Spirit of Pandora - Thanks. Those are the types of reviews I like getting. Whether my meetings or interactions are believable. Plus, I agree Firefly doesn't get enough face time in anything.

antihero276 - I heartily agree. I love that about the Batman world, when all the villains and even heroes interact. It makes it seem more like a community then just random characters and plots. I was actually going to make him the video game Firefly, but decided last minute to make him the comic book version. Not sure why...maybe for old time's sake. ^_^

BlondieBlue - I figure Joker and Harley get enough face time in the comics, movies and such, it's time for the other villains now. Though I may write in some Joker and Harley later on in this story. But thanks for the really kind review. It's muchly appreciated.

task - Understandably. Some people write Ivy as being very plant-like (using sunlight and water and soil for nutrients etc.) I just decided to try another way for her. But there you have it. Thanks a lot for the review. ^_^

jacksparrowlovesme - Catwoman is hard to write sometimes. But there's so many versions of her that it's kind of nice to be able to pick and choose.

KrnYong - I always got the feeling from comic book Firefly that he's one of those tough guys on the outside, but has a secret goofiness to him. Like almost boyish sometimes. Just my feeling from reading the comics.

Chapter Nine: Jungle Goddess

**Ivy**

There was something bothering him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out it was the fact that they were being hunted, but there was something else, something she wasn't sure anyone noticed but her.

Lounging on the stairs up to the light, she struck a provocative pose, knowing full well what she was doing to the men who passed her on their patrols.

Moving from the door where he peered out the narrow slat, back to the table where they had set up some form of command centre, Crane kept pacing idly, limping on his broken leg.

"Why don't you sit down, Jon?" She cooed.

"Why don't you do something?" He snarled back.

"I am doing something," she replied calmly.

He scoffed. "Yeah, we all know what you're doing."

She arched her back, feigning a stretch. "Enlighten me." The lazy stretch was cut short by a piece of broken chair leg that landed on her bare stomach. Ivy sat up and glared at Crane who only gave her a calm warning look in return. "So, what's your problem?" She demanded rising to her feet with the help of a few friendly vines pressing against her back.

He watched her approach, scratching an eyebrow with his thumb.

Ivy hopped onto the wobbly table, crossing her legs, waiting for a response.

"Why must everything you do be so provocative?" He demanded.

She preened. "I'm just sitting here."

"No," he argued taking a seat in the lone chair. "This is just sitting. You're always posing like a centerfold."

"I'm sitting like a lady."

"You're sitting like a whore!" He snapped.

Things never usually bothered Ivy, but the venom in his tone actually hurt her a little. Of course, she retaliated to his verbal abuse by shrugging.

Crane sighed heavily.

"Did that make you happy, Jon?" She inquired.

"No," he admitted sullenly after a moment.

"What's really eating at you?" She demanded.

He rose to his feet, brow furrowed deeply. "Nothing."

Following him to the door, she waited behind his back as he peered out at the night.

"Getting cabin fever?" She pressed.

He peered over his shoulder at her, before turning. "I'm not really a 'share my feelings' type, so just drop it."

"Oh, you can analyze everyone else, but Jonny's psyche is off limits."

"Precisely."

Ivy smirked. "How fun. Let me try to play psychiatrist."

"Pamela, I have killed before. Just a warning." He growled, moving back across the room.

She followed him. "Only child? Hated your mother, didn't know your father. Am I close?" She asked.

"Did you really dance with the Riddler under the full moon?" He shot back at her.

"Sure did, he enjoyed every minute. Hetero or homo?" She went on with her line of questioning, not at all falling for his razzle-dazzle tactics.

Stepping in close to her, Crane narrowed his eyes. "Did I ever tell you about the time Edward and I went to Australia?"

"Bi-curious then." She assumed.

"You might want to check under your feet, Pam, because I think you're standing on very thin ice." He snarled.

She smirked wider. "Come on, Jonny-boy, it's a simple question. Gay or straight?"

"Asexual is also an option." He pointed out.

"So is pansexual, let's not get off topic," she stated grabbing his hand and placing it on her breast.

