Batman was a trained whirlwind of violence the second the mutated mob entered range.

Ducking one double-handed grab with ease, he responded swiftly with a one-two flurry of punches to the ribs, followed by a jumping knee to the chin.

Capping off that combo, he twirled around on his heel and thrust his back leg into the abdominal flesh of a second mutated man.

Open-palm strike to the jaw of the one coming straight at him. Another side kick connecting booted sole against bare flesh.

There was an animalistic growl from his blindside.

He ducked the grab aimed at the back of his cowl, redirecting his sidestep into a strategic low kick coming down on the back of the knee.

A followup fist to the temple awaited the partially kneeling inmate.

He turned around quickly- but not quickly enough to stop one inmate from barreling right into him, taking the Dark Knight off his feet.

The earthly floor barely cushioned his fall, but that was the least pressing thing at the moment as the detective felt two hands the size of baseball mitts roughly grab at his face.

"Rip…you…apart!" he roared out, his eyes crazed with emerald obedience as those meaty fingers started to pull and tear at the cowl.

Batman retaliated swiftly with metal-lined forearm strikes to the jaw and face.

Again and again and again, but nothing seemed to have any effect.

Nothing except the blunt end of a metal pipe crashing down on the back of the inmate's head, momentarily stunning him.

"Get the hell off him!" Selina growled out, rearing back for a second swing…only to be forcibly halted in mid-air.

Another inmate seized that same pipe, and with a mere grunt of effort, tossed her off her feet and across the sidewalk, several yards away.

Bending that same pipe into a horseshoe, the inmate started towards the downed brunette, right as the one currently grabbing at Batman's cowl recovered and started to resume what he was doing.

Right as the detective wrapped his legs around the unnaturally larger man's neck, locking in a triangle choke.

"Oracle, talk to me," he grunted out, constricting the squeeze with battle-honed thighs pulsing and ankles crossing behind the neck.

The inmate grunted out as well but did not seem to be weakening.

If anything, it was the complete opposite as he grabbed a hold of Batman's artificial ears, lifting the armored, six-foot plus man up like he was a mere housepet.

"Hold on, you remember those upgrades you requested Lucius make to the Batmobile?"

Batman rained down elbow after elbow on the crown of the inmate's head. No effect.

Switching strategy, he twisted downwards with his hips and abdomen, utilizing his legs to throw the behemoth off his feet in a headscissors takedown!

"Be more specific," he followed up, clambering up as the man/monster flipped to the ground on his back.

Of course, he didn't stay down for long. Forcing Batman to think fast-

"Unnggh!" But not before being hit from the side by a battering ram disguised as a shoulder check from another inmate.

He recovered mid-tumble, finding his feet in little to no time as at least three of the enhanced began converging upon him.

"Electroshock defense, in the front and the sides. You wanted them installed for riot control, remember?"

There were few things that brought a smile, even fleeting, to the Dark Knight's face these days.

What Barbara Gordon just told him, was one of them.

"Unfortunately, we didn't have time to test them out in the field before-"

"Now's a good time. Get it ready. I'll set them up," he instructed her, backing away as the distance began to close between them.

At the same time, there was suddenly a loud crack coming from the right of him.

It was the exact sound of near superhuman fists cracking solid concrete, and not the skull of one Selina Kyle who instinctively threw herself right out of harm's way…for now.

Retreating with a persisting limp, the short-haired woman stayed on the sidewalk as the mutated man continued his menacing march.

"Kill…" he growled out, gaining on her.

"Yeah, you said that already," the brunette woman scoffed sardonically, right as the lumbering brute charged her once more.

Quickness became her game yet again as the slim brunette rolled out of a hurtling fist that smashed through the store window directly behind her.

Evading the spray of glass shards that followed, Selina frantically scanned the area around her for a viable weapon to wield.

Finding none, she called desperately out to Batman, "Please tell me you have a plan."

"The beginnings of one. Keep him distracted," the masked man said, right before ducking a wild haymaker powerful enough to decapitate a marble statue.

