6. Firefly Beyond
The day the Joining came began like any other. It found Harley, Peter, and Garfield treating themselves to a late dinner out at an out-of-the-way diner where no one seemed to recognize their faces; once again, the people of Gotham only saw what they wanted to, when they wanted to see it.
"Then she said there was no WAY I could eat all that candy in a week!" Harley bragged, spreading her arms wide for emphasis. "But by that Friday, there wasn't a single piece left!" She then folded her arms proudly, fixing her gaze upon Peter and Garfield, who were seated across from her in the booth by the window. "It was the best Halloween ever."
"See, I can one-up that one," Garfield boasted as Harley went back to eating her French fries. "So this one year, back when I was in high school, these guys I hung out with and I got this plan. It started out as your general scheme to cover the school in toilet paper." He failed to notice Peter quietly reaching around his back. "But then, I get this idea. I start to wonder…what if we didn't stop at toilet paper? What if we actually make the toilet paper GLOW first? I had a pretty good handle on chemistry class, and I figured – "
Peter stealthily tapped Garfield on the opposite shoulder. Garfield turned to look behind himself in entirely the wrong direction with a "Yeah?" As he tried to figure out why there was no one there, Peter casually helped himself to several fries off Garfield's plate.
Garfield, turning back to the table, finally figured out what had happened. "You know, you have a whole plate full of fries. You don't need my fries."
"Yes, but I WANT them," Peter argued. "Now go on. Glowing toilet paper."
"Okay," Garfield picked up. "So I get put in charge of getting ahold of the chemicals that WILL YOU STOP THAT?" He slapped Peter's hand as it reached for his plate again. "You're not even gonna distract me this time?"
Harley stifled a giggle. Despite not actually being a couple, Peter and Garfield were her favorite couple.
A sudden loud BOOM, followed by a cacophony of screams, sounded from down the street. "What was that?" Harley wondered out loud.
The next BOOM shook the table. Now, most of the patrons of the diner were starting to get nervous. Harley, Peter, and Garfield peered out the window, pressing their faces to the glass to try and get a glimpse of what was distantly down the street. The source of the tumult soon became clear: a horde of giant insectoid robots was thundering down the street and climbing up the skyscrapers of Gotham, firing laser cannons at anything and everything against an orange backdrop of flames. And they were approaching rapidly enough that Harley, Peter, and Garfield immediately knew they had to back away from the window as soon as they had gotten an eyeful.
A laser blast hit the façade of the diner. Harley leapt, ducking and rolling to safety. Garfield's reflexes weren't as good as hers. But Peter's were better; he pounced on Garfield, propelling him out of the way of the falling debris and shattering glass of the window.
"You guys okay?" Harley asked breathlessly as she scraped herself into a sitting position.
Garfield looked up from his position lying on the ground directly into Peter's eyes and managed a breathless "Yeah. I'm fine."
Peter immediately rolled off of Garfield and stood in one fluid movement. "Aside from the fact that we're under attack by giant robots, doing rather well, actually."
The blast had torn away the façade of the diner completely in wreckage of planks, splinters, and glass. The employees had made a dash for it, as had several patrons; several others lay still, pinned beneath wreckage. The robot seemed to have been satisfied with that and moved on, though it was quite apparent more were coming.
"What's happenin'?" Harley asked in a panic as she struggled into a standing position.
"No idea," Garfield replied as he took Peter's hand to get on his own feet. "My first guess is that the machines have finally begun to question why they serve humans and are trying to become our new overlords."
"My first guess is that standing in one place isn't a good idea right now," Peter added.
"Good point," Garfield and Harley said in unison before all three charged out of what used to be the door.
Outside, the tumult was even stronger. The entire city seemed to be aflame as mechanical behemoths clambered around its network of metal. The chorus of screams rose and fell to the sound of blasting lasers, crumbling buildings, and clanking robotic legs.
"So, uh…where exactly are we supposed to GO?" Garfield asked as he took in the chaos.
"Back to the safehouse, if it's still there," Harley commanded. "We suit up. Gar, you blast 'em high. I pull out all the pins on all the grenades and hit 'em low. And Peter…Peter…uh…"
"Is a diversion?" Peter supplied.
"Yeah, that," Harley decided. "Now let's MOVE IT!"
The trio charged forward only to have a mess of rubble collapse into the street, blocking their path.
"Okaaaaay, let's try moving in the other direction!" Harley cried as she did an about-face; Garfield and Peter followed at top speed.
...
By some miracle, Peter's apartment was still intact. He, Harley, and Garfield burst through the door and immediately rushed to where their more villainous costumes were stored.
