It had been nearly a year since that last Halloween night. The night that Scarecrow revealed to the world who the Batman was but still got stopped by sheer will force of the Bat himself, or perhaps by Bruce Wayne since it no longer mattered if you called him that anyway. He was gone and would never come back. Life slowly began to settle in Gotham City as the first few criminals did seek to break out but right away got their asses send back to jail.
After a few weeks life started to slowly become normal again in Gotham City. Sure, the worst criminals still pretended they owned the streets but without Batman around they slowly also saw their need for superiority in the city wane. Some carved out a piece of the city for their selves, others abandoned the city or took up a normal life. More criminals were rehabilitated and those that didn't were found usually in an alley gibbering madness about a bat demon.
Harley just as much lost really the need to continue crime. What good was it now for her? Only two of her friends remained and only one of them wasn't gibbering madness about a bat demon that wanted to kill him. Still, she had lost too much in that one night. Ivy had decided to follow with Batman in his final moments and thus had signed up for death. All that remained of her was a flower that Harley had dug out from the garden house and put into a pot standing in her room. As long as part of Ivy was around… it was something…
Then there was Joker. The entire night that she had tried on getting not one, not two but four Jokers out from their prison and it only ended with the four getting killed because of that dumb old man suddenly thinking Joker was inside Bman. As if, that was just the most stupid and idiotic thing she could have heard that night. Only minutes after that she was apprehended by Batman and Robin and locked up. Scarecrow did offer to free her when he saw her when he came to kidnap Robin but she declined. There was simply no goal for her to pursue but she would enjoy seeing him destroy Batman.
And whilst he didn't technically destroy him, she did enjoy the show he put up. The finale however would need work because it was just an anti-climax. She hoped that he had instead killed him but no, he needed to gloat again. Why were all those villains the same? Joker, Scarecrow, Two-Face, and Penguin… all just needed to gloat and not pull the damn trigger and just kill the Bat. It wasn't that hard to do… well, it was otherwise he would have been dead already.
Now, she had lost her purpose in life. She had disbanded the entire Joker gang, though most had already left to join with Penguin, Two-Face or they just left town to live their lives elsewhere. She however decided to stick around Gotham to rebuild a new life. She did want to leave but still, something always drew her back to the place anyway. Like a moth being drawn to a flame. You know it's deadly but you can't stay away from it.
Selina had been quite helpful with getting her new life started out. The first thing they did was to get a new apartment and cleared out the Joker junk that Harley still carried around. Second was to split tasks fair and square in two. Selina would do the robbing, Harley would do the usual things around the house. Or at least try to. Because when you're used to causing mayhem and chaos you don't clean up afterwards.
Even so, she now sat alone in her new apartment waiting for Selina to come back home. She waited patiently as she drummed her fingers on the desk of the table. She already did groceries and brought Crane a few get well soon flowers as he was still recovering. He seemed to look better. If only they could also fix his face to what it used to be. Well, crying over spilt milk, there was no return from that night anyway. It was better to try and move on.
There was a knock on the door that startled her. Was that Selina? It seemed rather illogical as she usually came in and out from the window when she was going out for the night and they didn't get that many visits from anyone, except from the milkman perhaps. Harley wondered if she had ordered anything or if Selina had ordered something for the night. But she had wanted to make pancakes for dinner so… it all made no sense.
As she opened the door she raised an eyebrow at the man that stood before her. He was dressed rather formally in a white coat and with his weird black bowler hat. Was he one of Penguin's goons come to try and kill her because one time she had called the little guy an ugly eyesore… or perhaps because she nearly blew him up with a pie in his face. The little guy never was one to let grudges go as she sighed and already wished she had taken the large kitchen knife with her.
"Good evening miss… Quinn I take it is?" the man said as he tipped his hat up slightly and smiled at her as Harley looked him up from top to bottom. If he was an assassin than were was his weapon? No sword, no gun, no wrench, no exploding pies… nothing, he had absolutely no weapons on him. "Yeah… though it's Harleen Quinzel, I don't do the entire Quinn thing anymore." she said as she stepped back as the man calmly walked in.
