The Last Laugh

Jub, Crane, and Harley got out in front of her old, abandoned apartment building.

"Geez, what happened here?" Jub asked, looking around.

"People didn't want to live here after they found out I was here," Harley explained, leading them into the building. "Oh, and the Joker slaughtered twenty or so police guards right outside my room."

Jub shivered and she grinned, but Crane swallowed harshly. She led them up to her room and kicked down the door. She went to her room and switched on the TV. The news was blaring, telling another story about the Joker. This time, he blew up a hospital. Harley stopped what she was doing and turned painfully towards the glowing screen where his white clown face was being shown. She turned around, suddenly, and leaned forward onto her desk.

Crane couldn't stand it no more. He was tired of the Joker. The freak was off blowing up hospitals, and he was right here, waiting for Harley with open arms. She still wanted HIM.

"What is your greatest fear, Harleen?" Crane said from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her shoulder. He was still wearing his mask.

"HARLEY, Jonathon," Harley snarled, trying to push him away. He wouldn't budge.

"Scarecrow, Harleen," Crane shot back. "Don't lie to me. I already know what it is. The mind isn't that hard to figure out. Especially yours."

"If you already know," she began turning her body around and starring into the slits of the mask where his blue eyes were residing. "Then why are you asking me?"

"I want to hear it from your mouth," he explained, tucking a greasy blond lock behind her ear. "With your voice. I want you to be afraid."

Harley slowly grinned. She was getting excited. She liked the way he was acting.

"And what am I afraid of?" she teased, sliding onto the desk and waiting expectantly.

"You're afraid of not being wanted," he told her, and her smile grew wider. "Of not being notice. The Joker took notice on you, and you liked it. And now that he's ignoring you, it's driving you insane. You don't know what to do. Your mind is a whirlwind of chaos and confusion as you try so hard."

She gently pulled off his mask where she was face to face with the blue eyes she fell in love with. There were dark circles around them, and a couple of brown, stray hairs dangled over them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his body into hers.

"Be afraid, Harleen," he commanded.

"HARLEY," she said, her grin dropping just a tad.

"Be AFRAID!" he yelled at her.

"That's my job," a gruff voice said from the window.

Instantaneously, Harley's eyes lit up at the form of the purple-clad man resting on her windowsill. Shink, went the switch-blade he held in his hand. He stood up, and walked around the small apartment room, dragging the blade along the dark walls.

"Long time no see, eh, Harley?" he said to her with a small grin. "I thought I'd, uh, pay ya a little visit."

"I got caught by Batman, you know, and sent to Arkham," Harley responded, smiling gleefully.

Why isn't she mad? He got her sent to a psych ward, and she's HAPPY to see him.

"Feels good to be coming in on the, uh, other end, ain't it?"

"I thought it was rather fun," she said with a shrug. "The best part was us escaping."

"Us? Oh, right," he said looking at Crane, grinning again. "The Scarecrow. And I believe there was some, ah, muscle in your party?"

Jub walked into the room, gun in hand, and stood behind the Joker.

"So he was working for you, too," Harley said in realization. "That's why he brought us here to you. Clever. You say you don't have plans, well, I beg to differ."

"Don't be fooled!" he yelled, giving her a disappointed look. "I am simpler than people think."

"You're too modest," Crane said, stepping away from Harley. "You tell people that you don't have plans, and yet you are able to fabricate such elaborate schemes and turn the city into rampaging turmoil."

The Joker chuckled and said, "Looks like SOMEONE had a little bit too much of their own fumes!"

Jonathon let out a long drained breath and swallowed.

"Just one question," the Joker declared, holding his finger up. "Who's talking? The good doc, or the Scarecrow?"

"We are one in the same," Crane said, answering the question indirectly.

"As the good Ms. Harles has stated before, I beg to differ." Joker walked around the two out into the kitchen and began rousing through the cabinets.

"Don'tcha got any food in here?" Joker complained, making a face.

"As I've already told you," Harley began, annoyed. "I was away in Arkham. Didn't have time to stock up on food."

"Whatever, anyways, doc, continuing on my little spiel, you and crop protector are two completely different people."

"I control both identities of myself," Crane answered curiously.

"But isn't there ever a time where you'd wish to just, unleash yourself?" Joker asked, finding a box of pop tarts and taking a seat at the small, round dining table. "And then you change completely? You feel powerful and...feared?"

Jonathon swallowed, but said nothing. Harley could feel him tense up and knew the clown had struck a nerve.

"He's helped me more than you have," Harley said protectively, slipping a hand on Crane's shoulder. "Now what do you want? And don't ask for any help from me; I still remember what happened the last time."

Crane didn't know if she did this because she really cared, or because she thought that the gesture would make the clown jealous or uneasy. The Joker snorted.

"I don't want YOUR help, Harles," Joker said with a sigh, ripping open the package and eating the corners off of the pop tart. Harley froze. "I want the doc's."

"I have no desire to assist you in whatever plans you may have," Crane said defiantly.

"But you don't have a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"You may think you have nothing to lose, BUT," the Joker snapped his fingers, and Jub roughly grabbed Harley's arm and dragged her over to his side of the room. Harley swung her leg around, attempting to kick him in the face, but was stopped by the Joker's arm.

"Nice try," The Joker grinned derisively. He threw her leg down like a rag doll. "You haven't even heard my offer!"

Crane eyed Harley nervously.

"What is your proposition?" he asked, defeated.

"I need you to make me some more of your little fear inducing toxins," the Joker negotiated. "And I'll let you have your little harlequin back. Speaking of harlequins, I've got you a little, uh, present, Harley."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a harlequin doll that was almost identical to her. He tossed it to her and she caught it in one hand; Jub still had her other arm.

"Why do YOU need my hallucinogens?" Crane questioned curiously. "Over half the city already fears you."

"Not everyone, doc," Joker pointed and put his hands together, forming, if it were in front of a light and creating a shadow, a bat. He fluttered it around his head.

"The three of you, follow me to my little headquarter and we'll discuss the details," the Joker said, leaving his pop tart behind and exiting out of the apartment door. Jub dragged Harley behind and Crane, reluctantly followed suit.