No Man Can Resist Me [Open]

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

It's well after midnight, and Pamela Isley smiles to herself as she parks in front of her estate. The popularity of a certain perfume has skyrocketed to levels even higher than she'd hoped; who knew that there were so many women in Gotham who wanted an edge in the game of attracting men? She even had some married women asking her about it. And the perfume has now been popular for long enough for her to start reaping the rewards: the men who have been exposed to the perfume long enough can no longer resist her.

Not even when she makes an idle comment about how happy it would make her if they made a large donation to one of her favorite charities. She found the first victim of her scheme at an event a few days ago: a young bachelor whose name she doesn't even remember. He'd only recently gained his inheritance and the other socialites had been flocking around him for weeks. So by the time Pamela had gotten to him, he looked at her like she was some angel whose presence he wasn't worthy to be in and agreed with her when she noted that his money was wasted on him and would be put to much better use saving the environment. Now he has almost nothing.

She'd found another two at a small dinner yesterday. At the party tonight she'd managed to convince five single or multi-millionaires to part with their money for the good of the planet. If her memory of who wears her perfume and who they are currently dating or flirting with is accurate (usually the case) there may be a dozen at the ball this weekend. Finally she has a plan that's getting some solid results! It would be so much easier if all these people just did the right thing themselves rather than forcing her to drug them out of their senses, but she's willing to do what it takes.

Instead of heading into her mansion and falling into bed like she really wants to, she heads for her greenhouse. Here is the downside of this plan: the constant need for more perfume. She'd run out of it at the party tonight and could be certain of being asked for more tomorrow, so she has to start the process of making more before she can get some sleep. At least being around her plants will relax her after the stress of an evening spent trying to tolerate Gotham's rich and famous - she'd be hard pressed to name a single person who had been there that she didn't at least dislike.

When she reaches her lab in the back of her greenhouse, she goes right to the closet in the corner where she keeps a change of clothes. She kicks off her stilettos and tosses aside her rather unsubstantial dress, and replaces them with some conservative but comfortable pants and t-shirt that are better suited for working in her lab. Then she pulls her hair out of it's tight but attractive up-do and sighs in relief as the tension releases and her hair falls around her shoulders - much better! She loves looking beautiful, but she was beautiful all evening and would rather be in bed, so now she chooses to be comfortable.

Once she's finished, she heads back into the greenhouse and finds the first ingredient she needs to make a new batch of her perfume: a few gourds from one of the plants not far from the lab area.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

After all the recent news of some wealthy business men donating large sums of their money to some environmental causes, Dick had started to become a bit suspicion of these transactions. It had not taken much investigation to learn of these acts. It had only been a mere word of gossip traveling around at some social parties and it seemed the word was spreading around campus. Sure Dick wasn't usually one to go to the social parties, but he does show up with Bruce at the ones at some of the people Dick did consider to be a friend of his.

Especially when it came down to one of his classmates from the campus. Dick had heard all about it after the last party that had gone on. After hearing about how the guy had just handed over a large amount of money for some organization, Dick decided it was time to investigate. Bruce had even said this had happened a couple of times to other across the city.

While Batman had his hand full with some other cases going on it Gotham, Dick decided this would be a good time for Nightwing to step in and get to the bottom of things. He had looked into more of these little donations. The thing that made it a bit easier to look into, it seemed most of these were going to more plant related environmental organizations.

Through the investigations, the donors have been the local bachelor millionaires. And from what they had said it had been a woman with red hair that had charmed them into helping out her cause. Even after giving up that much money, all the men seemed more than happy to have given up that much money to a beautiful woman. But they all could not remember all that well what just made them want to give up the money like that. They could seem to remember what they had done at that moment. That is what was making this sound even fishier.

Dick recalled seeing the woman with red hair speaking with one of the guys at a recent party. He recognized her as Dr. Isley, the woman he had run into at the park back in December. After a little investigating, Dick decided maybe it was time that Nightwing pay this Dr. Isley a little visit. Though he did recall getting some what of the same feeling after meeting the woman himself as what some of the other guys described, but they seemed to have a strong effect.

Nightwing had been waiting on the rooftop of a near by building waiting for her to come home. He had checked earlier and she had not been in. Well, he decided he would play the waiting game. There hadn't been much of any other crimes for him to take on that night. So, it hadn't been that much trouble waiting up for her. But when she had finally pulled up to her estate, Nightwing decide it was time to take action.

