Chapter Thirty-One: A Dark Knight, Part 1

"I can't believe Goodwitch jacked my bike," grumbled Sora, crossing his arms and pouting.

"I can't believe you're still talking about that six hours later," retorted Sun.

"But I just6 got the thing – it was a gift," whined Sora.

"Ugh, please tell me we're almost there," Sun groaned as he leaned forward to Penny in the pilot's seat.

"Thankfully, yes," answered Penny as the control console started beeping.

The Atlesian Android tapped a series of buttons and the image of their next destination appeared on the monitor. It was a large island in the middle of the rough sea with only a length of bridge connecting it to the mainland permanently trapped into a state of cloudless night under the eerie rays of the full moon. The dreary-looking isle was blooming with untamed wildness and cavernous mountains that had been abruptly cut out and replaced with many bleak, granite buildings (some of which were either crumbling or left unfinished). The Victorian-styled building and its neighboring greenhouse stood apart from the rest of the facilities as being older and more dilapidated, looking like many people had tried their best to keep it from falling into ruin, but failed miserably.

"Welcome to Arkham Asylum, everybody," said Penny, trying to sound upbeat despite the grim-looking world that awaited them.

"Another prison?" groaned Sun as he fell back in his seat. "Didn't we learn our lesson from the last one?"

"You guys have been to prison?" asked Velvet surprisingly.

"You weren't around at the time," Sora informed her. "Deadman Wonderland was the first world we ever traveled to as a group – and yes, it's just as morbid as it sounds. Luckily, we managed to get that horrible place shut down. I hope Ganta and Shiro as still okay after everything."

"I'm hoping we don't have a repeat of what happened last time," said Sun.

"Well, don't get your hopes us just yet, Sun," said Penny seriously. She tapped a few more buttons on the keyboard and proud up an image of a white-skinned clown in a dapper purple three-piece suit with outrageously green hair and bright red lips stretched into a wicked smile. "This is the Joker, the most dangerous homicidal maniac in this world's history and – according to Commander Yagami's intel – one of Zeref's allies in the Cabal."

"Besides that unsettling smile, what's so dangerous about a clown?" asked Velvet.

"Oh, if you even knew half the stuff this maniac has done, I can guarantee you wouldn't sleep for a week," said Penny confidently. "In the past ten years that he has been active, the Joker has become – single-handed, I might add – responsible for the deaths of over ten thousand lives regardless of age, gender, race, or religion. There seems to be no method to his madness; he kills indiscriminately, and that's what makes him so dangerous. Commander Yamagi's profile ranks him as a Class-S threat – that's just one rank below Zeref and several ranks about Torchwick and the others. We may very well be walking into a lion's den.

"And that's not the only reason we're here, is it?" asked Sun. "Didn't Commander Yagami say something about Weiss putting him in jail ten years ago."

"Uh…yeah, here it is," said Penny, scrolling through the report. "According to the Joker's personal testimony, he had encounter Team RWBY on various instances during Christmas ten years ago, but he was only arrested due to the combined efforts of Weiss Schnee and the local hero, Batman."

"So that'd be a good reason to find the Joker," said Velvet. "He might be able to tell us what happened to Team RWBY."

"With a guy that mentally unstable, it's doubtful," said Sun.

"Well, there's no point just standing around here talking about it," said Sun, leaning against the back of Penny's seat. "Take us down there, Penny."

The Atlesian android nodded in confirmation as she tilted the nose of the Gummi Ship down to the dark and dreary island.

ARKHAM ASYLUM

Penny had to be a little extra creative in hiding the Gummi Ship this time ("I'm not going to leave it for some lunatic to break the window and drive it into the lighthouse," she told them). They flew over the west side of the island and ducked drifted underneath the water near the docks where they conveniently found an underground cave system complete with a natural staircase that led above ground. They came out in a mostly barren area that was overflowing with weeds on the grounds, almost consuming the cracked asphalt roads, and ivy practically choking the surrounding buildings like no one had been here for a long time. There was a check-in station in the middle of the space with a guard tower overlooking it, both of them abandoned and left destitute. The lights were on in the three surrounding buildings (the medical facility, the penitentiary, and the visitor center), which meant someone had to be running the place.

"This place is really creepy," said Velvet, her ears lying flat on her head. "I think I'd rather take my chances with Deadman Wonderland."

"C'mon, we've taken on way scarier things than this place," said Sun confidently. Sora, Penny, and Velvet turned to him and looked down at his shaky knees. "Buy just in case, why don't you take the lead, Sora?"

'You're definitely not a lion Faunus, that's for sure," said Sora, rolling his eyes.

Sora was putting on a brave face (whether he wanted to assure his team or look cool in front of Velvet was debatable), but the spiky-haired boy did feel a little unnerved about the place. Just looking around brought back haunting memories of Yamatai and Silent Hill – two of the worst world's he had visited that still sent shivers down his spine. Their footsteps echoed loudly on the road leading across the way towards the medical facility, only adding to the sense of foreboding that was lurking in the back of everyone's minds. But it also brought to their attention something that seemed…very out of place.

"Where is everyone?" Penny voiced what everyone was thinking. "This being an asylum, you would think that there would be guardsmen and orderlies who would have seen and confronted us by now."

"Maybe they're all on a coffee break," suggested Sun.

"Let's be serious here, Sun," Velvet chastised him; Sun pouted. "No one would leave a prison for the criminally insane alone without a good reason. So where is everyone?"

Sora was also starting to wonder the same thing. It seemed rather impractical to leave facility packed with mentally unstable and potentially dangerous people unguarded. But as they started climbing the slope of the hill, Sora's eyes fell on the guard tower overlooking the area and suddenly realized that it might not have been as abandoned as he had believed. Thanks to Arkham Asylum's dark background, it had almost seemed invisible and the team would have never noticed if not for the bright-white mask that adorned its face.

The Grimm hung from the crossed metal ceiling of the guard tower with its black leathery wings folded over its black-furred body, its white, blade-like nails digging into the steel. Rows of bone-white protrusions traveled down its spine with similar growths traveling the length of its wings that ended in pointed talons and a ribcage over its chest. A pair of pointed ears topped the Grimm's head above its pointed red and white mask with its yellow eyes like a pair of headlight in the darkness and two large fangs over the ends of its lips. Around the neck of the Grimm was what looked to be a silver collar with a stylized "A" stamped into the metal (Sora didn't think the Grimm were fashionable.

Sora pointed to the Grimm and everyone got out their weapons. It didn't seem that the Grimm had noticed them, so they headed up the slope as quietly as possible (the Grimm's ears twitched every so often). But when they reached the top of the slope hill, they suddenly realized there were two more bat-like Grimm standing guard on either side of the visitor's center entrance. Team Sora backed away and looked to their left, also spying four more bat-like Grimm standing in front of the Penitentiary entrance. With one in the guard tower, two at the visitor's center, and four at the penitentiary, Sora started to sense a pattern and turned his head toward the medical facility where – yes, indeed – two more bat-like Grimm were standing guard at the entrance. It seemed like the entire island was infested with these strange Grimm, but there was something off about them. The Grimm could clearly see them, so –

"Why aren't they attacking?" asked Sun, lowering his gunchaku in confusion.

