I Need a Passenger Eject Button [Batman]

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

It's good to be Poison Ivy. Ever since making her threat to Gotham known, she's of course been very, very careful. The feds could have responded to it in a number of different ways, some of them quite dangerous to her. But based on the fact that she's seen no signs of them getting anywhere close to finding her, either they've decided to take her threat to keep the cure to herself if she's caught seriously or their efforts to find her are woefully inadequate. Which means that she expects victory.

Whether that victory will come before or after people start to die, she doesn't know. Or care. The timeline she gave them may be a game of chicken for the government, but she certainly doesn't have any problems with the idea of people dying en masse. In fact, it's all the better from her viewpoint; Gotham is overpopulated as it is. Last she heard they were trying to work out a cure themselves (she had a good laugh at that), but then again her ability to get information about what the FBI are doing is quite limited. Which isn't really a big deal; she has no reason to care as long as they remain well off of her trail.

Really, she's had far more to worry about from the criminal side of the coin. She's starting to get a solid name for herself among the lower class criminals as a woman that you do not want to mess with. It's the rogues and other big names that still don't quite take her seriously, but perhaps once the FBI leave she'll gain some more respect. She knows that her skills are at that level if she manages herself carefully, though she's still trying to be cautious. Which of them does she really need to be careful about and which are beneath her? Something to be delicate about since she knows that unlike them she's lacking in experience.

Some of that lack of experience shows in her current perception of Batman. Though she's heard plenty of mutterings about how difficult the man is, she hasn't seen hide nor hair of him since she escaped from the FBI. Which from her point of view makes him just as effective as the rest of the people who are supposedly supposed to catch people who do the sorts of things that she does: not at all. True, she's done what she can to prepare herself based upon what she's been able to learn of him, but she remains unimpressed thus far. Of course, given her perception of herself she's liable to remain unimpressed unless and until the man defeats her. Which she doubts will happen - he's a man, after all. Men are weak.

Which is why she's completely unworried as she calls it an evening and heads out of the bar she chose tonight. It's a bit early for her - not even midnight yet, but she was only in the mood for a few drinks and a little gossip. People can get irritating to be around after awhile, especially when alcohol is involved. It's a small walk to her car because, as always, she parked in the most remote corner of the lot she could find - fewer greedy eyes see it that way. But she doesn't mind having the chance to take in a few breaths of fresh air after being in the bar. Of course, 'fresh' air is relative here in Gotham. It's the most polluted city in the United States - a fact that she's very well aware of - but toxins in the air do no more harm to her than any other kind.

What bothers her more about the air is that it's a bit chilly, and as always she's not quite dressed for it. The slinky white dress she's wearing tonight is just not meant to shield her from a winter night, but she wore it because it does not shield men's eyes from some of her best features. Being a little cold on the walk to and from her car is a small price to pay to make any man she happens to run into that much more putty in her hands. But it does give her enough room at the waist to conceal the thin vines that wrap around her like a corset. She never leaves home without vines anymore, but while she'll happily sport thicker vines over her rogue outfit while she's doing 'official' business, when she's simply hanging out at a bar she likes to appear more normal and keeps them hidden. Unless she needs them, that is.

But tonight has been a relatively peaceful evening so she's quite relaxed as she uses the remote to unlock her car and slides into the driver's seat, blissfully unaware until that moment that she has anything at all to worry about tonight.

[grimknight]

So easy. The Bat made it look so very easy. The said easy feat being his sleuthing skills as a detective, the Bat managing to gain access or entry way to just about any location, building, residence, military base, and for tonight’s task at hand: breaking and entering into a very chic and very securely protected classy, vibrantly red sports car. Two-seater, no doubt. The owner of this cherry little ride? Dr. Pamela Isley, aka, Poison Ivy – a freshly new face who had just joined the criminal ranks of Gotham’s seedy underbelly. He had studied all the evidence tapes and interviews he hacked from the Feds’ data base, he grilled Nightwing for every grueling detail over his few interactions with the talented botanist, and he especially dug through her own history as a citizen of Gotham. Mainly he focused on Dr. Isley’s college career as an up-and-coming scientist of botany studying with the prestigious Dr. Jason Woodrue. He even looked briefly into the backgrounds of the three other students, Phillip Sylvian, Alec and Linda Holland, and of course, Pamela Isley.

