With or Without You (Joker and Harley)

Harley had actually been allowed into Ivy's house and they were talking in her living room about what had happened with the Joker and Ivy seemed to be totally on her side about it. She agreed that it was too much to kill kittens and children as well as being just plain unnecessary, there were so many other things to do...

In fact they had been talking about doing a few things of their own.

Both of them expressed a stern desire to shop and get a few new things for when they were out in the normal world, after all she could leave Ivy's house any time she wanted to go out. She didn't have to just sit in and wait around for her to come back so they could do things.

But to fuel that desire to shop they had to get money, and not the honest way either. They had their eye on some seriously good antique jewellery that they could steal, and either sell on or melt down in order to sell on as the bare products. Also they had planned a couple of bank heists and everything was making her feel so much better.

Ivy didn't understand why getting over her Joker Baby was so hard but, but she tried to explain it in the context of her having her favourite plant die and then she seemed to understand how she felt. Just not why she was feeling that way.

It seemed that she really did just hate the Joker.

Honestly it felt good to be wearing something that wasn't skin tight constantly and even though her heart was still in immense pain from being so cruelly left by her Pudding she was getting to see the good points of it very slowly. One of the good points being she wasn't living in a glorified warehouse and this place had heating.

Sighing contentedly into her beer, she and Ivy began to fight over the ice cream good naturedly, even managing to wring a laugh out of her when she got some on her nose by accident.

"Harley I'm home!"

Oh... that's right.

She wasn't here anymore.

She had been banished from this land of fun and chaos for somewhere else, anywhere else, for daring to stand up against him and his ideas. For daring to suggest that he was wrong even though he knew that he had been wrong. Hence why there were no exploding kittens around the city and his hideout was now inhabited by himself, more than three dozen henchmen... and over a hundred little kittens.

Sighing a little bit, he slumped down on the sofa.

He was almost immediately swarmed by kittens who had been on the sofa, all of them mewing happily at him as they nuzzled and began to sleep and stretch onto his body. Smiling a little bit, he idly played with one kitten as he hummed,

"You know kittens... she really liked you she did." he mused aloud as the kitten he was stroking began to purr, "Oh I can see why don't get me wrong! You're all soft and fluffy and adorable!"

He smirked slightly,

"That's why you'd make such great bombs." he told the purring cat before sighing and slumping again, "But I suppose she was right... blowing you guys up would be a step too far. The children... eh I suppose the same is true. They're like fur-less kittens right?"

The mass of kittens seemed to nod at him and Joker sighed as he laid back on the sofa,

"Look I miss her and everything... she's my Harley!... but she broke the rules!" he declared firmly, "And no Harley breaks the rules. This one did... so I'll just have to fetch myself a new one!"

Was it possible for kittens to join in with crazy laughter?

Probably not but he could have sworn they were trying their best.

Harley had been having a rather fun time being with Ivy, oh she still missed her Joker Baby with every breath she took but she was slowly learning that there were other things to life than him, or doing what he wanted...like maybe doing what she wanted! It was nice to be able to have the money and the time and the ability to go out and buy clothes that she wanted.

And actually be able to wear the clothes.

Yet right now she and Ivy were just back after one of their massive hauls and they had stopped off to get some hot cookies before coming back to their secret apartment base and having a nice quiet night in after their excitement.

Of course she needed to treat some of the bruises and scrapes she had, Ivy had set off one of the alarms at the bank they were robbing and that had meant that the dogs had been released before they had chance to escape. They did escape needless to say but she had to run like mad just to escape being bitten on the heels by the horrible things.

Honestly the hyena's at home had been so much more agreeable to her.

Sitting down with Ivy in her PJ's she enjoyed watching some films, did they have a TV at the hang out in the warehouse back home? No. There had been 'better things' to spend the money on apparently. Well she was enjoying her break from home, probably because it was going to be a long one that might not end she was thinking this was a good thing.

Laughing happily as Ivy poured the money out onto the bed they both rolled around in the crisp notes until they tired themselves out, and eventually fell into a light sleep. It was strange but, she was beginning to feel happy being here, the void that was left by the Joker was something although ever present was becoming easier to forget when she was distracted.

It was times like these though, before she slept that she really missed her Pudding.

"We are two of a kind... violent, unsound of mind... You're the ying to my yang can't you see?"

The Joker was singing.

Not only was his singing but he was dancing the waltz too.

But the strangest thing yet was that he was currently dancing with a woman who had a blonde wig on and had been forced into one of Harley's outfits. Unfortunately she was nowhere near as curvy as Harley and he had to tap up her mouth to keep from hearing the horrible things she had been saying about him.

He missed the real Harley so much that he was trying to fill the hole with these replacements.

The fact that she was the thirteenth one (and currently only living one) was just a testament to how badly it was working. Sighing a little bit he reached out and took the wig off the woman as he continued to dance the waltz with her.

She now looked nothing like Harley so it was okay now.

"And if you were to leave..." he sang, stabbing the woman in the heart and dropping her to the ground without a care, he moved over to a picture by the bedside of him and the Real Harley sat outside on a bench during visiting hours at Arkham. He sighed, "I would grumble and grieve... face it jokes... you're lost without her!"

The Joker was on television again.

He had been holding the Mayor of the city hostage because... well just because to be honest. His life had been spiralling without direction for days now, ever since Harley left. Or, more accurately, ever since he forced her to go away.

As all the cameras focused on the makeshift stage he'd made, he tried to keep up his trademark grin as he held the razor to the mayor's mouth but he just wasn't feeling it.

The sound of a fluttering cape and a muted landing and he knew that his nemesis had arrived,

"Evening bats!" he greeted his enemy, glancing to see his foe standing on the other side of the platform, "Come to take me away again? Come to lock me up and throw away the key?"

He laughed for the first time in weeks and shook his head, pressing his razor up against the man's mouth enough to draw some blood. Batman froze and the crowd that had gathered gasped,

"But why shouldn't I kill him Batsy? Why shouldn't I cut him until he's smiling all the time?!" he demanded before sighing a little bit, "You see it doesn't matter if you catch me and send me back to the Asylum! You see... she's not here anymore. She's not here anymore and I don't want to be out here anymore if she's not with me!"

He laughed as he cut the mayor's throat, spraying blood across the crowd as he kicked the still flailing body into the crowd,

"So come on Batsy!" he encouraged the caped crusader, "Have at me! Kill me if you finally have the cahones for it! I mean why not?! She's not-!"

A punch to the face and an immediate take down stopped him mid sentence and by the time he was able to speak again, Batman had him face down on the stage and was locking the handcuffs on. He noticed all the cameras trained on his face,

"It's not the same without you Harley..." he managed to say to the cameras before he was hauled off to the batmobile, and off to Arkham.