A/N: Sorry for the long break guys! Hopefully this longer conclusion chapter makes up for it! Enjoy, and, as always, please ready and review. Thank you for all your support!

Chapter 15

The next day, the Joker woke up to a text message from Frost stating: "It's ready." He groaned groggily and rolled over to respond, letting him know to send a few men down to let Killer Croc know they were ready as well.

The game plan was simple: The boys would let Croc know that they were ready for Waller. Croc would then report back to Waller that he'd heard word that Joker and Harley were hiding out in their old steel mill. Waller and her boys would storm the steel mill to find that it looked as though it had been inhabited, which would cue them to spread out and start searching for the clowns. And then "BOOM" Waller and her band of not-so-merry men would be blown sky high and Harley would never have to go back to that hole in the ground they were calling Belle Reve ever again.

A vein in the Joker's temple visibly throbbed as the thought even crossed his mind. What they did to her in that hell hole was unacceptable. And since Waller was the one who'd put her in there, Waller would be the one to pay.

A soft purr and stirring from his wife's side of the bed broke his train of thought and he rolled over to face her. He was greeted with a yawn and a sleepy smile as her blue eyes fluttered open.

"G'mornin', Puddin," she muttered as she scooted closer to kiss him. He took her in his arms and inhaled her scent, wanting to remember what this night was for, and who it was for.

"Morning Harls. Coffee?" he asked her. She nodded and stretched some as he left her to head downstairs. He'd spend the day with her, since tonight he could very well be taken from her.

He came back upstairs with two cups of steaming coffee and a box of doughnut holes and she smiled sadly to him. "Today's the day, huh?" she asked and he stopped in his tracks. Sharp as a tack his wife was, ever observant.

"'Fraid so, doll. The wheels are in motion, Croc is being tagged in as we speak. But, I'm spending the day here until I'm needed this evening." He set their breakfast down on her bedside table and kissed her forehead. "I do have a surprise for you once you're caffeinated and have enough sugar in you to function."

Sure enough, once she'd finished her coffee and popped a few doughnut holes in her mouth, The Joker motioned for her to follow him and led the way down the hall to their office. He jiggled the lock and the door popped open to reveal the office had been somewhat cleaned out and two computer monitors sat on the desk now. He led her around to the front and pointed to each one in turn as he explained what they were.

"This one on the left is the security footage I have hooked up throughout the steel mill. And this one," he pointed to the monitor on the right which currently just read 'Please stand by…' in green and purple writing, "will show you the little video I've put together for our guest of honor. This way you can watch the whole show from the safety and comfort of our home!" He smiled at her, proud of himself. "It'll be just like you're there with me! We can even close the club tonight so you can watch the whole show uninterrupted." She smiled sadly and hugged him.

"If this is as close as I'm allowed to be, then I'll take it," she said before kissing him.

"Good girl," he replied in a low growl, letting her know she was treading on thin ice with that comment.

The two spent the whole day together; they played video games and watched movies and Harley even made sandwiches for lunch – it was as though they were a normal married couple. But as the sun started to set, the two took a shower together in silence as they knew what had to come next.

The Joker dressed himself to the nines in his full tux with a purple silk shirt underneath and matching purple acid spraying flower, while Harley switched into some red pajama pants and a black tank top. She came up behind the Joker and admired him in the mirror as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You look so handsome, Mistah J."

"Thanks, Harley Girl," he replied as he turned to face her. She reached up and tied his green bowtie for him, the finishing touch. He took off the jester hat adorned skull pinky ring he wore and reached out to hand it to her. "For good luck – since I can't have my favorite luck charm with me." Her eyes welled some as she took it from him and slid it onto her pointer finger – the only finger it would fit on.

"Now now, none of the waterworks," he said to her. "Once the building goes sky high make sure to keep an eye on the news, cupcake. I'll be sure to make it home to you with minimal pieces missing." He grinned, trying to keep the mood light but she looked up at him, knowing full well that wasn't likely.

"Just don't die on me again," she said softly. He held out the pinky that once wore his jester ring to her and she smiled and linked hers with his.

"I solemnly pinky swear that I will come home to you. It may not be this evening, and it may not be this week, but even if the reaper himself is standing over me, he cannot keep me from you."

