A/N: Welcome all to a brand new Jase Raven 13 story! I've been having this idea for quite some time and after playing all the Arkham games and read up on Arkham Knight, I was in the mood to write this one. This story is my version to an ending of the Arkham franchise which to me has been the best Batman game franchise. Also check out my other stories like The Godzilla Legacy Series, Hellsing: The Blood That Binds, and Yugioh: Cards of Destiny. If you like my stories then check out TheNew959's stories like GTA: The Score of All Scores, Yugioh GX America: The American Duel Academy, and my other buddy Musashi The Master who has a ton of crossover stories like Sly Cooper and His Girls. Now on to the story. Enjoy peeps!
Ch. 1: An Insidious Choice
December 21, 2016 Downtown Gotham aka Arkham City
Downtown Gotham now known only as Arkham City, the home of low class thieves and criminals alike was the last place for them. Their time in Gotham was running out and they knew it. The cause was none other than The Dark Knight: Batman. The man who took on The Joker at Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange and his Protocol 10, Ra's al Ghul, The Joker's death, and last year's incident with the dreaded Arkham Knight. He defeated them all with some help from Robin, Nightwing, Oracle, and at times Catwoman and Azrael. But tonight all the criminals were excited. For the first time in a whole year some of the big time criminals like Penguin, Two-Face, Black Mask, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Deadshot, Bane, Killer Croc, Scarecrow, The Riddler, Clayface, and Deathstroke were all gathered at the old Arkham City cathedral. They were all summoned there by a new player in Gotham. One who had evil intentions for all of Gotham and its Caped Crusader. His name was Mr. Malice whose past was just as mysterious as he was. He is tall, average build, wears a red and black suit with a crimson red tie and a wicked looking top hat. Mostly wears a black Venetian raven mask as Mr. Malice, but with mask off he has some face paint on his face like the wrestler Willow.
As for the other villains, well things were not so great. Penguin had broken out of Blackgate Prison multiple times since the Arkham Knight Incident. He was still doing what he does best in selling illegal arms and making a name for himself as one of the 3 most powerful criminals in all of Gotham besides Two-Face and Black Mask who finally rebuilt his own organization. Poison Ivy had only just broken out with the likes of Mr. Freeze, Bane, Deadshot, Scarecrow, Clayface, and The Riddler. Killer Croc had appeared sporadically in Gotham hunting for Batman, but ended up retreating several times. Harley Quinn had evaded capture for the past year from the cops and Batman, but barely. The only thing she could think of was having her revenge on Batman for The Joker's death. The final one in the group was the world's deadliest assassin Deathstroke who has not been seen in Gotham for 2 years. They all then gathered around a large, blackened table where their host greeted them.
"Good evening my friends. I trust you all are doing well and ready for what is ahead?" asked Mr. Malice as he walked around the group cane in hand, who all now were sitting at a table except Bane and Killer Croc.
"Why have you called us here worm!" roared Killer Croc.
"As our reptilian cohort put it so crudely is why you have summoned us here?" asked The Riddler who was twirling his bowler hat.
"Ah straight to the point very well. You all have been chosen. Chosen by me to carry out the sentence this city so richly deserves: destruction. You see neither of you have been able to do what you want, whenever you want with this old city. So why not start anew? Why not let this city burn and rebuild it the way we see fit?"
"What is this we stuff?" questioned Black Mask.
"You see as great as you all are alone, you have all failed. Some of you even teamed up last year yet you all still failed. One key piece for that failure is one man. One man who has plagued you all for several years and thwarting your every move. Ruining your plans no matter what you do."
"Batman!" yelled Deadshot.
"Yes! The Batman has been a thorn in our sides for too long. Too long has he stood in our way, but no more. This time the so called Dark Knight dies when this year dies." Smiled Mr. Malice.
"How do you propose that? As you said before we all failed. What do you have in mind?" asked Mr. Freeze.
"My plan is full proof. I've had time to study your failures and come up with a plan that will work."
"Hang on a moment. How in the bloody hell you are going to accomplish that?" ordered Penguin as he lit a cigar.
"We want to know now before we even continue." Said Two-Face as he began to flip his famous coin.
"One of your old associates almost killed the bat years ago. The recently departed Clown Prince of Crime, The Joker. He was very close and I've learned how he did it."
"Ugh I've could've gone all night without hearing that stupid clowns name." groaned Penguin who then had to dodge a knife thrown at him.
"Don't you dare talk bad about Mr. J!" yelled Harley Quinn.
