Chương 1: Chapter 1: Budding Idea
Aye, mortals! So this fic comes from a prompt on tumblr from a few months ago, but I was just recently convinced to write about. If you want to see it, just Google "The Villain Wrangler" and it'll come up. All of the main ideas behind this comes from the wonderful people who contributed to that post, I just put my own spin on it to weave everything together. Oh, and any character you recognize (i.e. DC characters) aren't mine. Hope you enjoy it!
Danny Johnson stared blankly at the screen in front of him. Earlier, his reaction had been due to shock, but that had faded away by this point. Sadly, that didn't mean the contents of the email displayed on his laptop were any different.
5 year old girl… Melody Waters…. Wants to show Poison Ivy her succulent garden… terminal cancer… a few months…
It wasn't the fact that the girl had cancer or how young she was, but more the fact that her 'World of Wishes' wish revolved around a notorious- and wanted- villainess in Gotham that surprised Danny. This job wasn't new to him, but he'd never heard of anything like this happening before.
"Kids are strange," he muttered, rubbing his palm against his forehead. How was he going to give this child what she wanted the most?
His search began online, scouring enthusiast forums and potentially illegal sites alike to find any word of where one might come across the green woman. He ignored any stories that reminded him of her criminal actions; none of that mattered after the point he learned of the wish he was sent to fulfill.
That was how he found himself seated in Gotham Park every night near the botanic enclosure for a week in the hopes of catching Ivy. The first three nights had passed without events, the fourth night Danny could've sworn a figure was watching him from the trees, and the last two had seen drunk individuals stumble along the paved walkways. He was hoping this final night would grant him the opportunity he had been waiting for; if not, he would search for another idea.
The feeling of something wrapping around his ankle snapped him out of his thoughts to leave him meeting the emerald gaze of the person he was looking for. Poison Ivy raised an eyebrow in question as she sat on the other end of his bench, watching his with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
"You're quite persistent," she hummed, pursing her lips and reaching one hand towards his face. "Kept me from visiting my babies for several days, you naught b-" She was cut off as Danny grabbed her wrist and smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Ivy, but I need to ask you something and I'm racing against a deadline," he said, tensing himself for an altercation.
"Make that two now." Her warning was clear, and yet it didn't faze him the slightest. He reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a folded packet of papers all revolving around wisher Melody Waters: her past and current picture, her wish statement, details on her sickness, and a drawing she had made of Poison Ivy. Danny handed them all over to the woman, who took them questioningly.
"My name is Danny Johnson and I work for the 'World of Wishes' foundation. Last week, a terminally ill 5 year-old girl named Melody asked to meet you so she could show you the small garden of succulents she has been caring for in her hospital room. She adores you." He smiled as he saw Ivy ruffle through the papers confirming what he said. "I'm here to ask if you'd come in to see her at Gotham Central."
He watched as she glanced between him and the papers she held several times before chuckling humorlessly. "I'll give you points for effort, Mister Johnson, but your time is up." Even with the vines now wrapping around both his legs and his chest, Danny found her theatrics slightly ridiculous. "Why are you really here? Was it the Commissioner or the Bat?"
He knew he shouldn't, but Danny couldn't keep his annoyance down. "Look, Ivy, the only damn reason I am here is because a dying little girl's biggest wish is to show you her own plants. I don't care what the hell you do the other 364 days this year, but that other day is going to be spent in Melody's hospital room in the next week!"
The two sat in silence for several minutes following his outburst. Danny wasn't really sure what to expect, but seeing as the vines constricting his movement has stopped creeping upwards, he felt optimistic. In an attempt to not be rude by staring, Danny turned his sights on their surroundings until she spoke.
"Well, I must make sure those poor darlings are being cared for correctly," Ivy finally answered, flicking her wrist to remove Danny's natural constraints. "I'll be there; won't tell you when- can't take too many risks."
"Understandable."
"You'd best be on your way then, Mister Johnson. Not all of the night life in Gotham is as nice as I am." With that, Ivy rose from the bench and began to walk away down the flower-lined path, stopping every so often to lean down and stroke the blooming plants.
