"Miss Isley, if released, how do you intend to reincorporate yourself into society?"
They'd been at this for almost an hour and a half now, talking with the Arkham doctors, other patients and faculty, and the guards. The parole boardroom was packed with witnesses. The potential release of a major criminal and patient had drawn the attention of interns of both prison and medical facilities state wide, and the eyes of the press from Gotham all the way up to Metropolis.
It was now finally Ivy's turn to speak. When Gordon addressed her Pamela rose from her seat, hand cuffs clanking. Given the prestigious nature of the board's members security had insisted upon handcuffs, despite the fact that she wouldn't need them if she were actually interested in doing harm to the panel of judges before her.
"Commissioner," she began in a a respectful, precise tone that was more in keeping with the brilliant professional of science she had once been, "to be honest with you, if I am released I do not intend to have much at all to do with society. While I no longer feel the contempt for man that I once did, neither do I feel any kinship to humanity. I suppose the best example I can provide you would be to consider a grown child, whose parents are going through a bitter divorce. They wish her to choose sides but she sees the faults from each of them that led to the divorce, and refuses to side with one over the other. In my case, humanity is one parent, my criminal history is the other... And I am left in the middle, wishing to have nothing more to do with either one."
A few skeptical murmurs ran through the crowd of observers, but the faces on parole board remained in passive. Even the foppish billionaire Bruce Wayne, who Pamela still thought was a ludicrous choice for a board member, seemed remarkably intense and scrutinizing as she presented her case. Part of her wanted to just leave; she estimated that at least 85% of the court rooms occupants were male. It would be so easy, a little toss of her hair, a husky sigh that made her breasts stretch against the prison jumpsuit, just a hint of her pheromones and she'd have every man present drooling at her feet like mindless worshipers...It would be so easy.
She pushed the thought out of her mind, easy wasn't her style. If she did everything the easy way she wouldn't even be doing any of this. Easy would be conquering the world through domination of the minds of world leaders. Easy would be holding the modern world ransom by turning peoples own back yards into deadly killers. Easy didn't grab attention, easy didn't send a message. She wanted to be noticed, admired, respected, you didn't get those things through the humdrum antics of the every day villainous egomaniac.
"Miss Isley, you are aware that if you are approved for parole you will still be serving your sentence? While you will be allowed back into civilized society you will require bi-monthly psych evaluations and weekly check-ins with your parole officer. Your house sponsor will also be filing weekly reports on your progress in re-acclimating to society," Dr. Roland, announced, peering at her from over his glasses. He was a handsome older man, with light brown hair slowly turning silver and vibrant grayish-green eyes; a far cry from the gangly, over-bearing, gnarled visage of Jeremiah Arkham to which the Arkham inmates were accustomed to.
"I do, Doctor, and I have no objections; I would be lying if I said that I was completely comfortable with going back out into the world unsupervised. I do not fear for others safety, I have been enlightened to the error of my previous actions, but I am well aware that the world may not be as ready to forgive me as I am to accept it with it's flaws." Pamela replied, keeping constant eye contact with her parole board as she spoke, shifting her gaze from judge to judge to ensure she always kept their attention. "Without someone to look after me, I fear it is I who would be in danger, I know there are a great many people who will never forgive me for the things I have done and I am sure they will be less than thrilled if I am released."
"You say this as if you're incapable of defending yourself." Gloria Welsh, the District Attorney, said, while staring at Pamela with a perfect poker face, void of any emotion or expression.
"I am not incapable of defense, no, but I no longer wish to use my abilities in a way that would bring harm to others. The last time I displayed such hostile intent, I very nearly hurt the closest friends I have in this asylum." Pamela paused, looking over to Dr. Birch sitting at the defendant's table with Pamela's lawyer. She then shifted her gaze to look at Margaret and Holly, the two guards women had always been firm, but they also treated Pamela like a human being; that was a rarity amongst Arkham guards. "Since that incident I have taken a vow of pacifism. I have no intention of ever using my powers, or anything else, to bring harm to another living being."
There was a faint grunt of disbelief from somewhere on the board. She couldn't pinpoint who had made the sound, for a moment she thought it might well have been Wayne but she thought that was rather unlikely.
"So you're a self-proclaimed pacifist now? Even if I were to say that before arriving at Arkham this morning I went out and bought a dozen roses and dropped them by my wife's office on the way here?" Mayor Grange asked, prompting the Commissioner Gordon and D.A. Welsh to both look at him as if he were insane, goading the villainess in such a manner certainly wasn't a good idea.
For a moment the entire room was silent. Margaret and Holly had dropped their hands to their tasers in the event that Pamela actually retaliated to the baited comment. Grange remained calm and collected, gazing down at Pamela from his seat.
For a few seconds Pamela's eyes swept back and forth around the room full of observers, then she lifted her gaze back to the Mayor and gave him a patronizing smile, speaking in a simperingly sweet tone that Bruce Wayne recognized as the sort of "I'm humoring you because you have something I want" voice of the many socialites he escorted to charity balls and galas in Gotham's society circuit.
"Well, Mr. Mayor, I would say that you are a horrid liar. My abilities allow me to detect even the most minuet of plant life and there is no trace of pollen or spores anywhere on your body." Pamela explain, still giving him that too-sweet smile before she took a step back and then dropped into her seat. Her lawyer, Rochelle Green, gave her an approving nod and Dr. Birch smiled proudly at her from the other end of the table.
