The Harlequin and the Bat

This is the story sequel to: The Harley and The Ivy.

Important notes: I do not own Batman or any portion of the franchise. I give all credit to DC Comics and respective owners.

Warning: Violent scenes to come. These stunts are done by highly trained professionals and should not be imitated by anyone. Except those proficient in martial arts training and weapons, even then it shouldn't be imitated.

Chapter 12

The flashback continues as Bill told Bruce and the others what he and Dick learned at Arkham. Learning this Bruce tracks Harleen, secluding himself into his work.

After day three Bill and Dick return to Arkham, only they are greeted with a heavy armed guard.

"Waller?" Bill asked

"Could be…she must've learned about us asking about the toxin." Dick explained

"And if she discovers Harleen, she'll be thrown into the Squad before we can say the name of that dwarf/pixie guy with the crazy name." Bill said

"You mean Mister Mxyzptlk?" Dick asked

"…Yeah, him." Bill answered

As Dick and Bill enter they are confronted by Amanda Waller's Guards…definitely not a good thing.

"Where are you going?" the guard said

"I'm here to see a friend." Bill answered

"Johnathan Crane?" the guard asked again

"No, Edward Nigma." Bill lied

The guards looked at the roster and allowed them in. But they followed them intently.

"We're not going to lose these guys…we've got to ditch them." Dick whispered

"I'll distract them, you get Edward…" Bill said "I've already been in before." Bill turned around and asked "Hey boys, want to see stars?"

"Huh? oof!" the guards asked then were knocked out.

"Enhanced strength, you've got to love it." Bill said "We've got about five minutes let's move!" Bill said getting Johnathan Crane via the phone.

But he was already in the interrogation room. Inside was an African American woman in a business suit, who was asking about Harley Quinn. Crane was denying everything he knew but she didn't believe him "Crap! Is that Waller? Not what I imagined her to be."

"What did you imagine her to be?" Dick asked arming a smoke bomb

"I don't know…army suits, guns, crazy tech…not that." Indicating that he thought Amanda Waller was an army sergeant instead of an American Governor.

"Yeah, some people think that too." Dick answered "fire in the hole." Dick threw a smoke bomb that disoriented Waller and her guards. Bill knocked them out while Dick nerve pinched her to unconsciousness.

"Okay you've got to teach me that. Crane you okay?" Bill said

"*Cough* Well besides getting a development of asthma I'm fine. What's going on with Miss Quinn?" Crane coughed

"Harleen is still on a rampage. She took out thirty of Calendar Mans goons out the other day. What's up with her? I thought you said that the toxin worked for three days then the dominant side takes over?" Dick said

"Yes, Waller asked that as well. The serum has an unusual effect on people with either broken minds or high will strength like the Bat. Since Miss Quinn has a more stable mind than what she had, her confliction must continue between her two psyches: Harley Quinn and Bat-Shard." Crane explained

"Right, okay. Thanks…" Dick said but Bill remained a little longer.

"Knight to F-Eight. Checkmate." Bill said

"Damn it!" Crane looked down

As the two left Arkham they raced back to the Batcave to tell Bruce…and the race was on for Harleen.

*Present Day*

'*sigh* And Waller is still on our ass, for what happened in Arkham. *Sigh* Harleen is what matters at the minute.'

Harley's laugh could be heard down the street, she was doing cartwheels down the road making cars swerve. "Ha-ha! Yippee! Big boom! Oh…" she was happy then disappointed as it didn't explode.

"Batman; down here!" Impact called out, and Harley was swinging around with her grapple gun

"Harleen calm down, we're here to take you home…" Impact said creeping towards her. She saw that Impact was trying to be friendly but she swung her hammer into Impact's face.

"Nah-ah! No playing with Harley!" she laughed as she travelled away from Batman and Impact.

Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce and Bill entered through the Bat-cave entrance. Bruce remained in the cave, trying to find leads on Harleen or someone else.