As the lights came on in her building, Nightwing watched for a moment. It was time to take action. The woman did not seem to be in any rush to held to bed any time soon as she had headed out to her greenhouse. Pulling out his line-gun, he aimed and fired. As soon as it hocked onto the other building, Dick jumped off the building and swung down to the location he was headed.

He detached the line and stayed in the shadows. Dick could see the lights coming on in the greenhouse and see Dr. Isley moving through the building. Looking around, he quickly found and entrance to the building. He wasn't about to break through any of the windows. The door was locked, but it didn't take him long to unlock it with his kit he kept with him. He snuck in as quietly has he could. It helped that there were so many plants to hide behind.

He was curious as to what the woman was up to. She seemed to be working on collecting something. What was she up to? Nightwing wasn't sure he wanted to come out right away. What she was up to now was making more questions rise. He knew she worked on formulas and things in her lab from her background, but at this late at night. And by the looks of these plants, these were not your average plants. Something around him seemed to shift a bit. If he didn't know any better he would have sworn some of the plants were moving on their own.


(ooc: I can change the entrance if you wanted a different entrance.)

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Pamela starts humming to herself as she carefully collects three large gourds, being sure not to cause any extra damage to the plant. They look like squash... sort of. They, as well as nearly all the other plants in the greenhouse, are plants created by Pamela. Most of them appear similar to natural species, though there are a few here and there that seem more other-worldly. She carries the gourds over to the lab and sets them on the counter, before heading back into the greenhouse again for the next ingredient, still humming to herself.

The problem with sneaking around in this particular greenhouse is that most of Pamela's experiments as of late have been with plants that respond to touch in some way. And trying to remain out of sight does not lend itself well to avoiding touching the plants, so sooner or later someone lurking about is bound to stumble into something that does more than wiggle a little when touched. And that's exactly what happens with an innocent-looking tendril of ivy is disturbed.

With remarkable speed, the entire plant - no thicker than a strand of yarn if you don't count the leaves - takes this as an invitation to coil around the offending arm. Fortunately, the plant doesn't have any real strength and doesn't squeeze. Unfortunately, it's still holding tightly enough that it doesn't want to come loose easily and the sound of the plant moving is enough to alert Pamela that something is amiss.

"Who's there?" she asks in the direction of the rustling plants, abandoning what she was doing in order to investigate the disturbance. Were this not her greenhouse, she might be frightened by someone lurking around in the shadows, but the sheer number of plants she has at her beck and call in here gives her no small amount of confidence. She weaves easily through the planters and tables until she can see enough of the trespasser to realize that she has no idea who that is.

Stopping in her tracks, she frowns and demands, "Who are you?" Though she's been left blissfully undisturbed by anyone recently, in the past she's had both vigilantes and criminals visit her greenhouse so there's no telling which sort this guy with the blue markings is. Of course, either way he's definitely not welcome - the main difference between a vigilante and a criminal to her is which method to use to get rid of them: the nice way or the fun way.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick had been trying to hide in the thicket of leaves and vines that surrounded him, but everything seemed to be working against him. His attention was becoming more drawn to the plants than it was on Dr. Isley at this point. He wasn't just imagining things, the plants really were moving on their own. There was no wind or anything to help them.

It was when a thin vine started to wrap around his right arm that reassured him of his thoughts. The plants were alive! Not just growing, but going after him! The only plant that he knew of that actually attacked were things like the Venus Fly trap and a few other plants that could be found down in the rain-forest. But these vine had sense were he was and going after him.

The vine was small and moved quickly. It had wrapped almost all the way up his right arm. He could easily pull against it without it playing any force against him. Though it was difficult to try and slip it off his arm. It was clinging tight to him. Dick could heard Dr. Isley calling out in question to his presences within her greenhouse. He didn't answer as he continued to struggle to get the vine off .

Dick had gotten the tip of the plant and was starting to try and unwrap from his arm. Though, by the time he had, the woman was now in view and could see him. He could tell by her tone he was definitely not welcome there. "The name's Nightwing," he answered her simply. "You must be Dr. Isley?"

Dick did not mention right away why he had come. First, now he wanted to just get this plant off of his arm. He removed his left hand from the grip on the tip of the plant. He was about ready to reach for a wingding to try and cut the vine off of him if it wasn't going to come off him.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Nightwing... Nope, never heard of him - must be new. Her temper eases slightly at that; perhaps this will be less of a problem than she thought. But she frowns slightly at the situation he has himself in. That ivy is one of her personal favorites in her greenhouse, kept for sentimental reasons, and if he struggles with it too much he'll probably kill it.

