Disclaimer: See Summary
A/N: Alright. I understand this chapter took a bit longer to post than usual. I'm sorry. But anyway. There's a lot to cover in this chapter, but I want to answer a few questions I've seen in the reviews. Normally I'd answer each review separately, but a number of reviews were basically asking the same questions, so I'll forego my usual format for now for simplicity's sake. Firstly, I cannot at this current moment disclose exactly how Remnant will feature in this story. No Spoilers. Also, regarding Tock, since I noticed people mentioning her, she will not be appearing in this story or any sequels. While we have no concrete ages for anyone outside the RWBY generation, it can be assumed Sienna is in the same age range as STRQ and Blake's parents. (Those two in particular will be important later. Wink wink). Maria and Tock would be a generation prior to STRQ at least, if Maria was enough of a legend for Qrow to base his weapon off of hers. This means Sienna would have been a baby or a young child by the time Tock attacked Maria, which was not even public knowledge. As far as the wider public of Remnant knew, the Grimm Reaper just disappeared one day. No one would have had any idea who Tock was, least of all Sienna. So there'd be no real connection between the two besides the fact that they're both Faunus. So in summary, no, Tock will not be appearing in this story, and no, Sienna doesn't even know who Tock is, or was.
Sargent Epsilon: That's an insightful comment you've left. I write the story largely with Sienna's POV in mind, so she has no context or prior understanding of Batman and his rogues gallery. Think of it like someone who has no previous knowledge of anything Batman related and whose first exposure to the character is a blind playthrough of Arkham Asylum. From Sienna's perspective, the brooding guy in a bat costume just randomly pried open a vent, crawled in, and grabbed a random trophy seemingly for no reason.
LexiGirl504: Thank you for the review. Rest assured, her adventures will be anything but smooth sailing.
Guest: That's true.
FlameFu: Yeah, Sienna definitely wouldn't have mistaken Croc for a Faunus.
Misfit Fox: Thank you.
I'd like to make an addendum. I know I originally said this chapter would end following the fight with the first Titan mutant, but I didn't realize until halfway through how quickly the game reaches that fight after the first proper battle against the thugs at the start of the game. So I chose to extend the chapter. Maybe I shouldn't promise to end the chapter at a certain point when I haven't played the game myself. But I will promise to try and get these chapters out more frequently than once every two months.
Now, with that done, let's begin.
After a moment to watch Batman fling his batarangs at some windup chattering teeth scattered around the area, Sienna followed him deeper into the Asylum. The rows of cells on either sides of the corridor were empty, which did little to assuage Sienna's concerns. It likely meant that the residents of those cells were loose. It didn't frighten her, of course. But it would definitely make navigating the facility more challenging.
Case in point, the two thugs who rounded the corner ahead of them. Batman tackled the first into the wall, sending him on a trip to Dreamland with a vicious three-part combo. The second thug had little time to react before Sienna came at him with a flying knee right to his chin. He crumbled instantly and Sienna straightened out her pants. "I can only imagine this place is already crawling with the Joker's goons." She commented, shaking her head at the unconscious criminals.
"Henchmen." Batman corrected. She turned to face him with a tilt of her head and a perked ear.
"Pardon?" She asked calmly.
"Many of Joker's men are henchmen, not goons." Batman clarified as he looked down at the two men.
"What's the difference, exactly?" Sienna asked.
"Goons are only in it for the money." He explained. "Henchmen genuinely believe in the cause."
She rolled her eyes. "What cause?" She asked. "Joker only believes in wanton chaos, doesn't he?"
"He does." Batman acquiesced as he started walking down the hallway. She followed suit. "But there's always a method to his madness. Every step is meticulously planned."
Sienna nodded. "I think I understand." She admitted. "He orchestrated the fire at that prison to make sure as many of his men were here as possible. And then he pulls off an elaborate scheme to get himself sent here for...something we don't know yet. I trust we'll find out what that is soon?"
"Yes." Batman replied gruffly. As he began to walk down the corridor with her in tow, the PA system began cycling through warnings of security breaches all around the asylum. A monitor screen above them showed a group of goons...sorry, henchmen...running down the halls. The tigress narrowed her eyes. More thugs for her to fight? No problem. Her Semblance was at max around here, as she'd been quick to notice. It was so strong here it was almost uncomfortable, but she relished the opportunity to flex her combat prowess.
"Batman, over here!" Called a voice from further down the corridor. The two of them approached the guard standing by the massive doors. "What happened?"
"Joker happened." Batman replied. "You're lucky to be alive."
The guard winced and glanced back at the doors. "He must have gone this way!" He exclaimed as he turned towards the doors. "Door's jammed. I'll try to get it open."
The man's walkie-talkie cracked to life and someone on the other line began speaking urgently. "We need help in Pacification. I repeat, we need help in Pacification. Can anyone hear this?"
The man hit his communicator to get it going. "This is Eddie Burlow, can you hear me?" He said. "I'm with Batman and the tiger lady. Hello?"
Batman's eyes narrowed. "Where are they?" He asked.
"Back down there." Eddie explained, pointing back down the hallway. "Do you need help?"
"No." Batman replied sternly. "I work better alone."
"Well then, what about her?" Eddie asked, gesturing to Sienna.
She exchanged a look with Batman before turning back to Eddie. "We have a...temporary alliance for now." She explained.
The communicator crackled to life as the guard on the other end let out another frantic call. "Zsasz is free!" He exclaimed. "Oh god, he's got Mike!" His message was cut off by a loud scream. The two of them exchanged a glance and then hurried back down the hallway, careful not to trip over the bodies of the unconscious thugs.
"Franklin, can you hear me?" Eddie said hastily. "If you can, help's on the way."
They hurried down the hallway, only for Batman to slow down as they neared the corner. He put his hand to his ear (his actual ear, not the spiky bat like ear of his cowl) and spoke. "Oracle, can you hear me?" There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line spoke. "Joker's escaped. He's running free in Arkham...Commissioner Gordon is safe. Joker's not far ahead. I'll stay in contact." He lowered his hand as they approached the door.
"Another associate of yours, Batman?" Sienna asked as she stood next to him.
He didn't even look at her. "Yes." He pulled something out of one of his belt pouches and handed it to her. "Here. This will allow us to communicate more securely." As Sienna looked down at the object in his hand, she saw that it was an ear piece, She took it with a brief nod and stuck it in one of her lower ears.
As they stepped through the doorway, the guards stationed ahead of them seemed anxious. They could only watch helplessly at whatever was happening out of view of the two newcomers.
"Let him go!" One of them yelled desperately. "You'll only end up in more trouble if you continue."
His partner, Zach Franklin, looked over and saw the two approaching. He seemed relieved to see them, or at least Batman. "Thank god." Franklin said. "It's Zsasz. He's got Mike strapped to the chair. He's totally lost it!" Batman nodded and started to move, only for the guard to stop him. "You can't!" Franklin said hastily. "He'll kill Mike if he sees anyone get close."
Batman's eyes narrowed. "He won't see me." He replied sternly. Then he turned to Sienna. "Follow me."
She almost asked him what he thought she'd been doing this whole time, but held her tongue and followed him anyway. From nearby, the serial killer held up a remote. "If I see anything that looks even a little bit like a bat, the guard dies!" He shouted maniacally, pushing the button to emphasize his point. The guard shrieked and gurgled in agony as he was electrocuted.
Without a second to waste, Batman and Sienna hurried up the stairs, to get a better vantage point. Along the way, Batman stopped briefly to speak to one of the doctors. Sienna stepped past him towards the banister. Zsasz was down there, but he was too focused on torturing the guard to see her. Batman stepped up a second later. "Keep him occupied," He told one of the guards. "I need to get behind him."
Sienna looked down at the madman again. She ran the numbers in her head, trying to figure out if she could get down there and disarm him before he could react. She had the skill, speed and reaction time of a fully trained Huntress, even though she'd never attended any of the academies. But even with her superhuman abilities, something in her gut told her that it was too risky. The madman had likely already primed the chair to deliver a lethal dose of electricity if he hit the button, and there was just too much of a window of time for him to react even if she moved now. She decided to let Batman handle this particular threat.
