Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4803 - 3876: Nameless Bat (9)

Early the next morning, Natasha had just gotten out of bed when she heard her phone ringing like a death knell. She answered it weakly, "Who is it?"

"Seems like I gave you too much time," Arkham Batman’s voice came from the other end, "Did you have a passionate night last night?"

"Passionate night? With whom? Morphine?" Natasha chuckled in exasperation.

"Looks like our dear agent has a thing for morphine. But I still wonder, aren’t you a Cyborg?"

"I guess that stuff can take down an elephant," Natasha said, slumping back onto the bed, "And I didn’t expect him to use hypnosis."

"Well, that’s a fresh bit of news," Arkham Batman said, "But it was likely practical, right?"

"Very practical. He only wanted to know what you and I talked about."

"Did you tell him?"

"I barely remember," Natasha began to dodge the question, "If anything happens, don’t blame me."

"You’re the one who wanted him to come over."

"And you agreed to it."

"Fine." Natasha continued, "There wasn’t any crucial information to begin with. If he knows, he knows. It’s just, he’s a bit too dedicated to his job. Among all of us including you, only he works diligently."

"Then let him work. I’ll reserve the Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation position for him," Arkham Batman said, "Did you find Wonder Woman yet?"

"Not yet, I’m going now." Natasha hung up the phone and resignedly sat up. Within a few breaths, the dizzy feeling vanished.

However, when she arrived at the office, the overwhelming cheers and whistles started giving her a headache again.

"You, shut up," Natasha pointed at the most boisterous one.

"I saw it!" Another person suddenly stood up, "The boss got drunk and was helped into the car by the guy from next door!"

"You shut up too," Natasha shot a glare.

She had no time for their nonsense, so she asked, "How’s the person in Interrogation Room 1?"

"No idea. Detective Rodriguez went in early and hasn’t come out yet," one of the agents shrugged.

Natasha sighed. Shiller must be using yesterday’s gleaned information to threaten Wonder Woman. But if she went now, she might walk into an angry Wonder Woman. It might be better to wait a bit, let Wonder Woman calm down first, then go in as the good cop.

Unexpectedly, when she returned to the café, Shiller was already fiddling with the coffee machine there. Natasha walked over and asked, "Aren’t you going to give me an explanation?"

"I told you," Shiller turned to look into Natasha’s eyes, "I never planned to get you drunk."

Natasha punched the wall. Facing Shiller, she felt powerless. Who the heck uses hypnosis just to ask for intelligence?

To prevent herself from dying of anger, she turned her head to the side and saw Moon Knight sitting there playing on his phone, to the point that Natasha almost wanted to give him a hug.

She walked over and sat next to Moon Knight, "What’re you doing?"

"Stealing salaries," Shiller said, "Every second I slack off here earns me a blank-point. So far, it seems pretty smooth."

"You..." Natasha hesitated for a moment before saying, "I mean the other you, the one called agent, what’s up with him?"

"What do you mean what’s up? Oh, you mean the agent? He’s one of the only normal people over there."

"Normal person?!?"

Shiller took off his hood and looked at Natasha, "Do you think I’m normal?"

"Uh..." Natasha really couldn’t say yes in good conscience, so she shook her head. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"If I’m not normal, then doesn’t that make him the normal one?"

Natasha was speechless. She thought about it, and it seemed true. All the Shillers she’d met before were so abstract that the agent, with his overly concrete nature, seemed abnormal in contrast.

Since she met him, every word from the agent was business, each sentence met with a response, and everything was executed. Although his methods of extracting information were somewhat intense, the fact that she didn’t wake up in some sort of living art piece actually pointed to how normal the agent was.

Natasha suddenly understood. It turns out not every Shiller was so mystical; the one she encountered was a rare variety.

"Did you try talking to Wonder Woman?" Shiller asked Natasha, "Unfortunately, this identity can’t provide her psychological counseling. Until Batman has new plans, I can only slack off here."

Just as he finished saying this, the phone rang. After a few quick exchanges, Shiller stood up and said, "Slacking time is over. I have to go."

"Where are you going?"

"Amazon."

Standing in front of the door to Interrogation Room No. 1, Natasha felt a faint sense of unease. But after a moment, she still pushed the door open and went inside. The Wonder Woman inside looked much more haggard than she did yesterday; it seemed Shiller’s threats had a substantial impact.

"Good morning, ma’am," Natasha said. "You don’t look well. Should I call a doctor?"

"There’s no need," Wonder Woman shook her head and said, "Has Batman done something again?"

Natasha shook her head against her will and then said, "Don’t worry too much. If he really wanted to harm you, he wouldn’t have you locked in here. It seems more like protection to me."

