And so it begins... (Invite)

[Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley]

For Ivy, today was like Christmas... No, wait, it was better than Christmas. They'd planned as much as possible, and today was the day. It was finally here.

She deliberately chosen a tight green mini dress; not terribly practical, but that wasn't why she'd chosen it. Everything hinged on the first part of the operation going to plan. As she left her little corner of paradise, the sun was just setting. Whilst she was usually appreciative of a beautiful offering from Mother Nature, she didn't have time to stop and admire it.

She was never one to waste an opportunity, so she planned to take two birds with one stone. The thought made her smile as she strode towards the darkened jewellery store. Touching a nearby tree, she caused a sudden, unnatural growth spurt in it, causing it to smash through the window. Alarms sounded all around her, and she clasped her hands together in joy as she helped herself. She had always been of the opinion that precious stones weren't for one man to sell, but they were certainly there for this woman to wear.

As put on a particularly sparkly tiara she heard a noise from behind her. She hoped that it wasn't cops; she really couldn't be bothered to take them out as well. She was here to get one person, and that was all that interested her... No one else had to get hurt this evening.

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

Dick was positive he heard sirens only a few blocks away, and from his knowledge of the city it was coming from the jewelry store, how original, thieves stealing jewels. He sighed as he dove from his rooftop perch and grappled onto the edge of a lower building before using his momentum to vault himself onto the roof where he sprinted across and onto the roof of the jewelry store. He saw the tree and how it had been used to smash the window out, and only knew of one person who could make it do such a thing. Poison Ivy. Dick dropped down to street level and pulled an eskrima stick which he began twirling around his fingers as he strode inside the store behind her.

''Diamonds are a girl's best friend, but your best friend is probably going to be an 6x8 with no windows. And before you ask, yes the stripes are going to make you look fat'', he said before rushing her and throwing a batarang in her direction before leaping and attempting to land on her with a punch. He jumped back about ten to fifteen feet and began to look her over with his lenses, he switched from electromagnetic lenses, to thermal, to UV. Nothing seemed to be abnormal, but something here did not feel right, and he knew to be cautious.

[Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley]

She gasped in mock horror, ‘how could you say such a mean thing to a girl?’ she asked. She played the ‘I’m a girl’ card when it suited, but truth be told she liked to think of herself as being head and shoulders above most men. The batarang skimmed past her head, as she began to turn, before she was knocked to the floor. Pain shot through her shoulder as he hit her and she knew that she would be bruised tomorrow morning; it was a small price to pay, and she would get even before the night was through.

She brushed her hair from out of her eyes, and got to her feet, slightly readjusting her dress as she did so. Her tiara was now gone, whilst it made her a little sad, she made a mental note to pick it up again at a later date. She faced her opponent.

‘Now Dick, I need an able volunteer, either you can come quietly like a good boy, or….’ She trailed off, as she slowly, purposefully walked towards him. ‘…. I can make you.’ She pursed her lips as she said her final word, gently blowing some pheremones towards him. She doubted that the first dose would be enough, but it would give the young Grayson an idea of what he had to deal with.

She etched a concerned look across her face. She always thought she should have been nominated for an Oscar she was such a good actress; she still waited with baited breath for that day. ‘I just need some help, and I think you’re the perfect candidate. So won’t you help me? Please?’ she asked as she drew ever nearer.

‘I promise I won’t hurt you.’
She suppressed the naughty voice inside her that said quietly under its breath “yet”.

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

He watched as she got up, and immediately he wondered why he had hit such a fine woman. Her dress was hugging her in all the right places. Wait...was he really thinking this about her? She was a villain, then it hit him, she had just blown pheromones in his face, something that would definitely make him become attracted to her. He immediately pulled his rebreather and used it to cleanse the air of any type of toxins. She was a tricky one. Then she said how she wouldn't hurt him, and he himself already knew she wouldn't, not because she had promised, but because he himself would not allow it.

''What are you up to Ivy?'', He asked before walking backwards away from her, he could not be sure what she had planned, but she sure was putting on a seductive act for something. He kept on his guard, no telling what would come next, at any moment she could have a flower or something of the sort attacking him. All of a sudden he began to feel a bit light headed, and he stumbled back out onto the street where he fell flat on his rear. He quickly gathered himself and looked back over at her.

''It depends on what you would have me do. I can't promise you a date or anything, I kinda have to put you in jail, though that would be....tempting to say the least'', he said taking notice to her form again. This time however he could not tell if it was his natural womanizing side, or the pheromones talking. ''Perhaps if you took your villain get up off, I'll let you take me out to dinner'', he said chuckling.

[Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley]

She tilted her head at him, watching him as he backed away from her. ‘Oh please. You and I are past that now surely?’ she asked. ‘It’s Pamela,’ she said offering a hand to him, to help him up. She considered what he was saying. If she was co-operative now, it would be easier to get him on board. She sighed and forced the chrolophyll that gave her skin the very slight green tint away from the surface; her skin returning to the china porcelain that it used to be.
‘Better?’ she asked

‘Besides, you wouldn’t send me back to Arkham, would you?’ she asked. ‘It’s such a miserable place,’ she commented as she took the young man by the arm and started to lead him away. She wouldn’t tell him how much she hated it. She never told anyone that. They might think they’d got one thing to hold over her, to threaten her with.

She didn’t want to get stopped by the cops, so they needed to get out of there. She headed for the nearest alley, dragging him behind her. She hoped her esteemed colleague was waiting in the wings. ‘But let’s not talk about that horrid place now, I’d much rather talk about other things. Such as how you’re going to help me…' As soon as they were cloaked in darkness, she reverted to her natural green form. She couldn’t stand fighting it off any longer. With one swift, sudden movement, she pulled him close and planted one solid, firm kiss on his lips, and then stood back. It should only be enough to knock the poor boy out, but she could never be too sure.

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

Dick was getting more and more light headed, and the next thing he knew his entire body began to get non-responsive, so he was surprised when he was being dragged into an alleyway and then kissed, he was sure that this situation had just gone from bad to worse in a matter of moments. He leaned into her kiss and honestly given the situation, he would have groped her, but he could not feel his arms at all. He began to theorize in his head just what her plan was, then the darkness came forth and began to claim him. This was bad, how stupid could he have possibly been? He really let her get close enough to infect him with her toxins, and now he was comatose.

He woke and was still not able to move his body, nor was he able to see well, no doubt an affect of whatever she had given him, so he began to think once again about how he would get himself out of this situation, he could alert someone by using his communicator, but of course that would require him to be able to move, which he could not. Controlling his heartbeat was key, if he could do that then he could pass the toxins through his system by speeding it up and pumping more blood, but that would all come with time, for now all he could do was wait.

[The Riddler]

In the end it was all to easy. The Riddler had to admit he had envisioned a more elaborate would be more appropriate to take down one of Batman’s children. He would imagine The Bat would have prepare his clan for any and all ambushes. Rather like a overbearing parent warning his children of strangers with candy…

Credit where credit was due: Poison Ivy played her role to perfection. As Nygma hide in the allay out of sight of the two only appearing out of the shadows after Nightwing was out for the count, practically salivating he skips towards Ivy

“As always Miss Isely, it’s a privilege to watch you’re considerable talents in action, I'm a tad disappointed that our mutual friend didn't put up more of a fight,but clearly I’ve overestimated his abilities.”

Curious Nygma took the time to examine the prone body of Nightwing. He was in his usual attire. Tricked out with many different bat-tect that made Nygma almost envious, The Riddler was half tempted to rip off his mask here and now, but decided against it. He was sure there was numerous defenses put in place to prevent interference with the body armor, and besides if he unmasked him. What would he gain? Quite frankly, Nightwing was nothing, nothing compared with his mentor.

“Tell me Ivy: what’s the one question you can never honestly answer yes to?”

Nygma’s head sharply looked up and gazed at Ivy with a smug grin on his face.

“…Are you asleep? HA!”

Nygma let out a snort of amusement at the whole situation. Oh how simple this whole procedure would be and he honestly thought he would have to resort to violence to incapacitate nightwing, Nygma fluidly and theatrically gestures to the allays exit.

“My men are waiting in the wings in a van to escort us all to my humble abode after they finished with the jewellery store of course. Force of habit you understand. Shall we proceed with the next phase?”

[Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley]

She watched as the limp Nightwing crumpled and fell to his knees. Perfect.

She looked at him for a moment, making sure he was truly down, before giving Mr Nygma a sidewards look. 'It would be much harder were he Batman,' she commented. Pamela didn't doubt that for one moment. She knew that the Bat was the prize that they both were truly after. This was just a test run; perfecting of their plan. She smirked, this would still be just as fun though, and of course it would make the city a safer place for the likes of them. Unlike her associate, de-masking the young Nightwing hadn't even crossed her mind.

