Chapter 7: The Joker and Harley Quinn are no more.

"Target destroyed, ma'am."

"Thank you. Now get me off this roof."

"Yes, ma'am. We're inbound.

"The Joker and Harley Quinn are no more."

Amanda Waller & Soldier, Suicide Squad Extended Version (2016).

Harley had sat and stayed in the house until nightfall.

At first she'd wandered from room to room, from floor to floor, looking for any trace of him. Trying to understand if this was a game. Or a test.

But there was nothing.

The naked walls mocked her as she replayed all of their moments in her mind, as she recalled all the times he had said he loved her, all the places they'd made love in this house, all the times she'd laughed with him until they were both in tears.

After walking aimlessly she'd finally sunk to her knees and began to sob.

The emptiness inside her threatened to tear her apart.

She'd never known loneliness like this.

One time she had come close. When her mind had belonged to Dr. Harleen Quinzel and she had fallen for him so brutally and unconditionally. She had done all he'd asked, given up what little reputation she'd had, giving up her job, her friends and her family and he'd pushed her away.

She'd been ready to kill herself, when he came and found her at the chemical vat.

Because Harleen did die that night and Harley emerged she'd always wondered how he had known to come there.

She'd always thought he had just known her well enough. Had been drawn to this place because she'd been there. Had come to save her from her own darkness by enveloping her in is own.

Now she wasn't sure anymore.

He had just left.

Without finding out if she was ok. Without talking about this mess that was clearly a misunderstanding and could be solved in five minutes.

Sadness, anger and numbness were in a constant battle inside of her heart, each one trying to top the other, each one a worse blow than the one before.

She was all alone in the world.

She was defenseless in an empty house. He hadn't even left her one weapon.

He had left her.

Finally the darkness outside won. She was cold and she couldn't sit in these memories any longer. It was too much, hurt too bad.

In the nighttime, the familiar streets of Gotham seemed to be mocking her. Without Mistah. J this was no longer her home.

And what if something happened to him? After all someone was after the both them, had torn them apart to weaken them.

Someone he was close with.

She needed to call Jester and for that she'd have to go back to Neverland.

It was colder now that darkness had fallen.

She heard whispers in the night, unsure whether or not they were in her mind. There was laughter and she reached up to touch the side of her head the way one would swat at an annoying fly.

The first blow to the side of her face was so harsh she lost her balance almost immediately.

The voices and the laughter were clear now, obviously not in her mind, obviously real and physically in front of her.

Two hands reached around her waist. The grip was strong and she struggled.

In the half-light she saw warped Clown masks, their laughter sounded like they were mocking Mistah. J's signature mask and Harley's heart beat even faster.

They'd been after the Lost Boys. Maybe they thought she was one of them.

"Let go of me!" She struggled, elbowing her attacker in the face. The satisfying crunch when she hit his nose made her giggle and as his grip loosened she pushed herself free.

"Bitch!" He grunted and she tried to think if she knew the voice, if maybe this was bigger than Jester had thought, if these Clown-people were the ones trying to separate her and Mistah J.

Fueled by anger she spun around to attack him.

She was flanked by three of them. They were all taller than her and male. The Clown masks weren't scary for her, they were offensive.

They weren't afraid of her. As one all three of them stepped closer to her, but she was done feeling empty or sad or anything other than high on hatred and power.

"Bring it on boys!" She giggled, remembering how Grigg's guards had wanted to have her way with her and she'd put all five of them in the hospital.

A hand clamped over her mouth, it was large enough to cover her mouth and nose at the same time. Harley struggled to breath and heard excited panting behind her.

She scratched at the hand with all she had, felt blood pour down it, but whoever this clown was, he didn't seem to care.

Bight spots danced in front of her eyes as he pushed harder. Her lungs burned as if they were on fire. Tears burned in her eyes.

Mistah J, she thought, where are you? Stay safe.

The man choking her laughed behind her, a deep sound that sounded less human and more demonic. She felt everything in her weaken, felt herself go slack...

And then Peter was suddenly by her side, wielding a sword and cutting the arm wrapped around her face.

He struck like lightening into the scene, all light and strong and blazing.

As the man behind her screamed in pain and let her go, Harley stumbled forward, the air rushing into her lungs like fire, burning them all over again but giving her the sweetest release she could possible have hoped for.

In her dizziness she thought she saw something small with dirty wings hurry past her.

Gracie, she realized as she fell back against the wall.

"Can we call your rescue even?" There was Jodie, knife in hand, hair pinned up and an excited look in her eyes.

"Harley!" Wendy pushed one man out of the way, knocking him out in the process. "Harley!" She took Harley's face into her hands, gently.

"We're here." She whispered. "You're ok."

She was ok. She could breathe again. Her throat and lungs burned, but she was alive.

"I'm fine." She croaked and Wendy smiled.

"Come on. We need to leave."

Harley looked at the bodies on the floor. She couldn't believe they'd killed all of these men lying on the ground.

