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]

Or she could... um... not need his help at all. Connor relaxes the tension in his bow, though he does not undock the arrow, and steps up behind Steph.

[stephbrown]

"Yes" Steph says, pumping her fist in the air as she grins at Mr. Pukes A Lot. "Bet you wished you just took a nice nap, huh?"

She turns around to check on Connor and is surprised to find him right behind her. "Whoa! Hey. Feeling better?"

[not_easy_being_green]

"I just needed a minute." He looks at the scientist. He looks... somewhat worse for the wear. "Is he part, of this or a captive?"

[newoutsiders]

"Hate... you..." he says, retching dryly between words. Seems like he doesn't have much in him to puke.

[stephbrown]

"I don't know, but let's restrain him before he decides he hates us enough to attempt murder," Steph says, stepping over Snoring Beauty and pulling a zip strip. "You can come quietly, or my friend back there can put an arrow in your favorite shoulder. The choice is yours."

[not_easy_being_green]

Connor looks a little bit uncomfortable with the threat. Quietly, he murmurs. "Batgirl, I really don't think he's a threat..."

[newoutsiders]

"Please... take me," he says, on hands and knees. "Holding me here... for weeks."

[stephbrown]

Steph puts the zip strip back in her belt. Crap, she'd stinkeranged a civilian. Even with her go-to policy of stink first, ask questions later, this isn't her shining moment.

"Okay, okay, sorry," she says, squatting next to the guy. "Let's get you some fresh air. That'll help."

[not_easy_being_green]

Yeah, that's what he thought. Connor stows his arrow back in one of the quivers on his back and stands next to Steph. If she hasn't offered the guy a hand up, he will.

"Who are you? Who's been holding you?"

[newoutsiders]

The old scientist looks up at you and wheezes a laugh.

"I'm not surprised you don't recognize me, in this state. But I assure you, in any other circumstance, you would both be at your knees at the mention of my name. For you see, young heroes, I... am PROFESSOR BRAVO."

[stephbrown]

Steph blinks a few times, trying to figure out if she's heard that name before. It doesn't sound familiar at all. She glances over at Connor, hoping he's got his aha! face on.

[not_easy_being_green]

In the swamp surrounding them, crickets chirp loudly.

He offers Steph a small shrug. Connor's got nothing, man.

He turns to the scientist.

"Professor Bravo. Do you know who took you?"

[newoutsiders]

He looks at Steph and Connor in annoyance.

"...Creator of the Plastic Perils? Arch-nemesis of that hack Will Magnus and his Metal Men? Bah! Kids. Well, I was a big deal once. Ask your father, Batgirl. I'm sure the Batman has cursed the name of Professor Bravo many a time."

He grunts.

"And of course I know who took me. It was that asshole, Grundy. Where do you think we are, boy? This is Slaughter Swamp."

[stephbrown]

Steph represses a mighty shudder. It's not the first time someone's referred to Bruce as her dad, but it's never any less creepy and weird. "Right, sure. I bet Batman's just got loads of files on you somewhere that he didn't share." He probably does, actually, but Steph's pretty sure that this guy isn't in many of them, if he appears at all.

"Grundy," Steph mutters. "That's... not good." They're definitely gonna need backup if it's Grundy; Steph has sen the guy punch a tree off of its base. She likes her head where it is, thanks: firmly attached to the rest of her.

[not_easy_being_green]

"Solomon Grundy??" He remembers the stories his father had told about him - he and Roy had encountered him not too long ago, in fact. "What's he have to do with Gingold juice?"

Connor takes a moment to glance around the cabin... and spots a strange controller on the unconscious guard's belt. He walks over to retrieve it.

[newoutsiders]

"It's not about the gingold," Bravo tells you. He pulls from his coat what looks like a translucent pocket watch flattened into a disc in his palm. "It's about these."

[stephbrown]

Steph reaches out to take it, but hesitates. She doesn't have a clue what it is, other than round. For all she knows, it's some mystical item that's gonna zap her if she touches it.

"It's a nice one," she ventures. "I have no idea what it is, but wow, is it nice."

[newoutsiders]

He looks at you incredulously.

"No idea what it-- it's a responsometer, girl! The most incredible computer ever created by man- based on ideas that cad Magnus stole from my research, I might add."

[not_easy_being_green]

'Responsometer.' That rings a bell, and Connor suddenly understands. "Is that how they've been controlling them?" He stands up, remote in hand.

[newoutsiders]

He sneers at you derisively.

"Ha! Well, yes. But that's so little of it! You might as well say a NASA computer could beat you at checkers."

[not_easy_being_green]

"Then what else does it do?"

[newoutsiders]

"Oh, nothing special. Just GRANT THE GIFT OF LIFE!" He dramatically looks up to the sky, as if hoping for a thunderbolt to punctuate his statement. It doesn't come.

[stephbrown]

"The gift of life," Steph repeats. "So, what, if you have one you're immortal? Or does it raise the dead?"

[newoutsiders]

"It grants life to that which had none! Traditionally, that is. Magnus used these to create those damnable Metal Men, imbuing them with life and personality. I used mine to create the Plastic Perils. But... we were practically children then. We weren't thinking big enough. That's all well and good to give life to the inanimate. But... if you were to install one in the dead! Just imagine!"

[not_easy_being_green]

"Sal," Connor realizes aloud. "The man who was driving the truck - he was found dead in his apartment a few weeks ago, along with some others. That's what Grundy's been doing? He's been - what, stealing bodies, resurrecting them with this responsometer and controlling them?" He looks a little bit sick. That's horrifying.