Alright no reviews two chapters in a row I guess they were bad chapters. Sorry I will try better :(
Chapter 20
There is nothing better than a woman and a girl shopping together. Connecting, gossiping, becoming good friends, and praying to god that the older one jumps off and dies, yes, nothing better than two women bonding!
Artemis could beg to differ. She was having a lousy time. She didn't really want to go shopping with Harley but the girl is very persuasive. Damn her for falling for this harpy's evil tricks. Working for the Joker for almost two months should have taught her to know better than to trust another person. Now she was being dragged all over the mall as Harley chattered her ears off.
"I'm just so excited," said Harley, "I know we haven't been the best of friends but maybe we can be! Let's hit J.C. Penny's first! Oh, they have this top I just love."
"Uh, Harley," said Artemis, "I'm not all that excited about cloths. Most defiantly not cloths from J.C. Penny's. Look, can you just pick an outfit so we can go home?"
"Oh, don't be silly, you need an outfit to!"
"No, really, I don't," she insisted. Harley wasn't listening though. She dragged her around until finally they hit the destination. "Harley," snapped Artemis, "I really don't want to go in there!" Harley grabbed her by the arm. Artemis rolled her eyes as she was being forced against her will. Harley shoved all kinds of cloths in Artemis's hands. They actually weren't that bad. She had dark cloths in her hands that had some shades of greens and purples and blues that she liked and a couple reds here and there.
Harley shoved her in the dressing room and told Artemis to try the first outfit and then come out. Artemis wanted to scream, she would need a card game with batman after this, badly.
Joey and Damian broke into some random house and started to completely trash it. Joey shoved the TV on the ground then helped Damian pick up the coffee table and drop it right on the screen. They tore the couch to pieces with fluff flying through the air.
Joey made his way upstairs scratching the wall paper with his knife as he went. He landed in a bedroom. It was a boys bedroom. He guessed the boy was around his age. The walls were white with random posters hanging about the walls. The bed looked like it had not been made in ages, the desk was covered with school work, and a few cloths laying around on the floor. A picture of a blond headed boy with a football jacket on with a big letter C on the right side caught his attention. Joey assumed this was the boy that resided in the room.
What was most fascinating about the picture was the man standing next to him, tall, in his late 30's, short blond hair, muscular, with his arm around the boys shoulders. Joey looked at it in an almost sad way. He pulled the picture out of the frame and threw it in the trashcan. He then loaded up the trashcan with as many papers as he could.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Damian was busy searching the fridge for anything good. They ate diet and healthy foods. Yuck! Not what he wanted. He searched high and low for junk food but there were none to be found.
He walked over to the stove and saw it was a gas stove! He was reminded of good times when they let the gas leak in their own apartment. Ah, good times. He turned on the gas and left the kitchen and walked up the stairs. It would be a while before the gas spread. He found a girls room. In this room the walls were light blue with models all over it. Some cheerleader and team spirit stuff. Damian smiled, something about this bitch was sending him good vibes.
He turned around to see Joey running at him. "Dude,' he said, "we gotta get out of here now!"
"Why," he asked.
"I just set fire to the guys room!"
"You're joking!"
"Nope, why?"
"I just let the gas leak in the house you dumbass!"
"Oh shit!"
Joey grabbed their pet cat, Mr. Noodles, and Damian grabbed a picture of the girl's single picture for prom. She was gorgeous in her short black dress with the hot pink bow around the waist. The two ran down the stairs and out the door as quick as possible. They ran down the street to watch from a distance and sure enough, the house exploded.
"What now," asked Joey.
"Now, we find out who this girl is," said Damian observing the picture. Joey took it and looked at it. He gave Damian and sly smile and shoved him playfully. Damian laughed stupidly and shoved back. They both went to go look for a nice big tree to hide in when the ambulance, police, and the fire truck arrived.
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The Joker looked up the time on the internet. Bruce Wayne would officially turn 35 at 9 pm sharp next week. He had the perfect plan set up, no plan. That's right kidz! The Joker was going to wing the whole thing! He even came up with a good idea to get the fat cats to play along with his ransom letter. If they didn't blow up the day care, he would blow Bruce Wayne up! He added that to his ransom not and stuck it in his pocket.
