Chapter 11: Yeah, that was gangster.

"And here's one now. Japanese, female, mid-twenties, 5 foot 5, good health,athletic and... an only child, with deep seeded father issues. Daddy wanted a son, so she has to hide behind a mask.

"I am not... hiding."

"Yeah, that was gangster."

Harleen Quinzel & Katana Suicide Squad, Extended Cut (2016).

The Vaydor was parked right outside the Smile&Grin. It stood out like a sore thumb in between the broken down, old cars. Harley giggled as she spotted the familiar purple speeding car. She had loved it just as she had loved him. Giggling she traced her finger tips over the hood. How she wished she'd still had her bat. But Mistah J had taken that away from her. Just as he had taken everything else.

"Harley!" Jodie hissed. In the past 30 minutes Jodie had yelled her name over and over again, the closer they got to Harley's destination, the quieter her voice had gotten. "Please." She muttered. "Don't."

Wendy was still with them and although she wasn't as giggly as Harley, she was still in a good mood and chuckled:

"You told her to get angry."

"Yeah, I didn't tell her to get us all killed."

"She won't get us killed, love."

Harley smashed the passenger window with her elbow and squealed in delight at the shattering sound it made.

"Hey!" Someone yelled instantly. Harley giggled, Wendy paled and Jodie sighed. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

She grinned and turned to her friends. "It's Johnny! Hey, Johnny! How's it going?!"

Wendy's face turned more of a greenish color and Harley felt bad for dragging her along. "Harley, let's go."

"Go?" She repeated. "No way." She reached into her bra where she had stashed a small pocketknife and started scratching the side of Mistah J's beloved car.

"Damnit Harley!" Johnny yelled which made her laugh again.

"Come on Puddin'." She muttered. "Come out and play."

"We need to go!" Jodie urged, taking Wendy's arm. Wendy looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"No." She gasped. "No, no we can't leave her, Jodie. We just can't."

Johnny had reached the car. "Harley." He muttered. "Get lost, I won't tell him it was you."

"Aww..." She chuckled, stepping closer to the most trusted henchman, who like everything else was now part of her past, and ran a finger over his chest. "But where would the fun be in that?"

"He'll kill you, Harley." Johnny barely showed any emotions, not to his own words and not to the fact that she was running her hand up down his chest.

"Johnnyboy." She sighed. "You're so dramatic!" Then she threw her head back and laughed, before smashing the back window with her elbow.

"Wendy, please." Jodie had started crying. "Please we can't stay."

Wendy looked between the two and her eyes met Harley's.

Harley shrugged at her.

She expected her to leave, everyone else usually did. No one wanted Harley Quinn in their lives, no one would choose to have her and no one stuck around when things got tough. Wendy went to the passenger side, ripped the door open and yelled:

"Get in!" Harley squealed and Johnny groaned loudly. She jumped into the driver's seat just in time for her to hear her beloved's voice:

"Johnny, what the hell is this?!"

"Jodie!" Harley hissed. "Get in!"

Jodie sat on Wendy's lap and looked like she would rather be anywhere in the entire world than in this car. The engine roared in time with the Joker's angry scream and Harley laughed harder than she had in a very long time as she drove into Gotham's nightly traffic.

"We're going to die!" Jodie screamed. "We're going to die! Slow down!"

"It's fine!" Harley yelled back over the sound of the engine.

She was exhilarated. This was fun. He had never let her drive his precious car. He said his baby wouldn't be drivin' his baby. Well he was wrong about that. Wendy, to her surprise was laughing. She looked relieved.

"He always leaves the keys in the ignition." Harley explained. "Because he's so cocky, he thinks no one would ever dare to steal it. Ha!" She laughed. "Well I showed him."

"We!" Jodie snapped her voice two octaves higher than usual. "We're a part of this now, he will hunt us down and kill us!"

"Nah, he didn't get a good look at ya."

"Besides." Wendy threw in from underneath Jodie. "We got away."

"For now!" Harley laughed again and smashed the window on her side.

She hadn't felt this liberated in a long time. Life was good to her tonight. Who did he think he was? Goin' round tellin' people they could do whatever they wanted to her. Replacing her. Letting her go without a fight. Hell, forget about a fight, there hadn't even been a discussion. The engine whined as if in pain and Harley laughed even harder. Next to her Wendy was giggling too, clearer more at ease than the other inhabitant of the car.

"Jodie." Harley said with a smile and took her foot off the gas pedal. "We're sisters, right?"

Jodie said nothing and only glared at her.

"Anyway, you can trust me, I'll look after ya."

She pulled over abruptly and Jodie didn't even need to be told anything and jumped out of the car immediately. Wendy hesitated.

"I have an idea." Harley promised. "It will be fine, just wait for me here. But you need to get out now."

"Harley..."

