I, V, Gotham Legend

Although the matter of Bane's remnants was very stressful, Gordon was still quite relaxed because this was the only thing that could currently make him anxious.

Ever since he was a grassroots detective in the police station, Gordon had been accustomed to having multiple troubles coming to him at the same time. Now he only needs to focus on these major things, which can be said to be the life he had always dreamed of in the past.

"Anything else?" Gordon finished a glass of water and found Cash still standing at the door.

"...Nothing, I just feel that your office is a little different today." Cash folded his hands together and said as if nothing happened.

"Different?" Gordon didn't think so. He was even too lazy to organize the documents. If he had to say something, the degree of mess was different from before.

He could tell that Cash wanted to show him something, but the guy was hiding it, which made Gordon feel uncomfortable.

"Have you been infected by Nygma?" This is a popular meme in Gotham recently, specifically targeting people who don't speak human language. Gordon was signaling Cash to speak frankly.

Cash still seemed reluctant. He sighed, turned around and raised his hand to open the door: "It's okay. I'm leaving first, Chief."

"Wait a minute, Cash." Gordon finally noticed something was wrong. "Your hands, are you moving?"

Seeing that Gordon finally noticed his changes, Cash breathed a sigh of relief with satisfaction. He raised his two hands wearing cotton gloves and moved his fingers flexibly.

Two months ago, almost at the beginning of the gang war, Cash's left hand was bitten off by Crocodile Man. Since then, he has been wearing a prosthetic limb sponsored by Wayne Group.

But due to technological limitations, the prosthetic hand that Cash installed should be a model that cannot move.

"I went to the surgery this morning, and Ms. V installed a prosthesis for me." Cash took off the glove on his left hand, revealing the gleaming black metal prosthesis. "I specifically requested that no bionic skin be added, look at it? Isn't it handsome?"

"I see, you're here to show off." Gordon breathed a sigh of relief, it didn't seem like a big deal. "Is this V's skill? You can't tell it's any different from an ordinary person's hand until you take off the gloves."

"Ms. V is still gradually perfecting this technology. According to her, once it is foolproof for ordinary people, she will open a prosthetics clinic."

As he spoke, Cash's mechanical arm clenched into a fist slightly. Although it was a bit strange to describe it like this for the metal texture, he could feel the touch.

Gordon was also amazed, but as a policeman, he was still worried instinctively: "Will this thing hide some weapons or something? Will the government approve her to privately operate these? Isn't she going to run a black clinic or something?"

"Although it's hard to understand, Miss V is now a civil servant recognized by the government." Cash said the news that shocked him when he first learned it.

As expected, Gordon's eyes widened as well: "Are you serious? When?"

"Before I saw the ID she showed me, I was just as incredulous as you." Cash smiled bitterly, "Now her 'Handyman' is openly run, and many citizens will secretly go to the Afterlife Bar just to see the legendary superhero V."

"Bar..." Gordon was speechless. He didn't understand why these people living in the gray area were so obsessed with using various bars and clubs as their bases.

When Afterlife first emerged, the Gotham Police Department also kept a close eye on them. In the words of the game, it was the Mercenary Association, and who knows how much crime might arise from it.

Fortunately, V has never done anything that would cause major damage to society, which has caused the police to relax their vigilance against the Afterlife Bar. Today, this glamorous mercenary center remains in the Diamond District and has been harmoniously integrated into Gotham.

"You should go to Afterlife for a drink sometime, and bring your children with you. There are a lot of weird drinks there," Cash recommended to Gordon.

Gordon saw that Cash was joking when he relaxed, but he still refused very seriously: "I have not been an alcoholic for a long time, and neither will my family."

Gordon was proud of his strict family education. His little daughter was cute and well-behaved, and no matter how you looked at it, she would never go to that kind of place.

……

In a luxurious private room of the Afterlife Bar, Barbara Gordon sat in front of an advanced computer and stretched comfortably.

Valerie was standing behind her, looking at the image on the computer screen and clapping her hands in surprise: "You really used my computer to hack into the NASA server?"

"I can do it with my phone." Barbara said as if it was a trivial matter. "Now I often use their servers to test the performance of new computers."

"That's amazing... What do you think of the performance of this peripheral?" Valerie said, pointing at the host.

"I haven't come into contact with many top-level hosts, but this one is definitely the top type. It is very smooth when hacking into the signal. It is simply made for hackers." Barbara praised it highly.

"That's true..." Looking at the hacker access cabin chip inside the chassis through the transparent packaging plate, Valerie nodded in approval.

NO32. I want a hacker

Nowadays, Valerie's IQ has reached eight, which is only one step away from the legendary ninth-level intelligence. According to the game settings, she is already a leader among ordinary people.

However, although Valerie felt that she had grown wiser, the people around her felt that Miss V had not changed much, as if something strange had been engraved into her bones.

Fortunately, with her intelligence improved to such an extent, it would be theoretically possible for Valerie to install a hacker prosthesis on herself, but she still felt that she knew nothing about hacking.

