[June 27th]

Ivy was getting frustrated. She had run down any lead she could think of and come up with nothing. She'd talked to every contact she, Catwoman, or Harley had in the Gotham Underworld and most hadn't even heard of Nico di Angelo, much less had an idea of where he might be. Their information about Ghost was even more underwhelming. Most people thought they were referring to literal ghosts or that they were mistaken since 'No one like that lives in Gotham, what the hell?'. The consultant had done well to cover his tracks, that's for sure. They were running out of options and Ivy could tell that the other women were getting bored with the hunt. 

"That's the fourth empty lead of the night, Ives." Catwoman wrapped her whip back up slowly and carefully, studying the braided leather for wear. It had seen more than its fair share of use over the past few days. 

"I know. I just can't give up on this yet. It's only been a few days since he disappeared, we can't let the trail go cold." Ivy stuck her hand into a patch of ivy that was creeping up the wall of a nearby warehouse. 

"Cold? I'd say the trail is positively frozen. We got nothin'." Harley smashed a wooden crate to bits with her hammer.  Whether that was from frustration or curiosity, Ivy wasn't sure. "You know what they say about the first forty-eight hours, don't you?"

"Not now, Harls," Selina hissed.

"What? I'm just sayin'--"

"Shhh." Ivy hushed them as she tried to tune into the root network. Maybe the nearby plants could tell her something. She let her mind seep into the ground, listening to the otherwise imperceptible shifts in the soil beneath their feet. She could feel the waves of electrical energy being carried through the plant's synapses and into her own body as if their nervous systems were connected. Inhale, exhale, she pushed on through the entangled root systems until she wasn't sure when or where she was, whether she still had a body, or if she had truly melted into the Earth. It was an experience unlike any other and, if she hadn't had to worry about needing her body to carry out her activism, she would have considered melding permanently with the roots she now occupied. It felt like coming home.

 Her hunt for either Nico or Ghost came up empty and she forced herself to leave the Earth's loving embrace and return to her own mind. "Nothing..." She muttered to herself more than the two women stationed nearby. Other than a lot of trucks that were coming and going from the nearby cannery, there had been nothing of interest to her. 

"I hate to do this, but I agree with Harley on this one. We don't have any information one way or another. What we should really be doing is looking for that Ghost character. He seems to be of some interest to the Justice League, after all." Catwoman pulled herself up on top of a dumpster and started filing her nails, where she pulled the file from, Ivy wasn't sure.

"So what? What's your interest in the boy?" Ivy frowned. She didn't like the direction that this conversation was taking.

"Batman is interested in finding him. Imagine having Batman owe you a favor!" Catwoman practically purred. 

"Oooohhhh! That would be incredible! It would be the best birthday present!" Harley laughed happily. Ivy considered this for a moment. She was relieved that the girls weren't planning on leveraging Ghost against Batman or selling him to someone who would try to utilize his skills. Plus, since Ghost was Nico, they would still be looking for the same person. 

"Birthday present for Joker?" Catwoman frowned. They had all been under the impression that that ship had sailed. 

"No! For me! I deserve nice things, don't I?" Harley pouted. 

"Of course you do!" Selina cooed helpfully. 

"Alright," Ivy said at last, "though I want you all to keep on the lookout for Nico di Angelo. I'm telling you, he's a score as well." 

"Yeah, yeah," Harley huffed, "I'll keep my peepers out."

"Ghost is more elusive than di Angelo," Ivy hummed, "where do you suppose we start looking?"

"Leave that to me," Catwoman gave the green-tinted woman a toothy grin. Ivy wondered vaguely how she got her teeth that white.

About an hour later the three women were back at the docks where they had met up only days prior. Ivy didn't see what they were doing back there, but Catwoman seemed to have a plan in mind so Ivy didn't voice her questions. That being said, she wouldn't say that she was quite at ease. Though she felt that she had become closer with these villainesses in the last few days, she knew all too well that their loyalty was a fickle thing. 

"What are we doing here, kitty?" Harley, who was hanging upside down from a travel lift, asked after she had lost interest in swinging back and forth. 

