Nightmare in Arkham

by Speilberg

Freddy Krueger is back and he's moved to a new neighborhood where fear and chaos take up most of the population. The only things standing in his way are Batman and an old survivor who has also moved into Gotham. After Freddy marks Batman and the villains of Arkham as his new prey, it's a battle between the masters of fear and Fear, himself.

35. Chapter 30: Holding On

Nightmare in Arkham

Chapter 30: "Holding On"

Boy it feels good to get this chapters up. It took me about four drafts but I think I got them just right

The red-haired woman sat by her child's bed with the light from a lamp casting a radiant glow on the side of her face. The woman's daughter (a little five year old girl with hair just as red as the woman's) lay tucked under a blue and white striped blanket with her head resting on pillow covered in purple, red, and orange flowers. The little girl gave her undivided attention to her mother as she read aloud to her the final poem from Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass":

"A boat, beneath a sunny sky

Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July-

Children three that nestle near,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Pleased a simple tale to hear-

Long has paled that sunny sky;

Echoes fade and memories die;

Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,

Alice moving under skies

Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,

Eager eye and willing ear,

Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,

Dreaming as the days go by,

Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream-

Lingering in the golden gleam-

Life, what is it but a dream?"

The woman placed the book in her lap and looked at her daughter expecting to see her on the brink of falling asleep. When she saw that her daughter was wide awake the woman smiled at her, half out of tenderness and half out of concern.

"You're not sleepy yet, kido?" The girl shook her head.

The woman's smile slowly faded. "Is something the matter?"

There was a brief silence before the child answered, "I've been having bad dreams." She said this like she was confessing something naughty she had done.

"For how long?" The mother asked. The little girl held up a hand and started counting with her fingers. She looked up at her mother and held up three fingers.

"Three days?" the mother asked. The little girl shook her head. "Weeks?" the little girl dropped her hand and slowly nodded her head. The woman didn't know what to say, so she leaned in closer to her daughter and asked, "How come you didn't tell me, sweetie?"

"I tried telling Daddy," the little girl said with tears starting to form in her eyes, "But he told me to 'just wake up', like he tells me everyday, because that's when nightmares are supposed to die. But I just can't wake up. I try, I really try Mommy, but I just can't-"

"Shhhhhh, It's okay, honey," the woman said scooping her child into a nice little hug while stroking the child's hair. After the child calmed herself the woman tilted her chin up and smiled before saying, "I'll teach you another way."

The little girl sat up in bed as if she were in school listening to a teacher. The woman's mother sat on her knees so that she was eye-level with her daughter.

"You can't just simply wake up from a nightmare; that's like running away from every problem that stands in your way. The best way to escape a nightmare is to face it head on. There's a nursery rhyme I learned when I was about your age; it's called the "Dream Master". Every night before I went to bed I would say it to myself before going to sleep, and I would always find that I was completely in control of my dream."

"How does it go?"

The woman took the child's hand in a prayer position and recited: "Now I lay me down to sleep, the Master of Dreams my soul will keep. In the reflection of my mind's eye, evil will see itself, and it shall die"

The little girl looked confused, "'Reflection of my mind's eye'? What's that?"

The woman giggled, "In dreams, everything takes on a different meaning than when you're awake, even the mind. In dreams, a mirror is a gateway into your mind, and the reflection you see can represent everything you hate about yourself…or everything you love about yourself. It all depends on the person's state of mind. Much like how the world is divided between good and evil, so to is the mind. Except it's divided between positive and negative. If a person's mind is pure and strong, the reflection will be positive, but if a person's mind is wicked or even sad or scared, then all that person will see is the negative. And that's how their nightmares are created. But if you stand strong and realize that you are the one and only master of your dreams then you can fight the nightmare with positive energy and destroy it."

"But how?" the little girl asked, "How can I fight my nightmares? I'm not strong enough."

"Alice Lisa Johnson," the woman said feigning astonishment, "Don't say that. Don't ever even think that. Of course you're strong. You are one of the strongest and most pure-hearted dreamers to ever grace the Earth. And if you put your mind and heart into it, you can do anything, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Alice smiled a bit.

"Do you think I'm as strong as Alice in the story?"

The woman smiled at Alice again and embraced her. "You're every bit as strong as her and more, and someday your dreams are going to take you far."