"Or what you crazy bitch? Who cares about your dead boyfriend. If ya want I can send you to see him if you want." Sneered Penguin.
"Ooo this sounds to be amusing." Said Scarecrow tapping his syringe fingers on the table.
"Bloodshed!" roared Killer Croc.
"You're dead birdbrain!" yelled Harley as she jumped on the table with her baseball bat and swung at Penguin's head only to be blocked by the blade of his umbrella. He then pressed a switch where the blade pulled back and a gun barrel was in its place. Before he could get a shot when Bane grabbed his umbrella while Poison Ivy's vines grabbed Harley. But both of them had a sword toward their throats by Deathstroke who then turned to Mr. Malice.
"Tell us how you plan to kill Batman." Ordered Deathstroke.
"With this bullet. Within it is what is left of The Joker. The poisoned blood that nearly killed all of Gotham including Batman. I have synthesized it into a weapon of sorts. I call it Joker's Legacy." Said Mr. Malice placing a special dart-like bullet on the table.
"I could use this." Said Deadshot with a smirk.
"Good because that's why you are here. It is a slow acting poison, but rest assured Batman will be dead at dawn on New Year's Day."
"How dare you use Mr. J like that!" shrieked Harley.
"Oh but my dear you should be proud! Your late lover will be the cause of Batman's death. Now to entice you all into helping me you all will be rewarded 50 million each as well as a personal reward."
"I want to feast on Batman's bones!" growled Killer Croc.
"My hatred for the bat is greater than yours Croc." Said Black Mask who placed one of his pistols on the table, now eyeing Killer Croc.
"I want to break Batman." Said Bane for the first time tonight.
"Revenge works for me." Said Riddler.
"Same for me." Said Scarecrow.
"A cure for my wife." Said Mr. Freeze.
"I want all of Gotham. Hell Metropolis too!" said Penguin with a smile.
"A place for my darlings to grow away from this cesspool of a city." Said Poison Ivy.
"One final fight. A rematch." Said Deathstroke sheathing his swords.
"I will do it for Mr. J." sniffed Harley.
"I'm in, but get me the stinking Catwoman also." Growled Two-Face.
"I want Bruce Wayne." Said Clayface who looked like Bruce now.
"Then we are all in agreement. On December 31st Batman dies and Gotham will burn! Hahahahahahahahaha!" laughed Mr. Malice as everyone else joined him. Tonight The Court of 13 was born. In one week all of Gotham and Batman will be in incredible danger unlike any of them have ever seen. Little did Mr. Malice know, but they were being watched by a woman in a ninja outfit high above the table.
December 31st, 2016 Gotham City Hall 6:27 PM
Winter in Gotham City was cold and harsh at this time when the year was about to end. Still its inhabitants were all festive and full of joy until 20 minutes ago when the GCPD was called to Gotham City Hall. Mayor Quincy Sharp and all of his staff were taken hostage by a man that went by the name of Mr. Malice. From there Gotham was in chaos. The people of Gotham thought that they were done hiding in their homes from such criminals, but tonight their little world would be shattered. Sirens filled the air as all of the GCPD prepared themselves until they saw the barricade and the warning from Mr. Malice and his group that simply called them the Hate Brigade. They were men and women dressed up in makeshift straightjackets in purple and black minus the long arm portion, had Hate Brigade in red on their chest, and wore gold comedy masks. The warning was that several of the hostage's bodies were placed in full view to the police. At this point Commissioner Jim Gordon was beside himself. He thought he would never have to see anything like this again like the early days from The Joker.
"Commissioner Sir, we have the building surrounded sir, but it doesn't look good sir. The Hate Brigade are well protected with their barricade and well armed it seems. This Mr. Malice is some bad news sir." Said a Swat officer to Jim Gordon.
"I know that. This needs to end now before anything worse happens." Sighed Jim.
"What are your orders sir?"
"Hold your position until notified. Have the snipers found and opening or see Mayor Sharp?"
"No sir, but we think they saw Mayor Sharp in his chair and sitting next to him was Mr. Malice."
"Well tell them to make sure. I want no screw ups tonight," ordered Jim as his officers ran to their positions in case anything new happened, "Where are you Batman?" groaned Jim Gordon until he felt like he was being watched again. He then turned around to see his old friend the Dark Knight, Batman.
"What's the situation Commissioner?" asked Batman in all seriousness.
