Chapter 105 is the end, not the end of the main story! It refers to the end of the identity arc.
“Thomas…”
“That’s right!” The Joker tapped a few times on the control panel of the Quantum Bomb, then suddenly leaned back, spreading his arms wide in an exaggerated manner. His pale face was facing the dark shadow on the ceiling, indistinguishable from the pitiful “spectators.” “You and I should have been the most interesting monsters in this city, ha, we could have had a machine gun contest to see who could blow the most baby heads off, but I’ve noticed you’ve been getting close to that Bruce Wayne lately. I’m really sad, Bat, you’ve actually gotten so close to that boring Bruce…”
Thomas, with his claws wrapped around his head, quietly moved a little further away. Penguin, not to be outdone, carefully shuffled to the other side, trying to stay as far away from Batman as possible.
This means that Batman is now the only one facing the insane Joker.
Batman narrowed his eyes, staring with displeasure at Thomas the Tank Engine, which was gradually moving away from him.
Thomas the Tank glared back at him, but the round goggles made it impossible for Batman to see his emotions.
“Cooperate,” Batman whispered, “we’ll cooperate. I’ll go rescue them, you defuse the bomb…”
"Bat? That's sad. Are you listening?" The Joker's voice interrupted Batman at the opportune moment. "Oh, you have two new friends now! Don't worry, I'll play with them after I deal with those Waynes and that fancy little bird!"
“Plans changed. I’ll draw his attention.” Batman spread his cape and swooped down.
“Oh, wait a minute, Bat, wait a minute, let me finish,” the Joker suddenly straightened up, grabbed Thomas who was strapped to the bomb, and held a knife to his neck. “Actually, I was planning to capture Bruce Wayne today, but he mysteriously vanished! Oh, poor Bruce, maybe he fell into the sewers and got eaten by the alligators. What a shame, but it’s okay, I can always find a replacement!”
The clown laughed so hard he was doubled over, and the knife in his hand was pressed against Thomas's neck.
Batman didn't make any rash moves, but merely tilted his head, hoping that Thomas the Tank and the Penguin on the roof beam would quickly take the opportunity to stop the bomb.
"Are you going down or not?" the Penguin demanded, barely containing his anger. "The bomb..."
“No rush, let’s watch first,” Thomas said, still observing the “performance” without a trace of emotion in his voice, as if the matter had nothing to do with him. “It won’t explode.”
“Madmen…” the Penguin cursed in the softest of voices, the word clearly directed at everyone present except himself. “God, can’t these people do some legitimate business that makes money? Like robbing banks, making firearms, or collecting protection money…”
"Strictly speaking, none of these can be called legitimate businesses."
"It's much better than bombing Gotham or staying up all night disturbing other people's money-making."
Thomas ignored him; he was unusually good-tempered today and didn't kick the Penguin in the back.
Their conversation on the roof beams clearly had no effect on the clown on the ground, who continued in an exaggerated tone, "Now you have two choices, Bat. The first is to stop the bomb and let me kill him, the second is to save this substitute—and then, 'bang!'"
He gestured exaggeratedly, the knife leaving a bloody mark on Thomas's neck: "Choose, Bat, choose! Let's take it one step at a time, saving the main event for last. Today, we'll just have one simple multiple-choice question, starting with learning to watch others die..."
"Can you understand what he's saying?" the Penguin asked Thomas bluntly. "I can't understand him. There's only one option: isn't he himself within the bomb's range?"
"What he meant was that because Batman and Bruce Wayne were close, he decided to kill Bruce in front of Batman, but since he couldn't find Bruce, he opted to kill Thomas Wayne in front of Batman instead, and then kill Robin and Bruce later, letting him experience despair step by step, something like that," Thomas Wayne explained. "As for the bomb, I guess it probably meant that if Batman would give up stopping the bomb for one person, then it wouldn't matter if Gotham, a completely boring city with no criminal art, was blown up."
The Penguin moved a few more steps, further away from Thomas: "So how do you know so much about what the Joker is thinking?"
"Because I've seen a lot of Jokers and have a lot of experience, and I've been watching videos of the Joker for the past month, trying to figure out his behavioral logic," Thomas sighed. "It took me most of the month."
"And then? What was the result?"
"The result was that I lost a full two pounds, and I just couldn't stand looking at that face." Thomas looked away from the Joker. "It turns out that anyone who tries to fully understand the Joker is crazy, especially this one. Honestly, I can even find a little bit of the other Joker's charm in him, and the other Joker who's my blood feud doesn't seem so bad anymore."
"How good can it be?" The penguin was astonished.
