Sorrow comes to Gotham

[jla_villains]

Johnny Sorrow floats out of the old Chinese theatre in downtown Gotham City with a big smile on his face. Or rather, he would have, if he could smile. As it happens, his mask maintains the standard blank expression that it always has, but inside, Johnny feels a good sense of pride at the act that he just perpetrated

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[_darkknight_]

Gotham City endures any number of horrors. Some might say that the vigilante known as Batman limits these horrors, while others protest that his very presence inspires them. Either way, Gotham is the Batman's venue, and he is the guardian and avenging angel of her citizens.

Someone like Johnny Sorrow, who is his own special brand of terror, is not to be suffered in this city. At the Museum of Moving Arts, Johnny Sorrow will have company.

[jla_villains]

Sorrow reaches the Museum, and would sigh if he had lungs to sigh with. Such a special place, once upon a time. The building held a cinereel of each of his old silent movies, but, most importantly, he had heard from a semi-mythical being that the infamous "Le Fin Absolue du Monde" was hidden in one of its many vaults.

Le Fin Absolue du Monde. Supposedly, a movie written by the devil himself, or at the very least, by some particularly evil characters. The rumour went that if you even saw part of the film you would go mad. All of the film and you would die a most painful death. It was a film that Johnny needed to harness the raw chaos of. The raw evil, locked inside that reel.

He turns incorporeal and walks through the doors.

[_darkknight_]

"Don't go any further."

A voice from the shadows, as disembodied in nature as Sorrow's in reality.

[jla_villains]

Sorrow chuckles. "Hmm. Gotham? Check. Darkness? Check. Cue, Batman." He turns around to face the shadows. "I believe I have served my sentence as imposed by the fifth dimension... You have no juristiction over me, Batman."

He raises a hand to his mask. "Or are you going to threaten me, and therefore make me act in self-defence?"

[_darkknight_]

"What are you doing here?"

[azure_avenger]

Batman's not alone - not against Johnny Sorrow, who represents a Justice League-level threat all by his lonesome. The Blue Beetle's robotic avatar, cloaked in stealth mode, approaches the former actor in silence - letting Batman call the play.

[jla_villains]

"Just here for a little late-night viewing, Batman." He takes a step towards the Dark Knight. "You know, I miss double-feature presentations. The film I watched just now was lacklustre, I will admit. One of my earliest and by far weakest performances. But the film I intend to finish the evening with will be most splendid."

A hand on the edge of his mask, he continues to speak. "Now, I do believe that this museum is publicly accessible. Although it is past closing time, it is a civic building. Therefore I'm not even guilty of breaking and entering. So..." He puts his masked face close to Batman, "... what are you going to do about it?"

[_darkknight_]

"You're guilty of trespassing," counters the Bat, although he is keenly aware of the trouble in effecting any sort of punishment. "Go back to whatever hellhole you climbed out of to come to Gotham."

[jla_villains]

"Hmm..." He drums his fingers on the chin of his mask. "No." He pulls the mask off with a flourish, and unveils the pure evil manifested within.

[_darkknight_]

Batman has been exposed to any and every sort of evil imaginable and some unimaginable. He is no one to face said evil without preparation. In this case, said preparation involves closed and sealed optics. He has gotten around via a visual feed from Beetle's bot and assistance from the ever-present Oracle.

When the mask comes off, the Bat therefore smiles. Faintly. Dryly. Unpleasantly.

[jla_villains]

"Oh. Touché!" Sorrow claps, his mask still off. "But Batman... I think you'll find me stronger... Faster... And far more intelligent..." Sorrow goes to grip the top of Batman's cowl, "... than you."

[azure_avenger]

Beetle's digital relays in his robotic avatar won't properly render Sorrow's death-inducing face, instead creating a small blind spot above the actor's invisible neck.

Not that he needs to see the face to try a takedown - he leaps in, using the taser built into the robot's hand to try and give Sorrow a jolt.

"And you've got a better face for radio."

[_darkknight_]

Speaking of jolts...touching the cowl is never a good idea. If he's corporeal enough to do that, he's corporal enough to get a taser shot from it, too.

The Dark Knight is calm and cold as ice, even in the face of danger like this.

[jla_villains]

Where multiple taser shots would usually result in a scream of pain, or momentary paralysis, it merely results in Sorrow blurring very suddenly, chuckling, and then disappearing through the floor.

[_darkknight_]

"Damn it. Beetle, can you follow that?"

[azure_avenger]

"I'm on it."

He has a downloaded schematic of the theater visible in the display that the robot feeds him, so Ted knows the quickest ways to get around. The robotic form allows him to practically leap down the nearby stairs with acrobatic grace..