Chapter Twenty: Poisons
Morgan blinked at the spot Dick had stood in a moment ago. Then she clenching her flashlight tightly in her fist as she turned on her heel and walked down the other tunnel.
It took her over a minute to truly realize that she was completely alone now, in tunnels far under Gotham City, looking for a dangerous killer. Somehow, the whole being underground thing scared her more than looking for a villain. She'd fought with several of those before, after all.
Fifteen minutes passed when the comm in her ear crackled to life.
"Sparrow?" Batman's voice broke through. The signal was weak, most likely because they, once again, were far underground, but she could hear him well enough despite the crackling and buzzing.
Pressing a hand to her ear, she answered quickly. "Yeah?"
"I've hit a dead end. The path's completely blocked." He explained, sounding very annoyed. "I'm heading back now, so I'll meet up with you ASAP."
"Okay. I'll see you soon, then." She responded. "At one point, there's a fork in this tunnel too, but the left tunnel is a dead end, so you can skip that."
"Understood." He shortly responded and then the line grew silent.
Feeling much more at ease now that she knew he'd join her in a moment, Morgan continued on with renewed vigor. After five minutes, she saw a dim light ahead of her. She'd been pointing her flashlight at one of the walls, inspecting some old script that had been carved directly into the brick, when she'd looked and noticed the soft glow in the distance of the straight tunnel.
Frowning, Morgan shut off her own flashlight and showed it into her pouch, inching closer. Soon, soft voices echoed around her and her heartbeat sped up ever so slightly. Could this be it?
Afraid of getting spotted, she got on her knees and crawled the rest of the way, reaching the end of the tunnel a moment later. She was high up, staring down at a huge cavern. Stalactites and stalagmites littered the roof and floor of the cave. There was a small, rushing, underground river off to one side, the water white with foam as it bubbled past. Unlike the tunnels she'd been in all night, this place clearly wasn't man made. Half a dozen lanterns had been hung around, creating a weak light that didn't quite reach the corners of the place. From her spot, a stone staircase wound down, old and broken in many places.
Morgan lay flat on her belly as she peeked down, spotting the source of the voices pretty quickly.
Poison Ivy sat on her knees beside a fairly large plant, stroking its huge leaves. Behind her there was a small group of henchmen, who were talking to each other in hushed, worried tones. Their boss didn't pay much attention to them, so focused was she on the plant.
Morgan knew Poison Ivy was plant crazy – like, that was pretty much a given. Why then, she wondered, did the red haired beauty chose to stay in a dank, underground cave instead of a forest somewhere? This was completely new behavior. Well, sure, there was a plant down here, but why spend all your energy on a plant that wasn't that big, when you could have entire forests?
Well, she's part of some supervillain group, so there must be some scheme-y reason for this.
Morgan scooted back and sat up, out of view of the people below her, pressing a finger to her ear.
"Guys?" She whispered. Red Robin and Batman responded a moment later. She assumed Damian was with Tim. "I found her."
"Don't engage until I get there." Batman immediately ordered just as Tim said they were on their way.
Morgan briefly explained to Tim which tunnel to take, as the two boys hadn't been there when Morgan and Dick split up.
Once silence fell on their line, she approached the cavern again, keeping a close look on their opponents. She counted at least a dozen men. She drew on her hood, knowing the black fabric was much less conspicuous than her light blonde hair.
She shifted in her spot, freezing instantly when her elbow hit a rock, sending it tumbling over the side of her hiding spot. It created a racket all the way down, clattering along the floor and stopping in front of Poison Ivy's foot.
Morgan bent down low and closed her eyes, breathing deeply as she hoped they would think it was nothing. Batman would get so pissed at her if she let her presence be known before he arrived. He seemed to think she couldn't take care of herself just because she didn't like being underground. Honestly, she was no less capable of fighting just because the place freaked her out a bit.
"Go check that out." Ivy ordered and Morgan instantly scooted further back, hiding in the shadows of the dark tunnel. If nothing else, she'd have the element of surprise.
