Vegan?

190.

200.

210.

220.

"Fuck!"

To Barbara Gordon, it did not matter what speed she was driving at. Speed limits were not something that had any meaning to heroes.

"MOVE GODDAMMIT!"

Her speedometer broke through the 250 km/h mark and was way past the limit where she could stop immediately even with the special grade brakes.

"Calm down, Barbs."

This was not something that she wished to hear at the moment. Especially when the person knew just as well as her the reason for her rage.

"Calm down?" She was furious, "Do you know what you are saying, Dick!"

The wind resistance made it difficult for the communication device to catch her words properly, but Grayson could make out what she said.

"Your anger is justified," He said, "But you need to be able to think straight or you will fall straight into Joker's trap."

Grayson was actively searching for Joker's whereabouts with the help of Tim Drake. And while he knew Bruce would not like it, he still decided to ask Jason for help.

While the relationship between Jason Todd and the Bat Family might have been stained –but Jason was still very much Dick's younger brother.

Barbara was not in a state to consider Grayson's words –no matter how true they were.

For now, she wanted to find and rescue her father. 

At any cost.

"Where is Batman!" She asked, no she demanded to know.

She wanted Bruce to be able to help her, but the man wasn't there.

"He is with Superman and I am trying to contact him," Grayson assured, "The moment the call goes through, he will be with you… I will make sure of it."

He didn't have to. After all, Barbara was family to Bruce. And the moment he hears about the situation –he would come running.

But for now, their priority was to find Joker. Who, unknown to them, was about to start a wildfire.

…

…

[Metropolis]

"So, why exactly are you so invested in creating this 'Business Empire?'"

Palmer left a few minutes ago and he agreed to the contents of the contract that I prepared for him.

Which left me and Ivy on our own.

"That's a good question." And it was, "But it is because I don't want to aimlessly run around with my powers. I want to walk towards something, and in this case it's the small district-esque place I am building."

"That's it?" She smirked, "Not because you are power hungry or something?" 

She wasn't far off. Instead, she was spot on.

"Guilty as charged, but it happens to be only a part of the reason."

This made her a bit curious, as she swirled around her cold coffee.

"Is there an end goal? Or like a limit till where you want to expand your said 'empire' to?" She was invested in my story, which was understandable.

Within a month, I was making some bold moves. And that was bound to draw the interest of people.

"I am quite a greedy guy, so there isn't exactly a limit." I gave her a smile, "But let's say that I will try till where I can."

Truth be told, somewhere deep in my heart… I still yearn for what I once had.

The empire.

The power.

And the people that looked up to me.

I wasn't a great friend, but I had people that did feel for me.

And maybe I want that back.

Seeing my smile, she asked, "Anything you want to talk about?"

I shook my head, "Nope."

Maybe not the people part. I wasn't sure how to feel about relations after facing a betrayal as grand as my past.

But I do know that I want to rebuild the empire.

That's what this second life is for.

To make it count, to live it to the fullest and to achieve greatness even grander than the past.

"And I assume you want to improve the plant life?"

Everyone had wishes and desires, some of those desires for their own good, some for others.

Ivy was the latter, who wanted happiness for the plants, even at the cost of her own.

Or well, other humans as a matter of fact.

But the point stands, everyone has goals and desires. Even if they think that they don't.

Even the nihilists that don't see any meaning in life and do nothing… that is their desire –doing nothing.

"Plants deserve the right to live just like humans and animals," She said, "So you can say that it is indeed my desire to improve the lives of plants."

This made me wonder something, something very interesting.

"Pamela, do you mind answering a question?" I asked, checking her expression, "If that is alright with you?"

"I don't have many things to hide," She shrugged, "So feel free."

That was the go signal.

"People that are deep into animal rights never eat them and prefer a vegan diet," She immediately understood what I meant as she put on an interesting expression, "So, since you are a plant activist do you only eat meat?"

"Fuck off." She said, making me chuckle, "But… you aren't too far off."

Oh?

"I do prefer a rather carnivorous diet as a majority of my diet consists of meat. But I do eat fruits as fruit removal doesn't exactly hurt the plants –at least not unless they are harvested on a large scale."

She continued, "What I mean is as long as they are handpicked, it is fine."

Oh, is that why she went for the coffee that had the words 'hand picked beans' written next to it?

"I mostly stay away from sugar because sugarcanes are destroyed to make sugar, but I do go for sweetners that can be obtained without killing plants."

This made me curious, "Do you hate it when people close to you eat a plant based diet?"

She shook her head, "I personally avoid it but I do not feel like it will do anyone any good to protest about the diet of others. I want people to follow a farm system where it doesn't unnecessarily harm the plants, but I cannot prevent humans from giving up their plant based diet."

"That's an interesting stance," I said, "I can respect that."

I had seen many animal rights activists protesting and demanding the banning of animal meat production.

Which I don't really support.

"The thing is, I am aware that humans need plant nutrients just like they need animal ones," She sighed, "Animals eat plants and plants benefit from their remains. It's a cycle, I understand, so I won't comment on it."

She smiled, "But yeah, that's my stance on it."

"And I can respect that," I really do, "At least you aren't a narcissist like most activists."

She laughed, "Oh trust me, I am."

We sat enjoying the small talk, learning more about each other.

And Ivy was a much more complex character than I originally thought.

"Should we get going?" She suggested, and well I guess it was time to leave.

But just as we decided to move –I got a call.

Zatanna?

"Excuse me for a minute."

Moving to the side a little, I picked the call, hoping she would update me on her search for people.

But what I heard was something totally different.

Something that flipped my world over.

"Jasper!" She sounded frantic, "The bridge… the place…"

Her world made me lose sense of reality.

"Our hard work… It's all gone… It's all in flames."

A probability that I didn't even think about…

It happened.

"Someone burnt our place."

And just like that, my sense of rationality vanished.

…

…

"M-Mistah J…" Harley shuddered seeing the sight, "Was this n-necessary?"

She was horrified to see so many buildings, so many beautiful constructs going down in flames. 

She knew who built this place and that made her even more worried.

After all, it was someone close to Ivy.

"Harl," Joker said lovingly, yet a look of crazed obsession was prominent in his eyes, "Those buildings were never meant to exist there."

He grinned, "I just returned the place to how it should have been, just the bridge meant for me and Batman."

"Mwwwww!"

A sudden noise drew their attention, and turning their head they saw the tied Jim Gordon wriggling on the ground with his mouth taped shut.

"Jimmy Jimmy~ Don't be so worried," Joker said, "The real event is yet to start, this is just a teaser."

He turned around, extending his arms, "THIS! This is just the start!"

He jumped in glee before shouting, "THE CIRCUS IS YET TO BEGIN!"

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