Eternal Knightfall

Hello there. You just couldn’t resist stopping by to hear my story, huh? Well, as long as you’re here, I might as well get started. I’m sure you’re wondering just who I am exactly. In another life, I was Ethan Osborn. I was just an ordinary guy trying to live his life. I had a good job, a decent house, you know, the basics. That all changed when I was killed in a car accident.

That’s where our story begins. Because when Ethan Osborn died, Jason Todd, the Arkham Knight, leader of The Resistance and badass superhero, was born...

...

“Wake up, Mr. Osborn. We have much to discuss, and little time to do so.”

“Ugh... five more minutes, Daddy...”

“I SAID WAKE UP!!!”

A powerful shock ran through Ethan Osborn, who was a young man in his early twenties with a bruised and cut face, a mop of dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing a ruined blue hoodie with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans, and black and white sneakers, causing him to sit bolt upright, wide awake.

As Ethan looked around, he came to realize that he was in a totally white space of some kind, like a world of nothing or something like that.

Well, almost nothing.

“At last, you’ve woken up. Now we can begin,” said what appeared to be a man wearing a black leather trench coat, black dress pants, black dress shoes, black leather gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat that completely shrouded his face in shadow. He also had a sleek black cane in his hand.

“Wh-who are you?” asked Ethan.

“My name is Kilroy, and it is my honor to welcome you to purgatory,” said Kilroy.

“Wait… purgatory? As in the purgatory where dead people go to find out if they’re going to be sent to Heaven or Hell?” asked Ethan, a shiver of fear creeping into him as he stood to face Kilroy.

“Is there any other?” asked Kilroy with a small chuckle. “And before you ask, yes, that means you’re dead. A snow drift caused you to hit a patch of glare ice and made you lose control of your vehicle and collide with a semi-truck. You were pronounced dead at the scene.”

Ethan nodded to show he understood. “So… I take it that means you’re going to weigh my sins or however that works?” he asked Kilroy.

“Hardly. I’m here to offer you a chance to be reborn, and become a hero whose legend will be told through the end of time,” said Kilroy.

“R-really?” asked Ethan. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s do this thing!”

“Ah-ah-ah. There’s more to it than that. First and foremost, you will be reborn in an alternate world that most believe to exist only in fiction. And while we’re on the topic of fiction, you must select a character from any form of fiction, good, evil, or somewhere in the middle to be reborn as,” explained Kilroy.

Ethan placed his hand on his chin in thought. There were so many characters he wished he could be, but which one should he pick?

A small smile crossed Ethan’s face as his choice crept into his mind. “I want to be reborn as Jason Todd, aka The Arkham Knight,” he said confidently.

“Very well, then.”

...

Her heart beat was rapid and her breaths were short and quick as the red and yellow haired girl continued running for her life down the streets of Canterlot, knowing full well that if she looked back she would meet the bright headlights of the humvees, filled with soldiers that were hunting her. And at the front of them, leading the charge, was Rainbow Dash, Captain of Nightmare Moon’s Lunar Guard.

Sunset Shimmer, who was clad in a black trench coat, black jeans, black leather boots, and a pink blouse with a red and yellow stylized sun on the front, was doing a good enough job at keeping herself distanced from the humvees due to her taking several shortcuts through alleyways, but she knew that if she slowed just a bit then that short drop of speed could be her downfall.

She turned another corner, entering another alleyway as she could hear Rainbow Dash behind her yelling out in anger.

She stole a quick glance behind her, seeing the humvees behind her still, slowing down as they drove in the alley, most likely several more of them would be waiting for her on the other side. True to her suspicions, turning her head she could see the other end of the alley was blocked by a large humvee, Rainbow Dash herself stepping out with an angry glare stabbing daggers directly towards Sunset as more of her men climbed from the vehicle, all of them armed and ready to fire at Sunset.

“You really thought you could outrun us?!” Rainbow shouted, taking her own weapon from one of the soldiers handing it to her. She had a rainbow-patterned mohawk and rose-colored eyes, and wore a suit of midnight blue and black armor that was somehow more elegant and regal than the traditional Lunar Guard armor, and which had a dark blue cape draped over her shoulder. Being a Night Flier like the rest of the Lunar Guard, she had a pair of bat wings attached seamlessly to her back. Otherwise, she looked like a normal human woman with a strong and athletic build.

“Why not? I kept myself distanced from you long enough,” Sunset answered, nervously smiling and shrugging.

“Wit won’t save you now. Only an act of God can save you, and that’s not likely to happen. After all, that’s the only thing that could’ve helped you accomplish your goal,” replied Rainbow, a look of cold fury on her face and a look in her eyes that suggested Sunset was just a bit of muck to clean off her boots as she pulled back the hammer of her pistol. “Now, hold still so I don’t have to waste any more bullets.”

