About ten minutes earlier, Poison Ivy and Shiller had arrived at the ACE Chemical Factory, the largest chemical plant in Gotham City. Although Poison Ivy had been here a few times, she had never completely explored any of its areas.
Moreover, since the factory was built quite some time ago, its internal facilities were not very modern, and the architectural design wasn't scientific. The areas were not clearly divided, and even their own workers would occasionally get lost in a different area, which is why Poison Ivy always found it difficult to orient herself as soon as she entered.
But she just watched as Shiller moved through the facility as if he were in his own home, first passing through the reception office area at the front, reaching the archives behind, and locating the records of the raw materials storage.
Then, following the numbers on the document, he traversed a large part of the factory to find the storage warehouse for flammable and explosive materials. He then found the control room in a corner opposite the warehouse, successfully unlocked the safety lock, and managed to acquire the raw materials needed for the explosives.
Poison Ivy did not quite catch the subsequent process, but anyhow Shiller mixed various strange ingredients in an even stranger manner to create something that did not look remotely like a bomb.
They set off the bomb within the chemical factory, and as Poison Ivy watched the smoke form into a smiling face from the explosion, she couldn't help but ask—aren't you a little too skilled at this?
Poison Ivy had never seen the Joker go through the entire process of making an explosion, but she had heard a few words from Harley: to compete on the same stage with a master like Batman, speed is of the essence.
However, having a background in chemistry and biology herself, Poison Ivy knew that making explosives was a troublesome matter. Even the simplest homemade explosives required several adjustments based on the nature of the materials before they could be successfully detonated.
But Batman would not give the Joker sufficient preparation time, so Poison Ivy had always been somewhat puzzled—how could the Joker create explosions one after another with Batman on his tail?
Now she understood; there was no other trick to it—familiarity breeds expertise.
Excluding the time spent navigating inside the factory, the entire bomb-making process took only about two minutes. Even if you included all the time for finding information and moving materials, it was still less than 10 minutes. Talking about making an explosion, it was faster than going to the guard booth to steal a pen.
Knowing that Batman would be arriving soon, the two got back into the car and headed towards Wayne Tower. Poison Ivy asked while driving, "Didn't you say you were a university professor? Do you often make bombs?"
"Not often," Shiller replied, straightening his tie.
Poison Ivy turned to him with a puzzled look, opened her mouth to press further, but was quickly distracted by something else—outside the vehicle, the sparse plants on the green belts also began turning their heads towards her.
"What is going on? We are clearly far from the portal," Poison Ivy's expression turned serious. "The pollution hadn't spread here just dozens of minutes ago; how has it reached here so quickly…"
"Is there any chance of saving these plants?" Shiller asked.
Poison Ivy shook her head and said, "Plants have a slow metabolic system, and even if we find a way to completely eradicate the pollution, it's difficult for them to metabolize all of it. Their fibers and cells also can't withstand that kind of strain."
Shiller heard the faint sadness in Poison Ivy's voice and realized that these polluted plants were probably beyond saving, which was the same answer he had gotten from Gray Mist.
Gray Mist could perfectly extract the pollutant energy from within plant cells. The problem was that the cells of small plants and grasses were too few and reproduced too slowly. After such an extraction, the cells without a source of energy would quickly wilt, and the remaining ones wouldn't last until new cells could be rebuilt.
"From your perspective, is this a massacre of inhuman proportions?" Shiller asked knowingly.
"Worse than that," Poison Ivy looked away and said, "Plant extinction isn't uncommon. Whether it's the several mass extinctions in the history of Earth or the local extinctions caused by pollution since the advent of the human race, they could all be considered natural selection."
"No matter how many times they've been extinct or how dreadful each extinction was, Earth's oldest inhabitants always managed to come back to life, thriving everywhere again while the animals that went extinct with them disappeared into the sands of time."
"You might find it odd that, as an extreme plant conservationist, I am so indifferent to this, but in reality, I see plants as a whole. Everything they experience in the cycle of nature is their destiny. As long as they can sprout anew in the coming season, then it is not a disaster."
"What infuriates me most about this matter is that the individual who released the pollution is trying to transform the plants with it, making them defy their instincts," Poison Ivy said, looking at the plants that continued to try reaching into the car with their stems to hit her, anger rising in her eyes.
"The evolutionary process of plants is a masterpiece of nature; everything about them serves their survival. This is the only reason they have been able to persist through extinction after extinction."
