It all happened in the blink of an eye.

The moss-draped wall crumbling before them, the nearby vines recoiling back in collective fear, and the unmistakable roar of a high-powered V8 engine revving up.

As the smoke dissipated, Poison Ivy's once smug stare was drawn to the metallic beast entering her underground kingdom.

VROOOOM! VROOOOM!

Those same eyes became filled with visible fear as the slim headlights entered through the great, gaping hole in the remnants of Wonder City.

Boasting a steel-plated cockpit in the middle, rounded fenders, and a back trunk, as well as nitrogen-filled and steel-banded tires, the Batmobile had its sights set straight on the now petrified plant queen.

"I hope you don't mind Ivy…" The visibly startled woman turned to the still restrained Batman, who told her with a confidence as steely as his vehicle's armored plating, "I brought a friend of my own."

As if on cue, a panel on the side of the Batmobile suddenly parted, revealing a circular cannon that immediately emitted, SKREEEEE!

It was a piercing, near unbearable electronic screech sending the surrounding mutated flora into a writhing, wailing fit.

Ivy and Robin were affected to a lesser degree, with the latter forced to relinquish his grip over Selina Kyle and clamp his ears together with both hands while the red-haired vixen cowered away in visible agony.

Immune to the disorienting noise thanks to his insulated cowl, Batman took advantage of the disorienting, pulsating sound to renew his efforts to free himself.

Unsurprisingly, there was much more give in the floral restraints this time, providing just enough wriggle room for him to leverage his gauntlet claws against them and slice his way free.

Down on her knees from the artificial shriek, Ivy was too preoccupied with the sympathetic plight of the wailing plants around her to even notice what was happening in front of her.

SKREEEEEE!

But what she did notice, however, was the source of the sonic assault on her children.

Concentrating through the disorienting waves pounding away at her ears, she gestured towards it wildly with a frantic gesture, prompting a large vine coming out of the ground to wrap itself around the device and almost effortlessly tear the armament from the vehicle.

The dreaded sound was now gone, but, as she returned her sights to the masked man, so was the Batman.

In his place now laid the sliced and severed remnants of the vines that had previously bound him.

The detective had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

"No…" Her fingers curled into fists against the dirt floor.

Rising back up with a lingering ringing in both ears, the playfulness and sultry assuredness in her emerald eyes were now gone, replaced by a fiery indignation.

"Where do you think you're going, little Bat? There's nowhere in this place that we can't find you," she hissed out, her voice no longer as calm and in-control as it once was.

Robin had taken his place by her side as she continued to growl, "No need to hide, meat-sack. My babies will find you, and when they do-"

"I'm right here."

Whirling around, Poison Ivy was dealt yet another surprise as Batman used his left gauntlet claws to slice through Selina's restraints, freeing her as well.

"Took you long enough," the bruised brunette told him, a hint of gratitude in her voice nonetheless as the Dark Knight helped her back up to her feet.

"No more games. I told you before, Ivy. This ends now." There was nothing but cold resolve in his voice as he stared down the venomous vixen.

Her lips curled into a disdainful sneer, her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits, and yet, despite it all, a small grin somehow found its way across her beautiful features.

For she still had something of his. Or rather, someone.

"Robin, protect your mistress," she spoke simply, backing away from the Dark Knight's unflinching expression as his own partner sprang into action on her behalf.

Brandishing his bo staff expertly, the Boy Wonder closed the gap between them, marching with stoic urgency.

"You gotta be…" Selina grumbled to herself, still dealing with her own hurt.

No time to talk down his protégé, Batman was forced into action as his pheromone-addled apprentice was finally upon him.

"Hah!" With a cry, the young man aimed a trifecta of perfectly timed swings and slashes with his staff, all of which either connected with the air or the caped crusader's steel-armored forearms.

Finally, sensing an opening, Batman ducked underneath the metallic arc of his staff and reemerged behind the hooded vigilante.

Grabbing the metallic staff with both hands from the rear flank, the detective forced it against Robin's throat and growled into one ear, "Robin, stand down. Now."

Without warning, his enthralled partner produced a shuriken with one hand and slashed backwards, prompting the masked man to jerk out of range and assume a defensive stance once again.

