Shiller and Poison Ivy stared each other down.
"Stop looking at me, Mr. Mad. If I say there's nothing, there's nothing. Even if Batman takes my blood for testing right now, he won't find any toxic substances. Otherwise, do you think I'd just stand here and do nothing to stop that crazy bastard from destroying the city?"
Shiller could tell Poison Ivy wasn't being completely honest with him. The neurotoxin might be gone, but not because it was used up. Poison Ivy was clearly hiding something.
"What did Batman come to you for?"
"The same reason you came to me," Poison Ivy said, circling the subject. "The whole of Gotham City knows that my vines represent my eyes; I'm aware of everything that happens there. Batman came to me because, obviously, he needed the information I had."
"And you gave it to him."
"Yes, because right now I clearly have no one else to turn to but him."
"You're more powerless than you let on," Shiller said, looking around. "These vines are just a bluff. You're very weak right now. You probably think the situation is dire. Whether it's Batman or the Batman Family, their full effort to resist King Robin is the best help they could offer you. You don't think they have the time or the ability to help you out."
Shiller paused, then continued to speculate, "But that's not the main reason. You think they don't want to help you."
"Yeah," Poison Ivy went along with him. "In their eyes, I'm a criminal; why would they want to help me out of trouble?"
"No, that's not it." Shiller eyed Poison Ivy up and down and said, "When I first came here, I noticed you were very anxious, always looking outside, tapping the ground with your toes. It's a sign of wanting to escape."
"Didn't expect another great detective around here," Poison Ivy said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Don't rush," Shiller continued. "You feel trapped and very anxious. This anxiety, apart from the tension of having to fool a high-caliber detective like Batman, must have a deeper reason."
"You're afraid of Batman, but not the kind of fear a criminal feels...at least not for your past crimes."
"I haven't committed any crimes before, and even if I had, after looking after that little maniac named Peter Parker for a night, Batman should at least give me a Safe Guard award."
"Have you noticed?" Shiller approached Poison Ivy, pacing behind her. "You keep asserting that you and Batman are on the same side. You emphasize the help you've provided him, the contributions you've made to the city."
"Because that's the truth."
"Yes, but in the past, you didn't take pride in this. You didn't care about these things at all, yet now you keep stressing them. Who are you trying to convince? Me? Or yourself?"
Shiller pondered and said, "Stressing to me that you're on Batman's side doesn't have any significant advantages because even if you can tell I'm Batman's friend and not an enemy, and since you don't ask anything from Batman, you wouldn't ask anything from me either. What's the use of expressing your allegiance?"
"Unless your position has changed, you think you're now on Batman's opposite side, but you're afraid of him discovering that fact. So, subconsciously, you're highlighting the great contributions you've made to the city and to Batman, casting yourself in the good guy's camp to defuse his hostility."
Poison Ivy opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again, as she realized she had revealed too much.
"You think I betrayed Batman?"
"When have you ever cared about Batman?"
"When committing crimes," Poison Ivy almost instinctively replied, but after hesitating, she added, "Besides Joker, that madman, nobody isn't afraid of Batman."
Shiller clearly saw a fleeting but unmistakable fear on Poison Ivy's face. At least in the Arkham Knight universe, as the Dark Knight, Batman was quite diligent, almost perfectly fulfilling his initial intent upon becoming Batman. Every criminal would conjure that dread-inspiring figure in their mind while committing a crime.
Perhaps because the Arkham Batman himself is set to be more violent; he indeed doesn't kill, but he does everything else but kill. Breaking spines, shattering limbs, driving the Batmobile over people's heads—no wonder criminals are afraid.
"What did you do?" Shiller asked.
Poison Ivy shook her head, unwilling to speak, but Shiller was not going to let her off so easily. He continued, "After doing something, you knew Batman wouldn't let you go. You were ready to confess before he came to you, but fooling this Batman gave you newfound hope."
"Maybe you think he's more lenient, but he probably just doesn't care," Shiller said. "Many times he'll go to great lengths to uncover someone's secrets, but he can also prioritize. Pressing you now won't bring any benefits to him; the city may just spiral further down the path of destruction."
"He believes you can be persuaded, even if you have secrets from him. At least one thing remains unchanged; neither of you wants King Robin to arrive. He wants to save Gotham; you want to save the plants within Gotham. On this point, your stances align."
"So even if you might have done something before, when faced with life-or-death choices, you'll tend to side with him. Therefore, no matter what secrets you're keeping, they can be discussed later."