Danny let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in before shaking his head and wandering off towards his apartment.
The first day passed with Danny working from home, going through his usually task of writing to celebrities and corporations on the behalf of other children and their wishes. It was nice to pretend that he hadn't had a chat with an infamous temptress the previous night.
The universe didn't seem to share the same sentiment. He had only been out of the room for 10 minutes to take a shower- 15 at most- before walking in with a towel wrapped around his waist to find Poison Ivy seated on his couch, aimlessly flipping through TV channels with his remote.
Danny opened his mouth to say something and wasn't proud with what actually came out. "What the hell?!" His face flushed in embarrassment as she coolly glanced over.
"What channel number is National Geographic?"
Danny blinked several times as he processed her question. "Uh… try 615...ish," he replied lamely, before shaking his head several times to clear it. "No- wait- what are you doing here?!"
Ivy stared ahead at the television as it showed scenes of some foreign rainforest. "Needed a way to contact you. Brought you a burner with my number in it."
"That's… thoughtful."
She finally looked over at him and smiled. "Of course. And, I'll be giving you a five-minutes heads up before I arrive."
"Thanks…"
Ivy ignored him as she stood and began to make her way towards his door. "You're leaving out the front?" He asked, surprised.
The redhead looked at him incredulously. "You're 19 stories up; did you think I came in through your window?" With a parting wink and smile, Ivy walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind her, leaving an exasperated Danny behind.
"Johnson!" Danny looked up from the burner phone Ivy gave him and sighed as he saw his boss stalking towards him, arms crossed. She glared at him over the top of her glasses. "What do you think you're playing at?" Her heels clicked menacingly against the floor as she stopped in front of him.
He chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. "I'm not sure what you mean." No, he knew exactly what she meant, and the twitch of her eyebrow confirmed what was coming.
"Telling a sick child that she'd get to meet Poison Ivy?! I don't pay you to make up this crap. You honestly think some evil plant bitch would show up-"
Her eyes grew wide as a vine wrapped around her mouth, effectively cutting of her rant. Danny did his best to keep a professional face and not laugh, but a few snickers managed to sneak out at the sight of goosebumps appearing on her upper arms after Ivy ran her hands on them.
"Danny, you didn't say there would be any weeds here…" she murmured, brushing a strand of the woman's brown hair out of her face. Danny could see her trembling and decided it would probably be best to stop it before something bad happened.
"Ivy, I think Melody's ready to see you…" He said, gesturing behind him towards the girl's hospital room in an attempt to redirect her attention. Thankfully, it worked. Ivy sighed reluctantly before removing her hold on his boss and moving to stand beside him, ignoring the woman as she half-walked, half-ran back down the hall. "Alright, rules: no attacking anyone, no offering to kill anyone, and no killing her garden." The redhead looked offended that he would even ask that, but didn't comment. "I guess we can go in, then."
The light that came into Melody's eyes when she looked up from her crayon drawing to see Poison Ivy walk through her door would stay with him forever. She squealed and wiggled to sit up further, smiling so brightly it was almost blinding. It was amusing to see her joy contrasted by the fear on the faces of her parents and the doctors in the room.
"They told me you weren't gonna come!" She said happily as Ivy took her tiny hand in hers. "But I knew you would!"
Danny could tell the smile on Ivy's face was real. "I just had to come see my little flower." She sat down on her bed and asked to see Melody's drawings, prompting a flurry of conversation from the girl.
"Um… excuse me, mister," Melody's mother said, speaking softly to not interrupt her daughter's focus. Danny looked down at her curiously; she had tears welling up in her eyes. "I haven't seen her this lively in so long. Whatever you did to find her," she glanced over her shoulder towards the villainess, "thank you."
That was the moment Danny knew he would continue to do whatever it took to fulfill any child's wish, no matter what.
So the next day, when he received a request from a child wanting to meet Captain Cold, he did what anyone would do: pour himself a strong drink and start searching online for the rogue's favorite bar.
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