New chapter! Sorry its been a wee while, all my focus has been on college and my career! I had a couple of pm's asking me if I was going to continue as my absence grew, so I'm letting you all know that there shall defo be an Arkham City and Origins story, the complete set! Possibly maybe a 'what if' fic. I can't wait till I break your hearts ;P
Filly had brushed herself down and made herself look presentable as she walked up to the goons standing outside the entrance to the Visitor Centre. Two stood looking around while another flipped through the papers secured on a clipboard, they noticed her coming and they suddenly stood to attention but the goon with the clipboard only raised an eyebrow at her and once she was closer he asked for her name.
"Sorry but ah, I don't see your name on the list darlin'."
"Well check again, darlin'" she mocked, "Try Filly."
He flipped over all the guest pages but he shook his head. Filly grabbed it from him and looked down the sheet, to her disappointment he was right, her name wasn't on the guest list. She flipped over to the last sheet that said 'staff' and sure enough her name was there. He stepped out of her way to her pass, he made a crude comment to her which she chose to ignore. Inside the goons stood in their rows, when the door opened slightly they had begun clapping but instantly stopped when they realized that it was just her, a couple booed and a few wolf whistled, these criminals were really pushing her patience now.
One reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder as if he was trying to slide down her blouse. She turned on her heel and slapped his across his face, he stepped back wide eyes amazed at her strength. She was pretty surprised that she managed to get him good but there was a slight buzzing feeling in her hand and it was hard not to show just how much it has also hurt her, "Hands off my shirt gubs."
The Joker wasn't sitting in his chair behind the glass which left an eerie silence and a throat choking atmosphere of what what was soon to come. Filly made her way into the back of the visiting centre; it was dark and clouded with dust but bright flashed on and blinded out the small floating debris, when her eyes were fully adjusted to the light she spotted the Joker sitting on his throne polishing Scarface.
"Your goons are surprisingly artistically talented. I take it you make it a requirement when you post an AD in the papers when your hiring." she smiled approaching him slowly.
The Joker didn't look at her straight away but he giggled an adjusted Scarface on his throne so he stayed still on the arm of the throne. Filly got a proper look at the throne, from a distance it looked as if naked dead corpses had been piled on top of one and other and cemented together but she knew that they were decapitated mannequins. At the top large metal spikes came out of a platform, heavy chains hung down some had plastic doll heads of them and barbed wire went along the spikes. In a white it was a much more horrific version of the throne from the Killing Joke.
She didn't wait for his reply on her comment "Where is Jeremiah Arkham?",getting straight to her business.
His toxic green eyes sparked and danced at the mention of the doctor, he chuckled then relaxed in his throne, "He was a very naughty boy who bit off a bit more than he could chew."
"No one hurts my favourite girl." Thank God Harley isn't here to hear you say that.
"Would you like to see what happened?" He threw over his dead orange flower and she caught it easily in her hand but instead of looking at the memory she tucked it into her pocket to save for later.
"How long have you known about my powers? Why the Hell am I only discovering them right now?" she snapped, "And this Glitch person, who is that?" she suddenly remembered.
He giggled, "Questions, questions, questions heh heh he, all in good time my dear, I wouldn't want to spoil things for you right now. I put enough clues around the asylum to feed your appetite"
"Why have you been doing this for me?"
"A long time ago I was given these secrets, and I was told that when the time came I would use them to help a dear friend along." it sounded like a cliché from a bad thriller movie but he hadn't lied to her yet.
"Help! Girl please!" Filly's head snapped up and saw the Gordon strapped into a chair hanging above them, it looked as if the cord holding him up would break any minute now. Filly's eyes darted back and forth from the Commissioner to the Joker, desperately trying to figure out if there was anyway to get him down but her thoughts ceased when Joker pointed the TITAN gun right at her.
"Now now Filly, only big adults get to play with the Commissssiioner here."
Better just stick to the game Filly, don't try to change anything.
