84*Disclaimer!*
I don't own anything Batman-related except any OCs I create! This is story is based solely during the animated universe timeline (The New Batman Adventures and onward/Justice League Wild Cards)
Thank you all for reading and reviewing, I LOVE reading reviews, it really, really warms my heart.
Thank you, Loves! :)
All was quiet in Gotham City.
The tranquility didn't last for very long.
It was instantly shattered by Harley Quinn's shrieking, maniacal laugh as it split through the night air. The two-toned fiend drove a rickety car recklessly down the road, swerving in and out of traffic with ease, although at times, giving the few annoyed honkers the middle finger. The Joker sat in the backseat with his feet casually propped up as if he were a passenger during a quiet, Sunday drive down the California coast. Laying on the seat next to him were random clipboards holding papers with scribbled writings on them, but he paid them no attention as he calmly closed his eyes and allowed his girl to drive them along. Such was a scenario Harley was all too familiar with: after all, the Joker always said that Harley did drive him...crazy, that is. Not that she meant to, exactly. Most of the time, she couldn't help how insanely furious she made him, but she was quite skilled with it, as everyone knew. As they sped down the winding road, she glanced into the rearview mirror just to make sure their two other henchmen were still in sight. Harley knew that in case their men lost track of them, her puddin' would have found some way to blame it on her...most likely punishing her with an angry fist to her face. It was something she never much enjoyed, but given the huge amount of time she had been with him, it was something she was also familiar with. As she took a second glance in the mirror, Harley was greatly relieved to see their henchmen's equally tattered brown car still following closely behind their own.
As it was prone to do multiple times a day, Harley's mind trailed off in thought despite her current attempts at getting herself and her puddin' to their destination in one piece. Harley wondered how her darling and equally-insane best friend Ivy was doing. The last bit of information Harley had heard, was that Ivy was recently caught by the police and had taken up residence in Arkham Asylum once again, a place Harley, of course, knew very well. She herself had been caught, released, rescued, and escaped Arkham Asylum more times than she could count on her fingers, which made it feel almost like a second home in a weird, twisted sort of way. Namely, Harley had the asylum to thank for introducing her to the love of her life, but she knew she had to be extra careful as to not end up there again anytime soon. She was having loads of fun with her puddin' and intended to stay a free woman for as long as she possibly could.
"Still," Harley thought to herself sadly, a tiny frown forming on her face, "it does get lonesome sometimes without another girl around to talk to." She took a glance in the review mirror at the Joker, but he wasn't paying her any attention. She sighed to herself. "Boy, what I wouldn't give to at least have a friend around 24-7."
At least with Ivy out and about, it calmed Harley, at least somewhat, to know there was always a girl, a close friend nearby she could seek out any time she needed. There was no doubt that she loved the Joker and her two precious hyena babies, Bud and Lou to death, but it just wasn't the same to be surrounded by men all the time, and she admittedly felt overwhelmed at being stuck around all the macho testosterone that oozed from their hideout. She simply felt a strange emptiness inside her that she couldn't explain, no matter how often she tried to decipher the meaning of it. Oftentimes, Harley even wanted to suggest having a tryout for an expansion of their team, namely a girl Harley could potentially befriend since she longed for it so...although one not busty or smart, and certainly one who wasn't as attractive as she was. After all, there were limits. Despite her want of extra companionship, though, Harley was well aware that the Joker was already fed up with her alone, so he'd probably never let another female into the gang - no way, no how. Other, braver times, she even thought of the idea of asking the Joker for a baby to fill the strange void she felt, but she knew the idea of having kids anywhere near them was more off-limits than anything.
She knew how the Joker felt about kids.
"I'd just love to blow up an orphanage just so there would be that many fewer kids to pollute the city with," he'd once said with a maniacal laugh, and Harley wasn't sure (and still wasn't sure) he didn't actually mean it.
