The Baker family remained unconscious for a while after Harley and Ivy had captured them which was fortunate for the two villainesses. Under Ivy's instructions, with some additional input from Harley, all four Bakers had been moved to a new section of the zoo. Maxine, Cliff, and Ellen were tangled up in vines against the wall of a small concession stand. Buddy dangled upside down wrapped in vines over a hyena habitat. The choice in animal was of course Harley's idea. Ivy and Harley observed their work closely as they waited for Animal Man to wake up. In the time they had taken to move the Baker family, Ivy had also changed from her street clothes to something that fit her current position better. It was a leotard made of leaves like she usually wore when fighting superheroes.

"I dunno, Red. I just ain't feelin' it." Harley's head swivelled back and forth between Animal Man and the hero's family. "Can't we just get outta here, go to some other city? We can even go back to Gotham if ya want."

"I want Animal Man to know what I'm all about." Ivy smiled up at the unconscious superhero. "This zoo is just the beginning, Harley. One day, everything will look like this and there will be no pathetic, callous humans to ruin it. Only me, the plants, and the animals."

"But Red, I'm a human. And I don't want everything to look like this. Don'cha like me, Red?" Harley looked at Ivy and smiled.

"Of course I like you, Harley. It's the rest of you humans I hate." Ivy tried her best to make the words she said sound kind.

"I know yer still a human, Red. C'mon, just give up this whole 'I wanna kill everything' thing ya got goin' on and go home."

"I… I'm sorry Harley, I need this." Ivy looked back at Animal Man. "I've been seen a lot more of the planet in the past several days than I ever wanted to and too much of Earth's beauty has been destroyed… I've been going through something and this will make it better."

"If ya really think so, Red. I'll listen to ya. What's the plan again?"

"Hold on a minute Harl, I think he's waking up."

Buddy Baker's eyes fluttered open and he tried to move his body but found that he was ensnared in vines yet again. He tried to rip through him as he did before but found that his elephant strength had faded away just like his bird flight.

"How long have I been out?" Animal Man looked at his surroundings and the first thing he noticed was his tied up family. Then he noticed Ivy and Harley looking over him from the sides.

"Oh good, you're awake." Ivy remarked. "You have potential, Animal Man. But you're too soft. You'd never use your powers to do the things I'd do. It's a shame, you could've been a great ally."

"Red, you're goin' overboard with the evil soundin' stuff." Harley whispered to her companion.

"Harley, I like you, but please don't interrupt right now." Ivy looked back at Animal Man. "Now, I'm going to let these hyenas have some fun with you. And if you survive, I want you to tell any other environmentalist friends of yours that this is what happens to people who don't do things my way."

"You two realize hyenas are scavengers, right?" As soon as Animal Man said this there was a pause between the three people. He decided to continue talking. "And even if they weren't, the zoo keeps them well fed enough to not want to eat me."

The silence continued for a little for a little while longer but Ivy was eventually the first to break it. "Damn, I knew something sounded off about this plan."

"But my hyenas attack people all the time." Harley argued. "What about them?"

"I think the Joker trained them to do that." Ivy said. "He took something from the wild and made it something it's not. Just like this zoo. Well, we'll think of some other way to deal with you. Hmm… Where's the nearest fish habitat? Maybe we could drown him?"

"Listen, Red, I know I'm soundin' like a broken record but can't we just leave?" Harley put a hand on Ivy's shoulder and tried to shake her just a little. "We can find a nice hotel a couple states over, maybe go to some museums you like, and I'll even let'cha have the shower to yourself. That sounds nice, right? Is this really what'cha want?"

"Of course it is." Ivy fixated her sights back on the trapped Animal Man again. "Taking down a hero like Animal Man will send a message to Batman and anyone else who thinks my botanical revolution isn't just a pipe dream. This zoo is just the first step, next I want to-"

Ivy stopped herself from talking further when she felt Harley pull her into another embrace. "C'mon, Red, please, please, please just go… I know ya don't like sayin' no to me."