"Ah, that's a shame. Really it is." he began in a smooth talking voice that just reminded her a bit too much about Joker. Maybe this was like a loser half cousin that wanted to continue his work here. "I have been looking for you because everyone else either wants to rip me in half or wants to shoot me in my head." he said as Harley gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, don't be that surprised. This is Gotham after all. If you had the old me, she would have rubbed a whoopee cushion in your face… and it would have exploded.
The man gave a very convincing fake laugh as he walked up to her. "Hysterical." he said in a voice that indicated the exact opposite. "But that means I did come at a right time. A time where someone new can give you a new purpose in life." he said with a smile as Harley looked at him. She now noticed that the guy had been wearing mascara on his face. Well, this one was one for the loony bin as well. That much was already indicated by his appearance.
"I'm already working to a new purpose, thank you very much, now get out of my living room whilst you can still walk or I will crack your knees and drag you outside and kick off the stairs as well!" Harley said next as the man gave another small laugh before shaking his head. "Really now… are you enjoying this new life style then? Are you enjoying spending day after day in this old decrepit apartment? Something in me tells the exact opposite is true."
Harley had to give the man some credit. He wasn't wrong, she was indeed rather tired of this entire mundane existence. Even if Selina tried her best and always came back home and they watched Tom and Jerry cartoons together and she laughed at the expense of her best friend… she still hated this lifestyle. She hated being this locked up again, thrown back into the mundane existence of life. Her other self screamed for release and she was all too happy to once more let everything go and let tomorrow be tomorrow again instead of planning for the entire next week.
"You're not wrong there pretty boy." she said with a smile slowly creeping back on her face. "I did forget what it was like to live the life of crime… but I only lived it because he told me so…" she quickly said to correct herself as the man wagged his finger at her. "Wrong there girl, you lived it because you enjoyed it. Even without him you pulled off some very nice heists I have to say. Your resume was very promising." he said as this caught Harley's full attention.
"RESUME?! I NEVER PUT UP A RESUME!" she said as the man next laughed. "I was figuratively speaking. I meant all the nice articles this newspaper has been publishing over the past five years or so. You got quite the fearsome reputation on your own." he said as he kept complimenting her. Harley felt it was wrong… and at the same time it felt very right. She wanted to be feared and she wanted to have fun and let her mind go and not having to think about everything again.
"I'm here to offer you a deal Miss Quinn." the man continued as she next shook her head again. "I told you its QUINZEL and I don't take any offer from random strangers!" she said once more trying her hardest to keep that part that was truly Harley locked up again. It was waiting to burst out and get behind the controls in her head and this man knew exactly what buttons he needed to press. Just like Joker did one time. The only difference was that she wasn't enjoying it this time. Not one bit.
"Oh pardon the rudeness." the man said as he lit up a cigar and smiled. "I'm Roman Torchwick, you might have heard my name being dropped as the fearsome criminal that keeps Vale from being the safe happy kingdom it so desperately wants to be." he said as he stood triumphantly. "What's a Vale?" Harley asked right away as Roman slumped and shook his head. "It's a… never mind, I am looking to expand my criminal empire. Going beyond Vale and Gotham seems like a nice starting place now that crime is slowly dropping like a fly on a hot day."
"So you need a sidekick or something?" Harley asked sarcastically. She hated to become yet another sidekick to someone again and then for her partner to take that word all too real and kick her sides when she wasn't looking. "Oh no, I got my own sidekick right here with me. She's probably off watching animals in the zoo or killing lovebirds for fun…" he said casually as he smiled at her. "I'm offering you a job as my official partner in crime for this place here."
"Wait… official partner, as in not having to be below you but alongside you?" Harley asked as her eyes sparked suddenly. Some of her old self was now clawing hastily back to the surface. It was a golden opportunity that she could take as she bit her lip now. Should she take it, should she just run off again with some nutjob and cause panic around the city again? "Can I just have a minute to consider Mr. R?"
