"Live by the Sword"

Arkham City

Amusement Mile

9:16 P.M.

"Wakey wakey...my little bird boy!"

There were many thoughts that ran through the Boy Wonder's head as he groggily came to, but there was one above the rest that ate away at him with every humiliating second

How did he not see it coming?

Rays of light began pecking furiously at his domino mask, forcing Robin to finally will both pupils open, for better or worse.

Feeling as miserable as he was embarrassed by what had just occurred, he slowly lifted up his head only to meet the face of death herself.

Poison Ivy's toxic lips curled into a vindictive grin that spread from corner to corner of her gleaming expression. Watching the boy regain his bearings, she almost relished in the fact that her face, the last thing he saw in defeat, to be the very first thing he saw upon his awakening.

Making a cooing sound, she tilted her head to the side playfully as she watched him try to shrug off his sluggishness.

"Poor birdy, did you hit your head on something?" she taunted, mimicking a concerned mother.

Still wincing as his vision fully cleared, his eyes came upon the leering woman standing before him, the architect of his defeat, the plant queen herself.

Her Arkham City jacket, still seductively half-buttoned, clung rather generously to her lithe and nearly nude figure while her fiery mane cascaded down her shoulders.

As opposed to Robin, who still bore the painful reminders of their confrontation, she was practically spotless.

"For now, at least," he thought to himself angrily, rational judgement quickly giving away to pent-up emotion as he felt his strength slowly but surely returning to his body.

Quickly realizing the distance, or rather lack thereof, between his exposed flesh and certain death, Robin's instincts immediately kicked in.

Exploding into action, he made a feral yet desperate lunge at her, attempting to knock her off balance before she could employ any more of her patented pheromones.

Poison Ivy continued leering at him as he lunged forward, coming tantalizingly close to tackling her when something pulled him back down.

"Gahhhh!" He grunted in frustration as he felt snakes of barbed rope suddenly tighten around his torso and arms, forcing him back down.

The thorny sides of the mutated vines bit into his body armor with a vengeance, causing his face to distort into a pained mask with every squeeze. Writhing and thrashing his body against them had little effect, as he painfully discovered that the vines tightened their grip in accordance to his struggling.

Deciding immediately to conserve his energy for a strategic opening, the ever observant Robin scanned the surroundings around him, attempting to find a weak spot he could exploit. He was currently tied to a faded armchair that was once considered plush, with an abundance of vines coiled around it and him. The serpentine plants curled around his forearms and ankles, before hugging his armored torso several times over.

"I hope I didn't hurt you too bad, Robin. I know how...fragile you bird boys are. But once this is over, maybe I can make it up to you," she purred in her signature sensual drawl, her words slurring together to garner the desired effect.

"Sorry, not interested. But I hear there's a tree in Robinson Park that's single. Maybe you can go rub leaves against him," Robin replied in kind, displaying his usual brand of sardonic humor.

Pursing her lips, she merely cooed aloud much to his eternal chagrin. "Awwww, is bird boy mad he lost to a woman?"

"You cheated!" Robin grated, raw emotion (and his dignity) prevalent in his response.

She wore only a smug grin. "I had an advantage, so I used it. An ace up my sleeve, if you will."

And as she said that, she extended her right forearm towards him. Sure enough, a vine slithered out of her torn sleeve, carrying with it the blade, possibly the same one used on him.

Grasping it delicately, she brandished the crude weapon close to him, relishing in his irritable expression.

"You're not poisoned, if that's what you're wondering. Not yet anyways," she smiled, twirling around the syringe before curiously examining the injection needle. "No, I merely needed to clip your wings for a bit so you wouldn't go flapping back to the baby killer in the bat costume. I've got something much more...interesting in store for our dear Dark Knight. You on the other hand…" Her voice trailed off as she suddenly drifted away from him, her hips a sensual pendulum in motion as she sauntered towards a vine-infested workbench nearby.

Without her watchful gaze scrutinizing his every movement, Robin took inventory of the room he was currently held captive in.

From what he could tell he was still in her hotel hideout, evident by the plethora of mutated flora protruding from the dilapidated infrastructure.

