Life's a Croc part 1

It's been a quiet evening in Gotham as nothing much seemed to be going on in terms of illegal activities. Either crime decided to practically take the night off or it's being a little smarter on how to approach things. Though with how the city is, it's probably the latter.

But it didn't matter on either option as something bad was making its way into the city. It wasn't coming in by land, so any wheeled vehicles were out. It definitely wasn't coming in through the air, so planes are out as well. That only left the sea.

Question is: what exactly is coming in through Gotham Harbor to warrant your attention? It could be one of the several shipping boats entering and docking at the pier. It could be an unsuspecting boat trying to smuggle in illegal products to the Gotham Black Market…

Or it could be the large silhouette that is making its way through the city's water channels from underneath the watery surface.

...Definitely the last one.

This thing was swimming on through as it momentarily broke through the surface to get a bit of fresh air. Not much could be seen with how light wasn't able to reach it, making it's features unnoticeable to any onlooker who so happen to gaze at the waterways below them.

Coming to the end of one of the water channels, the shadowy figure sunk back into the water. For a brief moment, nothing seemed to be amiss as the waters were calm. Though it quickly came to an end as the figure seemingly leaped out of the water and landed on the street above. A few cars started to swerve a little on the sudden arrival, but the figure leaped into the air to avoid getting hit.

It harshly landed on an incoming truck before jumping towards a nearby neon sign, to which the figure kept leaping towards other things in it's way. From a water tank, a billboard to even several rooftops. It's leaping bounds were rather grand as it kept running on through to explore the city, but stopped when hearing sounds of metal blades spinning against metallic bars before they crashed onto the cemented ground.

Turning it's attention to the source, it's eyes landed in an alleyway where a man wearing a ski mask jumped out of a hole in the wall. The man stayed still and held out his hand before motioning that the coast was clear. Wasn't long after when another pair of ski-masked men got out into the alleyway with several duffle bags around their shoulders.

Grabbing one of the bags from his pals, he spoke as he walked towards their getaway vehicle. "All right, we lay low until the heat's off. Then we move the rocks." He turned towards his two companions to see if they got the message, but didn't get a vocal or visual response. "We clear?"

"Crystal." One of them said before turning to his friend. "Freddy, you good?" Freddy didn't respond right away as they looked nervous rather suddenly. "Something wrong?"

"Speaking of heat, Vic."

Vic and the third robber didn't know what their friend was referring to until a large silhouette shined through the alleyway. They turned to the source and saw a hulking figure standing by a nearby rooftop.

"Oh, man. Is that the Bat or Vanitas?" Vic questioned as he pulled out his gun alongside the other two.

"I don't think it's either of them."

"Why'd you think that, Jim?" Freddy asked.

"One, Vanitas seems to be slimmer than the Bat. Two, where the hell are the bat ears in the shadow?"

Freddy and Vic looked at said shadow and saw what Jim was referring to. Whenever the Batman showed up with his menacing shadow, it would always spot the signature 'bat ears'. Though it seems it's absent here.

Before either of them could react, the shadowy figure leaped from his placement from the rooftop and harshly landed on the hood of their getaway vehicle. This practically damaged the car entirely as the thing squashed the engine, wrecked the axles and other major parts with just one move. As the figure stood up from it's haunched position, the three thieves took a good look on who decided to crash their escape.

It was definitely male, indicating from the 7.5 ft height with the matching build and weight. The light from the alley light shined across the man's hunched form to reveal green, reptilian features with his long snout, yellow slitted eyes and it's thick tail swishing from side to side. To finish off his look, he wore what appeared to be an opened, black leather vest with large khaki shorts with the ends mangled up.

The reptilian man merely smirked with a toothy grin before speaking in a Cajun, Southern accent. "Boys, I'm a whole different breed of animal."

"...And one butt-ugly hood ornament." Jim said in response as he moved his duffle bag behind him.

Seeing this happen, the crocodile man chuckled. Looks like y'all had a busy night." Stepping off of the wrecked vehicle, the large man stepped towards them in a slow pace. "That's good. 'Cause you're all working for me now."

This little proclamation got the three thieves to laugh amongst themselves. As it died down, Jim spoke up. "Gentlemen, show the walking freak show who's boss around here."

Dropping their bags, Vic and Freddy were about to go into action when the humanoid crocodile beat them to the punch. He practically leaped towards them and punched Freddy into the far wall at the end of the alleyway. And this was all before Vic was smacked into a nearby dumpster.

Seeing his little work done, the reptilian man stalked forward. "You city boys need to learn yourself some manners."

Jim was backed into a corner when the humanoid crocodile came up to him with his intimidating height. Swallowing a bit of breath in his mouth, the one robber spoke. "Who are you?"

This gave the much larger man a more toothier grin before answering. "Glad you asked. Name's Croc… Killer Croc, but you can call me 'boss'."

-The Dreaming-

The cityscape of the Dream world version of Gotham is as dark and desolate place, just like in the real world… except it seemed more dreary than one would realize. It reeked of the negativity and horrors that many Gothamites try to contain in their waking hours so they could hopefully live out a better day. But most of those suppressed feelings tend to seep out quite often, if not checked.

"...These guys are everywhere." Said the Green champion as vine tendrils pierced through several incoming, enemy Halbirds.

"You don't have to tell me twice, Red!" Cried out the cat-themed woman as her whip cracked against a Nightmare Zolephant's head before kicking away an Escarglow into Harley's mallet. Said Nightmare soon flew into a dark magical blast courtesy of the ashen child.

Reason why Nightmares are running amok and needed to be taken care of.

It was going to be a typical training session for Naruto, his girlfriends and his ward; which the later was finally brought in to join in on the experience after her reveal. Naruto wanted to see how Rachel could fair against a small number of Nightmares, under watchful eyes from the four adults. But it seemed to thrown out of the window with the unexpected horde that showed up later in their current visit in the Dreaming.

Spinning her large mallet around to destroy a few more Nightmares, Harley came to a recovery stop when she spotted something from the sky. "More birds are coming in from 6 o'clock!"

"Your 6 or our's?" Naruto yelled out as he shot down several, stampeding Pegaslicks with his void guns. As the pegasus-themed Nightmares perished, the Uzumaki spun around to search for the incoming targets only to be knocked to the ground with a snarling Keeba Tiger. This caused Naruto to release his hold of his weapons as he was forced to grasp on the massive fangs to keep the sabertooth Nightmare from chomping on his head.

"I'd like to stay alive, you ice aged kitty cat!" Naruto growled out before using a lot of his strength to turn the Nightmare's head around. The force of it caused the fangs to break off before Naruto had to stab them into its head, causing it to go up in dark smoke. "These are a pain to deal with."

As this went on, Harley had quickly scooped up her puddin's guns and fired the laser arrows at the incoming bird themed Nightmares from the sky before the resounding *click* could be heard. The changed psychologist clicked her tongue as she couldn't reload the weapons at all with her boyfriend the only one to do so.

"I could really use some help over here!"

"I'm coming, Selina!" Picking up her mallet from the ground, Harley dashed forward and bashed away several enemy Kyroos in her way. Coming in close to Selina, who was currently fighting against a Kooma Panda, the changed blonde jumped on top of nearby dumpster before leaping above the panda Nightmare. Once close, she slammed her mallet at it's head to smack it away into the nearby river.

"Thanks, Harl."

"No problem." Harley responded with a chipper tone before knocking the thief down to the ground as a Tyranto Rex flew over head and fell into the nearby river. The T-Rex Nightmare bursted out slightly before plant-like tentacles wrapped around it and brought it back down into the water to effectively drown it. "Seriously, Red! You could've warned us!"

"Sorry on that, girls, but it's somewhat hard to keep track with all this going on!" Responded the botanist as she whipped around punched a Ducky Goose Nightmare away that tried to attack her from behind. Shaking off the little pain in her wrist, Pam brought her hands to the ground and focused as a grouping of Cera Terrors came closing in. Roots sprung from the ground, skewering the Ceratop Nightmares with a twisted wave of wood.

