Chapter 25
Harley held her breath in her throat, wondering if the image of J was just an illusion, but regardless if it was her imagination or not, seeing him made her want to fight for her life. She didn't want to leave him.
Harley felt a sudden surge of energy and her head snapped up and her eyes locked onto Sam's. His face was bright red and his whole body shook with rage, barely keeping a good enough grip on the weapon. Sam's uncontrollable temper allowed Harley a small opportunity to get away. She swiftly brought her knee up and hit him square in the groin. Sam cried out in pain and rolled off her almost immediately, clutching onto the tender spot between his legs.
Harley was still on the floor with her head hanging over the edge of the railings. She let out a deep sigh of relief when she could still see Sam curled up on the floor hissing in pain. It was a pretty mighty whack if she did say so herself.
Harley laughed quietly, wincing when her body moved with her vibrations of her chuckle, but she was silenced when she saw a pair of shiny black leather shoes kick Sam in the face and stomach repeatedly.
"J?" She whispered, trying to scramble to her feet, but at the position she was laying in, it was impossible. The shoes turned to her and the sound footsteps grow louder and louder as they approached. Two strong arms grabbed her body, one wrapped itself round her waist while the other held the small of her back. Harley was pulled up to her feet and set carefully on the ground, there was a moment of peace before she was slammed into the wall.
The Joker grabbed her face harshly and stared into her frightened blue eyes. He scanned her body for any wounds or broken bones. "What the fuck do you think you're playing at?!" He spat. His palm closed round her neck, threatening to cut off her air supply.
She clawed at his wrists and tried to kick him away, but his legs had trapped hers, holding her body completely still.
"Please let me go..." She begged, feeling the air in her lungs run out. She sucked in her last breath before a large hand connected with her cheekbone. Harley cried out and clung onto his shirt collar, the Joker released his grip when he saw red liquid running down the wall from where her head had been bashed in.
"You interfering little brat! Why can't you just do as your fucking told?!" Joker yelled. Harshly gripping the sides of her face, he pulled her head into his chest and began inspecting the deep laceration which sat at the crown of her head. Fortunately for her, it was deep but clean.
J pulled her head back up and searched her eyes, he couldn't believe that she'd managed to deceive him, lie to him and all just so she could sneak out and go against his orders. With more rage surfacing within him, J administered a hard slap to the right side of her face. "I think I made myself pretty fucking clear that you weren't to be involved!" He growled, watching her tears rise up over her eyelashes.
"Sor...sorr-" She attempted.
"How'd you get here? Who told you about the plan?" Joker asked, holding her jaw in a vice like grip.
"No...no one told me, the plan was on you desk. I saw it when we er-" Harley stuttered. "It's...it's not how it sounds J. I just wanted to help you, I wanted to make you proud.."
"Well you've done a grand job of that now haven't you? You could've gotten yourself killed for the second fucking time this week! If I hadn't of shown up..." Joker slammed his fist into the wall only a few inches away from her head. "I won't ask you again Harley, how'd you get here?"
"I came in the car...the Audi... I'm sorry J, I just wanted to help you, I only wanted to help." Her apology was cut off by this hand finding her throat again squeezing the life out of her and in the process he smacked her head against the wall again, causing more blood to spill out of her cut.
"If I find one scratch - one scratch on that car, you're fucking dead, you hear me?" Although he was beyond angry he took a second and looked down at her, despite it all, he had to admire her resourcefulness.
Harley began to struggle for breath, gasping for oxygen. She fixed her fading eyes onto his furious blue orbs and saw her own reflection in his dilated pupils.
J growled, studying every inch of her face, he quickly removed his hand from her neck and pressed his mouth harshly against hers. He purred, darting his tongue between her lips and inside her mouth. Harley moaned under his assault, she grabbed his shirt collar in her hands and pulled him closer, claiming his oxygen for her own.
Joker abruptly pulled away and turned, approaching an unconscious Sam who was now lying in his own blood, sweat and tears. Harley whimpered at the sudden loss of contact, practically panting against the wall.
"Kill him." J ordered, his head turning over his shoulder to her direction.
Harley pushed herself off the wall and walked over next to him. "What did you say?" She asked softly, lacing her hand in his.
With his free right hand, Joker pulled his revolver out of his holster and handed it to her. "Kill him, make Daddy proud."
She took the gun in her hand and looked into his eyes, she knew in that moment that he wanted to witness her first kill, tonight, now.
