Author's notes: Forgot disclaimers: I do not own any of the Batman characters. They are the property of their respective creators. I am merely borrowing them for the purpose of telling a tale. No profit is being made and no harm is meant.
Harley and Ivy: Chapter 2
Ivy slowly blinked and opened her eyes. The lighting in the 'Rogues Gallery' was slowly brightening, signaling the start of a new day in Arkham.
Just as certain flowers bloomed at first morning light so did Ivy always awaken when the lights came up in Arkham.
As her eyes began to focus, Ivy found her first sight of the day to be the same as her last sight the night before, namely Harley. Ivy was relieved to see that sometime in the night that Harley had relaxed out of her fetal position and was now lying flat on her back. The gentle rise and fall of Harley's breasts under the drab 'grays' of Arkham allowed Ivy to know that Harley was still in blissful slumber.
"All in all not an unpleasant view to awaken to." Ivy thought to herself with a faint smile. A smile that instantly vanished when she took her eyes off of the sleeping form of Harley and noticed a box sitting outside Harley's glass cell door.
It was a bright and gaily wrapped green box with a bright purple ribbon wrapped around it. The lid of the box was off and lying propped against the side of the box. It too had the purple ribbon on it with a large bow. Sticking up from inside the box was a white mannequin hand holding blackened dead roses. As Ivy watched, she could see white blobs crawling among the stems and dead rose buds. With a shock she realized they were maggots.
Ivy couldn't see any card with the package but it hardly needed one. It was obvious who it was from.
"The Joker must have bribed or terrorized a night guard into smuggling the grotesque package in and leaving it outside Harley's cell." Ivy thought to herself in disgust.
Looking back at Harley, Ivy was comforted by the fact that Harley was still asleep and hadn't seen the 'gift' yet.
Certain routines were varied constantly to keep the inmates from making plans or strategies but one thing was pretty constant in Arkham. Mornings always began with the lights coming up and within minutes someone would be by to do a headcount to make sure no one escaped in the night. Soon after that, their breakfasts would be served to them in their cells.
With any luck the headcount guard would arrive before Harley could awake and maybe Ivy could convince them to remove the package before it disturbed Harley.
As Ivy saw it there were only two reactions that Harley could have after seeing the package.
One: Harley would decide it was an attempt by the Joker to apologize to her and she might revert to her typical doormat personality and forgive that creep for what he had tried to do to her and be back to 'oh puddin' mentality.
That thought made Ivy sick to her stomach. Ivy was so close to breaking Harley's addiction to the Joker and getting her free forever from his slimy grasp. (And into Ivy's loving arms, she hoped)
The second option wasn't much better. Ivy feared that Harley would see the 'gift' as a warning and a threat from the Joker that there was no where in Arkham Harley could escape from him.
In which case the vulnerable Harley just might snap completely and withdraw into herself.
Neither option was one that Ivy wanted Harley to have to go through.
Hearing the sounds of footsteps nearing, Ivy pressed herself against the glass walls of her cell and tried to see down the corridor between the cells to see who it was. Most of the male guards weren't much better than the inmates they were suppose to be guarding. Some of them would be sadistic enough to awaken Harley just to see what her reaction would be to the box. There were a few decent males working in Arkham. Even Ivy had to admit that. Some that treated the inmates as humans instead of freaks. One of these Ivy had no doubt would remove the package before Harley could see it. The problem was there was no telling who was working this day. Arkham varied the guards' schedules constantly in an effort to keep the inmates from knowing who they would be dealing with each day.
There were of course a few females working as guards in Arkham. Arkham was a fair and equal opportunity employer but the women guards were never allowed to work the gallery. They were exclusively only for the shower and bathroom areas when Harley or Ivy needed to use them. So there was no help for Ivy there. And frankly some of the women guards were just as bad as the males. Ivy had suspicions that one of them was taking photos of her and Harley when they showered and selling them to the male guards.
Ivy still couldn't see who it was that was coming but she relaxed slightly when she heard someone softly whistling off tune. There was only one guard that did that. The inmates even called him Whistler for that reason. Guards wore no nametags and were forbidden from telling inmates their names. The reasoning was that it would be more difficult for the criminally insane inmates to form friendships or use their names to discover and threaten their families on the outside into helping them. It of course never worked. The Joker was an expert on learning personal details of guards and using it to threaten them into helping him. Ivy never used that method herself. She found it easier to use her female wiles and besides it never made sense to her to threaten something rather than just do it.
