DAMAGED

      Out of all the things Harley thought she would be doing a Thursday morning, divorcing wasn’t her ideal plan. Honestly, marrying the Joker in an impulse out of fear of him leaving her hadn’t been her best idea. But well, she wasn’t KNOWN to make good decisions. At least she was in her right mind now, walking to the Court dressed in her regular clothes ready to be Harleen Quinzel again. Well, she might change her name to Harley Quinn legally.      She stopped at the door and light up a cigarette. She didn’t smoke regularly, only when she felt she needed to stop time for a couple of minutes. When she was smoking, those three minutes until she threw it away, the world froze around her, time slowled down and her mind was sharper than ever. What she didn’t expect would happen in her healing time was a car flying through the air. Luckily, it was flying in the opposite direction of her, so she just looked at the crash, not able to take her eyes away.     She threw her cigarette to the floor, stomped on it with a frown, and decided to at least find out why this had happened. She didn’t have to look hard, because another car got off track and collided with the building in front of her. What was happening? Why this chaos? Screams started to echo, and suddenly it happened. She saw what everyone was seeing, she saw why the screams were so frightned. It was a woman, her head was almost falling off her shoulders, only held back by a little bit of neck skin. It was disgusting, but the most disgusting thing was the way she was moving. Yes, moving, towards her. Zombies?! Holy fucking shit.      The time that had slowled down crashed over her, and she ran as fast as she could inside the Court building. Another person would start announcing the news, but Harley just wanted to hide until she knew more about the situation. Was this really going to happen? Harley had never prepared for a zombie apocalypse because she thought it was impossible. She thought she had seen it all.      She got into an empty room, the first one she could find. It was some kind of office, with two desks and books everywhere. She figured it might be a lawyer’s office. Looking around of the best hiding place, Harley decided to hide under a desk for a couple of minutes. She didn’t know why she was acting this scared, but something was telling her to be smart. Suddenly, the door opened, and thinking it was a zombie coming for her, Harley came out of the desk shouting.        “ GO AWAY FUCKING ZOMBIE. ” she took a step back, arms raised up in a fighting position and eyes closed, avoiding the awful zombie. But... when she didn’t hear any zombie noises, she opened her eyes and saw a woman. A normal, and alive, woman. “ I’m... so sorry. ”

not vibying with this Punchline :/

“Who do you think?” I smiled before my lips created shape of O as she just opened the door. With a key. You hearing this? The prisoner just opened her cell with a key. Am I loosing my mind here?  “That was easy.” 

“I have nothing against hell raising. God knows this shithole deserves it.“ I’ve grinned. Plus, nowhere in my job description it was prohibited to completely wreck this place. Actually, now that I am thinking about it, we’ll probably make the place a favour. They could collect their insurance and stuff.  “After you.”

       “ P U D D I N ’ ? Did my Puddin’ send you!? ” she jumped excitedly while going outside of the cage, still a little dizzy from the sedatives that remained in her system. “ I knew he wouldn’t leave me behind! ” she was already daydreaming about seeing him again... Oh, Mr J. He was a gentleman.      “ I got the key from a dirty guard that wanted to put his hands on me. I was lucky that day, I got to put a man to sleep and the key! These people are not careful enough... ” with a thoughtful expression, she turned to face Deadpool head on. “ Yes, we should wreck this place, but... Where are we going after? Did Puddin’ tell you where to take me? Or... Do I just... Go alone...?” You could tell Harley was scared of the answer. What if Mr J. had only bailed her out so she wouldn’t speak about him? What if he didn’t wanna see her again? What if she was alone, forever, with only Red by her side? And not even by her side, because she knew that the thing that tied them together... it was money.

Tim’s throat was burning. How could it be so dry when he had barely spoken at all? But then, a lot of time could have passed, he wasn’t really sure anymore. It could have been a couple of hours or a couple of days. Not longer than three or he’d feel much worse. Obviously, he hadn’t given any of the information Harley wanted. Instead he had given her snappy and sarcastic jokes and remarks.

