Technicolor

A Harley Quinn/Joker Fanfic

A/N: Slightly edited from the original one I posted.

Gotham City was truly alive at night. It was often true that there were more people out during the day but these were the ordinary citizens of Gotham. The ones that didn't make much noise, that didn't make the ground shake or the sky burn. The boring ones as Harley thought of them, going about their day with dull jobs and dull lives, working to earn money to buy clothes and shoes and food. It was much more fun to just smash a window with a baseball bat grab whatever she desired, which is what she often did. Harley still remembered when she was the same as the 'normal people' but she didn't like to think about life before her Puddin'.

It was a colourless world before, like when Dorothy went from Kansas to OZ, she had gone from sepia to technicolor, and it was so much better.

Tonight Harley Quinn, former Doctor of Psychiatry and therapist at Arkham Asylum, was watching the world from the window in the hideout she occupied with The Joker. It was an apartment like living space that used to be offices when the building was a theatre. They had taken the dilapidated building over last year and redeveloped the downstairs into a flashy nightclub called Funfair with the spoils of the last bank robbery.

Upstairs they couldn't really care less about what it looked like. As long as The Joker had an office and Harley had her bed they were happy.

Harley sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her face, she turned around to face the cracked gaudy mirror standing next to her and scrutinised her appearance.

Her platinum blond hair, dip dyed blue and pink was in dire need of a brush. Her stark white face was showing signs of exhaustion from the last couple of nights, fighting with Batman was wearing her down. The bruise she had sustained from when her face had collided with a fist was just coming out on the side of her head, her make-up was extremely smudged and her Daddy's Lil Monster t shirt that was once red and white was now grey and dark red. All in all Harley thought she looked like a state. The Joker had requested her presence in the club tonight as she had missed out last night but she knew if she went downstairs like this she would get the beating of her life from her lover. His image was very important to him and Harley didn't want to embarrass him or herself.

So she stripped off and walked across the hall to the bathroom. She climbed into the bath and set the shower onto hot, she waited until the water changed from muddy brown to clear and stepped into the powerful stream. Harley let the warm water gush over her, washing away her makeup and grime from the last couple of days. She showered and shaved then grabbed a green towel from the rack. She wrapped it around her and began the monumental task of combing her hair out and blow drying it.

Once she was ready and had applied concealer on the rapidly darkening bruise Harley rifled through her wardrobe back in their bedroom and chose a red short dress with black glittery diamonds all over it and black heels. Harley applied the rest of her make up, creating one black and one red smokey eye with eyeshadow and staining her lips with red lipstick, she shook out her thick hair and descended down the stairs that led to the backstage of the club.

Funfair, as well as being a club that provided DJs for the customers also often had dancers of all genders who entertained the crowds on various platforms. There were the normal ones that just had a flat square at the the top, others that had poles in the middle for swinging and dancing around and there was a special one that was Harley's favourite. A gilded cage right in the middle of the nightclub. Tonight Harley had decided it was high time that she got into this one again.

Picking her way through the rest of the dancers who were milling around backstage she made a beeline for the lift that transported them up into the cage. Nick, one of The Joker's henchmen was guarding the entrance up into the club. He noticed her and nodded to her. "Evening Quinn"

"Nick-y my dear let us up there will ya" she said

"Are you sure? Its packed up there and the boss isn't in a very good mood"

"Oh when is he ever in a good mood? Pleeeeease Nicky for me" she batted her eyelashes at him

"Fine" he sighed and let her pass.

She climbed onto the platform and barely registered Nick say "Good luck" before she was sent into the loudness above ground. Dry ice surrounded her as she arrived inside the cage and the previous song had just come to it's end. She shook out her arms and legs before another song came on.

It was 'Applause' by Lady Gaga. She danced in time with the music and the crowd cheered around her. But how could they not? You see, the reason why people kept coming back to Funfair wasn't the reasonably priced drinks, because they were extortionate, or that it was owned by a local celebrity, because The Joker was often truly terrifying. It was because in the early days Harley and her Mista J had developed a drug that they pumped via the smoke machines that gave the recipient the feeling of jollity and weightlessness which was highly addictive. People kept coming back for more and so their repeat customer base was born, they didn't care that they were giving all their money to the Clown Prince of Crime, they just wanted their next fix. Naturally The Joker and Harley made sure that they and their gang were vaccinated against the gases.