Adjusting her blouse open a little she waited for Whistler to reach her cell.
"Good morning Ms. Isley." Whistler greeted her. Another regulation of Arkham was the guards were never to use the inmates 'street names'. The shrinks figured this would enforce their psychoses so it was strictly forbidden. Most of the guards violated this rule constantly but Whistler was a strict by the books kind of guy. Still he never treated the inmates as sub humans and was always polite.
"I have a tiny little favor to ask of you." Ivy purred and posed so if Whistler was so inclined he could look down her blouse.
Whistler raised an eyebrow and didn't even try to look down her blouse. "Now Ms. Isley, you should know better than that. You can't seduce me into breaking the rules…"
"No it's nothing like that." Ivy replied sincerely. "It's that box over there." Ivy said pointing.
Whistler looked and stepped back a few steps as if there was a poisonous snake in the walkway.
"Remove it before Harley sees it please." Ivy continued.
"I can't do that. In cases like this the regulations say I have to call the hazardous squad to remove it. That thing is obviously from the Joker and who knows what might happen if I try to pick it up?"
Ivy in annoyance started to raise her voice but quieted down when she saw Harley shift in her sleep. "Look I know you have heard through the guard gossip what happened to Harley. Please get that thing away before she sees it."
Whistler looked at her in confusion. "I just arrived and went on duty Ms. Isley. I haven't talked to any of the other guards yet. What happened to Ms. Quinzelle?"
Ivy allowed a slight grin to come to her face. "You aren't supposed to tell us loonies your schedules. You violated the rules and you referred to Jack Napier as the Joker. Tell you what. You remove that box and I won't tell anyone that you broke the rules."
Whistler frowned. "First you try to seduce me and now you are using extortion?" He started to walk on.
"No wait! You are right. I'm sorry. Please either remove it or have someone do it before Harley wakes!"
Whistler paused. It wasn't like he was going to do anything wrong in any case. It was his duty to report unusual occurrences. Normally he would have waited till he reached the end of the corridor and done it but it wasn't a big deal to call it in and he generally liked Harley. He wouldn't turn his back on her however, but he still liked her.
Stepping to the middle of the walkway he pulled his walkie talkie and clicked it on.
Ivy couldn't hear very well since Whistler kept his mouth close to the device but she heard bits and pieces.
"Yeah, let me talk to …." Ivy couldn't make out the name since Whistler lowered his voice.
"Yeah it's me. I'm in the holding cells. I've got a strange package here beside Ms. Quinzelle's cell. Yeah I know you are technically not on duty and I should get one of the others but you know how the system works. It might take hours to get one of the others to remove it. Can't you just put on a crash suit and come do this for me? What? What does it look like? It looks like one of Napier's surprise packages. What? He did what to Harley?" Whistler was so shocked he slipped up and used her street name instead of her real name. "He did it in front of the crooks in the jail cell? The guards too? Oh my god! That poor woman. Come on, please? Do this as a favor for me? All right, all right. I will take one of your night rounds if you will rush down here and do this for me. Great. I'll be waiting here."
Whistler reattached the walkie talkie to his belt and stepped over near Ivy's cell once again.
"You heard what Joker did to her?" Ivy asked unnecessarily.
Whistler nodded his head grimly.
"Don't let her know you know. Okay?"
Whistler shot Ivy a look. "Of course I won't." He said offended and turning he leaned on the glass wall. "You do know that some of the other guards won't be so discrete though." He said over his shoulder to her.
"I know." Ivy replied sadly.
Hearing the heavy footfalls Ivy looked up as a man dressed in heavy body armor jogged up. It almost looked like an upholstered wall was heading towards them than a man. He even had a gas mask on and was carrying a heavy reinforced metal canister. Ivy nervously glanced over and saw that Harley was still asleep. Her ordeal the day before must have exhausted her physically and emotionally to sleep through the disposal guy's arrival.
Sitting the box down beside the 'gift' the man motioned Whistler back and reaching out with a long pair of tongs, gently lifted the box up in preparation to put it into the metal canister.