Penny cautiously approached one of the Grimm standing guard at the visitor's center until they were practically nose-to-nose; the Grimm still did not attack. She hummed thoughtfully for a moment and even waved her hand across the Grimm's face; once again, the Grimm did not move.

"Inconceivable," said Penny astonishingly. "Somehow, the people of this world have managed to…tame the Grimm. But…but that's impossible. It's illogical. They are just mindless, ravenous beasts that only exist to create discord and chaos!"

"Looks like we agree on that opinion."

Team Sora staggered backwards, snapping their heads towards the roof, and completely ignoring the maybe potential threat of the Grimm in front of them. Though he blended well in the background of the dreary night sky, they could barely make out the hulking figure of a man crouched on the edge of the visitor's center. The unknown watched stared at them for a moment, leapt forward, and threw out his arms as something dark stretched behind him in the form of wings, almost like a bat. The man glided in a circle around Team Sora then dropped down in front of them in a superhero type crouch before standing up straight.

Not only was the costumed stranger incredibly muscular (Sun suddenly felt subconscious about his six pack) but he was also incredible tall; almost twice the size as Sora and just as tall as Velvet with her ears standing up. The man had outfitted himself in a gray, rubber-like material with noticeable padding around the chest underneath the wide, black bat symbol in a similar way that his cowl was weaved with specialized padding for protection and had two extended ears to give him a bat-like appearance. His knee-high combat boots and plated gloves were made from a heavy plastic material that could definitely do damage if he decided to punch someone's teeth out (which he looked like he did often). The "wings" Sora's team saw earlier turned out to be a long black cape that connected to his cowl and golden, multi-pouch belt on his waist glimmered dimly in the florescent lights.

The giant bat-man walked by Sora and scowled in a way that made Sora feel chills run down his spine even though the gaze wasn't on him; the Grimm did not flinch.

"I never like the idea of Warden Sharp replacing the asylum's security with Grimm," said the bat-man. "There is always a present danger when you have monsters guarding the monsters."

"That's an interesting way of putting it," said Velvet as the costumed fighter turned on them. "Given the whole…bat ensemble, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say…you're Batman, right?"

"It is rather obvious," said Batman sarcastically. "And you're Sora, Sun Wukong, Penny Polendina, and Velvet Scarlatina. I've been expecting you for a while, though I thought you would have showed up a couple days earlier."

"Wow, you figured all that out in just one look," said Sun impressively. "You really are the world's greatest detective."

"Actually, I can't take all the credit," said Batman honestly. "I received an anonymous tip from an old friend of mine – one that I haven't seen in years – and she asked me to help you through Arkham Asylum. She told me that you were going to be going after the Joker, but you are sorely out of your depth if you think you can take on that psychopath on your own."

"Well, we're not shy about asking help," said Penny.

"It's true," said Sun, locking his hands behind his head. "Yeah, we almost always have help in every world we visit. There was Ganta and Shiro at Deadman Wonderland, Lara on Yamatai, Riot Force Six in Mid-Childa, and Squid Girl at Inkopolis. It's kinda like those RPG video games like the Last Dream series where you get a new companion everywhere you go."

"You're honestly comparing our lives to a video game," said Penny, rolling her eyes. "That's ridiculous. Who'd want to play a video game based on us?"

Sora unconsciously glanced at the readers; his time in the School Grounds was starting to get to him.

"If you're serious about going after the Joker, then I can't stop you," said Batman, cutting in to the group's conversation. "But you should know that the Joker has suddenly gone missing since I brought him to Arkham weeks ago, which means he could be anywhere in the asylum, assuming he's still in Arkham at all. We can discuss our next move in the Batcave and away from these…things," he added, shooting a sideways leer at the Grimm.

"Yeah, good point," Sora nodded in agreement, eyeing the Grimm wearily. "The soon I'm away from these Shriekers, the better."

"Shriekers," said Batman repeated thoughtfully. "Good name, kid."

Shooting one last mistrusting, Batman turned on his heel with a flick of his cape. Sora and the others pause for a moment, looking at each other in silent communication until Sora ultimately shrugged his shoulders and followed the Dark Knight; they could totally trust a dark, mysterious, and brooding vigilante that would likely punch their teeth out for even looking at him funny…right?

The Dark Knight led them through a series of interlocking electronic doors and a brief narrow hall before coming out in Arkham North (according to the overhead sign). It was much smaller than the section of the island they had just come from, but was more heavily fortified with double guard towers and guard stations, a large wrought iron guarding the bridge to the mainland, and dozens of security camera positioned to monitor every inch of the area. Behind them was the entrance to a building that looked like it had been constructed inside the mountain in the heart of Arkham Asylum and designed to resemble something like a church (possibly as a way of imply that the place would lead to salvation for those treated). Although Sora never heard of a church with a massive, reinforced door, above which was a metal sign saying "Intensive Treatment".

And as to be expected, the Shriekers were also scattered around the area on guard duty; two of them were standing on either side of the Intensive Treatment entrance, one to each guard tower, two guarding the gate, and at least three or four roaming the grounds. Sora felt anxious about having the Grimm roaming around the island freely, even though none of them really attacked while they wandered close enough. Batman ignored them entirely and walked them around the side of the Intensive Treatment Center toward a small, hidden space with only a rusty ladder leading to a small cave entrance above.

"How did the warden manage to tame insatiable monsters like the Grimm," Penny once again voiced everyone's thoughts. "I know years ago that the Atlesian military and the Schnee Dust Company attempted to experiment with the Grimm to study them, but we never considered the possibility that they could be controlled."

"It's not really controlling the Grimm as much as it is directing them," said Batman as he started climbing the ladder. "A psychiatrist named Hugo Strange has been experimenting with the Grimm for years ever since they first arrived in Gotham over ten years ago, attempt to understand how they operate. Though most of his experiments ended in failures, Hugo Strange made notable progress three years ago when he found out that certain types of Grimm like the Shriekers respond to specific sonic frequencies. Hugo strange outfitted one of the Shriekers with a collar that emits continuous sonic noise during his demonstration at city hall and showed everyone how easily he could manipulate the Grimm. Hugo Strange suggested that with the Shriekers up his control that they could essentially replace the police force and reduce the crime rate exponentially."

"But he didn't, did he?" asked Velvet worriedly as Team Sora followed him up.

"No," answered Batman, pulling the team up one-by-one. "A lot of influential people were very vocal about their opposition, especially Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne. When his plan to replace the police failed, Hugo Strange turned around and offered the Grimm to the warden, Quincy Sharp. He didn't hesitate to accept. Must have thought it would be easier to control and cheaper than having to pay staff."

"So what'd Strange get out of all of this?" asked Sun as the team followed Batman deeper into the cave. "A guy doesn't offer an entire platoon of remote controlled Grimm and not get anything out of it."

"All Strange asked for was unrestricted access to all the patients in Arkham, including those in extreme isolation," said Batman, scowling at the thought. "I don't know what Hugo Strange wants from them, but I understand well enough that it's not to help them. I've been keeping track and notice that a few of his patients seem to occasionally go missing – writes in his report that they mentally unwell and has them transferred to isolation. I don't like it."

"I get the feeling that you don't like anything," said Sora jokingly.

Batman neither admits nor denies it, which unnerves Sora.

