While Grandma Belle is still sick, Pam took it upon herself to take care of the garden for her. What she didn't learn from Grandma she looked it up in gardening and botany books. She is spending so much time taking care of Grandma and the garden that her grades are slipping. Her grades have gone so bad that the school has informed her mother of this.
"Pam, you're grades are falling. I want you to stop spending so much time at Mrs. Donner's garden," her mother told her. She took a gulp and added, "Maybe even stop spending some time with her."
Pam goes wide-eyed and asks her, "But she's sick! Who's going to take care of her?"
"Look, Baby, we could hardly scrape up enough savings for ourselves. We can't afford to take care of someone else."
"What if she was your mother? My grandmother? Would you still say that?"
"Stop that! She's not our relative. She's been sick for what like three months! She's dying!" her mother said.
A mixed of thoughts and emotions tear through Pam's head. It's true that Grandma Belle's health has deteriorated terribly. One of their neighbors, a former doctor, said it was cancer but he wasn't specific nor was he sure. He was a drunkard. She can't believe her mother picked him of all people to do the checkup. Thoughts of hate are running in her mind. She does not want to hate her own mother. The garden is all that could give her peace of mind and she runs out of their apartment.
She could hear mother calling her to come back. She ignores her cries and continues running up the stairs. Finally, she passes by Grandma Belle's door. Should she stop and go in? Moments pass before she finally makes her decision. She goes in.
There were so many things she wanted to say. She felt she had to pour out her problems and Grandma Belle was always a great listener. She'll know what to say.
There she is, Grandma Belle in her bed. It looks like she's sleeping soundly. Perhaps it was a bad idea to come in and disturb her after all. Now she's feeling guilty for making Grandma some kind of crutch but that thought quickly flies away when she thinks about how much she couldn't stand her mother much any more. She walks closer to Grandma Belle.
The closer she got, the more she senses something is wrong. A gut feeling wells up inside her.
She touches Grandma Belle's hand. Not moving. Cold. Hard. No pulse. The world she knew is over.
Later, an ambulance comes to pick up Grandma Belle. Pam wanted to go with them but her mother refused to let her. All day the next day, she waited for any news, any call, and any one who would be looking for Grandma Belle. None came. Still, she continued to tend to the garden. She began to wonder what would happen to Grandma's apartment.
Finally, a couple of weeks later, somebody did come. But it wasn't any relative or friend. They were men in white overalls with the company logo Primo Movers and they directly went upstairs. Their purpose is obvious, who sent them is not.
"Prob'ly city hall sent them to collect her stuff. Damn the government. Ever'thing goes to them even when you're a goner," one of the neighbors said.
Pam's heart beat faster. It had to be someone who knew Grandma Belle. She makes her way through the workers and out into the street. A black limo parked a few meters away from the back of the moving truck. From the passenger section, out comes a woman with thick glasses and wearing business attire. It really looks like she's the boss.
The woman is talking to one of the movers, "Mr. Warner, this is the complete list. I don't want you to miss a thing."
Her voice was that with an authoritative tone. Pam guesses she must be the one in charge. She came in a limo so it must be unlikely that she would be from Gotham City Hall. It has to be someone who knows Grandma Belle. It has to be!
Excited, Pam goes to her tugs at her jacket. She asks her, "Umm, Miss, do you know Mrs. Donner? I don't think I've seen you before in this neighborhood." Come to think of it, Pam doesn't recall her in any of the pictures she saw.
The woman is surprised but maintains her posture. She takes a look at Pam and said to her, "No, I don't know her. I've only been sent here to oversee the transport of my employer's familial belongings."
"Who's your employer?" Pam continued to pester her.
"You're a nosy kid," the woman was quickly irritated, "What's it to you?"
"Just asking. C'mon, answer my question!"
"Donner Realty. Can you now let me get back to work?" She took out some sheets of paper from her bag. "You there! Did you bring the stapling gun?"
One of the workers turned to her and replied, "Yes, Ma'am."
"Good. Put these on every door." The man dutifully takes the papers and enters the building.
Pam goes on, "Donner Realty? So is your boss named Mr. Donner? Is he related to Mrs. Donner?"
"You don't stop do you?"
"She likes plants you know. There's a garden on the rooftop. It belonged to her. Are you going to take it with you?"
