Chapter 4: Crosshairs
Batman charged through the botanical gardens, taking out every thug he saw, when he suddenly heard a voice.
"Oh dear Batman." The man spoke. "Chasing the wind of the leaves through a jungle that wants you dead. I bet you're wondering who I am. Placed in a garden-filled heaven with all my precious plants. Do I ring a bell?"
"The only villain I know who spoke like that was Poison Ivy…" Batman thought. "But she's not in Arkham anymore…. So who could this new person be?"|
"Barbara, check Pamela Isley's history." He radioed in. "This new villain we're dealing with probably has a connection with her past. The Arkham records show nothing of him."
"I'm on it." Barbara responded typing away. "So far nothing…wait. I found something. Before moving to Gotham she had lived in Washington State for a while. She was under the tutelage of one "Jason Woodrue," a scientist who bred dangerous drugs and sold them to the highest bidder. At the same time hew as constantly abusing Isley day in and day out and eventually tried to kill her."
"He must've been the one that made her the supervillain she was." Batman said.
"Exactly." Barbara responded. "But after her transformation into Poison Ivy, Dr. Woodrue disappeared for many years. Eventually he would try to become a big supervillain like those here already, but was always arrested by police. However one day he apparently got involved into a similar accident as Pam and mutated."
"That settles it." He spoke. "Dr. Woodrue must've worked with or crossed paths with the Joker sometime, and since Isley is no longer Poison Ivy, he was the next best thing."
"When she finds out that Woodure is in Arkham, she'll either laugh, or become really pissed."
"Regardless, I'm going to stop Woodrue now and retrieve the materials we need."
After speaking with Leslie Fredrickson and gaining Joe Daniels's contact information, James quickly left the party. He ran behind an alleyway and transformed into Nightshroud and flew into the night.
"By god…" He thought. "This is been a strange day, I feel so bad for Leslie…"
"You and me both." Alcor replied. "Her parents are divorced, but she was always closest to her father according to news reports. We need to at least figure out a way to cure her HIV."
"And for that, I know just the person."
"HIV?" Pamela Isley scoffed. "Child's play. I've already cured that years ago."
"Hey now, no need to patronize." James insisted. "The human population has not found a cure, so this could do a load of good."
"Oh alright then." She nodded. "This Joe kid you're telling me about seems a bit odd, but brave on taking these STDs by himself."
James and Pam were conversing in Pamela's old greenhouse. She herself had said that she would eventually move out of there, but hadn't been able to find a place.
"Say…" Pam turned to look at him. "Why don't I just stay with you? You may have an apartment but hey it's not bad."
James clammed up. "I-I'm a bit of a slob."
"Who else isn't at your age?" She folded her arms. "I won't be your maid, but I can help you out."
"Well—"
Suddenly, James's Ari1 beeped. As he accessed the screen, Alcor's voice sounded.
"James." He started. "There was another murder prior to Eugene's. John Stevenson was murdered first. And he's had a suspicious background similar to Eugene's which was corruption, money laundering and bribery."
"Back to back days?" He asked.
"Yes." Alcor replied. "It appears John was murdered two days ago, while Eugene was murdered yesterday. I don't like it James. It appears someone is taking the law into their own hands and murdering them."
"If the trend continues…"
"Then there's going to be another murder today." Alcor finished.
"Shit, we gotta find them!" James turned to Pam. "You win. Stay with me."
"Well then!" Pam grinned. "That was easier than I thought. I'll start the move immediately! Something wrong?"
"Murders." He replied darkly. "One yesterday and another two days ago. That means someone is likely going to be murdered tonight."
"God damn…" Pam muttered. "You better get going. I'll help you out as Mysteria if need-be.
"Mysteria?" James looked at her confused.
"Yeah "Masteria" wasn't working for me." Pam shrugged.
James/Nightshroud flew high over Gotham City, trying to pinpoint any sign of abduction.
"This is bad…" He thought. "These two figures were killed here in Gotham, which means they're likely already in their clutches…"
"We'll find them." Alcor assured him.
"I sure hope so…"
The dark figure watched on their screen as Nightshroud flew from building to building.
"Ah, so he knows now doesn't he?" The figure muttered. "Well that won't matter. He'll never find me."
Behind the figure, a woman struggled trying to break free of her bounds on the chair she was sitting in.
"Why are you doing this!?" She protested.
