anonymousrabbit420

[anonymousrabbit420]

Didn't think I would have to go into the game to find Jack Ryder's fanfiction of him and Batman taking down Deadshot in Arkham City, but here we are.

[anonymousrabbit420]

Bonus Arkham Knight Drabble

This was originally going to be in Chapter 3, but then I realized it was going to mess some things up, so I decided to get rid of it. Meaning Chapter 3 is going to take a bit longer to come out (I was literally so close to the end). Since I worked hard on this, I decide to post it for you to read. Have fun.

Actual Fic: Prequel Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Reader is written in a way where gender isn't specified.

~[Inster Boarder Here]~

The ride toward the GCPD didn’t take them very long, especially when the ride you’re on is faster than any vehicle in Gotham City.

(Name) parks the Batcycle in the underground parking lot then heads inside the Prisoner Detention.

Through the hall filled with glass cells, there are already a few criminals inside with some of them jeering at them.

They enter the maximum security section of the GCPD and talk to Aaron Cash at the front desk, “Yo, yo, I got your message. What’s going on with Hatter?” They ask as they cross their arms.

Cash looks up from his computer screen, “We’ve got Jervis downstairs in the interview room. He’s talking about killing cops,” His eyes drift down to his computer screen again, “Rabbit, I just lost contact with three of my squad cars. Coincidence?”

(Name) shakes their head, “Nah, he’s definitely behind it.”

This is the worst, he’s taking away time for them to be out there with Jason. Those poor cops shouldn’t be used as bait for whatever the Mad Hatter has planned.

“If you and that freak need some alone time,” Cash smirks and offers, “I can kill the surveillance cam.”

They quietly chuckle, “I’ll keep that in mind,” They knock against the desk, “See you in a bit, Cash,” Then they make their way to the maximum security west wing in the back.

They get to interrogation room B then head inside for whatever mess they have to deal with. The Mad Hatter sits at the table with his finger steepled together. He seems pretty confident, “Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! The little Rabbit’s here, it’s time to play,” He slowly looks up and gives them a creepy smile.

(Name) places their hands on the table and lean forward a little to intimidate the Mad Hatter, “Quit your rhymes, Jervis. I wanna know where the hostages are at,” They narrow their eyes into slits as they wait for his answer.

The Mad Hatter looks up like he’s in thought, “Let’s see, let’s see,” Then he gets this look of realization, “Oh,” He looks down at his fingers and counts on them, “One, two, three!” He glances up at them, “A hat-trick of your boys in blue,” He uses his hands to gesture to each option like a scale, “Do they live or die?” He points his finger at them then quietly says in a sing-song tone, “That’s up to you!”

They grab him by the collar then yanks him off his chair so he was halfway over the table, “What the hell have you done to them?”

He tries pulling their hands away from his collar, “Such violent means, but all in vain, I’ve trained my mind to feel no pain.”

They bring him closer then quietly threaten him, “Is that an invitation to test that out? You know I would love to put you through a whole lot of pain after all the disgusting acts you’ve done in the past.” They throw him back into his chair.

The chair wobbles from the sudden the throw until The Mad Hatter stabilizes it, “Oh, Rabbit,” He leans back in his chair, “Allay your fears, prick up your ears, you’ll soon hear their tears,” He mockingly cups his hand over his ear like he can actually hear the hostages now, “Just listen for the siren’s song. Yes, you’ll find you’re Alice before too long.”

(Name) grumbles under their breath as they leave the room, “God… I wanna put him six feet under… Disgusting little creep,” They stop just before the door and look over the map of Gotham hanging on the wall.

There are three marks on the map- one at the lighthouse, one next to Merchant Bridge, and the final one at the Lady of Gotham- those must be the location of the hostages. And with that, they’re on their way to save the day!

The closest location is the hostage at the Lady of Gotham statue. All they have to do is go to the back of the GCPD, climb over the fence, grapple onto the arch at the end of the wooden dock, then grapple to the light on the island with the statue. Already they can hear the police siren wailing nearby.

They use their grappling hook to quickly travel to the other side of the small island then use the built-in detective mode in their domino mask to check inside the trunk of the police cruiser. The hostage is tied up inside the trunk but the car’s wired to blow.

(Name) lets out a quiet sigh, “Of course…” They take out their work phone to hack the bombs, “Let’s play Keep Hacking and Nobody Explodes…”

Hacking the thing was a piece of cake, but they expect it to get harder the further they go along.

They open the trunk and an audio tape from the Mad Hatter starts to play, “You’ve found the Cheshire Cat, all grinning, but don’t be fooled, don’t think you’re winning.”

(Name) unties the ropes bounding the officer’s hands behind his back then helps him get out of the trunk and takes off his cat mask.

The officer, Officer Katz, is dazed and confused as he holds his head in slight pain. He groans then looks over at them, “Rabbit? What happened?” He takes in the surroundings around him, “How the hell did I end up here?”

They rub his back then gently ask, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was chasing down some rioters and the siren went all screwy. I had to pull over,” He rubs the back of his head, “Next thing I knew, I’m waking up in the dark with that siren blaring. I thought it would never end.”

“You’re safe now. I’ll send someone to pick you up,” They explain then walk off a little to talk to Cash over their comms, “Hey, Cash, I’ve found one of the hostages. He’s at the far end of the small island with the Lady of Gotham on it.”

“Got it, Rabbit. Any leads on the others?” Cash asks.

“I have an idea where the others are at,” (Name) explains their situation.

“Just say the word and I’ll go down there and make that bastard talk,” Cash offers the help to them.

They smile a little, “Thanks, but it’s under control. Just leave the whole thing to me,” Then they ended the communication.

The next place to go is the lighthouse off Bleake Island. Just get back to the bike and the way they go!

The ride only took a few minutes to get there and they could already hear the annoying siren going off. They walk down the stairs to the rocks then jump off the edge to grapple to the next section of rocks and after that grapple to the lighthouse. The car was easy to spot; the hard part is probably going to be defusing the bomb.

“Don’t you worry!” They shout over the siren as they pull out their work phone, “I’ll get you out of there!” They start the hacking process- which is a little bit harder than the last time- and once it is done, the sirens stop and they open the truck.

Like last time, an audio tape from the Mad Hatter starts playing, “The Queen of Hearts and roses red. Oh, be careful, Alice, or she’ll have your head!”

(Name) gently takes off the mask from the officer, Officer McQueen, unties her rope, then helps her get out of the car, “You’re safe now,” They say softly like they might spook her if they talk too loudly.

The officer hugs them tight, “I thought I’d never get out of there, Rabbit,” She pulls back and looks at them with a confused expression on her face, “That noise… What the hell happened to me?”

They place their hand on the officer’s shoulder to reassure her, “It’s all over. I’ll have you taken back to GCPD.”

She smiles at them and lets out a quiet, shaky, “Thanks.”

(Name) walks off and calls up Cash, “The second hostage is safe. At the lighthouse.”

“Good job, Rabbit. I’ll send someone to pick them up,” Cash responds then hangs up the call.

The last place now is somewhere at Merchant Bridge. It was too far off, just right next to Panessa Studios- the place Robin is trapped out to cure the Joker victims. The sirens from the cruiser give up its spot easily and (Name) swings in to hack the explosives.

“Beep. Boop. Beep. Bop,” They murmur under their breath as they work on the hack.

For the last time, the siren goes dead after the hack was complete, but this time there was no hostage and a book was in his place as alarm clocks tick and tock and an audio file of The Mad Hatter laughs, “The rabbit’s gone! He’s hopped away! I’m sure he only wants to play. Return the book and then we’ll find, how little Alice lost her mind.”

“I”m killing him,” (Name) says out loud for no one to hear. They pick up the book and look it over before taking it. They call Cash over their comms to ask, “The last car was empty. Anything from the missing officer?”

“Sergeant Lory actually just showed up at the precinct, said he blacked out, woke up without his car. That’s everyone accounted for,” Cash explains then pauses for a few moments before speaking again, “I don’t buy it, Rabbit. Tetch is up to something.”

“I’ll make him talk,” (Name) says in a determined tone of voice. Whatever the Mad Hatter is planning, they’ll stop him without Batman’s help.

“He ain’t the only one with tricks up his sleeve, Rabbit. Let me know if you need a hand…” They can hear the smirk in Cash’s voice when he finishes his sentence, “or a hook,” He chuckles a little then hangs up.

Now, it’s time to see how this whole thing comes to an end.

(Name) speeds through the streets of Gotham back to GCPD and makes their way to the interrogation room the Mad Hatter is waiting in.

Inside, the Mad Hatter still sits in the same spot they left him.

The Mad Hatter looks up and starts up his rhymes again, “The Trickster returns, all filled with malice,” He tilts his head in mock curiosity, “Tell me, Rabbit. Did you find you’re Alice?”

“Right after I shove my foot up your ass!” (Name) yells then slams the book down on the table in front of them, “Now, quit with the rhyming bull, Hatter, and tell me where’s the other hostage!?”

The Mad Hatter smiles a little as he answers, “Why yes, there’s three! Oh, silly me. The answer’s in the book, Rabbit. Open and see.”

(Name) opens the book to see it has altered a little to fit them in the place of Alice. They’re getting annoyed and they pull the Mad Hatter closer by the collar, “Tell me!”

Mockingly, the Mad Hatter puts up his hands to calm them down and says, “No joke, no joke, control your rage. The answer is there, just turn the page.”

They throw him back into his seat then turn the page to see a pop-up lookalike of Arkham Asylum.

Is it just them or are the words on the page getting blown away by an impossible wind?

(Name) looks around their surroundings as the interrogation room around them distorts and falls apart with the words flowing around them in the wind.

All around them, they hear the Mad Hatter talking, “Down the rabbit hole you fall, where madness reigns from wall to wall…”

Soon, they have this feeling of falling down, down, down…

“Through the rhyming words we tumble, where villains toil and psyches crumble,” Even the Mad Hatter’s voice and laughter are distorted and mad as they keep falling.

Eventually, they land and stumble to the ground on top of the pop-up page of Arkham Asylum with a giant Mad Hatter looming over them and watching their every movement.

(Name) stands up dazed and confused, their skin feeling like it’s made of old paper.

“Welcome to my wonderland,” The Mad Hatter says, “it’s time to play a game. I’m here to make you understand what drives a man insane.”

They look up and see the last hostage with a rabbit mask run out the front doors of Arkham Asylum and into a corner to cower in fear. Soon after a few Arkham patients run out to attack them.

(Name) kicks the first oncoming patient in the gut to create space between them, but another patient gets behind them and grabs them to hold them in place. They swing their head back to headbutt the patient and get free.

A third patient tries to punch them, but (Name) gets low to dodge the punch then rams their body into his gut to throw the patient into the fake railings.

While the fight continues on, the Mad Hatter speaks above, “And if you ever want to leave this crazy world you now inhabit. All you have to do… is follow the white rabbit!”

(Name) climbs on the fourth patient and sits on his shoulders, then, using all of their weight, flips the patient to the ground.

They look back behind them then fire their grappling hook at the second hostage and pull him forward. Once close enough, they punch him in the face then- once he hits the ground- slams their foot into his head.

