"Do you love him, Angel?" Harley asked softly, moving closer to the dark-haired girl that lay next to her on the elegant bed that they shared. On Harley's other side an insane man with green hair and red lips slept fitfully. Hadley yawned and pulled their covers up to her chin. She didn't like it when Harley asked her those kinds of questions since she never knew how to answer.
"I would risk my life to save him, if that's what you mean." Hadley said slowly. It had been a long time since the Joker had claimed Harley Quinn and, by default, her younger sister-cousin as his. Hadley still remembered vividly the day Harley helped the Joker escape the asylum and essentially gave her life to him. For Hadley it was a bit different. She was lead to a chemical plant where a Harley that was somehow different than normal and the Joker pushed her into a vat of chemicals. When the two pulled her out a few moments later, she suddenly understood everything.
"Does that mean that you love him?" Harley pressed, her child-like voice masking the madness that Hadley knew was constantly filling Harley's mind. Hadley knew that at this point her best friend, cousin, and sister was as insane as the Clown Prince of Crime himself though only she could join them when her madness decided to claim her.
"I don't know." Hadley finally said, hoping that the man across the bed from her really was sleeping. She somehow doubted he would appreciate her even slight hesitance though she didn't think someone like him could feel love himself.
Hadley snapped awake from the dream that was a memory at the same time and tried to get her bearings. Her eyes were swimming but when they finally cleared, Harley's face came into view directly above her. She noticed that her head was laying in the other girl's lap and more guards than usual filled the room outside the cage. Harley's mouth broke into a grin when she noticed that Hadley had woken up.
"Hey there, sista sista, done dreaming?" She said cheerily, brushing some hair off Hadley's cheek.
"What happened?" Hadley asked, ignoring Harley's earlier statement. She wasn't sure if she had been talking in her sleep or if Harley was just joking around when she mentioned dreaming. Hadley slowly lifted herself off of her sister's lap and stretched her arms in the air. She didn't miss how several of the guards watched her closely.
"Oh you know, you went bat shit crazy again and freaked out one of the newer guards. Puddin' would be proud." Harley said sweetly, walking to the bars of the cage she was locked in and winking at one of the guards. Hadley started to comb her fingers through the knots in her hair to bide the time until one of the guards came to take her away from her sister-cousin's cage. They figured out a while ago that putting her in with Harley made the little fits that she had end sooner. Her and Harley knew that if the Joker had been with them that he would have had the opposite effect.
"What's going on?" Hadley asked, gesturing around the room at the numerous guards. Harley whipped her head around to look at Hadley and bit her lip.
"The devil is visiting today." She says slowly before distractedly pulling herself into the straps that dangle on the top bars of the cage. Hadley's forehead crinkled in confusion.
"What do you mean?" She asked, getting up to look into Harley's upside-down face as she began to twirl around in the air with the straps holding her in place.
"I mean that a devil lady came and was looking at us." Harley said with a hint of irritation in her voice. She didn't like being distracted when she started dangling gracefully from the ropes. Hadley just nodded as if in understanding, kissed Harley on the cheek, and turned towards one of the guards that stood closest to the cage.
"Can I get out now, sir?" She said slowly, leaning heavily against the bars. The guard looked at her closely.
"Are you done?" He asked skeptically, shifting from foot to another. Hadley recognized him as one of the guards that took turns keeping tabs on her and nodded eagerly.
"Completely under control, Downing." She said confidently and quickly slipped out of the cage when the door was unlocked for her. At this point, Hadley had been able to reason with Harley enough to get her to behave when the door was opened otherwise, as she had told her, they wouldn't be able to visit each other anymore. Harley's mouth had turned into a pout at the mention of Hadley no longer being put in with her on occasion and complained about how lonesome it would get. Hadley followed Downing and several of the other extra guards out of the cell block that her sister-cousin was held in and into the quiet hallway beyond.
"What devil lady was Harley talking about?" Hadley said curiously as soon as they had gotten out of earshot and looked closely at Downing's face as he responded.
