[ CHAPTER III (3): "KNIGHTS 1V1" ]
Barbara as a citizen of Gotham, the equally weird city with equally weird people roaming about, knows a thing or two about the anomalies that happen over there.
Especially the unexplainable. Like, how a metahuman with plant powers terrorizes it once in a while and claims a part of it as her's---Poison Ivy.
Or how a man, once an actor, turned himself into clay and could now mold himself into anyone, and play any part he wants---Clayface.
Or, more suited for the predicament that she is probably experiencing at the moment; people who are able to twist the person's senses and make them see what's not real.
See Scarecrow who weaponizes toxins to make the victim live through their greatest fears; which she experienced once, and never would want to, again.
Or, perhaps, the Mad Hatter, who is obsessed and is themed all-around the story of Alice and Wonderland. A freako who has mastered hypnosis and is able to make people see what he wants for them to see. Scary pervert.
But, no. No matter how long she thought about it, she couldn't find a likely explanation on the phenomenon that she is experiencing.
Even to the super powered rogues outside her jurisdiction, may that be Metropolis or Jump City. She just couldn't think of a person who could, and would do whatever the hell is happening to her.
Or have enough grudge that they would target her, the one and only Oracle, more or less.
"I can't believe I'm actually doing this."
Or, you know, kidnap her through her laptop's screen, make her able to walk again without the use of instruments, and forcefully make her wait in a medieval-like castle.
With little to no changes happening, and with no other people living in it other than her. Even if the place does appear to be lived in, with some parts of the area on fire.
Even after she had explored every nook and cranny of the said castle, even after she tried crossing to the river, or the village, or the plains, something---an invisible barrier---kept her inside the castle and its area.
More worse is that, floating in front of her, is a see through, white hologram that keeps reappearing here and there wherever she goes; with her not being able to do a thing to make such things completely disappear.
[ WAIT FOR ANOTHER PLAYER TO START THE GAME ]
"I AM waiting, okay!"
In discontent, Barbara sat there on the ground, back on the castle's wall as she gathered all the information that she had.
Formulating a possible way to escape, or, guessing exactly where she may be.
First of all, she's in a place that has 1800s for an aesthetic, to be precise, probably Scotland, or Europe, or someplace that has Knights.
She doesn't have her gadgets, wheelchair, or clothes that she was previously wearing. Instead, what she now wears is armor.
There's a mystical message prompt that is constantly following her, something that could only be discarded for a minute if she were to swipe either to the left, or to the right.
And everything has happened because of one pesky, annoying, persistent advertisement that appeared from out of nowhere in her screen. Like a bug, or a virus.
Which she downloaded, and perhaps, that is the problem here; her downloading such an application in the first place.
What kind of person would trust a random pop-up application named For Honor. To her, it sounds like a weird game; perhaps, a fighting game in which case she had a fighting chance.
She was Batgirl after all, the famed sidekick to the one and only Batman. She did lose that title when she lost the uses of her legs, but now, her legs are fixed!
"Okay, Barbs, you might or might not be lost." She concluded, but humourly added, "Or kidnapped by aliens trying to understand human behavior and psychology, more or less."
Though in some sense, no matter how weird that sounded to her ear, that could still be a possibility. Who knows how many civilizations are out there on other planets.
And who knows how many are unknown and known to their insignificant dirt of a planet. There could be hostile species out there experimenting on Earth, which isn't impossible.
Perhaps their tools for abduction aren't flying circular objects that kidnap cows from time to time, but have upgraded, and are now using the internet to kidnap people; people like her.
With how weird the world is, she couldn't disregard such a possibility. "Maybe... that's actually what's happening here."
"Ughh, my head hurts!"
She was cut out of her trail of thought by someone else, a foreign voice, which she then glanced at, noticing another person entirely.
"In the name of Tom Osborne where in God's green earth am I?!"
The man, who seems to be the same age group as her, was on the other side of the map and is wearing armor; the same as her's if not for a tiny bit of adjustment.
Like, his height, which is taller than Barbara, thus the armor is bigger as well. And for the color, with him having blue paint rather than red, which she has.
Equally as confused as her, the man then kept looking around the place. Not noticing her who's sitting in the corner of the castle's grounds, besides a haystack.
"Hey-!" About to get the person's attention, she was stopped midway by the voice that originally pulled her into the game-like world that she is now stuck in.
Followed by a new message prompt that appeared in front of her, and also, apparently in front of the newly arrived "Player".
[ SUFFICIENT PLAYERS DETECTED! ]
[ GAME STARTING IN 3 ]
"Hmm?" Only now noticing Barbara, the unknown man then turned to her, confusion written all over his face, perhaps one could say even more so than Barb's.
"You know anything about thi-?!"
"I don't-!"
But alas, before the two could have a sensible chat, the text counted down from 3 to 0, causing the both of them to disappear from where they were both standing on.
[ -----| SCENE BREAK |----- ]
And for Barbara to appear somewhere else, this time, back outside the castle where she originally spawned. "-know!"
[ DUEL START ]
[ PLEASE DEFEAT THE OTHER PLAYER AND CAPTURE ZONE A, ZONE B, AND ZONE C BEFORE THE TIME RUNS OUT ]
Feeling annoyed, she eyed the text that appeared in front of her, read it, quickly memorized it, and then discarded it as she angrily swiped it to the side. "What now!?"