"Garden? What are you talking about?" she looks into her list and her filofax. She takes out her cell phone and makes a call. After a few seconds she said to the other line, "Hello, Mr. Donner? This is Susan. Umm, a kid here says there's a garden on the rooftop. She said that it was part of the property."
A couple of minutes pass as the person on the other end of the phone made his reply. The woman said, "Yes sir. Understood."
They looked into each other's eyes. The woman tells her, "No, the garden is not on the list. We're not taking anything there. You can keep it, I guess." She bit her lips at those last words like maybe she shouldn't have said it.
This made Pam suspicious but there wasn't anything more she could do. She didn't want strangers to be taking Grandma Belle's stuffs. She wanted to demand who this Mr. Donner is. What can a kid do? Oh, well. She thought that at least she will still have the garden.
The day was almost over when the movers finished packing and loading the truck. The woman finishes checking her list. She was about to go in the limo when she noticed that Pam was still at the entrance's stairs. She takes some second thoughts about going back ahead or to say a few words first. Eventually, she opted for the latter.
Her eyes go about to different directions like a person with a sin to confess and unsure how to go about it. She finally tells Pam, "Look, umm, I'm sorry. I-it's not my fault. It's not my decision. I'm just like the messenger." Finally, she left.
That evening, Pam prepared dinner. She's still confused with what the woman said earlier. What was there to be sorry about? The woman was just doing her job. She would not have known about her friendship with Grandma Belle. And what was with the decision and messenger stuff?
Her mother comes in. She just arrived from work. She looked beat. She was holding a piece of paper and reading it as she takes off her jacket. Her reaction to what she read was one of shock. She slumped onto the couch and takes a look in Pam's direction. She calls out for her, "Sweetie, come here. Come to Mommy."
Pam obeys. Her mother puts her on her lap. They hugged each other tightly. It has been a while since Pam was held by her mother this way. She wonders what's up.
Her mother softly said to her, "Sweetie, didn't you notice this paper posted on our door earlier?"
"Umm, no," she replied.
"It's okay. I'm not angry. We're going to have to start packing and look for some place else to live. We've got a couple of weeks."
"Wh-what's going on?"
"You see this letter? It says we're being evicted."
***
A jolt from his own body awakened Terry from a brief sleep. He had been using the branches of the trees to get from one point to another to cover more ground. He decided for a moment to get a moment's rest as he didn't sleep quite well on the airplane. He didn't realize that soon his eyelids got heavy and he fell asleep. Only his rather unbalanced posture on the tree branch prevented him from a continued slumber.
He curses himself for being careless. It won't happen again, Bruce, he swore.
The sky is turning from a midnight black to a dark blue with tinges of red and yellow pushing through. Dawn is coming. It's time to get moving again. But first, some nourishment is required. Terry checks out his rations which consist of energy bars, high calorie meals shaped like candy bars that are standard fare for armies on the quick and go; and a canister of water. Rather piteous considering there are better tasting ready-to-eat meals the US military uses.
Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers he thought and bit into one bar. It is a bit hard and chewy with a somewhat bland taste. He thinks it's something he's tasted before. That white stuff he ate on occasion when Dana invited him to one of her family's dinners. Rice, that's it!
How he wishes he's got something to make this meal more palatable. Sigh.
CRRACKKK!!!
The noise came from behind him. He moved his head to get another bite when he heard it. He looks behind him and sees the deep indentation on the tree's bark he was leaning on. Someone just took a shot at him!!!
Terry springs into action and runs into dense foliage to get some cover. Unless he could find where the shot came from, there isn't much he could do right away. He uses his night vision to see if he could spot the shooter. No such luck. Whoever it is must be doing the same thing as he does right now, hiding.
***
"Dammit! I missed him!" Mason cursed.
"Relax. We'll get him yet," Madrigal tells him.
Pogue asks Mason, "Did you get a good look at him?"
"Well, he was all dark and he had pointy ears. He was eating something. I know the dark can play tricks on you but he kind of looks like an evil creature feeding on the entrails of some poor animal."
"Ugh, gruesome," Strathmore remarked.
"I said it only looked like it. I didn't say that's what it's doing."
"All right, that's enough," Lt. Lukic said, "move out and capture our… prey. It's time to turn the tables on our hunter. We make best use of what little darkness we will have left."
***
The rays of the morning sun have now fully penetrated the sky. The forest's indigenous animals come out to do what is their nature. Yet, there is no sign of the six Special Forces men nor is there of the Batman. It is as if they have disappeared off the face of the earth. A bird nestles on the ground. It pokes about looking for something to eat until it notices one of the bushy plants seem to move forward.
