"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
-Sanskrit proverb
Batman watched the blue and red lights of the cop cars fade into the distance from the rooftops. Had he not been in so much pain, he would've followed them all the way back to the precinct, making sure that Penguin didn't attempt escape. He told himself they were probably fine, that the GCPD were more than capable of handling Cobblepot. He took off his cowl and let the night air cool his face, sitting on the edge of the building and watching the headlights fill the streets, like a river of light. He wondered what those people were up to. Where were they going? Where were they coming from? Did they know what he was doing? Did they care? Sometimes, Bruce had envied their lives free of his guilt and responsibilities. Sometimes, he felt superior, because his suffering had made him stronger than them. Other times, he didn't know what he should feel.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Bruce turned to see the speaker and smiled. Selina smiled back, shifting her goggles to her forehead. Her bright green eyes glittered in the lights from below. She sat down next to him, watching the cars go by.
"Heard you retired," she said.
"Heard you had, too," he countered.
"I like to put the old suit back on every once and awhile. Keeps me feeling young, gets the blood pumping."
Bruce nodded. "How'd you find me?"
"I still tune into the police scanner." She tapped at a piece wrapped around her left ear. "Said that Cobblepot was back in business. Then they said they'd found him already tied up. Who the hell else could it have been?"
Bruce smiled, sneaking a look at her face. Like Diana, she had aged well, though in a different way. Whereas Diana had taken her wrinkles and greying hair and turned it into something elegant, Selina still retained much of her youth. Her eyes glittered mischievously, her hair was still cropped in a pixie cut and the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth seemed smaller, less deeply etched. She caught him staring at her and she grinned.
"You look good," she commented, gently touching his greying temples. "Seriously, age suits you."
"You've held up nicely." Bruce thumbed her freckles with a gloved hand, making her blush.
"Twenty years and we're still playing the same game," she said wistfully.
"Maybe at some point the game will end." Bruce cupped her cheek. "One way or another." Selina didn't say anything to that, though her eyes fell, not meeting his. Bruce felt a little worm of guilt in his stomach; they'd discussed "ending" the game before. By making the game last the rest of their lives. In fact, that was what they'd talked about the last time they'd spoken. It hadn't ended well.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, trying to get Selina to meet his gaze again. "Maybe after tonight, after the case I'm on is finished..."
"You've come out of retirement once, Bruce." Selina pulled away, getting up and slipping her goggles back on, covering her eyes. "Who's to say you wouldn't do it again? Then where would we be?"
"Together, at least," he replied. They just looked at each other for a long time, waiting for somebody else to take the next step. Finally, Selina spoke.
"Your cowl is ringing. Tell Barb I said congrats for me. And Tim, too." She ran off, taking out her whip and snapping it with a flick of her wrist, taking her to a different part of the city. Away from him.
Bruce took the cowl, which was flashing a blue light on the side, and put it back on his head.
"Ready for some bad news?" Oracle asked immediately.
"Not really, but go on."
"I looked up that account that Penguin has been getting his money from and it looks like somebody deleted it. Recently. Like ten minutes ago recently."
Batman took a deep breath. So, they were being watched. Or at least Penguin was being watched and they're certainly being watched now. He put on his Detective Vision and did a quick sweep of the area. He saw hundreds of people in the buildings, in their cars, on the streets, but nobody that looked suspicious.
"Keep a close eye on our communications," he ordered. "We can't take the risk we're being tracked."
"Got it!"
"Selina says congratulations, by the way." Barbara paused.
"You talked with her?"
"Yeah."
"How'd that go?"
"She didn't scratch me, so that's a plus." For a while he only heard Barb tapping the keyboard.
"You'll find a way to get through to her, Bruce," she said at last. "She likes you too much to stay mad at you forever."
I hope you're right, Bruce thought. He thought about how ridiculous this must seem: getting romantic advice from somebody two decades younger than he was. Then again, she was the one engaged and not him, so what did he know?
A beeping noise came through his earpiece. He brought whoever it was into the call with him and Barb.