Batman opens a vaulted door at the end of the tunnel and steps inside with Team Sora nipping at his cape. They come to a much more spacious cavern, but it definitely wasn't what they were hoping for. Besides the hundreds of cobwebs and the rising ivy the only thing in the cave was a small stack of bricks lined up in a square and a pyramid…made of human skulls. Sora and the others froze on the spot when they eyed the skulls and nervously glanced at Batman. The Dark Knight did not acknowledge their anxious looks and calmly walked over to an opening on the other end of the cave. The team cautiously followed behind, giving the pyramid of skulls of wide berth, and joined Batman at the cave exit, which opened up to a steep cliff overlooking a treacherous drop into the sea over a cluster of pointy rocks.

"Uh…don't know how to say this, Batman, but you're Batcave's…not that good." Said Sun, scratching the back of his head. Batman ignored him and took a step forward; his foot hovering over the cliff edge. Sun panicked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, take it easy there, pal! I didn't think you'd be so sensitive – "

And Batman stepped off the cliff; the team yelped and scrambled to the edge.

They watched the Dark Knight freefall towards the rocks at dangerous speeds until he threw out his cape, which suddenly turned stiff and became the wings that Sora had seen earlier. Batman's descent had slowed down dramatically as he turned his body ever-so slight, gliding in a full circle around the rocks, and headed for Cliffside. He released his cape and dropped steadily onto a small cave opening in the rock face that the others hadn't noticed; Sora and his friends released the collective breaths that they didn't realize they were holding.

The Dark Knight disappeared into the cave when Team Sora finally decided to chase after him. Sun and Velvet, using their natural Faunus agility and flexibility, hopped down the side of the cliff while Sora opted for the safer route by clinging to Penny while the android used her blade and strings as a grappling line. When all four members had safely made it to the cave opening, they found Batman staring at a dead-end while fiddling with something on his gloves.

"A little warning next time you decide to go batsh – before you decide to go crazy like that," said Sun, keeping in mind that there was a young, impressionable boy with them.

"If you want to survive Arkham, you need a little crazy," said Batman simply. Sora couldn't tell if he was serious or joking – Batman didn't look like the type to make jokes. "Computer, scan and open."

Sora looked around trying to see who he was talking to when a horizontal beam of light suddenly sprang out from the rocks, gliding downwards over the Dark Knight's body from his pointed ears to the tips of his boots. The light flickered off, a computerized voice sounded ("Identity confirmed. Disabling countermeasures. Security deactivated."), and the rock wall sprang back before sliding into the ground out of sight. Batman casually walked inside like magical rock doors opening were a common occurrence. Sora and the others followed him through a narrow corridor as the door automatically closed beneath them, walking through a handmade metal bridge that went through and underground waterfall and opened up to a very dark, cavernous space.

"On," said Batman sharply.

Hidden floodlights lining the ceiling clicked on, nearly blinding Sora and his friends due to the sudden brightness, and illuminated the Batcave. It wasn't as big or "tricked out" as Sun would call it like they thought it would be, but that was probably because this wasn't his main base of operations. It mostly just consisted of a few hanging steel platforms suspended over an abyss, a long terminal of computers on one of the platforms, a few crates and a workbench filled with gadgets and other things, and what looked like an experimental jet plane hanging from the ceiling with a tarp lazily thrown over it. Team Sora was in awe – Sun hopped along the wall for a better look at the plane, Penny found herself hovering over the work bench, and Velvet was not so subtle peeking inside the crates.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," said Sun approving as he hopped on the nose of the plane. "Sooo shiny…."

"Don't touch anything," Batman warned them as he walked to the computer with Sora in tow. "Not unless you have fifty million dollars' worth of military funding to replace it."

Sun instantly hopped off.

Batman took a seat at the computer, typing away at a bunch of files and numbers that Sora couldn't make head or tails of while the spiky-haired scythe wielder looked around. Penny was fiddling around with some of Batman's gadgets over at the workbench, unconsciously muttering loud enough for everyone to hear, and commenting how impressive the technology was despite not having the same advancements as Atlas. Velvet had pulled open some crates and found a load of costumes and gestured Sun to come over for him to model for her (Sun vehemently denied trying on the rainbow suit). Wityh everyone busy doing their own thing, none of them would notice when Sora leaned over Batman's shoulder and asked:

"That old friend you were talking about? It wasn't Yang Xiao-Long, by any chance, was it?"

"She never explicitly said so, but I could tell," answered Batman, keeping his eyes on the monitor. "I heard about what happened to Team RWBY – I know they've been missing for the last ten years, or at least everyone thinks they have. Xiao-Long came looking for my help five years aback looking for the rest of her team, but we didn't make much progress. Honestly, I worry about them."

"It almost sounds like you care about them," said Sora teasingly.

"I do," Batman replied with earnest, making Sora's brows fly up in surprise. "Ten years ago, I was…in a really bad place. Yang and I both were. But everyone – Ruby, Weiss, Blake – they helped us through it all, pulled us both out of the darkness and into the light. They helped me realize that I don't have to fight this battle on my own and I shouldn't be afraid to ask for help, which is exactly why when Xiao-Long asked me to help you, I couldn't turn her down."

"Wow, that's really cool," said Sora admirably. "So what did you do ten years – " Whatever question he was going to ask was lost when the Batcomputer monitors suddenly flicked and buzzed as a static screen clouded the terminal like a gray blizzard. Batman tapped away at the keyboard frantically. "What's going on?"

"Someone's hacking the Batcomputer," said Batman, who gave up on fixing the problem and slammed his fists on the desk. "The security override has been overwritten; I can't bypass the system. They've locked me out."

"Who's 'they'?" asked Sora.

As if someone was waiting to ask, the computer monitors stopped flickering and a new image was presented on the terminal. The screen opened up to a small enclosed room where the white paint was peeling off the paneling, the glass window in the background was cracked, and the cold, metal floor was riddled with dirt, grime, and something that looked suspiciously like blood. In the middle of the room was a lone, balding man wearing a nurse's uniform forced to kneel on the hard floor while his wrists were bound behind his back and his mouth was taped shut. The bound nurse was hanging his head in a defeat manner when a gloved hand suddenly grabbed the camera by the lens and flipped it around to the Joker's maniacally grinning visage.

"Hello, Batman, can you hear me?" the Joker called to the Dark Knight in a sing-song voice. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you are! You simply can't resist me…."

"Joker…," said Batman in a low, dangerous tone.

"So, how has your night been, Batsy?" said the Joker playfully. "Taking a lovely stroll around Arkham, no doubt obsessing over little old me – Ooh, I think I'm blushing, but don't tell Harley; she's the jealous type." He let out a short, but insane giggle. "Anywaaay, looks like you made some new friends, didn't you, Bats?" The monitor briefly shifted to a security image of Team Sora encountering Batman at the visitor's center before flipping back to the clown. "You always did have a think for strays, did you? Maybe you could bring him around for a bit and I could introduce him to Mr. Crowbar if you know what I mean?"

"You sick son of a…," growled Batman, gripping his fists tightly until his knuckles popped.

"Ooh, there are so many things I could say right now, but I know you're incredibly impatient," said the Joker with a menacing chuckle. "So why don't we skip the witty banter and go straight to the part where I tell you my evil, nefarious plan to destroy Gotham." He flipped the camera back around facing the bound orderly again as Joker walked in the shot and kneeled next to him, throwing his arm over the man's shoulder and causing him the panic. "And here to help me demonstrate is our lovely volunteer, Kevin. Say hello, Kevin." Of course, Kevin the orderly couldn't say anything because of the tape over his mouth. "Aw, he's just camera shy."