Attempting to count the footsteps approaching, she figured there must've been at least four guys. She could easily take them.
She'd counted to twenty three in her head before the small group arrived. There were five of them, so she'd been off by one. When they arrived, they were carrying a lantern to light their way, and she knew she'd have to act fast if she wanted to surprise them. Without a second thought, she leapt from the shadows, kicking the legs out from underneath the guy holding the lantern. It rolled out of his grip and she stomped on it, cracking the glass and extinguishing the small flame. Next, she kicked the man in the back of his head, just hard enough to make him lose consciousness but not enough to create any real damage. The tunnel was darker now, working to her advantage. The four other guys let out shouts of surprise, perhaps not entirely sure what had transpired. With a small smirk, she mentally applauded herself on her speed.
One of the men pulled out a flashlight, but with a high kick from Sparrow, it flew out of his grip, clattering uselessly further down the tunnel behind her. He let out a shout of surprise and pain, but Morgan reached forward and punched him in the stomach, knocking all air from his lungs before he could do anything further.
"Where is he?!" Another thug gasped, sounding like he was positively quaking in his boots.
She stifled a laugh when she realized they thought she was Batman.
Figuring she could use their fear to her advantage, she circled around them, letting her cape flutter to reinforce their false notion.
The three henchmen she had left hurdled together, perhaps hoping there was strength in numbers.
Stretching out both arms, she grabbed mental hold of two of the men, wrenching them from each other into the tunnel walls on either side. They slumped down the brick surface. There was one guy left now, and she let him dig into his pocket and retrieve a flashlight, smirking at the thought of him discovering their opponent hadn't been Batman at all.
He managed to turn it on and he found her grinning face immediately.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, his southern accent clear as a bell. "You ain't Batman"
"Nope." She shrugged, pointing behind him. "But he is."
The man turned around just in time to face Batman as he appeared from the shadows, punching him square in the face and knocking him out instantly.
"Nice of you to join." Sparrow told him, feeling herself slip into the carefree persona she was so used to from patrols. Fighting people was easy – it was familiar. Suddenly, all fears of the stuffy, underground tunnels were forgotten.
"I told you to wait for me." He gruffly disapproved.
She shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. "They came looking for me – couldn't very well wait for you then."
"Where's Ivy?"
Morgan stepped past a thug and towards the edge of the tunnel. She pointed down, noticing that the rest of the thugs had made a protective half-circle around their boss and her plant, most of them equipped with guns. Poison Ivy looked furious that she'd been interrupted by the heroes. Her henchmen were clearly nervous, shuffling in their place.
"She's got a plant down there. Don't know if it's dangerous, but it's probably important."
He nodded, mouth drawn into a thin line as he studied their opponent.
"I'm going to throw a smoke bomb down there." He explained. "You fly above and attack them from behind. If you can, incapacitate Ivy before you engage her men. I'll attack them head on."
Sparrow mentally visualized his plan and nodded a second later.
He studied the place one more time. "I think I see a way out up there." Batman pointed at a ladder leading up to a trapdoor exactly like the one they'd used to enter the underground tunnels. "Once we've got Ivy, we'll get out that way."
Fine by her. She'd go along with anything that meant no more tunnel-exploring. If it was indeed a way out, it meant they wouldn't have to go all the way back, with a dangerous criminal in their custody.
He pulled out a smoke bomb and looked at her. "One.. two.. three!"
He threw the sphere and it exploded, grey smoke covering the cave in an instant.
Morgan jumped off the edge, beating her wings to reach the other side. She was above the smoke, allowing her to briefly see the flutter of a black cape before the sounds of battle reached her, guns going off and ricocheting off the cave walls. Flesh hit flesh and there were several pained grunts. She reached the other side and dropped to the floor, momentarily disoriented as she was surrounded by smoke. Her mask worked in the smoke too, thankfully letting her see the vague shapes of the people she was supposed to be fighting.
A shape collided with her with enough force to send them both sprawling, Sparrow felt all air leave her lungs when the other figured landed harshly on top of her.