"We're meeting a special contact of mine. He has a handle on the Gotham underground. We've been beating around bushes, I say we move up the ladder a few rungs." Selina stretched as if she had all the time in the world. Ivy, on the other hand, bristled. 

"Who is your contact?"

"You'll see."

"Selina," Ivy pressed, feeling panic start to seep in, "who is your contact?"

"I thought we agreed to meet alone?" A familiar masculine voice called from somewhere off to Ivy's left. Her head lurched in that direction so quickly that she had to give her vision a moment to catch up. When it did, her blood ran cold. 

"Red Hood!" Selina greeted warmly, picking herself up off the bundle of nets she had been perched on, "Don't mind the entourage." Harley and Ivy exchanged glances, both feeling more than a touch of distrust. Red Hood wasn't someone to be trifled with, especially unprepared as they were. 

"What did you want?" He asked. Ivy couldn't get anything from his tone, and the mask hid all of his facial expressions-- one of the many reasons she didn't associate with the antihero. She had never been entirely sure where she stood with him. His penchant for killing villains who got in his way was legendary. His skill and bloodlust were nothing to sneeze at and Ivy had done her best to stay out of his way. 

The man in question stood about five yards back on the decaying wood of the dock. It escaped her understanding how he had managed to sneak up on them because the boards were poorly secured and creaked at the slightest pressure. That had been the very reason she had selected this spot for meeting with Catwoman and Harley. She hadn't wanted them to have the ability to sneak up on her. Yet here Red Hood was, too close for comfort.

"I heard about what you did with those poor lieutenants. Nasty business, decapitation." It was hard to tell if she was teasing or flirting, with Selina, it could have been both. Of the people she could be interested in, Red Hood seemed like one of her poorer choices. 

"I was sending a message. What do you want, Selina?" He had begun to take on an annoyed tone, but Catwoman didn't seem phased. She started to approach him, slowly and intentionally, swinging her hips and strutting.

"What kind of message?" Harley frowned. 

"I can and will kill you all. Fall in line or die." Red Hood barely spared the blonde a glance and she popped her chewing gum, unimpressed.

"You're not very fun today. What, do you have a bat in your belfry?" Selina cut in. She was definitely teasing, then. 

"No." 

"So, that's a yes." 

"Selina..." His voice grew hard. His hands, which had been crossed over his chest, fell to his sides. His right hand rested lazily on his sidearm but Ivy didn't mistake this for ease. He wasn't tense because he wasn't threatened by them. 

"Fine, whatever. We wanted to know what information you had on a certain masked missing person. A little boy with an affinity for necromancy? Heard of him?" By then, she had closed the distance and was standing mere feet from him. If she had a tail, Ivy imagined it would be flicking with excitement. Selina was one of the many in Gotham who were attracted to danger. 

"Ghost." It wasn't a question.

"Right, ya are buddy boy." Harley mimed shooting him with finger guns. Red Hood observed her, but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking with the mask. Ivy liked to imagine he was trying to decide whether or not to be offended by being called buddy boy. It was such an outdated term that it was hard to get mad over it. 

"What do you want with him?" 

"We want to return him to the Justice League in exchange for favors," Ivy spoke up at last, hoping it was the right thing to say. 

"What makes you think Batman cares about the boy?" Ivy imagined he was frowning. If she looked closely enough, she thought she could see the whites of the domino mask narrowing. Maybe they were! She knew the masks that Batman and his Robins all wore had that feature, but it seemed to be proprietary knowledge. How had Hood come across it?

"I have it on good authority that he does." Ivy asserted, unwilling to say more. For a few tense moments, Red Hood stared her down. While she didn't react externally, on the inside she was planning her escape routes should this encounter go pear-shaped. Being out here on the dock was less than ideal when it came to moving quickly and she didn't fancy a late-night swim.

"Good authority." He echoed. 

"Yes."

"Well, I have it on good authority that he had little to do with the JLA before his disappearance. He did one job for them which put his life in danger and he disappeared. Running theory is that whoever he upset by helping the Bat caught up with him." Hood admitted at last. Ivy could tell he was holding something back and Selina could too.

"But you don't think so?"

