[Feat Achieved! Stink Bomb]
[+1 Bronze Gacha Ticket]
Huh?
My hand stopped halfway through stirring the potion as I stared at the notification. I raised an eyebrow as I pulled out my phone and sent Simmy a quick text.
'Everything good?'
A thumbs-up emoji appeared almost immediately.
Hmm. Should I be worried?
Eh, she was a responsible little angel. I was sure it was fine.
[Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket]
[Sartorial Savant]
|Common Trait|
Your clothes are, for some reason, always clean and tidy. The same applies to your wardrobe, and minor damage to anything you wear will gradually mend itself.
Ooh, neat.
I'd been burning through outfits lately. As it turned out, fighting villains, monsters, and magicians tended to get rather messy. It honestly made me wonder how some supes handled their laundry.
Did Superman own a superpowered washing machine?
I snorted at the mental image. Now that would be a sight to see.
"Something wrong?"
"Nah." I chuckled as I turned toward Ivy. "I was just pondering how fucking weird our lives are."
"Well, ponder later. We've got work to do." Ivy poked me in the shoulder before wandering back toward the table, which held a variety of pots filled with experimental plants.
"Fine, fine."
I picked up another potion and resumed stirring.
While I had successfully created the booster series of potions, there was one unfortunate complication.
I didn't have enough materials.
Lower-grade potions mostly required mundane ingredients like herbs, minerals, or specific chemical compounds. Booster potions, however, needed ingredients that were considerably more esoteric. That hadn't been a problem when I was only making small batches, but the rarity of those materials meant I had quickly bled the market dry of everything easily accessible.
It wasn't an insurmountable issue. I had Cobblepot throwing money at anyone capable of finding what I needed, but it remained a major roadblock to mass production. Some ingredients simply didn't exist in abundance, while others came with absurd conditions, like only blooming beneath a full moon.
Which had led to this.
I poured a few drops of blue potion onto the petals of a small flower.
If I couldn't find the ingredients I needed, why not create them myself?
A little experimental botany, a dash of alchemy, and voilà.
Unfortunately...
"That one's a dud too." Ivy wrinkled her nose and pointed a finger toward the plant. The flower twitched beneath her power, its petals briefly straightening before drooping again. "It'll be dead within half a day at this rate."
"Damn." I sighed and tossed the empty bottle aside. "Well, at least I've had a few successes."
"Barely." Ivy rolled her eyes. "Ninety percent of these would've died without my power keeping them alive."
"And for that, you have my utmost gratitude, Your Majesty." I gave her a mocking bow. "The Green Queen's power is truly—"
"Oh, fuck off."
Ivy threw a pen at my head.
I smirked and caught it out of the air. "Rude. Is that any way to treat your generous benefactor after everything I've done for you?" I wiped away an imaginary tear. "I even established an entire foundation for you."
"Puh-lease." Ivy waved one hand, and a root snapped out from beneath the table to slap the back of my neck. "Two-Face is the one actually putting in the work."
The former district attorney had quite literally thrived with access to the Goonion's finances and my own luck keeping his coin flips relatively inclined toward good. Without his split personality constantly hindering him, Harvey Dent had taken Gotham by storm, exploiting every loophole and legal trick in the book.
The fact that the Goonion was now a legally recognized labor union was nothing short of actual magic.
"I'm his boss, so by default, all his success is also my success," I argued.
"You're a little shit, you know that?"
"Thanks!" I grinned.
That earned me another eye roll as Ivy picked up her clipboard and returned to her notes.
Hmm.
Should I prank the hell out of Poison Ivy, or should I exercise restraint and preserve our peaceful working relationship? Choices, choices….
"What's up, nerds?"
A cheerful shout interrupted that dangerous line of thought.
Harley skipped into the laboratory carrying several plastic bags filled to the brim with snacks and drinks.
Ivy let out a tired sigh. "Harls, I'm still working. There are delicate plants in here."
"Aww, I know." Harley dropped the bags onto an empty section of the table before digging through one of them. "That's why I got you the purple Doritos. Your favorite!"
She triumphantly produced a bag of Doritos and held it toward Ivy with both hands.
Ivy stared at the offering, visibly torn between irritation and surrender.
Before she could refuse, I lifted a finger.
"Actually, there might be something fun and productive we can all do." I pointed toward a strange golden plant growing near the back of the laboratory. "Didn't you say the Fun Honey Flower's nectar had some... spicy effects?"
Ivy immediately choked on her breath.
Harley's eyes lit up.
"What sorta effects?" She dropped the Doritos and rubbed her hands together with enthusiasm.
"Well..." Ivy began cautiously.
"Since we have such a studious and dedicated botanist available..." I grinned darkly. "We should conduct a proper experiment."
Harley's smile widened to match mine.
The two of us began giggling as we approached her from opposite sides.
"Now, Red," Harley cooed, "this is for science."
Ivy had dropped the clipboard, and her face went crimson as we backed her into a corner.
"Exactly." I carefully plucked a glistening drop of nectar from the flower. "You wouldn't want to stand in the way of scientific progress, would you?"
Ivy looked between us in silence, her expression caught somewhere between irritation and desire.
One of them was clearly winning.
"You two are insufferable."
Roots snapped through the air, and clothes quickly followed.
What followed were several very long and productive hours.
—
Barbara sighed as she sat in the café, unsure what she was supposed to feel.
Her little run-in with Jean Valjean had thoroughly occupied her mind. Even as she went through the motions and finished the librarians' event, the memory never left her. She had already sent Bruce a brief message, and she was absolutely dreading the inevitable debrief.
God, how had she gotten so caught up in the moment?
Barbara could still feel her face heating at the memory of quite literally committing arson at the Tower of Fate.
"You okay?" Zatanna asked as she sat across from her with a tray.
"No." Barbara rubbed her eyes before finishing the drink Jean had given her as an apology.
Bruce would probably have her hide for drinking something magical without testing it first, but she needed something to dull the embarrassment. So far, the delicious drink was doing wonders.
Besides, she had a good enough grasp of Jean's character to doubt he would give her anything malicious.
"If you're really tired, I can teleport you back," Zatanna offered before taking a sip of her coffee.
"Maybe," Barbara murmured.
She didn't like imposing on her friends, especially for something she could technically handle herself, but her brain had officially stopped caring.
"God knows if I take too long, Bruce is going to come get me in the jet."
"I've got you. I'll send you back after lunch." Zatanna nodded, then paused as she looked down at her bagel sandwich. "Ah, I forgot the ketchup."
"Thanks, Z." Barbara let out another tired breath. "I owe you one. Here, let me."
She rubbed her eyes as she stood, walked over to the condiment station, and grabbed a packet of ketchup. When she returned and held it out, Zatanna was staring at her with her mouth hanging open.
Barbara frowned. "What?"
She glanced down at the ketchup.
"Did I grab the wrong—"
Her thoughts stopped.
Walk?
Barbara's eyes snapped downward.
She was standing.
Her mind went rigid as she slowly looked at the empty cup Jean had handed her.
"Barbara!" Zatanna shot to her feet, tears already filling her eyes as she wrapped Barbara in a crushing hug. "You can walk!"
Barbara hugged her back almost robotically, still trying to process what was happening.
Oh… Bruce was never gonna let her hear the end of this.
***
Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.
I have advanced chapters on Pa tre on/daisyberry if you wanna read ahead.