9  A Rose Finally Blooms

Chapter 9: A Rose Finally Blooms

Just by the palisades where most of Gotham's wealthy reside, showed a extravagant mansion in the dead of night. It looked quite quaint with its design of having a water fountain in front of the mannor, a swimming pool off to the side, a tennis court in the back, so on and so forth. One could say it was quite homey if there was a family living there, but there is not. The only resident there, asides from the staff, was a wealthy woman in her late 40's, early 50's shows off her wealth with how large her home is making the residence quite cold despite the Winter season.

Soon the front door of the manor opened up showing the owner of the house. Ms. Thomas appeared to be a heavy set woman as looking around for some reason before hiding behind a pillar. She was out of breath as she appeared to be scared for her own life while wearing a bathrobe. When thinking the coast was clear, she ran down the steps and almost slipped a few times because of the ice.

"Why did I have the staff take the week off?" She questioned herself as she got back up and ran down the snowy, dirt driveway.

Looking back, she saw a silhouette staring down at her from the manor and could feel the malice radiating from the gaze towards her making the wealthy woman run through her clipped hedges that decorated the lawn and into the forested property she owned. The cold, Winter air started to burn her lungs as she ran as best as she could causing the rich woman to stop to take a momentary rest.

Looking back, Ms. Thomas saw the silhouette some dozen feet behind her causing the heavy woman to scream in fright and stumble back to roll down the snowy hill. When she got back up with her spraining her ankle, she stumbled and limped her way into the forest in hopes of hiding from her pursuer.

She didn't know how long she had been running with the pain in her ankle but soon enough she tripped over an exposed root that seemed to move on its own. Falling face first into the snow as she started to hyperventilate and looked around to see where her pursuer is currently at.

"What do you want?!" The woman tried to call out with her burning throat as she kept looking everywhere in her frantic state. She got no response at all but her mind was still demanding answers.

"Why are you doing this?!" She finally yelled out.

"You…..You have leveled entire forests for your own selfish greed Ms. Thomas." A voice called out from just about everywhere that made it seem it was echoing two voices at the same time. "And it's time for you topay the consequences."

"But you can't do this! I've-I've heard what you have done to the others!" Ms. Thomas called out to her assailant. "Please just let me go and I'll pay you anything you want!"

"You and your fellow industrialists have done enough damage with your money." The person said as it appeared that the forest started to get denser by each passing moment.

"You wicked, evil-" "Evil?" The assailant questioned while interrupting her. "No….I'm not the one who controls a company that destroyed a several thousand year old forest for a fucking strip mine. Now that's evil."

Soon roots sprang forth from the ground and wrapped Ms. Thomas in a tightly snare as she struggled to get free and breathe.

"You and most of your kind owe a big debt to Mother Nature herself." The assailant said to the woman. "And I'll be sure to collect each and every bit of it myself."

Ms. Thomas tried to scream for help before one of the branches sprouted a leaf big enough to cover the woman's mouth before she was pulled into the ground to end up where all of the assailant's victims ended up at.

The bright, crescent moon soon broke free from its hiding place among the clouds to slowly shine upon the assailant in question for the first time this night. The person turned around to gaze at the moon's radiance to be reminded of someone that was truly cared for. The assailant was in fact a woman with long red hair reaching past her shoulders; glowing evergreen eyes with black sclera, and a pale green skin tone with green like vine tattoos going around various parts of her body. She was wearing a one piece leotard and arm length gloves that appeared to be made of leaves.

"Soon my love….We shall be together soon enough." She stated before her body broke down into dead leaves, flower petals and twigs leaving the forest barren and quiet.

-Wayne Manor, Morning-

"I don't care how much money we are going to lose!" Bruce spoke loudly into his phone. "Wayne Enterprises isn't going to be involved with an operation that'll destroy a rain forest! So shut it down or you're gone McCabe!"

Bruce slammed the phone down on the receiver before handing it to his long time friend and caretaker, Alfred Pennyworth. He was a man of good, physical stature with his steely blue eyes to match his peppered, black hair that has been balding for years now along with a mustache. He was currently wearing a pair of workout sweats as he was exercising with Bruce in the wreck room so he can keep his physical prowess.

Alfred was once a member of England's Secret Service for many years before he retired from intelligence work and started working for the Wayne family as their butler for a change of scenery. But after that dreadful night, Alfred loyally stayed by Bruce and supported him throughout many of his endeavors, even when Bruce donned the cape and cowl of the Dark Knight.

*Sigh* "That was one of my greedy directors that was making a deal with a slash and burn outfit back in the Amazon." The billionaire tiredly said to his butler.

"Then it's quite fortunate that you were able to catch it in time." Replied the retired intelligence officer getting his old charge to nod.

"I know but I hate it when things slip by me." Bruce said as he was wiping the sweat off his body. "Hell, McCabe should've remembered that we donate millions of dollars each year for the preservation of the rain forests. If he had gone through with the deal then it would make us look like hypocrites."

"And from what I can tell, this is just being added onto the list of problems that have been occurring this week hasn't it Master Bruce?"

*Sigh* "Don't remind me."

It's been a week since the terrorist Red Claw and her forces had been taken into custody by the GCPD and shipped off so Interpol and the government could take things from there. On the night after the abandoned military facility was destroyed, Bruce had made it to Selina's loft just in time for when she got into it. He assumed she could've gotten back sooner due to that Nobody person giving her a ride back to Gotham, but guessed Selina didn't want him to know where she lived. Bruce had arrested her because of the various thefts she had committed, despite his feelings towards her, and is currently residing at Gotham State Penitentiary until her trial a few weeks away.

Just as he got back home from dropping off Selina at the GCPD, Alfred had informed Bruce that Naruto had just called telling them that Pamela Isley has gone missing from the hospital. He had rushed over there as quickly as possibly to see what had happened to end up seeing his friend in such a broken state with all of the flowers in the hospital room dead. This confused Bruce greatly on what occurred and even the doctors were wondering the same thing since the flowers were all fine sometime prior to the abduction, but Bruce took a sample so he could study the anomaly.

Within a span of several days, Naruto had literally been through an emotional rollercoaster that could've truly wrecked him badly and that worried the billionaire greatly. From the accident at Star Labs, learning the truth of the incident, being happy on making new friends and now Pamela turning up missing along with Selina in jail. The publisher had tried to make improvements by somehow keeping up a smiling facade that seemed unnatural to Bruce. Naruto had been trying to get out of his funk by trying to keep his mind occupied with other things but Bruce could tell that his friend was barely hanging on and one more bad thing could send him over the edge.

Seeing Naruto in such a state reminded Bruce of himself when his girlfriend and short lived fiancee, Andrea Beaumont, had left him twelve years ago. He found out sometime later on the reason why she had to leave was that her father had problems with the mob and the man dragged his daughter with him into hiding. Bruce had been trying to find her but there was no such luck even after he had became Batman.

The last thing to add onto that list of problems was when he was informed by Commissioner Gordon last night that four industrialists had been reported missing with no ransom note, no 'good-bye' note, or anything that suspects foul play. From what Bruce was able to piece together was that the only connection they had were of them affecting the environment whether it was leveling trees or making a strip mine. Along with there being some dead leaves, flower petals and twigs found inside of their residences that some suspected to just be either a connection or as Detective Bullock put it: lazy cleaning.

Could there be a connection with Pamela's abduction and the industrialists turning up missing. Who knows for sure but he'll need to find out.

*Knock Knock* *Knock Knock*

The sound of the wreck room's glass door being knocked brought Bruce out of his thoughts as he and Alfred looked back where the source came from. There they saw a woman roughly Alfred's age keeping a jogging pace in sweats as she waved to the two through the clear door. The woman in question is Maggie Page, Alfred's girlfriend for about a month now.

Maggie was a British citizen that migrated to America seeking out work before she came under the employment of Spiral Publishing as an artist. During one of the few meetings Bruce had with Naruto, the silverette saw Alfred and Maggie some distance away and had a feeling the two of them were quite lonely. So he talked to the billionaire to see if they could get their employees to meet and interact with each other so they could at least have a friend to spend time with. Of course they didn't expect for the two British natives to start dating afterwards and both were glad they were able to find some love at their age.

"Maggie." Alfred said with a smile as he opened the door for her.

"Hello love." Maggie replied back as she kissed Alfred on the cheek before addressing the billionaire. "Morning Bruce, nice day we are having huh?"

"Yeah it is, helps to at least warm up the cold air a bit." The dark haired man said with a small smile.

"So Alfy, care to come on for a morning jog?" She suggested to the bulter.

"Sure, let me go grab my jacket."

As Alfred went to grab something warm for the outdoor exercise, Bruce decided to ask Maggie something that he probably knew the answer to.