But, instead of following her immediate impulse to release him and ensure that the plant won't get damaged, she decides to play this more strategically. "Of course," she answers him, before adding, "If you tell me why you're skulking around my home and promise to behave yourself, I'll get that off of you. And believe me - you'll want my help." It takes a bit of effort, but she manages to banish the anxiety for her plant from her voice - she'd never make such a deal if she wasn't concerned.

Then again, it's a pretty flimsy deal; she's not going to actually trust that promise and could easily ensnare him in a plant she doesn't care so much about. But making someone think that you've reached an understanding is always a good tactic - makes them inadvertently trust you too much. She folds her arms in front of her as she waits to see how he responds to that, hoping that he'll go for it and that his reasons for being here are as benign as possible - though that seems unlikely given that he's here at this hour and even broke into a locked door.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing was about ready to cut himself free, but stopped when Dr. Isley spoke up again. As she spoke, she seemed to want him to not damage her plant. He could figure out why by the way that the plant was moving on it's own. The only way he had seen a vine move was when it grew over time. He could be completely wrong, but she didn't seem happy about the situation.

Though, him breaking in wasn't exactly a pleasant thing for him at this moment. And he knew how people felt about people like him or Batman dropping by. Dick stopped and stood still for a moment. He didn't feel the plant get any tighter so it really wasn't a threat. It was a plant after all.

"Alright," Dick said looking over at Dr. Isley who now stood with her arms crossed. He dropped his hand and placed the wingding back in it's compartment where he had gotten it. "I've got some questions I'd like to ask you. I've gotten news over some environmental organizations," he said flat out, but withheld the details of the situation. She's know what he was talking about by the environmental organizations. He didn't need to tell her that she was the main suspect.

Dick was trying to come off like he was just investigating. He didn't want to make it should like he was going to go right into action trying to arrest her or anything. He'd need a bit more evidence than just the words of a few people. He needed evidence like receipt or something along those lines. Nightwing wasn't the police and didn't have the right to act in such away. If this was the woman's first crime, it wasn't like she had murdered someone and was trying to hide it. Though convincing millionaire to just hand over their money like that was rather questionable.

Now, he just needed to wait and see. He wasn't sure just what she might do. Nightwing was on her turf and she didn't have any previous records of crimes. The only crime she had been involved in was when the Ventriloquist had been staying with her. Though by her story, he had kept her as a hostage in her own home.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Pamela gives an internal sigh of relief when he agrees, though she's careful to keep just how relieved she is from appearing on her features. That plant was her last practice run before she went full-size and created the vines now growing on the greenhouse walls - now those she wouldn't wouldn't mind risking damaging, as they'd been created specifically to defend her - but the little ivy was simply a rather helpless little plant with a habit of coiling when touched in Pamela's eyes.

When he explains his reason for coming, the only thing that registers on her expression is a raised eyebrow, even though she starts to stew a little on the inside. She's always been a superb actress that way, at least when she isn't too upset. But while she knows exactly what he's referring to, she's only a little concerned - while it's a bit troubling to her that someone noticed the trend of generous millionaires and managed to link her to it so quickly, she knows just how difficult it would be to prove her involvement. And that it would be even more difficult to discover and prove the reason why she had so much influence over the way those millionaires spent their money - there's nothing criminal about encouraging people to donate money to charity under their own free will, after all. Besides, it's not like it's Batman who's here asking questions.

"Fine then," she responds to that as she starts to approach him. She keeps her movements easy and open, as she's sure that he has reason to be suspicious about what she's doing, but she only reaches out to touch the ivy. She's always been good at answering questions and, while she's prepared to resort to more drastic measures to keep her current doings under wraps, perhaps it's actually to her benefit to answer them because they'd probably give her some idea of just what he thinks he knows so for now it's to her advantage to play nice. The ivy immediately responds to her touch by loosening it's grip, and Pamela easily starts unwinding it from his arm - a difficult task suddenly rendered easy.

She glances at him, only then realizing that she's now close enough to have him within range of her natural pheromones, and has to wonder just how much he's been exposed to her perfume, if at all. That he's already asking questions would suggest that he may have some connections to Gotham's social elite, so it's not impossible, and she subtly watches his response to her to see if she's right: a man's response to only a mild dose of the pheromones in her perfume only really makes the effect of her natural pheromones linger even after she steps out of range, while a more moderate dose tends to convince him that he's in love. It's the men who have experienced a high enough enough dose to see her as some unattainable beauty that are willing to give up their fortunes merely because she suggests it, and believe that they did the right thing for quite some time.

