Holy crap! Max! That doesn't look like something you can eat! Don't be stupid at a time like this! Spit it out!"
Jason was the first to rush over. He vigorously shook Super Eggbert, trying to make him spit out the dirty bomb.
The force of it made a "clanging" sound echo from within Brother Eggbert's stomach.
Super Eggbert almost got dizzy enough to see stars. He quickly said:
"Hey, stop shaking, stop shaking, Robin! If you break my eggshell, the dirty bomb will fall out! If it explodes out here, we're done for! Don't worry, this body of mine once sealed a world-destroying great demon. The space inside the eggshell is incredibly powerful; the dirty bomb can't even scratch it!"
"Are you sure?" Batman voiced his doubt. He knew that although Super Eggbert looked formidable, he was, in essence, still an eggshell. How could an eggshell possibly withstand a dirty bomb explosion?
The belatedly arriving Commissioner Gordon ran over, panting. He asked urgently, "Where's the dirty bomb? Where is it! I brought a bomb disposal expert, let the professional handle it! He can definitely dismantle it in the shortest possible time!"
Super Eggbert sheepishly scratched the back of his shell-head, an embarrassed expression on his egg-face.
"Ehehehe! Sorry, Commissioner, I ate the dirty bomb!"
But when these words reached Gordon's ears, his brain automatically interpreted it as: this monstrous thing has stolen the dirty bomb! And it doesn't plan to return it!
"What! Are you fucking kidding me! What the fuck! This is no time for jokes! Hand over the dirty bomb, now! The sooner this thing is dealt with, the better. If you don't hand it over, I'll shoot!"
Compared to the unmoving Batman, Gordon, at this moment, trusted his police-issue handgun more!
Super Eggbert raised his thin arms, the human-like expression on his eggshell filled with grievance. The scene was utterly bizarre.
At least, it was very bizarre from Gordon's perspective. Was he actually threatening an egg?!!!
"I want to see the dirty bomb right now, or I'll scramble your yolk!"
"Commissioner, don't shoot, I'm one of yours! I'm not kidding, I'm trying to save people! The bomb is about to go off in about two minutes, there's no time for defusal, this was a desperate measure!"
But his words did nothing to sway Gordon's determination: either hand over the dirty bomb or be shot dead.
Super Eggbert sighed helplessly. "Alas, why must you be like this? What's the point? Even if I stood here and let you shoot me, you couldn't kill me!"
Jason couldn't stand it anymore and yelled at him again, "Shut up, you idiot! Commissioner Gordon is right, spit it out! That thing really isn't edible!"
Jason looked the most anxious; he was genuinely afraid Max would get himself killed through his own antics.
Although Batman was expressionless, the computer on his gauntlet had already activated and was continuously scanning Super Eggbert, trying to determine the feasibility of his words.
"What? Robin! It really ate the dirty bomb!" Gordon was in complete disbelief. His first thought was that something was wrong with his hearing, then he thought Robin must have gone mad and was talking nonsense.
Jason said seriously:
"Yes, it's true! We saw him swallow the whole dirty bomb with our own eyes. The dirty bomb is in his stomach right now! Shit, you're still smiling! I'm not fucking praising you!"
Super Eggbert waved his hand somewhat smugly; his ears only registered praise, everything else was automatically filtered out:
"Ehehehe, relax, Robin. I'm immortal, you know, and I can fly. Two or three minutes, that's no time to defuse a bomb. It's better for me to just fly it out to sea and detonate it. Don't worry, even if I'm blown to smithereens, I'll survive! No time to chat, gotta go!"
Super Eggbert's flight speed was still very fast. At full speed, he was no slower than the Batwing.
As for Jason's concern, Super Eggbert appreciated the sentiment.
He did indeed have a kind of sixth sense, an intuition, telling him that there would be no danger.
After all, Brother Eggbert had once sealed even General Black. A mere dirty bomb? Its explosive force couldn't possibly cause damage within the eggshell's internal space.
The reason he told Batman and the others he was going to detonate it at sea was merely to reassure them, to be considerate of their ability to accept the situation.
"Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring..."
An alarm clock sound rang from his stomach. The dirty bomb was about to explode.
The Joker, lying in the police car, endured the excruciating pain and pressed his face against the car window. He wanted to see Gotham University annihilated!
As it turned out, Gotham University remained perfectly intact...
Joker: "Truly worthy of you, Little Bat. Hehehehe, we'll have plenty of time to play later, hehehehe..."
Over the sea...
"THUMP!" A muffled sound echoed. The dirty bomb had exploded!
"Pffft!"
Super Eggbert, still flying, was merely forced to let out a fart. His eggshell body was completely undamaged.
"Just as I thought! This eggshell looks brittle on the outside, but its internal space is terrifyingly strong!"
"Emmm, what now? If I go back like this, will they think I'm messing with them? Got it! I have a plan! Hahaha, truly the wisdom of a prophet!"
