zorroinarkham - Tumblr blog

[zorroinarkham]

During his first two years as a crime-fighter, he thinks he has a pretty good handle on what his life was going to be like, this never-ending battle with organized crime punctuated by encounters with gothic horror - but then all of a sudden the third year hits and now in the middle of getting rid of the remnants of the Falcone empire, he's wrangling mechanical dinosaurs and teaming up with Plastic Man, all roughly coinciding with Dick's arrival in his life.

[zorroinarkham]

@halfdent asked: " I'm trying , damn it , I'm trying with all I've got ; but it isn't that simple ! "

"Harvey...." Bruce pauses, considering his next words carefully. He doesn't want to give the wrong impression. Harvey's come a long way from when desperate Arkham personnel were taking shots in the dark, trying to ween him off the coin and onto tarot and I ching, thinking it might overcome his fixation on duality. Harvey Dent was actually back - not without his troubles, obviously, but a tremendous leap forward from trying to drown him on a sinking pirate ship.

In a sense, he can sympathize with living with the presence of an alter, the shadow looming over the shoulder, the multiple personae. Reading through his resources on psychology, as much as an attempt to know himself as his "rogues' gallery," inevitably lead to this conclusion. Whether created in that moment at trial, or - more likely - brought to the surface by it, Two-Face served some purpose for the holistic Harvey Dent. It was a process Bruce had even consciously chosen to undergo, to cultivate a defense mechanism personality when faced with extreme trauma. He wants to express the ways he deeply he understands.

But if he expressed the full extent that he could sympathize, that might give away too much to the hostile half. But he knows what he would want to hear, at least... and at least he can let him know he has all of Bruce Wayne - even if that still doesn't express the full extent of it. "I know, Harvey. But you don't have to do this alone. You know that I'm here to support you, however I can."

[zorroinarkham]

The Dark Knight stands at the ledge of the rooftop, looking down at the scene. The only cause for any hesitation was the seeming lack of concern that the rabbit seemed to show no cause for concern in the face of the obvious threat to his person. Muscles tensed to intervene as soon as the first goon reached for a pipe, only to relax as he witnesses a little blue mite deliver an absolute thrashing to the prospective assailant. It seems like their cherubic little guardian will be more than formidable enough to repeal her potential attackers, but just in case any manage to slip through....

Bolos fly out from a fire escape, wrapping around the ankle of the next prospective mugger to make the slightest potentially hostile move before yanking them upwards into the inky midnight black above. A single knifehand blow to the carotid sinus at the base of the thug's neck, placed with mathematical precision, and the would-be attacker quickly falls into unconsciousness, now dangling upside down just within line of sight as a warning to the others.

As if to punctuate the warning, there's a sound like the flap of massive wings and feet meeting the pavement. Dimly lit by the lights in the alley, the figure of the Bat looms indistinct and shadowy, form rippling like a phantasm in the slight breeze. A last warning to this superstitious and cowardly lot before they decide to take their chances with the devil they know and the devil they don't.

@zorroinarkham wanted a hare-raising mystery!

Cream could have never expected a simple missing pet would have led her down this winding of a path. A rabbit searching for a lost animal was comical, true, but that wasn't the part that was so confusing to her. She'd quickly deduced that this wasn't a simple case of pet sneaking out in the dead of night. No, this was a petnapper! A caper for the ages that led her from city to city, finding similar cases left and right! A strange trail that led her to a place a bundle of sunshine like her stuck out like a sore thumb in.

"Oh my, all I wanted to know was if you'd seen this kitten, mister." The teen asked, holding up the picture of one 'Ms. Whiskers'.

The rabbit seemed woefully unawares of the situation she had gotten herself into, as the group of what could only be surmised as a 'gaggle of goons' loomed over her. Clearly, by the looks of Cream, they seemed like an absolutely easy mark. Made all the clearer when one grabbed a nearby pipe-- only for the strange blue creature to whip out from under the large raincoat to deliver a harsh punch to their gut and followed it with an uppercut to jutting chin when they doubled over.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry, they get very protective, you see," he explained, as if still unawares this was a hostile situation. "I just want to know if you've seen Miss Whiskers and I'll get out of your hair."

[zorroinarkham]

My goal with all of his dialogue is that you should just as readily be able to imagine Kevin Conroy saying it as Adam West.

