(First off, I want to thank all my reviewers! I really appreciate the support and love for this story. Get ready for this chapter boys and girls. It's a doozy.)
Chapter 7
When Batman's ready? What was he busy doing? I'm sure he'd be alright. I mean, he's BATMAN! I looked at myself in the mirror. Was that what I really looked like? My outfit was ripped to shreds and my hair was a mess! I looked like Ke$ha after twenty parties in a row. Urg. Not a good look on me. I couldn't focus on the little things right now. My main goal was to hunt down Joker. I had to find him! Might as well start looking. It was easy to find my way out of the building. I decided to just start looking. Something was telling me to follow the outside edges of the island. I was practically right on the shoreline. I could see Gotham across the way. I should be back there right now. In my zebra PJs and that comfy sweatshirt. My heated blanket up all the way. I missed those days. It seemed like ages ago. I looked at my reflection in the water. I hated my hair right now SO MUCH!
"Why didn't I bring a hairbrush." I groaned mostly to myself. As I tried to fix up my hair something completely unexpected happened. Well, unexpected things had been happening all day. But this was REALLY unexpected. A giant fist shot out of the water and socked me in the face. I was slammed a good three feet in the air and plopped on my butt. A figure emerged from the water. The second my eyes laid on his face, I knew who it was.
"Bane." I said. Now was a good time for me to panic.
"Where is the Batman?" He questioned.
"I have no idea what your talking about." I replied. He glared angrily at me and threw me against the intensive treatment wall. Every bone in my body screamed in pain.
"You and Batman are working together." Bane growled.
"That doesn't mean I know where he is at all times." I replied. He countered my argument with another punch in the face. I stood up. I think my face was swelling.
"I have no problem with killing a niña." He spat. I didn't like the sound of this. Bane wanted to fight me. There was probably no way I was getting out of this without getting into a battle with Bane.
"What are you waiting for?" I questioned. With that he charged at me. I figured I could use the same method to kill him as I used with Joker's TITAN creatures. I chucked my batarang at him and dived out of the way. He slammed into the wall, confused. I rushed up to him and got in as many punches as I could. I got a good ten in before I hopped on his back. Ripping off a few of his tubes. He didn't like that. Bane punched me as hard as he could. I splashed right into the water. As I quickly pulled myself out he charged at me. I leaped out of the way. My shirt was practically falling off. I rushed out of the water as Bane slammed his fist into the ground. I was knocked on my butt. As I quickly jumped back up he charged. I chucked the batarang at him. He was stunned. I jumped on him and ripped some more tubes off. Bane threw me off of his back. It seemed like I was landing on my butt a lot lately. He ripped out a chunk of wall and chucked it at me. I was a centimeter away from losing my head. Bane charged once again. Third times a charm. I jumped on him for the final time and ripped off the last of his tubes. He got on his knees in pain. The wall started to collapse around. Guess it wasn't very smart to rip out part of a wall. He was buried under a pile of ruble. All was silent. Too silent. I didn't like it. Suddenly, Bane ripped through the ruble and charged at me. I jumped to the side. He kept on running. Before he could turn around I hit him in the back of the head with a batarang. Bane sank into the water. I looked down at my clothes. My shirt was falling off and I was drenched. I definitely needed a new outfit.
After half an hour of searching I stumbled upon the laundry room. I searched through the piles of laundry. I took a small inmate jumpsuit and cut it into a pair of shorts. I cut another bit of fabric to use as a belt. It was a couple sizes too big. Wouldn't want it falling off. Now for my shirt. I took a Doctor coat and cut it into a shirt. I tied it up like Daisy Duke, but not that high. Just above my belly button. I used some extra fabric to wipe off my makeup and spent the next ten minutes brushing my hair with my fingers. As I gazed at my reflection in the mirror I knew I looked pretty bad ass. It felt nice to change into a different outfit. I walked down the halls. It was time to explore. The room I walked into looked like an office. Well, what once was an office. Spray paint covered the wall. HA! HA! HA! An arrow pointing to the desk said: "Look here Sarina" Clearly the Joker wanted me to find this room. I walked up to the desk. Papers were scattered all over the desk along with a tape recording. I never really liked to read, so I played the tape first.
"Dr. Gibson's interview tape 16." It was my mom. I listened intently. "I have with me Harleen Quinzel."
"Call me Harley." She replied.
