A/N: Hello again, dear friends and fans! Sorry to do it, but once again, I have to ask those that haven't yet, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Sai Blade. It DOES NOT cost money to subscribe! If my channel hits 300 subs, I will start Arkham Knight IMMEDIATELY after this story. So, it will be the difference between getting it when this is done as opposed to December or something. We're so close now, guys! We're over 270, so we only need 30 more! It would be a bigger help than I can possibly say and it would allow me to support my family in troubling times. I'm desperate, guys. I really need you on this one.
But for now, it's time for the Buxom Blonde Brawler and the Bat-Based Bruiser to do what they do best and beat down some bad guys!
Yang and Batman climbed up a small ledge in the steel mill, looking out at the chaos Strange had caused: several helicopters were flying around and gunning down inmates or firing missiles at buildings, all for the same end result of dead inmates. Yang looked on in horror at what was transpiring. "How could Strange do this? These people are supposed to be under his care. And it's all to one up you somehow?! How does this possibly make him seem like the good guy or better than you?" She asked.
"Strange is incredibly mentally unstable. He's not far from being in an asylum like this himself. Somewhere in his mind, the ends justify the means. But we'll stop him." Batman assured his newest protégé, before contacting one of his older ones. "Oracle, Strange is launching missiles strikes on Arkham City from Wonder Tower. You shut this place down. Joker's taken Talia. I'm going after them." He instructed.
"You can't. Hundreds will be killed. I need your help to stop the attack." Barbara told him.
"He'll kill Talia." Batman insisted.
"You need to think this through. Batman and Light Dragon can't let all these people die." Alfred said.
"And we also can't let Joker get away with Talia. She told him she knows the secret of immortality. And we know he can get answers from people. If he gets the Lazarus Pit, he'll be unstoppable." Yang told them.
"What was she thinking?! Why would she ever tell him that?!" Oracle asked.
"It was a bargaining chip for our lives. But Bruce let it slip she was telling the truth." Yang said, glaring at the billionaire.
"There has to be something we can do. We have to do something to stop both Strange and the Joker." Alfred said.
However, the bat-themed vigilante suddenly got an idea. "We don't have to do anything. We'll split up. I'll go after Talia. Yang, I'm trusting you with this. I need you to help Oracle shut down Protocol 10. The tower is locked down, no way in without the codes. You'll have to check the choppers for the Master Control Program. Then you'll be able to access the tower. From there, you'll be able to take out Strange and call off Protocol 10." He said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "This is a big job, but I know you can handle it." He told her.
Yang was shocked at this for a moment, before getting serious and nodding. "I got it. I'll get these choppers shut down as soon as I can. I promise. Just save Talia and stop Joker." She told him.
"Of course." He agreed.
With that, the two quickly took off. Yang used her gauntlets to fly across whole blocks at a time in order to reach the helicopters. However, it seems Yang wouldn't get lucky here, as she had to scan every helicopter before the last one finally had her the code she required. She broke into its underside panel... computer... thing and downloaded the master control. "Alright. Now off to the tower. I just hope I can get there before everyone's dead. I can hear the reports from the chopper pilots. They're dropping inmates like flies." Yang said.
"Just stop the order and you'll save the rest of them. The important thing is that you will have saved as many as possible. That's all anyone can ask of you, Yang. The code will let you enter Wonder Tower through a guard room near the main gate." Oracle encouraged the younger girl and explained her next course of action.
Soon enough, the blonde brawler reached the guard room just above the gate to Arkham City. She quickly hacked it to gain entry and entered into it. "Of course the code was mastermind. How conceited can Strange get?" She asked as she ran down the hall, opening a blocked door with an electric gauntlet round and dropping down to the level below herself, firing another electric round from the other gauntlet, going through the next room to find a number of TYGER guards holding a small group of inmates hostage with shock sticks.
One of the guards grabbed his radio. "This is Unit 42. We have apprehended three escaped new inmates. They were heading for the underground tunnel system." He reported.
"Hold them in processing. We will let you know when we are ready to move them to the execution chamber." Strange instructed.
