Chapter Four: One Bite

"Where's Widow?" screamed Robin, clenching his hands into fists.

The group of villains stood surrounded by the Superheroes, but Widow had failed to show up after her fight with Poison Ivy. Batman seemed surprised that Robin was asking where the girl was, she was meant to be in Mount Justice keeping an eye on things. If she was lost or hurt, he wasn't going to be happy.

"Where is she?"

Batman put a hand on the boys shoulder. "What are you talking about?"

Robin shrugged off his mentors hand and pointed to the green woman. "She and Widow they-"

"Widow? Who is she?" purred Ivy, crossing her arms and tapping her chin with her finger. "I don't know anyone with that name."

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"But now that you mention it…" she let out a giggle and waved her hand. A large vine rose and dropped a girl, clad in red and black, in front of her.

The girl didn't move or make a sound. M'gann let out a gasp and grabbed onto Conner's arm. The Superheroes didn't look pleased at all. Robin's fists were so tight his nails dug into his skin. Widow didn't even look like she was breathing. Her skin was tinted slightly green and her hair looked like a deeper redish color then it was. Small vines of stinging nettle wrapped around her limbs and torso.

"Oh, please, she's faking it!" scoffed Ivy, kicking the girl below her in her side. The girl wasn't fazed. "She's strong, just like me. I am, after all, practically her mother!"

Robin's jaw was set tight. Was Wini working for the bad guys after all? Was she keeping secrets from them? She did seem to have a fascination for the bad guys, especially Poison Ivy. Wini had to have known about Poison Ivy being her mother all along, and stowed away just to get back to her mother. But something just didn't seem right.

Batman stepped forward. "What are you saying?"

Ivy drummed her fingers against her cheek, her lips curling into a smirk.

"You are not my mother!"

Widow's eyes snapped open and she kicked at Ivy's legs, but the other woman jumped over her legs. Widow back flipped elegantly and landed neatly beside Batman and Robin. Her green eyes were brighter and greener then the green-blue they used to be. Her lips were almost a lime green. And she didn't look happy.

"Ooh, but I am. Look at yourself…"

Wini looked at her hands and gasped, her lips started to tremble. Her skin… her hair… Her knees felt like jelly. She didn't want to stand anymore, she didn't want to breathe. She looked around at everyone there. To her they looked angry to hear what Ivy had said, they didn't trust her anymore. No one ever trusted her. She was always alone. So alone…

She wobbled and her eye lids fluttered. Robin caught her and called out her name, but everything went black.

Xx

There were screams and shouts from the room they had put her in to recover. Black Canary was in there with Batman trying to calm her down but the noise level only seemed to rise. The older woman was surprised by the number of curses the young girl knew. It was frightening.

She was kicking and screaming so much that they had to handcuff her hand to the bedrails. She wailed and screamed so loud that even if you were sitting in the kitchen area you could hear her. M'gann was there, baking a Get-Well cake for Wini when she got out. Superboy seemed to grow even more annoyed as the volume level went up, and he was in the motor pool. The other four were waiting impatiently outside Wini's room, eager to hear how she was doing. Obviously well enough to be thrashing about and screaming. Boy, did she have a set of lungs on her.

"Son of a b-!"

Batman stepped out and closed the door halfway through her swear. He didn't look happy, his lips pressed into a thin line. Sighing, he lent against the doorframe and rubbed his forehead, great he had a headache now.

"So… how is she?" started Wally, saying what everyone was thinking.

"Fine, but-" he paused and reworded the thoughts in his head. There was only so much they needed to know. "Poison Ivy's story checks out. Winifred is the child of Ivy. Now how that is possible, we don't know."

"What does that mean?" mumbled Artemis, crossing her arms.

"Somehow Ivy gave Winifred something to enhance her… plant qualities. We've been trying to get answers but she's furious."

"Plant qualities?" pondered Aqualad.

Batman nodded and crossed his arms. "Poison Ivy is almost like a plant herself. She breaths CO2 and without sunlight she could possibly die, plus plant enzymes course through her body. Seeing the changes in Winifred's body, there's no doubt she's just like that now."

"Why is she so mad?" piped up Wally. "That's a cool power! Now she can fit in with us better! She can come on missions with-"

"No." said Batman sternly.

The smile was wiped right off Wally's face and Artemis bit her lip. She knew what their mentor was going to say, and it wasn't fair. Auqalad's face went blank and he crossed his arms, his eyebrows knitting together. Robin remained quiet, as he had since they got back from the mission.

