Nature Against Man [Gordon, Batman, Open]

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

There aren't very many people in Robinson Park this early in the morning. The sun is only just beginning to rise, so those wishing to enjoy the day haven't arrived yet or are just beginning to, and those who enjoy lurking in the darkness for various reasons - most of them bad - have already cleared out. So those who are in the park right now fall into approximately four different categories: the homeless, who may not have left the park in days; the earliest of the early morning exercisers; people cutting through the park on the way to their early morning job; and various street vendors, buskers, and beggars who have arrived early so that they can prepare themselves to tackle the upcoming morning rush hour. This is no small number of people, but it's nothing compared to what it will be later in the day.

That is, if this was any other day, like the day previously. Today there is likely to be very few people in the park indeed. That is if all goes according to plan. So far it is - Poison Ivy was left alone during the night. Well, except that she did notice Batman lurking around briefly, but he didn't seem to try very hard to find her. So she was able to spend the entire night with her preparations. And now that the sun is rising and its light has begun to warm and nourish her babies, the time is right for her plans to come to fruition.

It started with a bit of haze in the middle of the park. That alone isn't that unusual in a city like Gotham where it's easy enough to bribe your way out of paying any attention to the environmental laws. But this haze is pink, thick, and low to the ground, soon forming a rather questionable looking fog. And anyone who isn't wary enough to avoid getting a lungful of the stuff would seem to be rapidly consumed by it, hidden from view by a wall of pink. Fortunately for the early-birds of Gotham, most of them are smart enough to avoid it, which isn't that difficult to do - though the fog expands to consume the entire center of the park, it does so at a pace that can be outmatched by a quick walk. Fortunately, this alone is enough to scare most of the people who are in the park out of it and convince many more to not enter it in the first place.

Those Gothamites who are jaded enough to not let a pink fog ruin their visit to the park are largely convinced by the second, and even more overt, occurrence in the park this morning: whether by coincidence or by design, occurring at the precise moment that the first vehicle belonging to the local authorities arrives, no doubt responding to the report of a mysterious pink fog. Around the entire perimeter of the park, right at the point where the sidewalk meets the edge of the park, a thick hedge suddenly grows - reaching seven feet high within a matter of a few minutes. There are no gaps in the wall of the vegetation to be found, even in the places where a path branched off of the sidewalk and the plants had to burst through solid concrete, except for the center of the eastern and western sides of the park. Naturally, the hedges have thorns.

And, afraid of being walled in entirely, those who didn't flee the park already quickly take their leave. Most of them, anyway - in Gotham especially, there's always those crazies who can't take a hint and then there's also those who disappeared into the pink fog. But it's not looking good for any of them.

[Deleted]

In truth? There was no such term as “quittin’ time” when it came to HIS world. The world of the Bat. If he had it his way? He’d have surveillance and patrol around Gotham 24/7/365 – no exceptions, no excuses. But? He wasn’t quite there yet with in implanting his ideal method of “protection” to his city and thus he couldn’t be available 24/7/365 when it came to crime. Lord knows he certainly did make it his goal to try. Like tonight, for example…


The Bat had stayed out way later in his city, eradicating the scum from the streets in his patented trademark way, making a glimpse of his snarling black bat-shaped masked cowl become much more apparent now that the early morning sun was starting to rise. Crime in Gotham never truly seemed to take a break – despite the time of night or day with the one exception of the light that the rising morning sun provided. It was during those golden moments of time when the sun actually seemed to cleanse the decaying city of its corruption and sin in those wee early morning hours when Gotham actually seemed to be somewhat peaceful and serene. Except for today.


It just happened that the Bat was located in the right place at the right time to catch out of the corner of his eye a sudden rush of early morning joggers, park enthusiasts, and other random innocent civilians suddenly make a mad dashed beeline out of Robinson Park at this barely rising dawn hour. The light of the sun scarcely touching the lush green foliage of the city park had already proved to be a signal to Batman that his reign of protection over Gotham was coming quickly now to an end for the night. And yet? Seeing such an anomaly of fleeing park enthusiasts run in horror from heir safe haven without given cause or warning? No. Batman could not ignore this and just turn in for the night.


