AN: Before you read be warned there's lots of sexual innuendo in this chapter. I imagine Joker in this to be kind of like a hybrid of the movie and original animated series, so basically what the arkham city one looks like and to kind of sound like how Penguin in The Batman (newer cartoon)/same voice for ice king to sound.
TheWritingGirl23: PM'd
Delta23: Thank you very much! I appreciate your feedback.
Enjoy!
Drinking from her glass of wine, Selina eyed the door of her dorm, stomach down on her bed. She set it down and stood up unsteadily, stretching out as a cat jumped onto her bed.
Emma was sleeping with her white sleeping mask on, covering her eyes.
Uncurling her fingers, Selina began to undress, Dick had really pushed her limit here, but he was not someone to worry about, she could deal with him later, no use staying in on a weekend night for a flaky boy. The night was hers.
She zipped on her cat suit and pulled her head set on, placing the goggles over her cat eyes.
Two police officers and Dr./Professor Krane from Arkham Asylum faced the bleary brown-haired boy with red sunglasses on and in boxers. The rest of the campus lay under a gray fog as night turned to morning, and kids were finally asleep after staying up all night partying.
One officer said, "Scott Summers? We'd like you to please come with us."
He got into a car that was like a Hearst, and wrapped a blue and green flannel shirt around his bare chest, having stuffed pants on last minute. Gotham's perpetual dark clouds hung over, dully showing the sun beginning to peek over the water.
The car went up a windy road to the gates of Arkham Asylum, Scott panicked, he asked hurriedly, "Why are you taking me here?!"
Dr. Krane said ominously, "Relax, you're not being committed."
As they descended down the dark staircases, echoes of the crazy super criminals beginning to wake up at an off hour, ascended.
It was an ear-screeching sound.
They led him to one cell with a glass wall and he gasped. Harley was sitting in a cot in an inmate uniform and her blond pigtails tied high. At the sight of him she hopped up to her feet and walked over to the wall, she had her signature bounce in her walk, that made her pigtails bounce up and down. They had confiscated her glasses.
They opened the door and shoved him in, "You get an hour or more, we'll be back after we take care of some cases."
He whirled around as they locked the door and walked away.
Shivering in his unbuttoned flannel shirt, he mumbled, "What's going on?"
Harley hopped onto him, wrapping herself around him, "Puddin' you came! No one woulda came, Mr. J woulda never came!"
He picked her off his body and put her on the bed, "This is because of him isn't it?!"
She pulled him down onto it with her and cried out, "I didn't do it this time, Scott you have to believe me! Nobody else does, because they all think I'm crazy and snapped again, but I didn't! I have you now, and I would never wanna lose you, and now that I've seen what it's like, never for Mr. J ever again. Him using and manipulating me should be no surprise, but this time I didn't take part! Harley Quinn is not too smart, but Harleen Quinnzel is relatively sane!"
Scott looked into her widened eyes and cautiously questioned, "What happened?"
She took a deep gulp and blabbered out, "I came back to my room and there was a wine bottle on my desk with a note on it, just like Mr. J did back when we met. He wrote a note that said to break him out of prison or else someone would kill me. Scott, I've felt the wrath of Mr. J's bare hands himself a lot of times, and I know it hurts, so I quickly got into my costume for one last time, just to finally tell him once and fors all, he can't control me anymore, that I got a new man who treats me real nice that I like. I went down to the asylum and told him off, but he had a trick up his sleeve, he always does. This time it wasn't to fool me into getting back with him though. The guards saw me and caught me, and it just looks crazy."
She threw her arms around him, and he sighed, giving in and putting his arms around her too, obviously she was very shaken.
He touched the exposed skin on her arm, it was freezing in the underground sanitarium, and they gave their inmates short sleeved uniforms.
Taking his flannel shirt off, he put it around her and shivered as the dank air cooled his bare skin.
"What's wrong with them can't they see you're cold down here? They barely treat the inmates like people! You shouldn't be in here Harley." He embraced her, warming her up.
She petted him and said, "Why are you so good to a nutjob like me? Mr. J made me think about that, why a nice guy like you is sticking around me."
Scott sternly said, "Well don't think about anything that comes out of his mouth, that's why you're in here. I guess I'm a nut job too Harley, and you're really not so crazy, just heavily misguided."
Wrapping her arms around his torso and leaning her cheek against his chest, she sighed woefully, "I don't want to go back to all that Scott, the super criminal life is addicting but I know what I want now, and I can't go back. I found me something real good. They're set on sentencing me though, they won't have none of it, won't hear any reason. I really tripped up."
