She was able to recognize that wickedness there-he was a hero still to most people in Gotham, maybe even herself. But at the same time, she knew that to be with Joker, she would have to follow through. Would she be able to go back to her normal life after this? Of course not-already tonight, she'd been the cause of two men's deaths. She was aiding and abiding in the kidnap of the Commissioner's daughter. And she was falling madly in love with Gotham's most dangerous criminal. No, she could never go back to being Harley Quinn, theatre major, Gotham School of Fine Arts.

Harley hadn't seen where Joker had gone; he must still be in the building. Assuming he was preparing for the Bat's arrival, she let her thoughts wander relentlessly as they all waited for the guest of honor to arrive. Looking over the spotlight reminded Harley of her theatre dreams. A part of heart broke at the realization that she'd probably never end up pursuing her career on Broadway. She looked down at Barbra then, wondering what the dreams of the ambitious red-head were.

"He's gonna ruin your hopes someday, too, ya know. You've got all these plans for the future, but once he's got it in his head what he wants to do with ya, you can forget everything you'd ever dreamt of"

Harley smirked to herself, if this girl wasn't the Commissioner's daughter, she'd be safe at home right now. Funny how fate works. But then again, there was probably nothing that could have saved Harley from where she was headed now. She felt in the deepest part of herself that this was her destiny-she'd been working towards this all her life. She just hadn't known it till now. Suddenly, Barbra spoke,

"Nobody can take away your dreams. Even if they never happen, they're still there in your head"

She turned her blindfolded face towards Harley then. Harley could feel the weight of the other girl's eyes on her.

"You just have to change your plans according to the circumstances. Everything in life is a variable. Just remember- not even that madman can take away your spirit. That will always be yours"

Harley was speechless. Here this girl was, utterly hopeless, even if she got away tonight; Joker had just said he had plans to ruin her in the future. There was no way to escape that, or prepare for it. And still, she had hope.

"You got a lot of scrap, kid. Dunno if its gonna do you any good, but at least you've still got that"

Twenty minutes later, everyone seemed to perk their ears as the purr of a powerful sounding car came closer to the building. Her heart beat increased when Barbra whispered,

"That's him-that's his car. I've heard it before"

Harley felt a little bit of disappointment-Batman drove a car? She'd always thought he flew or…she realized how little sense that would make. He was still a man, after all. All the henchmen in the room seemed to be shuffling around, perhaps getting weapons out. Harley couldn't tell, her night vision was poor to begin with, the huge spotlight only made it worse. She heard the car engine stop, a door open and then slam shut. A painful hush fell over the room. Even Barbra was silent, which was somewhat unexpected. Harley had been watching the entrance, expecting him to come in there. But then she heard the soft 'pows' of a scuffle, then the more defined sound of bones breaking. Of course he hadn't used the door. Harley raised the gun nervously, pointing it in what sounded like the right direction. Her heart was now racing, like she'd just finished doing a routine on the uneven bars.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eyes, Harley saw the Joker,

"Finally, he decides to intervene!"

But there was something weird-he was wearing something over his mouth-a mask of some kind. Harley narrowed her eyes and looked around. All the henchmen had one, too. It was just her, Barbra and the Bat that were out of the loop. She suddenly became very upset. But then quickly alarmed as she realized that there was a gas being released into the room. Harley tried to pull the neck of her costume up to cover her mouth, but she knew it was useless. Why hadn't Joker let her in on this? She heard a man coughing,

"Must be the Bat", she thought, and adjusted the aim of the gun. Maybe if this gas was good enough, she wouldn't have to shoot at all. The gas had now reached where she and Barbra were; poor Red was coughing, trying to not breathe it. The fabric of Harley's costume helped, but she could taste the acrid flavor. Harley could still hear Batman putting up a good fight against the clowns, and he was getting closer all the time. Half a minute later and Barbra was completely unconscious. Harley was starting to feel the effects of the gas. Her eyes weren't tracking, and she felt very sleepy. She smiled at the realization that it was a lot like being drunk. How had the Joker expected her to 'defend' Miss Gordon with all this sleeping gas going around, and no mask? Harley tried to stabilize herself with one hand on the chair that Barbra was in, but it didn't help. Another minute, and she'd be out, too.

Just then, Joker walked out of the crowd, with a small black device clutched in one hand. Harley tried to get his attention, but it was no use. He had a clear intent now.

"Mistah J, I don't think I can stay awake…"

Harley collapsed to the floor, but remained conscious just long enough to see Joker succeed in attaching his tracking device to Batman. After that, she blacked out.

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Joker smiled gleefully as Batman turned to face him,

"Looking for me?"

