A number of weeks passed, work and school somewhat returned to normal. Classes came and went, monotonous days would blend together, Harley found out I was going out regularly with Doc Isley for drinks and weaseled herself into a night out from time to time. The two hit if off near-instantly, and my sanity took the brunt of it.

"All I'm saying is that if plants were just a smidge more aggressive, mammals would not be the dominant life form on Earth." Pam spoke one night, about two mojitos in.

"We are not turning the Botanical Garden into Catachan, Pam." I cut in around my soda, I was the Designated Driver today, unfortunately.

"But it gave me so many ideas!" Pam accentuated her exclamation with a wave of her arms, she was paler and paler recently, but she'd been going through a few rounds of dialysis to see if that would flush the remnants of the experimental serum from her system, so it could be that. Still…even after two sessions, instead of the normal rosy tint she'd get when she'd been drinking, it was a verdant blush that dusted her cheeks now.

"C'Mon Henry! The world can use a few more man-eating plants, let Darwin hand out a few awards!" Harleen chuckled from her position next to Pam, whiskey sour set in front of her.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I'm human; you're both also human-"

"I could be a Kryptonian-"

"If you were, you would've been ruling New Jersey as a crime queen by now, Harley."

"...Point, continue."

"You're both human, I'm human, I like not being used as fertilizer, and breathing. Y'know, drawing air into my lungs? Keeping my heart beating?" I finished up my point leaning back in my seat and downing my drink. "Getting drained of all my fluid and flung into the distance isn't a good way to keep that happening."

"But photosynthesis is so much more efficient, Henry!" Doc Isley protested,

"I like breathing, don't care if it's inefficient." I stated firmly earning a round of chuckles from the two. The conversations continue in this manner, mostly nonsense, and a development occurs that I honestly wasn't expecting.

"You got room for one more, Junior?" Stocky Brown, dress pants and a button up shirt, no coat and no weapons on him. He gave a sheepish grin that displayed a pair of brand new gold teeth.

The conversation quieted for a few moments, as the two women shook off the Alcohol haze and caught sight of Stocky properly,

"Mackie is this-"

"The bastard that gave him his scar." Pam snarled, about to lunge before I raised my hand in a gesture for calm.

"Black Mask roughed me up, any beef Stocky and I had got settled when I gave him those teeth." I cut in, this was no place for a brawl. Or a murder. "Are you here on business, Stocky?"

There's a tense moment before the man shakes his head.

"Just getting a drink, Henry. We're square, you and me." He spoke, and I thought about it for a few moments before I gave a huff and a nod.

"Pull up a chair, Tom." I spoke,

"Henry, are you serious?" Harley exclaimed, Pam nodding in agreement whilst a low growl growing in her throat that one could almost mistake for a purr if you didn't know her.

"Unfortunately, Ladies, I'm now a known entity in the Gotham underground, am I wrong Tom?" I began to explain, earning a nod as Stocky waved over a waiter.

"Congrats, you're officially a Prospect, Kid." Stocky spoke, turning to the waiter. "Round of whiskey, and a bottle of champagne. Put their drinks so far on my tab, name of Brown."

"Damn…that was fast." I muttered, "A prospect, ladies, is an individual who is likely to be approached for…less than savory work. Whilst I can tell any comers to fuck off, the higher ups know that I already know how the rules work and have proven that I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty."

"A single incident and you're marked for life?" Pam asks, now more intrigued than irritated. Stocky chimes in.

"All it takes is one, Doc. We're criminals. You, me, and Henry here." It's at this time that the whiskey arrives, a sealed bottle and four glasses. Stocky pops the bottle open and begins pouring glasses.

"I'm not a-" Pam starts, but this time I cut her off.

"We utilized an illegal organization for information and used said information to bring grievous bodily harm upon another human being. It doesn't matter that we had justification, I laid my hands on him, and you helped me. Battery is a crime. We're criminals." I spoke, Stocky immediately chiming in.

"Don't go beating yourself up over it. I've met all kinds. Good Criminals, Bad Cops, Honorable Thieves and Lying Priests. Revenge is understood as one of the 'leave them be' reasons for crossing the line of the law."

"Then why is Henry a Prospect? Why won't they just 'Leave 'em be'?" Harley asked, shaking off her buzz.

"Legacy." Pam responds, letting out a heavy sigh and snatching one of the offered glasses of whiskey.

