Batman Beyond Dimensions #6

Me.

Azrael.

Outside Arkham Asylum.

Ready to fight, in the name of Batman.

Dick, in chains.

Tim, desperately trying to free Dick.

Bruce, Dead.

Jason Todd, Dead.

Alfred, Dead.

The odds couldn’t be any worse for me, against this monster.

 

“Come, false knight. Come face the justice of Azrael”

 

“Blah blah blah. You’re insults are as lame as your armo-“

 

He almost catches me with a fist. He’s quicker than I thought. Far quicker.

My dodge allows me to attempt to sweep him. An attempt that fails. His armour is far too thick. He looks down, scoffs, and utters one phrase.

 

“You disappoint me.”

 

With that, he simply slaps me away, and approaches Tim and Dick.

 

Tim finally frees Dick, who falls to the ground. And slumps, silently, defeated.

Tim looks up, and instantly raises his bo-staff to Azrael, ready to fight.

This boy is brave, I’ll give him that. But bravery won’t protect him from the overshadowing foe, that is Azrael.

Tim makes a few good hits, but ultimately it means nothing.

Nothing with that damned armour. The worse part? It’s not even electronic, so I can’t use my EMP on it.

Azrael raises another one of his gauntleted fists to Tim’s head.

No one is going to save the city from Azrael.

No one but ME!

 

I activate my boosters, in a signature move, and tackle Azrael down. Mercilessly beating him into submission, the moment he loses his footing.

I manage to rip off the left arm and gauntlet of his armour, before he pushes me off and begins to march towards Tim again.

 

“Weak. The both of you are too weak to stand against me.”

 

He emits a beast-like yell at Tim, and lunges. Dick trips him up, and he falls flat first into the mud.

 

“Looks like the weak one here is you, Jean.”

 

Dick begins to get up, but is met by Azrael’s fist and instead returns to the floor.

Tim and I are on him immediately, constraining both of his arms in an arm lock.

 

“How dare you touch the champion of Saint Dumas!”

 

This time, his armour is his weakness. It’s slowing him down too much.

He realises this the same time we do, and slings around the arm which had the armour ripped off – throwing Tim to the ground, and catching me off balance.

Once my balance has regained, I prepare battle stance, ready to face him.

Azrael, instead, runs into the Asylum.

In return, I run to Tim and Dick, and check on them.

 

“It’s okay, Terry, I’m fine. Dick needs more help than me.”

 

I look at Dick, who is slumped against the wall. He flaps his hand at us.

 

“You two go. You said it yourself. He’s going down tonight.”

 

Tim tries to reason with him by uttering a simple:

 

“But-“

 

“But nothing. Go. And take him down.”

 

He looks at me, and I simply nod at him, get on my feet.

Tim goes to follow me, but I put my hand out to prevent him from following.

 

“Tim. Sit down. You two need to rest.”

 

“No. You can’t do this alone”

 

“I know. But I have to try.”

 

With that, I start to chase after Azrael.

Into the Asylum. Into darkness. Into insanity.

Tim’s words echo after me through Arkham’s halls:

 

“You need us Terry! He’ll kill you!”

 

For all I know… He’s right.

 

…

 

The Asylum is cold, and wet. All the hallmark signs of an abandoned building are here.

Rot. Ruin. Decay.

All made worse by Azrael’s presence. Commanding the atmosphere like an airborne disease.

His voice cuts through the unsettling silence:

 

“Come no further, demon. You are not welcome here.”

 

Instead I keep walking.

Past bloodied empty cells.

Past bloodied occupied cells. Cells that are occupied by the dead.

Each with their own hallmark of insanity.

Two Face’s cell is clean on one half, smeared with his blood and littered with his body parts on the other.

The Penguin has a small selection of dead birds adorning his cell, some even sewn onto his body, like sick version of an aviary.

Opposite that cell, Poison Ivy is suspended from the walls by vines of thorn. On her head sits a crown of thorns, which trails down each part of her body, digging into her skin, releasing blood upon the floor.