A second one was attempted to similar results, but then it was time for Batman to retaliate with a swipe of his cape against the face of his opponent.

It stunned him, long enough for the caped crusader to get in close and truly let loose.

Punch after punch after punch, all delivered consecutively and in rapid succession, slammed into the abdominal region of the muscled man.

With adrenaline already in overdrive, the Batman pummeled and pummeled…right until he felt five meaty fingers seizing him by the throat.

The brute currently being battered lifted the Dark Knight off the ground effortlessly with that one-handed grip, and then chokeslammed him down on the floor, hard.

"Destroy…Bat!" Straightening back up with a roar full of spittle and seething, he raised one foot and stomped it down on the chest cavity of the detective.

Instinctively, he rolled out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding becoming the centerpiece of his destructive footprint.

He would recover and rise, starting to take offensive action once more- except there was someone behind him.

The Batman quickly sensed movement, but he was not quite quick enough to stop a monstrous pair of arms from wrapping around his torso.

Nor was he strong enough, even at peak health, to break out when the mutated inmate from behind lifted him off the mat in a monstrous bearhug.

"Crush…!" With interlocked fingers, the inmate squeezed inwardly to do just that to his diaphragm.

No amount of body armor could soften the serious squeeze put on the detective.

Uncomfortable beyond meaning, it could almost compete Bane on a pure strength level.

And as bad as that was…

"Uggghhh…" Things were made even worse as one of the others landed a fierce uppercut on his lower abdomen, followed by another gut punch that came scarily close to rendering him too disoriented to process another thought.

"Bruce, are you-"

"Fine." Growling through gritted teeth, Batman forced himself to focus once more.

The hulking man reared back again. The Dark Knight brought his knees up to his chest.

He needed to time this next maneuver just right.

"Die…!" And that he did, shifting forward with his entire upper half at a downwards angle, missing the driving thrust of knuckles by mere inches.

Making the actual receiver of said punch the thug holding him in place, his face taking what could potentially be a fatal blow for the normal man.

With the ivy venom in his system, though, there was nothing normal about the inmate who staggered backwards in a stupor, dropping the Dark Knight at his feet.

"Alright, it's ready. How are you doing now?" Oracle's voice filtered through his cowl.

"On my signal," he grunted out, all too aware of the augmented assailants all around him.

Rolling with spirited purpose as they all grabbed at his grounded form, he returned to a guarded stance at a somewhat safe distance away from them.

It didn't remain safe for very long, as they were all advancing at him at him at a murderous pace.

He backed away with wary eyes looking for and ultimately finding the Batmobile…several meters behind the muscle-bound monstrosities currently stalking him.

Then, he felt sharp leather and fatigue pressing into his back.

He didn't even have to look over his shoulder.

"For the record, I blame you for this," Selina told him bitterly, eyeing down the hulking man that was still on her tail, even after pursuing her through most of Wonder City.

"How's the leg?" he replied as they stood back-to-back, his eyes swiftly reassessing the situation around them.

"Oh you know, still attached. At least until one of these freaks rips it off and beats us both to death with it," Selina sarcastically told him.

"Can you still run?" was his next question.

"Your concern is so touch-"

"If I boost you, can you get to my car?" he interrupted her, reassessment officially complete.

The cat burglar started to say something, but then she craned her neck back, putting a new set of words in her mouth. "And then what?"

"Get inside, don't touch anything," he gave her further instructions. "I'll take care of the rest."

They were dangerously close to being swarmed again.

She gave a sigh, and finally, her response. "When?"

He turned to face her. "Now!"

Turning as well, Selina took a running start right unto his lowered hands, clasped together.

As soon as she lifted her booted foot onto his clasped palms, she was boosted up high into the air.

High above the heads of all the snarling brutes, with the slim woman able to maneuver her body into a somersault prior to sticking the landing.

A landing that saw her hit the floor on her shoulders before rolling back up into a run sustaining all that momentum.

