"Are you still asleep?" Pamela whispered, her voice blank as the tears cascaded down her face. Fredericks did not reply. By now his skin was incredibly pale from the blood loss, and he wis breathing was fickle. He would pass away soon, she knew, and she was not sure if she had enough time to tell him everything before that happened. Part of her wanted to end him now… part of her wanted to let him go, if only to allow him hospital remedy before their next session together. However, both intentions seemed, for the worst, negligent in his duties, and for the best… well, either she would get the satisfaction of murdering him or she would get to see him revived so that he could actually pay attention to her words. Either way, there was a benefit to be had here… but what was the right course?
Shaking her head, sighing, she left him there and promised herself that a decision would be made upon her return. Her children carried her up, up, up into the darkness of the ceiling, pulling her quickly and giving her a blast of cool, indeed fine air. At the top, a small enclave in the wall brought her into her private room. The private room was actually the attic of the abandoned Mason Botanical, once a supply storage that now acted as her chamber of isolation. Here, a smaller lagoon poured down into the main chamber of her palace, her bed a massive, mutated mushroom. Attached to the walls were a variety of memoirs: her awards from university… photographs of her times spent with Jason… and of course, the poles.
The poles were special. There were four of them, spaced out evenly around the wide room. On three of the poles, a special. She only reserved the poles for the most specials of Specials… men and women who had personally struck her a truly unforgivable wound: the closest pole bore the impaled, rotting corpse of Otto Rock. He had long hung here, and his smell was unholy… for those who did not appreciate the sight, anyway. For her, it was proof of justice. Further along, Archibald Helan, decapitated but still in his Sunday tweed. His head had been devoured long ago… Next to him, Donovan Ventimago hung as he had died: nude and castrated, thick vines still wrapped boa-like around his throat… The fourth special was yet to come, because Jason was playing an elaborate game of hide-n-seek… but she was good at hide-n-seek. She would find him. His death would be the most artistic of all.
And there was Toxica, bound into the wall, her body jerking behind the immense pressure of vines that bound and gagged her. Pamela, stroking the base of these wonderful children, allowed her reprieve, and they released her at once. Toxica fell forward, hitting the floor hard, exhaling deeply and painfully.
"Better?" Pamela said softly, climbing onto the giant mushroom and studying her friend closely. "More comfortable?"
"Y-you didn't h-h-have to-" Toxica attempted, but Pamela cut across her quickly.
"-you should know better! You should have known better than to abandon me the way you did."
"I'm s-sorry… I'm sorry, Pammy…" From behind the eyes of Toxica, Alissa Jagner shook as she plead for forgiveness. Her masquera was running heavily. "I tried to come back as soon as I could. By the time I had arrived back in Gotham, he'd already nabbed you!"
"Makes me question if we work good as a team anymore," Pamela admitted, closely examining one of her ivy-clad arms lovingly. "Makes me wonder if you've forgotten your place, Alissa."
"Toxica," Alissa whispered quickly, looking frantic. Pamela raised her eyebrows.
"What?"
"Use… my real name…please…"
Pamela snorted. "Please… what right have you to it now? I had to get myself out of a very dangerous situation. A very, very dangerous situation. I almost lost everything. I almost lost Mother Earth's chance. The world almost fell into darkness. Call you by that name? No…" She straightened up to face Alissa. "You made a pact… you betrayed Mother Earth when you abandoned me."
"Mother Earth won't mind that I-"
"I AM MOTHER EARTH!" Pamela suddenly screamed, standing now, the massive vines rising at once to follow her movements, hissing violently at the cowering Alissa. "Do you understand?" Pamela whispered, her face relaxing back into a pleasant smile. She shrugged. "I am Mother Earth. I am the goddess incarnate. If I say you betrayed me… then this is fact. This is truth."
"Ivy…"
"No, Alissa… I do not know you." She turned away from Alissa, refusing to acknowledge her visually. "You must repent of your sins before I welcome you back into my graces."
"And just how do I do that!?" Alissa cried desperately. "Tell me how now!"
