A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry this chapter took so long. I'm really trying to managed these stories well enough to get chapters of all of them out regularly, but clearly, I'm not doing a good job. Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
And, don't forget, my challenge for others to try writing their own version of this story with another character is still going on. Sun and Ren would be good options, since they know martial arts and can fight without weapons. Or perhaps Penny, to give her some justice after Volume 8. Maybe one of the adults like Qrow or Winter could get a turn. Or maybe even have one of the villains like Emerald or Neo get a redemption by helping the bat. The choices are endless and they're all yours.
But without further ado, onto the chapter.
The heroes walked into the lobby of the GCPD with Ivy in tow as Commissioner Gordon was on the phone with someone. "Civil unrest?! There's a war on the streets! We don't have the manpower OR the equipment!" He snapped at whoever he was talking to, before slamming the phone on the receiver.
"Well, look who it is!" Cash said as the vigilantes entered.
"Hey, Cash! You guys have your hands full here, huh?" Yang asked.
"Is that supposed to be a joke about the hook?" Cash questioned.
"Oh, gosh, no! I know what boundaries not to cross!" The blonde insisted.
But Cash just laughed at this. "Nah, I'm just messing with you. But yeah. Things are insane around here. But I'm glad you guys brought in Ivy. One less psycho off the street." He said.
"Right. We've already got enough to worry about." Gordon agreed.
"Is the isolation chamber ready?" Batman asked.
"Glad you're putting it to good use." Cash said as the crime-fighters escorted Ivy there.
"Oh, goodie. Another cell." Ivy said as Batman put in the code and opened the door, pushing her inside. "You feel safer now that I'm all locked up?" She asked.
"It's puts us just A BIT more at ease, yeah." Yang confirmed as they walked back to the lobby.
Commissioner Gordon was back on the phone, clearly not happy with what he was being told. Yang couldn't make out the full conversation, but she did pick up on the Commissioner ending the conversation with "Screw you!", before slamming the phone down again. "Damn bureaucrats. We're on our own." Gordon told them.
"What else is new?" Yang asked.
"We can handle it, Jim. What's the latest?" Batman asked.
"We've got incidents cropping up all over the city." The Commissioner told them. "Cash, give us a rundown." He instructed the hook-handed officer.
Cash began to sow them the various situations on the screen in front of them. "Alright, let's see... First up, we've lost contact with the fire crew from Station 17. We got their last known coordinates, but they're not going to survive out there on their own for long." He said as "Missing in Action" was shown at the top of the screen, the pictures of the missing firemen showing up on the sides.
"Then there's this. It's a strange one. Body turned up. We didn't have long to look before the evacuation, but the forensics boys seemed freaked out. Real nasty." Cash continued as a body was shown shackled to a bridge with its hands above its head. A head that was covered in bandages to hide the horrifying injuries.
"Man, sometimes I forget just how big of freaks some of these guys can be." Yang said in disgust, flinching away from the screen.
"Also, we've had several sightings of the Riddler creeping around the train yard. Knowing that guy, he's gotta be up to no good." Cash told of the last big issue as Riddler was shown on the screen.
"Ugh. Not that guy again! Seriously, finding all those trophies and riddles isn't fun, it's tedious. Guy needs a hobby." Yang grumbled.
"I know you two are busy, but anything you can do to help is going to save lives." Gordon told them.
"Don't worry, Jim. I have someone working a lead on 'll see what we can do." Batman assured the Commissioner. And with that, the two vigilantes headed out to the Batmobile and hopped in, quickly exiting the police precinct.
"We'll head to the clock tower first. See what Oracle's found on Scarecrow's toxin." Batman told both Yang and Alfred, the latter hearing over an earpiece.
"Let's hope it's good news, sir." Alfred said.
"Yeah. We could SERIOUSLY use some of that right about now." Yang agreed.
