In Love With A Good Man

Chapter 18: Joker's Ex

Another night out Joker hunting with Batman: the 10th night in a row.

Finally, Harley felt like she was starting to readjust to this schedule – being up at night and sleeping during the day. She was expecting more of the same mundane detective work tonight, but that expectation changed quickly when they arrived at the next hideout location that she had provided.

On the roof of a building across from where the next Joker hideout was located, Harley noticed a promising sign: guards posted outside at certain locations. They were doing their best to be subtle, but she recognized the formation they were in.

"Hey, B-Man! There's guards outside! This could be the big break we've been lookin' for!" She pointed out.

"There's a good chance we've finally found the Joker." Batman acknowledged, crouching down and tapping two fingers lightly against the right side of his cowl.

"Well what're we waiting for?! Let's bust in there and finish this!"

"Not yet. I need confirm that he's in there and how many men he's got with him first." Batman said. He stood up and shot his grapple gun across the street to the roof of the building in question.

"Uuugh! Well what am I supposed to do then?!" Harley asked impatiently.

"Wait here." He answered her shortly before zipping across the street. After knocking out the guards outside, he climbed onto the roof of Joker's hideout and found an air duct to open up and crawl into.

"Great! Just great!" Harley threw her hands up. She sighed irritably and sat down, swinging her dangling legs over the edge of the roof. She pulled her phone out and sent a quick message to Ivy.

"Hey luv. It looks like we might've found Joker's hideout. Here's the location if ya wanna join the party. Or you could pack my stuff for me! Thanks in advance" She added a heart and a kissy face emoji to the end of the text.

Suddenly, Batman zipped back to her, making her flinch in surprise, "Jeez, Batsy! I almost dropped my phone 'cause of you!" She exclaimed before putting her phone away and quickly getting to her feet.

"Joker's in there. It's time to move. Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah! About time!" Harley said.

"Hold onto me. You'll go in through the front door."

Harley grabbed hold of her hammer and then held onto Batman. He used the grapple gun to quickly lower her down to the street below. Once both feet were on the ground, he zipped back up to the vent and crawled in. Meanwhile, Harley swung her hammer onto her shoulder and marched right up to the front door.

"Oh, Mr. J!" Harley called out before busting the front doors open with her hammer. She knocked them off their hinges and stepped inside. "Guess who came a-knockin'!"

For the first time in months, Harley Quinn was right back in her element; what she was used to. She raced past armed men with guns, smacking them with her hammer and kicking them in the head. It was unfortunate that she recognized some of them men she was attacking, but it's not like it made any difference now.

"What the?! It's Harley! She's working with the Batman!" One of Joker's men realized when he saw what she was doing. He raised his gun up and pointed it right at her. However, Batman used one of his batarangs to knock the gun out of his hands before he could fire it at her.

"Whoa! Thanks for the assist, Bat-brain!" Harley laughed. She hoisted her hammer back over her shoulder and ran deeper into the hideout, already lining herself up for the next swing.

"Boss! Batman's ambushing us! What do we do?!" She heard another henchman yelling down the hall.

"You should already know the answer to that! Get out there and shoot him down!" Joker said in response.

She hadn't heard Joker's voice in quite some time now. But she was so familiar with it that it was unmistakable to her. She knew exactly where he was: to her right, down the hall, second door on the left. It was time to face him again...

Maybe she'd get lucky and be able to kill him.

Harley turned right and ran down the hall just as Joker's henchman was coming out of the second door on the left. His eyes widened in surprise at seeing her coming his way. Before he could do anything, Harley jumped into the air and kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

"The jig is up, Mr. J!" She shouted, now standing in the door frame. She clutched the handle of her hammer even tighter.

There he was: Joker. He was standing inside of a room full of his various toys and weapons. He was loading up a comically large pistol and taking a moment to polish it before even turning his head to address her. When he saw her, he looked a little surprised, but then he smiled at her.

"Well well, Harley! Welcome back, kiddo! You sure picked a helluva moment to come back, darlin'! Your timing couldn't be better!" He said with a laugh.

"I'm not here to help you anymore! Give up now and I might be nice and not bash your brains all over the wall!" She threatened. Joker tilted his head a little.

"Haha, come on now, Harley. It seems my crew is just full of the most unfunny jokes today. Oh I get it, you're still a little mad about me kicking you out before, right? Well hey, I'm happy to let bygones be bygones and take you right back." He said.

"Now whose being unfunny." Harley quipped, raising her hammer again. Joker's eyes narrowed on her.

"What did you say?" He raised his gun at her. Harley's eyes widened; she realized that she didn't have anything to protect her from the shot.

She shrieked and ducked back behind the door frame, stepping away from it. Just as she moved away, Joker's gun tore off the left side of the frame, punching a small hole in the concrete wall along with it. Harley only had a few seconds to get the gun away from him.

Harley jumped back into the room and threw her hammer at Joker. It hit him right in the shoulder, making him stumble and causing him to drop the gun. He yelped in surprise. Harley ran inside the armory and tried to kick him. Joker caught her leg and pushed her to the floor.

"Oh I see. You've joined sides with Batman just to spite me, huh? Right, honey?" Joker grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up, "I thought you knew better than to make an enemy out of me!" He growled and punched her.

"Ahh!" Harley shouted and hit the floor again. She groaned in pain, "I'm sick of your crap, Joker! Quit pretending like you care about me!" She spat back at him.

