Mistah J - The Origin of Harley Quinn

Mistah J - Chapter Sixteen - Scarecrow

Chapter Sixteen - Scarecrow

The Joker slumped in his cell, his feet were chained together, the chains continued to the wall, the restraints on his hands copied. He was still in his purple suit, well what was left of it anyway. The darkness began to settle in around him, he wasn't scared, this wasn't the first time he's been locked down here and it certainly wouldn't be the last, besides he never took it as a punishment anyway, it was more of a reward, his own quiet corner of Gotham.

Joker was beginning to fall asleep when he heard banging coming from outside his cell, he tried to ignore it until he heard voices, he couldn't make out what they were saying it just sounded heated. Then, the door flung open and a tall man walked into the room

"What the hell are you doing here!" Joker questioned, quite shocked

"What I can't visit an old friend?" The man said in a thick Brooklyn accent

"Friend? and here I thought I was The Joker" he scoffed

"Oh you are, but listen 'ere" the man walked closer "I'm the closer thing you got to a friend... Jackie Boy"

"You know nothing Maroni" Joker snorted and turned his head away "the name ain't Jack"

"Oh come on Jackie, ain't I the one who stitched ya pretty little face back up, how long ago, about what, ten years ago?"

"It was eleven" The Joker said quietly

"See, you do remember".

Joker did remember, as much as he didn't want it to, that night replayed in his head. He could still feel his lovers blood on his hands, her screams still rang out in his ears and guilt washed over his body.

"I can't Eddie, I've worked too hard to forget it"

"Jackie, I was there I saw what happened, god sakes I took care of you, raised you like a son for the next four years"

Joker was beginning to piece more and more together, he was remembering everything...

Jack laid there, cradling his dead fiancé, he repeated the same thing

"It's my fault, I let you die! I'm sorry"

"Jackie, come on get up" Eddie Maroni placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "she's gone kid"

Jack knew it was true, he still couldn't face it, how could one second change everything, how could he let her die after he promised he would take care of her. In that moment as he carried the lifeless body inside, he felt cold like his heart had completely shorted out, he laid her body on a couch and kissed her forehead. Jack turned to Eddie with a stern look
"I'm going to find that bastard and his going to suffer for this"

"Okay kid, lets just fix you up first" Eddie proceeded to stitch up Jacks face, he wasn't experienced so it wasn't going to well but Jack couldn't feel it, he was completely numb....

The Joker tried to shake himself out of it, why was he drifting out of consciousness and why did he feel so light headed. He almost felt drugged.

"Okay Jack, today's the day" Eddie Maroni rubbed Jacks shoulders "You ready kid?"

"I'm ready" Jack was pulling on a purple trench coat, as he stood in the back of the club with Eddie, he walked out with the older man and climbed into a black sedan

"You got everything Jackie?"

"Only what's important, just like you said"

"Atta boy" Eddie scruffed up Jacks hair, as if he was a small child. To Eddie he was, Jack had become like a son to him over the past few years, he trained him how to fight, to protect himself and most of all how to use his head

"So is this guy gonna just be waiting there or are we going to have to lure him out?"

"I told ya Jack we're gonna play it cool, he'll be in the diner waiting for me"

"What about me Eddie, thought you said this was my day"

Eddie placed his hand on Jacks shoulder "give it time son, good things come to those who wait"

They pulled up outside the diner "stay here Jack, you wait for my signal"

"Eddie, you promised me this guy would pay for what he did, dont let him go" Jacks face was full of emotion

"We've waited a year to get this close to him again I'm not going to let him slip away again, I promise"

"Yeah, okay Eddie"

Jack watched as Eddie casually walked to the diner with two other men. Jack was nervous it was finally happening the man that took his world away, was finally get what he deserved. Jack watched the men walk into the diner he took notice of every person in that place then he saw a face he recognised, it was that man they were looking for but he was walking away from the diner, Jack had no way of getting Eddies attention so he followed his instincts and followed the man. He trailed him for about two blocks, he saw the man turn down a dark alley as Jack turned the corner the man shoved him up against the wall of the alley

"Why you following me"

Jack was still nervous but he was a lot stronger now than he was a year ago, he used all his strength and shoved the man to to the ground

"What the hell man" the man laid frightened on the ground as Jack knelt on top of his chest, he brought his face into the light making sure the man saw his scars, shock was brought over the mans face

"What? What's wrong do I have something on my face" Jack brought his hand to the scar on his left side "oh right the scars, are you telling me you don't remember?"