"Any luck?" Ivy asked

"We got close…but it's like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands…smoke that swings a mallet." Bill said with an icepack on his right eye. "Any news on this Red-Blood guy?"

Barbara sighed and said "Red Hood. He's been giving trouble to the police…problem is we can't catch him…he always uses envoys."

"Like the ones Calendar Man and Penguin had? How many is that five?" Bill asked

"More than that. *Sigh* I know we should focus on getting Harleen back but what about Red Hood?" Barbara said

"So you're saying we should give up on Harley? Let her descend into madness?" Ivy said

"I didn't say that." Barbara defended

"But you implied it!" Ivy screeched

"Ivy! *sigh* You and me will search for Harleen, Bruce can check on Red Hood…Maybe somewhere along the line the two will cross." Bill said hoping to calm the two of them down before it escaladed out of hand.

(Bruce's POV)

Bruce removed his cowl and sighed, he opened a drawer with the necklace that started it all off.

'I promise Harleen…I promise I won't give up! I will save you!' he thought holding the precious gemstone and gold accessory in his hand.

The Bat-Computer lit up on a possible location on Red Hood; Bruce needed to make sure he was still on his toes trying to find Harleen and Red Hood at the same time. He took the Bat-Copter to find him, Bill and Ivy went down to tell bruce where they were going but by then it was too late he was gone.

(Bill's POV)

"He's gone again…damn…where's he gone too this time?" Bill asked as he saw Ivy looking at the Bat-Computer and it had images of Red Hood.

"Looks like he's targeting Red Hood; guess he must've heard us…Bill." Ivy asked

Bill turned around and looked at Ivy with one eye; he saw her walking towards him. "What…?"

"Do you love Harley?" Ivy asked bluntly

"What's brought this on? No. I don't, I respect her as a friend…but I…I…don't see her like I see you." Bill explained he didn't know if Ivy was using her pheromones on him or not, he'd always liked Ivy but couldn't get near her because of her poison abilities.

"Good, because I don't want to do this without causing harm." Ivy kissed Bill on the lips, and Bill felt a rush through his veins: the poison, if he was going to die it was with the woman he cared deeply for, who wasn't Harleen. Bill struggled to breathe because the poison was flowing through him; he fell down trying to fight. Ivy kissed him again on the lips; this was the antidote for her poison: one kiss poison, two kisses antidote.

Both of them looked at each other and gasped for air…Bill even more so "Next time…you give me that immunity shot. I don't feel like dying anytime soon."

"Deal…" she said nuzzling into his neck while both were on the floor.

(Bruce's POV)

Batman flew down to the clock tower roof saw Red Hood below him, one level down. Batman and Red Hood crossed paths during the month Harleen was going on her rampage.

"It's over Hood. Give up!" Batman said darkly

"It's never over, Batman…Never." Red Hood drew his gun and fired, each shot rang out firing at the ground or the air.

Batman threw a punch into the metallic helmet and dented it, Red Hood tries to fire but his range is short and askew, he couldn't get a good shot without wasting bullets. Their battle ensued they crashed into the walls of a building opposite them, Batman threw a batarang breaking the view of Red Hood.

Red Hood removed the Helmet that gave him his namesake to reveal a youthful man with stark black hair. Batman's eyes widened under his cowl, he hadn't seen this face in a long time…yet it felt like yesterday.

"Jason Todd…" Batman said in awe without giving too much emotion

"That's right…I've been cleaning up this city, while you were flying around after a crazy clown chick. Well Bruce let's see who's the better Bat!" Jason said brandishing a knife to defend and attack him, regardless of the gun in his leg holster.

As the two fought again, Jason dropped the knife in an abandoned room. Batman smashed Jason's head around a sink, then a mirror before being thrown into a nightstand and wardrobe.

Batman got up from inside and Jason held his gun at him. He then talked:

"You don't think I don't know what's going on? The Bat-Shard, the new partnership, the rumours that Quinn had changed her ways? I looked into it…I let it happen…I didn't stop it…I made a mistake in not stopping it."

