• Published 9th Apr 2012
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My Little Arkham - ADHD365



The Mane 6 are put into Arkham City. They have to find a way to survive and a way back home...

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Lazarus

Pinkie Pie opened the door and walked inside. It automatically locked behind her when she shut it. The room she was now in was very small. The only object in the room was a table with a gold cup on it. The contents inside produced a blue fog that poured off the table.

Suddenly, a voice came from her mind. The voice of a man was speaking inside her mind as loud and clearly as it would be if it were right beside her.

“Welcome, Element of Laughter. I am the great Ra’s Al Ghul. Before you lies your first Demon Trial. Simply drink from the chalice. It is that simple.”

Pinkie Pie cautiously approached the goblet. She looked inside and saw a glowing turquoise liquid inside. It didn’t look very good, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

She stood on her hind legs and grabbed the cup with her hooves. She sniffed the blue fog. It smelled like vinegar. She worriedly looked around. She was beginning to think that doing this was a bad idea, but she had no other choice. She took a deep breath and lifted the cup to her lips.

Trying her best not to gag, she downed the liquid inside. It tasted worse than those muffins that Applejack had made for Sugarcube Corner’s free samples. Nevertheless, she continued to drink.

With each gulp, she noticed that she felt considerably good inside. She felt complete, pure, and perfect. She hadn’t felt this good in a long time. She closed her eyes and continued to drink.

On the last gulp, she felt better than she had ever felt before in all her life. Better than when Cranky Doodle Donkey agreed to be her friend, better than when she realized her friends had thrown her a surprise birthday party, even better than when she saw the Sonic Rainboom that made her want to smile forever.

“Good. Feel the Blood of the Demon course through your veins, restoring your health and twisting your will.”

When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that the brick wall in front of her was being blasted away in various sections. She saw that behind the wall was an opening to the outside. She walked through the opening and looked around with wonder. Her hair returned to its normal poofy texture as she saw where she now was.

“I’m back home! Yay!” She screamed happily.

She looked around the Equestrian landscape and paused. Something wasn’t right. This was Equestria all right, but it looked extremely different. Like it had looked when Discord returned the first time and made Ponyville the chaos capital of the world.

Buildings were floating around in a disorganized fashion. The sky was overcast with orange clouds, and parts of the grass cut off and dropped to oblivion. She quickly realized that this wasn’t really Equestria, it was just some sort of vision that she was having. It must have been in whatever she had drunk in the chalice before.

As she continued walking forward, she saw a figure on her right. It looked like the man she had seen as the statues outside; only he was blue, and see-through. Almost like a ghost.

“Your next task is simple. Follow me through this world and the trial is complete. Touch anything but the ground along the way, and you will die.”

Ra’s ghostly form transformed into a blue ball that floated over a piece of ground that led to a large blue pillar on the far end of the valley. This didn’t seem so hard to her. So she had to walk through this place and not touch anything. Big deal. This would be easy.

She bounced along the ground after the blue ball. The only thing in this valley other than grass was an old light post, a building, and a fountain. She simply walked around each of them and bounced toward the blue pillar. She hopped up and pulled herself up top where Ra’s was waiting.

“Here I am! What now?” She asked.

The pillar they were on began to rise upwards.

“These tests prove if you are strong enough to help lead my forces. To help save this world from the evil that is destroying it.”

“Oh, I see. So it will help me stop really bad guys like Penguin and Mr. Strange?” She asked.

Ra’s only chuckled lightly before vanishing again. Pinkie looked around at her environment once again. Before her was another opening that looked similar to Equestria, but possessed more elements that related to Discord’s handiwork. Some buildings were still floating around in the sky, there was less ground for her to walk on, and there were quite a few more objects before her. Ra’s glowing blue form darted around objects, through buildings, and over any obstacles until he stopped atop another large blue pillar.

Pinkie took a deep breath and followed. There was much more in this area than there had been in the one previous. She did her best to avoid any and all of them and continue to only touch the ground. It was harder this time. The ground was covered with miscellaneous objects, and her pathway wasn’t as wide. To make matters harder, there was a lot more stuff that distracted her from her goal.

To her left, she saw Sugarcube Corner. She swore she could smell the baked goods cooking inside. It took all her willpower, but she continued to press onward. She had to remind herself that while none of this was real; if she touched anything but the ground she would die.