His mind raced, the the wheels beginning to tick, and he blurted out, "I'm going to get you out of here. After they come get me, I'll be back later tonight, and I'll break you out, I promise. Just keep quiet."
Harleen resisted, "But that would be breaking so many laws... Scott you could get in big trouble! Can-can you actually do it? I-I don't want you ta get hurt, baby." She trailed a finger down his jaw.
He grabbed her face and kissed her hard, "I'll prove you were innocent, I have my own tricks up my sleeve. I've been lying low, but you haven't seen what I can do yet, Harley."
Taken by him willing to go against every aspect of his moral self, she overtook him in a make out session finding another way to warm up in the cells and impulsively take that next step in their relationship she had been goading him about.
Gordon, a built older man with a mustache and glasses, wearing a tan trench coat opened up the door, allowing Scott out, a while later than they had promised.
He eyed the young man suspiciously. Harley and Scott's hair and clothes were messed up, and the boy had outrageously come out in just his Gotham U button up soccer pants, and with no shirt, leaving his flannel shirt with Harley, to keep her heated.
He wondered what kind of young bare chested hooligan was going steady with Quinn, the screwy nuisance in love with Joker.
However, it was twilight, and the boy had been ripped from his sleep to come see his girlfriend, so no surprise he was not properly prepared. But Gordon had seen this kind of convincing new life for all the inmates, like Ivy who had moved on with her life at one point and even had a family to match. To criminals, that sort of life was the costumed identity, not their villain selves.
The police commissioner looked in at Harley sitting on the edge of her bed, a happy smile pasted on her face and smelling her boyfriend's flannel, swinging her feet back and forth like a little girl.
He muttered to his junior detective, "She's got some screws loose, do a background on the boyfriend, and let's see that tape of their time together, she's a dummy, she probably told him some important information."
"Aye, aye, sir." Barbara, his daughter mocked him and went to retrieve the surveillance tape, shadowing her father at work for a day. She had come in right after Scott had been escorted out.
She returned to the police station later in her Bat Girl costume after her father closed office, and turned on the surveillance video that would reveal all of Joker's secrets through Harley's motor mouth.
Noticing a familiar face, she commented, "Dick's roommate must be Harley's boyfriend...Really?"
She watched them talk, but did not catch anything important or top secret. Her eyes bugged out when Scott gave his flannel to Harley, sacrificing a shirt for himself, even though she was a super hero detective, she had to observe that Dick's roommate had quite a bod. She was still a freshman girl after all underneath her mask.
Talking turned to something else and Barbara held the remote in her hand stunned, not sure if she should turn it off or fast forward.
A muscled figure silently slid up to her, "Rare footage at Arkham Asylum, looks good, can I join? It can be like a girl's slumber party. Girls gone wild."
"Cat Woman! This is evidence, on Joker and Harley." She threw the remote at the screen, pausing it.
Cat Woman peered into the screen with a mischievous smile, "The evidence has my attention, how does Quinn go from Joker to that delicious cat biscuit? Though, I know plenty of inmates would want a ride on a Harley."
"Robin was wrong to try and catch you the other night, you weren't behind the statutes. I traced the acid at the museum to samples that Dagget's factories use. He wants to repair his image and reputation in the corporate world, and is trying to get money fast to start that campaign."
"You're good, well what are you waiting for?" Cat Woman batted a hand at Bat Girl who confusedly asked, "What do you mean?"
Smirking, Cat Woman said deliciously, "You and I would make a great team, your sleuthing skills with mine, and our ability to get in anywhere? We'd be a deadly combo. Let's go catch this asshole."
Backing away, Bat Girl retorted, "Wait a minute, I'd never work with you, you're not to be trusted."
Yawning, Selina remarked, "Says who? Batman or Night wing? They're not around, and they'd just weigh you down, they're dead weight thick headed boys. I'm not asking you to do anything bad, I'm just saying let's work together to find this guy and return that statute, I want Daggett suffering."
"Alright but no funny business or your tail is in jail!"
A hot vat of boiling acid sent whirling steam up at Gotham's two heroes.
Batman and Night Wing were chained back to back, upside down over it.
"How did we end up here?"
Batman replied to Night wing's sarcastic question, "We'll get out of this. Still some time."
The boy wonder wriggled, "Hanging by a thread. I'm not gonna make my date tonight after all..."
