Silent Knight

Chapter 3

A quick flight later and I had arrived outside the twisted factory's doors. The main lobby awaited my presence as eagerly as the guard outside the factory floor. I dealt with him easily by using the shadows around me and silence to position myself behind him and knock him unconscious. On the factory floor I encountered at least five armed men and a silhouette of the man in question. The Scarecrow.

"Alright, folks... I want you to keep the... *ahem..* Rodents out... I can't have any issues with my plans, you know..." his voice boomed from the tinted control center windows. I could see he was mixing something together. I couldn't tell what through the fogged windows.

I quickly got to work dispatching the men. I snuck around the room until I encountered the backside of one patrolling. I quickly grabbed his mouth and nose and dragged him to the ground. Unconscious.

"You know what happens when some berries of the patch go missing...?" Scarecrow said ominously. One of the men panicked and ran around the room frantically trying to find something. He encountered the body on the ground.

"Guys! I found it! He got Louis! He got--" I cut him off as I threw myself from the vents and slammed his skull against the wall behind him, making a resounding 'thud' through the factory. The room fell silent. The other three questioned for a moment before they began to investigate. They all came upon the two corpses in horror and realized what exactly that thud came from. They fanned out and began to search for me.

"Ok, ok... We can catch this guy.. We can catch this..." one of them began. "AUUUUGH!!!"

"What the heck was that, McCrawsk?!" another guy asked. "A HUGE FREAKIN' ROACH JUST MOVED THROUGH THE VENTS!! I'M FREAKIN' OUT HERE!!!" he panicked.

"...Calm down, man.. Just calm down... We can.. We can get out of this... We can..." the other one began before stopping for a moment, tears forming in his eyes. "Aw, what the heck am I sayin...? WE'RE NEVER GETTING OUT OF THIS ALIVE!!" he screamed. I could tell they were scared by the way they changed behaviors.

I ducked into the vents and crawled until I was underneath another one. I leapt out and body slammed him into the hard floor below us before diving into the vents and escaping again. The other two found the body and fled in terror to find me before I found them. It was too late, I already had my next target.

"SHOW YOURSELF!!" one of them screamed. "Shhh, idiot, you're gonna get us caught, dummy!" the other whispered.

One of the men climbed a long set of stairs and when he reached the top, I had already positioned myself on the ledge. I climbed up over the railing and pulled him over. His screams resounded through the room and the other man turned to face them. "WHERE ARE YOU?!" He screamed in terror.

"Here."

I dragged him into the darkness and knocked him out swiftly. I emerged from the dark shipping container and marched my way to the control center doors.

"...Well, they were pushovers... But you. You won't be..." Scarecrow cackled ominously. I shoved the doors and entered. A chair faced away from me at the control center. A strange substance was on the ground. It resembled some form of twisted mud. I stormed up and ripped it towards me. There he was, in the chair. I tore his mask off to find the tied up face of the missing scientist, Johnathan Crane.

"Crane. You're the Scarecrow? You have a lot to answer for." I said as I tore the tape from his mouth.

"B-Behind you! It's a trap!" he stammered.

"And you gloriously fell for it, both of you did!"

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain between my neck armor and helmet. I turned, dazed, to see the stuff of nightmares... A large, flaming, roaring scarecrow stood in my way, taunting me almost.

"Is the bat tired..? I'd hope so... Enjoy the nightmares, Batman..."