Chapter 42

"And ladies and gentlemen, we've had a hot night! Our powerful plants are still giving the Justice League and the Teen Titans hell around the world. But we've got these newcomers, this junior Justice League lead by Superman! What kind of man hangs around a bunch of teenage girls anyway?"

Joker's eyes widened and he bounces about, looking positively giddy.

"But, hey, Catholic Priests hang around a bunch of young boys, so who am I to judge?"

Laughter filled the room from the clown prince. He put a hand on the shoulder of Poison Ivy, who took in several deep breaths. After the hand had been removed, the Joker returned to his commentary.

"But, despite the Injustice League having the hometown advantage, they are dropping like flies. Oh come on Vertigo, I was counting on you to stay in the battle. Oh, Black Adam...that was a low one….a really low one...looks like you might not be around for much longer! Which is a shame, as that kid was a real comer. Runs his own country. The only reason that he's slumming with this League is because he wants something….hell we all want something."

Joker's smile increased.

"I should really be out in the thick of things. But, I'm in control. The Doctors in Arkham said that I was never in control, but shows how much they know!"

Joker waved around the control device, with his usual brand of insanity. The Clown Prince of Crime bops back and forth.

"Keep your eye on the ball!" Joker screamed. "Woton, I swear, you're our last hope...well other than me and Red...but we kind of have to be in here to direct traffic! But, you're the ace in the hole. Sure, Superman summoned a wild Supergirl and she used heat vision. And it was pretty effective, but still!"

The fight raged on outside with Joker directing the plant monsters on the attack. Not caring about the strain it had on Ivy to hold her babies at bay, because quite frankly, he was having too much fun.

A real barrel of monkeys. A barrel Joker would burn with said many monkeys inside.

Most of the Injustice League dropped down to the ground. Supergirl dodged a beam of light from Woton. Woton levitated two of the plant vines and shot them off in the same direction. Supergirl dodged the attack, coming an inch away from being impaled by those violent vines.

"Okay, I'm not going to be the one to complain!" Supergirl yelled. "But, is there anyway to stop this guy?"

Harry blocked a couple of Woton's assaults with swift precision.

"Your little parlor tricks are going to do nothing to take me down, Superman," Woton taunted him.

A loud whip of energy erupted across from the sorcerer. Harry blocked the powerful blasts of light and fired back. His palms sweated a little bit, but Harry refused to go down, not without a fight. He twisted his finger and snapped off a bolt of light, which erupted and propelled Woton's energy back.

"Cover me," Aquagirl said. "I'm going in."

Kid Flash rapidly punched away at the plant vines. One of the sharp thorns came inches away from ripping into her body. Kid Flash rushed back and avoided the thorn from tearing her to shreds. The Fastest Girl Alive avoided attacks which would rip her.

Harry and Woton circled. A blast of fire erupted from Harry's hands to shoot straight at Woton. Woton fired back with a beam of his own to lock into place. The Green light almost cut through Harry's fire. The two of them engaged in a very intense war of beams, neither backing down from the other's assault.

Woton's entire body sized up with power. For a second, the sorcerer's body flared, flashing back into his original form, or rather her original form. Yet, the sorcerer just redoubled his power, and forced back at Superman.

"You cannot stop me!" Woton yelled.

Aquagirl made her way to the helmet. However, the bag was ripped up off of the ground, dangling the bag out of reach. She ascended up the way, with Wondergirl following her. Wondergirl withdrew her sword and plunged it into the side of the vine, causing green blood to spill out of the gushing vines.

"He's got this one," Wondergirl said.

Aquagirl really hoped so, not wanting to use the Helmet of Fate unless it was absolutely necessary. She did reclaim it from the plant vines.

The two magic users cut beam to beam with each other, with Harry pushing back. The loud flare of energy erupted, with Harry pushing back towards Woton, attempting to bring him down.

Artemis threw an arrow at Woton which exploded. The minor distraction broke Woton's attention and he beamed down an attack towards Artemi's way.

Harry flipped, landed, and pulled Artemis out of harm's way. Wondergirl and Aquagirl jumped up into the air, a combined blast of magical energy cutting through the air and nailing Woton full on. Woton blocked the attack, hands vibrating when he fought two powerful women at once.

