บท 175: Puddin' #175
"Come out. I know you're there..." I said as I stood in the middle of the central conference hall, crossing my arms as I watched four familiar faces step out of their hidey holes.
'It's more like six since one of them has three faces...' I briefly mused before shaking off that line of thought as I looked at the four literal and figurative circus freaks.
"We've already been through this once. Make it easy on yourselves and give up," I said as I eyed the group, particularly one extremely obese bearded woman and a man with flames surrounding his body.
"You may have bested Rex and Big top, but you have yet to--" Mr. Toad, who looked like a humanoid frog, said, and that was all I had the patience to hear as I immediately closed the distance between us.
I gripped his neck, raising him in the air before bashing him against the wall and stepping back as I watched him slowly slide down with his eyes rolled backward.
Before I knew it, Kushti, who happened to be a triple conjoined (at the waist) twin, came charging at me, taking advantage of his (their?) twelve limbs to perform all sorts of unnecessarily complicated flips and maneuvers.
I sighed as I stepped to the side, allowing the triplet to somersault past me before turning around and knocking him out with three consecutive high kicks to all three of his (their?) bald heads.
Thinking he'd take advantage of my momentary distraction, Prosperous Rex came charging at me, using the flames to give himself a speed boast as he flew at me.
I put away my gloves to avoid damaging them as I quickly turned to Phosphorous rex and gripped his head before he could swing at me, causing his eyes to widen.
I just shrugged at him before slamming his head into the ground, immediately knocking him out. Adjusting my posture, I turned to Big Top, who gave me a nervous expression before turning into a meatball and rolling away through the closest wall.
"Not as dumb as she looks..." I muttered, chuckling as I shook my head and began tieing up the three (five?) circus freaks without paying the fleeing Big Top any mind.
She was heading straight towards a squad of my Sentry Spiders. Even if my machines might not be capable of handling all four (seven?) of Pyg's circus freaks, they'll make quick work of Big Top.
"Still... the durability upgrade sure is handy..." I muttered as I raised my hand to my eye level, noticing its unscathed appearance, despite making direct contact with Rex's flames.
"Whatever... I've wasted enough time here..." I shook my head as I equipped my gloves and resumed sprinting toward the warden's office to take out Scarecrow and get this thing over with as soon as possible.
...
Holding her cup of steaming coffee, Deborah sighed as she watched numerous machines walk out of Arkham Asylum with villains strapped to their backs.
Police officers would then take the inmates and load them into their cars, transporting them into Blackgate, where they would stay until the asylum was under control.
It's only been twenty minutes since Grayson had made his way inside, yet the number of subdued inmates coming their way only increased with every minute, forcing her to ask for backup.
There were tens of police officers present already. But with the pace Grayson was going, their numbers could barely keep up with detaining and transporting the dangerous inmates, not to mention maintaining a parameter.
What made it worse was that most people Grayson sent their way were no ordinary individuals. The vast majority of them were metahumans and mentally unstable, to boot.
None of them caused any problems so far as they remained unconscious, but the mere possibility of a psychotic meta-human suddenly starting a rampage sent shivers down Deborah's spine.
She hesitated for a moment before sighing and giving in to her anxiety as she called one of her subordinates. "Get in touch with the Justice League, the Titans, or whoever," Deborah said to the officer standing before her.
"Ask them to send us someone, anyone. We need somebody to keep the peace and oversee the prisoner transport..."
...
As she slowly opened her eyes, Harley gasped for breath as she lay on the dirty floor. She got to her feet and looked around, shock taking over her expression as she found herself in a familiar circus ground.
The place didn't look as she remembered it, with an oversized plastic clown head in the middle and clouds of green gas wafting about with the wind, obscuring her vision.
Harley froze as she heard an ever-familiar maniacal laugh from the center of the circus and turned to the giant clown head, her expression turning nervous at the sight of a man walking out of its mouth.
"Puh-- Puddin'...?" Harley nervously remarked as she suddenly found herself standing in front of the giant clown head after blinking as a shadowed figure approached her.
"My, My, Harley, darling...! Look at you..." the figure said as he stepped into the light, making his maniacal grin and iconic purple suit visible as he chuckled.
"Such a big girl now...! Hanging out with these so-called heroes and making new friends..." The Joker said as he approached Harley, twirling the knife in his hands.
"But you feel it, don't you, Harley...?" he asked, broadly grinning as he kept moving forward to close the distance whenever Harley stepped back as if cornering her.
"Feel... feel what...?" Harley asked, her expression growing more nervous and distressed with every word the Joker said and every step he took toward her.
"The good old Harley that I know and love, bang, bang, banging on the prison bars, just itching to get out..." The Joker said as he caught Harley's wrist to stop her from moving back.
"You know, the Harley who would make friends with unsuspecting chumps just to kill them later..." he added as he forced Harley's hand open and put the knife in her hand.
"And get a good chuckle out of it with me..." The Joker concluded as he forced the knife into Harley's hand and gripped her shoulders, slowly turning her backward.
Harley's eyes widened as she noticed three people (two women, one man), blindfolded and bound to metallic chairs, moaning and wriggling as they struggled against their bindings, trying and failing to break free.
She recognized the two women as her friends, Pamela Ivy and Selina Kyle. However, the third person, the man, had a blurry face, making it difficult to distinguish his identity.
She looked down, and her surprise grew more intense as she noticed herself wearing her old black and red leather harlequin costume, pausing for a second.
Harley's shocked expression suddenly turned into a disturbing smile as she grinned from ear to ear, raising the knife in her hand as she drew closer to the man, whose features remained blurry.
With every step Harley took, the man's face slowly became clearer until it finally took the form of an average-looking youth as his blindfold fell, causing her to recognize him.
She looked at the man's blank expression, and Harley's smile faltered. Her expression turned strained as the hand holding the knife shook and she froze in a display of hesitance.
Harley turned back to the Joker, who had an encouraging, if maniacal smile, and tried to firm her resolve as she sought to stop her hand from shaking to finish the job.
However, no matter how hard she tried, the tremors coursing through her hand did not stop and only increased as memories of the man standing up to Batman, of all people, flashed in her mind.
It was something not even her pudding did for her, and with that thought, it was like a roaring wave overcoming a damn as memories of her time with the Joker came crashing down on her mind.
She recalled every insult, every abuse, and every near-death experience she suffered at the clown's hands, and her palms only began to shake more vigorously.
In the end, Harley could do nothing but relax her arm, causing it to flop to her side as her shoulders slumped. She wanted to let go of the knife, but the familiar feeling of a gun's barrel to the back of her head, caused her to reconsider.
"Oh... Harley, my Harley..." The Joker said as he closed the distance and put his revolver to Harley's head. "Always such a disappointment..." he added, clucking his tongue as he shook his head.
"Why do I even bother...?" The Joker said as he knocked back the revolver's hammer and put a hand on the trigger, preparing to end Harley's life.
...
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