SAILOR SCOUTS IN GOTHAM (part III)

**

	"It wash nine p.m. and I wash walkin my beat in the Gotham Schity
park," narrated Marvin to himself as he sauntered down the path.  "Everything
wash quiet.  A little toooo quiet..."  He broke out of his Sam Spade dialogue
to realize that it WAS too quiet... but not in the way he'd like it to be.
Every other cop in Gotham saw action with costumed freaks and car chases.  As
for Marvin, who had graduated the Police Academy but still had the heart of an
eight-year-old boy, the action he got to nose in on mostly came from oversexed
teenagers out too late in the park.  "Not excshactly my cup a tea," he
muttered. 

	As he walked through the dim greenness, coughing to himself about
"what they shoulda told me when I shigned up for the Forcshe," a cold breeze
came rushing at him with sudden intensity.  Marvin turned around, his knees
knocking for some strange reason, although cold nights in Gotham were the
norm.  He laid a protective hand on his flashlight and, swallowing his unease,
ventured off the path into a dark  tree-lined grove.  The chilly air
thickened, as if clouded by some foggy manifestation of evil.  Shuddering, the
policeman reached for the switch on his flashlight.  But just as he was about
to flick it on, cold fingers slapped his hand and whisked it away. Marvin
jumped.  After a frozen moment, he turned around very slowly, with every inch
expecting a musclebound mugger or some other maniac. Opening his tightly
squinted eyes wider, he faced his assailant. "Okay, you..." he began, and then
stopped in utter shock.

	A snaky green vine waved hello with the leaf on its tip and promptly
gagged the policeman before he could shout or move.  Tendrils creeped up from
all around and bound him tightly, then jerked him inwards toward the grove.
Marvin lost conciousness.  Meanwhile, a young girl with thick dark hair
noticed a funny movement in the shadows as she walked along the path...

	"Well, well, well," Poison Ivy mused, looking at her new prize through
sleepy, sultry eyes.  Marvin jerked and squirmed, but the plants held him
fast.  "Aren't you the nosy one."  She flicked a finger across his sweaty
face, moving a loose strand of hair.  Even in his captive terror, Marvin
gulped at her touch.  He watched the sexy redhead through a cloud of
pheromones.

	A strand of vine slithered up Ivy's leg, and she patted it
affectionately.  "Well trained, aren't they?" she said to the hapless cop, as
the green snake crept around her waist.  "You know, for the longest time, my
connection to plants was strictly emotional.  I understood them, and they
understood me, but we still didn't speak each other's language."  As if cued
by her annoyed expression, a thick latticework of stems reached out from the
nearby trees, folding themselves under Ivy to create a natural hammock.  She
reclined several feet above the ground, yawning.  "Yes, I had to do all kinds
of experiments and hormone treatments with my darling babies before I could
get them to do what I intended.  Ahh... but all that's changed now," she
continued with a smug smile.  "You see, I met the nicest man the other day...
and you know I don't take too kindly to men."  A scowl flashed across her
face, and the vines holding Marvin squeezed him harder.  "But this Zoycite,
well, he helped me out."  She leaned forward toward the guard, flashing him
the most seductive and deadly of smirks.  "Now I really can tell my babies
what to do.  I just have to order them in my head, and they do my bidding."
Ivy tossed her red hair triumphantly.  "And we're going to war!"

	"I don't think so!"  rang out a strong female voice from behind them.

	Ivy wheeled around in sharp annoyance and surprise.  "Wha--?"

	Poised in the clearing stood Sailor Mars, with her dark hair rippling
in the chilly breeze.  She pointed a white-gloved finger at the villainess.
"Your army of weeds will never take over this city, because I am Sailor Mars,
and on behalf of the planet Mars, I will protect helpless men from your
feminine wiles!"  She extended her arms in an angry motion.

	Poison Ivy laughed out loud and walked slowly toward the warrior.
"Wait a minute," she said nonchalantly. "MY feminine wiles?  You're the one in
the half-inch long skirt.  Don't your legs get cold?"

	"Who are you to talk, Miss Spandex?"  Mars retorted, her temper
flaring.  

