"Harley! Get back here!" Joker bellowed.
Harley immediately dropped her baseball bat right next to the half-dead henchman that she was beating up and scurried over to Joker's chair.
"Comin' puddin!" She squeaked.
She took a good look at her Clown Prince Of Crime, his skin crackled and falling off, most of his bright green hair eaten away by disease.
"What's wrong?" She asked with great concern as she gripped his hand. He jerked it away from her grip while giving her a look of fury.
"Get your hand off me and get me some pills you... kof kof kof..." He ordered before erupting into a series of violent coughs.
It was very warm in the Steel Mill despite the freezing weather outside. Yet, Joker's hand was cold to the touch, almost as if he were already dead. She scrambled through the cluttered desk beside his chair, flipping through the mountains of playing cards and knives that buried his bottle of pills.
"Come on... Come on..." She frantically mumbled as Joker's coughs grew more painful and frequent.
She opened the drawer and found several bottles of pills lying there.
"Gotcha!"
She opened it and poured a handful of pills out before feeding them to Joker.
"Come on, Puddin..." She said as she held a bottle of water next to Joker's mouth.
He slurped the water down before coughing once again, choking down pills have become an agonizing part of his daily routine.
"Feel better?" She asked sweetly while patting him on the back.
Joker looked at her with contempt before twisting his face into a mocking smile.
"Yesss... Harley! Choking down the same damn pills I choke down every other day has cured me of my sickness! I feel as fit as a horse!" He exclaimed with his head held up high and his finger pointing to the sky.
Harley leapt up with excitement and put her hand together.
"Really?!" She gasped.
"NO! Not really!"
He brought his hand down and slapped her across the face with all his strength, which wasn't very much.
"After all these years and you still don't get the joke!" He yelled at her as she began to back away.
"I'm sorry... It was my fault..." She whimpered as her hand rubbed the mark that he left on her cheek.
"Sorry ain't gonna cut it! Now go to the gates and make yourself useful!" He pointed at the door.
"Right. Ok." She stood up straight.
"What can I do to make myself useful?"
"Your old teacher's coming to town..." He began.
"Oh, you mean Dr. Roberts from the University? Why's he coming to Arkham City? Did he plagiarize Strange's papers or somethin'?"
"No, you idiot!" He slapped her again.
"I'm talking about your computer science teacher."
"Oh, you mean Mr. Whalen from High School? Are they finally putting him in here for feeling me up that time during detention?"
Joker raised his hand for a third slap but he changed his mind, weak from the previous two slaps.
"Oh for the love of... Eddie! I'm talking about Eddie!"
Harley gasped, shocked and happy.
"Wha... You mean...?"
"Yeah, yeah. Ol' Strange had him locked up a few days ago, caught him hacking into his computer or something."
"Yayyy! Eddie's coming to town!" She cried as she began jumping for joy.
"Wait, what does he have to do with..."
"I need his help. As much as I hate to admit it, he knows how to get what I want. So what I want you to do, is to get over there and make him come to the steel mill!" He pushed her aside.
"Ok... But whaddya' want me to do with him?" She asked while pointing to the dying Henchman lying in the back of the room.
"Oh I don't know... Throw him into the Harbor or something, just don't screw it up! Now go!"
She stood up straight once again and gave a salute.
"Gotcha', Mistah J! I won't let ya' down!" She exclaimed before zipping over to the Henchman's side and grabbing him from behind by his arms. Slowly, she began dragging him outside. She received many horrified looks on the way.
"Jesus Christ! What happened to Frank?!" A guard screamed.
"What did you do to him? And why's his brains leaking out of his head?!" Another one shrieked while backing away so hard that he fell onto the ground.
She went further away from the idiots and reached the edge, leaving her all alone with her thoughts... and Frank.
She flipped the dying man over and knelt down, turning her uncertain gaze to the smoky sky of Arkham City.
"You know, Frankie... There's just some times where I don't know if I should stick with Mistah' J or not. Now, don't get me wrong, he's the love of my life and all, but since he's about 4 or 5 weeks from croaking it, maybe I should look for a new puddin'."
All Frank managed in response to that was a horrible strangled noise.
"Oh, what am I thinking?! I can't say something like that about him!" She slapped herself on the knee and stood up.
"I've known him for so long and he loves me so muc..." She paused and rubbed the mark on her cheek once more.
"Ok, fine. Maybe he doesn't love me so much after all. But still... I could never quit him." She sighed as she knelt down again.
"Frankie, you don't know this about me but before I met Mistah' J, I was always flip flopping about everything, ya' know? Become a doctor, don't become a doctor. Go work at Arkham, don't work at Arkham. I never had a straight path or anything, I just sort of... existed. When I met him, however, I was alive. He put me back on the track like a red hot rod, always moving forward with no doubts. You know what I mean?" She asked as she looked down on the unresponsive Frank.
"What I'm trying to say is, with Mistah' J, all that indecisiveness, all that fear, all that nothingness that controlled my life... it was gone. I mean, sure, he's the one controlling my life now but at least I feel like I serve a purpose! At least I feel..."
She was close to tears as she gazed at the old Asylum, broken down and far away from where she was standing. She crumpled into a heap onto the ground, and managed to let out a defeated sigh.
"To tell you the truth, I don't think he's going to last very long. Unless one of them bozos at Gotham General makes a scientific breakthrough, Mistah' J'll be dead before... before..."
She burst into tears as the thought of a dead Joker seeped into her mind.
"Oh, what the hell am I going to do? Even if he's gone, he'll still be a part of my life, a part of me. He'll always be the one to push me around or to start me up, always."
It was at this moment, Frank began to gurgle blood.
"The only other guy who ever made me feel this way is..."
Suddenly, Arkham City's broadcast system sounded off and Hugo Strange's voice was heard throughout the City.
"New Prisoners are now arriving at the Transfer area, all current inmates must clear from the area under the risk of getting shot."
Harley leapt up, the depressed and melancholic look from her face wiped away.
"Eddie! Of course! Why didn't I think of that before? He's smart, cute and we've had a thing before! I've gotta see him. Now!"
She began running towards her men but spun around at once. She moved her head right next to Frank's ear.
"Thanks a bunch, Frankie! I'm real glad we had this talk!" She said loudly and cheerfully.
She placed her foot on Frank's arm.
"Just don't tell anyone about this ok? It'll be our little secret!" She hushed with her finger placed on her lips. She winked at him before using her leg to roll him off the edge. A very loud and satisfying splash was heard, along with some muffled gurgling and screaming.
She turned around and started skipping. Then, she started jogging. And then, she ran. She ran and ran until she reached her men.
All the way, she was whispering the same sentence perkily.
"I'm gonna see Eddie again! I'm gonna see Eddie again! I'm gonna see Eddie again! I'm gonna..."