Batman: Arkham City

by ARaggedMuffin

A novella about my own version of Batman: Arkham City. Rated T for bad language and violence.

Batman: Arkham City

Victor Fries was sat, alone, in a large, poorly-lit room, the only illumination emitted by a single spotlight above his head. He was holding in his hand a spherical snow globe, with a slowly rotating miniature ice statue inside. It was a statue of a slender, beautiful woman, and had obviously been carved with the utmost care. There was a television in the corner of the room, which Fries switched on. 'And in other news, Mayor Quincy Sharpe today opened Arkham City, the new 'quarantine area' where both sane and insane criminals alike are to be held,' said the blonde haired reporter on the screen. She was standing in front of a huge stone wall, with men dressed in black uniforms and holding rifles surrounding it. 'A large freelance security company known as TYGER are being used as guards, and are also being used to round up criminals destined to be prisoners inside the walls of Arkham City. In fact, a large task force is at this very moment surrounding the until now secret headquarters of the notorious supercriminal known as Mr. Freeze.'Fries quickly stood up, and grabbed his ice pistol from next to him. The visor of his helmet quickly slid up, as the wall opposite him exploded inwards and swarms of black-clad TYGER operatives hurried in, firing as they came. The bullets bounced harmlessly off Victor Fries's armour, and Fries quickly dispatched several of them with a long burst from his ice pistol. Victor Fries was all but forgotten. In the heat, or in this case chill, of battle he was Mr. Freeze.

Soon, many TYGER's were frozen in solid blocks of ice, but Freeze knew he wouldn't be able to hold them off forever. Soon the TYGER's had resorted to more crude tactics, simply jumping on top of Freeze, like children playing 'pile-on' in the playground. It was not long before Freeze was completely weighed down by the men on top of was defeated.

'Waylon Jones was born with a rare skin condition, that mutated him to have an appearance similar to that of a crocodile. Forced to take part in a freak show from a young age, Waylon was driven insane, and, after escaping his captors, turned to cannibalism. Of course, due to his upbringing, he had no idea this was wrong. So, Waylon, how would you describe your life?'Waylon Jones, or Killer Croc, was sat in large room, surrounded by cameras, with an enormous audience sitting opposite him, all of them prepared to listen intently to his every word. They were also, of course, terrified. Waylon himself had a pair of guards on either side of him, and was wearing an electroshock collar. He was not listening to the host, his mind was on food.'Waylon?' Said the host, impatiently. Waylon turned his attention to her.'What was that, bitch? I wasn't listening, I was busy deciding who I'd eat first.' He giggled madly, and licked his a host looked shocked. 'Waylon, please do not use offensive language, we are live on air, and please don't threaten the audience. Now, please answer my question, I don't understand why you'd agree to come on here, then not talk to me.' Waylon still wasn't listening. 'Maybe that one first, the thin one, a nice appetiser, then maybe that fat guy over there, yes, you.' He pointed at one of his clawed fingers at a fat man in the audience, who has sweating with fear. He got up to leave.'No, don't go!' Said Waylon. He stood up and started after the fat man. The host started panicking, as a large group of policemen, who had been in the room the whole time in case of something like this happening, moved in. Waylon ripped of the electroshock collar before anyway had a chance to turn it on.'Mr Jones, I must insist you st-' Her sentence was cut short as Killer Croc snapped her neck as easily as breaking a tooth pick. The audience was in full panic mode now, and were all running for the exits. Croc spied the woman he had intended to have as a starter, and started moving towards her, batting away the attacking policemen like they were flies, and he was a swatter. He reached out for the cowering woman, when he suddenly felt a cluster of small darts slam into the back of his neck. He instantly began to feel tired. He had been hit with a massive amount of horse tranquiliser. He fell over, crushing several unfortunate audience members, as the black-clad TYGER soldiers moved towards his unconscious body.

Poison Ivy threw the limp body of the security guard she had been kissing just moments ago off her and onto the floor. His veins had a green tinge to them, and he was quietly moaning with pain as he died, slowly and very painfully as the toxins spread through him. Ivy looked down at him distastefully.'Men.' She said, and sat up. She stood, and, reaching into the guard's pocket, removing a rectangular, black key card. She walked gracefully over to the large, metal door the guard had been protecting. Seducing him had been easy, all she had had to do was clear her throat for attention, 'accidentally' allow him a brief glimpse of her cleavage and give him a whiff of pheromone gas. She slid the key card through the slot next to the door, and it slid open. She stepped in, and gasped as she saw row after row of beautiful plants. Unfortunately, she did not have time to save them all, only one in particular, the last of it's kind. And she knew exactly where it was. She almost skipped through the cavernous room, drinking in the beauty of the flowers she passed. Turning the corner, full of expectation, she found herself facing...Nothing. The plant she had come for was not there. She let out an ear-piercing scream of rage, and turned around to see a row of what looked like soldiers, all dressed in black and aiming guns at her. She wasn't sure what to do. They were. They opened fire, and tranquiliser darts hit her in the arms and legs. She fell to the ground, slipping into unconsciousness. Due to her unusual metabolism, the drug took longer to render her fully unconscious than it would a normal person. She heard one of the soldiers speaking into a radio.'This is TYGER 1, target 4479 has been subdued, repeat, 4479 subdued, transporting to Arkham City now, over.'

Harvey Dent was sat in an armchair, surrounded by members of his gang. On either side of the chair sat two scantily-clad women, one in white and one in black.'We're gonna have visitors any minute now, boys.' Said Harvey. 'Sugar. Spice.'The women looked up at him.'Get outta here, you're not safe.'They did as he said. One of his henchmen, a man known as Brick to his friends, spoke.'Boss...who exactly we expectin'?' He asked. Harvey shrugged.'Dunno,' He said, truthfully. 'But I gotta feeling we're about to find out.'Right on cue, a smoke bomb flew through the window. The thugs nearest to it started choking, as soldiers in black uniforms rappelled in through the window. Harvey and his men stood up and opened fire. Several soldiers fell under the barrage of bullets, as the others returned fire. Harvey used his armchair as cover, and pulled a grenade from his pocket. He removed the trigger with his teeth, and tossed it at the soldiers.'DOWN!' He yelled. His men did as they were told, and not moment too soon, the grenade detonated, taking four soldiers with it. The last few were still opening fire, but were quickly cut down by Harvey's men's gunfire.'We got 'em.' Said Harvey. 'We won.'Suddenly, four flash-bang grenades flew through the window. Everyone in the room was blinded as a second wave of soldiers climbed in through the window, and then even more through the door behind Harvey's forces. They were half-blind, surrounded, and outgunned. Easy pickings. Harvey flipped his surrendered.

Oracle was gone. Barbara was gone.

Batman couldn't get the chant out of his head. The song of failure he heard whenever someone died, or disappeared, thanks to their association with him.

He didn't know where she was. Barbara was gone.

Batman was stood on a gargoyle on the side of a large tower, directly beside the enormous wall surrounding the new Mayor's 'quarantine zone' built especially for criminals, known as Arkham City. It was basically a giant prison.

So much had happened recently. Many of his enemies had gone missing, no doubt captured and confined to Arkham City by TYGER, the private militia who answered only to Hugo Strange, the enigmatic face of Arkham City. Joker was rumoured to be heavily ill after his brief Titan overdose over eighteen months before, during what was now known as the Arkham Incident. Joker had taken over the whole of Arkham Asylum, manipulating one of the doctors into giving him a formula known as Titan, which literally turned people into hulking masses of muscle. It also severely decreased their intelligence. When Joker had taken it in a last ditch attempt to defeat Batman, it had had a rather adverse affect on him.

And then there was Catwoman.

Suddenly, his earpiece buzzed, interrupting his thoughts. He put his finger to the earpiece.

'Alfred.' He said. 'Where is she?'

'The Solomon Wayne Courthouse, sir.' Said the voice of Batman's ever-faithful butler, Alfred.

'Of course.' Batman acknowledged. 'That fits Harvey's MO perfectly.'

Batman ended the transmission. He stepped backwards, then took his grapple gun from his belt, and aimed it high. He pulled the trigger, and a strong cord fired from the end with a noise like a miniature explosion. He held the gun in the air for several seconds as the hook flew through the air, then the line tensed as it hooked onto some object on the other side of the enormous wall, possibly a chimney, or a gargoyle. He clicked a button on the side of the gun, and was pulled forward at a breakneck speed over the wall of Arkham City. While still in mid-air, he brought the line back into the gun, and allowed himself a brief moment of freefall, before he spread out his cape like a pair of enormous wings, and began to quickly and smoothly glide through the air. He relaxed very slightly. This was one of his favourite parts of the job, second only to the satisfaction of defeating one of his enemies at the eleventh hour. He raised the gun again as he started to get closer to the ground, and fired once more, again bringing himself back into the air as he neared the courthouse.

He neatly landed on the roof of the courthouse, almost silently, and looked over the edge of the roof to see a large crowd of criminals walking through the impressive wooden front doors of the enormous building.

It was then that Batman noticed what had been done to the building. The building had been split in two, one side was immaculate and had been made to look brand-new, while the other half had been blackened and burned, with it's windows smashed. All of this was a product of Harvey Dent's dual personality, and his obsession with the number two. Most of the thugs had walked inside the building now, leaving a pair of disgruntled-looking guards, who interestingly enough were both wearing black-and-white clothing, split down the middle. Batman walked to the edge of the roof and looked down on them.

'Can't believe we gotta stay out here.' Complained one guard.

'I know!' Agreed the other. 'I wanna see the Cat burn!'

'Don't worry.' Said Batman suddenly. Both guards gasped, then raised their guns and looked upwards. 'The men inside won't, either.'

Batman jumped down, and landed on the head of one of the guards, knocking him unconscious instantly. The other was taken out by a bone-cracking punch to the jaw, followed by a strong kick to the solar-plexus. Batman inspected their unconscious bodies, then, when he was satisfied, opened the ornate double doors to the courthouse. He walked through.

24 HOURS EARLIER

Catwoman

A small group of Two-Face's thugs were standing in a cold, empty room. The lights were all turned out, and the only illumination came from the half-open windows.

A gloved hand reached through the window, and grasped the window ledge. Another hand reached through, and grasped the same ledge. The owner of the hands began to slowly and quietly pull herself up, and through the window.

Then, the inevitable happened, and one of the thugs noticed her.

'Look!' He shouted. 'It's the Cat!'

Catwoman stood in front of the window, a silhouette in front of the light of the lamps that lit the dirty street outside.

'Hi, boys.' She purred. 'Just thought I'd stop by to pick something up.'

One of the thugs, a large man with no hair on his head but a rather bushy beard, stepped forward and cracked his knuckles.

'You'll have to get through us first, kitty.' He said threateningly. Catwoman smiled.

'I can live with that.' She said. The thugs took that as a signal. They all grinned at one another.

'Bring it.' Said the bearded one.

With no warning, Catwoman leapt forward, kicking the bearded thug in the face, and several of his teeth flew from his mouth. He fell to the ground, and Catwoman continued through the guards. She fought with a precision almost surgical. Her fighting style was more of a dance, consisting of flips and kicks more than the thugs she was facing's slow and inaccurate punches. Soon there was only one left.

'C-come on!' He said. 'I can take you!' Without answering, Catwoman simply removed a bolo from her belt and threw it at the thug's ankles, knocking him to the floor. He banged his head on the hard stone, and fell quickly into unconsciousness.

'Too easy.' Grinned Catwoman. She lightly danced towards the safe on the other side of the room, and held her ear to it. She experimentally twirled the dial this way and that, until she heard a click and the door of the safe swung open. The safe was empty, apart from a small computer chip. Exactly what she had come for.

Catwoman picked up the chip and slid it into her cell phone. A detailed map of Arkham City flashed onto the screen.

Then, without warning, she felt the metal end of a pistol on her temple.

'What did curiosity do to the cat?' Asked the grizzly voice of Two-Face, or Harvey Dent, threateningly. Catwoman sighed.

'I have a feeling I'm not gonna like the answer.' She said.

23½ HOURS LATER

Batman's cape swept after him as he walked calmly up the staircase of the courthouse. Harvey Dent's obsession with the number two seemed to have amplified since Batman's last meeting with him. Dent had even gone so far as to split the staircase to be half black and half white. Batman reached a door, and pushed it open to find himself in a small room with a large window on one side. Batman looked through the window to see the expansive courtroom below, full to the brim with the criminal inhabitants of the prison city, baying for Catwoman's blood. Several of them were holding signs, with artwork of Harvey in some demented parody of 'We Want YOU' posters, complete with an Uncle Sam suit and hat. On a large platform at the end of the room stood Harvey Dent himself, his back to the crowd. In one hand he held his coin, which with a single flip had decided the fate of many a victim. In his other he held a gun. He was speaking.

'They only way to get by in this place is to get ourselves some respect.' He said. Harvey always referred to himself as two different people, even using different voices depending on which side of him was speaking. 'Fear.' Said his other voice. 'That's how we get respect, show them all how WE do things. We should be fair though. This is a place of justice, after all. SCREW JUSTICE! Kill 'er, and they'll all fear us.' Two-Face turned around to face the crowd. Half of his body was entirely scarred, layers of flesh melted away to show exposed muscle and sinew. He was missing an ear, instead having a small hole in the side of his head. Even the left side of his suit was blackened and torn, with almost the entire left sleeve ripped off to show more scarred flesh on his arm. The right side of his body, however, was the body of a good-looking man, with the right side of his suit white and immaculate.

'Bring out the defendant!' He shouted.

A large red curtain next to him dropped, to reveal Catwoman hanging upside down by her ankles. Beneath her was a vat of boiling acid. She looked at Two-Face.

'You certainly know how to keep a girl hanging, Harv.' She commented. 'Hey, have you had some work done?'

Two-Face raised his arm and backhanded her across the face.

'That's fer stealin' from us, NO ONE steals from us!' He told her. Catwoman sighed.

'I'm sorry I've been a bad kitty.' She said. 'Untie me, and I'll make it up to you.'

Two-Face raised his coin. 'Let's see if the coin thinks you're telling' the truth.' He said. He flipped the coin high into the air, and caught it. It came up on the scarred side, removing any chance of Catwoman being excused. The upcoming trial was now nothing more than a farce, a game to satisfy Two-Face's obsession with justice.

'This court is now in session.' He said to the crowd, and received cheers from the mass of criminals below.

Batman walked out of the room with the window and onto a high walkway. A man with a shotgun stood on the edge, no doubt placed there by Two-Face to make sure no thugs started a riot below. If Batman took him out, the rest would be relatively easy. He walked slowly and quietly until he was directly behind the armed man, then punched the man in the back, put both hands over his mouth and kicked the man in the ankle, knocking him down. Batman waited with his hands over the thug's mouth until the thug was unconscious, then quietly lay the man on the floor. Easy start.

A long cable hung between the wall and the edge of the walkway. He stepped onto the cable and walked along it, balanced like a tightrope walker until he was directly above the enormous crowd of criminals.

'Catwoman.' Said Harvey. 'I hereby find you…guilty!' This verdict was met with cheers from the bloodthirsty crowd. This was Batman's cue. He leapt from the cable, and smashed onto the ground below. The crowd scattered like roaches.

'It's the Bat!' Said one.

'Screw you, Two-Face!' Said another. 'I'm getting' outta here!'

In not much time at all, there were only around ten thugs left.

'Cut him in half!' Two-Face commanded. The thugs attacked. One of them picked up a chair and threw it at Batman, but he caught it easily and threw it back. The chair hit the thug in the face, breaking his nose, smashing several of his teeth and knocking him unconscious. Another threw a punch, and Batman grabbed his wrist and punched the thug in the stomach, winding him, then elbowed him in the face, and the man fell to the ground. Two more attacked from either side, and Batman jumped up, grabbed both of their heads and smashed them together. A sudden shot rang out and a bullet whizzed past Batman, missing by a millimetre. Two-Face was shooting at him. Another bullet flew past the back of his head, but this one missed by a long way, instead smashing into the temple of a henchman, who fell down dead.

'He hit Razor!' Complained another one. 'Screw this, if he's shootin', I'm gone.' The remaining six thugs turned and made for the exit, but all were downed by a well-placed batarang each. Suddenly another shot rang out, and hit Batman in the chest, knocking him over. The impact of the bullet had been softened by the armour underneath he Batsuit, but it still hurt. A lot.

'Objection overruled.' Said Two-Face. He stomped across the platform towards Catwoman, who was still hanging upside-down over the acid vat. He pointed his gun at her head, and took out his coin. 'Heads or tails, kitty-cat?' He asked.

'Which one gets me out of here alive?' Asked Catwoman. Two-Face flipped the coin high into the air, then caught it and looked at it.

'Not this one.' He said. 'Time to die.'

'I vote for a stay of execution!' Quipped Catwoman as she used her clawed gloves to slice through the rope that bound her wrists together, then slashed them across the clean side of Two-Face's face. He fell backwards and off the platform, and Catwoman flipped up and out of he rope around her ankles.

'No gun, Harv?' She asked. 'Shame.' Her claws glinted in the light 'This is gonna hurt.'

Two-Face leapt up and pulled another gun from his inside jacket pocket.

'Two guns, bitch!' He yelled, and was about to fire when a line with a claw on the end hit his ankle and fastened around it, then pulled him up high into the air. Batman had grabbed him with his grapple, and hung him over the same vat Two-Face had moments ago been hanging Catwoman from. Catwoman looked up at Batman.

'Oh, the irony.' She said, as Batman leapt down beside her. 'And I always thought cats had nine lives, not bats.' She walked over to Two-Face. 'How's it hangin', Harv?' She asked, then kicked him hard in the side of his leg. She reached into his pocket, and took back her phone, complete with the memory chip she had tried to steal the previous night. 'Come to kitty.' She said. She turned to Batman. 'Anyone ever tell you that you're full of surprises?' She asked. 'Consider yourself told.'

Batman wasn't amused. 'I figured you could use my help, Selina.' He told her.

'You were right.' Catwoman answered. 'I think I chipped a nail back there.'

'Funny.' Answered Batman. 'Protocol Ten. What do you know about it, Selina?'

'No small talk?' Replied Catwoman. 'I'm disappointed. Anyway, I've never heard of it.'

'That's not what I wanted to hear.' Batman told her. 'What about Strange?'

'I don't trust him. He goes missing for years, then the mayor suddenly gives him control of this cesspool. I heard on the grapevine he's making deals with some of the gang leaders, planning something big. Maybe that's Protocol Ten?'

'Maybe so.' Answered Batman. 'But whatever it is, it's not good.'

'Well, the ex-district attorney here-' Catwoman nodded towards Two-Face, 'Said some thing about-'

Batman noticed something on Selina's arm. A green beam of light, with a small picture of a smiling face at the end. The laser sight of a sniper rifle. 'Selina!' He said, and grabbed her, then pulled her away from the window as a bullet sped through the window, narrowly missing.

'It was Joker…' Said Batman. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, activating his Detective Mode. A pair of white lenses slid down out of the cowl and over his eyes. Everything he saw now had a blue tint to it. He looked at Catwoman and saw a skeleton, her x-ray. He looked at Two-Face, now unconscious. He too appeared as a skeleton. He looked down at where the bullet had hit the floor. A small amount of text appeared on the inside of his lens. It said. 'Evidence Identified: 120mm sniper. Bullet Trajectory Fully Processed.' Batman looked up at the window the bullet had come through, and an orange line appeared in his lenses, beginning at the window and ending at the hole in the floor. With that, he could map the trajectory of where the bullet came in, tracing back to the location of the shooter. Job done, he deactivated Detective Mode, and walked towards the door out of the room. He walked through the corridor. Hints of Two-Face's dual personality were still visible in the corridor, with black paint and burn marks on Batman's right. The other side looked brand new. Batman opened the grand wooden door, and left the courthouse. He was back on the streets of Arkham City.

A large, black helicopter flew by overhead. Batman pulled his grapple gun from his utility belt and fired it at the helicopter. He clicked the button and flew up into the air, then grabbed onto the bottom of the chopper. He reactivated Detective Mode, and saw the orange line from before, pointing out through the window, and at the roof of the Cathedral. There was a sign on the front of the building, which read 'MEDICAL CENTRE'. Many buildings had been repurposed when Arkham City was established, into Medical Centres, barracks for the TYGER guards, and places of refuge for civilian volunteers who helped out in the Medical Centres and with emergencies such as fires. The Cathedral was one of five Medical Centres around the city.

