Disclaimer: I do not own Batman or anything to do with the DC universe.
Confined spaces were one of Kristi's biggest fears. When she was little she used to have a dream in which the walls of her bedroom were closing in on her and just as she was about to be squeezed to death she would wake up screaming. Sitting in the back of one of the militia's APC vehicles with the Arkham Knight taking up most of the room was bringing those memories back.
"What's wrong with you?" the robotic voice came from beside her as she glared out the window. Since they began working with the Scarecrow in person two weeks ago, the Knight began only speaking with a voice enhancer and she had yet to get use to it.
"Nothing."
"You're scared aren't you?" the Knight let out a laugh.
"No shit," she mumbled before turning her head to look at him. She really hated not being able to see the guys face to know what he was thinking. "Promise me you won't leave me alone with the psychopath?"
"Why would I promise you something like that?"
Kristi glared at the man. "Because I'm an innocent and very beautiful young woman – and being the gentleman you are, would never let someone like that hurt me."
The two soldiers in the front snorted at the girl's snarky reply. In the last few months the members of the militia learned not to mess with the Knight unless you wanted to end up dead but they also learned that none of those rules applied to the little woman who had somehow wormed her way to the top of the ranks. The Knight would get annoyed with the girl but not once did he ever lay a hand on her like the rest of the people who chose to stand up to the him. Most of the members enjoyed watching the two have little spats and they have become a source of entertainment for the militia.
"Far from innocent," the Knight grumbled crossing his arms over his armoured chest. "Besides, what makes you think I wouldn't want that? You have been nothing but a pain in my ass since you started working for me."
"Nah, you aren't that heartless," Kristi smirked, teasing the Knight. "Besides, you didn't deny that I was beautiful."
Although no one could tell, the Knight was seething behind his mask. After that night if it wasn't Batman or Scarecrow, the girl would definitely be the death of him. She fought with him, teased him – hell – flirted with him, not that she realised she was doing it and he found himself actually enjoying it. But the moment someone said something about it or about her they got a bullet straight through their skull. Before he could fight her, a message came through on the coms.
"Why would Scarecrow want to lock Ivy up in one of the safe houses?" Kristi questioned as the vehicle changed directions towards Chinatown. "Wasn't she in this?"
"She didn't like Scarecrow's plans because it would hurt her precious plants."
Kristi nodded her head in understanding. It made sense to her, the only time she had ever heard of Poison Ivy committing a crime was when one of her "babies" was being threatened – and being a plant herself, Kristi assumed it hurt Ivy both physically and mentally when harm was done.
"Don't tell me you sympathise with that man-hating, plant-loving whack job," the Knight huffed.
"Coming from the man who choose to work with the fear obsessed psychologist turned super villain? Why? Because the Joker wasn't available?"
She wasn't even done speaking when she heard the familiar sound of a gun being cocked. The Knight pushed the handgun to Kristi's forehead as she glared down the barrel of the gun for an umpteenth time. Apparently it was taboo to mention the former clown. "Continue talking and I'll blow your brains out."
"You've pointed that thing at me more times then I can count and not once have you pulled the trigger," she replied sounding a little too smug.
"Sooner or later I'm going to pull the trigger and we'll see who's laughing then," the robotic voice growled as he shoved the gun back into its holster. The car was silent for the rest of the trip.
Just as the car pulled in front of the safe house Kristi was out the door before the car seemed to stop. Thankful to be out of the confined vehicle, she breathed in a sigh of relief. The man in the passenger smirked at her while the Knight followed her to the elevator doors.
"Every meeting with the Scarecrow you made up some sort of excuse not to show but now you're practically running to see Poison Ivy," commented the Knight as they stepped into the elevator along with the two other men.
Kristi rolled her eyes, the man acted as if encountering super villains was an every day occurrence and maybe it was for him but the worst she had to deal with before taking her current job was the occasional thugs on the streets – and maybe Lex Luthor any time he came for a meeting at Wayne Enterprises. It wasn't often but there was something about the man that made, Kristi very uncomfortable. "Seeing as Ivy isn't going to try and inject me with some sort of toxin that unleashes my darkest fears... then of course I'm kind of excited to see her. Besides if anything were to happen chances of me being attacked are slim seeing as I am in fact female."
As the doors opened to the roof top, the Arkham Knight let out a snort before walking out of the lift and towards the other set of doors that lead into the building. "Really? I hadn't noticed."
