Harley Quinn Romance 3

Chapter 2: Office Work

Harley looked at a few of the framed newspaper clippings on the wall behind her desk. The first was a front page story detailing Bruce's sanity being called into question when he'd decided to marry her. A business deal had gone south the following day, and Harley had been in the conference room for the showdown.

"With all due respect, Mr. Wayne," the corporate weasel had said in a tone lacking anything of the kind, "your activities have been questionable to say the least. You vanished from Gotham for years, you burn through money as if there's no tomorrow, and now you've married a mad woman. Needless to say, my board of directors aren't satisfied continuing to do business with Wayne Enterprises is the sane choice, and you can believe we aren't the only corporation thinking it."

Harley had wanted to see if she could shove the man's entire body into his own briefcase, but a hand on her shoulder had interrupted the pleasant thought before she could act on it. Bruce stood beside her and had smiled knowingly at her. She'd relaxed and waited to see what he would do.

"Mister Kalison," Bruce had replied to the corporate weasel. "My departure from Gotham was due to my parents' murder in front of me. I needed time to recover and prepare for my work here. As for the large amounts of money I spend, it's one of the benefits of being a billionaire. I have money, and I make enough of it so I can spend without panicking over every single penny. My wife has been certified by the medical staff at Arkham as recovered, so your accusation I've married a mad woman is entirely without basis."

Bruce lowered his hand from Harley's shoulder and took a step toward Kalison. "Gotham Plastics and Wayne Manufacturing have done good business together, and I think we could do more. If you choose to leave, that will be a loss to you and your company. I do hope you'll reconsider."

Bruce had offered the corporate weasel his hand, and when the man shook it, Bruce had tightened his grip while calmly telling him, "If you ever insult my wife in front of me again, I'll break your nose."

Harley's eyes had widened considerably as she'd never expected Bruce to openly threaten someone in his own office, and by the way the weasel's face went pale, neither had he. It was all she could do to keep from laughing. Although pleased with Bruce's defense of her honor, Harley hadn't been about to let the matter drop, and she and Bruce had a talk about it the next day when he'd discovered what she'd done.

"You can't do stuff like this!" Bruce had insisted.

"Do what, Puddin'?" Harley had asked in her most innocent manner, leaning back in the chair behind her desk.

"You dug up dirt on several board members of Gotham Plastics and delivered it to the police," Bruce had accused.

"Did I?"

"Harley," Bruce had said in a tone indicating he wasn't in the joking mood, so she'd resorted to going on the offensive.

"They were criminals needing to be brought to justice," Harley had pointed out. "What difference does it make if they have an office and chauffeured cars, or they're on the streets, operating out of an abandoned warehouse? They're still doing stuff to hurt people while lining their pockets with cash, profiting from the misfortune of others that they caused."

"When the executives got arrested, the stock price crashed, and it was enough for a rival company to take them over," Bruce had reminded. "The fact this happened right after they publicly wanted to break ties with Wayne Enterprises is not being looked upon very well. A lot of people are going to think I did it."

"Neither of us had anything to do with it," Harley had told him. "Batwoman isn't associated with Wayne Enterprises. Besides, if they do think you had something to do with putting a rival down, maybe they'll think twice about breaking with the company."

"That's exactly the reason we can't do things like this," Bruce had argued. "We can't use Batman and Batwoman for our own personal gain."

"They're crooks," Harley had stated firmly, locking eyes with her husband. "Are we supposed to give them a pass because we benefit from their removal? Wayne Enterprises helps Gotham in a myriad of ways, not the least of which is funding some, shall we say, unconventional police assistance. If companies break off with Wayne Enterprises, it could hurt profitability and interfere with our capability of continuing to do what we do for this city and everyone in it. If companies think you'll drive them under if they turn on you, they'll stay where we need them, Wayne Enterprises will profit, and the city will be the better because of it. Tell me that I'm wrong."

Bruce had sighed before admitting, "Two shipping companies who'd previously informed us they were not going to renew their contracts actually did renew them first thing this morning, but, of course, you knew that would happen."

"Who me?" Harley asked in return, batting her eyes at him.

Their shared laughter still echoed in her mind as her thoughts returned to the present and the reason for her coming into the office today. Opening up a cabinet, she uncovered rows of security monitors. They focused on the elevators, stairways, entrances, meeting rooms, and Bruce's office. The camera feeds from Bruce's office were a direct line, and not even building security had access to it. Bruce had the equipment installed to allow Harley the opportunity to stay informed on what was going on without needing to be in the room. It also gave her the opportunity to leave if the meeting was of the monotonous variety as many were. Turning up the volume for the speakers, Harley discovered Bruce's meeting today wasn't boring in the slightest.