After fighting the first wave, more patients hops down from the false backgrounds.

In their ears, they can hear him whispering, “Follow the white rabbit!”

A patient runs at them with a knife in hand and tries slashing them with it. They duck and weave out of the way then kicks the knife out of his hands.

A Joker thug tries punching them in the face, but they move out of the way and break his arm with their knee.

Three patients surround them, and they just do a spinning kick to take them down.

Once again, the Mad Hatter speaks from above them, “Come join me on a journey, a trip down memory lane, where you strapped me to a gurney and declared me quite insane.”

They feel like they’re going insane.

(Name) grabs another Joker thug then throws him into the fake lamp post and causes it to break. They pick up the top half then swing it down over and over on his makeup covered face.

After they throw the piece in hand at the patient running at them to knock him out.

(Name) takes out a small stuffed rabbit then tosses it at another patient. The stuffed rabbit activates and starts attacking the patient.

There were only two left, the one in front of (Name) runs at them with his fist in the air, but they duck under and let the one behind them- who was going to surprise attack them- punch the first patient in the face.

They raise their leg up then swing it back into the first patient’s leg to cause him to kick the second patient between the legs. They step around the patients then elbow the second patient in the head.

Once everyone was taken down, they looked up to see the Mad Hatter smiling back at them, “Look who’s here! White Rabbit there wallowing. Freedom waits for the one who’s following.”

Their eyes drift down to the officer in the corner then walks over to him. Every step they take feels more dizzying than the last.

In their ears, they heard the Mad Hatter whisper, “Follow the white rabbit!”

When they reach the officer, (Name) instructs him to, “Hold still. Let me help you.”

The officer thrashes around in fear and makes it hard to really grab on.

“You’re late! You’re late!” The Mad Hatter calls out as he starts to turn the page, “The page is turning. Keep up, Alice, I know you’re learning.”

(Name) grabs the officer in a firm grip then uses their grappling hook to jump over the turning page and into the next. Even in the air, the Mad Hatter keeps a close eye on them.

The next page is a popup lookalike of the front of Joker’s Funland inside Arkham City.

“What fun we had in Arkham City,” As the Mad Hatter says, Joker thugs walk out through the front doors of the building, “Dear Alice, she never looked so pretty! Well, until you snapped and crushed my hat, did you think you’d get away from that? No,” Then he quietly chuckles.

(Name) throws two stuffed rabbits full of foam at two Joker thugs and causes them both to be encased inside with no way to break free.

They fire their grappling hook to one Joker thug then uses their strength to throw him into another Joker thug.

The last Joker thug runs at them with a bat and tries to swing it at them, but (Name) punches him in the face- which causes him to let go- then grabs the bat and swings it into his skull.

More Joker thugs run out and the officer rushes past them to run into the corner.

Two thugs try attacking them at once, but they grab their heads then slam them both into the ground.

They pick up a knife off the ground, toss it into the air so they’re holding the tip of the blade, then throw the blunt handle into an oncoming thug to knock him out as well.

The Mad Hatter’s whispering in their ear gets louder, “Come now, Alice, don’t be late. Follow the rabbit and seal your fate!”

One of the thugs tries attacking them from behind, but (Name) grabs his arm and tosses him over their shoulder onto the ground. Right after, they flip over and land on the fallen thug’s gut with their knee.

They rush toward a thug then drop kicks him into the backdrop. They roll back toward their neck then pushes themself forward with their hands and lands on their feet. They reach out and grab the thug they just drop kick then slams his head over and over into the wall. They let go and let him slide down into a sitting position.

(Name) turns around in time for another thug to grab their collar. They move their body left and right until they break out of the hold. Using their body’s momentum, they do a spinning hook kick into the thug's jaw.

The Mad Hatter’s voice keeps getting louder inside their head, “He’s back again, the rabbit’s head. Will you help him, Alice,” (Name) glances over to the officer and feels this rush of bloodlust as the Mad Hatter finishes his sentence, “or kill him dead?”

They shake their head to clear their mind of killing anyone, but the feeling stays, albeit not as strong.

(Name) makes their way over to the officer, determined to save him, not kill him. They try to help soothe the officer by saying, “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“Sorry Alice, it’s not your time,” The Mad Hatter says as he starts to turn a page, “another page and I’ll make you mine.”

Like last time, they grab the officer and grapple over the turning page into the next one. The Mad Hatter is still watching all the same.

The last page is a replica of Bleake Island with some of the Arkham Knight’s insignia decorating the page.

“Ah, Hallow’s eve and Gotham burns, it’s here the story twists and turns,” Militia soldiers walk out and ready for a fight as the Mad Hatter continues to speak, “The final chapter where we’ll find, how little Alice lost her mind.”

They don’t wait for the soldiers to attack first, they run ahead and sweep some of the soldiers off their feet with their leg then drop stuffed rabbits on all of their chests to let the stuffed rabbits take care of them.

(Name) picks up a bat and swings it into a soldier’s stomach then swings it down on his head. They use the bat again to strike another soldier on the temple on their head.

They stun a soldier with a shield then climbs on top of it and knocks him to the ground.

Looking over their shoulder, they notice a soldier running toward them so they pick up the shield with both hands then knocks the oncoming soldier to the ground and drops it on him.

The Mad Hatter is starting to get annoyed as he says through clenched teeth, “Oh Alice, dear, please pay attention, don’t make me keep you in detention.”

Thugs jump down and even the officer, all of them ready to attack (Name).

They jump toward a bat and pick it up just as some of the thugs close in on them. They jump over the first and swing the bat down on the second thug behind the first then turn around to strike the first one in the head.

(Name) walks over to a third thug then swings the bat down on his shoulder to cause him to fall to his knees. Swinging the bat around in their hands a little, they get into position and swing the bat into his face like they were playing baseball with him.

“Hip hip hoozah!” The Mad Hatter whispers in their ear, “He’s here! He’s here! Your destiny is drawing near!” The bloodlust in them runs stronger again, nearly impossible to fight back, but they’re still trying.

The officer runs toward them and tries throwing a punch, but (Name) grabs his head and lowers him out of the way then uses the officer to vault over and kick the thug behind the officer in the jaw.

Seeing them not attack the officer, the Mad Hatter gets angrier, “Kill the rabbit! Kill him dead! He’s after you! He wants your head!”

(Name) pushes past all the conflicting thoughts in their head and keeps fighting to save the officer.

They use their grappling hook to pull a thug closer then grabs his head to slam it into the ground.

A few thugs surround them and they drop to the ground to swing their legs like they were some kind of breakdancer to knock them all down.

Eventually it was just the officer left, the officer once again tries to punch them, but they move out of the way then take the mask off Sargent Lory.

Sargent Lory shakes his head to clear it then looks at them questioningly, “Rabbit..?”

Their surroundings fade to black and the letter from the page blows around the two as the Mad Hatter’s words swirl around in their mind, “Where are you, Alice, where’d you go?” His voice gets angrier once he realizes what happened, “This isn’t right, oh no no no!”

They were back in the interrogation room once again and they saw the Mad Hatter cowering in the corner with a light shining on him.

The bloodlust is fully gone from their mind and everything is back to normal.

(Name) stalks closer to him then punches him in the jaw and pins him to the wall with their hand around his throat.

The Mad Hatter’s eyes widens as he exclaims his anger, “What?! NO! I had you, don’t you see? You’re mad, you’re mad, you’re just like me!”

They lean in closer and spit out, “Last time someone said that to me, they ended up dead, Jervis,” They threw him to the ground and his hat fell off the top of his head.

He tries to crawl away, but (Name) grabs him by the back of the collar to drag him to the cells across the room.

They open the cell and tosses him inside then closes the cell door behind him.

The Mad Hatter cries out as he crawls to the cell door, “Oh Alice, no, this can’t be how it ends,” He grabs onto the bars and pulls himself up, “There’s tea for two, we can still be friends.”

“Ask the March Hare instead,” They cross their arms and pop their hip as they ask, “Now, you used the police sirens to hypnotize us. How did you do that?”

The Mad Hatter shakes his head, “Oh no no no no. A magician can’t reveal his tricks,” He smiles a little, “I’ll keep you guessing just for kicks,” He laughs then dies out into some pitiful cries. He leans his head against the bars and tilts his head like he was some begging puppy, “Oh Alice, why not brew some tea and snuggle up in here with me.”

(Name) cringes at the idea and takes a step back in disgust, “No, I already have a date and you need some serious help, Hatter.”

“If you want to help then why so callous?” He reaches his hand out between the bars with his palm facing upward, “Join me, Rabbit. Be my Alice.”

They throw their hands up in defeat, “I’m not dealing with this creep. I’m out,” Then they turn around and walk out the room.

(Name) heads back to the main room and walks over to Cash, “I never, ever want to deal with the Mad Hatter again,” They shiver in disgust at the thought of him, “I swear, he gets creepier every time I see him…”

Cash sighs and nods his head in agreement, “I know how you feel.”

[anonymousrabbit420]

I have a question, what do you think of the reader in the Arkham Knight fanfic?

I'm quite curious to hear opinions about how I wrote them.

[anonymousrabbit420]

"i hate spamlikers" "spamlikers dni!" "spamlikers are so annoying" "spamliking = blocked" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUPPP MAYBE I JUST LIKE YOUR POSTS

[anonymousrabbit420]

when I comment on a fellow writer's fic and they, in turn, comment on one of mine

[anonymousrabbit420]

Sometimes when I'm working on the Arkham Knight fanfic, I actually go on the game to test certain things out. For example, here is a video I took for myself to show it was possible to grapple to the small island in the middle of the map so I didn't have to keep going into the game to check it out.

[anonymousrabbit420]

While writing Chapter 3 of the Arkham Knight fanfic, I just found this cool little detail in the Wonderland part of the Seasons of Infamy DLC. When you first meet the Mad Hatter in the interrogation room, he'll eventually say this line...

The again after you go to the three locations and go back to the interrogation room with the Mad Hatter he says this...

I want to point out the fact he uses the word "you're" instead of "your" in these sentences. Obviously when listening to it, you would think it's using the possessive word, but with the subtitles, the sentence has a different meaning (You Are Alice). You find out he spoils the ending of his mission from the very beginning. The book you get after the third car is called Batman's Adventures in Wonderland, obviously he takes the role of Alice since the other hostages are just characters Alice meets from the original story and he was supposed to "find Alice". Though it isn't perfect (it is just a short DLC side mission) it is interesting that Batman plays the role of Alice without realizing it until the very end.

This whole thing could just be some error, but it happened twice so I don't know. Thanks for listening to my TED talk.

[anonymousrabbit420]

You ever wrote something that you just love so you talk to the imaginary audience to explain why you love it so much? Like yes, I love this one little sentence here because it adds more depth to a character's emotions.

[anonymousrabbit420]

Arkham Knight Chapter 2

Reader is written in a way where gender isn't specified.

This fanfic takes place during the game. Some dialogue and scenes are directly from the game.

