By the time twelve thirty rolled around, Harley could barely hear the professor lecturing on the history of modern theatre. She was so distracted that the last thing she'd written down in her notes was something about Anti-Nazi theatre during World War II. But Professor Cole had finished lecturing on the impact of the Cold War on theatre. Which meant she was missing some decades. She'd spent the entire hour and a half looking up anything that could help her figure out who her mystery man was. She'd found some police reports on a man that left Joker playing cards at his crime scenes. Apparently, he'd had some run-ins with Gotham's one and only caped crusader. The media had decided to call him the Joker; fitting. Harley felt something akin to arousal at the idea that her stalker was a known criminal. But not just any criminal, one of the most dangerous not behind bars criminals. She was brought out of her fantasizing by the sound of Professor Cole's booming voice,

"Ok, so everyone who is participating in Macbeth, which hint is all of you, there is no rehearsal tonight"

Harley heard several students, including Alison, let out overdramatic protests.

"Hey, I'm all about the show-must-go-on, but it looks like there was a serious security breach last night, and Gotham's finest need to investigate it"

Without thinking, Harley asked,

"Do they think it was the same person that got into the science building?"

Without missing a beat, Professor Cole turned to her and said,

"Why yes, Gumshoe, I think you've got something. Maybe you should try out for Sherlock Holmes, I hear they're holding auditions on Duh Street."

Crestfallen, but intrigued by her stalker's involvement in so many mysteries, Harley started to make her way to the dining hall. She nearly dropped her books when she felt her back pocket vibrate. Shifting her load to one arm, she reached into her Levi's and grabbed her phone.

It was Clarissa, texting her "Where u "

"Oh, crap, I almost forgot!"

Harley made an about-face and began to furiously text back to her friend, "Sry. PCole felt chatty 2day"

Two minutes later, as Harley crossed in front of the investigator-surrounded science building she received another text from Clarissa,

"itz coo:)"

Harley smiled to herself, and then looked up just in time to see the one and only Bruce Wayne. What was he doing here? You'd think Gotham's wealthiest man would have better things to do then check out crime scenes. But then again, the science building had been built almost entirely with Wayne donations. She tilted her head in appreciation; for an older, snobby rich guy, he was damn fine-looking. Her eyes kept on him as she walked past, so that she didn't see Redgie and walked right into him.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, just a little distracted by today's menu of dishy-"

She stopped short as she saw the face of the person she was talking to.

"Oh. It's you"

"Hey, sugar, how you been? I heard you couldn't make it to rehearsal last night, hope you're alright"

She couldn't say anything. That he could just continue to pretend as though he loved her left her speechless. Then again, he was undeniably the college's number one male actor, even though his emphasis was technical theatre. How long had he been cheating on her? She would have never known.

But why did he think she hadn't made it to rehearsal last night? How weird. That would explain why he felt so comfortable swapping bodily fluids with Alison in plain view. She decided to play with him a little. She deserved a little fun.

"Oh, yeah, I just wasn't feeling the whole drama thing last night"

"Oh. I was afraid maybe you were sick or something. What'd you do? Just stay in and study?"

Harley thought only for a second before she answered. That would be an easy lie-that the diligent Harley Quinn had spent six hours studying. But no. What would be the fun in that?

"Oh, no, I met this really cool guy at the Bistro. We started talking about…theatre and stage craft. Turns out he's a magician, which is kinda hot right now, don't ya think?"

He started to look uncomfortable now. Something that made Harley fight even harder to keep the smile from blooming across her lips. Redgie was upset that she might be interested in another guy, when just last night she'd saw him with another girl. It was so beautifully ironic.

"Um, ok, is there something you wanna tell me?"

Harley thought about it. She could continue dating Redgie, knowing he was cheating on her, until she finally couldn't take it anymore. Or, she could humiliate him and dump him. She found the second option much more appealing.

"Yes, actually. Redgie, you and I, were just not going in the same directions with our lives"

"What do you mean? We're both tech theatre majors, we were gonna move in together this summer. Maybe someday start a family"

He reached out and took her hand in his. She suddenly found his touch revolting and shook his hand away.

"That was before last night"

She said the last two words with emphasis, part of her hoping he would catch on to what she meant. But alas, Redgie may be devious, but he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"I've had a change of direction. I'd rather go and give the stage another chance. I used to love acting, you steered me away from that"

"Oh, and I suppose this magician guy helped you figure this out?"

She smiled,

"He helped me figure out many things last night"

She paused dramatically, letting the subtle undertones of what she'd said sink in.

"You little bit-"

"Goodbye, Redgie. Oh, and there's no rehearsal tonight. Apparently the Joker got into the theatre and the police are all over it"

"The who?"

"The Joker. Next big-bad for Batman to battle, don't you watch the news?"

With that, she sashayed her way back to her dorm. She looked forward to telling Clarissa all about her big breakup with Redgie. But more so, she wanted to see the Joker again. She was convinced her mystery man was the criminal. And it didn't bother her at all to know that her life might be in danger because of his apparent obsession with her. If anything, the danger turned her on. She'd never had anything like this happen to her before. Part of her knew that letting the mad man pursue her was a bad idea, a really bad idea. But the rest of her craved to step over the edge-and into the darkness that had been hounding her all her life.