Hey hey kids! It's your friendly uncle J! I mean...wait...that's not right =/ Let me try again. (Clears throat) Greetings readers! Dreamer here with another chapter for you guys! Unfortunantly this isn't the Scarecrow chapter, not yet at least. I know how you guys are looking forward to it, and I don't wanna dissapoint ;) And for all of you wondering out there...there WILL be a sequal for this with Arkham City, aaaand, I've already started on it. So when this story is finished keep an eye out for it! Once again, I've babbled on enough for the beginning, so I present to you chapter 9!
Chapter 9: Hide and Seek
This was like a bad game of hide and seek, the doctors were hiding and here I was stumbling around trying to find them like an idiot. I continued down the long hallway, ignoring the pre-recorded voices that tried to pound information in my head that I didn't need to know...or so I thought at the time. My first destination was the X-ray room, why? Well...it was the first room I came by. I was just about to round a corner when a gruff voice stopped me.
"So that's Doc Young." This made me finally glance up at the TV screen to see a woman speaking, wasn't she one of the doctors that needed saving?
"Yeah, she can operate on me any day." Another one said, I frowned, un amused at this comment and swiftly rounded the corner readying myself for attack.
"Didn't your mommies ever teach you manners?" I asked as I arched an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest while sinking into one side. They all frowned and beat their fists, ready to beat the shit out of me, I smirked and ran forward immediately taking them down. My fists went every which way and I was stepping over unconscious bodies to the door before I knew it. I pushed through it and observed the room making sure no one was going to randomly come out and shoot me. When I was sure nothing was going to I walked in more and the door conveniently shut behind me. At first when I walked in, I didn't really see and hear much, until I took about a step deeper in I heard a voice from behind a wall.
"Why are you doing this? I have done exactly what you've asked." I paused momentarily in mid step to listen, I took note how I had done that a lot through this journey.
"Look, you think I care? Stop your whining and listen good!" A gruff voice ordered her sternly, I stood in my place, I had stopped my whining and was listening good.
"If anyone goes near you without Joker's express permission, then I've been ordered to make sure you are taken out ASAP, looks like you're our bargaining chip." By the time he was halfway through with that sentence I was already on the move, finding a way to get in while taking out all the guards. I bit my bottom lip and took a step back, glancing over the walls curiously. Maybe with the right amount of explosions in the right place, I'd be able to cave in the walls. Weird thought, but it's all I had to try on. I glanced around once more and started to smear explosive gel on one of the walls, I didn't have Joker's express permission to see Dr. Young, but he was just going to have to deal with it. I snuck over around the room to another wall after placing a hand on it to see if I could blow through it, while continuing to listen in.
"Gotta tell ya, the boss is all over this job. Planned like a military operation. Friends on the inside and out. Only thing he didn't plan on was that red headed brat showin' up and stickin' her nose in the wrong business." I couldn't help but smirk as I smeared more explosive gel onto another wall.
"I am quite aware that this job, as you call it, requires friends. What I wanna know is why you chose me. Did Joker specify me? Why don't you let me talk to him? I'm sure we can settle this." I'm not quite sure why I hadn't hit the blowy up button yet, some part of me wanted to hear the rest of the conversation.
"Lady, if I have to tell you once more, I am going to hurt you. You understand? Shut the hell up!" And that was enough listening, time to blow shit up. I pressed the button causing the walls to move in while exploding, knocking out every thug that had a gun. I heard Doctor Young let out a panicked 'Please God no' as it exploded. I stood there where the crumbled wall remained, impressed by the way it happened.
"Coool..." I glanced up at the doctor. "Hiya." I greeted nonchalantly as I stepped into the room, as she saw me she stood up straight and placed a hand on her hip.
"What's going on?" She ordered as she tried to sound stern, I stood there for a couple moments expressionless.
"Well, you're welcome for saving your life." I replied sarcastically as I turned to leave, no way was I going to deal with an ungrateful bitch. However she stopped me with a slightly more polite tone.
"They were talking like they were in control, is it true that Joker escaped?" She asked, I turned back around and crossed my arms over my chest.
"You clearly haven't been paying much attention have you? Alright then," I breathed a sigh. "Yeah, it's true. He escaped. Can I ask how you're connected with him?" I asked, knowing she must have been somehow with the way the conversation went between her and the assholes that were now scattered among the floor.
