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“Another public official has died suspiciously today. He was found, oddly enough, on his balcony stripped to his boxers. The autopsy has yet to come back. ” Bruce mulls over his 29 grams of protein, packed with antioxidants and vitamins, made with every superfood under the sun, and blueberries that Alfred sneaked in because no human should be able to palate the chalky bitterness of that abomination.
Alfred brings out a platter of sausages. A full English breakfast, his specialty. None of the kids have the heart to tell him they don’t have a taste for his English sensibilities. Who wants beans for breakfast?! Alfred knows anyway. At least Jason, the only one of taste in the family, enjoys his food. Jason shovels the food into his mouth, practically inhales it.
He pours tea for everyone, except Tim. Tim is already vibrating from the three pots of coffee he has ‘secretly’ consumed.
Saturdays are Alfred’s favorite. It means that everyone is home, and that’s really the only time he feels relaxed. He can see their faces and know that they are in fact alive, breathing, and taking care of themselves. They are also within distance to guide them to sleep or to eat more or to check their injuries. Yes it is best when the whole brood is under the roof, especially in the morning when they are all subdued with bed-headed grogginess.
“This has followed a string of odd occurrences, along with the halt of construction in Gotham Bay. These officials were holding up a renewable energy proposal, and a proposal to protect and clean up Gotham Bay. We believe this to be the work of none other than Poison Ivy.”
Alfred would love to turn off that blasted television.
Dick sighs with a smirk on his face, “Don’t you just hate when the news reporters take away your glory Bruce and do the investigating for you.”
Bruce stifles, grumbling as he takes another drink of that distasteful sludge.
Tim pushes around the mushrooms of his plate. Tim ate his toast, Tim is like Bruce in that he doesn’t like flavor. Even pepper is too much seasoning for him. “Yeah darn, who would have guessed? Our villains need more panache, they are so obvious.”
“Do you seriously want them to have more ‘panache’?” Steph punctuates her question by pointing her fork at Tim.
“It would make my life more exciting.”
Jason cuts in, “Your life is already too exciting, or do I need to remind everyone that you are spleenless?”
“Well you just did.” Tim shrinks back into his seat, and hides behind what Alfred will make sure is his last cup of coffee.
Bruce breaks the stupor, “Well the reporters have managed to deduce who the culprit is and what their motive is. The question of how and when will they strike next still remains unsolved. Dick, Stephanie, and Cassandra, you will be tasked with finding Poison Ivy and stopping her.”
Damian squawks, “Father, why not me?!”
“You have training today, and I do not want you exposed to any potential. You are still young and a full dose of Ivy’s toxins would be more harmful to you.” Alfred clears his throat, and Bruce adds, “Right we will continue this conversation after breakfast.”
Cass looks over at the map that is pulled up on the Batcomputer. Dick took the chair. He always gets giddy when he sits there, something about Bruce not letting him sit in it for his entire young adult life. Not that anyone is fighting him for that cold, rigid, stone chair.
They have all the locations of the attacks overlaid, as well as any place where plants are grown in large quantities. They could try to narrow down what exactly kind of toxin Ivy is using, but with lack of details regarding the deaths of the officials it would take too long. They need to find Ivy soon.
Steph points at the location that seems to fit the pattern the best.
Dick sighs, “Maybe Tim is right.” Steph is pointing at the Gotham Greenhouse, oh so predictable.
Nightwing, Spoiler, and Black Bat meet at the roof top near the Gotham Greenhouse were Ms. Pamela Isley is stirring up something nefarious. It really is amazing that the greenhouse is standing after all the fights that have occurred here with aforementioned villain.
They drop down through the glass skylight, because of course they do. They are the reason skylights are no longer built. They are nice though and respectfully open the skylight; the Gotham Greenhouse doesn’t need to be unnecessarily repaired again.
Ivy turns from her workstation where a large doodad with beakers and boilers and pipes and steam has a bile green substance brewing. She looks unsurprised. It’s the tune they have all gotten use to.
Think vines emerge around them, capturing them in a dome with Ivy. “Hello saplings, here to foil my plans again?”
Nightwing twirls, his eskirma sticks, crouched and ready to attack, “You really need more panache, Ivy.” Ivy huffs, blowing a hydrant red curl out of her face.
“Panache?”
“It’s everyone’s new favorite word,” Steph beams with a glint of manical behind it. “Now just step away from the mad scientist lab and come with us-”
“No one needs to get hurt?” Ivy finishes.
Ivy brings her palms to point at them, commanding the monstrous looking flowers the size of lion’s heads to point towards them.
“There are legal ways to prevent
“It’s not enough. These officials needed weeded out.”
“There are other ways.”
“I’m tired of waiting, Boy Wonder.” Ivy snaps her fingers, the mouths of the flowers open, allowing their spores to empty into the chamber made by the intertwined vines.
Airborne toxins are a common issue while on patrol, especially with the likes of Joker, Scarecrow, and Poison Ivy. “Brand new. It’s a variant,” her voice lilts, “with mescaline and a few other special ingredients.”
In moments, as they were taught, they have their rebreathers out and over their mouths.
Steph panics when she holds her hands over the rebreather to try and set it but it doesn’t, “It’s broken.” Cass is turning towards Stephanie, but she has been beaten by her even more self-sacrificing idiot brother. Quickly replacing her rebreather with his own. There isn’t any room to argue when he has her breathing in to create a seal.
