If you need help, all the Children of Arkham are dressed like Jason was in Arkham Knight, only they have assorted gadgets inspired by the villains of Batman's rouges gallery. Astrid Arkham is dressed like she is in comics, and Victoria is dressed like she is in the Telltale game, only a lot more armored.
If it wasn't clear, Jason's using a modified version of his red hood gear from rebirth back before they gave him that god awful new outfit, the Paladin uniform is a black and red version of the Arkham Knight armor with an eagle as the sigil, the Sentinel armor is a more beefy version of that with a hawk as the sigil, and the new armor that Bane got a few chapters ago can look however you want, but I was imagining a more armoured version of his Injustice 2 look.
The Batfam has been using their regular gear from comics, not the op stuff they have in Arkhamverse. Hense, why they seem ill equipped compared to the Outlaws.
It was around sundown. Jason was in his armory starting on the task of getting his gear together. His men would be able to handle the business side of things, but he and Rose had a few psychos and mercs to hunt down. Bruce, Ollie, and both of their families had been shown to their small portion of Talia's castle, and were mostly resting up, a few still injured. Jim Gordon was just getting ready to get some real rest after a couple days of organizing the GCPD so that they could still protect the city with half their number in the hospital. Just as he was deciding to move the GCPD back into their old home, the old HQ he'd worked out of as a rookie, as Bruce was finally going to sleep himself, and just as Jason was getting ready to put on his helmet, an new threat came sneaking it's way in from Old Gotham.
From the centuries old wing of Arkham that used to be all there was of the Asylum, they came. They spared no guard their fists, beating most unconscious, killing a few of the nastier ones. The inmates there knew of them, they were a legend amongst those held there. Few had believed in their existence, but even they knew, of the Joker's little toys in the southern wing. Of the Arkham sisters. As such, they knew that they needed to stay silent, if not for the guards' sake, then their own. Although, even now, few could believe that Lady Arkham was Vicky Vale.
They swept, deftly and swiftly through the Asylum, the man in the camera room too busy reading some nonsense story on his phone to pay attention. Just as he finished the chapter he was on and looked up, Anarky, who'd been reading the story over his shoulder, knocked him out.
Soon, Lady Arkham and her sister stood outside the large wooden doors to the warden's room, the only room in the massive nuthouse they'd not yet cleared. A small horde of Knights patrolling the hallways of the castle-like prison disguised as a mental health facility, the two girls opened both doors. Lady Arkham held her concussive staff in one hand, and her sister leveled her sword. They couldn't hear anyone talking, only snoring.
Silently, they opened the doors, weapons in hand. In the center of the large room, was a dark wood desk, at which slept a man they knew to be Franklin Townhouse. This man had only been warden for a couple months, and he was already making too many good impressions. All the ones like him eventually left, or became jaded and hateful just because mister Joker escaping made them look bad. Selfish bastards. Victoria hated them, but Astrid loathed them.
It had always been that way. Victoria hated Gotham, and all the people there, because they were all like the Vales or they let things like what the Vales did to her go on, not a care in the world. At least Joker did it out of compassion. Her daddy had only ever wanted the best for her. She had an animosity towards the Arkham staff, of course, but Astrid was the one who'd had to live with them since even before and for longer than any of the other children.
Still, though, she trusted her sister to justly decide the man's fate. Victoria instead walked behind the man's desk, straight to the balcony. The sun had gone down, and it was a thunderstorm outside. Lightning flashed outside as she heard a bloody slash behind her. When Lady Arkham looked back, the thunder rolled along side the man's head, his sleeping face still peaceful.
Jason and Rose were on patrol, and he couldn't have been happier with both their clothes on. He had been able to patrol the cities that they had passed through over the years, but for the first time in five years, he was running along and jumping between his rooftops. In his city. And the fact that Rose was with him only made it better. They were just getting done with stopping a mugging and getting some children out of the rain, when they got a notification.
Jason hit the small button on his gauntlet and held it up. When he did, a the holographic screen came up. Unlike with the older model of hologram, like the model the League used, his was practically a projector, and so he could plainly see the horror on Victor's face.
"Vic? What's up?", he asked as Rose came up behind him.
"There's been an incident at the asylum."
"Damn it. I thought-"
"David and his team got taken down. Remeber that stolen gear?"
"Okay, what's the situation?"
