Chapter 22: The End Is Near:

Ivy immediately switched to her newfound heroine mode and answered Batman's call with no hesitation.

"Ivy, it's time, I'm currently being taken away to the Asylum by an escort arranged by Crane." Batman said with a blunt tone. Even in a peril situation, he remained as brave and determined as always. This was something that Ivy loved about Batman.

"So this means I'll be heading towards the Batmobile now, isn't that right?"

"Correct. I made a personalized code that only you know and will be able to use for the Batmobile in dire situations. The code is five one nine three nine two seven. Use it and it'll give you access and entry to the car and its autopilot features."

"Okay done, I'm saving my access code now."

"Good...I'm counting on you, Ivy...Batman out." And with that, Batman's line disconnected.

Ivy wasted no time in preparing to make her leave from the Studios. Batman said he. Was. Counting. On. Her. Those simple words meant a lot to her. Before she left, she said a quick farewell to Harley.

"I've gotta go, Harles. But I'll be back soon enough, Batman needs me now more than ever."

Harley had a brief smile. "Alright Red, go save B-Man and Bird-Brain." Ivy smiled and headed for the exits.

Harley stopped her. "Hey Ivy?"

"Hm?"

Harley folded her arms across her chest. "Be careful. And please shove a syringe up Scarecrow's ass for me? Will ya?"

Ivy lightly chuckled at the outrageous request. "Will do."

Harley smiled. "Alright, now get your ass out of here and show Gotham who the best damn meta-human in this town is."

Ivy smiled before finally leaving the makeshift base in Penessa Studios. As Harley saw Ivy disappear, she wondered just what Batman's intentions for Ivy would be after she saved him. Harley was happy for Harley in more ways than one. While she wasn't exactly on good terms with Batman, she hoped the 'Dork' Knight wasn't that damn stupid. He should be glad someone like Red is on his team and even likes him. Seeing Ivy rebooting herself as a better person secretly was beginning to have an impact on Harley.

She wondered if this whole reforming thing worked out for Ivy, would it work out for Harley? She didn't give a damn about being a fugitive criminal or Amanda Waller's errand girl, she wanted to be her own boss. Her own person.

Screw the Joker, screw Waller, screw the old gang and screw everyone that thought of her differently. If her best friend could do it, so could Harley Quinn.

A few minutes after leaving the movie studios, Ivy eventually found the Batmobile. She was a little surprised by the massive size of Batman's new car, she thought it certainly put his old car to shame. But she didn't have time to oogle over a car, she needed to get inside this thing and get to Arkham Asylum as soon as possible.

Without a moment's hesitation, she looked for a way to get inside the vehicle. Eventually the voice of Batman's Batcomputer came on.

"Good evening, Miss Isley, give me your verification code and the Batmobile will be activated for you."

Ivy wasted no time. "five one nine three nine two seven."

The Batmobile powered up and ran a quick scan on Ivy to match her DNA to Batman's scanners. "Verification confirmed, welcome Pamela." And with that, the entrance to the Batmobile opened up and Ivy entered the car. The autopilot features activated, the door cockpit door closed and the Batmobile took off at a normal pace.

As the car took Ivy through Gotham, she figured she used what free time she had left to relax and mentally prepare herself for the incoming confrontation at the Asylum. This will probably be my first biggest challenge as a reformed hero. I need to be prepared for anything that happens. Ivy figured with some mental reassurance, she should be ready to help Batman take down Crane.

Another five to ten minutes or so passed. Ivy was enjoying the peaceful confinement of the Batmobile. She wondered if this is how Batman felt when he went on his patrols at night.

As the Batmobile drove and dominated the streets of Gotham, Ivy felt a calming satisfaction as the Batmobile's countermeasures were taking out the countless thugs in the streets of the city. While being taken to Gotham, Ivy also thought about how she would possibly take down Crane when the time comes. She wasn't a slouch when it came to hand to hand combat, but she was no where on par with Batman or even Harley.

But she didn't think much about it, as she was cut off by someone attempting to contact her.