With one of Artemis's arrows in hand, Harry used it to focus magic, slamming it into Woton's spine. The combination of water and fire from Aquagirl and Superman knocked Woton down to the ground in perfect position for the kill.

Woton made one last attempt to scramble out. Wondergirl put a stop to it, binding Woton from behind in her lasso. Woton's struggles ended for the night with Superman taking him down with a heavy flicker of his hand, sending Woton into dream land.

Aquagirl draped the bag over her shoulder. The entire Injustice League laid on the ground, in various states of being battered.

"Let's go shut this done," Aquagirl said.

Robin looked around, and turned her attention to the rest of the team.

"Has anyone seen Harley lately?" Robin asked.

"She must have found a way inside," Miss Martian said.

"Which means she's going after...we better move," Superman said.

Robin and Artemis moved in fast, attempting to break down the door. While the rest of the team kept the wild and insane plants off of them.

Joker casually ate some pineapple flavored pizza while watching the battle die down.

"Oh, this is getting good, really good," Joker said. "Granted, Woton getting smashed and owned was not good, and not smashed in a good way...and now….."

A kick caught Joker unaware in the back in his side. He made a rush for the control device for the plants, only for Harley to grab him around the head and kick him back into the center of the room.

"Harl, how are you doing?" Joker asked weakly.

"Don't, hey how you doing me, you clown!" Harley snarled. "I thought you changed."

"I did, but change takes a long time and a lot of money and there...well there's a lot of money in what we're doing," Joker said. "Hey, ease up on the bazooka!"

Harley aimed said bazooka straight at Joker's crotch, a fate which would make any man cringe.

"Oh, Harley, we don't have to do this, just put it away," Joker said. "Come on, it's your puddin'."

"You'll be puddin' when I'm through with you!" Harley snarled. "How could you?"

Harley kicked Joker in the face and the criminal clown fell back, blood splattering down his jaw with a solid ooff.

"Harley, Harley, listen, the devil made me do it!" Joker yelled. "He wore a suit, he had the ears and everything….he promised that I had a chance to cause chaos for the entire Justice League .And Batman, Batman, really tweak his nose, you know me and Batman!"

"Yeah, I know all about you and Batman," Harley said. "But, you won't have to worry about Batman or anything, anymore, when I put you down."

"Harley, listen, listen, I'm really sorry!" Joker yelled. "Hands up, don't shoot….don't shoot...please don't shoot."

For a second, Harley smiled, getting a lot of satisfaction out of seeing Joker beg.

"Oh, you're not sorry…."

"I AM SORRY! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT! I'M BEGGING YOU! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!"

Joker started sobbing and then he started laughing. A rubber chicken shout out of Joker's sleeve and exploded on the ground. The explosion sent Harley flying backwards. Joker ripped open the rubber chicken and now held a crowbar in his hand.

"Oh, the classics, how I miss thee!" Joker yelled. "And by the way, you spend too much time on the set up, and you ruin the punchline!"

Joker waffled Harley in ribs with said crowbar, causing her to crumple, blood spilling from her mouth.

"Have I taught you nothing?" Joker asked.

The Clown Prince of Crime rose the crowbar in the air to cave in Harley's pretty little face.

The sky light broke open and Superman crashed down through the ceiling. The plants defending Joker did not have any prayer as Superman ripped them apart.

From the doors, the rest of Superman's team, including Supergirl, rushed in through, fighting through the plants.

Joker simply punted Harley in the head so hard that he shattered her orbital socket. Harley screamed in agony. Joker swung the crowbar at Superman but had no luck in doing so on the account that the crowbar became more bent that he was. Superman punted Joker into the wall.

Two of the plant vines grabbed Superman. He set them on fire, causing Ivy to scream in pain. Harry punched them away.

Joker fished into his pocket and pulled out a bag of marbles.

"And the doctors at Arkham said I lost these years ago," Joker said.

Joker lobs the marbles into the air, and they release Kryptonite dust. Much to the clown's surprise, the Kryptonite dust did not even affect Superman.

Ivy flicked her hand and more of the plants fly at Superman's head. Superman blocked the plants from caving his face in and deflected them backwards.

Kid Flash came on through and pulled Poison Ivy out of the center of the room. The plants go after them, with Supergirl and Miss Martian blocking them with feverish attacks.

