Obsessed with Harley

Chapter 08: Distractions

Scott exited Joker's office and found Harley leaning against the wall while idly playing with one of her blonde pigtails.

"Whatcha gonna do now?" Harley asked around a wad of chewing gum.

Scott was confused at her suddenly plucky attitude. Harley was usually serious around him, or at least, she had been since he'd known her.

"Hey, Puddin'," Harley said playfully as the Joker left the office and walked past the two of them. The moment Joker turned the corner, the smile on her face disappeared and she focused on Scott. "He give you something new?"

Scott didn't know how to respond to her sudden mood swings. When Harley saw he wasn't going to answer her right away, she grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled to get him moving. She passed her room and led Scott instead to a small storage room three doors further down. He was about to ask her a question about her change in attitude, but she held up a finger to her lips, encouraging his silence. Harley closed the door and locked it.

"What's with you?" Scott asked in a whisper, uncertain of how loudly he should speak.

"Specifically?" Harley questioned in return.

"One minute, you're spunky without a care in the world, and the next you're completely serious," Scott answered. "Which one is the real you?"

"Joker likes me a certain way, and he's happier when he gets what he wants," Harley explained. "I used to be a psychologist, remember? Did you think all my brains fell out when I joined up with Joker? Don't answer that, just tell me what your next assignment is gonna to be."

"Two-Face," Scott replied simply.

Harley nodded thoughtfully. Walking over to a floor to ceiling cabinet, Harley opened it and took out an overly large book bound in black leather.

"Pull that box over," Harley said with a nod to a dusty crate in the corner.

Scott dragged the box from its place and brought it to her. Harley used the crate for a table, opening the book and placing it on top. Scott looked at book and saw the current pages displayed a map of Gotham.

"Two-Face controls this portion of the city," Harley told him, drawing a finger across the map.

"Getting to his two headquarters is going to be a problem," Scott realized. "His territory is on all sides. If we hit them, he can close in on us from every which way. Any ideas?"

"His psychology would seem to be the key," Harley suggested. "He's obsessed with twos, so he has to have two of everything he controls from apartments and laundromats to casinos and factories. It doesn't matter if Two-Face needs them, he has to have them. He has more men, but they're spread out across a wider area, limiting the amount of force they can wield in defense."

"If he was attacked, how would his troops respond?" Scott asked.

"In the past, he's used a strategy of delay," Harley informed him. "The people protecting an area hold the line, pinning down attackers. They don't have to win, just keep the enemy from making any gains while more of Two-Face's goons show up. It takes time for them to arrive, but as they do, the odds swing in the favor of Two-Face's people, eventually overwhelming their opponents."

"If they have to pull people in, the places the reinforcements were originally protecting would be left undefended," Scott reasoned. "It's doubtful Two-Face would allow his headquarters to be depleted, so we'd need a different way to get in those places."