Author's notes: This is a sequel to my story, Tenchi meets the Joker. You don't necessarily have to read the first story for this one to make sense but you might enjoy that one as well. This story will eventually get back to Tenchi and his world but not for a while. For a while we concentrate on Harley and Ivy.

Harley and Ivy: Chapter 1

Pamela Lillian Isley, better known as Poison Ivy, leaned against the glass wall of her cell in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

Course she didn't think she was insane, criminally or otherwise. What was insane about targeting and plotting death for the rich corporate men who raped and pillaged Mother Earth for their own ill gotten ends?

She was sane. It was the rest of the world that had gone insane.

Poison Ivy didn't care much for men of any type really, corporate or otherwise. They were all only interested in one thing. Whether it was against women or against nature, they were only interested in getting their 'jollies' and then leaving the poor abused victims behind, to die or recover. They didn't really care which.

Speaking of which. Ivy looked over sadly at the empty cell across from the narrow hallway from hers. The cell that usually contained the bubbly and happy go lucky Harley Quinn.

Harley had escaped over a month ago with that maniac clown she blindly followed, The Joker.

"Why can't Harley see that the Joker is no good for her? I've seen the bruises she tries so desperately to hide." Ivy thought to herself with a sigh.

Poison Ivy had an extreme aversion to men and she didn't think much of women who sighed and played all girly girl to attract said men's attention. So why and how did she come to care so much for Harley Quinn?

She supposed it came from Harley's bubbly personality, her always great sense of humor and playfulness.

"And the fact she looks damn good in that skin tight outfit she always wears sure doesn't hurt." Ivy thought with a faint smile.

Not surprisingly with her hatred of men, Poison Ivy was a lesbian. Or it should be said she had leanings that way. She really hadn't had too many relationships with women or men. Mostly she preferred the company of plants over humans or animals. That is with the exception of Harley.

Ivy sighed again and angrily shook her head. It wouldn't do to let her mind wander again and start painting fantasies of her and Harley naked together in a jungle paradise. Harley Quinn just didn't 'swing' that way. Harley was hopelessly devoted to that sadistic clown Joker and wouldn't even consider a relationship with anyone else.

Ivy knew this from experience. The few times she had partnered up with Harley (for acts of crime and nothing more, much to Ivy's frustration) Ivy had flirted with Harley and the woman acted like she hadn't even noticed the attempts.

Ivy resisted the urge to bang her head against the bulletproof, shatterproof glass walls of her cell. Why couldn't she get Harley out of her head? Even with it being over a month, all Ivy could think of was whether Harley was okay or if that clown had finally killed her and she was lying in a ditch dead somewhere wrapped like a gift with a colorful ribbon bow wrapped around her body just waiting for the police to find her.

Ivy shook her head roughly. The mental image of a dead Harley with one of the Joker's gruesome smiles forever etched on her face plagued Ivy's nightmares and she didn't think she could stand it if she started thinking about it again.

Ivy wasn't even sure if the police found a deceased Harley if the guards and psychiatrists at Arkham would tell her. They tended to avoid mention of outside events if they thought it might 'upset' their patients. While Ivy was sure none knew of her obsession with Harley they at least knew she was friends with Harley and might decide to keep details like that from her.

"Oh Harley why can't you see that you would be better with me than that, that, male." Ivy whispered softly to herself.

Hearing the clicking of shoes on the cold white tiled floor of the hallway between the observation cells, Ivy tried to peer down the corridor without appearing too interested. It wasn't time for the meals, talks with the shrinks or recreation time and guards tended to avoid the 'gallery' at all other times.

Seeing a dark black shape moving down the center of the hallway Ivy pulled back from the glass wall slightly.

"Not him again. Wonder what he's doing here now?" Ivy thought to herself as she identified the black mass moving towards her as that of the Batman.

Ivy defiantly met the Dark Knight's eyes as he paused in front of her observation window for a moment. Ivy feared no man and least of all the costumed do-gooder that always captured her and brought her back to Arkham every time she escaped.

Batman seemed to study her for only a moment before stepping to the side to allow the guards that had been walking behind him to usher a smaller form forward.

A smaller, female form Ivy noted instantly.

"Harley!" Ivy shouted to her as she rushed back to the glass. Practically pressing her face against the glass to study her friend.

"Hi Red." Harley said softly and sadly. "I'm back. Again."

Ivy studied Harley as everyone waited for the guards to open the glass wall of her cell. The young blond woman was wearing the typical gray shirt and pants that marked one as an inmate of Arkham Asylum. Harley appeared depressed. Her pigtails hanging limply down and she stood with her eyes downcast and wouldn't even look up at Ivy.

Finally the guard managed the complicated lock on the cell and stood back for Harley to enter. The guards seemed to have the greatest of troubles with the locks and obstacles of Arkham, while the inmates seemed to always have the greatest of ease in overcoming them whenever they wanted.

