Arkham City: Meeting Mr. Zsasz

I might make a story for this later. But the basics are Kim is in Arkham City, she answers the phone when Zsasz calls, he stalks her and attacks her, she does manage to fight him off ans escape.

Though she did get stabbed and lots of cuts on her arms.

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STORY TIME

Kim had had enough. Two weeks in Arkham City, and no matter where she went those phones kept ringing. At first she hadn't noticed, but as time went on and on they became impossible to ignore. All the time.

ring ring, ring ring

There were rumors about the phones, about what happened to people who answered the phones. Each of them more gruesome then the last. She was sure that their imaginations were far worse then the truth, although she couldn't deny the... disappearances.

ring ring, ring ring

She knew it was a bad idea. She knew she shouldn't do it. Curiosity kills and all that.

ring ring, ring ring

But it wasn't ever going to stop. The ringing wouldn't stop... She'd managed to stay out of the gang wars so far by staying up high, but sleeping in the freezing cold winds was hard enough without that sound waking her up what seemed to be every ten minutes.

ring ring ri-

Kim paused for a moment after picking up the phone. After taking a deep breath she lifted the phone to her ear.

She heard breathing, then a quiet cackle. “...I remember you, I've seen you at the asylum... unfortunately, we never gotten the chance to be properly introduced...”

The voice was familiar, who was it?

Wait, how did he 'remember' her? She hadn't spoken, so he couldn't have recognized her by her voice...

She turned around, scanning the area. Could he see her?

More cackles erupted from the phone. “I'll be looking forward to meeting you...” They hung up…

Kim stood there for a few seconds... before hanging up the phone…



A slight taste of blood…

Kim opened her eyes; she had no idea where she was. The last thing she remembered was running an errand for Nigma-

“AAAHH!!!”

She jumped at the scream, backing up against the bars… bars? She was in a cage!?

A man stood across the room holding a knife… standing in front of another cage.

There was a man inside the cage, an inmate.

The man standing in front of the cage was stabbing, as the inmate inside tried desperately to get away, to dodge the blade as it came down on him. The man cackled… he was covered in cuts; all over his body. But they weren’t just cuts, they were tally marks.

“Zsasz…” She whispered, terror setting in...

“STOP! P-PLEASE! NO!!”

Zsasz grabbed the inmate by his hair, before pulling him close and slicing his throat.

“NO!!” She found herself screaming, just as the knife slit the inmate’s throat.

The inmate’s body slid to the floor, as Zsasz brought the knife to stomach; adding one more mark to the hundred or more he’d already carved into his skin.

Zsasz took a moment to enjoy his work, before turning to her…

“You’re awake. Good. I’m glad you got to see my work, before we got started.”

That voice… from the phone… “Y-you’re the payphone killer?”

He laughed. “I’ve been offering salvation to those lucky enough to answer, people like you.”

She was going to die. She was going to die screaming like a caged animal. Her whole body began to shake and Zsasz took a step forward toward her cage, running the still bloodied knife across the bars.

“I have to leave for a while, but when I get back; you and I can begin…” He let the words hang as he smiled at her.

Kim watched as Zsasz picked up the inmates body, taking it towards the door…

As soon as she heard the door close she immediately started to kick the bars of the cage, trying to knock something loose. She pushed on the top, but nothing worked. She found the lock on the cage… She checked her pockets for her Swiss Army knife, hoping to pick the lock, but it was gone. Her com link was gone too, she couldn’t call for help.

“DAMMIT!!” She beat her fists against the cage. “HELP!! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME!!? HEELP!!”

STOP IT! STOP IT!! If anyone COULD hear you they wouldn’t GIVE A DAMN!! She put her head in her hands, taking a moment to try to calm down and think. Stay calm, don’t panic! Panic and you die!!

She looked around the room, to the right was a console… she could see her knife!

She took off her boot and carefully aimed; if she screwed up she was dead.

After a moment lining up her shot she threw her boot. It hit her knife, bouncing it off the council and onto the floor! She reached for it, but it was still too far away! She took off her vest, holding one end of it she tossed the other end at the knife. It took a few tries before the vest managed to pull the knife into her reach.

Taking the Swiss Army knife, she began to try to pick the lock. She hands were trembling. She had no idea how long it had been, he could be back any second!

With a clink, the lock snapped open! She opened the cage and pulled herself out, heart still pounding.

She grabbed her stuff that Zsasz had stolen and placed on the counter, slide on her boot and vest, while running for the door. As she reached it, she heard footsteps just outside!!

He was back!!

She couldn’t ambush him; there was no place to hide that he wouldn’t see…

She went back to the cage, trying to be as quiet and careful as possible. She closed the cage as the door opened. It was him…

She got ready, she was sure it wouldn’t be long…

He kneeled by the cage, his fingers sliding across the blade. “I’m back, are you ready to begin? I am.”

She glared at him, waiting…

He turned his back to her. “You’re probably wondering how I’m going to kill you…”

She carefully opened the cage, making no noise.

“It won’t be quick; we’re going to have some fun first.”

