Nightmare in Arkham
Chapter 17: "A Nightmare Come True"
-Inside of Barbara's mind, the Headless Horseman had brought her to the "Laff City" theatre, which had been converted into a macabre castle of black comedy. The Horseman took her inside and threw her limp body on the ground and when she looked up she saw the Joker sitting before her like a king on his thrown. Harley was sitting beside him sporting her Arkham video game design.
-"Well hello there little batty", she spat mockingly at the crippled heroin. As Barbara looked up in horror at the clown duo, the Mad Hatter entered laughing manically as he bounced off the walls like a cartoon.
-"OH BOY MISTA J! IS THIS THE ONE? THE ONE THIS IS? THE ONE CALLED 'BABS'? ISITISITISIT?!"
-"Yes Hatter" the Joker replied. He turned to Barbara, "Please forgive him; he's had a little too much to drink".
-"OH BUT MISTA J YOU KNOW HOW EXCITED I GET ABOUT WEDDINGS; ESPECIALLY WHEN I'M THE ONE WHO GETS TO JOIN THE HAPPY COUPLE! WOHO! WOHO!"
-Harley gasped with delight and brought her hands to her face. "Oh Mista J! I knew you'd pop the question sooner or later! Oh God, we are going to make so many babies and get ourselves a nice little house by the sea so we can watch the sunset everyday and-"
-Harley was cut off when the Joker knelt down to Barbara and took out a severed finger with a wedding ring on it that, much to Barbara's horror, she recognized as her father's wedding ring. The Joker bit down on the ring, pulled it off the finger, and threw the severed appendage aside.
-"Barbara 'Babs' Gordon, also known as 'Batgirl Past Tense', would you make me the happiest man alive…and be my bride?".
-As Barbara opened her mouth to scream "No" at the top of her lungs, the Mad Hatter stuck a pair of grinning, false teeth in her mouth. The back of the teeth had a clamp that bit down of Barbara's tongue, restricting her speech to nothing but pained, muffled screams.
-"OH Yes Mista J. I would love to be nothing more than your little 'woopie cushion'!" The Mad Hatter stated in imitation of Barbara's impeded scream.
-Barbara could only scream her sobs of pain as the tears rolled down her forcefully grinning face.
-"Oh! It's so beautiful! She's crying with joy!" The Mad Hatter shouted joyously.
-Harley looked wounded. "What the hell?! You two-timing son of a bitch!" Harley took out a mallet and started to violently strike the Joker with it but the Joker didn't even notice. "I loved you, slaved for you, and this is how you-" The Joker took out a shotgun and blasted Harley right in the chest directly over her heart, which exploded as her broken corpse slammed against a wall.
MEANWHILE…
-Poison Ivy's heart felt like it had exploded on the inside. She sat upright with her hand covering her chest. She didn't say a word because Harley's had said it all: she didn't give a shit about her; she probably cared for her just as much as the Joker did her. She looked down at her thumb, which still bared the cut that she had made so that she could set Harley free from those monsters that tried to hurt her: just a mark of wasted flesh and blood.
-Harley was guilt stricken. She didn't mean to shout that name. It just sort of happened. "Red…Red please-"
-"Just go", Ivy said with hurt in her voice. She did not look at Harley.
-"Red please, look at me," Harley pleaded grabbing Ivy by the shoulders. Ivy just jerked away and swatted Harley's hands.
-"Red I didn't mean it! You're my best friend! You're like a mother to me Red! I won't leave you!"
-Yes you will. You'll leave me just like you've done since the day we met. And then when that bitch hurts you, you'll come crawling back to me. And then you'll leave me all over again because I'll always be second rate to you. I really am just a tool to you after all.
-"Red!"
-"Just leave me alone!" Ivy snapped at her.
-Harley felt defeated. There was nothing she could do right now. But she still didn't want to leave her friend. She decided the best thing to do would be to return to the guest room Ivy always had prepared for her whenever she would visit and wait for her to cool off. Then maybe she would listen to her.
-Harley frowned and started to walk away. After she took a few steps from her friend she turned and, very sincerely, said, "I love you, Red".
-Ivy still didn't look at her. Her body tensed up as she cringed. She couldn't take anymore of Harley's lies.
-When Harley made it to the vine door and stepped out of the Eden, she heard Ivy's loud, agonized screams echo through the room. Oh God! What have I've done! Harley thought to herself.
-Harley ran down the corridor with her hands covering her face as she wept. When she was back inside the greenhouse, she burst into the guest room, slammed the door, threw herself onto the large, white bed on the far side of the room opposite the door, and sobbed into the mattress.
