Chapter 16: A Shot in the Dark

So much blood.

On my hands, on my shirt, spilling out on the ground around me.

My head was spinning as my hands worked furiously in a feeble attempt to make it stop.

"Shit." I hissed through my teeth in a panic, I screamed through my clenched jaw, dragging myself along the ground for a moment before sitting up and leaning against one of the rock structures for support. I sat there for a moment before finally gathering enough sense to look it over, upon further inspection I found that the bullet had merely skimmed my skin, rather than penetrating it. Still, despite it simply only appearing to be a flesh wound, I was still losing blood, fast. I panted hotly, my brain rapidly trying to remember the right way to handle the situation. Step one...step one...step one: Breathe.

It took a few moments for me to calm my breathing to a steady enough pace to continue, I knew further panic would only make the matter worse. Step two: Apply pressure to the wound.

While bunching up the end of my cape I pressed it against the tender area, holding back my cries of anguish. I was only able to hold it for a moment before I leaned over and somewhat suddenly threw up on the ground next to me. I coughed, gagging for a moment before wiping my mouth with my free hand. Then I began shakily roaming the pouches of the belt for something that may had been of use to me. After a few moments of searching I finally found what looked to be a first aid pouch. I dug around hastily, pulling out a small spray bottle. Through my double vision I stared at the label, attempting to read what had been on it.

Apply directly to the wound.

Without being able to really consider what is had been or think any more on it, I slowly peeled the cloth away from the tender skin, the blood making it stick lightly therefore having it more painful to remove. It took a lot of strength for me not to throw up again as I sprayed the unknown substance on it generously. I winced, hissing for a moment while watching and waiting for the effects. The wound became coated in something that almost seemed to freeze it. Then, the pain stopped, and the skin around the wound turned numb.

"What the...?" My voice trailed off, getting lost in my deep breaths, it was almost as if the spray encased the wound. Without attempting to think much further on it, knowing I had already lost quite a bit of time, I pulled out the gauze and lifted up my shirt as I clumsily began wrapping up the gash with my trembling hands.

"Where does he get this stuff?" I mumbled to myself, attempting to keep a somewhat steady hand. After having wrapped everything up tightly, I simply sat there for a moment, drifting off in my own thoughts. I had just been shot. The sound rang through my head, causing me to instinctively grip my hair tightly as I began to convulse spastically.

No. Stop it. Don't think about that. Not now.

Slowly, I repressed the memory back where it came from, I steadily calmed myself down while releasing my lip that I had been biting hard enough to release blood that dribbled down my chin. Wiping it away, I gripped the wall next to me and one foot at a time, stood back up as I exhaled sharply. The Arkham jingle ran through my clogged ears as I fumbled for my glasses in one of the pockets on my belt.

"Things have gone quiet, is she dead? Did we get her!?" I looked up and scoffed while pulling them out and mumbling bitterly.

"Almost, Joker, almost." I put them on snugly and hit the button to trigger my detective mode, glancing up and around at the watchtowers to see exactly what caused my mishap. Snipers. There were snipers.

Well that explains it.

I had gotten so careless that I didn't even bother to look and take heed of Joker's taunt. How stupid of me. I was well aware I could die in Arkham, there was no restart for me. If I let my guard down again, I knew I wouldn't be so lucky. My mistake had nearly cost me my life.

Two snipers, one in each watchtower. I grappled up to the one nearest me and waited for the right moment to take him out, my eyes never leaving the other that had been surveying the area. After letting the first guy drop I made my way back down to the ground and headed over to the other, keeping under the cover of the darkness. I noted my movements were slower, so I had to be more cautious since speed had not been on my side for the time being.

However, it wasn't long before I was making my way into Arkham East. As I walked through the entrance I could see two EMS workers hanging by their feet, most likely dead. Poor guys. Sadly, at the rate I had been going at, and thanks to the Joker, dead bodies had almost stopped phasing me. Almost. There was still something about it that made me uneasy, and despite having seen them constantly, I don't think I would ever fully be accustomed to it. When I made it through the giant doors I was quick to hide back in the shadows, surveying the area as I saw two more guards posted up above. As I grappled up to take them out I heard the announcements click back on.