J's heels clicked across the wood flooring as he paced back and forth, waiting for his signal. Harley watched him from home, munching on some popcorn and sipping a grape soda as she held up in their office. As instructed, should the worst happen and Waller happened to discover their decoy, the door was barred with a heavy oak cabinet, and her pistol and mallet sat next to her on the desk ready for action.

Before long, the lookout upstairs gave a whistle and everyone on camera, including her beloved clown, scattered out of site. The lights flashed and the music blared to give the illusion from the outside that the club was open. A "bang" was heard as Waller's leading man kicked the door in and her army filed in after him.

"Spread out!" the man shouted; Harley decided that was Flagg's replacement and decided to call him 'Banner – the less cool Flagg.' Banner and his band of merry men scattered like roaches, going into each room in turn only to shout "clear" as they returned to the main hall. With her keen eye, Harley could spot J's shadow lurking about upstairs, the occasional glint of sliver sparkled into view as he tried to stop himself from revealing himself too soon. Finally, Banner spoke into his walkie talkie.

"Alpha this is Beta, come in."

"What is it?" Waller's voice droned from the other side.

"Subject is clear, no sign of them." The door behind them kicked open again and the sound of half-inch pumps clicked across the hardwood as Waller herself panned into view. Harley saw J look directly into the security camera, knowing she was watching, and he gave her a wink. Suddenly all the doors were sucked into an airtight lock and metal bars slid down to cover them all. The group of men in ballistic uniforms scattered into a panic, trying to figure where they'd gone wrong.

"It's a booby trap, you idiots!" Waller yelled at them. A projector screen rolled down into the center of the room and the TV to Harley's right clicked on. Security footage from Belle Reve began to roll, what appeared to be footage of Harley in her double cell, hanging from her bedsheet. Griggs came in with his band of men and, although no audio was heard, Harley knew he had come in to taunt her. Sure enough, Harley touched the bars of the cell before long and an electric shock threw her across her cage and into the bars on the other side.

The scene now flashed to some poor footage taken from someone's cell phone. "Spring Break!" Griggs yelled into his phone with his tongue out. Harley looked away, knowing the next image to come was her strapped to a gurney and being force fed through her nose. Moment after moment of Harley's time in Belle Reve flashed across the screen until finally it all stopped and faded to black.

In that moment, The Joker's cackled erupted through the room and the men's rifles all shot upward to aim at the clown prince himself, now standing in a spot light up on the second-floor balcony of the decoy club.

"Gentlemen!" he called out, gesturing to all of them, "and of course m'lady," he grinned down at Waller specifically, his eyes brilliant green after having watched his wife's torture all over again. She had done this to his harlequin, and he was about to taste his revenge. "Welcome to my humble abode! As you may have noticed, we have a private party reserved just for you!"

"Mr. Joker," Waller replied, nodding at him, though her face was flat, unimpressed. "It's not you I'm here for. Give up Harley Quinn, and you can go in peace." The Joker laughed and used one of the chains hanging from the ceiling to swing down and land before her. He leaned down to look her in the face, since he had about two feet on the short but powerful woman. The clicking sounds of rifles at the ready echoed around the room but Waller calmly raised her hand, never shying away from The Clown Prince. "What is it you want? Surely you can't be upset about all that," she motioned at the projector screen.

"Oh, I can't, can I?" The Joker replied, his grin becoming dangerously wider, his grill glinting in the low lighting of the 'club.'

"You've abused Harley Quinn, mentally and physically, since day one at Arkham, before she even became who she is. I've seen the tapes. You broke her down, made her to believe you loved her, and still to this day continue to use her for your own sick joke. Why even care about all this?" The Joker laugh bubbled out of his throat.

"Well, Ms. The Wall, could I call ya Wally?" Waller's flat expression remained unchanged. "Ya see Wally, as much as you may be right, and you may be wrong, the fact of the matter is, you took something from me. And allowed another man to play with it, in worse ways than I have in some manner." His voice dropped dangerously low now, nearing a growl, and his features darkened. "And I don't like people touching my stuff."

"Seems like a lot of trouble for the King of Gotham to go through for a pawn," she noted dryly. She was trying to confuse him, and it wasn't working in her favor.

"A pawn? No no no, Wally, you've got this chess game all wrong!" His grin returned now, more dangerous, his voice dripping with venom. "You're the pawn. And Batman is the blundering black king, always fumbling along one square at a time in his little box of rules and morality. While you and your organization and the rest of the GCPD run around and try and head him off before he gets to the other pieces."

