Categories > Comics > Batman > Reborn
CHAPTER 1
As the massive Gothic structure towered higher than most buildings in Gotham city, it looked as though it touched the heavens. Considering this was holy ground, the old church stood in a sinister way, that seemed to echo off of the violet night sky.
This was a place where she found sanctuary. Not that Harleen Frances Quinzel was a religious person, but the sheer fact that she found some sort of peace in her mind when in the presence of this old and historic building.
Whenever she endured the sudden feeling of negativity – she would secretly visit this place. Not that she had many friends to tell of such a place, but she liked the fact that no one, not even co-workers, knew of where she went for such fulfillment.
Working as a Psychiatrist at the infamous Arkham Asylum, with no friends nor family to confide in - sometimes a place of sanctuary was needed. And the Darcy Church provided just that.
Harleen was good at her job. She loved it. But recently she has found it a little too comforting. Earning a Psychiatric Medical Degree, she was utterly fascinated by the criminal mind.
Was she wrong to find that most criminals were just misunderstood? Was she wrong to think of them as clouded geniuses that simply needed to be acknowledged? She looked to her beloved dark building – as if expecting it to talk to her, to comfort her...
Harleen took in a deep breath – the cold and crisp air lightly stung her lungs. It was well past 11pm, and she was standing outside of Darcy Church. Even though the streets of Gotham were always fairly crowded, it was still dangerous for her to be out at such a late hour.
Harleen didn't care.
She stepped towards the Church's massive duel doors, her black heels clicking under her – as if announcing her glorious arrival.
Quietly, she sat down in the middle row of the Church. A few strands of her long blonde hair fell into her face from her loosely tied ponytail, as she lowered her head as if in prayer. Harleen didn't pray – instead, this was a time to clear her thoughts. She has been deeply troubled all that day, of a strange and unnerving feeling of something big to come. She didn't know what, but something was coming. Maybe she would finally meet a decent guy?
"HAHA!"
Not realizing how loud her laugh was in such a quiet place, she quickly bowed her head once again when she noticed a Priest strike a confused glance her way. With no harm done, the Man of God continued what he was doing - Her snort bounced off of the walls.
Harleen mouthed at the floor, 'Oops! Sorry!' – but was thoroughly entertained by her own laughter.
As quietly as she could, Harleen stood up, and left Darcy Church. If something big was coming her way, let it come. She can take it.
The next morning, it was still quite dark outside when Harleen sat up in bed. Her spacious apartment was on the tenth floor – the only light that illuminated her white walls, came from the glowing city of Gotham below. Harleen lazily rubbed her eyes, so they would adjust to the faint yellow glow of city lights. She looked at the clock – reading 4:35am... she couldn't sleep. A nice, steaming hot bath sounded like a pleasant gift from the Gods at this point.
With just a single candle to light the dark purple walls of the bathroom, Harleen gently lowered herself into the over-sized white claw-foot tub. The water felt like magic against her skin. The steaming water opened her senses. She reached over to the window sill, directly to her left, and picked up an orange prescription bottle. The words, 'Valium' bluntly printed around the front of the bottle.
Taking two pills with no water, she lightly rested her head back onto the tub. The porcelain was almost a massage to her neck - closing her eyes, she slowly lowered herself, until she was fully submerged underwater.
A brief flash of black overfilled the image. Muscular arms outstretched toward Harleen's face, with big hands tightly wrapped around her neck. The ice cold water filled her lungs. Couldn't breathe! Couldn't BREATHE!
"GASP!"
Harleen suddenly opened her eyes wide underwater, thrusting herself up so fast, that waves of hot and steaming liquid spilled out of the bathtub. Gasping for air, she comforted herself, "Not happening, not happening. It's gone and over with."
Bad memories didn't always creep up on Harleen. But when they did... it was all too real. As real as the day it happened.
"Hahaha!" She laughed to herself. "Just think, a Psychiatrist with issues of her own. How ironic." She smiled at herself. "And shit, I really need to learn how to swim."
