peterparker05
03-24-2002, 03:22 PM
OT: This is my first time posting on the fan fiction boards so I'm a little nervous, but I hope you enjoy what I have written in my story so far. It started out as a tribute to The Dark Knight Returns, but it's begun to change a little on it's own. However, I still have to sight Frank Miller's epic Batman tale as an inspiration for this Batgirl Beyond trilogy. Ok here we go.
Arkham Asylum, that place still sent chills up her spine, no matter how old she got. She’d learned to tough it out, having to go there for work and all. However, anymore she’d tried to avoid it. But when any of the “originals” went up for parole. She felt she had no choice, but to make sure they never stepped foot on Gotham City soil. As her hover car pulled up into the new Asylum visitors drive, she couldn’t help, but feel indifferent. The same building Bruce Wayne and her father had pushed for to be built, made her sick to her stomach. They’d felt that a new, lighter, building would help Arkham patients recover. They thought it would allow the public to have a friendlier view of the Gotham institution and its eccentric residents. Instead, she couldn’t help, but think about the monsters that were held within those baby blue walls.
She walked up to the door and was greeted by none other than Dr. Lionel Arkham, son of famed psychologist Jeremiah Arkham. He squinted his eyes upon her gun. He disapproved of guns in his sanctuary for the mentally unstable. He couldn’t stop her from carrying it though. The public would probably take her side if he ever brought it up in court. He knew why she was there, but maybe he could change her mind.
“Good morning, Commissioner Gordon,” Dr. Arkham greeted her with a sly smile, “may I ask what brings you to our fine institution this great day.
“You know why I’m here,” Commissioner Gordon replied, “to make sure you don’t do something stupid.”
She proceeded to march down the hallway, ramming her shoulder firmly against the younger, but weaker Dr. Arkham’s. Jeremiah Arkham had been an ally of hers. He made sure that those who were not truly sane were not let back out onto the streets. His son was only worried about making himself look good, supposedly curing the incurable patients. He’d been a thorn in her side for quite a few years now. Today’s sanity hearing wasn’t the first one where she’d accidentally bumped into the young doctor.
As she entered Arkham’s group meeting room, her eyes fluttered underneath her eyelids while she looked for familiar faces. There were a few newscasters she recognized, they probably did the evening news. There were some other reporters that she didn’t recognize. They probably did the morning broadcast; she was more of a night person. Jack Ryder was sitting in the middle of the small audience. He’d been retired for about seven or eight years and most thought he just liked coming to these things to stay in the game. Barbara knew better. The Creeper still rested inside him. He felt a connection to these lunatics. Rumor has it that he went into hiding when the Joker came back. In the first row, she saw Sam. So this was the “function” he had to go to the office early to prepare for. He probably hadn’t wanted to get her all riled up. She could do that on her own. He kissed her on the lips as she sat down next to him. She could use his assurance at times like these. But even his strength might not be enough to stop her from taking out Dr. Arkham with some judo. The thought made her smile.
Then she saw him in the corner, ever vigil. His presence didn’t raise much suspicion, as he’d been a chief funder of Arkham Asylum for years to keep tabs on all of his “old friends.” Even with Terry on another continent chasing Kobra terrorists, there was always a Batman in Gotham. She’d been around him so long that she’d almost begun to act like him, Bruce that is. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! The cameras whirled with their flashes and snaps. The room was thrown into frenzy as the guest of honor arrived. This wasn’t a sanity hearing. It was a publicity stunt. Lionel Arkham had engineered this whole thing to make himself look better after the disastrous Maxie Zeus incident. She’d all ready know that Arkham’s paperwork on this new case had been shoddy and rushed. He was trying to declare her sane so that Gotham would think he wasn’t a screw-up. There was no way she was going to allow him to pull this off.
Standing at the front of the room at a leviathan desk, Dr. Arkham declared, “Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the new and reformed… Dr. Pamela Isley!”
The chlorophyll and other plant toxins in her body had kept her ageless. She appeared as young today as she did fifty years ago. However, the plant organelles inside of her had begun to beat her human side into remission. Her skin was a pale green with yellow pollen falling out from under her thumbnails. Her long flowing hair had turned as dark a green as the summer’s grape vines, while pinned back in a bun on her head. Not a hair on her head ever moved except for the bouncing of petals on the large gardenia blossom that had grown from the roots of her hair. She looked dressed to kill, literally.
****************************************************
“Nuclear weapons are a thing of the past,” the dark woman remarked. She sat in a barely lit compartment of a mach-3 hovercraft. It’s cloak engine left her invisible to the world. That’s how she liked to travel.
“But this new plan. Do you think we can pull it off? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” her sniveling lieutenant asked. She jumped from her corner and swiftly kicked the man in his stomach.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” she said as she slammed her fist against a table. Under her fist lay several, highly classified, and very crumpled documents.
***************************************************
“Commissioner Gordon, be reasonable,” Dr. Arkham exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, “over the last twenty-five years, Dr. Isley has done nothing, but proven herself to be a model person. She’s helped our nation’s top scientist create an environmental program that will benefit both plants and humans. She’s proven to many that she can hold a job, better herself, and be kind towards humans.”