"Simple." Pamela snapped her fingers loudly. One of the largest tendrils slithered towards her, and she carefully settled herself upon it. "Sit." Alissa nodded at once, hurrying to obey Pamela with a fearful expression upon her face. At Pamela's silent command, they were hoisted away and lowered back down to where Fredericks lay. When they disembarked, Pamela indicated the nearly dead man. "This is Fredericks, the man chosen to represent the land of mammals. He would have sent me to Arkham, sealed away within a concrete hell, cut off from nature and cut off from serving my Will…"
Alissa nodded, kneeling down beside the man and gazing into his bleeding, bruised, cut up face. "You've done wonderful work with him," she praised Pamela, poking the man's empty eye socket with curiosity. Pamela nodded.
"Almost. He is almost fulfilled, but he is passing quickly. However, he must not die before our lesson has concluded."
"Lesson?"
"Yes. I am educating him. He needs to understand Mother Earth and why her mission has been established in the way that it has. He needs to know me… he needs to know why… He was doing so well, too. He managed to stay awake for so long, despite the love I showed for him… and now he has drifted away. Everything is out of balance, and it burns me. I want to press forward with what has to be done. So… Alissa, I need Batman."
"B-Batman?" Alissa began to sweat, her eyes widening in disbelief. "What do you mean, you need him?"
"Simple. I want him here. Fredericks is a valuable allure. I want you to draw Batman to me, Alissa. Atone for your sin. Draw Batman to me."
"Are you going to kill him!?" Alissa hissed, her voice shaking with excitement. Pamela shook her head.
"No… not yet. But Fredericks will die soon… I want someone in his place."
"Someone… in his place?"
"Yes…" Pamela fell down beside Fredericks now, and stroked the man's face. "I'm done with Fredericks… I know that now… But Batman has something that I need."
"What is that?"
Pamela grinned. "All the time in the world." She rubbed Frederick's nose softly. "I'm going to play with Fredericks for a little while longer. I hope to speak with him one last time, before I give him my gift…" She licked her lips. "Maybe Batman will stop me…"
Alissa noted her tone of voice, and stroked her chin for a moment. "You sound…as if you want him to…"
Pamela shrugged. "Who knows?" she whispered, wiping away her tears. "Maybe I need him to…"
"But-"
"Go away… now…"
Alissa tried to say something, but then decided that Pamela was so far gone at this point, nothing would happen save for a quick and ensured demise on her behalf. She turned away, head hanging as her thoughts began to circulate madly, her fist clenched. She was going to get changed, and she would leave this place…perhaps for good. Her mind began to reel back to the thens and theres. All seemed like a dream. As she prepared to leap across the gap to where a huge clump of vines awaited (Pamela seemed to have forgotten that they were in the middle of the lagoon), a vibration suddenly began at her thigh. Her cell.
Flipping it open, she saw the name on the screen and frowned.
"Ivy?" She looked around at Pamela, heart hammering.
"I thought I said to go away…" came the very dangerous whisper. Alissa, heart pounding in fear now, had to think of a way to relay the message before Pamela's inevitable attack. She thought of the word… but she was unsure of the impact.
"Joker." Such a small, mystical word, but it was all that she had. And it got Pamela's attention. The poisonous redhead turned at once, her face paling.
"What?"
Alissa held up the phone. The name "Joseph Kerr" flashed across the screen, with the accompanying phone number "444444444444." Pamela strode forward at once, eyes wide, and snatched the phone out of Alissa's hard, tapping the Answer button with a shaking finger.
"Now that wasn't very nice at all," a whimsical, patronizing voice said from the other end of the line. "You could have just waited for her to hand it to you, you little redheaded hellion, you." A mad little giggle. "Treat the blonde with respect." Pamela's eyes widened more prominently, and she set to observing the room around her at once, searching the high windows in the darkness above. Another mad giggle. "Stop looking around like a crazed sparrow. It's very distracting."
"Where are you!?" she demanded, her voice uneasy.
