The Demon's Trap: Arkham Finale

"-Perhaps I'll remind him of that night some day, remind him of the power I now hold over him... I, am the Riddler. And I just made the Joker frown." Joker finishes reading, and laughs. "Good one Eddie," he cackles, and, taking a lighter, Gar's lighter, from his pocket, he sets the green book alight, leaving nothing but the broken lock-

unsurprisingly shaped like a question mark, behind.

 

"You would not *believe* the amount of trophies I had to find to get this! Ha! Credit where credit is due, at least he's consistent."

 

The figure stirs. "Whatabout Lyyyyyyynnssssssss?"

 

"What about him! Such a curious child... and the baby too, haha! Don't you worry about a thing, my petit pois, just you remember this is an *equal* partnership. 50:50, 60:40."

 

=====The Belfry=====

 

"Get back inmates! All of you get ba-!"

 

The guard's words are cut off as a frosty cocoon covers his body, trapping him in a thin sheet of ice. Conscious, but unable to move. His mouth, is the only thing that he can still feel. Freeze holds his hand in his, and snaps it off.

 

"You have three limbs left. If you value them, you'll answer my questions."

 

The guard's eyes dart about, pleading with the spectators. Ten is about to step forward, until Needham sticks his arm out.

 

"Where, is my wife?"

 

"Your wife? Your *wife*? Do you like her? Do you looooove her? No! No, you don't." A high pitched voice echoes down the halls, and a strange red and black man skips towards them. Manic eyes peak out from behind his golden mask. Just before the guard can talk, the Pirate pushes him to the ground, and he shatters. "Who, wants *your* wife?"

 

"What is-"

 

"You don't want to fight. You don't want your wife. You'll put down your gun- all of you will put down your guns. We can all have tea, cake, fun!"

Reardon's hand twitches. He can hear the others struggling, as they lay their weapons onto the floor, and put their hands on their heads. Ten can hear Hayden's rapid breathing. He's salivating.

 

"You too. This is where you put the gun down." A challenge... Hayden enjoyed a challenge. This orange man is resisting... Impressive, no one resists the Pirate. "You don't want to fight. You want to put the gun down. We can be friends! The best of friends! Just put the gun down."

But Hayden didn't count on something. Philip Reardon is blind. No matter how many funny faces The Pirate made, he wasn't going to put the gun down.

 

Blam.

 

Hayden screams, and his hold over the others breaks. "Mr Krill! Mr Krill! They shot me!"

A disheveled looking Polka Dot Man emerges from a portal, a can of beer in his hand. "I told ya, ya shouldn't have gone the scenic route. Lads." He grabs the wounded Pirate, and the two vanish.

 

=====The Court=====

 

Deep underground, two swords clash together. One belongs to The Demon's Head- He favours a steel blade, one forged in the fires of an ancient volcano off the course of Nanda Parbat. Six hundred years on and still just as effective. The second belongs to his former student, Miranda Gaige, belonging to the people of Antiquity, the sea faring warriors she's descended from. An iron sword marked with arabic writing, that translates loosely to "Daughter of the Seas." It is the name she took on as a member of the League of Assassins.

Her strikes are less refined, more aggressive. Ra's is on the defensive, he is able to make each parry look remarkably easy. Drury, Norbert, and a legion of their enemies watch on. No one dares speak. "That should be me," Drury thinks to himself. "That should be me." She can't keep it up.

Miranda may be slowing down, but Ra's is as strong as ever. Whatever they've pumped into him, it's made him faster, more agile, and more deadly. But, Miranda's not useless either. She knows she could still win this, and sure enough, after ten minutes of grinding, Ra's holds his finger to his cheek. Blood.

He's open now. Miranda speeds up, swiping at his arms, cutting the tendons apart, next, going for the legs. It's looking like she's winning, that *they're* winning. And then his wounds start to heal.

Miranda stumbles backwards as he switches tactics, swinging his sword towards her like an animal, slashing at her feet. She's on the ground, she has but a split second to move or else- "Yes!" Drury cries. She's up. She's going to win. She's-

 

And then, Ra's Al Ghul pulls his sword from her chest. She splutters, as blood fills her lungs. Ra's bows his head, and plants his sword in the ground, marking the end of their duel. He won.

 

"Activate the device."

 

====Ace Chemicals====

 

A cold autumn wind hits his faces. The scarred side gets the worst of it, its' exposed muscle shrivells up; its' eye swells. Annoyed, Dent growls.

A mile away, the Penguin and the Black Mask scale the prison walls, battling guards they claim work for the Court of Owls. Owls that, Penguin claims, intend to blow Arkham to hell, with them in it.

Half of him wants to flee, leave Scarecrow to die. The other half, the other half actually wants to help him.

It's true, Crane may be the only one that can "fix" them. It's also true that he's a psychopath, who cares about nothing else but his experiments.

They flip their coin and the good side, the "moral" side lands up. Dammit.

Two-Face puts the coin into their breast pocket, and walks inside, the smell of fumes filling their lungs.

 

"We're evacuating, Crane. Penguin-"

 

"-Is no longer our concern. It's been a year since I first endeavoured to perfect my newest formula, and it's still-! It's still not done. Even with the Deacon's flowers, even with all of Ace Chemicals at my disposal, I still can't create a simple virus... Oh, there were days I could whip up a formula in a hour... But, those are long past. Perhaps it was Spider's bullet, perhaps it was Electrocutioner, but I'm... afraid. I'm not the man I was."

