FEELS LIKE DEJA VU
Doctor April Harding's Perspective:
My involvement with the inmates of Arkham Asylum should be respected, I take time out of my daily life to sit down and chat with the most dangerous of criminals. Lawrence Saunders, my boss...was never understanding of my motivation to work so hard to free a mind from corruption. I guess he'll never understand, but I've spoken with enough broken souls to know that there's hope for anyone to get better.
I have a grey tint to my ordinarily hazel coloured eyes, black hair which doesn't quite touch my shoulders and like all the other staff at Arkham Asylum, I wear a white professional medical coat on-top of a red undershirt and black trousers.
"You don't understand, Lawrence! She's broken down in tears and she's telling me everything. She's comfortable with talking to me...and we're making progress that I never see with any of our other inmates. I tried to make Lawrence see things not just from my view...but from the view of the criminally insane as well.
"She'll be manipulating you into believing her twisted little story. Do you want the same thing that happened to Doctor Harleen Quinzel to happen to you as well, April?" Lawrence asked. "It's for their own safety that we transfer different inmates to different psychiatrists. Only then will we truly know how the criminally insane react in different situations." he added.
"Speaking of which...have you seen Harleen Quinzel recently? She seems different. I should know, I compared her old file to her new one. Before, she was quite soft and only did a few bad things for a laugh with Joker. Now...well she's committing crimes at the same scale as Joker used to...and Joker is taking his crimed killing sprees to a much more serious level." I explained.
"Batman already assured us they won't escape from Arkham again. He brought them here himself and stayed until he was sure of that fact."
"I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. But you must reconsider this transferral...think of Empress, think of all of the inmates who actually talk to us instead of grunt or throw an aggressive look at you. Believe me, Lawrence...I've had my fair share of death threats and flirtatious winks from the inmates here. My training never prepared me for what I was going to face here, but I say because I care for the inmates enough that I want to make them better. I want to say 'I cleansed a psychopath and turned them sane'. Why don't you understand that I'm only here for the inmates and not for the job?"
"You'd sooner quit to be with one of those ravenous criminals than stay here in the comfort of Arkham Asylum and work professionally?" he asked inquisitively.
"If it comes to that, then yes."
Harley Quinn (formally known as Harleen Quinzel) was now twenty nine years old. Her associated clown prince of crime was now thirty seven, and both of them were madly in love with each-other. It took about ten members of staff to pry them apart, get them in a straight jacket each and securely lock them in their own padded rooms. You can hear the laughter from both of them when you walk down the corridor.
Joker always smiles at me when I peer through the window at him. Harley normally sticks her tongue out or pulls a funny face at me. I don't mind this behaviour, at least they're not asking to touch my backside like most of the other inmates.
I would say the most incredible moment was when we put Harley and Joker in the same room together, Joker was in one corner and Harley was in the other. We were watching their behaviour closely, just in case we had to intervene. But what we saw...just proved their complicated relationship. It started with them screaming at each-other, and then they sat in the middle of the room and cuddled. And they cuddled for a good five minutes without a word spoken from either of them. Seeing that just made the whole job worthwhile. They never fail to disappoint me, in everything I've seen at Arkham. Their mad love just makes me realize that even the most complicated and abusive relationships can work out.
"I won't let you turn into a criminal like Harleen Quinzel. I am suspending you from your duties as a psychiatrist here at Arkham. Effective immediately. Clean out your desk and leave the main grounds before the end of the day." he said seriously, turning around and starting to walk back to his office.
I got a switch-blade out of my coat pocket which I confiscated from one of the inmates. I took the blade and came behind Lawrence Saunders, gripping his neck firmly and holding the blade near his throat.
All of the Arkham Asylum staff members rushed towards me.
"Joke's on you" I whispered sinisterly as I slit his throat open with the blade and dropped his body on the floor.
I was restrained by the staff and the blade was snatched from my fingers.
Dark red blood stained my white coat and was visible on my face. I looked at the body on the ground. I felt no remorse, no regret.
But hey, at least I get to stay in Arkham forever! HAHAHAHAHAHA!
"You try and take my job from me, Lawrence? Well fuck you! Yeah! I said it, what are you going to do about it?" I asked, laughing maniacally just a criminal.