“You can tell me and I’ll believe you that she’ll help scientists protect plants, but don’t even try to tell me that it wouldn’t bring a smile to her face to turn me into mulch,” Commissioner Gordon exclaimed.
“Barbara, calm down. You’re going to get yourself into trouble,” Sam whispered in her ear as he tugged at her shirtsleeve, but Barbara just pulled away.
“She’s tried this before, doesn’t anyone remember that,” Commissioner Gordon sputtered lividly with eyes wide open.
“I think you’re trying to provoke, Dr. Isley,” Dr. Arkham accused, “ which is why I am barring you from this sanity hearing. Your testimony has been heard. You may leave now. We will now be hearing from Mr. Bruce Wayne, benefactor of Dr. Isley’s treatment.”
“I hope you no what you’re doing,” Commissioner Gordon reminded Bruce as she walked down the aisle way, leaving Sam in the group meeting room. Poison Ivy turned towards Commissioner Gordon. There was something familiar about the Commissioner, but she couldn’t quite put her roots on it.
****************************************************
The next morning, the television blared in the little country home of Nana Harley Quinzell. She liked to watch her morning talk shows while her young granddaughters were at school. It was the only time of day she didn’t have to worry about them sneaking off with some Jokerz from Gotham City.
“Today on Gotham Outlook we have one heck of a hot topic,” Summer Gleason said, speaking into the camera with her long-practiced, serious journalist face, “Dr. Pamela Isley was released from Arkham Asylum yesterday, against the better wishes of Commissioner Barbara Gordon. Dr. Isley, formerly known as Poison Ivy, was a longtime foe of Batman who himself returned three years ago. Now we have to ask ourselves, is this what we really want. We have to take in consideration the events of late, Mr. Freeze, the Joker, and Maxie Zeus have all reappeared within the last three years.”
“Personally, that Maxie Zeus thing a couple months ago really scared the crap out of me and if this plant lady is gonna pull something like that…” bubbly, young co-host Britney Tassles said.
“We can’t be so fast to make a judgment. Experts say she’s now sane,” former attorney, Haley Stone rebutted to her blonde, perky co-host.
Nana Harley pulled her shawl tightly around her shoulders as she leapt up from her television sided sofa. She quickly ran downstairs as fast as her feet could take her. On the basement staircase, she fell and jammed her toe, but she merely crawled over to the safe in the corner of the room. The dank, dampness of her basement soiled her knees as she quickly entered the combination for the safe. As the lever snapped and the door slowly opened, Nana Harley looked inside. Next to her beloved Mr. J’s hat sat a tube of poison green lipstick. She grasped it with her wrinkled hand and shuttered.
Arkham Asylum, that place still sent chills up her spine, no matter how old she got. She’d learned to tough it out, having to go there for work and all. However, anymore she’d tried to avoid it. But when any of the “originals” went up for parole. She felt she had no choice, but to make sure they never stepped foot on Gotham City soil. As her hover car pulled up into the new Asylum visitors drive, she couldn’t help, but feel indifferent. The same building Bruce Wayne and her father had pushed for to be built, made her sick to her stomach. They’d felt that a new, lighter, building would help Arkham patients recover. They thought it would allow the public to have a friendlier view of the Gotham institution and its eccentric residents. Instead, she couldn’t help, but think about the monsters that were held within those baby blue walls.
She walked up to the door and was greeted by none other than Dr. Lionel Arkham, son of famed psychologist Jeremiah Arkham. He squinted his eyes upon her gun. He disapproved of guns in his sanctuary for the mentally unstable. He couldn’t stop her from carrying it though. The public would probably take her side if he ever brought it up in court. He knew why she was there, but maybe he could change her mind.
“Good morning, Commissioner Gordon,” Dr. Arkham greeted her with a sly smile, “may I ask what brings you to our fine institution this great day.
“You know why I’m here,” Commissioner Gordon replied, “to make sure you don’t do something stupid.”
She proceeded to march down the hallway, ramming her shoulder firmly against the younger, but weaker Dr. Arkham’s. Jeremiah Arkham had been an ally of hers. He made sure that those who were not truly sane were not let back out onto the streets. His son was only worried about making himself look good, supposedly curing the incurable patients. He’d been a thorn in her side for quite a few years now. Today’s sanity hearing wasn’t the first one where she’d accidentally bumped into the young doctor.
As she entered Arkham’s group meeting room, her eyes fluttered underneath her eyelids while she looked for familiar faces. There were a few newscasters she recognized, they probably did the evening news. There were some other reporters that she didn’t recognize. They probably did the morning broadcast; she was more of a night person. Jack Ryder was sitting in the middle of the small audience. He’d been retired for about seven or eight years and most thought he just liked coming to these things to stay in the game. Barbara knew better. The Creeper still rested inside him. He felt a connection to these lunatics. Rumor has it that he went into hiding when the Joker came back. In the first row, she saw Sam. So this was the “function” he had to go to the office early to prepare for. He probably hadn’t wanted to get her all riled up. She could do that on her own. He kissed her on the lips as she sat down next to him. She could use his assurance at times like these. But even his strength might not be enough to stop her from taking out Dr. Arkham with some judo. The thought made her smile.
