บท 89: Ambush
Since the local criminal elements had decided to have a day off today, we didn't scatter, and all of us went to Martha's house to set up a stakeout.
After arriving and doing a little recon, both visually and with the drone, it was determined that the old woman was quite paranoid, so her fortress house, located in a not-so-wealthy area of Gotham, had a pretty good alarm system. There were sensors even in the narrow ventilation duct, where I'd originally poked around, thinking that a radio-controlled device would be able to reach the interior without any trouble. We didn't have enough knowledge to unnoticeably remove the defenses, or at least temporarily disable them, but luckily we had Barbara with us, who knew a lot about technology.
When you think about it, our group is pretty well balanced for superhero activities, well, or villainous if we suddenly decide to change sides. Mouse is in charge of technical support and hacking into defenses. Sailor is an excellent chemist and, thanks to her knowledge of Gotham's underworld, can get her hands on things that aren't quite legal. I'm the force support, plus I can use magic if I'm in a pinch, or I can put a debuff on an enemy.
That being said, each of us was pretty good as an independent unit. But even if we hang out together all the time, that's no reason to limit our development.
Looking at Babs trying out the virtual home defense with her PDA, I just couldn't help but ask her for a master class for Harley and me.
We had plenty of time until morning, so the redhead, fascinated by an interesting topic for herself, gave a full-fledged multi-hour lecture with a practical task, during which I was able to connect to the cameras at the intersection, located near the house of Mrs. Norris. It is clear that the protection I broke not personally, but with the help of programs and special equipment, but it does not cancel the fact that you need to know how to use all this and understand the logic of the defense systems to choose the best strategy. Otherwise, you will be like a fool to break some router with the help of character brute force, which will take an unrealistic amount of time (of course, if you don't have a supercomputer at hand), instead of just intercepting the necessary data packets.
By morning I was a little dizzy from the pile of terms and ways of coding information, of which there were almost twenty in this world, and there were also personal developments that big companies and evil geniuses like the Enigma Man or Lex Luthor were bound to have. In addition, all this stuff is encrypted, and you need to know how to distinguish between types of ciphers to understand how to break them. Naturally, in a few hours it is unrealistic to fully understand such a complex issue, so Mousey tried to train us on certain actions and showed us the direction of development.
This approach paid off, and I returned home determined to tighten my knowledge so that next time I wouldn't be stupid and at least understand the difference between asymmetric and symmetric algorithms.
Since reading computer literature was added to the standard daily routine, physics and chemistry could be shoved in there as well. The knowledge will not only make it easier for me to cast some spells, but will also help me understand the laws of the local universe. I have my doubts that in the old world it was possible to create a cryopouch or some other wunderwaffle, which villains are able to make out of almost any junk. It's a pity that Mousey didn't manage to break the alarm system, because we kept jerking her around, but Martha is unlikely to run away from us, and next time the redhead won't have so much free time to organize an hours-long master class.
***
In the morning I again woke up before Harley, awake and full of energy, and it was really morning, not as usual closer to twelve o'clock in the afternoon. I couldn't stop being happy about the successful investment of points in the first start. I kissed the blonde, who was sleeping sweetly, and went to the gym, where I had a strength-training session, followed by a shadow fight, in an attempt to work on my reflexes.
Having finished with the physical development, I move to the workshop, and start the monitor built into the table, opening the collection of literature that I had compiled after talking with Mouseketeer. However, I decided to start not with the basics of programming, but with physics.
Thanks to my excellent memory, I didn't need to read the same thing several times to memorize everything, just one time was enough, but the problem came when I wasn't expecting it: I didn't understand what I read. No, some relatively simple things, with which I was indirectly familiar in the previous world, did not cause great difficulties, but if you dig a little deeper, for example, in the direction of quantum effects or wave optics, as immediately becomes noticeable lack of mathematical base.
Various differentials, double and triple integrals, vectors and operations with them, vortex fields - all this my brain could easily memorize, but could not understand. I felt like a very clever monkey into which the necessary knowledge was just pumped. It was a very unpleasant feeling, which I had to get rid of.
With a heavy sigh, I roll down the window with another physics book and get to the math.
Half an hour later, I start reading a seventh-grade textbook that covers the very, very basics. Honestly, I didn't even realize I had so many gaps in my knowledge. Though it's all relative here, too. After traveling through the Great Darkness, of course, I had some memory lapses, but while studying the material, I got the impression that the locals are on average not only a quarter as strong as the people from my past world, but also as smart. Because I'm one hundred percent sure they don't study limits in ninth grade.
I was distracted from parsing the theorem with Flint Hills' row solution by a pair of hands with red-and-black manicures gently hugging me from behind.
