Wow, who knew unpacking over two hundred boxes would take so long? So I've finally moved, unpacked and gotten a lot of projects on the house finished so I should have a little more time to get some writing done. So sorry to my followers for the long delay in getting this chapter to you. Moving is a real bitch. But we're here finally and enjoying our new lake house. I have about a month before I have to go back to work so hopefully I will have this story completed before then. Hope everyone is doing great and as always please review. Your reviews help me improve as a writer and as I've been out of practice I could probably use some constructive feedback.

WTX – Chapter 2

When Harley finally came to, she groggily realized that she had a sack covering her head. She shifted slightly and felt that her hands were shackled above her head and her bare feet were shackled to rings in what had to be a concrete floor. The sedative had been very strong and she was still a little out of it. She rolled her head to the side to try to listen. In her befuddlement she forgot what had transpired back at Arkham.

"Awww Puddin, is it Tuesday already?" She slurred. "You know I love being drugged and waking up in some new lair, but my arms are kinda hurtin."

Her head rocked back down towards the floor, the drugs running through her system making it hard to keep it upright. Her eyelids fluttered as she fought the drowsiness that was overtaking her. She distinctly heard the sound of a heavy metal door closing shut with a clang and footsteps approaching her.

"Puddin? Izzat you baby?"

As she tried to shake off the sedative she realized there was not one but three sets of footsteps heading towards her. The heaviest of these stopped a few feet in front of her as the other two continued approaching, coming to rest on either side of her body. A steely female voice barked an order.

"Take it off."

Suddenly the bag was yanked harshly from Harley's head. It took a few moments before her blurry vision cleared. She glanced briefly at the two men beside her. They were dressed in light blue scrubs with latex medical gloves on their hands and surgical masks obscuring their facial features. She squinted into the dark until she could finally focus on the woman standing before her. She guessed the stout black woman currently assessing her was probably in her late forties to early fifties. Her ankles bulged slightly over the sides of her low heeled red pumps, her fleshy calves sheathed in nylon stockings. She wore a navy blue skirt with a matching suit jacket, underneath which she wore a red button down blouse which strained a bit at the buttons due to her ample bosom. Red beads stretched across her thick neck, which led upwards to a set of full lips slathered in crimson lipstick. The mouth was drawn in a firm line, the nose above it wide and slightly flat. The woman's large brown eyes were so dark they seemed almost black, but were filled with intensity and obvious intelligence. Her thin eyebrows were drawn together on her narrow forehead above which was a thick, short afro covering the woman's head. On the wall behind the woman Harley could barely make out a large plaque that looked like a slightly open black triangle with two yellow arrows crossing it and the word ARGUS above it. A circle of words surrounded the emblem, which read United States of America above and Noster Quarere Incipere below. Harley met the woman's gaze in confusion and curiosity.

"Well you sure ain't my Puddin. Who are you and where the hell am I?"

The woman stepped forward and looked Harley over before speaking.

"I'm Amanda Waller, head of the United States ARGUS program but as far as you're concerned, I am God. Defy me and I can make your life a living hell. Play by my rules and I can make it easier. It's completely up to you Harley."

"What is this place?"

"You're the newest inmate of Belle Reve Penitentiary, a government black site. Outside of these walls no one knows you're here. In fact, since we've sealed your records it's almost as if you never existed."

Harley felt her heart begin to pound in her chest and she began to feel lightheaded as her breathing increased. How was Mistah J supposed to find her if no one knew where she was. She frantically looked around for a way out. Waller leveled her eyes at Harley.

"No one has ever escaped Belle Reve, so don't bother trying. This is the most secure facility in the United States. All of the guards are heavily armed and will use deadly force if you provoke them. My suggestion is, don't. Even if you were to get past security and the guards you'd have to traverse hundreds of miles of alligator and insect infested swamp to ever get to civilization."

"Why the hell am I here?"

"You have been recruited to fight for your country Miss Quinn. Task force X is a covert government operated task force consisting of convicted criminals with little to no hope for release. You will join a team of other expendable agents, preforming near-impossible black ops missions. A group of bad people who may actually be able to do a little good in the world."