The teen’s gaze went to the cup of water. He wanted it so badly, but he knew that it was just beyond his reach. Since he was bound, his reach was limited and according to his calculation, the cup was just about half an inch away from what he could reach and he would not give Harley the pleasure of him making a fool of himself by trying to grab something he couldn’t reach.

“Growing tired of talking to me already?” he asked, his voice a bit hoarse, and met the woman’s gaze.

         Harley wasn’t really sure about this. The kid was clearly struggling, thirtsy, hungry... But he still wouldn’t budge in front of her. She felt a little bad, they didn’t need information from him so why were they doing this? She was just following Mr J’s orders, but this time she felt something was wrong. Maybe it was his face, dirty and bloody, but still looking at her with a fierce look.         With a soft smile, Harley answered him. “ I’m not tired, honey. Bet you’re tired enough for both of us, so just drink the water for now. ” she was teasing him, just like Joker had asked her to do. But... she knew the kid could see in her face she wasn’t enjoying this, she wasn’t like this. He was so small...         A couple of minutes in silence happened while Harley looked around to see if they were truly alone. Once she had turned off all the cameras, she put the water even closer to the boy, this time at his reach. “ I’ll tell him I drank it in front of you to torture you, so be fast. ”

Her smile incited a Cheshire grin. At least this one had a sense of humour, or perhaps she just understood to be polite when another laughed. Joker took a deep breath, inhaling through his mouth and letting out a lilting sigh. He had to admit - she intrigued him. She managed to get a meeting with him despite his strict no-visitors rule, and she wanted to break him out at the expense of shedding her shackles. This was certainly not how he’d thought his day would go.

“I am a clown. I’ll always be a clown. This city doesn’t need a martyr. It needs people who know to have a good laugh at the absurdity and the bullshit.” He swayed gently in his seat. He had trouble staying still these days, and he couldn’t tell whether it was the drugs or the fact that he didn’t bother trying to subdue himself anymore.

“You can do whatever you want, darling. No one is stopping you.” Joker looked around at the barren room. “Freedom isn’t given. You have to take it for yourself. If you want to break me out, go ahead. If you want to stick around once I’m out of here, do that. As a clown, it’s not my job to keep you from what makes you happy. In fact, that’s the last thing I want.”

Gaze shifting back to the blondie before him, Joker leaned forward, hands clasped atop the table. “I bring laughter and joy to the people, no matter what it takes.” He smiled, serenity in his eyes. “It just so happens they want blood. I’m not the one who made that choice. I shot Murray for me, for a good joke. It’s the people that gave meaning to what I did.”

         Harley laid back in her chair, across the table from him. Biting her lip, she started taking in his words. That was her only fixation, biting her lip until it bled when she had something important to think about. He was right, of course. She could be FREE by herself, and nobody was stopping her. But she didn’t have the strenght to do it alone, she realised.          Thankfully, he had weirdly agreed to her plan, even if he kept insisting about the wrong reasons. She smiled, but this time it felt innocent again. Like the way she used to smile as a child. “ Okay. ” she wasn’t as talkative as she usually was, but the plan was suddenly taking shape in her head. She could see the glorious day the Joker would return to Gotham, to be its King, or its Clown, or just a man. She would be proud no matter whatever he chose.         “ I’ll come over next week, then. We could talk more, if you wish to know more about me. I know I want to know more about you. ” she moved forward again, looking into his eyes for the first time. She had been avoiding looking directly at him, feeling intimidated. But something had changed in her, and she had a goal now. “ And if you want to make me happy... Don’t mess anyone up until I come, we don’t want you to be put in solitary. Maybe you don’t want to be a martyr, maybe you don’t care about what meaning the people have given you. But I can tell you can give them strenght, so be strong yourself. ”