"I'm afraid your Boy Wonder is all grown up now, Batman. He answers to a higher calling now," Ivy taunted him, watching with relishing glee in her eyes as the vigilante charged his mentor once again. "A new master."

His staff in perfect synchrony with the rest of his body, he attacked the detective on all possible fronts.

Moving just as quickly in response to every calculated strike, Batman either dodged or blocked his protege's offense, exercising noticeable restraint by only lashing out with light punches that the young man easily parried with his central weapon.

Ducking underneath a sudden spinning heel kick that just barely missed the back of his neck, the Dark Knight raised both forearms in an X-formation to trap his bo staff between his gauntlet blades upon the next attack.

Then, he pulled the Boy Wonder into a tighter grip with both hands grabbing hold of his throat to yank them near chest-to-chest.

"You're in control, not her," he reminded the young man, who just a second later braced one leg against the Dark Knight's torso and kicked free of him.

Snarling, he quickly reached into his belt and threw a trio of shurikens at the detective's face with deadly precision.

Moving on even quicker instincts, the detective waved his cape in front of him, the sharpened projectiles bouncing harmlessly off the thick material instead of cutting into his cowl.

Recognizing the series of lighter footsteps approaching from behind, Robin briefly switched his attention to Selina Kyle, who thanks to her slight limp, easily telegraphed her initial assault.

Keeping the detective at bay with a sudden thrust of his staff towards his upper half, he deflected her rising boot with the other end of his staff.

Taking the offensive now, he thrusted upwards at her face, just barely missing the brunette's face while Batman jerked back to evade a back-thrusted jab aimed at his own head.

Drilling his staff into the ground, Robin launched off it into a flying high kick that Selina ducked but barely.

Swinging back around, he jabbed and slashed but Batman parried and parried some more.

Then Selina was back in range, forcing him to duck a lunging pounce that was only half-hearted due to her numerous injuries.

Feeling her go right over his back, Robin was upright in no time while the cat burglar needed a moment.

A moment he took to initiate his own lunge forward into a sideways swing right into her fa-

"Hah!" Batman kicked the staff off its trajectory, forcing Robin to retreat.

Selina was helped to her feet before she could naturally protest, Batman's attention fully on the task at hand.

"They tried to hurt me, Robin. Hurt them more." Ivy's alluring voice cajoled him back into battle.

With a cry, he leapt back into the thick of it.

They both split up as he delivered offensive hits in both directions.

Forcing the Bat and the Cat to work in tandem, aiming their own counterattacks on both fronts.

Sidestepping a front kick from Selina, Robin responded swiftly by sweeping her free leg in a sudden low kick before raising his bo staff for the followup strike.

A followup that never came, as Batman gripped the other end of his bo staff with both hands before slamming his booted heel down on Robin's back leg.

Wincing as he was forced into a kneel, he let out an even louder grunt as Selina Kyle's foot slammed into his chestplate, courtesy of a frantic one-legged mule kick that allowed Batman to begin wrestling him down with a wristlock.

Clambering up to her feet, she eyed his now lowered head with intent, and without a moment's hesitation, brought her front leg up high above the air…

… before dropping the proverbial ax right through absolutely nothing.

Shifting backwards to avoid impact by mere inches, the bewitched Boy Wonder immediately activated his Bullet Shield with his free arm and slammed it into the cat burglar's unprotected midsection, sending her flying backwards in a flailing heap before whirling back around to face his now lone opponent.

Breaking free of the detective's grip over him before retracting the shield, he pressed his advantage by slashing upwards in a powerful two-handed arc, forcing the detective back a few steps.

Once more brandishing the ranged weapon, Robin reasserted a defensive stance with the Dark Knight assuming one of his own.

Their eyes locked in a silent stalemate, one held for what seemed like an hour in their own tactical headspace.

Master and student. Mentor and protégé.

Then, while gripping his staff tight the Boy Wonder heard the groaning voice of Selina Kyle as the woman picked herself off the earthly floor.

Batman's glare never wavered at all, his fists clenched while his breathing remained perfectly measured, perfectly under control.

Rubbing her shoulder sorely, the cat burglar shook off her grimace as Robin remained in the middle, both ends of his staff pointed at both her and the caped crusader.

And when that discomfort faded, her determination returned.

She took one step forward.