He opened the door and walked up the stairs to the first floor of the house. No one was around. Perfect, just like he needed it, only a few guards outside, nobody inside, he was at last alone. He plopped on the couch and turned on the TV. Tasha was on. The Joker became a big fan of Tasha Bane, then again, who wasn't?
"It seems that the house was blown up in a gas explosion. An incident similar had occurred to Bruce Wayne less than a week ago. Could the Joker be using his Circus to send Gotham a message?"
The Joker laughed his horrifying laugh. The news was great, always something new on. Too bad they didn't do reruns; he would have liked to see some of his older work from a year ago. He smiled at the memory of ripping off the mob then getting them to give him half the money so he could set it on fire with that Asian guy tied up.
Then another unwelcome memory came to him. He ran his tongue along his scares. He shouldn't have killed Marcus so soon. Aw well, he was gone now for good, no coming back this time! Why had no one told him that Marcus was alive anyway? People almost never surprised him, he could read people as if they were books, and they were easy to catch on to.
He had spent his youth in quiet content watching other people and how they react to certain situations. He once set his school bathroom trashcan on fire just to watch the others run around in a panic. You can drill them all you want; they just don't get it, but it was funnier that way.
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Artemis was about fed up. She wanted to scream. Harley had her in a pink shirt. PINK! The shirt was cute, but it was pink! Harley cooed over how pretty she looked in it. Artemis slammed the door shut and got back in her own cloths. She came storming out. She was tired of being Harley's dress up doll. Time to make things more interesting.
She marched across the mall to the sports center and grabbed a hockey stick. Harley followed behind curiously and watched her pick up the stick and looked as if she was trying it out for a fit. She held it in two hands and observed the end. Then her dark eyes fell on Harley. Harley gulped a bit and shrunk back. What was she planning with that thing?
Artemis knew she couldn't touch Harley, what she wouldn't give to stick the end of the stick in Harley's face. She walked over to a worker who turned around to great her when THWACK!
The worker fell to the floor holding his face and was screaming in pain. Harley looked down at the worker in confusion and at Artemis who looked down with a happy smile. Artemis looked Harley in the eyes, she didn't look to sure what to do about the situation, so she handed Harley the hockey stick.
Harley took it and looked at Artemis questioningly. Artemis's head pointed at one of the innocent bystanders. Harley had an evil grin as she walked over to someone and wacked them right upside the head.
The man fell down and tried to crawl away but Artemis grabbed a bat and hit him in the side. The man fell over and gasped for air. Harley came over with the hockey stick and beat him over the back with it. At last they were laughing together, just like Harley wanted, they were bonding!
The police arrived at the mall and chased them down through the crowd. Artemis and Harley both ran away laughing wickedly as they rushed out the door and jumped in the car. Harley at the wheel, she turned the car around and chased the police in the parking lot trying to hit them.
"Look," said Artemis, "a woman in pumps! That's 20 points!" Harley drove straight into the woman. A sickening crack was heard when impact was made. Squad cars came rushing in with sirens blaring in the December air.
When you are being chased by police the last thing you think about is traffic laws. Harley was too busy trying to get them on the highway to worry about traffic lights and such. There was a wreck behind them blocking off three police cars. She drove up on the highway with three more closely behind.
She changed lanes and hit the break so the police would drive right passed her. As they began to slow down to get her back she rammed the car into one. Again, she rammed it, and again until finally the driver lost control and drove right into a wall. Artemis laughed till her sides hurt. "Alright Harley! One down two to go!"
Harley gave her a wild smile. Artemis had never seen this side of her before. She was always so serious and law abiding it pissed Artemis off. Right now, though, she was having a blast with her dad's new toy. Harley drove like a crazy person down the highway going over 100 mph. She laughed evilly as she saw a bus in front of her. She rode the bumper of the bus as the police followed trying to stop her. The bus turned on it's blinker and Harley quickly swerved out of the way. The bus driver put on his breaks and felt a large THUMP from behind him. He saw a black van racing down the street and behind a cop car was flipping over another right into the bus's back window! The car came crashing down after hitting the other head on and smashed the back of the bus. Quite a few people were killed and the ones who weren't were badly hurt.