After that, Harley smashed any and every idea she'd had about asking him for a baby to keep her company. She simply kept her mouth shut and endured the pain of loneliness that had slowly begun creeping into her life, knowing that there was nothing she would be able to do about it.
"For Pete's sake, Harley! Will you watch where you're going?" the Joker's shrill voice rattled in her ear, snapping Harley's wandering mind back to reality as the car suddenly started wobbling in her absentmindedness. "We're still in the city! Are you trying to kill somebody, or what?"
Harley giggled in response. "Not yet, Mister J!"
The Joker rolled his eyes and sighed, grabbing a clipboard and smacking her in the back of her head. "There's only room for one comedian here, Harl, and it sure isn't you. Now, shut your mouth and pay attention to what you're doing, or I'll put a bullet in your head!"
Harley frowned, dejected, but did as she was told. Even if she knew...or hoped she knew the Joker wouldn't actually shoot her, she certainly didn't want to take any chances. Suddenly, she brightened as she looked around them. "Hey, look! We're almost there!"
Indeed, they had driven well into the Southside of Gotham, away from the bright city lights, prying eyes, and pedestrians...which was exactly where they needed to be.
The Joker suddenly burst into hearty, joker-like laughs. He let out an excited "Whoop!" which caused Harley to laugh loudly as well. Not a second later, he hit her with the clipboard again, making Harley flinch in pain. "Shut up, you!" he grumbled to her.
A few seconds later, they turned off the main road and headed down a secluded dirt path, pulled up to the docks, and parked their cars. Harley gulped as she looked around at their dreary surroundings. The darkness and smelly sea air just made the scene all the eerier, and Harley shivered in her costume. To take her mind off her slight nervousness, she tried for the umpteenth time to close the trunk of their ratty old car. It had the knack for opening at its own will, never seeming to want to stay closed no matter how often they cursed at it. When she didn't succeed in closing it that time, she angrily kicked the bumper with her foot out of frustration. The impact was much more than Harley had expected, and she yelped in pain as her foot throbbed from the force of her kick. The Joker and his henchmen just shook their heads in annoyance. Even the two henchmen, Rock and Hev, who, incidentally, weren't the brightest bulbs in the tanning beds were often embarrassed by Harley's idiotic behavior.
"Geez, Mister J," Harley groaned as she looked around and rubbed her foot, trying to get her mind off her current physical pain. "What a horribly stinky place this is! Ugh, I hate fish!" She gagged to emphasize her hatred of fish and the fish smells they brought along with them. "Are you sure we're in the right place? Who in their right mind would wanna come here, anyway?"
The Joker shoved Harley to the ground as he made his way towards the old, rundown building. "We're in the right place, you moron. Now, shut up and let me talk business. If you so much as open your mouth an inch without permission, I'll throw you into the bay. You got that?"
Harley trembled as the coldness of the ground shot through her body like a bolt of lightning. She closed her mouth, "zipped" it, and vigorously nodded.
Rock and Hev opened the doors for the Joker, who sauntered inside without a second thought. Harley bounced up and followed close behind, taking a quick glance behind her before she carefully shut the noisy, creaking door. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her, Harley noticed a small table in the middle of the room with a dark, sinister being already waiting at it.
Scarecrow sat in his rickety wooden chair, his soulless eyes glistening with impatience after having to wait longer than he had originally intended. Harley chuckled when she saw her "friend," and attempted to greet him in her usually happy manor, but with one stern look from the Joker, she wisely clamped her mouth shut and didn't breathe a single word.
"It's so lovely to see you again, old friend," said the Joker as he hastily sat down at the table, his eyes hungrily glancing over the pile of blue papers that were strewn across it. "It's been way too long."
"You know, Joker," answered the masked fiend sternly, his voice sharp with annoyance. "I do expect my business partners to arrive at the agreed time." Scarecrow's glowing eyes narrowed. "Otherwise," he continued darkly. "What's the point of arranging a specific time...if both parties are not willing to follow through?"