"What's he going to do to – ?" asked Sora.

"Hush!" Batman hissed, staring at the screen intensely.

The Joker reached inside his tailcoat and pulled out a customized gun that had been painted with a candy stripe to match his persona. The Clown Prince of Crime took a few paces back from the orderly until he disappeared behind the border of the screen and only the barrel of his weapon was visible. The Joker pulled the trigger and instead of a bullet like they were expecting, a syringe flew out of the barrel and stabbed the orderly in the shoulder, pumping an unknown green chemical in the man's bloodstream. The effects of the unknown chemical were immediate and doubtlessly painful as shown by the orderly's cringing expression and muffled screams.

The orderly dropped to the floor on his back and started convulsive as if he was having a seizure (the Joker could barely be heard laughing in the corner). The man flopped around and kicked his legs in the air for a minute before flipping over on his stomach and – in an unexpected show of strength – snapped the ropes binding his wrists like they were made of string. The orderly pushed himself to his knees when his shoulder suddenly bulged exponentially, tearing his shirt apart, and the rest of his arm grew in similar mass. Thick veins started to appear on his skin as the mutation travelled down the right side of his body and part of his face, making his muscles expand while the rest of his body looked like a shriveled mess. The tape on the orderly's mouth was ripped off as the abomination bellowed a monstrous roar that shook the camera (and the Joker was still laughing on the side).

But when the veins traveled upwards and the upper right portion of his head bulged out, there was an audible crack over the screen and the orderly's eyes disappeared inside his skull. The mutated mess of the orderly flopped on its back, unmoving.

"Well, that was unexpected, wasn't it?" Joker giggled as he traveled back on screen. "Hmm, maybe I should have used a little less red. Oh well! It's only a matter of time before I figure out the right formula and have an army of monsters at my fingertips! Ooh, I just can't wait! It's going to be glorious! Unless you try to stop me, Batman!" He pointed at the camera. Then he whipped out a small triggering device from his pocket and pushed the button. "And to make things a little more interesting, here's a bit of civil unrest I cooked up just for you. Toodles!"

The monitors flickered and returned to their original screens; leaving Sora befuddled and somewhat worried while the Dark Knight's facial expression was as rigid as ever. The scythe wielder turned on Batman and opened his mouth to ask what precisely just happened when they heard a muffled, but nonetheless loud boom coming from the ceiling, making everyone turning their heads up. Everyone paused for a moment…and then heard the same sound again, only farther away. Batman grimaced and returned his attention to the Batcomputer as his fingers glided across the keyboard with practiced precision.

The Batcomputer brought up multiple windows with video images displaying various points around Arkham Asylum; Batman had hacked into the Arkham security network. Batman clicked on the window in the upper right corner and brought up the camera feed overlooking the grounds in Arkham North. The rounds was in chao as multiple fires broke out across the front lawn, windows and doors of the guard stations were broken down, and one of the massive guard towers had been tipped over and crushed the front gate, which was probably the noise the heard a moment ago. And flying back and forth across the grounds, shrieking so loudly that the camera lens cracked, were the Shriekers that appeared to be no longer under control. After seeing the Shriekers were the ones responsible for the destruction, Batman pulled up the other windows to confirm his suspicion that this wasn't an isolated incident.

"The Grimm are attacking Arkham Asylum!" shouted Batman.

"I thought you said those things were tamed," said Sora surprisingly.

"The Joker must have hacked into the collar's transmissions and altered the frequencies," said Batman knowingly. "I can't do anything about remotely accessing the broadcast from the Batcave and it's unlikely that the Joker would have central control terminal in the Arkham Mansion alone – he wants to create as much chaos as possible to distract me while he completes his mutagen. The only way we can safely shut restore rder is by stealing controller from Joker."

"But he could be anywhere on the island," said Sora exasperatedly.

"He wasn't trying to hide, Sora," said Batman. But while the Dark Knight wasn't looking, Velvet hissed to get Sora's attention and gestured him to come over. Sora shrugged and went to meet his teammate, leaving Batman talking to himself. "While others would have been distracted by the unpleasant transformation, Joker knows I would have been searching the background attempting to identify his location. That's why he positioned himself so that I would see the Intensive Treatment sign through the window. He wants me to come looking for him. Guess I shouldn't disappoint."

He stood up from his chair and walked over to the workbench where an array of tools and gadgets were sitting that look only recently built. One by one, he started pocketing some of the items: throwing blades shape like bats, a mechanized gun with a grappling claw, an injector-looking device, a handful of smoke bombs, and a handheld computer.

"Joker will have set up guards around the front of the building," said Batman as he finished loading his belt. "We'll have to go through the Batcave's underground network to access the sewer system beneath the Intensive Treatment Center. Joker will be expecting us, so you need to be on your guard, Sora."

"Don't call me Sora!" the spiky-haired boy shouted dramatically.

The Dark Knight turned around slowly as Sora flipped in the middle of the platform. Having discarded his usual attire, Sora stood proudly with his fists on his hips wearing a light-weight, but heavily padded combat armor colored in red, greens, and yellows with a stylized "R" symbol on the left side of his chest. He had donned a pair of padded gauntlets and steel-toed combat boots with a hooded cape made from reinforced fibers for protection and a domino mask over his eyes (which seemed kind of pointless considering he was the only person to have hair that pointy).

"I am Robin, the Boy Wonder!" Sora announced proudly.

Sun dropped in next to him, also dressed differently than how he usually would. He wore an armored black bodysuit that greatly clashed with his brightly-colored hair with a midnight-blue "V"-shaped plating across his chest and a domino-shaped cowl over his eyes.

"And I'm Nightwing, the devilishly handsome acrobat with amazing abs!" declared Sun.

Velvet was the next one to jump into view on the opposite side of Sora, unsurprisingly wearing her own superhero costume. Her uniform was much more traditional and lacked the heavy reinforcements like Sora and Sun, but it worked out for the best because the weight would only hinder her movements. She wore red chest armor and black spandex pants that hugged her hips (not that Sora was staring or anything) with a bird emblem strapped in middle. Her face was almost completely covered by the black cowl that stretched into a flowing black cape, but Velvet had cut out some holes to give her ears some breathing room.

"I am Red Robin, the level-headed and technically brilliant crime fighter!" said Velvet.

And the last one to join them was Penny, who marched menacingly to Velvet' opposite side instead of swooping in like the others. Unlike the others, Penny's costume was heavily militarized complimented by combat fatigues and a bulky white-armored battle suit with a red bat emblem on the chest underneath a padded jacket. Decked out in steel-knuckled gloves and heavy combat boots, she had also strapped two of her swords in Gun Mode to her thighs and no doubt kept the rest underneath her coat. He face was completely concealed by a red armored helmet underneath her red hood.

"And I am the Red Hood, the gun trotting vigilante that takes no prisoners," Penny spoke in a menacing tone.

Together, the costumed members of Team Sora struck poses….Batman stared at the for a long minute…then pulled out a recording device from his utility belt.

"Note to self: clean out the Batcave," said Batman.