Her train of thought was broken by Edward's riddle though, a frown crossed her features as she thought about it. She wasn't too good at riddles, though perhaps spending time with the Riddler might improve that. His answer did raise a smile, especially as it related to their rather sorry looking captive.

Good job he'd thought ahead. She wondered how they were going to move the body, he looked solid, and she didn't want to chip a nail. She ventured back into the street, and took a branch from a nearby tree, as awful as she felt for it, it was serving a higher purpose. She knelt by Nightwing and caused the branch to twist and twine around his wrists, she wanted a bit of security if he came to a little early.

She left the grunts to do their bit though, she was itching with excitement to get to the next phase....

The maze that had been built for their newest test subject was a mixture of rooms and tunnels each posing a slightly different puzzle and challenge from the last. Each room was a varying shade of green; Pamela and Edward's favourite colour. Each test for the young Nightwing would prove challenging, but it was not impossible. No that would not be sporting. There was a camera and a monitor in each room. The "scientists" in this experiment wanted to see the progress made, as well as speak with the subject.

Ivy saw that Nightwing was coming to, so reached for the microphone. 'Wakey, wakey Sleeping Beauty... time to rise and shine,' she said playfully. The noise coming from the monitor was a little crackly and distorted, but clear enough. She waited for a response, eyeing her counterpart as she did so. She hoped their "secret" and "secure" location was just that. She did not want him finding them.

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

Dick opened his eyes, not entirely sure where he was. The sound of Ivy's voice was beginning to annoy him, but at least he was in control of his body now, and he could look around to see his surroundings. He tried moving his arms but he was displeased to find that he was being bound somehow, definitely by wood, and that would not be as easy to get out of as hand cuffs, but luckily the wood was pretty flimsy. He brought his legs up over his bound hands so that they were now in front of him, this would not be that hard to escape from. He surveyed the surrounding area and them pressed a button on his gauntlet that allowed a single wing ding to pop out which he then used to cut the wood from around his wrists. He looked up at the monitor and smiled as he put up his middle finger as to show that he had not lost any of his confidence.

''You two idiots thought it would be this easy to catch and keep me? Geez, if I was Bat's you'd both probably be done for already. Now let me out to I can break both your faces and go on with my night'', he said looking around for a door to escape from. He was a little less than surprised when he found that there was only one. He stopped to think for a second, this door probably had something on the other side waiting for him. Screw it, he strode over to the door and kicked it in with all his might and laughed as it fell only to reveal another room, which then made him a bit annoyed because it looked just like the one he had just gotten out of.

''Okay, the longer you keep me in here, the longer you will be in the hospital for, I'm not playing this game. f you don't let me out, I'm going to make both of your lives living hells'', he said lookingup at the camera that was placed in the room.

[The Riddler]

Ivy needn’t have worried, if there’s one thing that Riddler is more then experienced at is picking the perfect hideout, Nygma was confident that as they looked down at Nightwing Riddler were more then confident that they were practically invisible, and even if Nightwing did figure out their locations, Nygma was more then prepared to do what was necessary to escape

The Riddler left no stone unturned when performing on a stage of this magnitude…

Nygma watched with raped attention as Grayson awoke and broke out of his bonds,like he was naturally supposed to… for nygma knew every single one of Nightwing moves he before he did.There was nothing Nightwing could pull out that nygma didn’t have a suitable reply for.

''You two idiots thought it would be this easy to catch and keep me? Geez, if I was Bat's you'd both probably be done for already. Now let me out to I can break both your faces and go on with my night

Idiots? Oh there was no way nygma was going to let that pass. The Riddler approached the mic with an even tone.

“Ah yes, the natural hotheadedness of the common crimefighter. You brand us idiots, yet you are the one that fell some easily into the most transparent of ruses. Interesting…and I think you’ll find that the face isn’t a bone therefore cannot be broken. I would have thought the Bat would have taken the time to teach you that much, but I suppose he probably thought basic human anatomy was far beyond your mental capabilities and let you continue finger painting..and yes I am painfully aware that you are not bat…how is he by the way? Its been far too long since I had the pleasure of his company…How does it feel Nightwing, that your mentor has abandoned the city he used to protect so readily, how do you feel about him now that he showed himself to nothing more then a coward.”

Nygma caught himself just in time before he became too aggravated, it was just the fact that Batman had seemingly fled town, not only depriving Nygma of the only real competition he has, but also denying Nygma of fulfilling his destiny, and that made Nygma blood run cold with rage. So the only real solution to this problem was to lure the bat back to his home, and what better way to temp him back them with the death of one of his children?

