Commissioner Gordon was trying to get the Mayor off the phone when the call came in.
"Yes, Yes Sir." she gestured for officer Hawk to come in. He was still the new guy to the department and so got the job of passing any potential bad news to her. She hadn't bitten anyone's head off in ages, but for some reason they were still worried.
"I'll be right on that." The mayor tried to start in on something else, but she hung up before he could get the first sentence out. She took a moment to breath, before looking at Hawk. "Officer?"
"There's been an explosion at the domed garden on 19th. Uniforms on site are reporting killer plants ma'am. There are several civilians injured and they're requesting assistance."
She cursed, "Tell Weaver I want a strike team put together in ten minutes, anyone with the old Ivy vaccines. Do we know the source?" She was up and walking past him by the time he answered.
"The system came up with something about a greenhouse, but we don't know what triggered it, and it's definitely not staying in the greenhouse now." Hawn informed her, on her heels.
She nodded, letting the failure motions of getting a team together and getting suited up take over while her mind chewed on the problem in the background. The garden on 19 was flagged, but low priority. the same way a lot of things from the old days were. Ivy was dead to the best of anyone's knowledge. This would be a hell of a time for her to come back.
By the time they got there the regular Uniforms had set up a perimeter and were happy to hand over the problem. The green stretched twenty feet up the glass walls at some points. In a few places the glass had broken, or doors hadn't been closed in time, but luckily the plants didn't seem inclined to venture far into the cold. The plants themselves were the fast growing vines she'd been expecting, but mixed in were the long blades of overgrown grass, Rhododendrons with their big flowers and dark leaves. There were ferns, patches of bamboo sprouting at random and even several small trees trying to catch up with the rest of the growth.
Say what you like about Ivy She'd always known what she was doing. Her background in biology had always let her perfectly balance whatever environment she created. This just seemed haphazard. Each plant was fighting it's nabors as much as the people trying to keep them back. Gordon didn't know if that was a good thing or not. On the one hand it meant there might not be a mind behind this, no quick off switch. On the other hand it meant they might be able to salvage the situation without sending in a strike team.
It bothered her that she didn't know why it was happening. Gordon let her people get to work, taking over the safe zone, and went to make a call.
Brian looked up at the winter sun through a curtain of new spring leaves. "I'd heard stories but..."
"I know." the voice was like a soft whisper of wind through branches. It could have been the plants or some soundsystem that the plants hadn't managed to disrupt yet, or even his own imagination. He wanted to believe it, to trust it, but he didn't know what difference it would make.
Brien breathed in and savored the smells of polin and new growth. "I don't know what to do next." The plants at the edges were screaming. Some were being outright attacked, humans trying to stop the wild expansion. Others were blocked by the cold metal and ice coated pavement that ringed the dome.
"What do you want?"
Brien slumped. That wasn't a good question. When you didn't have a future, didn't know if you'd survive the night or if you did, then how you'd find food, avoid the const and social traps... When you didn't have a future you couldn't have dreams. The question of what he wanted ended with overworked school counselors who couldn't do anything except spout pretty words. The question came tauntingly from older kids, who only asked so they could take whatever it was away. The question was a jab, an insult, followed up with a disgusted pitying look by people who pretended they were so much better just because they had a decent family and something to eat every night.
The voice of the green didn't mean it like that, but it still hurt.
"I want..." He paused, licked his lips. What could he say to make them understand?
"I want to be safe. I don't want to have to run or fight anymore. I want..." A dark thought coiled deep in his gut, because he'd never be able to stop. If he stopped running, stopped fighting, he'd die. Maybe he'd die cold in the gutter, or beaten by some gang members for kicks. If he stopped fighting right now he'd probably get picked up by the cops. They'd lock him up. They'd keep him away from the sun and the soil. No more plants for him, not with all the legends of what Poison Ivy could do
"That thought, what is it? What secret desire does your heart hold?" The voice was more solid now, more feminine. He closed his eyes and imagined her. Poison Ivy would understand. If she was standing behind him, right where the rose was, then it made sense he could hear her voice. He let the dark anger take root, and blossom.
"I want them to know what it feels like," Brien growled. He'd fought to survive every day for as long as he could remember. He wasn't some swamp monster or forest child. He'd grown up like the dirty moss that clung to the bottom of the gottam bridges. He was like the weeds that grew up through cracks in the pavement.
He would be like the trees that the city planted on sidewalks to look pretty, only for their roots to spread wide, cracking through the asphalt prison. He was a child of Gotham, and he would bring the city to its knees.