He was well aware of the mistreatment conducted by means of cruel and unusual punishment Dr. Woodrue put Pamela through. Essentially, the highly esteemed Gotham University doctor-professor made the unfortunate girl poisonous by permanently altering her blood stream. He had ruined her promising career as the talented promising botanist she was working so hard to be. Dr. Pamela Isley was forever changed by her renowned mentor and made the choice to react in vengeance and murder re-creating herself as Poison Ivy. The Bat would have to be careful with this one. Even though Poison Ivy was new to the criminal scene she was gaining street cred fast and was well on her way to becoming the newest rogue amidst Gotham’s villains. It was because of her “debut” as Poison Ivy who revealed the fact that she had just unleashed a deadly plague upon the citizens of Gotham via televised broadcast-style that the Bat placed her as a top priority to handle. With the FBI’s very recent departure of Gotham having finally happened, the Bat was back to being a little more brazen in his vigilante work throughout the city and was able to focus without worry of being apprehended by some scumbag G-man in a suit and tie. That intense focus of his was pin-pointed right on Dr. Isley, hence his break-in to her sports car with eerily smooth and silent skills.

He had patrolled the Narrows of the East End, pumping whatever low-lives he came across as a means to find Poison Ivy’s trail of crime. The leads he got eventually steered the Bat to some little dive bar within the East End and having memorized the criminal profile from the FBI case study on Dr. Isley as well as doing his own profiling on the botanist, he spotted what he knew with 100% certainty to be her car. He bypassed the alarm security system in the vehicle and positioned himself in the passenger seat, drawing his inky black cape about him tightly. It was as if the Bat suddenly went invisible, his armored, black form now camouflaged into the dark shadows looming within and around the car with perfection. He had studied, he was prepared, and now he was taking action to get to the bottom of this threat to the people of his city – the Bat was dedicated to his work, non-stop, and it showed. So yes, he made the act of a simple break-in and entry to a vehicle look so easy… But looks seldom truly revealed the true nature beneath. He waited in dark silence, body steeled over in grueling anticipation, statue-still and coiled like a cobra ready to strike. His specialized, stark white, slit-shaped lenses peered at the figure approaching the car now – Dr. Pamela Isley was about to meet the Dark Knight. The moment Dr. Isley sat down in the comfort and safety of her own car, the Bat now made his presence quite known.

“We need to talk, Dr. Isley.” His tone was somber, menacing, gruff, and intense.

And just like Dick had warned, the Bat began to suddenly register a strange feeling slowly sweep over him making his body temperature raise a little according the bat-suit’s bio readings. Pheromones! She was producing very potent pheromones at that; something she probably couldn’t even control, he would guess. His slit gaze focused on her in that eerie and intimidating notorious way of his, yet his true blue eyed gaze beneath the mask and cowl couldn’t help but suddenly drink her incredibly feminine, curvaceous form in. Instantly he stopped himself, able to mind-power over the tantalizing affect Poison Ivy was giving off. He had a steel trap mind that was exceptionally strong and alert, making him capable of resisting most forms of hypnotic charm or mental subjugation. Still, he was only just a man beneath the armored suit and high tech gadgets – no amount of training and preparation could change the fact that he was only human and being such, had limits.

“I know about the plague you’ve unleashed in Gotham. I know it’s subtle in experienced symptoms, I know it’s a genetically engineered hybrid spore created by you, I know it’s deadly, and most crucially I know you’re the only person with access to its cure.” His growled statement revealed his viewing of her televised broadcast shown to the FBI. “I’m here to get that cure. With the FBI gone from Gotham, there’s no need to do this, Dr. Isley.”