"I'd been studying Joker's case for months when he broke out. The warden was very specific he wanted Joker cured." She explained to me, I arched an eyebrow curiously, why was that not more surprising?
"Well, I'm gonna guess and say, if he let a psychopathic clown run around the street blowing up buildings freely, it wouldn't really get him a lot of votes for Mayor." I replied, she rolled her eyes and sunk into her hip more. Surprisingly unprofessional in my eyes, then again, what would being professional do in a situation like this?
"That'll be the least of his-" Before she could finish it seemed like a horrible thought struck through her mind, I could see it on her expression.
"Oh god..." She breathed looking down at the floor then back up at me. "I almost forgot. They said they were moving through the facility, hunting down the other doctors." She explained, I nodded calmly in response, if I freaked out what good would that do for her?
"Yeah, I know. I'm working on that right now, I just found you first. While I go find the others just stay here, okay? It's dangerous out there." I told her as I turned to leave, but a question of hers stopped me in mid-step.
"Then why are you going out there?" She asked, I froze and scrunched my face up in thought. That was a good question. Why was 'I' doing this? Couldn't the adults that had training do this? How could a 16 year old girl save an entire asylum from a hostile takeover? Then an answer came to my head. Like the way I had been doing it...that's how. Somehow, I was getting through this. Slowly I was, as I made mistakes and learned from them on the way I was actually doing this. I had to come up with the only reply I could think of.
"I have to." I didn't even look back at her as I said that, I just took in a deep breath and continued back through the door where I came from. I swung it open and headed out while holding my head as I continued to the next room. As I made my way down the hall way while my eyes scanned the path around, I glanced up only to see a giant box in the middle of the hall, I stopped and glanced around suspiciously.
"Okay..." I stated simply. "I'll play along." I finished as I took cautious steps toward the box, of course I didn't trust what was inside, what was in it? A bomb? A knife? A pie? As I inched closer the whole thing spontaneously popped open. I yelped and shielded myself as fake chattering teeth littered the floor, I glanced down at them, emotionless as I realized that's what I was afraid of. I should have guessed they would be fake novelty items. I rolled my eyes and continued on down the hallway. My eyes traveled up to the sign hanging above and I read the bold lettering in my mind. Surgery. I shivered, I hated surgery, and I remember I had to go through it twice when I was 6, but the reason why I had to was not important. I didn't need that memory clogging my mind and making me lose focus. I shook my head to get the unwanted thoughts out and swung open the door, attempting to stride through but failing misserably. I immediately took notice how the room was slightly bigger than the other one, I also took notice of the strapped in Doctor across the room. I quickly forgot about the size and jogged over.
"Amber!" The man frantically called, I smirked mentally, another point for another person who knew my name. I straightened up for whatever authority I actually had and attempted to calm him down.
"It's alright," I assured him. "You should be safe now." I informed him, his look of panic however was still there, I was curious to why.
"But...but, it's a trap!" He told me quickly, I arched an eyebrow, his words processing in my mind.
"Huh...guess I should have figured that." I stated out loud as my eyes shifted up to the three TV screens that hung from the wall, to my non surprise and displeasure Joker's ugly mug appeared onscreen.
"Well, I must say you certainly have a ways to go before you come even close to 'world's greatest detective', Ambsy." He told me, I just nodded and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Yeah, right now I'm kinda 'girl who runs around stopping crazy clowns'. But at least I can detect 'some' things." I replied, he leaned forward at this with a curious tilt of his head.
"Really? How do you do it, then?" He asked me, I arched an eyebrow with a look of un-interest painted on my face before I decided to give him an answer.
"Do I really need to answer that?" I asked, he just leaned back in his chair, I noticed by the look on his face he was bored of this conversation.
"Oh what the hell, get down there boys. See if she can 'detect' being punched in the face!" He ordered hotly, I turned around to face the men now jumping from the higher platform down to my level.
"I probably could, if they ever get the chance to hit me." I stated out loud with a smirk as I ran into battle, I readied my fists and threw the first punch. It all went downhill from there. I grabbed incoming fists, kicked a few men in the crotch, and even head butted a few. I cart wheeled towards the last one and sprang up in the air while kicking him in the face. I landed back down on my feet as he flew back and landed on the ground on his back unconscious.