-Ivy's Eden had become a place of hell for her. She felt the need to cry but still refused to do so. And she could not vent her anger by beating her surroundings because that would entail harming her children. A part of her wanted to beat Harley but the other part of her knew that would make her just like the Joker. With no place to turn, Ivy could only scream like a wounded animal into the jungle. She grabbed at her own hair, her breathing became strained, and she fell to her knees. Then, after a few moments when her mind cleared a bit, she remembered the marijuana that she had stored close by. But that alone was not going to help her. She went over to a garden patch that housed nothing but pot leaves and mixed it with various hallucinogenic liquids from the plants surrounding the area. She then walked into a hollow tree that had been converted into a sort of makeshift steam room and tossed the drug onto the fire and the room quickly filled with mind numbing fumes. Soon, Ivy's senses became nullified and she allowed herself to slip out of reality.
-After fifteen minutes had gone by Harley was still crying. She had propped herself up against the bed frame and held her hands to her face as she wept. I can't do anything right. All I wanted to do was make people happy. But all I ever do is hurt people. Maybe I'm not meant to be good.
-Suddenly, Harley heard a voice call her name. It sounded like a child's voice but Harley could not tell where it was coming from. When it called her again, she got up off the bed and walked out of the room.
-"Hello?" Harley called out, "Red, is that you?" There was no answer.
-Harley walked toward the corridor dreading the inevitable encounter with Ivy. As she slowly walked toward the vine door, she heard the voice call her name again. Harley swallowed nervously as she continued her approach. When she finally reached the entrance she stopped in front of it, terrified to cross behind it. She slowly brought a reluctant hand to the vines to push them aside but hesitated for a moment before her hand made contact. After working up some courage she pushed the vines aside and walked through them. However, instead of Poison Ivy's Eden, she found herself right in the middle of the Arkham Asylum cellblocks.
-Harley gasped. She turned around and, much to her surprise, she was standing right outside of her cell. The inside of it had been completely trashed. The bed had been pulled from the wall and the mattress has been ripped to pieces, the mirror on her wall had been shattered and Harley covered her mouth in horror as she stared at her reflection in the shards, and the walls had been riddled with graffiti that said things like "TRAITOR!" "LAIR!" "SLUT!", etc., and in the middle of the room Harley noticed a Queen of Hearts poker card that had been ripped in half. Harley remembered she had told Dr. Leland to give that card to Alice and a terrible though leaped into Harley's mind. Oh God! I hurt her too!
-Harley backed away from the cell and she felt herself bump into something. She turned around and saw Kristen standing behind her.
-"It's you!" Harley said surprised.
-"Harley, Harley you have to leave now," Kristen said anxiously.
-"Kristen, what's going on? How did I wind up here?"
-"There's no time to explain! He knows you're here! I can't protect you from him!"
-"Kristen, please you have to-" suddenly, the sound of scraping echoed in the darkness. Harley turned around and saw a shadowed figure walking toward her.
-"Harley run!" Kristen shouted.
-Harley grabbed Kristen and ran as fast as she could down the hallway. Before Harley reached the end, Kristen faded from her arms and Harley watched dumb-founded as Kristen was sucked into the figure's body. After a second or 2 Harley continued to run. Harley looked back to see how far ahead she was from her stalker but when she turned back around, she saw it coming from her direction. She froze in horror as the figure stepped into the light…and Harley was face to face with Alice. She was dressed in her work clothes and looked at Harley with wide eyes and a frown and she also had a lit cigarette in her lips. She did not move or speak.
-"M-Misses J?" Harley said nervously. Alice took the cigarette out of her mouth and blew the smoke in Harley's face causing her to cough.
-Harley broke down and threw her arms around Alice, but Alice did not move. "Oh please! Please forgive me! I wanted you to help me, but I…I was kidnapped". Harley looked into Alice's eyes, which retained their sadness. Harley's mouth slackened and she placed a hand on Alice's cheek. "Misses J, please hear me out, please. You're one of my best friends and I love you. I didn't mean to hurt you".
-After a few moments, Alice slowly lifted her hand and gently placed it on Harley's and smiled. Harley felt relief course through her and she began to smile as well. Then suddenly, Alice grabbed Harley's hand in a vice-grip and, before Harley even knew what was happening, Alice swung Harley to the side and hurled her through the glass door of one of the cells. But instead of landing in the cell, Harley was sent plummeting down a staircase inside of red-lighted room.