Sure the Bat was known for his brutal methods of breaking bones and bruising internal organs, but he didn’t bash faces in all of the time. If there was an opportunity to help and perhaps save someone from taking the wrong path in life, (said someone would have to show potential of cooperation and a willingness to be helped, as were the Bat’s standards) then Batman would utilize his negotiation skills. Either way, the Batman enforced justice; given the fact this was his first meeting with the wayward doctor, if he could conserve energy and not fight but rather come to some agreement resulting in her going to a rehabilitation program of sorts, then that was even better. But, if things went south beyond repair? Well, he was prepared for that too. She could either clean up her act and become a respectable citizen by repairing her identity as Dr. Pamela Isley, or complete her descent to villainy and assume the twisted lifestyle of her alter-ego Poison Ivy. The decision was hers, and hers alone, to make.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Poison Ivy startles as her eyes shift to the man quite unexpectedly in the seat next to her. How...?! Her car was locked! The alarm was on! And the security system is in keeping with the price she'd had to pay for the vehicle. But this is exactly why she doesn't put her trust in technology. Fortunately, before she can react to this violation of the sanctity of her vehicle with violence, as is her first instinct, his words register. "Talk? Fine," she says tersely. While she doesn't exactly trust him to keep it at that, she also knows what a hold she now has on the lives of the people of Gotham. And supposedly they matter to Batman.

And she doesn't fail to notice that he's now shut up inside the close confines of her car with her. That would tend to help concentrate her pheromones, especially once she's been here for awhile, and she's actually improved on them quite a bit since meeting Nightwing. She's yet to meet the man that could resist her since she did that, but then again she hasn't run into any men with a lot of willpower lately - and Batman is in a class of his own with that respect. They don't simply invoke a feeling of lust in men, but a feeling of calm and relaxation in any gender. All the better to cause a person to lower their defenses. What effect will that have on the almighty Batman?

It isn't, apparently, immediately strong enough for him to forget why he's here. And when he mentions the disease she unleashed on the city and the fact of her being the sole person with the cure, she can't help but smile. She is just so pleased with herself about it. It was her little encounter with Nightwing that actually gave her the idea - people are so easily influenced when lives are at stake.

But the smile fades into a frown when he states why he's here, and her eyes narrow slightly as she says, "Aren't we being a little hasty? I said that I would hand over the cure when the FBI are gone, and I meant exactly that. You may put full faith in all the little rumors that they will withdraw, but I'm waiting for actual results. The government has been known to change its mind, after all, and to lie when faced with a terroristic threat. So until they are gone, the cure stays with me. And I won't give it up a moment sooner. If any lives are lost because of their dawdling, it's their own fault - I gave them an entire month's warning."

But then, having said that, it's not like she's unaware of Batman's reputation. If he tries to get it out of her more forcefully, she rather suspects that she can take him. Sure, he's supposed to be some sort of amazing fighter, but she suspects that her vines can handle him. They are, after all, much more under her direct control than the ones that caught Nightwing for her, and more intelligent on their own. And how much harder than Nightwing could Batman be?

However, since she can ease her own words somewhat and that will perhaps help preserve this situation, she adds, "Though if it makes you feel any better, know what I mean when I say 'cure': I don't just know a formula, I know a treatment that will hold off the disease long enough for it to be mass-produced and the way to make a vaccine. Even if the feds drag their heels until the last moment in leaving, there should be no trouble saving everyone and stopping the spread." She rolls her eyes, aware that sort of thing is such a touchy subject for so many people but just not understanding it herself. While she can perhaps understand wanting to save the masses, why does it matter if only a few die? It's not like any of the people she infected first were anyone important.

