Ivy and I quickly decided that we needed to get out of there until the heat died down, soon cops would be crawling all over the place and right now we needed to work out what we were going to do next.
"Do you think you'll be able to get her to my apartment without being seen?" I asked Ivy in a hushed tone.
"Yes, it should be perfectly manageable."
"Okay you set off now and wait there for me, I don't know how long i'll take convincing those idiots on the gate that i'm a political prisoner." she nodded at me and gave me a quick hug before hurrying away, Harley tucked protectively under her arm. I turned to the remaining goons to address them. "We're going to lie low for a short while to work out our next plan, I advise you do the same whilst you wait for our signal."
"How will we know it's you?" one of the braver ones asked.
"Believe me, you'll know when you see it."
As I got into sight of the gate I let my injuries take over my actions, finally allowing the pain and exhaustion I had been withholding to take charge. I staggered up to the officers, my breath ragged and tears streaming down my face, as soon as they recognised me the ran to my aid. I collapsed into the arms of one of them and he picked me up, letting me rest my legs.
"I was so scared...Quincy... said he was going to kill me...it hurts so bad..." I gushed between sobs and gasps for breath. It seemed slightly melodramatic to me but they were drinking it up, it appeared the frightened little girl I kept locked up inside of me was useful for something after all. They took me over to a medical crew who started working on my wounds immediately, buzzing around me like flies. I was feeling dazed from a mixture of blood loss and the flashes of the press' cameras behind the police tape. I felt a blanket being put around my shoulders and out of the corner of my eye spotted him. Batman was discussing something with Commissioner Gordon, the sight of his black cloaked silhouette made my blood boil; it was his fault. If it hadn't been for him Joker would still be alive, he had let him die as if it was nothing and now I was stuck cleaning up his mess. He was directly responsible for the pain Harley was now feeling, and for that I would make him pay. Dark thoughts of revenge were still crossing my mind when a police officer came and asked me for a statement I told him that Quincy had kidnapped me with the help of his nephew and dumped me into Arkham City claiming that it was revenge for trying to take back the Asylum, I told them that I had spent the entire time wandering the streets and attempting to find shelter; I was an innocent victim. When they finished with my wounds they asked me what I would like to do and I told them that I just wanted to go home and sleep, something which they were very understanding about since i'd had a traumatic experience and even gave me a lift back to my place.
I walked up to my door having thanked the officers extremely graciously and entered my apartment.
"Ivy?" I called softly once I had closed the door, she walked into the light and gave me a grim look. "How is she?"
"Bad. She's currently sleeping on your bed."
"Good, she could do with some rest." I said slumping onto my sofa "I'm gonna make the Bat pay for this. I'll destroy him."
"Not such an easy task, but i'll do whatever I can to help you." She sat next to me "Have you any ideas what this destruction will consist of?"
"I want him to feel this, underneath the mask."
"You mean..."
"I'm going to find out who the Batman really is and then I will burn him from the inside out."
Next morning I made Harley breakfast, when I took it in for her she looked terrible. I sat down beside her and pulled her into my arms, she was cold and felt so small.
"I've got a plan Curly." She whispered shakily.
"You do?" she then went on to detail me her plan, it was head on and although it wasn't a bad idea it would never work, we both knew it. This was a plan to provide short term relief for her, make the Bat think she'd taken her revenge whilst planning a much bigger thing behind the scenes, I would never be able to persuade her not to do this and while I couldn't directly take part or risk losing the asylum, I could help her create a backup plan.
"You need to plan for the baby."
"What do ya mean?"
"If they think you're pregnant they'll never let you and the baby be together."
"You're right!" she gasped "I can't let them take my baby away!"
"We won't. You need to make them think that you're not pregnant anymore."
"Even if we managed that don't ya think they might notice when I start ta get huge?
"You forget, i'm in charge of Arkham now. I can cover up your pregnancy so no one will know."
"How are we gonna do it then?"
"I'll take a pregnancy test so that it comes up negative and then we can plant it where Batman will see it, he'll think you miscarried, I'll look after you in Arkham."
"What about when the baby comes? An asylum ain't no place for a kid."
"I take the baby in as my ward, i'll say it's one of my English friend's, and then i'll look after the baby for you so you can see her whenever you want but she still gets a relatively normal life!"
