Terry scanned the alert and decided Wayne was right. The universe did conspire to throw crazy super-villains at him at the worst possible times. He didn't have time to get back to the cave so he headed for the roof, calling the batmobile to him as he raced up the stairs. Terry had never had to fight plants before but Wayne was paranoid enough that the plant-killer used on Ivy was still a standard function.

Terry scanned the roof, and the nearby buildings. He couldn't pick out any cameras but that didn't mean there weren't any. Setting his scrambler, he ducked into the shadows, pulling on the suit with practiced efficiency. He was ready when the car arrived moments later, easily settling into the mindset he used as Batman.

Flying over the dome with the camo on gave him a wide view of what was happening. The plants had taken over and almost everything inside was obscured. Greenery was trying to escape from the major entrances, but hadn't yet tried to break the glass. Gordon's squad had just arrived, and were setting up a perimeter.

Strategically, it wouldn't be an easy fight. The plants were well entrenched and every gateway was defended. They could try coming up through the ventilation system or the sewers, but that would negate the advantage the cold was giving them. If property damage wasn't an issue Terry would have been inclined to just blow a hole in the dome and drop in some weedkiller. But Bruce had been after him about collateral damage recently and the fallout could be worse than just the one structure.

Batman clicked the radio. "Anyone receiving?"

Bruce was scheduled to be and Wayne-powers for the day so Batman wasn't surprised when it was Max who spoke up instead.

"I'm online. Just got to the hospital. The doctors were giving Matt the antidote when I got here. He's going to be okay."

Terry let out a low breath. That was good. It made it easier to focus on what he needed to do next. "You're still at the hospital?"

"Yes, do you need me at the cave?"

He considered. Having Max patch in from the hospital would mean a weaker signal. She might have to log out if someone started asking what she was doing, or if Matt woke up. Keeping the batman thing from his brother felt like a betrayal. There were so many times in the past few months that he'd been about to say something as if Matt knew, only to catch himself. If Matt knew he wouldn't have had to be so scared when he got sick.

Terry pushed thoughts of his brother aside and answered the question. "Stay there for now. I need specks on this dome, the faster the better."

"Right." Batman could imagine Max's nod as she slipped into her own version of the tightly controlled efichency. "Structural weaknesses or infiltration points?"

"Both, the whole place is hostile territory. Aslo why here? It's clearly defensible but it's not exactly a valuable target."

There was the sound of fast typing as Max went to work. Terry spent the time inventorying his own resources. He only had three canisters of weed-killer, but at least it was the condensed pressurized stuff. The canisters were only as long as his forearm, and would be easy to carry.

"Okay. Initial results: Four main entrances. I'm assuming the cops have got those covered. It's not structurally unsound, but it's not a fortress. Or you could try coming up through the purification system. Breaking any of the roof panels will give you access to the whole dome." Max cursed quietly, "I think I found why here. There was a rose in the greenhouse. The old man had it flagged as a watch site. Apparently it's a rare breed, that Ivy showed an interest in back in his day. He was uncertain if it had any of her power, but given the current situation, I'm inclined to say so."

Terry was about to ask for more detail when the sound of screaming and broken glass came up from below. "Keep looking," he barked instead grabbed at the cockpit controls. Three canisters, he'd have to make them count. Clipping two to his belt, he prepped the third, flared out his wings and fell towards the battle.

Batman took in the scene with a glance. A tree had sprouted in the middle of the south entrance, it's branches reaching through the doorway, and pushing through the now broken frame. Officers with fire axes had been trying to keep it back. Two of them were still at it, while a third grabbed at a fourth. That last was tangled in some kind of vine. The vine was growing faster then the plants around it, fast enough to see.

The man on the ground yelled out another curse and someone, Gordon, ran forward. She waved something over the vine coating it in white. A solid kick and the vine shattered. She turned, barking orders for the downed man to be taken away.

Whatever she'd done, the vines didn't like it. By the time she'd finished speaking they were back in force, curving out blindly, thorns raking the air.

Batman kicked on his boot-jets and let loose with the plant killer. It came out in a spray of purple mist. Gordon saw him just in time to step back, raising a hand to shield her face. It took a second, but the toxin kicked into effect. Leaves withered, and blossoms shriveled, slowly clearing a stripe in the battlefield.

"You alright?" Batman asked, keeping his eyes on the blackberry plant.

"Fine. What have we got?"

He sent another short burst at a patch of saplings that got too close, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm seeing a bunch of out of control plants."

Gordon stepped forward enough to spray some kind of ice weapon at another collection of branches. "If you don't have any theories you can just say so."