Smiling to herself at those thoughts, she asks, "What did you want to ask me?" Even with no exposure to her perfume, her natural pheromones would tend to distract a man with her beauty, making it that much harder for him to focus. No, she doesn't think that she needs to worry much about any questions he may have.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick kept an eye on Dr. Isley as she started to approach him once he had agreed to their deal. He knew he wasn't wanted there and the woman seemed to be thinking through things carefully as she make her decision. Some one who seemed to work with these different types of plants, must have an incredible mind for logically thinking through new situations that could easily become difficult. And work them in her favor.

He watched as the woman just touched the plant and the plant seemed to relax from it's once tense form on his arm. So as she started to unwind the vine, Dick was about to be as serious and deal some hard questions. But for some reason his mind became eased as the woman stood near.

Trying to think through his thoughts, his mind was drawing a blank on what he had wanted to ask her. "So what type of plants are you working on," he was able to ask some type of question. But not really one that he really wanted to ask. It was a little more subtle than he had wanted to ask it. He was more along the lines of finding out what she was up to with the plant she had been working on just before he had broken in. So, the question he had asked was more of a twist on what he had really wanted to ask.

Why was he feeling so...off track? His mind was not on what it should be. He had come here to ask some questions and get the answers he was looking for to help some of the business men that help to keep Gotham running. But his mind was being drawn to the lovely woman before him helping him out of the vines.

"I've heard that you're the one who loves working with plants and helping nature," his asked. His questions were still not exactly how he wanted them to be phrased. Though at this point, it was getting hard to think a bit clearly. Nightwing's investigation was getting confused with this woman's beauty at the moment. Yet, now Dick was starting to wonder what was going on.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Pamela watches Nightwing's reactions very carefully out of the corner of her eye as she unwinds the plant. And indeed she does have an incredible mind, though it's usually kept neatly hidden by her status as one of Gotham's socialites - they're not particularly known for their intelligence. Her mind, on the other hand, might rival Batman's when it comes to clever strategies except for one minor detail: she's insane. And though she hides that fact extremely well in most situations, whenever the situation starts to spiral out of control her mind tends to do the same.

At his questions, Pamela gives him a soft smile, almost flirtatious, as she considers how to answer them. It's easy enough to tell by his distraction that the pheromones are doing their job, but it doesn't seem to be severe enough for him to have had more than a mild dose of perfume: a pity, as that would have been very helpful. Then again, the effect that they are having is useful enough - it must be so hard to question a woman properly when you're distracted by thoughts of her.

"All types of plants - everything you see here," she answers with a vague gesture at the greenhouse, "Flowers, grasses, bushes, trees - my specialty is hybrids." Non-specific questions deserve non-specific answers, even though she knows exactly what he was trying to get at. "And of course I love working with plants and helping nature; I'm a botanist - that's what I do," she adds as she removes the bit of ivy from his arm and carefully puts it back where it belongs, treating it with obvious care.

But as she does so, she casually but intentionally remains within arm's length, and doesn't back away when she's finished. Not uncomfortably close for a casual conversation, but a bit close to keep someone you don't trust. Of course, her pheromones turn the normal rules of personal space around: she's more comfortable with strangers if they're well within range of them, while she'd be more inclined to keep her distance from anyone she actually cares about.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

As soon as she unwrapped the plant from around his arm, Dick rubbed his wrist with his hand that had been free the whole time. "Thanks," he replied in response to her getting it off of him. He listened to her answer his questions. These weren't the type of answers he would have been digging for in the first place. Though he was finding it difficult to come up with the questions he really wanted to have answered.

He looked around at the plants around them a bit. But only found himself thinking about her. He attention was being drawn back to her every time his mind had wanted to think straight. Then something snapped in his mind. He remembered getting this feeling before, or at least something similar when he had first met her. There was definitely something off about this woman, but she was so radiant and elegant. How could there be something wrong about her?

Dick tried to shake that feeling off. He knew his mind needed to be on the case right now. That was why he had come, not to be staring at the lovely woman before him. He had still been withing arms length of her. But he didn't move away. Though he was still trying to get his thoughts clear and ask his questions to get straight to the point.

