Chapter 5

Gotham City

September 1, 19:38 EDT

Kid Flash was struggling to untangle the vine that were wrapped around his ankle and holding him upside down when his cellphone went off.

He gabbed it and checked the caller ID. Seeing it was his cousin he answered it with one hand and continued to try and free himself with the other. "Yeah, Cuz? This really isn't the best time, and- ARRRGGHH!"

Kid Flash finally managed to free himself from the vines, causing him to fall and land on his head.

"Wally? Wally! Are you alright?" came the frantic sound of Hermione's voice over the phone.

Kid Flash groaned and sat up. "Ow. I'm fine, and call me Kid Flash, I'm in uniform."

"Where are you? What happened?" asked Harry.

Kid Flash glanced around his prison. "Well it's kind of a long story…"

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Mount Justice

September 1, 17:52 EDT

Two Hours ago…

Wally sighed in relief when he got to the Cave after his first week back at Gotham Academy. Since he wasn't going to Hogwarts that year he had been made a full time Gotham Academy student. The reason he was relieved wasn't because he didn't like the school, he liked it just fine, but it was the first week of school after summer break and if you weren't just a little bit disappointed then there was usually something wrong with you (or you were like Harry and had lousy relatives).

Behind him the Zeta Tube chirped again announcing Dick's arrival, followed shortly by Artemis.

"Oh, come on," Dick said to him looking amused. "It wasn't that bad a first week."

"Maybe not, but still it's school," said Wally.

"I gotta agree with Baywatch on this one," said Artemis.

Dick chuckled. "You guys need to get whelmed."

They walked into the mission room and saw that Batman was already there. "You're late," he commented. He turned to the holo computer and brought up a picture of Poison Ivy.

Batman turned to the three of them and started his briefing. "As you are aware, it was discovered that Doctor Hugo Strange ran Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activities. Unfortunately, before his capture he aided and abided the escape of several super villains from the facility. The League has been working on rounding up the escapees, but there are still several unaccounted for."

"And I'm guessing Ivy's one of them," said Artemis.

"Correct," said Batman. "Recently I uncovered a lead that tells me she's back in Gotham." He pulled up security footage of Poison Ivy sneaking down a hallway.

Wally cocked his head. "That hallway looks familiar…"

Dick frowned. "It should, that's one of the hallways in our school."

Batman nodded. "This footage was taken on one of the backup security cameras I had installed in the school as an extra security precaution. It was taken almost an hour ago. Your mission is recon, find Poison Ivy and what she's up to, then report back. Do not engage unless circumstances require otherwise."

Wally glanced around. "Just the three of us?"

"Yes, unless you think you can't handle it."

Dick elbowed Wally for asking a stupid question. "We can handle it, no worries."

"Good," said Batman, "because you are leading this mission."

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Gotham City

September 1 18:05 EDT

The three heroes slipped into the school undetected. It wasn't hard since classes were long over and all after school clubs had already gone home.

Considering it was Poison Ivy they were after they first checked in the most obvious place she might be, the school greenhouse.

Gotham Academy often bragged about its meal plan, saying how it was healthy and good for the kids. One of their perks was that most the vegetables they served in the school lunches were grown in the on campus greenhouse.

The three of them slipped into the green house and quickly spotted Poison Ivy. She was standing over the vegetable patch that was used to feed the school, spraying some kind of chemical on it. The heroes remained in the shadows, as she did so, humming to the veggies and calling them her babies as she went.

Eventually she made motions like she was missing something, and walked out of the greenhouse, leaving her can of chemicals behind.

Once she was out of sight, Robin darted forward and too a sample of the chemical and analyzed it with his glove computer.

"So what is it?" Artemis asked. "Somehow I doubt Ivy's just here to help feed Gotham's youths."

"She's not," said Robin as the results appeared on the holo screen. "This chemical is laced with spores, the mind controlling variety. Eat enough of these and you'll be completely under her control."

