Poison Ivy stood in front of the French window when a vine suddenly sprang from in front of the bookshelf. She turned her head abruptly, and for a moment, she was taken aback as she saw the figure standing in the darkness.
"Batman? Should I be happy to say that you're not dead yet?"
"You know I'm not that easy to kill." Batman unusually stepped out of the shadows, but still tightly wrapped in his cape, looking like an elegant gargoyle perched atop a church eave.
"Unfortunately, I'm not the Batman you know," Batman lightly shook his head and said, "About that portal underground, I think there's something you need to tell me."
Poison Ivy's expression became slightly fixed. She opened her mouth slightly then pursed her deep red lips and said, "So it was a portal, huh?"
"When did you find it?"
"A long time ago," Poison Ivy sighed softly before telling Batman, "Back then, Joker was still alive—I mean, he hadn't died yet. Someone was causing me trouble, and when I fought them off with my vines, I stumbled upon it by chance. Right beneath Wayne Tower there's a mysterious basement, and the portal you talked about is inside there."
"But believe it or not, I didn't take a close look, nor did I ever talk to anyone about it."
"Why not?"
"Obviously, it's more likely to be the masterpiece of Batman, don't you think?" Poison Ivy said, "He suddenly decided to expand the basement of his base and put a strange device in there. What's the need to investigate it?"
Batman understood. He said, "Then have you seen it activated?"
"I don't know if it's considered activation, but a few days ago, it began emitting strange radiation, a peculiar dark power affecting the roots of the nearby plants and the groundwater."
"I thought it was radiation leakage from an experiment gone wrong by Batman, so I approached him, hoping he would handle it quickly, or else it would cause a large-scale environmental pollution."
"You're saying he already knew it was a portal before the incident?" Batman narrowed his eyes.
Poison Ivy shook her head and said, "I didn't think it was a portal at the time, and I don't know whether he knew it was."
Batman, however, knew his other self well. If someone had placed a peculiar object on his territory that was continuously emitting radiation, he would definitely find a way to find out what it really was.
Since he was already prepared, Arkham Batman wouldn't have been killed so easily. It was more likely that he was trapped now.
"The portal will open again," Batman assured Poison Ivy, "Numerous evil creatures will pour out from there."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Some countermeasures," Batman said, "If it's a large number of monsters, then try to eliminate as many of them as possible. If it's one monster, then delay its progress to the surface."
"And then you have a way of killing it?"
"There will be a way inside Wayne Tower." Batman said, "If the other Batman realized it was a portal, he would have definitely set up some safety protections."
"But they seem to have been ineffective," Poison Ivy contested, "Otherwise, how did that guy get to the Capitol Building?"
Batman knew she was referring to King Robin, but he still insisted on his point and said, "He's their leader, naturally exceptional in some way. I tend to think he used some method to hide himself, so he didn't trigger any alarms."
"It seems you're going to work on adjusting the defense mechanisms," Poison Ivy guessed his next move and said, "I can help you, even get more people to help, and all you need to do is assure me not to let that damned big-headed punk really take over Gotham—it would be a disaster."
Batman's gaze fell on the sky outside the French window. It was another dusk, but Gotham was especially glum; the buildings and streets lacked the historical depth of his hometown but had much more of the coldness of technology and machinery.
King Robin must be eager to be crowned again upon the ruins of Gotham, and the preparations and arrangements made by Arkham Batman before this had prevented him from being easily killed, which had stalled King Robin.
And what Batman and all reinforcements had to do was to prepare a feast for King Robin before his arrival, warmly welcoming him with a spectacular display of fireworks for his coronation.
After Batman left, Poison Ivy still quietly stood in front of the window, listening indifferently to the name of one superhero after another announced dead on the news.
She only looked with slight concern at the scarce greenery in Gotham City, the flowers that struggled to grow with all their might in such a harsh environment. They absolutely could not lose the sunlight they'd so painstakingly won due to the sinister intentions of humans. She would do everything in her power to prevent that from happening.
Poison Ivy suddenly noticed that the clarity beneath the once-clear glass was blurring, and a faint fog began to climb onto the window frame, until it spread across the entire glass surface.
Poison Ivy slightly furrowed her brow; she instinctively reached out to wipe the glass only to find that the fog was on the outside.
The next second, the fog rushed towards her violently. Poison Ivy tried to block it with her arms out of instinct but found the fog passed through her. When she turned around, she saw the fog coalesced into a figure behind her.
Thick vines surged out from the walls everywhere, and as the tip of the nearest vine was about to pierce into the fog, the pointed tip of a black umbrella was aimed directly at the center of Poison Ivy's forehead.