"Oh look!" the clown prince of crime happily screamed, "My two volunteers have arrived!", two Arkham guards were thrown over the edge, they landed painfully on the ground right by the Joker's shoes, they only groaned and kept their scared faces down. "Hmm I have a wonderful idea! Filly!" He grabbed her roughly by the arm and spun her around so that her back was against his front, he put the TITAN gun in her hand then held it up so that she pointed it at one of the guards. A tiny bead of sweat ran down the side of her face, "It's eaasssyyyy, just pull the trigger, one...two...three!"
Nothing happened, she couldn't let go her eyes where transfixed on the poor guards in front of her who kept glancing up at with fearful pleading eyes. Even though she knew that the TITAN chemical wouldn't kill them the thought of watching the unfortunate souls transform into hideous creatures made the pit of her stomach turn. She had tuned herself from the Joker's voice behind her, Filly's only thoughts were excuses on how to get herself out of this situation.
"I...I can't Joker..."
"Typical!" he playfully threw her aside, "Can't rely on anyone these days, you have to do everything yourself!"
"Boss!" a goon came running in towards them, "The Batman is right outside." The Joker gave his giggle and clapped his hands together, he turned to leave but stopped in his tracks for a moment before quickly firing the TITAN gun at the terrified guards. All the goons ran in with a panic carrying the huge collars, they waited for the exact moment to clip them on which took a few attempts as the growing TITAN guards would swing their huge arms and hit a couple. Once secured the chains were pulled in dragging the TITAN guards backwards into makeshift open cells. "Thanks for the help" a goon commented pushing past her.
Suddenly, there was an explosion and the Joker came bounding out giggling as he ran, he got back on to his throne and waited for the Batman to come through, he glanced at Filly and scratched his chin thinking what he was going to do with her.
"Sorry kiddo can't let you in on this fight!" Two goons grabbed both of her arms and pulled her back, she didn't try to resist as she saw no point. Lead up a set of stairs to the next level of the room, she was forcefully pushed into a seat and told to be quiet as soon as the Batman walked in.
Below the Dark Knight walked in, she felt all of his frustration as he marched in, dealing with the stupid thugs quickly and with ease, it made her smile with triumph.
"Why didn't you stop Batman!?" said the Joker playing with his new toy.
"Meeeeee?! It was your plan you goofy clown!" the puppet replied.
"AH! I'm sending you back to the Ventriloquist where you belong." he threw the wooden puppet at the Dark Knights feet then slouched into his throne, folded his arms like a grumpy child and began his small speech.
"You had to spoil everything didn't you. Beating up Bane, feeding Scarecrow to Croc, getting in the way of Filly's finding game, slapping around Harley, my hobby by the way! And ruining all my lovely venom plants." He stood up from his throne when he spoke to Batman, his glare down wasn't threatening but rather challenging.
"It's over Joker."
"Over?" he leaned over and sneered down with his hand hovering over the lever to release his monsters, "Why my dear delusional Dark Knight, it hasn't even begun." The lever had been pulled, the clanks of the collars hitting the floor acted as the bell for the next round in the Joker's night of fun.
The Joker clapped at the Dark Knight's victory. "Nicely done Bats. You deserve a prize, but you can only choose one! Your old pal Commissioner Gordon or the Daughter of Arkham!" Gordon grunted as he was dropped into the scene and a spotlight flashed on him. Filly was dangled over the banister by the pair of thugs, she shook as much as possible to be free from them then she too was hit with a spotlight. "But saayyy, the comish looks all run down lets pep him up."
The shot was fired. For a moment it looked as if Batman was going to choose Filly over Commissioner Gordon but in the last seconds he threw himself in front of Gordon and the TITAN dart hit him.
"No!"
"Batman!"
Filly was dropped to the floor but landed on her feet, she ran to his side but Batman held up his hand at her to stop her coming any closer, "Get away" He punched his fist into the ground and cracked it, his teeth clenched as his arm kept bulging due to the venom.
