Night was only a shadow, as were the authorities. And she was the light… yes, she was the light… how could it be any other way?
The Snowy Cones Ice Cream Factory. Abandoned into desolation, of course, years before during the Economic Crash of '85, and now home to the gang members who served its lord of the manor, Freeze. The outside burned brightly with the mixture of several colors: bright pink, blue, and yellow spots of light danced about the massive grinning face of the snowman structure, while flashes of red and blue dashed in triangular waves across its beaming face as well. Cop lights and party lights. The authorities has massed here in the great numbers, at least thirty of them, cops patrolling the area in mass of packs. All of this, Ivy, Bane, and Freeze witnessed from afar, their limo perched quietly in the dark of the shadow cast by the massive, abandoned bank across the road from the factory, some ways down.
This was not going to be easy. Freeze needed to get in there fast, as his auxiliary power was steadily in decline and he would not last in his special armor for much longer… and of course, Ivy had to get in there and murder Nora Fries. There was so much to do and so many things that could stand in their way. If only Ivy had thought to prepare another army, as she had done on the eve before the Flower Ball… but they were all arrested now, being tried for murders and assaults alike, at least those who had survived when their potential victims had failed to fight back… and she had no time to round up some more soldiers, as Freeze's time was running out. He could not survive outside of sub-zero temperature, and the refrigeration power of his armor would not last another hour. They had to move very, very soon.
"So, then, I don't think they all want a smooch this evening," Ivy said, rather half-heartedly. She tapped her fingers against the window of her door impatiently. "What a predicament…"
Freeze, ever careful to not say anything that may set the crazy one off again, patted her shoulder in a comforting way. "Poison, Poison… we know better than to doubt. After Arkham Asylum, I believe that we can pull off just about anything…"
Ivy glared at him. "Then walk in through the front door."
Freeze grimaced. "I think, no. I don't feel like being shot to death."
Ivy smirked. "But we can accomplish anything together."
"Well, I'm assuming there must be something tucked away in your head… though I guess that would be unfair. You didn't expect to have to come here. So, then… how to proceed? Hey Einstein, got any ideas?" Freeze said loudly, speaking to Bane. Bane nodded, growling lowly.
"Sewers…"
Freeze and Ivy grinned at each other. "A scholar of cryogenic science and a botanist with a Master's degree, and it takes dumbass up there to figure it out," Ivy chuckled, punching Bane on the shoulder. "Well done, useless."
Freeze frowned. "I don't think he was useless. It's a good idea. The sewers run-"
"Please don't compliment him in front of me," Ivy cut across him, her voice turning vicious. "The worthless animal doesn't need any more treats for the evening."
Bane turned around to look at her. He made a guttural noise, as if he wanted to say something… and then silently turned his head away, staring intently out of the front window. Freeze was uncomfortable. Did she truly have to be so hateful?
"Alright, then, you remember the plan. I'll be collecting the diamonds from the Sentry Post on the second floor, while you score the vault for Nora. Do you remember the passcode to her capsule?"
"Of course, love. Moonlight," Ivy recited like a schoolgirl rehearsing test answers.
A small smile highlighted Freeze's face. The man looked at sudden peace, a warmth thawing him just the tiniest, most invisible bit. His eyes became blurry wet as he seemed to look beyond Ivy. "Moonlight, yes… she perfected the dance to Moonlight Sonata… if only you could see how graceful she moves…"
Ivy put on her best compassionate face, as she took his hand lightly in her own.
"I imagine she's very talented. Well, soon you shall have her back, and when we're in my gardens, we'll have her put on a wondrous show for us all."
She sounded genuine, her own eyes twinkling with a false happiness and security that fooled the poor man. Freeze closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in deep.
"Not for a while yet, I'm afraid. She'll remain frozen for quite some time. MacGregors Syndrome has a way of taking those kinds of joys away from people…"
"Now don't you dare!" Ivy soothed, stroking his face as she had so many more of her victims. "Don't you dare talk like that! You forget, I'm a genius, Victor. As are you. Together, we can create all that is beautiful and desirable. We can overcome anything, I promise. Including this disease. Look at me." She forced his face to look directly into hers. "I promise you, Victor… she'll be free soon. And not just from this factory. I will ensure that she is set free permanently."
Freeze looked heartbroken, but in a most beautiful way. His breath caught, and he truly looked touched. Ivy could be the most sadistic woman on the face of the Earth… and she could also be the loveliest. He took her hand in his own and squeezed hard.
