Chapter 7: Thunderhead vs Clayface
Clayface suddenly brought out creatures made of clay while he moved his slugish body away from Thunderhead, watching his creations face his opponent as Thunderhead formed ice sword with his hand. He slice-n-dice the clay monster one-by-one while he formed an ice spear, lunging it into a clay monster's chest as it jolted with electricity causing the clay monster to scream in agony. Every last clay creation of Clayface was cut down with Thunderhead throwing a cocky grin at Clayface, who growled angrily as he leaped forward at Ethan. Ethan retaliated by dodging the impact as he fired out bolts of electricity at Clayface, causing the man made of clay snarl in rage while he launched a spiked claw directly at Thunderhead. Fortunately, Thunderhead brought up a wall of ice to cover against Clayface's attack as he threw out an ice bomb at his arm. The arm quickly turned frozen after a few of seconds, only for Thunderhead break it to pieces with an electrified ice mace as he disassemble the other arm with another ice bomb.
"So Clayface..." Ethan trailed off avoiding another attack from Clayface, while tripping the ceiling sprinklers inside the room they were in. "What do you work for someone like Joker? Is it money? Meal ticket? Someone to scratch your back? Wait, do you even have a back?"
"Shut it!" Clayface snarled launching an entire fist of clay at Thunderhead, only for him to shift his body and disappear.
"You know what I just realized?" Ethan inquired, stabbing Clayface from behind as he winced in pain. "Like ever since we started fighting, I've somehow end up getting clay in my shoes. That wouldn't to be you, would it?"
"God, you're annoyin'." Clayface snarled, sending Thunderhead flying with a toss. Thunderhead managed to get up, readying a fighting stance. "Why can't you just shut the hell up!?"
"What can I say? It's a habit." Ethan joked while leaped above to avoid a clay fist from hitting him. "So, why don't you just give up and save me the trouble of not having to kick your ass to the curve?"
Clayface grabbed Thunderhead and slammed toward a wall left and right, with Ethan struggling to break free from Clayface's grip on him. Ethan brought one hand free from the grip as he started blasting Clayface with electric bolt while he was being pulled in closer, trying to at least freeze Clayface's body but wasn't able to until an idea struck him. He was engulfed inside Clayface, leaving him to laugh after the defeat of Thunderhead as his entire body started to be cover in frost while his whole arm and leg were slowly covered in ice. His entire head especially his head frozed, only for a solid fist bust itself out of Clayface's stomach as it aimed and shot out a bolt of lightning at his head. The entire form of Clayface shattered with Thunderhead snapping his neck in anticipation, glancing down at the downed Clayface while he stretched out but didn't notice Clayface reforming his shape after the ice melted. Clayface appeared behind Ethan, readying to deliver a killer blow to him. Then suddenly, his entire body quickly started to be covered in ice as a door was opened with a squad of Arkham guards aiming their guns at both Clayface and Thunderhead but was shocked to see Clayface frozen in ice. They all glanced straight at Ethan while Warden was the last one to come in as he saw Clayface frozen with widened eyes, with the guards aiming their guns until Aaron Cash came in rushing.
"Stand down!" he ordered, glancing at Thunderhead. "He's a good guy. Warden Sharp, you are alright? Do you need medical attention?"
"No, Mr. Cash that won't be necessary." Sharp told Cash as he walked using his cane, then turning his attention to Ethan. "Thank you, whoever you are."
"Your welcome." Ethan then glanced at Cash as he approached Thunderhead. "Where's Harley?"
"No one knows where she went. Batman locked her up in a cell at the penitentiary. But by the time we got there, she was already gone." Cash explained. "She also let out the inmates including Poison Ivy."
"Poison Ivy? Green skin, red hair, can control plants? That Poison Ivy?" Thunderhead replied, seeing Cash nod his head in answer. "I'd figured. Where is she now?"
"Knowing Ivy's love of plants, she'll be in the botanical gardens tending to them." Warden Sharp answered. "Speaking of which, who are you?"
"Who am I doesn't matter. What matters is you all stay secure and help out any non hostiles here in the asylum." Ethan said in a serious tone
Thunderhead walked out of the mansion and went down the stone steps as he sprinted in top speed, trying to look for the botanical gardens in Arkham. Lucky for him because it was right across the mansion when suddenly, he spotted Batman walk up the steps of the building which lead to the garden. Ethan shifted his form into electricity as he followed Batman from behind, making sure not to alert the cape crusader of his presence. Then all of a sudden, the dark knight stopped and turned around with a stern expression on his cowl.
"I know you're here." the dark knight said in a dark voice. "Show yourself." Batman ordered as he saw Thunderhead shift back to his human form
"So how'd you know it was me?" Thunderhead asked the caped crusader, while looking curious. "Bat tech scrambler. High frequence amplifier? Come on, how'd you know?
"I was receiving electrical interference. Figured it had to be you." he stated. "Thought you were dead."
"I wasn't. I was trailing Harley while you were dealing with her goons." Ethan started folding his arms. "But I ran into Clayface earlier while when I was following her. Now, he's solid as a frozen icesicle. The guards already put him in his cell with the rest of the inmates. First things first..." he trailed off, turning his attention to Batman. "Why are you here?"
"Joker has a manufacturing plant for the TITAN formula here. If I could get a sample of Young's TITAN formula, I could find a way to provide a cure." Batman explained while him and Thunderhead went inside the building undetected
"And you think it's somewhere in the botanical garden?"
"It's possible. But I have to know for sure it's here or if Ivy knows where it is."
"Hopefully, she does. Lead the way, dark knight."
