Nightmare in Arkham
Chapter 36: "Back to Square One"
-Alfred and Leslie sat on either side of Bruce Wayne's unconscious body as it was carted off in the ambulance and taken to Gotham Medical Center. They were both frantic with worry and kept their eyes on Bruce without blinking or turning away even once, lest his body float away or get damaged out of thin air again.
-Bruce's eyes were wide open but were rolled back in his head exposing milky white and his body occasionally gave off a slight twitch.
-"This is a catastrophe," Alfred said, "How on Earth are we going to help him? His own mind started to attack him."
-"We need to be strong, Alfred," Leslie replied, "If I know Bruce as well as you do, he's going to fight this until there's nothing left in him."
-Alfred squeezed Bruce's hand and a tear ran down his cheek.
-"Oh Bruce, what could be going on inside your mind?" He asked.
Within the Dream World, the Dark Knight starred into the blazing eyes of the Arkham Dragon as the mythical behemoth peered down upon him with greedy hunger.
-The Dragon lashed at the Dark Knight but he managed to dodge the blow and run up the Dragon's scaly neck. Once he was at the base of the neck, the Dark Knight took a swing at it but the sword bounced off of the armored hide.
-The Arkham Dragon reared up, forcing the Knight to leap from its back. Then it unfolded its wings and took to the air. Once off the ground the Arkham Dragon blasted the Dark Knight with its fiery breath. The Dark Knight shielded himself from the onslaught but eventually the shield was knocked from the Dark Knight's hand. Seeing his opening, the Arkham Dragon unleashed another fire stream. The Dark Knight leapt off the ground and flew through the air in a hasty retreat.
-The Dragon raced after the Knight with rampant speed, tearing through buildings and burning down everything that stood in its path.
-At the last moment, the Dark Knight made a wide turn and flew directly at the Arkham Dragon's face at break-neck speed. But before he could slash the Dragon's face, the beast opened its mouth and trapped the Dark Knight within its maw while the Knight forced both jaws open.
-The Arkham Dragon struggled to shake the Knight loss from its mouth but the Knight clung tightly, pushing the jaws apart in attempt to rip the head in two. The Dragon blew out a trail of fire and finally shot the Dark Knight out of its mouth and sent him flying through the demolished city until he came to rest on top of the burning Monarch Theatre.
-The Dark Knight lay motionless on the roof top as the Dragon prepared to strike. However, before it could, a bullet struck it on the back of the head.
-The Arkham Dragon turned around to see Batgirl with her father's gun pointed directly at it. Pamela, Alice, Robin, and Dr. Leland were all standing behind her ready to fight. The Dragon smiled amusingly and turned its sights on her.
-"Hey Krueger!" Shouted a female voice. The Dragon turned to see Debbie standing on the roof of a tall building that stood eye level with the Dragon.
-Debbie transformed her entire body into a swarm of Japanese hornets and fly around the Dragon's head, stinging the beast in its eyes and ears while injecting acidic venom. The Arkham Dragon roared in pain and tried to shake them but to no avail.
-Dan came racing down the street with the speed of a motorcycle while Sheila took in a massive lungful of air. When Dan passed her Sheila released the air in the form of a powerful hurricane wind that sent Dan flying through the air and doubled his speed. Dan struck his fist into the side of the Arkham Dragon's head with the force of a freight train and sent the beast flying several feet until it crashed through a building where Rick was waiting for it. Rick leapt onto the Dragon and used a katana to chop off its claws and its fangs.
-Kristen leapt onto the Dragon's chest and used the blades on her shoes to kick the Dragon's chest open, exposing its heart.
-It was at this time that Batgirl and the others reached the Dragon and they all swarmed it like a legion of army ants swarming a grasshopper and began hacking and tearing the Dragon apart using various weapons that they conjured up with their dream control powers.