Quickly composing herself, she decided that it was time to ready for another productive day at work. It was going to be a busy Thursday morning at work anyway. She was being assigned a new patient. This was a special case, as even her boss didn't tell her who it was – but clearly stated that she was the most qualified for such madness... whatever that meant, she took it as a compliment.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
7:18am
Even more dark than Harleen's Gothic Church, Arkham Asylum topped every creep factor known to man.
Why they decided to keep the criminally insane at such a ghastly place... the public will never know. But this is why Harleen went to school. This is why she got her degree – and the setting fit her deranged curiosity perfectly.
"Here's your new case, Dr. Quinzel." Dr. Channing said as he walked into Harleen's small office.
Dr. Channing was a young doctor... possibly a little too young to even get a job at Arkham, considering the little experience he had. But his father was one of the head Doctors at the Asylum.
How Doctor Channing even got his medical degree, baffled most... but Harleen wasn't that stupid - it didn't take a Psychiatrist to figure it out. Every female Doctor basked in Dr. Channing's good looks – which is why he got even further in the field. He was a snob. He was a flirt. He was full of himself. Harleen didn't like him one bit... and she liked to think that she got along with everyone!
Dr. Channing dropped a massively thick folder on Harleen's desk. She jumped in her seat, whilst pushing her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose – composing herself.
"Is this my new patient?" Harleen replied.
"Yup. He is your new patient."
"And this is his evaluation and records?"
Dr. Channing laughed out loud. Maybe a little too loud and over exaggerated. Harleen cringed. She really didn't like Dr. Channing.
"THIS is just his crime history... at least that we know of." Dr. Channing continued, "He has no identity, no one has even had a one on one conversation with this man – unless they worked for him or... They're dead." Dr. Channing smiled. It was like he was doubting Harleen's abilities on this case.
Harleen was more intrigued with who her patient was. She gently opened the folder. At the top of a thick stack of papers - revealed a photo and a name.
Harleen's eyes widened with such thrill, she didn't even need to look at the name to know who her new patient was now. She loudly gasped. Not only out of shock, but also excitement!
Under the photo she read one word:
'JOKER'.
As the massive Gothic structure towered higher than most buildings in Gotham city, it looked as though it touched the heavens. Considering this was holy ground, the old church stood in a sinister way, that seemed to echo off of the violet night sky.
This was a place where she found sanctuary. Not that Harleen Frances Quinzel was a religious person, but the sheer fact that she found some sort of peace in her mind when in the presence of this old and historic building.
Whenever she endured the sudden feeling of negativity – she would secretly visit this place. Not that she had many friends to tell of such a place, but she liked the fact that no one, not even co-workers, knew of where she went for such fulfillment.
Working as a Psychiatrist at the infamous Arkham Asylum, with no friends nor family to confide in - sometimes a place of sanctuary was needed. And the Darcy Church provided just that.
Harleen was good at her job. She loved it. But recently she has found it a little too comforting. Earning a Psychiatric Medical Degree, she was utterly fascinated by the criminal mind.
Was she wrong to find that most criminals were just misunderstood? Was she wrong to think of them as clouded geniuses that simply needed to be acknowledged? She looked to her beloved dark building – as if expecting it to talk to her, to comfort her...
Harleen took in a deep breath – the cold and crisp air lightly stung her lungs. It was well past 11pm, and she was standing outside of Darcy Church. Even though the streets of Gotham were always fairly crowded, it was still dangerous for her to be out at such a late hour.
Harleen didn't care.
She stepped towards the Church's massive duel doors, her black heels clicking under her – as if announcing her glorious arrival.
Quietly, she sat down in the middle row of the Church. A few strands of her long blonde hair fell into her face from her loosely tied ponytail, as she lowered her head as if in prayer. Harleen didn't pray – instead, this was a time to clear her thoughts. She has been deeply troubled all that day, of a strange and unnerving feeling of something big to come. She didn't know what, but something was coming. Maybe she would finally meet a decent guy?
"HAHA!"
Not realizing how loud her laugh was in such a quiet place, she quickly bowed her head once again when she noticed a Priest strike a confused glance her way. With no harm done, the Man of God continued what he was doing - Her snort bounced off of the walls.
