Chapter 5027

Finally, the agent and the gun returned together to the Revival Alliance. Obviously, without taking the gun, Natasha couldn't report back; taking the gun, she even felt somewhat uneasy in conscience. Although I don't know whether Nick putting these three wards together was meant to eliminate something, now that the agent has left, the remaining two should be able to confront each other soon.

The two came to the drafting room together. Natasha saw the map on the table and sighed.

"Back when I was in the Red Room, I never passed the drafting course—why on earth would agents need to learn this stuff?!"

"Of course, so that when you look at a map, you won't only be able to read fire escapes." Shiler walked to the side of the table, examined the church map, then said, "This isn't enough; it's best to find the construction drawings, with the positions and height markings of all the Roman columns, as well as the elevation data of the upper circular dome."

"Why do we need this data?"

"Because I just like crouching up there… I mean, these are generally blind spots, requiring focused defense."

"Sounds like you haven't assassinated few priests." Natasha also realized this, arms crossed, saying, "Are you that kind of extreme anti-religious atheist?"

"Not at all," Shiler said, "I'm not going to assassinate priests either; on the contrary, my relationship with priests is quite good."

Natasha glanced at him but said nothing, and had someone go look for the blueprints.

On the other side, Thomas and Shiler were looking at wedding dress designs. Shiler flipped through a few pages and said, "These aren't really suitable."

"You understand this?" Thomas instinctively glanced at the ring on Shiler's hand.

"Not from an aesthetic standpoint," Shiler said, "If judging only by aesthetics, I think these few sets are quite nice, but the safety of this set and that set is too low."

"Safety, you mean modesty and such?"

Shiler shook his head and said, "Literally speaking, safety. This hoop skirt is too large; explosives could possibly be installed underneath, and this one is the same."

Thomas looked at the drawings; those two styles were quite standard classical wedding dresses—those big skirts supported by hoops, looking very splendid and beautiful, but upon further thought, if the space under the skirt is too large, it's indeed possible to hide something.

Wearing such a large skirt is far more troublesome than many people imagine; it basically requires five or six people to handle it together, and the bride must stand still the whole time, and after putting it on, she basically can't make big movements.

If one or two dangerous individuals mix in among those helping with the attire, pretending to adjust the inner lining and slipping in, sticking a bomb onto the hoop, as long as they don't touch the bride's leg, the bride wouldn't know, and from outside it wouldn't be noticeable. If it really exploded, it would become "the master's butt on the tree."

"These few mermaid-style dresses aren't bad either," Thomas said, "They're somewhat like Martha's wedding dress back then; that style was very popular in that era, I don't know if they'll like it. But anyway, we're only giving suggestions."

"Mermaid style isn't very safe either," Shiler said, "but it's better than that large skirt. You'd better remind them: if they choose this, they must be careful not to have the fishbone replaced..."

"Sorry?" Thomas was a bit confused.

"I mean the supporting structure at the waist." Shiler pointed to the drawing, then said, "As long as the material here is changed to something slightly harder, and paired with a long veil, if the bride accidentally trips, the fishbone could directly pierce her internal organs."

Thomas immediately grimaced, but he couldn't help glancing at Shiler again, having many questions to ask but not knowing how to ask them. After all, Shiler is a psychology professor—how does he know these things?

"The veil is also of top priority," Shiler said, looking somewhat troubled, "If it's a traditional wedding, it's best to use that kind of floor-length long veil, but long veils aren't safe enough..."

"I think we don't need to emphasize safety that much," Thomas said, "The bride isn't human; her physical strength is much greater than a human's, so even a bomb explosion might not be able to harm her."

Shiler nodded, seeming to think Thomas had a point, then continued, "The priest's safety is also important; let's try to add a shield to the pulpit."

"That wouldn't be good," Thomas said, "It looks like the priest is guarding against newcomers. I think we should instead give the Jesus statue a laser weapon, so anyone approaching the priest gets attacked by laser."

"Too troublesome, and it might not be smart enough; better to just take down the Jesus statue and let Superman go up there."

"That won't do," Thomas said, "Dick is Bruce's adopted son; Bruce didn't go up there himself, so on what grounds should we let Clark go up?"

Shiler sighed helplessly, wanting to say, as the saying goes, like father like son—compared to the mainstream universe Batman, Thomas is more like Bruce's biological father, his thinking is also quite bizarre, and he's quite daring in imagination and action.

"I think I should talk to the bride," Shiler said, "I also don't understand why she likes traditional Catholic weddings; perhaps I can get her to change her mind, or at least make some concessions."

"Kori..." Thomas opened his mouth, obviously knowing something about Starfire, wanted to say something, but ultimately said, "You really should go talk to her."

"Oh, you're already looking at wedding dresses?" Dick walked in, but not the mainstream universe Dick, rather the one from the universe of arrogance, coming in together with Raven.

Raven immediately walked over to look at the wedding dresses, constantly exclaiming in admiration; the dresses in this booklet are all splendid and beautiful, quickly drawing his attention.

"When are you planning to get married?" Thomas asked casually.