"Course, course, do consider fast, I got places to go, fortunes to gather, a name to be made and an empire to make." Roman said as he twirled his cane in his hand and walked out. That went better than he had expected. Clearly the girl was still in some sort of post-traumatic state and just pulling a few strings would get her back on the right track. That was of course his track. He would need to play it careful though. This one was not going to fall in line like Neo. If he promised her a place as his partner, he needed to keep that word.
Harley meanwhile was thinking it all over again. A chance to strike out again… a chance to get back and reclaim that part of her that she thought died with the remaining Jokers. It was a bit of a shock honestly that this man wanted her of all people as his partner. Wasn't he better off working with someone like Penguin or Two-Face? Then again, those guys weren't team players again. The only reason they would work together would be because someone told them to play nice for one night.
It felt a bit like old times but then without the need for romance. This guy wasn't interested in winning over Harley's heart or stringing her like a puppet with false feelings or feelings that were denied at the very best. It was sort of a plus when she would be called names or something like that. Though he seemed to be honest that he was a dishonest guy and those you could always trust to be dishonest again.
Still, part of her pulled her back and wanted to keep her out of trouble. We been building up an entire new life, why would you want to throw that all away? Why did you want to hurt Selina's feelings just for a chance to become someone hated and feared in Gotham again? Was it all worth it? Those questions circled in Harley's mind as slowly her other self came up. Do we need an answer to those questions? Can't we just put them in a toilet and flush them all away like before?
That very last one was just what pulled Harley back as a large smile stretched out over her face. Running to her own bedroom she pulled out the last costume she had used, the costume that she wore that night. Grabbing her bat, a gun, her jack in the box and a roll of serpentine used to wrap someone up in she grinned. She had missed all of this. She had promised Selina that she would burn all of this old stuff but when push came to shove… she found herself unable to do so. It was all part of her after all.
With a grin she tied her hair back in two ponytails, threw her bed over and started to laugh. Laugh as she hadn't done in a while as she grinned. Putting her gadgets away she stepped out of the room to get her make up done. Quickly she rushed over to powder her face until it was once more nearly white. Using her lipstick she painted over her lips to get another perfect happy smile as she smirked and smacked them together. The last thing she did was painting her hair with black and red bits on the ends of her ponytails.
So much for Harleen Quinzel again, she could keep that boring life she so desperately wanted. Harley wanted to live the life of danger and happiness, of champagne and burning money over a fireplace, of puppies and kicking people's dirty asses. That was who she truly was and who she wanted to be. Once more tucking the part of her old self far away and locking it away she grinned as she next kicked the door open where a startled Roman Torchwick stood as he next smiled.
"Well, that looks much better if I may say so." he said with a smile as he looked at his cigar and grinned. "And just in time Harls." he said as he dropped the cigar and grinned at her before using his cane to put it out. "I'm a girl of the clock… meaning I will use that to kill people as well." Harley said with a laugh before throwing her arms up. "Come on Mr. R! This girl wants to have fun out in the town!" she said with a smile hoping that he was up for that.
"Alright, alright calm down Harls." Roman said as he grinned. She sure had the same enthusiasm as Neo. That wouldn't be too hard to work around with. The only problem was that this one could talk and thus talk against him. Well, that was a problem he could work around again. Cater a bit to her needs, work a bit with her feelings and such… he just needed to make sure he wasn't going to care about this one as well like he already did with Neo.
As the two walked out Harley giggled as she randomly smashed parts of the stairs and windows that they passed giving into her old needs of violence and just having fun. Roman didn't mind it at all. He didn't even look back as she was smashing windows or the banister behind him. She was just enjoying herself so much. It felt like so much needed anger and hatred was actually coming out along with it. Anger for Batman for having ruined her once… but now she was going to reclaim it all with this guy.
