Batman: Marekham City
by Prane
Chapter 1

The World’s Greatest Detective folded a cryptographic sequencer and attached it back to his trusty utility belt. Although the tool was capable of cracking almost every security code in Gotham, something in the close proximity to the Cyrus Pinkney's Institute for Natural History, now Penguin’s personal museum, must have been blocking the signal.

‘Penguin must be using military grade communication disruptors.’, the caped man thought. ‘The only way to crack this security is to destroy them.’

He jumped through a broken window, back to the museum’s entry hall and was about to go outside when he heard a voice from behind. It belonged to a man wearing a black leather jacket with fur linings and a white penguin silhouette painted on its sleeve.

‘This is Penguin’s turf you freak!’, the inmate shouted. He took out a long butcher knife and was soon joined by another thug, who armed himself with a similar blade. ‘I’m going to cut you up into tiny pieces for breaking in here!’

The Caped Crusader’s suit wasn’t just a costume. It had many technological improvements, such as Kevlar enhancements and a ballistic vest sewn into the armor, but a direct stab to the chest would still be fatal. That didn’t discouraged the man, as he dashed towards the thugs.

He hit one of them on the chin, then quickly dodged a sequence of slashes the other inmate performed. Taking advantage of the gap in the opponent’s defenses, he employed three quick strikes to the chest, finishing the third one just in time to counter the upcoming stab from behind. The detective grabbed the inmate’s arm and threw him against the wall. He then kicked out the second thug’s blade and punched him on the face, finishing with a jump kick that knocked him unconscious.

‘What… what are you?’, the other inmate whispered in fear, trying to crawl away.

The Dark Knight grabbed and pulled him up.

‘Your worst nightmare.’

Strong hit that came after those words might have rendered the thug unconscious, but it certainly didn’t kill him. The caped man had a personal rule of not taking the criminals’ lives, which more than once had resulted in a messy revenge of those. But he stuck to it, for… various reasons.

‘It’s not the right time to get nostalgic.’, he thought. ‘There is much to do in Arkham City and I still have to find Penguin’s jammers.’

He was on his way to the doors when something opened them from the outside. He quickly jumped to the corner, hid in the shadows and… couldn’t believe his eyes.

The strange creature that entered the museum was a small… something.

It resembled a horse, but beside the general appearance, it was nothing like them. It had an unusual, purple pastel colored coat and a mane of dark blue with violet and pink streaks. Even more peculiar was a horn on its head. Was that… a unicorn?

At first he thought it to be some kind of Joker’s toy, but the scanner in the cowl identified it as a life form. To be honest, it looked like a cartoon character.

The creature didn’t notice him and… trotted, as it was probably the best word to describe its movements, towards the end of the hall secured by movement-sensitive beams to the system of which he was trying to hack in earlier.

‘Argh! It didn’t work!’, the creature spoke after a set of metal bars appeared, blocking the path further into the museum.

The detective noticed that an armor built-in communication and surveillance system was back online. He switched the mode to capturing nearest transmissions.

‘…with the jammers?’

‘I, I don’t know man, but it ain’t pretty. Have you ever seen that movie with the guy who could totally control metal?’

‘Yeah, what about it?’

‘There’s that scene when he crashed a car or something into a small metal piece of crap… and Penguin’s jammer looks just like it right now…’

‘You mean… it has been compressed?’

‘What? I don’t speak Spanish, dude…’

The caped man turned off the transmission intercepting. If jammers are destroyed, he can probably hack into the museum’s security.

He almost forgot about the creature, who was now hopelessly trotting in circles.

‘Oh, think Twilight, think!’, it said. ‘Why didn’t it work!?’

‘It did.’, the detective said, approaching the small horse and clearly startling it.

‘Gyah! Back off!’, it shouted. ‘Are you one of them?’

‘Why are you trying to enter the museum?’

The creature was quick with the words, as it was obviously unsure of the situation of a relatively huge, caped and masked man approaching it.