Five of the brutes previously trained on the Bat now whirled around to give chase to the Cat.

Leaving just the one that once hounded Selina, refocusing his attention on the caped and cowled vigilante before him.

"Move it or lose it, girl," the brunette muttered to herself, limping as fast as those two legs could carry her.

Hot on her tail, the inmates subject to Ivy's perverse experiments were getting closer and closer by the second.

"Kill…"

"Tear…"

"Rip…"

She nearly tripped over a slithering root growing out of the cement, right as the malevolent voices converged all around her.

Nearly hitting the ground, Kyle found her footing at the critical moment, and pounced…

… right on the polished hood of the Batmobile!

The cockpit slid open as if on cue, and the cat thief needed no further invitation.

Scrambling inside, she felt the warm cushion of the single seat on her catsuit just as several monstrous hands descended on the rapidly closing windshield.

Kyle was safe. Secure.

And that didn't stop them from all attempting to climb on the vehicle from the front and sides, fists banging and mouths snarling all over the cockpit.

Batman saw all this mid-duck, evading the clubbing blow of the lone brute with relative ease before speaking swiftly into his earpiece, "Oracle, now."

Not a word more was said, as the woman at the computer hundreds of miles away only had to press a button…

… and unleash lightning arcing throughout the exterior of the Batmobile, striking each one of the five thugs assaulting it!

Newly installed conductor rods transmitted voltage at an incapacitating point-blank range through their mutated bodies, stunning and shocking them in place.

They all screamed and shook. Convulsed and finally slumped down in the immediate aftermath of the concentrated countermeasures.

Within seconds, they were all unconscious.

"Did it work?"

Batman ducked another snarling lunge by the monstrous brute, rolling to his feet to get a better look.

And by the looks of it…

"They're down," he confirmed, seeing them all sprawled out on the mossy floor with residual twitches from the defensive discharging.

He then turned around to see- "Ugghh!"

There was no seeing, just feeling as the thug managed to rip a street pole out of the ground and swing it like a baseball bat right into his midsection!

He landed on his neck and shoulders, painfully rotating over on his belly.

Body armor had mostly absorbed the blow, protecting him.

For now.

"Bruce!"

"I'm okay," he grunted out, despite physically feeling the exact opposite of that.

Rising to a knee, he steeled his glare defiantly as the remaining thug tossed the vine-covered pole aside and began to charge at him.

He started to get back-

"Aarrgghh!" The pain brought him back down to a knee.

He couldn't get back up in time.

"Kill…!" The mutated thug raised both hands up over his head.

Ready to clobber him. Ready to-

Thud!

And then about two tons of turbo-charged horsepower rammed into him from the side.

The sudden speed and velocity took the mutated man off his feet, caught between the armored hood and the moss-covered brick wall of a decomposing building.

Subtle tremors went up from the foundation to the rooftop as the pinned assailant yelled out angrily against the Batmobile.

He raised one fist to pound down on the vehicle, and then a sudden discharge of electroshock discouraged any further resistance.

Lit up in a hue of blue, he ultimately slumped facedown on the hood, thoroughly incapacitated.

That's when the cockpit opened, revealing Selina Kyle at the controls.

"I told you not to touch anything," he stated, gingerly and groaningly pulling himself up.

"You're welcome," came her naturally snarky response, climbing out.

Batman stood on his feet for a few seconds before suddenly having to lean against another street pole for support.

"Hell of a ride, handsome. Reminds me of this gorgeous Rolls Royce I stole once," she remarked candidly before sliding down off the hood and to the ground.

Facing the unmistakable ire in his glare, she tried to defend herself, "The guy has his name on like the tallest building in the city, okay? With an ego like that, I bet he probably goes through cars like he goes through women. I doubt he even noticed."

Pushing off the pole, he staggered past her instead of entertaining a response.

The more pressing matter on his mind was the now unconscious monster of a man securely pinned against the wall with ivy venom still coursing through his grotesque physique.

Now that he was no longer in imminent danger of being bludgeoned to death, there were plenty of new details that revealed themselves to him.

