Hello all my wonderful fans! Before we start, I'm responding to a few comments:
First, Jack5411: You, sir or madam, have once again produced a most electrifying chapter. The action scenes were spine tingling, and Yang's "death" was quite shocking. I would go on, but I'm out of electricity puns. Anyway, another great chapter. I look forward to the next one!
I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter, my friend. Nice use of electric puns. If you can think of any more puns for any other upcoming parts of the story, let me know, I might need some help with them.
Next, Anime hotty lover.18: Yeah, even a beating won't do yang in, but the dig at Jason was so not right XC. I miss Jason TT_TT. Awesome job hun, update soon.
We all miss him. but you never know what lies ahead. In the meantime, don't worry, Joker will pay for that eventually. And yes, it'd certainly take more than what Joker can dish out to beat Yang.
darksonixzero: Nice work on the story when are you making the ruby rose version though?
I'm not. Sorry, but I already have too many other stories to work on. That's the point of the challenge: I can't do it, so I'm asking you guys to.
Christopherrhaydon: Wow WHAT else IS NEW? JOKER IS AFTER ALL THE COMEBACK KING, THE CLOWNED CROWNED PRINCE OF CRIME AND CHAOS, THE JESTER OF GENOCIDE, (not shouting just thought I could help prove a point with the use of upper case) what did she expect? Awesome chapter update ASAP:)! My question is how exactly would Weiss be able to handle ARKHAM Asylum?
Yeah, Joker is pretty brutal with his humor. But Yang's still new here, she hasn't the worst of what he's done yet. As for how Weiss would handle the asylum, that's a great question. I've been asking myself (and others) that for a while now. Looks like we still don't have an answer yet.
And finally, an Guest review: Truth be told, I would want to write a fanfic like this for the remaining individual characters but I've never written a fanfic and I don't know where to start, and I don't know how my writing ability would be, but it would be fun. Anyway great chapter, but one thing I'm confused about is that in the comics Jason does indeed get beat up then blown up, which I hope you have Yang learn about, but in the Arkham games, the joker tricks Batman into thinking that Jason died, leading to Batman to stop looking for Jason as he is believed to be dead, whereas Jason is actually being brutality tortured for a year I believe, and I don't think he was blown up since he still has the mark that was branded on to him by the joker, which would have certainly healed in the Lazarus pit.
First, the part about writing the other versions: It's okay to be a little nervous, just let people know it's your first time and to go easy on you, maybe offer LIGHT constructive criticism to help you improve. Beyond that, just have confidence, give it a try and do your best, think of where you want the story to go and what the characters would say, that's half the battle. And if you need help following the story, maybe watch a playthrough of Arkham Asylum while you write to help you stay on track (I'd recommend without the commentary, that can get distracting). You'd need to make an account first if you haven't already, though. Second part about Jason... Uh... Good question. Well, from what we see in Batman's hallucinations, Joker shoots him in the head, which would still require the Lazarus Pit, which didn't seem to heal the brand, so... for sake of continuity and the previously established joke from last chapter, we're going with Joker blew him up.
Lastly, remember everyone! The challenge is still a thing: how would Ruby, Weiss, Nora or Pyrrha handle the asylum if they were in Yang or Blake's place. I'll even pitch you guys some ideas as starting points:
1: Using her semblance, Ruby runs fast enough to tear through space and time, winding up in Gotham. Maybe she winds up at the mayor's office and tries to stop Joker, consequently getting arrested by Batman.
2: In a mishap training with her summons, Weiss ends up transporting herself to Gotham. Perhaps she's unlucky enough to appear in front of the police, who see her power as a threat and take her to Arkham.
3: After that BITCH Cinder kills her, Pyrrha doesn't die, but somehow winds up in Gotham. In her confusion, she might attack someone (like some thugs trying to mug her or something) and get arrested because of it.
4: Nora... freak lightning accident with her semblance send her to Gotham? Stranger stuff has happened in comic books with lightning. How she winds up in the Asylum... It's Nora, without Ren around, she is GOING to herself in trouble.
There's your ideas on how they get to Gotham. You CAN use my ideas on what gets them sent to Arkham, but ultimately, that's up to you, whatever you want to do. Also keep in mind, they carry weapons in pretty plain sight, that itself could get them in trouble. That's pretty much what happened for Blake. But without further ado, let's get into this!
