Batman goes to investigate the Green House.

With a fresh new suit and jumping from roof top to roof top, the Batman made his way across the city towards the far end of the outskirts where he knew Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn would be located. He chose to go on foot to avoid drawing attention, although the Batmobile would have gotten him there faster, he wanted his arrival unseen. The greenhouse had been around for over fifty years in Gotham city, it fell into disrepair and was abandonment after the rest of the property had been bought out to be used for the foundation of Black Gate prison. Poison Ivy had been living there for over 2 years now and much to Batman’s chagrin, the local authorities were more than happy to let the woman just stay there unbothered. It wasn’t difficult to understand why, if she ever would be captured and sent to Arkham asylum she’d be a danger to everyone in proximity to her. Patients had dropped dead sharing the same cell floor as her, or therapists had been found wandering the grounds starving and confused after prolonged exposure to her pheromones. Even a slight nudge from one inmate sent the fool into bleeding rashes the following night.

The woman was poison, in every which way of the word.

Carefully landing on the glass roof with the care to avoid causing a sound, Batman snuck over to one of the glass panels left open to let fresh air in. Undoing the latch, he lifted it slowly to avoid the thing creaking from rust before jumping inside without a sound. Landing on his feet and keeping a sharp eye out, Batman pulled out a hypo needle from his belt, a purple fluid visible from the side of the small syringe was a concoction he had made himself. A combination of inoculations and anti-venoms to fight off anything Poison Ivy might give off at any time. There were no guarantees of course, there was no perfect guard from her toxins, but it would have to do. Creeping with a slouch and moving deeper into the greenhouse, the Batman could hear two voices in the distance in front of him. Staying low and keeping silent, he crept forward until he could hear what they were saying.

“I’m tellin ya Red, best morning I eva had, ol Brucey boy really knows how ta appreciate a gal.”

“Honestly Harley…” Rolling her eyes, Pamela went back to spraying a green mist at a potted plant at her work table, making the plant’s branches shiver like they were alive. Harley had managed to get dressed in a spare costume she had left with Poison Ivy the last time they were together; a black and red full body suit with bells and frills at the ankles and wrists along with her iconic jester’s cowl.

Standing to his full height, the Batman made his way forward to stand just a meter away from the pair of women, neither of them had noticed his arrival. Looking down at his feet, the Batman noticed a dried branch pruned off one of the nearby shrubs that lined up and down the green house, turning his foot, he deliberately stepped on it, creating a ‘snap’ that caught the ladies attention. Spinning around to face the noise, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy stood up with a start seeing the Dark Knight right in front of them. Eyeing the black clad vigilante and the checkered bat at her side, Harley reached for the thing but cringed back her hand when a batarang got stuck at the hilt of the crude weapon.

“We need to talk.”

Narrowing her eyes at the Batman, Poison Ivy made a slight gesture with her hand, the result made the entire green house shift and twist with movement when the branches and vines of all the plants bent to her will.

“Talk about what?”

“There has been a string of deaths and disappearances in the city of late…”

Looking to each other for a split second, both women chuckled. “Not much of a news flash in this town, Bats.” Smirked Harley just when Poison Ivy stepped forward with her arm outstretched. Behind the Dark Knight, a collection of plants coiled and twisted to become a reflection of Pamela’s hand, gesturing to grab the man from behind. “Perhaps you were hoping on joining them Batman? I’m more than happy to oblige” that is until he pulled out a small item from his belt. Sparking it like a cigarette lighter, the Batman raised his arm to have the little flame dance mere inches from the emergency sprinklers.

“Before I came here, I laced the emergency reservoir of water with a potent weed killer.” Never breaking eye contact with the two women, the Batman knew full well there was a plant monstrosity right behind him, his face was unreadable to the pair as they hesitated to answer. “You’re bluffing!”

With his other free hand, Batman pulled out a vial no bigger than a AA battery and flicked it at the plant at Poison Ivy’s table. Breaking instantly once it hit the hard metal, the fluid inside evaporated into a blue mist, when it did, the plant squeaked like a dying rodent before suddenly going black and wilt.

“MY BABY!!!!” Wild eyed and screaming in horror, Pamela raised her hand to clench it like a fist, the plant behind Batman ready to do the same until Batman raised the lighter an inch higher, nearly flicking over the sprinkler head. “I have over a liter of that fluid hooked up to the sprinklers.” Biting her lip, Ivy lowered her hand.

