Three weeks after his confrontation with Batman, James received an alert from AEGIS while monitoring Gotham's police frequencies.
"Priority alert: Poison Ivy confirmed active in Robinson Park. Multiple civilian casualties reported. GCPD requesting Batman's assistance. Threat level assessment: extreme."
James was in his factory, working on suit upgrades. He immediately suited up.
"Ivy's a metahuman," he said as he checked his equipment. "Plant control. Pheromone manipulation. What's her current capability assessment?"
"Poison Ivy: Dr. Pamela Isley. Botanical metahuman with extensive plant control abilities. Estimated effective range: five hundred meters from her position. Pheromone effectiveness: approximately ninety percent success rate on unprotected humans. Physical durability: enhanced but vulnerable to conventional damage. Recommended approach: long-range engagement, avoid physical contact, deploy fire-based countermeasures."
James grabbed several specialized grenades he'd developed. Thermite-based incendiaries. Not lethal to humans but devastating to plant matter.
He headed to Robinson Park.
The scene was chaos. Vines had overgrown a three-block area around the park. Giant plant creatures, animated by Ivy's power, rampaged through the streets. Civilians ran in panic. GCPD tried to establish a perimeter but were overwhelmed.
James grappled to a rooftop overlooking the park. Scanned the area through his helmet's sensors.
"Target located: center of park, elevated position on mutated plant structure. Subject appears to be coordinating plant entities from that location. Estimated number of hostile plant creatures: twenty-three. Civilians trapped within affected zone: approximately forty."
This was bigger than anything James had handled solo. He pulled out the communicator Batman had given him. Pressed the emergency signal.
Two minutes later, Batman's voice came through. "What's your situation?"
"Robinson Park. Poison Ivy. Large-scale attack. Civilians trapped. I'm going in but thought you should know."
"I'm ten minutes away. Don't engage Ivy directly until I arrive. Focus on civilian evacuation."
"Copy."
James moved. He swung down into the chaos and immediately started working on getting people out.
A massive vine was crushing a car with a family trapped inside. James ran toward it. Drew one of his specialized batons and activated the heating element he'd built into it.
Sizzle!
The heated metal cut through the vine easily. The plant creature recoiled, screaming in a way plants shouldn't be able to scream.
James ripped the car door off its hinges, his enhanced strength making it look easy.
"Get out! Run toward the police line!"
The family scrambled out and fled.
A plant creature charged at James. Fifteen feet tall, made of twisted vines and thorns. It swung a massive limb at him.
James dodged. The limb smashed into the pavement where he'd been standing. He countered with a thermite grenade. Pulled the pin and threw it directly into the creature's center mass.
Fwoosh!
The thermite ignited. Two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. The plant creature writhed and died in seconds, reduced to ash and charred fragments.
"Effective," AEGIS noted. "Recommend similar approach for remaining plant entities."
James moved through the chaos systematically. Evacuated civilians. Destroyed plant creatures with thermite. Used his enhanced speed and strength to stay ahead of the threats.
But more plants kept coming. Ivy was generating them faster than he could destroy them.
"AEGIS, estimated time until area is clear of civilians?"
"At current pace: eight minutes. However, plant entity generation rate is increasing. Probability of successful evacuation without additional support: thirty-four percent and declining."
Not good.
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