Buddy and Maxine had spent quite a while walking around the zoo. Although their goal was to get to the primate house, Maxine was still very young and therefore very easily distracted. Every time they passed the enclosure of an animal that looked interesting she stopped by there. She always had questions for her father about the animal and if he'd ever used his powers on that particular creature.

But eventually, they made it to the primate house. The first of the habits in there Maxine was drawn to was the one that housed the orangutans.

"Wow, they've got super long arms." Maxine observed a group of orangutans behind the glass. "Hey daddy, what powers you think you'd get from them?"

"Maybe agility." Buddy looked at the apes carefully. "These guys can climb like crazy."

"You ever try it before?" Maxine glanced back up at her father.

"No, but I've gotten gorilla powers a few times." Buddy replied.

"I know, you told me." Maxine put her attention back on the orangutans. "Wonder if I can make them get closer." she leaned in closer to the enclosure's glass and tapped on it a few times. "Hey monkeys, over here. My name's Maxine."

"Hold on, hold on, don't do that." Buddy cautioned.

"Why?" Maxine stopped knocking at the glass after the warning.

"It'll frighten the animals." Buddy gestured at the creatures behind the glass.

"But that lady over there's doing it too."

"What lady?"

"Right there." Maxine pointed over to a woman behind them near an enclosure dedicated to some gibbons.

The woman looked to be about Buddy's age, maybe a little younger, and had her hair tied up in pigtails like Maxine sometimes did. In one hand the woman held two big cones of cotton candy, one of which had already been partially eaten, and the other tapped on the glass of the gibbon habitat. If Buddy had been better versed in known super-criminals from around the country he maybe would have recognized the woman as Harley Quinn. Although her casual state of dress might have still thrown him off.

Regardless of her identity, Buddy approached Harley with Maxine right behind him.

"Excuse me, miss, I need you to stop doing that?"

Harley didn't look back at Buddy and kept tapping the glass. "Doin' what?"

"Tapping the glass like that, the animals don't like it." Buddy spoke to her in the same tone he'd talk to one of his children in if he was upset with them. "Honestly, I can't believe I have to tell this to a grown woman."

Harley stopped knocking at the glass and glanced at Buddy for a moment.

"Ya don't look like ya work here, so I don't gotta listen to you." Harley took a bite out of one of the cotton candies. She tapped on the glass again, mostly out of spite at this point.

"Some people just think they can do whatever they want to animals. It's a real shame." Buddy disapprovingly crossed his arms.

"Jeez, yer startin' to sound like- Uh oh, I was s'posed to get back to her." Harley said, to herself more than anyone else. She took another bite of cotton candy and pried herself away from the gibbon enclosure.

Buddy and Maxine watched Harley as she exited the primate house. Maxine commented on the encounter once Harley was out of earshot. "She was kinda weird."

"Some people just don't respect animals." Buddy said.

"I do." Maxine beamed up at her father.

"I know you do." Buddy put a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, let's look around some more."

"Ooh, let's find the chimpanzees."

Cliff and Ellen had finally found the reptile house after a few detours. Including buying Cliff an ice cream sandwich he'd been craving. But they had arrived at the reptile house and Cliff was already almost pressing his face against the enclosure of a python.

"Wow… Look at that thing, mom." Cliff leaned in closer to the snake. "What do you think it eats."

"There's a little information plaque right here. Maybe it says." Ellen pointed to a small sign attached the railing.

"Oh, cool." Cliff looked over at the plaque. As he read the sign, he finished eating the ice cream sandwich he'd bought earlier. While he continued to look at the sign he absentmindedly dropped the ice cream sandwich wrapper to the floor. "Hey mom, says here pythons eat-"

"Hey, kid! Pick up your trash!"

Ellen and Cliff looked behind them and saw a woman approaching them. The striking combination of bright red hair and a strange light green tint to her skin made the woman stand out. Cliff and Ellen were unable to recognize her as Poison Ivy but even in her civilian clothes, they felt something off about her.

"Excuse me, were you talking to my son?" Ellen looked Poison Ivy in the eye.

"He dropped some trash on the ground." Ivy motioned towards the discarded wrapper.

"Mom, what's wrong with her skin?" Cliff whispered to his mother.

