The following day at Arkham Asylum Harley entered with optimism and a slight hangover. Last night was crazy and filled with excitement, loud music, tequila, and some clown on quinn action. The tequila was the first strike, timing at Sunday night was the second strike, and not calling off work was the final strike. Opening the door to her office she noticed Jeremiah Arkham leaning on her desk. The peeved expression on his face was evident while Harley's was aplomb. Time to start.
"Damn it!" A stack of newspapers was thrown on his desk. "The D.A. is officially missing in Gotham city and now the vote is postponed. Are you sure you haven't seen Henry since the dinner?" Harley immediately called him out.
"No I haven't seen Mr. Mecham since the failure of Saturday's dinner. Now I don't appreciate you in my office when I'm not here."
"I have the keys to every room in this asylum. And also I'm your boss."
"I still have the right to privacy with my own devices. And also I do believe you being at the dinner could have helped persuade Mr. Mecham instead of leaving me with an arrogant billionaire."
"Say's the one who brought her date to an important dinner deciding the faith of our patients." Harley snapped back.
"Oh please Jeremiah, you wouldn't mind a smaller inventory of patients in this facility, not that you have participated in any case studies lately." Dr. Arkham stands up straight and walks towards the door.
"I believe redemption is possible within anyone. The only problem with that statement is with each failure, pessimism begins to take control and hope becomes absent." After finishing that statement he left.
Harley just shook her head with dissatisfaction. Hope can't be diminished. Jeremiah's pessimism is an internal struggle. No matter how many times you fall, you have to stand back up. Harley picked up the newspaper and started reading the headlines.
"Mr. Mecham was allegedly kidnaped by one of Gotham's rose gallery. Some are linking this to the workings of Two-Face. Did they pick that choice out of thin air? Mr. Dent hasn't been seen in almost a year. The newspaper apparently didn't acquire any sources from the Arkham board. Those corporate suck ups wouldn't mind giving their opinions."
Buzz..Buzz
Harley pressed the button. "Dr. Quinzel you're appointment is being held in the Arkham Manor on the third floor."
"Thank you Sarah. How's your day?"
"It's fine, I received some flowers from Bart. These blue hortensia's are beautiful."
"That's nice. I'll talk to you later."
"Talk to you soon, bye." She released the button and looked for the next patient file. Selina Kyle. The folder opened to a photo of her mugshot. She had scratches all around her neck with a couple bruises on her left cheek. It had to be taken after a conflict arose from the Maroni crime family. Harley took the file and a recorder with some coffee.
The sky became engulfed with clouds, a storm was emerging soon so Harley began speed walking across the courtyard. The building contained a gargoyle perching at the top level above the entrance. The eyes were facing down looking directly at Harley. It needed repair badly but there was probably no money in the budget to replace a stone gargoyle.
Instead of utilizing the elevator Harley decided to use the stairs. It was only three flights of a six floor manor. The mix of victorian and gothic architecture was gorgeous. The railing along the stairs curled with a slant at each step. Light fixtures hanged from ceiling, some contained actual candles. Even the doors to each floor shown marks and indents. They haven't been painted in years, fading pearl white turning grey.
Reaching the door a guard patrolling the area gave her the clearance to enter. What Harley saw was a woman around her age chained to the steel table. She had straight pitch black dark hair cut at medium height. There were still scratch marks around her neck. The iris color around her pupils were a vibrant tint of green, around the color of a cats eyes. She had a somewhat nefarious look on her face that reminded Harley of Dr. Arkham.
"Hello Miss Kyle. I'm Dr. Quinzel and I will be seeing you for a couple weeks while Dr. Leland is on vacation."
"Thank god. I don't think that woman knows relaxation if it smacked her in the face."
"Dr. Leland is heavily invested in her work. What brings you in Selina?"
"Well I didn't exactly come here on my own volition. I got mixed up in a dicey situation with some less than reputable characters." Harley looked at her wounds.
"Is that how you attained those wounds?"
"Yeah but not the way you would think though."
"Would you mind to elaborate?" Selina had a moment of hesitation.
"...Sure Dr. Quinzel. I had a contract with the Maroni family to steal from the "The Roman" Falcone in order to acquire the Grey Diamond for myself and a couple sets of tacky rare pearl necklaces. It was an easy score, not to brag but "The Bastard" Maroni turned his back on the agreement and notified Falcone of a possible intruder. I was under fire after retrieving the goods, luckily I have excellent agility. After evading the gunman I ended up on a roof sweating, tired, and a little damaged. The railing along the side of the building had a rigid metal lining that needed to be replaced twenty years ago. Running along the roof I was about to jump off until I felt a grappling wire wrap around my legs and fell.
I turned on my side to notice a shadow figure coming towards me. It was Batman. He untied and lifted me up, whispered in my ear to give up the diamond. He didn't know I also stole the pearls but the diamond I wore around my neck. I refused obviously and we talked for five minutes before more of Falcone's men showed up. We worked together and took down those hired guns. Batman and I have excellent chemistry in cooperative combat.
When I first encountered him, he actually intimidated me. Overtime we seemed to play a perpetual game of cat and mouse to the point it became a stereotype almost. The one constant though was the sensuality. I still haven't taken off his mask despite the number of encounters we had. There is just something I feel when he holds me. It's not an orthodox relationship, I'll want more in the future. I don't even knows what he looks like, although he's seen my hair long and flowing."
"How long has this relationship been going on for?"
"About three years now."
"Do you see yourself with this man three years from now?" Selina nodded.
"I can see myself in his bed. I swear the sexual tension between us could be cut with a butterknife. I don't know if you would understand that." Harley smirked.
"You would be surprised. There's always an attraction to the outlier. I'm not the kinda girl that went to the bad boy or the popular, I'm fascinated by the unusual."
"And I'm fascinated with a man that dresses in a batsuit. You can't help who you fall for." Selina blushed from what she was gonna say. "He said I looked breathtaking under the moonlight with that diamond around my neck. He has a soft spot for me and let me go that time. Just before we parted ways for the night we kissed."
"Not a bad way to end the night." Selina just layed back.
"I honestly needed to get that off my chest."