	"At least I wear tights," Ivy replied with a sassy grin.  "And as for
men, at least I've figured out they're not worth the trouble.  How many have
YOU tried to snag lately, Sailor... Mars, is it?"

	The color in Sailor Mars's cheeks changed from angry red to
embarrassed crimson.  Her eyes flickered to the floor as she thought about
Dick and Darien.  But a triumphant chuckle from Ivy roused the girl.  "Hey!  I
don't have to take this from you!  Hahh!"  And in an instant she was flying
towards Ivy with a fist full of rage. 

	The punch sunk into Ivy's gut and she cried out angrily.  "That was a
bad move," she said through gritted teeth.  After wiping her frowning mouth
with one delicate wrist, Ivy straightened up.  With an aggressive motion, she
cried out in a voice that rung throughout the clearing.  "Attack!"

	Silent huddled masses of branches and limbs began to slither out from
their shadowy hiding places.  Gaining momentum, they launched themselves into
the air and flew straight at Sailor Mars, who turned and ran to the far edge
of the clearing.  Yet her escape was short-lived, for as fast as she ran, they
kept after her, like living javelins headed for their target.  But by the time
they reached her, Mars was ready.

	Clasping her hands together, Mars extended her second fingers and
pointed them at the advancing plants. An orange nucleus of heat formed at the
ends of her fingers, which grew into a huge ball of energy.  Closing her eyes
and focusing her energy, Mars uttered in a low voice, "Mars Fire... Ignite!"
And the ball burst into brilliant flame, spiraling its way towards the plants.
The smell of burning leaves filled the area as the fire spread from one branch
to the next, until they had all fallen, charred and withered, to the ground.
Firelight danced on the grass.

	Ivy looked as if she was about to cry.  "You -- MURDERER!"  she
screamed in hysterical rage.  "My beautiful branches... but never mind that."
With these last words, the villainess swallowed her fit and cocked her hip,
becoming the cold-hearted mistress of men and maples once more.  "Nice move,
but you guessed wrong.  Because I can control ALL the plants here.  So there's
no way for you to escape."

	Mars gulped in terror.  A long, slow chuckle came from Ivy, who was
standing triumphant atop her hammock of vines.  "Looks like I'm in control
now, Sailor Mars."  She punctuated the Scout's name with disdain.  "Trees,
let's put a little scare into her."  With a tiny wave of her hand, Poison Ivy
brought the circle of trees to life.  

	Groaning viciously, the hypnotized masses bent inward, branches
darting past the raven-haired girl dangerously.  She gulped and dodged as the
giant oaks taunted her, slapping her back and forth like a tennis ball.
Behind her cries and ouches, the evilly low voice of Poison Ivy chuckled in
slow motion.  "Scared yet?" she whispered through pursed lips.

	This goad was more than Sailor Mars could take, and between breathless
narrow escapes she cried out, "Not even close!  If you think a bunch of vines
scare me, when the Sailor Scouts have fought off three airplanes at once..."

	Her eyes locked with Ivy's.  Of course!  Jadeite had also had control
over those planes, and Luna had warned the threesome to remember that he, not
any of his puppets, was their enemy.  With a stunning jump, Mars catapulted
herself over the approaching tendrils and somersaulted through the air,
landing a few feet from Ivy.  Heedless of the attacking trees, she closed her
eyes and held one hand in front of her face.  Between that hand's pinched
fingers appeared a small white slip of paper, inscribed with strange Japanese
characters.  It wavered as a slight hot wind rippled over the area.

	As Sailor Mars chanted, energy built up around the tiny parchment.  "I
call upon the power of Mars... Evil Spirit, Begone!"  And with a
lightning-fast motion, she pressed the paper fast to Ivy's forehead!  

	Ivy cried out.  "What did you do to me?  I can't.. move..."  As she
stood there, paralyzed by the force of the spell, the possessed branches and
trees drooped to the ground, motionless plants once more. 

	Mars grabbed a thick vine from its grassy resting place and bound the
stunned Ivy tight.  "I sucked the Negapower right out of you and your helpless
slaves," she said triumphantly.  "I'd have thought a smart lady like you would
know better than to play with fire.  Especially the fire of Mars."

