The plan was airtight. Get in, grab the drive, get out.
The Birds of Prey had pulled off plenty of risky jobs, but this one was different. These weren't just any files. The GCPD was finishing the transfer of top-secret case documents to Blackgate Penitentiary for high-security storage, which meant they had to deal with twice the amount of soldiers.
Helena, Renee, and Dinah focused on the GCPD side of things. Meanwhile, Harley…
Well, Harley was supposed to be helping.
She had nodded along during the whole briefing, even threw in a few jokes—"Pfft, easy peasy, like stealin' candy from a baby"—but the second she saw where the evidence was being held, her mind drifted.
Because he was here too.
Joker. Just a couple halls away. Waiting for her. Waiting for his Queen to save him.
She had spent days figuring out where they stashed him after his capture. Now, by sheer dumb luck, she had the perfect excuse to walk right into Blackgate.
Her fingers twitched with excitement.
So, the second the others were elbow-deep in police files, Harley slipped out the side door.
No one noticed.
Except Dinah.
Harley zig-zagged through the prison, slipping past cops and cameras like a ghost. She moved fast, ducking into hallways, hiding in laundry carts, and making her way straight to Blackgate's high security sector.
What she didn't know was that Dinah was quietly following her.
At first, Dinah had just been curious—Harley was unpredictable, but she wasn't stupid. If she ditched the group, she had a reason. But as she watched Harley slip into the prison's security tunnels, her stomach twisted.
Whatever she was doing, it wasn't about the files.
Dinah clenched her jaw and kept moving.
Harley, completely unaware of her shadow, made quick work of the Blackgate guards. She knocked out two, stole a keycard, and slipped deeper inside.
Solitary confinement. That's where they kept him.
Her heart pounded as she moved down the dimly lit corridor. And then—
There.
Cell 1. The cell for the most dangerous criminal, Joker.
She sucked in a breath, and heaved open the steel door. "Puddin'?"
A low chuckle from the shadows.
"Well, well," Joker's voice purred, smooth as silk. "Look what the cat dragged in."
Harley beamed. "Hiya, Mistah J!"
She didn't hesitate. She yanked a baton from her belt, wedged it between the bars, and with a crack of metal, the lock snapped. The door swung open, and Joker stepped out, stretching like a cat freed from a cage.
And then—
He grabbed her. She grabbed him. Their bodies crashed together in a messy, desperate hug.
"You came for me," Joker whispered against her ear.
Harley giggled while her fingers played with his hair. "Always."
And that's when it happened.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
Harley and Joker snapped their heads around just in time to see Dinah stepping out of the shadows, her face twisted in absolute rage.
Harley blinked. "Oh. Hey, birdie."
"Don't 'hey, birdie' me!" Dinah marched toward her, jabbing a finger in her direction. "I knew you were up to something, but this?!"
Joker arched a brow. "Who's the loud one?"
"Your worst damn nightmare," Dinah spat, eyes blazing.
Harley winced. "Ooooh, she's real mad."
"Of course I'm mad!" Dinah threw up her hands. "We had a mission! We had a plan! And instead of sticking to it, you ran off to break him out?! You said you had broken up?!"
Before Harley could answer, sirens blared.
The hallway lights flashed red.
Dinah cursed under her breath. "Great. Now the whole damn prison knows we're here!"
Joker chuckled. "Ooooh, I like her. She's got fire."
Harley grabbed his hand. "Less talkin', more runnin'!"
Within seconds, guards swarmed the halls, rifles drawn. Harley and Joker ducked behind a column as bullets ripped through the air, alarms wailing through the prison.
Dinah, still fuming, grudgingly covered them.
"Move your asses!" she shouted, taking down two guards with a well-aimed sonic blast.
Joker laughed, half-dragging Harley down the hallway. "I really like her!"
Harley grinned. "Told ya my new friends were fun!"
They zig-zagged through the chaos, leaping over unconscious guards, dodging fire, and slipping through an emergency exit into the night.
By the time they reached the rendezvous point—a rusted old warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham—Renee and Helena were already there, the drive in Renee's hand.
And they were pissed.
Renee's eyes narrowed the second she saw Joker. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Helena let out a sharp breath, rubbing her temples. "Harley. What did you do?"
Joker just grinned, tossing an arm around Harley's shoulders. "She made the right choice, that's what."