He's touching me… she soothed to herself in her mind.
"Thank you," he said hoarsely. Ivy winked.
And so, a few minutes later, the three of them had climbed out of the limo and had stolen away into a nearby sewer grate. The smell down in this dark, heavily watered tunnel way was foul, a stench like no other and degrading to the senses and to the stomach, but the three of them had endured far worse, and pushed on northward, allowing Bane to lead ahead so that if there were any holes and nasty traps that await them in the dark, he would be the first to suffer. Ivy kept her hand planted upon the titan's back, for he was their guide past the dangers that awaited them this night.
In the darkness, surrounded by stench… but she'll be dead soon. She'll be dead… and it will ALL be worth it.
Even though it was blackness all about, she still glanced to her left, smirking unseen. Freeze was going to lose his wife! He would be so miserable, so heartbroken… but that was okay. It was okay because Poison Ivy would be there to comfort him… to hold him… to claim him.
And the murderers? The foul, demented murderers… well, now, the Gotham Police were notoriously poisoned already, that venom being the delicious corruption… The police, Victor… oh my goodness, I'm so sorry… the police, they… they KILLED her! Well, she definitely would not word it like that. She would take her time. Once they were inside the factory, she would send Freeze on his way for his diamonds and also ensure that he would make his way directly for the Seed of Eden, which she had given him the exact location for. Without him around, she could murder Nora in solitude, and peace. This kill was going to be no less pleasurable than the countless other murders she had committed, and yet somehow, it was going to be the most beautiful of all. Perhaps it was because of just how cruel it was. For some reason, the more she acknowledged how much of a bitch she could be, the more she fell in love with herself.
Bane, his arms stretched out, was feeling about for any kind of ladder on either side. They had gone in a good ways, and surely there had to be a catch somewhere.
"Any time would be nice, useless," Ivy scorned at the beast. "The stench is getting to me."
Bane, fighting the temptation to spin around and snap her neck, grunted.
"Ladder…"
CLANG. She felt Bane stop abruptly, and she and Freeze came to a halt as well. The titan seemed to be feeling something to the right.
"Ladder!"
Ivy grinned. Finally!
"Well done, meatloaf," Freeze praised, pushing his way past Ivy and Bane, feeling the ladder for himself. "I'll do the honors." The two of them felt him climb up the rungs, and after several seconds, some ways above their heads at an estimated ten feet, light burned down onto them. A catch. Ivy pushed past Bane and began to climb as well, Bane following closely behind, staring intently at her rear as he climbed.
Freeze had already vanished at the top, and just as Ivy and Bane were crossing the halfway point of the climb, they heard a sudden crack, followed by a loud grunt.
"Oh, no…" Ivy climbed more intently, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the top. Freeze awaited them in a frozen storage room containing large metal vats that carried ice cream. Tall shelves reached to the ceiling and carried boxes upon boxes of frozen treats. The noise had come from Freeze, who had cracked the skull of a police officer who had just happened to be in the storage room at the time. He was a young man who looked no older than thirty, and his tag read Chris Yaleman. He was unconscious. "A scout?" she whispered to Freeze.
"More like a patrol, yeah. He's out though. I don't think he'll be waking up any time soon."
"Well I, for one, don't think he'll be waking up ever," Ivy corrected him savagely. She dropped down to her knees beside the man and bent her head, forcing her lips hard against the unconscious man. His body suddenly jerked wildly, but only for a second, her gloved hands pressing down hard against him to keep him in place. He lay still, dead as stone, never having stood a chance as his veins filled with poison. Ivy pulled away, breathing hard. "Wooh!" she panted, fanning herself.
Freeze stared in disbelief, just as Bane was climbing up into the room.
"Was that really nes-"
"Yes," Ivy cut across him, wiping her lips dry of the man's saliva. "Every mammal, Victor. Every mammal. Each one owes me their life, and I intend to take as many as possible."
"He was just doing his job…"
Ivy raised his eyebrows. "So were your cell guards, Victor…"
Freeze looked away, frowning. "Yes, well… they mistreated me and several other inmates…"
"Yes. They deserved to die. Just as this useless piece of trash deserved to die. He is a mammal… was a mammal," she corrected herself, smiling darkly at his corpse. "But now," she stabbed her heel into his gaping mouth and pressed down hard, forcing his head to move up, "he's frozen for all eternity. Get it?" she grinned at Freeze, stamping down hard into the man's mouth. Freeze glared at her.