It is Caulfield, acting as the team's point man. He is dressed all over with leaves and branches of the ground layer plants. His cover is so perfect one would have been completely fooled if that one didn't use any special detecting equipment.
"Err, are you hunting for that wascally wabbit?" a voice from above said.
Caulfield was surprised somebody saw through his cover. With the charade over, he gets up and dares his opponent, "Come out you coward!!!"
He was about to start to fire his laser rifle when an invisible right hook met his face. It was soon followed by a left uppercut which brought his feet off the ground by a few inches. He is quickly brought down. If someone could see the Batman now, he's standing over the unconscious Caulfield and wearing a smile.
Bursts of pulse rifle projectiles and bullets are flying all over the place. The Batman quickly takes cover. He quickly chooses the tree with the biggest trunk. The barrage quickly tears down the leaves and vines that adorn the forest. Small, younger trees are easily felled. He has to think of something fast. The enemy's armament is wearing down his cover. He hears them running out of ammunition and makes his move.
Mason also makes his own move. As soon as his teammates stopped their rain of fire, it was a sure bet their foe would run. He sees the rustling of leaves and broken branches and fires several shots from his sniper rifle in its direction. They all heard a cry of pain.
***
Terry uses his suit's boosters to get some distance from Lukic's men. Only when he thought it's far enough did he stop. One of them managed to hit him in his right thigh and now he can't help but limp. Even though he had some Kevlar protection even on his legs, it still feels like his leg has gone through a meat tenderizer. And to think he used up a good amount of power for invisibility. That guy he brought down will soon be back on his feet. What a waste.
He checks his utility belt for anything he could use. And suddenly, "Come out, come out wherever you are!" he can hear the one called Pogue crying.
Much obliged!
***
Strathmore takes his turn as point man. Fire should draw him out, he thought. He takes a grenade launcher from his backpack and arms it. He surveys the area before him. He aims the launcher in the direction Mason saw the rustling. As he is about to pull the trigger, smoke pops out all over the place. He can feel his eyes welling with tears. He reaches for his gasmask but a dark figure before him punches him in the nose.
The Batman is back.
"Look! I told you he's just a man!" Mason cried out to his teammates.
"My, my, you got a good eye for details," Batman remarked.
Mason's face turns red and says to him, "That's not funny!" and brings out his sniper rifle to aim.
Batman throws a couple of round objects at him. Upon touching the ground, they exploded and released more gas. This time, it's sleeping gas. Mason and Madrigal were too late to put on their masks. They fall down to the ground. Three down, three to go.
"Why, if it isn't the Batman, aren't you a long way off Gotham?" Lukic said. His voice is muffled by his mask. He pulls up his laser rifle and takes aim. There is a laser targeting unit installed on the rifle and the red dot lands on Batman's chest. A batarang breaks his aim and his shot is wasted. Another batarang hits him on the forehead.
As Batman looks for his next opponent, somebody puts a slipper hold on him. It's Pogue. Batman tries to use his enhanced strength to break free but to no avail. The way Pogue is holding his head; he's trying to break his neck. This man is strong!
"Wh-what are y-you?" Batman asks him, "Some kind of freak?" His suit is the only thing keeping him from a quick death.
"Am 100 per cent natural, no splicing, no cybernetic enhancements," Pogue said to him and he does so with an evil grin.
Caulfield comes nearer with a pistol in hand. He said to the Batman, "Give it up, boy." This enraged Batman and with a swift kick from his left foot, takes Caulfield's mask off. The sleeping gas still drifts in the air. He tried not to inhale it but a follow up kick forced the breath out of him.
This made Pogue tighten his squeeze on Batman. He's now doing two things to Batman. He's either going to break his neck or make him take a taste of his own gas. It's only a matter of time now. Batman's own mask gives him limited protection, his mouthpiece is not covered. Pogue feels him starting to weaken. "Yeah, give in."
Then there is a feeling of wetness on his left arm followed by searing pain. Is his arm on fire he wonders? Eventually, he couldn't stand any longer and let Batman go. "What the hell did you do to me?!!" His arm had red wells over it and had a bit of smoke coming off it. He looked at Batman whose left collar and shoulder was also smoldering. Acid? Acid pellets?
