Batman: Arkham Asylum (Pre-Edit)

Chapter 4 - The Giant, Interactive Nightmare.

Finally, Batman reached the Morgue, and blue fog crept along the floor. Body vaults opened and closed constantly, stretchers sliding in and out. Something was whispering to him "Leave.... Get out..."So Batman did so, he opened the door, expecting to come back into the corridor, but entered an identical Morgue exactly the same as the room before. Three tables in the middle of the room stood, carrying a body bag each. The bags were stained, and moving partially. Without thinking, Batman opened the first body bag. There lay a man, skin pale and slightly blue. His hair was neat and wearing a smart suit with a bright red tie. The man's head moved to face Batman. His pupils were non-existent."Father?" questioned Batman."You should have stood up to him son. LIKE A MAN."He approached the second. A woman, with lipstick and makeup on, with her hair tied in a bun. She was wearing a black dress. She also had no pupils. "Mum?" stumbles Batman. He was beginning to feel very weak. "Help us Bruce!" said the corpse of his mother. "Don't let us DIE!"Finally, weakened immensely by the shock of his parents talking to him for the first time in over 20 years, Batman approached the final bag. It didn't open like the others. The blood on the bag, where the chest is located spread quickly. A figure burst out of the bag, and stabbed Batman with needles in their hand. Batman could not see anything before he collapsed to the ground. When he regained his strength, he put his arms up onto the table to support himself. All the body bags were gone. When he looked behind him, the Medical Facility was in pieces. Random bits of flooring were spread across the scape, so there were huge gaps between them, some impossible to jump. Batman found a way over them, and jumped up behind a large, ragged slice off the Medical Facility wall. Four syringes, containing a luminous yellow solution grabbed onto the wall above Batman. He took cover against the wall, as rubble fell away from the wall. The syringes were attached to a hand, and the hand was attached to a body. The giant man, floating above a dangerous void, and the centre, appeared like the eye of a hurricane. He wore a matted mask, and the eyepieces glowed yellow like the syringes. It's mouth was a gap in the mask, only wound together with a few pieces of delicate straw. The corner of his lips had two gas mask filters attached. He was wearing a tunic, with lines of string, connecting shreds of the leather to the man's chest. That was the only clothing he had on his torso. He had a loincloth covering his groin, on top of leather leggings and reaching down to his ripped leather boots. Scarecrow was controlling Batman's nightmare.  "Poor little bat..." he echoed around the endless dream landscape. "You're in MY world now!" His eyes cast a sharp beacon, cutting through the ground. If Batman was caught inside the line of sight, his life would be lost, even though he was living a fantasy. Carefully taking cover around a corner, Batman noticed a Bat-Signal, placed perfectly to defeat Scarecrow. Inside a landscape like this, the King of Fear was very vulnerable to light. Parkouring around the ragged bits and pieces of the Facility, crouching behind appropriate objects to avoid Scarecrow's gaze. Strafing around the final corner, the spotlight in view, Batman carefully creeped up to it. He grabbed the casing of the light, and rotated it at a 90˚ angle. It creaked, giving away the Dark Knight's location. "What was that?" said Scarecrow gingerly. In the giant's peripheral vision, he spotted movement to his left. Eyeing Batman, he raised his syringes, before getting shot by pure light. The light spread through Scarecrow's body like an infection, and tearing it apart like burning paper. "Nooooooooo!" The entire landscape turned white, and Batman collapsed, waking up to be back in the Morgue, mostly unharmed. Throbbing, Batman's head felt like a piston as his brain felt like it was bouncing around inside his skull.

He held his head in agony. He could not get rid of this insane pain. All of a sudden, it was gone. He felt just like he did at the beginning of the night. "Can you hear me?" invaded Oracle. "Bruce! What's going on?""Oracle... I'm OK.""Thank God. I lost contact! Are you sure you're alright? Have you found my Dad?""I'm fine. Had a little run-in with Scarecrow, slowed me down. I'll get back to you in a bit."Batman hung up, and left the Morgue. The lights were still flickering eerily, but there was nothing too unusual. Bright fluorescent green arrows on the ground snaked around the corner. Expecting to see Gordon's corpse, it was only an Arkham Guard. It wasn't Gordon! Batman thought. Crane's gas must have affected me more than I thought.The loss was still not ideal, but better than losing the city's Commissioner. The arrows lead to a double door, being slowly taken down by thugs on the other side. The doors flew open, revealing two normal henchmen, but a High Security Henchman followed. He is the average maximum security prisoner at Blackgate Penitentiary. He, along with many others, are identified mainly by their orange and red jumpsuits and iron restraints that conceal their faces. They are silent killers that rely on their knives in doing the Joker's dirty work.Since they carry knives and block most of Batman's attacks,  Batman must perform a Cape Stun on them (hurling the weighted ends of his cape at the convict to disorient him) to daze them before they can use their knives, then perform a strike followed by a Ground Takedown. Of course, there were two other regular men, so he had to prioritise. Finishing them off, he turned to his left and kept following the arrows, approaching a boarded-up door, but another corridor to his right. He moved into the Experimental Chamber, where Joker's face showed up on a TV screen. "Your precious police Commissioner is just through the glass. Take a look!"Harley stood, armed, on the other side of a reinforced glass window, holding Gordon hostage. "Harley's under strict instructions to kill the old man if she hears or sees anyone in the room. I've told them all you're on the way. So here's the deal: if you can find a way to get to Harley without anyone realising, I'll give you your next present! Fail; and the old bag dies! Hell, I may even give you Harley! It looks like you could use a new sidekick!"The screen flickered off, and knew this task would be very difficult. Approaching the nearest air vent with caution, Batman placed the grate to the side, and began to crawl through. He dropped down into a little room, spotting another vent straight ahead. He heard some goons on the other side of the wall discussing the plan, thinking that Batman will never get past them. They were very, very wrong. Exiting the vent, and into the chamber, Batman took down the first guard, just as Joker's voice echoed through the chamber. "Remember! If you even SMELL a man in tights, then Harley kills the old man.""This old man looks like he's gonna pee himself," urged Harley. "Someone bring me a bucket.""Keep your trap shut," said Gordon. "You won't get away with this."More men fell to the ground, unconscious. Batman noticed a very claustrophobic room in the centre of the chamber. It was impossible to see inside, the windows were tinted, and he had to secure the room and save Gordon before he could go inside. "Listen boys," said Joker. "The Commissioner's just DYING for one of you to spot the Bat-freak! I've got a SHINY prize for the one that sees him first!"Batman, finding a staircase up to the main observation window, where Harley was, was blocked off by an electric gate. He grappled up onto the ceiling of the small room, and smashed through the glass, bringing Harley down with him. Now unconscious, Harley remained on the floor, immobile. Gordon chuckled. "You took longer than I thought.""He's out of control," said Batman. "He's trying to prove something. I'm not sure I can stop him this time." "You'll do it. Batman, listen. We're not alone. He's got something else down there. I don't know what it is." pointing at the small room Batman spotted before. "What a BLABBERMOUTH!" commentated Joker. His crazed face appeared on the screen. "Spoiling a surprise!" "Be quiet." Batman demanded."Oh! Am I getting to you? Am I? Good! You're going to love this next bit."