The Joker sighed, heavily. He wanted to talk business, not be scolded about his tardiness. "Come on now, Crane." The Joker tipped back in his chair and put his gloved hands behind his oily green head. "We have nothing to worry about! We have all the time in the world out here! We're in such a secluded place, we even managed to hide out from ol' Batsy and his clan of do-gooders. Not a soul in Gotham knows we're here!"
Unbeknownst to the Joker, there was a Gothamite who knew they were there, but it probably wasn't one they would ever have been expecting.
A young, petite, cherub-faced girl crouched, cleverly hidden behind a couple of boxes, cheekily peeking inside the warehouse through a foggy window. Her huge, sapphire-blue-colored eyes blinked a few times, and she took in a deep, shaky breath. The few freckles on her cheeks and nose seemed to glisten in the dampness, and her cheeks were a darker shade of their normal pink from nervousness. A small part of her light-blonde hair had been pulled into two tiny half-up, half-down pigtails on either side of the top of her head, and they blew in the wind as it warmly breezed past her. She inhaled another deep breath and wiped the window with a sleeve of her jacket. She shivered a little out of fear, anxiety, curiosity, and anticipation. Her outfit clashed with her dim surroundings: a long-sleeved light-pink Peter Pan-collared fit-and-flare dress, an unzipped black faux-leather jacket with a tiny pink crown symbol on the pocket, two mismatched knee-high socks, one rainbow striped and one with huge rainbow polka dots, and blue and white high-top sneakers. Although, her bright, cheerful attire did nothing to shield her from the dark, damp, and chilly air that surrounded her, nor did it ease her childhood fear of dark places.
Which is why she couldn't believe she was where she'd ended up.
The girl had been out wandering the streets that night on her own secret mission, and even if she wouldn't have come to this particular dreary area otherwise, she now counted the lucky stars that she had. As the girl watched two cars go crazily speeding down the street and turn onto a dark, secluded road, her giddy curiosity had gotten the better of her and she just had to investigate all the commotion. To her, it looked like something fun was about to happen, and she didn't want to miss out on it...or miss out on seeing who it was. Unfortunately, she'd trailed them too slowly and had missed seeing who had been driving, which only fueled her curiosity fire and willed her to get closer, still.
She could barely see them through the murky windows as it was, but she knew whoever they were, they just had to be up to no good, and she was outrageously excited at the idea of watching "bad guys" do bad things for a while. She smiled to herself, feeling proud of what she had done before running after them. She had sneakily swiped a few loose coins from an outside restaurant table and had used a payphone to call the cops, alerting them of some "freaky stuff" happening down by the docks. She thought it would be loads of fun to watch the police come to crash their party, and she almost burst into giggles at the thought of the mischief she would cause for the goons she was following. The girl had then decided to have a little more fun by staking out the place until the police arrived to break up the party, and she trembled with joy. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest as she glanced around nervously, her senses on high alert. So far, luck had been on her side and no one had spotted her, but she didn't want to take any huge risks that might end badly for her. One thing she knew for sure, the docks gave her the creeps, and she knew it was completely crazy of her to be there in the first place. She knew she should leave and let the police handle the situation. She knew it was careless, and she knew it was dangerous. She knew all of that, but in the end, her overwhelming childhood curiosity got the better of her, and she dashed across to the other side of the building, just hoping for a chance to see a little more and get a little closer to the action. Mainly, though, she wanted to see who was up to what. After angrily realizing the other windows were just as opaque and cloudy as the first ones, she took a quick glance above her, and a small, mischievous smile crept upon her face.
With a light-hearted, bubbly giggle that could have awoken fairies from the forest, she gasped in happiness. "Now, that's more like it!"
