by Skysaber
Chapter Eight
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I would like to thank all of my reviewers, whose excitement is contagious, causing me to want to write more!
Thank you. Without you this would not have gone nearly so far, so fast.
Bless you all.
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"Any success on the investigation, sir?" Alfred asked politely as he brought a sandwich and tea down to the Batcave.
"Some," a bare-headed Batman grunted, cowl off as he worked at his computer.
"Good or bad, sir?" Alfred prompted, setting the meal down by his employer's elbow, knowing from long experience that sometimes his charge had to be left alone, and other times teased for bits of vital information.
"Some of both, Alfred." Bruce Wayne leaned back and ran a tired hand through his hair. Accepting the tumbler that came with the tea, he took a long drink of the refreshing liquid inside, a vitamin drink that Alfred sometimes offered when he believed that Bruce was working too hard. He took note of the hint and divulged what he'd found.
"The 'safehouse' in Britain had been keeping Harry in conditions that could not be termed less than slavery. I've been running profiles and comparing to skill graphs, and the only person doing any work in that house was Harry, and they kept him in conditions worse than any family pet. Poison Ivy wouldn't do that. Not for any child, and certainly not for any son of hers. So that means someone else is involved in this. The henches said something about working for The Headmaster, but not anything specific, except he was the one to dump Harry there. They seemed under the impression that Poison Ivy had died. That implies that it was not her scheme they were working on, or if it was that this Headmaster had usurped it for his own ends. But I don't know enough about him to guess what those ends are. Not yet."
With a gloved hand picking up one half of a delicious sandwich, Bruce moved a few keys to bring up the data from a genetic comparison. "However, I was able to retrieve a sample of Harry's blood, found on an old bandage in his former cell there. Comparing that to hair I extracted from a lock of Poison Ivy's she'd kept in an old scrapbook I encountered in her greenhouse, I can positively identify her as his mother. Also, Wayne genetic markers are present, which modern medical science is sure exists in no other known line, and I am the last Wayne living. So unless I have some cousins I never knew about, I can now prove that Harry is my son."
Alfred smiled. "Ah, it does these old bones good to hear that, sir. For so long I'd feared this crusade of yours might end in you being the last of a noble and virtuous line. It was almost more than I could bear, sir. Now allow me to reassure you that your family was most respectable, and perfectly satisfied with their own wives. You needn't worry about any unaccounted for offspring. You do not get your strict sense of morality from a cereal box, sir. The Waynes have been pillars of virtue from the time they left England."
"Thank you, Alfred." Bruce engaged in a small frown. "However, this was not how I envisioned having a son, and certainly not how I would've raised him."
"Nevertheless congratulations, sir. I shall go prepare a room." Alfred bowed and left the cave, leaving Batman feeling oddly empty in his absence, staring at a blown-up photo of the smiling face of a tussle-haired youth.
"Harry Wayne," Batman spoke the name as if trying the words on for size.
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Superman was flying to Metropolis, intent on arriving home and doing something about the bruise on his chin, when he found he needed to talk and on a sudden impulse diverted to the Themyscira embassy.
Princess Diana of Themyscira, otherwise known to the world as Wonder Woman, was just returning from a diplomatic function and greeted him as he alighted next to her.
"Superman," she greeted warmly, then noted something and observed with some concern, "You aren't one to bruise easily."
The superhero gave a Kansas farmboy smile. "No. You're right, Diana, I don't."
"And you seem concerned about something," She noted, before offering, "Do you want to come inside and talk?"
Following her within the spacious dwelling, Superman allowed Wonder Woman to go about the domestic necessities and the two found themselves seated on opposing sofas in a comfortable sitting room soon thereafter, where Clark finally confessed to what was bothering him.
"I just learned that Bruce has a son who was deliberately abused by a master of evil known as The Headmaster, and Bruce is only now hearing about it and starting to set it all to rights."
Superman also adjusted his tender jaw. "Kid also has a powerful right hook."
"So, you're worried for him?" Wonder Woman inquired.
Superman nodded, before leaning forward and clasping his hands together in concern. "I do. But I am also concerned for the boy. From what Bruce tells me, Harry has already led a very rough life. His mother wasn't chosen by Bruce, Poison Ivy took advantage of him while he was under her control, and then the child got stolen away from her by that wicked Headmaster person. I was going to look into the new villain myself, but something just occurred to me that has me ever more concerned."
The Princess of Themyscira was doing everything to show proper support and concern. So she prompted, "And that is?"
Superman heaved a sigh. "Just what is Lex Luthor going to do when he finds out about a kid that could knock me out in one blow?"
