章節 9: A Miracle Indeed
Jason didn't want Jentis to know what he was up to. He knew his actions could corrupt a child as innocent as she was. She was still in a stage of uncertainty about the world, and he didn't want to become the kind of parent like the old Batman...
But Jentis still noticed some things, perhaps brought upon by Jason himself. Jason felt a bit overwhelmed, but he still accepted Jentis's help in treating his back wounds.
Jason instructed her on which medications to use and what to do next. Even though she wasn't familiar with these drugs, her movements seemed strangely familiar, as if she had done this countless times before.
"I know you're always carrying injuries," Jentis said calmly, looking at the bandages wrapped around him.
Jason was shocked. "What?"
Jentis met his gaze calmly. "I can smell the scent of blood on you." So she knew every time he got hurt.
Jason looked at her, dumbfounded. "I thought I was hiding it well... Are you a bloodhound?"
"I think this should be a basic skill," Jentis replied calmly, as if she weren't a ten-year-old child. And indeed, she was not an ordinary child.
Jason had considered hiding everything from her, but now that she knew how he got hurt, there was no need to hide certain things from her anymore. But he still didn't want her to be exposed to the darker aspects of life.
"Are you human or bird?" Jason asked seriously.
"I may be, or may not be, I don't know," Jentis replied just as seriously.
Jason rubbed his chin, looking at Jentis, and chuckled, "Keeping a bird is no different from keeping a person."
She might have some mutant genes, but she herself didn't know which ones. However, he had seen aliens before, so a bird turning into a person or a person turning into a bird wasn't much of a difference to him.
Jentis looked up in surprise. "Isn't that strange?"
"For others, it might be strange, but for me, I've seen too much," Jason replied.
"Where and when did you find out you could change?" he asked.
Jentis told him truthfully, including how she found him.
Jason quickly got up. "Let's go, we're going back, we need to move immediately."
Jentis hurriedly followed, asking for the reason.
Jason said, "Batman is not a simple guy. If you fly out as a bird without avoiding surveillance, he'll find out."
"But don't worry, there's not much surveillance coverage in Crime Alley. We're doing this to be prepared for any eventuality."
Jentis seemed to understand and not understand the game between adults. She couldn't grasp the intricacies involved, let alone some of the complex words Jason used, but as long as he instructed her, she would follow suit.
Jason knew that with Batman's abilities, even without precise surveillance, he could still find this place, it was only a matter of time.
"Bring Gwen, Jenni." Jason scanned the room and said, carrying bags of stuff.
Jentis, with her bag on her back, quickly went over to pick up a pot of succulents from the windowsill. This was something they brought back after moving here, a species of succulent called Luna Lily, named Gwen by Jason, was their family member.
After packing up anything that could expose their identities, they quickly left.
So when Batman arrived here, he found nothing. The place had been cleaned out as if no one had ever lived there. But even so, he still found a clue.
This wasn't a very good place to be used as a safe house, but Red Hood still lived here, and it seemed he wasn't the only one.
What were those marks seemingly scratched out on the window? And what could have caused them?
And the name registered for this house was fake, but it seemed the other party had a child?
After arriving at another one of Jason's safe houses, Jentis placed Gwen on the windowsill and slowly packed up her things. She couldn't help but comment, "You bought too much."
Jason didn't even look up. "They're all yours." It wasn't just her clothes, but also her books.
Of course, his too.
He didn't have much of his own stuff, and he didn't know how he ended up buying so much for her. Thinking of bringing her something, he just did, and unconsciously, there were so many.
"Before, you said, it was that... who brought you to find me?" After packing up, Jason began to ponder what Jentis had said earlier, she hadn't hidden anything.
Jentis nodded, and Jason furrowed his brows slightly, contemplating, "That guy seems really not intending to harm you." He even provided them with help.
"But she is..." Jentis hesitated, not finishing her sentence.
Jason chuckled and patted her head. "I didn't ask you to live with her. Next time you see her, remember to say thank you, okay?"
Jentis hesitantly nodded. Okay, just saying thank you.
Jentis didn't have any objections to moving. She completely listened to Jason in this regard, but she didn't understand Jason's curiosity about her turning into a little bird.
Jentis, turned into a little bird—Jason temporarily defined this behavior as a person turning into a bird—was beautiful and cute, completely white without any blemishes, just like her white hair.
