Continued from Corrupted: Poison Ivy Prelude Find more Corruption here CORRUPTED: THE LIBRARY »
2034
Harley flipped through the channels at ADD speed looking for some word about Joker. He and the legion were staging a massive attack in Metropolis. She wasn't present because the legion had blatantly refused her a membership. It was rumored that half the members or so had once threatened to quit if she was allowed to join. It was annoying. And a little hurtful. But she had gotten over it. Now she was content to sit back and watch them. In truth, she was a little worried about Joker, but he could take care of himself. And so what if they lost? To prison for some, to Arkham for others. Circle of life and all that.
"Junior, come watch ya daddy work." She called to Batman Quinn, her now teenage son. She had finally found a news channel with some footage. Apparently some Ryder guy had been there at the scene. Judging from the picture and sound quality, the footage was recorded by phone.
"What? Watch him get punched out by Batman again?" Batman Quinn called from his room where he flipped through a magazine of women in scantily super heroine costumes. He personally found his old man's obsession with the bat pathetic. And a little sad. But in this house you kept your opinions to yourself. He absently felt the hole in his gums with his tongue. Last time he had spoken back to his father, he had been punched in the jaw so hard he had lost a tooth. He had been seven at the time. He also remembered his mother crying that he was dying. There were over-protective mothers, and then there was his mother. He smiled to himself.
"Don't ya back sass me Lil Puddin" She replied automatically, her mind had already moved on. If he didn't want to do something, she wasn't gonna make him. It just wasn't in her to be strict with him.
"Please don't call me Lil Puddin." He groaned. He had asked her before not to call him that, but she always forgot. Or so she claimed.
"Junior....Come in here...." She called again, a little less excited this time. Batman Quinn rolled his eyes. He decided he would humor her. He would walk in, glance at the TV, mumble something, and that would make her happy. He walked into the "living room" where his mother sat on an old, broken down couch. Lou was licked at her cheek, but she was transfixed on the old TV set. She slowly shook her head in disbelief.
"Mom? Whats wrong Mom?" He shooed the hyena off the couch, and sat next to his mother. She only pointed at the TV.
"GCN has exclusive footage from Metropolis where a small war has broken out between hero's and villains. The video is very graphic. You may want to send your children out of the room."
The scene showed various costumed people having at each other. Fallen bodies and blood cover the ground. Then the video centered on Batman and the Joker as they traded blows, and words. Joker said something, then Batman tore Jokers throat out in a single, sudden strike. The blood spurted over Batman as he roared at the Heavens, and Joker sank to his knees. Somehow he still wore that crazed grin even as he slumped over, dead. The video went to black.
"Mistah J?" She whispered aloud, sounding lost. Batman Quinn gently hugged his mother, expecting tears. But she just starred, in shock.
* * *
"You inferior, sub-human headache. I have defeated the Flash! What can you do?" Captain Cold sneered as he shot at Creeper with his cold gun.
"You've defeated hot flashes? Ha! Haha. That explains the ice jazz." Creeper laughed "I just assumed you ripped off Killer Frost's gimmick." Creeper leaped and rolled in a zig-zag fashion, barely avoiding the freeze beam. Far too late, Captain Cold realized that Creeper was much faster, and more agile then he looked. Never a fighter, Creeper laid him out with one solid punch. As he crushed Cold's gun between his hands, he saw Supergirl lifted the Hellgramite into the air, and then crack him over her knee like a twig. The villain shrieked pathetically.
"Please" He croaked. "Mercy." He begged as he squirmed helplessly on the ground.
"No mercy." She replied as she raised her boot to crush his head. She never got the chance, as Bane impaled her from behind. She clutched at the sword jutting between her breasts as it lifted her up, slicing through her. A shocked look crossed her face momentarily as she sank to her knees, and Bane kicked her of the sword with his massive boot.
"No mercy." Bane told the fallen hero. As the Creeper looked around, he saw hero's abandoning the morals they had held dear. Saw them acting as savagely as the villains they were trying to stop. And for once he didn't know what to do. So he retreated, leaving Jack Ryder alone on the battle field. Jack took out his phone and recorded all he could, hoping that someday, someone could sort all this madness out....
* * *
2040, December 29.
Wonder Woman touched down lightly on Paradise Island. A platoon of Hawkmen hovered in the sky above her. "Sisters, I have come for the purple ray. I ask you to surrender peaceably." At first no one moved. "I'm only asking once." She told the amazons present. "Surrender yourselves, and the purple ray machine."
"Sister, if you have came with peace in mind, why do you bring a force with you?" Hippolyta asked as she stepped from one of the temples. "You did not come to ask. You came to take."
"So I did." Wonder Woman nodded, and the hawkmen swooped down, maces raised. A dark blur came from nowhere, and hit Wonder Woman with concussive force. Sending her flying backward through the air.
"Paradise is not defenseless Dianna." Wonder Girl said, floating in the air where Wonder Woman had been. "Stop a moment and look at what your doing! Threatening your own people! You've been corrupted Dianna. Can't you see that?"
"I see you are chained to the old ways of thinking. We played by the rules. And people suffered for it. Now we make the rules. And if you're not with us, then your against us." She flew at Wonder Girl who caught her fist, but was then grabbed and hurled into the ground with explosive force. Wonder Woman sped downward towards Wonder Girl who rolled out of the way just in time. All around them hawkmen and amazons battle for their lives. The screams and clang of metal striking metal is deafening. Maces beat shields, swords hit nth metal.