And so, the heroes drove through the city, taking out a few small time criminals causing trouble along the way, before finally reaching the clock tower. They would then exit the Batmobile and grapple up the tower, dropping down inside. Making their way to the center of the room, Batman walked up to a nearby bust on one of the shelves and tilted its head back to active the biometric scan. "Identities confirmed." The computer voice declared as the window into the tower closed and all the shelves retracted into the floor, a terminal rising up out of the floor for the Dark Knight's usage.
Batman made his way over to the terminal and pulled up the information Barbara had been able to gather on the new toxin. However, before they could look too much into it, they were made aware of their technical support rolling up towards them in her wheelchair. "Do I come in the batcave? Start messing with your stuff? Or swipe your Scroll and start tinkering with it?" She questioned the two of them.
"You wouldn't stop trying to swipe it and study it for the first three months I was here!" Yang reminded her.
"You've managed to reduce the compound to its core elements." Batman said, impressed.
"But there's nothing in there that we can trace." Barbara pointed out as she looked through the elements contained within the toxin once more.
"There HAS to be something in there we can use to track down Crane. We're just not seeing it yet." Yang told them.
"She's right. We must be looking at this the wrong way. Instead of searching for the toxin, what if we focus on the manufacturing process?" Batman suggested, typing away at the terminal, bringing up some different data.
"Why didn't I see that? The reaction emits a unique radiation spike." Oracle realized.
"Only in Gotham would a radiation spike be a good thing." Yang said.
"Run a scan of the city for this energy signature. It will show where Scarecrow is making his fear toxin." Batman instructed.
"It'll take a few hours to bring the satellites into position." Oracle told him.
"We don't have enough time. We'll repurpose the antenna at the movie studios." Batman said as the two vigilantes started to leave.
Oracle sighed at this, turning back to them. "Bruce, I spoke to Dad. I hate lying to him. He'd kill me if he knew I was still in the city. He still blames himself for this." She said, referring to her wheelchair.
"We'll stop Scarecrow." Batman assured her.
"We always do. It's no different than any other time." Yang added.
"But it WILL be different afterward. Because you'll be leaving when this is done, right? Going back to your world?" Oracle asked.
Yang sighed. "That's the plan, yeah." She confirmed.
"Things aren't gonna be the same without you." Barbara said, rolling up to Yang, holding her arms out for an embrace.
Yang was quick to oblige and hug the former Batgirl. "They'll be better. Because that just means you guys won't need me anymore." She said.
They soon separated and Oracle looked her in the eyes. "Just don't forget. No matter what world you're in, you'll always be part of the Bat Family." She told the Remnant girl.
The two of them grappled up and out of the tower, at which point Batman quickly called Gordon. "Jim, we've got a way to find out where Crane's working from." Batman told him.
"Thank god. What can I do?" Gordon asked.
"Get your men ready. Soon as we have a location, we'll let you know." Batman told him.
"Alright!" Gordon confirmed.
The two then took off to the nearby rooftop of the theater, where Batman would place a device on the generator for the antenna while Yang ripped off the covering for the power lever, cranking it to active the antenna. Unfortunately, this only resulted in a violent spark of electricity from the electric panel. "The generator's damaged. We need to bypass it and access the antenna directly." Batman said.
"Well, then. I guess it's time to test out my new upgrades." Yang said, pressing a specific sequence of buttons on the base of each finger of her gloves, causing a number of ports to open up on the back of her gauntlets. She then reached into one of the pouches of her utility belt and pulled out several imitation dust crystals and loaded them into the ports of the gauntlets. She then shot her hands forward as if to fire rounds from her gauntlets- but instead, a powerful cable shot from each gauntlet into the generator, powering it with a steady supply of electricity. And just like that, the antenna was back online. "Guess you're gonna have to wait a bit longer to use that new power winch." Yang said.
"Probably for the best. We'll be needing the Batmobile a lot tonight. I'd rather not have to rely on it for EVERYTHING." Batman said as he called their tech wizard. "Oracle, we've restored power to the antenna." Batman told her.
