The Origins Trilogy

Chapter 30

Now

"Dr. Quinzel, you know...I live for these moments with you. I took the liberty of disabling those nasty little chips of yours when the portal opened, safety measures and all that," Joker says staring at me.

I watched his men throw Frost and Feline toward the black line of energy that still stood floating in the middle of the warehouse after releasing them from their cuffs, once they made contact with it, they vanished with a flash into the black energy,

"Where are you taking them?" I ask him, my voice like sharp glass.

"Oh, they aren't really necessary, so I sent them back to Gotham, they should be landing somewhere in their respective homes. Besides, couldn't have you four trying to team up on me, but you," he says, walking over to Ivy.

He stands there, still being gripped tightly by Joker's men with his meta cuffs glowing with a green dot on each of its shackles, and he stares at Joker with fire in his eyes,

"You're like a thorn in my back, so you'll be staying put. You know, you've always thought you were on some high ground cause you're a metahuman, but look at you now, bitch," he says, walking up closer to Ivy, and one of his men hands him a needle full of a green liquid, he stabs it into Ivy's arm,

"Fucking asshole!" Ivy screams as Joker pushes the liquid into Ivy's body, and suddenly, Ivy's skin turns from green to his original tan color and his hair reverts to its brown shade as his whole form reverts to appearing human.

He looks to Joker, confusion in his eyes, as the men take off his cuffs and hold him by his shoulders. Ivy tries to use his powers, but nothing happens and he stares at Joker in confusion,

"A little trick I picked up from good ole Saint Nick, him and Croc had it out a few hours before we arrived, he escaped but not before we got a little of his hypercharged blood.

Croc's gonna be out of commission for a while, but it was worth it, we mixed a little of that, with a little meta gene suppression serum, and voalá, you've got an Ivy that isn't so poisonous, anymore."

"You think I still won't end you Pennywise, you've got another thing--" Ivy starts.

"Oh calm down, the effects aren't permanent, but they'll last long enough, long enough for me to prove a point. Killing you like this would be...boring. And you know me, Ivy, I've always had a flair for the dramatics," he says, walking away from him and standing in front of me.

His men holding onto me with a vice grip, not letting me get an inch, looks like Mr. J learned his lesson the last time we were in this situation.

"So what, you're going to take me with you back to Gotham? Force me to be with you again? Force me to forgive you, I'll tell you right now, I'll be trying to kill you every step of the way, I can promise you that?" I respond and Joker merely smiles.

"I'd never force you to do anything you didn't want to do, you know that Harley. Everything that's happened to you, everything you do is your choice, your decision, and I've just provided the options," he says, walking over towards me.

"Well, then why are you here? If it's my choice like you keep saying, then I choose to leave you. And here you are trying to force me to reevaluate my decision. Respect what I said and leave...me...alone," I say slowly, trying to get him to understand and he looks at me, cocking his head to the side and I see him weighing my words.

"But that's the thing, I really don't think you want me too, because if you did, I wouldn't see that look in your eyes, anymore. That look of betrayal, that look of excitement that you're trying to hide from me, that look of...desire. You want me, and you just don't want to let yourself have me.