She watched as he weighed his options, before glancing up at one of the gargoyles jutting from the upper wall. He drew what looked like a gun from his belt and fired, launching a grappling line up to the perch. It seemed like an old fixture, but it successfully held the man's weight. He used his grappling hook again to swing to the next gargoyle, and then the next, putting him directly behind his target.
With a flourish of his cape he leapt down, gliding straight at Zsasz and slamming his boot into the back of the man's head. The madman went down, dropping the trigger, but immediately tried to get back up. Batman put an end to that swiftly and pounced onto the man, punching him in the face and knocking him out cold. Sienna smiled. It was definitely an impressive maneuver, and she could see why they called him the Batman. She vaulted over the railing and landed gracefully nearby.
"Someone put this animal back in his cell!" A guard shouted. Sienna's eyes widened instinctively and she spun to face the man with a furious scowl. He backpedaled when he noticed her anger and cleared his throat. "Ah, I...was talking about Zsasz. S-sorry, Ma'am." She sighed, realizing she'd overreacted. She didn't notice the way Batman scrutinized her, already filing her reaction away for later. Mercifully, he chose not to bring it up with her.
"So what's this maniac's deal?" She asked, gesturing casually to the unconscious Zsasz.
Batman glowered down at the man. "He's a notorious serial killer." He explained. "Every tally mark he decorates his body with signifies another one of his victims."
Sienna blinked, looking down at the marks covering the man's upper body. There had to be at least a hundred of them. She didn't even know what to say to that.
Nearby, a set of monitors began to glitch with static, and the two of them stepped away from the scene and looked up at them. When the image cleared, what greeted them was a pair of breasts that were barely contained within a set of clothes. Sienna's face darkened slightly as her eyes widened, and she was almost tempted to look away for a second. The woman they were attached to took was fiddling with the camera. "Can ya hear me?" She asked, continuing to adjust the angle of her footage. "Is this thing on?" She took a step back, and Sienna raised an eyebrow at the bizarre sight.
The woman in question seemed to be wearing white face paint, and a domino mask. She was clad in what appeared to be a skimpy fusion of a clown costume and a nurse's outfit. Her blonde hair was pulled into twin pigtails. She seemed to know they were there. "Oh, hiya, B-Man. Nice to meet ya, Stripes! Harley Quinn here." She twirled a little as she introduced herself. "How do ya like my new uniform? Pretty hot, huh?" Sienna had to admit, for a human, she wasn't half bad looking. Though she certainly wasn't the most impressive woman Sienna had ever seen.
"Oh, I got somethin' to show ya! One second, B-Man." Harley continued as she theatrically sidestepped out of view of the camera for a second. A second later, to Batman's anger and Sienna's surprise, Warden Sharp was rolled into view, strapped to a chair with a gag around his mouth. The criminal clown strolled back into frame a second later, throwing her arm around the Warden's shoulder as if they were old friends.
"I'm now subbin' for the old man!" She declared proudly. In a strangely sensual move, she rested her leg against his thigh and pulled his head in gently against her right breast, even as he mumbled fruitlessly. "Ol' Sharpie's never been happier." She stepped away from the Warden, standing in front of him and leaning on the Warden's cane. "In case ya ain't figured it out yet, today's the Joker's big homecoming, and you're the guest of honor, B-man. And your li'l tiger can be the plus one!"
"You have one chance to surrender, Quinn." Batman warned her. Harley didn't seem fazed at all.
"Sorry, Bats." She said. "But no dice. Now the inmates are running the asylum...Well, technically it's the Joker's henchmen shipped in from Blackgate. But you get the picture. Bye bye for now!" With that, she hoisted up the Warden's cane and slammed it on the camera, ending the feed.
Batman stared at the screen for a moment, his eyes narrowed. Sienna turned to him. "Who exactly was that?" She asked.
"Harley Quinn." Batman explained. "She's the Joker's right hand woman."
She frowned. "And they have the Warden in their clutches now, it seems."
"Not for long." Batman replied sternly.
A guard crouched nearby, looking over his fallen comrade. The poor man had likely been in the wrong place when Zsasz escaped, because Sienna's sharp hearing couldn't detect a heartbeat. As the two of them took stock of the situation, their comm lines crackled to life. Sienna took a moment to adjust to the sound. "Batman, you picking this up?" Asked a voice on the other end of the line. That must be Oracle.
"Oracle, I'm here." Batman answered. Called it.
"Arkham Asylum just vanished the network!" Oracle declared. Sienna frowned. She wasn't a tech geek like some of her friends were, but she didn't need a degree in computer science to know that was bad.
"He's in control of the whole security system." Batman deduced as he started pacing. "He's probably isolated it from the grid."
"That's not all he's done." Oracle continued. "All police feeds are reporting he's placed bombs all over Gotham. Says he'll detonate them if anyone sets foot on Arkham Island."
"So we really are on our own here." Sienna grumbled. "How wonderful."
There was a pause. Then Oracle spoke up. "I'm sorry, who's this?" She asked.
"Her name's Sienna Khan." Batman spoke up. "She was present at the front entrance when I brought the Joker into custody. For the time being, she's going to be assisting me in getting things under control. I gave her my spare earpiece."
"Huh, that was fast." Oracle chuckled. "Nightwing's gonna be jealous. But anyway, the story's being suppressed at the moment, but I'm sure it will break any time now." As Sienna's eyes followed Batman, she noticed that there was a vent shaft with another one of those bizarre trophies in it. Batman seemed to notice as well, but he kept his focus on the conversation for the moment.
"He's lying," He argued. "It's just a diversion to keep people away."
"How do you know?" Oracle asked, skeptically.
"I know him." Batman replied cryptically.
Oracle sighed. "Alright, if you say so." She acquiesced. "I'll leave you to it then. Oh, and it's nice to meet you, Sienna." The communication ended, and Batman turned his attention to the trophy, prying the vent grate off before picking up the trophy and crushing it like he did the first.
Sienna walked over to join him again. "So much for working alone." She commented. "Who's Nightwing? Your ward, or something?"
Batman didn't answer her. His expression, though serious, didn't seem to convey any disdain for her comment either. It definitely felt like a conversation for later, though, so Sienna decided to shelve the subject for the moment. From somewhere else, a guard called out. "The room's locked down. I can't open the gate, we're trapped down here."
The guard who was stood over the body of his colleague called out in reply. "Try the radio." He suggested. "Control should be able to shut down the gate."
Batman exchanged a glance with Sienna. "Harley must think she has us trapped in this chamber." He commented.
Sienna scoffed. "She must not be very bright."
Batman shook his head. "She was once a skilled psychologist with a PhD." He countered. "Though it wouldn't be out of character for her to make a mistake. Follow me." He jogged across the room with her close behind, before approaching yet another ventilation grate. He knelt down to try to pry it off, but Sienna caught on and stepped forward.
"Allow me, Batman." She said, stepping up to the grate and grabbing it. Within a second, it was off. Batman raised an eyebrow at the show of strength, but he did little else to show it. She gave him a confident smirk and stepped aside. "After you."
He ducked into the vent and she crouched down to follow him. From behind her, the guard could be heard. "They got out. Batman and the tiger lady found a way out."
Against her better judgement, she snickered. "I've never understood that trope in movies and TV shows where ventilation shafts are big enough and clean enough for a grown person to crawl through." She commented. "Like, this isn't a Spruce Willis movie."
Batman paused in front of her, genuinely baffled by what she'd just said. "You mean Bruce Willis." He corrected.
"No, I'm talking about a movie star from my world." Sienna explained, shaking her head. "What kind of name is Bruce?"
Batman was grateful she couldn't see his face, because he was completely unable to stop himself from smirking. "There's an actor in this world by the name Bruce Willis." He elaborated.
