Harleen Part 13/19
Author: BlueSuede
Title: Harleen
Rating: NC17
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: Chloe/Bruce
Summary: Chloe is on a recruiting mission, trying to pin down Gotham's infamous Dark Knight. In order to learn more about him, she begins interviewing those he's captured. What will she do when the Joker escapes and begins targeting her?
Warning: sexually explicit content, moderate violence
banner by cheryljluv
First Chapter
Previous (Chapter 12)
Next (Chapter 14)
-13-
Chloe woke with a groan, her head throbbing. On instinct she moved to cradle her head in her palm, but something impeded the movement. Her eyes flew open and she looked down in panic. She was wearing a straight jacket.
"Ohmygod," she exclaimed breathlessly, scrambling with her legs until she bumped against a wall. She looked around. Where was she? It looked like the inside of some sort of fun house, but everything was covered in a thick layer of dust. The place hadn't seen light or life in what must have been years.
"Yeah," Harley's voice reached her ears, and her head whipped to a corner where Harley was sitting cross-legged on the floor playing with a deck of cards, fully costumed, "sorry 'bout the straight jacket," she said cheerfully. "We woulda used rope er handcuffs, but we had the jacket on hand, see, since Mr. J was wearing it before. And he said it would be a great joke to have a sane person in a straightjacket. What a laugh, right?" she said, chuckling a little at the very idea.
Chloe grimaced. "I'm laughing on the inside." The sound of snoring reached her ears and she glanced to another corner where she realized two hyenas were snoozing, chained to a pillar. Her eyes widened and she backed up against the wall a little bit more, drawing her knees into her chest, her eyes furtively latched on them.
Harley followed her line of sight. "Oh," she cooed, "aren't they absolutely precious? Mr. J gave them to me as a gift for breakin' him out. Don't worry. They already love me. Won't hurt anyone unless I tell 'em, too." She paused thoughtfully. "At least...so far, anyway. I'm still training them."
Chloe nearly fainted again. Instead she stared at Harley, trying to figure out what had happened to make the perfectly respectable psychiatrist snap. "Harleen..." she said slowly, carefully.
"Harley," she corrected cheerfully, continuing to play with the cards and not looking up.
Chloe closed her eyes and sighed. "Harley. What does the Joker want with me?"
Harley shrugged. "Who knows?" she said in a sing-song voice, hinting that she knew.
Chloe opened one eye. "He didn't tell you?"
She looked up, and Chloe tried to see if there was anything left of the doctor in her eyes. Harley just grinned, rocking back a little gleefully. "Well...he said it was a surprise..." she drawled, but then she moved onto her knees so quickly it nearly through Chloe off balance. She looked poised for girl talk. "But it's the funniest thing, really. See, it's like a triple charade. Or...double...no, triple. I don't know. It kind of confuses me. But anyway, see, Mr. J says that we've got you so that you'll tell us who the Bat is, but the Bat is gonna think we have you as bait, so then by the time he gets here-'cause Mr. J says he always comes-we'll know who he is and it'll all be one big party!" she finished gleefully, as if the very thing were the most amusing story she'd ever told.
Chloe faked a half-hearted smile, deciding it was best to go along with the poor woman's delusions. "That's hilarious," she said, "but why would I know who Batman is?" she asked, trying to figure out how much they knew about her.
She shrugged again, her behavior almost childlike. "Beats me. But Mr. J says you know, so I guess you know." She looked at her curiously. "So is it anyone I know?" she asked, as if she were asking whether she knew the boy Chloe had a crush on.
"I haven't the slightest idea who it is," Chloe said simply, hoping it was convincing.
Harley stretched out on her stomach and propped her chin on her hands, her feet crossing at the ankles. "Boy, he's gonna be disappointed to hear that. Better start figuring out who you think it is," she suggested mildly.
Chloe swallowed. "When do you expect him back?"
"Not for a while. Maybe not 'til tomorrow, actually. He said something about dropping in on an old friend."
Chloe wondered who that poor, unfortunate soul might be.
One of the hyenas began stirring in its sleep, rousing. Harley looked at them thoughtfully. "Hmmm...Puddin' said not to feed them, but I don't think one little treat would hurt, do you?" she asked, looking to Chloe with her brows raised.
Chloe shook her head vehemently. The less hungry those things were, the happier she'd be. "Definitely not."
As Harley set about getting a few raw steaks for the hyenas, Chloe began scanning the room, trying to think up a plan and coming up short.
Bruce drummed his fingers impatiently. She still wasn't picking up her phone. Perhaps she'd been more irritated with him than he realized that morning. He sighed. It wasn't his fault they'd called a damned emergency meeting. It had actually been rather important. Lucius Fox had discovered one of the branches was disposing of pollutants improperly. He was going to be immersed in the problem for weeks, and he cringed at what might happen if the papers found out. He swore quietly when Chloe's voicemail picked up for the second time.
Well, he reassured himself as he waited for the tone, it was quite possible that she really wasn't able to pick up at the moment. She'd probably call him back in an hour and they could do drinks instead of the dinner he'd been hoping for.
"...and I'll get back to you right away. And Lois, if this is you, please don't leave me another voicemail complaining about Clark. They fill up my message box and no one else can communicate with me."
And then, as if to illustrate this very thing, instead of the tone he was expecting, he received a recorded voice explaining that Chloe's mailbox was full.
"Unbelievable," he sighed, trying to decide if it would be too high school to send her a text message.
Lois checked her phone for the fourteenth time in the last hour. Driven to the brink by the blatant lack of missed calls, she raised her voice, "CLARK!"
Clark looked up from his desk hopefully. "Are you speaking to me again?"
