Life and Death
Chapter 12
"I am the antidote
I'll suck your venom out
Show me where it really hurts
I'll show you where it really hurts"
Antidote - St. Vincent
The figure was there, black gloved hands reaching for her. She twisted and turned, biting, fighting, but couldn't see the steps in front of her, tumbling down into darkness. She couldn't get up again, falling deeper down. Like being stuck in a spider web, she fought and tried to claw her way out. The man in the black suit picked her up and took her to an unfamiliar building.
Heaving for air, she trashed around until she felt a hand on the back of her neck, pressing her to someone. Her breathing grew quicker, nearing a fit and she reached out for her weapon, anything –
"Shh, baby, it's only a nightmare. You're okay."
Jaylie's free hand reached out to grab her hammer, clutching it to her chest. She stroked the handle of the tool, gasping silently. She couldn't remember the dream, only the feeling of being away from them both. They belonged to her.
"Ya know, Momma was taken away once too," Harley whispered into her hair. "But we always come back to Daddy. He gets lonely without us."
She smiled a little, already flown away in her dream world. She cradled Jaylie absentmindedly, like she was a baby again. The five-year-old pressed herself closer, clutching her backside. "Don't go."
"I won't, baby."
"Come on you two, get up already," the Joker sing-sang from somewhere in the room, dancing around. "We've got murdering to do. Finally."
"We've got a surprise for you," Harley smiled.
Jaylie blinked. The new voice was clear in her head now, waking up alongside her, and she already knew whom it belonged to. It comforted her, calmed her and took the fear away. Like smiling on the inside, a girl with a wide grin, wielding a weapon. Let's go play!
Harley's excitement grew. "Let's get ready, honey!"
She pulled Jaylie upright in her lap and quickly brushed through her hair, putting it up in two miniature ponytails before jumping up and looking through the drawers, finding her a red ballerina tutu and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt to wear. Harley slipped out of her own pajamas and into a crimson-colored jumpsuit for the occasion, matching the shirt of her other half.
Joker was standing in front of the gold-tinted mirror, applying the last tints of dark smudge around his eyelids and finishing with a red grin. Harley took the lipstick from him when he was finished, something he grudgingly allowed, and used it to enhance a bright blush on her cheeks to match her lips.
Jaylie got up from the bed, rummaging around a little until she found an electric drill that was light enough for her to carry. She liked the sound it made - something told her that this time should be loud. "Where are we going?"
"To a very special place," Harley giggled, a dark smile on her lips.
It had only been a day since she returned home, and she didn't let go of Harley's hand as they went down to the very basement of the building they resided in. Frost followed silently behind them into the underground chambers.
Gambol's men were tied up on chairs, positioned in a circle. They were sitting alone in the darkness, until the ceiling lights buzzed faintly and slowly came alive.
Jaylie was the first one to emerge from the dark, grinning brightly. She felt only a strange exhilaration, and the presence inside her enhanced it. Behind her, with a wicked grin on his face, the Joker appeared. His hand rested on her shoulder for a moment, but he let her step up first.
"Well, what do we have here?" he said as the cold fluorescent lights finally lit up the large room and the six mutilated men sitting in the middle. Harley dutifully handed him a chainsaw. This place would give her even more funny memories.
Jaylie stepped forward, looking at the guests in front of her. Sweaty, the man who had thrown her into the car and gagged her and annoyed her the most, was only slightly trembling. She remembered the other guy, Ryan, despite his recent facial carvings – he had been nice, offering her a blanket to sleep on in the windowless room. The third one was easily recognizable, with a bandage on his forearm, glaring at her. She wanted to bite him again.
Harley's chuckles floated out in the room as she twirled her mallet, but Jaylie remained completely concentrated. She felt like she was stepping up on a scene, about to perform a very important task, a show, like Daddy called it.
And she was the star now, the main attraction. Cameras were set up in every corner of the room, about to document the event from the best possible angles.
She looked into Ryan's eyes, and with a sweet smile, put the drill to his forehead.
