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Dick did his best to hold back his tears as he walked down the street. He wrapped his arms around himself to fight the cold and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. He wasn't even supposed to be out here.
Alfred had taken Dick with him to run errands since the young acrobat was absolutely bored at home. All Dick wanted was to look at the new Superman action figures displayed at the store's front. He hadn't meant to get separated from Alfred.
Now he was trying to walk back home, but Dick was pretty sure he lost the way a while back. He was lost and alone, and he wanted his mom and dad. He wanted Bruce.
Choking back tears, Dick stopped when a shadow fell over him. Bruce? The young bat looked up, and his excitement quickly vanished when he saw a large, scary-looking man with a scar across his face. Not Bruce.
"What's a kid like you doing out here, huh? Get lost." The man's voice was so burnt and crackly that Dick was sure he smoked three packs of cigarettes a day.
Dick shook his head. "No, no, I'm not lost. I know where I'm going."
"You sure about that? Maybe I can help you." The man reached for Dick, who swiftly dodged out of the way. The man growled at him and grabbed for Dick again. This time, the little bat dove through the man's legs and rolled away from him.
The man whipped around and shouted in frustration as Dick got up and ran. He didn't know where he was running to; all he knew was that he couldn't get caught. Dick could hear the man's footsteps behind him, and he barreled through the doors of what looked like a greenhouse.
Dick felt he should have avoided the greenhouse for some reason but was too panicked to think about it. He dove under a table as the doors crashed open.
The man's footsteps slowly entered the building, and Dick covered his mouth. "Where are you, kid? I promise I won't hurt ye."
Dick screwed his eyes shut and tucked himself into a ball as the footsteps got closer. "Come out, come out wherever you are. Huh? Who the fuck are you?"
Dick opened his eyes to see a pair of bare green feet dripping in gold jewelry approach the steel-toe boots of the man.
"I believe you're trespassing, and my babies are quite hungry." Dick heard a new voice, and it was soft and sweet, kind of like a flower. It had a dark undertone, though, making Dick think of a Rose. Beautiful but dangerous.
There was a horrifying crunching sound, and the man's body fell to the ground. Dick stifled a scream when he saw the body didn't have a head.
"Don't waste food, darlings." Dick fought the urge to throw up as a vine wrapped around the body, dragging it out of sight. He was in Poison Ivy's greenhouse. Not good. He had to get out.
Dick scrambled to sneak out, but he hit his head on the table in his haste. "Ow." He quickly clamped his hands over his mouth as the feet turned in his direction.
"Do we have another trespasser?"
Dick panicked as a vine wrapped around his leg. He desperately tried to tear it off before it yanked him out from under the table. It lifted him up, and he flailed as he hung upside down above the ground.
"You're a child."
Dick looked at the woman who was certainly going to kill him and couldn't stop the tears from blurring his vision. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to trespass. I was just trying to get away from that man 'cause Dad says never to trust someone like that."
Poison Ivy tilted her head. "Oh, and who is your dad, hmm?"
Dick swallowed thickly. Should he lie or tell her the truth? What if he exposed B's identity by mistake? "I uh, he died. 2 years ago. He and my mom both died."
Technically true, so it's not a lie. Poison Ivy's expression seemed to soften for some reason.
"And who do you live with now? Are you alone?"
Dick shook his head. "No, I got adopted by a nice guy, and I got a lot of older siblings now."
"Then why are you out here alone in the middle of the night?"
Dick couldn't stop the tears this time as he remembered he was lost. "I got separated from my grandpa and didn't know my way home." He hiccuped as the vine turned him right side up and gently set him back down on the ground.
"Well, it wouldn't be right to let a kid wander around in the dark alone. Why don't you stay with me until morning comes." Poison Ivy crouched down so she was at eye level with Dick.
Dick rubbed his eyes. "But aren't you gonna kill me? Cause you're Poison Ivy?"
"Do you want me to kill you?" Poison Ivy laughed softly at Dick's wide and panicked eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you, kid. And you can call me Pam. Do you have a name?"
Dick bit his lip. "Richard, but everyone calls me Dick."
Pam smiled as he reached out and picked Dick up. Dick had to loop his arms around her neck to keep from falling.
"Alright, Dick. What's your favorite kind of music?"
Dick swung his legs back and forth as he sat on the big throne at the back of the greenhouse. He could see the whole place from how high up he was. Dick couldn't believe it was all made from plants. Soft jazz was playing throughout the facility as well.
It was so large that he could lie down in it with enough room to spare. Dick looked over at Pam, who was sitting beside him and running her fingers through her hair. She cursed every time they snagged on a knot.
"Do you need help?"
Dick crawled over to Pam, and she removed her fingers from her hair. "As long as you're gentle."