Now it was Sienna's turn to pause. "Well, that's just bizarre." She commented. Clearly there was more to Earth that she had yet to learn. She'd definitely need to consult a library once this was all over.
As they continued to navigate the vent shaft, Oracle reconnected with them. "Batman, Sienna, I'm patching you into the guard radio feed." They listened closely as the guards tried to gain control of the situation, with gunfire going off in the background. Batman paused for a moment, and Sienna could tell he'd found and smashed yet another of those trophies. Seriously, she thought, why are there so many of those things lying around? "Sorry, feed's down." Oracle replied after a moment. "Comms are up and down like crazy. It's not good. I'll keep trying." Once again the line went out as the transmission ended.
Batman turned in the vent shaft and pressed his boot against the grate. After a moment, it flew off, sailing across the hall. Batman dropped down into the corridor and she followed suit. Her enhanced hearing picked up the distant sounds of panicked screams. A guard rounded the corner ahead of them, and they followed suit. They were met with a sight that made Sienna's blood run cold.
The chamber ahead of them was sealed off, but people within were trapped. What's more, they were gasping for breath, clawing at their throats as they dropped one by one, making noises that sounded chillingly like...laughter? The guard banged fruitlessly on the viewport as he could only watch on helplessly. Sienna, despite her pride and her general distrust in humans, couldn't help but feel a pang of worry.
"What is that stuff?!" The guard asked frantically.
"Joker toxin." Batman replied lowly. "Listen, the room is full of poison gas. Anyone caught in there is dead."
"Poison gas?" Sienna asked. Her fists clenched at her sides. Every new thing she learned about the Joker made her hate him more.
"Are you two gonna get in there and help them?" The guard asked, continuing to look frantically into the chamber.
Batman looked up at the shaft above them, firing his grappling hook and launching himself up. A second later, Sienna crouched down, using her powerful legs to leap up to the ledge. She pulled herself up with ease, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Batman seemed almost impressed. He walked over to the vent grate, prying it off and crawling through, with her close behind. "This isn't an escape attempt." Batman mused. "Joker's been planning this."
"But to what end?" Sienna asked.
"There's only one way to find out." He replied. He pushed the grate off and dropped down into the room.
The two of them made their way into the chamber itself, and she couldn't help but feel an immense sense of dread. Most of the chamber was filled with the sickly green gas, though it remained concentrated closer to the ground. They were safe where they were, but Sienna didn't want to risk breathing in that gas.
Directly in front of them was a guard dangling from the edge. When they'd dropped down from the vent shaft, he turned to them desperately. "Please help me!" He begged.
Batman calmly walked over, pulling the man up and onto the ledge, away from the gas. "You're going to be fine." He assured. "Stay here."
Sienna stepped forward, looking down at the deadly green vapors below. She steeled her resolve and leapt, darting across the vent shafts hanging above the layer of death. A second guard ahead of her was looking up at his colleague, who was in a similarly precarious position. "Batman and the Tigress are here." The guard shouted to his friend. "Just hold on a little longer, Steve."
"I can't!" Steve said desperately as his legs swung back and forth. "I'm gonna fall!"
With a graceful leap, she launched herself up to his level. She paused for a moment. She'd just jumped up here to save a human from death without even thinking about it. Why? She didn't have much care for humans, but she couldn't let him die either. She stepped forward and grabbed the man by the back of his shirt. "It's alright." She said, pulling him up easily. "You're safe now."
Batman joined her a moment later. "I'm going after the monster who did this." He growled.
"Batman!" The guard called out again. "The extraction system. Steve was trying to get to the control panel at the end of the room!" The caped crusader nodded once in acknowledgement before turning and gliding across the room. An inmate was holding on for dear life.
"He left me here!" The criminal grunted, struggling to maintain his grip. "That son of a-" Batman pulled him to safety before knocking him out with a punch to the back of the head. Sienna leapt across the gap and joined Batman on the platform, looking down at the unconscious inmate.
They stood in silence for a moment as they assessed the situation. As one, they turned their attention to the panel the guard had pointed out earlier. "Hmm..." Batman mused. "There's the extractor point." He drew a metal object from his belt and aimed it at the control panel.
It sailed threw the air and struck true, and a second later, the ventilation systems began to come back to life, swiftly clearing the room of the gas. It was safe to drop down, and the two fighters descended. Sienna very quickly wished she hadn't. The room was littered with corpses, criminals and staff alike, scattered about on the floor. But the most disturbing part was that all of their faces were twisted into grizzly smiles with their eyes wide open, forever staring at nothing.
"Dear gods..." Sienna mumbled. For the first time since she'd arrived on Earth, she truly felt nauseous. "What...what did that gas do to them?"
Batman gave the closest corpse a brief look. "The Joker developed his own toxin." He explained solemnly. "It forces the victims to laugh uncontrollably until they suffocate. All the while, their faces are twisted into grotesque smiles. Once the victim has inhaled it, there's almost no hope of saving them."
Sienna stared at the corpses for another moment. There was almost nothing to say in reply to that. "...Fuck..." Almost.
As if to mock them for their morbid discovery, the Joker's maniacal laugh could be heard over the PA system. Sienna's upper ears tucked down in anger. Nothing in that moment would make her feel as satisfied as wrapping her Cerberus whip around the Joker's neck. But she tamped down her rage. No. It would be more satisfying to let him live. To suffer for a long time for the carnage he caused.
Then a serious thought crossed her mind. Batman knew Joker closely. They had clearly been enemies for a long time. That meant...Batman knew what Joker was capable of and what he'd done...and let him live! Sienna felt a twinge of anger building in her mind. Batman was supposed to be this city's prime defender, and he lets a madman like the Joker live?! The Faunus woman felt what little respect she had for Batman fade.
Batman navigated the floor, dropping down into a vent system and destroying yet another trophy. In her mind she decided it wasn't going to be worth it to keep count of how many of those damn things they found. There's likely way more of those things than I can keep count of, she thought.
"Woo!" The guard at the window cheered. "Go Batman! You rock! Joker doesn't stand a chance!" After a moment of quiet, he added. "And, uh, you're awesome too, Tiger lady."
It was a quaint moment, but Sienna couldn't stop herself from reflecting on that. It felt really nice to be respected by humans for a change. "So that's what it feels like." She muttered out loud. Batman emerged from under the floor and looked at her. He nodded and jogged through the room, towards the door at the far end. She followed quickly, trying not to pay any further attention to the mass grave around her, or her anger with Batman's seeming indifference to the Joker's madness.
The door opened, revealing a hall full of cell blocks. The Joker's voice sounded out through the PA system again. "What are you two waiting for?" He taunted. "I'm so close you can almost taste me."
Two thugs started charging down the hall towards them, but Batman and Sienna were ready for them. Batman countered the first thug's attacks, and Sienna vaulted over both of them, pouncing onto the second man and knocking him backwards to the ground. She gave him just enough time to groan in pain before she knocked him out with an elbow to the temple. She rose to her feet just in time to see Batman dispatch the other criminal. The two wasted no further time before heading down the hallway again.
All around them, the walls and cells were decorated with green paint in the shape of twisted smiles. The door at the far end of the corridor seemed to be smiling back at them. As they stepped through it, the Joker was waiting for them. He was standing on a large metal box dangling over a deep pit. He strolled forward to greet them. "What took you two so long? Did Sienna here need to find a litter box or something?" He descended into another round of laughter. Batman wasted no time aiming a batarang at him and throwing it. It struck the chain just above where the Joker's head had been, but the clown had ducked nonetheless, as he continued to laugh.
"There's no escape, Joker." Batman said firmly. "I will find you."
"Oh, I'm counting on it." Joker replied. "Just not yet." He stomped his foot down and the box began to open. Sienna's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what he was doing, only to reel back in shock as the thing inside was revealed.
It was a tall, severely malformed humanoid of some kind, with a massive arm and a hunched posture. Its eyes were glowing a strange, unnatural green as it snarled at them and leapt from the crate. "Oooh, he's a big one!" Joker taunted.
