Fearless Finale- Hell Yeah.

==Pump Room. ACE Chemicals==

 

Doctor Alex Sartorius. As far as doctors in Gotham go, he's still one of the good ones, even now (granted, there ain't a lotta competition). When Cobb caused a city wide blackout, Al joined up with Gotham General, volunteering to strap himself up to a generator, all to keep the facility running. A makeshift human battery.

Later, he joined the Society- under my pressuring, and defected when Gotham became a target. Hadn't really talked to him since. Shame, he had a bunch of great party tricks. Infectious laugh. But as with a bunch of rogues; Freeze, Needham, his attempts to be better were thwarted. By Arkham City.

It's sickening, really. See, unlike the rest of them, I wasn't *planning* on going straight. Just kinda happened. Suppose I should thank Josie for that. Fact is, I'm not a hero and, unlike Drury, I never even wanted to be. I just look after my own. And Doctor Phosphorus is one I've neglected for too long. All I'm hoping is, that as one of the few rogues *not* to end up in Arkham, he's not feeling too bitter... Hah. Big fucking ask...

 

"Chuck," I say, "Can I trust you to get the rest of them free? And y'know, stop them from killing us."

 

"I'll do my best," he replies, as he fiddles with the door locks. Good, now I can focus on Phosphorus.

 

"Lynns...." his voice crackles, barely audible above his sizzling flames... His sizzling, gorgeous- Get a grip, Gar.

 

"Al. You take that drug too, or is the company here *really* that good?"

 

Phosphorus scowls. "You know, some of us aren't driven by greed or pride, Lynns. Some of us do what we do just to get by. My body is burning. Perpetually burning. My skin is on *fire,* and it will stay that way long after I'm dead. It used to be that every step I took was agony. I owe Doctor Crane, the painkillers he provides are the only things keeping me upright, so you'll be damned sure I'll protect his research."

 

"And here I thought you'd oppose human experimentation. You lot never learn."

 

"We have a plan, yeah?" Chuck asks, undoing the locks on Dekker's cell, avoiding a very grateful kiss.

 

"No, no we don't. My flamethrower's useless against *that*. Don't suppose you've got any baking soda in that kite of yours?"

 

Chuck pauses. In thought.

 

"Nah, of course not..." I sigh, dodging a fireball. God, green flames really are something special...

 

"Wait, I know someone who might," he responds, snapping me out of it, as he turns to the next cell.

 

==Mixing Chamber. ACE Chemicals==

 

Crane clutches a bag of seed in his hand, feeding his crows one by one. Even now his hands shake. Nervously. That just might be the key. "How did you get Mr Lynns to follow you? Threats of blackmail against his "family?" The simple promise of wanton destruction? Not, I hope, loyalty? These... misfits, think a lot of you. Mr Brown, especially, promised swift retribution, and, in the past I've had similar conversations, if you can call them that, with Mr Walker. It makes you wonder. Why *do* they believe in you? Every dog has it's day. Even you, you can't beat the "bad guy," every time. And yet their faith persists. Why? Fear, I suppose. But I know better. You're a fraud, Dark Knight. Two-Face can have what's left of you, I want your soul."

Two-Face pricks up at this, gripping his pistol.

 

"So, let's begin, shall we?" Scarecrow smiles, injecting Bruce with the serum. He rests his ring down on the table, and with it, the gurney disappears, and he staggers backwards, no longer is he held together by constructs, and nor, is Batman.

 

Two-Face scowls. "What are you doing, Crane?"

 

"Testing my hypothesis. I want to see how far he'll go. You're free, Batman. Free to win your war on crime whichever way you like! What first? A siege on Blackgate Prison? A hit and run in the Batmobile."

 

Batman looks down. The serum's taking it's toll, as hard as he's trying to fight it, the allure is... intoxicating. He's silent at first, and then, he whispers, softly. "What I should've done from the beginning"

 

He grabs Crane by the throat and hoists him above his head, a sadistic smile growing across his ragged face. "Wonder-urk-ful!" he cackles in-between gasps. Venom plays on Batman's lips. Each word a knife in Scarecrow's chest.

"They don't want you in The Society, Crane. You're unstable. Erratic. Flawed."

 

His smile fades. "Luthor-"

 

"Luthor's gone. Who does that leave? Bane. Sinestro. Black Adam. Do you really think they'd tolerate your psychoanalysis? Or your insane experiments?"