"Wait a minute," Garfield realized, turning to Harley. "Since when do you keep your stuff HERE?"
"Since I was too tired to move it after we stayed out all last night," Harley answered.
"You…do know you don't live here, right?"
"Priorities, please?" Peter reminded his cohorts before disappearing into his room.
"Right," Garfield and Harley said as one before retreating to their own changing areas.
They emerged ready for battle as Firefly, Ragdoll, and Harley Quinn, bursting out onto the torn-up streets with fire behind their masked eyes. "Ready to make some scrap metal?" Harley asked, bouncing a grenade up and down in one hand, baseball bat at the ready in the other.
One of the great machines clanked around the corner. "It appears we have a volunteer from the audience," Ragdoll announced.
"I got this." Firefly tightened his gauntlets on both wrists. "Start diverting."
Firefly zipped into the air, Harley darted to a side alley, and Ragdoll rolled up in wheel shape until he reached the base of the huge machine. Standing to full height, he waved cheekily up at where he assumed its center of perception was. "Hello, beautiful," he teased.
The laser struck exactly where Ragdoll had been standing; his quick reflexes saved him yet again as he performed a handspring and flipped head over heels to another spot in the street. "Missed me!" Another laser struck empty pavement as Ragdoll rolled completely under the machine. "Too slow!"
All the while, Harley kept a close watch, grenade at the ready in case something should go wrong. However, as Firefly was the one with the heaviest artillery, she was largely counting on him to do the heavy lifting.
Firefly made sure to make a wide circle of the block before coming back to the immense machine, which was entirely preoccupied with trying to catch the nearly-quicker-than-light Ragdoll. Extending both wrists, he opened fire.
His blows completely glanced off the metal shell without even leaving scorch marks.
"…Crud," Firefly muttered as the great machine turned its sensors toward him and fired.
Ragdoll and Harley watched in horror as he plunged out of the sky.
...
As Firefly lay on the ground, swimming gradually out of blackness and into consciousness, he was aware of two voices coming from directly above where he lay: one female, one male.
"Gar?" the female voice said frantically. "Gar! Come on, Gar, wake up!"
"Say something, Garfield!" the male voice added. "Literally anything!"
Firefly grunted. "Something. Literally anything." He was slowly becoming aware of his surroundings, especially the fact that every part of his body seemed to be in pain to some degree. Luckily, his armor seemed to have protected him from the worst of the impact, and he didn't think anything was broken. He forced his eyes open to see Harley and Ragdoll hovering over him.
"You're okay!" Harley squealed.
"Knew you would be," Ragdoll added, though Firefly wasn't quite sure he believed him.
"Did you lose the thing?" Firefly asked, attempting to sit up; he found that upon his descent, he had become nestled in a large pile of rubble from a nearby wrecked building. "Or did you KILL the thing?"
"We lost it chasing after you," Harley explained.
"So here's the thing," Firefly groaned. "First of all, ow. Second of all, we're going to have to come up with a new strategy. My blasts did NOTHING to the thing. Luckily, I have an idea. The bad news is it's an absolutely terrible idea."
"That's usually the best kind, isn't it?" Ragdoll pointed out.
"So if my usual fire won't work," Firefly explained, "I've gotta upgrade. Get on some weaponry that can take those things out for good. Now, I just so happen to know of one company in all of Gotham that works with the kind of technology we'd need."
"Wayne Industries?" Harley and Ragdoll asked in unison.
"No," Firefly replied. "Their stuff is tame. Trust me, NOTHING at Wayne Industries is going to fix this. I'm talking about GothCorp. When I worked for them, they were starting to go into weapons tech, and they had some pretty boss prototypes."
"So what's the problem?" Ragdoll asked. "We walk in, we 'borrow' a few things, we walk out…"
"The problem is I used to work for them," Firefly insisted. "And they counted on the fact that they might have to cut up our contract someday. So they kinda…me-proofed the building. Made sure even I couldn't burn through the walls."
"So they Firefly-proofed it," Ragdoll responded. "But did they Ragdoll-proof it?"
"I…" Firefly thought it over. "Actually…no."
"I'm assuming there's SOME sort of ventilation system."
"You probably could actually make headway getting into GothCorp HQ," Firefly realized. "And not EVERY wall is Firefly-proofed. I'm willing to bet that whatever you can't get by, I can."
"So let's go already!" Harley insisted. "You two get us in, and I'll watch your back!"
"Watch our back how, exactly?" Firefly asked.
"How do you think I got the big one to stop chasing Ragsy long enough that we could go after you?" Harley replied, grinning broadly. "The grenades don't break 'em, but they sure do slow 'em down!"