Sienna narrowed her eyes again, drawing her whip. Whatever this thing was, she could handle it. The beast stomped over towards one of the dead guards, and using its oversized right arm, it picked the guard's body up and hurled it at her. Her instincts enabled her to dodge out of the way, only for the monster to charge at her, tackling her and slamming her into the wall. Her aura flared up from the hit, but the force of the impact still stunned her for a moment.
Before it could continue to pummel her, Batman drew another batarang from his belt and hurled it at the back of the monster's head. It turned towards the vigilante, letting out a bellow as it rushed towards him. A second batarang hit it in the face. The beast brought its arms up in anguish, allowing Batman to dive out of the way as the mutant creature ran face first into the circuit breaker, electrocuting itself. Batman took advantage of its momentary incapacitation and rushed at it, punching it several times before it finally recovered. Batman leapt backwards to avoid getting hit as it slammed its fist into the ground.
Sienna huffed. She wasn't about to let this thing take her down. She swung with her whip, only for the beast to catch her weapon. She tugged, dragging the blade at the end of her whip free and slicing the monster's hand in the process. It growled in annoyance as it looked down at its cut palm, before slamming the ground in anger and barreling towards her. She ducked out of the way, allowing it to slam its head into the wall once again. For good measure she swung with her whip again, striking the beast in the side and leaving a nasty gash. Then she leapt up onto its back, snaring her whip around its neck and attempting to choke it out.
It tried several times to flail at her, bucking and twisting like a rodeo bull in a vain attempt to shake her loose, but she refused to give up, pushing its head down with her boot. Unable to shake its unwanted passenger, the mutant turned its attention back to Batman. It roared again and charged at him, only for Sienna to twist her whip, redirecting its course into the side of one of the security booths. With a graceful backflip, she dismounted at the last moment before impact, landing beside Batman.
The disfigured creature turned to look at them as if it was about to attack again. They braced for it to strike, but it never came. Instead, the beast grasped at its chest for a moment, grabbing at its own head as it staggered backwards, grunting and snarling before it let out a final pitiful exhale and fell backwards, dead.
"Well, that was unexpected." Joker said in a disappointed tone, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Oh well, note to self, need stronger test subjects." Sienna looked up at him in disbelief. Just what was he planning? Joker looked at them for a moment and shrugged. "Seeing as how I'm feeling generous, I'll give you this one for free." He spread his arms out as he stepped forward to the edge of the crate. "Knock me off, I dare you! End this, pull the plug, stop me once and for all!"
She turned to Batman, as if expecting him to follow through with it. He pulled out a batarang (seriously, how many of those things does he have on him at any one time?), and pulled back, ready to throw it and end the Joker for good. But a few seconds later, he lowered his arm, and Sienna couldn't help but feel surprised that Batman was letting Joker go. The killer clown's laughter rang out in the chamber as he stepped back from the edge.
"Oh, you're getting too predictable, Bats!" He taunted. The crate began to move backwards through the massive doors at the far end of the chasm. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got a party to organize. I've got guests flying in from all over Arkham. You'll see." His laughter once again filled the room even as the doors closed.
As silence once again rang out, Sienna looked down at the dead abomination in front of them. "What the hell is this thing and...what exactly just happened to it?" She asked, ever so slightly afraid that it would suddenly spring back to life for round two.
Batman looked down at it for a moment. "I don't know." He admitted. "But clearly, whatever twisted experiments the Joker performed on it were more than its heart could handle. It's dead, Sienna. You don't have to worry about it attacking us again." At the mention of the Joker, Sienna was reminded of the room full of victims of Joker Toxin they'd seen earlier and her anger resurfaced.
"Why did you let him get away?" She snarled, wheeling on him. "You could have ended this madness before anyone else got hurt, or killed."
He didn't even seem phased by her anger, almost as if he'd expected it. Had he actually noticed her frustration before? "We still don't fully know what the Joker's planning." He explained. He gestured to the abomination sprawled out on the floor. "Whatever he's doing with those things, we have to get to the bottom of it."
He attempted to turn towards the guard hiding nearby, but Sienna grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at her. "I mean, why do you let him live?" She snapped. "He's a mass murderer. You've been fighting him for how long and you decide not to kill him? What kind of hero are you?"
That seemed to catch Batman off guard at first, but to her surprise, he remained calm as he gently removed her hand from his shoulder. "I could easily have killed the Joker any time I defeated him in the past." He said softly.
Sienna narrowed her eyes at him. "Then why haven't you?"
He sighed. "Because that's exactly what he wants." He explained.
The tigress paused. "What?"
"In the past seven years that he and I have fought, he's been focused on pushing me to break my code." Batman replied. "He believes that if he can make that happen, then he'll have truly won. I refuse to give him that satisfaction."
Sienna took a moment to reflect on that. "Oh..." She took a deep breath. "I see. And I suppose you'd want to prevent me from killing him for you, correct?" He nodded. "Very well...It would probably be more satisfying to let him rot in a cell anyway."
He nodded again. "I can promise you this, Sienna." He said firmly. "Whatever the Joker is planning, we will put a stop to it tonight."
She took a moment to think it over. She still didn't fully trust him. But...she recognized that stopping the Joker wasn't something that they could accomplish if they were too busy distrusting each other. So she looked at him and nodded. "Alright." She sighed. "But I will need a better explanation from you for not killing in general. I don't know your full story but I'm near certain that there's more to it than that."
He looked down for a moment before speaking again. "Later." He insisted. She relented, understanding that there would likely be a better opportunity for them to speak at a later point in the night. Satisfied, he turned towards the right hand security booth, collecting yet another trophy and breaking it before making his way to the opposite booth, where a scared guard stood over the body of his unconscious companion.
The guard stood over his friend and looked at them as they entered the security booth. "They came out of nowhere." He panted, gesturing to his unconscious friend. "I dragged Jerry in here. Powered up the gate. Must've passed out."
Sienna nodded. "Your quick thinking saved his life." She commented, watching Jerry's faint but steady breathing.
Batman turned back to the guard. "Joker went through that door." He said firmly. "What's on the other side?"
"We call it 'Extreme Isolation'." The guard replied. "Only way in is through the transport system. I can open it, but I'll need to call another cell." He strode over to the console and began to type away. "Something's wrong." He said after a moment. "The main security loop's locked."
"Having a little trouble up there?"
Sienna and Batman turned as one towards the security monitor, which now showed the Joker's face, front and center on the screen. Batman stepped towards the monitor. "Joker." He snarled.
The Joker chuckled as he took a step away from the camera. "You were expecting maybe Two-Face?" He taunted.
"Who?" Sienna asked, her face contorting in confusion. Her query went ignored.
"There's no escape, Joker." Batman warned.
"Silly Bat, I don't want to escape!" Joker retorted. "I'm having way too much fun. I even have you two to keep a smile on my face."
Sienna narrowed her eyes as she stepped forward. "You won't be smiling for long when we get our hands on you, clown." She snapped.
"Really?" The Joker teased. "We'll see. Oh, and I almost forgot." He turned the camera to the left slightly to show a tv, with feed of Frank Boles and the Commissioner. Sienna narrowed her eyes. What was he aiming for? "Just in case you were planning on following me, I've arranged a little insurance." To their surprise, Boles raised a weapon as the Commissioner unknowingly turned his back to the soldier, and Boles struck him in the back of the head. "Gordon is on his way to Harley as we speak."
The Tigress frowned. She hadn't known either man well, but she felt a private sense of validation that her suspicions of Boles had proven true. "If I see either of you trying to follow me, he dies." Joker warned. "Harley's looking forward to it. Maybe I'll film it and post it on the internet!"
Again, Sienna hadn't been in Gotham long, but from what little interaction she'd had with Gordon, he seemed like a respectable man, even for a cop. For Joker to so casually brag about such depravity made her angry. "You bastard!" She snarled. "You think this is a game?"
