It's heating up my friends! Things are about to get more fun in a couple of chapters, So keep reading! I have over 300 views for this story after only about 15 day and it seems everyone is loving it :)
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With Love ~Dresner
The brown coated figure walked through the hallow tile walls of the penitentiary unopposed by Joker's gang. He soon came across a steel security door with a body scanner that let out a ghostly blue light to scan his person. He stood like a stone as the light scanned over him and the large door opened to reveal a large a dark hallway flanked by plasma screen TV's and security cameras.
'What a waste of resources and time.' The figure thought to himself as the sound of his boots clicked against the concrete floor. For nearly a century the spirit of Amadeus Arkham dwell with in the walls, the dirt, the water, and the minds of it's wardens and doctors since the death of it's creator in the 1920's after his own Asylum broke his mind. His spirit never passed on to the other side but stayed with in the walls of his own creation as punishment for murdering the man who raped and murdered his wife and daughter.
Doing the wrong thing for the right reason, The right thing for the wrong reason, or otherwise, never sits well with Karma...
Amadeus spirit possessed a man he found weak or powerful enough to influence the course of events in his own purgatory. But this man was different, he wasn't weak nor powerful. Just as broke as he once was, unknowingly sharing the trauma of seeing their love ones raped and butchered, and shared the need to prevent such slaughter at the hands of the insane and demonic. But the similarities end at the death of the wife and daughter, unlike Amadeus who murdered his mother.
Another security door appeared at the end of the hall in the light of another scanner and flanked by two more HD camera's giving a live feed to the Joker and his whore Harley Quinn who stalked the halls and corridors of the Asylum. The burning essence of madness radiated from behind the door strong enough to make the marked one shiver with disgust as the door opened slowly to reveal a den of grossest inmates of Arkham unknown and nonredeemable patients. These 'people' were barely clothed and without shoes with strange masks or devices covering or holding their mouths and eyes open. They screamed, howled, growled, and cried madly at everything around them as they climbed on the bars of their cells or pulsated on the floor wildly. Rows upon rows of these cells dotted this massive complex atop of a strange floor made of thick glass and emitters of some kind.
"Pacification floors..." He said to himself as he treed cautiously onto the floor into the sea of insanity before him. Every step was muffed by the screams of the absent minded, but the eyes of the madmen soon drew on the man as he made his way toward the home of the witch: The Green Mile.
"Today is a wonderful day, is it not my fellows?" He asks the room in a dark and broken tone similar to that of an old man.
A silence gripped the room as the madmen threw themselves under their beds and backs to the wall, leaving only the sounds of footsteps echoing throughout the penitentiary. Madness turned to fear and fear into dread as some of the madmen began to weep while others simple hid away and out of the site of the coated and masked figure.
"Do not fear, Do not weep, do not wallow in despair oh my fellows. Because today is a special day, a special day indeed!" The figure stated with glee as he drew closer and closer toward the green mile. "For today my fellows is the day I release the witch from her mortal bonds. Today is where I free YOU from your earthly shakes and return you to the pit of depravity for wince you came..."
The door to the green mile drew closer and closer with every word uttered from beneath the Canadian made C3 gas mask.
"Today is your homecoming."
Meanwhile with Harley-
Skipping like a school girl on her way home from a joyous day, Harley held a large smile on her face at the progress of the Joker's take over of the Asylum and her own plan in action. She knew Batman was here with her in the penitentiary hiding away in the shadows or searching for ol'Sharpie. He was getting to predictable in someways and she counted on it.
Her plan was simple, trap the bat and keep him busy so that Mr. J could complete his work on TITAN and the boys on the 'Party'. Just hold him off or hold him captive, that was the plan.
But Harley knew better than to count on just one plan, she had the riddler place something for the bat in a cell. But Harleen knew better than she did about him and only stayed quiet as Harley skipped down the hallway to nab Sharpie for the party.
"You know he's might have made it to Sharp by now." Harleen remarked as they skipped into the silent cell block full of crazies.
"I know, I can feel him here. He's got a presence that fills a room, even if it's full of crazies." Harley agreed. "But it's all according to Joker's plan, he wants him here ya know? That's why he has me holding him back for a bit. But hey, maybe we can... You know..."