"So, how's Naruto? He doing any better since you last saw him?"

Maggie held out her hand and made a 'so-so' gesture before replying. "Not much honestly. He's been holding out well for this past week and a lot of us at the firm are worried about him."

*Sigh* "Figured as much." Bruce said as he scratched his head. "I take it you and the others are trying to lessen his workload?"

"Obviously….He's done much for each of us that it's the least we could do for him in return. Naruto's a strong lad that's just been dealt with a bad hand as of late. Things will eventually turn around for him I'm sure."

"That's all I need to hear." The billionaire responded with a small smile before Alfred came back into the wreck room with a water bottle and his jacket on. The two British natives soon left to ride in Maggie's car to their usual jogging area for about an hour.

-Gotham State Penitentiary, Women's Ward-

"How you holding up?" Naruto said as he sat across Selina in the visitation area where a few guards were present by the doors keeping an eye on the inmates being visited by friends and family.

"Doing well though I wish I could see and hold my precious Isis in my arms." She replied as she wore a dark blue prison uniform. "I miss her very much."

"Well she does miss you Selena." He said with a small smile. "Every time I come back from work I expected to see her in my loft but she is nowhere in there. So I end up going into yours to find her on your bed. Shizune and I can only do so far without you around to cheer her up."

"Damn, now it makes me want to get home sooner."

"I know Selina but your hearing is in a few weeks. With your information brought up that you had a hand in saving Gotham from Red Claw's plague that it might sway public opinion you could be able to get out of here." He informed her which she gave a nod in return.

"Speak of, how about the preservation? I wasn't able to hear much about what is going to be done about that."

"From what I was told when I chatted with Commissioner Gordon and Mayor Hill on the subject when I tried to get you out of here sooner that the area needs to be cleaned up first before anything could be done about that."

"Because of all of the military components there I take it?"

He nodded at her guess before he continued. "When the environmentalists heard of the incident, they wanted that area cleared out of any military property if possible. Of course the government was already planning to do that with the abandoned place resurfaced in the raid. So we'll wait and see from there once the military detail is cleared out."

This got Selina some little closure on what occurred there that possibly soon enough the preserve will finally happen.

"But enough about me Naruto? How are you holding up?" The environmentalist asked her friend. She reached across the table and grabbed ahold of his hand slightly so she wouldn't get in trouble with the guards. He squeezed her hand in response which made her feel slightly happy.

"I-I'm hanging in there Selena." He said in a downtrodden look. "It's hard with what's going on and I don't know if I could take much more in such an amount of time. Isis knows when I'm sad and tries to make me feel happy but….well, you know."

"I can understand and believe me I had my fair share of times of me missing people I care for deeply." She replied before quickly adding in one last thing. "And I'm not talking about Isis you know."

*Chuckle* "Yeah I was going to say that and would've thought that you were somewhat shallow on the topic."

"Ass." Selina playfully jabbed at him. *Sigh* "No it's just that talking about my past makes it hard to deal with. Only Shizune knows a lot about it and she keeps a tight lip on it."

"...Wanna talk about it?" Naruto asked her. "Not all of it but only little snippets if you want. It might help."

"Thanks and besides don't want to talk all about it here you know." She said when gesturing the guards.

"Obviously." He said with a small smile.

"Well….I have a younger sister, who is currently happily married, and has a sweet little girl that is practically the light of their lives."

"Mind telling me their names?"

"Maggie is my sister and Holly is their adopted daughter. They tried for years to make one of their own but some complications happened which resulted in them deciding to adopt."

"That's nice of them. Do you contact with them often?"

"Sometimes…..With how things went when me and Maggie were kids, we couldn't really keep in contact that often." She started to feel a little uncomfortable talking about it but didn't show any signs.

"You don't need to tell me what happened if you want." The publisher suggested but she held up her hand in response.

"Nah it's fine. You said I don't have to talk about all of my past and we can talk more when I get out." She responded to him before continuing more into her little history. "It's just that after an incident with our parents, both me and Maggie had to go into witness protection and ended up separated for our safety. She was the lucky one with her ending up at a decent, religious foster home while I ended up in a crappy one. Won't get into details on that place but I ended up running away and joined the traveling circus."

She looked at Naruto seeing his slightly, disbelieved face on that last bit. "What, it's the truth."

He frantically waved her off a tad bit in response. "No no no, I believe you Selina. I was just realizing on how you were able to possibly perform some of your skills since your a circus brat. I wasn't going to end up saying that you ended up in the stereotypical runaway bit with kids…..but seems I slightly said it."

*Giggle* "I'll let that one slide." Once calming down from her giggles she continued. "It was there where I learned the art of contortionism, gymnastics, magic and trickery…. Well with the magic bit I dropped out since I 'didn't have the spark' from what that old croon Xanadu told me. I would've had a blast performing some of those tricks."

Naruto couldn't help but found it cute on her pouty look with her arms crossed that she acted like a child that didn't get what she wanted badly.

"I take it that was where you ended up with your thieving habits?"

"Yup. Didn't want to stay in the circus all my life so I started pickpocketing attending audiences on most nights and when I got enough, I wanted to travel outside of the circus tent. Next thing I knew I ended up at Starling City trying to pickpocket this one guy who almost killed me back then. I was saved by this boxer named Ted who took pity at me and trained me how to fight. After spending some time with him and he couldn't teach me anything else, I ended up getting into environmentalism because of how my mom loved animals very much and wanted to get into that in her memory."

Naruto smiled at that since he now knew more about her and felt the need to tell her some stuff about himself like when he told Pam most of his altered life. For the rest of the time of his visit he told Selina of him being an outcast and times of pulling off pranks, which some made her laugh and astounded on the wild tales. He wanted to tell her of him traveling the world before ending up in Metropolis but their time was over and Selena had to go back to her cell.

It was good to chat with her that it made him feel slightly better. But similar to her, not all things heal easily especially with a fresh one.

-Later, Outside of Wayne Enterprises-

If one would be looking up towards the rooftops, they would see the Dark Knight perched on top of one of the ledges as he gazed towards his corporate building. After doing some investigating and research, he had concluded that the kidnapper is going to be targeting another industrialist this evening. The past kidnapped victims were high ranking of sorts and possibly the assailant is going down the list from high to low.

Now one might wonder, 'Why is Batman outside of Wayne Enterprises?' Well to answer that, several industrialists that are on the list reside within several block radius' from each other and his current placement would help get to either location in a matter of minutes. Using his vantage point, Batman was using a pair of binoculars to gaze at each and every one of the apartments to see if anything was amiss.

"Now where are you?" He muttered as he exhaled his hot breath into the cold air. "What's your plan for all this?"

That was the other thing that was bugging the Caped Crusader: Why kidnap the victims but have no random posted for their returns? It was usually the typical choice to do in this kind of situation with such wealthy individuals but something else was up and he wanted to know why.

-Meanwhile-

Sitting at the security desk were two employees of Wayne Enterprises as they were gazing at the cameras set around the building. Both of them had shaggy hair underneath their hats with one of them having a bang large enough to cover one of his eyes while the other had a bandage over his nose because of a cold along with some on his cheeks due to shaving.

"Hey."

"Yeah."

"You ever wonder why we are here?" The bang security guard asked.

"That my friend is one of life's great mysteries isn't it….. Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence?... Is there really a god that is watching over us.. You know with a plan or something. *Sigh* I don't know man, it keeps me up at night." The bandaged one stated as his friend blankly stared at him.

….

"What? No... I mean why we are working here man instead of taking some reefers back at the apartment."

"Oh…..Ah….Yeah."

"What the fuck was up with you getting all philosophical and shit. Usually that's my stick." The bang guard exclaimed

"No reason." The bandaged one said as he looked towards the side not wanting to look at his friend.

"...Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

"You sure."

"Yeah."

"But seriously why are we here?"

Rolling his eyes to get off from the little philosophical bit he decided to remind his friend on the reason. "Well Izumo, I would like to have a good paycheck that can cover not only our living expenses but also our pot habit after a long day's work."

Izumo just slumped into his seat at this. "But I don't wanna Kotetsu."

"Well suck it up since if I have to work here then I'm dragging your ass with me." Kotetsu jabbed at his roommate/friend. "Besides the job isn't all that bad at all with the pay and benefits that comes with."

"True but I would rather be sleeping right now." Izumo said as he tiredly looked back at the screens.

"Yeah yeah."

Suddenly the two heard a sound near them that sounded like leaves ruffling. They turned around to see a bonsai tree they had on their desk, out of its pot, before it waved at them.

…

"Izumo?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Yup."

