After parking the vehicles away from the factory Ivy, Batgirl, and Alex made their way through the alleys towards the factory on foot. Batman and Robin where already on the rooftops awaiting Alex's signal to take out the snipers on the roof. They turned another corner and finally got eyes on the target building and Alex could just make out one of the snipers standing on the roof.
"Team One, Team Two. We're in position waiting on you to take out the snipers, over."
"Roger Two, standby." Came Batman's response.
Alex looked through his scope towards the sniper and just barely saw a black blur descend upon him. In a matter of seconds Batman had taken down the snipers and radioed down that they we're good to move.
"Alright move!" Alex whispered to his team. They quickly made their way down the alley as Alex covered them from his position. Once they safely reached the building Alex made his way over and stacked up on the door, checking the frame for any traps and upon finding none signaled for Batgirl to pick the lock.
With the lock picked Alex pushed the door open with the muzzle of his rifle and made his way inside with the others behind him. The room was clear of people and Alex once again scanned the room for any signs of traps, spotting a trip wire hidden behind the reception desk. He followed the wire up the wall and revealed a platter charge disguised as a framed picture and if activated it would have enough of a blast to blow any unfortunate victims apart. The charge would be easy enough to disable if he could locate its power source which fortunately for him was easy enough to find under the desk. After successfully disarming the charge he motioned for them to continue making their way through the building with himself as point, Batgirl in the middle, and Ivy guarding the rear.
They'd made it to the staircase that would bring them above the assembly floor and surprisingly hadn't run into anyone yet, once they reached the catwalks they found out why. Dozens of clowns, all armed to the teeth were milling about below. How it was possible for Joker to find this much help, even after a good handful where killed out in the country side a few months back was beyond anyone's guess. Alex also noted what looked to be fifty-five-gallon oil drums scattered about the floor, they would provide a wonderful distraction if they needed to bolt. Alex looked to his teammates and they nodded that they were ready.
Alex passed off a stun grenade to Ivy before flicking the safety on his rifle from safe to auto while Batgirl readied concussive batarangs. Ivy tossed the stun grenade to the floor below where it detonated above the clown's heads disorienting those in the immediate area and Batgirl quickly followed suit with her batarangs before Alex opened fire with his IAR, killing those not quick enough to recover and get behind cover. The clowns that weren't affected by the grenades and survived the initial fire quickly returned fire but Ivy used her powers to sprout vines from the cracks in the floor and used them to distract the clowns, buying the others time to get off the catwalk and behind some crates on an adjacent platform.
"Team One we've got them distracted, make your move!" Alex shouted into the radio as bullets flew all around. In no time clowns started getting picked off one by one until those not ensnared in Ivy's vines or killed by Alex were lying unconscious on the ground. Once the bullets stopped flying they all regrouped on his position and readied to move on when General Anderson came over the radio.
"Team be advised I'm seeing several vehicles on rapid approach to your location, ETA approximately five minutes, Overlord out."
"Shit, we gotta make this fast. You two gonna be good here?" Alex asked Batgirl and Robin.
"We'll be fine, just let us know when we're good to leave." Batgirl replied.
"Alright, here take these they should help you out." Alex passed off his remaining stun grenades to her and wished them luck before he, Batman,and Ivy, made their way further in. The staff areas had been refurbished into makeshift living quarters, all dingy and littered with trash and stupid gag items. It would take to long for them to search every room together so they split up and cleared rooms individually just as they heard gunfire pick up again from the assembly floor.
Clearing rooms by oneself is very risky as there's no one to watch their back, and while Alex was not an Infantry Marine he got enough training in CQB to handle himself. He'd cleared two rooms without any luck when he entered what must have been Joker and Quinn's room from the looks of it. A large bed dominated the center of the room, the thought of them doing things made him wanna puke and he averted his eyes and scanned the rest of the room and spotted a wall safe was emplaced over a desk with documents and a purple Colt 1911. Alex looked at the tacky colored pistol and shook his head in disgust, only Joker would deface an exceptional weapon like that and in his opinion was reason enough alone to shoot him. He pocketed the pistol for later and leafed through the documents underneath it, finding a formula for a chemical called Smilex and pocketed that as well. Finally, he shot the locks off the safe and rifled through its contents, finding stolen cash and jewelry, nothing worth capturing. After searching the room, Alex exited back into the hallway when he heard the "POP" of a pistol from behind him, the rounds impacting the wall behind him. He turned and there she was, firing at him from around the corner, no doubt buying time for Joker to get away. Regardless of his feelings Alex raised his rifle and fired off a short burst down the hall to force her back into cover. After slapping a fresh magazine into the rifle, he quickly but cautiously made his way down the hall and towards Quinn…
...
Those bullets had almost done Harley in, five bullet holes had impacted the wall where she'd been standing a second ago. she didn't know it was Alex when she had fired, honest, but it was too late to take them back now. She could hear him coming closer and Harley worried that as soon as he rounded the corner she'd end up with two fresh bullet holes in her sternum so she did the only thing she could think of. As soon as she saw his muzzle peak around the corner she grabbed it and yanked with all the strength she could muster, pulling him around the corner and bashing his helmet with the butt of her gun, stunning him momentarily before running off to find the Joker.
Harley had reluctantly returned after Ivy said that she was going on a business trip and she had been contemplating on killing Joker for destroying her life when the shooting had started.
"Harley, there you are! I'd say it's about time to blow this joint, literally!" Joker exclaimed with glee as he held up a detonator wired to the explosive barrels down in the assembly floor.