"Okay, I get the mind control thing," said Kid Flash. "But why here? Why the school?"

"Because children are the future of course," said a voice behind them.

They whirled around and saw Poison Ivy standing there. "And what better future for my babies then to be safeguarded by the up and coming most powerful people in Gotham."

The heroes had to jump away as vines erupted from the ground and tried to ensnare them. Artemis readied her bow and fired an arrow at the woman.

One of Poison Ivy's vines moved and blocked it. "Don't think I've forgotten you, Blondie," she snapped.

"Aw," Artemis cooed tauntingly as she readied another arrow. "You still mad I kicked you in the face?"

"Very," said Ivy and she sent her vines after Artemis.

Artemis was able to dodge until Kid Flash distracted Ivy by knocking her over. Then she sent her vines after him in retaliation.

Robin meanwhile had slipped into the shadows and sent the data from his analysis to the Bat Computer. Then he began fiddling with the greenhouse heating and sprinkler system. Unfortunately Ivy spotted him and sent her vines after him. He dodged, but was unable to get near the system again.

"Let me guess, Boy Wonder," said Ivy, "you were going to rig this greenhouse to catch fire and kill my babies."

"Well, duh," said Robin. "We can't let this chemical get eaten, can we?"

"You won't have a choice," she said. Suddenly more of her vines erupted from the ground, taking the heroes by surprise, and tangling them up. When she was sure they were unable to get free she walked over so she was sneering in Robin's face. "After all, soon you'll be working for me."

She stole Robin's utility belt and Artemis' quiver and bow. Then she locked them inside the school gym, which she had turned into a jungle of vines and left them tied up in them. Since Robin was the most crafty she had him tied up near the top of the gym, so even if he freed himself, he would still get hurt in the fall. Artemis was tied that high as well, most likely out of spite for the 'kicking in the head' incident. Kid Flash was bound by his ankles upside-down. He wasn't tied as high as the others, mostly because Ivy probably figured that he wasn't much of a threat if he couldn't move his feet.

Poison Ivy then walked back out of the gym. At the door she stopped and turned back to smirk at them. "I've filled the air system with a gaseous version of my spores. With in an hour or so you three will be completely under my control. Now won't that be fun?"

She left them to their struggles.

"KF, can you get free?" Robin shouted from his high point.

Kid Flash was reaching up for the vines, and was tearing away at any of them he could reach. "I thinks so, but it might take time."

"That's not something we have a whole lot of, Baywatch," said Artemis.

"Hey, fastest boy alive, remember?"

Kid Flash focused on his task of ripping off the vines. It was hard, but eventually he was down to the last vine on his ankle. As he was reaching for it his cellphone rang.

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Present,

"… And that's what happened," Kid Flash finished as he zipped around the gym, trying to find a way to get Robin and Artemis down without hurting them. He had just given a summarized version of the night's events to his cousin and Hogwarts friends.

"Are you a wizard or not? Just use a spell to get them down," said Ron in exasperation.

Kid Flash skidded to a stop and smacked his forehead. "Oh, duh! Any suggestions, Jinx?"

"Use the spell Diffindo to sever the vines, then cast Wingardium Leviosa to get them down," instructed Hermione.

"Got it, thanks. Oh and whatever you called about, I'm going to have you call you back," and with that he hung up on Ron's protest.

Kid Flash pointed his wand at the vines holing up Artemis. "Diffindo!" The vines snapped and Artemis fell with a shriek. "Wingardium Leviosa!" She stopped in mid air and floated the rest of the way down. Kid Flash couldn't resist running over to where she was coming down and catching her bridal style.

She shot him a smirk. "Thanks, Baywatch."

"Hello! I'm still up here, and this gym is full of mind control gas, in other words a disaster, heavy on the dis," called Robin.

Kid Flash cast the same spells to get him down and he carried the two of them out of the gym. Once they were outside he set Robin and Artemis on the grass for them to work on removing the remaining vines from around their wrists and ankles.

