The Scars Left Behind
This is the Sequel to the Harlequin and the Bat and The Harley and The Ivy.
Important notes: I do not own Batman or any portion of the franchise. I give all credit to DC Comics and respective owners. Except the characters I wrote in my profile.
Warning: Violent scenes to come. These stunts are done by highly trained professionals and should not be imitated by anyone. Except those proficient in martial arts training and weapons, even then it shouldn't be imitated.
Chapter 3
*December the fourteenth*
(Harleen's POV)
Harley woke back up in her old room back at the manor; she recalled the night before about staying and she didn't regret it…but she did still have some guilt over Joker and Bill. She checked her clock six thirty in the morning, Bruce and the others weren't awake yet. Not be able to go back to sleep she went downstairs into the kitchen; there she saw Alfred and Sonia making their own breakfasts and preparing for the rest of the household. "Ah, Miss Harley, you're up early. Did you sleep well?" Alfred asked kindly as Sonia moved from her seat for Harley to sit down.
"Somewhat Alfred; I'm just…getting used to being here again. Can I use the oven please?" Harley explained
"Of course." Alfred asked giving her access to the oven.
Harley tied her hair back and put an apron on "Okay…this shouldn't be too hard…" Harley said to herself "Come on, Harl, you've done this a million times before…you can do it now." She whispered to herself. Harley went over to the cookbooks just to refresh her memories and searched under: "Breakfast" and the letter "P" in a pastries book. "Ah, here we go." She smiled soon after she collected the ingredients and implements.
"Miss Harley, we should be doing this…" Sonia pointed out.
"I know…but cooking helps me think. I know this is your job…but…" Harley spoke growing in sadness
"But you want to do this on your own. I understand, Sonia: attend to the other rooms. I believe that Miss Harley has everything under control." Alfred smiled as the two of them left.
Harley smiled and remembered the way how she made her breakfast pancakes and this song that Bill used to sing when he was cooking when he thought no one was listening onto…Harley decided to put her own spin on it:
It was the springtime of the year
The flowers were all blooming
A young man from my home country
Fell in love with Barbara Gordon…
Harley laughed at her lyrics, mixing her current affairs with Bill's song.
This young man took sick and he went to bed
And he called for Barbara Gordon
She came to him and she softly said:
Young man I think that you're dying…
But unknown to Harley, Alfred and Sonia could hear her; Harley wasn't a top rated musician but she did have a beautiful voice after all between her and Ivy; they won the Prison Karaoke Contests four years on different sentences. And they even won the duet trophy a couple of times.
I am not dying the young man said
One kiss from you will cure me
One kiss from me you'll only see
I saw that your heart was breaking.
Harley continued to sing the song her own way; she didn't like the original lyrics because it ended like Romeo and Juliette.
Do you remember last Sunday night?
Out in the masquerade ball,
You danced all night with the village bride
And you kissed Barbara Gordon.
Outside Dick and Barbara woke up a few minutes ago listening intently on the song, they saw Harley cooking breakfast while singing.
"Is she singing about us?" Dick asked
"Well it's my name, she's using." Barbara answered
They heard Harley continue and they listened on.
So she went back to her father's home
And she heard the church bell tolling
And each toll the bell did ring
Rang out for Barbara Gordon
Now Tim listened into the song, leaning against the wall hearing Harley's voice. He didn't say anything because she may want this to feel better.
Now she'd went down, not very far
And she saw the wedding coming
Calm down, calm down she told herself
For life for you starts now
Oh father, father, take my hand
Lead me down the aisle today
A daughter you don't lose today
But a son you gain tomorrow
The Bat-Family saw Harley laying the pancake stacks of three on the plates. One stack for each member: Tim, Barbara, Dick, Sonia, Ivy, Alfred and Bruce but not one for herself.
So they both were married in the old church heart
And their love was higher
When they left husband and bride
They saw a robin fly and a bat with rose and brier.
As she ended Harley smiled and saw the results of her work: butter and syrup covered pancakes. "Man…you haven't sung in a while but you've still got it." Ivy spoke behind her.
"Argh! Ivy…god…don't do that." Harley yelled in surprise then laughed
"Bill would've been proud of you. You remembered that song he used to sing in the kitchens." Ivy smiled "hmm…these are great." Ivy said tasting her pancakes
(Bruce's POV)
Bruce awoke to the smell of cooking and went downstairs as he heard the music being sung he remained quiet and stayed still behind Dick and Barbara. He then heard Harley in surprise.
