A/N: Hope Everyone's Holiday Season is going to went well, here's another XMas Present :)
Chapter 9: Discussion of Batman & Harley:
Ivy finally worked up the courage and had an idea of what to say to Batman. She did not want any harm to come to Harley. She worried greatly about this because it Harley forced Batman's hand, he would obviously have no choice to by physically beat her down.
Ivy got out the communicator to speak with Batman via the communications channel.
"Let's hope The Dark Knight is deep down not a savage man." Ivy thought in her head.
The other line connected. "Ivy." The sound of Batman's voice was heard. Judging by the sound of things, he was most likely in the Batmobile.
"Yes Batman." Ivy continues. "There's a matter I wish to speak with you about."
"What is it?"
Ivy took a deep breath and told Batman what is was she wanted to speak about. "It's a matter revolving around Harley."
Batman was genuinely curious about this. "Quinn? What about her?" He asks, in his usual stoic demeanor.
"We both know Harley is bound to cause problems for you eventually." Ivy continues. "So when the time comes, I'm just begging you, please don't hurt her too badly. She's just hurting in all the wrong ways possible." Ivy pleaded.
Batman could tell that Poison Ivy was pleading with him. "Hmm, I can't guarantee that some form of physicality won't have to be used Ivy."
"Figured." Ivy continued to plead with Batman. "But Please Batman, Harley can be used to do good, after all she started out as a brilliant physiatrist, a respected and charming woman throughout her respective field. She couldn't have had any sort of idea that The Joker would weasel his way into her life and lead her down the criminal path."
Batman countered this claim with a logical and detailed explanation. "Even in Harley's Pre-Criminal days and long before the Titan Outbreak on Arkham Island, The Joker's influence was never perfect. Any one could easily point out that The Joker counted on Harley to keep coming to see him. Even after she turned to crime, that mad clown's influence on her still wasn't perfect, after all, she and you are friends. It's obvious that The Joker clearly didn't approve of Harley being friends with you, but despite her boyfriend's orders, she still remained close to you and kept seeing you. I hate to say it Ivy, but you and The Joker share many similar personality traits. Cunning, Very Resourceful and Dangerous. These traits are exactly why Harley was easily drawn to both you and The Clown."
A part of Ivy deep down knew that Batman was completely correct in his statement, but she still cared for Harley and wanted to vouch for her. "But Batman, there's been more to Harley for years besides her being that freak's defenseless blonde puppet. Although she never really listens to this and still doesn't, none of that stopped her from befriending me. This proves that there's a part of her that The Joker never succeeded in influencing. So please Batman, on a mutual standpoint, Please don't take the approach of brutality."
Batman gave Ivy's points some thought. After a bit of thought, he began to strike a deal with the villainess. "Here's the deal, if you're willing to assist me with my war against The Arkham Knight's forces and the rest of the Gotham's criminal scum that Crane has brought together, I'll let you talk to Harley in the hopes of rehabilitating her and making her end her pointless life of crime."
Ivy could not believe what she was hearing. Batman was willing to let her personally talk to Harley and hopefully help rehabilitate her. She didn't need to think much of it and decided to accept Batman's deal. And besides, she did owe a few of Gotham's scumbags some payback. "Alright it's a deal."
Batman then gave a rundown of the current situation in Gotham. "Good. Now, according to The Militia's comms network, The Knight took a big hit in losing the missile launcher I destroyed on Founder's Island earlier tonight. Without the missile threat, The Knight and his Militia can no longer control the skies, thus meaning that Crane and The Knight have to endlessly move and hide the Cloudburst to avoid being detected before its proper use. Crane is now relying on the rest of the criminals to try and keep me distracted. As a matter of fact, I'm currently heading to a fire station to hunt down Firefly and put an end to his arsonist activities. I'm sending you the coordinates of the fire station now."
The coordinates of the fire station appeared on the communications device. "Okay, I see it, what do you want me to do?"
"If there's any plants in the area, use them and bring down Lynch."
"Okay, I'll stand by Batman."
Batman and Ivy located the fire station effortlessly. But unfortunately there weren't any plants nearby that she could use to assist Batman. She had no choice but to watch and listen as Lynch flew out of the building while Batman gave chase to the arson-obsessed psychopath.
"Gotham will BURN BATMAN!"
Ivy also had no choice but to be subjected to the nonsense Lynns was babbling on about. His usual rants of Gotham City being burnt down to the ground or Batman being burnt to a crisp.
"Ugh, Will he ever shut it with his arsonist obsessed nonsense? Part of me wishes Batman could run him over with the Batmobile." Ivy patience was growing thinner and thinner.
That's when she notices something. A slight pattern in Lynns' flight paths. From there on out, she knew exactly how she could trap the arsonist.