Batman deactivated Detective Mode and dropped down from the helicopter. He rolled as he landed, then stood up and walked towards the Cathedral's ornate front doors. He opened them, and was met with the sight of a thin woman with blonde hair. She was wearing a red-and-black leather waistcoat, red-and-black trousers, a belt with a metal buckle, a pair of gloves, and not much else. Her hair was in two ponytails, and each one was dyed either red or black. She wore white makeup on her face, with black around her eyes and red lipstick. Her name was Harley Quinn.

'Hey Bats!' She said, and ran at him. She launched herself into the air, and flew at Batman feet first. Batman grabbed her ankle, and threw her into a wall. She grunted, fell to the floor, then stood up and dusted herself off casually, like nothing had happened.

'So, what are YOU doin' here?' She asked. 'In a prison? Did Sharpie's goons lock you in here?'

Batman didn't answer.

'Ah, screw it.' Said Harley. 'BOYS!'

A trio of thugs ran into the room, each one holding a machine gun.

'Take 'im out!' Instructed Harley. She turned around, and skipped past Batman, who didn't react. She skipped through the doors, as the guards aimed their guns at Batman.

'Ready to die, Bats?' Asked one of them.

'Shut up and kill 'im!' Said another.

'Why don't you do it' Said the third.

'Why don't you?' Retorted the second.

'I…uh…okay, let's ALL shoot 'im. Okay?'

The thugs all nodded their assent. Batman reached into his utility belt, and took out a small capsule. He held his finger on the capsule's trigger.

'Okay. On three. One…two…'

'Three.' Said Batman, and dropped the capsule. It exploded, and a large amount of smoke erupted from it. Batman was lost in the smoke as it enveloped him, then covered the guards.

'What the hell?' Yelled a thug. 'I can't see!'

Batman pulled out his grapple gun, and fired it at a conveniently-placed gargoyle near the ceiling. The cable went taught, and pulled him upwards. He grabbed onto the gargoyle, pulled himself up, and knelt on top. The smoke cleared, and the thugs realised that Batman had vanished from their line of site.

'Where the hell did 'e go?' Yelled a thug.

'Who cares?' Said another. 'He won't touch us when we've got hostages.' The thug walked over to the other side of the room, and pulled back a large curtain. Behind it were three people, two men and a woman. They were all strapped to operating tables. The three thugs all selected a hostage each, and led them to different sides of the room. Batman's eyes narrowed. He was never exactly gentle with the criminals he faced, but he was always rougher when said opponents had the audacity to use hostages, forcing innocent to play their deadly games. He reached into his pocket, and took out a small disc. He threw it hard into the middle of the room, and it landed with a loud clattering noise, drawing the attention of the three thugs. He pulled out another disc, and held it up to his mouth. He spoke.

'You're all about to be a lot less conscious.' He said into it, and his voice was projected around the room by the disc he had thrown.

'What the crap?' Said one thug.

'It's that disc!' Said another. Raising his gun, he shot the disc to smithereens. The female hostage he was holding screamed at the noise. The thug was not pleased.

'Shut up!' He yelled, and hit her shoulder with the butt of his gun. 'C'mon, Batman!' He said. 'Come out and get me!'

'My pleasure.' Said a voice from above in a half-whisper. The thug looked up just in time to see a black-gloved hand reach down from walkway and hit him in the face. The woman almost yelled, but Batman put his hand over her mouth. He nodded to her, then climbed swiftly back up onto the walkway. One down, two to go.

Another thug was holding his, male, hostage, with a gun kept pointed at the hostage's temple. They were stood directly beneath an ornate stone gargoyle. Batman used his bat grapple to swing across to the statue, which he landed on top of. He reached into one of the pouches on his utility belt, and took out a sonic batarang. The sonic batarang was a strange contraption. It looked more or less like a normal batarang, but the middle was circular, with an orange, pulsing light in the centre. It was normally used for sabotaging items such as suicide collars, a device once utilised by Arkham Asylum guards. Their function was to set off a high-pitched whine when the wearer was rendered unconscious for whatever reason. The Joker and his henchmen had taken them during the Arkham Affair, as it now known, and perverted their use for their own ends. This was when the sonic batarang had really come in useful. The sonic batarang was also capable of attracting creatures which used echolocation, who could effectively 'see' sound. This came in useful for attracting bats . He threw it, hard, at the floor in the middle of the room. The middle starting flashing more and more, and Batman heard a soft rusting noise from the darkness of the ceiling. It was a noise Batman knew well. It was the rustling of hundreds of pairs of wings. Bat wings.

Suddenly, an enormous black cloud of bats flew down from the rafters, screeching as they headed for the source of the noise that had woken them. The noise was, of course, the sonic batarang, emitting a noise too high-pitched for human hearing. They surrounded the batarang This all had a rather excellent effect on the thugs.

'Holy shit!' Yelled one. He repeated this several times, then threw his hostage to the ground, cocked his gun and opened fire on the enormous swarm. The creatures scattered as several of them fell down dead. What the thugs hadn't noticed during the commotion was the fact that Batman had jumped down into the monstrous swarm, using his black cape to disguise himself among the creatures. As the bats all flew away and back to their home in the building's rafters, the thug saw him. But it was too late. Another batarang, a standard one this time, flew out from the enormous black shadow of Batman's cape. It hit him on the forehead, and the thug fell over, stunned. Batman walked over to the stunned thug, then raised his boot and stomped on his head, instantly rendering him unconscious. Satisfied, Batman nodded at the now-free hostage.

'Stay there and keep quiet.' He said, then fired his grapple at the ceiling, and was pulled upwards into the darkness.

There was now a single thug left. He was terrified. He had noticed the swarm of bats, of course, but had chosen to remain where he was, keeping his hostage near. With her, he didn't think Batman would dare try to catch him. He was wrong.

Batman looked down on the pair from above. The thug had positioned himself in front of a wall, to prevent Batman from sneaking up on him. This wouldn't work, of course. He hadn't counted on the fact that the wall was weakened, weak enough for Batman to punch through. Batman could clearly see a metal grate above the wall, no doubt leading into the room behind the thug and his captive. Batman took out his bat grapple, and aimed it carefully at the grate. He fired it, and the claw at the end of the cable latched onto one of the bars of the grate. Batman pressed a button on the side of the grapple gun, and the cable pulled the grate clean off the wall. The grate fell to the ground with a loud clattering noise. Batman's plan made it unavoidable in alerting the thug to the fact that he was near, but it didn't make much difference to Batman's plan. He fired his grapple at the ceiling this time, and used it to slowly lower himself downwards. He stopped when he was directly next to the grate. He was hanging precariously above the thug's head, no more than two meters between them. Now came the really tricky part, getting into the vent. He clipped the grapple gun onto the front of his belt, freeing his hands. He reached out and grabbed the bottom edge of the vent, then pulled himself up and into the vent. He did all of this silently. He crawled through the air vent, then, when he reached the grate at the end, punched it out. He crawled out of the vent, and landed on the floor. He turned around, and activated Detective Vision. He used it to identify the weakened wall, and could clearly see the x-ray of the thug and his hostage through it. He deactivated Detective Vision, and stood in front of the wall. He reached both arms back, then plunged them through the wall. The thug didn't even have time to register what was happening as both of Batman's black-gloved hands covered his mouth. He fainted, whether from shock, lack of air or both batman didn't know. Then again, he didn't care. He let go of the thug, who fell over unconscious. The woman stared at Batman in shock.

'Th-thank you…' She said.

'Don't,' Answered Batman. 'Get somewhere safe, take the others-'

'Richard and Stephanie.'

'Take Richard and Stephanie with you. Go now.'

The woman nodded, and walked away quickly, her high-heels clicking on the floor as she went. Batman walked away in the opposite direction, heading for a small wooden door, behind which was a flight of stairs leading to the top of the tower. Thanks to Harley and her thugs, Batman knew he had no chance of catching Joker, but there was still a chance of finding a clue or two, possibly one to help him uncover whatever Joker and Hugo had planned for him. He opened the door, as his cape swept out behind him like a moving shadow.

HALF AN HOUR EARLIER

Joker

Joker was standing in the bell tower of the church, adjusting his sniper rifle. He knew that Catwoman was being held on trial here, thanks to a couple of his boys he'd placed in Two-Face's gang as double agents. That amused the Joker. He couldn't help but notice the irony that double agents were placed in the gang of someone so obsessed with the number two. It was just how his mind worked. He scolded himself in his head, and return his attention to the interior of the courthouse, looking through the scope of his sniper rifle.

'C'mon, Bats.' Joker muttered to himself. 'Isn't this normally the part where you drop down and kick the hell out of everyone?' He was expecting Batman to save his favourite kitty, and he was getting bored of waiting.

Joker smiled to himself. Wouldn't this be the perfect opportunity to eliminate the competition that was Two-Face? No. He didn't want to kill Catwoman before Batman turned up. He wanted to kill the Cat in front of Batman, to help him along on that train track he called insanity. Of course, he would have to wait until Catwoman had been saved. Currently he didn't have a clear shot, and needed Batman to get her in front of a window.

Suddenly, Batman dropped down from the ceiling and began that thing he did. That thing called punching. Joker watched as Batman worked his way through the crowd of criminals.

'Wow, Bats.' He said to himself. 'You've been learnin' some new tricks.'

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a shot fired by Two-Face hit Batman in the chest.

'Harvey!' Yelled Joker. 'Dual-minded bastard.' He muttered. 'I swear, if you've stolen my kill…'

Joker smiled to himself as he saw Batman get up and grapple up into the rafters, without Harvey, who was focused on Catwoman, noticing.

He laughed aloud as Two-Face was hung upside down, and found it hilarious when Catwoman kicked him. He watched as Batman and Catwoman spoke. He decided to take this opportunity. He aimed at Catwoman, the green laser sight focusing on her. As he aimed, he sang a little rhyme to himself.

'Twinkle twinkle, little Bat. Watch me kill your favourite cat.'

His finger tightened on the trigger, and…

Batman pulled Catwoman out of the way. He must have noticed the laser sight.

Joker cursed under his breath. He had missed his opportunity. He dropped the sniper rifle, letting it fall to the floor. He turned and walked casually towards the stairs, then began to run, taking the stairs two at a time. He wasn't scared, but he plans would be ruined if he met the Bat at this point. He ran through the main hall. He yelled at Harley as he ran past.

'Harley!' He said. 'Bat coming, distract him!' Harley nodded, and smiled. Joker flew out of the door, and hurried down the street. He jumped into the back of his car.

'Drive.' He said, grinning to himself.

'Not yet, Bats.' He looked out of the window at the hellish metropolis. 'Not yet…'

25 MINUTES LATER

Batman swept into the room at the top of the tower. In the room was a sniper rifle, on the floor, and a laptop. Batman walked over to it and turned on. He opened the start menu and went to 'computer'. The computer's save files were all completely empty, apart from a single video file, titled 'clickthisbats'. Batman clicked on it. The video started.

On the screen was Joker, standing in the same room Batman was in. No doubt the video had been recorded on the laptop's built-in camera. On the screen, Joker waved and grinned at the camera.

'Too late, Bats!' He laughed. 'Don't worry, I'll see you soon. In the meantime, I've left a present for you. Have a blast!' He laughed madly as the video ended. Batman span around to see a metal box, with a smiling face painted on the front. There was a digital timer. The display read 00:04. It was a bomb.

Batman turned around an ran for the window. With all his strength he leapt out of the window in the nick of time. There was a thunderous explosion as the bomb exploded, and flames burst out after Batman as he fell down to the ground below. He landed n top of a neighbouring building, rolling as he landed. He stood up shakily, and his legs buckled. He fell over again. He stayed down for several seconds, then stood up again. This time he stayed that way. He turned around, and looked out at the city, at this little piece of hell on Earth. After the explosion, everything seemed strangely silent. He took the brief moment of silence to contemplate Arkham City, Hugo Strange and Quincy Sharpe. What was Hugo to gain from Arkham City? Why was he using Quincy as his puppet? Was he taking advantage of Quincy's damaged psyche? What if Hugo wasn't the mastermind here?

Batman's thinking was interrupted by the site of a green glint on a neighbouring building. He scrutinised it for several seconds, then leapt across the gap between the two buildings. He walked over to the source of the green light. It was a large question mark, painted on a wooden door in luminous green paint. Batman raised his foot and kicked down the door, knowing full well what to expect on the other side. He walked through the doorway to find a dimly lit corridor. The lights had a greenish tint to them. Batman walked down the long corridor, a batarang in one hand. He came to another door, and opened it, to find a woman tied to a metal chair, a gag in her mouth. Batman walked towards her, intending to untie her, but suddenly a metal gate fell down between them, blocking the way. A large screen on a wall suddenly came to life, showing a man wearing a green suit covered in small question marks. He wore fingerless gloves on his hands, a pair of square-rimmed spectacles on his face, a green bowler hat on his head, and held a cane in one hand. His name was Edward Nigma. He was known as The Riddler.

'Well, if it isn't the Dark Knight Detective!' He said. 'Now, I haven't seen you in a while!' When did we last speak? Hmm, I do believe it was just before you sent the police to my headquarters!'

'Let her go, Riddler.' Said Batman. 'She's innocent.'

Riddler looked surprised. 'Innocent?' He asked. 'You know, it's her own fault that she's in danger. She failed my games, so now she's a part of them. You know, if the hostages were smarter, my games would be nothing more than an amusing pass time, and they wouldn't be in these… predicaments.'

'They?' Asked Batman.

'That's right, Batman!' Laughed the Riddler. 'I have hostages stuck in my death traps all over the city, and only you can save them! Fail, and they all die. If you can't find them, and you really are stuck, I've some henchmen running around the city, doing errands and mixing in with the other gangs. I'm sure they'd be perfectly willing to help you out, given the right persuasion.' The Riddler laughed.

'I won't play your games, Riddler. I'm not your puppet.'

'If you want to save these people, you'll have to solve my puzzles!' The Riddler told him. 'And speaking of which here's your first one… now.'

Nothing happened. The Riddler cleared his throat.

'Here's the first one… NOW!' He repeated, and a hidden door slid open, leading to another long corridor. Batman stepped through, and the door slammed shut behind him. Batman walked down the corridor, as Riddler's voice-over spoke to him.

'This first puzzle is simple. Get through the corridor, evading all traps. You know, the usual. Giant saws, lasers, all that, haha, death trap stuff.'

Batman continued down the corridor. Suddenly, a large axe blade swung down from the ceiling, narrowly missing Batman's head. Batman kept walking then stopped as he heard a soft clicking noise. He dropped down to the floor as a hale of bullets flew over his head with several loud bangs. Keeping crouched, he continued on, until he reached a part of the floor where there was a very thin gap. He took a batarang from his belt. He threw the weapon over the gap, and a bright red laser beam flew out through it, blasting the batarang to pieces.

'This is a tricky one.' Said Riddler. 'Little hint: Look at the wall.'

Batman activated Detective Vision, and looked around at the walls. It took him several seconds, but he eventually found a small square button, which would have been invisible to the human eye. He pressed it.

'Well done!' Said Riddler. 'Two seconds to get through!'

Batman jumped over the gap, just as the laser burst through again, missing him by inches. A second more, and Batman would have died.

'Excellent!' Said the Riddler. 'Just one more trap to go!'

Batman opened the final wooden door, and stepped through, to find a shorter corridor. At the end was the woman strapped to the chair. On the floor in front of Batman was a white line.

'The final trap is simple.' Said Riddler. 'The hostage is right the at the other side. However, touch the floor past that white line, and she is electrocuted.'

This was too easy. Batman reached for a large gadget which he kept strapped to the back of his belt, due to it's size. It was a Line Launcher, basically a portable zip-wire. It was a large disk-shaped contraption, with a large handle on the bottom.

The handle had several buttons on, and a trigger.

Batman held the gadget above his head, and clicked the trigger. Wires shot out of either end, one hitting the wall ahead of Batman, one hitting the wall behind. Batman pulled himself up, so he was in a sitting position in mid air. He tensed his muscles in an effort to keep a grip on the handle as he ripped along the taught wire. He hit the other wall, and clicked a button on the launcher. The wires snapped back into the launcher, and he fell to the ground.

Batman could hear Riddler's sarcastic applause through the speakers.

'So you did it, well done!' He said. 'But don't get too full of yourself. It only gets harder from now!' He laughed sardonically. 'See you later, Dark Knight.' His laughter continued as the speakers deactivated. The metal gate that had separated Batman from the woman opened, allowing them to leave. Batman removed the tape from over the struggling woman's mouth, and untied the ropes that bound her to the chair. She let out a sigh of relief.

'You saved me…' She said.

'Yes, I did.' Said Batman. 'Let's go.'

They both walked over to the exit.

'I never really believed you were real…' The woman told him.

'Hopefully you do now.' Answered Batman, less than amused.

'Sorry.' Shrugged the woman, attempting to smile. They walked through the exit and back out onto the rooftop.

'Don't bother.' Said Batman. He aimed his grapple gun at a far-off building, and fired. The woman watched as he flew away.

'Thanks.' She whispered.

NOW

Victor Zsasz

Victor was sitting on a rooftop, watching the zombies below shooting at each other, both sides attempting to gain more land. Like it mattered. In the end, they would all die. People went shuffling through their repetitive lives, hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel were there was none. Some people, though, did manage to find a light. These were the ones that really deserved what they got. Zsasz himself was a liberator, a hero. He helped people escape from their 'lives', as they called them, and all with no reward. They called him a murderer. A psychopath. A killer. All he did was help people. Just like Batman. He helped people, and he received praise. He was given free reign by the police forces that maintained 'order'. Zsasz received nothing. Zsasz expected nothing. Surely that made him a better person than the Batman? Surely? Just because the zombies he liberated didn't understand the kindness he did them, that didn't make him any less of a hero. He even kept count of those he'd saved, cutting the tally marks into his very skin, making sure that they were remembered.

He heard a noise. He looked up, and saw the Bat on the opposite rooftop. What a pleasant surprise. And the Bat was with a zombie! Even better. He watched them speak, listened to their conversation. He watched unfeelingly as the Bat flew away with his grapple line, then turned his attention the female zombie. He watched as she made her way down the fire escape on the side of the building. Oh yes. This one needed saving. He took out his knife, and caressed it's sharp blade with his fingers. He turned his attentions back to the zombie as she reached the bottom of the fire escape. He stood up and leaped onto the fire escape on the opposite building, the building she had just been on. He climbed down the metal stairs slowly, so as not to alert her to her immanent departure from this hellish world. He watched as she looked around, making sure that there was no-one nearby. Zsasz concentrated on her fully. Everything else in the world, everything except her and the luscious smell of her blood, was now nothing more than a blur. He walked up behind her, slowly. He licked his lips in anticipation. He raised his knife. Staring at the back of her neck, he waited a second, then struck.

As the blade plunged into the back of her neck, she tried to scream, but could not. She fell to the ground, dead. Blood pooled around her neck, spreading out like a red lake. Zsasz was satisfied. Time for another mark. He raised the knife to his left forearm, and cut a short line, another addition to his tally of blood.

NOW

Batman was walking through one of the city's many abandoned streets, thinking. He was unsure on what his next move should be. He knew Joker was working with Hugo, but the explosion in the bell tower had eliminated any potential clues to be found in there. He would have to deal with the unwelcome distraction of Riddler and his 'games', he would not allow innocents to die. He had yet to run into any of Arkham City's TYGER militia, which was a good thing. The longer they went without being aware of his presence in the city, the better. He would have to hunt down Catwoman again at some point, as long as she was stuck in the city she would be causing trouble, which would only in turn get her into trouble, reckless as she was. Barbara was still missing, so he would have to find out where she was.

Of course, he would be getting in a lot more fights as the night went on. In a city full of criminals, that was just inevitable. He decided that the best course of action for now would be to contact Alfred. He activated his cowl's communicator.

'Alfred.' He said.

'Master Bruce?' Answered Alfred in his English accent. 'What can I do for you?'

'I need information. I've been tracking Joker, seeing what connections he's got to Strange, but the trail's gone cold. Do you have anything?'

