Don't Feed the Plant

by SmallFeathersBecomingWings

Summary:

Poison Ivy partners with Ra's, who wants to utilize Ivy's plants in his various bases to enhance sustainability and reduce pollution. Even as he relies on Ivy's expertise to create the plants, he is dismissive of her intelligence and treats her like a minion rather than an equal. He does not listen to her warnings regarding the care of the plants and comes to regret his inattention. 

Notes:

I don't know how I feel about this story. I'm sure there are a lot of plot holes because I was experimenting with unusual point of view characters. I can't tell you how many times I wrote a sentence and then thought, "wait! A plant couldn't possibly know that!" Let me know what you think!

Day 190 of the Birdwatchers 365 Challenge, "Pollution"

Everything was dark until the plant managed to unfurl green shoots, reaching for the smoggy, grey Gotham sky. The gritty, acidic taste of the polluted air filled the plant with strength. A soft, warm voice came to it, "Hello, my darling. You are going to help the world so much, little one." The plant felt an overwhelming sense of love and connection, turning its leaves towards the being that could only be Mother. A burst of joy reached it in response, and it wiggled its leaves happily. "I have a task for you, little one." The plant tilted its leaves and then held them there, as if tilting its head in question. "I'll be sending you with an... acquaintance of mine. He has similar goals to mine and has proposed that we work together to achieve them. I'll need you to keep an eye on his operations without letting anyone know that you're anything but an ordinary plant." The plant lets out a burst of objection across this bond that it shares with Mother. As if any of her children could be described as ordinary! She laughs joyfully at it, then returns to solemnity. "He will be here to pick up you and a few of your siblings, so get ready."

Moments later, the door to the greenhouse simply opened, as if this acquaintance was above knocking. How rude! The plant already did not like him. A new voice came to it, sounding dismissive and inconvenienced. "So these are them? Not much to look at, but I suppose that is acceptable as long as they fulfill their primary purpose. Will they at least produce blooms?" 

No greeting at all. Mother stifled her annoyance. "In an environment with a consistent source of food, yes, they will bloom. If their food source shifts, they will also evolve to accommodate it." The plant gets the impression that the man stopped listening as soon as Mother answered his question.

"Take the plants. I will not sully my hands." The plant's pot is lifted, and it feels distance growing between it and Mother. At least a few of its siblings are being carried away, as well. Mother murmurs to them across their bonds. "He is unpleasant, but this is necessary. We need a strong root system before we can bloom. I am so proud of you, little ones!" The plant waves a leaf in goodbye, making sure to camouflage it as movement from being carried. 

 

The moment the plant is placed in the ground at its new home in Nanda Parbat, it knows something is incredibly wrong. Its leaves are graced with bright sunshine and crisp, clean air. The pollution that it was created to feed on is nowhere to be found. It is very lucky that Mother created them to rapidly evolve, otherwise the plant would starve here. It will have to quickly find a new food source. It begins to stretch, pushing the limits of its remaining energy reserves while reaching out across the bond to catch Mother's attention. "Yes, little one? How can I help you?" Mother's voice soothes the panic. It sends her a burst of sense-memory containing the clean, sharp nature of its surroundings, its frantic desperation at the idea of starvation, and the sense of a question as it asks what to do next. Mother is clearly furious with the man for planting it in a location that is clearly so unsuitable for it, but masks the anger from traveling over the bond. Sympathy echoes from its various siblings planted around the world. Mother's rage transitions into an amused maliciousness as she says, "It will be all right, little one. Blood is an acceptable alternative food source." She sends it an impression of a sticky liquid that tastes of proteins and minerals. The plant is very relieved to have a solution and immediately begins looking for this new food source.

Trailing vines brush over the armor of people walking through its new home, and they discover food coating their surface! They drink it up eagerly and stretch even further, looking for a more substantial source of food. Nearby is a very open, sandy area that has great pools of food lining the ground! The people kick up the ground often in the middle, so the plant will have to avoid that space, but the food frequently flows towards the edges. This is perfect! The plant carefully spreads around the cavern, happily soaking up the blood that is spilled on the training grounds. Time passes like this, and the plant settles into its new home. 

The plant is roused from the peaceful passage of time by a flood of food and other material. The man is here, and he is yelling about people being failures and that the bird should never have been allowed to breach the premises. This caused the plant to perk up. Mother sometimes mentioned birds. It spread its consciousness across the entire space it had grown to cover while it focused on how to deal with the other non-food material that had gathered near its roots. The answer seemed to be simple. It merely had to change itself so the non-food became food. It flicked through sense-memories from Mother to find adaptations that it could use. There! Teeth! They would allow it to break the material into smaller pieces. And acid! Acid would help it further break down the material into nutrients so it could use them. It began its modifications. While it worked on the time-intensive process of growing teeth from modified thorns, it listened. 