Crane's cold gaze dropped from her face to his hand on her chest, but didn't remove it.

"That doing anything for you, Jon?"

"It's giving me a good clue as to your cup size." He muttered.

Tsking, she shoved his hand off her. "Well, if you don't admit it, I'm going to have to assume you're homosexual."

"So?"

"Most straight men would be insulted to have their sexuality questioned like that." She stated.

"I'm not 'most straight men', Pam."

"Ah-ha!" She poked him with her finger.

"Oh, wow, you sure tricked me, Eddie." He remarked dryly. "But in all, I'd have failed you as a student if you were in my psych class."

"Oh no, Professor, that'll really bring my imaginary GPA down." She replied.

Crane's mouth twitched ever so in the corner. "Fine, Pamela, I'll give you one question and one honest answer."

"Yay me," she replied coolly.

"Or none, as you wish."

"When was the last time you had sex?"

He blinked and began with barely any thought. "One year, four months, fourteen days and a handful of hours."

"Yikes. That explains why you're so," she sucked air in through her teeth and brought her arms up tightly to her chest, "uptight."

He quirked a brow at her, but said nothing.

Taking a step in close, she purred, "you know, it'd be lowering my standards, but for the good of all of us—"

"No," he broke in curtly.

"Really? Because I don't mind taking one for the—"

"No."

Ivy shrugged and fixed her hair. "Well, the offer stands if you ever decide to unclench."

They broke apart and headed for separate sides of the room, both pausing briefly to peer back at the other.

Crane scoffed and shook his head. "No."

Returning to the stairs, Ivy lay back on them, arching her back enticingly and smiling to herself. Closing her eyes like a content cat, she practically purred.

Her moment of silent enjoyment was interrupted by the walkie on the unsteady table crackling.

"Crane?" The Clock King's voice warbled over the little black device. "We have company coming in from the sea."

Perking up, the Scarecrow grabbed hold of his scythe and hobbled up the stairs unsteadily, kicking Ivy in the hip on his way past.

Whether it was on purpose or by accident, she ignored it following him curiously, pushing him to get him to go faster.

At the top, they plastered themselves against the glass beside the Clock King and the Mad Hatter, eyeing the faint lights of a speedboat as it drew near the rocky shoals below the lighthouse.

"That's a Bat-boat." Ivy muttered.

Crane scowled. "Looks like only one person in it."

Beside them Two-Face cocked his weapon, it resounded like doom in the silence of the lighthouse.

Without even tearing his eyes off the incoming boat, Crane reached across Ivy to gently force the weapon in Harvey's hand down towards the floor.

"What's Batman doing coming here alone? How'd he find us?" Ivy snarled.

Narrowing his eyes at the darkness and the distance, Crane growled, "that's not the Bat. His breasts are big, but they don't stretch the bat logo that badly around the sides. That's a woman."

Ivy angled her head sharply to glare at Crane.

"I'm a straight male, I notice these things," he replied simply with a shrug, turning awkwardly on his feet and limping off. "Everyone remain here and stay calm."

"Where are going?" Ivy demanded catching up with him on the stairs. He was quicker going down then up.

"To see what they want."

"Alone?"

"Alone." He paused. "I need you to stay here and keep them from getting trigger happy. At least until I figure out what's going on. Understand?"

She almost wanted to argue just for the sake of being non-compliant, but she took the high road and nodded. "Sure."

Ivy followed Crane as far down as the bottom of the stairs, before standing her ground, watching as he limped off towards the door.

Frowning, Ivy found she disliked the idea of Crane going out without backup and called out to him, "Jon!"

He stopped at the door.

"I'll give you some ground coverage with my babies." She stated.

He narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because if something happens to you I don't want to have to listen to these jackasses bitch and moan over who gets to be in charge," she lied calmly.

Turning, he pursed his thin lips and tilted his head curiously.

"Why?" He repeated himself in a hard tone that reminded her of her old high school biology teacher. It was a tone that spoke of absolutely no tolerance for lies and bullshit.