"Here, there, and everywhere. Red, blue, and Timbuctoo. Musty prons and livable goo, I have a rocket aimed right…at…you…" Now a mad bout of laughter. "So, your trial was astounding! I admired the way you systematically slaughtered the only legal means you possessed for freedom. That's very…Jokerish… ha ha… so, while I have you on the line, would you like to know what me and my rocket have in mind for you?"
"Tell me where you are," Pamela whispered, crouching down as if to shield herself from the eyes of the Joker. Alissa looked very troubled indeed, quivering.
"Let's talk…money. You like money, Rosebud? Or is it Rosebed? Hard to tell with you. I like money. I mean, it's boring… you can't do much with money, but…still… it adds a bit of spruce to an otherwise meaningless charade of breath. Fortunately for me… you owe me money."
"No!" Pamela hissed. "N-no, that was Woodrue! That was Woodrue! I had nothing to do with-"
"Tick, tock, my rocket's cocked…"
Pamela froze. "I- I'm… Woodrue…"
"Enough about Woody. He's been blathering on for an hour now about you and quite frankly, it's been nauseating…"
"W-what!?"
"THAT'S RIGHT." A new voice. A new, terrible, terrifying voice… a voice of the devil. She froze. She had never heard a voice like that before… "HELLO, PAMELA."
"W-what is that?" she whispered. "Who is that?"
"IT'S THE VOICE OF GOD. IT'S THE VOICE OF THE HIGHEST OF HIGH. AND OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU…"
"Who is this?"
"IT'S VIRIDI DEUS… THE GREEN GOD."
She nearly dropped the phone. It's him! "Jason…"
"You should see this guy, Ivy," the Joker cut in, giggling with utter joy. "He's got a lot of bark, and a lot of bite… no… no, God, that was awful… let me try again. He has a lot of…hmm… what kinds of tree jokes can I make, let me see… oomph!" A noise of cluttered interference, and suddenly Woodrue was speaking again.
"WE HAD PLANNED ON INTERCEPTING YOU AS THEY DROVE YOU TO ARKHAM. JUDGE KROKER WAS GOING TO GIVE YOU THE INSANITY ROUTE: LET YOU STEW IN THE CASTLE DUNGEON, SO TO SPEAK. HOWEVER… YOU TOOK MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS. NO MORE, PAMELA. I HAVE SOMEONE THAT I WANT YOU TO MEET, AND YOU WILL MEET THIS PERSON TONIGHT. I COMMAND IT-"
"Gimme, gimme!" the Joker was crying. "I wanna talk to her, me, me!"
"SILENCE, CLOWN. YOU'LL GET YOUR TURN."
"Oh, silence, eh?" A silent pause… and then-
BANG! The most terrible sound, a growling of unearthly demonicee. Pamela's mind began to spin at once as she gripped the phone tightly, and she hurriedly cut the call.
"Move!" she hissed, leaping forward, thinking to call forth her vines and ride them away into the dark… but even as she took the first breath of adrenaline pumped intensity, the ceiling above them exploded. Glass rained down and flooded the hall, and Pamela went down with a scream. Alissa dove forward, cartwheeling over Fredericks and into the thick brush nearby, pulling the man with her as shards of the roof crashed down. The giant plant in which they sat stirred angrily, vines swinging excitedly as it grumbled loudly, issuing a foul-smelling steam. The world around them shook violently. From above, black figures were descending down as metal ropes whirled down onto the plant. These black figures came armed, too. Pamela saw them automatics in tow. Mother Earth, no!
Two of them landed, and she saw that they were armored and masked in ventilation hoods. They held her at gunpoint, forcing her down, and all she could do was stare up as more and more figures descended down into her kingdom. Bursts of machine gun fire went off in every direction. Her vines were ascending from the lagoon and they were striking at the descending gunmen, alarmed by their Mother's plight, and she heard their screams as bullets riddles their bodies. NO! NO! NO! STOP HURTING THEM!
