Where Did the Red Can Go?

Although Baia hadn't spent much time with Tony, she had given it a lot of thought.

According to Tim, Gotham's situation was "very complicated" and "a bit dangerous", to the point where even Baia, a small nuisance, couldn't be brought along. Naturally, bringing up Iron Man's matters at this critical juncture would only add to their troubles.

Moreover, Baia had a certain understanding of Batman's controlling nature. Her acquiescence to Bruce's surveillance or comprehensive checks on her didn't mean that everyone would be comfortable with Batman's methods. She had a feeling that Tony and Bruce probably wouldn't get along.

There was no need to exacerbate conflicts.

Baia simply contacted Tim and asked for the full-frequency energy detection report from the last investigation of the bedroom crack. If they were lucky, they might find something similar in Metropolis.

It was a bit presumptuous, but the system wouldn't assign her an impossible task.

The two of them were watching the news in a fast-food restaurant, and Tony couldn't help but stand up.

The footage was shot from the ground with a handheld camera, so it wasn't very clear and was somewhat shaky. The commentator was Louis Lane from the Daily Planet. She wasn't a regular TV reporter, serving instead as a traditional print media for this era of booming new media. But whenever there was no one daring to approach a scene of superhumans or super villains, she was always at the forefront.

Everyone knew she had a good relationship with Superman.

"A mysterious suit appeared in the sky over Tomorrow Street this morning, randomly attacking civilians and causing significant economic losses. Fortunately—" Louis glanced back calmly, and a red-and-blue figure flashed by, cape billowing.

"Fortunately, Superman arrived in time and stopped the riot. Currently, there are no casualties."

Someone in the fast-food restaurant whistled, but other than that, everyone seemed calm, neither panicking nor rejoicing after victory.

After all, with such incidents happening every few days, the citizens of Metropolis were accustomed to it. Superman always handled it.

Everyone was calm except Stark.

Baia tried to get him to sit down, but he glared at the screen for a while.

"Whoever stole it—modified it," Tony suppressed his anger, "everything they've done is extremely foolish. For what happened today, I swear I'll knock out all of their teeth."

Tony didn't remember much before he fell. He appeared in the sky outside Metropolis, fell into a coma for some reason, and the armor must have still been on him at the time, without the Mark 43's shock absorbers, he would have fallen to the ground and been smashed into pulp.

But when he woke up, the armor was gone.

"So, there's good news and bad news now," Baia observed Tony's expression covertly.

"The good news is?"

"Superman didn't turn your armor into scrap metal."

"Great. Looks like the anti-Superman armor plan can be put on hold for a while. What's the bad news?"

"We don't know where he took your armor. Wait a minute, maybe we can go ask Louis Lane. She must know!" Baia suddenly thought of it.

The system beeped.

[Main Mission] Red Can Iced Tea (1)

Help Tony Stark retrieve the Mark 43 armor and find out what happened.

Reward: 10 Skill Points

Note: You can use three items from the store for free in this mission. Good luck, little detective.

It turned out that the main mission was divided into steps. Baia quickly read through the mission description and realized that this time it wouldn't be as easy as following Tim to goof off.

She didn't know Tony, but she felt he probably wasn't like members of the Bat Family who maxed out combat, stealth, and interrogation skills.

This time she was a little detective, nervous yet excited.

"Great, do you know her? Let's go tomorrow."

"Don't know her," Baia thought for a moment, "but my dad does, um, I guess everyone at home except me should have had some contact with her. So it should be okay to approach her. But not tomorrow."

Batman and Superman were known as the world's best duo, so it shouldn't be a big deal for Batman to know Superman's girlfriend. She quickly searched on her open computer online and found that Louis had even interviewed Bruce Wayne.

"Except you," Tony muttered, then all the clues came together, and he suddenly realized what was wrong.

Everyone else was in Gotham. Except her. Everyone knew a friend except her. All the other kids could use her dad's money except her.

He looked Baia over again, but didn't see too many signs of being pampered on the girl. Her messy hair and cheap clothes.

"Why not tomorrow?" Tony asked.

"Tomorrow's Monday, I have to go to school for registration," Baia replied, realizing she was a bit worried about it.

After Christmas was the start of the new semester, and generally, American high schools conducted large-scale admissions in the fall. However, with the Wayne family's wealth and status, arranging for a girl to start school in the spring wouldn't be difficult. Tim had informed her of this and sent lengthy advice and tips for living in Metropolis over three screens.

He also asked if she needed Alfred or himself to accompany her on the first day of school, but Baia declined.

