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♢♦♢ .. BELLE REVE LOST A SOUL JUST TO GAIN ANOTHER ♢♦♢
Harley counts down the seconds, as she has been for the past hour. One second at a time. Sixty times a minute. Thirty-six hundred times an hour. She knows her family is waiting for her. On time, just as promised, and now it's Harley's turn. She reaches into her mouth and carefully pulls out a long jailhouse knife, the culmination of the world's greatest sword-swallowing act. She draws it out slowly and cautiously. Each second is torture to her. Normally she isn't someone who believes in taking her time. She likes to act the instant she gets an idea, no matter how stupid it is. Like now. Still, the woman who had been Harleen Quinzel understands, better than most, the concept of delayed gratification. Pull the blade out fast - like she really, really wants to - and the odds are she'll give herself a fatal tonsillectomy.
Just as the blade's tip clears her lips, she hears footsteps approaching. Right on time. The riot squad stops in front of her cage, their weapons aimed and ready. She gives them her sweetest 'You got me, copper' smile and raises her hands in submission. "I'm cooperating," she says innocently. "Look—it's me being cool. See? Harmless."
Cautiously they open the cell. Without saying a word, they fire their tasers.
She's ready.
Harley spins out of the way of most, but two or three slam her in the back. This gives her time to twist and pull the shiv from its hiding place in her sleeve. In a single, elegant dance, she whirls and stabs the closest guard. She recognizes him. Milo, she thinks. Perfect. I don't like the way he leers at me. Only Mr. J gets to do that. He gurgles, clutching his throat, and drops to the ground while she giggles. Another group steps up and tasers her. This time she can't dodge.
The guards know the routine. They pull out their tasers, prep them, then walk deeper into the cell. "Okay," Griggs says. "Let's get her done."
"Everybody, line up for extraction. Let's go! Let's move, move!" The Lieutenant demands, jogging down an empty corridor. At the end of it, he meets up with a nurse and doctor from Arkham. Because Belle Reve is located within an island, no one wants to work there, hence why most of Belle Reve's workers are lonely and without a family. If they do, they'd have to live in the island and away from their family. So whenever there's trouble in the prison, management calls in Arkham's medical team.
Behind the Lieutenant, a dozen armed men and women follow. They push a howling and laughing Harley Quinn down the very same corridor. They've strapped her to a restraint chair and immobilized her arms, legs, chest, and neck. Tired of her chilling laughter, a guard ties a gag around her mouth. Judging by Harley's moans, she obviously likes it. It's something Mr. J would've done. They wheel her down a long corridor that takes her to Belle Reve's airstrip. Outside she recognizes many of the faces lining the path. They're guards with whom Harleen Quinzel had worked with, and others she got to know better as Harley. Mixed in with the guards are Joker's men, working undercover.
