Episode 7 #Misgiving Tree/Ivy's New Roots
(Disclaimer I don't own the characters of this story and any properties they belong to)
DC superhero girls belong to Hasbro and Kamen Rider W belong to Toei
(Gotham few months earlier.)
We see a figure panting as they ran out into the streets and alleys of Gotham. And in many cases doing this either means your running from someone or chasing them. But this figure is non of those as they finally made it to their destination. With a knock the door opened not by hands but by vines "Thank you Phil, Batgirl might have surprised me but that doesn't stop my plan to return metropolis back to it's roots." the figure said as they directed the vines to clean the place as she got ready she looked out the window of the abandon apartment "Goodbye Gotham and good riddance" before grabbing a potted plant as she walked out the door leaving the room absent of anything or anyone who use to live there for many years.
(Metropolis present day)
"Shoutaro did you know how a Venus flytrap snap its leaves to catch it's prey?" Philip inquired as he looked to Shoutaro who was giving him a blank stare.
"Philip. I don't really care and you know that. right? " Shoutaro said as he was grabbed a burger before he could take a bite Jess placed some paper in front of him and the girls who were sitting with him.
After handing her paper out she sat with a proud look on her face " Well, it looks like people are finally starting to read my "EnviroBeat" column." but as she looked around she looked confused "What?"
Instead of a reply Babs who was eaten some instant noodles points with her chopsticks to the garbage bins much to Jess's dismay.
"Oh, Jess, sorry, but your column might just be a lost cause." Zee said poking her salad only for Jess to abruptly got out of her seat.
"There's no such thing as a lost cause! That's literally the name of my latest article." shoving the papers in Zee's face before making her way to the bins, though not seeing Zee crumbling up the paper. "You could have at least recycled, you animals!" Jess yelled as she grab some of the papers before dumping them to the recycling bin instead, but as she was about to continue she saw one of the boys with a rolled up paper ball.
Standing in front like a goalie she stares him down "Don't you dare!"
The teen ignored her as he threw the paper ball and it flew pass her much to her confusion before hitting a quiet girl sitting alone with a potted plant. As the teen laughs Jess glares at him scaring him away before looking at the girl in baggy clothes getting pelted by random paper balls before making her way back to her friends.
As Jess made her way to her group she decides to voice her concern "That poor girl. No one to eat lunch with, no one to talk to...No friends, at all!"
Babs who mostly likes to people watch spoke "Oh, Jess! Poor unobservant, unperceptive Jess. Don't you see her hair carefully placed to hide the face? The downward direction of the gaze. The oversized baggy clothes, that tuck her away from society. [chuckle] It doesn't take a super sleuth like me to figure out Pam Isley doesn't want friends."
Jess disagrees "Nonsense! Everyone wants friends. Pam just hasn't met the right one..." much to the groups concern.
"Oh, no, Jess, please don't." Zee said knowing what Jess is going to do.
" ...yet." Jess finished determined to make Pam her friend.
Kara spoke up " Dude. Seriously, leave it alone. Pam Isley's a lost cause."
"There's no such thing as a lost cause." Jess said proudly before making her to the lonely girl.
But she wasn't the only one "You know she won't like you." Jess jumped before seeing Philip behind her.
"Philip. Don't scare me like that and also I know me and her will be great friends." Jess said before making her way as Philip followed he was curious about the plant.
Pam who wore a baggy green long jacket over a yellow turtle neck shirt with a leaf on front and grey pants and green sneakers. was sitting alone as she observed her lunch which is a sandwich, after throwing away a loaf of bread she gasp at seeing a lettuce leaf before somberly putting it aside before draping a tissue over it. As Pam was giving her prayer she smelled the ham after looking at in contempt before she ravaged it like a animal.
As she was ripping the ham like a savage " Hi!" Jess popped up scaring the girl as she shoved the ham into her mouth in surprise before swallowing. As Jess moved closer to the plant in interest "So, is this your plant?"
