Hey Readers! Sorry for the delay but Thursday was my 3rd Wedding Anniversary and so I have been away from my computer for a bit. But! I did put together a nice long one for you all! In honor of the occasion, I decided to put Harley in my actual wedding dress for the story! ;P
This chapter is dedicated to my amazing husband! I love you Agapi Mu!
November 5th 2016
The Joker's Penthouse
9:00PM
Harley took one last look in the mirror making sure she looked perfect. Her dress was knee length, white and lacey with a sweetheart neckline and see through lace panels on the bodice. The poof of a bustle skirt that ended just above her kneecaps accentuated her tiny waist. For shoes she rocked a pair of Tiffany blue platform pumps with a setting of gold metal spikes on the toe. The dress of her dreams was a one of a kind Panina Tornai, She made a note to herself to send the nice people of Kleinfeld's Bridal Boutique a Thank You basket for being so accommodating as she shopped with Ivy that morning. They had truly gone above and beyond tailoring the dress on the spot after to told them, very politely, how important it was that the dress be ready in 2 hours. Even held at gunpoint hardly anyone screamed or cried and she only had to shoot 3 sales ladies the entire time. They were truly people who know how to make a girl's dreams come true! The edgy style of the dress looked great with her pasty white skin and tattoos. Most brides looked terrible with their tats on display but not Harley and not in this dress. She went over the bridal list one more time:
Something Old – The priceless vintage chandelier earrings she and the stolen from a Sotheby's auction on her first official date with the Joker. Check!
Something New – Her birdcage veil she'd acquired just this afternoon. Check!
Something Borrowed – The red rose hair clip she borrowed from Ivy that pinned half of her hair to the side. Check!
Something Blue – Her adorable Tiffany blue pumps. Check!
In her hand was a bouquet if black orchids and red roses. She was ready! It would be great if her parents could be here and for her dad to give her away. But they were pleasantly liquefying in Boca with the rest of the old people and had disowned her when she became Harley Quinn. She made peace with their decision and knew she and her mother would have tried to kill each other over the planning arrangements. Ultimately she knew she was better off. She'd just have to send them a wedding announcement later. Maybe a family photo once they found Anna. They should know they were grandparents finally. In the mean time her dear friend Ivy would walk her down the isle.
Harley and Ivy opened the door of the master bedroom where they'd been dressing. Outside the door was path of long elegant candles that guided her way to the roof top terrace of their penthouse. Smashing Pumpkins Ava Adore played through the sound system as they made their approach. Harley started tearing up, "He remembered our song Pammy!" Harley said.
It's you that I adore
You'll always be my whore
You'll be a mother to my child
And a child to my heart
We must never be apart
We must never be apart
She thought back to when he'd written the lyrics for her on a piece of toilet paper and stuffed it in her pocket the day he asked for her help breaking out of Arkham. At first she wasn't sure she could go through with getting him the machine gun he'd asked for, but when she found his little gift she knew he was worth the trouble she would get into. He was worth giving up her old life; it never made her happy anyway. He was worth dyeing for, worth living for, worth killing for.
Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left to die
Drinking mercury
To the mystery
Of all that you should ever leave behind
In time
Standing at the end of the path of candles was her dream come true. The Joker stood in a gold and black brocade suite, black satin shirt and black bowtie. Beside him was Johnny Frost who darned nothing but black Armani tonight. The Joker locked eyes with Harley and for him, the rest of the world melted away. She was stunning. Her red lips the same shade as the red rose in her hair. Mine, was the only coherent thought he could process at that moment. She's all mine, forever. She got closer and any cold feet he may have had earlier in the day melted. She was his redemption and damnation all rolled up into one. She made him want to set the world on fire till there was only the two of them left standing on a pile of ashes. Now she would be his wife. He realized then that he wasn't marrying Harley because of Anna. He was marrying her because he couldn't live with out her.
