Just so it's clear, this is quite a long chapter. Enjoy xx
The Last Smile
He couldn't believe he was doing this!
Him, the mighty Joker, with a genius IQ, down on his knees, fiddling with the controls of the Steel Mill, trying to stop furnace from producing so much steam.
How the hell did Black Mask deal with the humidity - suppose it explained the constant sweat marks!
There was a loud bang and an almighty crash and then an alarm began ringing.
He sighed, stood up and dusted off his slacks.
To hell with this shit.
And walked out of the Steel Mill to find some placed that didn't make him perspire and leave alarm bells ringing in his ears.
She couldn't breath.
They had been walking across the bridge linking the Amusement Mile to the Industrial District when they had to stop due her coughing.
Blade looked at her in concern, as she placed her hands on her knees.
"Are you sure your alright?" He asked.
She looked up at him and nodded.
"Yes", she wheezed. "I just need a minute".
He glanced up at the buildings surrounding them, making sure no one was around since more and more inmates were being bought in.
She stood up and took a deep breath.
"There", she smiled. "I feel better already".
He didn't have the heart or the courage to tell her she looked like shit, with her messy hair and her pale face and dark eyes. He knew she was lying when she said she felt better, he kept glancing at her as she walked, watching her eyes close every now and then and listened to her breathing, worried in case she would pass out.
They reached the next lamp post and had to stop again.
True she wasn't coughing, but she looked so tired.
He sat on the wall next to her.
"I'm sorry", she whispered.
"Don't be", he said. "Look, I know your not well. I can see your not. And you don't have to put a brave face on for me".
She looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you being so nice?" She asked. "I love my Mr J you know, so don't be getting any ideas about favors or anything".
He laughed. "No it's not like that. Actually, I'm hoping to be in the Boss's good books. We sorta got off on the wrong foot".
"Really?" She smiled. "Why?"
"I nearly beat him up".
"Oh", she laughed. "Your lucky to still be here".
"Yeh, I'm hoping to keep it that way".
She looked at the ground. "I'm so tired".
He stood up. "Come here", he said, beckoning her towards him.
"Why?" She said, but stood up next to him.
"Just trust me. And hold this". He pulled a big knife out of his back pocket and gave it to her.
He then scooped her up, one arm under her legs and the other holding her back, and began to walk.
"You don't have to do this, I can walk perfectly fine", she complained.
"You said so yourself that you were tired", he joked. "And any energy you have left you'll need when you see Joker".
It was still quite, but he could tell more and more inmates were being brought into Arkham City. There were more foot prints in the snow and the outsides of the buildings had been trashed, more so than before.
Some even had flashing green question marks.
Oh Eddie, will you ever learn?
He passed the old church and turned onto Park Row.
Now it was obvious more inmates were around - Trash cans had been kicked over and the rubbish throw over the streets. Any bits of food had been taken and the wrappers left blowing in the wind.
He carried on, but kept to the shadows and the ally ways - he had a hunch that most inmates would like to throw him a punch or two.
True he could handle any low life thug that crossed his path, but he only had a knife and if he was to take on a group he'd need more than just his skill and agility.
Speaking of low life thugs, he was sure he was close to a particular museum, which housed a certain low life thug, or bird if you like, who could lend him a few extra knives to help keep up appearances.
Here I come Penguin, ready or not.
He crossed a bridge and walked up the steps of the old museum and banged on the door.
There was no answer.
He sighed.
Penguin would surely forgive him for the whole acid in the girls face thing, after all, he basically did him a favor, getting rid of that clumsy fool. Who would want to go some place where your drink is spilled on you?
He knocked again. Louder.
There was a slight scuffling noise behind the door. He stood up straighter and put on his best smile, as the door slowly opened.
The Penguin peered out cautiously.
"Pengers", he began, but was cut off bluntly by Penguin's abrupt "No Clown's".
Penguin just managed to shut the door before Joker's knife hit the space where his head had been.