"Great. I'm connecting now." She said. "Okay, it's ready, but we're going to need a microwave tower to triangulate Scarecrow's location. There's one at Falcone Shipping in The Cauldron. I've marked it on your map." She said.
"Thanks, Oracle." Batman said, hanging up, before turning to Yang. "We need a second point. Think you'll be fine here on your own?" Batman asked.
"The coast seems pretty clear. Just try not to take to long. I can do this all day, but I'm not sure how long the gauntlets can charge this for." Yang said.
"Have I disappointed you before?" Batman asked.
"Only when you didn't get me that Lamborghini for my birthday." She said cheekily. Batman rolled his eyes at this, before grappling off.
After roughly five minutes, the blonde brawler finally heard the voice of Oracle over her earpiece. "Okay, both towers are fully online." Barbara said.
"Time to find Scarecrow." Batman said. And after another short pause, she heard her Earth mentor's voice once again. "The radio and micro wave frequencies point to ACE Chemicals. That's where Scarecrow's producing the toxin." Batman said.
"Crap. Gordon had that place locked down tighter than the drawer Blake hid her smut in. That can only mean Scarecrow either bought off the cops or killed them." Yang said, shaking her head and disconnecting from the tower. "I'll meet you at the Batmobile and we'll take him down." She told Bruce over the comms, before grappling into the air. She would then glide across the sky and arrive at the Batmobile, letting go of her cape and dropping into the vehicle as the top opened for her, landing perfectly in the shotgun position beside Batman. She then took notice that Batman was wearing a new, more heavily armored suit. "Nice new suit. Any chance I'll be getting one?" Yang asked.
"Lucius only recently finished this one for me." Batman explained.
"Well, now there's TWO times you disappointed me." Yang said with a pout.
The two of them then drove to the ACE Chemicals building, Batman drifting to a stop and the two vigilantes launching themselves out of the vehicle and landing right in front of the Commissioner. "Any word from inside?" Batman asked.
"Nothing. We think there's a skeleton crew left in there, but they're not responding and the facility's locked down." Gordon explained.
"If they're still alive, we'll find them. They should be able to tell us what Scarecrow's up to." Batman said.
However, before any further action could be taken, a helicopter colored in red and white flew up from below the bridge. "What the hell?" Gordon asked.
"That's not one of yours. Which can only mean it's here to cause problems." Yang said.
And the aircraft proceeded to do exactly that, flying closer to the gates of the ACE Chemicals plant and launching a pair of missiles at the bridge leading into the plant, causing it to break and crumble apart into the ocean below. "Come on, let's go! Come on, move, move, move! Take cover!" Gordon ordered as the police retreated to a safe distance, while the vigilantes stood their ground.
"It looks like he's getting ready to shoot again." Yang said in concern.
"Scarecrow won't let him kill us yet. Not until he makes sure we know he's won. He has to lord his victory over us so we are positive he's beaten us." Batman explained.
"Oh, jeez. And I thought Torchwick had an ego." Yang grumbled. The doors of the plant then opened to reveal several remote tanks rushing their way while firing upon them. "I guess he didn't give them the same memo!" She shouted, firing some rounds back at the tanks as they, too, retreated behind some battered police cars for cover.
The tanks then backed off as the doors closed once again. "Friend of yours?" Gordon asked.
"Well, that's the usual reception we get from our pals on the other side of the law." Yang admitted.
"Stay here and we'll find out." Batman said as he and Yang went to infiltrate the facility.
A simple grapple onto the tower above the gate got them into the facility, as they looked down to see how thoroughly Scarecrow and his men held control over the plant. Moreover, men dressed in military-grade outfits in similar colors to the tanks and the helicopter were swarming the place, loading a couple battalions and a tank onto a cargo chopper. "Whoa. It's starting to make sense now exactly how Scarecrow was able to basically take over the city now." Yang said.