Fortunately, although she herself didn't understand, she knew someone who did. This afternoon, Valerie changed into a low-key outfit and waited for Barbara to finish school at Gotham Middle School. She invited her to her Afterlife Bar without any explanation.

The current prosthetic implant technology is still immature. It is easy to replace a prosthetic limb like Cash did, but without certainty, they dare not replace bones for ordinary people.

Especially the hacker access cabin, which was not explained clearly in the game. Valerie couldn't understand how to install this kind of prosthesis on ordinary people, although she always thought that the skull should be pried open.

Fortunately, Lex Luthor gave a relatively perfect solution. Based on Luthor's method, Valerie connected the hacker into the cabin and made it into a computer accessory.

The result was satisfactory. Barbara handled this unprecedented new technology well and hacked into NASA in just half a minute - although NASA itself is often hacked.

"You are a natural born hacker." Valerie praised Barbara again, and then asked curiously, "Can you use this thing to hack into me?"

"...I've wanted to ask this for a long time. Are you always connected to the Internet? How do you do that? Do you have an antenna in your brain?" Barbara asked while operating the computer.

"It's been like this since I came into this world. It's one of my super powers."

"What an enviable ability! I'm curious what kind of configuration a person's brain would have if it could be connected to the Internet." As she spoke, the computer screen in front of Barbara changed from a bunch of code to a pile of folders. "Okay, it's out!"

"Huh?" Valerie was surprised. "I don't feel anything."

"But you have indeed been hacked. Your firewall is unique, but this computer seems to have its own script for network protection... I'm still investigating."

As she spoke, Barbara pressed a few shortcut keys, and the computer screen was switched to the black code page again: "Logically speaking, your built-in firewall should be quite effective, but if you encounter an enemy with strong hacking capabilities, it is still very dangerous. I will help you upgrade the protection system first."

Although Valerie still had no real sense that she had been hacked, she was grateful for Barbara's help.

"I also want to use computers like you. To be honest, I can only use the mechanism to do some very basic hacking skills." He meant that he only needed a data cable to control a spaceship he had never seen before.

"Want to learn the skills of a network hacker?" Barbara straightened up, with an interested smile on her face. "Then you have found the right person. But is the mechanism you mentioned also your superpower?"

"That's right, but it's hard to explain." Valerie felt that she had been working with Barbara for so long, so it would be okay to reveal a little information about her abilities.

"I think I understand." Barbara was still writing furiously on the screen. "But before you start your apprenticeship, you still need a hacker for a short period of time, right?"

"Maybe..." Valerie said a little ambiguously.

If it were Night City, hackers would be a necessity, but for the current Gotham, hackers are not that important.

But Valerie noticed Barbara's suggestive look: "You don't want to join us, do you?"

"I've always wanted to do something for this city." Barbara no longer concealed it. She looked Valerie in the eye and said, "I can do more."

"What an extraordinary sense of responsibility... But I'm just a mercenary who is only interested in profit. With such grand ideals, you're more suitable to interview with Batman." Valerie said, pinching her chin with her fingers.

"You're still being modest." Barbara smiled. "You're obviously a hero. I've done some research. You played a big role in the alien invasion of Metropolis, right?"

Aside from Lois's first-hand live broadcast and some newspapers, most media outlets tried their best to downplay the role of superheroes in the Kryptonian War, not to mention Valerie who rarely appeared.

"That's another matter. In a crisis for all mankind, I can put my personal interests aside. What's more, I was there at the time. If I didn't do something, I would be dead." Valerie was given a headache by the grand narrative. She changed the subject, "Do you have to join us?"

"Of course, I'm ready and can do anything." Barbara said confidently, and she stopped typing code.

Valerie thinks that Barbara is so smart, has a sense of responsibility for the world, and is the daughter of Commissioner Gordon. If Valerie is not in this world, she would most likely become a good helper to Batman.

But then he thought again, Batman is so smart and has such a cool computer, he should be good at hacking. Even if Barbara follows him, it won't affect him much, right?

The most important thing is that Valerie really needs an excellent hacker like Barbara now. As her strength, vision and the people she comes into contact with increase, Valerie's sense of crisis becomes deeper and deeper.

The most important thing is those weird and harsh sounds. If you don’t understand yourself deeply, it’s hard to find out where these sounds come from. Whether it’s hacking or prosthesis, these are important ways to understand yourself.

"Okay." After hesitating for a moment, Valerie agreed to Barbara's interview. Then she suddenly remembered something, "If I refuse, you won't leave anything in my mind, right?"

"...You think too badly of me." Barbara certainly wouldn't do that. The image on her computer screen had already exited the code page. "Thank you for your trust. I will definitely not let you down."

Barbara's gentleness and seriousness made Valerie feel somewhat familiar, as she recalled that Helena was the same when she first joined her team.

However, Helena was somewhat inferior and put herself in the position of a follower, while Barbara was just being polite in comparison.

"When are you going to join us? I'll take you to see the real base." Since she had agreed to recruit Barbara, Valerie also formally sent an invitation.

"I'm so sorry, please let me start tomorrow. I have to deal with my dad tonight." Barbara said apologetically, "I still have a curfew. He won't agree if I just call."