-The Dragon struggled and flailed on the ground like a gazelle in the clutches of a pack of lions but Batgirl put an end to the struggle. She turned her father's gun into a claw like Freddy's and used it to stab through the Dragon's armored back and with supernatural dream strength she tore out the Dragon's spine, completely paralyzing it as it had done to her.
-Pamela was the last one to arrive on the scene and when she did she ran with a spear held high to the heavens. When she reached the Arkham Dragon, she stabbed the spear directly into the beast's exposed heart.
-"That was for Selina!" She exclaimed, "And this, this is for-" A metal claw pierced Pamela's chest.
-The crowd of heroes gasped in horror as Pamela's face fell agape with pain. Sekhmet brought her head out from behind Pamela's back and kissed her on the cheek.
-"Whose got the kiss of death now, sugar?" Sekhmet asked with an evil grin as she watched the green drain out of Pamela's eyes.
-As everyone stood frozen solid, Pamela's soul escaped her body and entered the impaled heart of the Arkham Dragon.
-The Dragon gave off a bright glow before releasing a wave of energy from its body that sent everyone flying in random directions.
-Dr. Leland clung desperately to the ledge of a partially demolished building and her grip was slipping fast. Right when she was about to fall to her death a hand reached down and caught her. Dr. Leland looked up with a relieved smile to face her savior but when she did the color completely drained from her face.
-"You!" Dr. Leland shouted.
In the real world Dr. Leland shot up from her hospital bed and hastily shouted, "We need to evacuate the asylum, now!"
In the Dream World the Arkham Dragon stood up to its full length completely healed of its wounds while the remaining heroes lay scattered and dazed in the remnants of the destroyed city.
-With a victorious smile the Arkham Dragon threw its long arms up and moved them to the sides. The stars in the sky each transformed into a citizen of Gotham City.
The Dark Knight slowly rose his feet and looked up to the Dragon's handy work. When he looked up, he saw the faces of all the people he tried to protect. People of all ages from children to the elderly, both good and troubled, familiar and unfamiliar. Then, in the mass of faces, he saw the faces of Alfred and Leslie Thompkins.
-"You are all my children now!" proclaimed the Arkham Dragon in a deep, roaring voice that was so eerily sinister that it broke through the minds of everyone in Gotham who was currently asleep and caused them to tremble in their beds.
-Knowing full well the meaning behind the beast's words, the Dark Knight was consumed with unimaginable rage. Then the heavens above were obscured by bombardment of grey clouds. The Bat Symbol shone brightly in the clouds and it was then the Dark Knight knew what he had to do.
-Waving his sword in the air, the Dark Knight released a battle cry that shook the ruins of the destroyed Arkham City and caused the Dragon to turn to him.
-Upon seeing the Dark Knight alive the Arkham Dragon threw its head back and released a firestorm upon the Knight.
-The Dark Knight jumped up into the air and took flight just as the flames touched down on the spot where he once stood and sent the Monarch Theatre up in flames. Then the Knight continued to fly upwards at break neck speed. The Arkham Dragon unfolded its wings and took to the air in pursuit of its quarry.
-Despite having smaller wings than the Dragon, the Dark Knight was able to stay a good distance ahead of the monster as it flew toward the Bat Symbol projected in the clouds.
-What happened next could have very easily been mistaken as Thor's final stand at Ragnarok, or Zeus' epic clash with the monster Typhon.
-A bolt of lightning came down from the heaven's and struck the Dark Knight but he continued upwards, through the Bat Symbol, and through the clouds all the while absorbing all the electricity within them. The Dark Knight breached the heavens filled with so much electricity that his armor shown like a shining angel of vengeance. Then the Dark Knight plunged downward back through the clouds as a bolt of lightning. In a rage, the Arkham Dragon unleashed the biggest breath of fire it had thus far unleashed but, in complete defiance of death, the Dark Knight plunged onward, through the burst stream of destruction, and right down the Arkham Dragon's throat. The Dragon roared and trembled and glowed as its body was filled with electricity until it finally exploded in midair.
