Author's Notes: I forgot to mention. For all those that have never played, or heard of the Batman: Arkham Series (though I doubt that's likely, more than likely because you're reading this), Batman is voiced by Kevin Conroy (the best Batman voice I have ever heard) and Joker is voiced by Mark Hamill (the best Joker voice I have ever heard).
Also, I made a bit of a mistake, the Scarecrow chapter will be in the next chapter. I received some well-earned compliments and some constructive criticism on focusing on Batman as much as Blake, thank you and I hope you understand.
I do not own RWBY or Batman
"My story is carved into the very spirit of Arkham and will only be revealed to those dedicated enough to discover it."
-Chapter Three: Island-
Riddles and conundrums, tests meant to truly test the mind and find the limits within the human brain.
While most people indulge in the casual game of minds, there are those that take it too far.
The mind of Edward Nigma, for example, a pitiful man with an obsession for anything pertaining to the mind, finding a breaking point to those that even pose a challenge to his own brain.
Batman was one such adversary, a man built to the peak of his abilities, both physically as a vigilante and mentally as the respectfully named World's Greatest Detective; but emotionally? That was an entire story in itself.
As for the young lady, Miss Belladonna, does she pose as an adversary to this green-dressed delusional man? Perhaps.
But apart from a single individual, the whole of Arkham Asylum was meant to house people like him, those that were not only mentally ill, but for those that seem like a danger to both the citizens of Gotham and even to their prisoners in the Blackgate Correctional Facility.
Meant for mentally-ill patients such as the Riddler, Harley Quinn, the Joker, and many more of Batman's Rogue's Gallery.
But where was I? Oh yes, the escape of the Clown Prince of Crime.
Let us continue with the tale of the Belladonna and the Bat...
"Ahh, my head," the two heard a man groan from behind the electrified gate. It was another Arkham Guard
Blake then turned to face the misshapen monster on the floor, she turned to face Batman.
"Is he..."
"Dead? Yes, but he died of a heart attack, most likely caused by whatever Joker did to him," Batman explained, causing the Faunus to sigh in relief.
"Quick, get in here before more of them come," the guard said, getting up and tapping his fingers on several buttons on the panel in front of him, causing the electric gate to shut down.
Blake and Batman walked over to the guard who had dispersed the gate.
"What happened?" she asked.
"They came out of nowhere! I dragged Jerry in here, powered up the gate. Must have passed out," the guard explained.
"Joker went through that door, what's on the other side?" Batman asked.
"We call it Extreme Isolation. Only way in is via the transport system," he answered.
"Open it," the Dark Knight commanded, though his order was rather harsh, in Blake's opinion.
"Not a problem. I'll just need to call another cell," the guard said before walking back to the screen built into the wall, "Okay, something's wrong here. The main security loop is locked."
The computer in front of the two flickered to life, revealing the Joker on-screen.
"Having a little trouble up there?" the clown taunted.
"Joker!" they growled.
"You were expecting maybe Two-Face?" Blake was about to ask who or what Two-Face was, but then she realized who she was talking to.
"There's no escape, Joker," she glared at the Joker.
"Silly Kitty! I don't want to escape. I'm having way too much fun, I even have you two here to keep a smile on my face!" he smiled evilly, pointing at the permanent grin on his face with both hands.
"Not for long," Batman said.
"Really? We'll see, ta ta!" the Joker was about to shut off the computer before stopping himself, "Oh, I forgot to say-"
The Joker turned to camera so it was facing a computer, showing a screen of Commissioner Gordon and Officer Boles talking, but when the Commissioner turned to walk away at the last moment, Boles swung his police baton into his skull, knocking him to the floor and into unconsciousness.
"-Just in case you were planning on following me, I've arranged a little insurance. Gordon is on his way to Harley as we speak."
"That bastard!" Blake glared at the screen, she suspected that Boles was corrupt, but she didn't expect him to actually work for the Joker.
The Clown Prince of Crime only cackled loudly at the screen in her response before turning back to the two of them, "If I see you, both of you, trying to follow me, he dies. Harley is looking forward to it. Maybe I'll film it and post it on the Internet!" he giggled maniacally before the screen faded to black, ending the connection from the computer.
