After the massage, Monica quietly left — she still had work to do later. Colin, meanwhile, tidied himself up, then disappeared back into the streets.
He still couldn't sleep.
Who knew what kind of interesting things might happen tonight?
At that moment
Harley Quinn had been chained to a streetlight by Batman. Naturally, she was cursing him out, every word from her mouth sharp and foul.
Batman, however, didn't care to listen. He had more pressing matters — like tracking down the Joker. Without so much as a glance back, he got into his Batmobile and sped off in pursuit.
"Damn it!!"
Harley struggled furiously, but the harder she fought, the more the cuffs dug into her wrists — pain without progress.
As she was still spewing obscenities at the Dark Knight, the crisp click of heels echoed down the street. A tall woman with flowing red hair appeared from the Silent Gods — strikingly beautiful and calm.
"Heyyy~ Ivy! What are you doing here?" Harley's tone instantly brightened when she saw the woman.
The redhead before her was Ivy Pepper, better known to the world as Poison Ivy — her good friend who had seemingly vanished some time ago.
To be honest, Harley had been worried about her. They'd always gotten along well, after all.
"Job's done, that's all~" Ivy said with a self-deprecating smile.
She'd been helping Colin cultivate all sorts of strange and exotic plants during her disappearance. It was exhausting, sure — but she didn't hate it. In fact, she found Colin… tolerable. Maybe even decent. After all, anyone who loved plants couldn't be that bad, right?
Now that she'd finished her work, she decided to get some air — and maybe check in on her fellow villains.
Clearly, things weren't going well for them.
At least not for Harley, who was currently shackled to a lamp post.
"Work? What kind of job?" Harley asked curiously.
Just as Ivy was about to reply, the distant wail of sirens pierced the night. Police were on their way — and obviously for Harley.
"Let's chat somewhere else."
With a snap of Ivy's fingers, green vines burst from the ground, coiling up the lamppost and wrenching it apart. Harley slipped her cuffed wrists free in an instant.
"Let's move, Ivy!" Harley shouted.
"Mm."
The two fled swiftly into the night.
Before long, they found refuge in a rundown apartment. As Harley rummaged through a drawer for something to pick her cuffs with, she asked casually, "So… your latest gig's all about planting trees, huh?"
She knew Ivy well — if Ivy wasn't robbing a bank or killing someone, she was definitely doing something with plants.
"Yeah. Helping the Silent God Superman grow them," Ivy said, lounging on the couch and flipping through TV channels with the remote.
"Eh!? Seriously!? So… did you two, y'know—?" Harley leaned forward with a sly grin.
"No. He's not really into women. Though he does enjoy being entertained."
Ivy had, admittedly, once considered sleeping with Colin — partly out of desire, but mostly out of strategy. If she could seduce him, maybe she could control him… and use him to wipe out most of humanity. He was handsome, powerful, and surprisingly gentle with plants. The perfect tool.
Unfortunately, Colin was completely immune to her toxins.
When she'd asked him once why he wasn't interested in women, he'd shared his "first-person view" with her.
In it, she saw the human body — crawling with microscopic insects, skin greasy and alive with unseen filth. Smooth flesh turned grotesque and oily under his gaze.
The image was enough to churn her stomach.
Now, she understood why Colin avoided intimacy.
From his perspective, sleeping with a human was like… bedding a slab of writhing, oily meat infested with bugs.
Just remembering it made her nauseous.
Ever since then, she'd stopped getting too close to people — unless she could truly love someone. Love their soul so deeply that she could bear the disgust.
"Oh, found it!" Harley exclaimed, holding up a small tool triumphantly. She deftly popped the cuffs open, tossing them aside before bouncing toward Ivy with her usual manic energy.
"Ivy! Let's go rescue my puddin'!"
Her "puddin'" could only mean one person — the Joker.
Ivy sighed. "No. Harley, that man's betrayed you more times than I can count. Why do you still care about him?"
In Ivy's mind, the Joker had never loved Harley. He only cared about Batman.
Harley had broken him out of prison once — and he'd ditched her the moment he got the chance. Love? Please.
"Come on, Ivy… he does love me."
Harley's voice softened, and before Ivy could respond, she'd already dashed toward the window. Batman was probably after the Joker right now — she had to hurry.
"Harley, you idiot…" Ivy muttered, watching helplessly.
"Bye-bye~!"
And with that, Harley crashed straight through the window and vanished into the night.
High above the city
Colin hovered silently, observing everything below — including Ivy and Harley.
He stroked his chin thoughtfully. There were always two versions of Poison Ivy in his memory: Ivy Pepper and Pamela Lillian Isley.
This universe's Ivy was the former.
To be fair, she really did know her plants. Colin had handed her several rare seeds, and she'd managed to cultivate all of them successfully.
She was dangerous — and capable of controlling even Clark.
But not him.
His body could generate antibodies against any toxin within seconds.
After a brief glance downward, he turned away and soared toward another part of the city. Within moments, he landed before a man kneeling in the dim light.
The man was devout — painfully devout. His faith was so absolute that even Colin found it unsettling. For months, the man had prayed to him without fail, treating him as though he were a god.
At first, Colin had simply watched, curious when that faith would break.
But it never did.
And so, tonight, he came in person.
The moment the man saw him, he dropped to his knees, forehead pressed to the ground.
"I knew you would return," he whispered reverently.
Colin raised an eyebrow, taking a seat in the nearest chair. "You think I'll save your dying wife?"
"I can only beg you with sincerity," the man said, trembling. "But I won't demand it. Whether you save her or not, I'll remain faithful. You've saved others before — if you refuse me, it only means I'm still unworthy of your mercy."
Colin was silent for a long moment.
Then he sighed, rubbing his chin. "Tch… how boring. I was hoping you'd change — lose faith, rage, hate me. But you never did. Still… since your devotion hasn't wavered, I'll grant your wish."
With a flick of his fingers, the man's wife was healed in seconds.
Colin stood and said quietly, "If you can, then help others — within your ability."
And then he left.
He found no joy in it — only a strange sense of futility.
He'd hoped to see the man's faith crumble, to watch him curse his "god."
But the man remained unwavering, and in that unwavering devotion, Colin saw something… human.
Maybe too human.
He clicked his tongue.
"Guess I'm still just a person after all."