"Hostage crisis more like it. The Mayor and his staff are the target, but it seems that they don't care too much for the hostages as you can see out there in front of their barricade. The Hate Brigade killed some of the staff already and Mr. Malice hasn't made any demands yet."
"Mr. Malice?"
"Yeah he is a new player in town. We heard a few things about him from our undercover operatives in Arkham City. Not good from what I heard. He seems to be like a cross between some of your old foes, but this is something like…" said Gordon until Batman interrupted him.
"What The Joker would have done."
"My thoughts exactly."
"Then I better get going. Keep a perimeter out here. I will take care of the Hate Brigade and this Mr. Malice." Said Batman.
"Well good luck to you my friend," began Gordon until he turned around to see Batman gone, "There he goes again. Well be safe then."
And there he was on top of the roof of the second floor of city hall. Batman had turned on his detective vision so he may survey the situation. From what he could see was 15 armed thugs and 8 hostages. Below him were 12 more armed thugs and 3 more hostages. Finally above him on the third floor was 3 armed thugs, one hostage which had to be Sharp and the other unarmed man had to be Mr. Malice himself. From there he turned off his D.V. and walked around the corner to see the thugs and the hostages. He then looked at all possible ways to not only take out the Hate Brigade, but save the hostages. That's when he saw his chance in the sprinkler system. He would use his remote batarang to set off the sprinklers, toss several smoke pellets, and then neutralize the enemies.
Batman then turned on his D.V. once again, set the coordinates for his remote batarang, and set his plan in motion. The sprinklers erupted and sprayed each member of the Hate Brigade distracting them all from which they were then engulfed in smoke. Batman could see that several of them mainly had knives, bats, one had a crowbar, and three had assault rifles. This was his chance to take care of them. The first ones he took out were the ones with assault rifles so he wouldn't alert the other ones downstairs. With a flurry of kicks and punches he knocked all three of them out where he grabbed one and threw it at the one with the crowbar. The Hate Brigade thug was crying in pain and then the smoke started to show the shape of Batman to the other members.
"It's the freaking Bat!" yelled the nearest one who was then punched real hard in the face and landed onto a nearby desk.
"Where he come from!" yelled another until he was thrown into the wall and was kneed in the face. One by one the others fell like bricks.
Batman then used a grapple hook on the last one and threw him out the window. He knew this would grab the attention of the ones downstairs, but he would ambush them before they did anything. The Dark Knight dove out of the window grabbing the rope from his grapple and burst out the large window that led to the lobby and threw several smoke pellets. With his sudden appearance, the thugs were disoriented from the smoke and like he did above were systematically taken out. In a matter of 10 minutes the members of the Hate Brigade on the first and second floor were all taken out of commission. But something was wrong. This seemed too easy to Batman. As he checked on the hostages on each floor, he contacted Oracle to find out any info on the Hate Brigade and Mr. Malice before he went to the final floor.
"Oracle, what can you tell me about the Hate Brigade and their leader Mr. Malice?" asked Batman through his communicator in his cowl.
"The Hate Brigade is a new group in Gotham. Mainly made up of escaped Arkham City and Arkham Asylum patients and also remnants of Joker's old gang. As for Mr. Malice, well I hate to say this Bruce, but there really isn't any info on this guy. I don't like this. This doesn't seem right." Said Oracle on the other end with a concerned tone in her voice.
"Neither do I, but he has Sharp upstairs. Time to find out who he is and what he is up to."
"Bruce please be careful."
"Don't worry, I will be fine." Said Batman as he got onto the third floor. He saw that one of them was patrolling the hall while the other 2 were guarding the door. When the thug on patrol came by, Batman snuck behind him and choked him out, knocking him unconscious.
"Hey where's Don?" asked one of the thugs.
"I don't like this man. We were better off with Harley. Least she…" began the other thug until he was hit with a batarang. His partner began to shoot down the hall, but his rifle was suddenly yanked by some hook. The thug then took out his knife and went down the hall, but was met with a swift kick to the head.
With one final use of his D.V. he could see in the Mayor's office 2 bodies, one being the Mayor himself while the other had to be Mr. Malice. Batman then kicked the door off its hinges and surveyed the office. Sharp was very full of himself since becoming Mayor as there was a huge portrait similar to the one from Arkham Asylum when he was Warden. He also saw an old campaign flyer of Arkham City. Then he saw Sharp bound to his chair.