Whenever ever injustice occurred within his city, he vowed to be there – despite whatever sacrifice he might have to make. In a single silent swooping glide, his form remained in the thick darkness of the slowly depleting shadows – the night fading as the sun was starting its rein for the day. Batman managed to secure for himself an obscure, hidden post well shaded from the rising light atop one of the Robison Park Rangers’ facilities – nestled within the shrubbery of the city park. It was from this secure vantage point atop the one story, brick building that Batman now utilized a high-tech binocular gadget from his ever-so handy utility belt.


Peering through the gadget’s lenses he now honed in on the source of trouble within Robinson Park – not only analyzing the situation before him, but recording it for future study. Through those high-tech lenses it would be then that he saw what it was that was bringing such panic to Gotham’s early risers at the park this morning. The hedges within the center of the park were growing at an abnormal rate! Not only were they growing and thickening in size, but those hedges were forming something of a perimeter around the park – blocking people from getting in or out of the city’s free space! The thickly and insanely fast-growing vegetation was unlike anything the Bat had ever seen! It was as if the plants themselves had taken on a life of their own – almost like they were teaching all Gothamites a lesson or two. It was insanity!


Despite being caught up in the absolute incredible – Batman focused his narrowed, high-tech gaze to hone in on what appeared to be the causing source for such an oddity to befall Robinson Park’s foliage. A pink haze – that seemed to be the silent culprit. Subtle, silent, and yet absolutely effective. And given its potency, it appeared that the Bat had arrived just in the nick of time – before being sealed out of the park and blocked off by thorn covered hedges.


Yup. He was lucky – Batman had managed to secure himself a rather hidden post just deeply nestled inside the park, atop a Robinson Park Ranger outpost, secured in the middle of such a freak show attraction. Zooming in on the dispersing pink foggy haze a single thought kept coming to mind… Ivy.

[Deleted]

It was an extremely early Gotham morning, the local populace had just awoke from their slumber and preparing for work like any other day. Of course that was the regular schedule for just about everyone in the city, give or take a few specific exceptions. One of the obvious exceptions was Gotham's resident Dark Knight, the Batman. The other obvious exception was the Commissioner of the Gotham City police department, James Worthington Gordon.

Last night for the Commissioner was rather hard, the Botanical gardens was under attack by Poison Ivy. That event ended with Ivy fleeing, but Gordon knew it wasn't over. Of course, since it was such a long night the Commissioner eventually passed out at his desk.  the man's glasses all askew on his face and toppled mountains of paper work surrounding the over-worked and tired commissioner. His bliss was soon interrupted by his telephone, the loud device went off several times before Gordon finally came back to full consciousnesses. The man wiped the slobber from his mouth, and reached for a half empty styrofoam cup of stale coffee. The taste was horrible, but at least it cured his overly dry mouth. An unfortunate consequence due to all of the medication he was prescribed by his doctor in the previous months.


The commissioner finally brought the phone to his ear, answering the call. "Commissioner Gordon here." Silence followed for a moment before a rushed and hurried voice came on the line. "Gordon! This is mayor Sharpe! I assume you are on the up and up with what is going on? I sure hope so since so much of the cities budget is going to your operations." Unfortunately, Gordon did not know what was going on. The human part of him passed out on his desk, at about 4:30 in the morning. Only a few hours ago, before that he had been up for over twenty-four straight hours. No sleep and bad habits have definitely taken their toll after all of these years, something that Gordon couldn't afford to dwell on at this moment. "No sir, I apologize. What is going on?" Gordon asked the mayor in a very calm tone. He knew it couldn't be good if the mayor seemed this worried. Whatever it was, the GCPD had probably already responded. He knew his boys could handle just about everything that the city threw at him. 

"Christ Gordon, what does the city pay you for? Turn to channel seven right now! That green menace is back. Why aren't you doing something about this!? Why aren't you there right now?" Gordon sighed lightly, digging for the remote around his desk for the small television he had in his office. Once he found what he was looking for he turned on the TV and switched to channel seven. He saw a live breaking news story about Robinson park. Poison Ivy had returned and this time she was attacking the park outright. Gordon knew that she would return at some point. He wasn't sure when it would happen, but he definitely knew it would. "I'm on it sir, right away." Gordon did his best to reassure the mayor. 

