The gunshot echoed down the corridor like a hammer strike in a cathedral.
The katana slipped from the ninja's fingers as the back of his skull exploded against the wall. The corpse collapsed in a heap of brittle vines and black fabric.
For a split second, everything was still.
Then Lex saw it.
Faint translucent prompts flickered in the edge of his vision.
Shadow Warrior Ninjutsu and Martial Arts — Acquired.Ninja Katana (Standard) — Stored.Stamina +10.Experience +5.
The rush hit immediately.
Not adrenaline.
Integration.
Muscle memory poured into his nervous system like liquid fire. Stances. Blade transitions. Silent footwork. Killing angles. His posture subtly adjusted on its own, center of gravity lowering by instinct rather than thought.
"What happened?" John demanded, returning at the sound of the shot.
Selina and Barbara had already turned, lights cutting through dust-filled air.
Lex nudged the corpse with his boot. "Zombie conversion."
He crouched and gestured toward the shriveled vines still tangled around the body. "These infected him."
Barbara frowned. "The plants?"
Selina knelt, running her gloved fingers over the vine fibers. What had looked faintly alive moments ago now crumbled under her touch.
They were dead.
Completely.
"Incredible," she murmured.
Poison Ivy's power came from the Green—life energy on a planetary scale. She was immune to toxins that could drop an elephant. Joker's gas. Military-grade nerve agents. Designer bioweapons.
And yet—
The zombie pathogen had rotted her creations from the inside out.
Barbara straightened. "So what, Ivy's infected and running Arkham like some plant-zombie queen?"
Lex shook his head.
"Not exactly."
He stood and shined his light along the corridor walls. Dead vines hung everywhere like molted skin.
"She's resisting it," he continued. "Transferring the infection into the plants. Using them as filters."
John grimaced. "That's not a solution."
"No. It's a delay."
Lex's voice lowered.
"Once she runs out of viable plant matter… there's nowhere left for the virus to go."
Selina's jaw tightened slightly.
"And when that happens?" Barbara pressed.
"She turns."
Silence settled heavily over the hallway.
Selina rose first.
"Then let's not give her the chance to use us as fertilizer."
Barbara snorted. "If you're scared, you can still wait outside."
Selina shot her a look sharp enough to cut glass, but she didn't argue.
They moved deeper.
Arkham's interior had transformed into a twisted greenhouse. Walls bulged beneath layers of creepers. Doors were fused shut by root systems. Ceiling tiles sagged under the weight of invasive growth.
The building felt alive.
Watching.
Then—
Barbara screamed.
The sound cut off abruptly with a metallic clatter.
Her flashlight beam spun wildly once before vanishing.
"Barbara!" John shouted.
They rushed forward.
Nothing.
No body.
No blood.
Just her dropped dagger lying on cracked tile.
John didn't hesitate.
He charged ahead blindly, kukri raised.
"John, wait!" Selina snapped.
Too late.
His footsteps faded into darkness.
Lex exhaled slowly.
"Well," he said quietly, "that complicates things."
Selina rounded on him. "This isn't a joke."
"I'm not joking."
Her eyes burned. "Arkham is lethal even without infected plants and rogue bio-mutants. Splitting up is suicide."
"You're yelling at the wrong person," Lex replied calmly. "I'm still here."
She looked like she wanted to hit him.
Instead, she pivoted sharply. "We move. Now."
Lex fell in beside her.
The new combat instincts inside him felt… precise. Balanced. Efficient. His footfalls grew quieter without conscious effort. His awareness expanded, mapping blind spots and choke points.
Elite Shadow Warrior level.
He'd crossed a threshold.
But he wasn't stupid.
The ninja he'd killed had still died here.
Power didn't guarantee survival.
"Stick close," he said quietly. "If she's using root networks for mobility, she can isolate us."
"I'm the one who knows this place," Selina snapped. "You stick to me."
Lex gave a small shrug. "Lead the way."
They advanced.
The first wave hit near the hydrotherapy wing.
Orderlies.
Doctors.
Patients in tattered gowns.
