Another week, another session. That's was Harleen's stance to her new patient was. As far as she was concerned, Joan had been right about it all. Harleen knew that she was perhaps getting a little obsessed with the case, digging too deep into things that she didn't need to. The Joker was a deranged psychopath who loved to torment other people. Harleen no longer knew whether or not he was toying with her for every session, but deep down in her gut she felt as if he was telling the truth. There was some sort of rugged belief to him, a harsh truth amidst his lies.

She had listened to what Joan had to say and agreed with her, signing up to a gym not far from her apartment with multiple exercise and gymnastics classes and equipment. Harleen hadn't done most of the stuff that she had learned when she was young for a good many years, but she was doing her best in order to train. The gymnastics was the only part of her past that she felt comfortably about, back when she wasn't the professional Harleen Quinzel who worked at Arkham Asylum. Back then she was different, rebellious, dangerous, out of her mind. She wanted to be different than she was and did her best to try and not be as academical as she ended up being. There was a different Harleen Quinzel hidden behind the thick-rimmed glasses and the ocean blue eyes, there was a Harley Quinzel that would forever be locked away.

Sitting comfortably in her office as normal, her usual set-up at the ready, Harleen sighed and looked around. She was hoping that Joker would simply walk in and sit down instead of patrolling her office like a curious hound. She wanted to ask him some hard-hitting questions, something that was quite hard in the limited time that she was given with him by Dr. Arkham. With her upcoming monthly review coming up at the end of the week, Harleen wondered whether or not she should bring up the idea of perhaps having more time to talk to the Joker. If she was doing a good job, Harleen thought that perhaps Jeremiah would understood where she was coming from.

Waiting for the Joker to walk in, Harleen was surprised when he did just that. Cash no longer seemed to want to walk him into the office, instead pushing him through the door and immediately slamming it behind him. Joker seemed to be as surprised as she was, chuckling a little as he calmly walked towards his designated chair. Harleen immediately started the tape before he said anything, before grabbing a pen and getting ready to write down more notes on her patient.

"Morning, Harley." Joker dropped into his seat and folded one leg over the other.

"Morning, Mr. J." Harleen smiled and moved some of the hair of her fringe out of the way of her glasses.

"Oh, you remembered." Joker smiled. "I'm glad. It warms my heart to know you care."

"I care about all of my patients, Mr. J." Harleen folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, resting her back on the back of the chair.

"Oh, I know." Joker smiled. "I've managed to interrogate all I can from Tetch. He's quite a lost cause, sad to say. Completely and utterly lost."

Harleen sighed. Maybe he was right. Joan seemed to be doing all she could to save The Mad Hatter, but it seemed like he was too lost in his schizophrenia. The emotional trauma that he had suffered just seemed to be too much for his brain to handle, forcing him to lock himself away inside his own psyche and allow another man to take over.

"It's sad, really." Harleen looked over her notes. "But I guess not everyone can be helped."

"Hmph." Joker scoffed and looked out of the window. "Some people don't want to be helped."

"What do you mean by that?" Harleen frowned. "You can't be implying that some people prefer to be insane. Shunned by society?"

"I am indeed, dear Harley." Joker sighed, running his tongue over the metal in his teeth. "I think that a lot of people in here prefer to have loose screws."

"Do you?" Harleen leaned forwards.

"Again with the same questions!" Joker pursed his lips, furrowing his eyebrows. "Careful, dear Harley. Dig too deep and you'll fall too far."

Harleen sighed. "Last week, you mentioned something."

Joker immediately nodded. "I did indeed. Very observant."

"Something about chemicals?" Harleen raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate."

"No." Joker snapped.

"Excuse me?" Harleen folded her arms. The stubbornness she was warned about was slowly leaking through his nice guy act.

"I said no." Joker looked down at her feet. "You don't need to know. It's not important."

"But, Mr. J," Harleen sighed. "Sometimes you need to talk about bad things. I'm sure that if you get it off your chest then it'll make you feel better about it."

