Streets of Arkham
Chapter 1: It's Our Right to Fight

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You know, of all the worlds that have ever existed, I never once even [i]dreamed[/i] that I would end up here.  My breath was visible in front of me, the snow turned my fingers numb through my gloves, and my goggles kept fogging up.  I looked out over the train tracks elevated over the city below me from my position crouched on top of a roof.  The way I saw it, anywhere were some big crime was going down, [i]he[/i] was bound to show up.  It was only logic.

And that's when I spotted it.  My opportunity.  It wasn't hard to track this guy down.  His thugs had been put all around the abandoned trainyard he had hijacked to escape from.  I heard a rumbling, and the light of the train approached.  This was gonna be tricky.  Parkour training, don't fail me now!

Timing it as best as I could, I ran.  First to a roof ahead and closer t the tracks, then onto a gargoyle perched on its edge.  Without losing a stride, I leaped.  You know how, in movies, when the action hero jumps towards a moving vehicle and everything goes all slo-mo?  It's not like that in real life.  One second, I was jumping off the roof.  The next I was on the train.  It felt like I'd blinked and missed something.  It was slick with melted frost, and I nearly slipped off, but I kept my grip.  I [i]really[/i] didn't feel like falling to the city down below the elevated tracks.  Up now, I ran along the roof towards the gap between train cars.  I jumped down onto the small walkway, looking through the door's window.  Mooks-a-plenty in there.  Better just go ahead, stop the ring-leader.  I was about to do just that, when I heard a crashing sound from the car ahead of me.  I looked through the window to that one.

[size 1]"Next, stop... pain.  Arrival time... now![size]

[size 1]"You've been waiting all day to say that, haven't you?"[size]

The first one who had spoken was dressed in red, with a cape and hood, and wielded a staff.  The other wore black, with a blue symbol on his chest, two escrimas in hand.

Okay.  Maybe I have had dreams like this.

I ran into the car as Nightwing and Robin finished off the last of the thugs.

"Over there, Black Mask!"  Robin yelled, pointing to the car ahead of us.  The villain was running towards the engine.

The two began to run after him, but I caught up quick.

"Hey, wait up!"

Nightwing looked back for a moment.

"What're you doing here?"

"I'm just here to help out!"  I said, still running after Black Mask.  Both members of the Bat Family knew that there wasn't time to argue, so we kept running.

Black Mask jumped to the next car once through the doorway, unlatching the couples.  Our part of the train started to slow down.

"So long, Gotham!"  He yelled, raising a triumphant fist.  Well, I couldn't just let the villain get away.  I had an idea.

"Okay, guys,"  I said to Robin and Nightwing.  "You might wanna get outta the blast radius.  I know how to catch him."

I pointed my hand towards the car I was standing on, away from Black Mask's section that was getting farther and farther away.

[size 1]"Oh man, this is gonna hurt."[size]

I let loose the Explosive Fireball spell, which exploded right in front of me, away from the two heroes who had backed up just in time.  The force from the explosion propelled me all the way to the other part of the train.

"And good ridda-"

Black Mask didn't get to finish the sentence as I slammed right into him, knocking us both back into the inside of the train car.

Everything was spinning.  Rocking side to side.  Fuzzy.  It was hard to move.  I think I had one of those concussions.

Black Mask groaned beneath me as he regained his senses, shoving me off of him.

"You little [i]punk[/i]!  You thought you could stop [i]Black Mask[/i]?!  I haven't even seen you before!"

He leveled one of his guns at my face.  C'mon, Spence, just gotta muster up some magic to defend yourself.  Or move.  Or something.

[b]CRASH![/b]

"You wouldn't let me leave without saying goodbye?"

[b]POW![/b]

"Something like that."

Oh man.  Feel like I'm gonna hurl.

"Then here's one for the road!"

The sound of gunshots rang through my head like jackhammers on my brain.  Ouch.

Suddenly, everything got bright again.  Light, dark, light, dark.  Just make up your mind.

"What th-?!"

More crashing.  I think I felt glass falling on my back.  Why wasn't Batman doing anything?  Had he not even noticed me?  I think I rolled under one of the seats or something.  Maybe.  Everything was blurry.

"Not again!  You'll never take me back!  NOOO-"

"Muzzle him."

The sound of something hard hitting something else hard.  Probably Black Mask's head, since he shut up.

"Cabin is empty.  We're ready to- wait..."  Something prodded against my side.  Couldn't a guy get some sleep around here?

"There's someone else here.  A kid."  A pause.  "No, never seen him before.  Looks like he might be one of the Bat's tagalongs."  Another pause.  "Alright, Strange wants him brought in.  Tie them both up and take them."

I don't remember much of what happened after that.  Whirling sounds that could've been helicopter.  The night air on my face again.  On the ground again, being pushed through a line.  Blurry faces.

"They're throwin' kids in here now?"

"...low, even by our standards..."

"That Strange is a real bastard..."

"...can't hold me!  You can't contain Black Mask!"  In and out.  "...die for this..."

"Leave him... rich boy comin' through..."

Darkness again.

Next thing I know, it feels like I'm being dragged.  The ground is really cold.  Snow?  It is the middle of winter out here.

There's something wet and cold being pressed against my head, and it clears up the fog a little.  I opened my eyes.  The light stung for a little while, even if it felt like it was cold enough to be night.  When I could see right, there were faces above me.  Couple of guys in blue hoodies.

"Easy, kid.  We got you.  You don't have to be going anywhere soon."

"...where..."  Was that my mouth moving?  I mean, I know it goes on auto pilot most of the time, anyways, but it still felt like my brain had been replaced with a bunch of cotton balls.

"Arkham City.  Don't worry, though.  We're not like the rest of the monsters in here."

"Hell,"  the other guy said.  "we [i]worked[/i] on this place.  Strange threw us in here for no reason!"

The first man nodded in agreement.  "What're they doing putting a kid like you in this hell anyways?"

I managed to crack what I think was a smile.  "Guess I just... poked the bear a little too hard."

One looked at the other, and shrugged.

"Just get some more sleep, kid.  You'll feel better soon."

"Sleepy time sounds real nice..."

Then the light went out again.

An hour later, I woke up.  I'd never had a hangover before, but I think this is what one felt like.  My upchucking into a conveniently placed pale nearby helped support that hypothesis.

Another half hour, and I could stand up again.  Motor functions, check.  Reaction time, check.  Thinking ability... we'll get there.  Sarcasm at a hundred percent, though.

I thanked the kindly political prisoners (there's a sentence I'd never think I'd say), and left.  I'd like to stay and sleep off this killer headache, I really would, but from what I was able to gather from them this Arkham City thing was insane.  Normal criminals running free with all the criminals of a super variety, causing chaos.  If there was anything I learned from Kirkwall, you can't just wall off the crazy and pretend that it's not there.

People needed help, and not even Batman could get to them all.  Good thing I was on the job.  Mostly.  My head still felt like it had exploded and then put back together with papier-mâché.

Man, this night was gonna [i]suck[/i].

[u]8 hours until Protocol 10[/u]