Slapping him on his back she grinned at him. "So… where do we start?" she asked as Roman thought it all over. Neo was probably still busy and they might need to start with something so that the criminals in town would be on high alert from all of them right away. "Well… what is a good place to start off as a beginning criminal?" he asked as Harley thought it over as she grinned and nodded at him. "I knew right the place you want to go. You got a ride?" she asked as he sighed. "My ride… is not what you use to travel the streets with regularly."
So he didn't have a car… that was a pretty big shame at the very least. Well, they would get a car then. "Alright, leave it to me… already." Harley said with a grin as she looked at the street where cars were driving along as she decided to just walk up and stop right in place of one car. It screeched to a halt as the driver right away opened the window to lean out from it. "HEY, YOU GOT A DEATH WISH LADY?!" he roared at her as Harley smiled as she slowly walked up to him and next her bat came crashing down on his head. "Nope, but I made yours come true like a good little fairy!"
Torchwick grinned as he laughed at the very joke. It had something funny to it as he walked up twirling his cane as Harley dragged the driver out of his car and dropped him right on the street as the next car screeched to a halt behind them and began blaring his horn. "KEEP YOUR PANTS ON, I'M BUSY OVER HERE!" Harley yelled back as Roman just took the seat next to the driver as he adjusted the seat so it was just right.
Once she had rolled the guy out from his car, Harley hopped into the driver seat as she next smashed her foot onto the gas pedal as they speeded off into the night. Harley roared with laughter as Roman actually held onto his hat and grew slightly paler as he looked at the woman behind the wheel. Just what was going on as she was driving around and speeding by cars? Did she have a death wish or was defying dead really just what she wanted? Well, he wasn't going to complain about that… but he did like to be alive at the end of the ride.
As they speeded along they narrowly avoided a few crashes, flew over speed bumps so that the car was really launched into the air, but the worst was probably when Harley started to use one hand to knock side mirrors off from other cars with her bat. Roman just stared at how completely batshit insane this woman suddenly had become. A far cry from the woman he just met a few minutes ago. It was something to see her all roaring and raging like this.
Before long Harley nearly slammed the car into an open parking space that was near the Iceberg Lounge… or what remained of it in some way. It had taken a while before the section of the city that was once Arkham City was restored to its former glory. The museum had to be completely remodeled and the Iceberg Lounge along with it. It took a lot of money from the small guy to actually rebuild nearly the entire thing back to how it once was.
The Lounge nowadays was a place where thieves would hang out, looking for a job with Penguin or just relax for a bit. Its glory days when it met the prestige and famous people of the city were a far cry now. Penguin himself usually walked around the lounge as well, looking for new people to gain control over the city once more. The days after Halloween had been just as rough for him but the small fry just didn't want to quit his criminal empire.
As he had been going through quite a trial and rebuilding the entire museum from near scrap he had lost a great deal of money. Through his usual crooked ways he saw it slowly coming back to him and thus had begun to invest and expand again trying to rebuild what was once his. But it would never be as big as it might have been. Not that he cared, it would be enough for now. With the Bat out of the picture there were only a few people left to truly challenge him.
But his newest challenger just stepped out of the car, a bit shaken but overall delighted to have the ground under his two feet again. "Thanks for the ride Harls… but please never drive again." he said as he knew he still needed her to drive him back home. "So… what kind of pompous crime lord makes his living around here?" he asked as he decided to light a new cigar only to find that Harley was playing with his lighter.
"Oh some small fry that calls himself the Penguin. Thinks he owns the entire city but nowadays all that you see is what he truly owns. Some street thugs and low life hang out around him hoping that he will get them back in shape but I don't see it happening with birdie over there." she said with a grin as she handed the lighter back to him as he now lit his cigar in an irritated way before forcing himself to smile again at Harley. You'll still need her. Just play nice for now.
