Ch: 52: Bewitched Knight
- "Tell me something, have you ever woken up from a nightmare...only to be unsure of if you're really awake? Everything appears to be normal, the world around you looks as it should be, but...you can tell that there's something wrong, but you can't tell what it is - you're unable to stop focusing on what it could be, looking for the tiniest of details that would let you know... - But you just can't, that's when you realize it...the truth, not knowing whether the world around you is real or fake...is the nightmare...and you're deep in it." -
- "Unable to wake up, but somehow...you can still see everything, unable to fight it." -
Gotham, The Narrows
Tainted by the allure of Poison Ivy, the Dark Knight traverses through the neighbourhood with his eyes set on the destination ordered to him. Shooting out his grapple launcher, the Batman moves in on the streets and aims towards the alley, chasing down a man who's running away from him.
- "For me...this dream is a reality" -
- "Like some sort of Sleep paralysis. You're body refuses to listen to you, holding you hostage - and you can't fight it...no matter how hard you try to," quickly closing in on his target, Batman was helpless against the control of his new master, - "You're a prisoner in your own body - I want to scream, just like I did that night..., I want to scream, louder than I ever have before - my body refuses." - Descending downward, Batman lands on the pathway and cuts off the fleeing man.
~ Yes my precious darling, he's the one...make him suffer. Make him scream for all the green that he's murdered ~
"W-what is this...? Why are you doing this? I'm n-not a criminal... get the hell away from freak!" panics the retreating man in the sights of Batman.
- "Kyle Granger, 37, Married. Acting CEO of Gotham's largest construction agency, likely responsible for acres of damage to plant life, all to build over the land - It's no mystery why Ivy wants him gone, but I can't. I won't. I have to fight it, fight Ivy's control, I am not a puppet "-. Walking towards the cowering man, Batman's eyes show signs of struggling, - "No! It's no use...my body won't listen. Oh god, oh god...what am I about to do? Oh no...C'mon, Bruce...FIGHT IT! FIGHT HER, please... - You fought off Crane so you can fight against Ivy, too!" -.
~ Oh look at you, trying to resist me like the good little boy that you are - You can't win against me...and why you would you even want to, hmm? Your life is so much simpler now, living as my plaything, you'll only concern yourself with pleasing me ~
Equipping himself with a Batarang, the vigilante aims it at the frightened man, -"She was never this powerful. Never. Even when she controlled me before, her influence was never this strong...is she even human anymore...what is she"-.
~ No...not yet, darling. Come to me. You know that you want to...I made it so ~
-"She's toying with me. She knows that can see all of this, she's counting on it. Why? Is she getting some sort of sick pleasure out of this?"-. Batman approaches the man, picking him up by the collar with a gruff snarl, -"Put him down! Put him down, Bruce...you can do this. You have to. Please find the strength, think of what you're doing! This is everything that you ARE against, everything that you've sworn to fight. You can do this - if you don't, you'll kill this man"-.
-"But... I can't fight her...I can feel her in my thoughts...my body itself is under her command. - Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Batman is loose on the city without me to chain him down, what can I do?"-
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Minutes Later.
A Few Blocks Away
Landing on the roof the building, Batman throws Granger across the surface towards the ledge, "Oh god why are you doing this? I've done nothing wrong! I'm not a criminal, honest!" Crawling away from the ledge, Grander looks back to the Dark Knight, "This-This has to be a misunderstanding!"
Poison Ivy makes herself known to the two as she saunters towards then, being carried by vines, "Tell that to all the green that you've murdered, I hear all of their screams and cries, I share their pain." Her prescience brings out an even more petrified look from the man, becoming more layered as she comes closer, "I feel their life fade over and over as you slaughter them...without mercy of hesitation, a fate which you will share," slowly crawling down her arm, roots congregate in her palm.
"W-what! No!," Granger snaps to Batman, "-Aren't you m-meant to s-stop her? Pl-please! I have a family, p-please...for the love of, Please don't kill me...I'll do anything you want, please j-just stop! Y-you want money! I c-can give it to you!"
Kneeling down, Ivy holds her palm flat, "Do you have children?" asked Ivy waiting for a response that comes in the form of a nod, "Oh, see...so do I, but that didn't stop you from killing my babies... - thousands you murdered without a single care...," lifting her palm to Granger's agape mouth. Leaning forward, Ivy puckers her lips against the man's ear, "Don't screw with a mother's children, especially mine!" Shoving the roots into Granger's mouth, his eye's, nostrils, ears and throat explode as dozens of the roots tear their way out, spattering blood over Ivy and Batman.