And you'll always be my whore
'Cause you're the one that I adore
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
In you I feel so dirty in you I crash cars
In you I feel so pretty in you I taste god
We must never be apart
They were face to face now. Only a few inches of air and her paper-thin veil separated them. The Joker couldn't take his eyes off his blushing bride. Harley hadn't even acknowledged the individual standing in front of them with a black pillowcase over his head and shackles on his wrists and ankles.
"You're up, Padre." The Joker said still with his eyes locked on Harley. Frost came up from behind and pulled the pillowcase off revealing the priest with a piece of duck tape over his mouth. Frost removed the tape and handed the Father his book. The cuffs on his hands clanked, as his hands shook. He looked around confused and frightened.
Frost clapped the priest's shoulder. "Relax Father, like I said earlier, you do your thing and you get to go back to the rectory with a nice donation for the collection box." He glanced back and forth from the bride and groom, crossed himself 3 times and began. "D-dearly beloved…"
Harley had been on a roller coaster of emotions all day and had been forcing back tears since she emerged from the bedroom all dolled up. But hearing the good father's words made holding them back nearly impossible. Some part of her never thought the day would come when a priest would give a traditional wedding service for her and her Puddin. The Padre got to the vows, "I was told the bride and groom have prepared some vows for one another?" The priest asked.
Harley went first. "Before I met you, my life was mundane to say the least. I only ever did what was expected of a nice WASP girl growing up in Brooklyn. Went to school, got good grades, became a Doctor. But something was always missing. I remember choosing mental health as my field because I though maybe if I studied what was lacking in the human psyche, I could find out what was lacking in me. That was until I met you. You brought out something from deep inside of my mind and my heart. You showed me how to live and more importantly how to love.
"I vow to always watch your 6, to always keep the guns loaded and the amo stocked. To make a home for you no matter where we live or hide out. To always lie for you to the cops and in court. Most of all I vow to spend the rest of my life loving you with everything there is in me and only to die when we are both ready to clock out on the same day."
Ivy sniffled. Frost looked in her direction and cocked an eyebrow as if asking Really? You're crying? She rolled her eyes at him and mouthed fuck you.
The look on the priest's face was incredulous. This was by far the most bazar situation in which he had ever been involved. He prayed he could make it out of this alive and tell the police but he guessed they wanted that in the end otherwise why would they offer him his freedom when it was over?
The Joker retrieved a piece of paper from his breast pocket, cleared his throat and spoke his vows. "It may by odd to begin my vows with a confession but odd has always been our style so why the hell not?" He paused and look at the priest, "Sorry Father," He cleared his throat again and continued. "During our time in Arkham, I was very dishonest with you. I preyed on your weaknesses and seduced you. When I knew I had you I convinced you to break me out so we could be together. But I had no intention of following through with it. That last moment when I asked if you would live for me, I was really cutting you loose. I knew you'd jump into that acid to prove yourself to me. I was relieved to be done with the charade when you gave in and began to plummet. But as I walked away a revelation hit me. The one I was being the most dishonest with was myself. I had fallen in love with you from the moment I first saw you. The thought you falling into that acid and never coming out, the fact that I would be living in a world where you didn't exist, I couldn't take another step and jumped in after you. I never told you this before for my own reasons but if we are going to do this, then I want it done right. No more secrets and no more lies.
"I vow to never keep anything from you again and to be the loving man you've seen in me from day 1. To never leave you behind and to always hold you as the Queen of my universe every day of my life. I am yours until my dyeing breath."
There was a moment of silence as the words spoken by the groom sunk in. The moment drew out and turned awkward. Everyone looked at the priest he shook as he realized this wasn't a horrible dream and he had more lined they were expecting him to deliver.
"Uh, D-do you H-Harleen Quinzell take the Joker to be…"
"NO!" he barked causing everyone to jump. "I said before, if we do this, we do it right." He explained more calmly. He then repeated what the priest just said, "Do you Harleen Quinzell, take…" He hesitated. Harley could see a tremor run through him and his left eye twitched just slightly. But this reaction wasn't from anger like it had been so many times before. This was more like something had emerged from within the darkest corner of his mind. The place where the most vulnerable skeletons hid. "… take Joseph… Kerr, for all that stuff."