"Batman." It was Robin. "I've traced a set of tracks from one of Penguin's trucks. It leads to a penthouse in Chinatown. And we've got Black Mask goons outside."
"Why would Penguin's thugs be going to Black Mask?" Barbara mused as Batman took out his grappler, making his way towards Chinatown.
"They were probably uncover agents keeping an eye on Penguin," he deduced. "Perhaps Sionis noticed Penguin's recent activity and wanted to know how profitable it could be if he joined in. Or took over."
"So, do we check it out?" Robin asked. "Or do we leave him be?"
"If Sionis has been investigating Penguin's operations, he might know something even Cobblepot didn't. Cobblepot didn't care where his money was coming from. I'll bet Black Mask wasn't as apathetic."
"Alright, boss. I'll send you the coordinates." Tiny circles of glass fell over the cowl's eye holes and Batman saw a marker pulsing at some point in the city. He took off after it, trying not to think about Selina's fingers running through his hair.
Batman and Robin scoped out the mansion from across the street. It was more of a tower in shape, emulating the look of feudal Chinese architecture. They could see two guards at the main entrance, both armed and both wearing replicas of the eponymous, skull-like mask of Roman Sionis. Through Detective Vision they could see more guards patrolling the halls and stairs all the way up the tower. However, not nearly as many as would befit a powerful crime lord. So, either Black Mask wasn't here or...
"Oracle, get me the full schematics of this building. And try to find who sold it to Sionis." He heard the rapid tapping of keys before Barbara spoke.
"Surprise, surprise, there are no full schematics available. Who sold this to him, on the other hand... yup, looks like he got it off the Broker, so it's probably got a hidden basement or something. That's probably where Black Mask has information on Penguin, if he has any at all."
Batman gestured to Robin and the two of them split off. Batman took the front, easily gliding down next to the two guards and taking them out one after the other. The ground floor wasn't going to be a problem either; he could see five thugs, all armed, and Robin was making his way through the air vents, getting into the perfect position for a swift attack.
"Don't make your move until I do," Batman grumbled into the comlink. Through his Detective Vision, he eyed one of the guards slowly making their way towards the door. It would be the perfect way to make an entrance. Just a few more steps...
Charlie was super sweaty behind the plastic black mask, but he couldn't take it off. Boss' orders for some ungodly reason. Sure, the boss was in the underground lab, but Charlie always got the impression that Sionis was watching all of them. Just yesterday, he'd called out Donnie for stealing some of the supply and slammed his head against a wall until all the skin had been scraped off his face. Whether Donnie did steal some of it or the boss was just fucking paranoid he never found out, but Charlie decided to just not take any chances.
He shifted restlessly, fingering the trigger on his gun. He was stationed on the ground floor tonight, along with four other low-tier goons in plastic masks. He was partnered with Garth, the only guy here whose name he actually knew, and they were each standing on either side of the fake wall that hid the entrance to the underground lab below the building. They were getting paid extra for holding this position, which he guessed was nice. Though he'd much rather be back home; he'd been on duty for a full twelve hours now.
Garth passed him a cigarette. "I heard Penguin got busted," he said.
Charlie lifted his mask and took a drag. "When did that happen?"
"About an hour ago. Phil came in pissing his pants and went down to the boss." He jerked his thumb behind them at the plain-looking false wall. "If he were smart, he wouldn't have gone down there. Penguin getting caught ain't gonna make Sionis happy."
"When is he ever happy?"
Garth shrugged.
"How'd they find Penguin?"
Garth took back the cigarette and took a long drag. "Phil was saying something about Batman."
Charlie's eyebrows shot up. "Batman? No shit? I thought he was retired for like the last four years." He desperately hoped that his voice wasn't trembling. He hadn't been under Black Mask during the Batman's prime and had never personally seen him in action. He had only heard horror stories from Sionis' other men or from his cellmates in Black Gate.
"Yeah, something like that. He stopped making as many appearances after Joker died."
"You think it was really him?"
Garth shook his head. "Nah. He's got no reason to come out of retirement now. I mean, why now instead of a few months ago when this shit started?"
