Chapter Two
Weeks went by and Harley wasn't able to catch sight of him once. The sliver of hope she had of seeing him again was starting to dwindle, until she heard a cackle down the hall... Her station was taken at Arkham. She was scribbling at a few papers, her lips turned in a frown...
"Displays hallucinogenic ideas.... Believes he saw myself with missing patient 221 three weeks ago in an abandoned factory on Scythe Street." She completed the formal analysis and put the papers away... Of course, she giggled to herself, she had been in the crumbling building.
Distantly she heard the cackling again, and recognized it. She pushed her chair back, and stood quickly. Rushing to the door, she pressed her ear against it before jumping back. Someone was knocking, and quiet loudly at that. She shakily opened the door, and saw him being dragged in.
"Where do you want him, Miss Quinn," asked two of the three workers keeping him.
"... Oh, I suppose move him down to the basement..." She avoided his gaze, and stared directly at the workers. She checked her list.
"B234. He hasn't been in that one yet..."
"Gah… HAH HAHAHAHHAHAHA! Well! Well.... Sure, go-go ahead, take me to my new room. I'll make sure to, uh, hire an interior designer..." He chuckled.... His eyes went to Quinzell, and he nodded at her.
"...Come on, Miss Shrink, have an assessment for me, hm? Interview me!" He ladled the wording with much meaning, but the guards took no notice as they dragged him.
"...I'll be waiting..." He whispered, the word drawn out. Soon, he was in his cell, chucked unceremoniously... He dusted himself off....
"...Ah....And now, to wait. Oh, boys, can you bring me some soda and some lunchables, or something? I, the crazy person, am hungry!"
Quinzell made her way to her desk, and cursed. It took her nearly no time at all to get down the stairs and to the cell she had sent him. She held a clip board in one hand, and beckoned at one of the workers with the other.
"... Get him. We need to speak. One of the unmonitored rooms, if you please." The man began to argue..
"But with him, all sessions are to be ta-" She cut him off mid sentence with a glare that would make a full grown man cry his eyes out.
"... Get him, and take us to an interrogation room, now." The man gave in, and called a few buddies over.
"... Miss Quin'd like a word with you... So face to the wall, we're coming in..."
"...And smear my face paint? You're delusional. Crazy. And where the hell are my lunchables?!" He asked. A cackle escaped him as the cell opened, and he offered his hands.
"...Well, take me to your...Quinzell. I do hope she has something interesting to say..." He chuckled... He was silent after that moment, as he was led out, but his eyes wandered all over the place. There he as, at Arkham, the loony bin prison...With all these...common idiots! No, no, this was unacceptable. But he had to get there... He needed Quinzell.... Once he was pushed into the room where Harley was in, he smirked. "...Why hello there, uh, Miss Quinzell...."
She sat across the glass from him; long since were the times when the criminals in Arkham were aloud to be in the same direct room with the others. She scanned him, quietly. She noted something, and sighed.
"Of all of the people I imagined I would get to interview, I did not think you would be one of them." She sat down in a chair, and looked at him.
"... Did the bat brat catch you?" She played a sarcastic tone in her voice, and looked at him in scrutiny...
"... I'm surprised..."
"No, no, see, that's where you're wrong to assume, dear. The batman can't catch me, you must know that, specially given the fact Gotham city isn't blowing up!" He sat down on the chair, and leaned down...
"...It makes me sooo....hnnn...sad. You underestimate me. And, what's more, you underestimate yourself. That...is....disappointing. Haven't you ever thought.... That I wanted to talk to you, again? Of course, it's not like I was looking for you desperately...Or that I allowed you to find me... I'm strange, like that. And, what's worse, I couldn't contact you by normal means! You're bugged, in every way...The safest way to contact you without...."....He pointed at the walls, and at the door...
"...Watching.... It's here."
Her lips turned into a sarcastic smile, and she stood up again. She quietly made her way to the glass, and pressed her hand against it.
"... I'm not stupid. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you want to get out of here, or you would have fought more with the guards- you didn't want to ruin your chances. Also, your hands aren't twitching, that's when you can tell that you are lying; you do everything possible to cover it up." She smiled, and stepped back.
"I have studied everything they know about you, Joker..." She indicated around the room...
"Everything others know of you, interviewed your workers..." She stopped, and looked around.
"And then more information originated from the Batman himself... He definitely doesn't fancy you, dear, that's for sure... Especially your last endeavor.... Trying to blow up a grave yard...?" She paused, and looked him right in the eye...
"... And my, have you been a bad, bad boy..."
And there it was. She verbally spanked him. It wasn't a flirt, but it had the same effect of turning the joker on. He slowly turned his face to her, his eyebrow rising, and a smirk playing across his lips, making his smiling face contort into a wicked grimace... His own gloved hand went up to press against the imprint of her hand on the glass...
"...well, then, if you know so much about me, then you'll know I didn't allow myself to get in here without being able to get out easily. And, that's where, uh.... you come in, Quinzell. The time...uh, the time has come...to change Gotham. I can't stand batboy's crusade anymore. Let's get this done."
She smirked, and looked at him. "... I'll see you in a moment. We're transferring you out of Arkham. This place isn't strong enough for you anymore." She took a step back from the glass, and stepped out.