Once they were inside, they were faced with a large room surrounded by tree branches and vines all over the room. There were about three floors and each of them had their own guards on each one. There were six, maybe seven guards armed with machine guns while Thunderhead already saw Batman dealing with one of them as he hang the guard upside down.
"What the- Get me down from here!" the hanged guard yelled, catching the attention of one of the guards
"Hey over here!" shouted the guard, pointing at the guard upside down while they ran toward him. "How the hell did you get up there?"
"I don't know! Get me down!" the guard upside down shouted, only for his mouth to be covered in ice as Thunderhead brought the guard down the steps while he went uncounscious
"Oh dear, is someone missing?" Joker said on the intercom. "I keep losing count. Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Batman then took out one on the steps at the second floor while Thunderhead sneak up on one of the last two by a ventilation duct, putting the guard on a sleeping hold as the guard went unconscious. Ethan then saw Batman crouch over the last guard and slammed his fist into his face, with that being the last guard in the room. Batman and Thunderhead pressed on the next room where they spotted Joker, who held a guard hostage.
"Now What am I going have to do with you and the new guys, bats?" Joker inquired, pressing a gun on the guard's head. "Build an army of monster?" he joked, laughing evilly while glancing at Thunderhead. "And I thought you were dead, newbie."
"I'm full of surprises." Ethan said cooly, while having an ice shard from the back of his hand as him and Batman walked through the flooded room they were in
"You need to stop this now." Batman ordered. "Before it goes too far."
"Stop?" Joker asked. "But everyone's dying to know what happens next."
"Joker, whatever you're about to do..." Ethan trailed off, preparing to throw the small ice shard at the gun barrel. "Don't do it. Just let him go, nice and easy."
"If you say so, kid." Joker then kicked a fusebox and threw it on the flooded floor, while it became electrified. Ethan knew what was about to happen next as he made his move, only for Joker to shoot in the shoulder due to luck on Ethan's side. But the guard held by Joker was tossed as he started to be electrocuted, his body going limp in the water in a matter of seconds before he gargled.
"No!" Batman shouted as Joker strutted toward the next room laughing
"Well, I gotta go Batsy! I got places to go, people to kill!" he laughed in his usual insane and evil tone while Batman pulled Ethan up from the ground
"Are you alright?" asked the dark knight, glancing at the bullet wound on Ethan's shoulder
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Ethan replied suddenly conjuring water to come toward him, surrounding itself on his shoulder as it begun to heal him. "Mm-hmm. Good as new." he sighed as he saw Batman staring at him. "What? Come on, we got a runaway clown to stop." Ethan said as him and Batman made their way back to the glass room, through the corridor. They finally made their way to the generator as they slowly open the door, only to see a man in a chair being attacked by Joker's men. "Time to go to work."
Batman and Thunderhead dashed forward to begin their assault on Joker's men. Batman punched one man in the stomach and delivered a kick to the face, along the way sending a strong hook to the other's head. Thunderhead jump kicked a man in the face while giving another one a swinging roundhouse kick to the head, along with delivering a back chop across the others gut. They then saw one more standing still in fear as Ethan let Batman proceed to deal with him quickly, which the dark knight did.
"What did Joker's men do to you?" Batman asked after finishing the last joker gang member
"The ones that weren't hitting me were doing something to the controls." the man said, pointing at the terminal in the wall with green tanks attached to the sides of it. "I don't know what they were doing though."
"I smell booby trap." Ethan said with dry humor as the terminal exploded. "What did you do?"
"I shut down the electrical current to the next room. We should be able to cross through safely." Batman explained as him and Thunderhead walked to the next room, where they spotted Joker and his men hoarding TITAN
"Well look who's here." he said. "Since you've showed up, alone me to show you what I've cooked up." Joker pulled out a gun as he fired off darts, directly at their backs causing them to transform
Their veins glowed green and their muscles started expanding, their heads started to grow spikes poking out and their spinal cords broke through their backs. When it was all over, they were transformed into monsters of TITAN. They both roared, charging at Batman and Thunderhead as both said people dodged the ramming speed of the TITAN induced inmates. Batman jumped over the one on the left while Thunderhead struck the other one on the right with a electric bolt, catching the raging hulk's attention.
"Hey! Big and ugly, over here!" he shouted as the TITAN enraged inmate charged at Ethan, only for him to throw a water ball at the TITAN monster's head then suddenly turned to ice by covering its face
The TITAN induced inmate collided toward a wall with Thunderhead sending out a barraige of punches, only for him to grab Ethan's arm and toss him away. The TITAN inmate charged at Ethan as Thunderhead ran toward, leaping in the air while he struck it with an ice ax lunged into the inmate's neck. There was only a small amount of blood spilling as the TITAN enhanced inmate was struggling to remove Ethan's grip on him, only for Ethan to cause the TITAN induced inmate to crash into the one Batman was fighting. Ethan shifted his ice ax in order for the TITAN inmate he hanged on, having a giant fist being collided to the one Batman was currently fighting. The TITAN enhanced inmate the caped crusader was facing against launched his fist at the one Thunderhead rode on, along with a strong uppercut that sent it felling toward the ground. Fortunately for Ethan he froze the floor while he landed on the ground, with the TITAN inmate to stagger as him and Batman sent an uppercut toward his chin. The inmate was sent flying a TITAN tank as he fell into unconscious, with the supply of TITAN tanks destroyed.
"Bye bye, TITAN!" Ethan exclaimed, dusting off his hands
"I wouldn't be so sure about it." Batman grumbled. "Joker has all he needed to cause the mayhem."
"He won't get off this easy, Bats." Thunderhead said. "He's just a bleached green haired clown that has a knack for chaos."
"Let's go." Batman declared as him and Thunderhead pressed on ahead, to end the Joker's insanity in Arkham