Yang growled at this. "Not gonna happen, dirtbags." She said quietly to herself, jumping onto the railing of the walkway she was on and dropping down, slamming her fist down on the ground to make a shockwave like she's done many times before, but on a smaller scale this time, sending the three guards flying forward into the wall, while leaving the three political prisoners unharmed, the guards landing harmlessly in between the three of them.
Suddenly, Strange came on the giant monitor above the prisoners. "Stop right there, Light Dragon. We need to talk. And I know you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if your actions caused this poor man to die." Strange taunted as it was revealed he had another political prisoner hostage, holding an unknown syringe close to his neck.
Yang's hair and eyes flared up at this. "You bastard! Let him go! I knew you were a little crazy, but I didn't realize you were actually bat-shit insane! You deserve to be in here more than these guys! You're right up there with Joker, Two-Face and Penguin!" She snapped at him.
"Sticks and stones, girl. Your words are as useless as your attempt to stop Protocol 10." Strange declared, then smirked. "And where is Batman? Could it be he's finally realized the futility of his actions and found I am superior? Or is he to afraid to face me, so he sends a child to do his work for him?" He asked arrogantly.
The former Beacon student fumed for a minute, before gaining her own smirk. "He's dealing with something more important than you could ever be. Not that that's a short list. Pretty much anything is more important than you." She insulted the madman, hoping to throw him off his game.
"I am thoroughly versed in psychology, girl. You will not be able to fool me." Strange explained as a door to Yang's right lifted up to allow a group of five soldiers to rush her. "But I have a question for you. Before my arrival, this city was drowning under a tide of filth. And no matter what the Bat did or how many of you sidekicks he brought on, little to nothing has changed. But have you ever considered that all of this is Batman's fault? His presence creates these animals. And like germs, they spread. The presence of vigilantes like Batman and you sidekicks created the environment, allowing the germ to mutate, to become stronger. Look at the Joker. Would he even exist if not for Batman?" Strange questioned as the guards surrounded Yang. As he spoke, Yang took the time to analyze their weaponry: one in front of her with a shock stick, one to her right with a shield, one behind her with a gun and two more that were unarmed.
"Don't give me that 'pass the blame' crap! This city went bad because corrupt people like you exploited everyone they could to line their own pockets or get into positions of power while everyone else suffers! You created this environment! And you gave Joker the guns and the means to break out of here and take over the whole city if this Protocol 10 thing doesn't work! You made the problem so you could fix it and be the big hero. But you're not a hero if you cause the mess in the first place! You're the problem, not the solution!" Yang snapped.
Strange sighed at this. "I see you are too far gone to help. No matter. Soon, Protocol 10 will be complete, Batman will be defeated and I will take my rightful place at my master's side. We will rule over this world." Strange declared.
"Spoken like a true nut job. But let me ask you something: if you learned to lie, manipulate and use other and dispose of them when you're done from your master, how do you know he's not doing that to you? How do you know he won't toss you to the wolves like you did to Sharp?" She questioned.
"I am an instrumental part to my master's success! Without me, his ambitions will be unachievable! I am as integral to his visions as he is!" Strange insisted. And as he spoke, five more guards surrounded her, mostly unarmed, with two of them holding some kind of long stick or club, held similar to how thugs held bats or pipes.
"Yikes, don't let the big guy here you say that. He might not like that." Yang taunted.
"Enough of this. Kill her!" Strange ordered.
With that, the transmission cut out and the fight began. Acting quickly, Yang took out her two biggest threats by firing a couple rounds in front of her, blasting back the guard with the shock stick and causing her to slam back into the guard with a gun, who she took out with a spinning round kick to the head. One of the guards with a bat came at her, but she blocked his attack, peppering him with normal punches without Ember Celica's explosives, grabbing the bat and punching him in the face, knocking him down and sending him skidding several feet across the floor, before dodging the attack of another bat-wielding guard, spinning and hitting him in the head with the bat she took from the first guard. She then took that bat and threw it at one of the guards going for the fallen gun. She then quickly made a break for the gun and dismantled it, removing the weapon as an option in the fight.
