12 Forgotten Past

[Tin Roof Club, Gotham City]

[[Blake Hardy]]

Both of us decided to talk somewhere safe, and what better place for villains than the Tin Roof Club?

"Where did you get those keys?" Pamela asked but remembered upon I raised an eyebrow. "Ah, Selina. Of course." 

She shook her head as the two of us walked inside the club.

"This place is good enough," I said as both of us took a seat at the corner of the club. "You… must have a lot of questions, huh?"

She stared at me. "Six years. You vanish for six years and you dare to ask if I have a lot of questions?" She seemed angry and I don't blame her. I was the one that vanished for all these years. It was not her fault that I cannot explain the reason.

Sighing at the situation, I put on a forced smile. "Those six years weren't easy for me either, Pamela. While I cannot explain the reason for vanishing, I can say that staying away from Gotham wasn't easy for me either."

She rolled her eyes. "Wasn't easy? I would give away everything to leave this horrible place." 

"Then why haven't you?" I asked as I knew her previous statement was a lie. "Selina said that you stayed here for all this time. Why did you do that when you could have easily left this place?" 

She didn't answer.

"Because you can't." She tried looking away. "We have been here far longer than any other superhero or supervillain. When we were just teenagers, the only superhero was Batman and the villain was Joker."

That was true. I didn't awaken my power when Batman first started his career or when Joker went on his first killing spree.

"You, me, Waylon, Selina, Penguin, Scarecrow… we all started after witnessing the first horrible massacre that sick bastard committed." Even saying his name made me angry. 

Pamela turned around noticing my anger. And since this was about her and not Joker, I tried taking deep breaths in order to calm myself.

"While you grew up in Seattle, you know that everything started in here, Gotham." 

"I know." She whispered meekly, making me pause. 

I looked at her… already knowing that she would rather avoid discussing her past.

"I am sorry." I apologized. "Our relationship had been quite rocky in the past as well, Pamela. And I still blame myself for what happened to you all those years ago."

She flinched. She flinched remembering the past. 

"I know it is not easy… but in the end, no matter what… Our roots are in Gotham. We started here." I said.

After a moment of silence, she decided to reply. "You don't know… you have no idea what I went through in all those years."

"I don't." I honestly don't. "But Pamela… You are not the only one that has suffered. While your past was something I could have prevented… But me being away… was not something I could have stopped." 

"You should have been there for me." Her voice was breaking. 

Yeah. I know… But there was no one with me either. I had to face those trials on my own.

I wanted to say that… but couldn't.

Both of us remained silent. We knew better than to argue about our pasts and I didn't want to hurt her further than I already did.

"We met in Seattle when I was still in university. You and Waylon were trying to find a herb that suppressed Scarecrow's toxins." She smiled, reminiscing about the past. "And Waylon ended up knocking down half of the plants in the greenhouse."

"And you got so angry that you yelled at the giant Killer Croc… before fainting." A chuckle left my mouth. "I still don't know till this day whether you fainted because of realizing that you were yelling at a monstrous villain… or you fainted because of the anger "

"Maybe both?"

We both laughed at that but Pamela decided to continue.

"You were the one that helped me and made Croc apologize. It was amusing to see Waylon apologizing." She said without losing the smile.

"That was during the time when we didn't have much to worry about… when we were naive," I said remembering the idiotic stunts both me and Waylon used to pull.

"Selina had to keep you two in check at times. And you even went and revealed your identity in front of Penguin while pulling one of your tricks." She sighed. "Then again, you never tried to hide your identity. But somehow people still couldn't figure out your identity."

"It was Selina that made me wear a mask in the first place," I argued.

"Maybe. But that's how we met. You were interested in nature just as much as I was and… we just hit it off. It didn't take long for us to become friends." She paused. "No, we became the best friends. You, Waylon, me, and Selina."

"Yeah." 

Again. We sat there in silence for a long time.

"But then I made the biggest mistake of my life." She said, curling her fingers into a fist. "I decided to pursue a relationship that destroyed me."

I remained silent. I knew what she did… I knew it the most. 

"I fell in love with my professor." She showed a sad smile. "And even after you told me that the relationship was not going to work… I didn't listen to you. We became distant."

She looked at me. "And as you said… That relationship never worked. He betrayed me… H-He turned me into this. Into this monster!" Her fist tightened. 

"Pamela." I placed my hand over hers. "It was not your fault. If anything… it was mine. It was because I couldn't stop the Joker. Joker was the one that brainwashed him into looking for that herb."

"No…"  Pamela denied. "Joker told him about the herb but it was his own greed… that made him go crazy over it." She looked at me with a pained smile. "I-I broke your heart."