Eventually, she made it to the other side and met Ra’s there. She bounced over to him and awaited her next challenge. Ra’s only gave an evil chuckle, causing Pinkie to tilt her head to one side.

She heard a hissing noise behind her and looked. Four ninjas appeared directly behind her as figures made out of sand. Each one looked like Ra’s Al Ghul. She would’ve jumped back in fear, but she remained focused. Pinkie noticed that she had considerably more focus than she usually did. The ninjas almost popped before her and they seemed to move in slow motion.

A ninja to her right had begun his attack. Pinkie quickly thought out how she would take them all down. Using his momentum, she grabbed either end of his sword and pushed herself into the air. She bashed into his face, and then bounced off of him towards the ninja directly behind her. She grabbed his head as she flew past him, and took him to the ground. Both ninjas went down and vanished into a cloud of dust. The remaining two ninjas closed in for their attacks.

Pinkie glared at them and sprung into the air. She spun around in the air and swung at the nearest ninja. To her surprise, he dodged her. She landed on the ground next to the other ninja. He begun his attack, and Pinkie didn’t move fast enough out of the way. He brought his sword down across and made a cut down the right side of her face.

She did a back flip in the air and landed on the other side of the pillar. Her face stung from the ninjas blade. She reached a hoof up to her cheek and touched the cut. She saw the blood drip into her hoof, and her hair deflated. Her face turned to rage as she faced the remaining ninjas.

“All right,” She growled. “No more miss nice pony!”

She pounced on the right ninja like a cat, and assaulted him with multiple blows. He tried to block them, but he couldn’t. Pinkie yanked the sword from his hands as he went down, and yanked it through the ninjas neck. His head flew off, and his sand body began to blow away.

Thinking quickly, Pinkie threw the blade at the remaining ninja. He instinctively rolled out of the way, but she was already on her way to meet him. She pounced to his future position and struck him mid-roll while he was still on his back. He grasped his stomach and faded away.

Pinkie breathed heavily as she looked around. No more ninjas remained.

“Are you the one we have searched for, Element of Laughter? The one who will assist my successor?”

Pinkie said nothing. She turned back to face him, her face still full of anger. He gave a wicked grin and vanished again. She stepped toward the edge and looked down. The ground and the Equestrian landscape cut off completely. Ra’s had gone down into a twirling orange vortex in the dark abyss below.

Pinkie was confused. She didn’t know if she was supposed to follow Ra’s into the abyss, or wait. He said to follow him, but where he was going there wasn’t any ground. She was at a loss.

Even when she was in this angry state of mind, her Pinkie-sense was still very keen at predictions. Her deflated tail started twitching. She looked all around her for anything that could fall. The only thing above her was sky. She looked at the vortex again and thought a moment. Then it hit her. She was supposed to fall into the vortex after Ra’s.

She gave a satisfied smile as her Pinkie-sense served her well again. She jumped off the pillar and dove toward the vortex. As she neared, the light from inside blinded her and she shut her eyes. She continued to fall in the light until it dissipated. She opened her eyes again and saw a small platform below her. She was falling incredibly fast, but just before she landed, she slowed herself and landed softly. Ra’s was already there.

“The Blood of the Demon has allowed me to live for 600 years. Imagine the good that you could do with such a gift.”

Pinkie barely acknowledged him as he spoke. She was busy looking at her new surroundings. The world now looked industrial and dark. Much like the area by the Steel Mill, only much bigger. The only thing that made this a bit spookier for her was that there were some elements from Equestria in this world also. More buildings floated in a disorganized fashion around her, and everything was darker. It looked almost like a nightmare.

She wasn’t scared, but she was worried. Everything here looked very convincing to her. She knew none of it was real but if it were, she wouldn’t be surprised. Ra’s vanished again and floated across the world toward the blue pillar beyond. Pinkie stepped to the edge of the platform and looked around. There was no ground here, at least, not in one piece.

Bits and pieces of earth and metal that floated below her were the only thing she could think about using as ground. She stepped onto one piece of ground and stood there for a moment. To her left was another large piece of earth, and to her right was a piece of metal. She couldn’t explain it, but something inside her said that stepping on the metal was a bad idea. She looked to the chunk of earth. It looked very weak, but she felt okay about it.

