DISCLAIMER: Poison Ivy was created by Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff. Batman was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. I do not own any of the main characters involved in this story. This story exists in my own fan-made continuity and should not be considered to be part of any already defined by the comics, television series, or movies, though it takes cues from other established continuities created for the aforementioned characters.
The skies over Gotham City flashed momentarily as thunder rolled throughout the city. The storm forecasted for tonight was so bad that the vast majority of the population decided to remain indoors. Most of the criminal element of Gotham elected to call it a night. Even the Bat-Signal was off for the evening, as the thunderstorm made lighting it troublesome. As such, with the exception of the storm, it was a relatively peaceful night, one that Gothamites didn't generally get to enjoy very often.
Save for one.
On the beaches of Gotham, something was amiss. The normally clean water had a green fluid rushing through it, washing up onto the beach. A terrible waste-dumping of sorts, the type where it was fortunate that the beach was absent of any people. And yet, despite being what should otherwise be extremely hazardous to be anywhere near, a human arm emerged from the waste, followed by the owner's head.
The woman, clearly being in her mid to late 20's, washed up onto the sandy shore, gasping for air as her long red hair fell around her face. The small remains of her lab clothes, already burnt and shredded terribly, were pulled off as she crawled up the shore. She stopped to wretch up some of the green fluid that had gotten into her mouth, shivering at the cold air and horrid ordeal she had undergone, before she began to drag herself along once more.
As the storm rolled on, the redhead managed to get to the lifeguard tower, hiding in the small shed next to it for momentary shelter. Dragging herself up onto a bench, she panted hard as she started to feel her strength coming back to her. Her eyesight was still a bit on the hazy side, and her throat felt so dry, but otherwise, she was beginning to recover from...from...
...What happened? she thought, trying to think back. I can't remember what happened. Wait...No, I was at the lab, going over the plant samples, and then there was that sound.
Suddenly, it all came rushing back. The sound that led her to that room. The room that was explained away as holding gases too dangerous to the human body without the right inoculation. The room she was never supposed to enter. The room where she found THEM, and everything changed.
And then I died...! she realised, her eyes widening. She looked to her hands, shocked to find that her light-peach skin was now moss-green. Frantically, she looked for a reflective surface in the shed, finding a small mirror under the bench. Her sclera had gone from white to black, her irises teal to emerald. Her once shoulder-length orange-red hair was now flowing nearly to her waist and coloured lust-red, her lips bearing the same colour.
Immediately, her mind went back to the room. THEY all had skin and hair tinted different colours of green and red. She gripped the edges of the mirror tightly as it all came back. The lab. Doctor Woodrue. The room. At least two dozen children. Dangerous chemicals. Jason Woodrue. The mobsters. A vat filled with the chemicals. Batman and Robin. The fight. Her death.
"Woodrue," she muttered angrily before she threw the mirror against the wall. "Bastard."
Noticing the thunderstorm finally beginning to clear up, the woman exited the shack, the rain turning relatively light. She looked herself over, realising she needed clothes and shelter. She didn't dare return to the lab, though, and her apartment was likely being searched by either the police or Woodrue. She had nowhere to go, and was terrified to go to a hospital. They might think she was some kind of freak or monster.
Looking around, she found a large pipe leading into Gotham's sewers. She'd heard rumours of some of the homeless in Gotham hiding down there from time to time. Perhaps one of them had left some kind of clothes or something for her to use. Heading to the pipe, the woman crawled in, making her way into the sickly sewers of Gotham City, glad at least that they were insulated well and it was slightly warmer there than on the beach in the middle of a storm.
Batman sighed, looking over the lab from the upper levels as the police investigated it, gripping the railing tightly. Robin was helping calm the children, who had been locked away in that chamber for God knows how long. The mobsters that had been coercing Doctor Woodrue were being brought into custody, all a bit bruised and banged-up after the fight with the Dynamic Duo. Still, for all that was found and/or claimed, there were two missing.
"No sign of Woodrue," James Gordon said as he walked over to the Dark Knight. "Wherever he bolted, he didn't leave a trail for us to follow."
Batman nodded, his gaze stuck on the empty vat below. "...A vat of chemicals. Too slow to catch them. Why is it always a vat of chemicals?"
"Maybe we should outlaw them?" Jim suggested, sighing as his poor attempt at a joke fell flat. "...It wasn't your fault, Batman. When everything went down-"
"That's what I keep telling myself," the Caped Crusader replied, his grip on the railing growing tighter. It was true, as soon as he and Robin had hit the scene, the fight immediately broke out. While fending off the armed mobsters, Woodrue had dropped the woman into the vat and run like the devil was on his heels. Batman had tried to catch her in time, but with the goons in his way, he was too slow to reach her. Still, with all of this in mind, Batman knew he could've reached her in time if he'd been smarter or faster. Perhaps if he'd gone for her first instead of fighting the mobsters.
The commissioner nodded, understanding. "Do we have a name?"
