THE DARK KNIGHT
Batman's Perspective:
I place Max's unconscious body on the floor and signal the Batmobile to pick me up outside of the nightclub building. I'll load his body in the back and bring him to GCPD for lock-up.
Maxwell Wright doesn't strike me as a man who takes orders. Or even gives orders, he isn't that high up in the criminal chain and I doubt he's made it past the rank of a simple thug. Still, his power cannot be underestimated. He just killed a woman. An innocent woman. Interestingly... he seems similar to The Riddler. The same use of 'The Dark Knight' over and over. But no poems or riddles every five seconds, that's a step in the right direction at least.
My wrist communicator vibrates. An incoming call:
"Batman, are you alright?"
It was Ivy. She must want something, I doubt she's just calling for a chat.
"Ivy, why are you calling me?" I asked.
"I wanted to know if you heard anything more about Max Wright"
"I crashed an auction he was running. He has Selina locked up at the back of the building, I'll have to rescue her. Currently Max is unconscious and I'll be bringing him to the GCPD for further questioning."
"So did you find out if he's the mysterious poetry murderer then?"
"I can't confirm anything yet, I know he's dangerous"
"Don't forget about Selina, Harley's been bugging me for the past week asking me where she is. I said I don't know, but clearly our dear Maxwell had plans for her. I hope she's alright"
"Me too" I said, closing the communicator.
I looked behind me. Max was still lying there unconscious. Good, that's one less thing to worry about.
I walk towards the door near the back of the stage. I try the handle.
Locked. Of course...that'd be too easy.
I kick the door down.
Hmmph. Easy enough, no thugs.
I see...all of these girls, trapped in cages. Oh my god...Selina.
I walk towards her cage, nervously looking around at all of the other trapped girls. What monster would do this? This is horrible.
"Selina, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, bored...but fine. You took your time though, had something more important to do?"
"I had to deal with Mr Wright, he was going to kill you."
"Oh, so you do care about my personal well-being?"
"Not now, Selina"
I try and find a way to open the cage. The only way is with a key. If each cage had a specific key...then that's going to be a lot of keys for a lot of cages. I also have to be careful of Maxwell Wright, I fear he would wake up soon.
I decide to call for some help. I dial some buttons on my wrist communicator.
"Batman?" the officer answered.
"I need you to send GCPD officers to the 'Smiles and Skies' nightclub in Gotham. Don't ask about the name, it was a cover up."
"What was the actual name?"
"The Brawler"
"That would make sense, no wonder they changed it"
"Like I said, it was a cover up. Please send some backup as soon as possible."
"Will do, is everything alright down there?"
"Nothing I can't handle" I said, ending the call.
I looked around for keys. No thugs...this was too easy. Surely Maxwell Wright would have some form of security or protection. Hmm.
"Dark Knight, you are naïve. You allow yourself to be taken advantage of. That, Dark Knight...That will be your downfall." Maxwell Wright...he was awake. "XOS gives me power. What does it give you, Dark Knight?"
XOS. He must've injected a dose into himself before the auction just in case I showed up. He's smarter than I thought.
"I don't need chemicals to beat you." I said raising my fists.
"You keep believing that" he replied smugly.
His body type remained normal, but he showed an increased resistance and strength to my attacks. Each hit was shrugged off and he hit back harder. Similar techniques which defeated Joker's Titan formula didn't work either. Was XOS stronger than Titan?
"What is XOS? Tell me!" I shouted whilst shaking him violently.
"You're the detective...you tell me"
"I'm losing my patience with you, tell me!"
"You don't control me, Dark Knight. Do what you will with me, my reign will continue forever." he said hysterically. He pressed a button on the detonator.
It wasn't a detonator. It was a remote.
Selina's cell opened. She walked out of the barred cell and into the auction area where me and Max were fighting.
"Want to know your motivation? Cat here might be free but see this..." he paused, showing me Selina's wrist. It had a scarred area where an implant was placed inside of her skin. "This ties the Cat to this nightclub." he pressed another button on the remote. The other cells containing the rest of the imprisoned girls opened. "Same goes with the rest of these girls. If one of them steps out of this building, Gotham suffers. Whose hands are dirty now, Dark Knight?"
Good god...he was more monstrous than I originally thought.
"I'm sorry..." Selina said.
I was confused. Why was she sorry?
"Selina, what's wrong?"
"I killed him" she replied, looking at her blood covered claws.
"You...what? Killed who?" I asked inquisitively.
"Two guys were brought back here earlier for fighting in my auction, Dark Knight. The cat got bored, so I let her play with them. Wasn't expecting her to be so rough when she was playing with them though."
I walked back through to the cell-block at the back of the building. I could see the two festering bodies of the male victims in Selina's cell.
"He made me do it. I'm sorry, Batman" Selina said sadly.
"What did you do to her?" I asked angrily.
"I did many things. But we're only just getting started here." he said, breaking out of my choke-hold. "The legacy of The Batman ends tonight. I've invited your friends to witness your death."
Suddenly, the doors opened. His thugs...of course. They had Harley and Ivy restrained in their arms.
"Let them go! Now."
"I don't think so" he said, signalling his thugs to bring the two prisoners forward. "I know you've been making contact with these two. You can't hide it from me."
"B-MAN? I'm gonna-" Harley started saying, before the thug put his hand over her mouth.
Ivy whispered to Harley "Save it, Harley. I got a plan" "Hey, pretty boy. How about you let me and Harley go? We're no use to you, the bat is your real competition" she said.
I stared at him angrily.
"Charming, if you don't think highly of our guests here, how about I add another one into the mix?" he snapped his fingers.
Two more of his thugs came out and restrained Selina.
"What have you got against the girls?"
"Nothing" he replied. "I got a problem with you though."
"Then let them go, this is between you and me."
"You can't beat me, you know that and yet you insist on saving many more lives before yours ends. Heroic but predictable. Very well...boys: let the cat go."
"All of them!" I said angrily.
"You're in no position to push me about, Dark Knight."
"I wouldn't get on his bad side, Max. He gets really nasty when he's angry" Selina commented.
"Yeah, so do I" Ivy said, whilst summoning her plants. Vines. Huge vines ripped through the roof and into the building. The thugs restraining Ivy let her go. She was angry, unstable. But maybe she was the best weapon against XOS. "Last chance, let us go...Or else." she said, commanding her plants to kill the thugs.
At this point, I didn't object to her methods. His behaviour was inexcusable. Plus, if Ivy, Selina or Harley Quinn hurt Maxwell Wright, my hands would at least be clean. I wouldn't let them kill him, though.
He has too many questions to answer first.