"Oh, I certainly do, Sienna Khan." He chuckled. "Well, it's been fun, but I gotta run. Ta ta!" He continued laughing even as the feed cut.
She turned towards the guard. "How much longer before that thing is up and running?" She asked.
The guard shook his head even as he continued to hover over the console. "No good." He replied. "Transport system's down. Best I can do is open the door you came in through. Sorry." The two of them exchanged a look, leaving the booth and heading back through the door. Sienna gave the dead monster one last solemn look. She was certain there'd be more where that came from.
"So now what?" She asked, keeping pace with Batman.
"We're going back to the holding cells." He explained. "Boles would have left a trail."
The two of them were just entering the hallway when the comm lines crackled to life. "Batman, Sienna, what's happening?" Oracle asked.
Batman put a finger to his head to answer. "Joker's escaped. He's sealed himself off. He's got your..." He trailed off, as if remembering Sienna was right there and listening in. At the knowing look she gave him, he seemed to realize she'd guessed what he was about to say. "He's got your father."
Oracle gasped. "No...Dad...Wait, Sienna you heard that?"
"Yes, Oracle." She replied, gently. "I did. But you can be sure we'll find him, and get him out of here alive."
Oracle sighed. "Alright...okay, but..."
"Oracle, we will get him back." Batman added, reinforcing Sienna's promise. "Joker won't win. We won't let him. I'll start where your father was taken. He was attacked by a guard named Frank Boles. If I find him, I find your father."
Of course, neither of them could see Oracle directly, but Sienna could hear the desperation in the young woman's voice. "B-Batman, Sienna...please hurry." She pleaded, before the line went down.
Batman turned to Sienna. "I won't say a word to anyone." She promised. "Let's just focus on finding the Commissioner."
He nodded and they took off at a sprint back towards the holding cells. Once again the Joker couldn't help himself from taunting them as his face appeared on three screens ahead of them. "I bet you're wondering how I did it." He chided. "Was it a clue the great detective and his pet tigress missed?" She bristled again at his use of that word, but held her tongue. The Joker continued to laugh at them as they sprinted down the narrow hallway, passing more monitors broadcasting the clown's face.
"Oh, Frankie and I go way back." He continued. "I got him out of a spot of...bother a few years ago. So now whenever I need security codes or an old man clubbed to the ground, I know just the man to ask."
Up ahead, two thugs were standing over the dead body of a guard, unaware of the vigilantes behind them until it was too late. Batman flung a batarang at the guy armed with a pipe, before throwing a haymaker at the other one. As he delivered a fierce set of punches at the thug, his comrade recovered, grabbing his weapon and raising it. Sienna drew her whip, striking not at the thug but the wall, blocking the blow. The man had no time to react before Sienna laid him out with a single punch before yanking her weapon out of the wall.
Satisfied that they'd neutralized the threat, the two of them walked through the door and entered the holding cells. Batman activated his communicator and contacted Oracle. "Oracle, I'm at the holding cells with Sienna. I'm setting up a crime scene." At that, Sienna chose to step back and let the detective do his job.
"So what's the plan?" Oracle asked. "Isolate something in that room unique to Boles?"
"Exactly." Batman replied as the call ended. He scanned the room for a moment, before zeroing in on a spilled flask at a corner of the room. "I can follow traces of alcohol from Frank's bourbon in the atmosphere."
Sienna's eyebrows went up. "You have tech that can do that?" She asked, before shaking her head. "What am I saying? Of course you do." She huffed as he walked past her back down the hall. "How can you even afford all this stuff?" He smirked as he continued to follow the trail, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine, then." She relented. "Keep your secrets." She turned to follow him through the halls.
"Oracle," Batman spoke into his headset. "I've got a trail."
"That's great." She replied. "You two follow it. I'm grabbing every reference to Arkham I can find. Might be useful later."
With that done, the two made their way back down the halls, Batman following the trail and Sienna following him. They walked down the hallway in silence for a moment when Batman chose to speak up. "That Aura of yours is certainly nothing to scoff at." He commented. "What exactly is the source of that power?"
She looked at him, before it occurred to her that he was referring to earlier, when the mutant slammed her into a wall. "Ah, that." She sighed. "It's a physical manifestation of my soul. All living things can unlock it. Not just humans and Faunus, but animals and...even plants as well. In warriors, it's an essential tool. It can block most damage and heal small wounds. And it can even provide some warriors with access to a Semblance."
"Semblance?" Batman repeated.
"Yes." Sienna responded. "It's a power distinct to each individual. No two people with a semblance have the exact same one. Mine...is complicated. I'm used to fighting others with Aura. My semblance augments my strength, speed, and overall combat ability the weaker my opponent's aura is, and the effect becomes amplified in a fight against multiple opponents."
"I see." Batman replied, taking that information in. "So in a world without Aura..."
"My semblance is at its strongest." Sienna confirmed. "But even disregarding it, as a seasoned warrior with a powerful Aura, my physical strength is well above that of a person without Aura."
Batman seemed to accept that answer. "And how does one unlock their Aura?" He asked.
She thought about it for a moment. "It depends." She replied. "Most have someone else who has their Aura recite a specific incantation to unlock it for them. Others develop it randomly under moments of stress or desperation." She blinked as something occurred to her. "You're asking me to unlock your aura for you, aren't you?"
"Not necessarily." Batman answered calmly. "But it's something you could do?"
"Could do, yes." She confirmed. "I know the most common incarnation used for the process. And you do have a soul, so it would work. But would I is the question you should be asking. And, to be completely honest with you, I don't think you need it. You're a formidable warrior as you are now. Giving you access to Aura and potentially a Semblance would be overkill." (Somewhere else in the infinite multiverse, another variant of Batman sneezed and accidentally turned into a swarm of bats, much to his blonde haired ward's surprise.)
Sienna and Batman fell into silence again as they entered a new room. A phone call between Joker and someone else played out, ending with Joker laughing about finding someone's severed head. "Gods, does he ever shut up?" Sienna muttered under her breath, mildly disturbed by the psychopath's antics.
The two of them continued to follow the trail, making their way towards the door to the elevator, and Sienna's enhanced hearing picked up on the frustrated grunts of the guard hovering over the panel. As they approached the elevator, Sienna's upper ears perked up and she froze in place. Batman reacted accordingly, holding up his hand to silence the guard's questions. He took a moment to assess that the trail lead to where the elevator car would stop, meaning Boles had used it to drag the commissioner away.
Sienna looked up and saw Harley shimmying her way down the elevator shaft, and the Faunus woman's eyes narrowed. "Uh uh uh, B-man." Harley taunted, sitting down on the beam. "Mr. J doesn't want you and Stripes followin' us just yet." She reached behind her back and unclipped something from her belt, holding it up for them to see. Sienna's eyes widened when she realized it was a detonator. Before any of them could react, Harley hit the button, and somewhere far above, an explosion rang out.
The wires screeched and Harley was yanked upward, cackling as she disappeared. The two vigilantes simultaneously realized what was heading their way and reacted accordingly. "GET DOWN!" Batman yelled, grabbing the guard and throwing him to safety. As one, he and Sienna dove backwards right as the elevator came crashing down, sending up a shower of sparks. As the dust cleared, all three of them rose to assess the situation.
"How'd ya like that, you two?" Harley's voice taunted. "No way you're following us now. You're trapped down there until Mr. J and I are ready for ya. HA HA HA!"
"That's what you think." Sienna muttered. She cracked her neck and took off, leaping up onto the steel beams of the elevator shaft with ease. Batman couldn't help but be impressed with the woman's agility.
"Gordon was taken to the surface in the elevator." He observed to himself, as he navigated up a nearby staircase. "If I want to follow them, I'm going to have to do it the old fashioned way. I can't move as quickly as Sienna can."