"We coulf still see through the hidden body cams we had on them until just a few minutes ago. The group, who call themselves the Children of Arkham, are being lead by three people, only one of which we know anything concrete about. It's Anarky."
"God...that man never just learns his lesson."
"No he doesn't. He has had the inmates that are good in a fight and can be bought or convinced to help him freed, leaving behind the rest. The security guards and staff are being kept in the abandoned wing, somewhat abused and most are still unconscious. No one has gotten the word out. The G.C.P.D. are not coming, unless we tell them. The three leaders have vanished from sight, but according to what the ones in our uniforms said the trap is for you. They show no indication that they know we're watching, but they keep saying that."
"That the trap is for the Red Hood?"
"That the trap is for "Daddy Joker's" killer."
"Wait...children of arkham?"
"Yes, but-"
"Last time Anarky was seen in Gotham, he was trying to get Batman to investigate a group of kids living in Arkham. Supposedly, the Joker had been taking in kids over the years, like his own army of Robins, all of whom grew up viewing Batman as the bad guy. He could never prove it, and B stopped believing him after a couple failed attempts at proving his story. Even Harley thought he was bullshitting when I asked her about it a while back."
"Wow...okay, what should we do?"
"Tell Alexi to get all the Paladins and any of the boys available together, and meet me at Arkham bridge, and make sure to tell them; non-lethals where the unknowns are concerned."
"Alright. They'll be there."
After the screen vanished, Jason and Rose dropped down from the rooftop they'd been standing on, and got into his car, speeding off to see just what Anarky was up to this time.
It took some time, but eventually, they came to the turnoff for Arkham Asylum. There was a small checkpoint, but the guard was missing, so they got out. Rose lead the way as the two went to see if the guard was dead or alive in the dark post, only light coming from the headlights of the still running but locked car behind them. As she approached the sheet metal door, a figure sprang out, but she was ready for him.
Jason, however, was rushing forward to help her with the large attacker, so much so that he wasn't ready when his much smaller comrade came from the shadows and shoulder charged him, knocking him onto the roof if his car, before pulling two Todd Industries pistols from his sides. Jason wasn't that sloppy, though, and he used his Dumas blades to slice the man's guns in half, before kicking him in the junk. With the foe stunned, Jason could activate his electric gauntlets. His bandolier and jacket made it to where he couldn't just bear hug the bastard, but it still gave him enough. One two-palmed strike on the enemy's chestplate later, and the suit's internals temporarily shut down. To make sure it's pilot didn't suffocate, the helmet flew up, just as Jason landed a non-electric haymaker. With a splatter of blood, the man flew through the window of the guard's station, suit frozen in position as he flew. Jason turned back to Rose.
He didn't need his worry, though. She had already hit him with a small electric shock from her own suit's knuckles, it just took the small fighter a couple more hits to put her foe down. There, in what light his car's headlights could provide during a thjnderstorm, they saw the large man's face. He had a burn on his cheek in the shape of a J, and his mouth was cut into a permanent smile, only he was stitched up, having survived a treatment of Joker's many didn't. Beyond that, from what they could see on his face, he was a completely normal kid, 17 at least, 19 at most.
"Non-lethal was the right call, then."
"Yep."
"And Jason? Please get your head in the game. Protectiveness is cute and all, but this is not the place for it, not just yet."
"I know Ravager I just...I know."
"Cool."
The two then went inside the station, finding no evidence of the guard...or the man Jason had just knocked unconscious. Looking back, the man his fiancee had was gone as well, a small white object in his place, hard to make out in the rain. Jason cautiously picked it up, seeing that it was a metallic, very sharp, Joker card. on the back of said card, was an engraved message, seemingly carved out with a blade.
"You better start running, your friends need you."
"Sounds like good advice."
"Only we ain't runnin'.", Jason said, getting into his car opposite Rose, activating the Wartime mode, and speeding down the dark road. None tried to ambush them again, nor were any traps planted.
Soon, though, they saw a battle taking place. In the center, was a 4-Tumbler convoy, forming a square perimeter around where the Arkham Bridge started. On top of said vehicles, The Paladins were doing their best to not kill the onslaught of navy blue, white eyed assailants without electricity. Clayface was back at the Tower, being useless in the rain, but all his other lieutenants were there. Deadshot, Slipnot, Bane, etc, but they all had the same problem; they were not equipped for this. It was a problem Jason would make sure wasn't repeated, but none were equipped with their personal gear as they hadn't been given enough time to modify it to suit their new uniforms, so none had any tazers or anything of the like.