"Ok good, because if I'm not going crazy or anything. If so, then I'll need to cut back on the weed laced with LSD." Kotetsu stated getting his friend to nod.

"Same here."

Before they knew it, both of them were held up into the air and thrown across the room knocking them out. The perpetrator to this was the little bonsai tree as one of its roots grew to a large size and wrapped around the desk to give the two guards a surprise. Soon the doors of the building were broken opened by large roots before receding back outside to show the redheaded assailant. She walked past the two unconscious guards and made her way to the elevator before the bonsai tree jumped into her arms.

As they made their way up to their target's destination, they didn't notice one of the guards slowly wake up and activated the silent alarm before radioing the police.

-Back with the Bat-

"Nothing has turned up so far. Maybe I'll need to come back later for any changes." Batman said to himself as he was on one of the rooftops of one of the supposed target's apartment.

"Sir, I need to inform you that the silent alarm has been triggered at Wayne Enterprises and the police are on their way." Alfred said over the radio.

"What happened?" The vigilante said as he ran off of the rooftop and opened up his cape for the glider function to get at his corporate building.

"The security guard, one Kotetsu Hagane, had called it in stating that a plant attacked them and when he woke up moments later he saw the doors of the building destroyed." The butler informed Bruce over the line.

"I see. Seems our assailant is targeting Wayne Industries tonight. But why? I don't know of any industrialists working for my company that could've…." He stopped speaking as some thoughts started going through his head.

"Could've what sir?" Alfred asked and all he got was a growl in response.

"Seems that I'll be having some choice words with Mr. McCabe when this is all over." He said as he landed in front of Wayne Enterprises to see the damaged entrance.

"I take it he went behind your back and went through that slash and burn outfit without your consent then."

"Pretty much. Hopefully I can make it in time before the assailant takes him to god knows where."

"Then good luck." With that the line went dead as Batman went further away from the entrance and looked up and aimed his grappling gun so he can get to his destination quicker. He fired and after a few moments it latched onto its desired target and Batman took off into the air. Once at the end of the line, he went back up onto the ledge and navigated through the outside to find McCabe's office so to stop the assailant from taking the man.

"What the hell do you get out of this you bitch?!" McCabe yelled out showing Batman that he was pretty close along with the assailant was already there.

"I'm here for vengeance against the trees you have planned to destroy in the Amazon." A dual, female voice said that seemed very unnatural.

"But I just called them earlier today! How the hell would you know I did that?!"

'Seems I'm somewhat thinking the same thing.' Bruce thought as he gazed through the window to see what is going on. He was greeted with the site of his one greedy director tied up in….roots? And plants from the man's office? He then looked towards the assailant that was in the shadows and Batman could tell the person was there when he saw the glowing green eyes in the darkness.

"You can thank your office plants for that." The woman said as she gestured the flora in the room. "They had felt distressed when hearing on what you were planning on doing and cried out for help. I heard, I responded and here I am."

"You won't get away with this!" He said as he struggled to get out of the vine's grasp.

"Oh, but I will. Once I get you to the other industrialists that have harmed nature, then I'll be sure to dispose of you all before moving onto others." She said with a chuckle.

'I need to stop her.' Batman thought as he tied his grappling line around one of the hanging ledges before swinging around hard enough to break through the glass.

"It's over, give up now." The hero growled out getting the assailant to aim her gaze towards him while McCabe tried to look towards his savior.

"Batman." She said as all focus was on him now. "You shouldn't interfere with this matter."

"Like hell I will. You have much to answer for on kidnapping those people."

"I think not." She said before vines from outside of the building came rushing into the room and grabbed ahold of Batman. He struggled to get free as he saw McCabe be pulled out of the room by a large root before shooting down to the ground outside.

Batman didn't want to lose his chance in apprehending the assailant, who was walking towards the room's opening. So he pulled out his batarang and quickly cut through his bindings before dashing towards her. Once he got close to her, Batman grabbed her shoulder and turned her around so he could see who the person was at least…...

He didn't expect, however, was that he already knew her.

'I-It can't be!' Bruce shockingly thought as he saw her face.

"Better luck next time, Dark Knight." She said to him which confused him slightly until she started to decompose and break down into dead leaves, flower petals and twigs.

Things started to piece together, with some loose ends, but it didn't matter….

"Oh god, I need to warn him." Bruce said out loud as he leaped out of the broken window and glided towards his batmobile so he can contact his friend and maybe reach there in time.

-Naruto's Loft-

The former shinobi had gotten back to his loft after a long day and he felt completely drained, both physically and emotionally. Naruto tried to keep a positive look all day when he visited Selina at the prison and at work but it started to take a toll on him.

Don't get him wrong on visiting Selina, he actually enjoyed it very well as it did raise his spirits up a bit on getting to know more of his kindred spirited friend. It made him feel comfortable to relate with her more on his past of both of them were practically raised on the streets and had interesting childhoods. Naruto needed every positive feeling he could get to get him through the day.

He didn't have much of a workload today but every so often he would keep shedding tears that it was hard for him to focus on anything. The publisher even tried to work out his problems by writing to help relieve the stress, but it wasn't doing any progress on getting better as it made it worse. Adding that to his sleeping problem started getting him to be a wreck.

In the past several days since Pam disappeared, he kept on having nightmares of her dead in his arms and her blaming him on not being there sooner to save him. Even dreamt of her being in his home reality in various parts of his past that she replaced those that died in front of him. From Haku being impaled by Kakashi's Raikiri, Ryuuzetsu trading her life to save his, Hinata impaled by Nagato/Pein…..

The last one lived though but still not the point.

Each and every one of those nightmares kept Naruto up at night and made it hard for him to sleep.

He rubbed his eyes in exhaustion as he made it to his medicine cabinet so he could take some pills to maybe help him sleep better.

*Ring Ring* *Ring Ring*

'Who's calling this late?' Naruto thought before answering, "Naruto Uzumaki speaking."

"Naruto! Thank god you're there! Listen, you need to listen to me!"

"Whoa whoa Bruce! What's the matter?" The hazel eyed male said as his friend seemed frantic all of a sudden.

"Do you know what's going on with the industrialist disappearances?"

"Ah….I don't know about that Bruce. From worrying about Pam and not listening to the news as of late, it might've passed me by." Naruto replied to his friend. "And what about them anyways?"

"There have been abductions going on for several days now and they have been all industrialists connected to harming the environment one way or another."

"Question: Why would I be concerned about them?" Naruto asked in frustration. With the mixture of his exhaustion and frustration that the question is bringing up what Pam is very much against is getting him on the edge now.

*Knock Knock* *Knock Knock*

"Huh, wonder who's at the door." The former shinobi muttered as he walked over while still talking to his friend. "I'll ask again. Why should I be concerned about them?"

"Naruto, you need to listen to me!" The billionaire pleaded. "You're being targeted!"

"What do you mean I'm targeted?" Naruto questioned. "I use recycled materials for my books and merchandise so I hopefully don't anger environmentalists."

*Knock Knock* *Knock Knock*

"I'm coming!" Naruto yelled out to the person at the door. "But seriously Bruce, why am I targeted by this assailant? It doesn't make sense since I'm not an industrialist."

"It's not that Naruto, but the person doing the act?"

"Then who is it?" Naruto asked as he opened the door.

"Naruto, It's Pamela! She's the one behind all of the kidnappings!"

…

"Naruto?….Naruto are you still there?"

There was no response as the cellular phone soon slipped through the silverette grasp before it broke on the floor. A state of shock came over the publisher as his heart seemed to skip a beat or two and his hands started to shake.

"...P-Pam….I-Is that you?" Naruto hesitantly said as he raised his hands towards her. He needed to confirm that she was real and not a waking dream. With each fraction of a second, his eyes started to well up with tears.

She smiled as she grabbed his hands and brought them to her face. "Yes it is Naruto, my love."

Hearing her voice, despite it seeming different, made him know that this was Pam...his Pam. The damn broke and hugged her for dear life as he kept calling out her name.

"Oh Kami I'm-I'm so sorry Pam. Please forgive me." He cried to her as she ran her hand through his hair. "I-I wish...I could've-"

"Shh-Shh… It's okay Naruto." She said to him. "I'm here. It's all that matters."

"B-But how… H-How are you alive? How are you even standing here Pam?"

"Your voice my love." Pam said to him as he pulled back from the hug with confusion on his face. "Hearing your voice kept me going...Kept me fighting until I could wake up."

This brought a smile to his face as his tears kept on streaming as he truly felt happy that she had heard him during those days at the hospital….. Wait…

"B-But where were you Pam? Who took you?" Naruto asked in conviction as he hardened his gaze so he can track the people who did this to his flower.

"The Green took me. It fixed me up and made me all better…. Stronger even."