The two unarmed thugs attacked her together, but she countered their attacks and knocked their heads together to send them both to the floor. She then turned to the shield guy and leapt at him. He managed to hold her back with the shield, but she then jumped several feet into the air and rocketed down with her gauntlets, slamming down on him. However, the guard she had thrown the bat at wasn't down, only stunned and he proceeded to pick up a decently-sized green crate and threw it at Yang, which she easily caught and threw back, definitely knocking him out this time. One of the two guards whose heads she bashed together also got back up and attacked her again, but she countered his attack, moving out of the way of a guard coming up to attack her from behind and letting the guard she countered take the punch to the face, kicking the guard who threw the punch back, lifting the guard she countered above her head and throwing him at the guard who had just punched him in the face, knocking them both out.
Two more bat-wielding guards came at her, causing her to block their first strikes, aimed at her stomach or legs, then ducked their next swings, aimed at her head. While she was ducked down, she punched the one in the right in the stomach, doubling him over, allowing her to slam both hands down on his head, before rising and knocking the other guard into the air with an uppercut. Then, the elevator behind her opened up, revealing three more unarmed guards, one wearing armor. One of the thugs without armor, as well as the armored one, jumped right in to fight Yang, while the other one ran out of Yang's field of vision, likely going for a weapon. She kicked the armored thug back a few feet, quickly dispatching the one without armor, before boxing the ears of the armored one as he came back and pummeling him into unconsciousness. She then looked to see the last guard had grabbed a propane tank, preparing to throw it at her, but she simply fired a round at the tank, causing it to explode above him and knock him out instead.
"A pointless effort, blonde brawler. I will rain down fire and brimstone on these animals." Strange declared.
"The only animal here is you, you four-eyed freak!" Yang snapped.
Putting the deranged doctor out of her mind for the moment, she opened a manhole that led her into the sewer system of the collapsed streets, soon making her way back to where she had saved the doctor from some of Joker's thugs and discovered Strange had been supplying the clown with weaponry. And sure enough, the doctor was still there, hiding as Yang had instructed. She came out of hiding once she saw the heroine, however. "It's you." She said.
"Told you I'd be back, didn't I?" Yang asked.
"Well, you took your time. It's crazy back there! First, Joker's men came down here and started setting up camp. I did what you said and hid, but..." The doctor began to explain. Yang simply nodded as an indication for the doctor to continue. "The guards came. The ones that work for Strange and they started killing everyone. It was a blood bath." She told the vigilante.
Yang quickly put things together. "Strange is covering his tracks, making sure no one can figure out HE gave Joker and his men those guns." She said, then looked up at the physician. "Great job hiding, doc. I need you to do it just a bit longer, though, while I take care of the guards in that room." Yang explained.
With that, our favorite heroine dropped down into the room, just behind a guard and silently bringing him down. She then grappled up to the front left gargoyle, then the back left, then to the one in the center of the very back of the room, silently dropping down and sneaking up behind another perimeter guard and silently knocking him out without alerting the guards patrolling the elevator to the tower. Unfortunately, at that moment, another guard who was just a bit ahead of the one she knocked out turned to see her and fired. Thankfully, her suit and aura took the brunt of the damage and she blasted the guard in the chest with a pair of round, one per gauntlet, before throwing down a smoke bomb as the other guards were alerted by the noise, grappling to the front right gargoyle. She took this moment to check her goggles readings. Five guards left.
Just then, they all heard a message from Strange. "As we move into the final stage of Protocol Ten, I would like to congratulate all TYGER forces on this wonderful achievement. As I look at the screens in front of me, I can see that we are rapidly approaching fatalities of 22%. My projections show that within three hours, every single inmate of Arkham City will be dead and Protocol Ten will move into stage two. By the end of the month, new camps in Keystone and Metropolis will open, each modeled after Arkham City. You should all be proud of your part in this. We are the solution this world needs. We are the future!" The madman declared.
