3 03

[About nine months later]

[Former Machine Tool Works, now just an abandoned manufacturing building outside of Gotham City]

"My child..." Pamela whispered with tenderness and concern as she leaned toward the green, closed bud of unusual size. When the distance between them was at its smallest, she ran her hand over it with warmth in her heart, welcoming the new day with a smile.

The bud itself looked like a roundish something, about fifty or sixty centimeters high and about the same width. For safety, it was surrounded by other plants, almost as unusual as the bud itself.

The fact is that there were several mutant plants nesting next to it, which would protect her future child in case of unforeseen circumstances. She had no doubts about the loyalty of her creatures, who also had the rudiments of reason.

Pamela was a little hot-headed, but when everything was prepared, including the samples of one meta-human metamorph were delivered to her on a platter thanks to the mercenary Deathstroke.

Some part of the money from that significant and strange robbery had been used to hire this man, who had gotten to the A.R.G.U.S. base and delivered the samples she needed and went out almost unnoticed...almost. But despite the mistake made, everything ended well and after careful preparation she had everything she needed to start a large-scale project, which was her future son. As she thought about it, she remembered their brief dialog when the order was completed.

"Hey, I know you're here, don't you think that making an old man move after a task is completed is rather rude?" A strong-willed male voice that sounded slightly husky came out.

The meeting place that Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, had chosen was the Gotham City docks, or rather a dark place on the docks that even the workers were afraid to look into.

"How'd it go?" Poison Ivy emerged from the shadows of a building, asking the question in a voice that sounded aloof and icy.

"As you can see" he shook the container that looked more like a suitcase "It went more than well, though they did give me a little bit of a hard time..." The man grinned involuntarily, remembering how it had been.

"I can see" Ivy chuckled seriously, looking at the worn-out suit of a seasoned mercenary in places, on which secant marks were clearly visible, and occasionally small dents slipped through, it seems that the Deathstroke came under heavy fire.

After a few more words with each other, the mercenary handed over the briefcase, before giving a preliminary inspection of its contents, and then respectfully saying goodbye, he was the first to leave the Fetid docks of Gotham City. Having dismissed the memories of the meeting with the professional killer and mercenary, the girl returned to her previous thoughts...

With a specially grown plant that would emulate a womb for the future child, she managed to raise the child outside her own body. Yes it was difficult, yes she was afraid of making a mistake and killing her unborn son, but thanks to that caution and meticulousness she managed and overcame those hard and grueling days.

Her genes and that metamorph specimen, she took the best of herself and everything useful she could glean from that small sample and instilled it in her child. This was to help it develop and acclimatize quickly to society in the future.

Now, her skin color and plant control aside, Pam was almost no different from a normal human being. There was simply a tremendous amount of energy devoted to keeping the fruit alive inside the bud and developing. Even that basic ability to release pheromones that would intoxicate not only men, but women as well, was not available to her.

"Just a little bit more...very soon my child, you only have to wait a little longer..." she caressingly ran her palm over the bud, where she could clearly feel the beating of a small heart "Soon you and I will meet" She finished with a loving smile on her lips and leaned a little closer and kissed the dark green walls of the bud.

It was hard to recognize the very slightly apathetic Ivy in her, for at the moment the girl was fountaining such genuine happiness and joy, which to others might have seemed a little strange.

Pamela thought back to the New York bank robbery, when a man in a three-piece suit had shown up, claiming to be the Lord of the Underworld himself. That he was the Lord of Hell, the girl did not believe in it, but that he definitely had some abilities and that he was not so simple very much! How did she get a playing card in the pocket of her cloak?

Was it possible that the way he'd frozen Selina, it had happened to her, too? Speaking of Selina, Ivy didn't say anything to her about what had happened after they'd filled the bags full of money. It seemed like it was best to keep it to herself.

And it wasn't so easy with the card. Several times she tried to throw it away or tear it apart, and as a result: the card was always in front of her in a prominent place. She shoved the playing card into a closet that she had brought to the abandoned factory, as well as some other things that she really needed.

Suddenly, the girl began to feel something strange. She felt a strange feeling inside of her, a burning sensation that wouldn't let her rest. This inexplicable feeling grew in Pamela's chest until it was replaced by a strange and irrepressible fear and anxiety.

"Why...am I terrified?" She mumbled quietly and confusedly, and hailstones of sweat began to trickle down her forehead. It was the first time she'd ever felt this way, and so she couldn't understand what was happening to her. Nor could she identify the source of the anxiety.

