Disclaimer: All characters depicted here are from DC Comics. I may have taken some liberties, but the point remains. I am merely a visitor here.

This story is dedicated to my bestie, Davidor, who lured me in, even though I don't really know much about the comic universe of Batman.

Rated M for the situation.

Reviews are welcome!

The rocket blasted through what appeared to be time and space. A strong smell of ozone permeated the air around her, and she wondered briefly what would happen to her if something were to go wrong.

Betrayal. That was what she felt. He had done this to her. Put her in here to send her God knew where, because he didn't care about her.

He didn't care about her.

She let that sink in for a moment. Tears blurred her vision, and for a second, she couldn't see. She leaned forward, meaning to support herself against something – anything – and ended up on the floor, her eyes burning with tears of shame.

She'd done everything he had asked of her. Everything. She had nearly died for him, or rather because of him, but she chose to remember it differently. She had been ready to kill Batman for him. But he'd stopped her because he wanted to be the one to take full credit over his enemy's death. To have her do it… well, it would have discounted everything else he'd done up until now, wouldn't it?

"I cared so much about you…" she whispered to herself.

Had it been love, what she'd felt? She couldn't be sure. She hadn't been with him for long. Time and again, he had abused her, humiliated her, hurt her, tried to kill her… and yet she went back to him, day in and day out, because when he wanted to, he could be charming. When he wanted to.

But he didn't love her.

With a sob that was equal parts frustration and pain, she pulled off her mask and retied her pigtails, the tips of which were dyed blood red on one side, and black on the other. She loved her look. It allowed her to look silly, while scaring people from miles away.

Whatever you do, it will never be enough. He'll never see you as anything more than a clown.

"It's funny, coming from someone who calls himself The Joker." She screamed suddenly and piercingly, needing to release her anger. "It's not fair! Do you hear me? It's not fair! I did everything for you! And you never even cared!"

She was still screaming herself hoarse when she noticed that the rocket had lost its velocity. All of a sudden, it began to fall, and she shrieked. An instant later, it crashed into a building…

Am I dead?

Is this what being dead is?

She tried to get up, but couldn't. She felt paralyzed, not well at all. She remembered Joker throwing her into a rocket, which had then been fired somewhere over Gotham City.

She made a sound, then coughed once. Her insides burned like fire.

"Don't try to talk," came a soft voice. "And don't move. I'm still working on you."

Working… on me?

"My name is Ivy. Poison Ivy. Your rocket crashed almost directly on top of my lab. You killed some of my plants aboveground, but I'll restore them later. You didn't know how to pilot that thing, did you?"

She tried to talk, but still found she couldn't. A cool cloth was brushed against her face, soothing the burning skin there.

"I know you. You work for The Joker, don't you?"

At the mention of his name, she tensed. Tears pooled beneath her eyelids and she started to cry before she'd managed to reel her emotions in.

"Harley."

She didn't want to know how this woman knew her name.

"Here. Drink this. It'll help with the paralysis, trust me. I'm afraid that's my fault. I tend to secrete toxins that are dangerous to human beings."

Ivy put a cup to Harley's lips, and she was forced to drink. The liquid that passed down her throat was viscous and tasted horrible, like acid being dropped into her mouth. She tried to fight it, but Ivy put a hand on her shoulder, comforting.

"Shh, it's okay. It's going to hurt for a bit while your immune system changes, but you'll feel much better."

Harley began to scream. She felt as though live snakes were in her belly eating her from the inside out. Ivy climbed onto the bed Harley was lying on and held her to help her go through the pain.

"Don't fight it."

Through the agony she felt, Harley opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, but she had the impression of pale skin, vividly red hair, and green. A lot of green.

"It's all right, Harley. I promise, you're going to be just fine."

It took some time. Harley had visions, horrible visions of Joker laughing at her with Batman as she hung by her ankles over a cauldron that spewed green fire. She saw dark ravens pecking at her exposed liver while another one ate her eyes. She felt someone stuffing a red-hot spoon between her lips and giggling at the blisters this caused.