Yang followed Batman as they traced Harley's fingerprint trail back to the gardens. Batman decided to catch Oracle up on the situation. "Oracle, we're done. Harley is... subdued. And I have her prints scanned." He explained.
"So you can find the secret lab in the gardens?" The hacker asked.
"Yes. Harley's been everywhere on the island, so I'm calibrating the scanner to only show prints that have traces of chlorophyll." He elaborated.
"Okay, but be careful. I rerouted a WayneTech satellite to show thermal scans of the island. The Gardens are showing up hot. Something bad is happening over there." Oracle warned them.
"After everything that's happened already, you'd have to be crazier than Joker to let your guard down now." Yang said.
As they followed the prints, Joker decided to annoy them on the PA again. "Oh, Harley was just a warm-up, Bats! And to be fair to the little scamp, she did an OK job. Let's call it a B Plus. But between you and me, I'm aiming for A grade. Just mix up a couple more of these chemicals and I'll be creating my own personal army." He said menacingly.
"We can't let that happen." Yang said.
"We'll stop him." Batman assured her.
The two of them continued down their path, dealing with several more crazies that jumped out of nowhere before they left the building. However, Joker decided to make an announcement again, although this time to his goons on the island rather than to our heroes. "Attention residents of Joker Asylum. Some of our crazier guests have crashed the party early. And when I say crazy, I mean real psycho! So, if you see some drooling lunatic barking at the moon or simply purring like a kitten, it is your civic duty to walk up to them, put your arm around them and show them you care before you wring their necks!" He said with a menacing laugh at the end.
"Bastard!" Yang growled. Sure, they were crazy and dangerous, but that didn't mean they should be killed for no reason.
"And when you're finished, get your lazy asses over to the Gardens! I'm cooking up a little surprise and I DON'T want to be disturbed. Understand?" He demanded.
"I'd say he's plenty disturbed already! Eh? Am I right?" Yang said, trying to get a chuckle from Batman, who simply groaned and shook his head, before continuing on. "I'll get a laugh out of you one of these days." She said as she followed him.
They continued on, dealing with a few more crazies along the way before finally reaching the Gardens. They started walking through, before their cowl/goggles picked up two armed thugs, standing in the way with an electric gate behind them. "This will be too easy. Stay back." Batman said. She nodded, letting Batman take the lead and creep up to the corner of the path and drew two batarangs, flinging them around the corner, hitting the two thugs in the head and knocking them back into the electric wall behind them, knocking them out.
"Well, that must've been a spine-tingling defeat!" Yang said, earning another groan and roll of the eyes from Batman as he shut down the electric gate. They went through the next room, to find that there were 6 armed guards patrolling the room. They looked at each other and nodded, Batman going left and Yang going right. Batman got a thug in a chokehold as he was starting to climb up the stairs, while Yang climbed the stairs on the other side, sneaking up to a thug with his back turned to the stairs and bringing her fist down on his head, quickly knocking him out with minimal noise. They both grappled to the upper level and to a gargoyle, right above a couple thugs looking down at the lower level. Yang slowly lowered herself from the gargoyle and wrapped her legs around her thug's neck, choking him out while Batman waited for his thug to turn, before dropping behind him silently and pulling off a silent takedown. The two remaining thugs then noticed their unconscious comrades on the lower floor and went to check on them, but this lead to their downfall as Batman and Yang simply dropped down on them from the upper level, taking them out as well. "Easy peasy!" Yang said, giving the Dark Knight a thumb's up.
"Good work." He said with a nod of approval, before returning to the path and following the trail, Yang close behind.
They went through the next door, before finding Joker there with his back turned to them. "Joker!" Yang said, ready to charge and take the made clown down, but Batman held his arm out to stop her. Rushing blindly at Joker is near-suicide.
"You need to stop this now. Before it goes too far." He told his archenemy.
Joker then turned around to reveal he was holding a guard captive. "But everyone's dying to see what I do next!" He said happily.
"Get away from him!" Yang snapped.
"Let him go! Now!" Batman ordered.
"Really? Well, okay, if you say so, Bats!" Joker said, kicking... I don't know, a generator or something, into the water, electrifying it, preparing to throw the guard in.
"Help me! Please!" The guard pleaded.
