The Batman: Downfall Ch. 04

"Jim, I understand the need to keep this in house, you have my findings there is not another copy of that report anywhere." He stood up, "Do what you need to. You know my number I can be here if and when you need me."

Jim had called on the right man alright he thanked Reynolds at his office door, just as he went to leave Reynolds turned back around, "I almost forgot, I found something while I was down there, not sure if it will help but you never know." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a clear evidence bag and handed it over to Jim. "It was near some old uniforms, almost missed it," Jim held the weighty object and turned it in his hand. Inside the evidence bag sat a small pink torch. "I doubt many of your female officers carry those, so who knows, find the owner and she might be willing to squeal on a few others."

Jim found it hard to breath for a moment he knew his mouth had fallen open. He caught his thoughts and looked up at Reynolds, "Thanks, that's not a bad idea." They shook hands and Reynolds left the officer, Jim closing the door swiftly behind him. He ripped the evidence bag open and pulled the torch out. He remembered buying it a few years back, a gift to Barbara in case the power ever went out in her building and she needed some light to study by, it was a silly gift but Barbara had loved it all the same.

Barbara Gordon danced up to the front door of her father's house, she was singing away to herself full of excitement at finally moving. She had seen the landlord that afternoon during her lunch break, paid a hefty deposit and had been given the keys to her own apartment. It was nothing fancy, but it was on the top floor and near the door that led to the roof top so that would come in handy. She unlocked the front door and skipped in, "Hey Dad, you home? I got some great news." She tossed her car keys and house key into the little clay bowl she had made as a child that now sat on a table near the coats. "You can return to leading the life of a bachelor and wash your own underwear." She called out removing her coat it was only when she walked into the kitchen did her smile falter.

Her dad, Jim Gordon sat at the small dining table a cup of half-drunk coffee in front of him, he smiled up at Barbara but she could see the worried look in his eyes, she had not seen it in years and seeing it now made her stomach flip. The last time he had this look he had told her about her mother's, his wife's cancer. "What's the good news?" he said.

Barbara opened her mouth then closed it confused a little at his off kilter manner, "I just put a deposit down on an apartment in the city I move in over the weekend."

"In the city, that's a little dangerous isn't Barb'?"

"Come on dad, it's like a ten minute walk from work, it's not like I'm going to be living in the narrows, it's a nice part of town." She sat down opposite him, feeling more deflated about the move and worrying more about the look on his face. "I did my homework, the perks of being the woman in charge of the public library and works."

Jim shrugged and nodded, "Fair enough you're old enough to make the decision."

"Okay dad what's going on, you've got that look on your face and you are acting weird." She tried not to show any signs of alarm when her Dad reached into his jacket pocket and placed her torch gently on the table next to his cup. "My torch I was wondering where that had gone," she wanted to babble on but knew if she did that then he would have her fair and square in a lie she would let him do the leading for the time being.

"James Reynolds found it, you remember James don't you?" He said and Barbara nodded her brow knitting together as her hand scratched at the side of her head messing up her red hair, it was an easy tell of his Daughter that meant she was a uncomfortable. "Well he was down in the basement doing a little work for me. You see we are missing some serious bits of weapons and ammunition from the old storage locker." Barbara licked her lips and tried to look interested rather than scared. "During his sweep he found the torch near some old uniforms."

"Dad I was down there weeks ago remember?" Barbara started off with the truth it was easier that way, "I was checking the servers, I had my torch out because I couldn't get to a couple of the hard drives near the back of the room so used my torch it's not the best lit place." Now came the tough bit, she had gotten home and panicked when she looked through her handbag and discovered the torch missing, "I probably dropped it, by any chance did James find my compact while he was digging around?"

"You dropped it, in the server room?"

"Dad you've been down there, its dark, its quiet you ever worked down there? I spooked myself out even with a ton of cops sitting right above me. I probably dropped it when I was packing up, who knows who picked it up! I ran from there the moment I was done it is just too creepy down there." Jim remained quiet taking in what his daughter had told him, he could read her like a book but not this time, she had put up a wall there were truths but also lies built into the cement he was certain of it.