Back to present, Harley was having a fabulous time in her cage, she spun around and faced where she knew her Pudding would be. It was a private booth that was fenced off by bullet proof glass, inside the glass room was a long table and chairs plus comfy gold sofas. Harley squinted and sure enough The Joker was there, surveying the club, hands in his pockets of his black pants, only a few buttons done up on his shirt exposing his tattooed chest. The look on his face was predatory but Harley knew he hadn't noticed her just yet.

'That's about to change' she thought as she unlocked the door on the cage.

Smoothing his green hair back, the Joker turned away from his bickering colleagues and wished for some peace and quiet. He did actually know how to quickly achieve silence and that was to take hold of his gun and put a bullet in every head in that glass room. But it was too much of an effort at the moment. The headache that had been threatening to materialize had taken hold of him and he was still feeling the effects of the last broken rib by Batman.

All in all, the Joker was in a terrible mood. He watched over his club, making sure that the gas was working and his clients were still happy and spending money. Which they were.

A new dancer had just started on the cage stage, the music was penetrating through the glass, 'I know that figure' thought the Joker. He watched as Harley entertained the crowd, pulling out all the stops to give them a good time, he was actually enjoying himself, that was until his partner in crime looked over in his direction and then let herself out of the cage.

The Joker sighed and shook his head as she climbed up the cage and stood at the top. "Look at this boys, we've got ourselves a spider monkey" the Joker called out, gaining control of his men once more. They joined him at the window and saw Harley hoist herself up onto the trapeze ring above her, swing and then throw herself at the next one. She did this once more until she neared the platform that their glass meeting room was standing on and then flipped into the air onto the stage. The club goers cheered as she took her final bow but her Mista J had enough. He stomped towards the door at the other end of the room, wrenched it open and joined her at the front.

"Get in here now" he growled, grabbing her upper arm in a vice like grip and dragged Harley back inside despite her protests. He pushed her onto one of the sofas, hissed "I'll deal with you later" and motioned for the boys to get back to business at the table.

Harley's insides squirmed when the Joker threatened her, part out of fear but also because his low voice turned her on. She crossed one leg over the other and tried to concentrate on the meeting. But Harley found that she couldn't focus, adrenaline still flowing through her veins she stood up and sashayed back over to the window. The punters were getting progressively more drunk and small fights were breaking out, the happy gas didn't seem to be calming anything down at all.

"Mista J?" Harley called out.

"Not now Harley!" warned the Joker, not even looking in her direction.

She huffed and looked closer, this wasn't just a normal flight. There were flashes of black mixing in with the crowd. A certain caped crusader had joined them tonight. Harley hurried over to the Joker and shook him. This angered him and he pounded his fist on the table "Harley! What is it!"

"Look Puddin' its Batman!" she pointed outside. The Joker pushed her out of the way and ran over to the window, he laughed, grabbed a knife out of his pocket and ran outside to join the fray. Harley quickly followed him after stealing a gun from one of the men.

"Hey Batman, what can I do for you today?" Called the Joker

"I'm not here for you Joker, not today. I need to talk with Mr Dall here" Growled Batman referring to to the man he had at his feet

"Ahhhh but you see, you're in MY business Bats. I can't have you threatening my customers can I?"

"YEAH BUZZ OFF B-MAN" shouted Harley

"I SAID SHIT UP HARLEY" the Joker rounded on her and slapped her hard on the side of her cheek so hard that she fell and hit her head on the floor and blacked out.

She woke up two hours later in an Arkham Cell with a pounding headache and a smarting cheek. She sighed, at least she could catch up with her old pal Ivy now.


Sorry this was short. Thought this was going to go somewhere but I couldn't think of anything longer than an extended one shot. I have an idea for another one shot with these two but it wouldn't have worked within this one so I will be writing and posting it separately. Look out for that! Also it's really quite hard writing as SS Joker and Harley with just the trailers and images to go on. Roll on 5th August!