Infected.
Selina moved fast, fluid and lethal. She used a broken mop handle like a staff, cracking skulls with efficient arcs. Lex stepped in seamlessly, pistol snapping upward with mechanical precision.
One shot.
Two.
Three.
Headshots.
Minimal wasted motion.
Another Shadow Warrior lunged from a doorway, blade flashing in erratic arcs.
Lex sidestepped instinctively, his body executing a parry he hadn't consciously learned.
Steel rang.
He twisted, disarmed, and fired point-blank into the ninja's temple.
The corpse dropped.
More system prompts flickered.
Skill refinement.Reaction speed increased.Balance enhanced.
Selina glanced at him mid-fight.
"You move differently."
"Picked up a few tricks," he replied.
She smashed a nurse zombie's skull with a fire extinguisher. "This isn't funny."
"Wasn't trying to be."
They pressed onward.
The deeper they went, the more Shadow Warriors they encountered.
Not scattered.
Stationed.
As if they'd established a presence here before everything collapsed.
Lex shot another one and muttered, "Arkham looks less like a prison and more like a League outpost."
Selina kicked an infected orderly off a staircase. "Why would they come here?"
"Strategic control," Lex answered. "High ground. Reinforced structure. And…"
He gestured at the vines overtaking the walls.
"…a powerful asset."
Selina didn't respond, but her silence wasn't disagreement.
Another ninja zombie dropped.
Another pulse of integration.
If he survived this—
He'd walk out significantly stronger.
"Instead of theory-crafting," Selina said sharply, "focus on finding Barbara and John."
"Aren't you the guide?" Lex shot back lightly. "I'm just following orders."
She stopped abruptly and turned toward him, eyes blazing.
"You think this is my fault?"
"I think," Lex replied evenly, "that blaming each other in a living biohazard maze won't help."
She clenched her jaw.
For a moment, tension crackled harder than the distant groans echoing through the halls.
Then—
A faint sound.
Metal scraping.
Muffled shouting.
John.
Somewhere below.
Selina's head snapped toward a staircase half-obscured by hanging roots.
"They're down there."
Lex tilted his head, listening.
Yes.
Movement.
Struggling.
And something else.
A wet, rhythmic pulsing.
The vines along the walls were thicker here. Healthier.
Feeding.
Selina met his eyes.
"This is the root chamber."
"Meaning?"
"Where Ivy concentrates growth."
Lex checked his magazine.
Half full.
"Then we're close."
The staircase groaned under their weight as they descended into darkness.
The air grew humid.
Warm.
The pulsing sound intensified—like a massive heartbeat reverberating through wood and concrete.
At the bottom—
They found the source.
A cavernous sub-basement overtaken by an enormous mass of intertwined roots forming a grotesque organic dome.
And embedded within it—
Two human silhouettes.
John.
Barbara.
Suspended midair, wrapped in vine tendrils that pulsed faintly with sickly green light.
Alive.
But barely.
Selina stepped forward slowly.
"Ivy," she called.
The root mass shifted.
From its center, a figure emerged.
Red hair draped over pale shoulders.
Eyes glowing faintly.
Veins dark beneath translucent skin.
Poison Ivy
Her voice echoed unnaturally, layered with something else beneath it.
"They are… nutritious."
The vines tightened around John's torso.
Barbara's head lolled weakly.
Lex raised his gun.
"Ivy. You don't want this."
A flicker of recognition passed through her gaze.
Then distortion.
"It spreads," she whispered. "Through soil. Through root. Through me."
Another pulse rippled through the chamber.
The virus wasn't just infecting her.
It was integrating.
Adapting.
Selina's voice softened.
"Pamela. Let them go."
For a heartbeat—
The vines loosened slightly.
Then tightened again violently.
Ivy screamed, clutching her head.
"Burn it!" she gasped. "Before it—"
The root dome convulsed.
Dozens of tendrils shot toward Lex and Selina simultaneously.
Lex didn't hesitate.
He drew the newly acquired katana in one fluid motion.
Steel flashed.
And the real fight began.
....
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