The Doctor Is In

Knight Time

   The passageway exit opens to reveal a hallway in Arkham Manor. I make sure the wall closes before finding a decorative cabinet and pushing it in front of the exit.

Racing up the stairs to my room, I hear gunshots from outside. I stop by a nearby window and look out to see Joker, Two-Face, and Ozzy’s men outside, stalking the grounds. As well as two of Ozzy’s men guarding the entrance of the manor. I hear two gruff voices as well as footsteps approaching. I do my best and hide behind a potted plant, hoping the dark shadows cast by the pot and the warm hallway lights will conceal me.

“The boss still down there?” one of them asks.

“Yeah. Apparently Trixie’s back in town and he wants to give her a big welcome back into the team.” the other one replies. I recognize him, he was one of Ozzy’s first guards.

“Trixie? Who’s she? And doesn’t the boss already have Tracey and Candy? If you ask me those two are enough trouble as it is.”

So he does have other girls. Then there really isn’t any other reason for him to want me other than petty revenge. Although after all this time you’d think he’d be over it by now...then again, sociopaths never seem to let go of grudges.

“You know how the boss is, gotta tie up every loose end, gotta have everything to himself. And Trixie’s different from Tracey and Candy. She’s capable, she probably ran out ‘cause she realized she could do better than Penguin.”

I wait for them to pass down the next hallway before darting out and scampering down the hallway to my room. I quietly unlock the door and slip in, shutting it behind me. I find my costume and change as gunfire blinds my window view. From the sound of it, the inmates have completely taken over the asylum. Now it’s only a matter of time before you-know-who shows up.

I step out of my closet in complete costume. My Trickstress costume consists of a t-shirt and shorts one-piece with colorful random geometric shapes and a sky blue base, with matching gloves. This is mostly hidden under a long beige brown trenchcoat, complete with long combat boots, but I like to keep it unbuttoned. Why wear such an eye-catching piece if no one can see it?

I take the final piece of the costume, my light blue mask and hold it up to the small mirror on my dresser. Back to this again. I tie the mask around my face just as someone violently rattles my door from the other side. I feel around my trenchcoat for my marbles, yep, still there. And I have my daggers as well, I’m ready for just about anything.

The door bursts open and several Joker thugs stomp in and open fire onto the entire room, bullets flying everywhere. The dust settles to find the room empty,

“Nobody’s in here, I swear I heard someone though. Oh well, coast is clear.” one of the thugs orders.

I jump down from the ceiling, trenchcoat billowing, “Not quite.”

I kick the first one in the face, knocking him back against the rest. This gives me just enough time to reach into my trenchcoat and throw out several marbles, which hit the group and give out an electrical shock, knocking them all to the ground. Stepping over their incapacitated bodies, I pull out my phone,

“Natalie, status report, you should’ve contacted me by now.” she angrily tells me.

“Ran into a little trouble. You didn’t mention that Penguin and his men would be among the criminals invading the asylum.”

“Cobblepot was the one who got me access to all of those men in the first place, and so I cracked a deal with him, figured you could handle it.”

“Oh, so you’re the one who tipped them off about the passageways? All to lure Batman to the asylum.” Typical Amanda.

“Hey, this is a rare opportunity for me, even with the added risks, I couldn’t pass it up.” she defends, “Now get the job done and stay out of sight. I only asked you to do this because I know you can handle it.”

She hangs up, leaving me standing in the hallway of Arkham Manor. I hear pounding from the other side of the hall. That cabinet won’t hold for much longer, I need to get out of here. If I were Batman, where would I go?

I look around the hallway and see an open window, the curtains floating in the nighttime wind. I run over to the window, climbing over just as the cabinet comes crashing down, the china plates displayed on its shelf and its glass windows shattering onto the ground.

“There she goes!” Ozzy shouts, pointing his umbrella at me to direct two thugs.

I start shimmying up the manor drainpipe as the two thugs arrive at the window. The two thugs follow me up the drainpipe, but as the second one jumps on, the pipe supports snap, and it begins leaning back towards the ground. One thug loses his balance and crashes downward, and being the one higher up, takes the other thug with him.

I jump off of the pipe and cling my fingers onto the very edge of the roof of the asylum. Clutching the slanted tiles, I push myself up as the drainpipe falls to the ground.

“Forget about me darling?” a familiar voice asks over the low hum of whirling blades.

I turn around and see Ozzy flying up by his umbrella which is serving as a miniature helicopter.

I start running, feeling the delicate rooftop tiles slide under my feet as I step over them.

The air becomes cold as a tall, dark figure touches down in front of me, his cape closing over his armoured body. Batman...although I’d never seen him up close before, I’ve heard enough stories to know what to expect. The grandiose posture, the determined stare through the mask that has had villains obsessed for years.

Now’s my chance.

“Out of the way!” I shout, drawing a dagger and slashing wildly.

He raises his hand and grabs my dagger, but out of the corner of my eye, on the edge of the blade, the smallest trickle of crimson blood. Jackpot.

I draw back, expecting him to counter back and beat me to pulp, “You’re...you’re Batman…”

I hear a whirr behind me as something snaps at my back. I watch as a black wire net entangles around my front, throwing me off-balance and causing me to go careening down the roof. I feel the pull of the net and suddenly come to a stop, dangling of the side of the roof, held into place by the net. I feel the net pull at my skin again as it begins to reel back up,

“I’ve caught a live one!” Ozzy declares, as I realize that the net is attached to his umbrella.

I look over on the other side and see that Batman’s disappeared.

“Where’d he go?” I ask myself.

“Who cares? Now it’s just you and me, love.” he declares.

It’s fine. At least I got my job done. Mission accomplished, but now what? What does Ozzy have in store?

The umbrella whirrs to a stop as the end of the net snaps free from the umbrella. Ozzy holds me by the net out in front of him, before yanking his arm out further and dangling me over the edge, a small roof tile falling off the edge to demonstrate the height of the fall.

“Are you crazy?!” I shout, clawing at the net.

He chuckles, before swinging me over his shoulder and opening his umbrella, “C’mon, we’re going home.” he says as his umbrella flaps fold in and are replaced by two propellers that start spinning and lift both me and himself up and into the night.