The Krynoid threw Harley through the one-way mirror, right into the hallway where the Doctor and her group were trying to get away from a snarling Elizabeth. “Harley!” called Batman. Harley picked herself up and pointed into the observation ward.
“That thing in there! Ophelia!” she said.
“Ophelia! Ophelia!” replied the Doctor angrily. “That’s not Ophelia anymore! That’s a monster!” Speaking of the former human, the Krynoid lumbered through the broken window. It then used Elizabeth to attack! The Doctor, her group, and Harley kept dodging the blows from Elizabeth and the Krynoid.
“Harley, where’s the incinerator?!” demanded William.
“There isn’t one!” replied Harley. “The fire risk was too great!”
“We have to find Ivy!” urged Batman. “Where is she?!”
“In the throne room!” revealed Harley. “Talking to Councilman Hartmann and Selina!”
“Catwoman’s here?!” yelped Robin.
“Come on!” called Harley. She led everyone through a door. They shut it behind them and barricaded it before resuming their run to the throne room.
“Dr. Isley,” said a portly man as he paced the throne room, “you promised that my ecological plan would come to fruition! Catwoman here told me about what you’ve done with Dr. Henderson! What do you intend to do, make us all plant men?!”
“Councilman Hartmann, wouldn’t it be better?” asked Ivy. “We’d produce our own food. No need for the pollution of factory farming. No need for fakey foods with additives. All we’d need is water and sunlight.”
“Pamela, using an alien plant,” argued a woman in a full bodysuit themed after a cat, the infamous Catwoman, “can’t possibly be a good idea! What would the Green say?”
“The Green will come around to-!” Ivy was interrupted when Harley brought the heroes into the throne room. “Harley, what are you doing?!”
“And now that winged nut’s involved!” complained Hartmann.
“Councilman,” assured Batman, “I’m trying to undo Ivy’s mistake!”
“I’ve made no-!” argued Ivy.
“You did!” replied Harley. “Ophelia’s not Ophelia anymore! She’s an it! A monster! It’s got control over Elizabeth! The ropes couldn’t hold it!”
“You mean that horror’s roaming around here?!” asked Hartmann.
“It could take over all plant life at any minute!” warned the Doctor. “Councilman, we must get out of here!”
“Relax, all of you,” assured Ivy. “It’s a plant. I can commune with it.” She placed her fingers on her temples and shut her eyes, just for dramatic effect as she tried to talk to the Krynoid.
“Ivy, it’s an alien intelligence!” the Doctor retorted. “You won’t be able to-!” Ivy then clutched her head in pain and cried out.
“PAMELA!” yelped Harley. The Doctor put her own fingers on Ivy’s temples and concentrated hard. Ivy then collapsed to the floor, panting heavily, along with the Doctor.
“Doctor!” called William as he rushed to help her. She accepted the help and was pulled back to her feet while Harley helped Ivy.
“…A grotesque parody of a plant!” panted Ivy. “That’s what the Krynoid called me! It lied to me! I nurtured it and it spits in my-!”
“Poison Ivy,” interrupted the Doctor, “the Krynoid is dangerous, lethal! It will lie to achieve its goals of killing all animal life! …Thankfully, I blocked your connection to it, but you’ll need to wrestle its control over plants to keep us alive.”
“This is insane!” protested Hartmann as he headed to the door.
“Councilman, where are you going?!” called Batman.
“To get help!” replied Hartmann.
“Hartmann, we’re in the Botanical Gardens!” argued Ivy. “That thing can control plants like I can! We need to-!”
“YOU need to keep the crazy down, lady!” interrupted Hartmann. “This has gone too far!”
“Listen to her! You won’t make it to any gate!” urged Batman. Hartmann then pulled out a gun.
“We’ll see!” he said before leaving the throne room.
“Hartmann!” called the Doctor. “HARTMANN, STOP!” She then growled. “Typical, gun-obsessed-! Why aren’t all Americans like William here?!
“Come on, we’d better stop him!” called Ivy.
“You made that monster!” argued Robin. “Why should we-!”
“Because I finally admit that you people are right!” interrupted Ivy. “And we all have to work together to kill that weed!”
“We have to find Hartmann quickly!” urged the Doctor. Everyone then rushed out of the throne room.