"I've noticed by the plants. But some of these aren't you're average garden variety or even found in different locations around the globe," he stated, getting his mind back on track. "I mean especially something like that little vine..." His mind was being brought back to the focus on Dr. Isley who stood before him. Dick tried to shake it out, he was with Babs, he couldn't be thinking about this woman. He remembered that whole situation he had gotten himself into between Babs having suspicions about something going on between him and this woman.

Dick took a slight step back, not exactly sure why he would need to. But something within him was telling him to. The part of his mind that was still trying to stay focused. He wasn't what was behind him, but he was sure it was more plants. It felt like a bit of a jungle in there when standing between the plant's set ups. "I'm assuming you've had a few run ins with some of the wealthier bachelors around in Gotham at many of these social parties," he finally started to get his thoughts a little more straight to the point.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Watching Nightwing fight his own thoughts, Pamela has to be impressed by how successful he's being. Of course, most of the men she associates with literally don't have much of anything better to do than to pay attention to her, especially after so convinced by her pheromones, so many of them don't even bother to try to resist. Nightwing is not only fighting back, he's being somewhat successful - that takes a certain amount of willpower and drive. Both of those traits are very annoying, but she can deal with them if she has to.

But what's even more interesting to her is that small step backward, though she quickly notes that it didn't seem to be entirely conscious on his part - an instinct, perhaps? She's starting to get the impression that he may not be as new as she's supposed - perhaps he's a recent import then? As if having the risk of drawing Batman's attention wasn't bad enough! The signs certainly point to a possible need for caution; at least until she gets a better understanding of just who she's dealing with - it never hurts to be too careful in an uncertain situation, after all.

Which is why she doesn't attempt to move any closer now. She knows what evidence Nightwing may have, and she knows what he's likely to have. And it's simply too unlikely that he knows anything really substantial, so it's quite possible she doesn't need her pheromones; she may be able to throw him off track or at least stop him from learning too much without risking him noticing her attempting to remain close to him - it's just too great of a clue to what's really going on. She can always figure out how to get him back in pheromone range if he asks anything too close to the mark.

"What are hybrids if not unnatural creations?" she asks with a slight tilt of her head and a renewed smile, adding, "I was the top student of one of the foremost experts on plant hybrids - such things are to be expected here." Why lie when verifiable misleading and partial truths will do? Especially when lying about something that's not illegal would only cause more suspicion to be laid upon her the moment it's discovered. No, the lies can wait for him to actually ask something worth lying about.

As she responds to his next statement, she idly runs her fingers through her hair with one hand to loosen parts of it that are still out of shape thanks to the up-do she had it in all evening. "Of course I have: I'm young, beautiful, and wealthy myself," she replies with no small amount of self-satisfaction, "Why would I bother going if I didn't have 'run ins'? They're always so boring otherwise."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Nightwing mind still seemed to be lost in mist. There was just something off about this woman. But what could logically put forward the best explanation for it. He knew of her past. Though her records were clean. This woman didn't seem like the type to be up for robbing a bank in person.

The evidence he had gotten was enough to lean him to her though. She was doing some kind of criminal activity. Unlike some criminals her way had very little evidence as to how she was managing to convince these wealthy bachelors to give up their fortunes. Nightwing was starting to get a feeling that he might be learning more from just standing around her than just talking with the victims and looking at the little to no evidence he had against her.

"Yeah. Though it seems odd that you're little run ins are more than just the usually," Dick said. He was hitting along the lines of her crimes. He knew he was getting close. But he was going to be carefully how he phrased it. Back in his mind, he knew this woman knew exactly what he was talking about and he knew it too.

"You seemed to be coming out with more profit than a gain for a business," he started getting to the point a bit more this time. What did he have to lose at the moment. His mind was working clearer now and he was getting to the point of his visit.

And looking around he had the evidence of some different types of hybrids and that was about it. That wouldn't hold up in a court. He needed more evidence toward the case. The men involved had given there money up of their on free will. But in the way that they hardly remember how they had done that or why they would was the evidence Nightwing was trying to dig up.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

Out of all the schemes that Pamela has tried, this is the most risky: it's actually possible to prove it's her. Trouble is, that proof comes in the form of very subtle floral scents that don't seem out of place. Her natural pheromones, for example, are usually mistaken for a perfume of some sort, and the perfume she's been making for the other socialites certainly doesn't seem unusual. And even at the best of times most people, and especially men, don't pay all that much attention to scent when it's subtle and not unpleasant.

