Jerome drew some of Joker's blood and had a look at it in the makeshift lab they had set up, which was really just a dingy random room in the mill with barely any equipment. Jerome counted himself lucky that they even had a microscope. What he saw when he looked at Joker's blood wasn't encouraging.
"Be honest with me, JJ. Joker's not gonna make it, is he?" Harley asked with a worried look.
Jerome sighed and sat back in his chair. "It's not looking good. It's as I thought. The damage that was done to him when he fell into toxic chemicals years ago didn't go away. The Titan formula is interacting with it all. His blood itself is killing him. I'm not even sure where to begin in finding a way to cure him. And I don't think he has that long."
"Oh no." Harley looked devastated. She thought of something and perked up. "Maybe Freeze made progress after he stopped communicating with us. Maybe you can convince him to continue."
"Why was Freeze helping you? He doesn't seem the type to help the Joker." Jerome asked.
"We stole his frozen wife and used her as a hostage. We still have her but he still stopped cooperating." She said.
"You stole his wife?" Jerome wondered if he could convince the guy to help if he handed him his wife back. He hoped Batman would be along soon. He might be able to help in this situation. "I'm probably going to need his help. He's better at this stuff than I am." Jerome said.
"He won't listen to us. He kills anyone we send over there." Harley said, frustrated.
"That's because he's angry." Jerome said, shaking his head. "Think, Harley. What would you do if the person you cared about more than anything was held hostage? Tell me where you have his wife stashed. I'll give her back to him to get his help."
"That won't be enough to convince him." Harley said.
"I know. Damn it." Jerome said, realizing that if Freeze wouldn't even work to get his wife back when she was a hostage then they had no leverage over him. Nothing to get him to help.
"Oh don't worry about that." Joker said as he walked into the room. "Overall, Freeze likes to think he's a good person. That can always be used to our advantage."
"Good person or not, he has no reason to help you get over this. Many good people would probably come to the conclusion that Gotham would be a whole lot safer without you. No offense." Jerome said.
"Oh, I have no doubt of that. But what if it wasn't just me he was trying to cure?" Joker pointed out with a smug look.
"What are you talking about?" Jerome asked before his eyes got wide. "Your blood would be toxic to anyone, not just you. You've injected other people with your blood, haven't you?"
"I haven't injected anyone...yet." Joker said. "But I did make a rather generous donation to a local blood bank recently. It's only a matter of time."
Jerome didn't have to ask if he was serious. He knew the Joker well enough to know that he would absolutely do something that messed up. Which meant who knows how many people in Gotham were about to start dying too? They didn't have long.
"Oh, JJ. I'd like you to meet someone. He's such a hoot." Joker said. "Hey, get in here, already. I want someone to meet you." he called out to someone outside the room.
Suddenly, another Joker walked into the room and smiled at Jerome. Jerome stared at the much healthier looking Joker with wide eyes. "How? What the hell?"
Joker laughed and the other Joker did too. "Maybe I have an identical twin." Joker joked. Jerome knew that Joker didn't know about Miah but Joker had hit closer to home than Jerome liked. "No. Just kidding. I'm an only child. No, this guy is just an actor with a very useful ability. I was lucky he was in here. I don't want my lackeys knowing how bad off I am just yet."
"An actor with a useful ability?" Jerome asked. "Oh. Basil Karlo, I'm guessing?" Jerome looked over at the other Joker.
The other Joker smiled and took a dramatic bow. "The very same. I truly am a method actor and this has been a very interesting role. I've rather enjoyed it so far."
"I neglected to tell you about JJ here when I hired you. I didn't really think he would come back. So I didn't bother to tell you. JJ here is a parallel version of me from a world several years behind ours. When he was young, he showed up at my place and I sort of took him under my wing. Who better to have as a protege than a younger me?"
"Wow. That's definitely something I wasn't expecting. Hey, isn't he one of Bruce Wayne's kids?" Clayface Joker asked. "I'm sure I saw him on tv at one point."
"JJ ran away from me and decided to manipulate that rich twit into adopting him. It really was a hoot to find out about. But then he left for his own world awhile ago. Which is why I'm surprised he's back."
"Gotcha. I'll remember all of that. How much of that do your thugs know?" Clayface Joker asked.