As they spoke, two shadows appeared in the back, on the railings around them, taking each security guard out with finesse, and deadly silence.
Bat Girl grabbed the chain lowering the two men and hooked it to a lever.
It stopped and Cat Woman pulled them back.
After dropping their chains, Batman and Night Wing stood up and thanked Bat Girl, questionably noting Cat Woman.
They cornered Daggett and Barbara took the box of jade statutes from him, she checked them and promised, "We're taking you right back to where you belong, safely."
Landing on Barbara's shoulders, balanced on all fours nimbly, Catwoman snatched the box out of her hands with her swiping claws and then leaped up whipping Daggett towards her and hooking the chain on his pants. She laughed, "Good work detectives, lead me straight to my jade babies!"
She pushed him over the vat of hot acid, dangling him by a chain and then hopped out of the factory's opening, treasures in claws.
A batarang flew past her, nipping a cat ear on her head, but she lithely escaped, using her whip.
Bat Girl, Bat Man, and Night Wing scrambled to pull the chain dangling Daggett, and back to safety.
When Bat Man later handed Daggett over to Commissioner Gordon, he said to Gordon, "Bat Girl and Cat Woman saved us, pulled us out of our rut, they were working together."
Gordon looked perplexed, "What a strange partnership... So of course Cat Woman double crossed everyone right?"
Bat Man looked out at the black city skyline against red sky and answered in his gravelly voice, "She's a lone creature, that's just how she plays."
Breaking into a prison asylum would be tough, and it would be hard to go undetected with its security. Fortunately for Harley, Scott was a brilliant tactician, mathematician and had the hobby of cartography under his experienced young belt. He had been the only one to take the map making class for extra credit at Xavier's.
Just by looking around from his few visits to Arkham Asylum, his logical and mutant enhanced brain had seen through his ruby quartz glasses, and printed a linear memory of what he had seen and combined with his logical precision, he was able to predict and lay out a basic map of Arkham Asylum in his head with instinctive calculations he drew with everything he saw.
The entire day he had drawn plans and ways to get in and out with the least destruction, he was not going to use his powers in this city if he could help it, and a black ops sort of drop down mission for him was possible to perform without powers.
As darkness ate the city, Scott rode his bicycle to Arkham City, a stranger and darker place than Gotham, with run down streets for criminals and patients.
He had put a hood up, avoiding the menacing stares the thugs around town gave him as he wheeled up to the Asylum.
Scott did wear his black short-sleeved uniform, and a large black jacket with a hood over it and his steel visor for precaution.
Climbing quickly onto the tall roof, he dropped down on a hatch door that had been sealed, by kicking it through.
Lowering his body through, he clipped a rope to the ceiling and dropped down.
He turned on a soft light in his hand and quietly crept along the walls, then finding the vent he was looking for, where he logically predicted it would be with the building's basic layout, he precisely removed it and crawled through, the light clenched between his teeth.
Having lines and mazes clicking in his focused head, he maneuvered each turn with such precision that he ended up exactly where he wanted to out of the many cells of Arkham.
Twisting the dial on his visor so it was refined to a needle point beam, he shot a short optic blast at the vent beneath him and quickly uncurled his body from the vent down to Harley's cell.
She was laying in her cot blowing bubble gum bubbles.
Scott shone the light on her and she squealed, flinging her arms up around him.
He looked at her hair, her white blonde pig tails had a pinkish red tint on the tips. "What did you do to your hair?" Harley twirled the tips in a finger and giggled, "Ivy did it with some flower juice, d'ya like it? I'll cut the tips off if you don't."
Scott asked, "How? They let inmates be together? That's dangerous!"
Harley popped a bubble in her mouth and said, "She's got her ways of visiting me, the chemical dye's not permanent though, I was just bored waitin' for you. She said she wanted to meetcha."
"Absolutely not."
"That's what I said! Let's go Scott, I'm getting crazier and crazier here."
Putting his arm around her slim waist, Scott pointed a customized harpoon gun strapped to his wrist at the vent and recoiled them back up.
As he pushed Harley up, and lifted his legs, he felt something grab onto his ankle.
A giant grin peered up eerily at him, as the Joker pulled, shadows carved at his sinister face, "Ah ah ah! Not without me you're not leaving here. My puppet Harley has done things right for once! The boy toy comes in handy in many ways not just for one." He winked with a sinister malice.
Scott kicked the Joker's face hard, so he staggered back against the glass prison wall, and quickly pulled his feet through and sealed the vent.