	Marvin, who had wriggled free of his now-limp bonds, stumbled to his
feet.  A long sigh of befuddled relief escaped him, but turned into a cry of
surprise as Ivy stretched out one long leg and hooked it around his ankle.
She turned her green eyes on him and gave an adorable pout.  "Hey, you know if
you let me go, I'll make it very, very worth the trouble."  Her extended leg
rubbed up against his, and for an instant the cop looked like he was about to
give in.  He gulped and looked down at her, then back at Sailor Mars, who gave
him an exasperated glare.  Marvin reached for the radio at his belt.  "Call
for backup..." 

	Finishing his call, he took another glance toward Sailor Mars.  But
the raven-haired heroine had disappeared.  A small circle of flame died on the
grass.

**

	Alfred Pennyworth was on his way home with the groceries, muttering to
himself that Master Bruce had better eat this time before he went "out."  He
peeked over his bundles at the sidewalk, and barely managed to shout "My
goodness gracious!" before he was knocked off balance by what looked like a
giant blonde squid.  The butler stepped backwards into a sidewalk crack, and
wavered dangerously for fear that his eggs (or his skull) might end up cracked
on the pavement.  A few awkward moments and panicked "Oh"s later, the British
butler regained his balance and breathed a sigh of relief.  "Lucky for me I
already know how to handle large, unpredictable animals," he chuckled, and
headed homewards to fix dinner for a Bat and a bird.

	The squid was actually a pair of pigtails bouncing furiously down
Adams St.  They had a girl attached to them, but she had been too engrossed in
store windows to notice her collision course with a lanky British man.  She
skipped lightly down the street, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at every skirt and
necklace.  "Ooh, that reminds me of something I saw at Molly's mom's store.
Molly would love that!"  

	Serena smiled as she thought of her friend, the adorable stubborn
redhead.  She could just hear her voice now, in that funny accent she had
picked up from her dad, who was born in Brooklyn.  "Oooh, Seree--na, that's
just goawww-jus!"  Serena echoed the strange tones of the last word to herself
and skipped on down the street.

	Reaching the corner of O'Neil, she ducked round the corner to look at
the other half of the Kinsolving Fashions window display.  "For the grownup
who wants to be a kid again." Serena spoke the company's slogan to herself.
"That would be me.  Except Rei would say I never grew up in the first
place..."  Her rambling mouth and roving eyes both stopped their wandering,
and she gave a small squeal of infatuation.  

	The centerpiece of the Kinsolving Fashions display was a formal
ballgown, glittering red and black in the window's dim lights.  Laced with
sequins and material so sparkling that it seemed to be alive, the elegant
dress swooped from a chiseled neckline to a floor-length Cinderella skirt, all
alternating reds and blacks into a dark and sparkling mesh.  And best of all,
this creation was not just made of long sheets of cloth.  The dress was
composed entirely of red and black *smiley faces*... overlapped and fastened
together in long chains and sheets of grins that formed a dress that was
certainly suited for a happy occasion!

	Serena squealed again, and closed her eyes tight. "I want it!" she
giggled, and pictured herself parading down the stairs in the joyful gown,
towards a bevy of admirers, each one grinning at the dress's radiance and it's
wearer's beauty.  Dick and Andrew both swooned after her, while Batman and
Robin on the other side gazed in silent adoration.  Finally, the princess in
her smiling gown reached the end of the hallway, where her Tuxedo Mask was
standing.  "My darling, your dress, like you, brings smiles and sunshine to
the faces of everyone around you.  Dance, my love?"  As her dream escort
removed his mask, Serena realized with a sinking heart that Darien was still
lost in the Negaverse.  She sighed sadly and asked a silent question of any
stars that might be granting wishes beyond the Gotham fog.

	Her thoughts scattered at a small but distinct noise that could only
be labeled as a "Sproing!"  Surprised and amused, Serena looked around for the
source of the sound.  Her eyes scanned the window display, and locked in wild
shock at the mannequin in the center.  The beautiful ballgown was gone!

	The girl shivered.  "It was just here a minute ago... oh, I've got a
BAD feeling about this...!"  She felt a wave of sobs coming on, but suppressed
them.  "No.  If this is the Negaverse I have to face them.  Too bad Rei isn't
here to see how brave I'm going to be."  After a moment of peeved and
frightened grimacing, she raised her hand to the sky.  "Moon Prism... POWER!"

