American comics: The off-the-charts random transformation

The Court of Owls had long anticipated that Batman would monitor the police department, so they had taken precautions to ensure he wouldn't find out.

Batman kept flipping through the surveillance footage, which showed relatively remote areas of Gotham or gang territory.

And Arkham Asylum, we should also check there. Every criminal has their own camera.

"Where could he be? Knowing his personality, if he got a dirty bomb, he'd definitely jump out and let the whole of Gotham know..."

The Joker wants Gotham to descend into chaos.

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

"Sir, please have something to eat!"

"Leave it there, Alfred, I'll eat it in a bit."

"Ok."

Alfred glanced at the Bat computer, then pointed to the ACE chemical plant and said, "Sir, this place... I remember there weren't this many employees yesterday."

Batman's eyes narrowed, and he looked around carefully. It seemed that there was a big problem with this place!

………………

"Any leads?!" Harvey Block would ask for information on the police car channel every ten minutes.

No! Over.

"We don't have any here either, that's all."

“Harvey, I’ve notified several big gangs in the slums. They’ll help us find the Joker. Over.”

"Harvey, we haven't seen them here either. None of the bars the Joker frequents, or the Joker's gang. Over."

……

……

After his colleague finished replying, Harvey Block angrily slammed his hand on the steering wheel and turned to ask Gordon a question.

"Still can't get through to Batman? Fuck, fuck, why can't I get through to him whenever I need him!"

"Calm down, Harvey. Batman might be investigating the Joker's location too, and he might not have time to return our calls!"

Gordon was also sweating profusely with anxiety, but he could only stay calm, he had to stay calm! He couldn't panic, because if he panicked, the entire police station would panic!

In fact, Gordon had a hunch: Batman was on the move! Heading to the ACE chemical plant.

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

ACE Chemical Plant, the birthplace of the Joker.

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

Batman also thought he was dead, so he ignored him and rushed off to deal with the bomb.

However, Red Hood survived in a bizarre way. After climbing out of the chemical pool, his hair turned dry and green, his skin became abnormally pale, his lips turned bright red, and he laughed involuntarily.

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

After transforming into the Joker, he robbed more than a dozen banks and outmaneuvered the police, his madness shaking the entire Gotham City.

Gangs feared him, the police couldn't catch him, and criminals worshipped him...

The Joker's popularity has reached its peak!

At that moment, someone stepped forward, gave the Joker a good beating, and then sent him to Arkham Asylum. That person was Batman!

As the saying goes, old grudges and new hatreds are settled at once, and after escaping from prison, the Joker targets Batman.

Despite failing every time, this stubborn little bat just wouldn't kill him!

This is unacceptable to the Joker! Batman's actions have severely wounded the Joker's pride!

The Joker firmly believes that whenever there is a worst day, a new Joker will be born!

So the Joker's actions became even more insane; he wanted to make Batman experience the worst day of his life and then force him to break his own principle of not killing.

He wanted to see what kind of Joker Batman would become back then.

…………

In the monitoring room of the ACE chemical plant, the Joker's gang saw the Batmobile that had just stopped.

He rushed out of the monitoring room and shouted to the Joker, "Boss, Batman is here!"

The Joker immediately got excited and rushed into the monitoring room even more eagerly than his underlings. However, upon seeing the person getting out of the Batmobile, the Joker became somewhat displeased.

"Oh, haha, I didn't expect the little bat to find me so quickly! But he doesn't seem so sure that I'm here!"

"How can you bring a little bird when you come to play with me? Hehehehe..."

The Joker told his gang that they could begin their operation!

……

"Ugh, the smell here is awful! It's like stinky tofu has been soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid and cooked with dog poop, ugh... it's disgusting!"

Tian Xiaoban pinched his nose, feeling extremely uncomfortable. With each breath, he would subconsciously feel nauseous and vomit.

A healthy body brings him clearer negative feedback from various environments, and it takes time to adapt to this.

Batman and Jason were serious; they ignored the mischievous Tian Xiaoban and headed straight for the chemical plant.

Tian Xiaoban stopped them: "Hey! You're just going to walk in like that? Aren't you afraid it's a trap?"