Sunset gulped and watched as Rainbow aimed down the sights of her pistol, aiming directly towards her head as she grinned, ready to pull the trigger before a loud bang echoed through the alley. But surprisingly, the bang didn’t come from Rainbow’s pistol, as her hand was thrown back and she yelled in pain, looking upwards to the building by them with the soldiers and Sunset doing likewise to notice a tall silhouette standing there as its glowing eyes stared directly to them as it lowered its arm, a pistol in its hand that it sheathed.

“Well, now, what have we here?” asked the silhouette, its voice sounding both demonic and robotic as it glared down at the people in the alleyway.

“And just what the Sam Hell are you supposed to be?” demanded Rainbow.

“Oh, where are my manners?” said the silhouette before it jumped into the alleyway, the dim light from the nearby neon signs revealing it to be a being that seemed to be a mixture of a demon and a soldier or a mercenary. It wore the top half of a black, gray, and blue suit of body armor that had a white stylized “A” insignia on its chest and both shoulders, red and black camouflage military pants with a belt that held two handguns  and a variety of other weapons and gadgets, black and gray military combat boots, and glowing blue mask that had what looked like bat ears attached to it. “I am The Arkham Knight.”

Rainbow raised an amused eyebrow. “‘The Arkham Knight?’” she asked.

“Well, I tried to pick a memorable name, a cool outfit, and some highly useful weapons and tools,” said the Knight with a shrug. “Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. Care to share why exactly you were chasing after this beautiful woman?”

“I could… but, I actually have a better idea,” said Rainbow, signaling her soldiers, who aimed their automatic rifles at The Arkham Knight, despite the looks of fear on their faces. “How about you ditch those weapons and get on your knees with your hands behind your head?”

The Arkham Knight lightly sighed and shook his head. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say, doll.” He said as he lowered down to his knees, taking his weapons out and placing them on the ground in front of him.

Rainbow growled lightly at the Arkham Knight’s comment, one of her men walking over to him and taking out a pair of handcuffs, reaching down to cuff the Arkham Knight before the man was knocked backwards as his jaw felt metal impacting it before an elbow was sent into his stomach, bringing him to his knees before the back of the Knight’s boot knocked him to the ground, unconscious.

Rainbow grabbed a gun and aimed it towards the metal assailant, but he had already grabbed his guns and fired four shots, taking out the legs of Rainbow’s guards, before quickly turning around and firing multiple shots to the others on the other side of the alley, making sure he didn’t hit Sunset.

Rainbow growled louder and began firing, ignoring the groaning soldiers at her feet as she stepped up to the Arkham Knight.

Acting quickly, the Arkham Knight threw a flashbang grenade at Rainbow, temporarily blinding her long enough for him to knock the rifle out of her hands and knock her to the ground. The Arkham Knight aimed one of his handguns at Rainbow’s face.

“Don’t make me shoot a woman. Especially a pretty woman like you,” warned the Arkham Knight, his synthesized voice full of menace.“Now, why are you hunting down ketchup and mustard over there?”

Sunset growled at the Arkham Knight’s insult, crossing her arms as Rainbow grimaced. “I’m not going to ask twice hun.”

“First off, stop with the ‘hun’ and ‘pretty woman’,” Rainbow spat to the Knight, “and secondly, get the Hell out of here. This does not concern you.”

“Yeah, I could just walk away right now and let you guys take her away...” Arkham turned to Sunset, who’s face turned to slight worry as she saw him turn to her, “but fuck that. Now tell me, what do you want her for?” Arkham pressed his handgun up to Rainbow’s cheek, giving her the perfect opportunity to smack his hand away, knocking the gun out of his hand as she kicked the Knight in the chest, knocking him back and causing him to stagger.

She took the opportunity to get up as the Knight aimed his second pistol directly at her, preparing to fire as Rainbow grabbed his gun hand, sending her fist forward and landing it on his mask, sending his head back as her steel knuckled gauntlets crashed against him. He yanked his hand from Rainbow’s vice-like grip as she aimed another strike to his face, but she was too slow as Arkham ducked under it and sent his boot to her stomach, not doing much other than causing her to stagger due to her armor, but he quickly delivered an uppercut, knocking her head back.

She growled loudly and delivered a headbutt, connecting with Arkham’s helmet. She groaned lightly in pain as Arkham shook his head, punching her in the jaw again, knocking her back as he sent his elbow to the other side of her jaw, sending her to the side as she hit the wall.

Arkham took this to his advantage, attempting to kick Rainbow in the face, only for her to grab onto his leg and pulled him down to the ground.

“Well, I must admit, you certainly know how to stand your ground,” growled the Arkham Knight as he pulled himself off of the ground.

“Well, you don’t become Captain of the Lunar Guard just by looks alone, you know,” replied Rainbow. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a few calls.”

Before the Knight could stop her, Rainbow took to the skies faster than a bullet. Arkham growled in anger as he watched her escape before turning to Sunset, who whimpered in fear and involuntarily scooted herself away under the Knight’s gaze.