Meanwhile, Sienna was rapidly ascending up the elevator shaft, using all the techniques she'd been taught over the years. Within just twenty seconds, she'd reached the top, picking up the sounds of a group of thugs. As she peered over the lip of the platform, she could see that they were standing over a dead guard. She quickly pulled herself up fully and cleared her throat."It's the Tiger!" One of them yelled. He charged towards her, but caught a palm thrust tot the gut, launching him backwards into the wall so hard it dented. He sank to the floor, wheezing and concussed.
She launched forward, meeting the second one head on. She ducked out of his punch and swept his legs, striking him in the ribs with her elbow as he fell. The third managed to reach her, only for her to throw the thug she'd tripped up at him, and both men fell backwards, out cold. Thug Number Four tried his luck with a haymaker, only for her to catch it in one hand. She spun, pulling down on his hand until she heard it dislocate. The man gave out a pained grunt before she flipped him over her shoulder onto his face, knocking him out instantly.
Even after seeing him put down his comrades in a matter of seconds, the final man must have felt a spike of courage, because he charged at her. Sienna could only roll her eyes as she effortlessly parried his attack, kneeing him in the gut before headbutting him in the stumbled back, clutching at his face for a moment. He had seconds to make sense of it before a roundhouse kick to his jaw sent him sprawling to the floor, joining his comrades in sleep. As she brushed the dust off her clothes, she realized Batman was taking somewhat longer than expected. She sat down, cross-legged, to center herself while she waited.
Unfortunately, her moment of piece was almost instantly broken as the Joker's voice carried over the PA system. "Hey Bats, I know you and the tiger can hear me." He teased. "I've got something for you to listen to. Harley and Frank are nearly out of the building with the old man. How are they gonna get past all those guards? Let's have a listen shall we?" As Sienna listened, Frank gave instructions to a group of guards ordering them to watch the entrance, before apparently gunning them down. Harley could be heard entering a moment later.
"You're some piece of work, Frankie." She said dreamily, making Sienna gag. "A girl could fall for someone like you."
"Harley!" Joker scolded. "Stop flirting with the hired help!"
"Sorry sweetie." Harley replied softly. "You know I only have eyes for you." That set off alarm bells in Sienna's head. She felt she'd known something like that from somewhere, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
"Did you hear that, Bats?" Joker asked, directing his attention to Batman. "Sounds like Frankie's working just fine! Another valuable employee for the organization."
Sienna waited another minute, tapping her knee softly as she heard the increasingly close sounds of Batman climbing and grappling his way up the elevator shaft. Finally, he pulled himself up, looking over at her and the unconscious criminals around her. She smiled faintly as she rose to her feet. "It's about time." She sighed. "Not bad for a woman pushing forty, huh?"
Batman paused. "You're almost forty?" He asked, making sure he'd heard her correctly.
She nodded. "Yes." She replied. "I understand that my agility and combat prowess may seem much more impressive given my age. That's one of the many things Aura can provide for a warrior. I fight with the strength and vitality of a woman half my age. My birthday is October 18th, by the way. Has that date passed yet?"
He shook his head. "No." He answered. "It's July 25th."
"Then my birthday is just three short months away." Sienna replied, wistfully. "Though...it's been quite a long time since it was worth celebrating." She shook her head to shoo away her thoughts before they could distract her. "But I'd like to know why that caught you off guard. You've been so...stoic and unfazed by everything aside from the Joker's typical madness. Why did hearing my age throw you off so much?"
"I'm only 37." Batman admitted. "My birthday is February 19th."
Sienna's eyebrows went up. "Hmm...so I'm older than you by about three years." She observed. Then she noticed the small tape in Batman's hand. "What's that?"
He looked down at it and hit the button, playing the recording. It was between someone Sienna guessed was the doctor Batman had spoken to when they'd encountered Zsasz earlier, and the other was Harley Quinn...or rather, Dr. Harleen Quinzel. It was clearly a recording of Harley's first day on the job. Dr. Whistler was warning Harley not to get careless, and that many of the patients she'd be working with would sooner kill her then talk to her, only for Harley to shrug it off, assuring the senior doctor that she'd be fine.
The sense of dread that had filled Sienna's stomach earlier suddenly returned as her mind began to piece together what had likely happened to Harley. It also brought up an old memory she'd held onto.
"Adam..." She growled, sitting on her throne. Looking up at her was Adam Taurus, who seemed confused as to why she'd summoned him. "Care to explain to me why Blake is here?"
"High Leader, she's here because she wants to be." Adam replied, as if that answered her question. "She believes in our cause, so why should we turn her away?"
"She's twelve, Adam!" Sienna snapped. "Do you even comprehend the danger you're asking her to subject herself to? Do her parents even know she's here?!"
He waved her off. "Doesn't matter." He said dismissively. "She's in good hands. She'll be fine."
Sienna sighed irritably, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Adam...I swear, you're getting on my nerves today."
He scoffed. "Look, you should be happy to see her, Sienna." He reasoned. "She's your niece, after all. Aren't you happy to know she'll be fighting by our side?"
She stood up, glaring at him. "You arrogant, self-centered son of a..." She inhaled sharply as she reined in her anger. "Look, Adam...Yes, I am happy to see her, but you don't seem to fully grasp the danger you're dragging her into. She's my family, yes, but that is exactly why she shouldn't be here. I...I can't lose anymore of my family, Adam. You can't ask me to do that."For the first time in a while, Adam seemed sympathetic to her fears. "I understand, Sienna." He admitted softly. "But you have to trust that she knows what she's getting into, and wants to help anyway."
She couldn't help but think he was manipulating her into agreeing with him, but she knew Blake. That precious kid was every bit as stubborn as Kali, and by extension her as well. It was adorable when Blake had been younger, but this was different. Very different. "You're not wrong..." She conceded. "But that doesn't change the fact that she shouldn't be here."
"Don't worry, Sienna." Adam replied. "She'll be fine. I won't ever let her out of my sight. Promise."
For a moment, the promise put her at ease. But then a dreadful thought crept into her mind and her anger resurged. "Adam..." She spoke in a deceptively calm voice and narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean by that?" He seemed to realize his blunder, but she wasn't done. "What are your intentions with my niece, Adam?" She pressed. She took a step closer, and he took a half step back, realizing how bad the situation looked. "Well? Speak, boy..."
"I...I swear, I don't plan to do that to her, I won't!" He pleaded desperately. In a straight up fight, he knew he wouldn't win against her, especially not if she was motivated by righteous fury.
"You'd better not, Taurus." She snarled, getting right up in his face. "You're nearly eighteen, Adam She's only twelve, as I'll remind you. So, as long as she stays here, the two of you will never be left alone outside of missions, and even then, I will be contacting you frequently enough to ensure you keep your hands off of her. If I ever find out you even attempted anything untoward with her...there won't be anywhere on Remnant that you can go to hide from me, and there won't be enough of you left to fill a shot glass. Do you understand me, boy?" He nodded frantically. "Good. I'll be telling her the same thing, so you can be sure she'll notify me if you try anything. You're dismissed." With that, he scurried off, a fresh fear of her vengeance in his mind.
Sienna shook herself free of the memory. She realized that Harley had most likely been roped into being the Joker's right hand woman in a chillingly similar way to how Adam had convinced Blake to abandon her parents and commit herself fully to the White Fang. The major difference, however, was that Harley hadn't had someone like Blake had had Sienna to keep her from being completely manipulated.
Granted, Blake hadn't seemed to take Sienna's concerns fully seriously, even though she'd promised to come to her aunt if she felt Adam was overstepping his bounds. But it had filled the tigress with nothing short of absolute relief when Adam had reported to her that Blake had left him during that mission to disrupt the dust shipment.
Nonetheless, what she'd just heard on the interview tape made the cutesy way Harley spoke to the Joker take on a much more sinister light, and she couldn't help but feel pity for the poor woman, even if she was a criminal.
Their moment was interrupted by Oracle. "Batman, Sienna, any sign of my dad?" She asked.
"Not yet." Batman replied. "But we're getting close. Harley Quinn tried to slow us down. Dropped an elevator on us."