‘I’m here for a friend. I’ve heard that those giant metal boxes are somehow guarding the entrance, so I went out to smash them… but you don’t look like one of the thugs… who are you?’

Only now had the detective realized that the creature sounded very feminine. He crouched beside her.

‘I’m Batman,’, he finally introduced himself. ‘And I won’t hurt you. What, or who are you?’

‘Twilight… Sparkle. My name is Twilight Sparkle.’, she answered, gradually regaining control over her voice. ‘I’m from a far away land of Equestria… and I have to rescue my friend.’

‘Is your friend also a talking horse?’

‘A horse? If you don’t mind, please think of me as a pony.’, Twilight answered. ‘And yes, yes she is.’

Batman had seen many strange things in his life. Arkham, the prison district established in the heart of the city was currently the best place to find them. But never before had he met a talking, colorful pony. A regular citizen of Gotham would consider Twilight to be some kind of bizarre abomination, but Batman has been called a freak so many times he didn’t mind her company. Still, he’d rather fight Penguin on his own…

He went back to the room where the control panel was. His cryptographic sequencer finally worked, as the password DINOSAUR seemed to be accepted by the system. The mare looked through the ticket office window and nodded in amazement for the technological gizmo’s ability to turn off the beams.

‘Stay here.’, Batman said. ‘I’ll rescue your friend and get her back to you.’

‘No way!’, Twilight protested. ‘I’m coming with you, we have a mutual enemy.’

‘You don’t know what you’re into.’

‘Oh, do I? I know that this museum is currently run by Mr. Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, also called the Penguin.’, she replied. ‘I know that he intends to make a trophy out of her, or at least that’s what I heard eavesdropping on bandits. And I know that there is no way you could make me stay here.’

Batman pondered that if the pony’s physiology was similar to a horse’s one, there was at least several ways to knock her out. But he didn’t feel like hitting such a colorful creature. Besides, if she managed to smash those jammers she could even prove useful.

‘All right, you can go with me. But stay close and be quiet.’

‘I will.’, she whispered. ‘One more thing: I’m afraid of bats.’

‘Me too.’, Batman answered.

Twilight chuckled, puzzled.

‘You look like you don’t fear anything.’

‘Glad to hear that.’

Batman and Twilight Sparkle went deeper into the museum.

It turned out that Penguin has captured some of the Gotham City Police Department officers from 13th Precinct. Commissioner Gordon sent a strike team to find out what was going on in Arkham City, and to the cops’ misfortune, they did.

‘Are you going to rescue them?’, the mare asked as they were approaching an ice wall blocking their path.

‘I’m here for Mr. Freeze.’, he replied and took out an explosive gel pistol. ‘But if they’re still alive, I’ll do what I can. I told Gordon it was too dangerous to send them in!’

‘And who is this Mr. Freeze?’

‘He is a prize-winning cryogenic scientist, pushed to the edge of sanity by a desire to help his dying wife.’, Batman answered. ‘And he has the cure I need.’

Twilight looked at him with care and concern.

‘The cure? Are you not feeling well?’

Batman didn’t answer. Poison in his blood injected by the Joker was gradually sucking his force. He only hoped that he would be able to stop Hugo Strange’s plan called ‘Protocol 10’ before it’s too late.

‘Get clear.’, he said, finishing a bat-shaped gel trail on the ice block.

Twilight fled behind the Dark Knight and he remotely detonated the charge, which caused ice to shatter into smaller chunks, allowing them to go further.

Batman went inside first. It seemed that the huge room was part of the institute concerning aquatic wildlife, as there was a big pool instead of floor, now partially frozen.

Suddenly, an ice blast came from the other side of the room, freezing Batman’s hand to the wall.

‘Stay where I can see you, Batman.’, a short, chubby man yelled. He was wearing a tuxedo underneath an expensive coat, and had bottom of a bottle lodged in a place around his eye which looked like a monocle. ‘You wouldn’t believe the fight old snow man put up. Still, I got what I wanted.’, he said, admiring a frost gun he was holding. ‘That’s all that matters.’