Prequel Chapter 1 Bonus Drabble

~[Insert Boarder Here]~

Sneaking into Founders’ Island should’ve been relatively easy. A twenty minute adventure, in and out. But holy hell! The amount of militia forces on the island is insane. Multiple towers, checkpoints, bombs embedded in the ground, militia drones, and (Name) has no idea where The Arkham Knight’s headquarters is at. Good luck trying to find it when militia soldiers are up in their grill with guns.

(Name) grunts as they quickly run into hiding in the lower area of the island, “Oh yeah, let me go to Founders’ Island by myself to look for information about Operation Savior,” They quietly mock themself, “That would totally be a smart idea. Now look at me, I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off with my tail between my legs,” They peek around a building corner before quickly hiding again once a few militia soldiers opened fire on them, “Crap, crap, crap!” They run as fast as they can away from the area. They fumble with their grappling hook for a second then use it to get to higher ground.

They reach a safe rooftop and take this moment of peace to get their bearings, “The Arkham Knight wasn’t kidding when he said they had full control of Founders’ Island,” They look around at the different watchtowers decorated with Arkham Knight symbols and sentry turrets. How exactly are they going to navigate this place?

Somewhere far off, an explosion went off. (Name) pauses in their movements then slowly turns around toward the source, “What the…” They put their hands on their knees like some concerned dad at the sight. One moment, ACE Chemicals was there and now it's a burning, collapsed mess, “I wasn’t gone for that long, what the hell happened?” They ask out loud to themself.

They take out their work phone then call Alfred. Once he answered, (Name) asked, “Hey, Alf, what happened at ACE Chemicals? Why did it explode?” Alfred hesitates for a few moments then explains the situation, “Master Bruce has reduced the radius of Scarecrow’s bomb to just ACE Chemicals. He has been exposed to some of Scarecrow’s toxin, but he says he’s fine now.”

(Name) scoffs at the last part, “Sure, he’s fine. Back at the asylum, he literally punched me then ran off like a little girl when he was exposed. That punch took me out of my fear toxin trip,” They will never forget the moment of confusion they felt when that happened the first time, how he just ran and hid from an invisible figure only he can see. It was a strange, but funny sight to see.

“And he is still terribly sorry that happened, Mx. (LastName),” Alfred quickly reassures them, like if they think Batman didn’t feel bad, the friendship between them would sour even more. His face falls a little into sorrow, “There is also one more thing I should tell.”

They raise an eyebrow in interest, “And what is it?”

“It’s Ms. Gordon, she’s been taken,” Alfred explains in a sorrowful tone of voice.

How…? How was she taken? She was safe inside the Clock tower, right?

“I’ll head to the Clock tower now,” It’s the least (Name) can do now. And the situation seems like something The Arkham Knight can pull off because of how much information he knows about Batman and his allies.

Alfred nods his head, “Stay safe out there, Mx. (LastName),” He checks something off screen and adds, “I should mention this as well, the Batcycle is ready to be used if you so wish,” Then hangs up the call.

Sweet, another thing they can use without Batman knowing!

They call the Batcycle to them on their workphone. They securely hook their grappling hook in place then descends down the building to street level to wait for the bike. While doing so they pull on a song for the road.

______________________________________________________________________________

Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

______________________________________________________________________________

Bright light city gonna set my soul

Gonna set my soul on fire

Got a whole lot of money that's ready to burn

So get those stakes up higher

Their feet touch the ground and they give the grappling hook a good tug to let it zip back underneath their sleeve. They bob their head and sway their hips to the music, letting it take over their body like some kind of possession. (Name) tries replicating Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Strut by memory, but they’re pretty sure they messed it up a little, who cares.

Crossing their feet, they twirl their body into a small spin then throw their hand to point upward in a pose. While keeping that pose, they sway their hips a little more and lower themself closer to the ground before changing the dance to something akin to a basic Hawaiian dance. As a bit of a final move, (Name) ends it with a slower version of Elvis Presley’s Bowler.

There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there

And they're all livin' devil may care

And I'm just the devil with love to spare

Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas

Out of the corner of their eye, they see three thugs point at them then run toward them ready for a fight.

(Name) tilts their head in the thugs direction with a look of annoyance on their face. Glancing down at their work phone, they check how far off the Batcycle is, “Dagnabit… I really have to deal with these fourth rate criminals?” They slide the work phone into their pocket and face the oncoming criminals, “Let’s make this quick, I have a full night of fighting to do.”

The first thug throws a punch, trying to aim for their face, but (Name) side steps then sticks their leg out and trips the thug. The thug stumbles into nearby trashcans and groans in pain.

The second thug picks up a broken bottle off the ground and tries slashing it across (Name)’s abdomen. Thanks to the armor plating in their suit, no physical harm comes to them, “You really thought that was going to work?” They grab the second thug by the front of his shirt then throw him over their shoulder on the ground. The air from the thug’s lung escapes him harshly, (Name) wasn’t done with him yet. They punch him once, twice, three times in the nose; his blood getting all over their knuckles. Finally, the thug goes limp as he passes out.

How I wish that there were more

Than the twenty-four hours in the day

'Cause even if there were forty more

I wouldn't sleep a minute away

The first thug grabs a trashcan lid and raises it above his head then swings it down on (Name)’s head. They reach their hands out and grab the lid to stop the attack.

The third thug pulls out his hidden gun from the waistband of his pants and aims it at their head.

The glint from the gun catches (Name)’s attention. They only have a few short seconds to act before it’s game over for them. They knee the first thug in the stomach to cause him to let go of the trash can lid, then, with that trash can lid, they throw it like a frisbee at the third thug’s head.

“Argh!” The third thug yells in pain as his hand holds his head to help deal with the small headache forming. He lowers his aim toward the ground and (Name) takes the opportunity to kick the gun out his grasp.

Oh, there's black jack and poker and the roulette wheel

A fortune won and lost on every deal

All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel

Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas

The third thug watches his gun fly high into the air then drops his gaze down toward (Name), and just in time to witness them slam his head into the moist brick wall next to them.

He saw stars in his vision as the world spins around him before falling backward and blacking out.

Seeing his buddies go down one by one, the first thug quickly searches the area around him for anything that can get him the upper hand. He spots the gun a few feet away on the street and decides to run out and get it.

(Name) turns and sees the thug running into the street, but that was when a speeding car turned down that road and quickly approached the unsuspecting thug.

Viva Las Vegas with you neon flashin'

And your one arm bandits crashin'

All those hopes down the drain

They should just let the thug get hit by the car and move on with the rest of the night, but that car accident can do so much worse damage to the thug than what (Name) can do to him.

Sighing, (Name) sprints into the street toward the thug then tackles him out of the way right before the car speeds by next to them.

(Name) twists their body so they’ll take the brunt of the impact when they land. Their back hits the curb of the sidewalk, and they can already feel whatever bruise there is going to be forming on their back. The thug lands face first into their chest and they immediately push him off, “Just because I saved you, doesn’t mean you can cop a feel, buddy,” They said in a dry sense of humor way. They stand up and dust themself off, “I’m only interested in one man tonight and he is not you.”

The Batcycle pulls up in front of them and they get this excited look in their eyes, “It’s finally here!” They stride over to the bike with a bit of a sway in their hips, the music still pumping through their veins.

(Name) swings their leg over the bike and sits down, “It’s been fun, but I have detective work to do,” They pick up the motorcycle helmet, pull down their hood, and slip it on.

The thug looks up at them with a dazed look in his eyes then sits up on the sidewalk.

They pull their hood back over their helmet before mockingly blowing a kiss to the thug, “Ciao!” Then they speed off toward the clocktower.

Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime

Turnin' night into daytime

If you see it once you'll never be the same again

The blue and red lights of Founders’ Island blue together as (Name) speeds through the abandoned streets of Gotham; the whole place is beautiful in its own way- when a foreign militia hasn’t taken over the entire place…

Far in front of them is a stolen car full of thugs and (Name) decides to use it as a ramp, just for fun.

They pull back the Batcycle into a wheelie to ride onto the car then gain a few feet of air time, “Hell yeah!” Gotham may not be the greatest city in the world, but it can be so much fun when you take the chance to have some fun! …That may be why some criminals commit crimes…

Next to the Perdition Bridge is a ramp that can get (Name) back onto Bleake Island, but there is a militia checkpoint blocking the path…

(Name) pulls over right in front of the checkpoint then leans their crossed arms on the handles, “Now how am I going to get over there…?”

I'm gonna keep on the run, I'm gonna have me some fun

If it costs me my very last dime

If I wind up broke, oh well, I'll always remember

That I had a swinging time

They grumble under their breath in frustration, “Fighting, fighting, fighting… That’s all we ever do,” They throw their arms out in exasperation, “Why can’t we be peace lovers and just hug it out, man.”

This might be the worst idea they’ve ever had, but what’s the worst that can happen? Getting shot and killed? Probably.

Dismounting the bike, (Name) uses their grappling to get to the top of the barricade. They sit down on top of the barricade, “Hello!”

They were met with guns immediately aimed at them.

“Woah, woah, woah!” They raise their hands to defuse the situation, “I only just want to talk!”

The militia soldier in charge of the checkpoint looks around at the other soldiers there, then to the vigilante sitting on top, “And why would we talk to you?” He points his finger at them, “We were given orders to not let anything take this checkpoint!”

“I don’t want your stupid checkpoint!” (Name) snaps back. They cross their arms as they make their offer, “Look, how about you take down the walls for a bit so I can get my bike over the ramp, then you can put them back up and wait for Batman to kick your ass,” They playfully shoot a fingergun at them, but the sound of guns cocking makes them stop.

The militia soldier in charge thinks it over, but he doesn’t seem convinced yet.

I'm gonna give it everything I've got

Lady luck please let the dice stay hot

Let me shoot a seven with every shot

(Name) rolls their head back and stares up at the sky, “I don’t really wanna pull this piece of information out, but…” They pretend to check their nails nonchalantly- even though they’re wearing gloves, “Let’s just say there’s a little something something between your leader, The Arkham Knight, and me,” They flash the militia soldiers a dazzling smile.

“Yeah?” The militia soldier in charge doesn’t sound convinced still, “I bet you two have something going on,” The other soldiers quietly laugh.

“Call up your leader and ask him,” They said, “I bet you’ll hear about how much he was flirting with me at ACE Chemicals.”

A few seconds go by then the militia soldier in charge sighs and mumbles, “Fine, we’ll let you through…”

“Awesome!” (Name) swings their legs over to the other side then hops down. They walk back to the Batcycle then mount it again.

The walls of the barricade come down and the soldiers stand clear to let the vigilantes drive by.

They rev up the engine before flooring it over the ramp and fly high in the sky across the water!

Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas

Viva, Viva Las Vegas

The tires hit the ground on Bleake Island just as the song ended. They take off the bike helmet then set it down on the handles, “Landed right in front of the Clock tower,” They get off the bike and looks up at the Clock tower, “Love it when things go my way,” Glancing to the right, they see the Batmobile nearby, “Looks like dark and brooding is here as well. Figures.”

Using the grappling hook hidden up their sleeve, they grapple to the top of the Clock tower then enter through the secret rooftop entrance.

When (Name) enters Barbara's apartment inside the Clock tower, Gordon was just leaving through the elevator and Batman picks up the broken communicator off the floor.