'Sorry, Master Bruce, I don't have anything either. I can look into it, though. Meanwhile, there's something else that may interest you.'

'What?' Asked Batman.

'Oswald Cobblepot seems to have taken several policemen hostage. I assume you wish to stop him?'

'Penguin.' Said Batman grimly. 'I'm on my way.'

Penguin was a gangster first and foremost. He was, as he put it, 'a purveyor of firearms and stolen items', which basically meant that he was an arms dealer and a fence. He was a major player in the gang wars taking place in Arkham City. Other gang leaders where Joker, Two-Face, and Roman Sionis, known as the Black Mask. Penguin currently resided in the Gotham Museum, a fitting home for a collector such as he.

Batman pressed a button on his gauntlet, and a small screen on it activated. A small, detailed map of Arkham City appeared on the screen. Batman had spent a long time preparing it, and Alfred was updating it whenever anything new was added to the city. Batman searched for the museum on the map. When he found it, he selected it, activating another vision mode in his cowl. An orange line appeared in front of him. It wasn't really there, of course, and was only visible through Batman's lenses, but if he followed the line, it would lead him through the shortest way to the museum. He began to run towards the museum. He needed to get to the police before Penguin killed them.

NOW

Oswald Cobblepot

The Penguin was sitting in an ornate wooden chair, at the head of a long wooden. Other men, his employees, were sat at the table with him. Obviously, those sat there were not his whole gang, but they were the most important members. Penguin spoke in his husky cockney accent.

'Razah.' He said. Razor answered him.

'Yeah, boss?'

'I thought I asked you ta keep the cops quiet.' He said threateningly.

'Oh, right.' Said Razor. 'Sorry, boss.'

Penguin stared at him with his one good eye.

'Well?' He asked. Razor looked at him incredulously. 'Go shut 'em up!'

Razor hurried to get up, then walked quickly to the door behind which the policemen were being kept. He tripped over his own feet in his hurry, and the men at the table laughed. Penguin raised him umbrella into the air, and there was a BANG as a bullet flew out and hit the ceiling.

'Shut yer traps.' He told them. 'I've 'eard the Bat is in the city.'

This was met with mumbles and whispers.

'The Bat? What's he doin' here?'

'…the Batman…'

'What if he…'

Penguin fired off his umbrella gun again. 'SHADDAP!' He yelled. The men did as they were told.

'Now, I'm thinking that the Batman might be comin' 'ere very soon, considerin' 'is fondness for our lovely boys in blue.' Said Penguin. 'So, I'd like to get the boys ready to meet our flyin' rodent friend. Scab?'

The man known as Scab looked up. 'Yeah boss?'

'Take a bike. Get our big ol' friend in the Lounge ready to say 'ello. Git the boys ova their ready, too. I'll be ova shortly.' Penguin ordered him.

'Sure thing boss.' Said Scab. He stood up, and walked out of the room. On the way out, he picked up a dart gun loaded with horse tranquiliser.

'The rest of ya, git ready. The Bat's comin'.' Said Penguin. The men all got up and left, to collect weapons and to get the other gang members ready. When he was alone, Penguin said to himself a line he had once heard while watching a play. It had stuck with him ever since.

'And by the pricklin' of my thumbs, something' wicked this way comes…'

NOW

Batman stopped running as he neared the museum. He intended to get in quickly and quietly. He walked towards the large building, taking care to stay in the shadows. Penguin was dangerous, and protective of his land. It was likely that he'd have snipers placed around the building, so Batman would have to be extremely careful not to alert them to his presence. Batman stopped suddenly as saw a reflection in a puddle on the floor. A man wearing night-vision goggles was aiming a sniper-rifle at him.

Batman swore under his breath. He'd have to act fast. He pulled a his grapple gun out from a pouch in his belt, and span around, then quickly fired it. It latched onto the sniper's jacket, and pulled him off the building. Batman caught the man, then smashed his face into the ground.

Batman kept walking, this time with a batarang at the ready, when suddenly the door to the museum opened, and a man limped out, a look of fear on his face. He was wearing a T-shirt, on which someone had scrawled the words 'DEAD COP'.

'Help…me…' He begged. Batman started towards him, when a shot rang out and the man fell down, dead. Behind him was the Penguin, holding a smoking umbrella.

Oswald Cobblepot was a short, fat man. He was well-shaven, and wore a navy-blue jacket. On his head was a black top hat, and he wore what looked like a monocle, but on closer inspection could be seen to actually be the bottom of a glass bottle which had been jammed around his eye. He had more than enough money to have it removed, but he seemed to like it there.

''Ello, Batman. Are you 'ere for the cops…or for me?' He asked threateningly.

'I was coming to rescue the police, but after what you just did, I'm taking you down too.' Batman told him threateningly.

'Well, good luck with that.' Penguin said. He turned around and walked back into the museum. Batman followed him into the main hall.

The main hall of the museum was enormous, cluttered with exhibits that had been 'collected' by Penguin. There was a giant dinosaur skeleton, several glass cases full of maps and old-fashioned weaponry, and hanging from the ceiling as he corpse of a Two-Face thug. Pleasant.

Penguin turned around and spoke to Batman.

'So,' He said. 'Due to the, ah…rare types of firearm which I've procured recently, I get a lot of applicants for membership to my gang, but unfortunately for them, I only take the best. So, due to this golden opportunity which your presence presents, in this case, the best is whoever among the lovely bunch of psychopaths waitin' outside can defeat you. Boys!'

A large door opened, and a small army of men in orange jumpsuits ran out towards Batman, who cracked his knuckles and took out a batarang. He threw it, and it connected with the head of the man at the head of the crowd of criminals. He fell down instantly. Another threw a punch, but Batman caught his fist, then cracked the bones of the man's fingers. He screamed, and fell over in pain. Batman grabbed the leg of someone who attempted to kick him, and broke it. The man fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

Someone else attempted to use a lead pipe to hit Batman, but Batman caught it, pulled it off him and hit him with his own weapon. He went down.

Two more decided to work together, one attacking from either side. Batman simply grabbed their heads and smashed them into one another, and down they fell.

There were around seven left. Batman attacked them all at once with perfect, almost surgical precision. Punch after kick after punch, they all went down. One particularly large one took five punches in a row to be subdued. When the fight ended, and the floor was littered with broken and unconscious bodies, Penguin began to slowly and sardonically applaud.

'Well done, Batman.' He said. 'Well done. But, don' think you're done yet. We've got a couple more challenges for ya.' Penguin turned around and yelled, 'Abromavici!'

A door opened, and an enormous, shirtless man lumbered in. He held in one had an enormous sickle, and had three tattoos, a pair of penguins, one on either side of his torso, and star between them. He wore a par of camouflage trousers, and a metal-studded belt. The most memorable feature of the man, though, was the fact that he had no right arm, and an enormous scar ran down the right side of his torso.

'This is Mr. Abromavici.' Penguin introduced the giant. ' He's a Russian bloke, and a conjoined twin. 'Is brother's in Joker's gang, so there's a bit of siblin' rivalry there. 'E takes care of the big jobs. 'Ell, 'e's a big bloke. Anyway,' Penguin turned to Abromavici, 'Get him, mate!'

Abromavici nodded, then raised his sickle and began to lumber towards Batman, who stood perfectly still. The giant continued to lumber towards him, sickle at the ready. He swung it at Batman's neck, but it seemed to just go straight through Batman, causing no visible injury. He swung again, and again, and each time no damage was done. Penguin watched this with a look of confusion, how on earth Batman doing this?

It was then that he realised what was happening. With every strike the man-mountain made, Batman moved his upper body very slightly away from the silver blade, then moved back to his original position. Suddenly, Penguin noticed what Batman was holding in his hand. Penguin turned around and stated to hurry away, pushing aside his bodyguards.

'GRENADE!' He yelled. 'HE'S GOTTA GRENADE!'

The bodyguards scattered as they saw the silver glint in Batman's right hand and knew that Penguin was right. Soon, only Batman and Abromavici were left, the latter with a look of pure hatred on his face. Batman smirked and opened his hand, allowing the grenade to fall to the ground. It exploded into a cloud of smoke, concealing Batman's location from the Russian. The smoke cloud started to surround Abromavici too, and this was when Batman struck.

He pulled a small spray gun from his belt. He activated Detective Vision, allowing him to clearly see Abromavici, and more importantly his weapon, through the smoke. As Abromavici swung the sickle around madly, hoping to hit something, Batman grabbed the sickle from him, and sprayed the contents of the spray gun onto the handle. The blue foam spread out, coating the handle completely. Batman dropped the sickle to the floor and dodged back as Abromavici attempted a punch. The smoke cleared and the Russian giant saw his sickle on the floor. He reached down and picked up, noticing that the handle seemed more…sticky than it had been before. He attempted to move it to his other hand, but could not. The adhesive nature of the foam meant that it was now stuck to his hand, for several hours at least. Batman held up the spray gun, which had a small, round button on the back. Batman looked straight at the Russian, and pressed the button. With a loud bang, the foam exploded, no doubt breaking several bones in Abromavici's hand. The giant was knocked backwards and onto the floor by the force of the miniature explosion, stunned. Batman walked over to the giant, raised his foot, and stomped on his bald head, knocking him unconscious. Explosive Gel was always effective.

Now for Cobblepot, thought Batman. He walked quickly over to the door Oswald had taken, then opened it and walked through.

HALF AN HOUR EARLIER

Catwoman

Selina Kyle was sitting atop a roof, accompanied by a pair of stray cats. Cats liked Selina. Selina liked to think that they sensed a kindred spirit in her, but knew that she was probably wrong. Allowing her mind to wander, she started to think about Bruce. Where was he right now? Had he caught Joker yet? She had no doubt that he would, of course. That was inevitable. With Bruce, catching the bad guy always was.

And what about Hugo Strange? What was his agenda? She didn't know much about the professor, other than what she had already told Bruce.

And finally, there was TYGER. Much as she loved cats, she couldn't help but dislike these guys. She had seen a trio of them beating up one of the weaker 'citizens', one of those who wasn't actually a criminal, just delusional. They'd had no reason to do it, only for their own twisted amusement. They were cold bastards, the lot of them. Then there was the enigmatic TYGER commanding officer. She didn't know much about him, not many did, but he was known to be a master sniper and an expert at hand-to-hand combat.

Selina abandoned these thoughts. Bruce was the detective, not her. She pulled her hood up and placed her goggles over her eyes. She stood up, and looked over the edge of the building. Picking up her whip, Catwoman threw it out into the air and it hooked over a railing on an opposite building. Catwoman leapt off the building, still holding the whip tight. She swung through the air, and when the whip disconnected from the railing, she simply threw it out again and it once again latched onto a second railing. She swung over the streets, enjoying the feeling of freedom it brought her. Eventually, when the whip detached from the final rail, she didn't throw it out again, instead allowing herself to fall to the ground. True to form, she landed on her feet. She began to walk through the streets, looking around to make sure no TYGER operatives were nearby. She turned a corner, into Crime Alley, and found two TYGER troopers talking. She knelt down behind a guard, and listened.

'…heard Dent was taken out by the Bat.'

'Same. Hey, does Strange know Batman's in the city yet?'

'Dunno, but we don't know for sure he is either, and I'm not gonna be the one to tell him something that turns out not to be true.'

'Heh, you got a point.'

'I heard a rumour Strange and Joker are working together.'

'Heard that too.'

'Believe it?'

'Maybe. Wouldn't put it past Strange.'

'Me neither. Hell, can't say it's a clever thing to do. Joker's as unpredictable as Two-Face is ugly.'

'Speaking of Joker, I heard he's been hiding out in Sionis Industries steelworks.'

'Sionis? Roman Sionis? The Black Mask?'

'Yup. Heard Black Mask's been having trouble in the gang war. Can't seem to get anyone to join his gang.'

'Bet it doesn't help that Joker and his girl are living in his factory.'

'Nope, it-wait.'

The man looked at his radio as it emitted a his of static. He picked it up and spoke into it.

'Yeah?' He said. The radio crackled as the caller spoke through it.

'All available units converge on the Iceberg Lounge, repeat, converge on the Iceberg Lounge. Oswald Cobblepot has finally left the museum. I repeat, the Penguin has left his museum. We have reason to believe that he is being pursued by the Batman. I repeat, the Batman is in the city.'

The operative clicked off his radio, and clipped it back onto his belt.

'We'd better go.' He said. The two men, unclipped their pistols from their gun bets and ran out of the alley.

Catwoman smiled to herself. Bruce. Always attracting the wrong kind of attention.

NOW

Batman was running through the dirty streets, following Penguin, who was waddling as fast as he could to get away. Batman would have caught him already, if not for the fact that Penguin had had a big head-start, the fact he was frequently having to dodge gunfire from Penguin's bodyguards, and the heavy rain, which was decreasing his visibility. This was a dark street, with the only lights coming from the muzzle flashes of the bodyguards' guns. There had been a power cut on this street recently, or the streets would be brighter. Every now and then he threw the odd batarang, but none of them had hit so far, other than one knocking off Penguin's hat. He kept on trying, though.

Batman knew exactly where Penguin was heading, of course. The Iceberg Lounge. Penguin's nightclub, the official meet-and-greet place among the Gotham underworld. Penguin maintained his guise of law-abiding businessman by insisting that he stayed clear of the shady business dealings that went on in there. He was, of course, lying.

But the Iceberg Lounge was a while away from here, and Batman couldn't help wondering how Penguin was intending to get there.

Then Batman saw it. Penguin and his guards were climbing into the back of a black van. As it started to pull out and drive away, Batman knew he had one chance. He fired his grapple gun upwards, and the line attached itself to a street lamp. He was pulled upwards, and then, when he was on top of the streetlamp, fired the grapple gun again, and this time it latched onto a railing on top of a rooftop. Once again he was pulled upwards, and when he was on top of the roof, he leapt of, spreading his cape out in mid air.

And he began to glide.

He flew through the air for several seconds, then began to descend towards the ground. He fired his grapple gun for a third time, this time at he back of the Penguin's van. The claw at the end of the line ripped into the metal frame of the truck, and he was pulled through the air by the speeding truck with his cape still spread out. One could, in fact, see the van and Batman attached to it and think that Batman was some great winged monster, giving chase to the pour souls in the small, black vehicle that was racing through the dark streets below.

Eventually, they reached the Lounge. Penguin ran out of the van, his umbrella blazing. He dashed through the doors of the Lounge, his bodyguards hurrying after him. The glass doors closed with a slam. They wouldn't keep Batman out, though. As he landed, he rolled on the ground then stood up and walked towards the locked doors. He smashed a hand through the glass, reached out and pressed a button on the wall. The doors unlocked, and swung open. Batman walked through the doors into the main room of the building.

The atrium of the Iceberg Lounge was a very large, thematic room. It had an open ceiling, and there was a huge pool of water in the middle of the room, with, true to form, an enormous fake iceberg in the centre. There was bar in the at the side of the room, and there were tables around the room, each one with room to seat five people. The main colours of the room were blue and white. The view was spoiled, however, by the small army of men holding various weapons, from shotguns to baseball bats. Penguin stood atop the enormous iceberg, having used a set of concealed stairs to reach the top. His bodyguards stood around him, them too atop the iceberg.

'Welcome to my 'umble abode, Batman.' Penguin said. 'I do 'ope that you'll stay awhile and entertain the other guests. They are all very eager to-'

He was interrupted by a gunshot that narrowly missed his long nose. A sniper. Another three shots downed his bodyguards, who fell off the iceberg, landing in the pool of water that surrounded it.

Then, all hell broke loose. A hundred black-clad TYGER soldiers poured in through the doors, automatic rifles at the ready. Penguin stared at them in disbelief for several seconds, then raised his umbrella.

'C'mon then, ya bums!' He yelled, and opened fire. The criminals below him all raised their weapons, let out a battle cry and charged towards the TYGER men, who raised their guns and stood their ground. They began to fire on the oncoming thugs, but they were too late to avoid casualties on their side. Both TYGER and criminals alike fell to the ground, dead. Batman himself jumped straight into the battle, fighting against both sides and attempting to disarm as many people as possible in a futile attempt to prevent bloodshed. Realising that he would not make much of a difference in the battle, since he was fighting on his own side and there was no way he would be able to beat everyone, Batman instead turned his attentions to Penguin. He grappled up to the top of the iceberg, but Penguin was already gone. Batman looked around, then saw him on one of the walkways that overlooked the atrium. He was blasting his way through TYGER operatives, who didn't seem to be attempting to return fire. TYGER, and no doubt Hugo Strange, wanted Penguin alive. Batman could only watch as the TYGER guards grabbed the bird-loving crime boss and started to pull him away. As they dragged him off, Penguin yelled at Batman. Over the noise of the battle below, Batman could barely hear him, but Penguin's meaning was clear. Penguin shook free, and screamed at one of his men under the walkway. The man was holding a bazooka. He nodded at Penguin, turned at around and fired the bazooka at the iceberg.

The enormous decoration collapsed, with Batman still on it. Batman fell through a hole in the floor which the iceberg had previously concealed, and landed in a dark, cavernous room. He stood up, and looked around. He could hear the battle ending as the TYGER's pulled out with their prize. He looked around in the pitch darkness, broken only by the area below the hole, and saw an electric-blue glow. He pulled out a pair of batarangs, and walked warily towards the light. As he got closer, he heard a low, growling voice speaking. He couldn't hear it perfectly, but as he got closer the words became clear.

'Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday. Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday.'

The voice repeated this phrase over and over. Batman recognised the phrase as the first line from a poem, a children's nursery rhyme that his mother would sing to him when he was a child. He took a torch from his belt, and shone it on the source of the noise.

It was a man. Not just a man, an enormous man. A man with grey skin, and veins glowing blue. He wore a black jacket, with no sleeves. He slowly stood up, looking directly at Batman, who was disturbing his peace. As he stood, Batman could see his full height to be about fourteen feet, more than twice Batman's height. There were several long wires attached to his chest, connected to an electric generator. No doubt electricity was used to subdue the creature if and when it ever went berserk. The giant lumbered towards Batman, stopped in front of him, and snarled.

'What are you?' Asked Batman. 'Who are you?'

The monster scrutinised him for a second, then recited the first line of the poem again.

'Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday.' He said. Solomon raised a fist, and swung it at Batman, who was knocked off his feet, dropping the two batarangs he had been carrying. Batman stood up and picked up the two batarangs. He backed away slowly, then ran towards Solomon. He leaped into the air, and flung the two batarangs. They both hit Solomon on his enormous forehead, then were followed by both of Batman's feet, kicking him in the face. Solomon stumbled backwards. The attack had had little effect on him, other than to anger him. He snarled again, and swung both hands together. Batman jumped out of the way just in time, had he not, Solomon would have crushed him between his palms.

Batman decided then that he had no chance of defeating this monstrosity through brute force. He was outmatched in that area. Instead, he decided to use his mind to beat the brutish creature. He would speak in the only language Solomon seemed to understand.

'Solomon Grundy,' He said. 'Born on a Monday.

Christened on a Tuesday,

Married on a Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday,

Worse on a Friday,

Died on a Saturday,

Buried on a Sunday.

That is the end of Solomon Grundy.'

The words had a profound effect on Grundy. He stopped attacking, and stood still, as if hypnotised. Batman repeated the poem as he backed away, towards the area where the hole was. He continued to recite it, taking out a batarang. He threw it at the generator, and electricity flew through the wires attached to Grundy's chest. Grundy cried out in surprise and pain, and fell backwards, unconscious. Batman fired his grapple upwards, and flew up until he was safely out of the cavern, and stood in the ruins of the Iceberg Lounge.

HALF AN HOUR LATERHugo Strange

Hugo Strange walked briskly through the bland grey corridors of the tower from which he controlled Arkham City. He walked into the elevator, and pressed the button for the top floor. The floor was, so to speak, private, and required a password to be entered to allow the elevator to travel up to it. This was because the entire floor served as one enormous office for Hugo.

As the elevator ascended, Hugo mulled over what had happened recently in the city. He had heard rumours, whispers that the Batman had entered the city. Of course, no one had officially told him because they were worried about what would befall them, should they turn out to be incorrect. Hugo personally believed that the Batman was in the city by now, as it corresponded with the fact that Bruce Wayne seemed to have left Gotham recently. After all, Wayne and the Batman were one and the same.