"Sorry, you two. The transport system is down, best I can do is open the door you came in, sorry," the guard behind them apologized as he continued to type on the second computer in front of him, trying to get the system to work, but to no avail.
At first, Blake was furious by Boles' back-stabbing betrayal, then crestfallen by the fact that Joker now had leverage against the two of them, she finally watched as Batman then turned around and began walking away towards the door in which they came in.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Back to the Holding Cells. Boles wasn't the brightest of guards, he might have left a trail that we could follow," he answered as they continued to walk through the door that immediately slid open for them.
"Well, Joker did say not to follow him, he never mentioned Boles," Blake realized.
"Exactly," he responded.
She then watched as Batman then pressed his fingers to his cowl once more.
"Joker's escaped, he sealed himself off. He has Commissioner Gordon," he explained to Oracle, choosing his words carefully to not give away Barbara's identity to Blake, who was listening intently to Batman's side of the conversation.
"Don't worry, I'm getting him back," the Dark Knight said before continuing, as though interrupting 'Oracle's' response, "Oracle, I'm getting him back! Joker will not win, I won't let him. I'm starting where he was taken. A guard named Frank Boles attacked him, if I find him, I'll find the Commissioner."
They turned left between two pathways before setting their sights upon a group of televisions with the Joker on each screen.
"I bet you're wondering how I did it. Was it a clue the Great Detective missed?" the Joker mockingly asked before giggling that demented excuse for a laugh.
"Oh, me and Frankie go way back! I got him out of a spot of... bother a few years ago-"
Batman and Blake spotted a pair of inmates standing over a dead body, mocking the corpse as they continued to kick at it. She and the Dark Knight turned to face one another before looking back at the prisoners. They quietly approached the two before the two struck, Batman kicked the first man's legs from under him and slammed him into the ground, while Blake climbed atop the second man and used her momentum to pull him into the ground, finishing him off with a kick to the head.
"-So whenever I need security codes, or an old man to be clubbed to the ground, I know just the man to ask."
Batman walked through the door beside them, where they now stood before the Holding Cells, the two walked in as Batman pressed his hand to his cowl once more.
"Oracle, I'm at the Holding Cells. I'm setting up a crime scene," he said before a few seconds passed and responded, "Exactly."
With her heightened senses, Blake got a whiff of something... bitter and putrid, she cringed as she turned to look at the source of the smell: a flask of what appeared to contain alcohol of some sorts.
She walked over to it and picked it up, walking over to Batman with the flask in her hands.
"I think this belongs to him," Blake said, knowing that such a drink could only rival Boles in it's sickening presence. Batman took the flask from her hand and looked at it with completely white eyes, Blake looked closely as she noticed that tints of colors seemed to appear on the eyes for a second before disappearing.
"Oracle, we've got a trail," he said, his mouth twitched for a second, "Yes, 'we', there's someone alongside me right now... her name is Blake Belladonna, recently charged with Assault against an officer in self-defense and carrying a weapon without a license."
Blake looked at him, who was currently glaring at her, causing the Faunus to automatically lower her head in immediate regret.
"Yes, I trust her... probably, I haven't found a profile on her yet. But still, maybe, just maybe," he said to Oracle.
"Were you... asking this 'Oracle' to pull up information on me? While I was standing right in front of you?" Blake demanded, her left eye twitching in agitation, her hands began to ball up into fists.
"That's for me to know," Batman responded as he continued walking through this assumed trail that he picked up, Blake only sighed and released the tension in her balled-up fists.
As they continued walking, they heard the audible announcement of the feminine voice speaking through the PA system.
"Transport to upper floors is now permitted to staff with correct security clearance. Security levels are now at Orange Alpha. Alpha. Pha, ha, ha, ha, haaa..." the voice warbled into what appeared to be makeshift, warbled laughter before shorting out.
Another one of Joker's doings, it seemed.
After some time of walking through the hallways once more, they came across another sliding door, revealing a guard standing near what appeared to be a large rectangular area. Used for holding the elevator in place most likely, telling from the cables that were suspended from the bottom to the ceiling.
"Stupid, unreliable..." the guard cursed at the elevator before looking to Batman, "How did Joker get free?"
Batman quickly shushed him before looking down at the small vacant area, "Be quiet."