"WOOO," cried out Harley as Artemis began to laugh again. She couldn't breathe anymore, it was just too funny!
"What next," asked Artemis. Harley looked behind her and saw that they were no longer being followed. She seemed deep in thought as to what to do next. At that moment bright lights could be seen up ahead. Harley had a huge grin on her face.
"Let's go to the fair," she squealed. Artemis flinched a bit, reminded why she hated Harley's voice.
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The Joker watched as the next story was the mall under attack. They showed the security camera. Harley and Artemis were beating up a few people in sporting goods! He smiled, so nice to see the girls getting along. He jumped up, if the others were out having fun why not him? He walked out of the house and walked down to the next house. Lucky for him someone was sitting in their car, probably returning home from work. The Joker had an evil smile as he walked over to the car with blade in hand.
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Jordon was having a terrific night. He was finally out of work. It was 1 am and parties were all over the place, it was a Friday night after all, he was going to go out and have some fun! He turned to get out of his car when a frightening clown face appeared in his window. The clown was clad in a purple pinstripe suit with a green vest and a blue shirt. He had the most hideous scars on his face making him look as if he had a permanent smile on his face.
Jordon's face went pale, he knew that man, they never met but he knew those scars from anywhere. The Joker himself was standing outside of his car! The Joker tapped his window with his knife. Jordon sat still in horror with his mouth gaping.
The Joker got fed up with waiting on him and decided to open the door for him. Jordon took off his seatbelt and tried to run out the passenger's seat door. The Joker grabbed a hold of him by his hair and pulled him back. He drug Jordon out of the car and slammed him up against it. Jordon was so scared he couldn't breathe as the knife came up to his face. He eyed it as it came closer to him. The Joker rested it on his face right next to his mouth.
Jordon had seen this on the news before; he was going to cut his face up! Jordon couldn't party while he was bleeding to death at the mouth! Dammit he wasn't going to get laid tonight! The Joker looked a bit concerned. "You look frightened," he said, "is it the scars?" Jordon blink a couple of times. Well of course the scars scared him but what do you say when someone asks that kind of question? "Do you wanna know how I got 'em?"
Jordon looked around a bit confused. He wasn't too sure what the Joker was talking about but decided for the sake of survival to just shrug. "Well," said the Joker, "I had a good friend, like you, who had this great car. Well one day I asked if I could drive it and do you know what he said?"
"No," asked Jordon. The Joker giggled.
"That's, uh, exactly what he said. So he was driving us drunk down the, uh, highway with me in the seat next to him. He was speeding down the street because he wanted to make it to this, uh, party that was going on down town but wasn't paying any attention to what was going on. Well he wrecked it and said it was my fault for not telling him. So I took this blade here and put it in his mouth, just like that, and uh, why so serious?"
I'm sure you have a good idea what happened to Jordon. The Joker jumped in the car and pulled out his cell phone. "Artemis," he said, "where are you and Harley?....Uh-huh….right." He hung up the phone and threw it out the car window and headed for the fair. The convenience of a pay as you go phone is it's disposable.
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Damian picked up his phone as it rang. "Hello," he said, "what's up boss? Oh yea? We'll be right there!" He hung up the phone and jumped out of the tree. "Come on Joey, enough torturing the cat. The Joker just called, wants us to meet him and the girls at the fair."
"Right on," said Joey dropping the cat in the dumpster and running to catch up.
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Bruce woke up the next morning to see Artemis sitting at his desk with a deck of cards in hand. He slowly and cautiously got up. "No worries," she said with a smile, "Alfred is at the store. Even if he was here, he would never find out I was." Bruce was not worried about Alfred finding her, he was worried about Alfred and his own well being. Was she here for another card game or to kill him?
Bruce slowly rose from the bed and walked over to the desk. He sat in his seat across from her. She wore a green pea coat with her famous purple cowboy hat, a dark blue corset, and a long black skirt. The colors really clashed and looked too much like the Joker for his own comfort but he had to admit, she looked quite fetching. Fetching? He never even used that to describe a girl before.