The chainsaw roared to life behind her and the gray concrete floor changed color completely.
.
.
"Mommy, are you Aunt Ivy's friend?"
Jaylie sat in the middle of another circle, consisting of bullets and remains of a crushed cell phone arranged together, with individual components sorted according to color and size. She had been working tirelessly on her task in the living room ever since she woke up.
Harley looked up from her nail polish. "Yeah, I am!"
"Then why won't she come over?"
"I don't know, Pumpkin Pie. She's busy with her boring plants." Harley pouted and leaned back in the couch, turning over her bottle of polish without noticing. A sticky golden color dripped down the coffee table.
Jaylie focused on the last pieces to complete her collection, using her hammer to flatten a small hard drive that had belonged to a henchman's phone. She picked up the metal pieces and arranged them in a mechanical pattern.
"Tell her to come see me."
"Sure, honey."
The Joker waltzed through the door, phone in hand. "Jaylie, bring Daddy his rifle. Harls, get me my spare ammunition."
"Comin' right up, Puddin'."
Jaylie didn't react, calmly continuing to arrange her pieces. The Joker stopped in front of her, his shoe threatening to ruin her collection. She still paid him no mind.
"Have ya gone deaf?" He grimaced.
She looked calmly up at him. "No, Daddy."
"Then bring it here," he said in a tone of voice that made Harley move to get it herself.
"Jaylie's not here now," the girl proclaimed as she continued working. "I'm Lucy."
Harley's eyes widened, popping her bubble gum loudly. The Joker stopped in his movements.
A moment ticked by in silence. Johnny Frost who had just entered the living room with a couple of buckets stopped in the door. Cleaning up after last night's chainsaw and drilling adventures had taken the henchmen all day; the blood still wouldn't wash from the walls, and fragments of bone had ended up in the pipes.
"Harley?" The Joker's tone was strangely pitched, but she was too caught up staring at her daughter to notice. "I don't recall having more than one kid."
"No, Mistah J."
He looked between Harley and the girl, as the pieces fell into place. A grin spread across his face, and his laughter broke the silence. "Taking after your old mom, I see."
"Lucy, that is cute!" Harley gushed. "My voices have such weird names!"
Jaylie's eyes narrowed. "She's not a voice! She's real!"
Joker walked over to her, deliberately stepping on her pedantic circle of items, scattering them.
"Then where is she?" He gestured dramatically. "I told you to bring me something."
She glared at him while her lips drew back over her small teeth. Last time a henchman accidentally ruined her composition of items she had stabbed a screw driver into the offender's ankle.
The Joker mirrored her grimace, in a more imposing way. "I don't appreciate this frown, Pumpkin."
He stared her down and she stared back, refusing to lower her gaze.
"Jay-Jay, let's go make some jelly," Harley interrupted, keeping her voice cheery in an attempt to ease the tension.
Grasping her hammer tightly, Jaylie stomped out of the room.
Frost proceeded to look for more cleaning materiel, sighing inwardly when he saw the nail polish that had spread across the carpet. He made sure to stay out of the way of his irritated Boss who kept assembling his stuff.
A part of him wondered when – if – the Boss would snap. As with everything else, Harley Quinn didn't seem too worried. He couldn't help but wonder what Quinn would do if Boss ever got physical in his annoyance with the girl. It hadn't happened so far, so clearly, he figured as he retrieved another bottle of bleach, she had some of the immunity her mother had. No one else bared their teeth to the Joker and survived - except Quinn, of course.
.
When they were alone, Harley leaned against her partner. "She's just as stubborn as you, Puddin'."
He turned to her, cupping her jaw tightly in his hand. "She got it from you… Harleen. I haven't got a crowd in there."
"Really?" She stared back at him, a teasing smile on her lips. "That's not what I see in bed, Mistah J. Last week you were my psychiatrist, remember?"