"I'm losing men like there's a plague in town! I guess the brat is back." Joker sighed, the defeat in his voice nearly impossible to miss, obviously upset and maybe even slightly annoyed that his surprises hadn't worked as he planned, though I would never tell him they were close.

"I've got a couple of men in the guard towers covering your movements. Step lightly, Ambsy, they're both loose canons with itchy trigger fingers and, well, you know, accidents do happen." I had already taken them both out by the time he had been done talking. Once done with them I headed to the two patrolling on a platform above the mansion. After, I had dropped down to the doors and pushed them open, walking through and immediately noticing two guards standing behind an electric fence.

"Well, look who it is, you seem shorter in person." One joked, crossing his arms as the other smirked while adjusting his gun over his shoulder.

"Think ya gonna get through here?" He asked, arching an eyebrow and pacing a bit, I locked eyes with him and stood up straight to show I wasn't intimidated.

"Think I won't find a way in?" I retorted, noting I had been slightly bitter. The one holding the gun chuckled, shaking his head.

"Good luck, cutie." I huffed lightly and turned, walking back out without saying another word. When I was just outside the front doors I stepped back and glanced up at the platform I had taken the snipers off of. Grappling up, I caught sight of the vent right above it and tore it off, crawling through. After passing through a few rooms I stepped through a door and out onto a platform that had been conveniently placed right above the two henchmen I had just seen.

"See the look on her face?" One joked mockingly while the other chuckled, nudging his partner.

"Yeah, we sent her running." I scoffed lightly and eyed the one with the gun, jumping down and landing on him, immediately knocking him out. The other stumbled back while putting his fists up to fight.

"What the hell?" He exclaimed, I smirked as I stood up straight and rolled my shoulders back.

"Sent me running, huh?" It didn't take long for him to take a few swings at me, I barely managed to dodge them as I felt the stinging pain through my stomach for a brief moment. I groaned, pausing for a moment as he threw a wild punch and I stumbled back. I managed to catch his fist on the second swing and uppercut him with my other hand. He landed on his back, unconscious as I unclenched my jaw and leaned against the wall to catch my breath, huffing violently. I mumbled a short slur of curses, trying to regain my stamina. I rubbed my glove, feeling the tender skin underneath and winced, knowing that even though they helped, I still didn't have the strength for all of the punches I was throwing and sooner or later I was going to break my knuckle. I came away from the wall slowly after about a minute and took in a deep breath, slowly making my way through. As I tried to open another locked door I groaned and grappled up, crouching through a vent. When I reached the end I stepped down onto another suspension. As I looked over the railing my eyes widened, there were about 10 of Joker's men below, searching frantically through stacks of papers and boxes.

"Joker here, with a little update for you all! First, the good news. We have Dr. Young. Bad news is, she's not talking. She's hidden a document somewhere in the mansion, I want it found!" The notes that had been missing from Dr. Young's formula, hidden somewhere in the mansion, and I had to find them first.

"I've got a plan or 6 to loosen her tongue, but in the meantime, search every kook and granny. There's a prize for whoever finds them." I had to hurry before Dr. Young had been hurt further, or worse. I scanned the henchmen below, counting them repeatedly in my head as if the number would magically change. I held the side of my stomach, pushing back the nausea. I had to get through them if I wanted to have any sort of chance of finding her notes.

"This isn't going to be fun..." I mumbled as I slowly stood to my feet while closing my eyes to focus.

Don't die, Amber. All you have to do is not die.

Finally, I opened my eyes and took a step over the edge, dropping down as my cape slowed the fall and swayed around me. I landed firmly on the ground and it took only a beat for one to notice me and alert the others.