And with that, the whole room exploded into chaos.
Harley pushed Joker out of the warehouse and shut the door. She turned, her back to the door, blocking it like she knew one of them might lunge for her throat. Probably because one of them would.
"Alright, alright, before anyone starts throwing punches—"
Renee did start throwing punches.
Harley barely ducked in time, the detective's fist slamming into a rusted metal locker behind her. The force of it left a dent the size of her knuckles.
"You used us," Renee growled, shoving Harley back with both hands. "You lied to us. This whole thing—you didn't give a damn about the drive. You just wanted your psychotic boyfriend back! Which you told us you had broken up with by the way!"
Harley grinned, flashing the blood on her teeth. "Well, yeah. But we did get the drive, so that's a win-win, right?"
"Win-win?" Helena's voice cut through the room like a blade. Unlike Renee, she wasn't rushing in fists-first. No, she was standing eerily still, arms crossed, expression unreadable—but her voice was sharp enough to skin a man alive.
"I killed a dozen people for that job," Helena said, voice dangerously calm. "I risked my life for you. And you just—" She inhaled sharply, jaw tightening. "You used us like pawns in some sick joke."
Harley rolled her eyes. "Oh, c'mon, Crossbow Queen, don't act all high and mighty. It was fun, admit it!"
"You think this is fun?" Dinah finally spoke, voice hoarse, like she was still trying to process what had just happened. Out of the three, she looked the most hurt. Betrayal sat heavy on her face, her brows drawn together. She had trusted Harley—defended her when Renee doubted her.
Harley sighed, twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger. "Okay, okay, maybe I shoulda told ya the whole plan. But would ya have helped if I did?"
"No!" Renee snapped. "Because he's Joker! Because he's a murdering, psychotic bastard who deserves to rot in a cell, not get a goddamn rescue mission!"
Harley's smile flickered. A dark cloud passed over her expression, just for a moment. "He's mine."
"That's the problem," Dinah murmured, shaking her head.
And maybe it was the way she said it. Maybe it was how soft and pitying she looked. Maybe it was the weight of all of them, standing there, acting like they knew her life better than she did—
But something inside Harley snapped.
Renee scoffed, pushing Harley for a second time, this time Harley nearly fell. "We're done here—"
Shink.
Renee barely had time to react before the blade was already buried in her arm.
It wasn't deep—not deep enough to cripple, not even deep enough to hit bone. Just enough to hurt. To shock.
The detective's breath hitched, her body going stiff as pain bloomed sharp and red-hot down her forearm.
Harley let go of the knife's handle, stepping back with a playful little shrug. "Oopsie." She bent down and picked up the drive Renee dropped.
Dinah gasped, already moving toward Renee. Helena lunged, but Renee stopped her with a raised hand, eyes locked onto Harley's.
"You psycho," Renee hissed, voice tight with pain.
Harley just pouted. "Oh, relax, lady, it's just a love tap! I woulda gone for somethin' way worse if I actually wanted ya dead."
Dinah's hands trembled as she pressed against Renee's wound, trying to slow the bleeding. "You stabbed her."
"And she pushed me! Twice!" Harley shot back, voice lilting like this was all some big joke. "What, I ain't allowed to have a defense mechanism?"
Helena's face was stone-cold fury. Her hand hovered near the grip of her crossbow, like she was considering how fast she could fire.
Renee took a deep breath, steadying herself. "You wanna run around Gotham playing Bonnie and Clyde? Fine. But don't come looking for us when it all blows up in your face."
Harley just smirked. "I won't have to. He always gets me out."
Renee glared at her for one last, heavy moment—then turned and walked out, Dinah and Helena close behind.
The warehouse door slammed shut behind them, leaving Harley alone.
Well. Not alone.
A low, familiar chuckle echoed from the shadows.
Joker stepped forward, slow, lazy, he found his way back into the warehouse through the back. He draped an arm around Harley's shoulders, pulling her into him. "They took that pretty well, all things considered."
Harley giggled, nuzzling into him. "Yeah. But they'll be back."
Joker arched a brow. "You sure about that, doll?"
She grinned up at him, eyes shining with something dangerous.
"They always come back."
As Harley and Joker basked in their victory, Gotham's skyline glittered before them in their million dollar Penthouse. Harley looked down at the drive still clutched in her hands and grinned.
It was just the beginning.