"Oracle, whoever this guy is, he's assembled an army. I need a name." Batman told their tech wizard.
"Alright, we've got something here from a black ops team operating in Venezuela... They discovered a hidden training facility housing soldiers bearing the same insignia. There's nothing but speculation on their commander, though. The only thing sources agree on is his name: The Arkham Knight." Oracle explained.
"The Arkham Knight?" Batman questioned.
"Sounds like what Jaune should be called in he came here instead of me." Yang said.
"Hack their comms. I need to know what they're planning." Batman instructed.
"Anything else?" Oracle asked.
"There's a crew of ACE Chemicals workers left on site. They'll be able to help us track down Scarecrow and locate his bomb. We need to find them." Batman explained.
"Each worker will be carrying a unique ID Chip." Barbara informed them.
"If we can access their personnel records, we'll be able to track them." Batman said to both women working with him.
"There's a security terminal in a booth near your location." Oracle said.
"Got it. Let's fish for some chips!" Yang declared, to which Batman rolled his eyes and Barbara disconnected from the call.
The two of them looked down to the terminal and used their Detective Modes to see the soldiers patrolling the area. "Five guards. All armed. We'll have to take them out before we can access the terminal." Batman pointed out.
And so, the two moved into action, Yang dropping down and performing a silent takedown on the guard patrolling closest to them, while Batman landed nearby and ducked into the grate below, making his way to a pair of guards conversing nearby and leaping out, taking them both down at the same time. This alerted one of the last two soldiers further down the hall from Batman, but Yang rounded the corner and launched herself towards the thug, grabbing him and maneuvering in a way to slam his face into the floor as they both crashed to the ground. The final soldier came running down the hall and rounded it, preparing to fire at Yang, but Batman was quick to throw a batarang and knock the thug to the floor, allowing Yang to knock him out with a ground takedown.
With the threats neutralized, the heroes accessed the terminal. "Data analysis... Data encrypting... Someone needs to update their security protocols." Batman said as he uploaded the information.
"Seriously, you'd think with how often villains break in to make their WMD's, this place would update their security every time the newest upgrades came out." Yang said.
"Oracle, we have the ID codes. If we reach a high vantage point, we can use the Batscanner to locate the workers." Batman informed her.
"Okay. I've marked the tallest structure in the area on your map. Try not to fall." Oracle said.
"Like we'd ever mess up that bad." Yang said.
The two of them then reached the tallest part of the ACE Chemicals building and Batman released the scanner, searching for the right frequencies. "I've managed to intercept some radio traffic between Scarecrow and this Arkham Knight. Relaying it to you now..." Oracle said as Batman continued to scan.
"I had him in my sights! I could have ended it right there!" The Arkham Knight snapped angrily.
"We have not broken him yet. It will come." Scarecrow assured him.
"No, I've waited long enough! I'll break him by killing Light Dragon in front of him, then take him out! Batman dies. Tonight." The Knight insisted.
"He can try. I promise him it won't end well." Yang said.
"Why DO you hate him so much?" Scarecrow questioned.
"You could never understand." Arkham Knight told him, sounding like he had sorrow in his voice.
"Your revenge is at hand. This is his last night." Scarecrow promised him.
"I'll make sure of it." The Knight declared.
"Any idea who the Arkham Knight is? Sounds like the two of you might have some history." Oracle wondered.
"I've made A LOT of enemies." Batman told her.
Soon enough, they were able to locate the positions of all the workers. "Five missing workers. So, we each take two and meet up at the last one?" Yang asked.
"Exactly. But be careful. Who knows what these men are capable of." Batman warned her, before they both grappled off to different ends of the facility.