"It's her! She's alive!" One ran towards me, wasting no time, fists swinging. He managed to hit me as I stumbled back while another came up from behind me, wrapping his arms around me in a tight hold. While I couldn't move a few thugs took some hits at me, I growled and kicked back to smack him right between the legs. He howled in pain and let go as I turned to him, swinging my leg and making direct contact with his face. I heard a crack as he fell back and rest of the men attempted to attack me at once.

It must had been the adrenaline and the fact that I didn't want to die that sharpened my instincts, I was amazed at how I managed to avoid each attack thrown at me. I leaned back and barely dodged underneath an arm as I took out my explosive gel. I was running out of energy and knew it, so that faster and bigger the attack, the better. I slid along the ground, smearing it along as I did and managed to create a circle around them. I pulled out my grapple and took off, detonating it while they had all been watching me, distracted. The remaining men knocked back from the blow, creating a circle of unconscious bodies. I landed back on the ground and placed both the gel and my grapple back in the belt, doing a double take to make sure I hadn't missed one. I held my side as I surveyed where to go next, I headed up the left staircase and pushed through. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw one of the Joker's men, one with a particularly itchy trigger finger. He had been aiming his gun at a doctor cowering in the corner and a security guard who had his hands behind his head.

"Just shut the hell up, we're in control, now where did she go!?" The man shouted, a tremble in his voice, I could see the gun shaking harshly in his hands as I cautiously took a few steps closer up behind him.

"I don't know!" The guard replied in the same tone, obviously trying to be honest with the man, yet making no progress to soothe him.

"Answer me!"

"I said I don't know, she could be anywhere." Feeling that he was going to pull the trigger at any moment, I took him out from behind, letting him squirm for a moment before dropping him to the floor. The two hostages perked up and looked at me somewhat oddly. Before I could say anything of comfort a strange noise that sounded like a dilapidated Joker laugh echoed through the room. I looked around curiously and finally down at the unconscious man, seeing that the collar around him had been beeping.

"What the-? What is that?" I looked to the guard in question while arching an eyebrow as he took in a deep breath, focusing his attention on the man as well, most likely relieved that he wasn't awake.

"It's the suicide collar, but it sounds weird." I shot him a quick glance of confusion.

"Huh?"

"They've got some other name, but, well we just use 'em to monitor patients' heartbeats. If it drops too low, the alarm goes off and a crash team rushes in." The whole idea still seemed a bit morbid to me, but at least it had made sense.

"And so does my crew if you trigger one." I jumped a bit, turning to the TV to see Joker staring at me through the screen, his look made my nerves tingle and my body tense. Why did he have to look at me like that?

"How do you like them apples, Ambsy? Standing around in the...hmm...lets see, ah! The west wing!" My heart skipped a beat as my breath hitched for a moment, he knew my exact location, all because of a collar. I glanced at it for a moment before focusing back on the screen.

"They'd be there now if they weren't busy knocking a little sense into Cash. I'll tell you what, I won't spoil the surprise and let them know you're coming, hm?"

"Oh how generous of you." I snapped sarcastically with a roll of my eyes, he chuckled in amusement.

"Only for you, sweets." With that, he cut off, I glanced at the screen curiously as I felt a familiar heat travel up the back of my neck.

"What the hell was that?" The security guard spoke up, I turned to him and shook my head a bit, shrugging.

"I have no idea." It had been the truth, the Joker had become increasingly more disturbing the more we had begun to speak to each other, I hadn't been sure why. He was playing with me, that had to be it, trying to confuse me so I would let my guard down, but I wouldn't let that happen. The Joker was treating me like a toy, one he would most likely be ready to break by the time the night was over. I huffed and walked past the guard, telling him and the doctor to stay where they were, seeing as it had been the safest spot for the moment. Joker had mentioned Cash being in trouble, the next step was to find him and help him, he would probably know where Dr. Young went. I chose to check the records room, figuring it would be the best area for the clown's men to look for her notes. As soon as I had opened the door I stopped, noticing the armed men patrolling the room, all waiting for me. I wasted no time grappling up to a gargoyle for safety, releasing the breath I had been holding as I looked to the middle of the room, only to see Cash tied to a chair.