Pam moved Phil away from the nosy girl "This is Phil. He complains if I leave him home alone with the rhododendrons."
Jess perks up at that "Oh! How fascinating! I have a peace lily at home who wilts when I forget to water him."
Pam really want the girl gone "Do you mind? Phil and I would rather eat our lunch alone. Photosynthesis is most optimal in silence." trying really hard to tell her to go away.
Jess still as stubborn kept going "Oh! [chuckle] I know how that is so silency. I love silence."
Pam now has enough as she grabbed Phil "Come on, Phil. There's more sunlight out in the quad." as she try to distant herself from the weird girl she bumped into someone and dropping her plant "Phil!" she gasp but before the plant hit the ground someone caught Phil inches above the floor.
"Yes?" Philip said as he lifted the Plant and observing it trying to find out what species of plant it was but all he got was it was a small tree but what kind?
(Isley's vision)
As Pam watch the boy tenderly inspect Phil like he was looking to see if Phil got hurt "Hey Pammy this guy isn't so bad, better than that noisy person" She heard Phil say.
Pam instantly got up holding out her hands to the boy "Can you return Phil." even if Phil likes him doesn't mean she should. The boy looked at her before giving back her friend.
"Sorry it took awhile before you asked for your plant back." he said before handing Phil back to her "It was nice meeting you." the teen said before walking past her and for some reason she can't look away.
"Pam? aren't we going for the sun?" Pam snapped herself out before making her way to the quad before looking back 'Why does he feel so warm?'
(back to reality)
"See? Philip that went well." Jess said not seeing how uncomfortable she made Isley.
Philip looked at her for a brief moment before saying "I don't quite understand what you mean but I'll take your word for it." as he made his way back to the others who shook their heads as they witness Jess trying to too hard to be friendly but Philip paid it no mind.
Jess on the other hand seem too intent to be Pam Isley friend that she never noticed the concern face's of her friends as she made her way to insert herself into the wallflowers life whether she likes it or not.
(Science class)
Pam sigh as she drop some chemical in the flask that released some smoke. As it sizzle Pam's mind is on something else 'I can't get that boy out of my head. It's like Batman all over again.' as she was lost in thought she didn't see an unwelcoming pest till it was too late.
"Oh, hey! What are the odds we'd end up as lab partners, huh?" Jess appeared out of nowhere startling Pam from her thoughts before looking at the annoying girl in annoyance.
"I have an agreement with the teacher that I don't do lab partners." Pam glowered.
"Come on! It'll be such a blast!" Jess said oblivious on how unwanted she was.
Pam narrowed her eyes she drop more chemicals to cause the chemical to blowup in smoke causing Jess to cough and Pam to run out.
(Hallway)
Pam was making her way to her locker before seeing the boy along with another guy wearing a fedora "Shoutaro you should see how this flytrap is slowly digest this spider by releasing enzymes to-" "That's nice Philip but we should really hurry up or we're going to be late." The fedora wearing teen cut off his friend before they walk off with only Pam staring at him.
"Philip." Pam said under her breath before going to her locker, opening it shows her regular plants and a letter curious she open it to read " "Roses are red. Violets are blue. I would really like to be best friends with you." Ugh!" okay that was insulting Violets aren't even blue.
As she was thinking of ripping the offending paper to pieces someone who she wants to rip up more appeared "Hi, Pam!" Jess screamed scaring Pam who looked then glared at her.
"Violets are not blue! That is an unfounded stereotype!" She yelled before she ran off and ran by Philip and the other guy.
"What's wrong with her?" Philip said not seeing Shoutaro looked at his partner than back to where she ran from and finally sighing before walking off.
(Girls Toilet)
Pam ran out of the toilet even more annoyed especially between the boy who she can't stop thinking about and the annoying girl who wouldn't leave her alone as she made her way to her next class she bump into the very boy she wants to forget "Oh, sorry...I ..was... in a hurry." she manage to say before running off not hearing him.
