Shall I stay?

Would it be a sin?

If I can't help falling in love with you...

IVY

The girl had shown such promise. That was what had her all irritated and prickly in the months that followed. There wasn't even a need for her to be searching for an answer or an... excuse for her own internal behaviours, as there was nothing to be upset about. It had always been this way. Always. Ivy was alone and then she was betrayed and then she was alone again with nothing but her beloved plants for company - this repeated in a toxic cycle again and again, and Ivy was sure it would for as long as she was doomed to live. With a discontented sigh, yet an elegant one at that, she allowed a hand to drift over to pet at the nearest plant as it keened for her attention. Yes, yes. It was always like this. It had always been like this. There was no need for any of it to change-

Ivy screamed and flipped back off of her makeshift plant-seat in a move Harley had taught her, just as a brick came flying through the window with a horrific crashing and clanging that was the sound of glass breaking. It cut right through her tranquility like a razor. Ivy gritted her teeth, fists balled up before her. This had better not be that damn clown-

It wasn't. A teeny little note was attached to the brick with some sort of gnarly looking rope that Ivy hesitated to touch.

'Ives - to put it plain and wivout beatin around the bush ere - we've gotcha little daisy and boy oh boy is she lookin pissed n ready to burn this city to tha ground! It would havta get behind YOU first, tho! Petunia ere hates YOU more than anythin. The point ere is that we've got ya girlfriend and if you wanna get er back you better pay up! $5,000,000 is the minimum."

Cobblepot didn't even bother to sign it. He knew that she'd know who it was without having to think too hard about it. Who else wrote like that in a disgusting scratchy scrawl? And the cutesy little plant nicknames?! That was her thing. Nobody else could or should pull that off. Especially when it came to things that belonged to her. Ivy sighed - it was often the case that whenever she would lose her temper with Joker, he'd make a little niggling comment about the similarities between them. Ivy denied and disregarded them each and every time, of course. The problem was that the jester was alarmingly good at reading faces and even with all her cold hearted mastery of appearing heartless - it was clear that he'd seen it bothered her whenever he said it - and so he mentioned it as regularly as he could. That being the case if he remembered too, though. Everyone knew his mind was a dark, foggy place. Harley had told Ivy once that Joker often described it as a maze - one that he ruled over. It seemed as a good an image as any. Ivy rather enjoyed picturing him dressed up as The Queen of Hearts. Green and red were two colours only The Joker and Ivy herself ever seemed to be able to pull off. It was the one thing she admired about the man.

Anyway...

She supposed she'd better enlist some help in the form of mindless, smitten goons. It was time for Ivy to go get her girl back.

NOVA

Nova's room was... opulent to say the least. It appeared Penguin was doing his best to either impress her or appease her. She'd already agreed to work for him, so what more could he want?

Nova shuddered at the thoughts that came to her without her permission. Nope. Not going there.

Penguin was a man who loved power and money and valued both more than human life. He ate fish and did odd things like live in abandoned museums, so there was no reason for her to suspect that he could want more from her than just her power. Yes, right. That's right. So lets just get the room decorated and focus on that, and go to work whenever we're needed.

Shut up.

What, you prefer it when I'm sinister?

Shut. Up.

Bite me.

SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP.

With an aggressive shake of her head, Nova wandered over to the nearest wall and pressed her palm against it. Now was the harder part. She was drained. She needed sunlight and sustenance, and she needed more training. But that wasn't an option because that meant going back to Ivy - and so Nova would have to teach herself. Slowly, like a reluctant snake, the first vine stretched out across the wall like an extension of her own arm, hugging the plain wallpaper and staying there once she removed herself. Nova did this again and again until she could extend multiple vines at a time - and eventually, the room was covered with plants. Just like... Ivy's house...

Once again the world did that thing were it trembled and then outright shook at the edges, like a stereotypical gaming sequence from the perspective of a crazy person. The spirally little edges were there in her sight, too, but it was likely that that was due to dehydration, or something similar - whatever her equivalent of that was. A flash and everything heightened and spun for her, causing her to be so unsteady on her feet that she almost met the floor with a harsh landing. If it hadn't been for the giant stem of a plant sprouting from the ground to wrap around her and support her where she stood, albeit slumped, she would definitely have fallen.

Even when she found she could stand up and support herself, everything was still spinning and there was nothing to stop the dizziness. Even with all that going on, though, Nova could somehow continue on and function - she could move forward and she could blink and walk in a straight line and she could make sense of what things were. Which was alarming. Which didn't bode well for her mental state. Which-

Penguin walked into the room as she was smacking at her head to try and make it work properly,

"Bloody 'ell, petal - don't damage the merchandise!" Penguin crowed, cackling at his own joke. Nova could manage nothing more than an awkward grimace.

