"Commissioner Gordon admitted to Gotham General"

Matt knew that there were alerts in place for certain events. If a name on Mr. Wayne's list showed up unexpectedly on a police report, the system reported it. If there was a fire or other emergency at a flagged location, the system reported it. If someone in the know ended up in the hospital, the system definitely reported it.

The commissioner was here in the hospital, and so was he.

Matt tossed aside the idea of going after Max and dug in his bag for the rest of his equipment stash. His tablet was first. He needed to hack into the hospital system and see what room she was in. He couldn't just walk in of course. She probably wouldn't recognise him, and certainly none of the cops she had guarding her would. For that he needed a mask.

Matt briefly wished for the Robin costume that was displayed in the cave. It was nothing next to Terry's suit, but it had been a huge help the one time he'd gotten to wear it. Plus there was the belt and all the amazing gadgets that Matt had never gotten to try out. This time he'd have to make due with the equipment he'd cobbled together over the last few months. Spare wire from Terry's grapple. A Halloween mask from a few months back with a bit of costume glue to keep it on. He wished he had his running jacket, it was red and skin tight and he'd begged his mom for it for situations exactly like this one. It was too thin to wear in the show though, so all he had was the more puffy down coat, which wouldn't work for what he wanted. At least he had his gloves.

Matt set a program lose on the hospital computers while he dug in his bag for his clothes. He hadn't been wearing anything flashy that day on the ice. The jeans and long sleeved dark blue shirt would do, even if they weren't his colors. He pulled a cap down low to help hide his face and hair. The program beeped just as he was finishing getting dressed.

Commissioner Gordon was on the same floor of the hospital, just down the hallway from Matt's room. Perks of Bruce's connections. She was being treated for the same respiratory infection he'd had. They had the antidote now so all signs were that she'd recover quickly.

What the hospital systems couldn't tell him was how Terry was doing and what was going on with the new villain.

Getting into her room was a mix of patience and luck.

There was a cop at her door, but there was also a vending machine less then twenty feet away. Robin only had to stand there dithering for a handful of minutes before his empty room was discovered. The noise that went up about Mr. Wayne's prized patient going missing pulled the cop away long enough that Robin was able to duck inside.

The lights were only at half power in Gordon's room. She'd been hooked up to a set of machines like his had been and there was already a bag of blue liquid attached to her arm. Robin crept closer trying to see if her eyes were open behind the mask.

"Freeze."

Robin stopped as he was about to take a step. He was so stupid. He hadn't even checked the room properly. Thank god Terry and Mr Wayne didn't know or he'd never get to go out on patrol. He turned slowly and deliberately to see the cop sitting in the corner that had been hidden by the door.

The uniform was for Gordon's unit but the rank on the shoulder was a low one. The stunner pointed dead center at Robin's chest wasn't comforting. Silver lining, at least this guy wasn't underestimating him because he was a kid. Also there was something about him...

"Who are you?" The cop asked.

It was the voice that finally made it click. Robin knew this cop: Officer Hawk. Now he really hated not having his uniform. They could have skipped this whole stunner thing and gotten right to helping Batman. But maybe there was still a way to convince him.

"I can show you," Robin said, gesturing at his leg. Officer Hawk didn't seem to get it, but he nodded slowly anyway. Slowly Robin knelt and rolled up the leg of his jeans, revealing the long scar he'd gotten on his first adventure. Officer Hawn looked at it for a moment before Robin saw his eyes widen.

"You're-" He relaxed putting the stun gun aside. He glanced at Commissioner Gordon then at the door. He didn't even have to stand to flip the lock.

"I'm here to help. Batman is-"

"I know," Hawk was already nodding. "I told him there was a meta in the dome, but then The commissioner was poisoned. I thought she was immune to all the old Ivy toxins, but, well..."

Robin internally breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't hadn't been one hundred percent sure that Ian would remember him and some kid wondering in and just saying he was robin wouldn't have convinced anyone. He'd already gotten lucky that it was Officer Hawk and not some stranger, he didn't need to push it.

