Harley Rathaway
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Her name is Harley Rathaway. Firstborn to the Rathaway family, she was the oldest sister. Her sister Jerrie has a mental condition.
Harley herself was born deaf. Her parents didn´t notice until she was four years old. Then came the surgeries. Countless surgeries, frequent hospital stays...she must have spent almost one year in total in there. Then one guy, Doctor Magnus had a magnificent breakthrough; he replaced her inner ear with micro robots. She could hear. She could really hear. She cried at the sheer beauty of sound.
Will Magnus was her first crush she ever had. A silly girl´s crush.
At home, she first listened to music. It was a classical opera by Mozart, the Magic Flute. She spent the whole time not moving, not blinking, just listening. Harley didn´t move for a whole night, but her parents hardly noticed. Now that they had finally fixed her daughter, there was nothing to worry about.
Harley became enchanted with sound. Classical music, techno, rock music, rap music, medieval chorals, trance, pop music, jazz...there was no music she didn´t fall in love with.
In her parents´ eyes, she was a complete failure. She refused to learn the "woman duties" like sewing, cooking and even playing the piano like a proper lady.
She loved music, but she was very self conscious about her abilities. With her new ears she could hear anything: any flaw, any note she didn´t catch right, every rhythm that was a bit off...she didn´t feel that she was good enough to make music. She was content with listening.
Her parents blamed her for her un-ladylikeness. And for the fact that Harley didn´t live the life they desired, but also that she didn´t live the life they desired for Jerrie.
The Rathaway family was ruined in their eyes. Of course they were still wealthy, of course they were still very high in the ranks of society, but the family legacy would die out, along with the name.
Osgood was diagnosed as sterile one year after Jerrie´s birth. No more children.
No more hope for a son.
Only two daughters: the one mentally challenged, the other a stubborn no-good-for-anything.
As their parents neglected her even more than usual, her grades got bad. Her dad bribed the teachers so that her grades would stay up, she would get into college and finally meet a wealthy young aristocrat. And at least produce some grandchildren.
That was when Harley realized that she would never do anything right.
She was studying for a chemistry test, listening to the Magic Flute, when it hit her.
Either she could study and focus and manage a good grade. Then her father would bribe the teacher to give her an excellent grade.
Or she could not study, listen to more music and let her father bribe the teacher anyway.
So she dropped out of college, grabbed her cds and sonic equipment, took all the money on her bank account and ran away.
She only felt sorry for leaving Jerrie behind, but as sad as it was, Jerrie would probably be better off without her in her institution.
Harley did the only thing she was ever good at. Sonics. Sounds. Music.
At first she developed new audio systems for cinemas, musical halls and cinemas. Before she grew bored.
Then she was constructing. Of all instruments, she had always liked the flute best. When she was testing on one day, which frequency could still be heard by the human ear with the boy living next door she discovered something.
Tom, her test subject was crushing on her. She knew that and she felt guilty for using his kindness, but she needed a normal human ear to test the range of her new flute.
When she was playing an old melody, she asked Tom. "How is it?"
"Fine." he replied breathless.
"Is everything alright, Tom?"
"Perfect, Harley." He had a blank look on his face.
"Are you drugged or something?"
She noticed that he would do everything she said. Give her money (although she gave it back), redecorate her room (she did feel a bit sorry for that...but not for long) and carry her equipment to her car.
She was moving out that very day.
On the following day, she found her purpose in life.
Harley was in a hardware store, shopping for new tools (received cat calls and surprised looks from the usual customers) when she looked out of the window and witnessed a bank robbery.
It was Captain Cold. Her heart skipped a bit as she watched the man, clad in his costume, armed with his gun, big grin on his face.
He was her next big love.
It still felt like a silly little girl´s crush. But...damn he was handsome!
She felt that rush in her life, the adrenalin coursing through her veins..that delightful feeling.
Harley turned to crime. Of course she would use sonics as her weapon. She knew that she could scramble with people´s brains, make people addicted to her, make everyone do her bidding. But that was not her style. She liked to wreck things with sonics.