Lois glared at him. "For the moment. But only to ask if you've heard from Chloe today. She hasn't responded to any of my calls, and I've left her, like, a gazillion messages."
Clark frowned. "No, I haven't talked to her in a couple of days. I'm sure she'll get back to you tomorrow," he said reassuringly, although the thought it the back of his mind that Chloe always answered her phone, usually on the first ring, nagged at him insistently.
Lois shot him a dirty look. "She may postpone returning your calls until another day, but my baby cuz always gets back to me right away, at least with a text message." She looked at her phone again. "Ooh, I wondered if she's out with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Loaded again..."
Clark raised an eyebrow at her. "What?" he deadpanned.
Lois crossed her arms smugly. "Uh uh. I'm not dishing on her. Besides, I'm still ticked with you for disappearing in the middle of our coffee not-date," she said, looking away from him stubbornly.
"Hey, you hear anything from 'licious lately?" Bart asked, working on his fifth can of Pringles while Victor and AC duked it out on the X-box.
Oliver glanced up from his desk. "Not in a couple of days, why?"
He shrugged. "Just curious. I miss her liciousness."
Oliver smirked. "Uh huh."
"I should visit her," he said thoughtfully. "We could get Mexicana together." He grinned at the idea, whizzing over to the pantry for another bag of chips.
"Bart," Oliver grumbled. "You're eating me out of house and home.
Bart lifted a shoulder and dropped it, unimpressed. "Yeah, but with you, that'll take, like years. Anyone else I'd have already eaten out of house and home in, like, a month."
"Speaking of surplus cash," Victor, said leaning back on the couch smugly as AC slumped in defeat, groaning his humiliation. "I heard our favorite blonde - and before either of you says anything - " he interrupted himself, glaring meaningfully at Oliver and AC, "I mean Chloe - went on a date the other night with someone who's definitely more prince than pauper."
Bart's entire body snapped to attention, focusing on Victor. "What?" he demanded.
Victor shrugged. "It was all over the magazine stand where I got my coffee this morning. She was Bruce Wayne's arm candy for some big function last night."
"What?" Bart demanded, jumping to his feet without noticing.
Oliver shot Victor a stern look. "I doubt Chloe would appreciate being referred to as 'arm candy,'" he chastised mildly.
"Yeah, well, those magazines said a lot worst. Not exactly her biggest fan. Just cause she's not famous, if you ask me. Didn't even bother to find out her name. Apparently they liked the dress she wore, though."
All three men stared at him.
"What?" he asked defensively. "Chloe was on the cover of a magazine. Of course I was going to read what it had to say about her."
"Pick up any fashion tips while you were flipping through, Victoria?" AC goaded.
"Back up," Bart said, still fixated on the key point. "Mamacita went on a date?"
AC quirked a brow at him. "She's single. It's allowed."
"Shouldn't we...I dunno...get to screen him or something, first?"
Oliver rolled his eyes. "It's Bruce Wayne. Trust me. He doesn't exactly have any secrets left. She could do a lot worse, though," he added condescendingly. "Wayne's not a bad guy. Decent businessman anyway."
"Businessman?" Bart demanded. "What's business about romancing my mamacita? Just because he knows how to make a buck doesn't mean he's a good guy," he insisted.
Oliver chuckled. "Relax, Bart. I went to school with the guy, too. He's really not that terrible. I mean...no worse than me, anyway." This time all heads turned to stare at Oliver. Within seconds the other three men were on their feet.
"Oh, hell no."
"This shit ain't gonna fly."
"I got dibs," Bart said, vanishing, presumably to head for Gotham. In reality, though, he got distracted by the growling in his stomach and stopped for a burrito. Or two.
Oliver stared at the remaining men, who were getting their coats. "What?" he asked, honestly confused.
"Commisioner, I tried to get a hold of the Sullivan woman like you asked, but she's not picking up her phone, and I already left her a couple of voicemails. Should we send someone over to check out her place?" Montoya asked, sticking her head in the Commissioner's office.
Commissioner Gordon looked up from the papers on his desk. He nodded. "I'll go. And you'll come with me." He rose from his desk, heading for the coat rack by his door and grabbing his trench coat and hat.
Before he could even get it on, Detective Bullock was bursting past Montoya into the office.
"Commissioner Gordon, that Arkham security guard who tipped us off last time the Joker got out was found dead in his apartment ten minutes ago."
Commissioner Gordon looked at Bullock, his stomach clenching. "The Joker?"
Bullock nodded gravely. "His face was all twisted into this freakish grin. Not pretty." "Nerve gas," Gordon muttered.
One thing was certain, as long as the Joker was loose, nobody in this department would be laughing any time soon.
"Commissioner? Sir?" Montoya urged him into action. "Shouldn't we get going?"
He nodded. "Right behind you Montoya. Get your squad car. You'll follow me there." She nodded and disappeared.
"Bullock," he said to the remaining man. "You get back to Arkham and see what you can find on Dr. Harleen Quinzel. She's been missing since the Joker broke loose, and he may have taken her hostage."
"Yes, sir!" he said eagerly, also vanishing.
Gordon looked over at his desk, where the playing card Chloe Sullivan had given him at their previous meeting was still sitting. He should have told Batman about it the moment she brought it in, but he'd figured as long as the Joker was locked away there was no need. Now he was regretting that decision. If Batman had known, he probably would have headed straight to the woman's aid the moment the Joker got out again. Now time was of the essence.
He prayed that she was at her apartment when they got there and that maybe she wouldn't pay for his mistake. If not...well, night had almost fallen. The bat signal would be easy to see when he got back to the station.
He only hoped it wasn't necessary.
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Next (Chapter 14)