"All right." Firefly attempted to stand. "Let's go – ow. Ow, ow, ow. Remind me not to fall twenty feet out of the air again."
Ragdoll, despite himself, immediately positioned himself at Firefly's side, looping one arm around Firefly's waist and draping Firefly's corresponding arm over his shoulders before slowly rising, helping him to stand. "I'd fly us," Firefly informed his companions as he steadied on his feet, "but I know I can't carry both of you."
"It's a lovely day for a walk anyway!" Harley joked. "Though I just realized somethin'."
"What?" Ragdoll and Firefly asked.
"Are we technically tryin' to save the city?" she asked. "Since we're bringin' these things down and all."
"I don't care if everything else except the three of us crashes and burns," Firefly insisted. "I'm not in this to save Gotham. I'm in this to save all three of our butts."
"As am I," Ragdoll agreed.
Harley nodded. "Then let's get a move – "
One of the machines lumbered into the street where the trio conversed. "Harley," Ragdoll said calmly, "now would be a good time – "
"I got it!" Harley tossed one grenade into the air, taking her bat into hand. "BATTER UP!" She spun a 360, whacking the grenade with her bat so that it sailed across the street and collided with the alien machine. Upon impact, it exploded, toppling the machine completely.
"GO, GO, GO!" Harley urged, and once again, she, Ragdoll, and Firefly were on the move.
...
Harley and Firefly pulled up short in front of the sliding GothCorp doors. Harley tested them out. "Locked. But not for long!" She drew her bat back, then swung it full force at the glass only for it to bounce off.
"Not gonna work," Firefly informed her. "The front door was the FIRST thing they Firefly-proofed. Check it out." He fired a blast full strength at the glass, nearly blinding Harley and Ragdoll from the brightness. He kept it going; the glass held firm. He then shut his gauntlet off.
"This looks like a job for Ragdoll," Ragdoll announced. "Don't move an inch! I'll be right back." He then disappeared to try and find an entry point.
Firefly and Harley waited in nervous silence, hoping the alien mechs would keep their distance. "So, uh…" Harley asked, "ya think he's gonna find a way in?"
"At this point, I would not be surprised if he went in through the sewers and came out of a drinking fountain," Firefly replied dryly.
The doors slid open, revealing Ragdoll in the building's interior. "That was barely a challenge," he remarked. "Tell me the rest of this building isn't so sloppily designed."
"Here's hoping it is," Firefly said as he and Harley rushed inside.
A sudden THUD made them all aware of a machine descending outside the GothCorp doors. "Happy birthday!" Harley yelled, chucking a grenade. "Here's your present!"
Firefly and Ragdoll manually shoved the sliding doors closed as the grenade detonated, protecting themselves from the blast as the mech outside was stymied.
"GO!" Harley yelled, and the three were off.
"Elevator's this way!" Firefly called out, leading his friends to the lift doors. They boarded on the ground floor; by that time, one of the machines had gotten inside. Harley tossed another grenade as Firefly hammered the "Close Doors" button.
"You know they only put those there to make you feel like you're doing something while the doors close on their own," Ragdoll commented as the doors slid shut.
"SHUT UP!" Firefly yelled as the elevator shook slightly from the grenade blast outside.
"Which floor?" Harley asked.
"Twenty," Firefly answered.
Harley pushed the corresponding button, and up the elevator went.
"R.D.," Firefly growled, "if you even THINK about pushing all the other buttons between here and twenty, I will throw you out on the first floor we stop at."
"I didn't realize you had become a telepath," Ragdoll replied, bemused.
On the twentieth floor, the triad burst from the elevator rapidly, Harley and Ragdoll following Firefly's lead. "From here on out is a set of security doors that guard their most valuable tech," Firefly explained, "and I'm betting at least half of them were designed in case I ever went rogue."
"Let's see their worst, then," Ragdoll answered, dramatically cracking his knuckles just a hair farther than should have been physically possible for anyone else.
The first door, locked with a numerical keypad, actually went down by Firefly's hand. The second was immune to any of his blasts; by the time Firefly had stopped trying to melt it down, Ragdoll had already found and slipped into the nearest air vent.
"You ever worry about him and those things?" Harley asked. "Like…what if he gets stuck in there all the way in the heart of the building, and he's too far away from us to hear him calling out for help? Not that we could do anything to help him anyway."
"Well, I didn't worry about that UNTIL NOW," Firefly informed Harley.
They waited. And waited. And waited. "Okay, he's been gone too long – " Firefly began.
The doors slid open, and as before, Ragdoll awaited them smugly on the other side. "What, miss me already?" he asked teasingly.