NO33.Won’t be discovered!

Although Miss Barbara is gifted, as a middle school student, she still has to go to school honestly, not to mention the curfew.

"If you don't have free time, you won't be able to keep up with many of our actions, right?" Valerie asked the key question.

"Don't worry, Dad will be very busy at night, especially since our work is likely to overlap with his working hours. Even if the truth comes out, I can make up some excuses." Barbara was ready.

"Okay, I'll trust you first... I'll pay you." Valerie didn't intend to interfere in Barbara's own family affairs. "I have something else to do. Let the huntress take you. She's still outside."

Whenever Valerie was doing business in the basement bar, she would put Helena in the newly built gym upstairs to exercise or find a place to sleep.

It's not just because Helena doesn't like the environment in the bar, but also because Gotham law stipulates that the legal age to enter a bar is 21. Helena, who just turned this year, is obviously not suitable for entering such a place.

Law-abiding Valerie handed the car keys to fifteen-year-old Barbara and walked her out of the bar.

After a while, when the teleportation device was updated to the point where it made less noise each time it was started, Valerie installed a teleportation platform directly in Barbara's house, so that there would be no need to be so troublesome to do anything.

After Helena sent a message confirming that Barbara was safely in the car, Valerie unplugged the power cord of the still humming computer and put the host and monitor back into her pocket.

If Barbara were to join their team permanently, these would become her permanent equipment and must be kept well.

Valerie packed up her things and slowly walked out of the room. She planned to say goodbye to Marlon and then complete the space station that was already on track.

But after pushing open the door of the box, Valerie saw Marlon walking towards her, as if he was in a hurry.

"V, you're just in time." Malone seemed relieved. He then moved closer to Valerie and lowered his voice, "It seems we're being targeted by the police."

Although Malone is now a well-known good man, as one of the figures who has established himself in Gotham, he still has many gangster habits.

"It's unbelievable. There are policemen who would cause trouble for me?" Valerie was also surprised. She felt that she had a good relationship with these white forces in Gotham.

"The director came in person, his face looked as grim as if he had just seen his own son being killed." Ma Long said with lingering fear.

"..." Valerie probably understood, "Where is the director? Did he bring anyone with him?"

"They brought a black policeman. I'll send someone to entertain them, but it's up to you to decide how to treat them." Malone looked Valerie in the face.

Although Malone is actually in charge of the afterlife, no one will ignore the real boss here.

Rather, the reason why no one dares to mess with Laisheng is because almost all the big shots know that the boss behind the scenes here is the legendary V.

Valerie is now also a very important person.

"Take me to meet them." Valerie said to Malone calmly.

At this time, in the luxurious private room at the other end of the afterlife, Gordon was sitting on the sofa with a gloomy face, and Cash was beside him, not knowing how to comfort him.

Previously at the Gotham Police Department, Gordon’s conversation with Cash piqued his interest in V’s Yorozuya Shop, and since it happened to be their break time, they decided to check it out in plain clothes.

But while Gordon was talking to the hotel receptionist, he unexpectedly caught a glimpse of a figure from the back who looked very similar to his daughter.

Gordon felt like he was struck by lightning at the time, and was eager to confirm the identity of the girl, but the bar staff had half-forced them to the private room.

On the way here, Gordon and Cash had thought of many plans for investigation and intelligence gathering, as well as the words to use when talking to Valerie later, but after seeing the back of someone who looked like Barbara, the director's mind was now blank.

He just wanted to know if the girl was his daughter, so much so that he felt a little uneasy now.

Cash looked at Gordon's frown and couldn't help but said with concern: "If it doesn't work, let me handle things here, you go and see that girl."

"That's not necessary. Family matters should not interfere with official business." Gordon said solemnly, "I will ask the classmates who left school with Barbara later."

Cash breathed a sigh of relief and stopped talking about this topic.

Just at this moment, the sound of fingerprint unlocking was heard, and the door of the private room opened automatically. Valerie, dressed in classic mercenary attire, appeared in front of the two.

"Hey, good evening...you don't look very happy." Valerie greeted Gordon, who had a sour face.

"I just saw something upsetting, and I'm always in a bad mood." Gordon cheered up and his face finally didn't look so bad anymore.

"Much better than when we first met." Valerie found a suitable seat and sat down.

Compared to the last time they met, Gordon's face now looked much more rosy. With the help of Batman and Harvey, his work was not as strenuous as before.

"V..." Gordon originally wanted to ask indirectly as planned to see if there were any clues about Bane's remnants, but before he said one letter, his mind was filled with Barbara's back.

"Do you know my daughter?" Gordon finally asked the question he wanted to ask most.

Valerie sighed in her heart, but remained calm on the surface: "You still have a daughter."

Gordon stared at Valerie's delicate little face in silence, which made Valerie feel a little embarrassed and she looked away guiltily.

"You really know her, right? Did Barbara just come here?" Gordon's voice became stern.

"No, what are you talking about? Our store does not allow minors to enter the store." Valerie hurriedly made amends.