	The girl's eyes sparkled with the sudden glow of a thousand tiny stars
that careened around her, transforming her body into a silhouette of pure
energy.  Her gold locket, the only thing still unchanged, seemed to sprout as
a seed into vines of ethereal ribbons.  They wrapped around Serena's luminous
form.  Her costume appeared where the ribbons had landed: suit, gloves, boots,
skirt, rippling blue collar.  As the figure morphed back into human form, a
bright crescent moon glimmered briefly on its forehead.  Then the moon spread
into a golden tiara and two red hairpieces that gleamed sharply.  Serena
raised her hand to the sky in a salute, and smiled.  She was Sailor Moon.

	With a giant leap she was on the store's roof.  A skylight sat
shattered, and Sailor Moon dodged the shards of broken glass to jump through
the thief's entryway.  A few seconds of dark falling, and she landed with a
small "Oof" on the carpeted top floor.  Sensing the dark energy of the
Negaverse, she careened down unmoving escalators to the first floor and headed
straight for the dressing room.

	There *was* someone there, Sailor Moon noted happily, proud of herself
for being this gutsy.  A nasal humming noise emanated from the dressing room,
whose lights were all on.  She burst into the hallway and cried to the rows of
stalls, "Stop right there!"

	The humming made a question-like dip and stopped abruptly.

	"Some teenage girl is saving her money to buy that dress in time for
her senior prom, and you're not going to shatter her dream!  I am Sailor Moon,
the champion of justice, and on behalf of the moon, I won't allow you to steal
dresses from store windows!  So come out and face me!"

	There was a blank moment.  Then a familiarly nasal voice whined, "Aw,
c'mon!!  Let me just try it on first!"

	Sailor Moon blinked.  "Uh, okay, sure, but after that, I will punish
you!"

	"Whatever, whatever," answered the voice from behind one of the doors,
where the rustling of material whispered behind the conversation.  

	She yawned and leaned against the wall, closing her eyes sleepily.
"I'll just be a minute!" called the voice again, and the heroine's eyes
blinked open in sudden surprise.  She knew the voice sounded familiar...
"Molly?"

	A stall door opened, and out peeked a round face with blonde hair in
two short pigtails.  Blue eyes sparkled cluelessly at Sailor Moon, who for a
moment thought she was looking in a mirror.  "Who's Molly?" she wondered with
a disarming smile.  "Never mind.  I'm not her.  Ya ready?"

	Sailor Moon nodded, breaking into a wide grin.

	"Here I... COME!"  And the blonde sauntered out, raising her arms
above her head to toss her hair.  Sailor Moon was stunned.  The woman looked
nothing short of magnificent in the spangles of red and black, and her gleeful
grin outshone all of the thousand smiles.  She played model against the
three-way mirror in the hall, turning and flashing grins at invisible
photographers. "Whaddaya think?"

	"It's totally GORGEOUS!" Sailor Moon cooed.  "Oh, it's totally perfect
for you!"

	"I saw it in the window the other day and I just HAD to try it on,"
the woman said leaning toward Sailor Moon as if they were the closest of girl
pals.  "Ya know, black and red are my colors ANYhow..."

	"Oh, they totally ARE!" Sailor Moon echoed.  "You look sooo great!"

	"And..." The woman lowered her voice a little, and her grin widened.
"Well, there's this guy I'm with.. and he's one of those guys who's got STYLE,
ya know?"

	"Yeah, I know," Sailor Moon answered with a bit of regret.  "My guy
has style alright... but he's bad."

	"So's my puddin'!" the woman shrieked happily, smiling infectiously at
the younger pigtailed blonde, who couldn't help but smile back.  "He's the
worst!  Nobody knows how to have a good time like my Mistah J.," she boasted
proudly.

	"Jay? Great name! So tell me, what's he like?" 

	"Oh, he's a party guy.  An entertAIIner!"  The blue eyes gleamed.
"The minute he walks in the room, he can bring a smile to everyone's face.  My
puddin' just loooooves smiles!"