They made their way through door after door that way. When there was no easy access point for Ragdoll to circumvent the gateway, Firefly was usually able to burn through the wall. When the wall resisted, Ragdoll found an alternate route and opened it from the other side. At last, Firefly blasted through the final door to the GothCorp laboratories.
And he, Ragdoll, and Harley all flinched when they saw the redheaded, bespectacled woman aiming a large gun in their direction.
"Don't move," the woman growled.
"Are you KIDDING ME?" Firefly groaned.
"This gun has the power to blast you to bits," she continued. "I already took care of three of your robots that way."
"WHAT ROBOTS?" Firefly yelled.
"I, uh…I think ya got us confused for somebody else," Harley volunteered.
The woman raised a skeptical brow.
"Can't we just talk this over?" Harley asked, stepping to the front of the group.
"If you can prove you're not three of THEM," the woman stated coldly.
"Three of what?" Harley asked.
"Robot duplicates," the woman explained. "If you really don't know what I'm talking about, they've been infiltrating the city. Three of the GothCorp associates I was supposed to be meeting with turned out to be fakes, and the rest bailed once they found out. And now, I'm not so sure I'm not looking at three examples of the enemy really being a villain fan."
"Could a robot do this?" Ragdoll asked as he folded over completely backwards, peeking out at the gun-toting woman from between his own ankles.
"A robot could do that more easily than most humans," the woman replied, deadpan. Still, doubt was starting to creep into her mind that these were actually fakes. Why, of all things, would the makers of the duplicates pick at least two (she had no recognition of Ragdoll whatsoever) of Gotham's most wanted?
"Look, we're not robots," Firefly sighed, removing his helmet. "Take my pulse if you don't believe me."
The woman flinched a bit; he was better-looking in person than he'd been on the news. Keeping her gun focused on him, she gingerly approached, putting out her fingers to brush against his neck, seeking signs of a heartbeat. Once she actually located his jugular vein, she was satisfied…but didn't lower her weapon. "So you're really Firefly," she realized.
"Hey," Firefly replied. "You actually got my name right."
"Why are you breaking into GothCorp?"
"Same reason you have that gun," Firefly told her. "Gotham's going to the dogs out there, and we need firepower."
"You're actually fighting against them?"
"You thought we'd fight WITH them?"
"I don't know!" the woman protested. "You're Firefly, Harley Quinn, and…and…" She regarded Ragdoll with confusion. "Their weird sidekick."
"Excuse you," Ragdoll huffed, untwisting back into a standing position. "Surely the name 'Ragdoll' will jog your memory."
The woman shook her head. "No. Sorry."
"We just really need to be able to protect ourselves!" Harley emphasized. "Like you're doin'! Who are you, anyway?"
"I'm a researcher at Gotham University," the woman explained. "I was discussing selling some of my ideas to GothCorp for their weapons division."
"Yeah, but what's your NAME?" Harley pressed.
"Dr. Jane Blazedale. But most people just call me Blaze."
"Blaze," Firefly repeated. "I like it. For obvious reasons." From a purely objective standpoint, he realized, Blaze was very pretty. And her stubbornness and willingness to tote a large weapon only added to that. He was glad she hadn't waited any longer to take his pulse, because it was going slightly faster than normal.
"I kinda thought you would," Blaze teased. "So let me guess: your long and sordid history with GothCorp made you think to come here looking for weapons."
"You got it," Firefly replied. "I think you have what I'm looking for."
"I do?" Blaze replied with a wink. She knew full well it was the worst time to initiate flirting…but she always did have a thing for bad boys.
Ragdoll immediately stepped in between the two of them, extending a hand to Blaze. "So if you'll just hand it over, we'll be on our way."
"How were you planning on using this tech, anyway?" Blaze asked.
"I dunno," Firefly replied. "I was kinda hoping it would hook up to my battle suit somehow. And if not, I just carry it the old-fashioned way."
"If you give me just a few minutes," Blaze told him, "I can probably outfit your suit with an electron core, depending on how your tank is set up. Harley and Ragdoll will probably have to carry the guns like I'm doing."
"Why are you helping us?" Firefly asked.
"Because you may be the bad guys," Blaze answered while approaching a table with a glowing core, "but you don't deserve to go out like this. And maybe I don't want the legacy of Firefly to be over so fast."
"You're…some kind of fan, aren't you?"
"Maybe a little." Blaze fired another wink in his direction. "Maybe I like villains. It's not like that's a crime. Well, maybe aiding and abetting is. But I think the circumstances are serious enough that they'll forgive me."
"I know I would," Firefly found himself saying automatically.