Jason speculated that this might be because of her hair, so her bird form was also white. Just by appearance, it resembled a Silver-throated Finch.
It was about thirteen centimeters long, beautifully small, and entirely white.
The only contrasting color on its body was black, present only in its eyes, beak, and claws.
The length of its tail feathers was almost as long as its body, making the whole bird look round-headed and round-bodied, with a round belly.
Jason said he didn't expect a person to be so chubby as a bird.
Jentis: "Chirp."
Jason raised an eyebrow. "Hey girl, I can't understand bird language. Can't you speak when you're a bird?"
Jentis chirped a few more times, trying to speak, but then even stopped making bird noises, which made Jason burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Seeing the little bird looking dejected, Jason suppressed his laughter with his fist, thinking that whether it was keeping a bird or a person, it didn't really make much of a difference to him; they were both cute.
Because of his injury, Jentis was very determined to make him rest and recuperate. She insisted on updating him daily with exclusive sources to help him heal before allowing him to go out as the Red Hood. Otherwise, she would follow him around like a clingy little bug, not allowing him to do anything risky.
With nothing else to do during his recovery, Jason spent his time reading and accompanying her to and from school, teaching her other knowledge, and supervising her training at other times.
During his recovery, he thought about the fact that the girl's weight hadn't been increasing. He tried various ways to cook delicious food for her. He put in so much effort, he just had to see some results, right? At least she shouldn't be this skinny, he wasn't abusing the child, after all.
The female ghost appeared again, this time without scratching the windows. Jason thought this was a huge improvement.
Noticing this movement, Jentis stiffened, but she no longer felt the same fear as before. However, she still didn't approach on her own. She said, "Thank you for taking me to find Jason that day."
Jason answered from the side, "If possible, let's not let her see what I look like after being beaten up."
The female ghost: ...
Jentis pursed her lips, ignoring Jason's words, and asked, "What's your name?"
The female ghost tilted her head, not cute at all, but rather frightening. Jentis closed her eyes and expelled this scene from her mind. "Then, Jason, can we give her a name?"
Jason hesitated for a moment. "That's a good idea."
This scene could definitely become the eighth wonder of the world: a scared child suggesting a name for a female ghost.
In Jentis's sight, Jason's gaze fell on the succulent on the windowsill. "How about Gwen?"
Jentis: ...
"Will Gwen agree?" Jason said. "Succulents can't talk, really, child! Even ghosts don't talk!"
"Do you have any good ideas?" he asked.
Jentis looked at the female ghost outside with a pair of dead fish eyes staring at them and said, "Cinderella."
Jason: ...
"Red Hood might have a child?" Tim couldn't believe what Batman had found out. "That guy actually has a child?"
Thinking about how the Red Hood attacked him without any hesitation the first time they met, Tim couldn't imagine what kind of tender side that guy could possibly have.
Bruce recorded the information in the files and replied, "Yes, a child who is still in school."
As for whether it's a boy or a girl, it's not clear. According to people around, when the child goes out, they don't speak to anyone and always have an adult accompanying them. They seem fierce, and no one dares to look at them. Moreover, strange and creepy sounds have been coming from their house recently, so no one dares to get close.
No one knows the child's name, nor do they know where they go to school. The Red Hood is very secretive about this aspect, seemingly very protective of the child.
He wondered if such a person could really raise a young child well?
Tim noticed the pictures Bruce had taken, and they were not ordinary. "Are these scratch marks?"
"Forensic analysis shows that they were indeed caused by sharp nails," Bruce replied, "but it's on bulletproof glass."
"Not human, possibly mutated. No traces of nails left?"
"No, they cleaned it up very well."
"Very cautious," Tim remarked. "That bird looks ordinary, but it is indeed related to the Red Hood. Surveillance footage shows it flying out from there. Could it be a pet for his child?"
"Perhaps," Bruce said. He wondered, with a child following him around like this and what he does outside, what exactly does the Red Hood want to achieve?
Batman quietly looked at the dossier indicating that the other party likely had a child, reassessing the level of danger posed by the Red Hood. "Tim, you should rest now. You have to go to class tomorrow."
Tim: ... With this kind of life, I'll drop out sooner or later.
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