“Wow, whatever that was, I feel bad for the Commissioner," (Name) speaks up as they stand next to the computer control panel, “I can’t imagine the pain of a father feeling like he failed to protect his daughter…”

“I understand how he’s feeling, but I need to find out what happened to Barbara,” Batman says as he tries accessing the Clock tower’s security cameras, but all of them have been shut down. The next thing he tried was hacking the municipal CCTV system around the clock tower.

Scrolling through four different camera feeds, the two vigilantes find out it was The Arkham Knight who kidnapped Barbara.

Batman pulls up the analysis of the truck’s AmerTek tires to track down where the truck took Barbara.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” (Name) says as they clap Batman on the back, “No time to wait for anything!” They use their grappling hook to exit back through the secret rooftop entrance.

The two jump down from the Clock tower rooftop. Batman’s gaze drifts over to the Batcycle then asks, “Did you take my bike?”

(Name) stops walking toward the bike to answer his question, “Nooooo…” Pause for a few seconds, “No, I would never,” It’s obviously his bike, but why would they want to tell him the truth right now?

Batman doesn’t push it any farther- he knows it will get him nowhere- and he just enters the Batmobile without another word.

The two obviously don’t talk much and everything is still tense, but what can you do in the moment when a friend’s life is at stake?

(Name) follows behind Batman on the Batcycle. Over the comms, The Arkham Knight mocks him, “I’ve got Oracle, Batman. Now you care who I am. Just gotta find me. But Gotham’s a big place and theres a whole army between us. I’m ready for you.”

Suddenly in front of them, one of The Arkham Knight’s helicarriers drops a bomb on the road, which then embeds itself into the ground.

They speak to Batman through the headset, “Watch out, Bats, that device is a bomb.”

“Good to know,” Batman answers back then switches to talking to Alfred about the bomb. Then after, he gets out of the Batmobile to investigate the bomb up close.

“I heard what you did on Founders’ Island…” They can hear The Arkham Knight’s voice through their earpiece, but Batman doesn’t seem to react to it like he doesn’t hear it, “Telling my men about- what did you call it again? A little something something between us?” His modulated chuckle sends shivers down their spine and their face to heat up, “You spoiled the surprise before I could update my orders for them.”

“Orders? What orders?” (Name) quietly asks so Batman wouldn’t hear.

“You’ll see soon, Rabs,” The Arkham Knight teases, “For now, you should back away from the area. I’ve sent out multiple drones to that location and I don’t want anything happening to you, darling~” Then his voice cuts off suddenly.

Replacing The Arkham Knight’s voice is one of his Militia Commanders, “As you predicted, sir, he’s trying to defuse the device. The drones you requested have been deployed.”

That’s their cue to drive to a safer distance as Batman deals with drones. They drive further up the road and pass some of the oncoming drones to watch the scene unfold.

“We need those bombs in play, sargent,” The Arkham Knight’s voice sounds angier; maybe because he had to cut his conversation with them early? Wishful thinking is good to have some time.

“I know, sir. I’ll stop him dead!” The militia commander says in response.

(Name) quietly laughs under their breath, “They really think they can take down Batman? That’s so cute.”

“If they believe they can, it’ll make a bigger difference than if they believe they can’t,” Once again, The Arkham Knight’s voice is in their earpiece, “But make no mistake, I will kill Batman by the end of the night.”

They cross their arms and set it on the handles then rest their head over it, “Why do you hate Batman so much? What did he do?”

The Arkham Knight stays silent for a bit, like he was trying to piece together what to say. Then he takes a small breath in, “It’s a lot to say over comms like this…” His voice sounds so… broken, empty.

This is a long shot, but they still wanna try, “Maybe you can tell me when we meet again?” After saying the words, they feel a little silly for thinking The Arkham Knight would be honest with them, “You did say you don’t doubt us meeting again without Batman’s interference.”

“I did say that, and I still mean it,” The Arkham Knight responds back, “When you get to the site, I left a small sd card for your phone that will lead you to my location at all times. I’m trusting you won’t tell Batman about it,” His modulated voice sounding hopeful at the end.

Maybe it’s because they wanna be petty toward Batman after everything or it’s because this can lead them toward more answers, but (Name) gives The Arkham Knight their word to not tell Batman about any of this.

“I’ll see you when you get to me,” The Arkham Knight sounds like he wanted to say more, but decides to hold it back for now and cut their communication short.

This thing between them, it feels familiar and comforting; something they haven’t felt in a long time. Absent-mindedly, their fingers brush against the promise ring Jason gave them a few years ago hanging around their neck. They wanted to keep a memory of him close, -and if you know the problems of wearing gloves over rings can do- they decided to put the promise ring on a necklace.

The fight between the Batmobile and the drones is over as they watch Batman follow the vehicle’s tracks leading to Barbara.

Over the broadcast, The Arkham Knight sends out a warning to deter anyone from meddling with Gotham affairs. Now, no one is officially coming in or out of Gotham until this whole thing is over.

The trail eventually leads them to Miagani Island. The only problem is the bridge is raised and they don’t have controls over Mercy Bridge.

“Now what?” (Name) asks as they get off the bike, “Where do we go next?”

“To Grand Avenue Station,” Batman answers, then he exits the Batmobile and grapples to the top of the bridge.

“Oh, I bet we kick some asses,” They follow after him with their grappling hook, “How many guys do you think there’s going to be? Ten? Twenty? Place your bet now before it’s too late!”

When they made it to Grand Avenue Station, they split up to silently take down the militia guarding their uplink terminal to lower the bridges.

Once he is done, Batman calls up Alfred on his holographic screen, “Alfred, I’ve re-enabled the bridge controls.”

“Marvelous, I’m rebooting the network now,” Alfred says as he looks off camera to a computer screen next to him.”

Suddenly over the billboard, a familiar annoying voice plays loudly for the entire city to hear. Or more specifically, for Batman to hear, “Forget Scarecrow! It’s time to face your one true nemesis.”

“Well, well,” (Name) turns around to face a nearby screen. “It’s the man you hate to love, but love to hate…” They murmur under their breath.

“Oh dear,” Alfred looks at the call again, “is that who I think it is?”

Batman’s lip curls in annoyance while he grumbles, “Nigma…” He takes a second to push that annoyance aside then says, “Contact me when you’re ready with the bridge,” He hangs up the call and faces the big screen behind him.

Riddler smiles smugly, “Riddle me this. Why would a Batman visit an abandoned orphanage?” As he asks the riddle, the camera backs up a little to show more of Riddler’s surroundings as he gestures to the place.

Then, the camera cuts to Catwoman blindfolded and tied to a chair inside the orphanage, “Eddie, sweetie, you’ve confused me with Robin. The big guy and I aren’t all that close.”

Once again, the camera cuts back to Riddler’s face, “Oh, I know! It’s because of what will happen to his feline friend if he doesn’t get here in time,” His voice sounding more aggressive and pushy toward the end of the sentence. He cocks an eyebrow as he mocks Batman, “Shocked, Dark Knight? Stunned? You didn’t expect this, did you?” His smug smile returns as he confidently crosses his arms, “That is because you are no match for me, Edward Nigma, the Riddler and your intellectual superior,” His face twists into a scowl as he brings up the last time they met, “Did you think I would just forget our last meeting, Dark Knight? You HUMILATED me. I know you will not beat me this time. It is utterly impossible. You cannot do it. I have already won.”

(Name) mocks Riddler talking with their hand while they continue to listen on and on about whatever, “Man… Does he ever shut up?” Looking to the side, they realized Batman had already left, “Wow, just leave me hanging like this, huh?” They run toward the edge to follow him to the orphanage, “I seriously can’t believe you would leave me, Bats! You know how much I love to humiliate Riddler!”

They grapple, jump, and zoom across various rooftops to get to the orphanage as fast as they can to see what Riddler has up his sleeve now.

All the while traveling there, Riddler continues to speak, “I will mock your attempts to solve my conundrums, I will stand triumphant over your bloodied corpse. And as the dim light fades for good in your tiny dullard’s mind, your final thought will be how I have bested you. Come to the orphanage, detective. Or she dies.” Finally, he stops speaking.

During all that, the two make it to the front of the entrance, where they have to fight a few thugs.

Batman lands on one of the thugs- instantly taking him out- then uppercuts the closest thug, and finally throws another thug into the ground then knocks him out with a punch to the jaw.

Already, there are only two thugs left. (Name) sneaks up behind the thug with a baseball bat then grabs the bat from him and uses it to choke the thug out. After that, they use the same bat to swing it at the final thug’s temple to knock him out.

“Aw…” (Name) mockingly pouts, “Man, that went by so fast,” They shrug their shoulders and toss the bat to the ground, “Oh well.”

The thug who got uppercutted earlier tries crawling away, but Batman grabs him before he can get far, “Riddler has Catwoman. Tell me why.”

Before the thug can get an answer out, (Name) starts singing "I Want it That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, “Ain’t nothin’ but a heartache! Tell me why! Ain't nothing but a mistake. Tell me-” They cut themself off after seeing the glare from Batman, “Sorry…”

Batman turns his gaze back to the thug, and the thug spits out, “I don’t know anything, I swear! I just tied her up and left her inside.”

“Why!? What’s Nigma’s play?” Batman asks.

The thug quickly shakes his head from side to side, “I ain’t gotta clue! I just brought her here and planted some of those trophies nearby. That’s it. You gotta believe me!”

“I do,” Then Batman headbutts the thug to knock him out.

“Ahh, the Riddler trophies,” (Name) comments like they were remembering it fondly, “I only hope there aren't four-hundred trophies to collect this time…” They really didn’t like looking for those stupid trophies last time.

Walking up the front steps of the orphanage, they see green writing on the wall. The top one says, “Can you defeat a mind such as mine?” and the one under that says, “Banned List: Rabbit.”

(Name) is shocked and almost offended, “I’m banned from entering the orphanage? What did I do to deserve that?”

Batman doesn’t stop walking and just opens the front door.

“Seriously, what did I do? Did I insult his mother somehow? Why am I banned?” (Name) calls out to Batman just as he enters the orphanage, “I swear I didn’t kick any of his dogs before!”

They kick a nearby small piece of rubble in frustration, “Man, I was actually looking forward to kicking Riddler’s ass…” They grumble under their breath, “Probably scared because I would literally kick his ass…”

“Sure, sweets, keep telling yourself that,” The Arkham Knight’s voice plays through their earpiece, “If you want the actual answer for why you’re ‘banned’ from the orphanage it’s because Riddler has deathtraps set up for only two people.”

“So I got the boot even though I was there to take him down the last two times…” (Name) mutters and crosses their arms, “Also, how are you talking to me without Batman knowing?”

“It’s a secure channel for just me and you to talk,” The Arkham Knight explains, “He doesn’t know about this and I want to keep it that way.”

“I feel so special,” (Name) playfully says.

“You are,” The Arkham Knight responds back without any hesitation, “Is there any way you can get to the scene while Batman does whatever with Riddler?”

(Name) sighs and walks down the steps, “Someone is desperate…” They point out jokingly, “You can’t wait for our first date, Knight?”

