There is no shortcut to a dream

But I am not afraid

I'll take it all the way...

Batman's grip was almost bruising, it was so vice-like. Had he been holding the wrist of Florence Caldwell - the idiot who got her ass hauled off to Arkham Asylum by headbutting a cop - and not Nova, with her gifts of strength and health and resilience, Batman would no doubt have crushed every bone in her arm without meaning to. Both of their arms were shaking, figures tensed and at odds. They were on either side of the line, and there was no crossing over it for either of them. For him, her side of the line went against everything he believed in, stood for, and fought against. For Nova, going back to his side of the line was impossible. Even if she wanted to, it was obvious that she couldn't go back. Not with the way she looked now - not with who she was now. Going back to that meant once again becoming complacent and inactive in a world that outright and unashamedly abused the nature around them. She couldn't. She wouldn't.

I owe you. I don't want to fight you.

I can't say that. It's weak, and he won't respect it.

Your beloved Goddess can't defeat him, and you certainly can't. Placation is your only option.

Ivy would respect my strength. She will respect my strength. I have to show her I have will - that I'm worth something. Shut up, and let me concentrate.

He'll break your arm first.

Shut up.

Your precious Poison Ivy will be forced to show up in order to preserve the species you both make up... and she will be pummelled into a pulp in the process.

Silence. Enough.

You know it's accurate. You've seen enough of the way the fights between Batman and the others go down. He always wins.

I don't intend to win.

Interesting.

"Nova," he grumbled, the unnatural distortion on his voice that came through the filter in his suit reminded her of rolling, rumbling thunder. "Don't make me come after you."

"I'm surprised you're letting me go at all. I'm a murderer, now. Not your charity project."

"It's just as easy to arrest you later as it is to arrest you now. The only different is time."

That pissed her off. Nova grit her teeth and began, oh so slowly, to push back against his hold on her. It was rebellious - symbolic - just like his sudden switch to calling her by her 'villain persona' rather than her birth name. It signified a great shift. This was, perhaps, the end of any shared values between them. "I promise you it will not be so easy to capture us. Our cause is too great."

The world shifted - spun on it's axis - flipped over and blurred out of focus. A moment of lens flare, and somehow, she was standing apart from Batman. He held his arm by his side, jaw clenched and composure shaken. He looked almost... aghast, or horrified. Nova glanced down to her hands. They were shaking. Uncontrollably.

"Who did you mean?" Her opposition demanded, bitterly.

She was still staring at her hands, turning them over as she examined them for some remnant of memories forgotten. "Myself and Ivy." She murmured. It seemed, for a moment, as though Batman was about to respond, somehow. As if he'd found - in that moment - the words he had been searching for. But a flower bloomed.

Initially, she was delighted. It was a precious, beautiful thing, this flower. Shimmering uniquely in the dull light of the building, it beckoned to her - as delighted by her presence as she was by it's own. Another child to care for and protect. It was one of those rare moments in which added responsibility was a blessing. Immediately, Nova loved it - unequivocally, she adored it. Just as she was approaching it, though, cooing at the newborn - it throbbed, and the petals parted. A pale, toxic cloud of gas spurted from within, and even considering the distance she was yet to cover between herself and her child; it was obvious to her that it was deadly. Not for her, no. But for the others...

Acting fast, Nova ran, making a direct beeline for the prone figure of Batman. He had dived in a desperate attempt to shield the law enforcement officers in the building, having realised almost as immediately as she had, what the plant's purpose was. As she neared him, she encouraged a large, beauteous plant to grow from the soil beneath the concrete. It penetrated it's way through the floor with little struggle, and with great effort on her own part, Nova directed it to sweep across the remaining floor, human remains, toxic sludge, people and Bats and all. She was beginning to feel faint, and disgusting and weak, but she had no choice in continuing her attempt to save these people. Feeble and shaky, Nova barely managed to drag each and every person from the death trap. It was long and laborious, but when she eventually reached down to take a hold of Batman, she grasped nothing. He was stood beside and slightly away from her - a severe look of contemplation colouring his features. It was the first obvious emotion she had witnessed him display other than anger and pity. The line between them was no longer so definitive. Transparency shone through it, a product of their actions. They both regained their breath, and then - having ensured the cops were far away enough from the building Nova was working on sealing off, Batman grappled away. Before he shot off, he sent her a short, near silent thank you.

Slowly but surely, Nova made her way home. As she traversed the unusually foggy, tinged green streets of Gotham, it dawned on her that there was only one person who could possibly be responsible for this. It made sense, now, that Ivy had been gone before she awoke that morning. This level of growth and widespread devastation would have taken a very long time to set up. Only Ivy had the sincere hatred and motive for vengeance to concoct and enact something like this.

She was kind of hurt not to be included in such a plan.

Such twisted thinking after such a heroic act of mercy.