"What are you doing?" Harley whispered hotly, her head brushing the back of my head lightly.
Definitely a cat. To confirm the theory, I scratched the girl behind the ear, making her purr amusedly.
"Mathematical analysis," I grimaced, looking at the hated rows.
"Oh, I never really understood him. Mr. J is so smart *-*," I was patted again, and then my beloved ducked under the table, determined to show me that she could do a good job with her head, too.
Okay, well, school can wait. I relaxed, closing my eyes to focus on the pleasant sensations.
"I'm done with the flowers," the dryad's voice behind me made me jump.
~Boom~
"Ouch!" After a second, a disgruntled blonde crawled out from under the table, rubbing the bruised back of her head.
"Abby, don't sneak up on me like that again," the girl said indignantly, "I almost clenched my teeth.
Oh, shit. I looked at the nature keeper unhappily, hiding my dick in my pants.
"I'm sorry," the green beauty, dressed only in black stockings and garters, shrugged, clearly not impressed with the implications. - I just wanted to warn you that your friend tried to create a mind in one of the plants, but due to lack of energy she failed. I have corrected that, so it may awaken soon. I suggest you prepare the meat for feeding, unless you want to be the main course.
"Wait, do plants eat meat?" I don't like where this is going.
"It must be that big Venus flycatcher," suggested my faithful assistant. - Do you need a lot of meat?
"Two kilos a day, and don't forget to water it. I'm off.
"Wait, Abby," I jumped up from my seat, pulling the diamonds that were discharged after the experiments out of my pocket. - Can you charge them, please?
The dryad simply placed her palm over mine. I felt a slight tingling sensation, and soon the gems glowed a pleasant green.
"That's it now?
"Mm-mm, no," I thought about what I was going to do, concluding that there was nothing urgent. - Do you want to watch a movie with us?
"Oh, shit..." Harley said quietly, causing me to look at her perplexed.
The blonde girl immediately took on a pussy-girl look, staring at the ceiling. She would have whistled to increase my level of suspicion, but now was not the time to find out why she was behaving so strangely. I looked at Abby again.
"So what's up? Is that okay with you?
The dryad was moving, and it wasn't like she was in contact with the Forest or the Parliament of Trees. Her slightly creepy gaze was slow to unfocus and fixed on me. She was clearly pondering something intensely. After the fifteenth second of silence, I was no longer hoping for a positive answer, but I continued to wait patiently, realizing that the conservationist was a very slow-witted person.
"I don't mind watching the movie, but I'm not taking that thing in my mouth," the dryad broke the silence and gave me an ultimatum, shifting her red eyes to my groin.
"Uh... What? Sunshine," I found the culprit in a flash, looking closely at the blonde.
"It was an education in modern mores. If someone calls someone to the movies, they want to fuck them. I just didn't have time to explain all the nuances," she ruffled her hair in an awkward motion.
"Oh, well, okay, then.
Uh-huh, uh-huh, I'll pretend to believe that. I hadn't forgotten how much Harley liked to roughly pull Ivy's head on my cock, and Babs was not spared that fate either, but the latter was clearly getting off on it.
"Sorry, Abby, my girlfriend gets a little carried away sometimes. Just ignore it.
"I've noticed," the dryad pulled back a little on the belt that held the stockings. - I doubt people really wear something like that without the rest of their kit. It's too revealing.
"I'm embarrassed to ask. Why did you agree to dress like that?
"I don't mind," the green beauty shrugged indifferently. - I walk around naked anyway. Harley's amused.
Yes, the fact that my beloved is happy is a really strong argument. At such moments she becomes warm, like a sun on a cloudy day, and energizes everyone around her with her positivity. It is simply impossible to resist her charm. Vaughn, even Abby got a kick out of it.
Having settled a small misunderstanding, we all went to the auditorium, where I suddenly realized that I had been too hasty with the proposal.
Judging by some reservations, the dryad has only seen black and white movies, so in terms of pictures, effects and sound she can be impressed by any modern blockbuster, but in addition to the attractive wrapping, the story with atmosphere is also important. The first time of the guardian of the Forest must be made special, so that in the future she will continue to visit us not only for the sake of the contract, but also just for fun. Still, a magical source of natural mana is not lying around. Except I don't know the first thing about local cinema.
I had to rely entirely on Harley, who, after a short questioning by Abby, chose some snotty and tearful comedy with an Indian motif about two sisters separated in childhood.