	"Oooh!" squealed Sailor Moon.  "Lucky you! He's gonna love that dress
then, ...er..." she floundered cluelessly on the edge of her sentence.

	The woman realized she hadn't introduced herself.  "Whoooooooops.
Sorry."  She extended a hand.  "Harley Quinn," she said with a flourish.
"Pleeased ta meet ya."

	"I'm Sail..." She stopped short.  "Harley... QUINN?"  The other
nodded.  "So your puddin'... is the Joker?"

	"Yup!" swooned Harley, oblivious to her galpal's shocked expression.
"Gotta love him... it's great having a famous boyfriend, we get to go to all
the fancy parties..."

	"Yeah, and crash them,"  Sailor Moon finished flatly.  Harley began an
enthusiastic nod, but then opened her eyes warily and saw that Sailor Moon was
frowning seriously.  The girl warrior continued. "Sorry, Harley... as much fun
as this was, you're still Harley Quinn, and I'm still Sailor Moon!" Gloved
fingertips stretched to the sky.  "I right wrongs and triumph over evil, and
even if you're lots of fun, that means you!"

	Harley pouted.  "Oh yeah.  Right.  We gotta fight now?"

	Sailor Moon nodded. "'Fraid so."

	"All right, then just let me change.  I don't wanna fight in this
dress, might tear it up ya know."  Harley ducked into the dressing room, and
the next thing Sailor Moon knew, she was facing a thief clad in red and black
spandex, patterned kind of like a clown suit.  Two ridiculous pom poms covered
the pigtails.  Harley grinned from behind her mask.  "All right... let's get
to it!!!!"

	"Right! Yahh!"  Sailor Moon charged at her adversary with a face full
of determination.  But Harley's quirky smirk remained plastered on until the
very last moment, where she drew a plastic flower from within her glove.
Sailor Moon only had time to open her eyes in surprise, when the flower leaped
up out of Harley's hand and bit the vaulting Sailor on the nose!

	"OWWWW!" wailed Sailor Moon as she crumpled to the floor, her hands
over her swollen nose.  The plastic flower leapt back into Harley's
outstretched hand.  

	"Wanna play a game?" Harley snickered, and she closed her hand briefly
and reopened it.  The flower had disappeared, and in its place was a small
yo-yo on which was painted a wicked smile.  Sailor Moon gaped and shrieked as
Harley sent the thing spinning toward her in a vicious game of Walk the Dog.
The smile gnashed its teeth hungrily, and Harley yawned.  "Ya know," she
remarked to no one in particular, with her wrist still idly spinning the
carnivorous toy toward Sailor Moon, "this superpower stuff is fun, but it
takes all the challenge outta life.  Still, it is kinda funny to see you
running from a yo-yo," she finished, turning to Sailor Moon, who was
retreating towards the three-way mirror.

	The yo-yo struck like a cobra, and Sailor Moon dodged it by a hair.
For a split second its expression changed to one of horror as it saw its
approaching reflection in the mirror.  Then, with a loud *K-RACK*, it hit the
mirror and fell broken to the ground.

	"Heyyy!"  Harley looked close to tears.  "He was one of my favorite
new tricks, and you broke 'im!"  She scowled and looked hard at the cowering
Sailor Moon.  "That's it.  You're a cool babe and I don't want to hurt ya.
But when you break my toys, you've gotta answer to my BABIES!"

	Her shriek echoed off the glaring mirrors and faded into deep
rumbling... no, Sailor Moon realized as she slid down to a crouch against the
mirror.  It's *growling.*  Eep.  

	She turned her head one way-- growling from that side-- and then
another.  More growling.  No way to get outta there.  Sailor Moon swallowed
hard.

	Two shadows crept out from behind a rack of clothes.  Sailor Moon
cringed in her corner, watching warily in the mirror.  Her eyes widened as the
figures moved into the light, their hairy snouts plastered with almost human
grins.  Grins baring what seemed to be a million bladelike teeth!