Artemis gave him a smile. Her lips were blood red and had black and grey eye shadow on. Bruce took her cards and started to shuffle them never leaving her chocolate dark eyes. "Come on now Bruce, you act like we have never done this before, pass the cards man." Bruce passed the cards, his game of choice, blackjack.
"So," he said, "what have you been up to?"
"You don't watch the news do you," asked Artemis.
"No, I'm normally asleep at this hour. But the sound of shuffling cards in a silent room interrupted my sleep."
"Sorry," she laughed. That laugh sent shivers down his back. Bruce picked up his remote and changed it to the news. Behind Tasha was what was left of the carnival. It was burned to the ground and a few places looked as if they had been blown away. Bruce's jaw dropped in shock as an almost dead clown on stilts was in the background trying desperately to walk away with a bloody knee cap. How did they get the man on the stilts in the knee!? He turned his gaze over to her. Artemis wasn't even paying attention; she was busy thinking about her move.
"Did you and the Joker do that," he asked very seriously. Artemis just shrugged at him.
"Who else," she said in an obvious tone.
"Why," he demanded, "why all the madness!?"
"Why not," she asked.
"Because it's crazy!"
"Exactly," she said, "it is crazy and, uh, I was never one to sit at home and do nothing. Look, Bruce, you don't know me. I never really was a saint and I was always a bit off the deep end. The only difference between now and then is I have a much happier outlook on life."
"Seems pretty bleak to me," he mumbled trying to forget that spooky feeling he normally only got around the Joker.
"That's because you're on the wrong side of a gun barrel, Brucy, don't take it personal."
"So why the random visits," he asked. Artemis had a smirk on her face.
"Just want to mix it up a bit," she said, "I'm actually here for a reason. Last night while we were blowing the park up the Joker had what looked to be a letter in his coat pocket. Well, me being the nosey one I am, took a look at said letter. Do you know what it was?" Bruce leaned in hanging on every word. Anything to help stop the Joker. "It was a ransom letter."
"For who," he asked.
"For you," she said, "blackjack!" Her smirk turned to a big grin. "You know, you should go as Batman and see what happens. You know, just to see how the Joker would take it if Bruce Wayne was not at his own party."
"No," he said, "I will figure something out, but I'm not arriving as batman. It would look bad if I did not show up as Bruce."
"Oh, right, you're little family company. Well, uh, you didn't seem too concerned about it last year."
"Last year I had killer ninja's crawling around my mansion!"
"Killer ninja's," she asked.
"The League of Shadows," he said dealing another hand, "they are in the mountains somewhere in China."
"Tell me more," she said leaning in. Bruce was going to say something when he heard footsteps coming toward his door. Artemis stood up and left the room. Bruce looked up and saw no one. This must be what Gordon feels like every time I just disappear thought Bruce. Alfred opened the door holding breakfast in his arms.
"Good afternoon, Master Bruce," he said smiling.
"Hey Alfred," he responded. His head was swimming. Who's side was she on?
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After a week of causing havoc the night had finally arrived. The Joker was in an exceptionally good mood and was swiftly walking about humming a circus theme to himself. Everyone but Artemis gave him a rather confused look.
"Alright," he said, "we're, uh, going to Bruce's big party to wish him a happy birthday." He laughed sinisterly. Harley looked really excited and squealed with glee. Damian and Joey looked at each other than at Artemis. She didn't look surprised. She just sat there building her card house. A small smile played on her face as she put the last two cards on top of the Joker Card mansion she had built from the ground up passed the table. She smiled at her accomplishment and use of the Jokers card that she and her two friends had been collecting every time they saw one and it all started with the six on top.
Harley was snuggling up against her 'puddin' in delight talking about how excited she was. The Joker did not appreciate the display of affection and shoved her right into Artemis's card mansion. Her smile vanished and she looked over at the Joker with a sad look.
"Sorry," said Harley with a grin and a shrug. Artemis just stuck her nose and the air and walked off in anger. She worked so hard on it! Harley gave a sigh of defeat and put her head on her hands. She just couldn't win for loosing with Artemis. One moment they are enemies, the next they are friends, and the next they are enemies again. It was a cycle that had jumped back and forth all week. It didn't really seem to bother anyone else, just Artemis and her.