‘Penguin!’, Twilight shouted angrily.

‘And there’s another pony for my collection! I was wondering how much I could get for one of you… but I don’t feel like selling now. I’m a businessman, after all! I’ll wait for the prices to go up!’

There was a man running through the frozen pool with DEAD COP written on his shirt. With his every step, the ice cracked a little. Penguin shifted his attention to him, taking aim with the frost gun.

‘Hold still, boy! Waa-ha-haa!’, he shouted and laughed. It resembled quacking of a duck mixed with the sound of a seagull.

One of the projectiles hit the policeman’s leg, which was immediately covered in ice, immobilizing him.

‘No… no… no!’, he screamed as the ice was gradually enveloping the rest of his body.

‘When you’re done here, feel free to join me in the Iceberg Lounge so I can kick your arse again.’, Penguin said, walking away. ‘Enjoy the copsicle.’

Batman finally freed his arm from the ice and saw Twilight walking down the platform to the frozen pool. The ice cracked when she put her hooves on it, but it didn’t break. Batman activated the ice density scanner, one of the many gadgets he had.

‘The ice looks unstable.’, he said. ‘We need to move slowly, take our time.’

Step by step, they reached the middle of the pool. Batman punched the ice covering the cop’s body, releasing him. He was about to use his grapple gun when impossible happened.

Twilight’s horn began to glow, and she was staring intensively at the cop. Seconds later, he was somehow lifted by a magenta mist and levitated to the nearest platform where two other officers were stuck in ice.

‘I didn’t know you could do that.’, Batman said.

‘You have your tricks, I have mine.’, she replied. ‘All unicorns in Equestria can perform some magic and I happen to have a knack for it.’

‘Lucky me.’, he replied, taking the mare under his arm and shooting his grapple gun to reach the platform. He promised himself to learn more about this Equestria, but for now he had more important things to do. They landed and freed the remaining officers.

‘Is… that your s…sidekick, B…batman’, one of the cops asked, shaking with cold.

Batman looked at Twilight, which smiled widely at him. He didn’t smile back, so the mare carefully walked behind him. As it would take too long to explain, he answered with a question.

‘Are you alright?’

‘So cold… Where did P…penguin get that gun?’

‘He stole it from Mr. Freeze. I’m getting it back.’, Batman replied.

‘Mr. Freeze… he went this way.’, the other cop said, showing the nearest doors.

‘What?’

‘Ten minutes ago he came out from the other side of the pool. Someone must have released him, as I heard Penguin bragging about locking him up. He passed us without a word.’

‘Where is he now?’

‘I am right here, Batman.’, a cold, metallic voice from above said.

A large man, almost as tall as Batman himself appeared. His skin was extremely pale, even a little bit bluish, and he was wearing an armor which looked like a space suit. His eyes were covered with a pair of goggles.

‘Aren’t you going to introduce me to your companion, Batman? Allow me to break the ice, then.’, he said, addressing Twilight. ‘I am Victor Fries and who are you?’

The mare was surprised that he even wanted to talk to her.

‘I am… Twilight Sparkle.’, she answered. ‘Pleased to meet you, Victor.’

Oh, great. She knows Penguin, now she knows Freeze… at this rate she’ll know every super criminal of Gotham in no time.

‘The pleasure is mine, I assure you.’

‘Joker’s cure. Where is it?’, Batman asked.

‘Forget the clown. I want Cobblepot. I’ll end him for what he’s done to me.’

‘What are you up to, Freeze?’

‘I did recover my armor and I intended to get my gun from Cobblepot.’, he replied. ‘But my suit got damaged when I was beating Penguin’s mercenaries back there.’, he explained, pointing at the corridor behind him. ‘Which reminds me,’, he looked at the cops. ‘Your men there remain mostly unharmed.’

The three officers of the 13th Precinct went up the platform to search for the rest of their team.