"I don't hide things from my men. They know all of that. Whether they believe it is up to them." Joker said.
"How would you like me to act around him?" Clayface Joker asked. "Like a mentor? A father figure? Or are you mad at him for taking off for awhile?"
"Oh I'm not at all pleased he took off. But for the moment just act like you're happy he's back. Act like a mentor of a reluctant protege." Joker said dismissively.
"You're really that worried about your thugs seeing you ill like this that you hired a double?" Jerome asked.
"Of course. If they see me in this state they'll think I'm weak. And if they think that, they might not continue backing me. And my enemies will hear about it. I have no interest in an annoying war against Two-Face and Penguin right now." Joker said. "But that shouldn't concern you. All you need to do is figure out how to fix me."
"Like I said, I'll probably need Freeze's help. If you want, I can take a group of thugs with me and try to convince him." Jerome said.
"I'll think about it." Joker said, not looking like he wanted Jerome to leave his sight.
"I'm not just going to take off on you while you are like this. Not until I've found a cure at least. We don't have time to think about it." Jerome said, annoyed.
"I said, I'll think about it." Joker said with a dangerous look. "That's all you're going to get so be happy with it."
"Fine." Jerome said, throwing up his hands in frustration. "You don't have long. So think about it quick." He left the room in a huff.
Jerome found his groupies having a friendly chat with some of the Joker thugs and Frost.
"Wow, You pack quite a punch for someone your size." said one of the random thugs to Cammy.
Cammy blushed. "Well, how else am I going to prove myself around the type of people I like to hang around with? You all don't seem that different from us Jerome fans. You have to be tough to survive around Jerome fans and so I am. Because I'm not going to let Jerome down."
"So Jerome has a lot of fans in his world?" Frost asked.
"Yep." Jongleur said. "He does. Even if we went back they'd be happy to see him. Although they weren't too torn up at him leaving. They have someone almost as good to lead them now."
Jerome walked up. "And that's all you're going to say on that matter I hope." he gave Jongleur a pointed look that promised violence if he said more.
"Of course. You told us not to mention that and we won't." Jongleur said quickly.
"Good." Jerome said. "How are you all? I hope no one here gave you any trouble."
"No trouble, boss." Tara said, smiling proudly. "A few of the Joker thugs thought they could mess with us girls. We were quick to prove them wrong. You should've seen Cammy here. She knocked about three of them out cold herself when they tried to jump us."
"Nice." Jerome said, smiling at Cammy. "Let me know if they give you any more trouble. They mess with you and they are messing with me. And that's not a healthy thing to do."
"I told the others not to mess with your lackeys. But some of them are new and not all that smart." Frost said. "I'm glad to see that your lackeys can take care of themselves though."
"Of course they can take care of themselves. Why else would I bring them along?" Jerome said, rolling his eyes.
"It's good to see that you have some loyal and capable people at your back." Frost said.
Suddenly they heard fighting from another room.
"I don't need to guess who that is." Frost said, running off to rally up the thugs. "Everyone be ready! Batman is coming!"
"That guy that was gliding through the air before?" Roz asked as they quickly walked away from the sound of the fighting. "Which side are we even on? Do we fight him or help him?"
"Neither." Jerome said. "We aren't getting involved. I have enough to deal with without having you join that fight. Stay here. I'll be back. Don't get involved."
"Where are you going?" Jongleur asked with a worried look.
"We need Mister Freeze's help. And he won't help us. But he might help Batman. So I'm making sure he helps us." Jerome said.
"Why would Batman help someone he's fighting?" Cammy asked.
"Because Batman would never stand by and watch as one of his enemies died from a disease he could help fix. Especially if other innocent people are at risk of the same fate. He'll help." Jerome said before walking out the door.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Jerome asked as he walked in on Joker getting ready to put an IV into an unconscious Batman. An IV attached to a bag of Joker's blood.
"Just giving him more incentive to help me." Joker said with a laugh.
"Your disease is getting more deadly as time goes on. He might not last as long as you have. Especially if he's running around and doing that much physical activity. Activity means his blood pumps faster. Your toxic blood would travel through his body faster. Doing more damage a whole lot quicker."
"Why do you care? He's Batman." Harley asked.