"Some government lady is sniffing around here. Word is that there may be some plans for the inmates." He answered casually. Just like most of the guards, he rarely treated Hadley as if she was one of the criminals imprisoned in the maximum-security facility. Before she could question further, one of the officer's radios began to buzz with a barely distinguishable voice. She waited as he listened closely before turning to the other officers.
"We have to report to the shooting range immediately before they get Flawton out there. They want extra bodies just in case there is an incident." The officer says as soon as the buzzing from his radio stopped.
"What about me?" Hadley said in a soft voice. She decided quickly that she wanted to go with them not only to see what the big deal was but also to see the government lady that was making this day decidedly more exciting.
"You won't cause any problems?" The officer asked after a moment of thought and looked at Downing for confirmation.
"Of course not." Hadley said quickly and with a nod from Downing, the other officer shrugged and began leading the group to the exit that led into the yard.
As soon as she exited the dark, dank interior of the prison, Hadley's face tilted up to the sky, though rain splattered her face, and she breathed in deeply. She almost fell to her knees with the sheer pleasure of fresh air finally entering her lungs for the first time in months. The guards had to hurry her along so that they could reach the makeshift shooting range that had been set up in the yard. After she was under the roof, she slowly walked up to a table that held every type of firearm imaginable. Hadley's hands stayed at her sides though her fingers twitched with curiosity. What was all this?
Hadley was snapped out of her inspection of the weapons with the sound of more people approaching and she glanced up to see a middle-aged women and a younger man walking up to the small structure. Ignoring their approach, she perched herself on the edge of the table and crossed her legs delicately to wait for whatever was about to happen. Several guards were under the structure too and they were quick to get out of the way of the approaching man and women. The older woman's eyes soon found Hadley and she noticed the woman's lips twitch slightly in recognition.
"What's this?" The man said harshly pointing to Hadley who was obviously dressed as an inmate and sitting calmly on the table covered with deadly weapons with no one paying her any mind. Hadley watched with curiosity as the woman shook her head at the man.
"She's fine." She said slowly as she approached Hadley. Hadley looked her up and down and came to an immediate conclusion that Harley wasn't so far off about this woman. Something about her wasn't right.
"Amanda Waller and this is Rick Flag." The woman said as she stiffly held out her hand. After a moment of hesitation, Hadley reached out and shook it.
"Hadley." She said simply before glancing over at the man. He was watching her intently as if he expected her to reach down at any second, pick up one of the guns, and shoot them all through the skull. Hadley thought it was pretty obvious that if she wanted to do that they would all be dead already.
Her attention was pulled from the two people when a large group of guards slowly made their way out of the prison and across the yard, pulling along a tall, muscular man clothed in an orange jump suit. Hadley immediately recognized his face and a small smile pulled up the corners of her mouth as her back straightened instinctively. A small butterfly of a memory teased at the edges of her mind, but Handley quickly buried it as the man who introduced himself as Deadshot stepped under the awning of the shed. She watched with curiosity as his eyes caught hold of the weapons and an expression of part disbelief and part dark joy spread across his handsome face. After a moment, the guards around him pushed him forward and Hadley uncrosses her legs slowly to catch his attention. When Deadshot finally noticed Hadley perched on the table his mouth quirked in amusement.
"They just gonna let you sit there right next to all those guns, princess?" He said slowly not yet noticing the two unfamiliar people in their presence.
"What would I possibly do with them?" Hadley answered with an innocent look to her pink cheeks and blue eyes. Deadshot made a humming noise and nodded as if in understanding. She could see Downing watching the exchange carefully and when his gaze fell on hers, he jerked his head to signal for her to stand behind the front line. To not cause any trouble, Hadley quickly jumped down from the table and walked to his side beside Amanda Waller and Rick Flag though as she passed Deadshot her fingers trailed across his lower arm and she dropped her eyelid in a wink. She watched as he steadily kept his face neutral when Waller came to his attention but he discreetly licked his lips as she passed. Hadley wasn't quite sure what she was doing but somehow being around him caused butterflies to softly flutter in her stomach.
