Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Schön Rebe

Okay, so, here's the plan: I changed my mind about the whole POV changing thing and decided to put the rest of the story in 3rd Person. I apologize for the changes but, oh well. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

-The Biggest Nerd

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Valencia had seven screaming fits on the way to the Botanical Gardens. Seven. Along with five bouts of coughing.

That was more than what she had driving to meet the heroes, which was three of each.

The four villains flinched when the fits started, muscles taut in uneasiness.

The air in the car was tense.

When she was quiet, she would look at Jonathan. Well, he would make her look at him when the fits were over. More-or-less making sure nothing too bad had happened physically.

•~•~•~•~•~•

They exited the car quickly when they arrived at the gardens, as most would when someone is dying of spores in their lungs.

Valencia couldn't help but think why they were trying so hard to save her. She thought she was just a pawn in the chess match against Batman and his seemingly unending supply of Robins. The villains don't even take care of each other. They despise everyone else, having an 'it's me against the world' mentality. It's rare for an alliance to occur between the rouges and they don't last long. So why save her? Why is she being spared? In a world with no remorse, why does she get mercy?

Her eyes were weary from less than a collective hour of sleep from the four or five days this debacle occurred. They slipped closed as they entered the vine-covered room.

"I thought I told you plant-haters to stay away from my babies!" A woman shouted, the sound of loud creaking overhead made Valencia open her eyes. The woman stepped out from behind a massive tree as the barbed ends of more than eleven vines hung aloft, their poison glinting in the dusk coming in from the windows. Valencia yelped and clung onto Jonathan.

"We need..." Edward started, his face contorted in a grimace. "We need your help, Pamela."

"Oh?" Her tone turned flat. "You need my help? Well, isn't that a shocker."

Pamela's expression was extremely displeased, arms crossed over her chest.

Valencia's vision swam and shifted like the effects of a cheep horror game, except faster and absolutely terrifying. She was about to have another screaming fit.

Only when the shrieks finally came tumbling out of her mouth, did Pamela look at her. Alarmed she rushed over, her hands hovered over Valencia's body. She gave one steely look at Jonathan and then turned her gaze down to the woman in his arms, still screaming and hallucinating. She beckoned off to her side with her right hand and a sprout shot up from the earth. She pulled the flower from the sprout and shouted over Valencia's screams, "You need to hold her mouth open!"

"What?" Jonathan questioned.

"Keep her mouth open!" She repeated. "Do it Jonathan!"

He set her on the ground, propping her torso on his bent knee, hand behind her head, he took his free hand and squeezed her mouth to stay open. Pamela had rubbed the flower in her hands until it became a paste, she mixed it with a bit of substance that was sticky like honey, but black in colour and poured it down her throat.

Valencia coughed a few times, her breathing labored. Her throat felt coated in the ooze and she panicked, trying to scream but passing out right then and there, slumped against Jonathan.