"Look man I don't know anything about them"

"Well then let me tell you the story, I was a very happy man with a very happy life believe it or not but i found someone who understood me, someone who loved me. See we had just gotten some great news, she was going to have a baby, I know a guy like me, with a kid strange huh, but I was a responsible guy, I got a new job to provide for my new family, but you see me getting that job ruined my life because of that job I put my family at risk" Jack pulled a knife from his pocket, the man underneath him struggled to get away "no no no, this is where it gets interesting. Where was I, right the night you killed the love of my life. you were on top of her just like this and you had your knife here like this" Jack plunged the knife into the mans stomach "you kept slicing her, why?" he stabbed the man again "Well I'll admit this feels pretty damn good" Jack removed the knife from the dying man and moved it inside the mans mouth "But I'm getting off track, you wanted to hear about the scars didn't you? Well when you were done with her, you came to me and you said I needed to smile, now I think it's you're turn to smile" Jack tore the slightly blunted knife through the mans right cheek "because you see now, I'm always smiling" Jack smiled as the man screamed, he knew exactly what pain he was going through "but you know I'm not sure you could pulled off a smile like I can" Jack plunged the knife one final time into the mans chest. The man choked on his own blood, Jack threw the knife down on the ground and walked away, it was done, He thought it was all over but no this was just the beginning.

"You still with me Jack?"

He came back into a slightly conscious state "It's Joker Maroni, Jack is gone" Joker still couldn't shake the weird feeling he had, it was like fear and paranoia mixed into one

"You sure because I think there's someone here who wants to see Jack?" Joker looked up and saw a woman standing in front of him right where Eddie was just standing. His breathing became much faster as he tried to pull away from the woman

"Jack, it's me Jeannie"

The fear was getting stronger "No, no Jeannie's dead, I saw her die"

"But I'm right here Jack I've been here all along" the woman's voice was becoming distorted

"Jacks dead" he shouted, his heart was beating faster than he thought was humanly possible and his breathing we so erratic he wasn't even sure if his lungs were accepting any oxygen

"Open your eyes Jack, baby it's me" the woman wrapped her hands around his neck gently "It's me"

The Joker opened his eyes
"Oh god Jeannie I thought I lost you, how could I let you die like that I'm so sorry baby, Jeannie?" the woman in front of him started to disappear and another form took her place, he couldn't quite make it out. There was definitely a man standing in front of Joker now, there was a bag on his head concealing his identity

"Stupid Clown"

That voice was familiar.

"You're mine now clown, no more Dr. Quinzel, just me, you and Scarecrow" he tore the bag off

"Crane!"

"Well who else do you know with a hallucinogens and a grudge" he laughed at the clown hanging before him

Jokers fear had now turned to anger

"So, you just let her die huh? Shame that" Crane was still laughing

Joker couldn't hold back anymore, he used all the strength he could muster and he managed to pull the chains out of the wall, he shot himself on to and began brutally beating Crane, there was nothing holding him back now.



It had been about 10 hours since Harleen last saw The Joker, she had tried everything she could think of to get him released from isolation but nothing was working. She had managed to drag herself home about 5 hours after she saw him. She came home and fell asleep on her couch, until she was awoken by her phone ringing.

"Gotham City Hospital?" she quickly answered it and pushed it to her ear

"Hello?"

"Yes, good evening, I'm looking for a Dr. Harleen Quinzel?"

"This is she"

"Oh hello Dr, we have a patient here, whose only form of identification that we could find was you're card in his wallet"

What, who would have her card? Wait, Who was in hospital?

"We would appreciate if you could come down here as soon as possible. the patient we have in our care, has so far still been unidentified and is still in a coma"

Harleen took a second to snap back into focus "Ahh, yeah sure i'll come right away"

"Thank- you, we'll see you soon"