[b]Thank you. Now back to Azumi once more, with some input by Doc with Scarecrow. This one will probably prove to be relatively short.

[center]Chapter 9: Fateful Knight[/center][/b]


[font=Chalkduster][u][i]CRIME ALLEY[/i][/u][/font]

Azumi glanced at the sign in front of this alley near the theater. She would have time to look over the wrist-mounted silenced guns later, but for now she had put the set back in her rucksack. One thing did bother her somewhat, however.

[i]Who names a place [b]Crime[/b] Alley? Do you just [b]want[/b] to get robbed?[/i]

Enough of that. She could see something weird on the pavement. Climbing swiftly, the soldier vaulted over chain link fence between the sign and the alley itself, walking over... and saw.

It appeared to be a chalk outline of two people, a man and a woman, one having fallen on top of the other. There was a red rose on one side, a bouquet of flowers on the other, an audio tape in a recorder and a small note on the latter.

Intrigued, she walked over, kneeling next to the bouquet, and read the small note. Just a short sentence and a name.

[b]It will end where it all began.
-- Hugo Strange[/b]

What was this place? She did not disturb the flowers, just picking up the tape, and hit the button, watching the outlines and the buildings around her in the process.

Predictably, the smug, British voice of Professor Hugo Strange came up. [i]"How does it [b]feel[/b], Wayne?"[/i] Okay, so he knew the identity of Batman. Something she already knew he would. Moving on. [i]"To [b]stand[/b] on the very [b]stones[/b] that ran with your parents' [b]blood[/b]? Do you feel sad...? Full of [b]rage?[/b] Or does that [b]outfit[/b] help [b]bury[/b] your feelings, hiding your true self?"[/i]

Rest assured, she was upset and angry that anyone would do this for any person's parents. He [i]redrew[/i] several decade old chalk outlines? Remade the scene of the crime? All just to taunt him?

[i]"Oh... you are a truly [b]extraordinary[/b] specimen. I look forward to [b]breaking[/b] you."[/i]

And it finally ended. She stayed down, crouched, shaking for several seconds. That complete [i]ba*****[/i]. The absolute nerve of anyone to do this... how [i]he[/i] was not the one locked up here was beyond her.

She only just heard the sound of air caught up in the fabric, turning swiftly to him, tense.

"Get away from there."  Dropping down into Crime Alley, the focus of the Batman of this universe turned away from the outlines.  It was bad enough that someone like Strange had the audacity to recreate the crime scene of his parents' death...  but now this person, whom he did not know, was standing there with a tape recording of Strange's voice.  Was the armored stranger one of Strange's pawns?  It didn't matter at this point.  His reasoning was shot, not just from the stresses of the night, but also from the poisoned blood of the Joker that ran through his veins.  She chose the wrong place, the wrong night, the wrong hour.

He rushed towards her, his right fist outstretched.  Startled by both his speed and reaction, Azumi was struck squarely on the left side of her helmet, a distinct [i]crack[/i] heard and her head spinning.  She spun around, holding her head, shaking it a bit.  This wasn't the Batman she knew.  This one was the native.  She knew this.  Yet, a part of her was stunned.  Was this Batman more violent than the one she knew?  She responded with a punch of her own, only to have her wrist grabbed, and her body's momentum used to throw her over his shoulder.  She landed jarringly on her back.  Getting back up, she threw a kick to his face, which struck.

Batman stumbled back a few steps, feeling his face.  It wasn't anything regarding vanity that made him feel.  It hurt more than he expected.  Joker's blood was going to make this difficult.  He threw another punch, which his opponent dodged and responded with a headbutt to the back of his skull.  Stars exploded across his eyes as he stumbled towards a nearby wall, stepping on the rose that was placed nearby.  Whoever she was, she was better than she gave him credit for.

Azumi was likewise stunned.  This couldn't be right.  He was taking too many hits.  What was going on?  She took a few steps forward, reaching out.

Batman responded swiftly and violently.  Grabbing her arm, he twisted it before flinging her face-first into the wall he was facing.  Not done, he wrenched off and dropped the helmet, grabbed her hair and pulled it so that she was ensnared, before landing one more punch to her face.

The punch caused her to lose her balance and drop to the street, landing on top of the outlines.  Spitting out some blood, she rolled backwards to get up, only to get the edge of a boot to her face, knocking her onto her back. She didn't want to fight him, wanted to help him, but this state was not the best. "Stop..."

He wasn't listening.  Walking over to the woman's position, he kneels down, grabbing her and pulling her upper body off the ground.  One last fist would end this.  He pulls back.

[size=1]"Please, Bruce..."[/size]

He stops.  What was he doing?  He lets go of her, before rising to his feet.  It was worse than he initially thought.  He was so enraged, blinded by anger...  He grabbed the tape off of the ground where she had dropped it. Grabbing the grapple gun from his belt, he fired a line, leaving the place where his innocence was lost, and where the darkness in his soul was born.


[i]Ptoo![/i] Blood splattered on the pavement from her spit, and she turned over, getting to her hands and knees.