Joker took a while to reply. Harleen could see that he was definitely debating something in his head, the way his mouth moved as if he was talking. Many psychiatrists said and one of the main things that she had learned in university was that speaking to yourself is a dangerous sign of a multiple personality disorder. Harleen immediately began writing down that she had noticed these signs, but did not notice that Joker had finished and was simply staring at her, waiting for some sort of attention. When she stopped writing, Harleen looked up and smiled.

"Fine." Joker bit his tongue gently. "But turn off the tape."

"I'm afraid I can't do that..."

"Then you won't hear the story." Joker smiled sarcastically. "Now, do you have ink blots?"

Harleen took a deep breath. This was it, the point where she would have to start breaking the rules in order to to help her patient. Jeremiah wouldn't agree with it, especially when he was invested in this case without actually sitting in one the sessions. This was the Joker gaining control, Harleen recognized that. She was now playing the game on his terms. She was playing his game and she was at his mercy. It was a dangerous situation to be in, but deep down it excited Harleen. She was wrestling with her emotions. Her brain told her to just say no and try a different approach, but her gut was telling to do what he said.

With another deep sigh, Harleen pressed a button and turned off the tape.

"Clever girl." Joker immediately burst into his signature cackle. "You're breaking the rules now, aren't you? Scared, little girl?"

"Not in the slightest." Harleen continued to put on her girl-next-door smile. "I'll do anything I can to help you. You deserve to be a member of society."

"Society is overrated." Joker scoffed. "I don't need society."

"Everyone needs society." Harleen folded her arms. "It's the natural order."

"Order?" Joker smiled. "You don't know anything about me, do you?"

"I've read the reports." Harleen looked around. Her nerves were slowly getting the better of her. "Master criminal, appeared with no backstory on the Gotham underworld scene three years ago, one of the main gang leaders in Gotham..."

"I'll stop you right there." Joker grinned. "Your information is outdated. I am the King of Gotham City, I am THE main gang leader. Nobody can touch me."

Harleen was shocked. She had an idea that Joker was a powerful crime lord, but the fact that he had wiped out all of the competition in the Gotham underworld was a seriously powerful thing to do.

"What about the other families?" Harleen widened her eyes.

"You're talking about Falcone, aren't you?" Joker cackled. "He's old news. I'm the boss now. Falcone wants to do a job, run some guns or fight a rival gang, he has to go through me. They all have to go through me."

wants to do a job, he has to go through me. They all have to go through me."

Harleen's eyes widened. She didn't know what to say. The fact that she had not been warned about all of this was a seriously disturbing fact. Harleen knew that The Joker was extremely nihilistic, sociopathic, homicidal, narcissistic and egotistical, but the fact that he was so violent and diabolical to the point where the Joker had wiped out all of his competition was a scary fact.

"We had a deal." Harleen folded her arms. "You mentioned that chemicals changed you into the person you are now."

"I did indeed." Joker sighed. "And it's true."

"Care to elaborate?" Harleen picked up her pen.

"I will." Joker nodded

Standing up, the Joker walked into the centre of the room and looked around. "I wasn't always like this. As much as I pride myself on my colourful and flamboyant appearance, there was a time where I was exactly like you. Normal, boring, another member of society. I don't remember much about that time, it comes back to me in flashes. From what I do remember, however, I don't enjoy."

Joker sighed and tried to move his arms out of instinct, but growled at himself under his breath when he remembered that he was restrained.

"I thought I was a big shot back then. A comedian that could make the world cry. I thought that I could start a joke that would have the whole world laughing. I mean, I even quit my job to pursue this dream...a dream that didn't work out whatsoever. The audience hated me, I screwed up more punchlines than is physically possible. The pressure got to me, I guess...to me! I was down on my luck, poorer than a beggar and scrounging for food wherever I could find it."

Harleen's eyes widened as she listened to his tale. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nibbling on the end of her pen, Harleen noticed that the Joker had fallen silent. She blinked a few times, before looking up at him. "Please, Mr. J, take all the time you need. We've got plenty of time."