"Get out Wendy, it will be fine. I promise."

She no longer looked amused, but very worried as she leaned forward and hugged her. "Come back to me, ok?"

"Of course!" Harley returned the hug and when she was alone in the car she breathed in and out a few times, trying to clear her mind. Trying to push the sane voice out. She was doing it. There was no turning back now. She pressed the pedal down and the car shot forward.

Wendy and Jodies' screams made her laugh and she made sure to fling herself out of the car just seconds before the impact. There was a loud crash and Harley rolled into the asphalt.

It hurt, every part of her hurt, but it had been worth it.

"Harley! Are you ok?!" Wendy was by her side, pulling her to her knees.

"Is that angry enough for you, Jodie?" Harley grinned at her, ignoring the blood seeping from her forehead where she'd cut herself. Jodie didn't answer and looked at the mess Harley had created.

The car was completely ruined. It had crashed right through the front window and then spiraled into a wall.

Right through the front window of a bridal store.

When Harley awoke the next morning she felt like she'd been run over by a truck. Groaning she turned around in her sleeping bag pushing her face into the pillow.

"Jodie's real mad." Lauren's voice made her groan. "She said you need to get up right now and come and talk to Wendy and Peter."

Harley closed her eyes tightly, fighting against dizziness and nausea, threatening to overwhelm her.

"Like literally right now."

Harley groaned dramatically, the way Mistah J used to do when she annoyed him in the mornings. She sat up slowly, her mind spinning. Lauren took one look at her and backed away.

"I'll tell her you'll be right there..."

The young girl hurried out of the tent and Harley let her head sink in her hands. She felt like utter and complete crap. Her head was throbbing, the nausea and dizziness had her swaying, the right side of her body was covered in bruises from flinging herself out of the car.

She didn't regret a thing.

"Harley!" Jodie's' annoyed voice made her flinch. "Get up right now!"

"I'm coming!" She croaked and searched the tent floor for something clean.

She sniffed a few shirts and finally found, black pants and a gray shirt. Harley stumbled out of the tent and blinked against the bright lights. The sun was streaming in through the larger windows on the side of the factory. Jodie stood, dressed in black boots, jeans and a red shirt. Her arms crossed in front of chest and a scowl on her face that gave Harley flashbacks to her time at Arkham.

"We're going to see Peter and Wendy."

"Can I have a shower first?" Jodie sighed as if she'd asked her if she could have a pony and walked away with large, angry steps. Harley followed her with a sigh. T

he showers in Neverland were shared. Harley didn't care. So many people had seen her naked body, in prison, in the club...she'd gotten over being shy a long time ago. She brushed her teeth twice and fought against the dizziness with all she had.

Afterwards she found Jodie waiting for her outside.

"This is third-degree stalking, you know."

The other girl narrowed her eyes in anger and spun around, once again leading the way. Peter and Wendy were sitting in the empty dining hall, talking in quiet voices, holding hands. When they saw Jodie and Harley they smiled at them, but they also looked tense.

"Girls." Peter smiled. "Take a seat. Harley, have you had breakfast yet?"

"I'm not hungry." The couple looked at one another briefly, but said nothing.

"Jodie." Wendy said. "You suggested this meeting."

Harley sighed. She'd be packing her bags today, she was sure.

"Thank you." Jodie's voice was cold, even when she spoke to Wendy. "I'd like to request that Harley Quinn gets downgraded from Rung Six to Rung Two."

"Two?" Harley scoffed. "Are you kiddin' me? Gracie is on two." "

Actually, Gracie is on three." Wendy threw in, not particularly helpful.

"Jodie, what is your reasoning?" Peter asked and held out a hand towards Harley, signaling she would get her chance to speak soon enough. Harley pouted but kept quiet.

"Last night, Harley endangered two Lost Boys, putting them in serious harm. Adding on top of that she may have led the Joker onto us, making all of Neverland a target of his rage."

Peter didn't react, he wasn't angry, he was as calm and calculated as always.

"Harley? Is this true?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" She burst out. "I was upset and she told me to get angry–"

"I didn't mean–"

"Jodie, hush. It's Harley's turn." Peter didn't take his eyes of Harley as he said this.

"I was upset." She repeated, letting Peter's obvious calm wash over her. "And he deserved it. If he has two brain-cells he might put together that it was me, but he doesn't know anything about Neverland." She glanced at Jodie. "I didn't bring his wrath upon everyone else."

The other girl scoffed.

"Were you in control of the situation?" Peter asked her. "Were you prepared to fight against him?"

"I..." Things were a blur last night. She remembered the rage, the confusion. She remembered Jodie and Wendy begging her to let it go.

"She put us in danger." Jodie's eyes went small. "Peter, she put Wendy in danger."

"Thank you Jodie, I am not a child." Wendy muttered, rubbing her temple.