"The months at Arkham are taking their toll."

"They always do. Now, now, sweet'eart - we've got some business to attend to, and it's not-"

Penguin was interrupted in a very timely fashion by the loud radio static that came from the walkie-talkie tucked in his blazer pocket - just screaming for his attention. He pushed at the little dial on the walkie with his podgy, greasy finger until he managed to switch it to the mode that allowed transmissions to come through.

"Would you like the white wine with the fish, sir?" Joker yelled through the walkie like he'd been waiting to deliver this particular joke for months. It was very likely that he probably had, aswell. While Penguin was far from impressed by this frankly genius slice of wit, Nova mashed her lips together hard enough to prevent the laughter she was all too tempted to let loose. It would not be a good idea to mock her new boss the very first day on the job, now, would it? Not when she was still not at all clued in on how powerful he really was. Oswald Cobblepot was notoriously a very rich man, but he was also a very sneaky criminal - much like Al Capone. Things were done in his name but that was always as far as it would go - he'd obviously be at the helm of it all but none of it could be traced back to him. Nova trusted the man about as far as she could throw-

Uh, actually... no. That would no longer be accurate. She was freakishly strong now and could probably throw Cobblepot right out of Gotham. In essence, the way her direction of thought was going was that she just didn't trust the sleazy little crime bird-lord, and that was that. Still, she trusted him more than she trusted Ivy - and that was reason enough to stay.

Penguin slid his fat finger over to hold down the button to let him speak and be heard on the other end,

"Whaddya want, clown?"

"I've stopped by to pay a visit to a dear old friend..."

"Listen, mate, you and I aren't-"

"No, no, no, Ozzy! Not you. Don't get ahead of yourself. I refer to the quaint little leaf you plucked right off the Arkham tree before anyone else had the chance to snatch her away for themselves." Joker snarled and growled words out in all the right places to make it just the right amount of threatening. The level of which would be enough to get to Penguin. It worked, too. Cobblepot shifted about a little uneasily, playing with the collar of his dress shirt with his free hand - the floorboards creaking where he shifted his weight.

"How do you know-"

"At this point, do you really need to ask?"

"Does everyone work for you, mate?"

"I'd say about 70% of Gotham, give or take some that are more recently deceased..."

"Right, well, I dunno what you want-"

"I already told you, Cobblepot," Joker's tone had dropped a few levels now, and had become quite undeniably dangerous - each syllable taking on a slight growl, "and you know how I don't like to be repeating myself."

"Wo'ever, Jokah. Take your freakish clown act and get off my property!"

Joker said something indistinct about manners (this part didn't come across clearly to Nova but it sounded something like...)

"You know, one time I came over for tea and Ozzypot was sat there devouring an entire fish right in front of me! He didn't even chew! He just swallowed the poor bastards one at a time, bones and all!"

"Don't you come into my home and start with ya... ya throwin' insults around-"

"This whole living in a museum thing is the perfect setup for the most amazing self deprecating joke about your age..." Joker interrupted, completely disregarding the other man's indignance. They'd both gone way off topic, and Joker seemed to realise that because he cut Penguin off for a second time, and made his demand, "Just let us upstairs, would you? I'd hate to have to ask my boys here to break out the laughing gas... murder makes for poor PR, you know?"

"Fine. Fine, Jokah!" Penguin barked, two fingers pinching at the end of his beaky nose. There was a triumphant, quirky roar of a laugh on the other end and then abrupt radio silence.

There wasn't a long wait, either. The sounds of disgruntled goons got closer and closer until it was right outside as Joker (and evidently Harley, too) navigated their way through to where she was. They could be heard asking for directions on the way, and every now and again there would be this telltale 'bok' noise that could only be Harley's beloved baseball bat.

During this time, Penguin remembered she was also in the room and held a hand over the walkie like it was a phone - trying to keep them muted from whoever might be on the other end. Boy, did he have it wrong.

"Jokah's stopping by for a bleedin' playdate," he explained grimly. Nova wondered if he was aware of how literal that statement could end up being. When it came to The Joker; one simply never knew. During her months and months serving her sentence at Arkham Asylum, Nova somehow got to be on pretty good terms with both The King and Queen of Gotham. Every now and again for a few weeks every month or so, Harley and/or The Joker would be admitted to the hellhole, and were always assigned to the cells across from her own - and she didn't mean in a directly opposite sense, either - they were in the ones positioned diagonally across the way. Nova's cell had been a custom, expensive one which catered for whatever it is... she was...