The Boy Wonder remained poised, prepared.

Ready to-

"Stop!"

Robin paused mid-move, as did his caped and cowled mentor.

Poison Ivy's voice was a commanding ceasefire all at once, the authoritative tone seemingly amplified in the fauna-infused atmosphere.

Still keeping a guarded stance, Robin nonetheless lowered his staff as the melodic voice of the plant queen entered all their ears once more.

"To me now, my darling." Her toxic lips were pursued with expectation.

Giving his mentor one last tense glare, the hooded young man slowly retreated towards the toxic temptress while Batman watched without comment.

The scantily clad woman, though wearing her dissatisfaction clearly on her face, seemed to adopt a fresh layer of smugness as the young man returned to her side.

"So obedient, isn't he?" she drawled out in a haughty, husky sneer as Selina drifted closer to the Bat.

"He can't protect you, Ivy. Nothing in this place can," the masked man growled out. "Not from me."

"Nothing?" she scoffed at him. "Darling, I possess more power in the dirt than your silly little machine could ever hope to generate. No, Batman, not even your ape-like intelligence can even begin to fathom what I've created-"

"Blah blah blah. Listen Pam, now that we no longer have to pretend to be BFFs, I really need to get this off my chest," Selina interrupted, one hand on her hip.

Ivy's nostrils flared up with indignation, though her response was cold and contemptuous. "Then speak, meat-sack. Speak your little heart out before my children rip it out of your chest."

Selina indeed did. "About that, see, you talk way, way too much. Harley was batshit insane, but at least she was the fun kind of crazy, y'know. But with you, it's always in one ear and out the other with all this 'I will conquer the world with my mutated Brussel sprouts' nonsense. God, do you ever get tired of saying the same, damn thing all over again?"

Poison Ivy responded in kind, "I am the voice of generations that have suffered under the cruelty of man. For centuries, they begged for their lives while you all so callously and cruelly extinguished their light. But now, a new harvest is at hand. And you shall all reap what you have done, starting with the meat in Gotham…"

"See what I mean?" Selina remarked to the grim-faced detective, already tuning out Ivy's impassioned monologue.

"...and after I dispose of the armored monkey that this city deems its guardian, I think I will wear your skin like a new coat, Selina. Right after my babies drink the blood dry from your veins like rain dew to a forest leaf," the ecoterrorist finally finished with sneering derision.

"Well, as far as death threats that I've gotten tonight…" The cat burglar mockingly shrugged her shoulders. "Not bad."

"Are we done?" Batman's gruff voice cut in.

Standing side-by-side with the detective, the cat burglar resumed where she left off, "Yeah, so enough foreplay. We're about to have ourselves a little no-holds-barred tag team match right here in this godforsaken place. The big guy can take stick boy, and yours truly, well…." Her tone shifted to something dangerous, "I'm gonna make you wish Holly's name never came out of your mouth."

Poison Ivy's expression at the end of Selina Kyle's statement did not change at all.

Still smug. And self-assured.

The earth beneath them all vibrated with dangerous intent, a not-so-subtle rumbling that became more and more noticeable as the seconds wore on.

And not just by those physically affected by it.

"Bruce, the seismic activity underneath you right now is insane. I don't know what Ivy's doing there, but what I'm reading off the computer does not look good," Oracle piped in.

The Dark Knight, not showing any outwards sign of change in his expression, started to factor that into his next plan of action.

"I wonder how sweet her lips will taste when this is all over."

Though Ivy's sudden statement had little effect on him, the exact opposite could be said for the feline fatale.

Selina's demeanor shifted. "What did you just say?"

Ivy's smile grew even larger, radiating a pure malevolence that practically glowed as it lit up her floral-pigmented face, "Before her organs are blackened husks and her flesh and bone rot away in the garden that I will make of Gotham City, I wonder if I will be able to taste the fear on her lips as Mother Nature's reckoning is personally bestowed upon her. What do you think?"

Selina Kyle took a step forward. "Don't go there, Red."

But she did, with a much harsher edge. "Or will she accept her fate like my darling child did when you murdered her in that vault?"

Robin instinctively stepped in front of Ivy as the brunette woman advanced upon them.