 

"The ring chose me!" he shrieks back. Two-Face reaches for his gun, pointing at it Batman's head. "Just give the word-"

 

"Wait-!" Scarecrow responds.

 

"Do you want to know what they really think of you? The truth? You're nothing. You're a distraction. Always were," Batman grins.

 

"The truth, Batman, is that I am *terrified.* I have no idea what is about to happen, and I love it... Fear is a drug... Ecstasy... Oh, I haven't been this afraid for so long... That's what happens when you've been on the receiving end of your wrath. Fear is wonderful... And that's what I'll take from you. The adrenaline pumping through your veins, the sweat on your brow... Fear is a privilege."

 

Batman stops himself from delivering a final blow, and loosens his grip around Crane's neck.

 

"You really are as naïve as you appear... How annoying..." Crane sighs, the ring returning to his finger. "Did you really think it would be that simple? On or off, the ring answers to *me* Batman. Did you think I had nothing left?"

 

Batman turns around, "No, I knew." Producing a syringe from his hand, taken from Crane's person, he hurls it in into Two-Face's wrist, the gun falling out of his hand. Next, he pins Cranes arm behind his back, and administers the toxin.

 

"What the hell are you doing?" Crane demands, as he sends a hailstorm of bats at Bruce. As they approach, the constructs fade. Powerless.

 

"Simple. Fearless gave Two-Face the push he needed to take control, introduce Fear toxin into the system, and he'll lose his foothold on Harvey's mind."

 

"Bruce... You lied..." Harvey coughs in-between breaths. His brow furrows, as he holds his hand in his. "I'm sorry Harvey, I can't give you peace. But maybe... I can give you control."

 

=======================

 

"Mayo! Mitch, buddy, I need your belt!" Chuck calls out, unlocking the cell door, the room smeared with sauces of every kind.

 

"Nice try, Charlie. But you betrayed us," Mayo utters in defiance.

 

Chuck raises an eyebrow. Confused.

 

"Arkham City? You left us at Zeiss' mercy. Twice. Then you dropped me in an earthquake!"

 

"That's not what... I saved you from Zeiss!" Chuck yells back, frustrated that this is what his kindness got him.

 

"You set him on us!" Mayo exclaims, a bottle of relish shaking in his hand.

 

"Technically, Penguin did-" Chuck groans.

 

"Forget about the midget, I am the Condiment King, and I will not be-"

 

Pow. A single blow and Mayo's unconscious. "Sorry Mitch, that drug did a real number on you..." But at the same time, he wondered if he *did* have a point. Fearless didn't make anything up, it just freed locked up feelings and brought them to the surface... No bicarbonate, anyway. What a waste, he thought, as he chased after Gar, his fight with Sartorius bringing him to the central vats.

 

"If it's medicine you want, Al, just let me-" Gar starts, another fireball grazing his face.

 

"It's Phosphorus! Doctor Phosphorus!" Sartorius screams, the catwalk beneath them melting under his heat.

"Yeah, yeah, and I'm Firefly but I'm not fucking uppity about it!"

 

"Hey you!"

 

"Chuck?" Gar coughs. "Did you get the stuff?"

 

"He had vinegar, would that help?" Chuck explains, holding up a single sachet.

 

"What are you idiots playing at?" Phosphorus turns around, laughing.

 

"Told ya, infectious," Gar smiles to himself.

 

An amused smile stretches across Phosphorus' skeletal features. "Yes, vinegar *can* remove phosphorus, but not alone, and not with a tiny sachet of it! Are you two insane?!"

 

Chuck smirks, Fearless flowing through his veins

He turns to Gar, winks, then turns back to Phosphorus, jumping on the ground, he grabs Gar's fallen flamethrower, aims it at the floor beneath Phosphorus, and winks. "Hell yeah."

The catwalk beneath them melts, and, as Phosphorus reaches out for a railing, it burns in his hand. With a final yell, he plunges into the vats below.

 

Expecting thanks, Chuck is instead met with Gar's unchained fury. "You lunatic! We're standing on a powder keg!"

 

"Hell yeah!"

 

"He's made of fire!" Gar cries out.

 

"Hell yeah!"

 

"You're going to kill us-"

 

Chuck places a hand over his mouth, newfound confidence surging through his body. "Gar, buddy, say it with me."

 

…

 

"...Hell yeah," he mumbles as they head for the exit, the room behind them exploding into emerald flames, a gun blocking their path.