"You'd best put that green bitch in her place, Gordon. Or the city will come down on you." The call on the mayors end abruptly ended, Gordon then putting his phone back into his pocket. Without another moment passing, the Commissioner pulled himself up from his desk and started putting on his trench coat. Over the next few minutes, the commissioner left his office and the GCPD building. When he first walked outside he was greeted with a gust of fresh air. Gotham was foggy this morning, with a light drizzle overhead. The kind of weather that didn't really agree with Gordon. The commissioner powered through it, making his way to his vehicle. He entered his car and then proceeded to drive to Robinson park. Within minutes Gordon arrived at Robinson park. He saw that the park was blocked off by a giant wall of green with thorns. Gordon stepped out of his car, looking for the man in charge.

"Commissioner!" A familiar voice rang out, one that belonged to Lieutenant Hennesy. "Glad you could join us sir. You'll be glad to know that SWAT team one and two are preparing to find a way in. Patrol units have set up a perimeter and our best sharpshooters are stationed at the highest point. Oh, and air support is on its way. Seeing as its Ivy, should we call the Metropolis SCU?" 

Gordon shook his head. "Let's not make a decision like that quite let, lieutenant. The SCU was just here the night before. We better  figure out the situation first. It is very possible that the Batman is on location. We shouldn't make any moves until we know what we're dealing with. Now while we know we're dealing with Ivy, we don't know why she is here. Patience, Lieutenant."

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Whatever was causing the pink fog seems to have stopped, as it slowly stops its expansion after it has seemingly consumed the entire center of the park. In fact, though it's difficult to see, it's very gradually starting to thin. Not very quickly, the exact center of the park is still well obscured by it and it will take many minutes more before anything there might be visible. But around the edges, where it's thinning fastest, what was hidden is being revealed again.

And it emerges different than it was before. Robinson Park is one of the more famous urban green spaces and is known for, among other things, it's beautiful greenery. But that pales in comparison to what is coming into view now. Almost resembling a lush tropical rainforest, there are so many plants that many of them are literally growing on each other. And yet it's not quite tropical - the forms of the plants themselves seem quite familiar to anyone used to the flora of temperate North America. Yet they're exotic too - has anyone seen pine trees so thick and healthy? Bushes so large and dense? Ivy - not the woman, but her namesake plant - that winds its way through the trees with just as much ease as a jungle vine? The scene is quite comparable to the depictions of nature in fantasy art - the plants too grand in scale to be real.

And yet they are real - very real. With the park now empty of all but a handful of fools - the rest having taken advantage of the two remaining gaps in the tall hedge - the park is strangely quiet. Even the birds and insects seem to be in short supply. This adds an almost ominous feeling to the air - the absence of sound in the middle of a bustling city in the morning. As time passes, the slowly lifting fog reveals more and more of this strange vegetation, and if it proves to fill the entire part of the park still hidden from view by the lingering fog, then it covers a couple hundred acres.

There is no sign of Poison Ivy or anyone else - which is perhaps quite concerning because that means that there is no sign of the people who disappeared into the fog either. Nevertheless, one of the men foolish enough to stay in the park, now wandering close to the strangely thick forest to take a few pictures with his cellphone, doesn't appear to be in any danger.

[Deleted]

The Bat scanned the pink mist afflicted perimeters of Robinson Park, switching between views on his mask’s digital eye lenses in effort to locate the potential origin of the invading mist. Though he was unsuccessful in pin-pointing just where the anomalous pink mist had started to flow from, he did happen to spy the sudden flashing lights belonging to several GCPD squad cars with sirens blaring as they arrived on scene. Law enforcement fanned out quickly and surrounded the city park, cutting off all points of entry/exit from the possibility of having any unwitting bystanders accidentally wander into the throws of this unknown, growing danger. And without fail, there was good ol’ Jim right in the dead center of all the chaos, taking command as the Police Chief Commissioner once he began barking out orders at his squadron.

The warm feeling of support was all-too brief in passing, for even though Commissioner James Gordon was just as much a friend as he was an ally in fighting crime, (albeit, he was on the lawful side of crime fighting) the rest of the men on the force varied in their opinions of working with the Bat – most pissed off by the idea of some jerk vigilante practically one-upping them out of a job in crime stopping. Though Gordon had recently managed to grant Batman some semblance of immunity from being hunted as a vigilante by the rest of the GCPD 24/7, he couldn’t always guarantee a smooth interaction free from pursuit of the law. The Bat was still on his own, for the most part – which suited him just fine. Given this morning’s oddity-caused rising threat level, might as well test the waters to see if Gordon would be willing to work with him.