"Stop hurting them, please!" she screamed aloud, struggling against the thugs who held her down, but they were very strong and their combined efforts subdued her. Alissa and Fredericks had vanished. She could not see them anywhere. One of the figures descending down now was very mirthful, positively gleeful as he madly screamed a bout of laughter, spinning about on the metal rope. He landed into their midst with such grace, and, with a scream of "Ta-da!" proceeded to skip around until he was crouched level with the incapacitated Pamela. Kneeling near her, he breathed into her face, "Did you miss me?" His long, albino tongue gave regards to her left cheek, and she flinched in her revulsion.
The Joker smacked his lips delicately. "Your taste has changed. It hasn't been that long since we last met, Pamela, darling, has it? So much change in such a short amount of time…" He grinned as he looked over his shoulder. "Right, Jagner?"
Alert, several of the masked men ran forward into the thick brush. From there, a sudden burst of light exploded outward, and a thick green gas overwhelmed the five pursuers. But they merely stood there, confident, as the poisonous fog swirled about them. Their suits seemed to be holding up very well. Three of them beat their way through the thick brush, all the while gunfire continued as more and more of the vines ascended to attack the invaders. Pamela's heart broke. This grand, beautiful creature atop which they sat… it could devour them whole… but it would never do so as long as she were present. It would not endanger its Mother.
Alissa's scream was irritable as they dragged her and Fredericks out of the darkness. She began to cough violently as they were both thrown forward at the feet of the Joker, who danced about excitedly, examining both of them. "Delightful, cherry-some and free-spirited, the lot!" the Joker hissed contentedly. "Behold, a pinnacle of reason." He nudged Fredericks with a toe, who could moan in agony. It had now gotten to that point for the man. "Behold, a pinnacle of spirit." He nudged Alissa's nose with the tip of his well-polished loafer. She responded with her own reason: saliva across his fine shoes.
The Joker's grin faded, and instead, a look of utter annoyance spread across his pasty-white features. "Not cool," he whispered dangerously, crouching down and yanking her by the hair to better face with her. Alissa gritted her teeth and growled in anger. "Not. Cool. At. All." He reached to his side and pulled out a silver toy of fine quality indeed: the 357 magnum rested gently against Alissa's temple. Pamela, despite herself, betrayed all of her own reason.
"No!" she screamed, her voice quivering with fear for Alissa's life. The Joker looked around, licking his red lips.
"No?" he whispered, looking awed. "Not at all. Not even a little bitty boopy woopy BOOM!" He shouted the last word, and Pamela and Alissa both flinched in terror. The Joker giggled darkly. "But she spat on my nice shoes… what am I supposed to do about that, Pamela?"
"I-I don't, I don't know!" Pamela gritted her teeth hard, and looked around the room desperately. "Just don't kill Alissa, don't, just…" Her eyes went from Alissa's pale, quivering face to the nearly dead Fredericks. At that moment, she decided her lesson could never be learned. "Him. Kill him. Kill that man on the floor there. He's nothing to either of us. Murder him!"
The Joker considered Fredericks, who could barely keep his remaining eye open as he stared up into the pasty-white face of death itself.
"What's your name, pal?" the Joker whispered, bouncing the magnum around in his hands like an acrobat juggling. Fredericks, so weak that words would have been most impossible, merely rested his head to the side and closed his remaining eye, praying to God to bring the end already. "You've done some work on him… yes, you have…"
"CLOWN. WHERE ARE YOU?"
Pamela's heart froze again. That terrible, demonic voice seemed so much louder now…so much darker now… She gazed up at the ceiling, her eyes wide with terror. A dark, massive shadow was descending upon them. The darkest of shadows. The most terrible of blacknesses… He descended down upon them with vines as his steed, giant, black vines that seemed to come from outside… they were not her own… The madman! He was not even human in appearance anymore. His body was crafted from bark, his hair from moss. He was a Spriggan of legend, a terrible source of unnatural form, with an unnatural voice to match. He descended down and came to stand over her. He was the boogeyman from the closet. He was the creature beneath the bed. He was the whisper in the darkness…
And those eyes! How green they glowed!
"Enough is enough," one of the masked soldiers, a woman, called out to the Joker. "We need to get moving."