She stepped out of the cage, trying not to breathe as she stepped forward…

“First, I’ll cut off your fingers. One by one. Then we-“ He stopped, he was looking at the council.

He knew instantly what happened, as she went to hit him; he ducked. As he ducked, he twisted around to face her swinging his knife. He laughed; he seemed to be enjoying himself. He brought the knife, which was covered in her blood to his lips. Her hand went to her stomach, she felt blood.

Zsasz lunged at her; she just barely dodged, falling on the other cage. Within seconds he was on her again. Kim lifted her arms over her head, trying to defend herself. He swung the knife, slicing her arms. She grabbed his hand, holding back the knife as her began to inch it towards her chest.

She was pinned by him. Desperate, she pulled her leg back and kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach. He fell back and she ran for it. She was almost to the door when he caught up, grabbing her hair and pulling her back. He grabbed hold of her, keeping her still as he lifted the knife.

At the last second she jerked to the right. The knife missed her heart, but plunged into her forearm.

She screamed in pain and struggled, trying to pry herself free.

He laughed. That son of a bitch laughed.

Kim reached into her pocket, pulled out her knife.

He pulled out the knife from her arm, running it along her face savoring the moment. “This was fun, but I want my mark now…”

She stabbed, he screamed.

She pulled herself away, he was on the floor, she’d stabbed him in the leg…

Kim ran for the door, up the stairs, out to the streets. She ran until she collapsed in the snow, gasping for breath and trembling. She pulled herself out of the snow, leaning against the wall.

She was going numb, fading in and out of consciousness…

Absentmindedly she reached into her pocket, slipping the com link on her ear, and turning it on.

“…Bennett? Is that you!?”

After a few seconds she managed to reply. “Yes… it’s… m…”

“Where the HELL were you!?”

He continued to yell at her, but she just laughed… though it sounded more like a sob… “Nigma…”

“…what happened? What’s wrong?”

She had a few false starts before looking down at her arms… “…blood… there’s so… much blood…”

“Blood? What happened!? Bennett? Can you hear me?”

She tried to answer, but couldn’t muster up the strength…

“Damn! Don’t move. Stay where you are. Julie? You hear me? Don’t move!”

No problem there…

She was barely alive… she knew she wasn’t going to make it. But dying here in the snow was better than dying in that cage… she felt some peace in that.

She thought she heard someone talking… she thought she felt something touch her arm… but she didn’t have enough time to worry about it before passing out…

“…uuh…ah-OW!!”
Kim jerked up, pulling her arm. She felt someone push her back down.

“Relax, you’re okay! I’m just disinfecting your cuts!”

She looked up and saw a woman holding her arm. A doctor…

“Where…?” Kim looked around. “The church… I’m in the church…”

“Yeah, he brought you here.” The woman motioned to a prisoner sitting across from her, the security guards keeping an eye on him while holding their guns.

She recognized the man as one of Riddler’s informants…

She hissed as the doctor started working on another cut.

“It’s okay… don’t move.”

Kim nodded, and braced herself…

After a few minutes of pain she heard the doctor say. “These cuts are pretty bad. We had to stitch up your stomach, you’re lucky to be alive…”

“Mm-hm.”

The doctor continued, trying to make small talk to distract her. “My name’s Susan.”

Kim stayed focused on the ceiling above her.

“What’s your name?” The doctor asked.

“Ki-“ She caught herself, almost cursing.

“What?” Susan asked.

“I’m… Julie…” Kim looked over at the informant, he hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Julie.” Susan repeated, smiling at her. “We’re almost done.”

Kim nodded, biting her lip as the doctor finished cleaning her cuts. The doctor left and came back with a roll of bandages, wrapping up her arms. “There, you’re good to go.”

She nodded, not looking the doctor in the eye. “Th-thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Alright, if you’re good, get out.” One of the guards ordered.

Kim looked up, Aaron Cash. She couldn’t blame him for being suspicious of them…

“Cash-“ Susan started.

“No, it’s fine, we’re gone.” She walked over the informant, and the two left.

Standing outside the church, the informant looked at her arms. “Are uh… you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, thanks for your help.”

The informant pulled out a clown mask, she grabbed his hand. “Wait, don’t put that on until you’re almost back to Joker territory, otherwise you may get jumped by Two Face or Penguin’s guys.”

The informant nodded and smiled. “Good idea.”

“You need help getting back?” She asked.

He shook his head. “Nah, nobody notices me in this place.”

“Okay… see you around… Trever?”

He laughed. “Tyler, my name’s Tyler. See you around.” He headed for the gate. “And be careful, I can’t come to the rescue all the time; I’ll blow my cover.”

As he disappeared she smiled. “I know the feeling…”

She checked her pockets, finding the com link, turning it on. “Nigma?”

“….Still alive are we?”

She smiled. “Just barely…”

“Glad to hear it… your no use to anyone dead.”

She laughed, finding is insulting arrogance comforting… “You sound concerned.”

“Don’t flatter yourself… What happened?”

“…Zsasz…”

There was a long silence. “You can head back…”

She nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

Careful not to be spotted she headed back to the hideout.