APPROX. 2200 HOURS
"I feel as though a mere flower is a bit of an insignificant haul, isn't it Master Thomas?"
Batman was speeding south down Gotham roads while talking with Alfred. His voice came out of the small built-in earpiece in the helmet, and it stayed at a reasonable level for Batman to keep focused on the road. Traffic tonight was light, thankfully. However, he knew that in the coming days it would increase due to the holiday and would need to take a different approach if the need to drive arose. The current night was clear enough with no major visibility hazards. The roads themselves were salted and shoveled to ensure no chance of cars slipping. Every now and again was a street corner with a small pile of dirty snow, but nothing on the main roads that anyone could hit. It also helped that Thomas knew the roads like the back of his hand.
"Red light coming up, next two intersections, then make a left at the third." Alfred quickly chimed in before Batman could respond to his initial question. Adjusting his driving, Batman slowed the car just enough to keep an eye on any cross-traffic and swerve to avoid any other drivers. The batmobile itself was heavily, heavily modified for peak performance. It sported an enhanced engine for optimal speed and handling, puncture-resistant tires, tinted and bulletproof glass, and a myriad of other enhancements that truly made it a beast to reckon with. The Batmobile was originally a dark blue Lincoln luxury car from the 70's. Now, after having Lucius, Alfred, and himself work on the car tirelessly and essentially replacing every conceivable part, it was an additional symbol for Batman, and something for himself to be proud of.
"That flower appears to be a rare specimen that was being worked on at the Botanical Research Facility." Batman explained, dropping his voice modulator for the time being. "The notes on it were taken as well, which means our thief potentially has less of a monetary gain from this."
"And your current lead is both this rare flower, and a mister Oswald Cobblepot?" Alfred asked.
"So far. I know of the Cobblepot family, but I hadn't imagined they would start getting involved in crime like this." Batman said. He hadn't interacted with the Cobblepot family as Thomas. On occasion, he had been invited to numerous soirees and balls and gatherings that were led by them. Thomas always politely turned them down. Call it a bad feeling, or call it opting to spend more time with Martha when she was around.
"Hmm… There's nothing of particular note about the Cobblepot family on the computer here, Master Thomas." Alfred informed him. "Neither for a mister Oswald, at that."
"I'll be paying the records office a visit later tonight." Batman explained. "For now, I think it would be best to find out more about this mysterious flower." He quickly paused to swerve through traffic, adjusting his speed and steering as not to hit anyone or anything. "From what I could gather from what little was left, it seems to be a strange hybrid between two flowers, and its appearance was light blue."
"And I take it you plan on talking to your botany specialist friend you made just last year?" Alfred asked.
"Correct. Those are the directions I gave you. I'm on my way to her now."
"Well, you may be interested in something that came up." Alfred began explaining. "I hadn't imagined this 911 call would be in your scope of expertise, but apparently a large fire has broken out near one of Gotham's parks in the north district."
"And?"
"And they report a strange green woman was fighting with a 'man in a freaky jetpack'."
Batman quickly checked traffic, and made a harsh U-turn. He needed to rush if he was to make it in time.
DECEMBER 22, 2003
APPROX. 2210 HOURS
"I'll enjoy watching you burn with the rest of this city!"
The flames roared, but not as loud as Garfield Lynns did. He was furious as he sprayed a flaming accelerant more towards his opponent as he yelled. The Newton District Memorial Park's extravagant visitor center was blazing, crumbling down into ashes. It was three stories tall, with large windows for visitors to look out while visiting the gift shop, or simply getting a map. It was purposefully built in such a way to attract everyone from all around to come in and marvel at the sights. And of course, to spend a bit of money out of their pocket. It truly was a pinnacle of modern architecture. Now it was smoldering brightly with flames and soon to collapse into dust.
Lynns hovered a few feet off of the ground thanks to his experimental jetpack. Tubes of different oil and fuel filtered into large packs that adorned his armor. It was pointed, and bright. The tubes that fed in and out of his plating appeared glowing thanks to the fire that surrounded him. All of this led to his namesake - his callsign of sorts: Firefly. In his hands was a large flamethrower, spewing pure heat and hatred out of a controlled nozzle. His target quickly dodged out of the way, and embers consumed a desk that was in the way.
"Dammit, Firefly, I'm not gonna let you burn my plants to the ground!"
Pamela Isley had scraped her knees a bit while avoiding Lynns's flames, and yelled that back at him. Surrounding her green skin was a thick series of vines, giving her some protection from incoming harm. Thankfully, the lab coat (which she decorated with a rose pattern) she wore over her clothes also provided some protection from heat and other acids. It wasn't perfect, but when it came to protecting the plants that she could communicate with, control, and feel on a physical level- she thought it was enough.