The Joker looked around at her, and raised his magnum without hesitation. The shot that rang exploded out deafened all within close proximity, and even Fredericks leapt out of his weak slumber, crying out and making the first sound in a long while. Glass and brains both flew from the woman's destroyed helmet and she fell backwards over the edge of the plant, crashing into the lagoon below. "Oops," he giggled.
At once, every gun was turned on him, save for the soldiers who held Alissa and Pamela at bay, and Woodrue turned on him at once.
"WHY?"
"Because her voice, it sounded like a chicken's, did you notice? Just "cluck, cluck, cluck," all day long… it really grated me after a while… Come now, boys and girls: don't be stupid."
"I CAN GIVE THE ORDER TO HAVE YOU SHOT WHERE YOU STAND," Woodrue hissed dangerously, and it was evident that this was a promise. "THEY WILL OBEY."
"Ah, but then who will give you water and sunshine and all the samples of European and Asian soil, eh?" the Joker cooed, kissing his magnum with love. "I have promises on the table, Woodrue, don't forget. And don't forget who is running this masquerade."
Woodrue stepped forward threateningly. "MASQUERADE!?"
"Just a figure of speech, Groot… just a figure of speech…"
"I WILL TOLERATE LITTLE FROM YOU, CLOWN."
"I imagine he'll tolerate even less from me than you will." The Joker suddenly pointed upward. Woodrue gasped, and spun around. Sure enough, the Joker was not seeing things.
A darkness stood up there, perched upon a girder in the ceiling, situated perfectly in between the shattered window where the Joker had entered. The darkness stood up and pointed a solitary hand at the pair. "Enough is enough," came the battered old voice.
Woodrue stepped backwards, screaming in a terrible, rage-filled cry, "NO! NO, YOU'RE DEAD! YOU'RE DEAD!"
But the Batman chose to defy these proclamations, and instead descended down upon them, his black cape spreading out as he glided down. As he came, he raised his arm, and a small sphere propelled itself from his armor, zooming across the air right at their feet.
"Batman, buddy! Yay!" the Joker jumped about excitedly, raising his magnum in glee. "I missed you, old buddy, old pal!" Even as the first shot rang out, the sphere that Batman had launched hit the ground hard, and in the next moment, a fierce blast of white light overtook the room. Everything paled and all within close proximity went blind at once. Pamela screamed as her vision was lost. Her captors fell away, one of them teetering over the edge of the plant and falling with a scream into the lagoon below. The Joker's shot missed Batman by a long way, who now landed before them, a Batarang in hand.
Shots fired from every direction. Woodrue, trying to force his own vision to come back from the powerful flash blast, swung blindly. The Batman, however, was moving fast, landing a kick into the chest of Pamela's other captor, who fell onto his back, shooting wildly at the ceiling.
Batman grabbed Pamela by the back of the neck, and forced her to face him. She gazed into those light blue eyes, filled with all the fire and agony of a very rendered man on a dark plan, and she felt fear like no other…
"Here's the plan…" he began, hissing darkly to her…
"The plan is simple, Alissa, and if you are unable to follow through with it… I'll kill you. I promise… Please confirm that you understand. Confirm that you understand that we know nothing about the whereabouts of that officer or that bastard Kevin…" Pamela watched the rain pour out of the café window, sipping calmly from her glass of iced Cola. Alissa sat at the table with her head bowed, focusing intently on the checkerboard red and black diamond pattern of the tablecloth. The café was deserted at this time of night. It was one in the morning, and the only employee on duty sat in the back office, half-asleep and waiting for the buzzer on the door to go off. "Alissa? Do you hear me?"
"Yeah… I hear you…" Alissa mumbled. She picked up her own root beer and sipped at it pathetically, staring out towards the rain as well, and wondering… Are those bodies being washed up even now? Has an alligator started eating their entrails? Will a hunter find them out there during some private fishing excursion? "Pamela… I think we should have burned them."
"Burned them?" Pamela considered Alissa carefully. "Why?"
"I don't know… how secret is your secret place? Really?"
"Really? I assure you, it's going to be fine. Mother Earth protects us."