"Okay." She breathed. Harley stared down at Sam's vulnerable pathetic body, it wasn't going to be any fun if he wasn't conscious now was it? Harley walked closer to him and kicked his body so that he was lying flat on his back. He groaned and opened his eyes slowly. His face was an absolute mess, swollen eyes and lips, bruises and cuts all over his face and his nose looked like it was hanging on purely by a piece of skin.
Harley's mind went cloudy at the sight of him. She ignored everything around her, including the Joker's presence and focused on Sam entirely. Harley straddled Sam's waist and began taunting him with the revolver, pressing the barrel into his busted up face and watching the blood roll down like an endless stream.
The Joker didn't like what he was seeing at first, the only person she should be straddling should be him, but he understood her game although it was hard for him to witness. "Harley! Stop that!" He clenched his fists together and began marching towards her, but when he saw her face he realised hat her eyes were completely foggy, full of rage and bloodthirsty desire.
The Joker stopped in his tracks and his expression changed from angry to ecstatic. He watched closely, ready to stop her if she went too far.
Harley leant down to Sam's ear and began whispering intimate details about herself and the Joker. Sam was crying in physical and mental pain. This went on for a few more minutes until the Joker got bored of her display. He walked over towards her and crouched down to her level, but Harley couldn't even tell that he was there.
Joker cupped her face in his hands and brought her gaze up to his, noticing her still possessed eyes. "Harley?" He whispered.
"J?" Harley's blue eyes returned to her face, she looked confused to see him next to her, as if it was a dream.
"Kill the fucker now." He snapped, his voice was angry but his eyes were clearly pleased to see hers.
She nodded and brought her eyes back to the bloody and whimpering body lying beneath her, she smiled and pressed the barrel of the gun in between his eyes. He was pleading for mercy, but neither Joker or Harley could make any sense of it.
"I'll see you in Hell." Harley snapped. She pulled the trigger slowly, consuming the power that she felt when his eyes turned to glass. A sharp bang was heard followed instantly by a hot blood which sprayed onto her face as his body went limp.
Joker stood and held his hand out for Harley to grab. "C'mon, I have something to show you." Harley nodded, shocked by his lack of reaction to her first murder. She took his hand and he pulled her up, leading her towards the edge of the railings. He moved her body in front of his and pushed her against them gently.
"You did good kid, still a lil' amateur but you're a beginner, so I'll let it slide." He smiled, containing the fact that he was actually immensely proud of her.
"I killed someone. I took someone's life..." Harley said in disbelief. "Did I really kill him? It didn't feel real."
J brought a hand to her face and rubbed away the blood on her cheek with his thumb. "Yeah you did Harls. Congrats on your first kill baby, the first of many?" He withdrew his hand and ran it down her body, feeling her melt to his touch. Joker brought his lips to hers and kissed her hotly, his hands making sure that they took in every inch of her curves.
"First of many." She whispered back against his lips. He chuckled into her skin and grabbed her waist to pull her up. With her legs now wrapped around his hips, he walked forward so that she was now sitting on top of the railing bar. Their tongues entwined with each others as Harley began tugging at his shirt.
"I like your lips this colour baby." J commented as he bit down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Harley moaned in pain and pleasure, rolling her head back to expose her neck. J began trailing bloodstained kisses against the hollow of her throat, enjoying the feel of her much more than he should.
Joker pulled away suddenly and Harley whimpered at the absence of his lips on her skin.
"What's wrong?" She asked, resting her hand on his cheek, but he pulled her hand away, noticing the nail marks Sam had scratched against her tattoo they had completely shredded her tattoo.
J growled in anger, he loved that tattoo and now it was gone. He pulled her wrist up to his lips and he began sucking away the dried blood and caressing the cuts with his tongue. "I need to show you something, but before I do, you've got to do as I say. Promise me?" He asked, looking up to her, still kissing her wrist.
"Okay, I promise." She replied, trying to blink through her arousal, but it was a struggle, his affection always made her weak.
"Close your eyes and lean backwards." He demanded.
"What? Are you crazy? I'll fall!" She shouted.
"Don't you trust me?" Joker said. He held her waist with one arm and supported the small of her back with the other, he moved forwards and lent her body over the metal bar.
"Not when you're still angry with me." Harley answered, her legs tightened around his waist for extra support, not that it was going to make much of a difference in the long run. Harley's eyes grew wide when she noticed a flicker of evil in his eyes, she knew what was coming next. "No J, please don't. 'M sorry I upset you ,I won't do it again. I swear I won't disobey you ever again-"
He laughed at the fear in her eyes and her pleading words. She was now completely hanging over the edge, with only the Joker stopping her from falling into the luminous green mist. "Kiss me." J ordered and she obeyed instantly. Harley's fear melted away when she felt his body against hers.
