Chapter 73: Hero Summoning

As usual, it's best to take a shower and change clothes before pulling on a gotcha pool to wash off any bad luck before getting started.

What he needed was a superhero, a strong attacker who could dish out some serious damage—preferably someone stronger than Captain America.

Even if they weren't stronger, they should at least have unique skills that wouldn't overlap with the others.

Batman's mix of abilities and gadgets made him versatile enough to handle most missions, but he's an assassin at heart, not the best for face-to-face combat.

There's that famous painting, "The Seven Giants of the Justice League Fight," but if you count closely, you'll notice only six heroes in the picture. Most people would think the artist just had a bad math teacher, but real fans know the hidden meaning: "Batman Sneaks Away to Handle Things Solo."

It's understandable, though. Batman isn't really a team player, especially in a full-on battle where gods and superhumans are throwing down.

Tossing batarangs might seem a bit underwhelming when everyone else is pulling off epic moves.

In one of the original comics, there's even a scene that highlights this. It's set during the early days of the Justice League. After a big battle, everyone is cleaning up and reviewing the fight. That's when Batman has a big argument with Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.

Basically, the two of them had terrible teamwork during the battle. Hal flew up and lit up the battlefield with his green light, yelling, "Fear My God, Light!" It was like a mini-green sun, brightening up every corner.

So there's Batman, who had been sneaking around in the shadows, suddenly caught in the spotlight as he sneaked toward the enemy. The scene was beyond awkward...

Batman blew up afterward, yelling at Hal, "Can you chill with that green light, man? I'm trying to sneak around, and you've got me lit up like a firefly! Are you out of your mind?"

Hal wasn't one to back down. "If all you can do is sneak around, don't blame me when you get caught, man. Get some real powers."

And so, Batman became obsessed with doing things solo, avoiding team-ups whenever possible...

As more heroes joined the roster, it got harder to draw ones that fit well without repeating abilities. But after a few days of saving up points and beating bosses, Chu Cheng managed to gather enough for about 20 pulls.

The first hero he drew was a pretty well-known hero, though not one who'd been in any movies. He's the star of an eight-season TV show, the face of a popular chewing gum brand, and the modern Robin Hood—Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen.

Green Arrow's different from other non-powered superheroes. He's all about archery—great with a bow in the field and in the bedroom.

But despite being a sharpshooter, Green Arrow's best moments in the show aren't about his archery. Instead, it's his epic hand-to-hand combat skills. He treats the bow more like a melee weapon than something to snipe from the back lines.

If there's ever a mission requiring an archery expert, he might be useful, but otherwise, he's just okay.

After all, when Green Arrow first applied to join the Justice League, Green Lantern Hal Jordan mocked him by pointing at Batman and saying, "Sorry, but we already have one guy who's pretty useless in a fight. We don't need another."

The next card was a heroine, but unlike the previous ones, who were all about looking good with minimal clothing, this one was different. She was petite, without the exaggerated curves of other female heroes, and wore a tight black suit.

If most of the previous heroines were more like big sisters, this one felt more like a sister.

Her whole face was covered by a black mask, and with those pointy Batman-style ears and a golden bat symbol on her chest, it was clear she was part of the Bat family.

It was the second hero hit was Batgirl, Cassandra Cain.

Unlike the movie version of Cassandra from the 2020 *Birds of Prey* movie, the original Cassandra has a rich backstory.

Her father is David Cain, a top assassin from the League of Assassins.

He might not have the flashiest records, but in the DC universe, he's one of the best when it comes to pure skill. He's even capable of holding his own against Batman.

And her mother? Even more impressive. Her mom is Lady Shiva, a woman once considered the strongest martial artist in the DC world.

She's basically the pinnacle of martial arts in the universe. Even Batman acknowledges her skill.

But as with any character who's dubbed "the best in the world," it's only a matter of time before someone comes along to challenge that title. And it was none other than Cassandra, Lady Shiva's own daughter, who took her down.

Cassandra's biggest moment was when she defeated Lady Shiva multiple times, cementing her place as the number one martial artist of her generation in the DC Universe.

That is, until the writers decided to nerf her and had her beaten by Lady Shiva again, with Shiva delivering a line about going easy on her before.

But in the same storyline, Cassandra managed to turn the tables again and defeat Lady Shiva, reclaiming her title.

This heroine has the skills to take down DC's top martial artists and become the best in the world.

After Batman investigated her background, he found out that Cassandra's father had trained her since she was very young in a brutal, inhumane way.

The training was focused on developing a new martial arts technique that nobody had seen before.

It was a technique that could only be taught to a child who hadn't learned to speak yet. Cassandra was taught to read micro-expressions and muscle movements to predict an opponent's next move. This allowed her to anticipate attacks like a psychic, making her almost impossible to beat.

However, the price she paid for learning this technique was losing the ability to speak. She could only communicate through gestures and drawings.

A heroine, silent, the ultimate assassin—naturally cute and incredibly deadly... If it weren't for the bat symbol on her chest, you might think she was straight out of a Japanese anime.

What made Chu Cheng especially fond of her was that this heroine wasn't just cute and a great fighter—she was also of Chinese descent.

It seems that, in the minds of American writers, martial arts are always tied to the East. Whenever they create a martial arts master with superhuman abilities, there's always some connection to China.

Her unique style of predictive combat was intriguing, and it seemed like it could be more effective than Captain America's moves. It would be awesome if Chu Cheng could extract and equip those abilities.

Maybe it was the new shower gel he used today, but Chu Cheng felt lucky. After using the remaining lottery coupons, he drew a third hero.

And it was exactly the kind of serious, superpowered hero he had been hoping for.

Moon Knight.