After the woman and Alice broke away the woman asked, "You wanna know another trick that I use when I'm having a bad dream?" Alice nodded, "Just dream about someplace fun."

"Like Wonderland?" Alice asked

"Exactly, like Wonderland. Do you think you can do that?"

Alice nodded, and then yawned as she said, "I'll try mommy."

"That's my girl," the woman replied and she planted a gentle kiss on Alice's forehead before rising to her feet and slowly walking to the door. When she got to the door she turned around and said to Alice, "Sweet dreams, honey."

She then softly closed the door. Alice slowly drifted to sleep, reciting the nursery rhyme in her head like counting sheep until she found herself lying within a beautifully decorated sailboat under a mackerel sky sailing into a vibrantly colored, wonder-filled yonder beyond the horizon. Alice lay on her pillow with a smile that she had been separated from for a long time.

The woman considered peaking into the room of her older son, Rick, to see how he was faring with his sleep. She stuck her head in the door and saw Rick deep inside a dream talking in his sleep; something about showing Farrah Fawcett his "trophy collection". The woman smiled as she turned to the wall closest to Rick's bed, which sported a shelf lined with numerous trophies in karate and martial arts.

"Ah, the mind of a little warrior," the woman chuckled to herself as she left Rick to his dream.

She went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of chamomile tea. As she exited the kitchen, she passed a wooden table with a stack of newspapers piled on top. Had the woman paused to look at the newspaper on the top of the pile, she would have hastily gathered her daughter and her son and brought them to sleep in her bed. The newspaper was from the SPRINGWOOD VOICE. The front-page story: "Child Killer Set Free".

A few miles away, Freddy Krueger sat alone in his boiler room hideout glancing at the very same newspaper with a triumphant smile. Those fools almost had him, and he thanked his lucky stars that the justice system is a complete and total joke. All because some dipshit cop was too stupid to sign his name correctly on a piece of paper he was released from his cage and would soon be able to spend some more "quality time" with his children. His legacy would last forever…a flaming Molotov cocktail burst through one of the windows and landed right on the paper that sat in Freddy's lap. Freddy leapt to his feet, dropping the flaming paper to the ground in a pile of smoldering blaze. As he shot his head nervously about the room, a second cocktail flew in and set a pile of wooden crates alight. Before Freddy even realized what was happening, the flames spread rapidly throughout the room as a blitzkrieg of fire rained down like meteorites through every window and opening in the building. Freddy made a swift race for the back exit, and he would have made it and escaped with his life had he not made one fatal mistake. Just as he was about to rush through the door and disappear into the night, he realized he had left his prized possession behind: his razor glove. Freddy ran back to retrieve the glove, which hung from a hook just above a furnace that he commonly used to rid himself of the remains of his victims (except for that one little girl whose mother pleaded in the papers "Return my Daughter", to which he happily complied and left the burned, crumpled heap of human remains on the mother's doorstep. This thought caused Freddy to smirk even as his life hung in the balance). Freddy grabbed his glove, fastened it to his hand, and then the furnace exploded and engulfed Freddy in a wave of fire.

-"And then what happened?" Poison Ivy asked as she listened with undivided attention (save for watching the road) to Alice's story.

-"Well, no one knows for sure," Alice answered, "But what I do know is that Freddy Krueger died that night, and then years later he was reborn as something much, much worse. Some say the fear left behind in Freddy's wake hung over Springwood even after his death, and that fear allowed him to return and take his revenge on the people who took his life."

-"Well, he's dead now. I saw him-"

-"No, no he's not," Alice interrupted, "No matter what you saw or what it may look like, Freddy is not dead. I guarantee you."

-"Well then, how do we stop him?"

-"I don't know. I don't even know if he can be stopped. Every time someone thinks they've killed or gained an upper hand on him, he always finds a way back."

-A cloud of doom started forming in Ivy's head. "Then...we're all fucked," she said, her voice drained of any hope.

-Alice thought for a moment and replied, "Not quite. I think I know a way to fight him. One of the monsters he's created came after me and I beat it by taking control of my dream."

-"What does that mean?" Ivy asked with deep interest.

-"Freddy may be the one pulling the strings, but we're still in the dream world. And if we-"

-SCREEEEEEEEEEECCCCCHHHHHHHH

-The car swerved and twisted along the street as Poison Ivy slammed on the breaks. Had Alice not been wearing her seatbelt she would have slammed her head into the dashboard.