"Could someone help me hold her?"

Aquagirl and Wondergirl held restrain Ivy, while Kid Flash and Robin work on Tetch's mind control device.

"Red, blue, and then pull the clasp," Robin advised Kid Flash.

"Right, got it," Kid Flash said.

The band came off of Poison Ivy. Her eyes turned milky, then green, and then rage filled them. She faced Joker.

"YOU!"

The Clown Prince of Crime slammed all of the buttons on the device controlling on the plants at once.

"BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL, I HAVE THE POWER!"

Joker broke out into laughter, causing the plants to fire vines and thorns everywhere. The Team did their best to fight through the chaos. Until the beeping started, and Kid Flash groaned at the beeping which followed.

"And that's the self destruct sequence," Kid Flash said.

"Oh, well it's been fun, but toodles!" Joker chortled.

Joker scrambled directly towards the door. Poison Ivy did not let him make it quite far enough. She yanked Joker back into the self-destructing room.

Now, Ivy gained control of the plants, although it remained to be seen whether or not that was a good thing.

The group of villains had been trapped outside. Joker was at the mercy of Poison Ivy. Who was closing her eyes and groaning in agony. Superman tried to reach towards her to stir her out of the stupor.

"Ivy? Ivy?"

Poison Ivy hissed when one of the plants spat up green blood. One could see the look of utter agony pressed on her face. And how the plant's pain was killing her.

"Pamela!" he yelled.

"They're in pain," she said. "My babies...they've been...what did they do to my babies? They aren't saviors...they're destroyers."

"The Green is in pain," Aquagirl said.

"The what?" Kid Flash asked.

"The Green, the force tied to the element of Earth," Aquagirl said. "It's a simplistic version of it anyway."

"I can control them….but you need to leave now," Poison Ivy said.

"She's right," Robin said. "The Core Sequence is going to destroy the entire base, and everyone in it."

Joker started to break out into laughter until Superman flicked him in the side of the head with such a force that Joker's nose and eye sockets shattered.

"Yeah, the problem is even at my top speed, I won't be able to get all of you out of the blast radius in time," Kid Flash said. "How about the Bioship?"

"She should be able to take the hit," Miss Martian said. "But, we'll never make it to her in time, especially when she's so far under ground."

Poison Ivy muttered, rocking back and forth. Supergirl lifted the downed Harley off of the ground.

"I suppose Har and I could fly…."

Suddenly, there was a loud bang which signalled a portal opening up. On the other side of the portal, Sphere rolled out, blipping and signalling for them to follow.

"Sphere?" Harry asked. "Oh, you're beautiful."

Sphere signaled for Harry that it was time for them to leave. Kid Flash zipped outside, as she opened a portal to the League holding cells first. The Speedster chucked the villains, other than Joker and Ivy, through one at a time.

Then they all went through the portal, back to the Cave. Where Supergirl passed through with Harley, practically dragging her through like a limp noodle.

That left Harry alone in the base, with Poison Ivy and Joker as the countdown sequence started to tick down.

"Go," Poison Ivy said.

"You should…."

"If they die, I'm not going to leave them," Poison Ivy said.

Poison Ivy leaned in and kissed Superman on the lips. While her poison did not affect him, he did get a rush of adrenaline which encouraged The Man of Steel to pass through the other side of the portal, just seconds before the countdown sequence ended.

Sphere passed them through just in time. The portal sealed up, reluctantly, leaving Poison Ivy in the midst of the self destructing base alongside of Joker.

Oh, despite everything, despite the fact that she would potentially die, it did give Poison Ivy a grim amount of satisfaction to see that Joker would go down with her, unable to survive the destruction of their base. Her eyes flared with menace as the final three seconds ticked down.

"I hope you rot."

Those were the last words coming out of the mouth of Pamela Lillian Isley, before the base lit to life and they all knew no more. An intense explosion destroyed the base.

After the fact, the entire team, Supergirl included turned up for the briefing back at the Cave. Miss Martian walked out into the room.

"She's back and in good condition for what she went through," Miss Martian said. "Good thing we're all in good condition."

"No kidding," Artemis said.