"I can keep your secret," Alissa whispered, shaking her head. "I can. But let's not pretend, Pamela. Let's be straight with one another. Okay?"
"Okay?" Pamela gave Alissa her fullest concentration. Alissa sighed.
"I don't like what you did. I hate what you did. You are a murderer. You are a criminal, and you are a… a psychopath…" Alissa's heart was hammering. She did not know why she was braving saying these things to…well, a psychopath who had already murdered two men this night… but it was all so fierce and boiling within, and she could not stop herself. Pamela, meanwhile, listened patiently, with a pleasant expression. "Patterson deserved to die. He deserved to die. Kevin… Kevin did not. You had never even met Kevin before tonight, had you? He was in my classes. He did so well in them, too. He had a fine future ahead of him. He wanted to work with soldiers who were suffering from PTSD. Now… now he's moldering away, in a swamp! And… and the worst part of it was… I was happy when you handed me that cash! That cash that you took off of the body… I was happy that you had given it to me… I'm not supposed to be happy about that!"
"Then don't be happy about that," Pamela suggested. "Don't be ecstatic that you could buy two very fine cars with that money. Don't be happy that you can afford a house and pay off its mortgage, or that you could take a vacation to Jamaica, or Europe and cruise the ancient wonders of the world. Don't feel good about any of that."
"Don't!" Alissa hissed, holding up a firm finger, her temper lost. "Don't! You're a crazy bitch, do you know that!?"
Pamela seized up, paling fiercely. "What?" she mumbled, her eyes widening madly. Alissa held her ground, shaking her head as the tears came.
"You are! You're crazy! You're a psychotic nutball! Why!? WHY DID YOU DO IT!?" She screamed this time, unable to control herself. "WHY DID YOU DO IT!?"
"Alissa…" Pamela's eyes snapped towards the door that led into the back. The lady on duty was looking around the doorway, staring over at them with an odd expression. "…Alissa, you're endangering people."
"ENDANGERING PEOPLE!?" Alissa, uncomprehending as to the meaning of Pamela's words, stood up, her face contorted into rage. "I'M NOT THE ONE ENDANGERING PEOPLE! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO COMMITTED MURDER AND FORCED ME TO-"
SMASH! The bottle of Cola swung fast as an arrow and exploded right beside Alissa's hand. Glass shards flew everywhere, and it shut Alissa right the hell up. Pamela sat quietly, hand still rested gently across the tabletop, eyes closed. She sighed loudly.
"No, no, and double no, Alissa… why can't you see that, Alissa? Why, Alissa? What is it with you, Alissa?" She pushed herself from out of the booth and sighed again, shaking her head as she approached the counter. Alissa could only stare after her, wide-eyed and terrified. Pamela glanced around at her. "Alissa…wait for me. I expect you to still be there when I return… Don't you dare disobey: for goodness sake, don't disobey." She was so quiet as she said it, so docile.
In the back, the young woman on duty was desperately fumbling with her purse for something, glancing around, terrified. She saw Pamela crawling over the counter, crawling on all fours in her filthy, rain-soaked jogging suit, a look of cold, cold fury etched between the eyes and lines of her mouth. The woman let out a soft scream and wrenched for the door, slamming it shut. Pamela heard the lock snap on the other side as she approached.
"I'm calling the police!" the woman was screaming. "I heard everything! I heard everything!"
Pamela looked around at Alissa, looking disappointed. "You're a fucking moron," she hissed in the latter's direction, before crouching down beside the door and peering beneath it through the crevice. She could see still feet and frantic movement, followed by a fearful, "Shit! Where is it!?"
Pamela felt disappointment for the employee as well. Two violations. One, always keep your cell phone on your person at all times. Two… have a phone in the break room… seriously. There would naturally be one in the manager's office, which was to Pamela's right.
Taking the perfume bottle in hand, she stuck the nozzle of it into the crevice and unleashed a barrage of what was so swiftly becoming her favorite toy. The pheromones rose up and wafted into the room, enshrouding the desperate woman and quickly silencing her frantic whisperings and tears. Such a silent room. Such an obedient room.