He growled, leaning in to capture her bottom lip between his teeth. She giggled in return, as her hands snaked around his shoulders. "And when you dressed up like a policeman, I thought ya were going to arrest me for real..."
She leaned in to whisper in his ear: "How about I give you a hypnosis session? Leave it all up to me …"
He grinned. She had distracted him from his task, but he forgave her this time. "Alright, Doctor…"
His hands traveled down to her hips and tightened their grip, pressing her pelvis firmly into his. "Good girl." He flashed a crooked grin, and her smile grew wider.
"Wanna handcuff me again, Daddy?"
"Oh, I will." He dipped his head to sweep his mouth over her neck, grazing his lips over her skin. His hands captured her wrists as he walked her into the opposite wall.
"I told ya," she breathed, "Multiple personalities."
"Aren't ya smart, Doctor?" He laughed against her skin, nipping at her throat.
"Boss?" Frost's wary voice came from the door.
"Can't you see I'm bu-sy?" he asked in his most unpredictable voice. Harley was nibbling at his earlobe, making his concentration waver as he reached for his holster. Just a warning shot close to the face would be enough to make his point. But Jonny Frost was a smart man.
"Miss Quinn is out on the top balcony and refuses to go inside."
He rolled his eyes, pulling away from Harley with a huff. "Then bring her inside."
Jonny Frost went back, very unsure about what the Joker had meant. He crouched down, a few feet behind the girl – this strategy always worked when Boss was in a fugitive mood.
The view of Gotham laid in front of them, and ten stores down below was the street. Jaylie sat on the balcony floor, hammer in her hand, intensely working with pulling apart a white gold Rolex.
"Hey, kid."
No reply.
"You're not supposed to be out here, you need to go inside."
As usual she acted like he wasn't even there.
"Lucy, if the Bat sees you..."
It was a very risky chance, he had no idea how she would react to the new name.
To his surprise, she turned around, and smiled. "Me and Lucy likes you, Frosty."
Worst case scenario avoided – she hadn't thrown a fit, or used violence that he would be unable to defend himself from lest he hurt her. Pushing his luck, he asked: "Where's Jaylie right now?"
"In me." She replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "She is me."
Frost had seen Harley Quinn shift between several personas in the past, and let his facial expression remain carefully neutral.
She walked over to the balcony railing and leaned over.
"Hey!" Instinctively Frost got up, reaching out to grab her arm but changed his mind in the last moment. He watched as Jaylie studied the street below curiously.
A part of him was alarmed; wishing intensely someone would come and take the responsibility of this kid away from him. No amount of years spent dealing with irritable gangsters and mafia bosses, including his Boss, had prepared him for this.
He sighed and leaned against the low railing as well, playing it cool as he kept a close watch on her. "Nice view, huh?"
She pouted and pushed away from it. "It's boring. Where's the roof?"
Seeing his facial expression, she giggled slyly.
"And what do you think you're doing, Pumpkin?"
The Joker's voice was dangerously smooth, as he stepped out on the balcony. Frost saw his chance to get away, not wanting to get caught in their way.
The Joker crouched down and flicked his fingers hard against her forehead. "You're on a time out. You stay where I can see you."
"I wanna go to the club. Please, Daddy…" She leaned in with her best pouting face, ignoring the aching spot in her forehead.
He cackled, unaffected by her attempt to charm him. "You just got yourself snatched away like some little Robin, just like that… no." He grimaced. "I'm not letting you out."
"Robin," she giggled, instantly catching on. "Poor little Robin…"
He set his jaw tight as he leaned closer, staring her down. "I'm not playing that game again, Pumpkin. That little birdy got himself eaten by the big cats because he was stupid."
"I'm not like stupid Robin!"
He looked at the fading bruises on her arms, the marks left by the people who had taken her away. His voice shifted. "What have I told you about the Bat?"
"He's bad. He took Mommy away and he ruined your smile."
"That's right. He's a funny guy, but you can't play with him yet." He gripped her small wrist. "What's to say you won't get snatched up again by the next person I cross? Watcha gonna do next time, if you're not so lucky, hmm?"