In a distant hallway, the plant heard a familiar voice. "You can't just keep me in here like a toy in a toybox! Your illustrious leader promised he would help me!" The voice of the person yelling became muffled, and the plant assumed they had been shut behind a door. Searching through memories once again, the plant realized that it recognized the angry voice. That was Mother's favorite bird! The plant did not know how the bird flew all the way here, but it informed Mother of the situation immediately. It then settled in to monitor the situation for any additional developments. 

 

Far away in Gotham, Poison Ivy is attempting to process this new information. She waters her plants as she thinks, adjusting their light sources as needed. At the edge of her territory, she feels armored boots crush a flower. Irritated, she goes outside to see the rude little bird that replaced her favorite bird. The previous Robin was her favorite for the respectful way he interacts with some of the more rational rogues and his somewhat grey morality. When he confronted her, he always tried to leave as many plants alive as he could, unless they were a danger to him or civilians. This newer bird seemed to be incapable of understanding any morality with nuance. She assumes that this bird will want to rescue the previous one, so she says, "Your predecessor seems to find himself trapped in the desert. He would likely appreciate a rescue." Robin sneers at her, the expression looking oddly familiar. "It's for the best if Grandfather has found a use for him. He certainly has no utility here in Gotham. As you are not currently committing a crime, I will attend to more pressing matters." The small, angry bird sweeps out of Ivy's territory. She did not realize that the newest bird was related to Ra's Al Ghul. He likely has a larger game afoot if he is involving her favorite bird. As revenge for putting her plant in danger, she instructs it to do whatever it can to assist the bird and interfere with the plans of Ra's Al Ghul. The plant is delighted to be able to do something for Mother.

Back in Nanda Parbat, the plant begins to grow towards the window of the room where the bird is being kept. One in the window, it can hear the rude man who had it brought here speaking to the bird and demanding that the bird become his heir. The bird reacts with disgust and demands that the man not touch him. The plant is distressed. It knows that men touching people without their permission is one of the main reasons that Mother has them eaten back in Gotham. It resolves that, sooner or later, the rude man will become a source of food for it, as well. For now, it must free the bird to protect him from the man. It uses its tendrils to gently search passing assassins for a key to the bird's door. Once it finds the key, it carefully trails tendrils under the canopy of its leaves to keep it out of sight before dropping it into the bird's window. It hears a quickly muffled sound of surprise, followed by the click of a lock opening. It sends a burst of satisfaction to Mother. The bird is free! 

In Gotham, Poison Ivy is irritated again by the crunch of foliage. This time, she has the dubious blessing of being visited by both Nightwing, in the form of Batman, and the littlest Robin. Rather than greeting them, she says, "I would have assumed that you would place more importance on rescuing the wayward bird from the demon. It seems I was mistaken." The startled confusion on NightBat's face makes her realize that Robin had not shared her information with him, choosing instead to risk Red Robin's life.

 "Tt. He's still alive, then. What a shame." While Robin sounds entirely unconcerned, Ivy can see traces of reluctant admiration and regret on the youngest bird's face. 

The only emotion on NightBat's face, and barely contained in the rest of his body, is pure rage. He doesn't seem to know who to direct it to when he snarls, "I will not leave another of my brothers trapped with that lunatic. I'm going to get him." He swings to face Robin and says, "You are staying here. I cannot have someone with me if I can't trust them to support my goal." The regret deepens, and Robin wilts under NightBat's glare. They sweep out of Ivy's territory, and she is relieved that her favorite Robin will finally have more support besides her plant. 

In Nanda Parbat, the plant temporarily loses track of the bird. It discovers him several days later, being lectured by the rude man next in line for consumption. "It has become too bothersome to keep you here. There is a cave with the potential evidence you seek within a day's travel. You may take the team I had assigned to you to inspect it while I prepare the resources you will need to return the favor I have so graciously bestowed upon you." The bird does not deign to respond to this and leaves the rude man behind. He leaves Nanda Parbat with 3 other humans in tow, and the plant hopes that he will be safe beyond its reach.

When Dick arrives at Nanda Parbat, he carefully skirts around the outer walls and listens to some of the assassins posted as guards around the perimeter. He overhears a few talking about how Ra's knows a scout from the Council of Spiders has been circling Nanda Parbat recently. Ra's chose now to send Red Robin out to investigate a lead that Ra's has known about since the beginning as a test. He fully doesn't expect Tim to make it back alive because he'd have to kill the assassin, and he doesn't think Tim has it in him. Dick already knows that he could kill a man for a brother and heads out after Tim to save him from the moral weight of having to take a life. At first, he isn't sure where to go, but a helpful vine points him in the correct direction. Dick is temporarily stunned, but then realizes that this explains so much. Damian, who had snuck aboard the Batplane to somehow atone for his mistake, quietly continues to shadow his oldest brother, and the two of them head off into the desert to go after Tim.