Harley's tears fell freely now. He wanted to marry her as the man underneath the monster. She wanted to hold him and sooth the pain she knew he felt saying that name out loud. Something he had never done in all the time they had known each other. Even when he did talk about his life before, he never once said his former name. But he said it just now on their wedding day, the best day of their lives at this point.
November 5th, 2016
Gotham City, Midtown
11:00PM
Back at the hostel Jen loaned Anna a pair of gold sparkly shorts, a black halter with no back, platform boots and black fishnets. Her eyes had black shadow smudged on them and her lips were a glossier version of their natural color. "How do the shoes feel?" Jen asked
"Ok I guess."
"Be sure, never weir shoes you cant run in. Those have rubber bottoms and are super comfy for such tall hot looking kicks."
"They feel great."
Jen was wearing a short red and black dress with tights and an equally tall pair of platform boots. Anna couldn't help looking at herself in the mirror. She looked… Hot! She never wore make up and rarely dressed in anything other than jeans and converse. But she wasn't Anna tonight. Tonight she was Ninja. She made a pact with herself to give Ninja a full and thorough test drive. If she liked how the night went, she'd play Ninja again. If she didn't enjoy herself, she'd scare the fuck out of Jen to send her packing and let Ninja die with the night.
Jen poured 2 shots and handed one to Anna. "Don't have more than one drink an hour unless you get into a VIP Room. Then you don't drink shit. Just toss all your drinks on the floor when they aren't looking and make like you're as fucked up as everyone else. That's how you keep getting them to buy more. The difference between the hot dealer girls and the hot hookers is we have something they want but can never have. Remember we fuel the party and stand above it, we don't get sloshed and act like idiots."
Anna nodded, "So treat them like shit basically."
"Not exactly, act like your better than they are sure but if you're too mean they'll just look for another dealer. It's ok to fool around with them so long as you never go home with them and never bang them."
"Define fool around?"
"A little lap sitting and a little grabby-ass is ok but never go farther than kissing and always hold off the first kiss for as long as possible. Hookers do it all except kiss and the VIP crowd knows that so kissing is something they itch for a lot of times. It's our weapon."
As Jen and Anna walked up the first line of partygoers, Jen continued her rules of the sale, "If anyone OD's you have a 10 second window to grab your shit and go before people start to notice who was close to the drama. If they kill themselves it's not your fault that they were stupid enough to kick the bucket. It's not your problem. Got it?
"Got it," Anna said back. She was Totally Ninja now. A confident killer. The girls went from the front to the back of the first line and made 5 sells. If Anna was nervous she didn't crack once. 3 more lines and they had each made more than their time at TQ Park. Anna totally forgot her rule about not carrying any of the drugs Jen was selling. She was a seller too right now.
A black limo pulled up across the street and from the latest line the girls had hit. The driver opened his window and called them over. "That's Crow, my supplier, come on." Jen said and took Anna's hand as they crossed to the car.
"Hello beautiful, who's your friend?"
"This is my girl Ninja, She's a system spit-out like me."
"She's a looker. How are you girls doing tonight."
"Managing, yourself?"
"Not as well as I could be, I have an order pending delivery for the VIP Room of Frostbite but my usual conveyance was fired double booking with her own jollity." He said touching his nose.
"It is hard to find good help these days."
"Indeed," Crow looked Anna up and down. "She have any experience with the let them eat cake brigade?" he asked Jen.
"We can handle the trust fund brats."
"Then by all means, join me for a drink and we'll discuss your promotion." Crow's driver walked around the back and opened the door. Everything about this screamed oh hell no! But Anna decided to go with it and got in the limo. Crow popped a bottle of champagne and poured 3 glasses. They toasted to new friends and rich brats. The limo drove them all to 'Frostbite' the hottest nightclub in the city. Crow handed the girls the order some rich kid called in. They stashed it in the appropriate areas. Crow opened his window and exchanged looks with the bouncer. Then he called for his driver to open the door and let the girls out.