"Talk to em?" Harleen completed her thought.
"Yeah," Harley said, agreeing with her good and sane said for once. "I mean, Joker may have won already, but we don't know. Maybe he will kill the bat tonight, but then what?" She said, showing doubt in her future without Batman to keep Joker's world intact.
"Then we're done, it's the cold truth." Harleen said, sensing disillusion in her voice, a sign of reason coming to the surface. "But do you really want to kill the Batman?"
"Gee! Whats will all the fraiddy crazies?" Harley asked, ignoring Harleen completely.
"Did you even hear me?" Harleen asked her annoyingly.
"Yeah, but look at all the crazies! They look like they saw a ghost or somethin. Usually I can't hear myself think in here!" Harley replied.
"What? You actually think? Wow and I thought I was the only voice in ya noggin!" Harleen remarked sarcastically, much to Harley's annoyance.
She stuck out her tongue, but soon realized that she was only arguing with herself. "Yeah Yeah! Whatever! Lets just get Sharpie out'a hear and back to the clown before Bats shows up!" Harley said in an annoyed tone.
"The Clown?" Harleen asked in a surprised tone. "Don't you mean Puddin? Mista J? Or my Jokha?"
"No- Yeah- I mean, Fuck!" Harley stammered as she reached the green mile security door.
In front of her stood a figure in a long brown trench coat with a hood holding a cut down Saiga combat shotgun with one hand facing Poison Ivy's cell. He didn't acknowledge Harley's arrival and focused completely on Ivy as she begged him to let her go from the special cell so she could return to her plants. The figure didn't speak and only responded by raising his shotgun one handed and firing into the control box. The cell door flew open to Ivy and Harley's surprise, as was his response, or rather an order, to Ivy once she stepped out of her cell.
"Run." The muffled voice of the man told Ivy from under the gas mask.
"Why are you hiding from me?" Ivy asked the man as she rapped her arms around his neck to seduce him, But the gas mask filtered her pheromones and prevented her from acting out her control on him. "What is under that mask?" She asked as she let down the hood to reveal a shaved head. Her hands touched the straps holding the mask to his face but the man resisted and grabbed her arms.
"No. Just run before the devil finds you." He tells her before putting her arms at her sides.
Ivy only smiles and walks away from the man toward the door. But before she leaves she blows a kiss to him and exits without trouble.
"Such a good kid." Harley remarks as she draws a Glock 18 from her boot, "Now who are you?" She demands as she puts her free hand on her hip.
"A friend." He tells her. "A brother, a lover, and a guide. But this time..." The figure reaches for the straps on the back of the mask and slowly reveals to Harley his identity.
Harley gasps in shock and runs away from the green mile in terror as the figure gives chase.
'Oh no...' Batman thought to himself as he watched the live feed on the monitor.
"Oooh! Lookie here!" The Joker howled with laughter as the feed switched to him. "Looks like Harley's got a little stalker! How cute! But forget about the kid, Lets make things a little more interesting and FUN!"
The Joker pressed a button on a remote followed by a high pitch whine of an alarm signaled the release of all the madmen of the cell block. "Lets see our strange friend, and you, deal with these wackos! Haha! Good luck bats!"
The mad howls grew louder as the madmen flooded into anarchy of Arkham Island. The Dark Knight wasn't surprised at the move Joker made, but the sight of the strange man in the trench coat rose some questions in his mind on the identity of the figure. But that was only secondary in his mind, his main cause was to stop the Joker before he could release his TITAN induced hoard of monsters on Gotham. With the codes to the security system he could finally cross every barrier the Joker could use against him.
All but one, Harley Quinn, if she wasn't killed by the figure brandishing the combat shotgun.
The thought of Harley blown to pieces by the shotgun made his stomach drop to the very pit of soul. He had to save her...
"I have to save her, I can't let her die." Batman thought to himself.
"Are we doing it because it's the right thing or because she might be the only one that understands me, or us in a sense." Bruce thought.
"It doesn't matter if she understands us or not. What matters is the mission, you know that Bruce."