Ivy didn't move. She simply held her to make sure the girl didn't hurt herself. She whispered to her that everything was going to be okay, and finally, finally, after nearly an hour, Harley quieted down. She was shaking from head to toe, but the worst of the pain seemed to have faded away.

"Are you okay?"

Sweat was rolling down Harley's cheeks, creating clean paths down her dirty makeup-laden cheeks.

"What did you do to me?"

"It's a vaccine, and it's the only way for you to be anywhere near me without getting very sick. Your body reacted violently because your immune system has been reworked, so to speak."

"Reworked…" Harley felt nauseated. "I think I'm gonna be sick…"

"No you're not. You're going to be fine, just relax for a bit, okay? I promise, you're going to feel fine in a few minutes."

"A few minutes… I was stuffed in a rocket that crash landed in… where the hell am I?"

"Oh, you're still in Gotham, if that's what you're wondering. But you crashed near an abandoned park that I'm turning into a green area. It was my condition of freedom from Batman."

"From Batman?" Outraged, Harley tried to get up, but still felt too weak to do so. "Are you working for him?"

"Now, calm down," said Ivy. "Really. You'd think that I had offended you."

"You did offend me!"

"No, I'm not working for Batman. He wanted to imprison me, but I convinced him that I wasn't a menace to society. All I want to do is work with plants. He doesn't know exactly to what end, but that's better left unsaid." Ivy brushed a lock of blonde hair away from Harley's forehead, "You don't seem happy."

"Batman is my enemy!"

"No. He's the Joker's enemy. And you have a thing for Joker."

Harley just looked at her, dumbfounded. Her vision was much clearer now, clearer than she ever remembered it being. "I… no."

"No? You mean that you've never worked for him?"

"I did work for him but…" Harley's voice trailed away for a moment. "It's complicated."

"How did you end up in that rocket?"

"He put me there."

Ivy nodded, then waited for Harley to continue at her own pace.

"He doesn't like me, okay? I tried everything I could think of, but he never liked me back, not even a little bit. He realized that he didn't like me – again – and just put me in that rocket so that I'd get away from him."

"Knowing that you'd be killed, of course," said Ivy. She took Harley's hand. "I'm sorry. I can imagine what that feels like."

"Can you?" For a second, Harley felt so wretched and so lost that she didn't know how to express it into words. Had she seen herself, she would have known that there was nothing else to be said.

The makeup around her eyes was smudged, her skin was pale, and not only because of the makeup she usually wore on her face, which was also smudged and streaked giving her the appearance of having been doused with unusual white paint. Her lipstick had also faded in places, but retained part of its dark crimson quality.

She looked very sad, and very young.

"Look, you're not the first person whose love wasn't reciprocated. But you'll get over it, I promise. It will get better. You can take the power back and show him that you're a strong, independent woman who doesn't need him."

"I can?"

"Of course you can. Come here." Ivy got up and pulled Harley to her feet. The girl swayed, still unsteady, but Ivy's secure arm around her waist kept her from falling over.

She led her towards a small walk-in closet she kept in her lab.

"I had two of my assistants get you some clothes while you were out."

Opening the closet, Ivy showed Harley what they had gotten for her. New leggings, with one red leg and the other black, in her customary style, right down to the diamond pattern on each thigh. An appropriate selection of corsets that she'd always preferred, partly because she'd hoped that Joker would appreciate the look. Knee high boots, red and black, in the softest possible leather. There were also several corset dresses with the same coloring and pattern, both long and short. Finally, there were gloves, fingerless ones, full ones, elbow-length ones, made of leather, netting, suede and every other material in between.

"Where did you get all of this?" asked Harley in a voice that betrayed her immense surprise. She reached out for a glove, and the movement was so quick that she stared. "What happened?"