"Well, then, what do you think happened?" he asked, stepping back to allow a fellow guard to pass by.
"Maybe he forgot to wear a gas mask? Or maybe he wore one but there was a crack in it? You know what that shit can do to people without prep."
"Maybe," Charlie sighed, letting himself relax. What Garth said made sense and besides, he'd been in this life longer than Charlie had. He was just being the newbie overreacting.
That's when the door fucking exploded.
The guard who had passed them was down first, thrown forward by the impact of whatever had blown apart the door. Dust kicked up, landing in Charlie's eyes and going up his nose. He coughed, his eyes stinging as he raised his gun.
He heard a smacking noise followed by grunts of pain.
Somewhere, the grinding and clanging of metal.
Several shots went off and he ducked instinctively.
He turned to look for Garth, but he wasn't there. Charlie's heart was pumping in his ears. His hands were trembling and he couldn't get them to stop. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to piss his pants and run away. But his legs wouldn't move.
A tall silhouette emerged for a second in the flying dust. Charlie fired blindly, spraying an arc of bullets out into the cloud of sawdust. He fired until the gun clicked, empty.
He waited, listening and trying to keep his legs from falling out under him. He didn't hear anything.
Then the dust settled and he saw two figures standing amid the broken bodies of his crew members. He couldn't tell if they were dead or unconscious, but their arms and legs were bent at angles that made him want to retch.
The two figures moved slowly towards him. He dropped his gun and put his shaky hands above his head. The taller man grabbed him by the collar and pinned him up against the wall. He wore a mask with a permanently furrowed brow and two long ears.
"Where is the door to the basement?" His voice was practically a threat in itself, deep and unwavering. It was a voice that said, "I will break every bone in your body if you don't give me what I want."
"It's right behind me!" Charlie squeaked, patting at the wall. "You just need the keys off me and Garth. Secret pads on either side."
He winced, expecting the Batman to punch him in the face. Instead, the grip on his collar relaxed and Charlie slid to the floor, shaking.
That's when the rest of Black Mask's men came running down the stairs. The ones in front stopped short at the sight of them.
They looked at the Batman. They looked at the other man behind him.
The Batman looked down at Charlie. He picked up Charlie. He threw Charlie at the crowd on the stairs. Charlie didn't remember much of anything after that.
"So, we ended up having to take out the whole building." Robin was unconcerned as they rode the elevator down to the basement. "So what?"
"That was fifteen minutes Black Mask has been given to escape," Bruce pointed out as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened on to a narrow hallway, strangely unguarded. "He could already be gone by now." And besides, he thought, feeling his muscles ache, that was energy I could've saved for this.
"With a big operation like his, I doubt it," Robin replied.
The two of them then made their way down the hall in silence, each creeping along opposite walls. They tried several of the doors only to find the rooms empty except for a few tables. The rooms smelled of acids smelled like a chemist lab and the tables were covered in dirty beakers and abandoned Bunsen burners.
Finally, they reached the door at the end of the hall. Silently, they swung it open to find an observation room. There was only one man at the window and Robin easily dispatched him with a swift blow with his staff. The two of them looked out over a confusing scene. The room below them looked like a ramshackle laboratory. Long lines of assembly tables lay in parallel rows. They were quickly being cleared of several pieces of expensive-looking lab equipment, which were then unceremoniously dropped into boxes and thrown into the back of a mover truck. The truck was parked just inside a garage door, which opened out to the back of the building.
In the middle of it all, dragging a terrified-looking man by the ear, was Black Mask. Behind him, however, trapped in a tall glass box, was the chlorophyll-green figure of Poison Ivy. She was unconscious, shackled to the base of the box by her wrists and ankles.
"So, wait." Robin rubbed his temples. "Is Sionis, like, making a competing drug? Or is he...?"
"I think he's the supplier," Batman finished, looking at a clipboard on the control panel. There was a list of dates and locations like "250/52nd Street" and "Avenue Ax and Cicero". Street corners. Street corners for a drop off, where Penguin would arrive to pick it up.