As the dinosaur Nightmares went up in darkened smoke, the Green champion looked onward and saw Rachel getting tired from sending out magical blasts left and right as her Me Me Bunny and Majik Lapin Dream Spirits did their best to assist and protect her. Rushing towards her pseudo-ward, Pam quickly slid and shielded her when a few Aura Lions were ready to pounce on them. Just when they were almost close, several wind lances skewered the lot to leave the area vacant of any Nightmares.

"Man, that was a close one." Naruto breathed out as he recalled his lances towards him as they slowly encircled him. Looking towards his ward, he spoke to her. "Are you alright, Rachel?"

"Yeah, I am." She panted out from exhaustion. Seeing their boss feeling this way, the two bunny Dream Spirits came up to Rachel's side and soothed her as best as they can. "Thanks."

"Let me help you out with that." Pam said as she placing her hand onto the ground. Flowers sprung forth and released a plumb of spores around the ashen child as she breathed in the bits of nature. Before long, the magical child felt better as she was revitalized. "Hope that's better."

"It is, Pam." Turning to her guardian, she spoke. "What was up with those Nightmares, Naruto? You said we would've only faced a small number today."

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing." Said the resident blond as she and the thief came towards the others. "Not that I mind the extra fighting there, but Rachel hasn't had much time fighting as of late."

"Sorry about that girls, but I don't know what's going on." Scratching the top of his head, he continued. "There could've been an influx of negativity happening in Gotham or… or it could be because from where I'm at right now in the real world."

"With you being in Manhattan right now?" Selina guessed as she adopted a thinking pose. "Could be. I mean, we only had focused on things in one location as we're together."

It was then Harley spoke up as she added in her own thoughts. "But with you coming here to meet with us in the Dreaming from one of the most crime ridden and negative cities in the East Coast, why wouldn't additional Nightmares be showing up."

Naruto sighed out as it seems another fact about the Dreaming might've been learned just now. If he connects with others in a vast distance into the Dreaming, there might be a chance that more and stronger Nightmares might rear their ugly heads to cause them problems. Who knows for sure, but he'll need to get in contact with Lord Dream when he gets a chance or at least messaging him for a confirmation.

Getting out of his thoughts, he turned his attention towards his ward as she was petting her two bunny Dream Spirits. "Sorry that our training time had to end this way, Rachel. If I would've known this might've happened, then I wouldn't have brought you in."

Said child shook her head in response. "It's not your fault, Naruto. You wouldn't have even known in the first place."

"I agree. You shouldn't let yourself down on this. It's a simple mistake at best."

"Thanks Selina."

Harley soon grasped her boyfriend's hand and brought it up with her hands interlocking with each other. "So… Are you going to be getting back from your business trip in the Big Apple just in time for our big day tomorrow?"

Naruto gave her a soft smile before giving the same one towards his redhead lover as he grasped hers. "I promise, you two, I wouldn't miss your guy's birthdays at all. I'll try to get back as soon as possible and hopefully make it back tomorrow morning."

"I hope you do keep up with your promise, Naruto." Said the botanist as she started to tighten her hold on his hand, causing him to wince a little on the pain. "I know you do fulfil them, but this is our first birthday we're sharing with you and it would not be pleasant if you miss it."

Naruto shook his head as he felt a similar pain from the hand Harley was holding. Before long, the group started to be surrounded by light to indicate their time in the Dreaming was coming to an end. Harley did try to bring her lips onto his to get in a passionate kiss, but it seemed she lucked out as they quickly departed from the area.

-Waking World, Harley's Apartment-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP* *SMASH*

"AGH!" Harley groaned out as she opened her eyes from her slumber, which landed on her ruined alarm clock on her nightstand. "...Not another one…" This was practically the sixth or so alarm clock she destroyed all because of her enhanced strength. "I really should've bought them in blunk."

"You do know there are no such packages, Harley." Spoke Foxy the Pirate. "Both grocery stores and electronic stores do not sell them like that."

"You forgot Costco."

"...Right… I forgot... They bulk everything."

Harley nodded in her pillow before looking towards her fox plushie. "Why are you in the closet?"

The pale psychologist could practically feel the glare coming from Foxie. "You threw me in here in your sleep, again. You know how much I don't like being in here. It's cramped and there's not much for me to do exactly."

Harley scratched the back of her head as she let out a nervous chuckle. "Sorry."

"You said that fifteen times already for this situation."

"...Oops."

Harley yawned as she got out of bed before doing some of her morning stretches. Once done, she checked her cell phone to see the current time since she destroyed yet another alarm clock. Seeing it was roughly two hours before taking Rachel to school, possibly Artemis as well if Paula is fine with it today.

Heading towards the bathroom, with a change of clothes, her blue eyes briefly landed on the two children sleeping in her living room. Harley did see signs that Rachel was trying to go back to sleep after getting out of the Dreaming. The blonde woman chuckled a little on the habit the ashen child enjoyed having on times, but Harley knew she'll have to wake her up pretty soon.

As Harley got undressed and hopped into the shower, she thought back about the other day when her puddin's ward came out and revealed the little information she had magical powers to her and her two gal pals. It was a bit of a shock when hearing about the odd time-traveling situation in the 12th century that got Rachel to use her powers for the first time since who knows how long. Though the young ward didn't explain her origins yet again, at least opened up a big trait about herself to some people that she trusted very well.

'Though I'm glad she didn't bring this out to Artemis or else things would've been complicated.' Harley thought as the water rushed over her pale skin. 'Kids their age tend to be easy to spill the beans if it's something really awesome and spectacular and brag it onto others.' She chuckled at the thought, but worried a little with the idea of Rachel picked on a bit more than before because her gifts.

Rachel had been picked on several times so far in the past month since her first day of school, all due to her unique appearance. Harley was glad that Artemis helped defend her best friend on those past occasions, but it they were very minor. If the information of Rachel's powers came out, who knows how bad things will escalate.

Speaking of her magic powers, Harley thought about the time she somehow saw Rachel use it one time last month before knowing she had powers to begin with.

-Flashback Start-

It was a long day at work and Harley stopped by her puddin's place so see if they could see a movie together on the couch while all cuddled up after having a home cooked dinner. She looked around and saw Naruto must still be in the office or coming back home by now from the stormy weather going on outside. Just when she placed down her things, she heard something coming from upstairs.

"Agh-hh!"

'That sounded like Rachel.' Harley thought with a little bit of worry. 'I hope she's okay… Might've been the thunder and lightning flashing by her window and gave her a spook.'

As she climbed the stairs, the blonde heard something coming from inside of the ward's room. "...But I don't want to scream at them."

'Is she talking to Artemis or Perdita over the phone again? And what's this about 'screaming at them'?' Coming to Rachel's bedroom door, she knocked a few times before opening it. "Everything okay in here, Rachel?"

Rachel didn't respond, at first, as her back was facing the psychologist. Though there seemed to be a odd feeling of malice in the air that seemed to creep out the older woman. Especially with the shadows of the room seemingly moving on their own for some reason. Before Harley could comment about it, Rachel quickly turned around and yelled at her. "Get the hell out, Harley!"

'WOAH! Where did this come from?!' Harley thought with widened eyes. Shaking her head, the psychologist portion of her being took over. "Do you need to talk to me about something, Rachel? I'm willing to listen."

All of a sudden, the room darkened and the flashes of thunder coming from the window played with her eyesight. For some reason, Harley saw dark tendrils whipping around Rachel's form and her eyes were glowing red.

"I said: GET OUT!" Was what the ashen child said in the scariest tone imaginable as the room shook.

