American comics: Random transformations

"Oh, right. Um... Zatanna, could you do me a favor? Just tap the circular symbol on my shoulder blade to change me back!"

When Zatanna started explaining mental power to Ben, he knew things were going to work out!

"Sure! So, the magic to undo your transformation is activated by tapping this?"

Zatanna tapped the Omnitrix, and Ben transformed back in a flash of green light. He jumped out of Zatanna's arms, smiling awkwardly.

Then, he respectfully bowed and said, "Teacher Zatanna, please teach me magic!"

-----

Wayne Enterprises, Polymer Materials Factory.

This place has Gotham's most advanced research equipment, making it perfect for 'counterfeiting'.

After finishing his conversation with Gordon yesterday, Batman came here. He needs to replicate a polymer material version of the 'Shennong Ruler'!

Size, texture, a one-to-one replica, and then use special fluorescent materials to make its surface glow.

The similarity to the real Shennong Ruler should be around eighty percent.

The remaining 20% requires some manipulation to achieve.

This newly manufactured item will be placed in Wayne Manor and presented as the 'real thing'!

Even if it's fake, Bruce Wayne will promote it as genuine!

Next, Bruce Wayne will personally organize a charity auction among the wealthy, wanting to lure those who desire the staff into the game! But that fake 'Shennong Ruler' will not be sold.

This setup is crucial, at least to outwardly tell everyone that this item belongs to Bruce Wayne.

Moreover, Bruce Wayne will insist that this item is absolutely not for sale! Even if he were to sell it, he would set a price that no one could afford!

Then, he will have a trusted employee help buy it. Money is just moving from his left pocket to his right, so it doesn't matter.

This way, he can block the people on the surface. This is the first step of the plan.

As for the second step, those wealthy individuals with a strong obsession will definitely resort to underhanded tactics.

Hiring someone to steal, hiring someone to rob. This world never lacks skilled mercenaries.

Hehe, at this time, Batman needs to appear! No matter how many mercenaries come, he will stop them all.

And Batman's appearance will make more people believe that the 'Shennong Ruler' in Wayne's hands is real!

Once the goal is clear, the people that those obsessed millionaires send will become more and more powerful.

Then, Batman will deliberately create an opening and let them steal it!

The point of this game is for someone to steal the 'Shennong Ruler'!

Then Bruce Wayne will make a big fuss about it!

Bruce Wayne's playboy persona will reappear.

He'll hold a press conference, denouncing the thief's unreasonable behavior and offering a large reward!

This way, the 'Shennong Ruler,' this hot potato, will be thrown away. Even if someone gets the 'Shennong Ruler' and knows it's fake, that it's plastic, they can only suffer in silence!

Even if they jump out and say the 'Shennong Ruler' is fake, no one will believe them.

After all, Batman no longer has the Shennong Ruler, and neither does Bruce Wayne.

Making everyone believe that only the person who stole it has it!

This is Batman's overt scheme!

......

When Batman returned with the 'Shennong Ruler' emitting an eerie green light, he saw Zatanna teaching Ben backward-speech magic.

Like kindergarten children learning pinyin, she was teaching Ben to speak backward, reciting various words in reverse. She taught a sentence, and Ben learned a sentence.

Ben's memory is powerful, and he learns quickly. He basically learns as soon as he's taught, even able to replicate Zatanna's intonation.

Batman stepped forward and advised, "Using magic comes at a price! I don't recommend you learn it.

You already have great power. Learning magic will distract you."

Ben understood that magic requires a strong foundation. These things must be learned. Only by building a good foundation can magic progress smoothly.

Zatanna wasn't too happy with Batman's statement: "Magic has high requirements for talent. Since he has the ability to learn magic, he should learn more. This world isn't just about criminals; there are also demons from different dimensions!"

Seeing that the two were about to argue, Ben quickly changed the subject:

"Hey, Batman, are you done? What's that?"

Batman also knew that Zatanna was right, so he didn't argue with her and continued with what Ben said:

"I made a fake 'Shennong Ruler'. It will be used in the next few days.

Wayne Manor will be quite lively for the next few days. You can stay in the Batcave and move back after things are over.

Zatanna… be careful in Gotham. Don't underestimate anyone. People are sometimes more difficult to deal with than demons."

"Got it, Bruce." Zatanna smiled slightly, not really taking it to heart.

Then, she turned and continued teaching Ben to recite backward-speech magic.

......

The Joker is very happy right now.

Taking advantage of the chaos in Gotham yesterday, he stole a dirty bomb from the Court of Owls' warehouse, enough to destroy the entire city. This thing is more powerful than a small nuclear bomb!

Now, he's preparing a big surprise!

"Hehehehehe, hahahaha, I really didn't expect it. I originally wanted to steal a small nuclear bomb, but I got such a big treasure, hehehehe..."

The green cylindrical dirty bomb is now painted red. It's also covered with Joker's smiling faces.