Batman led them through the complicated cave system underneath the island before they reached the concealed entryway into Arkham Asylum's underground sewers. They had cross a constant flow of sewage and a labyrinth of half-built constructs all while keeping an eye out few sewer crocodiles (which Batman admitted was actually one of the Arkham purposely kept away from the other prisoners for obvious reasons). Once they crossed over the reinforced, vaulted door into the actually Intensive Treatment Center itself, Batman ripped open a grate on the wall with his bare hands (which was super awesome) and together the team climbed the complicated maze of ventilation shafts to the top floor.

"This is so cool," said Sora as they turned left into another shaft. "I feel like a ninja."

"Oh, believe me, I've met real ninjas before," said Sun, practically bragging. "There was one time on Menagerie – "

"The whole point of sneaking in is to make sure no one hears us," said Batman. He didn't snap at them, but his point came across clear enough that Sora and Sun shut their mouths. "Joker was broadcasting from the lobby up ahead. It's highly unlikely that he would still be there and the Joker knows I wouldn't come unless I had a reason to, so there's a possibility that he would have set up some kind of incentive to draw me out."

"Like taking hostages," said Velvet.

"Exactly," agreed Batman.

They continued to move silently through the ventilation system until they came up to a row of floor grates above their heads shining a very weak light through. Batman held up his fist, gesturing them to stop, while he took a brief moment to look through the bars. Once he had determined that the coast was clear, the Dark Knight slowly and silently lifted the hatch open and hopped out. Sora and the others quickly followed in Batman's footsteps as the Dark Knight slowly set the grate back in its proper place without making any noise. He cautiously chose to stay low in a crouched stance as he approached the edge of the wall they were hiding behind and peered around the corner; Sora's team followed in the hero's example.

The Intensive Treatment lobby was an architectural monstrosity of metal and stone without any real reason behind its design. There were at least three levels and all of them were separated by rusted ladders and crooked staircases, several crates opened paths on the third and second floors, gargoyles were strewn about the walls for some reason, and a bunch of machines that looked like they haven't been used for a long time. In the middle of the lobby was a tunnel system with electronic equipment and a small working space situated above connected by metal bridges to the rest of the room. And after another quick look around the lobby, they could easily make out the Shriekers roaming the area, acting much calmer than the monsters tearing the Asylum apart outside.

Batman touched the side of his cowl and the lenses of his eyes flickered bright white.

"There are six hostages behind held up there," said Batman, gesturing his head to the work space above the tunnel. "Eight Grimm – six roaming, two guarding the hostages. We can afford to risk confronting them head-on without putting the hostages in danger. We'll need to take them out silently one-by-one."

"Shouldn't be too hard," said Sun confidently.

"The Shriekers have a heightened sense of hear and can communicate by screeching," said Batman seriously. "If they make even the smallest sound, it will alert the rest of the Grimm and then we'll be putting the hostages in danger. You need to take them out before they hear anything – that means no guns," he said with particular emphasis.

Sora nodded quickly; he got the feeling that Batman didn't like guns very much, not that he blamed him or anything.

Once the others understood, Batman whipped out his grapnel gun, shot towards one of the nearest overhanging gargoyles, and zipped to the ceiling without any of the Shriekers noticing, though their ears did twitch as the retracting line. Penny ducked back underneath the grates again and took an alternate path to the opposite end of the room near the tunnel as a pair of Grimm made their routes. Sun climbed along the pipes and railings, pulling himself up to the third floor, pausing for a moment to let the roaming Grimm pass by, then silently leaped over to crouch behind it. Velvet waited until the Grimm weren't looking before she dashed to the other side, kicking off the wall, and bouncing up to the second level as she crouched behind the generators near the closest Grimm, forging a hard-light mace from her box. And Sora used his semblance to zip from hiding place to hiding place and only stopping at moments when the Shriekers started looking suspicious until he reached the back of the room near the vaulted doors as a lonesome Shrieker starting coming around the corner.

Team Sora was scattered across the room while Batman loomed overhead, surveying the scene. He pulled out his grapnel gun and lined it up with the Shrieker on the balcony, holding up three fingers…then two…then one….Batman shot his grapnel line, snatching the bat-like monster by the face, and pulled it up to the gargoyle with him. The Dark Knight effortlessly lifted the Grimm to eye level with only one hand wrapped around the monster's throat; the Shrieker could say anything other than a few choked gasps. The Dark Knight's gripped only tightened harder and harder until the Shrieker's eyes rolled into the back of its head – he tied the grapnel line around the monster's leg and dropped it to leave the Grim dangling.

With his job done, Batman checked out how the others were progressing.

When the Shrieker walked around the corner, Sora grabbed the Grimm by its shoulder, threw it down to the ground, and jammed Colorful Indigo's barrel into the monster's mouth before it could utter a screech. The noise of the gunshot was thankfully muffled when Sora shot an ice bullet down the beast's throat, turning the Grimm into a living sculpture. Penny jumped out of the grates and tossed her wired blades at the pair of Shriekers walking into the tunnel, threading loops around the Shriekers' necks until the wires went taut. A sharp tug at the strings and Penny decapitated both Grimm in one shot before ducking back underneath the grates. Sun crouched behind his target along the walkway until he shot up and pressed his staff against the Grimm's neck. The Shrieker was about to let loose a shrill cry for help when the Monkey Faunus pulled its head sharply to the right, snapping its neck with a resound ding crack. And Velvet snuck up behind her target and slammed her hard-light mace over the Grimm's head before it had noticed anything, instantly crushing its skull under the impact – not the most tactile performance, but it worked in its own way.

Sora climbed up the ladder to meet Sun as they crossed the sky bridge to the middle office while Penny and Velvet joined up from the opposite side. While the monkey Faunus went inside, Sora stopped at the doorway for a moment, tilted his head back, and looked up to the gargoyle with the hanging Grimm. Batman was nowhere to be found.

"It's awesome and creepy how he does that," said Sora.

"Shut up, you idiot," hissed Sun slapped a hand over the boy's mouth. "The Grimm have ultra-sensitive ears, remember?" Sora said something, but it was muffled by Sun's hand, so the monkey Faunus let him go. "What'd ya say?"

"I said, they probably heard you too, you know," Sora retorted testily.

Sun opened his mouth (likely to snap back that Sora started it) when they heard a sharp and surprised squeak coming around the corner. They flipped around, spotted the Shrieker that had gone to investigate the noise, and immediately reached for their weapons. Before they had the chance to make the grab, however, the Shrieker tilted its head back…then lurched forward with an unholy scream of unimaginable terror (kinda like those memes about Pyrrha that Sun watches with some odd fascination). Sora and Sun's dropped to their knees as their hands immediately flew to their head in a fruitless attempt to block out the noise; the glass windows around them shattered like crystal rain. Sora's vision was becoming disoriented by the screams and Sun dropped to his elbows looking like he was about to throw up at any moment. Sora, very slow and fumbling, made another attempt for his scythe –

And then Velvet came out of nowhere, a hard light naginata in hand, and ran the framed blade through the Shrieker's back. The screaming stopped – Sora and Sun fell forward with sighs of relief. Velvet pulled her had light weapon from the Shrieker with unnecessary roughness, forcing the bat-like Grimm to bend on its knees, then spun around with her weapon to slice its head clean from its shoulders. Velvet quickly ran over to help Sora and Sun back to their feet (though she wisely kept Sun at a distance when he looked green in the face).