He yanked his knife out the wood, making sure to leave a sizable dent and sulked back to Park Row.
His arms were surprisingly gentle as he carried her across the Gotham Freeway towards the Steel Mill.
For some reason she didn't believe he actually cared enough to pick her up so she didn't have to walk.
It was nice of him.
Except he wasn't aware of how the muscles in his arms would pull against her jumpsuit and rub against the sensitive skin on her back.
In truth it was agony. But she had lived with Joker long enough to know how to hide the pain.
They had just passed an abandoned car, which looked as if it had been set on fire, when they heard the shouting.
Blade put her down behind the car and crouched next to her out of sight.
"You think these will do", a voice called.
"Should hope so, there's fuck all left!" Shouted another.
"Why do we need all this crap anyway?"
"It's for the Boss", came a older voice. "He said he wanted the place looking nice, so we make the place look nice. Understand?"
"Well...Yeh. But how we gonna make look 'nice'? It's a god damn Steel Mill?"
"You'll think of something. It's amazing what the mind can think up when your eye's are about to be burned out".
There was a pause.
"W..w..w..What?" Came a stammer.
"I said, if the Boss ain't happy, they'll be consequences".
Blade looked at her and put his finger to his lips, silently telling her to be quite. It was possible they were talking about Joker, but Two - Face was still around, so no chances could be taken. Especially with such a prize as her.
"Just carry what ya got back to the Steel Mill, we can figure out what to do with it then".
A high pitched voice stammered, "What about Penguin's thugs. What will happen when they wake up?"
There came a sound of a slap on the back.
"Look Kid, if they wake up, it won't be our problem. And anyway, everyone knows there's gonna be a fight for control. We just need to make sure it ain't Penguin!"
The voices began to slowly travel away, until the only sound was the water beneath them slapping against the walls - apparently part of the City had flooded.
Blade slowly stood up and checked no one else was around, before picking her up again.
"There's going to be a war?" She asked.
"Probably", Blade said. "Three big hot shot villains stuck in one place, bound to want control for themselves".
"Who dya think will win?"
"Joker - Everyone's too scared of him. Penguin's only distinction is the amount of weapons he has and the reason Two - Face is so well known is because half of his face is missing. Nah, my money is on Joker, he has the means, the brains and the violent, scare you shitless..." BANG.
She hit the ground, pain radiating up her back from where she fell.
Blade was lying next to her, clutching his thigh tightly and swearing up at the sky.
She sat up to try and help him, when big strong arms grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her to her feet, but the movement was enough to cause her to start coughing.
Only this time it was worse.
She felt something move up her throat as she coughed, felt something shift inside her chest as she doubled over, grabbing her knees for support.
"Miss Quinn? Miss Quinn are you alright?"
I know that voice.
She looked up. "Rocko?" She asked, her voice faint from her coughing.
"Harley, you ok?"
Rocko had been with Joker from the start, one of his first and best henchmen. She swallowed hard, forcing whatever it was in her throat back down so she could talk, but her voice was still croaky.
"Rocko, what are you doing here?"
"I was in Blackgate remember? Me and the boys got caught just after you and the Boss back at the Asylum. Anyway, the other day I was just shoved in a van and thrown in here, along with like 60 other inmates".
"More like 100", came a voice from behind him.
She turned her gazed to where the voice had come from, it was only then she noticed the huge group standing behind Rocko. And boy where they suited and booted. They all wore army pants with a colored top, showing off their muscles and had their faces painted like her Puddin's. Only he looks so much better. And they were all holding some form of weapon, most had machine guns, but some had machetes and electric sticks. Some even had baseball bats. Obviously anything they could find.
The swearing behind her grew louder as Blade tried to stand.
"Stay on the floor!" Shouted Rocko, as the group behind him pointed their weapons towards him.
"Wait", she cried, her voice breaking slightly. "Stop. He was helping me".