"I make it a point to know all of the major players in Gotham. Prior to about 4 months ago, I had never heard of Ghost, much less that there was anyone here in Gotham who would want to make him disappear. It all seems a bit too contrived for my liking." Ivy considered this, realizing that he was right. From a mortal perspective, Ghost's rapid appearance and disappearance didn't make any sense. She, of course, knew the bigger picture and knew that Red Hood wasn't accounting for the existence of the Hellenistic pantheon. 

"Do you have any leads?" Selina asked sweetly. 

"None. As far as anyone can tell, he vanished into thin air. Whoever or whatever made him disappear knew what they were doing." Ivy tried not to let the despair show on her face. The last thing she needed was for the antihero to suspect a connection between her and the boy. That line of questioning would lead directly back to Nico di Angelo. 

"What about the di Angelo boy who is also missing? We were hoping we could collect the reward." Ivy spoke up again, hoping she wasn't going to be leading him to make the connection himself. It was a risk she was going to have to take. After all, no one knew why she went to save Ghost from Deathstroke that night. 

"Last I knew, there were people all over the country looking for that kid. I heard that he had blood connections to a mafia family back in Italy and they're trying to make him disappear to collect his inheritance. That's the rumor, anyway." Hood shrugged noncommittally and Ivy wanted to scream. That was basically the story she had received in her letter from him. Somehow word had gotten out. 

"Do you know which family?"

"Don't know, don't care. I have enough on my plate here without pulling the Italian Mafia down on my head," the vigilante huffed.  

"Thanks, I'll look into it." She returned politely. 

"What do ya want for this info, huh? I know you aren't goin' to give it out for free," Harley broke in.

"Now you each owe me a favor. I think that's enough for this transaction. I'd keep my head down for the next few days if I were you. It's going to get very loud around here come tonight." The Vigilante turned on his heel and stalked back into the shipyard without so much as a backward glance. He barely made a sound. 

"Thanks!" Selina called after him.

"Well that was helpful," Harley snarked. 

"Mafia family in Italy. That's something, at least." Selina sighed. 

"Are you giving up on Ghost?" Ivy asked.

"Yeah. If even Red Hood doesn't have a lead then I'll accept it as a lost cause." Selina slinked back to the netting and plopped herself down on top of it. 

"Also, since when did you have Red Hood's number?" 

"Yeah! I'm wonderin' about that too. Spill it, kitty!" Harley leaned on her hammer at a precarious angle. If Harley noticed, she didn't indicate it.

"I may have helped him get back on his feet when he first popped up in Gotham. He had been in pretty rough shape at the time.  Now he does me favors here and there. That's all there is to it." Catwoman shrugged. Ivy highly doubted it was that simple, but she didn't press the issue.

"Sure," Harley rolled her eyes and gave the redhead a knowing look that Ivy wasn't sure how to interpret. 

"Alright, enough about me. Let's get back to your boy, Ives," Selina changed the subject.

"He's not my boy." 

"Sure he is! In all the time I've known you, I have never once seen you take interest in a child before. Or bounties for that matter. Don't tell me that overnight you've come to care about both. You have some connection to Nico di Angelo and you're trying to hide it from us. Admit it!" The two women stared at each other for a few tense moments, neither willing to back down. 

"Ok, fine," Ivy relented at last, "I do care about the boy. He's like a son to me." Selina cooed at the same time Harley gagged. Ivy rolled her eyes at the two of them and pulled out the letter he'd left her. She'd stored it in a clear Ziploc bag to protect it from the elements. 

"Does Bruce Wayne know about this?" Catwoman sidled up next to her to peer over her shoulder at the letter. Even Harley drew closer to take a look. 

"I don't believe so. If he does, he hasn't said anything about it in the press conferences and I haven't been contacted by the police." Ivy shrugged, running her hand along the edge of the letter, wishing she could feel the texture of the paper through the plastic.

"That's why we're all looking for this kid?" Harley groaned, "I thought you wanted the reward!"

"You two can split my share. Getting him back safely is enough of a reward for me. I just knew I needed help." Ivy turned to the two women, watching them imploringly. 

