Harleen was nervously glancing over at Ivy in two block intervals and it was beginning to sincerely annoy the older woman.
Ivy sighed. "Is it the wig? I'm not a fan of it either." She looped her fingers into the artificial hairline and pulled it away, making short work of the wig cap as well and revealing her natural red hair. "Better?" She asked as it flapped about in the wind.
Harleen didn't answer her question, she instead asked for directions. "Mountain lane, you said?"
Ivy nodded. "Take a right up here." She closed her eyes and felt the wind on her face. This was a degree of freedom that Pamela hadn't known before. No one was looking for her. She was allowed to be in this car right now. She didn't have to hide, but decided to remain pale-skinned for the time being anyway so as to not to cause a traffic jam.
"Are you sure you didn't poison me? I thought your kisses were poisonous."
"You're immune now." Ivy told her without opening her eyes as she enjoyed the sun beating down on her skin. By the tone in Harley's voice, she could tell that there were a million questions floating around in the girl's head that she wasn't asking. Ivy knew the moment would come when a thorough explanation was required, but luckily it wouldn't be this moment because in this moment, Ivy could hear her flowers singing. They were close. Her eyelids drifted open and now she could see it, her beautiful greenhouse. "There." She pointed up ahead. Ivy knew this stop would only be temporary. A promise had been made and she would abide by it, but the idea of seeing her flowers again made her heart sing. Not even the image of Catwoman sitting on her roof dissuaded her excitement. "Pull in here." Ivy told her driver, pointing to the garage.
Harleen obeyed, hanging a sharp right into the darkened structure.
Ivy opened the car door before the engine had even been shut down and popped up with an athleticism Harleen hadn't witnessed in her yet. "Well come on." She beckoned her driver. "Let's go."
"This isn't the safehouse Batman got for you…" Harley was apprehensive.
"Moving is a process, Harleen. There are some things in here that I simply refuse to part with."
This Dr. Quinzel seemed to understand. She pulled herself out of the driver's seat and gently shut the door behind her. She followed Ivy through the garage into the main house.
"It's a bit plain, I know." Pamela apologized. "I spent most of my time in the greenhouse anyway." Her plants were telling her that the greenhouse's skylight was opening and Ivy told the Venus flytrap to stand down. If she were going to kill Catwoman, she would do it with her bare hands. Speaking of which…she closed her eyes and allowed her skin to shift back into its natural emerald coloring.
The blonde followed the plant queen dutifully to the entrance of the greenhouse, but jumped nearly out of her skin when a dark figure dropped down in front of them.
"Where's the diamond?" Catwoman asked.
Ivy watched as all color drained from Harleen's face. The girl's mouth had fallen open in an expression that conveyed either mortal fear or amazement, Ivy couldn't tell which.
"It's C…It's Ca…It's Catwoman!" She stammered.
"In the flesh." Selina presented herself like a model would a lottery ball.
"Catwoman isn't a villain, she's just selfish, so it shouldn't count as a contract violation." Ivy explained. She attempted to gauge her doctor's reaction in the brief moment of silence before the blonde's face broke out into a giddy smile.
"It's Catwoman! Oh my god, I love you! I used to have your poster on my wall when I was in high school, seriously! I'd watch you on the news all the time and I used to cut out stories about you in the newspaper." She caught herself momentarily. "Not that stealing is good, but you are just incredible! Your flips are so tight! I used to try to emulate you when I was a gymnast. When I was 14 I saw you on the news evading the cops by swinging a double twisting double back in the rafters of the art museum and I was like 'oh my god, she's my hero.'"
For a moment, both Ivy and Selina were too thrown off to speak, but Catwoman's expression quickly slipped into a cocky smirk, which she directed at Pam. "You hear that, Pammy? I'm her hero."
Harley looked like she wanted to bounce off the walls. At least some color had returned to her face. "Ivy you never told me you knew Catwoman!" She turned back to Selina. "Seriously, though. Can I…Can I get your autograph; do you think? I have this scrapbook at my mom's house that's just like…a bunch of pictures of you being a baddass. You were my absolute inspiration on the uneven bars." Harley laughed nervously.
"Why of course you can have my autograph." Catwoman told her. "Would you also like to wear my skin around?"
Harley laughed again, her expression overflowing with excitement. "Catwoman just made a Buffalo Bill joke! This is officially the best day ever. Pam had never seen The Silence of The Lambs." She told The Cat like it was going to be their new inside joke.
"Blasphemous." She winked at Harley.
'I change my ways and then come and rescue her from a murder charge and here she is mooning over Selina, fangirling over her because…what? She can jump off buildings? So what! I don't need to jump off buildings, my plants carry me down. Dr. Quinzel is mine. I will NOT be sharing her affections with Cat. I refuse to.' Without a moment's hesitation, Ivy flicked her wrist out and pulled Catwoman's cowl off of her head, revealing a very surprised Selina Kyle.
The brunette hissed and swiped at Ivy, who ducked to avoid the woman's claws.
Harley's jaw was on the floor, starring wide-eyed at the unmasked cat burglar. "Selina Kyle? You're Catwoman?"
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Of course she is. Honestly, Harleen, you just saw her like three hours ago. She has the exact same voice and those creepy eyes…How do people not make the connection?"
"Bitch." Selina kicked Ivy in the stomach, sending her stumbling back into a nearby tree.
"Selina Kyle is Catwoman?" Dr. Quinzel repeated, dumbfounded.
"Yep, Cat's out of the bag!" Selina snapped at the girl. A vine wrapped around her ankle and pulled her feet out from under her. "Hey!" She shouted, looking up at Ivy who was now towering above her.
"Honestly," Ivy crossed over to Harleen and yanked the prop glasses off of her face. "All this secrecy is ridiculous. Why human beings feel the need to constantly apologize for who they are is beyond me. Selina, you steal shiny things. Harley, you kill people. Great. Let's move on."
"Hey!" Harleen was now protesting along with Selina. "I only killed one person and he deserved it!"
Ivy sighed. "Regardless of your rationalization, the point is, to put it as eloquently as I can, 'shit happens.' Kitty won't be tattling on you anytime soon now that you know her big secret, and I expect you'll keep your mouth shut about her as well, if you know what's good for you."
"Yeah." Selina seconded.
"Don't piggy back, Kitty." Ivy snapped her fingers and the vine around Selina's ankle lifted her off the ground so that she hung upside down in front of the plant queen. "It's not cute."
"The diamond." Selina growled.
Ivy snapped again and a few moments later a vine appeared carrying the Harlequin Diamond. The one holding Catwoman released her and she somehow landed on her feet, snatching the object away from the plant.
"Doogie, I wish you luck with this one. Really. She's a nightmare. Pamela? Let's never do this again." With that, Selina turned and clawed her way up the tree, escaping through its branches out the skylight.
"I told you she's the worst."