-Feeling both shaken and a little angered by Ivy's recklessness she turned and was about to berate her but stopped when she saw the look of sheer terror frozen on her face.

-"What's the matter?" Alice asked, no reply. "Ivy?" Alice put a hand on her shoulder and lightly shook it. "Hey, Ivy what-" Alice turned in the direction Ivy was looking and the same horrified expression washed over her own face.

MEANWHILE…

- In one of the most bizarre turn of events ever witnessed within Gotham, the man that Batman had nearly choked the lift out of, despite the indescribable pain and fear that Batman had instilled in him and against the angered and disappointed protests of Harvey Bullock, had refused to press any chargers at all. The man argued that he had lived in Gotham all his life and learned to live with the fact that the bulk of the city's population consisted of criminals and maniacs and that death could come at anytime from anywhere to anyone. But he believed the worst fate one could suffer would be to lose all traces of their humanity and become one of the freaks of Gotham. And the one sure way to guarantee this fate was by allowing the anger and frustration of daily life to consume them (his actually words were, "All it takes is one bad day.") and the best course of action he could take would be to acknowledge that, yes, he was terrified out of his wit and he could, nay, would have been killed if it had hadn't been for Robin's intervention, but he was not killed. And so, all he could do was "Let it go." (Insert Frozen joke)

-Deep within the bowls of the Batcave, Alfred, Dick Grayson, and Leslie Thompkins were using the best of their abilities to tend to the unconscious Dark Knight. Dick knew after the incident that Batman would need professional medical attention but there was a huge dilemma: in order for a thorough examination to take place, Batman's mask would have to be removed and there was no way all, if not any, of the doctors at the Medical Center could be trusted with Bruce's secret. So the best course of action would be to bring him Dr. Thompkins, but the problem was while Dr. Thompkins was qualified she didn't have all the necessary tools in her small clinic that were needed to examine Batman's head injury. So Robin picked her up and brought her back with him to the Batcave where all of the proper tools would be readily available. After examining the superficial wound, which was a huge gash on the side of Batman's head, and conducting a CT scan they inserted an intracranial pressure monitor into Bruce's skull in order to monitor any swelling that may be taking place inside his brain as a result of the trauma.

-Alfred assisted Leslie throughout the examination using all the knowledge he had gained through watching his master at work. While all this was going on Dick stood by completely silent. He his mind was a clutter of guilt, anger, shock, and just utter hopelessness. What he had witnessed on this night was the complete demoralization of everything Batman had stood for and it seemed he had finally relinquished his sanity. Tears streamed down Dick's face as he looked to the ground weeping silently.

-Alfred looked up, saw Dick, and frowned. Dr. Thompkins motioned Alfred to go over to him while she took care of Batman. Alfred nodded and walked over to Dick. He placed a hand on his shoulder and this caused him to stop weeping. He turned and looked at Alfred, unable to contain his despair. His melancholy was not eased when he saw that Alfred looked almost as worried as he was.

-"Why don't you go upstairs Master Dick?" Alfred said trying to offer generous sympathy, "I'll call for you if he wakes up."

-"What if he never wakes up?" Dick asked with rage just below the threshold of his breath.

-"Why Master Dick, whatever do you mean? Of course he will. Master Bruce would never allow something as measly as a bump on the head to keep him out for too long."

-"You don't get it, do you?!" Dick shouted. Alfred drew back with a start and Dr. Thompkins shot her glance in their direction. "We may have lost him, Alfred. You didn't see the look in his eyes, or hear the malice in his voice, it was like he was just…just…gone," Dick paused for a moment to breath and muster enough courage to say what he had to say next.

-"All it takes is one bad day. It took one for Bruce to go over edge, and now it looks like it took one for Batman to do the same."

-Dick let out a long sigh and began to walk toward the exit. Alfred thought about walking after him but decided not to and he returned to Leslie's aid.

-As Dick passed through the forensic lab and began walking toward the elevator he stopped and turned toward one of the tables. Something lying under a microscope on the table caught his attention and Dick started walking toward it. Even as he got closer he could not quite discern the object until he reached the table. The object was a tiny piece of red and green cloth, which appeared to have been torn from…Dick's eyes widened in fear and a single word escaped his lips: "Freddy."