Then she saw him in the corner, ever vigil. His presence didn’t raise much suspicion, as he’d been a chief funder of Arkham Asylum for years to keep tabs on all of his “old friends.” Even with Terry on another continent chasing Kobra terrorists, there was always a Batman in Gotham. She’d been around him so long that she’d almost begun to act like him, Bruce that is. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! The cameras whirled with their flashes and snaps. The room was thrown into frenzy as the guest of honor arrived. This wasn’t a sanity hearing. It was a publicity stunt. Lionel Arkham had engineered this whole thing to make himself look better after the disastrous Maxie Zeus incident. She’d all ready know that Arkham’s paperwork on this new case had been shoddy and rushed. He was trying to declare her sane so that Gotham would think he wasn’t a screw-up. There was no way she was going to allow him to pull this off.
Standing at the front of the room at a leviathan desk, Dr. Arkham declared, “Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the new and reformed… Dr. Pamela Isley!”
The chlorophyll and other plant toxins in her body had kept her ageless. She appeared as young today as she did fifty years ago. However, the plant organelles inside of her had begun to beat her human side into remission. Her skin was a pale green with yellow pollen falling out from under her thumbnails. Her long flowing hair had turned as dark a green as the summer’s grape vines, while pinned back in a bun on her head. Not a hair on her head ever moved except for the bouncing of petals on the large gardenia blossom that had grown from the roots of her hair. She looked dressed to kill, literally.
****************************************************
“Nuclear weapons are a thing of the past,” the dark woman remarked. She sat in a barely lit compartment of a mach-3 hovercraft. It’s cloak engine left her invisible to the world. That’s how she liked to travel.
“But this new plan. Do you think we can pull it off? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” her sniveling lieutenant asked. She jumped from her corner and swiftly kicked the man in his stomach.
“I know exactly what I’m doing,” she said as she slammed her fist against a table. Under her fist lay several, highly classified, and very crumpled documents.
***************************************************
“Commissioner Gordon, be reasonable,” Dr. Arkham exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, “over the last twenty-five years, Dr. Isley has done nothing, but proven herself to be a model person. She’s helped our nation’s top scientist create an environmental program that will benefit both plants and humans. She’s proven to many that she can hold a job, better herself, and be kind towards humans.”
“You can tell me and I’ll believe you that she’ll help scientists protect plants, but don’t even try to tell me that it wouldn’t bring a smile to her face to turn me into mulch,” Commissioner Gordon exclaimed.
“Barbara, calm down. You’re going to get yourself into trouble,” Sam whispered in her ear as he tugged at her shirtsleeve, but Barbara just pulled away.
“She’s tried this before, doesn’t anyone remember that,” Commissioner Gordon sputtered lividly with eyes wide open.
“I think you’re trying to provoke, Dr. Isley,” Dr. Arkham accused, “ which is why I am barring you from this sanity hearing. Your testimony has been heard. You may leave now. We will now be hearing from Mr. Bruce Wayne, benefactor of Dr. Isley’s treatment.”
“I hope you no what you’re doing,” Commissioner Gordon reminded Bruce as she walked down the aisle way, leaving Sam in the group meeting room. Poison Ivy turned towards Commissioner Gordon. There was something familiar about the Commissioner, but she couldn’t quite put her roots on it.
****************************************************
The next morning, the television blared in the little country home of Nana Harley Quinzell. She liked to watch her morning talk shows while her young granddaughters were at school. It was the only time of day she didn’t have to worry about them sneaking off with some Jokerz from Gotham City.
“Today on Gotham Outlook we have one heck of a hot topic,” Summer Gleason said, speaking into the camera with her long-practiced, serious journalist face, “Dr. Pamela Isley was released from Arkham Asylum yesterday, against the better wishes of Commissioner Barbara Gordon. Dr. Isley, formerly known as Poison Ivy, was a longtime foe of Batman who himself returned three years ago. Now we have to ask ourselves, is this what we really want. We have to take in consideration the events of late, Mr. Freeze, the Joker, and Maxie Zeus have all reappeared within the last three years.”
“Personally, that Maxie Zeus thing a couple months ago really scared the crap out of me and if this plant lady is gonna pull something like that…” bubbly, young co-host Britney Tassles said.
“We can’t be so fast to make a judgment. Experts say she’s now sane,” former attorney, Haley Stone rebutted to her blonde, perky co-host.
Nana Harley pulled her shawl tightly around her shoulders as she leapt up from her television sided sofa. She quickly ran downstairs as fast as her feet could take her. On the basement staircase, she fell and jammed her toe, but she merely crawled over to the safe in the corner of the room. The dank, dampness of her basement soiled her knees as she quickly entered the combination for the safe. As the lever snapped and the door slowly opened, Nana Harley looked inside. Next to her beloved Mr. J’s hat sat a tube of poison green lipstick. She grasped it with her wrinkled hand and shuttered.