WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!
Part 8 - Drones in the City of Fear
Have you ever had to sneeze really badly? Your nose quivers, your eyes squint, you take short breaths in anticipation of that moment of sweet sinus relief... and then it's gone. Your head reels from the pressure, but more than that, you're disappointed in yourself for not following through on the payoff after such a satisfying and agonizing build. That's how it felt when I heroically swooped in, grabbed the Arkham Knight from his dumb tank that I had just defeated, and prepared to punch him in that flashy LCD-screen face of his. But then wouldn't ya know it, the fear toxin takes hold again and the Arkham Knight's mask becomes Joker's face (just like it did for Mr. Freeze when I tried to punch him in Arkham City), which gave me the idea that maybe this isn't a guy we want to be punching. Victor Fries did help me in the end after all, for without his cure I likely would have died from Joker's infected blood not long after Joker did.
But by the time all this went through my mind, the Arkham Knight had gone. Vanished. Escaped using some trick of the night that only I could have known... Then all of a sudden a message from Poison Ivy, using the bat-facetime device. Her trees were in trouble! She needed a jolt of electricity from the Batmobile's power winch to give her enough energy to produce the spores to counter Scarecrow's fear toxin {or at least that's how it would have happened if I wrote it}. I drove over there as fast as possible and hooker her up with the best mobile energy source that the Wayne Enterprises Applied Sciences division was able to create. Finally with our combined efforts, the gas was starting to recede. It took everything that Ivy had left to complete the molecular transformation, and when she staggered out of the trunk of her gnarled tree, she wafted away like dry leaves off an autumn branch. She was gone, but her sacrifice saved the city she so often terrorized. Based on Pamela Isley's psych profile, I don't doubt she would have turned on me soon after the city was safe, but now we'll never know if she truly turned over a new leaf... #NatureAlwaysWins #BatmanAlwaysPuns
What's that, Alfred? A message coming through on the police SWAT radio channel? But all the SWAT teams left during the evacuation! Turns out it's coming from Commissioner Gordon's police radio, and that he has somehow tracked Scarecrow himself to an abandoned shopping center on the other side of town. It sounded like a trap to me, but what other choice did I have but to follw? When I arrived at the mall in the Batmobile, it turns out the militia had indeed captured Gordon, and as soon as I approached, they sent him down an elevator deep underground. A scan of the area showed a labyrinthine network of freshly excavated tunnels, so I had the bright idea to take the Batmobile down there. In order to do so, I had to attach the power winch to a stable point and gently lower the car down the wall, which is a little bit like rapelling (or abseiling?) down the side of a building in a tank.
But it was a good thing I brought the car, because who should show up to spring the trap but the Arkham Knight, again in a gigantic obnoxious vehicle, against which I had no chance of survival. I tried my best to drive like crazy in order to lure him through obstacles, into traps, and within range of the explosives that had been set for the excavation, which did do some damage to his excavator. But in the end he cornered me and confirmed that he was the one who told Scarecrow about Barbara's identity. It was pretty clear now that the Arkham Knight was not a career criminal, but rather someone with knowledge of my darkest secrets. But before I had time to puzzle about something similar Scarecrow had said about my darkest secrets in the airship, the Knight's excavator surged forward and I just barely had time to eject myself free before my trademark ride was crushed to pieces. At first I was sad, but only until I realized that this joyous turn of events meant no more drone combats or obstacle racing challenges!
However, it also meant that the Arkham Knight had easily bested me in a battle of resources, which made him assume that he could best me in a battle of wits as well. He allowed me to get close to rescuing Commissioner Gordon before cornering me once again (this time with a simple handgun) and making a classic supervillain mistake: revealing their grand plans and goals right when they think they've won. In the Arkham Knight's case, this included his secret identity. Now in deference to the sheer magnitude of this plot point (and the opportunity to tell you whether my initial guess was correct), I'm hiding the rest of this post behind a Read More link. So if you don't care about being #SpoilerFree, please click the link and continue...
Yes, that's right, it was the J-man himself. Not the Joker, mind you, but Jason Todd, the second Robin, who as it turned out was NOT killed as I assumed from the evidence. The Joker did, however, torture him and turn him against me, leaving some nasty scars (both mentally and physically) and a burning hatred that turned him into my most challenging enemy yet. Yet it was that hatred that allowed me to defeat him - as Jason got in my face for a final taunt before finishing me off, he left himself vulnerable to a massive head butt. This blow was not only savage enough to knock him back long enough for me to escape, but it was also expertly placed enough to disable his detective mode device. Finally the LCD-screen mockery of my mask was gone, revealing only a glowing red hood-like helmet covering his face.
The Knight instantly grappled up to a vantage point - using the first lesson I taught him for facing a dangerous opponent in a location with plenty of headroom. While he couldn't track me using detective mode, he was equipped with a sniper rifle sporting a high-powered scope, making him almost as dangerous as Deadshot if he were to spot me. He then called in some support in the form of drones, sentry guns, and militia soldiers, his own neverending supply of "sidekicks." These newest ones were sporting "Optic Deflection Armor," which effectively blinded them to my own detective mode. But in the end, the student did not become the master and I eventually managed to sneak up underneath him, unseat him from his perch, and have a little heart-to-heart with my former partner. I don't know if I was successful in turning him back to my side, because of course he
disappeared when I wasn't looking. But at least he didn't kill me when he had the chance, so I consider that a victory. I'd like to think it's maybe because of the emotions I stirred during our last confrontation when I called him Robin, one last time...
{Editor's Note: Jason Todd is totally the name I wrote down in my notebook during my first playthrough of the game. #SawItComing}
Part 10: A Very Arkham Conclusion
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