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"Harry," at home in Gotham, Ivy kissed her son on the forehead, causing the small boy to positively light up from the open show of affection. "As you know I just came back from a trip with the Headmaster. What you don't know is that he gave me most of the memories of your departed mother. Now I want you to know that I don't recall anything in her life from the time she graduated school, or about eighteen or so. So I don't recall her marriage or having you, but other than that my knowledge of her life is as complete as hers was. So I want to know, do you have any questions about your natural family?"
Boy! Did he ever!!
He wanted to know about his mother, naturally, and how she grew up. Did she have any friends? Where did she live? Did she have to go to school with his terrible Aunt Petunia? (Yes, but only until she was eleven, then she went to a special boarding school in Scotland to learn how to use magic.)
MAGIC?!?
That one term opened up whole new realms of questions there. But Pamela had to quiet the nearly insatiable curiosity of her boy on that and nearly every other subject on his family (Do you know about my dad? Yes, dear. Lily met him at school) as frankly they'd run short of time. So Ivy had to promise to answer more of his questions some other day.
"However, Harry," she continued after she'd made that promise. "There is one thing that you can be working on. I've noticed something, and even though young boys are not among my previous areas of expertise, I am the mistress of growing things, and I've noticed that in all the weeks you've spent with me we haven't had to get your hair cut once."
Harry grinned sheepishly as he reached up to touch his unruly locks. "It's always like this. The Dursleys gave me more haircuts than any other kid I'd ever heard of, but it always looks just like this."
"That's exactly my point," Pamela smiled, then pinched his cheeks cutely. "You see, you are a growing boy, and it is part of your nature to shoot up in just about all ways. You are getting taller, your arms and legs longer. So why do you think your hair should never change, but always stay the same? I've had three haircuts in the time that I've known you, but you haven't had one. Do you have any explanation for why your hair stays looking exactly the same whether you get it cut or not?"
His dumbfounded look as he thought about it for the first time gave her giggles.
"Don't you worry, Harry. I just wanted to point something out. It's nothing bad, in fact it is wonderful. Because, you see, there is a kind of person who can control their appearance with magic, and it looks like you are one of them," she reassured him, then sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't know how to teach you to use this talent. So you are going to have to learn to experiment by yourself. You might try changing your hair color, or making your eyebrows bushier. Start with small changes, and once you can control those, move on to larger ones, because the kind of gift you have, as a Metamorph, you can eventually learn to change your entire appearance in seconds. It can be just about perfect as a form of disguise, and those are always useful."
Pamela gave out a great huff of air as she started looking around. "Now I am going to have to use a bit of my own serum on myself. Those wizards turned me into a perfect physical copy of your mom, and it has reduced my plant powers somewhat. I don't even know if I can produce poisons at present, and that means I can't be sure of my usual immunities to them. That could be bad if Joker wants to have a housewarming party and SmileX all of his guests again."
She held out her hand and was puzzled when nothing got put in it by a friendly plant.
Harry blushed. "Um, I'm sorry, but..." he fidgeted for just a second before blurting out. "Well, when Mr. Freeze was holding the city for ransom and I brought Selina here to the greenhouse, both Eddie and I were sure she was going to die, so I kinda asked the plants for something that would help her get stronger, and it kinda gave me your serum, and I used it on her."
Pamela blinked in surprise as the embarrassed boy blushed. Then she smiled warmly at him, touching his chin in affectionate reassurance. "You did the correct thing, Harry. Now I'll just have to whip up another batch for myself. Oh well, all it will do is delay me for a little while. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I've got a new scheme going, so I will be traveling to Britain each day at about this time to go teach some classes. But I promise I'll be home in the morning to spend the rest of the day with you."
Harry nodded his acceptance.
Then cackling laughter split the peaceful atmosphere of the greenhouse.
Snape stalked into Poison Ivy's sanctuary, limping between one professionally made artificial leg, and one he'd crafted poorly himself.
Oh, and he was cackling, "Hehe, Mrs. Potter! I wager you'd never expected to see me again, did you? I knew that once I'd faked my death, cutting off my own leg as the rot started to claim it and letting The Headmaster and those others believe I was dead, that you'd relax and drop your guard..."
Snape looked over sharply in the direction in which he'd received two distinct taps on the shoulder, turning just in time to see a miniature Whomping Willow rear back and bash him across the face using the whole force of its trunk to loft the wizard into the air like a baseball, arcing down into the waiting and expectant clutches of another Whomping Willow which batted him across the greenhouse and into the open maw of Ivan, who clamped down and began chewing. Moments later, he rumbled.
"What was that?" Harry inquired innocently.