"What are you waiting for April Fool's day? Get down there now!" Joker ordered once more as more men came down to try and beat the shit out of me, I laughed and cracked my knuckles, this was only getting easier every time I did it. As I went through another round of men I felt the energy inside me increase more, I noticed my punches getting stronger with each hit I dished out, it was odd. This whole experience was making me...stronger in a way. As I took the last man down I rubbed my knuckles with a slight wince and looked back up at the TV screens.
"I'm just softenin' ya up Ambsy, think of it as a preview to the main event." He squealed happily with a laugh, until I gave him my answer. I stood up straight and tall and once again ignored the pain and fatigue that surged through my body.
"I'm looking forward to it." I told him sternly and with slight anger, he stopped in mid laughter and looked at me through the screen, me expression remained the same all except for a small smirk I couldn't help. After a few moments of staring he frowned dramatically and leaned forward in his seat.
"Don't get too full of yourself, kiddo. You won't be saying that when the time comes, you'll see." The screen cut off after that, and that's when I noticed something. He was actually responding to what I was saying. No more ignoring me and changing the subject, or brushing off my words as if they meant nothing, he responded to words I actually said...weird. Maybe it was that the longer I was in the game, the more the characters became adapted to me being there. It was my own stupid philosophy but in a way it kind of made sense. As I went on with these thoughts I had almost completely forgotten about the strapped in doctor that was probably having a panic attack right about now. I hurried over to him as he wiggled a bit in panic.
"Please get me out of this thing!" I looked over the platform curiously and blankly, questioning myself as to how.
"Okay...uh...eenie, meanie minie-...oh hell there's only one switch on here." I told myself as I pulled it, and soon the restraints around his arms, legs, and head came off. He sat up with a sigh of relief and looked down at the ground as if he was ashamed of something, after a few moments, he spoke.
"I'm sorry...I tried to tell you, I couldn't speak." I nodded my head in sympathy and understanding, I know I would have felt the same way.
"It's alright, I understand. But you don't have to worry about me, I'm learning how to eat punks like these for breakfast." I forced a laugh but unfortunately he didn't find it all too funny, I frowned as I noticed the lack of humor in this asylum. The humor there was, was Joker and to be honest seeing him face to face didn't make him all that funny. Of course in the cartoons he was hilarious, I loved seeing every minute of him on screen. But now that I knew him? He was more of a pain in the ass annoyance than he was my favorite comic book villain. My conversation with Doctor Chen ended there as I turned around to head for the door.
"Where are you going?" He asked, again like with Doctor Young I stopped but didn't turn back to look at him. I just simply answered.
"To find the last doctor. You just stay here." I ordered, with that I left pushing open the door and heading back down the hall. As I exited the Surgery room and headed back up the staircase I came from I noticed another present sitting up waiting for me. Like last time as I neared it the whole thing exploded, I only recoiled slightly in fear as even more chattering teeth bounced and hopped along the ground. I rolled my eyes and whipped out a batarang and flipped it open, then with a flick of my wrist threw them at the teeth. As I hit the last one Joker's voice echoed off the walls from the speakers.
"I'm not sure if I can keep it a secret any longer, I have two old friends coming to the party who are just 'dying' to meet you. One of them is just terrified you'll leave without saying hello. The other...well, let's just say he's going to have a fun time getting to know you." Joker chuckled and soon his voice disappeared from my hearing. My eyebrows scrunched together in thought as I slowly headed off to the next room. Terrified I would leave...Scarecrow. I didn't think he'd really be fun to hang around with. I supposed I should have guessed I'd run into him at the asylum sooner or later. The other person that Joker mentioned was still a mystery though. That one wasn't a corny joke that hinted to the next person I would see, guess that one I would just have to wait and see. I finally made it to the last door, 'Observation', where I saw some guards talking in a huddle, I stopped in mid step with my eyes increasing a bit in size, not knowing they were there.
"Who's the guard?" One asked, I stood silently and listened, wondering when or if they would eventually see me.
"That mean son of a bitch is Cash." Another replied. Cash? Officer Cash? The guy who only had one hand, that Cash? Without another thought I cleared my throat and the three men turned their heads to me. One of the men chuckled and took a step forward, banging his pipe repeatedly against his palm.
