"Ive! Ive! Can you hear me?!"

Selina was holding up her redhead friend, who was slumping over herself, completely unconscious.

Oh shit.

The window shattered as a black blur burst its way into Selina's apartment. Selina immediately grabbed a picture off of the wall beside her and threw it at the figure like a giant throwing star.

It hit him square in the face, corner first.

I had a good look at the intruder now. Covered in black, head to toe, in what looked like one of those SWAT members from Selina's cop shows. But this guy definitely wasn't with the police. His face was covered by a full head mask, red goggles shining in the dim artificial light. And he had a gun the size of a small dog pointed right at Selina and her friend.

"Foe!" Selina's whip had caused me to lose focus on my previous casting of Eldritch Blast, but it was a cantrip. It wasn't something that was meant to take too long to cast.

Two bursts of arcane fey magic hit him dead on, pushing him right back out of the window. I think I hear his rope snap.

"Wha-? No, later." Selina slams her door shut, setting Ive down on the ground, back to the wall.

There's a green liquid stained on her stomach, and it seems to be- Wait, shit that's blood.

"Adam, get the first aid kit in the bathroom, it's under the sink!" Selina orders as she tears at Ive's shirt to get to work on stemming the blood.

I obey, grabbing the purse-sized bag under the bathroom sink, and running it back to the two women on the floor. Selina's hands were busy stemming the tide of blood.

"Here, take over for me, just keep applying pressure!" We trade places. Selina's expertly grabbing whatever she needs to help her friend. I'm trying to stem the odd almost-sap-like blood coming out of our unexpected guest's side.

"Don't you fucking dare bleed out in my apartment, Ive, don't you fucking dare…"

This texture...her skin feels like the flesh of a flower stem?! She's not pretty enough to be a dryad…

Some kind of plant-human hybrid?

...Oh man, Selina's going to fucking kill me if this doesn't work.

--

"I call to the trees, I call to the earth, I call to the bees, I call to the birds."

What the hell is Adam sayi- No. Focus on Ivy, focus on Ivy.

"I call on the fey of spring. I call to the fey of autumn. Spare this one from the Raven Queen, bringer of winter and death."

Okay, alcohol disinfected the bandages, is there still a bullet inside of Ivy? Shit, shit, shit, shit, should've looked for one when I was-!

"Let this plant grow, let her beauty shine. Turn forward the clock, and delay her final time."

What the hell is- Why are Adam's hands glowing?!

"Let it be known, let it be said, she is of the Green as she is of the Red."

--

The fey magics from my lips came as they always did. Naturally.

But this wasn't how I usually use this spell, no, this is something that I don't think has ever been attempted. Using Plant Growth to try and heal a plant, or plant-human in this case...

Please work, please work, please work.

But the spell is cast, and there isn't any change in Ive's wound. And it doesn't look like I killed her, so that's good. Oh wow, I'm sweating like hell right now, aren't I?

"Adam, I need you to look around and see if there's a bullet in Ivy's side. Do you think you can do that?"

I nod, pulling my hands back ever so slightly, trying to look for any glint of metal in the green musculature of this strange woman.

Thank god, Selina's lights weren't dimmed right now… "I don't see anything!"

"You sure?!"

"Yeah, just green in there!"

"Great, now move and give me room to work."

Selina rolls...oh this is Poison Ivy. Oh crap, I thought she had green- No, questions later, heal dying woman now.

Selina wrapped Ivy's lower torso up and around with a bandage, making sure it was tight enough to keep pressure on the wound.

There's a crashing sound, and heavy footfalls coming straight towards Selina's apartment.

"Grow vines and wicker of ancient times, grow and weave a wall of binds!"

My magic and intent leaves my body as I see grass start to grow out from under the doorway, muffled cursing coming to our ears.

"Up you go, Ive." Selina pulls Ivy's arms over her shoulders, and holds the woman up on her back. "Adam, fire escape, now."

I follow her, casting Mage Hand to grab my Spellfire Bracers from the coffee counter just as I ducked through the windoew.

Just as we get down to the ground of the alleyway, we begin to hear police sirens in the distance.

And then, we disappear into the night.

--

It's officially a truth that Batman can no longer stop avoiding.

He's lost Adam White. Adam White, the orphan with plant abilities who he'd promised himself he'd protect, just like he did with Dick all those years ago.

It wasn't a completely unreasonable matter.

At first, it was simply having trouble finding where Adam had gone off to. He was only showing up sporadically on security cameras, never quite in the same place. He'd deduced that the poor boy was lost and was going to try to arrange for something when...Mr. Twister showed up and demanded his focus. Not only was the Russian doll of an android a threat to the public, but the technologies involved nearly perfectly replicate Red Tornado's abilities…

Adam was an intelligent teenager, with an affinity for fending for himself. He'd be fine for a few more days on his own.

Then, when he was finally free to see if the teenager had found a new base, the Team turned a simple reconnaissance mission into a full on drug bust, forcing him to run damage control and interference with international forces that would view it as a breach of UN charter, as the Justice League wasn't allowed to operate within Santa Prisca.