Hearing a sharp gasp, Ivy looked across the hallway and saw that Harley was wake and sitting on her bed and looking at the now held up gift package.
"Damn it Harley. All we needed was just a few more seconds." Ivy cursed under her breath. There was nothing to be done about it now. Harley had clearly seen it. Ivy watched to see what her reaction to it was going to be.
Harley jumped up on her bed and pressed herself backwards into the corner all the while staring at the grotesque present. On her face was a look of pure terror.
On the one hand, Ivy was pleased to see Harley wasn't going to slip into doormat mode but on the other hand Ivy felt her insides twist seeing the stark fear showing on Harley's face.
The removal guy finally managed to get the package into the metal canister and still gingerly using the tongs he latched the restraint clamps down on the canister sealing the package safely away. It still wasn't 'safe' but at least it was now contained. If it was an explosive of some type the metal canister would take the brunt of it and if it contained gas of some type the canister was air tight.
Ivy assumed the package would be taken outside of Arkham and blown up. The pieces then would be examined thoroughly to see if it had anything else in it beyond the obvious non-verbal threat.
As the disposal guy gingerly picked up the sealed box and carried it away, he passed the breakfast cart being wheeled up. Whistler continued to stand beside Ivy's cell and watched to see if Harley would calm down or he should call one of the staff psychiatrists to prescribe a sedative. Harley fortunately showed signs of calming down as soon as the Joker's present was taken away. Ivy could tell it was just an act of Harley's so she wouldn't be doped up but it fooled Whistler. Harley was nearly out of her mind in fear but she was an old hand at concealing it.
Finally the breakfast cart reached the intersection between Ivy and Harley's cells. The guard pushing the cart was one the inmates called The Grump cause he never smiled and snapped at people.
Lifting a cover revealed a bowl of brightly colored and overly sugared cereal. Since Arkham was an institute of mental healing and not by definition a prison, the inmates were allowed to eat whatever they wanted…Within reason. No inmate would get served steak and lobster of course but if they preferred eggs over oatmeal for breakfast then that was what they would get.
Happy inmates were healing inmates was one of the head shrink's favorite sayings.
In Harley's case she had a standing order of Super Mega Sugar Smacks.
Ivy's breakfast was pretty much like every other meal the woman ate. Vegetables lightly steamed.
Ivy might have been an environmental terrorist and be willing to kill men for digging up flowers or burning down rain forests but she was a strict vegetarian and never touched meat of any kind. And let's face facts, a girl couldn't survive on fertilizer like her beloved plants did so she compromised in this area and ate vegetables.
Whistler still being concerned for Harley's mental welfare and just to be a nice guy took the bowl from The Grump and started to put it in the slot that food was passed to inmates.
"I don't want that." Harley flatly stated.
Whistler blinked. "Why?"
"The Joker has probably had it poisoned." Harley stated as she looked at the bowl as if it was a coiled viper.
"Ms. Quinzelle, you can't let Mr. Napier make you paranoid. It's your favorite cereal. Please eat." Whistler said holding the bowl up.
"I'll eat it. Harley can have my breakfast this morning." Ivy called out.
Harley's eyes widened in fear. "No Red! If it's poisoned then you'll get it!"
"Look. The cereal isn't poisoned." Whistler said becoming slightly annoyed. "Will you eat it if I try it and prove to you its safe?"
Harley reluctantly nodded her head.
Whistler picked up the small carton of milk and pouring it on the cereal he took a big spoonful and stuck it in his mouth. Grimacing he made a face at Harley. "Good lord Ms. Quinzelle how can you stand this stuff? It tastes horrible." He then chuckled.
Harley began to relax and wonder if she wasn't letting her fear of the Joker start to get to her.
That is until Whistler's chuckling started getting louder and he dropped the bowl and grabbed at his throat.
The Grump looked on in shock as Whistler started riotously laughing and fell to the floor. His face twisting into a hideous mockery of a smile.
Harley began pounding on the glass wall to draw his attention. "Don't stand there you idiot! Call for help. Tell them he's been poisoned by Joker Venom. You only have about five minutes to administer the antidote or Whistler is going to be dead!"
The Grump finally pulled himself together and pulling his walkie talkie he shouted into it.
Several long moments passed as Ivy casually watched Whistler rolling on the ground laughing.
