The entire city was on high alert; the GCPD had mobilized every officer.
Anyone not a complete fool could see that something major was happening!
Batman, constantly monitoring police channels, also learned of the situation. He was currently trying to trace the anonymous tipper, convinced that person knew more.
Unfortunately, the tipper had covered their tracks well; Batman couldn't find them for the time being.
The Court of Owls had anticipated Batman would monitor police communications, so they had taken precautions, ensuring he wouldn't trace the tip back to them.
Batman relentlessly scanned surveillance footage, focusing on Gotham's more remote areas and known gang territories.
Arkham Asylum also needed checking; every criminal there had a dedicated camera on them.
"Where would he be? Knowing his personality, if he got his hands on a dirty bomb, he'd definitely make a show of it, letting all of Gotham know..."
Throwing Gotham into chaos was what the Joker wanted.
Alfred arrived at the computer console with freshly baked cookies and warm milk.
"Master Bruce, have something to eat."
"Just leave it there, Alfred. I'll get to it later."
"Very good, sir."
Alfred glanced at the Batcomputer screen, then pointed towards ACE Chemicals. "Sir... I don't recall there being this many employees there yesterday."
Batman's eyes narrowed as he focused on the location, scrutinizing it. It seemed this place was highly problematic.
......
"Any leads yet?" Harvey Bullock would bark into the police radio channel every ten minutes.
"Negative! Over."
"Nothing here either, over."
"Harvey, I've notified the major gangs in the Narrows. They'll help us look for Joker, over."
"Harvey, nothing on our end either. The usual bars Joker frequents, and the Jokerz gang, haven't seen him. Over."
...
...
After the replies from his colleagues ended, Harvey Bullock slammed his fist on the steering wheel in frustration. He turned to Gordon.
"Still can't get through to Batman's line? Fuck, fuck, why is it always unreachable when we need him most!"
"Calm down, Harvey. Batman might be investigating Joker's location himself and doesn't have time to answer our calls!"
Though Gordon was also sweating bullets, he knew he had to remain calm. Absolutely calm! He couldn't panic; if he panicked, the entire department would fall apart.
In fact, Gordon had a hunch: Batman was already on the move! Heading to ACE Chemicals.
......
ACE Chemicals. The birthplace of the Joker.
Years ago, the Red Hood, leader of the Red Hood Gang, was fighting Batman over a bomb. Red Hood accidentally lost his footing and plunged into a boiling chemical vat. Any normal person would have been dead for sure.
Batman also believed him dead, so he didn't pursue it further, focusing on dealing with the bomb.
However, the Red Hood had bizarrely survived. After crawling out of the chemical vat, his hair had turned dry and green, his skin deathly pale, and his lips blood-red. He found himself laughing uncontrollably.
Thus, the king of villains, the Joker, was born.
After becoming the Joker, he robbed over a dozen banks, running circles around the police. His madness made all of Gotham tremble.
Gangsters feared him, the police couldn't catch him, criminals idolized him…
The Joker's infamy reached its peak!
Then, one man stood up, beat the Joker senseless, and threw him into Arkham Asylum. That man was Batman!
Settling old scores and new grudges, the Joker targeted Batman relentlessly after every escape.
Though he failed every time, this stubborn Little Bat just wouldn't kill him!
This was unacceptable to the Joker! Batman's actions severely wounded the Joker's pride!
The Joker firmly believed that all it took was one truly bad day to create the next Joker!
Thus, the Joker's actions became even more deranged. He wanted to make Batman experience his worst day, to force him to break his own no-kill principle.
He wanted to see what kind of Joker Batman would become then.
...
In the ACE Chemicals surveillance room, a Jokerz goon spotted the Batmobile pulling up.
He rushed out of the room, shouting to the Joker, "Boss, Batman's here!"
The Joker immediately became ecstatic, more eager than his underling as he dashed into the surveillance room. Upon seeing who emerged from the Batmobile, however, the Joker looked a little displeased.
"Oh, haha, I didn't expect the Little Bat to find me so quickly! But he doesn't seem so sure I'm here, does he!
How can you bring a little bird when you come to play with me? Hehehehe..."
The Joker signaled his goons; it was time for them to act!
...
"Ugh, the smell here is atrocious! It's like concentrated sulfuric acid poured into stinky tofu and then boiled with dog poop, ugh... It's nauseating!"
Max pinched his nose, clearly uncomfortable. Every breath made him instinctively gag.
His healthy body provided him with clearer, negative feedback from various environments; this would take time to adapt to.
Batman and Jason were more serious. They paid no attention to Max's antics, heading straight for the chemical plant.
Max stopped them. "Hey! Are you just going to walk in like that? Aren't you afraid it's a trap?"
Jason, impatient first, bypassed Max. "If you're scared, stay here! We'll go check it out and be back soon."
"Idiot, I'm talking about you, Jason! Batman is tough and can take a beating, but you can't. Out of the three of us, you seem to be the weakest right now, eh!"
Max caught up, delivering a verbal jab at Jason.
"Shut up!"
Jason was on the verge of hitting him, if not for the rational part of his brain telling him he couldn't win.
Batman ignored them, instead contacting Alfred.
"Alfred, there are indeed far too many personnel remaining at ACE Chemicals. Activate the package!"
Alfred pressed a button on the Batcomputer, leisurely brewing tea as he replied, "Done, Master Bruce."
The Batmobile's trunk opened automatically, and a hundred small, robotic biomimetic drones silently flew towards the chemical plant.
Alfred sipped his red tea. "The feed has been transferred. Stay safe, Master Bruce."
A panel on Batman's gauntlet slid open, revealing a small computer. The drone footage appeared.
