novelonline Chapter 2451: Battle for the Cloak (7)
Chapter 2451: Battle for the Cloak (7)
Chapter 2451: Battle for the Cloak (VII)
Just about ten minutes ago, Poison Ivy and Schiller arrived at the ACE Chemical Plant, the largest chemical plant in Gotham City. Although Poison Ivy had been here several times, she had never walked through any of its areas.
Moreover, since this chemical plant was built a long time ago, its internal facilities are not modern enough, the architectural design is not scientific, and the divisions of various areas are not clear. Even their own workers occasionally get lost in other areas, so Poison Ivy always can't tell the directions when she comes in.
But she just watched Schiller move around freely as if he was at home, first passing through the reception office area at the front, then coming to the archive room at the back and finding the file documents for raw material storage.
Then, following the numbers on the document, he walked through most of the factory area and found the warehouse where flammable and explosive dangerous goods were stored. He then found the control room in a corner opposite and successfully opened the security lock of the warehouse, successfully obtaining the raw materials needed for the explosives.
Poison Ivy didn't see clearly what happened afterwards, but Schiller mixed all kinds of strange ingredients together in an even stranger way and made a bomb that didn't look like a bomb at all.
They detonated the bomb in the chemical plant. Looking at the smiling face formed by the smoke from the bomb, Poison Ivy couldn't help but ask a question - are you a little too skilled?
Poison Ivy has not seen the entire process of the Joker's explosion, but she has heard Harley say a few words that it is impossible to compete with a master like Batman without being fast.
But Poison Ivy also has a background in chemistry and biology. She knows that making explosives is a very troublesome task. Even the simplest homemade explosives have to be mixed multiple times according to the properties of the raw materials before they can be successfully detonated.
But Batman won't give the Joker enough time to prepare, so Poison Ivy has always been a little confused. How can the Joker commit bombings one after another when Batman is chasing him so closely?
Now she understood that there was no special skill involved in this matter, it was just a matter of practice.
Not counting the time spent shuttling inside the chemical plant, the entire bomb-making process only took two minutes. Even if all the time spent searching for information and moving raw materials was taken into account, it was less than 10 minutes. Let alone making a bomb, even walking to the security booth to steal a pen was not that fast.
Knowing that Batman would be here soon, the two got back in the car and drove towards Wayne Tower. Poison Ivy asked as she drove, "Didn't you say you were a university professor? Do you often bomb people?"
"Not very often," Schiller said, adjusting his tie.
Poison Ivy turned her head and looked at him with a puzzled look. She opened her mouth and wanted to ask something, but her attention was soon attracted by other things. The sparse plants on the green belt outside the car also began to turn their heads and look at her.
"What the hell? This place is obviously far away from the portal." Poison Ivy's face became serious. She said, "A few minutes ago, the pollution had not spread to here. How come it happened so quickly..."
"Is it possible to save these plants?" asked Schiller.
Poison Ivy shook her head and said, "The metabolic system of plants is too slow. Even if we find a way to completely eradicate the pollution, it will be difficult for them to completely metabolize the pollution. Their fibers and cells cannot withstand such a torment."
Schiller heard the hint of sadness in Poison Ivy's voice and knew that these contaminated plants were probably beyond saving. This was the same answer he got from Gray Mist.
Gray fog can perfectly replace the polluted energy in plant cells. The problem is that the number of cells in small flowers and grasses is too small and they are generated slowly. After the replacement, the cells without energy sources will shrink quickly, and the remaining ones will not be able to support the reconstruction of new cells.
"From your perspective, was this a brutal massacre?" Schiller asked knowingly.
"It's worse than that." Poison Ivy turned her eyes away and said, "Plant extinction is not uncommon. Whether it's the several mass extinctions in Earth's history or the local extinctions caused by various types of pollution after the emergence of humans, they can all be called a form of natural selection."
"No matter how many times they went extinct, no matter how tragic each time, in the end, the oldest indigenous people on Earth always came back to life and grew everywhere again, while the animals that had experienced extinction with them disappeared in the long river of history."
"You may find it a little strange that as an extreme plant protectionist, I am so indifferent to this matter, but in fact I regard plants as a whole. Everything they experience in the cycle of nature is their fate. As long as they can grow new buds in the next season, it is not a disaster."
"What annoys me most about this matter is that the person who released the pollution attempted to use this pollution to transform plants and make them go against their instincts." Poison Ivy looked at the plants that kept trying to extend their stems and get into the car to hit her, and anger gradually rose in her eyes.
"The evolution of plants is a masterpiece of nature. Everything they do is for their survival. This is the only reason they can survive extinction after extinction."