"Before we were so rudely interrupted, I believe I was convincing you to let me help stop that crazy bitch once and for all," she called out.

He studied the inmate turned lab experiment for a moment longer before turning back to her…and the three razor-sharp shurikens currently hurtling towards the back of her head.

"Get down!" Cajoled into action with instincts sharper than a katana sword, he grabbed her around the neck and pulled her towards him.

Towards and ultimately under him as the projectiles, thrown by above, just barely missed them both by inches, if that.

Registering the clink of the thrown metal objects on the ground nearby, Batman stood back up with eyes poised and body once more ready for the fight.

The gliding wings of the Boy Wonder folded into a cape as Robin landed with menacing gusto on the street before them.

Emerald green still lit up his domino mask.

"Ivy said to finish what was left," he stated simply, producing his bo staff and extending it to full length. "Looks like I've still got work to do."

"Looks like," the Batman answered, stoic even with his stance slightly wounded.

He turned to Selina, giving her a look that required no response.

Reluctantly, she backed away, and he stepped forward off the pavement.

The hooded acolyte of Poison Ivy twirled his staff around with practiced ease, watching the black-clad vigilante meet him in the middle of the street.

Teacher and student.

Master and apprentice once again.

"You're weak," Robin noted with scornful disappointment.

"Then it's a fair fight," the detective acknowledged, standing his ground nonetheless.

"I'll take your head either way, Batman." One last twirl of the wrist, and then…

… it was on.

Flicking open his side pouch, Robin suddenly threw down a smoke pellet between them, fogging the visual field in thickening white.

Batman didn't move a muscle.

Even as his protégé disappeared from plain view, evading the familiar shape of even a basic silhouette as the smoke radius swept over Gotham's first protector.

He didn't even bother activating his Detective Vision.

Not for this.

Eyes stared ahead, but ears listened for every sound in this literal urban jungle.

For every vine crawling, every rumbling of the earth beneath concrete, and every footstep light as a feather-

"Hah!"

Batman blocked the incoming slash of metal with a single raised forearm.

Inches away from his temple, the downwards momentum was halted swiftly and successfully as the smoke cleared.

Showing the hooded vigilante on the other end of the strike.

"Try again," Batman told him, as calm as Robin was fuming.

Sliding the staff free, the Boy Wonder tried again for a thrusting joust aimed at the midsection, a splitsecond too late for it to make any meaningful contact with the Dark Knight.

The caped crusader sidestepped it and dodged the followup slash. And the one after that.

Robin tried once more- no success.

Lunging into a thrusting jab, he went again for center mass, but instead impaled empty air while Batman once more dodged to the side.

Spinning in place, he delivered a leg sweep that dropped the Boy Wonder to the ground with the learned grace of a thousand battles past won.

Instinctively rolling away from the master martial artist, Robin sprang up to his feet with frustration apparent all over his face.

That frustration seeped all the way down as his hands frantically searched for the next weapon of choice.

Grapple gun.

He fired without hesitation, shooting the tri-pronged hook through the air and towards the Dark Knight's torso.

But instead of the metal claw closing in on its capture, it was Batman's trained hand that snatched the metal right out of the air.

Robin's eyes widened.

"Too slow," he again reprimanded the Boy Wonder, grabbing the cable with the other hand and, with a Herculean effort, yanked the young man towards him manually.

No longer on his own terms, Robin was propelled towards his intended target.

Through the air…and finally back down to the ground as the Dark Knight swiftly clotheslined him, smashing forearm to face without a second's haste.

Naturally, his protégé was not done for long.

Twisting with the hips, he tried for a raised kick leveled at the Bat's waist- one parried by Batman's shin coming up at the critical junction to block it.

Putting himself back on equal footing in the process, Robin gave a skilled twirl of his staff before lunging back into point-blank range.

Then came the volley.

A volley of consecutive, non-stop slashes and swings, all chained together in perfectly succinct succession.

He struck. Batman blocked.