-Freddy fell screaming out of the blast and toward the earth where he landed in the charred remains of the Monarch Theatre as rain started to fall in a violent shower. The dream demon slowly crawled out of the wreckage, groaning and disoriented, and was dumbfounded to see the Dark Knight standing over him.
-Freddy crawled back with a hand raised as if thinking this would keep his enemy at bay. When the Dark Knight took his first step, Sekhmet ran at him with her claw raised. When she brought her claw forward, the Dark Knight punched Sekhmet right in the metal arm and shattered it. He then brought his sword up and continuously slashed the cat-creature. For a moment Sekhmet stood still like nothing happened, then her body fell apart and shattered. Freddy scrambled to his feet and started to run.
-Like a killer out of a slasher movie, the Dark Knight began his pursuit of the dream demon in the form of a slow, steady walk but every time Freddy turned around his pursuer was always closer and closer behind him.
-Before long, the Dark Knight was within 10 feet of the Freddy. It was then that Freddy went into fight mode. He turned around and used his claws to levitate pieces of broken concrete and debris and hurl it at the Dark Knight even when Freddy hit his mark the Dark Knight just kept on coming, completely unfazed by the impact.
-When Freddy brought up his left arm to strike the Dark Knight he took his sword and chopped it off. He then smashed Freddy's second glove with his foot and used his blade to slice Freddy in half at the waist.
-Freddy desperately tried to crawl away but only got a few feet before collapsing facedown. When Freddy used his remaining hand to hoist his chest up, he saw something peculiar etched on the ground. It was a chalk outline of a human being. And lying next to it was another chalk outline. It was then Freddy realized it was the chalk outlines of Bruce's parents. But before Freddy knew what to do with this information he felt himself being turned over on his back.
-The Dark Knight flipped Freddy over and plunged his sword through the palm of Freddy's gloved hand, pinning him and his weapon down. Then he starred down in hate at the menace that had plagued Arkham's nightmares.
-"Checkmate," The Dark Knight said to the fallen nightmare king. Freddy just smiled.
-With all the force within him built up by the intense rage that Freddy had brought upon him the Dark Knight plowed his fist down on Freddy's head. A bolt of lightning struck across the sky as Freddy's blood ran red through the street. But the Dark Knight didn't stop at just one punch he rained down a hailstorm of punches, each one crushing Freddy's head to a pulp. What the Dark Knight didn't realize was that with each punch he brought down he vanquished some of his energy and very slowly started to turn human again.
-By the time Alice and the others finally found him, The Dark Knight had completely turned back into Bruce Wayne, who was now hammering the broken, bloody ground with his bare fists, which were raw and covered in blood and asphalt. Bruce's body was covered in rain and sweat and his shredded Batman costume barely clung to his body. Freddy was gone by now, completely reduced to nothing by the force of the punches. All that remained of him was his glove. But Bruce nonetheless continued to plow away at the ground. Robin and Batgirl rushed up to him.
-"Bruce!" Batgirl shouted, "Bruce it's okay." She placed her arms around Bruce's shoulders.
-"It's over, Bruce. The nightmare's finally over," Robin said reassuringly.
-Alice's eyes turned away from Bruce and toward Freddy's glove. She slowly walked over to the death instrument and looked at it as if waiting for it to spring up off the ground. Then, just when she started to believe Robin's words, one of the fingers on the glove twitched. Alice's eyes widened with horror.
-"No it's not! GET BACK! N-" the claw sprang up off the ground and struck Alice. She spun around with the claw embedded in her chest (the same way her brother died).
-"NO!" Rick screamed in despair. Alice dropped to the ground dead.
-Batgirl, Robin, and the five teens all ran to Alice's body but when they got within arm's reach of it they all sank into the ground up to their chins.
-Freddy's blood, which had been scattered all over the ground along with the rain water, slithered over to the pit that Bruce had made in the ground and filled both the chalk outlines. Then, as Bruce watched in horror, the chalk outlines stood up and the blood that held them up materialized into the full bodies of Thomas and Martha Wayne.