"What's going on?" he asked as the Dark Knight began surveying the area below him in concern.
Blake immediately looked up as she heard a thump from above her. It was Harley Quinn.
"Uh uh uh uh, B-man! Mr. J doesn't want you following us just yet!" she exclaimed, resting on the weight that was holding the elevator up, pulling out a detonator and pressing the button on top of it.
Blake's cat ears twitched and flicked upwards as she heard an explosion from above, watching as Quinn was shot skyward as the elevator descended faster and faster.
"Get down!" Batman shouted as he pushed Blake and the guard away from the falling lift before rolling away to avoid the crash.
Blake landed several feet from the elevator as Batman leaped away from the elevator, which landed with a loud crash, shooting out bursts of electrical fire and metal shrapnel. She grit her teeth in pain as some of the metal shards dug into her skin. Blake winced as she stood up and began to pry out pieces of the elevator out of her arms and chest, then watched as her Aura immediately tended to her wounds.
Batman managed to fair better somehow, only making a small cut into his suit on the left side of where his bat emblem resided.
"Ow... what happened?" they turned to see the guard that was getting up from the push. Aside from a slight daze, the man was unscathed.
"How did you like that B-Man? No way you're following us now, you're trapped down there until me and Mr. J are ready for ya! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Quinn shouted, emphasizing each taunting 'ha!'.
Blake scowled at the woman's taunting laugh before looking back at the guard, who had sat himself down on a nearby chair.
She walked over to him, "You okay?"
He sighed, "I'm fine, I take it this is Joker's doing?"
"I guess so. That man's a monster, almost as worse as the Grimm," Blake answered to the best of her abilities, she looked up to see that the guard gave her a confused look.
"What?" she asked.
"Grimm? What're you walking about? Grim Reaper or something?"
"Um... no, nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything," this was weird. She wakes up in an entirely different place, and even stranger, this man doesn't seem to know what the word 'Grimm' even meant.
Either this man was extremely ignorant, or the proof of this place being another world continued to solidify.
Unfortunately, she was starting to believe the latter.
"But you're right, he is a monster. We should fry him!" he said, only to watch as Batman stepped into the conversation.
"Calm down, we'll handle this," Batman said, beckoning to Blake for her to follow, watching as she nodded and walked with him.
"Hold on," he wrapped his arm around her waist firmly and used his other hand to fire the grapple gun at a nearby platform above them.
Blake pulled herself up onto the ground and continued following him up another platform with the help of her Semblance, nearly surprising the Dark Knight yet again.
"Follow my lead," the black-clad vigilante commanded before looking at the ledge in front of them, Blake took a few steps back, knowing what they were going to do.
With a running start, the two sprinted and jumped to the ledge before grabbing onto it. They then began to shimmy themselves along the ledge before pulling themselves into a small space and into a short ventilation tunnel blocked off by a small grate.
They heard the loud ding of the intercom again, another announcement from the Joker. Batman quickly pushed the vent's gate off with his foot using a powerful kick, sending it flying onto the wall opposite of them.
"Hey Bats! I know you can hear, I've got a little something for you to listen to. Harley and Frank are nearly out of the building with the old man. How are they going to get past all the guards? Let's have a listen, shall we?."
Blake had to crawl out of the vent with Batman before having to hold onto him once more, using his grapple gun again to propel the two up higher to the next platform.
The two then heard the sound of another Arkham guard through the PA system, "Hey Frank, where you been?"
"Joker's got more men on his way. They're coming around the front of the Asylum. Gotta stop them getting in, quick, get over here! Dammit! C'mon everyone, cover the main entrance!" they heard the familiar sound of Boles' voice.
"How many are there, Boles? Wait, hang on, how do you know what-"
Blake winced as she heard a gunshot.
"Boles! Frank, what are you doing?! No! Put it dow-" another gunshot, causing the Faunus' to grit her teeth silently in anger.
"Frank! What the he-" one last gunshot.
Boles was rotten, all the way down to the core. Blake could only hope that the man would face justice soon.
"Quinn, it's clear. Get your ass in here!" Boles yelled, followed by the voice of Harley Quinn.
"You're some piece of work, Frankie. A girl could fall for someone like you!" she swooned.
