© Ellie Goodson 2016

Chapter Twenty Nine-Introducing…Doc Jones

~Arabella Jones~

I sat in a circle on the floor with Ivy and Harley in Catwoman's apartment. It looked exactly the same, some of her belongings were gone but apart from that, it looked as if Selina still lived here. But she was gone-long gone. Probably in some other country with old Batman by now, I just hoped that it was all okay for her. I'd met Harley and Ivy at the apartment to discuss what would happen now that Selina was gone. The girls looked sadly depressed, and it made me feel worse. Catwoman had indeed left me in the position where it seemed like I was trying to replace her, and that wasn't what I had intended to do at all. I was actually trying to help Selina.

Ivy cleared her throat. Her red hair was twisted into a brain behind her back, flowers sprung out of her hair like they were growing there. "First thing we need is a name for you. My name is Pamela, but I'm known as Poison Ivy. Harley's is Harleen Quinzel, and yet she's known as Harley Quinn. You are Arabella Jones. We need something for you." Ivy seemed to feel more hostile towards me, which was completely understandable. Harley however, acted like we'd been best friends all of our lives.

"I've got an idea!" She squealed, hand raised like a school child. She was in her jester suit, her face painted white with vibrant red lips and a black mask over her eyes. "You know how Bella is a psychiatrist, why don't we call her Doc Jones? Like her secret identity is still being a doctor!"

Ivy and I exchanged a look, both thinking over what Harley had said. "That's actually..."

"Pretty perfect! It's clever; it has a meaning and an understanding to it." I finished for Pamela, my words genuinely pleased.

"Okay, now all we need is a...suit. Mine comes naturally; Harley and Catwoman have...had to put theirs on."

"Since I'm going by Doc Jones, shouldn't it consist of like a lab coat and, like Doctors clothing?"

"Perfect!" The two women opposite me yelped, clapping their hands together.

I was beginning to relax, feeling more comfortable around the girls. It had been a very long time since I'd seen them, let alone been with them. "No more criminal talk. Let's just...hang. Be friends, I need some time with some girls." I said to Ivy and Harley, standing myself up. Both girls followed, nodding their heads.

"I'm making food and drink, who wants?" Pamela shouted on the way to the kitchen.

"Me!" Both Harley and I burst into giggles after screaming in unison.

One of the best things about Harley is her childishness. The ability to laugh about anything, you couldn't help but be happy in her presence. Being around Harley made you just want to run around screaming with delight. She carried an innocent atmosphere around her, even though she was far from innocent really. Both Harley and I shared huge similarities, being a psychiatrist and then being released from our minds by the Joker. It connected us, like sisters.

Pamela was there for when you needed maturity, sophistication. When you needed to be serious and have a little fun at the same time. Different from Harley, she made me feel like an adult. Like I was intelligent and grown up enough to take on the whole world using only my smart words. It was as much of a good thing as Harley's was. Unlike with Harley, Ivy and I had connected right from the start. Right back in Arkham, we had formed a friendship.

I laid back on the sofa, my legs resting on top of Harley's, which was resting on the coffee table. Ivy was twisted about on the sofa opposite us. As she had the longest legs, she managed to argue the need for the sofa all to herself. "I need more leg room to stretch mine out." She'd stated as her winning phrase, leaving me and Harley crowded onto one sofa. I sipped at the tea which was warming my body blissfully. Harley was picking at a sandwich, nibbling it like a cute mouse. Ivy held a glass of blood red wine in her green hands, the contrast of colours was picturesque.

Ivy was telling us the story of how she came to be Poison Ivy. "He used me like a lab rat. Testing me with his twisted experiments. It all went wrong, changing my skin green and giving me the ability to control plants. I also discovered that my kiss was poison, toxic to another living beings lips. I got my own back eventually." She left it there, leaving Harley and I to imagine all manner of ways that she could've killed the Doctor. She sipped away at her wine, and I could see the pain in her eyes, it was a hard memory to relive for her.