Surprisingly, our friend liked the movie, by the end she really empathized with the main characters, who were being schemed by a rich bastard. In my opinion, everything was too luscious, but I was not bored sitting on the left side of the horny blonde, periodically arranging attempts on my honor. I would have been glad to give in to temptation: a movie theater, dimmed lights, two beauties at my side, one of them kudere and supposedly doesn't notice what's going on right next to me, completely absorbed in the action on the screen, but I didn't want to scare Abby away, so I had to endure stoically.
After watching them together, Harley offered the dryad to try out some video game from her extensive collection, but the Guardian of the Forest declined, citing that she was tired of being away from nature for so long.
When the guest left, having been literally sucked into the bonsai standing on the living room floor, my faithful companion and I decided to drag all the plants into the greenhouse. In the process I was able to admire a meter-long Venus flytrap with an impressive set of rather strong sharp teeth, more suitable for a shark. And before Boggle had arrived, this thing was only thirty centimeters tall and fed on ordinary flies.
Having finished with the not-so-easy task (the plant tried to bite on reflexes until the blonde hit it on the head with a rolled-up newspaper), Harley went to get some groceries and the equipment that Mousey had advised me to buy to build the hacking equipment, and I contacted Dershevitz after some thought. We need to do something about Freeze's release, and at the same time find out how the fundraising is going.
The elderly lawyer was glad to receive my call, and soon we were sitting in his office, having a relaxed conversation. After I had told Victor's sad story, Alan was absolutely fine with representing him in court, and promised to prepare a lawsuit against Bowler. The money was all right too, the necessary sum would soon be collected at a rented warehouse near the airport, so there should be no problems with getting my millions home, especially if the USO did build a secret base and secret passages.
I returned home and went back to my workshop to create ammunition filled with a gaseous potion of spirit communication. While it's much more convenient to use a regular atomizer, there are times when you need to disarm a target from a distance, and make sure they don't get hurt in the process. After a couple of experiments with the rubber sheath, which refused to release its contents properly after impact, I had to turn to Harley for help. Having realized what was required of her, the girl practically on her knee created something similar to fragile silicone.
Of course, the range of the shot had to be limited to fifty meters, because such a projectile could not withstand a collision with the sound barrier, but after reducing the power, the shot was quite quiet. In addition, it was not necessary to use a scarce potion as a stuffing. You could pump pepper, not too corrosive acid, and ordinary nerve gas inside, but we didn't have much of the latter, and it was unrealistically long and costly to synthesize it, and there was nothing to synthesize it with, because a full-fledged laboratory was located in a secret lair, which was still not ready.
By evening, I'd made as many as ten unusual cartridges with different fillings to match the caliber of my gun, as well as two soporific bombs that I planned to give to Mousey to back up the spider drone.
I couldn't wait to try out my new toy, but unfortunately, tonight the gangsters were once again slow to take to the dark streets of Gotham. There were a few jerks, of course, but we couldn't get to them before they were being dealt with by the guards on duty nearby. It was a shame.
Eventually, we went back to studying hacking techniques, unsuccessfully poking around Mrs. Norris's house. Well, the old Vietnam-era woman was even more paranoid than Gloomy Mouse.
The next two days didn't give me any surprises either. In the morning I devoted myself to self-development, then watching a movie in the company of a dryad, who, by the way, didn't like video games very much, because they were too fast for her, then studying again and preparing for the battle with the Revenant. In the evening, the traditional night watch, complete with skill drills and attempts to discreetly disarm the alarm system. There were a little more bandits, but still their number was not up to what it was before Bats disappeared. I even stopped appearing as him, hoping that the criminals would get bolder, and also to get away from Catwoman, who was on the hunt. She almost caught me once, but luckily I'm faster.
Naturally, no one liked the lull in crime, not even the police, but no one could influence it. Alfred, who monitored the rumors and checked the data from the informants, was just throwing up his hands, agreeing with Harley's opinion that everyone was hiding, waiting for something big to happen. But the big thing never came.
***
Finally, the sixth of December has arrived. The day when the moon's shadow would fall on Earth. All preparations for that moment had long since been completed. The harpoon cannons had taken their places under the camouflage net, the rune circle to weaken the undead as much as possible had been drawn, the spider drone was hidden behind a chair on the open terrace of Wisone's penthouse, and Mousey was huddled nearby, guarding the radio-controlled device.
It's a shame Bats doesn't have our backs, but we'll manage without him.
I left the warm van, stopping next to Abby, who was scrutinizing the gloomy trees.
"Worried?
"No. I don't like the dramatically increased amount of death energy in the center of the swamp. It's too much for one dead man.
"Don't worry, the consecrated napalm can handle more than that," I tried to cheer the dryad up.
"Mr. Arkham," Oracle suddenly intervened, using a micro earpiece, "you need to see this.
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