There’s silence on The Arkham Knight’s end, and it makes them a bit nervous- did they scare him off before anything can really begin? Soon after, he finally responds with complete honesty in his modulated voice, “Yes…” He pauses for a few seconds then quietly adds, “Please, I need to see you again.”

They sit back on the stone railings for some bit of support. A man who pleads like that is a dangerous weapon against (Name)’s mind. Taking a shaky breath in, they continue talking, trying to keep up that confident tone of voice, “I like it when you beg…” Their voice barely above a whisper, “It makes me feel… powerful,” They don’t know how else to explain this feeling they have. The Arkham Knight just… does things to their heart.

A quiet chuckle from the Arkham Knight plays through their earpiece and it causes their heart to skip a beat.

(Name) quietly scolds themself for continuing to feel like this toward the enemy! This isn’t some romance fanfic with the enemies-to-lovers trope. Whatever this is, they’ll use it for information only. They swear.

The front door to the orphanage opens and Batman walks out.

They cut communications off with The Arkham Knight and focus on Batman; all while keeping up the facade that nothing is going on with them.

“Alfred gained access to the bridge’s controls,” Batman explains, “We’re heading back to Mercy Bridge to pick up the trail on the Arkham Knight,” And without a second to spare, he grapples off back toward Mercy Bridge.

When they make it back, both vigilantes return to their own vehicles and are ready for whatever comes their way.

“Alfred, I’m at the bridge,” Batman says over comms.

“One moment, sir…” Alfred responds then goes quiet for a second before saying, “I should probably warn you, there’s a significant militia presence ahead.”

“Duly noted,” Batman says.

“I managed to access the files Ms. Gordon was working on before her abduction. It would seem she found a weakness in the drones, sir. A direct hit from the Vulcan Gun on their sensor array should destroy them with a single shot,” Alfred explains.

The bridge lowers and waiting on the other side is three rattlers, two mamba drones- ones they haven’t seen before- and one diamondback.

Over the radio network the militia uses, The Arkham Knight’s voice comes on, “Sergeant, Mercy bridge is being lowered. He’s coming.”

“Mamba drones online and ready to engage!” The militia commander responds in a bit of a cocky manner.

Without a second to spare, (Name) zooms past the militia drones to get away from the fight with Batman. Honestly, the fight didn’t last that long. Batman uses a barrage of missiles to take out most of the drones then soon after takes out the last one with the Vulcan Gun.

“Arkham Knight, come in?” The militia commander calls out over the radio, “Defenses breached, he’s moving onto Miagani Island.”

(Name) can hear The Arkham Knight breathing heavily through their earpiece- the sound doing wonders on their brain- then he snaps at his commander, “Not now, sergeant. Establish roadblocks, lock the island down.”

They take a moment to compose themself then follows after the Batmobile once it drives past them.

Eventually they find where the trail leaves on Miagani Island.

“The Arkham Knight’s vehicle swerved and crashed up ahead,” Batman explains through the earpiece.

They leave their vehicles behind and get a closer look at the crash site.

“Car’s empty,” The Batman speaks up while using his detective vision on the car, “The Arkham Knight must have taken Oracle and moved on,” He moves to the open passenger side door and scans the crash.

While Batman does what he does best, (Name) quietly looks around for that sd card The Arkham Knight left for them to find.

If they were the small sd card, where would they be hiding? Batman walks away from the car in search of the driver and (Name) takes this opportunity to check the backseat of the crashed vehicle for the sd card. And it was right there, hidden between the seats.

Taking it out, they slip the sd card into their work phone, and voilà, The Arkham Knight’s tracker is online. Now, the next part is to get away from Batman without raising suspicion. For the time being, they should just stick with him.

Batman lifts up a crate nearby then picks up a scrambler device hidden underneath. He slips it into his gauntlet then calls up Lucius Fox.

“Mister Wayne?” Lucius greets as soon as he answers the call.

“Lucius, Oracle left me this scrambler device at the scene of the crash,” Batman explains, “Decrypt the data so I can pinpoint the Arkham Knight’s location.”

Oh, the irony of it all.

Lucius looks away from the camera to a computer screen once he gets the data on his end then says, “This kind of thing was more Miss Gordon’s speciality. I’ll see what I can do but it’ll take me a little while.”

“I’ll meet you at Wayne Tower when you’re ready,” Then Batman switches the call over to Alfred,

(Name) checks their work phone to see the blinking light on Miagani Island- so he’s close by.

Their eyes darted all over the place, trying to see if somehow The Arkham Knight was watching them right now. The whole thing feels like some little game between them and The Arkham Knight- how exactly did they end up in something like this? What made them so special to get different treatment than everyone else.

“We’re heading out now,” Batman calls out to them, successfully breaking their line of thinking.

(Name) nods their head, “Ready to go, Bats,” They slip their work phone back into their pocket then follows Batman toward Wayne Tower.

A couple minutes of traveling go by, they grappling up the side of Wayne Tower before entering through the balcony to Bruce Wayne’s office.

Lucius stands in front of Bruce’s desk with a WayneTech tablet in hand. He looks up at the two entering then greets them with a warm smile, “Nice of you both to drop in,” He walks over to them, “I suppose you weren’t really dressed for the front entrance.”

(Name) glances down at their outfit then responds with, “I could’ve totally rocked wearing this in,” They smugly smirk then sit down in Bruce’s spiny chair and crosses their legs on top of Bruce’s desk, “I mean look at this outfit,” They gesture to their costume, “Worthy of the red carpet.”

Ignoring them completely, Batman crosses his arms then asks Lucius, “Have you finished the decryption?”

“Fully decoded,” Lucius glances down to the screen in his hand, “I’ve downloaded all recent militia radio transmissions and their corresponding coordinates to your machine,” Then he points to the computer on Bruce’s desk.

Batman gives his computer one look then back to the man in front of him, “Thanks Lucius. I can scan the network for the Arkham Knight’s voice print and determine the location of his last broadcast.”

Using their feet, (Name) pushes the chair out of the way for Batman to use the computer, “Do you think we’ll get to be a step ahead of the Knight, Batman? Or will he laugh in our faces and send twenty drones after us?”

Batman continues to ignore them as he works on locating The Arkham Knight’s location.

Annoyed, they grumble sarcastically under their breath, “Oh yeah, continue to ignore me… It’s not like teamwork makes the dream work…”

After a few seconds, he says, “The Knight’s transmitting from the Miagani tunnel network.”

Lucius looks up from his tablet and smiles at Batman, “Glad to be of assistance, Mister Wayne. While you’re here, we’re been working on some further upgrades for your car,” He explains and points to the computer screen, “Let me know where you’d like us to focus our efforts.”

Once the upgrade was chosen, Lucius bids his farewell by saying, “Now if there’s anything else you need, I’ll be here all night. It’s not like I could leave this city, even if I wanted to.”

(Name) hops off the chair and heads toward the balcony, “And a way we go!” The moment Batman jumps off the railing and starts gliding, they jump after him and land on his back to glide with him.

While in the air, Batman talks to Alfred through the earpiece, “I’ve traced the Arkham Knight to the Miagani tunnel system.”

“Excellent news, sir, but I’m detecting a significant drone presence in the area. It would be folly to engage them without the Batmobile," Alfred says over the comms.

Batman nods his head- even though Alfred couldn’t see, “Noted.”

“Shall I open the south entrance?” Alfred asks.

“Hold off until I get there, Alfred,” A barely noticeable smirk creeps up on Batman’s face, “I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

(Name) mockingly gasps, “You can smile? I only ever saw glares and the neutral look on your face. Holy cow, that’s insane,” Of course they’re going to play this small moment up to eleven just to Batman’s nerves a little.

Batman glances over his shoulder a little, “I smiled before,” He defends himself.

“Yeah, only when you’re putting on a show for everyone in Gotham to see,” They shot back.

He looks forward again and doubles down on his statement, “I smiled before…” And he didn’t have to finish his sentence for (Name) to understand what he meant- He smiled before Jason died.

They’re high above the south entrance now and Batman calls his Batmobile to be ready for when he dives. Taking as (Name)’s cue to go, they let go of Batman to let him divebomb toward the Batmobile.

They use their grappling hook to swing themself safely to the ground without getting in the way of the fight.

(Name) stands on top of a nearby roof and watches the way the Batmobile moves then checks their work phone for The Arkham Knight’s location- still a blinking dot inside the tunnel network. But the real million- you know what, they’ll use Bruce’s billion- dollar question is how are they going to sneak away with the Knight without Batman knowing?

Over the radio channel for the militia, The Arkham Knight’s commander suggests getting The Arkham Knight out of here, but the Knight adamantly refuses and says he’s not going anywhere.

They wonder how the meeting between them will go once they see each other again. What exactly will happen? They’ll only keep going in circles with these pointless what-ifs; they will just have to wait and see.

The fight below ends and (Name) jumps down to join Batman in the Batmobile- the best place to be during this search inside the tunnel.

“Alfred, I’m at the tunnel entrance,” Batman’s grip on the steering wheel tightens, “Open the doors.”

“Just a moment, sir. I’m accessing the building’s security mainframe,” Alfred says then after a few moments, the entrance opens.

The Batmobile drives through, but is quickly stopped by another obstacle.

A bit annoyed, Batman explains what happened to Alfred, “Alfred, there’s another blast door. I need you to open it.”

The sound of keyboard clacking is heard over the comms then it suddenly stops, “Oh dear… it seems they’ve locked me out of the system. They must know you’re here.”

“Don’t worry, Alf,” (Name) hops out of the Batmobile, “We’ll find another way in.”

Batman reverses the Batmobile then uses its power winch to hook on the giant fan in the wall above the blast door and rips it out of the wall.

“Always so destructive.” (Name) comments as they grapple up to the opening. They see a weak wall ahead of them and decide to use some of the explosive gel to destroy it.

Meanwhile, Batman is on call with Robin, “Have you made any progress on the cure?”

“Getting there…” Robin trails off then nervously asks, “Hey, I haven’t heard from Barbara for a while. Is she ok?”

(Name) pauses what they are doing to hear how Batman would respond to this question.

Batman shakes his head and answers, “She’s fine. She’s working on something for me. It’s important.”

“But she’s safe, right?” Robin asks again.

“Don’t worry, Tim, just keep working on that cure,” Then Batman hangs up before Robin can ask any more questions about Barbara.

(Name) wants to comment on it- about how he should’ve told Tim instead of keeping him in the dark like that- but they just turn away to let him deal with it on his own.

After destroying the wall, the two continue in silence, like usual. Something seems to be on his mind- similar to the way it did back in Arkham City.

“There’s that look again that look again,” (Name) points out as they use their own line launcher to get across the spinning fan below, “You only had that when-”

“Now isn’t the time to talk about the past, Rabbit,” Batman interrupts them, “And I told you already, I don’t want to talk about it,” He throws his remote batarang to press a button he can’t get to.

(Name) grumbles under their breath, “You never want to…” They cross their arms and look off, “And it’s because of that we had that argument.”

Once again, Batman shuts down and pushes them away.