Every now and then she would hear a zip and would spot Batman as he got people to safety as swiftly as possible. Just as incomplete as her insanity, Nova's sadness split itself into two. The majority, unfortunately, was sorrowful because she had been left out. Because her beautiful Ivy had elected not to include her - had not thought her competent or powerful or important enough to take part in the proceedings. The much, much smaller part was mourning the unnecessary loss of innocent life - lives like the ones she had just saved. People just doing their jobs, surviving and doing their best to get by. She still possessed just enough humanity to grieve what her mistress had done. The reputation it would give them - give nature - the consequences as well as the death statistics she knew she would find impossible to ignore.

Just as she could sense every plant, every inch of wildlife and nature in this corrupt city, Nova could feel the pull of her creator, above all. She knew exactly where she was - she was just deciding on whether she wished to seek her out, or not. Nova was divided, and more than a little crazy, but she was far from stupid. She was aware that sooner or later it would be deemed mandatory for her to participate in this genocide. Ivy was not likely to allow the being of her creation and subsequent enslavement to spend this time watering plants and singing to butterflies. The time would come when she would receive her summons.

But did she want to go down the path of going to her now, or waiting until she was forced to comply?

It would be a defining decision, she knew.

As she thought, Nova surrounded herself in flowers. It was a cocoon of sorts - a safe space to think. But once again, just as before, when she killed her Jared... the nature of humanity forced her down the darker route. It could not be said, of course, that she didn't want to reap destruction on the people of Earth. A significant part of her did want to. Punishment for every crime committed against the innocent plant life and natural glory that share inheritance of the same planet. But... wanting to do something was absolutely not the same thing as having no choice in acting on it.

These humans, though...

Fire was licking at her safe little world. Everything was wilting and turning to ashes around her.

"Fuck, I knew it! That Poison Ivy bitch is over here!" A goon was towering over her. Evil. Her Ivy was supposed to be evil? No, no, this... this was the reality of evil. Letting out a roar of anguish and fury, Nova rose from the ground, desperately clutching at the burning fauna that circled her in a hopeless attempt to revive it all. The emotion that rolled through her and wracked at her very soul was that of a grieving mother. "Burn, bitch!"

He belonged to Penguin.

Nova's fury shook through her as she stood, the luminosity in her unnatural eyes was no longer glowing it was burning. A great, thick root of enormous proportions erupted violently from the ground beside her, and it was much larger - much bigger than anything she had created or powered before. The man held nothing more than a torch in his hand. A torch, of all things. Mostly harmless on it's own, but lethal time and time again in the hands of man. It had to end. She had never known such clarity. Not even in the murder of her love. This was a new level of discovery, because truly, now she understood her purpose.

He is the one who will burn.

The antagonist was visibly frightened, now, having both witnessed and sensed the tense, crackling atmosphere of her outrage. "Ah, shit, no..." He was beginning to back away, his free hand up in a clumsy effort to placate the raging monster before. "Look, I'm sorry I burned your plant things, yeah? It's just 'cause your, uh... kiddies are killing people down there in the streets, and-"

"Silence."

Immediately, he did so. There was no sound beyond the light crackling of the torch and the distant screams from the streets below. Up on their hill, he was safe from at least that - but not from her. "Lady, please-"

"Murderers of the innocent deserve no mercy." It resonated from her own lips but it wasn't her dialect. It was closer, in a way, to Ivy's own way of speaking - but not similar enough for her to be the inspiration. This was something entirely different. It was her instinct. It was the voice of a Guardian of Nature, and it shook her foe to his core.

When she was eventually done with him, she was someone new. This would be the moment that was the catalyst for the loss of the remaining fractures of her sanity. One man, with nothing but a torch and a cruel outlook was the reason Nova shed her good intentions and morals and fully crossed over to the dark side. She was tired of giving humanity chances and second chances, only to have them turn around and lay waste to all the goodness and purity that somehow survived in this corrupt, disgusting city. No longer would she hold any ounce of sympathy or compassion for these sadistic worms. Ivy was right. She had always been right. Now that she accepted her station and the mission she and Ivy were set on, all inkling of artificial control Ivy had over her simply melted away. Every piece of burning hatred and resentment ebbed away, and nothing was left but devotion and love and worship. Nova would go to her. She would not wait.

Sometimes, to evolve... we have to wipe the slate clean.

Precisely.

And so she did. Picking her way through the quickly quietening streets of Gotham, she weaved between her murderous children, caressing each leaf and bit of greenery that she passed. There was the truest beauty in this - in the gory creation of this Eden they must create from the rubble. Every move was akin to a dance, like Ivy. Every inhale and exhale became a musical sigh, like Ivy. As she walked, she allowed flowers and vines and buds to sprout along her arms and curl their way up towards her, like Ivy.

She wanted to be just like her mistress.

Nova.

There was the voice again. She was close. She could sense her nearby. Giddy joy soared in her otherwise barren chest.

In fact... Pamela came to meet her. A very slight smile already gracing her features as they met halfway. The change within her progeny must have been extremely apparent to her. Ivy spread her arms out either side of her in an adoring welcome. She was truly pleased with their progress. Amidst the burning, dying population and the chaos around them, they met in an embrace that would have put Greek deities and their lovers to shame.

"Welcome home, petal."

I'm gonna give more than it takes

Works harder than the rest

Until I'm the very best