Looking down from the rafters in the back room, I watch and count the number of armed men stalking around. I drop down, taking out the two in front of the door as silently as possible, Selina jumping down beside me as I bring my drone in from the opening in the roof. We both seem to spot the pile of officers in the corner though Selina's the first to speak up. "At least we know why they weren't responding."
I patch into Gordon to relay the news. "Gordon, we found one of your patrols-they've been terminated."
"Those Goddamn, sons of-" I shut him off as Oz is shown on the small TV marching on stage in front of Harvey and Hill with more thugs, an odd bird-like mask on his face.
"So sorry, ladies and gents. As you might have guessed, there's been a change to tonight's program. First order of business-" he pulls a gun from his waistband and aims it at the moderator. "Firing the moderator." He holds his arms wide like he's expecting a round of applause as people scream in terror.
"I hate to be a downer, but these hostages, I don't like their chances." Selina looks to me, as if seeking permission or something.
"If we're quick and decisive, no one else has to die." Selina's shoulders slump slightly but she nods.
"If you say so, but Penguin's playing for keeps."
"Fanatics always do," I tell her as we both step closer to where everyone is being kept, around the corner.
"These guys are armed to the teeth," Selina points out as I watch the large blue man from the other night push Vicki Vale out the doors leading to the stage.
"We need a new moderator," I hear Oz say before Vicki is pushed on stage. "Yes! You there! Thank you for volunteering!" Oz puts the gun to Vicki's head as she holds her hands up.
"Please! No!" Vicki pleads.
"Go on, then! Introduce the candidates!" When Vicki doesn't say anything, Oz surprisingly continues to talk to her instead of lashing out like I'd expect him to do. "Stage fright, huh? Alright, I'll get you started, but this is your show." I glance around the room from our hiding spot, only noticing three men moving about with their guns at the ready.
"Three hostiles. Gotta take them out quietly."
"On the left-hard of heart, soft in gut-our down and dirty incumbent, Mayor Hill!" Oz introduces artfully just as I see Selina climb up above and hide in the ceiling. "And on the right-always smiling to your face-our despicable DA, Harvey Dent!"
"Bird mask guy-whatever your name is-" Vicki starts.
"Call me Penguin," Oz interrupts her.
"Yes, of course, Penguin then. We will play your game-just please, let these people go!" Vicki pleads as I look between the thugs, trying to decide the best way to take them out.
"Play then, and we'll see. Coin toss! Heads goes first!"
"Heads," Vicki repeats.
"Questions! Ask them questions!" Oz demands. I look to one thug, standing in front of a bright theatre light that I could easily use to knock him out and another can be knocked out with the backup camera that's sitting off to my right.
"Um…okay….Mr. Dent, the….the subject on everyone's mind is the new Wayne Mental Health Facility…."
"It's such a needed state-of-the-art health care hospital that will offer treatment for the most unfortunate of Gotham's citizens-" Harvey begins when Oz cuts him off.
"I told you I want the truth! Not that sterile on-message rubbish!"
I could use the table to take down the last man standing in the doorway, prepared to call for help. The table's sturdy enough that it'll get the job done.
"We had a d-deal-I gave you what you wanted-oof-" Hill tries to talk but Oz smacks him across the face with the butt of his gun.
"Save it for the opening statements, pillock. Rule one! Talk when I say talk. Shut your gob when I say shut your gob! Easy! Rule two! Scratching, biting and kicking each other in the nads are all encouraged!" Good to know Oz is still childish in his rules.
I glance at Selina who's been watching me but being so used to working on my own, I didn't bother to include her in any of my plans. Either she understands or has plans of her own because she nods to me and I nod back before moving into action. I take out the man with the camera first, then dash for the one who's moved from his doorway position, slamming his head into the table before jumping over the rows of table and chairs and take the light, swinging it like a baseball bat and taking care of thug number three.
"Rule three! Always, always tell the truth. Even if it hurts, it'll hurt even worse if you don't!"
The scared hostages all look to Selina and I, cowering as if we're coming after them next. "Keep your heads down," I instruct quietly and point to the back door. "Make for the police line." They all dash for the door as Oz catches my attention on the TV. He's walked up and grabbed the camera, talking directly into it.
"And now, a word from our sponsor." The signal glitches out before being replaced by a familiar figure. The person from the train station the other night with the concussion stick steps into view of the camera
"My downtrodden brothers and sisters of Gotham. You have nothing to fear. We are the Children of Arkham. We are here to end the masquerade and expose the corruption at root in your city." I glance to Selina and she simply shrugs her shoulders at me. "For too long, men, like your esteemed mayor, have profited from the pain of innocents.
