Wentworth had his feet pced on one of the gold-lined tables and was currently enjoying some in-flight entertainment in the form of re-runs of Fawlty Towers. He ughed hysterically, throwing his head back as Basil lost the plot.“Uh, shouldn’t you be flying the pne?” Harley raised an eyebrow“Oh, my dear. Half the time these things fly by themselves. I just never told Mr Bexley that, for obvious reasons. Granted, the AI can’t handle turbulence so I’m not entirely useless.” “Can you get him to turn the British TV down? I’m really gonna need to focus here, Peanut.”

  Harley gred at Wentworth, squinting and he quietly retreated to the cockpit to watch his show in there.Ivy was sitting in a meditative pose, her eyes glowing green as a giant rose started to grow around her, enveloping her.“Uh, Ive. What do you need me to do?”“Just watch my back. You always do.”

  As the rose closed up around her, Harley stood guard, bat in hand with a look of determination on her face.

  Ivy’s eyes shot open within The Green. Pntlife covered every inch of the forest she stood in, all of it bustling with sheer life. A perfect Earth would look exactly like it to her, she thought. But then, it would run the risk of having a world without her in it. The only redeeming quality of the human race.

  She breathed in deeply, absorbing the fresh air that came with the realm and started to walk forwards. At the edge of the forest, she knelt down, running her fingers through the Earth. A shape emerged behind her, a living, green pnt with a mouth full of sharp teeth. Ivy was seemingly oblivious to the threat as it leaned in closer.“Boo!” She jumped “Goddammit, Frank!”

  He chuckled heartily in response“Got ya good. Haven’t seen ya in a while, so, just tryin’ keep ya on your toes.”“Well, mission accomplished.” She scoffed“But I get the feelin’ you’re not in The Green for a catch-up.”

  She sighed“Something’s going on. I felt it the other day. It…It tried to kill Harley. Frank, I’ve never seen anything like this before.”“Sure ya have.”“No, I haven’t.” She squeezed the ridge of her nose“The Mould might be a lil different, but it’s hated, pure and simple. Just in fungal form.”“Where the hell did it come from?”“Hell if I know.” He shrugged with his leaves “You made me, remember? So why you askin’ me these questions?”

  He moved in closer “I’ll tell ya who would know more…”“Frank, no.”“Come on. I know you two don’t get on but, it’s worth talkin’ to the guy.”

  Frank sighed, lowering his head.“Look, Ivy. I’ve felt it too. Few pnts I used to be tight with suddenly started spouting holocaust denial. Thought they’d spent too much time listening to bullshit online, but when I got closer it was…Something ugly.”“It can already infect pnts?”“Yup. So unless we do somethin’ about it real soon, we’re all royally fucked. So, get off ya ass and go talk to him.”“Only if you come with me.”“Ah, sure. Why not?”

  At the edge of the forest was a swamp that stretched out for an eternity. Ivy tensed up, taking in a deep breath to compose herself. “Hey, I…I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

  There was no response.“Get your big green ass out here!” Frank yelledThe waters of the swamp stirred and a giant emerged from them. He easily towered over Ivy, his red eyes piercing through her. Frank cleared his throat.“Uh, Ivy needs to talk to you.”“The giant scowled, turning away “Leave.”“It’s about The Mould.” Ivy shot back, causing The Swamp Thing to stop in his tracks “I-I need to know how to stop it.”“Mould is a concern of The Grey.” “But it’s infectin’ pnts!” Frank shouted “That means it’s a risk to all of us.”“I will be able to protect The Green from it. The Mould is focused on humans. They are it’s primary host, and it will destroy them. They are weak to it’s power. Easily corruptible.”“And what? Ya expect the Mould will just stop with humans? It’s gonna hurt animals too!”“The Mould requires humans to spread. With them gone, it will wither and die off. The pns, the animals. They do not carry the same hatred. True, some animals, even some pnts may perish but the humans will be erased.”“This is such bullshit!” Ivy snapped

  The Swamp Thing raised a brow at Ivy’s outburst.“Why? You have been hurt by humanity many times over. You have tried to destroy the species. You’re part of The Green, Ivy.”“I know. But they don’t deserve extinction. Not all of them.”“How many humans have you killed in trying to avenge The Green? Have you gone soft?”

  Ivy avoided his gaze.“It’s her, isn’t it?” “She’s different.”-

  Outside of The Green, Harley was pacing back and forth. Checking her phone, it had only been four minutes.“Ugh!”

  Wentworth poked his head out from the cockpit.“Miss Quinn? Is there anything I can do to help?”“No, you idiot. I can’t even do anything.” She slumped down on one of the pne’s seats “I just…”Wentworth sat next to her as Harley looked at the floor with a pout “I just don’t get all of this Green stuff. Sure, I listen when Ive talks about it, but…Ugh!” She kicked the floor “Talk to me.“You ain’t the one with the PHD in this stuff.” She groaned.

  Wentworth backed away, making his way towards the bathroom. Harley looked up, seeing her reflection in the gold-lined table, except it wasn’t her. At least not her in the current day. No bleached skin or pigtails, but a young woman wearing a white coat and gsses.“Hey, Harley.” “Not now.”“You can’t ignore me, I’m you. What’s going on?”“You’re me. You already know.”

  Harleen shrugged“I’d prefer to hear it from you.”“Fine.” She sighed “I hate being powerless.”“You’re not, though.”“Ive can control any pnt and I’m just…A chick with a bat.”“That doesn’t make you powerless. And I’m sure Ivy would agree.”“I can’t do anything when she goes in there.”“Not true. You’re keeping her body safe right now, and you’ll be here when she wakes up.”