"The mark is a kid named 'D' go make nice and make sure he enjoys himself with the goods. Should be walking away with 5G's minimum. You bring it to me under the 59th street Bridge at 3am sharp. You don't show, I'll know where to find you girls.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Anna said and climbed out.
"It speaks, Jenny, do bring her around again. The blood lust in that creature's eyes is so raw it's very… alluring."
Jen smiled, "Yes Sir. See you at 3." The girls were let right into the club with no cover and no ID check.
November 6th 2016
Frostbite Night Club
12:01AM
The VIP Room of frostbite was loud and filled with the most obnoxious of Gotham's blue-blooded offspring. Damien hated pulling off nights like this; he could hear his grandfather's words of distain for such frivolity in his head. To Damien, Ra's Al Ghul was still the greatest man who had ever lived and ever would live. He'd grown to respect and care for his father over the last 8 years they'd spent together, even love him but no one could replace his grandfather. Damien had been groomed from birth to be the heir to the throne of the League of Shadows. Then the universe changed its mind and turned his world upside down at age 10. That was when his grandfather was killed and his mother, fearing for Damien's safety, took him to meet his father for the first time. He would no longer be Damien Al Ghul, prince of the League of Shadows. Now he was Damien Wayne, the prince of Gotham.
He had learned a great deal during his time as a Wayne; how to temper his rage, the difference between justice and vengeance and most importantly (at least to his father) how to be part of the world not just stand above it. That's what tonight was all about. Among the many lessons Damien learned about the Wayne family's nocturnal legacy, he learned he must also have public image to prevent any unwanted inquiries into their private life. Before Damien came into the picture his father Bruce was a documented playboy and party animal. He spent his money on things that weren't for sale and was never photographed with the same woman twice. It sickened Damien at first, thinking his own mother Talia had been one of those women for a time. Then Bruce explained that it was the only way to keep his secrete from the world,
"If Bruce Wayne was off gallivanting with Russian Prima Ballerina's then there is no possible way he could be Batman who was across the world in China forcing extradition on the mob's top money launderer." His father explained. The problem was, Bruce had done something he didn't see coming, he aged.
"I'm a little old for the club scene but that's how these dealers are getting their poison out onto the street. You're 18 and the next generation of Wayne Damien; time to start giving the society papers something to write about again. And who knows, maybe you'll even enjoy yourself a little"
That was when Damien took the mantel left by Bruce Wayne and starting playing the part of a spoiled rich kid who loved to party. His reputation quickly surpassed that of his father. It helped that he was gorgeous. He was 6'2" with black hair and green eyes. His complexion had a slight natural tan inherited from his mother's side and, thanks to his lifetime of training, he had the muscle structure of a Greek God. His chiseled facial structure and green eyes made the ladies crazy and his devil-may-care attitude made the reporters obsessed. The paper's soon dubbed him the pretty rotten apple that fell off from the tree.
He'd intentionally gotten himself arrested twice, once for position and once for speeding in one of his father's sports cars. Bruce put on a show for the cops and reporters making it as though he were horribly disappointed in his son. But once they were in private the team dropped the act and went over what information Damien had acquired.
It was all leading to the main person on their attack list, the Joker. Since his last act of terrorism the Joker had completely disappeared. His father didn't like how quiet the clown was being. It meant he was planning something big. Then 2 murders on the same night caught Bruce's attention. A doctor living in Metropolis and his ex wife who resided in Gotham had been taken hostage and killed. Bruce was very quiet about his interest in the cases (as usual) but he did let it slip that the victims were people he'd dealt with involving the clown years earlier. That was all Damien could get out of him.
The closest connection to the Joker Damien found on the street was a nut job supplier who called himself the Scare Crow. He'd recently shortened his name to Crow and was distributing drugs on behalf on the freak all over Gotham City via different drug mules.
The problem was Crow didn't dole out his goods to just anyone, he depended on his street team for that. In order to get Crow's attention you needed 2 things: money and no morals. With Damien's arrests and his acquired persona Crow eventually found him. During his most recent overnighter at county lock up, one of Crow's aids handed him a black business card with a cell number. He was told he'd get a new card with a new number after his first order.