[grimknight]

True enough; the Feds were only just now starting to vacate Gotham – one slight victory he would only breathe the smallest sigh of relief over later, maybe. But for now, the men were en route of leaving Gotham—they hadn’t truly dispatched all of their men and sources, yet. Still the Bat had seen the effects of the plague on some of the lower end citizens, mostly petty thugs and crooks, in the Narrows. From what he saw he certainly didn’t like. He silently listened to her explanation of just when she would release the details of a vaccine (which gave promise to a probable cure that of course would have to take time to be properly cultivated in the labs). Oddly, the anger that would’ve been seething within him was strangely quelled for a more subdued and entranced sort of soothing feeling. Almost… Warm and fuzzy? No, not right… It was as if he was comfortable sitting there with this psychotic killer of a plant-obsessed woman.

The pheromones were thick and palpable in the confines of the sports car they both sat within. The bat-suit beeped silently in his ear, alerting him of the slight change of sedation in his vital signs. Again, his steel trap mind worked to slowly overcome the effects this woman produced – his time was running out before she had him completely wrapped under her toxin’s manipulation.

“Your emotional reaction to the FBI being in Gotham isn’t an uncommon one, Dr. Isley, but your actions are that of a mad woman. The Feds are on their way out – considering your stance on the time frame, how about handing over a portion of this treatment? You don’t…”

He paused; the confinement of the vehicle was getting stronger with each passing moment.

“… I wouldn’t want to escalate this meeting into anything more than a simple talk.”

And before she knew it, before he knew it, the Bat actually gave her a small, partial grin. Something was direly off within him, and even the faint beeping sound he was only privy to hear within the confines of his bat-suit now sounded so very far away.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Poison Ivy has seen the effects of the plague herself, and is of course delighted to see it. East Gotham is the hardest hit, partly because when she first spread it the easiest people for her to come in contact with were in east Gotham, though she also tried to make an effort to be sure that it would hit everywhere. The larger issue is that, once the city became aware of the problem, it was the less educated people who knew the least about how to avoid getting sick.

One doesn't have to look too hard to find someone around here with the tell-tale symptoms - a light cough similar to a cold, that tired look in their face - but especially the rather distinctive green veins surrounding their mouth. Her victims are well-marked, but that was completely intentional when she developed the disease. She hopes that the members of the FBI, their superiors, and any of the other people who decided all of this was a good idea will understand what the mark is saying: this person will die if you don't listen to Poison Ivy. And while she's unable to do a proper count, she's guessing it's afflicted one out of every ten to twenty people - everyone in the city probably knows at least one person showing symptoms. With as tight of a hold as she has on Gotham right now, the cure now held only within her mind has gotten very valuable indeed. And nobody has even died from it yet! Well, except for a few people who were already sick enough that contracting it put them over the edge, but to her they don't count - technically they died of a combination of factors.

But she's so easily distracted by her thoughts of that by his words, and the first ones cause her to scoff, "You think I'm crazy? They're the ones who thought that this whole thing was a good idea! The whole thing was doomed to failure from the start, and you know it - I just sped up the process." She laughs to herself before adding, "I'm actually doing the city a favor - if I hadn't been the one to drive the FBI out, someone else would have. And probably in a much deadlier fashion." She's actually not aware of just how right she is, as she's blissfully unaware of the Riddler's scheme in China. Actually, she's thinking about the Joker, who she assumes would eventually get bored enough of the FBI to start blowing up buildings.

In fact, if her personal anger had been the only thing on her mind, she'd have probably come up with an entirely different plan. But she's not so shortsighted at the moment to be thinking only of getting rid of them. No, she has other plans for when they've left, but most of them require her to be able to function fully within this criminal world she's newly joined. And for that she needs to have made a name for herself. She has no particular reason to want to kill off the citizens of Gotham - what she needs is for everyone to know that she could. With apparent ease, in fact. Hence why she decided that she needed to be the one to get the FBI out of Gotham instead of satisfying her need for vengeance in a more modest way.

