Everything was making sense now, but in a way that made no sense at all. He knew now what she was after, but he couldn't figure out why. The rising gothic exterior gates of Arkham Asylum rose up on the road before him, writhing and slithering as if brought to life. As the headlights reached them he saw the vines crawling up over the wrought iron, reinforcing it to resist intrusion, with the flick of a button and the toss of a lever the car plunged forward, belching flame and frying the vines that attempted to hold it back as it crashed through the gates. The vehicle roared up the central drive and shrieked to a halt with smoke billowing from the raw tires as he leapt out of the vehicle and raced for the massive double doors.
The doors flew open with a crash as he barreled into the front lobby. Instantly he was overwhelmed by greened guards, their bloodshot eyes making them look like the most pathetic of sinus allergy victims as they lunged for him jabbing with stun batons and swinging riot sticks. He hated dealing with Ivy because of this; Ivy, Hatter, Scarecrow, they didn't fight like criminals, they wormed into the minds of innocent people and turned them into raving lunatics, making them fight with the ferocity of rabid animals. These men were not in their right minds, they would never attempt to hurt him under normal circumstances, but now they were doing their best to ensure he didn't survive the night.
He was as gentle as he could be while avoiding injury to himself, which wasn't as gentle as he would have liked. He had to slow down, using concussive blows and nerve jabs, attacks that would incapacitate without causing serious injury to the victims. After 20 minutes, and what he estimated was nearly half of Arkham's security staff, he had cleared the lobby. He straightened up and rolled his shoulders then stumbled forward as a final guard caught him from behind in a bear hug grip. With a jerk of his head the dark knight brought his armored head back in a reverse headbutt, he heard the unpleasant crack of a shattering nose and grimaced in disapproval at the damage dealt as Captain Marlow tumbled to the ground unconscious. He lost another 2 minutes as he bent over the incapacitated guard captain and popped his nose back into proper alignment, hoping that it would help ensure an easier recovery.
Two hallways later the Batman entered the first checkpoint for the secure facilities. As he stepped into this more heavily fortified room he was met by a slurping sound and turned his gaze toward the enclosed guard desk built against the back wall of the room. Inside the desk chamber Harley Quinn was sipping on a can of soda through a bendy straw and using one of the security TV's to watch an episode of True Blood. His presence almost went unnoticed at first but as he drew near she turned her head then jumped out of her seat with a shriek of delight, abandoning her cola to the floor while the straw was still clenched between her lips and teeth.
"B-MAN! Ya made it," the once brilliant psychiatrist exclaimed, her voice muffled slightly by the straw impeding her pronunciation, "Red didn't think they'd slow ya down long but I was startin' to wonder if maybe one'a those goons got lucky!"
The Batman's eyes narrowed as he advanced on the security desk, one well planted sonic batarang would shatter the glass then he could follow through with a lunge, deliver a palm side smack to her ear and a headbutt for good measure. He could drop her in under two minutes…
"Where is she, Harley?"
"Uhmm," she stalled, scratching her head and pinching her tongue between her teeth in thought, "Which one, Red, or the Doc?"
He paused in his stride, caught off guard by the question. His hands tightened into fists while his eyes narrowed to razor thin slits behind the cowl.
"What have the two of you done with Hazel Birch?"
"Oh Red didn't do anythin' with her, B-man!" Harley piped with a cheerful smile, "But me… Well come ON, B! She's harpin' in on my bit! That just don't sit right… Can't say I like her too much."
"Where is she, Quinn?" he snarled, the intensity in his voice ratcheting up several notches as his every step forward seemed to strike with the force of a military drum beat.
"Lemme think… Red's in the garden, but I imagine ya already figured that one, huh, B?"
His lips pulled back into a snarl that would make the meanest of dogs cower. Harley shrank back slightly at the sight, smile wilting as she quickly pointed toward a secondary door on the far side of the room. He whirled on his heel and made for the door, leaving Harley making faces at him from behind the 'safety' of the glassed in desk chamber. He punched in the door code on the keypad with the practiced ease of Arkham's own security staff. There wasn't a room in the facility he couldn't get into from at least three different avenues, even the ones a normal person would never think of as a viable entrance.
