Chapter 17:
A soft moan erupted from the mouth of one Dinah Laurel Lance. Laurel, as most people called her these days, felt a fogginess in her mind. The crime fighter tried to piece together the last few minutes. Fighting Damien Darhk and his crew, ended up wounded, in a hospital bed talking to Oliver, and now she was awake.
Awake and dressed in a flowing white gown, which Laurel did not remember wearing. And then she rubbed the back of her head. Where was Laurel.
"Be Still."
A voice spoke and Laurel shook her head. A voice spoke, but there had been no one behind it. That did wonders in putting Laurel a bit on edge.
"You were never meant to die, Dinah Laurel Lance."
Oh, wait, she was dead? And now Laurel was alive. Or was she in some kind of limbo? There was a lot of plant life, where she was. Including a large Venus Fly Trap at the edge of a row of vines which looked kind of hostile. Laurel tried to swallow, and found a lump in her throat, and she had been physically unable to speak.
"I know you have questions. The rogue watcher tried to intervene with the course of actions. You never were supposed to die. But he has been dealt with."
Okay, handy information to know. Laurel still had more questions. Who was this entity who brought her back to life and what were they playing.
"You have a chance to return fully. Better than ever. Depending on the results of the ultimate battle between good and evil."
Laurel nodded, alive, but unable to speak still. Her throat felt funny, as well, and Laurel stepped into the room, when suddenly, a plant vine wrapped around her leg. Laurel yanked herself free, only to fine another one whip out and knock her to the ground.
A large flower broke out from the ground. The petals shot open, with a sadistic blooming of them opening and revealing the woman inside. Red head, green skin, tall, beautiful, and also very dangerous. The woman's lips curled into a smile.
"They took them," she whispered in a crazed tone of voice. "Why did they take my babies away? They will suffer for making my babies suffer!"
The woman whipped back in the plant and Laurel thought this situation had gone from bad to worse. The glowing red rock at the base of one of the plants, stabbed practically into it, could not be good. The pollen filling the air, well it made Laurel very light headed.
The woman in question though, Poison Ivy, was one of Gotham's most notorious criminals. And not happy. And Ivy now had Laurel in her clutches.
Unless Laurel figured a way out of this jungle, her return back to the living might be short lived. Laurel closed her eyes, contemplating anyway to free herself from the plants, without setting Ivy off.
Strange plants grew outside of the castle. Caitlin, Gwen, and Lena worked feverishly in the lab, to reinforce the security drones.
"Well, at least we know who is behind those weird plants," Lena said.
"Pamela Isley, Poison Ivy," Caitlin said. "It has to be her. I don't know why she would infect the plants with Kryptonite though."
"Search me," Gwen said.
Sara, Kara, Nora, Daisy, and Alex joined them in the room, with Alura following. Alura worked on getting tapping into some satellite images which followed the vines of the plants down, to a certain point. The images kept flashing on screen.
"Good idea, got to get a better look at what she's doing."
"Laurel?"
This sudden outburst from Sara caused the other girls to jump forward with a start. Kara put her hand on Sara's shoulder and frowned.
"Your sister?"
"Yeah, she's...alive."
Sara had no idea what was going on here. Alive, although not well, if she was in the clutches of a madwoman like Poison Ivy. Sara heard the stories about how Ivy lost her mind just because someone killed a flower and she looked as angry as ever.
"We're heading out to get a closer look," Alex said. "Daisy, Sara, you're with me. Kara, Caitlin, make sure our path is clear."
"You do realize she'll get hostile when we start attacking the plants?" Lena asked. "Well, if this Ivy is anything like the one on our Earth."
"Yes, I know, and yes if she's from our Earth, the same," Sara said. "Especially if she can feel it, but we have no choice."
If there was any chance of grabbing onto Laurel, Sara had to take it. She had a second chance, although why, she did not know. Sara tried to push the very real thought this could be a clone, a shapeshifter, or some alternate universe counterpart out of the back of her mind.