He had pieced a jigsaw together as he had waited for her the conclusion was absurd Barbara was not the type to be swinging across the rooftops of Gotham. He was surprised when she sighed and said, "Okay, okay enough with the silent cop treatment." She got up and walked out of the kitchen returning quickly with her handbag, she opened it up and pulled out an old police baton and what appeared to be police issued mace. "I took these, just to protect myself you know, the horror stories you used to tell me about Gotham. Then working here and walking the streets I kind of got myself worked up." She put them down firmly on the table and slid them across to her dad, "But I did not break in there, the lock was already off I peeked in saw this stuff and just....you know."

Jim rubbed his forehead then took his glasses off and rubbed vigorously at his eyes, "My god Barbara I could lose my job over this," he put the glasses back on, "You could go to jail," he reached over and pulled the baton and mace off the table. "Is that it, nothing else?" he hoped to God she did not pull out an old service revolver.

Barbara shook her head, "No that's it."

Jim let out a long breath, "Okay well thanks for coming clean on this, if you had used them my God we would have some explaining to do." Barbara smiled sheepishly back, he wanted to believe that was it but damn it her eyes kept darting this way and that, she was not letting on about something, "You sure that's it, you're not," how could he say it, "not up to anything dangerous are you?"

Barbara laughed, "The most dangerous thing right now is sitting in on the mayor's committee group next week." Gordon's eyes went wide, "Yeah apparently he thinks having your daughter on the committee might mean you are a little bit more cooperative." He laughed loudly at that and suddenly thoughts of winged avengers slipped from his mind as he pictured the Mayor trying to reason with Barbara.

Axis Chemicals, Porto Aereta,

Constance drummed his fingers on the arm rest of his chair as he stared out the window, he listened to the woman on the loud speaker prattle on about funding and machinery, "You have everything you need, yes?" He said cutting into her long winded speech. He smiled at the silence she was someone who did not like being talked over especially by him. She replied with a very stern 'yes' and Constance could picture her beautiful face twisting with rage and gritted teeth as she said it. "Good, then continue as planned I see no need in the foreseeable future for you to contact me again until I arrive." He spun on his chair and terminated the call with one manicured finger.

His Secretary Juliana was sat across from him, her cream blouse a size too small pulled taunt across her well-endowed chest, her black hair almost blindingly shiny cascaded over one shoulder. She was a secret weapon when it came to conferences, the men were always too busy looking at her to realise that Constance was under cutting them. "Deals with the devil springs to mind," She said as she stood up.

Constance nodded, she was direct and he found that refreshing especially in the bedroom, she knew what she wanted and Constance was happy to give it to her, repeatedly if required. "Except this devil does not realise I am bigger devil than she is, the sooner this is at an end the better." He was not uncomfortable with the contract, in fact he had approached her with the concept, and she had an interesting way of testing products in a way that even Constance thought was a little barbaric but his buyers wanted evidence and proof, the farmers in the coastal towns had started to become savvy with regards testing so now he was being made to look elsewhere.

Constance followed Juliana out of his office, it was getting late and he needed to eat. At her desk he noticed a crumpled manila folder sitting near her computer, "That looks familiar."

Juliana briefly looked over at the folder "Bruce Wayne's proposal."

Constance groaned as he pressed the button for the lift, "I threw that away," he did not turn to look at her but stared at her fabulous figure in the mirrored doors of the elevator.

Juliana smiled, "As you do all proposal's, this one is different. You might like trying to keep your hands clean for a change."

The lift doors slid open, disappointing Constance as he narrowly missed seeing Juliana bend over, "Not interested," he said stepping into the lift.

"He makes some good points, with what's in the folder anyway, there is a lot more data on the stick might be worth looking at?" Juliana pushed her case.

"Not. Interested," Constance repeated slowly, the lift doors started to close and he suddenly pushed his hands forward making the doors retract. "Make notes, have it on my desk for the morning."

"You want me to do this now!" Juliana cried out, Constance smiled as the doors finally shut. She kicked her metal bin over and threw a pen at the now closed lift doors, swearing under her breath as she marched over to her computer and the crumpled manila folder sat next to it.