As soon as Harley was in her cell and the door was firmly shut and locked, Batman gestured at someone at the far end of the corridor.

Ivy could hear once again the heavy click click of the heels of the guards and suddenly she heard a sound that stirred the deepest hatred of her soul. A high pitch giggle that after a moment broke into riotous laughter of The Joker.

"I just love what you have done with the place since I've been gone." The Joker's voice called out. "You painted the walls an even drabber shade of white and installed even more garish florescent lights, haven't you?"

Ivy breathed heavily to try and reign in her hatred of the Joker and noticed Batman's hands tightening into fists as well.

While Batman's obvious signs of dislike of the Joker it didn't make Ivy feel any more companionable to him, she was strangely reassured by the fact that someone else hated the Joker almost as much as she did. Looking over at Harley's cell she saw that Harley instead of racing to the glass wall to see her 'puddin' was actually pressed against the far wall of her cell. Standing as far away from the corridor as she could get. She was also rubbing her arms and as the sleeves of the Asylum shirt rose up, Ivy could see fresh new bruises covering Harley's arms.

The guards lead the Joker to where Ivy was standing in her cell. The Joker's maniacal eyes seemed to look through her completely as he glanced at her. He walked to the cell next to Harley's and waited. To Ivy's and Joker's surprise, the guards tugged at his arms to urge him to walk farther along.

"But my cell is always right next door to Harley gal's" The Joker barked at the guard.

"Not this time." Batman's deep voice suddenly spoke. "Miss Quinn has asked specifically that you be located away from her. She has also requested that you are to not come near here during recreation time or any other time for that matter."

Batman's steely eyes pierced the guard holding Joker's arm. "Is that understood? He is not to come near her at all."

The guard that looked like an ex-wrestler paled under the Batman's scrutiny. "Yes sir." He replied and tried to jerk the Joker away.

The Joker broke free from his grip momentarily and pushed himself up against the glass wall of Harley's cell. "This isn't over Harley! You have made me very angry and we are going to talk about this soon. Just wait and see! Soon we'll be laughing over this as if nothing has happened!" The Joker growled ominously at the quaking woman and then started laughing.

Batman stepping over grabbed Joker's arm and practically hurled him back into the guards grasp. "Get him away from here now." He growled at them.

Harley continued to huddle on the far back wall as the guards dragged the Joker away. She looked up after the Joker's laughter faded away.

"Thank you Batman." She finally said.

Batman nodded his head at her and then turning he strolled off in the direction the guards had taken the Joker.

Ivy looking across could see Harley was huddled on the floor near the foot of the drab coverless bed that was in her cell. Arkham learned from experience that it was better to pay extra to have the heat turned up enough that it was comfortable than to put bed clothes on the beds. Blankets could be used to strangle guards or even the inmates themselves. Even the pillows were bare and sewed permanently to the head of the beds to keep inmates from using them as weapons.

"Harley?" Ivy called out to her friend with rare compassion and concern in her voice.

"He hurt me this time Red. He hurt me badly." Harley said softly.

Ivy sighed and leaning on the glass wall she said. "What happened this time?"

"Well after we escaped this last time, things were pretty good for a while. You know? The typical avoiding the cops, hiding from the Batman. Robbing some electronic supply warehouses here and there."

"Why electronic supply stores?" Ivy interrupted Harley. "That's not like the Joker. He usually goes for the quick kill and chuckle."

"Mr. J. wanted to build a sonic weapon. One capable of killing everyone in Gotham at once with sound waves." Harley said finally lifting her eyes to look over at Ivy. "I panicked when I realized what the machine would do and tried to sabotage it. The damaged machine created some weird kind of hole to another world and me and Mr. J. got sucked into it."

Ivy felt her eyebrow rise. You hear a lot of strange things in Arkham but this one almost took the cake. Looking to her right she noticed the cell next to Harley had the Riddler in it and he was listening to Harley's story as rapt as she was. Ivy couldn't see the cells on either side of hers due to the drab white walls that divided the cells but she imagined that the Mad Hatter on one side and the Scarecrow on the other side was listening in as well.

Privacy was a extreme rarity in Arkham as well as entertainment.

"And just where did this proverbial 'rabbit hole' take you to if one may ask? Wonderland?" This of course was from the Mad Hatter.

Ivy frowned and would have yelled for him to shut up and mind his own business but Harley to her surprise answered him.

"It was almost a wonderland to me. It was a place of green fields, bright cheerful sunshine and clean pure air."

Ivy thought to herself that it almost sounded like a wonderland to her as well. Gotham was many things including home but it sure didn't have clean air or bright cheerful sunshine. An almost perpetual gloom hovered over the city. Like most big sprawling cities it was a victim of its own success and suffered from pollution and smog worse than most.