Artemis looked a bit rough, her clothing damaged, her bow broken, and face covered in dirt. No major injuries with her, so Artemis supposed that things could have been worse, much worse. That was the thought that passed through her mind.

The portal opened up, with Batman and Nightwing coming out. Aquagirl rose to her feet to greet him.

"No casualties on your end?" Aquagirl asked.

"The League managed to mitigate any damage until Ivy recalled all of the Kobra infected plants to her base," Batman said.

"She sacrificed herself to save the world she loved so much," Helena replied grimly.

"And Harley's in the hospital, thanks to Joker," Nightwing said. "Critical condition."

"She'll pull through," Helena said somberly.

"And did you get my delivery?" Harry asked.

"Yes, all of the villains have been sent to a holding facility," Batman said. "Although in the case of Black Adam and Count Vertigo, we won't be able to hold them for long, given their diplomatic immunity."

Batman was not done giving them the news.

"We scanned the base, the Kobra-Venom and the technology had been destroyed by the core explosion," Batman said. "There was no sign of Ivy or Joker either."

Nightwing responded by rolling her eyes. Not really surprised to be honest, although entirely frustrated was the world.

"Imagine that," Nightwing said.

The good news is, Pam may have survived, although the state that she was in, who really knew at this point. The bad news was Joker could have survived. He had more lives than an army of rabid cats.

"Is that everything?" Helena asked.

"That's everything," Batman confirmed. "Harley's in Gotham General...Selina's there with her now."

Helena swallowed and nodded. She moved out and was not too displeased to see Harry accompanied her in the trip over to Gotham. The rest of the team recovered from today, thinking that it could have been much worse.

Harry and Helena arrived at Gotham General Hospital after a quick change into their civilian clothes. Helena did not say much of anything along the way and Harry wrapped an arm around her to give silent comfort. Helena signed and finally found her worse.

"Thank you for pulling her out of the fire," Helena said. "She...she keeps getting pulled in with him. But to be fair, she's not the only one."

Joker captivated everyone in Gotham throughout the year for better or for worse. Among some of the greatest monsters in history, only somehow more hideous. There were a number of theories about exactly who Joker was and how he had come to be.

And Helena thought they would never know the truth.

They made their way into the hospital and stopped short with Selina waiting inside. Harley laid in the bed, and Selina sighed. She turned around and wrapped Helena up in a hug. Then she crossed the room to do the same with Harry, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Thank you for coming," Selina said. "She's….Harley will recover. On the outside...although I'm concerned about her mental state when she wakes up."

Harry made sure no one was nearby listening. A doctor and a nurse disappeared around the corner. Other than then, the hallway was unoccupied for miles. He pulled Selina in to him.

"Ivy wasn't found in the base," Harry said.

"Pam's a survivor," Selina said with a fond smile. "She could still be out there."

Unfortunately, and Selina hated to address the elephant in the room, but that also meant that Joker could have surprised, potentially to come back worse through. Granted, some people had the theory that every time Joker seemed to die, he came back, resurrected, more sadistic than ever. And maybe in a new vessel.

Joker was a twisted idea beyond one man.

It did line up with some of the conflicting reports about Joker's looks and also how the Clown presented himself to the general public.

The only thing which lined up as the same was the fact that Joker always and forever would have an unsettling obsession for Batman.

"Hopefully she's learned her lesson," Helena said.

"I hope so too, honey," Selina said. "But, when Joker gets his hooks in…."

Sick, twisted, depraved, just some of the words to describe Joker. The doctors did a good job in fixing Harley's face. However, physical wounds heal faster than mental and emotional scars. Something Harley would know given her former profession better than anyone else.

Harry returned to the Penthouse, and Sphere returned to her proper place in Karen's lab. Karen, Caitlin, Megan, and Kara all sat around, in deep contemplation.

"Thanks for your help," Harry said.

"No problem, that's what family's for," Kara said. "And about that date…."

"How about next weekend?" Harry asked.

"Looking forward to it," Kara said with a twinkle in her eye.

Megan just smiled, she figured it was be inevitable that Kara would join Harry's collective of lovely ladies. Things turned out okay all things considered.

"Well, good thing that you programmed Sphere to find us," Megan said to Karen.

Karen frowned and responded by shaking her head.

