***

Returning from the Iceberg Lounge I was the one who was charged with the task of making sure that Harley got into bed safely. Ivy was not pleased that Harley let herself get this intoxicated, and after whatever conversation Selina had with Penguin she was left on edge. 

Slowly I say her down on the bed planning on helping her into something more comfortable, but it seemed that she had other plans as she slapped my hand away.

"Ya gotta tell me Sparky." Harley muttered as she let herself fall back on the bed, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Tell you what?" I questioned though it was mostly just to entertain her as I knew she tended to speak nonsense whenever she had too much to drink. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed I looked at her expectantly and watched as her features suddenly became serious.

"Cheyenne I used to be a therapist. Got my Ph.D and everything, so how about we cut the crap." She stated as she suddenly sat up not seeming very drunk anymore. Slowly it began to dawn on me that maybe she hadn't had as much to drink as she had led me to believe. "Tell me what happened tonight. I mean you totally missed an opportunity with that Deadshot guy. It's about the that boy isn't it?"

I felt completely speechless not necessarily because of the topic of the conversation, but because I was beginning to realize just pow perceptive Harley was. Clearly I was underestimating her. "Harley..."

"He's your trump card isn't he?" Harley continued a slight amount of excitement and understanding in her voice. It almost seemed like she was determined to crack me, to understand me on a level she never bother to before.

"Trump card?"

"Trump cards." She repeated as she placed her hand over mine. "Everyone has one. Place where the armor we build around ourselves is the weakest."

I thought about her words for a moment, my first instinct was to deny it. Say it was ridiculous and that I had moved on. But really it would have been ridiculous to deny it. Harley would see right though my lies that was painful clear. "Then yeah I guess he is. But Harley I really don't have anything to say."

"Okay then I'll just sit here." Harley stated as she looked across the room with a blank expression. I leaned back against the headboard knowing perfectly well that I could simply get up and leave. Walk away and pretend that her words didn't stir something inside of me. 

Again it would be ridiculous to deny that I wanted to talk about it. That maybe talking about it and having it out in the open would help me let go and move on. Ideally I always believed that Selina would be the best person to talk to, but she was dealing with her own demons. Her own feelings towards Bruce. And here was Harley who understood without knowing anything at all. "I don't even know where to start."

"Start anywhere."

"He..." I began to say and realized that I really didn't know where to start. There was so much to say, and so much that I knew I couldn't tell her. What I felt really couldn't be expressed with words. Words wouldn't even begin to scratch the surface of it. Of him. "He's not like anyone I've ever met. He's kind, funny, always so thoughtful. Handsome, I mean his smile... was enough to brighten anyone's day. He always treated me like I was everything to him. But he hid something important from me, and maybe he didn't love me as much as I thought. And sometimes I wish I'd never met him. It would be easier if I never met him. And the thing is I can't even imagine a life where I never felt his love. Even if I'll never have back again."

I was about to continue before I noticed that Harley had a completely blank expression. Her constant shifts in mood were normal, but she seemed to not even be able to look at me as she stared at the wall. "Must be nice to find love like that."

"Harley? Harley are you alright?" I asked as I placed my hand over hers as I slowly began to understand what this was about. She was thinking about The Joker. 

"I...I gotta go." She replied dismissively as she stood walking out of the room with a new sense of purpose. 

"Go where? Harley go where?" I questioned as quickly followed her out the door. Ivy was in the living area watering her plants and she stopped to look at Harley suddenly ripping apart the wooden floorboards. "Harley what are you doing?"

Harley shook her head aggressively as he she continued to break apart the floor suddenly pulling out a bight purple duffle bag. "Everything's perfectly all right. I'm fine I'm all fine here now. Thank you."

"Harley, I don't think you're fine at all." Selina stated as she walked into the room stopping beside me. 

"I think you're about to make a big mistake." I added knowing that whatever was in that duffle bag was extremely dangerous. What other reason would there be for burying the bag underground and out of reach. 

Ivy stepped forward in an attempt to reach her, but seemed to think better of it considering her state. It felt like one wrong word would cause Harley to snap and with her unpredictability it was a risk none of us wanted to take. She was too dangerous, not only to us but to herself too. "We're here to make sure you don't. We're here to stop you."