"Listen, you psychopathic witch. You had better keep your paraphernalia to yourself! My wife's needing a proper rescue and I won't risk her safety if you're going to-"
"Shush, now," Ivy interrupted him once more, her teeth clenched. "Just shush. You do things your way and I'll do things my way." She retracted her heel from the man's head, wishing desperately she could mutilate him… but there would be time for that later. "Bane, darling, hide his body in the sewer, please?" She snapped her fingers, and Bane moved forward at once, hoisting the dead man into his arms, where he turned on the spot and dropped the corpse down into the black hole, in a most Sweeney of fashions. Ivy kicked the grate cover over the hole once more, smiling down at the darkness that had consumed her prey. She looked over at Freeze, who was giving her the most disdainful look. She shrugged. "So where's Mrs. Snowflake?"
Freeze clenched his fists. "I've told you where she is…."
"You haven't specified where the vault is, exactly."
"Just inside of the main storage room. You can get there from here in less than a minute if you proceed north." He indicated a door behind him. Ivy, however, noticed a grating that made up the floor, and became inspired.
"First I want to check in on all the hostilities," she said, pointing a finger at Bane and then to the grating on the floor. Bane reached down and wrapped his fingers around the grating, pulling the pure metal up with no difficulty whatsoever. Ivy motioned for Freeze to follow her, and the ice man jumped down into the hidden area beneath the floor first. She then turned to Bane. "Bane, darling, you'll want to patrol the Main Vat room, as planned. Kill anyone who enters and submerge them in the mixtures. Can you do that?"
Bane nodded, grunting an assuring, "Yes… Ivy…. I can… do that…"
"Good boy," she whispered, licking his mask, before she turned around and joined Freeze under the floor. Bane closed the top of it once more with the grate, fitting it back as well as he could, before the titan began to run for the nearest door. "I hope the idiot finds his way without attracting attention…"
"I hope he does," Freeze snapped. He could no longer take her crap. "If they all go after him, they'll clear up the primaries. A manhunt for a beast can distract from the rescue of a damsel."
"Yeah, I bet…" Ivy glowered darkly at him from behind, envisioning what it would feel like to kill Nora… still she sought out just how she would off the frozen mammal. She could easily poisoned the water in the holding capsule… a simple press of her lips against its surface and she could emit a vat full of venom in less than a minute. But somehow, that just did not seem appropriate. Her poison was her weapon of lust and love, reserved only for her lovers that she deemed worthy enough to die from such a reward. For Nora, the death had to be more painful, more poetic. She wanted Nora to suffer… how could it be any other way?
The two of them moved throughout the under-walk tunnel way, staring above their heads as they sunk below the main processing room in the shadows. There were great multitudes of police running about, searching every nook and cranny of the facility, chattering away obsessively and each one holding a shiny pistol in hand. Men and their guns…
I want to kill that one… and that one there. Oh, he's a cute one! I'd do him in slow…
She fantasized as she walked behind Freeze, noting each police officer's face. She really would have to make a little shrine to herself back in the Seed of Eden, once the papers reported on her latest adventures. What was a lunatic without memorabilia to her artwork?
Freeze suddenly stopped, staring up in fear. Something had caught his gaze, and Ivy looked up too. Her heart skipped several beats.
At a round table, just above their heads, Batman and Robin stood beside the chubby Commissioner Gordon, and the police head was busy giving them some strange detailing. A very familiar sounding detailing.
"Poison Ivy!" Robin was exclaiming, as he viewed a small television that Gordon seemed to be holding. Her heart skipped again. But the young one was focused upon the screen, and she knew that she had been stupid for even thinking that he had spotted her below him.
Gordon was now presenting what looked like a manila folder with something inside. "Some time ago," he was saying, "Gotham Airport, these two arrived by charter, from South America."
She had to stop herself from gasping. Freeze was glancing at her. There must be a photo of herself and Bane in that folder. Who had taken the picture!?
"They put ten workers in the hospital, left a man dead from swallowing organic poison, stole a limo, even!" Ivy frowned. Ten workers? She had only counted seven, if memory served her correct. And of course, the man who had swallowed organic poison… she smiled deliciously as the memory of her murder of Alejandro came to mind. As for the limo, Bane had not been so subtle in stuffing the driver's body into the trunk. Someone would have seen him do it… but of course, they had sped away quickly.
"This is definitely the same pair that sprang Freeze," Batman noted, looking up, his face dark with a grimace. He looked uneasy, and Ivy was glad to see this. The more uncomfortable he looked, the happier she could be.
