Batman vs Predator: Arkham Asylum

Chapter 1: The Arrival

It was a hot and stormy night in Gotham City as the Predator jumped from rooftop to rooftop searching for potential prey through its thermal vision. He had killed at least three muggers and a rapist and all had their skulls placed in his fishnet sack.

This Predator's name back on his homeworld was O'rin who was the second of three brothers. His older brother Ka'vati had been killed when he came to Earth by a human in a Guatemala jungle. His younger brother N'chak was trying to prove to both the clan elders and himself that he could participate in the Kainde Amedha Chiva by going to the Planet where their rival clan, the Black Super Predators, took their prey and kill one of them.

Though he wished his brother the best of luck, he feared that the youngest of his family was going to his doom. Now only O'rin was left of his family and here he was on planet Earth seeking to hunt the one called Batman.

A close friend of his had come to Earth several years earlier and had battled this Batman until the Elder Predator told him that his time was up. Given that he couldn't kill his prey before the time of his hunt was up, he was forced to commit suicide to maintain his honor. The Elder Predator presented the Batman with the sword he used and brought his friend's body back to their homeworld.

The Predator, O'rin, jumped to another rooftop and then heard a big commotion coming from the street below.

He looked down and saw a dozens vehicles with swirling lights parked out in front of a large building. About twenty to thirty men and women armed with guns took cover behind the doors of the vehicles and had their weapons aimed at the building.

One man held up a device that was used to amplify ones voice and said, "It's all over, Joker! We have the building surrounded! Let the mayor go and come out with your hands up!"

The Predator understood most of the human language and understood that someone in the large building was holding a hostage either demanding something or to send a message, but he didn't care. If there was a potential prey inside, then O'rin would seize the moment and collect a skull or two for his collection until he could go head-to-head with the Batman.

O'rin was prepared to jump down and enter the building when he saw something appear on his spectrum. It was a heat signature about the size of a human but it was gliding through the air down to the rooftop of the large building. As soon as it landed gracefully on the roof, O'rin zoomed in and saw a man dressed like that of the nocturnal Earth animal known as a bat. O'rin immediately knew what was looking at... the Batman.

Batman stood tall at six feet and walked toward the door leading downstairs.

The Predator jumped down from the rooftop he was on and made his way to the large building while sticking to the shadows given that the current rainfall prevented him from using his cloaking device. Without being spotted by the police or any innocent bystanders, O'rin reached the side of the building and began climbing his way up the wall by sinking his claws into the concrete until he stopped at a third floor window.

Seeing that no one was in the room, he broke the glass and climbed inside quickly drying himself before activating his cloaking device.

The Predator looked around with his thermal vision and soon he saw someone dragging another person through the hall outside the office. The man doing the dragging had a huge grin on his face and dressed in an unusual attire, by human standards, holding a gun to a middle-aged man's head as he lead him out of another office.

"Come on, Mr. Mayor. You don't want to be late for your funeral. Aha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" The man with the gun said in a loud maniacal manner.

"Please, please don't kill me!" The middle-aged man, the Mayor, cried out.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you, I give you my word." The maniacal man replied.

"Really?"

"Really, but I can't speak for the Gotham Police when I tape this gun in your hand and put a clown mask on you. I can see the headlines now, 'Mayor Bozo is gunned down by Gotham's Finest.' It'll really make them look bad now won't it?"

"Aah!" The Mayor let out a cry of terror.

"Stop right there, Joker." A deep, dark voice said from the shadows.

O'rin looked around and saw the Batman appear from around a corner in a crouched position. The man known as Joker turned his head left to right, apparently unable to see the Batman. O'rin's thermal vision however showed him that Batman was stealthily sticking close to the wall to the Joker's right, slowly sneaking up from behind.

"Welcome, Bats. You're just in time to see the Mayor meet his Maker." The Joker said as he pulled back the hammer of the pistol.

Suddenly, Batman swiftly grabbed the Joker's left wrist and pulled the gun away from the Mayor's head which resulted in the gun going off, but luckily the bullet hit the ceiling. Batman then twisted the Joker's wrist making him drop the weapon and then he spun Joker around to face him, allowing the Mayor to fall to the floor out of the Joker's grasp. Batman finally sent his right fist into the Joker's jaw which knocked the maniac to the floor.

Joker held up his hands in surrender and said, "Alright, alright, Bats. You win, I'll go quietly."

"Like hell you will." Batman said darkly as he readied his fist for another punch.

"No, really, I surrender. One punch is enough for one night."

Batman lowered his fist but kept his eyes on Joker, not trusting the Clown Prince of Crime as far as you can throw him.