"Oh, my…" the woman inside gasped, and she sounded very elated. That voice quivered with excitement, and could never have feared what was on the other side. It was a committed high. Industrial perfection.
"Knock, knock," Pamela sang lightly as she tapped on the door. "Guess who's here?" she whispered into the cracks, her voice inviting and calm. "Is there someone in there?"
"W-what…?" A little giggle. "H-uh?"
"Open that door… I want to add to your happiness…"
"Who… what… you're…you're a killer, HA HA!" The woman on the other side sounded out of her mind. "Who… whoooo…. Murderer… HA… HA!"
Pamela frowned. What… what was going on? She glanced down- and froze. She was still pumping the pheromones into the room. She had not realized that she had not stopped squeezing. Quickly wrenching her hand backwards, she saw that the bottle was almost emptied. Oops…
"HA… HA… HA…" Random intervals of laughter sounded from behind the wood-work. The woman within was lost, and it was not within this reality. "HA! HA! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" She was laughing uncontrollably. "BEAUTIFUL NIGHT! KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK! KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!"
Alissa was standing at the counter, staring down the way. "What did you do to her?" she breathed. Pamela looked around, and bit her lip.
"Too much."
The door behind her exploded. Pamela leapt backwards, heart leaping at once. The employee had unlocked the door and kicked it open. Her skin was violent shade of red. She was perspiring very noticeably, and her eyes were bloodshot! Her face was twisted into a mad grin, and she was giggling uncontrollably. "So beautiful," she hissed, reaching out for Pamela, who was suddenly very horrified. "So beautiful! Goddess! GODDESS!"
Pamela froze again. Goddess? The woman was looking at her with obsession…with desire… She fell to all fours, and began to crawl forward, overwhelmed by weaponized ecstasy. Pamela backed away more and more, but the woman was persistent in her crawling, desperate to touch a fragment of Pamela's body with a shaking, outstretched hand…
"This is horrible," Alissa whispered.
"This is beautiful," Pamela sighed. "Look at this, Alissa. Really look at this. Study it, analyze it, and make a hypothesis. Deduce the outcome. Deduce the future. What you see is what you get…" She crouched down, and took the woman by the hand, who screamed out something between a cry and laughter. "…utter, total, undeniable, unhindered, perfected… slavery."
"S-slavery?"
"No… not slavery… devotion. Worship!"
"Worship," the woman drooled, her head falling against Pamela's shoe. Pamela twiddled the woman's long black hair in hand as her zombie groveled. "Worship… worship…"
"Yes. Worship. Uncorrupted. Perfect worship," Pamela agreed, looking around at Alissa in joy. "Have hope, Jagner. Your idiocy has made way for absolute experimentation. This is proof. No sex, no gender is immune. My influence is un-discriminatory and perfected. And it has to be used again. And again. And again."
"For what?" Alissa begged of Pamela, throwing her arms up in frustration. "What is there to gain, Pamela!?"
"Ivy." Pamela's face darkened. Alissa gritted her teeth.
"No, I'm not going to-"
"I-v-y," Pamela emphasized, hoisting the employee to her feet. The woman could not stop touching Pamela, and Pamela allowed a full exploration, sexually disassociated. Women were not her preference… but this was for experimentation. Sexual inducement? Attraction to what caliber? How far could her influence really go? "I want my name."
"Your name is- your name is-" Alissa kicked the counter. "Fine, it's… it's Ivy… Ivy… what will you gain? Money? Is that what you want? You want to gas up every rich guy and girl you see and steal their wallets? Wanna make a fortune on highs and- and-" She looked sick. "- and… oh, damn it… Ivy, this is nothing more than a date-rape drug, except that there's no chance of-"
"Of what, Alissa?" Pamela asked quietly, cradling the woman against her. The woman's face was buried into her neck, hard at work… Even though it disgusted her, personally, for a woman to be making such an advance upon her, it was still fully entertaining to see the absolute enthrallment. "Of what?"
"Of refusal…" Alissa's voice quivered. "Of…anything… God… there's no hope for escape, is there?"