The professional part of the blonde quickly hid inside of her mind in terror alongside all of her other parts of her personality. Harley freaked out and yelped out in odd, comedic terror before closing the door. As the blonde got down the stairs, she heard Rachel crying in her room.

-Flashback End-

'...That did explain why Rachel freaked out on me that time.' Harley thought as she shook a little on the memory. 'She was on her first period and her powers did not react well as a result.'

Sometime after Naruto came back home, Harley lunged at him and frantically told him what happened. The pair did comfort the ashen child as Rachel apologize for yelling out at her pseudo-guardian. Thing things got awkward when things were realized on what Rachel was finally going through at her age and even more so when the two adults had to give her the dreaded 'talk'.

Though this didn't explain on what Harley saw that evening, until learning about Rachel's gift as things became somewhat clearer.

Stepping out of the shower and drying off, Harley started to apply her cosmetic covering over her pale skin so she may appear normal to the general populace. It would normally take roughly ten or so minutes to get herself ready, depending on how much exposed skin she needs to apply, but today she plans to just cover up her lower arms and from the neck up as per usual. With how chilly things are lately, she needs to bundle up from the growing cold.

Getting out of the restroom with her current attire; which consisted of flannel lining jeans, a red and black button up shirt with a black long sleeve shirt underneath. She foregone her contacts as she wore her glasses to keep up with her typical appearance, especially since the last time she wore contacts with this much make up made her eyes sting from some powder getting on her optics.

'Should start making breakfast now so the girls could start getting up and get ready for the day.' Harley thought as she started making homemade blueberry waffles with sides of bacon. 'This'll definitely get them rolling out of their impromptu beds.'

It didn't take long when the smell of cooked bacon filled the air of Harley's apartment as Artemis and Rachel started getting off the couches. "Mmm~ What smells so good?" Artemis asked in a drowsy tone.

"It's breakfast." Harley replied from the kitchen. "Now get up and start getting ready for school or else I'm gonna gobble these up."

Artemis went to go use the restroom first, leaving Rachel behind in the living room. "So…"

"So, what Rachel?"

"What are you going to be doing today?"

Harley shrugged as she poured the waffle batter into the waffle iron. "I don't have work today, so I'll probably run some errands after I possibly drop you, Arty and Jade off at school today. And later, I'll pick you guys up with Paula and Laurence out of town for work."

Rachel nodded as she saw Artemis come out of the restroom, showing that it was her turn to use it. When the blonde child sat by the kitchen counter, she spoke. "Morning, Auntie Harley."

"Morning Arty. Had a good sleep?" Artemis nodded as she munched on a piece of bacon. "And do you have your homework ready for today?" Another nod was received. "Good to know, kiddo."

It wasn't long before Rachel came back out and sat alongside her best friend. The two grade schoolers started eating their breakfast as Harley went to her door to pick up her morning newspaper before going back inside. As she ate her morning meal, Harley read the paper and saw an article bringing up that nine robberies took place last night and the robbers were able to get away.

'Seems Brucey can't be everywhere and take care of them as the Big Bad Bat, I suppose.' Mused the psychologist as she ate more of her waffles. 'Hmm… Jewelry stores, explosives, water skis and scuba equipment… pretty spread out by Gotham Bay and the canals.'

"Can I read the funnies, Harley?"

Snapping out of her thoughts for a brief moment, Harley quickly handed the comic strips section of the newspaper and gave them to her surrogate niece before resuming her reading. She figured that there must've been some connection to these heists if they were all done last night in such an area. Maybe she could contact Bruce and see if he knows about these or not.

She did figure that if her puddin was still in town, these robberies might not have happened at all. But he is out of town for an important business meeting in the Big Apple and needs his full attention over there. It would've been better if he could've just sent a clone over there, but he keeps saying he can't always rely on them for everything since he's been used to that for over a decade.

Regardless of the situation, someone should take care of these string of robberies before they continue and Harley might take matters into her own hands.

'I mean, I've been training with puddin and the girls for a long time now in the Dreaming and I could possibly hold out on my own.' Harley thought as she finished up the rest of her meal before washing the collected dishes. 'Maybe I could look more into it since I have the day off.'

As the two grade schoolers were getting ready for the day, Harley went over to her neighbor's apartment and used the spare key Paula gave her. Once inside, she went to check on the older Crock girl to see if she was already up. Just when she was about to knock on Jade's door, it opened up to show the ravenette teen with a slight drowsy look in her eyes as she wore a black t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

"Harley?" Jade asked in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Just seeing if you were up or not, sleepyhead." Replied the changed psychologist. "Anyways I got a plate of blueberry waffles and bacon in my apartment with your name on it."

The Crock teen blinked a little more when hearing this. "Oh, thanks."

"Well get ready for school and head to my place so I can take you alongside Arty and Rachel."

Jade nodded before making her way to use the restroom and shower to get ready for the day. When the door closed, Harley was about to head out of the Crock residence when she smelled something odd coming from the shared bedroom of the two sisters. Curiosity got the better of her and checked inside to see the slight mess on Jade's half of the room.

'Seriously, she needs to clean up better or at least open a window.' Harley sighed out in thought before picking up some of the thrown clothes off the ground and place them into the laundry hamper. 'I lived with a few brothers and I always tried to clean things up when I was at her age. Hell, even with Ino alive back then, we tried to keep things in a better appearance.'

Just when Harley finished getting the room somewhat cleaned up, the blonde saw something peculiar in between the mattress and bed support of Jade's bed. 'Hello, what's this?' Lifting up the mattress, she saw that it was a copy of Icha Icha Paradise. '...This isn't Paula or Laurence's copy. Looks brand new.' She then saw what appeared to be a bookmark sticking out. Opening to the desired page, Harley saw the bookmark was a picture of Naruto.

'Why does Jade have have a picture of puddin as her bookmark?' Was Harley's thought before things slowly started to come together. The specific book on hand… the odd smell in the room… Naruto's picture…

...

…..

…..

…..

'...OH SHIT!' Harley mentally yelled out as she dropped the book onto the floor. Seeing what she's done, the psychologist scrambled and picked it up before seeing the Naruto bookmark was not there. 'CRAP! CRAP! CRAP! Jade's gonna know I saw this!'

Getting onto her hands and knees, Harley looked underneath the ravenette teen's bed and saw the picture was there. Picking it up, she scrambled onto her feet and quickly turned the pages to find the specific spot where the bookmark was placed. She somehow remembered the section from a brief glance as she read that several times before. But she ended up dropping the book… again(!) upon realization.

'Seriously?!' Harley thought with widened eyes. 'She's into that?!'

She soon heard the shower turn off, causing Harley to quickly put the book away in its proper hiding spot and getting out of the bedroom. Just when she got into the hallway, Jade stepped out with a bathrobe to cover her damp body. When she was about to go into her room, she saw her surrogate aunt was still in the family apartment.

"...Why are you still here?"

Harley froze on the spot before turning around with a nervous chuckle. "Sorry, Jade."

"You still didn't answer my question." Said the Crock teen in a tone that was scarily similar to how Paula says it. "Why are you still here?"

"...I was cleaning up your room." Was Harley's answer, which caused Jade to narrow her glance on not liking the response. "What. It was pretty dirty and things somewhat went autopilot. Give me some slack."

"...I can clean up after myself." Jade soon walked into her room and closed the door so she can change before speaking through the door. "Just don't do this again, Harley!"

Harley nodded before making her way out of the Crock residence to get back into her home. There she saw Rachel and Artemis sitting in front of the TV and watching some morning toons before it was time for them to go to school. Wasn't much longer before Jade showed up, ate her breakfast and joined her sister and the ashen child in the psychologist's car to get to their respective destinations.

-Gotham Botanical Gardens-

"...I believe we're close, Pamela." Said the hispanic scientist as she removed herself from the microscope.

Placing her eyes on the microscope, the redhead saw the results and gained a small smile. "I think you are right, Luisa."

"Then this means the next stage could possibly start now."

