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

[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.

[stephbrown]

"But then what's with the Ginkgold juice?" Steph asks. "Don't tell me that isn't related. One, my day's been bad enough, and two, that means we have more problems on our hands than I thought."

[newoutsiders]

"The responometers weren't for them! They were for him! This has never been done before. And, even under duress, I admit it's been a little thrilling to test the limits of this technology. And before he lets his goons bury that responsometer in him, he's got to make sure it works. You heroes might have forgotten me, but Grundy hadn't. Not this time around. He's been in the supervillainy game since the original Green Lantern was your age. And I suppose he was right to test it- there have been plenty of complications. That's where the gingo concentrate comes in. You see, the responsometers worked because the material we used them on was made to be fluid. Transmutable. That's not quite true of the human body, is it? So how would you get around that problem, hmm?"

[not_easy_being_green]

"Grundy? But - he already comes back. Why would he need a responsometer?"

[newoutsiders]

"Ah, see. That's the funny thing about Grundy. He always comes back- but he's never certain who he'll come back as. Sometimes he's a monster. Sometimes, a simple, brutish thug. Sometimes a manipulable child. And, rarely, just rarely, he retains the intelligence of the crime lord he was in life. It's not enough for him to come back, you see. He wants to come back as himself."

[stephbrown]

Steph blinks a few times. She... can't exactly fault Grundy for that train of thinking, even though she definitely faults him for all the crap he's done and people he's hurt to fix the problem.

She frowns. "And you've been helping him?"

[newoutsiders]

He nods over towards the unconscious guard.

"I didn't exactly have a choice," he said. "He had me abducted. It's been awful. Look at me! Smell me! Who would do this to themselves? I've been Grundy's hostage here, mixing his gingo extract and crafting these responsometers. Not that it hasn't been a delight to finally work on my dream project."

[stephbrown]

Steph nods slowly. "I'm back to wondering if we shoulda tied him up," she mutters to Connor. "Captive mad scientists are still mad scientists."

[not_easy_being_green]

"He's clearly harmless," Connor replies. More quietly, he adds, "There might be warrants out for him, though."

Connor turns to Professor Bravo. "Where have they been keeping the other captives?"

[stephbrown]

Steph shrugs. "We'd probably need a real name for a warrant search. It's always possible, though."

[newoutsiders]

He coughs loudly.

"Bravo is my real name. Dr. Gunter Bravo. And I have paid my 'debt to society.' I'll have you know I'm a model employee of WayneTech's Ex-Offender program."

[not_easy_being_green]

"Doctor Bravo. The other captives. The ones they've been experimenting on. Do you know where they are?"

[newoutsiders]

"That would be the dome, obviously," he says with nonchalance. "They kept me in there, but I tried to use some supplies from around the base to escape. So. Into the shack I went."

[not_easy_being_green]

"The dome?"

[newoutsiders]

In a move you're starting to guess he does a lot, he looks at you like an idiot.

"Where do you think we are? I thought you heroes were supposed to be more clever than this."

[not_easy_being_green]

"I think I'm from the other side of the country and don't really know Gotham."

"There's obviously another base. I'm guessing it probably has something to do with this-" He holds up the clicker. "But you know a lot more about where it is and what types of defenses it has."

[newoutsiders]

"I guess you wouldn't know. The original Green Arrow wasn't even on the team then. But, as for defenses? It was built to resist the Justice League. That button will bring it up, but it's mounted with automated laser turrets which could take down, say, an invisible jet.

"You two... you don't have powers, am I right? Heh. Good luck."

[stephbrown]

"Well, this sounds like it's going to be fun," Steph says. "I think it might be time to check in with Oracle. We can bring her up to speed on what we've found out and see if she's got anything else for us." Hopefully she'll have some magical way to get inside an impenetrable fortress, too.

"What do you think, GA?"