"Whoops busted…" Dick whispered with a grin
"You've got that right" Barbara answered
They heard Ivy say how good the pancakes were then Bruce spoke behind the team "what are you doing?"
"Argh! Bruce…freaking hell man!" Dick called out pushing the door open
"Did everyone hear me singing?" Harley asked in annoyance and embarrassment
"Yeah; guilty." They said
"Oh God…" Harley said holding her head in her hand
"I just came down for the pancakes; the singing was just a bonus." Tim spoke with a smile
As the Bat-Family came through they grabbed their plates and started on their meals. All except Bruce, he wanted to make sure Harley knew he appreciated her hard work. "Thank you Harley. You didn't need to do this but, thank you." he said kissing Harley on her cheek
"My pleasure." She answered with a smile
"Man…this really is good." Tim smiled
"Miss Harley, you didn't need to do this for us. We've already eaten." Sonia explained
"Oh well one for me then." Harley smiled while rubbing her stomach.
'Bruce you didn't?' Barbara's lips moved without making a sound
'What? no.' Bruce responded but got a: "Oh really?" look from Barbara.
Bruce picked up the paper and saw the headline: Plans for international warfare stolen! U.S. Government looking into it. Bruce would look into this later; right now he was glad to get Harley back home.
(Hyde's POV)
Hyde woke up from his nap…if you can call it that, two hours on a settee with a blanket thrown over him. He woke up seeing most of his team mates sleeping after the job; Croc was captured and sent to Arkham. 'Waller never wanted Croc a part of the team…she just needed the muscle…' Hyde walked over to a plant he owned next to his bed and watered it. It was a rose bush that was blooming, he asked for this as it calmed him down; he went over to the computer and began typing looking between the plans and the email section 'What am I doing? I shouldn't have sent that…I have to delete the email before Waller catches me…and what did I mean by it?' Hyde thought to himself as he deleted the email he pondered to himself while humming a song he'd never sang before, only to himself.
(Ivy's POV)
Ivy went down to the Bat-Cave and saw her child growing in the healing tube; she had flowing red hair like her mother as well as the green skin, but she had her father's smile. "I wish he could see you Venus…he'd know how beautiful you are…what?" she said to her daughter then heard the Bat-Computer receive and email. It read: I never betrayed you. "Bill?" Ivy said before calling the household, she made a copy of the email in case it would be deleted. As they gathered to the computer the email was deleted but the copy was printed. "See. I told you. This has to be from Bill." Ivy pointed out.
"Maybe…but the IP address is from an open Wi-Fi area, there's no way to track it." Bruce explained darkly…but somehow he knew Ivy was right.
"If he's alive…that mean's his death was faked…what if he was taken like Jason…maybe it's that again?" Dick explained
"Jason never sent emails saying about his crimes…this could be a trap. What do you think Harley?" Bruce asked his reunited girlfriend.
"I don't know…it could be one of Joker's prolonged pranks…you know how he likes screwing us over even after his death." Harley said with disappointment
"Maybe…but it may be a lead." Ivy said. Before the alarms were going off.
"What's going on?" Tim asked "Who's attacking Gotham?"
"It looks like Firefly. Dick can't go in his condition, Ivy ready to suit up?" Bruce asked
"Yeah…I need to stretch my legs anyway." Ivy grinned
"You sure? It won't show off your assets." Harley quipped
"Oh…Bill made sure it would. I asked him to." She said opening a secret compartment revealing: a carefully preserved armour.
"Holy…" Barbara was stunned
"Is it just…" Harley was dumbfounded
"*garble, mumble, incomprehensible dribble*" Tim again…
"Oh God, not again." Dick groaned then he snapped his fingers "Tim! Focus!"