"I hope your right, but the stage is still different from bigger samples and ratios I desire to use." Moving away from the microscope, Pamela went to the sheet and wrote down the details. "Other than that, everything is still theoretically sound."

"And when will you start up the next phase?"

"Hopefully soon. I just need to get the other samples to initiate the process."

Taking a sip of her drink from her favorite mug, Luisa spoke the next question in mind. "And will you hand me one of the results when they become stable? So I can properly observe it as an outside source?"

"I will, Luisa, since you've been patient with me every step of the way on this joint project of ours."

The botanical garden supervisor smiled a little. "Well it's the least I could do since you've been a big help in many of my transgenic experiments here and unraveling many secrets of the flora."

Pam was going to speak up when someone arrived into the lab with a knock at the entrance. "Hope I'm not interrupting something."

Turning around, the two scientists saw Victor Lee. He's the head administrator here at the labs and right hand man of Dr. Eric Grimley, who is the chair of the research department. Victor is a man in his thirties with slicked light brown hair and blue eyes that typically wore a brown suit. Both of the female scientists tolerated the man with how noisy he tends to be to please Grimley, but he does his job well to keep the labs afloat with how much funding the place gets.

"No, not really Victor." Luisa stood up from her chair before stretching a little with how stiff her back was. "We're just finishing up some research for a project of ours."

"That's good to know." Said the lab administrator. "Though I do hope it would be good to help get things more noteworthy for the gardens."

Pam scoffed a little as she knew Victor meant to say that it would make him and Grimley look better in the scientific community. The two heads were pretty sexist when it comes to female workers. They do tolerate Luisa since she's practically the best scientist here in the gardens and wouldn't want her to leave or else funding for the place would drop. Though Pam could somewhat let things slide towards Grimsley since he's in his late 80's and is very old fashioned to think that women should not be in the scientific world, especially plant sciences.

"Well if you go over to the side of the room, you'll see the rats are showing good signs of improved health, Mr. Lee." Said the Green champion as she showed the Head Administrator some of their test subjects. "All of the past ones we tested died within a few weeks or so, but these little guys are showing improved results as they're surviving more than just a month so far. Theoretically these guys might end up living up to a year, practically double their life spans."

"Hope you're right on this, Dr. Isley, since this'll make a lot of people happy with better lives."

"True, but this is just lifespans. Talking about curing diseases would be a different ballgame with this specific project you're seeing right here."

Victor pursed his lips at this but shook his head in understanding. "So speaking of diseases, any developments with the assignments on those?"

"Indeed we have, Mr. Lee." Dr. Cruz said as she came up to Victor's side. "If you'll follow me, I can show you the results so far."

As the two left Pamela's lab, a familiar voice broke the momentary silence. "Seems I gotcha at the right time, Red."

Turning her attention to the nearby window, Pam saw her former doctor and close friend crouched on the window sill. "What are you doing here, Harl?"

"Oh just stopping by to see if you'd like to have lunch with me." Came the psychologist's response as she shook her lunch bag in front of her.

Looking towards the nearby clock, Pam saw that it was indeed the typical time for her to have her lunch time. "I don't see why not. I need to take a break anyways." Hearing this made Harley smile as she got off the window sill and walked towards her gal pal. "Though I do have to ask, but why did you go through there instead of the typical manner."

Harley giggled as she had her hands behind her head with her lunch bag dangling from behind. "You gotta admit that seeing puddin's memories of Jiraiya doing that was pretty cool."

Pam rolled her eyes in response as she grabbed her things. "Of course you'd think that."

"...I've been meaning to ask you this, but are you some kinda reverse-vegan carnivore? 'Cause you're friends with plants, yet you eat them?"

Blinking at this, Pam answered. "I am friends with the Green as I draw my strength from them as any species should. After all, I need to eat to keep myself active."

"Then you admit you're a carnivore in a vegan sense."

"Aren't we all, Harl?"

"Then what do you eat really?"

The redhead soon smirked. "These days, mostly sunlight."

"...Figures with you being part plant."

As they rounded the corner, they nearly bumped into someone. "Whoa there."

Seeing who almost ran into them, the redhead groaned. "What do you want, Winston?"

Winston is one of the scientists here at the botanical gardens. With his smooth blonde hair and thin beard, he could be charming with the blue eyes of his. Though the smile on his face screamed cocky attitude that would turn many women off.

"Oh, just wanted to see if you'd like to have lunch together."

"Sorry, but I'm having lunch with my friend here."

Turning towards the female blonde, the male scientist smiled a little. "Hello there, gorgeous."

Harley blinked a few times when seeing the man act this way, causing her to know what his intentions are. "Sorry, but I have a boyfriend. But nice try on laying the moves there."

"Sorry then." Was all the man said before he walked past them.

Seeing the man go down the hall, Harley spoke the question on her mind. "What's up with him?"

"Winston? Well… He's typically the 'office pig'." Responded the botanist as the pair went down the hallway.

"Oh~ So he tries to bang anything with a vagina then."

"Exactly. And it gets so damn annoying when he hits on every female worker here. We all tell this to our bosses, but Grimley and Victor keep ignoring this since he's a 'good asset' to the gardens."

"That sucks." Harley said with pity in her voice. "Had to deal with that one time with one of our docs at Arkham and he got suspended for a week because of what he did."

It didn't take long for them to reach the cafeteria where the pair sat at the far off corner to have a nice conversation. As Harley ate her sub sandwich she prepared last night, Pam was eating a seafood salad she purchased from the cafe workers. They were having a pleasant time together before things changed into other subjects.

"...Did you know Jade possibly has a crush on Naruto?"

Pam blinked a few times on the question. "Your surrogate niece and neighbor right? Well I don't really know why you're bringing this up." She said before taking a bite out of her meal. "And why do you assume she has a crush on Naruto anyways?"

"...Let's just say I found some interesting stuff in her shared bedroom that highly suggests that."

"Like what exactly?" Asked the botanist as she took a sip of her drink.

"Oh, I don't know. How about a copy of Icha Icha Paradise in between her mattress and bed support."

"That doesn't really prove that your neighbor really likes Naruto, Harl. I mean, from what I've been told, your surrogate nieces do like him being around them and whatnot. All that book proves is that she's just curious about her body right now and wanting to explore it."

"Then-Then what about the picture she has of him as her bookmarker?" Harley asked in a low, yet harsh, whisper. "Or even the section she has his picture at?"

This got Pam a little concerned now, but not in the way you think. "First off, where she has the picture at isn't really of concern as she could possibly be reading along the book at the time. Hell I pretty much use a bookmark to keep my place of reading when I want to come back to it later. What you would be concerned about is if the series of pages were a little too worn out to show how frequent she reads it."

"But what about-?"

"As for the picture, I can understand Jade might indeed have a crush on Naruto. It's perfectly healthy for her to feel that way at her age. Like, did you have a crush on a teacher or some rockstar when you were at that age and thought he was perfect? Even someone at your age?" Harley couldn't give out a verbal answer, only a subtle nod. "So I think it's fine for Jade to maybe have a crush on Naruto. Might be a simple phase for all we know."

"...You seem rather fine about that, dontcha Red?" Asked the blonde in deadpanned tone with a narrowed glance. "You feeling rather fine that my cute little niece is seemingly corrupted because of puddin, huh?" She then let out some small sobs that would've been believable if Pam didn't know her friend all that well. "Where did I go wrong? Was it just introducing Naruto to Jade just to have him be her sexual awakening? I have a feeling Paula will blame me for that..."

Pam merely sighed as she heard her friend continue to rant, which soon became comical in nature. Going in odd fantasies like Jade getting seduced by Naruto or the other way around, in which causes some big fiasco that would ruin his credibility. Then going as far as Jade getting pregnant and having to rely on him being her sugar daddy among other things.

