Poison Ivy could hardly comprehend the significance of what she had accomplished. The most powerful being in the entire universe, helpless and defeated at her feet. The way he hyperventilated, struggling for air, his face the tormented visage of one who had felt fear for the first time...It excited her. She could hardly contain her pride, her sense of complete and total victory. Never send a machine up against the Chosen Warrior of the Green. Now, the question remained...What should she do?
Collect all the human cities of Earth, perhaps? It would certainly solve her deforestation and environmental ravaging problem. She quickly discarded the idea, however. Ivy was ruthless, but she was no monster. Even The Green had the capacity for mercy. Besides, all that would end up doing would be pushing the so-called "heroes" of Earth even farther to stop her. Holding a regime all on one's own was a fool's errand.
That's when it hit her. Why destroy when there was so much opportunity to create? Any mindless thug can take. It takes a Goddess to create. To control...To rule. And even a Goddess could use some angels to help solidify her reign. She would assemble the most worthy team from around the multiverse. When she returned to her own Earth, establishing her ultimate rule, no one would pose even a remote challenge to the fury of the Green.
Ivy looked back at Braniac with a fire in her eyes. A passion for power, an anticipation for what was to come. She grabbed him by his chest armor and kissed him, hard and violently. The emotion surging through her body was practically uncontainable. The mechanical menace felt his vision blur and fuzz up, quickly morphing into a cacophony of neon colors and lights. All he could feel was...Tingles. He looked at his new mistress in her enchanting, round, green eyes. "Now," she told him. "Tell me where to find my soldiers. Search your memory bank for every multiverse, every galaxy, every planet. Bring me the broken yet strong, the damaged yet dangerous. Show me where to find my disciples."
The air hung otherwise still as Braniac's ship as it hovered above Grievous' private landing platform. There were no Clone Troopers to be seen here, no Utupauns in sight. Ivy took a moment to take in the atmosphere of her surroundings. The distant, but frequent, noises of wildlife comforted her. This place at least had more respect for the Green than Earth did. She sashayed her way over to the shattered, burnt out corpse of the once-feared Kaleesh warlord and Separatist commander. How rude it was to not even move the corpse? It was like the citizens of Utupau had forgotten all about who and what Grievous was the moment Obi Wan had killed him.. Ivy put her hand to her chin, smiling confidently.
"Hmm…" she thought, brushing her delicate, pale foot against the General's mask. "You've certainly seen better days. But nothing the Green's Chosen Warrior can't fix. Though all that metal's gonna have to go."
She pulled her telecommunicator and lifted it to her mouth. "Brainiac, would you be a dear and beam me and our General back to your ship?"
"Whatever you say, Mistress", a monotone voice droned back.
"KENOBI!"
Grievous had not been awake a fraction of a second before the urge to finish his battle with the Jedi master and rival general overtook him. However, as eager as his mind was, he found that his body wouldn't comply. He surveyed his surroundings to find that he was floating in some kind of green tank, vines stabbing through his decaying armor. His legs and arms were gone and a kind of bark had been growing all around him. Outside of his prison appeared to be a Greenhouse of some kind. All manner of exotic, beautiful plants surrounded his container. Large, small, carnivorous...Some even appeared to be sentient in their behavior and reactions to the environment around them. Grievous had boarded numerous Republic ships and assaulted numerous Republic settlements, but none of them were anything like this. Nor were any Separatist ships or settlements he had encountered. Perhaps this was the private stronghold of some Jedi? The insult!
A beautiful, pale woman draped in all manner of colors entered the room from an automatic door ahead of him. Her hair was a deep red, her pale skin almost greenish in tone and her body covered in a plant-like biosuit. On her head rested a crown of flower petals and thorns.
"Good morning, General." she cooed.
"I DEMAND to know who you are and what you've done with me!" Grievous exploded. "Perhaps, then, I will grant you a quick and painless death! More than you Jedi scum deserve!"
The mysterious, red haired woman laughed as she walked up to Grievous' tank running her finger down the glass as she looked at Grievous with a sinister smile. Her monster was everything she had hoped him to be. "My dear General, do I look like a Jedi to you?"
Grievous didn't quite know how to respond. If the Jedi hadn't taken him hostage, who could this woman be? She certainly possessed some great level of ambition keeping a warrior as dangerous as him alive on her ship. "One of Dooku's old Acolytes, then?" Grievous asked.
She shook her head. "I'm neither aligned with the Separatists nor the Republic," she explained. "I come millions of lightyears away from this galaxy. I go by Poison Ivy and I want you to work for me."
"Work for you?!" Grievous laughed. "I work for no one but the ambitions of Lord Sidious and Count Dooku, may he rest in peace. I'd gladly give..."
"Your life for him?" Ivy questioned, raising an eyebrow in an all too knowing manner. "You already did, sweetie. If I hadn't come alone, you'd still be a pile of burnt guts and scrap metal. As was your masters' original intent."
Grievous' heart sank. She couldn't be telling the truth. Dooku, the one friend he had in the world, the only person he could ever have any semblance of loyalty too after the genocide of his people...Had intended to betray him? No, it couldn't be possible. "Liar!" he growled at her. "Dooku would never betray me!"
Ivy's supple, red lips were raised in a slight smile. "Oh?" she asked before looking up. "Brainiac! What was the role of General Grievous in the schemes of Darth Sidious and Count Dooku in the Clone Wars?"
"Grievous, born as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was the cyborg Supreme Commander of the Droid Army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems for most of the Clone Wars," a booming voice explained, echoing through the halls of the ship with the vessell-like lights lining the walls illuminating with every cold, robotic word. "Desperate to help his people, Grievous took a job as an enforcer with the InterGalactic Banking Clan. However, after learning that the Huk had attacked Kalee, he headed home to gain vengeance. IGBC Chairman San Hill, after consulting with his ally, Separatist Head of State Count Dooku, arranged for a bomb to be placed on Grievous' shuttle, Martyr. Dooku reconstructed Grievous as a cyborg, intent on betraying him at the end of the Clone Wars, blaming him for the numerous war crimes of the CIS in exchange for amnesty from the Republic."
Grievous' eyes bulged upon this revelation. If he had a spine at this point, chills would surely be running down it. Dooku was the one who had turned him into this? Turned him into a mechanical monster?...A hollow droid? To be used and ultimately destroyed? "No…" the Kaleesh breathed to himself. "It can't be...The droid lies!"
"It's no droid, hun." Ivy sighed. "What you're hearing is Brainiac; an omnipotent and omniscient AI capable of destroying and harvesting entire planets...Until now. Now, he is my slave. My 'talent recruiter' and chauffeur until I have no more use for him."
Once more, Ivy walked to Grievous tank, looking up and down to examine him, like a expert artist admiring her masterpiece. She put a single, slender finger to her lip, smiling mischievously. "But you, General," she purred. "I have much greater plans for you. Rest assured, no one will ever mistake you for a droid again. And, if you play your cards right...Perhaps I can help your people rise to their former glory."
"My people?" Grievous gasped. For as much as Dooku promised, he had never once provided the Kaleesh with his race's salvation. Only vengeance against the Jedi. How powerful was this woman exactly. "You could actually...Save them from genocide?!"
Ivy laughed to herself as she slowly walked out of the room. "All in good time, dear. All in good time."
With that, she closed the door behind her, leaving Grievous to his contemplation.