"NO!" Yang shouted in anger. She didn't want to do it, but it was the only way. She fired a round from her gauntlet, hitting the guard in the chest, sending him and Joker flying back into the wall behind them, knocking the guard unconscious, but because of his vest, he took almost no damage.
Behind him, however, a crack was heard and Joker let out a sharp yell of pain, tossing the guard to the side and struggling down the hall behind him. "You bitch! I think you broke my ribs! Why do you always get in my way?!" He demanded, pulling out a detonator. "It's not over yet! You can't stop me! And when my army is ready, you'll be the first thing I have them tear apart!" He growled, hitting the button and blowing up the hallway, preventing them from reaching him.
Batman was shocked once again at how fast everything started to wrong and how Yang reacted to the situation and stopped it before Joker could throw the guard into the electrified water. Looking to the fallen guard and activating Detective Mode, he saw that the guard was unconscious, but still alive. He then looked back at Yang. "Excellent work. You saved that man from one of the most dangerous criminals in Gotham. And even managed to deal him more damage than either of you did to the guard. Don't let this get to your head, but you honestly did a great job." He told her.
She blushed and looked away at this, playing with her hair. "Aww, thanks!" She said brightly.
"But now that he's injured, Joker will be more unpredictable now. And above all else, he's angry. And we have no idea who he might take it out on, so we have to hurry and shut down the power so we can go after him." He said., making a U-turn.
"Right!" Yang agreed, following him closely.
Using Detective Mode and tracing the electric wires from the generator back to their source, they found a generator room, where a number of thugs were either looking for something... or beating up on another poor guard, tied up in a chair. That got Yang's blood boiling and with a scream of rage, she launched herself forward, smashing her fist into one of the thugs, sending him flying into the back wall while Batman used her distraction to land a flying kick to another thug's head and knock him out and into one of his buddies, sending them both to the ground. "They're here!" One of the thugs screamed in panic, but regardless joined his friends to try and take them down. But this was an effort in futility, as between the two vigilantes, the thugs didn't even last a minute.
Batman then cut the guard free. "Thanks. Are you two okay?" He asked.
"We're fine. I eat punks like them for breakfast." Batman said.
"And let's just say I've dealt with worse." Yang said.
"What were they doing in here?" Batman asked.
"The ones that weren't hitting me went over there and started doing something to the power controls. I have no idea what they were doing." He said as Yang went over to said power controls after they were mentioned.
"I'm no expert, but I'm preeetty sure that's a bomb." Yang said.
"It looks like Joker had them booby trap the control box. It's going to be tougher than before, but it's a risk I have to take." Batman said, pulling out his sequencer and looking for the frequency to override the controls. He quickly went to work and entered two of the three sequences with little trouble, but the third proved to be slightly more difficult. The device began to beep rapidly, indicating the bomb would soon go off, but Batman finally hit the final sequence and overrid the controls, looking at a security camera to confirm he turned the electricity off.
"Well aren't you the persistent one, Bats?! Always one step ahead. But it won't be long now before I have an army of Titans at my fingertips! Just imagine: Me, being carried through the streets with Blondie's head on a spike, stepping over the corpses of all those innocent civilians. It's going to be glorious! Oh, I can't wait!" Joker taunted over the megaphone.
"Sick bastard." She snapped.
"It's not going to happen. We're GOING to stop him." Batman said. The quickly retraced their steps and moved through the previously electrified water, Batman ripping off another vent cover and the two crawling through it into another sewer system. The two of them made their way through it, before a body suddenly dropped from above, dead and horribly mutated. "Another mutation. Joker hasn't perfected the formula yet. We need to hurry!" He said, picking up the pace.
"R-right..." Yang said, trying to shake off the shock and disgust at the dead body, before hurrying after the Dark Knight. They quickly traversed the rest of the path and exited the sewers and vents in a room much deeper into the gardens, interrupting a conversation between two thugs, each of them quickly taking out one or the other. Following Harley's prints and found their way into the Aviary, where to their horror, several doctors and guards were in giant cages dangling from the ceiling.
"Help me! Someone! Get me out of this thing!" A doctor pleaded.
Joker laughed from the PA before giving his orders. "Listen! The Bat and the blonde are on their way! If you see them, send the annoying doctors to Hell! That's the down one, right?" He asked, before laughing.