Only the Joker’s cell remains clean and empty.

 

At the end, is a door.

A door with a cross burned upon it.

There is no doubt about who resides here.

This is Azrael’s cell.

 

I open the door and step in.

I scoff.

This is some sad version of a Batcave. The room is littered with pieces of stolen equipment. Prototypes of various armours are placed on the ground. Tanks of green liquid, hooked up to microscopes. Further along, a Batmobile is parked on a turntable, leading out into the city.

 

“You should not have followed me here!”

 

I am knocked down, as he drops down on me. Must have been hiding in the rafters.

I roll to the side to get him off me and kick him down, while I launch myself up and regain my footing.

 

“It’s over Azrael.”

 

“It’s far from over, devil!”

 

Once up he lunges at me, and I sidestep him, causing him to lose his momentum.

A single swift kick, and he’s on the ground again.

 

“Your anger makes you clumsy, Azrael. Give it up. You can’t defeat me.”

 

He stops.

And looks up at me.

 

“Then Saint Dumas will give me the strength.”

 

Once upright, he lunges at me for the second time, and again I sidestep. But as I do so, he grabs me with his arm, and pulls me along using his momentum – throwing me against a batmobile.

I did not see that coming.

It’s his turn to have the beat down.

The flurry of punches comes at me like a whirlwind.

I will admit, the punches with his right fist hurt a lot more because of the gauntlet.

Amidst the strikes, I press my hand against his helmet and activate one of my last ditch efforts.

My entire arm emits a small explosion, destroying that section of the suit, leaving nothing but mesh to protect my skin.

As for Azrael, he’s visibly shaken with parts of his armour destroyed, but not enough to affect his onslaught.

 

I try to boost away, but his grapple wraps around my leg, and he grounds me. He then pulls me to him and rips out my boosters. Slag! I’ve lost one of my biggest assets. I come to my senses and throw a batarang to his helmet, taking out the vision of one visor.

But this doesn’t stop him at all, instead a barrage of batarangs from his gauntlet comes my way, I respond with my own, knocking them out of the air.

He takes this opportunity to activate his flamethrower, and I turn to the side, protecting my exposed arm. Thankfully it doesn’t affect the rest of the suit.

 

Focus alone isn’t going to defeat this guy. I put my hand to my belt for the thermite, but it doesn’t come out. I look down, and half the belt was impacted by the explosion. Could be easily fixed, but for now?

Azrael.

That’s all that matters right now.

Me. Versus him.

 

At that moment Tim joins us.

 

“I told you to stay back!”

 

“And I told you, you can’t do this alone. I’ve come to help.”

 

“You’ve come to die, little Robin. There is no defeating me.”

 

“We’ll see.”

 

All three of us get into our ready stances, and wait for who moves first.

I relax, shake my body off, and break the silence.

 

“So who moves first? Because I’m all for waiting. Catch my breath, you know?”

 

“Silence. I will not be poisoned by your words, false knight!”

 

As his words move through the air, as does he. Employing as much force as he can with each fist he aims at my face.

Each kick that comes my way.

All countered by Bruce’s teachings.

Tim joins in, offering his own counters, but Azrael is too strong for him. He goes down easily, granted he is still a boy. Nothing more.

Azrael ignores me for a moment, and sends Tim crashing through the windscreen of the nearest Batmobile. I hear a small moan come from him, as Azrael approaches me, and continues the fight.

 

His fighting style is impeccable. Whoever gets on his bad side would stand no chance against him. And the bodies strewn around Gotham play testament to his skill.

He’s good. But not as good as me.

I dodge under one fist, and bring one of my own to his stomach.

His bulk means that my blows don’t affect him.

My display of technique infuriates him, and causes his strikes to be even more forceful. I didn’t even know that was possible. One of my dodges sends his fist into the ground, and shards of rock fly everywhere.

I do a cartwheel kick, and pick up the rocks while doing so – using the momentum of the cartwheel to throw them at him.

No impact at all. Was worth a shot.