"But the damn energy this guy put into them, making them attack me with trunks, leaves and flowers that are not suitable for attacking, and if they can't do that, they transform them into weird and twisted shapes. It's really disgusting."
Poison Ivy was a little speechless at the end, and Schiller nodded, indicating that he completely understood what she meant.
Poison Ivy is able to understand the beauty of plants from another non-human aesthetic perspective. The naturally formed plant structures are the source of this beauty, and the natural functions they can play are also part of the aesthetic process.
But in order to give them some functions that they should not have, destroying this body structure, from Poison Ivy's perspective, it may be as disgusting as ordinary people looking at those modified humans who have been transformed into tumors and cysts.
"You know who did it, right?" Poison Ivy suddenly asked, "You came with the answer."
"But I only have one answer: here we are."
The two got out of the car. It was quite quiet near Wayne Tower because there were no plants at all.
It is obvious that when Batman came here, he also used intrusion to destroy the security system. Because his face is different from that of Arkham Batman and his physical data is inconsistent, he has no way of getting away with it.
He left in too much of a hurry and had no time to carefully repair the security system. Being able to restore the security defense system near the portal before leaving was already the limit, so Schiller and Poison Ivy quickly took advantage of the loophole and entered Wayne Tower.
Poison Ivy was not familiar with the internal structure of Wayne Tower. While she was still wondering where the replacement liquid storage tanks for the Weather Control Center would be stored, Schiller had already taken her all the way to the special chemical spare parts storage room via the internal elevator.
"What is going on?" Poison Ivy was obviously asking Schiller. She even stood there and stared at Schiller in confusion and said, "What is your relationship with the Batman and the Joker in your universe? Why do you know so many places they often go?"
"I have some relationship with both of them." Schiller said as he checked the liquid storage tank, and to Poison Ivy it sounded like I had once been involved in the relationship between these two lunatics and had gotten away with it.
The liquid storage tank that Schiller found was very small, slightly larger than a handbag, and could be carried in the hand. After he opened the storage tank, he asked Poison Ivy to confirm that it did contain concentrated neurotoxins. As long as it was diluted properly, it could basically knock down everyone in Gotham City.
"The weather control system is no longer usable." Poison Ivy said, "Since Peter easily cracked the protective lock last time and used it to anesthetize everyone in the city, Bruce Wayne simply dismantled the core components inside. How do you plan to release the toxin?"
"This is easy." Schiller opened the liquid storage tank, and under the gaze of Poison Ivy, it turned into a ball of mist. When the mist came into contact with the liquid in the storage tank, the liquid began to decrease at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Poison Ivy widened her eyes again. She was the one who made this thing, so she knew how powerful it was. After all, such a small half can of stuff after dilution was still enough to anesthetize everyone in the city, which showed how toxic this neurotoxin was.
As a result, Schiller drank it all in gulps just like he was drinking a beverage. Poison Ivy even suspected that the burp she had just heard was an illusion.
Soon Schiller's figure disappeared in the room. Poison Ivy walked to the floor-to-ceiling window to see where Schiller had gone, but she saw nothing. After a while, she found that the glass was fogged up again.
The thick fog spread along the Wayne Tower and spread out of the city at an incredible speed. Poison Ivy saw that the entire Gotham was covered with a foggy filter, and the surging gray fog passed through every street and alley.
Although it was obvious when viewed from directly above, the thin fog was not so noticeable to pedestrians walking on the road, and was no different from Gotham's usual bad weather.
The main universe Nightwing, who was standing in front of the French window of Wayne Manor, just glanced at the gradually fogged glass and turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
But Jason and Tim, who were putting their luggage on the second floor, widened their eyes. They rushed downstairs like flying and shouted to others: "Quick! Find a sealed room or wear a gas mask!!"
Now, Robins from two universes gathered in the living room of Wayne Manor, Robin from the main universe and Robin from the Arkham universe. They were all stuffing food into their mouths, and some were even drinking nutrient solution, because they knew that they would not have time to eat in the next few dozen hours.
Hearing Jason's shout, they were all stunned for a moment, and turned to look at the two people running down.
"Gas Mask! Quick!!!"
Dick also ran out from another room and shouted. Seeing that they all had the same attitude, the others instinctively began to look for protective measures.
"It's too late, go into the Batcave and close the door!" Jason waved at them.
All the Robins rushed into the Batcave. After entering, they looked at each other in amazement, and finally all their eyes were focused on Jason.
Jason breathed a sigh of relief as if he had survived a disaster.
(End of this chapter)