Kara, Caitlin, and Nora cleared a path for Sara, Alex, and Daisy to make their way. Lena kept tracking the location to where Ivy would be.
Normally, Felicity Smoak would be down for being tied down to a table. In fact, it would be a bit tame compared to her college days. But nothing like this, and Felicity had no idea how she got here. She struggled on the table.
Okay, the last thing Felicity remembered, was trying to track down the location of a drug kingpin who had gone underground. And then, nothing. Just nothing. Felicity's mind faded completely to black. Her hand twitched madly as she attempted to pull away, only for it to snap back down.
Oh, some deranged bee keepers circled Felicity. And she remembered now getting a dart in the back of the neck after landing in a lab area. Somehow, some wave of light hit her and brought Felicity here. Her thoughts had been so jumbled it was hard to piece the together at this time.
"And you're awake. Excellent."
Felicity's situation had been gone from bad to worse. Whatever had been in the sedative these people had given her, prevented Felicity from speaking or even screaming. And believe her, Felicity would have screamed, when coming across this particular individual.
Hugo Strange, a disgraced Arkham Asylum doctor, approached Felicity. And he had been the architect behind the entire Arkham City fiasco, which left Gotham in a really bad state, even more so than usual.
But, was Strange not dead? Felicity could scarcely recall and found her head just spinning with different scenarios.
"Yes, she would be perfect for the experiment," Strange said. "I'm not going to squander this opportunity, not at all. A second chance at life, from this Beyonder. And whoever this Beyonder is, they seem to be quite the scientist, willing to pit the forces of good and evil against each other. Although what is good and what is evil is a perception of your own reality."
Felicity would have fired back with a cutting comment about how Strange's perception was whack and he as the epitome of evil.
"Yes, her mind is perfect, not to break," the scientist in the shadows commented. "Her body, well that could be rebuilt."
What were they doing to her, Felicity wondered? Felicity tried to scream out for help. Nothing.
"It must be demoralizing," Strange said. "To scream, but yet for no sound to come out. To want to speak, to long to speak, but you can't hear you. You never are one to shut up normally, are you, Ms. Smoak? Despite the fact you should."
Strange pulled out a large syringe and watch, as Felicity's pupils dilate.
"I'm sure my good friend, Doctor Crane, would be very intrigued to study your reactions right now," Strange said. "A pity that this is not an experiment of fear, but rather the capabilities of the human mind. And there is a small chance this is your last chance. Should you die before you wake, science thanks you for your help, Ms. Smoak."
The syringe injected into Felicity's neck and resulted in a scream which she could not vocalize. Damn, this was one of the most awful things in the world and her entire mind felt overtaxed along with her body heating up.
"And now, we wait, and observe."
"And once she's settled, I will deal with the imposter wearing my face."
Laurel almost freed herself, when suddenly the ground rumbled underneath both of them.
"What?" Ivy asked.
"Get back!"
Quake blasted Ivy's vines with a full force which caused her to scream out in agony. Another blast, sent Ivy down and Daisy rose up her hands, and buried her underneath the ground, with a loud crumbling motion.
The plants went wild and Sara, without any hesitation, hacked away at the plants. Laurel dropped down and Sara caught Laurel before she fell to the ground.
"Laurel?"
Laurel smiled, unable to speak still. The entire scene flashed before her, plants rising up and attacking both her and Sara. Laurel tried to swallow the lump in her throat.
She tried to scream for Sara to look out for the large tree. Laurel released a sonic cry and sent the tree backing off.
The eruption of one of the sonic cries exploded a plant pod and released thousands of tiny pink particles in the air which blasted both Sara and Laurel in the face.
Both sisters dropped to their knees, heaving breathing from inhaling the enhanced plant pheromones. Sara grabbed Laurel and smashed her lips over Laurel's with an intense kiss.
The Shameless Smut Returns In the Next Chapter.