Army crawling speedily, he lead Harley to the exit, tying her to the rope and climbing up towards the rooftop.
A loud eerie voice echoed around the entire asylum as if in Scott's head, "Doesn't it hurt? Being used, being tricked. You'd do anything for love, young novice, valiant young novice. A pretty girl can make you think a little crazy, make you do things you wouldn't have done."
Harley cried out, "Scott, don't listen to the voice! He's just trying to get in your head! He's fascinated by yours and how impenetrable it is!"
Lightening flashed outside, and rain came down heavily in a storm.
Scott's face remained stoic and he heaved up, kicking the hatch door back open and pulling Harley through. With his arms binding her, he asked a final time, "Are you back stabbing me? Was this all a lie?" The rain came down in rapid fire fat droplets, soaking them.
She shrieked, "You should know me better than that by now! I would never back stab you! How can you ask me that after last night?! That wasn't nothing!"
A helicopter spot light blinded them as it hovered over them in the thick rain. A voice droned out, "You have the right to remain silent, you are under arrest for the escape of an inmate."
Scott cursed and Harley exclaimed, "That bastard Mr. J tipped off the police!"
Pulling Harley with him, Scott flipped over the rooftop, blending into the darkness and slipped down the wall, and then ran to safety.
A lasso wrapped around Harley's wrist, winding her back to Bat Girl who shouted, "Stop right there! That's a fugitive right there- or two."
Scott grabbed onto the lasso and yanked, twirling Bat Girl off her feet towards him so she was wrapped in her own lasso.
He pulled her gently down to the ground and then bolted, towards his bike with Harley.
In the Bat Cave, the lair of hi tech gear and gadgets, Bruce Wayne stood before his giant computer screen, analying Mr. Freeze's files, looking for clues to pinpoint his exact involvement with Daggett.
Daggett had only confessed the obvious, that he stole from the museum to sell and profit from the black market in order to gain funds to build his reputation and industry back up, all under the table. What made him want to help break out Mr. Freeze and work with him, then ask something of Joker though?
Bat Girl's voice came through on his walkie talkie, "I just saw Quinn get away from Arkham Asylum, she had help, I couldn't see very well but I'm assuming, he, subdued me. Could have been the joker, tall frame, but not quite...I'm not sure, but things are getting weird. He was...really gentle with me, but still got away."
Bruce replied, "I'll send Night Wing over to investigate and help."
He heard a groan come from her and suppressed a smile.
Iris and Puss weren't getting along today, as they fought each other, baring fangs and claws on Selina's bed.
Selina smiled and threw in a piece of yarn to work them up in a frenzy.
Her roommate swished into the room with the boy across the hall behind her, with his red sunglasses and collared shirt tucked in.
Selina smiled at him, lifting a brow and purred, "Hi Scott." She thought about the "evidence" that pervy little Bat Girl had been watching starring Scott. One of her other cats, jumped into the fight, making it a threesome quarrel. She wondered how Emma would react if she saw it.
Scott seemed confused and replied, "Hello. Did Dick stay true to his word?"
Snarling, she whined, "It doesn't matter anymore, he's lost his chance. He's a little too square for a grown girl like me."
She watched Scott take his book bag off his shoulder, enjoying that she was scaring him a little.
The two friends spoke conversationally, but unbeknownst to Selina, a telepathic conversation was going way differently between them.
'What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get arrested or killed? I couldn't help but notice your thoughts... Where is she? All this for her?'
'I was hoping you could help me, you are in favor of dodging the law aren't you?'
Emma thought bitterly, 'Well that's a bit stupid of an assumption, that just because I went against the law, I'd still be willing to help you. You've lost your mind.'
'I have reason to believe she's telling the truth, she was set up for this, it wasn't her fault this time.'
'What's in it for me?'
Growing aggravated, Scott thought, 'Please. I've saved your life countless times even when you tried to kill us and take Kitty, I beat the asshole that beat you for years, and that's what put you in position of White Queen, which you then took as the opportunity to attack us stronger, causing me lots of trouble and grief and lack of sleep, did you know I almost didn't get into Gotham U because of you and your evil distractions?'
Emma curled her fingers towards her self and puckered, "If you assume I still think in the bad ways I did, then I would naturally expect something out of this, I wouldn't do it for the goodness of my heart."
'What would you want?'
"A brooding and sensitive type with a divine butt.'
'Don't...'
'OK how about this, I'll think of a new favor for later.'
'I suppose I have no choice...I really thought I'd be leaving this business behind in college.'
