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?"

[femme_du_chat]

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the museum, Catwoman has already deduced exactly what the former villain is here for.

If he finds his way to it, he will find the place it occupied until recently rather vacant.

[jla_villains]

"What irritating fellows..." Johnny Sorrow sinks through the cellar ceiling, and into the secure storage warehouse. "Still, by the time they have opened the locked door to get here... Hm." The mask stays rigid in his hand, but the horror where his face should be would smile if it were able.

"Now, I would imagine these are stored alphabetically... But, if I were the rarest piece of occult film, I would store myself somewhere less... obvious." He turns, and scans the room. "Hmm..." Gliding an inch or so off the floor, he comes to a Police Academy poster hanging on the wall. "Very out of place." He reaches through the poster, and finds the predicted alcove... And nothing. "What!? Where!?"

[azure_avenger]

Blue Beetle opens the locked door expediently - which is to say, forcefully. He didn't want to punch a hole through the floor, but a door? A door is easy to replace, so he kicks it right off the hinges.

"Stop right there, Sorrow."

[jla_villains]

Sorrow turns in mid-air, and places his mask back where his face should be. "Or what, Blue Beetle?" He floats slowly closer to the robotic avatar. "Just give me my film, and I shan't hurt anyone."

[_darkknight_]

A series of dull clatters, like broken masonry and furniture, comes from the unlit corner where Batman landed after the second psionic blast. His outline, black on black, can just be seen shaking itself free of rubble before the cowled man emerges, eyes on the film and on the feline female responsible for its momentary relocation. "Need to get that somewhere safer," he states gruffly. As he walks toward the canister, his eyes remain on Selina.

Zatanna and Blue Beetle get a nod, each. Ask Huntress: that's a big deal from the Bat.

[azure_avenger]

Beetle's still agog over Sorrow's assisted exit.

"Okay, well, that was the strangest thing I've seen all day. I'll call it in to the League, make sure people keep an eye out for Chronos or Sorrow.."

[_darkknight_]

"If that's the strangest thing you've seen all day, you need to get out more." Says the Gothamite whose archenemies include a homicidal sociopath dressed as a clown. "Might want to clear out before the police show."

And sure enough, about ten seconds later, the alarm starts jangling. The film canister and Batman are gone.

[zee_zatara]

Zee glared at where Batman had been just a moment ago. "And he can't even teleport." She looked at Beetle's avatar. "Need a hand getting out of here?" Magical lights are already starting to glimmer around her as she begins to teleport.