-"No! No! No! You're dead!" Bruce yelled out.
-Martha dealt Bruce a slap across his face.
-"How dare you speak to your mother that way you little ingrate," Martha spat angrily at her son.
-"But I saw you, I saw-"
-"And you did nothing!" Thomas interrupted with an angry snarl.
-"I wanted to! But it happened so quickly," Bruce pleaded with tears in his eyes.
-"You were worthless and helpless then, and you still are!" said Thomas
-"Just look at the death you've caused," Martha said pointing a finger toward the spot where Batgirl, Robin, and the teens were trapped. But instead of seeing his comrades, Bruce saw the bodies of Jonathan Crane, Jervis Tech, and all the other victims and now Alice was even among them.
-"No! That wasn't my fault! They were murdered."
-Thomas and Martha Wayne punched Bruce in the face and slapped him, knocking him to the ground. The bodies of Freddy's victims rose up and surrounded Bruce as he lay on the ground being battered by the rain.
-ALICE: "You still don't get it, do you, you stupid little shit!"
-HARVEY: "Each of us became who we are because of you!
-EDWARD: "All our actions were geared toward combating your strength."
-JONATHAN: "Including my decision to steal Freddy's hat."
-Bruce's eyes shot wide open.
-JONATHAN: "That's right, Bruce, I brought Freddy hear so I could gain his power and use it against you! So if it wasn't for you, not only would Freddy have never found his way to Gotham…"
-Thomas and Martha Wayne fused together and became Freddy Krueger.
-"I may never have even come back from the dead," Freddy said with a dastardly smile. He then sucked the souls of his victims back into his body and looked down on Bruce.
-"So you see, Brucie, their souls may be in my body, but their blood is on you."
-Freddy then vomited up a fountain of blood and covered Bruce's body under it.
-While struggling in the pool of blood, Bruce saw everything.
-He saw every murder, every death, every cry of pain, every evil laugh, every single atrocity that Freddy had ever committed unfolded right before Bruce's senses. There was no place to run, no place to hide, even closing his eyes did nothing to alleviate the horror that had befallen him.
-Then Bruce heard Freddy's laugh, and this one was the loudest, most sinister laugh that he had heard from him yet.
-After several minutes the blood fountain finally dispelled and left Bruce shivering in the rain under his cape on the ground between the two chalk outlines of his parents. Freddy lifted the cape and it was revealed that Bruce was no longer in his adult body but back in his eight-year -old body from the night he lost his parents.
-Freddy lifted his index knife and said, "Back to square one."
-He then slowly lowered his hand toward Bruce's head and placed the point of his index knife firmly against Bruce's temple. A tiny pool of blood formed around the tip.
-Bruce trembled with pain and fear.
-"That's right, piglet. Scream for me!" Freddy demanded…BANG!
-The noise caused Freddy to jump to his feet. Bruce instantly transformed back into his adult body. His comrades were freed from their earthly prison. And the Arkham City setting had vanished to be replaced by the boiler room setting once again.
-The noise was the sound of the dream card that Freddy had stolen from the Mad Hatter being shattered along with the dream machine Freddy had made. Then the noise took on a different form. I sounded like someone was dragging a crowbar along the walls and pipes of the boiler room and it was getting closer and closer.
-Bruce turned to Freddy to see if this was somehow his doing but Freddy looked just as confused as Bruce and the others were.
-Suddenly, Batgirl let out a loud gasp and when the others looked in her direction they all did the same. Whatever they were looking at was standing right behind Freddy and Bruce.
-Bruce and Freddy turned around and Bruce's heart practically leapt into his throat.
-Standing behind them, crowbar in hand, looking better than he had ever appeared before, was the Joker.
-"Anybody miss me?" He asked. Then his eyes turned onto Freddy and his smile faded to be replaced by an angry scowl.