"No, I feel like I'm about to get somewhere. My revolution against the human race has begun."

"Yer actin' silly. I know yer a big softie deep down. At least when I'm with ya. Ya don't wanna leave those kids over there without a dad, do ya?"

Ivy turned her attention to where Maxine and Cliff were tied up and then back to Animal Man. "I… I'm not sure. Just give me a minute."

Harley non-aggressively shook Ivy, mostly out of anxiousness. "Pamela, please… I wanna go..."

"You're right, I can't say no to you. Let's leave." Ivy looked up from Harley and back to Buddy. "Well Animal Man, it's been quite the day for both of us. I'll let the police let you down. Me and Harley have some personal business to get back to. We're gonna keep our road trip going. So good luck catching up."

"Actually, I think the only place you'll be going is prison." Animal Man stated with an extreme amount of confidence for a man being suspended upside down.

"What makes you say-" Ivy's question became a shocked silence when the vines around Buddy uncoiled on their own and the hero flipped over, hovering in midair. "No! What?! How!?"

"While you two were having your heart-to-heart I absorbed my flying abilities again." Animal Man hovered closer to the two supervillains as he talked. "And as for the plants, humans are part of the animal kingdom too. Even whatever type of plant-human hybrid you are, Poison Ivy. Took a little bit to get a hang of the plant control thing but your talk gave me enough time to figure it out."

"You stole my powers… Harley, let's teach this guy a-" Ivy realized Harley was not standing next to her anymore. She turned around and saw Harley scurrying away from the area. "Harley, come back! We're supposed to be a team!"

"Love ya Red, but I'm just sick 'a this animal guy!" Harley shouted back. "I'm gonna go find the car and yer comin' with me!"

Ivy looked back and forth between Harley and Buddy for a few seconds, still stunned at the events that had just transpired. "Harley, wait for me!" she turned around and hurried after Harley.

"All right Buddy, let's see if this is easier now." Animal Man said to himself. He looked over at his unconscious family for a few moments. "I have to go back for them later, I can't let those two get away."

Animal Man flew off in the direction Ivy and Harley ran. He looked around the plant ridden zoo from above in search of the two women. While patrolling for them, he spotted a few more animals that had escaped from their cages and made a mental note to help clean up the zoo once Harley and Ivy were captured.

He flew higher into the sky and more of the zoo became visible to him. From his new vantage point, Animal Man surveyed the ground. Most of the landscape was overrun with plants and dotted with the occasional escaped animal. But soon enough he saw two human-shaped figures running alongside each other. "There they are."

Buddy focused as much as he could on the two escaping dots and flew towards them. Feeling the need to go faster, he borrowed some speed from an animal down below. He didn't have time to register which animal it was but vaguely felt it was some type of herbivore. With his newfound speed, he gained on Harley and Ivy at a rapid pace. In fact, it wasn't that long until he started hearing their voices. Albeit at a muffled, lower volume.

"Ya gonna be okay, Pammy?"

"I've been having a confusing… How long have we been out of Gotham?"

"I dunno, a week?"

"In that case Harl, I've been having a confusing week."

"Uh oh Red, incoming!"

Animal Man landed himself in front of the women which made them stop just a few feet away from him. "Okay you two, this is where our story ends."

"Sorry A-Man, we ain't through just yet." Harley took a few steps towards Animal Ma while she twirled her mallet. "Now smile and say 'Hammer Time'!"

She ran forwards with her hammer raised and struck Animal Man in side of the body with it. He was sent tumbling to the ground and slid a few few feet.

"You got a good arm there. Ever play baseball?" Buddy stood up from the ground. "In fact, let me get a better look at that."

Buddy made an upwards motion with his hand and a vine shot out through the concrete path. The vine wrapped around Harley's hammer and pulled it out of her hand over to Animal Man. "You won't be getting this back by the way."