“Oh, no, looks like Boy Wonder has taken a fall.” Ivy waves her hands and the vines part for her. They close up after her. Leaving them trapped in the toxin heavy air with their brother shivering on the floor.
“Oh God, Cass. What do we do.”
Steph snaps her fingers, “Mescaline is a psychedelic. Although the affects shouldn’t have started so soon, it typically takes an hour to take affect. Affects that can last from 8-12 hours. I’m sure whatever Dick just ingested was not a micro dose, and he definitely shouldn’t be reacting this way.”
Cass pull out a pen with a generalized medication to hopefully counteract Ivy’s ‘special’ ingredients, it may not be the appropriate antidote, but until they know what is in Dick’s system anything is better than nothing.
Between Steph and Cass they manage to drag him to the Spoiler-mobile. It’s cramped, but they manage. They will have to track down Ivy later.
Tim turns when the Spoiler-mobile speeds in. His eyes widen when he sees them dragging out a limp Nightwing. He looks pale and sweaty.
Tim moves to the intercom to call Alfred down. Bruce isn’t home, and thankfully Damian is out with his pets. They only need one worry wart.
Nightwing slumps into the metal medical table. His knees sagging, and his brows furrowed. Tim moves to help them pull him up onto the table. Steph recounts, “He threw up on the way over. Whatever it is this is a new toxin. I don’t think the antidote Cass administered is working.”
Tim says, “I thought this was supposed to be an easy mission.”
Steph lays her broken rebreather on the table. It isn’t visible damage
“Oh.”
“I should have checked before we had gone out, especially knowing we were going up against Ivy.”
Tim shakes his head, “We all make mistakes. Maybe it broke while you were out. It doesn’t matter we can’t change what happened, you did what was right and gave him an antidote and brought him here right away. You’ll check your rebreather next time.” Steph deflates, she is happy that Bruce wasn’t here.
Tim takes the blood analysis kit out of the cupboard, and turns to his writhing brother.
Cass has taken off his mask as gently as she could to make him more comfortable. His damn suit is so difficult to take off, so Steph cuts it off above his elbow. Tim finds a vein fairly easily, stupid dehydrated older brother.
Alfred frantically opens the elevator door. When Tim is done with drawing blood, Alfred hooks Dick to IV of fluids to help flush the substance out of his body. There isn’t much else they can do other than monitor him and figure out what is in his system.
It’s a while later when the computer pings. Tim’s head snaps to look at the results.
“There are traces of foxglove in his system. It’s a flower that grows throughout the US, all parts of the flower can stop your… heart.” They turn to Dick, feverish and hallucinating, he has been cuffed down. From what they can tell it hasn’t been a good trip.
Cass has been softly mumbling to him to try and pull him out of whatever nightmare he is in. He has thankfully calmed a little bit.
Alfred rattles through the cabinet till he comes upon the appropriate medication. He administers it, and there is no sudden change but there is some relief. This is a terrible waiting game.
Steph watches Dick from up on the counter, Alfred hasn’t said anything, he finally fell asleep. “Aren’t you supposed to be working on that case, Tim?”
Tim looks up from his gnawing of his lips. He says, “It can wait.”
There is a ping. “Ivy has struck again!” Tim pulls up the reports, “This time she has gone to the Botany Museum, she broke all the plants free. She also fed them some of her growth hormones.”
“Brother?” Cass speaks. A groggy-eyed Dick groans as he peels himself up from the sticky mess of the table.
“Where is she Tim?” He swings his legs over the table, and moves to stand.
Alfred scolds, “Under no circumstances will you be leaving.”
“I will knock you out,” Cass warns. Dick swings his legs back on to the table and lays down immediately.
Tim turns to Steph and Cass, “Ivy and her plant monsters are going towards Periwig Park.”
“To the Spoiler-mobile!” Steph declares. Cass gleams and stores away her secret weapon in the trunk.
The purple torpedo shaped vehicle skirts onto the park road, yes you technically aren’t supposed to do that, but then vigilantism is also technically illegal. Steph doesn’t like getting caught up on technicalities. Besides dramatic entrances are her style. The roof pulls back and Spoiler and Black Bat spring out. Steph greets, “Hey plant girl, feeling a little green?”
Poison Ivy huffs, “Hello eggplant. Eggplants have always been my least favorite vegetable.”
“I’m so sorry that I’ve spoiled your fun, maybe I can grow back your trust.” Black Bat sprays the wand attached to the sloshing backpack. Poison Ivy turns to see what is happening but it is too late, the plants are wilting. “Then again I’ve always had a black thumb.”
“What have you done?!”
“You tried to kill our brother, so we brought along some weed killer. These are massive weeds.”
Spoiler springs to attack before Ivy can arise anymore monstrous weeds. Ivy isn’t a particularly good hand to hand fighter, her demise is quick, like that one time Steph thought she could keep a plant. She cuffs Ivy. Who sits petulantly as they wait for the police to take her back to Blackgate.
Cass comes towards her, the backpack empty. Periwig Park will be weed free for a good couple months. Steph holds out her hand, and Cass high fives her back. Steph know under that mask Cass is smiling, she can just feel it, and no one can tell her otherwise.