Jason a sped onto the scene, the two got out of the car, each to hails of gunfire. Before then, the enemies hadn't been using the pistols and rifles they were all equipped with, but with his arrival, that changed. Rose through a smoke bomb and vanished, reappearing at his side, and drew her promethium blade. Jason activated his gaunlet blades again, and, in a flurry of motion, the couple flew between the opponents. They cut weapons in half, resulting in more than a few small explosions and misfires, and soon, every enemy was focused on them. They barely noticed. What few bullets their inhuman speed couldn't dodge, their inhuman endurance and armor combined could stop.
As they saw their weapons have no effect, the crowd surged on the two, putting away the firearms. It didn't matter. They had training, and they had drive, anyone could've seen that. But Jason had more training, more drive, and his fists could deactivate their armor. Soon, he stood alone in the epicenter a tiny sea of white eyes and blue faces.
The Outlaws stood back, watching, knowing that the two were already good. Instead, Alexi ordered the Tumblers and the Outlaws that had arrived in them to surround the group, non-lethally pouncing on any runners. After a minute, the Children of Arkham had realized their situation, and, strangely enough, they just kept pushing for the two in the center, climing over each other to get at them. If there had been more than the more or less 20 that their were, their disorganized nature would've let them rush over Rose, and even Jason would've been in trouble. But as it stood, the two stood, back to back.
She used her electric knuckles in tandem with her sword. As it cut projectiles and gadgets associated with certain rogues that usually faced off against Batman, most prominently Joker-style weapons, out of thin air, her fists and quickly took down what enemies they could. Jason was having an easier go of it, as he often did when things really got hands on. He turned his gaunlet blades off and on mid combat to disable enemy gear, his fists never stopping their powerful locomotion. It wasn't long before the two had finally dispatched all the Children, and stood together panting, amist a deep blue sea of moaning or unconscious killers.
"Alexi! Go home, get the gear you'll need. We'll be fine for a while."
"Boss!"
"You heard me! Go, and take them to Carcerem on the way.", Jason said, waving to the men on the ground before activating his comms and continuing, "Fries, I want you to use our backdoor access into Arkham Asylum's WayneTech camera system, blind these bastards. As well, I want whatever Sentinals aren't needed elsewhere to meet the boys at Carcerem."
"Alright."
"Okay...Rav, you good?"
"Ready when you are."
With that and a simple nodd to the rest, the two got back in the car, drove around the mass of bodies and vehicles, and onto Arkham Bridge. The island asylum was as anciently modern as anything else in Gotham City, but what surprised Jason was that it looked perfectly fine. Usually after a takeover, it was vandalized, partially destroyed, etcetera, but as they drove across...it looked as normal as a mental health institution could look, and that freaked the pair out as much as the situation they knew awaited them inside.
Jason stopped the car once they reached the bridge's end. He really didn't like it, but...it looked like front door it was. Anarky was a smart fucker, there wasn't an entrance in the place he hadn't boobytrapped, mught as well rip off the messy band aid.
The two got out, but Jason left the car on standby, in case they needed a quick rescue. And so, Jason on the left door and Rose on the right, the two stacked up against the large wooden doors leading into what both great heroes and terrible villains had previously called, "Hell on Earth".
Anarky was down in the Arkham catacombs, checking on the real plan. He'd thought that perhaps plan B, the plan thought Children thought was his plan A, would work out when he saw the way that the small group they'd sent outside was doing against the Red Hood's forces, until he looked closer.
While Astrid refused to acknowledge it, he and Victoria plainly saw, that despite everything, they had no chance. They'd only lived because the Outlaws were trying not to kill them. If the gloves had been taken off, it would've been a bloodbath, and not for the enemy. Hell, they'd barely injured a single member of the battalion, and that was only because said Paladin had not minded his surroundings.
So, plan A it was then. As the sisters and their fellow children fought the hood and kept him preoccupied, Anarky would activate the bomb Joker had planted beneath the Asylum years ago, before escaping through the tunnels that very few could navigate, although many had died trying. It wasn't tough for the child prodigy and agent of chaos it reconnect a wire here and there. In mere seconds, all that was left to do was activate the timer. He was just about to do so, when he heard two people approaching from behind.