The grip around the mallet strengthened, splitting the weapon in half. "My favourite hammer! That's it, now I'm gonna break yer nose. Red, help me out here."

"Gladly." Ivy walked closer to Animal Man along with Harley.

"You know Poison Ivy, this power of yours is pretty interesting." Animal Man said as another several twisted masses of vines came out of the ground. The vines shot forward at the two villainesses.

Harley countered the plants that were directed at her with her bare hands, ripping and tearing away at the attacking appendages. Ivy, on the other hand, didn't attempt to fight back against the vines. The first vine rammed into her face and sent her flying several feet back through the air.

"Ivy! C'mon, I know yer tougher than this!" Harley continued to fight the vines as she encouraged Poison Ivy.

"I can't do this… I can't fight another plant…" Ivy stared at the vines Animal Man controlled as they went towards her.

"Oh, uh, forgot you can kinda feel their pain for a moment…" Harley stopped herself from fighting the plants. The vines wrapped around her arms and legs, leaving her restrained.

"It's strange actually, I can't actually feel what you've been doing to the plants… Physically anyway." Ivy got to her feet and stared at the advancing vines.

"Wait, what?" Harley tried to turn her head to look at Poison Ivy but found she was unable to when more plants began restraining her.

"I don't want to hurt the plans… But that doesn't mean I can't control them." Ivy smirked and held a hand out in front of her as Animal Man's vines shot towards her. But then something strange happened to Ivy; something that she had never felt before. For once in her life, the plants in front of her were just plants. She didn't feel the spiritual connection to them she normally did. No matter how much she wanted the plants to change course and strangle Animal Man, they just kept coming towards her.

But despite the spiritual connection being gone, the emotional connection hadn't left. Even with the threat of imprisonment right in front of her, Poison Ivy couldn't bring herself to hurt part of nature. While in the process of coming up with another way out of her current predicament, Poison Ivy became tangled up in Animal Man's vines.

"So, are you two ready to give up?" Buddy slowly walked up to the two trapped villains.

"God… This is humiliating..."

"I think that's Red's way of sayin' yes."

Once Animal Man was sure Harley and Ivy were trapped by the vines, with the former unable to escape and the latter unwilling to, he left them where they were while he went to find his family. He freed them with no trouble but their reunion was short when he remembered that his powers had a time limit.

But after turning Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn over to the authorities he had time to talk to his family properly. The four Bakers watched as Ivy and Harley were escorted into a police van.

"Do you think they're ever gonna come back here, daddy?" Maxine looked from the two supervillains up to his father.

"For our sake, I hope they stay in Gotham." Animal Man said. "Are you all going to be okay? It must've been pretty scary back there."

"My friends are totally gonna think I'm cool when I tell them about this." Cliff replied.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I've kinda gotten used to being in peril. Guess it's just a hazard of marrying a superhero." Ellen then lowered her voice to a whisper and spoke only to Buddy. "Plus we've been taking Maxine and Cliff to therapy ever since the kitten incident, remember?"

"Oh, right." Buddy whispered back. He raised his voice to a normal tone again to address his whole family. "You all get back home, okay. I'm gonna help put the animals back where they belong and clean up the plants. Don't worry, I should be home in time for dinner tonight."

"Good luck, Buddy." Ellen gave her attention to Maxine and Cliff. "C'mon kids, let's go home."

Ellen, Maxine, and Cliff began walking away from Buddy. He watched them leave just to make sure nothing else would happen to them. Once he was sure there weren't any last minute supervillains, Animal Man turned around and went up to the van Ivy and Harley had just been loaded into.

"Mind if I have a word with these two before you send them back to Gotham?" Buddy addressed an officer near the van.

"Sure thing, Animal Man. Couldn't have caught them without you." replied the cop.

"Thanks, it'll only be a second." Animal Man went to the back of the van and opened up the door. He looked at the interior of the vehicle where the two women had been seated. Harley still somehow had a happy look on her face.