"I need the help of Freeze. He probably won't listen to me. He will listen to Batman." Jerome said, annoyed and worried. "And I need him to figure out what the hell Protocol Ten is. It's not going to be something good if Strange is the one doing it. In my world Strange was a mad scientist. It will likely involve the deaths of a lot of people within Arkham City. We are currently in Arkham City so we'd be at risk. I don't need that distraction while I'm trying to cure you. So let Batman go so he can deal with that."
"He was a mad scientist? Not surprised." Joker said. "If I don't do this, how will I motivate Batman to be quick about helping me? Hmm?"
"Tell him about all those innocent people that probably got your toxic blood. Batman never could resist saving innocent people. He'll make it a priority. You need him at the top of his game to help us out."
Joker rolled his eyes. "Fine. So boring. I was looking forward to the horror in Batso's eyes when he woke up. But you have a point."
"Jerome?" Batman said groggily from the wheelchair he was tied to.
"Bats." Jerome said.
"You have no idea how lucky you are that Jerome happened to show up." Joker said.
"It was all a lie. There's nothing wrong with you." Batman said with a sneer.
"Nice of you to say, but, you of all people should know, there's plenty wrong with me." Joker said. "Take my blood for example. I wish someone would. This stuff is killing me."
"Why should I care?" Batman asked.
"Well there are all those people I graciously donated my blood to. Didn't I say?" Joker laughed. "I've spent weeks shipping samples of my blood to emergency rooms all over the city."
"So that's Protocol Ten. Poison Gotham. I expected more." Batman said.
"Batman. Joker has nothing to do with Protocol Ten." Jerome said, rolling his eyes. "So yeah. You've got two different things you have to figure out and not a lot of time to do so if Strange's booming voice counting down each hour left is anything to go by. I'd hurry."
"Let Jerome go and I'll help." Batman said, looking over at Joker.
"I'm not a captive, Batman. I chose to be here. I can't sit by and watch as he dies. Not him. It's complicated. I have no fucking idea why I care whether he lives or dies. But I do." Jerome said. He looked over at Joker. "If I am going to make any progress at all I need to go to Freeze's lab. You don't have time to deny me that. You have hours at most. So stop being stubborn and let me help you."
"Alright alright. Go. But I'm sending Harley with you to make sure you stay on task and don't wander off to another world again." Joker said before pushing Batman's wheelchair out a window.
Batman got up from the destroyed wheelchair to see Jerome standing there looking relieved that he was ok.
"You have no idea how close you came to getting an IV full of Joker's blood." Jerome said, shaking his head. "I'm actually surprised that Joker listened to me and stopped."
"You shouldn't have put yourself at risk by coming here." Batman said.
"Joker wouldn't kill me. And I couldn't ignore his illness. You might hate him. And I'd love to be able to hate him. But I can't. Like I said, it's complicated. And this is my fault. I made Titan unstable to make it less useful to Joker. I had no idea he would inject it into himself. That's the worst thing he could do with it. His blood chemistry was already unstable. The Titan formula combined with that and made it lethal. If those innocent people he poisoned die, that's on me."
"It's not. You had no way of knowing Joker would inject it into himself. You are not at fault." Batman said.
Jerome ignored what Batman said. "We need to go to Freeze's lab and get him to continue working on his cure. He'll listen to you. Please. I can't do this on my own."
"Where is he?" Batman asked as they made their way to the edge of Joker's territory where Jerome's groupies and Harley were waiting.
"The old GCPD building." Jerome said. "He's using the forensics lab."
"Don't get used to us working together, B-man." Harley said as they approached. "I'm doing this so my puddin lives. That's the only reason."
"So we working with Batman now, boss?" Jongleur asked.
"For the moment. We need to convince the guy that's working on Joker's cure to continue working on it. And we need to do it quickly." Jerome said.
"Then let's get moving." Jongleur said enthusiastically.
When they got to the old GCPD building, a group of Penguin thugs were waiting there. They had guns too.
"It would seem that Joker isn't the only villain that Strange gave guns to. Why is he arming everyone in here? It doesn't make sense." Jerome said with a frown as they stood a safe distance away.
"What's the game plan, boss?" Jongleur asked.
Batman grappled away. Jerome smirked. "We won't have to deal with those thugs at all. Just give Batman a few minutes and he'll deal with them for us. I knew he'd be helpful to have around."
