Chapter 6

She could hear fighting in the distance but honestly she didn't have much confidence in the guards if one person broke out of their cell, let alone when everyone in Arkham was out.

Well nearly everyone. She turned to look at the Joker who was sitting in his straitjacket watching her. There were no guards outside the room now; they had all left to help subdue the escaped patients and prisoners.

She wasn't sure what was going on, but at the moment the fighting was further away, she needed to get out of the building since the escapees would soon overrun the place and she didn't want to be there when that happened. But if she left the Joker the way he was, if other patients found him tied up, they undoubtedly would take advantage of the situation. She couldn't leave him to that fate.

Swearing under her breath she walked over to him and looked at him, searching his eyes for a moment "I'm going o let you out of your strait jacket and I'm trusting you not to hurt me" she paused watching him, his expression never changed and he continued to watch her "As you know, the cell doors will malfunction in a loss of power like this so everyone held here is free now, I'm going to get out of here, but you should at least be able to defend yourself, so don't make me regret this."

She took a deep breath and reached forwards to unbuckle the strait jacket. This was the first time shed been this close to him, it made her heart speed up but she focused on the task. The Joker held perfectly still until the last buckle came undone and she drew back, standing.

Slowly he stood up, he was taller than she thought, she had only seen him sitting or lying down, so it was odd and a little intimidating to be looking up at him. His eyes never left hers as he slipped the straitjacket off. And threw it aside. He grinned wildly.

He looked larger without the jacket, he was more muscular than shed imagined and it had been impossible to tell through the material of the jacket. Lean but incredibly defined, he had the functional muscles of an athlete not a bodybuilder she observed. She couldn't stop her eyes from scanning his arms and chest in the plain white vest. It made his skin look even lighter and she could see more tattoos peaking out at the top.

He didn't move while she gave him a once over but when her eyes went back to his, his grin seemed to take over his entire face. She swallowed, then stepped back breaking the trance. Keenly aware of how the balance of power between them had shifted now that he was free, she needed more distance.

She needed to make sure she didn't touch him; the weak but growing bond between them would probably flare to life. And she wasn't ready to go down that road, not yet when he would probably break out now. She took another step back, a slight wariness in her eyes now, before she turned slowly and walked to the door. She didn't hear him move, but could feel his gaze burning into the back of her head.

She turned to look at him standing there; he seemed to be contemplating something. She nodded at him and opened the door slipping out and heading in the opposite direction of the commotion.

She felt a sting of disappointment that he hadn't come after her, but she was also relieved, it was easier this way. As she quietly hurried down the dark corridor she was aware of the sound of her heels and inability to run in them so she stopped, slipped them off and geld them.

Treading lightly she started jogging towards the closest exit, trying to avoid anyone. The escaped patients and prisoners wouldn't take kindly to her, she remembered enough patients threatening her bodily harm in multiple gruesome ways and didn't intent to run into them to see how true to their word they were.

In the rain pouring outside, the storm was loudly raging, one benefit was that is she was quiet; she doubted anyone would hear her. She made it to the doctor's offices and the exit wasn't too much further.

She heard voices laughing ahead and she ducked into a room nearby, she hid behind the door waiting, looking out of the window in the door, waiting for them to pass by. The voices were laughing and soon she could make out 2 figures leisurely walking along, randomly smashing paintings and bashing in doors, inspecting some room but leaving others. "Come out come out wherever you are little doctors, don't you want to play now?" she heard one of them yell in a singsong voice.

Before laughing and bashing an office door down. "Man these are all empty, it's no fun" the other one complained.

"Shut up they're here, they're hiding, and I'm gonna find them and peel the skin off their bones" the other snapped.

Another door was kicked in; they were getting closer to where she was. Slowly she turned one heel in her hand, so if necessary she could use the sharp end to stab someone. A calm settled over her while she waited, shed ambush the first to come in, stab his neck, hopefully incapacitate or kill him and tackle the next. One on one she stood a chance. She might not have been in fights recently, but she remembered what it was like and had kept her bod in excellent shape.

Breathing slowly now, her heart rate slowed, ready to attack. The room next to hers was opened with a crash, they were so close now, almost her- a delighted whoop caught her off guard.

"Well what do we have here? A snivelling little snot doctor" they started laughing and she could hear the sound of begging while they dragged him out of the office.

She could make out the voice of Dr Draymond with a startling realisation. They weren't exactly friends, but he was a nice guy. She couldn't leave him there, but if she rushed them now, she'd lose her surprise and 2 against one were worse odds, especially since she figured Dr Draymond would be entirely useless in a fight.

"Please no" se heard him beg and then a scream as she watched them break one of his fingers.