"You would really do all that for me?"
"Of course I would silly, you're my friend."
I explained the plan to Ivy, who seemed to agree that it would work.
"And what about your own plan for the Bat?"
"I don't have the capabilities to do this myself, I need to hire someone who does."
"I recommend you talk to Eddie, he knows everyone."
"I'll do that, i'm moving back into the mansion soon since they've finished fixing it up once i'm there it'll be easy to contact any of the inmates."
"Arkham will be a much better place now you're in charge." I smiled at her, it meant so much to me that she was behind me on this. "I'm guessing you'll be waiting until after Harley's plan has gone ahead to act on your own?"
"Yeah, I need to get all of the preparations for that sorted first. I need to make sure that everyone working at the asylum is loyal to me not Quincy or Strange and then only let the ones who won't accidently tell know of Harley's condition."
"It shouldn't be too hard, most of the Doctors there adore you and will rat on those loyal to others with no prompting."
"I hope so."
That evening Ivy left to work on building her own hide out, although she had an open invitation to visit me and Harley whenever she liked. Harley herself was getting stronger, she was fixated on planning her revenge on Batman and I was lending her a hand with the preparations, getting her equipment and the like. One evening I found her passed out in a pile of blue prints so I put a blanket over her and a pillow under her head. I walked out into the living room and could sense instantly that I wasn't alone. I pulled one of my new custom made knives out of my belt and had it at the ready.
"Who's there?" no reply "I won't hesitate to kill you" I walked into the kitchen and sensed a movement from behind the door, in one fluid movement I pinned the figure to the floor with my knife at their throat. It was only then that I saw who it was. Jonathan Crane. He wasn't wearing the mask which was why I hadn't recognised him straight away and instead of his Scarecrow get up he was wearing a suit."What the hell are you doing here?"
"Is this how you normally greet visitors? I don't know how they do it back in England but this feels a little too close and personal to be normal." he smirked,I got up off of him and allowed him to stand up.
"You didn't answer my question."
"Correct, well observed you're improving." I rolled my eyes and poured myself a shot of whiskey, if I was gonna be dealing with him at this sort of time I needed a drink. "I came to see how Harley was doing." It was clearly a lie but I couldn't be bothered to argue.
"She's as good as could be expected, plotting her vengeance and all that." he nodded and looked thoughtful.
"So you're covering up her pregnancy?"
"Yes..." I wasn't sure I wanted to know where he was going with this.
"You know that you don't have to look after every female in the world, apart from yourself that is."
"Well clearly I don't look after every female in the world, since I failed at protecting Harley from this." I spat, my guilt bubbling over the edge. I was annoyed at Jonathan too, he always brought these things I kept hidden out of me.
"There was nothing you could have done."
"There is always something I could have done. I could have found a way to keep my parents at home, I could have gone through with killing myself, I could have tried harder to stop him, I could have ran from the asylum instead of staying, I could of not answered that phone, I could have done a better job of avoiding Cobblepot, I could have checked to door and stopped Talia, I could have gotten the cure... I could've saved you back in the asylum that night." I was crying from my frustration at myself, I didn't even mean to say that last one out loud they just kept pouring out of my mouth. Silence came after that, it roared in my ears and I could hear my heart beating.
"It wasn't your fault,none of it. As for what happened with Croc, that was entirely my own foolishness."
"You wouldn't even have been in there if it weren't for me. Why did you do it?" he paused before answering, seeming to be trying to pick his words carefully.
"I did it because..."another pause "to quote someone very special, it was what people do for those they care about." I heard my own words from a year ago echo through my head in his voice, I had been justifying taking up the suicide mission of going into Croc's lair to help Ivy to him. "So don't blame yourself, the chemical defect was entirely on my side."
"Was?" I don't know how but I managed to choke out the question, I needed to know. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds before looking me dead on in the eye.
"Still is." at some point in this exchange I had put my knife back in my belt and now I moved that hand up to cup his face, I looked into ice blue eyes.
"Well you seems perfectly healthy to me."
"That's because it's the silent assassin."
"Such shame you seem to have passed the disease on to me then." He closed the space between us and for that moment, I no longer cared about anything.