"Damn right." I muttered, deciding 'fuck it' and taking a glass of my own. "The MacLeod name is known in Gotham. Too well known. Every family knows my Da's been in the game for longer than most of the bosses have been alive. They all expected me to get dragged in somehow. Fookin' Mask…probably said it the best. 'He was born into it.'" I gulped the drink down and enjoyed the burn.

"Most of us figured you were gonna skip town as soon as you could, after what happened with the Boss." Stocky muttered, nursing his own glass.

"That was the plan, initially. I'm gonna stick around for a while though." I spoke, catching eyes with Pam, who rolls her own irises but I see the green dusting on her cheeks gow a little darker in embarrassment.

"I'm not your responsibility, Henry." She mutters, and I give a chuckle.

"I'm just gonna make sure you're not gonna turn into some kinda angry tree lady Pam. God knows what was in that serum." This earned a few chuckles from Pam and Harley, but it was Stocky that cut the levity there.

"Don't you go jinxing it now, Kid. Let me tell you, Gotham has a bad habit of making jokes like that bite you in the ass later."

"Yeah, Yeah, Stocky. I get it."

"No you don't kid. No you don't."

A few months pass. I read a bit more about the Bat taking the fight to the mob, work at the lab continues.

Its a rainy day, work had finished up, and I was resting at the house when things went to hell.

-KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-

I opened the door with my revolver held behind my back to find Pam, soaked to the bone and with vines crawling around her arms and legs beneath her lab coat as if they had a mind of their own.

"I need your help. I can't tell you what we're doing, you can't ask me about it later, and we're probably going to hurt some people." She speaks, her eyes wild, but I can see the panic in them.

God damn it Pam, what did you do? I gave a sigh before opening the door and getting her inside.

"Who's car we gonna take?"

A few moments and a cup of coffee calm Pam down a little bit, but now that she's not being pelted with rain I can get a proper look at her, it's not just vines. She's got flowers growing in her hair and thorns weaved into her braids, and blood on her face.

Fuck.

I get my holster on, my jacket, and put on my mean face as we pile into Pam's car. She has me hauling ass to the Lab.

"You going to tell me what happened?" I asked, pulling onto the highway.

"Do you want plausible deniability?" She cuts back, scrubbing at her face with a clorox wipe.

"I'm here ain't I?" I replied tersely.

"After you left, men came. Gangsters. They tried to take our research, my work." She growled out, and I see the vines tighten around her. "They tried to put their hands on me…my babies disagreed with that course of action. It doesn't matter what happened, it matters who sent them."

She hits me with a glare full of sheer rage.

"They were flunkies for the Maroni family, supposedly they had an agreement with Woodrue." She speaks, scoffing.

"That's bullshit, he went to Sionis for cleanup." I muttered.

"That's what I thought as well. One of them squealed after I threatened his squishy parts with the Mantrap." Pam's face morphed into a vengeful grin. "They're trying to force me to work for them, producing something as mundane as reefer, feh."

I pulled into the lab to find Stocky waiting for us, a busted old Jalopy ready to go.

"The hell are you doing here, Brown?" I asked, earning a jaunty salute with a newly acquired bat.

"You think I'm gonna miss this beatdown, Junior?" He chuckled,

"Ain't you a Sionis mook?"

"Associate, and what I do on my own time ain't any of the Mask's business."

"Enough! The both of you." Pam snaps, I make the wise decision to shut up as she gets out of the car and I follow suit, transferring over to the Jalopy.

"If the criminal elements of this city are not content to simply let me work in peace, I'm going to send a message." As she speaks the swampgrass around her feet seems to surge, pulsing as she stomps her way into the likely stolen vehicle.

"The Maroni's are hosting a poker game in the East End, small time, but enough to say 'fuck off'." Stocky explains as he puts the car in gear and we burn rubber, he hands a pair of bandannas still in their plastic packaging from whatever flea market vendor he picked them up from.

"Really Brown, we're two of the like…four redheads in Gotham." I muttered, earning a one-finger salute. I sigh and turn to Pam.

"Doc, you know what this means right? You're gonna be getting involved in the Life. You're starting an enterprise." I pleaded, being met with a hard gaze and a smirk.

"Then it's a good thing my Consigliere is so knowledgeable, isn't it? Get your big girl pants on, Henry. I have plans. Wonderful…Wonderful plans."

….Da warned you about redheads, Henry. You should've listened.