"I have a dream for a better Gotham." A morning breeze washed over the Gotham Park Amphitheater, as a crowd of citizens jostled to catch a glimpse of the benevolent billionaire, Bruce Wayne. It was a quiet, peaceful, day in the city of Gotham, and Harley almost felt bad about what she was about to do. Almost, but not quite. Typically scantily dressed, Harley instead wore a lab coat and blonde wig as she discreetly moved through the crowd.
"A Gotham where everybody deserves a second chance. A Gotham, where even the darkest of hearts may see the light." Harley rolled her eyes and tried to tune out the speech, which she quite frankly found boring. She made a mental note to stab Wayne in the eye when she got the chance. Quietly, the disguised clown arrived at her destination, the backstage doors. She slashed the guards in the neck, and stepped past their bleeding bodies into the amphitheater's backstage.
"A Gotham, where order wins over the seductive nature of chaos." Harley carefully placed the bombs in their appropriate locations, and sighed dreamily. "Mister J's just gonna love this."
"And a Gotham, where anyone, if their brave and selfless enough, may rise to the challenge, and be the cities-" Harley pressed the button, and everything exploded. She threw off her disguise, laughing hysterically as the air erupted in screaming. "Oh, wotta-" her smile swiftly vanished as a familiar fist met her face.
"Where's the Joker, Harley," The Batman growled. "Oh, Bats…" Harley sang airily. "Mister J couldn't make it. But don't worry, he sent a little gift, just for you!" She squealed in joy as she released a small rubber ducky in the air, which exploded and released a stream of toxin into the air. But the Batman was prepared his face already fixed with a gas mask as his fist connected with her gut, and knocked into her head. Despite herself, Harley giggled a little as she fell into unconsciousness.
The rest was a blur to Harley. She would later remember Batman taking her to a room, where some sort of doctor stuck a few needles into her. She struggled, but the Batman was there, watching the insane girl and saying "It's for your own good, Dr. Quinzel." She stuck her tongue out at him.
And then she slept.
(Theme Song: The Shadows Betray You play as the camera zooms in on various areas of a destroyed Gotham)
Weak light woke Harley, entering the small room from a broken window. She sat up in her bed, groaning. Something felt wrong. The formerly spick-and-span hospital room was covered in dust and cobwebs, but that wasn't what was giving Harley chills up her back. It wasn't the fact that her beloved Mister J had yet to rescue her. Rather, it was a horrible realization about Harley herself, initiated by the absence of a single sound.
Laughter. For the first time in years, Harley wasn't giggling, guffawing, or even snickering. "What did the bat do to me?" Harley wondered out loud. Those needles…Batman must've managed to somehow cure her insanity through an anti-Joker toxin…but then where was he? Where was everyone? Harley slipped out of the bed, and hesitantly tapped on the door, which creaked open ominously. Am I still dreaming? She wondered as she crossed the silent hall., as dusty and dim as her own room. She arrived at the hospital's front doors, and hesitantly looked them over. Do I want to do this? What if the Joker's waiting for me? What if they lock me back up? But these fears were quenched by the curiosity of her situation.
Harley pushed open the door and her heart stopped.
Gotham was…destroyed. It appeared to have been the victim of a sort of earthquake. Many buildings were leveled, or at least severely injured. The streets were filled with rubble, and as Harley descended the hospital's stairs she thought she may've seen a corpse here and there. A few scared citizens flocked inside as they saw her. A hole opened inside Harley. What had turned Gotham into this? And more importantly… "Where's the Batman?" she murmured.
"A better question, sweetheart, would be where's my money?" Harley turned to see a man in some relatively cheap looking power armor. Menacing cracking his knuckles.
"Excuse me?" she said, backing away.
The man smiled. "You're on East End turf, sweetheart, which means you gotta pay your dues."
"Uhm, right…" Harley said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just be going now…" The formerly insane girl turned to leave.
"I don't think so," said the man and suddenly, Harley was ducking to avoid a blast of electricity. Something inside Harley snapped and she lunged at the man, gracefully avoiding his futile attempts to hit her and delivering a painful kick to his face. The man slumped to the ground, unconscious. Harley's mind spun. How could the Batman have let this happen?
"Hey! Hey, you!" a man approached Harley, wearing armor similar to the one whom Harley had defeated. She warily settled into a combat stance, but he shook his head. "I don't mean you no harm! Don't you listen to Sparky here, he's a ! #$ing idiot."
"I noticed." Harley replied drily, before asking what was really on her mind. "What happened to Gotham?"
The man burst out laughing. Is that so irritating when I do it? Harley wondered silently, but the man noticed her expression and stopped. "You seriously don't know?"
Harley stared at him blankly.
"When, missy, the Mortician can explain it to you better then I. He leads us- the East End Enforcers, that is- and I'm sure he would love such an…" the man stared at his fallen comrade, "Efficient…enforcer as you. What say you come meet da boss?"
Harley wished she could've said no, but ten how would she have discovered what happened to her city? As much as the idea of meeting this Mortician displeased her, she had to know…"Sure," Harley said casually. With any luck, Harley would be able to take down this nasty dictator and discover the truth in a single endeavor. "Lead the way."
The man lead her down the destroyed streets of Gotham, until they arrived at a large building which was once the luxurious Regal Hotel. According to the man, whose name was Clover, the top floors of the hotel had been rendered unlivable, but the first five levels were utilized by the Enforcers as their headquarters. Harley followed him up the stairs to the fifth level, where the man sat her down in a waiting room. "Wait here," he said and entered the Mortician's office. Harley couldn't help noticing the other Enforcers, gluttonously drinking and swearing in the bar room across from the waiting room. Soon, Clover returned, and beckoned Harley to follow him into the Mortician's hall. "Come on, the Mortician's-" There was a sudden shattering of glass in the room beyond, and an Enforcer yelled "Intruder!' Harley exploited this distraction to dropkick Clover, and proceed to slam his head into the wall.
Running into the office, Harley found it deserted. "Dammit," she swore. "He escaped." Harley ran into the hall, which was ominously silent. All of a sudden, she heard a slight whooshing sound and ducked as her assailant sailed over her, but then released an object at her which connected painfully with her face. "Batman?" she questioned hopefully.
"No," Nightwing growled, standing over her and pointing one of his escrima sticks at her. "Someone much worse. Someone who's going to finally kill this clown."