Dick beamed. "Don't worry; I'm good at this." He stood up and walked behind her to start working on getting the knots out of her hair. "My friend Star has tons and tons of hair that always gets super knotted, so I got really good at helping her brush it."
"I see. Do you have many friends?"
Dick bounced in excitement; he always loved talking about his friends. "Yeah, I do. So there's Star, and she isn't super good with earth stuff yet, but she is getting better at it. And then there is Rae. She is super scary when mad but usually really nice."
"Then there's Gar. He's green like you are, but he can't move plants or anything. He can turn into a kitten or puppy if he wants to, though. Dad says he might be able to turn into more animals when he's older. And last but not least is Cy. He's part robot. He can do tons and tons of cool robot things."
Pam quietly listened to his rambling and wondered how a little boy like him had so many extraordinary friends. Of course, she would chalk it up to imaginary friends, but the things he spoke about weren't too far-fetched in a place like Gotham.
"Do you spend a lot of time with your friends?"
Dick nodded his head. "Yeah, I hang out with them all the time. Sometimes I go to their homes, and sometimes they come to mine. We have sleepovers all the time, too. Do you have any friends?"
Pam paused in her musings and brought her knees up to his chest. "Not really. I have one friend and one girlfriend. It's not much, but I like it. I'm not much of a people person."
"Well, do you think you'd be okay with two friends?"
"What do you mean?"
Dick finished getting all the knots out of her hair and braided it for something to do with his hands. "Can I be your friend?"
Pam blinked before laughing. "You want to be my friend? What happened to the boy who thought I was going to kill him?"
Dick pouted. "I was scared, okay? And besides, you do kill a lot of people. So how was I supposed to know you were actually really nice?"
"I'm not as nice as you think I am. I just don't hurt kids." The redhead sighed and turned around to face Dick. "But if you really want to be my friend, I guess I can't say no."
She took off one of her gold rings and held it out to him. "All my friends have one." She dropped it into his tiny hands. It was far too big for him to wear, but Dick grinned nonetheless.
"Thanks!" He carefully put it in his pocket. Dick pushed up his hoodie sleeve and unwrapped one of his leather bracelets. He took Pam's arm and wrapped it around it. "And this is for you. So everyone knows you're my friend."
Pam looked at the leather bracelet. It was dark brown with bright blue beads. It didn't go with her color scheme, but she didn't mind. Pam smiled at Dick and ruffled his hair.
"Thank you. I'll treasure it."
Bruce sat perched on a gargoyle as he looked through his infrared binoculars. Everyone was scanning a different part of the city to look for Dick, and he got Poison Ivy's territory.
He saw two figures inside as he looked through the glass ceiling. Once had a low body temperature, Pamela, no doubt, and the other figure was small and was running hot like a kid would.
Why would she have a kid with her? Worry sank its teeth into Bruce's chest at the thought of it being Dick. He needed to find out who it was. Bruce shot a grappling hook out and swung down to the glass roof.
As he got a closer look, his blood froze in his veins. Standing in front of Pamela herself was none other than Dick. Bruce didn't hesitate to crash through the ceiling and land behind Pamela.
Pamela whipped around and pushed Dick back. One of her giant flowers swallowed him up as he shouted. Bruce felt anger lodge itself in his chest.
"What are you doing, Pamela?"
The redhead bared her teeth, her green eyes nearly glowing against her black scleras. "What am I doing? You just broke into my greenhouse. Don't think you'll get away with this Batman."
Vines whipped around her and lunged at Bruce. He swiftly dodged out of the way and threw his Bat-arangs at the plants, slicing them apart.
Pamela screamed in agony and rage as she attacked him again.
"What are you doing with the child, Pamela?" Bruce tried to keep his voice level.
"Why do you want to know, huh? Come to take him away? I don't think so. He stays with me!"
The vines cut Bruce's suit as he jumped to the catwalk and perched on the railing. "He isn't yours, Pamela. You can't keep him."
"And why not? He would have been taken and sold off by now if not for me. I won't allow harm to come to him!"
Bruce paused as he pulled out another Bat-arang. "What do you plan to do with the child, Pamela? Answer honestly this time."
Pamela growled at him but lowered her arms slightly. "He said he has a family he'd like to get back to but doesn't know the way back home. My intention was to keep him here until Sunrise. Gotham is dangerous enough in the daytime; I couldn't let a child walk around at night."
Bruce blinked. "You were protecting him?"
The redhead finally put her arms down, and the vines retreated back into the ground. "Yes, I am. Is that so hard to believe? I won't let you take him either if that's what you're thinking. You might be the Batman, but I don't trust men."