  Harley turned away, her arms folded“Hey, I get it. I’m you, remember? But learn to give yourself a little credit…Ivy needs you as much as you need her.”-

  Clenching her firsts, Ivy looked up once more as she stepped towards the giant.“Think about all the people it could tch onto. The damage they could do to The Green, The Red. All of it. If you won’t help us, then at least tell me how to kill it!”“The Mould has a primary host. They are one in the same…”“I already figured that part out, genius. How do I kill her?”“Are you prepared to die for humanity? Have they earned that?”“Answer the damn question.”“Answer mine first.”

  Ivy gnced at Frank, who nodded.“I-”“They haven’t.” She walked deeper into the swamp “No. They’re stupid and selfish and they don’t even bother recycling and half of them don’t even know how to take care of their housepnts! But…Some of them. They’re different.”“Some of them, or one of them?”“Fine, one! But…She’s enough.” She tightened her posture “I don’t agree with fighting for them. But, I respect your honesty.”

  He started to reduce his size, no longer towering above Ivy and Frank, getting to their level within moments. “She has several weaknesses…”-

  Harley shot up as the sound of something small striking the pne filled the void of silence. It was followed by another, and another. She sprinted towards the cockpit, seeing as Wentworth had his hands firmly gripped on the controls.“What the hell’s goin’ on?”“We seem to have hit some birds, that’s all. Thank you. It’ll be…”

  Something struck the back of the pne, rger this time. But it was followed instantly with multiple strikes. “Some birds!” Harley shouted, running back towards Ivy. She looked through one of the pne’s windows, seeing a flock of corrupted birds closing in on the pne. They were flying beak-first into the side before withdrawing and trying again.“Oh, shit…” She gripped her bat tightly as one broke through a window, knocking over one of the gold-lined tables.

  It took a moment to steady itself. The bird was about the size of a cat as it stood to it’s full height, it’s wings stretched out.“Harley Quinn.” The voice of The Mould Queen echoed from it’s beak “I see you. You’re going to pay for what you did to Cass.”

  It swooped towards her, the beak aiming for her throat but she firmly batted it aside and didn’t give the creature a second to recover, smashing it’s skull in and double-tapping for good measure. “Jesus Christ!” Wentworth screamed from the cockpit as another window shattered. It was followed by the sound of gunfire and birds furiously squawking. He backed out of the cockpit, a pistol in hand with the assault rifle over his back “What the bloody hell are these things?”“They’re here to kill us. Can ya keep us in the air?”“I’ll check.”

  He poked his head into the cockpit door, seeing as two birds tore the controls to pieces. One looked up, hissing at him. Wentworth calmly nodded and poked his head back out.“It would appear not. But we do have parachutes.”

  Another window shattered as a bird tackled Wentworth to the ground, trying to peck out his eyes. Harley kicked it off him and decapitated it with a well-pced swing. Birds started to strike the top of the pne, attacking it from all sides. “Yeah, uh. How many parachutes?”“Only the two I’m afraid. Mr Bexley would keep one for himself and one as a spare should the main shute and the five backup shutes fail.”

  Harley spun around as a bird crashed through a window at the back of the pne and flew straight for Ivy. She leapt through the air towards it, smashing the creature with her bat and striking it over and over again once it was down, yelling in anger. She dashed towards Ivy, pulling her from the rose and wrapping her arms around her. She was still in a trance, her eyes glowing green. “Grab them now!” She yelled. Wentworth tossed a parachute, one that was designer-made towards Harley while putting one on himself. “I’m going to set this pne to self-destruct.”“Wait…Why does a private jet have a self-destruct button!?”“Mr Bexley installed it in case of it ever going down. He didn’t want the peasants, as he put it, stripping this pne for parts and getting rich off of how much gold there is in here. I’d say it could probably take out these bsted birds.”“Do it!”

  Once she’d finished attaching the parachute to herself, Harley attached a belt around Ivy’s waist and headed for the door. Another two birds smashed their way through the windows of the cockpit but were quickly dispatched by Wentworth.

  “Self-destruct activated. This pne will detonate in ten seconds.” A dull AI voice spoke “Do you wish to change your mind?”

  Wentworth pulled the door open and leapt from the pne, unloading a few more rounds into the birds as he descended. “This pne will detonate in eight seconds. Do you wish to change your mind?”

  Harley took a deep breath and jumped, her arms still tightly wrapped around Ivy. Gunfire filled the air as more of the birds fell, but one dived towards the two. Harley swung her bat at the creature’s head, taking it clean off as she descended.

  She could vaguely make out the ground below them and tried to focus on a safe pce to nd when another bird descended, flying past at a lightning pace and tore the belt around Ivy. Harley let out a yell but managed to grab hold before she fell. -

  “But should you succeed in killing The Mould Queen, the most important thing is to make sure she cannot jump to another vessel. Burn the entire body, burn the Mould. Salt the Earth.”

  -

  The pne exploded behind Harley and Wentworth, taking dozens of birds with it but one burst from the fming wreckage and descended towards Harley. -

  “It will take everything you have, Ivy.”

  -The bird drew in closer, hissing as it closed the gap, driving it’s peak and talons into the parachute and tearing it to pieces. A well-pced shot from Wentworth went straight into it’s skull but the damage had already been done. The parachute gave way and, with her arms still wrapped around Ivy, Harley started to free-fall.

  “Ivy! Wake up! Wake up!”

  -“The Mould Queen will use everything at her disposal against you. Including her. You may have to leave the girl behind if you truly wish to succeed.”“No.” Ivy firmly shook her head “I need her.”-“Ive, I need you! Please.”

  Her eyes shot open and Harley breathed a sigh of relief. Ivy reached into one of her jacket pockets, pulling out some seeds that she clenched tightly into a fist. Vines grew outwards, wrapping around the two while more pnt matter formed into a makeshift parachute formed from a giant leaf. “Hold on, Peanut.”