'You seem to have a knack for attracting girls that'll get you in trouble. What makes you think she's different now? You understand you broke into a high security asylum for super criminals and broke out a prisoner, I don't know whether I'm more surprised that you did it or that you are capable of doing it.'
Out loud, Scott said, "I'm doing what I have to do."
Emma drawled at him skeptically, "Why? What makes you have to do this?" She scoffed, "Scott, that is such an asinine male thing to say."'
His jaw closed, he stood up, flexing his book bag up stiffly and said, "Never mind, I'll see you later Emma."
She coaxed, "Aw, did I offend the boy scout?"
He left, storming straight across the hall to his room.
Selina filed away at her nails, legs criss crossed in the air as she lay on the floor on her stomach, "Trouble in paradise?" She asked coyly in her oddly sultry voice.
Emma sighed drearily, "What is it that can be so damn attractive about virtues and morals?"
Pursing her lips, Selina added, "The perfect ass that comes with it?"
Shooting her roommate a look, Emma dismissed, "Blast this, I need a drink- or dozen."
She grabbed her purse to go. Selina called out, "I'll go with you, a cold martini would be perfect right now."
It was 9:00 in the morning.
Condescendingly, Emma gave Selina's baggy sweat pants and turtle neck a once over, and then rolled her eyes and shrugged, allowing her to come along.
Fuming, Scott slammed his door furiously, Emma was impossible, with her games and twists in her words.
The scary part was, she was starting to make more sense than he did to himself now that he mulled things over. When Emma Frost started to make sense, then Scott knew he was in trouble.
Dick's friend, the cop's daughter was waiting in their room, sitting on Dick's bed.
Seeing him, Barbara reddened, recalling the incriminating surveillance video she had seen, fresh on her mind.
Barbara said in a friendly tone, "Oh hi, Scott right? Dick's coming back from class with a book he borrowed."
Alarmed, he stuttered, "R-right..."
She looked and dressed like a normal average girl with nothing too special or glamorous, but up close she was naturally pretty. Scott knew he liked her right away, she sounded intelligent and friendly.
"You're doing that mouse experiment for the science fair aren't you? I saw your table when we were setting up for the fair." He said.
"Yep, my dad is up my butt about extra curricular activities. If I won a science fair he'd shut up. You're working with...Harley aren't you? Or were?"
Not showing a sign of suspicion, Scott said, "Yeah. I guess we have some stiff competition. Are any mice harmed in the actual events of the experiment?"
She grinned, he was charming too?
"The mice are fine and well fed with a high calcium diet of cheese. I'm not electrocuting them or anything, they just go through a maze and I briefly add factors to induce short term fear between the start and end, and the results will prove my hypothesis on fear as an immobilizing agent in the human response."
Scott remarked, "You must have Dr. Crane for a class." Barbara blushed, "Yes, and he's one of the judges on the panel so I figure why not use a subject he enjoys teaching so much."
He commented, "His fascination with fear seems to influence a lot of people around here."
She admitted, "He does get kind of creepy crawly during class when he gets into his lectures."
"The wonder gang! Scott, what's up?" Dick strolled in, and handed a book to Barbara, "Babs, wouldja help me out with chemistry? 101? I got lots of it with this girl, but I ran into some problems and now she won't talk to me, help your friend out with girls?"
"As if, what problems?"
He answered, "Okay, I stood her up twice."
Gasping, Barbara hit him with her book, "Then she should never talk to you again you cretin!"
Dick cowered and laughed, "Oh come on, it's me! You know I wouldn't do that unless I really ran into some problems. I just need to convince her to give me a third chance."
She flicked his nose, "Maybe you're not ready for girls yet, Dick. Learn some manners first!"
After Barbara left, Dick asked Scott casually, "So, uh, what were you and uh, Babs doing? Or, talking about when I came back?"
Scott thought a moment, "Um, fear, I guess." Dick nodded grimly, "Seems to be the theme this term... Barbara's that girl I'll always be friends with, and have the hots for, but never have the chance to tell that to. She's almost like what Jean is to you, to me, except of course way different too."
"You're still going to try to win Selina over?" Scott puzzled aloud. Dick shrugged, "I really do like her, I just never have time, and this time I didn't mean to fluke, it was an accident, she won't forgive me now."
"Why did you stand her up a second time? What's on your schedule besides the library and gymnastics?" Inquired Scott.