"Stop flirting with the hired help, Harley!" they then heard Joker shout.
'Jealous much?' Blake thought.
"Don't worry sweetie, you know I only have eyes for you."
"Did you hear that, Bats and Cat Junior? Sounds like Frankie is working out just fine! Another valuable employee for the organization," Joker said before shutting off the speaker.
After what was almost literally a hop and skip away, from having to be leap over what could only be described as a drop to certain death, climbing along another ledge, having to be pulled up onto another platform, and finally climbing out of a ventilation tunnel, they now stood before some sort of altar with a picture of some sort of beetle on it.
She looked at it then turned to Batman, who knelt down over the altar and tore the beetle out of it's place, revealing a small tape behind it. He picked it up and studied it for a few seconds before stashing it away into one of the many pouches in his utility belt.
Batman fired again at another ledge surrounded by inmates standing over the corpse of another guard, the two grabbed onto the ledge, hanging from it as it was the only thing keeping them from falling towards sudden death.
Blake looked to Batman and waited for him to give some sort signal for when to fight, but he remained silent.
"You're fighting them on your own," he said, as though knowing what she was already thinking.
She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it and nodded at him. After what seemed like hours, though it was only seconds pulled herself to her feet, now visible to the inmates before her.
"What the hell? Where'd she come fr-" the first inmate never finished his sentence as a hurtling knee when flying into his jaw.
As Blake fought the Blackgate prisoners, Batman's eyes went white: Detective Vision.
"Oracle, start a recording for me," he said.
"On it. Recording. What're you planning on this time?" his friend and technical hacker of a sidekick, Barbara Gordon, responded.
Batman looked up at the corner of his HUD in Detective Vision to see a vague red dot appear.
"Considering options," Batman only said as he continued to watch the black-clad cat-girl fight the group of inmates.
Blake had knocked out the first man with a hard knee to the jaw, she ducked under a speeding fist and uppercutted the second man with an aura-reinforced fist, sending him flying into the wall with a loud thud. The Faunus watched as two of the men, the third and fourth, ran towards her and threw two simultaneous punches, she caught the first one and used the third man's brute strength to lift herself into the air, kicking the fourth prisoner in the face during the process.
"Come on, get the bitch!" one of them screamed.
With her already hanging onto the man's arm, she spun over the inmate's back and used her momentum to pull his arm back and into the fourth man once more, the two then landed on top of one another.
She quickly walked over to the man on top and punched him in the head. This caused the man's head to slam into the head of the man below him, knocking them both out in the process. Blake looked up to see the fifth man staring at her in fear.
"Screw this, I'm outta here!" he yelled before turning around and slamming into the man behind him: the Batman.
"Not this time," she heard the Dark Knight say in a low, gravely voice, knocking the man out with the front of his cowl, causing the man to fall onto the ground. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.
"I could've taken him," Blake muttered.
"I'm sure you could. Come on, let's go," he switched back to his neutral tone of voice, his hand then went back to his cowl: Oracle.
"Not yet, but I'm getting close. Harley Quinn tried to slow me down. Dropped an elevator on me," Batman said before continuing a second later,"Heh, of course not. I'll get back to you when I reach the end of the trail."
'That was weird, what was tha-... WHAT!' Blake's mouth fell open in shock lifting her hand to manually close her jaw.
That sound that Batman just made, that was chuckle.
An actual laugh! Some form of positive emotion that emanated from this tall, dark statue of a man.
"Come on," her thoughts were recollected as Batman finished tearing another grate off it's hinges. She nodded hastily as she followed him into the tunnels.
After traveling through the tunnels for only a few seconds they heard a loud gunshot, followed by a scream.
"Please, I've got a kid! You don't have to-" Blake flinched at the sound of another gunshot.
"You're right, I don't have to, I just want to. Okay, boss says no one gets past! Anything moves, shoot it!" she heard an inmate say from around the corner.
Blake had experienced seeing death before, but that didn't mean she was prepared for it. She could only stare in horror at the life that was draining from the dying guard's eyes, as though pleading for something, anything to save him. But before Blake knew, the light faded, he was dead.
She felt tears well up in her eyes. This man had a family for God's sake! How could they just do something like this! Blake shook her head, trying to fight back the tears.