‘Penguin’s mine.’, Batman said firmly. ‘But you’ve got to tell me how to bypass your ice gun.’

‘Do I look like a fool?’, Freeze asked. ‘Why would I tell you that?’

Batman didn’t answer, only stared at the armored man. Even without the weapon he was still a formidable opponent. If Batman had gotten to him earlier, for example when Freeze didn’t have his armor, maybe he would trick him into helping the detective with the cure. But for now, there was a stalemate. Freeze didn’t have resources to beat Penguin or Batman, but the Dark Knight had nothing to offer in exchange for the cure. And, most importantly, how and why would anyone free Freeze in the museum ran by Penguin’s thugs?

The tension was palpable.

‘Excuse me, Victor,’, Twilight said. ‘Perhaps you could help us after all? Penguin has captured my friend and we intend to rescue her. Please, she’s very important to me.’

Batman couldn’t guess what was happening in Freeze’s mind, as his face remained unmoved.

‘Scan this frequency, Batman.’, he said, pointing at his gauntlet. ‘It will allow you to temporarily disable the ice gun.’

‘Thank you, Victor.’, Batman said, finishing the scan and uploading the memory card into his portable disruptor.

‘Good luck, Batman. Good luck, Twilight Sparkle.’

Batman grabbed the mare again and grappled over the frozen pool. They landed under a stone arch decorated with blue, neon letters forming a name ICEBERG LOUNGE.

‘Was that one of your tricks?’, he asked. ‘Freeze wanted to cooperate with you, not me.’

‘I did nothing.’, Twilight replied. ‘But I agree, it seemed that he wanted to help… me. I don’t know why, I never met him before. Few hours ago I didn’t even know about this place.’

‘How did your friend got here, anyway?’

‘That’s what I want to find out. It all started with her.’

Batman pondered. He really had to learn more about these ponies.

‘What worries me the most is that someone freed Victor. Penguin doesn’t let his trophies get away easily.’

‘But the important thing is that we can beat him now! As long as your gadget works, of course.’

‘I hope it will. Let’s go.’

They entered the Iceberg Lounge to confront Penguin.

‘Hello, Batman!’, Penguin shouted. ‘I know it’s you! What is it? Finally grown a pair and come to find me?’

‘Get behind the wall, quick!’, the detective said to Twilight. They hid just in time to avoid a freezing ray from the ice gun. Pieces of ice were scattered around the entrance.

The Iceberg Lounge was a round hall with an actual iceberg in the middle, and a podium at the top of it. It was connected to the room’s rim with a single, balustrade surrounded bridge. Penguin stood on the table there, which was a perfect, hard to reach vantage point.

‘And you’re not alone! So glad you could bring the pony with you! She will be a fine addition to my collection! Look, I already have the white one!’

He pointed at a block of ice near the table. There was another pony stuck inside, much alike Twilight but with white coat and indigo mane and tail. Batman noticed that she had them styled differently than Twilight, who had a fringe, while the other one had her mane more curly.

‘Rarity!’, the purple mare shouted.

‘Yes, she is a rarity!’, Penguin said. ‘Come out, I’ll let you be the part of the upcoming exhibition: Batman in the world of colorful ponies! Waa-haa-ha-ha!’

The Caped Crusader looked at Twilight.

‘Listen up: we need to get closer for the disruptor to work.’, he said. ‘We split up, I take this path, you go the other way.’

‘He won’t be able to shoot us both at the same time. Smart.’

‘I’ll meet you on the other side.’

And so they went. Twilight’s help was invaluable. Whenever she made noise on the other side of the room to draw Penguin’s attention, Batman could sneak forward. And when he was under attack, Twilight galloped from cover to cover.

‘Watch the birdie, Batman!’, Penguin yelled releasing a stream of ice towards the Dark Knight. He avoided it and soon found himself on the other side of the room, just near the bridge. Twilight reached it as well.

‘There is only one path to him.’, Twilight noticed. ‘What’s your plan?’

‘Just follow me.’

