The Jester
Chapter 1
Glass shattered. A car had driven straight through the large display window of a jewelry store. It was around 2 in the afternoon, in broad daylight. When the car piled through, one person was hit and instantly killed, a couple others injured. The person driving the car never got a scratch, he just laughed with his head waving through the air. The person in the passenger seat hit her head as the car made an impact. Everything got blurry. There was a ringing in her ears. She could hardly see or hear as he screamed for her to get out of the car and hurry up.
Finally, the sound returned. Her vision got better. She heard, yelling in her ear, "Harley, come on, you idiot!"
She realized that she was hanging out of the passenger door as bullets fired back and forth from inside the building, out into the street. Police officers were firing in, and a certain, out of his mind madman was firing back at them.
A burlap bag laid at Harley's feet and a pistol in her hand. The madman she was accompanying yelled, "Harley, put the jewels in the bag!"
"Y-Yes, Mr. J," she gulped as she crawled under the gunfire and began filling the bag with diamonds and jewels.
Then, darkness swooped in. Harley looked back to see her boss had been apprehended in mere seconds by the towering, ominous Dark Knight known as the Batman. Harley nearly screamed, but thanked heavens when she noticed that Batman had not spotted her. She ditched the bag and hid behind one of the counters.
She closed her eyes, but could hear Batman scream, "Joker! Where is Quinn?"
The Joker replied with a giggle, "Quinn? Oh, whoever do you mean?"
Harley smiled. She had feared the Joker would sell her out in a heart beat, just to avoid a couple extra punches. Then, she could hear Batman choke the Joker a little more. He must've been holding him by the throat.
The Joker blurted out with a choke, "She's back there, getting the diamonds!"
Harley's heart dropped. It would be a matter of seconds. Right about now, Batman was throwing the Joker aside as the police pointed their guns at him, giving him pointless threats. Then, Batman would march over to the counter she was hiding behind. Sure, Harley could stay quiet and go with Batman without a fight, avoiding harm completely. But, should she?
She ran out of time to think. Batman stood over her, encasing her in his shadow. With a sigh, Harley stood to her feet and Batman led her back over to the police. She never spoke a word.
Harley and the Joker both sat in the back of an armored truck as it drove through the streets of Gotham, escorted by many police cars. Two SWAT members sat in here with them. Harley sat with her legs crossed, staring sadly at the other end of the truck. The Joker, though, was tossing and turning, entertaining himself by making faces at the police officers.
He turned to Harley and said, "What's the matter, kiddo?"
She didn't say anything.
"Harley," the Joker frowned, scooting closer to her on the bench. "Are you mad at me for some reason?"
"You sold me out," Harley looked at him slowly.
The Joker frowned for a moment. Then, he smiled and shrugged, "Yeah, but whatcha gonna do? It's a crappy world, eh?" He looked at one of the officers. "Hey, by the way, where we headin'?" He burst out laughing.
"Mr. J," Harley looked at him, "Why would you sell me out like that? I would never do that to you."
"Harley," he said, clearing his throat, "It's a dog-eat-dog world. Besides, I couldn't go back to Arkham all by myself! I'd need company!"
"You're going to get solitary confinement," Harley rolled her eyes. "You always do."
"But at least we'll be in the same building!" the Joker smiled. "We'll be together forever!"
One officer interrupted, "Hey, would you two shut the hell up? I don't want to hear about your relationship problems!"
Joker was about to retaliate with a rude gesture, but Harley said to the Joker, "What if we were both tied up and somebody had a gun to us. He said he'd either shoot you in the toe, or me in the head. And, he let you choose. Which would you choose?"
"Harley," the Joker smiled, stroking her face, "Why do you worry about such silly things?"
"My life is silly to you?" Harley raised her eyebrows. "You know, Mr. J, I used to wonder if the whole Joker bit was a big act you were putting on, or if it was real. Now, I know." She crossed her arms. "It's all just a big game to you. Will you please answer my question? Me, or your toe?"
"Harley, you know I care about you," the Joker sighed. "But . . . but . . ." he shook his head with a frown, "If I lost my toe, how could I ever wear sandals again?"
Harley's mouth dropped open. She looked at the officers and said, "Are you hearing this?"
The Joker continued, "And you can't expect me to wear tennis shoes to the beach! What kind of weirdo does that?"
Harley snapped, "What kind of weirdo puts on make-up and robs banks and jewelry stores for a living?!"
The Joker sunk down into his seat, not expecting her outburst. Once she finally calmed, he shrugged with a big smile, "Me?"
Before Harley could say anything, everyone in the truck was thrown forward after a giant explosion. The entire front end of the truck was blown off, letting the sun shine in. The two officers were knocked unconscious as several of the Joker's henchmen rushed in and helped Joker and Harley Quinn out of the truck. They took their cuffs off.
The Joker said, straightening his tie, "It's about time, boys."
"Come on, Joker," one henchmen called for him, "We got a car for you!"
The Joker grabbed Harley's hand and they followed the henchmen as they all got in the car, with Joker and Harley in the backseats, and drove away from the wreckage, taking back alley roads, trying to avoid the police.
The Joker sighed of relief, "How did you creeps manage to do that?"
"A little C4 can go a long way," the henchman proudly said.
The Joker looked over to see that Harley had her arms crossed, looking out the window. He said to her, "Harley, ol' gal," he put his arm around her shoulders, "Remember that little outburst you had on me?"
She looked at him oddly and slowly said, "Um . . . yes . . ."
"Well," he grinned, "I didn't like it."
The Joker then kicked Harley, pushing her out of the car right as they were passing a brick building, causing her to slam into it hard and quickly be left behind by the car. The Joker reached over and closed the car door as he cleared his throat.
The two henchmen in the front seat of the car nervously looked at each other, then kept their eyes in front of them as they drove the Joker back to their hideout . . . without Harley Quinn.