Batman silently pushed the grate open with his foot and pushed it aside, the two then crawled out from the tunnel, only to be obscured by a wall that seemed to block the shooters' line of sight from the pair.
"Oracle, Joker's men have taken control of the Cell Block Transfer corridor,"... I know, I'll calibrate the cowl's vision mode to isolate armed henchmen."
Blake turned to the man before her. That cowl actually had functions other than just for communication, intimidation, and preserving the man's identity?!
She heard Batman fire off another grappling hook, prompting her to automatically hold onto him as they were propelled onto the gargoyle statue above. Blake followed close behind with the help of her Semblance as Batman continued to move from one statue to the next before ending up on the gargoyle that was on the opposite side of the room, behind the three armed henchmen.
"You take out the lone inmate in the other room, these two are mine," Blake heard from the man beside her, she nodded and managed to silently land on ground, despite the fact that she was wearing high heels and began her ascent up the stairs and into the other room
"Who cares? He sticks his pointy head into the room and we blow it off!" the armed prisoner in between the other two yelled. At that moment, Batman dropped down and walked to the one in the back, wrapping his hands around his mouth to cut off the sounds of any screaming, locking his other arm around the man's neck before he finally passed out, then he continued to do the same with the other two.
"Yeah! He's a dead man walking!" the one in the front agreed.
As Blake continued up the stairs, she heard another conversation going on.
"No problem, boss. The boys are just finishing off. The Arkham chumps never stood a chance," she quickly crouched and hid behind the stairs.
"Good, our friendly neighborhood rodent and his part-time sidekick are on their way. You need to set a trap, they must not leave the building. Do you understand me?!" the infamous voice of the Joker, who's face was on three television screens, demanded to the man in front of her.
"Yes, boss. The Bat is as good as dead."
Blake emerged from her cover and slowly made her way to the armed inmate, only to stop at as the Joker began to speak once more. The onscreen Clown flicked his eyes to look at her for only a second before turning back to the guard once more.
"I hope you keep your promises, boy. I'd hate to have to go and punish your family just to teach you a less. I can promise you they won't be laughing."
This made the Faunus freeze in her tracks. Would he really do such a thing? Of course he would, she finally figured out at this point that the man was capable of such an act.
"B-but Joker-"
"Yeh, bu- bu- bu- bu-, just do it, and have fun. I know I will," the Joker finished it off with a laugh.
Blake finally took action and wrenched the gun out of the man's hands and slammed him across the face with it, sending him crashing into the ground.
"Ah look who it is! Are your furry little ears burning?" the Joker then looked to see Batman walking up beside Blake, "I suppose I should warn my boys that you two are on the way... Hey, maybe I won't, it'll be a nice surprise!" he chuckled as he watched Blake slice through the metal grate beside her with her sword as though it was butter.
"Ooh, pointy! Gotta get me one of those!" the Joker taunted before cutting off the connection from the computers.
She tore the ruined parts of metal away and crawled inside with Batman following just behind, he then lifted his hand to his cowl as he received another call from Oracle.
"Okay Bruce, there seems to be a problem," she said.
"What is it, Oracle?" the Dark Knight asked.
"This Blake Belladonna, there are no records of her anywhere whatsoever. It's almost as though she doesn't exist," Oracle explained.
"I already know that, but what about the recording?"
"Really? Ho- never mind, of course you already figured it out. Alright... from the recording, she seems to incorporate a form of kickboxing and what appears to be an improvised form of several types of Japanese martial arts. But, I'm assuming you're talking about her ability, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, she's fast, and I mean really fast. Not only that, every time she moves at such as speed, she creates what appears to be, for lack of a better word, a copy of herself as a distraction against opponents. I have two theories that sound crazy either way; either she moves so fast she creates a temporary outline of herself, or her... ability is more supernatural, for a lack of better term. Think she could be related to Barry in some way?" Barbara jokingly asked.
"Belladonna?" Batman pointed out, unintentionally earning the attention of Blake.
"What?"
"Nothing, nothing," Batman reassured, causing Blake to narrow her eyes at him before looking forward through the tunnel once more.
"Right, right, forget it. I'll look further into it," Oracle informed before cutting the connection.