[zorroinarkham]

"I've been training to fight it my entire life." A brisk response. He's not thrilled to be collaborating with this woman, but the entity they're facing takes precedence at the moment. He's also not sure if she had any involvement in this decision, but someone with Japan's Public Safety Department has an interesting sense of humor calling him to deal with the Crime Devil.

Scelerophobia. Not a primal fear, owing to its roots in a socially constructed concept, but a potent one, continually feeding on sensationalism and second-hand accounts and intensified by an injection of celebrity counterculture encouraging grotesque acts which feeds this beast.

The Dark Knight flips through the dossier on the devil one last time, before depositing it on the desk in front of them. "The most obvious way to try and weaken this devil would have been a covert propaganda campaign - trying to undo the damage that's been caused over the last few decades. But it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?"

❝  it's  a  pretty  dangerous  devil…  you  think  you're  ready  for  it  ?  ❞

[zorroinarkham]

Bruce considers the possibilities for a moment, including the potential counter-argument that the Man of Steel's presence might get answers for them more quickly, before responding with an understanding nod.

"It's better if you hang back - I imagine you won't have any trouble keeping up with the conversation, or intervening in time if things turn ugly." He's gotten Cobblepot to talk before one-on-one, and there's a non-zero chance that their interests might be aligned in this case - there's no reason to make him think he's about to be tossed across the city by the World's Finest just yet. But having Superman as back-up means the Dark Knight would be safe walking straight into even the most over-the-top ambush the Penguin's goons could prepare for them.

A tap of the belt as the cowled vigilante begins making his ways over towards the Batmobile parked at the cemetery entrance, the top sliding open for him to make a smooth entrance into the driver's seat, that same intense look on his face as he continues turning the details of the case over again in his head, considering even the most off-the-wall possibilities: Metahuman treasure hunter privy to early Gotham history? Cobblepot ancestors dabbling with occult forces? White Martians aware of artifacts in the family's possession?

"Certain enough disrupt the dead for it..." Clark added, grimacing down at the invisibly disturbed graves with an obvious distaste for the act, hand propped beneath his chin as he tried to think what could be valuable enough to do such a thing for while ignoring the literal valuables the Cobblepots took to their graves.

Folded paperwork of some sort, like a will or bill of sale to one of their properties? Some password or a key? He doubted it was sentimental, or else the perpetrator would know exactly who to check...

Many questions still stormed in his head, but they weren't going to be answered here. That, and where to look next, were obvious.

"How do you wanna play that?" Clark asked, crossing his arms and looking away from the graves for now, hopefully not needing to ponder the resting dead again for a while. "Oswald is jumpy enough when you come knocking all by your lonesome. Not so sure how he'll react to Superman flying in to pay him a visit..."

Not that it couldn't still work out for them, if Cobblepot is feeling diplomatic, but it was certainly a bit of chaos to consider.

[zorroinarkham]

Mighto, the Woman of Adamantine (@dyavol) joins Batman in one of his strangest adventures yet!

The Caped Crusader was prepared for many things - in the opinion of some, too prepared for certain things - but what he was most certainly not prepared for was another encounter with a Rainbow Creature.

Correct that. Rainbow Creatures. He's caught between pair of them at the moment. Anomalous lifeforms, lifted directly out of the Black Casebook and multiplied beyond that initial unique instance - and what's more, apparently in the hands of common gangsters, far from its home in South America here at Gotham Harbor. He had chalked that original encounter up to the influence of psychotria viridis by this point, but the lines between reality and imagination were frequently blurred during a number of his cases.

Imagination. The Fifth Dimension, as he's heard it described before. It's a tenuous connection, but-

A flash of green and the dark knight is rendered two-dimensional, thin as paper, while a broad streak on one of the creatures turns stark white and the vigilante is blown to the side by a strong gust of wind. For now, he's at the mercy of the breeze until his third-dimensional shape naturally restores itself - and with any luck, his partner on this mission should be able to hold off the beasts long enough for that. "We need to get them to use all four of their powers, in rapid succession!"

[zorroinarkham]

Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne, a word if you please — what would you say is the number one problem with Gotham today?

"Well, you can't seem to find a good dry martini these days."