Joker did not answer, but nodded instead. He took a deep breath, and continued.

"There were...some people that watched one of my shows. They came to me at the bar afterwards and began to talk to me. I don't remember exactly what gibberish they were going on and on and on about, but I remember that they offered me a job. All I had to do was go with them to one of the chemical plants in Gotham Industrial and cover for them while they robbed it. They said I'd get a hefty chunk of the loot for my problems. Of course, I said yes because in my mind any sucker would do such a thing."

Tapping his foot, The Joker bit his lip.

"They had me wear this stupid red helmet that I could barely see through. Something about hiding my identity in case we were discovered. I believe them like the idiot I was. I was expecting a smooth sail, an easy grab and an easy getaway. What I didn't expect was that the police were waiting for us. Somebody had obviously tipped them off as to what my new accomplices were planning to do. We ditched the plan once we came under fire and tried to escape through the back entrance, which was located over a couple of walkways over a couple of vats. We split up and tried to go our separate ways in order to lose the cops. They got away fine, but me, I was dressed up as the damn gang leader! They'd stitched me up!"

Harleen was shocked at what she was hearing, but kept a brave face for him to see.

"I was cornered on one of the walkways by him..."

"By who?"

"The Batman." Joker spat the words out like venom. "He spoke about something...how about he had been waiting a long time to bring me in. Obviously he had no idea that I was a decoy. I warned him, I told him that he should stay away. I tried to explain that I had done nothing wrong but he just kept walking towards me. That hulking black figure that he was, the terrifying shadow that cast around the room."

Joker took another deep breath.

"The helmet I was wearing came with a cape. My damn downfall. As I tried to back away from him, I stood on the end of the cape. The weight of the helmet overpowered me and sent me tumbling down from the walkway and down into one of the vats. And the damn Batman didn't even try to help me. He just stood there and watched as I fell to my doom, his white eyes glistening in the green light of the vats. He was the one thing I remember as I fell, the one thing before I felt the pain. I fell into the vat and was consumed by the chemicals within it. I don't remember what happened, but I remember the pain. This searing pain like a white hot brand. It covered my entire body, burning and itching like an unbearable itch. I screamed and clawed my way, trying to do whatever I could to find a way out of whatever I was in."

As he talked, the Joker began twitching, just like someone that had an itch he could not scratch.

"I remember being dragged away and falling from a great height. The next thing I knew I was lying face down in the banks of Gotham River, the burning still evident on my skin. I clawed and scratched at the helmet, pulling it from my face and throwing it as far into the depths of the river as I could. I collapsed to my knees, scratching and clawing at my skin...and then I looked into the water. The moonlight reflected my face back at me and I could see the difference...the white skin, the green hair, the red lips, but the burning was all I cared about. I seared and it burned, as if I was slowly dissolving into nothing. I could feel my entire body start to go numb. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. Instead, I did nothing but laugh. It felt like a good thing to do. I laughed to take the pain away, I howled to stop the burning...but it still hasn't gone away to this day. It's still there, a tinge beneath my skin, like an incredible itch that never leaves you. And it's all because of him."

Joker gritted his teeth.

"I mean, he could have reached out. He could have saved me. He was the Batman after all, wasn't he?! He'd performing death-defying stunts a million times before that. I'd seen them on the news! All he had to do was reach out and grab my hand...but instead he let me fall and turned me into what I am now."

Harleen couldn't believe it. She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. She had expected a story but not something like that. Something so...emotionally gut-wrenching. She didn't know what to do. Instinctively, she looked at the clock behind her and found that it was a few minutes before the end of the session.

"I believe that's all the time we have." Harleen coughed and rose to her feet. "Thank you, Mr. J, I hope that helped."

"You know, Harley, I think it did." Joker returned to his grin almost immediately. "You're a kind soul. I feel as if I could share anything with you."

"I'm glad you think so, Mr. J." Harleen smiled. "I'd do anything I could to help you."