Chapter 3

"Ivy," Barbara said nervously, eying the other red-head warily. "Why are you here? For that matter, how do you know where here is?"

Ivy rolled her eyes. "No need to so defensive, I have no intention of harming you," she assured the other woman. "As for your questions, you wouldn't believe the answer to the second, and as to why I'm here..." Ivy smirked. "Would you believe that I broke out of Arkham, just to speak with you?"

Barbara's eyes widened. "What?"

"You see, I find myself facing a dilemma, and I need advice. And of all the people to ask," the villainess' face became serious, "you are the only one that I can actually talk to."

"What? You can't be serious."

Ivy sighed. "I wish I weren't, But who else could I talk to? Harley? What I need help with is something I hardly want Joker knowing. Catwoman? Were hardly friends, and I can't be sure she wouldn't use my problems against me in the future. The doctors at Arkham are a joke. Who does that leave, Batman? He'd rather put me back into Arkham before helping me, Robin is hardly old enough for me to share my problems with. So unless you have any other suggestions, that leaves you, the one person who is capable of listening to me, not using my personal problems against me, and not putting me back into that godawful asylum."

"What about Severus?" Barbara asked, and Ivy grinned.

"You are good," Ivy said, before sighing. "Unfortunately, Severus is to close to the problem to help me. So here's the deal, you listen to what I have to say, give me some good advice, and I'll give you something in return."

Barbara snorted. "What could you possibly give me that I'd want?"

Ivy gestured to the wheelchair as she spoke, "Your legs for one."

The comment caused Barbara to look at Ivy sharply as the woman continued speaking.

"Not that I will mind you," she added. "Doing that requires a bigger favor than simple advice. But what I will give you is still valuable, and not stolen I might add."

Barbara hesitated. She had been mere moments from sounding a silent alarm that would tell Bruce, Dick, and Tim she was in trouble. But the chance to have her legs back...

She wondered what favor Ivy would ask for that.

Swallowing, Barbara asked, "What's wrong?"

Ivy smiled sadly. "Family issues," she said simply. "You see, I recently discovered that my parents, who ignored me as a child, were forced to do so."

"Forced?" Barbara asked confused. "How?"

The green-skinned woman grimaced. "Magic."

"Okay," Barbara acknowledged.

"Wait, you believe me?" Ivy asked surprised.

The former Batgirl shrugged. "I've had some experiences."

"In that case you might believe how I found you," Ivy admitted. Shaking her head, she continued, "My parents had the compulsion to ignore me planted in their minds. I just found out, though the idea is probably still in their heads. They ignored me for my brother, who supposedly had done the impossible, lived when he should have died. I also found out, that that impossible act was performed by me. And now, the same people, including, my parents, that shunned and abandoned me, want me to come back, and..." Ivy chuckled, "...save their ass's. I could care less about them, in fact I've long accepted that my parents would never love me. But after finding this out..."

"You don't know how to feel," Barbara surmised. "On one hand, you still feel you'll never be accepted by, maybe even hate, your parents. On the other, you now know they forced to do what they did. You can't reconcile what you know now with what you experienced earlier."

"Yes. And I can't decide whether to go back home and help them, or wait for them to approach me, which could be a while considering the places I can hide."

"I don't what to tell you Ivy. But, I know several people that would give almost anything to have their parents back. You have that chance, if you can figure out how to break them out of the spell placed on them. And even if you manage that, it won't be easy. You and your parents will have years of bad memories and feelings to work through."

Ivy was silent after Barbara spoke. The wheelchair bound woman could tell that Ivy was now deep in thought. Finally after a few moments, she spoke. "Thanks, that does help actually."

Before Barbara could say or do anything else, Ivy quickly closed the distance between them and the former felt girl felt a sharp prick, before she rolled away from the other woman, to see a syringe in her hand.

"What the hell did you just do to me?" Barbara demanded, her voice laced with fear and anger.

Ivy rolled her eyes as the syringe disappeared into a pocket Barbara didn't notice earlier. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. That was my payment for your advice," Ivy explained. "Like Harley and myself, you now carry an immunity to most toxins, including Joker gas. Or you will once that serum I injected you with works through your system." She gave the other woman a hard look, "If I can figure out who you are, others can as well. Not to mention Joker has already visited you, though whether that was because he knew you were Batgirl or because your father's the commissioner I don't know."

Walking towards the exit Ivy was about to leave when Barbara asked, "You said you could give me my legs back, were you just having me on or can you actually do it?"

Ivy stopped, and turned her head to look at Barbara over her shoulder. "I can do it. It'll be painful though."

"What favor would I need to do for you do it?"

Ivy sighed. "I would need your blood, and a promise that will last a lifetime."

"What kind of promise?" Barbara asked.

The green-skinned woman turned to face Barbara fully. "You know that I'm sterile, thanks to the physicals I have to go through every time I enter Arkham I assume?"

Barbara nodded.

Ivy sighed. "I have developed a way to have a child, but I require someone else's blood to do it, otherwise my child would be just like me, at least physically, a clone if you will. I don't want a daughter that will face the same problem with children that I do. By adding another's blood, yours, my daughter would carry the best genetic traits from us both, which means she would be able to carry a child when she was old enough." She paused for a moment to allow the information to sink in. "The promise I would require is that, should anything happen to me, you would watch over her."

Barbara's mouth was dry. Ivy offered her two thing, without knowing it, that she desperately wanted. To have her legs back, and to have a child...

"So I would have a daughter with you?" she asked.

"Technically."

"And what of your criminal activities?" she asked. "Would you put a child through that?"

Ivy shook her head. "Contrary to what you believe, I don't do what I do for fun. I am a soldier, in a war to save plants. And while I will never stop protecting the flora of the Earth, I would cease my actions against humanity for her. Think of it this way, when a soldier leaves the army, do they give up their patriotism? I would, in essence, be 'leaving the army.' Only my army consist of only myself, and occasionally Harley."

"How long until your offer is withdrawn?"

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "Until I...move on. I have no idea if or when that would happen so..." Ivy held up her hand, and Barbara watched as a red flower she didn't recognize grew from the other woman's palm. Ivy winced slightly as she plucked the flower before handing it to Barbara. "Put it in a pot with twenty-four hours and it will survive. If you decide to take me up on the offer, tell the flower and I'll know." She smirked slightly. "I'd also advise that you keep any conversations you don't wish me to hear away from it."

Before Barbara could say anything else, Poison Ivy left the clock tower.

And the woman known as Oracle was left to make a huge decision.

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