"The what?" He questioned. What was this 'Green' and did she just say it fixed her and made her stronger?

"The elemental force of all plant life on the planet my love. It deemed me worthy of being one of its champions."

"...And what would these champions do exactly?" A dreaded feeling started to surface in his chest when he heard that.

"To protect all plant life at any cost, even if it means to take the lives of those who harm against it." She said with a smile in her face.

Naruto soon remembered what Bruce told him over the phone that industrialists have gone missing and it wasn't hard to guess that Pam was behind it. He let go of her and started backing away from her with worry on his face.

"T-Tell me you're joking Pam. Th-This isn't funny."

"I'm afraid I'm not beloved." She said as she was walking towards him after shutting the door behind her so there wouldn't be any interruptions.

"T-Then you were the one who took them didn't you…. Those industrialists."

"Yes; they had it coming for what they had done. They will pay for their crimes soon enough." She said as she got closer to the silverette.

"They could be put on trial for what they had done." Naruto defended as he ended up hitting the kitchen counter.

"It's not good enough. Their crimes are too serious for the regular justice system to deal with. They must pay with their lives."

"Please Pam, you don't have to do this."

"But I must…. For the preservation of nature itself."

She was right in front of him now blocking his way from escaping….or so she thought. Naruto could phase his way through but he didn't want to do it in front of her and show her his secret. He didn't want to risk it.

"Please Pam…. you're scaring me."

"Then let me ease your worries." Pam said as she grabbed his face and planted her lips towards him. Naruto struggled a bit before he closed his eyes as he missed this feeling as her lips were on his while their tongues caressed each other.

But soon he felt pain like no other welling up inside of him as he started to shake uncontrollably. This got Pam out of her long awaited pleasure to open her eyes to see Naruto writhe in pain against her.

"Naruto!" She yelled out as she held her against him as he started wheezing and struggled for breath as his skin started to go sickly white with a green tint with lines on his face. Not to mention the green and black lines appearing on his face. He looked at her with teary eyes as he felt truly scared of her.

'No! I need to save him! I can't lose him! Not now!' She thought as she grew a flower from a seed in her hand and had it morphed into a stinger. It soon went to Naruto's neck and injected a serum in hopes of healing whatever cause that has happened to him. After a few moments, the lines started to slowly recede as his skin color started to return to its normal color.

'Thank Gaea. I didn't want to see him die.' The champion of the green thought as she held his unconscious form. The pain was too much for Naruto as he passed out even when the vaccine was injected to him.

"I need to take him to the garden. He'll be safe there, I'm sure of it." She said to herself as her body started to shift with her forest green eyes going evergreen with black sclera and her skin tone became pale green with vine like tattoos forming. The clothes she was wearing started to go into a green color to show they were leaves in the first place.

She waved her hand and the various plants in his loft grew vines and went to the patio doors and opened them. Soon a giant tree branch came from below the patio and into the loft near the couple.

"Don't worry my love. All will be well soon." Pam stated in her dual voice as she and her beloved were lifted up from underneath and were wrapped around for protection. This was all done before the giant tree branch was taken outside and quickly shot down to the ground below.

As this happened, the Batmobile had just arrived to the scene.

"Dammit! I was too late!" Batman yelled out as he slammed his fists onto the steering wheel.

"I need to call Dick. I'll need his help on this." He said as he drove off to head back to the Batcave to prepare to get the industrialists and Naruto back from Dr. Isley's clutches.

-Later, Gotham Outskirts-

"I hope we are at the right place Bruce," Robin said to his father figure for nearly a decade, "If not then we might be too late."

"We won't Dick. We are at the right place." Batman said as he slowed the batmobile to a stop.

"How can you be so sure?"

"The dead leaves and flower petals for one. They come from a rare species of plants that only grow in certain parts of Eastern Europe and Asia. It would seem impossible for them to be located here in the states but where we are going have the nearest ones." The hero explained to his protege.

"If you say so."

Robin, otherwise known as Dick Grayson, was at his campus dorm room working on some homework when he had gotten the call that Batman needed help. There had only been several times when he did that when there was a big emergency that would require backup. Other times, Bruce didn't want to bother Dick ever since he got into college so that school came first and didn't want his foster son to struggle between both school and patrolling. Dick understood that notion and would only go out on patrols with Batman on either free nights or if something important came up….which tonight was one of them.

The two got out of the vehicle and walked to the back seat to pull out some equipment that they rarely used, which was primarily for when dealing with fires. But with the current situation, dealing with plants of all things, they would need to improvise. They made their way through the thick forest on foot since using the batmobile could only take them so far. Navigating through a river, a ravine and several other obstacles made things take longer than they should but they eventually made it to their destination: Wonder City's (Old Gotham) Grand Greenhouse.

When Gotham was originally called Wonder City two hundred or so years ago, there were many attractions to help promote the city for tourists and the sort. The Grand Greenhouse was one of them due to how diverse and exotic many of its flora was from being gathered from many corners of the globe. Unfortunately, the place was soon abandoned when Wonder City started to become Gotham City as it opened up a closer greenhouse within its borders, which soon became a botanical garden. Since then the place had been labeled as 'Private Property' and an occasional police car would stop on by to see if anyone broke into the place.

The dynamic duo soon came onto the chained up gate of the Grand Greenhouse and had cut off the chains for when the police to arrive to get the hostaged industrialists to safety. From there, the two used their grappling guns to get to the higher part of the greenhouse so they could survey the area below and see if there are any available entrances. They had to watch their step since the glass roof had various cracks on most of the panels and they didn't want to either break through them and get themselves cut up.

"Ok, I think I see something on the far end." Robin pointed out while standing on the metal frame of the building. "The glowing orbs of sorts help a bit with the condensed foliage here. Your call on what to do Batman."

"We should probably split up to not be caught that easily. Remember Robin, these plants are sentient now due to whatever happened to Dr. Isley. We need to watch our backs, detain her and rescue the hostages. She plans on killing them soon."

"Good to know, but what about Naruto? I wouldn't imagine her wanting to harm him in any sort of way."

"Me neither. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to know what she has planned for him."

The two saw broken window panels not far from them and they used their grappling lines to descend from them. Once on the ground, the two headed off to their own to get to the other side of the greenhouse but tried to keep visual contact with each other if needed. Making their way through, they saw many plants move about on their own that made them pause to see if there was any patterns at all in their movements before advancing.

It wasn't long until they got near their designated target when the light seemed to grow brighter. When both of them pushed aside some of the foliage, they saw Dr. Pamela Isley on a giant tree branch being moved around while all of the hostages were upside down inside of translucent green pods with some liquid underneath them. The two kept trying to find Naruto but there was no success, he must've been kept further away from the industrialists.

"Isn't nature fascinating…." Pam said to the captured industrialists with a smile before glaring at them. "But what would you know….You only see it as a profit or something in your way to make a quick buck."

The hostages started to struggle causing the pods to move slightly. *Giggle* "You know, if you want to live longer, I suggest you not move as much."

Seeing their confused looks, she waved her hand and one of the pods opened up slightly to one industrialist with a pair of glasses. "You see, what you all are inside of are carnivorous plants and they would know when they have a captured meal inside due to them squirming."

The changed botanist soon grabbed the man's glasses and dangled them above the liquid. "Observe."

The action presented itself that as soon as the glasses fell onto the liquid, it didn't take long for it to dissolve.

"The liquid you all are hanging above from are their 'stomach acids' and they are very much hungry for some snacks. Sure I've been feeding them some rodents here and there that have been turning up here as of late but my poor little babies can't wait any longer for the main course."

This caused the other captives to squirm badly despite from what they just heard. Robin not wanting things to go out of hand drew out a birdarang and threw it with precise accuracy in hopes of cutting the bottom portion of the pods.

What he didn't expect was some of the tree branches to quickly move in the weapon's path, blocking it.

'Dammit Robin.' Batman thought to himself before Pam called them out.

"You two can come on out. I already knew you were here the moment you stepped into my greenhouse." She said as she turned her 'branch bed' around facing the two. Batman and Robin decided to step out from their hiding places with them some distance away from the botanist.

"You need to stop this Dr. Isley, this isn't you at all." Batman said to the botanist as she leaned against her 'bed'.

"It's Ivy actually….Poison Ivy, and I've embraced who I am."

"But what about Naruto Uzumaki?" He said getting her to flinch slightly. "Would he be fine with this?"

"He loves me for who I am and nothing else." She stated. "So of course he would be fine with who I currently am."

"But what I don't get is why have you taken him?"

Ivy turned towards Robin on that question and replied with a smile. "Every queen needs to have a king and consort and my beloved fits thebill. He loves me dearly and would stand by my side no matter what. Through sickness and in health til death do us part."

