When Harleen Met the Joker and Harley

chapter one

CHAPTER ONE

☂A DUSK OF WIND FLEW THROUGH THE LEAVES as they gently fluttered down to the ground like twisted ballerinas falling to their death. She gazed from afar outside the glassed window her hands folded in her seat dusting the lint off her navy-blue slacks. The taxi-driver stopped aside the street and she could tell by the tension in the car that he couldn't wait to get far away from here. Dr. Harleen Quinzelle had received the highest grades in her class and a devoted to her gymnastics. She'd been studying for their for most of her grownup years and here she was at the Arkham Sanitarium to start her time as a psychiatric intern.

She'd been stopped in the middle of nowhere. Rain started to topple down from the sky and drenched her hair with liquid the moment she stepped out of the car and as sudden as they had made it to the entrance, he was gone. She sighed, holding both her suitcases by the hand and with both her feet, she walked toward the door.

Dr. Harleen Quinzelle had been waiting for this - studying for this - and dreaming about working here. She was still in awe that she had finally made it to this place: Arkham Asylum. They tell you about Arkham Asylum as a place to stay away from - a hush hush subject that was sided next to the 'your grandma died' talk. A place people taunted but secretly feared at school.

Amadeus Arkham, founder of the Arkham Asylum started the place after his mother was struck with an illness later leading to her un forgetful death. So to keep her in his heart, he euthanized - or better known as stuffed her body as one to a bodiless deer head - keeping her memory. The place was a living hell 'literally speaking' and people all across from Gotham City are sent there to get better or the most common ending for them; escaping.

She studied the history of Arkham Asylum, went to the library and researched everything she could know about it so one day she could work here. There was something about the place that made her committed to getting their but she couldn't explain it. She shook her head. Right now wasn't the time to think about the dreadful history of Arkham Asylum. She was starting the beginning of her career from now and so forth.

Maybe it was perhaps that the night was dark and even the stars that glinted in the sky were covered by the trees that hovered in the upper atmosphere but she felt a strange, peculiar feeling pass through her and as if the shadowed two-door entrance was tugging her in like a rope. A lightening spark crashed in the sky and her body shook for a sudden moment, her heart beat hollow against her chest.

A lady in a white lab coat introduced herself when she came inside the building entrance that was heavily guarded. She seemed welcoming unlike the building itself they were in and the patients whom she had spotted in her way in being dragged by police officers with defeated looks on their faces.

Harley Quinn winced as she spotted a mad - crazy look - on one of the people with his pupils droopy and most definitely filled with intoxicated drugs and his shiny, white teeth against the spoiled gums that were so red they might as well have been blood dripping out of his mouth instead of the juice she had later in the day before she came.

"This is Arkham Asylum as you might already know. And you are Dr. Harleen Quinzelle; heard some good stuff about you dear." She winked and brushed the dust - top to bottom - from her suit. "I'm Dr. Dr. Joan Leland and we'll be working together."

She didn't know how to respond except with a smile.

"For the time being, you will work with us and we'll see what will come of you." She started to walk and Dr. Harleen followed her obediently through the area as they passed by cages and bars where a number of people were being shut in like animals.

The lady said in a joking way although the hair on Harley's neck rose up.

"This is were we keep the looneys as well call them." Dr. Joan Leland turned to the left leading Harley Quinn behind her.

She couldn't help but notice that they seemed very much like animals with their eyes touched by insanity and they hair that hadn't been groomed for ages. She couldn't wait to study them was what her expression said or she might have mistaken her twisted thoughts with fear. What was she thinking coming here? Harley's left eyeball twitched and quickly looked away. She felt her inside turn and an uneasy feeling fall over her.

"Sometimes, the workers in our facility become patients themselves."

Noticing her worried look, the lady said to her. "It's fine to be a little unsettled during your first time."

"No, I'm perfectly fine. Go on with your tour." She said in a brave voice, biting her lip - they couldn't possibly be finished with the tour yet. An itch started to grow at the back of her neck as she scraped from under the cotton shirt she was wearing.

"Well, then." The trench coat lady grabbed an object from her left pocket and used it to open a door, viewing another section. "This is where our special cases are."

"Special cases?" Dr. Harleen said, uncertainly.

"Some come in once in a while depending on the rate of villains." She said in a calm voice.

'Who brings them in?" She asked leaning in her head through the open-gated door. Instead of answering, the lady said changing the subject, "Here we are."

Where exactly was here? Harley widened her eyes. Harley's body froze and her immediate thought was to grab her boob or a handle but there were no handles and in fact, a glassed boarder that overlooked the prisoners all across the walls. She turned her head and was in surprise when no one was behind her. The door behind them started to close and she followed the lady as she led the way.

"Who's that?" She glanced curiously at the usual clown outfit suited in a grown man siting down in his chair.

"You mean him?" The doctor wiped her glasses with her shirt.

"Yeah, what's his name?"

"He has no name Dr. Quinzelle but he's a special case. Goes by the Joker. This place might as well be his home. That man is a lunatic. Best to stay away from him. Don't want to be catching what he has - Good Lord knows how people like him exist." She shook her head and started to walk away as Harley started walking quickly.

"But isn't my job to help the nutcases?" Dr. Harleen quirked in eyebrow, not keeping her gaze off from the man with green hair and cheap clown makeup.

Dr. Joan Leland stopped on her tracks.

Dr. Joan Leland whipped her head over to her direction with a confused look on her face and studying her very carefully, "Dr. Quinzelle, did you hear anything I had just said?"

Then, she started to laugh. "Maybe I misunderstood you. Well, if you think you're up for the job, I think we could assign him with therapy under your name in three months."

"Three months?" She questioned in surprise.

"This isn't some kind of Disney Land," Dr. Joan Leland raising in eyebrow before adding, " Well, if you are interested with the Joker maybe I can see if you can meet him as long as you can handle him."

"Dr. Joan Leland, I can handle him. It is my job to," Dr. Harleen said, feeling her lip quiver at the moment.

As they both walked back to the main office in the facility, she put her hand in her pocket and felt something soft but cold. Dr. Harleen slowly took it out of her pocket and in her hand was a withered rose-colored flower.