They make it to the other side of the blast door and below where they stand is multiple soldiers, drones, and turrets ready to shred the vigilantes apart.

The two jump down to an open metal beam then make their way over back toward where they started and enter a vent on the wall to crawl below the floor grates.

The militia talks with one another about mundane things about their job; it’s pretty interesting to see and hear- especially after seeing them only in fights.

At the end of the path, Batman crawls out of the grate then immediately gets shot at by The Arkham Knight.

The Arkham Knight jumps down from his hiding spot on the ceiling and knocks Batman down with a punch, “Oh no, no, you’re not going anywhere, old man,” He calls out when Batman tries to roll away then he steps on his chest when Batman tries to get up. The Arkham Knight aims his gun at Batman’s head, “Tri-weave, titanium coated, armor plating,” He shrugs his shoulder a little like he was a bit impressed, “Nice,” He steps off Batman’s chest and lowers his gun’s aim, “Unless you know exactly…” He presses the barrel of the gun to where some of the plates meet in Batman’s armor, “...where to shoot,” Then fires his gun.

Batman jolts in pain and curls in a little as he grabs first aid from his belt.

The Arkham Knight darkly chuckles as he steps away from the vigilante on the floor, “You’re good, Dark Knight. Even better than I remember. It’s going to make it even more satisfying when I kill you,” His gaze moves to the floor grate where (Name) is hiding then cheekily blows a kiss to them through his mask- which causes their heart to flutter and their face to warm up a little- before continuing to walk out the door, “Don’t worry about Barbara,” He keeps talking to hide the secret exchange between him and (Name), “I’ll take better care of her than you ever did,” Once he was out the door, he calls out to his men, “Batman’s in the control room. Show him what happens when he messes with my city.”

(Name) quickly crawls out of the vent and rushes over to Batman to help him stand, “Damn, he got you pretty good…” Their eyes focused on the warm blood staining his armor then cringe a little at the sight.

A brute soldier walks in and shouts, “You’re not getting through me!” Then he tries to kick Batman back down.

Batman blocks the brute’s kick and pushes him back for more room. The brute stumbles back and Batman takes this opportunity to stun the brute with his cape then beat the ever loving life out of him until he is down for the count.

“Damn,” (Name) mumbles and crosses their arms. They wanted to make a comment, but decided against it.

Batman turns back toward them then says, “Say it.”

They cock an eyebrow, “Wha…?”

“Say. It,” He reiterates as he walks closer to them.

A small smirk pops up on their face, “Holy brute force, Batman, you went ham on him,” They quietly snicker to themself and add, “How did you know I wanted to say it? You know me too well.”

The joking moment between is cut short when a couple soldiers rushes into the room. One soldier runs toward Batman, but the vigilante throws a Batarang to knock the soldier out.

(Name) bounces a little in their spot, ready to kick some militia ass, then runs forward and jumps up to kick one soldier in the throat, then with that momentum, flips in the air and slams their legs down on two militia soldiers behind them to knock out all three.

Batman punches a militia soldier in the gut then- when the soldier doubles over in pain- wraps his arms around the soldier’s upper body and does a german surplex. One of the ninja kicks off a brick wall then swings his sword down at Batman’s head, but the Dark Knight stops the sword with the blades on his gauntlet then slams the ninja’s head into the brick wall next to them.

Turning around, Batman kicks the militia soldier behind him under a light fixture then uses the soldier as a stepping ladder to the light, cuts the light off its chain, and slams it down on the soldier’s head.

A ninja tries attacking Batman, but a good kick to the head from Batman knocks the ninja out.

(Name) knocks an unsuspecting militia soldier to the ground, afterward they grab the soldier’s head and kick their feet into the air- almost like they’re doing a handstand- then swings their knee down to hit the crown of his head.

Next, they punch a nearby militia soldier in the face to stun him, then flip off a wall and kick the stunned soldier in the head.

A few more soldiers run into the room. No biggie, they got this!

(Name) runs up to a militia soldier then throws their body at the soldier and uses his body to flip theirs around and kick any soldier nearby. Finally, using the weight of their body, slam the soldier’s body into the ground.

A soldier manages to grab Batman from behind and Batman immediately retaliates by headbutting the soldier in the nose- causing it to break- then throwing the soldier over his shoulder and into a few different soldiers.

Batman grabs the backs of two soldiers’ heads then slams them both into the ground.

(Name) spots a soldier running in their direction and they get ready to block an attack, but the soldier runs past them to fight Batman.

“Huh?” They looked toward the crowd of militia soldiers fighting Batman, but not one of them was attacking them, “Am I invisible all of a sudden?” They glance down at their hands to check if they are still really there then back up at the crowd. The thought dawns on them, this must be the order The Arkham Knight was talking about; none of the soldiers can attack them.

They quietly scoff to themself in amusement, “Man… You gotta take out the fun of the fight, Knight…”

(Name) sits back and watches Batman fight the rest of the soldiers. When the fight is over, they clap their hands, “Wonderful show, Bats!”

Then suddenly, a tank rams into the only entrance to the room and the two vigilantes run out of range of fire. Over their earpieces, The Arkham Knight’s voice is heard, “You’re not the only one who can bring a tank to a fist-fight. You’re just the only one afraid to use live rounds.”

“How are we going to leave now?” (Name) asks as they look all around the room.

Batman tears off the cover for the fuse box in the room then rips out some of the wiring to open the shutters covering the window and blast door stopping the Batmobile from going any farther.

Batman uses the remote control of the Batmobile to destroy the tanks standing in their way.

He nods his head in the direction of the car and says, “Time to rescue Oracle and make the Arkham Knight pay.”

(Name) hesitantly nods their head then follows him back to the car.

Once they were settled in, Alfred speaks to them through the radio, “I see you’re back in the car.”

“I’m going after the Knight. He’s here in the tunnels,” Batman explains with this tense look on his face.

“Then let us hope he has Miss Gordon with him,” Then Alfred gets off the radio.

There was one last blast door at the end of the area. Luckily, the fuse box was right next to it. Just rip out the wires and off they go after The Arkham Knight.

As the blast door opens, an APC is on the other side with seemingly The Arkham Knight inside.

“Damn it! He’s here! Open the door, open the doors!” The Arkham Knight says in a panic through the radio.

(Name) finds this strange because from everything they know about the Knight, he has never once panicked about Batman, always calm and cocky.

Batman chases down the APC in the Batmobile. While doing so, Alfred chimes in through the radio, “Sir, the Batmobile’s thermal scanner is only picking up one body. It’s the driver. No sign of Miss Gordon.”

“He knows where she is, Alfred. He’s not getting away,” Batman says in a determined tone of voice.

The Batmobile takes out some of the supporting vehicles and The Arkham Knight stills seems so panicked- it’s not right!

(Name) subtly checks the tracking signal on their work phone and their suspicions were right, it’s not him, he’s somewhere else. Not wanting to draw suspicion from Batman, they keep quiet about this piece of information.

Every twist and turn through the streets of Gotham and every supporting vehicle that gets destroyed brings the two closer to the APC until it was the only thing left.

When the last strike hits the APC, the vehicle swerves then hits a light pole.

The driver slowly crawls out from the top- definitely hurt from the crash- then drops to the floor and he groans from the pain.

Batman looks surprised, but you can only tell if you look close enough- and you know how to read Batman like a book.

Walking over to the driver, Batman flips the man over with his foot then drags him to the road and picks him up by the collar.

The soldier looks down his nose at Batman with smug satisfaction and pain in his eyes, “How does it feel…” Batman rips the voice modulator off the militia soldier’s mask, “to be chasing the wrong man?!” He laughs through his pain as Batman drops him.

Batman snaps the modulator in two then throws one part to the ground and keeps the other. He steps on the man’s chest then asks, “Where is the Arkham Knight?!”

The soldier struggles in pain underneath Batman’s boot, “You won’t find him!”

Beeping comes from Batman’s gauntlet and he answers the incoming call. On the holographic screen, The Arkham Knight appears, “You think I didn’t know you were tracking my broadcast location?” From the video feed, The Arkham Knight looks to be somewhere inside- it’s hard to get a good look with him walking, but it’s their best guess, “Here’s a lesson, Batman: I know how you think, which means I know how to beat you.”

Batman hangs up the call and directs his attention back to the soldier below him then aggressively asks, “Where is he?!” While placing more pressure on the soldier’s ribs.

“With Barbara Gordon. She’s ours now. Can you imagine what the Knight’s going to do to her?” The soldier clearly doesn’t know the type of trouble he just caused by saying that.”

Angry, Batman looks at (Name) with an expression that screams, “Do it.”

(Name) smirks and rubs their hands together evilly, “Oh yeah!” They take out their work phone and pull up the Batmobile’s remote controls.

The soldier panics as he hears the Batmobile start up and slowly comes closer to him, “What are they doing?!” He shakes his head and tries to get out from under Batman, “What! No! You can’t do this!”

(Name) stops the Batmobile right where the front tire is pushing the soldier’s head down. They sit down cross-legged to get a better look, “Don’t mind me. Just enjoying the time,” They rev up the engine and put more pressure against the soldier’s head like they were actually going to run it over.

The soldier screams in fear as he feels the pressure pressing him down into the pavement.

They let up a little and Batman asks his question, “Where is he!?”

The soldier spills his guts immediately, “He’s gone to see the little man. The Penguin,” His eyes darted from Batman to the tire then back again, “He supplied the safe-houses for the attack. The Knight’s gone to pay him for his services. That’s it! That’s all I know!”

(Name) shrugs their shoulders, unconvinced with the statement, “I don’t know, I think I can make you squeal a little more,” The tire places the pressure back against the soldier’s head.

“No… Not again!” He yells out in a panic then he pleads for them to stop.

They release the pressure from his head, “Now do you remember something else?” They ask calmly- a distinct difference between them and Batman.

“He uses a refrigeration company as a front! The trucks distribute weapons throughout the city!”

(Name) mockingly shakes their work phone with a sadistic smirk on their face as a threat, “What’s it called?”

The soldier widens his eyes in fear and yells out, “NORTH! NORTH REFRIGERATION!”

“Thank you,” Batman says, then knees the soldier in the face once the Batmobile backs off. He calls up Alfred on his gauntlet to learn more about North Refrigeration.

Meanwhile, (Name) quietly plans this moment to split from Batman and go to The Arkham Knight’s location.

“Rabbit,” Batman calls out and they look back at him, “I’m heading to Grand Avenue for the Batmobile then going after Penguin. I know how you love messing with him, I want to know if you’re coming with?”

(Name) shakes their head, “Nah, I have some business to take care of like…” They glance down at their work phone and notice a message from Cash talking about the Mad Hatter turning himself in. They show the message to him, “...Seeing what this message is about. You know how much I really hate that creep and want to see him imprisoned!”

He takes a look at the message then nods his head, “Okay, I’ll leave that to you then,” He turns around and heads toward the Batmobile, “I’ll let you know when I find out about where the Arkham Knight is at,” Then he gets into the car and drives off.

They let out the air they didn’t know they were holding then called in the Batcycle, “Well… Time to see the Knight,” The Batcycle pulls up next to them and they get on.