Harley after a pause continued. "We met some people there. Cheerful, friendly people and I started to unwind a bit. You know, really start to relax and feel comfortable."

"Let me guess. The Joker decided this would never do and started killing people?" This came from The Riddler. He wasn't a big fan of The Joker either but in his case it was more of a jealousy thing for all the press The Joker's crimes got over his.

Harley nodded her head but then said. "Well he didn't actually manage to kill anyone."

Ivy was surprised. Usually when The Joker decided he wanted someone to die. They died. "What stopped him?" She asked.

Harley looked over and gave a slight sheepish shrug. "I did. We met this really nice guy named Tenchi and once the Joker decided to kill him I couldn't let it happen so I defended Tenchi and kept Mr. J. busy until the Bats showed up to stop him."

"I thought you said you went to another world? How did Batman show up to rescue this young man if you were in another world?" The Mad Hatter said pointing out a flaw in Harley's story.

"He followed us through the hole we created. You think Bats would let a little thing like a strange new world to stop him from chasing Mr. J?"

Ivy and the Riddler both nodded their heads. It was true. The Batman would not let anything short of the end of the world stop him from chasing and capturing The Joker.

"Anyway, Batman brought us back to this world. Closed the hole to Tenchi's world and turned us over to the Gotham Police. You know how it works Red." Harley said to Ivy. "They never bring you straight back to Arkham. They always have to find a judge to sign a document stating that you are mentally incapable and to recommit you back to Arkham for observation and detainment."

Once again The Riddler nodded and Ivy suspected all the others in hearing range did the same. All of them had been through the system many times and it never changed. If you were lucky it only took an hour to find a judge to sign the necessary papers. But sometimes you might get stuck in a holding cell at Gotham Police Station for days or even weeks until they found a judge to sign the papers.

Harley winced as she pulled herself up to the bed and sat down on it. "The police put both me and Mr. J. in the same holding cell."

A whistle of sharply indrawn breath was heard. Ivy couldn't decide if it came from The Riddler or The Mad Hatter and frankly she didn't care. All she was worried about was what horrors the Joker had committed on Harley's body in the name of revenge for stopping him from killing someone.

"What did he do?" Ivy asked.

Harley didn't reply but buried her head in her arms and tried to pull even more into a fetal position at the foot of her bed.

The Joker regularly beat Harley. Everyone knew that. Even once, he had beaten her at Arkham so severely that she ended up in the infirmary for a month's time. It was right after Harley had been committed to the infirmary that someone had smuggled a carnivorous plant into the Joker's cell.

"Pity it had been such a small specimen and that it had nipped a guard's finger before the Joker had found it." Ivy thought to herself.

Harley didn't look too injured and the way she was acting, whatever the Joker had done to her this time was much worse than a simple beating. Ivy felt a cold chill run down her spine at the same time her blood began to boil.

"Harley! What did he do to you?" She asked again.

Harley didn't raise her head but Ivy could hear her whisper brokenly. "Please Pamela, just let it go. Don't make me tell you."

The use of Poison Ivy's real first name terrified her more than Harley's actions up to this point had. Harley never called her by her real name. She at different times had called her Red, Plant Lady and even a few times Pammy but never her real first name. Ivy with a sinking feeling in her stomach reached a conclusion.

"But you… Him… Everyone knows… I mean everyone assumed…" Ivy stuttered.

"That you and the Joker did the nasty all the time." The Riddler's voice called out.

If looks could have killed, The Riddler's funeral would have been the next morning.

"Shut up and mind your own business!" Ivy hissed in fury at him. "Unless you want to find a choker vine plant in your cell one night!"

"It's okay Pamela." Harley called out. "I should have known I couldn't keep this secret for long. There are no secrets here in Arkham. Sooner or later everyone knows your business. And to answer your statement Riddler, everyone is wrong. I have never had sex with Mr. J. before. I mean I wanted to, I would have, but he always said intimacy would blunt his edgy humor so he didn't."

"Then in the Gotham holding cell…?" Ivy trailed off not sure how to ask what had happened.

"He started to." Harley replied brokenly. "He ripped my costume off of me and used the scraps of cloth to tie my hands above my head to the cell bars. He said that I needed to learn who I belonged to. He then started to undo his trousers and…" Harley broke off and started to sob quietly for a moment. Finally she regained her composure and started again.

"The cheering and hooting petty criminals in the other cells alerted the guards and they rushed in. They stopped dead in their tracks and just watched! I was screaming and crying and begging Mr. J. to stop and the guards just watched! I'm not sure if they would have ever stopped the Joker but they didn't get a chance as Batman who had been outside evidently talking to Police Commissioner Gordon shoved past them. He knocked Mr. J. out with a well thrown batarang and cut me loose from the bars. He removed his cape and wrapped it over my body and helped me out of the cell to an interrogation room and stayed with me until they got a judge to sign for us to be transferred back to Arkham.