"Oh it pains me to do this, believe me." Joker said as he reached for the nearest gun.

Harley turned and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to topple to the ground on top of her. He growled angrily and tried to grab her by the neck. Harley clawed at his face and tried to kick him in his ribs to get him off of her.

"So this is how you repay me, you little rat? I should've known! You just had too much fun, didn't you? What? Was it your little redhead friend? Have you forgotten how I took care of you?!" He punched her again.

"I gave you everything I had, Mr. J! Choosing to be your loyal partner was the worst choice I ever made!" Harley shouted tearfully at him, scratching at his eye. This was enough to finally get him to pull off of her.

"You call this loyalty, you little scamp?!" Joker growled, going for a weapon again. Harley scrambled to her feet and kicked him in the arm, forcing him to fight her hand to hand again.

"I loved you with everything I had! And you never valued me for even a second! I'm just some sexy cheerleader without a single thought in her head to you!" Harley yelled at the top of her voice. She kicked him back and, although her vision was blurred by tears, she picked up her hammer.

"Don't act like you didn't know what you were getting into! Something's changed." Joker realized, punching her again.

"Gah! You wanna know what's changed?! I don't love you anymore!" Harley yelled and swung her hammer at him again. This time, she hit him square in the side and knocked him through a viewing window by the nearest wall.

Although she put all of her power into that swing, she knew it wouldn't keep Joker down too long. She was still dazed from all the shots to the face that she had taken from Joker, but she was determined to end this. She dragged her hammer to the next room where Joker had landed.

She thought the fight would continue, but she was completely caught off guard by Joker recovering a lot faster than she expected. When she came around, he was already back on his feet. One of his henchmen up above was throwing a gun down to him.

Her eyes widened as Joker immediately pointed the gun at her. Harley started to move back, but the shots were already ringing out...

But before they could hit her, suddenly a huge plant vine came out of the ground, shielding her from the incoming bullets. Harley stumbled and fell back in surprise. From out of nowhere, Poison Ivy ran to her side and helped her get up.

"Harley! Get up! You gotta get outta here!" She yelled, urging for Harley to turn and run the other way.

"Red! Wait, no! I've gotta-I've gotta finish this!" She insisted, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

"You're gonna get yourself killed if you keep trying to fight like this!" Ivy argued.

"Then let me take him down with me!" Harley stubbornly tried to advance again.

"Harley," Ivy stopped her, taking hold of her arms. "This isn't about him. This is about making sure you're safe." She reminded her. Harley swallowed and teared up again. She nodded her head.

"Thank you," She said thankfully, giving her a brief hug before turning around and running away. "Don't die!" She yelled back to Ivy.

"You too!" Ivy called back to her...

Ivy turned around and opened up the plant vine she had used to shield Harley. She walked through to the other side to find that Joker had already been subdued by Batman. He was sitting on the floor with his hands tied behind his back and his feet also tied together.

"Isley. What are you doing here?" Batman questioned her immediately once she revealed herself.

"Good to see you too, Batman," Ivy responded teasingly as she made her way over to Batman and Joker. "I thought I'd come by and say hello. I didn't want to miss seeing the clown lose again."

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here." Batman said.

"I was just about to say the same thing. You helped Harley plan this, didn't you?" Joker narrowed his eyes on her.

"It was all her. But I appreciate you giving me that much credit," Ivy smiled and crouched down to be closer to eye level with Joker. "Have fun back in the asylum, Joker. I hope you take comfort in knowing that this time, no one will miss you." She mocked him while stroking his chin.

"Heh, soon you'll be right in there with me. Maybe we'll buddy up in there like old times." Joker chuckled.

"Ugh," Ivy rolled her eyes and stood up again. "They'll have to put me on suicide watch first. You're so annoying.." She said, turning and walking away from them.

"What're you waiting for, Batsy? Go get her!" Joker said, kicking at Batman's shin.

"He already has his prize for the night. I don't think he wants to risk losing it this time. After all, he has his own deal to uphold. Right?" Ivy subtly reminded Batman as she stepped back into her vine, "But I look forward to our next meeting, Batman." She blew him a kiss before the vine closed up and pulled her underground...

The whole way home, Harley found herself breaking into tears again and again. She couldn't even really pin down why right now: tonight had been full of emotions. On the one hand, she was glad it was over, but on the other hand, she hated that things had to end so badly.

But then again, she had something much better waiting for her at home.

She wasted no time walking all the way back to Casey's house. It was extremely late at night when she knocked on his door, or maybe it was very early in the morning. Either way, Casey looked like he had just gotten out of bed when he answered the door.

There was Harley Quinn standing on her doorstep, her outfit dirty and makeup running down her face from how much she had been crying. He could still see her beautiful blue eyes despite the welt that was swelling up on her left cheek.

"H-Harley! What happened to you?!" He asked in concern, immediately bringing her inside and closing the door.

"We got 'im, Casey. It's all over now." She said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"...what? Really? I-It's like...over over now?"

"Yes. He's going back to Arkham. We're safe now, and my deal with the Bat's done now."

"Oh good. Thank goodness." Casey sighed in relief. Harley wrapped her arms around Casey's neck and hugged him tightly.

"Now we can be together." She said happily, resting her face in his chest. Casey wrapped his arms around her and held her to him.

"Glad to hear it." He said simply in response, stroking her hair soothingly...