Harley Quinn Romance 3

Chapter 19: Lost Humanity

Clayface pushed Harley's hand away as he turned back into a deceased Bruce Wayne. Laying back down, he covered himself with the sheet and grumbled, "Let's get this over with."

                                                                                              ***

"Why didn't you tell me the whole plan?" Harley demanded.

"I would have, but when I made the deal with Clayface, you were at the doctor for a checkup," Bruce answered. "I did tell you what you needed to know."

The alley was dark, only barely reached by the streetlights and the neon signs of various businesses, but it was enough to cast highlights on their hair and faces to the point where they could see each other. Dumpsters were overflowing, and bags of trash were piled around the metal bins similar to sandbags stacked against a flood.

"If you had faked your death without telling me beforehand, I would've killed you for real," Harley stated.

"Which is why I told you," Bruce announced like a lawyer finishing his case before a jury and fully expecting a rendered verdict of innocent.

"What else haven't you told me yet?" Harley asked.

"Just this," Bruce replied. "Hagen."

A dumpster to their left changed from a metal box of flaking green paint to a humanoid shape constructed of wet mud.

"The name is Clayface," the creature said in a voice sounding like it was bubbling up from underwater. "Matt Hagen died when I became this...thing. The League said I had to help you, rich man, so here I am, but don't push your luck."

"Alright, no problem," Bruce offered quickly, backing up a step and holding up his hands in a non-threatening manner. Carefully, Bruce reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket with one hand and withdrew a silver cylinder.

"What's that?" Clayface demanded.

"The League has access to a number of pools of regenerative fluid they call lazarus," Bruce explained. "They let me have a sample for analysis, and what I made from it can help you."

"You can't regenerate what isn't there," Clayface snarled. "I'm no longer human!"

"Some of you remains," Bruce countered. "You aren't just clay. You still have your senses, and you have a mind to think and control your shifting abilities, so there are traces of who you were in there somewhere. This compound will purge the mutagenic chemicals from your system, and the lazarus will regenerate what remains until you're you again, the real you."

Bruce offered him the cylinder, and Clayface reached out a hand but hesitated. "Why would the League want to help me?"

"Destroying you is within their ability," Bruce offered, "but I think the fight you'd put up would make it a costly victory. It's far easier to make Clayface go away by having Matt Hagen come back. Then again, if Batman is running things, maybe the League is trying to be better and hoping you would like to do the same."

Clayface took the offered cylinder, absorbing the container, unopened, into his hand.

"Aren't you going to use it?" Bruce asked.

"Not yet," Clayface denied. "I'll put it somewhere safe, but I can't stop being Clayface yet."

"Why not?" Harley inquired. "I thought you'd want this."

"When first transformed, I thought I was trapped and I'd never be Matt Hagen again," Clayface told them. "I did a lot of damage, and I really didn't care who I hurt because I hated the world and everything and everyone in it. If I'm to have a second chance, I need to earn it. I need to make amends, and I can do more with powers than without. Consider this my penance."

Clayface reached up, his arms becoming long and thin strands as they ascended to the roof of a nearby building and latched on. He didn't pull himself up as much as shift his substance up through his extended form until more of him was on the roof than in the alley, then he drew up what remained, walking away and out of sight.

"Do you think he'll reform?" Harley queried before rephrasing her choice of words. "You know, stay the course?"

"I think so," Bruce confirmed. "A chance to leave the past behind and become himself again, it's a powerful motivator."

"What about you?" she questioned. "Are you ready to leave behind your past self?"

"We'll still need to look in on Gotham from time to time, just to make sure everything is in order," Bruce admitted. "As for leaving my past behind, Bruce Wayne died. Isn't that enough?"

"It's a start," Harley giggled.

He put his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. "Since the old me is dead, I see no reason why we can't start new lives together."

"It's just what I wanted to hear," Harley said with a smile before kissing him.