Instead of answering him, she did what she used to do in high school, flipped her long red hair over her shoulder and flounced off quietly, nose slightly higher in the air.

**Crane**

Halfway down the slippery, rocky steps cut into the cliff, Crane decided going to meet with a Bat by the Atlantic with a broken leg was perhaps his worst idea ever. And that included the time he decided to weave nursery rhymes into his act.

Gripping his scythe tightly, he decided it was time to update his mask as well as he couldn't see a goddamned thing in the dark with the burlap monstrosity on his head.

He'd most likely slip, break his other leg, then bounce down the steps and break his neck at the bottom.

Perfect way to end a clumsy, stumbling career of crime, Jonathan.

About halfway down, he found a dark suited member of the bat family bouncing her way up. She seemed a little surprised to actually see him and held her hands up immediately showing good will.

"I come in peace," she chirped.

"Batgirl," he purred suspiciously, placing his scythe between them threateningly. "What do you want? And more importantly how'd you find us?"

"Us?" She asked, blue eyes widening beneath her mask, peering around the rocky wall that surrounding them as they stood on the steps in the cliff. "Look, Batman just sent us out looking for any villain, seems everyone is in hiding. I was only going on a hunch that someone'd be here."

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Crane spun the girl around and began escorting her back down the steps. "There's six or more of us up there with weapons at the ready, my child. You best get back on your little boat and sail away while I'm in the kindly mood."

Pushing him away, Batgirl stubbornly stopped again. "Hang on just a minute, Doctor Grabby, that's not all. What's going on? Villains are being killed in bloody ways, no one is saying anything about it. Everyone's in hiding. We just want to help."

Crane scowled under his mask. "You can help by keeping your pointy little bat noses out of our business. The last thing we need is pity from your nocturnal winged rat family."

Putting her hands on her hips, Batgirl's little pink mouth drew into a tight line. "We can help you, Professor Crane. All you need to do is let us in on what's going on."

Pushing his mask up in frustration, Crane glowered at her. "We can do this the hard way or the easy way, child."

She crossed her arms.

"I'm still a very dangerous man, despite the fact that Jervis decorated my cast earlier this evening while I dozed." He replied.

Batgirl remained silent and still, eyes drifting down to peer at his colourful cast.

"Don't," he warned.

Her eyes snapped back to his mask.

"How about we come to a compromise?" She asked. "You let me help you and I promise not to fight you."

"If I were a jovial fat man in a fur trimmed suit I'd be 'ho ho ho-ing' right now." He replied sharply. "Get off my cliff."

"We can all get along, you know." She argued. "If only to help better everyone's lives."

"And then we can pop popcorn, braid each others hair and make friendship bracelets when this is all over, right?" He mimicked her own chirpy tone with a rather lazy version of his own. "Facts, child, facts are that you'll arrest the lot of us after you 'save' us. And I don't feel like going back to Arkham anytime soon."

She jerked her chin at him. "Fine…I just wonder what sort of mess this'll turn out to be when I get back to Batman and Robin and let them know about this place…?"

"Hard way it is…"

Instead of preparing to fight him, Batgirl stuck her arms out. "Take me prisoner. You take me prisoner, I get inside to help you and Batman and Robin never have to know about this mess you're in."

Crane sneered. "What?"

"Take me prisoner, Professor Crane. Tie me up."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be? Just because I didn't attack on sight, doesn't mean my colleagues won't. They're killers after all. Every one of them."

"I know. But we have no choice. I have to report this to Batman and I'm guessing you have a pretty sweet set up here and you wouldn't want to have to leave. The only alternative is for you to kill me and let's face it, I've beaten you before, Professor Crane, I can beat you again. And I don't want to beat a man with a broken leg. So, therefore, tie me up."

"Why can't you just go and not report this to the Bat?" He demanded.

"That's not how my brain is wired, Professor. You know I can't lie to him."

Crane pondered this. He didn't want to have to fight her either, not with a bad leg…but he also didn't want to have to deal with her as a prisoner. Worrying whether Batman or his little bird brained buddy would crash their hideout looking for the little runt.