"But what about the guys? They're still down there!?" She may not have cared about the Joker anymore, but the guys had always been nice to her.
"Well you know what they say about omelets and eggs Harls."
With that he grabbed her wrist and practically dragged Harley out to the catwalk above the assembly floor, which was in total chaos. She could see Batbrat and Birdboy fighting some of the guys down below and noticed that some of them were tangled in vines, meaning that Ivy had to be here as well.
"Ah, we'll take out the Bat and his brood as well as that pesky floral fanatic. Sayonara suckers!" Joker cackled before activating the detonator, exploding the barrels down below. The explosions rocked the catwalk, blowing Joker over to the other side while the section Harley was standing on caved in on itself, taking her with it. She quickly grabbed onto the rails of the still intact section of the opposite side and held on for dear life. Harley looked over to the other side to see that Joker was just fine and making his way towards the exit.
"Hey help me out here!" She cried, outstretching her free hand across the gap towards him, hoping that he at least had one redeeming quality.
"Omelets and eggs Harls, omelets and eggs…" He said over his shoulder coldly as he walked away.
No, he can't leave her like this, not after everything she'd done, everything she'd sacrificed for him! Harley looked down and saw that everyone not trapped had fled and there was no sign of the brats either. The flames roaring down below kept growing however, consuming the room and rising to lick at her feet and she could feel her grip on the rail slipping as she dangled over the flames. Harley now realized that she didn't want to die, not like this! Burned alive until she was nothing but ash! As her grip finally slipped Harley screamed until suddenly…
"Gotcha!" Harley looked up to see Alex gripping her wrist and straining to pull her up. The catwalk however was becoming strained under the combined weight and it groaned in protest as Harley was pulled onto it.
"Ivy I could use some help here!" Alex shouted back down the hall. As the section gave way they were suddenly grabbed by vines and pulled to safety by Ivy, who caught Harley in a tight embrace.
"Stupid girl, I told you not to trust Joker." She chided once she let go of her.
Harley was about to thank her when suddenly…BANG! Pain shot through Harley's body as she crashed into the wall, blood spilling from her chest and painting the walls around them. They looked back across the chasm to see Joker had returned and held a smoking .44 Magnum in his hand. Alex leveled his rifle and fired back as Ivy scooped Harley into her arms, carrying her back into the hallway just as she saw Alex fire a final shot and saw what looked like blood explode from Joker's head. Harley didn't know if he killed him or if it was her mind playing tricks on her, either way she wouldn't know for sure.
"What happened to her?" A voice Harley recognized as Batman's asked.
"Joker." Ivy spat with anger.
"We gotta get outta here, where are the others!?" Alex asked urgently.
"They made it back to the vehicles, what happened to Joker?"
"Fuck if I know, pretty sure I gotta head shot though. We gotta move her now, Ivy keep pressure on that wound."
"She needs help now!" Ivy warned him urgently.
"This building's coming down around us, we stay we all die!"
"He's right Ivy, once we're clear of this place we can treat her." Batman agreed.
Alex and Batman formed a makeshift stretcher out of one of the bedsheets and some shower rods and carried Harley out of the building as fast as they could. As they reached the cars they found Batgirl and Robin waiting just before the factory finally exploded, raining rubble down on the area. Once the rubble stopped they set Harley down and Alex slung his rifle over his back, retrieved his med kit, and got to work on treating her wound, stripping the upper half of her costume off to get a better view. Harley looked down at her chest to see blood everywhere and her skin was turning as white as the paint on her face from the loss of blood. Joker always used hollow point rounds in his Magnum and the bullet had torn a ragged hole through Harley's chest and she saw everyone gasp as the grisly wound was revealed. Alex quickly started packing the wound with gauze while Ivy knelt down next to her and griped her friend's hand.
"Alright, looks like it missed your lung. I'm going to apply an occlusive dressing, I need you to exhale on three alright? One…two…three." Harley exhaled as he instructed and he applied the dressing, taping it down with medical tape before repeating the process on the exit wound on her back.
"Ok, that should hold until we can get you to a hospital."
"You…you saved my life, Joker he…tried to kill me! And even after I shot at you!"
"Yeah well I shot you a few years back if I recall. Don't worry your safe now, Joker can't hurt you anymore."
"He…he's really dead?" It seemed impossible, Joker had survived so many things that to have finally gone out…
"I couldn't confirm anything but he couldn't have survived that explosion, besides I shot that bastard in the head."
"Don't be so sure Sergeant, I wouldn't be surprised if he pops up again." Batman warned and Harley found myself silently agreeing with him.
"I hope not, we should get her to the hospital."
"The hospital staff can't see you or Ivy, I'll take her down there and make sure she gets admitted to Arkham after they finish treating her."
"What!? No, not Arkham!" Harley protested but she was in no condition to do more than voice her opinion.
"Relax the military's going to be watching over you and making sure that you get help, nothing's going to happen." Alex assured her.
Somehow that didn't make her feel any better about being thrown back into the loony bin. Harley looked over to Ivy for help but she just nodded her head in agreement with the others. With no means to protest in her condition Batman scooped Harley up into his arms and placed her in the Batmobile, driving off to Gotham General and telling the staff what to do with her once she'd been treated. Harley only hoped that Alex was right about the military's intentions and that Ivy seemed to trust him gave her some comfort but she still didn't like the idea of being in their hands now.
…Mission Complete…