"Here we go! We're going to have some fun now kiddies!" Batman looked up at his enemy, his teeth shut so tight and eyes burning with strength, "You're trying to resist the change! That's not fair!" the Joker kicked him and the Dark Knight fell over rather easily it made Filly worry, "Come on, GIVE IN!"
"So, you wanna play hard ball Bats, do yah?" he pulled out a feather from inside his suit, "Your call. Tickle tickle." He waved it and brushed it on Batman's face but the Dark Knight smacked him away.
He's not taking any of your shit Joker!
"You're ruining my big night! Months of planning down the crapper! I just wanted to bring down your grim facade and for once let you see the world as I see it...giggling in a corner and bleeding. But you've denied me even that, I have nothing to live for." He pushed the TITAN gun into his neck and fired. The Joker made a sound which sounded like a cough stuck in your throat, he fell over on to his back and for several seconds there was no sound or movement. Filly looked up and saw the Joker's goons return, they all stared at one and other wondering what the Hell was going to happen now.
"Batman, are you OK?" she approached him and tried to get him back on his feet but each attempt he cried and fell back on to his knees. Filly glanced at the Joker who hadn't started transforming yet, she just wanted to get him on his legs before the Joker turned into a TITAN monster. "Batman please, please get up before-"
There was a high sounding gasp and Filly turned her attention to where Joker lay, Batman followed her gaze and Gordon was still swinging. There was a splutter of coughs coming from the clown and they quickly turned into giggles as he sat up. The Joker's eyes glowed green and his smile seemed to get higher and higher, he jumped on to his feet and gave an enormous cackle followed by the sound of clothing material been stretched and torn.
The pace his body changed and morphed was dramatic, in seconds he was build bigger than Batman and he kept going. His bones crunching together, flesh ripping and muscles bulging, he threw his head back and cackled once more, he tried dancing about but it looked as if he was just stomping around to a jolly tune. He waved his huge arms about and nearly caught the Filly and Batman a few times, Gordon was pulled up by the goons and was wheeled off on a trolley.
Batman, now on his feet pushed Filly behind him but the Joker advanced on both of them, with the swoop of his hand the Joker's witch like talons picked up the Dark Knight and held on to him tightly. There was the sound of a little explosion above them, there was now a hole in the ceiling leading out to the outside world.
"Emily...run!" the Dark Knight managed to shout out. She obeyed the command and rushed for the exit but TITAN Joker jumped in front of her and she skidded to a halt.
"Ohhhhh no no no no, why should we keep all the fun to ourselves?!" the TITAN Joker pushed her back with enough force to make land on her back. The wind was completely knocked out of her for a few seconds but she was picked up and flung over someone's shoulder. Great, back in the damn goons hands again.
Within moments she was outside, the cold air was a welcomed comfort as the dust and debris from inside had strangled her. But thoughts of comfort were short lived when she saw the Commissioner hooked up to his torture machine, he looked defeated and weak and then the hero and the enemy arrived.
The Joker took heavy sick like breaths as he climbed into the ring with the Batman in his hand, "SHOW TIME BATMAN! Let's give the rubes something to talk about!" Batman was flung into the ring his arm still wrapped around the other that was badly affected by the TITAN.
"Two freaks in the fight to the death!" Jumping down happily he kicked the Dark Knight a few times before talking again.
"And for one night only, please welcome our special guess referee...and three cheers to my great supporter!" The goons made her arms flap about as if she was cheering the Joker, at one point she swore they put a foam football hand on her but it kept slipping off.
"So...come on! Change! Get crazy! It's the only way to beat me! You know you want to..."
The TITAN was clearly tearing the Batman inside, his eyes gave hints of a green glow if he didn't inject himself with the cure he'd transform. "Never." Batman said through clenched teeth, he pierced himself hard enough that it would break through his outfit.