Harley scrunched up her nose and sneered at Waller.

"And why exactly do you think I'd be willing to do that?"

Waller smiled and motioned to the handlers on either side of her. Harley watched as the man on her left opened a thin, black plastic box. In the dim light she could make out something resembling a gun. The man pulled the item from the padded interior of the box and removed a small covering on the end of the device. Harley began to panic again. She struggled against her bonds, but there wasn't enough slack to move very far.

"Whatta ya gonna do with that? What is it? Whatta ya doin?" The man approached her and placed the device to her neck. "Hey cut it out. Whatta ya…EEEYOWCH!"

She heard a sound like an air rifle as she felt a sharp pain shoot through her neck. Waller smiled as she held up her cell phone. Harley saw a picture of her face staring back underneath which was a button that said 'detonate'.

"That is a nanotech explosive. It's slightly larger than a grain of rice but powerful enough to blow your head clean off your shoulders. Disobey me, get yourself captured or desert your team and I will not hesitate to use it. Understood?" Harley remained silent, glaring at Waller's smug face. "Complete your mission successfully and I'll knock time off your sentence. Fail and you die. If you cooperate with us I may even be willing to reward you with additional creature comforts. Act out or try to escape and your privileges will be taken away. Break my rules and you will be punished….severely, so do yourself a favor and don't fuck with me Quinn." As Waller turned to leave she called to the guards stationed just outside of the now open door. "Take her to her cell."

Harley glared after the she-devil as she waddled off down the dark corridor. She was going to kill that bitch if it was the last thing she did. She'd need to figure out how to disable the explosive in her neck in order to do it. She'd have to bide her time until she could come up with a plan to escape this hellhole. In the meantime she'd have to play along and be a good little convict until she got a lay of the land and figured out the logistics of how Belle Reve ran.

The guards escorted her down a series of hallways. Harley noted every turn, sign, and doorway they passed and committed it to memory. She was finally led to a large open room which, much like Arkham, held a series of cells with bulletproof glass fronts, each monitored by security cameras. As they pulled her along the block she was met with a series of cat calls and wolf whistles. She slowed her pace and looked into each cell as she passed. The first cell held a monstrosity. It was a huge, hulking beast that resembled a hammerhead shark crossed with a man. It smiled at her with its multiple rows of razor sharp teeth. Harley's jaw dropped as she stared at it.

"What the hell is that?" The guard to her right responded.

"That's King Shark. He's not very bright, but he's as strong as five men. I wouldn't get too close if I were you." The beast in the cell stood and began to yell.

"Meat! Meat! MEAT!" Harley rolled her eyes as the guard tugged her forward.

"Aww shut yer trap already Jabberjaw."

As they passed the next cell, its occupant, a tall, thin man with bushy brown hair and thick mutton chop style sideburns sat up from his cot to stare excitedly at Harley.

"Oi, Lawton, get a load of the new fish! She's a right spunk, mate! I think I might crack a fat."

Digger Harkness aka Captain Boomerang whistled at Harley as the man in the next cell over approached the glass and peered out at Harley. He was tall with a broad chest and shoulders. His short cropped hair and thin moustache were a black so deep the florescent light reflecting off it seemed almost blue. He was actually quite handsome in Harley's opinion. His dark blue eyes widened with recognition

"I'd watch it if I were you Digger. Do you know who that is?"

"Should I mate?"

"That's Harley Quinn, from Gotham City."

"The Joker's Missus? Strewth. I 'ere the kangaroos are loose in the top paddock with that one."

Lawton rolled his eyes at his Australian teammate.

"Yeah, she's crazy alright, and dangerous. What the hell is Waller thinking bringing in a wildcard like her to join the team?"

"Who the 'ell knows. Likely to get us all killed, I say. Crikey."