Despite his limp, Batman ran as far as he could. Pogue was harder to beat. He needs some time to figure out how to knock him out. The man was amazingly strong. Right now, his body feels woozy and he feels nausea coming. He had a gulp of the tear gas/sleeping gas combo and his heart is racing with adrenaline. He vomits. A rage is building up inside of him.
***
Pogue thought about going after the Batman but decided better. He tended to his teammates well-being. They were all pretty amazed to find a single man could practically beat them. Still, they were confident that victory would be theirs. They still have that one huge advantage: they're a team.
Wiping his bleeding forehead, Lt. Lukic is thinking of their next strategy. They have underestimated their prey. Instead of going for a one on one with each of his team members, Batman used weapons that would enable him to keep his distance. However, he is not their target. Not their primary concern. The sooner they could swat him out, the sooner they could get back to their mission.
"He can't possibly go far. I noticed that he was limpin' his way outta here. I say we bombard him with mortar," Pogue said to the lieutenant.
Lukic looked at his old friend, and then at the giant plant pod, which is only a few hundred meters from them. He takes a deep breath. While looking at the ground, he said, "I'm not so sure that's going to be a great idea. You say he's headed toward that thing. If we do that, we might hit that… thing. We don't have any idea how it would react."
"If we let him live, he'll get in the way later. We gotta wax him."
"Yeah, Lieutenant, we're going to destroy the thing anyway," Strathmore came around at last. He's eager to get some payback.
"No! We can't risk it."
"All right! I've heard enough! You want a piece of me? I'm still here," a voice bellowed. It was Batman again and this time he's standing on a tree branch.
Pogue shouts back at him, "What you gonna do? Use more of them gas on us? Come down here and fight like a man!" He takes out his laser rifle and blasts everything in the treetops.
Batman jumps from his perch and uses his grappling hook gun to latch onto one of the other branches. As he swings, he takes out another gun and shoots it at Pogue. Two pieces of wires come out and their ends stick on to the soldier. An electrical surge paralyzes his entire body but, somehow, it wasn't enough to knock him out. Batman is surprised and as he swings nearer, he realizes he has got to think of something fast.
Pogue readies himself to catch Batman in midair. Before he could grab him in his arms, his eyes are met by chalk dust. This gives Batman all the chances he needs to land some punches on Pogue. With his enhanced strength, he punches him into submission only to stop when he felt he's being aimed at.
"Uh, you wouldn't dare risk hitting your friend, would you?" Batman asks Lukic.
"You don't know me and I can't miss at this range," Lukic said.
"You're bluffing!"
"I never bluff!"
Batman clenches his teeth and braces for the impact of the slugs on his body. One hits him on his left shoulder, another across his chest, another near his heart and one more to the solar plexus. His suit protects him from the bullets but the impacts hurt every bit. Pogue wasn't hit though but it was clear to him their leader didn't care. Ungh! He's not bluffing after all.
Strathmore is excited to get another chance and grabs his portable TOW missile launcher. He positions himself beside Lukic who's still shooting. "Say your prayers freak!"
Lukic is wide-eyed at what he's about to do and knocks his aim off. "No!"
The missile is launched into the air and veers all over, steering up, down, left, right and eventually heads straight toward the plant entity. It exploded on impact. Everyone looks to the direction of the explosion. The sudden calm was followed by rumblings. The plant pod reveals gigantic creepers were all over the place. Their movements are causing an earthquake.
Lukic was still hoping to get another shot at the Batman when one of the pod's root systems unearthed itself and displaced everyone in its vicinity.
***
Ms. Covarrubias was stepping out of the Hotel Rio when the earthquake hit. She went for the nearest post to hold on to. Car drivers had to steady their vehicles when the shakings veered them off course. Everyone stopped moving as they let the quake pass. As the people held on, they prayed they be saved from this moment of God's judgment or at least they go to heaven. The quake lasted several minutes and finally stopped.
Everyone is still dazed and confused at the morning's event. Yolanda silently wishes that she should have sent a proxy to come in her stead. She has always been afraid of so many things. The fear of failure, the fear of losing her job, the fear of losing everything she has, and now the fear of losing her life. What risk must she take now to see this through? She is about to start crying when she heard her name being called. "Ms. Covarrubias, Ma'am!"
It was Juliet, her secretary. She is crying, obviously shaken by what happened. Yolanda reflected on what she was about to do just a moment ago. Now is not the time to be weak, I must be strong!