The floor had been replaced almost entirely by grass and overgrown roots, while glowing vines draped around broken rebar and what remained of the ceiling.

Judging by the nearly broken off rectangular counter that the red-haired siren sauntered towards, he deduced that he was in the hotel lobby, or at least what remained of it.

Squinting his eyes to see a little past his captors curvaceous outline, he made out what looked like test tubes, broken off mushrooms, and most unsurprisingly of all, his confiscated utility belt now draped across the cracked surface.

Instinctively, he started to whisper an emergency codeword into his comlink only to realize that his metallic earpiece was also missing.

"That's what I get for underestimating the super-villain with lettuce panties," he bemoaned to himself bitterly, wincing a little as the vines continued to coil around his forearms and torso.

Wounded pride soon gave way to slight panic as he began racking his head for possible ways to escape his current predicament.

He would attempt cutting through the floral bindings but thanks to her vines it would be virtually impossible to first retrieve the hidden knife in his gauntlet, then actually make sizable cuts before the mutated plants sensed it.

Reluctantly returning his eyes to the center, Robin refocused his attention at the toxic villainess apparently busy at her makeshift workbench.

Sighing to himself with nothing to lose, he decided to use his only available tool: his mouth. "So, this is your big plan, huh Ivy? Turn me against Batman? Gotta say, was expecting a bit more."

"Is that what you think is happening here?" she responded simply, her eyes still fixated on the unknown project.

"Well, what I think doesn't matter. Here's what I know. You've lost; Batman just isn't here yet to tell you that personally. See, Batman's going to figure out your little plan, blow up whatever Godzilla plant you got growing here, and depending on his mood, probably beat the crap out of you."

Pausing for a moment to take in his taunting remarks, she made a move towards him, one that he almost expected, before settling for a simple smirk.

"Do you ever get tired, Robin?"

"Tired of listening to super villain monologues?" he offered, before shrugging. "Occasionally, but-"

"No, silly boy." Turning around to face him, her emerald eyes studied him curiously as she leaned against the counter. "Do you ever get tired of living in his shadow?"

Robin almost scoffed aloud. "Living in his shadow? What, so besides being a mad scientist you're also a licensed therapist now?"

"I once lived in the shadow of a man I respected. I loved him, idolized him at some point. For him, I would do anything. He knew that, of course," the former botanist reminisced bitterly.

For a fleeting moment, Robin thought he could see something in her eyes. Something only memory could bring up, a reminder of the person she once was. But it was gone just as soon as it came.

"Well to be quite honest with you doc, the big guy and I get along just fine. Then again, Batman's never tried to kill me and leave me for dead in a lab full of toxic chemicals but please, continue," Robin interjected sardonically.

"So he's told you about Jason?" Ivy smirked, crossing her arms.

"I know what Woodrue did to you, Ivy. What he made you into. He was a monster for what he did, but that doesn't justify you being an even bigger one. Stop this now, and be better than what he made you," he urged, hoping to appeal to whatever portion of humanity was still left.

"Be better," she lamented softly, holding her right arm out.

Instantly, a fledgling vine seeped through the wooden cracks and wrapped itself around her forearm, nuzzling against her emerald skin like a newborn cuddling against its mother.

"You are better than this." Knowing full well that he could be a victim of her infamous mood swings, Robin nonetheless continued to implore, "I read your reports, Dr. Isley. You were once a well-respected scientist. What Woodrue did can't be reversed, but you still have a chance to make things right now. You can save your plants before Batman or the GCPD gets here."

"I used to think that for a long time. That what that bastard did to me somehow morphed me into this whole other person, this…..creature that did all these horrible things. It wasn't really me that poisoned all those people. No no, it was just the monster that Jason had made me into," she continued to lament, almost talking to herself before slowly closing her fist. "That's what I believed, even in those cold, dark nights I spent at that asylum. In a cell that the Bat put me in."

"Solitude gave me perspective. Though I was trapped in that place surrounded by filthy meat-sacks, I was truly alone. I had nothing except my thoughts. Then, it came to me."

"A conscience?" Robin offered hopefully.