"She was probably born with a skin condition, Cliff. And don't stare, it's rude." Ellen looked back at Ivy and raised her voice to a normal speaking tone. "Look, miss, I was going to tell him to pick it up. Don't talk to my son that way."

"I'm sick of it. Sick of you people thinking you can just do whatever they want to nature." Ivy was once again ranting to herself rather than the people around her. "These animals belong in the wilderness, not in glass cages."

"Come on Cliff, let's get out of here." Ellen picked up the ice cream sandwich wrapper and ushered Cliff away from Poison Ivy.

The two of them walked farther into the reptile house. Once he was sure that the woman they countered was far away Cliff decided to ask Ellen about what had happened. "Mom, what was up with that lady?"

"I don't know, Cliff. Some people are just aggressive like her."

"You think she's mad that she was born with green skin?"

"Let's not talk about it right now. We're not going to be seeing her again, okay. Just enjoy the zoo."

"Alright, mom. Let's go find some more cool snakes."

After her encounter with the Baker family Poison Ivy rushed herself out of the reptile pavilion and into the nearest public restroom she could find. Judging the room to be empty, Ivy went to a sink and turned on the cold water. She splashed some of the water on her face and looked at herself in the slightly grimy mirror.

"Keep it together, Pamela." Ivy intensely stared down her own reflection. "Harley wouldn't want this…"

She kept looking at herself in the mirror for at least another half a minute. "But I have things I want too… This zoo doesn't belong here… None of it does. It has to be reclaimed by nature..."

Ivy willed herself detect as much plant life as she could within the confines of the zoo. She hadn't used her powers all that much since fleeing Gotham and it felt good to bring herself in contact with nature again. All the plants she was able to detect felt like an extension of herself or an extra arm. It was an overpowering sensation to be in connection with this much nature all at once.

"I'm sorry about this, Harley." Ivy said to herself. "I just can't take it anymore."

Ivy felt all the plant life around her and willed it to start growing.

Within the primate house, Maxine and Buddy had moved on to an enclosure of gorillas. There were four gorillas out when they went to the habitat. Three were climbing what resembled a more complex version of what you'd see children climb at a playground. The fourth ape had moved closer to the glass and sat down several feet away from Maxine and Buddy.

"Wow, it's so close to us." Maxine pressed her face to the glass in awe. "You think it can tell you have those animal powers, dad?"

"I don't know." Buddy leaned in closer to the glass as well. "I definitely feel connected to the animals, but I don't know if they feel it the other way around. Maybe this gorilla can feel it. Apes are closely related to humans after all."

Something in the back of the gorilla enclosure caught Maxine's eye. "Daddy what's that back there?" Maxine pointed past the structure in the middle of the enclosure to the back wall. There appeared to be small vines creeping up the walls.

Buddy didn't know what was wrong but his protective instincts kicked in. "Maxine! Get away from the glass!"

Maxine was grabbed by the shoulders and guided away from the gorilla enclosure by Buddy. This turned out to be a good thing when more small vines crawled over the glass. The vines started applying pressure against the glass until it burst.

"D-daddy? What's happening?" Maxine's voice trembled.

Buddy looked around and saw that plants all over the primate house were moving and crawling onto any surface they could. The resulting screams of panic and confusion from both the people and animals created a disorienting cacophony. "I don't know, Maxine. Let's find Cliff and Ellen and get out of here."

Maxine and Buddy were among the many civilians that fled the primate house as the plants took it over. Once they were outside it looked as if the plants all over the zoo were growing and moving at the same rate. Both Maxine and Buddy stopped and stared at what was quickly becoming a chaotic environment.

"Maxine, it looks like I might be taking you flying sooner than I thought." Buddy held out a hand of his daughter. "Hold on to me tight, okay."

"Okay daddy." Maxine grabbed on to Buddy's hand.

Buddy picked up his daughter and held her close. He counted himself lucky that she was still pretty small. Tapping into his powers, Buddy felt the presence of some birds overhead and absorbed their ability to fly. "Don't worry Maxine, I won't let you go. Now let's go find your mother and your brother."

Maxine shut her eyes as she felt Buddy lift off from the ground and the wind begin to hit her face. "This is a lot scarier than I imagined… Are we far up?"

"Not too far. We shouldn't be up here too long."

She opened her eyes and saw the zoo below her. They weren't far up, maybe at the same height as the second story of her house but it still frightened her a little. From this high up, it really was clear how much the plants had grown.