-As Alfred and Dr. Thompkins continued to tend to the unconscious Dark Knight, they were both startled by the sound of Dick bursting through the doors and racing toward them shouting, "Wake him up! Wake him up right now!"

-Before either one of them could react, Dick grabbed onto Batman's shoulders and began to shake him like a terrier shaking a rat.

-"Come on, come on! Wake up! Bruce, you have to wake up!" When no response came Dick actually punched Batman in a desperate attempt. Alfred and Leslie grabbed him by the arms and pulled him away.

-"Have you completely lost your mind?!" Leslie shouted; this was more out of shock than anger.

-"Dammit, we have to wake him up!" Dick shouted and the shout echoed through the cave.

-"Well beating him into a second coma won't accomplish that now, will it?" Alfred asked trying to get him to calm down.

-Dick finally broke away from Alfred and Leslie's grasp but instead of leaping onto Batman he actually did try to calm himself and explain.

-"Alright, you two aren't going to believe me, but you have got to listen, okay?" Dick stopped for a moment as he tried to figure out the best way to explain the situation.

-"Just tell us, son," Leslie insisted.

-"Okay, we found out who's been behind all these murders over the past month. It was this man; only he's not a man, he's some kind of malevolent spirit that collects souls. His name is Freddy, and he came after Barbara and me inside of our dreams. That's how he get's you: he invades your dreams while you're asleep and if you die in your dream, you die for real."

-Dick stopped and looked at Leslie and Alfred's faces. Both of their mouths hung open and their eyes bulged with a look of what was either complete terror or utter disbelief. Leslie was the first to speak.

-"Dick, listen to me. We can't just yank him out of unconsciousness. He has to come out on his own."

-"Did you not hear what I just said?" Dick asked angrily, "If he doesn't wake up now, then he doesn't wake up at all!"

-Leslie and Alfred exchanged worried glances.

-"Oh, oh I get it: you don't believe me. Is that it?!" Dick shouted. Then he held up the piece of cloth and practically shoved it in their faces. "You need proof? Look at this! This is a piece of his clothing!"

-"How on Earth did you manage to obtain it?" Alfred asked.

-Dick was about to answer but before he could, his entire mind went blank. As if a switch had been flipped in his head Dick's anger melted away and was replaced with utter bewilderment. He stared at the piece of fabric in front of him as if realizing for the very first time that he was actually holding a part of the dream demon in his hand, not in the dream world, but in the real world. His mind could not comprehend how this was possible, and yet, it was.

-Then Dick's blank mind shifted gears and began processing everything that he could remember from his experience with this nightmarish series of events. As the memories fell into place, Dick remembered seeing this cloth for the first time clutched in the hand of Barbara Gordon as she lay on the floor in comatose following Freddy's crippling blow to her psyche.

-"Wait a second," Dick said as if a profound revelation was in the process of unraveling itself to him, "Wait a second! Oh my God, I think I may have figured it out!" Dick said excitedly.

-"My word, Master Dick, what ever has gotten into you dear boy?" Alfred asked.

-"I have to see Barbara," Dick said and then his demeanor instantly turned serious. He walked up to Alfred and Leslie and showed all of the urgency in his eyes to make sure they followed his instructions to a T. "In the meantime, I need you to listen to me as hard as you can. If you value Bruce's life then under no circumstances, will you leave his side. Right now he is in more danger than you can possibly imagine. If he so much as whimpers in his sleep, I don't care what you have to do, but you wake him up. Okay?"

-Alfred stammered for a moment as Dick's words sunk in but in the end he gave him his solemn oath. Satisfied, Robin hopped onto his motorcycle.

-"Where are you going?" Leslie asked.

-"I'm going to save Batman," Dick answered. And he then sped out the Batcave and into the night toward Gotham's Medical Center.

"Hold on Batman," he said with sheer determination.

MEANWHILE...