"Damn." I mumbled, knowing it was a mistake to let Dr. Young come here with only Cash. I surveyed the room, six men, it seemed possible. I knew, however, that speed would be a key factor in this now that they had those collars on. In and out. I took in a deep breath and swung to another gargoyle, taking down the first one. After that my mind was in a blur, I could barely make out the men shouting to each other, or Joker on the intercom giving them hints as to where I had been. Before I knew it, they were all down and the room had gone quiet except for Cash's shouts for me to untie him and his comrade. I jumped down from the ledge, hurrying over to them as I used the blades on my gloves to cut them loose, Cash shooed the ropes away from his arms, standing up and turning to me.

"Well I'll be damned, look at you." I could see him observing my new attire, a ghost of a smile played on my lips as I adjusted my cape, subtly using it to cover my bandages as I stood up straight.

"Thanks for the save." He added on, gesturing to the knocked out henchmen scattered around the room, I followed his gaze for a moment before turning back to him.

"I'm not one for 'I told you so' buuuut…" I trailed off, spreading my arms out a bit, referring to the situation. He grunted, almost looking like he was ready to respond with something just as sarcastic, before he realized that we had more important things to worry about.

"Anyways, where's Dr. Young?" I asked him, focusing on the fact that I needed to find her in order to find the notes before Joker did.

"I told her to go to her office and hide when these guys came in looking for her." I scratched the back of my head in thought, the notes couldn't have been in a place as simple as her office, could they?

"She wouldn't keep all her stuff there, would she? Like, old files and records?" I questioned as I looked back up at him, he shook his head a bit and shrugged.

"Not sure, but she seemed pretty desperate to get in there. Her office is over there." He gestured to it, a door nearby the staircase.

"Great, how long ago did she head there?"

"20 minutes, maybe more. Why do you ask?"

"I don't really have time to explain, you just stay here, and try to stay out of trouble, huh?" I cursed at myself at the failed attempt of a joke, humor was rarely appropriate during this experience, unless it was a bad joke from Joker.

"Not a problem, I'll try the radio, see if anyone else is around." I nodded to him and the other guard as I headed over to the direction of Dr. Young's office, stepping over an unconscious body. When I pushed through the door, I heard the Arkham jingle echo off the walls.

"Here we go." I mumbled, bracing myself for what would come next.

"Going after the notes yourself, eh, Amber? Good luck. I've got a crew working over the Doctor as I speak. They'll squeeze the formula out of her soon enough." Somehow, I felt like he had been serious and not simply using an expression. As I made my way through the vents, he continued.

"Not to mention the army of clowns ripping this place apart. One way or another, the formula will be mine." I kicked open the vent and jumped down, there was no way in hell I would let that happen, the last thing I needed was some Titan crazed Joker.

"Why don't you just give up already? You must be exhausted, this is certainly no place for a little girl. Go on, roll over and die. Be your best friend!" I shuddered at both his tone and the thought of Joker being my friend. I crouched down, making my way through another vent quickly, hearing a few voices echo off in the next room.

"It's not gonna open!" One voice declared, I raised my eyebrow and continued forward, picking up the pace and preparing myself to see what the commotion was about.

"Hold on, I think I've got it!"

"You said that 10 minutes ago." I made my way out of the vent and dropped down into the room to see three thugs attempting to get into what I could only assume was Dr. Young's office. I was thankful Joker hadn't sent more men or else it would have been a tad more difficult.

"You can be the one to tell him, I'm not gonna." The thug holding the gun stated while another, who was banging his shoulder against the door, was quick to respond.

