The Dark Knight Returns

Chapter 7

     It had been a few weeks since she had last communicated with the Joker, but her instructions were quite clear. The reemergence of the Batman had been the sign they were looking for and now things were set in motion. It was finally her time to rise and prove to herself to her psychotic mentor. She was ready to prove to the Joker that she was worthy of all the attention he had been giving her the past four years. He had given her the green light through their usual channel of communication but until the plan was completed, there were to be no more messages out of fear that the person who was helping them swap notes would be discovered. After placing the bomb inside that high school in downtown Gotham, she had no doubt that Jim Gordon and the Batman were going to look through everything to find out who was leaking information to her. She was confident that not even the Batman would be able to find out but part of her was thinking that it might not be a bad idea to tie off loose ends. While she considered it for a moment, there was no need to panic until the Commish and Bats gave a reason to. For now she was going to keep her attention on her marching orders. The Joker never gave her a real plan; that was something the clown was against. People with plans was something that the Joker despised, something that he re-enforced with her whenever exchanging notes with his protégé. All the Joker did was make suggestions, ideas and he then gave her the creative control to add her own personal touches to them with the idea that she would come up with her own blueprint for chaos. Actions so bit and so chaotic that even the big man in Arkham would have to tip his cap to the brilliance his personal protégé.

     She was in the bathroom, putting on some makeup. She was eager to make an impression and nothing did that more than appearance. Criminals ran in fear at the sight of the Batman, but just as many people quaked in fear whenever the Joker and his men hit one bank after another during their first string of robberies. She was ready to re-enact her mentor's rise to fame, retracing his footsteps just to make sure everyone was aware of who was in town to raise a little hell. She was wearing a skin tight red and black leotard that made her look like someone that jumped out a deck of cards. Black gloves to hide her finger prints as well as a Jester's hat to convey homage to the Joker himself. She wore white paint all over her face, with black lipstick and a dark shadow around her eyes that were similar to the darkness the Joker himself had around his own. She even put on contacts to hide her pale blue eyes from those who might look into them. Now they were as black as her villainous heart.

     She was finally ready to make her first appearance to the public. Yet while looking in the mirror for the first time since finishing her transformation, Harley remembered where it all started. The first time she ever met the man that changed her life forever. That first day at Arkham Asylum…

    She was fresh out of school with a doctorate in Criminal Psychology. She was selected from hundreds of applicants and thought it was a dream come true to work with and treat the most infamous criminals in Gotham's history. She had spoken to a lot of people who were in the Asylum, but had been denied access to the one person she wanted to speak to the most: The Joker. For the longest time, she was told that no one outside of council and his own doctors were allowed to speak to who the often referred to as 'the funny man'. Truth was, except for his lawyer the Joker never spoke to anyone who worked at Arkham. He refused to be treated or diagnosed by the staff and after a few years they had given up trying to speak to the funny man at all. Whenever any of the psychiatrists tried to speak with the Joker, he would sit there for hours and say nothing. He had refused to engage even in small talk ever since he was separated from the prisoners for causing trouble and a near riot with the other prisoners. After a lot of arm twisting and even a little bribery to do extra hours for little or no extra pay, she was finally allowed to interview the Joker.

     When she first walked into the small interview room, the Joker was tied up like an animal. Like Hannibal Lector just without the mouth guard as the whole purpose of being there was to speak. He looked so different without his makeup. His hair has changed from the dyed green to a more natural dirty blonde. It was still curly but hadn't seen a comb or brush for what seemed like weeks. Guards were worried that the funny man might try to use them as a weapon and even try to escape. They were extreme with their treatment of him but it was caution that was created from the funny man's reputation. He was a dangerous man and no one took any chances when moving him from room to room. As she walked into the room, the Joker did something he had never done before: he made a sound.

    The doctors behind the two way mirror were stunned as the funny man made a whistle like sound that gave the impression that he was impressed with her taste in clothing. It had likely been a very long time since the Joker saw anyone close to her age let alone someone who was wearing a very short skirt with legs like hers. She had done this on purpose, hoping to at least break the ice and see if he was willing to finally speak.

     The joker looked up at her long flowing blonde hair. "Vicki Vale?"

     "Not quite." She answered. "I'm Dr. Harleen Quinzel."

     "With those legs I was kind of hoping you were my new nurse." The Joker said with a playful grin. "Like, hello!"

     Even though showing off her legs was a part of the plan, Harleen couldn't help but blush just a little bit. It was something that wasn't missed by the Joker as he winked. "It's nice to see you're in a talkative mood today."

    "It was either that or more time with the 700 Club." The funny man replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "You should really do something about the cable plan this place has. Anyone working for Time Warner should really be ashamed of themselves."

     "I'll make a note of that." Harleen said as she wrote something down.

     "Something also needs to be done about the food." The Joker added.

     "Are we doing enough to respect any allergies or food intolerances?" she asked.

     "Do any of you really give a hoot?" the Joker bluntly asked.

     "I can't speak for anyone else." Harleen answered honestly. "But I do."

     The Joker stopped talking and just stared at Dr. Quinzel for a few minutes. Harleen didn't push her patient and waited for him quietly as she had no idea what was going through his crazy, sadistic mind. As she stared back at him with her bright blue eyes, no one outside the room could tell but there was a connection between them, something only Harleen and the Joker could notice. There was a bond that was created that day, one that would never break and Dr. Quinzel would never forget that day for the rest of her life...

     Harleen opened her eyes and she was back in the present day, looking at herself in the mirror. She was ready to bring that chaos back to Gotham City, eager to pillage and bring fear back to the people not seen for a very long time. She looked at herself in the mirror, the creation of the funny man, the disciple of darkness. The person she saw in the mirror was no longer Dr. Harleen Quinzel: she was Harley Quinn.

     "I'm ready Mister J." she said to herself in the mirror. "I'm going to make you proud."