Inflorescence • Poison Ivy's Daughter

chapter five ~ forbidden fruit

'Who are you?' demanded Batman in his gravelly low voice.

She raised from her crouch, twirling the Batarang between her fingers as a sensuous smile played on her lips, 'The names Belladonna, but feel free to call me Bella. It's cuter.'

'And let me guess, you're with plant lady here?' Robin chimed in placing his hands on his hips.

'Sure am,' she grinned, 'So if you'll excuse us we'll be taking our leave now.' A flash of silver spun through the air, Bella moved out of its way the blade scraping her cheek, 'I'm guessing no one taught you your manners Birdie.' her green eyes glaring at Robin.

'I had a complicated childhood,' he shrugged.

'Oh, I'd hardly call that an excuse. I turned alright.'

He scoffed and opened his mouth to reply, but his eyes flickered to something behind her. 'Batman, Ivy-'

'On it.' Batman replied taking off into the maze where Ivy had disappeared into, black gap flowing behind him.

Crap, so much for a distraction. She turned around to go after him but a blur of green and red lept over her, blocking her path.

'Woah Woah, leaving so soon?' The masked boy smirked

'Well, I did just tell you I was leaving.'

His grin widened, 'So you did, but don't think you're charming your way out.'

'Awh you think I'm charming?' She smiled sweetly, slaughtering closer to the boy, wiping the droplets of blood from her cheek with her thumb, 'But unfortunately for you, I'm not like Ivy, she loves peace, granted, a little too much. But that's still better than the alternative.'

'And the alternative is?'

She licked away the crimson liquid from her finger, her smile turning malicious, 'I love the chaos.'

Robin's eyes widened as the Batarang was flung from her fingers, straight towards his face. Robin twisted his body out of the way in a skillful flip landing half crouched on top of protruding pipe.  He laughed, the sound ringing like a bell throughout the lab.

'Seems I'm not the only one with poor manners.'

'You haven't earnt them yet, Boy Wonder.'

He drew his metal staff from his belt, 'And what would I have to do to earn the grace of you're manners?'

'You just need one thing,' She snarked, as he lept from the pipe, staff swung at her ribs. 'Respect.'

She blocked the staff with her forearm and slammed her shin into his side. He faltered slightly, but recovered quickly, striking again and again. He was fast, faster then Bella, he had experience in countless fights, this was her first proper fight outside of her training. She couldn't beat him with skill alone, she observed his movements, his messy raven hair was plastered to his scalp, a sheen of sweat covered his olive skin. He was exhausted, be he didn't stop moving, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet, but his bounce was quicker on his right leg as if he was trying to keep it off the ground. Bella smiled inwardly, he was hurt.

Like a viper she stuck, her kick hitting his right ankle sharply with a sickening crack, he hissed in pain, losing his balance. Before he had time to recover Bella sent a sharp punch to his ribs, he gasped staggering backwards into a wall, his head hanging down so his black hair covered his face.

He looked up through his mess of hair the whites of his mask glaring up at her, blood dripping from his mouth. Without a warning he charged at her, staff held out in front of him with both hands. The combination of force and shock sent her back to the floor. Robin on top of her pinning her down with his strong body, the staff pushing down on her neck, half choking her if not for her own grip on it keeping it barely off her. He grinned, bloodily down at her.

White noise broke through the tension, the familiar terrifying voice of Batman was heard faintly  from Robin, 'Robin, Poison Ivy's been taken into custody, whats your status on Belladonna?'

'It's being taken care of.' He hissed through gritted teeth.

A blur of anger clouded Bella's thoughts, her mother needed her and she wasn't there. She had to get out of this fight, and quickly. She didn't care how dirty she was going to have to play.

She released her grip on the staff, the metal crushing her throat. She ignored the pain and grasped Robin's jaw, pulling him down till his lips met hers. His lips tensed against her soft ones, but his grip loosed. She moved her hand quickly and smoothly from his jaw to his shoulders, pressing his muscled body closer to hers. In a swift manoeuvre, she rolled on top of him pressing him beneath her and throwing the staff beyond his reach. He gasped in surprise, his lips involuntarily yielding to the kiss. Bella tentatively ran her tongue over his lips, drawing them open along with a soft moan from him, the metallic taste of blood filling her mouth. Using her tongue she moved a small berry that had grown from the inside of her cheek down, between her teeth, she bit into it the crimson juice flowing down onto Robins' lips.

She pulled back, looking down at him with green eyes ablaze and mahogany waves spilling down around them.

Robin looked up at her, eyes wide in confusion, his lips stained in red. 'What did you-' Then he started coughing. He trying to get up but Bella gently lowered his chest down to the floor.

'Don't worry, it won't kill you. Just enough to cause temporary paralysis.' she purred as she plucked a purple flower from her wrist and threaded it behind his ear.

He laughed but the noise came out strangled, 'You and chaos go nicely together.'

She raised a brow and half laughed back, 'With all chaos, there's calculation, darling.'

He tried to glare up at her but he could hardly keep his eyes open. His body felt as if it was weighted to the floor, he couldn't move.

'Just rest, pretty bird, I doubt this will be the last we see of each other.' She brushed his eyelids closed and stood up. 'Hopefully, you could be a little more respectful next time. Seeing as you just took my mother from me.'

He heard her footsteps fade as she got further away, but somehow he could still hear her humming to herself.

'Out of the tree of life, I just picked me a plum

You came along and everything's startin' to hum

Still, it's a real good bet, the best is yet to come..."

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Hey everyone, hope you liked the chapter. I find the relationship between Robin and Bella really interesting to write about, also cause with all the secret identities and stuff I'm referring to each character as they are presented to others. Idk if that makes sense but think of it as Dick Grayson with the mask will be called Robin and DIck Grayson without the mask is just Dick Grayson, that was probably a no-brainer though aha.