Taking a deep breath, she leapt to the chunk of earth and landed with a thud. She expected it to fall out from under her, but it held. As she looked forward, she noticed this pattern continued all the way to the end. Metal platforms seemed to end as soon as they began, but the earth chunks seemed to lead somewhere.

She continued along the chunks of earth floating in the air, taking one at a time. She finally reached the end of the path and onto the blue pillar. She pulled herself up and looked at Ra’s.

“I can see that you, your friends, and the Detective have become weaker. The small quantity that I have allowed you to drink will only keep him alive for a few more precious hours. It is time for you to make the ultimate decision.”

Pinkie knew that she and her friends hadn’t done well. She had no idea what happened to Applejack, Rarity managed to make it out of the museum in one piece, she hoped Fluttershy was still okay, she knew Twilight would be fine, but Rainbow Dash had died. She suddenly felt sad again. Her best friend was dead. She felt like it was her fault somehow, but she didn’t know what she could do. Talia had mentioned that she could bring Rainbow back, but she didn’t see how.

Unless…

She figured that Ra’s had simply drank enough to keep him alive for that long, but she also remembered Batman telling Talia that he needed her to wake Ra’s up if he died again.

“Can the Blood of the Demon bring people or ponies back to life?” She asked him.

He didn’t answer. She didn’t need to hear him say ‘yes’, it made the most sense. Why wouldn’t it work? Her though process was broken when she heard the familiar hiss from behind her. She sniffed and readied herself once again. Doing an about-face, she saw four more sand ninjas ready for battle.

They all closed in on her. The drop behind her made her cautious, but it also gave her an idea. She backed right up to the edge and waited for their move. The two ninjas on either end sprung at her. She jumped in the air, grabbed them by the back of their heads, and pushed them off the edge behind her, while at the same time propelling herself forward.

She came between the remaining two ninjas and turned to her side. In mid-air, she kicked them both in the stomach and landed on the ground behind them. She then sprung into the air, grabbed the back of their heads and drove them both into the ground. They instantly blew away.

“It is time to face me, in person. Complete this final challenge, and the Blood of the Demon will give you the gift of eternal life.”

Ra’s once again vanished and fell down towards an orange vortex in the black abyss. Pinkie readied herself for the jump and leapt off the edge. Honing herself toward the portal, she accelerated herself until she was engulfed in the blinding light once again. She shut her eyes again as she continued to fall.

Suddenly, the light went away and she felt the ground beneath her. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in the same small room that she started in.

“You have done well, Element of Laughter. Now, come and find me, collect your reward.”

“Dashie…”

She stepped toward the door and opened it. Two ninjas on either side of her raised their swords in front of their faces. Pinkie stopped as she waited for them to attack, but they never did. She continued up the stairs, passing four more pairs of ninjas who all raised their swords in respect.

She looked at the large door in front of her. Batman and Talia were already there waiting for her. Batman looked like he was doing much better. Almost better that when she had seen him the first time in the church when he fought Harley Quinn.

“You did it.” Talia said.

“You sound surprised.” Pinkie said cockily.

“Of course not, I always had faith that you would both make it.” She replied.

Pinkie gave her a crooked smile. “Where’s Rainbow Dash? Is she alright?” She asked.

Talia bit her lip at her question, which made her uneasy.

“Your friend has…” Talia began. She stopped and looked around. Almost like she was looking for the correct words. “Something has happened.”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. She glared at Talia. “What happened?” She sternly asked.

Talia looked at Batman who gave her a look of concern. “Talia…”

Talia bit her lip again and looked back at Pinkie. “Yes it worked, but there was a slight… problem we had with her.”

Pinkie breathed slowly as she shot daggers from her eyes. “What was the problem?”

“We’ll talk about this later.” Batman interrupted. “Where’s Ra’s? I need to see him now. I’m running out of time.” Batman interrupted.

Pinkie glared at Batman now. He had no right to say what was important or not important now. If she wasn’t so sure that he could kill her if he wanted to, she would’ve attacked him right there.

Talia gave a sigh of relief. “Your final challenge awaits you through this door. I pray that the spirits will be kind.”

She opened the door, and all three of them walked through. Pinkie glared at Talia as she passed her. In the next room, they saw a large pool of liquid that glowed a bright green. A complicated series of tubes and wires connected to generators and other electrical equipment around it. In front of the pool was a man who was crouching. From far away, Pinkie could tell that he was extremely weak. His figure breathed heavily as he stared into the pool.

