Finally, the agent returned to the Rebirth Alliance with the gun. Obviously, without taking the gun, Natasha couldn't report back, but taking the gun, she even felt a bit guilty. Although she didn't know if Nick had put these three wards together to cover something up, now that the agent was gone, the other two should clash soon.
The two of them arrived at the mapping room together. Natasha sighed when she saw the map on the table.
"Back when I was in the Red Room, I never passed the mapping course. Why exactly do agents need to learn this stuff?!"
"Of course, it's so you won't only be able to understand fire escape routes when looking at a map." Shiller walked over to the table, examined the church map, and then said, "This isn't enough. It's best to find construction drawings, with all the Roman columns' positions and height markings, along with the step measurements of the circular dome above."
"Why do you need this data?"
"Of course, it's because I just love to perch up there... I mean, these are generally dead-end spots that need key defenses."
"Sounds like you've assassinated quite a few priests." Natasha realized too, folding her arms and saying, "Are you one of those extreme anti-religious atheists?"
"Not really," Shiller said. "I'm not here to assassinate priests. On the contrary, I have a pretty good relationship with the priests."
Natasha glanced at him but didn't say anything, leaving someone to find the blueprints.
Elsewhere, Thomas and Shiller were looking at wedding dress designs. After flipping through a few pages, Shiller said, "These don't quite work."
"You know about this?" Thomas instinctively looked at the ring on Shiller's hand.
"Not from an aesthetic perspective," Shiller said. "If we're just talking about beauty, I think these are all quite nice. But these two have too low safety."
"Safety, you mean as in conservative or something?"
Shiller shook his head and said, "I mean literal safety. This crinoline is too big, and a bomb could be installed underneath. It's the same with this one."
Thomas looked at the design blueprints. Both were very standard classical wedding dresses, with large skirts supported by a crinoline, looking very gorgeous. But thinking about it carefully, if the space underneath the dress is too large, it could indeed hide something.
Wearing such a big dress is much more troublesome than many people imagine, requiring basically five or six people to help, and the bride has to stand still the whole time. Once worn, there's basically no way to make big movements.
If a couple of dangerous people mixed in through the people helping with the wardrobe, pretending to adjust the lining and then sticking a bomb on the crinoline, as long as it doesn't touch the bride's legs, the bride would never know, and it can't be seen from the outside. If it really exploded, it would just be "The counselor's ass in the tree."
"These mermaid dresses aren't bad," Thomas said, "they're a bit like Martha's wedding dress. This style was quite popular back then; not sure if they'll like it. But we're just giving suggestions anyway."
"Mermaids aren't that safe either," Shiller said, "but a bit better than those large skirts. You'd better remind them that if they choose this, they should be careful not to have the fishbones replaced..."
"Sorry?" Thomas was a bit confused.
"The supporting structure at the waist," Shiller pointed at the blueprint and continued. "As long as the material here is exchanged for something slightly harder and a long veil is added, if the bride accidentally trips, the fishbone could directly pierce internal organs."
Thomas grimaced but couldn't help but glance at Shiller, with many questions to ask but not knowing where to start. After all, how does Shiller, a psychology professor, know about this stuff?
"The veil is also of utmost importance," Shiller seemed a bit troubled, "for a traditional wedding, it's best to use those floor-length veils, but long veils aren't safe enough..."
"I don't think we need to focus so much on safety," Thomas said. "The bride is not human; her body strength is much higher than the human race's, and a bomb explosion might not even hurt her."
Shiller nodded, seemingly agreeing with Thomas's point, and then continued, "The priest's safety is also important. Try to add a shield to the podium."
"That doesn't seem right," Thomas said. "It looks like the priest is defending against the newlyweds. Perhaps we could equip the Statue of Jesus with laser weapons so that anyone approaching the priest would be attacked by lasers."
"Too troublesome, and it might not be intelligent enough. Better to just remove the Statue of Jesus and put Superman there."
"That won't do," Thomas said. "Dick is Bruce's adoptive son. Bruce isn't up there, so why should Clark go up?"
Shiller was helpless. As the saying goes, like father, like son. Compared to Primary Universe Batman, Thomas was more like Bruce's biological father, and his thoughts were just as unconventional and bold.
"I think I should talk to the bride," Shiller said. "I don't quite understand why she would like a traditional Catholic wedding. Perhaps I can persuade her to change her mind or at least be a bit more flexible."
"Koli..." Thomas opened his mouth, evidently knowing something about Starfire and wanting to say something, but in the end, he said, "You indeed should go and talk to her."
"Oh, are you already looking at wedding gowns?" Dick walked in, but it was not the Primary Universe's Dick, but the one from the Arrogant Universe, coming together with Raven.
Raven immediately approached to look at the wedding dresses, constantly exclaiming in admiration. The gowns in this booklet were all gorgeous and beautiful, quickly catching his attention.
"When are you planning to get married?" Thomas asked casually.