Gracie's wings shimmered in the semi-darkness as she patted down the men lying there, taking out their wallets and weapons expertly. Peter held out her hand as she hurried over to him and brought the tokens to him.

Together they sorted through the wallets quickly, taking the cash with expert movements.

"Valerie's gonna be here soon." Jodie said looking over her shoulder.

Peter threw the wallets back on the ground and put three knives and two guns in a backpack he then threw towards Jodie who caught it as if she had done this a hundreds times before.

"Come on, dear." Wendy's hand was on her arm, gentle and reassuring at the same time. Leading her away from the chaos, from the darkness.

Porter was waiting for them at the end of the alley way. Wendy was holding Harley's hand, Peter was at the very end, Jodie at the front and Gracie walked next to her, away from her, keeping her distance, skipping happily beside her, her fairy wings attached.

The five of them moved through the night quickly and silently. Harley felt as if she was in a dream, walking with the people who had saved her and taken her into their world without asking for anything in return.

They didn't go to Neverland. They went to a different location.

It was an empty garage and Porter locked the door without being asked to. Jodie closed the blinds. Gracie skipped towards the center of the empty room and sat down elegantly crossing her legs.

"This is one of our safe places." Peter explained, calmly pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping the blood of the sword.

"Is anyone hurt?" Wendy asked pulling out a first aid kit from a shelf at the back of the room.

"Nope." Jodie sounded happier than Harley had ever heard her before.

"I'm fine." Porter also said, scanning the room.

Gracie looked at everyone with an honest, open interest. She wasn't hurt.

"Harley, you're bleeding." Jodie noticed and pointed at Harley with a look in her eyes that seemed to be pity which annoyed her. She reached up to touch her temple and when she checked her fingers were covered in blood.

She wanted to say she was fine, she didn't care. It was just a scratch, but Wendy was already leading her away from the others to a back corner where there was a chair and a curtain hanging from the ceiling. She drew the curtain and Harley sat on the chair.

"Lean your head back." Wendy instructed.

Harley wasn't used to these kinds of instructions. At home each clown took care of their own wounds. The thought of home brought tears to her eyes.

"It's very small." Wendy assessed. "We won't need to stitch it."

She opened the first aid kit and the smell of disinfectant made Harley's stomach churn.

"I'll clean it and put a band-aid on it." Wendy looked down at her. "This will burn for a moment."

Harley didn't care. At this point she'd welcome some pain. She felt so numb.

"Those horrible creatures did a number on you." Wendy noticed as she began to dab the wound. Harley closed her eyes, enjoying the burning sensation. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

The Clown-girl didn't respond and opened her eyes to see Wendy hovering over her, working intently on a scratch both Harley and Mistah J would never have bothered with.

"You're good at this." She realized in a scratchy voice.

"I was a nurse in my former life." Wendy said with a smile.

Would her life with the Joker be here former life now too? The thought alone made her want to cry.

"Before the Lost Boys." The older woman added although Harley had understood that much.

The Lost Boys, Harley thought with a sad smile.

She was lost now too. Just like the rest of them.

Worse, she thought.

Her fall had been from way up high.

"And here we go." She pressed a white band-aid against her forehead and then stroked Harley's open hair to cover it. "It's hardly noticeable."

It was nice how Wendy stroked her hair. It reminded Harley of her mother. She hadn't thought about her in such a long time.

"Thanks."

Wendy opened the curtain again and Harley rose from the chair.

Gracie wasn't alone on the floor. Peter had sat down beside her, but there was a noticeable distance between them and he was counting the money. She watched him silently.

"Good job Gracie." He said and she smiled, but said nothing.

Jodie and Parker were standing by the garage door. He was humming and she looked tense.

"Did Valerie text yet?" Wendy asked seemingly no one in particular, but Jodie turned towards her.

"No."

"Well it hasn't been too long yet."

Harley sat down on Gracie's other side and the little girl moved away from her with a dark look. Harley raised her eyebrows questioningly, but couldn't really care about whether or not a six-year-old liked her.

"What is this place?" She asked in a small voice and Peter looked up from the money he'd been counting.

"It's one of the many secret places we own." He explained. "We're waiting for Valerie, that's Jodie's sister, to tell us we can come out."

The confusion seemed to be written on Harley's voice because Wendy sat down beside her, saying:

"Valeria is part of the GPD and we don't want any cops on our tail so we usually ask her to clean up our messes."

Harley nodded. Her head hurt. Everything hurt.

"That's ok for her? Covering up murders?"

Jodie flinched, Wendy gasped and Peter sighed. Porter said nothing and Gracie cocked her head to the side looking at Harley in an interested way.

"We don't murder people, Harley." Wendy explained and it was the first time she had heard a strain in her voice. "Not unless there's no other option."

"We deal with them in different ways."

"Oh." She could feel the tension in the room. "Sorry."

For a second she thought Gracie was smiling, but that was ridiculous and probably in her mind.