Batman led them. He slowed and stopped a few yards away from the man.

“Ra’s Al Ghul.” He said.

Talia stopped beside Batman. “Father.” She said.

Pinkie said nothing, but continued to stare at Ra’s, her eyes full of anger.

“Welcome, Detective… and Element of Laughter.” Ra’s grunted as he slowly got to his feet. “It is time… for your final challenge.”

He faced them and Pinkie saw that his face was peeling apart with dead skin and bruises. His eyes were white and foggy and they had dark spots underneath each. His hair was white and bald in some spots. He looked horrible.

“Kill me.” He said. “Replace me as Head of the Demon. It is your destiny.”

Pinkie was taken back by his request. He actually wanted them to kill him? It didn’t make any sense. He had boasted that he had lived for 600 years all thanks to whatever was in the Blood of the Demon. Why would he change his mind like that?

“I will never kill. Not even you.” Batman stated.

“What?!” Talia demanded. “You lied to me!”

“I needed a sample of your fathers blood. This was the only way.” Batman stated.

Pinkie’s mind was totally blown. That was a brilliant plan. The Blood of the Demon’s healing powers, bringing Rainbow back to life, confronting Ra’, she had no idea. Ra’s was really hell-bent on wanting them to kill him though. He stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him, and presented himself to them.

“Allow me to help you. Use my sword. Take. It. All.” Ra’s said.

Batman stepped forward. “No.”

Ra’s paused and looked at Pinkie. “What about you? Will you fulfill the destiny the Detective cannot and kill me?”

Pinkie stepped forward. “No. I wont kill anyone or anything either.” She said as she looked at Batman. She knew his secret identity now and there was no way she would betray his trust by going completely against his beliefs. Losing a friend’s trust is the fastest way to lose a friend.

Ra’s put his arms down. “And that is your final answer?” He asked.

Batman stayed still and continued to glare at him. Ra’s chuckled weakly and stepped backwards. He fell into the pool and the liquid started bubbling around him. It reminded Pinkie of a pot of boiling water.

From somewhere far above, there was a loud clap of thunder. Lightning began to arc from the Tesla coils above and continue all through the generators. It caused the air to feel tingly and Pinkie had a gross, rusty taste in her mouth. Electricity sparked and snapped from all around until a bolt of lightning struck the pool where Ra’s was. The pool now produced red smoke and an occasional spark of electricity.

Batman steadied his ground as the smoke cleared. Pinkie did the same as she witnessed Ra’s Al Ghul step up and out of the pit. He was now much younger. His hair was full all over his head, all the bruises and injuries from before were gone, and his eyes now glowed a sinister bright green.

“Now, only one of us can leave this chamber alive.” He growled.

Batman and Pinkie readied themselves. “We’ll see about that.” Batman said.

Ra’s removed his cape and discarded it off to the side. Both dragon tattoos on his arms glowed with the same intensity as his eyes. He reached for his sword and twirled it expertly around himself.

He glared at them before the ceiling made a cracking sound. It broke in two places and quickly engulfed Pinkie and Batman in sand. They both looked around and shielded their eyes as the sand made a cloud around them.

After a few seconds, the smoke cleared and Pinkie opened her eyes. Her ears drooped as she looked around. Like before, she was in the chaotic world with the floating rocks, buildings, signs, and debris. The only difference was that Batman was with her. The Blood of the Demon’s effects hadn’t completely worn off yet.

“Where is he?” Pinkie asked as she looked around, ready for anything.

“He could be anywhere. Stay sharp.” Batman replied.

The duo took a few tentative steps forward. While they were in this world, Pinkie could hear multiple voices inside her head. They weren’t understandable, but they were all whispering many different things to her all at once. It would’ve driven her crazy if she wasn’t on her guard.

From high above, she saw a black dot that seemed to grow bigger. The next second, Ra’s Al Ghul himself landed on the ground in front of them. His voice rang in her head, but she saw his lips move as he spoke.

“You should have killed me when you had the chance!”

He rose into the air, sword at the ready, and swung at Batman. He dove out of the way toward Pinkie and looked back. Ra’s rose into the air again, but this time he turned into a sand ninja and made six more copies of himself. Pinkie and Batman charged at the clones and got to work.