"It wasn't a mistake Jason. It happened, I don't regret it." Batman darkly said

"Bruce I forgive you, for not saving me…I do. But why, why on God's Earth…" Jason kicked down the door revealing Joker and Harleen tied to a couple of chairs. "Are these two still alive?"

"Ha-ha-ha! this is great isn't it Bats?! The great failure from ages past comes back from the dead and now Harley's back in her right frame of mind…which to say is no mind at all! Ha-ha!" Joker laughed out loud.

Harleen was asleep on her chair; the toxin was taking a full effect now…it wouldn't be long now before she would be Harley Quinn again.

(Harleen's POV)

Inside her mind the Bat-Shard psyche was losing, her strength for staying good was fading. Her Harley Quinn side was growing in size and became more monstrous…more like Joker. The man she now loathed.

"Face it Bat-Shard. I'm the dominant side…you may have put up one hell of a fight, but now I win!" Harley Quinn said with a bloodied grin, her mallet poised above Bat-Shards head like an executioner with an axe.

Harleen was sitting on a barren piece of her mind, her psyche were out of her reach even with the ribbons holding her back. For the past month she saw her psyche battle for control, she was all alone hearing about the horrible things Harley was doing while she was mentally locked away. "Bruce please…save me…please…" she whispered

"He's not coming Sweetie! You've been lying to yourself for a month, a whole freaking month for the Bat to come and look at ya now: alone in an island of your mind with only the two of us for company!" Harley disregarding all that's happened with Harleen and Bruce

Bat-Shard looked at Harley Quinn and leaped into her, she still had some fight left in her, but only enough for a little while. "There is still some fight left in me Quinn. If she won't give up, neither will I!"

(Bruce's POV)

Batman stood his ground as Jason held his gun at him, his gaze never leaving the Dark Knight.

"You blindly let him live: the graveyards he's filled, the families he's ruined, the friends he's crippled the monstrous things he's done…the things he will continue to do! I thought I'd be the last…if it was you he killed: I would've tracked him down to the ends of the earth and then throw this: evil, death worshiping, garbage; straight down to hell!" Jason proclaimed

"You don't understand. I don't think you've ever understood." Bruce said calmly

"What? That it's too hard to do it?" Jason asked

"No, god almighty…it'd be too easy…I wanted to torture him for so long…subject him to every torturous moment he's put any one through and then…end him." Batman said solemnly.

"Ha! Finally admit you think about me Bats!" Joker laughed

"I'm not talking about Scarecrow, Dent or Penguin. I'm talking about him, just him! And you…you think saving a girl who is beyond redemption, will save yourself? This is Harley Quinn here!" Jason continued

"I know who she is!" Batman angrily spoke "But if I let myself go down to hell…I'll never come out of it!" Batman returned his composure.

"I'm doing this because…he took me away from you…and Quinn…she let him out again." Jason began to shake in his voice.

"I won't let you kill them." Batman spoke "I'm sorry."

"You won't have a choice." He threw his gun to Batman and drew a spare from behind him placing it to Joker's temple and said "It's Him or me! Decide! Cause if you don't I will!"

"This is getting better and better! Hey narrator guy; do you have any popcorn?" Joker said to the narrator

"JOKER NOT NOW!" the narrator shouted

"If you want to stop me, you'll have to kill me!" Jason called out.

"No…"Batman said turning his back on his former ward.

Jason fired the gun.

(Harleen's POV)
She continued to watch her psyche wrestle and then see the outside she saw the second Robin fire the gun she wanted to run to warn Batman but all she could do was scream to warn him. "No! Batman; look out!" the Psyche saw what was going on for a second then continued to fight. Bat-Shard fell to Harleen.

"Bye-bye little Miss Bat-Shard!" Harley said readying her mallet.