Poison Ivy's face appeared a second later, swooping down towards Sparrow's. She quickly halted the other woman with an arm to her collarbone, realizing with wry humor that Poison Ivy could barely see anything, and had tried to kiss her. Morgan had heard about Ivy's poisonous kiss, but she was pretty sure the other woman only ever used it on men.
"This is awkward." she spoke, watching Ivy's face slacken in surprise at her feminine voice. "Does that trick even work on women?"
Ivy let out a growl and got to her feet. Before she could run off, Morgan caught her around her ankle and pulled, sending the other woman to the ground again. The ground was damp and Ivy landed in a small puddle of mud. Sparrow instinctively grimaced, knowing she was probably just as dirty herself.
Pushing thoughts of dirt aside, Morgan quickly got up and sat on top of the other woman, holding onto her wrists with one hand as she dug through her pouches in search of a pair of handcuffs.
Ivy wriggled her hands free before Sparrow could restrain her for good, moving with a speed that surpassed Morgan's as she lashed out and hit her on the side of her head, making her slacken the grip her thighs had around Ivy's waist.
Both women scrambled to their feet and eyed each other for a moment. Sparrow touched a hand to her temple where Ivy had hit her, frowning at the blood slowly oozing from the scratch marks there.
Ignoring the stinging, she ran forward and jumped, aiming a punch at Ivy's side. She dodged, but before she could attack, Morgan grabbed mental hold of her and kept her in place as she leapt up and kicked Ivy at the side of her head. The older woman slackened, falling to the ground once Morgan released her from her hold.
Despite the pretty short fight, Morgan's breathing was labored as she approached the unconscious form of the ginger before her. She blinked to rid her vision of colorful spots and somewhat sluggishly pulled out the handcuffs.
She had intended to carefully reach down to handcuff the woman, but her legs seemed to have other ideas as she fell harshly on her knees instead. She handcuffed Ivy even as her head started spinning, and it took a moment for her drowsy brain to realize what was going on.
Ivy had poisoned her. It must've been when she scratched her.
"Son of a bitch.." She mumbled before slumping to the side, lying parallel to Poison Ivy, and her head inches from the woman's feet. Blond curls covered her eyes as her vision slowly darkened. Blinking twice, her eyes lost their fight against the sudden drowsiness and slipped shut.
–
Getting rid of the henchmen had been fairly easy, especially when Red Robin and Robin appeared. Except, of course, when one of them went crazy, pulled out a machine gun, and started firing every-freaking-where. That guy had been approached with caution, and he'd kept Batman so occupied, he'd briefly forgotten about their main prize: Poison Ivy.
Then, as the smoke cleared, silence settled around them. All the henchmen were in various stages of unconsciousness so he spared them only the smallest of glances before looking around to spot Poison Ivy, hoping Morgan had been successful in apprehending the other female.
The last bit of smoke covered the ground, so he spotted a still, grey wing sticking up first, and quickly walked towards it. As he came closer, he could see both Morgan and Ivy lying on their sides, neither moving a muscle, and he quickened his pace. His eyes latched onto Morgan and stayed there as he quickly slid onto his knees beside her and rolled her onto her back, making sure her wings weren't bent uncomfortably. Pressing two fingers to her throat, he was relieved to feel her pulse, and upon further study, he could see her face twitch, her eyebrows furrowing and her closed, masked eyes darting back and forth.
He grasped her face in both hands and tilted it to inspect three new scratches on her temple, thin streams of blood seeping into her hairline. He approached Ivy next and inspected both of her hands, finding traces of blood and skin under the nails of her left one, and knew that she must've scratched Morgan, poisoning her in the process. He pulled forth a device from his belt and cut off a small sliver of the woman's long nails, analyzing what sort of poison she'd used. Part of him worried, but he squashed it down, knowing that Bruce had prepared for this sort of thing. He could only hope he had the antidote with him.
Not thirty seconds later, the computer informed him it was a fast working, powerful sedative. So she hadn't as much poisoned Morgan as she'd put her to sleep. It was pretty harmless if he treated it – however, he couldn't be sure when she'd wake up if he didn't give her an antidote. Or if she'd even wake up.