Artemis was storming off in teen angst under the notion that nobody understood her when something caught her eye in her room. A letter? She cautiously walked forward and opened it. It was from none other than Bruce Wayne. How did he find her? She quickly opened the letter and read it.
Artemis
I appreciate you telling me of the Jokers plans. I followed you home, I felt it was a bit unfair that you knew where I lived but I didn't know where you lived. I strongly believe that you want to play on my side so what I want you to do is help the Joker capture me. When I am in custody I need you to let me go in secret and I will disguise myself as the batman and capture the Joker. Do this for me and you will get a clean slate to start all over.
Bruce Wayne
Artemis cracked up laughing. This guy had some nerve! Then a thought came to her, what if this was a trap? The smile had grown to be a full blown grin. This could be a predicament that could possibly be in her favor. She walked back out. The only ones in the living room where Harley and Joey who were building her card house with the six from on the top put aside. Hmm, she needed Harley to take her to get a new dress. She wanted to look spiffy and Harley probably did to. She didn't feel to up to dealing with Harley, she kind of wanted to get in and out without attracting any sort of attention. Well, looks like Harley is going to get that calm shopping trip she was looking forward to.
Joey could come to see them modal dresses. She felt a smirk on her face. Wow she thought I have been smiling a lot lately without even noticing. I should stop that, not normal, people might thing I'm crazy or something. Hahaha they think I'm crazy already. Hahaha I'm smiling again and I can't stop! My head is so much fun.
"Hey, Artemis," said Joey with a smile, "we are rebuilding your card house. The Joker and Damian went to get a few henchmen from the hide out and I think the Joker promised Damian he wouldn't kill them if he let him drive. I guess Damian is objective to the Joker's driving."
"Why's that," asked Harley behind her tongue, as she was biting it concentrating on the card house.
"My father is, uh, a bad driver," said Artemis, "seriously, whoever gave that man a license was probably really fucking drunk during the driving course. Either that or he threatened to kill him if he didn't then killed him anyway."
"Or the driving instructor worked for him," suggested Joey.
"You're dad doesn't have a license," said Harley, "he had no kind of identification, he prefers if people didn't know who he really is." Harley winked at them to signal that she, too, knew he was Jack Napier, and had also googled him on her computer at home.
Artemis and Joey glanced at each other then at Harley. "She's acting suspicious," said Joey with a smile.
"Yea," said Artemis, "she acts like she knows something."
"Well, his name was Jack Napier, wasn't it," she asked tilting her head to the side.
"Maybe," said Joey with a smile, "what's the answer worth to you?" Then he felt his nerves slowly start to shrink as Harley gave him an evil smile.
"Well, maybe an eye," she said giggling in a very evil way. Artemis busted up laughing and Joey's jaw dropped to the floor.
"She fucking got you man! You been Punkd by Harley Quinn," said Artemis.
"Yea, no shit, the Joker told you about how he took my eye and you still like him? It's in-con-ceivable !"
"Oh yes," said Harley, laughing at the movie reference, "I know about everything. He was honest about what I already knew, and he was obviously honest about what he told me."
"This is ridiculous," mumbled Artemis, crossing her arms and looking over to the left with her hip cocked and her foot locked.
"What," asked Harley and Joey.
"I need a dress for tonight," she said, louder then she meant to, but her head never turned to look at them.
"Ooo, let's go shopping," squealed Harley, "you can't go without me! Yay!"
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FLASH BACK TO EARLIER THAT MORNING
Artemis had left the house to go 'shopping' with her unlimited Five Finger discount, for members only, after they tore the circus up. She would get a few knew outfits that had no pink, Harley volunteered to take what Harley didn't want, and strangely enough they fit her just right. Artemis couldn't say she was mad about it. Harley didn't go to be with her she went so she could get out of the indoors for a little while. Artemis begrudgingly felt the same as Harley.
