," Thea smiled and politely stayed to observe for another hour.
"Thank you. Thank you!"
Realizing she was completely healed, Barbara threw her arms around Thea in a huge hug. Then she felt she had ignored the others and went around thanking every single person in sight.
Tears streaming down his face, Commissioner Gordon repeatedly tried to keep Thea from leaving. He escorted her all the way to the helipad behind the manor before finally letting her go. At that moment, forget repairing a temple in Turkey — if she told him to blow up the White House, he might actually consider it!
Thea had just started the aircraft when she saw Gordon waving frantically at her. At first she thought he was just saying goodbye and ignored it, but when she noticed him sweating and signaling urgently with both hands, she realized something was wrong. She stopped the aircraft and shouted back,
"What's wrong?"
"Bruce just called — he wants us back immediately! He's in the Batcave, says it's urgent!"
Gordon yelled, lowering his phone.
Did something happen to Barbara again? Impossible…
She had no choice but to go with Gordon back to the Batcave.
There was no time to walk. Gordon was on the verge of running. Thea, in a short skirt and heels, simply couldn't keep up, so she wrapped herself in magic and half-floated after him into the cave.
When they reached the cave, they found Barbara perfectly fine — even practicing punches and kicks to restore her physical condition.
Batman now had a one-meter-eighty, two-hundred-pound man standing beside him. No time for introductions. Batman hesitated for a few seconds.
"Miss Thea… I didn't want to trouble you further, but this matter involves you as well."
After speaking, he activated the large screen.
"This aired citywide ten minutes ago."
Ten minutes ago?
Thea knew Batman — he never said things lightly. If he said it involved her, it definitely did. She patiently waited.
Static flickered on the screen for less than thirty seconds before an all-too-familiar figure appeared.
"Ha… ha… ha… HA! Hey, Bats! Did you receive my little gift? I heard that red-haired beauty was your assistant?"
That pale face, the heavy black eye shadow full of madness — but most iconic of all were those crimson lips and the huge split grin on both sides. This figure needed no introduction.
The Joker — Batman's nemesis.
Thea remembered hearing that Batman had locked him up. She didn't expect him to escape this quickly — or that he'd nearly cripple Barbara in one strike. Thea subconsciously looked toward Barbara. The red-haired woman was trembling all over — part fury, part fear.
On screen, Joker pulled out a small knife from his purple suit, smoothed back his dry yellow hair, and gave what he thought was a graceful smile — though nothing about it resembled joy.
"I know you've been desperately looking for me. What do you want? Revenge? Is that it, you lunatic? HA!"
Joker howled at the camera. From the corner of her eye, Thea noticed Batman standing completely still, wooden, as if he didn't hear a thing.
"I went through a lot of trouble to find someone very important to our dear Bats. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce our honored guest! What? You want a name? Well, I don't actually know his name. Maybe he'll say it himself…?"
Joker exaggeratedly acted for the camera, then suddenly dragged a chair into view. Tied to it was a young boy.
He ripped the tape from the boy's mouth. The knife in his hand traced teasing lines across the child's face.
"Heh… heh… Why don't you tell our lovely viewers your name?"
At this point, Thea could only think one thing:
Holy shit.
The Joker had kidnapped Damian Wayne.
If she remembered correctly, Talia had entrusted Damian to the care of the Demon's Head… and this clown — a normal human — somehow infiltrated Nanda Parbat, slipped past assassins, thieves, and the Demon's Head's own guards, and abducted the boy?!
Even Thea considered the Demon's Head a long-term target requiring meticulous planning — yet Joker… went in alone…
And succeeded.
On screen, Damian handled the situation remarkably well.
"My grandfather is the Demon's Head! You crazy freak, let me go!"
Even at six years old, Damian understood he couldn't reveal Batman's identity. He used tough talk to show defiance and to signal the League's spies outside.
Joker shoved Damian aside with a wicked giggle. Thea realized Joker likely knew Batman's real identity. To him, this entire thing was just a game — a game with no win condition, no loss condition. Damian's attempts at clever signaling were meaningless to him.
"Switch the feed…"
Joker ordered one of his goons. The screen went dark before flashing to several blurry photos — though blurry, they clearly showed a red figure flying through the air.
Damn.
Now Thea understood why Batman had urgently called her back.
That figure… was her.
These were images from the day she blew up the Arkham gas pipeline to lure Solomon Grundy away.
There weren't many photos. Joker soon returned to the center of the broadcast.
"This guy is the Bat's new partner! Looks like he's even related to the Bat! I spent a lot of effort tracking him down, and finally… I FOUND—"
Thea's heart clenched.
Had this maniac discovered her identity?
Would he go to Star City?
Malcolm was a major villain — no way Joker captured him. Diana was even less possible.
Then who?
"I found his sister! The mother of this brave little boy! Such noble motherly love… She bravely came alone to my place as a guest. You'd better hurry to save her, Bats… Ha… ha… HA!"
The screen cut to black.
My sister?
Who??
Thea was stunned. She only had two older brothers — where did a sister come from?
Then she connected the dots.
A memory — not too long ago — surfaced.
Joker…
had kidnapped Talia al Ghul.