Bruce's presence at the asylum that day had been pure coincidence. Not according to his calendar, of course, but Bruce himself had no knowledge of his commitment to being there for the unveiling of brand new Wayne Industries funded technology until Alfred had informed him of it over breakfast. So, reluctantly, he'd outfitted himself in a white suit with a black dress shirt, and driven over to the gloomy building on the more isolated corner of Gotham. Truthfully, he found it uncomfortable to be there without the batsuit - the worst of the worst criminals in Gotham were housed at Arkham asylum and to go into the monstrosity that Arkham was armed with little to no defense seemed... foolish at best.
Still, his being there on that specific day happened to coincide with a security breach that had been months in the making. Surrounded by cameras, reporters and Arkham staff, Bruce had been severely distracted but nevertheless as alert as he always was within the asylum. As his retinas struggled to recover from the flashing of the cameras he caught sight of a guard in his peripheral vision behaving oddly. The man seemed dazed, his gait odd because he looked more like he was sleepwalking than doing the rounds on his shift at work. Something about it was eerily familiar, so he made to push past the reporters and focused on whatever it was the guard has cradled in his arms like a newborn baby.
Epipremnum aureum. A golden pothos plant. Ideal for very dim lighting and rare watering.
He could think of only two people who could both hypnotise people and would want a plant like that smuggled in to them. Both happened to be incarcerated in the very asylum all of this had transpired in - hardly a coincidence, he reckoned.
"Bruce? Mr Wayne, what is it?" He was too focused on the guard to register who had spoken, but it hardly mattered as he waved them off and continued towards his objective. Bruce needed to intercept this man before he made it through the high security doors he was heading for - while staff had easy access to the heavily secured areas of the asylum, Bruce did not, regardless of his money being the reason for said security measures.
"Stop." He ordered, but realised it was a mistake almost immediately as the guard shifted the plant over to one arm and grabbed the gun from his holster with no hesitation. Clearly Nova or Ivy had foreseen their puppet being caught and ordered him to go out with a bang.
Screams rang out behind him from the various reporters and journalists in attendance for the tech unveiling. Now that he was looking at him head on, Bruce could see the guard's eyes were bloodshot, unfocused and a slightly unnatural shade of green - confirmation that this man was not in control of his actions.
"Matthews put the gun down! What are you doing? That's Bruce Wayne!" One of the guards behind Bruce started shouting, which made things just that little bit worse because the situational pressure would undoubtedly provoke unpredictably.
"Matthews," Bruce called out to the guard in a calmer tone, hands up on either side of his head. "I know you're not in control right now, but listen to me - you can shake this off - you don't have to do what she told you to."
Matthews' hand started to shake, a trail of blood slowly trailing from his nose as he tried to fight the influence the chemicals and toxins in his system had over him. The fact that he had resisted shooting for this long was proof enough that this man was strong, but the toxins Nova and Poison Ivy utilised were always extremely potent and took an absolutely masterful willpower to resist.
Fortunately, Bruce had managed to get close enough now to eliminate the threat and disarmed the man before he could shoot anyone. Matthews slumped to the ground, pothos plant still cradled in his arms like it was the most precious thing in the world. He would be messed up for a while, but at least he hadn't hurt anyone; things could have been far worse had he not been stopped.
Bruce bent to grab the plant from his grasp and Matthews struggled but ultimately released it, wrapping his arms around himself instead as his colleagues gathered around him to help. The cameras were clicking and flashing once again, the reporters having gotten a bigger scoop today than they had previously expected. Bruce stepped away from the commotion and turned the pothos plant over in his hands - his examination yielded results almost immediately - attached was a note that read: From Maximum Security with love x - Poison Ivy was held in the Green Mile inside of the Penitentiary while her protégé, and apparent perpetrator of this offense, had been housed in a seperate building entirely; Maximum Security over in Intensive Treatment.
Bruce handed the plant over to a nearby guard to be taken into the GCPD as evidence. It seemed Batman needed to pay a visit to Florence Caldwell.
Author's note: Oh wow, hi! It's been a while, I know and I'm sorry - I started a new job and it's been hectic because it deals directly with Covid. Anyway, I'm back now and with plans for Nova's continued story! I will be publishing a sequel very soon which will follow Nova and Poison Ivy throughout the events of the Arkham Asylum game and will also include cameos from an OC that I have got permission from their author to use. Exciting stuff, I know. Keep an eye out for Symbiosis which should be coming soon. Thank you for sticking with Nova while I've been occupied with work and I hope you enjoy what's to come!