"I uh, got chained up with traffic in Gotham and I was late. Hey, Babs told me Quinn went bonkers again and is back at the crazy farm for good, you okay...bro? She did get away...Do you have any idea where she went?"
The mutant masked his face and rolled up a movie poster he was putting away to replace with a new Gotham U flag. "I haven't heard from her, but I expect she'll show up soon. She's not a bad girl, just acts stupider than she really is, she finds it entertaining in her own way."
Tapping his nose, Dick said, "Ahh, that's what it is."
His wrist watch began beeping, so Dick excused himself and went into the bathroom, Bruce's face showing up in a video call. "How are you doing on that case with Harley and Bat Girl? You didn't report back immediately..." Dick mumbled, "I was kind of distracted. I asked her boyfriend about it, but he doesn't seem to know what she or Joker's up to, and I don't expect him to. I'm meeting Bat Girl tonight to do a search for Harley. If Joker's still playing dumb in jail, then where is she and who helped her out?"
Batman replied, "I still wouldn't rule out Joker, you know he likes to go in and out of places for fun. That's the most viable and logical answer."
Dick sighed, "Right..."
"Freeze made it, and he's hospitalized at Arkham Asylum again, they're keeping him in a locked up freezer. I interrogated him."
Swooping down from the pipes, Batman landed on his feet behind Mr. Freeze who was lying on a frozen bed. "Back to see me so soon, Bruce?", came the German scientist's cold and dry voice. He was hooked up to many chilled tubes that pumped glowing blue liquid into him.
Batman answered solemnly, "We used to be friends, Fries, I would want to see that you are well."
The bald, pale man, wrinkled his brows and then said lifelessly, "Joker is not someone to deal cards with. I suppose you want answers."
Batman nodded silently. In the light, past the frost bitten blue skin and eerie alien quality, Mr. Freeze's face showed traces of the Aryan scientist he had been.
With no attachment, Mr. Freeze stated in his light and sophisticated German accent, "I will tell you, because it will not matter what you know or do to prevent, none will be able to stop me this time. Daggett made a deal with me, a very reasonable bargain. He would grant me freedom, monetary compensation, and more money when I used my connections to the Russian mafia downtown to strike a deal with Dagget Industries secretly. Once the alliance was formed, they provided their best underground researchers to develop a super weapon to destroy on a global scale. With that deal struck, the funding for my own research for Nora will be flowing. Daggett may be in jail, but I won't be much sooner. Just try and stop me, Bruce. I have people, I will be impossible for a man in a suit like you to stop. With my new machinery, I will freeze all of the water on this Earth. It doesn't matter if I'm in here, the remote is set to go off any minute. World Wide Ice age and stoppage of a natural resource. Would you like to know something funnier? Dagget double crossed Maroni with the Russian mob, just because he could, all of Maroni's money is ours now, and Catwoman took the treasures."
Batman snarled, "So what will that do? You'll have your own ice kingdom that you can play pretend in with your Popsicle wife? Are you so removed from humanity that you cannot even see the flaw of your plan?"
Mr. Freeze said ominously, "When I get out again, I will find you this time, Bruce, and stop you. Humanity has rejected me since my accident and transformation, rejected my form, if I make the Earth my suitable environment, then it will be my world."
By the time he finished his sentence, Batman had disappeared.
Dick wondered, "Are we going to have to take down the whole Russian mob tonight and then some?"
Bruce's voice came through the watch, "No, remember you are working with Bat Girl to track down Harley and bring her back to the asylum."
"We don't even hafta do that! Harley's nothing! She's off her rocker but she's just an annoyance. You might need some extra help."
"I prefer to do this one solo, I can handle it on my own Dick. You are Night Wing now, it's time you earn your wings."
Bicycling to where he had left Harley, Scott pulled up to a run down indoor stadium with a stage platform and giant grinning caricature Harlequinn head hanging above ripped velvet curtains.
It was trashed and gritty, certainly the trappings of psychopaths.
Harley had reminisced that it had been her and Joker's love nest, as in the head quarters for all their scheming and insanity.
He pulled his hoodie around himself at the clown memorabilia and yelled out in fright when Harley Quinn in costume came out, the bells on the tips of her head piece jiggling.
Harley cart wheeled forward free spiritedly and giggled, "It's me Scott! I had to change into somethin' more comfortable, you didn' want me to stay in that inmate outfit, didja?
She held up a flyer for a party on the Gotham campus for a casino night, a gambling party being hosted by a fraternity.