-"NOOOOOOOOO! Ivy...y-you...I'll make you pay for that!-"
The roots reunite in the hand of the lime-skinned woman as she stands, batting her eyes with a smile, "Beautiful isn't it?," gently caressing the plant-life in her hand she holds her boot over the slumped body of the dead man, "Watching the green enact revenge on their tormentors, a sight of true beauty...and the night's still young, darling...we still have so much more to do."
Minutes Earlier
Gotham Skyline,
"C'mon, Bats...where are you?," thought Catwoman as she journeyed through the city, looking intensely through her amber-eye-lenses of her helmet. "It's not like you to ignore my calls like this," protracting her claws, she clings onto the side of the building. Manning her whip, she latches onto the ledge and contorts herself over onto the roof. She looks out to the city, momentarily becoming distracted by the beauty of Gotham at night, easing her mind.
"Hope you're okay," leaping off the ledge, she uses her whip to swing over to the next roof. Suddenly being alerted by the sound of a scream, Selina's eyes widen instinctively turn towards the source of the sound, "What the- that would have woken up the whole city, and would've alerted Bruce. Better check it out, yeah Selina...head towards the screams, what could go wrong? Oh...why did I have to say that out loud, that's just asking for trouble."
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Reaching the origin of the scream, Catwoman pounces onto the ledge of the building, landing on her knees, "Bingo," her eyes catch the back of Batman. Rising onto her feet, she makes her way towards him, "Hey, Bat. What happened h-" muted Selina as her eyes catch the bloody mess of a body that was at Batman's feet, "Oh dear lord- W-what happened? What's going on, Bat?...Bat?" she picks up the out of place silent treatment that she was receiving from Batman who even refused to look at her.
"I'm talking to you."
-"Selina. Run. Runaway...please...I can feel what Ivy is going to make me do...please run-"
"What the hell is going on with you all of a sudden, Bat? Hey, are you even listen...ing, no...," Looking over the vigilante's shoulder, Catwoman bares witness to Poison Ivy who grins at her, "Ivy...what have you done...?" hissed Selina as she extends her claws, "W-what did you make him do..."
"Nothing compared to what's to come, Selina," taunted Ivy who puckers her lips, "Like for example...right now."
"Shut up," Catwoman swings her claws at the redhead, but is stopped by Batman who grabs her wrist. Catwoman's eyes widen at the man's actions, "Get yourself together, Bat. She's messing with your head, you need to fight her."
"Take her down, darling" ordered Ivy with a roll of her eyes, "Don't be too rough now, she's not worth the air it would use."
Catwoman looks between Ivy and Batman while trying to move her arm out of the grip of Batman, "C'mon, big guy...you can do this. You can fight her, I know that you can do this. Please...I know you can beat her control..."
-"Oh god. Oh god. Oh god"- -"Please no...I have to fight Ivy! C'mon, Bruce...FIGHT harder than you've ever fought before! You're the Guardian of Gotham, start acting like it...or else...Oh dear god...Selina run! RUN! I can't fight her! Talia was right...my mental training wasn't good enough to come back to Gotham, and now...now...this is happening... SELINA...RUN!"- screamed Bruce mentally as he was completely silent on the outside, lacking any and all emotion.
"C'mon, fight her! I know that you c-," Catwoman is thrown backwards from the force brought from Batman striking her. She rolls over towards the ledge, stopping on her front with a bruised lip and a strained whimpers, holding her chin when she feels blood drip down from her bottom lip, "I'm gonna kill you Ivy...I'm going to kill you...for this...I'm going to kill you," she slowly wobbles her way onto her feet and spits the blood from her mouth.
"After her" Ordered Ivy with a snap of her fingers.
Unable to resist her, Batman rushes towards Catwoman and tackles her, throwing both himself and her off the roof, "...Br...Bruce...please...I don't want to hurt you, please...just stop this! F-fight her!" she feels herself being crushed under the hold of the Dark Knight as they plummet towards the fast approaching streets, and a Taxi that was right below then, Selina is headed to feel the brunt of the impact with Batman above her. Given mere precious moments to decide on a plan.
She settles on one.
"I love you, Bruce... but you're really pissing me off!" spitting blood in Batman's eyes, she manages to pry the man's arms off of her and changes their positions, placing Batman on the bottom. They then hit the bottom and crash into the taxi, crushing it under their combined weight with Batman taking the brunt of the force. Rolling off what was left of the car roof, Catwoman lands in the pile of glass that was broken off from the car windows.