"Thanks for the save," said Sora gratefully.

Before Velvet could say anything in response, a pair of gunshots rang out followed by a high-pitched wail and then Penny was sent flying through the back windows over the railing to the bottom level.

"Hostages!" yelped Velvet with urgency.

The group of Sora, Sun, and Velvet scrambled around the corner and were immediately blasted by a force of physical sound waves that threw them back. Their ears were ringing and their vision was partially doubled as they sat up and tried to focus on the Shrieker across the room. The bat-like Grimm was crawling on its appendages back and forth between them and the hostages – the hostages themselves were bound by their arms and legs and had burlap sacks tied over their heads, explaining why none of them were trying to slip away during the fight. As the (kind of) Caped Crusaders wobbly attempted to stand up again, the Shrieker reeled its head back for another sonic blast when -

CRASH!

The window ceiling above the Shrieker's head was smashed inward as Batman descended from above like an angel of death, stamping his feet on the Grimm's shoulder to force it down and finish it off with a solid punch to the face to knock it out. Sora would have personally sliced the Shrieker's head off, but the Dark Knight seemed to appeal to this no killing rule, even towards Grimm.

"Okay, just saying, that was awesome," said Sora, still stumbling around a bit, but caught himself. "You have got to show me your ninja moves."

"I think you do fine with what you do," said Batman. He turned to the hostages tapping his cowl as his eyes flicker again. "It doesn't look like any of them are harmed beyond a few minor laceration s and some bruising. I don't see any trip wires or radio receivers or anything that looks like Joker's usual traps….Something isn't right about this."

"You mean the fact that – oof!" Penny grunted as she climbed back over the railing. "We saved a bunch of people from a pack of mind-controlled Grimm. I don't know how things work in this world, but I would call that a successfully mission."

"It's way too easy," said Batman vehemently, skulking the premises for something that looked remotely suspicious. "Joker wouldn't lure me – wouldn't lure US – here unless he had some kind of trap."

"Wasn't that what the Grimm were for?" asked Velvet.

"Joker knows that wouldn't have been enough to stop us," said Batman. "No, it has to be something else."

"Well, while you do that, we'll just untie the hostages," said Sora. He approached the closest one; a shirtless patient who looked skinny and pale as death. "Hey, you hear me, guy? We're gonna get you outta here."

But as he moved to help the captive, Batman looked over the hostages and noticed something amiss with the one closest to Sora: unknown chemicals strapped to his right hand.

"Robin, get away from him!" cried Batman urgently.

Before Sora even had time to question him, the seemingly helpless "hostage" suddenly strange out of his bonds and jabbed the fingers of his right hand into the exposed skin of his right bicep. Each of the "captive's" fingers were medical syringes pumping a bright-yellow chemical directly into Sora's vein. The scythe wielder threw the man off him, but the damage was already done. Sora held his head as throbbing pain leaked into his brain like someone was holding his skull in a vice. He could hear distant, ethereal screams of people – people he knew – crying out in fear and agony. The pain in his head because dizzy and nauseating; the spiky-haired boy dropped to his hands and knees and made a retching sound feeling like he could vomit any second.

And then…it just stopped. The pain and nausea had passed, but he could still hear the pained wailing somewhere off in the distance. Sora shook his head to clear whatever cobwebs were left in his brain as he gently lifted himself up…. Then he had to pause for a minute, blinking almost cartoonishly when he looked around.

He wasn't in Arkham Asylum anymore…or at least he didn't think he was…maybe…? In truth, it looked like someone had ripped out pieces of the asylum and left them scattered like floating islands underneath an underneath a swirling gray storm as arcs of lightning shot across the twisting clouds. Sora's island definitely used to be part of the Intensive Treatment lobby, but as if someone had taken a rusty knife and haphazardly cut down the middle. The metal beams and glass windows were twisted into unrecognizable shapes that bending every which way, the scanning tunnel was buried halfway in the floor and bended like a periscope, and chunks of steel and stone were falling freely through the air, current by the current of the unnatural storm.

Sora stepped closer to the island edge and looked down into the swirling vortex below – it reminded him of an inverted version of his last moments of Destiny Island, right before he fought the giant bird –

The ground rumbled all of a sudden, causing Sora to stumble and fall on his back. As he started to pick himself up, a hand rose from the abyss; its fingers replaced by medical syringes and filled with a strange yellow chemical just like the person that attacked him. Following the arm came the rest of the body and Sora had to tilt his head back as far as his neck could bend just to stare up at his face.

The man (or monster) was shirtless, so Sora could tell that his was deathly thin with unhealthy pale skin underneath the stitched, burlap cloak. Each inch of his clothing appeared to have been unsystematically stitched together with various amounts of rags, his bare feet and left hand covered by dirty bandages, and ghoulish mask outfitted with a pair of respirators like a gas mask with a noose around his neck for aesthetic. The brace on his right arm was choking with tubes and containers all pumping the unknown yellow chemical inside his finger-syringes. As the masked giant leaned forward to gaze down at him, his eyes flashed bright yellow beams of light on Sora light floodlights, making him temporarily wince at the brightness.

"Aw, poor little bird!" said the mask menace mockingly (though he did acknowledge Sora as Robin, so that was a plus. "You're in my world now. You have entered the domain of…the Scarecrow!"

"Scarecrow, huh?" said Sora, sound amused rather than frightened. "Is Toto, Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion here too?"

"Such bravado," hissed Scarecrow. "Well, that won't last long. You are trapped in my world with your deepest darkest nightmares come to life. You will overwhelmed by true terror and then I will have the pleasure of tearing your mind apart piece by little piece – at my leisure, of course. I mean, look around you." He gestured to the broken segments of Arkham floating around. "These are the broken fragments of your mind. You are already damaged.

"I'm not gonna deny that," said Sora, hands on his hips, but still nonchalant about it. "I'm fourteen and I almost die on a regular basis. You have to be a little broken to deal with all this."

"Does this amuse you?" scoffed Scarecrow, possibly annoyed that Sora wasn't at least whimpering by now. "Are you not frightened?"

"By a loud-mouth in a goofy Halloween costumed?" said Sora jokingly. "Not at all. Compared to Silent Hill, this place is actually kinda pleasant."

"You think so, do you?" growled Scarecrow in annoyance. "Tell me, what demons do you have left to beat? Shall we see?"

The Scarecrow lifted his needlepointed hand and stabbed the ground in front of Sora with his syringes, pumping the yellow chemical into the metal-dirt mixture. When he pulled his hand away, the yellow chemicals started to sprout from the ground like plants, first just shapeless lumps of flesh before swiftly molded into form. Sora's eyes narrowed sharply at the four figures the Scarecrow had conjured – for people from Sora's past. The Wretched Egg – Shiro homicidal alter ego that had been the first to instill fear into Sora's heart. Zeref – the enigmatic mastermind that had uprooted Sora's life and threw it into chaos. Riku – his best friend that has recently brought him to question their relationship. And Ruby Rose – or at least the person who claimed to be Ruby Rose, but Sora knew better.

Scarecrow had summoned the four people that had the greatest impacts in Sora' life.

The boy in the Robin costume kept his hand on his scythe, but he didn't pull it out yet as the four apparitions of his deepest psychosis steadily marched up to him while Scarecrow's glee-filled cackle echoed into the storm, reverberating against his mind.