And it's because that connection is just so hard to make that Pamela can be so relaxed about these questions - so near, and yet still so far. His first statement prompts a confused look; even though both of them know what they're really talking about and both of them know that the other one does too, playing innocent now is still useful in that it shows him just how flimsy the suspicions he's voicing are at this point. And it also gives him absolutely no new information beyond displaying just how good of an actress she is - extremely: Her look of innocent confusion is virtually impossible to distinguish from the real thing.

But the confusion fades into a small frown after the second part of what he says, as if it's taking her a moment to figure out what he's trying to say though she's actually trying to decide exactly how to play this. But finally she asks, "What, exactly, are you implying? I can assure you that I haven't gotten anything unusual from anyone recently."

And though that puzzled frown remains firmly in place on her face, on the inside she smirks to herself; all she'd had to do was verbally give the poor fools the name of one of her favorite charities and let them make the donations directly - probably the moment they'd gotten home after talking to her. She probably could have gotten them to cut her a check while she was talking to them on a smaller dose of the perfume, but if she'd handled any money herself that would cause all sorts of unwanted leads to her. Better to let them take care of it themselves and thus keep her hands clean.

Thanks to her careful planning, the only direct evidence of her involvement is that she'd been the one to give them the idea in the first place - but being exceptionally effective at soliciting donations to charities is hardly illegal. The real proof of wrongdoing is only found in the perfume and her own unique scent. And there's absolutely no way that anyone will ever manage to figure that one out. No way.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

"You haven't," Dick said in a sarcastic questioning tone. He knew she understood what he was getting at, even if he wasn't being as clear as he could. His mind was still a bit hazed by something. This seemed to happen every time he had had a run in with this woman. He only wished there was some way to explain it.

There just wasn't enough evidence to actually figure out how she had gotten those millionaire to give up such a vast amount of their fortune. Unless these guys were really that dumb or blinded by her beauty. Though it wouldn't be the first time he had heard anything like that. But to have so many men fall victim to the same type of scam or this crime was a little odd.

Every time, the whole thing seemed to be pulled off in the same way. The woman had hard had to lift a finger to get what she had wanted. And that was to walk out with the money with no evidence on her hands. She was clean, but the witnesses who had seen her in acting could tell a bit of a story as to what happened. She seemed to have hardly had to say a word to get these guys to hand over their money to these nature rescues and what not.

"How about the millions you're little charitable organizations have been raking in since you decided to have a word with the elite of the Gotham community," Nightwing got to the point. His mind was getting sharper and more precise to his reasons. He wasn't going to let on that he had no really evidence to fully tie her to the crime besides work and site of each situation. But maybe making her sweat a bit would get him some of the answers he was looking for.

[Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy]

"Oh, that," Pamela says as if the realization only just came to her. But then there's a shift in her expression as she, for the moment at least, stops falsifying the emotions being displayed on her face and lets him see exactly what she thinks of his question: a large smile spreads across her face - full of arrogance, confidence, and self-satisfaction. The expression may as well be an admission of guilt, but at the same time it indicates just how worried she is about Nightwing being able to piece it all together: not at all.

Without the perfume he has nothing, and she's certain that he hasn't and never will make the connection - she started distributing the stuff weeks ago but is only now reaping the rewards of it. And it's not like she's giving any of it to the men she's convincing to make the donations, so how could he make that link? Furthermore, making perfume is such a natural and seemingly innocent side-hobby for a botanist - nothing to raise suspicion on its own. She'd had fooling Batman in mind when she came up with this plan, so how was this Nightwing going to manage it?

"I can't explain why I've bumped into so many generous people lately - maybe the plight of mother earth has finally sunken in," she answers, lying so easily with that smug expression still on her face. But then her head gets a curious tilt as she asks a question of her own. "Perhaps you can explain it?" she asks, her voice teasing, and she folds her arms and smirks slightly as if issuing a challenge that she knows he'll fail at, though she's really just fishing to see if he has any more information.

One might think that her attitude is a bit unwise, given that she's no doubt only encouraging him to continue investigating her, but she's only confirmed what he pretty much already knows and it could actually be to her advantage: if he's encouraged enough to start attending the same parties that she goes to in order to look for clues, he'll probably inadvertently expose himself to her perfume. At a high enough dose she'd be able to convince him to leave her alone very easily, among other things, but even a more moderate dose could prove useful - could he continue to investigate her if he thought he was in love?