"This is a new one, it's been spreading through the whole city." Robin trailed off, his mind working furiously.

Officer Hawk tilted his head in question.

"I think we have a bigger problem."

Ian ran a hand over his face, "Of course we do... what is it?"

Robin pulled out his tablet and checked that he still had access to the hospital systems. It was fairly simple to run a search and find everyone infected, and their addresses.

"Commissioner Gordon wasn't the only one infected at the dome was she?"

Ian shook his head, "No, there was a little girl, and possibly others."

"This virus has been spreading for a couple weeks now, but according to her bloodwork Gordon got a really high dose. Everyone knows Ivy used poisons so it makes since that this new plant guy is responsible. But if he is then why make people sick so randomly? There has to be something connecting it all. I know it's important I can feel it." Robin keyed in a program to map the addresses but he couldn't see a pattern. "What else? There's something here, I know it! The dome, I was at the ice rink..."

"Public places?" Ian said, grasping at straws.

Robin glanced up, "Not just public, city owned. Oh Frag." Robin looked up, meeting the young officer's eyes. "The domes are part of the air filtration system. If someone doesn't stop it, everyone on city property will get the same dose of poison the Commissioner got."

Officer Hawk hissed in a breath through his teeth. "And Batman's already fighting this guy."

Robin nodded, "Yeah, it's up to us."

Once Batman had broken through the outer rim of plants he paused. The interior of the dome was eerily still, sounds distant and not even wind moving the leaves. The grass of the soccer field was almost waist high, the patches of flowers wildly overgrown, the buildings and play area were all covered in climbing vines. Green was squeezed into every spare inch. Here the pants weren't in rapid growth. It was as if they simply couldn't fit in anything else so all the activity was pushed to the edges.

He landed lightly on one of the Soccer goalposts, and cycled through his visor filters. There was enough pollen in the air that anything more then a hundred feet away was blurry to his regular vision. Inferred wasn't precise enough to find the meta responsible. X-ray showed him where the buildings were under the foliage, and there to his left, a human skeleton.

Slipping out a baterang Batman extended his wings and glided forward with his camouflage on.

Even knowing where the meta was it took Batman a moment to spot him with his normal vision. The guy was smaller then he'd expected, sitting in the grass, covered with pollen as if it was sand at the beach. He was just a kid.

Terry hesitated.

He hadn't thought...

In Gotham if you saw wild overgrowth you thought Ivy. Everyone did it, even those born long after she was gone. She wasn't the only plant meta to ever live though. There had been plant heroes, and scientists. people who never wore a mask or cape but instead tried to end world hunger.

Terry took a long look at the kid. He was Matt's age, too thin, head tipped back like he was taking in the sunlight as much as the plans were.

What had he done so far that was really so terrible? No one had been killed. As far as Terry knew no one had even been seriously injured. So the kind had lost control, it happened. He probably didn't have any idea how his powers worked.

"I know you're there." The kid said. He was looking at the air about ten feet to Batman's left. "I may not be able to see you, but the plants can."

Terry spent a moment weighing his options, then decided the risk was worth it. He dropped to the ground trying to land on what had once been a path rather then where the grass was thicker, turning off the camouflage as he did so.

"Batman." The kid didn't seem surprised.

"You need to stop," Terry tried to keep his voice even. He didn't want to sound like he was threatening but he had no idea what would set the kid off and they were on the clock.

"Stop what?" The kid grinned all wide and innocent.

Terry waved a hand at the growth around them. "You're the one making everything grow right? So ease off."

"Why?"

The question was light, curious, and it made something clench in Terry's gut. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go.

"It's dangerous."

The kid pulled his feet under him and stood. The grass parted around him, creating a path without even a gesture.

"Yeah, life is pretty dangerous, but we survive anyway."

Batman flipped the cap off his last canister of plant killer, and thought with a wisp of regret that at least he had tried.