(Name) pulls off in the direction of The Arkham Knight. They can feel their heart pounding in their chest the closer they get to the beeping dot on the work phone.

When they get to Paulie’s Diner, (Name) hops off the bike then takes off their helmet, “This place has seen better…” They murmur under their breath. They set the helmet down on the bike then slip on their headphones and hit play.

______________________________________________________________________________

When a Man Loves a Woman - Percy Sledge

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

______________________________________________________________________________

When a man loves a woman

Can't keep his mind on nothin' else

He'd change the world for the good thing he's found

Paulie’s Diner… It was the spot Jason and them had their first official date at. Seeing it like this hurts.

Their fingers brushes the promise ring around their neck as they forward toward the wreckage of a good memory.

They step inside and look around at the mess left. Pumpkins, trash, food, drinks, all left on the floors and tables.

Broken glass crunches underneath the soles of their shoes as they walk further and further inside.

If she is bad, he can't see it

She can do no wrong

Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down

On the other side of the counter where the employees used to work sits a lone Riddler trophy- ready for Batman to collect it.

“I should tell him about that…” They murmur out loud for no one to hear, then they shake their head, “Nah, he’ll figure it out eventually…” They turn their body slowly to look at the damage done here, “...He usually does.”

Their eyes stop at the booth all the way in the far corner and it’s like their own memory was brought to light.

Sitting there across from each other was them, (Name) and Jason. Holding hands across the table while waiting for their food. Talking about everything and nothing all at once.

When a man loves a woman

He'll spend his very last dime

Tryin' to hold on to what he needs

(Name) slowly makes their way over there- making sure not to trip on whatever was on the floor- then stands there looking at the booth.

Their fingers ghost over the tabletop and brushes off some of the rumble.

“The diner had really good milkshakes. Sucks to see it go,”

They turn back around and immediately stop in their tracks for the surprise behind them.

He'd give up all his comforts

And sleep out in the rain

If she said that's the way

It ought to be

Their eyes widens and their breath catches in their throat. Their hands reach behind them to grip the table to keep their balance.

It can’t be… It’s impossible! It… was impossible.

(Name)’s eyes taken in the scene, trying to make sense of it all, but their mind simply stopped working.

“I… I thought-” They look away, “No, I saw it… I saw that video…” They blink a few times then look back at him, “You… This…”

Well, this man loves you, woman

I gave you everything I have

Tryin' to hold on to your heartless love

Baby, please don't treat me bad

Standing there before them was Jason Todd dressed in The Arkham Knight’s armor. He’s softly smiling back at them- the same smile (Name) thought they would only ever see in their memories.

He takes in a small breath then quietly says, “I’m here, Darling…” He steps closer to them slowly like he doesn’t want to spook them, “I’m here…” They repeat.

(Name) doesn’t move from their spot- too afraid that it’s all a mirage. Hesiently, they lower their headphones to around their neck, the music still playing loud enough to be heard in the diner still.

When a man loves a woman

Down deep in his soul

She can bring him such misery

They stepped closer to him and he did the same- matching their movements every step of the way.

Once the two were close enough, they pressed their hands against his cheeks and admired the pretty blue eyes they thought they lost forever, “Jason… I can’t believe this…” Their eyes drift down toward his armor then back up again to just take in everything about him, “I…” They hold back some tears that threaten to fall then start their sentence again, “I thought I lost you…” They whisper.

Jason shakes his head and leans into their touch, “I did too…” He whispers back. His arms snakes around their waist and holds them close, “But I never stopped thinking about you… The only good thing in my life…”

Tears roll down the sides of their cheeks then they wrap their arms around his neck to embrace him, “God… I-” They didn’t know what to say, but they feel like he already knows what’s on their mind- just like he did before.

She can bring him such misery

If she is playin' him for a fool

He's the last one to know

Lovin' eyes can never see

They stand there together in a warm, tight embrace. The two are afraid to let go in case the other one disappears.

This… This is something they always dreamed that would happen, and he was dreaming it along with them.

Jason gently sways them from side-to-side. The tears in his eyes wanting to spill, but he focuses on their tears first.

(Name) quietly repeats his name over and over under their breath like some prayer. They somehow manage to hug him even tighter.

When a man loves a woman

He can do her no wrong

He can never want

Some other girl

They both pull back a little to gaze into each other’s eyes. Both happy to be with one another again- even if they’re on opposite sides.

Jason takes in the sight of their face so close to his, feeling their warm breath against his face is one of the best feelings in the world to him. He takes a deep breath in then whispers, “God… I just want to kiss you again. Feel your lips against mine and never ever forget it,” He leans closer to them; their lips nearly brush against each other, “Please… Please let me kiss you again, (Name)...”

How can they say no to that?

(Name) softly smirks and whispers, “I like it when you beg… It makes me feel powerful…” They whisper.

Jason softly chuckles then presses his lips against theirs for a long awaited sweet kiss.

Yes, When a man loves a woman

I know exactly how he feels

'Cause baby, baby, you're my world

When a man loves a woman...

~Taglist~ [I seriously have no idea if this works. I've never done this before]

@akkahelenaa @demonsvessel @rae-akarui @samiltonwk

[anonymousrabbit420]

Good news! Chapter 2 of the Arkham Knight fanfic is almost done! Hooray! Just have to finish a few scenes then it'll be set out your way. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and giving their love to the fanfic. Honestly, I didn't expect that to happen at all.

[anonymousrabbit420]

[anonymousrabbit420]

How do people feel about The Arkham Knight saying "Please" to the reader for something he desperately wants?

[anonymousrabbit420]

Because I have the power to do so, I want to change up the Arkham Knight fight when I eventually get there. The fight we get in game is... Okay, not the best, but just okay. I saw this comment on a video and I just knew it would be a lot better if Rocksteady did something similar to this.

Let me know your thoughts!

[anonymousrabbit420]

blah blah blah jason writing fanfiction where he ships Robin x (Your Hero Name), and Tim patiently waits for an update to said fic even though it's been literal years blah blah blah

[anonymousrabbit420]

Masterlist of all my writings so far

Loverbird Series

The Sidekick's Sidekick

The Iceberg Lounge

Detective Work & Chill

Arkham Knight fanfic

Prequel

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Bonus Drabble

One-Shots

Jason Todd Torture scene rewrites

Third Wheel Dreams

Blackbird

[anonymousrabbit420]

helloo, mind if i join your taglist? i lovee your Arkham Knight fic and i would love to see more uptade about it. ty!

You got it! And thank you for loving the fic! <3 It's always amazing to hear from people about their opinions on my writing.

[anonymousrabbit420]

Arkham Knight Prequel

Obviously, this takes place before the AK fanfic.

Reader is written in a way where gender isn't specified.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Bonus Drabble

~Insert Boarder Here~

Video One Playing…

(Name) sits down in a chair in front of a camera with a nervous expression on their face; the mask they usually wear for everyone to see is gone. They’ve never done anything like this, talking about their feelings, but there is always the first for everything.

Taking a deep breath, (Name) starts talking, “I was told making a video of my grief can help in some way…” They lean back in their chair and quietly mumble something under their breath that the camera couldn’t pick up. Their eyes can’t quite meet the camera as they talk, “It’s been…” Their eyes glance away to what seems to be a computer screen, “... a year now since Jason has been gone,” (Name)’s eyes lands on the camera for a split second then down at their lap like it was the most interesting thing in the world at the moment, “I started being a vigilante to find him after he went missing, but…” Tears well up in their eyes but they hold it back and continue talking, “...but when that video was sent to Bru- Batman, I…” How were they supposed to explain how they felt at that moment? Sad? Hopeless? Empty? No, they felt something, but there is no actual word to describe what they felt.

(Name) clears their throat and decides to move on, “I spent weeks in this sort of haze, like I was just a ghost walking through my own life. Nothing was right, but it also wasn’t wrong… It was just…” A quiet deep breath then they shrug their shoulders, “... It was something…”

Leaning their head back on the chair to stare up at the ceiling, “I remember the day I first met Jason,” A small soft smile growing on their lips as they recount the memory, “I was walking back home late- I know, dumb decision on my part- but I got caught up hanging out at my friend’s house,” They quietly scoff and sit up to stare into the camera, “I should’ve stayed there, but I didn’t have anything I need for bed so off I go back home…”

~[Flashback]~

It was raining in Gotham, like usual, and the streets seemed to be emptier than normal. (Name) hugs themself even tighter and tugs the hood over their face even more to keep the rain from getting them wet, “This is totally fine…” They grumble under their breath in frustration, “Just walk home and hope you don’t get mugged because your family lives in one of the worst cities in North America…” They glance over their shoulders twice to make sure no one was following them; there was always a feeling of someone watching in the shadows.

It was only just last week when they had a run-in with Two-Face where they were taken as a hostage when Robin snuck in to cut the ropes binding them to a pole while Batman dealt with Two-Face. It was that situation to really keep them on their toes and constantly looking around.

Rustling comes from a nearby alley and (Name) pauses midstep to listen in on whatever potential danger lies within the shadows.

Taking a few steps to the opening of the alley, (Name) peeks around the corner to see Robin seething in anger and mumbling to himself. A strange sight to see from the last time they saw him up close.

“He treats me like some charity case… A damn lap dog!” Robin rips off his mask then throws it on the ground to reveal his full face.

(Name) couldn’t help the small gasp slipping past their lips, which catches the attention of Robin.

He whips his head in their direction before they can hide, then he quickly picks up his mask and puts it back on, “What are you doing here!?”

Well, no point in lying and hiding now. They hesitantly walk out into the dim alley, “I didn’t mean to…” They rub the back of their neck nervously, “I was just walking home then I heard you- I’m so sorry, Robin,” This is seriously a bad thing to do to one of the vigilantes in Gotham.

Robin rums his hands through his hair in frustration from the situation, “I can’t believe that just happened…” His eyes met theirs then he added, “You’re one of the hostages from that Two-Face attack last week.”

(Name) nods their head, “Yeah… Thanks for that,” They hug their body a little more, “I should be going home”

“I’ll walk you home,” Robin walks closer to them, “You should know it’s not safe to walk around here at night,” He stops at the entrance and looks back on them, “I think it would be best if I keep an eye on you for a while to make sure you don’t spill the beans about seeing my face.”

~[End]~

(Name) adjusts the jacket their wearing, “He kept his word, I saw him every once in the while at night,” They shift in their seat as the cross one leg over the other, “It was both comforting and unnerving at the same time,” They quietly laugh from the amount of times of having a mini heart attack when he would just appear out of nowhere in the corner of their eye.

“I use to try my best to keep up with the every news about Robin,” They scratch their cheek and mutters, “I can’t really explain why I did, I just did,” Without much conscious thought, their fingers pulls at the loose thread on their shirt, “I guess I wanted to know more about him.”

The sound of the distant waterfall in the Batcave was heard on the camera as (Name) looks off and quietly thinks about what to say next. There was a lot to say about Jason, but what to say next?

After a couple more seconds of silence, (Name) speaks up again without looking at the camera, “When I officially met him as Jason Todd, it was on a random Tuesday and I was at the bookstore with my dad…”

~[Flashback]~

Walking through the romance section of the bookstore, trying to find something interesting and new, but that was a bit of a challenge when nothing seemed to catch their eye.

