The ending of the beginning

The False Harlequin #5

'Last number before the serialization'

So this was it then?

This was how everything was going to end?

Not even a simple goodbye, hope everything goes well?

It was a miracle they didn’t just give her a kick in her behind for dramatism, really, it was all very anti-climatic the way they just opened the door and let her go out like that, not only it was a little bizarre to all but leave Arkham on her own two feet, in the middle of the day, but absolutely no explosion, no shakespearean monologue about how they were going to take on Batman or something similar, she had just been discarded.

Also, it was also a little disheartening, how they just acted so disinterested, like saying, don’t worry, you’ll come back soon; well, to tell the truth, maybe they were right in some cases, since Arkham really didn’t work as it was intended on most occasions, at least on the big guys, like the Joker or Two Faces, which Harleen hadn’t seen, although she had met Professor Crane and he had been nothing but polite with Harley, maybe it was professionalism courtesy, since both of them had studied psychology, or maybe Scarecrow simply was a normal person underneath all that weird ‘fear me you mortals’ persona.

Either way, besides several meetings with Doctor Lin, who seemed to be as competent as she was frisky, her time at Arkham had been very fruitful in a way; it had allowed Harleen to center herself, to rest and prepare for what was going to happen, mainly the fact that she was ready to leave behind the Harley Quinn identity behind, well, not entirely, she was still Harleen Quinzel, but Joker’s sidekick? Yeah, that whole side was dead to her.

Now, here she was, a completely free individual who could do whatever she wanted, if one ignores the mile long crime record that hang over Harleen’s head, but that was another time, right now she was ready to walk into the future, maybe to even find the reason why she was brought into this world, and to see exactly which world it was; with her luck this was probably another universe and she will be annihilated in one of the multiple crisis that were always happening in the DC multiverse.

She decided not to think about it, but instead she left those fatalistic thoughts behind and put her whole attention on the beautiful sight in front of her. On that first night, when Harleen had been brought into this universe, she saw Renata and understood that she was a very beautiful woman, now, after seeing her for the first time under the light of the day, in a cream sundress, looking at Harleen with a soft smile on her face as the breeze made her long red hair move in the air? Well, Renata was a gorgeous woman.

The two of them had been sending letters back and forth, with Harleen quickly getting to the conclusion that whatever had happened with Renata, well, it was the same as with Doctor Lin. After a couple more talks, Harleen and the doctor had found out that, besides loyalty, whatever Harleen had done had some effects similar to a love potion, not something that Harleen was very enthused with, still, whatever had happened, at least it was good enough to save Renata, the repercussions of those actions may come back to bite her in the ass later on, but for now, things were alright.

“I… wanted to come get you, I even got a taxi, but…” Renata looked at the deserted road, no sign of any cab anywhere, figures.

“Taxis will arrive, but asking them to wait? Nah, bunch of cowards really… have you been alright?” It was weird, with the villains she knew how to act, how to put the mask on, a lighter one maybe, but still, she was Harley Quinn with them, quick with a joke, a little bit bubbly and airheaded, just enough to make everyone look at the right as she worked on the left. Kansas City Shuffle baby.

With this woman? It was different, since she didn’t know what she should do, what she should say, how she should act, the problem of trying to herself, while also being someone else, now you see the problem?

“Yes, I went to the doctor a day after you saved me,” the two began to walk away from the institution Harley never wanted to see again in her life, it was a good thing that Renata was wearing flats because they will have to walk some time before they reached any public transportation, and like hell she was going to burn her second chance by stealing one “they were very impressed that I was in perfect health, even my old ankle injury from when I was a teenager is apparently fixed,” the way she looked at Harleen, it was clear that she knew more, but she was waiting for the blonde woman to answer.

“Yeah, look, I didn't know what I was doing back then, heck, I don’t think I know what the hell I’m doing right now,” she then stopped and looked directly at Renata’s eyes; if she was going to live in this reality, then she had to do it right “there was an artifact, nobody knows what happened to it after Batman appeared, but since then I changed, beyond the whole health thing… I- I’m not the same Harley that I was before it activated.”

“That explains the way you act, a lot more coherent, at least from what I gathered from Batman’s nemesis,” there was a small smile on Renata’s face, a little bit cheeky, so she wasn’t just sunshine and rainbows this girl, she was starting to like her even more.

“I wasn’t the nemesis, I don’t think I even gained ‘sidekick’ level to him, but yeah, it did something to me, put my head on right, or maybe wrong? Who knows with Gotham these days… Renata, besides healing you, well, I-”

“It made me fall in love with you, not love you, but truly love you,” well, she wasn’t expecting the redheaded woman to continue like that “since that night I’ve felt a little bit different, with you on my mind and your words from the letters always being the brightest part of my day,” she told her with a warm smile and her eyes looking at the bright memories in her head “and I even stopped looking and sighing about one of my co-workers, I wasted like three months waiting for him to invite me out, but now that I calmed down I could see how head over heels he is about another person in the company, so in a way that helped me.”

“Wait, are you alright with what happened?” Renata then simply shrugged, before continuing walking, leaving Harleen to sigh before going after the girl; there was something very screwed up in here, but she wasn’t even sure where to start, but if Renata and even Sandra were alright with what was going, she will let it go into the bottom of the list for now.

“Things may never be the same in my life, but I am happy, and soon I’ll be more than happy, what with a very interesting letter that arrived from the person that allowed you to leave Arkham,” she then took out a piece of paper from the big bag she had at the side, and Harleen could recognize Dr. Lin’s handwriting everywhere. Great, just another thing to the list, isn’t it?

“Well, whatever happens, I’m here if you want me, although considering how everything is going, I’m pretty sure weird things will happen sooner or later.”

“This is Gotham, we are almost proud of weird things happening, also, the good doctor told me you’ll maybe like something else to wear besides the standard issue uniform of Arkham,” then just like that, she began to take some clothes from the big bag, well, that explained the size, but after seeing the clothes, Harleen had to raise an eyebrow, which made Renata blush slightly and avoid the look of her… girlfriend? “eh, there weren’t that many pictures of you I could find besides the… very clingy suit you used, so I had to go a little back on the articles about you,” that was as good an explanation as she could get anyway, so as she took a trip behind the trees to get out of the uniform she only had one more question.

“Now that I think about it, you never told me where you worked.”

“Oh, you are right, well, I’m in the secretarial pool at the main office of Wayne Enterprises,” oh, you gotta be shitting me.

—--

The man currently looking at the identification in his hand was dressed well, after all, this was a very exclusive hotel, they needed to keep things in order, although when it came to money, they weren’t exactly that exclusive, you just needed to have some of it and these two women seemed to have a lot of it, but he was also a man that could keep quiet, specially when the two women seemed capable of breaking him in half with just a look.

Returning the ID to the woman of clear Japanese origin he then gave them the keys of the room they just paid for.

“Here you go, enjoy your stay,” he simply said, deciding to forget about the two, hoping that nothing would happen to him, or more importantly, his job; as the two women simply nodded and went in search of their new room, inside the bag of one of them, on the manila folder, there were photos of a certain blonde woman, smiling like crazy in the mugshot, one that she was very proud once upon a time, and written over it there some very clear words.

ELIMINATE THE TARGET