The Martian Manhunter was left speechless.
"The Earth is in chaos right now. Rather than using alien technology for war, it's better to use it for the people's livelihood. That's all I have to say. If there's nothing else, please see yourself out!" Thea explained the matter in a few words, eager to chase the Martian Manhunter away.
Perhaps because he had witnessed the tragic death of his family, especially his daughter, this guy had a passive attribute he wasn't even aware of: all cute little girls are his daughters!
Overflowing with paternal instincts, he treated every sweet and cute girl—from Gypsy to Stargirl, and now to the sisters Supergirl and Alex Danvers before him—like a daughter.
Thea had no intention of falling into his "clutches." This guy was powerful and loved to meddle; staying far away from him was the best choice.
Seeing her expression that pushed people a thousand miles away, the Martian Manhunter took the hint. He casually dispelled the illusion on Alex. Supergirl's sister had no idea what had just happened; her memory was still stuck on questioning the fake FBI credentials.
"Since the matter is clear, we will take our leave first."
"Safe travels to you both. Queen Consolidated always welcomes guidance from government departments."
After speaking, the Martian Manhunter grabbed Alex and walked out.
"Director, didn't you say there were issues with her new product?" Alex, who was just nineteen this year and barely resembled the capable D.E.O. agent she would become, asked in confusion.
The Martian Manhunter had a million things to say, but he didn't know where to start. His mental state still hadn't recovered, so he forced himself to act as if nothing had happened. "There might have been an error in the intelligence. Go back and comb through the records again."
He urgently needed rest. Sending Alex off to check file records, the Martian Manhunter prepared to reflect on the information he had obtained today.
Having sent away the two nuisances, Thea pushed aside all her work and focused on studying the various mind-control secret techniques she had stolen from the Martian Manhunter's thoughts.
His abilities were mostly innate talents—he was born with them. For Thea to reach his level through learning wasn't impossible, but it would require a massive amount of time.
The first thing Thea studied was the Psychic Shield. The Martian Manhunter used his powerful psychic force to wrap around his consciousness, preventing others from peeking. Thea's psychic force wasn't that tyrannical, and it was impossible for her to maintain such a massive output of mental energy non-stop in her daily life.
Referencing the Martian Manhunter's method, she developed an emotional version of the Psychic Shield.
She wrapped her consciousness in a massive amount of Fear. To peek at her thoughts, one would first have to pass through this barrier of fear. Even if they managed to pass, the shock would instantly drop the opponent's combat power by thirty percent.
It was such tyrannical psychic power that after studying for a day, Thea had to marvel at the Martian Manhunter's racial talents. It was truly a waste of talent for such a powerful combatant to be responsible for healing, saving people, cleaning up, and providing psychological counseling in the Justice League!
Picking up her shoulder bag, she left the company headquarters and arrived in Gotham as night fell.
First, Thea held a secret meeting with Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Queen Consolidated's aggressive entry into the medical industry was bound to impact Wayne Enterprises, which held the leading position in healthcare and genetic engineering.
Provoking LexCorp on one hand while encroaching on Wayne Enterprises' traditional business territory on the other—this was Thea's strategy. It seemed reckless, but this was actually the situation the upper echelons wanted to see. Any alliance between two of these three massive multinational corporations would not be permitted.
The higher-ups were happy to see the up-and-coming Queen Consolidated challenge two established giants simultaneously. To a certain extent, they would even help Thea. As for who was using whom, that was a matter of perspective.
Thea's trip was to send a signal: business war is business war, but it doesn't affect personal relationships.
The older man had navigated business wars for half his life; he had seen it all and saw through her purpose clearly. But the marketplace is a battlefield; he didn't fully trust Thea's words, responding with noncommittal pleasantries to get through the meeting.
With their prior friendship as a foundation, the meeting wasn't exactly warm, but it wasn't cold either.
Having achieved a preliminary result, Thea rushed to Wayne Manor. She had an appointment today to check on Damian's learning progress.
Batman and Damian were temporarily out, so the old butler, Alfred, received her. Thea was experienced in dealing with the elderly. After a few kind words, she presented several pounds of Assam black tea. The old man was a traditional Brit, and his tea-drinking habit had persisted for years. However, Americans drank too little tea—it was coffee this, coffee that, every day. The old man had long been stifled.
The old man smelled the fragrance of the tea leaves. "Is this new tea from the recent harvest?"
"Yes, it was just picked recently..." Thea certainly wasn't going to say that she and Diana (Wonder Woman) had passed by someone's tea tree and picked it out of curiosity...
"How thoughtful, how thoughtful..." The old man had always had a good impression of Thea. She was educated, cultured, and most importantly, polite. Thea was one of the few guests who actually entered through the front door to visit. Batman's little friends usually never used the door—windows, rooftops, sewers—those were the places they usually popped out from.
She chatted with the old man, listening to stories about his time in the British Special Forces. Not long after, Bruce returned with Damian.
Facing Thea again, both father and son were a bit ashamed. Batman genuinely hadn't known his son's foundation was so poor beforehand. For a full month, he hadn't gone anywhere—rumors in Gotham even claimed Batman was dead—while he poured his heart and soul into improving Damian's cultural knowledge.
Relying on his high IQ and vast knowledge, he compiled a set of textbooks, compressing six years of elementary school knowledge into one month, which Damian had to learn.
Don't understand? Get hit. Can't memorize? No food!
Damian also had a streak of resilience in his character. After the bloodline baptism, his intelligence and memory had reached a peak. With efforts from all sides, he finally finished learning what others took six years to learn in just one month.
"Check him!" Although Batman kept a straight face, he was actually quite proud inside, having a sense of déjà vu of a parent bringing a lagging student back up to speed through tough love.
Thea didn't need Damian to have a high level of knowledge; a solidified worldview was actually detrimental to learning magic. But you had to know how to read! If you couldn't even recognize words, what kind of mage could you hope to become?
She didn't stand on ceremony either, casually asking a few questions in math, English, and Latin. Damian answered them all fluently.
"Alright, not bad!" Thea was very satisfied and rubbed Damian's little head. The brat held back and didn't make a sound.
Telling Damian to come to Star City to find her tomorrow, she bid farewell to the father and son.
Walking alone on the streets of Gotham, Thea activated the Eye of Horus. She had one last thing to do on this trip: find Tommy, and give him the God Blood syringe.
That guy was having a blast hanging out with Barbara and Laurel; he hadn't returned to Star City for a long time.
As Thea searched for his trail, she pondered what to say when they met. After all, Malcolm hadn't told them about their blood relationship yet. Giving him something for no reason would be too suspicious.