Author's Note: This is a non-canon fan fiction about Harley and Ivy as college students. All timelines, universes, and origin stories are completely disregarded. This is purely Harley and Ivy. Note: I use Ivy Pepper from the Gotham TV series for Ivy's name.
Author's Note: This is a non-canon fan fiction about Harley and Ivy as college students. All timelines, universes, and origin stories are completely disregarded. This is purely Harley and Ivy. Note: I use Ivy Pepper from the Gotham TV series for Ivy's name.
Chapter 1: Eluding the Past
"I will find you. Your phone number may still have an Industrial District area code, but I will find you." there was a pause. I could hear his breathing through the phone sending chills up my spine, "They're calling me the Joker now. Because of what you did. You'll pay for this," I started laughing, a high and cackling crazed sound. Still he continued, "YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?! YOU BITCH! YOU WON'T BE LAUGHING WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!" My heart was pounding, adrenaline surged through my veins. I tried to shut out the memories. Mania overtook my brain and took captain over my mouth, "Catch me if you can, puddin'." I hung up, high on mania I would reap the consequences later.
It was four in the morning. I was too awake. Where was he now? Did it matter? I had more important things to worry about now. First day of college. Far away from the past. Living away from campus, too expensive to live in the dorms. Had to get out of the house. Had to move forward.
Alone.
I went through the entire day alone until the class required for the Honors College. That scholarship is the only reason I can afford to go to school. Professor was late and the other students were beginning to congregate outside in the hallway. My attempts were subpar at best because I was distracted. I knew that I had to make friends in order to not feel so alone, but friend were also dangerous. They were connections to an area or place. Evidence that I existed.
"YOU IDIOTS! Soil everywhere in the room! Regardless of that, you endangered a very rare Glorlosa I've been cultivating since I started high school!" The raging woman's flaming red hair was wildly strewn across her face as she yelled into her phone. Everyone was staring at her, and not just because of her vocal volume. Her jungle green dress was long and loose and carelessly low-cut. Her pale skin was flushed with rage, drawing attention to fierce and striking crystal eyes so sharp they could cut a man to ribbons with a single glance. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again they were filled with fury, "You will be very sorry, indeed." The woman ended the phone call with a sigh and tied her hair back in a tight but unkempt ponytail.
"Never trust men to do tasks that require a woman's touch." She walked over to me carrying a black bag with a graphic I couldn't quite make out.
"Is that a Little Shop of Horrors bag?" I asked.
"Oh this? I've had it for years!" she exclaimed. She turned to the side so that I could see. It had Audrey II on the side with the caption, "Feed Me Seymour!" It surprised me at how easily the small talk came to me, continuing as the professor finally arrived and began to take attendance.
"Ivy Pepper?"
"That would be me."
"Harlee-"
I cut him off, "It's Harley." I hated my name. He would always use my full name when he was angry at me.
"Right then, I'll be sure to remember that."
Ivy sat across from me and I couldn't help but look at her, "So what got your panties all in a bunch this mornin', Red?"
"The blithering idiots hired by the moving company nearly destroyed something very important to me," Ivy replied.
"Well what was it?" I liked the way she said 'blithering idiots.'
Her eyes were bright with excitement and the gorgeous woman leaned in closer, "It was a rare orchid that I had been cultivating since my freshman year of high school," her hand touched mine, displaying nails painted a pale green, "very beautiful. Those pigs had no idea what they were holding."
The sadness in her voice gave me an idea, "I know something that will cheer you up, Red," I flashed her a wicked grin, "I can get your plant back, and your revenge. Meet me after class in the Honors Lounge."
After class I walked to our point of destination and checked my phone. I had a voicemail.
"I'm sorry Harley-girl. Can you forgive me? You know, I kind of like the scars. They give me…character." The recording cut off in abrupt, maniacal laughter. The sound made my heart skip a beat.
Ivy was waiting in the Honors Lounge lazily sprawled across the couch like she owned it, "So what's your fantastic plan about restoring my plants and getting my revenge?"
"You hired the movers specifically for transporting plants, right? From Wayne Enterprises' Science Division?"
"Where are you going with this?" Ivy sat up attentively, flashing the length of a long, pale leg from the slit up the side of the dress.
I gave her a playful smile, "We're not going to restore your plants, we're getting you new ones."
We met at the appointed rendezvous area, next to a sacred statue on campus. Tight black shirt and tight black pants with a long red hooded cape coat. My hair was tied back in pigtails hidden by the hood and my face was even more concealed by ghoulish special effects makeup. I looked like a Day of the Dead clown, or the wraith of a dead dancer. I wore blue contacts to further throw off potential witnesses. I'd gotten them for him. He hated my glasses.
Ivy soon appeared, all flowing grace and ethereal beauty. She wore a dark green sweater and jeans with a flowing black princess coat over the top. She wore a delicate masquerade mask decorated with vines and flowers, fully hiding her face.
"We look like the Bringer of Life and the Red Death," I muttered. All of the theatricality wasn't really necessary, but it was something we both had a passion for so we both ran with it.
"I was thinking that you looked more like a harlequin," Ivy commented as she strolled over to me, "I mean, all you need is the jester horns and a comedy routine. You have the personality for it."