Pamela nodded. "None. I could do anything I wanted to them." She yanked the woman's hair very hard. It barely fazed the worshipper. She could not pull herself away from Pamela, who was positively doused in the plant pheromones. "I could make them hand me their wallet, Alissa. I could steal all of their money and make them laugh about it with me. I could punch them in the face, and make them apologize to me for it… or, hell…" She glanced at Alissa. "…I could bring them back to my place and make a very beautiful video for the entire world to see. I could make them my personal pornstar… Wouldn't that be magical?"
"Pa- I… Ivy…"
"No, no. Oh, Heavens, no." Pamela shoved the woman, who, according to the nametag on her shirt was Beverly, away, and turned fully to confront Alissa now. Beverly assaulted Pamela again, who paid her no mind. "Oh, Heavens no, Alissa, no… that wouldn't do, would it? I can't do that. I'm not allowed to do that. Everyone else is… but not me."
Alissa could not find the words that she desired for. Pamela's green irises were alive with fire and hatred. Alissa could see it, too, deep within. Hatred for the world, and for its denizens. She hated the world. She truly hated it. It was so evident in those tormented green windows to the soul. For a moment, Pamela was a small girl, watching every child on her block get ice cream from the happy blue truck while mom and dad refused to give her even the slightest trace of a quarter…
Alissa's heart panged hard. When she closed her eyes, a face suddenly came to her through that ocular darkness: Otto Rock, and with him, Donovan Ventimago appeared, Archbald Helan bringing up the rear. Her eyes snapped open.
"God… I'm sorry, Ivy… I'm so sorry, Ivy…"
"So am I."
Alissa frowned, and examined Pamela's face. It looked serious.
"What?"
"I… I'm sorry… I don't deserve to- to do to them what they did to-"
"Yes you do."
Pamela froze, and her eyes widened. "What?" Inside, she smiled. Yeah, that's right, Alissa. Feel for me. Feel for me and know my pain. Feed off of it. Agree with me. Acknowledge my ways… come on, Alissa… show me your vulnerability. "What do you mean?" she sighed. "I don't deserve revenge. I shouldn't be thinking of it like that. I should just…let Otto Rock get away with what he did. No one will help me, anyway…"
"I will."
Pamela raised an eyebrow. Gotcha. "What?"
Alissa was shaking madly, on the verge of screaming. "I'll help you." She took Pamela's hands in her own. Pamela smiled. I didn't even need the pheromones…or… did I? She grinned. The pheromones were affecting Alissa now. She was getting a small dose of it… but they were definitely there.
"I'll help you," Alissa whispered. "I'll…give you your justice. I want to see Rock dead. Him and the assholes who did what they did to you. I'll help you…"
What a fine thing indeed. But…
Pamela nodded. "Will you prove it to me?"
"P-prove it to you?"
"Yes… prove to me that you're willing to do what it takes…"
"How do I do that, Pamela?"
"I'll show you, by example."
Pamela shovered Beverly away, and casually strolled over to the counter exit this time, unlocking the little door. She gestured at Beverly to follow, who desperately and wildly chased afterward. Alissa watched them walk over to the table where they had sat, Pamela's face dark and calculating. One by one, Pamela wrenched shut the blinds on the windows (though they were on a country road on the outskirts of Porda-Bay Village, and not a human would drive past here for hours, most likely).
Settling Beverly to a stand-still before her, Pamela whispered, "Stand right there… I have something for you."
"For me…something for me, something for me, me, me, me…" Beverly, dazed and swaying, grinned at the ceiling, her eyes wide and elated.
Picking up the broken bottle from earlier, Pamela nodded. "Yes, I do." She glanced at Alissa. "Alissa, babe… I need you to prove your loyalty to me by doing one thing. One thing… one beautiful thing… and if you can, I'll accept your help. Because we're in this together, aren't we?"
"Ivy…?" Alissa was looking from the bottle to Beverly to Pamela. "What are you-"
"Third time's a charm," Pamela hissed. The bottle went up, the broken end pointing down… and when it came down, and Beverly's neck opened up, Alissa understood exactly what Pamela wanted of her…..