"I heard voices, thousands of them. All crying out to me, only me as if I were the only one who could hear them. And while I remained in that cell, I could feel hundreds of those voices being silenced by the minute. It was then that I realized what a fool I had been all this time," she continued, an almost maternal pain in her voice as she let the vine slither back onto the counter.

"Jason freed me. He gave me purpose, made me into who I was always meant to be," she breathed out excitedly, almost beside herself in euphoric self-realization.

"A delusional psychopath with a Messiah complex?" Robin offered again, only for Ivy to ignore his snarky remark.

"I am here, to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. To fight for those who could do nothing but choke on the pollution that your kind creates. I am Mother Nature's vengeance, a protector of everything you meat-sacks have tried to exterminate," she declared, sauntering back towards him in a slow yet somewhat menacing stride.

"Here I am, surrounded by everything I've sworn to protect all my life. Only now, I'm not held back by human weakness. Far from it, I am the goddess that I was always meant to be," she exclaimed, the plants all around her seeming to respond in glowing approval to her resounding voice.

Squirming slightly as he felt her pheromones begin entering his vicinity, Robin could only grit his teeth as her leering form approached.

"And this world will be ours. And no one, certainly not the Batman, will deny us our birthright. Speaking of…."

Coming to a graceful halt in front of him, Ivy whipped her fiery red locks back over her shoulder as she grinned down at the bound Boy Wonder.

"Where is your protector now, lover boy?" she purred, bringing one delicate hand up to lightly brush up against his slightly bloodied lip.

"Dealing with more important things at the moment. But don't worry. He'll get back with you and your weeds in just a f-argh!" He barely finished the sentence before Ivy suddenly wrapped her slender fingers around his neck and clamped down with surprising force.

Eyes bulging in surprise, Robin found himself choking on his own words as Ivy's grip tightened around his throat. Instinctively, his forearms burst into action against the floral restraints only for the vines to begin twisting against his elbows.

With his legs and arms still bound, he could only grunt uncomfortably as Ivy's surprisingly robust fingers continued to close in around his windpipe.

"Was bird boy trying to say something?" she taunted, leaning in even closer to him with her curvy hips now brushing up against his leg.

Despite his best efforts, his struggles only seemed to widen the siren's vindictive smirk, her toxic lips pursing in perverse satisfaction.

Now within kissing range, her leering form came within just inches of his quivering lip with the full brunt of her pheromones looming all around him.

"Do you know I could kill you in more than a dozen ways right now? Almost all of them are excruciatingly painful, in case you were wondering. But despite all you've done to annoy me, I could also make your death the most pleasurable experience of your life," she hissed, her seething voice a mix of seductive and sadistic.

Another wince escaped Robin's lips as he stared straight into her emerald eyes, remaining defiant even as her deadly lips hovered just a few centimeters from his own exposed skin.

"It would be so easy. Just one little kiss…." His fists clenched frantically as she gently rested her knee against his pelvis, one dainty hand still wrapped around his throat. "You'd be free, little birdy. Free from the Bat, here in my garden. Where no one would ever find your body again."

Even his domino mask couldn't mask the feeling Robin was feeling right now, for Ivy could almost taste it through the sweat beads quickly forming on his cheek.

"Do…..your…...worst," he barely managed to get out, prompting Poison Ivy to merely chuckle at the words struggling to escape his throat.

"Darling, you can't handle my worst," she purred in response.

Every part of his being yearned to tear away as he felt her fiery warmth press down on his torso, her bloodred smile taunting him with every tense second. With all of his senses almost on overdrive, he could feel her seductive presence everywhere on him, from her fiery locks cascading down his collar to her foot resting on his boot.

Involuntarily groaning as he now felt her entire weight press down on his torso, he fought himself not to give her the satisfaction, even with his breath growing hoarser by the moment.

Then, just as their lips started to touch, Ivy suddenly pulled away. Releasing her grip over his throat, she traced his R insignia for a moment as he subtly breathed in much-needed oxygen.

"Fortunately for you, Mother Nature is merciful, at least for now. I'm saving myself for that overgrown rodent. For what he did to my children, I'll take everything from him," she stated with a renewed sense of determination, sensually sliding off his bound form and rising up to her full height.