They were busy, so she didn't want to bother them. Baia had some experience living independently, so she didn't feel uncomfortable about it. It's just that she hadn't lived in a communal setting for a long time.

And Tony decided to probe again, "Is there anyone to accompany you for registration?"

"I'll go by myself," Baia shrugged, "I'm a big kid now."

At this point, Tony had already painted a picture in his mind of a neglected child. In his view, Baia seemed more like she was pretending not to care, and Tony knew what a child who wasn't valued by their father looked like, even if it was a girl.

He had just briefly checked the information on "brother" mentioned by Baia, which was Timothy Drake, a junior director of Wayne Enterprises, and the glamorous appearance was completely different from the pitiful figure in front of him.

"What do you say?" Stark took off his sunglasses, "I'll accompany you."

Baia vaguely felt that Tony had misunderstood something, but she nodded anyway.

They hadn't been together for too long, after all, they weren't too familiar with each other yet. Baia asked Tony if he needed a place to stay, but he had made up his mind to settle in the warehouse. The system selected a nice warehouse for them, and they went to buy some furniture, some of which provided excellent user experience but might make one uncomfortable with the price. There was also a pile of scientific instruments that Baia had no idea what they were for, and it took several cars to transport them all.

"Well, that's it. I should probably go home first and tidy up some things," Baia said goodbye to Tony, leaving her computer with him.

She thought about leaving Tony her contact information or address, but he said it wasn't necessary; he could contact her anytime.

Thinking about how Tony casually hacked into Wayne Enterprises' intranet, Baia felt reassured.

Baia referred to any place she stayed as "home" to alleviate her sense of strangeness. She didn't know who arranged their accommodation in Metropolis this time. This building, not far from Metropolis High School, was quite different from all the houses Baia had lived in so far. It looked like an embodiment of Metropolis itself.

Now she really had a big loft.

The door lock had dual verification of fingerprint and iris, with a silver "W" logo on the cold black metal. Baia didn't know if Tim personally passed this security system, which was why he felt comfortable letting Baia stay alone.

The huge floor-to-ceiling windows allowed the golden sunlight to pour into the room, offering a panoramic view of Metropolis, with the conspicuous golden globe of the Daily Planet visible. On the dark red long wool carpet, there was a grand piano, and the modern decor suddenly made her realize that she was truly in the city of the future.

Baia knew Tim could play the piano, and Bruce probably could too, although she wasn't sure. But she was sure that she knew very little about the piano, except for one thing: the piano had other uses in Wayne Manor.

She opened the piano cover and pressed a few notes casually. The Steinway piano was underused here, but the harmonious sound didn't catch her attention.

The decorative wall in front split apart, and the uniform of Robin was quietly hung in the middle, illuminated by blue light, while various props were displayed on both sides.

Next to the uniform was a note, obviously one that Tim would use.

This time there wasn't much to say, just two words in total.

"Don't die."

Okay. Baia rolled her eyes.

No one told her there was a "Robin Wall" here—following the naming conventions of the Batcave, after all, Damian had a "Robin Cave" that was off-limits. But she found it on her own as soon as she came in, and she felt pretty great about it.

All the items and clothing needed for class tomorrow were also prepared, the wardrobe was half full. Baia hadn't bought clothes for herself in a long time, but she could tell these were probably prepared by Alfred, understated yet classy, like what Bruce would wear when he was young.

Baia wondered if she had neighbors, but she was too tired to think about it.

Since the night she was taken up into the sky by Batgirl, she hadn't slept in a bed yet. It had all been spent in the car, making do for a night, and now, as she finally relaxed, every muscle in her body ached.

There were some surprising ingredients in the fridge, indicating Alfred had quite a bit of confidence in her cooking skills. But she hastily made herself some instant spaghetti from the bottom of the fridge, the least recommended option. Exploring the new home was enjoyable, especially with a brand new kitchen.

Perhaps she would discover more surprises tomorrow.

Baia glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was just past eight in the evening. She had already washed up, changed into her pajamas, and curled up in bed with a copy of "The Island Bookstore."

Flipping through the book, she half-heartedly watched the news. The drowsiness washed over her like waves. Compared to the exciting daily life of Gotham, the news and newspapers of Metropolis were relatively boring, with few mentions of Superman, mainly focusing on business and some political matters.

Sometimes they talked about Stark Industries' charity projects, sometimes about the new products of Luther Corp. Baia picked up the remote and switched to the Gotham channel.

"Bruce Wayne fell from the top of Wayne Tower today..."

Baia's eyes widened.

She couldn't sleep now.