After finishing, the Joker specially took an extra-large cardboard box and wrapped it into a gift box, with a big pink bow on top.

"Hahaha, perfect! Oh ho ho ho, Little Bat is going to be thrilled with this gift! Hahahahaha..."

This dirty bomb was the Court of Owls' secret weapon for cleansing Gotham!

It was a specially made execution tool.

And now, a thief has stolen it!

The entire Court of Owls is in a panic!

They created that thing as a contingency, or rather, as a toy to use for deterrence!

No member would be foolish enough to use that thing to set off fireworks!

But now, that's not so certain. Some lunatic stole that special dirty bomb.

Who knows when the Joker will detonate it!

If it detonates before their Court members have completely escaped! Then they're finished!

So, already worried, Commissioner Gordon suddenly received an anonymous tip that the Joker had stolen a Department of Defense dirty bomb and planned to detonate it in Gotham.

Commissioner Gordon felt his heart stop for a moment, followed by a tingling scalp!

"F*ck, f*ck, f*ck! Harvey, send out all the brothers! This is a major disaster! Go out and find him!"

Harvey, disturbed by the commotion in the office, ran into Gordon rushing out.

"What's wrong, Gordon? Calm down! Tell me what happened first!"

"That bastard Joker stole a dirty bomb!"

"What the f*ck!!!" Harvey also cursed in Gotham slang.

Chapter 22: The Bat and the Joker, and... Cool Bro

The whole city is on alert, the GCPD is fully mobilized.

Anyone who isn't an idiot can see that something big has happened!

Batman, who is constantly monitoring the police channel, also knows about this incident. He is currently looking for the anonymous informant, who definitely knows more.

But unfortunately, the anonymous informant has done a very good job of maintaining secrecy, and Batman can't find him for the time being!

The Court of Owls had already guessed that Batman would monitor the police station, so they had already taken precautions and would never let him find out.

Batman keeps reviewing the surveillance footage, which is all from Gotham's more remote areas, or gang territory.

Also, Arkham Asylum needs to be checked. All the criminals have their own cameras.

"Where would he be? With his personality, having obtained a dirty bomb, he would definitely jump out and let all of Gotham know..."

Making Gotham chaotic is what the Joker wants.

Alfred came to the computer desk with freshly baked cookies and warm milk.

"Master, have something to eat!"

"Just put it there, Alfred, I'll eat it in a while."

"Very well."

Alfred also looked at the Batcomputer and pointed to the ACE Chemical Plant, saying: "Master, this... I don't remember there being so many employees here yesterday."

Batman's eyes narrowed, and he looked over, scrutinizing it carefully. It seems there's a big problem here!

..................

"Any leads!" Harvey Bullock asks for news on the police car channel every ten minutes.

"Negative! Over."

"We don't have anything here either, over."

"Harvey, I've already notified several major gangs in the slums, they will help us find the Joker, over."

"Harvey, we don't have anything here either. The Joker's favorite bars, and the Joker gang, haven't been seen. Over."

..................

After his colleagues finished replying, Harvey Bullock angrily slapped the steering wheel. He turned his head and asked Gordon.

"Has Batman's phone been connected yet? F*ck, f*ck, how come I can't get through every time I need him!"

"Calm down, Harvey, it's possible that Batman is also investigating the Joker's location and doesn't have time to return our calls!"

Although Gordon was also sweating profusely with anxiety, he could only remain calm now, he must remain calm! He can't panic, if he panics, the entire police station will panic!

In fact, Gordon guessed a little: Batman is taking action! Heading to ACE Chemical Plant.

........................

ACE Chemical Plant, the place where the Joker was born.

Back then, the leader of the Red Hood Gang, Red Hood, was fighting with Batman for a bomb. Red Hood accidentally fell into the boiling chemical pool. A normal person would definitely die if they fell in!

Batman also thought he was dead, so he didn't care and rushed to deal with the bomb.

However, Red Hood survived strangely. After crawling out of the chemical pool, his hair became dry and green, the skin all over his body became abnormally pale, and his lips became as red as blood. The whole person laughed uncontrollably.

Thus, the king of villains, the Joker, was born.

After becoming the Joker, he robbed more than a dozen banks in a row and made the police run around in circles. His madness made the entire Gotham tremble.

Gangs feared him, policemen couldn't catch him, criminals worshiped him...

The Joker's popularity reached its peak!

At this time, a person stood up, beat the Joker hard, and then sent him to Arkham Asylum. That person was Batman!

As the saying goes, both old and new grudges are settled together. After the Joker escaped from prison, he targeted Batman.

Although he failed every time, this stubborn Little Bat just wouldn't kill him!

This is unacceptable to the Joker! Batman's actions seriously stimulated the Joker's self-esteem!

The Joker firmly believes that as long as there is the worst day, then on this day, the next Joker will be born!

So, the Joker's actions became even more crazy. He wants Batman to experience the worst day, and then make him break his own principle, the no-kill principle.

He wants to see what kind of Joker Batman will become at that time.