'Whatever has happened to her made her loss it.' Batman thought to himself and unknown to him Robin was thinking the same thing.

"You see, we are not that much different after all." She stated as circled around the Dynamic Duo. "We strive to see evil doers punished for their crimes."

"From what I can tell Ivy, you want to go to the extreme." Robin stated.

"But of course. Things need to go through the extra step to get things done. No matter the cost." She stated with conviction.

"Then it seems we will need to take you down." Batman said as he and Robin readied themselves by closing their capes and attaching their equipment onto their arms.

"I see." Ivy said as she slowly glared at them."Then my babies should get rid of you weeds from my precious garden."

Soon vines and roots sprouted from the ground and started to form into various carnivorous beings that would attack at a moment's notice. As this happened, the two heroes opened their capes to reveal chainsaws attached to their arms and revved them up to show they mean business.

"Devour them!" She commanded as two venus fly trap monsters stampeded towards them. The two heroes jumped and slashed their way easily before running forward to take care of Ivy.

Vines unwrapped themselves from various columns and shot their way towards the two men and ensnared them in their thorny grasps. The two were starting to draw blood because of how sharp the thorns are. They struggled to get free as they had to shift their arms carefully so the chainsaw blades won't hit them. Soon they had gotten themselves out before landing onto the ground for yet another problem on their hands.

Moss and algae from the moat crept onto the two heroes and ensnared them causing further struggles without them noticing vines throwing broken pillars their way. Robin was able to get out of his entrapment quick enough, but not his father figure.

"Batman!" Robin cried out as the pillar slammed into the Dark Knight closer to the changed botanist.

Ivy stepped off of her 'branch bed' and onto a giant root before it went towards the Caped Crusader. Once it got close, Ivy leaned forward and blew a cloud of pink spores onto the hero causing him to cough uncontrollably. As this was going on, more of her vines were tossing various debris towards the orphaned Grayson to distract him from what Ivy had in store.

"You know…." She said. "When I was younger, I've always wondered what it would be like to see two men fight over little old me."

"Batman! Are you ok?!" Dick called out as he got closer until he saw an eerie green glow come from Batman's eyes and his skin turning a tad pale.

"So be a dear and fight your dear protege for me." Ivy said with a sadistic smile before sitting back onto her root and went higher to enjoy the show.

"As you command." Batman said in a dead voice before lunging at his foster son.

Robin had to dodge several swings of Batman's arm-chainsaws before kicking him away to end up hitting the gravel and damaging the equipment. The mind controlled hero ripped them off from his gloves before dashing forward to send several punches at the traffic light themed hero who tried to block and evade them. As this was going on, Dick had to take off the chainsaw equipment from his arms so he doesn't end up cutting up Bruce in the process.

"Batman! You need to fight it! Don't let her control you!" The college student pleaded as he blocked several punches and kicks before having to run away to think of a way to get Bruce out of her control.

"He can't hear you! He will only listen to me until I say so." Ivy called out. "So until then, have fun duking it out."

As the two heroes fought quite a distance away, something else was going on. At a hidden part of the greenhouse where the changed botanist is keeping her 'king', something is going on inside of the silverette.

-Naruto's Mindscape, Insert My Heart's Descent Extended-

"...Well…...this is interesting." Stated the Uzumaki as he was walking through the darkness of his mind. "Last time I was here I was just floating….now I'm walking…..progress."

During the various times he had been inside of his mindscape for training, all he could ever do was just float through the void and not even touch a single thing. It was like he was in an endless abyss of water that he couldn't do a thing but let the currents move him. It eventually lead him to be able to access some abilities he has a good understanding in but felt there was more to him to tap into.

Now, after all this time, he no longer was swimming and being drifted along in the dark void to be led for Kami knows how long till he found something useful as he is now…..walking in the same scenario. With each step he took make a ripple on the ground with a slight shimmer. He kept walking for sometime before coming to an edge on his path making him having to turn to some random direction to keep moving forward.

"Pam….What happened to you?...What made you this way?"

Naruto was scared of what happened to his beloved flower of her turning out to be very different from the woman he grew to know and love. It made his heart heavy in guilt and regret that he truly felt he was to blame for what had occurred to her. As his sadness and despair grew, so did this abyss he was walking through. He didn't pay attention to his footing as he soon fell off the path and started to fall.

Naruto didn't care anymore now as he possibly could end up falling to his death. But as he kept on falling further, he ended up seeing little lights of all things in this endless void. His curiosity got the better of him as he reached out to one of them. When he did, he didn't expect to see something peculiar.

"Mommy, Mommy." A young, redheaded girl cried out with a smile. "Look, the roses I planted bloomed just like you said."

The older woman smiled at her child and ruffled her hair a little. "Yes they have my sweet little flower. Being planted and treated with love and care will help make them blossom into something wonderful."

"I hope I can make a garden as wonderful like this when I'm older or even better."

"I'm sure you will Pamela."

"I-Is this….Is this Pam's memory of her mother?" Naruto asked to no one in particular as he felt something in his chest that made him happy. "B-But how am I seeing this?"

The memory ended as Naruto ended up touching a dark spark of sorts by accident and saw something dreary and horrifying.

"Mommy…. Where are you?... I miss you." Child Pam muttered to herself with tears in her eyes as she was tending to the garden.

She soon felt something when her little shovel dug into the dirt. Her curiosity got the better of her as she dug a little further and moved the dirt around to see….hair.

"That's odd….." She muttered as she used her hands to move more of the dirt until she felt skin. Moving a bit more out of the way until she saw her face…. her mother's face staring back at her.

"Mommy!" Child Pam yelled in fright before she screamed and cried for her loving mother.

"O-Oh Kami, Pam… I'm so sorry." Naruto said as he remembered when Pam told him on how her mother died. Listening to the story was one thing but actually seeing it….

"What's going to happen to her now?" A woman said off to the side as the funeral was taking place.

"I don't know, but I hope little Pamela can be able to deal with the foster family she'll be living with now." The other person replied as the two stared at the redheaded child still sitting in her chair in front of where her mother was buried.

Once that memory ended, Naruto soon gazed among all of the lights, both the bright and dark ones, and soon realized they were all of Pam's memories. The light being her happiest of memories while the dark being the worst.

Naruto saw several dark sparks coming near him and he didn't want to see and feel any of them so he had to push himself away so he could maybe see more of her happier moments of her life. He was successful in seeing many of them as his heart started to feel 'lighter' on experiencing the smaller moments of Pam's greatest moments of her life. From entering her dream college, meeting her long time friends Alec and Linda, and so many others. Soon things started to change as Naruto saw something that made his eyes water and felt truly touched.

"Hey mom…. it's been awhile." Pam said as she was tending the little garden on her mother's snowy grave. "Sorry that I haven't been visiting as of late to talk to you about my problems and whatnot as usual."

There was no response but Pam continued regardless.

"I-I've met someone." The botanist said with a nervous smile thinking her mother is going to egg her for answers. "He's very sweet and kind and is very supportive towards my work."

Pam gazed at her finished work as she stood up and dusted herself off before sitting on her mother's headstone before looking up at the sky.

"He's quite compassionate and loving towards those that he is friends and being with him makes me happy to just even be near him. He helps out what he can whenever possible till he gets his task done. Of what I can tell you might really like him since he was a lot like you when you were alive."

A gentle breeze came by to make Pam feel that her mother was actually there now.

"To tell you the truth, I…. I've started to fall in love with him." Pam said as she felt warm when confessing that. "I want to be with him always and make him happy no matter what."

She got off of the headstone and walked off a little with a small smile. "I wish you could be here to actually meet him….So you could officially approve of him dating me."

Once that memory ended, he couldn't stop crying with how touched and how loved he was. He made a promise then and there that he will find her mother's resting place and talk to her so that maybe her spirit could truly feel at peace that Pam found the love of her life.

As he passed by the last remaining sparks, he felt himself flip over and land softly onto solid ground. Not feeling he was in any water anymore, Naruto wiped away the rest of his tears to hopefully calm himself down but one stray fell off his cheek and landed onto the darkened surface.

-Insert Destati Extended-

Soon a bright light was shown causing the former shinobi to block his eyes so he wouldn't be blinded, but he would soon regret it as the current surface started to dissolve away to show a stained glass portrait. When the moment passed, he slowly opened his eyes to see the intricate portrait in all its detail until he saw two faces of the same person.

"Pam?" He said as he walked to one end to see the normal Pam he knew and loved but when he saw the other he saw differences that were present from the skin tone, the tattoos and the leaf like clothing. The two were surrounded by flowers and thorny vines with an reddish-orange background. The last bit of the portrait that was shown was the crack separating the two with vines trying to mend the damage.

