The Villain Wrangler

A Budding Idea

A/N: Hello and welcome! This fic is based on a prompt from tumblr. If you want to see it you can Google "The Villain Wrangler" and there should be an imgur album of screenshots of the prompt. The main ideas are derived from the wonderful people who contributed to the post, but Danny Johnson, the interactions between the characters (chapter plots), and the writing is mine. Any character you recognize (i.e. DC characters) are not mine. This is crossposted on FFN, AO3, and Spacebattles. I hope you enjoy this story! -Archie

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Danny Johnson stared blankly at the screen in front of him. Earlier, his reaction had been due to shock, but that had faded away by this point. Sadly, that didn't mean the contents of the email displayed on his laptop were any different.

5 year old girl... Melody Waters.... Wants to show Poison Ivy her succulent garden... terminal cancer... a few months...

It wasn't the fact that the girl had cancer or how young she was, but more the fact that her 'World of Wishes' wish revolved around a notorious- and wanted- villainess in Gotham that surprised Danny. This job wasn't new to him, but he'd never heard of anything like this happening before.

"Kids are strange," he muttered, rubbing his palm against his forehead. How was he going to give this child what she wanted the most?

His search began online, scouring enthusiast forums and potentially illegal sites alike to find any word of where one might come across the green woman. He ignored any stories that reminded him of her criminal actions; none of that mattered after the point he learned of the wish he was sent to fulfill.

That was how he found himself seated in Gotham Park every night near the botanic enclosure for a week in the hopes of catching Ivy. The first three nights had passed without events, the fourth night Danny could've sworn a figure was watching him from the trees, and the last two had seen drunk individuals stumble along the paved walkways. He was hoping this final night would grant him the opportunity he had been waiting for; if not, he would search for another idea.

The feeling of something wrapping around his ankle snapped him out of his thoughts to leave him meeting the emerald gaze of the person he was looking for. Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow in question as she sat on the other end of his bench, watching his with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"You're quite persistent," she hummed, pursing her lips and reaching one hand towards his face. "Kept me from visiting my babies for several days, you naught b-" She was cut off as Danny grabbed her wrist and smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ivy, but I need to ask you something and I'm racing against a deadline," he said, tensing himself for an altercation.

"Make that two now." Her warning was clear, and yet it didn't faze him the slightest. He reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a folded packet of papers all revolving around wisher Melody Waters: her past and current picture, her wish statement, details on her sickness, and a drawing she had made of Poison Ivy. Danny handed them all over to the woman, who took them questioningly.

"My name is Danny Johnson and I work for the 'World of Wishes' foundation. Last week, a terminally ill 5 year-old girl named Melody asked to meet you so she could show you the small garden of succulents she has been caring for in her hospital room. She adores you." He smiled as he saw Ivy ruffle through the papers confirming what he said. "I'm here to ask if you'd come in to see her at Gotham Central."

He watched as she glanced between him and the papers she held several times before chuckling humorlessly. "I'll give you points for effort, Mister Johnson, but your time is up." Even with the vines now wrapping around both his legs and his chest, Danny found her theatrics slightly ridiculous. "Why are you really here? Was it the Commissioner or the Bat?"