"…Crow don't keep the same phone for too long. You want the best party dust in the city, you call when you get out. His girls deliver only to public places."
"What if I want to purchase from the man directly?"
The con chuckled, "The only way to make that happen is to get invited to one of his parties and make him like you."
Damien turned on the charm "Come on, everyone likes me."
"I can see that D but he's not so easily charmed. If you get into his good graces it'll be because he can use you. Start with an order, then take it from there."
"Then I guess I'll have to throw a party."
This brought him to tonight. He sat on one of the VIP Room's extra plush benches with a girl on either side. His party comrade Ozzy was busy getting his money's worth from the red head on his lap. Oz was pale and skinny with jet black hair and a beak nose. His dad owned Frostbite and a few other lucrative businesses around the city making them fairly equal on the burning money scale. It was a good thing too because without his daddy's money, Oz would be just another skinny creep.
The blond on Damien's left started kissing his neck. Completely repulsed by the girl he turned her face toward the blond on his right and guided their faces to each other. The women started kissing like the seasoned harlots they were. The sight did nothing for him but he grinned anyway. At least they were occupied for a little while. Ozzy came up for air and hooted.
"Ya baby! You're the fucking man D!" Oz shouted, his voice had a strange tone that sounded like he never fully exited puberty.
Damien nodded smugly, "Your daddy may own this spot Oz, but I run this shit!"
"That is why I love being your wing man bro. Oh, and look what we have here, fresh meat!" Damien turned in the direction Ozzy was looking and saw 2 young girls approaching. The one with the blond curly hair was half a step in front on the brunet. "Hey boys, which one of you is D?"
"Depends on who's asking." Damien said adding some extra flirt to his words.
"We're UPS got a package he needs to sign for."
Damien addressed the 3 skanks he and Oz were entertaining, "Ladies, why don't the 3 of you go get a little exercise while we talk business." He took some cash off a rolled up wad and handed it to them. "Don't get board baby, we have plans for you." One of the blonds he had been sitting with said in a thick Eastern European accent. He slapped her ass as she walked away then turned back to Jen.
"Nice to meet you both, I'm Damien, people call me D. This is my hetero life mate Oz."
"Salutations," Oz said eyeing Jen
"Charmed, I'm Jen, this is my friend Ninja."
"Ninja? You train?" Damien was surprised, the girl couldn't be more than 115 lbs. soaking wet. She was beautiful and had a look in her eye like a killer but she did not look like a martial artist.
"Ya, I do." She offered no other explanation.
"With who?" He asked. It was rare in his experience that a woman didn't brag about things like that to impress him. It made him want to know more about her.
"Master Nun." The girl called Ninja answered.
"Master Nun? I haven't heard of him before."
"Oh, he's the best. You might know him better by his full name, Master Nun-ya Fucking Business"
"Holy shit! I fucking love her!" Oz shouted laughing. He was already drunk.
"Please excuse my friend, she's the best person to have in your corner but not the best at social graces. Are you hun?"
"No,"
"Ok, then. How do we do this?" Damian asked
Jen spoke, "You can either by in bulk and we'll be out of here or you can pay as you play and we stay."
"May we sample your merchandise? I never buy a car without taking id for a test drive."
"Bullshit! You bought that Bugatti last month just cause of the girl sitting on the hood at the car show!" Oz ousted his friend.
"I didn't hang on to it that long though did I?"
Oz laughed harder. "Ya, your dad made you give it back."
"Please excuse my friend, he's a useless piker that comes in handy…never."
Oz flipped D the bird. "Well now that both of our friends have done their best to humiliate us, may I offer you lady's a drink?"
"Ha, I see what you keep him around. We'll pass on the drinks for now."
They all sat. Anna took the farthest seat from Damian but some how he smoothly resituated himself right next to her. Jen passed him a small hand mirror with 2 lines of powder she'd cut. Damien took the mirror and cupped it with one of his hands. With his other hand he closed off one of his nostrils and snorted one of the lines. He passed the mirror to Oz who snorted the second line though with not half of the grace Damien had. Anna was the only one of them who noticed Damien actually brushed his line off the glass and onto the floor before getting his nose close enough to snort anything. Why did he do that? She asked herself but decided not to out him just yet.