The door hissed open to reveal a long hallway that accessed several employee chambers, the lounge, two offices, a filing room, and several therapy review rooms. He took a step into the hall and the door slammed closed behind him, shutting so fast that it almost caught the scalloped edges of his cape; whirling about he turned and tried the access code. The friendly chime that played when access was granted was replaced by the crude buzz of denial from the keycode pad.
He retrieved for the palm computer from his built and accessed the key generator, he could be back through the door in under 5 minutes if he started now, but a noise drew his attention. There was a soft whimpering from the far end of the corridor, not quite a proper sob but something close. He turned around and started down the corridor, as he neared the end of it he noticed a pale light flickering under the crack of the last door on the right. The plaque next to the door read "Review Station 3" and a secondary notice requested quiet during footage review. He tried the knob and the door creaked open, obviously Harley wasn't too worried about anyone finding Dr. Birch before the damage was done.
Hazel was bound to a chair by duct tape and gagged the same way. Her eyelids had been taped open a pair of headphones had been secured to her head, leaving her looking rather like a silver mummy. In front of her two of the three flat screen TVs were active, on the left he saw familiar footage of Dr. Harleen Quinzel speaking with the Joker during a therapy session, and on the opposite screen a similar scene of Dr. Birch speaking with Poison Ivy. Over the center screen Harley had taped a piece of paper with big capitol letters in vibrant red ink reading: SHE USED YOU!
Hazel was trembling in her chair, tears were rolling down her cheeks and her bottom eyelids fluttered wildly in a desperate attempt to shut her eyes and stop watching the screen, as though the images were a poison seeping into her mind. The crusader leaned over her and hit the power button on the monitor system, then turned to the doctor. Her watery eyes looked up at him pleadingly, anguished remorse contorting her face in a fit of overwhelming emotion that intensified as he carefully removed the duct tape that was holding her eyelids unnaturally wide. The moment he removed the duct tape over her mouth she started babbling desperate apologies and explanations at such an incoherent rate that he had to cover her mouth to stop her.
"Slow down, breath, and tell me what happened."
"She just wanted to see him so badly, and she seemed so much better and I just! I didn't think, I couldn't think! It was like she–"
"She got in your head."
"I didn't… I didn't know… I thought it only worked on men!"
"Pheromones are just a tool for her, doctor. Getting under peoples skin, getting into their heads, it's what she does. You aren't the first, you won't be the last… Strangely enough… Quinn did you a favor."
Doctor Birch looked up at him aghast and he nodded to the now blank monitor screens.
"The Joker used her, the same way Ivy's been using you, but there was no one there to warn Harley about the danger she was in or show her what the Joker was doing to her. In malevolent sort of way, she may have saved you from the same fate or worse…Ivy's puppets have a shorter life expectancy than winter flowers."
The Dark Knight charged back up the corridor toward the locked down doorway with his encryption key at the ready and Dr. Birch right on his heels.
"If Quinn is still there I'll take her the moment we go through the door. Once she's out of the way go straight to the security room. The way is clear; I've already taken care of the guards. When you reach the security center put everything in lockdown, cells, offices, all of it. Until I have Ivy under control anyone in the Asylum could be a threat to himself and others," he said as he prepared to open the door. "No matter what happens, once you're in the security room stay there and wait until we've regained control of the asylum, understand?"
"Yes!"
"As soon as I have Quinn you move, follow my instructions and don't leave that room until I or James Gordon come to get you. For now… Stay behind me."
A Note from the Author!
Hello everyone,
I'd like to apologize for the abhorrent delay in getting the end of this story out for all of you to read.
A trinity of family emergencies the likes of which could only happen in real life has kept me very busy.
On the plus side, it's given me wonderful inspirations for just how bizarre life can be.
Seriously, who could anticipate Cancer, Heart Disease, and Schizophrenia to all rear their ugly heads in various members of your family within months of one another?
Things are beginning to settle down again and I hope to have my baby hear blossoming into a full grown story before March ends.
Cheers to all of you readers who have stuck around, I'll try not to disappoint you with my conclusion!