Wonder Girl flew into the air, and tossed her lasso over Wonder Woman's arms. "Open your eyes Diane. Please. Don't make me stop you." The blue lasso cinched tighter as Wonder Woman flexed her arms out.
"Your willpower is not strong enough to stop me!!" Wonder Woman roared, and snapped the blue lasso off herself. She rushed up at Wonder Girl, and drove a knee into her mid-section. Then slammed her fist into Wonder Girls back. Wonder Girl tried to retreat to regroup, but Wonder Woman threw her lasso of truth around Wonder Girls neck. She jerked the rope with one hand, and the sound of Wonder Girls neck snapping echoed over the battlefield as her lifeless body fell to the ground. All around the amazons were dead or beaten into submission.
"We're ready to transport the device." A hawkman reported, his mace and armor were stained with blood.
"Be careful with it. Or its your head." She was not being metaphorical. "Organize the rest of your men for prisoner transporting." He cut a smart salute and walked away.
* * *
2040, January 4.
Batman Quinn fumbled his way through the forest that had once been Gotham city park. He was not excited about finally meeting his godmother, as she was known to be as heartless, and homicidal as his father had been. There were rumors she had left Gotham altogether, but he knew better. If she was gone, they would have cleared the park. No. This was her turf, and everyone knew it.
He heard something rustle on his left side, and drew his gun. "I don't like surprises Ms Ivy." He tried to sound tough. But he was in the middle of a forest. She had him dead to rights, and he knew it.
"Neither do I." Ivy replied, appearing at his right side. Vines lashed out and pulled his arms away from his body. It should have hurt, but he had inherited his fathers pain resistance. "Now, before I feed you to one of my babies, tell me why you're invading my home." She looked older then the pictures he had seen. There were lines at her eyes, and her hair was faded. Or maybe that was just the poor lighting. Her eyes were the same though. Haughty, and and suspicious. The vines tugged tighter, and he did feel his shoulders starting to give. She walked around him once, taking in his outfit. The jacket was purple and worn over a black Batman t-shirt with an oversize bat symbol. The pants matched the jacket. Over his face he wore a red helmet like old Jason Todd.
"I need your help. They grabbed my mom. She wasn't even wanted! She's gone straight. Mostly straight anyway." He would have shrugged if he could.
"They?" She asked, hands on her hips. "The league? And you come to me for help?" She shook her head. The world used to make a lot more sense then this. She turned away. "Nice meeting you--"
"Quinn. Batman Quinn." He grinned at her expression of surprise. "Mom often spoke of you. Said you were her best friend, but she ain't seen you in what? Twenty years?"
"We had a falling out." Ivy replied as she ripped his mask off, and studied his face closer. He did have Jokers chin. And Harley's blue eyes. "Sorry kid, I'm not a hero. Try Batman twenty years ago." She turned to leave, and the vines became slack.
"Hey!! My mother never spoke badly about you. Not once! She adores you, even though you haven't even dropped her a postcard in twenty years!" He yelled at her back. "You tried to help her once. She told me about the night I was born."
She paused, but didn't look back at him. "I cared for Harley. And I tried to help her. But she didn't care enough for herself, or you, to do the right thing."
"You....you loved her, didn't you?" Her silence is answer enough. "Well if you really cared for her, then help her now. They are transporting her to Blackgate today to be executed." He waits for her to respond. The minute goes on forever.
"What route is the transport taking?" She asked finally.
* * *
"......So yeah, technically I robbed the place," Harley was telling an amazon chained to her. "But I'm'a single mom. I gotta keep Junior fed." The prison bus was loud and sounded like it would rattle itself apart. Or maybe break if it hit a pothole.
"I don't think they care for reasons sister Harley." The amazon replied. "Those who seek blood, will only be satisfied with blood."
"Call me an old romantic, but I always thought I would die on the job, ya know? One'a Mistah Jay's traps malfunctioning. Or somethin'." She sighed aloud. Her mind wasn't really on her impending demise though. She thought of Joker. Wondered where he went when he died. 'Probably down' She decided. Wondered where she would go when she died. What if she didn't go anywhere? What if she got lost on the way? She wondered if Junior had eaten today. He was so lanky. No fat on him. This thought was interrupted as the bus swerved, and she was slammed into the side, and crushed as the amazon was thrown against her. She heard the driver curse just before the bus crashed into something. Then whole bus began to tip over....
* * *
"Well that was fun." Ivy smirked. She had caused a massive tree to grow from the street directly in front of the bus. The results were thematic to say the least. Batman Quinn was shocked. But a certain part of him was tickled. Maybe some of old dad lived on in him. The thought wiped the smile off his face. "Pulled that trick a few times with some armored trucks."
"Yeah, uh huh. Thanks for the history lesson. Now lets get her out before the hawks arrive." He looked anxiously at the sky. Traffic was already getting backed up, and some good citizen was no doubt already calling the fuzz.
"Relax kid." Ivy replied "If I know your mother at all, she's already picked her--" She didn't get to finish as the bus doors opened. Harley flipped up through the air, and landed easily on the side of the overturned bus.
"Ta-da!!" She took a bow for the people stuck in traffic. "For my next trick, I'm gonna disappear. Thanks for com'in, and tip ya waitress'es."
"Mom!" Batman Q yelled from across the street. "Over here." He waved her over frantically.
"Junior! And Red!" She squealed. "Is it my birthday?" She hugged Ivy's neck like they had not gone twenty years without a word.
"We should be going...." Batman Q told his mother anxiously. Then noticed 13 or so women had followed her.
"Okay. Cool if my new pals tag along?"
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