As the two stepped in it was Harley that kicked open the door before holding it open graciously for Roman as he tipped his hat at her with a slight grin. "Oi, what's this then?" a scraggly voice sounded as the thugs looked up at the two newcomers that just stepped into the club. "Well, well, if it ain't Joker's little bitch again. How's life been doing for ya Harley?" Penguin asked as he slowly walked up to the two with a delighted grin.
"Ozzie! You still have that piece of glass in your eye." Harley yelled with a grin as right away Penguin's smile faded. "Oh bugger off bitch." he said right away before looking at Roman Torchwick with a disgusted look. "And take yer new boyfriend with ya. I don't need yer stinking lot around the place." he said as Roman looked rather displeased at hearing him being called Harley's boyfriend. The feeling with her was mutual just as much.
"Excuse me shrimpie." Roman said as he walked up to Penguin and looked down at him. "For the record, she's not my girlfriend… no offense Harls but you're just not my type." he said as Harley smiled. "Same here Mr. R!" she said as she looked hoping that Roman was going to hit that ugly mug of Penguin. "And secondly, I don't wish to be addressed as just a common street thug or whatever you view below you small fry!" Roman continued as his eyes narrowed at the man.
Already some of Penguins men got up as they looked at Roman before the small guy started to laugh at the insults thrown at him. "Seems like you don't know me… well, we just 'ave to make sure you don't forget me then." he said as already his thugs began circling around the two as Harley readied for combat. It wasn't going to come that far as once more the doors were kicked open, and surprisingly by another blonde that stepped into the room.
"OI! This ain't a bloody playground fer girls!" Penguin said as the blonde had a devious smirk on her face as she walked straight past everyone and up to the counter. "Can I get a Sunrise? With a tiny umbrella?" she asked with a smile as the barman just raised an eyebrow at the woman that just entered. "OI, I SAID SOMETHING YOU BLEEDING WENCH!" Penguin said as Roman and Harley looked at one another just as confused as what was going on.
"Yeah, we were having a conversation here! It's very rude to get into that." Harley said now as well as the blonde turned around, her amethyst eyes sparking with something that was much like Harley's own eyes. Something very mischievous that Harley could admire about her. "Aw, I'm sorry. I didn't want to interrupt playtime." she said as she grinned looking at the entire assembly of thugs and the three individuals that stood out from the others.
"You got a name blondie or do you just want to keep us all in the dark?" Roman asked as the girl grinned. "Well, if you get a bit closer here I will tell you." she said as one of the thugs took the bait and slowly walked up to her as she leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "I start the party with a YANG!" she yelled the last bit in his ear before he was suddenly slammed in his face and punched right out of the lounge through the glass roof.
"ALRIGHT NOW, YOU GOT A FIGHT ON YOUR HANDS!" Penguin yelled before stepping back as his goons came now to rush at the girl. She didn't even phase once as the bracelets around her wrists turned now into gauntlets before she punched another guy right in his face. Another one got right away clobbered onto his chest before three tried to rush at her at once. Slamming her fists together she smirked as sparks of fire flared off from her right away. To Harley it felt as if she was on fire herself.
Before long all thugs that Penguin had send out to kill the girl lay at her feet, either out of conscious or wailing in pain from the punches she packed as she just gave a confident smirk. Penguin's own cigar dropped out of his mouth as both Roman and Harley looked at each other. If one option just straight out failed it was time for another one to step up and take the punch as Harley smirked twirling her bat in her hand. "Up on the plate comes the true challenger… and I'll wipe the floor with that smirk of yours." she said with a big smile on hers not noticing that Roman decided it was better he would leave.
Yang grinned seeing the cheerful girl striding up to her as she looked right into her eyes seeing a same spark of fun and cheerfulness that she had carried around before deciding to just start a fight around here. "So, what's your name, Jestro or Clownie or Joker?" she asked as Harley right away frowned a bit at hearing that last name before shrugging it off. "No silly, my name is Harley Quinn, though you may call me Harley since everyone does it."