Hartmann ran through the maze that was the botanical gardens. “Dammit, all the plants look the same!” he complained. He rounded a corner and gasped! In front of him was a seven and a half foot tall mass of green that was moving towards him! Ivy’s plants at least had some recognizable features, this one didn’t! Its anatomy was undefined with no discernable front or back. It was bulky and covered in tendrils and vines, some of which ended in Venus Flytrap mouths. It lumbered towards Hartmann. “Whatever you are, stop or I fire!” warned the Councilman. The new plant paid him no heed and continued shuffling towards him! Hartmann fired, but the bullets simply bounced off the plant! Hartmann stumbled backwards and tripped over some root! One of the plant’s tendrils then grabbed him and dragged him into a maw! He screamed, attracting the attention of the Doctor and her group. They rounded the corner to see the plant chomping down on the Councilman!
“That’s an adult Krynoid?!” yelped William. Batman wasted no time! He threw a particularly sharp batarang at the Krynoid. It buried itself into the plant, causing it to roar in pain.
“THIS WAY!” called Ivy. The group ran with an angry Krynoid running after them a few seconds after getting the batarang out.
Ivy led everyone into a small cottage at the edge of the botanical gardens. Charlotte and Adelaide were in there. “Mistress!” called Adelaide.
“Mistress, are you all right?!” asked Charlotte. “We lost contact with Elizabeth and-!” She then spotted Batman. “What are you doing here?! I thought you’d be compost by now!”
“Charlotte, was it?” interjected the Doctor. “With that Krynoid outside, we’ll ALL be compost. …How are you not-?”
“Emergency procedures I taught them,” replied Ivy. “If telepathic communication is compromised, like an alien intelligence taking over, all sentient plants have to silence the hive.”
“What about Elizabeth?!” asked Adelaide worriedly.
“We’ll save her,” promised the Doctor. “But we have a weed that-!” Speaking of the alien weed, one of the Krynoid’s tendrils burst through the cottage window and thrashed around, looking for prey! Robin drew his sword and stabbed outside where the tendril connected with the plant. The Krynoid roared in pain again. The Doctor then called out to the Krynoid. “You don’t scare us, Ophelia!” she called. “If you’re in there!”
“The human host, once known as Ophelia,” came a distorted version of Ophelia’s voice, “is now part of us. You may try and escape, but you cannot stop us, Doctor.”
“It’s the Krynoid!” realized Catwoman.
“Hear this; humans and false plant,” said the Krynoid, “surrender the Doctor, Batman, and Poison Ivy to us. Your lives will be spared. You have until daybreak.” The rattling of the Krynoid unnerved everyone.
“…Heck of a Valentine’s day, huh Ives?” muttered Harley.
“Doctor, how big will that thing get?” asked William.
“Oh, ranging from St. Paul’s Cathedral to the Burj Kalifa,” replied the Doctor.
“…Ivy can stay,” muttered Adelaide, “but Batman and the Doctor…”
“…I quite agree, sister!” said Charlotte.
“No one’s throwing anyone to the Krynoid!” argued Ivy.
“Why not?!” countered Charlotte. “If it wants those two-!”
“It asked for all three! Even then, I doubt it would make any difference!” interrupted Ivy. “It’s going to kill all animals and corrupt you and your sisters, so why spare us unless it wants sport?!”
“She’s right,” mused the Doctor. “By daybreak, the Krynoid will be big enough to turn this cottage into rubble.”
“Well, we can’t stay here!” protested Harley. “We gotta get out of here! There ain’t no stuff to make Krynoid-killer here!”
“…Not here, no,” replied Batman. “But the Batcave has a blue box that can.”
“The TARDIS laboratory!” realized William.
“And we still have that Krynoid tissue sample there!” recalled the Doctor.
“A tissue sample from a Krynoid consuming its host!” argued Robin.
“The DNA is still the same,” replied the Doctor. “Ivy, is there a back way out?”
“No,” answered Ivy. “I made this cottage into a bunker.”
“We’re going to need some sort of distraction at daybreak,” muttered the Doctor.
“…Would a pyro-batarang suffice?” asked Batman.
“…You’ve got a batarang that can generate fire?” asked the Doctor.
“Two, actually.”
“Two might actually be enough.”
“Ivy, just so I know, when will the fire suppression system kick in?” asked Batman.
“About a minute,” replied Ivy.
“Then some plants will be scorched,” muttered the Doctor.
“…Really wish you didn’t say that.”
Daybreak arrived and everyone prepared to escape. Batman and Robin opened the cottage’s upstairs window to better aim at the Krynoid. “…Doctor, we’ve got a problem,” Batman called downstairs.
“What is it?” asked the Doctor.
“The Krynoid’s gone.”
“WHAT?!” The Doctor charged upstairs to see that Batman was right. “…Where could it have lumbered off to?!” she hissed. That was when they heard a scream! Everyone rushed downstairs to see Ivy being pulled through the window by the Krynoid’s tendril as Harley, William, and Catwoman were trying to free her!