He ducked as the hero aimed a punch at his face,

"Or maybe it's the girl you're after?"

He stepped back, and pulled a henchmen in front of him to block a Batarang. The man screamed in pain as the metal cut into his viscera.

"Why did you want me to come here, Joker?"

The villain tingled with joy at hearing the hero's voice. There was no better feeling in the world than to have a well-matched enemy.

"To take the Miss Gordon home, of course. Reliable chauffeurs are so hard to come by in this town. She's been a lot of fun tonight, but I think we're done with her now. She's just right over there, why don't you go and save her?"

He continued to duck and use the clowns as shields as the Bat aimed blows at him.

Joker didn't yet know that Harley had already passed out-that had been his eventual plan, but things were taking longer than expected. The gas wasn't supposed to reach where she and Barbra were set up until after the Bat had been tagged. He was still expecting Harley to be awake and able to get out of the way, maybe get in a couple of shots. Joker's plan had been to force Batman to choose between saving Miss Gordon, or pursuing Gotham's favorite villain. Of course the Dark Knight would choose to save the girl; it was just a matter of convincing him that that was indeed the favored course of action.

"Ya know, this gas is sort of toxic. The longer little Red breathes it, the more of her precious little brain is lost"

The Bat seemed to be caught by that. He'd snagged a gas-mask off of one of the henchmen for himself, but the girl had nothing to protect her. He looked over to where the Joker had earlier gestured. Barbra Gordon was tied to a chair, blindfolded, and hunched over. She was already unconscious from the gas. Joker looked over too, expecting Harley to start firing at any moment-the Bat was in clear shot, even she couldn't miss. But he felt a panic as he saw his precious Harlequin sprawled out on the floor, the gun mere inches from her fingertips. It was then that he realized the danger she was in. He quickly darted a gaze at Batman to check if he'd seen the costumed woman on the floor. But luckily, the hero seemed intent only on getting Barbra out of there. He'd started walking over towards her. Suddenly, Joker was torn. He didn't know if the Bat would see Harley, and if he did see her, what would the hero do? But Joker also couldn't afford to save her. He wasn't prepared to deal with any more run-ins with Batman tonight-he'd accomplished his plan. Joker didn't like errors in his masterpieces-he was used to things going off perfectly. If it had been anyone else, he would have walked away. But the Joker had put so much work into perfecting Harlequin for his own purposes that to abandon her would be a waste. Also, he'd started to become attached to the little tramp.

Now, the Bat was cutting the ropes that held Miss Gordon to the chair. Joker licked his lips nervously as the last cord sprung free and Batman hefted the tiny red-head over one shoulder. The hero started to turn to leave when his eyes landed on Harley. Without thinking, he went over to her.

Joker felt like a Rottweiler on the end of its chain as Batman rolled Harlequin over onto her back. He looked at her face for a moment, and then started to pick her up as well.

Joker couldn't let that happen-the Bat would reverse all of his hard work on that girl's mental state if he took her-she'd be lost forever to Joker. He took out the gun from his jacket pocket and started firing at the Bat. It was enough to startle the hero into dropping Harley back to the ground.

"You've got the one you came for, that one's mine!"

He let off another shot. This one landed flat on Batman's chest, dangerously close to Barbra. Batman seemed to analyze the situation quickly, deciding that he didn't know who the other woman was, but she appeared to be in league with the Joker. Rescuing her would not only put him and Miss Gordon in more danger than necessary, it was also likely to prove fruitless. Therefore, he went against his heroic character and left a damsel in a distressful situation.

Joker watched with relief as Batman aimed his grappling hook for the ceiling, and soar flawlessly overhead and into the night. He pantomimed wiping sweat from his brow, and looked around at the carnage. More than half of his crew was dead or severely injured. But what they'd accomplished tonight was more than worth it. He started to make his way over to where the mapping system for the tracker was when a henchman tapped him on the shoulder,

"What about her?"

The man pointed at Harley. Joker looked over-she was sleeping peacefully. There were strands of loose, blond hair across her face. He smiled at how beautiful she was. He knew someone would have to take her back to her little dorm. She wasn't quite ready to join him just yet. One more test.

"You get to take her back to the Gotham University campus, dorm building Cyrano, room number 305. Here's a key card to get into the building, and the room's never locked. Her bed is on the left side. Use some of the gas to keep her roommate from waking up"

The man looked confounded as he tried to commit all of that to memory. He then looked up at the Joker,

"Is that all, Boss?"

Joker pulled an envelope out from his inner jacket,

"And place this beneath her pillow"

He then nodded to the man, and continued towards the computer with the mapping system. He was eager to see where the Bat was headed.