 

"Seriously?" Gar mutters, as he looks at Condiment King's bloody face. "You want to shower me in ketchup later, go ahead, but right now, let's get out of here."

 

"The Condiment King bows to no one!" Mayo proclaims, stroking his broken jaw.

 

"Just... Just fucking do it," an exasperated Gar replies, pushing the ketchup gun out of his way.

 

"Hell yeah!"

 

Gar pauses to point an warning finger at Chuck. "Stop that."

 

===========

 

Brown's explosion is felt halfway across the plant. Crane looks at the window, aghast, then back to Bruce. "You have no idea what you've done!" he cries, summoning a scythe, and hurtling it at him. But, before landing in his skull, it fades away again.

 

"Actually, I do. That ring feeds off fear Crane. I *let* you inject me. Because right now, you've got no-one left to terrorise. Right now, you've got no power. No allies. Just a man playing dress up."

 

"You're lying... You're lying! I will not be made a fool of again, Batman, I will not have my own weapons turned against me! Never again!"

 

His power was draining, his body was falling apart. As he chucks a knife Bruce's way, he ducks, knocking him back into the cages filled with crows, all of them pecking at Crane, injecting him with his virus. Disappointed, the ring slips off his finger, and attempts to fly off, in search of a new bearer, for Bruce to quickly grab and seal it away.

 

"No..." Crane whispers, as he staggers around. "*I* want to be afraid... I want... I need... That's all I ever wanted."

 

"So the Doc failed after all. Shame. All those speeches... All that power, and he tried, what, talking you to death?" Two-Face is on his feet, gun in his hand. "Where were we?"

 

The first shot hits Batman in the shoulder. The second in his shin. The suit's armoured, but it's not bulletproof, not completely.

Two-Face loads it with his silver bullet, now Bruce is finally here, finally at *his* mercy, and yet, he stops. His hand shakes. "Don't be a hero, Harvey," he mutters to himself.

 

"We need to check the coin..." Harvey warns.

 

"There *is* no coin anymore, you idiot, *I'm* the casting vote."

 

"That's not *fair,*" Harvey complains.

 

Bruce is getting up, slowly. Soon the whole factory will be up in flames and them with it.

"Who cares what's fair? The things I've had to put up with, for you. Jimbo, Bats, the little Kite-Man... If you let *me* make a damn decision, those problems would be gone! Dead!"

 

"The floors unstable," Bruce groans, "Harvey, let me save you!"

 

Dent turns around. He knew about the floor. "That's just it Bruce, I don't know if I can be... Heh, the coin, that usually decides it for us."

The planks give way, and Dent outstretches his arms. His turn. His turn to be free... Only for Bruce to catch his arm.

 

"Soon, Harvey," he sighs, as he pulls him back up, "I promise," placing him on his back, and grabbing Crane's limp figure, he leaps out the window to safety, ACE Chemicals erupting in a colourful display of flames and fumes.

On the ground, Chuck and Gar emerge from the rubble laughing like madmen. They'd flown out on Chuck's kite. For several minutes they just lie there giggling.

 

"That was incredible!" Gar cries out, taking in the view, before composing himself

 

"Hell yeah!"

 

"PETA's gonna kill us..."

 

"Hell yeah!"

 

A familiar voice calls out, as he rushes to their aid. Drury. "Gar, you’re ok! When I saw the blaze I thought that maybe you’d blown up… again. But, Gar, listen, when I was at Slabside-"

 

"Hah! Drury fecking Walker, we meet again! How many children do you suppose you've killed? Must be hard, sustaining the moral high ground when you've spilled any blood, let alone an innocent's!" Scarecrow cackles, as the GCPD carts him away.

 

"Oh, fuck off!" Gar cries, standing up. "What were you gonna say there Dru?"

 

Drury looked to the ground, and sighed. "Grange is dead."

 

...

 

There's a moment's pause in the festivities. "Good." Gar finally says.

 

"Yeah," Drury nods "That was me a few months ago. But, I don't... I should never have left the house," he mumbles as he steps back into his car.

 

"Hey, Drury!" Gar calls out. "What… What happened to your hand, there?"

 

Drury smiles slightly. "Nothing, it's stupid, this bird, it, uh, pecked me at the funeral. Rotten Walker luck, that's all. Rotten Walker luck..." as he turns on the ignition.

 

...

 

Batman and Gar both turn around at this. "Bird?"

Done