Mission Must Be Accomplished

aia immediately checked herself for trackers and bugs, skills Tim had taught her, but as a novice, she wasn't sure if she had removed all surveillance devices.

After wandering around the base for a while, when she saw the first surveillance camera, Baia immediately decided to leave, lest Talia find her easily after waking up, since she could only use "Cat's Dance" to hide herself in front of living beings. She had originally wanted to find her uniform, but since the Assassin's League base was too large, she had to give up on that idea.

Following Talia's men out of the complex base, the cold wind with its icy breath brushed over Baia's cheeks. Outside the landing pad built on the high mountain, there was an endless expanse of snowy white. Baia shivered slightly, feeling a bit melancholic.

"Damián claimed he climbed snow mountains at four, survived on a deserted island at five, and fought sharks at six. I still don't believe it."

Damián was a very proud kid. You didn't have to doubt what he said, but witnessing it firsthand or hearing it from others made a big difference.

The clothes Talia had prepared for Baia were quite thin. If everything went as expected, she wouldn't be able to cross the snow-capped mountains wearing them, completely eliminating any possibility of escape.

... In the absence of the system.

After considering for a moment, Baia opened the shop.

[C-137 Mission Must Be Accomplished Box]: Summons a Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman to fulfill relatively simple wishes for you.

The system had warned Baia that the Mission Must Be Accomplished Box could only fulfill simple commands. If the Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman believed he couldn't fulfill the summoner's wish, he would use the box again to summon another Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman, leading to an endless loop that could ultimately result in the summoner's death in order to fulfill the wish.

System: It's your favorite time, one button, solve all problems!

Baia: "When did I become someone who doesn't like to think?"

The Mission Must Be Accomplished Box was a heavy, indigo-colored cube with a highly technological shell and a large blue button attached to it.

Upon pressing it, a not-quite-proportional, all-blue humanoid creature appeared in front of Baia. It looked very quirky, with a pair of black bean-like eyes, resembling a sprite that would appear in some kind of animation. Its noisy voice brought a hint of warmth to the cold and silent snow mountain.

The whole scene felt strange.

Baia got straight to the point: "Take me to the nearest roadside, alive."

System: Tsk, you really love to think, huh?

The blue-headed sprite was overjoyed: "Yes, siree——"

The girl wearing the Assassin's League hood didn't intend to let the other party carry her down, as lack of movement would likely freeze her halfway. Dragging and pulling along, the Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman led her down the mountain.

She didn't bother to cover her tracks, as "Cat's Dance" prevented her from leaving footprints in the snow. As for the footprints of the Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman, she left it up to fate. She hadn't received training in this kind of evasion, and hiding from Talia was undoubtedly like using an ax to chop wood, of no use.

"Fortunately, these kind-hearted aunties speak English well," muttered Baia, wrapped in a blanket, curled up in the back seat of the car.

After leaving the snow mountain, they walked a long way before seeing the road. Along the way, they lit a fire several times to keep warm. Although there were some animals on the mountain, Baia's skills were not enough to successfully catch any of them. It was already dark, and after the Mission Must Be Accomplished Gentleman put her down, he disappeared into the air. Baia stood alone for several hours before finally seeing a passing car.

But her luck wasn't bad.

This was a nun's car, they were traveling from the town of Interlaken to the church in Bern for an event, and they stopped when they saw Baia, almost frozen on the side of the road. Despite their concerns about her appearance and situation, they couldn't help but lend a hand to this girl who looked pale and cold.

Listening to their German, Baia finally realized that Talia had brought her to Switzerland.

Returning from Europe to Gotham was not a short journey.

Baia borrowed a phone and entered a string of familiar numbers. Whether it was Dick and Tim's mobile numbers or the phone number of Wayne Manor, she remembered them all very clearly. However, after staring at the dial pad for a long time, she couldn't make up her mind.

For anyone at home to come pick her up was not difficult, and it was the safest option.

System: Why don't you make the call? Hurry and call your brother Tim to rescue you.

It was definitely mocking her after seeing the phone number.

Baia, however, was staring ahead blankly for something else. "But I want to prove that I'm not a burden. I..."

She paused, feeling that she was being too stubborn.

But anyone else, whether Damian or Dick, could easily do this, and even Bruce wouldn't worry about them. If she couldn't prove her ability, Batman would never feel at ease letting her join their cause.

Baia worried that she might not even have the chance to occasionally go out to help them in the middle of the night.

After all, this was her first time getting into such trouble.