[i]That went better than expected.[/i]

She wiped her mouth with the back of her right glove, then the palm, and finally put the helmet back on. Probably should have a better sealant on it, or a more controlled one. Another thing to improve on her armor.

Judging from the speed of the punch, Azumi assumed that a thug would be knocked out by it. At least her training did this much for her. Still, she just needed a few moments to rest. Apparently the physics of this universe gave endurance and vitality with the more people defeated, as paradoxical as that seemed, so she probably would want to get to that. She just needed a minute to catch her breath, just a little time.

[i]"Riddle me this, Crane.  What wears a ridiculous outfit, and is full of gas?"[/i]

"I wonder, could it be me again?"  Sarcasm dripped from the Scarecrow's voice.  Even after defeating the Riddler, the man still found it necessary to annoy him to no end.

[i]"Correct, Crane![/i]

At that moment, Scarecrow flew over Crime Alley, and saw the woman below.  What could miss Ian be doing here?  Surely she had better things to do than loiter in alleys.  Deciding it would be best to check up on her, Crane floated downwards, landing behind her.  He made sure to turn off the radio, just in case Nigma had some way of listening in without the press of a button.  He noticed the woman's posture, clearly that of one in pain.

"Having trouble, child?  I assume you had a little run-in with one of the local groups of neanderthals."

Azumi rolled her eyes, though they were invisible due to the visor. She sat against the building, looking up at him. It wasn't like he was allowed to touch her, and none of these guy seemed to be able to get a clear shot on her through these walls. "That b****** Wraith," she lied flatly. "Got the jump on me after I got in here. Don't you have better things to do than babysit me?"

"Apparently not, considering your affinity for getting hurt."  Crane replied, but continued before she could interrupt.  "Tell me about this 'Wraith'.  I haven't heard of a 'hero' of that name operating in Gotham before, nor in other cities.  And it hardly seems likely that such a new person would appear in Gotham without working with the Batman and his little 'family'."

Azumi just spat at him about the comment on getting hurt. She'd almost beaten this universe's Batman! Nevertheless... "Guy in black and blue. Had a sword on him, but I managed to dodge that. Not so much his close combat, though. For a new guy, he's pretty strong." She looked to him then. "As for getting hurt, what's this that I hear about Killer Croc? Something about you getting nearly eaten in the sewers?"

Oh, she had found out about that little incident.  Of course, Crane had his pride to preserve, so he did what came naturally to him.  He lied through his teeth.  "Simply rumors.  If you know anything about Jones, you know I would be dead it I were stupid enough to get that close to him.  On to more important matters, your description of Wraith doesn't match that of any heroes I know of, not even those that have appeared recently in my absence.  We'll have to keep a sharp eye out for him."  Scarecrow began walking out of the alley, gesturing for Azumi to follow.  "I want you to share any other information you may have gained that I might not know, underst-"

It was at that moment that Crane spotted another person walking out of an alley down the street, a bloody knife in hand.  Now there was a face he recognized.  Or rather, not so much the face as the fact that it was stitched together to look exactly like Bruce Wayne's.  He, of course, could tell it wasn't [i]actually[/i] the billionare, but the face had been expertly put together, with a level of detail that spoke of a master surgeon.

The man spotted them, and although he was surprised, he didn't show it.  Scarecrow noticed that his breathing seemed irregular, and he seemed to need to take a breath after every few syllables.

"I suppose you wouldn't recognize me with my new face, doctor, but it's Thomas Elliot.  Hush, if you prefer.  I heard you were dead."

"Ah, mister Thomas Elliot.  I've been hearing that quite a bit; it grows tiresome after a while."  Crane thought for a moment, then said,  "But, since you're here, perhaps it would be a good idea to form a sort of alliance.  We've worked together before, and you know we can benefit each other.  And it would only be simple tasks, such as keeping in contact with my other allies."

Elliot nodded.  "Of course.  I always enjoy working with an old teacher."  He looked at Azumi.  "What about her?  Is she trustworthy?"

Azumi's eyes widened in surprise, horror, fear... the exact emotion was hard to track. First off, she would ask another resource for the truth on Waylon Jones. Second, this person. He looked almost exactly like Bruce Wayne, though he could see faint surgical scars, as if the pieces of the face didn't quite...mesh. Next, his identity. Sounded like an old student of Crane, an idea that disgusted her on several levels. She listened to Crane's talk of allies, though she did not know who... perhaps he could get her names without her giving things away. But first came "Elliot"'s question. "I don't travel with him," she said, keeping her voice level. "I'm not much for the straw man's way of looking at things. A more comprehensive look at the [i]sewage[/i] of this city is usually best. We associate somewhat. That's all."

Yes, that was an insult. Yes, it was aimed at Crane's lie, but could be aimed at anyone here save Batman's groups. She would let "Hush" decide how to go about answering her from there.

Hush raised a surgically implanted eyebrow at the woman's attitude, but it was Crane that answered in a less sarcastic manner.

"Yes, we work together, and no matter how little I enjoy it.  She is trustworthy to an extent, but not enough to tell her all of our plans.  Although it's unlikely you'll see her again after this meeting, anyways."  Elliot nodded, understanding.