A ninja swung his sword at Batman and he expertly dodged each swing. Pinkie did the same and countered with a few blows to the head. Batman began an assault on the ninja and threw him at one of the others. Pinkie back flipped away from one ninja and kicked another behind her.

Eventually, all the ninjas were down except for one. Batman countered his attack and head butted him to the ground. He rolled backwards and got to his feet. The sand around him fell off and Ra’s stared at him angrily before vanishing in a purple cloud. Soon after, a small cloud of dust began to form in between them.

“Witness the true power of my Lazarus Pit!”

Ra’s popped up from the ground and floated in the air. He pushed Batman and Pinkie back to the edge of the makeshift arena with some sort of magical force. Batman braced himself in time while it caught Pinkie off guard. She rolled back to the edge by the rocks and lay on her back.

Suddenly, a giant form of Ra’s sprung up from the ground and stared at Batman. His eyes glowed an evil yellow. Several smaller sand guards stood between them and Ra’s. Pinkie sprung back to her hooves and charged at him, but whatever force had pushed them to the edge had remained. Luckily, Pinkie was ready this time. She braced herself and slid backwards toward the far rocks again.

Ra’s glanced at her and threw three large throwing stars at her. She rolled out of the way. Meanwhile, Batman began firing his electrical charges at Ra’s whenever he saw an opening in his sand guardians. Ra’s grunted and turned back to Batman. Pinkie ran along the outermost part so she could meet up with him again, but Ra’s hadn’t forgotten about her.

Five large blades popped out of the sand and rushed at Pinkie. She stopped and jumped out of their way. Batman continued to fire his electrical charges at Ra’s while avoiding large blades and giant throwing stars.

This went on for a few more moments until Batman gave one last shot of the electrical charge. Ra’s was hit and his giant form, the blades, and the guards disappeared while he screamed in the air and he started to fall toward the ground. Batman and Pinkie charged at him, but he vanished when he hit the ground.

“Ugh!” Pinkie exclaimed, irritated.

They looked around, but saw no one. They had a second to rest, but it didn’t last long. Ra’s screamed and popped out of the sand toward Batman. He landed and started swinging his blade at Batman relentlessly. Batman blocked each swing with his gauntlets. This went on for a while until he stopped the blade mid-swing and stopped Ra’s.

“Give… in!”

“Never!” Batman said before elbowing Ra’s in the face, grabbing his sword and holding it against his neck.

The world flashed bright and all three of them were once again in front of the Lazarus Pit. Batman still had the blade at Ra’s neck and Pinkie was right next to them. Talia slowly walked around all three of them.

“We are fated to rule this earth, to wipe it clean of the scum of humanity. Only we can do this.” She said. “My father is old, his time is over. Ours is just beginning. Take his blade. Kill him. Accept your destiny. Accept our destiny.”

Batman looked like he was considering her words. It was tempting, but he looked at Talia. “You know I can’t do that, Talia.”

Talia looked disappointed. “Then, beloved, you will have to die.”

Ra’s expression hardened again. He kicked Pinkie in the face just before both he and Batman vanished. Pinkie flew back to the wall and looked back.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” She screamed. “I want to help him!”

She got to her hooves and ran to where they were last. Pinkie looked around to see where they had gone, but she saw nothing.

“This is not your fight, this is his.” Talia said from behind her.

Pinkie glared at her. She wanted to say something to her, but she couldn’t think of anything. She was too frustrated and angry to think of anything more than an angry look. She stomped on the ground and looked down for a moment. All she could do now is wait for either Batman or Ra’s to return.

She looked back to Talia. “Tell me what happened to Rainbow Dash.”

Talia exhaled and looked down. “She…” She paused a moment. “The waters of the Lazarus Pit did bring her back, as I promised, however she suffered from a slight… side effect.”

Rainbow was alive. The happy part of her was brought out through her hair returning to its original poofy texture. She almost wanted to jump and scream and laugh and party. However, her face still showed signs of worry and frustration.

“What is the side effect?” She asked.

“The Lazarus Pit can cure any affliction, any disease, and bring people back to life. But, it renders the user temporarily insane and makes them believe that they need to kill.” Talia said. “When I revived her, she violently beat the water and thought that her legs were bleeding. I did my best to calm her down, but she flew away in search of someone named Twilight. She continued saying that it was her fault for her being like this and that she would kill her.”

