Phantom Kid in the American Comic World
42. Barbara attack
”Obviously you said you were going to see His Majesty, but instead, you didn't even dare to go up and continue sitting the entire time.
After the party is over, Mathison and Barbara walk home.
Because of the work, Gordon will be staying inside the State Guest House for a long time. Therefore, only the two of them remained.
“That's Your Majesty, the Queen. Many people in the world will be out of reach to meet him, how dare I go and talk to him?”
Barbara said in a bad mood.
"It is rare to see the Queen from such a close distance."
Mathison fell silent and could not comment on Barbara's words.
“After all, why are you still following me? Your home should be in that direction.”
As he walked, Mathison suddenly turned towards Barbara.
Although the distance between Mathison's house and Barbara's house was no more than a kilometer, it wasn't enough of a reason for the two to go hand in hand.
The two had reached the split road, sandwiched between their houses.
"I don't have my keys."
”Isn't James **. at home? He can open the door for you.”
”... There is a campground in high school today and he will not be home for a few days.”
”... Isn't today a holiday?”
"Just because the holiday of the event is taking place, otherwise such a campground does not occur on school days?"
"Is that so?"
Mathison looked at Barbara with a suspicious look; as far as she could remember when she went to high school, things like camping events almost never took a day.
After all, teachers need rest too, right…
But since Barbara had said it, it wasn't entirely impossible.
"Well, you can ask someone to open the door for you."
“See what time it is. The key repair workers are done now... and don't you think it's dangerous to let me back alone this late?”
Mathison is tempted to say, «It may not even be more than six hundred meters from here to your home, I can see directly into your home ..»
"Wait!"
“Why are your home lights .. on?”
Barbara was surprised to see his observations and turned to see that, indeed, the lights were on, as bright as day, in her own home.
Barbara silently snorted and decided to punish her brother after returning. She laughed flatly, “Uh-huh.. I just remembered that I forgot to turn off the lights when I left.”.
Corner of Mathison's mouth twitches, «what does this girl want?»
«Do you know that it is dangerous for a girl to stay in the house of a single man!»
He wouldn't mind if it was a normal situation, but things were different now, and he wasn't in the mood to play around with Barbara.
After all, the party had taught her how powerful her opponents were, and that Queen Elizabeth might not only have this guard on the surface, but there might be some mysterious figure protecting her from the shadows.
Although he himself already has an action plan, he must think about it carefully, especially with the presence of Agent Bean and Batman.
God knows how far his red magic, luck, and intelligence can take him.
“Must find a way how to deal with them both.”
As difficult as it is to deal with others, Kid can still find weaknesses through his common sense. The main thing to do now is to stay away from all shopping malls and furniture stores so as not to meet Agent Bob.
"It's better to get rid of Barbara now, so she won't bother me."
“So... wouldn't you just book a hotel room for tonight?”
Barbara: “...”
Mathison's not kidding around.
Should she clearly ask him to stay with her tonight?
How could he say that to a girl?
He can't just give up.
Thinking of Daisy's words, not too long ago, when she said that Mathison was too slow and that she needed to take more initiative, Barbara gave herself a mental spirit.
«Barbara, do it!»
"What I want to say is .. can't you ..."
Barbara suddenly looked cold and looked at Mathison with dissatisfaction.
———–
«No, I can't, I can't just hit him.
In Suite 4406 of the Angora Hotel in Gotham's Old City, Barbara's eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
He finally could not let out the words, "Can't you let me stay at your house for the night?". After which, Mathison looked at him with a confused expression on her face as she stood there and said half a sentence before stopping abruptly.
Mathison kindly escorts her to the hotel and gives her a single deluxe room.
"Something is wrong, something must be wrong ..."
Barbara sat down hard.
“Didn't he have any feelings for me? No, if this is true, then he usually won't let me stay at his house.”
"Is it because I'm not so charming?"
Barbara pulled out a small mirror and looked at herself.
“Yah... I'm beautiful naturally!”
«I am at least a high-spirited intellectual goddess at Gotham University, how can I be less attractive? This guy must be blind!”
Staring at her chest, Barbara frowned.
«It may not be too big, but it's the size of a normal woman!»
«Surely not considered small!»
Since the problem isn't himself, it must be Mathison.
Barbara thought for sure.
“Maybe he's Phantom Kid. He planned something and didn't want me to see it, that's why he refused me to stay at his house. It's not that I'm not attractive enough.”.
Rolling around, Barbara could never sleep, so she made a bold decision.
He slipped out the door and left the hotel quietly.
Outside Mathison's house, Barbara approaches the window.
"The light inside is dead, is he asleep?"
Peering from the window inside, there was no sign of anything suspicious.
His imaginative scenes of Mathison sifting through various Phantom Kid props were not there.
Undeterred, Barbara climbed to the first floor and peered through the bedroom window.
Although Mathison had drawn the curtain, Barbara could still vaguely see through the gap of the curtain that Mathison was lying asleep in bed.
"What I do ..."
Jumping from the first floor, Barbara smiled to herself as her suspicions came and went and the result looked like she was comforting herself.
What he doesn't know, however, is that not far from there, on the roof of a building, Mathison is watching him with a pair of binoculars.
Yes, Mathison had expected early on that Barbara would come back to spy on her, no, to investigate, so she put the doll in her bedroom bed as a way to confuse Barbara.
The reason why she stayed here to confirm this was her fear that Barbara would barge in furiously. If this were to happen, at the very least, he would have the ability to switch with the puppet.
Seeing Barbara return to the hotel, Mathison jumps from the building to spread her glider and flies to the Phantom Kid fortress…
The next day, just as the sun was rising, Mathison was awakened by a knock on the door.
When she opened the door, it was Barbara.
Barbara, with dark circles under her face, stared at Mathison ever since she opened the door without saying a word ...