It was themed so that students had to wear costumes appropriate to a deck of cards or royal court, as in dressing up (or down in the case of college parties) as the Queen of Hearts, Joker, King of Spades, or any other card in the deck or anything to do with cards.
Scott had heard about it, it was supposed to be a big event, like a Black Jack Masquerade.
Rummaging through a chest, Harley muttered, "Let's see, what have I got here? I can't go dressed up in my old costume."
She tore her uniform off much to Scott's embarrassment at seeing her in her underwear and she smirked, "It ain't like you haven' seen this before now."
She quickly changed into tight leather black and red leggings, boots, a black and red harlequin corset, and smeared black eye make up all around her eyes in a make shift mask. She strutted up to Scott and pouted, "See? I'll fit right in the party, nobody will recognize me like this!"
Two fly away bangs sprouted from her pigtails to the sides of her face.
To Scott, she looked extremely scary, but at the same time he thought she looked nice... Well maybe nice was too nice a word to describe what she looked like, but he was a nice boy and did not go there.
Throwing clothes at Scott, she ordered, "Now we got to be matching! There will be lotsa couples doing King and Queen, we should be original..."
She threw him Joker face paint as he stripped down to some court jester leggings with mismatching colors, one leg red, and one leg green.
Scott threw down the face paint and said, "No way, I could never be Joker."
More willingly however, he put on the joker's hat, the spiky felt hat with the bells jingling on each tip, with his hair sticking out underneath.
They filed in with a bunch of students coming in to the campus party, dressed up outrageously in varieties of scandalous costume. Guys with painted red or black K's or J's or A's or numbers on their chests and crowns on their heads whooped around. Gotham kids liked to go for spooky and scandalous.
Girls in deliberately slutty outfits with a scarlet or black letter or numbers pinned to them passed by, wearing masks and crowns or even harlequin costumes or female jokers waving their scepters around. Some even carried spades like the actual shovels, with them. There were kids dressed up as Jacks, Kings, Queens, anything that had to do with gambling and card decks.
It seemed that Joker's face was a trend in costumes, and many people had white face paint and the black eyes and grin imitating the super criminal.
The latest music pumped through out the fraternity house, and masked or face painted young students clustered about or danced.
"Are we any closer to proving I'm okay?" Harley asked Scott as they settled on a ragged sofa together, next to some people playing cards. There were card games going on all around, and even actual gambling tables set up.
Scott pulled Harley up to a dance, circling the room and looking left and right, the strobe lights flashed and lit up faces of the Joker everywhere Scott looked. It was setting him off.
She circled her arms around his neck and leaned against him ardently as they swayed in step to the warped medieval music that had been synchronized with modern beats. He reassured, "I think so, I tried asking Emma for help, but she's not up to it, but that's okay I'm going to get you out of this, I have one more up my sleeve. Your name will be cleared by tonight. I promise. I already took care of the investigators from the hospital looking for you. They didn't seem too worried."
She kissed him adoringly, jingling his bells.
Then she confided, "I know Mr. J and I know he's never safe, even when he's locked up or pretendin' to be, he's gonna do something, I just know how he works, I want you to be careful around him Scott. I know what he's like, and if he hasn't killed you he's got worse things planned."
From upstairs, a floor above them, a person in white and a white masquerade mask looked down at them, a voice purred next to her, "Enjoying the view?" Selina wore a red queen of hearts outfit she had put together, while Emma was typically the White Queen of Diamonds.
Responding, Emma muttered, "Other than that slutty clown on him, yes thank you very much."
Purring, Selina smirked, "He should not wear shirts, more often. The joker's hat isn't bad either, kinda cute."
Emma besmirched her, looking at her, "Don't get ideas."
Narrowing her eyes, the brunette girl smiled and gushed in confidential tones, "Don't you...He's with Harley evidently."
Leaning over the railing, Emma dangled a cup in her hand and watched Scott and Harley dancing around in their costumes. "What makes you say that?" Emma asked boredly.
Slyly glancing at her roommate, Selina slipped her phone out of her thigh high boot and showed her an incriminating video. Emma's blunt manners had rubbed this temperamental cat the wrong way. As Emma watched the video with horror, fascination, and utter despair, Selina said, "I don't get why a cold diva like you is getting so bent over a boy like him. You two are opposites."
Emma murmured behind some fallen hair, "Not as much as it might seem."
Some boys in full black one-piece spandex joker jumpers complete with a white and black spiky joker crowns with and pointy boots and black eye masks came rushing into the main dancing area with a beer funnel asking for challengers.