Knowing what was wrong with the other hero calmed his worry and he dug into one of his pouches as Red Robin and Robin approached. The two boys had been tying up the henchmen but had finished their task and now demanded to know what had happened to Sparrow and Poison Ivy.
"Ivy poisoned her." He responded calmly as he dug out a small vial and a clean syringe. "Don't worry, I've got the antidote. Batman-" he swallowed dryly at the mention of his old mentor, "he made sure long ago that he had an antidote for any poison that Ivy used."
"I thought the only cure was a kiss from Ivy?" Red Robin demanded, seeming worried that Dick would give Morgan the wrong antidote and thus worsen her situation.
"Only if she was poisoned through a kiss." He explained as he cleaned the syringe and plunged the needle into the seal of the vial, filling it with the antidote. "But Ivy poisoned her with these," he motioned for the scratch marks before moving Morgan's head to one side, giving him unhindered access to her neck. Finding a vein, he pushed in the syringe and released the antidote into her system.
Right as he pulled the needle back out, Ivy shuffled beside Morgan, bringing a hand up to hold onto her head, letting out a low moan of pain. Seeing the red lump on her temple, Batman suspected Morgan had knocked the other woman unconscious before succumbing to the sedative.
He saw she was restrained by handcuffs, and so he didn't hurry as he stood and loomed over the waking woman, waiting patiently for her to notice him.
Turning onto her back and letting her bound hands fall from her temple, she opened her eyes and finally spotted his form. Automatically, she glared at him and sat up, pulling fruitlessly at her handcuffs.
"You got me this time." She said as Red Robin reached forward and pulled her onto her feet, keeping a tight grip on her upper arm to keep her in place. "But it won't matter. You won't win this one, Nightwing."
He crossed his arms at her sneer, ignoring the discomfort he felt at hearing his old title. Whether because it bugged him that she knew he wasn't the real Batman or because he missed being Nightwing and hated the reminder, he wasn't sure.
"You were there the night it happened." He said in a monotone. "Who else was?"
She winked at him, a coy smile pulling at her lips. "Who says I wasn't alone?"
"I want names, Ivy."
"Well, you're not getting them." She rolled her eyes at him as if figuring he should've known that already. "You're not at scary as you think you look, boy."
Robin glared beside Batman. Despite his short stature, he somehow managed to look down his nose at Ivy. "Looking intimidating isn't the only way to get you to talk." He threatened, his intention clear as he clenched a batarang in his small fist. Batman placed a restraining hand on Robin's shoulder.
A low groan redirected their attention as Morgan blinked awake by their feet. She let out a large breath and blinked an extra time before getting up onto one elbow, clutching her head.
"I guess you had the antidote, then." Poison Ivy sighed like it was a real shame. "Too bad. I had looked forward to seeing the desperation on your face."
Batman looked sharply at her. "A bit of sedative is hardly cause for desperation."
She smirked at him. "Depends on the doze."
As they talked, Morgan slowly sat up fully, shaking her heavy limbs.
"That was bizarre.." She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes through her mask.
Batman offered her a hand and pulled her up. He studied Ivy out of the corner of his eye, watching as she glared at the blonde. He frowned at the look. It seemed like it held more than just general animosity against an enemy who'd bested and handcuffed her.
"What's bizarre?" Red Robin asked.
"Nothing," She rubbed at the area of her neck he'd jabbed the needle into, grimace at the discomfort she must've felt. "Just a dream. More like nightmare, really."
She was tired, still. He could see it on her, her wings hanging lazily against her back as she slumped where she stood. Turning towards Ivy, he scowled at her one final time before reaching a decision.
"We're done here." He said. "We'll escort Ivy outside and hand her over to Arkham."
Robin, who'd been standing silently by his side all this time, protested. "There's more she can tell us. Letting her go already would be the wrong thing to do."
He shook his head, suddenly weary to the bone. "She won't tell us anything. Whoever she's working with, she fears them more than us."
