Showdown at Slaughter Swamp

[newoutsiders]

Batgirl and Green Arrow have been riding for a few hours now, on their way to Slaughter Swamp: the last sighting of the mutated, truck driving zombie dubbed "Gingross." The red-tinged air pollution of Gotham fades behind you, giving way to the muted moonlight of a cloudy night sky. The swamp carries something of a supernatural reputation, as you're well aware- if the "hauntings" in Connor's building can be traced anywhere, Slaughter Swamp is as likely a point of origin as any.

Eventually, you run out of road and park the Batcycle. The nearest source of real light is coming through the window of a nearby, small wooden shack right on the edge of the swamp.

Comments

[not_easy_being_green]

"Silverpool." Connor smiles. "It's a lovely name."

He glances at Sal. "What will you two do now?"

[newoutsiders]

"Uh, hello," Lemmy says, a little annoyed. "Don't you mean..."

He stares at you, mouth agape.

"...Mr. Hawke?"

[not_easy_being_green]

Crap. "... I guess that was probably inevitable." He sighs.

"Can we wait to talk about this until there's less of an audience, at least?"

[newoutsiders]

"No problemo, Mr. H," he says, hands on hips and pushing out his chest. "After all, I'm one of you guys now. You can call me... METALHEAD," he adds, voice guttural.

"Are you making fun of me?" Kathleen asks.

"N-no, bro!" he says, suddenly apologetic. "I just wanna try the hero thing. You know, all these powers. Why waste 'em? Maybe I can go back home, do some real good. This could be just the beginning of weirdo adventures for me."

"Yeah..." Silverpool says, a little self-conscious. "I'm thinking about something like that too. Helping people. Like these people helped us."

"I'm just... I'm just gonna go," Sal says. "Move back into my apartment. Try to get my life back together. Maybe I can make some money at STAR Labs, they're always looking for guys like... whatever I am now."

[stephbrown]

"Well, if you're going to hang around Gotham, you can always go to the free clinic if you have any issues," Steph says, grabbing for the cards with Leslie Thompkins' address on them. She's used to dealing with stuff that's outside the normal doctor area of expertise. "Doc Thompkins is good people, and we'll tell her that you might drop in."

[newoutsiders]

"Thanks," Sal says. "I'll stop by. Kath-Silverpool, you might want to go too."

"Yes," she says dreamily. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

"Wait!" Lemmy says. "Let me go get something! From, uh, my pants."

You can only imagine what Lemmy is thinking as he rummages through his own body's pockets.

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor watches, curious what he's going to retrieve.

[newoutsiders]

"Say Grundy!"

Lemmy picks a phone out of his pocket- and keeps his hand in place as he stretches behind Connor, Cass, and Steph, all standing over Grundy in the foreground, as he throws up metal horns with his other hand and sticks out his tongue.

*SNAP*

[bat_by_another_name]

While she doesn't step away from the site, Batman sweeps her cape slightly further away. She raises a brow, though the motion is indistinguishable behind her faceless mask.

Instead of further humoring Lemmy's efforts, she turns to Silverpool. "Are you alright?" she asks as gently as she can manage behind the projected voice of the suit. "Do you need anything else?"

[newoutsiders]

"No," she says. "No, I should be okay." She laughs, just a little. "Thank you, Batman. You know... everyone at Arkham... they're all so afraid of you. But you're a good person."

[bat_by_another_name]

Batman is very silent, taken a back. Had the armor not been so thick, Cass is certain that the heat in her cheeks would have been visible.

She utters, a little lower than her usual volume, "All of us... can only try to be."

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor smiles, then jerks abruptly as he remembers - in all the excitement with Grundy, and then Kathleen - ah, Silverpool - they'd all forgotten.

He goes over to check on Starfire.

[newoutsiders]

Starfire is sprawled on her side, breathing as if in a deep, unwakeable sleep. It's unsettling seeing her like this, and you're not quite sure why until you realize it: she's not glowing.

[not_easy_being_green]

That's... disconcerting. He doesn't know much about her physiology, but he's pretty sure that even unconscious, the glow should still be there.

He walks back to the others. "Starfire's still out, and she doesn't look too good. Does anyone know if she has a doctor on this planet?"

[stephbrown]

Steph frowns. "I don't know. We can probably take her to Doc Thompkins, though. Does she... need sun? Or something?"

[not_easy_being_green]

"It's worth a try. I think we've landed, anyway."

He goes to try just that.

[newoutsiders]

You recall that it is the middle of the night.

[not_easy_being_green]

... he's going to blame that one on not yet being used to the timezone changes.

"I think it's time to call in the authorities," Connor says. He looks at Starfire. "Maybe someone can get some sun lamps for her."

[stephbrown]

"I'll call the cops," Steph volunteers. "They're kinda used to Bat people calling in weird stuff by now."

"Sun lamps? I don't know of anyone who has a bunch of those just sitting around. Do we break into the botanical gardens or something?"

[not_easy_being_green]

"There might be... a greenhouse or something, I guess? Wayne Labs might have some - we should call them in anyway."

[stephbrown]

"True." Steph toggles the button on her mask that will alert the GCPD that the Bats have found something, along with a set of coordinates. "I don't know how we're going to get her there, though. It's not like she'll fit on the back of the bike, and Batman said there's no more room in the plane thing."

[not_easy_being_green]

"I meant more... them coming to us? I mean, they might know what to do with what's left of all-" he gestures to the Hall of Doom in general - "This. And Doctor Bravo's lab as well."

[stephbrown]

"Oh, right." That does make sense, and it's way better than just... leaving it here. "I'll give them a call."

[newoutsiders]

You make the necessary calls, and are eventually directed to STAR Labs. They're on scene pretty quickly, and take Starfire, and Sal and Silverpool go with them.

A team also arrives to incarcerate Grundy- who is roused awake by the company.

"Won't... go..." he mutters. "Not like this. Gotta... start over..."

There's a loud snap as Grundy bites down on something. His body begins to glow white.

[stephbrown]

"Bomb," Steph shouts. She grabs a gooperang and tosses it at Grundy, hoping that it'll provide some sort of shielding. She yells to the evac team. "Run! Out of the building!"