"Stop me? After what he's done to me?" She yelled radiating pure anger and hatred, Emotions that were understandable, The Joker was a monster. Possibly the worst monster of them all, but he was locked away in Arkham where he couldn't hurt anyone again. But Harley's pain ran much deeper than that, and I understood that his imprisonment would not be enough for her. "After all the betrayal, the abuse, the dirty tricks? He ruined my life!"

"Harley please." Ivy pleaded with a surprising amount of compassion in her voice. Compassion that I truthfully didn't believe she could ever give to anyone, a compassion that was only reserved for The Green. 

"I won't be stopped! I'm going to kill him!" Harley stated with determination as she reached into the duffle bag. Before any of us could react she tossed green and purple shares at our feet, Instinctively Selina, Ivy and I leaped out of the way expecting some kind of explosion. Instead a purple gas filled the air one that brought on an incredibly headache. The three of us fell to our knees as we inhaled the gas, and my vision suddenly became blurry as I hopelessly watched as Harley headed out the door. "I'm going to kill The Joker."

***

Dawn was going to break in less than two hours, the air was disgustingly warm though that was to be expected in the month of May in Gotham. Undoubtedly the nights would only begin to become warmer as we neared June. Tonight I wasn't sure if the sweat shinning on my forehead was due to the weather or nerves. 

"Harley, what have you gotten yourself into?" I muttered to myself horrified of what we were just about to do. We had already lost too much time with Harley's little trick, luckily Ivy was able to build up an immunity quickly enough to get us out and bring us back to consciousness. But we still were horribly behind Harley, and as we stood on top of a nearby building  looking out at the grounds of Arkham Asylum I wondered how we were ever going to pull this off.

Selina was studying the grounds using a pair of night-vision binoculars doing her best to perfect our plan. The three of us were amazed that Arkham wasn't in lockdown yet, meaning that Harley was able to slip inside without being noticed. But that wouldn't last long, because when Harley finally got to The Joker chaos was almost a guarantee. 

"Let's go already." Ivy stated impatiently as the vines around her arms tightened. Her worry for Harley was clear, and we were running out of time because when Arkham finally did go on lockdown we would have to prepare a new more complicated plan.

"No wonder You've been in Arkham so many times." Selina muttered never taking her eyes off of the building as she continued to study the grounds. 

I froze immediately looking to Ivy who was now scowling at Selina, her vines beginning to unravel from her body ready to attack. "What'd you just say?"

"She said you need to have patience Ives." I said quickly, knowing that the two of them were a couple seconds away from a fight. A fight we could not afford now, the last thing we need was for us to waste more time with petty fights.

"We have our plan. Harley's in trouble let's go."

"You don't break into a place like Arkham without being one-hundred percent sure you've thought of everything. And even then you probably haven't." Selina stated lowering her binoculars, but still deep in thought. Still scheming and planning for every possible scenario that we could encounter. "Trust me, Ivy. Breaking into things is what I do."

"Harley needs my help and I'm not just going to stand here." Ivy replied poison seeping through every word before she jumped off the edge of the building. Roots sprouted from the ground cushioning her fall before she ran into the night disappearing thought the trees. 

I looked over at Selina and studied her blank expression that gave absolutely nothing away. While she was calm it felt like there was an entire storm within me. The knowledge that things were going to end horribly. I had never even been this close to Arkham the little I did know about the asylum was that it was a place of horrors. It was the current home of some of the worst criminals Gotham City had to offer. "Things are going to go incredibly bad aren't they?"

"Historically." Selina replied as she stood, placing her goggles over her eyes. A stern look took over her features one that could only be described as someone who was ready to go into battle. I suppose in many ways we were, undoubtedly Batman and Robin would be on their way soon once the alarms were triggered. Selina's hope was that we could slip in and out before they arrived. Ivy straying from the plan only further complicated things.

Knowing we didn't have much time I quickly gathered all my courage, because although us breaking into Arkham was incredibly reckless and stupid we also weren't going to let anything happen to Harley. "Well, let's get this over with then."

"Lets." Selina stated as she leaped off the building, and with a sigh I did the same forcing down the feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. 

***