It was Barbara.

Quickly, Ivy answered the calling of the younger Gordon family member.

"Hey Ivy, I've got something regarding the digging o did on the Titan stuff that turns Bane into a behemoth and the Fear Toxin."

"Shoot." Ivy merely said. "I'm all ears."

"Before I get into that, I wanna also say that I don't have anything to work with regarding the blood of the Joker, being that the bastard's dead and nobody else bothered to research it like me."

"That's bad."

"I know," The younger Gordon family member replied. "Listen, with the Titan, you and Bane were able to retain your sanity because of your unique abilities and circumstances. You being a biologically gifted person, and Bane being, well...Bane."

Ivy was still a little curious about Bane's situation regarding the drug. "But how could Bane retain his regular appearance as well? Not to be biased or anything, but it makes more sense for me than it does for him."

"Let me explain. Titan was created by using Bane's Venom and your mutated plants. The plant is the key to this process. Your plants gave you resistance to poisons and toxins that would kill most of us. We're forgetting to remember that in Bane's case, Titan is just a stronger and 2.0 version of Venom, and he's already been using it for years now. His body naturally adapted to it and pushed out the negative effects of it. That's why you and Bane retained a good amount of sanity when that garbage was dumped into your bodies."

"And what about...the Joker." Ivy strained herself when saying that man's name.

Barbara went to explain the Joker's case in this equation. "Joker had neither the resistance Bane had nor the abilities that you possess. All the inmates that were injected with the Titan formula were turned into those savage monsters, however being that the Joker was already obviously insane, the Titan would not be able to make him any more insane, so he retained his quote on quote...sanity, if we can even call it that. Joker just merely assumed he was a special case, and thank goodness fate proved that crazy and egotistical bastard wrong in the best way...don't tell Batman I said that."

Ivy chuckled slightly, "Don't worry Barbara, I won't."

Barbara went on to further explain. "Moving on, for all of the terrible side effects that the Titan sickness has, once it wears off, you're supposed to return to normal, but obviously both you and the Joker did not have normal physiques slash physiologies. As a result of that, the chemicals in your bodies caused the Titan to create a lingering poison which was slowly killing you on the inside. It's basically as if you were a little mouse being bitten by a rattlesnake."

"I see now."

"Yeah Ivy, if it hadn't been for that priest with the pollenated coat that Sharp allowed you to see, you'd have been dead along with The Joker, and not talking to me right now."

The thought of sharing hell with the Joker scared Ivy In more ways than one.

Barbara went on. "Unfortunately for Joker, he didn't have such good luck, and sadly his cunning resourcefulness quickly provided himself with a solution."

"Let me guess," Sadly Said Ivy. "Batman?"

"Bingo." Barbara replied, confirming her suspicions. "The dying Joker decided to use Batman and Gotham as leverage and then proceeded to combine the infected blood of himself with Batman, forcing him to cooperate with his sick game in order to save the both of them with an eventual cure."

"And that obviously didn't work out the way the Joker had planned."

"Right, while i don't know the full details about his death, I'm irate that he laid down his contingency plans." Barbara sighed with full disappointment. "But sadly, I can't say I'm surprised, because the Joker, as twisted as he is, he isn't an idiot and is very intelligent. He must've fully thought about the possibility of not receiving a cure from Batman."

While she did understand it somewhat, Ivy still wasn't sure what this all meant. "I still don't see where you're going with this, Barbara."

Barbara began emphasizing her point. "All of this has to do with the Fear Toxin research I've been doing. You may be immune to the toxin's fear effects, but you have to understand what that stuff does to you mentally if it gets through. Basically the toxin on all of your inner fears, even the ones you didn't know you had. Therefore unless you develop an immunity to the fear effect COMPLETELY, the toxin will affect your fears in some way."

"I still don't understand it all Barbara. Please forgive me."

Seeing Ivy was still not getting the point, Barbara went on with further emphasis. "What I'm saying is that because you told me that Joker's blood is trying to consume and take over Batman, perhaps there's a way we can use the fear toxin to Batman's advantage."