"Holy shit..." Batman turned around; Robin was staring out the window, his eye lenses blue with Detective Vision. "This place is fucking covered in fear toxin. All of it's liquid, but I'm still surprised they haven't all gone insane from being around this much."
"Crane must be giving them the toxin to mix in with the addictive element." Batman moved beside Robin. "It makes sense; at this point, only Sionis Industries has the kind of money and manpower to run an operation like this. Black Mask managed to keep the company afloat even after his stint in Arkham City."
Robin whistled. "So, to recap: we have Scarecrow, Black Mask (who has Poison Ivy held prisoner), the Penguin and the Mad Hatter working together to... what? Sell drugs? Drugs that don't even have the intended effect of Scarecrow's toxin? That seems like a lot of steps we're talking about. And besides, where does Tetch come into this? What do they need Poison Ivy for? And why was one of Black Mask's guys undercover with Penguin if they're working together?"
"Why don't you ask the boss yourself?" The duo whipped around to see an enormous man glaring down at them. Two very painful punches later, Batman and Robin found themselves crashing through the observation window and landing painfully onto the ground floor.
All activity around them stopped and the room went dead quiet. Black Mask was the first to break the silence.
"Well, looks like you weren't bullshitting me after all, Phil!" He let go of the man who he'd been dragging and rubbed his ear. "Somebody get this boy an extra grand. To make up for the ear." Black Mask sauntered over to the duo, lazily slipping a pistol out of his side holster.
"I'm surprised your codpiece doesn't burst with the massive balls you've got to come here." He cocked the pistol and, as if in response, a dozen other guns clicked in a chorus of impending pain. "Almost four years you disappear and now you show up? Is it your job to just screw up everything you can?"
"Are you gonna keep talking, Sionis?" Robin spun his bō-staff. "Or are you gonna fight?"
"Fine." Sionis aimed his pistol right between Robin's eyes. "Your funeral."
The room erupted in two thick clouds of grey smoke. Batman and Robin made their way through the coughing men, knocking them out one-by-one. Their Detective Vision gave them an advantage that these petty thugs could never hope to have. Through the filter of blue, Batman saw Sionis booking it through the smoke. He gave chase, easily catching up despite the aching that was starting in his knees.
"No seeing the boss without an appointment!" cried a booming voice and Batman just barely slid under an enormous fist flying at his face.
He whipped around and saw the huge man who had thrown him and Robin out the window. Great.
"Need some help?" Robin leapt at the large man, cracking him over the head with his staff. The big man winced and whipped around to throw a punch at Robin. He dodged and the man's punch left a crack in the floor.
Batman whacked at the man's abdomen, but the man's muscles were tough. He might as well have been punching a tire for all the impact it made.
He backed up and grabbed the electric charge gun. It worked with Azrael, why wouldn't it work here?
The ball of energy struck the man in his chest, making him lurch. His bulging muscles twitched violently, but the man remained standing. And very conscious.
"Good try, little man!" The big man steadied himself. "But you'll have to do better than that."
That's when Robin placed three snap flairs on the back of his head.
POP! POP! POP!
The big man staggered again, forward this time. Batman took out the brass knuckles and whacked the man's chin with an uppercut.
He staggered back.
Robin whacked him with his staff.
He staggered forward.
Robin hit him in the back of the knees, forcing him to kneel, dazed.
Batman jumped up and punched down on his face.
The man fell to the floor and didn't get back up.
"Do you have any idea how much it cost for him to be shipped here?"
The duo whipped around and found Black Mask standing next to Poison Ivy's cage. He was holding a remote, his thumb poised over a big red button.
"Well, let me tell you, he was expensive. But, to be completely honest, I was hoping you'd get past him. Otherwise, I'd have no reason to try this."
He slammed down on the button and the entire cage hummed with electricity. Ivy screamed back into consciousness, sparks flying off her chains.
"Ivy, sweetheart, we have a few unwanted guests. Please show them the door." He gave another shock and Ivy's eyes fluttered open wearily.
She spotted the duo and her gaze seemed almost apologetic.