The girl quickly started climbing up the side of the warehouse, using pipes, nitches, nooks, crannies, and anything she could get her hands on. She felt almost like a spider with the way she was able to easily grip onto small places and make her way to the roof with incredible ease. She clumsily faltered and slipped only a few times in her ascent, and she knew it was lucky it had only been a few times. Once at the top of the rickety warehouse, she made sure to step carefully and softly on the tips of her toes as to not alert the current inhabitants below. She maneuvered her way across the roof like a pro, with satisfying little chuckles escaping her lips every so often. She moved with such flexibility, almost like a gymnast. Almost as if she'd been trained under Harley Quinn. She flipped her way towards the huge skylight window which was situated right in the middle of the roof. Although, she almost screamed in frustration once she saw the state of the window...her last remaining attempt at seeing who was down below. It was in just as bad a shape as the ones on the ground level where she had started from, and she was lucky she had enough self-control not to just break the window out of frustration. Even with some intense wiping with the bottom of her dress, the window was still covered in grimy, sticky filth and she almost did break it.
After realizing the window would never be clean, the girl sighed dejectedly and shook her head. She turned her gaze out across the streets and listened hopefully for the sounds of police sirens. "At least if I wait around here long enough, I can see who they are once the cops finally show up and take 'em to County." When she didn't see a single flashing light in the distance or hear anything remotely sounding like a police siren, she sighed again and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, well. I bet they'd already be here if I told them a donut shop was being robbed," she mumbled quietly. She brought her attention back to the scene under her, and almost stomped her foot. "Aw, this stinks! I just wish I could see who's down there already! All I can see is a big fat pile of nothing!" She pushed her face against the window in a last-ditch attempt, hoping for a better peek, somehow. As she pressed her nose against the top of the glass, her hot breath started fogging the area where she exhaled. Even still, she could see nothing more than blurry blobs of color, and she groaned in exasperation and she frustratingly wiped the glass with her hands. "Of course, still nothing!" she grumbled, pursing her lips in annoyance as she continuously wiped back and forth with her bare hands, now in desperation. She crossed her arms over her chest and exhaled, blowing her messy bangs upwards. "Man, what a joke! I wouldn't have come all the way up here if I knew I wasn't gonna be able to see something!"
Harley, on the other hand, had been able to see something. She'd been so easily distracted from the all-work-no-play business talk her puddin' was engaged in that she had aimlessly wandered away from the men and had begun curiously exploring the place. When Harley had noticed an ever-so-slight blurry shadowy disturbance behind one of the dirty windows on the roof, she let her own curiosity get the better of her. Quick as a flash, she carefully shoved huge boxes and crates around so she could climb up and get a better look at the mysterious movement on the roof through a random window she had seen.
The sneaky little spy up top had stopped her pouting and still continued to try and wipe the fog that had appeared on the window. She blew more hot breaths onto the glass in a final attempt to wash it off. Suddenly, she was quite surprised to find that her breath actually had helped clear up the glass a little. The moment she noticed it, her heart leaped with joy. With a happy giggle, she breathed more hot breath on the same spot and wiped it away with her hands, clearing up a nice clear spot on the glass, like a little window-within-a-window.
"Yeah!" the girl giggled loudly in excitement. "Now I'll be able to see something!"
As she excitedly pressed her face back to the now-clean glass, she was shocked to find a pair of pale, icy-blue eyes staring back at her from behind a jet-black mask. Their noses both touched from their respective sides of the window, and both Harley and the girl gasped out in surprise. Harley was so shocked that she lost her footing on one of the box towers she had been standing on. Harley and the tower came tumbling down to the ground in a noisy heap of smokey dust, grit, and grime.
The girl felt all the color drain from her face in an instant and she thought her heart would jump out of her chest. She jumped up as fast as lightning. "Oh, shii-take mushrooms!" she squeaked. She couldn't hear what was going on down below, but she was sure of one thing - Harley Quinn had indeed spotted her and her cover was blown. "Th-that was Harley Quinn!" The girl began running back towards the edge of the building as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, gasping for breath. "And if that was Harley Quinn, then that means-"
"Har-leeeeey!" the Joker's loud, booming voice shook the very roof she was running on, causing the girl to stumble and fall as she ran. To her horror, the fall sent her crashing to her knees, creating a deafeningly loud metallic clang that echoed down into the warehouse where the villains stood.