"As long as she doesn't interrupt my work, and of course, I expect something out of our bargain.  The latest surgical supplies are reccomended."

"Of course.  You will have everything you need to complete your projects."  Scarecrow replied.  He had already allied with others that worked in Gotham with bargains, and Hush was no different."

"So I assume his 'projects' aren't even attempting an attempt to call it science?" Azumi's tone was sarcastic as ever around them. She didn't let them answer, deciding to go into her explanation [i]now[/i]. If ever there were a time Scarecrow was particularly off-balance, it would probably be now, when he had found his ex-student. "There's a reason I call your sick project -- not projects, project -- a lack of any science," she said. "All you do is repeat the same exact experiment, in whatever incarnation, for [i]how[/i] many years? No variation, nothing. You walk in, set your gas or the Qwardian ring free, and watch people freak out. There's no control group, nothing you're basing off of." She crossed her arms, still not getting up. "I'd call you simply sick and twisted, but that's an insult to the rest of this urban nightmare. No, this is just idiotic and pointless for anything but your own complexes." A pause, more to let him dwell on that than to get an answer. "If you want to call it science, change your methodology to something actually scientific. Probably another reason you haven't even tried to send your 'studies' to any of the scientific journals in any universe -- they don't follow any basic scientific logic good enough to be called scientific studies. It's just your own ego, not any sense of professional studies."

Then to Elliot. "At least you aren't calling your apparent surgical work scientific. It's a project. A really disgusting project, but a project, not an experiment. There's a difference."

Finally she went quiet, letting them answer. She didn't actually respect either of them, no, but she did at least let them say what they actually were [i]doing[/i] instead of their façades. It helped, in her opinion.

The Scarecrow was none too pleased with Ian's little speech.  How [i]dare[/i] she question his methods, a mere soldier!  She didn't know anything about his experiments, how intricate they were, and how deep they delved into the human psyche.  He had studied fear for [i]years[/i], and not for all his research to simply be mocked by this girl!

"Don't you even [i]try[/i] to comprehend what I do, Ian!  I have spent my entire life studying the depths of the mind, you don't know [i]anything[/i]!  My methods are far too complex for one such as yourself to ever be able to understand!"

"Actually, she's right."  Hush said, calm as ever.  "Your experiments don't particularly follow the scientific method."

Crane glared, or at least that was the feeling Elliot got from the mask, at Hush.  "Do you [i]want[/i] those supplies?"

Hush merely shrugged.  "I only repeat what I observe.  Now, if you'll escuse me, doctor, I have a new hideout to secure.  That thief Catwoman, and some other girl with similar attributes found me, although they were too late to stop me.  But, I could do without being followed, so I'll keep in contact."  With that, the fellow villain left down another alley, presumably to where he had another hole-in-the-wall secured.

Crane took a few moments to mutter under his breath, but chose to move on.  Letting Ian get under his skin would only make him frustrated, and if he was frustrated, he would only be bound to make a mistake.  Therefore, he would concentrate on the situation, that being what Ian had found out.

"As I was saying, I need you to tell me any useful information you may have discovered recently, particularly about the TITAN."

Azumi decided to tell her mentor about this "Hush" when she got a spare moment. But now, it was time to go into the next phase of her plans. This was where it was going to get trickier. Timing was essential. "I found TITAN in the subway, under the museum on the west side where Cobblepot's holed up with his crew. Big tank of it. He's got about five guys guarding the thing, I'd guess, and he's using it to make Titans of his own for his 'initiations' of new members. Might want to get over there before Batman destroys it, since I assume he's not going to let more Titan creation fly.But before you go, I have a few questions."

She thought on this. What to ask? Best to be on the safe side for now. "What have you found out lately? I hear some things about Victor Fries, but nothing concrete, so it would be great if you could fill me in on that. You know, Mister Freeze? That and anything else you might have run into."

"I know of Fries, yes."  Scarecrow replied.  "From what I have been able to discern from conversations Penguin's employees have been having, the clown had originally blackmailed Mister Freeze into helping develope a cure for his illness, on threats of harming his cryogenically frozen wife.  However, it appears that the Penguin took Fries from the clown, and is now holding him within his base of operations in the museum located within the Bowery.  He is not useful to our plans, though, and in fact, it may be beneficial to leave him where he is.  Without the cure he can develop, the clown will die, getting rid of one more rival for dominance of Gotham.  As for any others..."  Crane paused in thought.

"Rumors say that Victor Zsasz was active in Arkham City, but has since been taken down by the Batman.  The Riddler was also within the prison, but,"  A not of smug satisfaction entered his voice.  "he has been taken care of.  Catwoman has also been said to be here, although she will be no threat to us.  She is only a thief, and has no ability or weapon that could defeat me.  There have also been sightings of Bane and Killer Croc, but I have yet to confirm these claims.  That is the extent of my knowledge.  As ever, be vigilant of the bat, as I doubt you have the ability to defeat him, as well as avoid running into that Wraith person."

- Changes back into "Wraith" suit when he's gone, and use Roof interrogation on a group of others to show competence

[u]3 hours to Protocol 10[/u]