"Ding ding ding dong. Arkham Asylum is now under new management. Here's a quick update on what's going on: Attention, we have an escaped patient. Dresses like a bat, ha ha ha what an idiot! Should be considered costumed and dangerous. Personally, I think the best solution is to put him out of his misery. It's the only reliable cure..." the Joker said through the intercom once more.
With a few near-silent nicks from her blade, Blake managed to cut the bars of the grate off of the vent and approach the crouching inmate in front of her, who was picking up a rifle and loading a clip into it before cocking it and standing back up.
She ran forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, applying pressure to the squirming man until he quietly fell forward, unconscious from Blake's knockout move. Blake immediately stood up and surveyed her surroundings: the same large area with the lift, the scanner, and the small building in the center of the room.
The cat Faunus watched as the Dark Knight behind her quickly fired his grappling gun at a small catwalk with an inmate in front of it. He grabbed the man by the back of his neck and slammed it into the rails, knocking him out as well. Blake crouched down and descended down a nearby ladder, she continued to crawl out of the sight of the last guard, only to see a flash of a large black bat-shaped figure slam into the man from one of the gargoyles before holding the man down and finishing him off with a single blow to the head.
"Did you really think it was going to be that easy, Bats? I've sent a few more of my boys your way. Let's see how you deal with these odds!" the Joker said once more with laugh.
Blake watched as Batman fired once more, this time onto the building, pulling him to the roof. She then followed him with a leap to the top as he beckoned to her.
As she now stood beside him, Blake watched as he pulled out a small device.
"Put this in your ear," he ordered, handing the device into her hands, then watched as she fitted the small device into one of her ears, the human ones.
"Alright, what's it supposed to do?" she asked as she turned to face Batman once more, only to see that he was gone.
"It's so we can communicate," she heard the man's voice resonate from the device.
"Batman?"
"Press the button on your ear, you can talk to me in this instance as long as the button is pushed," he instructed.
He watched as Blake nodded and pressed the button, "Like this?"
"Perfect," the Dark Knight said.
Blake then watched as more prisoners began to exit the door and make their way down the ladder.
"I'll take care of the two guards circling the building, one's going to be under you. Be patient and wait for my mark," she heard, watching as Batman immediately went to work.
The Faunus immediately turned around and stood atop the glass ceiling, listening to the brutal beatdown that Batman was dishing out against the other inmates.
The armed henchman poked his head into the room, surveying his surroundings before cautiously walking in with slow steps, his thumb drumming away at the back of the handle of the gun as though it was a nervous tic. Blake could tell he was anxious, from the quickened breathing she heard from the man.
In just a matter of seconds, the man was now below her, just a quick ten foot drop onto the man's head.
"Now!" Blake heard the Dark Knight yell.
With an aura-boosted jump, she launched herself into the air before landing onto the fragile glass, shattering it into pieces as her fist came crashing down on the inmate's head, an audible crack could be heard as he crashed to the floor in less than a second. Blake picked herself off the floor and placed her finger on the man's neck, checking for a pulse.
There was a pulse, but he wouldn't be getting up any time now.
"Oh boo! You two win again! Savor it, I'll get you next time," Joker growled, causing Blake to smirk at the criminal's agitation.
"Back to the entrance," Batman said, Blake pressed her finger onto the button.
"On it," Blake responded before leaving the building and making her way to the Dark Knight's location, leaving the building and following down the stairs until she came across a ladder next to the immobile elevator.
She quickly climbed the ladder and walked over to Batman, who was standing in front of a horrible sight.
It was Boles, strapped to the stretcher the same way Joker was when she first encountered him. Around his waist was a sign wrapped in chains that read 'DEAD END'. His face was was contorted into that of pure terror as a green smile was sprayed across his face.
Blake almost found herself getting sick at the sight, even someone as corrupt as Boles didn't deserve to die like this, but she knew that the man had brought this onto himself.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
And the Joker's power? To corrupt completely and bring ruin to all who stand in his path.
Blake and Batman turned away from the sight and began to head to off somewhere else, but that was interrupted when static began to invade their communication devices.
"Can you hear me Dark Knight? Of course you can," the voice said before it began to clear up somewhat.