"A what?"
"Never mind," Ivy sighed, "Let's go. We're taking my car." She grabbed my hand and led me over to an ancient, but immaculately kept bright green roadster, "Rosebud was my dad's. A buddy of his was keeping it until I turned 18. Thing was in terrible shape when I got it. The red was so faded it looked pink so I named it Rosebud. Terrible gas milage, but it gets me around."
We hopped over the doors into the seats and the engine roared to life as she sped like a bat out hell onto the road.
"This things real subtle, Red. We'll need to stash it somewhere so no one hears the engine."
"What?" She yelled over the engine's growl. We were going at least sixty-five in a thirty-five mile per hour zone. She couldn't hear me.
"Slow down Red! You're gonna attract the fuzz!" We hit the interstate which was practically deserted at this hour, but Ivy was struggling to stay inside the white lines. I was gripping my seat for dear life; if the car had featured granny handles I would have practically ripped them off by now. She swerved onto the exit ramp and I said, "Park near Ace Chemicals. I don't want us to attract attention with this car."
We took to the rooftops, climbing fire escapes and jumping the narrow spaces between the crowded buildings.
Wayne Enterprises' Applied Science Division building was a massive technological institution which pursued projects that rarely left the building without top security.
"Harley, are you insane?! We can't break into there! We'll be caught as soon we enter the building."
"Relax, Red. I got this. If we get caught you can blame me." From my pocket I procured a plastic ID card. Ivy took it from my hands and scrutinized it.
"Where did you get this? Is that a picture of you?" She stood in front of me, demanding an explanation.
"It's my sister's. She works in the medical department of the Applied Sciences Division. We'll use the service entrance used by the janitorial staff."
"I didn't know you had a sister," Ivy said as she crept along in front of me. She was a lot faster than I was, but she was also much louder.
"Could you be a little quieter? You're so loud! And there's a lot of things you don't know about me, Red." The comment made me think back to the voicemail. What was he planning? Did he want me back?
I needed to get him out of my head and focus on the task at hand. The back service door was alarmed from the inside as an emergency exit, but not alarmed from the outside. It wouldn't trigger if we entered from this side and because of that, it was locked. I pulled out a folded makeup bag filled with lock pick sets. I selected the one for commonplace business doors and set to work clearing the tumblers. It was a matter of feeling them through the pick, feeling the wedges that comprised the locks slide to the side, working around the different sizes. Finally I could feel the pull of the lock pick as it rolled with the entirety of the lock, turning all of the tumblers at once and opening the door.
In order not to trigger the alarm, I could only open the door a certain amount of space. Both Ivy and I were not fat by any means, but we had sumptuous curves that did not make us stick thin. Both of us slipped through the door and crept carefully up the stairs, ever aware of our echoing footsteps as we did our best to muffle them.
"Do you know where the Botanical Department is?" Ivy asked me as we continued to climb.
"That's what directories are for." We had reached the lobby, having come up from the parking lot levels from the stairs. We carefully crossed to the opposite side of the building, avoiding the security lights and keeping to the shadows. We would still need to avoid using the elevators, but the other set of stairs led to the private sections of the building where the research labs were, accessible only through keycard access.
Making our way across the vast lobby was painfully tedious. I could make out that there was someone keeping watch at the main desk, likely watching the floor as security.
I turned to Ivy, my lips practically touching her ear, "There's a security guard, Red. Be as quiet as possible." Being this close to her was dizzying, her smell a magical concoction of fresh wild forest and manicured, fragrant gardens. For a moment I was afraid that I had lingered there too long before moving away, but as we moved across the floor I could sense that she was much closer to me than previously.
I was sweating bullets by the time that we reached the door to the other set of stairs. Slowly, I swiped the keycard and jumped as it flashed green and beeped. I heard the guard stir at the noise and saw his head swivel around, searching for the source of the noise. Ivy and I stood there frozen for at least ten minutes before even venturing to open the door.
I scanned the stairwells for cameras, knowing that the research labs would be more heavily monitored. There was one positioned in the corner of the stairwell. I took out a stationary tactical blade and threw it, aiming for the back housing of the camera. I didn't throw it as hard as I wanted to, but it was enough to partially sever the wire, making the connection unreliable.
We made our way up the stairs undetected as I collected my knife. As soon as we reached the Botanical Department, Ivy was in heaven.
She flitted around the white-washed photo-generative light of the botanical laboratories, nearly giddy at the sight of so many rare and experimental plant species.
She froze for several moments and spoke in a voice that raised the hair on the back of my neck, "Harley, we're taking them ALL."
With a speed that was startling in itself, she whipped out dozens of vials and biohazard containers and began gathering specimens with a dizzying fervor. In order to stay out of her way, I stumbled backwards and knocked a vial off of a nearby table. The shattered vial released a milky purple gas with a hiss. As soon as the glass hit the floor, alarms began blaring throughout the building.
"Red! Run for it!" I yelled and bolted through a side door. My boots slid along the freshly waxed floor and I could hear Ivy quickly catching up to me. I chanced a glance behind me and saw three security guards on our tails, "Let's split up! It'll increase the chances of one of us escaping!"