A/N - I don't own Birds of Prey, just this one shot and others that will be uploaded soon.
Please let me know what you think.
Naming the Hyena.
Harley smirked as she handed the very large (stolen) turkey leg and steak to the hyena she had bought, giggling madly as the wild animal immediately went to work and started to gnaw the meat loudly.
"Ya like that, don't ya, baby?" Harley cooed, reaching forward fearlessly to pet the eating hyena, but she pulled her hand away when the streak of common sense even her time with the Joker had never cured her of. She had seen dogs growl whenever someone touched them while they were eating, the last thing she wanted to see was what the hyena would do if she gave it the impression she was taking its meal away.
The hyena had made short work of Dave after she'd bought him, he was obedient, yeah. But she had seen how he had torn Murray around, and she was under no illusion the hyena could easily kill her with his powerful jaws. Harley might be crazy and she might act immature, but she was anything but stupid.
You didn't survive under the Joker without quickly learning how his mind worked, and as a psychiatrist, it wasn't difficult to quickly understand how the Joker worked. Okay, granted, she had needed to work a bit on her technique before she could say she was a veteran and she'd survived long enough to see the next few birthdays she could enjoy.
Okay, the bastard had knocked her around a bit - Harley closed her eyes as she pushed those memories out of her mind, the less she thought about the Joker, the less chance she would have of being swept off her feet as she had in the past whenever she'd gotten her act together. Harley left the hyena to his meal, and she headed over to the small kitchen to see what she could eat. There wasn't much (that reminded her, she would need to find the time to rob a grocery store for supplies, but there was enough here for now), but she gathered some cereal and she dropped it into a bowl and she took it over to the sofa.
After splashing milk over the cereal, Harley tucked in, shoving it into her mouth while she turned on the TV. While she spooned her meagre meal into her mouth, Harley considered what she was going to do next. Mentally she checked off the list the need for an exotic and special pet.
The list went as follows;
Get outta the Joker's clutches. CHECKED WITH A HAIL OF MACHINE-GUN BULLETS.
Get a nice (ish) apartment. CHOKED WITH JOKER VENOM.
Enjoy life. DRIVEN OVER WITH A TANK.
Get a new pet. SHOT IN THE EYE WITH A BULLET.
Find a way of making cash. ?
Maybe find a getting outta Gotham?
Harley grimaced as she thought of that last point on her list. She wasn't 100% sure about that one, but she knew if she remained in Gotham she would find it hard to resist Mr J's charms again, and she knew what would happen if that happened. How many times had she tried to get away from the Joker, only for him to seduce her back into his clutches? Harley had lost count if she were honest, but she knew the longer she was in Gotham, she was in danger.
Thanks to her time with the Joker, Harley had made dozens of enemies. She knew she was on borrowed time before somebody tried to come after her and kill her. And she also knew it would only be a matter of time before Joker came after her as well. Harley didn't want to be anywhere near Gotham when that happened, but she needed to find a way of making cash. She'd worry about that later, she was just pleased she had a friend.
Unfortunately, she wondered how long it would last; she had heard rumours from her contacts on the streets. People were being killed, but while Harley didn't care all that much about it all, she knew one thing. She had seen it several times while she was with Mr J.
Someone else was out there…
Harley didn't know who this character was, but she knew she did not want to be out on the streets when that someone appeared. It was bad enough there was a chance the Batman was out there, but Harley really did not want to be caught in the middle.
Harley turned to the hyena, and she found that the animal was finishing off its meal. As if sensing his new owner staring at him, the hyena looked up at her. Harley grinned at the animal, admiring his beauty even from the distance between them. Suddenly she realised that she hadn't thought about what to call the hyena. She couldn't just keep thinking and referring to the hyena forever, she needed to give the animal a name.
Trouble was she didn't have a clue what to call him. Harley turned back to the TV, and she began flicking through the local news.
"Nope," she grumbled seeing out of the corner of her eye the hyena looking at her in a quizzical manner, "Boring. Don't like him, you wouldn't like the name. Ahh!" Suddenly she brightened when the familiar face of Bruce Wayne appeared on the screen; sure, the guy was serious, looking older beyond his years as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders and crushing him down as if he were in a hydraulic press, but he was sure hunky, "Bruce Wayne! I know, I'll name you Bruce!" She grinned brightly at the hyena, giggling with delight at finding her new friend a good name.
The hyena 'laughed' as she did (Harley made a mental note to find some books or internet pages about spotted hyenas and their habits, but she hoped the hyena was laughing with her; at the same time she also wanted to make sure the animal was not going to attack her).