"What if saving her is apart of the mission? What if saving her ends this siege, ends the violence, ends the cycle. If we could turn her over-"
"Quinn will never turn over. She made her choice years ago, and you know this. The only people that can help her is the people of Arkham and the Police, If they can't help her than she is just as lost as the Joker, Harvey, and Selena." The Dark knight interjected, but soon felt guilty by throwing Selena into the mix.
"You say she's lost yet we worked with her on catching the Joker and the same is said for Selena. Both of them have a chance to be good, we just have to lend a hand to them." Bruce told him. "Every one deserves a redemption, just like us. Just like when we became the Dark Knight."
Harley managed to escape the marked one long enough to set up a few last minute traps for Batman. On the remaining security camera's she could see Johann running into the botanical gardens, Sean tracking him down, and Batman walking through the security door. A large smile raced across her face and her eye lite up like fireworks as he saw him coming.
"Alright bozos! Get ready for my first trick!" Harley barked as she leaped and flipped down toward the security floor.
"Tonight's the night Harleen!" Harley thought to herself with delight.
"The night we end this stupid game?" Harleen replied light heartily.
"Maybe! That or we off the bat and Mr J will be so happy for us that he'll marry me and we'll live happily ever after!" Harley told her euphorically as she did a cartwheel before approaching a alley that divided her from batman. The two sided Harley looked down the hall to see the Bat standing in the door way staring her down and the tied up security guard in the middle of the hall.
"Can't we just give up now and not get'em mad?" Harleen suggested.
"What ya never heard of foreplay?!" Harley chuckled to her other side before bowing to Batman with a dirty smirk.
"Ya know bats, I always thought their was a spark between us..." She said flirtatiously as she twirled her pigtail around her finger.
"I could have told you that kiddo..." Harleen replied with a giggle as Harley leaped up the caging to the catwalks above.
"And now there is!" She shouted as she kicked the control box to the pacification system, activating the floors and killing the guard. "I know you SHOCKED!" She laughed, leaving traces of truth in her taunts. "Come and get me bats, I double dare ya!"
Batman leaped into action without a second thought and began engaging every thug that came near him. With ease he defeated all you dared to challenge him as Harley rooted on her boys and nagged batman to take it ease on them as she sat on one of the large lights swinging. But Harley didn't care about the thugs, they were just grunts, and she enjoyed seeing Batman beat them into the dirt with his bare hands. It was strong and masculine like a gladiator taking on another in a fight to the death. In every fight she ever got into Batman he always gave it his all, but when it was one on one with her he would fight with only half of it. Gentlemanly in some sense, but in all cases he fought far and with honor. She never understood the meaning of Honor, the Joker never taught her about it, but she always over heard some form or another of it from some of the other inmates and 'Friends' she met in Arkham. Two-Face, or rather Harvey, spoke about it more than once on a few occasions and taught her about in some depth. Batman never fought dirty, always on a level playing field in some aspects unlike her Joker.
He goons bit the dust, as expected and Harley soon leaped from her post and through the security way toward the Extreme Isolation, tripping the electroshock field behind her to hold him off for the next trap. "Was that as easy as it looked?" She asked herself as she turned back to blow a kiss to Batman and lead him on further into the cell block.
Harley made a mad dash toward another trap she prepared for him, two guards bound over electrified pools of water in guard room. A large bomb with a few tanks of Joker Venom at on a timer for a little surprise for ol' B-man if he does manage to save both the boys.
"Ha! B-man won't be able to save those smucks! This is perfect!" Harley thought happily as she jumped up and down like a happy little girl.
"You know he will..." Harleen replied negativity.
"Hey! Quit being all Debbie downer and Bruno bummers depressing daughter all the time! This is why Mister J gladly open my eyes to a world of fun, so people like you wouldn't ruin the fun." Harley scold Harleen.
"So your going to torture these guys for fun? So that we can just give up to B-Man with blood on our hands? How does any of this make any sense Harley? Tell me!" Harleem scolded back. "Let these guys go before Batman shows up, I'm tired of playing this game!"
"Well if it isn't the Dork Knight himself!" Harley sang as Batman showed up right on time. "How's it hangin bats?"
"What are you planning Quinn?" Batman growled as he looked over at the two men hanging over.