"Did it work?" Oracle asked.
Batman chuckled. He actually chuckled. "Of course not. I'll get back to you when we reach the end of the trail." He ended the call and looked at Sienna. "Let's keep moving."
She nodded and followed him as he tore off the vent grate and crawled in. She heard noises up ahead as they reached the end of the tunnel. Gunshots rang out and a guard went down, while the other pleaded for his life. "Please..." He could be heard whimpering. "I have a kid, you don't have to..." His pleas were cut off as a round of shotgun fire struck him in the chest and he went down.
"You're right." A thug further down the hallway replied. "I just want to. Okay, boss says no one gets past. Anything moves, shoot it."
Sienna once again found her deep-buried sense of sympathy resurfacing. To so cruelly cut someone down when they're begging for their lives was a different kind of cruelty, one she sadly had much experience witnessing. Batman carefully pushed open the grate and the two of them crawled out. He reached out through his comm line again. "Oracle, Joker's men have taken control of the Cell Block Transfer corridor." He whispered.
"That's not good." Oracle replied. "I've patched into a guard radio. It sounds like the Joker's crew got their hands on weapons."
"I know." Batman responded. "I'll calibrate the cowl's vision mode to isolate armed henchmen."
Sienna frowned. She pulled out her scroll and checked her aura levels. She hadn't taken any significant hits aside from a pipe to the back of the head and then later being slammed into the wall by that mutant monster. According to her Scroll, her aura was still at around 82 percent. Not a bad number. It would likely be enough to shrug off gunfire if she rushed out and attacked the armed criminals, but it would still sting like hell. As such, she once again was willing to defer to Batman's stealth tactics to get through this.
She didn't realize Batman was looking at her until he spoke up. "What is that?" He asked.
His question startled her slightly, and at first she wasn't sure what he was referring to until she remembered that she was from a different universe, so of course he wouldn't know what she was holding. "Ah, right." She replied quietly. "This is my Scroll. A personal, handheld device that can gauge my aura levels, communicate with others, take pictures, and even provide access to the Dustnet, among other functions."
"So, it's essentially a cell phone?" Batman asked.
She frowned. "I suppose so." She replied. "Can a cell phone do all those things?"
He nodded. "Most of them at least." He said. "What is it powered by?"
"Electricity Dust." She replied casually. "The screen is made of Hardlight Dust, and the metal parts are standard materials. It's a...bit of an older model, but then again, I'm not exactly a teenager...or all that wealthy, so it's to be expected." She glanced at the energy life and frowned. "Wait...shit, it's at forty-five percent energy...I don't suppose Dust exists in this world?"
"No." Batman replied with a shake of his head. "What is Dust, exactly?"
Sienna sighed. "Dust is the lifeblood of Remnant." She explained. "It does everything if you know how to refine it correctly. It can be used to power homes, cars, airships. It can be used in weapons and even infused in clothes. Think of it like...crystallized magic." She frowned. "Actually...that makes it sound like a drug. And to my knowledge, no one has ever attempted to snort a line of powdered Dust or inject it into their bodies." (Back in Remnant, Hazel Rainart sneezed.)
"It sounds like a very useful material to have." Batman said.
"It is." Sienna replied, deactivating her Scroll and putting it back into her pocket. "But there's none here on Earth, apparently. Which means I need to be careful how often I use this thing." Batman nodded, putting that information away for later. He glanced back up at the hall and she followed his gaze. "I could rush out there and take them down." She offered. "My Aura is strong enough that I could do it. Unless you want to go with the stealth approach."
He shook his head. "As much as I'm willing to believe you could, it's possible that the gunfire could alert any other hostiles nearby." He replied. "Even if your Aura could hold out, you said yourself that it's limited. We shouldn't take that risk if we can help it."
She nodded. "Fair enough." She conceded. "So what's the plan?"
As one, they looked up to the ceiling, which was decorated with more gargoyles. Batman grappled up to the one just above them and then swung to the next, and then the next. Even though she couldn't see him in her line of sight, she'd deduced what he was doing. The armed assailants were expecting them to come from one direction, and Batman was clearly going to surprise them from behind. She initially thought he was going to have them both attack the enemies at once, but then she remembered there were likely more nearby who'd be alerted to any noise.
With her heightened hearing, she could fairly hear Batman silently taking down the guards one at a time. Then he strolled back into her line of sight. She stepped out into the corridor and looked at him, then down at the dead guard. Then she looked back at her ally. "We should get moving." She suggested. He nodded and they proceeded forward. They rushed down the hallway and were about to pass through the door when a voice nearby caught their attention.
"No problem, boss." The thug said. "The boys are just finishing off. Those Arkham chumps never stood a chance." Sienna noticed the stair way off to the side and slowly crept her way up, with Batman close behind. She could just make out the sight of an armed thug speaking to the Joker. He was, of course, not physically present, but rather speaking through TV screens. Sienna's ears twitched and she noticed Batman pass her up the stairs and walk right up to the thug, standing behind him silently. It almost made Sienna chuckle.
"Good." The Joker replied, seemingly displaying no reaction to Batman's arrival. "Our friendly neighborhood rodent and his second house cat are on their way. You need to set a trap. They cannot leave this building." Sienna bristled again at the derogatory way Joker spoke of her, although she was confused by him referring to her as the second house cat. Did that mean there was someone else Batman knew with a cat theme? (Somewhere else in Gotham City, Selina Kyle sneezed and almost dropped the diamond she had...acquired from the Penguin's private stash.) "Do you understand me?" The Joker added harshly.
"Uh, yes, boss." The thug replied shakily. "The Bat and his Tiger are as good as dead."
The Joker smiled wider as he leaned closer to the camera. "I hope you keep your promises boy." He warned. "I'd hate to have to go and punish your family just to teach you a lesson. I can promise you they won't be laughing."
"B-but Joker..." The thug stammered nervously, shifting from foot to foot. The Joker cut him off.
"B-b-b-but nothing." He replied dismissively. "Just do it. And have fun. I know I will." He started laughing again as Batman finally took action, incapacitating the thug with a silent takedown. Sienna emerged from the stairway to join her ally and glare at the Joker on all three screens.
"Oh look who it is!" Joker continued, finally acknowledging them. "Are your pointy ears burning? All six of them?" Sienna narrowed her eyes, her upper ears tucking against her head in frustration. "I suppose I'd better warn my boys you're on your way..." He started to turn away from them when an idea must have crossed his mind. "Hey, maybe I won't... It'll be a nice surprise." He laughed yet again as the feed cut.
Sienna turned to Batman and glanced at the unconscious criminal between them. "He really threatened his own henchman like that?" She asked.
Batman nodded. "He did, and he would absolutely make good on that threat." He replied. "He's done it plenty of times in the past."
Sienna frowned. "Sounds a hell of a lot like Odyn Branwen." She muttered.
"Who?" Batman asked.
She looked up at him. "He was the leader of the most feared bandit tribe in Mistral, and one of the most dangerous criminals in all of Remnant. He was ruthless. A bandit, sure, but he carried himself more like a mob boss. His two kids, Qrow and Raven, are regarded as among the most powerful hunters of the current era. He wouldn't threaten his tribe that way, but many of the other criminals his tribe associated with often commented on his cunning and capacity for cruelty."
"You said 'was'." Batman observed. "What exactly happened to him?"
She shrugged. "That's a mystery I'm not sure even you could solve." She replied. "He disappeared about... twenty years ago as of the day I...died. No one is sure exactly what happened to him. The prevailing theory is that his daughter Raven, after becoming a full fledged Huntress, went back to Mistral and fought him for control of the tribe. Whether she had him exiled or killed, no one knows for sure, as there was never a body recovered. I know that much because she made it known that she was leading the tribe shortly thereafter. Her tribe has admittedly caused trouble for me and my people over the years, though Raven herself tends not to actively provoke the other factions in Mistral if she can help it."