A soft chuckle and a smile. It wouldn't be the public-facing Bruce Wayne without that lightheartedness - but it's sufficiently in-character to give a more sincere answer. "But seriously? Like with a lot of cities, the problems facing Gotham are hard to isolate. It's difficult to talk about crime, for example, without taking other social ills into account. I guess what most of these issues have in common is that there's not enough compassion for the vulnerable."

[zorroinarkham]

"Well deduced." He nods with approval at the analysis of the situation. They were well past the days where the surface level answer was enough - and the suggestion that this puzzle did mean something really was stolen only seemed to vindicate that intention behind the message. Someone was playing a game with them, and no doubt they'd want to up the stakes to ensure they kept their attention.

"If something was taken and replaced, dust patterns should give that away." The dynamic duo have to move quickly, of course, given their limited window of time, but it's not long before an irregularity appears, a single slot in the Northern Renaissance section of storage where the barest hints of disturbance for one particular canvas case was immediately caught by the detective's eye. Looks like Tim had steered him right once again.

"Jan van Eyck's Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele - except it's mislabeled. Peale instead of Paele." For how meticulous everything else had been, it was hard not to interpret this as another intentional clue - not to mention the fact that only this single, specific painting was taken. They were already operating in the realm of double meanings - and at this point, he has to state what he knows they're both thinking at this point.

"This practically has Riddler's fingerprints all over it, but this also wouldn't be the first time someone parroted his modus operandi." The Creighton case was already springing to mind, and this particular caper had laid bare its motifs of imitation, false doubles, and misdirection from the start.

"I'll at least steer you a little closer to right than the kinda guy who won't let you pass until you solve his riddles three." He returned with a wide smile. They no doubt only had, what, 11 minutes and 17 seconds and counting to complete this leg of their investigation before the police got to the scene? Something told the junior detective that either this particular clue was going to go under the careful radar of their federally funded friends, one way or another, or was going to prove to become a red herring complication.

While they verified nothing was stolen, clearly there was at least one mark left behind, this riddle - surreptitiously looking for any others was the Boy Wonder's job, while simultaneously brainstorming with the lead detective on the meaning of these clues. Regardless of all these factors, there was, of course, always time to make light of the heavy weight that came with the capes they wore.

Not to let down his mentor's implicit vote of confidence, it was time to look back at the wall, really get a good look at the message, the way it was written, what it might have been written with, and show his math.

"First things first, the answer to the puzzle is 'Parrot' - at face value, that'd take us to the Aviary," as if Penguin or someone would broadcast like this for The Batman to find. "But there's no way it's not a double meaning here: 'To Parrot' means to imitate without understanding; first instinct is to say its like a taunt, that they did steal something, maybe even plenty, but just replaced them with knock-offs." And it wouldn't be too hard or even expensive to hire a few crooked scientists and artists to whip up some dupes. Archaeologists have done it on their own time before for the sake of a little fame. "Whoever it is sure wanted you to find this."

[zorroinarkham]

"No ordinary ape could have trailed us to the Batcave - but Mogo is super-intelligent!"

[zorroinarkham]

With that suspicion confirmed, and an unspoken sharing in the relief that his own family didn't seem to be involved, Bruce's eyes turn back to the name on the headstone again. Theodore Cobblepot. 19th century architect, steel magnate, and mayor. Played a prominent role in shaping the city's skyline. And now someone was rifling through his pockets, looking for something small enough to fit in there, something specific. A particular family heirloom? A key to some greater treasure?

"Then we're operating with a particular set of facts. A figure in white, capable of selective intangibility, was searching dead members of the Cobblepot family for something that can fit in a pocket. We can infer our culprit knows or believes what he's looking for was passed down through the family, but that they aren't certain when it would have been taken to the grave - just that it isn't in the possession of the living." He trusts that Clark has kept up, but speaking the words aloud gives him more time to mull over the facts. They at least knew that whoever they were looking for wasn't operating with a complete picture either, at least.

Bruce turns from the grave plot, turning his eyes towards the entrance of the old cemetery. They still need to follow up on the how aspect of this particular crime, but this was a much stronger lead than they came in with. "Regardless of whether Penguin is involved or ignorant, we're going to have to visit the Iceberg Lounge if we want any answers."

Craddock was the first one to come to Clark's mind as well, the Gentleman Ghost having been a thorn in his own backside on numerous occasions... but, it didn't make sense. He wasn't some common thief, least of all for petty treasures pillaged from graves. Motivation couldn't have simply been monetary.