"Ahh I see now." Ivy was starting to understand the concept.

"Yeah, look at it like this; two people are inhabiting the same body, Joker hasn't been affected at all because it's mainly been Batman taking in all of the toxin that's been injected into him at various points throughout the entire night. So what'll happen if things get reversed and it's Joker who takes all of the toxin instead."

While Ivy understood the story better, it still sounded fat to dangerous, even for Batman's standards. "That is a good possibility, but-"

"I know it sounds risky Ivy, but the fact of the matter is this, no one is immune to fear...no one, and that includes The Joker. Therefore it remains to be seen what the toxin will do to him once he's exposed to it himself."

Now it was all clicking for Ivy. While she didn't like Batman being exposed to that vile toxin more than he already was, it quite possibly could be the only way to rid not only Batman, but the rest of the world of the Joker for good.

Ivy and Barbara continued to talk more while she was en-route to the Asylum. While they continued conversing, Barbara asked Ivy a question about something that had been in her mind for a while now.

"Hey Ivy, can I ask you something?"

The reformed meta-human was curious, but allowed her to go on. "Anything."

"Do you ever feel that someone deserves absolutely nothing from the world? That they deserve nothing but eternal suffering? That's how I felt for a long time about The Joker."

Ivy wasn't surprised nor did she try and question the younger woman's feelings, because for a long time, she's felt the same exact way about the dead clown. Joker deserved to burn for every terrible thing he's ever done, for every innocent person he killed and for all the Gotham Graveyards that he's filled up in his lifetime.

So Ivy decided to give Barbara her advice in the best and most mature way possible. "Well in my experiences...fighting Batman and his allies, for a long time I felt that he and the rest of the world deserved to suffer and disappear forever in order to make room for plant life to thrive, it was only over the last year or so for me that I decided to just settle down and disappear from the rest of the planet. And only tonight that I truly realized that there's no point in spreading hatred, even for the dead. Don't get me wrong, In no way am I giving that madman any sort of love or sympathy, what I'm trying to say is that there's no point in carrying on any current hatred for The Joker. That'll only make him have a satisfying posthumous victory. We should just be thankful that he's dead and can't harm anyone else ever again and that we're all alive and can continued to live out the rest of our days, and spread positivity throughout not only Gotham, but the rest of the world as well, that's my advice to you Miss Gordon."

Barbara took this advice to heart. She couldn't believe that she asked an Ex-Supervillain/criminal for advice regarding her feelings towards another villain. This was truly the weirdest night in Gotham history.

And Ivy was thinking the same thing; tonight truly was a weird and life changing experience. Ivy decided to keep conversing with Barbara for the rest of her tenure in the Batmobile.

The two of them talked about their life experiences, with Barbara talking about her childhood growing up with her father, the commissioner, and Ivy talking about her pre-accident/meta-human life.

The two even talked over what exactly Ivy would do once she arrived at the Asylum.

"So what do you plan on doing once you get to Batman?"

Ivy thought about it for a moment. "I don't know, it all depends on the severity of the situation. If Crane is armed with a weapon or is being protected by the Militia, I'll try a quieter and more discreet approach, I may not be gifted in the art of stealth combat like Batman, Robin, Nightwing or Batgirl, I'll be able too manage. Someone's life is at stake."

"Hmph, Batman's values are rubbing off on you." Barbara quipped.

"Well, yes, that's true. It was thanks to Batman, that he made me see the value in all life outside of plants. I owe him a lot." Ivy could feel herself blushing. Thankfully, Barbara couldn't see her, being that she wasn't physically present. Ivy couldn't bear embarrassing herself in front of the younger girl.

Suddenly the Batmobile's signal tracker beeped. It showed Batman's signal has arrived at the asylum, and Ivy is only a few miles behind.

Ivy braced herself, preparing for the confrontation with Crane...

A/N's: The Events of Arkham Knight are almost over now, are you ready :) or :( ?