His threat, though, does catch her attention. Even though she suspects that she could handle this turning physical, she doesn't want that. Especially since they're sitting in her car, and she'd hate to see it damaged. In fact she has a compromise solution already in mind to get herself out of this if he insists on a sign of good faith. However, that's something that she's only willing to do if she thinks she really has to. And though she hasn't seen the man nearly enough to be able to read his expressions and especially know which would be considered 'off' for him, the very fact that he's in her car with her and doesn't appear to have a means of avoiding her pheromones means that she can only assume they're affecting him somehow, even though she can easily tell that he's handling them quite well.

But perhaps a test? "You don't really want to hurt me, do you?" she asks with a somewhat pouty frown. How he responds to that should tell her just how strongly affected he is, as any fully affected man would act as if that was an order and immediately decide that he does not, in fact, want to hurt her. Someone not at all under her influence might simply take that as her wanting confirmation that he really means his threat. And someone somewhere in between would fall in the middle of those two extremes.

[grimknight]

The intent the scientist had was of course, extreme in its psychotic madness. She didn’t want to show signs of negotiation and because of such, innocent people within Gotham were dying! Her cool, calculated demeanor showed how much she didn’t care over the horror she wrought upon the unsuspecting citizens, especially located within the East End.

“Your lines are being clearly drawn, Dr. Isley. Now comes the question if you can live with them.”

His words still a growl, a menacing tone—a good show of display that he wasn’t touched by the thick pheromones laced about the cabin of the car. Yet? In truth, he was feeling quite the opposite—his body and mind felt sluggish and as though they were dreamily detaching themselves from the reality of the situation at hand. This was no good, he would need to depart and soon, especially if he wanted his detective work to be viable.

“If you don’t want to make things easy, then making things hard happens to be my specialty. You won’t like that, I guarantee it.”

Before the redhead could even register the movement of the Bat, his gloved hand lifted and clenched like a vise about her vulnerable throat.

He squeezed tightly as he snarled his words to her, “What I want and what I need are two different motives, Poison Ivy. You’re not giving me what I need, so I’ll do what I want. Here’s a tip—don’t do me any favors, unless it deals with stopping this plague you’ve unleashed on innocent people.”

He suddenly felt a wave of serenity and sensual bliss wash over him, his grip loosened some—by a hair.

“You don’t want me to hurt you—that’s a promise.”

His hand then released from her throat; his grip about her had only taken a hold of two seconds, if that. Far too fast to register, far too fast to counteract. Before Ivy could respond or even catch her breath a smoke bomb was released—having been dropped by the Bat’s other hand. The cabin of the car now filled with thick, acrid, tear-producing smoke… Giving the Bat a moment’s chance to get out of that toxic car and into fresh air. He would be down for the night… Already stumbling away from the vehicle, struggling to pull out his grapple gun. He fired, reached the closest roof top and knelt down—trying to get his head to stop from spinning—he could only pray he would be able to make it back to the Batcave with the DNA he had procured on his glove still intact after having grabbed Ivy’s throat.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Poison Ivy doesn't react to his first comment. She actually started drawing those lines a couple of years ago - he's merely paying attention to her now. And her reaction to his second comment is merely a pursing of her lips. Another thing that she knew about and decided a long time ago was that she may end up getting caught wrong side of the law, and that Gotham's dark knight could end up on her doorstep. That she's even doing this now is a small hint of what exactly she thought about that situation.

Of course it's a surprise to her when he suddenly grabs her throat, and she immediately tenses, suddenly going still. But though she's surprised, she's not frightened - that he's this angry about the disease she unleashed on the city also proves that he'll do nothing but warn her this time. She has such a hold on the people he inexplicably cares about so much, that he dares not actually harm her. Much, anyway.