Getting tired from hearing the odd, random ideas that were seemingly pouring out from the blonde's mouth, the botanist interrupted her friend with the obvious question. "Are you done?"

Harley stopped her rants before shaking her head a little. Knowing that she won't get anywhere else with the subject, despite how ridiculous it is now, the psychologist decided to move on as she spoke in a whimsical tone. "So what do you think we'll get from puddin tomorrow? I hope he gets me something awesome like a bazooka or a tank."

"...I really hope that was just your childish nature speaking or else I'd be really concerned."

The psychologist puffed her cheeks before looking away. "You'd say that since all you might get is something boring. Besides, he has connections with Kurama. Puddin could ask him to get me one of 'em as a birthday or at least a Christmas present."

"Riiiight." Came the drooled out response.

The changed blonde then went into a somber tone. "But seriously, Pam, what do you think we'll get?... Or if he'll actually show up like he promised?"

Seeing this change made the redhead feel very concerned. "Is something wrong, Harl?"

Letting out a small sigh, Harley answered. "You can say that, Red." Putting the last portion of her meal down, she continued. "As far as I can remember, I've always had crummy birthdays. I still have the emotional scars from when I was five with my dad in jail as he promised me he'd be there for my special day."

"...Harley, I'm sorry."

"I mean, sure, my big sister Ino was there to help support me alongside my mom. But things could only go so far from someone you expected to be there to make things better. And when Ino died around my one birthday, I felt I wasn't going to be having any good ones for a while. Even my rotten brothers made my sweet sixteen a total bust with the 'worst sister ever' shirt they got me while eating the entire cake mom got me without me getting a single slice."

"...There must've been at least one good birthday, Harl?"

The blonde faintly smiled. "There were from when I got into college and started dating Guy. Those few birthdays were the greatest as I felt really happy on my special day." Soon her smile died on the coming memories. "But the birthday I had after Guy died made me quite depressed. Luckily for me, Paula did her best to make my birthdays memorable after I became her neighbor as she and her girls celebrate it with me."

Pam leaned back and let out a sigh. "I can understand where you're coming from, Harl. I wasn't able to have any good birthdays as well for a long time after my mother died. Even when my father made my day worse, she'd always be there to cheer me up and make it better. But after she passed away, it was hard for me to get a good time to celebrate it properly. And as years flew by, I just ignored it and thought of it as another regular day with no much importance to celebrate it."

"I somewhat feel ya, Red." Said the psychologist before she smiled a bit better. "But I hope this year could be different for the both of us. I mean we could practically be sisters with us having our birthdays right next to each other. Heh, might as well share the same day."

"Well we could consider ourselves sisters with us sharing the same man, you know." Pamela said as she resumed eating her salad. "But you should realize, Harley, that Naruto has made us feel really happy since he came into our lives. Always being there when we needed him most and he'll always love and care for us no matter what."

"Heh… You're pretty right on that, Red… I just hope tomorrow would be different from all the rest."

"I'm positive it will. Just you wait and be patient." Pam said as the two went back to finish up their meals. "I'm sure that he'll take us out to town and we'll enjoy ourselves. And as for gifts, I'm quite sure he'll spoil us rotten with what he possibly has for us."

"Heh~ You're probably right."

By the time the pair finished their lunches, they were walking through the main corridor. Before either of them went off in their separate ways, Harley spoke. "Hey, Red."

"Yeah."

"Do you have plans for tonight?"

"No, why?"

"Well~ I was wondering if we could have a girls night. Just you, me and Selina."

"But what about Rachel and Artemis? Who's gonna watch them?"

"I'm probably sure Jade could watch over them at puddin's place. I think she wouldn't mind."

"Oh~ So you don't mind having your 'niece' staying over at the home her crush resides for the evening?" The botanist asked in a joking tone, which got a little rise from her friend as many naughty thoughts ran through the blonde's head. Before long, Pam could practically see her reddening face underneath all that makeup with steam coming out of her ears.

"S-SHUT UP, PAMMY!"

-Evening, Gotham Harbor-

The sun had set nearly an hour ago as darkness reigned over the skies above. Setting the usual, dreary tone Gotham was most known for. But over by the harbor, things were seemingly quant as ship bells were run and horns were blowing into the night. The waves rocked back and forth against all of the ships entering and leaving the area.

*Retching* "Oh god, this sucks!"

Though this ended up causing problems for a particular blonde haired woman as she leaned over the rowboat, upchucking her evening meal.

"How is it that despite you getting Red's serum in your body, you are still seasick?"

"I don't know, Kitty, but- *Retching*... it seems that I'll have this no matter what." Harley answered as she coughed out the last of the bile from her mouth.

"I'll try to figure something out to get that taken care of for you, Harl." Pamela said as she saw her blonde friend swish water into her mouth to clean it from the remaining puke.

"Thanks, Red."

Looking from her spot on the rowboat, that was miraculously big enough to fit all three of them, Selina briefly looked away from her binoculars to look at her blonde friend. 'I still can't believe Harley was able to rope us into doing this with her.'

You might be wondering why Naruto's three girlfriends are at this location in the first place. Well… You can thank Harley for that. Especially with their current attires to hide their identities, except for Selena for obvious reasons.

You see, she did get Pam and Selina to do a 'girl's night' and the pair expected to just go to the Stacked Deck and get hammered after going out to a nightclub or something in that nature if they wanted to go wild. Either that or just watch some romantic movies to make them ball into tears as Jade watched Rachel and Artemis in Naruto and Pam's loft.

That wasn't the case, however, as they met up in Selina's place and they saw Harley in an interesting attire they never saw her in before.

It appeared to be a modified variant of a female motorcyclist pants and jacket with it primarily in a red/black color scheme to compliment the diamond designs. The inlining had kevlar weave on both articles of clothing helped protect the wearer from many forms of attack. If looking a bit closer, there would be some additional armor shown but somewhat hidden in the design.

The jacket was short sleeved but arm bracers connected the slightly poofy sleeves to the elbow length leather fingerless gloves to make the jacket appear fully sleeved with several straps to snug the clothing in tight. The Jacket also had small golden spikes around the chest area with the words 'Kiss This' on the back.

The black leather pants was slightly red on the one leg while the opposing leg had a pair of daggers strapped to the thigh with a third dagger strapped below the knee and right above the left boot. The leather boots were one inch thick heeled cowboys with the left being red while the other was black. The red boot had flaps folding into itself while the black had straps going up to the knee. The boots had spikes along the vents and there was a cowboy spinner spike on the black boot.

To finish off Harley's attire, a thick black domino mask covered up a good portion of her face with black and red clothes wrapped around her high pigtails. She wore a white t-shirt with three four sided diamonds on top of each other in a diamond formation with the middle being red and the others black. Harley had a utility belt around her waist that had holsters on each side to carry her handguns that fired non-lethal rounds. And lastly, there was a black choker around her neck hiding a voice modulator installed to disguise her real voice.

(It's Harley's Insurgency outfit from Injustice 1 with some obvious alterations.)

When asked on how Harley acquired the outfit, the pale blonde said she found a package inside of her apartment with both the outfit and equipment inside. A note was addressed to her from Kurama, stating that the contents was his gift to her for not only payment on the psychologist sessions he had with her, but also for her being good support for his former 'landlord'. Harley enjoyed it a lot and couldn't wait to try it out, especially with her 'girls night'.

Speaking of 'girls night', Pam and Selina asked Harley why she was in the attire in the first place. The pale blonde stated she wanted to go investigate the break-ins from last night by checking out the harbor for any suspicious activities. Proposing the idea would be great bonding time for them since they don't do much in the real world as fighting in the Dreaming didn't really count in her opinion.

Both the thief and botanist were going to decline the offer and do something else instead. But they soon stopped their personal discussions when they heard something coming from Harley. Looking towards the pale blonde, their hearts skipped a few beats as their eyes started to water.