"What is this?"

"Her heart Naruto Uzumaki." A voice called out from the darkness.

"Who's there?!" Naruto called out in surprise as he tried to pinpoint the source. "And what did you mean 'her heart'?"

"It is like I said: her heart….or would you prefer her mind…. her soul."

"I-I don't know but it doesn't matter. Who are you and can I please get some answers?"

"Very well."

Soon the surface started to shake causing Naruto to fall over before the silverette gazed to the side where the odd Pam was placed and saw a tree grow and form till it was roughly double Naruto's size. Once things settled down, Naruto gazed at the tree and inspected it when he got closer.

"A tree?" He questioned as he scratched his head and knocked it a few times. "Ok I'm confused."

"Would you please not do that?" The voice asked causing Naruto to step back a bit.

*Chuckle* "Sorry on that."

"It's quite alright Naruto Uzumaki." The voice addressed the silverette.

"So….You're a tree."

"Quite the assumption you have there."

"I have a feeling you were being a bit sarcastic there."

"Obviously."

Wanting to move onto his questions he wanted to state the obvious. "So….mind telling me your name since you clearly know mine."

"Ah… how rude of me." The being said as a glowing silhouette was formed from the tree to address the silverette. "My name is Yggdrasil…. and I need your help."

Naruto thought where that name sounded familiar until it finally clicked. "Yggdrasil….as in the Yggdrasil from Norse mythology?"

"The same."

"Eh….Ok so why do you want to talk to me and need my help no less?" Naruto asked in confusion. This was a first that an actual tree is asking for his help.

"I need your help to get your mate, Pamela Lillian Isley, under control." Yggdrasil stated to the publisher.

"W-What do you mean?" Naruto asked in shock. "Do you mean to tell me that she isn't in her right mind?"

"Indeed she is young sapling." The being stated as he continued. "You see, on the night when Pamela was attacked by her late supervisor, Dr. Jason Woodrue, she accidentally injected herself with her serum both she and the Hollands had created for the benefit of all plant life. When it went into her bloodstream, it started a change that made the Parliament of Trees quite interested to see unfold similar to Alec Holland when he came in contact with the serum. But unlike him of dying and slowly becoming our agent among you humans, she actually survived and is among the living."

Naruto had some thoughts running through his head on what the Parliament of Trees were and how Alec Holland was involved but those could be answered at a later time.

"We need champions to help serve and protect nature in our delicate balance or else all life will die. So by rare chances we can be able to find our champions and help protect things accordingly. But many of them have been limited due to their…. appearances and start causing panic among the locals."

Soon a faint image was shown off to the side getting Naruto see what Yggdrasil meant and….. yeah they were pretty monstrous. If those beings were seen in public, massive problems would arise and whatnot.

"So when Pamela peaked our interests in her critical condition, we took the chance and had to change her to become our first human elemental of the Green."

"You mean to tell me you and your Parliament took her?!" Naruto growled out. "Do you have any idea what you caused me to deal with of practically losing her?!"

"I know and we are sorry on doing such a thing as we were impatient at the time." Yggdrasil said apologetically. "Even more so when we realized on her….. condition."

"...What condition?" The silverette asked not liking where this was going.

"There was more to the head wound than it appeared as it had damaged her mind to separate a bit from the Pamela you know and love to the Pamela that is the darker part of her soul that now calls herself Poison Ivy."

The image of the monstrous form was replaced by both Pamela's side by side from the normal and the other one.

"We wanted her to work alongside the humans to at least get things fixed up so future generations could survive and work from there. But with how damaged the world is, she would need everything to her disposal. So we ended up giving her more power than we realized when we remade her and that was mostly our failure." The tree said with slight sorrow in it's voice.

"What happened?" Naruto asked in worry.

"With the damage of her mind and the darker aspects taking control, Poison Ivy felt drunken with power and many of her buried urges sprang forth of her wanting justice towards nature in extreme fashion. We tried to reign her back under control but with how much power we ended up giving her, she just shrugged it off like we weren't really there. So we, the Parliament of Trees, ask you Naruto Uzumaki, to stop what she is doing in any way possible so she doesn't end up damaging things further."

Naruto processed all of the information he was given by the ancient tree that a lot had happened all because of them being impatient. They should've waited for Pam to get better in the head before coming to her and modifying her to their needs. Even when they would've done it then, he would've wanted to hear her opinion before anything progressed further. But what was done is done and nothing can go back and change things.

*Sigh* "Ok I get all that Yggdrasil and I'll see what I can do, but I have one question that comes to mind."

"Which is?..."

"How are you able to contact me?" Naruto asked. "I figure this would be rare for you to do I take it."

"Indeed it is." Yggdrasil stated. "In the past, we have communicated to those that are connected to nature, which are very rare in few. It was also rare for some to get in contact with us if they weren't connected through any of the forces but we keep our methods a secret."

"That still doesn't answer my question." The silverette said in slight impatience.

"There are a few reasons on how I was able to contact you. One is dealing with your physical body that is being suspended by Ivy's vines and it takes a while for one to be connected to the Green. Two is the love that both sides of Pamela hold deeply for you that it's practically a part of the foundation of her very being. Lastly….. Well how do I put this….. It matters with your soul."

"My soul?"

"Yes….When I tried to use the first method of you 'hooked' up through Ivy's plants that normally it takes time to get through but something inside of you made the connection easily. During the time to fully contact you, I decided to search and I found traces of nature connected to it. In fact you had used it several times years ago and there is very little left as we speak."

Naruto closed his eyes and adopted a thinking pose to think on that reason before a thought came to mind.

"I think I know." Naruto said to the ancient tree. "Back where I came from, I had undergone Sage training and had to take in natural energy into my being so I could get stronger."

Yggdrasil hummed in thought before replying. "Plausible but I have a feeling that's not just it."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked before he felt the ground underneath him start to shake slightly.

"I'm afraid our chat has come to a close now young sapling and I must depart." The tree stated as parts of the tree started to fade away.

"But how can I save Pam?" Naruto pleaded to the ancient being. "Isn't there something you could do to help me on this."

There was no response for a few moments before Yggdrasil spoke. "I might think of one way."

As the being said that, a tree branch shot forth towards Naruto's chest and went inside of him. There was no pain on the entry but the silverette felt something stir before the branch pulled out and receded back.

"What was that?" The man said as he rubbed his chest on the odd feeling.

"Giving you better access to what nature energy you have left with me adding to it so it can stabilize." Yggdrasil said as the rest of his 'tree form' started to fade away. "Use it wisely young sapling and save your mate from herself."

"I will and thank you." The Uzumaki said as he bowed to the ancient tree.

Once the tree faded, the shaking started to increase causing Naruto to fall to the ground as the platform started to tilt. The publisher started to slide off to the edge causing him to grab ahold of it with all his might but it wouldn't last too long. The increase of shaking caused his hand to let go and plummet into the darkness before a blinding light appeared.

-Waking World-

*Gasp* Naruto's eyes shot opened as he took in deep breaths since it felt he was suffocating for who knows how long. He looked around and saw where his current placement was at with him tied up in vines causing him to struggle.

"Dammit Pam, did you have to wrap me up too tight. *Groan* You want me to die with my ribs crushed or something."

Naruto decided to stop his struggles and focused his energy around him to slowly phase him through his holding before falling onto the ground with a thud.

"Ow….didn't realize my legs were asleep or else I could've landed that." He said as he started dragging himself to the nearest rock so he could climb back up. After massaging them for a bit of time and slowly standing up, he was able to walk again with some slight tingles.

"So….how can I get out of this?" Naruto said to himself as he looked around for an exit before seeing vines and branches. He was thinking to phase right through as a thought came to mind.

"I wonder…."

He closed his eyes before bringing his hand out and looked deep inside for what nature energy he had left. He eventually found it and drew it out before feeling a weight in his grasp. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted with a large, elegant looking scythe. The curved handle had a faded, grey-green color while the blade was silvery white giving the overall appearance of a plucked flower. The connection between the two parts was the sharp cross with a black background that was on his other summoned weapons.

"Well….didn't expect to see this." He said as he started doing some practice swings to see how to work with it. He started circling around with several swings and put in a lot of weight into them for more force. He staggered a bit but corrected his form so that he could hopefully not deal with that little problem later. Soon he decided to see how doing it one hand would work and started to spin it to make it appear like a pinwheel of sorts before having to use two hands so it wouldn't let go of his grasp.

Deciding it was enough doing this sort of thing, he swung his weapon at the vines and started making his way through the dense pathway to hopefully get out of the area. It took a while due to the maze like forest but he eventually found an opening that could possibly be the end of the wrap around.

