Unpleasant Meeting

The group parked their flying vehicles on the campus grounds. The officer who acted as temporary pilot reluctantly stroked the control stick, looking as if he wished to live on the plane for the convenience of strategic retreats. However, he had to follow the Commissioner's orders and reluctantly joined the main group.

Meanwhile, Thea gracefully jumped off the Glider with Felicity and was about to ask Selina where her other two teammates were.

"Dad, you're finally back! Are you okay?" A stylishly dressed redhead girl embraced Commissioner Gordon's neck tightly, refusing to let go. Behind her was a slim young man with black hair.

"I'm fine, Barbara," the old commissioner replied, somewhat uncomfortable with the public display of affection. They awkwardly hugged for a moment before letting go.

It seemed like the girl was Batgirl, and the guy was probably the future Nightwing. Thea didn't go over to greet them, as there was no need. She was just a reinforcement and didn't want to overshadow the main players.

The group couldn't crowd around the entrance to chat, so Commissioner Gordon invited everyone to move inside. Along the way, everyone remained quiet, with only Barbara constantly asking questions about whether Batman had been found and if the state government had sent reinforcements.

Midway, Commissioner Gordon interrupted her to introduce Thea and Felicity, but Barbara merely nodded faintly and continued talking to her father.

Indeed, the people in this city seemed a bit peculiar. Thea observed that Barbara didn't seem to have much tact, only speaking to her father and Robin beside her, ignoring the officers who had been through life and death with her father. It was unclear how intelligent she was, but her emotional intelligence was clearly lacking.

Barbara underwent a significant transformation after ending up severely injured and paralyzed by the Joker in the future, spending three years in a wheelchair. During this time, she matured and grew stronger.

Thea recalled that after her injury, Barbara received training from Richard Dragon and honed her skills to become a formidable fighter, even though she was bound to a wheelchair. Despite her paralysis, Barbara continued to adapt her martial arts techniques, eventually becoming known as Oracle, a highly skilled strategist and information broker in the superhero community.

As they continued walking, Thea suddenly noticed that the number of people in the group seemed off. Huh? Where was Selina? Thea glanced around and saw Selina quietly walking at the back of the group, with an indescribable expression on her face. What was going on? Did these two women not get along?

As it turned out, her guess was correct. Barbara, usually strong-willed, looked down on Selina's less-than-honorable methods, considering it a disrespect to the so-called cause of justice. Plus, Selina going out to find reinforcements might have been seen as out of sight, out of mind for her.

If it weren't for trying to find Batman, Selina's usual temperament would have made her disappear long ago. Whether Gotham lived or died had nothing to do with her.

"Hey, do you have a place where I can change clothes?" Thea paused for a moment and waited for Selina to walk up to her and asked softly. Taking off this outfit was not easy, and at this moment, she particularly envied the lightning-fast changing speed of the Flash.

"Follow me." Selina said, nodding to the rest of the team as she led Thea to the side.

"We'll have a meeting in the conference room later," Commissioner Gordon quickly added, and Selina waved from afar to indicate she understood.

After changing into a lighter outfit, Thea regained her innocent and harmless persona and followed Selina to the door of a conference room.

Along the way, they noticed numerous citizens lying around the school building. Some were dressed in suits, others in T-shirts and shorts, but they all shared one characteristic: they lacked vitality. Nearly everyone had bloodstains on them, and many were bandaged.

In the conference room, there was a formal introduction, a task that only Selina, who was familiar with both sides, could handle.

"This is Thea Queen, codenamed Red Arrow, and this is Felicity Smoak, a computer expert."

"These two over here are my teammates: Batgirl, whose name is Barbara Gordon, and Robin, whose name is Dick Grayson."

With the formalities out of the way, Barbara Gordon couldn't ignore Thea as she had before. She made some casual remarks, saying things like "I've heard so much about you," and asking about Thea's father and mother. Thea thought to herself that her supposed father was already lost at sea, so why bother asking how he was? Barbara seemed to either not care about herself or didn't even know who she was, casually throwing out pleasantries.

After a few pleasantries, the small meeting room fell into a strange silence.

Except for the Starling City duo, everyone else was looking at each other, seemingly unwilling to speak. Even Barbara, who had seemed to talk a lot before, was now silent.

The atmosphere was quite strange. Why was no one speaking? Did these people all have some kind of telepathic ability like Professor X? But that was clearly impossible; if they had such abilities, they would have found Bane in no time, and she wouldn't have had to come all this way.

Without a word, Thea glanced subtly at Felicity and shook her head, indicating that they should wait and observe for now.

Barbara, perhaps inspired by some thought, suddenly gathered her courage and passionately exclaimed, "I saw you guys got a helicopter. That's great! We should fly over and ambush Bane. As long as we take him down, we can save Gotham!"

At first, Barbara's speech seemed hesitant, but as she continued, her enthusiasm grew, as if Bane were just a ripe watermelon lying on the ground waiting for her to pick. Thea didn't quite understand her train of thought and resisted the urge to point out that the helicopter was their own property. Instead, she propped her chin on her right hand, waiting to see what other brilliant ideas Barbara had.

"What do you think?" Barbara looked around anxiously when no one responded after she finished speaking.

"Great idea," Robin, deeply in love with her, supported whatever his girlfriend said unconditionally.

Selina neither agreed nor disagreed, while Commissioner Gordon appeared resigned. Typically, these matters would be left for the discerning Batman to ponder, with the rest of them executing his plans. But with Batman missing, and the remaining few lacking any decisive ideas, Gordon found himself lacking authority, even with his own daughter, who was as stubborn as a mule.

Just as he was about to voice his agreement, Thea finally grasped the issue with these people: their lack of initiative. In this room, everyone was just an ordinary person. Without any enhanced abilities or superpowers, they were planning to take on Bane head-on? Did they even understand his strength? It was as if they were blindly rushing into danger without considering the consequences.

She realized she needed to take some initiative herself. Otherwise, these individuals would lead the team into a pit. As long as Bane couldn't fly, she could outrun him with her full speed. But Felicity couldn't escape. She couldn't even do a pull-up, let alone outrun anyone. She regretted bringing her along.

Clap clap. Thea clapped her hands to grab everyone's attention.

"What a brilliant idea! Truly remarkable!" she exclaimed, giving Barbara a thumbs up.

"Did you come up with this idea while trading stock tips with a group of penguins waddling through Times Square?" she continued, looking at Barbara with a serious expression.