"Boys, take him back to his cell, for the moment. This place isn't big enough for him. I'm having him transferred to Zertki." The guys nodded, as she made her way upstairs to make the arrangements; both with the asylum people, and his people...
The Joker, for the first time, kept quiet. However, his stare, it never tore away from Quinzell as he left the room. It was, well, a knowing stare, disturbing in many senses--but from the Joker, that could pass... as affection. He had seen it- the 'it' he was looking for, the reassurance of the idea that she...she was the one.
Once the guards had dragged him out of the room, and into his cell, he smirked. The guards slowly slid the cell door shut, and he turned around to look at them...
"...Well, boys... That was a sweet first date..a. But, please, I have, uh, morals, so, don't get handsy 'till after the third date..." He licked the corner of his mouth, and cackled, as he sat back down on the small bed of his temporary quarters....
Harleen whispered instructions to the boys on the outside, and explained the route they would take. She finished her instructions to them, and then called up the men at Zertki. She explained who it was that was being sent to them, and instantly they were excited; they had been asking for years to have a chance at holding him, simply to see if they could do a better job.
Her lips curled into a smile, and she promised that they would have him there within the next six hours.
"Boys." Her eyes drifted to the door as the nurses entered.
"Yes'm?" She looked to the largest one, and nodded.
"You and one you choose sit in the back with him and myself. Johnston;" She glanced to the smaller one.
"You're driving the car with him. We're going to be escorted of course- we can't take a chance at losing him. I'm going to put him in sedation, it will make him easier to cooperate with. Go get the cars prepared; it's a five hour drive from here to there." The men nodded obediently, and set to work. Quietly, she made her way back to B234, and knocked.
"... I'm coming in."
The Joker was fiddling with his suit as she came to his cell, and a smirk crawled on his face. He stood, graciously, and bowed at her when she opened the cell door...
His features were heavily marked by a harshly cast shadow from the lighting in the room, making each scar even more pronounced. However, there was this primal joy--the exhilaration of anticipation as what was to come, it was tremendous. For the first time, he was not calling the shots--and even if he wasn't exactly fond of that idea, he felt Harleen Quinzell was the woman for the job.
"...Well, glad you're back. I would make...a joke. But I don't have one. That's...what you call. uh...Irony. Now, what do you need?" He licked his lower lip, "...gorgeous?"
She leaned forward.
"... We're going to make you look like you're sleeping, Puddin'." Her smile turned into a smug smirk.
"... Make them think that you're out, so that when we get ready..." She poked him on the nose.
"... It's going to be a bit more surprising..." Her fingers dawdled over a syringe, and she smiled.
".. Simple H2O, that's all.. Not even going to inject you with it, either." Her eyes looked down at his arm.
"You willing to fake sleeping for about an hour?"
He cackled, and held out an arm, then shook his head, and gave her a shoulder...
"...Go on, Go on! Inject me, please. Nothing like, uh, a good sedative..." He was definitely excited. He'd broken out of Arkham a few times before, but, the facility always seemed to happy to welcome him back, by God! However, he stood still. Sure, the cell they were in had video camera monitoring, but they couldn't hear what they were saying, they were pretty much safe to speak.
"...Where should we, uh...You know, get going, hm? You'll need to alert me, otherwise I'll /really/ fall asleep in one of the guards' comfy shoulders..." He smirked at her.
"...Oh, Quinzell, what are /you/ so happy about, hm? Is it the control? Is it the power you have over these men? Oh, I must admit you look /stunning/ when you act like the boss... I just hope you're, uh... in your right mind to, uh, think that life, with me, will be... Harmless, to you." He chuckled... He took a deep breath, amid her silence, and continued....
"...Life.... life's more dangerous than you think, Harleen... Not, uh... Not forgiving on the body... D'you wanna know how I got these scars? Hm?" He licked the inner part of his cheek, making it bulge out, making those marks on them stand out much more…
Harleen smiled up at him, and took his arm.
"Nope." She then pressed the end of the syringe and put the 'sedative' into him.
"You're going to Zertki. It's a high security mental institution for incurable mental diseases and high class criminals. Their methods are questionable, and the only person that escaped was caught and put to death a week later." She shrugged lightly, and cleaned up the injection site and placed a bandage that looked like a smiley face on it.
"There is a tracker in that, by the way, so your boys can find us... They're not the most intelligent, so I made it easy enough for them to catch up to us." She leaned her neck and popped it.
".. You should be 'passing out' in about a minute or so." She turned to the door, but paused to glance over her shoulder to him.
"... I don't care about your scars 'till you're actually real about it." And with that, she slammed the door behind her; giggling a bit.
The Joker was a bit surprised when she stuck the syringe into him--not because it stung, which, honestly, it didn't. but because she cut him off in a trademark moment of his. As hs left, he heard her request, and he chuckled.
"...So be it." And then, the cackle. Loud, resounding in every prison cell, making the crazy ones go wild with raucous laughter, and the guilty, evil ones cower in their cell... His eyes went to the conveniently placed camera in the corner of his cell, and he looked at it. He smirked, standing up a bit straighter, and closing his eyes....
Slowly, his body swayed back and forth, before it fell, right on his back, convincingly, but with such perfect symmetry, it would look strange.... And, now, he figured, we wait.