Sure enough, Batman took out the thugs one by one, leaving them all unconscious. Jerome smiled smugly as he walked up to the front door of the GCPD building. He saw the shutter down and wondered how they were going to open it.
"Maybe we should use an explosive?" Jongleur suggested. Derek looked up and stared at them with a hopeful look.
"No need." Batman said, appearing next to them and pulling out a gadget. He aimed the gadget at the shutter controls and shot it with an electrical burst. The shutter opened. "It won't last long. Go through quickly."
They hurry through and see a few unconscious Penguin thugs near the door.
"Can you hear me?" Penguin said through a nearby radio. "What's going on? Oh for the love of…"
"If I hack this I can listen in on any of Penguin's communications." Batman said, grabbing the radio.
"Ooh fancy." Harley said. "You always got a gadget for every situation, don't you B-man?"
"This isn't a good sign." Jerome said, staring at the unconscious Penguin thugs. "Do you think Penguin's thugs are in there?"
"Can't Freeze just blast them all with his freeze gun? Or is this Freeze different from our world's version?" Roz asked.
"You'd think he'd be able to defend himself no problem. But who knows. Be ready for trouble in any case." Jerome said as they went through the door.
They heard the sound of Penguin's thugs echoing down the hallway.
"I guess that confirms it. How the hell did they manage to take down Freeze? Is he even here?" Jerome wondered.
"My turn! I get to beat them up this time!" Harley said enthusiastically before making a run for the forensics lab.
"Wait! Damn it. Just make sure to leave one of them conscious so we can interrogate them about where Freeze is!" Jerome called after her.
"Got it! I'll try." She crouched and snuck up on the thug right inside the door. Then she loudly whacked him with her bat, taking him down. She darted away into a floor vent before the other thugs could get to her and then popped out to take down another one. She giggled madly as she did a few flips and then hopped up to the second floor of the lab. She saw one of the thugs looking for her below and giggled before dropping through the glass ceiling. "Gotcha!" There were a few left and they aimed their weapons at her.
"Don't move!" one of the thugs said. "It's just Joker's sidekick. I thought it was someone dangerous."
"What did you just say?!" Harley asked with a snarl. "Not dangerous?! How dare you!" She screamed and lunged at them with her bat before they could react. She swung her bat at them in a rage, screaming the whole time. Soon, only one of the thugs was left and he was running away in terror.
Just as the thug made it to the door, he ran into Jerome who smirked at him. "Howdy. Probably wasn't smart to make Harley mad."
"Don't hurt me!" the thug said backing up in fear.
"That's all up to you. Where's Mister Freeze?" Jerome asked with a sneer on his face.
"Penguin has him! At the museum!" The thug cried out.
"Thanks for the info." Jerome said before knocking the man out. He looked up as Batman walked in. "She didn't kill any of them so don't look so disapproving. Harley's behaving herself way more than she usually manages. Freeze isn't here."
"I heard. I need to get over to the museum quickly. I hope Penguin hasn't killed him." Batman said.
"I'm coming with you." Jerome said as he and the others followed Batman outside.
Suddenly a few bombs went off around Arkham City.
"See. I told you it would work." Penguin said over the radio. "Blow the bridges. Cut off the clown's forces. Easy."
"Fuck!" Jerome said in frustration. "Now I suppose you won't need to have some excuse to stop me from helping you save Freeze now. Huh, Batman? We don't have grapple guns like you."
"You need to be here anyway. Have a look at what Freeze has been working on. See if you can make sense of it. You are more useful here." Batman pointed out.
"I know. Just make it back alive. I don't want to have to figure out what Protocol Ten is on my own." Jerome said. "Don't worry about me while I'm here. I have the backup. We are well stocked with weapons and can barricade what we need to. Oh and Batman. You might want to go save Nora Fries after you're done at the museum. I'm guessing that's the only way we are getting Freeze's help. She's at the docks in Joker's territory. Yes, he is the one that took her."
"Just get to work here as best you can." Batman said, not sounding happy about the information about Nora. "I'll come back with Freeze. And his wife."
With Jerome's groupies guarding the building, Jerome stood in the forensics lab and tried to piece together what Freeze was doing.
