Obsessed with Harley

Chapter 09: An Inside Joke

"How've you been?" Harley asked as she entered the back room Scott had been given as an office. It also doubled as a sleeping area, keeping him away from the other goons. The desk, the chair Scott sat in, and a military style cot were the only furnishing in the dimly lit space.

"Hey," Scott said wearily. He smiled because he hadn't seen her in over a month, Joker's assignments having taken priority. "I've been working like crazy."

"Crazy is the name of the game in this outfit," Harley told him, walking over and sitting on the corner of his desk.

"Joker has me running around all over Gotham," Scott explained. "During the last three weeks, I've had to threaten, assault, or eliminate the last remaining pockets of criminal activity not under his control."

"Cleaning house," Harley guessed. "He won't want any opposition at his back as he moves forward with the next part of his plan."

"I haven't seen the boss much lately," Scott admitted.

"He's been digging through the information left behind by Penguin, Two-Face, and any other crime bosses who are either dead or pushed out of Gotham," Harley explained. "The information found usually gives Joker new bases of operation to target or storehouses to loot. With every operation, J's hold on Gotham intensifies."

"It must be pretty strong by now," Scott said. He spun the diagram around on his desk so Harley could read it easily. "See what he has me drawing up plans for."

Harley looked the blueprint over, and her eyes suddenly flicked up to stare at him. "Seriously?"

"I'm afraid so," Scott admitted. "The GCPD, Gotham City Police Department is the next target for takeover."

"They have lots of guns," Harley warned. "And, they're better trained than some of the street level stooges you've faced so far."

"Helicopters, SWAT teams, body armored troops," Scott listed off. "Getting past them will require a large number of our own people, striking multiple locations at the same time. If we can spread them out, take them down in smaller groups, we could thin their overall ranks to make the final assault easier."

"You'd have to work fast," Harley added. "They'll catch on if too many patrols start failing to return. You may have to launch all your attacks against them at the same time."

Scott leaned back and dropped a fist against the surface of the desk. "I wish there was a way without the casualties this is going to involve. Killing thugs and murderers is one thing, but this is different. These are cops."

"They're Gotham cops," Harley reminded. "Do you know how many of those dedicated public servants have innocent blood on their hands?"

Scott shook his head.

"You got a taste for desperate and it landed you in Joker's ranks," Harley continued. "Wanna know how many of those thugs you mentioned got their start? When a gang moves in to a neighborhood, they give potential members a choice: join up or someone in your family is going to die, perhaps all of them. The new recruits can't get help from the cops because even if the police felt like helping, the cops can't do anything until an actual crime is committed, and by then, it's too late. Most gang neighborhoods are poor, making moving somewhere else out of the question. Lacking much of a choice, the people give into the gang and join.

"One day, the new recruits will find themselves staring down the barrel of a cop's gun, leaving them the choices of becoming a cop killer and losing any chance at getting out of the criminal life, getting killed by the cop, or spending a good chunk of their life behind bars where they'll be the plaything of the thugs, murderers, and rapists already confined there.