I do not own any of these characters. They belong to DC comics and the movies based on said characters. This is my first post so please read and review.
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Polished, black-leather shoes clap against the floor as the woman continues her confident stride towards her office. She wears black slacks and a red blouse as her jacket is slung over her arm. She enters an elevator and emerges facing her secretary.
"Your patient is in your office waiting for you, Dr. Quinzel," the secretary announces.
"Fran, I don't have any scheduled for a session today. You know that on Wednesdays that I catch up on paperwork," Harleen leaned on her secretary's desk, releasing a sigh as her elbows met the marble surface. "Sometimes you just seem to act without any regard to the consequences…now I have to run this 'patient' out of my office possibly worsening his condition."
"I'm sorry, Dr. Quinzel. It will never happen again," Fran told Harleen exactly what she wanted to hear and the sarcasm flew under Harleen Quinzel's radar.
"And the next time this happens, I can assure you that you will tell me exactly the same thing." Harleen erected her stance and then marched into her office.
The patient was not on her couch where most people lodged themselves after entering her office. The only hint of anyone in the room was that her chair had been spun to face away from her desk.
As the door closed and the latch clanked shut, her chair whirled and her newest patient was revealed to her.
Tattered and torn dress shoes landed on her desk. First one landed with a loud thud and then the other foot perched atop that ankle.
Dr. Harleen Quinzel placed her hands on her hips and frustration flooded her face.
"Uh…Why so serious, toots?" the man issued from the chair and then followed by licking his lips, his tongue flicking like a snake. "I thought that this place was set up so that you could help people."
The flick of the tongue pierced Harleen's haze of annoyance and her gaze fell to the face of her guest. The visage of the man's pale face was marred by two red scars; one jutting from each side of his mouth. Messy, brown hair spilled over onto his forehead.
Ignoring his question, Harleen sighed and then uttered more to herself than to her guest, "And here I thought that I was going to get some work done today."
"But aren't people like…uh…me, your work?" a little chuckle…
"No. People like you who schedule before dropping in, are my work," responded Dr. Quinzel.
"Why be discriminate? Aren't mental patients without appointments just as deranged as those with them?" the man spun around in the chair laughing hysterically.
"Alright…Fine…I'll bite. What can I do for you? What has brought you here?" Harleen spoke the words without interest in what he had to say. She didn't care if he opened up left the room. She planned not to invest anything in him.
"Well, the doctors," he licked his lips, "they have asked me to seek help. And by asked, I mean forced." He laughed, amused by his attempt at a joke. "They gave me two choices. I could either see a shrink, that's you, or find myself within padded walls." He hugged himself, imitating the confinement of a straightjacket. "It seems they didn't trust my smile."
"And just why have you chosen me?" huffed Harleen.
He reached into his jacket. His hand returned with a glimmer and the flap of paper. He stabbed a knife down into her desk. Skewered onto the knife was an ad sliced from the Yellow Pages. He pointed to it and she inched closer until she could read what it said. It was an ad for her operation of Psychological consultation. Her name had been changed with the assistance of a permanent marker. It now read Harle Quin.
"You see, I thought that if were to consult someone about a smile, my best bet would be a harlequin." His hands covered his face in order to conceal is chuckle. The muffled laugh grew louder and he dropped his hands. He clenched his stomach and the laughter became explosive. With his teeth bared, his scars wrinkled with each burst of sound that issued from his mouth.
He fell into the floor with his laughter and Harleen Quinzel knew that it would be a long day at the office and that none of her plans would come to fruition.