A short, heated conversation ensued with the chief guard arguing how terrible of an idea it was to put a gun in Deadshot's hand. Hadley watched in silent wonder and horror as Deadshot briefly pointed a gun at the man's head. She was oddly indifferent to the thought of his death with the way he treated Harley Quinn so horribly, but what startled her was the immediate chilling of Deadshot's eyes as he brought the gun level to his head; it was almost instantaneous. Hadley quickly chastised herself when she remembered he was an infamous hit-man, there would have to be something wrong with him for him to be okay with killing so many people.
His eyes remained stony though a satisfied smile filled his face as he started shooting round upon round at the targets at the other end of the shed. Hadley looked up and watched Flag as he coolly assessed the man expertly shooting the guns.
"I heard he's never missed a shot." Downing said, sounding almost in awe as he leaned down slightly to whisper to Hadley. Hadley hummed noncommittally in response, looked away briefly, and covered her ears as the harsh sounds of gunshots brought back vivid memories of a part of her life she was slowly trying to forget. A haunting laugh seemed to fill her ears and her fingers started to shake as the memory of maniacal man shoved his face in hers and whispered "Watcha gonna do, Hadley girl?"
A small touch on her shoulder broke her out of her own thoughts and she slowly opened her eyes to see Rick Flag with a somewhat indifferent look on his face.
"You alright, girl?" He asked, and Hadley slowly nodded as she blinked away the memories that raced behind her eyes.
Deadshot finished shooting every round that was available shortly after that and started making demands on behalf of his daughter. Hadley's eyes rose in disbelief at the mention of Deadshot having a child, and it somehow reminded her of the drunk remorse Harley sometimes showed at never having a child or getting married. Hadley would always respond with a soothing laugh and drunkenly, most times madly too, respond with how the two of them and Mister J were kind of already married to each other. Her sober mind would never even entertain that matter, but in the moment Harley would smear her makeup as she wiped her tears and a bright smile would spread across her face.
Hadley's stomach twisted ever so slightly when he used a pet name for Amanda Waller, but she quickly dismissed it and raised her chin stubbornly at the thought of jealously. She raised her hand in farewell with a smile she didn't realize was overwhelmingly sweet to Deadshot as the guards slowly dragged him away again. Downing noticed and quickly pushed her hand back to her side.
"He's not a good person to make friends with, Angel." He said quickly. Hadley shrugged her shoulders and looked up at him.
"If only you could have been giving me advice before now, sir." She said vaguely and turned to walk back to the prison. She had a lot to talk about with her sister-cousin.
"Just a second, Miss Quinzel." Hadley heard Waller call out. She stopped and looked over her shoulder curiously.
"I don't go by that name, ma'am." She said with her characteristic politeness as she turned to face the women. Waller blinked at her quick response.
"Angel." She corrected slowly and Hadley nodded in response to the name that the Clown Prince gave her, "I see you have all the guards pretty well wrapped around your finger."
Hadley's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Most of them are my friends." She said stiffly. Waller seemed to disregard her statement and shrugged her shoulders.
"Where I'm from it is considered a gift to be able to influence people the way you do." Waller said, somehow trying to make a point that Hadley couldn't see.
"I can't seem to influence the ones that matter." Hadley said softly, not sure if Waller even heard her, and dipped her head in acknowledgement to the powerful woman before turning to continue into the prison.
"Well, that wouldn't quite be fair, you know. If you were able to make anyone do as you want. A price must be paid for gifts, Miss Quinzel." Waller called out, and Hadley was quick to shut the iron door on the words that had been spoken to her before.
"A price must be paid for a gift like yours." Mister J once whispered in her ear vaguely after she talked down a hysteric bank official that very nearly ruined their entire operation by trying to push the button to alert the authorities. Hadley thinks she knows the price now.