Phantom Kid in the American Comic World
16. Barbara Wants to Catch Phantom Kid

"How much longer?"

Inside the gathering hall, Gordon asked Aaron, who had been moving aside.

"About two hours or so, if the teaser letter was properly deciphered."

Gordon pondered for a moment and then asked, "How is the beach set up?"

“Don't worry sir, the nearby beach has been fortified, no gaps are open, I can guarantee that even mosquitoes won't be able to escape if trying to fly.”

"Do you think ... Kid's really gonna fly out of the ocean by twisting?"

Gordon's eyes show a degree of confusion, “You don't know enough about Kid's disguise; he pretended to be you in front of us all that day and no one knew that he was different from you.”

”He even identically mimics the tone of your voice realistically. If it wasn't for me hearing her distinctive voice when she presented herself as the Phantom Kid, I would have even thought you were the Phantom Kid.”

”This... Sir, but he doesn't have a glider? Using one to fly should be the most convenient. I mean.. can he keep diving in this situation? Our people are all scattered along the sea, there's no way he can come if he's in the boat. ”

Aaron laughed dryly, he could not see the incredible disguise technique because he had been defeated by Mathison, and could only hear all sorts of absurd claims from his comrades.

Honestly, Aaron is reluctant to believe such a thing, simulation technology of human skin masks is actually not uncommon, many spies or agents use it. Unless they were of high quality, his disguise would look fake.

How could a thief have such latest technology? There is no way a thief could have this technology.

”Aaron, is this collection hall connected with something like ventilation ducts or down pipes?”

Gordon suddenly asked.

"Yes! There are thirteen ventilation ducts and five vents in the collection hall, located in this section.

A voice appeared, but it was not the voice of anyone present. More importantly, it belonged to a woman.

Aaron turned his head to see where the voice came from, only to see a red-haired female student wearing glasses approaching. His left hand was dragging his laptop, while his right hand was manipulating the keyboard.

"Barbara's? Jim, is it worth having your daughter here? It can be dangerous after a while!”

As soon as he saw the girl, Aaron's brows frowned and stopped her formality, he started calling Gordon a friend.

"Candidate!"

Ignoring Aaron's rhetorical question, Gordon shouted towards the outside of the gathering hall. Blake heard the scream and immediately ran over.

"There are instructions, sir?"

"Get two more teams of officers here and keep a close eye on the five air vents in the pavilion, we can't rule out the possibility that the Phantom Kid will sneak into the collection hall from there."

Blake saluted and then went down to set those people up.

"Barbara, didn't I tell you not to follow me here?"

It was at this point that Gordon looked at Barbara's dissatisfied face.

"I want to catch the Phantom Kid!"

"The boy!", said Gordon with a headache. 

   She didn't know who Barbara was copying. He is interested in all kinds of cases, and most of the reasons he studies hacking thoroughly is to break into police databases and check various case files, and gather information.

Mathison knows exactly what Barbara did this for, and Barbara herself tells him.

Eight years ago, when Barbara was just a young girl in junior high school, she was almost killed by Two-Face. It was not a very impressive experience.

  But Barbara was an amazing girl, and after that incident, she learned one thing, and that is Gotham's superficial beauty is nothing more than hypocrisy.

Barbara is one of the few people who has seen Harvey Dent's real face with her own eyes. How can a gangster family that has been established in Gotham for hundreds of years be easily swept away when even a righteous man can go down the wrong path?

Unfortunately, most people are so deceived by the current circumstances. Even his father, Gordon, had to go against his will and do his best to maintain a "peaceful society" by lying.

Often, he even hates his father, he doesn't understand why Gordon isn't telling the truth, why he isn't telling people who the real killer is and who saved Gotham by defeating the Joker.

Barbara admires Batman, admires him, and wants to fight crime just like she does. Except that women were naturally weaker in battle than men, so Barbara chose a different path, that of wisdom.

He never talks about this plan to outsiders, including Gordon and his brother, except for Mathison.

Regarding what surprised Barbara, she always thought for no reason that Mathison was different from the others, that she was the only one of her colleagues who would listen to her describing how great Batman was. Others thought Batman was just a criminal fugitive under various influences.

However, whenever Barbara says she wants to be Batman too, Mathison always smiles strangely and then mysteriously says "to be Batman, you have to have his powers".

And when Barbara wonders what Batman's powers are, Mathison just smiles mysteriously and doesn't say a word.

When the Phantom Kid appears, and truly gains much admiration, Barbara is determined to capture him, to set her case as her debut fight.

Once he did, he wasn't ready to follow the Phantom Kid for the rest of his life. Only by the time he realized it, it was already too late …

After all, Barbara came to the hall of Daggett's private collection, fully ready to fight, she was eager to prove herself!

"Jim, remember to protect Barbara, I don't think you want to repeat the incident from the past?"

Aaron looked at Barbara's back as he walked into the pavilion and said in a deep voice.

“Looking at the way the Phantom Kid committed his last crime, he doesn't look like a ruthless criminal actively hurting people.”

”Jim, we can not trust the villain character, maybe he did not hurt anyone last time because we only know a little about him and he can tempt us easily, but this is different, this is different, it's hard to imagine what Kid would do if he were pushed to the edge. ”

"You're right, I'll take care of my daughter and I won't let anyone hurt her unless I die."

gordon said with a stern look.

”The layout of the collection hall seems a bit too simple, does it look like it was built similar to a library?”

Meanwhile, Mathison has infiltrated the collection hall undercover, No matter who she is this time, the important thing is that she can now explore the police setting openly.

But the situation inside the collection was rather unexpected. Daggett, the owner of the gem, isn't even here. He didn't even put his secretary or assistant in charge, as if he didn't appreciate the Phantom Kid.

“It's interesting, in this case, whether he really trusts GCPD completely or he leaves the backhand, which makes it uncomfortable to be here.”