“Are all romance books the same? There’s some interesting stories but this book store has pretty much the same story copy and pasted,” They take out two books and look over at the backs.

Same story- the female lead moves back into a small town because her job fired her and there she gets into one disagreement with the male lead and now she hates his guts. Something, something, something happens and the two fall in love- different setting- one book is set in the 90s in Wisconsin and the other is set in the 2010s in Louisiana.

(Name) places the books back on the shelf then continues down the row of books, looking for something to pop out at them, when they spot a familiar person.

There, right there, is Robin dressed in a red hoodie, blue jeans, and sneakers and reading the inside of a mystery book.

Should they go up to him and say hi? Would that be a breach in privacy? Why are they overthinking all this?

Robin looks up from his book then glances around his surroundings until his eyes land on them. He looks a bit surprised to see them, but he pushes it aside and walks over to them, “I didn’t think I would see you here,” His eyes looked over the section they were just in and made a small comment under his breath, “You’re a fan of the romance genre?”

(Name) nods their head in confirmation, “Yeah, I like the genre,” They pick out a random romance book then looks it over, “But none of them are that interesting; it’s basically all the same.”

He shrugs his shoulders and quietly sighs, “Yeah… I understand what you mean…” He reaches out and takes the book out of their hands, “I read this one before and it ends exactly how you think it would,” He slides the book back into place on the shelf, “Trust me, you’ll lose interest in the main couple pretty fast because of the constant use of the miscommunication trope this book shoves down your throat.”

“Thanks for letting me know…” Their voice trails off as they wait for him to tell them his name.

Robin picks up on this immediately, he crosses his arms and tilts his head almost mockingly, “You think I’ll tell you my real name, (Name)?” He smiles at them, and god his smile is so pretty.

Playing along with the playful mood, (Name) waves him off, “You caught me. I just wanted to know your name so I can stalk you online,” Which is something they definitely didn’t do before.

He seems to know what they already do with the information of him being Robin, but he decides against commenting on it.

From over Robin’s shoulder, (Name) sees their dad standing nearby waiting for them. They know it’s time for them to go. They meet Robin’s gaze then say, “I have to get going,” A small soft smile creeps up on their lips as they wave, “It’s cool to finally actually meet you.”

They walk around him, but before they can get far, he grabs their elbow and quietly whispers in their ear, “The name’s Jason. Jason Todd.”

~[End]~

“After that day, I spent a lot more time with Jason,” Their fingers gently twist and pull on each other while they look away from the camera, “We did a lot together… Experience a lot together,” They take a deep breath to calm down before they start to cry.

Something off camera catches (Name)’s attention and they stand up immediately. Batman’s voice is heard on camera, “Joker’s in City Hall and is holding the Mayor hostage.”

(Name) looks back at the camera, “Well, grief video over,” They move closer then pick up the camera, “First time going against Joker, and I want to see him get put down for what he did to Jason,” They sound determined to take Joker down before the camera cuts out.

Video One End…

Video Twenty-Two Playing…

(Name) sits down on a chair in front of the camera while tugging on their collar, “I don’t usually wear suits, but I have an important thing to do after this,” They tug their sleeves down a little, “Bruce is starting a campaign to close Arkham City and I’m going as support,” They cross their arms and lean back in their seat, “I fully agree with Bruce on this decision; Arkham City combines both Arkham Asylum- which, by the way, the last time I was there, Joker took over the entire facility,” They scratch the back of the neck and take a deep breath as they recount the events in their mind, “That was… That was a long night…” They quietly drum their lap with their hands before continuing to speak, “Anyway, Arkham City takes every inmate from Arkham Asylum and Blackgate and puts them in a closed off section of Gotham for them to do…” They shrug their shoulders, “To do whatever- I don’t know…”

Silence fills the video besides the sounds of waterfall and occasional bats flying around. What should they talk about next? It feels like every time they make a new grief video, or whatever they’re calling it, they never know what to talk about; so they just say what they always say.

“It’s been about two and a half years since Jason’s been gone,” Their eyes drift down toward their lap, "Unfortunately… The damn clown is still alive,” Once again their gaze locks on the camera, “Honestly, after Joker used Titan on himself, I thought he would have a heart attack and die like some of the others, but that’s asking for too much,” They grumble quietly under their breath.

Their fingers fidget with the button on their suit jacket as they think about what memory to talk about. There are so many happy memories they can talk about, but what to say next?

Their eyes light up when the perfect story comes to mind, “One of my favorite memories of Jason is the day he asked me out,” They quietly chuckle as they recall the moment, “He was so nervous and so adorable…”

~[Flashback]~

Jason invited them out to hang. They went to the bookstore where they first met officially, to a nearby cafe for lunch, then finally taking a walk through Robinson park with the sun setting behind the trees in the background.

The two walk side by side, their hands brushing against each other more times to be an accident, but neither pulls away from each other.

From the corner of their eye, they notice Jason keeps nervously glancing over at them from time to time like he wants to say something but he can’t bring himself to say it.

(Name) stops walking then pulls him to the side, “You’re making me nervous by the constant glancing at me,” They rest their arm against a tree and practically pinning him against it, “What’s going on?” They wipe their hand over their face, “Do I have something on my face?”

“No,” He gently grabs their hand to stop their movements, “You don’t,” His eyes dart down and away while his mind runs through different scenarios of what could possibly happen, “I… I just have something I want to ask you…” He runs his hand through his fluffy black hair nervously then mumbles under his breath about how difficult this is.

(Name) backs away from Jason to give him some space and crosses their arms, “Take your time, Jace,” Their eyes take in his body language, a skill they picked up from him.

He fidgets with the sleeve of his red jacket and his eyes can’t even meet theirs. Whatever it is he wants to say, it’s taking a bit of a toll on his mind.

After a couple more minutes of silence on both sides before Jason takes a deep breath, “I’m just going to come out and say it,” He forces himself to keep eye contact with them as he ask, “I like you a lot- like a lot, a lot,” He rubs the back of his neck nervously, “And what I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now is if you want to be with me…” His eyes drifted downward, “As a couple…?” His face is burning bright and he can’t bring himself to look them in the eyes.

(Name)’s mind couldn’t believe what he just asked them. He wanted to be with them- THEM- in a romantic relationship. They kinda just freeze up at this moment and they stutter and stumble over their words for a response.

Jason seemingly shrinks in on himself the longer it took (Name) to give him a proper answer. He was about to just quickly shut the whole conversation down and crawl into some hole to die when (Name) gets this burst of confidence by grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and pulling him in for a kiss.

Now, he was stunned silent by the suddenness of the kiss before he places his hands on their waist and kisses them back.

A few more seconds go by before the two pull apart. Jason has this big boyish grin on his face, “God… If I knew this was going to be the result of asking you out, I should’ve done this earlier.”

“Well, we have all the time to make it up,” (Name) offers with a smile of their own then kisses his cheek.

Jason lets out a satisfied sigh and murmurs, “I plan on taking advantage of the time…”

~[End]~

(Name)’s eyes stare at whatever was off camera, tears welling up in their eyes, “If only I knew what I do now, I would never have let him go…” They bring their hand up to wipe away the unshed tears from their eyes, “...But I can’t go back in time to change it now… He’s-”

The timer on their phones goes off, their eyes glance down at it then turns it off, “It’s time I head out for that… Uh… thing I have tonight,” They stand up from the chair then turn off the camera.

Video Twenty-Two End…

Video Thirty-Three Playing…

(Name) paces back and forth behind the chair with the hands tugging on the rabbit ears on their hood. They’re mumbling frantically under their breath about how Bruce can be so frustrating and annoying.

Eventually they sat down on the chair in front of the camera, “Bruce and I had this argument about-” The anger wells up inside them and they kick a nearby chair away, “Why can’t he just admit it!?” They look around for something before picking up a batarang and throwing it somewhere off camera, “I was there! I saw that look in his eyes! He can’t deny it!” They lean their head back against the back of the chair; their mood seems to be calmer, “Bruce does this thing where…” They drag their hand down their face in annoyance, “...He does this thing where he clams up when talking about how he feels,” Their eyes drifts over to the camera as they continue speaking, “And if you keep pushing and prodding, he’ll eventually snap and push you away to avoid the conversation.”

They shrug their shoulders as they sit up, “I think it’s because he doesn’t want to be vulnerable around people, but he can be so annoying about it,” They cross their arms and look away while muttering something under their breath the camera couldn’t pick up.

“Jason wasn’t like that… He opened up to me about a lot of things going through his mind…”

~[Flashback]~

The young couple lies in the grass of Wayne Manor, cuddling together and watching the stars. They’ve been going out for about six months now, and what a fun time it’s been.

Jason pulls (Name) closer and leans his head on top of theirs. He takes a quiet deep breath, just taking in the moment with his significant other, “You know…” His eyes drift down toward them, “Moments like this are my absolute favorite,” He looks up toward the stars again, “I thought I was filling in some role for Bruce after his parents died, but…” His voice trails off as his mind recounts everything he’s been through with his mentor, “...He wasn’t looking for a son, just an assistant; someone just do as I was told.”

(Name) lifts their head off his chest to look him in the eyes, “That’s awful he’s treating you like that, Jason,” They slowly lower their head back onto his chest, “If these moments of just the two of us are the only thing you look forward to in your day then I’m happy to give you something.”

He smiles and nods his head, “Thank you… I honestly can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” His hand slides into his pocket and he hesitates with whatever is inside, “I don’t know if this is fast for you, but I want you to know how I feel about us…”

“Jason,” They look up at him in confusion, “What are you talking-”

They cut themself off when he pulls out a ring from his jacket pocket and shows it to them, “This is relationship is the best thing that’s happened to me in all my life, and I want you to know that I’m committed to us,” He gently takes their hand in his then carefully places the promise ring on the palm of their hand like somehow the ring will shatter if too much force is used.

The feeling of the ring in their hand makes the moment feel so real, “Jason…” They quietly murmur under their breath. They slip the ring on their finger and admire it, “It’s beautiful…”

Jason smiles at them, happy to see them loving the promise ring, “I did a few odd jobs to make the money myself to buy it for you.”

Knowing he worked for the money himself instead of just taking some of the money from Bruce made the ring feel so special.

(Name) looks up at Jason then kisses him. Only the stars in the sky were there to witness a beautiful promise between the two…

~[End]~

(Name) covers their eyes with their hand to hide the tears rolling down their cheeks. Soon, they wipe their face of any tears left then look at the camera with puffy, red eyes, “Out of everyone in the world… he trusted me the most, and yet-” A quiet sob cuts their sentence off.

Taking a few moments to breathe in and out to calm down, (Name) eventually finishes their sentence, “...I feel like I let him down somehow… I wish I somehow stopped him from going after Joker, but I knew that no matter what, he was still going to go…”

They couldn’t take it anymore then eventually got up and left. Soon, the camera cuts off.

Video Thirty-Three End…

~Taglist~ (I hope it works, was having a bit of a problem with it...)

@akkahelenaa @demonsvessel