Not that he didn't understand of course. He was extremely proud of them all for being capable of adapting so quickly without the supervision of their mentors. Even if it did add some more work on his plate.

And then Dr. Roquette was kidnapped, and he was turning back to microsleeping after promising Alfred he'd get his straight eight hours of sleep in.

Coffee and willpower kept him moving and working, but even he felt the mental strain of being awake for too long despite powering through it.

Then he had to try and failed to have a productive talk with Clark about his clone after the bridge incident in Metropolis. And start investigating the new vigilante that would turn out to be Artemis.

And of course that's when the power-copying android AMAZO showed up. Because the universe would not allow Batman to be capable of using his full mental functions without coffee.

After finally getting a full night's sleep, he'd enlisted Oliver's help in finding and recruiting Artemis.

And of course, on the young woman's first day, Roy shows up and dumps the Dr. Roquette situation into their lap. Honestly, Batman would've been free then if the Fog hadn't gotten into WayneTech's systems.

Robin's successful plan on neutralizing the process was nothing less than what he'd proudly expected from his protege, but Bruce Wayne had had to work overtime with IT and Cyber Security to ensure that everything was still secure and that any corrupted data could be salvaged, in addition to exorcising Dr. Roquette's Anti-Fog Virus from it's continuous loop on the servers.

That had taken a few days, but then he was back on track looking for where Adam had ended up. And he's certain the teenager's found a place by now, he just needs to triangulate sightings and run them through an algorithm set to look for abandoned buildings in the area…

But there were very little data points for the Batcomputer to work off of. And the fact that there was a man that looked similar enough to the young orphan to confuse his facial recognition software had slowed him down so he could make a filtering program so he wouldn't get in the way anymore.

He felt that he was getting close, like Adam would be just around the corner if he was at it for another day.

And then Captain Atom's past and Henry Yarrow's betrayal was uncovered by the Team, and Batman was running a bit of damage control and investigating deeper to see how far the smuggling ring had gone.

Unfortunately, the case was decades old, and relevant records were tampered with if not destroyed outright by either Yarrow or someone else involved with the whole scheme.

Then, Klarion the witch boy had made a bid for the Helmet of Fate, resulting in the death of Kent Nelson. Batman had attended the funeral with the rest of the Justice League.

Thankfully, any damage control the situation needed was delegated to Zatara, and wasn't his problem to deal with.

He'd left the Batcomputer to keep collecting data points on Adam's sightings, but his older lookalike was back and had somehow slipped past his filter. He'd thought of looking into it to see if the man was Adam's father before deciding against it in case Adam was running away from an abusive home life.

There wasn't a need for him to dig up old wounds like that, though he would bring it up once he found the kid.

Then the creature that Robin and the rest of the Team had eloquently dubbed Clayface had been delivered to the Wayne Foundation in a barrel, and Batman was back to microsleeping for the second time that month.

He had to address Aqualad's focus, and after finally getting some semblance of sleep, had found Dick venting his frustration in the training room.

Batman smiled at the memory of the impromptu basketball game.

And after confirming that Artemis had been sent the scholarship to Gotham Academy, he'd gone to sleep.

Bruce Wayne had his days addressing the Clayface situation of course, but his work days have long since been taken into account with his crime-fighting.

And then, Bruce had realized that Adam hadn't been picked up by any security camera in Gotham in a week. It'd been a month since he'd last seen Adam White, and weeks since any supposed 'Paws' sightings had occurred.

It was now August 30th, 2010.

And at the stroke of midnight, just as the new day began, police reports started coming in about a disturbance at Catwoman's apartment complex.

Becauseof fucking course he couldn't go a week in Gotham just fighting street level crime like in the good old days when he was just an urban legend.

--

Selina had somehow picked the lock on a car for us. Well, it wasn't exactly lockpicking with the wires and electricity and stuff, but it looked quite a bit similar in skillset.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I looped the peridot of wound closure around the neck of the still unconscious, and topless Poison Ivy. Thankfully, the gem began to glow a dull red, so it was definitely working it's magic on Ivy.

"Ivy's greenhouse in Central Park may be locked up, but nobody has the guts to demolish it. Those mercs were gunning for Ive, and I am not going to let them take her without a fight."

"Agreed, but why are they after her?"

"I...don't know. Maybe she pissed someone off, maybe she's developed something they want. She only just got cycled out of Arkham a few days ago though, I was planning on checking in on her Friday."

"I see."

Herb, what do you see?

Oh, it looks like he's still trying to find his way to Selina's apartment.

Grass, m'lord.

Heh, Herb did sarcasm surprisingly well for such a submissive Fey creature.

Once my little sprite finally fluttered his way into Selina's apartment, he was alone. Broken glass, abandoned takeout half-eaten, some of Ivy's green blood spilt on the ground.

No sign of the intruders or where they went.

Alright Herb, see if you can hide the money somewhere nearby, and then come join us at Gotham Central Park.

... Herb's gaze is fixed on the duffel bag that's literally the size of a little sprite's house.

I shall see what I can do, m'lord.

Good boy.

"-e glowing hands?"

Oh crap, Selina was talking.

"What was that? Sorry, spaced out."