"It'll be open any second...damn it!" I punched the one holding the gun in the back of the head, he stumbled forward, dropping the gun as he rammed into the two others. Once they regained their footing they all turned to me, one threw a punch and I was quick to duck under it as I kicked him back and grabbed another's arm, cracking it into an unnatural position. While I had been distracted, the third thug picked up the discarded gun and hit me in the back, I groaned in pain, slamming into the window of the office and cracking it slightly. As soon as I turned back around to throw any kind of hit, the thug gripped my shoulders and practically lifted me up, throwing me forward. I yelped, colliding with the weakened glass and crashed right through, landing on the ground of Dr. Young's office. I groaned and shuffled back onto my feet, grabbing the first thing my hands could reach for. Just as the thug was about to step into the office and attack, I lifted up her desk chair and threw it at him. He yelled in pain as it hit him and he fell back on the ground, knocking out. I took in a deep breath, trying to register what had just happened before I glanced down at my shirt and picked the glass from it.

"Son of a bitch." I exclaimed, looking out through the hole I made in the window, I took in another deep breath and glanced around the room.

"Well, that's one way inside." I rubbed the back of my neck, a bit relieved no one had seen it happen, as my earpiece clicked on.

"Amber? I haven't heard anything from you, are you okay?" Upon hearing Oracle's voice thing I did was glance down at my stomach, there was no way I could have told her what happened. I bit my lip, wondering what the appropriate response was be before finally sighing, knowing I was going to regret lying to her.

"I'm fine, I made it into Dr. Young's office, but she's not here." I took a few steps over to the desk, observing the photo on it for a moment before scanning the rest of the room, my heart skipped a beat as I spotted the cracked open safe.

"Shit, someone got here before me." I hurried over and opened it to see nothing inside and cursed again, running a hand through my hair as I attempted to ignore the panic seeping through.

"Hold on, let me see if I can hack into her video feed." Oracle's voice seemed almost calming, which helped myself to relax as I turned to the computer, noticing it moving around on it's own. A video clicked on, showing Dr. Young entering her office and looking around frantically, I then watched carefully as she opened the safe and grabbed her papers, hurrying out of frame. I exhaled deeply and leaned the wall, slightly overwhelmed with relief. I waited there for a moment before clicking the button to get back in contact with Oracle.

"It was Dr. Young, thank goodness, now I just need to find out where she went."

"It's best you set up a crime scene using your glasses." I recalled back to when I had used the same tactic to follow Officer Boles' trail. Hoping it wouldn't end with similar results, I made my way over to the safe and scanned the hand prints that she had left. When it had finished calibrating, the room was shrouded in blue and showed where the doctor had left her mark. I smiled a bit, looking around for a moment before turning, only to be met with Roman Sionis' black mask mounted on the wall next to me. I jumped a bit, startled for a moment, holding my chest.

"Jesus...I hope he's not in here." I muttered to no one in particular as I pressed the button to my communication once more.

"Okay, that's set. Hopefully I'll find her or the notes, honestly, I'm hoping both but we'll see." It almost seemed pointless to have any hopes of finding both, but despite knowing that, I also knew I had to try to stay positive.

"I hope it works. Just so you know, Batman found one of Joker's bombs downtown. It was full of marzipan and kittens." I blinked, opening my mouth to say something, but I ended up hesitating for a moment.

"Kittens?" I finally questioned, and before I could evaluate any further on my confusion, I shook my head into focus. Suddenly, it clicked in my head what she had said. Batman found the bomb. Which meant he had been okay. Of course he had been okay, he was Batman.

"Wait, Batman, he's okay?" I perked up, after I had lost contact with him in the Batcave my worry and concern began to build gradually, so it had been extremely relieving to know that Oracle had finally managed to get ahold of him.

"Yes, he's fine. Don't worry, he'll probably be getting back in contact with you soon." I jumped back through the shattered hole of glass as I headed out, following the trail that my glasses made for me. Knowing that Batman had been safe was the encouragement I needed to continue.

"That's honestly great to hear. I'll keep you updated on the trail." With that, I cut off the communication and pushed through the door. Hopefully, if I found the notes and destroyed them before Joker could get his hands on them, I could work on finishing the hell of a night I had been having. The thought of even a slight chance of getting home fueled my fire to continue on.

The race was on to get that formula.

I took off into a run through the mansion, heading to my next challenge. Unaware, yet ready, for what was ahead.