The mask covered man took Harley willingly to the center of the dance floor. The music turned to a song favored dearly by Harley, it was Mozart's fourth symphony and it always brought her spirits up.
"So, your name?" Harley grabbed onto his elbow with one hand and his hand with the other.
"Wayne, Bruce Wayne doctor."
"Aww, the magnificent Mr. Wayne has an interest in The Joker? Why is this?"
Bruce led the two in a waltz dance across the floor, and almost instantly people began to move out of the twos way.
"I find his intellectual status to be alarming quite simply." He spun her around and the crowd clapped and awed.
"Intellectual status, high? Intellectual status low?" Harley questioned as she smiled to her growing audience.
"High, unusually high. The way he thinks, Doctor Quinzel, is truly beyond any word I can dig up. It's fascinating to ponder about."
They circled the perimeter of the floor, both dancing like they were born to.
"I agree, terrifyingly high, almost to the point of him not being called insane, but rather incredibly sane."
Bruce dipped her as the song finished, "Really?" He stood Harley back upright and looked around at the crowd waving as they applauded.
"Quite the dancer I must say Mr. Wayne, thank you I enjoyed it."
"Your quite the dancer yourself doctor, thank you."
Harley began to walk away from the crowd until she heard a voice call from behind her.
"Excuse me."
Harley turned around to see who had called out.
A man also in a masquerade mask walked into the middle of the circle. He, however, wore a dark red suit.
"I believe," He walked forward to where Harley stood, arms crossed in front of her chest, "that I can outdo this fine gentleman's dancing routine…of course with the approval of Doctor Quinzel, that I may borrow her as a partner."
He bowed in front of her and pulled a small flower behind his back presenting it to Harley, "A pretty flower…for the pretty lady?"
Harley blushed as the crowd clapped and hollered for her to participate in the show.
"Do it! Do it! Do it!" The audience chanted rhythmically to her.
She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the flower. The crowd followed in a series of claps and hoorays.
The new man grabbed her kindly on the hand and waist, "Hungarian Dance Number Five, if you please?"
"No fair! I didn't get to pick my song!" Wayne yelled out to the crowd and they all laughed.
"Tough luck I'm afraid…" The new man didn't take his view off of Harley.
The music started up and the man tapped his foot with the beat and removed his arms quickly from Harley and started to clap his hands also with the beat looking at the crowd indicating them to clap as well. Slowly they began to clap and he returned his hands to their original positions.
The music started over and the audience participated lively this time clapping and stomping their feet, "Ready Doctor Quinzel?"
She nodded and the man instantly took off with her circling in a jive/foxtrot dance style.
He spoke to her during the flawless steps, "My competition dances like he has a brick up his ass."
"Probably a gold brick."
They twirled and trotted to the other side of the floor, where he majestically dipped her, a series of amazed bellows were heard and more clapping became involved. They continued the perfect harmonious steps.
"A gold brick?"
"He is after all Bruce Wayne…"
The man twirled her away from him and then twirled her back still lively moving across the stage, "Ahhh…Bruce Wayne is my competitor?"
"The one and only, and who is his competitor?"
They both seemed to float across the floor arms never seeming to move from their positions.
"This is a masquerade…we aren't supposed to reveal are we? Speaking of which, why doth the lady not have a mask of her own?"
"A good question, although I must inquire to tell you that I am indeed wearing a mask."
The people began to look at the other competitor, Wayne, who was standing close by watching. They gave him a look that told him, 'watch out this guy is good!'
"We are, are we?"
"Yes, you see Doctor Quinzel isn't the true me."
"Ahhh…clever." He turned his head at an angle and nodded.
The music picked up its beat and the man also picked up his step. The crowd roared from amazement.
"Who is the real Doctor Quinzel?"
"This is a masquerade…we aren't supposed to reveal are we?"
"Touché doctor."
The man stopped for a moment while the music played and pulled her in closer, Harley wrapped her arm around his neck as a result. The crowd whistled and cat-called out to the two dancing.
"How about we make a deal?"
"A deal?" Harley asked skeptically.