Batman mulled it over in his head. "Odin is the name of a godly figure in Norse mythology, often depicted with a missing eye and a pair of ravens." He explained. "Though the morality of his actions is often ambiguous depending on the interpretation of said myths."
That caught Sienna's attention. "I doubt it's any more than a coincidence." She suggested. "Much like my apparent connection to this 'Shere Khan' the Joker mentioned earlier. Speaking of which, we should probably keep moving. The longer we wait, the slimmer the commissioner's chances of survival get." Batman nodded and strode over to the nearby vent, prying off the grate and crawling inside, with Sienna close behind.
As they traversed the cobweb riddled vent shaft, the Joker's voice sounded out over the PA system. "Ding ding ding dong!" He taunted, in a clear mockery of the PA system's typical jingle. "Arkham asylum is under new management. Here's a quick update on what's going on. Attention. We have an escaped patient. Dresses like a bat, has a ferocious pet tiger. Ohoho, what an idiot. Should be considered costumed and dangerous. Personally, I think the best solution is to put them both out of their misery. It's the only reliable cure."
Sienna bristled. There had been a handful of Anti-Faunus zealots who resorted to treating her kind like they were diseased, and that genocide against them was the only cure. She was under no delusions that the Joker knew her people's history, hell, she was pretty sure he didn't know she wasn't from Earth, unless he'd been eavesdropping on her and Batman this whole time. But even so, she knew he was only saying those things to piss her off, which was unfortunately working.
Batman quietly removed the grate from the vent and snuck up on the thug standing nearby over two dead guards. Before the criminal could see them, Batman took him down with out a sound. Then he turned to her. "I haven't had a chance to see you in action properly, Sienna." He said. "I'd like a demonstration of what people of your world are truly capable of."
Her eyebrows went up and her upper ears stood straight. "Are you sure?" She asked. "I'm fairly certain all the enemies in this room are armed, and I was under the impression that we should approach this with more stealth."
He nodded briefly. "I'm sure." He confirmed. "But that shouldn't be an issue for you, right?" With that, he used his grappling hook to pull himself up to one of the gargoyles to observe.
She took a deep breath and reached out with her heightened sense of hearing. She could detect that there were only two other criminals in the area, and they were far apart. Not enough to give her much of a boost with her semblance...but then again, her semblance wasn't entirely necessary against thugs like these. She darted up the stairs and sprinted at the first one. He had just enough time to turn in her direction and lift his rifle before she slid past him, wrapping her arms around his waist and shooting to her feet, suplexing him and knocking him out.
Of course, the noise alerted the other criminal, who started rushing towards her. She sprinted across the catwalks towards him. With her Cerberus whip, she latched onto the railing and leaped off, swinging in a wide arc and slamming both feet into the crook's bare chest. The wind was knocked from his lungs and Sienna took him out of the fight with a single punch.
As she recalled her whip, the Joker's voice picked back up on the PA system. "Did you really think it would be that easy, tiger?" He taunted. "I've sent a few more of my boys your way. Let's see how you deal with these odds."
The far door opened up and three additional henchmen came flooding in, each armed with a gun that they then trained on her. She looked up to see them and dove out of the way, retreating back across the area to goad them into following her. All the while, she could hear the metallic hissing and whining of Batman's grappling hook as he swung from gargoyle to gargoyle, watching her.
She saw one of the thugs charging at her, and she grabbed the closest thing she could, which happened to be a wrench, and threw it at him with pinpoint accuracy. It hit him in the head and stunned him, and she blitzed him, leaping up to grapple him. She spun around his head with a technique she'd seen in her favorite spy movie back home, slamming his head into the floor. Then she darted up the steps, leaping up the railing and darting to the right through the center cubicle.
The second thug saw her and opened fire. She dodged his volley of bullets and swung out with her whip, which latched itself around his leg. With a sharp tug, he was yanked off his feet and the rifle in his hands went flying. Sienna wasted no time pouncing on him and driving her elbow into his jaw, sending him to sleep. Then she caught the rifle in midair, ducking behind the panels of the catwalk as the third thug opened fire.
She fumbled with the rifle for a moment, as she had no experience using one, until the clip released. She emptied the bullets out and emerged from her hiding place, hurling the empty clip through the air. It flew in an arc into the man's hand causing him to cry out in pain and distracting him from her presence. It bought her a few precious seconds to close the distance. She leapt into the air in a spinning kick, generating momentum as she spun until her foot connected with the side of the man's head. He let out a grunt before his body abruptly jerked to the side and crumpled.
Sienna sighed as she brushed herself off. She saw Batman drop down from the rafters and she climbed the steps to join him just outside the center chamber. "Not bad." Batman admitted. "Your fighting capabilities are just as impressive as I suspected."
She nodded. "Thank you." She replied.
Their moment of peace was cut off by the Joker coming over the PA system again. "Oh ho, those were the easy ones." He announced. "I'm just playin' with ya. You'll see." His laughter trailed off as he apparently walked away from the microphone. That cryptic message put a sour taste in Sienna's mouth.
Then she noticed something on one of the desks. It was another audio tape. She and Batman walked over and he hit the button to play the recording. Sienna's eyes widened slightly as the tape began to play, revealing that it was from Harley Quinn's perspective. Or rather, from Doctor Harleen Quinzel's perspective. Then her blood ran cold when she heard the Joker's voice, teasing Harleen with an innuendo filled remark. It only got worse from there. Harleen tried to ask the Joker why he did what he did, only for him to turn around and ask her what she thought the answer was. As she rattled off her speculations, Sienna could hear the Joker getting more and more flirty with her, and the Faunus' fears from earlier felt much more real. So the Joker HAD manipulated Harley into becoming his right hand woman.
As Batman put the tape away, he turned to her with a grim look. "That's another reason the Joker is so dangerous." He explained. "He's not just ruthless and immoral, but highly manipulative."
Sienna tried to catch her breath, not even realizing she'd been holding it. "But, how?" She asked. "If he's so obviously evil, why would she fall for his tricks?"
"Because she was desperate to prove herself as a new psychologist." Batman replied. "She was likely convinced she could be the one to 'cure' the Joker. And he preyed on her vulnerabilities."
He turned and started walking to the far end of the chamber. There was a man strapped to the hand truck meant to transport patients, and as the two of them approached, they could see that it was Frank Boles. His face was twisted in a grotesque expression, and it was very obvious even from a distance that he was dead.
"Joker must have figured out how we were tracking Gordon." Batman observed. "Officer Boles' trail ends here."
Sienna could barely focus on the fact that the Joker had done away with one of his assets. She was still reeling with the implications of what she'd heard on the tape. The Joker had taken advantage of a woman who only wanted to succeed in life, but she'd paid the price for it by becoming a criminal. And yet, somehow, Sienna found herself genuinely pitying the poor woman, which gave her pause. Was she...genuinely worried for a human that much? What was happening to her tonight?
A/N: And done. Another chapter done, after nearly three months. I promise I'll try to get these chapters out more often moving forward, but I make no guarantees. I don't want to set any goals for how frequently I'll aim to update, since I'm almost certain I won't be able to make that quota anyway. But I'll definitely try to post more often than once every two to three months. There's a lot of ground to cover.
Anyway, yeah. It's revealed that Sienna is Blake's biological aunt, and Kali's younger sister. I know this is likely not true in the main canon, but I already plan on tweaking canon a bit for my story. Not drastically, but there will be things that are currently open for interpretation but could become fully non-canon depending on what is revealed in future installments of RWBY. Case in point, Odyn Branwen. He's my take on Qrow and Raven's father and the previous leader of the bandit tribe. I have plans for him in the future. Not this story but a different one, though it will take place in the same timeline as this story.
Also, see if you can figure out the significance of Sienna and Bruce's birthdays. Good luck.
Next time...well, I can't say for right now where chapter four will end just yet, but we'll be introduced to the Riddler next chapter, that much should be obvious. Until then, remember to review, favorite and follow. See you next time, and happy Saint Patrick's Day.