Cocking one confident hip to the side, she smirked at his angry grimace as he glowered up at her.

"Besides, I've got plans for you," she added with a lecherous smile, playfully ruffling his unkempt raven locks again with one hand.

Turning on her heel, she began to slowly strut back towards the counter.

"He'll...stop you," Robin called out, slightly hoarse but still resilient.

"You've said that twice now, dear," she chided back in a mocking scold.

"Because it's the truth and you know it. He's coming for you," Robin told her defiantly.

Stopping in mid-stride, Ivy turned around to face him with a somewhat quizzical look painted across her confident visage.

"But why would Batman waste his time fighting little old me, when he'll be too busy fighting you?" she said, before flicking her fingers in the air.

"Me?" Robin barely had time to ponder her enigmatic statement before the vines holding him to the chair suddenly retracted back into the ground.

Uncoiling within seconds, they were gone by the time Robin found himself collapsing to the ground.

Tasting the dirt, he immediately rubbed at the slightly torn punctures in his armor caused by the thorns before fully catching his breath.

"As much as I've enjoyed this little conversation, I'm afraid I too have more important things to do," she smiled, her back to him in yet another show of severely underestimating the Boy Wonder.

Only this time, he wasn't taking it lying down.

Bringing himself up to a knee, pure rage and pure retaliatory thoughts filled Robin's mind. He threw a quick cautious look around him before zeroing in on the back of her jacket.

At that moment, Robin didn't think; he simply acted.

Springing up to his feet, he took a running start before lunging at the seemingly oblivious plant queen.

Right where she wanted him.

Just as he was about to tackle her from behind, Ivy suddenly whirled around in a fiery blaze and flashed him a knowing grin before breathing out.

Before he could even think to pivot away, he ran directly into her pheromones.

Daintily gliding to the side as he staggered past her, she merely looked on with interest as he tripped on a gnarled root in the ground before flopping to the ground unceremoniously.

Tasting the dirt through one end of his mouth, Robin's instinctive reaction was to make for his utility belt in the hopes of procuring an antitoxin spray. That was, until he felt his bones immediately turn to jelly.

Collapsing as soon as he moved a single muscle, his movements suddenly became sluggish as he found himself somehow losing control over his own motor functions.

"What…...what's...happening?" Even his thoughts became unorganized and slow as a palpable cloud suddenly enveloped his mind.

Buckling at the knees and elbows with every desperate attempt to get up, he fought the sudden urge to heave as the leering Ivy slowly circling around him with her hands clasped behind her.

"You displayed some resistance to my usual suggestion, so I decided to try something new. Something that'll make you a bit more…. open-minded."

Gritting his teeth as her taunting sneer hovered above him, Robin fought with every fiber of his being against this unknown substance, but his body simply refused to obey.

"Don't resist, love...just relax…. let my little ones in…" Coating each word in an almost angelic yet sensual tone, he could barely even hear himself think with her voice now distorted into a pleasurable slur and reverberating throughout his mind.

"No….won't...give….in," he barely managed to gasp out, as collapsing fully to the ground with nearly all of his joints involuntarily locking up at the same time.

Smirking as she sneered down at the now completely disabled Boy Wonder, the redhead slowly crouched down in front of him with her new chemical formula taken full effect over him.

Gently caressing his cropped hair with her hand before lifting up his drooping chin, she fixed him an almost sympathetic look. "You are strong, Robin."

Despite his close proximity to certain death, the young man could only feign a faintly resilient grimace, his last line of mental defense completely overwhelmed by sensory stimulation.

Where once her eyes looked down on him, each one lit up by condescension and confidence, he could now only see emerald gems that immediately captivated his starry gaze. Her lips, moist with enough natural toxicity to inflict a literal kiss of death, now resembled a pair of crimson rose pedals that would surely taste as tender and warm as they looked.

And with every breath he took, his nostrils took in the sweet aroma of fresh pine and nectar that radiated off of her. As her dainty hand mockingly stroked against his cheek, he somehow found himself involuntarily craving her touch. Her scent. Her everything.