"Smart ass," the woman muttered, following after her commander.
Apparently the squad in charge of the former botanist had been there for a while and had her sealed in a glass chamber that took up most of the room. Inside there was a table, some chairs and several t.v screens mounted on the wall in the corner. Several men were stationed outside the glass to guard the room.
"My, my. What is this? A batman wannabe perhaps," Poison Ivy calmly drawled when she saw the Arkham Knight walk through the doors. Kristi had to admit the woman was very beautiful in person. Despite her body modifications caused by plant toxins being injected into her system, Pamela Isley a sight to behold with striking red hair and pale green skin that seems to be wrapped in small vines and leaves. After observing the batman look-a-like, the botanist's attention seemed to turn to the only other female in the vicinity. "These pathetic excuses of flesh I understand, but why is a beautiful specimen such as yourself working for such a big, awful man?"
Despite the quips make towards the Knight, he didn't react at all to Ivy's taunting – instead he walked over to the men to discuss something. In turn leaving Kristi by herself in front of the female criminal.
"It really is a shame you're surround by all these men," Ivy spoke as she continued to observe the small soldier.
Kristi shrugged her shoulders, she didn't see any harm in interacting with the woman. "It's not so bad. I mean none of these men would even think twice about touching me and if they did I'm pretty sure Knight-boy over there would make them drop dead."
Ivy smirked at the other woman. "So the Bat wannabe has a soft spot for you. Cute."
"I really doubt thats the case..."
"Honey, you just admitting he would shoot someone if they touched you is proof enough that he has a soft spot for you. You need to learn to use that to your advantage... and maybe then you'll have a chance at surviving this night."
"Jenner!" The knight shouted, head turned in her direction. "Stop talking to the prisoner."
Said woman rolled her eyes and then sent an apologetic smile to Ivy (who gave her a knowing look in return) before turning away. She figured she had annoyed the man enough in the vehicle to last awhile and she wasn't willing to push her luck – especially tonight.
The knight continued to speak to the small group of militia in the corner while Kristi walked the perimeter of the room thinking about what Ivy had said. Clearly the woman didn't think that she would last the whole night unless she stuck to the Arkham Knight's side and honestly she wasn't could either. She wasn't entirely convinced that the man had any sort of emotions towards her. She wasn't convinced he had emotions at all – emotions that didn't involve the batman anyways.
Just as she was about to walk the perimeter for the tenth time the comms came to life. "Batman has been spotted. I repeat, Batman has been spotted. Target is in pursuit of militia vehicle on Bleake Island."
The transmission wasn't even over before Kristi was being dragged out of the building and down the elevator by the Knight. "We're heading to ACE Chemicals. We've got a good chunk of the militia stationed there and once he gets a lead, that's the first place Batman will go."
"Isn't ACE Chemicals where Scarecrow is?" Kristi asked as she was roughly shoved into a car.
"If you're so scared of the Scarecrow, why the hell were you assigned to me?" The Knight's robotic voice snapped.
Kristi just stared at the man's helmet with a blank look. Did he really just ask her that. "I wasn't assigned to you. I was supposed to be one of the tower commanders but you didn't like that idea very much. "
"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied looked away from the smaller girl.
The trip to the chemical factory was quiet and tense. The Arkham Knight spent the majority of it communicating with someone; whether it was the Scarecrow of Deathstroke she wasn't sure. The anxiety in her stomach grew every second they got closer. The reality of her decisions just hitting her in that moment. How had she manage to come so far? Why did the others let her come so far. She was in way over her head, if it came down to it, there was no way she'd be able to hurt anyone, never mind shoot them dead.
The APC stopped in the courtyard of ACE Chemicals and the two people in the front stepped out, leaving just her and the Knight. Kristi expected the Knight to have been out of the vehicle and barking orders the second they got there but instead it was still sitting in the back with her.
Suddenly, she felt a hand lightly grip her shoulder.
With the voice modifier shut off the Knight spoke, "You'll be okay, Kid."
Not giving any room to reply, he left the vehicle, leaving Kristi to gather her thoughts before she followed. Perhaps Ivy was right, if she stuck to the Knight then her evening wouldn't be so bad and then maybe... just maybe she had a chance to survive. The Knight might not survive though, if he makes a habit of calling her a kid.
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