She didn't want to be a princess always waiting to be rescued, and besides, she felt she could find a way back on her own.

She used the phone to check her location briefly, deciding to transfer from Bern train station to Zurich, and then take a plane from Zurich International Airport to the United States. The nearest Belp Airport only had domestic flights, and she didn't want to complicate things further.

As for the issue of lack of identification, it wasn't a big problem for Baia with her "Cat's Dance" skill, as she could simply sneak in and, even if caught on security cameras afterwards, she would have disappeared long before they could track her whereabouts.

Once determined, Baia slowly deleted the phone number she had already typed out. The nuns gave her some bread and water, leaning against the car window, staring at the night outside, Baia fell into an uneasy dream.

Meanwhile, at the Assassin's League base.

Talia was somewhat unaccustomed to losing her weapons. Her hand-to-hand combat skills were very strong, but obviously not as strong as Batman's.

"The girl you picked up is not simple." In the midst of battle, Talia said coldly, at the same time doing a backflip to create distance, avoiding Batman's attack, followed by three bat darts, one of which tore through her black coat.

Batman's voice was emotionless: "I need to know where she is."

Talia wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and made a gesture to dismiss the assassins who had come at the sound. Because of the intense battle, her chest was heaving violently, but at the same time, she calmly observed Batman.

He was more worried about Baia than any of the Robins, because she was defenseless. They all knew that.

But while not changing this perception, Baia exceeded Talia's imagination. She possessed some peculiar abilities not shown in the reports, possibly stemming from some kind of magic, which required further consideration.

"She's gone," Talia said, "she put me to sleep with some unknown method and left the Assassin's League. I haven't had a chance to send someone after her yet."

Batman arrived too quickly, and Talia knew what was going on — Damian knew the Assassin's League base like the back of his hand, so a slight deduction would tell them which one they would be in.

Batman paused for a moment, the detective enveloped in darkness was judging whether she was lying, but their relationship was very... complex, not something that could be summed up with a single word like "enemy" or "lover," so Talia wouldn't deceive him in such matters.

Deceiving the world's greatest detective itself was of little significance.

"You better not do that," the Dark Knight threw out a cold warning, then turned and left.

Talia watched his retreating figure. "I need that girl."

"He's lived long enough," Batman responded without looking back.

At night, the temperature in Interlaken was enough to cause someone to lose consciousness within hours and quickly freeze to death in the snowstorm. As Baia descended the mountain, she didn't expect the first person to trace her footsteps to be Batman. Those footprints, campfires, and traces extending to the roadside were originally acts of desperation, but now they provided some kind of solace.

Batman found that his sparrow had attempted to catch a snow grouse but failed. He frowned with concern for Baia's hunger, yet also felt a strange mix of emotions brewing in his chest due to her cleverness in escaping the Assassin's League and her efforts on the road.

Interlaken was not a bustling place, and there were no surveillance cameras on the road. Bruce's mind was in turmoil, only able to guess whom Baia had hitched a ride with. It could be a kind person or a criminal.

Standing quietly by the roadside for a moment, unable to determine if Baia had escaped the Assassin's League's control or put herself in greater danger, he knew he would find out, but not by standing here. The communicator on his forearm beeped, with a message from Red Robin informing him that the situation with the people-bats had been mostly resolved, and the GCPD was assisting in cleanup, maintaining order in Gotham City.

After Baia and Talia left, Francine woke up, transformed back into Man-Bat Woman, and fled the scene, her whereabouts temporarily unknown. Batman also knew that the case of Dr. Kirk's murders was a misunderstanding; those people died at the hands of Man-Bat Woman.

Bruce told Tim that he had found traces of Baia, and she had managed to escape from the Assassin's League on her own. He would continue to track her whereabouts.

Tim's tense voice relaxed slightly. All their words were about exchanging intelligence, but they sounded more like mutual comfort. He took a moment to type a message to Dick, who had sent him a bunch of question marks from Blüdhaven, reassuring him not to worry too much.

It was a busy night, without the Nightingale. The coffee on hand had gone cold. Tim leaned back in the chair in the Batcave, covering his eyes with the back of his hand, gently exhaling.

Meanwhile, the Batwing soared out of the snowy mountains, the golden sunlight filling the black machine. A new day had arrived.

After all, there was hope, wasn't there?

There was hope after all.

Talia, hastily bandaging her wounds, stared at the results of the DNA analysis, her gaze seemingly capable of burning a hole through the report.

"This..." Talia murmured softly, "this is impossible."