Once they were completely free of vines, Robin took command. "We need to get rid of those infected vegetables. Ivy thinks we're still strung up, so that buys us a little time. I need you guys to keep look out while I finish rigging the greenhouse to explode."

The other two nodded and they slipped back into the greenhouse. Poison Ivy was there again, spraying more of the vegetables. While her back was turned Robin slipped back to the heating and sprinkler systems to continue rigging them. Kid Flash and Artemis kept their eyes on Ivy, but Ivy was too wrapped up in her gardening to notice them.

At least until Robin's wrist computer gave a loud beep and she whirled around. When she saw him her face contorted in rage, but before she could even make a move she was knocked back by a blunt arrow, courtesy of Artemis (who had found her bow and quiver, along with Robin's utility belt).

Artemis and Kid Flash took positions in front of Robin. "Just distract her for a little longer," Robin hissed, "I'm almost done."

The two of them complied. Ivy sent another wave of vines at them, but Artemis burned through them with an exploding arrow. Kid Flash darted through the gap in the vines and speed tackled Ivy into a table covered in saplings.

Ivy was furious as she crouched down and gently picked up one of the saplings that had had its pot broken. "How dare you endanger these little ones," she snarled.

"Lady, you endangered them the second you covered them in that poison," said Kid Flash.

Ivy roared in rage and sent every vine she had after him. They chased Kid Flash around the greenhouse, until Robin said, "It's done! The greenhouse will explode in a minute, lets get out of here!"

Robin and Artemis rushed to the exit, but hung back at the doorway and glanced back at their third member.

The vines were still chasing Kid Flash on the other side of the greenhouse. "Go one, I'll be there in a second!" he called.

Robin and Artemis dashed out the door. Not wanting to be blown up Ivy followed after them, and Kid Flash was satisfied to hear the sound of her shriek as Robin and Artemis no doubt captured her.

He then pulled his wand back out and pointed it at one of the glass walls of the greenhouse and cast a blasting spell at it. The window shattered and Kid Flash dashed out.

Not a minute too soon as the second he was a safe distance away the greenhouse was blown to smithereens. As he watched, what was left the sign that had hung on the outside of the greenhouse saying, 'Gotham Academy Greenhouse' came hurtling over to where he was and landed a foot away.

He circled around to where Artemis and Robin were waiting. When he got there he snuck a kiss from Artemis. "Worrying about me, Babe?"

She rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Actually, yeah, I did."

Ivy, who was tied up at their feet made a disgusted noise.

A few minutes later Ivy was taken away by the police, and Robin informed Commissioner Gordon about the gas in the gym, and who knows where else in the school. The police also let Kid Flash keep the half burnt greenhouse sign as a souvenir.

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Mount Justice

September 1, 23:14 EDT

After the three of them returned to the Cave they took decontamination showers, before talking to Batman. After learning what the three had been exposed to, Batman took them all to the Med Bay and began running tests.

A few hours later they were still there, wondering why the mind control hadn't kicked in yet when he came over to them with the results. "The reason you don't seem to be infected by Poison Ivy's spores is because you aren't."

Wally, Dick, and Artemis exchanged glances in surprise.

"Apparently the spores Poison Ivy used were also used to help create Starro Tech," Batman explained.

Dick caught on. "And since our Cure Tech was both a cure and vaccine, that made us immune to all of the components that made it up."

Wally's eyebrows rose. "So what? Whatever mind control stuff was used to make it, we're now immune to."

"Looks that way," said Artemis.

Wally grinned. "Sweet!"

"Definitely asturous," said Dick with a grin.

Wally then glanced at Dick. "So how long do you think the school will be closed for this time?"

Dick smirked, and Artemis laughed.

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A/N Tadaa, the first mission of this story yay! So how'd I do? I know I said I'd update every other day, but since I left the last chapter on an evil cliffhanger (I hate it when that happens to me) I decided to put this chapter up early.

Mission ideas are welcome and appreciated

I still own nothing