Chapter 8: Arkham Exalt

Batman had removed his mask, for the very last time. Gotham was free of its most wanted, and everyone knew who he was. He had gone to his house, and blew it up. Crispy were he and Alfred, but fate (a.k.a. a certain omnipotent fanboy (and a certain writer)) had different plans for him.

He awoke in darkness. He called out, "What happened, Alfred? Did it not go off?" No response. "Alfred?" Again, no response. "Where am I?" The world's greatest detective decided to investigate. He found a door, and that his mask was back on. What was off about the door was that it was the only thing around, other than him. It was as if he was walking on nothing. He opened the door to find where it went.

What happened next could not be expected by him at all. When he opened the door, he was in the outside world once again. He was on a rooftop in a city at night, but it was not his Gotham. He knew he was on earth, but he didn't know where.

This didn't surprise him. Neither did the explosions and gunfire on the streets below him. This city was in chaos, and needed a savior. He was Gotham's no more, but this city needed his help. The bat soared again to save the people.

There was a man on a ledge, above a police officer. It appeared as though he intended to step on her hands, which would cause her to fall off the bridge. Batman could not afford to have someone die on his watch. Not tonight. Not again. He'd had too much of that already.

Since it was over the ledge, Batman had the opportunity to grapple a point on the bridge. He accelerated at terrifying speeds (to a criminal) to the perpetrator, giving himself enough speed for a grapnel accelerator takedown.

The moment he reached the ledge, he leapt up, catching the rather tall man with his arm. He then slammed his head down in the same flawless motion. The impact knocked the tall man in the suit unconscious immediately. He never knew what hit him.

He pulled up the officer that had been in danger. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks to you. How did you do that? Where did you come from?"

"That doesn't matter. You should be safe now. Where is the nearest station?"

"To the north, a few blocks away. But it's been overrun by a lot masked men, and they are packing heat."

"I'll handle them."

"You can't be serious. They have rocket launchers! They blew up any car that even came near the building."

"I'm always serious. Get somewhere safe, and lock the door. I'll contact you on your radio when they have been dealt with."

"Okay. Don't get yourself killed, alright?"

He grappled over to the police station to liberate it from the threats that occupied it. They would not harm anyone else in this city again. Not if he had any say about it. He made his entrance through a vent, appearing directly above them. 27 hostiles in the building, all armed with unidentifiable weaponry. They weren't all in the same room, so he could isolate them. Then he noticed the aircraft above the skylights.

It hovered over the glass, and seven troopers in armor dropped through. He could hear some chatter over their comms:

"Be advised. There are now 28 signatures in the building." Their commander, probably.

"I doubt it'll be much of a problem. Probably a stray alien drone." This came from one of the troopers from the craft, who was equipped with several grenades and some sort of device. "Their coding is advanced, but not perfect."

Aliens. This was definitely not his world. Was there even a Gotham? He would listen in while he set some things into position.

"Why do you think EXALT tried to take over this police station?" The one with the grenades asked. At least he had a name for the terrorists.

"Do we really understand EXALT's motivation?" The medic asked.

"I do. Power." The one with augmentations said. "They want money and power, and they don't care who has to die to get it. If they have to sell out the human race, so be it. They forsake humanity when they started setting up shop all over the world. I hope they burn in whatever hell awaits them."

"We have to burn them first, though. You know the drill. If it's not us or a civilian, blow 'em to bits." The officer commanded. "If it's new, capture it."

"Got it, boss." The sniper acknowledged as she flew up to the celling with some sort of jetpack.

SLAM, CRACK, THUD Gunfire was heard, then two more blunt impacts. Then it was silent.

"What the hell was that?" The soldier with some sort of alloy cannon queried.

"Strike-One, be advised. It looks lie signature 28 is hostile to EXALT. However, we still read their life signs. Recommend extreme caution. We don't know what you're up against."

"I copy, Central. Squad, move in!"

Three of them burst into a room full of EXALT agents. "Let 'em have it!" The one with the minigun yelled, firing bursts of energy throughout the room. Immediately, two agents were mowed down and the lead EXALT spewed coffee out of his mouth. He leapt over a desk and turned it over for cover. The other two beside him were destroyed by the shotgunner and the grenadier. Before he could call for backup, the sniper managed to shoot through the wall and into his leg. He crawled over and shot the fire extinguisher to cover himself while he called for backup.

"We're under attack! Everyone, on me!" was what Batman was able to translate in his head. After that cry, the soldiers were able to find him… and execute him. But not before all the other conscious ones were able to find his position and surround the soldiers.

Then, the number of faint life signs went from three to four, to five, six, seven out of the 23 left.

"Strike-One, what is happening? They're dropping like flies."

"We'll let you know as soon as we do. I'm pretty sure that will be soon. Comms check." The one who looked like a medic ordered.

"MEC Trooper check." The one in power armor responded.

"Grenadier check."

"Assault check."

"Heavy check."

But from the last one, there was no response. "Everyone, clear out the EXALT. I'm going to check on our sniper."

"Got it, boss. You know the drill, all. Blow 'em all to hell." Pulses of energy soared out of their weapons to the terrorist occupants in the station.

They knew exactly what they were fighting. The medic on the other hand, was uncertain of this new threat. Uncertainty leads to nervousness. Nervousness leads to fear. It had been so long since he was scared of any hostile threat. If he died on the battlefield, he would die for a cause, but this one was… different.

"Central, this is Psi-3. Psi-4 is down." He broadcasted to his command. "She's not dead, so I can revive her. Hold on…" He turned his light plasma rifle. Three bursts of energy flew out into the dark, only to hit nothing. "Must have been nothing." He turned around to be terrified.

A palm to disarm, a kick in the kneecap, and an elbow to the shoulder brought him down to one knee. Since he wasn't usually in close-quarters engagements, because that was usually the Assault's job, he wasn't very experienced with a knife. Even if he was, it wouldn't have helped him much. He was facing the goddamn Batman.

*Int-*

"Nananananananananananana"

*No*