Ghost King Meets Batman

Poison Ivy

   [Edited July 18, 2022]

Nico needed to check in with his friends and self-proclaimed mothers more often. Ivy wasn't even his real mother and she went ballistic when he knocked on her door. He knew that she felt protective over him to some extent, but he had underestimated the extent of her attachment. Would she start making him call her mom? Even though he may not have much memory of Maria, he didn't like the idea of calling anyone else by her title. Even in death, she was still his mother after all.

"You! Where have you been? Where is Hazel? Do you know how worried I have been?" She ranted for longer than he thought was necessary but he wasn't about to stop her either. She was pacing too, which made the demigod kind of nervous. Was he supposed to talk, or just let her be? When she had finished, she stopped in front of Nico and grabbed him in a bone-crushing hug. He could barely breathe until she let go. Maternal gestures were so far out of his realm of expectation that he had absolutely no idea how to react. Was this going to be their normal now? How did he feel about that? Ivy didn't give him long to ponder over it.

"Well?" She pressed.

"I'm sorry. Life has been a little hectic," he said lamely. He wasn't sure what else he could tell her without giving away too much. She may be protective of him, but he doubted those protections extended to the Waynes and they definitely didn't extend to Batman or the other heroes. Anything he told her could be used against the other people he cared about. She may be civil or ever motherly to him, but she was still crazy and still a villain. He needed to be careful.

"That's no excuse! Where's Hazel hmm? If she's hurt I swear on mother nature..." The son of Hades cut her off. No need to swear on Gaea if they didn't have to. Especially with this much vegetation around. Ivy's plants had probably grown at least 3 inches since the last time he had seen them and he couldn't help but wonder if that was their natural growth rate or not. If you had the ability to make plants grow at will, would you even bother to wait for them to grow naturally anymore? He knew that he wouldn't, but Ivy seemed to have more patience.

"She's fine, honest. She's probably safer than me right now."

"Oh? And just why, pray- tell, would that be?" Ivy eyed him suspiciously.

"It's not important, really. I was just wondering if I could stay here for a day or two." Nico asked, knowing she'd probably let him. He liked his odds with her being this protective over him. If she wouldn't let him, he could always seek out shelter in one of the safehouse or try to find Jason. Batman wouldn't like it, but it was a possibility.

"Oh very well, you know I can't turn you away if you need help. Won't Bruce be looking for you, though? I don't need him getting Batman on my case." She asked, leading Nico back to the room she had given him. The trainee vigilante had prepared a response for this, luckily, and was not caught off guard.

"Nah, he's on a business trip and won't know I'm missing for a little while. My brothers might, though, but they'll never think to look here. I have to call a couple of people and they don't need to know about it just yet." He admitted. Ivy gave him the disappointed mom look and Nico almost felt guilty.

"Fine, no more than two days without contacting your family. I'd like you to stay longer, but no need to worry your brothers." She pointed a pale, green-tinted finger at him for emphasis. He nodded, that was better than he had hoped. He wasn't planning on staying any longer than tomorrow afternoon. If he did need to stay longer then he would let his brothers know since there was no way he was going to disobey Ivy. Not at Toxic Acres. He didn't have a death wish, despite what the Joker thought.

"I'm going out to protest the construction of a new apartment complex that will cause acres of trees to be needlessly bulldozed. I'll be back in a while. If you go anywhere, leave a note-- are you bleeding!?" She asked in horror, staring at his leg. Nico had completely forgotten that the stupid sea demon had bitten him. The pain had dulled to a throb and it had basically stopped bleeding.