"Ah. I thought this might happen. Sometimes, the vaccine tends to change one's abilities. It looks like you've got much faster reflexes and agility now. As for the clothes, I'd seen you on the news a couple of times, so I know what you usually wear."

Harley didn't say anything for a while, running her fingers over the clothes. They were of exquisite quality, better than she would have usually purchased for herself. But her mind was elsewhere.

Improved abilities?

She focused on a point on the other side of the lab, meaning to quickly walk there, and found herself at that spot in seconds.

"Do you want to test your abilities?" asked Ivy.

"Can I do that?"

"Sure. Why don't you change out of your torn clothes and follow me?"

Harley did so, moving much quicker than usual, and putting on a pair of leggings, flat ankle boots and a simple black and red tank top.

Ivy gazed at her, "No corset?"

"Not for this," she replied.

A chuckle, "All right then, follow me. We'll go another level down." She led her towards the elevator, which was open, and pressed the butter for the second lower level.

When the doors opened again, Harley immediately felt the change of air. It was warmer down here, thicker with moisture. It smelled very green.

And no wonder. This underground chamber, which was the size of a football field, was filled with plants that grew from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Some of the plants, Harley recognized, but most of them were unknown to her.

"Welcome to my little eco-den," said Ivy, smiling at the look on Harley's face.

"Wow. Did you do this?"

"Oh, yes. I have the power to grow plants, you know. If I put my mind to it, I can even allow my body to use photosynthesis, which has the advantage of turning my skin green." She walked to a plant and kissed its leaf gently. The leaf immediately turned a brighter shade of green, which slowly spread to the rest of the plant. "Now, to test your ability. Here you go."

Harley followed her to a corner, where a punching bag was located behind a green wall of thick ferns.

"Sometimes I get angry and I need to take out my frustrations on something other than my assistants. Help yourself." Ivy moved away from the bag, having an idea of what Harley was going to do.

It only took a moment. Harley lashed out and the bag ended up against the brick wall, its contents spilling everywhere.

"Hmm, maybe I should get something sturdier down here," mused Ivy. "Oh, don't worry. My assistants will clean that up."

"But… how?"

"How? It's the vaccine. How did Batman get his powers? How did I? Sometimes, there are outside forces that mutate our genetic material to allow us to be a little different than others. One of my assistants now has the ability to see in the dark. Another one can sense a plant's feelings. It's very useful, let me tell you."

Harley had no idea what to think. But she did have the presence of mind to look at Ivy and thank her, "You… you didn't have to do that, you know. Save my life, give me powers."

"The powers were a side effect. As for saving your life, of course I had to. I couldn't let you die. Not when I have a feeling that you're going to be able to help me with my… plans." She touched Harley's forearm with a perfectly manicured finger.

"I would love to help you." Harley sounded more sincere than either of them had intended.

"But first, you'd like to get back at Joker, wouldn't you?"

"I guess so."

"Good! I can help you with that. But first, I think you need to eat something, and then, you should get some sleep."

She led Harley back upstairs, to another area of the lab where the kitchen was located. Large and airy, it was decorated with various plants, all of them offering up their bounty to be used for cooking.

There was a cook there, who was a robust man with a shock of white hair.

"He has an enhanced sense of smell," explained Ivy as they both took a seat at the counter. The cook served them a vegetable and chicken stir-fry and smiled when they ate it gratefully.

"I just don't know what I'm going to do now," said Harley after several bites of food. "Where am I supposed to live?"

"Oh, silly girl, you can live with me for now. We have plenty of space for you."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure." Ivy squeezed Harley's hand, noticing how smooth the skin there was. "You're welcome here. I'll only ask that you be respectful of the plants around here. You understand."

Harley understood. When Ivy brought her to a small bedroom, she saw that her new clothes had been placed there as well. There was a bathroom across the hall, and she went there to clean the grime and dust of the day. Somehow, it seemed as though the vaccine had healed the injuries she'd sustained in the crash.