At Batman's sharp suggestion, though, the Kryptonian is quick to fly about the graveyard checking between the graves with his x-ray vision... sure enough, the graves weren't ransacked at random, the vast majority of the caskets' inhabitants were left untouched.

Many of Gotham's big names were completely untouched, Falcone, Sionis... and, much to his internal relief, the Waynes. All restful.

As he refocused his efforts on where he could see disturbances amongst the dead, the pattern very quickly made itself clear to him as he looked to the names attached to the tombs & graves.

"It's... it's just the Cobblepots." He announced in surprise, looking across the prolific clan and, sure enough, seeing their various pockets turned out and clearly rifled through. "He was looking for something that they took to their graves... and it wasn't their jewelry. They're still wearing everything that would fetch a good price."

Seemingly everything of monetary value, at least. He wasn't sure what they were looking for, or whether they'd even found it.

"Someone working for Oswald, you think? Or against him?"

Craddock didn't have any sore relations with Cobblepot that he could recall, but he could easily be working with someone who does. Or doing a favor for the man, instead... but, to what end?

Either way, they had a name attached to this now.

[zorroinarkham]

@dyavol asked: “When have I ever steered you wrong?” -Robin

Suspicious Sentence Starters

"Do you really want me to answer that?" A bit of light ribbing. There's even a flicker of a smile. The truth was, Tim had grown into the role of detective the fastest of all the Dark Knight's wards. A prodigy of a sleuth before he ever put on a mask. Easily qualified to take the lead on this particular case.

The ultraviolet flashlight steady in the Caped Crusader's hand, he narrows his eyes at the words scrawled on the wall. It certainly narrows down the primary suspects, but the purpose and reasoning for the well-hidden message in the storeroom of the Gotham Museum of Antiquities, discovered after a seemingly uneventful break-in, was a mystery for the moment.

Cloth'd in yellow, red, and green,  I prate before the King and Queen; Of neither house nor land possess'd,  By lords and knights I am caress'd.

Rather than making any of his own observations on the possible answers and their significance, Batman looks to his partner, keeping the light steady. "But if you've already reached the solution, I'm ready to hear it."

[zorroinarkham]

"Hm...." It's enough to make Bruce stroke his chin, gloved finger gently gliding over the barest beginnings of stubble as he looked down at the tombstone, taking note of the name and dates. The Man of Steel's superhuman senses made him a formidable detective in his own right, which was exactly why the Dark Knight called him in - and allowed the investigation to proceed without any further disturbances for the dead.

The Caped Crusader closes his eyes for a moment. Time to refresh and review. They're looking for someone dressed in white and able to access graves without leaving a trace. Leafing through the casebook in his head, a name immediately leaps out. Craddock? No stranger to Gotham, similar description, could have the means... but considering the deviation from his usual modus operandi, he could also be a red herring....

Batman looks up at the Kryptonian, breaking from his musings. The sight of him in Gotham was always strange - like the way that you can see the Sun at midnight in the northernmost reaches of the Arctic. "I have a hunch, but I don't want to be hasty. We might be able to get a clearer picture if we approach this from another angle. We should consider which graves were targeted and try to find a pattern. It might point us towards our culprit."

@zorroinarkham said: "There's virtually no empirical proof."

Send Me Memes - Always Accepting!

"Could have told you that myself." Clark affirmed, looking over the scene of the supposed crime the two were investigating, looking about as if he'd catch something they'd both missed. "No DNA that isn't supposed to be here, no footprints, not even any dimensional disturbances- nothing I'm able to see. anyway."

Which, for Superman, was quite a statement to make, and more than affirmed Batman's own assessment of the scene.

"And yet, witnesses claim to have seen a figure dressed in white robbing the graves, even though there's not a shed of dirt here so much as disturbed." More 'disturbed' than Gotham Cemetery was by default, anyway... every inch of the gothic environment clashing with the Kryptonian's colorful form, him remaining floating over it.

Eyes fell onto a tomb, the subtle glow to his eyes signalling his use of X-Ray vision to investigate the inhabitants, and grimacing. "Unfortunately, they're right- these corpses have been disturbed recently. Tossed positions, brittle breaks, emptied pockets..."

All done without any evidence of the graves themselves being disturbed at all. This one was certainly a head-scratcher.