At first, it was her dreaded 'puppy dog pout' as it was hard to resist for most. But then it escalated as her pure blue eyes shedded hurtful tears down her face. It as like all of the pain she experienced in life was brought forth at that very moment, causing Pam and Selina to ball their eyes out. They soon caved into the psychologist's demands while hugging their dear friend with all their might for comfort.

'Damn Harley and her 'nuclear option'.' Were the thoughts the Red and Green champions unknowingly shared. 'She better not use that against us ever again or else she'll be in so much trouble.'

"So Kitty, any sign of anything suspicious?"

Pulling back from her binoculars once more, Selina answered. "Nothing so far, Harl."

"Are you sure there might've been some connection to these robberies you checked up on?" Asked the botanist as she was currently in her Poison Ivy attire with her hair tied back into a ponytail. "They could've been just coincidences."

"I did, Red. I really did." Harley replied as she crossed her arms. "At first I thought they were like you said, but I checked each of the robberies. Gave me time to think things through that whoever are doing the heists would be hiding out somewhere here with their nest being in a good range where they could hit their targets rather quickly. So, if possible, we could either see them leaving their nest or returning to it."

"Well… It seems you might get your wish after all, Harl."

"Let me see that!" Shouted the blonde as she nabbed her dark haired friend's binoculars and shoved her out of the way. Ignoring the 'Hey!' aimed towards her, Harley looked through the specs to see the boat Selina was previously looking at. "Oh sweet! We got baddies robbing a shipping boat off the port bow!"

"Do you even know where the port bow is, Harley?" Asked the costumed botanist.

"Oh shut up and help me row, will ya?"

"Don't tell me to shut up."

Over on said boat, it was currently getting robbed by three men wearing black ski masks and clothing to hide their features. One was supervising some of the operations, one was getting the crew into the brig with guns pointed at their backs while the last one was working the crane to move the goods.

"Boss wants this swag loaded, Freddy! Pronto!"

"Yeah, I know Jim! You don't have to tell me twice! The boss'll get his shit like he politely asked!"

Pulling and pushing the levers, Freddy was operating the crane as he lowered their boss' desired target onto the getaway boat they precured last night. Tonight's target is a good buttload of oxygen tanks (among other things) the group didn't get the chance to previously snag, all due to either shops nearby not having any at all or further into the 'mainland'. And the boss didn't want to go further in as he prefered to stay closer to the bay.

Operating the crane once more, Freddy was lifting up the cable after he mechanically operated it's claw to let go of their acquired load. As it rose, the thief saw something very peculiar hanging onto the cable. At first, he thought it was the Batman with his larger frame, but it seemed to be three oddly dressed women bundled together.

Seeing the new arrivals, Jim couldn't help but speak out his thoughts. "Who the hell are you three supposed to be?"

It was the red and black themed woman who spoke first with a cheeky grin. "Why, we're the Sirens baby."

"The Sirens? Really, Harl?"

"What~? You don't think it's catchy?" Harley asked in slight confusion. "I mean, we're three very hot and dangerous women. Why wouldn't it be appropriate for our little team name?"

Ivy sighed as she shook her head. Before long, she jumped off the cable and landed on the boat with Catwoman and Harley not long after. "We'd like to have a word with this boss you boys mentioned."

Narrowing their eyes, Jim and Freddy moved from their places to teach these costumed broads a lesson. From Jim pulling out his knives to Freddy unholdersting his gun, they went on the offensive. Even Vic ran towards them, once he got outside from below deck.

Being the first to react, Harley ran forward to do a few handstand flips to help launch her forward and delivered a flying spear kick into Vic's ribs, which sent him flying backwards. The man tried to retaliate with a right cross once getting back up, but the costumed blonde quickly moved to the side, grasped his arm and performed a judo throw. Following through with her assault, Harley kicked his fallen form to leave him groaning in pain.

As this happened, Ivy and Catwoman teamed up to take care of the other two thieves on board with Freddy being quickly attacked by the cat burglar. As Jim tried to stab Ivy with his two knives, the Green champion ducked and weaved through his assault before coming in close and delivering an uppercut to the man's chin. Selina soon came towards him from behind and kicked his defenseless back before wrapping her legs around him. Using much of her strength, the Red champion was able to spin around on her hands and tossed the knife wielder into the gun wielder who was lying on the ground.

Unbeknownst to the thieves and to the Sirens, they were being watched from up above by a pair of reptilian eyes. They carefully studied these new arrivals to see what each were made of. Even as these costumed women took down his 'boys' like they were practically nothing.

'Seems it might be time to introduce myself.' Thought the anthropomorphic crocodile as he moved his way down below. 'Was expecting to face the Bat or Vanitas, but these women will suffice.'

Just when the Sirens were done taking out the trash, the three head a loud reptilian hiss in the air. "The hell was that?" Asked the masked blonde as she looked around for the source.

"Sounded like… a large alligator?"

"More like a crocodile, Ivy." Catwoman corrected, getting little looks from her gal pals. "Seriously? With my 'new' side job, I have to know different animal sounds for crying out loud."

The three then heard a throaty chuckle coming from the shadows as they turned to the source. "Must be some job, missy." When the figure made its presence known, the Sirens saw the hulking figure of a crocodile man giving the three a toothy grin. "And you are rather correct, for I am in fact a crocodile. Killer Croc to be exact." He then looked at the three as they stepped back in surprise at the mere sight of the new arrival. "My daddy used to say: 'You want something done right, best to do it yourself.' And it doesn't matter if I have to take of the problem if it's coming from a woman."

Rising his clawed hand, Killer Croc brought it down and slashed through several nearby oxygen tanks which sent them flying towards the girls. They had to quickly move out of the way from the large projectiles as they were going at fast speeds. Before long, the reptilian man slashed through several more of the tanks' nozzles to send them at the women's way. As they were distracted from their little dance, Croc lifted up a large stack of them which caused their rope bindings to break. The cannisters rolled across the boat's surface as the Sirens were distracted.

"Incoming!" Harley cried out as she used her acrobatic skills to flip over the containers. Catwoman leaped towards the side as Ivy had to roll out of the way. As the three were slightly distracted, Killer Croc came charging in and smacked the redhead off the boat. Seeing this, the masked blonde cried out for her friend. "Ivy!"

This moment let Harley wide open to Croc's assault as he slashed at her. Unprepared for the attack, the blonde was hit rather hard and fell back. She tried to recover, but was tackled to the ground by Croc's shoulder strike. He did not let up as he kicked Harley's fallen form hard, which resulted in rolling through the boat's opening and falling into the waters below.

It was so quick that Catwoman didn't respond fast enough to stop the crocodile man hurting her friends. She tried to retaliate by delivering several kicks and punches towards his sides, but his hide was rather dense to make him feel little to no pain. Before Catwoman could do anything else, Croc grasped her head and applied a lot of pressure onto it, causing her to cry out on the pain.

The reptilian man then gave her a cheeky grin before speaking in his gruntal, southern accent. "My turn."

Tossing her up into the air, Croc soon punched her stomach pretty hard as she went flying to the other side of the boat. The ravenette thief somewhat recovered by flipping in the air and landing on her feet. Before she could react quick enough, Catwoman was tackled off of the boat as Croc took her for a little swim.

Selina tried to break free from her opponent's grasp, but it was rather hard as his claws were starting to go through her suit and digging into her skin. The pain was starting to become a bit too much for her, causing her to gasp as she soon lost a lot of the oxygen in her lungs. Killer Croc continued swimming them down to the bay's bottom and kept her there to possibly drown the Red's champion.

Looking off to the side, Catwoman saw several oxygen tanks that sunk from above, which gave her a little idea. Needing to get out of her predicament, she struggled a little more before seeing Croc's exposed stomach. Taking a chance, she kicked it with all her strength which soon made the humanoid crocodile let go of her.