The suddenly everything around her went into slow motion, as if she was stuck in time. Harley gasped when his arms released her, she suddenly felt weightless, his body had disappeared from hers, and his tongue was no longer invading her mouth. Air rushed past her ears, and once she'd realised she was falling, she began to grab at the air in front of her, reaching out for anything or anyone to catch her.
Her mind started to flash through ways of trying to get her out of her inevitable doom, but it gave up, instead it gave her a calming vision instead. The last thing she thought about before her body plunged into the thick burning acid was the Joker kissing her for the first time. She could almost feel it, taste it and touch it.
When Harley's body made contact with the chemicals, she fell unconscious. The speed of which her body was traveling at made her smack against the surface hard, and then shortly afterwards, liquid swallowed her whole.
The vat itself was erupting slightly, spilling over the edges. The Joker stood above the display. He didn't feel guilty in the slightest, she'd disobeyed him for the last time. Besides if she was going to be with him forever, she had to become him completely, and no amount of brainwashing and manipulation was going to cut it.
The chemical vat kept on spitting and sizzling, and right in the back of Joker's mind he had a little pinch of doubt about his actions. J paused for a moment and dragged his hands down his face, wondering why her body hadn't risen out of the vat.
The Joker growled at himself and threw his fist down on the rails, then he began kicking at them, making them loose until they fell away. He walked backwards and ran his hands through his hair and began pulling harshly, making his scalp burn.
Joker stared at the broken rail in front of him and he briskly walked towards it, throwing off his jacket at the same time, discarding it behind him. Joker picked up his pace when he realised the edge was coming up fast, then he dived into the air, falling gracefully to meet the liquid that has created him.
When his skin connected with the burning fluid he felt nothing, he was completely numb. He laughed madly at the absence of pain.
J quickly began searching the vat for his Harlequins body, dead or alive he needed to find it. He plunged under the surface and began reaching out hoping to grab onto her and after only second of searching, he did.
Joker pulled her towards him and grabbed her waist and the back of her neck, he emerged from the depths of the thick green abyss, with Harley in his arms. The liquid lightly covered her face. Her eyes were closed and her face and hair were bleached white. The leather jacket and trousers that she was previously wearing were incinerated by the acid, and the blue top she was wearing underneath began to dissolve leaving a blue stream of colour rippling across the green pool. The same had happened with the Joker clothes, his purple shirt colouring now dancing with hers.
Joker lent over her face and pressed a brief kiss on her lips. His left hand checked for a pulse and much to his relief there was one, faint, but she was still alive.
He lifted her body up in his arms, and pulled her out of the vat. The Joker laid her body on the cold concrete floor and watched the rise and fall of her chest. The glaze of chemicals ran off her body and now the Joker could see clearly what effect they had on her.
Her whole body was like a blank white canvas, ready for him to mark. The scars from her left collarbone and her shoulder had disappeared, and the little marks that were left from her moon tattoo had also gone completely.
"Shit." A pang of shock echoed through his body as the Joker ran to the closest vat and caught his reflection in it. His body relaxed once he saw that his hair hadn't gone white like hers. Green was a good look on him and he didn't want to lose it.
J walked back over to Harley and scooped her up in his arms. With her head resting on his shoulder, he noticed that both their shirt colours had clung onto the ends of her hair, it looked incredible, it made her pale complexion even more prominent.
He gently walked out of the ACE Chemical plant and he walked towards his car. J unlocked it and placed Harley inside.
Leaving the passenger door open he walked round to the boot of the car and opened it, with a huge grin making an appearance on his face.
The Joker pulled out a clean pressed suit and quickly changed, it wasn't his favourite piece, the colours were all wrong but beggars can't be choosers especially if you've just jumped into skin burning chemicals. Besides it would fit a purpose, after all he still had to deal with Crane. J also pulled out a red blanket, he walked back over to where Harley was slumped and he placed it over her body, wrapping up her cold form. He kissed her cheek and shut the door, locking her inside he Lamborghini.
Joker flexed his arms and chuckled, he had always intended on taking Harley for a midnight skinny-dip in the chemical bath, but her stubbornness had made it all that bit easier for him, but now with that job done, all he had to do was deal with Crane.