Yang couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Oracle, are you hearing this? He really is out of his mind! There's no way Flash or Superman would ever let anything like that happen. And even without them, those two cities aren't NEARLY bad enough for them to even think of opening something like Arkham City in them." She said.
"Strange has always been unstable, but now he's downright off his rocker. The council are furious that Protocol Ten even had to be considered, let alone resorted to. By all accounts, Arkham City is a failure, so they'd never repeat it. Strange is downright delusional now. And a delusional man in power is dangerous. You have to bring him down, Yang." Barbara told her.
"Happily." Yang said.
With that, Yang dropped down behind a guard standing in front of the door to the elevator, silently bringing him down, before grappling up again, moving to the left side of the room and taking out a sniper. She then made her way back around to the other side of the room, taking out another sniper who was positioned near the tank of TITAN she had destroyed earlier. Another guard patrolling just ahead of her turned and saw her, causing her to launch towards him and knock him out with a round kick to the head, grappling up to a gargoyle. The two remaining guards heard the noise and investigated, seeing Yang on the gargoyle and preparing to shoot, but she fired a round from one of her gauntlets, blasting the floor in between them, sending them both to the floor. She then dropped down and took them out one after the other with a ground takedown.
Strange apparently saw this and was not pleased. "This is unacceptable. I taught you better than this! Oh, Light Dragon, this is not over!" He declared angrily.
"I'm counting on it, whack job." Yang growled as she pulled out her hacking device and put in the code. With that, the elevator door opened and she made her way in, hacking the controls for the elevator itself rode it up to the top.
Of course, as she did, Strange couldn't help but taunt her. "What do you think you are doing, Light Dragon? You can't stop me. I have won.. Within the hour, every single piece of criminal scum will burn. Then I will turn my attention to Wayne and his allies. I will march to Wayne Manor, I will drag Wayne's faithful butler through the streets of Gotham and I will make him tell the world how you have both failed. My Arkham City experiment was a success and Wayne... you and him will kneel before me and Wayne will beg for his life. Then I will make him watch as I kill you, then I will kill him." He spoke his poisonous words. [1]
Yang growled at this, clenching her fists tightly and punching one of the walls of the elevator hard enough to leave a dent. "It's gonna be awful hard tor you to do all that in a full-body cast with your jaw shattered." She declared. She soon reached the top floor, but heard voices outside the elevator. Acting quickly, she jumped through the hatch in the roof and walked onto the overhand above the elevator and scanning the group of seven, two armed and two unarmed, one wearing body armor and two with stun batons. Yang then jumped and smashed down through the glass overhang, landing on one of the armed guards, turning to the other guard with a gun and uppercutting him, knocking him out and into the air with the gun flying from his grip and over the balcony. Yang quickly kicked up the other gun and threw it over as well.
From there, she turned to the five remaining guards, the closest one being the one in body armor. So, acting quickly, Yang grabbed him and slammed his head into the metal frame of the tower, quickly knocking him out and throwing him back into one of the other guards rushing at her, who happened to have one of the stun batons. The other baton wielder rushed in and tried to jab her with the prod, but she countered, grabbing his arm and making him drop the weapon, catching it herself and jabbing it against his back, shocking him into unconsciousness. The two unarmed ones rushed at her together, but she easily caught both of their attacks and bounced their heads off of each other to knock them out. The last guard, the other one with the shock stick, got up from having the armored guy thrown at him, but Yang kicked him baton into the air and as he watched it ascend to the heavens, he wasn't watching her as she pulled her fist back, then slammed it into his face.
Knowing the elevator was no long safe, as they'd be waiting for her once she reached Strange's floor, she took the longer and riskier route, hacking a security gate and climbing the outside of the tower. As she did, she heard communications saying they were targeting Penguin's stronghold and saw a missile fired at the museum. "These guys are insane! I have to end this. Now." She said, launching herself to advantageous places with Ember Celica until she finally reached the top where Strange laid in wait. And, of course, armed guards were patrolling the area as well while he stayed safe inside a glass tank.