"Well hey ya, A-Man. Didja miss us already?" Harley smiled up at him.

"Are you here to taunt us or something?" Ivy glared at Animal Man. "I didn't take you for that type of hero."

"Look, uh, your real name's Pam, right?" Animal Man lifted up his goggles to better look Ivy in the eye.

"Yeah, why do you wanna know?"

"Listen, Pam, I know you just tried to kill me, but the thing is we agree on a lot of stuff. You're right, humans have destroyed a lot of this planet. But you could help. Your powers could be used to regrow devastated forests or help combat climate change. All this destruction you caused today, it doesn't help."

"Don't talk down to me like I'm a child." Ivy snarled. "I'm an adult who can make her own decisions. Trust me, Animal Man. I know what I'm doing. And when I have things my way, the planet will be beautiful again."

"Can't say I didn't try." Animal Man turned from Ivy over to Harley Quinn. "You make sure she doesn't do anything like this again. Oh, and by the way, I'm still kinda pissed at you for dragging my family into this."

"Well, I'm pissed that ya broke my favourite hammer. So call it even I guess." Harley grinned back.

Animal Man began to close the van's door but was interrupted by Poison Ivy. "Hold on, there's one thing I want to know. I wasn't able to feel the plants you had control over. Why was that?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Animal Man scratched his chin and stared off into space, thinking of an answer. "Well, my guess is that when I controlled plants they became part of the Red instead of the Green."

"The what and the what?"

"Sorry Pam, you'll have to figure that out on your own. And if you see Batman, tell him I said hi." Animal Man shut the doors completely and went back to the officer. "They're all yours. Now if you'll excuse me, I've still got a lot of cleaning up to do."

The transportation back to Arkham Asylum from San Diego was uneventful as were the weeks that followed. Poison Ivy had no desire to escape at the moment and in fact, welcomed the downtime. After the stressful road trip and fight at the zoo, it seemed almost relaxing despite the dreary conditions of the asylum.

But one thing that she kept thinking of was Animal Man's mention of the enigmatic "Red" and "Green". So during one of her therapy sessions, she decided to see if her psychiatrist wasn't as dumb as he looked. The man who had been assigned as her new therapist was one Dr. Roger Huntoon. A pudgy, middle-aged, bespectacled fellow that, like most humans, Poison Ivy disliked immensely.

"Ms. Isley, I think we're making progress today." Dr. Huntoon's words were lost on Ivy who hadn't been listening to a word he said since the session started. "You seem to have mellowed out since you've arrived and there haven't been any violent outbursts. Do you have anything you'd like to say?"

"Tell me doctor, do you know anything about 'The Green' or 'The Red'." Ivy kept her gaze set on the ceiling as she spoke in an attempt to make things seem more casual. "Animal Man mentioned them back in San Diego and they sound… Important."

"I don't see how this in related to our discussion."

"Come on doctor, you said I'm making progress… I deserve some answers…" Ivy stood up from the chair and leaned over Dr. Huntoon's desk. She exhaled a small cloud of spores onto the psychiatrist. Not enough to kill or incapacitate him, but enough to make his mind a lot more suggestible. "Go on… You can tell me…"

Dr. Huntoon's eyes had taken on a hazy, glazed quality but he spoke as if nothing had changed. "I don't know much about the Green. I'm a psychiatrist, not a sorcerer."

"What do you mean by that?"

"There was another patient here a while ago, in several of our sessions he referenced some type of mystic sounding energy called 'The Green' that connected all plant life. He never said anything about this 'Red' you mentioned though."

"Interesting... And what was this patient's name?"

"His name was Jason Woodrue, he called himself the Floronic Man."

Ivy's mood changed from seduction to anger as her hand clamped around Dr. Huntoon's throat. "Write this down in your notes, Huntoon! Don't mention that man around me."