Philip just watch the girl run away before hearing "Philip! Have you seen Pam she just ran off." Philip might not know social ques but he knows when someone just wants to be left alone so he just point in the other direction "Thanks." Philip just watch Jess ran the other way.
Philip just sighs "I'm starting to see why they are worried now." Philip said as he carried on his way.
(Track field)
Pam is pacing herself she is use to running did a lot of that back at Gotham but she was never chased by someone this annoying "persistent" yes but never this annoying "Hey! You wanna..." Jess ran up but Pam started to run faster but Jess kept pace "...come help with the community garden this weekend?".
Pam now screams in frustration to this obnoxious annoyance as she starts to run with all her might "Leave me alone!"
But Jess still kept going much to Pam's anger "It'll be fun! It's all organic!" only getting screams of anger.
All while the group just looked on "This has gone on long enough, right?" Kara asked clearly concern with her friend getting nods from the others.
"So how are we going to bait her into an intervention?" Shoutaro asked as the others pondered for a bit.
Philip looked at Pam running in anger as she was almost out of breath from Jess who kept running after her, he was broken out of his thoughts by Babs suggesting something about puppies.
(Empty classroom)
The door opened showing Jess holding a paper about adopting puppies "Hi, I'm here to help with the...orphaned puppies?" as she put down the paper only to see her friends in chairs with one left for her to sit.
"Jess, we need to talk." Zee said in concern on how Jess is getting too obsessive.
Jess looked confused as she looked to her friends "Where are the puppies?" she said not liking what is going on.
"The puppies were a clever ruse." Diana said causing Jess to walk stiffly before she sat in the empty chair "Kind Jessica, it may not be apparent to you, but, Pamela is not exhibiting signs of receptiveness to your amicable advances." Diana said as she held Jess's hand in comfort.
Jess now trying to play it off disagrees "What do you mean? We've been chatting all day. We're becoming quite close, actually."
Before Zee could go and grab her she was cut off by Shoutaro "Listen Jess we know your a great person but you can't force Pamela to be your friend, she just doesn't like you. Sorry." He said before scratching his head not really liking his own words even if it's true.
Jess didn't respond as she got up and walked out the door. There was an awkward silence "That went well." until Babs broke it. The others looked concern hoping this would help not only Pam but also Jess in the long run. "Wait, where's Philip?" Babs said just realizing Philip isn't around as the others turn to Shoutaro who only shrug.
(Before the intervention)
Pam was panting she ran more than she should but because of that girl she couldn't pace herself, just as she was about to growl in frustration she felt something cold on her cheeks causing Pam to squeak in surprise before looking at what touched her.
"You look like you're about to pass out." Philip said as he offered her a bottle of water it took a minute but she snatched it out of his hands before gulping down the refreshment. Philip sat besides her not noticing the girl tensing up a bit "You know she isn't that bad." He said getting her attention before she just looks down, figuring her silence meant for him to continue "She just saw you were alone and she hopes to be friends with you."
Pam bit her lower lips before relaxing "I don't want friends, they disappoint you and they stab you in the back." Pam said remembering her first experiment lead to disaster just because one of her "friends" were jealous of her knowledge and used her "They get in the way when you have important things to be done." Pam's tone starts to rise as she feel tears stinging her eyes "And worse of all they take all your effort and steal all your hard work and sells it as their own!" Pam doesn't know why but she is crying her heart out as this boy was comforting her and she hates how nice it felt to her as she starts to silently cry in frustration.
Philip rubbed her back as Pam is crying herself until she had enough but she still sat by him getting comforted "I'm sorry you have to go through that but not everyone will betray you at least I won't." Pam looks at him as he smiled at her getting her to blush and look away "Just give her one chance and if you feel like she isn't a friend I will talk to her." Pam looked down before she nods. Philip smiled as he stood up and walked away as Pam finally felt calm but she only promised one chance and if that Jess girl disappoints her she will do everything in her power to get away from Jess whether by going away or forcing her away.