"This is spiraling out of control-they have no idea about the man behind the mask!"
"Whoever it is, they're smart. Let someone else get their hands dirty." Selina states with another shrug of her shoulders.
"Look into the hearts of these spineless creatures, chosen to lead." The TV switches back to the debate, the figure still talking but now on the jumbotron behind Oz, Vicki, Hill, and Harvey. Oz can be seen holding Vicki to gunpoint with two needles in her hands.
"Go on, love," Oz encourages. "You know what to do."
Vicki wearily approaches Hill who looks terrified but is kept in place by the thug pointing his gun at Hill's back. Vicki is non-to gentle jamming the needle into Hill's shoulder before approaching Harvey.
"Candidates! Take off your masks!" the figure calls out as Vicki jams the other needle between Harvey's should blades. Both men shake as blue veins spread from around their mouth. It's an even more powerful version of the drug they've been using. They've managed to enhance it even further.
"Show Gotham your true selves! Tell them what you really think about the city you pretend to love!" Their leader calls out angrily. I duck behind a row of technical equipment as a thug drags the old moderator away when Gordon suddenly snaps in my ear.
"Everybody in Gotham saw that moderator get show on live TV! What's going on in there!"
"First off, we should incinerate the poor!" Hill suddenly announces. "Lazy degenerates waiting for handouts because they can't be bothered to get a damn job!" This drug isn't acting on physical impulses but verbal ones. Hill's saying everything he really wants to say and it makes me nervous for Harvey. I grapple up to the heavens, looking down on the stage from above.
"Dent? Do you have anything to say?" Oz urges.
"You really want to hear what I think?" he asks as I rip a vent grate off the wall. "Gotham is flawed, sure. What city isn't? Its flaws are what make it beautiful," Harvey says truthfully as Selina and I crawl into the vent.
"We're out of time, Batman!" Gordon screeches in my ear. "The press is going nuts with those two drugged on stage!"
"The flaws are what drive me." Harvey continues. "I want to smooth over the cracks and make the city better. It's not too late to save this city. To take it back from the corrupt politicians."
"And what about the corrupt elite?" Oz questions. "The men whose fortunes are built on corpses? Men like your friend, Bruce Wayne! You're as bad as he is! Happy to look away from what you don't want to see! Roll the tape!" The figure that's been silent disappears and a sudden piece of footage replaces it.
On the screen, Oz's mother lays strapped to a gurney, my father standing at the end by her feet, holding a clipboard while Hill and another man stand aside.
"Subject Nine," my father addresses.
"Dad?"
"I thought your father was dead?" Selina questions quietly.
"Subject Nine," dad repeats, "Esther Cobblepot. You've been declared criminally insane and committed to Arkham indefinitely as a ward of the state."
"Please," Mrs. Cobblepot begs, struggling in her handcuffs that are hooked to the gurney. "I'll sell you the land. Please don't do this-"
"You had your chance. You should have made the deal we offered you." Hill states, pushing his hands into his pockets. "Give her the drug."
"Thomas-we-we're friends! Our boys play together-" she pleads as the other man in the room steps forward with a prepped syringe.
"You were warned, Esther. You know I always get what I want." My father tells her emotionlessly. "Commence the procedure." He says before turning and walking away, Hill following him as Mrs. Cobblepot is injected with the drug. "Give her a dose she won't come back from." My gasp matches the ones that fill the room below me full of debate watchers being held hostage. As soon as the needle is pulled away, Esther begins to seize on the gurney and scream loudly, making no sense before being wheeled away.
No wonder Oz is so mad. My dad drugged his mother so he could take her land, the land on which Wayne Enterprises is built on, and which also drove his dad to commit suicide.
"Now you know! Now you will see!" the figure claims as they return to the screen. At that moment, the police burst open the door, shots immediately being fired and people screaming with their hands over their heads for protection. The large blue man steps into the door way and throws the cops around like rag dolls as I drop a smoke bomb between the thugs standing in front of the stage firing into the crowd and jump from the heavens, landing on the stage in front of Oz.
"Batman!" Oz shouts excitedly. "You sure know how to make an entrance!" He grabs Vicki and holds a gun to her head but she boldly throws her elbow back and runs from him and towards me. I swiftly pull my cape around her as she runs past and Oz shoots after her before spinning and launching a batarang back towards him, hitting his arm. I approach Oz who's kneeling with his arm pulled to his chest when he flings his hand out and points into the smoke.
