Arkham Chapter 5

[b]Thanks. Now back to Azumi and a few others, mostly centering on her perspective, but other authors will be in where their respective characters to write talk. Thanks to The Doctor for the enigmatic figure's dialogue.

[center]Chapter 5: A History of Violence[/center][/b]


Azumi tensed up, reaching instinctually for her handgun as she turned. She didn't need more trouble. Her mouth spoke before she really saw the person. "Who are you, and why are you watching me?"

There he was. His armor looked oddly similar to that of Ezio Auditore in a sense, albeit with a red hood and white mask that was painted red for the bottom half and had a breath filter on said bottom half, a katara blade attached to each of his gauntlets. There was body armor on him, white with a red cross painted on, red armored plates over his arms. His skin looked dark under the mask if the little she could see meant anything, but the woman did not care that much. Not as he spoke. "We are known by many names. But you will come to know me as Azrael, loyal servant of the Order of St. Dumas, Interference."

She frowned at that. He knew about them? Well, she supposed someone would, anyway. Best to ask him what he knew about other things before she left, so she could get a good look at this world. Without Batman's help, she would need to work on what to do. Not to mention she needed to figure out how to decrease Crane's credibility. "So you know who I am. Big deal. Tell me what you know about anyone else."

Azrael was silent for a short time, and then nodded, as if considering her worthy to hear whatever information he knew.  "The most important thing you should know is about the warring factions within this city of crime.  The bird and the diseased clown have gone to war, both feuding over their precious poison, the one that they believe will make them stronger, especially for the clown.  Only poison could cure one whose soul itself is poison.  The next is that the gunman who never misses has come to Arkham City, and will be chasing down his targets, one of which is close to you.  Also, take advantage of the crow, for he will be at ends with the enigma.  His mind will be clouded by frustration.  Lastly, there is the strange man, who believes he is orchestrating everything, but is merely a puppet guided by a greater master."

"..." Azumi remained silent for a few moments. "It's kind of hard for me to quantify how little help you just were, aside from some basic information. I'll figure things out, but thanks for the advice. Now I--"

There was not another word from this man, who raised one katar, carving into the roof, smoke coming up before she could speak. Instinctually, she activated her omnitool on her left hand, beginning to scan the weapon for a schematic...

...nothing. He was gone, the smoke rising to nothing, a glowing symbol on the ground. Fantastic, really.

[i]Well, that was pointless,[/i] she thought. Momentarily she wondered why she would scan it at all, but dismissed the tool. She could get some leeway with Rikka if she got her a real weapon, after all. And she didn't have training with it yet anyway. In any case, this "Azrael" did have the right idea. She would need to play Scarecrow, not to mention anyone else here [i]and[/i] get Batman himself to decipher those words if she couldn't do it herself. She just hoped she could get in contact with him here.

As she changed her outfit (as quickly as she could, doing her best to ignore the [i]freezing[/i] cold in this winter night) and put her ODST armor in her etherspace pouch, she thought on what there was in the message. Okay, Two Face was one player, but they also had Cobblepot and the Joker in a turf war over TITAN, since this was her known Scarecrow's universe. The Joker was "diseased" somehow... and would that mean he would have Quinzel with him? She would figure that out soon enough. She needed a map and a plan. And the rest still needed work to figure out.

As she did dress, she heard some inmates down below, not taping the conversation as she had the one with Azrael.

"I can't [i]believe[/i] you dropped that pistol."

"I ain't going down in those sewers! That Croc freak is down there! He ate Scarecrow, he can kill us!"

"That guy was a weakling. Go down and get it."

Interesting information that she would also ask her mentor about, but first she had to avoid freezing to death or being caught. Within seven minutes, she was gone, on her way to get some form of map of the city and find out respective locations of both of the remaining gang bosses.

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[i]Sionis Steel Mill, Eastern Arkham City[/i]

[- In Steel Mill, tells Joker and Harley that Scarecrow stole his cure and that she's working with him. Does the "Terry" speech before escaping.]