They moved faster now skipping and prancing and trotting with even greater ease. Screams of excitement swore into their ears.
"Yes, I tell you my name, if you tell me who the real Doctor Quinzel is…"
"Hmmm…"
From the crowd it didn't look like the two were talking, the way they spun and moved so fast was blinding to the audience, however they enjoyed every second of the show.
"Alright, deal." Harley smiled.
The man looked down at her, "So, whose the girl behind the mask?"
"Harley Quinn."
The man dipped her as the music came to an amazing finish, bringing his face inches from hers.
"And who is the man behind the mask?"
He said nothing only lifted up the bottom part of his mask and kissed her lips tenderly. Her eyes closed softly as she endured the beyond a doubt best kiss she ever had, in front of an audience.
The crowd whistled seductively and everyone clapped including the beaten Bruce Wayne.
A new song now came on, one that the whole crowd knew, the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah, the chooser of the songs obviously had a sense of humor.
Everyone laughed, that is…until the man, dressed in the dark red suit, pulled his mask clean off and tossed it to the side.
He kept his kiss going, as he heard guns being drawn from their holsters and the laughter of the crowd die quickly. He opened his coat up to show everyone that he had a bomb strapped to him, and he now heard those same guns being set onto tables. He released the coat from his hand, but still allowed his hand to linger in the air, orchestrating the music with his fingers while he kissed Harley.
Harley realized that the crowd had fell silent and she opened her eyes slowly to see what was going on.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Was all she could say as she pulled away from the kiss, just enough for Joker to hear her.
"Hello sweetheart!" He kissed her forehead, but she felt disgusted by it.
The two stood up in the middle of the dance floor.
"What the hell are you doing!" Harley shouted.
Everyone took a step back, wondering why she was yelling at the Joker…didn't she know that he could kill her…was she crazy?
"I was just coming to make the punch line jeez!"
Harley slammed her fist on his chest, "They said you got shot! That you were dead!"
Murmurs spread throughout the room, she must be crazy they concluded to themselves.
Joker put his hands in his pockets and listened to Harley, "We have a child on the way and you go and stress me out by faking your death? You make me think that the only person in the world that I could love is gone…and for what? For what? For a joke?" She pushed him and shoved him but he didn't budge.
Joker smiled wide, showing every tooth he had, an eerily dark persona glistening about them, "You love me…huh Harl?" He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
She started to cry and took a few steps back folding her arms once again over her chest.
Joker pushed his head down but kept his eyes on her, raising his eyebrows up high, "Don't leave me hangin' pumpkin pie…"
Harley wiped her eyes and then ran to her prince jumping into his embrace, "Yea I do!"
The crowd gasped and Joker laughed satisfied with the reaction of the punch line, the music still played in the background.
"Put her down Joker."
Harley whispered into Jokers ear for she could see who was behind him, "B-Man, Puddin'."
"Oh Batsy I knew you wouldn't let me down, tell me you saw the joke…tell me you saw it!"
"Unfortunately…"
"Oh great joy!" Joker set Harley down in front of him, who then wrapped her arms around his neck never wanting to let him go again.
Joker raised his arms in the air while he stared at Batman, "See the kiddo just doesn't know how to let go of true love Batsy…it was her choice, just ask her…go on ask!"
Harley felt Joker stroke her hair, she thought she would never be able to feel his warm hand on her body ever again…and now here he was.
"Doctor Quinzel…"
She turned around quickly but didn't let go of Joker, she now stood to his side with her arms wrapped around his red suit, "I told you it ain't Quinzel…it's Quinn…HARLEY QUINN!"
People slowly left without other people knowing, scared that Joker may set of the bomb, or do something drastic, they didn't want to be around when that happened.
Joker laughed, "Well, I'd hate to do this to you Batsy but well, I have a bundle of joy on the way and Harley needs her rest, you understand I'm sure." He flashed his bomb to Batman.
The people screamed at Batman, "Let him go! Just let him go!"
And so he did, painfully, he let them go.
Joker and Harley sat in the car driving home, Loy had picked them up.
"I'm so angry at you Joker! You have no damn idea!"