“You okay?” The Arkham Knight asked the beautiful woman on the ground as he held out his hand to help her up.

With a look of the utmost terror on her face, Sunset very, very carefully took the Arkham Knight’s hand. “Y-yes. I-I’m fine,” she whispered.

“Good. Grab a gun. Your BFF most likely went to call in some back up,” said Arkham as he crouched down in front of one of the dead Lunar Guards and grabbed his radio. Sunset nodded and did as she was told, taking a rifle from one of the other soldiers. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Sunset. Sunset Shimmer,” replied Sunset.  Looking over her shoulder, Sunset noticed that Arkham was dismantling the radio he’d taken. “What’re you doing?” she asked the demonic being.

“Taking the encryption key from this radio,” Arkham explained as he pulled out a small device that resembled a video game controller, expanded it, causing a holographic screen to appear, and inserted a small chip of some kind into the side. “If I can hack into these jarheads’ comms systems with my Cryptographic Sequencer, also known as a Remote Hacking Device, I’ll be able to listen in on them. They won’t be able to sneeze without me knowing about it.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that illegal?” she asked the Knight.

The Arkham Knight shrugged. “Can’t be any more illegal than anything I’ve done already,” he said, before looking over his shoulder at Sunset. “Or, judging by the effort these guys put into killing you, anything you’ve done, which we’ll be discussing once we get out of here.”

A moment later, the Arkham Knight was successfully hacked into the Lunar Guard’s comms systems… and he found his prediction was correct.

“-this is Captain Dash. I’ve run into a little trouble in attempting to apprehend the suspect. Some kind of gun-totting demon-robot thing came out of nowhere and just took out a bunch of my men, Request reinforcements to the alleyway on 4th and 2nd street,” said Rainbow over the Knight’s comms.

“Reinforcements are on the way, Captain,” replied a male voice.

“Crap. Time to go,” said Arkham as he grabbed Sunset’s hand and pulled her out of the alleyway into the street, just in time to see no more than six humvees pull up from both sides of the street, these ones armed with roof-mounted chain guns, and deploying more Lunar Guard as they screeched to a stop.

“Let’s see you fight your way out of this one,” said Rainbow Dash as she landed on top of a building across the street. “So, you ready to give up yet?”

“Oh, I’m far from ready to give up.” Arkham replied, making a small grin hidden under his mask as he pushed a button on the wrist of his left gauntlet. As Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, a loud roar was heard in the distance growing louder until a large silver vehicle blasted onto the street and towards Sunset and Arkham, ramming a humvee out of the way and screeching to a halt in front of the two as the tires extended from the sides and a large cannon appeared out from the top, giving the vehicle a tank-like appearance as the main weapon aimed right at the humvees behind Rainbow and her soldiers.

“60 Millimeter Cannon operational,” said a computerized female voice before the cannon fired several rounds at the humvees, destroying them on contact.

“Blow that thing to scrap metal!” yelled Rainbow, a hint of panic in her voice as her troops began to open fire upon the vehicle.

“Riot Suppressor engaged,” said the female computerized voice as a machine gun unfolded from the side of the cannon and sprayed bullets into the attacking soldiers, ripping through their bodies and armor, causing their blood to splatter across the pavement and ruined vehicles, and forcing Rainbow to run for cover.

With the soldiers either dead or seriously injured, Arkham grabbed Sunset’s wrist and pulled her to the car before climbing inside and pressing a button on the control console, causing the back to open and two seats with harnesses to extend out from it.  “Alright! Now let’s get out of here!”

Sunset looked at the vehicle uneasily as she tried to catch her, a shiver of fear and suspicion stopping her from hopping right into one of the seats. “You know, my mother warned me about getting into cars with strange men,” she told the Arkham Knight.

“First off, this isn’t a car. Secondly, what makes you think you have a choice? If you want to stay alive, that is,” replied Arkham.

Sunset winced at the Knight’s reply, knowing that he was right. “Okay, fine, just get us the Hell out of here in one piece,” she said, sitting down in one of the seats before the harness lowered itself, securing her inside as both of the back seats returned to the interior of the vehicle.

The Arkham Knight smirked under his mask as he hit the gas pedal and drove away at breakneck speeds, all while Rainbow Dash was watching from her hiding spot in shock, horror, and awe.

Okay, what the Hell is going on here? Where did that thing come from, and where did he get that huge tank-mobile thing from? And those weapons, how’d he get his hands on those? thought Rainbow, her mind racing as she looked at the carnage the so-called Arkham Knight had left in his rescue attempt. Nightmare Moon’s gonna wanna hear about all of this ASAP, so I’d better get back to Moonlight City.

And with that, the young bat-winged woman took to the skies faster than a bullet, determined to tell her queen about the deadly new enemy that had arrived.