"Because." The figure turned to look at her. "Some people don't deserve a trial. Some people don't deserve the rule of law. Some people don't deserve a second chance. And some people don't deserve the power they are given."
"Emily Correia, nice of you to join me tonight."
Batman crashed through the final door into the botanical gardens and looked up. He saw three giant mutant flowers staring down at him, with a man sitting on the middle one.
"Welcome Batman." Dr. Woodrue grinned. "It's always nice to have guests. So I'm guessing you'll need my spores to cure this Titan? Unfortunately I am not in a mood to give you anything. So therefore—"
Just then a batarang sliced through the vines that was holding him up. Yelling, he fell off the middle plant, but the mutant flower quickly caught him.
"Rude." He shook his head.
"You won't like this then." Batman held up a detonator.
"Huh?" Dr. Woodrue looked, and saw explosive gel sprayed all over his plants.
"NO! STOP!" He demanded. "You will—"
"Back off." Batman threatened. "I'm taking the spore, or all of your plants die."
Woodrue gritted his teeth. "Fine. The left plant will give you the spore sample."
As he spoke, the mutant flower spat out some yellow seeds. Batman quickly picked them up and stored them in his belt.
"Good." He turned and made for the exit.
Growling, Woodrue raised a hand and pointed at the Dark Knight's back. The plants on both of his sides roared and bounded at him but before they could reach him, he suddenly turned around and pressed the detonator.
"DAMN IT! NOOOOO!" The three plants exploded, sending Woodrue screaming into the small lake underneath.
"As always." He muttered as he shut the door behind him.
Three Days Later"How is she feeling?" James asked Joe Daniels.
"Not well." He said somberly. "Leslie was very close to her father ever since the divorce. Even though she knew about the corruption he was involved in, she still loved him."
James and Joe were putting the finishing touches on their HIV treatment in Joe's apartment after two days.
He sighed. "I'm sorry. Maybe we should do this some other time. I mean—"
"No wait." Joe insisted. "We have the cure done! We can't just delay it now!"
After getting some tutoring from Pam, James and Alcor were finally able to brew up a cure thanks to help from Joe. Soon they had a light purple liquid that sloshed around in a test tube ready to be used.
"But will she be in any mood to try the treatment out?" James asked.
"I don't know, but I'm sure she does not want her HIV to develop any further and for it to start eating away at her body now. Let's do this."
Nodding, they stored the purple liquid in a sealed vial and packed it away in a briefcase that James held. The duo then set off for Leslie's apartment.
"You know-"
"I know what you're thinking." Joe interrupted. "If this cure works, why not distribute it?"
"...yeah."
"Because we're going to be asked too many questions." He answered. "The government is going to get involved with us, and the pharmaceutical industry will throw a fit. They''ll probably sue all of us for everything we're worth. If we get cornered, what are we gonna say? That we were just experimenting around and we stumbled upon a world-changing cure? It wouldn't fly with anyone."
"Yeah you're right. But we can't just keep this secret."
"For now, we'll have to." Joe shook his head. "As much as I'd like to be famous and leave my mark on history, I say we slowly introduce this to the world to make it as if everyone's efforts like donating and making an AIDS quilt actually brought success."
Joe hit the crosswalk button and they crossed the busy street towards the Leland Commons.
"Ah! There it is." He said as they came close to a brown apartment complex.
Suddenly, Alcor shouted: "JAMES! GET BACK!"
"Wha-?"
Not questioning his judgment he suddenly grabbed Joe and leaped away from the door.
"Hey! What the hell are you—"
Just then, the entire building exploded. The windows shattered, hard brick burst apart, and it looked like hell on earth.
James heard a loud ringing in his ears as his vision slowly returned to normal.
"Shit!" He looked and saw tons of glass and debris falling towards them. Quickly he summoned a burst of Solarium and shielded them. The debris hit the barrier and bounced off. Thinking fast, he grabbed Joe and flew out the building's blast radius.
"I sensed explosives James." Alcor said darkly. "Someone knew you two were coming and—"
"LESLIE!" Joe shouted. "LESLIE!"
He quickly turned to James, who was suddenly in his Nightshroud garb.
"I…" Joe started. "Thought so."
Nodding, Nightshroud took off at full speed back towards the apartment building.
"Alcor! Scan!"