Then, the earth began to shake. The concrete split open. Six huge green tentacles erupted from fissures in the ground, covered in thorns. There was another shock from Sionis. Another scream from Ivy. The plants struck.
Batman flipped just as the plants smashed down on where he'd been just moments ago. Robin had leapt in the opposite direction. Three of the plants turned towards him. The other three poised to strike at Batman, like a group of snakes surrounding a mouse.
Batman risked a glance at Ivy's cage. Sionis hadn't tried to run; he still held the remote, giving Ivy a short jolt every now and then.
The middle plant leapt at him and Batman swiftly grappled himself into the rafters. He could feel the thorns just barely nip his boot.
The plants followed him, rising higher until they were once more level with him. Batman hooked his grapple onto the rafters, waiting.
The left one struck and Batman let gravity take him. The grapple line caught him and he swung straight at Black Mask, whose eyes went wide behind the obsidian wood.
Batman slammed into Sionis and the two men went tumbling, knocking over Ivy's cage with a loud CRASH!
They struggled, Batman grabbing for the remote still clutched in Sionis' hand.
Sionis backhanded, catching Batman in the face. He was forced onto his back. Sionis swiftly planted himself on his chest, wailing on him with his fists. Bruce could feel bruises forming, blood vessels breaking, bones cracking. He tried to catch the fists flying at him, but he was getting dizzy and could barely see them coming.
"You know, if I knew you were gonna be this easy to take down, I wouldn't have teamed up with the rest of these idiots." Black Mask slid out his other pistol and pressed the muzzle to Bruce's head. "The whole point was to finally get rid of you, but honestly we needn't have bothered with all this trouble. You've grown weak, Batman. Where we've only grown stronger."
Sionis pulled back the hammer. Bruce closed his eyes, his arms too weak to even put up a fight.
Sionis gasped, loudly and painfully. Bruce opened his eyes to find a thorny plant protruding from his chest.
Sionis was lifted off the ground, struggling and grasping at the plant. Bruce looked around; Poison Ivy was out of her cage, her bonds broken. She was staring up at Black Mask with absolute contempt.
"I would thank you for your hospitality, Roman," she said, bringing the struggling crime lord close to her face. "But... y'know."
Roman Sionis was thrown across the room. He slammed against the wall with a crunch and fell to the floor. His mask shattered off his face, leaving only exposed muscle and teeth and bone.
Batman felt a vine wrapping around his waist. It lifted him to his feet and Robin rushed over to his side, lifting him under the arms.
"Sorry about Roman," Ivy drolled, sauntering away with a swing of her hips. "He can be a little cranky."
"Why was he holding you prisoner?" Bruce asked. It hurt for him to speak.
"He wanted me to make him his drug," she explained, wiping a finger through the spilt chemicals on the assembly table. "The chemicals in Scarecrow's toxin can't be fused with the ones he makes naturally. So, they got me to force the two to play nice. I can force the chemical makeup to cooperate and suddenly, poof, you've got a new compound. An extremely unstable one, but one that doesn't instantly fall apart."
"What about Mad Hatter?" Bruce was thankful Robin had spoken for him. "What does he have to do with this?"
"No idea." Ivy shrugged. "I didn't even know he was involved. You don't get to hear much inside a glass case, being shocked into submission for four months."
"What'll you do now?"
Ivy looked at them, studying them. "Well, I think I'll just go back to my flower shop, if it's all the same to you. I'm gonna try to stay the hell out of whatever's going on here. You, bird boy, should probably get him," she pointed at Bruce, "to a hospital. He looks like hell."
The ground trembled again and a vine from the ground wrapped around Ivy's body. It pulled her back into the earth and she was gone.
"Barb," Robin spoke into their comms. Bruce found that his knees were shaking and he was putting a lot of weight on Robin's shoulders. "Tell your dad he'll find Black Mask and his lab in Chinatown. Also tell him that he's dead. Yeah, Ivy killed him. Yes, Poison Ivy. I'll explain everything when we get back. Bruce is beat to hell."
