"The Plant Queen"
Arkham City (Now Closed Down)
Gotham Cathedral
11:04 P.M
The sound of police sirens echoed throughout the remains of Arkham City, converging at the nearly destroyed bridge that overlooked the once dilapidated, now vine-infested Gotham Cathedral.
Dozens of Gotham's finest had set up a perimeter around the bridge, the GCPD personnel flanked by police cars, ambulances, and SWAT trucks.
Amongst these men stood Commissioner James Gordon, the heart and soul of the GCPD. His grey hair, indicative of the stress that came with his job description, was practically conspicuous in the moonlight. In one hand he held a field radar, where he was constantly barking orders, and in the other, a personal cellphone.
"Look, my order still stands. Hold the position, but do not engage. I repeat, do not engage. Keep a line around the gates and keep free of the snipers. We'll get them all out once we know it's clear," he instructed to the field radio.
Resting his forearm on the low wall, he narrowed his eyes gazing at the church nearly consumed by nature itself.
The place now resembled an ecosystem of mutated flora mixed in with the Gothic architecture, with an exotic and quite peculiar collection of plants growing around and underneath it.
Gnarled roots grew out of the graveyard that surrounded the church, breaking through the granite and entrenching themselves in the ground. Gargantuan, serpentine vines slithered around the exterior of the church. A greenish aura permeated the air around the cathedral, indicative of a certain eco-terrorist's M.O.
"Yes sir," came the response, before the reception turned to static.
Suddenly, he felt a rapid vibrating on his thigh, and without hesitation held the cellphone up to his ear.
"Dad?" came a worried voice.
"Barbara! God, it's so good to hear your voice again!" he breathed, relieved at the sound of his daughter, Barbara Gordon's voice.
"You too. I heard there was still trouble in Arkham City. What's been going on there?" she asked, worried.
"Too much, to be honest with you Barb. First, we had to suffer through hours of the media breathing down our backs because of the whole Strange situation, and I'm sure Mrs. Vale had a field day over that. Then, we spent the next few weeks cramming every single inmate and his dog into temporary holding cells until Blackgate could be rebuilt. Things were going pretty good, until Harley Quinn escaped."
"Quinn? Wasn't she Joker's girlfriend?"
"Widow now, as she keeps reminding us. She took Joker's death harder than anyone else, went even crazier than usual, if that was even possible. Crazy woman gathered what was left of his gang, and staged a three-day stand-off on the Steel Mill, Joker's old territory. We tried sending strike teams in, but she was more prepared than we gave her credit for. It wasn't pretty, but thanks to Batman, we managed to stop her," he reported.
"Thank God!" she breathed in relief.
"Don't thank Him yet!" he chuckled weakly before continuing. "We managed to subdue Harley Quinn, but that was only the beginning. I'm starting to wonder if there'll ever be an end to this nightmare."
"So, who's out there now? Scarecrow? Killer Croc? Calendar Man on his off day?" she smiled sarcastically.
"Worse. Poison Ivy," he told her.
"Not that overgrown weed!" Barbara exclaimed.
"You remember that whole Protocol 10 business I was telling you about last week?"
"Yeah?"
"Apparently, in addition to wiping out the entire population in Arkham City the psychopath just had to poke the green bear. TYGER helicopters were instructed, above all else, to bomb the holy hell out of her plants. The retaliation on her part would've only added more fuel to the fire. Unfortunately for us all, the only thing Hugo Strange succeeded in was pissing her the hell off," he explained.
"So, Ivy's beef is with Strange then, right?"
"A rational person would think so. But this is Poison Ivy we're talking about here," he sighed candidly.
"Okay, either way, this is not your fault, Dad. Only Strange was responsible for winding that redheaded psycho back up," she pointed out.
"And now we're responsible for cleaning up his mess. If we can't cut her off here and now, she'll get to Gotham and it'll be much, much worse," he said gravely.
"What about Batman? Shouldn't he be in on this?" came Barbara's worried voice again.
"Last I had contact with him, he was still trying to round up Deadshot. He got out of his holding cell, with, get this, a paper clip and-" he started to recount, before Barbara suddenly interrupted him.
"Um Dad, could I call you back? I know, shitty timing but I've got someone calling on the other end. I promise it's urgent, and well, you know…" she started to explain, purposefully stalling until her dad got the message.
"If it's important to you, it's important to me, Barb," he assured her.
"Thanks! Look, I'll call you later once I get this straightened out. Just promise me you'll be home safe soon!" she urged.
"I promise! Stay inside for the time being, Barbara. GCPD is still at half-strength in the city for the time being until we finish things here. If you need anything, call Detective Bullock," he instructed.
"Will do. Love you Dad."
"Love you too Barbara. Stay safe!" he called back hopefully, as she signed off on the other side of the connection.
The weary Commissioner Gordon reluctantly pocketed his cellphone and began redirecting his attention at the unfolding scene below.
As he walked up to the rotted bridge railings, he pressed his binoculars up against his eyes for a bird's eye view as yet another attack team began cautiously approaching the church from the front entrance.
"I would've figured you'd have turned in for the night, Jim."
Looking up, he spotted the Dark Knight himself perched atop an adjoining fire escape to a nearby building. His cape flailed aimlessly in the wind, as his metallic suit soon caught the attention of every single personnel atop the bridge.