"Man….Pam must've really wanted me hidden if trying to go through this area is being too much of a hassle." He muttered as he stepped partially into the light to see what was before him of Robin….fighting Batman?

"Batman! You need to fight it! Don't let her control you!" The traffic light themed hero pleaded as he blocked several punches and kicks before having to run away from Batman.

"He can't hear you! He will only listen to me until I say so." Ivy called out. "So until then, have fun duking it out."

"Well….That's not good." Naruto said as he ducked back into the darkness. "Was hoping I could get out of here without being noticed but I can't leave those two guys out there fighting against each other."

He looked back down and saw his current attire and then his 'flower' scythe. "I could go out there and help out but then it'll draw too much attention to myself and my secret will be out in the open….If only I had my suit then I can assist those two stop Ivy."

Naruto thought on a way to fix all that before remembering his 'conjuring' ability and thought of possibly making his own outfit to as close as possible. Closing his eyes, he focused to cover himself up for the ordeal that is about to happen. After a few moments, he looked to see his vision darkened to show he was wearing something over his head. This caused him to look around for a reflection to inspect himself as he soon did from a puddle nearby.

"Damn I look good." Naruto said as he twisted and turned himself around to get a better look of himself.

He wore a black and white organic-looking bodysuit with faint, white lines on his chest and it transitioned from black to greyish-white on his elbows to show white forearms. The same was pretty similar on his legs of transitioning colors from his knees to form white combat boots. He also had a torn up cloth hanging around his waist that was held up by several grey belts. To finish off the outfit, he wore a dark glass like helmet with silver on the bottom to frame his jaw and wrapped around his head.

"Oh yeah….I think when this is all over, I'm gonna stick with this bad boy. Wonder if I could possibly merge this with my armor I got from Kurama to make it even better." Naruto said with a hidden smile.

Once his inspection was done, he decided to move his way upwards with his silent manipulation so he can assess the situation.

"Hmm….So Ivy is lounging on a giant tree root with those captive industrialists some distance away from her. The dynamic duo are entertaining Pam obviously so that will distract her long enough for me to cut them down before I help out." Naruto concluded. "Simple enough."

Naruto jumped down from his placement with his silent manipulation still active, he sneaked his way through before getting close to the first.

"….Seems I won't be getting them out easily since they are unconscious." He muttered as he saw the captives upside down with their eyes closed suspended above some acid like liquid.

"If I can't get them out that way then I might as well drain the pod." He said as he used his silence manipulation to surround each of the pods. With scythe in hand, he made big enough incisions to drain the pod causing the pods to move but with the 'sound barrier' around them, nothing was going to reach on through to Ivy.

"Now to help Robin out on this." He said as he willed his scythe away for the time being.

Naruto climbed his way up at a good height above the ground on a big enough tree for what he was about to do. He took several steps back before taking a sprint towards the Dark Knight and lept at him.

"Dynamic Entry!" Naruto yelled out causing the others to look at him in surprise before both of Naruto's feet hit Batman on the chest, sending him into the water face first. Not long after, the water went into a faint pink color before it went back to normal.

"Hiya." said the masked publisher as he waved to Robin and Ivy. After that he looked over to the prone form of Batman and started to freak out.

"Oh no! I killed him!" Naruto cried out as he pulled Batman from the water and shaking him like a loon. "I'm now a murderer! *Sniffle* Whatever shall I do?!"

Naruto soon let go of Batman from his grasps, causing the masked hero to end up back in the water. "Oh I know, I should take his place and defend Gotham to make up for what just transpired."

Soon Batman rose from the water and glared at the masked man with a twitch to his eye.

"What are you doing here Nobody?" The Dark Knight growled out in annoyance.

"And he's back." Robin said in relief as he walked towards his foster father.

"I don't know who you are and I don't care." Ivy called out to the new arrival. "But I hope you enjoy seeing all of these industrialists become plant food."

She willed her carnivorous pods to rise up into the air until she saw what happened to them.

"My babies!" She cried out before turning to the black and white themed arrival. "You! You did this didn't you?!"

"Guilty." Naruto said in a cheerful tone.

"I'll kill you along with Batman and Robin for what you have done." She yelled out as she summoned giant roots from the ground and slammed them towards the three masked individuals.

"So you're Nobody huh?" Robin said as he dodged one of the roots.

"Seems you've heard of me from Batsy." Naruto said as he had to roll off to the side as other plants started to advance to their positions.

"Yup and I gotta say I like the outfit."

"Thanks and you look not too bad yourself."

"Though I gotta say…." The orphaned Grayson said as he jumped onto one of the roots. "The name doesn't seem to fit."

"Wait what?" Naruto asked in surprise before getting hit by one of the roots. He soon recovered and jumped some distance away.

"Well it seems too simple and not imaginative. Needs to have something edgier I think." Robin said getting Naruto to crouch down and draw circles into the water with a dark cloud over his head.

"But it seemed cool at the time." The masked publisher muttered to himself causing Batman to rub his eyes in slight frustration.

"Will you two focus?!" Batman said as he had to dodge several boulders and vines aimed at him.

"Sorry!" The two yelled out in synch as they brought out their weapons and slashed their way through some of the vines heading their way. From Robin's birdarangs to Naruto's scythe, they made good work taking care of some of the targets.

"Gah!" Robin said as something latched onto his face and pried it off to see….a bonsai tree? He tossed it before slicing it with his bladed weapon not seeing other bonsai trees leaping at him to cause the masked protege to struggle.

"Wow….that is embarrassing." Naruto said out loud with a snicker. "Getting your ass handed to you by those little guys."

"Shut up and help me!" Robin yelled out to the black and white individual as he pried each of the little trees off of him.

"Would like to but…." Naruto drawled out as plant monsters were formed from the ground. "I have some weeds to cut."

He dashed towards the plant monsters and swung his scythe at them to make deep gashes into them before repeating the action by spinning the weapon quicker with more force. This made quick work out of most of them before some wised up and slammed their fists down onto the masked Uzumaki. He was forced to jump into the air only to see some giant boulders heading straight for him. Naruto swung his scythe on instinct and was able to cut right through them with ease.

"Damn." Robin said in surprise as he cut down the last of the bonsai trees. He soon saw the chainsaw attachments nearby and dashed towards them while no attention was on him for the time being. Once he got them on, he made quick work with various plant monsters as he tried to get closer to Batman.

As this was going on, Batman was dealing with Poison Ivy as he had to use his basic instincts to dodge from a lot of the plant obstacles in his way as he tried to get closer to the changed botanist. He wished he had his chainsaw arm attachments at the moment but those were destroyed earlier making him use his batarangs for support.

Naruto was gaining momentum as he slashed through his plant like opponents as he was starting to leave a mixture of black/white vapors with white flower petals in his path. To anyone viewing this, they would've thought he was creating a flower trail of death.

In the confusion of the fighting, Naruto landed near the entrance of the maze to take a slight breather to think of a game plan to get Pam to get out of her senses. One came to mind even though it'll hurt her but it should definately work. Before he left, he focused his energy in hopes of getting this right as he was able to make a clone of himself…..a void clone if you will. With it being similar to his shadow clone, it knew what the plan was as it dashed off with the weapon in hand as the real Naruto deformed his outfit and hid till the time was right.

The clone saw Batman in the distance, who needed assistance causing the masked publisher to focus getting there quicker. In response, he ended up surrounded by the black and white vapors and somehow teleported to their location causing the two combatants to have a momentary pause of surprisal.

Not wasting a moment, Clone Naruto swung his scythe hitting Poison Ivy with the blunt end of the blade causing her to hit the water.

"I think this is enough Ms. Isley." He said to her trying not to sound too cold in tone.

"It will never be enough with people like them being in the world killing all plant life." Ivy said to the masked individual.

"I know and it's human nature to keep doing that." The masked individual said to her. "But what about you? Will you keep doing this regardless of what everyone thinks?"

"Of course I will." She said with conviction.

"And what about Naruto? Will be fine with what you're doing?" Batman asked the botanist causing her to flinch a bit.

"O-Of course he will. He will support me no matter what." Ivy said to the both of them.

Clone Naruto shook his head before addressing her. "I'm afraid not….Of what I can tell he would be horrified with what you have become."

"N-No….H-He can't….He loves me for who I am." She defended herself on the statement

"Yes he does but not the current you. I have a feeling he would be truly heartbroken to see what you are doing. For all this time he has known you, he probably has known your sweet side and accepted all parts of you. But whatever happened to you since you disappeared in these past days changed you greatly and no longer made you who you were." Batman said as he decided to help push the argument in their favor.