“I guess his only goal was to kill me, he wouldn’t talk to me like that,” Thomas said, standing on the roof with his hands behind his back. “Of course, the Joker’s greatest advantage is that he is completely dead. It’s a shame my former colleagues didn’t give me the chance to kill him myself.”
The two men were having a pleasant conversation on the roof beam, while Batman, who was waiting for Claw's help but hadn't arrived yet, was still trying to stall for time: "The man in your hand isn't Thomas Wayne Jr., he's Thomas Elliott."
"Oh! Is that so? I just kidnapped him from his bedroom at Wayne Manor. You managed to kidnap a substitute for a substitute?" The Joker wore an exaggeratedly bewildered expression, almost pressing his face against Elliott's, before bursting into maniacal laughter that made the knife tremble violently. "Hahahaha, no wonder he didn't wake up the whole way. I thought I accidentally damaged some nerve while hypnotizing him—but it's alright, Bat, it's alright! If you can calmly watch him die today, that's progress! We should seize every opportunity that allows you to improve, Bat! What do you choose?"
“I,” Batman answered slowly, his gaze drifting to the dwindling countdown on the bomb display screen. He gestured for Talon to act quickly, promising to cooperate fully and catch the Joker off guard. “I will choose to save the person in your arms.”
The Joker's smile instantly deflated like a punctured balloon, his voice filled with venomous disappointment: "Please, Bat, you can't even bear to see Elliott die today, how are you going to dismember Bruce Wayne later? I was planning to train you little by little, and eventually we could practice our knife skills together on him, do some little activities to strengthen our bond—I'll give you another chance, Bat, since this is our first official meeting, don't waste it!"
“No need,” Batman said, slightly relieved as the claws finally fell from the rafters. He then focused all his attention on the Joker. “Release him. Release Elliott.”
"So you're determined to destroy everything and go against me?" The Joker smirked again. "Oh, Bat, I know you, you wouldn't do that—"
He jerked his head back and saw Thomas, who was "manipulating and trying to stop the bomb" but was actually just repeatedly opening and closing a pointless window to pretend he was very busy: "Unless you're confident you can do both, oh—I knew it! I had already figured out how to stop those two little guys, but I didn't expect you to have fallen so low as to ally with an owl! So depraved, hahahahaha!"
He casually stabbed Elliott in the back, shoved Elliott to Batman, and charged toward Claw Thomas Jr., who was operating a bomb.
This was exactly what Thomas wanted. The countdown had just entered its final stage, and he picked up the quantum activator that was placed to the side. The purple light enveloped him, the Joker, and the quantum state bomb.
At the last moment, Thomas Jr. removed the Claw mask and looked at Batman.
“Don’t worry about these trivial matters,” he said calmly. “If you have any questions, you can check the videotapes under the freezer in my office.”
They then disappeared together in the underground laboratory.
-
"Hahaha, so you're that little Thomas Wayne?" The Joker's hands and feet were pinned to the permafrost with knives, forcing him to "sit" next to the quantum bomb, his eyes darting around as he surveyed his surroundings. "Good heavens, how rude, interrupting someone's little game like that..."
This isn't Gotham City. There are no neon lights, no skyscrapers, and no people...
Apart from him and Thomas Wayne standing in the snow.
The quantum bomb emitted a rapid alarm, starting its final countdown, followed by an error message indicating "missing core component," and then fell completely silent.
“This place is a lot like my grave,” Thomas said, standing in front of the clown and clearing a small patch of snow with the sole of his boot. “Unfortunately, they’re not on the same planet. Honestly, the thought of your flesh and blood polluting this snow makes me sick.”
He bent down, took out the small black box he had prepared earlier from the snow, opened it, and blue light danced on his face.
This is his weapon, the weapon he can truly trust and rely on completely.
Young Thomas couldn't control his parents and brother, so he shot them all. Adult Thomas couldn't control Gotham's criminals, so he used the Night Owl's equipment to eliminate them all…
And now, the multiverse is also beyond Isaiah Thomas's control. In such a world, no matter how meticulous his plans are, they may fail; no matter how much effort he puts in, he cannot erase the ending he doesn't want.
This is something he can never control.
Thomas Jr. held the detonator in one hand, inserted it into the quantum bomb, and reactivated it. In his other hand, he held the quantum starter, ready to send himself and the quantum bomb to Earth at any time.
The choice that had been troubling him for the past six months had finally reached an unavoidable final moment.
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Author's Note: Believe me, it's definitely a happy ending! If I'm lying, may I fail every single one of my courses!
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