The grapnel claw bit into a support beam running along the glass ceiling. The cable whirred and whined then went taut and yanked him into the air; with his cape billowing out behind him the Dark Knight's body was launched toward the captive Catwoman. As the coiling of the line slowed he was brought to a rest hanging parallel to the bound thief, with his free hand he pulled free one of the razor-sharp batarangs contained in his belt and used it to begin hacking at the ivy coiling tighter and tighter around Selina's ankles.

Hacking at the dense vegetation was a lot harder to do with a batarang than it was with a machete, doubly so when he knew that somewhere under all that plant life there were a pair of human legs. With his teeth gritted and eyes narrowed he continued to hack at the vines, growling to himself as the fast-growing vinery started to recover almost as quickly as he cut at it.

"Selina! Selina wake up!" he bellowed as he worked.

The Catwoman remained motionless and after a few more unanswered shouts he resorted to a less polite means of rousing her, he kicked her in the shoulder.

"GET UP!"

This time the Batman's roar was such a demanding snarl that his on-again off-again lover and nemesis snapped her eyes open with an angry hiss.

"Don't take that to-ooowwnnn—Ow! My head.. Wha- Batman? Why- WHY AM I UPSIDE DOWN!"

"Not now. I need you to get working. Get your hands free, I can't get you out of this alone."

"Get me out of wha- Oh Jesus," her sudden realization came as she looked up at him and her own vine-wrapped feet, "dammit… I should have known."

She began to wriggle within the vines that held her, and then she noticed the duct tape holding her hands together. "What in the—Harley… Those two together are a god damn nightmare."

"Relax," he said, lowering himself on the grapnel line so that he was at chest level with her bound hands.

He pulled a small aerosol can out of his belt and sprayed some of its contents on the ball of tape. The adhesive backing of the long silver ribbons suddenly lost cohesion and the tape fell away from her hands like a slain serpent. The moment she was free Catwoman bent double and put her inch long claws to work on the vines holding her in the air.

"Thanks stud and you'd better catch me when I fall."

He grunted in response, but that simple sound was enough for her to hear the unspoken "Have I ever not been there to catch you?" in his voice. She smiled faintly and continued working while he descended several yards on the bat-line and suspended himself beneath her poised to catch her as soon as she fell free of the vines.

"Is this it?" Frank asked as the car pulled up in front of the gothic stone building.

"We thought that this would be the safest environment for your reunion and Pamela agreed," Dr. Birch replied soothingly as she climbed out of the car.

"Well, I suppose so…" said Frank as they approached the massive oak front doors.

Dr. Birch stepped into the entry lobby of Arkham Asylum's front office and approached the desk where the night clerk was looking through files on his computer. As she drew close the young man looked up at her with a placid smile and a wistful expression.

"Good evening, Doctor Birch, Ivy is waiting in the garden…"

"Thanks, Roger; this way Mr. Pierce," Hazel called out.

Eric walked past Franklin, giving him a polite smile as he went, and the older man followed with a growing sense of uncertainty. "A-are you sure meeting her in a garden is a good idea?"

"Don't worry," Hazel said, glancing back over her shoulder at him with a reassuring smile, "gardens don't have the same affect that they used to have on her. Now they just help her keep a clear head."

"Ah… And she's—I mean, she really wants to see me; after all that's happened between us I thought she never wanted me to contact her again."

"She's been quite emphatic about meeting you. She's said she can't return to her life without reuniting with her father."

Frank's uncertainty diminished again and an eager smile spread across his lips as he followed after Dr. Birch. Perhaps if he had not been so eager to see his daughter he might have taken more notice of the world around him. It was late and after lights out in a mental institution there wasn't much activity aside from a few patrolling guards, but the few men he did see all seemed remarkably relaxed. He should have noticed that those peaceful expressions and gentle—almost dopey—smiles shouldn't have been on the faces of every single guard. He should have noticed it, but he didn't, all he thought about was being reunited with the daughter he considered lost many years ago.

Catwoman shook herself from head to toe once she and the caped crusader had finally managed to wrestle their through the skylight of the vine-smothered botanical building. She turned to face him, unsure what to say. She knew that he knew the only reason she went after Ivy and Harley was because he told her not to and she hated it when he tried to tell her what to do. The sensible thing really would have been not to get involved at all. She was made at herself for being careless but still just as annoyed with him for trying to give her an order, knowing full well she would rebel against it.

Batman didn't seem to have any such frustrations; he wasn't even looking at her. The moment they escaped he had thrown another cryo-bomb over the shattered skylight to reseal it and try to contain the vines within. While Catwoman was busy wrestling over what to say to him he was trying to figure out how to contain the overgrowing foliage. English Ivy didn't stop, it would even grow over itself time after time, eventually it was going to break through the foundations of the building and start spreading.

Putting a hand over the side of his cowl he radioed to his ever-present assistant and spoke in that sharp, no nonsense voice used only in dire circumstances, "Oracle, contact commissioner Gordon, tell him we need the Cryogenic Response Team down here now."

"CRT? I thought this was Poison Ivy?"

"We need fire. A lot of fire. Have the basic Meta-response SWAT here as well, if the vines get out of this building the entire block could be over run within 90 minutes."

"Geeze… All right, boss, I'm on it! What about Catwoman?"

"She's safe."

"Okay, I'll get the GCPD en route."

"Good. Batman out."

Taking his hand away from the cowl's transmitter he turned his gaze back toward Catwoman. Despite the danger of the situation Selina flashed a naughty smile at him. He was annoyed at her for disobeying his orders; she loved it when he was irritated, he was at his most enticing when he had a slow simmering fury boiling under the calm surface.

"You should have known it would happen when you tried to tell me what to do," she purred, still smiling.

"I did."

Selina's smile slipped, "Bat-beau, if you say you turned me into a step in your response plan—"

"She expects this to keep me busy, she's counted on me staying here to over-see the safe elimination of the plant life."

"You really think she'd purposefully sacrifice her 'babies' for her plan?"

"We all make sacrifices for what we hold most dear, she loves her plants, but she loves herself most of all. She wants something; she'll sacrifice whatever she needs to get it."

"But you're not going to stay? Who is supposed to make sure that CRT does the job ri—No! No. Bruce, NO."

"I don't have time to argue."

"I am not one of your little trained birds!" she snapped angrily. "I don't wear a gardener's coveralls, I am not armed with weed-b-gone, and I am NOT an ally of the police department!"

He was pulled out a new grapnel line even as she argued against his unspoken intention. While she continued her protests he handed her a small pouch full of pill sized cryo-bombs and stuffed it into her gloved hand.

"They'll freeze up to 20 feet of vegetation, use them on any vines that get outside the building. I'll radio Oracle and make sure she informs Commissioner Gordon that you're on our side tonight."

"I don't have a side, I never have, I'm—"

"Just taking care of yourself," he finished for her with a curt nod. "I know, and you still are. We're 3 blocks from your pent house, Selina; your home, your cats and your way of living are in imminent danger. You don't have to do this for me, or for Gotham; it can be all about you, if that's really what you want."

Selina hissed at him then snarled in frustration and clutched the pouch of cryo-bombs tightly.

"You are an arrogant, self-righteous pig."

"You're an impossible woman."

She pressed her lips but the corners twitched in a grin that demanded to be let free. A split second later she lunged forward and stole a sudden kiss from him.

"Good luck."