CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Outside of society...is where I wanna be

"You made it!" J said excitedly "I was hoping you wouldn't reject our invitation. He indicated me. What did I have to do with this; my face must have shown my disgust because he swooped down and pulled me up by my arm, the sheets trailing behind me. He wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me closer. The other arm held the gun towards me.

"I got myself a wonderful new henchm-, hmmm, what would you be? Yea, I got myself a partner." He smiled at me and pulled me in tight, so tight that I couldn't breathe. I pushed him away a bit but his grip was still iron. "Speaking of women, I heard you are short one. A real shame if you ask me, I know how you feel, Bats. Not to many good ones, you really have to cut through the crop." He smiled at me and pulled my cheek onto his lips. Did he just… kiss me? I stopped trying to push away from him; my body kind of went limp. I slowly brought my hand to said cheek and stared at him. He had continued his conversation like nothing had happened.

"Anyone pop out that might someday replace R-" He paused, honestly trying to remember the former assistant DA's name. I whispered Rachel to him. "Ah, Rachel. Anyone to replace that feisty little bitch?" J continued to laugh and the Batman was increasingly becoming pissed off. Well, that was an understatement. He was sweating profusely, his teeth were bared and clenched and his fists were pulsing at odd intervals. He was speechless, so it had to be bad.

It was obvious how this would play out. I was playing hostage again, only it was a gun. That scar wouldn't be healing. How had he found us? I mean, not that I'm ungrateful for the whole knight in shining armor thing, but he failed the last few times in capturing this man, what would make this time any different? He certainly failed when it came to saving me. Yea, I lived, but at what price?

I think I was actually to the point where I didn't care if I lived or died. Everything was ruined as it was, so nothing much mattered. But I did have an odd confidence that J wouldn't be killing me anytime soon. I believed what he had told me. I trusted him.

Batman took a step forward and J pressed the gun to my temple. This made him stop. "We played this before, Bats, and you lost. Wanna try again?" He asked tauntingly. The cold gun barrel traced over my scars. The scars he gave me.

His body was in a cat like attack position. His back was arch and he knees were bent and he had a deadly smirk. He glanced over at me and did a quick double take soon followed by a once over. Batman had his hand on what looked like a belt but he dared not move. I couldn't even see him breathing.

"Again with repetitiveness." He said while straitening himself. He sighed and cracked his upper back. "Hate to repeat myself." He muttered more to himself than to anyone else. The Batman and I shared confused looks.

Within a second I was thrown on top of the bed, my elbow making a satisfying crack as it hit off the head board. Batman still hadn't moved. J just stood there shifting his head between us. "I have made an executive decision." He said in his business tone. I had to stifle my laughter, he really did sound funny almost congested. My giggles went unnoticed.

He continued "Little Harleen Quinzel shall no longer be plagued by me as long as I may freely walk through that door there." He pointed with his gun and smirked darkly. He was planning something else, but I didn't know what.

"Deal" Batman grumbled. He wasn't happy, but maybe he was cut out to be my knight. J slipped his coat on and shoved his hands into his gloves. He put his hands up as he slid past the bat and I heard him shuffle down the hall.

Batman was already on his radio or whatever it was before his coat tails left the room, supposedly tipping off the police. Anonymously of course, he was still wanted for the five or so murders he had committed. I quickly slipped into what I had on last night and grabbed my things, not wanting to get involved, not needing anymore problems. That when I heard something, or someone.

They were skipping down the hall and humming something. The door still stood open and stuck my head out to see who it was. I already had an idea, his voice always sent chills down my spine and it was tingling. When he saw me, he smiled and pushed me back into the room by my head with his gun barrel. Batman spun on his heel and tried to pull me away, but his knife was already at my throat. A double threat.

"That's much better Harley, and I bet its much warmer too!" He commented on my clothing. "No need to get all bent out of shape, Batsy-boy, I just came back for my knife." He pointed to the one that I had dropped when I was in the corner. He dragged me over, grabbed it, and dragged me back to the door. He released me again and vanished. I let out a deep sigh when he made a third appearance.

"Yea, I didn't wanna have another Rachel on my hands. Not that she required any…cleaning up" He let out a huge cackle. It was the straw that broke the camel's back. Batman dove across the room and tackled him onto the floor. His small frame was pinned under the Bats massive weight. He landed a few good punches across his face, enough to draw a good amount of blood. He was just lying there, not retaliating, just laughing at him. This was infuriating him more. J sure had a talent for pissing everybody off.

"Hitting me isn't going to bring her back. She- exploded into millions of itty-bitty- tiny pieces as hunks- of shrapnel cut her- delicate body apart as she -pleaded with our White Knight. She didn't-she didn't stand a chance." His words were interrupted every few seconds that coincided with the punches thrown. Until the last sentence, that is. I just sat back, horrified. There was blood everywhere and I couldn't do anything to help him, nothing to ease the pain.