"Guards… Guards!" Dr. Huntoon was able to croak out.

Just as two Arkham security guards rushed into the room Ivy let go of Dr. Huntoon. "I'm terribly sorry about that, he just brought up a sore subject is all. What do you think, doctor? Should we call it off early today?"

"Y-yes…" Dr. Huntoon rubbed the now slightly reddened area of his neck.

Ivy didn't seem upset as the security guards ushered her out of Dr. Huntoon's office. Her mind was too busy processing the new information she'd been given.

The time that followed Harley Quinn's arrest and subsequent confinement to Arkham wasn't all that bad. It wasn't fun to be back in Arkham Asylum but she figured with their track record she'd be back on the outside within a couple months. Not to mention she took comfort in the fact that Poison Ivy was in there with her.

Her days had a certain structure to them that Harley liked to follow. She'd gotten to the part of the day after her ineffective therapy session where she went to the Arkham rec room and watch TV. The Riddler was on the couch when Harley got there but she found it easy enough to kick him off. She flipped through the channels until she found a cartoon program to watch.

Harley stayed on the couch watching the show for a little while without much interruption. The first thing to distract her from the show was Poison Ivy sitting down next to her.

"Well hey ya, Red. What's up?" Harley turned off the television and readjusted her position on the couch to talk to Ivy better.

"A mixed bag." Ivy relaxed her posture against the couch. "I got some of my good behavior privileges taken away for attacking my doctor."

"Why'd ya do that?" Harley asked.

"He made me angry." Ivy's tone seemed too calm for the subject matter but despite this it got a chuckle out of Harley.

"Nice one, Pam."

"I've got some good news though. I have a lead on the Green."

Harley smiled up at Ivy but didn't say anything. In fact, she looked slightly confused.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"Yep, ain't got a clue."

"Well, I'm not too sure yet either. Basically, the Green is apparently the source of my powers. And the only person who might know more about it just happens to be the man I hate most in the world."

Harley hesitated for a moment but decided to speak. "Why would Mista J know 'bout your powers?"

"No Harl, there's someone I hate more than him."

"Ooh, this guy's gotta be real bad. Where can we find him?"

"Not sure. We'd probably have to go on another road trip. I bet you'd like that." Ivy grinned at Harley.

"Sure would, Red."

Despite her current incarceration, Harley Quinn was convinced that she lived a great life and looked forward to any further escapades she and Poison Ivy were involved in.

In the days following the aftermath of the events of the incident at the San Diego Zoo, things got back to normal for the Baker family. Well, as normal as things could be after you were held captive by a supervillain. Maxine had been a bit nervous around the flower beds outside their house at first but got over it pretty fast. Ellen had seemed a bit shaken at first but resumed as normal soon. What she said about getting used to peril appeared to be true. Cliff ended up being the least affected of the three other Bakers. In fact, Buddy had overheard Cliff talking on the phone with a friend of his about how he met a, in his words, "Super hot plant lady".

Indeed things went back to uneventful family life in the following days. Buddy had barely thought about his superhero life. But one morning he was given another big reminder of his hero status. It all started with Ellen shaking him awake.

Oh, Buddy… C'mon, it's time to get up."

Buddy awoke from his sleep and saw Ellen standing over their bed. The sun had come up and Ellen had already gotten dressed. "Jeez, what time is it?"

"Ten fifteen. Kids are already at school. I love you Buddy but you gotta learn to get up earlier."

"So did I miss anything while I was asleep?" Buddy sat up fully in bed and his vision cleared to let him see his wife better.

"Well, the mail's here. This one's for you." Ellen handed off an envelope to Buddy. "It looks important."

"I'll read it after I get some breakfast." Buddy placed the envelope on his bedside end table.

"All right, but just to let you know the return address said 'The Hall of Justice' on it. I'll see you downstairs in a minute, Buddy." Ellen turned around and left the bedroom.

