New York Trip (Part 2)

Baia closed her eyes, feeling calm and safe in the darkness. She didn't know if this would work, but she had to be faster than the angel.

While invisible, she opened a silver briefcase.

Nothing happened as she imagined. Instead, a strange sound, a mix between a braking noise and an engine screech, filled her ears. She opened her eyes to see a burning blue booth hovering in the air.

The wooden door of the booth swung open, and Tim reached out, grabbing her hand and pulling her inside. Baia's eyes widened. Tim held her shoulders, blinking at her. "Standing around waiting to be rescued isn't exactly a good habit."

"I told you not to convert the Relative Dimension Stabilizer to a non-probability mode! The engine's on fire!" The Doctor was maneuvering the TARDIS to hover in the air while complaining, frustrated with the person crouching under the TARDIS console, fiddling with an opened panel.

Rose rolled her eyes. "The engine's always on fire."

Doctor: "But she's brand new!"

Tony retorted, "Stop complaining. I just eliminated a few wrong answers for you."

It was a brand-new Type 70 TARDIS, still in its early days—a living time machine. Despite looking like a two-meter-tall, one-meter-wide booth on the outside, its interior space was nearly infinite. The little platinum box lost in 2019 helped the Doctor mature his TARDIS seed, which he had parked by the roadside near Winter Pier.

The scene was surreal. Baia and Tim stood at the TARDIS door, with an endless silent New York night beneath them—a non-existent time and space.

They were so close that Tim could feel her rabbit-like heartbeat.

Baia hadn't fully grasped what had happened, and no one spoke for a while until Tony noticed something was off and began to cough loudly.

"Where's the angel?" Tim snapped back to reality, pulling her inside the TARDIS and shutting the door.

Baia panicked, "Is it not outside? It might be in here."

She raised the briefcase.

Tim stared at the briefcase, "Did you put it... in there?"

"Not sure," Baia admitted. "While I was looking at it, it wasn't in its biological state, so I couldn't put it in the briefcase. So, I closed my eyes."

"...You're quite bold," Tim remarked, not exactly complimenting her.

"Alright, we need to leave now," the Doctor said. "Once we're gone, this time-space will collapse on its own, and everything will be like it never happened, except for the TARDIS being on fire!"

"Why are you so petty?" Tony snapped back. "And wasn't it you who jammed the chameleon circuit in the first place?"

Doctor: "I made some modifications to the chameleon circuit, but that wouldn't harm her!"

The group's banter continued for a while, and under the warm yellow lights of the TARDIS console room, it was surprisingly relaxing. To Tim and Tony's surprise, the time machine even had a kitchen, and everyone who had endured a long night was given a cup of hot tea.

The TARDIS disappeared into the night with a scream-like engine sound. Sitting against a yellow branch-like wall, Baia wasn't surprised to hear the task completion notification.

Congratulations, host, on completing the task [Angels Invade Manhattan]. You have received [a seed] as a reward; earned the title of Best Support, and gained 5 skill points.

Due to your excellent performance during the task, you can submit the briefcase and the Statue of Liberty angel to the system for recovery and receive a special reward.

Not knowing how to deal with the angel, Baia chose the "Confirm Recovery" option.

Special Reward: [Stolen 10 Years] x2

Tim, holding a teacup, sat down beside Baia. "Are you okay?"

"Okay... I guess," Baia said uncertainly.

Tim could see she wasn't okay. There was no smile on her face, nor any sign of fear, just a downcast, lonely expression.

He removed her swallow hairpin and gently tidied her disheveled hair. Baia's tense shoulders relaxed slightly. Watching everyone disappear before her eyes, being left alone in the empty night—Tim couldn't imagine what that would leave in Baia's heart.

Tim had just returned to Saturday morning.

After realizing that Baia likely hadn't returned, Tim first found the information Baia had left behind. Then, he rushed to Winter Pier as quickly as possible. There, he encountered Tony, who was also anxious because he couldn't contact Baia.

"How do I know how to get back?" Tony said. "If I knew, would I still be stuck in this world?"

Tim went through the information again, trying to find some clues. Some scribbled calculations and incomprehensible circular patterns were written on the back of the printout, which hadn't appeared during the first reading.

Tony leaned over and found that the scribbled formulas were written in his handwriting. But even so, he didn't understand what these formulas meant.

Tim suddenly looked up. "There's one more person."

"The Doctor," Tony said. "His appearance was indeed mysterious. Perhaps he has a way to mysteriously send us back."

Tim turned on the computer, trying to access New York's traffic surveillance system to search for this so-called "Doctor." Before he could find any leads, he heard the sound of an engine, followed by someone tapping on the bench he was sitting on.

A man with a London accent said, "Are you looking for me?"

Tim hadn't seen the Doctor before. He scrutinized him, showing a mix of suspicion and contemplation.

"Baia hasn't come back," he finally closed the computer, stating the fact succinctly. Despite trying to control himself, he found that his voice wasn't as calm as usual. "We must find her."

