Addicted

Chapter 25

✼TW!

❈ Swearing

❉ Enjoyy

«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»

Joker

Reading the paper the next day, I see this:

𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚗  𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍  𝚒𝚗𝚓𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍  𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑  𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎  𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚝  𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚜  𝚒𝚗  𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛  𝚘𝚗  𝚝𝚑𝚎  𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏  𝚝𝚑𝚎  𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗  𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚍  𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛  𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕  𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜  𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜  𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎  𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍  𝚊𝚝  𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝚓𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛'𝚜.

I choke on my coffee, nearly coughing my lungs up. Ripping to the correct page, I read the story frenziedly.

𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚓𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚛𝚖𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝚓𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛'𝚜:  𝚠𝚑𝚢?

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚄𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚎, 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎.

𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜: 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚗'𝚜  𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚊 𝙹𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛'𝚜? 𝚆𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚍? 𝙾𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚞𝚙 𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎?

𝙷𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚗'𝚜 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙹𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚛, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 '𝙲𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚎'.

𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙶𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚖 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢'𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎.

....

He almost died....

Almost-?

Almost..

Almost.

Look what you did.

Quiet.

You know you don't actually want him dead. Half the fun is the game itself. If he dies, what are you gonna do with the rest of your life?

I said quiet.

Well?

SHUT. UP.

How do you think the bullets got through?

WHAT DID I JUST- wait. How did the bullets get through his armor?

The gun.

The gun Harley used was a prototype of Batman's; derived from one of his guns that he dropped at one of our fight scenes I revisited. The bullets in it are copies of the one bullet that was left in the original gun....

Is that his only weakness?? His own weapons??

No way.

There we go.

You know, as much of a bitch you are, you're a damned genius sometimes.

I know.

You're welcome.

♤♤♤

Harley stares at me. "No way," she whispers. I chuckle. "That's what I said. But it's the only plausible explanation, honey. We've shot him with all our guns and they didn't work at all, but the second he comes into contact with his own work he goes down? No other explanation."

I see the wheels turning in her precious head. Her face lights up. "We could ACTUALLY kill him, Puddin! We could end his reign of terror! We could-"

I put a finger to her lips and she falls silent, looking at me with confusion in her wide blue eyes. She's so beautiful.

Focus.

Right.

"We cant kill him, Harls. Once he's gone, there wont be anything to do!"

She sits there for a sec, then gestures to herself dramatically, pouting.

I chuckle. "Sweetheart, it's true. You know it is."

She giggles, getting up and settling down on my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck and touching her forehead to mine. "But Batsy makes you so upset, darling," she breathes.

My own breath shallows. "All part of the game," I whisper. She puts a finger under my chin and lifts it a bit, a hair's breadth away from my lips. "Is it, though? We could rule Gotham without that pain in the ass." She looks at me innocently with her electric-blue eyes.

I give up on the struggle. "We already rule Gotham, Princess," I say, and kiss her, removing that tiny bit of space between us.

༺❀༻