"How you doing, JJ? Find anything useful yet?" Harley asked as Jerome looked through the computers that contained Freeze's notes. "It looks like he was almost finished. But there was some component that he was missing. Oh fuck…"
"What is it?" Harley asked with a concerned look.
"He found the cure. But it degrades too fast due to the instability of the disease in the first place. It doesn't last long enough to do any good at all. The cure needs a restorative to make it last long enough. But even Freeze couldn't figure out what he could use for that."
"Are you saying that his cure is useless? That we have nothing?" Harley asked with a very upset look on her face. "My puddin's going to die, isn't he? Oh no. Please no." She put her face in her hands and sobbed.
"If we could find some restorative then he still might have a chance. Something that could make the cure stronger. But what?" Jerome stared at the computer with a frustrated look.
"Oh joy. So Batman was right about people invading my workspace." A deep modulated voice said snarkily.
Jerome turned around and saw Mister Freeze walk in with a rather displeased look. "I hope you and Batman came to some agreement, right?" Jerome asked with a wary look. "Where's Batman anyway?"
"He is looking for the last component for the cure. Make no mistake, Mr. Valeska. I am not doing this for you. Or Joker. I'm doing this for those people that Joker poisoned. And I'm doing it for Nora. I would have no qualms about turning the lot of you into ice sculptures. So do not test me." Freeze said with an icy look.
"Totally understandable. We all want the same things though. To find that cure and be done with this." Jerome said. "Where is Batman looking? What is he even looking for?"
"I need a restorative to make the cure useful." Freeze said.
"Yeah. I know. I saw that in your notes." Jerome said.
"Batman told me about a man who spent centuries bathing himself in a substance with restorative properties. His blood is probably the only thing that will work."
"A man that spent centuries bathing himself in a substance with restorative properties?" Jerome snorted. "There's only one man that that could refer to. Ra's Al Ghul. And he's somewhere within Arkham City? Honestly, I thought that guy was dead. But of course that doesn't mean much with a guy like Ra's."
"Since you already hacked into my computer and had a look at my notes, do you have anything to add? Anything helpful?" Freeze asked, not looking like he was particularly happy with the situation but still trying to be civil.
"For the cure, I don't have anything to add. You figured it all out. You just didn't have all the components you needed. But I did make a few notes after reading some of your other notes. Sorry I didn't actually mean to read those notes pertaining to the...other cure you're working on. It just happened. And I couldn't just not make a few notes. I hope they're helpful. You don't have to look at them if you don't want to. It's not my place. It's personal to you. But I honestly hope that you find a cure for her someday. I really do."
"Aren't you Joker's parallel? Why would you care?" Freeze asked with a frown on his face.
"I'm not heartless like him. Honestly, I sometimes feel envious of how easy it is for him not to care. It's so exhausting, isn't it? All that caring." Jerome said with a complicated look. "If something happened to someone I cared about, I would do everything in my power to save them. So I know I would be just like you if I were in your situation."
"Is that why you're trying to help cure Joker? You care about him?" Freeze asked as he got on his computer.
Jerome looked away with a conflicted look. He wanted to say that it wasn't. But why else would he do it? "Who's to say this isn't just me helping out Batman? Making up for past mistakes? I helped make the Titan formula what it was. I made it unstable. If I hadn't then maybe it wouldn't have become lethal in Joker's blood. So yeah. I have a lot to make up for. This is on me. It's my responsibility to help."
As Jerome and Freeze were waiting for Batman to return, Jerome's cell phone rang. Jerome didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?"
"JJ, how are things?" Jerome rolled his eyes as he heard the voice of Joker.
"You'll have your cure soon. I'd rather not get distracted by you at the moment." Jerome said, irritated.
"Rude. Harley says you're just waiting around for Batso so you have time to talk." Joker said.
"Fine. What do you want?" Jerome asked.
"I admit that when you left this world I was upset. I was so angry that I killed several people in entertaining ways. And then I realized that maybe it was meant to be. That you needed to be there. After all, every Gotham city needs it's Joker. So I'm not all that happy to see you back, JJ. Are you trying to avoid your destiny?" Joker asked.
Jerome shook his head and sighed as he moved into the hallway to make the conversation more private. "Don't worry. My world will get along just fine without me." The sting of his chemically burned hand got worse as he thought about what happened.