Dick comes across a cave and carefully circumvents the assassins standing around it just in time to hear his younger brother yell, "this is it!". He peers inside and sees a distinct cave drawing that is clearly a batarang. Dick realizes that Tim was right about Bruce being alive. He only has a few seconds to stew in a potent mixture of relief and regret before an assassin loudly proclaiming himself as the Widower bursts out of the foliage.

It is only quick reactions from Dick and Damian that save Z and Owens from a certain, painful death. If the Bats were any less used to fighting alongside each other, the arrival of Dick and Damian would cause them to stumble, opening them up to grievous harm, but the deeply ingrained training allows them to fight and defeat the Widower as a single, fluid unit. The assassins are impressed and turn to Tim to ask him what to do next. Damian is surprised to note that Tim has a loyal team, even within the League of Assassins, and would greatly like to know how Tim always manages to inspire such loyalty. The entire group returns to Nanda Parbat to confront Ra's. Damian takes the chance to give Ra's a piece of his mind, knowing that his brothers will protect him if necessary. 

Ra's al Ghul stands in his throne room to greet the entourage of mixed assassins and vigilantes. He is clearly under the misconception that the assassins are still loyal to him, but is quickly disabused of this notion when he commands them to grab the vigilantes, and they do not move. Enraged, he begins to taunt Tim. "Do you really think these people care about you? They let you wander the Earth for months without so much as a check-in. You should stay here, by my side. You'll never be loved, but at least with me, you can be useful."

Tim flinches, the words burrowing deep under his skin, the way that Ra's always manages to do. Dick tenses, preparing to defend his younger brother, as he should have done before they ever reached this point. Neither of them gets a chance before Damian lunges towards his grandfather. 

Damian yells, "Drake may be annoying and inferior, but he is still too good for the likes of you!" He kicks his grandfather with all of his considerable strength. Ra's lets him, knowing that his grandson will never do the kind of damage that the Lazarus Pits would be unable to heal, now that he has been infected by the Detective's morals. However, the force sends him backwards into the waiting viney grasp of Poison Ivy's plant, and this is exactly the chance it has been waiting for. It unhinges its fanged maw and bites Ra's Al Ghul in half, dousing his entire body with acid in the process. Damian freezes, unable to process the fact that his grandfather was just permanently ended by a plant. It burps, waving its leaves in satisfaction at finally achieving its goal. 

 The six of them look at each other, all internally debating what to do next. Tim suggests, "Should we all head back to Gotham? We still need to pull Bruce out of the timestream. I know you all saw that I have proof now." He pauses a moment, a look of steely determination entering his blue-gray eyes. " My team will be coming with me, of course." The three assassins do not smile as that would be beneath them, but they all look pleased. 

Damian does not allow the silence to gather for long and simply says, "That is an acceptable plan. Father has waited long enough." They all turn to leave Nanda Parbat, but Dick hangs behind to walk alongside Tim. 

Dick knows that there is so much that he needs to say to Tim, but he settles for sweeping his younger brother into one of his infamous octopus hugs, carrying him as he walks, and whispering, "I'm so sorry, baby bird." He doesn't say anything about the tears seeping into his Nightwing gear on his shoulder, but every teardrop pierces his heart like a well-deserved dagger. He puts Tim back down to walk across the last courtyard before the main gates, knowing that Tim will want all of his mobility available to cross an area that is so open. They are all startled to hear a crashing noise behind them, and they whirl around to look.

The vines from Poison Ivy's plant are punching holes through the walls of Nanda Parbat. Panicked assassins, directionless with the sudden loss of their leader, flee the crumbling walls like ants from a kicked-over anthill. The plant snaps up assassins in its razor-sharp maws, using qualifications known only to it. Tim thinks it might be be consuming all the people who talked shit about Poison Ivy, among other things. The vigilantes all wonder for a moment if they are morally obligated to interfere. They eventually come to the same conclusion that the assassins came to immediately, this is the equivalent of 'talk shit and get hit' and therefore, not their problem.

All six of them burst through the front gates of Nanda Parbat, surrounded by writhing vines with snapping daggered mouths, screams of rage echoing behind, and clouds of dust haloing them. 

Notes:

It didn't make it into this fic, but I have a head canon that one of Poison Ivy's plants evolves to eat Lazarus Pit water and becomes an eldritch horror.