The two former friends fought fiercely, Ivy desperate to preserve her own life and Harley eager to end it, with the gun as the prize. They twisted and turned as they fell back on the couch with Harley on top, and rolled and wrestled for the weapon. Ivy finally managed to wrench it free from Harley's hand and send it flying, only to take a punch right on the chin that sent her sprawling back on the couch.

Ivy looked up, dazed by the blow. She could just manage to make out Harley's face, and she shrunk back from the sight. Harley's normally pretty, bubbly countenance had warped into a mask of pure anger and sheer hatred, and Ivy could see no trace of the young woman she had befriended so long ago. It was as if Ivy hadn't been the only one who hadn't been real the last few years of their relationship, and she wondered for an instant if somehow something out of hell itself had replaced the real Harley Quinn.

Her hesitancy cost her as Harley fastened her hands about Ivy's neck and began squeezing, and the room began to spin about the redhead. She seized Harley's wrists and tried to pry those hands off of her throat, but Harley was just too strong and too determined, her eyes blazing and her teeth clenched together so hard they looked as though they would crack apart. Ivy gasped as Harley's thumbs bit into her windpipe, and she wondered why she had come all this way to Gotham just for this, as Harley started to bang the back of Ivy's head up and down on the couch.

"Harley, please," Ivy managed to blurt out before she began coughing and gagging in her opponent's grasp. "I ... I can't breathe ..."

"That's cause I'm choking ya, Pammie!" snarled Harley, face still red with rage.

Ivy gagged again as Harley bore down harder with her bare hands, strangling her former friend, until suddenly Harley found herself crying out in agony. Ivy had reached up desperately with her left hand and grabbed a hold of Harley's pigtail on the right side of her head before pulling it like mad, trying to pull Harley off of her.

"Owww!" cried Harley, feeling as though the whole tail was going to rip off in Ivy's hand. "Ow! Ow! Leggo, you witch!"

Preoccupied with her own pain, Harley softened her stranglehold just long enough for Ivy to pull Harley down by said ponytail and set her up for a right cross, Ivy's knuckles crashing hard off Harley's left cheek. The blow staggered the blonde, just long enough for Ivy to grab hold of Harley's hands and wrench them free from her neck before the redhead placed a foot in Harley's gut and thrust her away across the living room.

Ivy turned to tried to run for the door, but she slipped in her panic and Harley recovered quickly enough to tackle her from behind, sending the stool and some other furniture tumbling about. The two women hit the carpet hard, and Ivy felt herself being rolled onto her back as Harley's hands grabbed at her body and face. Ivy felt more like she was fighting a wild animal, and tried to cover up her face, but Harley was clawing wildly now, and Ivy could feel Harley's nails slashing into her skin and cutting up her face. Ivy fought back as well, raking away with her own nails and opening up cuts and slashes on Harley's skin. It had been some time since Ivy had battled physically, but she knew her life was on the line here, and if Harley wasn't holding back, then she couldn't afford to, either.

The two wildcats ripped and tore at one at one another, shredding clothing and skin in the process, pulling and twisting hair, landing punches and slaps left and right as neither woman dared to give in, though both felt themselves tiring with exertion. Ivy reached out around her, fumbling for a weapon, and came upon the potted plant. She grabbed it, swung her arm upwards, and shattered the pot against Harley's head, the blow stunning the blonde long enough for Ivy to force her foe off of her and regain her own feet.

Dancing behind the couch, Ivy quickly stripped off her heels for better balance, just as Harley shakily made it back to own feet. Her face still looked angry, softened somewhat by her pain, though she rubbed her head as she glared at Ivy, mentally adding one more score to her blacklist against her old buddy.

"Let's talk about this, Harley," asked Ivy, extending one hand as if to ward off her old accomplice and also calm her down. "I can explain everything, if you just give me a chance."

Harley stumbled towards Ivy, catching herself on the couch just as she looked down to see a faint trace of blood staining her palm where she had massaged her scalp. She looked back at Ivy hatefully.

"I don't care what you want to say, Pammie," she spat. "You ruined my wedding, and there's no way you can make up for that! You may not be green anymore, but it was still you, Red!"

"Harley," started Ivy, and she paused to think of what she would say next. "Harley, you have to believe me when I say that wasn't me!"

"Like hell it wasn't, you liar!" She then produced the gun, which she had retrieved from the floor, and pointed it at Ivy again. She managed to pull back the hammer, despite her pain and dizziness, and did her best to keep her aim straight although she still shook a little. Ivy was almost ten feet away, but even she couldn't dodge a bullet, and she also knew Harley was a pretty good shot. She also knew her next words could be her last if she didn't break through and reach her friend-turned-foe.

"I want the truth, Pammie - now!" snapped Harley. "How I can believe that it wasn't you?"

Ivy held up her hands, knowing she would either live or die in the following few moments.

"Because Harley - and this is the truth - until today I hadn't seen in you in almost two years. The Poison Ivy who wrecked your wedding was an independent plant creation that I made myself, to take my place, to bother Batman, and to especially watch over you in my absence, all without any control from me. That's the truth, Harley, the honest-to-god truth."

She's lying, Harley thought to herself. She's just trying to save her own skin. I should just blow her away and be done with this, Harley felt, and she took aim again; but now that the moment was finally here, it wasn't as easy as she thought. Tears now blurred her vision as Ivy's words sank in and Harley recalled all the fun she and Ivy had shared, how they had become a celebrity crime couple in defying the Batman time and again, and especially how they had always been there for each other in the tough times, of which there were a lot. She started to shake, and as Ivy's form distorted in front of her, Harley's intellect warred with her emotions, and she knew in her heart she couldn't go through with this.

"I came back because I felt guilty, Harley, and I wanted you to know that nothing was more important to me than telling you the truth," admitted Ivy. "Please, Harls, you really have been my best friend, like the sister I never had. Please don't let it end like this. Please just trust me.

"Please."

That last word did it, Harley thought - and here I'm supposed to be the one with all the fancy psychology degrees. Harley looked at Ivy, eyes bulging and jaw clenched, trigger finger still a little shaky. Her mind was cloudy, her chest pounding and her face slick with tears. She swayed a little bit, trying to maintain both her balance and her consciousness, and then Harley Quinn fell down back against the couch, stunned in more ways than one.