Ivy looked like she wanted to protest the notion of being afraid of anyone, but he ignored her as he ordered Robin to use the ladder and check out that trapdoor, see if it really led out of the tunnels. The young boy nodded stiffly before aiming one last glare at Ivy and walking off.
As soon as the trapdoor turned out to lead straight to the surface, Batman and Red Robin got Ivy out, letting Sparrow and Robin wait by the plant they had yet to inspect. The police arrived ten minutes later, taking over Ivy with the promise to let Batman interrogate her later – he wasn't about to let her go that easily, not when she could have more to tell him. Maybe she wasn't scared of him, but he could probably find some other way to persuade the answers from her. He'd prefer to terminate his reluctant partnership with the Riddler as soon as possible, and getting the information from Ivy could do just that. As the police car disappeared around the corner, the two heroes slipped under ground once again, seeing Sparrow and Robin eye the plant from a small distance.
"What do you suppose it does?" Batman heard Morgan ask quietly as she reached out a hand.
"Don't touch it." He practically barked and she withdrew her hand, taking a step back.
"I wasn't gonna.." She protested weakly. Kicking at a rock by her feet, she looked positively sheepish.
Batman approached the plant and pulled out a batarang, cutting off a large piece, making sure he got a sample of the leaves, the trunk and the roots. If the plant had some sort of function, they couldn't be sure which part. Taking a step back, he studied it briefly. It was a dark green, not particularly big yet, with large, fuzzy leaves. There were no signs of flowers blooming, so he assumed it was a flowerless sort.
"Hey, how come you get to touch it?" Sparrow asked as he stuffed the samples into a sealed bag and tugged it into his belt.
"My gloves aren't fingerless." He responded simply, not looking up as he rigged a small explosive to the plant. If it held some sort of significance, they couldn't very well let it lie around for Ivy's partners to find. "Step back."
The four heroes headed for the other side of the room before he pressed a button to set off the explosive.
He'd only used a minimal amount of explosive gel, and so he wasn't at all prepared for the entire plant to implode in a loud roar of fire, the shockwave sending all four of them to the ground. The entire cave shook and rocks broke loose from the ceiling and walls, stirring up dust as they went.
There was silence for a moment as the four heroes regained their bearings and slowly got to their feet.
"What was that?" Tim demanded, turning to Dick.
Batman ignored him as he approached the charred remains of the plant. Kicking lightly at it with a black boot, it crumbled under the hit, nothing but a small pile of ash.
"I barely used any explosive." He told the others. "It shouldn't have gone off like this."
"Maybe it was rigged already. In case Ivy lost it. It could've been made to self destruct." Robin offered, his brows furrowed behind his green mask. The eleven year old bent down and pinched a bit of ash between his thumb and pointer, sniffing suspiciously at it. Coughing, he closed his eyes and turned away, his face scrunched up. "It stings!"
"Did you inhale it?" Morgan stepped forward and bent down next to the boy, placing a hand on his small shoulder. He glared at her and stood up, brushing her hand away in annoyance as he wiped his glove on his pants.
"I'm fine. Don't touch me." Damian snapped.
Batman almost felt like rolling his eyes, not entirely sure what Morgan had expected to happen if she tried to mother Damian in any way.
Morgan huffed in offence and drew back, holding her hands up in the universal 'whatever' move.
"Fine." She said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest. "let's just finish up here and go home – I'm sick of this place."
Wow, I feel like I've been away from this story for forever! Hopefully I'll never go this far between chapters again. I can't promsie anything yet, though - I've still got University to look after!
This chapter was slightly shorter than usual, but it means I have more for the next chapter, so hpefully it'll be out soon.
Also, for those of you that haven't seen it yet, I posted the first part of a short story called 'The Alternative', which basically outlines the reality that Impulse came from and then hinted at in Feathers. We get to see Morgan and Dick in a sort-of dystopian world, so go read it! I'm working on the second part as we speak, so hopefully that'll be posted soon too.
In the meantime, stay awesome! You guys are the best!