"Huh? Oh sorry" Tim said turning around to obscure his view. "Very revealing though." Tim quipped
"Oh…it is." Ivy smiled seductively
(Firefly's POV)
As Firefly was attacking Gotham burning everything in his path, collecting large amounts of money and jewels, he was struck by an almost invisible weapon. "Who the hell? You? Last time you got me was without my armour…I'm kitted out now! Ha-ha!" Firefly pointed at the figure in the darkness and then using his flamethrower in his direction, as the figure burned it didn't scream. "Huh? No screams? What the…?" Firefly questioned before being landed on by the Rogue "Get off me you brat!" as Firefly flailed around to grab the Rogue, he pulled off his jetpack "You moron! That's the only thing keeping us flying! ARGH!" as they plummeted; the Rogue used a wire wrapping itself around the lamp-post slowing their descent. "You…you crazy brat, I ought to…" Firefly struggled to breathe "I told you…I don't know anything about that guy…" the Rogue gripped Firefly's throat threatening his life; the Rogue's eyes stared into his soul burning into Firefly's mind. "Look I can …I can get you…Bane…yeah that's right Bane…he's over…he's over by Underground…he was in it with that guy's daughter…if you need info…he's the guy…just let me go…right…?"
"Hello there…" a muffled voice spoke behind the two masked people "You've got quite the repertoire…my employer would like your services…if you join you'll be part of an exclusive group. What do you say?" the figure had a grey helmet and padded black and grey armour; he must've been the age of the Rogue perhaps older, neither of them could tell.
"Who the hell would want me?" Firefly called out
The figure explained "Not you Firefly. Him." The hooded figure pointed to the Rogue "What do you say…will you join?" the Rogue shook his head "So disappointing…this is going to hurt…for the both of us." the hooded figure spoke as he clutched his head and grew at least three times his size. He now towered above the Rogue and Firefly. "Hyde, take Rogue…Hyde do good!" the self-proclaimed Hyde raced towards the Rogue. The Rogue zip-lined to the roof with Firefly tying him up so he couldn't escape; the Rogue then flew down landing on Hyde's head, but was grabbed by its legs and thrown into a car, but he used the momentum to perform a style of acrobatics landing safely. "How you do that? Hyde, grab Rogue!" Hyde roared racing towards the Rogue but was stopped by a large vine. "Who grab Hyde?" the Rogue saw who it was:
(Bruce's POV)
There was Batman, Bat-Shard, Robin and Nightbloom; each of them stood like prey looking at the kill, "Enough Hyde. He doesn't want to go with you!" Batman said looking intently at the hulking beast. "Shard, you and Robin take his blind spots. Nightbloom hold him down."
"Got it." the three spoke in unison as they descended in the night, with Nightbloom descending on a large vine; Hyde roared trying to get free, but the Rogue landed a few punches on his face trying to knock him out but was unsuccessful, whoever this was had a very hard head.
"You know we have to stop meeting like this." Shard quipped to the Rogue throwing a Shard-Star at the behemoth, the Rogue saw her and saw a red dot on her chest; he reacted immediately getting her out of the line of fire. "What the?" she exclaimed seeing the bullet hole in her cape. "How did…Deadshot! Batman, Deadshot's here!" she shouted
"Deadshot, no kill! Need Rogue alive…not dead!" Hyde struggled to be released from the vines.
Batman picked up the frequency and heard Deadshot's voice: "Yeah, yeah…but how the hell did that guy see it? He must have supervision or something." Batman flew up to the frequency's location as Robin, Nightbloom and Shard kept Hyde busy.
"How the hell did that guy see the shot? Batman? Oof!" Deadshot said to himself then saw batman fly into him.
"Why does Hyde want the Rogue?" Batman demanded from Deadshot twisting his arm behind the assassin's head.
"Waller…Waller wants him for the Squad…that's why." Deadshot struggled through the pain.
"The Squad…the Suicide Squad? Why?" Batman added pressure on Deadshot's arm.
"The kid has skills…Waller said: to grab the guy for it …Jekyll…the big guy down there…now he's Hyde was the envoy…" Deadshot strained
"Hyde, what is he?" Batman demanded
"Some pet for Waller; she commands, he answers immediately…he's filled up on Venom or something that's why he grows and shrinks…now let me go!" Deadshot explained.
"Thank you." then he knocked Deadshot out "Oracle did you get that? I'm heading back to help." Batman contacted his friend
"Yeah I got it, you best get back. Shard and the others aren't doing so well." Oracle replied with worry.
"I'm on it." Batman answered
To be continued
I hope you've enjoyed reading this chapter as I have writing it.
Please leave reviews for these stories they really help.
And thank you to all the people who have reviewed and followed my story thus far.
The next chapter coming up soon.
Thank you
Additional, I do not own the song that Harley sings. Its original title is Barbara Allen; a song in the Public Domain, that was a basis for Frank Turner's Barbara Allen song. I do not own either song.