"Look who's come to join the party." With a sneer he charged forwards to me and swung the piece of metal, I barely dodged it with a startled yelp as I wasn't all too ready for the attack. After he swung I managed to get a hit to his head in which he fell over in pain because of. While I was looking at the pipe guy another buff henchman tried to attack thinking he caught me off guard. I swiftly turned and grabbed his fist, twisting it while punching him right in the face, knocking him over and out. The last one however somehow caught me off guard, the pipe collided with my back and I fell forward with a yelp into the wall. When I turned around I found the henchman's hands on my shoulders as he pinned me to the wall. I grunted but remained still knowing the worse thing to do was to struggle, I also ignored the cold tears of pain that slowly slid down my cheeks. My eyes locked with the man's as he chuckled, the clown makeup on his face was peeling and his breath was disgusting.
"Joker's gonna mess you up, bitch." He smirked as he was about to make his next move, but I didn't give him the chance. My knee went up and slammed in between his legs, he cried out in pain and stumbled back as I snatched the pipe from him and swung it forcefully to his face. As soon as the two collided he fell over and crashed into the ground on his back.
"We'll see," I started and was about to walk to the door, but I stopped and turned back around to the unconcious body. "Bitch." I finished as I threw the pipe at him, it bounced off his stomach and clanked to the ground, rolling slightly before it stopped. I grunted and pushed through the doors, my expression softened and a wave of panic hit me when I saw the scene in front of me.
"Boss, it's done." A man spoke into a walkie talkie, I was gonna take a wild guess and say he was talking to Joker. "The room is full of gas and Captain Hook is stuck in there." I took slow and calm steps towards them, just listening while my brain was forced to work rapidly in planning out my next move to take them out.
"Thing is, Razor didn't get out in time. He's stuck in there too." The man complained, as I edged closer to them, not only could I hear Joker's reply, but I also saw Officer Cash and another doctor on the other side of a wall of glass.
"Well that'll teach him to dilly-dally. Don't let anyone out of there. Even Razor, he's failed me and I don't like failures." Was the clown's reply, I smirked.
"Funny, niether do I." Immediately I released my fists and they started hitting the men, I heard a chuckle from Cash as he cheered me on.
"Go Amber!" The fight ended with a high kick to the head and the man fell back, crashing into his side with a groan before he slipped into unconciousness. I rolled my shoulders back, the tension and soarness began to make them tingle, I glanced over at Cash and headed over nonchalantely. When I reached him I leaned against the glass casually with an arched eyebrow.
"Hey there Cash, you ever think sometimes you need to take a step back and ask yourself 'just how in the hell did I get here'?" I asked, he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
"Everyday." He replied, I came away from the glass with a nod, then scanned over the room for a possible way in. If there was a way in, it wouldn't be obvious with a gigantic sign and large flashy lights.
"What happened?" I asked as my eyes scanned the lower part of the walls before slipping up to the higher part of the walls for perhaps a vent or something.
"There was an alarm in Medical. I heard someone shouting and found the Doc lying on the floor. When I went to help him, the room was flooded with gas. These doors locked down, we can't get out, don't know how long we can last." I racked my brain for something encouraging to say, but nothing turned up, my mouth opened but Joker's voice was the one to speak.
"How brave." He said with a slight sneer burried into his voice. "Let's give Mr. Cash a great big hand! He could use one." At this Joker let out a dark mocking chuckle, but I didn't care, I finally saw my way up. I grappled up to the vents and pulled myself up, while doing so I questioned how my arms hadn't fallen off yet.
"You'll be laughin' out of your butt when I get outta here." At this I chuckled, that was actually way more funnier than what Joker said. I jumped over to the other side of the vents and yanked off the cover, my poor nails.
"Lighten up, homes. I'm just messin' with ya." Joker replied, I couldn't exactly hear Cash's reply as I crawled on my knees and squeezed into the vents. In an odd kind of way I felt as if I was an 8 year old again, crawling through the plastic tubes at the playground, however this wasn't anything like that, not even close. Cash's voice was the thing that knocked me out of my strange thoughts and back to reality, at least I think it was reality.
"You've got to help us, if you can clear the room me and the doc can get outta here!" Made sense in my mind, I finally crawled out of the vents and stood up to my full height, while dusting off my skinnies. My eyes slipped up slowly to examine the room around me, I was high up on some platform thing. My eyes fell down and I saw the green gas that lingered and poisoned the area below. Joker gas. It was so weird to be looking at it in real life. Memories once again flashed to when I was younger, watching the TV show and seeing Joker use his famous gas, I would always laugh.