The people on the sidewalk all pause and stare in silence at the scene, some running away.
-"Unstoppable, unrelenting and the perfect predator, everything I wanted to become, and now... I am. "-.
Already recovered, Batman rises up from the caved-in roof and glares, eyes flashing green.
-"And it's all at Ivy's disposal "-
Quick on her feet, Catwoman runs from Batman and uses her whip to thrust herself upward and off of the streets, " What am I supposed to do? What can I even do...against him? He was going to kill me, he would've killed me if I hadn't broken out of his hold...what should I do? Oh god...I nearly died, just like that...and by Bruce...this is crazy, this is...NO! Get yourself together Selina, you need to focus...you need to-," going to use her whip at the next building, a Batarang is thrown at her and slices through it.
Thrown off-balance, Catwoman begins her descent, "Shit!" Fighting for dear life, she flails her arms and grabs onto a ledge of the smaller buildings and exerts herself to pull her up, "I don't believe this...Harleen gets a remote-controlled hammer, but I can't even have more than the basic crap, typical." Her emerald eyes spring open as three Batarangs are thrown into the roof right next to her and flash, "You've got to be kidding me...," she throws herself as far out of the blast radius as could before the Batarangs explode, setting ablaze the area around them, however, she is still caught in the tail end of the blast.
She screams, being thrown by the force of the blast with specks of flames hitting against her costume. Lying on her front, she was at the end of her strength to get back up, struggling with even supporting her own weight. Then footsteps, hard thudding footsteps that could only belong to one person begin a journey across the roof. Looking back she sees Batman stepping through the raging flames, taking on a more demonic appearance within the inferno.
Batman grabs Catwoman by the neck and lifts her up, heading towards the ledge and drags her along the ground, "...B...Br...D-don't...th-this isn't you," Selina claws at the man's armoured gauntlets, "Ivy's controlling y-you! Why can't you break out of it?! Please...I n-need you to come back t-to me, Br-Bruce... - P-please s-s-stop...""
But nothing, her words did nothing. Batman's eyes were just as cold and uncaring as before.
-"No, no, no, no, no! This isn't happening! I won't accept it...I can fight this! I can do it! I need to-to"-. Batman releases his hold on the worn-out Catwoman and watches her fall, -"NO! NO! SELINA! IVY! I'M GONNA KILL YOU..."-. On her way to the bottom, Catwoman crashes through the line of the fire escapes, eventually landing within the confines of the alley between buildings, her fall broken by a large piles of garbage bags. She rolls off and falls into the darkness.
~ Darling, please come back to me...I need you...~
Batman looks off to the distance, quickly moving from the roof and vanishing from the scene. Below on ground level, Catwoman heaves heavily as blood leaks from her mouth. With the last of her strength, she taps the earpiece, "...N-need...h-h-help...ur-urgen...tly..."
Meanwhile...
"The time is almost at hand by dear sweet Harley, oh...can you feel it, I can... - I can feel my connection with him grow, oh...it's amazing," lurking in the shadows, the clown prince of crime laughs, his only discernible features is his red lips and the glean of his eyes. His attention is aimed at the large setup of monitors at his front, all displaying a Bat symbol along with data, "Soon...soon my dear Bats, I'll make you better than before, I'll make you...perfect, just like you want..."
Behind Joker, Harley watches as she's too shrouded by the darkness of the room, "Mistah J...," nervously holding her arm, Harley is careful to choose her next words, "Is..it really that near? I-I mean... don't ya think... - Do ya think that this...has to happen...?"
"Hmm?" hummed Joker.
"L-like...B-man isn't exactly at his best right now...maybe we could delay...? Y'know...until he's...better?" suggested the blonde as she still speaks with the same nervousness as before, even showing more doubt with her posture, "W-wouldn't ya want him at his best?"
"Ha...HA! HA! HA! HA! You don't get it, do you, Harley...," slamming his hands on the desk, Joker continues to laugh, "My Bats is always perfect. I doubt you'd understand my bond with him...our connection is far more powerful than anyone could possibly imagine," curving his lips, Joker turns back to face the blonde, "No one touches my Bats...but me, I'll make sure of it...oh...I'll make Bats into something far more powerful. Then...we'll be together as legends..."