Dr. Roland chuckled while Mayor Grange pressed his lips, causing his mustache to twitch slightly. At the far end of the parole board's table Gordon and Welsh exchanged a private conversation of nods and eye movement. After what felt like an eternity of silent thought from the parole board members Mayor Grange banged his gavel.
"I believe we have heard enough, we'll recess for deliberation, Miss Isley is to be returned to her cell until the hearing resumes."
Pamela was taken back to her cell in the minimum security wing, there Harley was sitting in wait. The bubbly blonde was quite literally on the edge of her seat, teetering on the very end of Ivy's bottom bunk, staring hopefully at the red head with her eyes wide with excitement.
"Well!?"
Pamela stepped into the cell with a sigh, arms wrapped around herself comfortingly as the cell door shut and Margaret and Holly returned to their normal posts.
"Red!?" Harley leaned forward so far that she looked as if she might fall off the bed onto her face. She was bouncing her feet and had her fingers interlaced, hands clasped tightly in front of her chest. "C'mon red, say somethi- MMPH!?"
The sycophantic lackey to the clown prince went wide eyed, staring at Pamela as the red head caught Harley's face in her hands, lifting her up to her feet and drawing her into a heated kiss. The initial shock melted after a moment, dissolving into eager acceptance of the affection. Harley often didn't know what she was to Pam, a friend, a sister, a lover? The human-plant hybrid was too strange and complex for her to understand most of the time, but she would never turn down the sort of gentle affection Pamela often lavished upon her.
Harley leaned into the kiss, parting her lips and letting Pam's tongue slip into her mouth, teasing her own tongue and exploring the hot confines of that orifice as Harley continued her muffled moan of pleasure. There were few people on earth who experienced such intimacy from Poison Ivy without it resulting in death, but Harley had no fear of her cellmate's kiss. She trusted Red just as much as she trusted her beloved Mr. J; and while her Puddin' might sometimes lose his temper and give her a slap or two Ivy never had. True, once or twice the green skinned beauty had pinned her to a wall and started choking her until she grew close to blacking out, but such moments of aggression were fleeting and were often followed by cooed apologies, accompanied by a soft embrace and gentle caressing hands.
Eventually Pamela pulled out of the kiss Harley gave a disappointed whimper. There was an addictive quality to kissing Isley that no one could resist; even after Isley gave Harley an antidote to the toxins that she so often exuded from her skin there was still something about Pam that was intoxicating, something that made being with her to appealing to resist.
Smiling with childish glee Harley canted her head at her friend, "What was dat for?"
A satisfied smile crawled across Ivy's lips and she dragged her nails down Harley's right cheek, teasing her skin and causing Harley to shiver with renewed excitement as Ivy pulled back further, letting go of the blonde. Harley almost fell over, unaware of how heavily she was leaning into Ivy's touch.
"We're getting out of here, Harl."
"Really!?!" Harley squealed joyously. "F'real!?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"How d'ya know? I mean, even if they let you out..." Harley's cheery smiled dropped into a sullen pout. "There's no guarantee they'll let me go."
Ivy turned back to Harley at that, stepping in close again, pushing Harley back until she was pinned up against the wall. If it were anyone else there would because for alarm, but not for Harley, she smiled up at Isley, blue eyes shining.
"They'll let you go, Harl. I promise."
"How're ya so certain?"
Ivy chuckled, stroking her companion's cheek gently before digging her nails in again, raking at Harley's flesh and causing the blonde to gasp. The green skinned woman smirked, seeming pleased with the intense reactions she could draw from her friend; leaning in again she caught Harley's lips in another kiss, this one was rougher, more invigorating, it made Harley's nipples stand on end beneath her jumpsuit and left her legs so weak she again felt as if she might collapse.
When Ivy broke the kiss this time she didn't step away, but instead coiled her arms around Harley's waist to help make sure the blonde didn't fall over, and even rocked her hips provocatively against Harley's until the nimble young hench-wench was leaning against her cell mate just to stop herself from collapsing to the floor in a heap.
"Harley, we're Gotham's best and brightest, we know more about human minds than any doctor in this god forsaken den of corruption. They'll let you go easier than they will me."
Harley's bright smile grew even larger and she lifted her lithe arms to wrap around Ivy's neck. "And you'll still take me with ya?"
"I'm not going anywhere without you, precious. If not for you I'd have never been able to pull all this off." She caught Harley's bottom lip and gave it a provocative tug. "Besides... The moment we're out of this damned place I'm going to do things to you that will make those pretty pigtails spin."
Harley giggled a little, but blushed a bright scarlet, dropping her gaze as she squirmed in Ivy's embrace. The red head smirked down at the blonde in her sudden embarrassment, seeming to relish the level of control she had over her friend, but rather than act upon the desires she pulled away, placing a soft kiss to Harley's forehead and then releasing her.
"I'm going to lay down... Wake me when the guards return."
As Ivy stepped away and moved to her bed Harley slumped against the wall, chest heaving, cheeks red and lips glistening with saliva from the lip-locking. Her head was spinning, but she still smiled, she didn't even know what she'd done to help so much but she was certainly glad she'd done it.