CHAPTER SEVEN
"So, Red, any idea where this leads?" Harley asked as she crawled along the vent shaft with Ivy following close behind her.
"Some where above where Joker is."
"So, what's the plan? We just zip line down in front of him?"
"No. You can appear in front of him, I will continue down here untill I find the vent that leads me to the side of the mall."
Harley frowned and she stopped crawling.
"And how do I just appear in front of him?"
"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there." Ivy said vaguely.
Harley started crawling then stopped again.
"When we get where?"
Ivy gave her a shove and clenched her teeth in annoyance.
"Will you just stop asking questions and keep moving?! My God woman, how in the hell does Joker put up with you?!"
Harley grinned and started crawling again.
"Coz he loves me."
Ivy rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, well he's never spent more than five minutes alone with you in a vent shaft."
Harley giggled and carried on crawling.
It felt like they'd been crawling forever until Harley stopped, letting out an excited giggle.
"What now?" Ivy asked tiredly.
"There's this gate type thing in the floor and I can see Joker."
Ivy's eyes lit up.
"Brilliant! Can you open it?"
Harley nodded, reaching out to it and pulling it off of it's holding, letting it fall back on the other side of the shaft.
Harley frowned. It was a long drop.
"Uh...Red? How am I gonna get down?"
Ivy crept up behind Harley.
"It's all about faith, darling. Close your eyes."
Harley raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Just do it." The plant woman said with an exasperated sigh.
Harley did as she was told and closed her eyes.
"Think happy thoughts and after three, let out a calming breath."
Harley nodded and started counting to three but on two, Ivy gave her a hard shove and the blonde cried out in suprise as she fell through the hole and plummeted to the Mall floor.
Ivy grinned and then crawled back the way she'd come.
Joker looked up just in time to see Harley coming through the roof and he caught her just before she hit the floor.
Harley opened her eyes after the initial shock and saw that Joker held her.
Her eyes brightened and so did her smile as she hugged him tightly.
"Puddin'!"
Joker held her tight and wouldn't let her go.
"There you are! Oh baby, where did you go? I've been killing so many people just to find you!"
Harley looked at the people then and the bodies that surrounded them.
"Well here I am!"
Joker grinned.
"Yes you are!"
Harley gave him her sweetest smile.
"So can we go home now?"
Joker nodded.
"Yes, of course we can go home."
"And you won't kill anymore people?"
"Not tonight, no."
Harley smiled, her white teeth flashing.
Then she turned to where she had seen Ivy scale down the wall out of the corner of her eye.
"Red! Hey Red! You can come out now! He said he won't kill nobody!"
The red head rolled her eyes as she crouched down in her hiding place.
Joker's head came up quick, anger shining bright in his eyes.
"She's here?" He growled.
Harley nodded happily as Joker gently put her down.
"Yeah and hey, about the whole kidnapping me thing, Mista J. It was fine, we had a lovely time! She's my friend!"
"IVY!" Joker roared.
The red head stepped out of hiding and looked at him.
Joker glared at the plant loving woman.
"All of this happened because of you...give me one good reason why I shouldn't gun you down like the rest of them."
Ivy shrugged.
"I don't have one."
Joker grinned and aimed his gun at Ivy.
"I was so hoping you'd say that."
He aimed his gun at her and fired once.
Harley screamed as the bullet flew through the air straight towards it's target.
Ivy closed her eyes and didn't move...but someone did.
When the red head opened her eyes again, she saw one of the hostages laying on the floor. An elderly woman who Ivy didn't recognize.
Ivy crouched down beside her.
"Why did you do that?"
The eldery woman smiled weakly up at her.
"To show you that humans are not all the same."
Ivy's eyes shone with tears.
"You-you don't even know me."
The woman nodded.
"But I know what you think of the human race. If my last act on this earth has changed your perception of us, then I will be happy with that."
A tear fell down Ivy's cheek as she bowed her head.
"It has..."
Harley looked at the scene before her in shock.
Joker looked suprised too.
"Please, Mista J...can we go home now?"
Joker nodded his head slowly.
Ivy stood and glared at Joker's retreating back.
"You're a dead man, Joker!" Ivy shouted at him, anger fueling her rage.
He ignored her and carried on walking.
Harley turned around and gave her friend a sympathetic look.
Ivy panicked. If he could do that to an innocent elderly woman, what would he do to Harley? The woman he claimed to love.
"He'll kill you too, Harley."
Harley stopped and looked back at Ivy.
"He loves me."
Ivy watched as Joker stood at the blonde's side.
"As long as he remembers that when he's got a knife to your throat."
Joker grinned and Harley looked up at him.
"We're getting married...aren't we, Puddin'?"
He nodded.
"Of course we are, honey."
Ivy's lips curled back into a snarl.
Lies. All of it.
She watched as the new King and Queen of Gotham left the mall behind.
Ivy sat on the roof top of Arkham Asylum. Why she chose this building, she didn't know. Maybe it was because the people inside were just as broken as she was feeling right now.
The Bat had gotten free, with some help and he now stood beside her.
"I wanted to thank you for upholding your end of the bargain."
Ivy shook her head as she stared at the horizon.
"I wish I hadn't."
"You saved countless lives."
"But one lost her's to save mine. She didn't even know me." Ivy said, her voice unsteady and uneven.
Batman frowned.
"Has that changed things for you?"
Ivy looked straight up at him.
"More than I ever thought possible."
She stood after a moment's thought and looked the Bat right in the eye.
"I want to help them. The people of Gotham. I want to protect them against people like Joker."
"And Harley." He countered.
Ivy shook her head.
"No, she's not like him. She can pretend all she likes but Harley is not evil."
Batman nodded.
"If that's what you want."
"I owe it to that woman. I know it will be hard at first. Living a life of crime all these years only to want to turn it all around, it will be difficult but I'll just keep thinking of that selfless woman...and then I'll know why I'm doing it."
Batman nodded.
"And how would you like to start this new life of yours'?"
Ivy's green eyes hardened.
"I'm going to kill Joker."
END
Author's Note- Hope you guys enjoyed this. I've never really thought Poison Ivy was that evil and this was a chance to turn it around. Thanks for reading. X