"So it's from the Justice League, eh?" Buddy stood up from the bed and grabbed the note off the end table. He opened it up and read over the letter.

The first thing that caught his eye was that it was signed "Batman" but he got over that surprise pretty quickly. The note was short. to the point, and used very formal language which Buddy admitted seemed about what he expected from the Dark Knight. It was a letter of congratulations regarding his handling of the situation with Harley and Ivy back at the zoo.

But the last thing that took Buddy's attention was something written right below the signature. On close inspection, it appeared to be instructions on how to contact Batman on his computer. It looked surprisingly easier than one might think.

"Hmmm… Was not expecting that."

Buddy put the letter back down on the end table. He went about his usual morning routine of showering and throwing on some clothes. As Buddy prepared to go downstairs his mind wandered back to the very end of the letter he received.

"Ellen, I'll be down in just a second! I just need to use the computer real quick!"

"I'll start you a coffee! Seriously Buddy, you need to start getting up earlier!"

Buddy laughed internally and went back to his room. After searching around for a bit, he found his and Ellen's shared laptop. He set up the laptop on a desk and fetched the letter he'd received from Batman. The instructions to video chatting with Batman were pretty much the same as you'd follow for calling anybody else. Still, Buddy felt special for being included on the list of people Batman let contact him.

Pretty soon, there was a series of spinning dots on the laptop screen with the words "Connecting…" right below. It only took about fifteen seconds before the connection to the other end was fully established.

The image on the monitor then changed to show the one and only Batman sat at a large chair in what appeared to be a large, empty cavern. In the background, there were several large objects obscured by shadows.

"Ah, Baker, I didn't expect you to call so soon. Sorry if I seem distracted, the Scarecrow's back in town."

"Hey Batman, I got your letter. Figured I might as well see if it was real. I, uh… I didn't expect you to live in a cave."

"Some people are a little thrown off at first. It's a lot nicer in person."

Buddy adjusted his chair and made the decision to change the topic. "So, um, why exactly did you send me the letter?"

"I try to keep in contact with other superheroes. You were just someone who I hadn't gotten to yet and the incident at the zoo was just a reminder." as Batman spoke he appeared to be typing something into a keyboard in front of him. "Do you have anything else you'd like to talk about? I'm a little busy right now."

Buddy took the question into consideration for a moment and a question popped into his head. "Batman, I'm curious, do you ever feel bad for the people you fight?"

"Usually, no. Monsters like the Joker or Victor Zsasz put innocent lives in jeopardy whenever they're out on the streets. However… There are some exceptions. What made you ask?"

"I saw a lot of myself in Poison Ivy. We both believe in the same noble cause for one thing. And another thing, for all her talk of anti-human genocide she seemed close with that other woman. They switched back and forth between being supervillains and best friends so fast it was strange."

"I tend not to get too involved in the personal lives of my adversaries. It complicates things when I have to bring them to justice." Batman had stopped typing on his computer at this point.

"The thing I wanna know is, if I ever see Poison Ivy again, should I try to get to know her?"

"I wouldn't recommend it. But if you think you can make a difference, you can always try."

"Thanks. Well, I'd best be off. My wife's waiting for me downstairs." Buddy began to stand up from the desk.

"Of course. Tell Ellen I said hello."

"Will do, Batman." Buddy disconnected from the chat and closed the laptop. "Time to go get some coffee."

Buddy left the bedroom and started walking down the stairs, ready to face a day that hopefully wouldn't have any supervillains in it.

The End

A/N: The doctor Ivy talked to at the end was a character introduced in the Swamp Thing comics but also made some appearances in Animal Man so I decided to include him as a cameo in this story. I don't know much about the Red or the Green so I hope I got the details right. I'm actually considering making a sequel to this story where Ivy goes to track down Jason Woodrue but I don't have all the details sorted out in my head yet so I won't make any promises just yet. Anyway, that about does it for this story. Hope you liked it.