Ivy was waiting for her when she got out of the shower, "Well, I hope you have a good night," she said softly.

"Why did you save me?"

A smile, "I should think that was obvious," she ran a finger over Harley's neck, then kissed her cheek, "Sleep well."

But Harley found that she couldn't sleep. She wanted to explore the lab, see the plants, and spend more time with Ivy. She still felt wretched about Joker, and she guessed that she'd feel that way for some time still.

Over the next couple of weeks, she explored her new abilities, finding that her strength had increased tenfold. She could also move faster than ever, and had a good time blocking objects that Ivy flung at her for practice.

"I think you're really getting the hang of this," she said.

"And I didn't even break a sweat."

"And your makeup is still perfectly in place." Ivy smiled, and for the first time, Harley found herself smiling back.

"I don't remember a time I've felt this free."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

The two of them went back inside, stepping into the elevator that would bring them down to the lower levels. Ivy stood close to Harley, nearly touching her. On her own accord, Harley moved closer and made physical contact with the red-headed woman. Ivy moved away, but Harley insisted.

"Ah, don't… please, Harley."

Harley turned a stricken face towards Ivy.

"Oh, no, don't think that… I just don't want you to think that I saved you because…" she cleared her throat. "You frustrate me. I thought you were in love with him."

"I… I told you that my feelings for him were complicated."

"So I've gathered." Slowly, she reached out a hand to touch Harley's back, "I've been watching you for a very long time, Harley."

"Why is that?"

"I've always felt like you seemed lost. You shouldn't have let Joker seduce you the way he did. He only wanted to use you."

The elevator doors opened to what Harley had begun to call the Jungle floor. Ivy took her hand and led her out.

"And you don't want to use me?"

"Yes, but I think that you'll be able to use me in return." She ran a hand over Harley's cheek, "We'll be able to use each other. Help each other."

"And… be together…" whispered Harley.

"Yes. If that's what you want."

Harley shook her head and pulled away from Ivy, "What is it that you want?"

Ivy looked at her. She was wearing a corset dress that day, which had a layer of tulle under it to give it a bit of flounce. She was beautiful, having emerged as a strong woman under her tutelage. "I want us to bind ourselves to each other in order to create something stronger, more powerful than either Batman or the Joker have ever seen."

"Through sex."

Harley's usage of the word caused Ivy to take a step back, "I…" she breathed. "Yes. Sex would be a very good way of achieving this, but it's not the only thing I mean."

"But it's the only thing you want right now."

Not knowing how to answer that, Ivy moved towards the girl clad in red and black. Her lips crashed down on Harley's in a kiss that reeked of poison and lust. Harley responded immediately, kissing her back for a moment, her tongue touching hers quickly once, twice.

Harley pulled away, touching her lips. "Your kiss burns, is that normal?"

"Yes. But you won't feel any side effect from the poison, you know."

Harley smiled a little, "Well, even if I did, I might as well die when making love to someone…" she pulled Ivy to her and kissed her again. Ivy made a choked sound in the back of her throat, and attempted to wrest control away from Harley, who didn't give it up easily.

Little by little, the poison on Ivy's lips receded as Harley kissed it all away. Their hands found themselves under their clothing, and before either of them knew it, the floor was littered with more green and joined by a red and black dress.

Ivy brought Harley down to rest on a bed of fragrant clover that hadn't been there moments before. Plants were reacting to the lust, and swayed and grew with each moan Ivy released. She kissed her way down Harley's body. Hands worked magic. Harley cried out once, shaking when an unexpected climax took over her.

Using her newfound strength, she manipulated Ivy until she was beneath her, and used her lips on every inch of skin she could reach. Her tongue snaked out and entered a new area. Ivy's hands grabbed and twisted a vine that had come out to meet her for support. She screamed in ecstasy. "Yes… oh…"

Oh.

Yes.

The End