"Pity. He was a nice guy too. Tried to help Harley by getting a buddy of his to come down and take that box away. At least he kept Harley from being poisoned by the Joker. Shame he forgot one of the cardinal rules of Arkham. Never taste test something for an inmate. You never knew who might be trying to kill them or why." Ivy thought to herself. It wasn't that she wished ill on Whistler. She thought he was halfway decent for a male. It was just that Ivy found it very hard to empathize for anyone. The pain and suffering of others just didn't touch her. Now if it had been Harley that had eaten that cereal… Ivy shuddered and didn't want to think about that.
Finally a man dressed in a white lab coat denoting a shrink ran up and pulling a hypodermic needle filled it with a green fluid from a vial and swiftly injected it into the laughing man. Ivy noted that it was Dr. Krantz. The Head head shrinker. While guards had to remain to the inmates nameless forms moving through their lives, shrinks were required to give at least their last names to the patients inside. It was suppose to give the inmates someone to 'bond' with. In reality it just made it really really easy for the hench people on the outside to find their families and use them to leverage things for the inmates.
Whistler finally began to wind down from his laughing fit and his face relaxed from the forced smile into a normal look.
Dr. Krantz carefully watched the man until he was sure he was out of danger. "Okay Johnny, what the hell happened?" He asked Whistler.
"So his real first name is Johnny?" Ivy thought.
"Ms. Quinzelle didn't want to eat her cereal because she thought it might be poisoned…"
"So you thought you would be her knight in shinning armor and tested it for her?" Dr. Krantz said shaking his head. "You know better than that Johnny. If Quinzelle thought her food was tampered with by Napier you should have just come to the lab and got a test kit and tested the food."
"I offered to trade breakfast with Harley." Ivy stated. She wasn't sure why she spoke out. She didn't want to get Whistler in any more trouble with Arkham but suddenly she felt the need to remind Harley how she tried to protect her.
Dr. Krantz looked over at her and reaching into a pocket of his coat he pulled a vial holding a bluish liquid and without a word poured it over Ivy's breakfast dish. Ivy recognized it as the test fluid the doctor had just reminded Whistler they had. When it came in contact with Joker Venom it turned a bright, and ironically considering it was one of the Joker's favorite colors, purple hue.
Ivy's cut vegetables on the platter suddenly turned purple.
"What?" Ivy asked in surprise. "That clown knows I am immune to poisons and toxins and that includes his venom. Why would he have my food tampered with?"
"He knows you are my friend Red." Harley's sad voice called out. "If I had traded breakfasts with you, I would still have gotten his poison."
Dr. Krantz grabbed The Grump by the arm. "How many meals have you given out so far?"
The Grump considered for a moment. "Just Mr. Freeze's, the Ventriloquist's, Mad Hatter's, and The Riddler's.
Dr. Krantz looked over at Mad Hatter's and Riddler's cell. Both of the men shook their head to show they hadn't touched their food yet. The excitement in the hallway had distracted them.
"Please hand the food back to the guard here. We'll have to test everything. It is possible Napier poisoned everyone's food in the off chance Ms. Quinzelle would trade breakfast with someone else." Looking back at the Grump he commanded. "Get on the walkie talkie and have someone check Victor Fries's cell and make sure he is okay. I'm not sure Joker Venom would affect him in any case considering his unusual low body temperature but we can't take the chance. And see if Arnold Wesker has eaten his meal yet and if he has check to see if he shows signs of Joker Venom."
The Grump nodded his head and started relaying instructions.
Dr. Krantz looked at the meal cart with suspicion. "We'll have to dump all the food and carefully check everything in the kitchen. There is no telling where or whom Napier got to doctor the food."
"What? We have to go without breakfast because The Joker's whore got problems?" The voice of Killer Croc could be heard down the hallway.
"Be silent!" Dr. Krantz surprised all by shouting. "Would you really prefer us to bring you your meal Mr. Waylon Jones and risk it being contaminated with Joker Venom?"
"Don't call me that! The name is Croc. Killer Croc!" Croc's gravely voice yelled back.
Dr. Krantz took a deep breath and Ivy could see he was silently counting to ten.
"We'll get you replacement meals as quickly as we can." He finally said at a much reduced volume.