She felt quite furious, justifiably at that, as she feels like she keeps getting ragdolled around by some mysterious force, or that, the mastermind behind everything.
And that causes her to feel powerless to some extent. Similar to the feeling of her not being able to use her legs again; even though she now has the uses of it, that helplessness still comes in other forms.
Like being kidnapped from her base of operation, to being forced to wear medieval armor without her being able to take it off, and to being teleported far away again when she finally found another person.
And perhaps the worst part of it all. She doesn't have the faintest of clues to who's the mastermind behind of it all---perhaps a new villain who's obsessed with games, knights, and forcing people to fight one another.
And on where she is, as she doesn't have her gadgets along with her. Even the tiniest of trackers that she hid in her glasses, hairpin, and shoes; all gone, disappeared.
Barbara, before she could think of anything, something, a plan, or a way out of the godforsaken place that she is in; she heard the gate in front of her opening.
Lowering down, as if welcoming and beckoning for her to enter. "What even is happening? I-I don't understand."
With her near perfect memory, she wasn't able to predict what happen next. As instantly in her hand materializes a sharp sword that is nearly her height---though surprisingly, it doesn't weigh much, even for her.
"A sword?!" And in surprise, she instinctively backed away. Staring at the weapon in her hand in bewilderment; light reflecting from it, as if, saying, hello.
For a moment she stared blankly at the weapon, caught off guard. This wasn't the first time she had seen a sword, she had seen plenty in museums, books, and had used plenty to train in swordfighting; even stole one from Bruce as a souvenir, and occasionally used it.
But for a moment, her brain short-circuited, as she remembers the reminder given to her by the floating text; and instantly, her eyes widened in disbelief.
"No-no. Wait, that couldn't be it, r-right?!"
"I can't hurt another person, that-that..."
That goes against her morals as a superheroine, even if not as a superheroine, then as a citizen, as the daughter to the Commissioner, or plainly as a person.
She's no murderer after all, and doesn't want to be one anytime soon. Bruce had warned her and the others several times, numerous, actually; and perhaps, even countless of times.
Killing is a no-go. Once Barbara or the others started killing, then there wouldn't be a stop. And with their skills, training, and determination; no one would be safe.
So she, no matter how much she wanted to get revenge, punish, and kill all the villains under her watch---especially the Joker, who made her disabled. She didn't, in fear that she might not stop after just one.
In deep thoughts, she hadn't noticed NPCs spawning just right behind her; and when they did, they instantly screamed out loud. Charging forward, ready for the battle.
And that is, with no regard for the confused Barbara who's only now noticing them, as they all go around her.
"Purge thee heatens!"
"Take all their grains!"
"They shall know fear!"
And so, she watches in shock, and horror as soldiers, considerably shorter than her; all wearing armor, wielding the same identical swords, and have the same red paint. Charge forward, and into the Castle.
"Where-where did you all come from?!" She asked in disbelief, as she then instinctively moved forward, following the tide of people.
No one seems to care about her, as none took the time to answer her simple question. Instead, the little Knights kept screaming taunts, yelling cries, and charging forward.
To Barbara's bewilderment, she noticed another group of Knights in the distance; identical to the tide around her. But these ones have blue paint instead of the red, and other than that, no difference at all.
All screaming taunts, all wearing the same armor, all wielding the same sword. And in seeing that, she became even more... disoriented. "What is... I don't understand."
And perhaps, what's worse was yet to come; as she realized what's about to happen. Two fully geared, battle hungry groups of people charging to one another... that's a recipe for disaster, and she dreaded that.
"No, wait. Don't!" She watches in horror as one of the enemy Knights get cut down, blood pouring out onto the ground. "Stop fighting!"
And for the ally Knight to be cut down in turn, rinse and repeat, as small skirmishes happens all-around. Neither sides relenting, or stopping, or even, trying to strategize properly.
No care at all about self-preservation. To Barbara, these smaller Knights are less human and more like robots, in her view. As no sane person wouldn't use their brains.
Which the Knights are doing, as they don't care about anything else other than fighting; it's as if, they had been programmed that way; which, funnily enough, is even more absurd.
"O-oh, God. Dad, guide me, what am I gonna do?!" She remembers her guardian figure, her Dad---the Commissioner. And thought of what he would do in her situation.
That would be trying to calm down the people around her, which she already did, and didn't work. As the people around her aren't even paying her the slightest bit of attention.
What is she gonna do? Should she fight the opposite faction, or should she try to stop the sword wielding Knights around her.
Swarm with little to no way out, with no one getting hurt or dying; either her side, or the other. She ultimately decided to try her best and stop the mini soldiers around her.
But before she could start the process. The voice of the system, or whatever it could be, rang in her ear, followed by the all too familiar, and somewhat annoying transparent text.
[ ALL PLAYERS WILL HAVE INFINITE LIVES UNTIL THE END OF THE GAME, AND ALL NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS WILL RESPAWN AFTER THE GAME ]
[ ---------- ] [ ---------- ] [ ---------- ] [ ---------- ]
[ FUN FACT: "The no kill rule for Barbara Gordon isn't as strict as Batman's. For example, Batman fears his own no kill rule, and doesn't kill in fear of not being able to stop; in comparison, Barbara's no kill rule stems from her being a policeman's daughter, and also from law, as she has a Juris Doctor degree (and has passed the bar exam)." ]
[ 09/04/2026 ]
[ 09/05/2026 ]