"We're not getting married," Raven replied.

"Why?" Thomas asked, "Are you marriage-avoiders?"

That's the same old story—Thomas is somewhat elitist and hopes his son becomes a dragon, but in personal feelings, he's not that rigid, nor does he push for marriage or childbearing; it's just that when this topic came up, he asked casually.

"Because my dad will come to cause trouble," Raven said calmly, "No matter when or where I hold the wedding, it will definitely turn into a major event of the Three Demons' Palace invasion; besides, I have no interest in such ceremonies."

Thomas sighed again—truly, every family has its hard-to-recite sutra—but obviously he had already discussed this with Dick, so there's nothing more to say.

"Have you seen this universe's Raven?" Shiler asked.

Raven shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, "We should also be able to contact the Three Demons' Palace here; otherwise, I'll ask?"

Shiler remained silent, he was thinking: in the original comic, the reason Dick's wedding didn't happen was Raven—Raven burst into the church and forcibly kissed Starfire, making things very unpleasant between them, and then they went their separate ways.

This matter is actually worth researching, but not researching Raven's behavior, rather researching how the two of them reacted differently after the incident, and the reasons for their eventual breakup.

After a while, a golden light flashed—Flash arrived, not sure which universe he's from, but he brought a thick booklet. Thomas took it and said: "Oh, the vows have come, let me take a look..."

Actually, in Catholic weddings, the content of the vows is always the same, but the content of hymns and sacred songs has some room for variation; this needs someone to adjust, and needs to be made into a booklet to distribute to guests, equivalent to a favor.

Shiler and Thomas studied it, felt the content was fine, but the booklet was made a bit too antiquated; even if imitating a retro wedding, there was no need to make it so dingy, so they had Flash send it back to be redone.

Next came venue setup; this time they sent over preliminary effect drawings. Shiler looked at Flash and asked: "How does the Anquan Force side say?"

"The defense map isn't done yet," Flash said, "Your isotope put forward many opinions; the Anquan Force side is revising it. So this is only a draft; the final version might take a few days..."

Shiler let out a light sigh, saying: "This is probably still conservative, but since the newlyweds aren't in a hurry either, we can take our time with it."

"The Revival Alliance did indeed instruct that, compared to speed, quality is more important," Flash said, "Not seeking to be stunning, but absolutely no problems must occur."

Shiler nodded, then turned to Thomas and asked: "How is Bruce? Is he still adapting to university life?"

"Don't mention it," obviously mentioning Bruce gives Thomas a headache full of lawsuits; he opened his mouth, didn't know where to start, and finally just said, "Sometimes I wish my child were more ordinary, so he wouldn't have to bear so much, but looking now, it's indeed still better to be a smart person."

This remark is already quite euphemistic; one can see Thomas doesn't want to belittle his child in front of outsiders. Actually, this universe's Bruce can't be called ordinary either—he just can't match those other Batman who are overly clever and demonic; if placed among ordinary people, he'd still count as smart.

After all, when Peter initially handed over the Spider-Man burden to him, it was akin to forcing ducks onto shelves, but he actually handled being Spider-Man quite well, especially in the complex situation of the merged universe, he could still fulfill this role, which shows he already has considerable talent.

But precisely because the merged universe situation is too complex, merely being competent isn't enough; not saying he's as old-schemed and deep-plotting as other Batmen, at least he needs to be stronger than Luthor; otherwise, the survival of Wayne Enterprises would be a problem.

"How about academics?" Shiler asked, "Ordinary coursework should be manageable, right?"

"That's fine," Thomas said, "University's ordinary coursework is naturally no problem, but according to what he said, Professor Parker's lectures on some extended knowledge, he can't fully understand. What really worries me is his insufficient understanding of human nature, his poor judgment of some people; otherwise, he wouldn't have been outsmarted by Iron Man."

Shiler knows he's referring to the Civil War incident; the trigger of the civil war, Spider-Man was the most innocent, purely due to being too young, being provoked, so after the war, no one went to bother him.

But this also indeed exposes Bruce's problem—misjudging people is a major taboo. Actually, he might not even know Iron Man isn't that upright, but having entered Stark Enterprises so many times, he never smelled the gunpowder between Iron Man and Pepper, thus failing to be more cautious in his actions; this really shouldn't be the case.

"I can go talk to him," Shiler also knew Thomas's meaning, but he still said, "However, talent is something that can't be forced; even my universe's Batman, to this day, still cannot accept the professional knowledge I've imparted to him."

"I don't need him to be a psychology master," Thomas said, "just a bit more street-smart so he doesn't get fooled."

"Indeed," Shiler nodded.

The merged universe can have many loopholes, but it cannot be Batman. Because Batman is very well-known across the multiverse, and many people even judge the strength of a universe by Batman's strength.

Although this universe's Bruce is not Batman but Spider-Man, Spider-Man is equally well-known, and many people also judge the universe's strength by Spider-Man's strength. In short, no matter what identity Bruce Wayne takes on, if he shows weakness, it could affect people's perception of the merged universe.

"I'll have my universe's Bruce go talk to him," Shiler said.