Part 2 of my new story. I almost forgot, I don't own this story or the show. Boy, I miss this show. Hell, I miss the friggin' 90's when life as a kid was simple and fun! Pokemon, Digimon, Beast Wars, Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Spiderman TAS, X-Men TAS, WWF Attitude Era, N64, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country, arcade games, Blockbuster and Hollywood video stores, that's what growing up in the 90's were all about! A winning combination!
Not anymore . . .
Daylight.
The asylum opened. The graveyard shift for the night guards ended and were sent home and in came their daytime counterparts along with the doctor staff.
The inmates were awakened and the guards led them to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The only one who didn't attend was Harley Quinn. She didn't leave her cell because she was still asleep. That sedative she took the previous night was a powerful drug. Despite having taken it before several times during her crazy moods, it was still strong to keep Harley out and it didn't adapt to her system.
Joan Leland entered the asylum to begin her shift and when she saw the inmates being led to the cafeteria, she noticed Harley Quinn was not with the others in the breakfast lineup. She went to go see what held her up.
She approached Harley's cell and when she peeked through the cell door's bars, she saw her on her bed, still sleeping.
"Harleen?" asked Joan. Like last night, she started addressing the clown woman by her real name as requested.
Harley didn't answer.
"Harleen, wake up." said Joan.
"No, leave me alone! I'm too young to die!" Harley said in her sleep. She was probably having a nightmare as suggested by her tossing and turning.
Joan entered Harley's cell and shook her awake. "Harleen?"
"Where are ya, Bats? Help me!"
When Leland tapped her on the face to wake her, the jester inmate suddenly jolted upward and grabbed Leland by the throat in a violent manner. Her eyes were still closed, meaning she was still asleep and thought she was fighting her dream enemy.
"Harleen, Harleen stop! It's me, Dr. Leland! Wake up!" said Leland.
Harley suddenly opened her eyes and recognized who she was grabbing and released her grip.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Doc. I thought you were the monster from my nightmare." said Harley. "Did I hurt you?"
"No, I'm alright. No harm done." the doctor said and rubbed her neck. She was surprised Harley had quite a strong grip. "What were you dreaming about?"
"I was havin' a nightmare where I was bein' chased around the asylum by a man-sized fish hybrid thingy. I think it was a pufferfish or somethin'. I don't know my 'fishology' or whatever they call the study of water animals, but it was scary." she said.
"Didn't you say before that you had a dislike of fish?" Joan asked.
"Yeah, not only does it taste like crap to me, I'm also allergic to it too. I remember when Joker once tried to poison Gotham with what he called 'Joker fish', which, by the way sounds totally gross, he dressed me up in a fish costume after I said I hated the stuff. He thought it was a riot and I told him he was really sick."
"Well, rest assured, any meal you have here will not include fish for you. Even prisons and asylums have to respect a prisoner's religious and dietary background and remove offending ingredients from their food as stated by law. Your background papers mention your fish allergy and the staff here must comply or they will have to face legal trouble if anything happens to you or the other inmates."
"Thanks doc." said Harley.
"My pleasure. Now, it's time for breakfast. The line's waiting."
Harley got up and followed Joan to the cafeteria for her daily meal.
"Say, what time is it?" Harley asked after noticing the sun was brighter all over the asylum.
"It's 10:00 a.m." Joan answered.
"And what time was it when I was brought back here?"
"7:30 p.m."
"Dang! I was out longer than I thought. That stuff you stuck me with is friggin' powerful!" Harley said.
Joan smiled from Harley's comment.
Harley and the doctor were mere moments from entering the cafeteria when Harley suddenly stopped.
Joan noticed and asked, "What is it, Harleen?"
"Is a certain someone in there?" she asked, not even wanting to say his name.
"You mean Joker?"
Harley nodded, the name giving her the shivers.
"Yes, he is I'm afraid. You aren't still obsessed with him, are you?"
"Of course not. He's dead to me, but I'm worried what he'll say or do if he sees me. He'll treat me the way he treats Red. I just got over him last night. You saw the Joker posters and junk I threw away last night." Harley said.
Joan, feeling sympathetic to the former doctor and knowing that her renouncement of Joker was part of her rehabilitation process, decided to help Harley out with this problem. She also knew that "Red" was Harley's nickname for Pamela Isley, a.k.a. Poison Ivy due to her obvious red hair.
"Tell you what, Harleen. How about you return to your cell and I'll bring you your breakfast? That way Joker doesn't give you any problems and doesn't do anything stupid to send Arkham back into a panic." she offered.
"You'd do that for me? Even after I nearly choked you back there?" Harley asked.
"Of course. You didn't mean to do that. You were just having a bad dream and you'd never hurt me on purpose."
"Thank you, Dr. Leland." Harley said and hugged her lightly before walking back to her cell.
"My pleasure." said the doctor and she went to get Harley's food.
Harley skipped to her cell and sat down on her bed. Of all the staff working in this nuthouse, Dr. Joan Leland was the only one she trusted. She tried to help her reclaim her sanity and she still was even after the chaos she committed out there the other day. She even offered to bring her food to avoid her former lover.
Minutes later, Dr. Leland returned with a tray of food for the clown girl. It was maple and brown sugar-flavored oatmeal in a bowl with raisins in it, a piece of toast and orange juice.
"Here you are, Harleen." she said.
"Thanks." Harley said and took the tray.
"Today's breakfast included bacon, but remembering that you're Jewish, I took the liberty of replacing it with that slice of bread you see there." said Joan.
