The answer, of course, was…
No.
More precisely, he would not.
"So no one wants to sit this one out? Anyone?"
Fighting dozens of people head-on would drain a tremendous amount of energy. Robin had no intention of doing that. But he had no intention of running away either.
"Heheh, look at this kid trying to act tough! You really think you can beat all of us?" One thug taunted.
"Very well, violence it is."
Bang.
Robin flicked his arm and threw something in an instant.
A small black cylinder hit the ground and detonated — blinding flash, then thick, acrid smoke swallowed the yard.
Robin disappeared into it.
He moved like liquid shadow.
"Ah!"
A scream rang out.
With his staff raised, Robin charged into the crowd under the cover of the smoke bomb.
First thug: staff cracked his elbow, then temple. Down.
Second: sidestep, redirect crowbar, butt to the chin. Teeth shattered.
Tim's close combat skills were not his strongest suit. Among all his abilities, direct hand-to-hand fighting was what he was least confident in....
Third & fourth: low roll, ankle hook, face meets knee. Crunch.
Gunfire erupted — wild, panicked, useless.
Robin flowed between bullets.
...But that was only compared to other members of the Bat family.
He slapped one pistol down, snapped the wrist of another, then drove the staff's end into floating ribs like a piston. The man folded, coughing blood.
Against this group of hired thugs, Tim's strength was so overwhelming that he barely seemed human.
Not a single person managed to stand back up after being struck by his staff.
For a while, in the entire area, the only sounds were the heavy thuds of Robin's staff hitting flesh, the sharp crack of bone, and the endless screams of the thugs.
"Damn it. This smoke… I can't see anything. Where did that kid go?"
One of the thugs holding a shortgun aimed wildly in every direction. His accomplices' screams echoed from all around, and he could not tell where Robin would strike next.
He could only retreat slowly, finger hovering over the trigger, ready to fire at any moment.
My position is way in the back, directly opposite the container Robin was in. No matter what, my rear should be safe.
Once he moved out of the smoke, he could wait for the kid there. As long as Robin dared to show himself, he was confident he could turn him into a hedgehog with a single magazine.
But just as he took a few steps back, he suddenly felt a slender, cylindrical hard object press against his back, stopping him from retreating any further.
"The last one." Smack!
Those were the final words he heard before losing consciousness.
Soon, the thick smoke completely cleared.
Fifty thugs lay scattered across the ground — groaning, unconscious, or worse. Only Robin remained standing.
And there was not a single drop of sweat on his face.
"Yeah.. I'm really not good at fighting. It took a bit of time, but I've cleared out all the obstacles here. Now I can search this place properly without any worries."
With that, Robin began checking the containers one by one at full speed.
Zone 35 was neither too large nor too small. It would take about half a day to search every container.
...
While Robin was fully focused on his search, somewhere hidden in the shadows...
In a darkened room, the Riddler sat before a computer. On the monitor in front of him, every one of Robin's movements at the port was being broadcast in real time.
Staring at Robin as he searched through the containers, the Riddler wore a strange, almost fond smile.
"Robin, oh Robin. In the end, you are nothing more than Batman's sidekick. You can't compare to him."
"Such an obvious trap. If it were Batman, he would have noticed something was wrong right away. Because in this world, only Batman's intellect can stand on the same level as mine. Of course, strictly speaking, I am still superior."
"As for that so-called Kaitou Kid, he is probably just like Robin, charging off in the wrong direction without even realizing it. And he dares to claim he will rescue the hostage at midnight tonight. Ha. It's simply laughable."
Thinking of this, the Riddler could not help but hum softly to himself, a tuneless little melody of satisfaction.
"Still, since only Robin came to the port and Batman did not appear, it seems Batman truly isn't in Gotham. Even if that takes away some of the fun, I'll just stir up a long overdue storm in this city for a while."
...
On the other side, at Miller Port, Cargo Zone 35.
"Not here." "Not here." "Not here."
As time passed, Robin grew more and more anxious.
He had already checked more than half of the containers in the area, yet there was still no sign of Janice.
"Could the hostage be hidden somewhere else, like in a warehouse instead of a container?"
Robin rubbed his chin as he thought.
"But this entire area is for container storage. There shouldn't be any other place that could hide someone…"
"Or does thirty-five not refer to Cargo Zone 35, but to Warehouse 35 or Ship 35 instead?"
"That doesn't make sense either. Miller Port doesn't have a warehouse or a ship with that number."
"And this is the only area with thugs hired by the Riddler. There were no abnormalities anywhere else…"
"Or did I get it wrong? Is the answer not Miller Port at all?"
Robin stopped and carefully reviewed everything he had found so far, along with his earlier interpretation of the riddle.
But no matter how he looked at it, he could not find a flaw.
He lifted his head and glanced at the sky. The sun was already sinking. Dusk was not far away.
"There's no other choice. I can only keep searching."
About another hour passed.
Robin reached the boundary between Zone 35 and Zone 34.
Since Oracle had reported earlier that several cameras between Zone 35 and Zone 36 were damaged, Robin had assumed from the start that the hostage would be hidden somewhere in that area.
He had begun his search from that end.
By now, he had worked his way forward little by little to the opposite side.
Thump. Thump.
Suddenly, Robin heard a faint sound coming from a nearby container.
It was as if something inside was tapping lightly against the metal.
The sound was extremely weak. It would tap once, then pause for a long time before tapping again. Without careful attention, it would have been impossible to notice.
"I've found it."
A surge of excitement rushed through Robin.
He immediately ran toward the direction of the sound.
In the end, he discovered that the tapping was coming from the bottom of a stacked cluster of containers.
It took him some effort to reach the door of the bottom one.
After prying it open, Robin did not rush in. Instead, he cautiously peered through the narrow gap in the door.
Then he saw a girl with a sack over her head, tied to a chair.
Her waist was bound to the chair, and both her hands and feet were tied with ropes to keep her from escaping.
Fortunately, only her feet and thighs were secured. Her knees and calves could still move a little.
The sound earlier had been made by her tapping the floor with her feet.
Seeing this, Robin did not hesitate. He stepped forward and began untying her.
"Hey, I'm here to save you. You're safe now… Ug.."
Before he could finish, a wave of drowsiness washed over him. His eyelids grew heavier by the second.
"What a pity. I'm not the one you came to save."
The girl shook slightly, and all the ropes fell away on their own.
She pulled the sack off her head, revealing a man's face.
A face Robin knew all too well.
The Riddler.
Edward Nygma.
____
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