"Why don't you kick the crap out of him?!" The large blue man jumps on stage, grabbing the moderator's table and throwing it at me. It hits me square in the chest but I'm able to push it over my head before it pins me to the wall. However, we knock numerous banners and posters down as both the table and I crash through everything. I signal the drone to come in but the large man simply grabs it and snaps it over his knee before turning his attention back on me. Over his shoulder, I watch Oz approach Hill, the drugs apparently having worn out of his system already.
"P-please!" Hill begs. "I made my amends!"
"You could never!" Oz growls as I dodge numerous hits from the ice-colored man in front of me.
"That-that was all Thomas Wayne! Not me! I tried to get him to stop!" Hill tries lying, pinning this on my father. I land three solid punches in a row that have the large man bent over.
"I-I took out Thomas Wayne!" Hill admits, backing away from Oz. "That-that was all him-he didn't know when to stop-I had him killed because of it!" I don't believe his reasoning and Oz doesn't seem to either.
Hill's confession proves to be a great distraction for me as the thug in front of me punches me in the face, breaking a lens from my cowl before wrapping his hand around my throat and picking me up off the ground.
"That won't bring back my poor old mum." I hear Oz reply as I try to break the mans grip. "So this is for her."
I expect to hear a gunshot when Harvey suddenly yells, "I won't let you kill anyone else!" and the sound of someone crumpling to the ground hits my ears. But when Oz shouts that it wasn't Harvey's turn, I know it was Harvey hitting the ground and not Oz. Then three gunshots ring out in succession and another body hit the ground. I grab an electric charged gadget from my belt and slam it in the mans mouth, repeatedly punching him in the jaw until he drops me and falls to the side and falls unconscious. I turn and see Harvey stand as I take in large breaths of air, Oz turning to him.
"Where's your mate, Bruce Wayne? Your biggest supporter, and he didn't even turn up?" Harvey throws a punch but misses. Unfortunately, Oz returns the favor and lands the punch to Harvey's jaw. Selina and I both drop in front of Harvey, ready for a fight. Harvey's pulled from the ground with a gun pressed to his head as Oz turns to address us.
"Batman?! The revolution's already started! It's too late to join!"
"Your revolution is over, Penguin." I announce.
Oz shakes his head. "On the contrary! We're just getting started!" Turning his gun towards Selina and I, he fires off numerous shots and we roll away from each other to avoid being hit. I see Selina fall to the side as armed thugs rush up on stage and I run to her, throwing batarangs in the thug's faces to knock them out before pulling her to her feet. However, right as she gets her bearings, I hear someone hit the ground and begin to scream, a foul burnt flesh smell filling in the air and my heads snaps to Oz and Harvey as Oz holds a broken and hot light to Harvey's face.
Harvey screams in agony as Oz grates the light back and forth across the burning skin of Harvey's face. Oz lifts the light above his head and prepares to smash it back down but I break out in a run and throw another batarang, hitting off the side of Oz's mask and causing him to lose his grip on the light. The remaining cops step forward and begin to fire but it's at both Oz and I before Gordon stops them.
I run to Harvey, dropping to my knees and gently rolling him over and he gaps and wheezes as I look in horror over the missing skin. His muscles are revealed to the light and only a string of skin connects his left cheek to his jaw, revealing his teeth.
"Where's the maniac in the mask?" Gordon demands before joining me at Harvey's side and seeing the damage. "We need paramedics over here now!" I can't fight the crippling guilt in my stomach as I stand and step away from Harvey and towards the syringe. Selina surely could've handled herself. I hadn't been watching Oz and Harvey. I should've been. I may doubt Harvey's loyalty to me, his motive to our friendship but he's still an innocent life and I let him get hurt at the hands of a madman.
I slowly lean down and pick up the empty syringe and then notice Oz's mask lying off to the side. He got away.
A/N: So, I actually finished playing through the game for myself and will eventually go back through and change some of the things that happen in the story to fit the choices I personally made. Nothing that affects huge outcomes. Also, the heavens, at least where I'm from, are what the lights people at theatres use to reach and mess with lights for shows or things like that. It's how they reach all the lights. It's by going into the heavens. Another thing. I don't like Selina, as I've said before, but I really wanted Two Face and I know that saving Selina is how I'd achieve that so that is the only reason why I say Selina instead of Harvey. Now to deal with the aftermath.
Thx!
AMM