So every time they came to stay, and it was never more than a fortnight each time for either of them, Nova got to know them each a little better. It was much easier to get along with Harley and get on her good side. All Nova really had to commit to was casual talk about materialistic things and (the more common subject of) reassuring her that The Joker did love her and that he was on his way to come and rescue her - which was always made easier by the fact that he came to retrieve his Queen every time, without fail. It helped, she also found, to view Harley as the worryingly intelligent, dangerous and diabolical woman individual that she was - even without The Joker. With Harley being a psychology major, it came across as apparent in the way Nova would speak to her and the questions she would ask her - and Harley didn't desire much more than the recognition she felt she deserved. And so, with repeated occasions of reassurance and idle chatter, twinned with endless hours spent together day and night - it wasn't long before Harley was calling her a 'pal' and even a 'bestie'.

The Joker, however, was a completely different matter. He was absolutely terrifying to be in such close proximity of for 23 hours a day, during which the only breaks would be when he was let out for exercise. Nova wasn't allowed the same right on the basis that they knew if she wanted to escape while out of her cage, she could do so, and with ease, too. The loophole with the whole human rights thing was that her DNA was no longer technically that of a human being's.

Flawed, right?

Joker switched about like a light switch with his moods. To start off with, there was his usual front - jovial and quirky and charming. He'd crack puns and chatter incessantly about meaningless garbage. The key with that side of him was to simply listen and smile and/or laugh at all his jokes. The man loved nothing more than a keen and willing audience, and Nova supplied that to an absolute tee. The other moods that took over on occasion were... less manageable. Sometimes she'd wake up and he'd be in a foul mood from the get go - he wouldn't even say hello in the morning (manners meant a lot to him - even in jail) and that would be her first clue in on what the day would hold. From there he'd start with leering at passing staff members, shouting their deepest darkest secrets at them. He did this eight times in total that she saw while they were both there. Five out of eight members were reduced to the point of resolving to hand in their notice of resignation the very next day. None of this ever followed the start off in the same order, but he'd do it all at one point or another. Joker would howl and riot endlessly in his own cell, screaming at the orderlies to let him out and tearing his cell apart to the point where the guards would have to rush in and secure him in a strait jacket. This never helped. It only ever caused him to go from a low simmering, insane fury to a full blown, diabolical outrage. Nobody fared well when he reached the point of full crazy. It was always hard to sleep or focus on anything else because he would throw night long tantrums, kicking and hollering and cackling in his cell as he rocked back and forth and rocketed off the walls. The eeriest part was that no matter what, Nova would wake up the next day to find him sitting cross legged right up against the transparent barrier to his cell, a charismatic grin on his face and a "good morning, watermelon!" ready to greet her with. He'd use various different fruits, vegetables and plants interchangeably, too. It was real thoughtful. And through all of this madness, Nova could practically feel her own sanity slipping away from her - just from being in his presence. He certainly did her no favours in that respect.

She still didn't know how it happened, exactly, but at some point the clown couple had started to react to the sight of her with excitable cheers of friendship and delight. Nova supposed they were used to people either taking a direct stance against them or going the kiss ass route - they weren't at all used to people treating them as if they were perfectly acceptable and normal. In some ways, it felt the three of them were a part of their own version of society. All villains in Gotham were. The criminals and the murderers and the ill of heart and mind saw things that the masses simply didn't. Gotham was a very dark place - a foundation which was only worsened by the politics that ruled the city and society there. As Joker had once spent three consecutive days preaching to her; society in Gotham and in general was a poorly shepherded scam of a farce. They were just the ones to see it to be so utterly exploitable.

They'd get away with it too, if it weren't for that meddling Bat!

A Scooby Doo one liner? Really? You wanna go that route?

Just you watch... it shall be on our grave.

... My grave.

Your head is a cavernous place, sweetheart. I could bounce around in it for days and never explore all of it. Don't be so selfish with your space. There are more of us to come.

Nova shuddered. The only thing worse than having arrogant voices in your head was to actually take the step towards actively answering and interacting with said voices.

You need to get over your denial, already. You're so far gone that your new friend cut the face off of a staff member you were complaining about when he was on his way to freedom, and you were touched by the sentiment!

Stop it.

You don't remember a thing like that? Joker cut the guy's face clean off and pinned it to the notice board in the staff room. He left you a little note, too, remember?

