Arkham City Post #1: Opening Sequence

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!

Intro

A year has passed, apparently, since that seemingly endless night where I found myself trapped within the confines of Arkham Asylum by my arch-nemesis The Joker.  I had to battle through a significant portion of my rogue's gallery - Bane, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy - and overcome some overwhelming challenges before I defeated the Clown Prince of Crime himself in a daring, Titan-enhanced showdown high on the rooftops of the Arkham Penitentiary.  But in the end, justice prevailed and the Titan program, which claimed the lives of co-conspirator Dr. Young and so many other innocent victims, was shut down.

However, as is often the case with the plots of supervillains, the completion of one obstacle only leads to the emergence of a much nastier one.  Such was the case with Arkham City, the heinous and despicable slum/prison devised by Gotham City Mayor (and former Warden of Arkham Asylum [and current host body for the spirit of Amadeus Arkham, apparently... at least according to those mystical/magical Chronicles of Arkham that appeared throughout the last adventure]) Quincy Sharp.  It seems we are no longer interested in attempting to rehabilitate criminals and reintroduce them to society - we simply quarantine them in a portion of the city that we give up for lost and try as hard as we can to prevent their escape.

 Well, I had just about had enough of this scheme, so I dressed up as my alter ego, billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, and marched down to a press conference to mobilize some political support for the burgeoning "Shut Down Arkham City" movement.  Everything was going well, Wayne's speech was inspirational and moving, Vicki Vale was lookin' fine, and the crowd was just getting into it... and that's when the SWAT team arrived.  I was immediately surrounded by troops that I recognized as belonging to TYGER, Dr. Hugo Strange's company that recently took over security for Arkham City.  I couldn't very well make a display of my mad skillz right there in front of all that press, so I had no choice but to go quietly.  Which is easy to do once you let yourself get cold-cocked with the butt of an assault rifle...

When I regained consciousness, I was tied to a chair with Strange's sickening chin-bearded mug pressed right up against mine.  The stench of his breath made it hard for me to concentrate on much that he was saying, but I did catch a mention of something called "Protocol 10" ... OH and also he let drop that he knows Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person.  (Maybe you remember an episode of the Animated Series where Alfred, Robin, and I dealt with a similar problem?  Yeah, adopted from the same case files.  This is how it "really" happened.)  He cautioned me not to try to escape, otherwise he'd tell the whole world my secret.

I thought about it for a minute, blinded by an interrogation-style hot light, staring at my chair-bound form in the mirror ahead of me, listening to Strange's haunting introduction video.  It sure would be a hassle if everybody in Gotham knew the identity of Batman.  The government would probably freeze all my assets, raid Wayne Manor and demolish the Batcave.  I have enough cash stashed in my Bat-mattress for Alfred, Lucius, and I to set up shop on some deserted island and operate under the radar for quite some time, but I couldn't afford to be off the streets long enough to set that up.  On the other hand, I would be able to do far less good if I remained trapped in here as Bruce Wayne, allowing Protocol 10, whatever it might be, to go into effect.  I resolved to escape, and pulled it off by rocking myself out of the chair and headbutting the guard who responded.  Before I was overtaken by a slew of Strange's armed minions, I was able to snatch the security encryption card from the original guard's radio, which I was sure I'd be able to make use of later.

I was tossed into a courtyard and forced at gunpoint to fall in line with a bunch of foul-mouthed, foul-smelling, orange-jumpsuited inmates.  They took one look at my designer suit and bruised face, and thought they could have their way with me once the gates opened.  If only they knew... Actually, some of them did get an opportunity to know very soon after that.  After a few moments in a holding cell with Jack Ryder (yes, the famous news reporter was imprisoned by Strange as well, for what reason I could only guess), the gates opened and a flurry of enemies jumped the fences and attacked immediately.  No point in holding back in displaying my skillz now, as survival mode fully kicked in.  Plus, I thought, showing off a little might convince that damn fool Ryder to stick close to me, however useless he had already proved in a fight.  It's always good to have allies on the inside...

Even with my hands and feet shackled together, I was able to make use of my impressive physical prowess to counter the incoming attacks and put down the first wave.  My undoing was trying to help Jack Ryder to his feet and support him to the end of the gauntlet, which distracted me enough for one of Penguin's goons to sneak up behind me and crack me in the head with a lead pipe.  He dragged me before the short, bird-like villain himself - cigar in hand and broken beer bottle in place of a monocle - who promptly booted me in the face, after which all went black.

Part 2: Rescuing Catwoman