"Yes, it is I, the Riddler, and more importantly, your intellectual superior. My genius has allowed me to easily hack into your primitive communications," this 'Riddler' continued to boast tauntingly at Batman. Blake was beginning to get annoyed by the boasts.
"My goal is simple! You complete a series of amusingly taxing challenges and, well, you'll see..."
"Ready for your first one? Good, but be careful. Don't CUT yourself on this SHARPLY observed portrait," the Riddler said before shutting off.
Oh God, a riddle-version of Yang, only this one comes with irritatingly annoying narcissism.
Besides, that didn't even sound like a riddle! Just a really bad pun of some sorts in the form of a question.
She looked at Batman, who only turned his head and stared at the picture of... Warden Sharp.
Oh my God...
"So you did it! Well done! I would have expected a child to work that one out, let alone the 'World's Greatest Detective'," the Riddler responded before leaving their communications.
"What... was that?" Blake asked.
"Edward Nashton, known as Edward Nigma, also known as the Riddler. Another criminal who incorporates riddles and puzzles into his crimes, having to be solved usually by me."
"I know that, but what's his problem?"
"Fanatic narcissism, egocentrism, and megalomania crossed with severe obsessive compulsion," Batman answered bluntly, earning a bewildered look from the Faunus.
Blake only gave the man a sheepish, bemused grin, "Sheesh, sorry I asked."
"It's fine."
They hopped onto the lower floor, a door beside them opened up to reveal a guard entering the room, "I'm over here, Batman."
"What happened?" Blake asked the man, who only gave her a grim look.
"It was a massacre. Boles came walking in telling everyone to cover the front entrance. Said something about Joker's army coming through the main gate! Two of my guys moved to the exit and Frank shot 'em dead, they never stood a chance," he explained.
Blake then remembered the conversation that went on between Boles and the guards on the intercom. It seemed that this guy was the only survivor of the encounter.
"Was Boles alone?" Batman asked.
"Thought he was, then I saw Harley Quinn. She was surrounded by Blackgate prisoners, they were just killing everyone in the room! I had no choice. I got in here, locked the door. I-I could see it on the security feed. They had someone with them, it looked like the Commissioner."
"Boles is dead, they carried on without him. I guess he must have outlived his usefulness," Blake responded, earning a nod from the guard.
"Good, he was scum," he growled before looking down at the dead guard beside him.
"I'll look after Maria, I promise," the guard promised to the dead man.
Blake fought back a tear from the man's promise as she continued to follow Batman, trying to concentrate on working on the moment at hand.
Batman opened the door ahead of them, entering a new room. Blake turned and walked down a long corridor with a large pipe trailing along the wall.
In the distance, Blake heard slow, somewhat upbeat, music; as soon as they turned to see a set of lockers, she found out it was only a radio.
"We apologize for this interruption to our regular broadcast. Jack Ryder is live from the Gotham Bay area with some breaking news," the announcer on radio spoke.
The pair ignored the radio and continued on their way past another door, a dead end with another ventilation tunnel blocked by a metal grate. Blake watched as Batman tore the grate off and tossed it aside with ease before entering into the tunnels once more.
As they began to move through the tunnels, Blake began to see vegetation growing out of some of the corners. They must be closer to the outside world.
Batman came across one last grate, and like all the others, he kicked it away with a simple push of his foot.
As they soon exited the tunnel, they found themselves almost out of the facility, only to be surrounded by shrubbery and vegetation, at the other end of the rocky area was a short ledge.
Batman pulled out his grappling gun while Blake ran towards the ledge and leaped into the air, grabbed hold of the ledge, and pulled herself up.
At the end of the trail, a cliff resided.
The Faunus and the Dark Knight walked side by side as they walked to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the whole of the Island.
Even after all she had been through, Blake had to admit that island of Arkham was indeed beautiful, in a dark, Gothic-looking way, it held a sense of mystery, as though containing secrets that no one else knows of.
And so this was her first step out of the building that housed such terrible inmates. And her first step into the island.
Of Arkham Asylum.
Disclaimer: Sorry that I had to postpone the Scarecrow portion, but I'm making up for it for this new chapter.
Hope you guys like it and I'll see you guys in the next chapter of Belladonna and the Bat: Asylum.