"Gordon!" a cop suddenly said, running up to the commissioner and pulling him away from the duo. Gordon nodded, excusing himself from the two vigilantes as he turned away to follow the guard. Batman and Robin both began to pace, and Ivy and Freeze followed them all to subtlety.
"Poison Ivy, why would she help Freeze escape?" Batman inquired to Robin, waving the folder about as his face tensed with concentration. Robin himself looked very concerned, a twinge of guilt sweat trailing down from his brow.
"She's definitely evil," the young one commented. He threw his arms out in confusion. "It's weird, for a while there, she was all I could think about… like I was in love, or-"
"I know," Batman cut across him, equally disturbed. "And then the feeling just vanished." He sighed, looking about incredolously.
"I can't believe we were fighting over a bad guy," Robin proclaimed. Ivy smirked. Bad guy?
"Bad, yes, guy, no," Batman corrected him. Ivy nodded. That was more like it. Never insult Poison by suggesting that she could in any way relate to the impurity of Man. The two of them were making their way into a freezer now, and as Freeze and Ivy followed, the surroundings suddenly became very chilled indeed.
"Well, I'm totally over her, as of now, positively!"
"Yeah me too," Batman concurred. Then, after a moment, he shrugged, and noted, "Nice stems, though."
Ivy fought hard not to snort.
"Yeah, buds too," Robin admitted.
"Yeah, those are nice."
Ivy stifled her laugh with her hand, her eyes closed as green tears of laughter began to pour. Freeze frowned at her, rolling his eyes. Terrible… just terrible…
"Here we go," Batman said, forcing concentration back to their search for the murderers at hand. He reached forward and pulled what seemed to be a frozen box of a television dinner. Freeze motioned for Ivy to follow him forward, and when she did, she saw that the room that awaited them above next contained the eye of the prize. A massive capsule, filled with the most beautiful, crystalline-like water, shimmering in a very low light. And there she was. Nora Fries, dressed in the most beautiful glittering silver dress, seemingly suspended in mid-float within the tank, her eyes closed, her skin pale, sleeping into eternity as he golden hair fanned about her. A glint on her neck showed Ivy that there was the most beautiful silver necklace there, the end of which was shaped like a snowflake.
Batman and Robin had seemingly found a secret way in, as the two hurried in.
"It's Nora Fries!" Robin exclaimed, running up to the tank.
"She's still alive," Batman pointed out, coming to a halt before the console built into the side of the massive tank. The Dark Knight activated a button on the small console as Ivy and Freeze looked on intently. Lights flickered in Batman's face. Ivy wondered what the screen was showing. "He's in debt to his freezing technology, it's been reversing MacGregor's Syndrome, he's even found a cure for the disease at certain stages."
Freeze sighed, whispering as quietly as he could to his redheaded companion. "There she is…."
"You get your diamonds, I'll rescue your snowy bride," Ivy assured him, her tone relaxed and seeking contentedness with Freeze once more. "And then we'll meet back at my place." She clenched her teeth together, fight so desperately hard to suppress a laugh once more. If only he knew… but then, he would kill her, would he not?
"No…" Freeze sighed, looking heartbroken. His breathing was getting worse. He sounded terribly strained and out of breath. "In my weakened state, I'm no match for the Bat and Bird…"
Ivy cooed him, shaking her head as she placed an assuring hand upon his chest. "You leave those boys to me!" she insisted, stroking his cheek seductively and holding his shoulder tightly, her expression mad, her eyes filled with lust as to what came next. This was going to be the perfect chance to kill Batman and Robin both. She could not pass up such an opportunity. She had noticed another secret door just beneath her feet. It surely led to the Vat Room below… where Bane awaited. "Go!" she said, more madly, slapping his shoulder hard as Freeze looked up. The ice man took off at once, back down the way. Ivy gave him a deadly smile as she grabbed the ladder. Time to kill…
"Can we save her?" Robin asked Batman as he studied Nora's frozen form with a concerned look upon his face.
Ivy reached out a hand and blew a thick cloud of pheromones threw the vent above her head.
"Maybe, someday…" Batman was saying. "With more research…" And then he stopped sniffing the air around him. Robin began to sway, his head rolling about. The pheromones had already begun their work. Ivy quickly reached down and opened the secret door in the floor, jumping down onto the ladder below, continuing to blow the pheromones up so as to ensure that they followed her down into the hole… down into the mad rabbit hole, where the deadliest creatures of Wonder awaited them…
"Poison Ivy," Robin muttered, as the two stared at the floor, but Ivy was already climbing down the hole as fast as she could.