-The scars on Harley's back were wracked with pain from being slammed into the metal stairs and when Harley looked back up she saw Alice slowly walking toward her. She was no longer in her work clothes, but in her fighting clothes and her hair was tied up in a ponytail. As she casually walked toward Harley, she took her cigarette out and blew smoke like nothing had happened. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped in front of Harley and stared down at her. Harley stared back frozen with fear.
-Suddenly, Alice's blank expression turned to anger and she kicked Harley in the face with the sole of her black, leather boot and sent her to the ground.
-"Such a disappointment," she said bitterly. Alice leaned her face into Harley and Harley closed her eyes and forced herself to look away from Alice's fire furled eyes. "After I saved you from death, took you in, looked after you like a mother, tried to fix the loose screws in that messed up little brain of yours, you have the nerve to walk out on me?!" She shouted at Harley.
-"NO! Please, listen to me-"
-"I told you I wouldn't let anyone else harm you again, and in turn you completely broke my heart. Don't you think my heart has taken enough abuse already?!"
-"Yes!"
-"Then why did you leave me?! Huh?!"
-"BECAUSE RED KIDNAPPED ME! SHE TRIED TO TURN ME AGAINST YOU! YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!" Harley screamed through tears.
-There was a long silence. Eventually, Harley worked up enough courage to open her eyes. She slowly looked up and Alice had vanished. Now, standing in Alice's place, was Poison Ivy. Harley gasped in horror.
-"How dare you," Ivy said angrily.
-"Red…how-"
-"How many times have you come crawling to me like the insect that you are? 'Oh Red, Mista J threw me out again! But I'll go back to him so he can smack my ass around some more, because he loves me reeeeeally!" She mockingly imitated Harley. Then suddenly, Harley's fear turned to anger. First she forces Harley back into crime, turns her new friend against her, and then uses her pain from the past to mock her? Now she had gone too far. Harley quickly rose to her feet and slapped Ivy across the face so hard that the sound echoed through the room.
-The force of the slap had caused Ivy's head to rotate off to the side. As soon as the red handprint on her cheek faded, Ivy slowly turned her head back to Harley. She now had an evil smile on her face that caused Harley to back away in fear. Ivy chuckled at Harley. "Why thank you, may I have another?"
-Now Harley was scared again. "Red, What's wrong with you?!"
-"Nothing dear", Ivy said sweetly, "I just wanted some more love".
-Harley stammered as she backed away, "I…I-"
-"Oh, come now Harley-kins," Ivy said as she slowly started to walk toward her frightened friend, "You even told me so yourself: 'love hurts.' So I guess the Joker truly does love you more than me. I mean, all I've done is pamper you. And what has he done?" Ivy stopped for a second and tapped her finger on her chin in deep thought "Hmmm," then, she turned back to Harley. "First, there's all the times he hit you!"
-On Ivy's right hand, which had been clenched in a fist, her pinky finger shot out straight and, out of no where, Harley was struck by a pain that felt like a thousand hands and fist all striking her in the face at the same time. Her eye went black, her lips became bloody and swollen, and her nose began to ooze blood. Harley screamed in agony and covered her face in her hands. When she pulled them away she stared horror stricken at her hands covered in her own blood.
-"Then, there's all the times he threw you on the curve" Ivy said as she straightened her ring finger. Then, Harley was struck by another pain all over her body, leaving skid marks, brush burns, and even a few fractured bones. Harley fell down on her left knee sobbing.
-"Please stop, please," She begged through her tears.
-"And then there was the time he broke your leg" Ivy said extending her index finger. The bone in Harley left leg broke in half with a crunching noise. Harley screamed a gut-wrenching cry of pain that sounded throughout the room and echoed for quite sometime before falling onto her side with tears gushing from her eyes. Ivy walked right up to her and looked down on her, smiling. She held up her hand, which still had her three fingers raised.
-"But this one…this one is my favorite: the time when you just didn't get the joke." Harley's eyes widened in horror as the memory of that horrid experience popped into her mind. But before she even had a chance to open her mouth, Ivy extended her middle finger and Harley's body was sent flying off of a 15-foot ledge. The stitches on her back split apart, re-opening her wounds, and then her arms, head, neck, and back were struck with a slashing pain that felt like glass shards tearing at her skin, which left more cuts in their place. Then Harley landed on the ground with a force that fractured six of her vertebra. The pain caused Harley to go temporarily deaf and blind and she could not hear her own screams escape her throat until her voice gave out. Then her sight and hearing slowly returned.
-Harley weakly tilted her head up and saw Ivy looking down on her as her body towered over hers'. Ivy grabbed Harley and sat her up against a wall. "But, those are all just my personal favorites. What about you? I'm sure you must have quite a collection of fond memories of you and your loving 'Puddin'," Ivy said while raking her four extended fingers on her right hand across top of Harley's head.
