Professor Fear III

Chapter 45

"You have authority to order them around. I've informed them previously." Daria did her best to not grin childishly at hearing that. 

Daria pushed up his mask so that she could give him a kiss before they separated.

"Find me later," she whispered against his lips before putting his mask back in place.

She followed in the direction the men from earlier had gone.

Harley woke up to a hotel room which had begun to resemble a botanical garden with walls of plants and flowers. She snuggled herself against Ivy who had fallen asleep embracing her.

"Mornin' Red, let's go wreak Havoc!" she twisted around and kissed Ivy on the cheek, making her eyes flutter open.

"Anything for you, sugar," she replied.

"Yanno, I think I want a new dress and shoes."

"After we get your dress and shoes, I want to wake up a few of the suppressed and dormant trees under the city surface,"

"Sounds like a busy day!" Harley sat up excited.

Daria found about 20 men in one room readying themselves to spread out. The man who spoke to Scarecrow before noticed her walking towards them and even she could hear the not-so-great whisper of "Scarecrow's girl is coming over we gotta follow her orders," followed by the men all turning to face her.

"Alright, have any of you faced Batman before?"

After hesitating they all shook their head.

"Be wary of rooms in this facility with high ceilings and vantage points. He has many tools and can climb around; He might also try and use the ventilation system. Try to stick in twos a few meters apart if possible as no one can see if another comrade is under attack if you are too far apart. Batman is known to be able to take down victims as silently as possible."

"What are ya? a batman expert?" One man in the group asked, talking lightly.

"Hey man she's a Gotham Rogue, they know the Batman, he's always tryin to catch them,"

Daria, once again, tried not to grin at the recognition and praise so early in her newfound 'career'.

"Everyone ready?" there was a ripple of 'yes's and nods. "Great. Let's have seven in the entry room, five in the room past that and eight in the main production room. I think I'll let you all pick your group buddies, I'm just focusing on numbers and placements right now."

They began to shuffle about and split into respective groups.

"What are we waiting for, lets go!" They began jogging to their spots. The main door had not been opened yet so Daria imagined Batman hadn't found a bypass or code for it yet.

She'd read enough about him to know that he was relentless and would be entering and knocking out the men in the entry way at any moment.

Harley finished zipping up the back of the diamond encrusted dress she'd managed to spot in the designer district. It was a miracle it hadn't been stolen yet. She kept her regular black boots on for the sake of walking. With one last beaming smile into the mirror, she opened the changing room door and made her way to Ivy, exclaiming "Ta Da!"

"How gorgeous and elegant," Ivy admired. She, on the other hand, wore a bodysuit of her own making through plants. She was looking forward to seeing Harley swinging her bat at terrible men while looking dazzling in a dress fit for a Rich Gothamite Ball. Ivy moved closer to Harley, putting one hand on the small of her back and proceeding to dip her over as if in a dance.

"Red!" Harley giggled.

"Shall we?" She pulled her back up and linked arms. The two walked out of the building. Screams were beginning to sound again. A new round of fear gas and other designs implemented by Gotham Rogues were parading through the city.

Daria heard one of the men shouting, afraid. Batman must have entered the building. The crashes and gun-firing that followed after that confirmed her belief.

She made her way to the made production room to check on the timer. It still needed thirty minutes to be at 80% capacity. The room had to be kept secure.

Daria didn't believe that was going to happen.

She didn't think Scarecrow believed it was going to happen too.

She wondered where he had gone to while she decided to take on enemy number 1.

Gun fire started in the room she was in. The remaining eight men were running up and down stairs, checking crates and vents and the ceilings but not identifying where the threat was. A smoke bomb was set off. When It dissipated, two men were on the floor unconscious.

He got through them all damn fast.

"Step away from the door," Seeing him in person was interesting. His outfit looked very expensive and well produced. He was big and definitely intimidating as he intended. He spoke calmly but firmly, using a vocal distorter.  

"I'd prefer not to and I'd prefer you staying away from the door," Daria was the only thing between the main control room and batman.

"Do you have any idea what this stuff can do?" 

"I was taught how to make it, so I've got a rough idea," Daria didn't know whether or not sharing information was a good thing. The conversation acted as a stall nevertheless.

"You could have been lied to. You have no idea how much damage it can cause."

"I was his test subject once, I know what it does," She snapped. Daria wanted to say it in defence. Instead, it sounded like she had been chemically abused and manipulated. Batman would pity her. 

Once again that may work for this time stalling thing. Then again, it takes points off for looking like a tough villain with a cool backstory.

"You need help, just step away from the door and I can help you, you don't have to be alone,"

"I'm not alone Mr Batman don't worry,"

"You've forgotten your own identity and live it through someone else,"

"Says the dude dressed as a different species entirely,"

"Step away from the door,"

"Step out of the building," 

"I'm not going to ask nicely again,"

"Show me your not so nicely, I'm a sucker for intense communication." She took a step closer to the door. He began moving towards her and grabbing the door handle. Daria aimed to swing a kick at his abdomen which he intercepted and grabbed her foot. She quickly went to wrap her arms around his neck and straddle him so that she wouldn't trip. She pushed herself off him only to fall into the open controls room which Batman had somehow rapidly opened the door to. 

She ran over to the computer. 80% had been reached.

100% would be a stretch.

In an act of impulse Daria hit 'early activation' and stabbed the screen with the one knife she was carrying. Batman ran to sort what she had done. She smashed two of the fear gas bombs she'd been carrying. Batman hadn't expected that and he took in a good amount.
For a moment Daria's own hallucination's haunted her visage. Why was she wishing such horrors on everyone else? 
Then again, she'd learned about her past due to the -albeit torturous- addressing of her fear. 
Daria looked to the Batman who had fallen to the floor, shocked. The control alarm started to go off.
 While in his surprised state, she bolted out the room and began to head out of the building. 

Filled with Adrenaline, she kept running once out of the building and through the streets. She started laughing as she was running. She felt a weird and warped sense of being in the moment. Her actions, for a moment, felt inconsequential.