The sounds of Bane roaring as he approached Batman and Robin were breathtaking. She waited silently, patiently hidden in the midst of boxes piled within a half closed freezer. The cold in her so intense, biting her hard against her skin tight suit, but she had to endure. She had to kill them. What was cold, but only a minor inconvenience?
She could hear Robin running towards Bane, saw him try to attack the titan, but Bane easily grabbed Robin and flipped the young one over his shoulder, throwing him down the chrome steel set of steps leading down towards the smaller freezers. He hit a prop display of an Ice Cream cone hard and lay still on the spot, only swaying slightly, and Ivy moved forward at once, as Bane and Batman began to clash.
She bent down beside him, her legs spread wide so that he could smell her raging hormones that preceded murder, and be enticed to give into what was coming next.
"Hey there, pretty Birdie," she cooed seductively, grinning viciously at him. For she felt wild. Wild and untamed!
When he saw her, his face tenses and his glowered fiercely as he demanded, "Give yourself up! If you surrender-"
"To you?" Ivy played, smiling at her own joke as she blew another strong wind of pheromones into his face. He has to die, has to die… have to kill him… kill him… kill… His eyes went out of focus and he grinned in the most mesmerized way, almost like a forced grimace, overwhelmed by her power. She grinned. "Poly want a kiss?"
She leaned in, summoning all amounts of poison at her command, her hand pulling him forward by the chin. He was going to die! Yes, this was it! Die, Robin, die!
But fate, oh cruel fate. Batman suddenly went flying over the railing, tossed like a ragdoll from Bane up on the metal walkway between the vats of sherbet ice cream, and Ivy jumped, distracted by the Dark Knight's sudden fall. Bane roared furiously from atop the walkway. Batman shook his head furiously, having been cushioned by a large stack of packaged ice cream mix, and Robin jumped to his feet at once, staring up in horror as Bane approached the stairway. The Bird ran forward to meet with the Titan, jumping the stairs as he intercepted Bane. Ivy swore in her mind. DAMN IT! She had almost had him! But she could not lose hope. Batman was only feet away, lying dazed upon the floor, unmoving. She moved in for the kill at once.
"There's something about an anatomically correct, rubber suit," she soothed him, coming to lay beside him upon the pile of mix. "That puts fire in a girl's lips," she finished, rubbing her hand across his chest. Batman looked at her, still dazed, but also very confused. She blew another handful of pheromone dust into his face, and he wretched on the spot.
"Why is it all the gorgeous ones are homicidal maniacs? Is it it!?" he demanded, sounding desperately genuine in his pursuit to discover whether or he truly did have a madness that allured insanity in others. Cats and crazed photographers notwithstanding, Ivy winked at him she moved her face towards him, glad that Batman was unaware of Robin's fight with Bane above going so badly: the titan had the young one by the neck!
"Enough talk," she whispered, closing in for the kiss.
Batman suddenly jumped up, snatching her hand as he did. "Oh, no! First you're going to tell me where Freeze is, and then you're going to jail!"
He did not notice the large shadow moving behind him as he stared intently at her. She grinned maliciously.
"I'm a lover, not a fighter! That's why every Poison Ivy action figure comes complete with him!" She struck out her foot as Bane, appearing behind Batman, snatched up the Dark Knight into his arms. Robin was lying on the walkway, still. For the moment, anyway. She laughed maniacally enjoying the sudden rush of adrenaline that came with the forciveness of the moment's passion. As Bane held Batman in place, choking the life out of him, she wrapped herself around his chest and hissed, snake-like, "Try not to make a mess, when you die!"
She walked around Bane, back onto the stairs, intent on murdering Robin once and for all. Bane would make short work of Batman. The young one was all hers.
She approached him where he was getting to his feet, and blew another handful of pheromones into his already stunned face.
"Stop!" she commanded. He swayed on the back, his head swimming about as he took several steps backwards. "Living in the shadow of the big bad bat, huh? You don't need him," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him in. "You're the star. I can see it now. Your own big signal in the sky! Let me guide you!" She grimaced fiercely as she pulled him in. Murder… it had to happen… "Let me kiss you…" Her lips were less than a centimeter from his….
"STOP!"