"We're not getting married," Raven replied.
"Why not?" Thomas asked, "Are you against marriage?"
As always, Thomas has a bit of an elitist streak and hopes for success for his child, but in terms of personal feelings, he's not very rigid and doesn't hurry anyone into marriage or having kids. He just brought up the topic casually.
"Because my dad would ruin it," Raven said calmly, "No matter when or where I hold the wedding, it will surely turn into a major event with the Sanguine Demon invasion. Besides, I'm not interested in such ceremonies."
Thomas sighed again; indeed, every family has its own problems. But it was clear he had already discussed this with Dick, so there wasn't much else to say.
"Have you met the Raven from this universe?" Shiller asked.
Raven shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, "It should be possible to contact the Sanguine Demon here as well; maybe I should ask?"
Shiller didn't respond, deep in thought, recalling that in the original comics, the real culprit behind Dick's unsuccessful wedding was Raven himself, who barged into the church to kiss Starfire, creating a rift between the two that ended in separation.
This incident is indeed worth studying, not Raven's behavior per se, but the different attitudes they had when facing the issue and the reasons for their breakup.
After a while, a flash of golden light appeared, and The Flash arrived. It was unclear which universe he was from, but he brought a thick booklet. After Thomas took it, he said, "Oh, the vows are here, let me take a look..."
Actually, in Catholic weddings, the vow content is always the same, but there is room for variability in the hymns and psalms, which need adjustment and must be compiled into a booklet to distribute to guests, serving as the equivalent of a wedding favor.
Shiller and Thomas examined it and found no issues with the content, but the booklet was done too archaically. Even if it's meant to mimic a vintage wedding, there's no need to make it so drab, so they had The Flash send it back for a redo.
Next came the venue setup; this time, they sent over initial renderings. Shiller looked at The Flash and asked, "What does the Security Department say about this?"
"The layout plans aren't done yet," The Flash said, "Your counterpart provided many suggestions, and the Security Department is currently making adjustments. So this is just a draft, and the official version might take a few more days..."
Shiller sighed lightly and said, "It's probably a bit conservative, but since the newlyweds aren't in a hurry, we can take our time."
"The Rebirth Alliance did emphasize quality over speed," The Flash said, "We don't need to be overly impressive, but we must ensure nothing goes wrong."
Shiller nodded and then turned to Thomas to ask, "How's Bruce doing? Is he adapting to college life?"
"Don't get me started." Obviously, mentioning Bruce brought another barrage of problems for Thomas. He opened his mouth, unsure where to start, and eventually said, "Sometimes I wish my child was more ordinary, so he wouldn't have to bear so much. But as it turns out, being smart is indeed better."
This remark was quite diplomatic; it's clear Thomas doesn't want to criticize his child in front of others. Actually, Bruce of this universe can't be considered ordinary; he just isn't as extraordinarily smart as those other Batmen, and among ordinary people, he's still intelligent.
After all, Peter passed the Spider-Man mantle to him, which was quite sudden, but he performed well as Spider-Man, especially in the complex situation of the Fusion Universe, showing he already has talent.
However, precisely because the situation in the Fusion Universe is very complex, merely doing the job isn't enough. Without expecting manipulative brilliance like some other Batmen, he should at least be better than Luther; otherwise, even the survival of Wayne Enterprises is in jeopardy.
"What about his coursework?" Shiller asked, "The ordinary coursework should be manageable, right?"
"That's not a problem," Thomas said, "The ordinary college coursework is certainly fine, but he says he can't completely understand some of Professor Parker's expanded knowledge. What really worries me is his lack of understanding of the human psyche and poor judgment of people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been manipulated by Iron Man."
Shiller knew he was referring to the Civil War incident, where Spider-Man was quite blameless, being too young and easily swayed, so no one sought trouble with him afterward.
However, this did expose a problem with Bruce: poor judgment of character is a major flaw. He likely sensed that Iron Man wasn't entirely upright, but having frequented the Stark Group without picking up on the tension between Iron Man and Pepper, he should have proceeded with more caution, which was inappropriate.
"I can go talk to him," Shiller understood Thomas's point, but he said, "But talent can't be forced. Even the Batman of my universe hasn't been able to accept the specialized knowledge I've tried to impart."
"I don't expect him to become a psychology master," Thomas said, "At the very least, he should have more insight and not be easily deceived, right?"
"Indeed," Shiller nodded.
The Fusion Universe can have many flaws, but Batman cannot be one of them. Batman is well-known across the multiverse, and many assess the strength of a universe according to Batman's caliber.
Though Bruce of this universe isn't Batman but Spider-Man, Spider-Man is also well-known, and many assess universe strength by Spider-Man's caliber. Overall, no matter the identity, if Bruce Wayne shows weakness, it could influence people's perception of the Fusion Universe.
"I'll have Bruce from my universe go talk to him." Shiller said.