"It's ok." Wendy gave her a warm smile. "Have you decided what you're going to do? Would you like to come back to Neverland with us?"

"Uh..." Harley was conscious that all eyes were on her and said: "I was on my way back to get my phone actually. I need to call Jester." She closed her eyes as she felt a wave of grief threaten to knock her down. "Mistah J left me. He emptied out the entire house."

There was a silence. But it wasn't shocked. It was confused.

Jodie and Porter looked at each other and then Peter and Wendy, who were both frowning at Harley. Gracie looked pitiful.

"What?" She muttered. "Am I the only one who was surprised by that?!"

"She doesn't know." Jodie realized and Peter shot her an annoyed glance because that was clear.

"I don't know what?"

Wendy and Peter looked at each other in obvious discomfort. Clearly surprised by Harley's lack of knowledge.

"What's going on? Is Mistah J ok?!"

She looked at Peter. Gentle Peter with his knowing smile and blazing eyes. The one who had saved her from those demonic clowns. If there were worse news, she wanted him to tell her.

"Was he arrested?"

Darkness enveloped her so suddenly she felt dizzy.

"Is he hurt?!"

"The Joker is fine." Peter said in his calm manner and his gaze flickered to his wife briefly. "It's about you." He paused and Harley waited, wanting to know what had happened and also not wanting her world to be changed again.

"Harley, he made your break-up public." Peter looked tired, rubbing his face. "He...he said..." He looked at his wife, who looked at Jodie.

The other girl was still tense, still cold-hearted, but annoyingly Harley could see pity in her eyes.

"Here." She said, holding up her her phone. "You can watch it yourself."

"Jodie." Wendy's voice was warning. "Don't."

"Show me."

"Harley." Peter sounded tired. "There's no need. We will tell you."

He looked up at her with a look that was pitiful and she felt rage curl up in her stomach.

"Show me the video!" She snapped and her aggressive voice made him comply. He handed her the

phone wordlessly.

There he was. Her perfect Mistah. J. He was so sexy and so beautiful and her heart broke at the thought that she wasn't with him.

"Everyone!" The minute she heard his voice, tears burned in her eyes and she couldn't even try to hide them. How could they be in the same city, in the same time and not be together? How had everything changed in a manner of 48 hours?

"I have an announcement to make." He paused and grinned and she knew what he was doing. She knew how much he liked dramatic pauses.

"Harley Quinn has betrayed me." Tears streamed down her face at his words. There was no doubt in his mind. He was utterly sure that she had cheated on him. The crowd was silent.

"She is no longer my Queen and therefore free for you to do whatever you please."

The sudden cheers at these words made her flinch.

"I don't care." He added as if that hadn't been clear. Her head was spinning, her breath came to quickly.

He didn't care what happened to her. He had publicly made her an outcast.

"Honestly, she was boring me!" The way he said it made it sound like a joke and he laughed, but the sobbing Harley knew he was serious about this.

"Anyway..." He made a hand gesture as if throwing away something unimportant. "In this crisis I have learned who my real allies are. The loyal ones."

The crowd became silent again, knowing full well when he spoke like this they didn't want to be on his bad side. When he used the words ally and loyal.

"So let me introduce my new Queen..." He turned around and someone pushed the curtain aside. Someone petite with a pixie hair cut, wearing a classy black dress. It was someone Harley knew.

"The extraordinary, brand new, better than Harley-Quinn...Jester!" Harley's mouth dropped open.

Jester?!

That sneaky little bitch. That disgusting little liar had only pretended to be a lesbian! She'd been her friend! And now she was wearing one of Harley's dresses and was holding on to Mistah J's arm tightly.

Rage surged through her as thew the phone across the room. She couldn't look at it any longer.

"Hey!" Jodie snapped as she picked it up. "Dramatic much?"

Harley didn't respond, she pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face against them and sobbing. She didn't care who saw, who knew. What did it matter? What did any of it matter anymore?

Had the past years meant nothing to him at all?

She had been replaced in such a short time. Had he planned all this? Had he wanted her out of her life so desperately?

She whimpered at the thought.

They had been happy.

"Harley, Sweetheart." Wendy put her arm around her shaking shoulders. "We'll protect you. You're safe with us."

She didn't answer. All of Gotham could do whatever they wanted to her. She didn't care just as he didn't.

"You love him." Jodie realized. She sounded surprised. "You're actually in love with him."

Harley didn't move from her position. She couldn't deal with pity right now. She just wanted to be left alone. She didn't want to hear how she deserved someone who treated her better, that she shouldn't shed a tear for him.

"You'll be ok, Harley." Peter promised in a reassuring tone as if he knew this with certainly. "You'll get through this."

There was a silence that she welcomed. She closed her eyes tightly, willing darkness to overcome her and take her away.

Finally it was Porter who broke the silence, his voice further away than the others because he hadn't moved from his position at the door. In a steady, calm voice he announced:

"Valerie said the coast is clear. We can go."

Thank you for your messages! What do you think? Will the Clowncouple come back from this?