They all looked up at the ceiling with interest upon hearing the noise.
"Hey, is there a bird or something up on the roof?" cried Rock.
"Not a bird! I saw some little sneak up there with my own two eyes!" Harley shrieked angrily, leaping up from the ground. "We've been compromised!"
The girl's heart pounded with fear. She breathlessly scrambled to her feet and quickly began climbing down off the roof as fast as she could manage if she wanted to live another day. Unless you lived under a rock, everyone in Gotham City knew how dangerous the Joker's gang was. Everyone also knew that Harley Quinn was wherever the Joker was, so if she'd seen Harley, there was no doubt the Joker wasn't far away. The girl was certain that if she was caught by the two insane clowns, she most likely wouldn't see the light of day again. She shivered with fear as she climbed down the side of the building as fast as she could go. Suddenly, to her horror, she felt her foot slip out from under her, and with a panicked shriek, she slid down the side of the building and fell smack-dab into the open trunk of a ratty old car. Before she had time to crawl out again, she heard the sounds of the warehouse door sliding open. The girl carefully pulled the lid of the trunk down to help hide as best she could, taking a deep, trembling breath. "Just keep hidden, they'll never find you inside this rickety-old car. It's just like hide-and-seek!" she thought. "Everything's gonna be fine. They'll leave, soon, and then you can climb right out and scram!"
"Oh, now I know I heard someone out here," said Rock, with a deep growl.
"It sounded like a scream or something," added Hev. "Didn't sound like no bird I ever heard."
"I told you numbskulls it wasn't a bird! I'm sure I saw someone!" Harley smirked as she walked towards the car that held the frightened girl. "I knew I wasn't crazy!"
As she watched Harley come closer, the girl didn't dare breathe, out of fear she would make too much of a sound. She thanked her lucky stars that she was hidden within the shadows and no one could see her even if they stood next to her. Her only concern was getting out of the trunk and running away before they did.
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Harley sang out in a sweet, sing-song voice, waving the pistol she held in her hand. "We're not gonna hurt ya...we're just gonna find ya, and then, we're gonna cut ya up and feed teeny-weeny little pieces of you to the fishies!"
The girl almost fainted in fear, and she felt her eyes well with terrified tears. She knew it was a matter of life or death that she somehow escape from the trunk of that car before Harley Quinn found her and disposed of her in a terrible way.
Not a moment after Harley spoke, they heard police sirens in the distance.
The sound was growing closer, and Harley's face darkened. "Rats!" Harley slammed the handle of the pistol down on top of the car. The girl flinched and shut her eyes so hard, that the tears shot out of them like little rockets. "Somebody snitched on us!" Sighing, Harley tossed the pistol into the backseat of their car with a huff and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Hey Mister J, hurry it up, will ya? We gotta get in the car and go, now! The coppers are coming!"
Rock and Hev made a mad dash to their car, followed by a sour-faced Joker soon after, livid that his business party was crashed before having actually discussed anything worthwhile.
"Go?" the girl nervously thought, almost gasping out.
The Joker angrily slammed his fists down on the half-opened trunk door as he rushed past it. The force of his infuriated blow caused the trunk to close and latch shut, leaving the girl petrified as she realized whose car she was hiding in. She knew she now lay trapped in the dark trunk of some of the most psychotic villains in all of Gotham City. There was no escape for her, and as she heard the engine rev up and felt the insane, crazy movement of the car as they sped away, she gulped, her eyes filling with nervous tears once more. There was only one terrifying thought going through her mind at that time: What was going to happen to her once the Joker and Harley Quinn found her?