"And it's where he's gonna end up." Yang said with a growl, before looking back nervously at Batman, who looked at her seriously. "When he eventually dies from natural causes or something! Certainly not from me!" She corrected herself.
"Yeah! They're going down!" The thug in the control room confirmed.
"Good. And remember: if you hear a collar go off: they're in there with you!" Joker warned them.
Batman listened to the rest of the conversation, before looking back at Yang. "It's not Hell thing. I need you to listen carefully. This is serious. Joker's men are all wearing the security collars. We need to take out the operator first. It's best if I go alone. Once I give the signal, you can take out the thugs." He told her.
"Got it." She confirmed.
With that, Batman was off, sneaking around a corner, pulling off the cover and going through a vent, grappling to the top level of the inner structure of the vent and sliding off another cover. The inspected the area before gliding to a secure corner where no thugs would see him. He almost had a clear shot to the control room, but there was one thug guarding the narrow hallway with no way around him. Batman then pulled out a batarang and knocked the thug down, before hurrying up to the control room and taking the thug down, putting a finger to his earpiece. "Yang, now!" He told her.
"On it!" She whispered back, running out from cover. "Hey, boys! Miss me!" She called out.
"It's the blonde, waste her!" The thugs said, aiming their guns at her, but by the time they brought their guns up, a round from Ember Celica had slammed into their face, knocking them out. "All clear, Batman. We can free the doctors now!" She said.
"Good work." He said, bringing the cages onto safe ground, before opening them. "Now let's go. We need to find the entrance to the Titan production facility. We should pick up Harley's trail again." He informed her.
"Right!" She agreed. The two of them met back up in a metal pathway, where Batman ripped off a panel and found another booby-trapped control panel. However, this one proved much simpler to hack than the last one and revealing the secret entrance to the lab just to their left, the two quickly proceeding through.
The two entered the lab where Joker stood with his back turned to them, his chest crudely bandaged to deal with his cracked ribs, while two thugs were moving boxes towards an elevator in the back, where a panicked Dr. Young was tied and gagged, looking at the heroes and pleading for help. "Well, look who discovered our secret lab. Since you made it this far, let me show you what I've cooked up." He said, lowering the bridge behind them to prevent escape as the two thugs assisting Joker stepped up to them. Joker then pulled out a strange gun and aimed it at them, but he suddenly aimed at his goon and shot them instead, revealing it to be a dart gun... and the darts were full of a completed Titan serum. The thugs began to massively swell as some bones started protruding from their bodies, their eyes glowing green. Joker laughed at this, hurrying into an elevator that quickly closed behind him before he could be hit by a couple rounds from Ember Celica.
"We'll get him later. Focus on them for now." Batman told her.
"Right." She agreed. With that, she launched herself at the one on the right, planting her feet into his chest, driving him back and getting his spine spikes stuck in one of the containers of Titan, causing it to get stuck and leaving it open, allowing her to pepper it with swift and powerful body shots (think Jacqui Brigg's X-ray, minus the rib breaking), followed by a powerful haymaker that ripped it out of the container. It roared at her and grabbed the nearby body of a thug who wasn't fortunate enough to survive the initial testing and throwing it at her. "Whoa!" She said, diving and rolling out of the way, readying herself to repeat the action as he picked up another body nearby, but before the beast could throw it, the other one came out of nowhere and started smacking at it. "What?!" Yang said in disbelief, before seeing Batman on its back.
As Yang launched herself at the right hand monster, Batman waited for the left one to charge at him, throwing a batarang at its face, and knocking it off course, the monster further disorienting itself by holding its hand in front of its face to protect it from any more batarangs, not noticing as Batman dove out of the way, causing it to crash into a wall. This left the monster stunned, allowing Batman to run in and land a fierce combo of punches and kicks, dodging a dazed defensive swing and landing one more kick to the chest, knocking the wind out of the monster and forcing it onto one knee, at which point Batman jumped on its back and steered it towards its partner, who was too focused by throwing bodies at Yang to notice its partner coming up on it and landing several powerful smacks to its body, staggering it back and dropping it to its knees in exhaustion, before the one he was controlling managed to resist and force him off its back, furiously swinging at him.