 Suddenly the villain's body shuddered involuntarily, as if the room had become several tens of degrees colder, and it was not understandable, because with the manifestation of the meta-gene she had become somewhat resistant to temperatures.

Turning to the bud, she saw that the mutant plants sitting nearby were in disarray, wiggling their stems and dense vines as if in some kind of seizure.

"Isn't it...but how? It's impossible! No, no, no, no! Not now..." it was only a moment later that Ivy began to realize what was happening. At this very moment, her son was dying....

"You can't, you can't leave me!" Ivy, on the verge of madness, rushed to the dark green bud, gently touching it with her hands and checking the baby's condition. His condition was indeed not the best, his heartbeat began to slow and his breathing became intermittent.

"Mirai, please don't leave me!" The girl began to infuse the cocoon with her energy, but not even half a minute passed before the remnants of her strength finally showed the bottom. The power was so small that Pamela's hands shook from weakness "My children, help me! My baby must see the light! And, forgive me..." she whispered with trembling lips, she cared deeply for the creatures, but...she just couldn't lose her son.

"..." they answered silently, not at all afraid of their own deaths, to protect their mistress's son was what they had promised to do! And the sight of the Lady of the Plants made them angry, so they moved towards the bud, giving it their life force, which was no problem at all.

"Why? Why isn't it working?!" tears were beading from her eyes, darkening the beautiful face of the girl "Wait, stop...nothing is working! There's not enough energy!!!" she stopped her subordinates, for they would have died themselves....

She stared silently at everything that was happening, almost resigned to the reality that had befallen her, until she heard heavy footsteps behind her and turned around.

"What the...?" Pam froze in a mute scream as she stared at the thing coming at her. The dark green monster was slowly approaching the girl, leaving wet footprints and bits of slime that gave off a musty, marshy odor.

Despite its horrible appearance and bone-chilling eyes, the creature's appearance gradually began to inspire calmness and peace, which made the pulse beating out a thudding pulse also return to normal, which only helped to calm the girl.

"I...Came...To help..." He pointed his monstrous hand, if it could be called a hand at all, at the bud that was rapidly losing its colors.

Ivy was still in a slightly deranged state, so she just nodded at the words of this something, but she didn't move from her seat as she continued to watch him. There was something about him...as if her power was slightly revitalized by the appearance of the monster, but the girl couldn't understand why, was it possible that they were similar...?

Meanwhile, the creature itself, catching the redhead's barely perceptible nod, came a few meters closer, getting a little farther away from Pamela, but also coming in relative proximity to the bud that it saw right before its eyes, getting grayer and grayer.

As soon as the swamp monster placed its bulky hand on the cocoon, some unknown mechanism went into motion.

The bud eagerly absorbed the creature's green energy while rapidly increasing in size. It grew until it reached a size that could fit a man of average height or just a teenager.

Suddenly, the soft green light began to spread out in every possible direction, and its epicenter was the uterus bud that was now burning like a Christmas tree.

"Mirai, my child..." Ivy mumbled disbelievingly, stunned when she heard the sound of his heartbeat again. Words couldn't describe how happy she was that her son was safe, she didn't know what to expect from the monster standing behind her, but since he didn't hurt them when he could, it was unlikely that he had come here for that reason, and such thoughts were the only thing that reassured the young girl who would soon become a mother.

As soon as the process was complete, something removed its palm from the bud, to which Pamela reacted.

"I...thank you for helping me save my son..." Ivy smiled a weak but sincere smile, and wanted to continue to say something, but the monster interrupted her efforts, showing her to look at the cocoon.

The bud vividly cracked like a lens into pieces, and afterward, it transformed into greenish-yellow particles of light and spread throughout the surrounding space.

"Mo...m?" A voice came to her, seemingly deaf and distant, but at the same time so familiar.

"Mirai?!" She looked forward, and out of the blinding light the figure of a red-haired teenager appeared "Oh my God, Mirai?!" she exclaimed, looking at the naked, grown-up body of her son...who was no longer a baby, but an accomplished young man.

"I finally got to see you, Mom!" The teen smiled the brightest and sunniest smile of all, and behind him the mutant plants expressed their joy that all was well!

But then the teenager's legs gave out and he almost fell to the cold floor, but the Ivy creatures were there in time to protect him from the fall by gently placing him on one petal that had fallen closer to the ground.

"Mirai?" Pamela froze for a second, and then rushed to the boy, it was urgent to check his condition, at least now he should not talk, and in general should not be so mature! Something had clearly gone wrong...

While the new mother was fussing over her own child, the swamp something vanished as invisibly as it had appeared before.