Poison Ivy just shrugged. "Oh, Ivan just said he must have been Chinese. Because moments after eating him he got hungry again."
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In a corporate office building, a bald man who was never terribly worried about scruples or what side of the law he made his money on (truthfully, he did best by using both legal and illegal means together), received a report from one of his henches.
"Why am I looking at a picture of a five year old boy?" Lex Luthor asked of his subordinate.
The woman bowed playfully over the picture, teasing a line with her finger along the young man's chin. "Because Lex, that boy laid out Superman with one punch, and knocked him out for hours."
The nemesis of the Last Son of Krypton smiled, and not in a nice way.
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'Lily Potter' straightened her hair as she waited in the receiving room to meet the prisoner she'd come to see. She'd had just enough time for a quick stop here before going off to Hogwarts to teach classes.
Really, her first impression of Azkaban was to reflect on how lucky they were to have Arkham in Gotham. The wizards of Britain still obviously believed in dungeons and torture, from the look of this place.
The lock of the heavy metal door rattled, indicating that a guard was trying to open it from the other side. It took him some few moments, as the guest visiting area of this prison was obviously never used, and the locks were clogged by rust.
In a few moments they dragged open the door and Sirius came into view, with a shocked "Lily!" the prisoner immediately came over and hugged her, as if to squeeze the breath from her lungs.
Luckily, a touch of super-strength restored by her own serum made that impossible.
But honestly! This dungeon was operating like a Turkish prison of a thousand years ago! Ivy had never reflected before on how nice and clean modern prisons were, or how carefully thought out were their amenities. Here there was no glass wall separating the guests and convicts, just an empty room with a few old wooden chairs in it.
It was unbelievable how primitive everything was!
Still, none of that prevented her from taking advantage of that situation to slip several objects into the pockets of Sirius as he hugged her, including a map, GPS, coordinates to a safehouse, some money, some food, and a wand, along with the usual lockpicks and file, with a penlamp to read all of this by, and a note explaining her plans so he would know what to do when a vine broke open the outer wall of his cell that evening.
She'd just expected to have to work more to pass all of this on to him, that's all.
That was enough to suit the Poison Ivy side of her personality. She needed a few magical henches and wasn't about to hold anything so silly as a few counts of multiple murder against a guy, as she'd been guilty of the same herself, on occasion. This was a more or less standard villainous arrangement of "I break you out of prison, and you serve me." A cut and dried deal, although she was a trifle leery of tales of how this man had once betrayed her. Traitorous henches were always so much trouble. Still, one used what one had, and by all accounts the other prisoners were just as bad.
However, the substantial part of her that was Lily Evans knew this man, and he was her friend, one of her very closest friends who wasn't a girl. They had had their odd moments of disagreement during school, but she had come around to accept that Snape was an irredeemable bully (and toady), and so no longer argued with James or his friends over their returning some of the treatment the greasy haired git dished out to others.
Sirius was hugging her with sincere affection, crying into her shoulder with gladness over seeing her again.
Poison Ivy had never experienced any such thing, and the part of her that was Lily was convinced right then, right there, that he'd never betrayed anybody, and that something must have gone horribly wrong for him to be here.
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Back in Gotham, the newly accepted son of Poison Ivy was going about his chores in the greenhouse when something occurred to shock him out of that routine.
"Harry," a deep voice spoke unexpectedly from off to the boy's right. As the boy turned about, he saw a very familiar, and very scary, figure dressed all in black there in cowl and cape.
The sudden appearance of the dreaded Bat Burglar was enough to get Harry to drop the watering can, which shattered on the floor. Desperately, he tried to teleport, but was unable as the close and sudden proximity of his worst fear gave him a 'deer in the headlights' feeling that choked off his ability.
Trying to take a step toward the cover Ivan offered, admittedly on the other side of the building, the shocked boy slipped on the spilled water and fell on his bottom as the Bat took a step toward him out of the concealing shadows.
"Pamela never told you what happened to your father, did she?"
The frightened boy was scooting backward on his heels and elbows as he stared at the frightening Bat Burglar before him. "She told me enough. She told me a Dark Lord killed him."
"No, Harry," Batman stalked forward, then extended a glove to help lift him off of the floor. "I am your father."
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Author's Notes:
Well, yeah, that bit about modern medical science? Wizards don't
use MODERN medical science, now do they? So the Potter line would be completely
unknown to them, now wouldn't it?
Oh, and don't be too concerned about the Bat getting Harry. Do you honestly think I'd let him have him that easily? No, this is where we begin to explore the wonder and mystery that is custody battles between a hero and a villainess!