Ragdoll didn't like what was happening one bit. As an avid flirter, he could recognize it from a mile away. What business did Blaze think she had with someone who had sworn off love? And what business did someone who had sworn off love have flirting with some random woman he had known for less than thirty seconds? (Completely ignoring that he had tried his own lines on Firefly after knowing him for even less time than that.) He turned to see what Harley thought of the situation.
Harley had picked up one of the guns, firing it upon a metal target dummy in the rear section of the laboratory and watching as the target was completely obliterated by a laser blast. "COOL! Ragsy, you GOTTA try one of these!"
Ragdoll indulged, taking another gun off the table and blasting a second dummy, one that, in his mind, had Blaze's red hair and glasses.
Blaze set to quick work taking apart Firefly's fuel tank and figuring out how to attach a laser-generating core to it, feeding the energy into his gauntlets. "This should be enough to blow apart those machines out there." She tugged on each gauntlet for effect. "Try it out."
Firefly turned toward the target range, aiming both wrists and taking out several target dummies in a row. "NICE."
It wasn't a moment too soon. The wall of the laboratory was ripped away by a massive machine, its laser eye seeking out life inside.
"NOT TODAY!" Firefly became airborne, charging the machine at full speed. He turned his new weapons upon it, opening fire.
This time, the beams burst right through the machine, stopping it in its tracks with a jolting shudder. It collapsed entirely, falling to bits in the middle of the street.
"ALL RIGHT!" Firefly yelled before turning back to give the others, mostly Blaze, a thumbs-up before disappearing into the fray.
"HEY!" Harley yelled, running up to the edge of the torn-away wall. "WAIT FOR US!" She gave a dramatic sigh. "Guess we're followin' him the old-fashioned way."
Ragdoll said nothing as he and Harley made for the exit. Harley turned back to Blaze; "Ain't you comin'?"
Blaze shook her head. "I…well…"
"You're scared, huh?" Harley realized.
"Maybe…"
"Everybody gets scared," Harley reassured her. "It's fine. You just do what ya gotta do!"
Blaze smiled and nodded, wishing she was courageous enough to actually take to the streets with one of the weapons she knew so well.
Ragdoll had already put some distance between himself and the lab, only slowing down to let Harley catch up when he heard her cries of "RAGSY, WAIT! WAIT FOR ME!" As Harley kept pace, she remarked, "That Blaze is a nice girl, ain't she?"
"That's one word for it."
"You didn't like her, did ya?" Harley realized. "Is it 'cause she was flirtin' with Gar?"
"You noticed it too."
"Yeah, but it's harmless. She ain't evil enough for him. She's just a fan. How could she make it work with Gar if she ain't even a criminal?"
"Good point," Ragdoll realized.
They reached the elevator. "Before you go pushin' extra buttons," Harley warned, "remember I got live ammo here."
"Duly noted."
Out on the street in the GothCorp vicinity, Firefly tore through machine after machine. They seemed to realize that he was a threat, and the more he slayed, the more converged upon him. One actually managed to sneak up behind him while he put another away, and he spun in horror, sure this robot was actually about to blast him out of the sky again, perhaps with more damaging results than last time.
But it wobbled, then crumbled from the feet upward. From down below, Ragdoll and Harley waved up at Firefly, having been responsible for shooting it down.
Machine after machine fell at the hands of the trigger-happy trio. For a moment, it seemed as though they actually would be single-handedly responsible for liberating Gotham from the alien menace. Then Firefly noticed the ring that was gathering overhead: a puzzle of mechanical pieces conjoining to form something larger and arguably more insidious.
"What's that?" Harley wondered out loud.
"Not good," Ragdoll replied. And yet still, inexplicably, he was smiling.
"That's it," Firefly muttered under his breath. "I'm taking you down. NO ONE can touch me in the sky!"
He launched himself upward, speeding at full tilt, aiming his gauntlets. The ring began to crackle with electricity, an immense sphere of violet energy gathering at its center.
And then miraculously, inexplicably, a great blue light descended from the heavens, engulfing the ring. Firefly braced himself for impact, but it seemed only to be a wave of light and data that passed over him harmlessly. The ring, on the other hand, completely exploded and fell to pieces.
As the wave of blue washed over the ground, Harley and Ragdoll watched all the attacking alien machines in the vicinity – likely all the ones in the city – screech to a grinding halt and collapse to the ground. A great cheer went up from the civilians in the streets who had momentarily before been running for their lives. It seemed all was calm, and the city finally safe.
Firefly landed on the pavement next to Ragdoll and Harley, who were just as perplexed as he was. "So…" Firefly suggested, "you think we can take credit for that?"
"We might as well," Ragdoll said with a shrug.