(After School)
A lot was on Jess's mind after her friends talk to her, maybe she did came on a bit too strong. But Jess has other problems to make known "Please, please, just take one, please! An ancient tree is about to be destroyed. Knocked down for another LexBucks coffee house!" she tries to hand out fliers but no one seem to care and like with her and Pam it seem like it was never meant to happen. "Allow me." she sighed dejectedly before throwing her own fliers in the recycling bin before just collapsing and slumping in depression.
As she wallow in self pity she heard some rustling of paper before hearing "Is this true?" looking up in surprise to see Pam reading her flier in concern "It says you're going down there to try and save the tree."
After Jess's surprise has subside she looked down again "Yup. It probably doesn't matter but I am." after feeling low after her friends told her the truth.
Pam seeing the girl looks like she's giving up but she promised that boy to give her one chance so as she steels herself she asked "Can I come?"
Jess was again surprised but now is elated "Yes, yes! Oh, my gosh! Yes! I mean, cool. Yeah." she said in excitement almost grabbing her before holding back 'Right, not too much.' she mentally scold herself.
Pam ignored that as she looks Jess in the eyes in determination "So, what's the plan?"
Jess looked confused "The plan? "
(Tied to the tree)
Pam regrets ever giving her a chance as she deadpans while Jess starts to chant annoyingly "One, two, three! We love trees! One, two, three! We love trees! One, two, three! We love trees!" as Jess kept chanting Pam saw a worker hammer down a sign saying.
"Tomorrow?" Pam said in horror as Jess kept chanting beside her. Now she doesn't want to be near her but she also doesn't want to abandon the tree so she opted to shuffle herself on to the other side but still hearing the annoying chant she groan to herself 'why does life hate me?'
Jess kept chanting for the tree through out the whole day and still persist even when it's dark and Pam had enough "All right! All right! Stop!" finally some peace at least as much as she could get.
Jess slumped feeling like she annoyed Pam the whole day she has to apologize "I'm sorry, Pam. I know I got the day wrong but we're still going to-"
"Shh! Do you hear that?" Pam cut in after finally giving silence she can finally hear the trees story " I've been waiting all night, and now, he finally speaks."
"Um, who?" Jess said now confused.
"Him. He wants to tell his story." Pam answered as she looks up to the trees leaves flow along the wind.
Jess now really confused but still wanting to be supportive "Oh, uh, well, that's interesting."
Pam leaned against the tree with her eyes closed as she relay the tree's history "He came here, no more than a humble seed... Carried from across the land by a sparrow." she starts to smile as she continues "The soil welcomed him. He was only a sapling in those days. He never dreamed he'd grow as big as the others. But he did. He cared for his neighbors...Providing them homes and nourishment. Centuries passed...He grew as wise as he was magnificent, until one day, he became the king of the forest."
Jess sat back amazed by the story she was listening to "Wow! Pam, that was beautiful."
But as the wind blow something changed so did Pam's expression "And then, the monsters came. They drove off the animals. They murdered all the king's subjects. They ripped up the earth. Buried it under concrete. They destroyed every last remnant of his kingdom... Leaving him eternally... alone! All he wanted was to protect his forest. Now, he's the one who needs protection." Pam said as vines and roots starts to grow around her.
Jess looked out to the road before seeing the workers making their way to rip out the tree "Oh, no!" Jess steeled her nerves as she stood up with her chains "Hang on, Pam! This is the moment we've been waiting for!"
As Jess held the chain she felt the ground start to shake and she wasn't the only ones as the workers stop after feeling a small quake, they looked confuse before roots rip themselves from the streets knocking cars around Jess seeing this gasp "Pam, get out of here!" before she construct a large chain cutter pliers to cut the chains and run around the tree to see Pam is gone with a sigh she transformed.
As the roots was wrecking havoc on the street as well as the workers who were trying their hardest to get away as one worker was about to be squashed he was saved as Green Lantern sliced through the roots "Get out of hear." she yelled as the worker ran away. Before Green Lantern could catch her breath she was attacked by more roots which she slice and blast off before constructing a shield when she was pushed back.