"Well lady's I'm satisfied. Oz?"
"Oh I am hella sold! That shit was tasty!"
"Ok then, would you like the take home addition or the arcade?"
"I think we'll go with the arcade. You girls look like you know how to have a good time. If things go well, I'm thinking we should make this an every weekend deal."
"I'll be sure to pass the request on to the boss."
"You do that." Damien took a sip if his beer and noticed the 3 bimbo's were coming back. He needed to get close to his new friends to get to the Scare Crow and he understood that there was such a thing as too many women. He waved to security telling the guard to come over. "We wont be needing those back. They were boring me."
"Yes Mr. Wayne." The guard said and left to inform the skanks they were done for the night. Anna couldn't resist giving them a little wave as they received the news. Damien and Jen exchanged the first of the party favors then he sat back and put his arm around Anna. Her first instinct was to grab his hand and break it but she was Ninja right now. A sly, seductive, wicked thing who enjoyed playing with foolish little rich boys. She looked at Jen who was bending over Oz's lap as she cut more lines. The lesson Jen gave her about what was acceptable and where to draw the line went through Anna's head. She relaxed into Damien's side and laid her head on his shoulder.
"I knew you'd warm up to me,"
"What can I say, I'm a sucker for a strong jaw and perfect capped teeth."
"Their not caps sweet heart, all mine."
"Well then God bless your gene pool." She replied with mock sweetness.
This girl was something else, she didn't swoon like so many women did for him. She didn't giggle or brag or even try to get his attention. "Yours too, your eyes are scary beautiful. Who's you get them from mom or dad?"
"That's how you talk to a girl? Ask about her parents? No wonder you buy tramps like Charlie's angels over there."
"I don't need to buy my women. I just like to make sure when I go out, theirs is an exceptional view available."
"But you sent them packing."
"Because I found a better view that I can actually chat with."
Anna laughed at his attempts to flirt. "Those party favors are kicking in soon I see."
"Ya, ya I'm really feeling it." Damien faltered he'd been so intrigued by this girl he forgot about the part he was supposed to play tonight. He moaned rolling his head back pulled Anna closer to him. She decided to call his bluff. She knew he wasn't really high, and if he was drunk it must have been all before she and Jen got there because he only had one sip of beer since they'd say down.
Anna checked Jen who was busy flirting it up with Oz, sitting on his lap. When Anna turned her attention back to Damien he tried to kiss her. Anna took his chin and turned him away. "Sorry babe, that's not what I'm being paid to do here."
"Maybe you should do it cause you want to."
"What makes you think I do?"
"You've stopped staring at me for one thing. Second, you're inches away from sitting on my lap and third…" He came closer, "You're flushed."
"Observant aren't you?"
"You don't know the half of it."
Anna smirked, ok rich boy you wanna play? She thought and straddled his lap. "So, he likes getting fucked up and paying attention to the little things does he?"
Damien was surprised by the girl's forwardness but played it off like he was to buzzed to care. "Oh ya, the little things become so clear when you see them on a higher level." He smiled and grabbed her hips.
"Oh I bet they are. There's just one tini, tiny problem." She lowered herself closer to his mouth.
"What's that beautiful?" She was going to kiss him; he wanted her to kiss him. He really, really wanted her to kiss him. He was starting to freak out and closed his eyes. Her lips never met his. She lowered her mouth to his ear and whispered. "You're not really high…"
So if you haven't seen The Son of Batman animated film or read any of the Damien Wayne issues yet, you should be ashamed of yourself! Just kidding! But seriously it's on Netflix and it's amazing! Watch it!
Coming next with bee a lot of action, fighting and the moment I have been most anxious to get to… when the Joker and Anna meet for the first time!
Please let me know what you guys think on the chapter!
Thank you for reading!
~SL