Chapter 2: Rainbow Bruises
After an hour of looking for Harley Quinn, with darkness well and truly set in, they still hadn't found the escaped criminal.
"Think Ivy lied to us?" Tim asked as they got back into the Batmobile. The thought had occurred to Bruce too; both 76th Street and the amusement park were far from Arkham – and each other – making it the perfect waste of their time if it had been a ruse.
"No." He said after a moment of deliberating mentally. "She's worried about Quinn, I don't think she'd want us running in circles."
"True." Tim agreed, though he looked surprised at the amount of faith Bruce placed on Ivy's words. "Does that mean we're going to that old elementary school?"
Just as Bruce was about to reply, a voice rang out from the Batmobile's speaker. "Batman?"
"Yes Nightwing?" Bruce replied, pressing a button on the dashboard. A second later, a small screen turned on, showing Dick in full costume.
"I had a look through the cameras, and I think I found something in Robinson Park." He moved the screen to show a picture on the Batcomputer and both Tim and Bruce squinted to see it. "I can't really tell who it is, but she's been there for a while and she looks pretty messed up."
Bruce nodded. "Even if it's not her, we should take a look." He paused for a moment, looking out at the road. "Thank you."
"Anytime." Dick signed off quickly, and Bruce heard Tim sigh in frustration. They drove in silence. It took much less time than it should have – the police department were reluctant to hand out speeding tickets to the Batman – but the awkward atmosphere after Dick's call made it feel like forever.
One they had finally arrived however, something within Bruce made him pause; it was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time, something akin to trepidation. Turning to Tim, he made sure to keep his voice down, his eyes scanning the trees that surrounded them. "Wait here. If anything happens, you drive back and get Nightwing and Batgirl."
"But I…" Tim trailed off at the look in Bruce's eyes. Neither man was entirely sure what was at play here, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. "Okay." He slid into the driver's seat as Bruce stood from the Batmobile.
He tapped his earpiece. "Nightwing, are you still there?"
"It's me." Barbara's voice rang out instead. "I can see you on the security camera to your left." Bruce turned his head and looked straight at the badly concealed lens in one of the pine trees above him. "Yep, that's the one. Follow the trail underneath it and turn left at the rose bush – she's a little bit further ahead from there."
"Got it." Bruce answered shortly. "Keep me updated." He followed her instructions, leaving Tim to watch the car, and took a moment to check his surroundings as he reached the rosebush. He was fairly confident he was alone, until he saw a bare leg stretched out from behind a tree.
The woman was about fifteen feet in front of him, her body perfectly positioned so anyone looking at the cameras couldn't identify her. As Bruce looked at her, however, the face of Harley Quinn became visible. He stayed still for a moment, wondering if perhaps she had laid waiting this entire time just to jump out with her mallet. She stayed completely still as he watched her, her skin almost glowing in the dim moonlight.
Once he was fairly certain this wasn't an elaborate trap of hers, Bruce crept closer to her. The faint movement of her chest rising and falling was the only indication that she wasn't dead. Looks close to it, Bruce thought darkly as he bent down to have a proper look at her.
Ivy had been right. One arm and a leg lay at an awkward angle and her body was covered in cuts and gashes. Upon closer inspection, her ribs, stomach and thighs were covered in bruises every colour of the rainbow, and he recoiled slightly at the sight of her. Even with her impressive flexibility, he was certain her arm couldn't naturally bend that way.
Trying not to think of what the Joker used to injure her like this, he picked her up. She weighed surprisingly little for a woman so strong. Fortunately, Harley's face was in slightly better condition than the rest of her body. Though she had a busted lip and the beginnings of a black eye were beginning to bloom on her pale skin, her facial injuries were confined mostly to small cuts and grazes. She did not stir as he began walking with her in his arms, careful not to further damage her already broken frame. Instead, her eyes remained closed and her breathing shallow, showing no signs of regaining consciousness anytime soon.
Once he arrived at the Batmobile, Bruce saw Tim's eyes widen as he took in the sight of the super criminal in Batman's arms. "Is she…?"
"No." Bruce replied quickly. He placed her on the car's bonnet and gently pressed on her chest. Once satisfied that both her heart and were in working condition, he ran his fingertips gently across Harley's blonde hair and down her neck. "No skull or spinal fractures or breaks. Small bump, likely concussed," he murmured to himself.
"Not the cause of the loss of consciousness though?" Tim looked at him for confirmation. While the fighting skills and detective work had become almost second nature to him after two years, the medical side of the job was making much slower progress, and Bruce often had to remind himself how young Robin was.
"No, that's most likely from the pain – she's not lost enough blood for that to be the cause?" He picked her up again, motioning for Tim to open the door of the back seat for him.
He laid her gently on the back seat, hoping she wouldn't roll off halfway through the ride. He quickly sat in the driver's seat, ignoring Tim's mumblings that he was never allowed to drive. "Batgirl, we have Quinn." He said, and Barbara's voice rang through from his earpiece.
"Good." She paused for a moment, as if unsure whether to ask the question. "Is she going to Arkham or Blackgate this time?"
Instead of answering, Bruce calmly pulled the earpiece out and opened a small compartment that he placed it in. "Is Quinn okay?" Tim leaned around to check on said passenger, his eyebrows almost at his hairline in surprise.
"Yeah, she seems fine – happier than Barbs is gonna be, at least." He looked questioningly at Bruce, who glanced at him slightly through the corner of his eyes before staring ahead.
"There's a lot that Barbara isn't going to be happy with." His voice was quiet as they sped through the city, though slower than they would without an injured passenger.
"I'm not even going to ask." Tim muttered, staring out of the window. The evening had been a relatively calm one – so far, at least – and he hoped it would remain that way as he looked out at the bright lights that passed them. "Wait, where are we going?" He looked in surprise at Bruce, who didn't respond. "You just missed the turning for Arkham."
"I know," Bruce said evenly, checking the mirror for any other cars. When Tim continued to stare at him in uncomprehending silence, he sighed slightly. "We're not sending Quinn back to either prison."
"Well then where the hell are we going to take her?" Tim asked incredulously.
Bruce turned his head towards him slightly, and he was even more surprised to see the ghost of a smile on Batman's lips. "Wayne Manor."
A/N: Tell me your thoughts!