While he’s more vicious. He’s bigger than I am. Meaning he’ll fall down harder.

I go for his legs again, but instead he catches my leg with his arm and slams me down.

He gets on top, and pins me to the ground. Places his hands around my neck, and applies the pressure.

He taunts, as his hands begin to squeeze the life out of me.

 

“You’re weak. There is no room for your kind in this world!”

 

I am almost helpless to do anything. But there is one last thing I can do.

No boosters, no batarangs… Anything else will be needed in the future, and the dimension jump must be protected.

I rip off my belt and throw it away. Azrael thinks nothing of it, and continues to choke me.

This time, I’m not sure if I can take it. Discharging one arm is one thing. But my whole body, in this state, is another.

 

Sir, I'm not sure this is wise...

 

If I could speak, I would tell A.L.F.R.E.D to shut the hell up.

It’s now or never.

I clutch to Azrael.

And activate the full suit.

 

…

 

Azrael is thrown back, his armour all but destroyed. His bare arm, burnt. His helmet offering no protection at all. And his suit, ravaged, with no salvageable parts. He is bleeding severely.

But he won’t go down.

He looks right at me, with a bright green shining from his once-blue eyes, full of rage.

And prepares his gauntlet, the only thing that survived the blast.

 

I, on the other hand. Have nothing but the electronic mesh of the suit.

I am basically naked, covered in wires.

No protection from the inevitable attack.

 

“Clever trick, demon. A valiant effort. But now. YOUR TIME HAS COME!”

 

He raises his fist, and aims his clawed hand for my head.

He brings it down.

 

This is it… I’m sorry Bruce…

 

“GCPD! Freeze!”

 

Azrael is distracted enough for me to dodge what would be a final blow. His bladed fist hits the ground beside my head, barely nicking my cheek. The officers who have arrived at the scene begin to shoot at him, and I see him stumble back. The hellfire of bullets is too much for what remains of the armour, and his battered, bleeding, body. He looks up and see that a small army of GCPD, accompanied by Tim and Dick - all ready to fight him.

In typical villainous fashion, he swings his cape around him, and melodramatically proclaims:

 

“I’ll get you next time, demon.”

 

With that, he boosts over a nearby Batmobile, and desperately sprints down the turntable, leaving a trail of blood into the city. The GCPD move in, and surround me as I sit up. Several sniper’s lasers circle my head and chest.

 

“Are you guys f*cking stupid, or what? Did you not see him battle Azrael? Put the guns down.”

 

Barbara Gordon wheels her way onto the scene.

 

“You’re lucky you still have friends on the squad, Nightwing. Otherwise his steampunk looking ass would’ve been lit up.”

 

She nods at me. Dick takes no notice.

 

“Commissioner, good to see you again.”

 

“Likewise.”

 

She addresses the officers who have gathered at the scene.

 

“Create a perimeter around the building, get paramedics on the scene, we need this place to be ours. Come on people you know the drill, surely I don’t need to tell you how to do your job!”

 

The officers then spring into action immediately. A mumbled “clearly you do” comes from one of the officers, to which she shoots a sharp look at, silencing them. She then approaches us.

 

“I don’t care who this new guy is. But Azrael needs to be off the streets. Just look at what he is done here. He is a disease to this city, and he can’t be allowed to fester anymore. Either you take him down, or I’m asking for assistance from what’s left of the JL.”

 

Dick retorts back at her.

 

“Yeah, well us ordinary humans are more than capable of cleaning up our own mess. Besides… we have to. Given what happened to Superman.”

 

I look to Tim who quietly whispers to me:

 

“He’s dead.”

 

Barbara quickly brings things back to topic.

 

“Like I was saying. I don’t care who you do it with, or how you do it. Azrael is going down. Tonight.”

 

With that, she wheels back away, and starts to secure the Asylum.

Tim and Dick look to me, and in unison one simple question:

 

“What now?”

 

I give them one simple reply:

 

“Azrael goes down. Tonight.”

Done