Chapter Text
“You were absent from the brief,” Batman said as he entered the training room. It was a large, dome-shaped chamber filled with instruments designed to hone a vigilante’s combat skills. Punches could be heard as a pair of fists made contact with a practice dummy, followed by the electrical crackle of a baton.
Batman’s grizzled, middle-aged features were noticeable even under the mask, though his frame had never withered. He was still a force to be reckoned with, one the villains of Gotham were wise to fear, as most still bore the marks of his ‘vengeance’. As strong as he was, nothing could’ve prepared the dark knight for his greatest challenge yet.
Freeze had escaped Arkham, hellbent on saving his beloved Nora by any means necessary, and to exact his own revenge upon the one responsible for his incarceration. His plan to freeze the entire city though - and all seven million of its inhabitants - was rash, even for him. Victor was still a scientist. Even the coldest of hearts was thawed by his love for Nora, perhaps the last glimmer of humanity left in him.
There was another force driving his actions. His designs to plunge Gotham into a new Ice Age were but the first step in a grander scheme. One that involved laying down the foundations for a second Eden once the snows had melted, transforming the city into a garden paradise with a certain redhead serving as its Queen. The caped crusaders had run into her during their failed attempt to apprehend Freeze in Snowy Cones the previous night. A brute appeared before them, enhanced by some unknown, chemical steroid that pumped green fluid into his body, causing him to grow twice as large as any man. He was but a distraction, dividing the heroes so that his accomplice - or handler as they soon discovered - could sneak in and unleash her charms.
Even now, as Batman entered the training facility, he could hear her silky, seductive voice in his head. There’s something about an anatomically correct… rubber suit that puts fire in a girl’s lips. He shook his head, trying to erase the image of her glossy, green catsuit, those emerald, leather boots and dainty, gloved hands caressing his chest. Every word was spoken with sensual intent, tailored to his desires to disarm him.
It was difficult to resist her, made impossible then by the heavy doses of pheromones she blew from her palm. Bright, pink-red trails of a love-inducing perfume caused his blood temperature to rise, drawing his attention squarely on the redhead that called herself ‘Poison Ivy’. Had he not been determined to stop Freeze, he may well have succumbed to her charms.
“What do you want, Bruce?” Robin asked, taking a breather.
Batman studied him. “Barbara and I are planning to head into the heart of Gotham. We need to locate Freeze before he turns the city into an ice cube and everyone with it.”
“Maybe he returned to Snowy Cones,” he suggested. “That place holds a lot of meaning for him.”
“Or he’ll be hitting every lab in the city,” Batman replied.
Robin finally looked at him. “We have his wife at a hidden facility, don’t we? Old Frosty will never find her.”
“That would’ve been true before,” he said, “but he has an ally now, and her roots grow deep.”
“Ivy again?” Robin sighed.
“Yes, Ivy. Poison Ivy.” Batman corrected him.
He directed Robin’s attention to a screen, a monitor that hung over the chamber. With a click of a small, handheld device, a series of images appeared before them. Some depicted a humble, unkempt botanist that tried to hide herself in the background of a corporate photo. Another revealed a tropical research facility that had recently burned to the ground in the arboreal rainforests of Borneo.
“Dr. Pamela Isley,” he continued. “Former understudy to Dr. Jason Woodrue, the chief botanist that ran Wayne Enterprises’ APP (Arboreal Preservation Project).”
“That nutjob?” Robin replied, sitting on a bench as he towelled down. “Didn’t you fire him?”
“Recently, yes,” he said, raising a solitary brow. “We pulled our funding once we learned he was corrupting our growth enzymes. There was a conflict of interest which resulted in his immediate termination.”
Robin assessed the image of the lab as it lay in smouldering ruins. “Clearly he didn’t take the news too well.”
“Through back channelling, I was able to uncover the identities of his prospective clients,” Batman added. “The usual types; Saudi oil tycoons, African warlords, Russian military: the works. It was only after our encounter with the enhanced super soldier that I learned the true nature of his betrayal. And then, after more research, the pieces began to fall into place. That lab was never reduced to rubble by his own hand.”
“Ivy?” Robin asked, shaking his head. “No, she’s not capable of something like that. She’s a dainty flower.”
“That ‘dainty flower’ is responsible for the deaths of several people,” Batman informed. “I fear we would’ve been next had I not taken her bodyguard out.”
He laughed. “You just can’t stand it, can you, Bruce?”
“Stand what? She’s toxic, Dick…” the vigilante warned.
“You can’t stand the fact that your ward - your future successor - got the girl this time,” he said. “Maybe Ivy doesn’t want you. Did you ever stop to think about that? Not every woman is attracted to money.”
He tried to conceal his smile. “Then you clearly don’t know a lot about women. This ‘woman’ - if you can call her that - is a product of a failed, scientific experiment. I have no doubt Woodrue tested the earliest iterations of his ‘Venom’ formula on her, and when she refused to become his partner, he tried to silence her. What we encountered at Snowy Cones, this ‘Poison Ivy’. That’s not Dr. Isley, any more than Dr. Fries is Freeze.”
“What is she… a human-plant hybrid?” Robin chuckled, shoulder-checking him. “What’s she gonna do, turn us into shrubs? You’ve got some real issues with women.”
Batman followed him, grabbing his arm before he could leave the chamber. “You’re right, Dick, but trust me when I say she’s dangerous. The victim at the airport, toxins introduced through the mouth. Why do you think she was so desperate to kiss us? I’m betting her lips are poisoned.”
The resentment was palpable in Robin as he pulled his arm free, getting into Bruce’s personal space to counter him. “You know, while you were fighting that brute, Ivy came to me. Do you know what she said?”
“Enlighten me,” he replied.
“With a gift of pheromones, she said I’m the star,” Robin explained. “That - with her guidance - I could become the city’s protector. A shining beacon of hope and justice. Ivy sees real potential in me, unlike you. And to top it all off, she’s unbelievably hot. I know when a woman wants me and she gives me all of those vibes. So, Bruce, I can’t help but wonder…why am I wasting my time here?”
“You’re a fool if you think she has your best intentions in mind,” he said, coldly. “She wants to kill you.”
Robin smiled. Seeing the obvious jealousy plastered across the mask was too satisfying. “I hate to disappoint you, but I know when a woman wants me. I don’t need a flashy credit card to buy their affections.”
He watched as the young hero revved his bike, having climbed the stairs to the platform above. Robin was already clad in his form-fitting suit, the glossy, black-red material enhancing his slim-built, muscular form, honed from endless hours of training. He’d clearly been working overtime to prepare himself for a private encounter with Poison Ivy.
Bruce knew that look in his eye. It was the same, exuberant sparkle he once had when he first met Catwoman. Only this time, his young ward had eyes for the wrong woman. Part of him wanted to stop the bike, to deactivate it with the security protocols installed in his utility belt. He even reached out to do so, only to pull back. No, this was a lesson Robin had to learn on his own.