He was lifted into the air and thrown across the dresser, smashing the mirror and landing with a dull thud on the ground. He had been knocked out, hopefully nothing more. Batman was known for his non-killing ways, but I knew one day, it would have to escalate. Batman checked his pulse and tied him with some kind of rope and propped him up in the chair.

He walked over to me and held out his hand. I hesitantly took it and was pulled into a standing position. "Are you going to be alright?" He asked in his deep raspy growl.

"Yea, I'm fine. We're-I'm fine." I told him. I was shaking and started to feel like I had done something wrong, something evil, but he was treating me as a victim. In a way I was, I just had an unbelievable amount of guilt. Again, sirens came, signaling the arrival of the police. He shot a look over at the Joker and back at me. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" He asked. He really wanted out of there.

"Yea, now get out of here. You are the only thing keeping this city together. Quick, before they find you!" He rushed out the door. I quickly closed and locked it behind me and headed for my things. I was unlocking the back door when I took one glace back to see the pathetic form of J slouching in his chair. I couldn't just leave him here. At the very best, they would take him back to county so he can await transfer to Arkham. My bet is he wouldn't survive the night whether it would be fellow criminals or the cops themselves. Worst case scenario, they would just shoot him now and be done with him. I couldn't allow that.

I threw my stuff to the floor and wet a washcloth. I hurried over to him and started to pant the cold water on his face.

"Come on J, snap out of it." I smacked the side of his face and his eyes slowly began to focus on me. I had him untied and slung over my shoulder by the time he was able to comprehend what happened. "Like you said J, time to go."

I tried to carry as much of his weight as possible, but most of him was still dragging. By the time I reached the back door, I could hear gunshots littering the air. I assumed they were after the Batman. I rushed us into the car and drove off as calmly as possible. J was in the back, blanket covering him as he slept it off. After a few moments he woke himself up to throw up only to lose consciousness a moment later. He probably had a concussion and sleep wasn't helping but I couldn't do anything.

When I stopped for gas, I had an opportunity to check on him. He was still covered and my car reeked of vomit. I quickly put on a thin layer of scar putty, enough that no one would recognize me when I went in to pay.

"J, how are you feeling? Can you hear me and do you remember what happened?" I whispered to him, remembering the pain sound caused from my own experience. "Here, drink this." I handed him a bottle of water and watched him as he hungrily drank it all. He laid back down with a sigh.

" The cops didn't follow you, did they? I don't feel up to blowing up MCU again." He laughed to himself and relaxed a bit. I rubbed the still semi-wet washcloth across his face, in the process removing most of his paint.

"Where to, we're at the city limits now."

"I got this small place back in midtown. 66 Exeter Street, gray bricks. But slow down a bit this time, talk about making sharp turns." He moved up to the front with me, reclining the seat back just a bit.

"Why did you do it, why not fight back? When you were squeezing me to death before, I felt at least two guns in your pocket. Why take such a beating?"

"Don't you think I deserve it?"

"Yea, you were kinda being a jerk, but still…"

"Well, you can't always get what you want." And that was that, I could tell by his tone. "But I have a question for you, why help a fugitive, a deadly one at that? You don't trust me, do you?" He sat up very straight and intently focused on me.

"Well, first off, who's to say that they wouldn't have shot you on the spot? I believe everyone should have a fair trial, and you have yet to receive an initial hearing. They just threw you in Arkham to 'keep him out of our hair' or so I was told. You fought this far why let it go to waste." I wanted to avoid that last question and we were about 10 minutes away from our destination, so maybe if I could ramble a bit…

"You're avoid-" He interrupted. Damn.

"No, I am just thinking about it, it's not exactly the easiest answer. I trust that you have not once lied to me, I trust that in your principles, sociopathic tendencies, the sense of revenge you have because I feel those too. I trust that you will keep me safe when I'm with you. But I don't trust that you won't hurt me yourself." I pulled over, we had reached the address.

"Nor do I trust what you plan on doing with that gun." He was pulling it out of his pocket as he wiped some blood off, probably mine, on the seat.

"Yet you watch and wait. No pleas, no crying, no doubts. You do trust me, but it is more than that." He paused. "The sad thing is, my trust is limited."

He drew back his gun and hit me across the face and I blacked out yet again.

Author's Note:

So now things are getting really exciting. And I will stop concussing Harley, I promise.

A special thanks to:

Kiwi-kisses-are-sour

Platinim13

And to those that have been adding my story to their favorites and to all the readers. More to come, really soon!