Ivy jumped startled by the sudden appearance of Batman. She saw Bane lying shaking upon the floor down below, a heavy steel pipe lying beside the giant. She gasped, horrified. She backed away as Batman began to approach her, glaring at him with such hatred… with such vileness… a loathing completely unmatched by any other kind.
"The victim at the airport!" Batman told Robin intently. "Toxins induced through the mouth, remember?"
"What are you saying?" Robin demanded, suddenly sounding defensive. Ivy was slowly backing away, sinking into the shadows, the ladder that led up into Nora's room just behind her…
"Why do you think she wants to kiss us so badly? I'm betting her lips are poisoned!"
She jumped onto the ladder, just as she heard Robin cry out, in a most skeptical tone, "A poison kiss!? You know, you have real issues with women! You just couldn't stand that she was going to be mine!" He forcibly shoved Batman in the chest, and the Dark Knight reeled back frowning darkly. But now Robin was moving in, his fists raised to beat his partner. "You couldn't stand that I was going to be the one to get something for a change!"
She was at the top of the ladder now, grinning down as she witnessed Batman dodge Robin's punch and flip the young one over the edge of the walkway, where he hit the sherbet in a great, tremulous splash. She laughed aloud, waving them goodbye as she finished climbing back into the secret way beneath the floor above, where she slammed the door shut behind her.
Back in Nora's room, at last. She walked precariously up the small set of steps, pondering her next move. Poison the water? Shatter the glass and stab Nora repeatedly in the throat? She had her knife hidden in her belt loop. And then she noticed the thick, silver plug in that connected the cryogenics chamber to life support. She gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
I wonder what would happen if- She kicked out with her foot, snapping the cable in two. A flash of sparks shot up as she disconnected the life support, the little screen console that showed her heart rate and anatomy status suddenly going red. Red… such a beautiful color. The color of death. She stroked the capsule lovingly, feeling a release of pleasure as she now knew that Nora was as good as dead.
"I've never been one for competition," she told the frozen woman who was dying before her. She smirked. "Who needs a frigid wife anyway?"
She tapped her fingers against the glass, sighing most contentedly. It was so very beautiful…
A glint.
The snowflake necklace around Nora's neck glistened in the light of the capsule. A sudden spark of brilliance! An idea… such an idea! She gasped, realizing how much potential it had in it. Yes… yes she could do it… and it could work… after all, he was already on the verge of madness. The news would destroy him, and then what?
A bird and a bat shall fall into trap…
"YES!" she screamed, running towards a nearby desk that stood in the dark corner. There was a very large, very thick wrench sitting there, and when she heaved it, it was quite heavy, an instrument of true power, with the right force of will put behind it. She heaved it back behind her, and promptly swung the silver instrument with all her might. The glass of the capsule shattered so loudly, that she panicked, having not thought of those who may still be lingering about… but the door to the secret room was closed…
Water crashed everywhere, glass shards flying in every direction, and Nora Fries fell forward, hitting the floor hard as the icy water, so powerfully freezing, swept over Ivy's feet. She closed her eyes, satisfied now.
"I'll take this," she whispered, yanking the necklace hard from Nora's neck. She hoped that Nora could still feel pain. She truly hoped it with all her heart. To place the icing, she kicked Nora hard in the side of her head, and with a smirk, walked away, quite contentedly as she skipped a bit. Back through the under-way and back into the sewer grate where they had entered, where Bane was waiting patiently for her. He inquired as to Nora's whereabouts.
"Where-" he began, but Ivy reached back a hand, the snowflake necklace still clenched within, and she slapped Bane hard across the face. The giant reeled back in place, swaying on the spot.
"You will no longer speak unless spoken to, is that clear!?" she demanded of him.
Bane was frozen in place, speechless. She grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
"IS THAT CLEAR!?"
Her eyes glowed dangerously. Bane nodded quickly. Ivy smiled, slapping him hard across the face again. "Good," she whispered. "Now move it, meatloaf. Freeze is waiting back at the Seed. We have to deliver the tragic news of Nora's death… don't we?" she added pointedly.
Bane shivered. To what lengths had this terrible woman gone, exactly!?
"Understand this, Bane… the game is set in my hand now. I hold the planet's future in my hand!" She raised the necklace before his eyes and jingled it about. "Eden is coming, Bane. Eden begins with a tiny snowflake. Cherish the thought, Bane. My perfection will spread! Freeze and I shall dominate the Earth… while you, on the other hand, will perish with it." And with another forcible punch to his chest, she slipped into the sewer, leaving Bane breathing hard, on the verge of exploding… on the verge of snapping completely…