''Okay, the longer you keep me in here, the longer you will be in the hospital for, I'm not playing this game. f you don't let me out, I'm going to make both of your lives living hells''

At these words a ghost of an amused smirk appeared on Nygma’s face as he began speaking once again.

“Oh, but I’m afraid that your personal preference is irrelevant at this point. You will play our little game quite simply because it’s the only way to prolong your existence…y’see while you were napping so peacefully you’ve been breathing in a quite potent poison herb by the name of valerian that I have been experimenting with for quite some time to the point that it will almost certainly be responsible for quite a painful death of anyone exposed to it. First you’ll lose feeling in your extremities then you’ll lose the ability to move your legs, then your arms and so on and so on…until the poison attacks your vital organs… but fortunately out of the goodness of our hearts, Ivy and I have provided you a chance to achieve your salvation. So the game is simply this: beyond that doorway is quite an elaborate maze of my own design and in the centre of our prepared labyrinth is a cure that will flush the toxins out of your system, however in order to advance in this maze, you must pass obstacles that myself and Ivy had set up. Some physical and some mental, if you pass each one of these trial you’ll be allowed to pass, if you fall? Well Ivy has arranged a consolation prize for you…Now, judging by the amount of time you’re been breathing in toxins and the time it usually takes for it to take effect, I would say you’re running low on time, ego I would suggest starting your journey post-haste.”

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

Dick was about to make some sort of smart remarks, but then he stopped to listen to what Riddler was saying. Jeez, had he gotten himself into a situation. He kicked down the door and saw the entrance to the maze, he wouldn't like it, but he would have to get through it if he wanted to survive. ''Okay, I'll play your game'', he said as he looked forward. He sprinted into the maze making a left and then another left. He had not yet seen any type of obstacles, so he continued running, he took note of the walls and found them quite the repetitive white color.

''Where is your stupid first challenge so I can get out of here and on to breaking your face....which can definitely be broken if I hit it hard enough'', he said slowing down to a walk and looking from side to side. Weird, nothing was there, and he was beginning to get annoyed. He really was going to completely murder both of them when he got out, not literally but he would not let them do this and get away with it. Though hanging around his brother made the idea seem like a good one. But he knew the two of them were working some sort of angle, and he wanted to get to the bottom of hit. And dead suspects, are not suspects at all.

[Pamela "Poison Ivy" Isley]

She was not happy at being called an idiot, but then again she wasn't the one stuck in the maze - who was the idiot at the currently? It seemed that her dear Riddler thought exactly the same - great minds did think alike.
Nightwing wasn't in any positions to be calling her names, after all he could make this easier on himself.

She took the mic from Edward and watched the young Nightwing run around their maze for a moment. She wasn't fan of rodents too much, she never owned one, but she imagined this is what it would be like to own one. It was relatively therapeutic.
'My dearest Nightwing, you should see a door coming up on your right. I suggest that might be a good place to start,' Pamela was unable to hide the smile from her voice, she was just enjoying this far too much.

She knew that the room ahead held a room without a solid floor, that was difficult to get across. She and Mr. Nygma had agreed that the best way to arrange the maze was to make each room increasingly difficult. She had no doubt that Nightwing would easily pass through this early room, but this was just a warm up.
The room that would greet Nightwing didn't have a floor, but did have a pit of Ivy's enhanced vines and plants, all had grown to a huge size. She would be interested to see how he got to the other side, the next door and how he coped with her little darlings. She was hoping just a little bit that they might swallow him whole, and then it would all be over nice and quick.

[Richard ''Nightwing'' Grayson]

Dick slowed as he opened the door and immediately noticed that there was no floor, replaced with plants, and a door on the other side. The plants were quite large and seemed as if they would grab out at anything that passed them. He would have to be smart here. Dick looked down for a moment, before taking a few steps back out into the maze and getting a running start to leap across the pit and reaching for the ledge near the exit. He thought he had under jumped and would miss but at the last moment he shot a grappling hook from his gauntlet and latched onto the ceiling to pull himself up. Next he broke open the door and walked out into yet another maze.

''Okay, that was easy. But the rest will not be I am sure'', he said to himself as he began to sprint down the next hallway. He was tired of this already, and he was working out many ways for him to get out of this situation alive. He took in everything that they had told him. He was in a maze, and he had a poison in his system that would kill him in a certain amount of time. He could no doubt call in his motorcycle, which would break through the wall and he could get himself to Bruce's place to get detoxed. But too much time had already elapsed.