Pinkie’s jaw dropped. “You mean Dashie wants to kill Twilight?! Because of an accident?!”

Talia nodded. Pinkie was shocked. She couldn’t believe any of this was actually happening. She was not going to lose another one of her friends again. There was no way she would allow it. She had to get out of here and head back up top. She was about to walk out the door when Ra’s appeared out of nowhere and slid back toward Talia.

Batman was also there on the opposite side of the room holding Ra’s sword. Pinkie ran to Batman’s side and Talia helped Ra’s to his feet. As he got up, he wrapped his arm around Talia’s neck and held a knife to her neck.

“What are you doing?!” Talia screamed with fear.

Ra’s focused on Batman angrily. “Listen to me, Detective, and listen well. You will kill me; you will lead the League of Assassins. Because if you do not join us, I will kill the only person you have ever loved.”

“This wasn’t part of the plan!” Talia panicked.

Pinkie looked at them in horror. Batman paused and threw the sword on the ground. He pulled out a Batarang and pressed a few buttons on it. He then prepared to throw it at Ra’s.

“Do it!” Ra’s hissed.

Pinkie didn’t want to look, but she couldn’t look away. Batman was really going to abandon his code for love? He threw the Batarang. It flew past Ra’s, turned around in mid-air and hit the back of his head. Ra’s grunted and stumbled forward, releasing Talia.

Batman was already on his way over to them by the time Pinkie blinked. Ra’s ran into Batman’s fist with his face and fell on his back. Batman reached down and grabbed him by his neck. He held him against a wall and prepared another gadget.

“De… tec… tive!” Ra’s wheezed.

Batman plunged the needle into Ra’s neck and drew out a decent sample of his blood. Batman put it away and released Ra’s. He crawled on the ground and coughed a few times.

“You should have killed me.” He said.

“Yes, he should have. What kind of a man sacrifices his own daughter?” Talia demanded. She turned to Batman. “And you. You lied to me. I thought you loved me, Bruce. I thought you were ready to join our crusade.”

Batman placed his hand on her shoulder. “Talia, I-”

“Don’t!” She interrupted before walking away. “You two deserve each other.”

Pinkie felt bad for them. Not because she agreed that Batman should kill just for her, but because they were so different. They both loved each other, and Talia just kind of broke up with him. He looked after her a moment longer before turning back to Ra’s.

“You’re looking old, Ra’s. What’s really going on here?” He asked.

Pinkie looked at him as well. Sure he looked old, but he looked way better than what he had looked like when she first saw him.

“I have used the Lazarus Pit too many times. I have lived for 600 years. My mind and body cannot take much more. Each time I enter the Pit, I am frightened of what will come out.” Ra’s said shakily. It almost seemed like he was confessing to something terrible he had done.

“The Lazarus Pit has corrupted your mind. Think about it. If your Pit falls into the wrong hands, you’ll be powerless to stop centuries of destruction. This is your chance for redemption, Ra’s.” Batman said. He began walking toward the door. “Call off your crusade, or I’ll be back for you.”

He and Pinkie walked toward the door. She looked back at him and could have sworn she saw him give an evil grin as they shut the door behind him

They were back in the chamber with the hidden staircase. It just looked like a normal floor once again. Pinkie ran ahead and grabbed Rainbow’s discarded saddlebags off to the side of the room. As she secured the bindings, the radio went off.

“Bruce? Where the hell have you been? I thought you were dead!” Oracle said.

“Sorry to disappoint you.” Batman said.

His remark made Pinkie giggle. He may have been all dark and angsty, but she still found some of his remarks somewhat funny.

“Did you find Ra’s? Hold on. Your suits readings are back to normal. Are you cured? What’s going on?” She asked.

They began running back the way they came. “Ra’s and his forces are based underneath Arkham City, extracting some kind of naturally-forming chemical he’s called Lazarus. He’s been using it for centuries; slowly perfecting the process until he was even able to bring himself back from the dead.”

“And you took some?”

“He forced me to. Small doses appear to heal most ailments, but even the small amount I ingested had a few nasty side-effects.”

Pinkie looked down. That reminded her of Rainbow Dash. They had to find Twilight and tell her what’s going on.

Batman continued. “Prolonged exposure has driven Ra’s over the edge.”

“So do you think you’re cured?”