Not this time.
As my eyes observed the lower part a thought struck me...I bit my bottom lip and looked around the whole room. I cupped my hands over my mouth and shouted.
"Cash! Can you hear me?" I shouted in question, I waited a few moments before I heard Cash reply over some sort of intercom.
"I can hear you fine Amber." He replied, I nodded and let a subtle sigh of relief slip out from between my lips even if my body was still tense from worry.
"I have no idea what I'm doing!" I finished, when I had I un-cupped my hands and waited for his answer with the patience I surprisingly still had. I stepped to the edge and glanced down once more at the gas, it was hard to keep my eyes off of it.
"There are three switches, each connected to the fan circulation in the room. You hit the switch, you turn on the fans," I finished his sentence but mainly spoke to my myself.
"And clear out the room." My view immediately switched to look around the room for the first button.
"Bingo." Cash replied, I nodded while at the same time my eyes locked onto the first button. I slowly reached for the belt and slowly pulled out a batarang, my eyes fixed on the button. I needed to aim for this, and not having aim was no excuse, I needed to hit that switch no matter what. I glanced down at the batarang tightly gripped in my hand and breathed a deep sigh. I relaxed my body and brought my hand back, then it flung forward and I released the batarang. It spliced through the air and glided right into the button, I couldn't help but smile a bit in joy, I did it. I hurried over to the clear path and jumped along to reach the next clear platform where I could get the remaining two switches. I glanced down at the gate like material I was standing on and noticed the switch was right under my feet. I backed up as much as I could and ran forward, jumping to the next platform. My hands barely got a grip on the side as I pulled myself up, pulling up onto these things was way worse than doing pull ups in gym class. When I finally had my feet back on what felt close enough to ground I turned to where I just stood and threw a batarang at the control switch that was in sight. It slammed into it and more of the gas slowly started to clear away. I figured that enough of the fans were on to clear out the room, but hey, this was a video game. Things weren't done until you did all parts of the level.
"Power to fan two, she's doing it doc, we'll be out of here soon, stay cool." I heard Cash's voice, I smiled gently and turned to my left but my smile dissapeared when I saw a man hanging in the air. I jumped down to a lower plateform and tried not to fall off when I focused my attention on the man once more. He looked paniced, and he was wearing clown makeup. Razor. I bit my lip and looked at the floor below him, I knew the last switch must have been in there. My eyes quickly shifted between Razor and the floor, I had a plan, but it was crazy. I released my lip while taking out a batarang, I had to try, that's all I knew. I sighed and threw the batarang at the rope, like I had hoped it cut it swiftly and Razor crashed right through the floor, revealing a gaping hole where I could see the switch. So Razor wouldn't die of laughter I quickly took out another batarang and flung it at the switch. However, while I was doing so something happened. I'm not sure what. I lost my balance while throwing and before I knew it.
I fell.
I was on the floor, giggling, the gas filled my nose and my sides began to hurt. My eyes filled up with tears from laughter, I couldn't stop. While I was laughing I couldn't help but hear Joker laughing along with me.
Laughter...laughter...
I blacked out.
Holy crap...that was fun to write :3 I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Certainly a long one but I owe you guys for my sort of absence. But hey! You all know what chapter is next *dramatic drum roll* That's right! Scarecrow's chapter! The one you all seemed to be waiting for! I hope I won't let you guys down.
Review Responses:
deathchild221: I loved and hated the ending to Arkham City at the same time. I won't lie when saying I cried like a baby at the end, yet I was jumping around like a maniac at the same time, lol. It's just that good of a game!
Crystalmaiden62: I'm never gonna give up on this story hun, my stories are like my babies. Gotta keep feeding them so they grow, thanks for reviewing! ;)
dglsprincess105: Honey, it'll be even MORE awesome than they say, trust me. And as I said in the beginning of this chapter, there will certainly be a sequel ;)
Ultraman Nexus: There will most definently be a sequel, thanks for reading!
GadgetCid: Thanks so much! It was my goal since the beginning!
Juu50x: Amber certainly is taking a whole lot of pressure isn't she? You can bet she'll have a few mental break downs, especially with Scarecrow ;) And I felt the same way with Arkham City, such a great game isn't it?
Love you all! *MWAH*