That is, until she finally fought Firefly.
Struggling to get up, Isley tried circling Lynns to use the vines that surrounded her to attack him. She reached her hand out to shoot the vine out from her arm, in an attempt to wrap around a board and slam it to the ground on top of Lynns. Like a whip, it flung towards the ceiling over him. Isley thought that with how close the vine was to him, it would be too little for Lynns to maneuver his flamethrower around and burn the vine.
"Nice try, Ivy, you bitch!" Firefly screamed, his voice as crackling and awful as the fire he spread. Ivy, specifically Poison Ivy, was a name that others around Gotham had given Pamela.
Swiftly, he reacted by reaching his left arm out and tensing his knuckled fist downward. Isley saw that one of the fuel tubes fed into a small contraption that mounted his wrist. He clenched tighter, and a burst of flame rushed out of that contraption, enveloping Ivy's vine before she could bring harm to him. Feeling it, as she felt other plants who were harmed near her, she recoiled and yelled in pain. She felt a phantom burn on her forearm and grabbed at it.
Isley kicked herself mentally. Normally she made short work of anyone who sought to harm the plants, or the environment as a whole. Nobody really had the means to get through her and beat her down. But a mega-arsonist like Lynns? Like Firefly? She was out of her element, but what else was she supposed to do? Sit idly and let this park, if not the whole city burn?
"Face it Ivy, you're done for!" Lynns cackled at her. "Just sit back and let the warmth embrace-"
Shots rang out, and Lynns recoiled forward as one of the tanks on his back became dented. As he turned, a small black object rushed past him, and nicked one of the gas tubes that fueled his weapons. Ivy tracked the object with her eyes as it stuck into a burning wall near her. It was a sort of… throwing star that was bat-shaped. Her heart raced more, knowing who was now on the scene.
"Augh, god DAMMIT!" Lynns yelled, using a free hand to try and pinch the tube. Looking at the new assailant, his overconfidence dropped to a cautious anxiety. Batman stood there, holstering his pistol.
"It's over, Lynns. I'm taking you down." His voice was amplified by the helmet to be heard over the roaring flames.
"No, I think I'll revel in burning the Batman tonight, too!" Firefly smiled underneath his helmet. He looked at Batman and adjusted his flight pattern to start heading towards him. Ivy, thinking quickly, used this opportunity to strike. She shot out another vine from her arm again. Instead of grabbing something to send into Firefly, she reached for the base of his flamethrower where the fuel line fed into. This time, it finally connected as the vine wrapped tightly around the tube. Batman could see this coming from where he stood, and opted not to move yet. He had a feeling he was about to utilize this.
"What in the goddamn-?!" Firefly felt himself getting grabbed, and tried to break free. But with the momentum of him moving forward, Ivy pulled downwards towards where Batman was standing. The inertia was too much for Garfield, and he was powerless as he began plummeting towards the dark figure.
Batman braced himself as Garfield approached. Having seen this coming, he readied into a stance that would allow him to strike. He clenched his fist and tucked his arm back, ready as Lynns fell down towards him. Stepping back slightly to adjust for the distance, Batman brought an uppercut forward into Firefly's helmet. There was an audible clang of his padded fist meeting Lynns's metal helmet, as well as a crashing clack of the helmet being broken open. As the punch connected, Lynns flew up and backwards disoriented from the hit. He was unable to control the flight of his jetpack and spiraled to the ground in front of Batman. Quickly, Batman lunged forward on top of Lynns. He took out a batarang, and used the sharp edge to cut through the gas line connecting the various technology that Lynns used. The jetpack and the flamethrower were dealt with in no time. As Batman made to cut the line to his wrist, Lynns quickly shot his arm up and pointed it at Batman's head.
"BURN, FILTH!" Lynns screamed out as he tried to ignite his opponent. But before he could press the small trigger at the tip of his fingers, Batman grabbed Lynns's wrist and twisted it backwards, and the crunch of bone was heard. Lynns screamed out, convulsing slightly in pain. In that same motion, Batman dug his fingers into the wrist-mounted flamethrower, and ripped out the components. Then, using his free hand and a batarang, he cut the line from Lynns's fuel tank to the device. Not taking too much more time, Batman put the gadget away in one of his spare pouches.
As the pouch on Batman's belt clicked close, a series of vines began to wrap around Lynns. Batman looked up and saw Isley with her hand outstretched. She lifted him up as he continued to scream in agony. He was beaten. Isley looked at Batman, and spoke wryly.
"Maybe let's drop him out there for the cops to deal with. Then you and I go to a cooler locale to chat, hm?"
