🐣 !!
Send 🐣 to catch my muse caring for a child
It must have been an odd sight for Batman that night, arriving on the scene to deal with the abduction of a child only to find that the situation had already been dealt with.
Well, perhaps dealt with wasn't quite the right term. Bodies lay strewn all around the place, most of which were men in various degrees of consciousness with some in very real danger of never coming around again. Those men had been... bitten by something, something Batman would no doubt recognize the instant he observed the symptoms of those afflicted by their mysterious attacker. Symptoms that only someone who used venom could inflict. At the end of the trail of crooks, the one responsible for this scene of carnage was currently sitting in the deepest level of the basement. Copperhead lounged on the decrepit office desk like some sort of oversized cat, his powerful tail looped gently around the body of a small child. The child, a little girl who seemed no older than four looked to be in no danger however, her blue eyes wide with wonder as the serpent gently tended to a bruise on her cheek. It would have been a heartwarming scene if the person still seated at the table wasn't stiff as a corpse, the only motion being his roving eyes as his body refused to obey his commands. Such a shame. Copperhead's neurotoxin tended to have that effect on mammals, especially humans. Copperhead sighed, finishing his patient's treatment by applying a small plaster to her scuffed face. The act of a desperate gang had led them to an unusually foolish crime - abducting the child of a prominent citizen. They'd contacted Copperhead to ensure the ransom was not only paid but that the father, who was meant to deliver the money at the specified drop-off point, would meet his end at Copperhead's claws instead of finding his daughter. The whole plan had left a bad taste in Copperhead's mouth, who felt that such a job was far beneath his skills but the ringleader who seemed to have realized far too late just how over his head he'd gotten had been insistent. The stench of fear in the air was overwhelming; the ringleader, his men and the hostage increasing to the point when one of the men, agitated by the girl's increasingly noisy sobs, had enough and slapped her hard. In response, Copperhead sent him flying into a wall with a slap of his tail and it all kicked off from there. If he could have closed his eyes, he would have. How ironic that he, an assassin for hire, had turned on those who'd sought his skills. Some crimes were more trouble than they were worth however, and this was one crime he'd rather not have had any part of to begin with. The arrival of a new scent in the air quickly distracted him from the girl's babbling stream of questions, Copperhead's tongue flickering as he deduced it was none other than the Dark Knight himself. The string of paralyzed and unconscious bodies no doubt had him moving faster than normal, anticipating the worst when a child was involved but perhaps just this once, Batman could be pleasantly surprised for a change. The door to the room flung open, looming silhouette haunting the entrance with only the whites of his eyes glinting in the darkness. They might have widened in surprise - or shock to see that all hostiles were already down, with nothing left but a serpent standing between him and the hostage. Before Batman could do anything however, Copperhead decided to beat him to the punch with an excited point of his finger. "Look, there's Batman! Go to him quickly now, he's come to help you." He said, gently setting the girl down so she could run to the waiting vigilante. At once she took off, never looking back as she scampered across the room to latch onto one of Batman's armor-clad legs like a limpet clinging to a rock. Perhaps it was manipulative, utilizing a child's fears as so to prevent his foe from intercepting his escape but Copperhead felt as though he'd overstayed his welcome and besides, Batman would surely have his hands full administering antidotes to all affected by his venom before the effects of paralysis became permanent. By the time Batman looked back up again, Copperhead would be long gone, having slipped through the same hole from whence he came.
