"I'd say their strategy was pretty effective…" Oracle glanced over at Bruce whose eyes were narrowed at the screen.

"It was Bane's body chemistry." He said. "His venom addiction made him more susceptible to Ivy's toxins. His physiology was attempting to fill a need, so it immediately incorporated the foreign material rather than fighting to expel it."

Oracle raised an eyebrow. "You're putting a qualification on their victory?"

"I'm just being realistic." Bruce grumbled. "That was too easy."

Barbara grunted, deciding he was probably right, but wishing he'd just let them have a victory for a moment without defining it. 'Damn it. Did those bitches win me over?' She tuned back in to her broadcast as Ivy pushed Harley into the lake. 'Oh God…if she gets in too twitter is going to explode.' Thankfully, Ivy didn't, she just stood on the shore next to Catwoman with her arms crossed, watching as Harley splashed around.

"She's hurt." Bruce observed as the redhead began limping up the bank back towards the tree line. "That could give Selina the advantage she needs."

"Ivy isn't Harley. I mean, I've taken more than my fair share of blows from her, but most of her skillset is separate from her physicality." Barbara told him, toggling the camera to follow Ivy to the forest's edge.

"You're right." Bruce agreed. "An ankle injury won't affect Ivy as severely as it would Harley or Selina, but the distraction of pain can still be used to her enemy's advantage. She has to communicate with the plants, after all. If she's in pain, the message can come out scrambled." Barbara mulled that over as he continued. "Couple that with the emotional handicap that is Harley Quinn, and you've got a significantly weakened Poison Ivy. If you play your cards right."

"Selina's hurt too, Bruce." Barbara pointed out. "She hit that tree hard. I'm inclined to agree with Ivy's concussion diagnosis."

"Pamela's not a medical doctor." Bruce reminded her gruffly.

"No…" Oracle agreed. "But Harley is. I bet you she'd concur if she could take a break from casting Poison Ivy as America's heartthrob for two seconds…"

Batman groaned. "Are people seriously using that word?"

"The internet is a scary place." Barbara confirmed. "And Harley basically describing their life as some sort of Nicholas Sparks novel certainly didn't help."

Bruce cleared his throat. "Do you think it's true?"

"That Ivy treats her that way?" Barbara asked. He gave a small nod. "I don't know why she'd lie. And it's not like we haven't observed an affectionate Ivy. She's that way with her flowers all the time."

"I know." Batman admitted. "But…"

"Treating a human being like that means that she in fact is- in some way, shape, or form- reforming?" Barbara attempted to finish his thought.

"Get a body-copter out there for Bane." He skipped over the other subject. "It's bad enough that we broadcasted the actual killing. We don't need children seeing that garbage. The world is violent enough as it is."

"Of course." Oracle nodded

/

The trees near the edge of the clearing were evergreens- spruce, pine and cedar. They had been fine as a high point to throw apples from, but for sleeping…Ivy wasn't so sure. The branches weren't broad enough for her to replicate the shelter she'd crafted in the oak tree.

Overhead, Ivy heard the whirring of helicopter blades. On her third day in the arena, Ivy had brutally murdered Catman by thrusting a tree branch through his chest. He deserved it…he had stumbled upon her territory…When the self-piloting body-copter came to retrieve the body, she'd brought it crashing to the ground with one of her vines instead. The Justice League had not taken kindly to that, deciding to drop three new selections in her forest. That unfortunate past experience was the only thing keeping her from doing the same to this machine. She was sure some of the parts could come in handy later facing whoever there was left to face. But instead, Ivy casually walked back over to Bane's body and pried her shovel out of the deep gash in his neck. Harley had made it further than Ivy thought she had. She could plainly see his esophagus, which meant Harley had succeeded in hacking through his trachea. The poison from her kiss had immobilized him, but it hadn't numbed his senses. Bane more than likely died a very painful death. Ivy observed his flayed neck and sliced eyeball with the cool temperament of both a world-renowned scientist and a very experienced mass murderer.

"Gaia." She sighed, turning her back as the cables reached down and dragged the body away.

"They bring any food?!" Harley asked, sprinting up the slight hill to join Ivy.

"You know that's not how it works, Harl." She called over her shoulder.

Harley caught up to her panting like a dog from running in her wet clothing in the heat. "We…" she took a few deep breaths. "We really got im', huh? Batsy's been fightin' Bane forever and he could never get im'. But we did." She grinned. "You, me n' Kitty."

"He was in a severely weakened state." Ivy reminded her as her mind began to wander into problem-solving mode.

"So are we, Red." Harley's smile was now tinged with a hint of sadness. "Is your leg OK?"

"It's fine." Ivy told her distractedly.

"Good." Harley said earnestly as she suddenly grabbed the other woman around the waist and shoved her back into a tree trunk. Ivy yelped in surprise and the tree began to bend to protect her, but Harley smashed their faces together. Her lips bruising and her tongue desperate. She was using all her weight and strength to hold Ivy in place, and for a moment, the redhead had no choice but to kiss back.

Harley eventually had to pull back in favor of oxygen, and now they were both panting.

"What was…." Ivy's nostrils flared as she attempted to catch her breath without betraying how flustered she was. "What was that for?"

"I wasn't ever…jealous before. Of you kissin' otha people. But you an' Bane looked like ya were havin' so much fun…" the jester winked.

"Sweety…" Ivy chuckled. "I was killing him."

Harley grinned. "But'cha can't kill me, Red. Because you LOOOOOVVVVVE me."

Ivy blushed with embarrassment like the daylight attached shame to the statement somehow.

The blonde couldn't help but giggle at the other woman's sudden insecurity. Harley slipped her hand from around her waist to her lower back and leaned closer, her voice softening. "So ya wanna be my girlfriend, huh, Pammie?" she pressed a gentle kiss to Ivy's cheek. "You wanna buy me dinner, n' go to the movies, n' hold hands when we're walkin'," she punctuated each activity with a kiss somewhere on Ivy's face. "You wanna make LOOOOOOOVVVE ta me, Pammie?" she giggled against the green skin of Ivy's throat and gently sucked at a spot she knew was sensitive.

"Harley!" Ivy tried to mask her gasp within the word. "We already do every one of those things."

The blonde stopped and pulled away, scrunching up her nose in thought. "Oh, yeah." The smile returned to Harley's face as she pressed her knee between Ivy's legs.

"Harley!" Selina yelled. "Stop molesting Pamela! Christ. I think we need to get you fixed. It's like you're always in heat." Catwoman had evidently come up from the lake without them noticing.

Harley pouted for a moment, but was brought back around to a girlish giggle when Ivy reached forward and tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I love you too, Red." Harley whispered. "Jus' don't tell Mistah J, OK?"

Ivy chuckled and kissed the girl on the forehead. "OK, Harl."

"And when we go home I'll make LOOOOOVVVE to ya up against that wall by yer dressa, cuz it's a lot comfier than this spiky tree…no offense. Trees are great and all." The jester winked. "Kitty's jus' a party pooper."

"It's for our own good." Selina sat back against a nearby tree. "A sexually frustrated Poison Ivy is an effective Poison Ivy."

"Oh, why don't you go fuck a Bat, Selina?" Ivy spat.

"No thank you."