Friends Like These

by iwillrunforever

To Harleen Quinzel, Gotham City is home. Having left at 12 she is finally returning, now 16 and changed. She has developed a passion for psychology and an addiction to danger. After she meets Jerome Valeska there is instantly a connection between them, and this leads to more danger than she could ever hope to handle.

1. Prologue

Gotham City. Rife with crime, poverty and homeless, it is not considered a safe place for anyone but those willing to kill for their own protection. However, many rich business people make their wealth here, benefitting from the plight of others. My mother is the CEO of Arthur Ammunitions, a weapons and ammunition company started by her grandfather. At 22 she was employed as a sales consultant, working her way up through the company. Her work is why we stayed in Gotham after I was born, despite the rising crime in the city. She benefited from this crime, selling weapons to mob bosses and kingpins, in an attempt to provide protection for her family. Due to this, I grew up in a life of privilege and luxury, anything I wanted available to me whenever I wanted. When I was 4, my sister Wren was born but this still did not deter my mother from staying in Gotham. However, when I was 12 crime spiked and we came under threat. My parents could not protect me at all hours of the day, and I ended up alone and face to face with a dangerous criminal. This was the last straw. We moved to New York, my mother running the company from our new home, but I hated it. Without the near constant threat of danger, my life felt almost empty. No longer was there that rush of adrenaline when I was out on the streets after dark, when I climbed up to the roof at night. Of course, safety is nice, but living in Gotham for your life makes anywhere else seem drab and boring.

But now I'm home. Work called my mother back to our home, and the rest of the family followed. We returned to the same house, and as soon as we arrived I felt that danger that I craved. From the sirens and gunshots at night to the hairs standing up on the back of my neck on my walk home, it was everything that I needed, the rush of adrenaline that made me feel alive. At 16 I am now a representative of the family company and am expected to be respectable and uphold the family name. But this will not stop me from seeking that thrill, that rush. It will simply make me more careful, and make the rush all the more worth it.