"Y-yeah...but-"
"Oh Harley, are you having issues with this, that would be...unfortunate...for you," fully turning to confront Harleen, the man dressed in purple widens his smirk, "Do you not want for Bats to be stronger? Are you not his *friend*? Think about it- All of it - We can make him stronger, don't you care about him?"
"...I do..." muttered Harley.
"What's that? Say it louder!," Joker snaps, quickly subsiding his anger with an outburst of laughs, "Scream to the heavens my dear, tell them what you're gonna do."
"I'll make B-man stronger, I'll help you to turn him into the best that he can possibly be," answered Harley with a dejected tone as she takes to looking to the ground, "I just want him to live... and if that means...th-this, then I'll do it."
"Ha...that's a good girl, Harley..." Catching Joker's attention, the screens in front of him alerts him, "What's this I see? A message...oh...what a surprise," moving to become stationed at the console, Joker gets to work, "Thanks to your little ploy, I was able to hack into Bats little channels...I see everything he sees, I hear everything he does. After all...soul mates don't keep secrets from each other - Let's see what they're up to..." Joker's eyes widen as they reflect the monitors.
"...N-need...h-h-help...ur-urgen...tly..."
"That voice... it's Selina," confirmed Harleen, shaking out of her reserved state, "She sounds like crap."
"Hmmm" tapping his digits together, the supervillain looks like he was planning something, "Harley dear...please go check on her. This line is open to all of Bats' little helpers...they would've picked it up too. You wouldn't want to look suspicious would you?"
Looking at him with a quick unsure glance, the blonde straightens up and nods, "Oh...I- Of course, I'll go..."
"Oh and keep your coms on...I want to know what's happening...," Joker moves into a thinking pose as he examines the schematics of the Batsuit that's shown on the screens, "There seems to be something quite off with my Bats...I wanna know what it is."
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Later.
Honing upon the origin of the communication, Harley finds herself entering the darkness of the alley and stumbling upon the beaten Catwoman. Kneeling down, she looks over the woman's body, "Hmm...not so tough now are ya...," she thought, slowly panning her gaze off to the side, a look of temptation fuels her eyes as she spots a pile of broken glass, "It would be so easy...but...I-I can't." Breathing in through her nostrils, Harleen changes to a look of worry.
"Oh-Oh my god...what happened to ya...?" faked the blonde as she goes to stir Selina awake.
Catwoman's eyes tiredly open and she is reminded of the pain coursing through her body, clumsily pushing herself up and gritting her teeth every step of the way, she aims her eyes towards her *saviour*, "It's b-bad... r-really-r-r-really bad, Harls... It's Bruce... he... Ivy's controlling him...she made him do this to m-me..."
Harley's eyes spring wide upon hearing Catwoman's explanation, "Ya mean Red? She's messing with B?," hoisting Selina up around her shoulder, she helps support the weight of the other woman, "Ya need some treatment, where's Lee?"
"S-still in Bludhaven, s-s-she wanted to stay with Jim f-for a couple more days," answered Catwoman who pulls her helmet off, "W-we have to go after Bruce, Ivy's gonna make him do a lot of bad things if we don't stop her..."
"An' what are ya gonna do 'bout it, love? Yer barely keepin' ya eyes open!" protested Harley as she keeps at her efforts to carry Catwoman, "Can't take ya to a hospital, you'll be arrested on the spot, an' I ain't that kind of Doctor. Scrapes and bruises I can do, but this...is a whole other level..." Her eyes then light up as she thinks of something, "Wait a sec, Lazarus...that helped me just fine. Maybe we can-."
"D-don't bother...it was all destroyed in Langstrum's freak-out at the Bunker," holding onto her sides, Selina exudes long-winded breaths between her words, "I-I... - M-maybe there is...someone w-who can help," her emerald eyes slowly shutter, "Blüd? H-he's magic...r-right? M-maybe...he c-can...," returned to the abyss, Selina falls into unconsciousness and drops her head. Under the new weight of the slumped woman, Harley nearly drops herself and is forced to exert herself further.
"Cat?"
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- Unknown -
"Well, well, well...ain't this something special..." observed Joker, holding his chain up, "And right when I was planning my grand jubilee, ah that Ivy's got some really, really bad timing. She's the worst!" being taken over by a sudden outburst of rage, Joker slams his gloved hands down on the desk, "NO ONE TOUCHES MY BATS... No one breaks him...but ME! You've just made this personal you redheaded overgrown weed," returning to his calmer features, the clown's eyes narrow, "It disgusts me that it has to come to this...I need to work with Batsy's patsy."