Beneath Wayne Manor,

Bruce rubbed his eyes and watched black flowers bloom on the inside of his eyelids, he had been awake for over twenty four hours now waiting for his machinery to tell him what he had collected from the museum. He got up and paced the cave, his hands ran along the work bench fingers dancing lightly over weaponry, he picked up a small batarang as he passed by and sent it on a merry dance through his fingers one way then reversing and sending it back. Back and forth it went as its owner paced back and forth.

Bruce knew he should not get emotionally attached to such a crime but my god did it sting to see Selina injured. It hurt him more when he realised how much he cared for her and maybe he had been a little too cautious on his assault. Selina had called him the following day, "I know you are friends with the Bat, if you see him, let him know that Samantha Kinkalow says thank you." He had smiled, even Selina knew not to trust mobile phones, who knew who was listening in at any time. "And Bruce, you keep safe too, this city is getting crazier." She wanted to add more, Bruce could hear the hesitation, the deep inhalation followed by "Goodbye," then the phone cutting out. There were three words he was certain she had been building up to say.

The computer terminal began to chime softly and Bruce spun away from the batmobile and walked briskly over to the terminal. The Gas Chromatography had finished its analysis and one screen was rapidly filling up with data. Bruce scanned it quickly, noting particles he had expected and eradicating them from the list, paring it down to a more manageable list. He sat down and leaned back in the chair, reading the list. He heard the lift doors behind opening and the unmistakable sound of Alfred whistling to himself, "Would you believe Harley Quinn is a bit of a botanist?" Bruce said without turning round.

"With that woman I can believe anything sir." Alfred slid a roast beef sandwich onto the terminal two pink sleeping pills sat neatly next to it.

Bruce picked up the sandwich and took a bite he chewed as his eyes scanned the list, "Oscula Nocte, amantes complectuntur. Those are extravagant plants to be seen this side of the equator."

Alfred looked at the names on the screen, "Those are plants?"

Bruce nodded, "Oscula Nocte or Midnight kiss and amantes complectuntur which is known as the Lovers embrace you see Alfred those Latin classes were not a waste after all." The trace found was small but just enough to give the computer a hit though it did not help Bruce much. Botanists were rare in Gotham there was one or two he would go to though, but what use they would be he was unsure of. He pulled up the original list, "There's a lot of trace in that dust," Bruce said to himself, "Plaster board, droppings, iron you name it it's there."

"Animal droppings would tend to lean towards somewhere abandoned," Alfred added just as a screen opposite him started to come to life.

Bruce nodded in agreement, sadly a lot of Gotham was abandoned, "The rust is fairly old, and I could do a test to gather a date, maybe narrow down the age of the building." Bruce tapped the screen then isolating the plaster board compound "Maybe the plaster is a special mix..."

Alfred had walked over to the main computer terminal all the screens were ablaze with the news all except one nearer the keyboard. This screen showed a black box, for weeks this box had been black apart from the single flashing cursor. That cursor was now whizzing down the screen, numbers and letters spreading out as it rapidly scrolled down, "Well who knew! Sir you need to see this,"

"Not now Alfred I am having too much fun reading the rich history of plaster board," Bruce looked up when Alfred failed to respond. "What is it?" Alfred laid his hand on the screen then motioned it to his left, within a millisecond the feed had jumped directly to the screen that Bruce was using. "Is that Axis?" Bruce asked and Alfred nodded dumbfounded. It had been a good idea but the egomaniac running the show in Axis had binned Master Bruce's proposal, virus and all or so it had seemed until now.

Alfred walked over, "A change of heart perhaps?" Bruce quickly tapped away and entered the main database of Axis Chemicals. "How long before you are detected?"

Bruce shrugged, "In theory I won't be, the virus acts just like a local terminal so anyone scanning around will simply see someone in the building accessing the system," Bruce darted through files and folders of the research department. "If they look close enough though they will see what's happening and cut the piggy back." He smile faltered then widened, he was under the impression he was access the entire internal database of Axis, when in fact, he was only in the local hard drive of the computer the USB stick was in. "Well I'll be," he had access to Constance's files which helpfully included the research update files.

