The Teen Titans sat in a row outside the entrance of a Divine Hall, clutching ice cream, licking it slowly. But why were they still looking so glum at a amusement park? It was because Harley was always excessively excited.
As humans, their attire was already vastly different from that of the Atlanteans, and Harley kept exclaiming at everything she saw.
"Wow, look at that dog statue wearing clothes, Ancient Egyptians started dressing their pets!" Harley exclaimed with a look of discovering a big secret.
Damian: "That's Anubis, he's the Death God with a dog head and human body."
"Hey? This little box has cat dolls made of linen strips, Little Red, come look, this tail is like a spring." Harley ran to the corner, casually opened a gilded box, and took out its contents.
Damian: "That's a cat mummy, a real cat. By the way, how did The Flash leave this thing here, what if a child finds it by accident?"
Actually, Barry was busy at the time demolishing the entire complex and rebuilding near Atlantis, where could he spare time to open every box?
At that time, Deathstroke and they were battling the Ultimate Ferryman, that Death God, while he worked on the battlefield; the situation was very complicated, okay?
He at most dealt with the coffins in the pyramid, such small boxes weren't even within consideration. He still complained about the pyramid manifested by Hecate being too realistic, there was even a mummy inside.
So as they walked along explaining, Damian and the others gradually got surrounded by passing Atlanteans.
Not intending to harm them, after all they were esteemed guests personally received by the Queen, no one would be so foolish.
But these buildings had been here for several days, they also came to explore, yet didn't really know these structures represent the history of Land People?
So regardless of adults or children, they swarmed this odd Earth Surface People squad, treating them like tour guides and asking all sorts of questions.
The accompanying Mera did not refuse or disperse the crowd, for she was also curious and wanted to hear what on earth had fascinated Arthur so much.
Thus the Queen not only refrained from inhibiting her subjects, but rather smiled and acted as a translator.
After not taking long, everyone became mentally exhausted, the Undersea People's questions were bizarre; apart from Damian and Himeko, the others were stumped.
But even smart individuals, facing enthusiastic citizens were fatigued enough, now among everyone only Harley remained full of energy.
Sometimes thoughts are a powerful force, in this, madness is certainly the strongest.
"Ah, why on earth didn't Uncle Barry think to put up some signs here?" Wally's ice cream cone was becoming difficult to hold, this wasn't local food, it was manifested by the Giant Spirit. "Like a museum or whatever tourist attraction."
"This is not an amusement park, it's a history museum." Himeko couldn't help but retort.
Damian glared at Wally, swallowing his ice cream in a few bites: "Because The Flash doesn't speak Atlantean, it's that simple, and we're not truly here to play. Billy, anything unusual on the surveillance?"
Just as he was savoring the cool breeze at the ocean, he saw Billy Wu, clutching a PSP, suddenly open his mouth wide as if witnessing something incredible. Damian immediately questioned.
"Very... special."
Blue Fatty seemed like his tongue was tied, eyes wide as he looked at Damian, continuously pointing at his handheld screen, but mouth agape, hesitated on what to say.
Damian jumped over to him, leaning his head forward, just in time to see Deathstroke manifesting a fan the size of half a city, blowing away all the clouds.
Even now in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, Damian felt the aura of Gotham; he took a deep breath.
"Wait, zoom in here."
Damian pointed at a dark spot in the alley, where a trash can was just blown away, exposing a white object wedged in the brick wall seam behind it, not dropped into the puddle.
As for how Damian could see Gotham's situation, it's simple, Brother Eye was responsible for all surveillance in Gotham, and he also had a password.
Although Green Arrow's satellite was older, as a spy satellite it was somewhat inadequate, but simply as a communication satellite, it had no issues.
As long as shut-in Billy connected to the satellite, rerouted Brother Eye's signal, and entered a lengthy password with multiple verifications, Damian could naturally access Brother Eye remotely.
Admittedly not with highest privileges, but visitor-level access rights were enough, at least he was well aware of what was happening in the Bat Cave.
Crime Alley, to Batman, was a special place, no matter how hidden or lacking surveillance, there definitely would be here.
And Deathstroke counting on Damian, Gotham's Robin would obediently leave like an ordinary child? Go to wander the amusement park?
Heh...
"This... seems to be a syringe. Yes, he previous asked for some vials from your grandfather, injected them into his neck." Billy zoomed in the image, then processed it with technology methods, finally discerning what it was: "I knew it, he's definitely doping, like our American swimmers."
Damian squinted, carefully examining the syringe: "Wally, go retrieve that syringe for me."
