Now it's on to the final opponent of the night: Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. "Scarecrow".

But before that can happen, let's see what became of Jason Todd, shall we?

PS: sorry for the wait. I was taking a break.

*gives sad puppy eyes*

Somewhere in the city, Jason Todd, former "Robin" and better known to many today as the "Arkham Knight", sat in the middle of an empty building, thinking. After his fight with Batman ended badly for him, he escaped. How? He used his suit's adrenaline injection feature to jump-start his body after being drained of all natural energy by that seed Batman used on him and he made his getaway as soon as he felt the adrenaline kick in before his former mentor could notice as he was distracted with a call from Alfred Pennyworth, his butler and longtime guardian.

His planning, the money he acquired and spent to build his army and the intense training he endured for his ultimate revenge plot, have been wasted. Flushed down the fucking toilet. This night was supposed to be his victory. His success of destroying the Dark Knight of Gotham City. His revenge fulfilled.

And he failed.

How in the fucking hell did this happen? He thought.

Sitting and thinking, he began to have doubts of what he wanted now. Even if he had killed the Bat, what else would he pursue after his victory? Who would want him around? Every hero and villain would turn him down flat. If there was nothing more after getting rid of his former mentor and adoptive father, he might have well just place his own gun in his mouth or near his head and pull the trigger. End of misery.

Now, he did not feel like doing that. He wasn't sure why, but he just did not feel like doing that or going after Bruce anymore.

"You left me to rot in that abandoned wing of Arkham for over a year . . . with HIM!"

That was the last thing he remembered saying to him before making his escape.

Another thing he wondered was where and how Bruce got that seed he used on him. From the way it looked, it looked like something Pamela Isley, a.k.a. "Poison Ivy" would have and use. Did she give it to him before she died? Or did he steal it from her from the last time he saw her.

For all he knew, Poison Ivy was dead. She died clearing the city of Scarecrow's fear gas and that was it. That was something he nor Scarecrow did not expect her to do. Either way, that seed was what allowed Bruce to claim victory over Jason in their battle.

Getting back to a different topic, he wondered what he was going to do now. He can't resume his invasion of Gotham as his forces are probably either reduced or they've defected. Plus, Batman was probably searching for him to capture and imprison as he usually did with his other enemies. So far, the other villains he forced into his service are detained at the city's police station and the only one running around now was Scarecrow himself, still determined to succeed in his plan of ruining Bruce's reputation.

He was offered help by his former mentor and he refused. He had nobody now. He basically had Barbara Gordon, one of two people who cared deeply for him, kidnapped as a means of cutting Bruce off from any technological advantage he had against his army, the other being Alfred Pennyworth. He remembered how Barbara spoke to him despite his agony toward the Dark Knight and his desire for retribution and wondered if Bruce had informed the butler of his existence as he thought the former Robin was dead.

As for Alfred, he has not seen him and yet he asked Barbara about him and she said he missed him and so did she.

How could he let Joker, that fucking mad clown, capture him and break him for an entire year? He tried to resist the torture he endured during his captivity, but it was just so fucking hard. The Joker and Harley Quinn made escape and resistance very difficult and at the end of the day, he was convinced that Bruce abandoned him and this was what dove him into doing what was going on tonight.

All that over one man.

Was it worth it?

Suddenly, he heard a voice that belong to Scarecrow.

The mad scientist was saying that he had finally captured Bruce and was taking him somewhere to complete his goal of unmasking the hero. While this may have been good news for Jason earlier, now he was reconsidering the whole plan.

If Crane shows who Gotham's guardian really is, that will raise questions and ruin his personal life. Holy shit, what have I done? He thought.

All the anger he had against Bruce Wayne was slowly starting to dissolve. Gotham's invasion was his fault. Who knows how many people died at the hands of the villains and the soldiers he led and sent to cause chaos. The invasion was something the Joker would have done and he now did what he would do.

Jason began to feel guilt for his actions tonight. He let his rage take over him and he used it to cause trouble for a city that he once helped protect. Several people, half of them innocents, were victimized by his own troops. Men, women, even children.

I have to set things right. I must stop Crane. My armies won't listen to me anymore and they dislike Bruce as I did, so I guess I have to do this myself. He thought and got up, still struggling between the draining effects of the seed and his armor's adrenaline effects. Either way, he still had the urge to do what needed to be done.

I don't know if Bruce will accept me back or not, but it's better than letting Crane have his fucking way with him. Jason thought as he made a slight change to his armor as a means of ditching his "Arkham Knight" persona, whipped out his grapple gun and launched himself away out of the empty building and into the night skies.

He did his best to avoid detection by all enemies, even his own men, because he kept hearing them say things, on his helmet radio, about him being a deserter and that they preferred Scarecrow over him. Some even suggested killing him out of dislike and/or their new allegiance to Scarecrow.

"If he shows his face again, I'll blow it off. He's a pussy." Jason heard one soldier say.

"So much for Mr. 'I-Hate-Batman-And-I-Want-Him-Dead'. Or is it captain, general, major? Who the hell cares what his rank was, the Knight sucks now. I'm glad he gone, the chicken." said another.

"Scarecrow . . . he's scary as fuck I admit, but at least he's still determined to bring the fucking Bat down." said a third.