"Oh nothin bats," She says in a bubbly tone with a giggle. "I just got a little problemo for ya. I know SHOCKING!" Harley then laid herself against the glass. "How you gunna save'em?" She asked in a cute and innocent tone.
"Your a puzzle Harleen." Batman says to her as he pulls out his newest toy, Cryptographic Sequencer, to deactivate the electricity.
"Where can I get me one of those?" She asks him as puts it away.
But Batman ignored her and cut down the two guards with ease to much of Harley dismay. "Your just full of surprises aren't you B-Man? What else do you got in that belt of yours?"
"I don't have time for questions Harleen." Batman told her coldly as he put away his gadget and turned to her as she stood behind the glass.
"Well I do! Why ya callin me Harleen? You never call me that unless it's something worth sayin." Harley and Harleen said in unison. "Spill it bats, I ain't got the time either."
"Where's Joker? I'm not asking again." Batman demanded.
"Don't you know how to treat a lady?" She said, flipping her hair nonchalantly as she slowly began to walk away. "I'll be in extreme isolation if you wanna talk. I would much rather talk in private." Harley gave a large smirk and pulled a tape recorder from her shirt and placed it on the table near by.
"Your the detective, why don't cha take a listin on my little tape over there and maybe you'll find some courage to drop that mask of yours." She said with a whisper as she kissed the glass where his lips might be. "You can trust me batsy."
"I hope your going to surrender Harleen. You know what will happen if you don't..." Batman warned her.
"Yeah... I heard those mercs talkin about the three ways out... I guess you'll find out which way I'm goin then?"
She was gone, but he knew where she was. Could he trust her was the question of the night and somewhere inside of him he could trust her. The joker toxin didn't activate so that must be a sign that she really wanted to talk. But for the last five years since he began life as Batman he learned never to drop his guard, not even for a moment or even when you trusted them. That was a lesson he learned the hard way with Selena and Talia when they turned on him.
"What was that about Batman?" One of the guards asked him, but revived no response as Batman opened the doors and left to chase down Harley. Before he marches on though he walks into the small office and retrieves the old tape recorder and plays the message Harley left for him...
He lists to it till the end and places it in his belt before pressing on. "Why didn't she tell me before?"
Botanical Gardens, 15mins Later.
Johann threw Poison Ivy to the ground and dumped a bottle of rubbing alcohol over her body. Her plants tried to protect her, but Johann turned them into smoldering piles of ash with Firefly's flamethrower when ever they got close.
"Back off you fucker!" Johann shouted as he burned a massive vine trying to kill him. The plants kept their distance as the mad man with the flamethrower held their mother at gun point. "Now listen to me and listen to me good, Freak! I want your plants to search every fucking bit of this rock for that treasure or I'll turn you into a Joan of Arc in a moments notice. Got it bitch?!"
"She won't be helpin a thug like you bud!" The heavy voice of Sean shouted with Johann's own R5 Assault rifle in hand. "Hands where I can see'em and drop the blowtorch!"
Johann looked over to see the sopping wet Irishman only to snicker contemptuously as he reached for his heavy side iron. A burst of 5.56 ricocheted around his feet and soon he was forced to raise his hands in surrender. "You were always a self righteous moralist like that bat." Johann hissed.
"I ain't a moralist, just a man with a sense of right and wrong. Remember, we're both mercenaries here. We aren't exactly saints nor are we devils." Sean replied truthfully.
"Then why didn't you join with me and Edward?" Johann asked him. "If you are a Mercenary, can't you see the better opportunity before you? You could be rich-"
"I'm not a fucking opportunistic sow like you or Khaki, That's why!" Sean shouted as he pointed the rifle at Johann's head. "I came to be who I am because I had no where else to go! It was either this or the gallows, and I damn sure don't regret my decision! And I'm not lettin some opportunist take away the only life I have because he wants a treasure that is just a bunch of made up Bollocks!"
"It's not a story, My dear friend." A voice told him from above. To the men's surprise as figure in a brown trench coat descended on them from the glass ceiling. The figure landed on his feet and reached into his coat to give Johann an object rapped in a torn cloth of some kind.
"It's real... The Arkham Fortune is real."