Everyone knew Harley's story, and both girls had been there to witness most of my story. So with tale time over, I swiftly changed subject. Swallowing tea and feeling heat travel down my oesophagus, I cleared my throat to speak. "What have you girls been up to lately then? It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"Harley and I have stuck together. We've gone out with Catwoman. After she told us what she was going to do with Batman, we decided to stay in and spend as much time together as possible. So we've just been in here for the past week." I chuckled lightly, shaking my head. Of course they'd feel that trapping themselves inside would be the best thing to do. "How about you?"

I tapped my nails against the china cup, causing small 'chinks' to fill the room. "Oh, you know. Sleeping, dreaming, eating, that's about it." I rolled my eyes, taking another sip. I was rewarded by a giggle from Harley and a low laugh from Ivy. "I've never been very active." I put the empty tea cup down on the floor, laying my head back on the arm rest.

"This is nice, ya know. Nice to have new company." Harley chirped, closing her big blue eyes.

"Yeah, I know."

Bored of being inside, Harley, Ivy and I decided to pay the world a visit. We'd made a plan to go to the square where everyone would be gathered. "It'd be the perfect place to introduce you to the world, let everyone know who you are and what you're here to do." Ivy said, sounding the most excited I'd ever heard her. She'd get everyone's attention by making huge vines sprout through the ground, capturing some people. Then Harley would waltz on stage and introduce me. Then I'd have to do something criminally.

"Like kill someone!" Harley squealed, jumping up and down.

On arrival at the square, Harley and I stayed in the shadows by the stage while Ivy got to work. Huge, three foot wide vines snaked up from the ground. Immediately, people were crying and calling for help. The vines clutched at large groups of people, dragging them in the air before dangling them by their feet. More, smaller vines snaked through the crowd, causing destruction wherever they travelled. Citizens screamed abuse at Ivy, telling her to let them go. That only urged her on, making the vines travel higher in the air. The pitch of screams rose, the volume heightened, and I could hear

Ivy's laughter from the shadows.

It was Harley's cue to start her mayhem, and so she began to cartwheel and flip onto stage and into the spotlight. "Hiya there!" She yelled into the microphone, causing everyone to look at her. "It's Harley!" The jester posed dramatically, arms flailed in the air and head titled back. "I'm not here for me today, and neither is Ivy. We want to introduce you to our new friend!" At that point, it was my turn to enter on stage.

I wore my old doctor's coat, and my clothes were more formal. However, I had a gun slung over my chest and multiple knives, and shotguns stored clearly in my pockets. I had other weapons on my body, hidden well. "Allow me to introduce you to...Doc Jones!" Harley yelled frantically into the microphone.

"I need a volunteer." I shouted to Ivy. "Greenie, you got a volunteer for me?" Pamela moves on of the vines over to the stage, and loosened it enough to let one fall to the ground.

The man yelled as he fell, before hitting the stage with a thump. I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him up. "It's nothing personal." I told him, loud enough for others to hear. "It's just about sending a message." With that, I took a knife out of my pocket and dragged it across the man's throat. He fell to the ground, blood pouring from the slit I'd made. "Ta da!" I threw my bloody hands out, shaking them like jazz hands. The audience was silent, before erupting into screams of horror. I heard people crying out loud, having known the man I'd just murdered.

Harley and I skipped off stage, and Ivy let the people drop from the vines before joining us in the shadows. We sprinted from the square, knowing that people would start to hunt us down soon. "What a thrill!" I yelled when we were back at Selina's apartment.

"Doc Jones is official!" Ivy told me, squeezing me in a hug.

Official it was. That was only the beginning of Doc Jones. I killed more people, committed more crimes. The friendship between Ivy, Harley and I strengthened until it was rock solid. The Joker was proud of me. In his eyes, I was as good a criminal as he was. Everything was going so perfect, a perfect criminal with a perfect friendship and a perfect relationship. It was all so perfect.

I was a well-known criminal. Police hunted me, people feared me, children screamed at the thought of me and the Joker loved me. It couldn't have been better for me, the life as a hated woman couldn't get better. It was ironic, I'd spent all of my life just wanting to be loved and cared for, and now I loved and cared for the fact that I was wanted, dead or alive.