Confronting Poison Ivy

A villain's most important ability is to deceit others. And that's what most of them fail to do.

"I will have my revenge, Batman!" Hugo screamed as Bruce threw him inside the Prisoner Vehicle. 

"Thank you for the help, Batman." A policeman, who I believe is officer Gordon… Oh, wait. I heard that he is promoted to Commissioner now… thanked Batman. 

Batman nodded as he got on his Batmobile. "He is yours, Commissioner. Don't let him escape again." 

"I won't."

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"Bwahaha!" Croc's laughter nearly drew their attention towards us but Selina stopped him in time. 

"Idiot!" She hissed as I shook my head. 

"What? I knew that the smug bastard Hugo was going to get his ass kicked! And I love it!" Ah, yes. Croc hates the Riddler and Hugo Strange.

Why? I don't know… neither do I have any intention of knowing. 

"You almost got us caught." She then looked at me. "And you said that this would be fun… but this was anything but fun. I didn't know that someone who is known as the genius would make such a rookie mistake."

Situations tend to make people clumsy. 

"Indeed." But that doesn't change the fact that he royally screwed up. 

Selina sighed before jumping off the elevated portion of the roof towards us. "We should go, I need some sleep after that shit show." 

"Agreed. But first I will need a drink." I raised an eyebrow at Croc's words. 

Drink? It's 2 am. I guess, there isn't exactly a time for a good drink.

"Yeah, let's go."

…

…

[Gordon Residence]

[02:12]

Barbara was going through every bit of information that she could find on the biggest criminals and villains within Gotham.

Some of those names on the list were Scarecrow, Cornelius Stirk, Professor Pyg, and of course… The Joker. 

She started her search as a way to prove her professor wrong. That killing them would not do any good, everyone can be reformed. But… what she found was not what she expected. 

𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐰: Major crimes: 43

Minor crimes: 124

Crimes involve: Using humans as test subjects, killing people for body parts, selling body parts for money, and many more.

Total escapes from prison: 23

𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐤: Major crimes: 48

Minor crimes: 7

Crimes involve: Murder, Cannibalism (Eating the hearts of his victims), Necrophilia, and many more.

Total escapes from prison: 14

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐲𝐠: Major Crimes: 40

Minor crimes: 25

Crimes involve: disfiguration and mutilation of humans, turning them into mind-controlled dolls, and many more.

Total escapes from prison: 7

She gulped as she looked at the last name on the list.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐉𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐫: Major crimes: 456

Minor crimes: 332

Crimes involve: Murder, Rape, Mutilation of humans, human experimentation, pedophilia, necrophilia, genocide, and many more. 

Total escapes from prison: 79

Barbara visibly shook as this was something that she didn't expect. At most she expected them to break free of prisons like 2 or 3 times and the list of crimes that these people committed made her stomach churn. She felt like throwing up as the pictures of the mess left by these criminals were in front of her. 

"There has to be something wrong with these reports." She knew very well that they were quite accurate… if anything, those criminals might have committed more heinous crimes that weren't mentioned there.

[Change of person]

Was there any way to stop those crimes? 

Yes, there were. 

Even if it is quite late now… can future crimes be stopped?

Yes, they can be.

Will they take the steps necessary to stop them?

That's a probability. They were heroes and heroes… don't kill. But they can still lock them up in prisons better than the current ones. They can build prisons that are unbreakable. 

That's what was going inside her mind.

"I will have to talk with Batman about it."

…

…

[02:45]

[[Blake]]

Selina went to her apartment and Croc went to the bar. So, that leaves me on my own. 

"I should probably go and sleep. I have classes in the morning." 

With a low sigh, I walked towards my apartment. 

This place has changed. The number of major villains a few years ago was easily countable with two hands. There were hundreds of villains even then, but they were not on the same level as someone like Joker or even Scarecrow. And other bigger villains that are famous today, were still at their early stages back then.

This place is rotten to the core. And with the current ways in which the heroes handle the things. There is no saving it. 

I cannot interfere with either side… directly. That was the only condition that I received back then.

There's no saving the world if things continue the way they currently are. The problem with the current heroes and villains are their personalities and ideologies. 

Villains like Joker are enough to make anyone fear them. But the problem is his insanity.

As for heroes. They consider themselves to be the correct ones under every circumstance. They are heroes, how can their judgment be wrong? And this… does the most harm. 

What do I mean?

They never kill, they never cripple the villains. The furthest they go is breaking a few bones which heal with time. Not killing the ones like Joker… has led to the death of countless innocents. 

"*Sigh* I will worry about that later." I shook my head. "You know... You can come out." I said and turned around.

The air around me changed and carried a sweet smell as vines wrapped around my body.

"Seriously? You are going to play like that?" I felt myself rolling my eyes as an amused Poison Ivy walked from the corner of the alley.

"When I saw you that day, I thought that I must have confused you with someone else… After all, you have changed quite a lot." She frowned. "But imagine my surprise when Zatanna said that there was a new guy in Gotham that could use space-based abilities and had the name Blake Hardy."

I did try to run away from her. 

"I wasn't sure as to how you would have reacted if I suddenly revealed myself… and there was also this… eccentric blonde girl with you." She made a funny face as I said that.

"Harley." She mumbled.

"Hum?" 

"Her name is Harley Quinn… well that's her alias but she and I are friends." She said. "And yeah, she can be a little weird sometimes."

"I can see both… you being friends with her as she was clinging to you and her… being a little weird." She literally ran around with a hammer that was twice her size. 

She shook her head as her frown reemerged. "But we aren't talking about Harley. I am still pissed that you didn't inform me about your return." Really? I thought she was still mad with me because of the past. 

"Well, yeah… about that. I came back as I got a job here. And didn't exactly have the time to meet anyone." Partially true. 

She huffed.

"Why don't we talk somewhere else?" I said the vines that wrapped me vanished into oblivion. 

They were getting a little annoying. 

"This place is not ideal for these kinds of talks." 

She nodded. "Yeah, let's… go to the bar." 

At least she didn't explode in anger… but I ain't getting any sleep tonight. Damn it!