He had received reports that Oswald Cobblepot had been captured, and would be brought to Hugo's office for questioning shortly. This pleased him greatly, he always found it interesting to delve into the minds of insane people.

The elevator stopped moving suddenly as it reached the top floor. The doors slid open smoothly and Hugo stepped out.

He walked over to his desk and sat down. Picking up a small television remote, he turned on a large, flat-screen TV mounted on the wall at the other side of the room and played one of his DVD's. The DVD was full of captured footage of the Batman in action, fighting criminals, gliding through the air, sometimes just watching from the rooftops. The whole of Gotham was filled with his hidden cameras, all for the purpose of studying the Batman. Hugo sat with his fingers tented and observed for several minutes.

Suddenly, a smaller screen on his desk switched on. Hugo paused the DVD and looked down at it in annoyance. It was the closed-circuit TV camera in the elevator. TYGER 1 was escorting Cobblepot into Hugo's office. Only Hugo, TYGER 1 and the other higher-ranking TYGER operatives actually knew the password, and if need be, Hugo could deactivate the elevator from his office. He stood up as the elevator doors slid open with a quiet hiss, and TYGER 1 stepped out with a shackled Cobblepot in tow. TYGER 1 pushed Cobblepot along with the butt of his gun at regular intervals. This annoying Cobblepot no end.

'Can't ya keep yer gun to yerself?' He asked. 'I can walk, ya know.

'Shut up, Penguin.' Said TYGER 1. Oswald looked at him, but couldn't see the man's face through his black helmet.

'Do I know ya?' He asked. 'I'm sure I've 'eard your voice before.' His question was answered with nothing more than another push with the butt of the man's gun.

'Thank you, TYGER 1.' Said Hugo. 'You may leave us, now.'

'But I'm supposed to stay here.' Said TYGER 1 indignantly.

'I said, leave us.' Said Hugo. The man nodded and walked back into the elevator obediently. Hugo motioned for Cobblepot to sit down.

'Welcome, Oswald.' He said.

'Hi.' Said Cobblepot. 'Ya got anything' ta drink around 'ere? I could really use a cool drink of iced water…'

'But of course.' Said Hugo. He gestured towards the water cooler in the corner of the room. 'Feel free to go and get a cup. I will wait.'

Cobblepot stood and waddled over to the water cooler. He poured himself a cup, then waddled back and sat down.

'Happy?' Asked Hugo. 'Good. Now, I have some questions for you. Answer them, and I will allow you back onto the streets. Understand?'

Penguin nodded his assent. Hugo turned on a tape recorder on his desk.

'Good. Now, first, I'd like you to tell me if you have seen the Batman in this city tonight. Answer me truthfully, please.'

Penguin took a long sip from his cup, placed on Hugo's desk, and spoke.

''E came to the museum.' He said. 'Roughed up all a' my initiates. Took down Abromavici. Followed me to the Lounge.'

'So I've heard. How did he fair against your men when he arrived at the Iceberg Lounge?' Hugo enquired.

''E didn't get a chance ta do much,' Penguin answered. 'Your grunts took care 'a that. But what 'e did, 'e did well. I'll give 'im that. He certainly seemed ta favour those batarang things.'

'Hmm. Interesting. And tell me, did you ever know the Waynes?'

Penguin looked rather surprised at this abrupt change of subject. He answered anyway.

'Yeah, I knew 'em.' He said. 'Dirty stinkin' rich, they were. Thought they were so much better than everyone else. I tek me 'at off to 'oever put a bullet in their heads.'

'Really? I understood that you were once friends with them.'

'Friends? Nevah. When I 'eard they were dead, I laughed fer weeks.'

Hugo turned off his tape recorder. 'Thank you.' He said. 'That's all I need.'

Penguin was confused. 'But you only asked me three-'

'It was all I needed.' Hugo repeated 'But there is one more thing. I have a proposition for you…'

NOW

Batman was kneeling atop a tall building overlooking the East side of Arkham City, brooding, when he heard light footsteps behind him.

'Selina.' He acknowledged. Catwoman sat down next to him.

'I'll get you one of these days.' She promised him.

'No, you won't.' Batman told her.

'Bruce.' She said. 'I overheard some TYGER grunts talking.'

Batman looked at her. 'And?' He asked.

'I know where Joker and Harley are hiding out.'

'Where?' Asked Batman.

Catwoman looked at him. 'You don't know?' She asked, surprised. Batman ignored this.

'Where is he, Selina?'

'Sionis steelworks.' Said Catwoman. She looked out over the city below her, thinking. 'Apparently that bastard the Black Mask has been having trouble getting anyone to join up. Are you-' Catwoman suddenly realised that Batman was gone. She looked over the edge of the building to see a huge, black bat shape gliding away in the direction of the steelworks. She sighed.

Batman flew through the air, his mind set on a single goal. He was going to get to the Joker. He had no doubt that Joker had information Batman needed. He also had no doubt that joker wouldn't give him it, but he would sure as hell try to make him anyway. And even if Joker didn't talk, he'd have taken another major player out of this game.

Still in the air, Batman steered himself closer to the steelworks. Part of the enormous factory had still been under construction when Arkham City was first established, so naturally construction had stopped and the workers gone. Part of the building was jut a metal skeleton, made up of iron girders. Batman steered towards one of these now. They were his best chance for a stealthy entrance. He landed quietly on a girder, his wings falling and becoming a cape once more. Batman walked silently along the girder, crouched to maintain balance. He leaped across the iron beams, successfully managing to avoid falling.

He stopped when he heard a noise on the iron platform below him. He looked down and saw a henchman patrolling. He was wearing a clown mask, and held in his hands a machine gun. He dropped down behind the unknowing thug, then put on hand over his mouth, kicked his legs out from under him and punched him in the back. The man fell down unconscious.

Batman continued on, walking quickly and quietly across the platform. He stopped when he reached a corner. He looked round it for a second, then dodged back when he saw an armed guard heading towards him. He waited until the man was just about to turn the corner, then flew a fist out and punched him the I the face. The man span around comically, then fell to the floor. Batman slipped out from his cover, then slung the body over his shoulder and grappled back up to one of the girders. He stood atop it, still with the man on his shoulder, and waited for another guard to arrive. When one did, he simply dropped the unconscious man on his head. Simple.

He activated Detective Vision for a second, and a small window popped up. It informed him that there was no one nearby. Batman deactivated Detective Vision, and dropped down back onto the platform. He made his way towards a large, metal door. He pressed a button on the wall next to it, and it slid open with an unavoidable racket. The door fully opened, to reveal Joker, stood in front of around a dozen thugs. Directly behind him stood the other Abromavici twin, who, instead of opting for his brother's sickle as his weapon of choice, instead opted for a hefty hammer. Joker himself looked far the worse for wear. His bleached white face was covered in sores and boils, and he gave a hacking cough before he spoke.

'Hey there, Bats!' He greeted Batman. 'How's my favourite masked vigilante? Still punching things?'

'Joker.' Said Batman.

Joker looked disappointed. 'Aw.' He pouted theatrically. 'Not in the mood for conversation? No? Then I'll provide the entertainment.' He stepped aside to allow Abromavici to lumber past him, raising his hammer as he came. Batman grimaced angrily.

He ran towards the giant, pulling a taser from his belt as he ran. He dropped to the floor, and used his momentum to propel himself along the ground. He slid between the thug's legs, kicking him in the groin from below, then stood up and tased him in the back. He put the taser away without giving the huge man a second glance as the giant groaned, then slumped onto his knees and fell down, unconscious.

Batman cracked his knuckles.

'Does anyone else want a try?' He asked threateningly. The thugs behind Joker all unconsciously shuffled backwards a few centimetres. Joker was not intimidated. He laughed.

'Not in the mood for playing, either?' He asked. 'You know, you're about as fun as an exploding shark. Actually, that would be rather fun… I must use that. Anyway, get him, boys!'

No one moved. Batman smirked.

'Boys?' Joker said again. 'Oh, to heck with it.' He pulled out a gun from his inside pocket, and shot one of his thugs at point blank range.

'Get him!' he yelled. The men behind him looked at each other, then started to run at Batman, yelling as they went. Joker stepped back, allowing them to run past him.

'Thank you!' He said.

Chaos erupted. Thugs came at Batman in every direction. Joker took random pot shots, aiming to kill but missing each time. Thugs fell, whether from Joker's bullets or Batman's fist it was impossible to tell. Batman worked his way through the crowd of criminals, trying to reach Joker but being hindered by henchmen, who were attacking with unrelenting force. Batman was finding it hard to cope, throwing punch after kick after punch, but it wasn't enough. Still they came, and it seemed that for every thug who's arm he broke, who's nose he smashed, two more took their place. Batman was still looking for Joker, but the clown seemed to have vanished. Unconscious bodies littered the ground, and yet more came. One henchman attempted to hit Batman with a baseball bat. Batman grabbed the bat off the man, hit him with it, then snapped it in two. Batman was getting angry. Eventually there was one left. It was almost comical. He ran at Batman, yelling, arms flailing in a desperate attempt to get a hit in. Batman grabbed him, threw the thug behind him, then elbowed him in the back of the head. He went down.

Batman stood there for a moment, collecting his thoughts, surrounded by the groaning of the wounded. He walked over to one of the less wounded henchmen, and picked him up. He slammed him face first against a wall, and twisted the mans arm behind his back.

'Joker's gone.' He said, threateningly. 'Where did he go?'

The thug cried out in agony. 'I don't know!' He said. 'I don't know, I swear I don't know!'

Batman snarled. 'Lie to me again, and I'll break the arm.' He threatened.

'I-I swear!'

Batman twisted the arm even more.

'Final warning.' He said. The man knew he was telling the truth.

'Please, I don't know!' The man screamed.

Batman let go, and allowed the man to drop to the floor. He looked at him for several seconds. 'I believe you.' He said. He picked up the man, and smacked his head against the wall.

He decided to contact Alfred.

'Yes, Master Bruce?' Said Alfred through the communicator.

'Have you picked up anything on Joker and Strange?'

'I have. Professor Strange was in several meetings with a mister Joseph Kerr around two months ago in a psychiatric clinic that I do not believe Professor Strange actually worked in. CCTV footage taken that day shows that Joseph Kerr hid his face with a scarf over the bottom half of his head, and a large hat on top.'

'Joker never was a master of disguise.' Acknowledged Batman. 'Now we know that whatever they're planning, they've been planning it long before Joker even took over Arkham. Whatever they're planning, it's big. Thanks, Alfred.' Batman terminated the call.

Batman grappled up to the rooftops again. He was running out of ideas. He had no clues, nothing at all. He ran across the rooftops, thinking, searching for any kind of pattern, anything that could possibly help with this case. He stopped when he found another of Riddler's traps. Another hostage. It was an easy trap. A simple maze. Batman just punched his way through each dead end, enduring Riddler's protests and cries of, 'Cheat!'. He escorted the hostage out, then disappeared when the hostage looked away. For a moment he felt he was back in Gotham.

He wished he was back in Gotham.

ONE HOUR LATER

Razor

Razor was standing in a group with several of his friends, talking.

'What about that Catwoman broad?' Said Scab.

'Hell yeah.' Said Blast. 'She can scratch me any time.'

The others all laughed.

'What?' Asked Blast.

'You?' Razor taunted him. 'You think she'd go for you?'

'Y'know, I'm actually pretty charming.' Blast defended himself. Razor laughed.

'Weird. I never thought a guy charged with twelve counts of indecent assault could be charming.' Said Rapper.

'Ah, screw you.' Blast said.

'Hey, guys,' Said Scab. 'Check this out. Joker's guys.'

Everyone turned and looked where Scab was pointing. He was right. A group of about seven men in clown masks swaggered towards them, laughing. They stopped walking. Both groups looked at one another for a minute, then one of the clowns stepped forward.

'Hey, guys. Penguin's boys. Heh, you boys look lost. Isn't it past your bedtime?'

The clowns laughed. Razor stepped forward.

'Well, at least we ain't kowtowing to a dead man!' he said. His friends applauded. The clowns were not amused.

'We gonna have to teach you some manners?' Asked one of the clowns.

'Bring it!' Said Scab. The two gangs ran towards each other, and they started fist fighting. None of them had any particular skill, they fought like amateurs. Strong amateurs, though. Strong enough for teeth to be flying.

Suddenly there was a burst of gunfire. The men froze, then looked up and saw a man holding a pair of pistols. He stood atop a tall building. He wore a dark blue cape ad cowl. A gas mask covered his mouth.

'Batman.' Breathed Scab.

Batman aimed a pistol at Scab, and blew his brains over the ground. He leaped down off the building, and landed on the ground below. He stood, then ran towards Blast. He leaped into the air and kicked him in the head. Blast went down, then Batman pulled out a knife, stabbed a clown, then punched Rapper in the face. He shot at two more clowns with deadly accuracy, and they fell to the ground, dead. He continued to work his way through the two gangs, sparing no one. Razor ran at him with a yell, and was met with two bullets to the head. He died.

HALF AN HOUR LATER

Batman was on a rooftop when he received another call from Alfred.

'Alfred?' He asked.

'Master Bruce, may I enquire as to what the hell you think you're doing?' Said Alfred angrily.

'Alfred, what are you talking about?'

'You! You interrupted a fight between Penguin and Joker's men! You killed them all! Shot them!'

'What?' Asked Batman, surprised. 'I didn't do anything like that…'

'Then what happened?' Alfred asked. 'I'm reading about it right now, an undercover reporter in the city just updated his website… you know, I don't think he's actually a real reporter. He must have broken in, to get his website more fame. It's amazing what people do for fame nowadays…'

'Alfred, focus.' Batman said. 'Read out the report.'

'Well, it's amateur, rushed, and full of spelling mistakes, but, in short, it says, 'Just saw Batman shooting up Penguin and Joker's gangs.' It's accompanied by a blurred photo. It was taken from a distance, but it looks like you.'

'Well, it's not.' Said Batman thoughtfully. 'Someone's impersonating me. If they're killing off members off the gangs, it would explain why I haven't seen any battles between different factions yet. Thanks, Alfred.'

Batman mulled over this new information. If someone was impersonating him, they would have to be stopped as soon as possible. In fact, he was going to need some help. He was going to need Robin.

Batman activated his ear communicator for a third time. This time, he contacted Robin.

'Tim.' He said.

'What is it, Bruce?' Asked Robin. 'I'm kinda busy here. Someone's gotta keep Gotham safe while you're gone.'

'Is Batgirl there?' Batman asked.

'Cass? Yeah, you wanna talk to her?'

'No. Get Nightwing over there too, he'll help her out. I need you in here.' Batman told him.

'How do I do that? I thought it was guarded?'

'Anyone can break into a prison. It's breaking out that's the hard part.'

'I guess. I'll see you soon.'

Robin terminated the call.

Batman started walking again. He looked up, and, to his surprise, saw a familiar shape in the sky. The Batsignal.

The Gotham City Police Department was placed in almost the centre of the city. On the roof was the Batsignal, a floodlight that, when turned on, emitted a bat-shaped light, signalling that the police needed to talk to Batman, normally informing him of a crime in progress. In a city full of criminals, what crime could possibly stand out from the rest enough to merit a call?

Batman pulled out his Line Launcher, and fired it towards the source of the light. It carried him about fifty metres before he hit a wall. He just moved out of the way of the wall, and fired it again. He kept doing this until he arrived on the roof of the GCPD. He stood in the shadows, his cape covering him as he looked at his caller. It was, as expected, Commissioner James Gordon.

'Jim.' He said.

Gordon, jumped slightly, then turned around as Batman stepped out of the shadows. 'You always get me like that.' He said.

'Why did you call?' Asked Batman.

'I wanted to know you were in the city. There were rumours, but nothing confirmed. Heard about you killing people, too.'

'It's not me. It's an impostor. We're taking steps to prevent him or her from killing again.'

'Good. Well, not good, but you get the idea.' Gordon walked towards the edge of the building, and looked down on the city below. 'This idea, this Arkham City. it's just a powder keg waiting to blow.'

'I know. Strange is a lunatic.'

'What about Sharpe?'

'Deluded. He thinks he runs the city. He's just a puppet for Strange, and not even he realises it.'

'Hmm. What have you done about all this yet?'

'I've been cleaning up some gang activity. Joker, Penguin and Harvey all have a lot less members now.' Batman told him. 'I've yet to run into the Black Mask, though.'

'He's not important. Take my advice, don't bother with him. No one seems to want to join up with him.' Gordon said.

'So I've heard.'

'Hmm. You said 'we're' just now. 'We're' taking steps. Is the kid with you? Robin?'

'Not yet. He's on his way.'

'Good. Problem this size we need all the help we can get-what the hell?' Gordon swore as a huge explosion rocked the building.

'What the hell is that?' Yelled Gordon. He pulled out a revolver.

'I'll find out.' Said Batman. He jumped off the building, and landed on the ground below. The entire first floor of the GCPD was burning in a towering inferno. Police officers ran out of the front door, only to be instantly burned alive by some sort of heat ray. Batman looked upwards and saw, hovering in the sky, a man wearing yellow and black armour, a helmet and a winged jetpack. He held in one hand a strange-looking gun. He was shooting at the GCPD building, destroying the first couple of floors. Too much destruction would bring down the entire building, unless the arsonist was stopped.

'FireFly!' Yelled Batman. FireFly looked down at him.

'Oh,' He said, 'It's you.' He lowered down, getting closer to the ground while staying in the air. 'What do you want?'

'Leave this building alone!' Batman commanded.

FireFly laughed. 'Why would I do that?' He yelled back. He raised his gun. 'Time to heat things up.' He said, and fired. Batman dodged out of the way, the stream of flame barely missing, and leaving a burn mark on the ground where Batman had stood moments ago. Suddenly, a rain of bullets flew at FireFly, many making contact, but just bounced off his armour and falling to the ground. FireFly searched for the source of the gunfire, and found it to be Gordon and the surviving police officers. He raised the gun again, but Batman hurled a batarang, knocking the gun out of FireFly's hands. FireFly yelled in rage, and flew straight at Batman. He grabbed him by the shoulders, then flew upwards and towards a building. They smashed through a wall together, then flew out the other side of the building and through the wall of another. FireFly barely felt the impacts, but Batman did. As FireFly banked around and started heading back towards the GCPD, Batman noticed several grenades strapped to FireFly's belt. He reached down and activated one of them, then kicked away from FireFly and fell down to the ground below. At first, FireFly was unsure what had happened. Then, he looked down at his belt and noticed the grenade. He yelled as it exploded, destroying his jetpack. He fell far towards the ground, his landing cushioned by his armour.

Batman walked towards FireFly, and kicked off his helmet to reveal FireFly's burned, scarred face.

'Ha…ha…' Laughed FireFly, then pressed a button on his gauntlet. Batman could only watch, as the GCPD building erupted in a ball of flame. Batman ran towards Gordon through the shower of falling debris, and helped him to stand up. He had been knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion.

'Jim!' He said. 'Are you all right?'

'I'm fine.' Said Gordon.

'Was anyone left inside that building?'

'Ye- yes.'

Batman grimaced, than turned around and walked back over to FireFly. He dragged the pyromaniac across the ground.

'Hey, where are you takin' me?' FireFly demanded.

'Somewhere high.' Said Batman.

Batman was standing on a very tall building. With one hand he held FireFly by the neck, hanging him over the edge. There was look of intense fear on FireFly's scarred face.

'Who sent you?' Batman asked.

'I ain't tellin' you nothin'!' FireFly promised. Batman looked into his eyes.

'Yes you will.' He told him. Without warning, he let go of FireFly, who dropped like a stone, screaming as he fell. Batman fired his grapple down after him, and it latched onto his foot, suspending him in midair. Batman looked over the edge, and yelled, 'ARE YOU READY TO TALK NOW?'

FireFly looked up at him in utter fear. 'Yes!' He said. 'Yes, yes, I'm ready to talk!'

Batman pulled him back up, and when he was near the top, FireFly clambered over the edge and back to the safety of the rooftop.

'So who sent you?' Batman asked again.

'It was-it was that TYGER 1 guy. That general.' FireFly said.