"Harley, you can't hide it from him forever." My mother said.
"I'm not going to! I can't wait to tell him! Tonight's the night!" Harley squealed.
"How far along are you?" My mom questioned. I knew exactly what was going on now. Harley was pregnant. Now I felt really bad. I knocked out a pregnant woman! Why would Joker let me fight his pregnant girlfriend? Maybe she never told him. Or maybe he was really, really crazy!
"A month!" Harley shouted. She was so excited.
"Have you thought of any names?" My mother asked.
"Joker junior." She giggled. Poor kid. He was going to have a horrible life. The tape started to skip.
"Dr. Gibson interview tape 20." She said. "I'm here with The Joker."
"The one and only." I could just picture the silly grin on his face.
"So I suppose Harley told you the news." My mom said.
"Yes she did." The Joker replied.
"How does that make you feel?" My mother questioned.
"Curious. I wonder if it'll be stupid like it's mother or smart like me." The Joker explained.
"You aren't excited?" My mother asked.
"You and I both know I'm not even going to see the kid. It'll be shipped out of here the second it's born." Joker said. "Harley's naive. She thinks we can raise it in an asylum and be one big happy family."
"Are you going to tell her?" She asked.
"Nah. It'll be funny to see her face when they rip the baby right out of her hands." Joker laughed. That's when the tape stopped. There was a piece of paper next to the recorder. It said 'Change the tape Sarina' There was another tape right on the desk. I pulled out the tape in the recorder and stared at the date. September 10th, 1996. This tape was a lot older then I thought it was. That means either Harley got an abortion or she had the baby already. I put the other tape in.
"So, it's a girl." My mother said.
"So it is." The Joker replied.
"I hear the baby is going to the orphanage shortly." My mom said.
"She doesn't have to." Joker said.
"What do you mean?" My mom asked.
"Face it Gibson. You're not getting any younger. Clocks a ticking." Joker said. "Why don't you take the baby. Raise her as your own."
"What?" My mom said.
"Think about it. The baby gets a good home and you're a mother. What you've always wanted to be." Joker said. The room was silent. "What do you say?" More silence.
"What should I name her?" My mom asked.
"Sarina." The Joker said. Everything froze. Me, time, space. "It's hebrew for one who laughs." The tape went silent. No No NO NO NO! This is a lie. It's one of Joker's tricks or something. Yeah. That's it. The tape stated up again.
"Shh. There there. Hush little baby, don't say a word." Harley was singing. They scary part was….it sounded familiar. "Mama's gonna kill for you the whole damn world. And if they don't laugh at out jokes. Momma's gonna stab out their goddamn throats." I sat down on the floor and started to cry. "And if they start to run away. Mamma's gonna paint the streets with blood." I knew the next lines.
"And once the blood starts to wash off. Momma's gonna blow some more heads off." I sang along. I knew those words. The only way I could know those words was if I had heard them before. No. No. This…how…..what? No. I'm not Joker and Harley Quinn's daughter! This can't be.
"And if the world still doesn't laugh. Momma's gonna go and poison them." Harley continued to sing the song on the tape. "And once the poison does it's job. Momma's gonna show you you're legacy." My legacy of death and despair. All the anger and raged boiled inside me. I stood up and flipped the table over. A paper fluttered into my hand. My birth certificate. The name on it. Harleen Quinzel and The Joker. Forget Poison Ivy. Forget Bane. Heck, Forget Killer Croc! This was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. Ever. The tape continued to play. "
And if the world still tries to fight. Momma's gonna burn their houses down." There was a pause. "And if you grow up with his smile." Harley's voice got all shaky. She sounded like she was going to cry. "Momma's gonna be so proud of you." I sobbed some more. I can't be. I can't be. Did Harley know? No, she couldn't of. She had no clue who I was when we were at the Botanical Gardens. I was going to talk to her. Joker was probably making the whole story up. Those were…..computer generated voices or something. And anyone can make a fake birth certificate. Yeah. This is all a lie. He probably implanted some fake memory chip in my brain. Yup. Mystery solved. I mean, when Batman did that DNA thing it lead straight to my mom. You can't argue with science! I stood up and charged out of the office. Joker couldn't be my father. We were nothing alike! I had convinced myself that I wasn't the child of two of Gotham's most ruthless criminals. But deep down inside…..I knew….I just knew that I was Joker Junior.