"Are you scared, little bird?" said Scarecrow wickedly, leaning forward with a stitched grin across his mask. "Oh, I won't rush things this time. I'm going to savor every moment of your terror as I slowly destroy you."

Zeref, Riku, and Ruby Rose all stopped short while Shiro continued to approach him, the familiar hexagonal plates of blood swirling around her arms like scarlet snakes, creeping across the air as they touched Sora's shoulders and started to slither down his chest to the rest of him. Sora didn't move – or perhaps it was because he couldn't move. Even though it had been many months since he had last seen the Deadman, Sora could still vividly remember the day he confronted the Wretched Egg in its natural state. He could remember the monster lurking inside a sweet girl as it ripped apart the prison by its strength alone – he could remember each and every scream of fear and agony as the Wretched Egg's Branch of Sin ripped them apart despite Penny and Sun's best effort to protect him. He could still smell the blood that was spilled; never forget the haunting cackles of the demon as Ganta fought back. The Wretched Egg had been Sora's first true encounter with danger – she had been his first nightmare.

But not anymore.

When the Wretched Egg had least expected it, Sora slipped through the Branch of Sin, rushed forward to catch her off-guard, and then raised his fist her chin for a powerful uppercut that actually echoed upon impact. The Wretched Egg was a lot heavier than Sora remember – he only got her a few feet off the ground – but he quickly retracted his Colorful Indigo and started wailing on the Deadman while she still hovered in the air. He started with two diagonal swipes, then a smack from the top of the head, a few jabs to the chest, and rounded off with another uppercut that flipped the Wretched Egg back. He turned Colorful Indigo's muzzle at the Deadman's exposed backside, making sure the gravity rounds were loaded, and unloaded a shell on her. The recoil knocked Sora flat on his butt, but it also sent the Wretched Egg flying over the Scarecrow's sho8ulder deep into the raging storm.

The Scarecrow and his apparition looked momentarily stunned by Sora's actions, but the self-proclaimed master of fear only chuckled and turned his floodlight gaze back on Sora.

"You're fighting back," said Scarecrow with a sinister chuckle. "Good. It can only weaken your resolve."

"You think you can scare me with my past, well, you're wrong," said Sora determinedly. "Yeah, I used to be scared off these guys, back when I barely understood anything. I was just some kid that had gotten thrown into the deep end of the pool, but I've changed a lot since then. I've gotten stronger, both physically and mentally. I'm not gonna let my fears keep me from doing what I have to. And that includes going up against a Halloween Town reject like you."

"Take a look around you," said Scarecrow authoritatively. "Everything you see is under my control! Are you scared? Embrace it!

"Buddy, I'm scared of a lot of things," Sora admitted jokingly. "But you are not one of them."

"We'll see about that!" hissed Scarecrow.

The Scarecrow pointed with one of his needle fingers, commanding Zeref and Riku to attack while Ruby Rose remained in place. Sora flipped Colorful Indigo around his back, holding the bar in the joints of his arm, and performed a rapid series of rotations in a blue of red and blues. Riku pressed his heels to the ground in an attempt to stop himself, but ended up sliding smack into Sora's spongy scythe blade and was repelled into the corner of the area with a crash. Zeref had been smarter – he leapt out of the scythe's range and descended on top of Sora with a sharp kick, but Sora pivoted and threw out his own foot to meet Zeref's; the impact of the collision sending each other sliding in opposite directions.

As Sora flipped Colorful Indigo properly around into his hands, Zeref closed his right hand in the air to his side and fabricated a massive, bulky sword from dark matter (Sora didn't know Zeref could do something like that, but then again, he doesn't know a lot about Zeref). The Black Wizard gripped the massive sword with two hands and rushed across the room at an arc, unaffected by the weight of his weapon. On his approach, Zeref leapt towards Sora, spinning his sword around once, before bringing it down to connect with Colorful Indigo's shaft. Sora's legs nearly buckled under the pressure, but the spiky-haired warrior braced himself and pushed all his weight against his scythe. He and Zeref were almost evenly matched in strength, but the angle was putting a lot of stress on Sora's legs and they were bound to give out eventually. With that in mind, Sora reached flor the trigger and fired off one of the gravity rounds, simultaneously thrusting him sideways while the backdraft pushed Zeref into the corner.

As he rocketed across the area, Sora noticed too late that he was flying straight towards Riku, who had gotten his hands on a pole made of dark matter (since when did Riku ever use a tool to fight?) His former best friend clotheslined across the chest, causing Sora to flip in the air and land flat on his stomach. The Boy Wonder flips around on his back with a painful groan, but quickly rolls out of the way when Riku slams the pole in the ground where his head had been a second ago. Sora climbs back up to his feet, stumbling over himself a little, and holds Colorful Indigo out as a threat (as much as a sponge on a stick could be) to his old friend when he heard a clatter coming from the side. The Wretched Egg had found her way back, smiling with the same sense of lunacy as Sora remembered. Sora heard more rushed footsteps around him and suddenly realized that his enemies were blocking him off at each direction – they had him surrounded.

"How much more do you think you can take?" said Scarecrow with an echoing cackle. "Does it scare you to know that I have almost defeated you?"

"Ask me that again after I kick your butt," said Sora confidently.

As the villains slowly started to encroach upon him, Sora suddenly plants the muzzle of his scythe into the floor while raising one foot on the spongy blade and his hand on the trigger. The apparitions immediately sense what he is trying to do and rush him, but Sora's hand already pulls the trigger. The gravity round propels Sora into the air, smashing him through a glass ceiling he didn't realize was there, and blasts a hole in the floor, sending Zeref, Riku, and Wretched Egg falling into the abyss. Unfortunately, Ruby Rose was much quicker on the uptake and practically soared to safety with a whip of her cape.

Ora flipped his scythe around in midair, taking out the gravity magazine to replace it with fire Dust, and starts unloading a barrage of fireballs on the experienced Huntress. Ruby Rose ducks underneath her cloak as the fires seem to brush off the brush of the torn fabric like raindrops on an umbrella. For a brief moment, there was a flash of blinding lightning and Sora thought that Ruby's crimson cape was black for a quick second, but it passed. He didn't notice that Scarecrow slightly panicked.

Sora tucked and rolled when he hit the ground as Ruby flapped open her cape and threw something across the air at Sora's head. He didn't have a chance to see what they were because he deflected the attack with Colorful Indigo's spongy blade and bounced them off into the abyss. With no time to recover, Ruby Rose jumped across the hole with her hands reaching out for Sora and her cape fluttering in the wind behind her. The redheaded Huntress grabbed Sora by the shoulders and pushed him to the floor (another flash of lightning passed and Sora briefly through Ruby had unusually long ears). The experienced huntress used Sora as a springboard to flip over and land on her feet behind Sora while leaving the boy on the ground.

The Grimm Reaper turned around with a flick of her cloak and stood over the boy until she realized too late that he was pointing Colorful Indigo's barrel squarely at her chest. Sora pulled the trigger and a fireball nailed her at pointblank range, sending her flying backwards through a stone wall (a flash of lightning made the wall look like a window for a moment). Sora quickly scrambled to his feet and faced Ruby, who was acting a little more cautious as she stood back up.

And at the same time, Scarecrow looked like he was afraid himself, ironically enough.