Regarding his now enraptured state with a satisfied smirk, Ivy cupped his chin to fully savor the moment.

"But Mother Nature is stronger."

And with that, she hungrily captured his lips in hers, their flesh colliding in a single, sensual motion.

His eyes briefly widened in shock before quickly settling into a dreamy stupor, his willpower virtually nonexistent as waves of unadulterated lust finally flooded through the gates of his disciplined psyche.

Purring happily as her lips remained locked on his, Ivy kept one hand behind his hood to hold his barely cognizant face in place.

Robin was immediately inundated with a whirlwind of emotions: passion, hunger, satisfaction. Of all those, none are more forceful than the pure lust being funneled through her tongue deftly pushing through his mouth.

Visibly slackening as her pheromones fully took hold, he could only moan inwardly as she sensually began sucking on his lower lip, the poison subtly transferring into his body and mixing with his saliva.

Humming softly as her tongue intimately explored his mouth, the plant queen simply closed her eyes as she tasted the last of his resilience finally dissipate.

No longer in control of his own body, Robin in this emotionally charged state found his arms involuntarily wrapping around her lithe waist, seeking to maintain this indescribable feeling of sexual bliss that came with her presence.

"More….please," he found himself, the words escaping his lips almost in spite of himself.

Poison Ivy couldn't help but laugh as the sound of his verbal submission caressed her ears, a sound as sweet as any fruit in her garden.

"Say my name, Robin," she commanded softly, tasting her victory in his mouth.

"Poison….Ivy," he finally said, eliciting a triumphant laugh from the plant queen as his words caressed her ears.

No longer tethered by his tenacity, Robin took her amusement for affirmation and leaned in for more.

Sensing his advancements, she immediately broke off the kiss after just a tantalizing moment longer.

The bewitched Boy Wonder moaned in protest as her heavenly lips curled into a coy smirk, yet he quickly regained his composure as he felt her eyes taking him in.

His entire body language, once defiant and stoic, was now relaxed and submissive. The most visible change would be found in his eyes, now glowing with the emerald glow of her enthralled.

"How do you feel now, lover?" she whispered seductively.

Robin could've said anything at that moment, yet only one word felt right, almost natural. "Free."

Grinning from corner to corner, she steadily rose up to her feet while the young detective remained in a now submissive position in front of her.

Stretching playfully as Robin continued to kneel at her feet, she allowed his eyes to consume her perfect physique before striking a much more dominant pose with both hands on her hips.

"Your old master no longer holds dominion over you. But you…." Cupping his chin firmly with one hand so he could stare directly into her commanding eyes. "You belong to me now, body and soul. Do you understand?"

"Yes… mistress," he said simply, speaking with no emotion in his reply.

"You catch on quickly. No wonder he keeps you around," she remarked, turning on her heel and sauntering away. "Follow me."

Not even taking a moment to contemplate her curt command, Robin promptly stood up and followed as she returned back to the makeshift workbench.

"You will complete some tasks for me here in Arkham City. Oh, and don't worry about the Bat. I've put something in motion that will keep him busy for quite a while. You just need to focus on getting those tasks done, or would you want to disappoint your new queen?" she purred over her shoulder to the entranced hero.

"I'd rather die," Robin growled adamantly, the inherently ironic nature of his statement greatly amusing the plant queen.

"Good boy!" she chirped happily, before her expression suddenly darkened.

"There's someone else in Gotham, someone like the Batman. She too has caused me great pain, only she had the gall to call herself a friend," Ivy spat bitterly, before looking up at him with pained eyes. "I made the mistake of showing her mercy here. In exchange she killed one of my children and lied to my face. I'd kill Selina myself, but my babies need their mother here. I can't abandon them again."

"She can't hide from me. I'll make her bleed for what she'd done," Robin promised her, the anguish and pain that had long tormented his queen now serving to motivate him.

"Of course you will, my hero," she cooed, affectionately stroking his determined face before presenting him with his utility belt. "But first, there's some unfinished business here in Arkham City. You're going to need this."

Fastening the belt around his waist, Robin stood to attention as Ivy leaned in even closer to the now converted caped crusader, draping her arms around his neck.

"We have work to do."