Juliet is shaking terribly, "T-tr-truck almost *sob* hit us… Oh, God… *sniff*"
That was all Yolanda needed to hear. She takes a look at Juliet if the woman was injured in anyway. "Are you hurt? Any injuries?" to which Juliet responded by nodding no. "Pull yourself together! Where's the car and is Miguel hurt?" Miguel is the driver of their company car.
"No… he's alright. Car is stuck in traffic."
That was breath of relief but now where is her employer? They were supposed to meet in the lobby until she got impatient and decided to go out for a quick smoke when the earthquake hit. Yolanda and Juliet went back in to the hotel and asked the desk clerk if Bruce Wayne had checked in last night. Fortunately, the hotel computer is still online. The earthquake didn't affect electrical supply in the city.
"No, I'm sorry. Mr. Wayne did not check in last night," the clerk said.
So what does that suppose to mean? That Wayne stayed at the warehouse all night long? He is turning out to be one of those rich people who hate to lose their property and would do anything to retrieve them. She already knew it from the start. The extra special requests, transport of hardware she hardly knew about, Diez, and a warehouse for his "base of operations". She just didn't want to admit it to herself that she got into something really deep. I feel a headache coming.
Yolanda regains her composure and made her decision. "All right, the accidents have caused a massive traffic jam. We can't get the warehouse by car then we'll just have to get there by foot. I need to talk to Wayne." She takes off her high-heeled shoes.
"B-but Ms. Covar-r-rubias," Juliet stammered, "th-that must be two hundred kilometers away!"
"We didn't exactly prepare a helicopter or hovercraft for this occasion. Come on, the local airport is much nearer. Maybe we can hitch a ride."
Juliet has no choice but to follow her boss.
***
Terry opens one of his eyes. He realizes he's lying down in some kind of ditch. He doesn't know how long he must have been unconscious. As he gets up, he feels a flash of pain across his torso. They must be bruises from the slugs. The pain is not enough to debilitate him but he'll feel it every time he moves.
After getting up, he assesses his situation. Many trees have been upturned and felled by what looks like massive trunk-like roots extending from the plant pod to many miles away. There is no telling how big the thing is. Also, the dirt from meters below the top soil has been unearthed and strewn about. Birds, insects, monkeys and other small animals scurry from their hiding places.
Man, this is terrible. What a mess… we made.
We. Terry wonders if the Special Forces soldiers made it too as he did. In any case, he can't imagine them teaming up with him any time. He checks his battery pack located in his utility belt. It has a crack and is giving out blue sparks. A feeling of regret wells up inside of him. He checks his on-eye monitor and, yes, the power the battery provides is rapidly dropping. Soon, he won't be able to utilize his suit's powers. No more strength booster, no more infrared, no more invisibility, no more flying. A check of the rest of his utility belt reveals little else. He has used up a lot of his gadgets in his last battle. He still has a couple of batarangs and a bola. And they've got guns and grenades. I'm in big trouble.
He checks out if his COM link with Bruce is still working. "Big Daddy Bat, do you read me, over?" Now, thinking about it, Terry thought their call signs sounded rather silly and stupid.
There's a loud crackle and he can hear Bruce's voice but he can't make out what he's saying. "I can't copy what you're saying, please repeat."
"Ohhh, it looks like the little bat can't call his daddy." That voice. It was Pogue again. The whole team somehow did survive and they have him surrounded.
Terry is angry that they were able to sneak up on him. He takes out two batarangs, one in each hand, arms across chest, and ready to throw. "Don't be stupid, son. You're outgunned and outnumbered," Lukic said. He was right.
As Terry slowly relented and surrendered, another voice boomed, it was woman's. "No. YOU'RE outgunned and outnumbered." Everyone turned around and found themselves surrounded by Brazilian rangers. All of them are under Poison Ivy's thrall.
This is the first time Terry lays his eyes on Poison Ivy. She looked pretty young and beautiful for someone who should be about Bruce's age. She and the rangers looked rather disheveled. Apparently, they, too, were shaken up by what happened earlier.
Lukic's team had no choice. They surrendered. Terry followed suit.
Poison Ivy gave off an evil smile and said, "So, the United States finally thought it wise to send its own soldiers after me. And who's this? Why, it's Batman's protégé. The rumors were true after all." Then her eyes went slinky like that of someone who is crossed. "I know what you're all thinking and I have but this to tell you. You're not evicting me!"