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[- Vicki Vale saving as Wraith followed by departure (hint at the arrival of Tetch)]

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Some time had passed since Azumi had saved Vicki Vale, longer since she had seen the Joker and his crew. The whole situation of narrowly missing gunshots and running out had been harrowing, but riling him up had been worth it, and forced off his aim besides. Plus, one victory was good for her.

The large canister of TITAN was down there, near a sign for one "Solomon Grundy", whoever that was. She decided to talk to her mentor about it, hoping this would go transworld if necessary.

She was currently back in her ODST armor in this alley, and began to speak into her in-helmet Bat-communicator, knowing she was out of sight of most if not all of the henchmen, and trusting her HUD radar to work. "Batman, you know who this is," she said. "I'm in Scarecrow's universe, in one 'Arkham City', trying my best to help with some things. I met one 'Azrael', and need to know some things here, and for you to know some. First, my questions. See if you can decipher some names out of this."

She played the audio from her conversation with Azrael again, not bothering to say it again so as to avoid misinterpreting. Once it was done, she spoke.

"Azrael here seemed to know quite a bit. Cobblepot, Dent, and the Joker in a turf war and a war for TITAN, I assume. Yeah, I saw Dent in a courthouse here. Was out cold last I checked. Quinn is also here, and in charge of Joker's crew from what I see due to him being in less than stable condition. Probably due to TITAN. But anyone else? I'm following the order on screwing over Scarecrow, for the record. He's out in the streets, but hasn't had long enough time to plan, so I think the people really in charge are more of a threat. I hear the name 'Strange' from random people, but can't make sense of it. Come with the name, I suppose. And someone controlling him... Something to figure out. Last, that gunman who never misses who's after someone I care about... Let alone him knowing anything about me being creepy, but the only one who could be on his list of targets who I know is... well... you. Can you get me all information on the people I specified? Feel free to send me the files directly to VISR. Over." She decided to add that last one so he knew, not just her training.

[DCAU!Bats' answer in italics.]

Silence. He was here? Well, that was awkward. Still helpful, though. "Alright, I'll let you know if I run into anything. Just about Fries... Try to keep him stable. We'll need some allies out here. Oh, and I found a canister of TITAN, a big one, a tank, down in the subway under the museum. Try not to go to that one too fast, alright? I have something I'm trying to plan over here, and it could help to still have use of it. I can use my omnitool to scan necessary information, and that tech hacker to get into what I can. If you need help, I'll stay in touch."

With that, she cut off, looking up. A sigh. This would be tricky again, but not too bad. She jumped, climbing up, up, up, up to the top of the roof... and stopped, hanging. A Penguin goon, in his winter clothing with the animal drawn on the back in silhouette, was taking aim at... someone. She had to move, now, and get information. While he was looking and starting to take aim, she climbed up, crouched as she came over to an air conditioning unit next to him.

Her back was against the air conditioning unit before she stood swiftly, grabbing the henchman in winter clothing as he started to fire the rifle at... no, it was probably her, couldn't think about that, had to just concentrate on staying safe. In any case, she pulled him back up against the air unit, slamming him into it and holding him up with one forearm, pressing her combat knife against his midsection, whispering. "Penguin. Tell me where the [i]hell[/i] he's hiding, [i]now[/i]."

Her featureless face mask probably made him very nervous, because he did blurt it out, louder than she had, audible. "T-the museum! Iceberg Lounge at the back like he always is! That's all I know, I swear! Please don't kill me!"

She was glad for the information, but wasn't going to let him off easy. "Thank you. You've been very educational." She head butted him hard, and he went limp, dropping to the ground as she let him.

Unfortunately, as she sheathed her knife, she did hear a familiar voice.

[Jessica noticing her and walking over to talk. A minor argument before they both pass out from knockout gas.]

[u][center]6 Hours to Protocol 10[/center][/u]

[b]Please review. Hope you guys like this one.[/b]