Ian was more than glad to take charge of the civilians. He didn't have any of the old Ivy vaccines, but he wasn't alone in that. They didn't know if any of them would work anyway. From what he could remember, some of Ivy's poisons could hypnotize people. Being put to sleep or poisoned was bad enough, but being turned into a puppet was too much.
There'd been a small group of children in the park, their caretakers, a pair of men on their lunch break, a few teenagers, and a scattering of others. They'd been herded together and left in a quickly erected emergency tent to await medical clearance. Most of them were shivering, all of them seemed scared. They hadn't gotten to the point of being angry and demanding answers yet, but Ian knew it was coming. To head off the argument, he showed his recorder to one of the men, smiling a little in apology.
"I need to take a statement, Can you tell me what happened?"
The man shook his head, "I was sitting on a bench on the west side. I hadn't even started eating, then all of a sudden-" he glanced back at the dome. The walls of the tent were opake but the changing light through the new growth was visible and he shivered.
Ian nodded, "When would you say it started?"
The man ran a hand through his hair, glancing around as if the time was printed somewhere. He never got a chance to properly answer because one of the women bustled forward.
"Officer, my daughter's been poisoned, you have to let us go to the hospital." The woman's voice hovered on the breaking point between stern and frightened.
Ian stood and called on all his crisis training to keep his tone level. "Let me see her."
The girl was about ten years old. She was wearing a pink jacket and a purple hat with little flowers on it. She was also gasping, her face slowly changing color. Some of the other civilians had pulled away in fear but one of the other mothers was brave enough to hold her, helping her sit upright.
Ian clicked on his radio, and tilted his head to his shoulder to speak into it. "Confirmed affliction, a little girl, maybe ten years old."
"Eleven, last month." the girl's mother said. There were tears threatening from the corners of her eyes.
Ian nodded, "what's the ETA on the ambulance?"
"Four minutes out."
"Confirmed." Ian tried to smile, "It's going to be okay. The ambulance is almost here. Just keep taking deep breaths, that's it." He wasn't sure what he was saying, or if the girl could even understand him though it all, but that wasn't the point. He was the authority figure here. he had to look like he knew what he was doing. he had to stay calm, so everyone else would too.
"Oh frag this, I ain't staying here breathing poison!"
Ian cursed internally, so much for everyone staying calm. He stood and faced the young man who had spoken. The kid pushed out his chin, trying to look tough. Ian noted the gang symbol on his jacket, before meeting the kid's gaze and holding it.
Ian didn't like this kind of power play, but he understood it. Some people walked around like the world owed them everything, and the only way to make them sit down and shut up, was to shove it in their face. The sevens might have mets in their number but Ian had personally faced Shriek and spellbinder. He'd been tortured, and he was still here, still fighting. He was these people's protector right now, and there was no way some gang-banger was going to throw his weight around under his watch.
Without breaking eye contact, Ian clicked on the recorder. "Your name for the record?"
"Fuck you. I'm leaving."
"it is a city mandate that whenever a citizen comes into contact with a new potentially dangerous substance that they get cleared by a doctor before they are released. The EMTs are on their way. Please sit down." The words were standard, btu Ian filled them with cold unwavering resolve.
The teen glanced around, shifting as he sneered at Ian, "Slag that. It ain't no unknown substance, it was that kid. You should be hunting him down, not gettin' on my case."
Ian's mind raced, though he tried to keep it off his face. If a meta was responsible for the plant that changed everything. And if it was a child... anyone with that much power would be dangerous, but a child even more so. He lifted the recorder, keeping his tone level.
"Can you describe this person?"
The teen rolled his eyes, "A kid, ratty jacket, and oh yeah, he was controlling all the plants."
Ian took a breath, ready to fight for every detail he could scrounge, but the EMT's arrived before he could.
One of them bent over the little girl. Ian met the teen's eyes again and nodded pointedly to the bench. The kid sat, crossing his arms. Other officers had arrived with the EMTs so Ian wasn't worried about him causing trouble.
"Is anyone else having trouble breathing?" one of the EMTs asked
Another of them came forward and started checking another child. They said something into a radio and people started moving. Ian stepped back before he could get caught up in the rush. He needed to talk to Gordon. She needed to know there was a good chance that this disaster was being directed.
Ian slipped out of the tent jus in time to hear glass shatter and a chorus of shouts erupted from the dome's main doors. A moment later he was running straight into the chaos.