Jason had lost all respect from his own armies. He was on his own now and if the public learned who he was and that he was responsible for bringing all this chaos in Gotham, he would, most definitely, be the world's most wanted man in the United States and possibly other nations. The only one who still desired his presence was Bruce Wayne himself. During their battle, he did plead with him to return to his side, even going as far as calling him 'Robin', the title he went by previously, in an attempt to restore the man back to who he was. Even Barbara Gordon sympathized with him and still considered him a part of the Bat Family despite his activities tonight and he went as far as protecting her from Scarecrow and his soldiers when they threatened her. Some did hurt her when he wasn't looking and when he found out, he either killed them or brutally beat them.

Jason was now filled with regret over his actions against Bruce and his friends. The Joker was dead and he still got to him, turning him into his meat puppet. When news of his death spread everywhere, people thought they were finally at peace and not have to worry about more of the mad clown's madness. Now, now Jason hoped that what he planned on doing was his first step in making amends for his behavior tonight. He still had an angry side, but that side was directed toward the Joker and all who did wrong to others. Those kind of people were the ones who deserved his wrath, not Bruce, not Barbara, not Dick, not the new Robin and not Alfred.

Swinging from building to building, he noticed that, although there were foot soldiers and regular street thugs on the streets of the city, he hardly saw any tanks. Jason was glad they were gone otherwise they could spot him and blow him out of the sky. When he arrived in Gotham with his army, he had plenty of combat tanks at his disposal. Now there were none. If Jason was not in such a hurry to deal with Scarecrow, he'd kill them all for their comments right now.

Bruce really destroyed my tanks all by himself? When they said he was a "one-man army", they fucking meant it. He thought and kept swinging and moving, determined to reach Arkham Asylum and confront Scarecrow.

After a few minutes, he finally made it to the abandoned Arkham island, home of the infamous facility that once housed Gotham's most insane criminals. Being here brought back memories of his horrible torment at the hands of the Joker. He was actually here when the breakout happened a couple years ago and Bruce did not notice his presence at all. That was why Jason was furious at Bruce and said it to him during their battle.

He heard the voices of Scarecrow, Bruce, Jim Gordon and Tim Drake, the third Robin, speaking inside.

His successor.

His replacement.

His person of hatred besides Bruce Wayne.

Jason hated being replaced, another one of the topics he screamed at Bruce for, but now he felt that maybe the newcomer would do his best to succeed him as Jason felt that he can never return as a "Robin" because of all the things he had done after his reformation as the Arkham Knight. Plus, Barbara and the current Robin had a thing for each other and did not deserve to be torn apart by Scarecrow or himself.

Jason knew this, what was going on inside the building, was what Jonathan Crane wanted: to capture the Bat and humiliate him right in front of the citizens of Gotham City and to all throughout the Earth.

As he was making his stealthy approach, he heard bristling sounds and turned behind him with one of his handguns out and saw nothing.

Must be the wind or rain or something. He thought and continued with his mission.

He approached a section of the island that showed a window of the asylum and saw the people he heard earlier inside.

Scarecrow was standing right beside the open window, talking to Bruce and not bothering to even close the window under the oppression that he was speaking to Batman alone.

Parents always say to keep your windows closed to prevent intruders from coming inside at night and whoever raised Scarecrow failed at that lesson. Jason thought.

Jason got out his preferred weapon, a sniper rifle that was capable of shooting FMJ rounds which were said to be stronger than regular rounds. While he wanted to blow Crane's brains out and end his reign of terror, his intention was to shoot the locks on the device holding Bruce and freeing him so that he can deal with Crane himself. If he were to kill the mad scientist, even if it was to save Batman, he would most definitely be unforgiven by his past mentor and hunted for murder by him and the police.

Jason saw, through his helmet's zooming feature, that Scarecrow was forcing James Gordon to unmask Batman and reveal his identity to the world via cameras and television, threatening to shoot and kill Tim Drake, who was already weakened and wounded, should he refuse and the nasty wound on Drake was proof that he was as serious as a heart attack.

Son of a bitch, he's actually going to do it. The hell he will! Jason thought and he readied his rifle and aimed it at one of the pad locks that restrained Bruce.

You'd better be right about this, Bruce. He thought as he prepared to make his move.

Unbeknownst to Jason Todd, another person also planned on rescuing Batman and that someone was on the island at the same time as him. But Jason did not notice at all as that unknown rescuer was watching the events unfold from outside the building, unseen by anyone, and was about to strike at the same time Jason was . . .

Jason Todd has learned his lesson and is about to free his mentor from Scarecrow's grasp, not knowing that Poison Ivy was about to perform the same objective at the last second.

Who will save Batman first and will Jason and Ivy see each other and how will they react if they do?

Sorry for being late on this one . . . or on this site at all. I just needed time away from here to focus on other things as I'm working a new job in my town. Not bad, lot of good. Now I'm back and better than ever.

Earlier, I got to eat one of those popular Popeyes chicken sandwiches at the time of this chapter's publication. I heard about the chaos that erupted all over the country because of that item and so I decided to try one for myself and see what the big deal was and when I got my order, I stared at it and thought, "That's it? This is what people are fighting about? A simple fucking sandwich?"

The next chapter will feature the alternate "Masked Ending" first and when everything's over with there, I will eventually write the game's ending as this story's "What If?" scene in some other chapter.