Chapter 351: The Full-Wave Projector!
The instant the bomb appeared on camera, everyone gasped involuntarily—both Iron Man Tony in the studio and viewers watching on screens throughout the city.
Everyone knew Garrett had planted numerous bombs across Manhattan. But no one had imagined that even the television studio—in plain sight, broadcasting live—concealed an explosive device.
The bomb had no timer display. Only a red light pulsed continuously, like a death sentence forcing every eye to fixate on it helplessly.
"Batman, where are you?" Garrett stood beside the bomb, addressing the camera. "I deliberately extended all the bombs' detonation times. I wanted to watch you realize the bombs are about to explode—and watch you fail to disarm them all simultaneously. I wanted to see you looking helpless."
Iron Man Tony's facial muscles tensed hard enough that his nasolabial folds appeared, lending his features a hint of ferocity.
But his metal faceplate prevented Garrett from noticing Tony Stark's expression.
"Peter, did you hear that? What's your plan?" Tony spoke quietly.
"I heard him, Tony. My plan is to disarm all the bombs simultaneously." Batman's voice came through encrypted communications. "Don't worry."
"How are you disarming them? With that beat-up Batmobile?" Tony Stark ground his teeth.
After all this delay, unless Batman was some omnipotent god, Tony Stark couldn't imagine how this guy could possibly disarm every bomb at once.
"Remember the full-wave projector? I've figured out exactly how it functions. Using it carries some risk, but it's the most reliable plan I have." Batman's low voice sounded in Tony's ear. "Also, the Batmobile isn't beat-up."
The full-wave projector?
Tony Stark understood Batman's intention the instant he heard those words.
Transport all the bombs to that prehistoric world using the full-wave projector!
"Batman, wherever you are, I'm giving you thirty seconds. Contact me immediately." Garrett continued addressing the camera. "Thirty, twenty-nine..."
Tony Stark's tension spiked immediately. His posture shifted slightly—he was about to move first, disarming the bomb in front of Garrett preemptively.
He couldn't just stand here watching Garrett's countdown end, waiting for Batman's plan to work.
What if Batman's plan failed?
But before Tony Stark could take a single step, a yellow-green point of light appeared less than a centimeter from the bomb.
Then the point expanded rapidly. A familiar yellow-green vortex portal opened. Tony Stark could even faintly hear dinosaur roars echoing from the other side.
The next second, the yellow-green vortex swallowed the beeping bomb whole. Before Garrett could react, the portal closed again—as if nothing had happened.
Except for that vanished bomb.
"Time's critical! GO GO GO!"
Beside Central Park in Manhattan, inside the Metropolitan Museum, a ten-person bomb disposal squad sprinted like madmen through the empty columned hall.
Even when one team member stumbled and crashed hard to the floor, nobody stopped. The remaining nine members actually accelerated.
While running, the nine bomb disposal team members rapidly extracted various tools from their gear, gripping them ready.
Beep beep beep!
Through the columned hall, they finally spotted a white bomb mounted on the metal beam supporting the Roman gallery's ceiling. A red light flashed repeatedly.
No time for discussion. The squad immediately formed up. Eight members quickly assembled into a human pyramid. The ninth climbed upward, stepping on his teammates' shoulders.
Just as he was about to touch the bomb, a yellow-green vortex appeared from nowhere beside it. In an eyeblink, the vortex swallowed the bomb and vanished, leaving nine bomb disposal team members staring at each other blankly.
"Where'd the bomb go? Am I hallucinating?"
Not until the beeping sound started did Norman Osborn learn that Garrett had somehow planted a bomb on Osborn Tower's underground level two.
Osborn Tower's basement levels two and three had remained vacant since that murder case. Only when maintenance workers servicing the elevator heard the sound did Norman Osborn discover the bomb's existence.
Rain pounded outside, but Norman Osborn personally took charge, evacuating everyone with maximum effort.
Only after evacuation completed did Norman Osborn finally exhale in relief.
The downpour had soaked his wool suit thoroughly. Norman Osborn felt disoriented. His mind flashed through a series of scenes from underground level two: blood, corpses, the glider, green mist...
When he came back to himself, he realized he'd somehow descended to level two alone.
Staring at the fifty large transparent glass containers now standing empty here, Norman Osborn's heart lurched. Compared to the images in his mind, he should be more concerned about that bomb ready to detonate at any moment.
But he looked around. The underground laboratory was so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat. Where was any bomb?
Inside the Batcave, Venom Robin slapped his forehead.
When he'd discovered the Batcave's full-wave projector missing—taken by Batman—Venom Robin had vaguely guessed this possibility.
But only when it actually happened did Venom Robin realize he'd thought too simply.
"First, use the Batmobile-converted radio signal detector to confirm rough bomb coordinates. Then hack into Manhattan's signal towers and cell towers for triangulation, precisely locating every bomb."
"Next, further utilize those hacked signal towers, harbor ships, and Manhattan's underground pipes and subway systems to transform Manhattan into a giant Faraday cage."
"...Oh, and the old Bat hacked Manhattan's subway system, preventing all trains from departing."
Venom Robin felt his thinking crystallizing.
"After using the Faraday cage to destroy the bombs' detonation devices, input the specific bomb coordinates collected by the Batmobile into the full-wave projector and eliminate all bombs in one sweep!"
The more Venom Robin understood Batman's detailed plan, the bigger his headache grew.
He understood the plan now. But Batman's specific operations remained mysterious. For instance, why abandon the Arkham suit and go through the unnecessary trouble of wearing the Spider-Man suit?
"Could it be that while executing this plan, Batman is simultaneously running other operations?"
Venom Robin asked himself, then answered his own question with a firm nod.
The answer was definitely yes.