As Green Lantern skidded to a halt she saw someone being gently lowered down by the vines, the person has pale green skin, luscious red hair and she's wearing a green plant like dress with matching gloves and boots. "Poison Ivy, what are you doing here?" Green Lantern asked shouldn't she be in Gotham?
Poison Ivy glares at Green Lantern "Reminding these people of their place in the world!" before looking behind her as she command the vines and roots to attack those who wish to destroy the tree.
Green Lantern watched as the vines and roots burst out knocking some workers in the air but Green Lantern saved them by creating a safety cushion to cushion their fall before hearing Ivy growl out "I don't know where you came from, but, stay out of this." seeing where the vines are heading Green Lantern construct a chainsaw to cut the vines before it could reach the workers.
Growling Ivy commanded the roots to grab some jackhammers before using them to attack some other workers but Green Lantern by creating a wall that stopped the jackhammers from hurting anyone else " I won't let you hurt them, Ivy." Green Lantern declared as long as she's here she will protect the people.
"We'll see about that!" Poison Ivy said as she grew more vines and roots to encircle everyone entangling screaming workers, construction tools and vehicles.
Green Lantern looked in alarm before she construct some shears and any gardening tools to cut down any vegetation but it was too much and she was losing breath.
"Oh, having trouble keeping up?" Poison Ivy taunts Green Lantern who was panting in exhaustion but still glared at Ivy who stroll up to a bulldozer which was lifted up by large amount of vines "Let's just finish this. Shall we?" Ivy said as she command the vines to throw the heavy machinery.
Green Lantern looked in horror as she saw where the bulldozer was heading for but with every effort she constructed a giant shovel as she jumped high before smacking the bulldozer back away from the worker.
Ivy watched in horror as the bulldozer flew over her eyes wide as she saw the bulldozer crashed onto the tree but it was the cry of pain only she could hear that actually hit her "NOOOOO!" Ivy cried in anguish as the tree she was suppose to protect died in front of her.
In Ivy's shock the roots and vines that trapped them recedes back into the ground seeing this Green Lantern direct her attention to the closest worker "Quick! Run!" the worker nodded before grabbing his coworkers to get away. Once they left Green Lantern marched her way to Ivy who was slump down "You could have KILLED those people!" she yelled in anger.
But it didn't measure to Ivy who glared at Green Lantern "You killed this TREE!" she pointed to the dead tree split in half as tears ran down Ivy's cheeks.
Green Lantern gasp as she looked to the tree now noticing what she might've done "I- I didn't mean to." she said as she felt guilty at what happened.
But Ivy doesn't care as she glares at the super heroine in anger "You're unworthy of the color of life, Green Lantern, and one of these days, you will pay." she said before disappearing completely into the earth as her last warning echoed into Green Lanterns head.
Green Lantern looked to the hole that is slowly collapsing on itself until it's nothing but a mound of dirt before looking up to the tree that lay dead "Lo siento..." Green Lantern whispered before flying away.
(The later that morning)
As the construction workers cleared the street of the falling tree leaving only the stump where two girls stood mourning the dead tree "Three hundred years he reigned." Pam said sadly before looking at the truck that just drove off "And they just didn't care. People are a lost cause."
Jess looked ashamed but she saw something that gave her some hope as Pam was going to walk away Jess stopped her and before Pam could really hurt her she saw one ray of hope an acorn a new tree waiting to grow.
(Forest)
After digging a hole both girls planted the acorn before looking to each other " There's no such thing as a lost cause." Jess said smiling at Pam who happily return it before both walked back home they needed the rest "Pammy, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Jess said as she hugs Pam.
Pam might consider the gi-Jess a friend but "Don't push it." that doesn't mean she will be friendly to her as she pushed Jess away but smiling all the same.
As the two girls walked off they didn't see the small sprout growing from where they planted the acorn waiting to grow.