I don't want to remember. Just stop. I don't want to hear-

'What's wrinkly and smelly, detached from it's head and notoriously bad at being kind to plant-people? BARRY'S FACE!'

Who are you even meant to be? Who do you think you are?

I wouldn't embody me, if I were you. It's not going to add to the 'no' section of the 'am I insane?' venn diagram.

Leave me alone.

Luckily, Harley's shrill tone of stubborn petulance cut across and gladly intercepted her inner argument,

"Listen, beakface, we ain't leavin'. We're here to see our friend and we ain't goin' until I've at least given her this cute little t-shirt I found for her from the mall over by-"

"Please tell me it's not orange. Anything but orange." Nova spoke up for the first time since Penguin had walked in on her trying to bash her own head in. Her interruption diffused the growing tension very efficiently, and Harley even danced over to hold the shirt up against her torso to examine.

"Ah, see, it's perfect. I knew that would be the size. I said so, didn't I, puddin'?"

"Willing to testify, dollface," Joker growled out his reply - tone contradicting the crowd pleasing grin on his face.

BATMAN

"They just stormed in and took her, sir."

"There's no need to call me sir."

"Right."

"Why wasn't Arkham equipped to deal with something like this?"

"Well, see, uh... Batman... sir - we were expecting The Joker or Poison Ivy to attempt the break out - not Penguin."

"What does that mean? Why does that mean you weren't capable of taking down Penguin and his goons?"

"The guards were all equipped with the armour that keeps Ivy's nasty toxic gas and Joker's laughing gas out, Batman. We prepared ourselves for Ivy or Joker - so when Penguin came marching up to the gates with his men and attacked with only guns and knives and..." The guard made a gesture to indicate the list went on and on, "anyway, the point is we were too bulked up to be able to fight effectively, and we were soon overwhelmed because of it."

"You're telling me you were too equipped." It wasn't a question. It was a statement, if anything.

The lowly guard nodded vehemently, his adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. The look on Batman's face was enough to make anyone nervous. Eventually, slowly, Batman looked back to the guard from where he'd been staring fixatedly at the nearest wall. He shook the guard's hand and thanked him for the assistance and then he left.

IVY

Ivy trailed up to the gates of Arkham Asylum, drifting along more than walking. She wasn't here. Ivy knew she wasn't here - but that didn't stop her compulsive need to check. It wasn't unheard of for a villain to lie to another, now, was it? But alas, just as Penguin had so coherently written; 'Ives - to put it plain and wivout beatin around the bush ere - we've gotcha little daisy'.

Things didn't often stray from the path she'd intended for them, but whenever they did it was always down to Batman or The Joker. Why was man so determined to be such a plague on Gotham?

She didn't understand how people didn't understand a claim - a possession - an ownership. She'd made it clear as day that Nova was her property and her little sidekick. But of course, everyone else had gotten greedy at the prospect of a second, more obedient Ivy. They'd manipulate and wreck and ruin her little rose. She knew it. She could see it happening, already. With a flourish of exquisite red hair, Ivy turned on her heel and allowed her newly acquired squad of goons to drive her over to Penguin's... museum. Goddess, she hated this place and all it's vile exhibits. Head held high, stride whimsical and determined, Ivy prised the front doors (as well as the men guarding them) apart with huge, vengeful vines that twisted like anacondas and shot forward with an angry purpose.

There was nobody around, it seemed.

Hmm, perhaps she should have knocked.

Ivy's senses, as heightened and unnaturally keen as they were, picked up very easily on the peals of disturbed laughter sounding from somewhere upstairs. She grimaced in a way which somehow still managed to be beautiful. Ivy would know that laughter anywhere. In fact, she could be locked in a room filled to the brim with psychos and she'd still be able to pick his laugh out from the others. That damn mess of a court jester.

Tracking down the location of the meat bags was easy - their warmth was palpable even through the walls. There was a colder being in there with them - something that was barely even human. Ivy grinned, curling her delicate fingers around the handle of the door. She paused, listening.

"... -Barry's face! Did you see it?"

"I got a guard to tell me all about it in great detail."

More delighted clown laughter. Ugh.

Ivy's patience ran out very quickly and so she pushed the door open and strolled into the room, gaze immediately locked very heatedly on Nova - who in turn took a few staggering steps backwards and looked absolutely stricken. Ivy cocked her head curiously. So, the girl wasn't rebellious - she was merely afraid?

... Interesting.

"Thank you all so very much for taking care of my darling progeny."