"Enough chatter, Joker. Tell me where Quinn is, and I'll let you go home tonight." The Joker's smile vanished and he leaned in a whispered into Waller's ear – the only other person to hear him would be Harley via the microphone he wore that hooked up to the security tapes.

"Harley Quinn is my home," he whispered to her. He yanked on the chain rope in his hand and it pulled him back up and away to the balcony.

"Light him up!" Waller yelled. The rifles rang out only to miss their moving target and be met with further gunfire via The Joker's henchmen. The Joker's laugh echoed through the walls but he was no longer visible to any of the security cameras. A small beeping noise began to sound, just barely audible over the gunfire ringing through the steel mill. Waller raised her hand to cease the gunfire and her eyes widened as she heard it but the realization was too late. Suddenly the security feed went snowy with black and white – the signal was lost.

Harley sprung from her chair and shoved the cabinet of her way before throwing open the door and running to their bedroom. She nearly slid across the floor as she beelined for their balcony overlooking Gotham City. Sure enough, brilliant lights in reds and yellows lit up the city in a great fire, smoke billowing into the night sky and blocking the light from the stars and half moon that hung above her. The bat signal was clicked on and clung to the smoke like a beacon but Harley laughed as she overlooked the scene. The Bat would be far too late by this time; even if he were to head off some of the henchmen, Waller and her men were all but ash, and she would never have to see that hellhole called Belle Reve again.

As instructed, Harley went downstairs to the living room TV and clicked on the news. Coverage of the explosion scrolled across the bottom of the screen as the weather man discussed the cooler change in weather as fall rolled in. The front door burst open and Frost and Deadshot filed in, panting, soot covered messes, but here in the flesh. Harley stood and grinned, expecting The Joker to file in behind them but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?" Harley asked timidly, not 100% sure she wanted the answer.

"I'm not sure boss. Everything happened so fast once the explosion went off. He was right with us at one point and then I looked and he was gone. I thought he'd beat us back here to be honest." Frost's voice was solemn, knowing he'd done her wrong by not bringing her husband home to her. "Sorry boss, I'm sure Mr. J can take care of himself, though." Harley smiled softly. Frost had seen him after the explosion, and that was enough of a win for now.

"It's all right, Frosty. He probably saw The Bat Signal and held back."

"The Bat Signal?" Deadshot echoed. As if to confirm his question, the news suddenly switched screens to a reporter outside of the rubble that once was The Steel Mill, smoldering and smoking as the firemen behind her worked to get the flames under control.

"Vikki Vale here with an important news update. The Steel Mill on the south side of Gotham City is up in flames this evening. Amanda Waller and several military officials were believed to be storming the mill in search of Harleen Quinzel aka Harley Quinn. We're live on site to get some answers and – wait – is that Batman!?" The camera panned over to the Dark Knight himself, leading a handcuffed slender figure to a waiting police car.

Harley's eyes widened as the camera zoomed in on the bruised, pale face of her husband as he was apprehended by the GCPD, thanks to Bat Freak. His eye was swollen shut from a black eye and his nose was bleeding but there he was, cackling the whole way to the backseat of Commissioner Gordon's police cruiser. Gordon stood by to give his statement as Batman roughly shoved her husband into the car behind him.

"Commissioner, what does The Clown Prince of Gotham have to do with the unfolding of tonight's events?"

"We have reason to believe The Joker was involved in the murder, no, slaughter, of Amanda Waller and her men. He is currently being taken downtown for booking into Arkham Asylum, where he belongs."

"Does this mean that The Joker and Harley Quinn are working together again, despite her release from Arkham just a few months ago?"

"It is unclear on whether Harleen Quinzel is back to working alongside The Joker, but it certainly seems that The Joker would have no other motives for targeting Waller directly. We have a warrant out to bring Ms. Quinzel in for questioning at this time."

Harley's laugh rang through the club as she flopped back on the couch behind her. Frost and Deadshot both looked to her, waiting on the punchline that she so obviously knew but hadn't been privy to share yet.

"Boss?" Frost asked her as she calmed back down, wiping her tears from her eyes.

"Frost, call Eddie. Set up a meeting for first thing tomorrow." Her grin widened as the gears in her head began to turn. "We're going back to where this all started."

END