"Face it Pamela, you probably have made him truly scared of you. Causing whatever hope you have in your relationship to wither and die. You might end up becoming like your father." The clone coldly said in a lie. He knew the truth of what happened to her and he will do whatever he can to help her so their relationship can still survive this dark time.

Off to the side, Batman raised an eyebrow on that last statement on how Nobody knew that tidbit of her deceased father. He'll need to figure out who the masked man is after all this with one guess coming to mind.

As this was going on, Poison Ivy was having so many thoughts going through her head as she was starting to shake.

'N-No...I-it's not true….It can't.' Pam thought as she was starting to well up in tears.

'They are lying. He loves us for who we are. We need to get rid of them and be with our beloved….our consort...our king.' The darker Pamela or Poison Ivy spoke out in their mind.

'But what if they are right. Am I becoming like my father?' The lighter Pam thought as this was starting to be too much to bear.

"Pam…." A voice called out causing everyone to look towards the silver haired male coming towards them.

"I think my job here is done. And Robin….I'll think of a better name than Nobody. Until then, later you two." Clone Naruto said as he gave Batman and Robin a two fingered salute before dispersing in black and white smoke.

"N-Naruto…." Pam shakily said as she broke out of her dual voice pattern. She stood up and hesitantly walked towards her beloved. "I-Is it true? Are you really scared of me?"

"I'm afraid they are right Pam. What you did earlier really scared me." Naruto said to her causing her to start shedding tears.

"O-Oh God what have I done?" She questioned as she fell down and started balling her eyes out on her actions.

Naruto came in close and hugged her before looking at the two heroes. "Shouldn't you two help out those industrialists? They should probably get medical attention."

The two nodded and went on their way before taking a quick glance at the silver haired/redhead couple. With Batman, thoughts were running through his head as his thought of Naruto being Nobody was thrown out of the window now. With Robin, he felt sorry on what happened and wished them the best of luck.

"Shhh. Shhh. It's alright Pam I'm here and things will be alright." He said in a hushed tone as he rubbed her back in comfort.

"No it won't." She said as she tried to push him away. "I-I almost killed all those people."

"But that Nobody person saved them didn't he?" Naruto responded as he kept her close to him.

"St-Still th-though….I a-almost went past that line Naruto." Pam said to her love. "I-I almost killed you as well."

Naruto pulled away slightly and lifted her head up so they could meet eye to eye. "But you saved me in the end Pam."

He then leaned forward and captured her lips with his causing her to widen her eyes in shock thinking she is going to kill him again. She tried to push him away but he kept her in place. In the end Pam realized that she isn't affecting him now causing her to hold onto the kiss as she kept crying for a bit longer. It held so much love and felt so right that her mind seemed to be mended a tad better.

"I-I need help Naruto. *Sniffle* I need serious help." She said as she tried to calm herself down after breaking the kiss.

"And we will get you that help….Won't we Batman." Naruto said as he addressed the Caped Crusader.

"Of course we will." Batman said to his hazel eyed friend. Whatever is happening to Pamela is clearly not in her right mind indicated earlier with her breaking down.

After a bit of time, the police arrived to the scene to help take care of things while Batman talked to Commissioner Gordon on what happened. In the end, Pamela was escorted into a police vehicle with power dampening cuffs with Naruto sitting next to her to help comfort her. The officers tried to separate the two but Gordon ended up insistent to let this happen this one time after hearing what occurred and Naruto being the one to calm her down.

-Arkham Asylum-

"...You know, I was quite surprised to hear you wanted to intern here at Arkham Asylum. Anyone who had gone through med school with your high grades could've written their ticket anywhere." A female doctor said as she strolled through the hallways of the building. She was of african american descent with short hair down to her jawline and bangs covering her forehead with dark eyes and pink lip gloss on. She wore a typical doctor's lab coat over her dark blouse with a black skirt and stockings while having a pair of one inch heels.

"Well I've always had quite the interest for extreme personalities. I feel they are more exciting, more challenging, more rewarding…"

"More high profile." The dark skinned doctor finished the intern's thoughts. The intern in question was a blonde woman with fair skin with her hair tied up in a bun with some hanging off into a bang covering part of her vision. She wore a pair of glasses that covered her sapphire blue eyes while wearing a lab coat over her red button up shirt, a black skirt, stockings and one inch heels.

"You have to admit that there is a form of glamor with these patients depending on how severe their cases are." The blonde intern replied back with a slight smile.

"Well I'll have to warn you now that these are hardcore psychotics and if you plan on cashing in on all of this by writing a 'tell all' book then think again." The doctor warned the new addition to the staff. "They will literally eat a novice like you for breakfast."

"Don't worry ma'am. I won't." The intern said to reassure her supervisor at her stay here.

"Dr. Leland….Paging Dr. LeLand….We need you at the entrance as soon as possible." A voice in the intercom spoke out getting the two female's attention.

"Seems they are calling my name. Well it seems we have a new patient coming our way...or a returning one." The now identified Dr. LeLand said with the last bit in a mutter.

"Seems so."

"How about you come along with? Depending on who this new patient is I might assign the person to you tomorrow." Dr. LeLand said as she went on ahead.

"Thank you Joan. I hope I won't let you down."

The two made their way to the entrance to see some police officers there guarding someone behind them until the proper security could transfer the person to their cell. When looking past them, they saw Batman and Robin there and the two wondered who the person was now.

"I'm Dr. Joan LeLand, I can take it from here." The Arkham doctor said getting the police officers to head on back to reveal more of the Dynamic Duo. "Batman….Robin….Good to see you two again."

"Good to see you as well Doc." Robin said while Batman just gave a nod in response.

"So who is the patient this time? Victor Zsasz, the Joker, Jonathan Crane or just some new one that lost their senses." Dr. LeLand guessed.

"The later I'm afraid and this one's a special case."

"How so?" The blonde intern asked not getting much attention from the two crime fighters.

"Well….You might need to see this one." Robin said as he moved away to show Pam in her power dampening handcuffs with Naruto holding onto her.

"Uhh….I don't understand what's going on." The blonde woman asked while voicing the same thoughts as the Arkham doctor.

"This is Pamela Isley and she wants to be committed to Arkham till time unknown." Batman responded.

"And what's the problem exactly?" The intern questioned the Caped Crusader as her training was kicking in to assess the situation. Off to the side, Dr. LeLand had a small smile to see the new intern doing her work right off the bat.

"From what is concluded in our interactions so far indicate she is suffering from a split personality disorder due to a head wound she received last week."

"And why is she wearing….power dampening cuffs?"

"She is a metahuman with plant based powers. It's recommended that she will need to be in an isolation chamber so she doesn't interact with plants that much."

"But from what her boyfriend stated that she would be fine to limit herself to a vase full of flowers to help calm her down on most days." Robin added in getting the intern to look at him quizzically.

"Is that so….Well I'll see what I can do about that." She said as she gazed at the hugging couple with interest and wondered if she could be able to work on her first. Not known to her, her supervisor was already having plans now to let the new doctor have Pamela as her first patient here at Arkham.

The protege nodded before he ushered Naruto to bring Pam to some of the Arkham staff. Naruto had let go and gave her a nod, which she returned back as she was led past the doors. As this happened, the Dynamic Duo left the building to finally call it a night to let things be taken care of from there.

*Sigh* "I hope Pam will be alright here." The Uzumaki said in a tired voice that got the intern to think that a lot has happened as of late. She hoped she could talk to the new patient about it when possible.

"Don't worry sir, we'll do everything we can to help her out. You have my word on that." Dr. LeLand said to the publisher.

"Thank you doctor." He said with a small smile that seemed to make the intern blush a little for some reason.

"And I'll be having our latest addition to our staff help see to it that she makes a good recovery." The Arkham doctor said getting the intern to widen her eyes slightly but composed herself to be professional in the situation.

"Like my fellow doctor said, I'll do whatever I can to help her out."

"Of course and thank you ma'am." Naruto said to her with a genuine smile that seemed to be infectious as the intern smiled as well.

"I'm sorry. Where are my manners?" The silver haired male said as he held out his hand to the intern. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki and I plan to come by often to check up on Pamela."

"Good to know on that and I'll be sure to let her know Mr. Uzumaki." The intern said to him as they shook hands.

"You can call me Naruto ma'am."

"Sorry, force of habit."

"It's fine and I was wondering if I can get your name?" Naruto asked her. "I have a feeling it's something really nice and beautiful to match your personality."

She giggled on this as she tried to pull down her blush. She moved her bang out of the way and tucked it behind her ear before addressing the man before her.

"Sorry on not addressing my name sooner Mr...Naruto." She said to him before giving him a smile. "My name is Dr. Harleen Quinzel...But you can call me Harley if you want."

-End Chapter-