On a sharp turn, Firefly flew too close to an apartment building that had a small houseplant on the porch. Ivy only had one shot at this and decided to take her chances. She began to use her powers to mutate the plant enough for it to turn into a vine. The vine then slammed into the back of the arsonist's jet pack causing it to malfunction.
"WHAT?!" Lynns began spiraling down towards the ground, eventually landing in front of The Batmobile. Lynns was now dealt with for the night. Batman begins to properly neutralize Lynns while thanking Ivy for her actions moments ago.
"Good work Ivy, Lynns is now neutralized."
"Ivy?! IVY?! The plant lady will burn for this! Wherever you are Ivy, I'm coming for you bitch!" Batman began to aggressively toss Lynns in the back of the Batmobile, having grown tired of his ranting. Ivy for one, was glad to see Lynns was finally shut up for the rest of the night.
After Lynns was in the passenger seat in the back of the Batmobile, The Dark Knight began to transfer him to The GCPD...
Upon arriving at The GCPD, Firefly was tossed into the containment cell for all the major super villains and criminals. Batman was having a conversation with trusted ally, Aaron Cash.
"Hmph, I'm glad the burning toy of that freak Lynns is here...maybe me and the boys will use it to have a barbecue after all these psychopaths are locked up again."
"Just don't let the commissioner catch you." Batman added with some level of humor, while still maintaining his usual stoic and serious demeanor.
"I'm crafty Batman, he won't catch us, but still, I don't like the idea of Poison Ivy helping you, we all know she'll just try and hurt after all this is over, not that it'll ever work anyways."
Batman was not worried about a betrayal from Ivy. "She won't betray me. I can tell."
"You know, the isolation chamber is the only place in here that can hold her, but the good Dr Langstrom is placed in it. If this is all a trick by her, it'll be hard to contain her again, with the Asylum closed, Arkham City being an illegal prisoner system and her plants wrecking Bludhaven's department, what are we gonna do with her when that happens? She probably only helped because Lynns posed a threat to her plants."
Batman countered this with his own claim. "I'm not here to change your opinion on Ivy, only time will tell. However, the only reason she was placed here in the GCPD was because she refused to align herself with Crane and The Arkham Knight. You should think about that tonight Cash."
"I'll give it some thought when I'm off the clock, right now, we've got a city to take back from the freaks. And all of us here are focused on finding The Cloudburst."
Ivy for the most part was still surprised that Batman had ever thanked her for something. In fact, this was the first time Batman had ever thanked her for anything throughout their history as foes. She came to the realization that it was possible for the two of them to become a real team.
Unfortunately she could not dwell on it too longly as her actions against Firefly have been noticed immediately by Gotham's criminals all over the entire city.
From one of the plants near the location Lynns was brought down, Ivy overheard some reactions from the thugs.
"Oh man! I'm scared out of my freaking mind, I heard some damn alien plant or something sent Lynns crashing and burning! All pun intended! What are we gonna do?!"
Another criminal was nearby and corrected this claim. "Uh uh boys! I saw the whole damn thing, a mutant vine came out of nowhere and took out Lynns. And if there's pants involved, that could only mean one thing, POISON IVY! Since we all saw that giant plant growing out of the gardens, that must mean Ivy and the Bat are working together."
Some more thugs weren't convinced by this story, and they didn't shy on letting their opinions be known. "I don't believe it. Firefly's an arsonist, he wouldn't have spared some stupid flowers or vines, he would've cooked them all like a barbecue in August. But if the Bat and the Plant are working together, Ivy is fooling the Bat, she's gonna kill him later on and balance will be truly restored."
On the Militia's end of this, they were completely enraged about this. It was bad enough in their eyes that Ivy refused to align with Crane, but it was even worse now that she has joined forces with Batman.
"Unbelievable! Looks like the Vegan joined the Bat's side!"
Some of the Militia were skeptical about this just like the thugs. "I doubt it, The Bat's harder to seduce, maybe Ivy's using some different tactics to get him on her side instead of her pheromones."
Eventually one of the men decided to call The Arkham Knight and ask him his thoughts on this ongoing problem. "Boss, this is shocking, but apparently The Bat and The Vegan have joined forces, apparently some of the scum here said that a vine took out the creep with the flamethrower."
"I know, this is new territory for me as well." The menacing voice of the Arkham Knight is heard. He was just as surprised about this as were The Thugs and his Militia. "But stay sharp, and keep your focus on only The Cloudburst, as unpredictable as this is, we must stay on track. Once The Cloudburst is fully operational, Ivy's involvement will be considered irrelevant."
Ivy didn't know what the Knight meant by that. Since she did not even know what the Cloudburst is, what it can do, or even the EXISTENCE of the Cloudburst tank. But she knew she had to be vigilant.
Helping Batman against Firefly meant that the militia is now on the hunt for her...