Moving through the ventilation system, Yang popped out of a grate just behind a guard and took him out with a silent takedown. She then snuck around a couple of large, piled up crates of ammo to silently send another thug to dream land. This was right next to a balcony another guard was patrolling and looking over, his back turned to her, making it easy for her to sneak up and knock him out, already halving the number of guards to worry about. However, Strange began to alert them of her presence and they made their way towards her, so she grappled up to a gargoyle above the balcony, before swinging over to other gargoyles until she reached one above a balcony on the other side of the room from the one she was just on.
Dropping down to this new balcony, she re-entered the room as the guards began to hasten their search efforts, now running around the room in search of her, two running over near the grates she emerged from, clearly in her line of sight, allowing her to blast one with an ice round, then sneak up on the other one, switching things up and punching him to the ground and doing a ground takedown, alerting the last guard, who ran towards the scene as Yang ran back to the room and hid behind the crates again, waiting until he came close enough and punched him in the head, sending him to the ground for a ground takedown, before she came back to the frozen guard and dealt with him via an ice smash takedown.
"Perhaps you wish to die here, Light Dragon. That can be arranged." Strange taunted as he made his way to the door.
"Oh, I'm about to make you wish I'd kill you." She growled, approaching the door and forgoing the hacking device, slamming both fists into the door, nearly shattering it, before a round from both gauntlets finished the job, shattering the glass and sending Strange flying back to the table in the center, several lacerations on his body from small shards cutting into him.
However, despite being in the presence of a pissed off metahuman, Strange was undeterred. "You haven't won. You cannot win. I, Hugo Strange, am the Batman's successor. I have saved Gotham." He declared.
Yang punched him in the face at this, his glasses completely falling to pieces. "No, you didn't. You've just spread more fear and lies. People will be afraid to even live here now!" She snapped, punching him and sending him flying over the table. She then turned to the control center and pulled a lever to end Protocol Ten. "Oracle, I've ended things here. Now I need you to shut it down." She told the former Batgirl.
"With pleasure. You did a great job, Yang. Bruce would be proud." Barbara said as she worked her magic.
"You've ruined everything!" Strange snapped.
Yang growled at this, then grabbed Strange, dragging him to the window and slamming him against it to look at the carnage he created. "Look at all this! The only thing that's ruined is the peace of mind anyone in Gotham has! You slaughtered hundreds of inmates! Some of them were only petty criminals and some were innocent people! Everyone's going to be afraid that with you in charge, there will be massacres like this every day, or innocent people could get locked up for looking at you wrong!" She snapped.
Strange only smiled. "Yes. Isn't it glorious?" He asked in a sickeningly delighted tone.
Yang growled and threw him to the ground. "You're insane, Strange. You should've been in Arkham right alongside Joker and Zsasz." She told him.
He soon stood up, however. "I have powerful friends, you foolish girl. This is just the beginning. You cannot stop me. Soon, I will command forces beyond your comprehension." He declared.
Yang scoffed. "You have no idea what I've had to comprehend." She said, hacking a nearby screen to show footage of hers and team RWBY's battles against the Grimm.
Strange was shocked at this, but tried to play it off. "Mindless beasts incapable of any true danger for their lack of planning. My forces will be unmatched. I have achieved what the great Batman and Light Dragon could not. And Gotham will forever thank Hugo... Strange?!" He continued to boast, before a sword suddenly burst through his chest.
He then fell to the ground, revealing Ra's Al Ghul behind him. "Your part in this is over, Professor Strange." He stated as he walked towards the window.
Strange gasped and coughed weakly at this. "Why? I did everything you wanted!" He questioned his attacker's reasoning.
"Indeed. You clearly demonstrated you are unworthy if a mere girl could defeat you, let alone Batman." Ra's dismissed him.
Yang was shocked at this, glaring at Ra's. Strange's wound was most certainly fatal, even if she unlocked his aura, which he could never be trusted with, it would be too little too late to repair the damage [2]. So she turned to the one who did the damage. "You monster! How could you!? He did whatever you asked and you thank him like this!? No wonder he's so twisted if you were his example!" She snapped.