	They continued to approach slowly, licking their lips.  Above the
approaching hyenas, Harley stood with a satisfied, interested smile.  Her arms
were crossed.  All at once Sailor Moon snapped.  "Nooo puh-LEEEEEEEZE don't
let 'em eat me!" she babbled, her silent terror having been stretched like a
rubber band, then released.  "Lissen.  I'll let you get away with the dress.
Heck, I won't even tell anyone.  Reeealy.  Did I mention I really don't like
slobbering animals?  Well I don't.  I really-really-really don't.  I'm more of
a cat person myself, ya know."

	"CAT person?!" echoed Harley shortly, as if stung.  The animals
snarled.

	Sailor Moon tried to wave away the comment.  "Whoa. Sorry.  Didn't
realize I hit a nerve, really!  Forget it."  Harley's "babies" drew closer.
Sailor Moon started to hyperventilate.  "Hey... you don't REAAALLY want to do
this to me, do ya?"  she wheezed, forcing a smile.  "'Course not.  Remember
when we were having FUN together 'n' stuff?  Talking 'bout our clothes-- our
guys-- and all that."  The animals were nose to nose with her now.  "We could
do that again, no problem, it's not your fault the Negaverse is... ... ... ...
hey, waitaminit..."

	In a spurt of inspiration she forgot all her fear and panic, and WHAM,
out kicked two red boots into the hyenas' faces.  They reeled backwards and
stumbled straight into Harley.  She fell against a stall's doorframe with an
"Oof," and the animals collapsed, whimpering, at their mistress's feet.
	
	Sailor Moon leaped to a standing position.  "Ha!  Now let's bring back
the babe withOUT the bad vibes!"  She raised an empty hand high in the air,
but her fingers closed around a pink rod, topped with a silver crescent moon.
In the centre of the semicircle rested a huge gemstone that sparkled with an
energy all its own:  the Empyrean Silver Crystal.  Sailor Moon lowered it to
her eye level, and sparks of energy and light in the air began to plummet in a
whirlpool towards the crystal's centre.  It gleamed its readiness.  

	The young warrior seemed to be suspended a half inch above ground.
She slowly drew the wand away from her face and pulled it in a large circle
around her body, sparks of moondust falling away from the wand's tip in a
glittering trail.  Her voice rose and fell with the movement of her arm.
"Moon....  Healing.... Activation!"

	The circle of dust shot out from around Sailor Moon's body, and each
speck flashed with light as it invaded Harley's weak figure.  She gave a long
shout of pain as the healing energy suspended her in midair for a minute, her
arms stretched up to the sky.  Then she collapsed on the floor.  The dark
energy escaped her body and dissolved into the night air.  

	Sailor Moon, still gripping her Crescent Moon Wand, went over to the
still figure.  "Harley?  Harley, hon, feeling better?"  No response from the
drained villainess.   Sailor Moon bent down and laid a gentle hand on her
shoulder, bringing her face close to the other girl's.  The hyenas loped about
meekly.  "Harley?"

	Then there was a sudden gust of motion and a shock of pain, and the
next thing she new, Sailor Moon was sitting helplessly on her very bruised
tailbone.  Harley was standing on the sill of an open window, holding her
dress triumphantly in one hand.  The hyenas leapt up and out the window as
Harley called out, "Thanks for the fashion tips, Sailor babe.  Seeeeeeeee ya!"

	The clueless girl blinked and stammered, "w...w...wait a minute!  I
healed you.  You're supposed to be good now, I took the dark energy out of
you.  You're suppOSED to be back to NORmal!"  She wavered dangerously on the
verge of tears.

	Harley laughed loudly.  "I am!  Don't have any funky li'l gadgets
anymore, maybe, but I'm still the one and only Harley Quinn, the Priestess of
Pranks, the queen of hearts with an ace up my sleeve!"  She gave a flourish as
if there was a trumpet salute ending her words.  "And this time Sailor Babe,
the laugh's on you!"

	A jump into darkness, and Sailor Moon was alone in the dressing room
again.  She sniffed.  "Aw, I try and be brave... I do all this great stuff all
by myself... and then the bad guy gets aWAY!!!! Rei's gonna be on my back for
WEEEKS!  Why can't I do ANNNNything right?"  And she was lucky that Harley had
already disabled the alarms, because otherwise the motion sensors would have
gone crazy with the building-shaking force of her
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"