I went silent. I couldn't deny that. She did break my heart. She did stop talking to me for him. She did choose him over me. And she did throw away our friendship to be with him.

"That was in that past," I said. "I forgave you right after he did that to you." 

He ended up poisoning her. But instead of the poison killing her, it turned her into a flora controlling mutate. 

My grip on her hand tightened. 

"And no matter how much I thank you for that… it would never be enough." She said. "Thank you… Thank you for being there for me." Tears fell down her face as she said that. 

She cried… she cried more than I have ever seen her crying. Yet she had a smile. She went through a horrible life. But now she had friends. Waylon said that she hangs out with this Harley girl… and while I know nothing about her. I am glad that she found someone she could be friends with.

"Thank you... Thank you." Her tears didn't stop, so I had to rub them off her face. 

She was gorgeous. Her green skin only amplified her beauty, and with her fiery red hair, she looked like a thorny rose. 

She was the one who I once was madly in love with. 

I remembered the first time I met her. A young woman who was passionate about her career more than anything. A woman that cared for plants more than she cared about herself. 

She was the woman I loved.

She stared into my eyes as I stared into hers. Neither of us said anything… Neither of us dared to. She leaned in closer, her rosy smell invading my nose. Her eyes closed as her lips nearly met mine.

This was what I wanted. What I wanted the most. I wanted to be with her, I wanted her to love me and not that professor. All I had to do was accept her kiss.

But I didn't. 

I moved away just as our lips were about to meet. 

She 𝒘𝒂𝒔 the woman I loved. She 𝒘𝒂𝒔 the woman I wanted the most. And she 𝒘𝒂𝒔 the person I wanted to spend my entire life with.

"Sorry," I said. "We can't."

She's my past. Someone that could never be mine in the past. And she is someone I cannot accept in the present. She doesn't love me. She just feels indebted to me… She feels guilty.

And even if she did love me. I cannot accept her… Because I have already moved on from her.

"Why?" Her tears threatened to fall again. 

"Because I have moved on." This broke her. Her tears ran down her face like a river. 

I didn't comfort her this time. It wouldn't do any good. Instead, I sat there, besides her… listening to her sobbing.

…

…

[Unknown Location]

At the foot of a mountain with no visible civilization, a castle made of entirely black concrete was situated. The shadow of the mountain made it difficult to spot the place from above and while the castle was massive there were no people nearby that would know about its existence.

Inside the caste was a large throne room where an elderly man was looking at a bald guy from this throne. 

"My Lord, as I suspected. Reversing the effects of the kryptonite is possible and it is even possible to make it affect the humans." The bald man was pleased with his discovery and he was certain that the man sitting on the throne would be as well. 

And he wasn't wrong.

"Tell me Luthor. How long will it take for you to make it?" The old man smiled, but to a normal man that smile was feral… like a demon's.

"It will take a month at most, my lord." 

It was rare for the prideful Lex Luthor to show such respect. But after facing defeat so many times thanks to the Justice League and Superman, he was going to do anything to erase their existence. He didn't mind working for the Demon's Head if he could get rid of Superman.

Yes. The regal man sitting on the throne was none other than Ra's Al Ghul, The Demon's Head. 

"As long as you succeed, I will have my men defeat the Justice League with your invention. Superman's head will be on your feet." He looked at Lex. "But remember Luthor. If you betray me, your skull would be used to decorate my throne." 

Luthor was brave, but not enough to go against the Demon's Head. Luthor had met many people in his life and Ra's was one of the only few that made him sweat just by being in his presence. He was not just strong but inhumanely smart. His knowledge of germ theory scared even Luthor.

But even this man was defeated. Lex knew who defeated him but even amongst the villains that man was mostly a myth. A boogeyman that even the Bat couldn't defeat.  But he vanished without a trace six years ago and he was considered a myth by most, and not a real person.

But Lex knew that he was real… very real. Ra's told him about the existence known as 'The Void', a person who destroyed The Demon and had Ra's retreat to this secluded place. 

"Years." Ra's began. "I spent years recuperating from the damages caused by him. But he is no longer here." Ra's grin sent shivers through his spine. "There is no one that can stop us. As long as we do not get ahead of ourselves and tend carefully, no one can stop us. Not Superman, not Batman, and not even the entire Justice League." 

But somewhere in his heart, he had an ominous suspicion. One that screamed at him to not move forward with his plans… one that scared him.

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[A/N: 3 chaps from now on. Thanks to your reviews. (excluding that one drunk bastard saying something about going after Ivy, Harley etc... wtf?)]