Scott and Harley went outside together on the balcony.
"I'm going to get a confession from Joker. Can you help me with him? You know his tricks." Scott said to her.
Harley laughed, "Hah! Fat chance Mr. J would evah confess anything reasonable. I'll try though, if that's the only way."
A shadow loomed over them before drop kicking Scott away from Harley who screamed and clapped her hands over her mouth.
Scott instantly sprang up as an armored fist came colliding down, he blocked it and threw a right hook at his attacker's stomach, causing them to fly back.
Harley shouted, "B-Man! What the hell are you doing here?!"
Night Wing grabbed her and growled, "You're coming with me. I'm not Batman, I'm Night Wing!"
Another form dropped down next to Scott, "Hey there, handsome, why don't you just come with us?"
Bat Girl circled him with her lasso. Scott swiftly stuck behind her and pinned her arms to her side, so she could not move.
It did not hurt her but he was strong and his iron grip was immovable.
Night Wing handcuffed Harley to him so she could not get away and ran at Scott, throwing a batarang at him. With his honed and agile reflexes, Scott leaned back as the batarang came at him fast, spinning past him.
When it rebounded, Scott used his martial arts controlled muscles to snatch the batarang out of the air, with a snap of his wrist.
He flung it back at Night Wing, catching him on the face, flipping him onto his back and stunning him with the electronically charged weapon.
Harley pulled a pin out of her hair and undid the hand cuffs, kicking the down Night Wing.
Politely, Scott hand cuffed Bat Girl with the ones Bat Wing had used, and sat her down on top of Night Wing's chest as he lay still on the ground, still tazed by his own batarang.
He apologized, "Sorry ma'am, I don't want to hurt you, I appreciate what you're doing for the city."
Bat Girl watched, mouth open as the two ran away, she still was not sure what had just happened and who the joker boy was.
The Campus police came by in a golf cart and shined a flashlight on her, he said to his partner, "Just another drunk kid from that costume party."
She asked sheepishly, "Excuse me, could you help me out of these cuffs?"
"1...2...He's coming for you...3...4...Lock the door...5...6...grab your crucifix...7...8...don't stay up late...9...10...never sleep again." A gravelly voice sang whimsically in the underground cells at Arkham Asylum. Joker was on his back on his cot, singing a childhood song.
He laughed out loud at the end and wheezed, "Oh, Freddy, you're too good, too good."
Scott dropped down from the ceiling and Harley stuck her head upside down from the vent, looking around with her pigtails hanging.
Joker yelped, "Weeeee! Late night visitors! What fun! Harley, you good ole girl, coming through for Mr. J in the end? You got your boy toy to come back and save me as planneddd?"
Scott gruffly said, "I came for a confession. Tell Gordon you framed Harley, set her free."
Joker clucked his tongue, "Pitiful, Harley, you are just being pitiful. Don'tcha wanna be with me forever like you always wanted?"
Scott struck his fist out, striking Joker in the cheek, cracking the bone underneath.
Joker gritted his teeth in his malicious grin, "Oooooohhh...ouch...oof. You little-." He unfolded his long body but Scott swung his foot out, knocking Joker flat on his back.
Harley squealed in fright.
Bending down, Scott pulled the Joker's collars, bringing him face to face with him. "You're going to confess."
Joker grinned back.
A familiar voice echoed down the hall as Emma Frost came strutting down the corridor in her costume, leading a group of police men and doctors.
Gordon quickly tazed both Harley and Scott, droping Harley down from the ceiling.
As Scott lay twitching on the ground, he could see Emma's white heels.
Gordon called out, "The blondie is free to go, the boy stays."
Scott's body was lifted and tossed onto the ground of another cell.
They lead a squealing Harley away, and Gordon turned, walking into a wall repeatedly, without changing course.
Emma bent down and touched Scott's temple underneath his hair and immediately, the electronic charges and static shock vanished, and he was left feeling numb and paralyzed.
She leaned down close to his lips and whispered slyly, "Mind control, so much easier when they don't ask questions and just do as I say. Your debut on the surveillance tape in Harley's cell left little to the imagination." She gently kissed his immobile, frozen lips much to his horror and then strutted away, beckoning to Gordon who followed quickly, locking the cell door.
AN: Lol I know Selina would probably know Harley was in jail and sees a girl with Scott at the party if some of u were wondering, but let's just pretend this is cartoon/comic world where people don't recognize you the instant you put on a mask or face paint. Then add in the dimness, music, partying, and noise.