Bruce brought up the files on the main large monitor, "These are dated a few months back and are from the lead researcher here in Gotham a Doctor Klaus Cannon" Bruce began to scan read, "Arrival of specimen intact...chemical analysis...detection of Scoplomine and additional like substances which will be classed and given names upon your approval...testing to begin once chemicals extracted." They had discovered a small grouping of unknown chemicals, which the lead researcher had gone crazy over and given them absurd names. Bruce rushed down to the next update dated a few days later, "Original batch destroyed due to contamination...new batch clean and injected into test subjects...death instantaneous dosage to be lowered,"

"Well that sounds encouraging sir."

"Okay next one is a month later, subjects docile and manageable...request phase two canine testing." Alfred gave a sharp intake of breath and looked away as an image of a dog appeared on the screen, its fur covered and matted in blood and its head oddly shaped. "Phase two testing exhibiting aggressive behaviour, followed by heavy bleeding and cranium distending...autopsy report to follow and update on batch #35 to follow."

Whatever they were testing was having some serious side effects, Bruce moved past the images that followed all showing canines in the same state as the first "As requested Phase three testing engaged..." Bruce glanced over at Alfred, both surprised that the gruesome side effects seemed to have spurred them on further, "Chimpanzee's arrived and past health checks...as requested batch #35 has now been duplicated..."

"They duplicated the batch that killed the dogs?" Alfred said alarmed and disgusted.

The final report was dated one month before the plant had gone up in flames "Effects more serious, docile and open to suggestion followed by bouts of rage, full body rash, heavy blood loss and severe cranium swelling...from point of contact to death is currently four days...suggest batch #35 be destroyed and research of Oscula Nocte be discontinued." Bruce read the last line again just to make sure he had read it correctly. He popped open the results of the Gas Chromatography and saw the name near the bottom. "Ivy and Harley are working together."

"Ivy has her hands on batch #35!" Alfred held his hand to his mouth in shock, "That woman is crazier than I thought sir, she needs to be stopped."

Bruce went to the main terminal a thought had sprouted in his head, a city map opened up on the main screen. "We find Ivy we find Harley," his eyes scanned the map, "They are creatures of habit, always returning to the same haunts..." Abandoned buildings were plentiful in Gotham, rust even more so. The sample had a mix of other chemicals including chlorine and bromide which he had put aside, now he focused on them a little more. "Pamela Isley worked in Gotham didn't she? She studied advanced Biochemistry under another doctor..."

Alfred was quickly typing into a keyboard and a name flashed up within a few seconds, "Doctor Jason Woodrue, he had a small lab on the upper west side until his arrest for the murder of one of his protégés a Miss Pamela Isley."



Gotham City,

It felt good to be back on the streets again albeit high above them. But Batman felt alive again and filled with purpose as he swung from one roof top and glided effortlessly to the next one over a block away. The time for games was over and Poison Ivy was going to fall hard for her crimes, not even Arkham Asylum would take her after her job at the Chemical factory she would be lucky to see sunlight again after the courts threw the book at her. Alfred had not even tried to slow him down as Bruce ran for his suit they exchanged minimal words as he climbed into the Batmobile and shot off. Batman landed with solid thump on the last roof and walked to its ledge. Not far from where he stood a huge sign proclaimed the site as the new home for affordable apartments made possible by Wayne Enterprises.

Bruce had been down there a few months previous doing a press interview in front of the very building that he as Batman was now scoping out. With a quick flick of a switch on his arm the building flared green in night vision, he scanned slowly picking out two men near the steps to the building, one more on the roof pacing aimlessly. Another button and a moment of dizziness as the lenses zoomed in and he could see the snub nosed machine guns in their hands.

"I told you to quit," he said without turning around. She had made enough noise about a mile back as she tried to keep up with him, he had to admire the fact that she still managed to track him but also he felt uneasy at having her here at all.

"I guess I didn't get the email telling me you run the streets." Batgirl retorted a little out of breath as she approached him. "Who are the bad guys?" she asked looking over at the building.