[zorroinarkham]

Something that's important about Batman in his capacity as a detective, to me, is that he's not a strict positivist: he will just as readily incorporate symbols, augurs, and synchronicities into his analysis as more conventional evidence as use all of this, holistically, to construct his theories. The rational and the irrational are both in his toolkit, and he'll freely equip and dispose of frameworks as he finds them appropriate, without strong attachment to either a materialist or a mystic approach.

[zorroinarkham]

Reblog  this  post  to  let  your  followers  know  you're  fine  with  being  tagged  in  random  starters.  Additionally,  reblog  this  post  if  you're  all  right  with  being  sent  old memes,  no  matter  how long ago you reblogged them.

[zorroinarkham]

@pv55y asked: I’d rather be safe than sorry when it comes to people I don’t know yet.

Suspicious Sentence Starters

Magic. In its simplest form, it relies on sympathies... imitation. It's the reason so many shamans, across countless cultures, where the masks and costumes of animals. To capture their attributes and make them one's strength - but at the same time, allowing a possession to take place, surrendering something to the beast in exchange for this awesome power.

Yes, Father. I will become a Bat.

Somewhere along the line, something changed in Gotham. The old face of crime was peeled away, and a masked face was revealed underneath to match the Bat's own. Concealed by costumes and gimmicks - and yet, more honest than the old world of men in suits - the Carmine Falcones and the Max Shrecks of Gotham - pretending to be respectable while feasting on the city.

And what rough beast is this? Too pale to be in good health, but with movements fluid enough to suggest superhuman athleticism. Another shaman of Gotham, with something more to her than the obvious burglary pun that springs to mind. A kindred spirit. A gloved hand waits at the side of his belt like it's a Spaghetti Western, ready to produce a bola at a moment's notice.

"Funny. I was thinking the same thing."

[zorroinarkham]

Impressive. The Dark Knight silently observes the sprawling emerald map of universe-clusters, a multiverse of multiverses as if it was some kind of... omniverse. Certainly confirms his suspicions that the Dopentacontaverse theory championed by Professor Johns was too presumptuous. The vigilante's posture is more open by this point, having moved on completely from the coiled combat stance to something more relaxed as he continues to observe honest body language. He's noting the kind of strength of character he's only ever seen in a few young men his age. The kind that comes with years of experience and honed conviction. Far from a danger to the public or an irresponsible child, he's confident this is someone to be seen as a peer.

From one of the seemingly countless pockets on the vigilante's belt, a gloved hand produces an eggshell off-white business card emblazoned with a stylized JL and a series of digits longer than a typical phone number. "Your frankness is appreciated. I'm a member of an international organization that has acted as an emergency responder during multiversal crises. If you're acting as an interdimensional envoy, a line of communication between our worlds is in our best interest."

Behind the ghostly pale sockets of the mask that disguise where the caped crusader is looking, eyes move back to Ben's wrist. "...that watch is an impressive piece of technology. Unless I'm underestimating its capabilities, I'm guessing it's not mass produced."

Batman. A simpler title than most of the other 'superheroes' from his Earth, but maybe that comes with being the real deal as opposed to some celebrity just in it for the fame. More time spent on actual problem-solving than it was spent overthinking the brand.

"Oh yeah, I get it, no worries. Had plenty of similar experiences." Plumbers usually preferred that he stay incognito on these missions for that very reason, but unfortunately, Ben saw an injustice in process and couldn't help himself. Hero Time never waits.

It had worked out fine this time, though.

"Since I'm sure you want the details- I'm a traveler from across the multiverse... or, well, many multiversal branches, really. I'm from outside the sphere of this one- no Gotham or Batman in any of universes back in the universal cluster I'm from."

Wrist bearing the watch was held up, Ben visibly tapping at imperceptible buttons and bringing forth a green holographic display, showcasing a very simplified (and yet still complex) map of multiple multiverses, portrayed almost like galaxies in the light space.

"I'm map-making and gathering general historical & scientific data, but the device here does most of that automatically. I just have to take it where it needs to go." He said with a shrug, shutting off the display. "If I can, I also try to foster good relations between worlds where travelers like me wouldn't cause mass-panic."

Arms rested at his sides as he looked up at the man, doing his best to make that good impression. "I think that covered why I'm here. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them."