"No, you're his wife. If I were you, Peter, I would put Harley out on the streets. I told you all from the beginning that this was a bad idea."

"Well, Jodie, you're not the one in charge and I don't just throw people out on the streets." Peter countered in a tone that wasn't exactly rude, but his calm was beginning to crumble. "You've both said your piece, Wendy told me what happened last night." He looked at his wife. "I think Rung Two is excessive. What do you think?"

"I think this entire meeting is excessive." Wendy said. "Nothing happened."

"You were in danger, love. And the rules are clear, be helpful for the family, step up the ladder, harm the family, step down." Wendy looked torn. Obviously she was between the two and Harley felt bad for putting her in the position.

"Fine." She said. "I say Rung Five."

"That's nothing!" Jodie burst out. "You put Alison down three rungs when she shoplifted, remember?!"

"Yeah." Wendy rubbed her temples. "And we had the cops here in Neverland demanding to speak with a legal guardian."

"We might have the Joker here. What do you think he'll do?"

"Rung Three." Peter said after moment's silence. "That will put you on the same rung as Gracie and under Lauren and Rachel. That means given the circumstances you have to do what they say." H

arley almost laughed. She would not be taking orders from the 11 year-olds.

"Youe new tasks are kitchen-work and cleaning." He continued. "Porter will explain that to you later on."

"Fine." She muttered. All she had to do was save one of the Lost Boys and she'd step up the ladder again. Someone would get into trouble soon enough, she was sure of it.

"Don't forget to mention the most important part." Jodie muttered as she stood up. "If you don't like the rules, you're always free to go!"

With that she stormed off and the three of them stared after her in silence.

"I'll talk to her." Wendy stood up shakily and Harley realized she was probably battling a hang-over as well. "I don't like it when she's upset. Excuse me."

When she left Harley hoped Peter would leave to, just so she could be alone for a moment. But he stayed seated looking at her.

"Harley." He began in a somber voice. "Last night was my anniversary. You took my wife with you on some crazy revenge mission, almost got her killed." She couldn't stand to look at him and see the disappointment written on his face so clearly. She stared at the table top and fought against her tears. "You deserve to be punished like this, Jodie is right." Maybe she should leave. Maybe she'd been feeling to comfortable here. "But I haven't seen Wendy this happy in a long time."

Her head shot up and he smiled at the surprise on her face.

"Yes, I'm serious. She's...she's been through a lot, we both have. When you returned last night, she was drunk and panicked, but there was also a light in her eyes, I haven't seen in years." He stood up. "Do your tasks well and thoroughly and you'll work yourself back up." Peter pressed her shoulder softly. "Don't let Jodie get to you, ok?"

"Ok."

"See you around, Harley."

When he left she wished he hadn't. Suddenly being alone was one of the worst things she could think of.

"I am too old to drink!" Wendy plopped down in front of her. "I swear I can't do this anymore." She put a plate with eggs and tomatoes between the two of them and laid down two forks. "Do you want some coffee? You like espresso, right?" Harley nodded and muttered thanks.

Wendy hurried of and returned with two steaming mugs. "For what it's worth, Harley. I think your revenge was amazing. I was scared last night, but it was exhilarating." She started to giggle. "Can you imagine his face when he finds his car in pieces?"

Harley giggled too. "He'll probably cry."

"Men, am I right?" Wendy roll her eyes and started eating. "You should really eat something, Honey, it will help against the nausea."

"Thank you." She said and picked up her fork. "For understanding. I think I'm ready to get over him now."

Wendy nodded and then reached for her hand. "It might still take some time and that's ok. You don't need to explain or justify how you feel or how long you need to be ok again."

Harley blinked away her tears. She hadn't felt this understood by someone in a long time.

"Thanks, Wendy. Really. Your understanding means so much to me."

Wendy was quiet for a moment, biting her lower lip thoughtfully. "I..." She took a deep breath, obviously struggling to say the words out loud. "I lost someone who was very close to me. He meant the world to me. And he..." Now it was Wendy who was fighting against her tears and Harley who reached for her hand. "And he died."

Harley had never imagined Wendy could have loved anyone else but Peter. But she could see it clear as day how much this loss still tore at her.

"I'm so sorry, Wendy."

"I just understand better than others what it's like to feel like to miss someone in a way that it eats you up."

That was exactly how it felt. Even though Mistah J wasn't dead. She couldn't even fathom that thought.

"I feel like I'm always layin' all my problems on you and you're...if you ever need anything from me..." Harley stopped.

What could she possibly give to someone as put-together as Wendy?

"Thanks, Honey. I appreciate that." They ate in silence and for the first time in a long time Harley felt like she was going to be ok.

Hi guys! Thank you for your reviews and messages! Did Mistah J get what he deserved?