Harleen mouthed at the floor, 'Oops! Sorry!' – but was thoroughly entertained by her own laughter.
As quietly as she could, Harleen stood up, and left Darcy Church. If something big was coming her way, let it come. She can take it.
The next morning, it was still quite dark outside when Harleen sat up in bed. Her spacious apartment was on the tenth floor – the only light that illuminated her white walls, came from the glowing city of Gotham below. Harleen lazily rubbed her eyes, so they would adjust to the faint yellow glow of city lights. She looked at the clock – reading 4:35am... she couldn't sleep. A nice, steaming hot bath sounded like a pleasant gift from the Gods at this point.
With just a single candle to light the dark purple walls of the bathroom, Harleen gently lowered herself into the over-sized white claw-foot tub. The water felt like magic against her skin. The steaming water opened her senses. She reached over to the window sill, directly to her left, and picked up an orange prescription bottle. The words, 'Valium' bluntly printed around the front of the bottle.
Taking two pills with no water, she lightly rested her head back onto the tub. The porcelain was almost a massage to her neck - closing her eyes, she slowly lowered herself, until she was fully submerged underwater.
A brief flash of black overfilled the image. Muscular arms outstretched toward Harleen's face, with big hands tightly wrapped around her neck. The ice cold water filled her lungs. Couldn't breathe! Couldn't BREATHE!
"GASP!"
Harleen suddenly opened her eyes wide underwater, thrusting herself up so fast, that waves of hot and steaming liquid spilled out of the bathtub. Gasping for air, she comforted herself, "Not happening, not happening. It's gone and over with."
Bad memories didn't always creep up on Harleen. But when they did... it was all too real. As real as the day it happened.
"Hahaha!" She laughed to herself. "Just think, a Psychiatrist with issues of her own. How ironic." She smiled at herself. "And shit, I really need to learn how to swim."
Quickly composing herself, she decided that it was time to ready for another productive day at work. It was going to be a busy Thursday morning at work anyway. She was being assigned a new patient. This was a special case, as even her boss didn't tell her who it was – but clearly stated that she was the most qualified for such madness... whatever that meant, she took it as a compliment.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
7:18am
Even more dark than Harleen's Gothic Church, Arkham Asylum topped every creep factor known to man.
Why they decided to keep the criminally insane at such a ghastly place... the public will never know. But this is why Harleen went to school. This is why she got her degree – and the setting fit her deranged curiosity perfectly.
"Here's your new case, Dr. Quinzel." Dr. Channing said as he walked into Harleen's small office.
Dr. Channing was a young doctor... possibly a little too young to even get a job at Arkham, considering the little experience he had. But his father was one of the head Doctors at the Asylum.
How Doctor Channing even got his medical degree, baffled most... but Harleen wasn't that stupid - it didn't take a Psychiatrist to figure it out. Every female Doctor basked in Dr. Channing's good looks – which is why he got even further in the field. He was a snob. He was a flirt. He was full of himself. Harleen didn't like him one bit... and she liked to think that she got along with everyone!
Dr. Channing dropped a massively thick folder on Harleen's desk. She jumped in her seat, whilst pushing her glasses up further on the bridge of her nose – composing herself.
"Is this my new patient?" Harleen replied.
"Yup. He is your new patient."
"And this is his evaluation and records?"
Dr. Channing laughed out loud. Maybe a little too loud and over exaggerated. Harleen cringed. She really didn't like Dr. Channing.
"THIS is just his crime history... at least that we know of." Dr. Channing continued, "He has no identity, no one has even had a one on one conversation with this man – unless they worked for him or... They're dead." Dr. Channing smiled. It was like he was doubting Harleen's abilities on this case.
Harleen was more intrigued with who her patient was. She gently opened the folder. At the top of a thick stack of papers - revealed a photo and a name.
Harleen's eyes widened with such thrill, she didn't even need to look at the name to know who her new patient was now. She loudly gasped. Not only out of shock, but also excitement!
Under the photo she read one word:
'JOKER'.
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