"Clever Girls.", he said, barely tilting his head up before he turned and leaped at them all in one motion, his bo staff expanding itself. It took mere seconds for both girls to be at his mercy, the end of his staff on Astrid's (stupidly) exposed windpipe and his hand around Victoria's throat. "But velociraptors you are not."
Victoria was too stunned to speak, but Astrid was so used to betrayal, it barely stung. Through lips that would've been attractive if not for the permanent smile the Joker had carved them into, she spat, labored by the metal poking her throat, "I knew it! You wanna hurt us just like you hurt Daddy! You trai-"
She was cut off from her misinformed ranting when Lonnie jabbed her in the fourhead with his staff, knocking her unconscious. At this, her much small sister squealed, grabbing harder onto the forearm that had lifted her from her feet, she tried to kick the man she thought her ally or use her boots to lift up her concussion staff from the floor below her. None of these efforts meant anything to Anarky, though, at least not physically.
"Listen, child. I don't like this anymore than you do. But this is the only way to make sure my ends are met. If anyone should understand that way of thinking, it should be you. I don't want what's about to happen to the relatively innocent people in this building to happen, but it must. You understand?"
Begrudgingly, Lady Arkham stopped her movement and nodded as best she could, before hitting the floor so hard that if not for her new armor, she would've gotten a concussion. He kicked away her staff, far away, but she didn't car. She crawled to her sister, fo check on her. Astrid looked as fine as always, just with a new bruise forming on the center of her forehead. Not sure, though, Victoria sat cross-legged, bringing Astrid's exposed head into her lap, using her arms to craddle her sister. She dared a glance back at her "Uncle", only to see he'd crouched behind her, a hand on her shoulder.
"I didn't want this. I don't. But it has to happen. I couldn't take all of you where I'm going, and I couldn't keep him distracted with just inmates. The mercinaries that I had lined up to take the fall while we all escaped abandoned me for a better offer. Victoria, I don't want to leave any of you. But I had to leave all of them. Please, don't make me leave you two as well. Come with me, at least for now. Please."
She snifled once, which sounded wierd through her mask, before giving her reply, "Okay."
Jason and Rose were outmanned by a mile, but they still outgunned the opposition. While they refrained from killing the Children, almost every inmate in the Asylum was someone marked for death by the Outlaws anyway. A child killer here, a rapist there, most not even insane, simply using the asylum to escape Blackgate. The two advanced throigh the entry hall together, plowing through the crowd of enemies as they went. They eventually reached the atrium of the ancient building, only to find the men they'd been looking for had been moved elsewhere, as the massive temp cell that took up the center of the atrium was completely empty. The two didn't have time to question or interrogate anyone, because inmates and Children of Arkham just kept pouring in through every entrance, including several windows. It got to the point where even the two of them were soon to be overrun. Just as Jason was about to say to run, his helmet lit up with a warning. Radiological Dispersal Device in sublevels, recommend immediate evacuation Device is set to detonate in 15 minutes.
"Rose, go back to the car!"
"What about-"
"You heard me, fuckin' go!"
"No!"
"Fine! Come on!", with that Jason stopped holding his ground and threw a smoke instead, before grabing Rose and grappling to the tall roof. Many saw them, but it didn't matter. they had all gotten out of the smoke cloud radius, which is allbhe really needed. As they fired what weapons they had at the two, Jason threw down an explosive charge back into the center of the smoke cloud and detonated it, before the two both descended into the hole said explosive made in the floor.
Anarky was holding the unconscious Astrid Arkham in his arms, while Victoria Arkham was running right behind him, following his lead through the maze of severed skulls that made up the Arkham Catacombs. Beyond what light her flashlight and the torch on his helmet could give off, it was pitch black as they literally raced against the clock. As they went, Lonnie collapsed a tunnel here and there, making it impossible for them to be found or followed.
"Rose, you've got the bomb, I'll hold these fuckers off."
"Sounds like a plan."
She quickly got to work, only having two minutes to disable the dirty bomb. Jason was having trouble, but the small entrance into the catacomb section they now stood in negated the Children's far superior numbers. It was close, but in the last minute, Rose was able to get the bomb diffused, before turning around to help Jason. It would've taken them all night at their rate to fight off all the hostiles, but, lucky for them, eventually backup arrived. Antonio, wearing Electrocutioner's gloves, led the way, and soon, the near hundred remaining Children of Arkham were down, alongside their inmate allies.