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The fog cleared, and Poison Ivy slightly widened her eyes. She saw a man with gray pupils, who looked somewhat familiar. She remembered seeing him somewhere before, but she didn't think they had ever interacted directly, so her impression was not deep.
"Who are you?"
Shiller folded his umbrella, not even glancing at the vines above his head, and placed the umbrella upright in front of him, resting his hands on the handle. He looked directly at Poison Ivy and said, "My name is Shiller. Where's Batman?"
"He just left." Poison Ivy revealed an expression that said she knew it would be like this, then she shook her head and said, "You don't look like one of his enemies, so I'll tell you that, barring any surprises, he should have gone to Wayne Tower."
Shiller didn't hurry to leave and said, "I need some of your neurotoxin, the higher the concentration, the better."
"What are you planning to do with it?" Poison Ivy furrowed her brow and asked, "You're not planning on using it to take down Batman, are you?"
"Of course not, you know that's impossible. I plan to disperse the neurotoxin throughout the entire city of Gotham in thick fog, first anesthetizing the citizens, then evacuating them out."
Poison Ivy slowly opened her mouth, looking Shiller up and down. She glanced to the side, then back again, and gently shook her head, saying, "You don't happen to have a student named Peter Parker, do you? He was here not long ago, and he had a crazy night right here."
Shiller nodded lightly and said, "I'm very proud of him."
"Proud my ass!" Poison Ivy raised her voice and shouted, "Was it you who taught him to destroy Gotham before the criminals can, so that they wouldn't get their way, right?! He nearly destroyed Gotham in one night! Twice!"
"That's why I said I'm very proud of him."
Poison Ivy covered her eyes and let out a long sigh, her shoulders sagged. She put one hand on her hip and the other waved forcefully, saying, "Get lost! I don't have what you're looking for, don't bother me!"
"I see." Shiller did not show any surprise, and he said, "It seems that Peter's actions have left a significant psychological impact on you, but I still insist that these are special methods for special times, and in my view, they are far from extreme measures."
"Not extreme measures?! Do you know what he did that night?!!"
"Of course, I watched the whole process." Shiller remained calm and spoke evenly, "Objectively speaking, his plan was quite good, but implemented in a bit of a rush. Considering the pressure he faced, his performance was already commendable."
"What is this?" Poison Ivy spread her hands and asked; "An initiation test for antisocial lunatics? Don't tell me you guys have a club."
Shiller remained silent.
Poison Ivy narrowed her eyes.
After a long while, she heaved another sigh, turned, and sat back down on the couch, saying, "If you're trying to anesthetize the whole city like Peter did and then send them out of the city to ensure their safety, I think you're going to unnecessary lengths."
"After the citizens were evacuated, those who were chicken-hearted mostly fled with their families. After all, Gotham has Wayne Enterprises, the economy is not bad, it's a big city, and real estate is expensive. It's not hard for them to sell their homes and move somewhere else, even the lower-class people from the slums can go live in the small villages around Brude Haven."
"Gotham doesn't have walls, and it's not like we have to draw people into the whirlpool. Those who would come back after all this are either mad or tied to their properties, no longer afraid of death. You have no obligation to ensure their safety. Even if you send them out, they'll still come back."
"I'm not doing this to ensure their safety." Shiller gently stroked the shaft of the umbrella and said, "The thrill of the hunt, listening to screams, relishing the bleeding and death, feeling the fear in one's own kind is carnage. Lifting up a piece of meat over 100 pounds from the muddy ground, beside a trash can, or inside a narrow house and then slashing it, is called butchery."
"King Robin is eagerly looking to create carnage in Gotham but finds that the living people who would normally run, scream, and bleed have turned into motionless dead meat. Can you guess how disappointed he'll be?"
"So you're doing all this just to disappoint him?"
"What else?"
Poison Ivy looked at Shiller speechlessly. Shiller, as if reluctantly, added another sentence, "As long as he's grossed out, he'll inevitably investigate who ruined his fun."
"You want him to come looking for you?"
"That's what I'm most concerned about right now," Shiller said with a sigh. "I don't know why, but they're all more interested in Batman. But, in my opinion, he could be more helpful to the world at my side."
"You sound like some kind of psychopath... you're not, are you?"
Shiller remained silent.
"No, I won't give it to you," Poison Ivy shook her head and said, "Don't look at me like that. Even if you knock me out right now, even if you cut me open, you won't get what you want because I simply don't have any."
Poison Ivy looked at Shiller's expression and said speechlessly, "What do you think neurotoxin is, my hair? That it grows back every few days?"
"The neurotoxin used to anesthetize the whole city before was provided by me, and the serum used to neutralize the leftover toxin as well. Where would I get that much toxin?"
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