She made a low, feral sound in her throat, like the hyenas she had seen on TV. "I'm gonna bite their heads off."
He cackled. "Taking after Daddy, I see." He made a disapproving face at her favorite weapon. "That is too dull. It takes forever to crack a skull open." He rolled his eyes and let go of her wrist. He took his razor out of his pocket, a foldable one with a purple handle, engraved with a golden jester skull.
"This pretty fellow," he said, "does it smoothly."
"I wanna try!"
"At-at-ta," he held it out of her reach. "This is mine. I'll get you one when you can handle a knife."
"We can!" She frowned, impatience betraying her.
"We?" He reached out a hand and cupped her face, stroking her cheek. "Oh, Lucy too..."
She flashed him a wide smile. "Pretty, pretty, please?"
"Ya know," he said as he rose to his feet, swinging back and forth on his heels for a moment. "There's no doubt that you're my kid." He snapped his razor blade shut. "And that's lucky for you."
.
.
During the next months Jaylie started training, determined to be let outside again. Harley trained her in gymnastics to keep her occupied, while the Joker let her start practicing knife-throwing. The nightmares returned every so often, and only eased when she slept in their bed, but they never fully ceased. Sometimes they would find her clutching her hammer, breathless and ready to strike.
In the big room they had made their gym, Harley taught her basic acrobatics, helping her to use the silk strings to swing back and forth, somersault in the air, and cartwheel across the floor with one or two hands. Jaylie wasn't truly interested but it kept her motivated. Sometimes the Joker watched when they trained, or trained bodybuilding next to them.
Jaylie would stop to look too, seeing her mother like an angel of white bleached hair, moving like a spider, or butterfly in the air. Completely soundless, ever so graceful, only a silk strand keeping her attached to the ceiling, leaning back and softly extending her arms in the air like she was taking a reverse bow. She was muscled velvet, a gracious feather compared to the Joker.
Jaylie had tried to mirror her movements only to fall back on her bottom, hard. She felt clumsy and unsure whenever her feet weren't touching the ground.
By the time of her sixth birthday, she only managed to climb the silk drape halfway before her aching arms gave up. The small knives were easier to handle, but she couldn't hit anything from a distance. She much preferred walking up to the target in question and stab it.
The gym became her favorite place to have her parents all to herself, to watch them watch each other, encircled in a private dance. When the Joker wasn't there, Harley would still show her gracious things.
During one of those sessions, a henchman abruptly knocked on the door and entered.
"Miss Quinn, someone's here to see you. Says it's urgent."
Harley looked at him upside down, before doing a spin in the air and landing gracefully on her feet. Jaylie had grown tired of the day's exercises and sat among discarded drapes.
Harley let out an excited squeal as the intruder pushed right past the henchman. "Red!"
Poison Ivy flipped her thick hair over her shoulder as she came to meet them. "What's the deal with the possessive clown? He still doesn't like me seeing you, does he?"
"He's just jealous. Where have ya been?" Harley threw her arms around her happily, embracing her. "We missed you! Why'd you ignore my calls? You could stay for a bit, ya know!"
"I've been... tending to stuff. Listen, Harley, I'm not here for a visit. I'm going strike Gotham soon. I'm finally going to put this city back into its natural state." Her eyes sparkled. "The water supply will be poisoned with spores, you're immune but she isn't –" she nodded to Jaylie who sat silently and watched them – "So I'm here to warn you. Move to a safer place and you won't be affected."
"Move?" Harley looked dumbfound at her, taking a step back.
She nodded. "It will probably affect the air as well. Just get out of Gotham for a while and it'll be fine."
Harley's voice rose. "This is my home, the only one I've ever had. Puddin' and I are not movin'."
"I don't want you or her to get hurt. Take her away from the city for a few months –"
Harley stared at her, chest heaving, voice strangely pitched. "We're not moving. We own this city, Red."
"What about your daughter?"