'Why did he want you to destroy that building?'

'He-he wanted to-to get your attention.'

'Well, he got it.' Said Batman. He threw FireFly onto the floor. 'If I see you outside again,' He promised, 'I'll personally make sure you can't even walk again, never mind burn a building. Understand?'

FireFly nodded at him, still terrified. 'Sure! Sure!' He assured Batman. 'You won't see me out here again, I promise!'

Batman turned around and walked away, satisfied. He leaped from the building, threw out his cape and soared down towards the ground. He landed with a crunch of his boots on the concrete ground. He stood up again, and walked towards Gordon.

'Gordon,' He said, 'Has Robin arrived yet?'

'Right here, Batman.' Said an adolescent voice from behind him. Batman turned around and looked at the speaker.

Robin was a fifteen-year-old boy. He had short black hair, and on is back was a long black cape with a hood. He wore red armour with black boots and gloves, and held in one hand a long black fighting staff. He wore on his face a mask. He walked towards Batman, grinning.

'Robin.' Said Batman.

'Hey Batman.' Robin answered. 'Commish.' He nodded at Gordon. Robin shook hands with Batman. 'How's the city?'

'Bad.' Batman answered. 'Strange is up to something.'

'I guessed as much.' Answered Robin. 'What about Catwoman?'

'She's been helping out.' Batman told him. Robin raised his eyebrows.

'I'm sure she has.' He smirked.

'Gentlemen.' Said Gordon. 'If we can cut the small talk, can we please discuss the matter at hand?' He looked at Batman. 'Did FireFly talk?'

'Yes.' Said Batman. 'He was employed by the TYGER leader-TYGER 1, to be precise.'

'Do we know who this guy is?' Asked Robin.

'No. I'll find out when I'm done punching his face.' Batman told him. Robin laughed.

'You gonna need any help?' He asked.

'No,' Said Batman. 'But I'll need you patrolling the city.'

'Anything you want doing in particular?'

'Yes,' Replied Batman. 'The Riddler's got hostages in death traps all over the city. I need you finding them, and getting the hostages out. When you save them, get them to the Medical Centre.'

'Right,' Said Robin. 'I'll get on it.'

'Good.' Batman said. 'Commissioner, I need you to get over to the Medical Centre and defend it. There's a lot of supplies in there that any of the gangs could want to get their hands on. There are already police guarding it, but they need a leader.'

Gordon nodded, and took out his pistol. He ran over to a group of policemen, and started giving out orders. Batman watched as they drove away in squad cars. Batman turned around to speak to Robin again, but the boy had already vanished. Batman smiled to himself. The kid had been practising.

Batman turned away and hurried down the street, keeping a look out for any TYGER guards that he could interrogate. He needed to know where their headquarters were, so that he could find TYGER 1.

After about five minutes of walking, Batman heard a quiet noise from nearby. It seemed to be the sound of someone giggling, high-pitched and evil-sounding. Batman pulled out a batarang, and crept cautiously towards the dark alleyway where the giggling had come from. He stepped into the shadows of the alleyway and heard a soft hiss. He began to cough, and covered his mouth. He continued through the alleyway, then froze. There was something behind him, reaching for his shoulder. He could feel it.

Quick as a flash, Batman span around, to find the alley as empty as ever. He turned around again, and found himself facing a sign. The sign read 'Park Row'.

Batman knew this street well.

It was known as Crime Alley.

It was where his parents had been murdered.

Batman turned around quickly, and made to leave, but could not. There was something grabbing his cape, pulled him back. Batman struggled against it, but to no avail. He looked around, attempting to get a look at his attacker, but could not see anything except for a pair of glowing yellow eyes.

Suddenly, in a show of brute force, the attacker yanked Batman backwards into the shadows of Crime Alley. Batman tumbled to the ground, and slowly stood up. He turned around, and saw a pair of skeletons lumbering towards him, arms outstretched. The skeletons were wearing rather posh-looking attire, one skeleton in a red dress and pearl necklace, clutching a handbag, and the other in a smart black tuxedo.

They were Thomas and Martha Wayne, parents of Bruce Wayne.

'Why, Bruce?' Cried Martha-skeleton. 'Why did you let us die?'

'Your mother is right, Bruce.' Agreed Thomas-skeleton. 'It's all your fault.'

The two skeletons continued to stumble towards Batman, when suddenly they both let out an ear-piercing screech of pain, and exploded into dust. Behind where had stood just moments ago was a third skeleton, wearing far less elegant clothing, nothing more than a black jacket and a pair of jeans. In one hand he held a smoking pistol, and it was obvious that he had shot the other two skeletons. Batman roared in rage and leaped at the skeleton, it's grinning face mocking him as he sank his fist into the skull with a loud crack, and gun-toting skeleton burst into dust in the same way the other two and.

Batman fell to his knees, panting, when he heard soft footsteps behind him. He span around and shot his hand out, and in seconds it was tight around the scrawny neck of the Scarecrow, his masked face hiding any fear that he ma have been experiencing. If he was, he didn't show it.

'W-what did you see?' Gasped Scarecrow eagerly. 'Did you enjoy the effects of my new gas? After you survived the last dose I gave you intact, I-'

Batman cut short his ramblings with a punch to the face.

He stepped out of the alley and continued his journey, leaving the Scarecrow behind, handcuffed to a lamppost.

NOW

Catwoman

Catwoman was sitting on a stone gargoyle, looking out on the city in front of her, spread out like an enormous map. The sky was red, red as a lake of blood. She sighed to herself, then stood up and turned around. She ran towards the edge of the building, and leaped downwards onto a neighbouring building. She landed, true to form, on her feet. She walked across the rooftop, when she saw something on the ground. Something green. Something moving.

It was a plant. A vine, to be exact. She picked it up, and inspected it. It wriggled in her hand, as if trying to escape. She knew who had put it their.

'Ivy.' She said.

'Hello there.' Said a sultry, seductive voice from behind her. Catwoman turned around to see Poison Ivy.

Ivy was a beautiful young woman. She had red hair, and her skin had a light green tinge to it. Her clothes covered only what they needed to, and Ivy seemed to have fashioned them herself using leaves.

'Wonderful to see you.' Ivy said. 'Or-how would you put it? Puuurfect…'

'What do you want, Ivy?' Asked Catwoman.

'You're all business since you started spending so much time around the Batman.' ivy acknowledged. 'How boring. Anyway, I had an, ah, proposition for you.'

'What?' Catwoman asked.

'A particularly rare plant was taken from me when I was put in this city.' Said Ivy. 'Getting it back is a task that would require your talents.'

'Where is it?' Asked Catwoman.

'Well, I heard on the grapevine that it's being kept in a briefcase in a special vault full of confiscated goods.' Ivy told her.

Catwoman smirked. 'And what would you give me in return?' She asked.

'Well I was hoping that you'd…do it for free?' Ivy smiled.

Catwoman turned away. 'Not a chance.' She said. 'I don't work for free.'

Ivy ran towards her and put a hand on Catwoman's shoulder. 'Don't go!' She demanded, a hint of sadness in her voice. 'What if I convince you?' She asked.

Suddenly, Catwoman realised what Ivy meant. 'No, Ivy! Don't you-'

But she was too late. Ivy blew a kiss at Catwoman, and a light green dust blew out of her mouth. Catwoman breathed it in, without even wanting too. Her muscles tightened, and her head snapped up.

'That's better.' Said Ivy. 'So, will you do it?'

'Yes.' Said Catwoman.

Ivy smiled widely. 'Puuuuurfect.' She said.

NOW

Batman was crouching down by a corner, listening for anyone who may have been on the other side. Satisfied that there was no one there, he stood up and walked quietly down the long, dark corridor. He had been investigating, and had found out where the TYGER base was. From the outside one would not have guessed that the building was anything special, and probably for good reason. No one was going to attack a completely normal building if they were looking for the base of an armed security force. Unless, like Batman, they had done their research. The sort of research that involved punching.

As he turned another corner, he heard the footsteps of two guards. He ducked back behind the corner again as they walked by. He didn't want to alert TYGER to his presence unless he had to.

The two men stopped and stood with their backs to Batman, who slowly walked up behind them, reached up and smashed their heads together. They both fell to the floor, and Batman dragged them off into a dark corner. He reached into the pocket of one of the guards and took out a black plastic key card. He placed it in his utility belt for future use, and continued through the corridor.

As Batman turned the next corner he came across a security camera. It was not pointed at him, but he could the whirring noise it made as it rotated slowly. He waited or several seconds, then looked round the corner very slowly. The camera was pointed away again. Batman smiled, and moved quickly past it, ducking out of it's line of vision as it moved. He knew exactly where the power box for the building was, and he would need to get to it to shut off the cameras. As he continued through the corridors, dodging cameras and eliminating any guards he encountered, he came to a door. He pulled out the key card he had procured earlier, and swiped it across a panel next to the door. It slid open, and he walked in.

The room was small and dark, and mainly empty apart from the power box and a computer. Batman ignored the computer and opened the power box. He flicked the main switch off, and the building was thrust into darkness. It wouldn't be long before someone turned the power back on, so Batman sprayed some explosive gel on the floor to discourage anyone who tried. He walked back out of the room, and closed the door behind him. As an extra precaution, he thrust his fist right through the panel that read the key cards, breaking it and preventing anyone from entering without breaking the door down.

Batman swept down yet another corridor, listening to the surprised shouts of the guards throughout the building, and the yelled orders given by the higher-ranking guards. He ducked around a corner just as a small group of TYGER's ran past him, no doubt heading for the power box. It would take them quite a while to get in, but the moment they reached the room and saw what Batman had done to the key card panel, they would know that there was someone in the base. Hopefully, they would not deduce who the intruder was before Batman could get to TYGER 1.

Batman knew where to find him, though. He would be at the barracks, giving out orders. If Batman had his way, they were the last orders TYGER 1 could ever give.

Five minutes later, and Batman still had not reached the barracks. This was because he kept having to duck out of sight whenever a guard patrol was near. Eventually he decided it would take too long to go through the corridors, so he instead opted to climb through the ventilation shafts.

Soon he was directly above the barracks, watching TYGER 1 give out orders to the guards who weren't patrolling. By now he would have been informed of the presence of an intruder, and was giving out extra patrols and organising search parties to hunt down the interloper. Batman watched all this through a grate in the wall. He started to carefully push it away from the wall without attracting attention to himself as the TYGER guards filed out. TYGER 1 stayed behind, and this was when Batman got his first full view of him.

TYGER 1 wore no helmet, unlike the other TYGER members. Instead he wore a metal faceplate with a targeting device that glowed red over his right eye. He wore gloves with silenced, wrist-mounted guns. He had a sniper rifle strapped to his back. Batman knew that this man was an expert marksman, because Batman had encountered this man before.

His name was Floyd Lawton. He was known as Deadshot.

Batman crawled out of the vent, and stood up slowly. He walked carefully towards Deadshot, who had his back turned. Batman reached for Deadshot, but suddenly Deadshot span around and jumped backwards, his wrist guns firing as he went.

'Batman,' He said. 'Why am I not surprised?'

'I'm taking you down, Lawton.' Batman told him. Deadshot didn't answer, and fired again, forcing Batman to jump out of the way of the incoming bullets. Deadshot kicked open the door to the mess hall, and ran inside. He climbed onto the top of a table at the end of the room, and unstrapped the sniper rifle from his back. Batman leaped through the doors, and walked purposefully towards Deadshot. A shot from the sniper rifle forced Batman to duck down behind a table, and the bullet ripped through the tabletop. Batman stayed low this time, keeping behind the cover that the tables presented as much as possible. Deadshot continued to fire, as the bullets chipped away at Batman's cover. Batman leaped out from behind a table and flung a batarang which hit Deadshot in the arm. He stumbled backwards and fell off the table, dropping his sniper rifle. Batman walked towards him.

'Why did you have FireFly destroy the GCPD?' He snarled. Deadshot nodded towards the door. Batman looked round as a squad of TYGER's burst in, guns blazing. Batman leaped up and flung a batarang, downing one TYGER instantly. He ran towards the other three, and took one out with a swift uppercut. Another went down when Batman elbowed him in the face, and the final was beaten when Batman grabbed his head and brought it down onto his knee. Batman turned back to Deadshot.

'Strange had no reason to have you destroy the GCPD, so who else are you working for?' He demanded. Deadshot didn't say a word. Batman punched him in the face. 'Who?' He asked again. 'Tell me, now.'

Deadshot spoke. 'You really think I'm gonna-' He was interrupted by Batman, who had had an idea. He reached into Deadshot's pocket and took out his mobile phone. He went to the Call Log, and rang the most recent person Deadshot had called.

'Deadshot?' Asked the person on the other end of the phone. Batman recognised the voice instantly. He smiled, and crushed the phone in one hand. 'So, you thought you could cover your tracks by having FireFly do your dirty work?' He asked.

'Black Mask was very specific,' answered Deadshot. 'He wanted me to hire FireFly, so I did.'

Batman raised a fist, and punched Deadshot in the face. Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind.

'Get up!' Said the voice. It was a TYGER. Batman stood up slowly, and raised his hands.

The TYGER noticed something in Batman's hand. Something sharp.

'Hey, what-' He was stopped mid-sentence by Batman, who threw a batarang directly into his face, knocking him unconscious. Batman walked over to a window, smashed it with a single punch, and grappled out into the night sky.

ONE HOUR LATER

Catwoman

Catwoman was kneeling on a rooftop, right next door to the secret vault that Ivy had asked her to infiltrate. There was not much to see from the outside, a simple, bland building with no windows and one entrance. An enormous 'T' was painted on the building's front wall, directly above the door.

Catwoman had been studying the building or the last three hours. From what she could tell, the door opened every hour to allow the guard patrols outside to go inside, and allow other guards to take over. Each guards was armed with a pistol, and they all carried radios. They split up into pairs in order to guard different parts of the premises. Catwoman had already worked out several different ways of getting to the door without being noticed, but she couldn't do anything without a key card, which was needed in order to get through the doors. She would have to pickpocket a guard, which would be very hard. The sun was beginning to rise, barely visible but definitely there, burning brightly on the horizon. Bruce wouldn't be pleased.

He leaped off the rooftop and as she fell grabbed onto a streetlamp. She was suspended in mid air for a moment, the pulled herself upwards and balanced herself on top of the streetlamp. The streetlamp was off, and in shadow. She leaped off that, and landed in a patch of shadow that would not be there much longer. She knew that two of the guard's patrol routes came right past where she was standing, so she waited in the dark corner. Eventually the two guards walked right past her, not noticing her silhouette in the shadows. She reached her hand out as they walked past, and quickly pulled the card out from his pocket. She stuffed it into her pocket, then turned around and quickly scaled the wall behind her.

When she back on the rooftop she had started out on, she mentally decided on how best to avoid every guard and get straight to the door. Making her mind up, she leaped forward and landed atop another streetlamp. She leaped forward again, and landed right in front of the door. None of the guards noticed a thing, as she opened the door and walked through. As it slid smoothly shut behind her, she turned around and pressed several buttons on a wall-mounted keypad next to the door. There was a satisfying click and the doors locked. They could now only be opened from the inside. Catwoman took a second to congratulate herself, then unsheathed her claws from within the fingertips of her gloves. She dug the claws deep into the wall, and began to climb it. She climbed up the wall and then onto the ceiling, and continued to climb along that. Once upon a time she would have felt dizzy from doing this, but that feeling had long since left her. She made her way slowly and carefully towards a large doorway which lead to a flight of stairs that went downwards, underground. She reached it, and dropped downwards. She walked down the stairs, keeping quiet so as not to attract any unwanted attention. As she turned a corner, she found herself staring at the back of a guard. She quickly dispatched him with a karate chop to the neck. She stepped over his body and walked down the corridor.

She soon found herself facing a large metal door, one that could not be opened with a key card. Instead it had a good old-fashioned wheel, like that of a safe. Luckily Catwoman was an excellent safecracker. She knelt down and put her ear to the door, and got to work.

After several moments, the stood back and pushed the door open. She stepped forward and found herself in a room full of confiscated items. She looked around and saw an ice sculpture, several guns of various types, a power drill, a teddy bear, and a calendar, to name just a few items. She briefly wondered who the teddy bear belonged to, then reminded herself of the task on hand. She began to inspect the many cabinets that lined the walls, each one labelled with a different letter of the alphabet. She eventually came to 'P', and opened it. Inside was a glass canister, and a large, strange-looking plant could be seen through the glass. She lifted it out carefully, and inspected it. She briefly wondered why she was doing this.

Stop it, she thought to herself. You're doing this because Ivy wants you to.

But, argued the small part of her mind that remained free of Ivy's control, why? What's she doing for me?

Catwoman groaned as two different sides of her head fought a battle, as she tried to remember what her reason for helping Ivy was. She shook her head in pain, as the mental argument continued. She was beginning to get a headache, as she stepped backwards, and without realising it, directly through a laser tripwire. Red lights started flashing and the sound of an alarm began, a painfully loud hooting noise. The din brought Catwoman out of her reverie, and she felt angry all of a sudden. This was Ivy's fault. She had hypnotised her. Catwoman looked at the plant she held in her hands with contempt.

'What the hell am I doing?' She screamed aloud, and threw the glass case to the floor. It shattered open, and the plant fell out, writhing and wriggling at her feet. She raised a heeled boot and stomped on it. It burst like a water balloon, splattering her legs with green liquid, and Catwoman could have sworn she heard a faint scream of anger and pain at the back of her mind.

Catwoman didn't move as she heard booted feet dash into the room. She didn't move as he heard the rifles cocking. She didn't even move as she heard the yells of the TYGER guards behind her.

She surrendered.

NOW

The sun was rising. That was bad.

Batman was gliding through the air, heading for the Medical Centre, where he had sent Gordon. He knew that it wouldn't be long until the sun was high in the sky, meaning Batman did not have much time. Of course he had a backup plan, he always did. But he would have preferred not to have to use it.

As Batman neared the Centre, he began to hear the telltale sound of gunfire. His prediction about the gangs trying to get their hands on medical supplies had been correct, then. He swooped downwards towards the pitched battle that he could now clearly see. The fight seemed to be between three different factions, Joker's gang, Penguin's gang, and the police. Bullets flew through the air, some with deadly accuracy and others missing by miles. Batman knew he would have to put a stop to this, now.

The police had set up a barricade using cars, a defensive wall preventing the entrance of any attackers. It wouldn't work long. Batman flew down towards a car, and landed atop it. The windows all collapsed inwards, and there was a screech of metal as the roof caved inwards. Batman stood up, facing the criminals, who had all stopped moving. They stared at Batman, who pulled out a pair of batarangs. He threw them both into the crowd, and continued doing this, knocking down several of the criminals. Most of the crowd scattered, leaving only a few thugs from Joker's side. Batman jumped down off the car and landed on the ground below with a crunch. He quickly dispatched the thugs, then turned around and climbed over the barricade. The police stared at him as he walked past. One attempted conversation.

'Gee, Batman,' He said, 'Thanks for-'

'I don't have time.' Batman said. The cop shut up, and Batman swept through the doors of the Medical Centre.

Inside, the building was brimming with people. Robin had obviously been busy the past few hours. The people parted, allowing Batman past as he walked through the crowd. Commissioner Gordon was having a hushed conversation with police officer, who nodded in Batman's direction. Gordon turned around and greeted Batman.

'You're up early,' He acknowledged. 'You leaving us until tomorrow night?'

'No,' Batman told him. 'I'll still be here.'

'Good,' Gordon said. 'You find out anything from TYGER 1?'

'Yes,' Batman answered. 'He was Deadshot. The Black Mask hired him to have the GCPD destroyed.'

Gordon sighed. 'What are you gonna do now?'

'I have a few ideas. I need to infiltrate Black Mask's gang.'

Gordon raised his eyebrows. 'Don't you think you might stand out a bit?'

'No.' Batman turned around, and walked back towards the door. He knew where to go.

As Batman walked through the streets, he called Alfred.

'Alfred,' He said.

'Sir?' Answered Alfred.

'Anything new for me?'

'Yes, sir. I've discovered that Hugo Strange made several plane journeys in the past several months. Each time he was heading to the same place.'

'Where?' Batman asked.

'Bosnia, sir.'

'Anything else?'