-In Gotham's Medical Center, Barbara Gordon sat in her bed sobbing. She felt like her entire world was slowly crumbling all around her. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, there had been so much death and pain and calamity and she could not, nor did she think that she would ever, understand why. She had no idea how to fight this evil that had risen in Gotham and even if it was destroyed she knew her life would never be the same again. She knew that she would never walk again and would have to learn to accept that she would be bound to a chair for the rest of her life. But that was the least of her despair. In truth, she would have given up the rest of her mobility without a moment's hesitation if it would bring Selina back, along with everyone else who had died so senselessly. What had truly broken her heart was seeing what these tragic events had done to Batman. For the first time in her young life Barbara finally understood how Batman saw the world. She knew why he could never seem to look past the arbitrary madness of society; it was because that's all life is made of: randomness, fault, insanity, and death, and a small, frail branch of hope that everyone desperately clings to only to have it break in half in their hand.

All Barbara could think to herself was, What's the point of holding onto something that you'll have to let go of? It was then she felt a gentle hand stroking her hair.

-She looked up with a start to see Dick Grayson standing over her with his eyes filled with concern. He slowly dropped to his knees so that he could be on eye level with her. Barbara, with tears flowing from her eyes, opened her arms to Dick and he immediately took her in a long, comforting embrace while whispering, "It's okay, Barbara. Everything's going to be okay." Barbara knew better than to truly believe that, but hearing those words comforted her.

-After Barbara's emotions had more or less stabilized she broke from Dick's embrace, wiped away the tears on her cheeks, and asked, "How is he?"

-"He's still breathing," As Dick continued his tone grew a bit more laid back in a weak attempt to cheer Barbara up, "He's probably gonna have a slight knob on his head but that's nothing he could never handle."

-Barbara didn't even catch the humor and asked, "No, I mean is he okay."

-Dick sighed. "I don't know. And we probably won't know til he wakes up."

-"If he wakes up," Barbara said despairingly.

-"No. Freddy is not going to take him. I'm going to make sure of that."

-"How are we going to fight him? You've seen what he's capable of. He's not like the usually psychopaths we've fought. He's not even human."

-Dick took the piece of Freddy's sweater from his belt and placed it in Barbara's hand. Barbara brought it up and studied it.

-"Wait a second," Barbara said as her eyes widened in disbelief of what she was seeing, "This is a part of him! How the hell did you get you this?"

-"I didn't, you did," Dick replied.

-"What?" Barbara asked perplexed.

-"The night Freddy attacked you, right after you passed out, I remember seeing that clenched in your fist. Somehow, you pulled a part of him out of the dream world and into reality. Were you holding onto Freddy when he struck you?"

-Barbara scanned her thoughts trying to remember. It had all happened so quickly. But she did remember Freddy angrily shouting that she had "ruined his favorite sweater".

-"Yes," she remembered, "I grabbed onto his sweater. But that still doesn't explain how a piece of it crossed over into reality."

-"I think I have an explanation for that," Dick responded, "There was a brief moment just before you fell to the floor where you awoke. I was looking directly in your eyes when it happened and I'm positive you were wide-awake, until you succumbed."

-Barbara thought for a moment. "So you think that if Freddy's clothing can be removed from the dream world-"

-"-Then so can he," Dick finished, "And out here, he wouldn't be able to bend the rules in his favor. He'd be completely powerless."

-Barbara's face began to glisten with a ray of hope forming in her mind. It seemed Freddy did have a chink in his armor after-all. "So all we have to do is make sure we're holding onto him when we-"

-"We?" Dick asked, "Barbara, you can't seriously be saying you're planning on going back."

-Barbara didn't speak but the scowl on her face said it all.

-"No!" Dick said in disbelief, "He's almost killed you twice already."

-"And he's going to succeed if we don't act."

-"Barbara, I don't want to lose you again."

-"And you think I want to lose you?!" Barbara screamed, sounding like she was on the verge of more tears. Barbara's question had silenced Dick and he could see that she had more to say. So he stayed quite until Barbara calmed herself and she continued.

-"Remember what Batman told me the night I was attacked; about how rushing into a fight alone and unprepared always leads to disaster? Well this is a prime example. You don't know how Freddy operates the way I do. I'm the one who spent God knows how long inside of his world. And I want to help Batman just as much as you do, but neither of us can do it alone and you know it." Dick did know it, and it showed in his eyes. "This crisis has given us so little to hold onto, but we have each other. So let's use that to our advantage."

-Dick was hesitant for a moment but in the end he saw no way around Barbara's argument.

-"You're right," He said with a nod.