"What about her?" Harley bit back. "She's not going anywhere, and she is not gonna get hurt!"
"Look, Harley, you want the Bat to disappear so you can get him all for yourself, right?"
"Yes!"
"Then let me do this, since he's not competent enough to do it!"
"Don't talk that way about Mistah J! You wouldn't dare, Red!"
"Then leave. This is not even a home, this is a hide-out for a criminal enterprise."
"Yeah, so what? We live here!"
Ivy turned to leave, only to come face to face with the clown prince himself. He looked just as annoyed as he had when she had demanded entrance to his headquarters earlier, now blocking her exit.
"Where you goin', plant?"
Ivy didn't flinch. "You owe me, clown. Without me, your daughter would be with the Bat now, wearing a masquerade suit."
"Harls," he growled. "Ya don't mind if we end this little conversation for good now, do ya?"
Harley looked numbly between the two of them, as Jaylie ran over and stood between the Joker and Ivy. She surprised Ivy by grabbing her hands.
"Aunt Ivy," she said, looking at her with wide eyes, "Make me immune."
Surprised that she had understood the situation, the red-haired woman stared at her. The girl smiled. "Me and Lucy want your poison."
Ivy looked at Harley, who suddenly grinned. "That's a great idea, Puddin' Pop!"
"You … and Lucy?"
"Mm-hmm!" Jaylie nodded affirmatively. Was she always this happy? There was no resemblance of the silent, bloodied kid Ivy had picked up at Wayne Enterprises.
Joker stared aggressively at Ivy, yanking Jaylie away from her. "No."
"But Puddin' –"
He turned to Harley. "Don't you Puddin' me. That plant isn't going anywhere near my kid."
"Please, Daddy," Jaylie whined impatiently, jumping slightly up and down. He glared at her.
She turned back to Ivy. "If you give me a kiss, you can poison the water supply!"
Harley giggled, completely in on the idea. "Yeah!"
Ivy sighed. "If I kiss you, you will get a seizure and die from lack of oxygen. But as you wish, I'll give you some poison." She turned to the Joker. "If you promise not to interfere with my operation."
Harley caught her partner's stare. "Jaylie wants to do this, Puddin'. It's just for a few weeks, right? Not everyone will die."
He groaned, admitting defeat as Harley clearly was not going to back down. "If she dies convulsing on the floor, don't say I didn't warn ya."
Jaylie embraced Ivy with a giggle, but the woman stiffened at the contact. "Lucy's happy too."
"Who's Lucy?" Ivy patted her head awkwardly, seeing the green hue of her blonde hair in the sharp lighting.
The girl smiled up at her, showing all her teeth. "The other me."
"Double the trouble, I see," Ivy concluded, trying not to think too hard about it.
A henchman was sent to get a sterilized syringe, and after filling it up, Ivy placed Jaylie on a chair and pulled up her sleeve. She was hardly able to sit still.
"Are you a doctor?" Jaylie asked, making no indication of discomfort as the needle pierced her skin.
"Sort of."
"Are you gonna kill Batsy?"
"No. I'm just gonna let him live in misery when Gotham is a flourishing greenhouse."
The girl clapped her hands at this declaration. "Sounds funny!"
"Good luck, plant," Joker drawled. "Send a postcard from Arkham."
Ivy ignored him as Harley tended to Jaylie's arm, putting on a patch. She impatiently bounced up again, into Ivy.
"Are we immune now?"
"Not yet. You will feel feverish for a few days, like an allergic reaction." She rose to her feet. "I'm going."
The Joker grimaced tauntingly, standing in front of her. "Watch out for the pesticides."
"Don't. Interfere," she said, pushing past him. "We have a deal, clown."
His cackles echoed behind her. "I don't make deals."
"Then you have a debt to pay."
Author's Note: I've been working a lot on this, and I'm so happy to finally be able to present the Lucy part of Jaylie to you. Thank you all for your support, I love to read about your thoughts. As usual, drop me a comment and lemme know what you think!