"Batman help me please! It's a…"
BANG! Those were the last words Mayor Quincy Sharp would ever say as his he tilted over. Blood began to drip from the bullet hole in his head. Batman then turned his gaze to his left to see the shooter. He wore an evil looking top hat, black suit with some red, red tie, a cane in his left hand which a devil like skull on it, a revolver in the other hand, and a black Venetian raven mask. This had to be Mr. Malice.
"I do hate squealers, but then again he served his purpose. There was no longer any reason to keep him alive hehehe." Chuckled Mr. Malice now holstering his revolver.
"What is the meaning of this?" ordered Batman with his fists raised up.
"Up for a fight are we? I'm afraid that won't be happening at this time my dark, broody friend. No, I would rather just talk with you for a moment." Said Mr. Malice as he walked toward Batman.
"After what you just did I don't think so. You are going to jail for a long time for the murder of Quincy Sharp and several of his staff."
"What about the rest of Gotham?"
"What?!"
"Will I also go to jail for destroying all of Gotham? Where will I go when the city is in ruin? Oh the possibilities. Come now, you are better than that Batman. You were the one who defeated Ra's al Ghul, stopped Arkham Knight, and killed The Joker. Did you really think this would be easy?" smiled Mr. Malice.
"How do you know Ra's al Ghul? And there is no way I will even let you have the chance to destroy Gotham." Said Batman in a threatening voice.
"Oh you are more entertaining in person! You act like they said you would. Like I'm supposed to fear you. My friend you couldn't be so wrong. Everything I do is for a purpose. Everything is part of my plan. One way or another I will win. I always win in the end detective. As for my knowledge of the great Ra's al Ghul, well like you I've met him. I was a former student of his."
"There is no way you were a student of his. You are everything he despises."
"Partially right you are Batman. You see after a while my old teacher found me to be too extreme. He felt that he would be trading one old evil for another greater evil. One more terrible than before. Haha the fool. In any case I will succeed where he and others had failed. To destroy Gotham and to kill you."
"Not while I still breathe Malice." Said Batman as he took out a batarang.
"Which shouldn't be too long tonight." Said Mr. Malice as he twirled his cane. That's when Batman felt a sharp pain shoot into his side. He then fell to his knees in pain and the next thing he did was pull out what look to be a dart of some make.
"What is this?" groaned Batman.
"What is it he asks hehe. Well if you must know it is me killing you. This poison I made comes from the blood of your old friend The Joker."
"Hhhow?"
"No I won't tell you one of my prize secrets. Besides I like seeing you on your knees before me. To think Ra's chose you over me. You could never do what I have done. As I said before tonight I destroy all of Gotham and kill you. The world will tremble before me as one of its greatest heroes dies and the very city he so fiercely protected is wiped off the face of the Earth! Within you Batman is a poison I like to call Joker's Legacy. However, there is a chance of you surviving. You see I think you may have enough time to make a cure for my poison. I doubt it, but you survived before. So here is the deal and the choice you must make. One is that you walk away and try to cure yourself, but in doing so then Gotham will be sent straight to hell. Your other choice is that you try and stop me and my Court of 13 before dawn on New Year's Day. Sadly by doing that choice you will die a slow and painful death. Oh what fun we could have. Light vs. darkness, order vs. chaos and even if you were to cure yourself I will just have to kill you another day."
"I will find a way to stop you and your plan."
"So what will you do Batman? Your choices are laid out before you. One is your salvation while the other is your damnation. Will you save yourself or will you try to save the city and die doing so? Either way I win and I do look forward to the outcome." Said Mr. Malice with an evil smile as he walks around Batman.
"You're just as mad as he is...and I will make sure you fail." Said Batman with a strained voice.
"The only thing you will do is choose to cure the Joker Legacy or die. It's really that simple. And amusing as this is, I really must get back to work. Farewell Batman. I hope to see you again soon in some shape or form. Whether it is dead or alive. Personally I prefer dead. Hahahahahahaha!" Laughed the dark destroyer as he left Batman to decide either his fate or that of Gotham. Somehow Batman had to stop The Court of 13 within 24 hours and somehow survive long enough to beat Mr. Malice.
A/N: And so it begins! Life or death are the choices for Batman in what seems to be a no win situation. Can the Dark Knight stop Mr. Malice and the Court of 13 in time? Find out next time on Batman: Arkham Armageddon! Next time, Chapter 2: The Bat & The Cat. Reviews are ALWAYS welcomed. I would also appreciate if you all would check out my other stories as well as my friends I mentioned above. Can help me with my poll on my profile too. This is Jase Raven 13 signing off. Later peeps!