"9 more to go doc, not feeling so high and mighty now are you?" he gloated before laughing as the other kicked him in the back sending him sprawling on the floor.

"Please, I only wanted to help you" he cried, bawling now, tears streaming down his face.

"Fuck your help" one of them spat on him and gave him other vicious kick. He whimpered curling himself into a fetal position on the floor. Somehow she knew, no matter how much pain the Joker had to endure, he would never be reduced to a whimpering mess like that.

She sighed and swore at herself, she couldn't watch this any longer, she carefully opened the door and slipped out, they had their backs to her kicking him repeatedly and one of them stepped on his hand with and audible crunch. He screamed and twisted round, eyes wild.

She moved closer silently getting ready to stab one of them, only a little closer when-

"Harleen? Oh god please you have to help me" he sobbed out looking at her desperately. She couldn't fathom the stupidity of what he'd done, and moved in that split second, dashing the rest of the way forward to her target, but it was too late and he turned, stumbling back to avoid a heel to the throat.

The other one tackled her from the side, but she twisted away to avoid being pinned to the wall and rammed a heel into his crotch as hard as she could. Bulls eye.

He screamed like and dropped like a rock, gasping and clutching his balls "You bitch" he screamed, curling up and ripping the heel out trying to apply pressure and stop the blood flow.

She other one looked a bit more cautious now, but not about to turn tail. She had one heel left which she waved in the air tauntingly "you want what your friend got?"

"Fucking psycho bitch" he snarled and dashed forwards, she feigned aiming the heel at his crotch and he instinctively leaned forwards, thrusting his hips back to avoid it, when her foot shot straight up and caught him under the jaw.

He toppled over out cold.

Relieved that was over the other one was still rolling on the floor clutching his crotch, crying a swearing at me.

"Oh stop your bitching" she glared at him, Harley was excited, bubbling around in the back of her mind. She definitely approved of the current course of actions.

She sighed and turned back to Dr Draymond who seemed to be in shock. He'd actually stopped bawling for a moment to gape at her. Anger flickered in her and Harley suggested teaching him a lesson for ruining the ambush but there was no point in bringing it up now, she needed his cooperation to get him out of here.

"Josh, hey, focus, we need to get out of here, the guards wont be able to hold them back for long and we need o get out of here before this place I'd overrun, can you stand?"

Numbly he nodded at her slightly. She reached forward to pull him up and leaning on her heavily, cradling hid bad hand against his stomach he started limping towards the exit with me. It was slow going and she figured if she wasn't helping him she would already be out, but shed committed to helping him now, she just hoped they didn't run into anyone else now.

The Joker pondered about what to do next, usually in this sort of situation the course of action was to cause mayhem in Arkham and then get out of here, but now there was another priority.

He didn't want his little doctor getting hurt. She was his, he own possessiveness surprised him, but something about her drew him in. She was stunningly beautiful, a lot of the sessions he thought about undressing her and exploring her top to bottom. But that wasn't the only thing; he'd met and fucked plenty of beautiful women before. But not like Dr Harleen Quinnzel.

She called to him, drew him like a moth to a flame. He scowled, didn't like being the one pulled, it was better when people came to him. But nothing he did could get her out of his mind.

She was always there now. He'd begun to dabble with the idea that she was his fated one but snorted at the idea, he'd never heard a voice, meaning he either didn't have a fated partner or she was dead. He'd never put too much thought into the idea but he couldn't deny he'd felt a bit hurt and abandoned that no voice ever came to him. Meta-humans like Killer Croc heard a voice; he knew since he'd heard he guy trying to answer the voice in his head in his cell at night, not that it worked like that but at least he tried.

But there was no voice for the Joker. Which made him wonder if he was just beyond loving. The thought hurt slightly but he didn't care all too much.

Until the doc came along.

Then he started craving the idea of someone loving him. Not just someone but Harleen Quinzel. Though as much as he was drawn to her, her could tell she kept herself in check, tightly controlled even at rare times when she lapsed, it was never enough to break that mask.

He'd become determined to see if he could break the mask but everything he did, she seemed to slip out of his grasp and dance away, mask firmly in place. It frustrated him to no end, he needed to see underneath, see who she really was under the carefully crafted image.

He wanted to tear down all her walls, expose her for who she was, discover every part she kept hidden. But he'd asked her if she heard a voice. Hoping shed say no, that she was the same as him. But here was some bastard out there waiting for her. Some shit head who laughed a lot.

His hands twitched with the need to rip something apart, someone apart. Well perfect timing, he grinned as he heard footsteps coming down the corridor. He didn't care if it was a guard of patient, he just needed to rend and destroy. Laughing he burst thought the door and turned on whoever was walking there watching their face turn pale as he laughed with glee and leapt forwards.

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