Bruce jumped down from the catwalk and landed in front of Pamela. "May I speak to him at least?"
The green woman hesitated before waving her arm. The flower that swallowed Dick up came forward and opened up. Dick blinked at the moonlight and then grinned at the sight of Bruce.
"Batman! You're here!"
Bruce nodded and knelt down. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Dick shook his head. "No, Pam treated my scrapes and bruises. Her flower medicine is really cool."
Bruce looked the young acrobat over and seemed satisfied. "Do you feel in danger, or are you scared?"
Dick tilted his head a bit. "Not really. Pam was scary at first, but now she is really nice. She's gonna help me find my dad in the morning." Dick gave Bruce a cheeky grin, and Bruce huffed a small laugh.
"I see. Well then, I'll leave you two be." Bruce stood back up and turned to Pamela. "If he isn't returned to his home by mid-morning, I'll be back to take him from you."
Pamela huffed and flipped her hair back. Bruce noticed a leather bracelet on her wrist with blue beads and looked back at Dick. The boy was kicking his feet and yawning with a sleepy smile.
Bruce shot his grappling hook up and disappeared into the night without another word.
Dick took Pam's hand as they walked down the street toward Gotham's mansions the next day. Pam's shoulders sagged as they entered the clean, rich neighborhood for the 1 percent.
"You could have mentioned you were a rich kid beforehand."
"If I had, you would have just ransomed me, and then we wouldn't have become friends."
The redhead sighed. "Fair point, come on."
As they walked, Dick noticed moss and flowers growing after each one of Pam's steps. "Woah."
Pam turned to look at what had grabbed the young boy's attention. "Oh, would you look at that? I guess Mother Nature is giving us a message. This neighborhood could use some color, don't you think?"
Dick pouted. "Please don't overrun the place with plants. You'll make Dad upset, and he's not fun when he's upset."
Pam huffed and put her hand on her hip. "Fine, but only for today. If I end up back here for some reason, Mother Nature will reclaim this place."
Dick nodded as he kept walking with her. Once they got to the iron gates of the Wayne Manor, Pam looked down at Dick.
"You're a Wayne? As in Bruce Wayne? Richest man in Gotham?"
Dick grinned up at her. "Yep."
"I should have ransomed you." She lifted her arm, and vines pushed the gate open. They had just reached the front steps when the door burst open, and three boys rushed out. Pam bristled and picked Dick up, shielding him from the men.
Dick wiggled in her arms. "Pam, it's okay. They're my brothers."
Pam eyed the boys. Each one held themselves like a trained fighter as they watched her every move. Pretty strange for a bunch of rich boys. Eventually, she set Dick on the ground, and the little raven-haired boy ran over to his brothers.
"Tim, Jason, Damian! I'm back!" The boys immediately dropped to their knees and gathered Dick into a crushing hug.
"You scared us Dickie. Don't ever do that again." One of the boys said. He had a shocking lock of white hair in his bangs.
"You're not leaving my sight for the next week." Said one of the other boys. He was obviously older and had deep bags under his eyes. He looked like he was only running off an hour of sleep.
The third boy stayed quiet but watched Pam with sharp green eyes. Pam narrowed her own at him. Those were the eyes of a killer. She'd recognize them anywhere; she'd seen the same look in the mirror.
A man walking out of the house broke their little staring contest. Pam stared at the one and only Bruce Wayne. The man watched his sons hug each other before walking to the redhead.
"And you are?"
Pam raised an eyebrow. "I know you're Gotham's playboy prince, but I can't imagine you're that dumb, Mr. Wayne. The green skin didn't tip you off?"
Bruce blinked at her clipped tone. "Well, I didn't want to assume. My son has a green friend, so it's not as uncommon as you might think."
Pam recalled Dick talking about his friend who could turn into animals and sighed. "Pamela. My name is Palema Isley. I found your son last night and figured it'd be better to bring him home in the morning."
Bruce nodded. "Thank you very much. We were all sick with worry when our youngest didn't come home with his grandfather yesterday."
Pam glanced at the boys. "Yeah, I can see that. Well, if that's all, I'll be going now." She turned on her heel and headed back toward the gate.
"Pam! You'll come to visit, right?! We're friends now, and friends hang out." Pam paused and turned around in confusion.
"You want to hang out with me? I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, I'm like twice your age."
Dick ran over to her. "So, Jason is friends with Tim's boyfriend, and he is older. You can babysit me sometimes."
"I uh." She looked over at Bruce, who just nodded his head toward Dick. "S-Sure. I guess that's fine."
Dick squealed in delight and hugged her. "You're the best, Pammy. I can't wait to introduce you to all my other friends."
Pamela felt she would be interacting with many more people sooner than she ever intended.