Save...you...(A Mama/Batman Crossover Fiction) DISCONTINUED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Chapter 5

*WARNING: This chapter is rather dark and a tad gruesome. Queasy readers take caution. Besides that, please enjoy. Don't be afraid to leave comments/questions/suggestions!* 

There was gore. More gore than would be found in a cheap horror film. 

Bryson was in pieces – literally. He could hardly be recognized as a man anymore.

The white floor was no longer white, the cell doors no longer clear. Blood dripped from every surface near where he’d stood, pieces of his uniform floating in puddles of the cooling crimson. 

The alarm still shrilled but nothing could be heard from inside the ward – no rush of footsteps or frantic scrambling of nurses. Inside the wing, there was only one sound. 

Violet sat in the far corner, hands covering her head, shrieking so loud it was a wonder her vocal chords didn’t snap. The whole front of her body was drenched in red, her hair and clothing absolutely soaked. 

Ivy was the first to shake herself out of her horror, gulping as she averted her eyes from the grisly scene to stare at a still screaming Violet. The younger girl quivered, looking to be in the grip of a seizure the shaking was so severe.  

She didn’t look as if she’d just dismembered a man twice her size in no more than fifteen seconds. Ivy couldn’t see any visible injuries, nothing to indicate a scuffle of any sort. And Violet’s terrified expression just before the lights went off only proved to confuse the rogue more. 

No one said anything, everyone too stunned to form coherent sentences. Even the Riddler, who prided himself on his quick comebacks and cleverness, could not think of the proper response to what lay before him. 

No one knew how much time had passed before the first sounds of commotion could be heard from outside. The gruff, authoritative voice in the hallway was instantly recognized by everyone. 

The Batman burst through the doors, six guards on his heels only to stop dead in his tracks. Three of the men behind him dry heaved, one sprinted back the way he’d came, and two looked on the verge of blacking out. Even the Dark Knight raised a hand to his mouth to prevent whatever food he’d consumed from making a reappearance. 

Violet didn’t seem to know anyone else was in the room for she kept on wailing, not even bothering to lift her head. 

Taking a deep breath, Batman moved forward, carefully side stepping over the body parts littering the floor, noticeably flinching as he stepped in one of the deeper puddles. Puzzlement was evident in the set of his mouth, but he didn’t comment.

“Violet...” he cooed, struggling to keep his voice gruff, yet wanting to give her a sense of familiarity to hopefully calm her down. There was no change. 

Actually, upon glancing up at the giant bat, she became more hysterical. The closer Bruce got, the louder her wailing became. 

Other guards tried to calm her with the same amount of success. She was inconsolable. 

“I...I could try,” a voice piped up, earning the stares of everyone in the room. Ivy stared back, her look of nervousness out of place on her usually confident features. 

Ivy was known to look after the women of Gotham; rapists and assaulters constantly fearing the Woman with the Plants. 

“And let you out?” a guard snapped, glaring at the red head. 

“Do you want her to keep screaming?” Ivy hissed back. 

“Let her out,” Batman interjected, earning shocked looks and wide eyes. His voice was soft and full of concern, yet still low and gravelly.

When no one moved, he strode to her cell himself, smashing the control panel and prying open the door. “Help her,” he pleaded, and Ivy nodded, keeping her eyes ahead of her as she made her way toward the screaming girl. 

No one had it in themselves to question the Bats interest in the situation, instead chalking it off to some hush-hush police business. 

“Hey,” Ivy called, once ten feet from Violet. The girl looked up immediately, eyes swollen and drying crimson caked onto the planes of her face. She buried her head in her knees again just as fast, continuing on with her wailing but at a slightly altered volume. Quieter. 

“It’s alright...” Ivy assured her, closing in. She was now squatting next to her, arms outstretched to pull her into an embrace. Violet quieted even more, leaning in slightly when Ivy managed to get her arms around her shoulders. 

The older woman jolted, feeling just how thin Violet was. 

“Skin and bones...” she thought. 

Violet was almost completely silent, only whimpering now and again as Ivy patted her back. Harley crawled out from the corner of her cell, hurriedly turning back around as soon as she got another look at the body. 

Crane and Nigma were visibly less shaken, but still pale. They both knew, deep down, that Violet couldn't have done this. So that meant...something...or someone...had. 

Violet was now leaning wholly on Ivy, clutching the woman’s shirt as her shaking subsided. 

“Go,” Batman ordered the guards in a hushed voice, and they readily complied, nearly tripping over each other in their haste to get out. 

He stared at his cousin, who could have passed for being asleep if not for her eyes that were ready to bug out of her head. She stared on at nothing, starting slightly when Ivy wiped some stray blood from her forehead. 

Batman locked the wing doors when the guards had gone, turning slowly to face everyone, his lingering gaze on Violet not escaping notice of the others. 

Then, with his voice airy with disbelief, he asked:

“What the hell happened?”