"Thanks."
"No problema. Where's Machin?"
"Probably through there.", Rose answered, pointing to to collapsed tunnel that did lead deeper into the catacombs Jason hadn't noticed during the battle.
"Through here.", Anarky said, as they approached a wooden storm door, the sounds of rain and thunder growing as they rushed. before opening the door, he looked back and seemed to speak to the dark hallway, "It should've gone off by now. Damnit. Plan C it is.", before opening the door. Lightning flashed in the distance as Victoria followed behind Anarky. outside, on the rocky shores of Arkham, stood two men wielding AK-47's dressed in casual clothes, seemingly waiting for them. As the three got closer, one of the two spoke with a thick russian accent.
"You have reconsidered her offer?"
"Yes. Just get the three of us out of here."
Silently, the two men turned toward the sea, the one who did the talking pulling out a small remote Vic didn't recognize. He pressed the only button on the small device, and while the others were not surprised, Vic had to hold herself back from jumping as a submarine emerged from the black water, lightening flashing a couple miles in the distance behind it.
"Alright, take all the children back to Carcerem with the others. Put the inmates back in their cells and find the missing men."
"We sort of found them on our way in, boss.", Lawton replied
"Are they dead?"
"No, but almost all are out like lights."
"Alright, well...see that none are seriously injured and on our way out, give one of them a phone."
"Yes sir, we'll get it done. What about the inmates we have marked?"
"Kill them. Even the ones in lockup. Start with the ones in the secure wing This is as good a time as any to get it done."
"Yes, sir."
And with that, Jason turned back towards the collapsed hallway. He, Rose and Antonio struggled a bit, but soon they were through. Jason's helmet made navigation a breeze by creating a mini map of the catacombs for his HUD using echolocation, and soon they came to where Lonnie and his two helpers must have ran off to. The storm door was still open, but when they went outside, nothing. They looked around a bit, but eventually came to the conclusion that the three must've had a boat or helicopter waiting.
"Damn. I was hoping me and that rat bastard could settle things. Come on, might as well get back topside."
Astrid was still asleep, but Victoria was wide-eyed and awake. She sat, holding her larger sibling in her lap as she'd done before, in the corner of the dark submarine. Sitting across from her was a still masked Anarky. The only light they had being a red storm light, and the only sound being the four men in the front of the vessel, operating the beast and checking their weapons.
It wasn't long before one came up to the two, and spoke, again with a russian accent.
"We will be there soon. Be ready."
"We will be.", Anarky replied, never looking away from the twins in front of him.
And soon, the vessel stopped moving forward, and it sounded like they sufaced. Anarky once again took Astrid as he clamered up the stairs at the beheadst of the men, Vic right behind him. It had stopped storming, and the sun was coming up, if only a little. There, in the orange glow of morning from behind her uncle, she saw a tall, muscular woman standing, one arm wrapped around a rope ladder that led to a cargo helicopter.
The woman had a streak of white in her long black hair, pale blue eyes, red lips, red fingernails and was dressed in red ensamble that looked half like training gear and half like a dress. What stood out the most to her, was that on teh front of the woman's exposed right shoulder was a red tattoo. A red bear claw mark. When she spoke, she too sounded Russian, but unlike her henchmen, she also sounded like she had a firm grasp on the english language.
"Lonnie, it has been far too long."
"Yes, Manya, it has."
"You have what I asked for?"
"Yes. Just not on me. Help us now, here me out later, and you can have it."
"Mmm. Alright, Anarky, let's go.", she said before signaling the cargobob to decend even closer to the water, so that the three could enter through one of the doors. The three were followed swiftly by her and the men from the submarine.
Lonnie sat Astrid down in a seat and buckled her into it, before he and Victoria sat on opposite sides of her. Red Claw sat across from Lonnie, amused and quizzical look on her slightly expressive face. Before Lonnie could speak, they heard an enormous explosion behind them, rocking the aircraft. Anarky barely reacted, knowing the Claw's men were professionals, while Red Claw smiled brighter at Victoria's abrupt shout.
"Always remember, rebenok, cover your tracks."
Manya in Russian means "Sea of Bitterness". And no, DC never gave her a name in the show or comics, so bite me. Thanks for reading!