(Bruce's POV)
Batman heard the shot and dodged it; he threw his batarang into Jason's hand causing him to drop Joker and the gun, the pain shot into his hand instantly; Joker grabbed the gun and shot Jason in his stomach and threw Harleen through the window.

"No!" Batman called out

"Ha-ha! Catch you later Bats, I've a date with freedom…Give my best to Harls will you? Ha-Ha!" Joker laughed while aiming the gun at Batman's head.

Jason grabbed the batarang and threw it; it whizzed and struck itself into Joker's hand "ARGH!" Batman ran into Joker, throwing punches and into his grinning face.

Jason saw the rage Batman had lying deep within him when Quinn fell through the window. He grabbed the gun and fired at Joker; the impact sent him flying down to his death.

"Why…why her? Why Quinn? What is she to you Bruce?" Jason asked while clutching his fatal wound.

He's lost the woman he loves; his former ward is dying in front of him…what more can he do but: tell him the truth?

(Harleen's POV)

Harleen was falling to the ground, she knew that she would die from this height…she wanted to be found by someone, but inside her mind she was lost.

"Ivy there!" Bill's voice called out and wrapped around Harleen were vines holding her from the ground.

"I saw Joker go that way, you think he's dying?" Ivy indicated towards the harbour while concentrating on Harleen

"Leave him, he's survived worse! Harleen's the main priority." Bill said "Get her to the room up there!" Bill pointed to the exit The Joker left

Inside Harleen's mind she had coddled Bat-Shard…she was finished…all the fight, all the protection it was gone.

Harley Quinn was shaking off the sudden shock. "You…You little, Bitch! I ought to…" she was preparing her mallet then a new voice appeared:

A young male voice, struggling to breathe "Why…why her? Why Quinn? What is she to you Bruce?"

'Bruce!' Harleen looked through the windows that were her eyes and saw her love Batman…No Bruce Wayne. He stood with his back to her, he didn't know she was there and he spoke:

"Because I love her…" Bruce started, that alone made Harleen smile and tear but he continued "I can't imagine my life without her; I don't want to lose her…like I lost my parents" Bat-Shard began to animate again she filled with a violet light that burned from deep in her chest then spread to all corners of her body, the bright violet light burned through Harley Quinn and enveloped Harleen, Harley screeched in pain but Harleen felt safe and accepted even with knowing about Bruce's parents. "I won't lose her and no-one; not even you Jason, will make me think otherwise. She's the reason I can smile without faking it, with her I can really feel love."

And with that; Bat-Shard enveloped Harleen's mind with the violet light eradicating the Harley Quinn Psyche from Harleen's mind. Harleen was freed from the ribbons shackling her to her fracturing mind. "We did it!" Harleen said being released

Bat-Shard shook her head and removed her cowl revealing the new Harleen "No Harleen…You did. You still believed in Bruce when all things were lost in the madness. Now wake up!"

Harleen hugged her doppelgänger and was waking up from her nightmare, her eyes were heavy and her limbs were tied but she managed to speak. "Bruce…" Harleen whispered

"Harleen!" Bruce grabbed her from the vines freeing her and whispered in her ear "I thought I lost you…"

"I thought I lost you." Harleen said with tears in her eyes

Jason saw the two and reached for his gun but he couldn't keep a grip. He coughed up blood then fell dead on the floor.

Jason Todd, The Second Robin, Red Hood was dead.

Bruce held Harleen in a bridal fashion and took her downstairs to the Batmobile; Bill and Ivy went back with them seeing if she needed any other help. She just needed rest.

The new day came; Bruce didn't leave her side the entire time. Harleen was sleeping in a master bed with new pyjamas. She placed her hand on Bruce's this woke him up, they saw each other smile; they loved each other's smiles.

"Bruce…" Harleen whispered

"Yes…?" Bruce asked

"I love the necklace…" Harleen smiled "and call me Harley."

To be continued

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The next chapter coming up soon.

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