'No, sir.'

'Right. I'm coming to the Batcave. Open the sewer entrance.'

'Right away, sir.'

Batman terminated the call. He stopped walking. On the ground, directly in front of him, was a manhole cover. Batman bent over and grasped its handle. He grunted, and pulled it off the hole, revealing a ladder. He dropped the cover, and began to climb down the ladder, and into the sewers below.

Batman had been trekking through the sewers for almost an hour, and his journey had been blissfully uneventful. By now the sun would be up and shining over both Arkham City and Gotham City, the inhabitants of the latter unaware of the horror that took place on the other side of the huge wall that separated the two metropolises.

But Batman was prepared for daylight. Batman was prepared for everything. In the last couple of years, Batman had placed hidden entrances to his cave headquarters all over Gotham, including one or two in the part of Gotham that was now Arkham. Batman's whole purpose in travelling through these sewers had been to get to the Batcave. In fact, if his calculations were correct, he was no longer under Arkham City. He was back in Gotham once more.

Then, Batman froze abruptly. He had heard something. A noise, from under the filthy sewer water. He began to walk again, slowly taking small steps, and he heard the noise again. Something was moving. Something huge.

Suddenly, an enormous, green hand burst out of the water and grabbed Batman's ankle. Batman struggled against the grip of the enormous hand as it tugged against his leg, but to no avail. Knowing he had one chance, Batman pulled a batarang from his belt, and flung it at the giant hand. The weapon had no effect whatsoever.

Then a huge, monstrous…thing rose out from beneath the disgusting water. The thing was the shape of a man, but at least eight feet tall. It was covered in scales, and it's eyes burned yellow. Batman knew him well.

His name was Killer Croc.

Croc swung his clawed hand at Batman, who jumped out of the way. The sharp claws ripped a hole inn the strong fabric of the Batsuit, and made a small cut in Batman's chest. Batman ran at Croc and slid don between his legs, then pulled out a sonic batarang. He threw it to the ground, and Croc screamed as the high-pitched noise burned his highly sensitive hearing. He fell back, and Batman grabbed Croc's arm. He pulled out his Explosive Gel and sprayed it on Croc's head, before throwing him back to the ground. The Gel detonated, and Croc was knocked unconscious.

Batman continued walking, like nothing had happened.

Eventually, Batman came to a huge, metal door. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, and the door slowly and loudly slid open. Batman stepped through into the Batcave.

The best word one could use to describe the Batcave was enormous. A semi-circle of large metal platforms lined half of the cave, attached to the rock walls. The central platform had a metal bridge connecting it to the cave's centrepiece, a large, multi-screened supercomputer whose specs were on par with any of those used by national security agencies. The supercomputer itself was kept on a raised platform several metres above the ground. The other platforms featured other facilities, such as the crime lab, gymnasium, and medical facilities. The cave had other equally cavernous rooms, including Batman's trophy room, which featured a giant penny and robotic dinosaur, and vehicle room, which housed every serviceable Batmobile Batman owned, for the dual purposes of both nostalgia and contingency. An enormous bat colony inhabited the expansive, shadowy ceiling. An underground river ran through the cave, too, and was put to use as a docking station for the Batboat, as well as being used to power the Batcave through the use of a hydroelectric generator. With the cave's various facilities spread amid stalactites and stalagmites, Batman had built retractable multi-walkway bridges, stairs, elevators and poles to access them. Spread along one wall were various glass cases, inside each of which were the costumes of various members of the Batman family. In pride of place, though, was a display of the costume of Jason Todd, the second Robin, who had been brutally murdered by the Joker. The words 'A Good Soldier' were inscribed on a gold plaque beneath the costume. Other cabinets included the costume of the other past Robin, Dick Grayson, who's fate had not been so grisly and now prospered as Nightwing in the city of Bludhaven, the original Batgirl costume which was once used by Barbara Gordon until she was paralysed and became Oracle. Of course, she was now missing. The other cases housed various Batsuits that had been used by Batman throughout his long career.

Batman walked across the metal platforms and over to the Batcomputer, to find Alfred sitting at it. Batman pulled his cowl off, and spoke.

'Alfred.' He said.

'Master Bruce.' Replied Alfred, and stood up to greet him.

Alfred was a tall man, with white hair and a moustache. He wore a clean, well-pressed suit, and he was rather thin.

Bruce nodded, and spoke. 'I'm going to infiltrate Black Mask's gang. I need to find out why he wanted to destroy the GCPD building.'

'Perhaps Black Mask merely wanted them out of the way, giving him free reign to commit his own misdeeds throughout the city.' Alfred suggested. Bruce shook his head.

'No,' He said. 'It's more than that.'

Alfred nodded. 'Well, Master Bruce, you're normally right about these things, and I won't disagree with you,' He said. 'Anyway, I assume you wish to have a disguise. Or was your plan to have Bruce Wayne join up with Mr Sionis?'

Bruce nodded. 'I know. I think we can go with Matches Malone in this case, Alfred.'

Matches Malone was an alter-ego Bruce had used many times before, when infiltration was the key to success.

'Right away, sir.' Alfred nodded, and walked away to fetch the disguise. He returned holding a dark green jacket, a black pair of trousers, a yellow tie, a pair of sunglasses and a false moustache. He also handed him a small, black disk.

'The tracer, sir,' He explained. 'Activate it if you need pulling out, and I'll send help.' Bruce nodded his thanks, took the clothes ant the tracer from Alfred and walked away to change.

NOW

Catwoman

Catwoman didn't know where she was. When the TYGER guards had grabbed her, they had put a black bag over her head, preventing her from seeing where she was being taken as they dragged her away and packed her into the back of a van. She knew she was in a moving vehicle, because she could feel the movement of the van as it drove through the streets.

Eventually, the van stopped and she was dragged out. She was put in plasticuffs and shoved into an elevator. She wondered where she was being taken, until she heard the doors slide open and the bag was pulled off her head.

She found herself standing in a huge office. The opposite side of the room was made up entirely of bullet-proof glass windows. There was a large wooden desk in the centre of the room, upon which where items such as a computer, a tape recorder and a pile of paper. In the corner of the room was a water cooler. At the desk sat Hugo Strange.

He wore a white suit and black gloves. He had a black beard but a bald head and wore a pair of round-rimmed spectacles.

'Good morning, Miss Kyle,' He greeted her. 'Please take a seat.'

Catwoman didn't move. She couldn't, the guards were still holding her.

'Guards,' Hugo said. 'Remove the plasticuffs and leave us.'

The two guards removed the 'cuffs, let go of Catwoman and trooped back into the elevator.

'Now,' Hugo repeated. 'Please sit.'

Catwoman stepped forward, and sat on the chair opposite Hugo. 'Nice place you've got here,' She said. 'It's too bad Batman's gonna tear it down brick by brick.'

Hugo smirked. 'Batman will not be getting anywhere near this building or myself, Miss Kyle,' He told her. 'Now, down to business. I'm sure you would like to leave here as soon as possible.'

'Actually,' Catwoman said. 'I would!'

With that, she jumped from her chair and lunged towards Strange, but suddenly Strange was holding a pistol, and it was aimed at Catwoman's forehead.

'I asked you,' He said coldly. 'To sit down, Miss Kyle.'

Catwoman slowly sat down again, a look of pure contempt on her face.

Hugo smiled. 'Thank you,' He said. 'Now, back to business. You've just confirmed your will to leave this building. I am perfectly willing to return your freedom to you, on one condition.'

Catwoman looked sceptical. 'And what is this condition?' She asked. 'Escort services are out of the question. My eyes are up here, by the way.'

Hugo scoffed. 'Amusing.' He said, but his face showed that he didn't mean it. 'No, nothing like that. All I need you to do is answer a few questions.'

Catwoman shrugged. 'Fair enough.'

Hugo pressed a button on his tape recorder, and began the questions.

'Tell me, what exactly is your relationship with Batman?'

Catwoman raised her eyebrows, surprised at the strange question she had been asked. 'That's a personal question.' She acknowledged.

'Just answer the question.' Strange told her, a sour look on his face.

Catwoman smiled. 'Well,' She said. 'I'm a criminal. He's not. And sometimes we work together, when there's something in it for me.'

Hugo nodded. 'And would you say he…cared for you?' He asked.

Catwoman raised her eyebrows again. 'No more than Robin or Batgirl.' She stuttered, but Hugo could tell she was lying.

'Where, to your knowledge, is Wayne now?'

Catwoman's eyes widened. 'Wayne?' She asked. 'Bruce Wayne? What does he have to do with-'

'Come now, Miss Kyle,' Hugo interrupted her. 'You know as well as I do the true identity of the Batman is, in fact, Bruce Wayne.'

Catwoman gaped for a second, then composed herself. 'Well, it doesn't matter. No one will believe you.'

'Which is why I have no interest in announcing it, Miss Kyle.' Hugo told her. 'I would be regarded as a lunatic-'

'You already are.'

'- which is not in my best interests.' Strange finished, ignoring her jibe. 'Now please answer my question. Where is Wayne?'

Catwoman shrugged. 'I don't know.' She told him innocently. 'Honest.'

Hugo glowered at her, then ended the recording. 'Thank you, Miss Kyle.' He said. 'That will be all. I'll call up a guard to escort you out.'

NOW

Matches Malone was walking through the streets that were Black Mask's territory, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his head down. The street was packed with criminals, all wanting to join Black Mask's gang. The rumours that no one seemed to want to were either incorrect, or circumstances had changed. If so, Matches wondered to himself why did everyone suddenly want to join up with Black Mask?

Matches strolled casually through the crowd. The clamouring crowd was gathered in front of a large wooden platform, upon which stood several men wearing black suits holding pistols. All of a sudden they began to fire into the air, and the crowd instantly quietened. A man walked onto the platform. He wore a stark white suit, and from a distance could be mistaken to have very dark skin. The reality, though, was far more strange. The man actually wore a black, skull-shaped mask on his head. The man was Roman Sionis. He was known as the Black Mask.

'Gentlemen,' He addressed the crowd. 'I always was a picky guy, which is why I was always very particular about who joined my gang. So, I'm going to have a little competition.'

Black Mask nodded at one of his men, who tossed him a machine gun. Black Mask held the weapon in the air.

'I hold in my hand,' He said. 'A machine gun. I am going to throw it into the crowd, and you're all going to fight. The last fifteen of you left can join the gang.'

This was met my murmurs throughout the crowd, some of surprise, some of enthusiasm. Matches grimaced. He was going to have to survive this, and he was going to have to do it without killing annoying.

This was going to be easy.

There was a clatter of metal falling on stone, and everyone looked at the machine gun that Black Mask had just thrown on the floor in front of the crowd.

For several moments that felt like years, no one moved. Then, the yells began as everyone in the crowd dashed towards the weapon, desperate to capture it for themselves. Everyone except Matches, that is. He stayed where he was, waiting for an opportunity.

There was a burst of gunfire, and several people were knocked backwards. The man who had fired was not bothering to aim, knowing that his time controlling the firearm was short lived. He instead opted to fire in long bursts at the crowd. Suddenly, he was taking down by a man who had tackled him. The man reached for the gun, but it was snatched away and he was shot.

This carried on for a long time. Soon, dead bodies littered the street, the pained howls of the wounded and the battle cries of the survivors were the only sound, occasionally broken by gunfire, which abruptly stopped as the gun ran out of bullets.

And still the fighting continued. The gun forgotten, people resorted to fighting with their fists, feet, elbows, teeth, and any potential weapons that littered the floor. This was when Matches struck. He had been examining the crowd, watching the fighting, deciding who the biggest threats were, who were the most skilled at fighting, the most dangerous opponents. When he was satisfied with his assessment, he leaped forward into the violent throng. He picked his targets, starting with the one he had determined to be the most dangerous. In this case, the most dangerous was a bald-headed giant of a man, who was holding a lead pipe and was missing an ear. The fact that blood was still gushing from the hole where the ear should have been strongly suggested that the ear had been attached several minutes ago. Matches jumped towards him, and head butted him with a sickening crack. The giant stumbled back, and Matches kneed him in the groin. The giant fell to his knees, and was knocked unconscious by a strong

punch to the head.

The next target was shorter man, about five-foot-nine, who was missing several teeth. In seconds he was missing more, thanks to a swift punch to the jaw by Matches.

The next two were fighting side-by-side, and seemed to be brothers. Matches reached out and cracked their heads together from behind, and they fell.

Eventually, only sixteen were left. Fifteen were needed. Everyone stood still, unsure who to attack. They were all tired, and wanted the easiest fight possible. Someone ran at Matches, who simply stepped aside, reached out his leg and tripped the man over. The man fell to the floor, and smashed his head against the ground.

From up on the wooden platform, Black Mask applauded slowly.

'Well done,' He said. 'Very well done. Welcome to the gang, boys.'

The fifteen men walked forward towards Black Mask slowly and warily, unsure whether to expect another insane test. But Black Mask simply walked off the wooden platform, and towards a group of SUV's, each with a driver already at the wheel.

'Get in,' He commanded. The men all did as they were told, climbing into the vehicles.

It was a short drive to Black Mask's base of operations, which was a tall, modern-looking building surrounded by rudimentary guard towers, equipped with spotlights and manned by snipers. Black Mask never had been one for subtlety.

The vehicles came to a halt in front of the huge building, and the men piled out of the vehicles and stood to attention in front of Black Mask.

'Welcome home, boys.' He told them. 'When you go in, we'll give you your uniform and a weapon. You'll be shown to your quarters, have today to relax, and after that you don't get any full days or nights of rest, so make the most of this one.' He nodded to his bodyguards, who escorted the group of newcomers inside, where they were given their uniforms: a white hooded top, and a strap-on black mask that looked like it had been purchased (or more likely stolen) from a Halloween costume store. Matches regarded the mask with some amusement. Black Mask took his motif seriously, to the point of plain ridiculousness. Then again, was this not true for all of Gotham's themed criminals?

Their 'quarters' were small, simple rooms, with four bunk beds and not much else. Matches was to share a room with seven of the other survivors from Black Mask's 'competition'.

The rest of the day was boring. They spent most of it sharing stores about different grisly crimes they had committed throughout their criminal careers, ate the awful food they were given, and slept.

Well, most of them. Matches didn't.

The door was locked behind them at lights out (Matches was reminded more and more of his old boarding school), but that didn't stop him. He simply unlocked the door with the lock pick he had smuggled in his shoe. The door swung open, and he walked out quietly, making sure not to wake any of his sleeping roommates.

Matches spent a long time walking down corridors and stairways, simply nodding at patrolling guards as they walked by, the guards not realising that he was a newcomer, instead thinking that he was another guard. Eventually he was outside Black Mask's office. He looked through the keyhole, to find the room empty. He made sure no one was within earshot before trying the door. Miraculously, it opened, and Matches stepped through.

The office was a large room, with brown walls and red carpets. There was an ornate wooden desk at one end, in front of a large glass window. On the desk was a laptop, open but turned off. Matches walked towards it and turned it on, but it was, of course, locked. It didn't take long to guess the correct password, which was 'Mask'.

How original.

Matches went straight to Black Mask's email, and found several from no other than Hugo Strange. Was anyone not working with him in this city?

Their was no time to read the emails, Black Mask could return any second, so Matches instead forwarded them to Bruce Wayne's email, then cleared the outbox before closing down the laptop and silently leaving the room.

Matches continued through the dark corridors of the building, heading downstairs. It was of his experience that if someone had something to hide, they often kept it in the basement.

The basement smelled. That was Matches' first thought as he entered the large, dark room. There was a long stairway leading into the main basement, and Matches walked down this slowly and quietly. If there was any worse place to be caught than Black Mask's office, it was here.

As he reached the bottom of the steps, he found a light switch. He flicked it, and the lights turned on to reveal nothing more than a huge, empty room with stone walls.

So where was the smell coming from?

Matches looked around for anything that could possibly emitting such a putrid odour, and noticed a door. It was barely noticeable, the saw colour as the rock walls, but the words 'LOWER BASEMENT' were etched into the wall above the door.

Matches slowly opened the door, and stepped through. This room was considerably brighter than the first basement, and was enormous.

It was a huge room, full of metal cages. In each cage was a man, each one built like a wrestler they some were sweating profusely, no doubt from the heat. At least that explained the smell. They stared at him, some scared, some aggressive. What one earth where they doing here?

Suddenly, Matches heard a voice from behind him. It was a low, strong voice with a Spanish accent. It was a voice he knew well.

'Batman.' It said. Matches turned around to see an enormous man. He wore no shirt, only a pair of orange trousers. Green tubing ran up and down his heavily muscled body, and a black luchador mask covered his head.

His name was Bane.

Matches walked towards him cautiously.

'You're that Bane guy, right?' He asked.

'Do not mock me, Batman.' Bane told him. 'I see through your disguise.'

Matches pointed at himself in surprise. 'Me?' He asked. 'Batman? Yeah right.'

Bane was not amused. 'You forget, Dark Knight. I am Bane. I studied you for years before our first meeting, your tactics, your very movements. I know your body language, the way you walk, something you have failed to disguise.'

Matches dropped all pretence now. 'What are you doing here, Bane?' He asked, dropping the New York accent he had used just seconds ago.

'They keep us in cages,' Bane told him. 'Make us fight in Black Mask's arena. Place bets on us.'

'And you win every time.' Matches presumed. 'I suppose you want me to set your free?'

'Yes.' Bane said.

Matches shook his head. 'You're fine here, Bane.' He said. 'I've enough trouble already without you running around.'

'I would not be a hindrance.' Bane told him. 'Think of the help I could give you, should you set me free.'

'And why should I believe you'd stick to any kind of bargain?' Matches asked.

'I'm a man of my word.' Bane told him. 'A man of honour. Surely you know that much.'

Matches regarded his imprisoned foe.

'No,' He said. 'I don't trust you.'

He turned around and began to walk away, but then turned around again.

'Wait,' He began. 'Why have you not just broken out? You're strong enough.'

'No.' Bane told him. 'Black Mask drained the Venom from my bloodstream. It's-'

Suddenly, the door smashed open, and Black Mask in, holding a pair of pistols. He was followed by his ever-present bodyguards.

'Get down, Malone!' He yelled. 'What are you doing here?'

Matches looked at him, but said nothing.

'Not talking?' Black Mask asked. 'Fine. I can live with that. But I'm gonna assume that you're here to free Bane. Which means I can't trust you. Which means that you're useless to me now. So, what should I do with you? Any ideas, boys?'

Black Mask looked at his bodyguards, who didn't speak. They knew their boss well enough to understand when he was asking a rhetorical question. He turned back to Malone.

'I'm gonna put you in the arena.' He leered.

The arena turned out to be a huge football stadium that had, like many other buildings in Arkham City, been abandoned after the establishment of Arkham City. A lot of the grass had been torn up from the pitch, leaving patches of mud all over the field, the advertisements torn down or spray painted over, the vending machines overturned and emptied. The stands were full of Black Mask's gang members, all of them baying for blood.

Matches and Bane were stood next to each other, silent. They had agreed to stand together, giving themselves a better chance of victory.

Then, Black Mask stepped out onto the field, as usual surrounded by his bodyguards. He held in his hand a microphone, which he spoke into now.

'Ladies and psychopaths!' He screamed. 'Welcome once again to the arena! You all know how this works by now, but we've had some new recruits lately, so I'm gonna explain how it works. We send out men to fight the champion, or in this case champions, until the champion dies, or we run out of men, it's that simple. You spectators are free to join in any time. You've all placed your bets, so let's get going! In this corner,' He pointed to Bane and Matches, 'We have fan favourite, Bane! How's it going, big fella?'

'I will break you for this.' Bane promised him.

'How eloquent!' Came Black Mask's reply. 'And also in this corner, we have newcomer Matches Malone!'

This was met with boos and jeers from the on looking crowd.

'Yes, I know,' Black Mask apologised. 'He looks pathetic. But don't worry, it'll be all the more fun to watch him die. Anyway, moving on to…THIS CORNER!' He span around and pointed at the other side of the field, on which stood what looked like a hundred men, a sea of bloodthirsty thugs and criminals ready for the imminent fight. 'In which we have more or less every idiot we could get to fight!' Black Mask roared. There was an enormous cheer from the bloodthirsty crowd as Black Mask turned around and walked of the pitch. As he left, he spoke into his microphone one more time.