Her first choice for a name was Papagena, but she figured that no one would recognize this. So she called herself the Pied Piper. Harley also changed her name to keep her parents out of this. Her official new name was Piper Amadé.
Soon, too soon she was accepted by the Rogues. She saw Captain Cold again. Her affection for him was gone; there was a new man in her life. Technically. She loved battling the Flash. But then, every Rogue did so. For all of them it was a game. A big, funny, harmless game. The Rogues became her family.
But soon, the time of (something alike) innocence was gone; Barry Allen died.
All of the Rogues reformed. They thought that the playtime was over. Harley herself became a close friend of the new Flash, the little Wally. Too close for Wally´s girlfriend Linda. Wally was sweet, but she liked men, not boys. Linda never believed her. That put a heavy strain on their relationships: Wally didn´t want to lose Linda, but he also didn´t want to lose his best female friend. Harley was actually more like a buddy to him. She went to bars with him, loved to shop in hardware stores, was a technogeek..but the fact that she was a woman doomed her relationship with the hero eventually. Wally confessed that he loved her as soon as he set eyes on her. That was when she battled with his mentor. But as she told Linda before, she did not have the same feelings for him and told him to go back to Linda before it was too late. But it was already too late. He had broken up with her.
So her connections to the light side were severed one after one.
Harley turned back to the first family she had ever known: the Rogues.
Then her parents died. They were killed. Apparently, by herself. Harley was framed for the crime. In the end it was Mirror Master posing as her, murdering her parents and her sister. She had been brainwashed into believing that she had done it. Wally tried to bail her out, but she declined. She thought that she was guilty after all.
But her family came to her rescue. After a brief, but disastrous time in prison Trickster came to save her. Harley was new to the damsel in distress system. But she was so confused at that time. All alone. He was there for her. James was then her next crush. And her real love. She had a bad time and also the best time of her life, next to the innocent game-time. She thought that James loved her.
Maybe he did. But after he knocked her up, he left. That bastard.
Now she was alone again and pregnant.
Fortunately, she managed to earn money by designing audio systems. Her financial situation was not that bad, but her emotional one was. Her doctor was worried. Not about her, about the baby. She didn´t think that Harley was responsible enough to raise a child. Single mother, former criminal...luckily Wally had managed to clear her name. If he hand´t they would have probably taken her baby away at once.
On May 1st her beautiful baby daughter was born. Her name was Jerry. Jerry Jesse.
Because James had returned the month before her birth. He confessed that he freaked at the thought of their situation. Not about the baby; he loved the baby. Even before it was clear that she was really a she, before Harley´s belly started to swell, before she saw the first ultrasonic picture of the tiny life. James was feeling guilty for running away, but he had come back. He was so frightened to have the responsibility to raise a child. He also had never had a family that could be properly labeled as such. Mostly daddy issues. He returned with a baby jumper. Which he knitted himself. Harley´s eyes began to well up at this. She loved him, dammit!
Two years after Jerry´s birth they got married. So that Jerry could be the ring bearer.
Of course her family came. OK, the Rogues were still pursued by the law, but it was heartwarming to see the bright costumes glancing out from underneath the black tuxedos. It was the best weather ever. How could it not be with Mark here.
She reconciled with Wally and Linda. Linda now really had no reason to be jealous. In fact, she should be jealous of Harley and her beautiful baby daughter.
Ten years later
"Get your hands off my daughter you creep!" Harley yelled. She aimed her sonic blaster at Mirror Master. She shattered his image to thousand bits. That maniac had kidnapped Jerry! Mc Culloch´s mirror doubles laughed at her, mocked her, showed her Jerry...
Roughly half a minute later, Trickster had taken out Evan. Never estimate a man with an invisibility cloak, striped pants and a yo-yo.
The little family came back home. Where Uncle Len, Uncle Micky, Uncle Mark and Cousin Josh and Cousin Owen waited for them for Jerry´s surprise birthday party.
Harley was sure that she had the best family ever.