"I think I see Ellen and Cliff. I'm bringing us down."

Buddy got closer to the ground and two orange haired figures on the ground stopped running with the rest of the people after noticing him. He landed in front of Cliff and Ellen and Maxine lowered herself back to the ground.

"Maxine, Buddy, thank god you're safe." Ellen let out a sigh of relief.

"Mommy!" Maxine ran over to her mother and hugged her leg.

"Dad, do you know what's going on?" Cliff asked.

"Not yet. But I'm going to figure it out." Buddy turned his attention from Cliff up to Ellen. "I packed my Animal Man costume with me. You get out of here with the kids and I'll get to the bottom of whatever's causing this."

"Oh, dad, me and mom saw this weird lady with green skin." Cliff said. "Maybe keep an eye out for her."

"Thanks for the advice, Cliff. Now all of you need to get out of here before you get hurt." Buddy pointed down the path out of the zoo.

"We'll get home safe Buddy, don't worry." Ellen said. "Please be safe, I love you."

"I love you too Ellen."

Ellen took Maxine and Cliff by their hands. "Come on kids, let's get out of here."

The three Bakers turned away from Buddy and ran away in the same direction that other civilians had previously fled. Buddy stood in the middle of the plant infested zoo. His eyes darted around in search of a sensible place to get changed. They stopped on a sign that read "Bathroom" with an arrow below it.

"Here we go." Buddy ran off in the direction the sign pointed.

Unbeknownst to the Baker family, their interaction had been watched by somebody. A mentally unbalanced somebody who wore their hair in pigtails.

Harley Quinn hadn't quite known what to do when the plants started growing. She knew who caused it and probably why it happened too but didn't quite know what to do in response.

Her first instinct was to get herself back to Poison Ivy but she became distracted by something else. A man who could fly. It wasn't an unusual sight, there were plenty of people who were able to do that and much more. But Harley realized a guy who could fly was probably a superhero. A superhero spelled bad news for her and Ivy.

So Harley abandoned her search for Ivy and began following the flying man. She followed him from below for a couple minutes but when she noticed him coming in for a landing. Harley ducked around the corner to observe the man from afar. He saw him talking with a woman and two children that she assumed he was family with. As she watched, Harley recognized the man and little girl from an earlier encounter at the primate house.

Harley didn't have much more time to dwell on this fact when the rest of the man's family split off from him, presumably to the nearest exit. The man ran in the opposite direction after several moments of standing still and Harley ran after him from a distance.

The man rushed into a nearby bathroom after being followed for about half a minute. Harley was confused by this course of action but decided to use the element of surprise on the potential superhero. She crept closer to the bathroom and pushed open the door. Most people would have put together an attack plan by now but Harley was a fan of improv.

The restroom appeared to be empty at first but Harley was quick to notice that only one of the stall doors was opened.

"There ya are…" Harley whispered to herself.

Harley walked farther into the restroom and up to the one closed stall. She saw a pair of feet in blue boots from under the stall door but whoever was there didn't seem to notice her. Bringing her leg up, Harley kicked the stall door. The lock broke and the door swung inwards.

The man she'd followed had changed into orange and blue spandex and a leather jacket. The two stared at each other for a moment but Harley spoke first. "Little early for Halloween, ain't it? Who're you 'sposed to be."

"The name's Animal Man." Buddy said. "And if you need to use the bathroom, try somewhere that isn't infested with plants."

Buddy, now fully transformed into his Animal Man costume, hung a tote bag he had with him up on the stall's coat hanger and tried to exit. But as soon as he walked past Harley he felt her grab on to her shoulder.

"Oh no ya don't. Ya see, the dame who's doin' all this plant stuff, me 'n her are tight." Harley strengthened her grip on Animal Man's shoulder. "So I can't exactly let ya get ta her."

"The kicking the door in probably should've let me know you were a supervillain..." Animal Man mumbled to himself in embarrassed realization.

"Yep. Now let's make this fight nice 'n quick." Harley drove her fist into the back of Animal Man's head causing the hero to trip over and land face first on the tiled floor.

"I'm a lot tougher than you might think…" Animal Man rubbed the back of his head and stood up again. "Now what animals can I use?"