"You don’t understand," Wonder Woman said, "No matter what the situation, no matter who it is, I would always choose to know the truth and face it together rather than be kept in the dark and protected by others. This has nothing to do with the other party’s intentions; I believe this is basic respect."

"I agree with that," Natasha said, "It’s more pleasant to have the truth clearly explained and be given the choice, rather than not being told anything under the guise of ’for your own good’ and being locked away."

"Unfortunately, Batman doesn’t think that way."

Natasha pursed her lips and said, "Isn’t it possible that he actually did tell you and gave you a choice, but maybe you didn’t choose the one he wanted?"

Wonder Woman suddenly looked up at her.

"I guess you’re not entirely oblivious," Natasha lowered her head and said, "Batman wouldn’t act against the Amazons without reason. His focus on a small country of little consequence is solely because of you."

"Then what does he want me to do? Abandon my country?!" Wonder Woman said angrily, "How can I do that?!"

"Amazon or Paradise Island?"

"What?"

"Which is your country? Amazon or Paradise Island?"

"They are one," Wonder Woman said, "Paradise Island leads the Amazons. I am the Amazon Princess, I should naturally stand by the Amazons. I cannot abandon my country for our personal relationship."

"So that’s your choice."

"You mean Batman wants me to abandon my country? But why? The Amazons pose no threat to him, Paradise Island too..."

Wonder Woman suddenly stopped. Natasha saw her fingers start to tremble, her muscles tensed. Sensing a hint of danger, Natasha quickly backed away.

Fortunately, it seemed the other party did not want to harm her, trying hard to control her outburst of Divine Power, then looked at her with incredulous eyes and said, "Is Batman... No, I have to go ask him."

Wonder Woman wanted to fly towards the door but was stopped by a silver barrier. She pounded on the barrier, even using her Divine Power but couldn’t open it. She said anxiously to Natasha, "You let that freak open this thing, I have to return to Paradise Island!"

"Calm down, ma’am. You should understand that Batman brought you here precisely because he doesn’t want you to return."

"No, he can’t! He..." Wonder Woman clenched her fist and said, "This shouldn’t happen. He shouldn’t attack my sisters. He knew they had Divine Power, why now..."

Wonder Woman suddenly froze again and then murmured to herself, "No, his target isn’t Paradise Island, it’s Mount Olympus!!!"

She hit the wall hard, leaving a ripple on the silver barrier. She gritted her teeth and said, "He knows my mother holds the key to Mount Olympus. What on earth does he want to do?!"

Hearing her words, Natasha finally recognized something. She said, "Wait, your mother wouldn’t happen to be named Hippolyta?!"

"Yes, she’s the Queen of Paradise Island."

"So your dad is Zeus?" Natasha showed an indescribable expression, looking at Wonder Woman with a bit of sympathy, "If Batman’s target is Zeus, then I feel you really shouldn’t be so upset. Don’t tell me you think Zeus is a loving father..."

"Of course not." Wonder Woman pressed her lips together and said, "I do not like the Divine King and the Queen of Gods, nor do I like Mount Olympus. It’s never been my home. But Batman can’t... it’s too dangerous!"

Natasha understood Batman better after learning about Wonder Woman’s heritage. Wonder Woman has no real emotional ties to the family in Mount Olympus, but if she knew Batman planned to storm Mount Olympus alone, she would absolutely disapprove.

After all, those are the real gods. She has no affection for Mount Olympus, but she does care for Batman; she would never allow him to take such risks and would do everything possible to stop him.

But to outsiders, it can easily be misunderstood as Batman causing trouble for her paternal family, with Wonder Woman intervening to stop him. No matter how you look at it, it’s Batman looking for trouble. Many people would stand by Wonder Woman out of sympathy.

To avoid such conflicts, Batman simply captured everyone. This way, Wonder Woman wouldn’t block him, and others wouldn’t stand against him.

The move was indeed swift and neat, but the problem is, it’s a bit too neat. She’s still your teammate; you just raided her home base, is that really okay?

"Anyway, that whole family isn’t great." Natasha tried to comfort Wonder Woman as much as she could, "They haven’t contributed much to Earth. If they’re gone, they’re gone; Paradise Island is still here, right?"

Wonder Woman seemingly couldn’t listen to anything she said, the anxiety and worry on her face appeared genuine. This made Natasha realize a problem— the Justice League members of this universe don’t seem to understand how strong their Batman is.

It seems Wonder Woman is worried about the gods harming Batman.

Natasha had just thought of this when Wonder Woman suddenly seized her by the shoulders. She said, "Go to my apartment, find a letter enchanted by the Messenger God in the second drawer of the TV cabinet. Write Ares’s name on it, and tell him not to harm Batman. This is all a misunderstanding, and I will return soon. Go!!!"

Natasha opened her mouth but finally nodded.