"I don't remember you being invited to the tea party," Joker spoke with a voice that was a perfect hybrid between gravel and silk.

"I don't remember giving anyone the permission to take her."

"You don't own me," a dark voice came from the corner of the room. Nova was shaking with the rage she held inside her, now. She had her jaw set like a boxer's, prepared to either deliver the next blow or receive it.

"It's in your genetics now. There's no escaping it, I'm afraid, dew drop."

"Wither up and die."

There was an odd hush about the room. Even Joker and Harley didn't feel they could interrupt it. Ivy's eyes narrowed and she took a few steps towards the lesser version of herself.

"I've been so patient with you. So very patient." Ivy supplied as a warning - implications of what could happen when her patience ran out hung heavy in the air. Imitating Ivy herself, Nova lifted her chin and held her head high - she looked fierce and defiant and... glorious. Ivy felt her breath get caught up in her throat,

"Kill me, then. I would rather die a thousand times over than be like you or with you."

Ivy hummed tragically, lips pursed as she trailed towards her fixation. A delicate, green hand danced over to wrap it's fingers around Nova's chin, and she tugged the girl towards her. Nova shook like a leaf as she held her, toxic green eyes that matched her own flitting over her face frantically,

"Nova, oh, Nova... if only you knew what was in store for you. You don't realise it now but you're half in love with me already. Don't try to fight it..." she brought a second hand up to carress at Nova's soft, fern green cheek, "just give in to me as you were always meant to, and maybe your punishment won't even be that severe... it's expected, after all, for younglings to go through a rebellious phase..."

Nova was caught up in it for a bit, eyes dancing and alight with admiration, lips parted in awe - all features softened like that of an adoring lover. At the word punishment, however, things changed. The girl woke from her Ivy filled daze, and her fond eyes became shrewd and furious once more, her soft lips curled downwards in extreme displeasure, and she frowned. Ivy sighed melodically and released Nova's chin - sliding her hand down now to grip tightly at the girl's throat,

"Insolence." She hissed.

But Nova was not as weak as she expected or remembered. Her progeny snarled and slapped her harshly across the face - so hard in fact, that Ivy released her, stumbling backwards - all elegance gone from her posture. There wasn't even time to recover, as Nova sent her flying with an enraged scream and a strong vine. Two could play at that game. Ivy's expression was calm and cool and collected - far from that of her inner turmoils - and she retorted with her own attack. Out of the corner of her eye, Ivy could see Penguin, Harley and Joker watching the exchange like an enchanted audience to a particularly violent pantomime. Regardless of anything else, Ivy was impressed with the amount of power her progeny had gathered for herself. It was clear that she'd spent her time apart from her maker training and growing.

A common mistake the occupants of Gotham City made was to underestimate Poison Ivy. Actually, theyalways thought her to be weaker than she was, because she made sure to never display the extent of her true strength. This was beneficial to her in more ways than one could imagine. It made the aftermath of everything so easy to deal with. Unfortunately, now would have to be an occasion where her flawless composure slipped, as the fury Nova was attacking her with threatened to rival even her stronger rebuttals. With a final, sweeping gesture, Ivy brought a plant up from the ground to swallow Nova, keeping her trapped inside it until Ivy was ready to release her.

Ivy swiveled to address their little audience,

"The girl is mine, understand? Any more leeching of my property will unleash the consequences."

And with that, Ivy sent Nova off in her flower prison ahead of her to the home she'd intended for them both from the start. Joker watched them go with a nasty, side splitting grin.

If Ivy had paid attention to it, she would have known to be cautious.

Author's Note: I know it's been a while since the last update, but honestly I've had the absolute WORST luck with my writing as of late. I've had multiple chapters to write up for multiple fanfictions and (this has happened at least three times for both fanfictions) I've been in the process of typing up the chapters, and I'll get into it and forget to copy and paste everything, and suddenly, for no apparent reason, and with no warning, my laptop will decide to shut down! Again and again I've lost everything I've written and now, FINALLY, I've managed to type it up successfully. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'm sorry that it's been a long time coming. OH, and this won't be the last we see of Penguin. To any who thought his lack of reaction to Ivy coming in to steal back Nova was odd - it will be explained in the next chapter, so don't worry. Thank you all for the kind reviews and everything. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Gives my self esteem that little, much needed boost, you know?

Like a river flows,

Surely to the sea,

Darling so it goes,

Some things were meant to be...

Take my hand,

Take my whole life too,

'Cause I can't help falling in love with you...