The cloaked O'rin watched from the office doorway as the police busted through the door at the end of the hall, having charged in as soon as the gun went off, and rushed in to train their guns on the seemingly beaten Joker.

"Get some cuffs on this wacko and get 'em out of here!" An officer ordered.

As two officers hoisted him to his feet and slapped steel cuffs on his wrists, Batman helped the Mayor to his feet.

"Are you alright, Mr. Mayor?"

"Ugh, I'll be fine. Thank you, Batman. I'm indebted to you." The Mayor said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"No need for that. I'm just doing what I need to do to keep Gotham safe, that's all."

"Well, as long as I'm still in office, you're more than welcome to help the police with whatever they need to rid the city of scum like him."

"Ouch, that hurt!" Joker said mockingly, "Well, you lost my vote for the next election."

"Officers, get this man out of here at once!" The Mayor said sternly.

"You heard 'em, let's go freak!" One officer said as him and his partner led the Joker out.

The police then started walking out and just as Batman was about to follow, he looked at a door to an office and noticed that the door was wide open. He went in and saw that one of the windows was shattered. Noticing that the glass was on the inside, he figured that somebody broke in but wondered who it was.

Joker was alone in this whole hostage situation and the police charged in through the doors so someone else was still here.

He looked around the office but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He then activated his sonar vision, or detective mode as some call it, and still saw nothing. He then figured that whoever broke in must've left so he decided to rejoin the police in dealing with the Joker.

Outside, O'rin had jumped out the window just as Batman was making his way to the office where he watched the scene. He knew one thing, if he was going to deal with Batman he was gonna have to be wise as to how he did. First he would observe his prey and then he would make the kill.

He returned to the rooftop he was on moments earlier and watched as Batman exited the building and approached the officers that were leading Joker to a squad car.

"Officers, let me take Joker to Arkham Asylum. I'll make sure he doesn't try anything."

"Uh, okay, sure thing, Batman. Good luck and make sure he stays there this time."

O'rin watched as Batman led Joker to the passenger side of his vehicle, the Batmobile, and then got into the driver's seat. As soon as the cockpit shut itself tight, O'rin took out a tracking device and threw it with all of his strength at the car before it took off at full speed down the city streets.

O'rin brought up his wrist computer and projected a red holographic map of the city and the blue spec that indicated the tracking device he place on the Batmobile was moving fast toward what appeared to be an island off the coast of Gotham Bay that could only be reached by the connecting bridge.

O'rin turned shut down the holographic map and looked down at the police cars. He then overheard one of the officers listening to the radio. "...The Joker has been apprehended and Batman is now en route to Arkham Island."

The officer picked up the radio and said, "20-William-15, Roger that central. I'm on my way to Arkham Asylum to make sure that clown stays in his cell."

"20-William-15, use caution, there was a fire at Blackgate Prison and most of the inmates had to be moved to Arkham."

"Roger that central, over and out." The officer said before he got in the car.

Suddenly he saw something move in the shadows of the nearby alley. He got out of the car and went to check it out. With his flashlight and pistol in hand, he aimed his flashlight at a trash can and saw a cat screech at him before jumping off into the darkness.

The officer scoffed and walked back to the car and got in. As the car drove off toward Arkham Asylum, the officer driving didn't notice the cloaked Predator ducked behind the backseat.

Meanwhile, as the Batmobile made its way to Arkham, the Joker was fidgeting and chuckling.

"Stand back, fool! I've got a bomb! Oh yeah, right! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

The Batmobile passed the sign that read "ARKHAM ASYLUM" and drove over the bridge that connected Gotham City to Arkham Island. The gates opened up and the Batmobile drove up to the entrance to the Intensive Treatment facility.

The hydraulic doors opened and Batman pushed Joker inside where they were greeted by the Warden.

Joker spoke, "Hey, SHARPIE! Love what you've done with the place!"

"That's WARDEN Sharp to you. Boles." The Warden said as a guard walked over toward the Joker.

"Yo, Frank-ay, how's the wife and kids? Ya miss me?" Joker said to the guard.

"Shut up, freak!" The guard, Frank Boles, spat as he grabbed Joker by the colar of his coat. "There're some people here who really wanna to talk to you."

He and another guard took Joker over to a patient bed and took off the cuffs before pinning him down and tightening the straps.

"Really, I don't mind walking. Not so tight, boys. You'll crease the suit"

"Get that filthy degenerate out of here!" Warden Sharp ordered the guards.

"Warden, something's not right. I'm going with him." Batman before talking off with the heavily guarded Joker.