Max leaned over to look. On the small screen, half was the drone footage, and the other half was a 3D model of ACE Chemicals, with red dots indicating the people inside the factory.
The 3D model was packed with red dots; the computer had already tallied them.
"Whoa, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six people. This place is pretty lively! Are you sure the Joker is here?"
"After what happened in Gotham yesterday, theoretically, the chemical plant should be closed today! Even if there were people, it wouldn't be more than five hundred. Five hundred is enough to run this factory normally. This is clearly abnormal."
Jason also leaned in. "So, out of these one thousand eight hundred and fifty-six people, how many are Joker's men?"
"..."
Max rolled his eyes. "Does that even need thinking about? Of course, they all are. What I'm more curious about is how he organized so many people."
Batman considered more. He felt there might also be people like those from yesterday!
If Talon assassins were mixed in with ordinary people, Batman might worry about accidentally killing civilians.
He warned, "There might be those unkillable people from yesterday. Be careful!"
"Oh, right!"
Max's expression also turned serious. Talon assassins weren't scary on their own; the trouble was if they were mixed with Joker's goons.
"Ha, I'm not afraid. They were just losers I already beat!"
Jason, after all, had faced those Talon assassins directly, and outnumbered, had won! It was normal for him to be a bit cocky.
Max rolled his eyes again. It didn't matter if Jason killed; he was destined to become a killer, an anti-hero who used killing to stop killing. But Batman was different.
It was as if a curse lay upon Bruce Wayne. If he ever started killing, he'd be like a runaway train, going further and further down the track of darkness, never to stop.
While terrifyingly strong, his killing intent was also extremely heavy. He would kill, and kill, and kill until there was no one left in the universe to kill. (Translator's Note: A nod to Dawnbreaker, a Batman who killed his way across the universe, a pure killing machine, a super-manchild.)
"Do you have a solution?" Max asked Batman.
Batman seemed to be waiting for something. After Max spoke, he responded:
"Yes, provided the Joker is really inside!"
Max thought for a moment and asked, "The water around here... it hasn't been polluted by the factory, has it?"
"..." Batman fell silent. ACE Chemicals had exploded in the past, and the surrounding water sources were more or less contaminated.
Although he had spent a fortune in Bruce Wayne's name to clean it up, the effect was minimal.
Apex Chemical Corporation, the parent company of ACE Chemicals, rebuilt the plant, so the environment here had barely been remediated.
"Damn, I knew it!"
Max cursed inwardly, then chanted a reverse magic spell: "Elop Retaw Eguh!" (Huge Water Puddle!)
A giant puddle of water appeared out of thin air on the concrete ground.
"Phew! Not bad! The energy cost isn't too high!"
Batman looked at Max with disapproval.
Max explained, "My transformations are unstable, you know that! The most painful time I ever had was turning into a fish! I flopped around on a waterless floor for an hour! So, before I transform, I usually find a place with water.
Wayne Manor is full of water, so I can transform pretty casually there. But this place! I'd rather spend some energy and create a safe water environment for myself!
Magically created water is second only to pure water! Want a drink?"
Batman averted his gaze.
Jason, however, was curious, poking the magically created water with a stick. He kept muttering, "Cool! So cool!"
Max smirked, gave a stylish flick of his hand, and then…
"Transform!"
BANG!
Green light flared, roaring with brilliance!
Batman, already prepared, carefully stared at the figure within the light through his sunglasses.
A shiny bald head...?
...No, that's not right!
That wasn't a bald head, it was...
An egg!?!
A two-meter-tall egg!
"Holy crap! What kind of egg is that? It's huge!"
Jason swore in shock. He'd never seen such a massive egg in his life.
"Egg?" The egg spoke. It looked down anxiously at its reflection in the puddle, and also let out a curse: "What the f—, how did I become this guy! Of all the unlucky forms!"
A two-meter-tall, perfectly round body, tiny eyes complete with eyebrows and a mouth, extremely thin limbs, and round hands with a single finger.
Batman, meanwhile, was thrown into a crisis of self-perception.
An egg... also counts as an animal? Didn't it need DNA? Logically, what should have emerged was the creature inside the egg!
Not an... egg!
"How did I turn into Brother Eggbert!"
(Translator's Note: Brother Eggbert refers to "潇洒哥" (Xiaosa Ge), a classic character from the "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" series, an eggshell from the Whimsy World who likes to call himself a "prophet.")
Jason watched as an egg stared at its reflection in despair, then started squirting water from its eyes. It felt completely absurd!
"What on earth is this creature? Does it attack by spraying water from its eyes?"
"Huh?"
Brother Eggbert stopped crying. The mood suddenly shifted. The egg that was just having a meltdown was suddenly filled with "confidence," a mysterious kind of confidence.
"I am the immortal 'Prophet'! You can worship me, but please, don't fall in love with me!"
Jason: "..." His fists clenched. He'd never felt that an egg could be so incredibly punchable!
Batman spoke up at this moment. "A good ability. I might not be able to look after you two. Team up and proceed!"
With that, he fired his grapple gun and swung up to the nearest large tree.
Jason and Brother Eggbert looked at each other.
"Let's go. I hope your combat power isn't as fragile as an egg!"
Jason quipped, then ran towards the chemical plant.
"Hey, wait for me. Huh? Why are you running so slowly?"
Brother Eggbert, just casually jogging, easily caught up with Jason Todd and then started running faster and faster.
Jason had to fire his own grapple line to barely keep pace.
Brother Eggbert seemed to suddenly remember something, slapping his eggshell head. "Oh, I almost forgot, Brother Eggbert has never lost when it comes to running away!"
Jason, however, had sharp eyes and noticed that the eggshell had cracked from the slap, then mended itself in an unbelievable way.
The eggshell actually grew back! Even the cracks were gone!