"You said I could replace you. This was... Our vision..." Strange said weakly.
"And you failed to see it through." The head of the Demon told him.
"But..." The wounded man began.
Ra's finally turned to acknowledge him. "When you came to me with Batman's identity, I gave you this chance to prove your worth, providing you with limitless resources for your plan. You came... Close. But you have failed me." He explained.
Yang growled at this. "Of course. He's just another pawn to you, isn't he?! Just like your own daughters! They're not toys for you to use, Ra's! They're people! And you just killed one like he was nothing!" Yang growled, gesturing to the dying Strange.
"I'm so close... Just give me more time." Strange pleaded.
"Too late. I don't give second chances." Ra's dismissed him. He then looked to Yang. "This is a good day, Light Dragon." He told her.
"Are you insane?! People are dying!" She snapped.
"The world will not miss them. Why should you?" He questioned, then turned back to the destroyed Arkham City. "Look at my work. You may have defeated Strange, but this... this is just the beginning. Come with me and prove you are worthy where Strange and Batman were not. We will wipe this world clean." He told her.
"You're not cleaning the world, your staining it with blood! You're gonna need the lazarus again when I'm done with you." Yang snapped.
Ra's laughed at this. "I doubt it." He told her.
However, Strange had one last surprise for both of them. "Computer: Activate... Protocol... Eleven." He started.
"Eleven?!" Yang asked, not expecting a new protocol.
Ra's turned around in alarm at this. "What are you doing?!" He demanded.
"Pass code: Wayne!" Strange finished, before finally dying.
Suddenly, a new alarm was raised and the screen showed the number five and began counting down. "It's a bomb!" Yang realized, rushing Ra's and tackled him out of the window as the tower detonated, causing them to separate. However, Yang spotted Ra's much further below her, so she righted herself and fired several shots behind her to rocket her forward until she could reach the immortal man and catch him. However, the Head of the Demon had different plans and unsheathed his sword, preparing to run them both through, but Yang pushed off, causing the immortal to only impale himself, plummeting below until he landed on the the pointed entrance of Arkham City's gate.
Yang was quickly closing in on the ground herself, but at the last minute, fired a round from each gauntlet into the ground, sending her ten feet back into the air, allowing her to twist and land in an expert three-point landing.
Suddenly, she got a call from Oracle. "Yang, are you okay?! The tower just exploded!" She said in concern.
"Yeah, I know. I was there." Yang said.
"Thank goodness. I'm so glad you're okay." Oracle replied.
"Good job, Yang. Glad you're still with us." Batman's voice came over the line as well.
"Nice of you to join us, Bruce. Ra's Al Ghul was behind all of this. He was backing Strange, all of this was his vision to begin with." Yang said.
"I should've known." Batman said.
"You're kidding! Where is he know?" Oracle asked.
"I think he's... on the fence about things." Yang said, sending them an image with her goggles.
"Charming." Barbara said.
"Then hurry up and get to my position. Joker's taken Talia into the theater and it's heavily guarded."
"You didn't manage to get Talia before they got to the theater?" Yang asked.
"No. I had trouble evading a few helicopters." Batman explained.
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Yang said. She then sighed at this. "This night just keeps getting deadlier. And I have a feeling we're not finished yet." Yang said, making her way to the theater.
[1] Hey, if Strange is saying all this over a loudspeaker of some sort, how does no one else, especially the TYGER guards, hear him refer to Batman as Wayne, Bruce or Bruce Wayne MULTIPLE TIMES?
[2] Seriously, there was absolutely NO WAY they could've saved Strange at that point. what was Batman thinking when he said Strange needed medical attention? Especially during Protocol Ten, where everything was under fire. The ABSOLUTE best they could've done in that situation was bring him to that doctor downstairs, who wouldn't have the necessary materials to save Strange. Even if she did, that is most definitely a fatal wound, probably ruptured a lung and maybe Strange's stomach, which would then leak its acid and dissolve his internal organs. I know Batman's a bit coo-coo and this is crazy DC comic land, but come on.