"It might. But it will still be without it's Joker. After this is over I had better see you heading back to your own world. Or things might not go well for people you care about. Maybe I should blow up Wayne manor. That sounds like fun actually." Joker laughed and then coughed.
"Don't you fucking dare hurt Bruce!" Jerome snarled. "Fine. I didn't want to say this to anyone. I didn't want to fucking talk about it because I didn't want to think about it. But if you're going to be stubborn… My world will get along just fine without me because I'm not my world's Joker! My world has its Joker now and it's not me. It's not me!"
"What? But you're definitely my parallel! Don't lie! I see myself in your face!" Joker said in an angry voice.
"You might be an only child...but I'm not." Jerome said, very irritated. "I have an identical twin. Two people who resemble you. But only one of us was ever going to be the Joker. I thought it was going to be me. I was the obvious choice given my personality. But then my brother Miah fell into a vat of chemicals. And you can probably figure out what happened after that."
"You never told me you had a twin." Joker said in confusion.
"You never asked." Jerome said, rolling his eyes. "So no. I don't have to go back. My world has its Joker. And Miah will no doubt be chaos personified as Joker. He'll kill it as Joker no problem. I don't know why I was so surprised that it turned out to be him instead of me. He was always you. He just needed the chemical bath facelift to make it official. The point is I'm not JJ. I'm not you. I'm just Joker's twin that was probably originally destined to die slightly before or after Miah took his title. So there's no reason for you to fucking obsess over me anymore!"
"...Well, that is surprising." Joker didn't sound as upset as Jerome thought he'd be. He almost sounded...pleased? "So your world had two Jokers to choose from! What a hoot! This does make it less concerning you being here then, JJ."
"Didn't you hear what I just said? I'm not you! So stop calling me JJ!" Jerome snarled into the phone.
"Oh JJ… You might not have grabbed the title officially but you are still me. Don't try to deny it. You have that madness inside of you just the same as your brother." Joker said with a smug sounding voice. "And this means that I don't have to worry about my legacy. Even if I die, I still have you. And now I don't have to worry about depriving some other Gotham of their Joker. Quite the bonus."
"I will never call myself the Joker! So just give up." Jerome said.
"We'll see." Joker said laughing. He ended the call.
Jerome wanted to scream. Why did he let Joker rile him up this much? It didn't help that Joker still insisted on considering him a mini him even after what he told him. He had mostly felt horror when Miah fell into the chemicals...but he had also felt a little relieved. Because it made it seem like maybe Jerome wasn't connected with the Joker in the way he thought and dreaded. That maybe he could have a normal sane life. And when Bruce told him he didn't hate him he felt that was really possible. That he could be one of the good guys. But even he had to admit it was damn hard to be one of the good guys. To care so much. He didn't think he was really built for it. And Joker could see that. Of course he could. He could always see the darkness in people. That was kind of his thing.
"Jerome?"
"Yeah?" Jerome pulled himself together and turned around.
Harley stood in front of him with a sympathetic look on her face.
"How much did you hear?" Jerome asked.
"Enough. It's ok. I always kinda wondered about you. You are so much like him...but you care about people. And that's not at all like him. He doesn't care about anyone...not even me. Well, maybe he cares about B-Man a little. I always felt jealous of that."
"He cares about you." Jerome said, rolling his eyes.
"No he doesn't. You know he doesn't. It's ok though. At least he pretends to care. That's enough for me. Before him, no one even really pretended to care about me. Not really." Harley said, looking much more serious than she usually did. Like the tiny little sane part of Harleen Quinzel was peeking out. She smiled sadly. "I love him anyway. I don't think I could live without him." She shook it off and perked up again quickly. "But this means that you have a choice. You can be whatever you want to be. I'm glad. You get to be yourself."
"Yeah. But I'm not sure who that person is." Jerome said with a complicated look. "I always thought I was fighting against my destiny. But now it's like I don't even have a destiny. On one hand that's a relief. No more fighting a destiny that's not mine. But on the other hand, who am I supposed to be? That's why ever since I saw my brother laugh at his chemically scarred face I felt like I was supposed to die if things worked out like they were supposed to. If I hadn't left and then come back. I don't have a destiny because I'm not supposed to be alive. So what the fuck do I even do?"