“There has been a string of deaths in the city over the last few days, bodies found shrivelled and dry like all the life blood had been drained out of them, I want to know if you’re responsible.”

Chuckling despite her rage, Ivy outstretched her arms to show off her entire garden in the green house. “Look around you Batman, do you see any bodies in here? Why would I EVER go into the city? Nothing grows there! If I were to ever go there it would be to snuff it out all at once, not waste my time with piecemeal. I’ve never left this place.”

Turning his attention to Harley Quinn, Batman’s scowl remained unchanged.

“What? It’s TRUE!” Touted the woman with her arms outstretched like Ivy. “As far as I know, she’s done nothin but sit around and spritz her posies the last few days, and I’ve been with her the whole time!” Lowering his arm and narrowing his eyes, Batman took slow methodical steps towards the mad woman, making her cringe when he came close enough to make her anxious at how little space there was between them. Seeing him lift an arm towards her, Harley closed her eyes and winced, ready for a strike, but instead nothing came. Opening one eye, she looked up to see Batman pull a gold laced award from the table behind Harley.

“This belongs to Bruce Wayne, he declared it stolen some time ago.”

“Yeah? Well finder’s keepers, losers get their morning wood polished.” Crossing her arms and looking away with a snort, Harley looked back at the stone-faced Batman like a child after having stolen a cookie from the cookie jar. “Oh, come ON! Seemed like a good payment for the fun we had, bet rich boy’s STILL thinkin about me while all alone.” Reading her actions and her eye contact, the Batman could already tell she didn’t recognize him as Bruce Wayne, otherwise it would have been more apparent. She may have been an intelligent psychiatrist, but she lacked any kind of self restraint to keep a secret. The Joker’s past handiwork to be sure. Taking the award and clipping it to his belt behind him, Batman noticed the woman about to protest until she looked at his eyes again, and instantly went quiet. “Under any other circumstance, BOTH of you would be heading to Arkham asylum, but for now I have more serious concerns.

“Damn right you do…” sneered the red-haired plant woman, raising her arms in a strangling gesture, in that same second whip-like vines snapped from the plants in the green house, barbed with thorns and looking ready to strike like a cobra. “Shouldn’t have put your little cigarette lighter away Batman. Feeling one of those vines wrap around his wrists, Batman could already feel the razor edge of the thorns pierce into his suit like fine needles, a dull pain throbbing up his arm when it did. Finding himself in more danger, the Dark Knight tried to reach for his belt when a red boot kicked his across the face. “Payback for all the bruises and missin teeth you gave Mistah J Bats!”

Staggering back and getting dizzy with poison, Batman felt the vines start pulling him back. Every time he tried to reach for his belt, the vines pulled his arm back, keeping him from reaching anything useful. Smelling the tint of copper in his nose and mouth, Batman knew that whatever poisons the vines were laced with were already causing internal hemorrhaging. “You shouldn’t have killed one of my babies Batman, now you’re mulch!”

Breathing hard and shaking his head, Batman looked around for anything he could use, pulled down onto his back and slowly dragged towards the next of vines at the far side of the green house, the man struggled until he spotted a gardener’s spade on the floor, the thing rusted and old looking. Reaching out he managed to grab it but the vines prevented him from using it to cut himself free. Seeking his only gambit, the Dark Knight threw the rusty spade up in the air… right at one of the sprinkler heads hanging from the ceiling. The instant the metal thing snapped against the valve, all the sprinklers went off, spraying musky water all over the greenhouse.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!”

Going into a panic and losing control over her plants, Poison Ivy crouched and tried to dive under her work desk, Harley Quinn had done the same, hiding under the desk while water rained down from the ceiling. Breathing sharply and holding herself tight, Poison Ivy waited for the horror to begin… Only for nothing to happen. Water sprinkled over leaves and branches for over a minute, regular untampered water that did not burn or wilt her beloved plants and shrubs. Crawling out of the space, Ivy looked back at the snapped vines and the spot where Batman had made his escape when she had gone into a panic and lost control. Pamela sneered in anger. “I hate him! So very much!”

“Heh, yeah… Hey why am I under here too? I ain’t one of yer plants.”