Batman took out the disruptor and hid it behind his back so that Penguin wouldn’t see. He came out from the cover and walked towards the chubby man along the balustrade. Twilight went in his footsteps.

‘What is it? You think you can beat me?’, Penguin said, taking aim with the ice gun. ‘Hold still, Batman!’

The detective activated the disruptor just before another flurry of ice was unleashed.

‘What?’, Penguin was surprised. He checked the weapon’s trigger. ‘C’mon, fire, damn you!’

Batman and Twilight were getting closer, without any risk of being pushed back by Freeze’s technology.

‘What the hell is wrong with this thing?’ Stay back, stay back!’

Twilight ran towards the table Penguin was standing on. She jumped and hit the chubby man with her head, causing him to lose balance and fell down to the Iceberg Lounge’s lower level.

‘You’re finished, Cobblepot.’, Twilight said, landing on the table.

‘No! I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me.’

‘We can’t guarantee that.’, Batman added.

Penguin laughed silently and took something from his pocket.

‘Me neither. Wa-haa-haa!’

There was an explosion and the whole iceberg crumbled, causing chunks of ice and the podium to fall down to the Lounge’s basement.

Penguin stood up and walked towards the hole in the floor.

‘I tried to help you, Batman. I gave you the opportunity to end this and walk away…’

He stopped, as he could notice neither Batman nor Twilight or frozen Rarity in the pit. He looked up.

‘What the hell!?’

The Dark Knight and his pony companion, along with Penguin’s trophy were surrounded by a magenta bubble… and they were levitating safely in a place where the podium was. They didn’t fall to the pit!

Batman reached the edge of the bubble and went through it, then glided down at Penguin thanks to his cape. The chubby man only managed to quack before the caped man fell on him, knocking him down.

Twilight levitated herself to the ground and started to use magic to thaw Rarity from the ice prison.

‘Beaten by a bat and a pony!’, Cobblepot whined. ‘And I had Solomon Grundy down there as a surprise for you…’, he said, then realized something with fear in his eyes. ‘You’re not going to throw me there, are you?’

‘No.’, Batman replied, handcuffing him. ‘I’m going to hand you to Mr. Freeze…’

‘No! Not the snow man! Please, Batman, you can’t do this to me!’

Twilight finished thawing Rarity.

‘Come here, quick! She’s not waking up!’

Batman activated his cowl’s scanner. It was showing that the white pony’s life signal was very faint, but she was still alive.

‘She’s been in the ice for too long.’

‘Can you help her?’

It was a tough choice for Batman. Usually he would arrange the ice gun’s victim to be transported to the nearest hospital. But how would doctors react? She was a pony, after all, and such creatures would not last long in Gotham by themselves.

He looked at Twilight. She tears in her eyes and was staring at Batman with that look… that indescribable look of a pony.

There was only one place in Gotham where he could hide the pony and help her. Batman walked away from Penguin so that he couldn’t overhear the conversation. He touched the cowl to activate communications with the Batcave and his butler.

‘Alfred, I need you to arrange a Batwing extraction on the roof of Cyrus Pinkney’s Institute for Natural History.’

‘Have you got bored with Arkham City’s fun features, sir?’

‘I’m not coming back yet… I still have to get the cure. But prepare the necessary things to counter the effects of pony body hypothermia.’

‘I beg your pardon, master, but for a moment I was led to believe I will be taking care of a pony.’

‘That is correct, Alfred. I don’t have time to explain.’

‘Very well, sir. Batwing will be there in few minutes.’

Batman ended the communication.

‘Thank you…’, Twilight whispered, still trying to warm unconscious Rarity up.

It went out pretty well. Cobblepot has been disposed of, the 13th Precinct cops were safe and Twilight got her friend back. The only remaining thing was to get Penguin to Mr. Freeze in exchange for the cure.

The Dark Knight looked at the purple unicorn mare. She didn’t slow him down that much and even saved him from fighting one big ugly monster.

She did better than Robin ever did.