-Harley didn't have the strength to scream, all she could do was weakly shake her head with her eyes pleading for mercy.
-"No? Well then", Ivy said as she stood up in front of Harley, her 4 fingers still extended. "I guess we'll just have to chose all of them!"
-Ivy held up her left hand alongside her right and shot up all 10 of her fingers. Harley's entire body was dealt a shockwave of excruciating pain that came from every single physical abuse the Joker had ever dealt her. Harley couldn't even tell if her body was whole anymore, for she could no longer feel most parts of her body.
-Ivy looked down on Harley in disgust. "I'm disappointed in you, Harley. You disrespected me. I could have given you a nice home, away from all those degenerates. But I blame myself; I should have known you'd turn away from me! YOU ARE LIKE THE BIG STUPID DOG WHO KEEPS RUNNING AWAY! EVEN THOUGH YOUR MASTER SAYS 'IT'S TIME TO COME HOME!"
-Then Ivy let out a chuckle, but this was not her chuckle, but rather a deep, male chuckle. Harley closed her eyes and when she opened them, Ivy had turned into the Joker, who stood over her dropping a crowbar in and out of the palm of his hand like a policeman with a baton. "So now, it's time to put this 'bad dog' to sleep."
-Harley's mouth hung open in horror. This was just like her nightmare!
-"FOR GOOD!" He shouted as he raised the crowbar over his head. Harley tried to crawl away but, before she could get both of her hands on the ground, the Joker slammed the crowbar down on Harley's right leg and broke it causing Harley to fall back in place. Harley couldn't scream but her mouth still opened in an attempt to do so. The Joker grabbed Harley's face and pulled it forward so she would meet his eyes. "Ya know something, Puddin, it's been a real hoot. But I'm afraid you've worn out your usefulness to me. In fact, you've been a waste of my time since the day I tricked you into setting me free", Harley's eyes shot open. The Joker had been using her after all, "And now, it's time for you to take your medicine".
-Harley was helpless as the Joker struck her again and again with the crowbar, bruising and cutting flesh, breaking bones, and puncturing organs. As the life started to drain out of Harley, the Joker grabbed her by the throat and held her up in the air, only it didn't feel like the Joker's hands, nor did the chuckle that followed.
-Harley opened her eyes and the last thing she saw was Freddy's face, smiling at her. Freddy brought his right hand up and flicked his claws out. "Now then," Freddy said as he placed the tip of his index blade directly on Harley's cheek, "Let's put a smile on that face!" Then, just like in her nightmare, everything went black.
About an hour later, Poison Ivy stepped out of the Eden and began to walk down the corridor. The drugs had cleared her head and her anger had been lifted. The problem now was that her anger had been replaced with a large amount of guilt. So what if Harley had shouted the wrong name? Harley's mind couldn't concentrate for more than a few minutes so maybe she just said the wrong thing while her mind was clouded from her pleasure. And maybe, just maybe, Ivy had been a little jealous of Harley getting a new friend. And after all those years Ivy had spent pressuring her to find someone who would treat her respectively, Ivy guessed she never thought her friend would actually do it, and this made her realize that she was content to not have any competition for so long. Now able to see her own selfishness, Ivy slapped a hand to her face as she walked out of corridor and into the greenhouse.
-When Ivy put her hand down, she noticed Harley's shirt was still sitting on the couch. "Oh thank God! She's still here," Ivy said to herself with relief.
-Ivy walked down a small hallway until she reached the room that she had made up for Harley and gently tapped on the door. "Harley?" there was no response.
-"Hey Harley, it's me" Ivy sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, that whole mess back there was my fault not yours'. You're my best, oh hell, my only friend, Harley. Can we talk?" There was still no response. Ivy's throat started to tighten.
-"Harley please, I know you're in there. Just please, I…I swear, I will never hurt you again. And I sure as hell won't let anyone else do it either. Can I come in, please?" Still no reply.
-Ivy thought that maybe Harley had fallen asleep, but still, she was scared to enter the room and face her friend. She slowly brought a trembling hand up to the doorknob, but hesitated before touching it. After Ivy regained her nerve, she slowly turned the knob and the door opened with a loud creaking noise. The room was pitch black inside but the little light from the doorway enabled Ivy to see outlines in the room and Ivy saw Harley's outline. Harley was sitting up right against the bed frame. Her head was tilted but she didn't look like she was in the right position to be asleep. Ivy looked at her confusingly for a moment.
-"Harley?" Ivy waited. When no response came, she turned on the light…