Not seeing if Croc was going after her, Selina swam towards one of the tanks and grew out her claws before puncturing the side to let loose the precious oxygen in the water. Selina then held on tight as the tank started to ride towards the surface. It wasn't long before she got out of the water and inhaled a large amount of air before falling back into the bay to continue gasping for her burning lungs.

Before long, Selina heard boat engines roar to life. Looking towards her side, she saw Killer Croc climb aboard with the three ski-masked men. They soon took off with the reptile man giving her his signature gin as they sped away in their getaway vehicle.

All that the environmentalist could do was glare while groaning in pain from the beating she received earlier. Before she could make any other moves, she felt a small tug on her arms as she was getting dragged through the water. Catwoman was going to retaliate and break free, but stopped when seeing Ivy and Harley sitting on a large lilypad.

"Are you okay, kitty?" Harley asked in concern.

"...I'd be lying if I did, Harl."

Seeing the damage onto Selina's suit and the exposed, bloody skin, Pam spoke up. "Let's get you patched up, Selina, at my place."

"You mean the loft? But what about Jade, Artemis and Rachel seeing us like this?"

"Who said anything about the loft?"

Before Selina and Harley could respond, the lilypad started to shake a little as it grew and expanded. The extra flaps started to close up on the three, like a venus fly trap, as the plant started to sink into the water.

-Gotham Sewers-

You could say you've hit the lowest of the low if you start living in the sewers. The filth, the grime, the death, it can be just all the same and no one would hardly give a damn about you in living in such conditions. Even if they do, it would be hard to possibly consider going into such places as they're hardly maintained at all with those assigned with such jobs.

Reason why the sewers are sometimes good hiding places for crooks, thieves and many shady characters if one wants to lie low for a time.

Rising from the water and walking to the dry dirt were Jim, Vic and Freddy as they currently wore scuba gear. This was to help them traverse through the old flooded pathways that connects from the harbor to their current location. It was stocked up with all of the supplies they procured since their 'boss' roped them into this series of jobs they were pulling since last night.

Taking off the oxygen nozzle from his mouth, Freddy coughed a few times before speaking his thoughts. "Boss Croc definitely does not have both oars in the water."

Vic nodded in agreement as he pulled off his mask and breathing equipment. "Yeah. And he calls this slime pit 'headquarters'. Place is practically a dump."

Dropping his supplies onto the nearby table, Jim turned around and addressed his fellow thieves. "Well, maybe you two should mention that to Croc. Me, I like my teeth just where they are."

Freddy scoffed. "Yeah, well, first chance I get, It's after a while, crocodile." He said before he saw the looks on his cohorts' faces. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"

There wasn't much of a vocal or visual answer as Freddy slowly turned around and saw the hulking figure of his new boss standing within a foot away from him. After releasing a few reptilian hisses, Killer Croc spoke with a small frown. "I sure do hate to see my boys so unhappy."

Freddy backed away several steps as he frantically waved his hands several times to somewhat dismiss his earlier comment. "Oh, not me, boss. I'm happy… as a clam."

Croc changed his frown into a smirk. "Good." Walking past him and and the other thieves to get to the work table, the reptilian man spoke while looking over several places laid out. "Now get ready boys. Because this time tomorrow, the tops of skyscrapers will be our lilypads and downtown Gotham will be our oyster."

-Pamela's Private Garden, Old Gotham Grand Greenhouse-

"Ow! Watch the needle, Harley!"

"I will, if you stop fidgeting!" Spoke the resident blonde as she grasped her friend's back to stitch up the final opening in her skin. "Would've finished this sooner if you didn't keep moving the entire time."

"Well… your bedside manner sucks."

"You're one to talk."

Standing nearby, Pam chuckled slightly at the scene before her. The group had arrived at her greenhouse outside of the city limits via plant transport. A Green technique she really likes having access to, but tries to not heavily rely on the higher tier version of it. Sure, she and several others could travel a fast distance by being consumed by a modified plant, like persay to the other side of the globe in several minutes. But Pam doesn't want to use it all the time or else she might become too lazy as a result.

Anyways, the reason why Pam brought them to the Grand Greenhouse was to help patch up and lick their wounds from their encounter with that anthropomorphic crocodile. Harley got a variety of bruises and a cracked rib. Pam got the least wounds of the group, but was knocked out for the rest of the fight until Harley helped wake her up so a lilypad would be formed underneath them. And Selina got the worst with deep, punctured skin alongside her shoulders and upper back region.

Neither of them could honestly go to a hospital or else things would get rather complicated. So to help out with this endeavor, Pam injected spores into her two friends so their bodies would heal a lot quicker than normal. Though by the end of whatever's currently going on, they'll need to have a lot of rest to feel properly at rest.

Once Harley finished up the last punctured hole, she applied the gauze wrap around her ravenette friend. "That's the last of 'em."

"Good." Standing up from the grass chair provided, Selina did some small stretches before putting her shirt back on. "Now I can go back out there and kick that croc's ass on my turf: dry land."

"Do you think that's wise, Selina?" Asked the resident botanist. "After all, you did get pummeled the worst out of the rest of us."

"We… well I underestimated him as I thought I could take him on alone." Replied the thief with crossed arms. "Especially since he took you two out rather quickly to leave me against him."

"And why couldn't you just use your additional skills against Crocy?" Spoke the psychologist. "You could've taken him down easily, I think."

"I'm still trying to handle them, Harl. I don't know the full limits of my abilities now from what Stopgap told me." Selina then stretched a little, but not too much to end up breaking the stitches already after being made. "Though I hoped the training in the Dreaming would've helped out."

Harley leaned back to think of this. "Maybe… Maybe all we've done in there was just mental training or something along those lines. I mean, we weren't fighting with our real bodies… So things wouldn't be effective in the real world than we thought, unless we actually trained while awake."

Selina groaned a little while hearing this. "Great~ Just great." Rubbing the temples of her head, she paced around the garden for a bit. "And here I thought doing all that fighting and training in there would count instead of just doing it while we're awake."

"Either that or you're just too used to fighting with others that you could've been a bit reliant on someone else helping out." Spoke the blonde as she plucked an apple from the nearby tree and took a bite. Once swallowing, she continued. "For a while now, we've fought alongside puddin and he's been more of the heavy hitter among us. Being there to deal out more damage than the rest of us and we possibly don't get the chance to really push ourselves."

Hearing this made Selina pause as she processed her friend's statement. 'She might not be wrong on that. Sure, I saw Harl push herself harder than any of us since she doesn't have powers and Pam could be second strongest amongst us right behind Naruto. So where does that leave me?'

Before either of them could continue their little discussion, Pam spoke up. "Girls. You might wanna see this."

Turning their attention towards the botanist, they made their way to her position to see what was displaying on the TV set Pamela hooked up into her garden. There they saw a news coverage with Summer Gleeson reporting. "...This was the scene moments ago as Gotham's financial district was hit by the largest flood in the city's history."

The Sirens then saw clips of the streets rapidly flooding and destroying many objects in their path. Cars were uplifted, people were swept away and countless other happenings. Each woman gained a worried look on their face and wondered what caused this to happen. Floods in this city would only happen after a heavy storm, but this was something else entirely.

"Emergency crews are now arriving to assist with the evacuation of local residents. The cause of the fl ood is still unknown. This is Summer Gleeson and we'll come back to you all on further details."

As the newscast ended, Pam turned off the TV set and walked away. Seeing this, Harley spoke up. "Where ya going, Red?"

"I need to help those people out." She responded as her Green champion attire went back onto her. "So are you going with me or not?"

Selena and Harley looked at each other before the blonde responded. "Well… this is what puddin would've done: help out 'em people."

Seeing as she was outvoted, the ravenette nodded before something came across her mind. "But how are we going to travel around on the water? It's not like we have jet skis or something for fast travel."