She just kept smiling and talking. "Fortunately, we won't have to wonder about these things for much longer, Selina. No one will escape Mother Nature's judgment. When this night is over and the morning rises, it will indeed be a new day for what remains of Gotham."

The Dark Knight noticed Robin reaching in his belt for something.

Something that he taught him.

He immediately reached out for the visibly enraged brunette.

"You're not making it to morning, you delusional cunt," Kyle growled at her, nearly upon them both.

Just as Batman was nearly upon her, and then-

White light.

Blinding white light, the kind packed in a grenade just small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand.

To the naked eye it would lead to immense disorientation for an extended period, and of course Batman would know that firsthand.

Grabbing the cat burglar by the shoulder, he yanked her against the extended veil of his cape at the exact moment Robin threw down the flashbang.

Shielding both her and him from the immediate fallout that shrouded both their antagonistic opposites in piercing illumination.

From then on, there was silence but for the stirring of the botanic beasts that festered both above ground and below.

Silence and…

"Get off me!" Shrugging off his protective arm once the initial rays of white light had diminished completely, Selina Kyle looked for the smug grin on her former teammate's face…but she wasn't there.

And neither was Robin.

"What the hell!" Yelling out her frustration, the Cat stomped over the exact spot where the two were only seconds before, the space now completely vacant.

"Oracle, I lost them," Batman reported into his ear, steeling his emotions as per usual while Selina expressed hers in exceedingly profane ways. "Robin used a flashbang."

"You're serious? Damn it."

"But I think I know her plan now." The Dark Knight continued his communication with her, putting the pieces together from everything that's happened, everything that was said.

"Well don't leave me and Alfred here in anticipation."

"Fear," he spoke simply, narrowing his eyes. "This new strand of toxin won't be like last time. It'll be enhanced with fear gas."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Selina growled at him, looking over her shoulder with her outbursts seeming to subside, for now at least.

"When Ivy was talking to you about Holly, she mentioned 'fear'. It was a deliberate phrasing. Fear gas is what she's been after all along," he told her, simultaneously informing Oracle at the same time. "Robin's been running errands for her, probably scourging all over Arkham City to find the contingency supply that Crane, or at least the loyal acolytes of the Scarecrow, had buried here."

"Isn't that Freddy Krueger wannabe still being digested in Killer Croc's belly?" Selina scoffed at him dismissively.

"Allegedly." The Batman turned away from her now, refocusing on his remote eyes and ears, "Oracle-"

"Already ahead of you. I just sent you the basic formula for Crane's gas," the former Batgirl told him, right as the built-in holographic computer on his gauntlet projected it before his eyes.

"You can track the chemical trail to any canisters in the vicinity. And where you find them, you'll be sure to see her…and Tim, again."

"Thank you. And tell Nightwing…" He paused, measuring his next words very carefully before ultimately saying, "Tell him to keep doing what he's doing in Gotham. I'm handling this."

"Like hell you are."

Stopping, he turned to see the cat burglar picking up a sizable piece of metal pipe off the ground, dislodged from one of the vine-corrupted buildings.

"Bitch made it personal," she told him fiercely, hefting the improvised melee weapon over one shoulder. "So I'll be sure to make it extra personal when I smash her pretty little head in."

"There are bigger things at play here than your vendetta, Selina," he told her with grim firmness. "The city-"

"The city can go to hell," she brushed him off. "You can go to hell too if you think I'm just gonna forget what she did to me. What she threatened to do to Holly."

"Dying here won't help Holly out there."

"You don't know anything about me, Batman." She stepped to the Dark Knight now, her tone absent its usual playful candor. "I'm not going to let this go."

Inside one of the cocoons, emerald eyes suddenly opened.

The steel hardened in his voice. "I'm not giving you a choice. I said I'm handling this."

"Do you even know where she is right now?" the dark-haired woman pointed out. "Or even where your bird boy is?"

"I can find them. In your current state, you can't. So right now, I need you to do what I say."

"Yeah, and right now I need you to go screw yourself," Selina fired back at him, making it very clear what her position was.

The two stared at each other for a moment in a tense stalemate.

Kyle turned away from him first, shaking her head while massaging the lingering soreness in her shoulders and neck.

The lingering limp in her stance only confirmed his initial assessment of the woman, that she was nowhere near ready enough to hold her own in another skirmish with the unhinged eco-terrorist.