Shiller stared at Poison Ivy's face and said, "You seem very surprised. Is it because Batman isn't the kind of person you think he is?"
"Of course not," Poison Ivy said. "In this city, he's a cruel tyrant. No one can defy him, and we all know how much Joker's death was his own fault and how much was Batman venting his anger."
"You're not wrong about that," Shiller said. "Batman has too much anger to vent, but if a list were made, would you be at the top? Even now, when you may have committed some act of betrayal against him."
"Of course not," Poison Ivy was quite confident as she said, "I hardly ever commit crimes. Arkham's finest patient, although last time I got drunk and vomited, I killed more than half of the plants in his garden with my toxins. I guess that would bump me up at least two spots on that list."
"I guess he doesn't like plants as much as you do, and he's very rich, so, make it one spot," Shiller said with a slight pause. "Since that's the case, adding another chip to your crimes won't tip the scales immediately, no matter which Batman it is, he won't come after you right away."
"You could use this time to make amends, or fool Batman in a more fundamental way, instead of just empty talk, kidding yourself that Batman hasn't seen through you."
"A more fundamental method?"
"You'll have to tell me what you've done first."
Poison Ivy took a deep breath, hesitated again, which let Shiller know, she must have done something unimaginably bad; otherwise, she wouldn't be struggling to speak at this point.
Shiller did not further persuade her, instead waiting for Poison Ivy to collect herself. Although she was feeling guilty, her mind was still clear, and she knew that being so passive wasn't a solution.
"I opened the portal," Poison Ivy said, covering one eye as she sat on the couch. "I didn't anticipate the severe consequences."
"What exactly happened? Tell me in detail."
"About two months ago, I noticed that the roots of the underground plants began to wither, which severely affected the growth of the plants on the surface; they began to shrink, stop growing upwards, and finally died in a strange posture."
"I started investigating and discovered that some dark energy was gathering in one direction. I found the source of this energy and believed I had to deal with it, but at the time, I didn't think it was a big deal."
"I gathered the plants' powers, planning to absorb and break down the energy. You might not know this, but plants have a very strong decomposition ability; they can break down almost any energy into nutrients."
"At first, things went smoothly. The massive amount of vines, trees, and flowers I sent absorbed the energy perfectly, supporting the outer layer of power, but when the inner layer was exposed, I knew I had made a mistake."
"It was bait, a ticking time bomb. The energy surging inside was different from the outer layer, not pure, more like a pollutant. The plants I sent were contaminated. They spontaneously formed the shape of a portal, and the energy they had broken down and converted into nutrients became the flame that ignited the portal."
"And then King Robin came bursting out?"
"Worse than that. What first came out was a strong pollution. Now most of Gotham's plant roots are contaminated and no longer under my control, so I could only hide here because those insane plants are looking for me."
Poison Ivy showed a pained expression as she said, "I'm currently using uncontaminated energy to control the remaining plants and fight against them, but there are too many, and I can't completely eliminate them. I can only protect myself right now."
Poison Ivy also looked up at the plants in the room and said, "These aren't meant to threaten you. They're a protective net I've set up. If those contaminated plants rush in, these will be the last line of defense to protect me."
"But Batman can come in easily."
"Batman can easily enter anywhere," Poison Ivy sighed and said, "Okay, but it seems this pollution is aiming directly at me. It doesn't care about others. The insane plants don't attack anyone else, otherwise, you would have seen it on the news already."
"But if they completely contaminate and take control, it won't be the same for you, right?" Shiller suggested a possibility.
"I don't know, they are too peculiar," Poison Ivy shook her head and said, "I even suspect that they're not targeting me, but something behind me. All I can do now is buy as much time as possible."
"So far, I can still hold them off, but if Batman comes back, I don't think he will listen to my explanations. After all, I was the one who opened the portal. Essentially, I am the murderer who almost killed him."
"The murderers are King Robin and the one who released the pollution energy," Shiller judged and said, "If someone set a trap for you from a thousand miles away, and you had no idea, then being unable to respond in time and getting into trouble is understandable; it's no big deal to make a forced mistake."
"But how am I supposed to explain all this to Batman?" Poison Ivy spread her hands and said.
"Of course, you don't need to explain all this to Batman," Shiller also sat down on the couch, looking at Poison Ivy with assurance and said, "It is Batman who owes you an explanation."
Poison Ivy's eyes widened.