A thought then came to Harley's mind as she spoke in a cheerful tone. "But I do know who does have some lying around~"

-Gotham Financial District-

The moon was shining high above the chaotic city. Gothamites were doing what they can to save themselves from the flood that literally came out of nowhere. All concerns were placed towards the citizens above all else as their lives mattered more. This even meant leaving various places of value defenseless, ripe for the picking.

And this was what one band of thieves was currently doing for the third time in a row as they robbed one of Gotham's banks.

Breaking through the watery surface, Killer Croc and his underlings swam to their jet skis with various bags and containers of valuables. Each member of the group loaded up their cargo onto their modified water transports and secured them so neither of their acquired goods would fall off. Once done, they hopped onto their rides and started up their jet skis.

Looking at their goods, Killer Croc let out a deep chuckle. "Water, water, everywhere."

Just when the group was about to depart from the scene, they heard several engines coming towards them from the distance. They glanced around until seeing Catwoman and her masked blonde companion riding through the flooded streets with their own modified jet skis. And by the looks of it, they were wanting another go-around against Killer Croc and his boys.

Holding up his scaled hand, Croc signaled his boys to leave. They complied and roared their engines before making their way through the different flooded streets. Now that he was alone, Killer Croc revved up his jet ski engine before yelling at the two Sirens. "How about a little game of Chicken! Cajun style!"

"I'm all up for that, Crocky!" Cried out the blonde as she made her borrowed bat jet ski go a whole lot faster. "I wonder, do crocs taste better than beef and chicken?!"

Getting a little smirk on her lips, Catwoman responded to her friend's question. "I don't know, but let's find out!"

Despite having his challenging grin on his face, Croc's eye twitched on the little taunt. Clearly annoyed on that bit, he made his transport go faster. The three were coming closer and closer to each other. And before any of them knew it, they collided as the Sirens' clashed against Croc's jet ski on both sides.

With the speed on how each were going, Killer Croc was able to slip right through and sped away on the flooded streets. Making swift U-turns, the Siren pair quickly went right after the retreating crocodile man. Using a bit of nitro in their borrowed jet skis, Selina and Harley were able to catch up to their target within a yard range.

At one point in the chase, Killer Croc made a swift turn around a sunken building in hopes of losing the two Sirens. Seeing as she was falling behind Harley, who was barely able to keep up with the humanoid crocodile, Catwoman made a quick turn towards a slanted rooftop and used it as a ramp to gain a good amount of distance. This proved effective as she gained much ground and landed right next to Killer Croc.

Harley smiled a little that at least one of them was able to get close enough. When she was about to hit the nitro button again on the bat jet ski, she was knocked to the side. Looking to the source, she saw one of the masked thugs that were working for Croc.

He tried to reach towards her to possibly knock her over with a lead pipe, but Harley smacked the offending weapon away with a scowl. "Lay off, bub! I've only got one man in my life able to touch me and you ain't him!"

The thieve didn't listen as he kept trying to hit the masked blonde several times. Harley had to swerve around the man so she wouldn't get hit at all. It got to the point that she pulled out one of her handguns, loaded with non-lethal bullets, and started firing at the man. Seeing as things were getting serious, the thief pulled out his handgun and returned fire as both were missing while avoiding the other's bullets.

Back with the animal themed people, they were trying to take down each other and failed in the process. Killer Croc swung his arms several times as Catwoman was ducking every time she got close. When she did, Selina tried to hit his sensitive underbelly and joints with some kicks or punches, but he evaded just the same.

Though it came to an end when they turned the corner when Croc used his tail to hit Catwoman's transport, which caused her to swirve back into control. Using this opportunity, her opponent was able to smack her off her jet ski and into the water.

"Mind your cowl now!" Croc yelled out before he was out of sight.

Selina gritted her teeth and swam over to her jet ski. She was about to go after him when she saw Harley fighting against one of the masked thieves with a knife fight at this point. Selina huffed a little before turning her jet ski around and went after the pair. It didn't take long for her to reach the two with using a boost of nitro to get close enough to use her whip. And with a well timed swing, Catwoman's whip snagged the thief's arm before she pulled to get him into the water.

"So, Harl… did you have fun?" Asked the ravenette thief as her jet ski slowly drifted to her friend.

Letting out a few breaths, the masked blonde was about to respond when she heard splashing in the water. Looking down, Harley saw the thief was still awake. "Oh, give me a sec." Reaching down, she pulled the thief up a bit before delivering a hard punch to the face which rendered the man unconscious. "Okay, so… yeah, you can say that."

Catwoman chuckled a little before tapping her ear a few times to get a call patched through. After a few moments, she spoke. "Red, you there?"

"...Is this Selina or Harley? It's hard to tell with some static over the line."

"It's Selina, Pam. Water must've gotten underneath my headpiece and hit the device."

"Okay… Just don't know how well these earbuds work to tell who's who on the other end."

"Yeah, I think this might take getting used to."

"Even though we might not have them for much longer."

It was then Harley joined in on the conversation as she pulled the thief onto her borrowed jet ski. "Yeah… Especially since we're borrowing Brucey's stuff while he's out of town. And I have a feeling he'd want 'em back." Once the thief is fully out of the water, the masked blonde continued. "So, Red, how's the damming business coming along?"

Selina and Harley could practically feel Pam rolling her eyes at the bad pun the blonde pulled. "It's slow, but it's working to some degree. But with the constant flow of water, the streets are still flooding with water. And all of my vine dams can only hold back so much for so long as rescue teams are getting civilians to safety."

"Well that's good."

"So did you girls get Killer Croc?" Asked the Green champion, but didn't get a verbal response. "I'm guessing he got away then?"

"Yeah." Selina voiced before her eyes landed on the knocked out thief. "But we got one of his men. We'll get what information we can out of him before finding where the crocodile is resting."

"Okay. Keep me informed. And while you two take care of Croc, I'll keep holding up these dams and helping civilians."

"Good to know." Tapping her earpiece a few more times to end the call, Selina looked at her friend. "Let's string him up and get things over with."

Harley nodded with enthusiasm as they rode their jet skis to a statue in front of city hall, which showed a knight pointing a jousting lance down the road. Bringing out one of the Batman's grapple guns, Harley fired it at the statue's lance as it wrapped several times. Tugging it several times to show it was secure, the pair wrapped Jim the thief around the cord and hoisted him upside down.

It wasn't long after when the man slowly woke up when he saw the pair of Sirens looking at him with smiles. "Oh, hello there~" Spoke the perky blonde. "Mind telling us some details~?" The man didn't respond causing Harley to sigh. Then out of nowhere, she slapped his face several times rather hard before pulling him close. "Croc's story! Spill it!"

"Okay! Okay! Lay it off!" He said as she soon stopped the assault and let go of him. Seeing her calmed down, Jim spoke. "He's... ex-military, I think. Real mercenary type. Some think he's a genetic experiment, a crossbreed soldier or something. Others... think he messed with the wrong kind of voodoo in the bayou. Me, I'm thinking circus freak."

The Catwoman rolled her eyes when hearing this. "We're not looking for his folktales or anything of that nature. We just wanna to know what he's doing exactly."

"What's to tell?!" Jim yelled out. "Croc's new in town and he's got big plans!"

"...Bigger than robbing banks?"

The man involuntary nodded in response. "Croc said today's fl ood was just a dry run."

Harley giggled a little on the little joke. "Heh, dry. Yet it's not."

Catwoman looked at her friend in a certain way to get her to stop, which she did. Turning back to Jim, she asked the one question in mind. "If I wanted to do some big-city Croc hunting, where would I go?"

Jim processed on what Catwoman just asked, causing him to pale a bit if it wasn't for his face reddening with the blood rushing to his head. "Oh, no way. Boss Croc's cold-blooded, girl! I talk, I wind up fish food!"

It was then the Red champion grasped the scruff of his neck and brought him close before speaking. "Well if you don't talk, then we could all wind up fish food."