Batman tapped a few air-thin buttons secretly located on the outer forearm of his black glove and accessed his suit’s hidden bioware console digital scanner to detect and hack into the police radio com-link frequency. After a few seconds, he was able to successfully patch himself into Gordon’s personal radio com-link line.

“I’ve patched a secure two-way link into your line. I’m currently located inside the north west quadrant of the park.” Batman’s unmistakable growl of a voice was now suddenly heard coming directly from Gordon’s radio com-link device.

“Ivy’s given no sign of her location or any list of demands, yet. For all we know, she may just be testing the effects of a new formula. For now, hold off from entering but keep your men in ready position.”

Batman’s deep scan digital lens mode returned to swiftly survey the area where the pink mist had begun to completely dissipate, leaving in its wake the incredible quick growth of strangely new foliage. Hybrid plants that seemed to be a cross between jungle and wooded forest, just as lush as the thick wall of thorns they protectively grew behind.

“Alright. Pink mist just vanished. Now hybrid plants are starting to grow at an accelerated rate in its place. Definitely hostile. Tons of thorns. And vines. And now appear to be taking over most the park.”

He scowled, so much for the possibility of catching up on sleep today. It was nearly 5am and it was clear the fun had only just begun…

“There’s also a number of innocents trapped within. Check your phone – just sent you a mapped digital scan of Robinson Park’s current layout with real-time viewing of any sudden terrane changes.”

The Bat then ended connection to Gordon’s radio com-link and pulled out a small sample collection kit from one of his utility belt’s many pouches. Just then, out of the corner of his eye he noticed one of the trapped citizens walking dangerously close to the ever-growing, volatile plant-life in order to stupidly capture the ordeal on his cell phone’s camera. Moving with lightning speed and skill, Batman now took to a silent glide, jumping off his rooftop perch from the park rec observatory center building.

Honing in with precision, he took aim at the innocent civilian and just before the man could get a single step closer for that sure-to-go-viral-and-become-a-meme cellphone pic he was readying to take, Batman deftly snatched the man up by the scruff of his shirt collar in complete surprise. His jaws-of-life vise grip swiftly lifted the man off his feet, using the strength of gliding momentum Batman then roughly tossed him a few feet back free from the plant’s harm – but not free from the Bat’s harm. Expertly landing before where the man now lay on the ground in a heap of shock and confusion he now found himself peering into the unsettling, dimmed white glow of Batman’s unblinking slit gaze.

“Stay away from those plants if you wanna’ stay alive!” The Bat snarled out the one and only warning he would give to the man.

Before the civilian had a chance to respond – let alone even register his “I-Was-Just-Saved-By-The-Dark-Knight” gritty experience, Batman was already gone. Sure, he treated the civilian more harshly than usual – but he didn’t exactly have time to play nice and build rapport. He had a non-stop growing, massive, deadly vegetation to handle and if not handled soon then he would be facing countless more innocents all needing to be saved from harm’s way.

“Jim,” Batman spoke through the radio com-link again to Gordon as he now moved silent and unseen within the gloomy fog and dark shadows.

“Fire has proven to be effective against Ivy’s plants in the past. Have your men try using blow torches on the boarder of thorns. If we can get just a small access point to open, I can at least try to get the innocents out of here.”

Gaining subtle distance to a section of the bizarre hybrid plant that seemed more lethargic and far less alert than its brethren, Batman produced that sample collection of his once again. In the blink of an eye, his hand gave a single viper strike out to a thick waxy vine tendril and sliced off a small chunk with the kit’s scalpel. He was sure to then leap back – hand at the ready on his grappling gun he would now fire, aiming up at the park ranger tower he had spied a few yards away.

Once he reached a safe enough vantage point atop the security tower, he turned his attention to his sample collection kit and the newly acquired specimen at hand. He secured the vegetation sample within the collection kit’s small digital container and immediately began an analysis of the plant – breaking down the sample to its very molecular core. Even though it didn’t take long for a complete analysis to be conducted, it still took precious moments he knew he really didn’t have to give.