Anyway, pink wasn't working out, time for a few outfits that didn't have that color. She quietly broke into the mall and took a 'few' cloths here and there that would probably last her the week, as she had decided ultimately she would never where the same outfit for too long. It was really starting to bother her that she was wearing the same thing all day.
After being gone for almost an hour, the Joker text her and told her it was time to come home. Her long disappearance was making him really paranoid. Artemis rolled her eyes standing in Vanity with a thousand cloths stacked up in a walmart shopping cart she stole. She text him back saying she would be there in thirty minutes or less or it's free and left the mall. The Joker's respons; lol! :) hurry it up.
When she arrived she opened the trunks and grabbed 70 pounds of cloths all in bags from the store she stole them from. Fifty bags in each hand, she kicked the door and the Joker opened it. She walked passed him to her room and set them on the floor then went to grab another fifty bags.
The Joker, Damian, Harley, and Joey watched her as she rushed back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The Joker stood up and walked out to the van to see how much more was left. He slumped forward a bit and his arms hung at his sides and his jaw hung. That's right folks, you just imagined the Joker in shock! The van was only half empty, how, in the name of hell, did she managed to get that many cloths from a mall and managed to get them all carried out there without getting caught!
She walked passed him and his eyes followed her. He spun the rest of his body around and went after her. "Um, sweathart," he said trying to catch up to her, "what is, uh, all that in the van?"
"Everything I took," she said, setting everything on the floor. It didn't even look like a floor anymore, it looked like a shop in the mall with everything on clearance! The Joker continued to follow her as she went back out to get more stuff.
"Alright, princess, like to shop? Well, uh, ya can't go by yourself anymore, you're going to have to wait for Harley!"
"Why," she demanded, now moving back up to her room.
"Because, uh, I think that if this continues we are eventually going to have a real problem with all of this."
"How can this turn into a problem," she said, now walking out of the room.
"Ever heard the turn shopaholic before? Well, uh, eventually, it starts to catch up with ya."
"How is it going to catch up to me," she asked grabbing the last of the bags and shutting the trunk, "you need to be able to keep the same cloths and continue for it to catch up with me. However, lucky me, I don't have that option. Every time I get knew cloths I'm being arrested by police, I only get to keep a few things that I can carry, they get ripped, torn, shot at, cut open, caught on fire, one of my coats was stolen by a fucking lion at a carnival, and anything else that hasn't quite happened to them yet. You are a danger to society, yourself, and my cloths."
She dropped the rest of it and turned to leave but the Joker put his arm on the door frame in front of her with an unamused look. "You go with Harley, or not at all," he said sternly. Artemis just rolled her eyes and looked irritated at him. The Joker grinned, he won!
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BACK TO THE PRESENT
Harley and Artemis had a calm shopping trip and actually offered to pay for the stuff. "It's okay," she said with a smile, "I have been working as a psychologist for a long time now. I never actually did anything before, I didn't have a reason."
"How old are you," asked Artemis as she looked at the different dresses on the racks.
"I'm only a year younger then Mistah J," she said, observing another rack for herself.
"Let's see, he was 18 when I was born, that was 16 years ago, 33," she guessed.
"Yup," she said giggling. Artemis guessed that she knew a lot about the Joker that Artemis didn't. Artemis didn't really know much about him at all but this girl seems to know it all. Maybe she could get in the Joker's head by getting into Harley's head. She figured it was worth a shot to find out.
"How come you never had a reason to go shopping before. You seem to do an aweful lot of it."
"Well," she said, "I just never had anyone to go with. You see I would go with my friends but none of them are to interested in the mall. They are all Walmart and Target and 'let's shop for what looked good on me 10 years ago'. You aren't. You are more interested in the places I am. The style is different but at least I don't have to step in a grocery store." Artemis chuckled a bit.
"Do you have any idea about the Joker's plan on kidnapping Batman?"
"Yup," she said, "we are going to the party in disguise as the staff and the Joker is going to slip something in his drink to make him sleep, then we are going to run away, fight batman, then come home and tie him up in the basement."
"Wow," she said, "that's…kinda…sure why not."
"What's wrong," she asked, "it's a great idea."