"She refuses to believe that Ivy is her mother. And," he paused as Black Canary stepped out, her face flushed and hair a mess. She nodded to Batman, heaved a deep breath and walked away. "She's not stupid, she knows she will be treated differently now that we know-"

"That's not fair!" exclaimed Wally, balling his hands.

"None of you trusted her when she was just a petty jewel thief. How will you treat her now that she's a second Poison Ivy?"

Batman's word shocked them and they suddenly felt ashamed. He was right. They didn't trust her. But they liked her around. She tried so hard to help them train and they threw it back into her face. Blamed her for their hardship after their first session and if it wasn't for her, Robin and M'gann might have been dead.

"Can I talk to her? Maybe I can calm her down…" said Artemis, stepping forward.

Batman nodded and opened the door, letting the archer pass.

The three boys got a glimpse of the red head. Her cheeks were pink and clearly wet from tears. But, just being in a gown, they saw how sickly thin she was. Her wrists were so thin and boney and red from her struggles. Her knees were knobby and she just didn't look so healthy.

Batman glanced down at their shocked expressions and shut the door. He never should have let the girl out of his sight.

Xx

Artemis sat down next to Wini and let out a sigh. "I know what you're going through."

Wini stopped her struggling and lay still on her bed, her bright green eyes staring up at the ceiling. She sniffled as a stream of tears continued to flow down her cheeks.

"My… my dad is Sportsmaster and my sister is Cheshire…" Artemis rubbed the back of her neck; she let out a dry laugh. "So, yeah, I get it. You're scared that everyone will treat you like an enemy. I'm… I'm terrified myself, about how they'd think if they knew. But I just wanted to change, to be good. So…"

"Are they…" Wini let out a cough and jiggled her handcuffs or handcuff; they had taken off the robotic arm after it malfunctioned. "Do they… hate me more?"

Artemis shook her head and put a hand on Wini's small, boney hand. "No, we never hated you to begin with. We're just… small minded in some things…"

Wini nodded. "I never hated you guys either. I just… I'm so used to being on my own…"

"I get it." Smiled the archer.

"Artemis," Batman entered with Robin at his heels. "We need to speak with her."

The blonde nodded and gave Wini's hand one little squeeze before she slipped out the door. The red head turned her face away from the duo, her lips trembling more. She didn't want Robin to see her so weak. He was meant to see her as a sneaky, sly, devil with a short temper. Not a skinny, sniffling, cry-baby that was missing her arm. Oh, she hated herself.

Batman stood over her bed and looked down. "Winifred, we need to know what happened when you fought Ivy."

He readied himself, waiting for her to start howling and trying to attack him. But she just bit her lip and buried her face deeper into the pillow. Robin stood awkwardly, trying to keep the rush of emotions settled. If he wouldn't have listened to Wini and helped her when she took Ivy on, maybe she'd be normal again. He shook his head and turned his gaze to the floor. No, it didn't matter if she was different now, just like it didn't matter that she was missing an arm.

"She told me that I as her daughter from a surrogate mother." Began Wini, her voice was raspy and dry. "She said that my abilities were dormant because my father was human. All she had to do was prink me with one of her plants…"

Batman patted her head, her fiery red hair clashing with his black gloves. "I'm not happy that you disobeyed orders and went on the mission, but I guess I was being unfair by having the others go and making you stay behind."

"No," she sighed. "I would have been useless, they only thing I'm good at is stealing."

She sat up, her hand free from the handcuff. They took her as a frantic idiot. The tiny circle of metal was child's play to get off. She sat cross legged in front of them and but her hand on her leg. Robin was scared that is she applied anymore pressure she might break it.

Wini held out her arm and stump, once again forgetting she was missing it. "I'd like to go to the Loony Bin, if you please."

"No." said Batman, pushing her hand down. "You'll stay here, in my care."

Her face lit up. "Alright. I'll make you a deal though."

"Oh?" Batman was surprised by how fast she cheered up.

"Yep, I'll stay, but only if I get a spot on the team. Since now I'm going to be called Stinging Nettle!" she smiled brightly, then held out her stump. "Only if I get a new arm, this is-"

Suddenly an arm began to grow out of the stump until she was no longer missing a limb. She paled as it grew and then the fingers twitched to tell her everything was working fine.

"WAHH!" she yelped, flapping about and falling off the other side of the bed. "MY ARM! WHAT THE HELL!"

Batman was just as shocked as Robin was, if not a little green from watching half an arm grow black like a plant growing back a limb. Or a starfish.

Wini scrambled up and crutched her arm, looking it over with wide eyes. "Oh mother of-" the arm twitched again. She hunched over and held her stomach. "Oh, this is not happening. I'm gonna throw up…"