"No way, boss, what if he has some infectious disease, the syringe he used..." Black Wally shuddered, very unwillingly: "Think about AIDS, rabies, septicemia, needles are bad things, that's what my uncle taught me."
"That's probably because he has a fear of sharp objects."
Himeko had no resistance to sharp objects, and she couldn't believe that a Super Soldier of Deathstroke's level would catch some disease.
Even the toughest genetic diseases, these adults always have ways to solve them.
"They've already left, don't you want the latest 'Dead or Alive 6'? Go help me retrieve the syringe, and I'll buy it for you."
Damian had long seized Wally's soft spot, bringing out the game to entice him.
As a teenage boy who would go to the arcade to play dance games after school, Damian had prepared every gaming console available on the market, along with classic hits from the past, when Wally joined the Teen Titans.
However, he hadn't bought this year's new releases, and if Wally wanted to play them, Damian would propose some 'deals', tasks that Wally seemed able to easily fulfill.
Games come out with new versions every year, but if you want to buy them all, there's no way Wally could afford it, hence the method of control like boiling a frog in warm water.
Once Wally developed the habit of relying on his captain's 'cash abilities', the Teen Titans would obey Damian, just like the Justice League being 'tamed' by Batman.
Hearing Damian's condition, Black Wally's face flushed a little. He really wanted to buy that game, those who know understand. But saying it out loud in front of several girls made him a bit embarrassed.
However, it seemed the girls didn't understand what it was. He relaxed after observing their expressions.
"Deal?"
"Of course, there's something else I'll need your help with later. Once it's all done, I'll buy 'Devil May Cry 5' for you." Damian promised expressionlessly.
"Whoosh!" Just a flash of golden electric light, Wally seemed to have never left, but in his outstretched hand before Damian quietly rested a syringe: "I don't know if the credit card payment system is back to normal, sigh, why don't we order a cartridge and pick it up ourselves?"
Damian motioned him to be quiet, picked up the syringe to look at it, and smelled it.
It was a familiar scent, fear toxin, and it's been condensed and refined, even though this is the injection version and not the gas version, just sniffing a tiny bit made unease start to spread in his heart.
Damian removed the needle, seeing an almost imperceptible trace of crimson on it, took a cotton swab from his belt, and wiped off the bloodstain.
He then clipped the swab head, put it into a small plastic test tube, and closed the lid.
He took out a Bat Dart, made a small cut on his wrist, took a bit of his own blood, and put it into another test tube.
"Wally, your Aunt Iris still works at Star City Labs, right? If I remember correctly, the flood didn't cause much impact on Midtown."
Black Wally rubbed his curly hair, still immersed in the anticipation of new games, and started talking more:
"Oh, yes, when the aliens tried to flood Earth last time, we linked the Energy Defense Barrier borrowed from Batman to several Speed Force treadmills, and Star Laboratory's technology blocked all sewers. We used the Speed Force Storm to create repulsion to protect the city. Dude, you can't even imagine what it looks like having purple water walls hundreds of meters tall surrounding you."
"That's good, ask her to help me check these two blood samples, DNA comparison."
"But we're on the Atlantic Ocean now, North America should have just dawned, not yet work hours." Wally was a bit puzzled.
"Devil May Cry 5."
Damian reminded him again, if you can use relationships and take shortcuts, you should do so.
Moreover, it's best if it's not yet work hours, this matter must be done secretly.
"Alright, seriously, what's the point of checking your DNA against Deathstroke's? You don't think he's your uncle, do you? I've never heard of Leixiao Gu having a son."
Wally stretched out his hand to request the two test tubes, for the sake of new games, he didn't care about this anymore, after all, the captain's orders are like this, Damian and Batman never explain their actions.
Damian did not answer his speculations; he placed the test tubes in Wally's palm without letting go, but instead stared into his eyes: "I trust you, Wally, you all are my closest comrades. You must promise me that aside from you and your aunt, no one else will touch the experimental samples or test reports; you move through the Divine Speed Plane."
When Damian said he trusted Wally... it was naturally false; he trusts no one.
But kind human nature is like that, especially for a simple boy like Wally, when others say they trust them, they often let their emotions take over, betting on things like 'a man's dignity' to ensure they don't let others down.
Damian was merely exploiting this.
Wally took a deep breath, even though he didn't think it was important, he became serious, looking into Damian's eyes behind the mask, and nodding seriously:
"I promise, unless I die, no one will touch them in my hands, except my aunt."
Damian released his grip and turned around: "I'll wait for your good news."