Outside, the police car from City Hall pulled up next to the Batmobile and the officer driving it got out and went over toward the entrance. The hydraulic doors opened and the officer went in. Once he was out of sight, the Predator opened to door and to his luck it had stopped raining. He quickly ran as the hydraulic doors were closing and dived in before fully shut.

Still cloaked, O'rin looked ahead and saw several armed men, a middle-aged man holding a cane, the Joker strapped to a mobile flat-bed and his quarry... the Batman.

He made his way after his prey as Batman went over to the one guard and asked, "Is Commissioner Gordon here?"

The guard replied in a nervous manner, "Yes sir, he's...err...waiting for you at patient handover. He got here just before you did."

Batman followed the guards surrounding the flat-bed that the Joker was strapped to while the cloaked Predator tip-toed his way in a short distance behind the Dark Knight.

Suddenly bright lights shined on the strapped down Joker and Batman from the control room in the center of the lobby. O'rin quickly slinked to the side wall that had a portrait of the middle-aged Warden Sharp to avoid being seen. His cloaking made him nearly invisible to the human eye but he didn't want to risk anyone getting a slight glimpse at his silhouette.

Comically, if someone had seen him from the opposite side of the corridor, one could see the face of the warden on the portrait appear through the Predator's cloaked mask.

As the small lift that the Joker and Batman were on descended, O'rin heard the clown say, "Sharpie just loves his cameras. Hey, Sharpie! You getting my good side? Oh what am I saying, they're ALL good, aren't they?"

O'rin watched as the spotlights followed the lift downward and took the opportunity to jump up to one of the support beams and crawl up onto an old gargoyle statue.

"Look at all of this new heavy security, how's a guy supposed to break out of here?" Joker continued ranting with a chuckle.

O'rin watched from atop the gargoyle statue as the lift came to a stop and the guards along with Batman moved the Joker into a Scan Chamber in the middle of the lobby under the control room. After minute he watched as they exited the opposite end of the chamber and jumped from statue to statue until he was on the same side the Batman and Joker exited.

He saw them head for another hydraulic door that was surrounded by two guards, one of which had a hook where his left hand should be, and a woman about twenty-three by human standards. As soon as Batman and the guarded Joker went through the hydraulic door, the two guards and the woman walked away.

O'rin lightly jumped down to the lower floor near the hydraulic door and as chance would have it, the vibration tricked the computer into thinking that someone was at the door even though he was cloaked and caused it to open.

He looked at the opposite end and saw Batman and Joker moving through another hydraulic door. He ran as fast as he could without trying to make noise and give himself away. He managed to reach the other end just as the door was closing and slyly slid between them before they closed on him.

The Predator found himself close to his prey, a little too close. There were too many guards at the moment and the Joker's face was aimed in his direction. It was by fortune that the clown didn't see him.

O'rin remained still so as to not get even slightly spotted as he heard an elevator rise from below.

As him and everyone else stood in wait, the Joker sniffed the air and said, "Can you smell the excitement in the air? No? Hmm, must have been one of the guards then. Croc old boy, is that you?"

As the elevator came to a creaking stop, O'rin saw a being about an inch or two taller than him. According to his scanners, he was human but he appeared to have some kind mutation that made his skin reptilian and have heightened senses, plus he appeared to have physically altered teeth that looked sharp even to bite a cow's head off clean. There also appeared to be an electrical colar around his neck.

The creature stepped out of the elevator and spotlights shined from the right onto him. He then turned toward Batman and said in a gritty, growling tone, "I have your scent, Batman. I will hunt you down-Aaahhh!" He screamed as one of the guards pressed a button on a remote control which caused the colar to emit about a thousand volts of electricity through him. As soon as it stopped he said, "A toy colar won't stop me from killing you, Batman. I'll rip you apart and eat your bones."

As he turned to walk away, the creature, Croc, stopped and sniffed the air. His nose steered to O'rin direction and suddenly Croc stiffened and showed a slight expression of fear. He immediately sped up as he walked away.

O'rin thought about the creature's heightened senses and knew that the creature could have exposed him but figured that Croc was unsure if he was really there; plus even if he was, the guards would think he was crazy. O'rin wondered how good of a challenge Croc would be. For one thing, the creature was intending to kill Batman and O'rin wasn't about to let him take that away from him. O'rin was going to be the one to kill Batman and would kill anyone who stood in his way. If Croc was as tough as he looked, O'rin would honor him by taking his spine and skull and hanging it on his trophy rack.

Batman wondered about Croc's behavior for the moment as he and the guards moved Joker into the elevator Croc had come out of.