"We're on the same page," Rose said. "But to return to that time-space, we need a temporal anchor."

"Because she's not on the correct timeline right now. If we don't use a special method to locate her, we'll only see an empty rooftop when we go back," the Doctor explained.

"What's a temporal anchor?" Tim asked.

"The best option is a physical entity, an object that traverses reality, her timeline, and has an inseparable connection with her," the Doctor said.

"I see," Tim stood up. "So, does this object just need to be in her possession?"

"It must be simultaneously in our hands and hers," the Doctor explained.

"That's impossible—" Tim furrowed his brow.

"Unless we have a time machine," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Have you figured out what that is?"

Six months ago, outside the Gotham Charity Auction.

"Red Robin, sneaking around in the middle of the night," Tony flew alongside the Batmobile, "That's how Gotham's vigilantes operate, huh?"

"You've said enough. Nobody asked for your presence," Red Robin gritted his teeth, "Being so conspicuous can easily blow our cover, you know?"

"I'm here to prevent you from making mistakes. If you mess up, Baia will be in danger," Tony replied.

Red Robin swallowed the words 'all because of you': "Help me block these signals."

He quickly provided information about several frequency bands, and Tony deactivated some cameras, with two-thirds of them serving as distractions. Tim remembered clearly that before this charity banquet, Batman and he had been keeping an eye on the movements of these valuable items. In other words, to get the "Heart of Agalor," Red Robin had to deceive both Batman and himself.

To be honest, he felt it was quite difficult to do so. If there were any mistakes, let Tony divert attention.

He ditched the Batmobile, and Tony used Friday to attract the attention of the Red Robin on this timeline. After infiltrating the backstage vault through the ventilation duct, Tim found the pink diamond "Heart of Agalor" enclosed in bulletproof glass. Knowing Red Robin's modus operandi, he might choose to shatter the glass directly with an industrial diamond or plan a small explosion, but...

Tim sighed inwardly, "Sorry, Selina."

Then, he took out a device similar to Catwoman's claws from his utility belt and drew a circle on the glass cabinet.

With this trick, he finally understood why Batman had kept such a close eye on it. Despite their efforts, the "Heart of Agalor" was still stolen, and multiple pursuits yielded no results.

Home burglaries are difficult to prevent indeed.

After using the "Heart of Agalor" for positioning, he left it in one of Selina's hideouts.

"A gift for the little witch," he left a note like this.

Selina stared at the note and the dazzling diamond with a complex expression, pinching the sharp claws and picking up the shiny gem. After a while, she smiled.

"Although I don't know who it's from..." she murmured, "it's quite bold to give it away."

The Doctor took them back to handle some loose ends, such as the draft document about the angel written by Tony and the Doctor. It was on the basis of this draft that they together modified the TARDIS engine. They left these papers on Tim's desk before the TARDIS disappeared once again.

"Finally, it's over," Rose stretched lazily. "Where do you guys want to stop?"

"Let's stop in Brooklyn. There's a restaurant there, and my employees," Baia said.

"After arranging that, come back to Gotham with me," Tim said. He felt that Baia's unrestrained behavior outside would eventually lead to trouble.

Baia hesitated for a moment before nodding.

Back in Brooklyn, Baia, with a sense of post-survival reflection, hugged Carolyn and Max in turn. Tony didn't say much this time, quickly accepting his two new employees.

"Pack up and get ready to go to Metropolis," Baia said.

Carolyn exclaimed, "I thought the headquarters were in New York—wasn't that what the agreement said? I'm not sure we're supposed to move to another city."

"But now our equipment and connections are in Metropolis and Gotham," Tony reassured Carolyn with a pat on the shoulder. "Think of it as an all-expenses-paid trip. Let's go there to work for a month first."

Max and Carolyn exchanged glances. "I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"Because we, uh, have pets, so we can't travel long-term."

"Bring them along," Tony waved his hand generously.

...

"That's why we need to bring a horse," Baia explained patiently. "Tim, this is Carolyn, this is Max, and this is Chestnut."

"Mr. Drake!" Carolyn exclaimed, trying to suppress her excitement and regain her refined demeanor.

After seeing the company's accounts, she had thought she'd been scammed—how could a Wayne child be so poor? But now that she had met Timothy Drake in person, all doubts about Baia vanished naturally.

Tim, who had originally planned to return directly to Gotham, had no choice but to arrange for them to transfer from Metropolis first. He could only call Alfred and arrange for someone to pick them up.

Back in Metropolis, because Stark Industries was really poor now, and hotels couldn't possibly accommodate horses, Baia simply let Max and Carolyn stay at her house while she contacted the stable. In a day or two, Chestnut would be settled there. She handed the keys to Max, and together with Tim, they returned to Gotham.

The residents of this building were either rich or noble. In the elevator, an elegant lady couldn't stop staring at Max and Carolyn.

Chestnut nervously snorted.

"What are you looking at," Max flicked his hair, "haven't you seen rich people keeping horses at home?"