-A few minutes later, after Barbara and Dick had participated in sleep hypnosis exercise, they were both fast asleep. Dick sat in the chair with his hand holding onto Barbara's while she lay peacefully in her bed. The last thing she remembered before sleep had finally overtaken her was the feeling of her father's lips pressed against her forehead as he whispered, "Sweet dreams, honey." What Barbara didn't remember was the feeling of her father placing something in her motionless hand.

In the dream world, Robin and Batgirl raced through the city toward the sight from where the Bat-Signal was being projected. As the two young heroes leapt over rooftops and raced through the streets, Barbara couldn't help but feel free as a bird. Without the laws of reality crippling her, she was able to move freely within the dream world and she seemed determined to make the best of this opportunity before she had to wake up and succumb to her limitations again. Nevertheless, she was just as, if not more, determined than Robin to find Batman and help him any way she could. In fact, this feeling was mostly what fueled her and allowed her to move through Arkham City faster and more swiftly than she ever had in Gotham. The building was now in plain sight and they were just minutes away from reaching it.

-"Hold on Batman," Batigirl said with determination.

-They reached the building, flung themselves onto the roof...and found no one there.

-"Batman?" Robin called out, "Are you here?" No answer. While Robin began looking out at the city for any sign of their mentor, Batgirl started to feel apprehension.

-"This has to be a trap," she said to herself out-loud. She reached onto her belt searching for a batarrang or whatever she could use for defense and was shocked when her hand found something that she had never carried with her as Batgirl: her father's gun.

-"What the fuck?" She said with wide-eyed surprise. Starring at the deadly weapon, Barbara rationalized that her father had placed it in her hand while she slept as a way of providing her with what he considered "top defense". She was thankful, but knew this weapon would very likely prove useless against Freddy...until they ripped him from his domain. Barbara had never truly wished death on any of her adversaries, not even the Joker. But she wasn't ashamed to admit it now: she would have loved nothing more than to put this weapon to full use on Freddy. But she didn't have time to dwell on this thought for long because a noise slowly began to percolate in her ears. It was extremely distant, but it grew louder with each second. It sounded like a car engine being gunned at full speed.

-"Hey, I think I see something!" Dick exclaimed. He was peering over one of the sides of the roof far into the city through a pair of binoculars. Barbara turned toward him and ran over.

-"Is it Batman?" She asked with high hope.

-Robin didn't answer immediately, as he wanted to get a clear picture first. "No, no I don't think so...but whatever it is, it's moving fast."

-Batgirl took out her own binoculars and peered in the direction Robin was looking. In the far distance, about half a mile into the city, Batgirl could see what was unmistakably a car speeding through the streets as if it were fleeing from something. And off to the side, she noticed some other disturbance making its way through the buildings and leaving a few of them crumbling to the ground in its wake.

-"What a minute," Batgirl said with astonishment, "That's Poison Ivy."

-"What?" Robin asked lowering his binoculars

-"And Alice!"

-Robin brought his binoculars back to his eyes and focused them on the fast approaching car. Sure enough, he saw Ivy hunched over in the driver seat with her hands gripping the steering wheel like her life depended on it. She clearly had her foot floored on the gas because the car was racing through the streets at what Batgirl guessed had to be around 150 mph. Alice was sitting in the passenger seat peering behind the car as if scanning their trail for some nightmarish threat that was pursuing them. They were both heading straight for the building that the hero duo was standing on and Batgirl and Robin started waving their hands in the air and shouting over to them hoping to get their attention.

-Ivy and Alice took no notice of the two young heroes. As soon as their car had reached the end of the street Ivy jerked the steering wheel hard to her left and the car swerved off the road and onto a street curve as she made a tight turn onto another street. They made the turn right in front of Batgirl and Robin and immediately after their car had passed them, the Tyrannosaurs Rex blasted its ravenous body out of the concrete wall and into the street less than ten feet behind the fleeing car.

-The ancient reptile turned its head in the car's direction and, with a thundering roar it began sprinting with earth-quaking stomps after the mechanical morsel.

-Robin and Batgirl were left shaken and absolutely dumb struck as they stared at the mass of concrete and steel that had just been reduced to a crumpled heat by the force of 65 million years of primeval power. They slowly turned their heads toward each other, both of their eyes and mouths widened to the limit of shock. As they stared blankly at each other, the same terrible thought penetrated their minds simultaneously and, as if a switch had just been flipped on inside them, they dashed into the direction of epic chase, each praying that Ivy and Alice could hold on just a bit longer.