'Fight!' He yelled.

The small army opposite Bane and Matches charged, racing across the pitch, screaming as the came. Matches and Bane exchanged slightly nervous looks, both of them knowing that they were at a disadvantage. Under normal circumstances, if Matches had his Batsuit and gadgets and Bane had his Venom, there would have been no question of their victory. But without these things, fighting a hundred enemies may have been more…challenging.

As the crowd got closer and closer, Bane and Matches held their ground, taking defensive stances in preparation for the horde that was about hit them.

And then he remembered. He still had the tracer Alfred had given him, hidden in his sock. He quickly reached down and pulled it out, Bane looking at him questioningly. Matches pressed the button in the centre of the tracer, and it began to pulse orange. He put it back in his sock, just in time for the crowd to hit.

The throng surrounded them instantly, and they were caught in a sea of fists, feet and heads. In seconds Bane and Matches had downed several thugs each, Matches using speed along with force to dodge enemy's attacks and use their own strength against them, before doing something more brutal to finish them. Bane, however, simply opted to punch them straight in the head, snapping their heads back with a sickening crack as they fell backwards, dead.

'Bane,' Grunted Matches, punctuating each word with another punch. 'Could you at least try to avoid killing them?'

Bane laughed. He was actually enjoying himself. 'No, I fear I cannot.' He said, throwing a thug at two more, bowling them over.

'I can only ask.'

The fighting continued for several minutes, fists flying. Neither Bane nor Matches felt remotely weary, they both did this sort of thing all the time. However, they both knew that they would not win, without an ace up their sleeve.

Which they had.

All of a sudden, the noise of jet endings broke through the screams and yells of the army of thugs, making everyone stop fighting and look.

Hovering above them was a black jet, it lowered down towards the ground, then stopped about four meters up and dropped down a rope ladder. Matches smiled to himself, and grabbed onto the ladder. He began to climb it as the jet began to fly upwards again. He slid into the cockpit, and took hold of the controls. He was about to fly away, when he remembered Bane. He looked down and saw Bane once again fighting the horde, the strange occurrence they had witnessed already forgotten in the heat of battle. Matches knew he couldn't just leave Bane, who had helped him so much during the fight. He lowered the rope ladder again, and yelled down.

'Bane!' He shouted. Bane looked up. 'Grab on!' He said. Bane looked at the rope ladder like he couldn't believe what was happening, then clutched the ladder as Matches pilot the jet back upwards and out of the arena.

Soon the plane had left Black Mask's territory, Bane still holding onto the rope ladder. Matches hovered the plane over a rooftop, allowing Bane to drop off. He then set the plane down on a neighbouring rooftop, then jumped across the gap between the building he was on and the building Bane was on. Bane nodded at Matches in thanks.

'You saved my life.' He told him. 'I am indebted to you, Dark Knight.'

'Yes, you are.' Agreed Matches. 'I might need you later on tonight. Until then, I don't want to see you doing anything even remotely illegal without good reason, and for me good reason for crime is a very rare thing.'

Bane nodded. 'If you need me, I will assist you as best I can.' He promised.

'Good.' Matches handed Bane a small, black disk similar to his tracer.

'If this starts to flash, I need you. Return to this rooftop.'

Bane nodded his understanding. Matches turned around and jumped to the neighbouring building again. He climbed back into the black jet and took off, leaving Bane alone on the rooftop.

ONE HOUR EARLIER

Catwoman

As Catwoman stepped out from Strange's tower she looked around, and found herself quite alone. She was surprised, as she would have expected a building of this importance to be guarded. Hen she noticed a movement in a nearby shadowy corner, and realised that the only reason she could not see them was because they didn't want her to.

As she walked out through the gates surrounding the tower and back onto the streets of Arkham City, she found it looking quite different for some reason. It was because it day time. She had not seen daylight since she had been captured by Two-Face, and had forgotten what the city looked like when illuminated by the sun's rays.

It looked dirty.

She turned a corner, making sure she was not being followed by a guard, then scampered up a nearby wall and up onto a rooftop. She felt nervous. She knew that by now Ivy would know exactly hat had become of the plant she wanted so much. It would only a matter of time before she attempted to exact revenge.

Catwoman broke out of her reverie, and looked up again. She continued her rooftop stroll, then leapt onto a neighbouring rooftop. Suddenly, she heard a quiet slithering noise behind her. She froze, as the noise came closer, and closer, and all of a sudden, green vines snapped around he wrists, tightening, holding her where she was. She was lifted up into the air, and out of the shadows stepped Poison Ivy.

'Well, Darling,' She said, anger obvious in her vice despite her calm face. 'I'm very disappointed in you. I thought we were friends.'

Catwoman continued to struggle against the vines, but they only tightened. 'I don't like it when people hypnotise me,' She said. 'It really pisses me off.'

'Oh, I don't really care.' Ivy shrugged. 'I'll just crush you like an insect, then be on my way.'

The vines let go off Catwoman suddenly and she dropped to the ground, but then they flew at her. They hit with a sharp crack, like that a whip, but far stronger. Catwoman was thrown off the building, and she caught onto the edge with one hand. Ivy looked down on her, and laughed.

'Let's see if cats really do land on their feet.' She smiled, and raised a foot to stamp on Catwoman's hand. Quick as a flash, Catwoman reached out and grabbed Ivy by the ankle, and pulled her down off the building. Ivy fell all the way down, screaming as he went. Catwoman clambered up onto the rooftop again, and began to walk away, when she heard a laugh from behind her.. She span around, to see Ivy, held in the air by hundreds of vines that were entwined around her ankles and wrists, supporting her as they lifted her high in the air. Catwoman sighed.

'Do you not die?' She asked.

'You can't kill nature!' Ivy laughed as vines shot out of the mass of writhing green plants holding her in the air, and grabbed Catwoman. They pulled her high into the air, then dropped her back onto the rooftop. The vines then entwined together into one, creating one thick, heavy vine, and flew downwards towards Catwoman's head. Catwoman leaped out of the way just in time, and the vines slithered back into the slithering mass of plants. Ivy laughed, and flung her arms out at Catwoman, who narrowly dodged as more vines flew past her head.

Suddenly, the rooftop itself began to crumble, and more and more vines broke out through the top of the building. All over the building, the green tendrils smashed through windows, crashed through walls. Soon, the entire building was engulfed in a green mass of plants. Catwoman was once again held in mid air by the vines, which this time covered her hold body apart from her head, squeezing the breath out of her. Ivy's vines carried her downwards until she was directly in front of Catwoman.

'And now,' She snarled. 'You're plant feed. Goodbye kitty.'

She turned away and was carried off by the writhing vines, while Catwoman continued to struggle. She flicked her wrists, and her claws shot out through her gloves. She sliced apart the plants that held her up, fell down onto the rooftop, and sprinted across it towards Ivy.

'Ivy!' She yelled. Ivy turned around, and regarded her with surprise. 'You're compost.' Catwoman told her, then leaped into the air. She slashed at the vines that held up Ivy, slicing straight through. Ivy fell down towards the ground, screaming, but landed on a thrashing pile of her giant plants, unconscious but alive.

NOW

As the black jet flew over the Arkham City wall, Bruce pulled off his false moustache. That thing had been itching all day. He was glad it was night time and he could get back into the Batsuit. Bruce activated the jet's communicator, and Alfred appeared on the screen in front of him. His face illuminated by the light from the Batcomputer's multiple monitors.

'Sir.' Alfred said.

'Thanks for the save, Alfred,' Bruce told him gratefully. 'I wouldn't have got out their if you hadn't given me the tracer.'

'All in a day's work,' Alfred smiled. 'When one is Batman's butler.'

Bruce laughed. 'I suppose you're right,' He said. 'I'm coming in to land now.'

As the jet got closer to Wayne Manor, Bruce veered East, towards a large mountain directly behind his stately home. Of course, this wasn't just a mountain. As he got closer, a hidden door in the bottom of the mountain slid open, and the jet flew straight through it and back into the Batcave.

As the jet set down on it's landing platform, the windshield slid open, and Bruce vaulted out of the jet and onto the platform. Alfred was already stood waiting for him, the Batsuit folded over one arm. He handed it over to Bruce, who nodded his thanks and walked away to change into it. When he had done so, he sat down a the Batcomputer and opened Bruce Wayne's email account to find the messages he had forwarded from Black Mask's computer earlier. He read through each message, not finding much interesting. However, the messages did make reference to a third person, who they only referred to as 'our benefactor'. Curious.

When he was finished, he stood up and walked across the expansive cave to one of the it's many exits. O his way out, he picked up a metal object which looked like a small shotgun and clipped it to the back of his belt.

'Back to Arkham City, sir?' Enquired Alfred.

'Yeah,' Came Batman's reply. 'I'll use the subway.'

Underneath both Gotham and Arkham City there was an old, disused set of subway tunnels. When they had been abandoned Batman had connected them to the Batcave as a way of travelling around the city faster. He opened the circular door that led to the subway.

'I'll see you later, Alfred.' He called as he stepped through into the subway.

When Batman had began to use the subway, he had got rid of the usual carriages and replaced them with three new ones, each with room for only a single person but travelling far faster for it.

Batman stepped inside the small carriage, and held onto a metal pole in the centre of the carriage, as there were no seats. He set the carriage to take him to the nearest disused station to the Cathedral Medical Centre, and strengthened his grip on the pole as the carriage rocketed down the tunnel.

Commissioner Gordon was stood outside the Cathedral speaking to the remaining police officers when Batman stepped out of the subway station and into the dark streets. As he walked towards the group of cops, Gordon noticed him and excused the officers.

'Where've you been?' He demanded.

'Busy,' Batman told him. 'What's going on?'

'Joker's been raising an army,' Gordon told him. 'Rumour has it he's gonna try and take over the entire city, so everyone's expecting a battle.'

'It was only a matter of time,' Batman answered. 'I need to get to the Black Mask. He's got hundreds of gang members none of us knew about.'

Gordon looked surprised. 'How the hell did he keep that under wraps?' He asked.

'Strange.' Batman told him, as if it were obvious. Which it was.

'I should of guessed.' Gordon sighed. 'Why do you need to get to him?'

'He's got information I need.' Batman said. 'There's another player in this game, and I need to find out who.'

Gordon nodded. 'You know where to find him?'

'Yes,' Replied Batman. 'But I'll need a distraction for his guards. Can your men help me out?'

'Definitely.' Gordon assured him. 'But I can only give you volunteers. You're not a cop, so I can't make them do it.'

'Fair enough,' Said Batman. 'Go and get some volunteers, and I'll wait here.'

After five minutes Gordon returned with every single on of his officers in tow. Batman took half of them, to take all of hem would leave the Medical Centre defenceless. They piled into a SWAT van, and Batman gave the driver directions. In the back of the van, every police officer was looking at Batman with anticipation. Batman knew he was going to have to give them orders. He stood up and spoke to the officers.

'I'm going to need to get into the Black Mask's office,' He told them. 'But he's got a lot of guards, and I need you to distract them for me. The majority of the guards are placed by the front gates, so we're going to drive straight through it. Then I want you all to pile out and begin to fight the guards. I'll be out of the van before the entrance, so I'll need one of you to take charge. Who's the highest ranking officer here?'

One of the officer's stood up. He was a slightly fat man, and was smoking a cigarette.

'Me.' He said. 'Detective Harvey Bullock.'

Batman nodded his approval. 'Detective Bullock, you're going to need to control these men. Can you do that?'

'Definitely.' Grunted Bullock. Batman yelled to the driver, 'How far are we?'

'About half a minute!' The driver answered. Batman walked over to the back door. 'Good luck, men.' He told them, then kicked open the door and leaped out. He stood and watched as the van crashed through the gates, and the policemen sprinted out, led by Bullock. Batman started sprinted around to the back of the building, where he knew the window to Black mask's office was. He fired his grapple high upwards, and it latched onto a window ledge just above Black Mask's. Perfect.

Black Mask was sitting in his office, listening to the noises of gunfire outside the building. His bodyguards stood opposite him, at the door, waiting for some to come in.

Black Mask heard the sound of tinkling glass, and a pair of black objects flew past his head and hit the bodyguards sank to the ground, unconscious. Then there was a greater clashing noise as the window behind him smashed entirely. He span around just in time to see Batman leap towards him through the window, and a second later he was up against a wall with Batman's hands tightening around his neck.

'What the f-?' Screamed Black Mask as he was thrown across the room and landed in a heap on the floor. Batman stomped over to him and kicked him in the side, then lifted him up by the lapels of his jacket and snarled.

'Who's your benefactor?' He growled. Black Mask sounded terrified.

'How-how do you know about that?' He asked, shocked. Batman head-butted him.

'Who is he?' He roared.

'I-I dunno, I swear!'

'I don't believe you.'

'I promise! Strange never told me who we was, really!'

'What's Strange planning with Joker?'

Black Mask sounded surprised. 'What do you mean?' He asked, confused.

'Strange has a deal with Joker, too. What is it?'

'Strange has a deal with Joker?' Black Mask repeated, angry. 'He didn't tell me!'

'Then what's Strange planning for the city?'

'I can't tell you that.'

'Tell me.' Batman whispered threateningly.

'I-no!' Insisted Black Mask. Batman raised a fist.

'Are you sure?' He asked.

'I-he's gonna destroy the city!'

'What?'

'Destroy it! He's gonna destroy the city!'

'How?'

'I dunno.'

'And how do you fit into the plan?'

'I was to be allowed to escape, if I sent out my gang to the Cathedral. He didn't say why he wanted me to.'

'Don't do it.'

'I already have. They're walking there now.'

Batman growled, and smashed his head into Black Mask's, knocking him unconscious. Batman stalked away to the window, and leaped out. He threw his cape out and caught the wind, then glided around the building to the front, where the battle was still raging. He landed with a crunch on the ground behind Black Mask's men , unnoticed. Over on the other side of the battlefield, where the police were taking cover behind their upturned van, one of the officers spotted Batman and shouted something to Bullock, who nodded and yelled back.

Batman stepped up within arm's reach of two members of the single line of guards defending the building, then reached out and pulled them both down to the ground. They saw nothing more than a foot smashing down to hit them in their faces before they both fell into the embrace of unconsciousness. The guards noticed him now, and all turned around and aimed at Batman. Batman flung out a pair of batarangs, bringing down two more guards, then leaped into the air and landed on top of another. He grabbed another guard and sprayed Explosive Gel on him, while the guard struggled against his grip. Batman threw the guard into his friend, and the Gel detonated, knocking them both to the floor. One left, and he aimed his gun at Batman's head. Quick as a flash, Batman pulled out the small, shotgun-like object he had picked up at the Batcave, and fired it at the guard. Electricity flew over the guard's body, spreading out from the point of impact, and the guard's gun began to fire randomly as the man fell over, twitching.

Bullock stepped out from cover.

'What the hell was that thing?' He asked.

'REC,' Batman answered. 'I've been working on it for a while. Anyway, we have to get back to the Cathedral, and fast.'

'Why?' Bullock asked. 'What's the emergency?'

'Strange has had Black Mask send his men to the Cathedral. I think he's trying to start a battle.'

'Why?'

'I don't know,' Batman answered honestly as he headed across to one of Black Mask's trucks. 'But I'm going to find out.'

Gordon was stood outside, waiting for Batman to return with his men when a huge black truck rocketed around the corner, and skidded to a stop in front of him. Batman climbed out of the cabin and the officers all piled out from the container. Gordon spoke quietly to Batman.

'What did you find out?' He asked.

'Black Mask's men are on their way. They're walking, but they'll be here soon.'

'Why're they walking?'

'I think Strange has got every gang leader sending their gangs here, in return for an escape route. He's going to destroy the city.'

'Again, why are they walking?'

'Strange must want them to, so that every gang arrives around the same time. I'm not hearing much surprise at the fact that Strange is going to destroy the city.'

'I'd guessed as much anyway. What's the point of staring a battle, though?' Gordon asked.

'A distraction, or a means of getting everyone in place at one time for some reason. Anyway, we need to be ready. Get every officer out here, and prepare a barricade. You can use cars for cover.'

'What about you?'

'I'm getting you some help.' Batman said. Gordon nodded, and turned away to talk to his men. Batman activated his communicator.

'Alfred,' He said.

'Master Bruce?'

'There's going to be a battle, and the police are going to need help.'

'What can I do, sir?'

'I'm going to need everyone here. Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, Wildcat, Huntress, everyone.'

'How soon, sir?'

'Now.'

'Where?'

'Tell them to go to the Cathedral. I'll be there.'

He terminated the call as he heard soft footsteps behind him.

'So,' Said a female voice he knew well. 'You're going to war, huh?'

Batman turned around to see Catwoman, looking slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of being surrounded by policemen. She stepped lightly towards him.

'Good choice.' She smiled.

'Selina,' Batman greeted her. 'I'm glad you came. I need as many people possible. I won't be fighting in this battle.'

Catwoman raised an eyebrow. 'Why?' She asked.

'I'm going after Strange.'

Catwoman smiled. 'I knew it. There's something you need to know, by the way.'

'What?'

'He knows Batman is actually Bruce Wayne.'

If Batman was surprised, he didn't show it. 'No, he doesn't.' He said. 'He knows Bruce Wayne is actually Batman.'

'There's a difference?'

'Yes.'

Catwoman looked perplexed.

'Bruce Wayne is my mask. Not Batman.' Batman explained.

Catwoman smiled awkwardly, unsure how to answer.

'Batman!' Came a youthful voice from behind, and Batman turned to see Robin.

'Robin,' He said. 'Looks like you've been giving Riddler grief.'

'Hell yeah,' Robin laughed. 'He totally flipped when he realised I wasn't you. Anyway, what's going on?'

'There's going to be a battle. I'm gathering everyone I can.'

'Awesome. Wait a minute-'

Robin seemed to be looking at something behind Batman. Black Mask's gang had arrived. They marched around the corner, hundreds of them. They were all carrying some form of weapon, from firearm to knife. The police officers had noticed them too, and raised their pistols, but the gang members suddenly stopped marching, and stood completely still.

'They've been told to wait there.' Batman acknowledged. 'There's hundreds of them, and that's only one gang. We'll need a lot of help.'

'What about TYGER?' Robin asked.

'I doubt TYGER'll get involved in this. We're on the police's side, and they see us as enemies. Taking part in the battle would mean fighting the police too, which they won't do. They need to keep up their image as a legit business.'

'So, who else can we get?'

'Nightwing and Batgirl are definitely going to be here any minute. Alfred's trying to get hold of Huntress and Wildcat. And Bane owes me a favour, as well.'

'Bane?'

'Bane.' Batman confirmed. 'In fact, I'm going to go and meet him now.' Batman took out a black disk identical to the one he had given Bane when they last met, and pressed a button in the centre. The disk flashed red and made a high-pitched whining noise.

Batman grappled away to a rooftop, on his way to meet the man who had once broken his back. What was the world coming to?

Bane was already on the rooftop when Batman arrived.

'You are back in your costume.' Bane acknowledged.

'Observant as ever.' Batman told him.

'What do you need?'

'There's going to be a battle very soon. We need your help.'

'A battle between who?' Bane asked.

'Everyone.' Batman answered.

'Excellent.'

Batman and Bane arrived back at the Cathedral together, to find that Nightwing, Batgirl and Huntress had arrived.

'Hey, Batman!' The blue-and-black-clad Nightwing greeted him. Huntress and Batgirl turned to face him too.

'Nightwing, Batgirl, Huntress.' Batman nodded to everyone in turn. 'Has Robin explained the situation?'

'About four times, yeah.' Huntress answered. Robin looked at her, irritated. She smiled, saying nothing.

Batgirl noticed Bane first, who was hanging back, allowing Batman to speak to his friends. She pulled out a batarang, but Batman stopped her before she threw it.

'No,' He told her. 'He's with us.'

Batgirl put the batarang away with a grunt, eloquent as ever. Bane stomped over to them, towering over everyone present.

'Batman,' Nightwing asked. 'Can you trust him?'

'Yes. I saved him. He owes me.'

'Yeah, but-'

'Nightwing. We can trust him.'

'Let's hope.' Came a gruff voice. Batman turned around to see Wildcat.