Batman grunted, "You know anything about a rose?"

She hesitated, then cured under her breath, "I might." Gordon half turned looking back at her officers, took a breath and coughed. When she didn't stop Batman glanced at her. Gordon was bent, scowling as she tried to suck in air. One of the officers ducked forward. He was young, the guy from the filtration plant. He didn't have a weapon. Instead he ducked under Gordon's arm and sported her as they took a step back.

Batman spread another layer of plant killer to buy them time to retreat. It was slow going, even as other officers stepped forward to fill the gap. Gordon's ice weapon and his toxin were the only weapons they had that seemed to be doing any real damage. The only real advantage they had was that the plants weren't intelligent.

"Commissioner?"

Batman spoke over the young officer before he could start to panic. "I've seen these symptoms. Tell the doctors she's got the new respiratory infection." Terry internally cursed their luck. Of all the people to go down, the Commissioner was the worst. The other cops might fight beside him but they wouldn't take his orders. At least they had an antidote. They might not be able to kill the rose or whatever this was, but they could hold it back until they had more information.

"Get her to a hospital." Batman ordered, and turned back to the dome.

"Batman."

He spun on the officer, "I told you to get her out of here."

The guy nodded, "witnesses say there's a kid in there, a new meta."

Batman's mind spun. That... That changed things. Either the kid didn't know what they were doing or they were lashing out. Either way things could go bad very fast. Right now none of the attacks were focused, if that changed the officers on the ground were as good as dead. Batman wouldn't be enough to stop them.

Batman nodded, "Got it, go."

This time the officer didn't hesitate. He bend to get a better grip and mostly carried Gordon to the waiting ambulances.

Terry turned back to the mess of foliage, and sub-vocalized to Max, "You get all that?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to track heat signatures, but so far no luck."

"Don't bother, just find me a way in. I'm going to finish this."

Matt bit his lip as Terry's words came through Max's tablet, "I'm going to finish this."

It was the kind of thing Matt had heard dozens of times, and it made his pulse race. He wished he was there, wished he could see it; his brother in full cowl fighting off the vines like he was in one of the stories from fifty years ago.

Maxx tapped at the tablet. "the largest heat signature is to the west. If someone's directing things they're probably there. Looks like the windows are clearer above twenty feet."

"Got it." Terry replied. The sound of more breaking glass came through the coms.

Matt let out a short "Ha" of victory.

Max's head snapped up, her eyes locking onto his. "Slag." she whispered. She swiped at the tablet, and it let out a little powering down sound.

"What no, he needs us." Matt protested.

At the same time Max asked, "How much did you hear?"

Matt waved a hand, then realized the mask was still in the way of any real conversation and pulled it away. He'd been going in and out when the doctor gave him the antidote, but he was feeling a lot better now.

"It's fine. I already knew. Now turn it back on, he's going to need us."

"You what?" Max asked incredulously.

"I've known for months. Wayne knows that I know, now come on."

"Does Terry know?"

"Mr Wayne knows," Matt tried.

"So Terry doesn't know."

"No look, That thing where you guys lost your memory? I saved you guys. Or I helped at least. I was Robin"

Max opened her mouth but couldn't seem to find words.

Okay so maybe that was a step too far. Matt really wished everyone would stop treating him like he was five. He was thirteen. He had more training then Terry did when he started. Matt rolled his eyes. "Max!"

"No," she found her voice, "No, even if you know, Wayne will kill me if he finds out I let you-" She waved a hand randomly. "You're still sick."

"I'm feeling better-" he protested.

"Not the point."

"Look" Matt tried to sound reasonable rather then desperate, "It's not gonna hurt anything. I'll just listen. I won't say anything, I promise." Not unless he saw anything that they missed, he didn't add.

Max shook her head. She stood, pointed at him, then shook her head again. "No, sorry, no." Max started for the door, but hesitated. Matt thought she was going to look back, but instead she just lifted her chin and lengthened her stride. She shut the door behind her without looking back.

Matt slumped into his collection of pillows. Two people had learned about him in less than a day and neither one thought he could handle himself. Sort of. Wayne had already known, but the point stood. Well he would show them. He didn't need Max or her tablet to hack into the batcomputer. His backpack was right there on the side table and no one knew about the spare earpiece he had.

Matt swung his legs off the bed, took a moment to steady himself, and stood. The room only swayed a little. He glanced at the machine beside the bed. Flipping a few switches silenced any alarms that would go off, and he plucked the sensors off his arm.

It only took a moment of digging to find the earpiece. Matt slid it into place, just in time to hear the system alert.

"Commissioner Gordon admitted to Gotham General."