Ivy felt a rush of something that she had never experienced before. It was wave of gratitude to a man and of all things a man in a bat costume.

"Did the Joker…" Ivy paused as she was keenly aware that there were men listening in that had no business in knowing such intimate details of Harley's ordeal but Ivy had to know, Ivy needed to know but she couldn't bring herself to force Harley in saying it.

"Succeed in raping you?" Came the voice of the Scarecrow who up to this point had been silently listening. Ivy thought with a flash of anger that the bastard was probably getting off by listening to how terrified Harley was.

Harley was silent so long that Ivy feared she knew what the answer must be but then Harley whispered. "No. He was going to do it but Bats showed up in the nick of time."

"Then it is a rare and unusual occasion when we must thank the Dark Knight." Said the Mad Hatter.

Ivy looked over at the wall that separated her view of the Mad Hatter from her. She could see out of the corner of her eye that Harley looked up in surprise as well.

Evidently the Mad Hatter noticed it too.

"Dear lady. We maybe the scourge of the good people of Gotham, the castoff, hated and misunderstood rejects but we are not completely inhuman." The overly gentlemanly voice of the Mad Hatter stated. "I for one would hate to see anything happen to you to ruin your good natured sense of humor and fun. You are truly one of the few pleasant things in this dreary dark world of Arkham."

Ivy could see the Riddler nodding his head in agreement with the Mad Hatter.

Harley looked a little more relieved but then once again lowered her head onto her arms. "Thanks guys. That means a lot but we all know that once the Joker has a little 'joke' in mind nothing will stop him. I'm a dead woman or soon wish that I was. Nothing can stop Mr. J."

"We will protect you Harley." Ivy said pressing her hand to the glass of her cell.

"Quite right." The Mad Hatter replied. "Being a gentleman and a scholar I would never allow a damsel in distress. Of course if I am able to prevent it." He added.

Ivy frowned. It was well known that the Mad Hatter was a coward and would run from a fight if he could. Ivy looked across at the Riddler's cell. The Riddler just frowned. "It's not my fight. Harley has gotten herself into this conundrum. She'll have to extricate herself from it." He then turned and walked out of Ivy's sight toward his bed.

Ivy heard nothing from the Scarecrow's cell but then again she didn't expect to. The Scarecrow was almost as big a sadist as the Joker was. She knew there would be no help from his side.

"Everything will be all right." Ivy tried to comfort Harley.

Hearing the tell tale click of shoes on the walkway Ivy looked up and watched as the wrestler like guard that had escorted the Joker away walked by.

"Lights out in five minutes all you freaks." The guard said as he passed.

"Guard? Riddle me this. When is a door not a door?" Riddler called out.

The guard puzzled for just a moment and then quickly reaching out he checked the Riddler's cell door. "When it is ajar." The guard replied and was relieved when he found the Riddler's door was firmly closed and locked. "Ha ha funny man. You are almost as funny as the Joker. He's been telling some really dirty jokes." The guard backed up and leered at Harley. "Want to hear some of them?"

"Get the hell away from her you bastard!" Ivy hissed at him.

The guard strolled over to her cell. "Or what plant bitch? You going to try and get me fired? Who here is going to listen to you?"

Ivy shot him a look of pure hate but then slowly smiled. "Or I'll ask to talk to Batman and mention your harassing Harley"

The guard paled. He knew that the inmates of Arkham talked regularly to the shrinks. And if one of them was to say they had information to give to the Batman, he would be called immediately. The guard had no doubts how the Batman would take his 'innocent' irritation of Harley. The guard sneered at Ivy but quickly walked down the corridor and was gone.

"I need to get out of here." She heard the Riddler muttering to himself. "I am resorting to using riddles that require no more thought than a two year old could use."

"One wonders how the guard got it then." The Mad Hatter replied.

The lights in the 'gallery' suddenly dimmed to sleep levels. The lights were never completely turned off for who knew what mischief the inmates might get up to in total darkness but in consideration of their sleeping time the lights dimmed to about half their normal levels. Ivy could still see Harley in a ball near the foot of her bed in the dim light.

"Harley? Go to sleep. Things will be better in the morning. I promise." Ivy half whispered. Ivy didn't want to risk annoying the guards by talking after 'lights out'. There wasn't much they could do to her but Ivy didn't want to risk being put in solitary confinement when Harley needed her so badly. Ivy ached to put her arms around Harley and comfort the woman. Stroke her hair and make her fears and pain go away but needless to say Arkham wouldn't allow that.

Ivy was slightly relieved when she saw Harley pull herself up and lie down on the bed. She curled back up into a fetal position with her back towards Ivy but at least now she was up off the floor. Ivy However just slowly slid to a sitting position near the glass wall where she could keep an eye on Harley rather than go to her own bed.