"Yea, except, what happens if batman doesn't show up," she said, "what then?"
"Then….we just go home?"
"Yes but what if by any off chance batman and Bruce are the same person?"
"That would be wild, wouldn't it," she said.
"And it was a trap," she asked, grinning to make it look as if it was all an imagination game.
"Oo, hmm, and the Joker was in a pair of dress shoes," she said.
"And Batman anticipated where he would escape," she said.
"Well, he said we were going to escape through the fire escape. I guess if batman knew the exit and he couldn't go very fast cause he is in dress shoes, it wouldn't be good for Mistah J."
"I'm sorry," said Artemis, "but that is the most intelligent conversation we ever had. Are you smart or something?" Harley didn't know how to take that. "No, it's a serious question, are you smart?"
"Well, yea," she said.
"Then why do you act like such an idiot?" Harley stopped and watched Artemis keep on walking. She then did the unspeakable! She threw her left shoe at the back of Artemis's feet and caused her to stumble on the ground. Artemis lifted herself up and gave Harleen a glare that could kill.
"I am not an idiot," she shouted.
"Bitch! Did you just throw a shoe at me," demanded Artemis. She walked up to Harley who stood their looking at her as if a mother would a child. "I'll kill you for less," she hissed pulling her knife out. Harley reached over and grabbed the knife out of Artemis's hand.
"Now, you just stop right now, miss," she snarled. The parents with teens in the store turned around to see what they assumed was a mother scolding her daughter with a knife in her hand holding it like she just found it on the girl.
"What," she said in disbelief. Whispers traveled among customers and employees.
"I am not stupid, I am not easy prey, and I will not take being talked to like that by you. If you want this back you will have to take it from me," she said. A few low 'ooo's echoed in the crowed. Artemis looked around a bit and licked her lips. She had an entire audience staring at her, daring her to do something about it.
Artemis relaxed and closed her eyes. She looked at Harley and pulled a gun out from in her coat. Harley stared her right in the eyes. Her eyes were now cold and excited. She looked ready to smash the hell out of something to let go of her anger instead of letting it build. Artemis was the exact opposite. She let it build and build and bottled it all up inside until there wasn't enough to keep bottled. She was pretty close to letting it all go.
If she got rid of Harley then her idea would be to fucked up. She couldn't get to the Joker without Harley. She needed to get what she could. What was she going to get? She had no idea, but it is good to have leverage for the right moment. You never know where there is a day when the bird decides to spread her wings and fly free and solo. At the rate she was learning she would not be trapped under dad's roof and rules much longer.
She put her gun down. Harley didn't look ready to back down. "I'm sorry Harleen," she said, "I lost control. All the stress building up and I'm not really all there in my head most of the time." Harley gave her a small smile. She went over and hugged Artemis. For the sake of the moment and for the crowed. She returned Harley's hug with a warm hug back.
The crowed 'aww'ed and a few people shedded tears at the beautiful scene. Harley gave Artemis her knife back and she put it and the gun away and they were going to make their exit when Artemis spotted it! Her face brightened and she grew excited and bubbly much like dear Harley. Harley followed her and saw it as well. She heard the chorus of angels and a tear fell down her cheek.
It was a royal purple spaghetti strap with a dark blue sash, a split up the skirt part, a matching blue see through jacket and a dramatic design etched in dark blue. The brilliance and absolute amazingness of this dress cannot possibly be described with words.
There was one in purple and blue, which Artemis was practically drooling on. As well as a red and black one without the slit and the jacket was leather, not see through. It wasn't really Harley's style but it was still a hot dress and she wanted it!
They both grabbed the dresses and paid for them. They drove home to get ready!
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Damian, Joker, and Joey all took turns looking at the clock. They had to go and neither Harley nor Artemis were ready. Joey, Damian, and the Joker where dressed as waiters. The girls were going to be the singers. How hard was it to look like a singer for a millionaires birthday party? Put on a dress how hard can that be?
Then the bathroom door opened and both of them walked out. All three of them gawked at the pair. "What's wrong Mistah J," asked Harley with a smile. The Joker was not quite sure what to say.
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Next time
Batman is kidnapped and all that jazz