"Pamela Isley," Batman responded. "She was a doctor, working under Woodrue. They were apparently close."
"Apparently not TOO close," James noted. "I've got men looking, but even IF there was the slightest chance she survived, with the storm going on and the list of places she could get washed down to, I doubt we'd find her tonight."
The Dark Knight's eyes narrowed, thinking back. "...I'll see if there's anything I can dig up."
"Usual time and place?" Gordon asked, getting a nod from Batman. "See you then."
With that, Batman climbed onto the railing before dropping down, his para-cape slowing his decent. Dropping softly next to Robin, he gave the Boy Wonder a quick glance, to which he got a nod, and the two headed out of the lab, back to where the Batmobile was parked outside. Neither said a word as the canopy opened and they climbed inside, driving away from the lab in a hurry.
"So, where to?" Robin asked quietly.
"Back to Wayne Enterprises," Batman explained. "Woodrue's lab was funded by our science division, and Doctor Isley used to work in it before transferring. There might be information left-over that can lead us to her."
The Boy Wonder nodded, sighing. "...You okay, boss?"
"Those children were used as lab rats and have been mentally traumatised, possibly for life," the Dark Knight replied. "And now a woman may be dead, horribly burned and melted alive in a vat of chemicals, and yet, and this is the sickest part, one could make the argument that that's not even the worst case scenario for her."
"What's worse than death by deadly chemicals?" Robin inquired, confused.
"Remember what I told you about The Joker?" Batman asked.
Robin gulped. "Point taken. But, y'know, this wasn't your-"
"Please do not say it wasn't my fault, Dick," Batman insisted as they stopped for a light. "Whether it's true or not, just...just don't."
Richard slumped in his seat, dropping it. He didn't understand EXACTLY what was going on in Bruce's mind, but he could tell that this wasn't JUST because of what happened tonight. The horrors that occurred were terrible, but something about the man's responses, the way he held the steering wheel, just the little things he did told Dick that he was beating himself up for this far worse than he'd seen out of him thus far, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Was it just cumulative effect, after the death of his parents, the death of Dick's parents, the transformation of The Joker, and who knows what else? Or was there something more at work, some event he still didn't know about? In the end, the Boy Wonder couldn't tell. But he knew this much: It was going to be a long night, and God help anyone involved with tonight's affairs if they crossed paths while Bruce was like this.
Pamela cursed as she slipped on the wet brick floor of the sewers, almost tumbling over. She'd been walking for what felt like an hour. She was cold, tired, and hungry, but she had to keep moving. She had to find clothes and shelter somewhere, and fast.
After making a quick turn around a corner, Pam almost felt tears come to her eyes as she saw it: A small shelter of sorts in a dead-end in the sewers. There was a mattress, albeit a rather raggedy looking one, and some cheap clothes in a pile. Someone must have put this together and then left it all behind, and from the looks of it, they hadn't been back in days, maybe weeks.
Even if they came back, I suppose I COULD always just explain it was an emergency, Pamela told herself as she almost sprinted to the shelter. I'm sure they wouldn't mind sharing a few clothes...that is assuming they don't outright run in terror of me.
Going through the pile, Pamela eventually came upon some dark grey sweat pants, a black hoodie, and black Crocs that looked like they would all fit. Despite being somewhat raggedy, dirty, and slightly loose, they were still better than anything else in the pile, so she wasn't about to complain. Changing into them, she laid back onto the mattress on the floor. Hardly what she'd call comfortable, but still better than nothing. She laid there, staring up at the ceiling, thinking back to the lab. Just the thought of it made her teeth and fingers clench hard.
"Woodrue," she muttered. "How could you? To those children, to ME? After we-"
Pam shook her head hard, refusing to go there. Still, as she felt fatigue set in, her mind couldn't help but go back to when everything started. When she first transferred from Wayne Enterprises' advanced science division to Woodrue's lab...
AUTHOR'S NOTES: So, welcome to my newest story. Won't be too long, though, just a simple origin story for Poison Ivy within my fanfics. That said, Batman will play an obvious role here, as one who is haunted by a fairly sizeable amount of guilt, and we'll be getting some flashbacks for him too, but ultimately, this is Pam's story. Batman is just a player in all of this, and Robin is more or less along for the ride, though he will get some nice moments here and there. As far as a vagueness of what happened...yeah, it did get a bit over-dramatic and vague, but don't worry, the actual details come into play next chapter.
I should also note, for anyone that doesn't read my blog, that I changed Batman's costume a bit. He's now wearing a modified version of the Batman Noël costume, recoloured and given lens to resemble the Batman: TAS costume, his Bat symbol swapped out for the one in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and wearing the utility belt worn by the Insurgency Batman from Injustice: Gods Among Us. Likewise, Robin's costume has been changed slightly, adding Tim Drake's Robin symbol and Damian Wayne's hood to Dick Grayson's Robin costume from the Young Justice cartoon.
Anyway, check in next time as we learn exactly what went down between Pamela and Doctor Woodrue, the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and whys. Ja né!