The Little Merfolk Came Ashore

Invisible sound waves spread through the seawater. As though answering a summons, fish of every kind raced toward Gotham Bay.

Soon, a vast number of fish had gathered around Miaomiao. From a distance, they formed a dense, dark mass, their orderly ranks resembling a well-trained army.

"Go find anything unusual around Gotham City, especially gunpowder or anything else that looks or smells strange."

At her command, the "army" scattered, swimming into the waterways, large and small, that crisscrossed Gotham City like a spiderweb.

To make it easier for them to slip into different places, Miaomiao had only summoned relatively small fish. The smarter dolphins and orcas had been ruthlessly excluded because their larger bodies made them difficult to hide.

Suddenly, Miaomiao understood Bruce and the others' concerns a little better.

An unfamiliar creature appearing out of nowhere was bound to draw attention.

Still, that was not enough to make Miaomiao stop being angry entirely. No, at the very least, not today.

The shoreline of Gotham's urban district was already close at hand. Miaomiao reluctantly stroked her beautiful, large tail and sighed.

"Nothing for it. You'll have to put up with this for a little while."

As Miaomiao's words faded, the blue-violet tail that marked her as one of the Merfolk slowly transformed into the smooth, slender legs of a human girl.

Pouting, Miaomiao awkwardly wiggled her newly grown feet. She tried to slap the water and propel herself forward as before, only to discover that human legs simply could not manage that movement or speed.

"Ugh, that's what I've been saying. Why did the Little Mermaid have to go trading her tail for legs when she had nothing better to do? They're so inconvenient..."

Complaints aside, what mattered now was helping Bruce and the others solve their problems-

Or dealing with the people causing those problems.

Hmm, no.

Those guys all seemed to be repeat offenders. Every one of them must have some real skills. Looks like I'll have to be extra careful if I find them.

-I have to hold back when I hit them!

She had promised Bruce she would not kill anyone.

With that thought, Miaomiao reached the shore and, with a slight frown, stepped onto land on her brand-new legs.

After spending so much time with the Bat Family, Miaomiao remembered to avoid those strange human devices, even though this was her first time going out. Thinking of Bruce and the others' habits when they went out, she also casually wove a mermaid silk face covering to conceal her face.

Hmm, now this feels a little more like it.

But Miaomiao did not know exactly how their clothes were constructed, so she could not make anything with the same effect for now.

This will do for now. I'll figure it out later.

The Merfolk were not the Little Mermaid. They never made things difficult for themselves.

Miaomiao sensed the surrounding presences, chose a direction, and strode firmly forward. Then...

Splat!

The Little Merfolk, who had never truly walked on two legs before, tripped over her own feet on her very first step and fell hard, face-first, onto the beach.

"Mmph... Ptoo..."

Miaomiao lifted her face, immensely grateful that she had avoided the surveillance cameras and covered her face beforehand. No one should have seen her take that mouthful of sand.

"Oh my, where did this little cutie come from? Can't even walk properly?"

The corners of Miaomiao's mouth drooped.

Huh? Wait! Someone's here?!

Miaomiao turned her head. On the road ahead, a beautiful young woman with red hair and green clothes was watching her, her bright red lips curved upward. She had clearly witnessed the girl's entire tumble on perfectly level ground.

"Oh, our little cutie's upset."

The beautiful woman covered her mouth and laughed. Without any visible movement from her, a thick green vine snaked over, braced Miaomiao's arm, and helped her up. It even considerately brushed the sand from her hair.

Seeing the beautiful woman's enchanting smile, Miaomiao immediately stopped feeling glum. If she had made such a lovely lady happy, at least that fall had not been for nothing.

"Thank you, miss. You're so pretty."

The red-haired woman in green was Pamela Lillian Isley, though the people of Gotham were probably more accustomed to calling her by another name now-Poison Ivy.

She had not expected to encounter a little cupcake who was not afraid of her on today's outing.

Poison Ivy had originally been an ordinary university student. She loved plants and had a remarkable talent for botany. But that very talent had drawn the attention of a mad botanist, Jason Woodrue, who tricked her into becoming his test subject. Doctor Wood took control of the innocent Pamela and injected plant toxins into her body, watching her struggle in pain and despair.

Perhaps it had been fate, but Pamela did not die. The injected plant toxins fused with her body in a remarkable way, allowing her to survive. However, nearly all the blood in her body was replaced by chlorophyll, and she gained the ability to control plants and secrete hormones that allowed her to control others.

Using her newfound powers, she killed Doctor Wood, who had tried to murder her. At the same time, she lost her sense of kinship with humanity, deciding that plant lives mattered more than human lives. She became an extreme environmentalist, operating in Gotham City as Poison Ivy.

Of course, Poison Ivy's actions also landed her on Batman's list, and that meddlesome "code enforcement officer" had sent her to Arkham multiple times.

Today, the Joker, who loved nothing more than stirring up chaos, had gathered several villains, including Poison Ivy, to escape from Arkham Asylum together. He wanted to give his "dear little bat" a grand present.

Poison Ivy's response to that was a sarcastic laugh.

Do you think everyone's an obsessive Old Bat anti-fan like you? How many times has Batman beaten you up? And the more he beats you, the more addicted you get. No wonder the Joker's famous for being crazy. Those chemicals probably fried his brain ages ago.

Still, Poison Ivy did not want to stay in Arkham forever, either. The place was cold and sterile, without a speck of green. To stop her from controlling plants and escaping, they even cored the apples served with her meals. It was utterly dull.

So Poison Ivy agreed to the Joker's plan. Once they had worked together to get beyond Arkham's walls, who cared about his love-hate relationship with Batman? She was going back to Gotham's Botanical Garden to be with her adorable plant babies.

Who would have thought that, halfway there, a figure would catch her attention?

Gotham's weather was always gloomy and rainy, and the temperature plummeted at night. Yet Poison Ivy spotted a black-haired girl on the beach wearing nothing but a thin gauzy dress. With her delicate frame and luminous pale skin, she looked like a sheltered young lady who knew nothing of the world-the exact sort of little lamb Gotham's villains loved best.

Before Poison Ivy could work out how long this little lamb might survive a Gotham night, the lamb herself went splat without anyone interfering at all, turning into a little cupcake squashed against the ground. She even seemed to bounce a couple of times.

Poison Ivy, who had not been in the best of moods, was instantly amused.