MEANWHILE...

-Bruce Wayne slowly opened his eyes groaning as if he had the worst headache imaginable. His entire mind was a blank. All he remembered, and he remembered it so vaguely, was fire, laughter, pain, then total blackness. He cleared his eyes and then he saw that wherever he was it reflected his mind like a mirror.

-Bruce was inside of a think shroud of fog so dense that when he stretched out his arm he could barely see his hand.

-"Hello?" He called out. The only response was his echo. He slowly rose to his feet and began walking blindly through the haze trying to piece together the events that brought him here.

-Bruce had taken less than 10 steps before a voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

-"Stop! Stop!" These words evoked a sense of déjà vu but he didn't know why.

-He spun around and he saw a figure slowly walking through the fog making its way toward him.

-As the figure walked through the haze, the fog appeared to dissipate as if to make room for it. When the figure came into clear view, it was revealed to be a small blonde girl.

-Bruce was perplexed. He stood starring at the child unable to determine what to make of the situation. Before he had a chance to speak, the girl looked behind him and thrust one of her arms forward. The fog behind Bruce lifted instantly, revealing an enormous black pit in the ground as wide as the Earth.

-Bruce gasped and took a few more steps back. "What is that?" he asked.

-"That's the Abyss," the girl explained, "That's the part of every human beings' mind that they must leap every day. Most people make it, but once you slip up and fall down into that place, there's no coming back."

-Bruce looked at the ground at the spot where he had risen to his feet and then followed his gaze to where he had almost gone off the deep end. He was about a door's length away.

-"Is it usually this gigantic?"

-"Sometimes," the child answered, "Sometimes it's smaller, and sometimes it's much larger. It all depends on how heavy one's mental burden is."

-The child looked up at Bruce and said, "We've been watching you."

-Bruce looked at the child.

-"We know everything you've accomplished, everything you've fought for, and everything that you stand for."

-"We?" Bruce asked, "Whose 'we'?"

-The girl held out a hand to Bruce. "I'll show you."

-Bruce was hesitant, as he still had not fully grasped the situation.

-"Would it help if you knew who I was?" the little girl asked.

-Bruce nodded.

-"My name is Kristen. And I want to help you destroy Freddy Krueger."

-At the mention of that name a spark ignited in Bruce's eyes and a whole slew of memories came flooding back. They were memories of devastation and pain and loss but the strange thing was Bruce had no idea what those feelings pertained to. Nevertheless the memories had an adverse effect on Bruce's mind and his body felt the very same pain. Bruce found it incredibly hard to stand. It was as if the memories were weights that had been suddenly and violently dropped onto his conscience. As Bruce fought to keep his balance he found himself teetering on the edge of the Abyss again. He fought with all his might to regain his balance but the weight continued to bear down on him and he would have fallen into the black had Kristen's hand not grabbed onto him and pulled him forward.

-Bruce fell to the ground face first but when he tried to stand he found that the weight had become so immense that he could not rise to his feet. When Bruce opened his eyes, he looked up to see Kristen standing over him with her hand stretched out to him. Batman took it and she pulled him to his feet. Kristen turned around and flung her arm forward. The fog dispersed and Bruce now saw that he and Kristen were standing inside of a massive cave. An ominous blue lighting from an unknown source that cast a gothic aura onto the stone architecture illuminated the tunnel.

-"Follow me," Kristen instructed as she began to lead Batman through the cavern, the weight still bearing down on him.

-"What's happening to me?" Bruce asked.

-"You're feeling your memories," Kristen replied, "Right now we are inside of your mind. And your mind has been damaged to where you've lost touch with yourself."

-"Is that how I came so close to falling into the Abyss?"

-Kristen touched a finger to her nose. Then she asked, "You don't remember what caused this pain, do you?"

-"No, I just feel a great emptiness, like I've lost something very important to me. And that name…I know that name but I don't remember who it belongs to."

-Kristen turned her gaze to Bruce and he saw a trace of concern in her eyes. "You'll know soon enough," Kristen replied. When she said this, the words sent a chill up Bruce's spine. They were not devious, but they seemed to almost indicate a sense of foreboding horror that was nearing quickly and the sentence echoed through the tunnel.