Batman headed towards the back end of the facility while Yang handled the places closest to the front. But she started by dropping down to a platform right in front of her where a group of six thugs were: four armed and four unarmed. She dropped down and landed on the unarmed thug at the front of the platform they were on in front of a control panel. From there, she leapt forward and grabbed onto the shoulders of the armed thug next to her, flipping over him and grabbing his head, taking him with her on the flip to slam him into the ground behind where he was standing. This got her close enough to the other armed thug, who she swiftly knocked out with an uppercut. Another thug rushed at her, but she spun and smacked him with her hair to disorient him, allowing her to hit him with an elbow to double him over, finishing him with a palm heel to the face. The last two came at her together to try and take her down, but she countered both of them as they attacked at the same time, knocking them out by knocking their heads together.
Yang smirked and stretched a bit to relieve the bit of tension she built up in that fight. "That was a nice warm-up! Now for the host..ages..." She began, before hearing commotion behind her and turned to see four men in similar clothing to the mercenaries, but in black and grey colors instead of red and grey, also with skull-like masks with red eye lenses, wielding swords. "Okay, I'll be honest... Wasn't expecting that." She admitted, before firing a round from Ember Celica at them. This forced them to flip out of the way, both splitting them up and leaving first one open for an uppercut. This launched him into the air, with Yang leaping after him and grabbing his foot, flinging him into the rightmost ninja and knocking them into the platform's guard rails. Yang smacked one of her gauntlets into the sword of the one on the left, knocking it back so the back bladeless back end of the sword bonked him in the head, stunning him and allowing her to slam his head into the guard rail, before throwing him to the ground. The last one tried to swing at her, but she caught the blade in between the spikes of her gauntlets and broke the blade, before headbutting the thug to the ground, knocking him out.
"Well... That was a thing." She said, before calling up Batman. "Head's up, Bruce. They have ninjas out here, too." She warned him.
"Thanks for the warning, Yang. We need to hurry, though. They've killed one of the workers, though. We'll make them pay for this." Batman said.
"Dammit." She cursed along with Oracle.
"Listen, I've managed to hack into the militia comms network. You'll be able to listen in on any channel-wide broadcasts from now on." Oracle said.
"Good work, Oracle." Batman said, before going offline.
"You're a tech goddess." Yang said, going offline as well. "I better pick this up." She said, hurrying to the building where the first hostage was. She landed on the roof and looked down through the ceiling at the five unarmed men inside, before leaping into the air and smashing through the window to land down on the thug below it, uppercutting the one standing next to him and launching herself forward with Ember Celica to grab two of the thugs near the back left corner of the room and slam their heads into the wall with the force from launching herself, throwing them to the ground and turning to the right where the last thug was, jumping up and ripping the ceiling light from its place to slam it down on his head. She then turned to where the signal was coming from, only to find the corpse of the worker instead of the living man she was hoping for. "Not again. These militia guys are pissing me off." She said.
She then hurried to the nearest signal and made her way around to the back wall of one of the chemical treatment areas and rapid firing rounds from Ember Celica into the wall, causing it to crumble and fall to pieces, creating an entryway into the building with a trio of shocked guards on the other side. But before they could get their bearings, Yang rushed in and elbowed the one to the right, then smashed her knee into his head to knock him out. She then pulled the gun out of the hands of the thug in the middle of the three and swung it like a club to knock him out. The other one rushed in at her and threw a punch, but she easily countered in and knocked out her attacker with a headbutt. "Sorry, guys. I was just a few steps... A HEAD of you." Yang said with a giggle, before going to the room in the back where a worker was still alive, with his hands cuffed around the back of a large pipe.
"Thank God you're here!" The worker said as Yang broke the cuffs.
However, before she could do much more, the mercenaries began to break through the sky light. "Breach!" One of them announced as they rappelled down while Yang quickly ushered the worker further to the right next to a computer system and out of view of the window so he couldn't be shot.
"We're in! Go, go, go!" Another one shouted as they began to spread out.
"Spread out." Yet another said as a full group of six touched down and spaced themselves out strategically.