"I don't know." Harley said thinking about it. "That's all up to you. Mista J clearly would still love to have you as a protege after all of this is over. So there is that. But you could just go and live a normal life instead if you wanted to. You have people to care about if you want to care. I wouldn't judge you harshly for that. Joker might. But not me."
"Thanks Harley." Jerome said. "That means a lot."
"I just have a question though." Harley said with a thoughtful look.
"Yeah?"
"I read your notes in that lab of yours back at Arkham Asylum. I know how much you cared about your brother. Why'd you leave after he became Joker? That's when you left, right? Why?" Harley asked.
"Are you kidding? If I had stayed he would've eventually killed me." Jerome said with a frown. "It's more complicated than that, but that's the gist."
"Why would he have killed you? Did he hate you?" Harley asked.
"No. We were twins. No matter how little he could feel love, he did love me. Or at least felt attachment to me." Jerome said.
"Then he probably wouldn't kill you. Probably. You can never know for sure with Joker. But he feels that kinda attachment to B-Man. He'd never kill him no matter how much he says otherwise. So that's not a reason to leave. Are you just envious that he got to be Joker instead of you?"
"That's not…" Jerome started to respond in an angry manner before he saw Batman walk up. "Batman. Did you find what we needed?"
"Yes." Batman said as they walked into the lab. "And I found Nora."
"You found her? Tell me where she is." Mister Freeze said with a hopeful look.
"She was locked up in warehouse 5B in the Falcone Shipping yard. She's safe, Victor." Batman said, handing him the vial of Ra's blood.
"Thank you, Batman. That is a great relief." Freeze said putting the vial into a machine and got to work on combining it with the cure. Two vials of blue liquid raised out of the machine and Freeze took them. He walked over and handed Batman the vials. "I am a man of my word. The cure in return for you saving my wife. Thank you for finding her for me." Freeze then walked out of the room, presumably to go find his wife.
Batman took one of the vials and handed it to Jerome. And handed other to Harley.
"You're just gonna give this to me?" Harley asked, surprised. "I thought it would be harder to get the cure from you."
"No matter what he's done, I don't want Joker dead. Hurry and get that to him." Batman said.
Harley went to leave. Jerome spoke up. "Wait."
She stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"
"Take a few of my groupies with you to make sure you get there without any trouble." Jerome said.
"I can take care of myself, Jerome." Harley said, rolling her eyes.
"I know. But you might break that vial if you have to do too much fighting and you don't have the time for that anyway. He needs that now." Jerome said.
"Ok. I'll take Cammy and Roz." Harley said, smiling. "I like them. They are a lot tougher than they look. Cammy and I have a lot of the same interests too. I showed her a few acrobatic moves earlier. She's pretty good already though."
"Take Derek as well." Jerome said.
"Alrighty! I'm so happy! My puddin is going to live!" Harley said with a big smile on her face. She skipped out of the room.
"Why did you hand me this?" Jerome said, holding up the vial Batman handed to him.
"If I have that on me it might get broken. I still have to find out what Protocol Ten is. You need to get that to Robin. He'll know what to do with it." Batman said.
"So you're asking me to just leave. When there's still danger here that needs to be figured out and stopped. I know you're just trying to protect me, but I don't need it. I said before that I have a lot to make up for. I meant it. And I need to figure out who I am now. Who I am moving forward. I don't know that yet. Maybe by helping you I could find that."
"Ok. Fine." Batman said, sighing. "We'll split up. Keep in contact with me and tell me if you find anything. We need to stop Protocol Ten. Hand me the vial."
Jerome gave him the vial. "Thanks for letting me help."
"It's not as if I could really stop you. You are extremely stubborn." Batman said with a little smile.
Jerome smiled in response. "Well just look who I had to learn from." he said snarkily.
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I greatly enjoyed the dlc of Arkham Knight where you could play as Harley. They made the gameplay rather fun and different enough to make it seem like her while still sticking to the overall gameplay mechanics we all love from the series. She is less stealthy than Batman but still capable of it and when you get her going she can go berserker mode on people in that game. It was far too short a mission honestly. I'd love more with her. So in honor of that I gave her some time to shine and let her beat down the Penguin thugs in the forensics lab.