He was again about to voice that sentiment aloud when Oracle's voice came in over the comm feed: "What about the ivy venom? How does that factor into her plans?"

"It's an obvious enhancer for her new breed of plants. An upgrade from the Titan-infused wave we saw in Arkham Asylum." He looked at some of those cocoons with renewed interest. "An artificial-organic hybrid."

Finally, the epiphany hit him. "She's making her own army of super-soldiers."

"Oh, you got to be-"

The shell broke.

A soft pounding from the inside was muted to the outside world, the cracks formed gone unnoticed until they could be no longer.

It was a man that burst free from the containment, or at least, something closely resembling one.

There were tattered remains of an Arkham City jumpsuit on him. The fabric stretched and torn beyond its natural limit.

"Bruce…Bruce, you still there?"

The Dark Knight took a step back as the inmate stood at full height.

Muscles bulged and popped with the grotesque, unnatural intensity of Bane's usual supply of venom. Except it was nothing like he had seen before.

Instead of metallic tubes feeding into the body at various points, glowing green vines latched onto his body from behind. Almost like umbilical cords tethering him to his incubator shell, still nurturing him with the ivy venom.

The man/monster cracked his neck with a horrifying crunch, solid green eyes staring down Batman with the beginnings of something.

First sleepy realization. Then anger. Malevolent, murderous anger.

"Kill…for…Mother," he growled out, the words dragged out of his mouth in a manner just as unnatural as the rest of his physical form.

Batman took another step back, running through strategies in his head with hastening quickness.

Right as the man reached behind him and ripped out the vine that fed right into the base of his neck.

Batman's eyes narrowed. "Selina, stay behind me."

"I'm a big girl, dear," Kyle scoffed at him, crossing his arms. "I think I can handle one of Ivy's little lab ra-"

Then another cocoon burst open, releasing a second ivy venom-infused monstrosity into the open.

He looked at them, and instantly, there was primal fury in his eyes as he repeated his predecessor. "Kill…for…Mother."

A third cocoon was also permanently compromised, emptying into their presence a third inmate.

"On second thought…" She smartly took steps to remain in his rear.

A fourth opened. Then the fifth. The sixth.

Batman instinctively reached down for his utility belt, only to remember its current whereabouts- not around his waist.

All six of them removed the vines tethering them to each respective cocoon, allowing them to more freely stagger and stalk around the duo.

"She's been busy," the masked man stated with gritted teeth, seeing the fruits of Ivy's labor balefully blossoming all around them.

"You don't say." Even in the face of increasing peril, the cat burglar's sarcasm remained intact.

"Kill…for Mother."

Batman's fists balled as they were soon surrounded by snarling, hulking brutes emboldened with a collective desire to see them both ripped apart limb from limb.

And yet, there was no fear in his eyes, nor apprehension in his guarded stance.

He was ready.

"Just like Blackgate all over again, right?" Selina quipped somewhat nervously over her shoulder, her back to his.

He cracked his knuckles in grim anticipation. "You and I remember Blackgate very differently, Selina."

Then the enhanced six charged them, all at once.

Right in the blink of an eye.


Author's Note: I am alive, and I am sorry. For all those who have read this story, either today, yesterday, last year, or five years ago, I am thankful for your support. Thankful beyond words. A lot has changed in the past few years. The obvious being a global pandemic, but there have been a lot of personal issues and family losses I've had to deal with. Unfortunately, they stacked up within a very short period of time, and so I lost passion. I lost the drive to write. But for all those who supported, and favorited, and followed this story, I say, Thank You. Thank you for not giving up even if you didn't know what I was going through, or even if I was still alive. Fortunately, though, my hands still work, and my brain's still running. Some time last year, we lost the voice actor for Arkham Batman as well as animated/DCAU Batman, Kevin Conroy. He is the reason I became a fan of Batman. In life, he was my inspiration, and in passing, that won't change. I made you all a promise to see this through, and as long as I'm able, that's what I'm going to do. I would appreciate feedback more than anything right now. Review, PM, good, bad, I will read it all. Yell at me for being absent, critique what's written, it doesn't matter. Anything you write would mean everything to me. Thank you again for reading. Thank you again for supporting. More to come soon.