 

=====The Court=====

 

"It should've been me." Drury grabs Ra's sword, and runs at him. In seconds, Ra's disarms him, and pins him to the ground. Norbert rushes to Cobb, to try and remove him from the device, but tentacles pull him back, dragging him across the concrete. If Cypher could talk, he'd be begging his forgiveness. In two minutes, Cobb would die, and Arkham would join him.

 

"You should have stayed in your bunker, left the heroics to the Detective, but you just have to cement your legacy, don't you? Criminal, politician, "hero." All means to an end, all attempts to create a linage, to put the name "Drury Walker" in writing. I have known many of your kind, many have challenged me- none have succeeded."

 

"I'll... I'll..."

 

"Drury... Don't." Miranda smiles at him, her face bloody, colour draining from her cheeks.

 

=====Arkham City=====

 

"They've opened the gates!" What follows is a mad dash, as floods of inmates rush through the doors, through to freedom. Chuck laughs. They did it! Drury did it! And then the rumbling starts. Behind him, there's a noise. Cobb lets out a scream like no other, as hundreds are pulled down into the abyss, swallowed by the ground. "Chuck!"

 

"Rigger, move it!"

 

"What about-?" Rigger asked anxiously.

 

"I'll find them!" Chuck replies, as Rigger salutes him, and joins the others on the other side of the gates. He pulls a lever on his backpack, and a kite springs out, and he soars into the air, below, he sees the city break apart- Elliot Heights, The Iceberg Lounge, Sionis Industries, all gone. He sees people still running to the gates, knowing there's nothing he can do to save them, and knowing they're not going to make it, and he sees Ten and Needham at the base of the Belfry. He can only carry the two of them.

 

"Freeze wouldn't leave," gasps Ten. "He was in the property lockers last I saw."

 

====

 

"Nora..." Freeze places a hand on the container, and smiles. "I found you... I found you, my Sunflower." Beams and rubble fall from the ceiling... They'd be trapped here... killed, unless someone could-

 

"*Ahem* Let me help you."

 

His cell broken apart by the earthquake, Julian Day stands a free man, offering Freeze a pale hand.

 

====

 

"Tell Professor Strange he may have the Walker brother. And Ubu, I require transport out of here in five minutes."

 

"Yes, master."

 

"What about him-?" March asks.

 

Ra's looks down at Drury, in pity, almost, and relents, allowing Miranda a chance to say goodbye. "Let him mourn."

 

"I'm... It should've been me"

 

"It's not your fault. It's not *cough* I want you to promise me... Don't give up. Be good to Cammy and Kitten and Axel, tell Cammy... Tell Cammy his mommy loves him. And tell my father... Ha, well, don't tell he was right... Just look after him. He'll need it. Look after all them"

 

"Please, don't"

 

"Don't you dare give up, Drury. Don't ever give up"

 

Drury winks a teary eyed wink, and kisses her, one last time.

 

=====

 

Jonathan Crane lets out a yell. A steel girder has him trapped, the floor itself is cracking apart, and he's been separated from Dent.

 

"Two-Face! Two-Face!"

 

He lets out a whimper, as he falls through the ground. He's dead, dead with his formulas still unfinished... Dead, and leaving nothing behind. Every bone in his body breaks as he falls to the ground like a ragdoll, hundreds of meters underground. The fall... The fall should've killed him, but-

 

"Jonathan Crane. You have the ability to instill great fear."

 

A yellow ring slides onto his finger. With it, it's as though he can see it- all of it. Fear incarnate. And it's beautiful.

 

"Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."

 

=====

 

"Take them!" Chuck pleads, handing Needham and Ten over to Sionis. "Take them and get them help!"

 

Li pulls them up. At least, Chuck thinks, they're safe. Kite's running out of power, debris has damaged the motor... He offers his own hand to Roman now, urging him to take it. Hesitant at first, Sionis grabs it, then smirks.

 

"Help yourself," he grins, before letting Chuck fall.

 

=====Chinatown=====

 

Through cracked glass, the TV still blares. Already, hundreds are confirmed dead, with the body count still rising with no signs of stopping. Strange shares a smile with Bolton. The Mayor tried her best, bless her, but there are things that a simple video can't stop... Behind them, the door creaks open. Strange already knows what's about to happen. Bolton marches towards her, baton in hand.

 

"Madam Mayor this is most-"

 

Bang. A bullet hits Strange in the stomach, staining his lab coat red.

 

"Crazy bitc-!"

 

Bang. Bolton falls down. Dead.

 

"How does it feel-? Their blood... on your hands" Strange splutters. Grange throws the gun to the ground disgusted. But she knew, that so long as the Court existed, people like Hugo Strange would never face justice.

 

"It feels like this."

 

====Gotham City====

 

Noah Kuttler checks his watch, and stepping out his car, a metal-clad figure emerges.

 

"Your intel was correct."

 

Gate tuts. "200 years of history, gone."

 

Kuttler hands him the suitcase, and grimaces, gazing off into the burning skyline. "Yes, I was rather partial to the Gotham Library myself. It's all there, $50,000,000 as requested. The Society thanks you for your assistance."

 

Done