Thank God the TITAN cure is fast working.
"You wasted the antidote on yourself! Now that's funny!" Batman was thrown across the ring again as if he were no lighter than a feather.
"Hysterical! But you still spoiled my fun. And for that, I'll paint Arkham red with your blood. Lets get ready to tango!" TITAN Joker swung his arms out missing the Dark Knight three times but on the forth Batman got hit and he lay flat on his back for a few seconds, the Joker satisfied jumped off of the ring and started to talk to the camera's flying above them. That's one thing about the Joker that she didn't like, sure he was smart, evil and terrifying but God did he like to talk a lot.
Thug after thug attacked the Dark Knight, some had knifes and others only had their fists, they were dealt with easily and when they were all finished the Batclaw was fired into Joker's back.
"Get off me! AH! When I get out of this I'm going to rip your freaking head off!" Once pulled down into the ring the Joker was stuck in the wooden floor giving Batman the chance to give him a few punches, it was quick as the Joker was back on his feet and repeated what he did before.
The more thugs stepped down into the ring the less she had keeping her back, the Dark Knight looked like he was in control but the Commissioner was on last legs and badly needed help. The last of the thugs from her side jumped down, Idiots, Filly regained her strength and made her way over to the Commissioner. Balancing along the fighting ring making sure she didn't attract a thug or the Joker from the helicopter she made it to Gordon's side. The chair had him strapped in tightly and the bursts of electricity were random and would strike seconds or minutes after. Swallowing her panic she got the straps on his legs off, he screamed at each zap not realizing that she was there trying to save him, Filly moved in front of him carefully avoid little sparks the buckle holding him in on the front was a struggle. Gordon had trouble opening his eyes but he caught glimpses of her fiddling about with the locks and bolts, if he had the strength to thank her later he would.
"You'll be OK commissioner I promise just hold-"
But suddenly she wasn't at Gordon's side any more, she had been grabbed by the Joker and thrown into the air then caught like a bouncing ball. Screaming at the top of her lungs the Joker laughed as he threw her again into the air as if he was aiming for the helicopter. Filly's screams of terror stopped as she tried to focus on not being sick. Slowing down the world was difficult as she was being thrown but she could see the Batman punching down the last thug and getting his Batclaw ready for the final take down of the Joker.
The batclaw hooked itself on to the Joker's back and the Dark Knight pulled. Joker stepped back and tired to keep himself up but dropped her. She banged off the edge of the TITAN clowns platform and crashed into the fighting ring, the snapped planks of wood dug into side then her blouse felt wet. Her eyes turned to the left side of her lower stomach, her blouse was soaked with her own blood. At first there was no pain until it finally registered she was badly hurt, from above the Joker had lost his balance and he began to fall. Taping into her power immediately the world slowed down and gave her enough time to limp crawl her way out from the space where the Joker who fall.
The sounds of the Joker being electrocuted couldn't of sounded more relieving. Gasping and spluttering the Joker climbed out and tried not too look as though he had been wounded. "I can take it. I can take whatever you throw at me Bats. You can't beat me. I'm actually going to win! Ready for the next round?!" the TITAN clowns eyes filled with joy at the idea of finally beating his enemy.
From the side she saw Batman spray his explosive gel on his knuckles,"Always."
The look in his eyes suddenly vanished, "WHAT?!"
"I'll never let you win. Never!"
For enjoyment she slowed down the scene the exact same way the game would and imaged the Gothic choir singing. The Joker's last cry made her heart cheer as he finally fell. Filly's wound had began healing but she clutched it while walking slowly towards Batman side. She couldn't believe it, she had made it through the entire night and she wasn't dead, the game had gone without a glitch.
"It's over," she dropped to her knees in exhaustion then looked up at Batman who was still standing.
This was extremely difficult to write as we all know what happens, I felt like I was telling it like I was talking to a seven year old! Again thanks for reading and your patience. Drop a review and until next time!