"Scanning…Scanning…Scanning…"
"Come on…come on!" Nightshroud looked around the collapsing building and tried to search for any survivors including Leslie.
"James, there are two people trapped on the top floor, three people unconscious on the second, and one unconscious outside." Alcor finally spoke.
"Alright, second then top floor."
Smashing through the window he conjured up a large Solarium barrier, grabbed the unconscious college students, and placed them inside. He then entered it and flew back outside towards Joe. Landing, he set them down carefully next to him.
"I already called for help." Joe said. "The fire department and the paramedics are on their way."
Giving him another nod, Nightshroud quickly flew back into the blaze. He looked and saw the third floor was about to collapse.
"Hurry James!" Alcor warned. "I give the third floor about 25 seconds before it gives out!"
"Got it!"
He smashed through another window on the third floor and saw the two young adults trying to put the fire out. Both were burned on their shoulders and back.
"The exit's blocked!" The boy said.
"Ze are trapped here!" The girl added.
Moving quickly he placed his hands on the boy and girl's shoulders. Closing his eyes, he shot a blast of Solarium at the wall and blew it open. Just as the foundations gave out, he quickly flew them outside to the third unconscious body, which was Leslie.
He extended the Solarium shield to her body and quickly flew back to Joe. As he got closer he could see students arriving and observing the collapsing structure while maintaining a save distance.
At the same time, everyone could hear sirens as fire trucks and ambulances screamed onto the scene. James released Leslie into Joe's arms and he cradled her. She was burned badly on her face and stomach. However the girl was luckily breathing.
"Coma." Alcor judged. "She was lucky to not have been in the building when it exploded, but she was likely about to go in, and got burned badly. However with us…"
Nightshroud knew where that was going; his Solarium should fix her.
"There's no doubt about it." He thought. "The apartment bomber is clearly the same person who's been murdering all these big figures. Leslie is Eugene Fredrickson's daughter. However why attempt to kill her and us at once? I'm sure Leslie doesn't have a suspicious past like her father. Also if this bomber wanted her dead, why not do it sooner? Unless she knows something about this bomber…Finally, why bomb the apartment now? Classes were in session around this time, which means this would be the time where there are the least students in the building at this point. Odd…"
"Joe, let me." Nightshroud placed his hands over her body and Solarium started flowing through her skin. She emitted a blue glow, and the burn marks slowly disappeared.
"She'll wake up soon." He stated finally.
"Some of her hair is still missing." Joe said, questioningly.
"I unfortunately cannot fix that." Nightshroud shook his head. "But I know someone who can."
After making sure everyone was accounted for, both Nightshroud and Joe started for Pamela Isley's greenhouse. But before they could leave, they were suddenly tapped on the shoulders.
Turning around, they saw it was the boy and girl from the top floor.
"Wait!" The boy started. "Before you go, I just want to say thank you for saving us."
"You really pulled us through." The girl nodded extending her hand. "I'm Georgina."
"And I'm George." The boy did the same.
"George and Georgina?" Alcor wondered. "How odd…"
After shaking both hands, Nightshroud shrugged.
"It's no problem." He said. "Always happy to help. Oh! And this too."
He raised his hands and regrew the burned off skin as he did with Leslie. Soon they were healthy again.
"Thanks!" They both grinned.
"Whoa." Joe whispered.
Nightshroud/James noticed that both the boy and girl were extremely good-looking. Georgina was 5' 3" with a very lean and sexy figure with blond hair, blue eyes, and clear skin, while George was a full 6' also with a lean but muscular figure with olive skin, green eyes and black hair. He was also well groomed.
"They don't look related at all…"
"They're not. They've apparently known each other only in college."
"You're close." George said.
James snapped out of it. "W-what?"
"We're not related, for we've been best friends since high school actually." Georgina finished.
"H-how did you—"
"We're meta-humans too!" They said together. "We have mental powers!"
"Wait a minute…" Joe started. "You're the girl that maintains the perfect appearances!"
She bowed. "Indeed I am."
"Appearances?" James asked dumbly.
Joe turned to him, realizing his need to maintain anonymity.
"There's this girl who seemingly maintains perfect stature and beauty everyday but uses no special sediments or creams." Joe answered.
Georgina blushed. "Is that what they say?"
James shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Anyway, so what's the matter?"
Both George and Georgina closed the distance and came close to them.
"We would like to join you!"