And then, with a puff of a smoke bomb, he's gone. She immediately fumbles around in the car for the button that will lower the top. She coughs a little, but that's merely a reflex anyone has to the sight of smoke - it will do her no harm. And the tear-producing chemicals she's immune to - in fact she isn't even aware there's that element to the smoke. The scent though... "Damn him!" she says to herself waving at the smoke in front of her face as it starts to clear with one hand while the other gently rubs against her throat as if making sure that vital part of her anatomy is still intact. Given what she does, she's actually quite used to terrible smells. That he's done it to her car though... Fortunately, she's actually just as skilled at detoxifying things as she is at toxifying them, even if she uses that skill far less often - she should be able to clean up her car. But the nerve of him for doing that in the first place! Does he have any idea how much this thing is worth?! She may actually be more angry about that than the brief grab to her throat...

It's cold with the top down, but she'll tolerate that until the temperature becomes more oppressive than the odor. Eager to get out of here, she only waits long enough for the wind to carry the worst of the smoke away so that she can see before she starts her car and peals out of the parking lot. But as she drives off she starts to mentally go over everything she's learned thanks to this little visit.

The obvious first being that Batman is able to break into her car. Clever with tech and/or electronic stuff then. She's definitely not, but she makes a mental note to store one of her more sensitive plants in her car from now on - if he ever tries that stunt again, the plant will know it and so will she. Better yet, she really should install some sort of 'booby trap' in her car to kill off anyone who gets into it without her permission besides Harley - that shouldn't be difficult to set up.

She also noted what she could about the Batman's costume in the darkness while he was there - that exposed mouth makes him vulnerable to all kinds of things that she does. But even though she noted that the rest of it was fully closed up and armored, you just can't make anything like that without seams... Plants have this thing about seams, cracks, and other such things - they can make them bigger. True, it's usually a slow process, but she's quite talented at making things that plants do slowly happen faster. She'd just need a plant that can grow quickly, instead of merely moving quickly. The difficult part of that would be energy - she's managed to give her plants enough energy to move, but growing that quickly would require much more. Something to think about... she knows it's possible if she simply figures it out. Then again, perhaps simply making her plants able to crush even harder would be simpler?

And she noted his response to her pheromones - she's actually somewhat impressed that he did so well with them, and for so long. Obviously, she needs to find a way to make them stronger somehow. She'd thought that she'd had plenty, but apparently not...

Also, his reflexes were a bit quicker than Nightwing's. Though even two seconds is enough time for the vines she had concealed around her waist to wrap around an arm so close to them - they're 'reflex' to her mental command is much faster than even her own body. But she didn't have a reason to attack since she knew beforehand that he'd curb his reactions in light of the cure that only she knows and refuses to reveal. No need to risk her precious babies in a fight that's already a draw. Besides, she doesn't know if he knows about them yet or not. Still, it's not how long he held her throat that matters, it's how quickly he grabbed it. She'd rather have stopped him from grabbing her in the first place. What she really should do is reinvent those plants she made long ago that responded to how fast things are going even without a mental command - if she can wear them and also make them stronger then she could also make it impossible for someone to grab her so suddenly. Perhaps making them able to also deflect bullets like the originals if that could be managed? Could it be a feature she can add to the vines she already wears? So many ideas, so little time...

Making mental notes to look into all of those things, she finds herself relaxing - she loves having everything always tightly under her control and that little meeting with Batman was not as controlled as she'd like. But she learned enough from it that she ought to do better next time she sees him - she's guessing that there will definitely be a 'next time'. Though she still can't believe that he was sitting right there in her car!

Come to think of it... It may be possible for her to extract his scent from the seat. Perhaps not the actual scent of the man so much because he's so covered, but his costume and whatever scents it has picked up. It would not be that difficult to filter out the smoke bomb and the normal scents of the car. That could be very useful for a variety of purposes, even though her ability with scents is limited. Wouldn't be able to find out anything about him from it, but her plants, and therefore she, would be able to tell the difference between him or someone wearing something similar from someone else. Hmm, that has some potential...