"I didn't program Sphere," Karen said.

"And I didn't either," Caitlin said. "And you didn't summon her to you, did you Harry?"

Harry looked at Sphere for several long minutes, almost trying to figure out what happened and how she came to them.

"No, I didn't," Harry said. "I was trying to figure out a way out of there...before she showed up."

"Wow," Kara said. "That's powerful AI...we're going to have to keep a closer eye on her...to see why this happened."

Harry could agree with Kara on that point. Sphere remained dormant, almost as if she was sleeping after that mission. They could really relax now, now that the Injustice League had been put away, hopefully for a very long time.

Of course, there were always threats, but today caused a huge blow to the enemies who had been behind a lot of the Team's recent misfortunes.

Inside the sewers, two maintenance workers investigated low water pressure which threatened one of the higher end Neighborhoods in Gotham.

"Be careful," the older maintenance workers said. "I hear stories about weird stuff down here. That giant croc man, he's been known to attack people who got too close to his lair."

"Giant croc man?" the younger man scoffeed. "That's just a conspiracy theory."

"Oh, you're a Metropolis boy, but you'll learn soon," the older worker commented to the younger worker as they walked through the contents of the sewer.

They found the source of the block, an extremely large and thick flower, with several vines protruding out of the top of it. The pink petals of the flower hissed when one of the sewer workers grabbed ahold of it, almost as if it was protecting the occupant inside.

Several seconds passed, with the sewer worker placing a hand lightly onto the petals, as they unfolded upon each other.

The large flowered opened up, to reveal a stunningly gorgeous women with green skin, pulsing veins, and curvy assets. Red hair stuck her face.

Poison Ivy's eyes opened up, barely able to figure out how she came here. The explosion caused her to be super-charged with Kobra Venom and she had woken up here, as this. But, how. She remained very weak, despite her enhanced form.

The last thing she remembered was kissing Superman prior to the explosion.The two sewer workers dropped by some unknown force and Ivy felt a warm hand on hers, and then nothing.

Seven figures emerged in shadows.

"The Injustice League appears to have misdirected the heroes," one of the voices commented from the shadows.

"Perfect," a second voice said.

"We will be able to move to Phase Two without complications," a third voice said.

"Power will be ours," a fourth voice said.

"Chaos will reign supreme," the fifth voice said.

"And ultimate victory," the sixth voice said.

"And they won't know what's to come," the seventh voice, the lone female said.

Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul, Vandal Savage, Ocean Master, Klarion, the Brain, and Queen Bee stepped from out of the shadows, and into the Light.

Back in the Penthouse, Harry moved out of the lab. The doors open leading up to the shower ,and Artemis stepped out, wearing one of Harry's old shirts, which extended down to her knees. She stopped at the foot of the steps and smiled.

"Finally, took three times to get all of the plant gunk out of my hair," Artemis said. "Thanks for the use of the shower….it's a bitch to get hot water at home….especially when the city council cuts us off."

"Really isn't a problem," Harry said. "But, you're wearing my shirt."

"Well, you weren't using it," Artemis said. "And besides, you can take it off of me, if you really want to."

Artemis started to step closer to Harry, to the point where they were almost touching each other.

"I hope you were being serious when you said that we could have fun later," Artemis said. "Because, I'd be really upset if you weren't."

"Deadly serious."

The two leaned together, with Artemis kissing Harry, and Harry kissing her back. Oh, and he could kiss, Artemis found herself almost floating on air from the warmth spreading through her body. Harry put his hand on her lower back to steady her and nibbled on her jaw.

The two broke apart with a smile.

"Wow," Artemis said.

"Well, shall we?" Harry asked.

Artemis was game for anything. She leaned towards Harry and eyed him up, not being able to strip him completely bare and see all of him. Granted, she committed every single muscle on upper body to memory, given all of the times Artemis and the rest of the team watched Harry work out shirtless. But the lower muscles, not so much, especially the one between Harry's legs.

Although given the innuendo Donna and Megan threw around when Artemis was in earshot, her imagination ran wild.

"Maybe you can see what I have underneath this shirt," Artemis told him. "If anything at all."

The naughty archer walked up the steps, with Harry in pursuit of her swaying ass.

Finally, Artemis waited long enough for this.