Gauntlet against staff. Metal against metal.

Robin pressed with the offense, but his offense did not connect, not even once.

It was deflected and deterred, blocked with every loud, metallic clang between them.

Clang. Clang. Clang. Clang.

Catch.

The Dark Knight caught the blunted steel between his fingers before it could swing into the side of his neck.

A debilitating move for someone even with body armor…attempted against the very individual who taught the Boy Wonder the move in the first place.

Robin's eyes bulged open.

Batman's remained stoic and steadfast. "Enough."

Reasserted control with all ten digits gripping the staff, he yanked the weapon towards him, bringing the hooded vigilante closer and closer-

"Uggh!" To the detective's cowled forehead striking him square between the eyes.

Robin staggered back, stunned for a moment- but not for any longer.

Growling out of the stupor, however, he whirled his staff back around to retaliate…but Batman wasn't there.

He wasn't in front of him, nor was he to the right or left.

"Where are you?" he demanded, his voice carrying in every direction.

No response.

The Boy Wonder, gritted teeth and all, turned back around-

"Nngghh…" And then he was promptly struck again, this time by Batman's fist crashing into his face.

One strong cross and Robin was down.

Knees buckled, muscles slackened, and face ultimately smacked the dirt floor as his protégé collapsed on the ground before him.

The Dark Knight towering triumphantly, released his breath at last.

It was over.


"Can I hit him now?"

"No."

"He broke into my apartment, dear. Broke half of my shit."

"Which you stole from their legal owners."

"God, you are such a cop sometimes," Selina Kyle groaned as the Batman manually reactivated his comlink with Oracle and restarted their last conversation.

"What…what happened?" The Boy Wonder groggily came back into his own body as the detective continued reporting to his other partner.

The ground rumbled again.

"Father and son bonding time, apparently," the cat burglar told him sardonically, her arms crossed as she looked down at the recovering vigilante propped up against the side of the Batmobile.

"I…I remember…" Robin's eyes opened more fully, his pupils back to their usual color, and his tone, utterly remorseful. "It's all coming back now."

"Hmmm. You remember what you did to me, right?" Selina's eyes flashed down on him.

The young man kneaded his temple, and with a sobering, heavy sigh, nodded his head. "Yeah. I remember all of it. And I'm sorry, Selina."

"Well my probably broken leg definitely accepts your apology." The brunette's sarcasm endured.

"Robin." Batman marched back over to where they were. "Can you stand?"

"Yeah…yeah I can." Leaning against the sleek exterior, he ultimately pulled himself off the ground and to his feet.

Right in position for Selina Kyle to slap him right across the cheek.

A blow that he almost knew was coming.

But one that he was resigned to receiving, nonetheless.

"Was that necessary?" the caped crusader turned to her.

She only scoffed at him, "You really want me to answer that question?"

"No, no I deserved it," Robin asserted himself, his tone weary and laden with guilt. "Probably a hell of a lot more for what I've done."

"What she made you do," the detective corrected him.

"Don't know how well mind control's gonna hold up in court," Robin admitted. "I did a lot of wrong tonight, Batman. I hurt people. Too many people."

"It wasn't your fault," the Dark Knight stressed. "I underestimated her, too."

"Yeah, but I was her sword and shield. None of this would've even happened if I didn't…if I just waited for you before going into that damn hotel."

"What's she planning?" his mentor cut to the chase.

"A flood of fear," the Boy Wonder told him gravely. "Some of the main water lines that feed into the harbor still exist here in Wonder City. She's gonna hijack those pipelines, pump them full of this new strain of toxin she's been working on-"

"Crane's toxin." The detective narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah." The Boy Wonder nodded in grim affirmation. "Right now, we're at ground zero. It's contained in Arkham City. But as soon she figures out how to get this stuff across the river, she can drown the whole population. Hell, she always said the best way to start a new world was to wash away the sins of the old one."

"I see Pam had time to catch up on her Old Testament readings while in the loonyhouse," Selina remarked, her sarcasm about the only thing keeping her together at this point.

