From her eyes || Poison Ivy

7:?

As soon as I was in her clutch she pelted down the corridors behind her Joker, who seemed to be moving particularly well for his predicament. Harley held a gun in her free arm, whilst the clown also held a pistol but in his non broken arm. The drug still in my system was slowing me down, but it was quickly counterbalanced with adrenaline as we turned to a corner with two guards holding weapon, only for the Joker to shoot them dead.

The three of us rushed into the elevator to get up from Level 4 to Level 1, which also required a scan of Harley's keycard. This surprisingly worked to my relief, as I didn't feel like hauling ass up several flights of stairs in my current condition, fearing that the mix of sedative and adrenaline would make me puke.

The elevator ride was an odd one, with me sending a dark glare at the Joker, who played with Harley's hair and grinned mockingly back at me. As if she had somehow forgotten about it, Harley pulled out a small potted plant from her bag and passed it to me.

"I didn't know if this would enough for all your plantsy things, but I brought you this." she explained, grinning at me. Her red lipstick was smudged and there was remnants on the Joker's lips. Gross.

"Thank you." I replied, smiling sweetly at Harley then glaring back at the clown. I took the plant from her - a common Epipremnum aureus - and allowed the stem of a branch to curl of it's own volition around my finger. I heard it cry out to me, worship me in its native language, and I smiled to myself. In my own chemical communication, I told it that I would protect it.

There was a ding as the elevator stopped at Level 1, and the doors flew open to expose us to a line up of five guards all with their weapons trained on us.

"Patients Ivy and Joker, please put your weapons down, I-" one started before stuttering. Even they were surprised to see Dr Quinzel stood between us, her male patient pausing with a hand on her head. I used this error to my advantage.

Producing my own special blend of gibberellins in my skin the plant grew to 6 or so feet tall very quickly, losing the need for roots in soil as it wrapped the bottom of the stem around my arm. It grew much larger and moved as I willed it, whipping the guns from the hands of the guards. Joker took this opportunity to pick up his gun and shoot down some of the guards, whilst Harley tried for the others, missing their heads but getting a good shot in their chests.

"C+ for effort, kiddo." the clown congratulated, patting her on the head and she squeaked in happiness.

I used my plant extended arm to crush the necks of the remaining guys. "So... how did this happen?" I asked, gesturing a finger between the two of them.

She gazed up at him, albeit he answered. "It's my irresistible charm and allure, Pammy. Maybe it levels up to yours, ha!" he laughed, as we rounded the corner.

I shook my head to myself and groaned, but soon sprang back into action when I caught the eyes of more guards and orderlies, the latter of which ducked into rooms and hid due to their lack of weapons. One of them alerted other guards to our appearance in the Level 1 Corridor E over a walkie talkie. This was cut short by Joker shooting him clean between his eyes. The others were taken done fairly quickly until Joker's bullets ran out, and so he grabbed Harley's gun leaving her defenceless. I scowled at this but soon noticed one of the patients in Level 1 had a large potted plant. My grin grew as the plant talked to me, and with a flick of my palm and the presence of spores that I was breathing out in the air, the plant grew large and stronger, pushing against the cell wall to the cell's patient's horror. The wall burst open and the plant rushed to me, finding a place on me to stay safe, and moving as I did.

Harley stared in fascination at this, but we couldn't stop for long before we heard more guards from back where we came, so we had to keep moving to somewhere with more cover. Guards in front of us were quickly taken out by Joker's gun or my very strong plants, and I really didn't feel like he was necessary for my escape, Harley had been the major contributor. But it looked as if for some peculiar reason they were a pair now, so I just had to put up with him for now.

We moved through passage after passage of winding corridors until we finally reached the double iron doors of the entrance. The asylum was on lockdown and so these doors were locked, but with the sunlight that peaked through the windows above the door, I breathed it in and used the vines to force open the doors with relative ease, which probably also would have been attainable with explosives.

The doors opened us up to Arkham Island and though the ride wasn't over yet, that pure unfiltered sunlight hit my skin for the first time in a year and I actually felt close to crying. I didn't as it could jeopardise my vision which I would need for the guards and police I now saw stood in front of us. There was a barricade made up of cars stopping us from continuing down the path off the island, but I smiled. No precisely shaped black vehicles or men in rodent shaped suits, no Batman.

Arkham Island may have been ugly from afar, but one thing it prized most of all, was it's botanical garden. So many variations of colours and flowers all taken care of by low level patients, at least from what I'd heard - I'd clearly never been allowed over there.

With a motion of my finger and a series of communications from chemicals leaking from my pores, I pulled all of the plants back underground, and over to my position. It took a lot out of me but it was the rush of the UV rays causing me to sprout a large plant up from the ground, encapsulating Harley and I, whilst leaving Joker on the ground.

"Mr J!" Harley called out as the two of us lifted up higher, a shield of thin lignified cellulose keeping us protected.

The clown was unbothered, laughing as he reload his pistol and shot down as many men and women as he could.

"He'll be fine, Harl." I assured her, as a large vine cleared the cars out of the way and knocked several men over the iron gates and down into the merciless waters below.

Once I was sure the coast was clear the plant lowered us both back down into a clearing of bushes, where Harley informed me she'd parked the getaway car. I only lowered her down next to the Joker, and watched them both get in the car with Harley driving due to the clown's busted arm.

"Don't wait for me, I've got my own ride!" I called, as Harley looked at me to wonder why I wasn't getting in the car.

She nodded and gave me a big grin. "I'll keep in touch!" she yelled in return, before Joker hit her in the arm and she sped off down toward the open iron gates, and the final exit into Gotham City.

I smiled to myself, patting the interior of the plant as it slinked back to the earth, pulling it and I underground, before re-emerging in Robinson Park. Freedom felt good, the fresh breeze on my face and the brightening of my chlorophyll in my skin was almost as good, but something peaked just over that: I'd finally made a dependable friend. A doctor gone off her trolley from the looks of things, and wrapped up with that mad clown in a way I didn't even want to think of, but a good friend who had felt me feel more comfortable in a place I couldn't escape from. Maybe it was fitting that the doctor actually helping and sympathising with patients turned out to be destined to be a patient all along, but hmph I expected more.

Nevertheless, it was my kind of happy ending.