"By carrying you?" He asked. "I thought only the Joker was allowed to carry you".
"I'm very tired", she retorted, putting on her cocky act and ignoring the pain all the coughing had caused in her chest. "And he was taking me to see my Mister J". She put her hands on her hips, like she always used too. "But you shot him", she said dangerously.
"I'm sorry Miss Quinn. I thought he was like, kidnapping you or something".
"Kidnapping me, you...Wait...How did you know it was me?"
"The blonde hair I guess", he said sheepishly, his cheeks blushing slightly.
She scowled at him.
"Well help him then", she called to the group, gesturing towards Blade, who had managed to stand using a lamp post as support.
Rocko signaled to the group to do as she asked, which made her scowl even more.
Why don't they do as I say.
"Well then", he smiled. "I guess you want to see the Joker?"
"Of course I want to see him", she yelled, stomping over towards him.
But the look of horror of his face made her falter.
He took a step back from her.
"Rocko, what is it?" She asked, panic setting in. No one had ever backed away from her, at least when she wasn't about to kill them.
"Your face?" He whispered.
The sky had been mostly dark when she met Blade and since they had been travelling it had grown darker still, but now she had come to stop under another lamp post, one of the only ones that seemed to be working and the strong yellow light had illuminated her face.
"I don't understand, what's wrong with my face?"
The rashes on my body only went up to my neck and were covered by my jumpsuit.
Rocko visibly swallowed.
"Let's just get back to the Mill", he said. "Follow us boys", he called to his men.
He walked towards her and grabbed her around her waist as they began to walk.
"What's going on Harley?" He asked her seriously.
"I don't know", she whispered back. "I think there's something wrong with me".
He gently rubbed her back as they wandered through the Industrial District.
"What will you tell the Boss?"
"I don't know. He might get angry and then he'll hit me and kick me out", she broke off into a coughing fit, feeling something move inside her chest again.
"What is wrong with me?" She whispered, feeling an overwhelming feeling of dizziness and grabbed Rocko for support so she wouldn't fall.
He grabbed her hand to hold her steady, but she couldn't stand straight, let alone walk.
"It's ok", he whispered back. "It's going to be ok". And he picked her up, just like Blade had done and carried her the rest of the way to the Steel Mill.
He was surrounded by idiots.
Yes he had met them all on his way back from the interlude with Penguin and yes, they had seemed up for joining him, but really, is it that hard to make a giant flashing 'Joker's Fun Land' sign!
Obviously it was, since so far all they had was 'K', 'U', 'N' and part of the 'K'. And a lot of laughter and crude jokes.
He rubbed his temples as he looked out onto the loading bay from the managers office, where he had set up shop and closed his eyes.
Don't kill them - you'll need them later. Don't kill them - they'll die anyway.
But he found a piece of scrap paper and jotted down a few ideas anyway- just in case.
He was just planning how the furnace could be used a disciplinary tool, when a loud crash and a few corse insults told him his little scouting crew had returned from their outing.
Thank God for Rocko and his guys. Say - maybe I could kill these idiots after all.
But it wasn't Rocko and his guys.
It was Rocko. And Harley. In Rocko's arms. With her arms around his neck.
He reached for the nearest thing he could use to bash their heads together with, when Rocko, still carrying Harley, barged into his office.
"Why you in..."
"Boss, Boss", Rocko cried, interrupting his rant and placing Harley down on his desk. "She's sick Boss."
"She's on my desk", he growled. But reluctantly swayed over to where Harley was lying.
One look told him she wasn't his Harley.
One look had him screaming at Rocko to get out and to finish his 'Fun Land', or he'd use limbs to decorate the Industrial District instead.
One look told him that Harley - his little Harley Quinn, who he hadn't thought of until now, was sick.
Very sick.
And he, the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime with a genius level IQ, didn't know what to do.
So that was a very long chapter. I know it could probably be split into two but I thought one would be enough. Please let me know if you like it x