Brother Eggbert hovered in mid-air, the sea surface directly below him. He plunged straight into the ocean.
Underwater, he adjusted his position and, facing Gotham City, used a maximum-power "White Hole Attack"!
White energy spread out wildly, pushing the seawater and forming the largest tsunami in Gotham's history!
It immediately triggered geological disaster alarms!
The tsunami appearing off the coast naturally caused panic among Gotham's citizens! Televisions and radios broadcast urgent alerts, telling coastal residents to evacuate the shoreline quickly.
"Uh oh... I think I've caused trouble!"
Super Eggbert hastily flew out of the sea, flying at full speed, chasing the giant wave!
Gordon, still at Gotham University, also received this unfortunate news! He instinctively thought of Super Eggbert, who had just flown off in that direction, and suspected the explosion might have caused the tsunami.
Finding the nearest television and flipping to a news channel, he saw the giant wave in the video; it was already absurdly high!
This wave was too big, coming too fast. Gordon was helpless, and Batman had no good solutions either. Apart from telling people near the coast to flee, there was nothing else to be done.
Just then, in the live video feed, a strangely dressed egg descended from the sky!
It appeared right in front of the giant wave, its cape fluttering like Superman's.
It was Super Eggbert. He drew circles with both hands simultaneously, and the pure white circles emitted two enormously thick lasers, directly slicing through the giant wave!
The crest of the wave was cut horizontally through the middle. Without its most dangerous part, the tsunami's power was greatly reduced.
"Beep-beep-beep-beep...!"
"Oh oh! Unlucky, unlucky, unlucky!"
Bang!
Max de-transformed high in the air. The Omnitrix's transformation time had just run out, and he was still more than ten meters above the sea surface.
He was in freefall.
However, the remaining crest of the wave he had just cut was still advancing. If he was lucky, Max could make a soft landing in this wave!
Splash—
Glug~ Glug~
Max crashed into the wave. The impact of the seawater forcibly expelled the air from his stomach, and several mouthfuls of seawater were forced into his open mouth.
Max flailed his arms and legs, desperately thrashing. He had just broken the surface, yet to take a breath, when another wave crashed down, pulling him under again!
Just as Max was about to drown, the Omnitrix icon, previously red, turned green again and automatically activated.
"POW!"
The trusty Omnitrix's owner-protection mode activated. When the owner is in mortal danger, the watch activates itself, matching the optimal DNA, and enables the owner to escape the dangerous environment.
This time he transformed into... Gomamon!
Gomamon is a sea-animal type Digimon capable of activity on land, with white fur covering its entire body, resembling a small sea lion.
Having gained the swimming abilities of a sea beast, Gomamon Max quickly swam ashore!
"Ptooey! Whoo-whoo~ I almost died there! And almost killed myself! Damn, so unlucky! Next time I turn into a scatterbrained character, I absolutely must use my brain before doing anything!"
Gomamon Max crawled towards higher ground. Moving with this large-clawed body was quite awkward.
However, he hadn't crawled for long before the Batwing arrived. The jet flew above Max, and Jason jumped out.
"I recognized you from the sky right away. Only you can turn into such strange, abnormal animals! Max, you saved Gotham, you're a hero!"
Perhaps due to overexcitement, the kid picked up Gomamon Max, and it was a bear hug! The kind where you squeeze with all your might!
Gomamon was instantly subjected to a physical crush!
"Oof—Holy crap! I didn't die from the waves, but I'm about to be strangled by you! Let go—you idiot!"
"Oh, oh, sorry."
Jason put Gomamon Max down; he knew he had gotten too excited.
"Phew, forget it. Take me back quickly, I need to eat! I used up all my energy saving people! I'm super hungry right now!"
"Okay, no problem!" Jason picked up Max again and ran towards the Batwing parked nearby!
...
The Joker affair, for the time being, had come to a close.
He was sent back to Arkham Asylum by Batman, continuously enduring the torment of physical disintegration and regeneration!
Since Brother Eggbert's appearance was too outlandish, Commissioner Gordon attributed the resolution of the incident to Batman, especially since Brother Eggbert had been brought by Batman.
Max spent the next few days in a rather decadent state. At Wayne Manor, he enjoyed the life of the rich, with a considerate old butler attending to his every need every day!
Bliss—
Jason trained diligently, vowing to catch up to Max, or at least to be able to last ten moves against him and not be easily defeated!
Batman and Bruce Wayne, playing two parts of a whole, had more or less settled the matter of the "Shennong Ruler." The next step was to wait for a sufficiently capable mercenary to come and "steal" this "genuine artifact"! And then take the fall spectacularly!
In his spare time, Batman secretly began investigating the Court of Owls, while also tracking Catwoman's movements.
The Court of Owls sent out many people to inquire about the Joker. They were very eager to know how the Joker had managed to steal things from their vault!
The others, meanwhile, moved their treasury to another location. Their treasury contained so many items; they couldn't let the Joker steal everything