When you were out in the world, your identity was whatever other people decided it was.
Li Jie waved an enthusiastic goodbye to the chemical plant's manager as he turned and climbed into the van.
Sure, she was whoever you said she was. I never said a thing. You guessed all of it yourself.
The Patrol Van merged into traffic, the atmosphere inside tense. In stark contrast to Harleen's excitement and Poison Ivy's anger on the way there, Li Jie said nothing and simply concentrated on driving, until he parked beside a relatively secluded, tree-lined road at the edge of Robinson Park.
Once the engine shut off, only the rustling leaves outside and the distant murmur of the city remained.
He turned to look at Poison Ivy, who sat silently in the back seat. She was still wrapped in the cloak, but through the window, her green eyes gazed despondently at the trees in the park, struggling to survive even in the city.
"Uh..." Li Jie turned his head back around. "Could you pull your neckline up a little..."
"Ha!" Harleen laughed beside Poison Ivy, deliberately tugging her own neckline down a little. "Sheriff, are you really still that innocent?"
Li Jie gave her a helpless glance, then continued speaking to Poison Ivy. "Listen, I believe you felt their pain, but charging straight in like you did today, smashing doors, confronting people... that road leads nowhere."
"Nowhere? So I'm supposed to let them keep being poisoned and die in agony?" Poison Ivy fixed him with a piercing stare, an unconvinced fire burning in her eyes. "I heard them crying, Sheriff! That wasn't a metaphor."
"But let me ask you this. If I hadn't happened to bluff that manager with a pack of lies today, what would have happened?"
He held