As the two moved to escape, Ivy used her vines to lower Lynns down safely to the ground (but not before sending him specifically through a firefighter's stream of water to taunt him).
Firefighters on the ground looked in awe as they saw both a red-headed green woman and a man dressed similarly to a bat abscond together away.
The two, using their respective abilities, quickly went to a nearby rooftop that overlooked the flaming disaster below.
"Got anything on your toolbelt to douse that?" Ivy asked, gesturing to the building.
Batman stayed silent, opting just to look at her.
"Tch, gotta do everything myself then…"
Turning to face the blazing structure, she reached both of her arms out to focus. The fire below was raging too hard to be too comfortable for the firefighters, and she doubted that they would be able to sufficiently put out the fire before it spread too much. Thinking this, she channeled all of her energy into one final push for the night.
A slow rumble began to creep up on this part of Gotham. Down below, the firefighters began to panic. Was this an earthquake, hitting Gotham of all places? Some began to flee, while others continued working at extinguishing the flames. However, Ivy didn't panic. She was focused, with a plan in mind.
The tremors increased, as suddenly a burst of roots and vines from the plants in the park nearby shot out of the soiled and snowed-over ground. Batman couldn't help but stare in awe as Ivy was using the plants as makeshift arms. In doing so, she then proceeded to gather dirt and frost from the ground into a relatively large pile. Then, straining and shaking as she did so, she used the improvised plant-arms to lift the dirt high into the sky, and onto the fiery building below.
The damp dirt collided with the building, smothering the blaze. It wasn't entirely put out, but it was enough that the GCFD would be able to fight it easier. Thankfully still, the firefighters below were far enough away to be out of harm's way of the pile of soil. Many of them looked up afterwards and began to cheer for her.
Putting the roots back where they belonged and making sure the plants were as they were, Ivy then collapsed against one of the roof's half walls. She breathed heavily, exhausted and weak from exerting herself. Batman, impressed, walked over and offered her a canteen of water that he kept on him.
"T… thank you." She graciously accepted the water, drinking down large gulps. "For this, and for saving me earlier."
"I need your help, actually." Batman said, straight to the point.
"Good to see you again too, Batman." Ivy's voice was somewhat hoarse, underlying her sarcastic tone. She groaned a bit in pain, and adjusted herself to a more comfortable position. "What, are you racking up favors now? First saving me at Gotham U, now dealing with Garfield?" Her words were laced with just a hint of resentment.
"I don't do this to have you owe me anything." Batman spoke softly.
"Whatever." Ivy said, brushing him off. "What do you need?"
Without mincing words, Batman explained the situation surrounding the stolen flower, and the recent icy thefts that occurred. In as much detail as he knew, he explained about the flower - what it looked like, and where it came from.
"I believe it's the best lead for me to follow right now." Batman said. "And you're my best shot at finding out more."
"Tch." Ivy smirked. "Maybe it's like the one that infected me, almost choked me to death. I could use a kindred spirit to keep me company." She joked.
"If I were in your shoes, I would be thankful that I'm lucky to be alive in the first place."
"Oh, yes. Lucky me, because who wouldn't want to be Poison Ivy." She threw her hands in the air, exasperated.
"You know you're better than that, Pamela." Batman saw that behind those frustrated eyes was a woman who just wanted some normalcy, but couldn't achieve it anymore. Unlike the rest of Gotham, he didn't view her as a green monster. He, of all people, definitely knew that circumstances can change people outside of their control. She looked at him as he said that. It was probably the first time in months that anyone called her anything but Poison Ivy, or Ivy. She sat there, lamenting, wrapping her hands around her legs as she sat.
"You know, I'm still sorry I almost killed those-"
"You couldn't control yourself." Batman interrupted. "You were doing the right thing beforehand. You just needed more time."
Isley listened, then sighed. He was right. And it comforted her that she was right. She looked at him, with a bit more brightness in her eyes.
"I'll ask some old colleagues, and speak with nature to see what she says." Isley mustered up a smile.
"Good. We'll meet here and talk tomorrow night." Batman turned to walk away.
"Tomorrow? But what if I-?" She tried to stop him.
"You'll figure it out."
Batman had hooked his grappling hook at this point, and was in position to rappel down. Before he left, he looked at Pamela.
"And good work tonight handling Lynns. You did well."
Isley smiled, and looked down at her handiwork on the ground below. The flames were doused at this point, and the police had arrived on scene.
"You know, I really couldn't have done it without you. Maybe one day I can-"
She looked back up to try and see him, but there was no trace of him or his grappling hook.
Swiftly, silently, he was gone.