"Fine," he concluded. "I'll just kill you th-"

A small fist came out of nowhere and punched him right in the nose, sending the Scarecrow flying back against the rock behind him.

"Thank you," he muttered clutching his nose.

She bared her bottom teeth. "Sorry, it's a knee jerk reaction to a death threat. Are you okay?"

Pulling his hand away to study the blood on it, he scowled. "Aside from having pieces of my nasal ridge shoved into my brain, I think I'll live. Who knows it may have even given me the ability to smell colours which might improve life significantly."

"How about you don't threaten to kill me and I won't break anymore bones?" She asked.

Sighing heavily, he held his bleeding nose and pondered the situation. The little brat was right, if he let her leave she'd tattle to the Bat and he'd come crashing in with good intentions and all the villains would scatter to the four corners of Gotham to be killed, but if he took her prisoner they might come after him anyways…he couldn't fight her with a broken leg and she'd have him kicked down the steps before he could even raise his arm to give the signal to shoot. Besides, he was fairly certain they were out of the line of shot anyways.

"This really puts a hitch in my already abysmal week," he growled, reaching up to remove his noose to use for rope.

**Ivy**

As Crane entered with a captive bat, Ivy sneered.

"I was hopping you'd just kill it, Jon." She purred.

He shoved Batgirl at her. "Well, I didn't. Do you mind?"

Ivy glowered at the younger woman. "Not at all."

"Not too tight, I'd like her alive for a bit."

As Ivy's vines wrapped around Batgirl, she sighed. "If you insist." Eyeing Crane who was gently tending to his battered nose, she smirked. "The little girl clocked you good, Professor."

He scowled, ignoring her.

"So, what's going on around here?" Batgirl chirped brightly.

Ivy commanded her vines to wrap around the young one's mouth and smiled coldly, still eyeing Crane who had finally stopped fiddling with his nose.

"How many times have you taken this one hostage, Jon?" Ivy purred, perching on the table near his hip.

He scowled at the walkie. "At least a good dozen."

"I think she enjoys it," Ivy pointed out, "the little viper."

"Let the others know she's here and not to be harmed. I'm formulating a plan." He said.

"What kind of plan?"

"Don't concern yourself with it, just go and do as I ask."

Taking exception to his commanding tone, Ivy crossed her legs and leaned back on the table. "I'm not your servant, Jonny."

"Pam, please?" He asked.

She studied him quietly. The Scarecrow seemed far too tense, even more so with that young thing dangling in the middle of the room.

"Why don't we just kill her, Jon?" She suggested. "We don't need this hassle hanging over our heads now."

Crane gathered himself by inhaling and straightening his spine so that he stood at his towering six-four height. "A word?" He tilted his head in the direction of the corner furthest from Batgirl.

Slowly she dropped her feet to the floor and followed him.

In the corner he turned, brushing a hand through his hair. "Look, the Bat is curious about what's going on. It's inevitable that he'll stick his goddamned nose in our business. I was hoping with Batgirl we could use her as a clear threat for him to back off."

"Aren't you worried he'll come here looking for her?"

"Of course I'm worried, Pam!" He snarled. "I'm not really interested in being a full time leader. I hate people and I'm not really fond of worrying over their lives, I'd rather just pin them in a shadowbox and study them from the other side of the glass. It's much easier that way. But for now," he paused and shifted on his feet. "For now let's just get through this. Okay? Can you give me a little back up?"

She angled her head. Was that what had been eating him? Socializing? Ivy scoffed in amusement and slapped his gently on the cheek. "All you have to do is ask nicely, Jon."

He gave her a sharp warning look. "Don't tempt me, Pamela. I sharpened my scythe this morning, so do not tempt me."

Smirking, Ivy leaned in and pressed a kiss to Crane's cheek. "Cool down, Professor. I'll play messenger for you."

She was a little insulted and mildly entertained when he used the sleeve of his costume covering the back of his hand to pointedly brush off her kiss and she actually chuckled at him as she turned and walked off.

"You could use a shave, Jon." She called out over her shoulder.