Harleen Quinzel pulled the black trench coat tighter around her waist and smoothed out her jeans as she stepped from the bus and onto the crowded pavement. She was quite new to Gotham city and, since starting as a psychiatrist at Arkham, rarely had time to herself. Today was a very rare exception.
That morning she had arrived perfectly on time, as always. She went straight to her first patient but, on the way, made sure to pass the one man who seemed to control her completely, though they had never spoke. No matter how early she arrived the Joker was always wide awake staring at her through the glass of his room as she walked by slowly.
The first time she had seen him she had to stop and stare, his Cheshire smile catching her attention and his playful wink making her heart melt and eyes swoon. Since then he had barely left her mind for a second and, no matter how hard she worked or however many patients she seemed to work miracles on she was never considered 'ready' for the frightening job of the Joker. She had heard stories that would make most shudder but the idea of other doctors being horrible tortured or killed as they tried to help this man didn't scare her in the slightest. She felt that she was different, that she would be the one doctor that would be able to get through to the Joker.
Her white lab coat had already been slung over her shoulders, matching with her black heels and knee-length skirt. As she had walked by his window, pretending to be reading something on her clipboard, a glint had caught her eye. Her head had snapped up and the sharp sound of high-heel against stone stopped abruptly. She stared at the Joker but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He was standing in the same way he had been when she had first seen him and the oh so familiar smile greeted her warmly. Harley had adjusted her glasses and reluctantly kept walking, very faintly hearing a manic laugh following after her. By ten she was readying herself to see her second patient, having already made mountains of progress that morning with her first. As expected the heavy wooden door was opened right on time but it wasn't who she anticipated. Doctor Leland or Joan as Harleen knew her, came rushing through the door a frantic look on her face.
"Doctor Quinzel you must get out of here!"
Harleen stood calmly, smoothed her blonde hair which had been tightly wound in a bun, and smiled as she often did with her patients.
"What do you mean? What's happened?"
Joan's eyes were shifting around the room frantically and she looked a mess, it shocked Harleen as she had never seen her superior in any way other then completely professional.
"Didn't you hear the alarm!?"
Harleen's heart skipped a beat.
"What alarm."
"The Joker has escaped! I don't know how he did it but he managed to blow up half of his wing freeing the other patients along with him."
She should have been terrified and running frantically for her life, but the information didn't faze her. She simply nodded stiffly.
"So what do we do?"