His suit was riddled with bullet holes and slash marks, but the same determined look remained unchanging across his cowl.
Dropping down from the metal railing, he landed a few feet away from the commissioner.
"These days you can't tell day from night. It's all one big nightmare that never seems to end," Gordon greeted in return.
"Deadshot was up to his old tricks again. Working with a psychopath like Strange was low, even for him, but trying to off political prisoners, even after the fact, was beneath him. All it took was a crash dummy right in the line of fire for me to triangulate his position on a rooftop. I took care of the rest," he reported.
"You always do," Gordon smirked, before adding demurely, "Any leads on Scarecrow?"
"The last time I saw Crane, he was being ripped in two by Killer Croc, and that was when he was still above the water. If the Scarecrow's out there, still alive, I doubt he'd be starting trouble now," he told the commissioner.
"Even if he is, Arkham City's already a lost cause. Once we finish tying up loose ends here, I'll personally see to it that this prison gets blown to hell where it belongs," he said.
"We can discuss Crane later. But for now, I think there's a reason why a giant vine is wrapped around the Gotham Cathedral," he said, nodding towards the giant, serpentine vine that constricted around the bell tower, snaking around the exterior with the force of a boa constrictor.
"Poison Ivy," he answered less than enthusiastically, before leaning on the bridge's low wall.
His fists clenched, knowing that the fanatical woman, with or without Titan, was a force to be reckoned with.
"Why now?" Batman demanded, narrowing his eyes irritably at the thought of once again going up against the toxic temptress.
"Two words: Protocol 10," he sighed, which only confirmed the detective's suspicions.
"I figured as much."
"Just an hour ago, she came out of that hotel and took the bridge clean-up team by surprise. Casualties were light, thankfully, but it shook those boys up hard. Luckily, we managed to cut her off at this point before she could get any further in. Now, the only thing stopping us from blowing the place sky high is the hostages," he said.
"Cash and his team were still in when she took over?"
Gordon's labored face said it all, the guilt of what had happened visibly wearing on him. "We had her blocked from all angles, but in this case, it worked against us. The doctors were still inside tending to some officers who were on the receiving end of that whole Harley Quinn fiasco when she got in. Now, she's got hostages and negotiation tactics don't exactly work well when you're dealing with an insane woman who thinks trees are her children."
"Don't blame yourself for something that would've been worse. What's the situation now?" he continued.
"We've sent in a strike team, but it's been radio silent since they breached. I had a few units stationed around the church attempt an evac, but her plants took them out as soon as they touched the courtyard. Thankfully, they all had on gas masks for the spores but that didn't do much against those vines. So, unless you got a military-grade can of weed killer in that belt, we're gonna be here a while," he told the Dark Knight.
"Tell your men on the ground to advance to the courtyard once I'm inside. She won't attack them with her attention solely focused on me," he instructed.
Gordon raised a concerned eyebrow at this strategy but sensing his hesitance Batman continued.
"Ivy wants me, not the GCPD. It's the only way to put an end to this and get all your men out," he stressed.
"So, she's still holding a grudge over what happened at the asylum?"
"More like what didn't happen. With Titan running through her veins and her plants stronger than ever, the last thing Ivy wanted was to lose to an inferior 'meatsack.' Her ego wouldn't allow that, and now, she's trying to get a rematch by leveraging innocent lives," he explained matter-of-factly.
"You'd be walking blind into whatever sick, twisted trap she's got set up behind those doors," Gordon pointed out.
"I've walked into worse traps," he shrugged dismissively.
"She's dangerous with or without Titan, but I'm sure you already know that. I'll tell my men to hold their position until you finish, well, doing what you usually do."
"This shouldn't take long," he agreed, stepping over the bridge railing.
"Be careful Batman. We've already lost enough good men here. No need adding you to that list," Gordon cautioned him, before activating his field radio against his ear and barking orders to his men.
With that, he launched off the bridge and extending his cape, gliding towards the church.
Pushing through a thick cloud of crimson pheromone dust that had accumulated all around the building, Batman maneuvered around the gargantuan vines still wrapped around the building's exterior before finally descending down below.
Retracting his cape as he landed on the ground, he took a moment to survey the territory with his back to the GCPD personnel positioned on the streets.
He paused only to observe the front gates which had been ripped off their hinges, with vines still coiled around the bent metallic bars on the ground before finally entering the courtyard.
The officers behind him exchanged glances and admiring whispers as Batman stalked forward fearlessly towards the awaiting plant queen.
At least a dozen GCPD officers lay sprawled out on the ground around him, the result of Gordon's early attempt to infiltrate the church.
Their gas masks were still functional, but just barely with the growing density of her spores looming above them.
Finally arriving at the mossy doors, he banged on the door twice, before stepping back.
Immediately, Ivy's vines exploded out of the ground, the deadly vines that often acted as her henchmen. They surrounded the battle-tested Dark Knight in quick succession, poised to strike at him from all sides.
Remaining stoic, he made no movement towards his utility belt but instead turned to face the serpentine plants.
"I'm here Ivy," he said directly to it.
They instantly retreated back into the ground as he uttered the statement, leaving the church virtually unguarded.
Without even hesitating, he opened the doors and entered the lair of Poison Ivy.