The Origins Trilogy

Chapter 21

"Is he dead?" Harley asks, inspecting Feline who was strapped to one of my wooden kitchen chairs, bound by a rope.

He may have been rendered unconscious by whatever The Bat injected in him, but we didn't get a chance to ask how long it would last so we had to take precaution. The last thing we needed was Feline waking up with Harley's insanity still running through his system.

Frost and I were at my cabinet near my sink trying to get him to coax the Green forward so it can bring the makeshift box up and toward the surface of the soil but it's proving to be very difficult for him to successfully bring it up, being that raising something from the soil was such a delicate matter.

I was beyond frustrated and so was Frost, trying to walk someone through using the powers it took years to master is more difficult than I thought. Pure emotion may cause us to access each other's abilities more easily than others, but this particular one requires a type of finesse that Frost is having great difficulty with.

"Just keep trying, keep focusing, you'll know it when you feel it, and no Harley, he's just knocked out " I answer Harley as I reassure Frost. He nods as he continues circling his hands over the soil trying to dig deep to the log that was deep beneath it, I get up and run my fingers through my hair nervously, we were running out of time.

Sunrise was in about twenty minutes and we've got everything we need, it was just that fucking crystal we needed and getting it was the hard part. I buried it deep as a precautionary measure, but now, with everything that's happened, I was deeply regretting that decision.

The clock was ticking and we still had no crystal, I walked over to the table and sat down, Harley followed suit sitting across from me.

"So, The Bat really helped you? Like let you escape?" he asked, we sort of filled him in when we got back but I didn't get a chance to answer all of them because the moment we got back I was trying to get Frost to bring the log to the surface.

That was about thirty minutes ago, we were all frustrated at this point but I couldn't blame Frost, they type of skill I used to do that is very specific and purposeful, and without the experience of having my powers for as long as I had, to say it was difficult was an understatement.

We didn't have all night because the night was almost morning, but pressuring Frost wouldn't make this process any easier, we needed him focused and calm if this was going to work.

No matter how stressed I may have been at the fact that time was just ticking away, I had to keep it hidden, Frost knew what needed to be done and I'm certain that he wants his powers back just as badly as I wanted mine, it's just a matter of having patience and hoping that we can get it in time.

"Yeah, she did? She never really seemed like the sentimental or loving type, but apparently Feline has a special place in her righteous heart, go figure," I answer, nodding towards the unconscious Feline, thankful that Harley was providing me with a slight distraction from the current situation.

"She really loves him that much, huh? To let you all go like that. It must be nice, having someone you love care about you more than themselves, more than their goals," Harley says, his voice trailing off as he turns to look at Feline.

I realize at that moment the opportunity that this situation has afforded me. This is the first time I get to talk to the real Hartley, not the Joker's boy, not the psychiatrist, but the real Hartley, the sane one. I look at him inquisitively, he turns to face me and notices my stare,

"What?" he asks.

"So you're completely sane, right? And you remember everything that's happened so far in the not so sane Hartley's life?" I ask and Harley, who I now realized was actually my Dean again, for the first time in years, he was Dean, my pretend big brother.