Harley flipped Boomerang the bird as the guards dragged her past his cell. She stuck her tongue out at the man the Aussie called 'Lawton' who seemed like he was slightly less of a douche than the Aussie. The next cell was vacant. The guards stopped and opened the door. Harley's restraints were removed and the door swung shut loudly behind her. She took in her surroundings. The cells were much bigger than the ones they had at Arkham Asylum. They had the standard metal commode bolted to the wall with a privacy partition and a small metal sink. The cot had a thin mattress atop it where a pile of fresh linens had been placed. She sat down and looked across the cell block at the other inmates. Directly across from her was a man of Hispanic descent. He was covered in tattoos from his bare feet to the top of his bald head. He kneeled with his hands folded together as if in prayer. The walls of his cell were covered in pictures of Catholic Saints and contrarily pictures of half-naked women, something that was never allowed in the asylum. Dr. Arkham prohibited pornographic materials, he felt it was an unnecessary and dangerous distraction to the criminally insane housed there.

The next cell held a small Asian fellow with a thick messy head of black hair. He looked up from a book of Sudoku puzzles he was currently working on and sheepishly waved at Harley. She politely waved back as he went back to completing his puzzle. She wished she could talk with them but the cell block was wide, much wider than the cell block in Intensive Treatment. Even if they yelled she doubted they would be able to adequately hear one another.

The two cells next to the Asian contained identical females. The twins were young and slender with copper colored hair and fair skin. Harley felt like she had seen them before and wracked her brain until she finally came up with their names. Light and Lime or Limelight as the Super-villain crowd referred to them. Their powers were unsurprisingly light related including the ability to create very realistic holograms. She seemed to remember that she and Mistah J had seen them on the news after they were captured by Green Arrow a few years back.

Harley spent a few minutes making up her bunk then walked to the front of her cell and paced for a while. Her head was reeling from the events of the day. She leaned against her cell wall and slid down until she was sitting Indian style on the floor. She thought about her Mistah J. How was he ever going to find her now that she was in a government black site? Even if he could figure out where she was, and he did finally forgive her, would he take the risk of trying to bust her out of a heavily fortified government base? She began to despair at the thought of never seeing her beloved again. Harley leaned her forehead on her crossed arms and began to sob uncontrollably. She was so lonely. At least in Arkham she had friends. Right now she felt isolated and depressed. The injection site of her nano-bomb ached. She wanted to go back home to Gotham City. She wanted to see Ivy and Jonathan and even that pompous ass Eddie Nygma. She wanted to be in session with Joan and lay in her own familiar cell. Thinking about it just made her cry even harder. From the cell beside her she heard a voice call out to her.

"Hey, Harley. Look, I know the first day in Belle Reve is tough, but trust me it's not really so bad. Chin up, girl. It'll get better. When we're on mission, you get to travel and enjoy fresh air and sunshine. Sometimes we even get a little down time to eat at a restaurant or have a few drinks in a bar."

Harley hiccoughed and sniffled as she wiped her hands across her cheeks as she tried to get her crying under control.

"Really?"

"Really. Hey, when a mission goes really well we get rewarded. Last week we got to see that new action movie about those Iraqi terrorists, complete with popcorn and Milk Duds. So it's not all bad. Just keep your nose clean. Oh and don't let Griggs get to you."

"Griggs? Whossat?"

"One of the head guards. He's a class-A schmuck, but he's a class-A schmuck with a lot of power. Don't let him provoke you, it's what he wants. He's the kind of dickhead who likes inflicting pain. Mess with him and you'll see the worst of Belle Reve."

"What's your name?"

"People call me Deadshot." The lights on the block began to dim. "Better get to your bunk now. The guards take lights out pretty seriously. I'll see you at breakfast."

Harley was grateful for even a few kind words and her chest swelled a little to think she might have just made her first friend in this nightmare of a facility.

"Thanks a lot, Deadshot. I really needed that."

"Ah, well it was nothing really. I remember my first day here too, even though it feels like forever ago now. Sleep tight kid. You'll get to meet the team in the morning."

"Goodnight and thanks again."

Harley lay on her cot staring at the ceiling as the lights in the block were switched off one by one. Sleep was a long time coming that night. She always slept poorly in a new place, even when she was with her Puddin. She wondered what kind of missions they'd go on. The thought of a little freedom and fresh air excited her. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all?