The staff struggled a straight-jacket onto me and threw me in my own padded room. There were no more empty rooms, so I was sharing with Empress. She was chained down one end of the room, and I was chained to the other end of the room.
"Doctor Harding?" Empress asked nervously.
"Call me April, sounds more romantic" I replied flirtatiously.
"What the fuck? What happened to you?" she tried to run over here but she couldn't move past the half-way point in the room. And neither could I.
"I killed Lawrence Saunders" I admitted, smiling sinisterly towards her.
"Holy shit..." she stuttered in horror.
"Don't be shocked. I couldn't have done it without you!" I tried to guilt trip her, she needs to forfeit her mind and accept who she is. She isn't a scared little girl, she's an Empress.
"What have you done to yourself...you were such a nice person" she couldn't believe what I had just done. That a psychiatrist was in a straight jacket, locked in a room.
"I saved my job."
"You sacrificed your sanity..."
"A small price to pay for a lifetime of happiness" I assured her.
"I thought I was crazy...but damn...that's just diabolical."
"Joker will be proud of me"
"The fuck are you on about?"
"With Lawrence Saunders now dead, we're unattended."
"Until someone else takes over as owner of the asylum you mean." she corrected me.
"Right on schedule" I said, looking at Joker who was peering through the window.
Joker opened the door.
"Alright, April...I must admit that was pretty nicely done..." he started. "I didn't think a female assassin could make such a trustworthy psychiatrist...but yet here we are!" Joker said proudly.
Bouncing behind him was Harley Quinn, she was swinging the keys around on her finger.
"Yeah, good work 'Doctor Harding'" Harley said sarcastically. "We sur' fooled them didn't we, puddin?"
"We sure did, my dear. And now that Saunders is dead...I no longer have to worry about Harley being kidnapped." Empress looked at him blankly, definitely confused. "Oh did you think he was the 'nice man' he showed himself to be? He's the one who brainwashed your cousin and turned him into a monster. So...you're welcome, I just saved you a job." Joker explained.
"What?" Empress asked.
"The doctor who attempted to save your cousin was no doctor at all, he was a corrupted bio-engineer who curated XOS to allow full body manipulation...even after death. The reason your cousin became obsessed with you is not because of some mental illness, it's a hallucination caused by the drug. Jerome was given a high enough dose to make him hallucinate for a good ten years before he would need another dose, Saunders suspected Jerome would be dead by the end of that ten years, and he knew that registering to take over Arkham Asylum would be the one true way to get XOS out in mass production and finally...Gotham would be in a state of utter chaos." I explained.
"So why did you do all of this?" Empress asked curiously.
"Nobody in their right mind would send a hero on a mission to kill Lawrence Saunders. That's suicide. Which is why I'm here...sometimes when all else fails, the government send out criminals to save the day." I took the straight jacket off after Harley and Joker helped to loosen the buckles.
I reached into my pocket. I pulled out my white samurai mask with a red circle detailed on the forehead part of the mask. I placed the mask over the top half of my face.
"I am not Doctor April Harding, my name isn't April Harding, not even April." I walked over to Empress and unbuckled her straight jacket. "They call me Katana, I am part of a 'Suicide Squad.' We undertake missions destined to kill any normal human being for nothing other than the promise of living another day." I explained. "Although for this mission we took caution and only enlisted ourselves when necessary, ordinarily we'd all be together as one unit." I added.
"Why would you allow yourselves to be taken advantage of like this?" Empress asked, slipping the straight jacket off herself.
"When it came down ta dyin' or riskin' mah life for another day with my puddin...I chose another day with my puddin" Harley answered, snuggling up to Joker.
"You obviously came here for more than just to kill Saunders or you'd be gone by now" Empress pointed out.
"You're a clever one." Joker pointed out.
"Amanda Waller requests for you to come back to Belle Reve with us. But you'll have to change your identity just like I did...instead of Empress...how would you feel about being called... Enchantress?" I suggested.
"Do I have a choice?" Empress asked.
"Not anymore" I smirked, helping her up from the floor. "Welcome to the Suicide Squad."
"And why do you all risk your lives to kill people and cause mayhem...oh of course-" Empress paused.
"We're bad guys, it's what we do." Harley finished Empress' sentence.