Yang used the opportunity while her Titan was winded to rush up and deliver a powerful uppercut, launching herself above the monster, before launching herself back down and crashing down on its head with a powerful axe kick. She then rushed at Batman's Titan, who still ruthlessly swung at the Dark Knight, leaving it open for a punch in the back that stunned it, allowing Batman to land several strong punches and kicks to its stomach, bringing it down again, at which point he did a backflip, kicking the monster in the process and making it reel back, before he corrected himself in mid-air and smashed both fists down on the massive brute's head, knocking it out. "Now that's teamwork!" Yang said.
He nodded at this, before putting his hand up to his cowl, contacting... "Oracle, I've destroyed the Titan production facility, but Joker escaped with enough to cause us real problems." He said.
"And two are more than enough to be a problem." Yang added.
"Just when you think things can't get any worse." The technician said.
"They've been using a Venom plant hybrid to create the Titan strain. The plant's the key and there's only one person on Arkham Island who can help us." He said.
"Doctor Young? We'd have to get her back first." Yang said.
"No, Yang, he means Poison Ivy. And what makes you think she'll help you?" Oracle explained, then questioned Batman's plan.
"If her plants are in danger, she'll listen. I've got a sample of her pheromones on record. She'll be in the gardens. I'll track her down." Batman finished. He used his sequencer to open the gate behind them, but the drawbridge to the path they came from was nowhere to be found. "I'm going to need something to get across this gap. What about you?" He asked, looking at Yang.
"I can launch myself across the gap with my gauntlets, easy." She said.
"Very well, then." He said, typing something in on his arm pad. Suddenly, a jet came from nowhere and dropped off a canister before leaving. Batman opened said canister to reveal a line launcher. And with that, the two were back on their way, Yang launching herself over the massive gap and Batman using his line launcher to reach the other side, backtracking and following the pheromones, they actually lead them down the path across from the Aviary. Batman again used his line launcher while Yang impressively used her own strength to jump back and forth across the walls to traverse the path.
They went through the door at the end of the path and saw Ivy in the middle of the room, talking to a vine moving like a snake. "It's alright, my darlings. I'm here now. My poor darlings..." She said, making the bushes behind the vigilantes close off the path. "Yes, I know, he's found us. But I won't let him hurt you. I'll kill him first." She said, finally paying attention to the two vigilantes in front of her.
"Ivy, I know Dr. Young mutated these plants to produce Venom." Batman said.
"Yes. And the evil woman would've paid the price for it if it hadn't been for the girl beside you." Ivy said, a vine coming from nowhere and turning Yang's head to face her. "I'm sorry, dear. We weren't properly introduced last time. You can call me Ivy. And you are?" She asked, trying to make the vine pull Yang in for closer look, but the blonde brawler easily pulled away.
"Yang. And don't try being all friendly. From what I've heard, you're as bad as the Joker." She said.
Ivy frowned at this. "Now that's hurtful. He kills people just for fun. I kill them for hurting my babies." Ivy defended herself.
"Ivy, we need you to help create an antidote." Batman said.
"Why should I? Let Joker have his fun. I'll enjoy watching the two of you squirm." She said trying to attack them with vines, but Batman grabbed the end of the vine coming at him and crushed it. while Yang blasted off the last 3 feet of the vine attacking her, the pain from said vines coming back to Ivy, who fell to the floor in pain.
"You've been in the dark too long. Every plant on this island will get the same unless you cooperate." He told her.
"There's a plant growing deep in Arkham Island. Only it can counter the effects of this Titan strain." Ivy explained.
"Where do I find it?" Batman asked.
"Oh, it's in Killer Croc's lair." Ivy said.
"Great. The last place on the island we'd ever want to go." Yang groaned.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?" Ivy asked.
"I was kind of hoping we'd catch a break, yeah." Yang admitted.
"You're the hero, dear. You never catch a break." Ivy said.
The two of them turned to leave, before Batman turned back to Ivy. "Go back to your cell. Or I'll be after you next." He warned her.
"And I'll be waiting." She said, before calling out once more to... "Oh, Yang! Try not to get killed, dear! The two of us haven't had a chance to play yet." She said teasingly before the two walked out.
Yang looked back at the strange... she wasn't sure what to call it. Was it a challenge, or was it flirting? "Well, I guess she's taken a LICHEN to me, huh? Get it?! Lichen? It's a plant!" Yang asked, trying to get Batman to laugh as she trotted along after him.