As the spotlights went out and the guards on the ground floor returned to their stations, O'rin ran toward the elevator as it descended and jumped on top of it which caused the lights inside to flicker off for a moment. The Predator crawled over the edge to look inside and saw that, even in the dark, Batman held the Joker by the throat as the guards were disoriented.

Joker said in a gaging tone, "What, don't you trust me?"

When the elevator came to a stop, The Predator watched the guards and Batman lead the Joker out and through another hydraulic door. O'rin jumped off and sneaked through undetected only to see that Batman had stopped.

Batman looked over toward the receptionist desk and saw a middle-aged man with a gun strapped under his arm wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a red tie, a grey vest, black pants and shoes. He was reading some papers before he looked up and saw Batman.

"Long night, Jim?" Batman asked the older man.

The man scoffs and says as he approaches the Dark Knight, "Joker invades City Hall and holds the Mayor hostage, leaving me to juggle SWAT teams, the media and you." He then held out his hand and they shook. "Yeah, it's been a helluva night."

Batman replied as they both started following the guarded Joker down the corridor, "Hopefully the last one we'll ever see with him."

Still cloaked, the Predator followed behind at a short distance while noticing the nearby security camera following them. Fortunately for him, he would barely pick up on the feedback while cloaked.

"Hold it there!" A standing near a doctor in front of an electric field said. "Sorry, Batman, Arkham staff only!"

Gordon said, "I assure you, if anyone's qualified, it's..."

"Listen, I appreciate the assistance, but he might unsettle the more violent inmates." The guard stated.

"I think he's talking about you, Bats." Joker said as he was removed from the flat-bed and led passed the not down electric field with cuffs on his wrists. "Don't be a stranger. You're always welcome here. Gotta say it's great to be back!"

Gordan looked over at Batman and said, "You okay?"

"He surrendered almost without a fight. I don't like it." Batman said as he and Gordon walked in an observation office overlooking the cell block that Joker being led into.

"Well, at least he's back where he belongs." Gordon stated.

O'rin watched his quarry enter the office and then looked in the direction Joker had gone. He too thought it was strange. Back at City Hall, Joker could have at the least put up some kind of fight against the Batman and yet didn't. At first he mistook for cowardice but upon hearing Batman's statement, the Predator had to wonder what was going on.

Suddenly the Joker tripped and then head-butted the guard before wrapping his steel cuffs around the guard's throat. "Hurry! We're losing him, Doc!"

At that moment the electric field had turned back on, cutting everyone off who would try to subdue the Joker.

"Joker's loose! Jim, alert the Warden!" Batman said before he sent his fist hard against the glass window which made it crack.

O'rin watched as the doctor hopelessly unlocked the cuffs before Joker knocked him out. Joker was free. He kneeled over the now dead guard and whispered loud enough that O'rin zoomed in and recorded, "(The choke's on you!)"

O'rin played it back in his helmet, trying to augment the sound, "The...the...choke's...the choke's...the choke's on you!"

He then watched as the Joker did a dance and jib while laughing like a hyena before he looked up at a security camera and said, "Honey, I'm home!"

A female voice said over the intercom, "Come on in!"

O'rin then heard glass shatter and saw that Batman hand jumped through the window and landed in the middle of the cell block just as Joker had ran up the ramp on the other side and said as an electric field came on.

"Welcome to the Madhouse, Batman!" the Joker howled. "I set a trap and you sprang it gloriously!"

With that said, the Predator then realized why the Joker didn't put up a fight. He wanted to be caught. This place apparently housed all the people the Batman had beaten and captured and if the Joker was free he could probably unleash all of Batman's enemies on him with no means to escape.

O'rin wasn't about to let any of them claim his prize, plus the fact that he would have to face them all before he got to Batman seemed appealing to him. It would be more trophies to add to his collection.

Author's Note - After playing and liking the video game Batman: Arkham Asylum and being a Predator fan as well as knowing that they had made a comic crossover between the two, I figured it would be great to have a Predator involved in the events of Arkham Asylum. For the record, I will have the Predator kill off some of Batman's Rogues Gallery but as for which ones, you'll have to wait and see.

Also for some who are wondering, the Predator name O'rin is one that I made up and I don't know if there is such a name or if there even is a meaning to it and for some who haven't figured it out, he is the younger brother of the Predator from the first movie and the older brother to the Predator in the new movie, making him one of the Classic Jungle Predators.

Next Chapter: The Hunt Begins

As Batman pursues the Joker, he begins to suspect that he is being watched by more than just the Joker and his men. Meanwhile the Predator takes a different route to pursue the Clown Prince of Crime in an effort to use him as bait to draw Batman in.