Harley ran towards Animal Man with a fist raised. Buddy detected the presence of an elephant somewhere outside and absorbed their powers. Once Harley reached him, Animal Man countered her attempt to strike him by punching her in the shoulder. The blow caused Harley to be knocked across the room until she was stopped by a wall.

"No way… No way yer that strong..." Harley gaped up at Buddy in disbelief.

"That's elephant strength for you." Animal Man calmly turned around and began walking away. "Listen, I don't know who you are but I've got bigger things to take care of right now. I'll let the police handle you."

Harley brought herself back up from the ground as Animal Man continued to make his way out of the bathroom. She ran forward towards the superhero and took a leap forward when she judged herself as close enough. Animal Man felt Harley's arms wrap around him and was tackled to the ground.

"Ya don't wanna underestimate me, pal!" Harley tightened her arms around him.

"You realize you've got your arms around a guy with super strength who can fly."

"Aw, nuts…"

Animal Man began to fly. He flew in a staggered zig-zag pattern around the bathroom for a couple seconds and, with his arms outstretched in front of him, up into the roof. The strength he absorbed allowed him to break through the ceiling. As he shot up into the air he realized that Harley Quinn had yet to let go.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that." Animal Man said. "Let's see if I can shake you off."

Buddy resumed the zig-zag formation of flight as he got closer to the ground. Harley's lost her grip on Animal Man and she was flung off of him. She found the ground to be approaching quickly and clamped her eyes shut in preparation for the inevitable impact. To Harley's surprise, her fall ended up being cushioned ever so slightly by a tree.

She was tangled up in the branches and ended up dangling upside down, a few feet above a pathway. Harley took in everything that had just happened and tried to come up with a plan for what to do next. Her mind wandered to the woman and two kids he saw Animal Man talking to before he went to get changed.

"So… A-Man ain't gonna take 'lil old me seriously?" Harley said to herself. "Well, maybe I should give 'em a good reason to…"

As the sights of the plant overrun zoo passed below him, Animal Man's thoughts were focused on who exactly could be behind this and how exactly the odd woman who attacked him was connected. From above, Buddy noticed that several monkeys were out of their cages and a tiger roamed free in a different spot. He made a mental note to help with containing the animals once the plant situation was taken care of.

He then saw a human standing in the middle of a pathway below him. Animal Man brought himself closer to whoever was down there. As he approached, it appeared that the lone person was watching him intently. Buddy touched down on the same path as the person below him and took a good look at the likely source of the plant problems.

It was a woman that appeared maybe a few years older than him. Much like Cliff had told him, her skin had a green hue to it that was contrasted against long red hair. Animal Man looked her over briefly. She wasn't exactly dressed like most super-criminals he'd seen. But casual attire aside, she seemed to be the most likely culprit in this scenario.

The green woman stared down Animal Man for a moment and then spoke. "So who exactly are you? And do you want me to tell Booster Gold you raided his wardrobe?"

"Name's Animal Man. And I'll have you know I started before that guy." Animal Man tilted his head and looked over the woman again. "So what's your name?"

"You can call me Poison Ivy. I'm used to dealing with Batman and his little crew so some nobody like you should be no problem."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of you. What brings you to San Diego?"

"I'm making this city what every city is meant to be. And I won't let you stop me." Poison Ivy raised a hand above her head and an array of vines shot up from the ground. The plants coiled themselves around Buddy's arms and legs, pulling him down to the concrete path.

"Sorry, but I've still got elephant strength!" Buddy brought his arms down and uprooted the vines that had wrapped those limbs up. He then stood up and took a few steps closer to Ivy, ripping the plants around his legs out of the ground.

"You humans are all the same. No respect for nature. For my babies." Ivy growled.

"Something tells me this is going to be interesting." Animal Man became aware of more plant life creeping towards him and hovered off the ground a little bit. "Well Poison Ivy, it looks like it's time for the plant and animal kingdoms to collide."

"I think we both know who will come out on top here…" Ivy grinned, feeling at her most powerful since she left Gotham.

A/N: I gotta say, it feels a little strange to write Harley and Ivy as sympathetic in the last chapter and then more like supervillains in this chapter. But I think I was able to pull it off okay. Don't have very many comments about this chapter but I would like to let you know that I have mapped things out and there should only be four chapters in this story before it's completed. Maybe five if things run long. Anyway, hope you liked this!