The young man continued. "If she gets this Fear Gas into the main supply, that's endgame. Civilians will be clawing each other's eyes out on the streets before dawn breaks while the real toxin kills them from inside."

"Hospitals would be overrun in hours. GCPD would lose control. We would lose control," Batman surmised, succinctly and straight to the point.

Robin could only nod, the guilt of his chemically induced complicity in all of it still weighing heavy on him.

Selina looked at them both, and finally spoke her mind, "So are we just gonna keep talking or are we gonna do something about that psycho?"

"I am." Batman turned away, pressing a dial on his gauntlet to open the cockpit of his Batmobile.

The Boy Wonder pushed off the vehicle. "I can help."

"No." The detective reached inside, producing a small rebreather device. "I'm pulling you out."

"Batman, with all respect-"

"That's an order, Robin." The Dark Knight turned back to him, a steely firmness in his cowled glare.

His protégé started to say something but grabbed at his stomach instead.

The detective then reached for something else as the ground again shook beneath them.

"Selina-"

"In case you forgot, big guy, I don't take orders from you," she reminded him.

He turned back to her…right as Robin suddenly collapsed to the ground between them.

The Boy Wonder was going into shock.

"What the-?" Kyle took a startled step back, but Batman was already kneeling next to him.

Rolling him over on his back, he cradled the back of the young man's head with one gloved hand, using the other to press under his chin for his pulse as crimson red started to trickle out from his grunting lips.

"Her failsafe," the Dark Knight informed the surprised Selina, observing all the familiar signs of her slow-acting toxin coming to fruition all at once.

Paralyzed body from the neck down.

Visible lines of poisoned blood veins spreading underneath his facial features.

More blood bubbling out of his mouth.

"Shit." Kneeling beside them, Selina wore her worry visibly. "He needs a hospital."

"He'll never make it," Batman told her, stoic regret painted across his face.

That's when he brandished his left gauntlet, pressing a release button across the metallic accessory to reveal the capped tip of something.

"We can at least try." Selina insisted, her voice panic-stricken as Robin continued to cough up his own blood. "He needs something."

"Oracle, Robin's poisoned," Batman reported, sliding out the vial from within his gauntlet.

The vial of Lazarus.

"Yes, I'm reading his vitals now. They're not looking good, Bruce." There was panic in her voice as well.

There was no flicker of debate in Batman's eyes.

He popped the lid.

No other option.

Robin was gasping, unable to form a breath.

"Jesus, he's-"

"Hold his mouth," Batman commanded her.

The brunette woman would comply as the masked man held the slim container up to his protege's lips, and ultimately poured it down his throat.

Every last drop.

Selina looked on in confusion as the green liquid emptied down his throat…

… and almost immediately restored Robin to a healthier state.

The lines underneath his skin would disappear, the blood no longer trickling down his lip.

"Oracle, give me status."

There was a pause. An expected one.

"He's…he's stabilizing."

Batman stood up, putting the vial back inside his gauntlet.

"What the hell did you just put in him?!" Selina demanded.

"A different kind of poison," Batman told her candidly, and cynically as well.

Robin started to breathe again normally, the paralyzing toxin now replaced by Lazarus momentarily flowing through his bloodstream.

"Thank God, his vitals are going back down to normal." Relief was palpable in the voice of Barbara Gordon.

"Stay with him." Batman addressed Selina directly while pressing more commands into his gauntlet. "When he can walk, put him in the back of the Batmobile. Then get inside. The autopilot will take you both outside of Arkham City. I'll take care of everything here."

Kyle looked down at the recovering Robin, and then back at the caped crusader with defiant eyes. "I don't do what you tell me to, remember?"

"I'm not telling you, Selina." Batman reached into the cockpit once more and produced a spare utility belt.

For a second, a fleeting second, his mask was down. "I'm asking you to."

Then he clicked the belt around his waist, and the Dark Knight was off.

Walking deeper inside another level of hell underground.