"But the damned energy that fellow injected into them, making them use their trunks, leaves, and flowers—organs not intended for attack—to try attacking me, and if they can't, transforming them into grotesque and twisted forms, is downright repulsive."
As Poison Ivy spoke towards the end, she faltered a bit, and Shiller nodded, fully understanding what she meant.
Poison Ivy could stand in another, non-human aesthetic perspective to appreciate the beauty of plants. The natural structures of these plants are the sources of this beauty, and their natural functions are part of the aesthetic process.
But to destroy this organismic structure to make them carry out functions they were not supposed to assume, from Poison Ivy's perspective, might seem as disgusting to the average person as looking at humans transformed into creatures of tumors and cysts.
"You know who did it, right?" Poison Ivy suddenly spoke, "You came with an answer."
"But that's the only answer I have. We're here."
They got out of the car, and the area near Wayne Tower was very quiet because there were no plants at all.
It was clear that Batman, when he arrived, had also used an invasive method to break the security system because his face differed from the Arkham Batman's, and their body data didn't match, so he couldn't have simply blended in.
He was in too much of a hurry to have time to meticulously repair the security system. The fact that he could restore the defense system near the portal before he left was already his limit. Therefore, Shiller and Poison Ivy quickly found a loophole and entered Wayne Tower.
Poison Ivy was not familiar with the interior structure of Wayne Tower. While wondering where the liquid storage tanks for the Weather Control Center might be, Shiller had already led her to the special chemical storage room through the internal elevator.
"What exactly is going on?" Poison Ivy was clearly asking Shiller. She even stood in place, eyeing Shiller with suspicion and said, "What's your relationship with Batman and the Joker from your universe? Why do you know so much about their commonly visited places?"
"I have some relationship with them," said Shiller, checking the liquid storage tanks, which to Poison Ivy's ears probably meant: I once got involved with these two lunatics but managed to get out in one piece.
The liquid storage tank Shiller found was small, just slightly larger than a handbag and could easily be carried by hand. He opened the storage tank and let Poison Ivy confirm that it indeed contained a concentrated neurotoxin. If properly diluted, it could potentially take down everyone in the Gotham City Area.
"The Weather Control System is no longer functional," said Poison Ivy. "Since Peter easily hacked the protection lock last time and used this stuff to anesthetize the whole city, Bruce Wayne simply dismantled the core components. How do you plan to release the toxin?"
"That's the easy part," Shiller said. He opened the storage tank and turned into a mist under Poison Ivy's watchful eyes. When the mist made contact with the liquid in the tank, the liquid visibly began to decrease in volume.
Poison Ivy's eyes widened again. She knew the potency of the substance since she was the one who made it—after all, half a small tank of it, once diluted, could still anesthetize the entire city, which speaks volumes to the neurotoxin's lethality.
To Poison Ivy's shock, Shiller downed it like a beverage, chug by chug by chug, leaving her even suspecting that the satisfied belch she thought she heard was an illusion.
Shortly thereafter, Shiller's figure disappeared from the room. Poison Ivy walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, trying to see where Shiller had gone, but saw nothing. Only after a while did she notice fog forming outside the glass.
The dense fog spread from Wayne Tower, expanding towards the city outskirts at an incredible speed. Poison Ivy watched as the entirety of Gotham was being shrouded with a foggy filter, with the surge of gray mist crawling through every street and alley.
Although it was very obvious from overhead, for pedestrians walking the streets, the thin fog did not immediately draw attention, not much different from Gotham's usual bad weather.
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows in Wayne Manor, the Prime Universe's Nightwing glanced at the gradually fogging glass before returning his attention to the task at hand.
Jason and Tim, however, who were upstairs unpacking their luggage, had their eyes wide open. They dashed down the stairs, yelling at the others, "Quick! Find a sealed room or put on a Gas Mask!!"
In the living room of Wayne Manor, Robins from two universes were gathered—Robins from the Prime Universe and Arkham Universe—all stuffing their faces with food, some chugging nutrient solutions, knowing they wouldn't have time to eat in the coming hours.
Hearing Jason's shout, they were momentarily stunned, then all turned their heads in unison towards the two rushing down.
"Gas Masks! Quick!!!!"
Dick also ran out of another room shouting. Seeing his urgency, others instinctively began to look for protective measures.
"Too late, into the Batcave, close the door!" Jason gestured to them.
All the Robins rushed into the Batcave. Once inside, they looked at one another awkwardly until all eyes settled on Jason.
Jason let out a relieved sigh, as if he had narrowly escaped death.