'Hi, Wildcat.' Batman greeted his old friend. 'We're-'

'I know, your butler told me.' Wildcat told him as he shook Batman's hand. 'So, when are we fighting?'

'Black Mask's men are over there already. They're waiting for the other gangs to arrive.'

'Why haven't the police taken them in already?'

'Do you want to try? No, it would be best to wait until they've got the distraction of the other gangs. And they have less ammunition.'

'Fair enough.' Wildcat agreed. 'Batman, if we let them fight, people could die.'

'That's unavoidable anyway. I just want to make the body count as low as possible, which is why I'm calling everyone in to help. We need to end this fight as soon as possible. And anyway, it's either some of the criminals in this fight die, or everyone in the city does.'

'Someone's going to destroy the city?' Wildcat asked. 'Who and how?'

'Strange, and I don't know how.'

Suddenly they heard an enormous roar from behind them. Batman and the other heroes turned to see another hundred thugs sprinting around the corner, dressed mainly in black and white. At the head was Two-Face, leading his men to the Cathedral.

'Looks like Two-Face has a deal with Strange too,' Said Batman, thinking aloud. He turned to his superhero allies, and was surprised to see that the police officers had all joined them in the few seconds where he was distracted.

'The battle's about to start, everybody,' He began. 'Good luck. I can't be here to help you, so-'

'Why?' Huntress interrupted. Everyone looked at her. 'Where do you have to go?'

'I'm going after Strange.'

Batman looked down from the rooftop, facing the window of Strange Tower, the building opposite. A large hand grabbed his shoulder, as Batman turned to find himself facing Gordon.'Batman,' He said. 'What are you going to do?''I'm going to end this. Now.' Batman replied, an expression of angered determination on his face.'Gordon looked uncertain. 'If you must. Just...don't cross the line. Because you know that if you do, I'll be coming for you, whether I want to or not.'Batman looked into Gordon's eyes, not saying a word.'Promise me you won't cross the line.' Begged Gordon, quite desperately.'I won't.' Batman promised.'Good. How are you going to get in there, anyway? It'll be packed with TYGER guards.''Simple. I'm going to smash through the window.' Said Batman, an edge of humour to his voice.'They'll rip you apart! Are you crazy?' Gordon scolded him.'Never.' Replied Batman. He stepped onto the edge of the building, preparing to leapt, his cape unfurling in the wind, straightening out into the shape of a bat's wings. He headed for the window, and stretched out his legs, smashing through it. Glass shards littered the room, as several TYGER guards stepped out of the shadows, assault rifles at the ready. They ran towards Batman, firing as they came, but Batman dropped a smoke bomb, blinding them. He preceded to methodically attack them, taking them out easily, one after the other, with the precision of a heart surgeon. Soon, the floor was littered with the unconscious bodies of the TYGER agents, most of them with broken bones. Batman raised two fingers to the earpiece in his cowl.'Alfred,' he said. 'I'm in Strange Tower. I need you to send me full blueprints for the building. Get hacking.''Straight away, sir.' Alfred's British accent answered from the Batcave. Within moments, a small map of the entire building had appeared in the top-left corner of Batman's heads-up display in his cowl. He made his way to the door. Finding it locked, he took his explosive gel spray-gun from his utility belt and sprayed a small mount on the handle, blowing off the lock. He stepped through the doorway, to find himself in a large room. Activating his cowl's detective mode, he saw the skeletons of several TYGER agents heading for the source of the noise. He quickly grappled up into the rafters, looking down to find seven agents investigating the door. They quickly acknowledged that Batman was, no doubt, in the room with them, and split up into groups of two. Batman quickly singled out a pair of guards, and stealthily dropped down behind them both. He reached up his hands, and quickly smacked both of the men's heads together. Two down already, only seven to go. He moved on quickly. The next pair, he took out by grappling downwards, grabbing one of them, and dropping him on his partner. Their were now only three left. The problem was, they knew this, and had banded together, making it much harder to take them out. Batman jumped onto a walkway and sprayed a large amount of explosive gel on it. He dropped one of his sonic batarangs, which instantly started emitting a high-pitched whining noise. On of the TYGER agents separated from the small group, making his way to the source of the noise, oblivious to the large amount of Explosive Gel on the floor in front of him. was a very loud noise as the guard was blown off his feet and was sent flying of the walkway, falling to the floor below. The final two came to investigate the noise, and Batman simply glided down, kicking one of them in the side of the head, instantly rendering him unconscious, and punched the other guard in the quickly left the large room, his work done.

The next room, was considerably smaller than the last. It was devoid of people, aside from Batman, and was full of metal pipes, through which could be heard the sound of running water. Batman continued through the room, and out into the next.

The next room was dark, the only area of light in the direct centre. And under that light there found a familiar figure strapped to a table.'Oracle.' Batman gasped, a note of sadness to his voice 'Barbara.' He hurried over to the table, and removed the straps holding her down. Her took the gag from her mouth.'Bruce!' She half-yelled, taking in great gulps of air. 'Behind you!' Batman turned to find himself facing Hugo Strange, brandishing a large needle.'Mr Wayne.' He said, and plunged the needle into Batman's arm. Batman stumbled to the floor, and blacked out.

When Batman awoke, he found himself strapped to an operating table identical to the one he had just found Barbara on. Hugo Strange stood opposite him, wearing a rather different attire to his usual white lab coat. He was, strangely enough, wearing a Batsuit, identical to Batman's.

'You have caused Arkham City quite a large amount of trouble, Mister Wayne.' Said Doctor Strange. He reached his hand out, and pulled the cowl from Batman's head. Bruce looked surprised.'I know all about, and have disabled, all of your cowl's in-built countermeasures, in case you were wondering.' Hugo gloated, throwing the cowl aside. 'Your friend Barbara has been released. I am not completely without mercy. But, then again, a pretty, disabled and defenceless girl in a wheelchair, roaming a city full of madmen, murderers and rapists... I doubt she will last very long.' Hugo was openly grinning let out a roar of blazing rage, attempting to use brute force to break free of his bonds.'Don't bother trying to escape, Mister Wayne.' Said Strange. 'It is impossible, even for you. Anyway, I hold a great deal of interest in the Batman, Mister Wayne. Would you like to know why?'

'You want my money?' Bruce spat. Hugo smiled.

'No, no, no,' He replied. 'No. I'm not interested in Bruce Wayne. I'm interested in the Batman. They are two very different people, are they not?'

Bruce didn't reply.

'No? Hmm. Anyway, I have held a great deal of interest in Batman for a long, long time. Why does a person do these things, with no hope of any reward or recognition? That person would have to be selfless beyond belief, or, and this is the more likely reason, insane. Now, I believe that the Batman is insane. He goes out every single night to fight criminals, and expects nothing in return. Maybe he does it to avenge the death of a family member, such as…his parents?'

Bruce's eyes narrowed.

'Yes, his parents. But, if he wanted to wreak his vengeance on crime, he could have simply joined the Police force. But no, instead, he chooses to dress up like a bat. Tell me, Mister Wayne. Has Batman ever considered that all this is his fault?'

'If you mean, does he create his enemies, or inspire them, then maybe so.' Bruce admitted.

'Exactly. 'Maybe so'. It is impossible to know. But this person, then, in order to fight crime, dresses in a costume and then quite possibly inspires others to do the same. There are some that we know for sure were inspired by him. Look at Prometheus, or Wrath. They both take large inspiration from the Dark Knight, surely.'

'But why do you care?'

'Because I wish to take over from the Batman.'

'What? Why?'

'Simple,' Hugo began. 'The Batman spend his days fighting crime. When enemies he creates appear, he does not have the strength to take responsibility for them.'

'You mean to kill them.'

'Exactly. Batman creates these enemies, who kill hundreds of people during their respective criminal careers, and Batman allows this to continue. Something that

I would not do.'

'So you think you'd be a batter Batman?'

'By far. Now, I have one last surprise before I end your suffering.' Strange stepped backwards, and revealed a webcam. 'In ten seconds, a live web-broadcast will begin.' He said. 'Everyone in Gotham will see your true identity, and the Batman legacy will end, for me to take over.' Batman knew he had one last chance, something Strange had not bargained on. Alfred. Struggling, he turned his head to where his cowl lay on the floor.'Alfred.' He said. 'Plan orange-alpha.''What? What are you doing?' Strange turned his attention to Strange, and allowed a grin to spread across his face. 'You didn't do your homework. I always plan ahead.' Suddenly, the room went dark. Hugo Strange rushed to the window, just in time to see every light in Arkham City go out, block by block.'No power, no webcam, no broadcast.' Now it was Bruce's turn to gloat. 'You've been defeated by my butler.'Strange snarled. 'Then you are of no further use to me.' He took a needle, and prepared to plunge it into Bruce's heart. Suddenly, he was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot, fired upwards into the ceiling.'A-tah-tah-tah-tah.' Said a voice Bruce knew all too well. 'The Bat is mine. Or should I say... the bachelor?' The voice broke out into peals of insane laughter.'Joker.' Bruce growled. 'How long have you known?''Years, Brucie, years! Could it have been any more obvious?' The Joker taunted."Then why didn't you tell anyone?' Both Hugo and Bruce demanded.'Well, duuuh! That would spoil all the fun!' The Joker giggled. 'But anyway, Hugo, old buddy old pal. You should understand this. Brucie and I, we go waaaaaaaay back. If anyone deserves to kill him, it's me.'Hugo was angry. 'You will not get in the way of-' He was interrupted by another gunshot. This time, the bullet hit him in the shoulder. Hugo fainted from the shock.'Out cold.' Said Joker. 'Now, Bruce. I think I can afford to release you. We'll do this some other time, okay?' He laughed, and took out a knife, then severed the bonds holding Bruce to the operating table.'Why?' Demanded Bruce, reaching down to replace his cowl and utility belt. 'Why not kill me now?'Joker shook his head shamefully. 'You never did get it, did you? Where's the fun in killing you, while you're in a trap thanks to someone else? It would be as bad as letting someone else kill you!' He stated, like it was obvious.

'What about your illness?' Batman questioned him. 'Without Strange, you're going to die.'

Joker laughed. 'Nope,' He said. 'I'm cured. Fine. Excellent. Wonderful.'

'How?'

Joker nodded to Hugo. 'Old pointy-beard down their cured me! It was all part of our deal. He spent ages researching a cure, but it was worth it in the end. So anyway, I'll be going now. See ya.' And with that, he turned to leave, but Batman quickly grabbed him. 'You're coming with me.''Really, Bats? That's just-'

Suddenly, there was small explosion, and a burst of blood flew from Joker's shoulder. He keeled over, unconscious. Batman span around, to find him facing… Batman.

Or at least, it looked like Batman. At a second glance, one could see the obvious differences. Instead of a black cape and cowl, this suit wore a dark blue one. Instead of an opening in the mouth area, there was a gas mask. And the biggest difference? This Batman was holding a gun.

This Batman was, of course, Hugo Strange. He had slipped on his cowl when Batman and Joker had been talking, and shot Joker in the shoulder.

'You thought I was finished, Wayne?' He snarled. 'When Ras Al Ghul's plan succeeds, I will have killed you, and be a member of the League Of Assassin's.'

'Ras Al Ghul?' Batman repeated. 'What does he have to do with this?'

Too late, Hugo realised what he had let slip in his anger.

'He was the 'benefactor' you asked the Black Mask about.' Hugo admitted. 'You know this now, but it matters not. In moments you will be dead, and I will be the new Batman.'

'A Batman who kills isn't Batman.' Batman argued.

'We shall see.' Hugo said, and with that, he leaped at Batman.

NOW

Robin

The square was in chaos. It was packed with hundreds of fighters, bullets flying through the air like deadly rain, and nothing could be heard over the battle cries, gunshots and the yells of pain from the wounded.

Robin was fighting alongside Batgirl, protecting the Cathedral entrance from any criminals who tried to get in. Batgirl was flinging batarangs at anyone who got close, hitting almost every time.

'Nice night for it!' Robin yelled to her.

'Hrm.' Came Batgirl's reply as she kicked a charging Two-Face thug in the head.

Robin could just make out Penguin standing on top of a car, shooting down into the crowd below. Several of Two-face's hugs were attempting to pull him off, put he stamped on their hands, then shot them in the face. Bane was taking on both Abromavici twins at once, and winning. There was clear space around the three giants, anyone who as stupid enough to try and get close deserved the beating they got.

Huntress and Nightwing were fighting back-to-back, Huntress grabbing enemies, then throwing them to Nightwing to finish off with a swift kick.

Robin couldn't help but wonder where Joker was. It wasn't like him to ignore chaos on this scale, was it? He put the thought out of his mind and continued to fight, using his staff to smash the teeth from the mouth of a clown who had tried to get past.

NOW

Batman and Hugo were still fighting, trading blow after blow, neither of them faltering. Hugo ducked down, dodging one of Batman's forceful punches, then pulled a knife from his belt and threw it at Batman, but Batman caught it and flung it aside. There was a shower of sparks as it neatly embedded itself in a nearby computer monitor. Batman flung another punch at Hugo, who caught it and pushed Batman away, before pulling another gun, but Batman knocked it out of his hand with a well-aimed batarang. Batman pulled the RAC from the back of his belt, and fired, but the bolt flew past Hugo's head and hit a wall behind him. Hugo grabbed the RAC and smashed it into Batman's head, stunning him for a second, before throwing the gadget aside.

Then, Hugo kicked at Batman, who caught his leg and pushed Hugo back. As Hugo stumbled backwards, Batman punched him to the ground. Hugo kicked him off and stood. Batman ran at him and leaped into the air, stretching his leg out with a flying kick. Hugo was knocked off his feet, and fell backwards and towards the window.

'No!' Batman yelled, and leaped towards Hugo, grabbing at his cape in an attempt to stop his fall. But he was too late. The glass window shattered from the impact of Strange falling into it, and Hugo reached out and grabbed the window ledge before he could fall. Batman ran to Hugo, and attempted to pull him back up.

'Give me your hand!' He told Hugo.

Strange looked at him coldly. 'You lose.' He said, and let go of the ledge. Batman could do nothing more than watch as Strange plummeted to the ground. He landed with a thump that should not have been audible from atop the building, but it was.

Batman turned away from the smashed window, his had low. With a slight limp, he walked towards the Joker's unconscious body, and dragged him away.

Batman found Oracle in her wheelchair, rolling quietly down an abandoned street. When they returned to the Cathedral, the battle was still raging in front of it. Oracle stayed on a rooftop, for the dual purposes of avoiding the fight, which she would be useless in in her condition, and to avoid James Gordon, her father. Batman had Joker slung over his shoulder, and as he handcuffed the felon to a drainpipe, his communicator began to buzz. Batman answered it.

'Alfred?' He asked.

'Not quite, detective.' Said a spiteful voice.

'Ras. ' Batman acknowledged.

'Better,' Answered Ras. 'I hear Hugo Strange is dead.'

'How do you know that?'

'Is it not obvious?' Taunted Ras. ' I was told by the TYGER guards. Did you not wonder why you had not heard of the company before?'

'It crossed my mind.' Batman answered.

'The reason you had not heard of them before is because they are, in fact, not real. The TYGER operatives are all members of the League Of Assassin's.'

'You created TYGER?'

'That's correct, detective. It was I who orchestrated this whole affair. I had Doctor Strange plant the idea of Arkham City into the mind of Mayor Sharpe. He welcomed it.'

'Strange was desperate to eradicate crime from Gotham.' Batman acknowledged.

'Exactly. And here was his chance to destroy every criminal in one fell swoop.'

'How?'

'We planned to flood it. And that is one plan that you have failed to stop.'

'What do you mean?' Batman demanded apprehensively.

'Right now, a flood is working it's way through the streets of Arkham City. I calculate that it will reach the Cathedral in precisely five minutes, and you will all drown. Goodbye, detective.'

And with that, Ras ended the transmission.

Batman knew he didn't have much time to act. He called Alfred this time.

'Master Br-'

'Send the batplane.' Batman cut him short.

'At once.'

Only half a minute later the jet appeared in the distance. It set down beside Batman, who clambered into the cockpit. With Batman's direction, the jet sped through the air, towards the wave. Batman soon found it, and it was closer than Ras had said, at the most only two minutes from the Cathedral. He activated the jet's scanner, and used it to search for the weakest points of the buildings that lined the streets. When he had found the weak points, he locked onto them with the jet's targeting computer, and fired the jet's missiles at them. There were several huge explosions, and the buildings collapsed into the streets ahead of the wave. A huge pile of rubble soon stood in the way of the wave, effectively creating an enormous dam in the streets. Water pounded the rubble, splashing against it, but to no avail. The wave was going nowhere unless the dam was destroyed. Satisfied, Batman turned the jet around, and made for the Cathedral once more.

When he was halfway back, Ras contacted him once more.

'Detective, you have irked me,' He said. 'I promise you that the next time we meet you will die.'

'I'll be dead very soon, then,' Answered Batman. 'I'm coming for you.'

When Batman returned to the Cathedral, the battle was still being fought, but now the amount of unconscious or dead far outnumbered the amount of survivors. Batman could see Robin and Batgirl on the Cathedral steps, surrounded by bodies. Bane was fighting one of the Abromavici twins, the other lay at his feet, dead or out cold Batman could not tell. In a corner, Mr Freeze had appeared, despite rumours Batman had been hearing of his going into hiding, and was surrounded by his would-be attackers, who were frozen in blocks of ice.

Batman knew he had to end this, now.

He piloted the batplane until it as directly above the battlefield. Many of the fighters had already frozen in surprise from the sight of the great, black, jet, while others were too busy fighting to care. Batman pressed a button inside the jet, and there was a soft hiss as copious amounts of white tear gas was sprayed from the bottom of the aircraft. The criminals below scattered instantly to escape the gas, and were met by the police and the heroes Batman had enlisted. Now that the criminals were distracted, they were easily subdued. Satisfied, Batman flew the plane back to the rooftop, and landed. He uncuffed a grumbling Joker from the drain pipe, and as he handed the clown to the police minutes later, received a round of applause from the assembled police, who really should have been arresting the criminals who's unconscious bodies littered the ground. Batman didn't react to their applause, he was too busy telling Commissioner Gordon about what had happened with Strange and Ras Al Ghul.

'So, in short, we've got a miniature lake a couple of streets away, Strange is dead and TYGER's actually a group of assassin's?' Gordon summarised.

'Yeah,' Batman answered. 'But Ras' plans have been foiled. They'll have received the order to pull out by now. In fact, they should be leaving any second.'

And, right on cue, a huge aeroplane appeared in the distance, speeding away from the city.

'How the hell did they keep that hidden?' Gordon wondered.

'They'll have hidden it in some abandoned warehouse somewhere,' Said Batman. 'But at least they're gone.'

As Gordon walked away to speak to his men, Batman bade the heroes who had assisted in the battle farewell. Eventually, only Batgirl, Robin and Catwoman were left.

'You know what, Bruce?' Catwoman whispered. 'We should do this again some time.' And she planted a quick kiss on Batman's cheek, before turning away and sprinting to a building, then clambering to the rooftop with surprising grace and ease. In seconds she was gone.

Batman watched the space where she had been seconds ago, thinking, until he was broken out of his reverie by Robin.

'Batman,' He said. Batman turned to him.

'Yeah?' He asked.

'What happens now?' Asked the Boy Wonder.

'After all this, Arkham City will be seen for the ridiculous, dangerous idea that it is and be closed down,' Batman replied. 'Bruce Wayne will give greater funding to the rebuilding of Arkham Asylum, to speed things up there. And I'll try to gather enough evidence against Quincy Sharpe to have him removed from office. There should be plenty in Strange's old office, I'll go back there later.'

'Why does he need removing from office?' Asked Robin.

'Aside from working with a lunatic, he is one. When he was warden of Arkham Asylum, Sharpe attempted to murder several patients. He's not mentally stable, and as such not fit for office.'

'Oh,' Replied Robin, surprised and a little offended that Batman had not told him this.

'So what are we doing next?' He asked.

'You and Batgirl go back to Gotham. It needs someone looking after it.'

'What about you?'

Batman turned around and began to stride purposefully towards the batplane. 'I'm going to Bosnia,' He said.

'I need to have a little talk with Ras Al Ghul…'

THE END