“No. The effects are temporary. Ra’s tried to convince me to use his pit, but the risks are too great. When I’m done here, I’ll need to investigate this Lazarus technology further. I told Ra’s to shut his pit down.”

“And you think he will?”

“Unlikely. Ra’s is addicted to the pit. I’ve given him one chance to break that addiction, or I’d be back to do it myself.”

They ran trough the next doors, through the sewer, and out through the hidden door. They began running down the street toward the large room where Batman rescued the woman.

“Batman, Talia said that the pit made Rainbow go crazy! She said that Rainbow wanted to kill Twilight because she was blaming her for all this!” Pinkie said.

“That’s one of the nasty side-effects. I wasn’t sure about using the pit to bring her back, because I knew that would happen. We need to find her and let her know what happened.” Batman replied.

“Okie dokie lokie. The sooner the better!” Pinkie said worriedly.

They continued down the hallway with the announcer’s voice. Pinkie did her best to ignore the hanging bodies of the inmates above her as they walked out the door.

Batman got on his radio again. “Did Robin get you that blood sample?”

“Yeah. He’s down at Gotham General. It’s going crazy there. I’ll patch you through.” Oracle said.

The radio clicked and a male voice came on. “Hey Barb. Am I glad to hear from you.”

“Its me. What’s happening there?” Batman said.

“Bruce, its not good. Gotham General has at least thirty confirmed cases, there are nearly fifty at Mercy, and its looking like the pattern repeats all over the city.” Robin said.

“I’ve run a simulation. Joker’s blood could be in as many as 2,000 by the morning. The first fatalities are expected soon after that.” Oracle said.

“I’m on my way back to Freeze right now. Hopefully the blood sample I extracted from Ra’s will complete the formula.” Batman said.

“I hope you’re right.” Oracle said before the radio cut off.

“We need to move. Now.” Batman said.

Pinkie nodded and they took off toward the next area. Batman grabbed Pinkie and held her while he used his grapple gun to grapple up to the platform they had come from.

---

“Protocol 10 will commence in two hours.”

It took them a total of two hours to complete the Demon Trials. Pinkie remembered hearing Strange say they had four hours when they first entered this area. They were on their way back to the large hole by the Steel Mill.

They entered the room by the old train station where they encountered all the Joker thugs the first time. Batman held Pinkie and they grappled up through the hole in the ceiling into the sewer maze. They both climbed up and ran down the path they had come from. Making many rights and lefts, they finally stopped at the pool of water. Batman used his line launcher to zip over the water while Pinkie held onto his leg.

After that, they made it to the next area. They turned left and ran out on the metal bridge they had seen from above. Pinkie grabbed Batman once again and he grappled them up to the ledge high above.

Pinkie was panting. “Can we… take a short break?”

“No. We need to keep moving.” Batman replied.

They got to the end of the passageway and turned right. The way they had come from was locked by a metal gate.

“How do we get past this?” Pinkie asked.

Batman looked around and saw a button on a wall from behind a set of bars to his left. He backed up and prepared a Batarang. He threw it and it made its way toward the button like it had a mind of its own.

Just before it pressed it, the wall burst from behind and a giant, scaly monster charged at them.

“YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!” It roared.

Pinkie screamed and fell on her back. She backed away behind Batman while he faced the creature from behind the safety of the metal bars.

“I’m not here to fight you, Croc. Let me pass.” Batman stated.

The monster was massive. It had green scales all over its body and a giant mouth of razor-sharp teeth. Pinkie had never seen anything more terrifying in her life. She was glad Fluttershy wasn’t here. She’d probably have a heart attack.

The monster stopped and smelled the air. “YOUR SCENT IS… DIFFERENT. I SMELL DEATH ON YOU. I DON’T NEED TO FIGHT YOU, BATMAN. I JUST NEED TO WAIT.” The monster walked away from the bars and back to a pool of water in the floor. “I WILL ENJOY FEASTING ON YOUR BONES.”

The monster dove headfirst into the pool of water and disappeared from their sight.

Pinkie Pie shook violently behind Batman. “W-W-What was th-that?!” She asked.

“Killer Croc. We won’t need to worry about him.” Batman said calmly. “Lets find another way out.”

He turned and walked back to the bridge. Pinkie Pie used all her strength to get back to her hooves. Killer Croc would forever be in her nightmares after this. She turned around and quickly caught up with Batman.