"Really, cause the short one didn't call you that." Yang said as she crossed her arms as the two stood against each other as Harley grinned. "Oh, he doesn't like people that are clowning around… but I bring tonight a three ring circus… all filled with SUFFERING!" Harley yelled before rushing forward and slamming her bat right into Yang's face. The girl was actually still thinking about the joke as she shook her head from the hit and grinned. "Heh… well, that's a cute PUNch." she said before her own hand rocketed into Harley's stomach.
Wanting to thank her for the initial compliment Harley saw that she was suddenly flying back as she started to skid and came to a stop near the door. Checking if her stomach was ok, she stood up again as she looked at Yang. "Wow… strong arm you got there. That deserves a gift from me." she said grabbing her Jack in the Box and threw it at Yang as the girl already geared to punch it. The resulting explosion covered Yang into the black smoke as Harley laughed. "Well, that sure was another… YANG!" she said before suddenly stopping as the very joke was finished by Yang.
Yang grinned as it seemed her very hair by now was flaring up as she pointed her arms backwards and with the force of her Ember Celica shoot her right at Harley. The clown girl was quicker though using her acrobatic moves this time to remain ahead of the flared up girl. As Yang tried now to punch Harley she instead kept on the defensive, dodging every punch she threw at her. "Sheesh, what are you? A super sayian?" she asked as Yang grew more annoyed by now from the constant dodging.
"I'm just someone looking for fun and kicking people like you out of clubs like this." Yang replied as her next punch hit home as Harley was once more send flying across the room this time hurtling around as she made a goofy holler scream before falling down on the floor. "Urgh… what do they feed kids these days?" Harley asked as she shook her head before looking up seeing Yang once more coming at her.
Harley held out her bat in front of her not even knowing that by now it was already bend and more or less broken as Yang stood in front of Harley, slowly bend down and looked at her. "Had enough already?" she asked as Harley looked back at her. "What? You're not going to knock me down or punch me out of the building?" Harley asked confused as she looked up as Yang gave a shrug. "Cause you're fun and probably not as bad as that short guy." she said before her eyes darted over seeing Penguin still cowering behind the bar where he had fled to as the fight had broken out.
"More so than that guy." she said as she grinned before giving Harley a punch on her back causing the girl to slam over nearly hitting the ground with her face. "Whoops, guess I wiped the floor with your smile." Yang said with a grin as Harley looked at Yang before starting to laugh at her. "Oh boy, this is such a nice cut from Bats or Birdboy or Bratgirl… someone that can actually properly joke." she said as the two started now to laugh together.
"Well, sorry for this." Harley said suddenly as she threw her confetti and strings at Yang tying the girl up before hitting her in the face with her bat again. "But I'm a bad guy, so I need to fight dirty." she said with a grin as to her amazement Yang still wasn't down… and even ripped right through the strings burning them up. "Well, I'm sorry too because now I have to punch you out of the building." she said as she was about to hit Harley before she held up her hand.
"What?" Yang asked as Harley leaned forward and quickly kissed her cheek. "Cause I had fun tonight and missed getting my ass kicked." she said with a grin as Yang shook her head with a smile before punching Harley out of the very building as she skidded once more across the street coming right to a stop at the feet of Roman who looked down at the girl who smiled at him, now missing at least one tooth. "I think I need a dentist… and a doctor." she said as he helped her up.
"You think you can actually drive in this condition?" Roman asked as he was only concerned about making a getaway as by now police sirens could be heard that were making their way towards them. "Don't worry one little minute about it Lampwick… My nugging is still intact!" Harley said cheerfully as she nearly dropped out if Roman didn't catch her again. "I don't think driving with you is the best idea for now. I'll drive instead." he said with a slight grin.
"Sure thing... Mr. R." she said as next slowly walked over to the car as Roman jumped into the driving seat as if he was an over eager boy and as soon as Harley sat down the car raced away through the night with two voices yelling in happiness and laughing all the way as they left the ruined Iceberg Lounge behind them. Things just got a lot more interesting in Gotham with these newcomers and Harley was already enjoying it a lot.