Harley remembered too. She may have been a criminal and despite not taking her heritage seriously, she still respected part of it, mostly the "no pork" rule. Harley remembered one time when she was a teenager, she sent a common mugger straight to the hospital for calling his mugging victim, a fellow Jewish person, an anti-Semitic slur, which angered Harley to the point of beating the hell out of him. The victim thanked her and ran off while the thug, upon his discharge from the hospital and serving 90 days in jail for the offense, moved out of Gotham to avoid a second trip to the ER by the future clown woman and was never seen again.
"I see." said Harley after her flashback ended.
"I also convinced them that separating you and Joker from each other would reduce the stress of dealing with you two and they agreed to go with it. They sometimes admitted that you two were the most challenging inmates to handle before. So to put it simply, whenever Joker's out, you stay here and when he's in his cell or in the hospital if gravely injured, you can come out." said Joan.
"That'll work and I don't mind." said Harley.
"I'll leave you be. After breakfast, the inmates will go to the recreation room and when their time's up and they return to their cells, I'll let you out. How's that sound?"
"Sounds terrific." Harley said and clapped her hands once in joy.
"Okay, I'll see you later, Miss Quinzel." said Joan and she left to resume her duties.
"Bye, Dr. Leland." said Harley and she started to eat her breakfast.
While she was happy to be separated from Joker, she was also worried about Poison Ivy. Knowing her bitterness with Joker, Harley hoped Ivy would survive being around him again. She heard that they once had an argument in the rec room over what television show to watch. Joker was such a prick to her.
While she was eating, as dumb as this sounded, she wondered if Batman was thinking about her. When she told him last night to call him, she was half-joking, but also half-serious at the same time. He treated her fairly while Joker would treat her like crap. Now she realizes Joker never cared for her, he just used her for his own selfish purposes and punching bag.
The bastard.
When breakfast was over, she saw from her cell, the inmates walking out of the cafeteria and heading for the rec room as Joan Leland said. She saw Mad Hatter, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Ventriloquist and Joker. The only inmates she did not see were Riddler and Penguin. Riddler was still out there doing his usual thing and Batman was probably hunting him down while Penguin was serving his sentence in a regular prison because, despite his crime sprees, he was not insane like the others in Arkham.
Lucky for her, Joker didn't notice her. Still, Harley ducked under her bed to make sure he didn't see her.
Harley noticed Scarecrow was outside looking in her cell bars.
"I know you're there child." he said.
Besides Ivy, Scarecrow was calm around Quinn. When Harley was speaking to Joan about her release from Arkham two days ago, both women heard him rambling on about him being the "Master of Fear" and the "Lord of Despair" while being escorted inside by Batman and Robin. When Harley greeted him as he passed by, the man looked at her and simply said to her, "Good evening, child." in a calm manner before suddenly returning to his wacky mood by demanding that everyone worship him and sing hymns praising his name as if he was God or something. Even Harley was taken back by that behavior because she may have been insane, but she wasn't that insane. She also remembered Robin saying to Batman, "I think he's getting better."
Not. Still, that made her giggle.
"Good morning, Professor Crane." said Harley as she crawled out from under her bed and approached the cell door.
"Morning, Miss Quinzel. How are you today?" Crane asked, calling Harley by her legal surname.
"I'm fine. How about you?"
"The same. Readjusting to this madhouse after I was returned here by the Bat and his pet. What happened to you the other day?"
"I was released on parole and I was doin' fine for a while till I messed things up and got sent back here by the same people you mentioned."
"Oh, my apologies for your terrible day."
"That's okay. At least the staff here understand that what happened was not entirely my fault, especially Dr. Leland. B-Man convinced me to give rehab another go and I'm goin' through the motions again. I want to get out of here the right way. No more wackiness for me."
"Oh, how'd he convince you?"
"When he brought me back to Arkham, he gave me something I bought with my own money when I was out and I felt so happy that I . . ." Harley began to blush at what she almost said.
"What did you do, child?"
"I . . . I . . ." Harley had trouble telling what she did last night.
"Crane! Front and center, now!" yelled a guard, interrupting their conversation.
"Still in trouble. Gotta go. Have a nice day, Miss Quinn." Crane said quickly before running off to the guard.
"Quit chatting with yourself and get your ass in that room on the double!" said the guard. He was probably unaware that Harley was still inside and thought Scarecrow was simply having a chat with nobody but himself. The usual symptom of a nuthouse resident.
"Don't you speak to me like that, mortal fool! I'm still the god of fear around here!" said Crane.
Harley heard a smacking sound, hinting that the guard must have hit Crane with his nightstick.
"And I'm the god of smacking jackasses like you!" said the guard. "Now get your crazy happy meal ass in there!"
She looked at the window bar for a better look and saw Crane being pushed in the rec room by the guard.
"Ouch." she whispered. She hoped she would not piss off any of the guards around here, so she decided to try playing it cool if she wished to leave Arkham again and when she did, she would not screw it up again.
If I can do it before, I can do it again. Plus, I can get away from Mr. J if I do get another parole thing. Hmm, maybe I shouldn't call him 'Mr. J' or 'puddin' since they were my pet names for him and I don't hang around him anymore. I'll just call him 'Joker'. If I knew what his real name was, I'd call him that instead. Even I was never told what his name was. Perhaps that origin tale he told me before about his booze-lovin' dad beatin' the crap outta him as a kid was a load of bull and I fell for it. She thought.
She was starting to think that Joker's background was all a lie to snag Harley into his web.
Chapter complete. Lemme know if you want more. I hope I don't sound stupid writing this story.