"Watch your tone Harley…it was a joke get over it!"
"You had me thinking that you were dead…how do you want me to react, say 'whatever he was just the love of my life and I'll get over it in a few?'"
He shook his head, "No…but you were amazing out there cupcake!"
"It was a pretty good joke…"
"I know, and I'm so glad you were apart of it." He held her close in the back seat and kissed the corner of her lips.
"I was it…I was the joke."
Joker nodded and ran his hand over her breast, Harley shivered from it, "Not now…"
He bit his lip, "But that was sooo arousing, sooo fantastic what you did. Please baby? I need you…I want you…" Joker pinched her nipple and heard Harley squeal quietly.
"What did I do, that was so arousing." She huffed out.
He kissed her lips and spoke at the same time, "When you said that you did have a mask on…that you were actually Harley Quinn, you gave me a nice hard on sweetness. Do you forgive me?"
She sighed, "Yea…but let's wait for home okay, I've had a rough day…I keep having those."
Joker felt bad in a way, "Of course my little princess. Of course. I'm sorry for worrying your precious little mind."
"I'm just glad your back…" She started to cry, "I thought I'd never see you again."
"Shhhh baby…I'm here now, now bullet wounds, safe and sound. I could never leave you!"
He pushed her head into his chest and Harley curled into a ball while Joker held her.
"What happened…where did you go?"
"Well, I did have a job to go do. You want to know what happened?"
"Yea…"
He opened one eye and then grabbed the gun rapidly, "What type of gun is that?" His tone high but low.
The guy jumped back tripping over his own cowardly doings and fell onto his back, scurrying quickly away from Joker.
"That's a nice gun! Can I keep it?"
"Yea…yea sure!"
Joker sat up examining the gun, "Sure did pack a punch I ought to say!" He slipped it into his pocket and then stood up.
"How…how can you be…I just shot you!" The man looked hurriedly for the right words.
"You're quite the genius I see, and I happen to like the feel of a bullet proof vest. Can you guess what I'm going to do to you?"
"Please…no please don't…"
"Oh a beggar…I love beggars!" Joker pulled out a knife and jumped closer to the man who positioned himself into the corner of the alley way.
"You know, that was rude of you to call me out here and all…I was having such a lovely time at home with my harlequin."
"I'm sorry." He tried to stay calm.
"Sorry? You're…you're just plain stupid huh?" Joker slapped the guys face, bringing his knife closely to his throat, "This whole…game…you wanted to play was fun I'll agree…but sadly I see no significant point to it. You need to have a point."
Sweat dripped from the mans nose, "Please…just let me go."
"But that wouldn't be fun…" His voice lowered substantially as he dug the knife into the mans stomach.
Joker listened to his screams, his anguish, his pleas, but he didn't stop. He pushed the knife upwards, while still being embedded in his gut, towards his neck. He shivered from glee as he felt the knife hit a few ribs, tear through his intestine, pierce his heart…it felt so good. He pulled the knife out and slit his throat, watching the blood now poor instead of dribble out of him.
"This is much more fun…" The man lay silent, dead from the agonizing terror and pain, blood rushing out of his open stomach and neck.
Joker stood up and turned his head at an angle admiring his work of art.
"Yes…much more fun!" He threw his arms up wildly in the air laughing loudly. The echoes running across the roads and buildings, although, were an invisible and silent matter.
Killing this man was a complete orgasmic doing to Joker, and it also created some sparks of creativity in his strange and wide mind. He pulled out his cell and wiped some blood off of his coat. He punched in a few numbers and waited for someone to answer.
"Yes Boss?" Loy had answered.
"I need you to get in on the joke my good man!"
"Yes sir, what do you need me to do?"
He laughed darkly, maniacally, and terrifyingly into the phone, "Tell Harley…that I didn't make it…"
"And that's what happened!" Joker concluded as they pulled into the driveway of his 'regular' home.
"So you did get shot!" Her eyes bulged out.
"I went prepared…now enough of all that…I need your sweetness and fast!" He lunged at Harley who laughed as Joker caressed and seduced her playfully.