Jason was the first to show his impatience, walking past Tian Xiaoban: "If you're scared, stay here! We'll go take a look and be right back."

"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!"

Tian Xiaoban caught up with him and said some hurtful things to Jason.

"Shut up!"

Jason almost resorted to violence, only his rationality told him he couldn't win.

Batman ignored them and instead contacted Alfred.

"Alfred, there are indeed too many people left at the ACE chemical plant. Get things started!"

Alfred pressed the start button on the Bat computer, leisurely made tea, and said, "Alright, sir."

The Batmobile's trunk opened automatically, and one hundred small, bionic drones silently flew toward the chemical plant.

Alfred took a sip of his black tea and said, "The scene has changed. Be careful, sir."

The armor on Batman's arm popped open, revealing a small computer inside, and images from a small drone were transmitted.

Tian Xiaoban leaned over to take a look. On the small screen, half of it showed drone footage, and the other half showed a 3D model of the ACE chemical plant. The red dots marked the people in the plant.

The computer has already counted the countless red dots in the 3D model.

"Wow, 1,856 people! This place is quite lively! Are you sure the clown is here?"

“There was an incident in Gotham yesterday, so theoretically the chemical plant should be shut down today! Even if there are people, there shouldn’t be more than five hundred. Five hundred people are enough to keep the plant running normally, but it’s clearly not normal now.”

Jason joined in and asked, "Of these 1,856 people, how many are the Joker's men?"

"..."

Tian Xiaoban rolled her eyes. "Is that even a question? It's definitely all of them. I'm more curious about how he managed to organize so many people?"

Batman thought further; he felt there were probably other people like those from yesterday inside!

If the Claw Killer were mixed in with ordinary people, Batman might worry about accidentally killing them.

He warned, "There might be someone like yesterday who's impossible to kill. Be careful!"

Oh right!

Tian Xiaoban's expression also turned serious. Claw Killers are not scary; what's scary is when they mix with the clown's henchmen—that's the real trouble.

"Ha, I'm not afraid at all. Those are just defeated opponents!"

Jason had faced those ruthless killers head-on before, and in a one-on-many fight, he won! It's understandable that he got a little cocky.

Tian Xiaoban rolled her eyes again. Jason killing people was no big deal; he was destined to become a killer, an anti-hero who used killing to stop killing. But Batman was different.

Batman, Bruce Wayne, seems to be cursed. Once he starts killing, he's like a trolley that's started moving further and further down the path of darkness, never stopping.

While he is terrifyingly strong, he is also extremely bloodthirsty. He will keep killing and killing until there is no one left in the universe to kill. (Here, I'm specifically criticizing The Dawnbreaker, a Batman who has slaughtered his way through the universe, purely bloodthirsty and an extremely immature adult.)

"Do you have a solution?" Tian Xiaoban asked Batman.

Batman seemed to be waiting for something, and responded after Tian Xiaoban finished speaking:

"Yes, provided the Joker is actually inside!"

Tian Xiaoban thought for a moment and asked, "The surrounding water shouldn't be polluted by the factory, right?"

"..." Batman fell silent. The ACE chemical plant had exploded before, and the surrounding water sources were more or less polluted.

Although he spent a lot of money to rectify the situation using Bruce Wayne's name, the results were basically nonexistent.

Epex Chemicals, the company that owns the ACE chemical plant, rebuilt the plant, so the environment there has basically never been cleaned up.

"Damn, I knew it!"

Tian Xiaoban cursed inwardly while reciting ironic magic aloud: "Big puddle!"

A huge puddle appeared out of nowhere on the concrete ground.

"Phew! Not bad! Not too taxing!"

Batman looked at Tian Xiaoban with disapproval.

Tian Xiaoban explained, "You know that my transformation is unstable! The most painful time for me was when I turned into a fish and hopped around on a floor without a drop of water for an hour! Therefore, I usually find a place with water before transforming."

Wayne Manor is full of water, so I can transform quite freely. But here! I'd rather expend some effort to create a safe water source myself!

This magically created water is second only to pure water! Would you like some?

Batman looked away.

Jason, curious, poked the magically conjured water with a stick, muttering, "Cool! So cool!"

Tian Xiaoban smirked, flicked his hand dismissively, and then…

"Transform!"