Inflorescence • Poison Ivy's Daughter

chapter nineteen ~ daddy issues

Robin wasn't asleep. He couldn't.

He lay awake in his cot, Bella on the one next to him, as his mind rush through the many possibilities and problems he was faced with. Then through the not so many solutions to them. He couldn't find his way out of this one, not until he had more information at least.

If he hadn't been awake then though, he probably wouldn't have noticed the change in lighting. The white light turning to a neon purple.

He sat up in his coat, confused, and turned to Bella. Her back was pressed up against the wall, her eyes wide, her breathing heavy.

'What's going on-' Robin's question was cut off by the swish of a glass wall suddenly appearing, splitting the room in two. He scrambled to his feet pressing his hands against the barrier. He looked to Bella for answers but her eye's had gone hazy, droplets of dark blood oozing from her nose.

Panic swept through him, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into the glass. Pain cut through him but he continued, again and again. The skin spilt around his knuckles, blood smearing the clear glass as he continued to pound the glass.

A click sounded as a door opened to his right, a door which had blended in seamlessly to the white wall. Robin hadn't even noticed it was there. It sid away from the glass divider, revealing an older man standing on the other side with a sly smile and wired spectacles.

He was slender but strangely strong looking. His wild black hair flowed away from his face as if it were trying to retreat from his haunting black eyes. Cool calculating abysses. Robin felt it down to his bones, this man was dangerous. He instinctively tried to take a step back before he caught himself and took two steps forward to make up for it. However, that put him within arms reach of the man and he instantly regretted it.

As if sensing Robins discomfort, the man's smile grew, mouth splitting open to reveal starch white teeth.

'Pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance, Robin. I am Dr. Jason Woodrue.', Robin instantly recognized his proper way of speaking.

'You're Bella's father.' He breathed, eyes flicking between the two taking in the similarities in their sharp jaw and high cheekbones. The dangerous air that surrounded them both thickly.

The doctor's eye twitched, 'I am in the biological sense, Kora's father, yes.'

There was low hiss as another door slid open, this time on the other side of the glass divider the same size as the other one. Two men in heavy white lab equipment appeared at its opening, breathing masks covering there faces, Bella began to tremble.

Robin took a step forward towards the glass, but the Doctor held out his arm to stop him. Robin almost appreciated him acting as if he could disrupt this scenario at all.

'Don't worry boy, Kora's just reuniting with an old friend.' Robin could only watch as the men hauled Bella up by her limp arms and dragged from the room. The door sliding shut behind her.

'What did you do to her?' Robin demanded, his voice breaking slightly in fear and anger.

The doctor gestured vaguely to the ceiling as if he was bored by the question, 'the lights. UV is the same as keeping her in the dark for months, drains her energy rapidly. It causes no harm if used sparingly.'

Robin brow etched in question, the doctor continued.

'Oh, you weren't aware? Your dear Bella isn't human.' He spat her name like it was venom on his tongue. 'She's one of my greatest achievements, a human whose part plant.'

'Hasn't Ivy already got that title?' Robin asked.

A knowing smile passed over the Doctor, 'Pamela, she was my first, such a lovely girl. Unfortunately, after the transformation, she got a little to... independent for my liking.'

'Wait, you're saying you gave Poison Ivy her abilities?'

'Indeed. She was the first to have a successful outcome to the procedure. Naturally, she was also the answer to my other achievements. Take Kora, for example, I had attempted to make a child with the abilities of Poison Ivy, with the thought that a child would be easier to control due to their natural obedience. However, all the children I gathered weren't strong enough for those kinds of abilities, they kept dying off one after the other.

'That when I thought back to Pamela and thought about what made her work so marvelously. I then had the brilliant idea that if I were to use her DNA to create a child, that child may display the same abilities as her. So I harvested some of her DNA, which was actually more difficult than you might assume, and I combined it with my own to create a child. Unintentionally, creating more than I would have hoped, but Kora grew up to be as astounding as I imagined. A true protegee, succeeding her mother before she managed to learn to speak. One of the deadliest weapons I've ever seen.'

'She a girl, not a weapon.' Robin snarled, but couldn't hide the tremor in his voice. He was beginning to feel sick.

The doctor's eyes hardened, his smile dropping a fraction. 'Dear, you truly have no idea do you? What she's capable of. Shall I tell you? Aren't you curious what became of my greatest pride, what happened to my supposed fame, glory and power? I promise you'll find the story quite riveting.'

Robin swallowed the fear he felt in his gut, his ache of curiosity combining with it, driving him mad. The doctor turned slightly and gestured towards the door.

'Follow me, if you want answers.'