Getting the Facts Straight

It was good to be back at the Watchtower, with all of your heroic colleagues busy to help keep the world safe. You, and Harley who was hugging your arm, approached Martian as he kept a watchful eye on the world below. You darted your eyes from one screen to another, seeing different activities happening on Earth: planting of trees, wild animals grazing peacefully in an environment or two, people walking up and down streets, and so on. "Is everything ok in the world?"

"For now, yes," J'onn confirmed calmly. Then he turned to you, sternly? "I caught your performance in the field, and one event caught my attention... How were you able to phase into the ground to avoid Parasite's touch?" At that moment, you looked perplexed about that, thinking hard about that.

"I don't know," you replied honestly. "I felt that I just wanted to get away from his touch badly. Before I knew it, I went underground. Literally."

"Why sweat the small stuff, double-M?" Harley defended. "Mr. S saved the day with his smarts and strengths. Ain't that enough?"

"We must consider the possibility that you never had intangibility to begin with," he countered, "that someone has given it to you."

"So what if someone had?" You were a bit offended, like someone accuses you of doing something wrong. But you didn't... Then again, doubts were slowly blowing up like balloons in your head.

"What I'm saying is that since you joined our team, you have amassed more power than you ever had before. You must control yourself and how you use it, especially now that you interacted with Parasite."

"Hey! My Puddin' is a hero, through and through. You think he can't handle so much power? Well, he'll prove you wrong, mister calm-and-collected." Harley dragged you off the bridge, determined whereas you were surprised that she stood up for you fiercely...

J'onn watched you leave, very concerned.

She took you to your room, since there wasn't a room prepared for Harley. Yet. She takes you in and sits you on your bed, channeling Harleen now. "Don't listen to J'onn, Shadow." She smiled and got behind you, massaging your shoulders. "You've proven capable of handling so much power. You're not corrupted by it all. Or, should I say, your nanobots haven't..."

That got your attention. You turn to look at her in sheer befuddlement. "How do you know about that?!" But she shushed you softly and turns you back around to tell her story as thought it happened only yesterday.

"After you and I talked, I went to find Joker and give him a piece of my new mind. I told him off, and then I destroyed notes for his latest scheme. See, a couple of weeks ago, he found out about your project, and weighed his options for stealing it." Her demeanor changed back to Harley. "If he gave himself those nano-meds, Joker would've cured of what I once thought made 'im special. So he leaned more to either bashin' your blueprints on it, or give it to the goons... I knew I couldn't let anyone take all your hard work, Puddin', so I burned it all before I told him off." You listen in sheer amazement; what impressed you, or rather scared you, was that Joker found about REGEN! Thankfully, Harley being a new person helped the odds considerably. "Don't be mad..." she whimpered.

You smile, starting to relieve her worries, and you kiss her roughly. Cartoonish. She wasn't expecting that, wasn't complaining about it. "I'm not mad. I'm delighted; I'm glad I could help you see reason, Harley..." She smiled back at you and you two kissed like lovers once again all over your bed.