"I asked, what's up with the glowing hands. And your plasma blasts or whatever."

"Oh….magic."

"Don't give me bullshit, Adam, what is it? Light bending tech? Random genetic lottery?"

"I accepted a piece of bread from a fey lord."

"...You're fucking serious."

"I don't get what's so unbelievable about it. Zatara is listed as a master magician on the Justice League's official website."

"Yeah! A stage magician! As in smoke and mirrors! Sleight of hand, custom props, and misdirection!"

Wait… I'm...I can't be the only magic user in this world, right?

...right?

--

Soon after that very sobering thought, and ditching the car Selina and I dragged Poison Ivy into her abandoned and dust covered greenhouse. Most of the plants were withered, a few of them looking dead.

"Put her on a table, she'll need the sunlight if her complexion is anything to go by."

"She doesn't look pale though?"

We lift Ivy up together as one and slide her onto the table.

"For a white girl, sure, but she's supposed to be leaf green. That's not a part of the costume, despite what some believe." Selina says as she starts looking under the plant benches.

"Ahh, right, her blood's green. How do you even know her?"

"I've worked with her before from time to time."

"Ohhh."

I don't remember reading anything about Poison Ivy being a prostitute from her Wakapedia page, but it didn't really have anything from her pre-supervillain life, so it wasn't surprising. Would also explain her inclination for seduction.

"Here it is…" Selina pulls out a bag of fertilizer. "It may be weird, but she's half plant and needs energy to recoverfast. If those mercs have any brains in their skulls, this is the next place they'll look for her."

She stripped off Ivy's remaining clothes and bra, and I helped her shovel dirt onto the sleeping dryad's naked form.

--

I swoop in through the shattered window, careful to throw myself silently beyond the scattered shards of glass.

The GCPD squad that had been sent over was still cutting through the barricade of thickets and grass that Poison Ivy had apparently produced to stop her pursuers. Unfortunately, said pursuers had all been outfitted with a poison injector that'd killed them before they could be arrested and interrogated. Though, the one who was thrown out of the roof had broken his, and was on route to receive medical attention.

Still, Selina and, from the look of green fluid on the ground, a wounded Ivy on the run from a group of unknown mercenaries was a recipe waiting for disaster.

Looking around, Batman sees chinese takeout for two. Was Selina entertaining someone when this happened? Looking around...yes, there were new books and items peppered in with the familiar setting.

A small, human part of him felt a little jealous of whoever had caught the woman's heart. But he immediately suppressed and ignored it.

Selina was a good friend, but they'd both agreed that a romantic relationship wouldn't work out between the two of them with his commitment to crime fighting and her lifestyle. Still, Batman would occasionally call on her for a professional consultation or even just to talk about the going ons of Gotham.

"Come on...come on…"

My head shifts to the guest bedroom. Someone was still here. Did Selena take Ivy and leave her date? Perhaps she wasn't seeing anyone seriously yet? No, don't think like that. Interrogation, information, he might know something. The voice was oddly young though…

Something, a duffel or sleeping bag by the sound of it, falls to the ground by the window.

"Oh, come one!"

Batman pushes open the door, making sure to come off as intimidating as possible.

The duffel bag full of money wasn't a surprise, this was Selina's apartment after all. She'd always been prideful and vain like that.

The tiny man with butterfly wings however, made him pause.

And then the fairy-like creatures disappeared, leaving the bag of money it was trying to pull out of the window behind.

Batman scanned the roo- wait. Isn't that the jacket Adam was wearing when he last saw him?

--

M- M- M'lord!! The Batman is angry!

I almost wince at the palletable fear coming off of Herb.

If it's that bad, come back to me, forget the cash. Nobody wanted to deal with a legend in a rage after all.

I felt Herb fall back into the Feywild, only for me to pull him right on back to the Material Plane by my side.

"...that's a fairy." Selina said as she looked to see why I'd stopped padding the fertilizer around Ivy. By now, she was laying in a small bed of the stuff, her midriff, face, and thighs left uncovered so she could absorb some of the specialized you-vee sunlight lamps. I didn't get it either, but Selina insisted it would help.

"Ah! My deepest apologies, m'lord, I should've known to materialize invisible!"

"It's fine, Herb, I've already told her."

"Oh! Well in that case…" Herb fluttered over to be eye level with Selina, giving an elegant bow to the woman of the night. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Kyle. Thank you so much for caring and providing for m'lord this past month."

That shook Selina out of her stupor. "Oh my, you certainly are a gentleman, aren't you?"

Herb nodded excitedly. "Of course! A servant must do their best not to bring shame or discourtesy upon their lord!"

"Lord, is it? I didn't realize you were a noble, Adam." Selina teased, Herb's genuine nature putting a smile on her face in spite of the events of the last hour.

"I'm not. Herb is just a masochist."

"M' M'lord!" Herb shouted out, his face blushing cherry red.

"Oh my, how does that relationship even work?" Selina asks with a sly, catlike grin on her face.

"L-Lady Kyle!"

Herb turns invisible from the embarrassment.

Ahhhh, it sure felt nice having friends around to tease again.

Even if Herb wasn't as bratty.