"Don't look at me like that! You lied to us! You know I don't make it a habit of making my business personal." Selina crossed her arms and tried to maintain a stern look. Ivy was about to ask what Batman was, then, but she thought better of it. 

"Please, Selina? I need your help! Don't forget that this will help you endear yourself to Batman," Ivy returned, only partially teasing. Selina considered this for a few long moments before she caved. 

"Fine. But you so owe me one, Red. You in, Harley?"

"Yeah, whatever. I need the money. Plus, it's been fun so far." The blonde hoisted her hammer up onto her shoulder. 

"Do you have any leads?" Selina looked at Ivy pointedly. 

"I read in a news article that Nico was spotted once in central park with Percy Jackson, who is also missing, and an unidentified third party," Ivy revealed. 

"Then to New York, it is. Though we're probably going to have to try and appear a little less conspicuous or Batman will stop us long before we have the chance to get there." Selina pointed out. Ivy hadn't considered that, while Batman hadn't stopped her from tearing up Gotham in her search, he may not allow them to take their hunt outside the city limits. 

"You're right. We'll need civilian disguises."

"You'll need more than that to get out of the city undetected." The voice of the man they all thought had left interjected. He walked out from behind a stack of massive wooden boxes and Ivy's heart leaped into her throat. He had been there the whole time. He had heard everything she'd said about Nico. He knew exactly why she was looking for him.

"What are you still doing here?" Ivy growled, feeling entirely too vulnerable. Exposed. Unmoored.

"I wanted to see what you were planning to do. I didn't buy the whole reward thing. It's not really your style." Red Hood leaned back against the crates and watched her pointedly. 

"That's what I said!" Selina agreed. 

"So are you going to try and stop us, then?" Ivy didn't like his new nonchalant attitude. 

"Quite the opposite, actually. I'm going to help you get out of the city." 

"Why on Earth would you do that?" Ivy frowned. 

"I have my reasons. One is that Batman is off his game at the moment with both Nico and Ghost missing. As much as I hate the man, Gotham needs him. I'm trying to hunt down Ghost so having you all after Nico would save me the resources." Ivy doubted that was all there was to the story, but his answer would have to appease her for now. She didn't want to try his patience. 

"You're looking for the zombie kid? I didn't think you had any leads?" Harley frowned, asking the question that had been bouncing around in Ivy's mind as well. 

"I don't, not any solid ones, at least. All I know is that he supposedly had connections to one of the old pantheons of gods. I haven't been able to nail down which one, but apparently, some people are saying that they still exist. I figured that these 'gods' might be able to tell me more." It made Ivy feel sick to know that he was so close to discovering Ghost's secret. 

"So, how do you plan to ask them?" Selina asked condescendingly. Harley laughed along with her. Ivy didn't. 

"In the many books I've read, it seems like it's as simple as praying. Some books suggest candles, altars, and burning foods as offerings, but I don't know if that's necessary. I might try and do it all, just for the best chances." Hood shrugged, unbothered by their reactions. Ivy hadn't considered going straight to the pantheons themselves, but she supposed that was what she should have thought of first. Now she just had to sell the idea to the other girls in a way that would make it clear that she didn't think that Nico had any connection to the Greek gods. It wasn't going to be easy, and if it came down to it she would perform the ritual by herself. Either way, it seemed like a trip to New York was in her future. 

"Ok, you do that," Selina said, still chuckling. 

"You said you would help us get out of the city?" Ivy prompted, changing the subject. 

"I'll orchestrate something to distract the Bat tonight. You were right about needing the disguises, though. You're all pretty recognizable figures. You should try to keep a low profile once you're out of Gotham," he advised.

"Time to go shopping!" Harley squealed happily. Ivy, in spite of herself, couldn't help but pick up on some of the excitement. Finally, they had a solid lead and a sense of direction. There were no guarantees that they would find anything in New York, but it sure felt better than shaking down small-time criminals in Gotham. 

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[Hey, y'all! I know it hasn't been all that long since the last update, but I expect my life to be getting a little hectic soon and I didn't want to leave you guys without a chapter for too long. It isn't much, but here's a sneak peek of what Ivy and her girls are up to!]