"How are you doing this?" yelled Scarecrow; the flashes of lightning were becoming more frequent, distorting his giant image. "You've ingested enough toxic to drive ten men insane! What…are you?"

"Doesn't the costume tell you enough," said Sora dramatically while striking a heroic pose. "I'm Robin – the Boy Wonder!"

With a loud battle cry, Sora rushes forward at Ruby Rose while Scarecrow creams in the background; his grip on Sora's reality starting to break. The spiky-haired boy swung at Ruby Rose from above –

- and Batman caught the scythe by its neck, stopping the spongy blade just a few inches short of his face.

"Wha? Batman?" said Sora dumbfoundedly, blinking owlishly at the Dark Knight. "What happened to – ?"

"Get ' em!"

Out of nowhere, Sun, Penny, and Velvet all dogpile on Sora while Batman just looked down at them with an exasperated look in his eyes. Sora scrapped his fingers against the ground as he pulled his upper body out from underneath Penny's weight form and leered at his teammates (especially Sun, whose fingers were roping his face).

"What's the big idea?" questioned Sora.

"Hold him down before starts crazy again!" said Velvet warningly. "Someone take his scythe away!"

"That won't be necessary," said Batman. The Dark Knight touched the side of his cowl, activating his Detective Mode, and did a full body scan of Sora. "The fear Toxin in Robin's bloodstream has been burned out. Either the dosage Crane used isn't as strong as it normally is, which I highly doubt, or Robin forced the toxin out through force of will. Hmm, not bad. Not a lot of people can withstand the Scarecrow's fear toxin and keep their sanity intact."

"Wish I could say the same about my body. GET OFF!" Sora pushed up with a huge grunt of effort and tossed his teammates off. He brushed himself off as he stood and looked around, noting that the hostages were missing. "Scarecrow did something to me that messed with my head. What happened while I was out of it? And Where's Scarecrow."

"Batman caught Scarecrow while you were having your episode," explained Sun. "But then you started spazzing out and mumbling something back being cracked in the head and Halloween Town rejected. You called Penny Wretched Egg and shot her out the window. Then you started picking a fight with me and Velvet – you knocked Velvet on her butt with the Gravity Dust you had and flew at me, but I knocked you down with my weapon. We had you surrounded for a minute, but then you blew a hole in the floor and all of us except Batman fell through."

"So…the whole time I thought I was fighting Zeref and Riku…it was actually you guys?" Sora surmised amazingly; Penny nodded in confirmation. "Wow, that fear toxin is a serious trip. I'm glad that's over with."

"So you thought I was Wretched Egg and Velvet and Sun were Zeref and Riku," repeated Penny with interest. "So then who did you think Batman was?"

Sora opened his mouth dimly, but no words would leave his lips. He couldn't very well tell them that Batman's nightmare counterpart was Ruby Rose (or at least someone that was impersonating her). For one, it was hard enough to prove that he had ever met Ruby Rose, let alone meet her in person, and secondly, Yang's warning about there being a traitor on his meet was still fresh on his mind. Yes, by this point, Sora conceded that there was a possibility for a traitor among them, but had yet to figure out which one of them it was. If anyone of them was secretly reporting to Zeref or this fake Ruby Rose, he couldn't run the risk of any of them knowing what he found out over the course of their journey. So he decided to fall back on his best laid strategy: change the subject.

"Hey, what happened to Scarecrow?" asked Sora, pointedly looking around while avoid their eyes. "Didn't you say you caught him?"

"We did, but he escaped while you were affected by the fear toxin," said Velvet, her ears drooping sadly. "We were too busy trying to calm you down that we hadn't noticed he escaped. Sorry…."

"It's not your fault," said Sun kindly, linking his hands behind his head. "But it really sucks. Scarecrow was probably our best lead at finding Joker. Now we'll never know where they're hiding?"

"Not necessarily," said Batman, thankfully drawing all attention to him. The Dark Knight walked over where the captives once were and pressed the side of his cowl, activating the Detective Mode again. His fingers brushed the floor, shifting through something that was unseen by the naked eye. "Scanners are picking up trace amounts of chlorophyll; I assume it was either coming off Scarecrow or the Joker's clothing. Hmm…the chemical makeup is vastly altered from any plant species I've ever seen. It looks like it's been mutated."

"Maybe it's part of whatever formula Joker used for his experiment," Penny suggested.

"If that's true, then we need to find out what plant made this chemical and figure out if there is a cure," said Batman, straightening up with a grimace. "And there's only one person on Arkham Island that can tell us."

"You have a friend that can help us?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Not exactly," said Batman.

Meanwhile, deep in the sewer system underneath the Intensive Treatment Center, Joker was grunting with effort as he pushed his lasted failure to the edge of the tunnel just over the flow of rushing water. His latest test subject had been doing much better than the last one – he had fully developed in muscular mass on every part of his body, but his spinal cord had been too weak to support him and subsequently snapped, killing him instantly. Looks like he needed to figure out how to fortify bone density along with physical mass. Oh well, you live, you learn Joker thought to himself as he kicked the mutated corpse off the edge, sinking into the water like a great stone.

"Whelp, back to the drawing board!" said Joker cheerfully, clapping his hand. "I really should be looking for better test subjects. Sure wish Baney boy was still around; now there was a good Guinea pig. Hmm, I could always go see Calendar Man – he's got nothing on his schedule." Just then, he heard the sewer entrance creak open and turned around as Scarecrow came rushing in. "Oh my, Dr. Crane, how lovely to see you so soon. I thought your schedule was busy with appointments this afternoon."

"Those people the bat is with," said Scarecrow, breathing heavily. "There's something wrong with them. I had laced the center with fear beforehand like you said, but none of them were affected. I had to resort to a direct injection, but that boy in the Robin costume resisted my strongest dose. There's something not natural about them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," said Joker, clicking his tongue disapprovingly, walking past the master of fear. "I'm not liking what I'm hearing, Dr. Crane. You were supposed to keep them busy for hours until the party was ready. Now I have to get everything set up ahead of schedule, and you know how I hate to rush things! You've disappointed me, Scarecrow. And you wouldn't like me when I'm disappointed."

"We still have plenty of time to finish the formula," said Scarecrow. "All we need is a few more chemicals from the medical center – "

"Oh, there isn't a 'we' anymore, Crane," said Joker, spinning around and smiling dangerously at him.

"What?" hissed Scarecrow suspiciously, taking a step away from the clown and closer to the water's edge.

"You see, Scarecrow, I don't really need you to finish the formula," said Joker placidly. "It'll take a little trial and error, sure, but I have everything figured out well enough. Your services are no longer required, Dr. Crane."

"Are you threatening me?" howled Scarecrow, holding out his needle fingers defensively. "After everything I've done, you think you can get rid of me! I'm not afraid of you, Joker!"

"No? Then what about crocodiles?" asked Joker with a sinister chuckle.

The self-proclaimed master of fear didn't realize that there had been something moving in the water behind until he heard bubbles of air breaching the surface. Scarecrow learned too late what was waiting for him when a massive, muscular humanoid covered in scared erupted out of the water, his roar echoing through the tunnel. The reptilian monster snatched up Scarecrow by his right arm and left leg (the master of fear screaming and pleading to Joker for help) and then they both dived back underneath the water, never to be seen again.

And Joker laughed.

"Tick tock, feed the croc," sand Joker.