However, they were not alone, as they were soon joined by their leader, the Arkham Knight himself. "Well, well, well. I was expecting to find the bat, but I found a dragon instead. So, if I slay you, does that make me a hero?" The Knight taunted.
"Bold of you to assume you CAN." Yang said.
"Oh, trust me, doll. I'm more than capable. I'll be doing you a favor. I'm putting you out of your misery of being that bat freak's sidekick. People only get hurt working for him." The militia leader told her.
"That's pretty funny coming from someone who looks like they're trying to be a cyberpunk Batman with that digital face helmet. And how would you know about Batman's partners getting hurt?" She demanded.
"Sorry, babe. But I don't see the point in telling someone something when I'm just gonna kill them, anyway." He said, raising his hand, the militia preparing to fire.
However, before he could give the order to fire, Yang shot both fists forward, firing a round from both gauntlets, shattering the glass wall in front of them, sending glass flying outward, forcing them to cover themselves. Yang then launched herself forward and slamming her fist into the Arkham Knight's helmet, sending him flying into the thug in the back of the room. She then threw down a handful of smoke pellets to hide herself from their view. She then turned to her right and uppercutted the nearest thug, turning and going for the next thug in front of her, slamming his head into the wall, before grabbing and throwing him at the thug in the center of the room, pouncing on him and knocking him out with a ground takedown. She swept the legs out from the last thug in the line, before turning to the thug in front of him and stunning him with a hair smack, before rapidly pummeling him and finishing him with a palm strike to the chest, sending him back into a wall. She then turned back around as the thug she'd swept was getting back up and finishing him with an uppercut.
The smoke now began to clear as the Arkham Knight was getting back up. "Huh. Gotta admit, I didn't see that coming. Looks like Bats gave you some of his best stuff. That's favoritism. I wonder how the others feel about that?" The Knight asked.
"I had this before I even met Batman. And they all have stuff like this now. Including Batman. He makes sure we're all as prepared as we can be so we can survive." Yang told him.
"Then I guess he learned from his mistake. Too bad he didn't do it sooner." The Batman clone said, pulling out and raising an automatic rifle.
However, before he could fire, Yang launched herself to the right with her gauntlets, moving out of his line of fire, turning towards him and launching herself at him, kicking the gun out of his hands with her right leg, turning and slamming her left elbow into the back of his head, leaning forward and throwing a rear kick back into his side to stagger him, pivoting so she faced him with her right side forward, closing the distance created from her kick and uppercutting him. However, once he landed on the ground, a burst of smoke enveloped him, allowing him to disappear. "Damn." She cursed, before contacting Batman. "Bruce, it's me. I just rescued a worker." She said.
"Excellent work. I only found another dead body." Batman said, disheartened.
"And I ran into the Arkham Knight. He was using the worker as bait." She added.
"What? Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah. He's surprisingly not all that tough. But... He acts like he really knows you. Closely. I don't know who he is, but whatever his connection is with you, it's a deep one. And he's really making this personal." She said.
"We'll stop him, Yang. We always do. Meet up with me at the location of the last worker." Batman said.
"On it." She said, ending the call, before sighing. "This is gonna be one rough night." She said, before working her way to his location.
A/N: Well, there you go, guys, another chapter! I hope you'll all enjoy it!
A big thanks again to Venom-Rules-All for helping me pick out the problem parts in the game/story, like the overreliance on the Batmobile. I hope what I did to circumvent it made sense. And we both agreed that Jas- Ahem! Excuse me, the Arkham Knight- would not be a match for Yang, considering his overreliance on guns, how easily Batman owns him as soon as he closes the distance, plus Yang's natural superhuman abilities. So, I hope their fight being a pretty quick event and a bit of a stomp in Yang's favor made sense.
So, again: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Please consider trying my challenge- I'd kind of love to see how they'd react to Penny in the metal scanner in Asylum- and I'll see you next time!